[QUOTE=Emil Miller;1301751] /QUOTE] The Spy in Black (1938).
Possibly issued as a propaganda film for the coming war, this WW1 story has been critically acclaimed for its accuracy in portraying an attempted espionage plot to sink a major part of the British fleet by submarines.
It's very well done and convincing in its no-nonsense approach to the story. 8/10
"L'art de la statistique est de tirer des conclusions erronèes a partir de chiffres exacts." Napoléon Bonaparte.
"Je crois que beaucoup de gens sont dans cet état d’esprit: au fond, ils ne sentent pas concernés par l’Histoire. Mais pourtant, de temps à autre, l’Histoire pose sa main sur eux." Michel Houellebecq.
Given the state of Britain today the title might be considered a contradiction in terms but this American produced film concerns a German spy ring that has infiltrated top-level political circles during WW1.
The master spy is played by Boris Karloff as a sinister crippled ( why are they always crippled?) butler serving in the house of a senior politician and who is planning the bombing of the entire British cabinet by zeppelins in an attack on London.
Unbeknownst to Boris however, the female lead, posing as a German, is in fact a British counter agent who eventually foils the assassination attempt.
This film is a real curiosity with the British police running around firing guns that would make your average Englishman wet his knickers at the thought that police would be so ungentlemanly as to use those nasty firearms in the fight against any criminals, let alone enemy agents.
The American accents are thankfully kept at a low pitch which gives the film an air of authenticity but the creepy Boris Karloff figure is over-the-top and tends to undermine the plausibility of the story.
6/10
"L'art de la statistique est de tirer des conclusions erronèes a partir de chiffres exacts." Napoléon Bonaparte.
"Je crois que beaucoup de gens sont dans cet état d’esprit: au fond, ils ne sentent pas concernés par l’Histoire. Mais pourtant, de temps à autre, l’Histoire pose sa main sur eux." Michel Houellebecq.
Nightcrawler 3/5. Great acting, but only a serviceable borderline satirical plot.
Birdman 4/5. A brilliant mess.
The DUFF: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_duff/
A duff is a Designated Ugly Fat Friend whose use value is to make her friends look good in comparison to her (or him). This is a story about a teenage duff who finally realizes what she is. There's a mean girl to get even with. There are the duff's two friends who tolerate her because she is worse than they are. There are two guys. One is her attractive neighbor who is the mean girl's boyfriend when those two are not fighting. The other is the guy the duff is infatuated with.
Without giving away too much of the plot, the duff realizes she is a duff and deals with it and gets the guy. Which of the two guys she gets, I'll leave to your imagination. Although it shouldn't be too hard to guess.
It was a charming teenage rom-com with some goofy adults who were as entertaining as the teenagers.
Score: 9/10
My blog: https://frankhubeny.blog/
Hot Tub Time Machine 2: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hot_tub_time_machine_2/
As you'll note from the low ratings from Rotten Tomatoes, if you want to enjoy this movie you will have to be in a special mood. If you find that happy place, this might be worth your time, but there would also be better things to do.
The idea behind the movie is that if you pour in the right chemical concoction, invented in the future, into the hot tub and drink enough alcohol, you can go backwards or forwards through time. You may even get into another parallel universe. This allows you to save or destroy things by monkeying with your past or future.
There are, however, some humorous and touching moments which justify the higher Rotten Tomatoes score than the following movie received:
Paul Blart Mall Cop 2: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/paul...art%20mall%20c
The main thing I learned from this movie is that "stupid" and "funny" are not synonymous although they often go together.
In this story we see Paul Blart acting as the overprotective parent and accidentally saving the day in Las Vegas.
I was looking for something funny in this movie and almost stopped watching it. I can't believe I saw the whole thing. As far as comedy entertainment goes, it is right up there with The Merchant of Venice.
My blog: https://frankhubeny.blog/
The Wedding Ringer: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_wedding_ringer/
I must have been in that happy place last night because I thought this movie was way better than Rotten Tomatoes scored it.
This is the story about a rich groom who does not have a best man and he is due to marry a woman in a fancy (aka expensive) wedding in a couple of weeks. (Now you might think this is unusual, but I recall picking out the best man from the guests who showed up at our wedding, but it wasn't fancy: Total cost was about $300 which was a lot for graduate students in those days.)
