Enjoyed the first three episodes but got the impression they’re working with a smaller budget, see what you think.Quote:
Originally Posted by Gazjam
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Enjoyed the first three episodes but got the impression they’re working with a smaller budget, see what you think.Quote:
Originally Posted by Gazjam
Ah ha..
Interesting, cheers Roy.
'The Conversation' 1974
Chosen as it is one of my favourite films starring the, sadly, late Gene Hackman.
Francis Ford Coppola’s provoking mystery-thriller stars Gene Hackman as Harry Caul, an expert surveillance man. A routine wiretapping job turns into a nightmare when Harry hears something disturbing in his recording of a young couple in a park. His investigation of the tape and how it might be used sends Harry spiraling into a web of secrecy, murder and paranoia. Set against the backdrop of San Francisco, THE CONVERSATION is a harrowing psychological thriller that costars Cindy Williams, Frederic Forrest and Harrison Ford and symbolizes the uneasy line where technology and privacy cross.
For full breakdown of the plot see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Conversation, but beware of the spoiler alert!
Following on from the french film 'Diva' I posted here recently and pertinent to an audio formum, Members might like to try and identify the items of audio gear featured in the film.
Thanks to Macca, now totally invested in watching Lovejoy from the very beginning… :lol:
(It’s not a soap opera, Barry! :lol: )
I think we're splitting hairs here. If it's not a soap opera then it is a TV series as is: Bergerac; Murder in Paradise; M.A.S.H.; Doc Martin; Miss Marple and Lovejoy.
Indeed. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Barry
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
I watched a lot of them a couple of years back while I was 'working from home'.Quote:
Originally Posted by Alex_UK
Very productive period, I also got through the entirety of 'Dempsey & Makepeace' most of which I'd missed first time due to being at university.
Delicatessen 1991
Perhaps you will come to Delicatessen by way of the very popular Amelie, starring Audrey Tautou? Bien. But, and this may shock you, so hold on tight: Delicatessen is the better film. Indeed, Amelie's preposterous story details become more bothersome the more often you watch it, whereas Delicatessen's fable never ceases to charm, despite its grotesquerie.
Both movies feature some of the same actors, and this one foregrounds the actor who played the jealous guy in Amelie. And what a talent he has! He plays a circus performer, deprived of work, who accepts the position of an odd job man at a residence above a butcher's shop. In return he gets room and board. There's just one problem. The butcher is feeding customers with his luckless tenants, the ones he can catch at any rate. And he has his cleaver aimed at the little clown from the circus. Only the love of a good woman, plus a little ingenuity and luck, could save the poor soul from a grisly (gristle-ly?) ending. This all takes in post-apocalypse France. A dark place full of colourful, eccentric characters, and where there is an undercurrent of deranged erotic longing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delicatessen_(1991_film)
Delicatessen is a 1991 French post-apocalyptic science fiction black comedy film directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro, starring Dominique Pinon, Marie-Laure Dougnac, and Jean-Claude Dreyfus. It was released in North America as "presented by Terry Gilliam."
In a dilapidated apartment building in post-apocalyptic France, food is in short supply and grain is used as currency. On the ground floor is a butcher's shop, run by the landlord, Clapet, who posts job opportunities in the newspaper to lure victims to the building, whom he murders and butchers as a cheap source of meat to sell to his tenants.
Following the murder of the last worker, unemployed circus clown Louison applies for the vacant position. Louison proves to be a superb worker with a spectacular trick knife, and the butcher is reluctant to kill him too quickly. During Louison's routine maintenance, he acquires a package dropped by a mailman. Louison delivers the package to Clapet's daughter, Julie, who says the package contains confections and invites him to join her that evening. Louison and Julie's relationship blossoms into romance. At the same time, several of the tenants fall under Louison's boyish charms, worrying others who are more anxious for their own safety should they require meat.
Clapet tells apartment tenant Marcel Tapioca that his rent is late and he must give up his mother-in-law as payment. That evening, Julie begs her father to let Louison go, knowing that Clapet is killing tenants for meat. She goes to her apartment, unwraps a newspaper in her refrigerator and sees an article about the Troglodistes, a group of vegetarian rebels who live underground. Julie descends into the sewers to make contact with the feared Troglodistes, whom she persuades to help rescue Louison.
