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Swamp Water (1941)
Interesting drama with great hollywood actors and brilliant cinematography shot in Georgia everglades.
The locale of this story in the Okefenokee Swamp in the State of Georgia. Not so many years ago, its seven hundred miles of marsh and cypress were an unknown wilderness to the people who lived around its edges. They knew that its sluggish waters were filled with alligators and that its boggy forests harbored the deadly cotton-mouth snake. They feared these creatures , but much more they feared the unexplored vastness in which a man might disappear, never to be seen again. The Swamp! Sinister - mysterious - it shaped the lives and loves and hates of the people who lived around its edges!! 700 miles of nameless terror! Never has Hollywood made a picture so full of shocking scenes...so tense with thrilling adventure...so bold in its handling of primal human emotions! .Locale of the strangest story the screen has ever told! ...a breeding vastness where a man might hide for years and never be seen-and did! Warning you'll want to turm your face away-but your eyes will be glued to the screen in horrified fascination when you see it !.
Jean Renoir's first job in America for 20th Century Fox shot in the Georgia swamp, quite a rare occurrence for this kind of Hollywood product at the time. A rather sullen affair filmed in Georgia swamp which harbour snakes, alligators, mud and Walter Brennan, a fugitive criminal with whom the hero Andrews becomes strangely and melodramatically involved. As many critics point out, it's a movie with strong John Ford overtones in the casting, the regional subject-matter (post Tobacco Road, and Grapes of wrath) , its storyline by the worthy but wordy Dudley Nichols and along with evocative score by David Buttolph. But John Ford would undoubtedly have punched out the story with more action, more obvious emotion, here Renoir is content to let the scenes lie there moodily, looking a bit drab and unbelievable for all the location shooting.
Main and support cast are pretty good. Dana Andrews is pretty nice as the young Ben in one of his first appearances on the big screen, Anne Baxter as his love interest and Walter Brennan is top-notch as the escaped elderly man who imposes his own law in the Georgia Everglades. And fine support cast with plenty of familiar faces , such as: Virginia Gilmore, John Carradine, Mary Howard, Eugene Pallette, Ward Bond, Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams Guinn, Russell Simpson, Joe Sawyer and Mae Marsh.
Here stands out the stunning cinematography from J. Peverell Marley and Lucien Ballard shot on location in Georgia marshland , showing the lush exteriors and a lot of wildlife that are the peculiar and real protagonists of this nice movie. The actual photography of scenes in the Okefenokee swamp of Georgia was made possible through the cooperation of the Okefenokee national wildlife refuge for which appreciation is hereby expressed. The motion picture was uneven but professionally directed by Jean Renoir in his usual style. He was a great director who made masterpieces , successes and failures. Renoir was voted the 12th greatest director of all time. Furthermore, Orson Welles frequently cited him as the greatest movie director of all time. He was son of the famous impressionist painter Auguste Renoir. After his French classics (Rules of game 1939, Human beast 38, La Marseillase 36, A day in the country 36, Boudu saved from drowning 32), he was brought to USA by American producers, directing awesome films in Hollywood (Woman on the beach 1947 , The diary of a chambermaid 46, The land is mine 43, Swamp water 1941) and 'The Southerner' (1945) gave him more pleasure than any of his other Hollywood work. Later on, he returned to France , going on film-making classic movies (Elusive corporal 1962, Picnic on the grass 59, Testament of Dr Cordelier 59, Golden coach 52, The river 1951). Rating : 6/10. Better than average, well worth watching for Jean Renoir enthusiasts.
The Book of Henry (2017)
An agreeable film including tear-jerker, family feeling, tragic events, and plot twists.
Sometimes things are not always what they seem, especially in the small suburban town where the Carpenter family lives. Single mother Susan Carpenter (Noami Watts) works as a waitress at a diner, alongside feisty family friend Sheila (Sarah Silverman) . Her younger son Henry Carpenter (Jaeden Martell) is a playful 8-year-old. Taking care of everyone and everything in his own unique way is Susan's older son Henry (Jacob Tremblay), age 11. Protector to his adoring younger brother and tireless supporter of his often self-doubting mother - and, through investments, of the family as a whole - Henry blazes through the days like a comet. Susan discovers that the family next door, which includes stepfather Glenn (Dean Norris) and Henry's kind classmate Christina (Maddie Ziegler) , has a dangerous secret - and that Henry has devised a surprising plan to help. As his brainstormed rescue plan for Christina takes shape in thrilling ways, Susan finds herself at the center of it. Never leave things undone !.
A sensitive and enjoyable film with nice acting, though a bit slow, the story results to be some boring. The history blends a strange mixture of silly family comedy, melodrama, realism, suspense, cuteness and terror with uneven results. The film is acceptable and passable and the final half hour elevates it quite a bit. The family plot line is simplistic , though it has some twists and turns, and so various characters are predictable, but it is a good entertainment. Decent interpretations from Noami Watts as the protective and sensitive mother, Jacob Tremblay as the intelligent, wise older son, Jaeden Martell as the naive younger son, Sarah Silverman as the likeable friend, Dean Norris as nasty stepfather, Lee Pace as Doctor Daniels and special mention for Maddie Ziegler as the charming dancer at her big screen debut.
It packs a colorful and brilliant cinematography by cameraman John Schwartzman, as well as vibrant and rousing musical score by Michael Giacchino, both of whom are Colin Trevorrow's regulars .The picture was professionally written and directed by filmmaker Colin Trevorrow and shot in 36 days . Trevorrow is a fine craftsman , he wrote and directed "Home Base" that became one of the early viral successes on the internet. His first feature film was the succesful "Safety Not Guaranteed" and following Jurassic World (2015) this quickly became one of the largest grossing in the year because it gives audiences exactamente what they want , only more so and following this The Book of Henry (2017). Rating : 6/10. Acceptable and attractive but no notable film.
Rumble Fish (1983)
Pretty good Francis Ford Coppola flick, today considered to be a Cult movie that had a big hit.
Ambitious and experimental film with an atmospherical musical score and a luxury cinematography in black and white. Melodramatic and enjoyable Francis Ford Coppola movie with amazing cast, most of them made great career. It deals with Rusty James (Matt Dillon), he is the leader of a small, dying gang in an industrial town, he workships his gang-leading older brother, the only role model he's known. As Rusty lives in the shadow of the memory of his absent, older brother, The Motorcycle Boy (Mickey Rourke). Rusty wants to revive the spirit of the old youth gangs, following in the footsteps of his idolized older brother who was once the leader of one of them and who carries a legendary aura and a reputation as a rebel and untouchable. His mother has left, his father (Dennis Hooper) drinks, his relationships are shallow, school has no meaning for him, except for his student girlfriend (Diane Lane). From fight to fight, Rusty longs for the return of his brother who is coming back from California, and there are still city walls that say: 'Motorcycle Boy Kings'. When the missed brother returns home, the two go through a series of experiences and the older brother teaches him things about life and longs for the days of gang warfare. The Motorcycle Boy's Never Coming Back !. Rusty James can't live up to his brother's reputation !. His brother can't live it down !. No leader can survive becoming a legend !.
Crafted by Coppola into an important story of growing up on the wrong side of time. Stars Matt Dillon as absent-minded street thug Rusty James who struggles to live up to his legendary older brother's reputation, finely played by Mickey Rourke, and exploring especially the relation between them. Acting naturally from the wrong side of the tracks and concerning their rebel conflicts with the traditional society and each other. A cult and nostalgic movie with a lot of newcomer stars to have many of them a long and successful cinematic career, including the following: Vincent Spano, Nicolas Cage, Christopher Penn, Laurence Fishburne, Diane Lane and, of course , the two starring: Matt Dillon and Mickey Rourke who thanks to this film he ultimately achieved stardom. All of them made great prolific career strides , not even Francis Ford could have afforded such luxurious number of stars a decade after. They are accompanoed by other nice veterans, such as: Dennis Hopper, Tracey Walter, Diana Scarwid and Tom Waits. There are continuous drama and Coppola gets some stirring, exciting moments towards the ending.
A nice film for youth , including drama , agreeable relationships, sensibility and a large number of fiights and confrontations among bands tending to fall foul of the law . Based on the popular S. E. Hinton novel and Francis Ford Coppola himself, they adapted another Hinton book the same year : ¨The Outsiders¨ (original title) with Thomas Howell, Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, Tom Cruise, Diane Lane, and being followed by a TV series.
It packs a good and sensitive soundtrack by Stewart Copeland. As well as evocative cinematography by Stephen H. Burum with plenty of brilliant and glamorous photography in black and white, exception for the rumble fish in significant colour. The film was compellingly made by one of the best filmmakers , Francis Ford Coppola . This director has made great films as "The Conversation", "Apocalypse Now" , "Outsiders" , "Gardens of Stone", "The Godfather" saga and of course this "Rumble Fish"that is deemed to be one of the best ones . Although overdone , and excesively melodramatic but adolescents still love very much this exciting yarn. A cult above average movie for fans of the various new stars that participated in this Coppola masterpiece. Essential and fundamental watching for Francis Ford Coppola enthusiasts and completists. Rating: 7.5/10. Better than average.
The 15:17 to Paris (2018)
Based on true events about three courageous young Americans traveling through Europe who face off a terrorist attack.
Three courageous young Americans : Alek Skarlatos, Anthony Sadler, Spencer Stone prevent a terrorist attack on a train bound for Paris. There are flashbacks in which Anthony Sadler remembers his childhood friendship with Spencer Stone and Alek Skarlatos. From infancy, the three become friends. Spencer and Alek are from single mother homes, and their mothers often stick up for them when called to the principal's office regarding their misconduct. While working part-time at a smoothie shop, Spencer waits on a recruiter for the United States Marine Corps. These three young American men were on vacation throughout Europe, visiting various countries, and when they were on the high-speed train on the afternoon of August 21, 2015, all the passengers were attacked by a terrorist. A true story. The real heroes. In the face of fear ordinary people can do the extraordinary !. The true story of a terrorist, a train, and three friends who became heroes !. An incredible true story portrayed by the actual heroes who lived it !.
