Beatle's reviews

Back to The Future



Year: 1985

Genre: Sci-Fi, Comedy, Adventure, Action

Director: Robert Zemeckis

Cast: Michael J. Fox, Christopher LLoyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, Thomas F. Wilson

Music: Alan Silvestri

Synopsis: Marty McFly (Fox) is accidentaly sent from 1985. to 1955. by a time-traveling car invented by Doc Emmett Brown (LLoyd).

This is one of the most fun films ever made, in my opinion. Typical 80s, we have an unbelievable, hell even confusing plot, with Marty having a looser father and even mother in the 80s, but through an aquantence with the renegade loose-cannon scientist Doc, who finally succedeed with something in his life, is sent back in time. Needless to say, he doesn't fit in. So we have hillarious scenes, like

Marty: Give me Pepsi free.
The barman: I can't give you a Pepsi free, bud! If you wanna Pepsi, you gotta pay for it!



He sort of, in his own words, stumbles upon his parents, since in the bar he sees his father being bullied by Biff (Wilson), nothing has changed. He chases him and sees him voyeuring his mother (Thompson) from a tree, and the clumsy looser that he is, he falls down in front of a car which just happens to be driven by his mother's father. He naturally and instinctively tries and succeeds to save him but takes his place in every sense imaginable. And this is where the fun begins...

We have the next hillarious scene after his mom falls in love with him.

Mother of his mother: Strange fellow.
Father of his mother: He's an idiot. His parents are probably idiots too. Lorraine (Thompson), if you'll ever have kids like that, I'll disown you.

He realizes he must seek out Doc, since he's his only chance to get out of this nightmare. So,we have the next hillarious scene.



Eventually, after telling him how he got the bruise on his head, he convinces Doc he's for real. The two start planning the escape from this nightmare. Doc advises him not to interfere with his parents, because that could ruin the future. The main problem is to get his parents together, because that's how the future started, and he was born. We have probably the most hillarious scene.



Deleted scene:




Followed by another one.



It all finally climaxes at the annual high school bal, while Doc is desperately trying to pull the vehicle together while fighting a storm, which is responsible for the plan.

The directing is very precise, direct and up to the point. LLoyd does a terrific job combining comedy and extravagance. Fox is pretty much the perfect choice, as a faisty, rebellious teenage type, as is Glover as his lunatic idiot looser dad, so the casting is what shines maybe even the most here.

2001 was a movie basically made for analyzing. I have this ludicrous theory about the monolith being God and the white room being Heaven.

I agree it's made for analyzing. Maybe. But then again, it's so mysterious, you can't even be sure about that. But I don't think it's ludicrous, since I agree on that too, only I think the monolith is in fact Jesus, sent by God. God is transcendental, can't be percieved directly by us humans, so I don't think Arthur C. Clarke has even tried to capture him in any way. It neber occured to me that about the white room, but being white, you're probably right there too. Or at least close to the truth. I read someone saying when he accidentaly spilled the glass, it symbolizes breaking the body, and letting the spirit loose.

Indeed, BTTF is great. So much fun!

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I need to put that on again soon. I'm curious to see if I still feel the same. I think I would.

Dirty Harry







Year: 1971

Genre: Thriller, Crime, Action

Director: Don Siegel

Cast: Clint Eastwood, Andy Robinson

Synopsis: A brutal sado-mazochistic psycho "Scorpio" is terrorizing San Francisco. Harry Callahan (Eastwood) takes matters into his own hands.

Clint is cool. I do have a dislikeability for him both character-wise and because of his right-hand political views, reflected in films. But I do like him. This is probably among top 15 most viewed movies for me, as they show it on TV all the time. Since I'm not a sado-mazochist, I like it. Scorpio is one of the most insane characters ever, and one of my faves because I see the funny side of it. He cracks me up. Both him and Clint. The atmosphere is also great, as you can still feel the 60s in the air. SF is along with New Orleans my fave American city, so more power to it.

We have the famous bank robbing scene at he beginning.

This is nicely set up to demonstrate Harry's character. Ruthless. Never hesitates. Cold as stone. Untouchable.

When he finds about Scorpio, and that the law is such BS that it practically glorifies him, and punishes his victims, he goes berzerk.