Following the apparent butchering of Tapioca's mother-in-law, the Troglodistes go through the sewer pipes and attempt to capture Louison, but end up mistakenly capturing tenant Mademoiselle Plusse instead. Meanwhile, as Julie and Louison watch television, Clapet ascends to the roof, shaking the television antenna to lure Louison into going up to fix it. Attacking Louison with a cleaver, Clapet's attempt to kill him is foiled by an unexpected electrical explosion in one of the apartments.
Clapet, along with some tenants, storms Louison's room in another attempt to murder him. Louison and Julie take refuge in a bathroom and flood it, floor to ceiling, until Clapet opens the door, releasing the flood and washing the attackers away. Mademoiselle Plusse escapes the sewers, finds Louison's boomerang knife, and gives it to Clapet. Clapet throws the knife towards Louison, but inadvertently kills himself.
Louison and Julie play music together on the roof of the now peaceful apartment building, and the butcher's shop closed for good.
The Death of Stalin 2017
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_of_Stalin
The Death of Stalin is a 2017 political satire black comedy film written and directed by Armando Iannucci and co-written by David Schneider and Ian Martin with Peter Fellows. Based on the French graphic novel La Mort de Staline (2010–2012), the film depicts the internal social and political power struggle among the members of the Soviet Politburo following the death of leader Joseph Stalin in 1953. The French-British-Belgian co-production stars an ensemble cast that includes Steve Buscemi, Simon Russell Beale, Paddy Considine, Rupert Friend, Jason Isaacs, Olga Kurylenko, Michael Palin, Andrea Riseborough, Dermot Crowley, Paul Chahidi, Adrian McLoughlin, Paul Whitehouse, and Jeffrey Tambor.
The film premiered on 8 September 2017 at the Toronto International Film Festival. It was released theatrically in the United Kingdom by Entertainment One Films on 20 October 2017, in France by Gaumont on 4 April 2018, and in Belgium by September Film Distribution on 18 April 2018. It received critical acclaim and various accolades, including nominations for two British Academy Film Awards, one of which was for Outstanding British Film, and 13 British Independent Film Awards, four of which it won. There was fierce opposition to the film in Russia, where it was seen as "anti-Russian propaganda", and it was banned there, as well as in Kyrgyzstan, for allegedly mocking the Soviet Union and its past.
Plot
On the night of 1 March 1953, Joseph Stalin calls the Radio Moscow director to demand a recording of the just-concluded live recital of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23. The performance was not recorded; not wanting to anger Stalin, the director hurriedly refills the now-half-empty auditorium, fetches a new conductor to replace the original one, who has passed out, and orders the orchestra to play again. Pianist Maria Yudina initially refuses to perform for the cruel dictator, but ultimately is bribed to comply.
Meanwhile, Stalin is hosting a tense, but rowdy, gathering of Central Committee members at his home, the Kuntsevo Dacha. As Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov leaves, NKVD-head Lavrentiy Beria reveals to Nikita Khrushchev and Deputy Chairman Georgy Malenkov that Molotov is to be part of the latest purge. When the concert recording arrives, Stalin finds a note Maria slipped in the record sleeve, admonishing Stalin and expressing hope for his death. He reads it, laughs, and suffers a cerebral haemorrhage. Despite hearing him fall, Stalin's guards, fearful of being punished for disturbing him, do not enter his office.
Stalin's housemaid discovers him unconscious the next morning. The members of the Central Committee each learn about the situation through their own networks and rush to the dacha. Beria, the first to arrive, finds Maria's note. Once Malenkov, Khrushchev, Lazar Kaganovich, Anastas Mikoyan, and Nikolai Bulganin arrive, the Committee finally decides to send for a team of doctors. Most of the best doctors in Moscow have been arrested for being part of an alleged plot, thus the doctors who can be found are not impressive. After a brief bout of terminal lucidity, Stalin dies. While the members of the Committee return to Moscow, Beria orders the NKVD to take over the city's security posts held by the Soviet Army.
