STANLEY KUBRICK'S CLASSIC SCOUNDREL EPIC OF 'BARRY LYNDON'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA5XWRs4fqdGqjnSKPOAZr8xISDm8N478UswCFSOA-OH5k99LinAoyBVD9ZIk8kZF-AytzfAXGP-6AW4s_WNg9CTgiRU8FsxT61AC5Gup0OcSSF2vaexMsb2hrK0WnmFilgQjDOgUE5oAkYlbFomTBUSWJutT08ETYcEz8eyOLdRw9Ayj2Pk5EXYrzQJEy/s2026/1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1160" data-original-width="2026" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA5XWRs4fqdGqjnSKPOAZr8xISDm8N478UswCFSOA-OH5k99LinAoyBVD9ZIk8kZF-AytzfAXGP-6AW4s_WNg9CTgiRU8FsxT61AC5Gup0OcSSF2vaexMsb2hrK0WnmFilgQjDOgUE5oAkYlbFomTBUSWJutT08ETYcEz8eyOLdRw9Ayj2Pk5EXYrzQJEy/s16000/1.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: BARRY LYNDON Year: 1975 Rating: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>In the mid-to-late 1700's Europe, by the time Ryan O'Neal's BARRY LYNDON has fled from his small hometown village in Ireland... then becomes a soldier at war and then a war-deserter and then a captured-deserter throughout several countries... ninety-minutes have passed... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Which is the length of an average film, and with so much literal ground covered, director Stanley Kubrick provides more an episodic journey than adventure since every location is its own thematic vignette with a beginning, middle and end...</p><p><span></span></p>

adventure, epic, godfrey quigley, hardy kruger, john bindon, lenoard rossiter, leon vitale, liam redmond, marisa berenson, melodrama, patrick magee, romance, ryan o'neal, seventies, stanley kubrick

STANLEY KUBRICK'S CLASSIC SCOUNDREL EPIC OF 'BARRY LYNDON'

Title: BARRY LYNDON Year: 1975 Rating: ****1/2 In the mid-to-late 1700's Europe, by the time Ryan O'Neal's BARRY LYNDON has fled...

CRUISING THROUGH STANLEY KUBRICK'S '2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEBDxvr0msbeCDp6p-n0p36s_pWmL8TfSdAbnfZAaLdVWlkUG6Tx_Orn7yPHao2YYaHMWTlBqD69GD-r4pIgyKXDPsjWcbstMAlyQSNOqd7suXorfC74lIGH1Q_MrrxDH4IOxrI9jHnAO5Duz36OvdUDmwWgF60Wo9g7RR6_pejfUYht34AiNrn1clwcxH/s2728/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-07%20at%207.53.04%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1318" data-original-width="2728" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEBDxvr0msbeCDp6p-n0p36s_pWmL8TfSdAbnfZAaLdVWlkUG6Tx_Orn7yPHao2YYaHMWTlBqD69GD-r4pIgyKXDPsjWcbstMAlyQSNOqd7suXorfC74lIGH1Q_MrrxDH4IOxrI9jHnAO5Duz36OvdUDmwWgF60Wo9g7RR6_pejfUYht34AiNrn1clwcxH/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-07%20at%207.53.04%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY Year: 1968 Rating: *****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The greatest cinema epics (from LAWRENCE OF ARABIA before to GOODFELLAS after) have various sequences that feel like their own separate short films that ultimately connect as a whole...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>And in that, Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY is a perfectly multi-tiered vehicle, showcasing both the advanced pioneering of space exploration through orbital technology with the formidable perils of its mere existence... </p><span></span>

adventure, epic, fantasy, gary lockwood, keir dullea, robert beatty, science-fiction, sean sullivan, sixties, stanley kubrick, thriller, william sylvester

CRUISING THROUGH STANLEY KUBRICK'S '2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY'

Title: 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY Year: 1968 Rating: ***** The greatest cinema epics (from LAWRENCE OF ARABIA before to GOODFELLAS after) have va...

