gian_99 Reviews

The Kid (1921)

Beautiful

[9/10 · 8 December 2023]

I watched a recently restored version on the Italian national TV streaming app: I had previously watched parts of this movie in unrestored version and I must say the difference makes the movie much more enjoyable (it looks completely different).

On to the movie. It is funny at times, but I was hit by the way it represents poverty and many other sad situations. Most scenes are perfect, and the movie, 100 years after it was shot, is still completely enjoyable nowadays. The only part which I felt was out of place is a long dreaming sequence towards the end of the movie.

It was not bad, but it does not add much to the movie and it was not great either. In any case it is a must watch if you love cinema.

The Enemy Below (1957)

Unexpected

[9/10 · 5 November 2023]

I grew up reading a book which was a diary of a submarine captain. The terror of staying below the sea, waiting for enemy bombs to shake and hurt the vessel, and possibly doom the loves of everyone on the boat, haunted me.

I have then watched of course "hunt for the Red October" which deeply impressed me. This movie in some ways surpassed that. Maybe because it's closer to the times when this kind of battles were fought, maybe because it's very well filmed with original American navy hardware. Maybe because the two captains are are very realistically acted. But I consider this film a gem in the submarine vs ship subgenre of war movies. Should watch if you like submarines or war movies in general.

Hopscotch (1980)

Nice old movie

[8/10 · 4 November 2023]

I remember being a kid and my parents watching this movie and laughing. It was on TV this night and I decided to watch it. It's a good old nice little movie about a spy deciding he had enough of his boss and he will write all of the spy world secret in a book he is going to have published. He does this while running away from his inept colleagues and very bad boss.

Matthau was very very good. His boss, Ned Beatty, was well casted and really good also. Sam Waterston from "Law and order" is the one smart colleague (not smart enough to catch him though). The movie is an enjoyable watch full of comedy and nice classic music.

Tank Girl (1995)

I wasn't a fan, was watchable

[7/10 · 4 November 2023]

I watched this movie recently because I mistook this for a more recent movie (Amazon was giving 2023 as a date) and I did not understand it was an older movie until some time into it. I then discovered it became a cult classic and was probably a flop when it was produced in the years when the comics were popular.

Thinking about it, it came to my mind that tank girl had been in advertisements on old comics magazines in the early nineties and this movie completely brought to life the image I was remembering. It is ... cartoonish, a little childish, impossible, way too absurd, sexy also. And you will find yourself enjoying it.

All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

A 10 definitely, should be compulsory

[10/10 · 4 November 2023]

The movie is old. I must write this in the first lines of the review because I do watch old movies, even mute ones and enjoy them, but I know a lot of people are put off by "old style" acting, lack of color or "different" sound. So much as not to be able to enjoy the story (which is a pity). For me this was not a problem, but be prepared.

If you get over that, this is one of the most powerful, heavy, crushing movies about war I have ever seen and I have seen my share of movies about the harshness of war in Europe, Asia from most wars recent or old. As powerful as this movie and the scenes are, it left me with a bad taste in my mouth. How is it possible people went to a war, a terrible one, those who did not see real blood could have watched this, and they happily went to an even bigger was not later than 10 years after this?

A must watch.

Song of the Sea (2014)

Very interesting european movie

[9/10 · 4 November 2023]

I did watch some European animation movies (for instance "La gabbianella e il gatto"), but I must say I never once found a movie which could compete with Japanese animation in the genre. I was surprised by the depth of the story, the strong references to the celtic legends of Ireland and the delicate, interesting design of the animation.

The songs are also very nice. One little drwaback: I watched this movie on Tv (it was on and could not stop watching) and of course it was dubbed in Italian: the songs however were subtitled, when the singing was in English, but the subtitles disappeared when the singing was in Irish - as much as I should have some celtic blood from far back in the past as the place I write from was gaulish once, understanding even a single word of Gailge is too much.. the text of the song was apparently referred to by the characters which left me with some question marks.

Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris (1998)

The best Gamera movie

[10/10 · 4 November 2023]

We haven't watched some of the original series yet, but this was very good. Might be scary for children however.

The movie actually has a story and it is not badly developed, as it involves a young girl who hates gamera. Some of the characters in the other two Gamera movies are in the movie also. I appreciated that the story is more adult than any kaiju movie I have seen so far. The only thing I did not like is that the references to the origins of the kaiju in Gamera's universe are a bit cloudy. The recent animated series in Gamera is a bit more childish than this one, but it decently explores the story.

Gamera 2: Attack of the Legion (1995)

Gamera is a gigachad.

