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Hallam Foe (2007)

Jamie Bell is just so good in this film - could be annoying but is not. A great performance of strong-headedness and vulnerability.



I did like it, but 3 popcorns seems about right. Had the relationship between Boya and Molly been better written and developed, I would have rated it higher. Plus - correct me if I'm wrong about it being good, fellow donut lovers - but Boya orders a kiwi donut? Eww.
Their relationship is actually one of my favorite parts of the film, specifically his awareness that much of her attraction is not fully in her control and how can he distinguish what is real from what is his influence.

But it's also been a while since I've watched it and I think I'd need a refresher in order to be more specific.



2022 Mofo Fantasy Football Champ

By Republic Pictures - source, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/inde...curid=45102952

Rio Grande - (1950)

Okay film about a Cavalry Regiment protecting settlers against Apache attacks, and a daring raid across the U.S./Mexico border to rescue kidnapped children. Seeing this after Fort Apache and Stagecoach makes me a little weary of Indians getting shot and falling off horses. This film was made out of necessity as Republic Pictures wanted Ford to make another Western before embarking on his next labour of love, The Quiet Man.

6/10


By May incorporate artwork by Clement Hurel - see Nollen, Scott Allen (2013) Three Bad Men: John Ford, John Wayne, Ward Bond, McFarland, p.*352 ISBN: 9780786458547. - Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/inde...curid=18565484

The Quiet Man - (1952)

Stunningly beautiful in more ways than one - a film about a man who returns to his birthplace, allured by it's serene perfection, but somewhat nonplussed by all the traditions, rules and customs he's met by. I would have said John Wayne is a little miscast as Sean Thornton, but Danny Peary awarded him the (alternate) Oscar for best Actor - it's a great role and I'm sure he appreciated it. The Oscars it did win in all actuality were for cinematography and Ford as best director. Great love story and comedy. Really enjoyed it.

8.5/10


By "Copyright © 1962 Paramount Pictures Corporation and John Ford Productions, Inc." - Scan via Heritage Auctions. Cropped and lightly retouched from original image; see upload history below for unretouched original., Public Domain.

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance - (1962)

Wow - this might actually go down as one of my favourite Westerns, competing against the likes of 3:10 to Yuma, High Noon and Unforgiven. James Stewart plays Ransom Stoddard, a senator and lawyer returning to a town he once lived in - just in time for the funeral of old friend Tom Doniphon (John Wayne). Here, he's waylaid by reporters sniffing out a story, and he finally decides it's time to come clean about something he's famous for - the shooting of Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin). Stewart and Wayne are terrific as two opposite ends of a spectrum - a person who believes in the law, and the other in frontier justice - but the real standout is Marvin, oozing an evil, threatening aura to the extent that I can nearly smell his sweat along with the booze and tobacco he probably reeks of. It all comes together with great meaning and drama, the tension leaving one on the edge of their seat. The end of my little John Ford festival reaches it's climax with what I believe will be my favourite of all his films - though Stagecoach and The Quiet Man are right up there.

10/10


By IMP Awards / 2014 Movie Poster Gallery / The Grand Budapest Hotel Poster (#2 of 17), Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=56637353

The Grand Budapest Hotel - (2014)

My pick for a little movie day yesterday with a friend, she hadn't seen it and this in indeed one I love more than many others - charming, wonderful and oh so pretty. The best Wes Anderson has produced so far in my reckoning. More to say about this one at a later date.

10/10


By Impawards.com, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24228730

Fantastic Mr. Fox - (2009)

I was delighted she chose to watch this next, because it's been on my watchlist for ages. A really charming family film with awesomely cute stop-motion animation. Based on the children's novel by Roald Dahl. She liked this, but felt there were some scenes that were unnecessarily extraneous. It never drags though, at a fast-paced 87 minutes. I'd love to know what kids think of this one - though it really is a film for any age.

7/10


Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3906669

Antonia's Line - (1995)

Her pick - this time one she knows and loves and which I'd never heard of. Antonia's Line won the best foreign language Oscar in 1996. It takes place in a village which is home to Antonia (Willeke van Ammelrooy) - and to which she returns after the Second World War with her daughter. It's a strange village - it's populated by the insane (one lady howls at every full moon, one man never leaves his apartment,) the intellectually disabled and the cruel. Her mother (who is apparently all three of these things) dies and her daughter delights in imagining all the statues and religious icons coming to life. We follow Antonia's family as her daughter has a child of her own, and that child grows up and in turn has her own daughter. Being such a crazy village, there is no end of drama and death - but Antonia seems to find peace in such a place, and she dies content (that's no spoiler - the film begins with her last day on Earth.)

