jd-116 Reviews

Easy Rider (1969)

A cautionary tale

[2/10 · 23 June 2018]

This a morality tale about what happens to you if you're a hop-head bum with too much money. Though I very much doubt the producers saw it that way.

There are things to like about this movie. The scenery, at least in the first half, is stunning. And some of the sound track (Steppenwolf, Hendrix) is good. In 1969 I was a freshman at Oxford, I thought it was crap back then. Inspired by Peter Fonda's recent remarks I just (June 2018) watched it again and (unsurprisingly) it's got no better.

(Spoilers) Two layabout drug dealers (Fonda, Hopper) make a big score, then they buy a couple of motor bikes that look a bit more than they can handle, especially when under the influence of weed. Both the bikes stay implausibly clean, bright and shiny for the rest of the movie. From then on it's a road film, they pick up one bum and drop him off in a hippy commune. Cut to some skinny-dipping scenes. Then driving on, and finding themselves accidentally (probably too hopped up to notice) an unscheduled part of a town parade they get gaoled, but miraculously the cops are too stupid to find their stash of money or dope. In the hoosegow they meet the town drunk (Nicholson) and in the morning they set off together on their way to New Orleans. Stopping off at a diner, just the sight of them pisses off the local law (and as Barry Norman used to say "And Why Not?"). They leave. Queue some portentous dialogue about advanced space aliens being in control. Being of no further use, the Nicholson character is conveniently bumped off by some hillbilly Trump supporters with baseball bats, our two heroes then bike on to Louisiana where they visit a brothel but are too stoned to get their rocks off. And finally (they probably couldn't think of another way to end this nonsense) Hopper flips the bird at a couple of confederate deplorables and understandably they blow his head off. Which is what I'd wanted to do from the first minute. They kill Fonda too in the final scene and I liked that even better. In fact I cheered.

So by the end, it's a feel-good movie. Not as good as Death Wish but it has its moments.

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Ghostbusters, but without the laughs.

[4/10 · 30 July 2016]

This film is so bad it could pass for a James Bond movie of the Roger Moore era. But without the beautiful girls. A puerile script, detestable characters and zero credibility. And that's before I get to the action sequences which were quite risible. I'm perfectly cool with the notion of killing a bunch of Nazi soldiers but when the said Nazi soldiers are shown to be a bunch of half-wits then just what is the point?

Shame, I liked the first ten minutes or so, when he's dodging the booby traps, stealing the stuff and outwitting the savages. But it was all downhill once Denholm Elliott showed up. Not his fault of course, he didn't write this tripe. Two hours of completely wasted time. It seemed longer.

An Affair to Remember (1957)

Sentimental tripe

[3/10 · 13 April 2016]

I had to watch this twice on account of I fell asleep the first time. So I went and looked at the reviews and it's good, they said, so I gave it another go. I wish, I really wish I hadn't bothered. First of all those ghastly kids. I hate kids in movies, whether they are the Dead- End variety in Angels with Dirty Faces, or (as here) when they are all wiped clean, polished and given songs to sing. In fact I hate that kind the most. Truly emetic.

And then there's the improbable plot, the oh so nice grannie, and the pretense that Cary Grant's paintings are any good (they looked like the sort of cheap prints you buy in Woolworth's to me).

No, just sentimental rubbish. Don't waste your time.

Far from the Madding Crowd (2015)

Inadequate remake

[7/10 · 2 April 2016]

I'm one of those people who saw the John Schlesinger version of this film at an impressionable age when it first came out and who has been in love with Julie Christie ever since. So I was always going to be hard to please. This film would just about do, were it not for the existence of the earlier work but there are some serous flaws, mainly that none of the principle characters can hold a candle to those in the earlier version.

To be plausible as the beautiful Bathsheba Everdene you have to be strikingly good looking. I have no wish to insult Carey Mulligan but she just isn't. She is never going to turn every man she encounters weak at the knees.

I got no sense of romance or danger from Tom Sturridge as the dashing Sergeant, in fact I thought he seemed rather epicene.

