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Awix (3310 KP) rated The Manchurian Candidate (1962) in Movies

May 8, 2021  
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
1962 | Classics, Drama, Thriller
9
7.7 (20 Ratings)
Movie Rating Watch
Conspiracy thriller. In the early 1960s, war hero Raymond Shaw is feted across America for saving his comrades during the war in Korea - but those comrades are troubled by strange nightmares suggesting something completely different may have happened. Shaw has been conditioned by the Communists to become the perfect assassin, something not even he is aware of, and his new operators are about to send him into action...

Sounds a bit like a Red Scare movie, but surprisingly apolitical: the main villain seems to be more fascist than communist, and even the Russian characters appear to have corrupted by American consumerism. Instead, the focus is more on character, and the damage done to people by their experiences in wartime. An intelligent and cynical movie, well-played for the most part, and with an astonishingly good turn from Angela Lansbury. Inevitably linked in the culture to the assassinations of the Kennedy brothers in the 1960s, but still feels remarkably un-dated.
  
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Awix (3310 KP) rated Elves (1989) in Movies

Dec 24, 2020  
Elves (1989)
Elves (1989)
1989 | Horror
2
4.5 (4 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Bargain-basement everything-but-the-kitchen-sink horror movie. Three young women accidentally summon up a homicidal elf as part of a conspiracy to take over the world. Features a lengthy scene in which a department-store Santa (Dan Haggerty) engages in a gun battle with neo-Nazi agents, while the young female leads are stalked by a knife-wielding glove puppet. (The film is not nearly as good as it sounds.)

Sort of a slasher movie, sort of a monster movie, but definitely tasteless and tacky schlock by any reasonable metric. It seems to be trying to play the knowingly-ironic card at a few points, but it's simply not accomplished enough to pull that off: it looks cheap, sounds cheap, has long stretches where not much happens, and there's the obligatory badly-edited and confusing climax. Would be virtually unwatchable if not for an heroic performance by Dan Haggerty, who for some reason is taking this fiasco seriously. Nasty, brutish, but not nearly short enough.
  
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Hazel (2934 KP) rated High Country Contract in Books

Aug 26, 2019  
High Country Contract
High Country Contract
Lance Morcan, James Morcan | 2019 | Crime, Thriller
7
8.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
In this quick but engaging read, we are transported to the highlands of the South Island of New Zealand; a beautiful but remote backdrop to this thrilling tale of the hunter unwittingly becoming the hunted.

Once again, I am not disappointed by the writings of Lance and James Morcan; they know how to pull you in and keep you there until the end. I was however disappointed that it wasn't a bit longer ... no sooner had the action began, than it ended which was a shame as I really feel more could have been made of the terrain and the cat and mouse games between the hunter and the hunted. However, it is what it is and it's still a great thriller with interesting and believable characters.

I would recommend anyone read Lance and James' books particularly The Orphan Trilogy which is for lovers of action, espionage, conspiracy theories or just people who enjoy a flippin’ good read ... you won't be disappointed.