Archive for the ‘US’ Category
The Last Samurai (2003)
Written by Colin on November 29, 2008 – 11:37 am -
Cruise controls
A double first for me. The first first (?) is that I am writing a review for the first time in a good long while. I’m sure James will thank me for the input in his own inimitable way. The second is that I am reviewing a film that stars Tom Cruise that I actually enjoyed. I wouldn’t normally spoil these lovely pages by lauding the stunted one’s celluloid output, but - and credit where it’s due - this is actually not half bad, Cruise or no Cruise.
Tags: Billy Connolly, Blood Diamond (2006), Edward Zwick, John Toll, Ken Watanabe, The Last Samurai (2003), Timothy Spall, Tom Cruise
Posted in Japanese, US, action, history, war | No Comments »
Dancer in the Dark (2000)
Written by James on November 24, 2008 – 9:17 pm -
Songs in the darkness
Here’s a simple question for you - did anyone not cry at this film, which won the European Film Awards Best Film prize in 2000 (as well as the trifling matters of the Palme D’Or and Best Actress at Cannes)? Lars von Trier, together with a performance from Björk that simply defines pathos, takes us into the heart of emotion and reworks the concept of the musical, to boot.
Tags: Björk, Catherine Deneuve, Dancer in the Dark (2000), David Morse, Lars Von Trier, Vincent Paterson
Posted in Denmark, US, drama, musicals, tragedy | No Comments »
Deliverance (1972)
Written by James on November 19, 2008 – 8:20 pm -
‘You better pray good…’
First Griner: [sarcastically] Canoe trip?
Lewis: That’s right, a canoe trip.
First Griner: What the hell you wanna go fuck around with that river for?
Lewis: Because it’s there.
First Griner: It’s there all right. You get in there and can’t get out, you gonna wish it wasn’t.
Tags: Bill McKinney, Deliverance (1972), Herbert 'Cowboy' Coward, James Dickey, John Boorman, John Voight, Mountain Man, Ned Beatty, Ronny Cox, Toothless Man
Posted in US, action, adventure, horror, suspense, thriller | 5 Comments »
The Mothman Prophecies (2002)
Written by James on November 16, 2008 – 2:10 pm -
It only comes out at night…
We’re into the realms of ‘based on a true story’ again here but, in all fairness to director Mark Pellington (Arlington Road (1999)), whether or not you believe the ‘Mothman’ yarns is irrelevant - the film still emerges as rather more than merely exploitative ’spookiness’.
Tags: Indrid Cold, Laura Linney, Mothman, Richard Gere, The Mothman Prophecies (2002), Will Patton
Posted in US, supernatural, suspense, thriller | No Comments »
Repo Man (1984)
Written by Colin on November 12, 2008 – 5:32 pm -
Always intense…
You will kindly bear with me here when I explain that it’s taken me quite some time to review this, one of my favourite films ever. You see, it’s kind of because I can’t explain why I like it. It’s one of those films that don’t seem to really mean anything, it has no message for mankind or anything so lofty and virtuous, and has special effects that make Ed Wood’s Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959) look like a total CGI-fest.
Tags: Alex Cox, Ed Wood, Emilio Estevez, Fox Harris, Harry Dean Stanton, Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959), Repo Man (1984
Posted in US, punk, surreal | 3 Comments »
The Osterman Weekend (1983)
Written by James on November 10, 2008 – 11:26 pm -
Sam’s last gasp
A funny one, this - but, as it was made by Sam Peckinpah, and it was his last film before his death in 1984, funny peculiar.