Poor old Gabriel was well-enough served by Matthias Schoenaerts, but were no actors available who could have given us a plausibly rustic accent? Michael Sheen does his best as Farmer Boldwood but is let down by the script. You just don't see enough of him. In the 1967 version you could see Peter Finch literally going mad in slow motion and when he kills the Sergeant it's no surprise at all. Not so here. Add to all that the sub-plot of Fanny Robin who only makes the most fleeting appearance here, and the generally higher production values of the older version (marvellous photography, great score by Richard Rodney Bennett) not to mention the nearly one hour longer running time and you wonder why anybody bothered trying to compete.

This film is not a stinker, but if you can, try to get hold of the John Schlesinger version. It's just in a different class.

The Wrong Box (1966)

Witless tripe

[1/10 · 31 January 2015]

This is another candidate for the ultimate anti-accolade; that of "The Worst Film I Ever Saw". The difference with this one is that it unaccountably, bafflingly, scores respectably at IMDb.

Peter Cook and Dudley Moore can be quite funny but their proper milieu is the 30-minute TV sketch show. Then there's the script. There might be a funny screen-play waiting to be written on the chosen plot subject, that of the last-surviving competitors in a tontine being two brothers who hate each other.... but this isn't it.

I think the best you can say about this film is that all the players (and what an impressive cast they are) do their best with this witless material. But it's all pointless. To make a decent comedy there have to be a few jokes scattered about. Funny ones work best for me.

I didn't as much as smile once. A complete waste of time.

Red Light (1949)

It stinks

[5/10 · 15 October 2013]

I thinks this film stinks, right from the opening titles dominated by a dreadful derivative score from Dmitri Tiomkin. Did nobody tell him that the Gregorian chants for the Mass for the Dead are so nineteenth century? Or that Berlioz and Liszt flogged it death (so to speak) a hundred years before? And as for that Ave Maria stuff, it's just sick-making. Barf.

I was going to give this tripe three out of ten, but then I recalled Raymond Burr as a pretty good bad guy and upped it to five. He is the sole redeeming feature of this very poor movie. (Is it a spoiler to say Raymond Burr plays a bad guy in this? I'm assuming not, he was making a career out of such roles by then).

But as for George Raft... oh dear oh dear. How did a no-talent bum like that ever make it in the movie business? Is he even slightly credible in any of the roles he plays? The day before watching this I saw Background to Danger (1943) and I thought to myself is this guy always this bad? Now that's another poor film almost redeemed by the top notch supporting cast (Lorre, Greenstreet), but the dead weight of Mr Raft is just too much for them to carry. As I said on one of the message boards, the fairies at the bottom of my garden would eat this so-called tough guy up for breakfast and then call for their porridge.

The saccharine ending had me reaching for the sick-bag too. I can't blame that on Mr Raft, that's solely down to the production team.

Unless you're a Raymond Burr fan, this film is just a waste of time.

The Water Babies (1978)

Crashing disappointment

[3/10 · 26 September 2013]

I loved Lionel Jeffries as an actor from when I was a young teenager. As CPO Sidney Kraut in Two Way Stretch he was nothing short of brilliant, stealing every scene from no less than Peter Sellers, Quite simply, he was a talent of surprising versatility best known for comedy but also with a a portfolio of character roles.

His directing career started off like that of Orson Welles.... The Railway Children is simply in a class of its own, an outstanding film that appeals to the whole family but without patronising in any way.

The Amazing Mister Blunden was not as good but it's still worth a look.

So how the blazes did he end up directing dross like this? Did he need the money? I would like to think that, beyond directing the film, he didn't play much of a part in the production. The original idea, the (dreadful) script, the pitching of it to the investors.... please tell me it was all done by somebody else. Because this film is a crock. And just look at the cast. James Mason, Billie Whitelaw, Bernard Cribbins and the voices that you never get to see are pretty much a Who's Who of British acting talent of the time. Quite extraordinary.

