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

Gilliatt, a fisherman-turned-smuggler on the isle of Guernsey, agrees to transport a beautiful woman to the French coast in the year 1800. She tells him she hopes to rescue her brother from the guillotine but in reality she is a spy who is working to prevent Napoleon from invading England. A fairly good but instantly forgettable swashbuckler. Part of the trouble with this movie is that it feels over written with dialogue and story elements which end up uninteresting. Another problem is there's absolutely zero chemistry between Yvonne De Carlo and Rock Hudson. It is left to Bryan Forbes to provide the entertaining performance as Gilliat's sidekick Willie and there is better comic chemistry between Forbes and Hudson than the supposed chemistry between the leads. The action scenes at least bring some attention grabbing energy to this movie. In the end, it's not so much that this is a terrible movie but it has nothing to make it truly entertaining or memorable.

3 years, 11 months ago

AKB48Fan rated Brothers in Law

 Brothers in Law 6/10

3 years, 11 months ago

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

Roger Thursby is an overly keen, newly-qualified barrister who rubs his fellow barristers up the wrong way. When he is thrown in at the deep-end, with a particularly hot-tempered judge and tricky case, Thursby learns how to prove himself not only to the judge and fellow barristers but also to the public gallery. A great comedy that is nowhere near a cynical as some of the output of the Boulting Brothers, this is a pretty straightforward episodic movie showing what life is like for a new barrister until he has the good fortune to be taken on by a conman who all but gets himself off as he leads the wet-behind-the-ears barrister to his first win in court. Most of the story is about someone who is cut adrift and struggling desperately to find his feet in a world where everyone else seems to know what they're doing. It has a fabulous cast which includes Ian Carmichael, Richard Attenborough, Nicholas Parsons, Terry Thomas and even a small part for John Le Mesurier. A comedy to definitely seek out which comes from the heyday for British Comedy which stretched from the 50's into the 60s.

3 years, 11 months ago

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

Gilbert Grape is a small-town young man with a lot of responsibility. Chief among his concerns are his mother, who is so overweight that she can’t leave the house, and his mentally impaired younger brother, Arnie, who has a knack for finding trouble. Settled into a job at a grocery store and an ongoing affair with local woman Betty Carver, Gilbert finally has his life shaken up by the free-spirited Becky. This highly rated movie is interesting in its own peculiar way in the first 45 min or so. In the absence of a strong plot, it gets by with the help of its strong cast and decent acting which somehow keep you engaged without a gripping story. Then, it goes into a repetitive mode with a crawling pace and ends with a pathetic finale. It also goes on for way too long. The cast are good in their roles especially Leonardo DiCaprio. Unfortunately a banal story, strong cast, good acting and a feeble plot can't stop this from being just average for me.

3 years, 11 months ago

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

After Ashe and his little son are murdered violently for no reason by Judah’s men, he returns from the dead to take revenge. One after one, Judah’s people face the power of the dark angel. The sequel to the phenomenally successful The Crow was ripped to shreds by the critics and fan alike at the time of its release but I don't see a problem with it at all. I quite like it in fact. It may have more or less the same story from the original but there's nothing wrong with that. Iggy Pop, Vincent Perez as the new crow is fairly believable, Mia Kershner is really good, and Richard Brooks plays a very effective villain. It was interesting to see the late Thuy Trang who played the sweet Yellow Ranger in Power Rangers play such a bad ass bitch. The action set pieces are done really well. The story is not as emotionally hard hitting like the original but the problem lies in the script with very little backstory to the supporting characters. In the end, a watchable sequel.

