Page 1 of What I watched this week (w/e Sunday 10th July)

On DVD:

Lord of the Rings - Otherwise known as Lord of the Rings: The Extended Day; in just over 11 hours I watched all three extended editions of The Lord of the Rings films and they really combine to make a magnificent piece of filmmaking. I still have problems with the entire CGI battles, Orlando Bloom's acting, the 'thin' nature of the Two Towers and the cheese laden ending of Return of the King which is at least 15 minutes too long. However, this is an epic masterpiece which will stand up in years to come despite its flaws. :)

Vera Drake - This should not be an easy film to watch, given that it is about a backstreet abortionist in 1950 but Mike Leigh's direction and the flawless acting by everyone involved, especially Imelda Staunton, creates a thoroughly believable and thought provoking film. :D

Million Dollar Baby - Brilliantly directed by Clint Eastwood and with superb performances from Eastwood, Hilary Sw*** and Morgan Freeman, this is an excellent film. SPOILER:
I have real problems with the second half of the film, most of which stem from the fact that I am a tetraplegic having suffered a broken neck: why were her pressure marks allowed to deteriorate to the point where she needed her leg amputated? Why was her depression not dealt with? Why was the film practically giving you the impression that death is preferable to life as a tetraplegic? :)

Amityville II: The Possession - This prequel to The Amityville Horror is not scary, badly acted, badly directed and pretty stupid but isn't as bad as it could've been. :(

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans - F. W. Murnau's American debut saw him being given complete creative control of the film by the Fox studio and the result is a masterpiece which is wonderfully directed and acted with a tremendous score which probably helped it as it was released as silent films were on the way out and 'talkies' were the big thing at the box office. The simple story of a farmer who fall in lust with a beautiful girl, decides to murder his wife in order to move to the city with the vocational but has a change of heart to spend a wonderful day in the city with his wife is a joy to watch over 80 years after its release. :D

All About My Mother - Pedro Almodovar tends to make films about family break up, tragedy and friendship and this is no exception involving HIV, transvestism, death and friends in strange places. With exceptional skill, Almodovar drags you into this strange world and moves the emotions wonderfully as the story unravels. :D

Bad Education - Similar to All About My Mother in substance, Bad Education tells the story of an actor who is abused at school by his teacher whom he is now blackmailing whilst a film is being made of a script he wrote accounting his time at school. Complicated - yes; enjoyable - not really; brilliant - certainly. :D

Criminal - The American remake of the Argentinean 'con' film Nine Queens is not as good as the original but John C. Reilly is always worth watching and Diego Luna is a fine young actor. Having seen Nine Queens, I knew exactly what was going on and who was conning who but if you have not seen either of the films then this is worth a watch. :)

Mean Girls - An interesting and funny commentary on life in school, with the different cliques, personalities and other problems that can impact on the life of a girl who starts high school having never attended a school in her life as her mother taught her at home while she grew up in Africa. We never find out where in Africa Lindsay Lohan grew up but she has picked up an extremely strong American accent from wherever it was! :)

The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)/ Dracula (1958 )/ The Mummy (1959) - I much prefer the Universal releases to these first films from the Hammer studios but Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee revel in their roles in three classic films which are all well directed and written with complete reverence to the original Universal releases. :D

Trilogy: One (Cavale) - A member of a French left wing terrorist group is broken out of prison and begins planning further acts of terrorism and reprisals against those who led to his imprisonment. Well directed and acted but the film will take more than one viewing to fully appreciate it. :)

Finding Neverland - I can see why so many people love this movie and why it was recognised by the Academy but I didn't get the 'magic' in this 'true' story of how J. M. Barrie came to write Peter Pan; Jonny Depp's wandering accent didn't help. :¦

La Strada - Zampano, a circus strongman brilliantly played by Anthony Quinn tours Italy, needing an assistant for his act, he buys a simple girl Gelsomina (Giulietta Masina) from a poor widow at the seaside who he then takes on the road trip that the film takes its name from. Fellini's direction and storytelling ability are on fine form here and Masina, his wife, is a cross between Harpo Marx and Charlie Chaplin in a wonderful performance. :D

Pieces of April - Peter Hedges' film about a young woman, April (Katie Holmes), whose plans to prepare a Thanksgiving meal for her family do not go to plan is funny, touching and beautifully acted. Katie Holmes is impressive in the lead and Hedges' writing and direction works perfectly with the film being shot (almost) entirely on DV. :)


On cable:

Welcome to the Jungle - Christopher Walken plays a loony, The Rock is a 'retrieval expert' sent by a mob boss to find his son (Seann William Scott) who is playing treasure hunter in Brazil; The Rock and Scott find themselves involved in a revolutionary struggle and the search for a priceless artefact. Silly, but what else should I have expected from a film with The Rock and Seann William Scott as the main stars? :(


