[quote=“Reverend Danite, post:1118, topic:372”]A friend brought round ‘Dead Man’s Shoes’ - a small-time drug-gangstery film set in Derbyshire, England.
Absolutely brilliant!! Violent and revenge-based (sound familiar?). Altho’ you can find comparisons with other films, the cover mentions Taxi Driver and First Blood) it’s also got bit’s of Get Carter and … (we would see it …) it owes a debt to Spaghetti-based revenge movies - whether it knows it or not. Fabulously underplayed and gritty, and not without a dark humour. It’s sparse, tense, nihalistic and it’s all beautifully filmed and skillfully framed. And also like a good sw, it also has a fabulous soundtrack that you’d think is too beautiful for the action if you’d heard it out of context.
I’d read nothing, and knew nothing about this, other than my mate banging on about how much I’d love it … and he weren’t wrong!!
Recommended … and then some more ;).[/quote]
Watched the three burials of melquiades estrada in a small arthouse cinema. Even if it played in the Western week(they also will show dead men, unforgiven, 3:10 to yuma(remake), the assasination of jesse james and the shooting(i would love to see this one, but am out of town on the one time they show it))
it was more or less a road movie for me, well of course without a road or many cars.
It was quite ohylosophically at times, and the characters are well performed. And tommy lee jones speaks some fine spanish in this one. If you are not expecting it to be a western it is a highly enjoyable film, with some funny scenes as well.
Very low on the action site though, but i was okay with that.
Last two Italian movies watched have been Salt in the Wound and Killer vs. Killers.
First of Salt in the Wound is definitely the best of the two movies from the Wild East double feature. Two war criminals up for execution, one played by Kinski get a chance at escape along with an officer played by George Hilton. We follow the characters as they accidentally frees a small French village and watch how their personalities evolve. Kind of melodramatic at places but gets the work done. Recommended.
Killer vs. Killers is ok I guess. Have watched all 3 movies in Fernando Di Leo’s Milan-trilogy in the last couple of weeks so had higher hopes for this one. Henry Silva looks very tired and really not up to it and that kind of flattens the movie. Recommended for hard fans
[quote=“valenciano, post:1122, topic:372”]Watched the three burials of melquiades estrada in a small arthouse cinema. Even if it played in the Western week(they also will show dead men, unforgiven, 3:10 to yuma(remake), the assasination of jesse james and the shooting(i would love to see this one, but am out of town on the one time they show it))
it was more or less a road movie for me, well of course without a road or many cars.[/quote]
Yeah I really liked it, wish I could see it on the big screen. I always thought Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia inspired three burials alot.
And that didn’t work out. She just bought all “Friends” seasons and she bought me the first twelf episodes of the second CSI season and wanted to watch those
Adaptation of Leon Uris’ novel about the events that led to the partition of Palastine and the foundation of the state of Israel
I read the book for one of those discussion nights on The Middle East a few years ago and didn’t bother to watch the movie (superficial Hollywood trash, I thought)
The novel is meticulously researched and detailed, but blatantly one-sided, with a totally uncritical glorification of zionism and no understanding at all of both British and Arab interests. To my surprise the book is more intelligent/reticent on these aspects: it is shown that Britain stood with its back against the wall and some drawbacks of zionism (for instance the uncomprimising terrorist strategy of the Irgun) are taken into consideration. Of course there is some awful Hollywood romanticism (the escape from Accra prison, Newman’s final speech) but if you’re looking for a compelling history lesson, you could do much worse.
I just read on the net that Uris wasn’t pleased with the movie and that Preminger had to fight for his version of the story
That Hitchcock blonde Eva Marie Saint (she knew how to pick a tasteless pseudonym) is fatally miscast, must both Sal Mineo and Paul Newman are great. The main problem of the adaption is the cutting of nearly all Uris’ reseach: terms like Palmach, Hagana and Irgun are introduced without real explanation and the viewer is supposed to know which declaration was signed in 1917 and what the consequences were for the region.
Zombi Holocaust.
Quite an alright movie when you’re drunk. It’s your typical Italian cannibal stuff, but this time with zombies thrown in the mix. Donal O’Brien is entertaining as Dr. Butcher.
[quote=“Bad Lieutenant, post:1129, topic:372”]Zombi Holocaust.