Anyway, the bride clearly doesn't love the groom and the same goes for the groom's appreciation of the bride, but they think having the perfect wedding will remedy that problem. Unfortunately, the groom doesn't have a best man to tell him he is making a mistake and the bride's girlfriends are too dumb to see there might be a problem here. So the groom hires a best man and they all try to fake it.
Everybody gets what they deserve which is why this is a comedy and there were plenty of laughs (regardless of what Rotten Tomatoes' critics think) to justify watching it.
Score: 8/10
My blog: https://frankhubeny.blog/
Love, Rosie: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/love_rosie/
One misunderstanding leads to another and keeps a couple apart for years. The experts at Rotten Tomatoes apparently didn't have a good time.
Here's my score: 10/10
Edit: To add a bit more to this. The initial misunderstanding involves each of the couple thinking the other doesn't want to be with them and so they push the other one away out of self-sacrificing generosity and then come the comical coincidences that give them over and over again opportunities to get back together only to keep them apart. It seems they can't do anything right and so they give up trying. But don't worry. This is a fairy-tale rom-com. Whatever fairy godmothers were keeping them apart get off their butts and the ending is happily ever after.
Last edited by YesNo; 09-01-2015 at 09:22 AM.
My blog: https://frankhubeny.blog/
Burying the Ex: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/burying_the_ex_2015/
Here's another rom-com, zombie flick that deserves a better rating than Rotten Tomatoes gave it.
Max had a wonderful girlfriend, Evelyn, who wouldn't let him eat meat and didn't like his brother bringing girls to their apartment for sleepovers, but when she folded his collector-quality horror posters that was the last straw. She had to go. It turned out she died accidentally before he could give her the bad news. Unfortunately, he also promised to be with her forever in front of a Satan bobblehead who was going to make sure he kept that promise. After a short period of depression, he got over her and found another girl. About this time Evelyn figured a way to dig herself out of the grave to claim Max forever as he promised. His brother tried to save him but Evelyn, who was by now some sort of zombie, was almost too much for him to deal with but not quite. In the end they did get her buried again so Max and his new girlfriend could live happily ever after.
Going over the plot, I can sort of see why the rating was so low, but it was entertaining especially in how the plot went from "burying the ex" to "berrying the ex", but that's too difficult to explain.
Anyway, I had a good time.
Score 10/10
Last edited by YesNo; 09-02-2015 at 06:13 PM.
My blog: https://frankhubeny.blog/
Barry Lyndon - Stanley Kubrick
Loved it the whole way through. It made me want to read a big George Elliot novel (or I suppose a Thackeray novel but since I've never read him it wasn't considered). Beautifully shot, and I loved the costumes and clothing. I hated Barry and wanted him to die (and his son too as punishment), but I was happy when he fired into the ground during the final duel so he redeemed himself a little in my mind.
9/10
Eyes Wide Shut - Stanley Kubrick
Interesting movie. I read afterwards about all the detail put into Cruz and Kidman's roles and all of the 'real psychological tension' they were facing during the shooting which surprised me because I felt they both gave horrendous performances. The scenes where it was just the two of them on screen were actually just bad... (especially the scenes where one or both of them had to act either drunk or high)
I'll still give it an 8/10 though.
Last edited by Clopin; 09-05-2015 at 11:21 AM.
So with the courage of a clown, or a cur, or a kite jerkin tight at it's tether
Barry Lyndon is objectively the best Kubrick film. I know this because it is my favorite and everything I like is good.
Also, 2001 sucks.
2001 is good. Dr. Strangelove sucks.
Your move.
So with the courage of a clown, or a cur, or a kite jerkin tight at it's tether
What's wrong with Dr. Strangelove?Originally Posted by Clopin
I actually don't know, I just remember watching it a few years ago and not being too impressed. My opinion might be different now.
So with the courage of a clown, or a cur, or a kite jerkin tight at it's tether
I think I remember Dr. Strangelove. Is that the one where the guy is riding the nuclear missile like a horse. For some reason I think he forgot to stay in the plane.
My blog: https://frankhubeny.blog/
Dr. Stranglove has a 99% critic approval rating and a 94% audience scoreon Rotten Tomatoes. What about didn't impress you? Maybe you should watch it again as a reevaluation.
Dr. Strangelove is an excellent satire of conservative foriegn policies and the jingoism/xenophobia prevelent in the American populace. It made fun of rampant militarism and the race to build ever more destructive weapons. The movie also satirizes the tying of masculinity to who has the biggest gun; in the case of this movie, that is a literal metaphor. The guy riding the missile like horse has an extremely large penis.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