GLENN FORD IN 'THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE'

<span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2WpAcgQ1EW290ypOs8CJiUws2wLFVw9E3WwkeTilOufLg3Ekuotism34PWOIsdF-ETK8NPuxRhSY9T6PsWG-vybGcX3xTJrmN9vX4FPy_fdYqWZn21JgBYvEPPvlT5_96X_A5U9-YCKrVgjbxHsb0KFTCF12ki4mglORwmhMr3dlHne9a4WSmrfJIsQ/s1170/Screen%20Shot%202022-03-27%20at%204.49.20%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="777" data-original-width="1170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2WpAcgQ1EW290ypOs8CJiUws2wLFVw9E3WwkeTilOufLg3Ekuotism34PWOIsdF-ETK8NPuxRhSY9T6PsWG-vybGcX3xTJrmN9vX4FPy_fdYqWZn21JgBYvEPPvlT5_96X_A5U9-YCKrVgjbxHsb0KFTCF12ki4mglORwmhMr3dlHne9a4WSmrfJIsQ/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202022-03-27%20at%204.49.20%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>YEAR: 1962</u></td></tr></tbody></table>In GET SHORTY, John Travolta's movie fanatic gangster brags about going to see "Charlton Heston playing a Mexican" on the big screen, a pop culture punchline for the classic border killing Film Noir TOUCH OF EVIL, probably since there wasn't anywhere to go from that point... I</span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">n actuality, Heston, known for chewing up intentionally overboard roles (many based on Biblical stories) is at his most subtle and genuine, turning in a surprisingly realistic and earthy performance while the likes of, "You damn dirty gringo!" is nowhere to be heard... </span><br> <br> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg67bdGiuiIoBoJWxt9tV1LvHQghEOA9Hw0rcgxWX66eL3zK15ND8_wI19WgVU1WywqTh3WHIY9P1LgHQz61pwygoI9ba6P_MjFcn5yjopmg27srYGFq2P3kmWohbqz0YEQgzLiE4DGdmlX/s1600/%2524%2528KGrHqV%252C%2521nsFJv%2529qWSH4BSeCeuekbg--60_1.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg67bdGiuiIoBoJWxt9tV1LvHQghEOA9Hw0rcgxWX66eL3zK15ND8_wI19WgVU1WywqTh3WHIY9P1LgHQz61pwygoI9ba6P_MjFcn5yjopmg27srYGFq2P3kmWohbqz0YEQgzLiE4DGdmlX/s400/%2524%2528KGrHqV%252C%2521nsFJv%2529qWSH4BSeCeuekbg--60_1.jpg" width="277"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Warner Archive Original Blue Cover</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> The same goes for Glenn Ford, a much more subtle and overall dependable actor to begin with, as the rich grandson of boisterous old-timer Lee J. Cobb; both are from Argentina; Ford a flaky, would-be painter hanging around Paris during the late 1930's without a care in the world — other than seducing a classy married French society dame played to perfection by Ingrid Thulin, whose husband is sent overseas to fight the Nazis: Those infamous devils being all too human here, including Ford's own cousin who was a med student in Germany before joining the Third Reich. This soft-spoken yet proud and intense young man is also the grandson of the family patriarch, Lee J. Cobb, who stretches a small amount of time onscreen to the hilt, and beyond...<br> <br> Leading to the most intense, memorable and important scene, and (arguably) the campiest. Cobb, who, along with grandson Ford, both bear the name of Julio (while looking entirely Caucasian), loses his mind after finding out, at a dinner party reunion, that one-third of his clan serve proudly under Adolf Hitler, making Cobb's Julio Sr. suffer a panic attack followed by a heart attack. Before which, he hallucinates the four title horsemen from the Bible's book of Revelations: a creepy and sinister vision riding the darkened clouds. This catapults a two-hour-plus soap operatic melodrama separating those against the Nazi takeover of France, like Julio's sister, a young idealistic college beauty, Yvette Mimieux, who tries to get her brother to stop having so much fun and to join the cause.<br>

charles boyer, epic, glenn ford, karlheinz böhm, lee j. cobb, melodrama, nazi, romance, sixties, war, warner archives, yvette mimieux

GLENN FORD IN 'THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE'

YEAR: 1962 In GET SHORTY, John Travolta's movie fanatic gangster brags about going to see "Charlton Heston playing a Mexican" ...

