ORSON WELLES & OLIVER REED 'I'LL NEVER FORGET WHAT'S'ISNAME'

<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/AVvXsEhaxWB9C2vaki3cytvg5DigjNJp7NSBNHzFz6Q0hWmcZdOQOKVwmv9uqI6N0DalfSkrs3pRqFkZu7O_ILg2aF8rrwhg2hAI3KoofUgaO-byOza5Eit6MswNRXLGZuDNG1C8wBGlXzQIHlpUbBIAcax2l2zhc1F_bq_u8tz-tP8w7x46Pb66WiKr1apuJBre/s1502/Screen%20Shot%202022-05-11%20at%2011.21.48%20PM%202%203.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="805" data-original-width="1502" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaxWB9C2vaki3cytvg5DigjNJp7NSBNHzFz6Q0hWmcZdOQOKVwmv9uqI6N0DalfSkrs3pRqFkZu7O_ILg2aF8rrwhg2hAI3KoofUgaO-byOza5Eit6MswNRXLGZuDNG1C8wBGlXzQIHlpUbBIAcax2l2zhc1F_bq_u8tz-tP8w7x46Pb66WiKr1apuJBre/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202022-05-11%20at%2011.21.48%20PM%202%203.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Oliver Reed in I'LL NEVER FORGET WHATS'ISNAME Year: 1967 Rating: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Another 1960's collaboration from director <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/michael%20winner">Michael Winner</a> with actor <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/oliver%20reed">Oliver Reed</a>, I'LL NEVER FORGET WHATS'ISNAME has an obvious and incredibly intended message from the get-go as Reed, a young and successful ad man, comes to work wielding an ax, destroying his own desk before quitting to his literally big boss <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/orson%20welles">Orson Welles</a>, who, with every significantly-spoken one-liner, represents and even embraces the evils of commercialism...</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>The movie feels like either a direct sequel to an original story... that could have shown how Reed's Andrew Quint became a success and why he wound up hating that success... or one that started twenty-minutes in... Either way, with so much anger towards this occupation right off the bat... or ax... the writer has more things to say than the characters...</p><p><span></span></p>

ann lynn, british, british new wave, carol white, comedy, counter-culture, drama, edward fox, mark eden, michael winner, mindtrip, oliver reed, orson welles, sixties

ORSON WELLES & OLIVER REED 'I'LL NEVER FORGET WHAT'S'ISNAME'

Oliver Reed in I'LL NEVER FORGET WHATS'ISNAME Year: 1967 Rating: *** Another 1960's collaboration from director Michael Winner ...

