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Bill Chrushank: “I want this arm off!”
Dr. Agatha Webb: “Are you insane?”
Bill Chrushank: “I've got serious problems doctor. I hit my kid, I tried to strangle my wife, I have nightmares every night! Look it's, it's okay alright? The arm's fine, I don't want it. Just give it to somebody else, just give me a hook or something.”

Bill, a criminal psychologist is involved in a car accident and loses his right arm.
Doctor Webb has a revolutionary new method to be able to transplant whole body parts from one person to another and the surgery a success. 
But the arm came from a convicted serial killer and it starts controlling Bill’s behaviour. 

What a great concept for a film.
This may take some inspirational elements of Frankenstein and The Hand (Oliver Stone film from 1981 with Michael Caine) but this is a unique idea and it is a great watch.

Having just watched Eric Red’s 100 Feet, I wanted to rewatch this again as this is arguable Eric Red’s best film and a classic early 90’s horror

There is some great stunt work in this film, from the wheel coming off. To the crash itself and even the stuntman flailing over the top of the car. There is another car that slides as it slowly spins around later in the film and that is amazing too. Amazing stunt work.

Jeff Fahey’s star was rising at this time, he was in this, then in Lawnmower Man the year after then seemed to disappear until he popped up again Planet Terror.
Fahey is great in this, he is convincing and distressed. He plays this so well and his piercing light blue eyes make his reaction shots even more dazzling. 
Brad Dorif is one of the best character actors and a horror icon after playing Chucky in the Child’s Play films for so many years.
Dorif plays Remo Lacey who got the left arm. He is an artist who also sees the images from the arms previous owner, but this just inspires his paintings.
(Remo lives in apartment 404. Which would have meant nothing then but now it means a dead link or access has been severed. Which works well for this film!)
Dr. Agatha Webb is played by Lindsay Duncan (Under the Tuscan Sun, TC-14 from The Phantom Menace and loads of British TV shows) she plays this part well. Especially when Bill comes in demanding that she takes his arm off. Such a great scene, dealing with this maniacal patient. 

I really enjoyed rewatching this after so many years, entertaining throughout.
Made for a good double bill with 100 Feet. But perhaps next time it’ll be best paired with Bad Moon and Body Parts instead.

Notes:
Eric Red was forced by Paramount to make cuts to the film to make it less gruesome.
The car crash sequence was cut back by almost 40 seconds. Deleted was a backwards tracking shot from Jeff Fahey on the road to his twitching, severed arm on the ground. He stares at it in horror until it's splattered by a truck.
In the surgery scene, several shots of Jeff Fahey's exposed shoulder wound, and several seconds of the bloody, twitching donor arm on a medical table.

@Paramount - Released The Severed Limbs Cut!!

This movie title sounds like Quentin Tarantino’s favourite instagram page!

This is a story about Marnie (Famke Janssen, X-Men, Goldeneye) who returns home after a stint in prison after murdering her cop husband Mike in self defence.
Mike’s partner, Shanks (Bobby Cannavale, Ant-Man, Spy) holds a grudge against Marnie for killing his partner and wants her to go back to jail.Marnie is under house arrest, monitored by an ankle bracelet, she can only move 100 feet away from the control unit.
But something is lurking within the house, Mike’s ghost still remains and he is not happy.

This is okay, it’s a fun ghost story, it’s trying to emulate The Entity.
Think Disturbia meets Poltergeist. But it is not delivered as well as either.

Famke Janssen is great and carries this film as she is on screen throughout. 

I was surprised to see that Mike is played by Michael Paré (Streets of Fire, Eddie and the Cruisers, Bone Tomahawk. He was also in Bad Moon also directed by Eric Red) 
It’s a shame to see a good actor in such a small role.

Some of the ghost animation was a bit wonky and reminded of the Aha - Take On Me video. 

There are some great bits, the waste disposal part had me on edge. (Is this going to go full, Rolling Thunder?) and there’s a gory beating which is entertaining towards the end.

One thing that this film does get right is the three act structure.
25 minutes in we get our first moment of spookiness. 57 minutes we get the first act of really violence and terror. Entity is vanquished 1 hour 29. Credits roll at the end of 92 minutes. 
It is well placed and that is not often done. (Cronenberg’s The Fly is a great example of when this is done perfectly) 

Writer and Director Eric Red has written a couple of early films that Kathryn Bigelow directed (Near Dark, Blue Steel)
Plus he wrote and directed Body Parts which I liked when I saw it on video when it came out.
If you like spooky ghost haunting films then you’ll like this, but this sadly isn’t the best of Eric Red’s work.
I’m gonna go and rewatch Body Parts now, see how that holds up.

Marnie: “You know that line, ’Til death do us part.’ Well it’s a crock of shit!”

This is a fun legal drama directed by Ivan Reitman, this is the film that he made between Ghostbusters and Twins. 


Starring Robert Redford and Assistant District Attorney Tom Logan. Debra Winger (An Officer and a Gentleman) as Defence Attorney Laura Kelly.
Her client Chelsea Deardon (Daryl Hannah, Bladerunner, Kill Bill) is the daughter of a famous artist, now accused of murder.
These two legal eagles must work together to uncover the truth.

Also featuring Terence Stamp (Superman, The Limey) and Brian Dennehy (First Blood, F/X)


Robert Redford only acted in four films in the 1980’s (This being the last) turning his attention to directing and to his Sundance Institute for young film-makers. 

Ivan Reitman had huge success with the two massive films either side of this but Legal Eagles didn’t really wow anyone at the time and sadly Debra Winger's career took a bit of a dive after this film.

I can seeing this on daytime TV when I was a kid. I mainly ed the scene with the warehouse explosion which is why I wanted to watch it again.
I like Ivan Reitman and there are some good gags in this. But if you compare this to Reitman’s long list of successful films. (Meatballs, Stripes, Ghostbusters 1&2, Twins, Kindergarten Cop, Dave, Evolution)

This is one of his poorer films.
(But they do get worse than this, Junior, Father’s Day, My Super Ex-Girlfriend, No Strings Attached)

Well worth a watch for the interesting story and great performances from Redford and Winger.
(or if you are a fan of Zoolander, see below.)

Notes: 
This film also features a younger Christine Baranski (Dr. Beverly Hofstadter from TV’s Big Bang Theory, Mamma Mia) as Tom Logan’s assistance council.

Loosely inspired from the true story of artist Mark Rothko and his daughter Kate Rothko.
Wikipedia Link.

****Spoilers****
There is a TV version of this film with a different ending, in which the Daryl Hannah character goes from being innocent of murder to being guilty of one of the murders.

Laura Kelly: “That look in your eyes at the end. Pure, Blue Steel.”
Yes, this is the origin of where Ben Stiller got the name of Derek’s famed pose in Zoolander.

Minni: “Aah, baby doesn’t like that. Baby wants to stay.” 


This prequel is an entertaining continuation of the Rosemary’s Baby universe. 
Natalie Erika James directs this really well. It is creepy, eerie and those ankle twists are extremely painful to watch.
It is a well constructed story that works well.
The locations and sets look great and it is all dimly lit so you never know where terror might be lurking.

Terry (Julia Garner) is a struggling young dancer who is offered an apartment to rent to get her back on her feet again.
Terry is given this out of kindness through her new landlords Minni (Dianne Wiest) and Roman (Kevin McNally) but all is not what it seems.

Dianne Wiest (Lost Boys, Edward Scissorhands) is fantastic in this. I love her accent and her demeanour.
These are big shoes to fill as Ruth Gordon won an Oscar for her performance as Minni Castevet. But Wiest nails it and is superb on screen.

Minni: “Show me the photo again.” 

(Julia shows the photo of Vera)
Minni: “Now, She has a face for short hair.” 

This film does leave a couple of questions, like it’s odd that Julia doesn’t question that she is pregnant after ing out at the apartment??

If you like the original I can’t see why you wouldn’t enjoy this film.
Really entertaining and the story flows well.
I love how it goes full circle (a la Rogue One.) 
And it really makes me want to rewatch Rosemary’s Baby again.

Notes:

It’s probably just me but when Julia is on stage in the green dress with the gold headdress.
I could help but be reminded of Bugs Bunny and Elma Fudd on stage together. Image 
Anyone else see that?

Glen Powell (Mugatu leans in) “So Hot right now!”

Another legacy sequel to grace our screens.
28 years after Twister this film is written by the legacy sequel King, Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun Maverick, Tron Legacy)

Directed by Lee Isaac Chung this tells a completely new story, there are no cameos from the original cast. (Thought the original truck pops up at the start)

Daisy Edgar-Jones (Where the Crawdad’s Sing) plays Kate, a talented storm chaser and meteorologist who has a knack for predicting weather changes.
After a catastrophe Kate heads to New York to start a new life. But the past comes back when her old friend Javi (Anthony Ramos, A Star is Born, In the Heights) brings her back in to chase tornadoes once again.
Opposing their team of tornado chasers is a team of YouTubers lead by the Tyler. (Powell)
There is a fine line between the people chase the storm for profit and people who really care about the people effected by the devastation that it causes.

This is a fun thrill ride as you would expect.
The first film was much fun and made lots of money ($494.6mil at the box office on a budget of $92mil)

So a legacy sequel makes perfect sense in this era of reboots. 

I like the little details, like the drill anchors on the truck to lock it into the ground. That’s a great idea.

It follows the usual three act story and it does do it well.
When Javi comes back at the end to help, that really got me.

The ing cast in both of the teams trucks are great fun. It was great to see Sasha Lane (I’m a big Andrea Arnold fan, she was the lead, Star in American Honey)
This film is flooded with lots of CGI which is to be expected. I did enjoy this, the story is good as are the characters, it is well acted. But I am not going to rush to watch it again.

Note:
Kate says the line "I'm not back!" a line said by Bill Paxton’s character, many times in the original.

(Talking about Scotland.)
Bug: “You know it’s fucking cold up there man?”
Hunter: “Why do you think I’m wearing so many hoodies?”

This is pure cinéma-vérité. Andrea Arnold not only has a talent in finding these estrordinary actors and putting them on film. (For Fish Tank, Arnold literally saw Katie Jarvis at a train station arguing with her boyfriend and that is how she got the lead role in that film.)

For this film Nykiya Adams was selected through open casting in her school and given the lead in this film. 

Living in a squat in Kent, Bailey (Nykiya Adams) spends her days looking at birds and day dreaming, recording moments on her phone.
Her father, Bug (Barry Keoghan) is getting married in a few days and Bailey doesn’t like this one bit.
After staying out all night to get away from her father, the squat and the looming marriage. Bailey meets a strange and eccentric man named Bird.

There is so much real life in this film which Arnold is exception at doing, even from the very beginning in her Oscar winning short film, Wasp. To Red Road, Fish Tank, American Honey and even in Cow. You are faced with the hard reality of life and no director captures this better.

From the squats that they live in, to the travellers, all of the people are so real.
There is one moment of ambiguous surrealness that blurs reality. But it is done so well. 
Barry Keoghan is animated as hell in this and I love it, his tattoos are zany and Keoghan plays this well.
Franz Rogowski is great as Bird, such a strange character but you cannot keep your eyes off him.
Nykiya Adams, I look forward to seeing what she does next and this was a solid, stand out performance.
 
In amongst the bleak reality there are moments of levity, like when Kayleigh’s young daughter throws the bouquet, so sweet and funny. 

I do not think that this will be for everyone but as a big fan of Andrea Arnold (especially Red Road, which is her best film in my eyes)
Harsh reality combined with contrasting surrealism (a bit like Denis Villeneuve’s Enemy) this really floats my boat and I loved it.

Fantastic, will definitely be watching this again.

Notes:
In one scene, Bug’s friends are berating the song Murder on the Dance floor and Bug (Barry Keoghan) says. “No No, I quite like that one actually”
As this is the song that he danced around naked to in his previous film to this.

Barry Keoghan turned down Ridley Scott for a part in Gladiator 2 to be in this film!!
(Say Whaaattt!!!)

Wadsworth: “Picked up the dagger. Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrun down the hall!!!”

This film is part of my childhood. Watching with my sister so many times growing up. Laughing about it. Endlessly quoting it. Enjoying it time and again.

When this was released in the cinema it was released with three different endings that were distributed to different cinemas.
So if you went and saw it in cinema A in your town, but your friends saw it in cinema B and your work colleagues saw it in cinema C.
Then you would all have conflicting views on how the film ended.
Because you’d have all seen different endings to the film.

Which is just a fantastic way to mess with your audiences heads.
This is the only version of cinematic gaslighting I have ever heard of and it is Genius!

It wasn’t until it came out on video that all three endings were available to be seen, all together.

Based on the board game of the same name (this game is called Cluedo in the UK) this film has all the characters from the game together in a house to work out who killed Mr Body.

This endlessly quotable film is not only a great murder mystery.
But a hilarious comedy featuring amazing star studded cast. 
All with hilarious, quotable dialogue.

Wadsworth the butler is played by the Legendary, Tim Curry (Legend, which came out the same year as this. Rocky Horror Picture Show, IT.)
Wadsworth: “Ooh! Good shot mate….. Veeery good shot!”

Eileen Brennan (The Last Picture Show, Private Benjamin) as Mrs Peacock.

Professor Plum: “What are you afraid of, a fate worse than death?”
Mrs Peacock: “No, just death, isn't that enough?”

Madeline Kahn (Paper Moon, What’s Up Doc?) as Mrs White. 
Mrs White: “It, it, the, flame, flames…Flames! On the side of my face!”

Lesley Ann Warren (Cinderella 1965, The Limey, TV’s Desperate Housewives.) as Miss Scarlet. 

Christopher Lloyd (Back to the Future trilogy, One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest) as Professor Plum.

Miss Scarlet: “I run a specialized hotel and a telephone service which provides gentlemen with the company of a young lady, for a short while.”
Professor Plum: “Oh yeah! What's the phone number?”

Martin Mull (TV’s Rosanne, Jingle all the Way) as Colonel Mustard. 

Michael McKean (This is Spinal Tap, Used Cars) as Mr Green.

Colleen Camp (Wayne’s World, Die Hard with a Vengeance, Police Academy 2 and she was a Playmate in Apocalypse Now) as Yvette the French Maid. 

Yvette: “But it is dark upstairs and I am frightened of the dark. Will anyone go with me?”
Professor Plum: “I will!”
Colonel Mustard: ”I will!”
Mr Green: “No, thank you.“

Written by John Landis and the director Jonathan Lynn. This is so well crafted together. I’m glad that Landis didn’t direct this as he would have made this too slap-stick. 
Lynn does a fantastic job here with this, his feature debut and would go on to direct, Nuns on the Run which was good fun. Then My Cousin Vinny, which is amazing.

I have enjoyed this film so much over the years and it still brings me joy.
It is a hilarious, classic comedy and I love it.

Mr Green: “I’m going home to sleep with my wife.”

Notes:
There was a fourth ending shot, but dropped from the film as director, Jonathan Lynn didn’t like it.

Lesley Ann Warren was cast as a last-minute replacement as Miss Scarlet. 
Carrie Fisher was originally cast but she ended up in rehab for drug addiction four days before filming started. Forcing Lynn to dismiss her from the project.
I love Carrie Fisher and I am sure she would have crushed this role and been awesome. 
But Warren is fantastic as Miss Scarlet.
We’ll never know what Fisher could have bought to this role.

Adeline: “You messed with the wrong Bride!”

That was a lot more fun than I was expecting.
An excellent cross between a romantic comedy and a 90’s horror (circa, I Know What You Did Last Summer. One of the detectives, Crystal, played by Michaela Watkins, even looks a bit like Jennifer Love Hewitt!)