3 years, 11 months ago

AKB48Fan added 2 items to their collection

3 years, 11 months ago

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

Simon Sparrow is a newly arrived medical student at St Swithin’s hospital in London. Falling in with three longer-serving hopefuls he is soon immersed in the activities that constitute 1950’s medical training. This is the first in the 7 movie series. The story concerns the hijinks of the young medical students as they flirt with the nurses, attempt to pass their exams, drink, and party. Dirk Bogarde is Simon Sparrow, the naive, serious-minded young man who comes into a den of playboys. He does, as always, injects some shyness and gentleness into the proceedings. The supporting cast also stars Kenneth More, Donald Sinden and James Robertson Justice with a cameo or two from the likes of Shirley Eaton and Joan Sims. If you like these "Doctor" movies, this one is probably one of the better ones, so you're sure to enjoy it.

3 years, 11 months ago

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

The place is Melbourne, Australia 1978. The punk phenomenon is sweeping the country and Dogs In Space, a punk group, are part of it. In a squat, in a dodgy suburb, live a ragtag collection of outcasts and don’t-wanna-be’s who survive on a diet of old TV space films, drugs and good music. And the satellite SKYLAB could crash through their roof at any moment… The movie is, loosely, a vague series about life in a Melbourne squat, the punk band that lives there and the various jumble of non events that occur in and around the house. There is no plot as such to carry the movie at all. Most of the characters in the house are annoying, unlikable and lazy. The movie was the debut of the late INXS front man Michael Hutchence. His 'acting' if you want to call it that is poor to say the least. Even though there's no storyline, I still couldn't take my eyes away from the screen and I found it somewhat interesting. The soundtrack was decent as well. An average movie in the end.

3 years, 11 months ago

AKB48Fan added 2 items to their collection

3 years, 11 months ago

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

A young woman and her grandmother living in an isolated farmhouse are visited by aliens who are escaping from their war torn planet. This low-budget sci-fi effort starts out with the novel idea of combining E.T and The Desperate Hours. Of course, it never even comes anywhere near the quality of either of these classics but it is still a good movie to see. The action is pretty decent and due to the quick runtime of the movie it never outstays its welcome. I thought the aliens makeover wasn't up to scratch although the robot guard they had was pretty cool looking. It was nice to see Maureen O'Sullivan as one of the leads. I'm only familiar with her as Jane in those classic Johnny Weismuller Tarzan movies. Iona Skye plays her granddaughter. There's no point rating the acting of the alien cast as they don't have speaking parts, they communicate with the female leads through hand gestures. You could easily pick a lot of holes with this movie, but the performances are generally good and the script more or less makes sense. All in all, the movie is relatively painless, and quite fun in a minor sort of way.

3 years, 11 months ago

AKB48Fan rated The Aurora Encounter (1986)

 The Aurora Encounter (1986) 2/10

3 years, 11 months ago

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

A tiny alien lands in the small town of Aurora in Texas in the times of the Wild West. He flies around in his spaceship and checks out everything. While the kids are fascinated, their parents are rather sceptic and afraid. Ms. Peabels, teacher and new owner of the local paper, smells a good story and brings the alien into the headlines. A poor lightweight sci-fi/western/family movie which was based on an allegedly real life story. It was one of a host of peaceful alien-comes-to-America movies that came out following the huge success of E.T. It stars a young kid who had a terrible degenerative-accelerative aging disease as the friendly alien. There is not much in the way of a plot – the movie rambles and plods its way from one encounter to the other until the end when the alien is surprise, surprise shot by a one of the gun toting townsfolk and dies. The special effects are laughable and it's obvious the alien craft is lifted off the ground by a hidden crane. Not worth bothering with really.

3 years, 11 months ago

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

A martial artist known as ‘Golden Dragon’ teams up with ‘Silver Snake’ to take revenge on the men responsible for his brother’s murder. A mostly clunky and confusing Brucesploitation kung-fu as befits a Godfrey Ho movie with a decent amount of amusing highlights, such as when the main villain throws his cat at a henchman's face as punishment! The first hour is rather painful to watch with some awful goofiness thrown in but it comes together in the end with a decent long fight sequence. The movie is known in some places as Dragoneer 5 even though there's been no Dragoneer 1-4! The English dubbing is hilarious at times. Apart from the final 25 mins, this would have been one of the worst kung fu movies I've ever seen. I still can't really recommend this unless you're a sucker for seeing the complete back catalogue of Godfrey Ho's work.