STANLEY KUBRICK'S PARANOIAC FILM NOIR OF 'EYES WIDE SHUT'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEggKbgavRlx8RIsE4_bzFwb1l0stWYK0261BW1EUz6g5W4_CxtQnQ7h5ko6p1bgTvyWSpkEke1EGkz3L3HxnB_Qbmu-dpkIuZWv8SBswpCSdaTfXaDbmDFHf-3F7j-PXN5AwrMR2axWt0fwAXgH7BvvJ0MBPGLSlV9o0ur9vlFU2iBp3xSzirvRR4Vp2w=s1043" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="498" data-original-width="1043" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEggKbgavRlx8RIsE4_bzFwb1l0stWYK0261BW1EUz6g5W4_CxtQnQ7h5ko6p1bgTvyWSpkEke1EGkz3L3HxnB_Qbmu-dpkIuZWv8SBswpCSdaTfXaDbmDFHf-3F7j-PXN5AwrMR2axWt0fwAXgH7BvvJ0MBPGLSlV9o0ur9vlFU2iBp3xSzirvRR4Vp2w=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Tom Cruise in Stanley Kubrick's EYES WIDE SHUT Year: 1999 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Some films seem created to be despised and misunderstood... <i>Misunderspised</i> is not a word but fits the subliminally insane, intensely mellow and tortuously strange EYES WIDE SHUT that, too slow for a thriller and too tame for sheer outright sexual exploitation, is the final feature of legendary filmmaker Stanley Kubrick and stars Tom Cruise as a seemingly perfect Manhattan doctor with a seemingly contented wife in Nicole Kidman...<br> </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p> Beginning with a plush (yet secretly lush) party thrown by Cruise's millionaire "house calls" patient Sydney Pollock, who later partakes in a terrific finale monologue, both men playing a game of fancy red-velvet pool while discussing an earlier upscale, mansion-set, masquerade orgy that Cruise's Dr. William Harford character should <i>not</i> have attended...</p><span></span>

christmas, epic, marie richardson, melodrama, neo noir, nicole kidman, nineties, stanley kubrick, sydney pollock, todd field, tom cruise

STANLEY KUBRICK'S PARANOIAC FILM NOIR OF 'EYES WIDE SHUT'

Tom Cruise in Stanley Kubrick's EYES WIDE SHUT Year: 1999 Rating: ***1/2 Some films seem created to be despised and misunderstood... Mis...

STANLEY BAKER AND MICHAEL CAINE BATTLING THROUGH 'ZULU'

<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRkJViiH0hqInRvcHU2oau_ng4DAdAO2HH0IK51lV1--0YCHOCyslQqeR2zREupA6nRHNaS9YKWAANYHehI4Zrf9wIDI809ze5oQ92A5xmNIIjqnJbLXEa6gILo21kmNKSvBwDLXNyCpQl1TF2MiTQrU8t4TUa9swYD_HIWeg8aEYJuf29pBXiTnPf7A/s1688/Screen%20Shot%202021-03-17%20at%205.52.26%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="793" data-original-width="1688" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRkJViiH0hqInRvcHU2oau_ng4DAdAO2HH0IK51lV1--0YCHOCyslQqeR2zREupA6nRHNaS9YKWAANYHehI4Zrf9wIDI809ze5oQ92A5xmNIIjqnJbLXEa6gILo21kmNKSvBwDLXNyCpQl1TF2MiTQrU8t4TUa9swYD_HIWeg8aEYJuf29pBXiTnPf7A/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202021-03-17%20at%205.52.26%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Stanley Baker & Michael Caine in ZULU Year: 1964 Rating: ***1/2</u><br></td></tr></tbody></table><p>A cross between LAWRENCE OF ARABIA and THE ODD COUPLE, Cy Endfield's cast-of-thousands ZULU was directed by an American and features a crop of great British actors about their own history — yet the first of several problems is it feels more mainstream American than edgy/offbeat British... </p><p></p><p>Especially some of the performances, seeming more catered to Oscar nominations (particularly Jack Hawkins as a ridiculously passive yet hammy priest) than moving the story forward: about a South African outpost called <span>Rorke's Drift after a massive Little Big Horn style defeat of the British by Zulu warriors...</span></p><p><span><span></span></span></p>

action, adventure, british, cy endfield, epic, history, james booth, michael caine, nigel green, sixties, stanley baker, war

STANLEY BAKER AND MICHAEL CAINE BATTLING THROUGH 'ZULU'

Stanley Baker & Michael Caine in ZULU Year: 1964 Rating: ***1/2 A cross between LAWRENCE OF ARABIA and THE ODD COUPLE, Cy Endfield's...

NOT A REVIEW BUT MORE A REMINDER OF 'GONE WITH THE WIND'

