Citizen Rules...Cinemaesque Chat-n-Review

Yeah. It's the most tolerable Berg film I've seen. It's still kinda bland and a little dumb, But the story was better executed, the acting was better and the visuals were pretty good.

I don't think you'll hate it with a vengeance the same way you did Patriots Day.

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Yeah I haven't rated many films a 1...so far I've never given a 0

What about half a star then?

Nah, I've not done half a point either...at least not yet.

What's the lowest score you've given to a movie? and what movie?

I never give out zero's... Firstly, because all rating-sites only allow down to 1, so giving 0 would mean I wouldn't be able to rate it. And well, 1 star out of 10 or 0.5 out of 5 is just fine as being the lowest.

But yeah, in very rare cases, I've giving such a rating. It needs to be EXTREME though. Pretty much no redeeming qualities at all. Complete and utter crap.

I've given the movie Area 407 a 0.5 rating. It's a low-low-low-budget Sci-Fy-channelish CG crap fest about dinosaurs loose in an area. Amazing idea for a horror and I love dinos, which is why I watched it, but MAAAN was it bad.

Others are: Urban Legends 3: Bloody Mary, Police Academy 6: Under Siege, Lake Placid 2, Anaconda: Offspring, V/H/S: Viral, Lake Placid 3, Platform, Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, Cube 2: Hypercube, Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare, Halloween II (Rob Zombie), Meet the Spartans, Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday....

I think you can see a pattern here. It's either obviously crappy films are the worst ones in a declining franchise that died long before said movie arrived.

Luckily I never seen any of those and probably won't!

Director: Bill Condon
Writer: Jeffrey Hatcher (screenplay), Mitch Cullin (novel)
Cast: Ian McKellen, Milo Parker, Laura Linney
Genre: Drama

"An aged, retired Sherlock Holmes, deals with early dementia, as he tries to remember his final case and a woman, the memory of whom still haunts him. He also befriends a fan, the young son of his housekeeper, who wants him to work again."

Mr. Holmes is just a lovely British film with an easy pace and a solid feel. Nothing is spoon-feed to us, nothing is over dramatized. The film has a rare mixture of realistic sentimentality without being cutesy or overly sweet....This is a film that respects the intelligence of it's audience. I found it quite refreshing.

Ian McKellen is the elderly detective Sherlock Holmes, who we find out is much different in real life than the fictional Holmes of the novels. And this difference I thought made the movie special. I can't say enough good things about this film, it's unpretentious without the tired hullabaloo that most films sport. Ian McKellen, is excellent in the role, he is personable, believable and he always held my attention. Which is a good thing as he's in most of the scenes.


The film also has stunning cinematography that is beautiful without being obvious. Like the script, the camera work blends effortlessly to make a stunning film that is never over done.

Like a good book by a warm fire on a cold night, Mr Holmes is a treasure. I wish I knew of more films like this.

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i had heard nothing but great things about this movie until your review Citizen...now my curiosity is definitely piqued I may have to check it out.

My low review is out of my moral object to turning a tragic event into an action CG entertainment popcorn flick.

Director: Tay Garnett
Writers: Harry Ruskin & Niven Busch(screenplay), James M. Cain (novel)
Cast: Lana Turner, John Garfield, Cecil Kellaway, Hume Cronyn, Leon Ames
Genre: Film Noir



The Postman Always Rings Twice is based on the 1934 crime novel by James M. Cain. A novel that oozed so much steamy sexuality that it took 12 years before a movie script could pass the Hays production code. Before the 1946 classic, there had been two other movie versions made: Le dernier tournant (1939) a French movie, and the Italian Ossessione (1943). In 1981 there was an American remake The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981) featuring Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange. But it's the 1946, Lana Turner, John Garfield classic that lives in the hearts of film noir fans.


The Postman Always Rings Twice had one of the most nuanced scripts I've seen for a noir and was very polished as one would expect from a big budget MGM production. So many wonderful little details and a great supporting cast that makes this noir stand out.

I loved the way the movie introduced John Garfield to the Two Oaks Diner with the Man Wanted sign, and he'd just hitched a ride from the District Attorney of all people.

And loved the way they introduced Lana Turner, with her lipstick rolling across the floor, as the camera pans to her and then up her legs, then back to Garfield's stunned expression as he takes in her sheer beauty. Then the scene continues with her expecting Garfield to bring the lipstick across the floor to her, but Garfield being too cool to do that.

