My feed

AKB48Fan added 1 item to Movies Watched In 2018 - To Infinity & Beyond! list

Sammy Lee is a compere at a seedy strip-club in London's Soho. He has to raise 300 pounds to pay off a debt to a mysterious unseen man called Connor. Connor has henchmen, and they are quickly dispatched when Sammy admits he doesn't have the money that's coming due. The lead henchmen gives him 5 hours to get the money or else. Anthony Newley is perfectly cast as Sammy. It's great fun to watch Sammy's machinations as he works towards getting his money. He calls contacts he has in his little book to help him out. The guy is smart but not quite clever enough to overcome the obstacles he encounters over and over although it's mostly his own fault for wasting his money on gambling in the first place. There is suspense, high drama and heartbreak in this story, all excellently played out. Among the cast are Wilfrid Brambell (of Steptoe & Son) and a small role for Derek Nimmo as an effeminate man. This is an enjoyable journey into the live of a very nervous and hasty man who doesn't seem to get anything right and instead is digging into trouble deeper and deeper.

5 years, 4 months ago

AKB48Fan rated The Long Arm

 The Long Arm 8/10

5 years, 4 months ago

AKB48Fan added 1 item to Movies Watched In 2018 - To Infinity & Beyond! list

In this cracking black and white police drama, Ealing comes up trumps yet again. Made in 1956, with good locations in and around London and also North Wales, the story concerns Jack Hawkins as Superintendent Halliday who has to track down a very clever thief who has been cracking safes and taking the money inside them. This is a fine example of a police procedural detective mystery. The flow of the investigation is natural, not given over to wild implausibilities, and always the air of mystery is potent. On the outskirts of the investigation there's a running thread about how policemen's wives/girlfriends suffer in their own ways, their men are married to the force, and this is delicately handled by the makers. Jack Hawkins is superb as the lead character and the banter between himself and his sidekick helps inject some humour into the story. Definitely a must see if you like old fashioned police investigation dramas.

5 years, 4 months ago

AKB48Fan rated Annihilation

 Annihilation 7/10

5 years, 4 months ago

AKB48Fan added 1 item to Movies Watched In 2018 - To Infinity & Beyond! list

This is another solid entry in the dark, cerebral sci-fi genre for director Alex Garland. The movie's somber atmosphere and otherworldly visuals are its major strengths. There are some truly striking and memorable images in this movie that manage to be alien, haunting, and disarmingly beautiful, often all at the same time. The plot gets you invested, and it certainly wasn't uninteresting. Even the ambiguity of the movie isn't off-putting, but rather satisfying. The final act of the movie is certainly its centerpiece and is where its most powerful and piercing images reside. The cast is uniformly brilliant but Natalie Portman is simply fantastic bringing a great emotional heart beat to the story throughout. Overall, a wonderful movie. It is not an ordinary movie and is 100% not for everyone. You've got to like challenging movies to enjoy this.

5 years, 4 months ago

AKB48Fan added 1 item to Movies Watched In 2018 - To Infinity & Beyond! list

A disappointing spin-off to the Conjuring movies full of the usual jump scares but this story is hardly frightening. It's a shame as the sets look great especially the huge nunnery which resemble Hogwarts Castle and the surrounding area. The atmosphere is also great so the groundwork was there for this to be a very creepy movie. At times the movie does work too, but that is mainly when it is being subtle. The script is way too sloppy and predictable that it's hard to believe that Conjuring 2 director James Wan co-wrote this movie though he did not direct it. The characters are underdeveloped, uninteresting, and lack emotion. This movie is purely for those who only care about jump scares and don't give a toss about a well scripted story. So in the end, this is yet another useless spin-off and a wasted opportunity.

