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AKB48Fan added 1 item to A New Decade! A New Year! Movies Watched In 2020 list

Magazine editor Valerie Carr lives in London with her two daughters Jan, aged seventeen, and Poppet, thirteen. When Jan is invited to a party at the Savoy, she meets dashing young Tony Ward Black. Attracted to the daring young man, she rejects Mark, a young farmer who is in love with her. But it soon becomes apparent to everyone but Jan that neither Tony’s fortune nor even his name may be his own, and her association with him will lead her into delinquency and danger. Reportedly made as a British response to Rebel Without a Cause, this is a very good teenage angst flick though it doesn't come close to the greatness of James Dean's breakout movie. It tries to tell the story of a mother trying to deal with her teenage daughter’s descent into delinquency. This was Sylvia Syms' big screen debut and she is superb as the pretty young protagonist, who’s torn between a desire to remain her mother’s “good” eldest daughter, and her itch to explore a walk on the wild side. Anna Neagle is also very good as the mother trying to find out what has happened to her daughter. The plot becomes needlessly melodramatic in its final third, as Neagle and Syms are provided with further opportunities to explore their complicated mother-daughter dynamic. I found it a disgrace during the court scenes when the judge blames the mother for the daughter's behaviour! Other performers include a bit part role for Wilfrid Hyde-White (who calls a memo a 'meemo') and a blink or you'll miss it cameo from Arthur Mullard as a club bouncer. Overall, although not outstanding, it is still an enjoyable drama.

4 years, 1 month ago

AKB48Fan rated The Premature Burial

 The Premature Burial  5/10

4 years, 1 month ago

AKB48Fan added 1 item to A New Decade! A New Year! Movies Watched In 2020 list

An artist grows distant from his new wife as an irrational horror of premature burial consumes him. An oddly dull and slow movie that has some fine gothic atmosphere and great sets (foggy graveyards and forests) but feels flat, and doesn't make an effective use of its source material. Ray Milland was an interesting choice to play the lead and tries his best with the script. I'm sure someone like Vincent Price would have performed better in the role though. The biggest problem with the movie is that you know from the start that Milland's character is going to be buried alive so it's just a matter of waiting for the event to occur. It's an alright movie with a lot of filling time in my opinion.

4 years, 1 month ago

AKB48Fan rated Beware! The Blob

 Beware! The Blob 4/10

4 years, 1 month ago

AKB48Fan added 1 item to A New Decade! A New Year! Movies Watched In 2020 list

A technician brings a frozen specimen of the original Blob back from the North Pole. When his wife accidentally defrosts the thing, it terrorizes the populace, including the local hippies, kittens, and bowlers. A silly sequel to 1950's cult classic features more intergalactic gelatin terrorising the residents of a small town. It's a goofy and unpretentious movie that is willing to poke fun at itself. Burgess Meredith and director Larry Hagman (the only thing he directed) have bizarre cameos as drunk hippies who fall victim to the creature! The blob effects are good, probably one of the highlights of this movie. It's not exactly that great a movie but it's not unwatchable either. If you're a fan of the original, you might want to take a look at this one.

4 years, 1 month ago

AKB48Fan added 1 item to A New Decade! A New Year! Movies Watched In 2020 list

Successful soccer player Rod Turner spirals into drunken self-pity until he develops a friendship with an inspirational orphan and a beautiful singer. Learning from them what truly matters in life, Rod regroups and returns to form. A fairly good sports drama movie about a one-time superstar ravaged by age and drinking who is determined to give it a go one last time to resurrect his career. For the most part, this movie is fine but it is disrupted by some bloody musical interludes featuring Paul Nicholas and Suzanne Somers as a successful pop duo who also happen to own a football club. Most of these songs are performed at nearly full length and are absolutely dreadful. Ian McShane gives a good performance as the down and out football player who frequently butts head with his football club manager played by Adam Faith due to some previous history between them. Naturally it all ends on a predictable triumph and redemption for McShane's character. This movie isn't special or anything but it's watchable enough if you're after an obscure British sports movie to see.