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdTTnAcPMKrj2umdk3HaN0j7Tf-cdk2A3pDL_ER-fZn52oXZFsxghzT33vzUP1U8HE1nAmnf3E0-zLnfKiKcUMS-NJNh1lD2Rjasdg5faa9YnSLPZr-2VJlpPrermn_-u_RHn6GwnN9Dd4/s1600/Screen+Shot+2020-06-14+at+10.15.30+PM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1408" data-original-width="1595" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdTTnAcPMKrj2umdk3HaN0j7Tf-cdk2A3pDL_ER-fZn52oXZFsxghzT33vzUP1U8HE1nAmnf3E0-zLnfKiKcUMS-NJNh1lD2Rjasdg5faa9YnSLPZr-2VJlpPrermn_-u_RHn6GwnN9Dd4/s400/Screen+Shot+2020-06-14+at+10.15.30+PM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Gone with the Wind from 1939</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> The same industry that's still moaning about the 70-year-old Blacklist is now banning/blacklisting a classic motion picture where the first <i>African American</i> actress/actor ever won an Oscar...<br> <br> Heck, even George Clooney, in his own infamous Oscar Speech, took partial credit for Hattie McDaniel's victory... years before he was born... and now he's probably right on board throwing GONE WITH THE WIND into the cautious, politically-correct wind...<br> <br> And yet, if it must be done, the only reason to ban such a magnificent-looking movie is that it's a tad overrated. Especially since the secondary male lead in Leslie Howard as Ashley Wilkes is so outrageously miscast, fitting his proper wife Olivia de Havilland as Melanie Hamilton but for the wonderfully cute and spunky, timeless beauty Vivian Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara to pathetically hold a torch for this dullard who resembles an anorexic goat is just... too much to fathom...<br> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2EvcwvDjxc-TQa_hEs-lvRLy_lAkjUXatoHHVB3fBIL6Zn77HtDc57zSkH-H4hCxTkE7ymnQyAhyphenhyphen5AvbyQ1clUmDttXsupgSXI77dD7faLO3Oki3t2B0iYOM9HA3SQIYOc31XIxEG5Zlc/s1600/Screen+Shot+2020-06-21+at+1.19.07+PM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1218" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2EvcwvDjxc-TQa_hEs-lvRLy_lAkjUXatoHHVB3fBIL6Zn77HtDc57zSkH-H4hCxTkE7ymnQyAhyphenhyphen5AvbyQ1clUmDttXsupgSXI77dD7faLO3Oki3t2B0iYOM9HA3SQIYOc31XIxEG5Zlc/s1600/Screen+Shot+2020-06-21+at+1.19.07+PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara in GONE WITH THE WIND</u></td></tr> </tbody></table>

article, civil war, clark gable, classic, epic, everett brown, hattie mcdaniel, history, leslie howard, olivia de havilland, thirties, vivian leigh

NOT A REVIEW BUT MORE A REMINDER OF 'GONE WITH THE WIND'

Gone with the Wind from 1939 The same industry that's still moaning about the 70-year-old Blacklist is now banning/blacklisting a cl...

REVIEW OF MARTIN SCORSESE'S ANTICIPATED 'THE IRISHMAN'

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt_oX30DQHXqc63MQNf8TtXhCQfmj4X47aT4NU1vR2bVafVc67bxNMwKZ8C_5ZBeKqWUb_dR0iYGbAMhI40cvhYHXctHuPJa0QCf59l1wG-HBila3peBqXCY3bO2ebcGANhc2Wo_yQ3eWm/s1600/z.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1078" data-original-width="1600" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt_oX30DQHXqc63MQNf8TtXhCQfmj4X47aT4NU1vR2bVafVc67bxNMwKZ8C_5ZBeKqWUb_dR0iYGbAMhI40cvhYHXctHuPJa0QCf59l1wG-HBila3peBqXCY3bO2ebcGANhc2Wo_yQ3eWm/s400/z.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro in THE IRISHMEN Year: 2019</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> At a run-time of over three hours, you'd think director Martin Scorsese would make something more liken to an addictive limited cable series than an epic about absolutely nothing. It is, however, about <i>someone</i>; and that's Jimmy Hoffa played by a CGI-youthful Al Pacino, who, with Robert De Niro as sidekick "house painter" i.e. assassin Frank Sheeran, are involved in endless dialogue leading absolutely nowhere...<br> <br> Unlike Scorsese's mob classic GOODFELLAS, ironically playing-out like binge crime serials do now — with something to anticipate around every suspenseful corner — there's nothing to look forward to here except more and more conversations with De Niro on cruise control and Pacino using a fake accent that's not only distracting, but completely unnecessary...<br>

2019, al pacino, biopic, drama, epic, joe pesci, martin scorsese, mob, robert deniro, thriller

REVIEW OF MARTIN SCORSESE'S ANTICIPATED 'THE IRISHMAN'

Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro in THE IRISHMEN Year: 2019 At a run-time of over three hours, you'd think director Martin Scorsese would...

