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Anapeson - [Sleepless]
Francesco Dongiovanni, 2015
Documentary, History
DVR - Filmbox Arthouse


From TMDb:
Count Karl Ulysses von Salis-Marschlins was a Swiss botanist and naturalist. He travelled widely observing and studying the lands he visited. In 1789 he travelled in the Kingdom of Naples. On returning home, he wrote a book about it. Here is how he described his visit to the "Casino del Duca" at San Basilio, the largest estate of Apulia, South Italy. "Anapeson" are these places, now, sleepless and abandoned within the distracted modernity. The History as ruins.
Rather dry short (37 mins) that mostly matches the voiced-over travelogue with images of ruins/countryside and, at times, old documents or drawings and works reasonably well as long as there is a connection between the two. Unfortunately with absolutely no connection to the area or knowledge of any historical import, for me it's little more than a rather sedentary, mildly interesting brief glimpse into history.





National Lampoon's Vacation
Harold Ramis, 1983
Adventure, Comedy
DVR - TCM


From TMDb:

Got to admit I have absolutely no idea why this is so highly regarded. On the plus side (I guess) Chevy Chase isn't as obnoxious in it as I expected him to be (still far, far more ego than talent though), Beverly D'Angelo is easy enough on the eye and I did get a little amusement at briefly seeing such a young Jane Krakowski. Sadly though that's about it for me as the 'humour' was generally weak and the whole mostly rather dumb, lifeless and uninspired imo.


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Oh, I love this Granted, I've been seeing it since I was a kid, but I still think it's great. I think Chase's deadpan stupidity and aloofness are perfectly used.
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Oh, I love this Granted, I've been seeing it since I was a kid, but I still think it's great. I think Chase's deadpan stupidity and aloofness are perfectly used.
As you can probably tell from my brief mumble I'm no fan of Chevy Chase and the ratings on IMDb make my opinion very much an outlier so take my view with a pinch of salt. You can have all my future allowance of watches of it - at least they'll be going to a good home



The Curse Of The Wraydons
Victor M. Gover, 1946
Drama, Horror
DVD


From IMDb:
A young captain, after participating in a duel, becomes the suspect in a series of killings in Epping Forest.
Somewhat melodramatic British period costume piece that admittedly suffers from an abundance of poor and over-acting (it does 'star' Tod Slaughter after all) and could be paced better but imo nevertheless remains watchable for those that don't mind a bit of old-fashioned low-budget b-movie fare.





The Colony
Jeff Renfroe, 2013
Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
DVD


From TMDb:
Forced underground by the next ice age, a struggling outpost of survivors must fight to preserve humanity against a threat even more savage than nature.
Post-apocalyptic outing that has little originality to offer in terms of storytelling whilst the scenes set outside are very poorly realised and the CGI effects are mostly weak. It still might possibly have been tolerable (if somewhat predictable) fare for those like me with an inherent interest in such fare as it does have some entertainment within but the addition of both mundane characterisations and script leave it just asking for far too much leeway.


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Sorry if I'm rude but I'm right
15 pages? That's one heckuva mumblin'!
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Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.



Lik wong - [Riki-Oh: The Story Of Ricky]
Ngai Choi Lam 1991
Acion, Comedy, Crime, Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
DVD


From TMDb:
Hard man Ricky is incarcerated in a futuristic prison where ultra-violence is his only means of survival in the corrupt, sadistic system. He must battle his way quite literally 'through' the feared 'gang of four', and undergo multiple tortures before facing the governor in one of the goriest climaxes ever seen.
How anyone could ever have taken this seriously enough to have banned it here is not only completely and utterly baffling but also somewhat embarrassing really. Absolutely nothing, from the story, characters, acting, atmosphere, props, fight sequences, effects or copious quantities of gore says take me anything other than light-heartedly - all of which in my mind makes for a rather entertaining watch.





Ice Cream
Will Nash, 2015
Family
DVR - Filmbox Arthouse


From IMDb:
Set in 1990's England, Daniel is an 8 year old boy who dreams of being an Ice Cream Man. Daniel takes us on a short journey of what it is to be an Ice Cream Man and how he will one day be one.
Fairly unremarkable short (5 mins) that does however nicely incorporate a little animation, but being one for the younger audience really ought to have had a bit more cop-on about road safety right at the very end imo.


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Schengen
Annarita Zambrano, 2012
Drama
DVR - Filmbox Arthouse


From TMDb:
In one Paris divided militarily into two like was the former Berlin Est-Ouest, Ines Raymond receives from the right bank people who ask for a visa for the left bank. Each have their reasons and dreams for crossing the Seine, but, Ines must follow the new instructions.
Enjoyable, well put together and wryly amusing at times short (9 mins), named after the free movement agreement within the EU, that depicts the often seemingly random whims and unbending nature of bureaucracy.





Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
Simon West, 2001
Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Thriller
DVD


From TMDb:
English aristocrat Lara Croft is skilled in hand-to-hand combat and in the middle of a battle with a secret society. The shapely archaeologist moonlights as a tomb raider to recover lost antiquities and meets her match in the evil Powell, who's in search of a powerful relic.
Always want this to be better but in truth it all feels like a pale imitation of Indiana Jones and whilst Angelina Jolie was made for the part in terms of looks, unlike the aforementioned Indy her Lara Croft struggles to engage and engender any real level of support. Her supporting cast possibly don't help, Chris Barrie might be fairly well cast on paper as her butler but for me he injects absolutely nothing into the part whilst Noah Taylor is just plain ****ing awful throughout imo. The villains of the piece are cardboard cut-out characters but are at least a step up from those two and there is a little fun to be had from some of the set pieces but again they never really hit the mark other than sporadically for me.





