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

aka Passport To Shame. A young French girl on the run from the Parisian police falls prey to a violent, scheming pimp. A pre-credit introduction to this movie attempts to sell this as an expose of vice in London with special reference to human trafficking but it quickly segues into just another girl-in-jeopardy thriller in which vice is only peripheral. It is still a fine little British thriller shining a light on the murky world of prostitution, with Herbert Lom at his sleaziest playing the movie's antagonist, a pimp who keeps the girls in his care in an iron grip. Much of the attention in the story goes to the glamorous Diana Dors as one of the girls. You'll even spot a young Michael Caine as a guest at a wedding. The movie does well with the thriller aspects, although it's a potboiler for part of the running time; the best part is the lavish extended climax which brings together large-scale action, pyrotechnics and some high-rise stunts for superb effect. Definitely worth catching.

4 years, 3 months ago

AKB48Fan rated Fresh Meat

 Fresh Meat 8/10

4 years, 3 months ago

AKB48Fan added 1 item to The 2020 TV Show List list

4 years, 3 months ago

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

Hailed as one of the most innovative and intimate documentaries of all time experience, Kurt Cobain like never before in the only ever fully authorised portrait of the famed music icon. I really don't understand the big deal about Kurt Cobain. Sure Nirvana made some good music but the way some fans paint him as some Messiah and a genius is odd. He was simply a miserable, self-loathing drug addict. This documentary charts Cobain's sad life from his childhood until his death showing home movie footage, animation and family interviews. It is NOT a documentary about Nirvana so if you expect that it's best to switch off. There's just an enormous amount of useless filler shoved in this movie and the unique animation used just got irritating in the end. This documentary is a complete waste of time and filled with the scribbles of an obviously depressed human being. Terrible.

4 years, 3 months ago

AKB48Fan added 2 items to their collection

4 years, 3 months ago

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

Angela, a corporate climber, gets stuck working late on Christmas Eve and finds herself the target of an unhinged security guard. With no help in sight, the woman must overcome physical and psychological challenges to survive. This is a fun little horror story. There’s nothing extraordinary about this but I do enjoy a good cat and mouse thriller and this one certainly delivers on that. There are several tense chase scenes and I was impressed with the things they were able to come up with given the limited location: multiple levels, stairways, elevators, etc. There's also some unexpected scenes of gore that come out of nowhere. Wes Bentley does a good job of playing the psychopath security guard. The director lingers too much at times on Rachel Nichols' 'charms'! All in all, a well paced and exciting horror thriller.

4 years, 3 months ago

AKB48Fan rated A Touch of Sin

 A Touch of Sin 7/10

4 years, 3 months ago

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

Four independent stories set in modern China about random acts of violence. A great Chinese movie about living at the bottom of the economic class may lead to random violent acts of aggression - as your only way of releasing the anger inside. The 4 stories are: A man living in a village getting drained by the coal mine industry reaches his ultimate limit - and takes out everyone involved in the corporate scandal. A motorcyclist with an excitement to gun violence ; sibling in an aging family, he robs people as his way of making a living. A woman is having an affair with a married man but calls it quits for fear it'll ruin her image and finally a kid gets blamed for injuring a coworker and has to pay his debt. When his life reaches a dead end he decides to end it there. Apparently each story is based on a true event. This movie is suitably shocking in many ways in exposing not only the difficulties of the characters in focus but also the extreme reactions some of them have in dealing with their circumstances. The only thing I did not like was the animal cruelty shown with a horse being relentlessly whipped by it's owner and a duck having its throat cut. If you want to know what life is like for the lower classes in China, give this movie a go.

4 years, 3 months ago

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

Dispatched to a small Italian town to build a new powerful rifle, assassin Jack embarks on a double life that may be more relaxing than is good for him. As a real throwback to cinema of the 70's, this movie's atmospheric mood refuses to conform to the modern thriller format. There are no extensive showdowns or final pay-offs that end an adventure, choosing instead to carefully build the tension around the protagonist the viewer is aligned with until the bitter end. George Clooney is perfectly cast as an American contact killer holed up in the idyllic hilltops of rural Italy. It is beautifully shot and the director Anton Corbijn does a great job. The sedate pace of the movie gives the viewer time to absorb the mood of the setting. I was glued to this movie from start to finish. Very enjoyable.

4 years, 3 months ago

AKB48Fan rated Capturing The Friedmans

 Capturing The Friedmans 7/10

4 years, 3 months ago

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

A documentary movie about a middle-class American family who is torn apart when the father Arnold and son Jesse are accused of sexually abusing numerous children. Director Andrew Jarecki interviews people from different sides of this tragic story and raises the question of whether they were rightfully tried when they claim they were innocent and there was never any evidence against them. This award winning documentary deals with two very unpleasant themes: pedophilia and destruction of a family. The director presents both sides of the contradictory story with a total exemption and neutrality. The viewer is shown home camcorder footage of the family through the years. The viewer can witness the process of an apparently normal family being completely shattered. In the end, there is manipulation, ambiguity, contradiction in the case, but never the truth. Who knows what really happened and if both defendants were guilty or not? An interesting but disturbing movie.