DAVID LEAN'S IRISH LANDSCAPE MELODRAMA 'RYAN'S DAUGHTER'

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7we_lQbirkus7aRne4VgLFWOmJZn9uZLp7boAtRyISQ9Q4IY_s2edCigjD-O8pJRkx5aS0Gj-oQZ7egl23TPA-hzJymNhBvfW_vYdU4yM0VHR73iq12mkjHM6vImD5L9gMaINaQ00ici1/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-05-07+at+10.36.28+PM.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="989" data-original-width="1357" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7we_lQbirkus7aRne4VgLFWOmJZn9uZLp7boAtRyISQ9Q4IY_s2edCigjD-O8pJRkx5aS0Gj-oQZ7egl23TPA-hzJymNhBvfW_vYdU4yM0VHR73iq12mkjHM6vImD5L9gMaINaQ00ici1/s400/Screen+Shot+2019-05-07+at+10.36.28+PM.jpeg" width="400"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Sarah Miles in RYAN'S DAUGHTER Year: 1970 Rates: ****<br></u></td></tr> </tbody></table> Whether it's desert-dwelling Peter O'Toole staring at the night moon in LAWRENCE OF ARABIA or Omar Sharif's pallid moonglow gaze from a crammed train in DOCTOR ZHIVAGO, within the whirlwind of historic epics, director David Lean's characters find small pockets of downtime to smell the roses. But in RYAN'S DAUGHTER, the roses... or in this case, <i>Rosy</i>... is practically all there is... <br> <br> And it's where Rosy lives within the beachy cliffs of Ireland that's visually heaven on earth; then again, like all beautiful places, it can also be purgatory. While there <i>is</i> the historic aspect concerning Irish Revolutionaries seeking German guns under the guard of the occupying British, it's peripheral to this existential and at times Gothic and eerie artsy epic where one character complains: "This whole cursed country will capsize with talk!" And yet, as Christopher Jones is concerned, his dubbed voice doesn't hinder a performance relying on painful, melancholy expressions. Even without sporadic war flashbacks, a tattered near-past is all in the eyes...  <br>

barry foster, christopher jones, david lean, douglas sheldon, epic, ireland, melodrama, robert mitchum, romance, sarah miles, seventies

DAVID LEAN'S IRISH LANDSCAPE MELODRAMA 'RYAN'S DAUGHTER'

Sarah Miles in RYAN'S DAUGHTER Year: 1970 Rates: **** Whether it's desert-dwelling Peter O'Toole staring at the night moon i...

HOW THE WEST WAS WON AWFUL FILM

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit2Hjg_AF1LeSAkupEb6QEAa8QZHPtpWbYxcPlwrvCOp8Ld4l-QLoqvgpbmL8s4qh44zSWbYb1BT-FoXoiogIHRVLgUXbeectKqIeidyR4-j0t6DMb1FYe3Q1oJEEoVX6zVYIiN2NzAng/s1600/1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit2Hjg_AF1LeSAkupEb6QEAa8QZHPtpWbYxcPlwrvCOp8Ld4l-QLoqvgpbmL8s4qh44zSWbYb1BT-FoXoiogIHRVLgUXbeectKqIeidyR4-j0t6DMb1FYe3Q1oJEEoVX6zVYIiN2NzAng/s16000/1.jpg"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u style="font-size: 12.8px;">They had everything from a big cast, big sets, big country, big directors, and yet, no plot or purpose!</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> Filmed in a process called Cinerama, where the not so Wild West comes to life in a wide barrage of epic beauty, the gorgeous countryside literally bursting off all sides of the screen as Spencer Tracy narrates, this is possibly (and surprisingly) the worst "Cowboy Flick" of all time...<br>

carroll baker, epic, george peppard, james stewart, sixties, western

HOW THE WEST WAS WON AWFUL FILM

They had everything from a big cast, big sets, big country, big directors, and yet, no plot or purpose! Filmed in a process called Ciner...

