Chris Hemsworth is amusing as usual playing this goofy muscleman/god character. The rest of the film is pretty bad.
It may be time for Marvel to up their game a bit on these movies, it seems like the series has been drifting rudderless since Avengers Endgame. This film was truly a waste of time.
Anita Mui a Hong Kong singer and actress is the whole show in this love/ghost story directed by Stanley Kwan. Mui was a major personality in the world of Asian entertainment. She died of a brain tumor at 40 years old. She was frequently associated with Jackie Chan and shows up in many of his films in odd roles like the step-mother or sort of a second choice girlfriend frequently playing down her glamorous looks.
Mui actually doesn't act much in this film in the traditional sense. But she is a powerful physical presence throughout the film. She does manage to portray a look of desperation and sadness throughout the later part of the film that is very effective
This is a rather unusual film to come out of Hong Kong in the 1980's. Most of the films at that time were action films or action fantasy films for the most part.
The film was written by Yau Tai Ping On and Lilian Lee Pik Wah, the running time is 96 minutes.
Arnold Schwarzenegger was getting towards the end of his run as the preeminent action star of the 1990's. Eraser is probably the last really entertaining Arnold action movie.
The film has very entertaining action scenes and Arnold playing off of a strong group of actors certainly helps the film.
Walon Green and Tony Puryear get screenplay credit, but apparently there were a lot of other uncredited writers involved in the film, the film runs 114 minutes.
A very good mystery thriller reminiscent of a Hitchcock film particularly The Lady Vanishes, although Hitchcock generally stayed away from mystery stories. Emily Mortimer and Woody Harrelson play American missionaries returning from a trip working in China at their church mission. They choose to take the Transsiberian Railroad which is a seven day train ride that runs through the heart of frozen Siberia. While on the train they meet another couple who they bond with. Meanwhile a Russian police detective is on the trail of a killer that has stolen a supply of some illegal drugs.
For the most part the actors give excellent performances with British actress Emily Mortimer a standout playing an American wife with a complicated past. Woody Harrelson not really one of my favorite actors actually does a good job as her hayseed hardware store manager husband. Ben Kinglsey is the Russian detective who at first seems like a decent guy but is a hardened cop underneath his likable persona.
The film was a disappointment at the box office for some reason and lost money, the victim of poor marketing perhaps, who knows. It's still a very good film in a time when it's hard to put together a decent thriller.
The film was written by the directer Brad Anderson and Will Conroy. The running time is 111 minutes.
After nearly 50 years of eye poking, head bashing and just the general abuse of Curley Joe and Larry by Moe, The Three Stooges finally retired. Their last feature film was The Outlaws IS Coming. The film is a semi funny spoof of western films, but the movie really can't measure up to their famous Columbia Studios two reel films that entertained kids in the late 50's and early 60's.
However when you were looking for something on TV that was just plain funny, these were your guys. They would never be confused with Ernest Lubitsch, Charlie Chaplin or Max Linder but in a lot of their short films they were good.
This film was written by Elwood Ullman who worked on many of their comedies. The running time is a painless 89 minutes.
Based on an actual case about the investigation of South Korea's first serial murder. This is an extremely well made film. In a small town in a rural part of South Korea the bodies of two women are found. The police force in this area begin an investigation but it becomes clear that their lack of experience in this type of crime is way over their heads. Arriving from Seoul to lend some expertise is a police inspector who begins to piece together the crimes. This is the jumping off point for a film that looks at the emotional toll the investigation takes and at the same time manages to be a very involving thriller about a police investigation.
The film has fine performances from the cast and the photography and editing is at a very high level. The film has some sick humor and captures the lives of some police detectives who are barely going through the motions at their job.
Overall a very impressive sophomore film. Usually new directors fall on their faces with their second film. Not in this case.
Written by Bong Joon-ho and Shim Sung-bo the running time is 131 minutes.
Just when the world thought the disaster movie cycle ended in the 1970's not one but two volcano movies came roaring into the theaters during the 1990's and they were just 7 months apart. For my money I think Volcano is the more entertaining of the two movies for the chief reason that it has Tommy Lee Jones as the main lead in the film.
Volcano is entertaining in a crowd pleasing action movie kind of way. If the film gets off track it's when it tries to make a comment on racial harmony which hardly seems like a good time considering Wilshire Blvd is about to be reduced to ashes.
I suspect a lot of the enjoyment of this film is due to watching the city of Los Angeles being burned to a crisp. Anyway the film was written by Jerome Armstrong and Billy Ray, the running time is 104 minutes.
Actor, director and co writer Sammo Hung practically invents the martial arts horror film with this rather idiotic comedy. Sammo plays a man doing battle with ghosts in a haunted house while simultaneously dealing with a cheating wife.
There's lots of fighting towards the end of the film and a lot of it is just really foolish even for my low brow taste. I know that a lot of these Asian action films like to combine humor with action but in this case "oh come on."
Sammo Hung is a very talented guy and the film was a big hit for him so this probably puts me in the minority opinion on this film. The film was written by Sammo and Huang Ying, the running time is 98 minutes.