Anyway, to the film. I really didn't like the child actor in the lead role. He's an ugly little brat with too much hair and a nasty voice. And he's in every scene for the whole 105 minutes (and, believe me, it seems a lot longer). And, much as I admire James Mason and Bernard Cribbins neither of them are going to be pointing at this as a piece of work that they are proud of. The animation is poor, and the less said about the quality of the musical score the better for everybody.

All in all, it's pretty damn poor, and a blot on the CV of the great Lionel Jeffries.

Murder by Contract (1958)

Not noir at all

[7/10 · 15 September 2013]

I enjoyed this film, I gave it a 7. But I've a couple of gripes to offer.... it's described as a film noir but it's not. Most of the scenes are shot in broad daylight, and the indoor and night-time scenes are properly lit. So there's no hint of chiaroscuro, no dark sinister shadow in any of it. Also, there's no femme fatale egging the guy on to do the wrong thing. The female (intended) victim is certainly no Barbara Stanwyck. Nice to hear her playing the Bach 2nd English Suite by the way, I wonder how many times that has been played in a movie? Michael Granger (as Mr Moon) looks a lot like Richard Conte by the way, an actor who (with Elisha Cook Jr) almost defines the noir genre. But, as I said, this is no film noir.

The killer is supposed to be an ice-cold pro but he basically wasted an entire week goofing around before getting on with the job. No wonder George and Marc were cross with him. When he came, eventually, to case the joint he learned for the first time that the target was guarded 24/7 by a lot of cops and that this was not going to be an easy kill. With more thinking and observation time maybe he would not have messed up. In fact, maybe he would have worked out the storm-drain approach from the beginning. But then, of course, the film would have ended 20 minutes sooner and it would not have had the ending required by the production code!

Nevertheless, it's an enjoyable movie. The ending (as so often with otherwise promising films) is a bit lame, otherwise it would have been an 8.

The reason I looked this movie out is the reference to it in Martin Scorsese's documentary. But, apart from showing a brief clip from it, Mr Scorsese says nothing about it at all, except that he liked it. Which is a shame, I wish he had said more.

Foul Play (1978)

Truly terrible

[1/10 · 28 August 2013]

This is a strong candidate for the worst film I ever saw. Do I really have to add another 10 lines saying just how and why?

(Presses Preview button) It seems I do.

It's a poor state of affairs when the best thing you can say about a film is that the title song is the best thing about it. And especially when it's by Barry Manilow. That gives you an idea how bad this piece of crap is.

Try again.

No, still not enough. All right... how about that one of the bad guys is an albino. Now if I was an albino hit-man, I would definitely NOT go around in a white suit. Kind of conspicuous isn't it? Maybe I would do something to disguise my appearance a little. A little make-up, dark contact lenses, dark clothes, that kind of thing?

And if I was directing a comedy, I'd want a script that contains a few funny scenes, or some witty lines. But all we get is Goldie Hawn doing her laughter schtick, though what she's got to laugh about I don't know. She's a gorgeous-looking girl but it's just not enough. Sorry Goldie.

When the funniest thing in the script is a couple of elderly people playing scrabble and one of them comes up with "Muthafucker".... well that should have rung a bell somewhere among the production team.

How the hell did this abomination reach the screen? It sure baffles me.

The Masque of the Red Death (1964)

90-odd minutes of total tedium

[2/10 · 29 January 2013]

One's heart sinks as one sees the dread word "Roger" followed by "Corman" in the title sequence.

And, sure enough, this shocker lives right down to the expectations engendered by "Tales of Terror" and (even worse) "The Raven".

Were it not for the appearances of the gorgeous Hazel Court and the talented Nigel Green and Patrick Magee then this piece of crap would have no redeeming features at all. Without them, I would have scored it a 1. As it is, it gets a reluctant and grudging 2.

I can't believe I wasted 90 minutes watching this rubbish, except that I did exactly that in the case of The Raven, Tales of Terror, and The Abominable Dr Phibes. One might say that some people never learn from their experience, the trouble is, I keep hoping that one or other of these Vincent Price stinkers is going to be another "Theatre of Blood". Sadly however, TOB seems to be the solitary exception to the general rule which says that anything with Mr Price in it is almost certain to be a total bust.