Clint Eastwood directs this film that tells the true story from their childhood, of the three young heroes who in 2015 managed to stop a terrorist attack against the Thalys train that covered the Amsterdam-Paris route. The film also tells the series of supposedly real events that preceded the attack. Clint Eastwood, whose previous film Sully (2016) revolved around another flesh-and-blood hero, states thre following: "Making films about anonymous everyday heroes has not been a conscious decision. I tell the stories that come to my knowledge and interest me. Some feats are exceptional and beneficial to society, and it is nice to be able to tell them¨. The film stars are the story's own protagonists: Anthony Sadler, former Oregon National Guard, Alek Skarlatos and former aviation corporal Spencer Stone. They are also the authors - along with Jeffrey E. Ster - of the autobiographical book: ¨ The 15:17 to Paris: The true story of a terrorist, a train, and three American heroes¨ on which the script is based. Along with the three starring, the cast is completed by some well-known faces from television and cinema such as: Judy Greer, Jenna Fischer , P. J. Byrne, Irene White, Thomas Lennon, Tony Hale and Jaleel White.
The motion picturemade in semi-documentary style was professionally directed by Clint Eastwood , though it's nothing special, it has some flaws and shortcomings Clint Eastwood was in a nice period in which he often used to play to direct competent thrillers during the 70s and 80s , such as : ¨The Gauntlet , Dirty Harry , Magnum Force , Sudden impact , The Black Pool , City Heat , Escape from Alcatraz , Thundelbolt and Lightfoot , Pink Cadillac , Firefox¨ , among others. . Clint Eastwood played and directed good Westerns as ¨High Plains Drifter¨, ¨The outlaw Josey Wales¨ , ¨Bronco Billy¨, ¨Pale Rider¨ and ¨Unforgiven¨ . These films along with the filmed in the 2000s as ¨Invictus ¨ , " Changeling" , ¨ Million dollars baby ¨, ¨Mystic river ¨, ¨Gran Torino¨; make that the dramatic force of this great director turns outs to be impressive . Rating : 6/10 . The flick will appeal to the completists of Clint Eastwood's long career as a director.
Vikingdom (2013)
Spectacular Norse Opera dealing with a group of Vikings who face off the god Thor.
Action, adventure and fights about a band of Vikings crossing seas and dangerous kingdoms. Viking adventure full of noisy action, thrills, chills, visceral violence, sword-play and impressive battles. From the mists of time comes the clanging of steel against steel, a collision of myth and history: 'Vikingdom'. Eirick (Dominick Purcell) is a Viking Prince with real fighting skills, who was tasked with the impossible odds to defeat Thor (Conan Stevens) , the God of Thunder. Eirick is accompanied by a motley group of warriors: Sven (Craig Fairbrass), Brynn (Natassia Malthe), Yang (Jon Foo), Frey (Jesse Moss), then a panicked race begins. Meanwhile, Thor is on a mission to gather the key ancient relics - "Mjolnir" - his hammer from Valhalla, "Necklace of Mary Magdalene" from Mitgard and the "Horn" from Helheim. Along the way, our protagonists are relentlessly pursued by an army of local warriors commanded by god Thor who will stop at nothing to kill them. The losers will pay with their lives. There's no time to bleed. In exile a hero will rise.
Fairly elaborate Viking adventure but without historical perspective, packing bloody action, emotion, drama, brief romance and overwhelming battles . Based on viking histories and the epic poems they left as record, Vikingdom is an adventure in the style of '300'. Being loosely based on Viking legends, combined with a creative, epic and imaginative interpretation . "Vikingdom" is a fantasy, action adventure about a forgotten king and in spite of the frozen environment this film was 100% shot in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, a tropical country.
Mediocrely-done in comic-book level costume adventure with non-stop action from start to finish, resulting to be entertaining enough. It contains unstoppable action with merciless fights and chases with no rest, in which the small bunch of Vikings undertaking a risked mission, in which they are betrayed, attacked, assaulted, besieged and ultimately, the indispensable and breathtaking confrontation between Erick and Thor. The flick being played by an acceptable B-cast of familiar actors, such as: Dominic Purcell, Natassia Malthe, Craig Fairbrass, Jon Foo, Conan Stevens, Jess Moss . The motion picture was regular but professionally directed by Yusry Abd Halim, shooting in stereoscopic 3D, with elaborately impressive visual effects and astounding battle sequences.
This basic epic costumer belongs to Viking subgenre that was especially successful in the Sixties , there are various films, such as : the classic ¨The Vikings¨ 1958 with Kirk Douglas , Tony Curtis , Janet Leigh . ¨The long Ships¨ 1964 by Jack Cardiff with Richard Widmark , Sidney Poitier . ¨The Last of the Vikings¨ 1961 by Mario Bava with Edmund Purdom, George Ardisson . ¨Knives of the Avenger¨ 1966 by Mario Bava with Cameron Mitchell , Fausto Tozzi . ¨The Viking Queen¨ 1966 by Don Chaffey with Don Murray , Andrew Keir. ¨The Norsemen¨ 1978 by Charles B Pierce with Cornel Wilde , Mel Ferrer. ¨The Viking Sagas¨ 1995 by Michael Chapman with Ralph Moeller , Steve Ole Thorsen. ¨The 13th Warrior¨ 1999 by John McTiernan with Antonio Banderas , Diane Venora, Tony Curran, Omar Shariff. ¨Northmen¨ (2014) by Claudio Fah with Tom Hopper, James Norton, Ken Dunken, Ed Skrein, Anatole Taubman, Charlie Murphy. And, of course, the successful ¨Vikings series¨ (2013-2020) created by Michael Hirst with Travis Fimmel, Clive Standen, Katheryn Winnick, Gustaf Skarsgård, Alexander Ludwig, among others .
Los futbolísimos (2018)
Mediocre children's movie about the members of a soccer school team must to solve why some referees fell asleep.
This is an nice, agreeable but unven comedy starred by a varied group of kiddies; it packs emotion, amusement , romance, slapstick , comical situations , tongue-in-cheek , including conventional pitfalls and many other things. Paco (alias Pakete -Package- because of his penchant for failing penalties) is 11 years old and plays for the Sotoalto Futbol Club ,and in it, among others, Pakete, Camuñas, Angustias, Helena and Toni play. They all have a fundamental mission: win the next two games to prevent the association of mothers and fathers of students from closing the club. If they go down to second, the team is finished. Pakete lives in a town where nothing ever happens... until now. Looking for evidences to prove their suspects and investigating too the referee Gordillo believing that he's part of the conspiracy, Pakete and his friends will live an adventure full of fun where friendship and family will be the most important prize to win. Them the footballers have to find out why some referees fall sleep in the last games.
Laughter, adventure, mystery and soccer in this comedy aimed at an infallible and familiar audience and based on the book "The ¨Mystery of the Sleeping Referees", the first installment of the successful collection of novels by Roberto Santiago, who also turns up in a brief role, he is also the co-author of the screenplay on which the film is based. There are some funny scenes but they are padded by so much extraneously and strenuously narrative confusion. There are some nice jokes in the film and the cast makes a cosy fit , but also contains a lot of flaws and gaps . There's adventure and brief mystery with our little friends looking for evidences to prove their suspects and investigating too the suspect referees, believing there's a conspiracy. Pakete and his friends will live an adventure full of fun where friendship and family will be the most important prize to win. Miguel Angel Lamata, director and co-author of the script, says about it: "it brings together everything wonderful about the universe created by Roberto Santiago, our beloved childhood and adolescence, both what we live and what we dream of. Young people will dream, along with the protagonists, of adventure, mystery, comedy, and even romance. Thus, adults will simply dream of the children we once were, and perhaps we should never stop being¨. The starring children are mostly unknown, while adults are played by familar faces, giving sympathetic interpretations, such as: Joaquín Reyes, Carmen Ruiz, Antonio Pagudo, Norma Ruiz, Toni Acosta, William Miller.
Writer Roberto Santiago is an expert on comedies and he also made previously other soccer comedy, El penalty mas largo del mundo. He has made acceptable films as ¨El Club De los Suicidas¨, ¨Al final Del Camino¨ , ¨La cosecha¨, ¨Solo para dos¨, ¨El sueño de Iván¨ and ¨Hombres Felices¨. Many of them starred by his fetish actor Fernando Tejero who appears uncredited en ¨Los ¨Futbolísimos¨. The motion picture was averagely directed by Miguel Angel La Mata who firstly shot : ¨Una De Zombies¨ ; and after that : ¨Tensión Sexual no Resuelta¨ and ¨Isi & Disi, Alto Voltaje¨ and ¨Nuestros Amantes¨ . Neither the filmmaker nor his screen-writer have a solid grasp of either filmmaking nor scriptwriting , which are two fatal mangles to have if one wants to attempt a biggest budget . Rating: 4.5/10.
High Crimes (2002)
A typical courtroom thriller with drama, intrigue, and plot twists.
Claire Kubik (Ashley Judd) is happily married to her husband, Tom Kubik (Jim Calviezel). The movie opens with her having sex and becoming pregnant. Then Claire gets a big surprise wher her contractor husband is suddenly arrested by the FBI and sent to a military prison. Turns out Tom, then known as Ron Chapman, was in an elite Marine special unit and is accused of a 1998 civilian massacre in El Salvador. She decides to defend him in military court and find out the truth about what happened. Claire puts her career on hold to defend him against trumped-up charges of orchestrating a civilian massacre while on covert operations .She looks to recovering alcoholic and ex-JAG lawyer Grimes (Morgan Freeman) for assistance but sinister plots are afoot. Tom Kubik claims another member of the platoon named Hernandez shot the civilians in a fit of rage and convinced the rest of the platoon to lie and say he did it. Everything you trust !. Everything you know !. May be a lie...
A thriller with suspense, surprises, violence, twists and turns, being based on the 1998 novel by Joseph Finder. Military coutroom thriller is average but does have Morgan Freeeman, who's always worth watching, that's why he steals the show. He's reteamed with ¨Kiss the girls¨ co-star Ashley Judd who plays spunky California attorney at law who sets out to prove her fella has been made fall-guy for a political cover-up and while James Cazievel is her contractor hubby Tom. Weird though, how the pert, capable but unprepossessing, Ashley Judd has picked up classic actresses' mantle, playing endless variations on a gutsy, determined resourceful woman with dubious taste in men. They're well accompanied by a nice secondary cast with plenty of familar faces, such as: Adam Scott, Amanda Peet, Bruce Davison, Tom Bower, Michael Gaston , Jude Ciccolella, Emilio Rivera, Michael Shannon, John Billingsley, among others. It is a blandly anonymous coutroom potboiler which attempt to squeeze an ounce of credibility from some vaguely liberal sentiments. There's not much here we haven't seen a hundred times before.
