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martynmccarthy1965
Beer, music, art & drama, history & zoo-ology - in no particular order.
I've been known to like women too.
Like my music, I like my movies to have that bit more of a harder edge than most might find comfortable, with the possible exception of comedies.
Horror Channel UK is my regular TV channel, especially when Emily Booth is presenting.
As much as is practically possible I prefer historical accuracy to be present in films based around historical incidents. There was no gun-powder available in 12th Centuary England Mr Kevin Costner.
Films that are overtly sentimental and down right mawkish - No thank you.
You need to chain me down or have me guarding kids to watch Disney.
Despite knowing why we have it, I detest most forms of over-bearing censorship. Politically Correct? Me? No chance.
Trucking - A life on the road, 35 years and counting....
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
The Evil in Us (2016)
A good opening that slowszzzz.....Then jumps about a lot, with a surprise ending.
The film opens with promise, considering it is billed as a horror movie. We are greeted with a blood-soaked appartment with 3 victims still lying in the aftermath of a savage crime. Visual effects and direction here are faultless.
It is a pity the low budget made the police crime scene investigation look a bit too cheap ~ Hardly CSI Seattle. The police presance throughout is lacking and often a bit to "wooden".
The next scenes are the "Meet the main characters" scenes, and it's the old cliche of American teenage friends, disappearing off all by themselves to have a wild party full of Music, Booze, Sex, but this time includes the use of hard drugs. The "Cabin In The Woods" is actually a large house on a private island that is conveniantly owned by one of the teenagers parents. Another old horror flick cliche: Their cellphones don't work. Sadly this is where the film drags on, dwelling on the party far longer than is necessary, whilst the would be more interesting story, that of people being detained whilst being forced into taking a superdrug, the one that turns our happy campers into zombies, is reduced to an all to brief sideshow. This does not allow any depth of character in the bad guy to develop and as such his importance to the story is diminished, even when he is supported by two superb performances of a couple who are emotionally attached, the two most prominent of the prisoners that we get to see.
The movie eventually jumps into life, turning into a standard hack and slash affair. To be fair to the cast they deliver good performances in the fight scenes, unfortunately the camera angles make the whole visual effect very jumpy and disjointed. The fact that the film rushes the fight scenes, and rushes from one fight scene to the next to get them all in, adds to the jumpy feel of this part of the movie. If they had cut the party scenes down and added to the fight scenes, a better result would have ensued.
The ending is well surprising. What was the movie meant to be?
An anti-drugs polemic? It fails on that. Horror movie buffs are accustomed to far worse ways to go than taking a bit of powder.
It is Canadian Left-Wing produced, so why not make the bad guy a Right-Wing Republican Senator? That may please the American Left but will surely infuriate the American Right. When it comes to it's role as being a piece of Canadian/American Left Wing propaganda, I myself being a British subject wanting not to interfere with American politics here, I must say that I cannot possibly comment.
Beverly Hills Cop II (1987)
Eddie Murphy IS Axel Foley ...
Eddie Murphy reprises his role as Axel Foley, a rule-bending, maverick cop from Detroit, who this time absconds from his duties there to use his unique talents in tracking down the perpetrators who are beind the shooting of his friend Captain Bogamil. He is once again aided by his two other friends from the first film, Detectives Rosewood and Taggart, their own efforts being hindered by an incompetant and obnoxious supperior officer.
Co-written and produced by Murphy, this affair turns into more of a showcase of Murphy, whose character dominates the plot more than in the original. In doing so this pushes Reinhold and Ashton a bit further out of the limelight, giving the movie less of a sparkle than the first film. It is only towards the end of the movie that Reinhold has the opportunity to deliver some of his better material, and it is in remarkable shift in character from his original image. It works well, but arrives a bit too late in the film to develop further.
Despite the cliches that pervade the film, it is still remains a fast paced, funny and thoroughly entertaining film. Brigette Neilsen is a commendable femme fatale. Note the tongue-in-cheek swipes at other movies popular during the era (1980s), and at her man ~ Sylvester Stallone.
Like the first film there is a bit of 80s naughtiness. Strip clubs appear in many cops & robbers genre films throughout the era. Whereas many of the performances in such movies are often very brief and very bland, if you don't mind such entertainment, the late Teal Roberts delivers a gutsy performance on the pole dance.
Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
1980s cops & robbers kitsch delivered in style.