Using other good tropes from other films. The scene going through the police station reminded me of The Terminator. There is a similar crossword joke to Hot Fuzz.
But all in all this is a great concept that I’m surprised hasn’t been thought of before.
(My Bloody Valentine, perhaps!)

Some really fun kills and entertaining gore.
I really enjoyed this and laughed a lot.
The score is similar to the title sequence score from Psycho. Giving another nice horror nod.

The two leads, Ally (played by Olivia Holt, Totally Killer) and Jay (Mason Gooding, Scream 4, Fall. He’s the son of Cuba Gooding Jr.) they make such a cute couple and they look great together on screen. 

I hope that they make another one. Which I am sure they will do.
And I hope that HWW (hysterical white woman) becomes part of people’s vernacular.

(Looking at a statue of St. Valentine.)
Ally: “Your day fucking sucks!”

Notes:
His Girl Friday is playing at the Drive-In. This film was released on Valentine’s Day 2025. Which was appropriately a Friday.
Friday the 14th.

The man at the Drive-In that yells.
“Somebody call 911!”
That is the director Josh Ruben’s cameo.

Jedidiah: “You keep dancing with the devil... one day he's gonna follow you home.”

This deep South 1930’s, African American tale about two gangster brothers who had been away in Chicago working for the mob. Now return to Mississippi with their wealth to purchase an old saw mill to turn it into a gin t with music, dancing and liquor. 
But these things rarely go smoothly and an unexpected visitor changes everything.

A love story to music as well as a nod to past vampire films.
Most notably, From Dusk till Dawn, but with elements of Near Dark and touch of John Carpenter’s Vampires.
But above all the music is fantastic, the voice and guitar playing from Miles Caton playing ‘Preacher Boy’ Sammie is amazing and spell binding.
It works so well, especially when the spirits from past and present are thrown into the mix.
Post credit guitar solo from Caton (who learned to play the guitar for this role) is fantastic showing his amazing skills. 

Michael B Jordan is great fun as both brothers and I love the relationship they have with each other and the respect that they command in the community, their reputation precedes them and as it should.

Delroy Lindo as Delta Slim is a hilarious character, wise in his old ways, yet still very funny.

Delta Slim: “See, white folks, they like the blues just fine. They just don't like the people who make it.”

Jack O’Connell is massively underrated. He is amazing in Starred Up, 71 and even in Eden Lake he is the best part of it.
He is amazing here. He seems so mild mannered. But this facade is soon lifted.

All the cast are fantastic, especially all of the women in this film. Andrene Ward-Hammond, Tenaj L Jackson, Li June Li, Jayme Lawson. It’s so good to see so many strong female characters.

Haylee Steinfeld is always great. I loved her in True Grit and she was lots of fun in Bumblebee.
In this she has a great scene presence as the jilted lover, but it is even better when she changes sides.

Ludwig Goransson‘s score is fantastic and blends in perfectly with this film. I’ll be buying this for sure. 

Ryan Coogler directed this so stunningly, there are some well choreographed long takes and the roof is on fire, dancing scene is majestic.
But it was that final shootout I found so rewarding.
His continued collaboration with Michael B Jordan is paying off tenfold and keeps getting better.
Fruitville Station, Creed, Black Panther 1&2 and now this.
I can’t wait to see what they do next.
Amazing, go and see it.

Pearline: “I'm married, by the way.”
Sammie: “Happily?”
Pearline: “Careful, boy. You gon' bite more than you can chew.”

Notes:
I had to look up the other local money being used in this film.
Plantation scrip was a form of currency, used as a substitute for wages on plantations. It could only be used at the plantation or company store, effectively trapping workers in a cycle of debt and dependency. 

I am currently away on holiday (vacation) in Austin, Texas so I saw this at the Alamo Drafthouse. Which is a great cinema

Alex: (Talking about Price)
“I left this country because of this man. I came back because of this man. Now the cutest couple in town got me looking up a horses ass, on a midnight tour of Managua. What’s going on?”

A very powerful film about journalism and war photographers in Nicaragua during a civil war.

Brutally harsh in painting the picture of war as two people fight to stay alive while taking pictures to deliver the news about what is going on to the people back home.
War reporters are something else. It is very irable to know the effect and risk that they take to get the story to us.
The relationship between Pricey (Nick Nolte) and Claire (Joanna Cassidy) is great, it’s really playful and fun.

Claire: “Did you dream about Ms Panama last night?”
Price: “I dreamt about you.”
Claire: “Did you have a good time?”
Price: “Yes I did….. So did you.”

Ed Harris plays a sadistic mercenary, Oates. Who is great. It’s hard to tell whose side he is on.
Punctuated by Jerry Goldsmith’s score. 
This is a great film that really puts you there between these two opposing sides.

Jazy: “I like you people, but you are sentimental shits! You fall in love with the poets. The poets fall in love with the Marxists. The Marxists fall in love with themselves. The country is destroyed by rhetoric and in the end we are stuck with tyrants.”

Notes:
Though Under Fire is mostly fictional, it is inspired by the murder of ABC reporter Bill Stewart and his translator Juan Espinoza by Nicaraguan National Guard troops in June 1979.

I haven’t seen this for a while, but this is my father’s favourite film so I enjoyed it while watching it with him many moons ago.

Albert Grossman: “He’s scared of your music Bobby.”
Pete Seeger: “Nobody is scared of anybody’s music.”
Albert Grossman: “You are. You’re scared that some of those kids on that lawn are going to like it.”
Pete Seeger: “And why would I be afraid of that?”
Albert Grossman: “Because you’re pushing candles and he’s selling light bulbs.” 

An amazing performance from Timothée Chalamet and his singing voice is spot on. Chalamet sounds great, he looks the part and carries this role with aplomb.
Edward Norton is transformed, not only in his appearance but in his stilted dialogue. Both of these performances are just fantastic and mould you into the film. 

The ing cast are great, I’ve been a fan of Elle Fanning since Nicholas Winding Refn’s Neon Demon and she has a great screen presence in this film.

Silvia: “Are you God, Bob?”
Bob: “How many times do I have to say this?
Yes!”

Scoot McNairy as Woody Guthrie is predominantly bed bound and he does so much with so little in this role. 
Monica Barbaro (Top Gun Maverick) as Joan Baez is excellent, she sounds and carries herself so well when she is on stage and off stage she is a strong independent woman who has her own way. 

I’ve never been a big fan of Dylan’s music but you cannot help but be caught up in dynamic time of the 1960’s and his reflections of the changing times in his lyrics.
There have been a few films about Bob Dylan but this biopic really captured me.
James Mangold is a great director. He has shown us this time and time again with early films like Cop Land and Identity. And with amazing biopics like Walk the Line and even Ford Vs Ferrari. 
This is the biopic that Bob Dylan deserves.
Well done to all involved. 

Pete Seeger: “The toilet is down the hall, it’s a composter. It doesn’t smell.”
(Children’s voices) “Yes it does.”
“It smells awful!”

This was a lot more fun than I was expecting it to be. 
It is good to see Pitt and Clooney on screen together again after the Ocean’s films.

Amy Ryan is almost always fantastic.
But a lot of the comedy cam Austin Abrams as the Kid. His slow meandering story telling, frustrating the guys is really funny.

The icing on the cake was when they went in to get the pager and the crime boss Dimitri played by Zlatko Buric. I love the Pusher Trilogy and the third one is my favourite.
His character in this is certainly an extension of that role, in that he is a dangerous crime boss, running people and organising and attending his daughter’s wedding. This was a lovely nod having him in this role.

There is a great action sequence in the gun fight at the end. 

Lots of fun. Will watch again.

Benji: “Of coarse, money is like heroin for boring people.”
Marcia: “…I don’t know what that means.”

Kieran Culkin deserves that Oscar.
This is such a stunning and heartwarming performance. 
I thought this story was just about two cousins going backpacking in Europe. I had no idea that there would be so much depth and so much behind both of these lead characters.

Jesse Eisenberg is great as the neurotic and reserved cousin, David.
He truly loves Benji but is rightfully frustrated by him.

David: “I thought you were bringing the weed through the airport. Dude I was so nervous.”
Benji: “Oh, I thought that was just you.”

Benji is such a free spirit, he says what he feels, without boundaries. The polar opposite of David.

Benji: “And he dropped everything and arranged for us to this geriatric tour with you fine people!”

Together they both embark on a pilgrimage to their late Grandmother’s home town in Poland and learn more about the history and concentration camp that she was held in.

The rest of the tour group are great. Most notable is Marcia, played by Jennifer Grey (who since her surgery looks nothing like she did in Dirty Dancing or Ferris Bueller’s Day Off)

There is so much emotion in this film and it is really well shot by Eisenberg who is directing. There are some fantastic shots of the locations and it really puts you there.
But it is the bond and love between the two cousins that makes this film so special.

Between all the heartache there is a great deal of levity too.
In the restaurant when Benji is playfully drumming across the table with his fists and accidentally hits a fork. 
Hilarious.

Cannot recommend this enough. It is heartwarming, emotional and bitter sweet. 

Note:
Jesse Eisenberg initially planned for him to play Benji, which I cannot see at all as he is perfectly suited to play David.

Aggie: “Can I buy you a drink?”
Gator: “lIs a pig's ass pork? 'Course you can buy me a drink. Women's lib, I love it. Just because you buy me a drink, doesn't mean you own me, you know. I know how you are, you turn into an octopus. You women are all alike. You're all animals.”

Burt Reynolds is back again as Gator McKlusky for this sequel.
As you’d expect there is a load of car chases, but we also have a lot of speedboat chases too. Mostly at the start of the film you have an epic chase that has lots of boat crashes and cool stunts.

To be honest it’s one of the best speedboat chases you’ll see on film. 
(Followed by the chase through Amsterdam in Puppet on a Chain, you couldn’t do that today.)

In short, all the stunt work is fantastic.
That roll onto the beach!! Its amazing no one was hurt with that stunt.

This film is even more of a spiritual prequel to Smokey and the Bandit as we have the two main leads from that film. Burt Reynolds and Jerry Reed (Cletus)
If you’re a Smokey fan then this is a must watch. Having these two together is great.
They are firm friends to start but then certain things like the under age prostitution ring, that doesn’t bode well with Gator.

Gator is much more mature in this film. He has a daughter and even falls in love with the love interest in this film. Aggie. Played by Lauren Hutton (American Gigolo, Once Bitten) 

We also have Emmeline, played by Alice Ghostley (Mrs Murdock the car workshop Mechanic from Grease. Also in To Kill a Mockingbird and The Graduate)
Emmeline is a fun character with lots of cats that need to come along for the ride when they need to collect evidence which is lots of fun.

Hal Needham, who was the stunt co-ordinator on White Lightning is directing second unit on Gator. (He’ll go on to direct Smokey and the Bandit)
Making is feature debut in directing as well as starring we have Burt Reynolds.
He does a pretty good job, there is lots of good slow motion shots for the action scenes and the film is a lot of fun.
There are quite a few animals that pop up. As I mentioned all the cats, plus there’s a couple of cute puppies that appear at the start, showing Gator’s softer side. 

This is a great film and well worth watching. But not quite as good as the first film.

Gator: “I’d love for you to meet my daughter.”
Aggie: “I’d love to meet her someday.”
Gator: “…….I love you.”
Aggie: “I know….. I know.”

Note:
Harrison Ford was a big fan of White Lightning so it is fair to assume that he saw the sequel.
When he ad libbed the iconic “I know.” line in The Empire Strikes Back, I wonder if he draw that line from this scene at the end of Gator?

“How would you like that knife shoved up your ass?”
“I wouldn’t like that at all!”

I have loved this film for such a long time and believe that it is one of Burt Reynolds best films.
I can watching Cannonball Run and Smokey and the Bandit as a kids which I always loved too.
But the bold statement that upsets most people, that I stand by.
Smokey and the Bandit isn’t half the film that this is.

Smokey is somewhat of a sequel in spirit to this film and its sequel Gator. 
Gator McKlusky and the Bandit have similar traits, the same job and are both played by Reynolds.
Hal Needham is the second unit director for White Lightning and directed Smokey. (The sequel, Gator. Has more cast from the Smokey films)

Gator McKlusky is serving time in prison when he hears about his brother’s death.
Knowing that the corrupt Sheriff J C Connors is behind it, because he runs that county.
Gator speaks to the FBI to get him out of prison so that he can pose as a whiskey runner again to get close to and get evidence against Sheriff Connors.

Burt Reynolds is reunited with his Deliverance co-star, Ned Beatty playing the mean county Sheriff Connors.

This is a hot and sweaty film. All the cast are dripping with sweat throughout which adds to the discomfort of the film.
Shot in Arkansas, I image that the shoot was very hot and sticky. 

The car chases and stunts are fantastic.
We have the best car stuntman in the business. Buddy Joe Hooker doing the stunts and they look amazing.
So many stunts that you could not do today.
Like having your lead actor, Burt Reynolds underneath the car as it jumps over the top of him and his car, then plows into the river.
Amazing.

This film is fantastic, they don’t make ‘em like this anymore.

Note:
The score by Charles Bernstein is pretty iconic. Quentin Tarantino used part of this score in both Kill Bill vol 1 and Inglorious Basterds.

“Do you believe that he is immortal?”
“No, he just refuses to die.”

My Dad told me about this film, I did not know what to expect. But what we got was a violent, grindhouse style, Nazi exploitation flick that is so much fun.
I really enjoyed all the of the unsubtle violence and even winced a couple of times. (Like sticking the reinforcement bar into his open wound to hold his weight 😬) 

This film was a great deal of fun. If you like your violence bloody, then you can’t go wrong with this.

(Tosses a land mine at a Nazi soldier, hitting him on the helmet and blowing him to pieces. Spraying the rest of the regiment with blood and body parts.)
Fuck yeah!

“You either surf it, or you get wiped out.”

This is a modern day Ozploitation fever dream…. and it is glorious.

Nick Cage plays a father who returns to the town where he grew up with the hope of buying back his father’s old house and showing his teenage son the wonders of the beach that he loved and learned to surf on.
But the local surfers who populate the beach now, think they own the beach and will violently protect it from any visitors.

“Don’t live here. Don’t surf here!”

The torment, anguish and punishment is frustrating and infuriating. It would be enough to drive anyone mad. 

“My Father gave me that board.”
“I can tell you myself that, that board has been up there as long as I can .”

In a time when we are kind of oversaturated with Nick Cage films, I was thinking that this was going to be treading the familiar ground of Pig and Mandy.
I am please to say that this did not go where I thought it would.

Julian McMahon plays the main antagonist, Scally. He is unrecognisable, completely different to the Dr. Doom persona that I would usually attribute him to, from the Fantastic Four films from 2005-7.
God knows he is twice an intimidating in this.

The hazy heat of the steamy mirage, blurring the lines of reality. Visually this is superb film making. The cinematography is excellent.
The waves look amazing with the sun glistening off them, especially in the aerial wide shots displaying the vastness of the ocean.

The close ups on the Australian wildlife really puts you there. 
The cutest echidna taking a stroll. The Kookaburra laughing maniacally. Bearded dragon lizard slithering and a cute little maratus spider beating his drum.
The animals reminded me a bit of Long Weekend, but this film really echoes elements of Wake in Fright.

It’s amazing seeing Ozploitation back again in all of it’s dehydrated glory. This is right up my alley.

Well worth going to see on the big screen. 
Thank you to the Chiswick Cinema for this early screening.

Limehouse: “I’ll show him!”
(Cuts his own wrist!)

Who doesn’t love a good Ninja movie?
In the 1980’s Cannon released a load of Ninja films starting a craze.
Most famously their Ninja Trilogy, Enter the Ninja, Revenge of the Ninja and the absolutely batshit crazy, Ninja 3 The Domination.
Which all had Sho Kosugi in them.
Sho returns, sporting some great eyeliner and again as a Ninja for this film.
The start of which has his (real life) children. Watching a Ninja film that plays out very closely to a sequence from Revenge of the Ninja.