4 years, 1 month ago

AKB48Fan added 2 items to their collection

4 years, 1 month ago

AKB48Fan added 1 item to A New Decade! A New Year! Movies Watched In 2020 list

Florence Nightingale is a young woman who is drawn towards a career in nursing. Traveling to Turkey during the Crimean War, Florence gains a reputation for being devoted to the care of wounded soldiers and for pioneering higher standards for sanitary hospital conditions. This movie chronicles the life of a young 19th-century Englishwoman who would transform how the sick and wounded would be cared for. I wouldn't say it's a historically accurate depiction of her life during the Crimean War but it does show what she managed to achieve during her time in Turkey. Anna Neagle gives a very good performance as Florence and is very suited to the role. It's astonishing the bureaucracy and red tape that Florence has to go through just to get medical supplies to her hospital. Elsewhere, there is a decent performance to be had from Michael Wilding in his part as Sidney Herbert, the Secretary of War who is the only one wanting to give Florence assistance. Overall, this is a very decent biographical drama with a good script, acting and excellent directing from Herbert Wilcox.

4 years, 1 month ago

AKB48Fan rated A Feast at Midnight

 A Feast at Midnight 7/10

4 years, 1 month ago

AKB48Fan added 1 item to A New Decade! A New Year! Movies Watched In 2020 list

A new student at a British public school forms a secret society centered around cooking and midnight feasting with other school misfits and outcasts. A delightful movie which I'd never heard of before about the nature and importance of friendship and of course food! I've never been to boarding school so I can't relate to the cruelty and camaraderie of life inside. The story of the "Scoffer's Club" is wonderful to watch as they sneak about the school after dark to go to the kitchen to cook up something nice to eat. The cast is fantastic with Christopher Lee who plays a menacing Latin teacher. You'll also see Robert Hardy as the headmaster and Lisa Faulkner as Miss Charlotte. The young cast also do very well. The movie has got a lot of heart, focusing primarily on father-child relationships. All in all, a movie that's worth seeking out. I really enjoyed it a lot.

4 years, 1 month ago

AKB48Fan added 2 items to their collection

4 years, 1 month ago

AKB48Fan added 2 items to A New Decade! A New Year! Movies Watched In 2020 list

4 years, 1 month ago

AKB48Fan rated Caveman

 Caveman 6/10

4 years, 1 month ago

AKB48Fan added 1 item to A New Decade! A New Year! Movies Watched In 2020 list

Atouk becomes a leader of the group of misfit cavemen. Disgraced and cast out of his tribe for lusting after Lana, the mate of the tribe’s head muscle man, Atouk stumbles along gathering other misfits and learning a bit about the world outside of his cave. Eventually he and friends Lar, and Tala learn the secrets of fire, cooked meat, and how to defend themselves. I wasn't expecting this movie to be quite as funny as it was. It's a very silly spoof on prehistoric life and is not means to be accurate in historical detail. Some of the gags are really hilarious. Ringo Starr is great as the unlikely hero Atouk and his wife at the time, Barbara Bach plays the sexy prehistoric temptress wonderfully. Shelley Long and Dennis Quaid are early in their careers in this movie and give a good account of themselves. If you're after a great comedy which will guarantee to make you laugh, then you can't go wrong with this one.

4 years, 1 month ago

AKB48Fan rated Misbehaviour

 Misbehaviour 6/10

4 years, 1 month ago

AKB48Fan added 1 item to A New Decade! A New Year! Movies Watched In 2020 list

A group of women involved in the Women’s Liberation Movement hatched a plan to invade the stage and disrupt the live broadcast at the 1970 Miss World competition in London, resulting in overnight fame for the newly-formed organisation. This drama/comedy movie is based on a real story where women activists went against the old rules of the fashion world. The movie is told in two different stories. In one story, you see the women activists planning how to sabotage the beauty pageant to share their message with the world that women should not just be seen as sexual objects. On the other side of the movie you can see the story of model candidates and how they prepare for the beauty pageant. It shows how much work and time they have spent to have a chance of winning the beauty pageant. By telling the story in this way, you get a good view of both sides. Keira Knightley is excellent in the lead role of the movie. It's nice to see her character change from a neat lady who follows the rules to a more rebellious female activist throughout the story. The supporting cast which includes Jessie Buckley, Rhys Ifans and Greg Kinnear are also great. An enjoyable movie on the whole.

