Smashbomb

"I knew and liked David Lean, a director of genius, who was very kind to me when he was making The Sound Barrier for my Uncle Alex, and Brief Encounter has always seemed to me the very best of classic British filmmaking, with its fiercely restrained emotions and good manners trumping passion, typical of its era. It is the best of the “small” British pictures, which my Uncle Alex tried to replace with “big” British pictures in an attempt to outdo Hollywood, rather than coexist with it, after he left it for Britain in 1932. Lean, who in Brief Encounter made this most English of English films (a distinction perhaps shared by This Happy Breed and The Fallen Idol, see below), moved onward and upward to ever bigger pictures, by way of The Sound Barrier, Summertime, and eventually the biggest and best of all epic films, Lawrence of Arabia, escaping from the confines of England to “international” films that challenged and beat those of the Hollywood studios. But Brief Encounter was a perfect, close-up view of a shabby, threadbare England, the England of “books from Boot’s, good drains, and class distinction,” in John Betjeman’s words, and of a muted, sad, doomed, and very English love affair. It has always been a film that puzzles the French, who find it hard to believe in a love story with almost no eroticism, and in which the lovers are usually dressed in raincoats. It is also Trevor Howard, a wonderful actor, at his best."

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Kudos

LeftSideCut (3778 KP) rated Men in Black International (2019) in Movies

Dec 4, 2019 (Updated Jan 9, 2020)

A safe and predictable MIB sequel

MIB International is one of those films that isn't balls out awful, but definitely isn't good. It's a passable and relatively entertaining way to spend a couple of hours.

Tessa Thompson and Chris Hemsworth star as Agents M and H, and are a fun enough leading duo. The chemistry between them is ok, but does lack something that was more abundant in Thor: Ragnarok.
Liam Neeson is fine as well, but he's not really doing anything outside of just being Liam Neeson.
I guess the issue here is that although the cast are all good, it feels like the character could have been played by anyone else, and nothing would have been lost - certainly not the case with Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones in the original.
Either way, in the case of MIB International, I just got the general feeling that no one involved seem to really care all that much, both in front of and behind camera.

The plot is exactly what you would expect from a MIB sequel. Aliens, a powerful weapon, saving the world...it's all been done before.
Although the over arching plot is absolutely riddled with plot holes if you think about it too much.
Some of the alien designs are pretty good and the rampant CGI is ok...ish...

I'm not convinced that the original MIB ever needed follow up movies, and I'm still not, but as far they go, International isn't the worst sequel like I'd heard...has everyone just straight up forgotten how bad the second one is!?

Kudos

American Showman: Samuel Roxy Rothafel and the Birth of the Entertainment Industry, 1908-1935

Ross Melnick

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Book

Samuel "Roxy" Rothafel (1882-1936) built an influential and prolific career as film exhibitor, stage...

Cinema by Design: Art Nouveau, Modernism, and Film History

Lucy Fischer

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Art Nouveau thrived from the late 1890s through the First World War. The international design...

Ollie SB (2279 KP) rated Extraction (2020) in Movies

Apr 26, 2020 (Updated Apr 26, 2020)

Extraction (2020)

2020 | Action

7.2

(28 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Action, action and more action (0 more)

Story lacks depth (0 more)

All out Action

If you're a fan of action films, you'll probably enjoy this one. The fight scenes and gun fire is pretty much non-stop from the start. There are some very impressive looking scenes shot up-close from a handheld camera. However, behind this constant action is a mediocre storyline.

Chris Hemsworth plays Tyler Rake, a ruthless mercenary who is hired to complete the 'extraction' of the kidnapped son of an international crime lord. After collecting the child (Ovi), Tyler embarks on a dangerous mission to get him to safety.

Whilst they are being hunted, Tyler and Ovi find unlikely friendship in each other and Tyler decides he will do anything to ensure that Ovi makes it to safety.