And the pity of it is that one senses that VP was a damned good actor with a genuine comic gift. But he (and Peter Lorre too to a lesser extent) wasted his life making garbage like this. Such a shame.

U-571 (2000)

Fairly entertaining action movie

[6/10 · 27 October 2012]

Well I enjoyed this film. The plot line is absurd, but so what? So was Where Eagles Dare, The Dirty Dozen, Inglorious Basterds and many others.

No, it's a bit of all-action hokum set in a submarine. It doesn't compare well with Morning Departure, Above Us the Waves, We Dive at Dawn, and certainly not with the daddy of them all, Das Boot, but it's entertaining enough.

And to those fellow Brits who take umbrage at the notion that Hollywood is claiming that the US Navy did stuff that they didn't, well I say lighten up. It's just a movie, it's not pretending to be history, it's a story. My suggestion... save up your money and commission a film that shows the British SAS taking Iwo Jima, HMS Ark Royal winning the Battle of Midway and the Japanese surrender taking place on HMS King George V, after the dropping of The Bomb out of a Lancaster flown out of Burmah. Now THAT I'd like to see!

The Angry Silence (1960)

Drama and Documentary

[10/10 · 3 May 2012]

It's quite hard to find a copy of this excellent film but it's well worth the effort seeking it out.

At the very start we see a sinister agitator (Alfred Burke) arriving to meet the useful idiot shop steward (Bernard Lee) whose job it is to foment industrial warfare in the engineering firm from whom they both take wages.

We are shown how the workforce is alienated by the creation of a series of trivial disputes culminating in a strike initiated on a pretext whose REAL motive is the destruction of the company. Bear in mind that the elimination of British industry one company at a time was a strategic objective of the Russian communists throughout the postwar period. (It was only after his death that it was learned that Jack Jones, a prominent Trades Union leader during the 1960s and 70s was a paid Soviet agent.)

At the centre of this drama is a dissenting figure played (in a strong and convincing performance) by Dickie Attenborough who resents being told what to do by a bunch of union thugs following a mass-meeting.

His story, the uncomfortable choices with which he was presented, and the distressing consequences of his actions are the subject matter of this important film.

It was not for another 20+ years after the making of this drama-documentary that the industrial relations climate in the UK was belatedly altered for the better by the Thatcher government. Better late than never, but by then much damage (including the destruction of the UK car industry) had been done.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)

Total Stinker

[1/10 · 18 January 2012]

I was sure I was going to enjoy this film, but what a disappointment it was.

The pace is leaden rather than suspenseful, the violence is gratuitous, and the plot is quite inexplicable to anybody who has not read the book. And what the Dickens were they doing turning Peter Guillam into a homosexual? Just what the hell is that all about? And did nobody realise that casting Roger Lloyd-Pack (only known for Trigger in the BBC sit-com "Only Fools and Horses") as Mendel was going to blank any credibility of that character? And what were those swimming shots for? (And is there anything more ridiculous than the sight of a man swimming while wearing horn-rimmed spectacles?)

Anybody tempted to watch this rubbish should instead go out and buy the DVD of the BBC serial made in 1979. It will take you longer to watch, but it is more suspenseful, better acted, better directed, better scripted and better paced. Better everything in fact.

And all this Oscar talk..... I'm just baffled. (Just like last year, when another crappy remake (True Grit) got a lot of nominations.) I don't understand it at all.

Oil City Confidential (2009)

Just Brilleaux!

[10/10 · 17 January 2012]

I don't listen to a lot of popular music so I was late discovering the Feelgoods... by the time I found out about them their best days were over. This film sets out what I missed.

It would have been much easier to have produced a talking heads bio-pic using interviews with the musicians and their connections, but instead Julien Temple gives us a clever narration tracing the history of Canvey Island (with newsreel clips from the devastating flood of 1953), the way the guys met each other and (this is the clever bit) inter-cutting it with entertaining and illustrative clips from black and white gangster films from the golden age of British film-making. I spotted Payroll (1961), The Criminal (1960), Brighton Rock (1947), but I am sure there are others in there too.