Then the law is crazy!

I have many favorite scenes. The first one is Scorpio driving him around town and finally getting stabbed in the leg making a glorious face.

The second one is going to the punisher to get himself beat up for money, just to accuse Harry of it. It nicely illustrates the sickos that form our society.

In the end, Harry goes completely by himself one on one, mano i mano against him with his big gun and we have a nice reversal of fortunes.

I have to deduce half a star because of the macho BS and Clint's not an outstanding actor.

Amazon Women on the Moon



Year: 1987

Genre: Satire, comedy

Directors: Joe Dante, Carl Gottlieb, Peter Horton, John Landis, and Robert K. Weiss.

Cast: Rosanna Arquette, Paul Bartel, Ralph Bellamy, Carrie Fisher, Sybil Danning, Griffin Dunne, Steve Forrest, Monique Gabrielle, Steve Allen, Steve Guttenberg, Arsenio Hall, Howard Hesseman, Lou Jacobi, Ed Begley, Jr, Russ Meyer, Kelly Preston, Henny Youngman, B.B. King, Henry Silva, Bryan Cranston, David Alan Grier, Peter Horton, William Marshall, Joe Pantoliano, Robert Picardo, Roxie Roker, Corey Burton, Phil Hartman, Forrest J. Ackerman, Lana Clarkson, Sybil Danning, Roger Barkley, Al Lohman, Ira Newborn, Corinne Wahl, Andrew Dice Clay, Phil Proctor, Paul Bartel, Michelle Pfeiffer

Synopsis: mah, forget about it

I love these types of movies. Travesties. Satires. Things that surgicaly depict our (or American, as is the focus here) society with phenomenal precision.

But we have something special here. The primal focus is on low-budget movies on late-night television. But it's so bizarre, one often gets lost. The Amazon Women on the Moon is shown on TV. But it is itself a parody of a parody film called Queen From Outer Space (1958) starring Zsa Zsa Gabor, which parodies Forbidden Planet, among others.

This insane cast is in my opinion deliberately chosen so that it encompasses the entire society. Hell, the only thing missing is a mathematician.

So, an unseen viewer watches late-night TV and The Amazon Women on the Moon is on. It experiences problems, so the person switches shannel, goes channel surfing. But anywhere it goes, the same movie is still on. It's on every programme. So, this is all just form. The main feature is showing what people are up to. We have a guy who looks for his wife on TV.

Now I will admit it's exceedingly silly. It doesn't quite hit the target. But at least it tries to cover every single aspect of human life, the entire ground. But then again, one might say that very thing is pretencious. It depends upon if it works or not, and it doesn't quite, imo. You could say the point is mocking this idiotic TV obsession of couch-potatoes and saying just how unhealthy and even evil TV is. And that's the one thing that does hit the target.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Director: Peter Jackson

Cast: Elijah Wood, Cate Blanchett, Ian McKellen, Christopher Lee, Orlando Bloom, Viggo Mortgensen, Liv Tyler, Sean Bean

Synopsis: A 50 ish Hobbit gets a job at destroying the ring

I'm not a Tolkien fan. He's rigid and animalistic. But it's so involving I read the book. People always say a fan and a great director took it to another level. If I directed it it'd be crap. bc i'm a lousy director. It probably has the best scenery.

One of the most intense intros narrated by Cate who is a perfect cast. I like better Lee. He works everywhere.

The famous title and a bit less genial music compard to Williams, but it fits the cold.

This thing runs slowly but surely. We get introduced to characters bit by bit. The Dark Lord Sauron, The Enemy, who represents the devil forged the ring which symbolizes the apple from the Garden of eden sort of made by the devil. Typical of JRR to put the antagonists name in the title.

I love the beginning and fooling around. But once the ring enters, you see there's no messing and is dead serious. Two old guyd with long hair and beards and sticks fighting each other through magic is weird, but that's JRR. The Gendalf-Saruman confrontation takes place immediately, unlike the book. Was it a wise choice?

So Froddo & Comp. take on a long and painfull journey. But if they achieve the goal, pain no more. One of my fave scenes is the council of Elrond where it's decided the ring must be destroyed. It's all together evil. The continuing theme in the story. clear distinction between good and evil. The unlikeliest choice in Froddo.