It was a stroke of luck that Sylvester Stallone, and considerable others, decided to drop out of the project. This left the road clear for Eddie Murphy to deliver his greatest performance as one of the most charismatic characters of the 1980s, Axel Foley. A rule twisting maverick cop from Detroit following the trail of clues in pursuing a killer to, and in and around Beverly Hills, and colliding head on with the etiquette behaviour one is expected to maintain in such an elite district.
Turning what was originally to be a serious movie thriller into a less serious comedy movie was also a stroke of genious. It afforded Eddie Murphy the chance to utilise his is already respected comedy skills to great effect, making him one the most bankable A-list stars of the era.
A finely paced plot, funny and thoroughly enertaining.
Dèmoni (1985)
A Grand Guignol of Italian Horror cinema.
Virtually everything about this movie cries out for it to be declared "So bad" and that is what probably makes it so interesting and entertaining, and in some viewers eyes so good. I remain undecided on that last issue.
The plot is simple and it does not need to go much beyond what it started out to be, an excuse for a non-stop orgy of visceral violence. This orgy of gore and pus is maintained by use of very basic dialogue resulting in very shallow characters whom no-one ends up caring much about.
It is a paradox on itself. It is a visceral splatterfest whilst at the same time being cheesy and over-the-top. A crazy, chaotic orgy of bloody violence. A surreal splatterfest full of ludicrous scenarios that can have you shuddering with fear at first and then laughing at the absurdity afterwards.
An interlectual movie it is not, and if you are looking for such a movie then you will need to look elsewhere. This is a movie, where after a long day, you just want to relax with a few beers and watch something that perhaps does not tax the brain, disturbs a little, but also gives you a few wry sardonic laughs too.
DeepStar Six (1989)
With so much bad luck for this crew ~ Welcome to the USS Jonah.
Jonah is the long established superstition that anybody referred to as such would bring bad luck to any ship or maritime enterprise, and boy do we have 11 Jonahs here. A crew of 11 lurch from one disaster to the next avoiding the attacks of a sea monster whilst trying to cope with an increasingly damaged sea base to facilitate an escape back to the surface, that is if there is anybody left to escape.
The trouble with this film is that there is nothing really original in the story, everything appears to be borrowed from elsewhere. The sea base and sea monster are merely deep space station and alien being replaced from deep space and relocated underwater.
Military logic: Would the US Gov't really sanction a nuclear missile battery to be located at such a depth when they already have a nuclear submarine fleet that can do the same job AND be 24/7 MOBILE in doing so?
Plausible action? A sea monster the size of a small dinosaur can skillfully hide in 3 feet of water surrounded by 6 armed crew members? mmmm.
Well acted? Yes (even if the characters lack depth). Suspensful? Yes, in places. Predictable? A little too much so.
Spoiler: Titillation warning ~ Water, flooding and not wearing a bra underneath a blouse is not a good combination.
Final Girl (2015)
Hurry up, I want my pancakes.
An orphaned girl is brought up in secret to become a well trained, deadly assassin. It is not actually an original concept. The French thriller of 1990 Nikita is of a similar concept, unfortunately this is nowhere near as good as that movie.
Four boys take "sport" in hunting down blondes, and our heroine Abigail Bresslin is sent in to be bait, and then deal with them. Some scenes actually lift the optimism of the plot improving, but no, it soon falls back into what is very predictable, before drifting of into the plain weird.
Cut to the pancakes at the end.
The World at War: Morning: June-August 1944 (1974)
D-Day Landings
The definitve history of the greatest invasion in modern history.
The World at War (1973)
Voices from the past are talking to you .... Hoping that you will listen .... Hoping that you learn.
Choatlodge - Review 22 January 2005.
"Of unmatched significance in the library of video productions."
Classicalsteve - 6th January 2011.
"The finest chronicle of the Great Epic Tragedy of the 20th Centuary."
"A central figure elevated to the status of Messiah by his people -"
"This Messiah is not one of benevolance, but one of peace and war."
From the opening scenes at Oradour-Sur-Glane "The day that the soldiers came."
From the world leaders of the time.
From the combatants of all sides.
From middle classes to the working classes.
From the losers and the victims of genocide.
From James Stewart, the acclaimed actor.
From Traudl Jung, Hitler's personal secretary.
The voices from the past are talking to you, explaining to you, hoping that you will learn.
The scope of the series is vast.
I was raised in a town by a generation of people who took an active part and often fought in the war. Many became personnal friends of mine, those who had saw active service in different theatres of war. Many losing colleagues over the time of their service.