After a peaceful Japanese immigrant and his family move to America, they become the victims of a crime syndicate.
The father must take matters into his own hands.
He just happens to be a master Ninja, so he will strike and get his vengeance. 

Sho Kosugi is fantastic in these roles. He also did all of the fight choreography. 
The main antagonist is Limehouse, played by James Booth who also wrote the script. (As well as writing the screenplay for other Cannon films, Avenging Force, American Ninja 2 and American Ninja 4) 
He is not really that convincing as much of a threat to Sho Kosugi but the end fight. This schlubbish man in a suit. But it is still fun.

Kane Kosugi plays the oldest son Takeshi and he has some great martial arts skills. The apple does not fall far from the tree. It’s great seeing this kid fight and kick the shit out of people. I love the additions he adds to his bike like the smoke screen and the poles to trip people. It’s a good bit of fun.

When it comes to naming a film. Prey for Death has to be one of the greatest film titles of all time. 
It’s right up the top with titles like, Live Like a Cop Die Like a Man. Or Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia. 
Prey for Death sounds so bad ass, you know exactly what you are going to get with a title like that. 

Akira: (Holding a knife to Limehouse's throat) 
“Stay away from the Saito family. They don't know anything about the Van Atta neckalace. If you don't, I promise you, you will pray for death!”

I picked this up on Bluray and I am glad this is part of my collection.

Note:
There was a game on the Sega Megadrive called, Revenge of Shinobi. The opening sequence of this game showed a ninja that bore a good resemblance to Sho Kosugi. 
It was such a great game. Just reminded me of this.

Terry Noonan: “You always were tougher than me Jack.”
Jackie Flannery: “I always thought I was just crazier.”

How have I never seen this before?
I just came across this, saw the amazing cast and hit play.
What a fantastic cast, great setting and a great film.

Terry Noonan returns home to New York's Hells Kitchen after a ten year absence. He soon hooks up with childhood pal Jackie who is involved in the Irish mob run by his older brother Frankie.

What a cast. Sean Penn is always good. He reminded me of his character in Mystic River.
Gary Oldman, I have to say that this one of his best performances. He is sensational in this.
The scene when he is in the church, blind drunk and crying is fantastic acting.
We’ve always known the Oldman can disappear into a role and he certainly does that in this film as Jackie.

Ed Harris as his older brother Frankie is mean, he is the tough Boss, tied in with the Mafia so he has to be mean.
John C Reilly as Stevie and John Turturro as Nick are both great.
Burgess Meredith (Mickey from the Rocky films) pops up for a scene and he is always great on screen.
Robin Wright (Unbreakable, Bladerunner 2049) although she’d been the Princess Bride in The Princess Bride a few years prior this is still a very early role for her and she shines as the conflicted sister of Jackie and Frankie. Living a straight life and keeping away from her gangster brothers. She is great in this and this is the film that she met Sean Penn on, they have great chemistry and started dating on the set of this film. They were married 6 years later.

This is the feature debut for Joe Viterelli (Analyse This, Mickey Blue Eyes, Bullets Over Broadway) who will forever be typecast as a mob villain. But he certainly plays it well. 
There is also a small role for James Russo (Mikey Tandino from Beverly Hills Cop)

The score from Ennio Morricone is fantastic and plays into the film so well.
Phil Joanou (Final Analysis) directs this will but it’s the cinematography that stands out. 
Jordan Cronenweth has been the DP on some great films. (Bladerunner, Altered States, Rolling Thunder) and he brings that style and panache here.
The shots of the St Patrick’s Day parade combined with the slow motion shoot out.
Classic.

If you read the IMDB description or watch the trailer it gives away the left turn that the film makes about half way through, that I did not see coming.
I recommend just going in blind if you can.
I found this film on Amazon.

Strong recommend. I’ll be watching this again.

Note:
The way the Ed Harris walks into the hotel with his shoulders swinging just reminded me of him dancing in Creepshow. (It’s not really the same but I just love this dancing scene, it’s so goofy!) YouTube.

Dr. Richard Kimble: “There was a man in my house. A One Armed man. Now you find this man.”

Having just rewatched the sequel, U.S. Marshals a couple of weeks ago I thought as I haven’t seen this for years I’d give it a rewatch.
This film was huge when it came out and it still stands up.

The escaping from the bus on the train tracks sequence is iconic.
Diving off the dam too and that exchange between our main two characters.

Dr. Richard Kimble: “I didn’t kill my wife.”
Marshal Sam Gerard: “I don’t care.”

Based on a TV show from the 1960’s. This was the start of a large amount of older TV shows being rebooted as films.
Most of them were pretty bad.
The Beverly Hillbillies, The Brady Bunch, The Flintstones, Lost in Space.
But then there were a couple of great ones, this was great.
Then less than 3 years later another 1960’s TV show was rebooted into a film.
Mission Impossible.
(we’re all a bit more familiar with the success of that one!)

All were made possible due to the huge success of this film.
Tommy Lee Jones as the Marshal in charge of his team, willing to do anything to apprehend the fugitive.

Marshal Sam Gerard: “I do not… Bargain.”

Harrison Ford is great as Kimble, it is fantastic when he is changing his appearance, doing his detective work to find out who was in his house and why. Unravelling the mystery.

Great cameos from Julianne Moore (who is always fantastic) and Jane Lynch (Glee, Role Models) a very early role for her.  

Harrison Ford has always been a bankable actor, but for Tommy Lee Jones. God knows I love him for all of 1970’s films. Especially Rolling Thunder and The Eyes of Laura Mars.
But he wasn’t a bankable star until this film cemented it. (Granted, then recent films like JFK and even Under Siege had certainly helped as well)

Director Andrew Davis had a part in this too as he’d had Tommy Lee Jones as an antagonist in his previous films, The Package and Under Siege, so casting him in this made perfect sense.
Davis is a great director. I like A Perfect Murder (a remake of Hitchcock’s Dial M for Murder) and Holes is a sweet kids film.

The great pacing is what makes The Fugitive work well as a stand alone thriller and detective film. Will certainly watch again.
 

Note:
Kimble hits the middle top button (24th fl) in the lift (elevator) but the top right button. 25th floor lights up.

Lady: “Welcome, may I offer you a piece of cake?”
Mouse: “No, No, Nooo!”
(Throws the cake on the floor)

Like the first one, this is a fun, brain at the door film.

The cast from the first return now companied by Danny DeVito and Danny Glover.
Alex Wolff (Hereditary) is great as Young Spencer.
Jack Black is fantastic as Bethany again.
And Karen Gilliam is absolutely stunning once again as the sultry, Ruby.

Director Jake Kasdan returns for this sequel. He has made some great films like Zero Effect and especially Walk Hard which are both amazing. 

This film is okay, but it fails to deliver as well as the first film.

Not surprising seeing as it had a super fast turn around.
Filming did not begin until February 2019 and wrapped four months later in May, for a December release just seven months later.

Jeff: “Hi friends. Marshall Lucky here for New Deal Used Cars, where we're lowering inflation not only by fighting high prices, not only by murdering high prices, but by blowing the living shit, out of high prices.”

Before Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale created Back to the Future or Romancing the Stone.
They were writers on Stephen Speilberg’s 1941.
An off-beat comedy that did not do that well. Spielberg had produced their first film, I Wanna Hold your Hand. 
They then took a half written script that the legendary John Milius had wrote about people in Las Vegas selling their used cars cheap to get more gambling money.
Changed it to this Used Cars script and with both of their permissions, they had Spielberg and Milius produce this film too which helped with the financing and got Zemeckis and Gale their start.

Kurt Russell is a great comedic actor. I have been watching this film for years. I used to have this on VHS and I have always found this film so funny.
The story and dialogue are great.

Two feuding twin brothers own car lots on the opposite sides of the street.
One has a weak heart and wants to kill his brother to inherit his lot.
But the guys that work for him will not let that happen, not over his dead body.

We’ve got some superb characters.
Jim is a (semi narcoleptic) mechanic, played by Frank McRae (1941, National Lampoon’s Loaded Weapon 1, 48Hrs, Licence to Kill)
Jeff is an extremely superstitious salesman who is constantly afraid, especially of red cars!
Played by Gerrit Graham (Beef from Phantom of the Paradise)

Jim: “Maroon car, my ass. This motherfucker's red.”

Playing both of the Fuchs brothers we have Jack Warden (The Verdict, All the Presidents Men, 12 Angry Men)
Eddie the TV pirating engineer with a handmade pacemaker is played by Michael McKean (Clue, This is Spinal Tap)
One of the funniest small parts is Hanging Judge Harrison (Al Lewis, Grandpa from The Munsters) who not only has a set of toy hanging gallows on his desk but a guillotine too.
Holding this comedy ensemble together is Kurt Russell as shister salesman and wannabe Congressman, Rudy Russo. At the very start of the film the first thing we see is Rudy clocking a car (spinning back the miles on the odometer) and putting bumpers (fenders) back on.

Rudy: “National Television. We’ll be on all three networks at the same time.”
Jeff: “But how is that even possible, how is that even done?”
Eddie: “Microwaves.”
Jeff: “Microwaves, great. Little ovens!” 

It is good to see a well trained animal actor and Toby the dog is not only adorable, but he is a great dog actor.
Especially when he’s playing dead. That scene is hilarious.
(Although I have since found out that he was drugged for this!) 

Some of the stunt work by the actors is great in this film. The guy crossing the road following the money is walking into traffic.
Later when Jeff is walking away from his car he is so close to getting hit by the car coming up behind. It is crazy. 
Even the two kids falling out of the back of the car. You couldn’t do that today. 

I’m so glad I have bought this again as this film is hysterical. I had not seen this in such a long time and it still had me laughing out loud throughout.
If you like 1980’s comedy films, I honestly think that you cannot got wrong with this. 

Jeff: (On a TV commercial) 
“Now wait just a Goddamn minute. What the hell is this? Is this a 1974 Mercedes 450SL for $24,000? That's too fucking high!”
(blows up the car with dynamite.) 

Notes: 
Jack Warden initially turned down the part as it was just for one of the brothers. But he took it when they said he could play both parts.

Dick Miller has a blink and you’ll miss it cameo as a guy having sex on a car.

Also we have Nervous Nona learning how to drive. Played by Wendie Jo Sperber, she had appeared in 1941 but is most famous for playing Marty’s sister, Linda McFly in Back to the Future.
Sadly Wendie died in 2005.

Kurt Russell has been in the film industry for such a long time.
Famously Walt Disney’s last words were, “Kurt Russell” as he really wanted to sign Kurt to a film deal, which the Disney company did just after Walt’s death.
Kurt signed a 10 year deal with Disney in 1966, the year of Walt’s death.
How could he refuse Walt’s final wish.

Lloyd Bowman: “What about sweating Lecter?”
Will Graham: “We tried sodium amytal on him three years ago to find where he buried a Princeton student. He gave them a recipe for dip.”

Anthony Hopkins returning one last time to play Hannibal ‘the Cannibal’ Lecter.
This time in a remake of the first book, Red Dragon.
Michael Mann had directed a version of the source material 5 years before Silence of the Lambs. Manhunter was not a huge success.
This time we have Brett Ratner in the director chair. 
There have been a number of Music Video directors that have moved into directing films. David Fincher, Spike Jonze, Michael Bay, Antoine Fuqua.
Brett Ratner too, as well has directing the successful Rush Hour films. I think that this is a wonderful film.

As much as I like Manhunter, I have to say that this is the better film of the two, in my opinion.

Ed Norton is always good and he plays this role so well.
I think this is my favourite performance by Ralph Fiennes. He is a force to be reconned with as Francis Dolarhyde. Haunted by his broken upbringing and shattered childhood. Such a strong yet ever so damaged character.

I’m a big fan of Emily Watson. I love her in Punch Drunk Love and The Proposition (A very dark Australian Western set around Christmas, with Guy Pearce and John Hurt)
Playing blind is very difficult to do. (Even Audrey Hepburn struggles to convey this is Wait Until Dark.)
But Watson is great all the same.

Philip Seymour Hoffman in a smaller role as sleazy reporter Freddy Lounds. Hoffman is one of the all time greats and even in this role he shines.
Anthony Heald and Frankie Faison both return as Dr. Chilton and Barney. 

Sadly Scott Glenn does not return, so we have Harvey Keitel as Jack Crawford. I love Keitel but this is not his best role.

It is rare for a remake to be better than the first film but it does happen.
(Scott Glenn’s Man on Fire is great, but Denzel and Tony Scott’s is better.
Michael Mann’s L.A. Takedown, was great. But Heat is better.
Infernal Affairs is great, The Departed is better. Insomnia is great, Christopher Nolan’s version is better. The Thing, True Lies, Dune, True Grit…There is a few.)
I prefer Red Dragon over Manhunter. I own DVDs of them both and still watch both. 

Anthony Hopkins rightfully picked up a statue for Silence of the Lambs and it is good to see him complete Thomas Harris’ first three novels by playing his iconic role once again.

Hannibal Lecter: “Remarkable boy. I do ire your courage. I think I'll eat your heart.”

Note:
Frankie Faison is the only actor who appears in all four of the Hannibal films.
He played Lieutenant Fisk in Manhunter.
Then plays Barney in Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal and Red Dragon. 

Hannibal Lecter: “Would they have you back, you think. The FBI? Those people you despise almost as much as they despise you. Would they give you a medal, Clarice. Would you have it professionally framed and hang it on your wall to look at and remind you of your courage and incorruptibility? All you would need for that, Clarice, is a mirror.”

After the roaring success of The Silence of the Lambs, both the novel and the smash hit film.
When Thomas Harris’ third book in the Hannibal Lecter series was released in 1999 it flew off the shelves.
I can at my job at the time, there were at least two copies of the book floating around and everyone on my shift was reading it and talking about it.

It was only natural that this was going to be adapted into a film.
The studio approached Jonathan Demme to direct again. But he didn’t like the film's increased violence or the direction of Clarice and Hannibal Lecter's relationship.
This was also Jodie Foster’s reasoning for not returning. She was also busy with other projects.
The studio understandably wanted Jodie to return.
But no matter what they offered they couldn’t get her back. (Foster got paid $2.4mil for Silence of the Lambs. They offered her $15mil for Hannibal) 

Julianne Moore was certainly the best person to cast in this role. She had been amazing in PTA’s Boogie Nights and Magnolia. And by God she shines in this.
Anthony Hopkins had worked with Moore on Surviving Picasso and he was the one who put her forward to play Clarice Starling.

Ridley Scott steps into the director chair for this film and there are many things that I like about this film.
It is a fun sequel. Mason Verger is great adversary to introduce, his deformed features and his hell bent desire to capture and punish Hannibal. Such a ruthless character.
We have always known that Gary Oldman is a chameleon. He is exceptional in this role.

Ray Liotta is menacing as Paul Krendler.
I really like Giancarlo Giannini as the Italian Detective Pazzi. Giannini has popped up in Casino Royal, Quantum of Solace, Man On Fire. But I loved him in the classic Giallo, The Black Belly of the Tarantula. 
His wife is played by sca Neri who I know best from the Cannon film Captain America. 

This is a fun sequel that I enjoy watching.
Having Florence as the location is great as that is a beautiful city.
I’ll keep on watching this. But I still do not think that Lecter would sacrifice his own hand like this.

Mason Verger: “When the fox hears the rabbit scream he comes a-runnin'... but not to help.”