JOHNNY DEPP AND REBECCA HALL IN TRANSCENDENCE

<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/AVvXsEi4V13eg5ZzhgjydRes_BEzKqC0q0TRw8qopx24wKNIcHYQlyBUMGuCt5pzEACoG4TASgGa1NdoiRSSnrUNtYu9js4kLiXTABkSkazqmlpphDrriGd8VO_HUw93XBv5WCYvvcdwMra68vc/s1600/Transcendence-data-cloud-of-Johnny-Depp-movie-poster.jpg" 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/AVvXsEi4V13eg5ZzhgjydRes_BEzKqC0q0TRw8qopx24wKNIcHYQlyBUMGuCt5pzEACoG4TASgGa1NdoiRSSnrUNtYu9js4kLiXTABkSkazqmlpphDrriGd8VO_HUw93XBv5WCYvvcdwMra68vc/s1600/Transcendence-data-cloud-of-Johnny-Depp-movie-poster.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2014 rating: *1/2</td></tr> </tbody></table> It should come as no surprise that a mindtrip experience would begin in Berkeley, California… And with a mellow Jorma Kaukonen acoustic track chiming from a record player into a lovely garden, one wouldn’t expect TRANSCENDENCE to be so modern and technological…<br /> <br /> Even Johnny Depp’s brilliant Dr. Will Caster seems above such trivial matters as The Internet… With a voice sounding like a slightly buzzed Walter Cronkite impersonating an upper-class British snob, Depp is not only a guest star but doesn’t seem all there. Even when alive and kicking, before becoming part of a computer creation involving reanimated brainwaves, the Depp role could have been played by anyone…  <br /> <br /> And speaking of wasted casting, let’s breeze past filler roles including Morgan Freeman as a doubting scientist and Cillian Murphy as an FBI Agent… The real lead is Rebecca Hall as Caster’s wife Evelyn, who, carrying her late husband’s brain and voice via computer, sets up a gigantic research station in a town so small there’s hardly room for one horse. <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/AVvXsEhrLSLPKSIcHqHOF-pSgmyVVqMWEfnn1YFAJfyazo1cW-WhaIrh5RX8gwTmwcKlO5d4ET0echUFW3xfJkshKQQXMniJripxdhUaMeZpBgkOm1wdKojFrRiAj2T0Xx8H8rwXR0hZTHnuLAc/s1600/Quah2.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrLSLPKSIcHqHOF-pSgmyVVqMWEfnn1YFAJfyazo1cW-WhaIrh5RX8gwTmwcKlO5d4ET0echUFW3xfJkshKQQXMniJripxdhUaMeZpBgkOm1wdKojFrRiAj2T0Xx8H8rwXR0hZTHnuLAc/s1600/Quah2.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Got Jorma?</td></tr> </tbody></table> All the work misleads us into thinking something nefarious will happen… For it seems that Caster, whose flickering image appears anywhere his wife roams within the white-walled underground compound, isn’t exactly himself: he could very well be a monstrous computer taking over the world!<br /> <br /> Which all very much sounds like a potentially decent sci-fi thriller… But after a rushed military attack we’re left with a preachy message that could have been titled AN INCONVENIENT MATRIX... <br /> <br /> At least Jorma’s meditative <i>Genesis</i> is spun once again. If anything else, TRANSCENDENCE serves as an outlet for the Jefferson Airplane (and Hot Tuna) guitarist to be heard as a solo act in a big budget mainstream film... Although this particular white rabbit leads us absolutely nowhere.<br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div><br />

2014, cillian murphy, johnny depp, mindtrip, morgan freeman, rebecca hall, science-fiction, thriller

JOHNNY DEPP AND REBECCA HALL IN TRANSCENDENCE

year: 2014 rating: *1/2 It should come as no surprise that a mindtrip experience would begin in Berkeley, California… And with a mellow ...