DEFENDING KEVIN COSTNER FOR WATERWORLD & THE POSTMAN

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxDuQLaZPmIYAiAzkCjJyTuHcqZWEiRDLKTzPV-7m_1A6VFHggCYXhoMunJaBpGu45aDs6zes4NAiNHczjOTRKNURgIeA5t5p6y6i5EQisQUHxHo9oIQC4WMtWd_dqqsuE7EJuhi0s1ww/s1600/1.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxDuQLaZPmIYAiAzkCjJyTuHcqZWEiRDLKTzPV-7m_1A6VFHggCYXhoMunJaBpGu45aDs6zes4NAiNHczjOTRKNURgIeA5t5p6y6i5EQisQUHxHo9oIQC4WMtWd_dqqsuE7EJuhi0s1ww/w133-h200/1.jpg" width="133" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1995 rating: ***1/2</td></tr> </tbody></table> <span style="background-color: white;"><b>WATERWORLD:</b></span> When Dennis Hopper, playing a snarky villain named Deacon, the head of a rogue band of villains called Smokers, who, in a world where there is no land, only ocean, thanks to global warming’s effects having melted the polar ice caps…<br /> <br /> When Deacon pulls down his eye patch to show us one eye missing, it's followed by an evil cackle… which is as corny as this mega-budget Kevin Costner vehicle, originally deemed a box office flop, gets.  <br /> <br /> The best scenes have Costner’s Mariner, partly fish with gills behind his ear and an ability to swim with skillful resilience, on a sleek, primitive catamaran surviving through various drifters and those Smokers that appear out of nowhere, riding gas-grumbling jet skis. But there<i> is</i> a plot: A little girl named Enola exists on a floating city along with her caretaker Helen, played by Jeanne Tripplehorn. Enola has a map on her back which will supposedly lead to dry land, and the bad guys really want it.<br /> <br /> Mariner winds up reluctantly protecting Enola and Helen, and we have a good twenty minutes as our hero survives in the deep blue sea, with company. His boat is a character it itself... With everything from a gun to sails that extend from hidden contraptions, we experience this neat skeleton-like vessel through the eyes of not only its captain but two strangers learning, the hard way, how and how not to keep it running.  <br /> <br /> Sure it's a lot like Mad Max… this is, after all, THE ROAD WARRIOR on water… but Mariner can be even more selfish and independent, and potentially cutthroat and cold-blooded, taking a while to warm up to the only people who can help him find land: not a transition that comes quickly or easily.<br /> <br /> Bookended by two raging battles, WATERWORLD really works when we have fewer characters. Dennis Hopper goes overboard, spouting the kind of dialogue you wouldn't expect from someone stuck in a landless post-apoc future, although he can be ghoulishly charming. And thankfully, Costner plays the part of a loner so well, he and FANDANGO director Kevin Reynolds make this isolated <i>world</i> a place that seems very real and, for the most part, genuine and unique.  <br /> <br /> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz_TJCXqNo7a4Yfdr40irckd9nN9ZeLtgIme_o0MBLb-bf0ySHV_dvNfN-fzCVGshxxrmFNFxJR9KRVU6idLB3WTJXSRqSYhdm1Oua043cSArvxai4zNIs169PMtt77CiPxAl-dItyszg/s1600/2.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz_TJCXqNo7a4Yfdr40irckd9nN9ZeLtgIme_o0MBLb-bf0ySHV_dvNfN-fzCVGshxxrmFNFxJR9KRVU6idLB3WTJXSRqSYhdm1Oua043cSArvxai4zNIs169PMtt77CiPxAl-dItyszg/s1600/2.jpg" width="209" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1997 rating: ***</td></tr> </tbody></table> <span style="background-color: white;"><b>THE POSTMAN:</b> </span>Kevin Costner took a huge gamble with the Western epic DANCES WITH WOLVES... one that paid off considerably... And another on WATERWORLD, directed by Kevin Reynolds, which basically got him all wet...<br /> <br /> So it was time for Kevin to try another epic, this time set on land in a post-apocalyptic future, which Costner, like he did with WOLVES, directed himself.  <br /> <br /> Beginning with the most involving scenes, the first fifteen minutes has Costner’s unnamed character traveling the barren landscape with his pet mule, grabbing cigarettes from a broken machine and wiling away the hours of a dead world. They wind up in a ragtag conclave of survivors, performing Shakespeare, when the lead villain and his henchman appear... way too soon. Will Patton’s General Bethlehem is a nomadic Napoleon crossed with Hitler crossed with... you name the dictator and Will plays him to the hilt, and beyond. <br /> <br /> THE POSTMAN keeps an intriguing, action-packed pace when Costner’s desperate rogue is taken prisoner and, through the next twenty minutes, has to escape. Then, seeking shelter in a cave, No Name becomes The Postman when he finds a mailbag with letters strapped to a skeleton.<br /> <br /> In order to exist in a “small town” of survivors, complete with a hard nosed sheriff and a wispy love-interest, reminiscent of any old school Western, Costner’s scruffy hero pretends to be a Postman in a world that’s “getting better.” But the problem with Costner’s third epic are the long, dragged-out moments between the action, and the melodramatic score when Postman realizes his importance in rescuing mankind: He was much more intriguing as a reluctant maverick fighting to save his own skin than when he's out to save everyone else’s.

action, adventure, dennis hopper, epic, kevin costner, kevin reynolds, nineties, post-apocalyptic, science-fiction, tom petty

DEFENDING KEVIN COSTNER FOR WATERWORLD & THE POSTMAN

year: 1995 rating: ***1/2 WATERWORLD: When Dennis Hopper, playing a snarky villain named Deacon, the head of a rogue band of villains c...

