This is a movie I’d anticipated seeing and had high hopes for. Though, in full disclosure, I knew absolutely nothing of the story whatsoever going in. I knew there was a guy who uses his first name in his last name and that people would be singing. End of list. That’s how I prefer to see something anyway, so I was excited to put this on.
This is a B-action movie from 1942 which promised escaped convicts from Alcatraz battling some Nazis on a lighthouse island. Sign me up!
Continue reading ‘johnlink ranks SEVEN MILES FROM ALCATRAZ (1942)’
Way back in February I expressed an interest in getting through the original X-Men trilogy in anticipation of DAYS OF FUTURE PAST. Well, like so many things in life, that never happened. I revisited the first one and stopped there. Now that the new X-MEN is in theaters it is time to plow through the others. This means seeing the solid X2 again and, unfortunately, hitting up the third fiasco. But… first things first. Here is X-MEN 2…
The Blu Ray cover boasts that this is Michael Douglas’ best work since WALL STREET and WONDER BOYS. This was made in 2009, but we can put aside the trumpeting of something as someone’s best work in a mere nine years. If a critic is going to put SOLITARY MAN in a category with those films, then it is a movie I want to see. But how was it?
A coworker asked if I had seen Danny Boyle’s TRANCE, saying “check out Trance and let me know what you think of it.” I find that more intriguing than just saying something is awesome or something is must-see. Trying to find out what someone thinks of a movie means it is probably a movie which is open to interpretation and not just a standard flick. I finally got around to seeing it.
I know the story of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, but have never seen any version of it. I did not know that this 1960 Roger Corman film was the original telling of the story, and that the musicals and film remakes were all based on this film in particular. How does it hold up 54 years later?
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Both Mark Wahlberg and Denzel Washington have had hits and misses in the past half a decade. Heck, one of Wahlberg’s misses was CONTRABAND, which was directed by 2 GUNS director Baltasar Kormakur. So how would 2 GUNS turn out?
This was a movie made in 2011. It debuted as an indie horror film and was picked up for wide release by Lionsgate. It bounced around a variety of other venues before Lionsgate dropped it in theaters in 2013. This usually isn’t a great sign for a horror film. On the other hand, the fact that it saw theaters at all after being an indie production is a positive.
A year before making ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN, Robert Redford starred in the political/spy/paranoia thriller THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR. With the additional distinction of being directed by frequent collaborator Sydney Pollack, there are only so many Redford espionage thrillers out there to find.
Continue reading ‘johnlink ranks THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR (1975)’
I’m not always big on Jason Statham. I like his supporting stuff like ITALIAN JOB and SNITCH and some of his starring roles like BANK JOB. But TRANSPORTER and CRANK never really did it for me. I like him enough to give any of his flicks a run, though I usually temper my expectations.
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