KAREN GILLAN & BRENTON THWAITES IN OCULUS

<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/AVvXsEhFVrN6OvpB_LRILOWad8QT0e0xhMcUcObxqqlx1KimyO49_WHCHye77mjfvsEFqleEc86Kc-5LrNyLhINldUxcTyYPjiodq5tjsHpD8S2Dkwoswu21kryoHm1SKfxg8ua6mCMgn9F8sEA/s1600/1.jpg" 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/AVvXsEhFVrN6OvpB_LRILOWad8QT0e0xhMcUcObxqqlx1KimyO49_WHCHye77mjfvsEFqleEc86Kc-5LrNyLhINldUxcTyYPjiodq5tjsHpD8S2Dkwoswu21kryoHm1SKfxg8ua6mCMgn9F8sEA/s1600/1.jpg" width="152" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2014</td></tr> </tbody></table> <div style="text-align: right;"> </div> Horror film starlets, often known as scream queens, are naïve, shrill victims until, after enough punishment, they get a second wind and turn the tables on their aggressors…<br /> <br /> But Karen Gillan’s Kaylie Russell is, from the beginning, assertive and actively intent on stopping her adversary… At least in the present time.<br /> <br /> To say Kaylie and her brother Tim grew up in a dysfunctional family is an understatement... Since we’re given all the information up front, it’s not a spoiler exactly: dad killed mom after mom had gone toothless and berserk...<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/AVvXsEhXIg9EKELBx-iM88JaYnzVshe2Tx5qx3yEfpOOyBAiBvK83cWC2RfCKfCG5XRLdshoGVuQHj5sKad0XLixBsDea5MJHN2ZNvPF4OfzfttYsOJhj9hAZ8kLu32MIGp8_Cm4cPc0G-sXqrs/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/AVvXsEhXIg9EKELBx-iM88JaYnzVshe2Tx5qx3yEfpOOyBAiBvK83cWC2RfCKfCG5XRLdshoGVuQHj5sKad0XLixBsDea5MJHN2ZNvPF4OfzfttYsOJhj9hAZ8kLu32MIGp8_Cm4cPc0G-sXqrs/s1600/2.jpg" width="152" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">rating: **1/2</td></tr> </tbody></table> Sporadic flashbacks of the younger siblings eventually coincide with the main story, where Kaylie, who still owns the house where really bad things occurred, is dead set on facing and exposing her foe, which, in this particular case, is a mirror: all to prove her parents weren’t so crazy after all.  <br /> <br /> Billed as a horror flick, OCULUS is really a paranormal mystery/suspense… The mystery involving an investigative Kaylie and her reluctant brother figuring out just how much power that antique mirror – able to hypnotize and then slowly kill humans, animals and plants  – still has inside the house… And the suspense is always palpable, making the audience ready for the next sudden chill: ranging from glimpses of an ominous wraith to screaming hallway chases...  <br /> <br /> But it’s not all terrifying... There are bits of dark humor, mostly centered on Kaylie’s determination: she’s so stubborn, strong-willed and even cruel you can’t help but to laugh. And, countered by her passive brother played by Brenton Thwaites, whose somewhat limp performance pales to sis, this is really her show... Through thick and thin, she alone keeps us entertained…  <br /> <br /> Too bad the frightful moments are few and far between. And when the demonic presence is finally revealed, appearing outside the mirror image, it has a few friends along, taking away from what could have been a much more contained, and thus way scarier, mindtrip rollercoaster ride. 

2014, brenton thwaites, horror, karen gillan, mindtrip, suspense

KAREN GILLAN & BRENTON THWAITES IN OCULUS

year: 2014 Horror film starlets, often known as scream queens, are naïve, shrill victims until, after enough punishment, they get a se...

SPIKE LEE REDIRECTS OLDBOY

<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/AVvXsEh4CmzBw57-JYc0hCKxbbejvD0sDvcFarcoo1ThSggkx7OA00W6nm3GuIlWrOPK7SmjwfHaTg0d7fIRo9nXEmcDMZYi3SPIyruQ-MtY4At-YToS9OF3gQOX_wrYzbk83hFRjTUnUjs4lzU/s1600/oldboy1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4CmzBw57-JYc0hCKxbbejvD0sDvcFarcoo1ThSggkx7OA00W6nm3GuIlWrOPK7SmjwfHaTg0d7fIRo9nXEmcDMZYi3SPIyruQ-MtY4At-YToS9OF3gQOX_wrYzbk83hFRjTUnUjs4lzU/s640/oldboy1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2013 cast: Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Olsen, Samuel L. Jackson rating: **</td></tr> </tbody></table> By the time Josh Brolin’s Joe Doucett is released from his bizarre motel room/prison cell after a twenty-year sentence, it’s like he was never there at all…<br /> <br /> How could Spike Lee pull off making so much time behind an iron door, watching television, drinking vodka and eating dumplings, seem prolonged, dire and agonizing using quickly edited montage sequences of Joe donning a Rip Van Winkle beard, watching news footage of various catastrophes and the introduction of three presidents, writing to his daughter and constantly hearing about his wife’s murder he was falsely accused of? All the brooding and screaming just isn’t convincing enough… This important, pivotal sequence is glossed over like a music video… Even when Joe finds his only friend, in the form of a pregnant mouse, the result occurs so quickly you’ll never quite feel the attachment – what should have been heartbreaking winds up unintentionally hilarious although, later on, an extended fight scene with a stagnant camera pointed straight at Joe, who furiously takes down venomous thugs while an intentionally melodramatic soundtrack blares, is somewhat entertaining...<br /> <br /> Forced to watch vintage Kung Fu flicks during his incarceration, our hero obviously learned a thing or two… As did the director: Being able to witness gritty action without exploiting the "modern" in-your-face shaky-cam is a nice change... Meanwhile, during the time after Joe's freed, chasing clues with a beautiful young woman, the mysterious maze becomes a poor man's version of THE GAME but not without a dash of genuine intrigue… That’s until the main villain is introduced and fully realized – a lecturing pill so smug and arrogant you’ll wanna mentally fast-forward to the inevitable twist that, in the case of OLDBOY, is more uncomfortable than satisfying… Which can also sum up the entire movie.<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/AVvXsEhsX4v7Ls5lb2IuG4MYFjFvD_1hr4FQFfgsE9aQ3uwyCb3n9fyJ1nOQ3Y5t4QmdtGoOGLJDAhuPI31hnvdyDdCt2gaggZegSkoGZvZKHgXjrEHUD0Pd1pT4flNQsTRmHg6RZI1y6ZXQUb4/s1600/oldboy07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsX4v7Ls5lb2IuG4MYFjFvD_1hr4FQFfgsE9aQ3uwyCb3n9fyJ1nOQ3Y5t4QmdtGoOGLJDAhuPI31hnvdyDdCt2gaggZegSkoGZvZKHgXjrEHUD0Pd1pT4flNQsTRmHg6RZI1y6ZXQUb4/s640/oldboy07.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Who green-lighted this completely unnecessary remake? Come on, let me at 'em!"</td></tr> </tbody></table>

