Beatle's reviews

Thanks. I don't. I only have DVD drive on my comp, even my DVD player broke. How much would that cost? Nevertheless, I bought some 3D blue rays, you know me, I'm crazy. Is there such a thing as unconverted 3D feature? My God, no appropriate smiley for this, as in to let you know I'm not being sarcastic.

Even though I'm a huge fan of 80's comedies, I never cared for Police Academy. I'm not sure why.

I do love Sex, Lies, and Videotape, and I enjoyed Air Force One.

Of course, The Wizard of Oz is the big one. It's one of the greatest classics.

Yes there is.

There is converted 3D, which is a process done with a movie filmed in 2D - whether on digital or actual film doesn't matter - and this process has both been done with new releases and old releases.

Then there is native 3D, which is movies filmed with an actual 3D camera that has been made to film 3D images - this is usually some kind of lense technique that films two images simultaneously and then combines them within the actual camera.

But with a converted 3D film you do all of that work in post - meaning you create the 3D effect artificially, which is why some converted 3D films looks bad and miss a lot of 3D effect, because they weren't really "made" that way.

But there's a few selected films out there, Wizard of Oz being one of them, where the conversion is brilliant and works wonderfully. Usually it's just all about time and effort and you can actually make a 3D converted feature that looks as good as a native one.

Hope that answered your question.

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I love The Wizard of Oz, but I've never thought of it as a "children's film". The flying monkeys scared the hell out of me when I was a kid.

The Fearless Vampire Killers







Year:1967

Genre: Cult film/Horror

Director: Roman Polanski

Cast: Roman Polanski, Sharon Tate, Jack MacGowran, Alfie Bass

Plot: The elderly bat researcher, professor Abronsius (MacGowran) and his assistant, Alfred (Polanski), go to a remote Transylvanian village looking for vampires. Alfred falls in love with the inn-keeper's young daughter Sarah (Tate). However, she has been spotted by the mysterious count Krolock who lives in a dark and creepy castle outside the village. Sarah is bitten by a vampire and taken to a castle. The noted professor and his dim-witted apprentice go for the rescue. They think they saved her, but in fact she becomes a vampire herself and a source for the very evil they were fighting against and trying to destroy.

Polanski created an unbelievable Gothic-like vampire atmosphere, where the feel of the sixties is all over. The film includes many genres: action, adventure, fantasy, mystery, romance, comedy, film noir . The comic scenes are great, as is Polanski as a clueless, yet fallen in love idiot. MacGowran is also great as a nutty professor. Sharon is fantastic (OK, maybe more physically than psychologicaly, but maybe not) as a maiden. I guess the point is that evil can't be beaten by idiots.

Underrated gem.

I've given this thought, and you're right. It's no children's film. It is a bit wicked. I'll decrease my rating to 4/5 if I can. I still love it, though.

There's no reason to decrease your rating. It's still deserves that high rating. I was just pointing out that it's not a children's film.

No, it's not just that. I really gave it thought. There's something nasty about it. OK, maybe that's not the right word, call it stiff, too much of a fairy tale for my taste, sort of like Star Wars. It has a certain wickedness (maybe not the right word) and intensity about it. I'll give both 4/5.

If you're lowering your rating for your own reasons, that's okay. I just didn't want you to lower it because of what I said.

Breakfast at Tiffany's





Year: 1961

Genre: Romantic comedy

Director: Blake Edwards

Cast: Audrey Hepburn, Mickey Rooney, George Peppard

Music: Henry Mancini

Plot: Holly Golightly (Hepburn) is a New York socialite whose life is empty and shallow. It takes Paul Varjack (Peppard) to show her true meaning of love and life.

This has numerous twists and turns and it's so original it can hardly be even called a classic romantic comedy, I guess. The highlight for me is when her marriage fails due to the fact she's been arrested! "Sorry, I can't marry you any more, you're a criminal." It's a complicated plot, one doesn't know what to appreciate more and it still fits perfectly together. Edwards is a good choice, since he excels at light-tempered stories. We have the most beautiful and elegant more here than anywhere Audrey Hepburn in addition. It's almost like a fashion show, among all other things. Really, this film is a cookie! The interactions are also close to perfect, my only objection being overplaying it a bit. Moon River is also very nice. It was selected as the fourth most memorable song in Hollywood history. This is probably the Audrey Hepburn film, where she establishes herself and her character for the entire decade. Mickey Rooney's Japanese is certainly something unseen before or since. I'm having trouble rating it, because it annoyed me 15 years ago. Now I see it in a different light.

