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Awix (3310 KP) rated The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961) in Movies
Mar 3, 2018 (Updated Mar 3, 2018)
Weather Forecast says 'Sun Everywhere'
Apocalyptic British SF movie shows how this sort of thing should be done. Nuclear tests shift the Earth on its axis, send it closer to the sun: civilisation struggles to cope with the prospect of looming extinction. Story is told from the point of view of the journalists of the Daily Express (don't laugh, it was a newspaper back in the 60s).
Very similar in its downbeat tone to the Quatermass movies Val Guest had previously made for Hammer - no B-movie this, but a serious, hard-edged naturalistic drama. Personal story of romance between lead journo Edward Judd and met office secretary Janet Munro is woven into the main plot with considerable skill; scenes of devastated London are well-mounted. A bit dated in some of its attitudes, but its concerns with the disastrous effects of climate change and its political cynicism mean it still feels surprisingly relevant today. Much better than any of the Roland Emmerich movies which have arguably ripped it off.
Very similar in its downbeat tone to the Quatermass movies Val Guest had previously made for Hammer - no B-movie this, but a serious, hard-edged naturalistic drama. Personal story of romance between lead journo Edward Judd and met office secretary Janet Munro is woven into the main plot with considerable skill; scenes of devastated London are well-mounted. A bit dated in some of its attitudes, but its concerns with the disastrous effects of climate change and its political cynicism mean it still feels surprisingly relevant today. Much better than any of the Roland Emmerich movies which have arguably ripped it off.
Awix (3310 KP) rated The Quatermass Xperiment (1955) in Movies
Mar 4, 2018 (Updated Mar 4, 2018)
The original Hammer horror movie; the studio did actually know how to spell 'experiment', but the title refers to the 'X' certificate that all self-respecting horror films had at the time this was made. Astronaut comes back from space a changed man; the rest of his crew mysteriously vanished - just what went on out there? Professor Q must figure it out before the mutation afflicting the astronaut reaches its final form.
Actually really, really tame as a horror movie by modern standards, obviously, but also of great historical interest as the birth of a legend in British cinema. One can't help suspecting the TV show was a lot more thoughtful, but this still works pretty well as an SF movie, and an influential one at that, and the juxtaposition of B-movie SF ideas and images with post-war Britain is interesting. Imported American star Brian Donlevy is not very good as Professor Q (original writer Nigel Kneale claimed he was on the sauce all the time); Richard Wordsworth is mesmerising as the doomed astronaut.
Actually really, really tame as a horror movie by modern standards, obviously, but also of great historical interest as the birth of a legend in British cinema. One can't help suspecting the TV show was a lot more thoughtful, but this still works pretty well as an SF movie, and an influential one at that, and the juxtaposition of B-movie SF ideas and images with post-war Britain is interesting. Imported American star Brian Donlevy is not very good as Professor Q (original writer Nigel Kneale claimed he was on the sauce all the time); Richard Wordsworth is mesmerising as the doomed astronaut.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Quatermass and the Pit (1967) in Movies
Feb 13, 2018
The best of the Quatermass films keeps all the unsettling ideas of Nigel Kneale's original TV scripts and adds Hammer's talent for coming up with smart casting and polished production values. Weird projectile turns up buried under London; the authorities initially assume it's an unexploded bomb from the Second World War, but the presence of fossil ape skeletons in and around the object indicates otherwise, as does a history of hauntings in the area going back hundreds of years. Professor Quatermass begins to suspect that this is a relic of a highly unusual alien invasion that happened before man had even evolved...
Pretty much a perfect fusion of horror and science fiction, giving a convincing extraterrestrial rationale for various paranormal and demonic phenomena; thoughtful and disturbing rather than actually scary. Andrew Keir rocks the joint as Professor Q but is well-supported by everyone else. The sequence in which London is transformed in the final reel is also very well done. Sets the standard for intelligent British SF movies; rather influential in its own way, too.
Pretty much a perfect fusion of horror and science fiction, giving a convincing extraterrestrial rationale for various paranormal and demonic phenomena; thoughtful and disturbing rather than actually scary. Andrew Keir rocks the joint as Professor Q but is well-supported by everyone else. The sequence in which London is transformed in the final reel is also very well done. Sets the standard for intelligent British SF movies; rather influential in its own way, too.
Lindsay (1771 KP) rated Journey to Munich (Maisie Dobbs #12) in Books
Feb 15, 2018 (Updated Apr 9, 2019)
What a journey this book takes you on. This book takes you back to WW2 a bit and Nazi time. What will happen to Maisie Dobbs? The story gets even better as you read.
