1) Swiss Family Robinson (1960)
2) Those Daring Young Men in Their Flying Machines (1965)
3) Holiday Camp (1947)
4) Miranda (1948)
5) Hotel Sahara (1951)
6) Here Come the Huggets (1948)
7) The Longest Day (1962)
8) The Seekers (1954)
9) Battle of the Bulge (1965)
10) Third Man on the Mountain (1959)
I'm too obsessed with these. But anyway, here are my suggested fixes of the "Forbes' twelve"
- And Soon the Darkness - needed three girls so there were at least two kills (preferrably three kills), not enough story
- The Breaking of Bumbo - too late for it to have been made, missed its window
- Dulcima - never should've been made, too television, not enough story
- Eyewitness - pick a lead and make it about that one person, not four
- A Fine and Private Place - never should've made it with those stars, they weren't names
- The Go Between - no notes
- Hoffman - either make it Beauty and the Beast and turn the Beast sympathetic or make it a horror story, again not enough story
- The Man Who Haunted Himself - better fashion, lean into concept more... but I would've green lit this
- Mr Frobush and the Penguins - experienced director, and a human love story that happens in Antarctica not via bloody phone - make Hayley Mills the star, have a handsome man visit her, personify the penguins
- The Raging Moon - younger stars (Jenny Agutter say) and a subplot involving parents, not enough story otherwise
- The Railway Children - no notes
- The Tales of Beatrix Potter - I would've asked for more of a narrative; the film did fine but with more of a conventional story it could've done gangbusters
Entertaining low budget Romero effort, one of his lesser known movies. A bored housewife with an abusive husband gets interested in witchcraft. I've become fond of these Romero Pittsburgh actors.
Well directed. I like the early 70s of it all. Simple story, logically developed. I'm sympathetic to the distributors wanting to add more sex and nudity but it holds on its own terms.
A great story made really confusing. Took forever to get going, lots of chat, I had trouble following it, 167 minutes. I'm a philistine, sure. But this is an emotionally powerful tale rendered without emotion.
Romero's zombie film without zombies - it's a transmittable virus that makes people crazy and sends the world into meltdown. This is fast paced, cynical, chaotic, with some characters we care about - the bombastic doctor, the decent officer, the pregnant nurse and her boyfriend, and his mate who has bad PTSD. Downbeat ending. Very Vietnam era.
Can't believe this flopped. Maybe having no zombies was too much.
Not amazing but fun. Better on the men, like the writers and the hopeless sex addicted lead. They're more interesting than Sophie who seems mostly to be hot and keen. She becomes famous very quickly - more of a struggle wouldn't have hurt. Actually making it in England seems to be quite easy. Fun throwbacks to culture. Love the mentions of things like Anthony Newley. I like the big time leaps.
Silly but fun. Great integrity. Tremendous cast of future stars but it's Helen Mirren who steals the show. Great spookiness. They could've made Arthur and Percy look more different.
I love how George Romero blew his success of Dawn of the Dead on this. Bikers as knights. No one dies. So many subplots. No drama. Nothing at stake. No one dies. I kept expecting the Guinnevere triangle, or the Nazi bikers to come back or a big bunch of cops to attack... something. But no.
The actors give their all.
Classic Ron Miller era of Disney - great idea, technically accomplished, good story, lousy execution. Perfectly simple story - village under threat by dragon, king sacrifices women to dragon... but it's confusing to watch. I wasn't sure where it was set, or who we were following or the rules. Ralph Richardson disappeared then came back, they were following the travelling group then not. The film just needed to say things straight up - open with the sacrificial woman being killed, establish the girl dressed as a boy is a girl and say why, have them meet...
The princess is so nice and her death is a downer. What's at stake? The dragon attacks the village anyway yes? Why does Peter Macnicol need to go on his own once the princess is threatened?
Just a mess. This needed a script exec riding shotgun.
Loving, well researched book about Stanton, beloved character actor and occasional lead who like many character actors was bitter about not being a lead. Managed to be cool, adored by Brat Packers, scored Rebecca de Morney - I think because he was a musician. Kind of like Billy Bob Thornton if Thornton didn't write and direct. Main problem is Stanton's film appearances were so many and brief Atkins out of necessity can't dive that deep - when he does, eg Repo Man , Paris Texas - the book is great. Also the actor was a bit of a floss. It's hard to get a grip on him. But this is a fine book.
I went with this. Modern day version of an Edgar Allan Poe story - man going mad after wife dies, doing stuff with the crypt, catnip to the ladies. The nudity suits the story because it has body horror elements. Ending unsatisfying - felt life a cliff hanger. Needed another beat at least. Still watchable.
