Movie review - "The Deep" (1977) **1/2 (re-watching)

 My memories of seeing it as a kid remain. Jacqueline Bisset in the shirt. The voodoo torture. The cricket match. The brutal murder of a friend. Spooky underwater stuff.

Lacks interesting characters. The actors are there but couldn't they have more to play. Couldn't they have given Jacqueline Bisset something to do? All she does is get attacked, look great when damp, and make a suggestion about a woman in ancient times.

Really Robert Shaw's character should have been killed before act three like he was in Jaws.

Lovely music. Great locations.

Movie review - "Gladiator 2" (2024) **

 Dumb. Badly written. Stuffs up a potentially great story. Paul Mescal is not a star. Denzel is. Why not start with the kid being whisked away with his mother. Great twin Emperors but they are wasted. Full of stuff that exists to be "cool" - baboons fighting etc. Makes no sense. Lazy.

Movie review - "King of Kings" (1961) ****

 For some reason this film is called a flop when it did very nicely particularly internationally - maybe MGM were expecting Ben Hur Mark Two which it wasn't but it made a strong profit.

Handsomely made. Smart. Hunter does well in a difficult role. The support cast steal the show but they always do in Jesus movies.

Movie review - "Hell to Eternity" (1961) ***

 Some theatre owners looked at the money coined by To Hell and Back and hopped on the bandwagon with another true life WW2 story. It has the edge in that it's about a man raised by a Japanese family so it tackles the treatment of Japanese. Jeffrey Hunter plays that role. David Janssen is a sergeant.

The film takes it's time, over two hours. This makes for an effective first act where Hunter grows up we get to know the family. Act two is terrible - Hunter and his mates on leave, dancing with some women. This is slightly bizarre. Act three is the Battle of Saipan - epic and well done.  Karlson has a gift for violent scenes it's full of memorable moments.

Movie review - "Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff" (1979) **

 Remarkable movie. Written by Polly Platt from a William Inge novel. Directed by Marvin Chomsky, and it has a 70s telemovie feel. Stars Anne Heywood and produced by Raymond Stross the husband and wife team.

Heywood tries her best as usual, and isn't quite up to it, as usual. She goes for it though - naked, raped, consensual, coervice, forced oral sex... all on a black man whose body is festishesed. 

There's a PhD in this movie.  It doesn't quite work. Needs better handling. But certainly lots of chew on.

Movie review - "Wrong Bet" (1990) ***

 Strong early Van Damme vehicle with the star in excellent sensitive-head-kicker form as the foreign legionnaire who avenges his brother's death - and gets the brother's widow and kid in the bargain.

I didn't realise the main subplot was a riff on Walter Hill's Hard Times and that's great. Works well. Harrison Page is the James Coburn part as the hustling mananger. 

Ticks the boxes well. Solid fights. Good character drama. Constrasting characters. Van Damme gets to be tough, sensitive, naked, adoring, loving, sexy. Well constructed vehicle.

Movie review - "Malpas Mystery" (1960) **

 Not bad mystery from Sidney Hayers and Anglo Amalgamated with Maureen Swanson out of prison and drawn into a series of weird episodes. Malpas is a creepy figure with a mask. Geoffrey Keen is Swanson's long lost father. Ronald Howard is a weedy detective not hot enough for Swanson. Sandra Dorne pretends to be Swanson.

I wish there had been more Malpas type weird stuf but this is tight and fun.

Movie review - "The Ring" (2002) ***1/2

 Spooky, clever, atmospheric, nicely handled, great shock moments, strong lore. Very strong work from Naomi Watts. All the cast is effective though.

Scary little girls - so many famous killers are kids, people respond to it I think. Film school aesthetic.

Movie review - "Five Branded Women" (1960) **

 This has a tremendous high concept - five women accused of colluding with a German officer (Steve Forrest) have their heads shaved by partisans and are kicked out of town and have adventures.

There's a classy cast - Silvia Mangano, Jeanne Moreau, Vera Miles, Barbara Bel Geddes and Carla Gravina - as well as Van Heflin and Harry Guardino as partisans. So it's a Europudding. Weird accents.

Starts off interesting but then becomes about the men. The women don't get enough time. There's a big battle.

Martin Ritt slagged off this film.

The basic idea is still strong.

Movie review - "The Ring Two" (2005) **

 The photography is normal, the mood has gone, it feels more generic. Naomi Watts is excellent the little kid is fine. But it's not much of a movie.

Movie review - "Inferno" (1999) **

 Tail end of peak Van Damme - he was big enough to produce and hire John Avildsen to direct and do his own cut.

It starts off interestingly with Van Damme in the desert being beaten up, Jamie Pressley driving past, Van Damme having visions of Danny Trejo.