Adding a suspenseful, intriguing musical score by composer Graeme Revell. As well as an adequate and atmospheric cinematography by cameraman Theo van de Sande. The film was profesionally made by Carl Franklyn, but nothing special, It's quite watchable, and utterly predictable. Carl is a fine craftsman who made his mark with ¨One false move¨ followed it up with the well reviewed¨ Devil in a blue dress¨ and the underrated weepie ¨One true thing¨; in addition, directing various TV episodes of famous series: ¨Rome, House of Cards, The Pacific, Homeland, Falling Skies, The affair, Ray Donovan, chance, 13 Reasons Why, Leftovers¨. High Crimes (2002) rating: 6/10. The flick will appeal to Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd fans
.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016)
Breathtaking and fantastic movie that speculates about an amazing premise: Zombies along with Jane Austen.
At the beginning of the 19th century, along with the silks and spices of the colonies, an abominable and virulent plague arrived in Britain that caused in the infected an insatiable hunger for human brains. Millions of them perished and returned to life as hungry and bloody zombies. Today, almost a century later, the last battle between the living and the dead is still to be fought, and the Bennet sisters will not miss the event. As the Bennet sisters-Elizabeth (Lily James), Jane (Bella Heathcote), Kitty (Suki Waterhouse), Lydia (Ellie Bamber), and Mary (Millie Brady) have all been trained in the art of weaponry. Mrs. Bennet (Charles Dance) and Mrs. Bennet's (Sally Phillips) only want to see her daughters married off to wealthy suitors. Meanwhile, the Bennets attend a country dance also attended by newcomers Colonel Darcy (Sam Riley), his good friend the amiable Charles Bingley (Douglas Booth). "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains." - Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith. Bloody lovely !. For future , for love, for family, everyone must fight !. Slay with pride. Kill with prejudice. To survive 19th century England, they'll need beauty, wealth and a killer instinct !.
Action, horror, gore, bone-chilling scenes, romantic cinema and a certain amount of black humor come together in this free adaptation of the best seller by Seth Grahame-Smith. The latter is an author from whom other novels had previously been adapted, such as Abraham Lincoln, vampirehunter. This exciting movie was well written and directed by Burr Steers; displaying romance, unstopped action, thrills , spectacular fighting , graphic violence, and being pretty entertaining. Packs large amount of struggles , guts and gore , there's a huge body count, this one actually knocks off an immense amount, several humans and zombies are beheaded, or staked bloodily in the chest, or people bitten in their necks even more impaled with large weapons. There's really savage decapitation , plenty of bodies ripped in scraps and half, including some of the most tears ever, that spill lots of guts and blood .
Seth Grahame-Smith 's Quirk Books novel, in turn, gave a twist to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, setting the action of this nineteenth-century novel in a world infested with the living dead. Thus, the independent, insightful and stubborn Elizabeth Bennett bnicely played by Lily James, ecomes here a radiant heroine, master of weapons and martial arts and trained in China along with her also exceptional sisters. The protagonists give decent performances, actors were trained heavily to be able to do a lot of his own stunt work, such as: Sam Riley as the expert zombie hunter Colonel Darcy, Jack Huston as Lieutenant George Wicham, and Bella Heathcote as Jane Bennet. Along with them, Charles Dance plays the father of the beautiful Bennet sisters, Matt Smith as suitor reverend Parson Collins and Lena Headley plays the implacable Lady Catherine de Bourgh.
It contains tense and atmospheric musical score by composer Fernando Velázquez. As well as colorful and brilliant cinematography by Remi Adefarasin . Spectacular production design and art design from David Warren, Noami More, Steve Carter. The motion picture was professionally made by Burr Steers (17 again, L, Igby Goes Do, Big Love, The New Normal, Weeds, Chapelwaite, Charlie St. Cloud) , though with no originality, because takes parts of other Zombie movies and Jane Austin novel. Rating: 6/10. The film will appeal to terror and romance genre fans.
And Then There Were None (2015)
A good adaptation with a renowned British cast, based on Agatha Christie's darkest thriller
The year is 1939. As the world teeters on the brink of war, ten strangers. After receiving a strange secret invitation, they end up living together on Soldier Island, a deserted island off the coast of Devon. Agatha Christie tale of 10 people invited to an isolated place, cut off from the mainland, with their generous hosts Mr and Mrs U. N. Owen mysteriously absent. Guests hovering around mouthing chunks of exposition while waiting to get murdered. The guests discuss and argue each other , only to find that an unseen person is killing them one by one .The film will pause and on the screen you will see clues to help you decide who the murderer is...but the person in suspect is always the person who is murdered next . There is no way for any of them to flee , so they set about attempting to determine who their hidden host might be and where he might be hiding. Isolated from the rest of the world, with mysteriously accepting hosts, the guests are accused of terrible murders. At the end of dinner, the guests' crimes are announced by a perfectly programmed gramophone. There they realize the true reason for their presence on that abandoned island. As the sun rises and sets over the island, the number of victims will continue to increase. The guests of the mansion realize that the murders have a lot to do with the lyrics of a children's song: 10 Little Soldiers. And are they going to be annihilated one by one?. But where is the murderer hiding? . ? Could it be true that there is a murderer among them?. We dare you to guess !! 10 Trapped in a House of Terror! . Just before the gripping climax of the film , you will be given time to guess the killer's identity!
Based on a novel and subsequent stage play by Agatha Christie about a unseen killer who sequentially knocks off the visitors, being the most faithful English-language adaptation of Agatha Christie's novel. Whodunit in which have been invited ten people who are strangers to each other , when they are all gathered, they hear from their host that each one of them has in someway caused the death of an innocent person and that justice had not be served in their cases , the guests are being killed off one by one, the survivors realize that one of them is a killer and start to turn on each other. It appears has come to light that much of Agatha Christie's plot to have been inspired by a little known 1930 play by Owen Davis titled "The Ninth Guest", which utilized the same framework of people being brought together by an unknown host who proceeds to kill them one by one. Columbia Pictures' atmospheric movie version, The Ninth Guest (1934), was filmed in 1934. The original script was faithful to the original Agatha Christie novel with the setting on an island. The choral cast is excellent giving nce interpretation, including the following mostly British actors: Maeve Dermody, Charles Dance, Toby Stephens, Burn Gorman, Aidan Turner, Sam Neill, Noah Taylor, Miranda Richardson, Douglas Booth, among others. This mini-series formed by three episodes works thanks to its attractive cast with a high number of well-known British leading actors and was professionally directed by Craig Viveiros . Craig is a good TV craftsman who has directed various episodes and series , such as : Rillington place , And ten there were none , The watch, X company, Endeavour, Silent witness, War of the worlds, Tin Star, among others. Rating : 7/10 .
This is one of the uncountable versions based on Agatha Christie famous novel . The best version (1945) resulted to be the classic by Rene Clair with Barry Fitzgerard , Roland Young , June Duprez , Mischa Auer , C Aubrey Smith , Judith Anderson and Richard Haydn ; furthermore , 1965 version set in Austrian Alps by George Pollock with Hugh O'Brian as Hugh Lombard , Shirley Eaton as Ann Clyde , Fabian as Mike Raven , Leo Genn as General Mandrake as Stanley Holloway as William Blore , Wilfrid Hyde-White as Judge Cannon and Daliah Lavi as Ilona Bergen . And 1974 rendition set in remote Iran by Peter Collinson with Charles Aznavour , Maria Rohm , Adolfo Celi , ElKe Sommer , Stephane Audran , Alberto De Martino , Richard Attenborough and Herbert Lom . Ten Little Indians (1989) by Alan Birkinshaw with Brenda Vaccaro, Donald Pleasence, Herbert Lom, Sarah Maur, Warren Berlinger, Yehuda Efroni, Paul Smith .
The Perfect Storm (2000)
Spectacular and engrossing film with handsome casting and state-of-art special effects.
In the Fall of 1991, the "Andrea Gail" left Gloucester, Mass. And headed for the fishing grounds of the North Atlantic. Desperate for money, captain Billy Tyne (George Clooney), convinces the crew (Mark Wahlberg, John C. Reilly, William Fichtner, John Hawkes, Allen Payne) to join him for one more late season fishing expedition. They head out past their usual fishing grounds,leaving a developing thunderstorm,behind them. So an unusually intense storm pattern catches some commercial fishermen unaware and puts them in mortal danger. Two weeks later, an event took place that had never occurred in recorded history. Feel Its Fury !The storm is coming !. No one was prepared for this storm !. There's only love Christina, only love !.
Based on the true story of the Andrea Gail, a swordfishing boat lost at sea in 1991 during a freak storm of the coast of Newfoundland , one of the biggest storms of the century. Film briefly sets up the backgrounds of six courageous men who will be the captain and crew on the tragic voyage, but not even George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg can compete with the watery FX and it turns into a stereotypical disaster flick. Director Wolfgang Peterson is becoming a master in building tension in confined places and puts his strong cast to good use. Most scenes are unbelievable and really spectacular with a few hollywood exceptions, and it clearly pays tribute to the valuable fishermen who risk their lives to support themselves and their families. Outstanding main cast giving splendid acting, George Clooney may be too intuitively smarmy to play your straight-ahead skipper, but the authentically grizzled beard helps and Mark Whalberg plays in his usual style, and Petersen loads the boat with plausible workman types. Support cast is frankly excellent with plenty of familiar faces, such as: John C. Reilly, Diane Lane, William Fichtner, John Hawkes, Allen Payne, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Karen Allen, Cherry Jones, Bob Gunton, Christopher McDonald, Michael Ironside, Rusty Schwimmer, among others.