Beria and Khrushchev vie for the support of Molotov and Stalin's children, Svetlana and her unstable, alcoholic brother Vasily. Beria has Molotov removed from the list of those to be rounded up, and has Molotov's wife released from prison. The Committee names Malenkov chairman. Essentially a puppet of Beria, Malenkov further exerts control by hijacking Khrushchev's proposed reforms, such as releasing political prisoners and loosening clerical restrictions. Khrushchev is relegated to planning Stalin's funeral.
After Beria learns Khrushchev and Maria are casually acquainted, he threatens Khrushchev with Maria's note. To create problems for the NKVD, Khrushchev reverses Beria's order to halt all transportation into Moscow. When 1,500 arriving mourners are killed, the Committee wants to blame junior NKVD officers. Beria angrily dissents, believing that would amount to blaming him, and threatens his colleagues with documents detailing their involvement in various purges.
Irate over the supplanting of the military by the NKVD, Marshal Georgy Zhukov agrees to support Khrushchev in a coup against Beria, provided it occurs after Stalin's funeral the next day and Khrushchev can get the rest of the Committee on board. With time running out, Khrushchev cannot get Malenkov to discuss his plan, but he tells everyone else that the decision is unanimous, and they commit themselves. Khrushchev gives Zhukov the greenlight, and the Soviet Army reclaims its posts from the NKVD. Zhukov, assisted by a group of soldiers led by Kiril Moskalenko, storms into a meeting of the Committee and arrests Beria.
Malenkov does not intervene and reluctantly signs Beria's death warrant, horrified at what he had done to his victims. At Beria's emergency trial, Khrushchev accuses him of counter-revolutionary activities, sexual assault, and pedophilia, and immediately declares him guilty after evidence of the final accusation is delivered by the Soviet army. Beria begs for his life but is summarily shot in the head, and Zhukov has his body burned in the courtyard. Despite Svetlana's protests, Khrushchev sends her to Soviet-occupied Vienna, while keeping Vasily in Russia, where he can be watched. He concurs with Kaganovich that Malenkov is too weak to lead.
In 1956, Maria is the soloist at another performance of Concerto No. 23. Having triumphed over other members of the Committee to become the new leader of the Soviet Union, Khrushchev attends. Leonid Brezhnev, who will succeed Khrushchev in 1964, eyes Khrushchev from his seat.
https://i.ibb.co/S73vJrC0/OIP-5.jpg
'Danger Close - The Battle Of Long Tan' (2019)
A company of Australians in Vietnam, most of them youngsters doing National Service, bite off more than they can chew when they run into an NVA battalion whilst out on patrol.
True story and - a bit of over-dramatization aside - the film sticks very close to the historical events. Criticised for not exploring the wider context/morality of the war as a whole but not sure why since the film is just about one battle. Good production values, well worth a watch.
Looks like my kind of film, Martin, and one I had not heard of, I will try and seek it out.
I used to love the TV Series Tour of Duty which was set in Vietnam. Theme song was Paint it Black by the Stones, but lots of other epic rock tracks from the era. I seem to recall looking into buying the box set on DVD and then discovering that all the decent music had been removed, probably licensing issues, so I don't think I bought it in the end. Might have to see if it can be streamed anywhere.
I remember watching that when I was at University. Only one of us had a telly so we'd all bundle round to his room once a week. That and 'Married With Children' I think were the only two TV shows I watched while I was there.Quote:
Originally Posted by Alex_UK
They repeated it on some cable channel, maybe ten or fifteen years ago. I watched a couple of episodes of it again but it wasn't as good as I recalled. Some things are just 'of a time' and you can't go back.
Very true, nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
The Fantastic Four
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/..._QL70_ML2_.jpg
The Fantastic Four were one of my favourite titles of the Marvel Comics. This film establishes the characters, including their nemisis: Dr Doom.
Physicist Dr. Reed Richards is convinced that evolution was triggered millions of years ago on Earth by clouds of cosmic radioactive energy in space, and has calculated that one of these clouds is soon going to pass near Earth. Together with his friend, astronaut Ben Grimm, Richards convinces Dr. Victor von Doom, his former classmate at MIT and now CEO of Von Doom Industries, to allow him access to his privately-owned space station to test the effects of a biological sample with exposure to the cloud. Doom agrees in exchange for control over the experiment and a majority of the profits from whatever benefits that it brings. Richards brings aboard his ex-girlfriend and Von Doom's chief genetics researcher, Susan Storm, and her hot-headed ex-astronaut brother, Johnny.