5 years, 4 months ago

AKB48Fan added 2 items to their collection

5 years, 4 months ago

AKB48Fan added 1 item to Movies Watched In 2018 - To Infinity & Beyond! list

This is a throwback to the good old-school fun fantasy horror 80's flicks with a pinch of comedy. Young orphan Lewis is sent to live with his uncle after his parents are killed in a car crash. He discovers his uncle is a warlock and enters a magical world unlike any before. Nonetheless, this power can come of great malice, especially under the control of Isaac Izard, an evil wizard who wants to pioneer the beginning of time at the cost of all who live. You'd never have thought that this wonderful movie was directed by gore hound director Eli Roth. He succeeds in delivery a fantastic movie that all the family should enjoy. Jack Black excels with vibrant gestures and comic timing as Lewis' mysterious uncle Jonathan aided by Cate Blanchett who is enthralling with her sharp remarks and magic finesse as Florence Zimmerman. Debutant actor Owen Vaccaro is great as the emotionally vulnerable young Lewis. The story delivers plenty of thrills and spills and builds up to a suitably exciting finale. I really enjoyed this movie and it's definitely one I'd recommend for the whole family.

5 years, 4 months ago

AKB48Fan rated Blood on the Sword

 Blood on the Sword 6/10

5 years, 5 months ago

AKB48Fan added 1 item to Movies Watched In 2018 - To Infinity & Beyond! list

aka The Moonraker. With the English Civil War just finished, Oliver Cromwell aims to capture Charles Stuart to stop him replacing his executed father on the throne. However, a Royalist hero known as The Moonraker plots to smuggle Stuart to France before Cromwell and his Roundhead followers enact their plans. This is a good British swashbuckler full of derring-do heroics and sword fights. The name Moonraker in this instance is put to a smuggler who would hide his goods in the village pond and then go back at midnight to rake said goods out. The Moonraker in question is Earl Anthony of Dawlish, a Royalist Cavalier Scarlet Pimpernel type, a hero of devilish good looks and courage unbound. There are early appearances here for British TV stalwarts John Le Mesurier and Patrick Troughton. Sylvia Syms looks radiant and gorgeous. Those who love swordfights will find plenty of them in this movie. A nice movie to take a look at on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

5 years, 5 months ago

AKB48Fan rated Think Dirty

 Think Dirty 6/10

5 years, 5 months ago

AKB48Fan added 1 item to Movies Watched In 2018 - To Infinity & Beyond! list

aka Every Home Should Have One. Marty Feldman in his first lead starring role plays an advertising man who has to come up with a sexy commercial for some porridge to spice people's sex lives up. Feldman's character imagines himself in these ads from being in romantic clinches with eligible ladies to a superhero fight with the local vicar, a pious type who ogles the ladies just as much as everyone else. The thin plot basically pokes fun at all sorts of conventions of society and namely, the advertising industry and its battle with conservative religious types. There's an early role here for Penelope Keith as a lesbian German. If you like your comedies wild and zany this'll be right up your street.

5 years, 5 months ago

AKB48Fan added 3 items to their collection

5 years, 5 months ago

AKB48Fan added 1 item to Movies Watched In 2018 - To Infinity & Beyond! list

A classic Ealing comedy with Alec Guinness on fine form as a ex-Navy Captain who buys and takes over the running of a seaside pier just like a ship. The local council have plans to demolish the pier for their own greedy needs so the Captain outwits them at their own game. This movie follows the Ealing staple of the 'little man' up against the powers that be but in this case the opposition is petty and mean-minded. The movie is typical of this by Alec Guinness's sole attempts to fight the decision to pull down the pier. The weird twist is the crazy idea of running the pier as a cruise liner and it takes a while to get your head round this idea, but once you do you can appreciate the movie even more. The pier featured in the movie is the old one that used to be at Hunstanton before it was washed away in a storm in 1978. Alec Guinness plays his role seriously which makes his character even more funny and he also gets to play several of the Captain's ancestors. Ealing comedies are in a league of their own and this one should quite rightly be up there with the best that the studio produced. Definitely go and check this out.