4 years, 1 month ago

AKB48Fan rated The Mutilator

 The Mutilator 4/10

4 years, 1 month ago

AKB48Fan added 1 item to A New Decade! A New Year! Movies Watched In 2020 list

As a child, Ed accidentally kills his mother when one of his father's hunting rifles goes off. Years later and with his father barely speaking to him, he gets a phone call from him to lock up his beach house. With his friends in tow, Ed goes to spend a few days at the beach house but soon afterwards, some of his friends goes missing. Everything about this 80's slasher is cliched. The only thing that really stands up on its own are some of the violent and inventive deaths which includes hook impalement, chainsaw slashing and pitchfork plunging. Yet, they do not make up for some of the problems with this movie such as some comedic overtones which is so out of place and an upbeat theme song. The cast are good in their roles with Jack Chatham suitably creepy as the deranged father with a grudge on his shoulder for his son. I can only recommend this movie for gorehounds who wants to see the nasty deaths than anybody else.

4 years, 1 month ago

AKB48Fan rated The Long and the Short and the Tall

 The Long and the Short and the Tall 6/10

4 years, 1 month ago

AKB48Fan added 1 item to A New Decade! A New Year! Movies Watched In 2020 list

A troop of British soldiers are out in the jungle to record jungle noises and troop noises in the jungle so that the recordings can be played back by other troops to divert the enemy to their whereabouts. As they progress to what they think is closer to the base camp they find themselves farther and farther from radio range until the only channel they can get clearly is that of a Japanese broadcast. This movie is adapted from a stage play. Some of the early scenes do have a very stagey quality to them, accentuated by some of the acting and dialogue, but that aspect becomes less pronounced, or at least less important, as the story progresses. The main thrust of the movie is the way pressure and extreme circumstances can change men, how their true characters are revealed by unexpected developments especially when they capture a lone Japanese scout. The first half of the movie allows the viewer to form an opinion of the characters. I really disliked the mouthy cockney Bamforth who enjoys rubbing the rest of the platoon up the wrong way. However, as the story moves into the second half and the men's survival is threatened, those perceptions of the characters are altered. All of the cast perform well which includes Richard Todd and Lawrence Harvey who allegedly didn't like each other on the movie set. In the end, this is an interesting movie on how pressure can affect an individual in war.

4 years, 1 month ago

AKB48Fan rated Black and Blue

 Black and Blue 7/10

4 years, 1 month ago

AKB48Fan added 1 item to A New Decade! A New Year! Movies Watched In 2020 list

A rookie cop inadvertently captures the murder of a young drug dealer on her body cam. After realising that the murder was committed by corrupt cops, she teams up with the one person from her community who is willing to help her as she tries to escape both the criminals out for revenge and the police who are desperate to destroy the incriminating footage. Given what has happened in the U.S this year with the George Floyd murder, this movie perfectly captures the corruption of the police - something that mainstream America still tries to deny. The movie doesn't question the nature of policing except for a couple of lines and the evil cops are portrayed as a few bad apples. Still, if you like mid-budget action thrillers this movie is for you. The heroes are likable, the villains are very unlikable and there are some genuinely suspenseful scenes on show. Naomi Harris is great as the female cop on the run. Tyrese Gibson also gives a good account of himself as well. Overall, a movie which has a message about a relevant issue of today. Go watch.

4 years, 1 month ago

AKB48Fan added 1 item to A New Decade! A New Year! Movies Watched In 2020 list

Scientists at a secret underground complex have found a way to travel to another dimension. Three dimension-travellers are the first to go through the gate – but are soon attacked by something that interrupts the communication with Earth. This creature uses the gate to travel back to the underground complex. A terrible rip-off of Aliens with a base under siege from a salivating creature that picks off the people working at the secret complex one by one. This movie has nothing whatsoever to do with the first Xtro movie - it's basically a sequel in name only. This movie just has too many failings to be be entertaining, even in a bad way. The monster looks okay though it copies a lot of the Xenomorph creature. As for the cast - poor old Jan-Michael Vincent. He not only seems like he does not wish to be in the movie, he also seems to slur his lines at times (slightly drunk perhaps?). I wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone.