My town was bombed. A whole family died in the very same road I lived in, 10 houses away. The youngest to die was 6 months old.
"The series should comprise the core of a mandatory history subject in schools. It should be required viewing for all young people."
"The value of this series is beyond counting."
To the reviewers whom I have quoted, I can't add anything better than what you have already written.
I sincerley concur.
Watch, lest we forget.
Ben-Hur (1959)
Lew Wallace's classic tale book turned into the greatest epic movie of all time.
Having read the book as a youngster, then watched the film, which have some differences, proof that with a good source material and a lot of effort (and a lot of money), you can produce something spectacular.
Everything is just so right. Yet it is a simple tale of one man's revenge for what happened to his family and himself. When a story is so right it is difficult to single out anything that is outstanding.
Leading the list of outstanding are the performances of:
Charlton Heston as The Prince of Hur.
Jack Hawkins as Quintus Arrius.
Finlay Currie as Balthasar.
Claude Heater as Jesus Christ - and shockingly he was uncredited.
Best scenes:
The Chariot Race - In the book it took place in Antioch. Lew Wallace knew that Jerusalem would have been too much of a political hotbed of rebellion to ever hold a chariot race there. Archaeology has never found any evidence for a race circuit in Jerusalem.
The Cruxifiction - I watched this scene once on a wall screen in a pub (it was on TV) on a Good Friday. The images were very powerful for such a day.
My number 1 film of all time up till now. 26th March 2019.
Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)
Is this real or is it just fanatsy?
Remy Malik is superb, 10 out of 10. Having put in a tremendous amount of work and research into playing the part of Freddie Mercury, winning the Oscar is thoroughly well deserved. The supporting actors likewise are superb throughout. It is a pity that they are let down by the writers and senior producers and directors of this movie. These overlords could do with taking a bit out of Malik's book.
The problem with biographies and bio-pics is that these overlords often take a great story, then feel it is essential to alter that great story, turning into something which is not the great story that the original great story craves for. A story wanting to be told, being altered in such a way that it deflects the impact of the story away from that which it ought to be. It is the main reason that I confess that I am not a great fan of this genre.
Knowing that Bohemian Rhapsody was a famous song by Queen, and not reading any synopsis of plot, or other reviews before I watched it, I was expecting to see a movie about Queen. Instead what we got was a story about Freddie Mercury, whose position in Queen was aggrandized, whilst his colleagues' positions in Queen where diminished to one just above stooges.
There were four significant equal members of Queen, and any story that trivializes the other three loses my respect significantly.
The overlords seem to have sacrificed facts of historical significance in order to build up to, in their eyes, a fitting triumphal grande finale for Freddie Mercury. That grande finale being the Live-Aid Concert of July, 13th 1985.
I remember it all to well. The Love of my Life at the time travelled to Wembley with her colleague from her workplace to see the show.
In fact it was the Live-Aid Show that triggered a resurgence of interest in Queen. The production of their video for "I Want To Break Free" had caused a major backlash from conservative America, resulting in radio bans, which in turn lead to a collapse in revenue. Live-Aid was their penance completed and America wanted them back: Radio play again, TV, tours ~ fortunes restored.
By moving some of the events that occured after the show to a time before the show, such as Paul Prenter's sacking and Freddie's diagnosis of AIDS - which occured in 1987, what we have left is a 3 parts finished story that misses out on the significance that Queen rose to post Live-Aid. That is the shame of this story.
The one part of the movie that is without doubt excellent is the recreation of The Live-Aid Concert. If I was to judge this part of the movie alone, set aside from the rest of the movie, I would score it 10 out of 10.
During the concert scenes we see Bob Geldof in his usual for the time garrulous manner. Beside him is the well known character of Elton John, who does not utter a word, which is unusual as I have never known him to be so silent. Spares him from this monstrocity.
All movies have minor flaws, trivial goofs and so I generally set aside most of them. But to take such a part of history and radically alter it to such an extent that people are no longer seeing the real history, when they believe they are, has to be called out.
Emelie (2015)
Intense, disturbing and in places infers the obscene, babysitter horror.
Emilie (who is superbly portrayed by Sarah Bolger) is a disturbingly audacious psychotic who deceives her way into the home of a family of 5, as the babysitter, for the parents who are off out for their wedding anniversary celebration dinner.
It appears that Emilie has spent some considerable time planning this deception, along with her co-conspirator boyfriend. We already know they are planning something far more malicious than theft of goods due to the crime committed in first scene, which according to some reviews is not central to the plot. It is very central to the plot, the plot needs careful observation in this movie. We do not see how they planned their crimes, but we do get to see why they planned their crimes in the old stalwart of the movies, the flashbacks.
