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Reviews
Point Break (2015)
An inferior remake with plenty of adventures, frantic action, overwhelming set pieces and and extreme sports.
Solid and incredible thriller -though very inferior to original (1991) from Kathryn Bigelow- with spectacular scenes about surfing and skydiving. FBI agent going up against a group of bank robberies and other crimes. A young FBI agent (Luke Bracey) infiltrates a team of elite athletes suspected of carrying out a series of unusual and sophisticated crimes. The agent is hot on the trail but he's sucked by a kind of guru, Bodhi (Edgar Ramírez), a leader of the beach subculture, a fun-loving with destructive ways who plays cat and mouse game with the Feds. Meanwhile, Luke Bracey falls in love with Teresa Palmer, a beautiful member of the adventurous band. Point Break: 100% Pure Adrenaline!. 100% Pure Adrenaline..¡ Anything to catch the perfect wave! The only law that matters is gravity !. Find your breaking point !. Make your getaway !. Crime has no limit !. Justice has no limit !. The FBI doesn't train agents to do this!. No rules !. No limits !.
This is a story of surfers and skydivers including noisy action, thrills, adventures, risk sports and breathtaking outdoors . Undercover FBI agent Luke Bracey strips for action and gets into some serious male bonding when he infiltrates a youthful fraternity in search of a gang of robbers. During the course of his investigation is seduced by spiritual surfer Edgar Ramírez and becomes addicted to the adrenalin rush of life on the edge. So Edgar Ramírez's reckless craving for danger filling an elemental void in Luke Bracey's hollow soul. Despite the theme of redemption, the distinction between good and evil is far from black and white. There are times when the dialogue is a shade comic, others when the brilliantly staged action set pieces become almost abstract. However, there's much plausibility and predictability, and there's precious little to be found here. Even so, there's enough high-octane, heart-racing excitement for a dozen films. Impressive scenario and there are enough dazzling surfing and airborne stunts to keep you amused. Luke Bracey as an astute agent and Edgar Ramirez as a thrill-seeker guru, help raise potential action-adventure story to a higher plane. They repeat roles from the really superiors Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze. Along with Luke Bracey and Edgar Ramírez appear other familiar secondaries giving functional interpretations, such as: Ray Winstone, Teresa Palmer, Delroy Lindo, Matias Varela, Max Thieriot, Nikolai Kinski, Glynis Barber, Steve Toussaint and James Le Gros
It contains a pulsing and moving musical score by Tom Holkenborg or Junkie XL). The motion picture was professionaly photographed and directed by Ericson Core (Togo, Invincible, Of Kings and Prophets, Still star-crossed) , but with no originality because it mainly copies the elements already developed in the much better classic cult movie (1991) directed by Kathryn Bigelow. Point Break(2015) rating: 5.5/10, acceptable and passable, it has an assured direction which keeps this movie on the edge of your seat. Nostalgic and new surfers will enjoy this ode to the beach and mysticism and seeking the perfect wave.
Carne trémula (1997)
An interesting noirish film with intrigue, plot twists and Almodóvar extravaganzas.
The courses of five lives in Madrid are forever altered due to a fatal accident; a naive young accidentally shoots a cop. After coming out of jail, drug dealer Victor (Benito Rabal) is still in love with his ex-friend Elena (Francesca Neri). However, she's now married to the former policeman (paraplegic Javier Bardem) he shot and paralysed, and is now a wheelchair basketball star player. Victor discovers Elena has transformed from junkie to model wife who runs a home from children and has married David. Victor swears vendetta, and decides to insinuate himself into the couple's lives with the intention to make her fall in love with him. While apparently stalking Elena, Victor enters in relationship with Clara (Angela Molina) , the wife of David's former partner, Sancho (José Sancho), which dramatically draws all five back together. Life, love, desire...and everything in between !.
This is a free but sensitive rendition of Ruth Rendell's British novel from Pedro Almodóvar, it is darker , straighter and far controlled than his camp extravaganzas. A mysterious and intriguing film that contains intense drama , thrills, suspense, plot twists, nudism with strong sex scenes and ordinary Almodovarian touches . In this enjoyable as well as strange flick , Almodóvar established again his uniquely poetic and visually striking style. Complex, noirish drama shows a new, more serious side for filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar who still manages some of his patented brand of humor. Highly original script and unexpected twists and turns delivered by a talented and competent cast. A story of obsession, hatred, jealousy, and vengeance, it concerns a young man sent to prison for his accidental involvement in a police raid that was disastrously wrong. He comes out and he wants the crippled cop who helped to put him away. The acting are spot on, the mood, the control of pace, and narrative is aasured, the visuals are crisp, stylish and imaginative and the whole movie has, for Almodovar , un unprecendented weight and substance.
The story is not massively strong , but it is not bad either , as Almodóvar strings a few o different threads together and that , along with tension and skin going on throughout tends to ensure the movie is always interesting and twisted . The music by Oscar winner Alberto Iglesias , Almodovar's regular , is good in which it fits the style and feeling of the film . Luxurious and colorful cinematography by the prestigious Alfonso Beato . The cast is also standout element of the film , as Pedro recasts Penélope Cruz in a brief character as a pregnant young. Her husband Javier Bardem is brilliant as a disturbing cripple ex-cop, Benito Rabal as the avengeful young who's sent to prison after an argument and shooting; as well as Francesca Neri as the unfortunate Elena, José Sancho as the really jealous officer of the law and Angela Molina as the mature wife and lover. And short appearances from Pilar Bardem, Álex Angulo and Mariola Fuentes.
The motion picture was well directed by Pedrro Almodóvar , considered to be the most internationally acclaimed Spanish filmmaker since Luis Buñuel .He often uses symbolism and metaphorical techniques to portray circular storylines .His films often portrays strong female characters and transsexuals and he has directed one Oscar nominated performance: Penélope Cruz in Volver (2006) . His first films were in low budget and had certain success , such as Pepi, Luci, Bom y otras chicas del montón , Entre tinieblas , Laberinto de pasiones , What Have I Done to Deserve This? . Pedro subsequently made several hit movies . He spent 10 years writing the script for La mala educación (2004) (a.k.a. "Bad Education"), during which time he made such acclaimed films such as Todo sobre mi madre (1999) (a.k.a. "All About my Mother") and Hable con ella (2002) (a.k.a. "Talk to Her") , the script is based upon a short story he wrote as an adolescent, which was based upon his experience at a Catholic boarding school . Pedro has got a lot of hits with dramatic films as Talk to her , Volver , The flower of My secret , The sin I live in, Tacones Lejanos , Ley Del Deseo , Matador, Carne Trémula, and many others. Rating: 6.5/10.
El hueso (1967)
A promising debut by Antonio Rico, with irony, amusement and social manners.
Silly and boastful comedy by Antonio Giménez Rico with all-Spanish-star-cast who give decent interpretations. The craftsman Giménez Rico realizes another acceptable film full of sourness , antics , fun happenings and brief social critical . Bustling comedy with an excellent plethora of Spanish players and an absurd screenplay , being based on a story written by director Antonio Giménez Rico himself , and collaboration of his usuals, Angel Llorente, Fernando Moreno and José María Otero . In a small provincial Spanish city, whose glorious historical past is present, not only in its streets and buildings, but even in the way of being and behaving of its inhabitants. There one day appears in the news section of the local newspaper, a piece of news that will decisively affect the routine life of the citizens: one of the bones, specifically the 'metacarpal bone' of the little finger of the left hand of the greatest local hero, Don Nuño Pérez de Gormaz, known by historians as Don Nuño the Battler, is in the hands of a French noble. His mortal remains, which lie in one of the most impressive monuments in the city, are not complete. A 'bone' is missing, which will have to be recovered, no matter what the cost, since it is the honor of the city that is at stake. And the entire city will vibrate at such an affront. All citizens, with the authorities and living forces at their head, will abandon their usual tasks, to recover what they consider a symbol of their past and tradition. In order to recover the bone at any cost, the city council approves a budget of 20,000 duros. And in this game their little selfishness and pettiness will be unleashed, their various ways of thinking will emerge, always disguised as the most honorable and sincere citizen love. A journalist , Antonio Fernández (Cassen) finds out that in France there is a bone of one of the most illustrious ancestors of the people in the Middle Ages. Antonio is assigned by the mayor (José Franco) of the city to recover the bone at any cost, and while he falls in love with his daughter (Charo López) , but she does not pay much attention to him. From now on, everyone agrees that the bone should return to the town.
Sympathetic iconoclastic story of Spanish historical cinema and a peculiar vision of the sixties through a story of a small town, showing the social customs, hypocrisy and repression at the time. The film marks the debut of cinephile, critic and culture lover Antonio Giménez Rico Rico. This is a Spanish coral film, though the actual starring is the always likeable Cassen, dealing with a merciless denounce to hypocrite society located at a little town , and full of ingenious but also ridiculous humor , including relentless social critical but without malevolent intention. A light , rip-roaring comedy , easy to watch , and easier to forget . It is shot in real embarrassment , including absurd scenes and being next to caricature more than realism . In the flick there's especially busy comedy , ironical humor , frantic pace , joy , amusing gags , rowdy satire , noisy hustle and social critique , being shot in José Luis Garcia Berlanga wake. Furthermore , it contains certain confusion , bustle and relies heavily in exaggerated mayhem; being in anyway clearly inferior to Berlanga's masterpieces. With an adequate production, professionally done, without unnecessary luxuries, deploying an effective, and intelligent cast in which a brilliant Cassen stands out, and a young Charo López, along with first-class secondary actors, such as: José Franco, José Orjas, José María Caffarel, Alfonso del Real, Emilio Laguna, Lola Lemos, María Elena Flores, Emiliano Redondo Rafaela Aparicio, Laly Soldevila, Florinda Chico, Francisco Merino, Rafael Hernández, and Charo Soriano . There is a corrosive sense in the setting, and it turns out to be sufficiently healthy, witty, hilarious and funny. Well paced in a classical way, with plans at eye level, in an American plan. The main and support actors stand out under swift direction of Garcia Sánchez very far from the tenderness that carried out in previous works, including a bitter , pessimistic mirror on the Spanish society by that time . We can find very fun roles , all of them caricatures and mirrors of the Spanish society of the sixties , concerning the national reality in ironical and critical style and with a lot of known interpreters who provided a considerable boost to the result . There is also an evocative cinematography, though a perfect remastering being extremely necessary because of the film copy is washed-out, good production design by Wolfgang Burman, an adequate cinematography and a subtle, diverse and very modern music .