The main narrative is given by Wilko Johnson, a seminal figure in British music of the 1970s, who tells us about his personal history before and during his time with Dr Feelgood, the band which he joined and helped to make great in the early 1970s. It covers the early success with their first three albums, and relates how personal differences led to him leaving after their fourth album, "Sneaking Suspicion". The surviving members of the original line-up, Wilko Johnson, Big Figure, and Sparko are all featured and it's nice to see that they are all remain great friends.

There is archive footage of the band performing as well as interviews with Lee Brilleaux who died of lymphoma at the tragic age of 41.

If I make any criticism of this film at all, it is that we are not shown more of Gypie Mayo, who replaced Wilko Johnson as lead guitarist in 1975. He was another top-drawer guitar player whose sound drove the Feelgoods in a slightly different direction, leading to great popular success. But the film is basically Wilko's story, and let's take it as that. Big thumbs up, top stuff.

Mutiny on the Bounty (1962)

Great performance by Trevor Howard

[7/10 · 16 November 2011]

I enjoyed this film. First off though, the popular mythology of the Bounty mutiny is completely wide of the mark. Bligh was not a tyrant, he was not admonished by the Admiralty, he secured many subsequent promotions and finished up as a Rear-Admiral. The ship Bounty was too small to have an officer corps, and Lieutenant Bligh was the only officer aboard. Fletcher Christian was a ranker. So much for historical truth! Never mind, it's a cracking tale. Trevor Howard is brilliant as the martinet Capt. Bligh, who dominates every scene he is in. Brando on the other hand... well actually once I had got over his risible accent (Meryl Streep he ain't) he got better and better.

I won't go over the plot, but some of the sailing sequences are awesome. The attempt to round the Horn is quite frightening (that bit was accurate at least). Overall, I gave it 7, it would have been 8 except that once Bligh is kicked off the ship it falls a little flat, and by the end I felt it had gone on too long. But definitely worth watching.

How the West Was Won (1962)

Overblown and pretentious

[3/10 · 13 November 2011]

I'm not an American, and if I was I would be proud of it. Their history only goes back 250 years or so, but it is as interesting and eventful as that of Europe, maybe more so. So I don't criticise this film from the point of view of the sneering anti-American, nor from that of the self-loathing liberal type who finds American history a source of shame. No, I disliked this film on its own merits; a poor script, poor acting, a nonsensical story line and poor music.

To the film... it kicks off with an Overture. About 5 minutes of cornball music. Just terrible. After Act 1 you get another Overture (this time they call it an Entr'Act (and how pretentious is that?) and it's equally pointless. And at the end, there's another bunch of crappy music, in the place where the cast and credits ought to be. Now I can understand that nobody associated with this rubbish might want to see their name listed at the end of it, but it is expected.

About the stuff in between the less said the better. Too much, way too much, song and dance from Ms Reynolds (Singing in the Rain is the only good film she was ever in), and a corny script. I did enjoy the gunfight on the train at the end, perhaps Eli Wallach is the only actor who can look back on this production without embarrassment.

There is a great movie to be made about how the west was settled and won from the savages and the outlaws, but this isn't it. I give it 3 out of 10 for the scenery. There are some great shots of the landscape.

Barry Lyndon (1975)

A total stinkeroo

[2/10 · 24 September 2011]

Where to start with this pile of crap? How about the obscene length of it? By half way through I was just willing somebody, anybody, to blow Ryan O'Neal's head off and put an end to this ordeal.

This film could have been so different. Just imagine if Michael Caine had been cast in the main role, he would have created some humour and sympathy for a basically disgusting, cowardly and hateful character. But no, Ryan O'Neal runs the gamut of the emotions from A to B. He has the charisma of an "I speak your weight" machine, and I just could not wait for him to get what he deserved.

I give this a 2, it would have been 1 but there are some good shots of the scenery (which does a better acting job than the principals).

