A couple of films I've seen recently:
Young Sherlock Holmes (1985), Barry Levinson's fanciful account of a teenage Holmes and Watson adventure. The film was also known as Young Sherlock Holmes and the Pyramid of Fear, and that title shows this was an attempt to cash in on the success of the Indiana Jones films. It's quite an enjoyable film if not taken too seriously. It has a short post credit scene which is a must see scene.
Gideon of Scotland Yard (1958). Considering it was directed by John Ford and starred Jack Hawkins it should have been a much better film. The film is an account of a typical day of an inspector at Scotland Yard. The film may have seemed convincing at the time it was released, but with numerous police television series since, the film now seems somewhat ridiculous and unconvincing. One of the villains was played by Ronald Howard who was the son of Leslie Howard. Gideon's daughter was played by Anna Massey in her film debut - her godfather was John Ford.
I saw High Crimes (2002) starring Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman. Fairly routine military courtroom drama - wife is an attorney and defends her husband who is accused of a war crime - the denoument was of little surprise.
It was nice to see John Billingsley in a small role as the lie detector coach - he was Dr Phlox in the Star Trek enterprise series.
I resaw Dave (1993) which is about a look-a-like for the American president is called to tkae his place when the president has a stroke. Pleasing performances from Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver and from a good supporting cast make this feel-good movie a constant delight.
Kevin Kline took over the part when Kevin Costner and Warren Beatty declined. I don't think the film would have been as enjoyable if either of those had taken the part.
I saw The Prestige (2006) starring Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Michael Caine and Scarlet Johannson.
Two magicians in the 19th century are rivals for performing the ultimate illusion. This leads to deadly results. Interesting film, and more complex than the average Hollywood film.
David Bowie appears as Nikola Tesla, the man who created the Tesla coil.
The film was based on the book by Chrisopher Priest, a writer strongly influenced by the science fiction of H G Wells.
I saw The Year of Living Dangerously (1982) about a young Australian reporter caught up in the turmoil in Indonesia during Sukarno's time. Peter Weir's last Australian film before he moved to Hollywood, and Mel Gibson's breakthrough role.
The real star of the film was Linda Hunt playing a short male photographer and she was mesmirising and justly won the Oscar for best supporting actress.
I saw Stalag 17 (1953), Billy Wilder's classic prisoner of war film starring William Holden. A successful mix of tragedy, comedy and intrigue. Robert Strauss and Harvey Lembeck provided much of the humour. Early role for Peter Graves (Mission Impossible TV series). The commandant in charge of the POW camp was well played by Otto Preminger, better known as a director.
I saw Le sang d'un poÃĻte (The Blood of a Poet) (1932). Directed by Jean Cocteau, it was a very odd film. The IMDB plot summary has this:
A young artist draws a face at a canvas on his easel. Suddenly the mouth on the drawing comes into life and starts talking. The artist tries to wipe it away with his hand, but when he looks into the hand he finds the living mouth on his palm. He tries to wipe it off on the mouth of an unfinished statue of a young woman. The statue comes into life and tells him that the only way out of the studio is through the looking glass. The artist jumps into the mirror and comes to the Hotel of Dramatic Lunacies. He peeps through the keyholes of a series of hotel rooms. In the last room he sees desperate meetings of hermaphrodites. One of them has a signboard saying "Mortal danger". Back in the studio the artist crushes the statue with a sledgehammer. Because of this he himself becomes a statue, located at the side of a square. Some schoolboys start a snowball fight around the statue. One of the boys is killed by a snowball. A fashionable couple start playing cards at a table beside the corpse. The woman tells the man that unless he holds the ace of hearts he is doomed. The man takes the ace of hearts from the dead boy. The child's guardian, a black angel, appears and takes away the corpse as well as the card. Losing the ace of hearts the man shoots himself. The woman is transformed into the unfinished statue from the studio, and walks away.
First of what became know as the Orphic Trilogy, it has the virtue of being short at just over 50 minutes.
The Gentle Gunman (1952) 7.5/10
The Dictator (2012) 4/10
Occident (2002) 6/10
Never Let me Go ,was decribed as a rom/com on sky
it haunted me after I watched it.
wont spoil it but you can read about on wiki
The girl with the dragon tatoo-(swedish version ) on film 4
a bit violent but I loved it
Originally Posted by jackassfan:
I have seen this film several times and give it a 9/10 rating. Although a bit stilted in places the film is one of Eisenstein's best films, it is at times horrifying, other times exciting, and other times humerous. It is the Russian equivalent of Laurence Olivier's Henry V (1944) as both films were based on historical events and were used as propaganda against the Nazis.
What makes Alexander Nevsky almost unique is that the film was a collaboration between the director and the composer and the film being almost created around the music. The music was by Sergei Prokofiev, one of the major Russian composers. The only other film I am aware of with this form of collaboration is Once upon a time in the West (Sergio Leone/Ennio Morricone).
I have Alexander Nevsky in two versions, one on DVD, the other on VHS tape.
The one on VHS tape is very unusual. The music score was restored and was performed by the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Yuri Temirkanov. Not unusual in that but what is unusual is that the VHS tape has no film classification on it as it was treated as a music tape rather than a feature film tape and therefore exempt. As far as I know this version has never been released on DVD.
I loved The Prestige but must admit I had to watch it twice to really
get it
Hereafter and Grand Torino both directed by Clint Eastwood
are worth watching.And of course Lord of the Rings trylogy
lol EL loro
must look out for your films ,Taken wasn't a film but a series I love science fiction,have watched both of The day the earth stood still films,the one with
Michael Rennie (think thats his name)is my fav.klatu-barada-niko,Gort
scared me to death love itx
I've seen the Michael Rennie version of The Day the Earth stood still a few times and it's a good film. I have the remake on DVD but haven't got round to seeing it yet.
I remember Taken when it was shown on television. Dakota Fanning as the young girl was amazing. To be able to give such a convincing performance clearly shows that if she is as good an adult actor as she was as a child actor she could be phenomenal.
I have an interest in a very wide range of films from very old films onwards. To me, a film needs to be well told and acted - special effects have little interest to me unless they are there to develop the story. Films which are just an excuse for special effects have little interest to me.
Ive looked up some of the films mentioned on wiki they sound really good
its FUNNY I love all the books from CS Lewis read them all at my age .
I have the first three that have been made into films .
Johny Depp is another of my favourites ,The ninth Gate,
Alice in wonderland as the mad hatter .cant stand films that leave you wringing your hands thinking *what the heck did that ending mean*
If someone asked what is your favourite film mmmmm
oh forgot The Lovely Bones 2009 a girl tellimg the story of her own murder