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The King's Speech
Peter J. Conradi, Mark Logue and Jamie Glover
Book
This is the full story of the remarkable relationship between Lionel Logue, an Australian...
Tales That Witness Madness (1973)
6.7
Rate It
Movie
British portmanteau horror anthology; not actually an Amicus production, but certainly in their...
Dean (6926 KP) rated About Time (2013) in Movies
May 27, 2020 (Updated May 27, 2020)
Great cast (1 more)
Feel good vibe
A touching Rom-Com
Another great film from Richard Curtis who did @Love Actually (2003) @Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) @Notting Hill (1999) This is very similar in style. Typically British humour and fun characters set within a story about love, family and life in general.
A man discovers he can travel back to earlier moments of his life to make changes but often with unexpected consequences. More of a Rom-Drama but if you are a fan of the other films you'll enjoy this just as much. Also check out @The Time Traveler's Wife (2009)
A man discovers he can travel back to earlier moments of his life to make changes but often with unexpected consequences. More of a Rom-Drama but if you are a fan of the other films you'll enjoy this just as much. Also check out @The Time Traveler's Wife (2009)
The Great British Dream Factory: The Strange History of Our National Imagination
Book
'Delightfully good ...an exuberant and learned celebration of British culture ...full of love for...
Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated Shaun of the Dead (2004) in Movies
Aug 14, 2019
With the recent influx of the walking dead at your local multiplex, it would be easy to dismiss the British film “Shaun of the Dead” as just another cheap zombie film. While few will mistake “Shaun” as a landmark in cinematic history, but despite its flaws, there are a few funny moments on the film.
The film attempts to mix horror and comedy and largely but works best if viewed as a comedic satire of the genre. Shaun, (Simon Pegg), (who also helped write the film), is a working class stiff who toils away his time in an London district selling electronics by day and squiring the love of his life Liz (Kate Ashfield), to the local pub much to her dismay as the monotony of the situation and Shaun’s obscene slacker friend Ed (Nick Frost), have worn on her last nerve.
Despite getting an ultimatum from Liz to take her to someplace other than the pub, Shaun becomes distracted and fails to secure a table elsewhere, causing Liz to storm out and send Shaun into a spiral as he begins to question his place in life and suspect that there is much more that he should be doing.
As if this was not enough of a burden for Shaun to endure, the local population seems to be acting oddly as reports of mayhem and carnage are starting to arise and the streets start to fill with Zombies. At first Shaun and Ed are oblivious to the changes around them as they continue their daily routines without noticing the blood stains, bodies and walking dead in the neighborhood, that is until one decided to attack.
Shaun and Ed soon get a nasty dose of reality and Shaun eventually decides that he must get his mother and Liz to safety, so armed with his Cricket bat, he takes on the grisly horde of undead against overwhelming odds.
While the film does have some good comedic moments, it drags horribly for the last 20 minutes as only a funny but albeit brief segment involving a zombie attack to a Queen classic is the only respite in the monotone that the film crawls to. The biggest problem is that the film seems to run out of material about 40 minutes in and the makers of the film try to stretch the film using standards from past zombie films. We have the desperate stand in a surrounded building, the improvised weapons, the infighting between survivors, and the classic bearing of the soul when it seems darkest.
I do admire the creative element that the creators of the film came up with especially with the obvious budget restrictions they were under. That being said, the film is not worthy of the praise that is being heaped upon it. Yes, it shows promise for the cast, and yes it is a nice twist on the tired zombie genre, but any momentum that was gained in the early portion of the film is quickly destroyed by the sputtering plot that crawls its way to the finish with a ho-hum climax that will disappoint any in the audience who still care.
The film attempts to mix horror and comedy and largely but works best if viewed as a comedic satire of the genre. Shaun, (Simon Pegg), (who also helped write the film), is a working class stiff who toils away his time in an London district selling electronics by day and squiring the love of his life Liz (Kate Ashfield), to the local pub much to her dismay as the monotony of the situation and Shaun’s obscene slacker friend Ed (Nick Frost), have worn on her last nerve.
Despite getting an ultimatum from Liz to take her to someplace other than the pub, Shaun becomes distracted and fails to secure a table elsewhere, causing Liz to storm out and send Shaun into a spiral as he begins to question his place in life and suspect that there is much more that he should be doing.
As if this was not enough of a burden for Shaun to endure, the local population seems to be acting oddly as reports of mayhem and carnage are starting to arise and the streets start to fill with Zombies. At first Shaun and Ed are oblivious to the changes around them as they continue their daily routines without noticing the blood stains, bodies and walking dead in the neighborhood, that is until one decided to attack.
Shaun and Ed soon get a nasty dose of reality and Shaun eventually decides that he must get his mother and Liz to safety, so armed with his Cricket bat, he takes on the grisly horde of undead against overwhelming odds.
While the film does have some good comedic moments, it drags horribly for the last 20 minutes as only a funny but albeit brief segment involving a zombie attack to a Queen classic is the only respite in the monotone that the film crawls to. The biggest problem is that the film seems to run out of material about 40 minutes in and the makers of the film try to stretch the film using standards from past zombie films. We have the desperate stand in a surrounded building, the improvised weapons, the infighting between survivors, and the classic bearing of the soul when it seems darkest.
