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Awix (3310 KP) rated The Vengeance of She (1968) in Movies
Feb 26, 2018 (Updated Feb 26, 2018)
Bargain basement Hammer fantasy sequel manages to ditch almost everything that gave the original film its class. Plot is basically a role-reversal of the original film; Richardson's character has gone mad (we are invited to infer) and regressed to the personality of his previous incarnation (film doesn't actually make sense otherwise); awaits the arrival of the reincarnation of Ursula Andress (not that Berova looks that much like her); cult of sorcerers offer to speed her arrival in return for the secret of immortality.
Basically just quite pedestrian and dull, with lots of messing about on a rich man's yacht that doesn't do a great deal to advance the plot. Some potentially interesting ideas are ignored in favour of potboiler romance and fantasy melodrama. Production values basically scream that the movie was made on a very low budget. Andre Morell is the best thing in it, and he's not in it all that much.
Basically just quite pedestrian and dull, with lots of messing about on a rich man's yacht that doesn't do a great deal to advance the plot. Some potentially interesting ideas are ignored in favour of potboiler romance and fantasy melodrama. Production values basically scream that the movie was made on a very low budget. Andre Morell is the best thing in it, and he's not in it all that much.
Darren (1599 KP) rated Dr. No (1962) in Movies
Nov 7, 2019
Characters – James Bond is on his first mission on the big screen, the resourceful British Spy that always seems to stay one step ahead of the enemies as he looks for answers to a colleague’s disappearance. We see how he is the womaniser we all know now and just how he can handle himself in a fight. Honey Ryder appears one hour into the film with one of the most iconic entrances in the franchise history, she assistance Bond on the mission with her knowledge of the island. Dr No is the mastermind behind the island plot, he keeps his plans secret and will get his men to eliminate any problems that come his way.
Performances – Sean Connery is great in his first outing as Bond, he uses the charm his character is famous for to make us want to come back for the next adventure. Ursula Andress is solid enough, she looks the part even if the character is mostly just made to be the damsel in distress. Joseph Wiseman does make for a good villain by the time we see him, he helps us reach the levels we know we can expect in the franchise.
Story – James Bond is one his first film mission, needing to show his skills to find a missing colleague against the first villain. This story is a simple one, it is designed to show us what James is capable off when it comes to save the world from a terrorist plot. This might not be the one everyone remembers because it does just introduce him without going too far with the difficulties of a mission that would need to be topped next time out. This is one that shows the style that he must work, the slow investigation before coming face to face with the villain.
Action/Adventure – The action gives us James the fight sequences needed to show how quickly he can get the job done when needed. The adventure takes our spy across the world to a tropical island, this time Jamaica to fight a villain.
Settings – The film is set in Jamaica, it gives us a tropical feeling from start to finish where we get to see the islands off the mainland as an early sign of where the bases for the masterminds will be.
Scene of the Movie – Base battle.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – We don’t meet the Bond girl till an hour into the film.
Final Thoughts –This is a great start to the Bond franchise, we get to learn Bond’s skills face a villain that has enough menace to be a threat and keep us ready for more.
Overall: Great start to the franchise.
Performances – Sean Connery is great in his first outing as Bond, he uses the charm his character is famous for to make us want to come back for the next adventure. Ursula Andress is solid enough, she looks the part even if the character is mostly just made to be the damsel in distress. Joseph Wiseman does make for a good villain by the time we see him, he helps us reach the levels we know we can expect in the franchise.
Story – James Bond is one his first film mission, needing to show his skills to find a missing colleague against the first villain. This story is a simple one, it is designed to show us what James is capable off when it comes to save the world from a terrorist plot. This might not be the one everyone remembers because it does just introduce him without going too far with the difficulties of a mission that would need to be topped next time out. This is one that shows the style that he must work, the slow investigation before coming face to face with the villain.
Action/Adventure – The action gives us James the fight sequences needed to show how quickly he can get the job done when needed. The adventure takes our spy across the world to a tropical island, this time Jamaica to fight a villain.
Settings – The film is set in Jamaica, it gives us a tropical feeling from start to finish where we get to see the islands off the mainland as an early sign of where the bases for the masterminds will be.
Scene of the Movie – Base battle.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – We don’t meet the Bond girl till an hour into the film.
Final Thoughts –This is a great start to the Bond franchise, we get to learn Bond’s skills face a villain that has enough menace to be a threat and keep us ready for more.
Overall: Great start to the franchise.
Bob Mann (459 KP) rated Old (2021) in Movies
Jul 28, 2021
Cinematography and Sound Design - very Hitchcockian (1 more)
Concept and initial set-up of the movie
Dafter than the Dharma initiative.
"Old" is the latest from the gloriously inconsistent writer/director M. Night Shyamalan. Will this be great Shyamalan (à la "The Sixth Sense") or dire Shyamalan (à la "The Last Airbender")? The answer, in my view, is somewhere in the middle. It's a curate's egg of a movie.
Positives:
- The premise feels very familiar (desert island beach; time slips; weird things happening.... "Lost" anyone?). But as a shell for a big screen adventure it kept me well-engaged.
- Shyamalan and his "Glass" cinematographer Mike Gioulakis use some novel techniques to portray the ageing effects. The angles they utilize feel quite Hitchcockian at times. Shyamalan supports this with the sound design, which makes this a REALLY good movie to watch in a cinema with good surround sound. Often the camera will be spinning showing nothing but ocean or rocks, with the character's conversation rotating behind you in the cinema. It's really quite effective.
- Shyamalan knows that no visual effects can improve on the horrors your mind can come up with. Although a '15' certificate, the "sustained threat, strong violence and injury detail" referenced by the BBFC pales into insignificance (in terms of what you actually see) compared to the equally rated "Freaky".
