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snoreflottado
Reviews
Blues Brothers 2000 (1998)
Is this movie so bad, it deserved to lose money?
The first movie was just classical, instantly. The proof being a watch right now causes giggles constantly from old & more old & less old. I propose Belushi made people laugh while he was asleep. Awake, a subtle (?) eye movement or eyebrow flip, a physical move - belly laugh. And then he performs his lines...
And then some nong had the idea almost 2 decades later to make this? C'mon, get real, get with the progie...'The Blues Brothers' WAS John Belushi. Many could have played Ackroyd's part in 'The Blues Brothers' but no-one, REPEAT, no-one could or can replace John Belushi when it comes to 'The Blues Bothers'...
And I'm disappointed in just how BAD this film is. If this is a tribute, then the people who have their names on the credits need to be retrained, re-schooled. Absolutely discraceful. Pure waste of money...
Formule Villeneuve (1983)
missed by the proverbial country mile
This waste of an hour completely missed the bullseye. Villeneuve was undoubtedly the most spectacular race car driver to have been born.
Australia has televised Formula 1 from the latter part of 1979 (excepting a one off Japanese GP in 1976) so I saw only half of his short F1 career. But my most vivid memories are of Gilles. Some of Gilles' great battles were with my countryman Alan (yawnsville) Jones who piloted a vastly superior chassis but who's engine was no match for the Ferrari's. The duel in Canada 79 was seat edge stuff. The pass Jones did on Gilles when braking for Mirabeau at Monaco in 1981 was possibly the best pass I've ever seen but not due to the Aussie. It was the Canadian who showed the greater skill; Villeneuve on the fastest racing line, Jones up the inside,twice, maybe three times squeezed ever closer to the inside armco. Neither cars touched. Fabulous stuff. Gilles & Rene at the French GP 1979! Zandvoort 1979!! Spain 1981!!!
Gilles in the wet can only be compared to, I believe, Ayrton Senna. re; practice at Watkins Glen circa 1979.
But his real skill, the attribute which made him my favourite, had me squealing with delight, laughing hard & holding on was the large amount of time he spent driving his Ferrari SIDEWAYS! Clearly he loved doing this. I also believe he drove in this manner to entertain the 100's of 1,000's of fans who used to flock to GP's & the 10's of millions of TV viewers who were lucky enough, privileged enough to witness the wonder that was he.
Nobody before has thrilled me so, never again will he be replaced.
As tragic as is his demise, this film is equally tragic. It fails utterly, completely, to capture any essence of the personality that was Gilles Villeneuve.
ps I would have scored this with a ZERO but IMDb does not have that facility.
Bullitt (1968)
The chase, the whole chase & nothing but the chase
I was lucky enough, at the age of 9, to see this flick at a cinema & the effect from the 'in car' shots while jumping & bottoming out had me a bit queazy. But nothing could've made me leave my seat. Those who saw Bullitt on the big screen would know what I mean - something very special. Those who didn't, bad luck.
However, I have a big problem with the sound effects. No-one & I repeat, no-one when trying to drive quickly changes gear & revs the engine once or twice while the clutch is engaged!! It is as stupid as it is futile.
But the real curiosity for me is when Bullitt misses the right hander & screeches to a spectacular smoky stop, selects reverse & axle hops with more smoke pouring before getting it right. Why, oh why wasn't the Mustang fitted with a limited slip differential? A much more spectacular exit would've been with both tyres being smoked, leaving 2 black patches as we watch McQueen's car squirm away. As an added bonus, the electrics to the brake lights could've been disconnected so Steve McQueen could apply a little brake to prolong the spectacle.
Grand Prix (1966)
Betrayal, not a portrayal
This flick is disappointing, frustrating & weak.
At the cinema, as a 7 year old, it was truly stunning to see Formula 1 as it was in 1966. To this day & forever, the cars are absolutely gorgeous, their simplicity is their beauty, the engine noises a marvel, the tracks raced on, astonishing.
However, Frankenheimer must have been hard of hearing, all money & no sense or thought he knew more than the men who raced. He had the opportunity, the opportunity, to make a truly epic film. The men racing F1 in this era would undoubtedly have wanted to promote their sport in it's most exciting light - a thing easily done if done right. Clark, Stewart, Hill, Hill, Brabham, Amon, McLaren, Rindt, Hulme & handfulls of other heroes were on hand to advise Frankenheimer what to film & where to film. But what we got was pitiful: all too quick glimpses of Spa Francorchamps, Clermont Ferrand, Zandvoort - truly awesome circuits. And where was the Nurburgring? The Nurburgring!!! And Rouen...To not include these circuits is too boggling for words.
Too often the sound effects are downright embarrassing. Noises of braking when the opposite would happen or full acceleration into a hairpin corner! Are we, the general public, idiots?
Count the minutes devoted to racing & then consider the films total length.
During research I discovered Frankenheimer had at least one helicopter flying overhead filming, along with cameras set up on race cars during the actual grand prix races. In his film archive is footage, from both the air & ground, of an historic moment when during the first lap of the actual Belgian GP, the cars hit a torrent of rain half way round. The crash injured Jackie Stewart & took out 8 or so drivers. 7 finished. What we see in the film is a teetering car (fact), & wet weather driving from the car/drivers point of view with the cars doing literally 30 or 40 mph. Very weak.
Did the director exploit the oddity that Brands Hatch has at it's startline?
This film lacked authenticity. It could so EASILY have been done right: in a manner displaying F1 racing for what it was at the time - smoking tyres at the starts, often sideways & power sliding, often airborne & often as close as todays best MotoGP racing.