At the cinema:

War of the Worlds - I thought I'd give this another go to see if it was better the second time around; it wasn't. :(

The Descent - The last time I was this impressed with a horror movie at the cinema was when I watched The Exorcist on re-release. Similar to 28 Days Later and with superb direction and very good acting. :)


Downloads:

Nothing - everything seems to be having a holiday. :(


My Top 20 Horror Movies ---- My DVD Collection

DVD
In the mid-seventies the National Theatre in London performed to packed houses Peter Shaffer`s play "Equus". A story of a disturbed boy who blinds several horses, based on fact. A very young Peter Firth played the major role. I was lucky enough to see this production.
The film, starkly and beautifully directed by Sidney Lumet, stars Richard Burton in possibly his best acting roll along with Peter Firth fresh out of the stage production.
As the play was heavily stylised, so is the film, wisely so. The disturbing subject matter covers God, religion, mythology, passions, empty lives and psychotherapy.
The two main "set pieces" are hauntingly done, mostly in one take. In the Big Ride the scene is lit by moonlight and mist. In the Seduction Scene an orange glow slowly seeps into the frame. Magnificent and atmospheric camera work by Oswald Morris adds to the entire film. From the opening shot of Richard Burton talking to camera as the scene is slowly lit, to the end where the lights fade and the camera moves into his craggy face, only his eye showing, staring out and asking us, telling us, "passion, you see, can be destroyed by a doctor. It cannot be created" .
The Seduction Scene is still probably the boldest scene between actor and actress (Jenny Agutter forever ridding her image of "The Railway Children") ever filmed. Nothing is spared and a very brave move to include this climatic scene intact from the play.
The film has many questions, with no answers, hence the soliloquys to camera. Where do the influences in our childhood come from? Why do we "choose" (if we choose) to take in one thing and not another. If a person is in pain, yet has passion, should psychiatry destroy this to make the person "normal"?
Peter Firth was powerful in his first screen role. He couldn`t possibly get any better than this in a complex role.
I enjoyed this film as much as the stage play, and it still has enormous impact. A pleasure to see a script that is both literate, poetic and intelligent.
The DVD has let the film down somewhat. MGM has chosen to show a slightly grainy copy in an odd screen ration (14.9 on the TV). I blew it up to 16.9 without any ill effect to the imagery. Non anamorphic and in mono.
Not an easy film, but one that will challenge.

apologies for the threadjack, but whats the difference between being a quadraplegic and a tetraplegic? Im assuming they mean pretty much the same except one is derived from greek and the other from latin?

Quote:
whats the difference between being a quadraplegic and a tetraplegic?There isn`t one; `plegic`, comes from the Greek word `Plegia`, meaning paralysis, with `tetra` meaning all and `quad` meaning four (limbs). Both terms refer to someone who is paralysed from the neck down but Americans tend to say quadraplegic whereas in Britain we say tetraplegic - don`t ask me why. :/


My Top 20 Horror Movies ---- My DVD Collection

CINEMA

The Descent - Pretty great horror film. Very tense and needs to be seen in a PACKED cinema with lots of girly girls and claustraphobes :D

I had some problems with the last third of the film. Too generic and some unbelievable character changes remove all the character build-up. Which was a shame. But the actual ending is good. Although there are too many fake scares or "red-herrings".

DVD

Sling Blade - I love this film. Ok, it`s overly sentimental and Billy Bob (writer, director and star) takes a minimalist approach to the entire film (mirrors the main character). It`s one of the few films that makes me nearly bubble up at the end. Also kinda sad watching it realising both JT Walsh and John Ritter are no longer with us :(

Vertigo - Great Hitchcock film. Stands up well visually, although the romance has to be looked at with innocent eyes :x ;)

The Lost Boys - Cheese. 80`s. Vampires. I love this film.

Scrubs - Finished the season and extras. Brilliant TV show, can`t wait until September so I can watch Season 2 :D

A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: Dream Master - A good sequel, even if Freddy is no longer scary, still good special effects after all these years.

Vanishing Point - Excellent car chase film, excellent music, and great story.

The Driver - Top notch thriller, plenty of tense moments, Walter Hill at his best.

Wanted Dead or Alive - Classic 80s action movie with Rutger Haur, starts off cheesy, but is a fun ride with an explosive ending.

Hostage - Excellent thriller, real edge of the seat movie, and Bruce Willis is such a good actor a far cry from his Die Hard days.