But as the film goes on it gets increasingly confusing - Trejo is a vision then he's real, Pat Morita seems as though he's doing something big but he's hardly in it, I struggled to follow what was going on.

Over time I leaned in to the madness of the movie. Van Damme having a threesome with two blondes he's rescued. The randomness of Trejo's and Morita's appearances. A script that rips off Yojimbo then has a character at the end suggest they watch Yojimbo. The town using UFOs at the end to explain everyone disappearing. Coyote metaphors.

Van Damme produced and the film feels like it was produced by someone on cocaine, though I might be doing the man a disservice.

Action sequences are fine by the way. 

Female lead Gabrille Fitzpatrick is an Aussie.

Movie review - "Moulin Rouge" (1952) ***

 Bright, colourful, interesting. Gets points for Jose Ferrer's casting. Not a conventional lead - I think this honesty sold it, along with the dancing, music, prositutes, drinking and sex. Being set in France gave it the right amount of distance for English speaking audiences - they could enjoy it at arms' length.

Zsa Zsa Gabor is great fun. A dollop of lightness. Excellent stunt casting.

I really liked the first half. The second half was more of a slog - the second girl was dull and the script became repetitive.

Love how Jose Ferrer was made insecure by the handsomeness of Peter Cushing!

Movie review - "The Black Orchid" (1959) **

 Why did they greenlight this? Maybe it was post Rose Tattoo fever - another tale of a horny Italian widow, only even hotter, played by Sophia Loren. She falls for widower Anthony Quinn. Most conflict comes from Quinn's protective daughter Ina Balin.

All the acting is very good. Quinn is restrained and excellent. Loren has charisma. Balin very good.

It's just a bit dull. Sorry.

Movie review - "No Down Payment" (1957) **

 Sex in the suburbs - at least that's what I'm assuming Phil Yordan wrote and attracted producer Jerry Wald, but director Martin Ritt was more interested in the economics. 

Lots of acting. Mixes older Fox contract players (Jeffrey Hunter, Sheree North) with newer ones (Joanne Woodward) and method types (Pat Hingle). Fun to see Tony Randall in a serious role. 

The male roles are better than the female - Randall is a drunken salesman, Cameron Mitchell a war veteran, Pat Hingle worries whether to help an Asian workmate. Woodward has some fun as Mitchell's boozy wife. Patricia Owens has a full on breakdown scene after she's raped by Mitchell.

Too diffuse to be effective -too many characters to follow. Still, of interest, especially the characters of Mitchell and Randall.

When Owens is raped Hunter listens for about five secods then goes to attack Mitchell - but Mitchell easily overpowers him. That's interesting. 

The ending has all the characters go to Church. Life in the suburbs seems very depressing.

Movie review - "Edge of the City" (1957) *** (warning: spoilers)

 Made with skill. Beautifully shot. Excellent acting. I acknowledge the historical importance of it in depictions of blacks.

But at heart this is still a TV play.   Like many TV play adaptations there's not enough story. John Cassavetes gets a job on the docks, works with Sidney Poitier, nasty Jack Warden wants Cassavetes to work with him. And... Oh there's a romance with a dull woman nicely played. All the acting is fine.

When Poitier is killed it's depressing. He has a wife and kids and he died because of Cassavetes and because he's black. Cassavetes is a deserter and... yeah. So. Whatever. 

It is well made. I couldn't get into it. Cassavetes and Poitier are full of star factor, Ruby Dee is fantastic.

Movie review - "The Long Hot Summer" (1958) **

 Disappointing. Tennessee Williams lite. CinemaScope, Fox stars, Method actors, Paul Newman looking sexy, Orson Welles mugging it up, Joanne Woodward isn't hot for Newman until the end so it's not fun to see Welles try to set them up. If she was hot for him but fighting it that would've been fun.

Richard Anderson is dull though I guess that works. Tony Franciosca carries on. Lee Remick looks as though she's going to be more interesting than she is. Angela Lansbury provides solid support as always. 

I wanted to like this more than I did.

Movie review - "Friday the 13th" (2009) ***1/2

 They tried to make a good movie. They succeeded. Thought has been put into it. They care. People can't escape Jason for proper reasons. Jason is scary. The campy moment is when he discovers his mask but that was fine. There are decent kills and sex and nudity. 

I can't believe they didn't do a sequel.

Movie review - "The 39 Steps" (1935) ****1/2 (reviewing)

 Abducting a woman at gunpoint maybe isn't so romantic these days. The spooky nature of much of the film though has aged well. Paranoia. Scary. Great POV. Superb vignettes. Wonderful sense of humour.

Movie review - "Child's Play" (1988) ***1/2

 Fun horror film. Terrific villain in Chucky, who is scary, fast, cute and deadly. Catherine Hicks maybe overacts, Brad Dourif overacts just the right amount, the kid is fine, Chris Sarandon allows himself to be knocked out. Some bravaura set pieces like Chucky trying to kill Sarandon in a car and the final battle.