That scene really established the love hate relationship between the love crossed pair. Oh, and the hamburger burning on the grill because of Garfield's distraction at seeing her, really laid it out...she would be his doom. Like I said lots of nuanced details.


John Garfield was made for this role. MGM thought so too as they borrowed him from Warner Brothers. Garfield is excellent in this as his personality of the roguish, but self destructive rebel worked perfectly for the film.

I liked Lana Turner better than I would have expected. This is one of her greatest roles. She's the cold beauty, that spells doom. She sure looked great in the all white ensemble that she wore.

Not to be missed are three great character actors, Cecil Kellaway as her likeable goof of a husband. Hume Cronyn has one of his finest screen moments as a sleazy defense lawyer and Leon Ames isn't too shaby either as the prosecuting attorney.

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This is a great movie, Lana Turner has never been a great actress but this was a tailor made role for her and it worked. Jessica Lange is absolutely sensational in the remake but this is still a better movie overall.

[quote=Citizen Rules;1782192]
Director: Bill Condon
Writer: Jeffrey Hatcher (screenplay), Mitch Cullin (novel)
Cast: Ian McKellen, Milo Parker, Laura Linney
Genre: Drama
[i]


This sounds really interesting and Ian McKellan is always worth watching. Loved your review...loved the analogy of "a good book by a warm fire on a cold night."

I'm going to watch the 1981 remake in the next week or so and will of course review it.

I'd be surprised if you didn't like this one.

I liked Saving Mr. Banks (2013), but it took me a little while to get used to Tom Hanks as Walt Disney. I also wish they had made P.L. Travers a bit more likable, but I don't know much about her, so maybe that's what she was really like.


I've tried to watch Mr. Holmes a few times, but, (through no fault of the movie itself), I haven't been able to get past the first 15 - 20 minutes of the movie. Every time I start the movie, I seem to get interrupted by something and I have to turn it off. I hope to actually see the movie at some point.



I liked The Postman Always Rings Twice, but it seemed far-fetched that the D.A. seemed to know that they were going to try to kill her husband a second time, but he did nothing to try to stop it. (IIRC, he said he was on to them since the incident with the cat.)

I also find it hard to believe that a guy like John Garfield could so easily beat up a guy the size of Alan Reed, (the blackmailer). (I also found it distracting that they were being blackmailed by Fred Flintstone, because I heard his voice the second that he started talking, but that's not really a fault of the movie.)

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OPEN FLOOR.

[quote=Citizen Rules;1781329]
Saving Mr. Banks (2013)
Director: John Lee Hancock
Cast: Emma Thompson, Tom Hanks, Annie Rose Buckley
Genre: Biography, Drama

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LOVED your review of this movie Citizen and I agree with most of what you said, it's true that Hanks in a true Disney biopic would have been ideal but that was not the concept behind this particular film, it's really about Travers. I'm hot and cold with Emma Thompson but I have never enjoyed her onscreen more than I did here. I also think she should have received an Oscar nomination. I also cracked up when she asked about training the penguins to dance and that scene of Travers in the dark theater at the premiere is absolutely BRILLIANT!

Fred Flintstone? Wow, that's interesting! I didn't know that...But yeah if I had known that I would be expecting his fellow blackmailer to be Barney Rubble

I like Emma Thompson usually, but the screen writers needed to give her a glimmer of kindness in the first part of the movie.

Alan Reed, the voice of Fred Flintstone, also appears in the 1961 classic Breakfast at Tiffany's...he plays Sally Tomato, a mobster who Holly Golightly(Audrey Hepburn) visits once a month.

This is weird - Alan Reed was also in a movie Rules just reviewed: The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946). I wonder if he heard Fred Flintstone in that movie?

I also remember him in Far Horizons (1955) the largely non-factual Lewis & Clark story and I think Reed played Sacajawea's French husband. Sacajawea, btw, was played by Donna Reed wearing skin paint (about the whitest, non-Native American looking actress you could think of!)

The funny thing about Alan Reed was he always sounded like Fred Flintstone (for those of us who were first introduced to his voice there) in all his appearances!

I missed that gbg already mentioned Alan (Fred Flintstone) Reed appearing in The Postman Always Rings Twice.

Thanks to @Camo!

Yeah, that's how the whole Alan Reed discussion got kicked off.