Cinema Cycle - Married To The Mob

CINEMA CYCLE

(Cardio Workout And Reviewing Movies At The Same Time)

DATE REVIEWED: 01/18/2017

TITLE: Married To The Mob

FORMAT: Laserdisc

TIME RIDDEN / FILM LENGTH: 1 hour 44 minutes

DISTANCE RIDDEN WHILE VIEWING: 25.3 miles

TOTAL CINEMA MILES LOGGED: 6088.3 miles

SYNOPSIS: An FBI agent seduces a mob widow in order to take down a gangster boss.

CONCEPT IN RELATION TO THE VIEWER: Fascination with the mafia, a rather shallow love story driven by slightly over the top characterization.  Dean Stockwell makes almost any film a little better.

PROS AND CONS:  A good film to do ironing to, or for cleaning the house.  This is lite fair without a lot to think about.  The acting is good and the plot moves along and does not drag.

That said, this isn’t anything new.  We have seen this a million times before in “Goodfellas” and the “Sopranos”, only here it is told more from the woman’s point of view.  

While most of the film is mediocre, the acting is well done.  These are all top notch actors and supporting actors in a less than stellar film, but then again it wasn’t supposed to be.  

To read an overview of this project, check out this status posting.  

This film is a part of my LaserDisc Collection.

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.

Five Frames - 01/16/2017

Five Frames

Images Taken With Lytro / Minolta Maxxum

These images and many many more can be found on my Flickr account.

Cinema Cycle - Cadence

CINEMA CYCLE

(Cardio Workout And Reviewing Movies At The Same Time)

DATE REVIEWED: 01/16/2017

TITLE: Cadence

FORMAT: Laserdisc

TIME RIDDEN / FILM LENGTH: 1 hour 37 minutes

DISTANCE RIDDEN WHILE VIEWING: 21.8 miles

TOTAL CINEMA MILES LOGGED: 6063 miles

SYNOPSIS: A disillusioned young soldier must conform to the rules of a military prison.

CONCEPT IN RELATION TO THE VIEWER: Being a rebel, working with a team, overcoming adversity, reaching across ethnic lines, the relationships of fathers and sons, the list is quite lengthy.

PROS AND CONS:  An unexpectedly good film.  I had my doubts about this random media selection and the first 10 minutes appear to make it look like a rather low budget film.

But after about 20 minutes, there is an a-ha moment that takes the story line off in an unexpected direction and the character's backgrounds and plot become very unconventional.  

This film is a hidden gem and it is evident in the credits.  Martin Sheen directs and stars, along with Charlie Sheen, Laurence Fishburne and F. Murray Abraham.  So good, I plan on watching it again to pick up what I may have missed.  

To read an overview of this project, check out this status posting.  

This film is a part of my LaserDisc Collection.

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.

Cinema Cycle - Wanted

CINEMA CYCLE

(Cardio Workout And Reviewing Movies At The Same Time)

DATE REVIEWED: 01/14/2017

TITLE: Wanted

FORMAT: BluRay

TIME RIDDEN / FILM LENGTH: 1 hour 50 minutes

DISTANCE RIDDEN WHILE VIEWING: 24.6 miles

TOTAL CINEMA MILES LOGGED: 6041.2 miles

SYNOPSIS: A frustrated “everyman” is recruited into a secret society of assassins in order to murder the man that killed his father, only later to find out that the man he kills actually was his father, etc., etc….

CONCEPT IN RELATION TO THE VIEWER: Slick video game gun-play, over the top production values, and a total disbelief in reality.

PROS AND CONS:  Here are the good points about the film:

• Very high production value
• Lots of location shooting (Chicago)
• Interesting use of special effects
• Angelina Jolie
• Morgan Freeman

Here are the bad points about the film:

• Nothing but a blood fest
• Far more gore than there needs to be.
• The plot is …… wait….what….plot????
• Apparently if you blow up a city block you can just walk away and the police will NEVER come looking for you
• Oh, wait, ….. Another plot twist means another fight / shootout scene…..oy vay…..

This is the type of film where I get a total disconnect.  I imagine the target audience here (which is 15 year olds going on 35) and get somewhat disturbed.  I can’t imagine what the body count in this film is (50? 60?) but I recall that they were all terribly graphic with brains and blood everywhere (including the first three minutes of the film).  

This is a video game where there is no controller except for the stop/play button the remote.  I like looking at Angelina Jolie, but I was ready for this to end about 60 minutes into it.

To read an overview of this project, check out this status posting.  

This film is a part of my LaserDisc Collection.

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.

Five Frames - 01/12/2017

Five Frames

Images Taken With A Lytro Light Field Camera

These images and many many more can be found on my Flickr account.

Cinema Cycle - Kind Hearts and Coronets

CINEMA CYCLE

(Cardio Workout And Reviewing Movies At The Same Time)

DATE REVIEWED: 01/11/2017

TITLE: Kind Hearts & Coronets

FORMAT: Laserdisc

TIME RIDDEN / FILM LENGTH: 1 hour 46 minutes

DISTANCE RIDDEN WHILE VIEWING: 24 miles

TOTAL CINEMA MILES LOGGED: 6016.6 miles

SYNOPSIS: The distant heir to an English Dukedom tries to assassinate those that are in line before him.

CONCEPT IN RELATION TO THE VIEWER: Pre-War English society and the understated genre of early British filmmaking.  An Alec Guinness showcase.

PROS AND CONS:  An unexpected treasure.  An engrossing film that is told so subtly and with satire that it moves you along rather quickly even though some of the scenes are painfully long.

This is not a tour-de-force for Alec Guinness, but it shows his acting skills well and he pulls off the eight characters that he plays competently.

I was on the fence if this was supposed to be a comedy or a drama.  There are understated comedy elements, but these were equaled by some rather disturbing matter-of-fact violent scenes (there are 9 murders in the film)

To read an overview of this project, check out this status posting.  

This film is a part of my LaserDisc Collection.

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.

Five Frames - 01/10/2017

Five Frames

Images Taken With A Lytro Light Field Camera

These images and many many more can be found on my Flickr account.