He pic offers a colorful and evocative photography by Jose Luis Alcaine who was first cinematographer to use fluorescent tube as "key" lightning and deemed to be one of the best Spanish cameramen . Alcaine frequently works with Pedro Almodóvar , Bigas Luna and Vicente Aranda , as he has photographed ¨The skin I live in¨ , ¨The bad education¨ , ¨Volver¨ , ¨Women in the verge of a nervous breakdown¨, among others . Here he shows splendidly the enjoyable exteriors from Shot on location in Alcalá de Henares , Boadilla del Monte , Madrid . Atmospheric and stirring musical score by Carmelo Bernaola . The motion picture was being decently directed by veteranregularly directed by Antonio Gimenez Rico , a director of great quality . Antonio Giménez Rico was born in Burgos , Castilla y León where he often shoots films . He is a director and writer, especially known for ¨Tres Palabras¨ (1993) , ¨Hotel Danubio¨ (2003) and ¨Jarrapellejos¨ (1988) . He's an expert on dramas as ¨Forteen stations¨ , ¨Spanish soldier¨ and ¨Three words¨ . His speciality turns out to be adaptations based on prestigious novelist Miguel Delibes as ¨ Portrait of family¨ (1976), ¨The vote of Mister Cayo¨ and ¨The rats¨ . He also directed TV Series as ¨Crónicas De Un Pueblo¨ (1971) , ¨Página Sucesos¨ , ¨Los Libros¨ and ¨Mascara Negra¨ . One of his best films results to be ¨Hotel Danubio¨ starred by Santiago Ramos and Carmen Morales , a remake to classic ¨Los Peces Rojos¨ . Rating: 6/10. Acceptable and passable.
Old Henry (2021)
Tim Blake Nelson in top form playing as an elderly farmer in this enjoyable Western.
It is set in a farm, Oklahoma in 1906. Henry (Tim Blake Nelson) and his son Wyatt (Gavin Lewis) live a peaceful, quiet but poor life on an isolated farm. After finding a horse without a rider and with a stained saddle of blood, Henry decides to look for its owner, whom he discovers dying along with a gun and a bag of money. When a posse led by Ketchum (Stephen Dorff) comes for the money, he must decide who to trust. Defending a siege of his homestead, he reveals a gunslinging talent calling his true identity into question. You can't bury the past !.
A classic and modern western in equal parts, a poetic and brutal story, fascinating and surprising as well . Pretty good western dealing with thought-provoking issues and with thrills, drama, shootouts, lots of violence and an attractive final twist. Too slow at times , the movie is redeemed by its great acting, the realistic view of the Old West and by its rich array of interesting roles. 'Old Henry', is an action western about a widowed farmer and his son who warily take in a mysterious, injured man with a satchel of cash; when the farmer takes in the wounded man things go wrong.
Premiered at the Venice Film Festival in March 2021, it stars Tim Blake Nelson (¨Nightmare alley¨, ¨Buster Scruggs¨, ¨O Brother!¨ and directed ¨The Grey Zone¨) as the enigmatic farmer who, throughout the film, shows a series of skills far removed from a normal and ordinary settler. Along with Tom Blake Nelson appears a well-seasoned cast of fain main and support actors. His son Wyatt is finely played by young Gavin Lewis, while Scott Haze (¨Venom¨, ¨The Vault¨) plays the wounded rider, all of them give good interpretations. The film also has nice performances from Stephen Dorff who steals the show as the very bad contender and by Western expert actor Trace Adkins.
The motion picture was notably directed by Potsy Ponciroli. He previously made unknown or failed films , such as: ¨Colt Ford: Crank It Up, Live at Wild Adventures¨, ¨Still the King¨, ¨Super Zeroes¨. 'Old Henry' (2021) won several prizes and nominations, such as: 2021 Winner NBR Award Top Ten Independent Films Board of Review. Venice Film Festival Potsy Ponciroli 2021 Nominado Fanheart 3 Award Graffetta d'Oro for Best Film. Almeria Western Film Festival 2021 Winner Grand Jury Award Best Actor Tim Blake Nelson, Potsy Ponciroli 2021 Ganador Grand Jury Award Best Feature. And Second best action and adventure movie according to the "Golden Tomato Awards". Rating: 7/10. Better than average. The film will appeal to Western lovers.
Jarhead (2005)
The life of soldiers during the Gulf War when the invasion of Kuwait by Sadan Hussein's Iraqi troops took place.
In 1989, Anthony Swofford (Jake Gyllenhaal) is getting trained in a U. S. Marine Corps boot camp by the choleric, hard-boiled Drill Instructor Fitch (Scott MacDonald). After finishing boot camp, "Swoff" is dispatched to Camp Pendleton. Anthony Swofford talks us through his Marine training and service in 1991 Gulf War, is also about an institutionalised man in existential meldown. Anthony is approached by Staff Sergeant Sykes (Jamie Foxx), a Marine "lifer" who invites Swofford to his Scout Sniper course. He is selected to be trained as a sniper and paired with his roommate Troy (Peter Sarsgaard), who becomes Swofford's spotter. Every man fights his own war !. Welcome To The Suck !
This is the story of a 20-year-old boy in the war of Iraq, a life that has little to do with what the newspapers and television offered. It's not often that a film captures exactly what it must have been like for a person to live through the Gulf War as a soldier, but Jarhead partially succeeds. The focus is on a youth who yearns to do what's expected -Are we ever going to get kill anyone ?. The movie's strong suit is vagueness, presenting combat as a semi-surreal state of ignorant expectation and dislocated experience. These warriors loll in the desert awaiting action or attempting to make sense of its consequences. Apart from a few caustic asides about oil and censorship there's barely a glance at life outside the barracks let alone any contemporary resonance.
It is contemporary war seen from the surface with the images of oil wells burning in the night, like comets fallen from the sky, there were recruits laughing and reveling, and full of enthusiasm, and at the same time frightened by the idea that the battle could surprise them behind the next dune or hill. However, the infernal situation in which they live is compensated with their eternal loyalties, camaraderie that nothing could break, unlikely friendships, creating a brotherhood of 'Jarheads' who have sworn eternal fidelity. A gripping and powerful story packed with hard-hitting experiences , drama comedy and many swearings and bad language.
Well starred by Jake Gyllenhaal who began his film career with ¨City Slickers¨ by Ron Underwood. After that, he made ¨Donnie Darko¨, ¨Bubble Boy¨, the drama ¨Moonlight mile¨, a disaster film: ¨The day after tomorrow¨and the interesting thriller ¨Zodiac¨. Achieving his greatest success with the highly awarded ¨Brokeback Mountain¨for which he obtained an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor. He's well accompanied by a good cast such as: Peter Sarsgaard, Scott MacDonald, Jamie Foxx, Lucas Black, Kevin Foster, Brian Geraghty, Dennis Haybert and Chris Cooper.
This wartime picture was well directed by Samuel Alexander Mendes , though with no too much originaly. Sam Mendes was born in the United Kingdom as part of his family of Portuguese descent. In 1996 he filmed "Company" for television, a musical by Stephen Sondheim. Thanks to his admiration for his adaptation of ¨Cabaret¨ music. Which won several Tony Awards, Spielberg gave him the opportunity to begin a film career when DreamWorks produced American Beauty in 1999, winner of the Oscar for best picture and best director. Sam Mendes is a good director who has made some successful films played by important actors , such as : Jarhead , American Beauty , Revolutionary road , this Road to perdition and two Bond movies : Skyfall and Spectre . Rating: 6.5/10 . Above average. Well worth watching . Essential and indispensable watching for Jake Gyllenhaal fans.
The saga Jarhead is made up of: ¨Jarhead¨ (2005) by Sam Mendes with Jake Gyllenhaal, Scott MacDonald, Peter Sarsgaard, Jamie Foxx, Lucas Black. ¨Jarhead: Field of fire¨(2014) by Don Michael Paul with Cole Hauser, Stephen Lang, Bokeem Woodbine, Esai Morales , Jesse Garcia, Jason Wong, Josh Kelly.¨Jarhead: The siege¨ (2016) by William Kaufman with Scott Adkins, Charlie Weber, Dante Basco , Romeo Miller, Erik Valdez, Sasha Jackson, Dennis Haysbert. ¨Jarhead: Law of Return¨ (2019) with Devon Sawa, Amaury Norlasco, Amos Taman, Nicholas Aaron, Robert Patrick .
House of the Dragon: A Son for a Son (2024)
Excellent first episode of the second season that establishes the main keys to what will happen later.
Decent and impressive first episode of the second season about the internal succession war within House Targaryen. It happens many years before the death of the Mad King, Aerys, and the birth of his daughter, Princess Daenerys Targaryen. It is said that the only two claims to succeed King Jaehaerys seriously considered at the Great Council of 101 were Rhaenys and Viserys. This is an in intense epic concerning the internal succession war within House Targaryen at the height of its power, many years before the birth of Daenerys Targaryen. In the previous season the Targaryen dynasty is at the absolute apex of its power, with more than 10 dragons under their yoke. Most empires crumble from such heights. In the case of the Targaryens, their slow fall begins when King Viserys (Paddy Considine) breaks with a century of tradition by naming his daughter Rhaenyra heir to the Iron Throne. Viserys tells Rhaenyra that she must keep Aegon's secret just like every heir before her has done and he insists Rhaenyra must promise him that she will guard this secret. Rhaenrya is the third person to utter the iconic "Dracarys" line made famous by Daenerys (Game of thrones,2011), the second was Missandei and first was Daenerys herself. And Rhaenyra rides a yellow she-dragon named Syrax. But when Viserys later fathers a son, with the daughter of the king's hand, Ser Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) the court is shocked when Rhaenyra retains her status as his heir, and seeds of division sow friction across the realm, with intervention of ambicious aspirants to the throne as king's brother, Prince Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) or Lord Corlys 'The Sea Snake' Velaryon (Steve Toussaint). The confrontation takes place when the king names his daughter Rhaenyra as his heir and after his death things go wrong.
This is a spectacular season dealing with friction nearly two hundred years before Game of Thrones (dealt with conflicts between the houses Stark, Lannister, Baratheon and Targaryen and with the remaining great houses Greyjoy, Tully, Arryn,Tyrell and Martell), now emerges a sucession dispute between Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen: Emma D'Arcy and Queen Alicent Hightower: Olivia Cooke ; it sets in motion a series of events that many years in the future will lead to a bitter feud over who should sit on the Iron Throne. In this episode Alicent grows concerned by Aegon's Small Council, and Rhaenyra arrives at a fateful decision. An impressive season dealing with inheritance disputes, court intrigues, treasons, vengeance, in which political and sexual intrigue is pervasive ; all of them will lead to full-scale war in the following entries. Breathtaking epic version based on George R. R. Martin novels with exciting drama and overwhelming power fights, his stories are imaginatively brought to life on groundbreaking images with great production values and outstanding scenarios. To date, 18 episodes have been filmed and this A Son for a Son(Jun 16, 2024) is the number 11 of three seasons. Intense court drama, nudism , sexual scenes, great appearance of the giant dragons, and bloody fights abound in this spellbinding adaptation. It contains magnificent production design and spectacular exteriors shot on location in Monsanto, Castelo Branco, Portugal ; and adding colorful computer generator images including the enormous firing dragons.