The quintet travels to outer space to observe the cosmic energy clouds, but Richards miscalculates and the clouds materialize ahead of schedule. Richards and the Storms leave the shielded station to rescue Grimm, who had gone on a spacewalk to place the samples. Grimm receives full exposure in outer space, while the others receive a more limited dose within the station. Back home they soon develop superpowers: Richards can stretch his body like rubber, Susan Storm can become invisible and generate impact resistant force shields, Johnny Storm can engulf himself in fire and fly unaided, and Grimm becomes a rocklike creature with superhuman strength and durability. Meanwhile, von Doom faces a backlash from his stockholders because of the publicity from the space mission, and has a scar on his face that came from an exploding control console on the station. The Fantastic Four would then use their powers to stop an unstable Dr. Doom from destroying the city. After the villain is defeated, the Fantastic Four celebrate their victory with many people in the city.
The Time Machine 2002
The Time Machine is a 2002 American post-apocalyptic science fiction action adventure film loosely adapted by John Logan from the 1895 novel of the same name by H. G. Wells and the screenplay of the 1960 film of the same name by David Duncan. Arnold Leibovit served as executive producer, and Simon Wells, the great-grandson of the original author, served as director. The film stars Guy Pearce, Orlando Jones, Samantha Mumba, Mark Addy, and Jeremy Irons, and includes a cameo by Alan Young, who also appeared in the 1960 film adaptation. The film is set in New York City instead of London. It contains new story elements not present in the original novel nor the 1960 film adaptation, including a romantic subplot, a new scenario about how civilization was destroyed, and several new characters, such as an artificially intelligent hologram and a Morlock leader.
I like this version for the quality of photography and of the special effects, but it deviates too much from the original story (and previous films) in having a romantic interest (with Samantha Mumba), so the ending is completely different. I also have my doubts about the introduction of the Morlock leader (Jeremy Irons) who has supernatural and telepathic powers.
The Theory of Everything 2014
University of Cambridge astrophysics student Stephen Hawking begins a relationship with literature student Jane Wilde. Although Stephen is intelligent, his friends and professors are concerned about his lack of a thesis topic. After he and his professor Dennis Sciama attend a lecture on black holes, Stephen speculates that black holes may have been part of the creation of the universe and decides to write his thesis on them.
However, Stephen's muscles begin to fail, causing him to have decreased coordination with his body. He learns he has ALS, which will likely eventually leave him unable to move, swallow, and even breathe. There are no treatments, and he is given approximately two years to live. The doctor assures Stephen that his brain will not be affected, so his thoughts and intelligence will remain intact, but eventually, he will be unable to communicate them.
As Stephen becomes reclusive, focusing on his work, Jane confesses she loves him. She tells his father she intends to stay with Stephen even as his condition worsens. They marry and have their first son, Robert. Stephen presents his thesis to the examination board, arguing that a black hole created the universe in a Big Bang, that it will emit heat, and end in a Big Crunch. He begins using a wheelchair once his walking ability deteriorates.
After the Hawkings have their daughter Lucy, Stephen develops a theory about the visibility of black holes and becomes a world-renowned physicist. Jane, focusing on the children, Stephen's health, and his increasing fame, is unable to work on her thesis and becomes frustrated. Stephen tells her he will understand if she needs help.
Jane joins a church choir, where she meets and becomes close friends with Jonathan, a widower. She employs him as a piano teacher for Robert, and Jonathan befriends the entire family, helping Stephen with his illness, supporting Jane, and playing with the children. When Jane gives birth to another son, Timothy, Stephen's mother asks Jane if the baby is Jonathan's, which outrages her. Jonathan is appalled, but when he and Jane are alone, they admit their feelings for one another. He distances himself from the family, but Stephen tells him Jane needs him.
While attending an opera performance in Bordeaux, Stephen falls ill and is rushed to a hospital. The doctor informs Jane that he has pneumonia and the tracheotomy he needs to survive will leave him mute. She agrees to the surgery.
Stephen learns to use a spelling board and uses it to communicate with Elaine, his new nurse. He receives a computer with a built-in voice synthesizer and uses it to write a book, A Brief History of Time, which becomes an international best-seller. Stephen tells Jane he has been invited to the United States to accept an award and will be taking Elaine with him. Jane faces the fact that the marriage has not been working, telling him she "did her best," and they agree to divorce.
