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Reviews
Cahill: United States Marshal (1973)
Terrible production values
The presence of John Wayne, 65 and past his prime, was not enough to make this movie worth seeing. The TV-like musical score and titles made it feel like an episode of a weekly cowboy TV show. The dialogue was painfully bad and there were all kinds of holes in the plot. There are so many better classic westerns to watch, you'd be better off skipping this one.
Wayne and George Kennedy are notable actors, but the rest of the supporting cast is unremarkable and not very good. Most of it appears to have been shot on a sound stage, and the sets are unconvincing. The camera cuts away every time John Wayne walked towards his horse, then cuts back to show him mounted on the horse because he was so old and sick with a removed lung and emphysema that he literally couldn't get his leg over the horse.
Can-Can (1960)
Instant Classic!
Fantastic cast - Shirley MacLaine has never been better! The set design is tremendous - should have won the award, and the score by Cole Porter is full of melodies that we all k ow and that sound so familiar. Top it off with fantastic choreography and great dance numbers and you have classic comedy/musical entertainment! Not to be missed!
The technical aspects of the film are also remarkable! The color is vivid but artfully
rendered - really a treat for the relatively early date of the film!
The French actors Maurice Chevalier and Louis Jourdan used their French accents to great, authentic affect yet their lines were delivered clearly and are easy to understand.
Take some time and treat yourself to this wonderful musical comedy!
I tartari (1961)
Ridiculous
This is one of the most ridiculous movies in the history of cinema. Imagine, an aging Victor Mature running around in a costume which consists basically of black panties and a cape! And a morbidly obese Orson Welles pretending to ride a horse into combat and fight hand to hand. Ridiculous! The plot involves fighting in medieval times between Tatar's and Vikings around the Volga River in what is now Russia, but rather than being historically focused it has a trumped up plot involving kidnapping and rape of women, erotic dancing, and other things that were titillating to 1960's audiences. Skip this one.
Battleground (1949)
Authentic, psychological
My father actually participated in the Battle of the Bulge so this was particularly interesting. I have read extensively about this battle and this movie really captures every aspect of the battle very accurately. It follows one platoon of the 101st Airborne dig in outside Bastogne in 1944 from the soldier's perspective. During the conflict, the men don't know where they are ("are we in Luxembourg?"), don't know if people they are challenging are their countrymen or German spies in American uniforms. Replacement soldiers are KIA and lose their dog tags and other men in the unit don't even know their names. This is a very sophisticated psychological drama and I am surprised given that it was produced in the late 1940's! Van Johnson is great and we get to see an excellent performance by John Hodiak, who died at age 41 but turns in a great performance here. At the beginning g of the movie the platoon of paratroopers practices theor drill with Theo platoon sergeant in a camp outside Paris, at the end they are a ragtag group of battle hardened veterans marching home from the battle. Wonderful movie.
Perry Mason (2020)
An Abomination Just Watch Reruns of the Original!
This is a complete travesty to Earl Stanley Gardner and to the venerable TV series from the 50's and 60's starring Raymond Burr. The only saving grace is the fine acting of Matthew Rhys, but you're better off watching reruns of "The Americans." First off, that iconic Perry Mason musical score is gone. The time setting is switched to the 30's, when the original stories were written but decades before when the original series took place. Perry Mason lives on a farm and he is not even an attorney! Rather he is cast as a private investigator working for an attorney. Della Street's character reappears, but as a secretary to the lawyer that Perry Mason is working for. Gratuitous swearing in the dialogue is distasteful, Even if you accept that this is a completely different show than the original, it isn't well made. The scenes drag on with weak dialogue, one scene with Mason and a client who has lost her baby to kidnapping is so drawn out and overdone I almost had to turn it off and not finish the first episode. Which brings me to the next point - it seems to me a miniseries or a multipart serial, again very different than the short story format. I am very disappointed with the entire production.
The Irishman (2019)
A Stinker
This movie was way too long, with terrible, boring dialogue and dreadful CGI aging and de-aging special effects. Do yourself a favor and just re-watch Goodfellas, because the director and actors in this movie are all way past their prime. Much of the dialogue is literally just mumbling, very little emotion. The story could easily be told in about 2 hours but the run time is a full 3.5 hours!
Ad Astra (2019)
Horrific-ly Bad Movie!
This movie has the stupidest, most inconsistent plot I've seen in a long time, which is a shame because the production values are excellent. Brad Pitt is wasted in a role in which weak monologue is supposed to draw the viewer into the tense psychological drama, but all it does is repel you and make you wonder why at least 30 minutes of this film wasn't edited out.
My five word synopsis of this movie (spoiler alert): Brad Pitt flies to Venus.