The series is well written by an excellent plethora of screenwriters as Ryan J. Condal, Sara Hess, Fonseca, Kevin Lai , Ira Parker, Eileen Shim under supervision by the great creator George R. R. Martin. The music in the end credits is "A Song of Ice and Fire" by Ramin Djawadi, which is also the music from the closing credits of the series finale of "Game of Thrones". This first episode in the second season to be well directed by Alan Taylor, that previously directed 7 episodes in the original 'Game of Thrones' series. Alan Taylor is a craftsman who's directed some films : Thor: The dark world , Terminator Genisys and hit series : Game of thrones , Rubicon , Boardwalk Empire , Interview with the Vampire and The many Saints of Newark . And he was nominated for the 2018 Emmy Award in the Outstanding Directing For A Drama Series category for Beyond the Wall (2017), but lost to Stephen Daldry for Paterfamilias (2017). Rating : 7.5/10 . Notable episode, not extraordinary .
El hombre del saco (2023)
Grim Spanish horror film starring a group of children, including chills, mystery and a lot of creepy surprises.
Spanish mystery film with full of thrills, suspense, chiller , eerie intrigue, plot twists , dark atmosphere , and otherworldly happenings. After the death of their father, three brothers move with their mother to a small town. They soon discover that in recent months there have been mysterious disappearances of several children, and they will embark on an adventure against time to discover the truth hidden behind the terrifying legend of what is known as "The Boogeyman". El hombre del saco (2023) explores the Spanish origins of the character's story, where he is a tuberculosis patient from Almeria who will do anything to get well, even consuming the blood of the kids he kidnaps in a sack.
This gloomy terror film contains thrills, intrigue, adventures, chills, and it connects with a dark episode in our history and the style of addressing young audiences. This is an entertaining and fun family film proposal, although it seems prudent to reserve it for somewhat older children, since its effect may be excessive grim on the little ones. Resulting to be a misunderstood adaptation of Stephen King stories with shortcomings and fallures. There is a somewhat uneven mix of genres, so I have been able to detect that it takes parts from other films and styles, swallowing North American references with the children riding their bicycles and while investigating the origins of the monster, of which I would include the following: "Stranger Things", ¨Goonies¨, ¨Stand by me¨, ¨Super 8¨ and even adding the Spanish ¨Verano Azul¨. This is an amusing mess, the goal was to pay homage to horror and adventure movies of the '70s and 80s. Thus the film will not please the general public at all, that's why it is too terrifying for children and has too much protagonism of childish people which will not please the most adults. The result is not entirely satisfactory: it is much less scary than expected. There's a few familiar faces in the cast , such as: Macarena Gómez, Manolo Solo , Ruth Gabriel y the prodigy girl Luna Fulgencio . And special apperance from Javier Botet. The latter often plays supernatural villains as ghosts, monsters, witches, demons, etc. At a special effects workshop , the tutor suggested him that his height and long arms and fingers would be perfect for monster make-up . Javier Botet has a genetic disorder known as Marfan Syndrome, plays an important role in helping the body grow and develop properly, he is very tall and thin and he is reportedly 6 feet 7 inches tall and weighs 123 pounds , that's why he uses to play weird and fantastic secondary roles , such as : Slender Man, Insidious , Alien: Covenant , The conjuring 2 , Rec 1, Rec 2 , Rec 3 Génesis, Rec 4 Apocalypse, The Crucifixion , The mummy, The Invisible Guardian, among others.
Adding a dark and sinister cinematography by Javier Salmones, he's a cameraman expert on dark atmosphere, such as:
¨La posesión de Emma Evans¨, ¨Christmas Tale¨, ¨Blind Alley¨, ¨Rottweiler¨, or ¨Romasanta¨. The motion picture was unevenly directed by Ángel Gómez Hernández, although with not much originality because we have already seen many terrifying situations in other films . His fim debut was 'Voces', he previously made Shorts: ¨Y la muerte lo seguia¨, ¨El perdón¨, ¨Behind¨, ¨Cariño¨, ¨Silent Weeeping¨ , ¨Sed de luz¨ , ¨Lagrimas de papel¨, and he also directed another much better horror film: ¨Voces¨ (2020). ¨El hombre del saco¨ (2023) rating : 5,5/10. Acceptable horror movie. It is a passable but wasted revision of the legend of the child abductor. And the result is too complicated for children, and a little disturbing and strange too.
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017)
Luc Besson's Sci-fi film with noisy action, fantastic set pieces, and state-of-art special effects
In the 28th century, the weight and size of the intergalactic space station Alpha threatens the earth. After being freed from Earth's gravity, the station is installed in the Magallanica current, where humans or alien species coexist. Four hundred years later Valerian and Laureline, two young agents in charge of maintaining peace and order in human territories will have to fulfill a dangerous mission in Alpha. A dark force threatens Alpha, a vast metropolis and home to species from a thousand planets. Under assignment from the Defense Minister (Herbie Hancock), the two embark on a mission to the astonishing city of Alpha. Our special operatives Major Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and Sergeant Laureline (Cara Delevingne) must race to identify the marauding menace and safeguard not just Alpha, but the future of the universe. They would spin to transform into a relentless super agents , armed with invincible weapons that can stop any bullet. There's a twisted universe conspiracy resulting in fateful consequences. From the visionary director of The Fifth Element and Lucy !. A universe without boundaries needs heroes without limits !.
Science fiction, adventure, action and fantasy come together in this big screen adaptation of the comic-books: ¨Valerian et Laureline¨ by Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mézieres. Colorful and nail-biting Sci-fi flick with thrills , twists , struggles , high body-count , moving scenes , dazzling production design and latest generation special effects.
His is a dynamic , fast- paced , entertaining and fun movie . It packs a brief message about the need for coexistence between different species, and an anti-racial content, in fact there are 200 different alien species in this movie. It was really made to appeal to wide range of audiences , so the plot wasn't so complex , and the starring couple Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne deliver a nicely enjoyable chemistry, and Cara Delevingne was absolutely believable , and there was no other actress at the time who could have played the role asides from her .
It also helps that it usually has a relatively fine storyline to go along with it . This show has one really good thing going for it and that was a perfectly cast. Well directed by the Frenchman Luc Besson, this is a fantastic European blockbuster, in fact it is the most expensive European film in history: 180 million dollars. Starring Dane Dahaan and Cara Delevingne, along with Clive Owen, Rihanna, Ethan Hawke, Herbie Hancock, Sam Spruell, Alain Chabat, Kris Wu and a special appearance by Rutger Hauer. Furthermore, brief cameos from French fimmakers playing Welcoming Captains : Louis Leterrier, Eric Rochant, Benoît Jacquot, Olivier Megaton, Gérard Krawczyk; they're directors and/or writers with whom writer, producer, and director Luc Besson has worked.
It displays an agreeable and rousing musical score by composer Alexandre Desplat. As well as colorful and brilliant cinematography by cameraman Thierry Arbogast . The motion picture was professionally produced/written/ directed by Luc Besson , though it has some flaws , gaps and shortfalls . Lavishly produced by Eurocorps (Besson Production Company) and nicely made by Luc Besson with his ordinary visual pyrotechnics . Writer, producer and director Luc Besson gave up his own salary and invested his own money to make this film, which was a lifelong passion project; However, the film was not the success that the producers and Besson himself expected, achieving moderate success in the boxoffice. Luc often casts Jean Reno (though here doesn't appear) and music always by Eric Serra or Alexandre Desplat. Besson is the greatest producer and director from France with hits as ¨Leon¨ , ¨Joan of Arc¨ , ¨The fifth element¨ , the ¨Taxi¨ series , ¨Big blue¨ , ¨Arthur and the Minimois¨ , ¨Nikita¨ and many others . Rating : 6, acceptable and passable . This is a highly amusing and frequently funny action-adventure romp with a witty script, sensational special effects and decent performances from main and support cast .
Thanksgiving (2023)
Passable terror film with chills, suspense, plot twists and lots of gore and blood.
Acceptable horror movie with awful murders by a malevolent and mysterious Thanksgiving-inspired killer attacking unsuspecting people. Thrilling and horrifying if somewhat moronic movie with nice special effects. Mindless and so-so horror film is packed with thrills, intrigue, suspense, horror , chills, interminable screams with no much sense. So some teenagers join to stop the sinister attacker from wreaking bloody havoc. Soon, Plymouth, Massachusetts is thrown into chaos as a series of horrifying murders with lots of blood and gore begin to expose the city's hypocrisies and secrets, under the surveillance of the local police: Patrick Dempsey. Along the way, the arrival of other characters threatens to expose the truth behind the killings. There will be no leftovers !. Deliver us some evil !.
Gory and bloody film about a creepy, ruthless, series killer, a figure dressed in black clothing wearing a John Carver mask; the scary events start when people are gathering outside the local RightMart superstore in preparation for a Black Friday sale and Jessica Wright (Nell Verlaque), whose father Thomas (Rick Hoffman) owns the store, lets her boyfriend Bobby (Jalen Thomas Brooks) and her friends Evan, Gaby (Addison Rae) , Scuba (Gabriel Davenport), and Yulia (Jenna Warren) inside the store early through a side door. This surprise 'slasher' of the year is loaded with horror, comedy and the blood of misguided teenagers. Eli Roth directs this 'Black Friday', a properly gore slasher, and with a very, very black humor based on "Thanksgiving", the fake trailer that Roth himself directed in 2007 to accompany the double sessions in cinemas of ¨Planet Terror¨(Robert Rodriguez) and Death Proof (Quentin Tarantino). In fact, this is the third movie based on one of the five mock-trailers seen in Grindhouse (2007). Machete (2010), Hobo with a Shotgun (2011) and this movie were later made into full-length feature films. As of 2023, only "Don't" and "Werewolf Women of the SS" have not yet been made. And the bloody font used for the title card and the end credits is the same font used for the original Grindhouse trailer. There're excellent special effects in this exciting terror movie, packing suspenseful horror, thrills, chills, graphic violence, hemoglobin scenes, grisly killings and some satirical/comical elements. It manages to be a budget enough film that makes for big scary scream-feast, guts, and frights , including creepy scenes, eerie make-up and lots of special effects for the sinister demonic being, dressed as John Carver. And the ending will stick with you and will have you on the edge of your seat, it's a real shocker. The gory plot is simple and plain with the usual series killer carrying out the ordinary massacre and a criminal spree. However, this is a decent pic that relies heavily on the impressive special effects and well-made set pieces.