[10/10 · 15 October 2023]

This movie is really good, I enjoyed it. It's completely different from the '60s Gamera movies which were way more playful and could also be enjoyed by elementary school kids. Considering it has been made in the '90s, the quality is great. The special effects are nice and the scenes are well filmed, the tension builds up at the beginning of the movie when Gamera doesn't appear and the monsters are not seen. The early part of the movie might be a little bit too violent or scary for some kids, so I don't recommend it for people younger than 10, as they may have bad dreams after watching.

The kaiju fights are made really well and Legion is too strong in the movie, and I hope Legion will be in season 2 of the netflix series Gamera Rebirth. Gamera is an absolute gigachad for being able to beat every other kaiju just to protect the earth.

The Dead Don't Die (2019)

They are having a lot of fun

[5/10 · 9 May 2021]

I watched this expecting more, and I don't mean more as a horror movie. Like more zombies, more scares. Yes, I get it, they parodied the entire concept of horror movies, predictable scripts, absurd stories, and it's ok. It was fun for a while. I was not entertained after a while, when I got the impression I was there, watching the actors having a great fun among themselves, when my fun had gone already.

You could make a good a la Saturday night live tv show like this, not an entire movie.

Stars for the stellar cast and technique. Not enough to save a movie.

The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001)

Very nice modern Allen

[7/10 · 15 February 2021]

I watched this on network TV last year on a Woody Allen special. It was a very funny comedy with a lot of references to classical noir movies of the thirties and forties. A typical Woody Allen love story comedy which I enjoyed a lot.

The style reminded me a bit of Hollywood Ending. Helen Hunt was also very good.

Strange Occasion (1976)

When even "porn" movies were well made

[7/10 · 15 February 2021]

Ok, you will say this is not "pornographic". But this kind of movies, in Italy in the seventies, eighties, were really considered kinda pornographic. Being this one great era in Italian cinema, even this movie is interestingly filmed, and I will say, pleasurable to watch.

The three episodes are quite different - the one with Villaggio was the most, let's say, erotic, also the one with the weirdest story (in full Villaggio style). The one with Sordi is almost the opposite (as for sexuality of the scenes it shows) and while weird also strangely convincing. I was kinda surprised to see Sordi in this kind of movie, by the way. In any case, while the Villaggio episode is the most absurdist and also maybe the most modern, the Sordi one looks back to older comedy (in style, in the story...).

As for the Manfredi one. It is my favorite. I liked its rather evil comicality as a quiet architect, in the same night, learns about his wive's infidelity and takes revenge. It is also quite funny the way this movie plays with stereotypical sexual freedom in the northern countries vs "backwards" Italy.

Watch if you can catch it.

The Snow Wolf: A Winter's Tale (2018 TV Movie)

Visually wonderful, and yet...

[5/10 · 15 February 2021]

I watched this movie and at first, I was quite blown away by the visual representation. It was presented as a "documentary" and aired on a TV program which usually airs documentary productions and... It was not immediately clear to me it was really a movie.

It would not be exceptional (but yes, not a great thing either) from a documentary to humanize (a la Disney, as another reviewer says), but this wonderful animal movie kinda tries to pass itself as a documentary in a number of ways (technique, mixing of real facts in the story). It is a pro wolf story: yes - but one which uses Czechoslovakian wolf dogs to interpret Italian wolves and creates a fascinating, but fake story. It is interesting, it will make you feel enthusiastic about the wolf family, hope for them and feel for them.

Yet, it is ... fake in a way.

Sand Wars (2013)

Is anything safe?

[9/10 · 18 January 2021]

It was surprising for me to watch this, as I would not have expected a basic, apparently ubiquitous, and cheap commodity (and I am not even sure sand can be considered a commodity) to be bought and sold internationally, and even trafficked.

This was extremely shocking as buildings are a basic feature of our modern life and the average person - no: most people - would not imagine that building a shining office development somewhere might destroy ecosystems or even the homes or livelihoods of people halfway around the world. This kind of problems are never mentioned as the details of how our world works are hidden as technicalities (no, I don't mean to say there is some dark conspiracy... I could have found out the truth about how the building industry works with a 5 minute search on google... it's just people are a- not really interested in knowing how things work b- flooded with useless or meaningless information: meaning, it is ultimately our collective fault bad things happen).

But well about the documentary. It is quite deep and tries to explain what is happening from many different points of view. The scenes are shocking, but well photographed.

It was quite good, if a little depressing, to know a bit more about this subject.

Split Second (1992)

Funny, not really a classic

[6/10 · 17 January 2021]

I couldn't have known about this movie, which I think did not get a wide release in Italy in the nineties, hadn't a cash strapped local (regional TV) put it into their programming one Saturday night this month.