I do admire the creative element that the creators of the film came up with especially with the obvious budget restrictions they were under. That being said, the film is not worthy of the praise that is being heaped upon it. Yes, it shows promise for the cast, and yes it is a nice twist on the tired zombie genre, but any momentum that was gained in the early portion of the film is quickly destroyed by the sputtering plot that crawls its way to the finish with a ho-hum climax that will disappoint any in the audience who still care.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Gorgo (1961) in Movies
Feb 12, 2018
The poster tagline 'Like nothing you've ever seen before' is really pushing it a bit considering this British suitamation movie is composed almost entirely of bits from other, better-known films. Generations of British people have grown up believing they've seen a proper Godzilla film when in fact they were just exposed to this in their childhood. On the other hand, Eugene Lourie also directed The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, one of the original Godzilla's main inspirations, so you could say he's just repeating himself rather than actually being derivative.
Soundly scripted with a decent twist and pretty good performances, and the devastation of London by Gorgo's mum in the final reel is well-staged. Persistent rumour suggests that a young John Carpenter made an unofficial sequel, Gorgo Vs Godzilla, but no-one seems to know for sure if this even exists - shame, as on the strength of this outing Gorgo and his mum had potential for their own series. Only really of interest to fans of vintage monster movies, but a distinctive and rather distinguished entry to this genre.
Soundly scripted with a decent twist and pretty good performances, and the devastation of London by Gorgo's mum in the final reel is well-staged. Persistent rumour suggests that a young John Carpenter made an unofficial sequel, Gorgo Vs Godzilla, but no-one seems to know for sure if this even exists - shame, as on the strength of this outing Gorgo and his mum had potential for their own series. Only really of interest to fans of vintage monster movies, but a distinctive and rather distinguished entry to this genre.
It's Been Emotional
Book
British actor and professional footballer, Vinnie Jones is the original bad boy made good and will...
The Descent
Book
The story of an all-female caving expedition gone horribly wrong, The Descent (2005) is arguably the...
Awix (3310 KP) rated Devil Girl from Mars (1955) in Movies
Mar 30, 2019 (Updated Mar 30, 2019)
Notorious cheapo British SF film objectively deserves about a 2 or 3, but it's worth at least an 8 for connoisseurs of duff B-movies, so I've split the difference. Title character Nyah (Laffan) swishes about in a shower curtain, occasionally hypnotising men she wants to take home to Mars, and devastating the countryside with her pet robot (which looks like a fridge with legs). Everyone else tries to get on with some very soapy subplots.
Absolutely a horrendous collision between a homespun UK programme filler and a spangly American flying saucer B-movie, but the weirdest thing about this very odd film is that there are individual bits of it that are actually pretty good: just not the acting, script, or sci-fi props. Shameless in its economy and genuinely very funny (just not intentionally), the result is sort of like an episode of The Twilight Zone performed as amateur theatre. Awful, but a fun kind of awful.
Absolutely a horrendous collision between a homespun UK programme filler and a spangly American flying saucer B-movie, but the weirdest thing about this very odd film is that there are individual bits of it that are actually pretty good: just not the acting, script, or sci-fi props. Shameless in its economy and genuinely very funny (just not intentionally), the result is sort of like an episode of The Twilight Zone performed as amateur theatre. Awful, but a fun kind of awful.
Ashley Valencia (5 KP) rated Into the Woods (2014) in Movies
Apr 14, 2019
Cast (2 more)
Adaption to film
Music
Baker's father reduced role (1 more)
Missing songs
And Happy Ever After! (I wish)
Fans of the play will love this movie. They did a great job adapting this for a film.
The cast is especially amazing, esp Meryl Streep and my dream wife Anna Kendrick. However, while James um British talk show host that plays the Baker wasn't the worst choice, he kind of stuck out as mediocre compared to the other cast members. The singing from all cast members, James included, is all excellently done, all the actors performed their vocals live.
My only real beef with the movie is the complete removal of the narrator character and the missing song, "No More". While they also didnt include "Agony: Reprise," I liked the change they made to Rapunzel's story which would've recquired halfing the song or a complete rewrite. I'm good with that trade off. Plus I imagine the lyric "dwarves are very upsetting" might've proved for some to be indeed upsetting.
The cast is especially amazing, esp Meryl Streep and my dream wife Anna Kendrick. However, while James um British talk show host that plays the Baker wasn't the worst choice, he kind of stuck out as mediocre compared to the other cast members. The singing from all cast members, James included, is all excellently done, all the actors performed their vocals live.
My only real beef with the movie is the complete removal of the narrator character and the missing song, "No More". While they also didnt include "Agony: Reprise," I liked the change they made to Rapunzel's story which would've recquired halfing the song or a complete rewrite. I'm good with that trade off. Plus I imagine the lyric "dwarves are very upsetting" might've proved for some to be indeed upsetting.