In Bruges (2008)

Fifth rate rip-off of Pulp Fiction

[2/10 · 5 August 2011]

In Pulp Fiction, the dialogue was, if not witty exactly, at least funny from time to time. And you empathise to an extent with Jules and whateverisnamewas, especially after the scene where they are cleaning up the car. That's really quite funny.

There's nothing equivalent in "In Bruges", (and they can't even spell or call it right, the city is really named Brugge as everybody knows) and I don't understand the point at all. WTF is all that stuff with the midget all about? And why is it to be assumed that just because a guy uses the c-word every third time he opens his mouth that that makes him well hard? (Sexy Beast, another totally crap film, makes the same mistake). The fairies at the bottom of my garden are harder than Harry is.

As a gangster film it's ludicrous. (Has there been a decent gangster film since Lee Marvin died?) And as a comedy it fails the very first test... it just ain't funny.

My rating 2 stars out of 10, and it only gets them on account of the lovely shots of the wonderful city of Brugge that you get to see by accident every so often.

In the Loop (2009)

Not comedy, Not satire. Documentary.

[7/10 · 7 April 2011]

During a fit of collective insanity the British people voted for a charlatan snake-oil salesman to be Prime Minister in 1997 and then re-elected him twice more. This film (together with the TV series from which it is a spin-off) is a record of the disgusting, bullying manner in which Tony Blair's head spin doctor, (actually a man named Alastair Campbell, but here named Malcolm Tucker) ran the government.

It nicely paints a picture of just one of the ineffectual, dim, gaff-prone and incompetent ministers with which Saint Tony surrounded himself. Unfortunately we never get to glimpse the more senior figures of this feckless government, Gordon Brown and the appalling Mr Blair himself.

Quite bravely, the film sets out how the "intelligence" was manipulated by Campbell/Tucker in such a way that it gave credence to the necessity for the Iraq war. With hindsight this is perhaps the most egregious example of outrageous behaviour on his part, but maybe there are other examples still to come out. But it literally beggars belief that an unelected oaf like Campbell/Tucker should have been given the power and authority to act on the Prime Minister's behalf in the way that he did.

It has been pointed out that this film does for contemporary politics what "Yes Minister" did in the 1980s. Very true. Ministers are shown as complete bloody fools being manipulated by the Civil Servants ("Yes Minister") or private office appointees ("In the Loop"). "Yes Minister" was also quite misleadingly described as "Comedy". No, this will not do. Both these pieces are documentary, but funny nevertheless.

You laugh at the time, but if you think about it, you cry. What a state we have come to.

True Grit (2010)

Not worth the trouble

[4/10 · 13 February 2011]

I don't usually review films especially when there are, as in this case, over three hundred reviews posted already, which is way too high a number for all of them ever to be read. What's new to say? In this case I felt moved to offer an opposing opinion to that of the Cohen Bros fan club that is too well represented here.

================================

I am suspicious when they re-make classics, but I watched this movie hoping that my scepticism would prove misguided. However, to those who said that this film has been made before, only better, you are absolutely right. Not only is Jeff Bridges (whose body of work I greatly admire) quite unsuitably cast in this role, but neither is the supporting cast up to scratch. My favourite and very funny scene in the 1969 version between Struther Martin and Kim Darby is only palely imitated here.

For the rest, the pacing is too slow, Jeff Bridges' speech is often hard to understand, and the other male supports are wasted. And the photography? A lot of it is in complete darkness. You can't see what's the Dickens is going on.

To be positive, the unpleasant and vindictive character of Matty Ross is portrayed very well by Miss Steinfeld. I hope she isn't like that in real life.

Among the other bad points, I want to single out the frightful singing by the woman (somebody called Iris DeMent apparently) during the closing credits. Just toe-curlingly embarrassing. So bad, they should book her for the next Superbowl.

There is just one improvement on the original, that we get to see Matty Ross in later life, grown up into a poisonous embittered old bag. Thinking about it, that was always a possibility but it's still a nice touch. Maybe that comes from the book, I never read it (and why should I, it's not likely to be Shakespeare is it?).