5 years, 5 months ago

AKB48Fan added 2 items to their collection

5 years, 5 months ago

AKB48Fan added 1 item to Movies Watched In 2018 - To Infinity & Beyond! list

When a London policeman captures a young tearaway with a knife, he tells him a story that happened years ago in a rundown slum area somewhere in the East End. People want to get out of the place but they're poor. The plot involves a family living there with the elder daughter getting involved with a small time gangster and the young son going down the dangerous path of crime with a loaded gun. This is a kitchen sink drama of how some people are desperate to escape from their surroundings and will do anything to get out of their predicament. You feel for the family that's the focus of this movie as they live in a squalid part of the city. It has a great cast with Sylvia Syms, Herbert Lom, Ronald Howard and Melvyn Hayes in particular shines as the young son whose situation gets worse after he murders an old woman by accident during a robbery. The movie is quite depressing to be honest with no happy ending to it.

5 years, 5 months ago

AKB48Fan rated Derby Day

 Derby Day 6/10

5 years, 5 months ago

AKB48Fan added 1 item to Movies Watched In 2018 - To Infinity & Beyond! list

This movie follows a cross section of people from different classes in Britain who travel to Epsom racecourse to see the famous Derby horse race such as an aristocratic lady who lost her husband in a plane crash, two people on the run who have murdered somebody, a French maid who goes in place of her employer after she has fallen on her ankle and a working class couple. The most interesting people in the movie are the couple on the run as they hope to win some money that will secure them passage across the English Channel to France and escape capture by the police. Anna Neagle as the aristocrat lady looks regal in her quite revealing outfit for the early 50's. I was amazed to see the legendary cricket commentator Bryan Johnson also have a small cameo in the movie. All in all, it's a nice gentle movie featuring a day at the English races during a time gone by.

5 years, 5 months ago

AKB48Fan rated Hell Is a City (1960)

 Hell Is a City (1960) 7/10

5 years, 5 months ago

AKB48Fan added 1 item to Movies Watched In 2018 - To Infinity & Beyond! list

A fantastic British noir movie by Hammer Studios. A dangerous criminal has escaped from jail after committing a robbery that went wrong. Inspector Harry Martineau, who happened to have gone to school with the criminal, guesses that he will return home to Manchester in order to pick up his share from the job. The criminal does return to Manchester and ends up with the inspector on his tail as he moves through the underworld, trying to find a place to hide. This movie is clearly intended to mimic the American film noir being produced en-masse during the 50's; although it does retain an aura of Britishness which is achieved through the locations and strong accents of most of the lead characters. There's more to the plot than just what is immediately going on, and the Inspector's personal life is one of the main sub-plots. The cast is strong, with Stanley Baker and John Crawford taking the lead roles and doing well with them; there's also a small appearance for the great Donald Pleasance. Overall, Hell is a City is a very good British noir, and well worth a look.

5 years, 5 months ago

AKB48Fan rated The Reckoning

 The Reckoning 7/10

5 years, 5 months ago

AKB48Fan added 1 item to Movies Watched In 2018 - To Infinity & Beyond! list

This is a hard-hitting character study based around Nicol Williamson, playing a ruthless businessman in London who heads north to Liverpool when his father is beaten to death by a thug. Similar in feel to Get Carter, this is a gritty and ice-cold look at a man adrift in the modern world. Williamson's character is pure anti-hero; he's repulsive and slimy, given to bedding women and tossing them aside when he's finished with him, and yet the depth and realism of his character makes him identifiable and all too human. The revenge story isn't as pronounced as in the Michael Caine movie, but there are some hard-hitting moments here. Try it out and you won't be disappointed.