Notes:
Christopher Reeve was offered the role of Mason Verger but turned it down, understandably not wanting to play the disfigured sex offender.
(This would have been his last role, too)

Agent Clarice Starling: “You see a lot Doctor. But are you strong enough to point that high power perception at yourself? What about it. Why don’t you, why don’t you look at yourself and write down what you see? Or maybe you’re afraid to?”
Dr. Hannibal Lecter: “A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti.” (hisses menacingly)

This classic psychological thriller that some class as a horror. Took the world by storm and became iconic as soon as it was released.
Based on Thomas Harris’ second novel which features Doctor Hannibal (The Cannibal) Lector.

5 years earlier, Michael Mann had made a great adaptation of the first book, Red Dragon. Manhunter had not been a huge success.
But I am sure that Jonathan Demme must have at least thought about having Brian Cox return as Hannibal the Cannibal.
Demme knew that he wanted to go in a different direction with the character. 
Casting Anthony Hopkins in this role was not only a stroke of genius but won the Hopkins the Oscar for Best Actor of portraying such a terrifying monster.

This is one of the best thrillers ever. Such a compelling story that Demme has woven together.
Jonathan Demme had made some great films, Fighting Mad, Last Embrace, Married to the Mob. And after this would go on to make Philadelphia and a number of other great films.
Like many many other directors, Jonathan Demme got his start working for Roger Corman, making exploitation films like Caged Heat and Crazy Mama.
And like other directors, when they know that they are making what they know to be a fantastic film. To say thank you, they get their mentor to have a small part in the film. 

(Francis Ford Coppola had Roger Corman as a Senator on the hearing board in The Godfather Part 2. Joe Dante put him in The Howling. Ron Howard put him in Apollo 13)
Corman not only plays the FBI Director in this film, but he goes on to have other small parts in Demme’s other films, The Manchurian Candidate, Philadelphia and Rachel Getting Married.

Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins are magnetic when they are on screen. This bizarre chemistry just works so well.
Scott Glen is great as Jack Crawford but Ted Levine is outstanding as Jame Gumb. Such a twisted character. 
You cannot hear the song Goodbye Horses without thinking of that scene.
“Would you fuck me? I’d fuck me!”

The wild success of this film spawned sequels, remakes of prequels, TV show spin offs.
None will ever be as good as this film and that is a testament to all the actors and crew involved.
Jonathan Demme sadly died in 2017. 

The Silence of the Lambs is his legacy. 

Hannibal Lecter: “I do wish that we could chat longer, but… I’m having an old friend for dinner.”


Notes:
Gene Hackman acquired the rights to the novel the Silence of the Lambs, with the ambition of him directing and even casting himself as either Lector or Jack Crawford. But thankfully he lost interest and gave the rights back.

The voice that Seth Green does for Chris Griffin in Family Guy is based on the voice of Buffalo Bill. Green used to do the voice of Buffalo Bill for his friends and one friend in particular Charlie Korsmo.
So when he auditioned for Chris Griffin he did that voice but changed the voice slightly to make him younger.
Source YouTube

Charlie: “Cluk” (*tongue clicking noise)

I have been watching horror films from a very young age. I have always found them entertaining. They used to scare me when I was younger, but as an adult it is rare for me to feel scared.
Jump scares still make me jump. The anxiety of Beau makes me feel anxious.
But actual fear and terror.
The Exorcist still messes me up every time. But aside from that, there isn’t much else that makes me afraid.

But the first time I watched this film. When Annie is creeping around in the corners. When She is Slamming her Head into the Attic Door!!!

Then running the piano wire across her neck!
Fuck. Right. Off!
 
Yeah this scared me and had me thinking about this, especially the head banging. For hours after.

Toni Collette is one of the greatest actresses out there. I don’t think she has ever given a bad performance. But she has become sort of a horror legend, with this and The Sixth Sense (Okay, not really a horror, more supernatural suspense thriller)
Her rant at the dinning room table is fantastic.
Gabriel Byrne is good in this. But it is the children that this story rides on.
Alex Wolff is excellent, I’m sure they used CG to help with his facial contortions, but all the same, his reactions and fear is genuine and you really feel for him.
I’m glad he is having a pretty good career so far, the Jumanji films are entertaining. I thought Alex was great in Pig, too.
Milly Shapiro as Charlie is outstanding, I don’t know where Ari found her, but she is perfect for this role.
So awkward and a strange lost girl. A bit odd looking. (I do feel bad saying that, but Milly doesn’t look like Charlie, they’ve used make up to make Charlie look more tired and bizarre.)
Milly Shapiro’s performance is haunting.

And that tongue clicking noise.  😬 

I should mentions Ann Dowd as Joan, as Ann is a massively underrated actor. She always shines. She is great in Compliance and Mass, both well worth watching just for her performance.

The ominous cello score is haunting in itself. Colin Stetson creating a stunning score for this that grips you.

Showing the treehouse as the first image that we see in the film works so well, to book end it as the final location.

I’ve watched this a few times now, it was only on this viewing that I caught just how many naked people were outside in the garden this time when it switches from day to night towards the end of the film.

I enjoy all of Ari’s films but this has to be his best.

“Hail Paiman!”

This review may contain spoilers.

“Oh and I’m giving Jeeves his medicine. So if you hear him screaming, he’s just asleep.” 

Bleak Anxiety: The Movie.

Beau has got a great deal to be afraid of.
Jesus. This is a fever dream of pure dread. I have not felt this much anxiety since I first watched, Aronofsky’s Mother.

We literally start at the beginning with Beau being born. This was initially a disorientating way to start.
It is a fascinating start to the film. Coming out of the womb and getting a slap on the arse.
(This start reminded me of the start of, Blast of Silence. With a similar voice over, describing being born and being slapped on the arse as the camera is drawn out of the distant tunnel) 

The reflection shot off of the glass cabinet of the jumper is really clever. 
The description over the phone is harrowing.
That UPS guy should not be answering calls.

I really enjoyed so much of this film and it had me on edge the entire time.
Ari Aster’s previous two horror films. Hereditary and Midsommer. Are horrific.
This is much more fear inducing. It is so well put together to make the audience feel this way throughout the film.

There are some really funny moments, like when Beau is hit by the van. And when he leaves his mother’s house. 

I thought the film was fantastic and had so many great moments of anxiety. It is so well done.

But the (kind of) Truman Show ending lost its way for me.
I honestly think that if you 
****Spoilers****
have him pushed up into the attic. Where he discovers his brother, then we have Jeeves burst in through the window and throw the knife killing Beau instantly.
Role credits. This would have been a better ending for the film.
But the massive dick and balls and the Truman Show auditorium, life on film.
This dragged it down and sadly undoes all the fear inducing moments we saw prior.

I should give this 3.5 but the way that the bedroom scene ended, with him being reunited and ‘being together’ for the first time.
When that scene ended I had my hand over my mouth for about 3 minutes.
I did not see that ….. coming! 

I love Parker Posey, she was superb in Party Girl and she is great in this. 
Jeeves being played by Denis Ménochet (Inglourious Basterds, The Beasts) is great.
I am a huge fan of Amy Ryan so it was awesome seeing her on screen (I’m a huge fan of Gone Baby Gone)
Patty LuPone was great in Agatha All Along and she is wicked in this, such a stringent Mother. 

Beau: “Did she work for you?”
Mona: “I don’t think so. But if she did you can tell her that she’s fired.”

Joaquin Phoenix is a tremendous actor and plays Beau with aplomb.

Much like Beau, I got caught up in the play, and was bought along for the ride.
Ari Aster is a genius.

I’m going to check my apartment for spiders and I’ll be looking up before I get in the bathtub from now on.

“When sorrows come, they come not in single file but in battalions.”

Danielle: “You’ve gotta stop fighting with everyone all the time.”
Alana: “Oh Fuck Off Danielle!”

This is a beautiful story, I’m not sure how to describe it. It’s not strictly a coming of age film. It’s a story of young love. 
Two people finding each other. But it repeatedly just isn’t working due to their age gap and Gary’s immaturity.

But this is so sweet, the jealousy is so well captured.
From Lance (Skyler Gisondo, Vacation, Booksmart) on the plane, loosening his tie and opening his shirt. Alana noticing and looking and Gary noticing Alana noticing. 
All the moments of running, I can running everywhere as a child myself so this resonated.
The playfulness of them running around together, or running around to find each other, or to protect each other.
Like when Gary is falsely arrested or best of all when Gary goes running to Alana after she is thrown off the back of the motorbike.
PTA is a master director, but that scene, having the bike racing forward, Gary running back, them ing, the jump happening. Gary still running, Alana on the floor.
It is just beautiful.

This turbulent story of young love, it is clearly one sided initially. 
Alana: “Stop, I can hear you breathing…. Stop!”
Gary: “Breathing?”
Alana: “Yes.”

But Gary has such a charm to him. And all under the romantic backdrop of the San Fernando Valley in the summer of 1973.

Cooper Hoffman is great as Gary, you can see elements of his father (One of the greatest actors who ever lived, RIP) in his performance here. 
Alana Him breaking out in a fantastic debut performance, alongside her bandmate, sisters as well as her parents in this film. I love the family dynamic.
The smaller roles are amazing as you would imagine from a Paul Thomas Anderson ensemble.
Sean Penn as Jack Holden (playing a William Holden character) When he and Rex Blau (played by Tom Waits as Director, Mark Robson*) get together, it is great drunken tomfoolery.

The racist sounding Japanese restaurant owner. Jerry Frick (played by John Michael Higgins, The Mighty Wind) This character is hilarious, you probably shouldn’t laugh but you can’t help it. He is so ridiculous.
John C Reilly (Boogie Nights, Magnolia) pops in briefly in the background as Herman Munster. 

But the top prize has to go to Bradley Cooper, playing producer Jon Peters. 
If you do not know who Jon Peters is, he was Barbra Streisand’s hairdresser, went on to marry her and become a movie producer. He produced A Star is Born 1976, which starred Streisand and Peter’s career took off as that was a huge hit.
He went on to produce Batman 1989 and Man of Steel. Loads of films.
But he is known to be a massive douchebag.
So Bradley Cooper’s portrayal of him in this film is perfect.
If you want to know more about Peter’s then read, Hit and Run: How Jon Peters and Peter Guber Took Sony for a Ride in Hollywood.
Or at least listen to Kevin Smith talking about Peter’s when he was working on the script for Superman Lives. It is hysterical how idiotic Jon Peter’s is YouTube. 

In this you hear Kevin, quote Peter’s saying.
“We both speak the same language. We’re both from the streets.”
Which is a line he says in Licorice Pizza too.

The Music in this film is fantastic. The Doors - Peace Frog is one of their best tracks. (And God knows they have plenty)

Let me Roll it. By Paul McCartney is such a great track and I love it’s use in this scene as Gary is just about to blow it, again. When he stops and thinks about his actions.
I love it. 

I am a big fan of PTA. He has not set a foot wrong yet, and showing his versatility with this 70’s love story is just spot on.
This is only my third watch of this one but I’ll keep on coming back.

Notes:
*Tom Waits as Director Rex Blau, who is modelled on Director Mark Robson. In the restaurant Rex mentions a film “The Bridges of Toko-San” which is a reference to the film, The Bridges of Toko-Ri. Which was directed by Robson, staring William Holden (Penn’s character) and Grace Kelly (who is name checked) 
Incidentally, I believe that Tony Scott got the idea for the opening of Top Gun from the floating aircraft carrier scenes from The Bridges of Toko-Ri.

The guy that is nudging the pinball machine is in the background again when Alana comes in looking for a Gary. As she’s leaving he changes machines so he is then nudging/thrusting into a woman! (WTF!) It’s still funny if you catch it. 

George DiCaprio (Leo’s Dad) plays the man who sells Gary the waterbed in the film. 

PTA said that “he has been directing Cooper his whole life.”
As he is in many of Anderson’s family home movies, when Philip Seymour Hoffman would come around every summer and their children would play together. 😢

(Looking for an invitation, pulls out a piece of paper.)
Door Guard: “That ain’t it.”
Bertha: “Look again.”
(Von Morton draws gun)
Door guard: “That’s it. That’s it.”

Bertha Thompson (Barbara Hershey) a teenage orphan, and her lover, Big Bill Shelly (David Carradine, Kill Bill) a union organiser, as they become involved in train robbery and fight against the railroad company during the Great Depression.  

Hershey and Carradine are great together in this film. Their romance is genuine, I love the looks that Hershey gives in this role, that longing look. It’s a great performance.
Bernie Casey, who has played so many roles, but I mostly know him as the teacher in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. He’s superb as the harmonica playing Von Morton.
I love the scene on the train when he is dressed like a waiter and relieving the engers of their possessions. 

Elements of luck that keep on coming up within this film.
Berthas luck at craps. Lucky that Big Bill and Von Morton met again in the cell and again that Von Morton is able to overpower the guard.
But their luck has got to run out sometime.

This is a first time watch for me.
It is great seeing Marty’s humble beginnings but you can see elements of what he will be.
There are some great angles here.
****Spoilers****
the crucifixion scene is shot in a similarly way to The Last Temptation of Christ.

This film will not be for everyone.
If you like Roger Corman films and AIP releases then you’ll like this.
As you can imagine with a Scorsese film the pacing is great and at 88 minutes it breezes by.
I’ll be watching this again.

Notes:
Boxcar Bertha is a very early film by Scorsese. 
He’d directed Who’s that Knocking at my Door, which had not had a wide release. As well as a few shorts and a documentary.
Scorsese had been hired to direct The Honeymoon Killers. But got fired two weeks into shooting because he was not shooting enough coverage.
(Scorsese its that the producers were right to fire him)

Marty went back to NYU as a part time teacher, teaching film students. He then directed Street Scenes, another documentary. 
Marty was known for his editing and was bought out to LA to edit Medicine Ball Caravan.
Ended up there for 9 months.
But he got to hangout with his friends.

At this time Francis Ford Coppola was protecting George Lucas from Warner Bros trying to edit down THX-1138.
Fellow New Yorker, Brian De Palma had just been fired from Getting to Know Your Rabbit. And Stephen Spielberg was directing TV shows on the Universal lot. 

Martin Scorsese had a meeting with Roger Corman who had seen Street Scenes. 
Corman has famously given so many Directors their start in the industry. 
Francis Ford Coppola, Ron Howard, James Cameron, Joe Dante, Monte Hellman, Peter Bogdanovich, Stephanie Rothman, Jonathan Demme, to name a few. 

Corman was running AIP and had great success in creating distribution deals before films were even completed. (Kind of like what Cannon did, but much more successfully)

At this time the studios owned all of the movie theatres. So even if you had gone out and made your own film. You couldn’t get it distributed because it hadn’t been made inside the studio system.

Corman had made a film that had done well. Bloody Mama based on Ma Barker, a true story from 1930’s. Starting Shelley Winters and a then unknown Robert De Niro.
 
Scorsese in his meeting with Corman discussed making a loose sequel to Bloody Mama based on a book called Sister of the Road about Bertha Thompson. 
A depression era woman (who was an amalgamation of a few real life people that the author had interviewed) the book is about a woman going on a robbery spree.

Scorsese was a big fan of Corman and really wanted to work with him so that he could get a movie released nationwide in cinemas 

6 months later Marty is doing sound editing for John Cassavetes on Minnie and Moskowitz and crashing on Cassavetes couch when he got the call from Corman.

Corman gave him 2 rules. 
Stay on budget ($600k) and every 15 pages there has to be some skin.
Not necessarily nudity. But a bit of shoulder, a bit of leg.
(Being a Corman film, there is quite a bit of nudity which is not surprising.)
And that was it, Martin Scorsese’s career was off. 

Also, early in the film there is a split diopter shot which is a signature shot of his friend De Palma.

“I'm not a demon. I'm a human being!”