A film made early in the careers of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger soon to be known as The Archers. As was to be the case, Powell directs while Pressburger contributes the screenplay. Contraband is a spy thriller which reminded me of the early Hitchcock films. The film does contain the usual quirky characters that The Archers would specialize and Powell even in this early part of his career is good with his camera setups.
In a way the film is better than a lot of Hitchcock's early films, Powell and Pressburger always payed careful attention to the characters in their films something Hitchcock would not always do if it got in the way of one of his famous suspense set pieces. The picture is also greatly aided by the photography of F.A. Young a cinematographer who would later shoot David Lean's super epics.
The running time is a very entertaining 92 minutes
As the Second World War began to wind down, filmmakers started to tell war stories that were more accessible to the general public instead of the usual propaganda formula that Hollywood churned out during the beginning and peak of the war. One of these more intimate war films was Lewis Milestone's A Walk In The Sun which focuses on a platoon of soldiers during the invasion of Salerno Italy who are responsible for taking a farmhouse which contains a German machine gun nest.
The soldiers are a cross section of "average American Joes." As the men march towards the farmhouse the screenplay focuses in on their personalities and at times isn't afraid to show the fear that some of the men develop worrying that they might be shot and killed.
The film has an excellent cast beginning with the underrated Dana Andrews as Sergent Tyne who by default ends up leading the mission. Norman Lloyd is a grumpy private, John Ireland is a minister's son and Sterling Hayden usually associated with comedic roles is the platoon medic. Burgess Meredith narrates the film, and a ballad is performed throughout the film that counterpoints the action.
The film was made on a tight budget, but Milestone's skill still shines through. When he was at the peak of his ability, Milestone was one of Hollywood's best directors.
The screenplay was by Robert Rossen who went on to become a distinguished director himself. The running time is 117 minutes
The prequel to the great television series Lonesome Dove, this followup is just a complete train wreck of a film.
The film appears to cover the early lives of Larry McCurtry's characters, Captain Woodrow F. Call and Captain Augustus "Gus" McCrae and their time as Texas Rangers. But the script gives them next to nothing to work with.
Larry McMurtry and his writing partner Diana Ossana adapted McMurtry's book and also have producer credits on this show, so I believe they probably have to carry a lot of the blame for it's complete failure.
The running time is a very long 284 minutes.
So shockingly bad as a film it almost had to be deliberate. The sequel to a film probably nobody wanted and a big career killer for one time box office champ Burt Reynolds. The film almost defies any attempt to summarize the plot or explain the strange casting that prevails throughout the film.
Burt Reynolds and Dom DeLuise are part of a racing team with DeLuise also playing his alter ego Captain Chaos and an Italian mobster called Don Canneloni. Members of Don Canneloni's gang include Abe Vigoda, Alex Rocco, Henry Silva and playwright Michael V. Gazzo. Hispanic actor Ricardo Montalban plays an Arab Shiek with Jamie Farr playing his son. It just gets weirder.
Throw in appearances by Telly Savalas, Charles Nelson Riley, Tim Conway, Don Knotts, Jim Nabors, Jack Elam and god knows who else and you have a who's who of the 1980's Hollywood performer scene. Did I mention there is also an orangutan involved. The film was partially financed by Golden Harvest a company that Jackie Chan was associated with so Chan ends up appearing as one of the drivers along with former James Bond villain Richard Kiel. Chan's participation guaranteed box office success in Asia.
The mess was directed by Hal Needham a former stuntman who was also a buddy of Burt Reynolds. Needham was an expert in staging car stunts but not much else, he lets the actors run amok throughout the film.
Obviously just describing the cast should give you an idea of what you are getting into. The film was written by Harvey Miller and Hal Needham, the running time is 108 very bizarre minutes.
If you have read Kafka's The Trial or even attempted to read The Trial, one would have to admit Welles stuck very close to the novel in transcribing it's nightmare story for the screen.
The film is full of Orson Welles's famous baroque touches using light and shadow and has some amazing tracking shots to give the story a real sense of an individual caught up in a bureaucratic mess.
Obviously this film is not for everyone, but I would recommend it and place it as one of the more successful films in Welles's eccentric film career.
The screenplay was by Welles and the running time is 118 minutes.
This is what I would call a typical Coen Brothers comedy. The characters are very stupid and the humor is very black. George Clooney plays a US Marshall who is definitely not the smartest guy in the room. He is having an affair with the wife of a fired CIA analyst played by John Malkovich. Malkovich's wife is played by Tilda Swinton in another one of her typically cold performances.
Since this is a Coen Brothers film, the level of film making is at their usual highly skilled level. I believe the problem here is that every character is just incredibly unlikable. The audience has literally no one to sympathize with. The film kind of leaves a bad taste in your mouth after it ends.
The Burn After Reading is certainly entertaining enough. But I think I have come to expect a little more from the Coens.
Written as usual by Joel and Ethan Coen, the running time is 96 minutes.
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