Clicking on the title will take you to the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) entry for this film.
This film was viewed while exercising on my recumbent cycle. A summary of my time spent working out on my journey through movie-land can be found on Strava.com.
SYNOPSIS: Three decades of growing up in the American Mafia are chronicled.
CONCEPT IN RELATION TO THE VIEWER: We can’t always shake our roots and the American Dream has some strange twists and turns.
PROS AND CONS: Been there, seen it, loved it. This film is the bridge between the “Godfather” and the “Sopranos”. So this is one of those reviews that is like visiting a long lost friend.
Since it is one of those films that certain folks watch over and over, gleaming more detail from each scene, I won’t disappoint. What did I glean?
The soundtrack, east coast Americana circa 1962. The dialog, it is the American version of the British thespian-ism. Much like Streetcar Named Desire, the dialog is in your face here. Yes, Joe Pesci deserved that Oscar for best supporting actor. Damn, that guy STILL gives me the creeps.
To read an overview of this project, check out this status posting.
Clicking on the title will take you to the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) entry for this film.
This film was viewed while exercising on my recumbent cycle. A summary of my time spent working out on my journey through movie-land can be found on Strava.com.
Images taken with film cameras. All of these images were shot by me using one of several cameras that I own. The film is developed by myself (unless otherwise noted) and the negatives scanned into a computer. Many of the images or updated / reprocessed in Photoshop. The complete gallery of all my public images is view-able on my Flickr Account. Read the picture details / comments on Flickr to learn more about the particular image.
SYNOPSIS: A landed gentry family and an up and coming industrialist clash in turn of the century England.
CONCEPT IN RELATION TO THE VIEWER: The early British version of Romeo and Juliet.
PROS AND CONS: This is when I remind myself that this project is more about the exercise and working out and not watching outstanding cinema.
This is another one of Alfred Hitchcock's early British works that are in the public domain. You can see the early development of the Hitchcock style here, but it is nothing new.
There is some interesting use of cinematic trickery and special effects and you can see where there is a bit of Fritz Lang’s work sneaking into the picture. What would have been an interesting period romp was ruined by the atrocious sound quality of the film. It wasn’t the digital transfer, the recording technology was just that bad in 1931.
To read an overview of this project, check out this status posting.
Clicking on the title will take you to the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) entry for this film.
This film was viewed while exercising on my recumbent cycle. A summary of my time spent working out on my journey through movie-land can be found on Strava.com.
Synopsis: A Los Angeles detective investigates a possible murder case in the 1950s.
Concept In Relation To The Viewer: From the era of big brother, when showing your police badge granted you unlimited access to ‘anything’, (ala the Gestapo).
Pros & Cons: I thought this was going to be a good film. However, about 20 minutes into it I was scratching my head and wondering what I was watching. The film has some good points, some of the location shooting is wonderful and there is an interesting premise, but it just does not work.
While the murder plot is interesting, involving the writing of a song at the time of death, the following investigation has no real direction or reason. I would have to place most of the blame on George Raft. He is just not engaging in the role and you have no reason to like the guy. I can see him doing well in a heavy role, like a mob boss, but he just comes off as a jerk here. And there are the scenes with his mother in the film, WTF?
In the end, I didn’t really care who had killed the man and I didn’t really care what happened to George Raft’s character, I was just watching for more glimpses of 1950 Hollywood.
To read an overview of this project, check out this status posting.
Clicking on the title will take you to the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) entry for this film.
This film was viewed while exercising on my recumbent cycle. A summary of my time spent working out on my journey through movie-land can be found on Strava.com.
SYNOPSIS: A secret government organization tries to stop a nuclear terrorist from gaining Russian nuclear launch codes.
CONCEPT IN RELATION TO THE VIEWER: Espionage in the high tech age. James Bond meets American ingenuity.
PROS AND CONS: This film is part of a franchise. Franchises are only successful if the films meet with broad public acceptance and approval. So, this must be what the public wants.
A lot of action, a lot of plot twists, great location shooting and a total disbelief in reality. Don’t get me wrong, this is a fun film to watch and I am sure the next installment (Rogue Nation) will be just as good.
However, If found myself checking email on my phone and reading up on the film on the Internet Movie Database during most of the lengthy action sequences. I paid the most attention during the scenes where there was actual plot development.
Which had me wondering, are there Russian action movies where a KGB agent saves the inept Americans by preventing an Idaho Neo Nazi from blowing up Hoover Dam? Just sayin…….
To read an overview of this project, check out this status posting.
Clicking on the title will take you to the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) entry for this film.
This film was viewed while exercising on my recumbent cycle. A summary of my time spent working out on my journey through movie-land can be found on Strava.com.
Synopsis: A father and husband is kidnaped and given an anal probe by space aliens (seriously).
Concept In Relation To The Viewer: Aliens have advanced medical techniques that give them a whole readout on other life forms with one simple (round, long) device. Brilliant!
Pros & Cons: I did not know what to think before seeing this film, only that it would be different, with Christopher Walken and aliens. Little did I know how different it was. This is ‘Close Encounters of the Sinister Kind’ with a twist.
If you ever want to know where South Park got the idea for Cartman’s anal probe, this is it. It takes up a good portion of the film (and Walken doesn’t seem to mind it either). The film takes what is essentially and 30 to 45 minute story and stretches it to an hour and a half.
Based on the credits, the whole concept, screenplay and production are from one person who wanted this film to follow up his best selling book of the same name. The film is from that genre in the 70s and 80s that went from evil aliens attacking us to evil aliens infiltrating and probing us as though they were dissecting an animal.
To read an overview of this project, check out this status posting.
Clicking on the title will take you to the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) entry for this film.
This film was viewed while exercising on my recumbent cycle. A summary of my time spent working out on my journey through movie-land can be found on Strava.com.