4 years, 1 month ago

AKB48Fan added 2 items to their collection

4 years, 1 month ago

AKB48Fan added 1 item to A New Decade! A New Year! Movies Watched In 2020 list

A coven of devil-worshiping priests living in New York City search for victims for their sacrificial ceremonies. A pure late-80's trash-gold, with a completely nonsensical and laughably incoherent plot, tacky make-up effects, gratuitous nudity and a whole lot of gibberish about Satan. The script of this movie is wonderfully incompetent and aimlessly skips from one theme onto the other without any form of continuity such as a devoted nun going undercover in the cult by order of the Catholic Church. She is basically forgotten about until the climax. There's no atmosphere of suspense whatsoever and even the whole devil-worshiping concept seems redundant. They're just a posse of bloodthirsty priests craving to cut open voluptuous young girls. There's fairly little gore until the climax arrives and that reddish puppet with horns, supposedly representing Lucifer is just plain laughable. It's watchable in a bad movie sort of way if you want to give it a go.

4 years, 1 month ago

AKB48Fan rated Project: Alien

 Project: Alien 3/10

4 years, 1 month ago

AKB48Fan added 1 item to A New Decade! A New Year! Movies Watched In 2020 list

In Norway a military plane crashes under mysterious circumstances: in his last message the pilot reported many lights falling from the sky. NATO wants to play down the incident, but the famous TV moderator George Abbot and the no less persistent journalist Milker sense a sensational story about UFOs and start snooping around in the area with help of pilot “Bird” McNamara. This movie throws in every imaginable UFO cliche in the book from lights in the sky, cattle mutilation and experimentation by aliens on humans in this dreadful movie. It's like a really bad X-Files episode. It's a bit of a shame as the first half of the movie is rather good but I've no idea what happened during the second half to make it turgid and boring with a useless conclusion. Darlanne Fluegel is good as the eye candy but that's about it for the cast who are simply awful. Unfortunately, this movie is not worth wasting time on.

4 years, 1 month ago

AKB48Fan added 1 item to A New Decade! A New Year! Movies Watched In 2020 list

A female terrorist is critically injured during a commando raid on their compound. She is is taken to a top-secret research institute, where she is turned into a lethal cyborg and programmed to hunt down the members of her own terrorist group. However, during her first mission her programming malfunctions and she turns on her creators with her new mission to hunt and kill them all. A shameless cash in on Robocop. What seems like an action-packed romp with a mechanically enhanced Sandahl Bergman ends up mostly focused on Robert Ginty for at least half of the movie, before Bergman finally turns bad and goes hunting for her creators. There are a couple of moments which are pretty cool with plenty of gun battles and explosions. The ending on the military base isn't that good to be honest and the way the cyborg is taken out is poor. Sandahl Bergman does look good as the bad ass cyborg and Robert Ginty is OK as the hero. The movie isn't really eventful enough to make it memorable. Once seen and it's instantly forgettable.

4 years, 1 month ago

AKB48Fan added 2 items to their collection

4 years, 1 month ago

AKB48Fan added 1 item to A New Decade! A New Year! Movies Watched In 2020 list

A lonely German boy's world view is turned upside down when he discovers his single mother is hiding a young Jewish girl in their attic. Aided only by his idiotic imaginary friend, Adolf Hitler, Jojo must confront his blind nationalism. What a brilliant WWII satire/drama this is. An absurd amount of passion and heart put into a movie that shouldn’t work at all but miraculously does. Something no filmmaker besides director Taika Waititi could pull off in this way. Only he could take one of the most gruesome periods in human history and find both humour and beauty in its telling. Besides the many instances of poignancy and incisiveness, this movie is equally packed with witty dialogue and humorous interludes which make you laugh out loud. The two young leads in Roman Griffin Davis and Thomasin McKenzie are just superb. Their comedic timing, range and overall performances are amazing. They do have excellent support from the director himself who plays Adolf Hitler and Scarlett Johansson, Sam Rockwell and Rebel Wilson. The soundtrack is also fantastic. Definitely a movie I would recommend to everybody to go and see.

4 years, 1 month ago