Stephen goes to the lecture with Elaine, the two having fallen in love, and Jane and Jonathan reunite. At the lecture, Stephen sees a student drop a pen; he imagines getting up to return it, almost crying at the reminder of how his disease has affected him. He then gives a speech telling audiences to pursue their ambitions despite the harsh reality of life: "While there's life, there is hope."
Stephen invites Jane to meet Queen Elizabeth II with him when being made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour; they share a happy day with their children. An extended closing series comprises select moments from the film, shown in reverse, back to the moment Stephen first saw Jane; the reversal is reminiscent of Stephen's research methodology of reversing time to understand the beginning of the universe.
A textual epilogue reveals that Stephen declined a knighthood from the Queen and currently has no plans to retire while Jane earned her Doctor of Philosophy in Medieval Spanish Poetry, married Jonathan, and remains close friends with Stephen, with whom she has three grandchildren.
I'm not a big fan of Eddie Redmayne, but he is absolutely superb in the rôle of Stephen Hawking.
Rear Window 1954
A professional photographer with a broken leg whiles away the time by spying on his neighbours through his window. However, his pastime becomes serious when he witnesses an apparent murder.
Rear Window is considered by many filmgoers, critics, and scholars to be one of Hitchcock's best films, as well as one of the greatest films ever made.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rear_Window
Completely unrelated to the actual film, camera afficianados, (including me) are still puzzled as to the make of the telephoto lens fitted to the Exacta camera.
https://entertainment.time.com/wp-co...0&h=240&crop=1
Yes - it's good up until the last act, then it screws it up. Prefer the original but that one's still worth a watch.Quote:
Originally Posted by Barry
As adaptations go I thought it was pretty good, deviated from the book quite a bit, not least the fact that the machine had somehow moved from Surrey to NYC. And nowhere near as bad as that awful 1953 version of War of the Worlds with Gene Barry - I appreciate that particular one could just as easily be happening in the US (these things didn't just land in Surrey), but what was unforgivable, apart from Mr Barry's acting, is the fighting machines hovering rather than walking on tripods :(Quote:
Originally Posted by Macca
I'd like to see both of the above films remade and set in Victorian England, and give the Martians their tripods back.
Yes that original 'War Of The Worlds' is terrible, no idea why some think it's a classic. The Tom Cruise one is way better.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pigmy Pony
Yes I couldn't stand that they should have changed the name and said based on an idea by HG Wells. Wasn't there a series or film of it set in Victorian Britain a few years ago or have I totally made that up?Quote:
Originally Posted by Macca
There was an American TV show - I think - but I could be making that up.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lawrence001
Don't recall the Victorian Britain TV show or film but if it was from the last 20 years I wouldn't have bothered anyway so could easily have missed it.
'
There was a TV show but French rather than American so I only partly made it up.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of...019_TV_series)
There was a TV series called "The Tripods", that was about 40 years ago. The trainers don't look Victorian though.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lawrence001
https://davegolder2005.wordpress.com...st-10-main.jpg
Then there was this from about 5 years ago, starring Gabriel Byrne. I think this was set in Edwardian England.
https://i0.wp.com/johnnyalucard.com/...19/12/WotW.jpg
The Motorcycle Diaries 2004
Ernesto Guevara de la Serna, popularly known as Che, along with his friend Alberto Granado, decides to take a road trip across South America.
The Motorcycle Diaries is a beautiful and tender insight into the life of Che Guevara, one of the most memorable and iconic figures of the 20th Century.
Granado and Guevara leave their familiar surroundings in Buenos Aries on the 'Mighty One' - a rickety 1939 Norton 500. What follows is an extraordinary eight-month journey across Latin America, discovering people and diverse geography that will shift perspectives and have a profound impact on the two friends. By the time they reach a leper colony deep in the Peruvian Amazon, they are beginning to question the value of progress that leaves so many people beyond their reach. it's an experience that defines the men they will later become.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mo...Diaries_(film)
The Lord of the Flies 1963
When a plane carrying 30 British schoolboys out of a war zone crashes on a tropical island, all the adults are killed. Stranded and left to fend for themselves, the boys attempt to survive by duplicating the adult world of rules and regulations.
