The Maggie(1954) An American businessman(Paul Douglas) faces a battle of wills with a wily old Scottish sea captain(Alex MacKenzie) who has his cargo on his puffer boat. A constantly amusing Ealing comedy, I chuckled all the way through, and with fine lead performances. Also starring Abe Barker,Tommy Kearins, Hubert Gregg,Geoffrey Keen,Dorothy Alison and Andrew Keir. 7/10
Marie Antoinette(2006) Sofia Coppola's take on the ill fated wife of King Louis XVI (Jason Schwartzman) with Kirsten Dunst in the title role. Nicely shot with sumptuous costumes and a fine performance from Dunst as she goes from naive Austrian princess to Queen of France. The slowly growing relationship with her husband is nicely portrayed. There is an interesting soundtrack, mixture of fairly modern (Gang Of Four, Siouxsie, The Cure for instance) and classical, while the politics both domestic and world is touched upon by the use of an Ambassador played by Steve Coogan. The outside world generally feels remote, surely deliberate to capture the French Royal Family's indifference to it. Also starring Rip Torn(the old king, King Louis XV), Judy Davis, Rose Byrne, Danny Huston,Asia Argento & Jamie Dornan. 7/10
Purge-Election Year (2016).
The third film of the series & for those not familiar with the concept of the previous Purge films is that for one night of the year in America all crimes committed no matter how heinous are absolved by American law as a means for the good citizens to let off some of their anger without fear of getting their collar felt by the law for one night only (probably a policy Trump will look to bring in the next few years).
Whilst I wasn't really a fan of the first film which was basically about a family that decide to barricade themselves into their family home on Purge Night whilst their murderous neighbours have other ideas & decide to break in.
The second film I found was a lot better & focuses on a character Leo Barnes (Frank Grillo) & his adventure around NY wanting to take retribution on Purge Night against a man who killed his family in a car accident.
The third film Election Year features a short while after the second film where one-man army Leo Barnes (Frank Grillo) now working as a body-guard for Presidential Candidate front-runner Charlene Roan who is looking to seek election in the upcoming Presidential Elections on the premise that she wants to bring an end to the Purge tradition should she win.The only fly in the ointment is that Purge Night is fast approaching & the only way to keep the tradition in the future is to eliminate the leading candidate who wants to stop it.It doesn't take very long for both Charlene Roan & her body-guard Barnes to realize that on Purge Night is going to be one long night in their fight for survival.
Overall a good film that whilst not quite as good as the second film was certainly better than the first one.7/10.
Night of the Prowler(1962)
A Francis Searle film about the joint directors of a racing company who all become anxious and suspicious when one of them is shot dead.The relationships begin to crumble when the accusations start to fly. With good work from Bill Nagy and Patrick Holt.
6.5/10
Zodiac (2007)
Directed by David Fincher and starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr & Mark Ruffalo. Based on the real life murders in San Francisco in the 1960's.
2 hours 42 minutes long, but it never drags. A great film.
9/10
Pirates of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Enjoyed it more then the previous two, but the best one by a mile was the first one. After seeing the mermaids in this film it's put me off Splash and The Little Mermaid for life
7.5/10.
The Lazarus Effect (2015).
A horror film about a group of scientists after years of trying successfully develop a serum that effectively brings the dead back to life all be it with a few side effects (anger issues,memory loss etc).
When one of the scientists accidently dies in a freak accident one of the scientists takes it upon themselves to use the serum & bring back the unfortunate person back to life.
Unfortunately the very person they brought back to life may be the same old person on the outside but they sure as heck aren't the same on the inside that they find out to their cost & so let the carnage commence.
Overall a pretty good film with some good effects & a few familiar faces Evan Peters (American Horror Story,Quicksilver in X-Men) & the lovely Sarah Bolger (Spiderwick Chronicles,Emilie).6/10.
(03-07-2017 20:08 )*Kal-El* Wrote: [ -> ]Pirates of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Enjoyed it more then the previous two, but the best one by a mile was the first one. After seeing the mermaids in this film it's put me off Splash and The Little Mermaid for life
7/10.
I think folklore has suggested that mermaids are supposed to be evil & their beauty is used to help entice & attract males before then luring them to their deaths (I think they call them Sirens) sort of like a wolf in sheeps clothing.
^^^ oh well not watching the little mermaid again then lol.
My 5000th post is......
Bullhead(2011) A Belgian crime drama with an excellent, complex performance from Matthias Scheonaerts as a farmer addicted to steroids and hormones who is approached by criminals from the West Flanders meat trade with a potentially dodgy deal. The 'crime' part of the film is an interesting sub plot to the main drive of the film, which is how the lead character became the troubled man he is. One of the devices to show this is a clever use of flashbacks. The film is occasionally brutal and uncompromising, but never less than watchable. Also starring Jeroen Perceval( a very good supporting performance), Jeanne Dandoy, Barbara Sarafian & Tibo Vandenborre. 7.5/10