I will say it should not be compared to those eighties, early nineties movies like Robocop or Aliens: make no mistake, this is much cheesier. It's one of those movies where the monster is hidden until the last scenes and the reason is very probably to save on special effects . The future .. well now past, since it is set in 2008 of the movie is a bleak London which is succumbing to a global catastrophe caused by global warming, with the Thames gradually eating up the city. Of course you are tempted to laugh about those apocalytpic futures in that sort of movies, but I tend to find those a bit less funnier since we are in a reality where I can't get out of my town because there is a pandemic.

Anyway, back to the movie: it is solid B-movie, acting is maybe just decent with a lot of faces familiar from other B movies and tits shown copiously. There are a lot of bad words apparently, but this was kinda removed in the Italian dubbing. Rutger Hauer is good, maybe the only actor in this who looks professional, and yet... there is something in this movie which makes you keep watching and not just turning TV off. Maybe in its cheesiness and laughable ideas (hey, you got a monster, an Alien level kind of monster at that... who is sending mail? Ok or maybe delivering a package to a busy police station in a big city. How?) - there is still enough interest in this movie to keep you wanting to know how this ends up. The monster is the unkillable sort (you just need a lot of explosive rounds, electricity... maybe?). I watched it and it entertained me, it was fun, but I would not call it a classic. The love interest actress is quite sexy. The kill scenes are very cheesy.

The Music of Silence (2017)

Better than expected

[7/10 · 29 December 2020]

I started watching expecting to find a self celebrative auto biography with no inspiration, badly acted by italian tv actors. The movie is the transposition of a book by Bocelli on his own life. However the tone is not the one I expected to find.

The man did have a difficult life and sometimes caused part of his own problems. Many of the scenes from the childhood are sad. Effective. And natural. The scenery of Tuscany is a valuable actor around those scenes.

Some actors (the wife for instance) are not particularly good, but not so terrible either. The teacher, Banderas, was good.

In conclusion, the movie is watchable and could quite keep me watching it (and I am not really a Bocelli fan).

Kubo and the Two Strings (2016)

Impressive and moving

[8/10 · 28 December 2020]

I watched this movie just yesterday and I will say, I am impressed. it was very deeply moving, and the very sad story (it's not a Hollywood style happy ending movie) is told in a very delicate, never harsh way. There is both sadness and happiness in this movie, sometimes mixed together.

Having watched it with a child, I will say. Some children will be turned off by the sad story: for this, it is maybe best to watch with 10 years old or so. In any case it is a movie even adults should watch.

From the technical point of view, it is almost incredible to think this movie was made mostly with stop motion (aided by computer, of course, but still). Some scenes are breath taking.

On a cultural note, for all it's Japanese cultural references and "color" this is a movie which could not but be western in the way it expresses the story and the feelings in it. In a way it is a beautiful mix. In a way I could understand some people in Japan maybe not appreciating it too much.

All Monsters Attack (1969)

Good children movie

[6/10 · 28 December 2020]

This is often called the absolute worse Godzilla movie for two reasons: the story is a child story which has less to do about kaiju than it has about bullying or growing up, and the movie uses scenes from previous movies. Both accusations are true, and yet, it is a good children movie. The feeling of being hapless and not being able to react to bullying except by running away... or of wanting a powerful friend (like Minilla!) well. It is something any child will resonate with. It is also more moving that other Godzilla movies which are more spectacular, but maybe less sentimental.

If you watch it as a child movie which also happens to have kaiju... it will be great, maybe better than other Godzilla movies (which might have issues for small children, I think).

Of course, it is not the best movie maybe for the parents (unless you can find the child inside you and watch it with that mindset).

It (1990)

Adorable movie with cheesy special effects

[7/10 · 28 December 2020]

This movie should not be compared with the new remakes. Of course being a made for TV movie, it looks a lot cheaper. The special effects are old, and have that particular cheesiness that tells you it's only TV (and old).

The movie is however scary and tense and even if some scenes are quite different from the book (as I remember, having read the book in the nineties!) the stories of the characters are quite faithful and well told. If you are an IT fan and read the book... you should also find this movie.

It (I) (2017)

Movie works

[7/10 · 28 December 2020]

This first installment of the IT remake is the best one of the two. It is not a perfect movie, but it is scary, reasonably close to the book, and maybe the characters are richer than they look in the second movie.

Special effects are good without being too much the focus of the scene (which does ruin a bit the second movie).

It Chapter Two (2019)

Faithful to the book, overdone special effects

[6/10 · 28 December 2020]

I watched the movie many years after having read the book, which I should maybe look for and re read. Some of the scenes were very faithful to what I remember. While other scenes where less faithful than the older made for TV movie, but in general this new remake is closer to the original story.

As for the movie. It is decently acted and special effects are very good. The story is gripping. I only think that in some scenes (in particular the old lady scene) the movie tries to impress the viewer with special effects a little too much. Also, comparing to the first movie, and especially with the book... something seems to be missing to the characters. They are flat when the book was very detailed.