Ralph is named as chief in charge of providing fire and shelter, while Jack is designated to lead a group of boys to hunt down the pigs that roam the island for food.
Almost inevitably, Ralph and Jack, the representatives of civilisation and savagery, begin a deadly struggle for domination.
A dearing translation of William Golding's symbolic best selling novel about the human spirit and the terrifying thesis - that there is a beast in all of us.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_o...es_(1963_film)
And for some light relief:
The Rutles - 'All You Need is Cash' 1978
First screened on BBC2 in 1978, at a time when the standing of The Beatles was at its lowest, The Rutles--All You Need is Cash is the original and (pace This is Spinal Tap) best "rockumentary" spoof. Codirector Eric Idle was then enjoying success with Rutland Weekend Television, while his script displays the same feeling for the inane non-sequitur evident in his Monty Python work. The band's progress from "penniless, untalented nobodies" to "rich, untalented somebodies" is vividly brought to life--with dialogue adapted from actual Beatles interviews and newsreels, and a roster of songs sounding uncannily close to Beatles originals thanks to "Nasty" Neil Innes' genius for pastiche. Interviews with a suitably primed Mick Jagger and Paul Simon give added realism, as do cameos from George Harrison (one-time Beach Boy Rikki Fataar plays his Rutles double Stig) and Stones guitarist Ron Wood. Dan Ackroyd and John Belushi make characterful, pre-Blues Brothers appearances.
A superb acerbic, clever, funny pastiche of the career of the Beatles. Neil Innes was a genius with punning song titles and lyrics. Along with 'Spinal Tap', this is a brilliant and sarcastic commentary on rock stars and their stage acts.
Not seen that in years but it is classic. The songs are genius:Quote:
Originally Posted by Barry
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54KBPA20b9Q
I seem to recall I have a vinyl LP of The Rutles, no idea where it came from, I knew it was a spoof, but I have never seen the film.
I am not quite sure if this is terrible or fantastic - but I did enjoy it very much.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=...AAAAAdAAAAABAE
On Netflix, and very Tarantinoesque in my opinion, if you love a good underdog movie, this will hit the spot.
Is it a post-apocalypse survival film?Quote:
Originally Posted by Alex_UK
No, it's not: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisu_(film).
Casanova 2005
Legendary film actor Peter O'Toole and rising star David Tenant lead a stellar cast in the title role of the major BBC drama Casanova. Tenant plays the 18th century character as a young man whose extraordinary life takes him from Venice across Europe. O'Toole plays the older casanova as he relives his adventures in exile. Fast paced and edgy, Casanova alternates between the gripping love triangle involving the young Casanova, Henriette and her husband Grimani, and the swan song of the world's greatest lothario.
101 Reykjavík 2001
A 30 year old man still lives with his mother and spends his days drinking, watching porn and surfing the net. His mother’s Spanish flamenco teacher, Lola, moves in with them for Christmas. On New Year’s Eve, while his mother is away he finds out Lola is a lesbian, but also ends up having rampart, drunken sex with her. His mother returns only to break the news that she is also a lesbian and she and Lola are in love. Lola becomes pregnant with his child and she and his mother plan to bring the baby up together. Failing in his suicide attempt, he matures, gets a job, and lives together with his mother, her lover and their (his) baby boy.
Debutant director Baltasar Kormakur shredded a 400-page novel to arrive at this offbeat offering that seems to be both a 'coming out' and 'going straight' kind of comedy.
The reformation is undertaken by Hlynur (Hilmur Snaer Gudnason), who has been content enough, until he impregnates both his girlfriend and Lola (Abril), the Spanish dance teacher who has embarked on a lesbian relationship with his mother (Karlsdottir).
Although it combines Almodovarian touches of extravagance with a peculiar brand of Icelandic humour, there are also distinctive echoes of Fargo and Gazon Maudit in the way Kormakur depicts the snow-sedated community.
Almodovar regular Abril is perfect as the Hispanic spitfire. But it's Gudnason's laconic mommy's boy and Karlsdottir's emancipated house slave who catch the eye, while the dissonant score - co-written by Damon Albarn, who owns a bar in Reykjavik, ensnares the ear.