I'm still trying to figure out how I feel about this film - the kind of film (like Legends of the Fall) which takes place over a great deal of time. It never drags, and is always eventful. Antonia seems a little aloof, but her family, at the very least, is a sane anchor in such an unusual place. It's worth rewatching and enjoying.

6.5/10

Quiet Man and Liberty Valence are two excellent films.



I don't think that the colorblind/gender-blind aspect is the problem. I think it the fact that they did it in a way that didn't make sense. (Unless that's maybe what you mean).

I think it's one of those things where' when it's done properly it works...but the fact that Netflix last major horror series Bly Manor did the exact same thing makes it redundant to me.



I think it's one of those things where' when it's done properly it works...but the fact that Netflix last major horror series Bly Manor did the exact same thing makes it redundant to me.
Having just finished the trilogy, I feel like the whole thing was marked with various degrees of laziness.

I really should write up reviews of the second two movies but, um, I don't wanna!

(Liked the second one, generally, and thought the third was about on par with the first).



I forgot the opening line.

By [1], Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=53476946

Isle of Dogs - (2018)

This was a bit of a mixed bag for me personally. The animation and score are great. The story a little one-note and tiresome. I might give it another go one day - it's certainly not hard to look at or listen to.

6/10


By not known, multiple sites have this available - most likely was from http://daily.greencine.com/archives/2005_05.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2452722

Britannia Hospital - (1982)

Yikes. The wrong Lindsay Anderson film to start with I think. To get across how much certain idiosyncrasies in British life and politics irk him, Anderson creates a microcosm of Britain in the form of a hospital and sets about irking us - but people don't generally want to be annoyed when they watch a film. A lot of this film is tedious - especially the constant strikes and picket-lines and the compromises put into desperate effect to pull of a royal visit. In amongst all that tedium is a plot strand of a mad-scientist kind where Professor Millar (Graham Crowden) is recreating Frankenstein's Monster, and long-time Anderson character Mick Travis (Malcolm McDowell) is trying to capture his unethical behaviour on film. There's almost too much going on in each scene - and too many famous actors (some yet to be) distracting us. The film has a bravura ending (as do all Lindsay Anderson films) but that's not enough to save it from it's faults.

4/10


Copyright held by the film company or the artist. Claimed as fair use regardless., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34624727

if.... - (1968) - rewatch

It was the artistic success of this film (and O Lucky Man!) for Lindsay Anderson that paved the way for the excesses seen in Britannia Hospital. It had been ages since I'd last seen this, and I remembered it as being more surreal than it actually is. The depiction of the hazing and bullying that runs rampant in English high-class boarding schools is unsettling, along with the constant switch from colour to black and white imagery. It's the unreal ending that stayed with me the most vividly, and must have taken a lot of courage to go with. Overall you get the sense of quiet rage that has festered in the minds of people who have had to run the gamut through all the peculiar rules and traditions that British upper-class institutions enforce on those unlucky enough to become part of them.

Spectacular first role for Malcolm McDowell, and fantastic performance. The film wouldn't be as good as it is without him in it.

7/10



Naked (1993)

It's been years since I've seen this film but it's an absolute powerhouse performance by David Thewlis in his first major part. It's darkly comic but also has very strong points to make about society. I don't think Mike Leigh has ever done better work.





I actually enjoy this movie, but can't stand all hate that Americans presents against Serbians!
So 6/10



Jason And The Argonauts
Don Chaffey, 1963
Action, Adventure, Family, Fantasy
DVR - Film4


Childhood favourite with great effects work from the legendary Ray Harryhausen (Talos, the harpies and the children of the Hydra being the standouts). Despite umpteen watches though I'm still yet to spot the character Juan Sandle that Pelias is warned Jason will turn up with

+



“I was cured, all right!”



It looks like one of the old OVAS that used to came with special manga editions. Thus, the animations were not concerned with explaining the world or developing any character, since the target audience was the reader of the work. It's a fun MK animation but I don't recommend it for anyone who doesn't follow the games. It's just fight, blood and more blood. Better than the last (awful) live action, at least this one looks and feels like MK, the characters really do look like themself (miracle).



Jason And The Argonauts
Don Chaffey, 1963
Action, Adventure, Family, Fantasy
DVR - Film4


Childhood favourite with great effects work from the legendary Ray Harryhausen (Talos, the harpies and the children of the Hydra being the standouts). Despite umpteen watches though I'm still yet to spot the character Juan Sandle that Pelias is warned Jason will turn up with

+

Love Jason and the Argonauts. Those skeletons scared the life out of me as a kid. They're still pretty terrifying now




Island of Lost Souls (1932, Erle C. Kenton)

Charles Laughton's wacky, comical portrayal of Dr Moreau was probably what struck me most about this film - but not necessarily in a bad way. I didn't expect it for sure as it is a significant reimagining of the original novel (as was the addition of the main character's love interest who arrives on the island to rescue him) but it certainly does add an element of dark hilarity to the story. Overall, I thought the film had its strengths and weaknesses - there were some creepy moments (camera cutting away from Dr Moreau's grisly demise makes it none the less effective, leaving it to the viewer to fill in the rest), some silliness, some parts that worked and some that didn't. Keep in mind also that it's a very short movie so naturally it didn't have time for elaborate build-up and plot development.
A unique if uneven slice of Hollywood's pre-Code horror.