It packs thrilling and tense musical score by composer
Brandon Roberts. Cameraman Milan Chadima makes an adequate cinematography though mostly night. This frightening and suspenseful flick is well produced by Eli Roth himself , Gary Barber, Greg Denny, Kate Harrison, Matt MacLellan, Jeff Rendell and professionally directed by Eli Roth, though it has some flaws and gaps. If is a nice chiller; however being made without much originality, that's why it's a simple copy of previous 'slashers'. Eli Roth wanted all the film's kills to be not only gory but creative, paying homage to the creative kills of golden age slasher films such as the Friday the 13th franchise, Nightmare on Elm Street series, Happy Birthday to me (1981), and Bloody Valentin (1981). Eli often photographs in 2:35 aspect ratio to give his films a 'bigger budget' feel and prefers the widescreen frame . Roth is an expert writer/producer/director on Terror movies and his films often contain explicit carnage as well as beautiful women and female nudity , such as : ¨Cabin Fever¨ , ¨The Green Inferno¨ , ¨Grindhouse¨ , ¨Aftershock¨ , ¨The Last Exorcism Part II¨, ¨Hostel 1, 2, 3¨ and ¨House with a Clock in Its Walls¨. ¨Thanksgiving¨(2023) rating: 5.5/10. Well worth seeing . The flick will appeal to terror fans.
The Death of Stalin (2017)
An entertaining and engaging film based on the power games during the last days of Stalin.
Moscow, 1953. After being in power for nearly 30 years, Soviet dictator, Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin, takes ill and quickly dies. Now the members of the Council of Ministers scramble for power in the government and the army. That inner circle is comprised of: Nikita Khrushchev (Steve Buscemi) , First Secretary of the Moscow Committee; Vyacheslav Molotov (Michael Palin), Foreign Secretary; Georgi Malenkov (Jeffrey Tambor) , Deputy to Stalin; Lazar Kaganovich, Minister for Labor; Anastas Mikoyan, Minister for Trade; Nikolai Bulganin, Minister for Defense; and arguably most terrifying Lavrenti Beria (Simon Russell Beale), these high authorities attempt to curry the favor of Stalin's two adult children, Svetlana Alliluyeva (Andrea Riseborough) and Vasili Stalin (Rupert Friend). Furthermore, Field Marshal Georgi Zhukov (Jason Isaacs), Head of the Soviet Army, who has the manpower of the said army behind him. Everybody wants a piece !. When a great leader falls, the fight for leadership begins !. In the Kremlin, no one can hear you scheme !. It's every comrade for himself !. You'll laugh or else !. He's dying to replace him !. Russia 1953, a nation in fear of one man !. The deputy, the politician, the son, the spymaster, the general !.
A peculiar comedy of terrors loosely based on the true story. Armando Iannucci (Veep, Avenue 5, The personal life of David Copperfield, In The Loop) directs and writes the script for this satire with a lot of black humor about the days before and immediately after Stalin's death. In 'The Death of Stalin' (2017) is depicted the last days of Stalin in a satirical, and humorous way with a number of outlandish incidents, including the rollercoaster of incessant plotting, tireless machinations, and the twisted, frail allegiances. There are several hilarious references to historical events, so when the Politburo first discovers Stalin's comatose body the morning after his stroke and move him to his bed, they briefly allude to how they "got rid of the good doctors in Moscow." It's a reference to the Doctors' Plot, a campaign in 1952 and 1953 that accused doctors of Jewish ancestry of conspiring to assassinate Soviet leaders. Adapted from the graphic novel of the same name by Fabien Nury and Thierry Robin published in 2010, this multi-award-winning film (best comedy at the European Film Awards, four awards at the British Independent Film Awards) stars an ensemble cast that embodies the different contenders in the fight to occupy the position of the recently deceased Stalin. So Steven Buscemi is the politician Nikita Khruschev, Simon Russell Beale is the director of the Russian secret service, Jeffrey Tambor is the legitimate secretary general, Michael Palin is Vyacheslav Molotov and Andrea Riseborough and Rupert Friend are Stalin's own children, in addition Field Marshal Georgi Zhukov, who's head of the Soviet Army, and that's why he has a huge power. All of then giving splendid interpretations. Along with them, in minor roles appearing: Olga Kurylenko, Paddy Considine, Paul Whitehouse, Roger Ashton-Griffiths, among others, they complete the nice cast of this film that was prohibited by the authorities of Vladimir Putin's government in Russia.
Paced in the form of satire by director and co-writer Armando Iannucci (nominated for the Academy Award for his screenplay ¨In The Loop¨), this is a special film and out of the real events. Rating: 7/10. Better than average. The film will appeal to historical parodies enthusiasts. Well worth seeing.
Acide (2023)
A chilling and a little unsettling film about a family escaping acid rain.
In the middle of a heat wave, an ominous cloud appears and with it, a lethal acid rain. A separated family: father (Guillaume Canet) , mother (Patience Munchenbach) and daughter (Laeitita Dosch) will have to come together to getaway this plague ravaging the world. An ominous cloud is slowly moving inland, forcing the population to run away. As the cloud keeps on moving forward inescapably, panic strikes. The cloud is acid !.
After his acclaimed and famous first film, 'The Cloud' , nominated for the César and Lumiere awards for best first film in 2022, director Just Philippot releases this impactful thriller nominated for best film at the 2023 Sitges Festival. The film is based on Philippot's short film of the same name released in 2018.
In 'Acide' , filmmaker Philippot takes up the criticism against climate change and its consequences that began with 'The cloud', putting into focus the story of a fractured family that must survive a world plunged into chaos, panic and destruction. A passable french film that translates of intelligent manner the emotions, reactions, tension and pieces so well known from works about same theme, here almost everything was done on set, with minimal CGI work needed. The cinematography, the performance, music, the use of light, the make up , the contryside scenes are just acceptable.
The movie depicts the effort of the parents to save their daughter. As well as the run, the sacrifice of the father, the reactions of others, the necessity of self conservation, containing inspired details, and some splendid crafted scenes.
The interpretations are decent and the pace of the film keeps things moving over any small quibbles in the detail. The cast includes to Guillaume Canet (the beach), and Laetiitia Dosch (nominated for the César in 2018 for best new actress for Montparnasse Bienvenue).
The film was professionally directed by Just Philippot, though results to slow and a small boring part, along with too many night scenes in which you can barely see anything. Philippot previously directed ¨The Cloud (La nuée) ¨, ¨4 histoires fantastiques¨and shorts as: Acid¨,¨Dig Down Deep¨ and ¨Ses Souffles¨. ¨Acide¨ got various prizes and nominations, such as: Sitges Catalonian International Film Festival 2023 Nominated Official Fantàstic Competition Best Motion Picture Just Philippot. César Awards, France 2024 Nominated César Best Visual Effects (Meilleurs effets visuels) Thomas Duval. Fant, Bilbao Fantasy Film Festival nominated Guillaume Canet, Patience Munchenbach, and Laetitia Dosch in Lluvia ácida (2023) 2024 Nominado Jury Prize.
Doctor Strange (2016)
Fantasy, action and magic with overwhelming special effects.
Doctor Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) , a renowned and arrogant neurosurgeon, suffers a terrible car accident that leaves his hands irreversibly damaged. On a healing trip to the Himalayas, Strange discovers the world he lives in is actually one of many. He finds out about the multiverse and while he achieves a multitude of psychic powers such as telepathy, astral projection or teleportation. Strange must put ego aside and develop the secrets of a hidden world of mysticism and alternate dimensions. After learning of Jonathan Pangborn (Benjamin Bratt), a paraplegic who mysteriously was able to walk again, Strange seeks him out. Strange begs Pangborn and is directed to Kamar-Taj. There Strange begins his tutelage under the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) and sorcerer Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor), and learns from the ancient books in the library, now presided over by the master Wong (Benedict Wong). Doctor Strange, helped by Dr. Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams) must act as an intermediary between the real world and what lies beyond, utilising a vast array of metaphysical abilities and artifacts to protect Earth and the universe against his nemesis. Open your mind !. Change your reality !. Question reality !. Change your destiny !. The impossibilities are endless !. Enter a new dimension of Strange !. The possibilities are Madness !. Journey into the unknown ... Expand your mind !.
The character created by writer Stan Lee and cartoonist artist Steve Ditko joins the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 'Dr Strange', a film that is part of phase 3 of the superhero franchise. Introduced for the first time in issue 110 of 'Strange Tales' (July 1963), Doctor Strange is the superhero in charge of fighting supernatural threats, a neurosurgeon from New York, as brilliant as he is vain and that he lost the mobility of his hands after a car accident. The person in charge of giving life to Stephe Strange is the well-known London actor Benedict Cumberbatch giving a nice acting , who is well accompanied by notorious actors as Chiwetel Ejiofor , Rachel McAdams, Benedict Wong, Mads Mikkelsen, Tilda Swinton, Michael Stuhlbarg, Benjamin Bratt, Scott Adkins.
In the film, as is usual in productions of the Marvel scientific universe, there is no shortage of Stan Lee's cameo as the passenger of a bus in the middle of a chase in NY. Nor the post-credits scene in which material from the following Marvel films is advanced, on this occasion with a cover between Doctor Strange and Thor.
Other films about this Marvelian role are: the sequel ¨Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness¨ (2022) by Sam Raimi with Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong, Xochitl Gomez, Rachel McAdams. ¨Dr. Strange¨ (1978) by Philip DeGuere Jr with Peter Hooten, Clyde Kusatsu, Jessica Walter, Anne-Marie Martin, Philip Sterling, John Mills. And an imitation of 'Marvel's Doctor Strange' : ¨Doctor Mordrid¨ (1992) by Albert Band with well-known actors from the best B-series: Jeffrey Combs, Yvette Nipar, Jay Acovone.
This notable motion picture was compellingly directed by Scott Derrickson . Scott is a good craftsman with a lot of successes on the terror genre in which he's a great expert . An American filmmaker who is known for shooting horror films , such as ¨Deliver Us from Evil¨, ¨Hellraiser: Inferno¨, ¨Sinister¨, ¨The Exorcism of Emily Rose¨ and ¨black Phone¨. He decided not to direct ¨Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness¨, which resulted in Sam Raimi to direct the sequel. Rating Doctor Strange (2016) : 6.5/10 , better than average. The flick will appeal to Benedict Cumberbatch fans and superheroes enthusiasts.
El Paso (1949)
A decent Western with good cast and interesting plot about justice and vengeance.
Frankly attractive main and support cast in an acceptable Western professionally directed by Lewis R. Foster. Set in El Paso, where arrives the lawyer and ex-Confederate captain Clay Fletcher (John Payne). Fletcher reunites with his once lady-friend, Susan Jeffers (Gail Russell) , when his father, Judge Fletcher, sends him on an errand to El Paso, Texas to get the signature of Susan's father, Judge Jeffers (Hemry Hull), on a legal document. Once there he finds the judge has become a drunk and a laughing stock, doing the bidding of local magnate Bert Donner (Sterling Hayden) and his running dog, Sheriff La Farge (Dick Foran). So the town is run by a crooked landowner, the judge is a drunk and the sheriff is corrupt. Along the way, Fletcher befriends a sympathetic elderly man, Pesky Tees (George 'Gabby' Hayes). Later on, Fletcher forms a vigilante group to bring law and order to a town. As our captain has to confront nasty powerful owners, villain sheriffs and deputies, and eventually taking justice into his own hands, acting as judge, jury and executioner .Here was one law in El Paso ... you learned to kill quick ... if you wanted to live long!