Fuelled with enough sex, drug use and offbeat humour to make you immediately book a flight to Iceland, this initially chilly comedy soon warms up to pleasing effect.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/101_Reykjav%C3%ADk
The City of Lost Children 1994
The City of Lost Children is a unique film, like everything made by the Jeunet/Caro tandem. It's very much in the shaggy, lumbering spirit of Terry Gilliam, but eschews his stuffy, British sensibilities and satire for a more dream-like quality. If Gilliam were French, this is the type of movie he'd be making.
In a derelict port, a joyless genius, Krank has children abducted so their dreams can be harvested, and so reverse his accelerated ageing process. When Krank's henchmen kidnap a local strongman One's brother, he sets out on a journey to Krank's laboratory, along with Miette, an orphan girl who has her own journey, to rescue their friends.
After many years spent making commercials, short films, and music videos, the duo of French directors Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro made DELICATESSEN, their debut feature film, in 1991. The film, a dystopian dark comedy which won the pair César awards for Best First Work and Best Screenplay, became a cult hit and was an art-house success around the world. Before DELICATESSEN, though, Jeunet and Caro had completed a screenplay for an ambitious science fiction story about a dream-stealing scientist, a group of bickering clones, and a brain living in a fish tank called LA CITÉ DES ENFANTS PERDUS, or THE CITY OF LOST CHILDREN.
Funding the production of DELICATESSEN was a difficult and lengthy endeavor, and Jeunet and Caro knew that their vision for THE CITY OF LOST CHILDREN would require an even heftier budget. The success of DELICATESSEN finally made this production possible, and thirteen years after its original conception, shooting began on THE CITY OF LOST CHILDREN on a soundstage outside Paris in April, 1994. The filmmakers’ conception of the film called for extensive digital visual effects, requiring a lengthy pre-production phase and the services of two different French visual effects companies. At the time it was made, the film was the most ambitious French production in terms of digital effects, with 144 digitally augmented shots for a total of 17 minutes of screen time.
American actor Ron Perlman, who plays the circus strongman One, was best known at the time for his role in television’s “Beauty and the Beast.” Perlman did not speak French, and learned and delivered his dialogue phonetically. The rest of the cast was made up of French actors, including Jeunet and Caro stock players like Dominique Pinon, the star of DELICATESSEN, who would go on play a key role in Jeunet’s most successful film, LE FABLEUX DESTIN D’AMÉLIE POULAIN (2001), known in the U.S. simply as AMÉLIE.
How can you not love this movie? From the amazingly talented team of Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet comes this superbly original fantasy tale, that just oozes inventiveness and drags you into it's world, where it's all too easy to completely lose yourself. Caro and Jeunet were, of course, the good people behind the brilliant 'Delicatessen'. The City of Lost Children is kind of like Delicatessen mark 2. The style is still there in droves, except in this film it's much more abundant, and while Delicatessen had a base in reality, The City of Lost Children can easily be classified simply as 'pure' fantasy. The film is very French, and even if you didn't know where it's makers came from, you'd be able to guess.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_City_of_Lost_Children
'The Six Million Dollar Man'
Unremarkable except that Steve is driving about in a 1976 Mercedes SL450. Nice. That car has aged a lot better than the show.
Given that his bionic legs let him run at 70 mph you'd think he could just jog to his missions and save the taxpayer a few dollars.
He tips a pallet load of bricks on top of two blokes. But don't worry, they're fine. They even give him the information he wants.
Tbh I thought even back then the show was cack. I mean, things like lifting a two ton car with his bionic arm, and somehow his non-bionic spine coped just fine. :rolleyes: I could never get past that kind of nonsense.
I did try watching it again recently on the off chance that my advancing years and a bit of nostalgia might make it more tolerable, but no, the laws of physics still apply.
It is terrible. I watched it religiously back when it was first on. But there were only three channels and I was eight.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pigmy Pony
Having said that it's still more watchable than the modern rubbish.
I remember my best mate had the 6 Million Dollar man Action Figure (OK, doll...) and i it even included the engine he could pick up and the eye thing. Think I'll buy one from eBay, to satisfy my nostalgic curiosity. Or maybe not!