It contains terrific and pulsing musical score by the great James Horner that is one of the main assets of the film . Colorful and appropriate cinematography by John Seale . The motion picture was well directed by Wolfgang Petersen, from casting to scripting the movie was notable and our director made a good job. Wolfgang first big hit was ¨Das Boot¨ , following ¨The NeverEnding Story¨, and going on Hollywood productions as ¨Shattered¨ , ¨Enemy mine¨ . And a series of disaster genre movies as ¨Outbreak¨(1995) about the outbreak of a killer virus. This film had shades of an Irwin Allen disaster movie, The Swarm (1978), about the outbreak of killer bees. Both films had the military and scientists clash, also both had choppers all over the place. Then came this ¨Air Force One¨ (1997), about terrorists taking over the presidents plane, this film had shades of a 1970s Airport disaster film . ¨The Perfect Storm¨ (2000) came next, and while the script about a boat at sea in a storm was okay, the constant fake looking computer generated sea water damaged partially the film. And then came ¨Poseidon¨ (2006) that was Petersen's worst action/disaster movie by a long way, dealing with a passenger ship turning over at sea. Outbreak just hinted at being an Irwin Allen remake , but with Poseidon Petersen failed at boxoffice , it was now official this was a remake of Allen's The Poseidon Adventure . Rating The Perfect Storm : 7/10 . Better than average . Well worth watching . The flick will appeal to George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg fans .
El correo (2024)
Daniel Calparsoro directs this frenetic thriller with small touches of black comedy
Well set in the early 2000s during the culture of the "Pelotazo" and the arrival of the Euro. The motion picture was professionally directed by veteran director Daniel Calparsoro, though It has a few flaws , certain confusion , and some gaps. It is a realistic portrait of the Marbella of real estate speculation, a time marked by corruption and excess: sex, drugs and above all a lot of ambition. The film spans from 2001 to 2011, following various years, not including flashbacks, about a hustler called Iván (Arón Piper), telling his rise to the top of the corruption that surrounded the real estate bubble after the arrival of the euro in Spain. Year 2002, Iván is an ambitious kid from Vallecas who has outgrown his neighborhood. From his position as a valet at a luxurious golf club in the capital, he will soon take his first big step: becoming a Belgian courier for an international organization dedicated to money laundering. Iván will begin to transport briefcases to Brussels and Geneva. But Iván cannot stop looking higher. Real black money flows on the Costa del Sol, Marbella, there he contacts a powerful money cleaner (Luis Tosar). Working as a courier Iván begins a race against clock attempting to get more and more money. José Luis Ocaña (José Manuel Poga) is a Spanish politician whose wealthy life is based on corrupt issues, then Iván threatens to communicate his sexual encounters to the media and exposes him to the public eye . Construction businessmen, corrupt politicians, bankers, athletes, the Chinese mafia... Iván wants his piece of the pie. Iván will stop at nothing to get his purports.
Fast and energetic thriller with a social background and entertaining enough. This is another product with a pristine appearance, cosmopolitan style and a lot of energy from Daniel Calparsoro, although without complexity or reflection. The main plot deals with a ambitous youngsters, corrupt politicians and their dark business. Moving thriller filled with nail-biting action , lush cars , beautiful girls and swiftly paced , though plenty of clichés. A different, twisted and interesting film with a lot of incidents until it ends. Resulting to be commentary on Spanish society dressed as a thriller about the adventures and misfortunes of a band of young petty criminals all of them specialists to make fast couriers and flee before the police appear in the scene. Nice and fun film though excessively moving by means of a camera over shoulder. The plot and characters boast an overload of clichés, but its frantic and nervous pace, in the Quentin Tarantino way, makes the story attractive, which never bores. Acceptable film but not notable, because it lets itself be carried away by excessive bad taste, swearings, bad language, strong sexual scenes, including the disgusting scenes with which one wants to denounce a politician. In addition, it sins from what it wants to denounce, thus the same film that accuses the public of this state is profusely financed by public organizations, Ayuntamientos (town hall) , RTVE, and Movistar, which is also partially state-financed. A film of this type should only be financed by private entities and not by public ones, otherwise it may also incur corruption. Arón Piper gives an adequate acting as a kid from Vallecas, but the neighborhood has become too small for him, so he decides to use his job as a valet at a luxurious golf club in Madrid to enter the most lucrative business of the moment: money laundering. Arón Piper's character is not for real, but a mix of different real-life roles. Co-stars Maria Pedraza,she is beautiful but wasted in a minor role. Luís Tosar is a pretty good actor who always provides fine interpretation, but he uses to play similar characters and his performances bear remarkable resemblance. José Luís Poga gives a very fine acting as the nefarious , corrupt , crooked politician getting money by any illegal way. And Luis Zahera is terrific, as always, as Comisario Roig.
It packs colorful and appropriate cinematography by cameraman Tommie Ferreras who provides a brilliant and luxurious environment. And including an electrifying soundtrack by Carlos Jean This is another decently realized film with competent shooting , though the story eventually run out of gas . It was well made by Calparsoro in similar vein to his previous films as ¨Invasor¨ or ¨Combustión¨ , other acceptable thrillers with lots of action . His best film was ¨Warriors¨ or ¨Guerreros¨ , a warlike film brilliantly made by Daniel and dealing with ¨Kosovo¨ war . Daniel was raised in Donostia , that's why most films are set in Basque country . Daniel uses to work with his spouses , as his first wife , Najawa Nimri composes his scores and played in Salto a Vacio , Pasajes , Asfalto , A Ciegas ; and his second one , Patricia Vico , performed in La Ira, and others . Calparsoro is an expert on action and violent dramas . Daniel has a long career as filmmaker from his beginning with Basque films as ¨Pasajes¨, ¨Salto al vacio¨, ¨A ciegas¨ , ¨Ausentes¨ ; subsequently making thrillers as ¨Asfalto¨ , ¨Guerreros¨ , ¨Invasor¨ , and the successful ¨Combustion¨ , ¨La advertencia¨ , and ¨Cien años de perdon¨ , the Sci-Fi ¨El Aviso¨and the suspenseful thriller ¨El silencio de la ciudad blanca¨. He also directed TV series as ¨Inocentes¨, ¨La ira¨, ¨El castigo¨ , ¨Apaches¨. Rating 4.5/10 . A passable but uneven yarn with several flaws and shortcomings. The flick will appeal to adrenaline lovers and those young people looking for strong emotions. This is the kind of film in which the action and thriller enthusiasts will enjoy immensely.
Mercy (2023)
A doctor and former military officer faces off a ruthless gang in this high-voltage action thriller
Nail-biting action movie about a hospital under siege of a dangerous and sadist Irish band. Two years ago, Dr. Miller's (Leah Gibson) husband died before her eyes on the Afghan front. Now she works in the emergency management department at Mercy Hospital and the days of war are behind her , and she lives with her son Bobby (Anthony Bolognese). However, everything changes the day an FBI witness is admitted injured to the hospital. The witness is Ryan Quinn (Anthony Konechny), the brother of Sean Quinn (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) and the son of Patrick "Paddy" Quinn (Jon Voight), whose family is the member of the Irish mob called the Quinn Gang Brotherhood responsible for committing series of crimes in the United States. The FBI wants Ryan to testify against Sean and Paddy, but he refuses and says that his family runs a clean operation. The FBI knows that Paddy has picked Ryan to run the enterprise, bypassing Sean, and they have also leaked that Ryan has cooperated with the agency. And this place ends up becoming the battlefield of the Irish mafia. Soon after, the doctor learns the kidnap, and she contends the villain intruder people. But terrorists will resort at whatever means to get their purports. Dr. Miller's skills are the only ones that can save this dangerous situation."The wrong woman in the wrong place at the wrong time".
A thrilling, intriguing and violent film in which FBI, the Irish mafia, a former military doctor in the Afghan war and a bunch of innocent people find themselves inside a hospital when it becomes a real battlefield, so our starring is forced to rely upon her battle-hardened past and lethal skills after realizing there's no one left to save the day but her. The film is passable but it has nothing special, it is full of situations that we have seen many times before and much better. This action and revenge thriller stars the 1979 Best Actor Oscar winner, John Voight (Midnight Cowboy, The Odessa file), and Jonathan Rhys (Mission Impossible 3, Match Point), but the real protagonist is Leah Miller who's pretty well as the resourceful doctor and former military officer finds herself in a deadly battle for survival when the Irish mob takes control of the hospital where she works and her son is taken hostage. As the busty Leah Gibson gives an enjoyable acting as the ex-military officer whose son is taken as hostage by a terrorist group, becoming an one-woman army fighting desperately to stay alive and save the kidnapped people.
This B-movie was regularly but professionally made by filmmaker Tony Dean Smith. He is a frequent director of television films (Disappearance in Yellowstone, Aurora Teagarden, The Secret Lives of College Freshmen, Love Under the Rainbow, The killer in the guest house) and occasionally for cinema (Volition, Mercy). Rating: 5/10. The film is only recommended for hardcore lovers of action and fighting movies.
The Life and Deaths of Christopher Lee (2024)
Good biography of the great actor who frequently played imposing, menacing villains and characters from upper class.
Sir Christopher Lee was an iconic actor who defined the role of Dracula. As well as a distinguished actor , known for his immense charisma, imposing stature, beard which he grew in his later years and deeply melodic basso voice, he was also a classically trained singer and an intellectual who was extremely well-read. The star of the Hammer company's horror films of the sixties and the protagonist of a distinguished career that spans the 007, Star Wars and the Lord of the Rings franchises. One of the most prolific actors of all time, of towering height and slender frame, he has acted in nearly 230 films, although he later admitted that his film work was not always chosen on quality but often on whether they could support his family. His peak years of productivity were 1955 and 1970, as Lee starred in nine films in both years. Follows fresh interviews, with notorious directors: Joe Dante, Peter Jackson, John Landis, Paul Maslansky; prestigious actresses: Caroline Munro, Harriet Walter; as well as archival footage, and various animation techniques like marionation to recreate one of the world's leading actors on screen, bringing them back to life through innovative methods. This is the story we know well, but his way could have become the script for a movie full of twists. This documentary will show us his films and the unlikely story of his aristocratic roots. In fact, it seems his family tree extends to the time of Charlemagne and Frederick Barbarossa. And going through his war experiences in the Finnish and British armies and his adventures as a Nazi hunter spy in the post-war period. As he was one of the few people to volunteer to fight on the Finnish side in the Russo-Finnish winter war in 1939-40, though he and his fellow British volunteers were in Finland only for about two weeks and were kept well away from direct combat. He also had some eccentricities, according to his friends, he had a somewhat eccentric hobby: he is fascinated by public executioners and knows the names of every official executioner England has had since the middle of the 15th century.