Set in Japan around the 14th Century, two women who live together. An older woman and her daughter-in-law, struggle to survive as food is scarce.
They are forced to kill ing soldiers, to sell their armour and weapons to a fence, so that they can eat.

When the nearby neighbour Hachi, returns without the old woman’s son and daughter-in-law’s husband who he left with. They are equally upset by the news of his death.
Hachi soon starts to make advances towards the daughter-in-law. Mother does not like this one bit and must try to put a stop to any desire that her daughter-in-law might have act on his advances. 

This is a very simple story but told so exceptionally well. The three main characters are what move this story along. There are other smaller characters within the film.
But it is essentially their stories that we follow.
I would say that a huge part of this film is the reeds.
The reeds are a character in themselves.
It is their constant rustling that we hear. We see them swaying in the breeze. They surround them for miles. Hiding their huts from the surrounding armies. Cloaking their paths and the ominous pit that is on one of the paths as a trap.

This film starts by showing us the reeds, then we see this hole (pit) from the bottom of it. This instantly reminded me of The Ring. I am sure there have been a number of other films that have been influenced by this.
The way the first two soldiers are stripping down the bodies and dragging along, to be thrown into the pit. I am sure that this influences Scorsese as he used a similar shot in Casino when Nicky and his brother and killed and throw into a pit, surrounded by the reeds of sweetcorn. (Incidentally the guy that kills Joe Pesci’s character with baseball bats is Frank Vincent, who played Billy Batts in Goodfellas who Pesci’s character kills in that film)

The eerie score setting up what we can expect from certain J-horror in the future.
The violins are haunting and I have to say that when the title came up and there was a sudden orchestral crash of sound.
It scared the shit out of me.
I guess that is the ideal.

Bought to us by the legendary Toho Studios though made all of the classic Godzilla and other Kaiju movies.
I was quite surprised by the nudity. It is a bit shocking for this time period of the mid 1960’s
There was a UK edit of this film that cut around the nudity, zoomed in certain frames so that all the nudity was removed.

I loved this film, it was a great story, well told.
The mother’s desire not wanting to lose her daughter in law to a lesser man than her son. Going to such lengths to keep them apart. I did think that the ending of the film does come around quite abruptly but I can see why this a classic and beloved by so many.

Notes:
Willem Defoe acquired the rights to this film as he wanted to create a remake of it. But every time he tried to write it and put a new spin on it. He felt like he was ruining the source material. So he put it aside.
Good for you Willem.
Source YouTube

“Brother Fucker!”

I really enjoy Paul Feig’s films. Bridesmaids was a smash hit which everyone loved.
Spy, I think is even better and arguable his best film. 
When this was being released the press said that this was more of a serious film. Which I thought was strange.
To be fair it is more of a serious film. But all of Emily Nelson’s (Blake Lively) dialogue is so cutting and absolutely hilarious. You cannot take this film too seriously.

Nicky: “Mom, you never let me do anything fun.”
Emily: “That's not true. I let you tear my labia as you exited my body, so you're welcome.”

Stephanie (Anna Kendrick) is fantastic. Especially when she finds her stride. Tearing apart Emily’s boss in his office is brutal and brilliant.
Even Detective Summerville (Bashir Salahuddin) gets some historical lines. 
“Are you gonna be at your own house, or your wife’s best friends?”

It’s a great story adapted from Darcy Bell’s novel. It is great when Emily starts investigating and uncovers more.

A fun thriller with some hilariously graphic dialogue as you would expect from Paul Feig.

This is my second time watching and I’m sure I’ll be watching this again, especially with Another Simple Favour due to be released in a couple of weeks.

Notes:
There are a few French songs in this film.
The song Laisse Tomber les Filles stood out for me as this is the original version in French.

But Quentin Tarantino has an English translated version, Chick Habit/Laisse Tomber les Filles played over the end credits of Death Proof. 

Blake Lively is teetotal, unlike her character Emily in this film who is a heavy drinker.

In the film you can see the martinis are being made with Aviation Gin, which is owned by Blake Lively’s husband Ryan Reynolds.

When the Carolco logo comes up at the start of any film you usually know that this is going to be a fun ride.
I have to it this is not a film I watched a lot growing up, I can only seeing it once or twice on video or TV.


I have not seen this for years so I was quite surprised at how bad it was.
A lot of action films are a bit shit. But as we grew up with them and watched them again and again on video you became accustom to the ridiculousness of what is occurring. 

This is brain at the door fun.
The literal cliffhanging throughout the film.
Sly’s character Gaby being forced to take his coat off so that we, as the audience get ‘two tickets to the gun show!’
I have been a big fan of John Lithgow, especially when he is playing the bad guy and even more so when he dials up his performance.
But I have to say that even this time he is dialled up a bit too far.
Cashing in on every other ‘Die Hard on a (Blank)’
The incarnation of Die Hard on a Mountain, leans too much into the Hans Gruber, with Lithgow’s Eric Qualen having a boarder line English Accent.
But even still some of his line deliveries do have more gravitas through this dialect.

Qualen: “You kill a few people, they call you a murderer. You kill a million and you’re a conqueror. Go figure!”

All of the performances are a bit wonky in this, ranging from Stallone over doing it. To Craig Fairbrass as English football (not soccer) fan, Delmar.
Well, he is dreadful in most things but he is just terrible in this.
I think that the best performance comes from Michael Rooker as the girlfriend losing, Hal. 
(and to be honest what the fuck was he doing bringing an inexperienced climber up to clearly one of the most dangerous peaks ever, especially with a hot tub injured knee, no less!)
Rooker is always great. He is also dialling it up. But not as much as the rest of the cast.

It is kinda shot like a TV movie. But there are some moments of genius.
The rope bridge across the canyon. The camera work leading up to that just before Gabe and Jessie (modelling her fashionable at the time, Demi Moore in Ghost Haircut) approach the bridge the camera swoops back across the bridge. That whole scene is great.
(Although why the trip wire had a 20 second delay timer so that anyone crossing, can run back to safety is beyond me.)

The score is great although at the start there are moments when it sounds like the Basic Instinct score.
 
The stunt work is great. The cable between the planes looks incredible and set a new Guinness record for most expensive stunt.
Simon Crane was paid $1 million to travers between the two planes with no additional safety precautions. 
They could not get insurance for the stunt, so Stallone paid some money out of his own salary to ensure that they got the stunt.
It looks fantastic.

I am a fan of Director, Renny Harlin. Nightmare on Elm Street 4, although not my favourite, was the most successful of the franchise. I love The Long Kiss Goodnight, it’s a great Christmas movie.
Die Hard 2 and Deep Blue Sea are great fun.
I’m just not that taken with this film.

If I had watched this more when it first came out I am sure that I would have a lot more love for this.
It is fun and enjoyable, but I am not going to rush back to rewatch it again.

Notes:

Christopher Walken was first signed up for the Qualen role, but just before production was about to start he dropped out.
It would have been interesting to see Walken in this role but I think it would have been much like his Zorin role in View to a Kill. 

Couple of other extras of note. We have Bruce McGill (Time Cop, Last Boyscout, My Cousin Vinny) As one of the Agents on the plane. 
The agents in the Helicopter at the end, in charge we have Paul Winfield who played Detective Trailer in The Terminator. And sitting behind him we have Zach Grenier who played the narrator’s Boss in Fight Club, who he beats himself up in front of.

Also does anyone else think that Caroline Goodall (Schindler’s List) who plays the Kristel - The Pilot in this. Looks very similar to Sam Phillips who plays a very similar charter, Katya in Die Hard with a Vengeance? I think they look alike.

(Rod steps out of the shower naked, walking and talking around the locker room.)
Jerry: “Towel?”
Rod Tidwell: “No, I air dry.”

Cameron Crowe is a great writer and has a knack for creating these tear jerking moments.
In Almost Famous there is the Tiny Dancer scene on the bus.
In this it’s the You Complete me, moment.
This is such a sweet film.

A popular sports agent, Jerry McGuire has a moral epiphany about the way that his industry is going and on a whim, writes a heartfelt mission statement.
This boldly honest statement gets Jerry fired.
Now an independent agent he is doing his best to keep his clients.
Accompanied by one other member of staff who walked out with him, Dorothy (Renée Zellweger) as she was inspired by his new philosophy.
Rising star football player, Rod Tidwell (Cuba Gooding Jr) also atays with Jerry, as long as he can.
“SHOW ME THE MONEEEY!”

Tom Cruise is great as Jerry, he carries this role well. You can tell that with Jerry’s charm, life has always come easily to him and this is the first time that he has really be challenged.
Renée Zellweger is also great, a lonely but caring mother. She will follow Jerry as she believes in his campaign.
Jonathan Lipnicki plays the cute son, Ray who is so adorable in this. When he runs back to his bedroom and you can barely see the top of his head when he runs behind the sofa. 
Kelly Preston (Jack Frost, Battlefield Earth) plays Jerry’s fiancé Avery.
Regina King (Enemy of the State) plays Rod’s wife Marcee. 

We also have Todd Louiso (High Fidelity) as the babysitter Chad, this Jazz loving character is a lot of fun.
But the jewel in the crown of this film is Cuba Gooding Junior as Rod Tidwell.
Cuba is so made for this role. This and Boyz N the Hood are his best performances (As much as I like Men of Honor, it has to go to these two films) 
He is so much fun every time he is on screen and when he gets him moment in the sun you are so happy for him

There are also a couple of cameos I have to mention.
For a scene or two you see Eric Stoltz (Mask, Pulp Fiction, Back to the Future 😬) as one of the Sports Agents.
There is also a brief cameo from Allan Graf as a golf coach at the very start. (Graf has done stunts and been in small roles in sooo many films, 48Hrs, Tango & Cash, Red Heat, Total Recall, The Doors, the list goes on and on. I love seeing him pop up in stuff.)

Is this Cameron Crowe’s best film?
No I’d say that Almost Famous takes the top spot. But this is a really enjoyable heartwarming rom com.
It is a joy to watch, when the characters are low, you’re low with them. But when they are high, it is glorious.

“And I’m Freeee….. Freeee Falliiiing!”

Note:
A fun anecdote about the premier of this film, all of the cast were in the front role with their partners. The first scene early into the first where we see Avery and Jerry having their sex scene. Kelly Preston’s husband John Travolta was not expecting to see his wife naked and getting railed by Tom, which she is screaming.
“Never Stop Fucking Meeee!”

Travolta found this highly shocking.
Everyone was really pleased and excited after this first showing of the film, with the exception of John Travolta.

Really heart warming story, it’s a bit of fun told well through the surreal yet somehow true story of Maurice Flitcroft.
A crane operator who thought he’d try his hand at golf, having never played it before. But entered himself as a professional into the British Open.

It is a surreal story that is a lot of fun and well told. Mark Rylance is a great actor. (I have particularly enjoyed him in The Order, Dunkirk and Bones and All)
Sally Hawkins (Shape of the Water) plays his wife and they make for a cute couple.

This film shines a light on British poverty during the 1970 and desperate measures people were forced to go to, to keep a roof over their heads and feed their families.

It’s probably a two and a half star film but it has to get a half star more as I laughed for a couple of minutes at the end, when
****Spoilers****
they tell you that Maurice Flitcroft entered the British Open three more times. 😂 
Especially seeing as one of his names he entered as was Arnold Palmtree!

What I legend. 
I love quirky true stories like this.

An intelligent data analyst for the CIA has his world bought to a halt when his wife is tragically killed during a terrorist attack in London.

Heller (Rami Malek) makes it his job to find out who these people are and brings all his findings to his boss, Director Moore. (Holt McCallany) 

But Moore already knows all this information and says that they will handle it.

Frustrated, Heller has to take matters into his own hands. He threatens Moore with a leak of classified information regarding him and falsified documents if he does not send him for field training.
Moore has no choice but to have him trained while they try to find out where Heller has this fail safe information.
Heller is great at the analytical side of things. But a killer he is not.
He is not a field agent and he cannot shoot a gun. But during his training he learns how to make bombs.
This is how he will have to improvise. Work out other ways to get his targets.
Now on the run from the CIA, Heller escapes to Europe to track down his wife’s killers.

This film is great. I went in with certain expectations and this exceeded them.
This is a really well thought out and the kills and the way he gets information is very innovative. 

Heller: “I want to buy all of these flowers. All. and all these lilies.”
Florist: “You must have done something really bad.”
Heller: “Not yet.”

The film is set across a number of European cities which gives it a classic espionage thriller look and feel.
But as our protagonist is not a trained killer, this makes it so interesting. 

Think 003½, or if they sent a young Q out into the field.
There are elements of this that reminded me of The Rhythm Section, or Stephen Leather’s book, The Chinaman (which was adapted by Netflix into a diluted adaptation of the book, The Foreigner with Jackie Chan) 
This is a character way out of their depth. But thinking on his feet. Doing what they feel is right to bring justice.

I love a good revenge flick. This has set quite a high bar. Academy Award winner Rami Malek has been a Bond villain. But this sort of role is much more attuned to him.
Mr Robot goes rogue, if you will. 

Holt McCallany is great as Director Moore. He was great in Fight Club but he is leaning more into his Mindhunter role for this film.
Laurence Fishburne plays Heller’s handler. An experience field agent, Henderson who is hot on his trail.
We have a number of smaller parts, Jon Bernthal appears as another field agent.
Julianne Nicholson is Director O’Brien and Adrian Martinez (Focus, Renfield) plays another data analyst.

James Hawes directs this really well. He has a lot of experience directing TV and recently did the espionage Apple TV show Slow Horses with Gary Oldman.

This is fast paced, the camera work is great and combined with the European locations and beautiful score by the London Contemporary Orchestra.

This makes for a great spy thriller.

(If this does well at the box office I would not be surprised if they green lit a sequel)

Well worth seeing on the big screen.
Head out to the cinema to see this.

Is that a Sony Minidisc!!?? 
(Yes, the answer is yes it is.) 

Max: “The issue isn’t if you’re paranoid Lenny.
I mean look at this shit.
The issue is, if you are paranoid enough.”

James Cameron wrote an amazing script here, and much like when he polished Point Break, he then ed it across to his wife Kathryn Bigelow to direct.
Bigelow is going from strength to strength. Her direction here is amazing.
Near Dark was more of a documentary style.
Blue Steel was good, Point Break was amazing. But this is her best directing to date.
The story flows perfectly.

Shot in 1994, released in 1995 and set in an alternative future of 1999, just before New Years Eve.
On the approach to the new millennium.

Lenny is a former cop who now sells clips. Videos that stream into your cerebral cortex, giving you a real life feeling of an experience that has been recorded from someone wearing a SQUID rig. (Superconductive Quantum Interference Device.) Technology that was created by the FBI to replace the wire tap.

Iris, a hooker friend of both Lenny and his ex-girlfriend Faith. Iris has a clip of the cold blooded killing of an influential rap artist, Jeriko One. Killed by the police.
This dystopian future with riot police on the streets. Violence and chaos reins. With racial tension is at an all time high, the news of the death of Jeriko One will create havoc. 
 
There is so much more to this story, in the wake of the Rodney King beating, this echoes the event and racial tension within.
(There is even a King style beating towards the end just to hammer this home)

This is a dream cast. Ralph Fiennes gives a great performance as Lenny Nero. He is a slick salesman, but in his former life as a detective. He can usually handle himself, when he needs to.
Tom Sizemore plays best friend and former police partner, Max Peltier. I love Sizemore, (especially in Heat.)
But he has been great in the small parts in Bigelow’s previous films Blue Steel and Point Break. So it is nice to see him getting a much bigger role in this film. I love this character.

Max: “If they give us any shit. We kill them all. What do you say?”