The Romanoffs: End of the Line (2018)
Film Froid Noir
The most compelling and intelligent installment to date of The Romanoff's, this period piece takes us to the Russian Far East (Vladivostok) in 2008 and follows the story of an American Couple from LA who have scraped together $50,000 and flown to Russia to adopt a white, Russian baby after unsuccessful attempts to have their own. Having lived in remote parts of post-Soviet Russia myself, I am struck by the accuracy with which Matthew Weiner captures the mood of the Russian Far East in the dead of winter. There are some minor inaccuracies put in for effect, like a border guard with an AK-47 menacing arriving international passengers at the airport, but they don't detract from the edge of mood that foreigners visiting these remote areas find themselves with. The orphanage, the courtroom, the hotel, even the little convenience store are exactly as I would expect to find there.
The dialogue in this episode is deep and the acting is excellent. The couple adopting the baby find themselves doubting their concept of the value of life. Alone together in a strange land, the situation drives them together and drives them apart at the same time. Annet Mahendru, the exotic beauty who played a KGB secretary/spy in The Americans, is outstanding as a translator/expeditor working for an adoption agency. The morning after I watched this episode, I felt as if I had just returned from a lonely trip to Vladivostok. On the surface this is just an adoption story, but on deeper levels it is a stinging commentary on post-Soviet Russian society and on the questions that prospective parents in our own society must face. I give it an A+.
Miami Vice (2006)
Don't Bother
This movie was a complete waste of time - I can't believe Michael Mann put his name to it.
I was a great fan of the 80's TV series because it had several elements lacking from a lot of TV - character development, lavish and artistic production. The movie version is all flash and action, but no character development, no soul. The score was very disappointing, including a cover version of Phil Collins' "Something in the air tonight" - a song which was used in it's original form in the TV series, as were a number of other well-know songs by great artists.
The dialog was horrible, and it was recorded so poorly that many parts of the movie required subtitles, I could not even understand what the actors were saying. Colin Farrell's American accent was awful and unconvincing, which didn't matter much, because he hardly had any dialog.
Don't bother seeing this movie - it's not worth it and if you are a fan of the TV show, you will be sorely disappointed. Oh - and the seminal Lt. Castillo is played my a morbidly obese African American actor - worst casting I have ever seen.
Cumback Pussy 6 (1996)
Asia Carrera in a Rare Rear Entry!
This is a good flick if you like anal action, as each scene features anal sex, and involves groups sex (2 on 1 or more). Tom Byron is in most of the scenes, and he is quite a challenge for the actresses in this particular type of "specialty film".
The most memorable part of this film is Asia Carrera. She is in a long scene with Tom Byron and Kim Chambers. Rarely in her long career did Asia appear in an anal scene. In this movie, she appears first with Miss Chambers, as Kim explores her rear entry with a number of foreign objects. Tom Byron then conducts an extensive anal sex session with Miss Carrera - it looked like quite a physical challenge, to Miss Carrera's entire body.
Oh - at the beginning of Asia's scene, she is sitting at a piano playing a very complicated portion of a Beethoveen Sonata - simply sublime. Beauty, brains, and sex - what a woman Asia Carrera is!
Cumback Pussy 27: Girls of the Asian Persuasion (2000)
Skip It
Unless you are a big Jade Marcella fan (like me) - skip it. There is a lot of the stupid dancing before the sex scenes, the scenes are not well produced at all, and some of the girls are ugly. Even Jade - a stone fox - seems to be strung out on crack. Her sex scene just takes place with two guys on a bed, and the bedding comes off during the scene and it is really just sort of a big mess.
The series does have some notable high spots - like Cumback Pussy 6, which has the lovely Asia Carrera in a rare anal scene. But as far as this one goes, save your money. If you like Asians, go for the "meluvulongtime" series - that is much better and all Asian all the time.
Lost in Translation (2003)
Great Film!
I lived near Tokyo from 1985 to 1987 and I was struck at how Ms. Copolla captured the mood and texture of the city - I felt like I was there! The character development was outstanding and the acting impeccable - a taught character study for the thinking viewer. Just great!
Phone Booth (2002)
No Redeeming Qualities
This movie was a showcase for nothing - no plot, no acting, just a boring script about a despicable character in a phone booth! Save the rental fee for a movie with production values, plot, scenery, theme, etc.
Right Cross (1950)
June Allyson steals the show
A great example of movies made in an era where innocence was valued and innuendo was cleverly used to convey steamier topics which couldn't be given a thorough treatment outright. Using boxing as a vehicle, the movie deals with fidelity, racism, and the struggle in post WWII USA between those achieving the American Dream and those blocked out by class and ethnicity.
But forget all of that - June Allyson is simply beautiful as the strong-willed and spunky daughter of an Irish boxing promoter, and her real-life husband Dick Powell is uniquely sublime playing a "wannabe" beau with alacrity.
Great flick - just watch it and look at June's beautiful baby-face. There just aren't any actresses with those particular beautiful and innocent youthful charms today!
Grand Canyon (1991)
Hope
This is a movie about hope and how the human spirit has the power to triumph over misfortune and misdeeds of others. Some of the vignettes are hokey, but it has an attractive cast which is well directed, even if the ending is a bit of an anti-climax.
I recall major media attention in the USA when this movie opened in the early 90's. Never really seemed to live up to its full potential - maybe anchored by shortcomings in the plot.
Worth seeing - and seeing all the way through.