The legendary Moria scene.

My fave is Galadriel, The Lady of the Woods, The Lady of Light (Blanchett) who is too strong even for the ring. One of the most erotic experiences in cinema history. Quote until she grew taller than it could be measured, more beautiful than it could be endured, end quote. Climax of the movie.

Boromir (Bean who spetializes in movie deaths) goes insane and the fellowship breaks.

I have serious problems. It's so cold, dark and intense you feel like your in the zoo. For such movies I always take a star off. I give it 4 stars on.

Gilda


Year: 1946

Director: Charles Vidor

Cast: Rita Heyworth, Glenn Ford

Genre: Drama, film-noir, romance

Synopsis: A small-time gambler hired to work in a Buenos Aires casino learns that his ex-lover is married to his employer.

Nigh-unbelieveble. This is probably my favorite 40s movie outside my old list. I'm recognizing Charles as one of my fave directors solely because of this film. I also find surprising how many of this classics use narration.

The forties saw WW2, and it or its aftermath are reflected in many films of the era. This movie's no exception.

It features probably the most outrageous love - hate relationship I've seen in a movie. Up to the point that they almost fight and kiss at the same time.

The critical idea revolves around Johnny Farrell (Ford) marrying Gilda (Heyworth, in her greatest role in my opinion) to torture her (because she couldn't resist the marriage since she loves him) for their betrayal of his former employer and her former husband. Namely, Johnny withnessed his airplane crash thinking he killed himself because he couldn't stand his wife betraying him with Johnny. But in fact he faked his own death. Since Gilda enherits a lot of money and they immidiately marry, he becomes rich and powerful which enables him to keep her in captivity. This hell is even worse for him because he's the sadist.

After all these complications, there's a happy end, since Gilda and Johnny reconcile. And that's the key thing for me.

The Bridge on the River Kwai



Year: 1957

Director: David Lean

Cast: Alec Guinness, William Holden, Jack Hawkins

Genre: Drama, War

Synopsis: A captive British colonel decides to build a bridge for the Japanese during world war II.

This classic masterpiece has long time been one of my all time favorites. It has my favorite director and actor. Which is no surprise because they had a legendary collaboration. It's the first of Lean's epic movies. Namely, Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, Ryan's Daughter and Passage to India would follow.

Cinematography is spectacular. They actually build a real bridge and used a real train which would collapse into the river Kwai while on the bridge as it gets blown away. We have Lean trademark directing: shots from a big distance, comprehending epic objects such as the bridge. The one thing about Lean that distinguishes him from any other director I know is you don't notice his presence. Many directors have their own unique styles. It's like he's not there at all. I'm afraid that other directors want to show off how good they are - their character is visible. Not him. He doesn't care about that. He's there to direct.

Same is with Guinness.

It tells the story of an imprisoned British regiment, lead by colonel Nicholson (Guinness) in a Japaneese camp in Asia. From the word go it's clear it will be very sarcastic. In the words of an imprisoned American soldier Shears (Holden, who is responsable for most of the sarcasm throughout the film), after hearing Nicholson he hopes his antagonist party colonel Saito is a reasonable man:

I could call Saito many names, but reasonable is not one of them.

So, the Japanese should build a bridge in a relatively short deadline. At first Nicholson refuses to help, even if it means his life - he's a true soldier. Saito locks him in a box to break him. The next line describes his obsesssion, while a British doctor, the only sane soul in the movie brings him food :

My good man, don't you understand it's a matter of principle? I must show him that these men can't be broken in spirit or body.

Of course, such a madman is too much even for the proverbialy strickt Japanese, who is a colonel in addition, and we have the famous scene of Saito, now a broken man, crying like a baby. That's what Lean does: he reduced this big soldier litterally to the level of an infant. That's the message - all these big macho guys are in fact children.

Nicholson wins, and we have the famous celebration scene of the entire regiment carrying him victoriously. Even Saito couldn't kill a man simply because hee refused to build a bridge. But the Japanese couldn't finish it until the deadline, not without British help. Now the most famous and my favorite conversation in the movie takes part:

- If I don't build the bridge until the 15th of May, I will have to kill myself! What would you do if you were me?
- If I were you, I'd kill myself.