Evil to the core, the expected mindful guardianship expected by the childrens parents is recklessly abandoned by Emilie and replaced with a calous ambivilence to the childrens morality, enthusiastically enticing the children into doing what their parents would not only not allow, but would be horrified upon discovering what they had been enticed to do.
Enticement soon turns to brazen bullying, which includes both that which is pyshically violenct and that which is mentally and morally obscene.
Jacob (superbly portrayed by Joshua Rush) as the eldest of the siblings at 11 years old, having been unable to contact (A flaw in the plot), or receive help from any adults, is left with the ardous task of getting his siblings and himself safely away from their aggressor.
The plot has perhaps a few too many flaws in it to make for a credible plot, such as the house having a telephone extension (which Emilie appears to have not noticed). Jacob could have called his parents, his neighbour or even 911, having had for much of the time, plenty of opportunities to do so.
It is an intense and disturbing thriller from start to finish, despite it's obvious flaws in the plot. I would have judged a higher score if the said flaws had been better thought out.
The Bank Job (2008)
James Statham is in his safety zone, as a cocky, dodgy cockney car salesman.
Based on a true crime caper in 1971, here is a tale that is as much interesting on learning as to which bits are actually true and which bits are ficticious add-ons for the sake of a making a good story better. Better still are the crictical reactions from both professional and amateur reviewers who, like me, conduct their historical research after seeing the film, giving an added intriguing dimension to one superb tale.
When it comes to such crime capers, writers such as Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais are masters of the art.
With wonderful casting and superb acting throughout James Statham is in his element in this tale of criminal coercion, blackmail, double crossing and corruption that cuts through the very fabric of the social class system of the time. A tale where almost nobody is not involved in some sort of underworld, self promoting agenda. He plays a small time crook, lured by a mis-placed loyalty to a pretty face from his past (Saffron Burrows) into leading a small gang of equally amateurish crooks into raiding the safety deposit boxes at a local bank (Lloyds is a real bank chain in the UK), having been given assurance that the vaults are being conveniently left unguarded by a temporary security fault (yes this is true, it is the trusting 70s).
The raid is a success .... or is it? The raid's success soon attracts the attention of some of the more ruthless, sadistic, professional criminal characters from higher up the pecking order of both The Underworld and the guardians of the political and social elite.
It is a plot that intrigues and captivates from beginning to end, full of characters ranging from the downright nasty (David Suchet as the ficticious Lew Vogel and Peter De Jersey as the all too true Michael X) to those who elicit a bit more sympathy, being pawns in the greater scheme of thsoe who manipulate them (Hattie Morahan as Gail Benson, who really was the doomed daughter of a Member of Parliament).
One of the best of such crime dramas to come out for a long time.
The Kiss of the Vampire (1963)
Good, but Oh!!!! Those 60s hairtyles ladies, they don't go well with plastic bats.
Artistic lisence allows the viewer to assume that despite the entire film being performed in the most polite English language that the characters are, for the main part, conducting their conversations in German, including our English honeymoon couple. The script is sloppy, and along with the scenery being equally sloppy, the feeling that we are in Germany does not come through in movie, save for one or two minor instances.
That said, virtually everything else is sound and solid. A good story backed up by some fine performances throughout. Noel Willman excels as the evil patriarch Dr Ravna, as does Barry Warren as his son Carl Ravna - the only one who gives a Germanic feel to his character. Clifford Evans is almost comical as the drunken Gerald at the party. As for Isobel Black she seems to be having fun, delivering an enthusiastic performance playing Tania, the youngest of the vampires.
The viewer should forgive the plastic bats during the closing scenes, this is made in the early 1960s. Unfortunately some-one did not remind the hairstylists that the film was set in the first decade of the 1900s. Come on ladies.
Aquaman (2018)
Spectacular effects sunk by a predictable and cliched plot.
Arthur is the heir apparant to a subaquean dynasty ruling a society that is a smorgasbord of fustian and fantasy, despite being born to out of wedlock to a mother in exile from the feudal kingdom to which she belongs. Thus setting the standard of inconsistancy that permeates the plot throughout the movie.
Nicole Kidman, as "The Queen" (Should that be Princess if her father is still king?), does lift the movie out of the normal, bland, macho bravado dialogue and action that takes place as our hero battles his way from one perilous incident to the next. It's a pity she is dead, oh wait, now she isn't (inconsistant again).