Abandon Ship! (Seven Days from Now or Seven Waves Away) - Somber and uncompromising 1957 drama focusing on the events immediately following the sinking of a luxury cruise ship. No time is spent on setting up this survival thriller, with a brief shot of an old and abandoned naval mine floating in the water followed by an explosion and terror-stricken shouts of abandon ship! The movie stars Tyrone Power as the doomed Crescent Star's Executive Officer Alec Holmes who ends up on a dangerously overcrowded lifeboat with 26 other survivors.

WARNING: spoilers below
After his badly wounded Captain passes on his command to Alec and succumbs to his injuries it is up to Holmes to follow the proper course of action in order to save as many people as he can. Those parameters however shift drastically when the ship's radio operator informs him that there was no chance to send any kind of notification or S.O.S to the nearest vessel to their location. It now becomes a matter of dispassionately weighing the odds and calculating which of their group gives them the best chance of surviving a protracted crossing in the hopes of reaching the coast of Africa. There are a number of injured passengers and those either too elderly or frail to literally pull their own weight and it falls to the tormented Holmes to make those judgements.

This is one of if not the best performance of Powers career. The rest of the cast are also able to accomplish wonders in what amounts to a truly claustrophobic setting and this is in no small part due to the screenplay by director Richard Sale. The marvelous cast includes Moira Lister, Lloyd Nolan, Mai Zetterling and Stephen Boyd but suffice it to say that there are invaluable contributions from everyone involved. This is an unassuming yet outstanding movie and I think it invites favorable comparisons with Hitchcock's Lifeboat. Highly recommended.




Abandon Ship! (Seven Days from Now or Seven Waves Away) -
This is one of if not the best performance of Powers career. The rest of the cast are also able to accomplish wonders in what amounts to a truly claustrophobic setting and this is in no small part due to the screenplay by director Richard Sale.

Hey! Finally another fan of this great movie. It was my nomination in the 18th HoF and sadly did poorly. Link to the member's reviews of Abandon Ship




Island of Lost Souls (1932, Erle C. Kenton)

Charles Laughton's wacky, comical portrayal of Dr Moreau was probably what struck me most about this film - but not necessarily in a bad way. I didn't expect it for sure as it is a significant reimagining of the original novel (as was the addition of the main character's love interest who arrives on the island to rescue him) but it certainly does add an element of dark hilarity to the story. Overall, I thought the film had its strengths and weaknesses - there were some creepy moments (camera cutting away from Dr Moreau's grisly demise makes it none the less effective, leaving it to the viewer to fill in the rest), some silliness, some parts that worked and some that didn't. Keep in mind also that it's a very short movie so naturally it didn't have time for elaborate build-up and plot development.
A unique if uneven slice of Hollywood's pre-Code horror.
I really enjoyed this when I watched it and I remember thinking how oddly sexual Laughton's performance was. Equal parts flirtatious and almost predatory.



Hey! Finally another fan of this great movie. It was my nomination in the 18th HoF and sadly did poorly. Link to the member's reviews of Abandon Ship
Wow. This is a very diverse forum with plenty of differing opinions. And that's all I'm saying on that particular subject.



Naked (1993)

It's been years since I've seen this film but it's an absolute powerhouse performance by David Thewlis in his first major part. It's darkly comic but also has very strong points to make about society. I don't think Mike Leigh has ever done better work.
Yeah, it's pretty amazing on a lot of levels. There's a really great director's commentary out there (it's on the DVD of it that I own) well worth tracking down if you can.






2nd Re-watch...Woody Allen's crisp and caustic morality tale filled with the morally bankrupt characters you expect from a Woody Allen movie, except for the fact that they all have English accents. Jonathan Rhys Meyers plays a tennis pro who marries his way into a wealthy family and just as he is becoming accustomed to his comfortable life, he begins an affair with his brother-in-law's fiancee (Scarlett Johansson) which complicates his life beyond recognition. This is one of Woody's edgiest and most challenging films and one of the first times he approached a concept that he would explore in other movies...the concept of getting away with murder. The film features exquisite production values, with a special nod to the operatic music score, which frames the story perfectly. The performances are wonderful, with standout work from Johansson who, despite double Oscar nominations last year, has never been better than she was here IMO. This film seems to get better with each re-watch.