His first film work was with Terence Young and working for the powerful company Rank. Later on working for Hammer Production with its best fimmaker, Terence Fisher, and achieving great success with The Curse of Frankenstein. In his autobiography, he relates his first meeting with Peter Cushing during production of La maldición de Frankenstein (1957), in which he played the monster. Lee stormed into a dressing room where Cushing was sitting and angrily shouted "I haven't got any lines!". Cushing replied, "You're lucky; I've read the script". He often worked with his off-screen inseparable friend Peter Cushing usually playing deadly enemies on-screen. After Cushing died, Lee said in an interview that he never felt closer and more open to any of his other friends than he felt to Peter. He was originally offered the role of Grand Moff Tarkin in La guerra de las galaxias (1977), which he turned down. The role eventually went to his good friend Peter Cushing. And he appeared in The Wicker Man (1973) for free, Lee named this as his favorite film of his own.
Being a fervent admirer of Tolkien, whose Lord of the Rings, he read every year whom he managed to meet and got the role of his life in the film: Saruman. As a veritable J. R. R. Tolkien expert and the only member of the cast who had met Tolkien himself, he often visited the Production department on the sets of the various Lord of the Rings movies to give advice and tips on the various attributes of the films. He said that his favorite director is Tim Burton, whom he frequently collaborated with on several of Burton's films. And even in the last years of his life he was incredibly the leader of a heavy metal band, singing heavy songs, Charlemagne. And, of course, he was awarded Knight Bachelor of the Order of the British Empire in the 2009 Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to drama and charity.
Hola, ¿estás sola? (1995)
First film by the actress and director Iciar Bollain, which was well received by the critics for its honesty, sincerirty and freshness
"Hello, are you alone?" or Hola, ¿estás sola?(1995) concerns Nina (Silke), a 20-year-old girl from Valladolid who lives with her divorced father, a conservative authoritarian. Trini (Candela Peña) is the same age and has lost her mother. Their families and hometown have nothing to offer It tells their friendship of these two 20-year-old girls with a common past of lack of affection. Together they decide to embark on a trip with the purpose of getting rich. So they go on a risky voyage to the Costa del Sol (Málaga) in southern Spain and stop in Madrid to search for work and independence. After several events, they rent an apartment in Madrid, without furniture. There, they meet Pepe (Álex Angulo), an unemployed, half-bald and mature man, and the handsome Olaf (Arcadi Levin), a young Russian on vacation, with whom they can barely communicate because he does not speak Spanish. Through Pepe, and despite their anger towards each other and vice versa, they are offered the opportunity to open a beach bar on the Costa del Sol. Mariló (Elena Irureta), Niña's mother, is the organizer of all.
An enjoyable and sensitive film contains youth social manners, friendhip, interesting dialogues and brief doses of humor. It is easy to forget the defects in the editing and framing of the aspiring filmmaker, to let yourself be carried away by the freshness of a benevolent look at two young people whose unbreakable friendship is, ultimately, the great strength that will allow them to overcome the emotional deficits of their families. It received numerous awards, including: Goya Award nomination for best new director, award at the San Jordi festival for best first film, Audience award at the Valladolid festival and award for best director and best film at the Peñiscola festival. The plot is fun and simple, a slight story in which friendship, disappointment, and defeat are the main plot. Star two young acresses: Silke and Candela who won the award for best actress at the 1996 Peñiscola Festival, both of whom give sympathetic acting.
The first feature film by Icíar Bollaín, in the casual form of a peculiar female road movie in which attractive characters are torn between the desire to settle down and get out of an unfortunate life. Resulting to be a chronicle of the emancipation and affirmation of two young women faced with their own family pains. In this first feature film we find the freshness and freedom of Spanish youth and a good sense of pace with characters who do not seek to make history, but simply live and have fun . Unlike his later films, Icíar Bollaín does not capture the social conflicts of the great story, nor historical figures, but instead develops female characters who carry their own destiny and where men are not essential since they can disappear from one moment to the next. With style and subtlety, Icíar Bollaín outlines vulnerable and moving characters who advance in the face of danger, among them the discovery of an effervescent Candela Peña in the role of her faithful friend, who continued her collaboration with the filmmaker in subsequent films-
The sobriety of the plot is the main active, dealing with an unforgettable female friendship through the conviction of the actresses' performance and, more specifically, of Candela Peña, who radiates splendidly throughout the film. There's also a number of actors who will continue to develop prosperous film careers just as: Alex Angulo, Elena Irureta, Daniel Guzmán, and today indispensable Antonio de la Torre.
The motion picture was originally directed by Iciar Bollain . She has worked as a leading actress in selected films a ¨The South¨ (1983) by 'Victor Erice', ¨Malaventura¨ (1988) by Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón , ¨Land and Freedom¨ (1995) by Ken Loach, it became an acclaimed audience's and critics' choice ; ¨Leo¨ (2000) by 'Jose Luis Borau' that won the Best Actress nomination Goya Spanish Academy Awards and ¨Nos Miran¨ (2002) . She is a prestigious producer , writing and directing since then both documentaries and fiction films. In 1995, she wrote and directed her feature film debut, ¨Hola, ¿estás Sola?¨ (1995), awarded with Best New Director in Valladolid Festival and was nominated for Best Directorial Debut by the Spanish Film Academy. The film became one of Spain's 1996 box office hits. ¨Flowers from another world¨(1999), was her second feature film and was awarded at Cannes Film Festival 1999, Best Film in the International Critics' Week ; ¨Take my eyes¨, 2003, was her following film as writer and director, winner of 7 Goyas Spanish Academy Awards, including Best Film, among many other international awards. Her next feature film was ¨Mataharis (2007)¨ , subsequently , ¨Katmandu¨ and finally ¨El Olivo¨ at her best . Rating Hola, ¿estás sola?(1995): 6.5/10. Well worth watching.
Annabelle (2014)
Horrifying and tense terror movie about a marriage that is heavily harassed by a bizarre doll.
Supernatural horror with plenty of strange phenomena and creepy events when a terrible doll is awakened. In 1970, John and Mia Gordon (Ward Horton and Annabelle Wallis) are expecting their first child. At church, the couple talks to their neighbors, the Higgins' (Brian Howe and Kerry O'Malley), over baby names. John is obviously nervous and not completely ready for it, even commenting on that to Mia. She is upset by his attitude toward the pregnancy, but he apologizes to her and gives her a doll that she's been trying to find for ages. Mia loves it and puts it with the rest of her dolls. Then unfortunate accidents take place with Annabelle, an evil spirit trapped in a doll .The Next Chapter In The Conjuring Universe ! . You don't know the real story!. Welcome to the home of The Conjuring Universe !. Possess them all ! . Don't go alone !. Before The Conjuring there was Annabelle!. Spilled blood and terror are not all they leave behind!. Determined to keep Annabelle from wreaking more havoc !.
Eerie events in which a marriage starts to experience terrifying supernatural occurrences involving a vintage doll and other ghastly appearances that violently attack them .This is a fantasy movie that contains restless horror as the doomed doll kept in an exorcited room with warning signs, then horror emerges and threatening beings attack . The film starts with the same opening scene of the film "The Conjuring", in which two young women and a young man are telling Ed and Lorraine Warren about their experience with the doll that they believe to be haunted, known as Annabelle.
First movie in the Annabelle film series into The Conjuring Universe well produced by Walter Hamada, Hans Ritter, Peter Safran and James Wan. This first Anabelle (2014) is based on the weird characters created by Gary Dauberman and blending in the Conjuring universe , in fact it takes place at an apartment after a terrrible accident and the subsequent apperance of the eerie doll Annabelle. Tension , creepy atmosphere , genuine chills, intrigue are continued and appearing lurking and menacing into dining room, stairs , hallway and rooms. Great loads of screams , shocks , exploitation and terror abound with the usual poltergeister phenomena caused by the horrible ghosts. It's recreated with magnificent make-up and high grade plethora of special effects which are very frightening, and while horrifying the stunned spectator when the family begins to experience terrifying supernatural occurrences involving the vintage doll . Stars Annabelle Wallis and Ward Horton giving fine acting as the young couple, along with the veterans Alfre Woodward and Tony Amendola as the priest who helps them, remaining secondary cast are hardly ever known. It displays chilling musical score by composer Joseph Bishara creating a spooky and sinister atmosphere. Likewise, dark as well atmospheric cinematography by cameraman James Kniest.
The motion picture was professionally directed John Leonetti. He is a prestigious director of photography , brother of cameraman Matthew F. Leonetti , and member of the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) since 2003, known for The Woods (2006) , Super hybrid , Piranha 3D, Ca$h ,Dead Silence , Scorpion King , Honey , Warren: The Conjuring (2013) and Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013). And directing some films and TV series , such as : Butterfly effect 2 , The Silence , Sleepy Hollow series , Wolves at the Door , Lullaby , Mortal Combat and Annabelle (2014) . Annabelle belongs to Annabelle trilogy formed by ¨Annabelle¨ (2014) by John R Leonetti with Annabelle Wallis , Tony Amendola , Alfre Woodard ,Ward Horton ; ¨Annabelle Comes Home¨ (2019) by Gary Dauberman with Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson and ¨Annabelle : Creation¨ (2017) written by Gary Dauberman, directed by David F. Sandberg with Anthony LaPlaglia, Miranda Otto, Stephanie Sigman. The latter is a prequel dealing with a doll-maker and his wife welcome a nun and several little girls from a shuttered orphanage into their home , where they become the target of the doll-maker's possessed creation, The creator of the saga is Gary Dauberman, an American screenwriter who is best known for writing The Conjuring Universe spin-off horror films Annabelle, Annabelle: Creation and The Nun, and co-writing the 2017 film adaptation of IT, based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King. Annabelle, Rating : 5.5/10, passable terror movie that will appeal to horror buffs and Annabelle saga fans .
Shaun of the Dead (2004)
The first of a trilogy full of black humor, love conflicts, violence, gore and blood.