Our hero is a (very) predictable impervious superman who can leap thousands of feet out of an airplane whithout a parachute, but struggles on a two-storey roof in Italy. Watch as he boldly goes where almost no subaquean half-human has gone before.
Borrowed from other genres? --
A submarine seizure (James Bond); Power Rangers; Sea Monsters (Godzilla and Lord of The Rings); Domesticated sea creatures (Finding Nemo) ...
Even Arthur himself is described as more or less as "The once and future king" - King Arthur of The Britons of the Round Table fame.
Nothing original is noticed here.
The Hexecutioners (2015)
Count the candles whilst you wait for something to happen.
A film that you would think would be asking questions on the morality of euthanasia, as this is the employment of the main characters, but no, it doesn't. It does start off doing so when we hear the brooding sermonising of Walter Bardon as the bible bellowing Mr Poole. Once Malison's out of the way we soon realise this becomes just a ghost story set around the ending of an old mans life by euthansia.
Nothing really wrong with the opening scenes where we are introduced to the main characters: Liv Collins as Malison, a poverty stricken, conscientious novice who fouls up on her debut assignment in her new employment. And Sarah Power as Olivier, a professionally detatched, tough, badd-ass with 3 years service who gets partnered up with Malison on her next assignment to get her over her inept start.
The competant acting arises some optimism for the rest of the film, but sadly this soon disolves when the ghosts start appearing and disappearing without doing much else but appear then disappear. This is where counting candles may become a suitable alternative to watching the lack of any worthwile action. In fact the most creepy creep around is the house steward, the son of the doomed owner, another well acted role.
The final scenes, the expected demise of the owner of the house, rise to something which we would have hoped would have been the norm for the middle part. It is right out of Edgar Allan Poe territory, before the film loses it's way with a couple of more deaths, one not surprising but gruesome, and one surprising but less gruesome.
The film rounds off with a rather pointless ending.
Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours and 11 Minutes (1965)
This magnificent film.
What do you expect to achieve when you assemble some of the finest international comedy actors of the era and match them with one of the finest, and most original of scripts ever to be produced?
It is a masterpiece of comedy that portrays a halcyon time when the spirit of adventure embraced the impending technological advances and expectations during the dawning of the era of aviation.
With 20 real airplanes, some being purposely built for the film, no expense was spared in getting the feel of the era right, and it shows. A marvellous portrayal of an era when primitive planes flew not just on a few wings, but also on a few prayers.
With impeccable timing from one scene to the next, it's nostalgia at it's best, portraying a time when when individuals could make their mark in society through their own ingenuity. Portraying a time when national pride came before personal financial gain. Portraying a time when sportsmanship was a mark of honour. Portraying a time when we could poke mild fun of each others nationalities without being downright insulting. Having nationals gleefully playing their own respective national stereotypes, and having a lot of fun doing so, is a classic coup. It is also portraying a time when one's own ambitions to succeed came before one's own abject personal safety!!!!
It's fun and it's funny throughout, a film crammed full of madcap adventures from beginning to end. It's funny in the same way the Bugs Bunny and Tom & Jerry cartoons were. There is a chase, planes crash, there is even a duel in the sky, yet in the end nobody really gets hurt.
It is a film full of individual characters who stand out so well with superb performances from a faultless casting: Robert Morley as the quentessential pretentous English snob. Sarah Miles as his closet suffragette daughter. Terry-Thomas as the dastardly bounder with Eric Sykes as his chump. Gert Frobe as the pompous by-the-book German aristocrat. All magnificent throughout.
My number 1 comedy film of all time, which I first saw way back in the early 1970s.
Girlhouse (2014)
Outstanding opening, drifts into the melodramatic before ending as a run of the mill Slasher.
Opens with an outstanding Enfants Terrible confrontation, and Camren Bicondova delivers a brief, but impressive performance that hooks you into the film.
The adults never quite match the opening sequence, although the performances are solid. The main middle part of the film drifts into the melodramatic, succeeding in building some depth into the main characters, whilst posing questions on our modern conception of porn.
Once "Loverboy" is suitably enraged enough, the Grand Finale is nothing more than a hack and slash, cat and mouse chase between psycopath and potential victim. They are all conveniently pre-occupied in different parts of "The Mansion" to notice as each one of the characters is bumped off in as many different ways possible (and improbable) as there are characters As we have come to expect from a Slasher movie.