This is a tornado and adventure movie from Pine-Thomas Productions , containing thrills , emotion , action, go riding and crossfire. A decent western with a twisted and interesting intrigue written by Lewis R. Foster and based on a story by Robert Bren. Dealing with the thoughful issues of expeditiously applying justice when the ordinary legal regime does not work, our protagonists take justice into their own hands, leading to cruel hangings and executions. Nice-looking but run-of-the-mill International Universal Picture Western , including some novelties , but also with usual elements , such as franctic action , thrills , crossfire , drama , romance and some spectacular action scenes . A blending of functional main actors with great character players of whom John Payne holds the best role as an ex-captain/lawyer who leaves the legal system and instead adopt the murderous tactics of a vigilante. A warm and moving storyline and thanks to a personable and breathtaking action scenes makes an enjoyable movie , a real pleasure to listen to as well as watch . Being a vigorous western with nice performances provided by a good cast with plento of familiaar faces at the time , such as: Gail Russell, Sterling Hayden, Dick Foran, Eduardo Noriega, Henry Hull, Mary Beth Hughes, H. B. Warner, Arthur Space and, of course , the always likable George 'Gabby' Hayes.
The picture was effficiently produced but in medium budget by William H. Pine and William C. Thomas, this were known in the industry as "The Dollar Bills" because they made movies so quickly and efficiently that their films seldom, if ever, lost money. The film was well directed by Lewis R Foster . He was a prolific composer, songwriter, author and director, educated at the University of California. He began his directorial and film-writing career in 1920. Joined Hal Roach Studios as a writer/gagman in 1923, the same year as director Leo McCarey. He also worked as a newspaperman in San Francisco. He joined ASCAP in 1960. Foster was the director who gave Stan Laurel the freedom to do things his way in films . Worked as a director at Universal Pictures from 1936-37, at Paramount Pictures from 1949-53. And directed a lots of films such as 1953 Tropic zone , 1953 Those Redheads from Seattle ,1950 The Eagle and the Hawk 1950 Captain China , 1949 Manhandled ,1949 El Paso , 1949 The Lucky Stiff ,1937 Armored Car , 1937 She's Dangerous , 1936 Love Letters of a Star . And for TV the successful series : El Zorro with Guy Williams. Rating El Paso: 6.5/10. Well worth watching.
The Mule (2018)
This is a decent film, well acted, produced and directed by Clint Eastwood.
Earl Stone (Clint Eastwood) is a man who is ninety years old, broke, alone, and facing foreclosure of his business. He lives a solitary existence with a few friends. Earl is estranged by his ex-wife Mary (Dianne Wiest) and his daughter Iris (Alison Eastwood), while his granddaughter Ginny (Taissa Farmiga) is celebrating her engagement with her fiancé. Earl was in the Korean war and confronting his old prejudices he is forced to work as a Mule for the drug lords. He then is offered a job that simply requires him to drive. Easy enough, but, unbeknownst to Earl, he's just signed on as a drug courier for a Mexican cartel. He does well, so well, in fact, that his cargo increases exponentially, and Earl is assigned a handler. But he isn't the only one keeping tabs on Earl. The mysterious new drug mule has also hit the radar of hard-charging D. E. A. Agent Colin Bates (Bradley Cooper) and agent Teviño (Michael Peña) . Nobody Runs Forever !
Actor/director Clint Eastwood stars as Earl Stone, we are watching a sensational film inspired by a true story in which its message shows us a broody story of old age, personal struggle, faith, redemption, suffering, pain, memories, illness and feelings. Here the maestro Clint Eastwood gives us a film-making lesson from the simplicity of a thought-provoking screenplay. The performance of Eastwood as, gruff retired worker is awesome, he does not disappoint, his presence at the scene is extraordinary. The secondary cast is also magnificent with special mention the two agents: Bradley Cooper, Michael Peña who pursue him . This film along with the previously filmed make that the skill and art of this great director results to be still impressive despite Clint's age.
Main and support cast are pretty good. Clint Eastwood gives a nice acting in his usual style as a ninety-year-old horticulturist and Korean War veteran turns drug mule for a Mexican cartel. Being accompanied by a very good cast with plenty of competent actors , such as: Bradley Cooper, Michael Peña, Laurence Fishburne, Dianne West, Alison Eastwood, Taissa Farmiga, Andy Garcia, Clifton Collins Jr., Robert LaSardo, Richard Herd, among others.
The motion picture produced by Malpaso (Clint's company) was professionally directed by Clint Eastwood , though it gets a little long and has some flaws and shortcomings. Clint Eastwood was in a nice period in which he often used to play to direct competent thrillers during the 70s and 80s , such as : ¨The Gauntlet , Dirty Harry , Magnum Force , Sudden impact , The Black Pool , City Heat , Escape from Alcatraz , Thundelbolt and Lightfoot , Pink Cadillac , Firefox¨ , among others. Clint Eastwood played and directed good Westerns as ¨High Plains Drifter¨, ¨The outlaw Josey Wales¨ , ¨Bronco Billy¨, ¨Pale Rider¨ and ¨Unforgiven¨ . These films along with the filmed in the 2000s as ¨Invictus ¨ , " Changeling" , ¨ Million dollars baby ¨, ¨Mystic river ¨, ¨Gran Torino¨ dealing with a right allegation and relentless denounce against racism and the complex relation between cultures; all of them make that the dramatic force of this great director turns outs to be still breathtaking. Rating : 6.5/10 . The flick will appeal to the completists of Clint Eastwood's long career as a director.
Jungle (2017)
A survival adventure in the dangerous jungle and based on a true story.
In the early 1980s, an avid Israeli adventurer named Yossi Ghinsberg (Daniel Radcliffe) travels to Bolivia planning to journey into the heart of the Amazon rain-forest. He is looking for adventure and to meet new tribes and civilizations. There, he meets Marcus Stamm (Joel Jackson), a Swiss school teacher, and his friend Kevin Gale (Alex Russell), an American hiker and expert photographer. The three are staying in La Paz, at an Israeli community hostel. Later on, an Austrian stranger, Karl Ruprechter (Thomas Kretschmann), claims the existence of an indigenous tribe in the jungle that they should go see. Then , on Nov 1981, Yossi, Marcus, Kevin, and Karl hike through the jungle for several days. Nature Has Only One Law - Survival !. A True Story !. Man doesn't belong here !.
This is a thrilling and adventurous movie inspired by true events. Being based on the memoir: "Jungle: A Harrowing True Story of Survival" written by Yossi Ghinsberg and adapted by Justin Monjo. An ecological adventure with mystical and spiritual touches when our main starring stays only in the jungle and has weird visions. This exciting film contains thrills , emotion , adventure and some creepy scenes that generate a lot of disturbing feeling. The film belongs to the jungle survival genre, which in the past has already produced good films such as 'John Boorman's The Emerald Forest' that was ahead of its time in denounce about forest destruction and 'Hector Babenco's At Play in the Fields of the Lord'. Quartet de actors playing the main characters are pretty well. Daniel Radcliffe plays Yossi Ghinsberg in this movie giving a nice performance, along with his companions in the dangerorus jungle travel: Alex Russel, Joel Jackson, Thomas Kretschmann; all of them have good acting chemistry.
It contains adequate and lush cinematography by Stefan Duscio who photographs wonderfully the jungle full of leaves and trees, obviously filmed under difficult conditions on location. Jungle scenes were filmed at Bonogin Valley, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. Likewise, a tense and evocative musical score by composer Johnny Klimek. This engrossing and enjoyable film with interesting screenplay by Justin Monjo was well directed by Greg McLean. He's a good Australian professional usually shooting from his natal country and it enjoyed world-wide commercial and critical hits . Greg is a good Australian writer/producer and director who started his career when he created this horror success : "Wolf Creek" that premiered at the Sundance and Cannes Film Festivals . His second movie was a Croc movie : "Rogue" . In 2016 he made the horror movie : "The Belko Experiment" and ¨The Darkness¨ (2016), in 2017 the real-life adventure story : "Jungle". Greg recently was executive producer , show-runner for season 2 of the "Wolf Creek TV series" and directed 4 episodes od "The Gloaming" TV series for ABC studios and eventually he made 3 episodes of "Bloom" series for Sony International and ¨Jack Irish¨(2021) , ¨Twelve¨ (2022), ¨Scrubsland (2023) and ¨La Brea¨ series (2023) . Rating : 6.5/10. Essential and indispensable seeing for Daniel Radcliffe fans.
Nostromo: El sueño imposible de David Lean (2017)
Pretty good biographical documentary film focused on David Lean's unfinished last film.
Documentary that focuses on the great figure of the filmmaker of ' Bridge in the River Kwai' and 'Lawrence of Arabia' and his struggle to shoot an adaptation of 'Nostromo', the novel by Joseph Conrad. This classic director made a large number of good films and masterpieces, such as : ¨Brief Encounter¨, ¨Dr Zhivago¨, ¨Lawrence Arabia¨, ¨Oliver Twist¨ , ¨Summertime¨, ¨Great Expectations¨, ¨Hobson's Choice¨, ¨Ryan's daughter¨, among others. Spanish production documentary that reconstructs the production process of Nostromo, through the testimonies of professionals who collaborated very closely with the British director during that period, such as Christopher Hampton who at that time was busy with the script for 'Dangerous Liaisons' ; director Hugh Hudson of 'Chariots of Fire' ; Sandra Lean, the sixth wife of director; actor George Corraface, who was chosen to star -although he was later turned down to hire a more famous actor- and the Spanish professionals who were part of the technical team filming in Almeria, such as the prestigious production designer Benjamin Fernandez. And special mention for Omar Shariff with whom he worked on several films, stating that thanks to Lean he achieved success in such a way that otherwise he would be an anonymous person living in Cairo, Egypt.
There is also a wide remembrance of his filming and the the characteristics of his films: he often examine relations and differences between two opposing cultures and viewpoints, displaying enormous visual scope with heavy use of natural light,
his roles are often men of honor struggling in a cruel or alien environment, his great sense of spectacle including spectacular bloody battle scenes and usually collaborated with composer Maurice Jarre; furthermore, he frequently collaborated with screenwriter Robert Bolt and production designer John Box.