Movie review - "Goldeneye" (1995) **** (re-watching)

 Splendid theme song and romancing tune. Lousy action score. Pierce is very handsome and plays it well - he fits right in. Strong script. Memorable pieces. Why no Felix Leiter?

Movie review - "Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers" (1988) ***

 Odd movie. Half really good - strong story, expanding lore, terrific ending, Donald Pleasance hamming it up, Kathleen Kinmont having fun as a teen minx, a young protagonist ups the stakes, there's memorable set pieces in a school and on a roof. You can feel someone on the movie trying to make it good.

Against this is a bunch of illogical movements and silly scenes. A little more care and this could've been special. Much better than I'd heard. 

Movie review - "For Your Eyes Only" (1981) ***1/2 (re-watching)

 Excellent script but probably needed Sean Connery rather than Roger Moore. Can't think of the point of the Lyn Holly Johnson character. Loved Topol, Julian Glover, Cassandra Harris, Carole Boquet is dreadful. Suspenseful end. Wonderful locations.

Book review - "A Prayer for the Dying" by Jack Higgins (1973)

 Ripping page turner which feels incluenced by Odd Man Out though I may be unfair - Fallon is a superheroic doomed IRA man hired to do a private job. A terrific priest character - a violent man, veteran of World War Two, Korea and fights in Mozambique. Fallon is a worthy character too. The gay sadistic gangster hero is unfortunate - thriller writers loved their homophobia around this time.

Very exciting twists and turns and it all builds even if did think Fallon would kill the main guy earlier. They should've bought in the IRA too. I would love to have adapted this.

Movie review - "Hotel New Hampshire" (1984) **

 The novel is probably good. This seems to lack focus. Hard for a movie to do justice to more than one to three characters as this proves. Rob Lowe tries but is too pretty. Jodie Foster is stunningly good. Natassa Kinski suits the movie as well.

The serious stuff - death of the mother, rape of Foster, death of a child - is handled well.  But the film got irritating. I think it was a mistake to follow the characters of Vienna and then Hollywood. Sure, it was in the novel, but so what?

This is the sort of movie that no doubt has its fans. I am not among them. But good on Tony Richardson for having a go.

 

Movie review - "You Only Live Twice" (1967) **** (re-viewing)

 Connery seems bored at times but he's still Connery. Great settings and lines and moments. Tanaka is tremendous. Blofeld fun. Piranha lakes and Ninja armies and secret trains and Ken Adams being a genius. They kill off Aki too late and Bond gets over her too soon - that's the main flaw.

Movie review - "After the Ball" (1957) **

 Biopic about Vesta Tilley who I've never heard of and starring Pat Kirkwood who I've never heard of but both were big deals in England. It's very stock biopic, with bald exposition and musical numbers.  Tilley's life lacked drama -a lot of shows, a bit of World War One drama. She retires.

Romulus wanted to made it because it was a vehicle for Kirkwood and also Laurence Harvey who seems hamstrung in a hamstrung part as the husband/manager. No death, no reversal, no illness (they pump up an allergic reaction).

Some colour and. songs. Peter Rogers produced and it feels thrifty.  I mean it's period, and in colour but there's a lot of tight shots.

Movie review - "Fresh Air" (1999) ***

 Not much of a story, but interesting visuals, a bright cast, likeable characters. I enjoyed the scenes with the guy and his sick dad (Tony Barry) and it was authenticity. The director likes women.

Opportunities for drama thrown away like  Bridie Carter seemingly interested in the guy - why not have her flirt with him? Or Nadine Garner?

Still, hard to dislike.

Movie review - "The Custodian" (1993) **1/2

 John Dingwall may have written a great script for Sunday Too Far Away but he wasn't flawness and he's not the best argument for writer-directors. This is an intense, florid, corruption tale with Anthony La Paglia as a cop who decides to dob in mates including Hugo Weaving to journo Kelly Dingwall.

Famel characters consistently bland - Essie Davis' perfect coffee girl who just wants to be there for La Paglia and invites him home and is basically nothing, Naomi Watts also nothing to play as Dingwall's girlfriend, and there's also La Paglia's trashy wife Joy Smithers, and Barry Otto's nothing wife who is murdered (the only kick of this piece), Weaving's got a wife who's just there too. Nothing wrong with actors, just nothing to play.

La Paglia is meant to be a top cop but we don't see him do anything except dob. It's actually not that much of a role. Weaving goes full scenery chewing. Barry Otto is the best in the cast.

I don't think there's been a film with so many female characters that are nothing - you could cut all out of the movie except Otto's wife and she only makes it because she gets murdered.

Just put a dead body in it and have an investigation.