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/135495310463?var=0&var=0&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&campid=5338943143&toolid=20006&customid=EAIaIQob ChMI_aSs5dmtjAMV2ZlQBh07OCrTEAQYASABEgLbhvD_BwE|0A AAAACnT8Vvq2IqUSyjcOOdlogbV8S5LC|Cj4KCAjw7pO_BhA3E i4Ay4nVP_KZDw_5u8ZCIqGTt0v3gHcwLx0W4DsBRBeMQVVbWVH 7qNtm3qUNWB57GgIMBg&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_aSs5dmtjAMV 2ZlQBh07OCrTEAQYASABEgLbhvD_BwE&gbraid=0AAAAACnT8V vq2IqUSyjcOOdlogbV8S5LC&wbraid=Cj4KCAjw7pO_BhA3Ei4 Ay4nVP_KZDw_5u8ZCIqGTt0v3gHcwLx0W4DsBRBeMQVVbWVH7q Ntm3qUNWB57GgIMBg&gad_source=1
We spent all those years at school, at college, then working our arses off for a secure future and then it turns out that all we had to do was keep our childhood toys pristine in the boxes and just wait a while.Quote:
Originally Posted by Alex_UK
And maybe stash away a few mark one Escorts and some Fiesta Supersports in a lock up somewhere.
My mk1 escort would just be a pile of rust interspersed with bits of P38 and fibre glass by now.
I sold a Supersport for scrap. :doh:
Exhaust, clutch and gearbox were on the way out, engine probably needed a rebuild and the tailgate was about fifty percent filler, but I bet I'd still get ten grand for it now.
I used to joke with my colleagues at work that one day, after I have shuffled off this mortal coil, someone would look in my garage and find an engine and four tyres surrounded by a pile of rust. The engine would still work as it was from a Japanese manufacturer.
My mk.2 Escort was already a pile of rust when I bought it. Once when I had the window wound down I cut my forearm on the door trying to look cool. When the engine eventually died on my works car part I just gave it to a work mate for nothing, and I think I got the better deal there. It was a 1.1L that did 25mpg all day long if it started.Quote:
Originally Posted by Roy S
YXE 329H, wobbly go faster stripe, faux sheepskin, body coloured door mirror and sprayed wheels by yours truly. I did sell it for 15 quid more than I paid for it - £415.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...de2bc12673.jpg
Short Cuts 1993
What connects us? Is it our relationships? Proximity? Love, hate, confusion? What draws us together or keeps us apart? In this ground breaking work, director Robert Altman poses answers to these questions by intricately intertwining the stories of legendary writer Raymond Carver.
Short Cuts burst onto the scene in 1993 and set the stage for an entirely new way of thinking about storytelling that has only been fully comprehended and embraced by filmmakers in recent years. Winning a special award for ensemble cast at the 1994 Golden Globes, Short Cuts features a seemingly endless dream cast including Andie McDowell, Jack Lemmon, Julianne Moore, Mathew Modine, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Robert Downey Jr., Tim Robbins, Lily Tomlin, Tom Waits, and Francis McDormand among others.
Never before, and not since it's release has a single film captured the range of human emotions and interactions like Short Cuts. You experience the countless moments that make up these character's lives at a time and in a place where death is never far away and life is on the tip or everybody's tongue.
Well, Short Cuts has completely passed me by, Barry, but sounds like my sort of film! I will see if I can stream it.
I've ended up getting lost in the University of East Anglia's East Anglian Film Archive - including this gem about the construction of the first 1,000ft TV transmitter, which is just up the road from me in Mendlesham, and has been a constant landmark for all of my life. Fascinating how it was built, but you wouldn't get me up there for all the tea in China! (Perhaps need to get out more?)
https://eafa.org.uk/work/?id=2196&fb...fJ4InTTBKNS_0w
Good little film that. You wouldn't get me up there either.Quote:
Originally Posted by Alex_UK
That bit where they're hoisting the screen and about 5 blokes hanging on going up with it!
I know, I literally had my hand over my mouth in absolute terror watching that bit! :eek:
That was great viewing, and the quality of the BBC English top rate. Though some of their clambering and hanging on made me feel a bit queasy. Flange plates, gusset plates, I know, I'm so childish :) So it took them 10 weeks to put up, today they'd need longer than that to prepare the risk assessment. And not a hi-vis in sight!