This documentary was well directed by Pedro González Bermúdez. He has received a whole host of awards and prizes throughout his career, such as the Goya award for best short documentary film for Return to Viridiana in 2014; he won 5 Gold Medals in the New York Film Festivals for Nostromo: David Lean's impossible dream in 2017 (getting prizes in New York Festival: Pedro González Bermúdez 2019 winner Gold World Medal best director, Gold World Medal Biography/Profiles, Cultural issues and Award Gold World Medal Original Music) ; he was nominated for the Goya for best documentary and won 2 Gold Medals in the New York Film Festivals for When Better Davis bid farewell in 2015 and he has won various Promax and BDA awards. He has made a number of television programs for TCM Spain, TNT Spain and CNN and many more documentaries such as The Producer (2006), Sacristán: In the front row of the Gods (2014), Half-cocked: Remembering Iván Zulueta (2010), Rawan (2009), The Magnificent 10 (2008), Cruz Delgado, a Quijote of Spanish animation (2008) y La Naranja Prohibida (2021).
Finally, David Lean's dream was born in a 4-episode series: ¨Nostromo¨ (1996) by Alastair Reid whose plot is: an unstable South American country, capable Nostromo, a person of trust and a legend among his shipmates, is ordered to secure a shipment of silver and stop any revolutionaries who might try to take it, but even the bravest can be foolish and starring Brian Dennehy, Albert Finney, Colin Firth, Ruth Gabriel, Fernando Hilbeck, Serena Scott Thomas .
The Forbidden Kingdom (2008)
Colorful film with plenty of emotion, fantasy, imaginaton and martial arts.
¨Forbidden kingdom¨ is a rich , enjoyable and romantic take on the Chinese Martial Arts genre with inventive choreography and it also belongs to ¨Wusia¨ theme, China's heroic swordsman subgenre. Regarding a kung fu obsessed American teen, Jason Tripitikas (Michael Angarano), makes an extraordinary discovery in a Chinatown pawnshop run by an elderly man (Jackie Chan): the legendary stick weapon of the Chinese sage and warrior, the Monkey King. And he then escapes into a world of romantic adventure with mysterious and strange characters. With the lost relic in hand, the teenager unexpectedly finds himself traveling back to ancient China and sends him on a risked adventure, where he joins up with a band of martial arts warriors (Jackie Chan, Jet Li) in order to free the imprisoned Monkey King (Jet Li) and along the way facing off villainous Jade Warlord (Collin Chou) and Ni Chang (Bingbing Li) . All of them clash over a magic staff, a stealen priceless old relic as a mark of defiance. Meantime, they have to reach the mountain of the five elements. The path is unsafe !. The place is unknown !. The journey is unbelievable !. The battle for eternity is the fantasy of a lifetime !.
This amusing film is packed with fantasy, magic, art martial fights, silly laughter, great entertainment and lots of fun. A fantastic film including a deadly confrontation and a martial arts love story that satisfies on both accounts, concerning some heroes on a dangerous quest to free the imprisoned Monkey King. Rob Minkoff imbues every look, every gesture with grace and resonance, he has always been a filmmaker of finesse and fine feeling, directing competently this film, but his touch is just as deft even as he extends his grasp to show the timeless Chinese legends, being based on the enjoyable script written by John Fusco. The first fifteen minutes offer dense exposition, introducing the naive young Michael Angarano, the righteous pawn shop seller and the legendary alcoholic warrior Lu Yan, his steemed partner of adventures. This is an immortal story of strength, secrets, and dealing with some warriors who would never surrender. Action , adventure , romance , drama , heroes , heroines, tradition and martial arts blend in this attractive movie that belongs to Oriental genre. Providing overwhelming images, impressive production design, sense of style and revealing the breathtaking vistas of mythic China. The emotional impact of the fantastic adventure is as real and spectacular as the choreographed figh scenes are grateful and brilliant. The magnificent fight scenes were choreographed by Yuen Wo Ping who performed the same duties for ¨Brothers Wachowski's Matrix¨ and ¨Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill¨and the Oscarized : ¨Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon¨. Providing gorgeous chases in glamorously modulated set pieces across the palaces, and forests, while defying the gravity in exhilarating leaps and bounds . Once it takes flight the film never touches the ground , spinning myriad duels of the body and spirit ; only relaxing to stage with some touches of slapstick and ironical aplomb . Stars a stunning cast with notorious Chinese and American actors , such as: Jackie Chan in a double rol as Old Hop and drunken immortal Lu Yan , as well as Jet Li as The Monkey King/ The Silent Monk , Bingbing Le as nasty contender Ni Chang and Collin Chou as Jade Warlord, but the real starring is Michael Angarano as an american teenager who is obsessed with Hong Kong cinema and kung-fu classics to join a crew of warriors from martial arts. Most of them performed their own stunts, CGI was used to remove the wires holding them up. A great and successful movie which was a complete hit on Western/Eastern screens. Adding a spectacular y luxurious photography by cameraman Peter Pau who previously won an Oscar for 'Crouching tiger, hidden dragon' ; furthermore, a nice artistic direction, and great musical score David Buckley,
This decent motion picture was compellingly directed by eclectic filmmaker Rob Minkoff, but nothing special, because the situations we see we had already seen before, and there're too much struggles. Minkoff is a successful filmmaker with several hits, such as: "The Lion King", "Haunted mansion", "The Forbidden Kingdom", "Stuart Little I and II" , "Adventures of Peabody and Sherman", "Flypaper" and his last one: "Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank" (2022). Rating: 6/10. Well worth watching. Essential and indispensable watching for Jackie Chan and Jet Li fans, it's a feast for the senses and 100 per cent sheer cinema.
Así como habían sido (1987)
A sincere and enjoyable film including drama, records, friendship and moving scenes.
This perceptible drama is based on a story and script by Joaquim Jordà and director Andrés Linares himself. It deals with Tomás (Massimo Ghini) , a prestigious musician, returns to Spain, to find his greatest friends of past times. Firstly, he contacts a former classmate from the musical conservatory, Alberto (Juan Diego), proposing to work on a new musical project. But his real intention is to find out what happened to another friend of theirs, Damián (Antonio Banderas), who mysteriously disappeared.
This is a thought-provoking drama filmed with great sensitivity and feeling. It's an intelligent and touching story with plenty of classic music, although is sometimes slow-moving and tiring, but is finely developed with sense of style and sensibility. The issue is simple and clearly exposed, as a successful musician returns to his natal city looking for his past and through his memory , remembering old times ; starting an unforgettable journey by everyone, thanks to his good friend, Juan Diego who gives a top-notch performance, and attempting to find another friend who's missing, Antonio Banderas. In this sensitive picture ethic and moral themes are treated, being developed with great sense of fairness and ductility. There is also a tribute to Juán Ramón Jimenez, for showing a parallel existence of exile as happens to the protagonist of the film, and some of his verses and phrases are equally recited.
The main starring Massimo Ghini gives an awesome acting as a successful as well as exiled musician who returns to his origin location and contacts an old friend, remembering their experiences from years ago years ago by means of some flashbacks. The best scenes are those that detail a touching meeting in a popular 'Romeria' or 'Verbena' , in which the atmosphere of the town festival and its local dances is faithfully captured. And he specifically mentioned Antonio Banderas who apparently plays the trumpet very well, something he also demonstrates this ability in the film that opened the doors of Hollywood to him: The Mambo Kings (Los reyes del mambo tocan canciones de amor (1992))
Along with the starring trio: Massimo Ghini, Juan Diego , Antonio Banderas, al of them giving nice acting, there're various secondary actors providing adequate support, such as: the american Nina van Pallandt, Amparo Climent, Félix Cubero, María Jesús Hoyos, Antonio Gamero and Luis Ciges.
Besides , it packs an exceptional and colorful cinematography by Federico Ribes, as it is well shown on brilliant interiors and gorgeous outdoors of the countryside and villages, being shot on location. Federico Ribes is one of the best Spanish cameramen, photographing notorious films as ¨Una casa en las afueras¨, ¨Yoyes¨, ¨Tánger¨, ¨La justicia de los forajidos¨, ¨Ilegal¨, ¨El señor de los Llanos¨, and ¨El Rio que nos lleva¨. This unknown motion picture was uneven but professionally directed by Andrés Linares (La vida en rojo, Alzados del suelo, Doblones de a ocho, Dolores) and failed at the boxoffice despite its great cast. "Así como habían sido" (1987) got some prizes, 1989 Winner Fotogramas de Plata Best Movie Actor Antonio Banderas shared with : Baton Rouge , Mujeres al borde de un ataque de 'nervios' , El placer de matar and 1989 Nominated Fotogramas de Plata Best Movie Actor Juan Diego. Rating: 5.5/10. Average but acceptable and passable.
Chaos (2005)
Caper film with a very exciting storyline, plot twists and surprising ending.
Intriguing and decent thriller movie with noisy action, grisly killings, suspense, pursuits, and lots of violence. Jason Statham is nice in his usual style as the cop who is dispatched to take down some thieves who are robbing a bank. There's a good production values with several stars and a clever twist ending. Five hooded robbers break into a bank and take several hostages. The carefully and neatly perfect crime about a bank robbery goes awry when the thieves abduct and take hostages to people of building interior. Psychosis and paranoia abound between the prisoners from all sides and they can see no way out and someone making desperate tryings to flee. The leader of the group demands that the police negotiate directly with Quentin Conners, an agent recently suspended from the force for a fatal accident in which hostages died. Police must save at whatever cost the hostages bank what's suddenly under siege and itself surrounded of heavily super-armed polices and SWAT. When the system breaks down... someone is about to get rich !. When the system breaks down - It's the good cops vs. The bad cops !. A stand off where nobody stands down !. It looked like the perfect bank robbery. But you can't judge a crime by its cover.
Film packs maximum tension, emotion, thriller and surprise from the subsequent attempts by the policemen to enter in the bank, along with a lot of twists and turns. This movie is a crowd-pleasing blend of intrigue, tense, action-packed, fast movement and the casting is absolutely perfect. Jason Staham (Transporter) is one of the best and most successful stars of action cinema in recent times. He is the main starring of this film by the director of 'In enemy hands', Tony Giglio, whose plot and treatment are inevitably reminiscent of 'Inside Man' by the controversial filmamaker Spike Lee. Having an attractive cast alongside the main protagonist, appearing several screen figures of the stature of Wesley Snipes as the mastermind who executes an intelligent scheme and Ryan Philipe as the newcomer, naive cop, both of whom were in their best days, and both supporting the former British Olympic swimmer, Jason Statham; however, the film was released directly on DVD in the United States and many other countries, perhaps to avoid competing with the Spike Lee film: ¨The Inside Man¨stars Clive Owen, Denzel Washington, Jodie Foster. In the rest of the world, however, the box office was acceptable and today it is better considered than in the past, deemed to be a good action film. Here Statham is top-notch as the detective suspended from his position who is forced to return to work, he plays following his ordinary manners as a tough and two-fisted guy, interpretations that have given him a considerable success, thanks to films as "Revolver" , "Crank" I and its sequel, "Transporter" saga, "The Expendables", "Killer Elite", "Safe" , "Homefront", "Wild Card", "The Mechanic" I and II, "Fast and Furious" 7 and 8, "Megalodon I and II", among others . Big Star Jason Statham is well accompanied by a good support cast with many famiar faces, such as: Henry Czerny, Justine Waddell, Nicholas Lea, Jessica Steen, Rob LaBelle, John Cassini, Keegan Connor Tracy, Ty Olsson, Terry Chen, Mike Dopud and Natasha Malthe.