Shaun's life is a dead end. Shaun (Simon Pegg) spends his life in the town tavern, the Winchester, with his close friend Ed (Nick Frost), arguing with his mother (Penelope Wilton) and he does not get on with his stepfather Philip (Bill Nighy); in addition, he neglects his girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield). When Liz stands him up, Shaun decides to put his life in order: he has to win back the heart of his girlfriend, mend his relationship with his mother and face the responsibilities of being an adult. But Shaun's humdrum existence takes a turn for the interesting when the undead take over london. Unexpectedly, he has to face an army of zombies. Leaping into action, Shaun gathers his loved ones in the safest place he knows. Shaun, his mum and her boyfriend, his girlfriend, Liz, and his flatmates Ed and Pete fight off a fate worse than death from the local pub. It's just one of those days when you're feeling a little...dead. Buy Milk. Ring Mum. Dodge Zombies
Shuffling into theaters September 24th. A romantic comedy. With zombies. Ever felt like you were surrounded by zombies?. In a time of crisis a hero must rise...from his sofa. Bought coffee. Called Mom. Dodged zombies. This September, aim for the head.
An amusing and funny film about a Zombie invasion including thrills , chills , violent events, lots of humor with tongue-in-cheek, guts and blood. This English film of Terror Zombie is a parody with some romanticism and large doses of black humor well directed by Edgar Wright who comes from the world of television and who wrote the script together with his friend, collaborator and protagonist of the film, Simon Pegg, with the one who would join forces in subsequent films.
Packed with film references , the picture mines most of its laughs from the collision of the naughty bunch of friends and the village inhabitants ways , a backwater of English naffness that suddenly experiencing in crescendo of Zombie attacks, disarmingly incredible chase secenes and violent fights . Forming a trilogy: ¨Shaun of the dead¨,¨Hot Fuzz¨, ¨The World's End , director Edgar Wright and actors Simon Pegg and Nick Frost teamed up to parody classic film genres . If the first combined romantic comedy with terror and the second was a parody of police genre , this last of the stupendous trilogy is an acid apocalyptic comedy . With a script like the two previous ones by Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg , the film is magnificently performed by an ensemble cast in which the actors who give life to the unfortunate roles stand out. Simon Pegg's straight-faced acting -amid high-calibre cast comedy stalwarts and legit luminaries- holds the plot together while reflecting the movie's essentially respectful attitude towards the action movie . Joining them are great actors , such as: Kate Ashfield, Lucy Davis, Dylan Moran, Penelope Wilton, Bill Nighy, Matt Lucas, Rafe Spall and brief appearance by Martin Freeman
The editing is sincerely frenetic and the violence , though sometimes ridiculous , strong and bloody . Evocative ambiance and appropriate settings , excellent special effects , enhanced by the brilliant and colorful photography carried out by a good cameraman: David Dunlap. Being shot in The Gardener's Arms Public House, Letchworth , The Cork Public House, Welwyn Garden City, The Peartree Public House, and Parkway Bar, Welwyn . As well as exciting and nail-biting musical score from Dan Mudford and Pete Woodhead . This is an acclaimed and notorious film from director Edgar Wright who delivers the goods with skillness and aplomb enough . Edgar is an English filmmaker , screenwriter, producer, and actor . He is best known for his comedic Three Flavours Cornetto film trilogy consisting of Shaun of the Dead (2004), Hot Fuzz (2007), and The World's End (2013), made with recurrent collaborators Simon Pegg, Nira Park and Nick Frost. He also collaborated with them as the director of the television series Spaced and his last hit was : Last Night in Soho (2023). Rating Zombies party: 7/10 . Better than average . Worthwhile watching.
Old Gringo (1989)
Adapted from Carlos Fuentes' novel and set in the turbulent period of mexican history.
This is a novelization of writer Ambrose Bierce's mysterious disappearance in Mexico during the bloody revoution in 1913. Features two big-name stars: Jane Fonda in the unlikely character of a virgin schoolteacher and a wasted Gregory Peck in the title role, adding atmospheric sets and costumes. A North American teacher, Harrier Winslow (Jane Fonda, besides carrying the voice-over), recently arrived in Mexico to work in a wealthy family, finds herself involved in this outbreak of the Revolution. In this situation she lives a romance with one of Pancho Villa's generals , Arroyo (Jimmy Smits' silly moustache), while at the same time she finds herself attracted to Gringo Viejo (Gregory Peck), a North American writer who has traveled to Mexico to die. In the autumn of his years Ambrose finds a surrogate family, a daughter and a satisfying quietus. Harriet Winslow is something of a stereotype, initially brittle and later melted by love. Some people spend their whole lives searching for something !. Some people find it. A woman inspired by a man of dreams swept into the arms of a general, and drawn into a worlds of danger !.
Novelist Carlos Fuentes speculation about what actually befell writer Ambrose Bierce when he joined Pancho Villa's revolution down Mexico way in 1913 makes a riveting but no superior story. Technical troubles and cheesy script spoil the triumph that the producers expected, which turned out to be a commercial flop. Enjoyable but uneven film, it is rich in characters, Mexican environment, relationships and cultural clashes. The movie, though it doesn't look particularly notable, and often sounds rather literary, certainly bulges with content, and the principals, Ambrose Bierce: Gregory Peck, middled-aged spinster: Jane Fonda and revolutionary general Arroyo: Jimmy Smits grab the dramatic opportunities with both hands. The picture can't substantiate its claim to play out the personal drama in terms of this thunderous period history, but it's a worthy project and will probably send people back to the book in order to explore better the interesting roles and even better to Ambrose Bierce himself. Functional acting by all: Jane Fonda, Jimmy Smits but Gregory Peck, whose presence is wasted in a sketchy and unlikely role. They're accompanied by a fine cast, mainly Mexican secondaries, such as: Gabriela Roel, Jenny Gago, Patricio Contreras, Sergio Calderón, Jim Metzler, Josefina Echánove, Pedro Damián and Pedro Armendáriz Jr.
In Old Gringo(1989) excels the sensitive and evocative musical score by Lee Holdridge. Likewise , a colorful and brilliant cinematography by cameraman Félix Monti. The motion picture was unevenly directed by Luis Puenzo, including some flaws, gaps and shortcomings. Luis Puenzo was born in Buenos Aires (1946) Argentina, he's a director and producer known for Luces en los zapatos (1973), Las sorpresas (1975), La peste (1992) y Broken Silence (2002), La puta y la ballena (2004) and especially La historia oficial (The official story1985), which won the Oscar for Argentina for best foreign film. Rating: 5.5/10. It is a passable and acceptable film, but better to read the novel.
Day of the Evil Gun (1968)
Notable Western balances noisy action, intrigue and drama .
This agreeable, meaty Western contains engaging plot, intrigue , thrills , shootouts and results to be quite entertaining. It's a classical recounting about an experienced gunfighter called Lorn Warfield (Glenn Ford) who returns home after an absence of three years. Lorn finds his ranch in ruin. His neighbor, Owen Forbes (Arthur Kennedy), informs Lorn that his ranch was raided by the Apaches who kidnapped his wife and two children. Forbes claims that the wife intented to marry to marry him, presuming her husband dead; not knowing his neighbor has unknown reasons of his own for helping him. Later on, Lorn decides to find the Apache camp and rescue his wife and daughters. His neighbor, Owen, also joins Lorn in his quest. The two men don't get along because Owen courted Lorn's wife in Lorn's absence. Angie consented to Owen's courtship only because she believed her husband Lorn to be dead. Despite the tension between Lorn and Owen the two men are determined to find Angie and her daughters. Things get really hard when Lorn and Owen run into Mexican bandits led by DeLeon (Nico Minardos), army soldiers commanded by Captain Jefferson Addis (John Anderson) and Sergeant Parker (Harry Dean Stanton) and eventually Apaches. They had one enemy even more deadly than the Apaches... each other!. Two men on a desperate search to save a woman only one of them could have!
An interesting and unknown Western with frantic action, pursuits, emotion, impressive attacks, fights and shootouts. The highlights of the film are the breathtaking assaults, horse chases and of course, the final gundown . The traditional story and exciting screenplay was well scripted by Western expert Charles Marquis Warren though clichés run through-out, the enjoyable tale is enhanced for interesting moments developed among main characters and especially on the relationship between Glenn Ford and his friend/enemy Arthur Kennedy, both of whom giving sensational interpretations. A Western directed with lazy assurance is something like a cross between ¨John Ford's The searchers¨ and ¨Sam Peckinpah's The deadly companions¨. It also deals with the legendary gunfighter who wants to give up his weapons, a role already explored by Glenn Ford in other films and especially in the classic ¨Russell Rouse's The Fastest gun alive¨, one of the best Westerns in the fifties. Regarding the ordinary kidnap of a family, and the husband of the captured woman enlists the help of his neighbor to find the Apaches that seized his beloved ones. Glenn Ford is an ageing tired of the macho kick who goes back home after 3 years only to learn from a neighbouring farmer that his wife and two small daughters have been carried off by Apaches. Along with Glenn Ford stars as well, Arthur Kennedy, who get together in uneasy alliance and they set out on the trail. Their odyssey , with the two men subtly changing sides as the farmer starts to revel in the hunt and the gunfighter leaves him to get on the killing, is studded with pleasingly strange encounters: a minister's wife brooding in a darkened room over her experiences as an Apache captive; a cluster of the burning shacks that results to be a town in the death-throes of cholera; Indians who disarm them with lassoes and stake them out to die from buzzard's beak; a Mormon ghost that harbours a sinister band of suspicious soldiers. Along with these two great interpreters there are a lot of familiar secondary cast providing adequate interpretations, such as: Dean Jagger, John Anderson, Paul Fix, Nico Minardos, Harry Dean Stanton, Pilar Pellicer, Royal Dano, Ross Elliott, Barbara Babcock, Jaime Fernández and James Griffith.
It displays an evocative and enjoyable musical score by composer Jeff Alexander. Likewise, a colorful and brilliant cinematography by cameraman Wallace Kelley. The motion picture was professionally directed by Jerry Thorpe. He was a craftsman who often worked in television and occassionally cinema: ¨Venetian affair¨. He made a lot of episodes for popular TV series , such as: ¨Falcon Crest, Harry O, Kung Fu, Hawaii 5-0, The Texans , Storefront Lawyers, American Dream , Chicago, The interns, Lazarius syndrome¨. Day of the Evil Gun (1968) rating: 6.5/10. No masterpiece, but distinctly effective.
Swimming Pool (2003)
An attractive drama criminal with intrigue, tension and plot twists.