Quite an alright movie when you’re drunk. It’s your typical Italian cannibal stuff, but this time with zombies thrown in the mix. Donal O’Brien is entertaining as Dr. Butcher.[/quote]
A new indicator wether a film is good or bad. Do you like it when you’re drunk
A telefilm that apparently is a continuation of a well-known (if unknown to me) tv-series about a fictional (I suppose) character called Sharpe, an officer in the British army at the beginning of the 19th Century.
In this movie it is suggested that he saved Wellington’s life at Waterloo, so he was quite a guy.
Of course the name of Sean Bean attracted me to the movie, as well as the genre: an adventure story woven around historical events.
I’ve never read the books the Sharpe series were based upon, but I can imagine that they’re - like most novels of this kind - pale, but likeable, imitations of those great epic novels of the previous century, writtten by the likes of Tolstoy, Stendahl or Thackeray. Usually those imitations are well-told but lack psychological depth. And that’s a good way to characterize this (rather long, 136 mns) telefilm: good story, poor characterisations. The action is adequate (and quite violent), the acting not bad, but all characters are stricktly one-dimensional and what’s most, the suggestion is made that anybody with an accent (be it Irish, Scottish or Yorkshire) is trustworthy, while those who speak Oxford English are arrogant and sadistic twits. Very odd.
It would be nice to hear what the British people on the forum think about this, and the Sharpe series in general.
Well, I wont be watching it tonight, or any other night … but I saw the turd installment of Bored of the Rings, whilst I was away. Watched it with my mate’s kids (who’d seen it before). Great kids and 8 year old Emily was getting as naffed off as me at those bloody hobbits having a get-out clause every bloody time witha magicy-something-or-other. She said “You’ll like this bit then” when frogo (or whatever his name is) finally goes off on the great final ‘boat-ride!!?). Indeed she was right. It meant it was the end! AT LAST. 1 hour of film and 3 hours of schmaltzy ending. We liked Gollum tho’ - a psychopathic schitzophrenic.
I reckon Emily’ll be watching The Great Silence soon enough!
No country for old man.
Some nice action, great performances, good shootouts and a little bit of symbolism make this a very good one and a fun way to spend 2 hours.
Just finished watching a Swedish-Finnish movie i recorded earlier today (and I hope I get this right):
Elina - som om jag inte fanns / Elina - as if I wasn’t there (2002, Klaus Härö)
A small (only 75 mns), tender movie about a young girl who, after being recovered from tuberculosis, feels distant from the world around her. The only ‘person’ she can really talk to, is her deceased father, who spoke finnish with her, a language she (and some other finnish speaking children in her class) is not allowed to speak in school.
Even with this short running time it’s a movie that takes its time, but it’s very rewarding for those who stay with it
Those Swedes are better than anybody else in making this kind of movies …
Recommended
HARUM SCARUM 1965 Directed by : Gene Nelson Written by : Gerald D. Adams
ELVIS PRESLEY Mary Ann Mobley Michael Ansara Fran Jeffreys
Outstanding family entertainment for all ages as THE KING ELVIS lends his classic
magnetic presence to a Middle Eastern Set Adventure which involves drama, light comedy
wonderful songs and romance. Elvis is a movie star kidnapped on the way to premiere.
MARY ANN MOBLEY a former beauty queen is delicious. :-* Michael Ansara solid as ever.
A telefilm that apparently is a continuation of a well-known (if unknown to me) tv-series about a fictional (I suppose) character called Sharpe, an officer in the British army at the beginning of the 19th Century.
In this movie it is suggested that he saved Wellington’s life at Waterloo, so he was quite a guy.
Of course the name of Sean Bean attracted me to the movie, as well as the genre: an adventure story woven around historical events.
I’ve never read the books the Sharpe series were based upon, but I can imagine that they’re - like most novels of this kind - pale, but likeable, imitations of those great epic novels of the previous century, writtten by the likes of Tolstoy, Stendahl or Thackeray. Usually those imitations are well-told but lack psychological depth. And that’s a good way to characterize this (rather long, 136 mns) telefilm: good story, poor characterisations. The action is adequate (and quite violent), the acting not bad, but all characters are stricktly one-dimensional and what’s most, the suggestion is made that anybody with an accent (be it Irish, Scottish or Yorkshire) is trustworthy, while those who speak Oxford English are arrogant and sadistic twits. Very odd.