Hysterical Blindness


Year: 2002

Genre: Drama

Director: Mira Nair

Cast: Uma Thurman, Juliette Lewis, Gena Rowlands, Ben Gazzara

Plot: A young woman doesn't see things the way they are. She and her friend lament their unhappy lives as they search for Mr. Right in the 1980s New Jersey.

I'm not sure I quite understand the movie. Does it want to say life for women in the modern world (even though it's a bit different today) is hard? Anyway Debby (Thurman) is looking for a guy and a more meaningful relationship. She tries with a good looking dude, but it's clear he wants only sex. And the climactic scene here is when they're shot showing their profiles kissing, and she gets down on her knees. Then there's hysterical blindness, a psychological desease consisting of lost of sight due to a trauma. Clearly, she clearly sees and as far as we know, she didn't suffer a trauma. So, I guess it's taken to a purely psychological level. So maybe it's because of it or her fault she fails. Maybe she lives in a world of illusions. One has to feel sorry for her, especially when she tries to hit it again with him, dancing around in a bar and scared to death if she'll make it. I can relate to that because I was in simmilar situations and always failed. The only positive thing happened when she was talking to Nick (Gazzara), an older guy whom the two thought was an sshole, and it was him, out of all people that actually said anything nice to her. But then he passes away. I like the cast, especially Uma in a physical way (I know I'm sounding like the guy now, but what can I do, she's Venus herself) and Lewis character-wise, she's so funny! As for the direction, it's very soft, feminine and acting, well...Uma has a considerable talent, doesn't she? I couldn't find a flaw, from everydayness, flerting, looking lost and humiliated, having false hopes, scared, angry, pleased and finaly overjoyed and having fun in the final scene. Juliette plays astonnishingly well a funny and easy going and unbelievably likeable chearful girl. They do well to show two types: Debby is more serious, feminine, profound one and Beth is the careless type. They aslo do well to show that there's actually no particular chemistry between them. The wardrobe is absolutely beautiful for Uma. It also has very unique and romantic, feminine opening titles. The design is great. It also has the single most beautiful exposure of female beauty in a scene when she walks away from a window.

It's A Wonderful Life



Year: 1946

Genre: Christmas family fantasy comedy-drama

Director: Frank Capra

Cast: James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore

Synopsis: Displeased with his life, George Bailey (Stewart) tries to kill himself by jumping off a bridge into a river. Just as he was about to do it, someone jumps instead. That someone turns out to be an angel send by God with a purpose to save him by showing him what would the world be like without him and how wonderful his life in fact was. Through many difficulties, he finaly succeeds.

I saw it every single Christmas for years and years in a row since it was on TV. Surely, if there's the Christmas classic, this is it. It's got that everlasting moral - you don't know what you have until you've lost it. We see George in a devastating financial trouble caused by a monstruous local scrooge of the town Mr. Potter (Barrymore) and it's so bad that, thinking his family will be better off with him dead, he attempts suicide. So, it's this evil bastard that's causing trouble, making money for himself and no doubt he'd destroy the entire town doing so if he could. So here we see a broken man - he has nothing left to loose, or so he thought, in fact he thinks death is actually a gain. To add to the somber situation, the scene is set at night time. And then we see a confused, bewildered, angry, completely desparate man. How is this possible? It really is even worse than before. As a final blow, he finds out that his wife has become an old maid. Yes, he didn't have to check everything out, but he couldn't resist and just had to know and find out. After that, he finally realises he actually had it all to begin with, all that matters. And he was a fool to let financial difficulties, such a second rate problem to his present situation destroy him. This is the classic case of being given a second chance. And I, as a Christian, believe it is so. Indeed, it's a truly Christian film, and of course it's no wonder it's set on Christmas. So, what's the point, afterall? The point is that even in the darkest night, there's light. A single candle conquers all darkness. Love is more than just a feeling. Love can ignight stars. In the end, when everything turns back to normal, we find that the whole town unites to help him, everyone giving what they can. This is a universal story about human kindness and i really do believe it still holds even today when the whole world seems dark.