3 years, 11 months ago

AKB48Fan added 2 items to their collection

3 years, 11 months ago

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

Divorcee Susan Jeremy goes to a local hospital for a routine check up and finds herself stranded there while a maniac, dressed in a doctor’s surgical mask and clothing, goes around killing all the staff that are associated with her. Could it possibly be the psycho Harold, who killed a friend of Susan’s on Valentine’s Day 19 years earlier? This is a gory slasher movie with a ridiculous premise. The movie isn't all that bad but what really doesn't work is the hilarious implausibility of the "situation" that Susan finds herself in. As soon as the killer knows she is in the hospital, he plants some bogus test results in her file, and from this point onwards all the other hospital staff treat Susan like a dangerous and/or mentally deranged powder keg who must be detained at all costs. For a supposedly normal hospital, it seems like all the patients there are loonies! The deaths on show are pretty good which will delight gorehounds. Barbi Benton in the main role of Susan is fine. She screams well enough and is attractive to look at throughout. Shame that the script gives her so many stupid, dumb things to do. Overall, just forget logic whilst watching and you might enjoy it.

3 years, 11 months ago

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

A taxi driver is falsely accused of murdering a little girl when her body is discovered at a derelict bomb site. His wife and lawyer must convince the jury that he is innocent. Based apparently on a true story, this movie is a very solid courtroom drama with Richard Attenborough giving a very strong performance as a taxi driver and he brings to life the predicament which his character finds himself, unable to defend himself despite having done nothing wrong but everything else including witness evidence stacks up against him. The plot veers to the melodramatic in the closing minutes, but entertainingly so. However, the detailed portrayal of court procedure is fascinating to watch. Apart from Attenborough, the woman portraying his wife in Cathy O'Donnell is also brilliant in her role. All in all, a fantastic courtroom drama that's worth taking a look.

3 years, 11 months ago

AKB48Fan added 2 items to their collection

3 years, 11 months ago

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

A man who was a confidant of Adolf Hitler dies and leaves a fortune to make amends for his Nazi past but his son has to search the world to find it. This could have been a great thriller as all the ingredients were there: a very good director in John Frankenheimer, a story based on a novel by Robert Ludlum and a great leading man in Michael Caine yet somehow this movie misfires. There were plenty of the usual Ludlum plot twists and misdirections which was alright but the movie dragged on for way too long. Some of the story doesn't make any sense and is rather far-fetched. The setting in Germany is interesting as is Geneva, and London. The cast are OK with Caine being the best of the bunch. The movie is perfectly watchable if you've got nothing to see but I wouldn't say it's a movie you should seek out.

3 years, 11 months ago

AKB48Fan rated A Most Violent Year

 A Most Violent Year 7/10

3 years, 11 months ago

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

An immigrant Abel Morales and his family are trying to expand their business and capitalise on opportunities as the rampant violence, decay, and corruption of the day drag them in and threaten to destroy all they have built. A very well made mystery-drama-thriller and a fantastic period piece that creates an authentic, distinct look at 1980's New York. It has a bubbling tension that steadily grows as the movie wears on and each individual incident against his business pushes Morales closer to his breaking point. Oscar Isaac shines in the main role, playing one of the coolest characters around: broken yet proud, strong yet vulnerable, decent yet pressed, and shrewdly bad-to-the-bone with Jessica Chastain also performing well as his wife. This movie has you fully gripped from the start and the story itself has all the momentum of a run away goods train. Overall - a supremely acted and directed crime drama.