It would be nice to hear what the British people on the forum think about this, and the Sharpe series in general.[/quote]
Sharpe was very popular here (books and TV series) and if you don’t expect too much they are quite good fun. The author of the books Bernard Cornwall is actually a pretty decent writer of what we might call here ‘thumping good yarns’. Plenty of action, a decent level of historical accuracy but quite predictable on the whole. My mum loves them.
I don’t know what you would call it as a genre but these stories fit into a long popular style here of historical action tales set around the Napoleonic wars. The naval ones are probably better known and include the Hornblower series by C.S Forrester and the Bolitho series by Alexander Kent. My own favourites are the Master and Commander series by Patrick O’Brien which combine detailed historical content with great human interest and action. Unfortunately, the Russel Crowe film didn’t do them real justice.
[quote=“Phil H, post:1137, topic:372”]Sharpe was very popular here (books and TV series) and if you don’t expect too much they are quite good fun. The author of the books Bernard Cornwall is actually a pretty decent writer of what we might call here ‘thumping good yarns’. Plenty of action, a decent level of historical accuracy but quite predictable on the whole. My mum loves them.
I don’t know what you would call it as a genre but these stories fit into a long popular style here of historical action tales set around the Napoleonic wars. The naval ones are probably better known and include the Hornblower series by C.S Forrester and the Bolitho series by Alexander Kent. My own favourites are the Master and Commander series by Patrick O’Brien which combine detailed historical content with great human interest and action. Unfortunately, the Russel Crowe film didn’t do them real justice.[/quote]
The Hornblower series were shown in Belgium, but they weren’t a big succes
I thought the Russel Crowe movie looked good but wasn’t really compelling
Speaking as a Dutchman I find it a bit strange that we have no similar series (books nor tv); after all we have a great naval history too
We simply don’t have a tradition of epic writing, our best writers were (and still are) more poets than storytellers
The best Dutch writer of the 20th century, Gerard Reve, writes books that are nearly completely devoid of a storyline, they’re all poetry and mood (One of his books, The Fourth Man, was adapted to the screen by Paul Verhoeven; it’s one a the few books with some kind of ‘plot’)
But we do have a wonderful aventure novel aimed at children; it’s called “De scheepsjongens van Bontekoe” and it’s about to be brought to the screen, I’m looking forward to it. It’s about Dutch V.O.C. (United East-indian Company) and set in the Golden Age, the time of Rembrandt, Vermeer (well, the Colin Firth movie did him some justice …) and nearly all other great Dutchmen.
HELLFIGHTERS 1969 Directed by : Andrew V. McLaglen
JOHN WAYNE VERA MILES Jim Hutton Katharine Ross
Epic big scale adventure concerning firefighters in the oilfields as they extinguish fires,
brawl and romance each other. Big John is always watchable as is the superb Vera Miles.
[quote=“scherpschutter, post:1138, topic:372”]The Hornblower series were shown in Belgium, but they weren’t a big succes
I thought the Russel Crowe movie looked good but wasn’t really compelling
Speaking as a Dutchman I find it a bit strange that we have no similar series (books nor tv); after all we have a great naval history too
We simply don’t have a tradition of epic writing, our best writers were (and still are) more poets than storytellers
The best Dutch writer of the 20th century, Gerard Reve, writes books that are nearly completely devoid of a storyline, they’re all poetry and mood (One of his books, The Fourth Man, was adapted to the screen by Paul Verhoeven; it’s one a the few books with some kind of ‘plot’)
But we do have a wonderful aventure novel aimed at children; it’s called “De scheepsjongens van Bontekoe” and it’s about to be brought to the screen, I’m looking forward to it. It’s about Dutch V.O.C. (United East-indian Company) and set in the Golden Age, the time of Rembrandt, Vermeer (well, the Colin Firth movie did him some justice …) and nearly all other great Dutchmen.[/quote]
If you like this sort of stuff Scherps I can recommend the Alatriste books by Arturo Perez-Reverte. There’s a ton of them in the original spanish but so far only about three have made it into english translation, all of which I’ve read and thoroughly enjoyed. Capitan Alatriste is a veteran of the wars in Flanders which should give you some local interest at least and the stories interweave real and fictional characters from the spanish golden age with lots of swash buckling sword play for good measure.
They made a film adapted from the books recently with Vigo Mortensen which didn’t make it to screens in the UK so can’t say what it was like but the books are entertaining for sure.