It displays a pulsing and thrilling musical score by composer Trevor Jones. Likewise, an appropriate and atmospheric cinematography by Richard Greatrex. This interesting film is both exciting and thrilling although with a twisted finale, being professionally directed by Tony Giglio. He's an expert on action and thriller genre as proved in : ¨In Enemy Hands¨ (U Boat), ¨Timber falls¨, ¨S. W. A. T.: Under Siege¨, ¨Doom: Annihilation¨, ¨Extraction¨, ¨Chaos¨, among others. Rating: 6/10. Decent thriller for Statham and Snipes fans.
The Alpinist (2021)
A vigorous biographical documentary about a young mountaineer who made a living from climbing.
Colorful and interesting adventure film about mountaineering with attractive landscapes. Sprawling adventure/documentary movie detailing the obsessive conquest of mountain peaks including spectacular scenarios, impressive images and maintains a fair degree of interest and tension. In the line of powerful portrayals on the edge of disaster like ¨Free Solo¨, this documentary tells the story of Marc-André Lecrerc, a sports fanatic of mountaineering without ropes. Marc-André Leclerc climbs alone, far from people and noise. On remote alpine faces, the free-spirited Canadian Mark makes some of the boldest solo ascents in history.
Marc climbs alone, away from the spotlights, the limelight and noisy cameras. In remote alpine locations, the 23-year-old Canadian free spirit performs some of the most daring solo ascents in history, yet he barely attracts attention. He simply climbs for his love of climbing and adventure, with no camera, no ropes and no room for error. On his climbs he has to survive at whatever means, facing off blistering winds and freezing temperatures . Lecrerc's point of view is the essence of the pure adventure, enjoying nature and loneliness . He is a nomadic and publicity shy person, he doesn't own a phone or car, and is reluctant to let a film crew in on his simple vision of climbing.
Died in March 2018 while attempting an ascent of Mendenhall Towers in Alaska, after a furious blizzard struck , Lecrerc was known for his solo ascents of numerous mountains in various parts of the world, completing the first ascents of Cerro Torre, Grand Wall, Stanley Head Wall , Egger Torre in Patagonia and Emperor Face of Mount Robson.
Although this is a very good documentary describing this great sport that excites the spirit of freedom, danger and contact with the wild mountain nature, there is also a large number of fiction films in which the adventures of mountaineering are described , of which I would highlight the following (In fact, one can easily speak of a 'mountaineering film genre' with important films) : "The White Tower" with Glenn Ford , Claude Rains , " The Eiger sanction" with Clint Eastwood, George Kennedy, Jack Cassidy and "K2¨by Frank Roddan with Matt Craven , Michael Biehn and Julia Nickson; ¨Everest¨by Baltasar Kormakur with Jason Clarke, Sam Worthinton, Vanessa Kirby, John Hawkes,Kiera Knightle, and including the action/adventure style film ¨Cliffhanger¨by Renny Harlin with Sylvester Stallone, John Lithgow, Michael Rooker, Janine Turner, Rex Linn . And this Alpinist (2021) was well directed by the expert documentalists Directors Peter Mortimer and Nick Rosen.
Kiss of Death (1947)
Gritty and gripping Film Noir with Richard Widmark's unforgettable debut.
Paroled when he turns state's evidence, Victor Mature soon finds himself trapped in a web of deceit involving corrupt advocates and ruthless hoddlums. Mature must now watch his back constantly. And turned informant, he has an enemy, Richard Widmark, a violent and powerful villain who seeks to destroy him. The Police chief Brian Donlevy attempts to help him. When things go wrong, he is left to do the time, and his whole life is turned upside-down, but if that wasn't enough, the cops won't leave him alone when he gets out... , It will mark you for life as it marked him for... Betrayal. From her lips there is no escape!. He rules the streets. He owns the game. But he doesn't own all of the players.
This laborious urban crime thriller is magnificently made by Henry Hathaway, it is a classicc Noir Film , nominated for two Oscars in 1948: Best secondary actor and best original story. This excellent film is a peculiar vision of the most terrifying sort of existence, one where nothing is certain, and everything is dangerous.
A great crime drama keeps the far-fetched genre conventions in check until the end. Stars Victor Mature (The robe), Richard Widmark (Judgment at Nuremberg) and Brian Donlevy (Beau Geste). Here Mature revealing himself a more sensitive actor than many suspected, gave one of his best interpretations in this brisk thriller as a petty thief turned stoolpigeon . Even so, the performance honours went straight to Richard Widmark, making his film debut a big hit, thanks to a chilling role. Richard Widmark does his best to pump up the psycho-villain, as he's able to convey a level of mercilessness and depth that'll make you wince. The wonderful trio of protagonists: Mature, Widmark, Donlevy accompanied by other good supporting actors, such as: Collen Gray, Taylor Holmes, Howard Smith, Karl Malden, Robert Adler, Susan Cabot, among others.
One of two remakes of films that feature Richard Widmark, Kiss of Death (1947) remade under the same title in 1985. The other being Night and the City (1950), remade under the same title in 1992. Richard Price wrote the screenplay for both remakes. In 1985 , Barbet Schroeder made a homonymous remake with David Caruso, Nicolas Cage, Helen Hunt, Samuel L. Jackson, Kathryn Erbe and Jay O. Sanders .
All scenes in this motion picture, both exterior and interior, were photographed in the State of New York on the actual locales associated with the story. This well-paced in cracking style flick Kiss of Death(1947) was stunningly directed by Henry Hathaway and usually works very well , being capable handled in spectacular photography , adding enjoyable scenarios. Henry Hathaway does the human touch and full of insight that accompanied him during most of his films and the story develops pleasantly in large frames with an interesting plot and fully adjusted to the requirements of the action. His fetish actor was John Wayne , both of whom collaborated in various sincere Westerns , they included ¨North to Alaska¨ , ¨The sons of Katie Elder¨ and Wayne's Academy Award-winning ¨True grit¨, among others . Hathaway himself was only even nominated for an Oscar , but his movies themselves are testimony to his skills to heighten narrative tension and shoot action so exhilarating it made adrenalin run . Henry was a craftsman who had a long career from the 30s with successful films , and especially Westerns , as ¨Brigham Young¨ and ¨Raw Hide¨ . In his 60s Hathaway still got the vigour to make some fiery movies as ¨How the West was won¨, ¨Nevada Smith¨, and ¨Shoot out¨ . He was an expert on Western genre as he proved in ¨True grit¨ , ¨Five card stud¨ , ¨Nevada Smith¨ , ¨How the West was won¨ , ¨Rawhide¨ , ¨Brigham Young¨ , ¨Buffalo Stampede¨, ¨Garden of evil¨ , ¨The sons of Katie Elder¨ and, ¨From Hell to Texas¨. Henry directed the classic 20th Century-Fox movie about Field Marshal Erwin Rommel and also set in World War II North Africa, ¨Rommel¨, (1951). Hathaway's other movies about the Second World War were all for studio Twentieth Century-Fox and included ¨The House on 92nd Street¨ (1945); ¨Wing and a Prayer¨ (1944); ¨You're in the Navy Now¨ (1951) and ¨13 Rue Madeleine¨ (1947) and his last film : Raid on Rommel that was a massive flop and was quickly withdrawn from theaters .Although Hathaway was a highly successful and reliable director film-making within the Hollywood studio system, his work has received little consideration from reviewers . Rating Kiss of Death: 7.5/10. Above average.
3 notti violente (1966)
Crime thriller co-produced by Italy/Spain with thrills, chases, and violent fights.
An agreeable Italian/Spanish co-production blending some elements of the Euro-Spy genre with the early stages of the Italian poliziottescho story, taking parts here and there of these two sub-genres. This entertaining and twisted thriller, containing a crime plotline with plenty of plot twists, a lot of fights, though packs some absurd situations and cheesy frames. Dealing with Walter (Brett Hasley), a journalist who recently lost his job, is feeling a bit down, and gets even more depressed when his girlfriend, Lisa (Irán Eory), is missing. Walter to be aware of Lisa is linking with the criminal underworld, and particularly with a ringleader, a nasty big boss called Gardiello (José Calvo) who runs a criminal gang smuggling dope around the world. Walter undertaking an arduous investigation and he'll stop at nothing to discover the underworld big boss and find his sweetheart. Along the way, Walter having to skillfully disembowel all of the names of the thugs who know Lisa. She had recently taken up with a friend of theirs, a wealthy older doctor (Julio Peña). As Walter (Brett Halsey) peels away each layer of the disappearance, he digs deeper into a world of drugs, killings and corruption.
This enjoyable movie is full of thrills, crossfire, noisy action , double-crosses, breathtaking pursuits and anything else. This is a humdrum adaptation in middle budget, based on a novel by Sergio Donati (who wrote a lot of Spaghetti Westerns) about a hero who gets into more and more trouble while investigating his fiancée's vanishing. Stars the american Brett Hasley as a reporter who finds himself entangled with a gang of drug smugglers in Rome, when he sets out to investigate the kidnapping of his former girlfriend by using espionage skills to locate her. Brett Halsey was a beefcake who emigrated Italy and played a lot of B films , often billed as "Montgomery Ford" . Brett starred as several sword-and-sandal type heroes in including the spectacles ¨The Seventh Sword¨ and ¨The Magnificent Adventurer¨. He also settled comfortably into the fashionable international spy , "spaghetti" western and Giallo genres with a slew of work including ¨Berlín , Spy in Your Eye¨ , ¨Espionage in Lisbon¨ , ¨The Hour of Truth¨, and ¨Kill Johnny Ringo¨ . And it's great to see José Calvo as a pure manipulative villain with no redeeming values or tragic backstory. Being an Italian-Spanish co-production (although mostly Italian), there is a mix of Italian: Daniele Vargas as a police inspector, Renzo Palmer, Emilio Messina, Enzo Cerusico, Mirko Ellis and Spanish actors: Julio Peña, Irán Eory and José Calvo of 'Leone's For a fistful of dollars'.