Overall though, the original 1969 version with the Duke is otherwise better in almost all respects. Which should surprise nobody.

To summarise, it's not the 1-star stinker some say, but it's certainly not worth seeking out or paying money to see. And, not knowing anything of Hollywood politics, all these Oscar nominations just have to be a joke, don't they? Just how the hell does that all work?

The General (1998)

Fat sociopath gets comeuppance

[3/10 · 9 November 2010]

I saw this film just after having sat through The Sopranos, and was struck by the similarities.

The central character is a fat sociopath who leads a life of crime including armed robbery, murder, torture and perverting the course of justice. He is surrounded by a small army of other low-lives who carry out his instructions.

None of the characters is engaging, and I personally didn't give a damn what happened to any of them, except that I was quite pleased when the Cahill character got rubbed out, which happens at the very start of the film. (The rest of what you see is a flash-back.) On the positive side, at least you didn't have to watch 6 whole series of one-hour episodes to reach the denouement, and there's a decent performance from Jon Voigt. I'm not Irish but I thought his accent was pretty good.

The Sopranos (1999–2007)

At least I didn't pay anything to watch this tripe.....

[2/10 · 7 November 2010]

...because I downloaded it as a torrent (which is legal where I now live).

So the only thing I wasted watching it is the time I spent.

It started off fairly well I thought. Bad guys get bumped off at regular intervals and that's good. Surely, I thought, somebody is going to whack that obnoxious Christopher character one day? But then it all degenerates into a soap opera based on Tony's dysfunctional family. I mean the close relations, not the other guys in the crew. That frightful spoilt wife of his (with a ghastly voice like Hillary Clinton's) is bad enough, but their revolting spoilt children? Like who gives a damn what happens to them (unless they get the good smack they each deserve?) And what was that Paris trip all about? An excuse for the production team to take a European vacation? And all those disgusting scenes with Vito, a bit more left to the imagination would have been more becoming. Still I did laugh out loud when Phil (another bad-ass with no redeeming features) got whacked. The sound effects guys did a good job there.

Overall, it's a waste of time. Too much boredom, I found myself fast-forwarding a lot through the domestic scenes. The occasional bits of humour and violence do not outweigh the overall sense of tedium.

High Anxiety (1977)

Utter waste of time

[2/10 · 8 October 2010]

In 1968 he gave us The Producers, one of my top ten favourite films.

In 1974, Blazing Saddles, a great film, very funny.

Also in 1974, Young Frankenstein. Also great.

But after that, it's just one stinkeroo after another.

This film is total crap. Well, perhaps not total, there's the shower scene which is quite funny, and there's the one where all the birds are crapping on him but otherwise a complete dead loss.

Did I really waste 2 hours watching this rubbish? Sadly yes.

If you have to watch every film Mel Brooks made then go for it, but you WILL regret it.

Asylum (I) (1972)

Low-budget tripe

[2/10 · 10 August 2009]

You just know this film is going to be rubbish when the music starts. Rather than commission a movie score from somebody they went to the record library and got out "Night on Bare Mountain" which was conveniently out of copyright. How cheap can you get? The only reason to watch this rubbish is if you are an Herbert Lom fan who wants to see the entire body of his work. He (and Patrick Magee) are good in this, in fact these performances may be the film's only redeeming features. If that's you, well the good news is you can skip most of the film (which is rubbish), Herbert doesn't appear until the final vignette.

Otherwise it's one to forget about.

Left Right and Centre (1959)

Not very good

[4/10 · 31 January 2008]

Amusing by moments. Not worth staying up late for though.

A slightly interesting throw-back to a time when the British Labour party was not the contemptible and self-serving organisation that it is now.

Alastair Sim steals every scene he is in of course as he always does, unfortunately there are not very many of them. He is given top billing, and the only reason I watched this was that it was a make-weight in the Alastair Sim collection from Amazon, but in truth he is only in it by moments. Almost a fraud.

Ian Carmichael has made an entire career out of being a total bozo, and this film is no different from any of the others.

And the ending is totally predictable.