2013, action, elizabeth olsen, josh brolin, mindtrip, remake, samuel l. jackson, spike lee

SPIKE LEE REDIRECTS OLDBOY

year: 2013 cast: Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Olsen, Samuel L. Jackson rating: ** By the time Josh Brolin’s Joe Doucett is released from his b...

BEING JOHN MALKOVICH

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUcgu2-TMzKhIsFfHrJUZC2jSeiOOHLl5Ut_VDJiwDP8nIhDdamBVdfA9hlmZW70RzLfX9OU3qEuyS-WqMbhhefNUADnK17jrQXqK-tySjXbjuY7Dlg-b-RuQz7TKTiK98FYHjWpYqreI/s1600/259507_f520.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5581524914740797794" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUcgu2-TMzKhIsFfHrJUZC2jSeiOOHLl5Ut_VDJiwDP8nIhDdamBVdfA9hlmZW70RzLfX9OU3qEuyS-WqMbhhefNUADnK17jrQXqK-tySjXbjuY7Dlg-b-RuQz7TKTiK98FYHjWpYqreI/s200/259507_f520.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 200px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 173px;" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">title: </span>BEING JOHN MALKOVICH<br /> <span style="font-weight: bold;">year: </span>1999<br /> <span style="font-weight: bold;">cast:</span> John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, John Malkovich<br /> <span style="font-weight: bold;">rating:</span> ***<br /> <br /> While this film remains creatively weird the whole way through, it's only the first half that works effectively. John Cusack, as an unsuccessful puppeteer hired to work on floor 7 1/2 of a mysterious building where the ceilings are very low, discovers a portal leading to the brain of John Malkovich, allowing anyone who enters a fifteen minute tour through the actor's eyes. It's when Cusack, in lust with his fellow employee and married to a sweet-natured scientist, becoming pawn of a love triangle in which Malkovich's body is a sexual vessel, that the intriguing mind-trip becomes a bit too convoluted. Yet it is <i>all</i> very unique... And the casting of Charlie Sheen as Malkovich's buddy/voice of reason is very timely, and more ironic now than ever. But in a nutshell, the half-floor has a lot more uncovered weird potential than being inside the actor's body.

cameron diaz, charlie sheen, dark comedy, independent, john cusack, john malkovich, mindtrip, nineties

BEING JOHN MALKOVICH

title: BEING JOHN MALKOVICH year: 1999 cast: John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, John Malkovich rating: *** While this film remains creatively...