ZACK SNYDER PRODUCES 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-ckG7ulF0kjXiarh-szKXPpEvMkdbhSkV7U0DghSnAg1FSB2_DP6OtAuJvc3iI7lfD_YEGQSlmjkLz2n2Pc9604FgnA6UzsMPCfPNDn3L1ynfWPqZMbuZmZVdgeufqnnxyyBKCyUuVQs/s1600/300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-ckG7ulF0kjXiarh-szKXPpEvMkdbhSkV7U0DghSnAg1FSB2_DP6OtAuJvc3iI7lfD_YEGQSlmjkLz2n2Pc9604FgnA6UzsMPCfPNDn3L1ynfWPqZMbuZmZVdgeufqnnxyyBKCyUuVQs/s320/300.jpg" width="198" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">year: 2014 rating: **</span></td></tr> </tbody></table> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">First off, let’s get the complicated names out of the way – despite the franchise title being 300, there are really only three main characters worth mentioning…</span><br /> <br /> Themistokles is a Greek warrior that catches the attention of evil Persian instigator, Artemisia, who has turned a mortal man into a god named Xerxes.<br /> <br /> She manipulates her sinister creation like a puppet, and literally puts words into his mouth… the most important being “War” after which, like in the first venture, the immense Persian army sets off to destroy the scant underdogs – which should be a simple enough task, right?<br /> <br /> Instead of a land ravaging epic, these more concise battles take place almost entirely at sea: The best parts have slender allied boats taking down the larger Persian ships with creative strategies, including sharpened, steely mastheads acting as oceanic Ben Hur chariots. And between the visually stunning bouts are long, dragging periods of dialogue on either side – imagine if boxing commentators spoke longer than the actual rounds.<br /> <br /> The chemistry between Themistokles and Artemisia is intense and eventually, sexual… Meanwhile, our edgy hero manages to dart back and forth behind enemy lines with such ease, the scene-stealing lady loses potential as a formidable villain, providing the good guys too much leeway, making their once laborious plight a fairly easy one.<br /> <br /> And right when it seems the sword-splitting, blood-splattering action is just taking off, 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE begins winding down: Too bad there’s more flesh being massacred than there are fleshed-out characters to either root for, or against.

2014, action, epic, sequel

ZACK SNYDER PRODUCES 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE

year: 2014 rating: ** First off, let’s get the complicated names out of the way – despite the franchise title being 300, there are reall...

CLOUD ATLAS

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuacvkqFX2VPcdv0DxaJubkMEcck-Xaqwn6rp5hacUklQqYmi9txSSj_WP4CGzDG-q2yVpQDDXxKBb8DSVl8PPcNe0NXSLq4NKb_BT7etR0DEN6FJ3GBmHe5DQglej0gPDpph8jxGQy3jZ/s1600/Cloud-Atlas-Featurette.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="402" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuacvkqFX2VPcdv0DxaJubkMEcck-Xaqwn6rp5hacUklQqYmi9txSSj_WP4CGzDG-q2yVpQDDXxKBb8DSVl8PPcNe0NXSLq4NKb_BT7etR0DEN6FJ3GBmHe5DQglej0gPDpph8jxGQy3jZ/w640-h402/Cloud-Atlas-Featurette.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2012 cast: Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugh Grant, Jim Broadbent rating: ***</td></tr> </tbody></table> Everything is connected – that’s how we spend three hours of CLOUD ATLAS, a grand scale epic with characters from the past, present, and future – all leading to a few big secrets that, once revealed, pale to the encapsulated lives of real human beings: Ranging from a journalist (Halle Berry) seeking the truth about nuclear energy while a hit man lurks in the shadows. Or a young man on a clipper ship being slowly poisoned, befriended by a rogue slave who becomes his protector.<br /> <br /> A more lighthearted tale has Jim Broadbent as an aged book editor trying to escape an old folks home. The wide-scoped stories include an Asian worker/clone in a BLADE RUNNER-looking future seeking the truth of her origin. And an even more distant time has a nomadic Tom Hanks aided by an interstellar Halle Berry to free his people from tyranny. A musical piece titled The Cloud Atlas connects things in a somewhat linear fashion  – written by a young gay man working for a cantankerous has-been composer (Broadbent again), who may never get credit for the surreptitious masterpiece.<br /> <br /> The three directors, including the brains behind THE MATRIX, hand off each piece nicely, combining romance, melodrama, and laser-blasting action... The pace only drags when one too many peaks occur without closure. The final payoffs, including Big Oil and Racism, are a tad simplistic and could have been dreamt up by a socially conscious sixth grader. But what makes CLOUD ATLAS never shrug to the epic scale is that each level has its own basic energy: you’ll not only want to see how everything connects as a whole, but how each person survives all that fate has to offer. 