5 years, 5 months ago

AKB48Fan rated Town on Trial

 Town on Trial 7/10

5 years, 5 months ago

AKB48Fan added 1 item to Movies Watched In 2018 - To Infinity & Beyond! list

A gripping murder mystery as the calm of prosperous Oakley Park is shattered when a local young woman is found murdered. A Scotland Yard detective is called in to solve the case. It seems that there are people in the town with secrets that they don't want to be uncovered. Will Superintendent Halloran find the murderer before he strikes again? This is a classic British noir which has largely been forgotten and such a shame too as it's a fantastic movie. The ever reliable Sir John Mills plays a detective that doesn't follow the rules to get results even though it puts some people's noses out of joint. The problem is Mills' detective has too many suspects involved in the murder and he also gets romantically involved with the niece of one of them. There is a brilliant cliff-hanging finale on the church steeple which smacks of Hitchcock. I really liked this movie which exposed the dark underside of 1950's middle-class respectability.

5 years, 5 months ago

AKB48Fan rated Robin Hood

 Robin Hood 2/10

5 years, 5 months ago

AKB48Fan added 1 item to Movies Watched In 2018 - To Infinity & Beyond! list

This is a re-imagining of the Robin Hood story and much like the King Arthur one with Jude Law it fails miserably. It's a huge disappointment on almost every level. As far as Robin Hood adaptations go, it is for me the worst (worse than Russell Crowe's version) and so way off what a movie of the character and stories should be, the complete opposite in fact. The costumes the characters wear looks straight out of a Primark store. The acting is atrocious. Taron Egerton is badly miscast as Robin Hood. Jamie Foxx as Little John comes over as having walked onto the wrong set because he belonged in a completely different movie altogether. Tim Minchin doesan't even look like a proper friar of the time and the character's attempts at humour is poor. I would go on to say this is one of the worst movies I've seen this year. Don't bother with it.

5 years, 5 months ago

AKB48Fan added 1 item to Movies Watched In 2018 - To Infinity & Beyond! list

The 2nd Sicario movie follows a CIA agent who is brought aboard by the U.S. government to combat the Mexican drug cartels who are suspected of smuggling terrorists across the border. After deciding that their best option would be to start a war between the major cartels, he recruits a black operative for the mission but things become complicated when the daughter of a top kingpin is abducted. I thought this movie was just as good as the original. The tone and feel is exactly the same. Taylor Sheridan's script packs a gripping plot but with no one to separate the right from wrong this time around. The action sequences are brilliant. As for the performances, both Benicio del Toro and Josh Brolin deliver strong inputs in their reprising roles. All in all, this is a riveting movie from start to finish and a worthy sequel.

5 years, 5 months ago

AKB48Fan added 2 items to their collection

5 years, 5 months ago

AKB48Fan added 1 item to Movies Watched In 2018 - To Infinity & Beyond! list

I enjoyed the first Fantastic Beasts movie but this one wasn't so good. While the visuals are as magical as ever, it's clear that the filmmakers are so distracted by trying to build a franchise that they're forgetting to actually tell a good story! The chemistry between our main four heroes was diluted by so many new characters being introduced. With so many new people and also so many questions for our old heroes, there wasn't enough time for any kind of (explainable) character development or for the viewers to connect with anyone on the screen. As a whole, the movie screamed "money hungry" and "franchise building" rather than letting us really connect with the characters. It also seemed as if they were only adding in twists that would surely get a reaction from viewers despite the fact that they not only discredited the original Harry Potter movies, but just felt like unrealistic and a little too convenient! Very disappointing.

5 years, 5 months ago

AKB48Fan added 1 item to Movies Watched In 2018 - To Infinity & Beyond! list

Young Clara needs a magical, one-of-a-kind key to unlock a box that contains a priceless gift from her late mother. A golden thread leads her to the coveted key, but it soon disappears into a strange and mysterious parallel world. I wanted to like this Disney fantasy movie and indeed it started out quite well but it went downhill very quickly after 20 mins. The main problem is it's boring with it's predictable plot, the acting isn't that good and the CGI is at times terrible. Even the action scenes is badly choreographed. Probably the only bright spot in the movie was Mackenzie Foy as the main character Clara. I'm sure kids of a certain age will love it though but adults will definitely not.

5 years, 5 months ago