Why is everything a secret? They need to get a British man home from Munch. Will that happen? Maisie got to go to Germany as a family member of the man who being held by Hitler.
Maisie needs to be careful and Also protected. Will she return back home safe or will she be caught?
Jacqueline Winspear has become one of my favorite authors with the first book that I got to review. I will be looking for more of her books. I love to finish off the rest of the books in this series. She captured my attention the min you start reading. It takes a bit before getting to the story of a book. She gives a little background about Maisie Dobbs from the earlier book and continues on in this book.
Why is everything a secret? They need to get a British man home from Munch. Will that happen? Maisie got to go to Germany as a family member of the man who being held by Hitler.
Maisie needs to be careful and Also protected. Will she return back home safe or will she be caught?
Jacqueline Winspear has become one of my favorite authors with the first book that I got to review. I will be looking for more of her books. I love to finish off the rest of the books in this series. She captured my attention the min you start reading. It takes a bit before getting to the story of a book. She gives a little background about Maisie Dobbs from the earlier book and continues on in this book.
Sean Farrell (9 KP) rated Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania in Books
Mar 15, 2018
Erik Larson has done it again. One of our time's finest writers of non-fiction has once more taken a page from our history and turned it into a most compulsively readable book. This time telling the tale of the sinking of the luxury liner Lusitania by the Germans during World War I, the narrative follows everyone from the passengers and crew of the ill-fated ship, to the men on the U-boat that fired the torpedo, to the British and American officials monitoring the situation and making the decisions about how to respond. Mr. Larson provides a stunning amount of detail, enough to make one feel as if they had actually spent time aboard the opulent liner with its travelers, but at no point does it seem as though the details are bogging things down. To the contrary, events move along at a brisk pace as they head towards their tragic end. It is a sad but fascinating tale, handled here with aplomb, in what is sure to wind up on many year-end best lists.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Hammer House of Horror in TV
Mar 15, 2018 (Updated Mar 15, 2018)
Last-gasp attempt by the famous film studio to stay solvent is a fairly decent stab at a horror anthology show, featuring some of Hammer's regular personnel (though not Christopher Lee, as he was in the States at the time).
The fact the show was made for a commercial British network inevitably means the horror content is somewhat constrained, and the low budget means the episodes have a contemporary setting quite unlike the archetypal Hammer films (then again, Amicus House of Horror wouldn't have been as catchy a title). This being an anthology show, the quality and tone of the episodes is inevitably all over the place: some of them are rather subtle and inventive, others are predictable nonsense. Some good performances, though, including many from the before-they-were-famous file - a 27-year-old Pierce Brosnan gets one of his first speaking roles as 'Last Victim' in the Carpathian Eagle episode. As a whole, the series is probably more of a curiosity for Hammer completists than anything else.
The fact the show was made for a commercial British network inevitably means the horror content is somewhat constrained, and the low budget means the episodes have a contemporary setting quite unlike the archetypal Hammer films (then again, Amicus House of Horror wouldn't have been as catchy a title). This being an anthology show, the quality and tone of the episodes is inevitably all over the place: some of them are rather subtle and inventive, others are predictable nonsense. Some good performances, though, including many from the before-they-were-famous file - a 27-year-old Pierce Brosnan gets one of his first speaking roles as 'Last Victim' in the Carpathian Eagle episode. As a whole, the series is probably more of a curiosity for Hammer completists than anything else.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965) in Movies
Feb 24, 2018
Genre-defining British anthology horror film. Five men have their fortunes told on a train; guess what, it doesn't look good for any of them. For instance: Christopher Lee is pursued by a severed hand, Roy Castle unwisely plagiarises voodoo music, Fluff Freeman has to contend with a malevolent vine. Frame story has (in theory) a twist ending; but it's the same one they use in nearly all of these films.
The quality of these anthology horror films is always a bit variable, because the different stories themselves inevitably are; this is a pretty good one because even when the stories are ridiculous and arguably incoherent, they are still told with a sense of humour and don't hang around too long. Extraordinary cast, obviously; the rubber hand chasing Christopher Lee would go on to appear in more films than Fluff Freeman, probably because it was a better actor. When this film is good, it's very good; even when it's not so good, it's still a lot of fun. Much imitated, not least by Amicus themselves, but seldom equalled.