A British mystery novelist called Sarah Morton (Charlote Rampling) is really blocked, so she's bored by her successful series de mysteries and while seeking inspiration for her new book. She then accepts an offer from her publisher John Bosload (Charles Dance) to stay at his home in Luberon, in the South of France. So Sarah arrives in her publisher's home in the South of France, where she eventually finds inspiration. Sarah takes a fine break at thr Provencal holiday home and finds the relaxed paradise creatively stimulating until his teenage daughter (Ludivigne Sagnier) turns up unannounced. Sarah interaction with his unusual daughter sets off some touchy dynamics. Tension coming to a head when the promiscous girl brings home a handsome local waiter (Lamour) the older woman has been slowly befriending. Tired of London and Dive into this summer's sexiest mystery !. On the surface, all is calm !.
An interesting drama in which tensions, jealouses , suspense and nudism developing throughout. For all its many twists which by the end probably become a little perplexing for the inattentive. It's a decent film with colorful cinematography, intriguing score and nice interpretation, but all of them can't compensate for the superficiality of the movie's hackeyed premise. Moreover, some of the scenes in English are clumsily developed and some details are downright implausible. Ozon's movie is derivative and predictable , that's why do blocked crime writers always fantasize themselves into a scenario which will restore creativity. Terrific performances from Charlotte Rampling as the uptight, repressed British mystery author who seeks a wrong place to rest and Ludivigne Segnier as as the tempting and seductive young woman who arouses unspeakable passions.
Yorick Le Saux's sumptuous camerawork succeeds in build a mood of febrile sensuality. Adding a suspenseful and mysterious musical score by Philippe Rombi in the wake of the composer Bernard Herrmann, Hitchcock's regular. The film was professionally directed by Francois Ozon, but turned out to be a bit slow and implausible at times, though definitively engaging the viewer. Ozon is considered to be one of the best French filmmakers. His favorite director is Rainer Werner Fassbinder, that's why he made 'Peter Von Kant'. Ozon considers filmmaking a "parallel world", in which he flees the boring everyday life. Ozon calls actress Romola Garai his muse. Member of the 'Official Competition' jury at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival in 2012 and he has won several prizes. Ozon is a prolific writer and director who has made all kinds of genres with penchant for comedy and drama, such as: ¨By the Grace of God' , 'Été 85', 'Le Refuge', 'Peter Von Kant', '5x2' , 'Angel', 'Dans la maison', 'Swimming pool' , 'Le temps qui reste', 'Criminal lovers', 'Everything Went Fine', 'Sitcom', among others. And his last one, a crime comedy titled 'Mon crime' (2023). Rating Swimming Pool: 6.5/10. The flick will appeal to Charlotte Rampling fans.
The Good Shepherd (2006)
A thrilling film, concerning the early history of the CIA viewed through the prism of one agent's life.
In 1939, while studying at Yale University, young idealist Edward Wilson (Matt Damon) joins a secret society called ¨Skull and Bones¨. Due to his intelligence and unwavering faith in American values, Wilson soon becomes the ideal candidate for secret agent. And begins working in the OSS, precursor of the Central Intelligence Agency, during WW2. He believed in America, and he would sacrifice everything he loved to protect it. But his dedication to his country and his lofty mission is beyond measure. And without realizing it, his enormous dedication to his country has just taken him away from what is most important: his family. Neither his wife Margaret (Angelina Jolie) nor his son Edward Wilson Jr (Eddie Redmayne) will be able to make Wilson abandon his risky profession. Eventually Edward arrives at the new CIA headquarters, noting the lobby's Biblical inscription: "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free¨ (John 8:32). The true story of the birth of the CIA through the eyes of a man who never existed !. All our dirty secrets start here !. Who is the good shepherd? The one who looks after his family or the one who looks after his country?
This is the untold and thought-provoking story of the most powerful covert agency in the world containing dramatic events, thrills, intrigue, emotion, romance and family drama. The film is quite good but it suffers from being too long, resulting in it being heavy and boring, with an hour less in its tiring development it would have been much better. Second film after ¨A Bronx Tale¨ directed by the acclaimed actor, producer, director Robert De Niro who won two Oscars for his work in ¨Godfather II¨, ¨Raging Bull¨ and who also stars in this film that spans 40 years of history of the CIA and that highlights episodes such as the landing in the Bay of Pigs (1961) or the complexities of the Cold War in which corruption, intrigue and double spies abounded. The picture is a brooding portrayal of Edward Wilson who's recruited for a career in the newly founded Office of Strategic Services (O. S. S., the predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency) and as founder and agent of the famous secret organization CIA, who sees how his morale is being eroded by the fight against the KGB. While working there, his ideals gradually turn to suspicion influenced by the Cold War paranoia present within the office. As the President named Edward the first head of counter-intelligence. Being partly based upon the founder of the C. I. A.'s counterintelligence operations, James Jesus Angleton. The cast is completed by Oscar winners Matt Damon, providing a laconic and self-contained role, whose performance also earned him an Oscar nomination, and Angelina Jolie, previously awarded for ¨Girl Interrupted¨. Along with them, other good supporting actors giving good performances, such as: Alec Baldwin, Tammy Blanchard, Billy Crudup, Keir Dullea, Michael Gambon, Martina Gedeck, William Hurt, Timothy Hutton, Gabriel Macht, Lee Pace, John Sessions, Oleg Stefan, John Turturro, the also Oscar-winning Eddie Redmayne, among others, completing the ensemble cast of this film. Special mention for Joe Pesci , De Niro's good friend, appearing in one scene as a Mafia boss, he is a fictionalized version of Sam Giancana, it's mentioned that Fidel Castro has seized three of his casinos and thrown him out of Cuba.
It displays a suspenseful and sensitive musical score by composers Bruce Fowler and Marcelo Zarvos. As well as colorful and evocative cinematography by prestigious cameraman Robert Richardson. And the film garnered an Oscar nomination for best artistic direction. The motion picture was well directed by Robert De Niro, although it gets a bit long and heavy at times. His second film, previously to a long career including a string of successes as an actor, such as : Mean Streets , Cape Fear, Raging Bull , Taxi Driver , Untouchables , Goodfellas , Casino , Midnight Run , Jacknife , Fifteen Minutes , The Score and many others . Long time after, he directed a nice movie : ¨A Bronx tale¨ (1993) with Chazz Palminteri and De Niro himself, and this¨ Good Shepherd¨ (2006). Rating : 6.5/10, acceptable and passable , better than average . The picture will appeal to Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie fans.
Red Sparrow (2018)
An intriguing and cold thriller with suspense, emotion, violence, twists and turns.
This exciting film contains dramatic events, action , thrills, blood and is plenty of sex and graphical violence. Stars Dominika Egorova (Jennifer Lawrence who did ballet and practiced a Russian accent for various months) is a famous Russian prima ballerina for the renowned Bolshoi Ballet. After an injury that kept her out of stage, the former Russian dancer is coercively recruited by her uncle Vanya Egorov (Matthias Schoenaerts) to work for the secret services of her country, to be part of the Red Sparrow program. There she will learn the art of espionage using methods of seduction while trying to maintain his sense of identity. The Sparrow school is run by the stiff-upper-lip teacher Matron (Charlotte Rampling). Her first mission, targeting a C. I. A. Agent, Nash (Joel Edgerton), threatens to unravel the security of both nations. The two young officers collide in a charged atmosphere of trade-craft, deception, and inevitably forbidden passion that threatens not just their lives but the lives of others as well. Seductive !. Deceptive !. Deadly !. I Know Your Secrets !. The road to forgiveness begins with betrayal !. Seduce!. Deceive !. Repeat!.
This tense spy thriller directed by Francis Lawrence is loaded with a twisted script full of lies, half-truths, plot twists, lots of suspense, and overwhelming sensuality with strong doses of sex. It is based on the novel of the same name written by Jason Matthews. This writer, who was a CIA agent for more than 30 years, provides unbeatable rigor and verisimilitude to the story. With this bestseller and critical success, Matthews opened a trilogy of novels that continues with "Palace of Treason" and closes with ¨The Kremlins Candidate¨. According to Jason Matthews "honeypot" ór ¨Sparrow¨school was indeed part of Soviet intelligence training; in the Soviet Union, they had a school that taught young women the art of seduction, and the art of entrapment, for blackmailing intelligence targets. There was a Sparrow School in the city of Kazan, on the banks of the Volga River, where young women were taught how to be courtesans, they were called 'Sparrows'.
Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence and Australian actor Joel Edgertom play pretty well two spies who enter into a complicated relationship based on attraction and deception that will endanger their careers and the security of their respective countries. Along with them, other good supporting actors giving good performances, such as: Matthias Schoenaerts, Charlotte Rampling, Mary-Louise Parker, Ciarán Hinds, Joely Richardson, Bill Camp, Thekla Reuten, Douglas Hodge, Sakina Jaffrey, the also Oscar-winning Jeremy Irons, among others, completing the ensemble cast of this film.
It contains a suspenseful and thrilling musical score by James Newton Howard . As well as colorful and adequate cinematography by Jo Willems, Francis Lawrence's regular cameraman. The motion picture was well directed by Francis Lawrence, although it gets a bit long and heavy at times. No relation to actress Jennifer Lawrence, although Francis and Jennifer have worked together in four movies: Hunger Games: Catching fire (2013), Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 (2014), Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 (2015) and Red Sparrow (2018). He's a successful fimmaker (I am Legend , Constantine , Hunger Games saga) and usually video-clips director (for Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez , among others) . Rating Red Sparrow, 6.5/10 : Good , better than average . Well worth watching .
New Jack City (1991)
The rise and fall of a Harlem mobster offers another very different story for Wesley Snipes in his best acting period.
Nice thriller stars Nino Brown (Wesley Snipes), he is an up-and-coming drug pusher. His brother and right-hand-man, Gee Money (Allen Payne) introduces Nino to a new drug: freebased "crack" cocaine . Ruthless Nino Brown lords it over a New York neighbourhood with an empire built on crack and violence. He and Gee and Duh Man (Bill Nunn) go about getting cooperation through violence and coercion, while they take the poor neighborhoods of New York by storm. The crime lord ascends to power and becomes megalomaniacal while a maverick police team vows to stop him. Detective Stone (Mario Van Peebles) wants to bring Nino to justice, but no one on the police force is crazy enough to go against Nino. Stone decides to call in Scotty Appleton (Ice-T), a plain clothes cop who is currently serving a suspension for shooting an unarmed suspect who ran during a failed drug deal. Scotty is a disenchanted streetwise African-American officer of the law who's convinced by Stone to infiltrate Nino's organization, with the help of another burned-out cop, Nick Paretti (Judd Nelson). It was a time that there was a new gangster in.........They're a new breed of gangster !. The new public enemy !. The new family of crime !. Where survival depends on friends, trust and power... !An organized crime family out to run this city is up against cops who knows its streets !.