The Rookie - Another great Clint Eastwood movie, could easily of been another Dirty Harry movie, classic one liners, great action sequences highly entertaining.

floyd


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DVD collection

Ponette. A very talented and intelligent four-year-old and a director who clearly understands children perfectly work together to produce the most wonderful performance by a child I have ever seen on screen. A heartbreaking but sweet and occasionally humourous drama about a little girl grieving for her mother - seeing this tiny little kid sobbing in a boarding school chapel begging God to let her talk to her mum one more time is almost too much to take, amazing stuff.

The Locals. First half - reinforcements of my preconceptions about the New Zealand (and Aussie) countryside and its residents. Second half - bloody ruined because of the really dim-witted Philipines aka title listed on the IMDb page, though it was a pretty obvious twist anyway. Quite good for what it was, though subject matter and execution-wise it`s like "Are You Afraid of the Dark? The Movie".

The Vanishing. I knew the ending before I watched which spoiled it a bit, but it was so interesting anyway as I hadn`t seen it before. The way it focused on the normal everyday life of the killer while he tried to get a victim was fascinating - but the most frightening thing was how nice the kidnapper was as a father and husband - because of seeing that even though I knew he was a psycho I kept thinking "Yeah, I`d get in the car with him!".

Class Trip. A disturbed boy goes on a school trip and his disturbing nightmares about asassins and organ thieves seem to be invading reality as a local boy is kidnapped. A really nice twist!

The Stone Tape. I fell asleep, will have to watch again!

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www.soundalikes.com/ (Version 2. Updated 8/4/05)

The Singing Ringing Tree - a movie from Eastern Europe (1957) that involves a spoilt proncess, an evil dwarf and a prince who turns into a bear. It has REALLY spooky music too and scared me half to death when it was aired as a series of shorts by the BBC in the 1960`s. Of course, then it was in black and white - but here it is in beautiful saturated colour! Also has interviews with the princess who you`d never recognise but then it has been fifty years and that evil dwarf probably took it out on her...part of a twofer with `The TinderBox` which I got in the Play sale...

Ranma: The Movie - madcap anime that really demands you unquestionably suspend disbelief to glean a modicum of enjoyment from it. As it features a boy who turns into a girl when cold water spills onto him it does get a little confusing!

Supervixen - review disc (posted)

Russ Meyer`s UP! - perhaps the craziest o fthe bunch this one can`t help but offend everybody. But only if you take it seriously!

Holes - a pretty decent Disney movie that I enjoyed just as much as my 2 daughters....

Hide and Seek - review posted

Think that may have been it ....

Sorry, but tetra means 4, not all.

Hence tetrapods - four legged creatures.

House Of Usher (1988) - another version of the classic Poe story although this one has a modern setting and never really feels like Poe at all. Oliver Reed is Roderick Usher and Donald Pleasance is his even crazier brother. Watchable but very average although the scenes with Walter running around with a power tool attached to his arm are quite fun.

THX 1138 (1970) - the first major George Lucas film is a sci-fi story set on a future Earth where man lives underground and conforms to rigid social and work patterns. A mixture of 1984, Metropolis and One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest. Robert Duvall is the worker who rebels and tries to escape to an unknown and hopefully better world above ground. An excellent piece of serious intelligent sci-fi - the sort of thing you dont see much of these days.

Road To Perdition - Tom Hanks underplaying his role as a mob hitman in 1930s America. A basic revenge story that manages to combine some good action and plotting with interesting and well drawn characters. Hanks is dour but plays the character just right.

Planet of the Vampires (1965) - Italy has never been that famous for its sci-fi movies and apart from a handfull they are usually pretty dull. This is one of the very best, directed by Mario Bava. The story is a simple one of a spacecraft being drawn onto a mysterious planet and once there the crew experience strange phenomena and start to behave oddly. What makes this film great is the use of light and colour by the director. A low budget single sound stage is no constraint for Bava who creates an alien landscape of swirling mists, vivid colours and eerie menace. This film can be seen as an early version of Alien and in one scene in particular there is a direct comparison.

Monsieur Hulots Holiday (1953) - Jacques Tati as the wonderful Hulot on holiday in a Breton beach resort. A master of visual comedy he creates an almost silent world with some great gags that Keaton would have been proud of. A good cast of funny support characters as well. Watching this you almost feel nostalgic for those long hot summer holidays at your local beach resort.

I love A Mystery (1945) - subtitled the Decapitation of Jefferson Monk. Based upon the popular radio series featuring amateur sleuths Jack Packard and Doc Long this was the first of 3 movies made with those characters. A man has been threatened by a strange cult with decapitation in one year becuase they need his head to replace the decaying one belonging to their founder. A good mix of mystery and some minor horror elements make this one of the better examples of the genre. Good acting and a clever story too.