As for the pure technical aspect, it's black and white, as was of course done in the day, which only emphasizes even further the good and the evil. Capra is of course one of the greatest directors of all time and I always enjoy his movies, for they are sweet and flexible and fluent and never rigid and he doesn't obsess with utter perfectionism and seriousness which would, more in this case than ever, destroy the humanity of it. But this is his masterpiece. This is one in a lifetime movie, and who knows if anything like it will ever be made again. Jimmy has displayed such a variety of emotions and psychological states that only when one thinks about it is amazed - from everydayness to an ordinary man in an unordinary, desperate, crazy, impossible situation. I think that when he was crying "Give me my life back!", it was the single most outstanding performance of despair in cinema histoey. And the we have happy beyond even his own belief , enchantment and finaly happiness which is the meaning of life. Jimmy was in so many classics, probably more than anyone else, yet if I had to choose the classic among classics, this is it - a classic even to other classics. Now I can't say it's my favorite movie, but the Christianity of it is something to behold and give you strength and carry you on even in your darkest hour. This is as close as we came to a film version of The Bible.

Hey mate, nice reviews.

I would change that font from your last 2 reviews tho, they where a little hard to read.

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Hey, thanks! You're the only one up there in the heavens reviews i didn't check in yet, purely by coincidence. I'll drop in any minute now. If I may?

Yeah, sorry about that. But there's something wrong with my laptop. When I type it looks one way, and when I post it's completely different. Sorry. I'll change it.

Yeah check in mate.

Check in the review countdown thread aswell mate, get your votes in.

No Retreat, No Surrender 2


Year: 1987

Genre: action

Director: Corey Yuen

Cast: Loren Avedon, Matthias Hues, Max Thayer, Cynthia Rothrock

Plot: An American college (Avedon) teams up with his former martial arts teacher (Thayer) and his girlfriend (Rothrock) against a monstruous Soviet military madman (Hues) in a rescue operation.

I saw this back then and absolutely loved it. I had it on video. We have here the Queen of martial arts Cynthia herself; Loren, whom I've always loved, he was in so many great martial arts movies, shame he didn't hit the Jean Claude heights (don't get me wrong, I adore Van Damme), but it's Hues who steals the show. He's one hell of a monster. 6' 5'' and 250 pounds. I actually haven't seen it ever since then, but I guess I'll always remember when Cynthia confronted him:



even though she's so god deam beautiful and smokin' hot, it didn't help her in this situation. Yuri (Hues) grabbed her with one arm, lifted her and while she was kicking and screaming, threw her some 100 feet away! The audience consisting of soldiers applauds in admiration.



This just shows you just how tough Cynthia is to even be able to do this.

And in the final confrontation, just before it begun, Loren shot him in the arm



but even so had no chance against him. I thought he was gonna use a cannon when he grabbed something, you know kicking him with everything he's got, they thore the entire camp apart, but still it wasn't enough. Imagine this: Loren kicks you on the head with a maia-geri, jumping like from 15 feet above and 35 feet away from you, how would you react? Would you react at all? Ever again? But not this guy! Oh, no! He didn't even blink! Finally Loren takes a Soviet flag, wraps around his head, a rope, wraps around his feet, ties the other end to a jeep and takes him on a joy ride through the entire camp. I'm pretty sure all this worked only because he caught him off guard, otherwise Yuri would've thore the rope appart or pulled the jeep, waving it like a lasso and throwing it outside this universe, thus breaking the fourth cosmic speed. Anyway, Yuri ends up in an alligator pit and they get the better of him. That's just pure sci-fi.

Too bad he's just ONE shy from 144, that would be 12^2.

The final fight starts at 1: 35 and it's well worth watching.

Truly, sometimes I prefer b-movies and b-stars.

I know this is no 2001, but out of nostalgia

Maybe just a word or two on those double spacing. It was unintentional. I guess it has something to do with font size. I write titles in maximal size, and it seems to create a double space. Then it dawned on me I can write the title last, and it worked. But the genius I am , I completely forgot it. I thought just to explain myself before I continue. And is this last font ok?

Beatle, great reviews! Love your It's a Wonderful Life review. I, too, am a Christian and can see the Christianity in the movie. Despite people complaining of it being overplayed during the Christmas season, I can jump in at any point and watch it over and over again. And as James Stewart is my favorite actor, that's icing on the cake.

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"Miss Jean Louise, Mr. Arthur Radley."

Hey thanks Dadgumblah, this means a lot! Not to mention that you've been reputating me at such a blasting speed, you go any faster, and I won't be able to keep up! Always nice to have a Christian whom I can talk to. As it says below, good will win in the end. Yeah, I could go and watch it right now again and for the 30thish time. My favorite actor is Alec Guinness, who was also a true Catholic, even though he's English. What I love about James Stewart is that he's a fighter. So, it was a great casting, as well.