New Jack City (1991) is presented with punch and precision, being efficiently shot. This is a very violent, but crisp and cleanly made narcotics thriller. Just say no ghetto-melodrama but an action movie with thrills, intrigue, shoot'em up, suspenseful, and lots of violence. Depicting a slight study of drug proliferation, violent gangs and its effects on poor neighborhoods. The film pays lip service to social analysis while delighting paraphernalia of action and violence. As such, it's a superior example of what used to be called blaxploitation, with Mario Van Peebles piling on corruption
and carnage for all he's worth. Powerful acting for the always versatil Wesley Snipes as wealthy Harlem drug lord sought by rebels cops Ice-T, Mario Van Peebles and Judd Nelson. Fine playing all around otherwise, los of action and strong dialogue you can hear, other familiar secondary actors include the following: Chris Rock, Michael Michele, Bill Nunn, Russell Wong, Bill Cobbs, Christopher Williams, Vanessa Williams, Tracy Camilla Johns, Nick Ashford, Thalmus Rasulala, John Aprea and several others.
It contains an adequate musical score fitting to enviroment from Michael Colombier and songs from Johnny Hill, 2 Live crew, Ice-T and others. Likewise, an atmospheric and evocative cinematography by Francis Kenny. Nicely put together in an old fashioned style by Mario Van Peebles who also plays one of his features roles. Mario is son of director Melvin Van Peebles and German actress Maria Marx. He's a known actor and filmmaker. His movie debut came when he was 12 in his father's 1971 film Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song. Mario has his own movie production company named "MVP Filmz". He has directed a number of films, both, TV and cinema , such as: ¨Armed, Superstition, USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage, Renegades, Road to redemption, We the party, Boss, All Things Fall Apart, Panther, Wiseguys, Hard Luck, Love kills¨, among others. New Jack City(1991) rating: 6.5/10. Nothing new here but incisively made.
Stillwater (2021)
A serious thriller with drama, tension, intrigue and romance.
Stars Bill Baker (Matt Damon), he's an unemployed American who constantly travels to Marseille to see his daughter (Abigail Breslin) convicted of murder. The girl, who has already been in prison for 5 years, is convinced that there is new evidence that could exonerate her, and given the lawyer's refusal to investigate the incident, Bill will be in charge of doing so. Bill meets a woman named Virginie (Camille Cottin) and her daughter Maya (Lilou Siauvaud) at his hotel. He asks Virginie to translate the note. Bill visits the professor mentioned in the note, who gives him the phone number of someone who claims to know him. Secrets run deep !
The film title comes from ¨Stillwater¨ is the home to the main campus of Oklahoma State University. This is an interesting story that contains intense drama, tense, thrills , suspense, a deep love story and plot twists. But the film mainly revolves around two relationships: between a father and a daughter, and between the protagonist worker and a single mother and a young daughter. Matt Damon (The Last Duel ,The Martian, Good Will Hunting) stars in this dramatic thriller about a father who tries to save his daughter from a murder conviction in a country whose rules and language he does not know. The picture is partially based on the Amanda Knox story, although shortly before the film's release Knox expressed anger, claiming the film is profiting off her life and fighting. The film is well paced, although at times it gets overlong, heavy and boring, McCarthy said about it: ¨The film addresses our longing to be loved and needed¨; this is "a story of liberation that shakes off the shackles of shame and guilt that keep us rooted in place."
Well directed and written by Tom McCarthy who previously won best screenplay Oscar for 'Spotlight' which he also directed. Tom McCarthy ia a good director and actor. As he co-starred on The Wire (2002), Flags of Our Fathers, Syriana, Fair Game, Mamut, Duplicity and of 2016, has appeared in two films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: Good Night, and Good Luck (2005) and Michael Clayton (2007), and in addition to that, he wrote two films that were nominated for the same category: Up (2009) and Spotlight (2015), the latter film in which he also directed. He directed 3 actors to an Oscar nominated performance: Richard Jenkins, Mark Ruffalo, and Rachel McAdams. Tom McCarthy has directed nice films , such as: ¨The Visitor¨, ¨Win Win¨, ¨Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made¨, ¨Alaska daily¨, The Station agent¨, ¨The Cobbler¨, among others. ¨Stillwater¨rating: 6.5/10. Better than average. Well worth watching. The film will appeal to Matt Damon fans.
Los buenos modales (2023)
Fine but ordinary melodrama that praises grandmothers and house maids.
An enjoyable dramedy that blends amusement and brief drama , as well as a funny script full light humor, entertainment , and exciting situations. Manuela (Gloria Muñoz) and Rosario (Elena Irureta), estranged sisters due to a family secret, so the two elderly sisters who do not speak to each other due to past quarrels. The housewives of the two's children, Trini and Milagros (Pepa Aniorte and Carmen Flores) will be involved in a possible reconciliation between both sisters. The link will be their respective grandchildren, who will become friends without knowing who the hell the other person is and relying only on one criterion: they want to play each other.
A simple and slight film in Almodovarian style about the enmity of two grandmothers and two maids who try to resolve the complicated situation resulting in more and more entanglements for everyone involved until a final twist. They reunite when the caretakers of their grandchildren's, allowed the kids to meet. Upon learning of the conflict, they try to reconcile the families in a quirky, loving manner. The connection between both families is finely shown and well paced. The message is really simplified, and can at times be both too obvious and too genuine. This drama with humor touches is driven by a very good idea: analyzing the world of adults from the eyes of a child. Children do not know resentment or prolonged anger, so their games and treatment ridicule any past quarrel that adults may have.
In her second film, Díaz demonstrates great mastery of tone, alternating with sense and wisdom the comic moments with the dramatic ones, knowing when to use her best moments with the terrific actresses: Elena Irureta, Gloria Muñoz, Carmen Flores, Pepa Aniorte and special mention for the hilarious Carmen Flores and how to show that the audience is happy. They were accompanied by other good actors giving agreeable interpretations, such as: Ricard Farré, Maria Alfonsa Rosso, Bárbara Santa-Cruz, and special apperance from Inma Cuesta, here in a secondary but important role.
Pretty good work of its leading quartet, as well as the nice and not at all stilted messages of the film. Wanting to distance itself from any type of ideology, Díaz's film shows in a tremendously organic way problems and vicissitudes that occur today, without any malice, with a look as pure as the perspective of a child.
'Los Buenos modales' or 'Good manners' finds two fundamental pillars in its demands. On the one hand, it tries to dignify the work of housewives, as hidden as it is reclaimable, with tasks that extend beyond the borders of the home. On the other hand, it raises a warning cry about loneliness in the elderly. Those grandmothers and grandfathers who have given everything for their descendants, who have gone out of their way, and who in return only receive calls when they need money, food, or to pick up the children.
Marta Díaz's second film by Lope Díaz falls into commonplaces but finds a melting pot in the wonderful quartet of leading actresses. The motion picture was well written/ directed by Marta Díaz de Lope Díaz who shows signs of good work in several scenes, especially at the end of the film. Marta directs with verve and good workmanship in the shooting, showing a parallel montage that that takes the viewer by providing interes enough, even if it is not a notable film. In 'costumbrismo' -both formal and conceptual- the ideal channel to show and develop all her ideas. The comedy of the dialogues is supported by a naturalness and a chemistry that easily crosses the screen and permeates and elevates a story that, otherwise, would have suffered dangerously. It was her second one and film debut was ¨Los Inocentes¨ and formerly directed Shorts as ¨Los pestiños de mamá¨, ¨Y otro año, perdices¨ and the multi-awarded film ¨Mi querida cofradía¨(2018 with prizes as ASECAN Award Best Production Manager David González , Nominee Award Best Supporting Performance Manuel Morón , Best First Work Marta Díaz de Lope Díaz,Barcelona-Sant Jordi International Film Festival 2018 Winner Audience Award Best Comedy and Feroz awards . And this¨Los buenos modales¨rating: 5.5/10.
Disquiet (2023)
Terror, chiller and supenatural events in a weird hospital.
Tension, chills, and horror when a After a near-fatal car accident, Sam (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) wakes up to discover that he is trapped in an abandoned hospital by mysterious and sinister forces who have no intention of letting him go. Happenings lead to terrible results when an evil is unleashed and there is an insatiable need for death, blood and vengeance. Tensions rise with a horrific event that seems to be coming back !.
A bloody and dark story of genre cinema starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers in an inferior horror film with blooy and scary events but without much sense. Throughout, a series of terrible accidents and strange appearances happen to our protagonist in which he is usually injured but still lived, the happenings extending to the predictable conclusion. Intriguing film containing terror, drama, thrills, chills, suspense , plot twists and results to be briefly entertaining, and a little slow. Director Micahel Winnick is also the author of the script providing tense, eerie, and bloody scenes. The highlight of the film is the opressive atmosphere, including the vast, eerie rooms, wards and corridors from hospital. Starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers gives a so-so acting as the deranged patient who becomes involved in fantastically creepy events. He is accompanied by a largely unknown cast, such as: Rachelle Goulding, Elyse Levesque, Garry Chalk, Anita Brown with the exception of the prolific Lochlyn Munro, a regular supporting cast in both film and television.
This ¨Disquiet¨(2023) displays a somber and appropriate photography for the spooky events that take place, darkly shot by cameramen Adam Sliwinski and Mel Ward. Likewise, a thrilling and suspenseful score by Rich Walters and filmed in Vancouver, Columbia Británica, Canadá. The motion picture was lousily directed by Michael Winnick, and results to be a bit boring. Michael Winnick is a B-craftsman with no much success, who has written/produced a directed a few films with penchant for action and terror genre, such as: ¨Malicious¨, ¨Shadow puppets¨, ¨Code of Honor¨, ¨Dark asset¨, ¨The Better Half¨, ¨Deuces¨, ´3Day Test¨, ¨Guns, Girls and Gambling¨, among others. Disquiet(2023) rating: 3.5/10. Below average. Only for Jonathan Rhys Meyers fans.