Lenny’s old friend Mace (Lornette Mason) played fantastically by Angela Bassett. (What’s Love Got to do with it, Black Panther) She is a chauffeur and trained bodyguard so she can protect the clients that she is driving and kick ass when she needs to.
The ex-girlfriend Faith is played stunningly by Juliette Lewis. I had a crush on her after seeing this film. She looks amazing in this film.
As well as this her singing voice, which is astounding. Lewis started her band Juliette and the Licks in 2003 and had a singing career for a while and you can see why when she is on stage in this film. 
The two cops chasing Iris are played by fantastic character actors, Vincent D’Onofrio (Full Metal Jacket) and William Fichtner. (Armageddon, Dark Knight) An under use of their talents in these small roles but they still excel.
Raspy voiced Michael Wincott (The Crow) plays Philo Sant, the head of a record label and Faith’s new boyfriend.
Jeriko One is played by Glenn Plummer (Show Girls, Speed) and Richard Edson (Do the Right Thing) plays Tick, a fellow clips dealer.

There is also a small part for a (tattoo headed) Nicky Katt. 
Nicky sadly took his own life this week which is very sad to hear. I thought was great in Christopher Nolan’s Insomnia.
RIP.

All the cast are on point and it makes for a compelling narrative that meanders as more of the plot is revealed.

Ellen Mirojnick was nominated for an Academy Award for Costumes for Oppenheimer.
These costumes are amazing. Mace’s Suits and that New Years Eve dress. Lenny Nero’s shirts.
But Faith’s clothes, her New Years Eve dress is great but the one she wears on stage is stunning. 
Ellen also did all the fabulous costumes for Behind the Candelabra. 

The music is fantastic, with a score by Graeme Revell. But it is the additional music within the film that really bumps it up.
Skunt Anansie appear in the film at New Years Eve singing.
The end credits have a Deep Forest track, While the Earth Sleeps, which is great.

The sensational singing voice of Juliette Lewis is what truly captures you.
Her two covers of PJ Harvey songs. Rid of Me, is fantastic. (Juliette and her band the Licks also did a cover of this)
But it is her stage version of I can Hardly Wait, that is so amazing.
You can fin the whole song on YouTube but here is that scene.  YouTube.
This song sets up the scene so well with Lenny staring longingly at Faith as she sings. 

I have been watching this film for decades, I had this on VHS and it was a go to film for late night viewing.
I still love revisiting this film as it’s a great story and there are many layers to it.

Kathryn Bigelow is a master film maker and this is really showing off her talent with this film.

Looking at this film through today’s perspective, watching clips and seeing other peoples lives first hand is similar to social media today. We can instantly glimpse into peoples lives and view and even live vicariously through over peoples experiences.
So in essence, we are kind of there already.
Strange Days indeed.

Notes:
Fat Boy Slim has a track called Right Here, Right Now which takes a sample from Angela Bassett’s character.
Mace: “This is your life. Right here, right now.”

For the New Years Eve party in the streets, they shut down the corner of Flower and 5th in Los Angeles and had thousands of extras.
To get them in the party moods they hired the band Deee-lite who hang their hit song Groove is in the Heart among many others to the crowd. They also had Aphex Twin perform too and this is a lot of the footage of the crowd that we see in the film.

Bigelow and James Cameron had to create a new lightweight camera for the POV shots within the film.

Faith throwing a towel at Lenny and saying
“Dry me.”
Is a reference to Bladerunner where Zhora throws a towel at Deckard and says the same line.

Johnny Utah: “Bodhi, this your fucking wake up call. I am an F.B.I. Agent!” 

The Tagline for this film is, “100% Pure Adrenaline.” A line which Bodhi says before they go skydiving.
“Other guys snort for it, jab a vein for it. All you gotta do it jump.”

And jump in we do, as soon as this film gets started it does not let up. We first off see our protagonist, Johnny Utah. Out in the target range in the rain.
He also get “100%” on his final exam at Quantico before we cut to him walking into the FBI office in LA for the first time.

This is a fantastic one shot. Utah walks in, meet his new Boss played by John C McGinley (Wall Street, Se7en, Scrubs) then they walk and talk while circling through the office space avoiding other workers.
McGinley said that, lines kept getting fluffed, or someone would trip of bump an actor.
It took 50 takes and the whole day to get this shot right.
It’s a great way to start off this film.

We are then introduced to Utah’s new partner. Pappas. This is a great bit of casting having Gary Busy in this role as he is excellent and the seasoned FBI Agent Pappas who does not take any shit.
As well as being one of the stars in arguably The most famous surfing film of all time. John Milias’ Big Wednesday. 

Pappas and Utah work Bank Robberies, they are after the Ex-Presidents. A gang of bank robbers who wear the masks of former Presidents and are slick and move fast.
They get in, take control of the bank. They take from the drawers and never go near the vault. “You burn time in the vault. Smart.”
They are in and out in 90 seconds.

Pappas: “Then they disappear. Like a Virgin on Prom night.” 

Pappas has a theory that the gang are surfers, so they go to work at the beach with Utah undercover as a surfer.

Ridley Scott was initially supposed to direct this when the script was first written. 
It rolled around in limbo until it eventually fell apart. 
It was then ed across to James Cameron who really liked the script. He ed it to his wife (at the time) Kathryn Bigelow.
Cameron helped to polish the script to increase the pacing and came onboard as Executive Producer. 

Swayze was in contention for Johnny Utah but he said he preferred the Bodhi role.

Bigelow’s number one choice was for Keanu Reeves, but none of the other producers, even Cameron, thought that Reeves could do it.

It’s funny now looking back. But there was a time before 4 Matrix and John Wick films, way before Speed, when Reeves was mostly known for his Bill and Ted role.  
So no-one believed that he could be a convincing action star. But Bigelow believed and knew he had it in him. (He essentially owes his career to her)

We’re got some great small parts in this film. Bunker’s gang consists of War Child. Played by Vincent Klyn (Fender from Cyborg)

Tone. Played by Anthony Kids, lead singer for the Red Hot Chilli Peppers.
As undercover agent Deets of the DEA, we have the legendary Tom Sizemore. Who was in Bigelow’s previous film Blue Steel and having a much bigger role in her next film, Strange Days. As well as being in tons of other films like Natural Born Killers, Heat.
Jumping out of the shower naked to kick the shit out of Keanu we have Julie Michael who was Denise in Roadhouse with Swayze.
And Bunker himself Chris Pedersen who was in Platoon.

This is such a great action film, so well constructed.
This has Edgar Wright’s favourite foot chase of all time in it when Utah is chasing Bodhi dressed as Ronald Regan.
Incidentally, Swayze was the one who actually injured his leg in real life in the football on the beach scene. He had massive amounts of fluid on the knee that had to be drained every day.
This is why the stuntman playing Bodhi has to keep the mask on during the chase as Swayze was unable to run.

None stop action, it does not get much better than this.

Utah: (Uncuffs Bodhi) “Vaya con Dios”

Australian Cop 1: “Utah, what are you doing you’re letting him go.”

Utah: “He’s not going anywhere”
Australian Cop 2: “We’ll get him when he comes back in.”
Utah: “He’s not coming back.”
(Throws his police badge into the ocean. The guitars on Ratt’s Nobody Rides for Free, kick in. Roll credits)

Notes:
A couple of lines of dialogue make me laugh.
Utah: (after following Bodhi) “He goes to Tower Records and buys some CDs, he goes to Patrick’s Roadhouse and has lunch.”

Nice little nod to Patrick Swayze’s previous film Roadhouse.

Bodhi: (To Rosie, regarding Roach’s corpse) “We can’t leave him here we gotta bury him.” 
(They grab the money and drive away.
)
What the fuck, I thought you were gonna bury him?? 

The last scene in Bells Beach, Australia was actually shot in Oregon and it was a reshoot. 
This is why Reeve’s hair is longer as he was growing it out for Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey.

Swayze and Reeves were both in Young Blood. 1986 with Rob Lowe.

Marshal Cooper: (Watches Royce use the arm of Cosmos sunglasses to escape from handcuffs) “That's pretty slick.”
Cosmo Reno: “Yeah. Pretty slick, the guy just broke my fucking glasses.”

5 years after the huge success of The Fugitive we get some what of a sequel with returning US Marshal Cooper (played by Tommy Lee Jones) and his team from the first film.
Joey Pants (Joe Pantoliano, The Matrix, Memento) as Cosmo.
Daniel Roebuck (Final Destination) as Biggs.
Tom Wood (Under Siege) as Newman and L. Scott Cadwell (Devil in the blue Dress) as Poole.

For this film they have added a pretty impressive cast. The Fugitive they are tracking is Sheridan, played by Wesley Snipes. His girlfriend Marie, is played Irene Jacob (It is great seeing her on screen, but still strange hearing her speaking English. She has been in a number of French films including two masterpieces from Krzysztof Kieslowski. The Double Life of Véronique and Three Colours Red)
The film starts with the team trying to apprehend a huge guy, Conroy played by Donald Gibb (Jackson from Bloodsport, Ogre from Revenge of the Nerds) which is pretty funny.

We also have a new addition to the Marshal’s search team in Royce, played by Robert Downey Jr.
(This was 1 year before Downey’s massive downfall. After missing court-ordered drug tests, Downey was sentenced to a 3 year prison stint in 1999, serving 1. Then in 2001 Downey was found wandering barefoot which led to him being fired from Ally McBeal and other film roles and sentenced to 3 years. Downey has come a long way since those dark days) 
Downey is great as Royce, bringing his usual charm to the role. 

I was not expecting much from this sequel but I have to say that it is pretty good.
The chase and hunting down Sheridan is great, there are more things that are uncovered along the way which made the film interesting.
I didn’t watch this when it was released as I was told that it was a poor sequel. I disagree. This is a worthy sequel.
Is it as good as the first film? Probably not, but it has a lot to live up to and it does it well. You have the bus crashing on the train line in the first film. You have a plane crash in this film and it is done well.

Director Stuart Baird has only directed a few films, Executive Decision, This, then Star Trek Nemesis.
But he has been an editor for years and is more famous for editing. Have worked on load of films. Superman, Lethal Weapon, Die Hard 2, Demolition Man, Casino Royale, Skyfall.
As a result this film is edited really well.  

There are some scenes in swamp reminded me of William Friedkin’s Wanted (Also starring Tommy Lee Jones) 

This was fun. I’ll watch this again.

Notes:
When Sheridan rents the apartment, he tells the landlord, “It's perfect.” This is the same line used by Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford) when he rents an apartment in The Fugitive.

Wesley Snipes hated filming the scenes in the water as he cannot swim.

(Tommy Lee Jones Double Bill 2 of 2)

Linda: “Why do I always get stuck with crazy men?”
Charlie: “Because that’s the only kind that’s left.”

Where do I start. We this is an AIP film (American Independent Pictures, Roger Corman’s company) so you know that this is going to be good.
When it comes to revenge flicks, they do not get a lot better than this. 

Written by Paul Schrader (Writer of Taxi Driver, Hardcore, American Gigalo as well as his own fantastic films like Light Sleeper, Mishima A Life in Four Chapters to name a few) 

Directed by John Flynn, who directed another fantastic revenge film, The Outfit. Then would later do Lock Up.

This tells the story of Major Charles Rane (William Devane) who has just been released from a prisoner of war camp in Vietnam after 7 long years, alongside other prisoners of war including Johnny Vohden (Tommy Lee Jones)
These men were tortured. Put into street positions and beats every day. Causing major psychological damage and PTSD.
To say that they guys are damaged is an understatement. 

When he returns home he finds that his wife has not only been with another man, Cliff. A guy that he knows. But she is betrothed to him.
Charlie Rane, decides that he is not going to stand in their way.
He even talks to Cliff, he shows him some of the painful stress positions that he was placed into.

Charlie: “They used to do that to us twice a day.”
Cliff: “I don’t know how you took it.”
Charlie: “You learn to love the rope. That’s how you beat them. That’s how you beat people who torture you. You learn to love. Then they don’t know you’re beating them.”

He meets the girl who held his bracelet, Linda (Linda Haynes) while he was away and befriends her. 

Along with the towns folk they reward Major Charlie Rane with 2,555 silver dollars.
One for every day that he spent in captivity.
But the Acuña Boys like the look of those silver dollars and they come calling to steal them.

The Acuña Boys rough him up. Demanding to know where the silver dollars are.
But they do not understand that this man has spent the last 7 years being tortured every day. He has learned to enjoy the tourture. To tolerate the pain.
A beating is not going to have any effect. Putting a lighter under his hand, that isn’t going to do shit.
They have to resort to forcing his hand down into the garage disposal. Cutting it into pieces. But still he isn’t saying a word.

His wife and son come home during this torture and the son seeing his father, gives up where the dollars are.
The Acuña Boys shoot all three of them.
The wife and son are killed. But it takes a lot more than this to kill Major Rane.

While in hospital he doesn’t tell the police too much. He takes his time to recover, learning to use his new mechanical arm.
Then when he gets out of hospital he goes looking for these Acuña Boys.

Initially with the help of Linda.
“I’m gonna need a vacation when this vacation is over.”

But when he finds them he knows he is going to need some help. The only person he can trust. Johnny Vohden.

William Devane is always great. (My favourite role of his aside from this is in Marathon Man) But he is just great as the damaged and extremely cold Major Charles Rane.

I love Tommy Lee Jones in this too. (Films like this and The Eyes of Laura Mars he is superb in)
When they are both sat around the Vohden family, listening to their inane chatter. Waffling on and the two of them are just sat silent.
Johnny Vahden has been through so much. He can no longer relate to his family at all.
He shares nothing in common with them.
But when Charlie Rane comes over and then has a quiet word with him.

Charlie: “I found ‘em.”
Johnny: “Who?”
Charlie: “The men who killed my son.”
Johnny: “….I’ll go get my gear.” 

No debate or hesitation. Not another word said. Let’s go kill these guys!

I love these dark gritty films from the 1970’s. This isn’t one that I grew up with but it has soon become a favourite. 
It’s not even about the money, that is never mentioned again. Let’s just go kill these guys. 
Much in the vane of a lot of Paul Schrader’s writing there is a hell of a violent climax to the film as you would expect.

Fantastic. 

Notes: 
This being one of Tarantino’s favourite films (naming his distributing company, Rolling Thunder Pictures, after this) Tarantino references The Acuña Boys in a few of his films. In Jackie Brown, when Sheronda meets Jackie in the mall food court, she has a cup from a Tex-Mex restaurant called Acuña Boys.
(Jackie is drinking from a Teriyaki Donut cup, which is also where Marcellus Wallace got donuts from before Butch hit him with the car in Pulp Fiction.)
In Death Proof, Arlene is sipping from an Acuña Boys cup.
In Kill Bill Vol 2. Esteban's gang is named the Acuña Boys.
Robert Rodriguez first film El Mariachi was also set in Acuna, Mexico. 

The character name of Charles Rane has previously appeared in another Paul Schrader script.
In Taxi Driver, the real name of Sport (Harvey Keitel) is Charles Rain. Although this is not spoken in the film, you can read the name of Charles Rain in the newspaper clippings on the wall at the end of the film.

Texan, the leader of the Acuña Boys was played by James Best. (Sheriff Rosco Caltrain from The Dukes of Hazard, TV show) To give the appearance of always sweating, Best put ice cubes under his hat.

(William Devane. Double Bill 2 of 2. 
Tommy Lee Jones. Double Bill 1 of 2)

Daddy Issues. The movie. 

Shannen Doherty is great at playing unhinged.
Lorie Brindel (Doherty) has been ignored and estranged from her father so she latches onto a handsome older man, Ed Bledsoe played by William Devane after inspecting his boat for her job.
They soon start dating. But Lorie becomes extremely attached and jealous of Ed not spending every moment with her drives Lorie nuts.
They break up, but getting away from someone who is obsessed is not so easy.