Finally, Nicholson gets a crucial insane idea - he will buid the bridge, just to show how superior the British are. In a conversation that followed he explains to Saito he we building it in mud, and needs to be taken further down the river.

In the meantime, Shears, who's escaped and arrived at a British millitary camp, eager to get out of it all and go back home to the USA, gets recruited again because he's the only one who knows the way to the Japanese camp. A true hedonist, he's very upset. This is the conversation that follows between him and a Brithish officer Warden (Hawkins):

- You'll have to jump with a parachute. The chances that the parachute opens are 70%. If it does, the chances that you don't get hit by an enemy are 90%.If you don't get hit,the chances you don't wind up on a tree are 80%. All in all, you have 50% chances to survive.
- Nice.
- But you will have to make the jump.
- With or without parachute.
- Hahaha! Jolly good!

This conversation is important, because it depicts the difference between Britons and Americans.

So they hed for the camp to blow up the bridge having no clue what Nicholson's doing. We get such sarcastic lines from Holden as JOLLY GOOD!¨GOOD SHOW! what something wents wrong, most notably when a radio fails to work, and he kicks it with his foot in anger which makes it work. Being told before by Hawkins there's alwaays an element of unexpected, he says:

But there's always the element of unexpected.

Hawkins has an injured leg, but wants heroically to continue, which makes Holden snap.

You make me sick! You and your colonel Nicholson, you're two of a kind! How to fight like a man, how to die like gentleman! When the only important thing is how to live like a human being!

Meanwhile, Nicholson finished the bridge. They arrive and set the explosives under water during night because they knew that the ceremony of opening the bridge will be demonstrated by a train full of Japanese soldiers next morning when they meant to detonate it. But over night the tide went down, so explosive became visible. They saw it themselves, but what could they do? The next morning Nicholson saw it himslef.

There's something odd going on.

He told Saito and took him to investigate While Warden was watching them through binoculars.

He's gone mad! He's leading him right to it! Our own man!

All that time, about 15 minutes worth, we hear the train sirene blowing louder and louder, and after a while even the locomotive itslef.

All hell breaks loose. An American soldier kills Saito. Shears comes out of the water to confront Nicholson.

Nicholson: You?!
Shears: You!

Nicholson finally realizes what he's done.

What have I done?

A granate explodes near him, rending him unconcious. He stands up, and falls unconcious again. He falls on the detonator blowing up the bridge while the locomotive was on it. The end.

Originally Posted by Beatle

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

My favourite of the films.

Originally Posted by Beatle

One of the most intense intros narrated by Cate who is a perfect cast.

I don't know the books at all but it's hard to imagine her being imperfect for the role. She is great at narration, you're right. I wonder if she's done much audio-only work over the years?

Originally Posted by Beatle

I like better Lee. He works everywhere.

If anyone fancies being terrified over the festive season they should seek him out reading M. R. James's Ghost Stories for Christmas. I recommend A Warning to the Curious . I affectionately call the story A Bitchslap to the Curious.

Originally Posted by Beatle

The Dark Lord Sauron

Another spectacular voice — Alan Howard owns that character.

Originally Posted by Beatle

My fave is Galadriel, The Lady of the Woods, The Lady of Light (Blanchett) who is too strong even for the ring. One of the most erotic experiences in cinema history. Quote until she grew taller than it could be measured, more beautiful than it could be endured, end quote. Climax of the movie.

Yeah that about covers it . She's very attractive in the scene with Frodo and the ring as I recall. I loved seeing her doing the similar "underwater" dark Galadriel sequence – pre-effects – in The Battle of the Five Armies. Her acting was so powerful and convincing you almost didn't need the add-ons.

She really is iconic in that film.

Amazing character. Before Heath Ledger there was Andy Robinson.

I mean, before Ledger there was Sid Vicious and Iggy Pop... and Malcolm McDowell. Before Robinson there was... Arthur Leigh Allen???

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This post was not worth it.

Yeah, mine too, and most people's I think, and the only one from this millenium on AFI's list - it's exactly half way through, no. 50. Funny that, because it used to be ROTK, for me and the world, I don't know what happened.

I liked the variety of locations the most in the first film.