It tells the story right, but it is not a great movie. Chapter one was better.

HyperNormalisation (2016)

Must differentiate between the interesting message and some flaws

[7/10 · 28 December 2020]

I had watched this in 2019, maybe not getting until the end. There are some deep flaws in this documentary, which did not let me get to the end of it the first time. So I will begin with these.

This movie has an idea, about internet, for example, and about Middle East politics. It tries to show the facts which are in agreement with the idea. Conveniently ignoring those facts that tend to go against the idea. I will try to give some examples without spoilering too much (but can you... spoiler a documentary?). It is stated that current politics takes decisions in incoherent ways and sows confusion intentionally without a definite end except avoiding risk - I might agree with the general message. Yet, the Russian intervention in Syria is presented as one of those "inexplicable decisions" taken without a reason and not understandable. This completely ignores that:

1 - Russia has maritime bases in Syria, and would most probably lose them if Syria became Isis land - this alone justifies intervention 2 - Russia - with all her ills - does consistently fight islamism which was rising in Syria

Also about Internet. Gibson is put in contrast with the EFF and its activism. Internet is shown as only a place where people can run away to hide from their failures in changing society. This place is ruled by malevolent corporations - this ignores the fact people all over the world do find *real* freedom through the Internet. In many different ways, the Internet did enable real, sincere expression of ideas which would have been impossible before. Many examples of this might be shown, but they are avoided because they would not support the idea behind the documentary. This is, in a way, a manipulation of reality just the same as the one which is exposed in the movie.

In any case, this movie came to my mind again during the Covid epidemics. And after watching the 2020 US elections...I revalued the general message, which is not perfect, but does offer interesting thought points such as:

• Politics does tend to create a perception of reality which is convenient to its means - this increases the detachment between politics and the voters, which do participate in the political process, but they do it mechanically and out of habit, fully knowing that the political ideas are out of touch with reality - because of blatantly absurdity - but in a way, avoiding to confront reality. This is a deep message which the movie does bring across and which is ... real. Evident all over this crisis.

• The Internet does contain information which could "save" the people and bring out reality. Because of how Internet is used, however, people tend to isolate themselves in bubbles where their own biases are reinforced. Or even brought to their extreme. This is well explained and researched.

The two "thoughts" this movie gave me are enough for it to deserve a 7. But they many distorted realities inside this very movie make it, sometimes, similar to a propaganda piece. Which makes me unable to give it more than a 7.

Gamera: Super Monster (1979)

Gamera stock footage

[6/10 · 21 December 2020]

I watched it without really re-searching about it. I just thought it was the last movie on the Showa Gamera list.I watched it with my son who is 9 and we liked it: it is true this movie is built taking all the battle scenes of the first Gamera movies and mixing it with a story about aliens wanting to invade the earth.

With this premise and the very very very low budget this movie likely had (I have since educated myself on how this movie came to be) this movie could easily have been a lot worse. It's a kid movie with a funny gamera song conposed by a child (in the movie... but... it's belieavable as a song composed by a 10 year old) and the story well, it is not really high cinema we are speaking about. For a Kaiju movie it's fine (not of the best ones, of course) and you can almost forget it's a mix mash of older movies.

However if you don't want to spoil yourself all the gamera battles of the showa movies, I suggest to watch it after all the movies of the sixties and seventies.

Big Jake (1971)

John Wayne

[8/10 · 18 December 2020]

I am not a particular John Wayne fan, in fact his movies were most popular in my parents' generation. I watched this out of curiosity, and it was a well filmed, well acted, and quite surprising movie.

It is an old style western in a way, and of course some .. quite predictable things happen. John Wayne's character, big Jake, is an estranged husband and father who comes back to rescue his nephew. He has this invincible, super hero aura. There are those "old western" humorous scenes to break the hardness of the story, I guess.

The resulting movie is however, very watchable, surprisingly violent compared to what I was expecting. I want to watch more Wayne movies after this.

The Ghost Writer (2010)

More than what I expected

[7/10 · 18 December 2020]

It is not a very famous movie, rather a political thriller like many others, judging by the story. The final twist is nice, but not exceptional. However, the way the movie is told, the photography of the scenes, the way the characters act it out... talent shows and it makes the movie quite interesting.

Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth (1992)

New movies like the old ones

[6/10 · 17 December 2020]

I watched this with my son in the midst of our /unfinished/ kaiju movie marathon. It was the first Heisei Godzilla movie I watched and it was good. I did not find very convincing the "Cosmos" characters (related to Mothra) and the story was weaker than other Godzilla movies I have seen.

Also some inspiration / citations of American movies (a character is kind of like a Japanese Indiana Jones) did not age particularly well. But it is solid fun with a kid.