“Bitches be crazy” - Sheldon Cooper.

Written by David E. Peckinpah (Nephew of legendary film writer/director Sam Peckinpah) and directed by Jonathan Sanger.
This TV movie moves along at a good pace.
Lorie doesn’t let all of her crazy out of the bag straight away.
Doherty is great at playing this kind of role and is really convincing.

I love William Devane, he has been great in so many good films (Rolling Thunder is one of the best revenge films ever and his role in Marathon Man is great too)
He’s really good in this, he is trying to play it cool and not lose his shit over this crazy bitch but he is being pushed too far.

We also have cameos from Lois Chiles (Holly Goodhead from Moonraker) as Louise, and as Kathryn we have Deanna Lund (who played Valerie in the 1960’s TV show Land of the Giants, I used to love watching repeats of this when I was a kid)

This being a TV movie it clearly had a limited budget and shooting schedule which you can see. But all the same this is well worth a watch if you like this kind of film or either of the two lead actors.

Note: I found this on YouTube at the time of writing. 

(William Devane. Double Bill 1 of 2)

The extraordinary story of Harriet Tubman's escape from slavery and transformation into one of America's greatest heroines, freeing hundreds of slaves through the Underground Railroad. 

This is a very dark period of American History, but it is important not to forget these atrocities and have a record of them for future generation.
Harriet Tubman’s true life of courageous efforts, risking her own life and freedom to save others from the enslavement that she and her family had suffered.
Escorting them back to the safe haven of Philadelphia.

This is really well directed by Kasi Lemmons, who I mostly know as an actress from Silence of the Lambs and Candyman. This is composed very well and brings this true story to life.

Cynthia Erivo (Wicked, Bad Times at El Royale) is great as Harriet Tubman, downtrodden and oppressed. Tubman stands tall where many would wither and die.
Her father, Otis is played by Clarke Peters (Da 5 Bloods) and he is dotting and caring.
Janelle Monáe (Glass Onion, Hidden Figures) plays the lady of the house, Marie Buchanan and does so with grace. Monáe is underrated, she doesn’t have as much to do in this role, but she still shines through. (I hope she gets some bigger roles in the future)
Joe Alwyn plays Gideon Brides, the farm owner who you love to hate. This guy is a son of a bitch and you are really rooting for this bad guy to get what is coming to him. Well played by Alwyn as you hate this character very quickly.
This film also features Alexis Louder (who was great in Copshop and pretty good in Violent Night) as Jane. She is good in this too.

Well worth watching, especially for an important lesson in America’s dark history.

Note:
I found Tubman’s use of the flint lock in this film to be a bit far fetched. But I did some reading up and Harriet Tubman did indeed carry a small pistol with her on her rescue missions, mostly for protection from slave catchers, but also to encourage weak-hearted runaways from turning back and risking the safety of the rest of the group, telling them, "You'll be free or die." 
Tubman also carried a sharp-shooters rifle during the Civil War. 
What a fucking Legend.

“Roadhouse” - Peter Griffin.

Getting home in the early hours of the morning after spending a long evening drinking. Not quite ready for bed. I want to put on something easy going.
A brain at the door action movie. 
Roadhouse!

Hot off of the huge success of Dirty Dancing, Patrick Swayze was a big star and this was bound to be a success.
My older sister was big fan of Swayze and Dirty Dancing, so when she rented Roadhouse on Video, back in the day. I sat down and watched it with her. This film is great fun.  

Swayze is the slick, swift ass kicking bad ass. Dalton.
The best bouncer in the business. He gets hired to clean up a rough Roadhouse bar that has lots of trouble, fights every night, staff are dealing drugs and skimming from the till (cash )

The whole town is corrupt. It is controlled by a powerful business man Brad Wesley (played smoothly by Ben Gazzara) and no-one wants to go up against Brad Wesley.

“I see you found my trophy room Dalton. The only thing missing. Is your ass.”

Sam Elliott plays Dalton’s best friend and mentor, Wade Garrett.
Elliott is always smooth, his raspy voice and rugged good looks is enough to charm the pants off of anyone. (My Mum has had a crush on him for decades) 

Marshall Teague plays Jimmy, Brad Wesley’s toughest henchman.
There are some great fight scenes in this film but it is at its best when Teague is fighting. He is such a formidable adversary, not only for Dalton, but for all of the bouncers.
Both Swayze and Teague have stated that everyone got hurt on the set of this film. Everyone got a punch in the face or worse at the very least. They all wanted to make the fight scenes as real as possible.
Swayze and Teague hurt each other the most. For their fight scene by the lake they hit and hurt each other a lot. Risking injuries to make the fight scene look good and I am glad that they did as this fight scene is 80’s machismo at its best.

“I used to fuck guys like you in prison.”
(My God, what a line. This Jimmy character is messed up!)

Kelly Lynch plays the love interest Doc Clay. She is great in this small role. In 1992 she married movie producer Mitch Glazer. Mitch has a long running friendship with Bill Murray, Murray as a bit of a prankster would always call up Mitch any time that Roadhouse was TV and say things like. “Hey Mitch, turn on channel 52, your wife is getting railed by Swayze again.”
Apparently this went on for decades, every time this was on TV, Glazer would get a call from Murray. Legend 😂 
Doc is a great character. I do think that they missed one joke opportunity when Doc and Dalton’s love scene first starts. She should have unzipped his jeans and said;
“I thought you’d be bigger!”

The other blonde bombshell in this film is Julie Michaels as Denise, the racy scene when she is dancing on stage is unforgettable.
She is pretty good at this kind of role, as when she appears in Kathryn Bigelow’s Point Break, jumping out of the shower naked to kick the shit out of Keanu Reeves. That is pretty awesome too. 

Kathleen Wilhoite is the waitress Carrie, she is a fun character, I love it when she s in on the fights. Bashing people with her tray.
Her best role is with Charles Bronson in Murphy’s Law. 

Keith David (They Live, American Fiction) has like three scenes and has two lines when he is working behind the bar.
He was supposed to be on set for 4 weeks which turned into 11 weeks and filmed loads of stuff.
After the film was completed, director Rowdy Herrington approached Keith David and apologised to him. Unfortunately due to the length of the film he had a make some cuts to the film which meant pretty much cutting out all of Keith David’s parts in the film.
The finished run time is 1 hour 54 minutes. We are missing about 15+ minutes of Keith David scenes. I would love to see this version with him in it.
Release the Keith David Cut!! 

Rowdy Herrington directs this well. It’s well paced and the fight scenes look great, the character development is good. You hear about the legend of Dalton ripping a guys throat out once. Then  when you get to see it later. What a pay off.

Herrington went on to direct a massively underrated Gladiator. (The 1992 Gladiator, not Ridley Scott’s 2000 film) This amazing boxing film went under the radar for most but it’s well worth checking out. (It was on YouTube for free)He also did Striking Distance with Bruce Willis and Tom Sizemore which was okay.

But this film is fun fun fun. What is not to love. 

(Round house kick to the face!) “Roadhouse!”

Notes:
Legendary stuntman and actor Alan Graf who has been in sooooooo many films it is ridiculous (48 Hrs, Total Recall, Over the Top, to name just a few) He pops up in the bar at the very start of the film as one of Dalton’s bouncers, he does the stunt of this film. Always great seeing him appear. 

Dalton gets $5,000 up front and $500 a night. That is an insane amount of money. ($500 adjusted for inflation that’s $1,280 per night. That bar would be out of business quickly)

During the love scene, Doc’s wrist watch is way to loose. Did she just borrow this off some guy? Was there a cut scene where Dalton gives her his watch? Can some please take in the strap on this watch so it fits her!?

The band playing at the very start of the film is Cruzados.
You may recognise them as the band playing in the Titty Twister in From Dusk Till Dawn. 

“The one thing Nickel taught me, was how not to die.”

I initially thought this was going to be an African American version of Scum (1979 UK film starring Ray Winstone) 
Totally wrong. This is a strong tale of a promising college student, Elwood. Whose dreams are shattered when he's sentenced to Nickel Academy, a brutal borstal (youth reform centre) Elwood strikes up a friendship with Turner. Who helps him to find his way.

Really well directed by RaMell Ross. Some great angles and views at 90 degrees. The POV throughout. Lots of close up shots. 
The focus adjust on the TV store window was just great. (Being the focus puller on this film would be tough, great job)

The non linear timeline throws you off a bit at the start. But it is so important to the film.
The whole use of time is amazing and displayed through such inventive shots. 
Like on the train. Seeing the skyline change and seeing the rays of light streaming in through the gaps in the wooden s.

The high definition camera work juxtaposed with old film reals and photographs.
The aptness of cutting footage of Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis in The Defiant Ones. 

By the end of this film it has you in its grasp and you a routing for this to go their way.

Great film. I’ll be watching this again. 

“Turner, Turner! This isn’t the fight!”

Ray Manzarek: “Things are about to explode, man. You can feel it in the air. People want to fight or fuck, love or kill. Vietnam is right over there. Sides are being chosen, everything is gonna flame. That planet is screaming for change, Morrison. We gotta make the myths, man.”

A fantastic glimpse into the time of flower power, the swinging 60’s and the birth of one of my favourite rock bands of all time.
The Doors. 

The casting here is fantastic. Val Kilmer brings Jim Morrison back to life. His vocals are spot on. So much so that when the remaining of the Doors saw the film, they said that they couldn’t tell what parts Val was singing between the recordings of Jim used in the film.
Now that is a compliment.
Val is so cool in this, but he is crazy. (More on that later)

Ray Manzarek is played by David Lynch regular Kyle MacLachlan. John Densmore is played by Kevin Dillon (Matt’s brother) and Robbie Krieger is played by Frank Whaley (Check out the big brains on Brad, from Pulp Fiction) These guys are all fantastic and play the band so well. It’s great seeing them come together.

There is a broad ing cast. The raspy voiced Michael Wincott (The Crow, Strange Days) plays their manager Paul Rothchild. Michael Mason and Billy Idol.
Crispin Glover appears as Andy Warhol and he plays this beautifully. Warhol’s personal assistant is played by Paul Williams (Phantom of the Paradise, Baby Driver)
Alan Graf pops up as a cop that comes into the stage during the last gig.
The film is a trip. I love The Doors and love singing along to this film.

As soon as it starts, you see it’s a Carolco film so you know it’s gonna be good.
This is a riot of a music biopic.

I have a love/hate relationship with this film. I love it and as a The Doors fan.
But Oliver Stone’s script does show Jim Morrison to be a crazy, suicidal person. Which he was not. Stone spent 6 months visiting the Doors band , even staying in their houses. As well as taking extracts from John Densmore’s book.
At the premiere when the film finished. Ray, Robbie and John cornered Oliver Stone and asked him, ‘What the Fuck was that? Jim was nothing like that. You’ve taken our stories and twisted them to suit your narrative.’
Oliver Stone is a massive arsehole. You can see this first hand in his documentary Comandante where he interviews Fidel Castro. 
So that is a real shame that Jim was shown on screen in this way.
But I cannot deny that this is a great film and you feel the 1960’s free spirit and new generation of poets, musicians and lovers.

The version I watched today was the remastered Final Cut. The only change is that one scene was deleted. Jim Morrison drunk and wants to jump from the top of a building.
One of many things that were invented for the film. So I guess Stone has slightly improved it by removing one false scene.

I’m off to the desert now to do some acid and find myself.

“Walk across the floor with a Flower in your hand. Try to tell me no one understands.
Trade in your hours for a handful of dimes.
Gonna make it baby, in our prime.
Come together one more time.
Get together one more time.”

Note:
The French Board of Tourism once reported the four most popular places in Paris were.
1 Eiffel Tower, 2 Notre Dame, 3 The Louvre and number 4 was Jim Morrison’s grave.

Fay: “I always wondered what it would be like to die a really violent death.”
Jack: “Well now you know.”

Jack is a private detective with loan sharks breathing down his neck to clear his debt.
Fay and her psychopath boyfriend Vince, did a violent robbery, but the money is tied to the mob. Fay gets away and asks Jack to fake her death so she can escape.

But Vince is on their trail. 

This is really nice seeing Val Kilmer and his wife Joan Whalley-Kilmer on screen together.
They are a really sweet couple. This is 1 year after the release of Willow where they met and they are still newly weds on this film.

Written and directed by John Dahl, this 1989 film noir based in Nevada. Reminded me of elements of films that are made later.
Michael Madson is great as Vince, this guy is intimidating and violent. He reminds me of the character Madson plays in The Getaway remake in 1994.

This film also reminds me of Red Rock West, 1993 which is written and directed by John Dahl as well. 

This is a fun gangster romp, Val, Joanna and Madson are all great. The production is okay, but it does feel a bit like a TV movie at times.

Well worth watching, Joanna Whalley-Kilmer is beautiful but crazy in this. 
Her and Val are so cute together.

RIP Val.

Billy: “He’s so drunk, you can’t hit nothing. In fact, you’re probably seeing double.”
Doc Holliday: (draws a second gun) “I have two guns, one for each of ya.”

Val Kilmer is so great in many films. But this could well be his best performance. 

The true story of the gun fight at the O.K. Corral.

The Earp brother, Wyatt (Kurt Russell) a retired lawman. Virgil (Sam Elliott) and Morgan (Bill Paxton) accompanied by the sick yet slick gunslinger, Doc Holliday (Val Kilmer) suffering from tuberculosis but still lightning fast on the draw.
These men faced off against 6 outlaws, cowboys that had been running amuck in Tombstone.

This is a classic western. It has all the tropes and is pretty violent to boot.
Starting off with a vicious gunning down of the people of a Mexican boarder town during a wedding.
This opening scene plays out like a Sam Peckinpah film.
The leading of the gang, Curly Bill, is played by Powers Booth. An ice cold killer. The only member colder than him is Johnny Ringo, played fantastically by Michael Biehn (I’m a huge fan of Biehn, especially in The Terminator) 
This film has a stunning cast. The rest of the gang consist of Stephen Lang (Don’t Breath, Avatar) Thomas Haden Church (Sideways, Spiderman 3) Michael Rooker.
Plus cameos from Billy Bob Thornton, Billy Zane, Frank Stallone (Sly’s bro) and Charlton Heston.

Robert Mitchum was the narrator for the film. He was due to play Old Man Clanton,  it Mitchum fell off a horse in preparation for this film.
So he was given the narrator role instead.

George P Cosmatos has been a bit of a schlock director, I love his films, especially Cobra and Leviathan.
But this film is something else.
This is his best directing and his best film by far. 
There’s of split diopter shots throughout the film. The film opens with old time footage, some of this is taken from the Great Train Robbery, from 1903.
The action scenes are really well shot and he doesn’t stray away from the violence. 

Wyatt Earp: “You tell ‘em I’m coming and Hell’s coming with me. You hear? Hell’s Coming With Me!”

Favourite three cast . Sam Elliott is great as Virgil, but my top two characters have to be John Ringo and Doc Holliday. Every time they are on screen they are both great. Especially when they are on screen together.

 “I’m your Huckleberry”
Val Kilmer, you’re a legend.
Rest in Peace.

Notes:
Val Kilmer practiced for a long time on his quick-draw speed, and gave his character a Southern Aristocrat accent. The southern accent is an authentic touch, as Holliday was a cousin (several generations removed) of Margaret Mitchell, author of Gone With the Wind.

Doc Holliday's wink to Billy Clanton just before the culmination of the O.K. Corral gun fight was completely improvised by Val Kilmer.

This is another one of those times when two films that are very similar come out at the same time. (Deep Impact/Armageddon. Dante’s Peak/Volcano. K9/Turner and Hooch. A Bug’s Life/Ants)
Tombstone came out first, but Wyatt Earp followed later the same year.