Tags: Burt Lancaster, Chris Sarandon, Craig T. Nelson, Daily Mail, Dennis Hopper, Meg Forster, Robert Ludlum, Rutger Hauer, Sam Peckinpah, The Osterman Weekend (1983)
Posted in US, suspense, thriller | 6 Comments »
Hail To The Chief: A Brief History of American Movie Presidents
Written by James on October 13, 2008 – 1:23 pm -
Following the victory of Barack Obama in the 2008 US Presidential Elections, Cillian Donnelly (author of what was Picturenose’s most popular post, 100 Movies To Be Seen Before You Die, until James’s Quantum of Solace review blew it away, ha-ha) returns with a look at how America’s Chief Executive has been portrayed on the silver screen. So, another list of films, eh Cillian? Nice one…
Tags: Abraham Lincoln, Airforce One (1997), Alexander Knox, Amistad (1997), Annie (1982), Anthony Hopkins, Biff McGuire, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989), Bill Pullman, Birth of a Nation, Blind Ambition (1979), Bob Gunton (1995), Churchill and the Generals (1979), Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course (2002), Dan O’Herlihy, Dave (1993), DC 9/11: Time of Crisis (2003), Dean Stockwell, Dennis Quaid, Dick (1999), Dr Strangelove, Dr Strangelove (1964), DW Griffith, Fail Safe (1964), Freedom: A History of US (2002), Frost/Nixon, George Bush, George W.Bush, George Washington, Harrison Ford, Henry Fonda, Independence Day (1996), It Happened One Night (1935), J. Edgar Hoover (1987), James Stewart, Jason Robards, John Fitgerald Kennedy, John Quincy Adams, John Voight, Kevin Kline, Kissenger and Nixon (1995), Krusty the Klown, Lyndon Johnson, MacArthur (1977), Night Moves (1975), Nixon (1995), Oliver Stone, Oppenheimer (1980), Paul Schrader, Pearl Harbor (2001), Richard Milhouse Nixon, Robin Williams, Ronald Reagan, Roosevelt, Secret Honour (1984), Seven Days in May (1963), Sullivan's Travels (1941), That's My Bush! (2001), The American President (1995), The Blue and the Grey (1982), The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951), The Godfather (1972), The Grapes of Wrath (1938), The Longest Yard (1974), The Walker (2007), Three Days of the Condor (1975), Timothy Bottoms, Tom Hanks, Tricky Dicky, Truman at Potsdam (1976), Ulysses S Grant, W (2009), Watergate, Werewolf of Washington (1973), Wilson (1944), Winchell (1998), Woodrow Wilson, Woody Harrelson, You Only Live Twice (1967), Young Mr Lincoln (1939)
Posted in US, film fun, film list | No Comments »
Wolf Creek (2005)
Written by James on October 6, 2008 – 10:20 am -
Grim scary tale
In this age of carbon-copy horror, of excreble sequels and ‘three-quels’ (and ‘four-quels’, and ‘five-quels’?), such as with the Saw franchise, it is refreshing to see that there are still directors out there who are capable of putting the audience through it - the most recent genre example, before Greg McLean’s Wolf Creek (2005), was Fabrice Du Welz’s Calvaire (2004) but, such is the intensity of McLean’s vision, Calvaire seems like a picnic in the woods by comparison…
Tags: Calvaire, Calvaire (2004), Cassandra Magrath, Fabrice du Welz, Greg McLean, John Jarratt, Kestie Morassi, Nathan Philips, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), Wolf Creek (2005)
Posted in US, horror | 4 Comments »
In Her Shoes (2005)
Written by James on September 18, 2008 – 12:35 pm -
Shoe sighs
This was a big hit in the US, apparently: nice to know that appreciation of contrived and lifeless ‘dramedy’ is alive and well.
Tags: Being John Malkovich (1999), Cameron Diaz, Curtis Hanson, In Her Shoes (2005), L.A. Confidential (1997), Shirley Maclaine, Susannah Grant, Toni Collette, Vanilla Sky (2001)
Posted in US, comedy, dramedy | No Comments »
The Da Vinci Code (2006)
Written by James on September 17, 2008 – 1:44 pm -
Code cracker
Given all the recent talk on Picturenose about alleged bad films (and Colin taking the mickey because I did in fact happen to enjoy The Bodyguard (1992)), the time seems right to present my take on a very successful film (that was adapted from a hugely successful book) that, er, didn’t go down too well with the critics on its initial release. Well, I liked it, and here’s why…