You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
Simon West, 2001
Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Thriller
DVD


From TMDb:

Always want this to be better but in truth it all feels like a pale imitation of Indiana Jones and whilst Angelina Jolie was made for the part in terms of looks, unlike the aforementioned Indy her Lara Croft struggles to engage and engender any real level of support. Her supporting cast possibly don't help, Chris Barrie might be fairly well cast on paper as her butler but for me he injects absolutely nothing into the part whilst Noah Taylor is just plain ****ing awful throughout imo. The villains of the piece are cardboard cut-out characters but are at least a step up from those two and there is a little fun to be had from some of the set pieces but again they never really hit the mark other than sporadically for me.



I was thinking about watching Lara Croft: Tomb Raider for the 2000s countdown because it sounded like an Indiana Jones type of movie, but after reading your review, I'll probably pass. (I have a long watchlist anyway, so this just helps narrow it down.)
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I was thinking about watching Lara Croft: Tomb Raider for the 2000s countdown because it sounded like an Indiana Jones type of movie, but after reading your review, I'll probably pass. (I have a long watchlist anyway, so this just helps narrow it down.)
We have different tastes but on this one I can't really see you liking it that much more than myself, hopefully the time you save here will turn out to be invested in a more ballot-worthy fillum



Black Memory
Oswald Mitchell, 1947
Crime, Drama
DVD


From TMDb:
Cockney Danny Cruff is the son of a man wrongly accused of murder. Danny decides to solve the mystery himself by hobnobbing with London's underworld. To do this, he poses as a juvenile delinquent.
Low-budget British offering where the production values do hinder enjoyment in the odd place but is generally just about acceptable on that front. The tale is a touch melodramatic in places but at least doesn't take that long to settle into some sort of a rhythm, and whilst there's nothing out of the ordinary on show it's serviceable enough to generate and maintain interest - albeit somewhat marred by a level of mediocre acting and poor delivery throughout. Always nice to see Sid James, in what was his screen debut.


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You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
I was thinking about watching Lara Croft: Tomb Raider for the 2000s countdown because it sounded like an Indiana Jones type of movie, but after reading your review, I'll probably pass. (I have a long watchlist anyway, so this just helps narrow it down.)
We have different tastes but on this one I can't really see you liking it that much more than myself, hopefully the time you save here will turn out to be invested in a more ballot-worthy fillum

Thanks for the info. I wasn't sure about Lara Croft: Tomb Raider anyway, so I don't mind passing on it. I didn't realize how many 2000s movies I haven't seen, so I've been trying to keep my watchlist down to mostly movies that potentially have a chance to make my list.



Silent Hill
Christophe Gans, 2006
Horror, Mystery
DVD


From TMDb:
In search for answers, a mother travels to the enigmatic town of Silent Hill when her daughter begins to suffer recurring nightmares related to the place. It doesn't take long for her to discover its home to beings as equally haunting as the town itself.
Video-game adaptation that provides a level of entertainment with some of its imagery and at times manages a little atmosphere, though the tale suffers from expository excess interrupting proceedings in the second half and it really ought to come as a surprise to no-one that it all gets a bit for the birds. Could've easily been pared back by a good twenty minutes or so imo - leave the witch alone and burn the writer I say.





Alien vs. Predator
Paul W.S. Anderson, 2004
Action, Adventure, Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
DVD


From TMDb:
When scientists discover something in the Arctic that appears to be a buried Pyramid, they send a research team out to investigate. Little do they know that they are about to step into a hunting ground where Aliens are grown as sport for the Predator race.
Like the concept, love the shifting pyramid environment and am perfectly willing to overlook the plot hole of 'Just who would the sacrifices have been?'. Sadly though the action scenes generally aren't worthy of either an alien or predator universe, proceedings never really allow for the building of anything other than small pockets of tension and how any aliens could possibly have made it to the final confrontation is far less easy to simply shrug off imo. As for the ending shot - for me it merely gives rise to the thought 'well, that won't live long' (Disclaimer: I've never seen any follow-up AVP movie so no idea if that was simply meant to be foreshadowing).





Hantise
Dominique Baumard, 2015
Drama
DVR - Filmbox Arthouse


From IMDb:
After an accident, Agnes wakes up, amnesiac. She is introduced to her husband, her child, her house, her job, her life. Or the one people wants to tell her?
Interesting short (28 mins) about identity that's solidly put together and oddly compelling even if it does eventually feel like it only really tells half a story.





I mainline Windex and horse tranquilizer
Remember when we saw The Brothers Bloom?


I liked that one.
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Qi jian - [Seven Swords]
Hark Tsui, 2005
Action, Adventure, Fantasy
DVD


From TMDb:
Seven warriors come together to protect a village from a diabolical General.
Epic wuxia tale that has a few moments of magic within (the final fight is excellent for instance) and certainly could and should have been better, as evidenced by the more cohesive portions of proceedings. Sadly though it suffers too often from lacking that cohesion, having the feel of a grander project that was rather butchered in the editing suite.


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