The quality of these anthology horror films is always a bit variable, because the different stories themselves inevitably are; this is a pretty good one because even when the stories are ridiculous and arguably incoherent, they are still told with a sense of humour and don't hang around too long. Extraordinary cast, obviously; the rubber hand chasing Christopher Lee would go on to appear in more films than Fluff Freeman, probably because it was a better actor. When this film is good, it's very good; even when it's not so good, it's still a lot of fun. Much imitated, not least by Amicus themselves, but seldom equalled.
Awix (3310 KP) rated The Asphyx (1972) in Movies
Jun 14, 2018
Early 70s British costume-drama horror movie, so you know roughly what to expect - scientist consumed with hubris decides to play God, learns the hard way he doesn't have the full set of qualifications for the gig. But this is really a rather morbid Victorian melodrama, an impression which is only heightened by how primitive some of the special effects are (the asphyx puppet in particular is a bit of an eye-popper).
At a time when the average Hammer horror was brazenly carnal and exploitative, and Amicus' line of portmanteaus was recycling the same jokey twist endings, The Asphyx takes itself wholly seriously and is positively bleak throughout - the whole movie is about death and despair, and the effects this can have on people. (At one point the plot boils down to a race between two characters to see which one of them can commit suicide first.) The intensity of the telling (good performances from the leads) makes it somewhat mesmerising to watch, even if it's a slightly chilly and unsettling experience.
At a time when the average Hammer horror was brazenly carnal and exploitative, and Amicus' line of portmanteaus was recycling the same jokey twist endings, The Asphyx takes itself wholly seriously and is positively bleak throughout - the whole movie is about death and despair, and the effects this can have on people. (At one point the plot boils down to a race between two characters to see which one of them can commit suicide first.) The intensity of the telling (good performances from the leads) makes it somewhat mesmerising to watch, even if it's a slightly chilly and unsettling experience.
A charming story
A lovely, magical book about a swan that crashes through Mitzi's flat window during a storm, and then at dusk turns into a young woman. This is a reworking of the Swan Princess/ Swan Lake, or rather a 'what would happen if her spell lasted for over 100 years'?
The Princess, Odette, is naive, even though she is over 100 years old (being a swan for half of your time and living in the woods on your own, will do that to a person, I suppose), and adjusting to life in the modern age is quite hard for her. She is adamant that she needs to find a man to love her to break the spell, and Mitzi just wants to protect her and help her where she can.
I really enjoyed this story, which is rich in magical realism. The contrast of old magic and modern British life, made it on the whole quite believable, really!
Many thanks to The Pigeonhole for the chance to read this story on their social platform!
The Princess, Odette, is naive, even though she is over 100 years old (being a swan for half of your time and living in the woods on your own, will do that to a person, I suppose), and adjusting to life in the modern age is quite hard for her. She is adamant that she needs to find a man to love her to break the spell, and Mitzi just wants to protect her and help her where she can.
I really enjoyed this story, which is rich in magical realism. The contrast of old magic and modern British life, made it on the whole quite believable, really!
Many thanks to The Pigeonhole for the chance to read this story on their social platform!
Andy K (10823 KP) rated Threads (1984) in Movies
Jan 12, 2019
Bleak and uncompromising...
I read about this film online and thought it sounded interesting. I had never heard of it but purchased anyways and I was not disappointed.
Maybe some of you British people may remember this film which aired on BBC 2 in 1984 and was basically about what would happen if Britain was caught in the crossfire between the US and USSR and the effects of not only the atomic bombs used, but the torturous unrelenting aftermath. Portions of the 2nd half of the film were reminiscent of scene's from Schindler's List or even a WWII holocaust documentary. The ravages of war make humanity do unspeakable things to each other and this film depicts it all.
The contrast of the "before" and "after" are what are the most striking. How the filmmaker sets a tone at the beginning and then turns everything on its end mid way through. I wasn't entirely sure where it was going or how things would end up; however, I was intrigued throughout.
Watch it if you are able.
Maybe some of you British people may remember this film which aired on BBC 2 in 1984 and was basically about what would happen if Britain was caught in the crossfire between the US and USSR and the effects of not only the atomic bombs used, but the torturous unrelenting aftermath. Portions of the 2nd half of the film were reminiscent of scene's from Schindler's List or even a WWII holocaust documentary. The ravages of war make humanity do unspeakable things to each other and this film depicts it all.
The contrast of the "before" and "after" are what are the most striking. How the filmmaker sets a tone at the beginning and then turns everything on its end mid way through. I wasn't entirely sure where it was going or how things would end up; however, I was intrigued throughout.
Watch it if you are able.