2012, epic, halle berry, jim broadbent, science-fiction, tom hanks

CLOUD ATLAS

year: 2012 cast: Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugh Grant, Jim Broadbent rating: *** Everything is connected – that’s how we spend three hours...

LAWRENCE OF ARABIA

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWtk8ZSL0HmMU3dshvQGll2P_XfYKU5Z46UCzW8ILgusaK1ffiPxHenJY6sNq_9_OVwch-1Dzw28hmXTF7ge65GRZr7qbLEYSvXllmvi6tBalyqGdcQpzkPCufJY8naMpE7i1n0ZLGUWU/s1600/lawrence.jpg"><strong><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5569601714818010130" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWtk8ZSL0HmMU3dshvQGll2P_XfYKU5Z46UCzW8ILgusaK1ffiPxHenJY6sNq_9_OVwch-1Dzw28hmXTF7ge65GRZr7qbLEYSvXllmvi6tBalyqGdcQpzkPCufJY8naMpE7i1n0ZLGUWU/s200/lawrence.jpg" style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 146px" /></strong></a><strong>title:</strong> LAWRENCE OF ARABIA<br /><div><strong>year:</strong> 1961</div><div><strong>cast:</strong> Peter O'Toole, Omar Sharif, Anthony Quinn, Jack Hawkins</div><div><strong>rating:</strong> *****</div><br /><div></div><div>Don't let a lot of sand, a long running time, and the word <em>epic</em> make you think this film is anything short of pure entertainment. Each <em>segment </em>lasts no more than twenty minutes, and all seem like individual shorts enveloping the entire masterpiece by David Lean, who directed this miraculous film starring newcomer Peter O'Toole as T.E. Lawrence, a quirky British soldier who never quite fit: given the task to investigate a revolt against the Turks in 1916. He does more than that, eventually leading a group of Arabs, including a young Omar Sharif and veteran Anthony Quinn, across a fatal desert and into an important battle: both seeming impossible to everyone except Lawrence. The first part, including the famous mirage scene (Sharif on a horse appearing from the distance and slowly moving in closer) and incredible battle sequences sets up for part two: handing off the perspective to an American columnist writing the story of the man who's become a living legend. One scene, where Lawrence admits to a general that he wants to quit because he <em>enjoys</em> killing, is beyond description. How O'Toole didn't win an Oscar for this... </div>

anthony quinn, david lean, epic, jack hawkins, omar sharif, peter o'toole, sixties

LAWRENCE OF ARABIA

title: LAWRENCE OF ARABIA year: 1961 cast: Peter O'Toole, Omar Sharif, Anthony Quinn, Jack Hawkins rating: ***** Don't let a lot...

THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCQVwSBxsBy0WKuNNc9gBS6q6osNjlDwS0Tjk8QmZZcST3MmmBElAUWAeTAxKM7n7nYYd2U_Ga4YmsQ1WTaehAt5Q1642DavDgmirPJz6eOKu-oVgQ1tY3TJhR3pU_8lnHbPyyLyB9uQc/s1600/river.jpg"><strong><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5569553448890300210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCQVwSBxsBy0WKuNNc9gBS6q6osNjlDwS0Tjk8QmZZcST3MmmBElAUWAeTAxKM7n7nYYd2U_Ga4YmsQ1WTaehAt5Q1642DavDgmirPJz6eOKu-oVgQ1tY3TJhR3pU_8lnHbPyyLyB9uQc/s200/river.jpg" style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 180px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 200px" /></strong></a><strong>title:</strong> THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI<br /><div><strong>year:</strong> 1957</div><div><strong>cast:</strong> Alec Guinness, William Holden, Jack Hawkins, James Donald</div><div><strong>rating:</strong> ***1/2</div><br /><div></div><div>The best moments are the mind games between British Colonel Nicholson, played with gallant flavor by Alec Guinness, and the Japanese Colonel, who heads a jungle-surrounded prison camp where British and America soldiers are treated as slaves to build an important bridge. Guinness, in refusing himself and fellow officers to do any grunt work, is punished until his stubbornness wins over: it's apparent the bridge can only be made on time if British officers command their own troops. William Holden, a rogue American whose escape is much too easy, winds up aiding Jack Hawkins in the breezy b-story: a counter-mission to blow up the bridge that Guinness takes pride in building. Although many of the scenes fade-out before developing completely, and the end, while looking fantastic, feels a bit rushed, it's still a very good film by director David Lean... one step away from his true masterpiece, LAWRENCE OF ARABIA. </div>

action, alec guinness, david lean, epic, fifties, jack hawkins, william holden

THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI

title: THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI year: 1957 cast: Alec Guinness, William Holden, Jack Hawkins, James Donald rating: ***1/2 The best m...