3 years, 11 months ago

AKB48Fan rated Doctor in Clover

 Doctor in Clover 4/10

3 years, 11 months ago

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

Gaston Grimsdyke, having served 6 months in prison, following a dalliance with the Governor's daughter is recruited by Sir Lancelot Spratt to brush up on his medical knowledge at his hospital. The 6th in the Doctor series sees standards slip way below the previous entries. Gone is Dirk Bogarde (rather wisely I say) and in his place comes Leslie Phillips who plays the usual charming lothario type. The movie plays like a sub-par Carry On with rampant sexism and dated jokes. At times it doesn't even feel like the other previous Doctor movies with a very good reason as the scriptwriter was changed this time round. There's a big list of comedy stars of the day appearing with Joan Sims, Arthur Haynes, Fenella Fielding and Terry Scott amongst others. I was rather disappointed with this movie and although one or two jokes did make me laugh, it wasn't a very good comedy.

3 years, 11 months ago

AKB48Fan rated Dirty God

 Dirty God 6/10

3 years, 11 months ago

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

Jade is a young mother in the prime of her life when an acid attack leaves her severely burned. While her face has been reconstructed, her beauty is lost beneath the scars. Descending a self-destructive path with relationships crumbling, Jade must take drastic action to reclaim her life. This is a deeply empathetic look at beauty and all of its complexities with a fantastic performance from debutant Vicky Knight who in real life suffered 3rd degree burns as a child. It is stylised, sexual and authentic in its depiction of internal pain. I would say it's a very depressing movie as well until the end of the movie that is. The main character of Jade is not to be pitied and is far more than a victim. She doesn't take any crap from those talking about her behind her back and is prone to bouts of rage if she feels she has been wronged. The message about how society looks at beauty isn’t a new one, but it is well wrapped in the story. The supporting cast which includes Katherine Kelly is very good. It's certainly worth your while seeking this movie out.

3 years, 11 months ago

AKB48Fan rated Doctor in Distress (1963)

 Doctor in Distress (1963) 6/10

3 years, 11 months ago

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

When the eternal bachelor Sir Lancelot Spratt injures his back and falls in love with his physiotherapist Iris Marchant, he becomes very distressed and turns to Simon Sparrow for help. The 5th Doctor movie finds Dirk Bogarde return for one last time as Dr Simon Sparrow. It's one of the best in the series with James Robertson Justice as the blustering Spratt getting more screen time as the focus of the plot. One minor distraction is that this entry ignores events from the previous movies as Spratt was married in Doctor in Love! There are loads of cameos from the likes of Richard Briers, Johnny Briggs, Fenella Fielding, Derek Fowlds and Peter Butterworth. There are many laughs to be had in watching this movie. A very enjoyable comedy.

3 years, 11 months ago

AKB48Fan rated The Prince and the Pauper

 The Prince and the Pauper 6/10

3 years, 11 months ago

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

aka The Prince And The Pauper. Tom Canty is a poor English boy who bears a remarkable resemblance to Edward, Prince of Wales and son of King Henry VIII. The two boys meet and decide to play a joke on the court by dressing in each other’s clothes, but the plan goes awry when they are separated and each must live the other’s life. A moderately entertaining adventure romp with the Salkind's trying to recapture their Musketeer movies but they don't really pull it off. The story is great but I'm afraid the main lead in Mark Lester isn't that good at all. Director Richard Fleischer was lucky enough to secure four Best Actor Oscar Winners for his cast in Ernest Borgnine, Charlton Heston as King Henry VIII, Rex Harrison as the Duke of Norfolk and George C. Scott as the Ruffler. Future Dr Who assistant Lalla Ward gets a small role as the young Princess Elizabeth and Oliver Reed gets to be his usual self i.e drinking and fighting. The movie does go on for a little bit too long though it never got boring or made me lose attention. On the whole it's enjoyable to watch the stars go through their paces and well worth a punt.

3 years, 11 months ago

AKB48Fan added 5 items to A New Decade! A New Year! Movies Watched In 2020 list

3 years, 11 months ago

AKB48Fan added 2 items to their collection

3 years, 11 months ago