- I've seen other reviews comment that the "twist" (no spoilers here) was obvious. But, although not a ground-breaking idea, I was sufficiently satisfied with the denouement. It made sense, albeit twisted sense.
Negatives:
- I enjoyed the movie's leisurely set-up, introducing the characters and the movie's concept. (In many ways, it felt like the start of one of Irwin Allen's disaster movies of the 70's and 80's). But then Shyamalan turns the dial up to 11 and the action becomes increasingly farcical. Add into that the fact that you can see some of the 'jolts' coming a mile off, and the movie becomes progressively more disappointing, with a high ERQ (eye-rolling quotient) by the end.
- In particular, there are inconsistencies to the story that get you asking uncomfortable questions. For example, wounds can heal in the blink of an eye.... but not stab wounds apparently.
- The cast is truly global in nature: Vicky ("Phantom Thread") Krieps hails from Luxembourg; Bernal is Mexican; Sewell is a Brit; Amuka-Bird ("David Copperfield") is Nigerian; Leung is American; Eliza Scanlan is an Aussie; and Thomasin McKenzie (so good in "Jojo Rabbit", and good here too) is a Kiwi. But although it's clearly quite natural that an exotic beach resort would attract guests from all over the world, the combination of accents here makes the whole thing, unfortunately, sound like a dodgy spaghetti western!
Summary Thoughts: 'Time' and 'ageing' have of course been a popular movie topic for many years. I remember being both gripped and horrified by George Pal's wonderful 1960's version of "The Time Machine" when Rod Taylor threw his machine into fast forward and the dead Morlock decomposed in front of his eyes! Ursula Andress did the same as the rapidly ageing Ayesha in 1965's "She". And, more recently and with better effects, Julian Glover did the same in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade".
Unfortunately, "Old" isn't likely to join any of these classic movies in my consciousness. It's a diverting enough movie, with fabulous views of the Dominican Republic (which the local tourist board will no doubt be delighted with). A "less is more" approach might have made this a classic. But unfortunately, that's not what Shyamalan delivered here. Since what we get is a 'Lost-lite' with farcical elements.
And, by the way.... The movie that Charles (Rufus Sewell) refers to starring Jack Nicholson and Marlon Brando is "The Missouri Breaks". It has a very unusual John Williams soundtrack, which I have on vinyl somewhere and is probably worth a few bob!
(For the full graphical review, please check out One Mann's Movies on t'interweb, Facebook and Tiktok. Thanks.)
Positives:
- The premise feels very familiar (desert island beach; time slips; weird things happening.... "Lost" anyone?). But as a shell for a big screen adventure it kept me well-engaged.
- Shyamalan and his "Glass" cinematographer Mike Gioulakis use some novel techniques to portray the ageing effects. The angles they utilize feel quite Hitchcockian at times. Shyamalan supports this with the sound design, which makes this a REALLY good movie to watch in a cinema with good surround sound. Often the camera will be spinning showing nothing but ocean or rocks, with the character's conversation rotating behind you in the cinema. It's really quite effective.
- Shyamalan knows that no visual effects can improve on the horrors your mind can come up with. Although a '15' certificate, the "sustained threat, strong violence and injury detail" referenced by the BBFC pales into insignificance (in terms of what you actually see) compared to the equally rated "Freaky".
- I've seen other reviews comment that the "twist" (no spoilers here) was obvious. But, although not a ground-breaking idea, I was sufficiently satisfied with the denouement. It made sense, albeit twisted sense.
Negatives:
- I enjoyed the movie's leisurely set-up, introducing the characters and the movie's concept. (In many ways, it felt like the start of one of Irwin Allen's disaster movies of the 70's and 80's). But then Shyamalan turns the dial up to 11 and the action becomes increasingly farcical. Add into that the fact that you can see some of the 'jolts' coming a mile off, and the movie becomes progressively more disappointing, with a high ERQ (eye-rolling quotient) by the end.
- In particular, there are inconsistencies to the story that get you asking uncomfortable questions. For example, wounds can heal in the blink of an eye.... but not stab wounds apparently.
- The cast is truly global in nature: Vicky ("Phantom Thread") Krieps hails from Luxembourg; Bernal is Mexican; Sewell is a Brit; Amuka-Bird ("David Copperfield") is Nigerian; Leung is American; Eliza Scanlan is an Aussie; and Thomasin McKenzie (so good in "Jojo Rabbit", and good here too) is a Kiwi. But although it's clearly quite natural that an exotic beach resort would attract guests from all over the world, the combination of accents here makes the whole thing, unfortunately, sound like a dodgy spaghetti western!
Summary Thoughts: 'Time' and 'ageing' have of course been a popular movie topic for many years. I remember being both gripped and horrified by George Pal's wonderful 1960's version of "The Time Machine" when Rod Taylor threw his machine into fast forward and the dead Morlock decomposed in front of his eyes! Ursula Andress did the same as the rapidly ageing Ayesha in 1965's "She". And, more recently and with better effects, Julian Glover did the same in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade".
Unfortunately, "Old" isn't likely to join any of these classic movies in my consciousness. It's a diverting enough movie, with fabulous views of the Dominican Republic (which the local tourist board will no doubt be delighted with). A "less is more" approach might have made this a classic. But unfortunately, that's not what Shyamalan delivered here. Since what we get is a 'Lost-lite' with farcical elements.
And, by the way.... The movie that Charles (Rufus Sewell) refers to starring Jack Nicholson and Marlon Brando is "The Missouri Breaks". It has a very unusual John Williams soundtrack, which I have on vinyl somewhere and is probably worth a few bob!
(For the full graphical review, please check out One Mann's Movies on t'interweb, Facebook and Tiktok. Thanks.)