It contains a colorful cinematography in Eastmancolor and Chronoscope by Emilio Foriscot. This good Spanish cameraman photographed a large number of coproductions , such as : ¨Fast Hand Is Still My Name¨, ¨One by one¨, ¨Dakota Joe¨, ¨Mutiny at Fort Sharpe¨, ¨La grande notte di Ringo¨, ¨Singapur Hour Zero¨, ¨Segretissimo¨, ¨La coda dello scorpione¨, among others. Shot on location in Fontana di Trevi, and Incir De Paolis Studios, Rome, Lazio, Italy. Nick Nostro's direction is professionally crafted, but average , here he is more inclined toward action. He directed this so-so action film, a genre in which he would not only excel but one where he would spent much of the rest of his career , as he directed all kinds of genres , most of them co-produced with Spain, such as: Peplum as "Triumph of the Ten Gladiators" , ¨Spartacus and 10 gladiators¨ and Spaghetti as "One Dollar of Fire" and Day After Tomorrow¨ also titled ¨One After Another or ¨Von Django¨ and Italian crime/mystery/Giallo as ¨Lo strano vizio della signora Wardh¨, "Web of Violence" , "Operation Counterspy" , "Vendetta at Sorrento" , and the pretty fun superhero movie based on comic books , the Italian Fumetti: "Superargo Against Diabolicus" . Rating ¨3 notti violente¨ (1966) : 4.5/10. Very mediocre but passable at times.
The Kentuckian (1955)
Burl Lancaster directs and stars as a rugged frontiersman with his son go to Texas.
A Kentucky widower, rugged frontiersman Big Eli (Burt Lancaster) bound for 1820's Texas with his young Little Eli son (Donald MacDonald). Big Eli and his son intend to cross the Kentucky border in 1820 to start a new life , on their journey the two are harassed by fighting mountaineers. Finally they reach the house of his older brother (John McIntire) and wife (Una Merkel) who have tobacco businesses. The single father attempting raise his son despite the temptations of liquor, lewd desires and women (Dianne Foster, Diana Lynn). Lancaster is thwarted in his efforts by a corrupt constable, a long-standing family feud, and a beautiful indentured servant. Hunter...Frontiersman...Adventurer!
Burt Lancaster's first movie as a director is a slow-moving, uneven and lack-lustre Western in which he plays a Kentuckian who, travelling to Texas with his young son to make a new start, becomes involved with two woman and a family feud. Lancaster shines as the stable and regal frontiersman fending off the seductions of Walter Matthau who makes an impressively villainous debut, though the scene in which he bullwhips the unarmed Burt tends to be censor-trimmed. Burt Lancaster stars very well, he shows very distinctive, clipped manner of speaking. Along the way there're two delicious love stories centered around two beautiful girls, an unfortunate woman called Hannah Bolen: Dianne Foster and an upright teacher named Susie Spann: Diana Lynn. Depicting the difficult integration into the community that receives them creating various problems for the family. It shows a slice of life in the early 19th century on the frontier with rude people, adventurers, cheating gambling boats and much more. The riverboat used in the movie was the Delta Queen, the production company spent almost a lot of money to add the fake smokestacks. Along with the always great Burt Lancaster, there is a good plethora of secondary actors , such as: Dianne Foster, Diana Lynn, John McIntire, Una Merkel, John Carradine, John Litel, Rhys Williams, Edward Norris, Clem Bevans, film debut of Walter Matthau and Jon carradine is good value as a garrulous doctor.
In The Kentuckian(1955) stands out the evocative musical score by Bernard Herrmann, Hitchcock's regular. Likewise, a colorful and brilliante cinematography by cameraman Ernest Laszlo. This Harold-Hetch production was professionally played and directed by Burt Lancaster. But in general the direction tends to get bogged in not very interesting roles and relationships while neglecting to deliver action. This was the first movie directed by Burt Lancaster. Due to the unfavorable critical response he did not direct again for almost 20 years, until The midnight man (1974) and he also directed uncredited His Majesty O'Keefe (1954) along with Byron Haskin. Rating: 5.5/10. Accepatable and passable but neither notable, nor extraordinary. The film will appeal to Burt Lancaster fans.
La spada normanna (1971)
Italian-Spanish co-production with action, duels, romance and medieval adventures.
12th century, England. King Henry I dies y lord Stephen Cunningham (Luis Dávila) claims to own the "Sword of Normandy", rightful symbol of royal power King . But Ivanhoe (Mark Damon) , veteran of the crusades, knows where the real sword is hidden. Ivanhoe gathers a few followers, most of them from a group of traveling actors (Manuel Zarzo, Aldo Berti ,Nello Pazzafini, Luciano Pigozzi or Allan Collins) and heads north into the lands of Scotland, to the country of the barbarian Picts, where the Norman sword is found hidden in a cave. But the usurper also wants the sword, so he kills the king of the Picts and by any means will try to seize the Norman sword (similar to Arthur's sword in the stone) that assures him as the legitimate king of England along with a royal medallion. As Ivanhoe fights Cunningham, along with his subordinate henchman Keats (Spartaco Conversi) aided by loyal bandits and actors.
Sir Walter Scott's story of romance and chivalry in Medieval England isn't faithfully brought to life in this run-of-the-mill adventure movie in which american Mark Damon stars as Ivanhoe who fights the evil Stephen Cunningham and his hoodlums in an attempt to restore the legitimate king to the British throne. This enjoyable film displays chivalry, a love story, knighthood, daring fights and lots of action with spectacular castle attack. Assaults, battles and other action sequences with a plethora of sword-fights involving maces, axes and chains are acceptably handled . This ¨Ivanhoe, the Norman Swordsman¨ has little to do with the classic Ivanhoe by Walter Scott, in this Italian-Spanish version it is more of a remake of the classic ¨The flame and the arrow¨ (1950) by Jacques Tourneur with Burt Lancaster. Similar to this film there is also a group of traveling actors who attack the usurper's hitmen and finally appear as actors with Greek masks entering the castle to play a theatrical performance and there unmasking the cruel usurper and settling scores in the well-known final duel, likewise the film starring Burt Lancaster. Furthermore adding, some elements of the Arthurian legends, such as: King Arthur's sword in the stone that gives power and legitimacy to reign. Being an Italian-Spanish co-production (although mostly Italian), there is a mix of Italian: Krista Nell, Aldo Berti, Spartaco Conversi, Alan Collins or Luciano Pigozzi, Nello Pazzafini, Linda Sini and Spanish actors: Luís Dávila, Luis de Tejada, Manuel Zarzo.
Other best versions of the classic Ivanhoe are the following: ¨Ivanhoe¨(1952) produced by Pandro S Berman and directed by Richard Thorpe stars Robert Taylor, Joan Fontaine, Elizabeth Taylor, George Sanders, Emlyn Williams, Finlay Currie and ¨Ivanhoe¨ (1982) Douglas Camfield Anthony Edwards, James Mason, Anthony Andrews, Sam Neill, Michael Hordern, Olivia Hussey.
The motion picture was averagely directed by Roberto Mauri. He was a craftsman who during the Sixties and Seventies made all kinds of genres: Spaghetti Western, such as : ¨Sartana nella valle degli avvoltoi, La vendetta è il mio perdon, Colorado Charlie, Seminò morte... lo chiamavano il Castigo di Dio! , Wanted Sabata,Spirito Santo e le 5 magnifiche canaglie¨; Thriller : ¨Le notti della violenza, I Mafiosi , Three Golden Serpents , The pornokillers¨ ; Peplum: ¨The Invincible Brothers Maciste, Three Swords for Rome¨ and Adventures: ¨Il pirata del diavo, Il segno del vendicatore, Jungla 2000 and La spada normanna¨. Rating: 5/10. Only for fans of the medieval adventures made in Italy and Spain.
Swamp Water (1941)
Interesting drama with great hollywood actors and brilliant cinematography shot in Georgia everglades.
The locale of this story in the Okefenokee Swamp in the State of Georgia. Not so many years ago, its seven hundred miles of marsh and cypress were an unknown wilderness to the people who lived around its edges. They knew that its sluggish waters were filled with alligators and that its boggy forests harbored the deadly cotton-mouth snake. They feared these creatures , but much more they feared the unexplored vastness in which a man might disappear, never to be seen again. The Swamp! Sinister - mysterious - it shaped the lives and loves and hates of the people who lived around its edges!! 700 miles of nameless terror! Never has Hollywood made a picture so full of shocking scenes...so tense with thrilling adventure...so bold in its handling of primal human emotions! .Locale of the strangest story the screen has ever told! ...a breeding vastness where a man might hide for years and never be seen-and did! Warning you'll want to turm your face away-but your eyes will be glued to the screen in horrified fascination when you see it !.
Jean Renoir's first job in America for 20th Century Fox shot in the Georgia swamp, quite a rare occurrence for this kind of Hollywood product at the time. A rather sullen affair filmed in Georgia swamp which harbour snakes, alligators, mud and Walter Brennan, a fugitive criminal with whom the hero Andrews becomes strangely and melodramatically involved. As many critics point out, it's a movie with strong John Ford overtones in the casting, the regional subject-matter (post Tobacco Road, and Grapes of wrath) , its storyline by the worthy but wordy Dudley Nichols and along with evocative score by David Buttolph. But John Ford would undoubtedly have punched out the story with more action, more obvious emotion, here Renoir is content to let the scenes lie there moodily, looking a bit drab and unbelievable for all the location shooting.
Main and support cast are pretty good. Dana Andrews is pretty nice as the young Ben in one of his first appearances on the big screen, Anne Baxter as his love interest and Walter Brennan is top-notch as the escaped elderly man who imposes his own law in the Georgia Everglades. And fine support cast with plenty of familiar faces , such as: Virginia Gilmore, John Carradine, Mary Howard, Eugene Pallette, Ward Bond, Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams Guinn, Russell Simpson, Joe Sawyer and Mae Marsh.
Here stands out the stunning cinematography from J. Peverell Marley and Lucien Ballard shot on location in Georgia marshland , showing the lush exteriors and a lot of wildlife that are the peculiar and real protagonists of this nice movie. The actual photography of scenes in the Okefenokee swamp of Georgia was made possible through the cooperation of the Okefenokee national wildlife refuge for which appreciation is hereby expressed. The motion picture was uneven but professionally directed by Jean Renoir in his usual style. He was a great director who made masterpieces , successes and failures. Renoir was voted the 12th greatest director of all time. Furthermore, Orson Welles frequently cited him as the greatest movie director of all time. He was son of the famous impressionist painter Auguste Renoir. After his French classics (Rules of game 1939, Human beast 38, La Marseillase 36, A day in the country 36, Boudu saved from drowning 32), he was brought to USA by American producers, directing awesome films in Hollywood (Woman on the beach 1947 , The diary of a chambermaid 46, The land is mine 43, Swamp water 1941) and 'The Southerner' (1945) gave him more pleasure than any of his other Hollywood work. Later on, he returned to France , going on film-making classic movies (Elusive corporal 1962, Picnic on the grass 59, Testament of Dr Cordelier 59, Golden coach 52, The river 1951). Rating : 6/10. Better than average, well worth watching for Jean Renoir enthusiasts.