Some years after the death of Doc Holliday, Wyatt was quoted in an interview as saying, "Doc was a dentist, not a lawman or an assassin, whom necessity had made a gambler; a gentleman whom disease had made a frontier vagabond; a philosopher whom life had made a caustic wit; a long lean ash-blond fellow nearly dead with consumption, and at the same time the most skillful gambler and the nerviest, speediest, deadliest man with a six-gun that I ever knew."

With a heavy heart we say goodbye to Val Kilmer. 

I wasn’t sure what to watch first to say farewell.

But this seemed apt as he met is future wife and mother of his two children, Joanna Whalley on the set of this film.
(They divorced after 8 years, but it’s still love)

This fantasy adventure directed by Ron Howard, written and produced George Lucas and created by Lucas Film and THX.

Val Kilmer has top billing and he is fantastic is this as the arrogant yet charming swordsman, Martigan.
He is hilarious and has a great character arch. Kilmer is great in this role.

Sorsha: “You said you loved me.”
Martigan: “I don't that.”
Sorsha: “You lied to me.”
Martigan: “No, I... I just wasn't myself last night.”
Sorsha: “I suppose my power enchanted you and you were helpless against it.”
Martigan: “Sort of.”
Sorsha: “Then what?”
Martigan: “It... went away.”
Sorsha: “Went away? ‘I dwell in darkness without you’ and it Went Away?

He fell in love with his co-star Joanna Whalley and said that after the kissing scenes, he actually forgot his lines a couple of times as he was so struck by her.
They got married 8 months after they met.

Whalley is truly great is this too. Scandal, the film she did after this, is one of my Mum’s favourite films, so I grew up watching her in that, as well as this.
But Whalley plays this character, Sorsha so well and she’s more than convincing with a sword and during the fight scenes.

Warwick Davis (Wicket from Return of the Jedi) is the titular character, at just 18 years old he plays this role so well. He really cares about the baby and getting her to safety.

The ing cast are pretty awesome, Jean Marsh plays Queen Bavmorda and she is a biiiitch!
She really wants that baby. Towards the end you see her in a wide shot and you can see that she is wrapped up in bandages like a Mummy, it reminded me of Mumm-Ra from Thundercats, which adds to the character.
Pat Roach (Gets a propeller to the face in Raiders of the Lost Ark) plays Kael, this formidable warrior is sporting a skull over his helmet giving him a Darth Vader style look which is freaking awesome.
Patricia Hayes has been playing an elderly woman in films for decades at this point, from Neverending Story to A Fish Called Wanda.
She spends most of the film in animal form, starting out a cute possum (Australian Possum, not the ratty American ones)  
Airk played by Gavan O'Herlihy, a William Atherton (Walter Peck in Ghostbusters, Thornburg in Die Hard) clone, looks so much like the real thing, I still don’t believe they are not the same person.
And we have Tony Cox (Nunchuck swinging little person from Me Myself and Irene) as Vohnkar Warrior.
There is a record number of little people in this films, over 240.

James Horner’s score is fantastic and beautifully melodic. In parts it does echo some of John Williams, Empire score though. (See below notes)

If you enjoy fantasy adventures, you cannot go wrong with this film.
It has elements of Lord of the Rings (parts of this were shot in New Zealand, as well as Snowdonia) and especially Star Wars.
I had a lot of fun watching this again.

Val Kilmer. Your star shone bright. 
RIP

Notes:
The two headed monster is named the Eborsisk, after Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel.

This story written by George Lucas follows parts of Star Wars trilogy.  

Starting with innocent people lined up, soon after our antagonist enters followed by minions.
The thing that the Vader/Bavmorda wants has escaped (baby/R2-D2)
The baby is found by the protagonist (Willow/Luke) a farmer.
Willow/Luke wants to do something else (Become a sorcerer’s apprentice/ the Rebellion)
But he cannot do that just yet. He need to bring the (Baby/R2) back to it’s people.
A distant whaling noise is heard, then the brave warrior Martigan/Obi Wan appears. 
Attacked by tiny people (Brownies/Ewoks) in the woods with primitive weapons.
The baby is captured, but they rescue it but are soon confronted by soldiers.
They are able to escape in a cart/Millenium Falcon pursued by riders on horse back/Tie Fighters. But they win the fight and escape.
Our arrogant warrior Martigan/Han Solo is unwilling to help. But reluctantly assists.
While resting Willow/Luke practices magic/the force.
Inside the tent/Millenium Falcon. Martigan/Han Solo tries to kiss Sorsha/Leia but she resists, they are about to kiss but they are interrupted.
But do eventually kiss. (The score here is so similar it’s crazy) 
Martigan/Han are later reunited with their betrayer Airk/Lando but they are all good now and help and fight together. 
The two headed beast, Eborsisk has a face (jaw line) like the Rancor and it is animated by Phil Tippet who created both creatures too.
Using magic/the force to throw people. 
Similar dialogue “Your powers have gained in strength Razel”/“Your powers are weak old man”
Emperor Palpatine is thrown down into a circular pit with blue lightening illuminating/Queen Bavmorda is drawn up into a circular ceiling port with blue lightening.
After the final battle all the soldiers and fighters get changed into fresh new clothes and a reward is given to the brave warrior/s who saved the day.

Regardless, this doesn’t stop this from being a fun fantasy film.

American Reflexxx is a short film that was supposed to be for an art show in Miami, but turned into a social experiment when onlookers and bystanders became aggressive towards a faceless woman on the streets of Myrtle Beach.

Throwing water over her and bottles at her until she is actually assaulted with no-one willing to help this woman.

This is really astounding, seeing mob mentality first hand and everyone vibing against someone just because she is acting differently.
We live in an insane world.

Well worth watching for the shocking nature of people ganging up against a faceless woman attacked only for being dressed and acting provocatively for an art experiment. 

This short film can be found on YouTube.

This is a fun, brain at the door film.

Having just watched Be Cool recently, I pissed myself laughing when we first see The Rock and he does the eyebrow lift 😂 
Alex Wolff (Hereditary) is great as Young Spencer.
Jack Black is fantastic as Bethany. By far the funniest person in the film.
Karen Gilliam is great as Martha and really funny too. (She looks freaking amazing in this film. Absolutely stunning.)

This is a good bit of fun and an enjoyable way to a couple of hours.

But director Jake Kasdan has made some great films like Zero Effect and especially Walk Hard which are both amazing. 

This film is fun, but it falls short.

Former chef for the Hakkasan Group gets conned out of loads of money by his estranged mother.

By working in this industry by coincidence, we have a connection with these guys, Graham, Heather and Juan. 
(And sco who you only see at the very end of this documentary, in the kitchen in the middle of the group of four chefs)

Heather had been working under Graham (quite literally we now know!) as a chef.
Graham was Heather’s boss when they started up together.
Heather and Graham kept their relationship a secret up until Heather left Hakkasan. Then Graham announced that they were an item.

It’s nice that Graham was so happy with his new baby with Heather. 
But no mention of Graham’s other two kids from his previous partner. 
(I feel sorry for them watching this today. They’d be about 17 and 15 now)

Sorry that Graham got conned out of all that money. No one deserves to have their heart and emotions played with like this. She was a professional con artist and made a living out of it for decades.
But to con your own child is despicable. 

But Heather not being ed, with the new born baby. While Graham in Switzerland for a couple of months, enjoying fine dining and fine wines in a 5 star hotel.
That is shitty.
I hope that Heather and her son are happy in New Zealand.

Interesting documentary but not that well put together.

Note:
Spanish title: With Mum

This list is not of Christmas movies per se. But they are either set around Christmas time or at least have a moment or moments when it is set at Christmas time.

The weakest being Primer which has a quick couple of moments at 2minutes and at 3 minutes 40 seconds where it is Christmas time.
Whereas Trading Places goes all the way through Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year.
So there is a mixed bag here.
Enemy of the State is set around Christmas and features five Christmas songs.
Night of the Hunter, the end is at Christmas from the court case on.
The Apartment, has a great Xmas party on the 19th floor. 
Best Little Whore House in Texas spans both Thanksgiving & Xmas.
Notes on a Scandal and About a Boy have longer scenes at Christmas.
Whereas Legally Blonde had a 10 second scene showing Christmas lights while her and Stiffler’s Mom share a coke. 

As I say, big mixed bag but I’ll try to list the films that spend the most time at Christmas first. 
Then running down to the short glimpse of Christmas entries.

I realise I could list all of Shane Black’s film credits as pretty much all of his films are set at Christmas, but I’ll just add in my favourites of his at the start.

If you like some of these option. Give the list a like.

• Lethal Weapon

  The ultimate Xmas film. Starting and ending with Christmas songs. This is my number one Christmas film every year.
  
  (TV playing a Christmas film and asks, “What day is it?” Mr Joshua shoots the TV) 
  “It’s God Damn Christmas!”

• The Long Kiss Goodnight

  Another must see Xmas film, with the snowy surroundings this is an ideal Christmas movie.

• Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

  Yes another Shane Black film

• The Nice Guys

  Nearly done with Shane Black

• Die Hard

  Obviously (and Die Hard 2, as well)

• The Last Boy Scout

  Okay last one. I was going to add Iron Man 3 as well.

• Money Train

  This is a fun Xmas movie.
  The silhouette post credit ending of this always reminds me of the post credit ending of Carlito’s Way

• Go

  Christmas Raving. What’s not to love?

• Eyes Wide Shut

  This is a great, sexy Christmas movie. Stanley Kubrick’s last film.
  It’s set in New York but the whole thing was filmed in London. Not that you can tell.

• Invasion U.S.A.

  A Chuck Norris, Cannon film set at Christmas.
  Fuck Yeah! 

...plus 42 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

This is just my ranking of the Nightmare franchise.

• A Nightmare on Elm Street

  Superb story. Just an amazing creation by Wes Craven. 
  As horror films go. This is a masterpiece 

• A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

  A very very close second. This was always my favourite and still is. But on this last rewatch of all of them. I do think that the first film is the best and just so creative in its writing.
  But the kills and story in this film are the best.

• New Nightmare

  Totally meta. But it works. I can’t believe I hadn’t watched this before.
  A great entry, plus bringing new life into the franchise and taking it in a new direction.

• A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Child

  This one surprised me how much I enjoyed it on this watch. This used to be one of my least favourites. 
  But I really enjoyed seeing Amanda Krueger in the Asylum and the origin story, then again at the end.
  Love the creepy baby. 
  The need for speed death is cheese, but the wires under the skin effects are great fun.

• A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge

  The campest of them all but still lots of fun.
  A bit odd having Freddy just pop into the pool party and into reality 

• A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master

  I used to really like this one but it’s gone down in my list this time. The kills are quite shit and Freddy is very animated 

• Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare

  I loved seeing this in the cinema. But it’s a major misstep and the cartoon violence is dialled up to 11.
  Just a bit too cheesy I’m afraid

• A Nightmare on Elm Street

  This doesn’t need to be on the list as it’s a reboot. 
  But what a shitty movie.
  This should never have been made.
  Jackie Earle Haley is a good actor, but he shouldn’t have gone near this.
  There is only one Robert Englund

• After.Life
• A.I. Artificial Intelligence
• Ajami
• Akira
• Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
• Alien
• Aliens
• Angel Heart
• Annie Get Your Gun
• Annie Hall

...plus 6 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Band of Outsiders
• Barry Lyndon
• Batman
• Batman
• Batman Returns
• Batman Begins
• A Beautiful Mind
• Becoming Jane
• Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
• Bellflower

...plus 25 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Captain America: The First Avenger
• Captain America: Civil War
• The Card Player
• Carlito's Way
• Carrie
• Casablanca
• Casino
• Cashback
• Catch Me If You Can
• The Cat o' Nine Tails

...plus 31 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• The Dark Knight
• The Dark Knight Rises
• The Day the Earth Stood Still
• Dead Again
• Dead Poets Society
• Dead Ringers
• The Dead Zone
• Death Proof
• The Debt
• Deep Red

...plus 26 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Eagle Eye
• East Is East
• Easy Virtue
• The Editor
• Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films
• Elle
• Enemy
• An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn
• The Evil Dead
• Evil Dead II

...plus 6 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• The Fan
• Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
• A Field in England
• Finding Nemo
• Firestarter
• The Firm
• First Blood
• A Fistful of Dollars
• For a Few Dollars More
• The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

...plus 9 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Gandhi
• Gangster No. 1
• Get Carter
• Get Out
• Get Shorty
• Glengarry Glen Ross
• Girl with a Pearl Earring
• The Godfather
• The Godfather Part II
• The Godfather Part III

...plus 4 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Hang 'em High
• Hanna
• Halloween
• Happiness
• The Hateful Eight
• Haywire
• Headhunters
• Heat
• Hellboy
• Hellboy II: The Golden Army

...plus 15 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Ill Manors
• In Bruges
• Inferno
• Insomnia
• Interstellar
• The Invisible Man
• I, Tonya
• It
• Family Guy Presents: It's a Trap!

• Jacob's Ladder
• The Jacket
• Jack the Ripper
• Jaws
• Jeremiah Johnson
• Jersey Girl
• Johnny Handsome
• Joy Division
• Juno and the Paycock
• Jurassic Park

...plus 4 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• The Kid Stays in the Picture
• Kill Bill: Vol. 1
• Kill Bill: Vol. 2
• Killer Elite
• Killing Zoe
• Kind Hearts and Coronets
• King Kong
• Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
• Knocked Up
• Knowing

• Labyrinth
• Ladder 49
• Lady Snowblood
• The Lady Vanishes
• Last Man Standing
• The Last Temptation of Christ
• Last Year at Marienbad
• La Vie en Rose
• Lawless
• Lawrence of Arabia

...plus 22 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• The Earrings of Madame de...
• Mandy
• A Man Escaped
• A Man for All Seasons
• Manhunter
• The Man Who Knew Too Much
• The Man Who Would Be King
• The Manxman
• Marathon Man
• Matchstick Men

...plus 12 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Navajo Joe
• Near Dark
• The Nice Guys
• Nighthawks
• Night Watch
• Day Watch
• La Femme Nikita
• 9
• Nocturnal Animals
• Northern Soul

...plus 2 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Oldboy
• Once Upon a Time in the West
• One-Eyed Jacks
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
• 127 Hours
• Ong Bak
• Only God Forgives
• Open Your Eyes
• Opera
• The Other Boleyn Girl

...plus 3 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Papillon
• Paris Je T'aime
• Persepolis
• Pitch Black
• Planet Terror
• Police Story
• Police Story 2
• Possum
• The Postman
• Pride & Prejudice

...plus 2 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Rambo
• Rampage
• Ransom
• Raging Bull
• Real Steel
• Red Dragon
• Red Road
• Red Rock West
• The Red Shoes
• The Red Violin

...plus 15 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Sabotage
• Salt
• Le Samouraï
• Scarface
• Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
• Secret Agent
• Secret Sunshine
• Secuestro Express
• The Sentinel
• Serpico

...plus 39 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Taken
• Taxi Driver
• Team America: World Police
• Tenebre
• Tenet
• The Terminator
• Terminator 2: Judgment Day
• The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
• Thief
• The Thing

...plus 26 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Unbreakable
• Under the Silver Lake
• A Prophet
• Unthinkable
• The Untouchables
• The Usual Suspects

• Valhalla Rising
• The Verdict
• V for Vendetta

• Wait Until Dark
• Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
• Walk the Line
• War Horse
• The Warriors
• Weekend
• The Whistle Blower
• White Christmas
• The Wild Bunch
• Willow

...plus 2 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• X-Men: First Class

• Young and Innocent
• Young Guns II
• Will Ferrell: You're Welcome America - A Final Night with George W. Bush

• Zatoichi Meets the One-Armed Swordsman
• Zatoichi
• Zodiac