4 years, 3 months ago

AKB48Fan rated Out of the Past (1947)

 Out of the Past (1947) 4/10

4 years, 3 months ago

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

Jeff Bailey seems to be a mundane gas station owner in remote Bridgeport, CA. He is dating local girl Ann Miller and lives a quiet life. But Jeff has a secret past, and when a mysterious stranger arrives in town, Jeff is forced to return to the dark world he had tried to escape. I know this movie has been touted as a classic but I found it so very dull and dated that I switched it off after an hour. The plot is lame. The photography is passable and the direction far more competent than this would-be film-noir flick deserved. Robert Mitchum comes across as a kind of vacant halfwit, mumbling his way through his lines, apparently disinterested. Kirk Douglas is silly, snide and smarmy. No one in the cast was a standout, nothing memorable. I was deeply disappointed after seeing many glowing reviews.

4 years, 3 months ago

AKB48Fan rated The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

 The Secret Life of Walter Mitty 8/10

4 years, 3 months ago

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

A timid magazine photo manager who lives life vicariously through daydreams embarks on a true-life adventure when a negative goes missing. An incredible movie and totally different from the original which was in itself fantastic. Visually, this movie is perfect with its breathtaking cinematography and unobtrusive special effects. Many scenes, particularly those showing Walter skateboarding in Iceland, or climbing the Himalayas, were very memorably shot with unique camera range and angles. The story does fall into melodrama, but I did not mind this. Ben Stiller was very good as Walter, capturing his shyness and cluelessness so sensitively. Overall though, this was an entertaining feel-good movie for all you daydreamers out there.

4 years, 3 months ago

AKB48Fan rated Martial Arts of Shaolin

 Martial Arts of Shaolin 4/10

4 years, 3 months ago

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

In ancient China, Zhi Ming trains at the legendary Northern Shaolin temple to avenge the death of his father at the hands of a nefarious magistrate. Not one of my favourite Jet Li movies that's for certain. It has a mix of light drama and silly comedy which got rather grating very quickly. The comedy doesn't offer many laughs. The fights are OK but nothing special. The best thing about this movie is the location shooting in mainland China which shows the stunning Forbidden City and there's even a fight on the Great Wall. Whilst Jackie Chan can do comedy and drama quite well, it somehow doesn't suit Jet Li. Thankfully he didn't do many comedy movies and stuck to serious roles. Overall, I thought this was a bit of a misfire and doesn't deserve it's reputation as a classic martial arts movie.

4 years, 3 months ago

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

When Alice Hayashi, the youngest person ever to go into space crashes her shuttle at the North Pole, she is thrown thirty years into the future. But her trip through time is far from accidental. The world is now ruled with an iron fist by Nero and his supercomputer, the SS10X. And because of a common link between her, Nero and the SS10X, Alice may be the future’s only chance for freedom… This was Japan's first ever completely CGI movie and it looks terrible in all honesty. Even now it is horribly outdated. It really feels like a video game story, more specific a role-playing game story on something like Playstation 1. I couldn't get into the story, the world or the characters. The story is a total mess. There was nothing to interest me here. It's a total failure. For fans of CGI history they might want to take a look at this and just 2 years later, the quality of CGI would improve dramatically with 2001's Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. I would say watch that movie instead of this one.

4 years, 3 months ago

AKB48Fan added 2 items to their collection

4 years, 3 months ago

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

An American businessman’s family convinces him to buy a Scottish castle and disassemble it to ship it to America brick by brick, where it will be put it back together. The castle though is not the only part of the deal, with it goes the several-hundred year old ghost who haunts it. This is one of those genteel supernatural comedies that Hollywood and Britain were so fond of making back in the day. A lot of its charm comes from the presence of Robert Donat in the cast playing a friendly ghost. Dated shenanigans ensue in this quiet character piece with the story eventually devolving into a commercial struggle between two wealthy Americans for ownership of the ghost. I thought there would be more humour in this movie but it never transpired. In the end it was OK but the movie just didn't turn out the way I was expecting it to be.

4 years, 3 months ago

AKB48Fan rated The Old Dark House

 The Old Dark House 7/10

4 years, 3 months ago

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

Seeking shelter from a relentless rainstorm and landslides in a remote region of Wales, five travelers are admitted to a large foreboding old house that belongs to the extremely strange Femm family. The house also holds surprises – and a brutish mute manservant named Morgan. This is the least well known of director James Whale's four horror movies, but don't let that fool you, as this one is just as good as anything else Whale ever made. Despite being nearly 80 years old, The Old Dark House still holds the power to feel like it could have been released yesterday; much like the rest of Whale's horror movies, which are as fresh today as they were the day they were made. This was one of the first haunted house movies ever made, and it works, primarily, for two reasons; the house itself and the cast of characters. Both of these entities are intriguing elements in their own right, and they combine to great effect. The house is, as you might expect, old and dark; and it's a sublime horror setting because of that. It creates a constant sense of malice and through it's dark corridors and many rooms, Whale is able to make the house into a labyrinth where the viewer can believe that anything can happen. Overall, another great movie from James Whale and whilst it's not a classic like Frankenstein, it's definitely well worth tracking down to watch.

4 years, 3 months ago

AKB48Fan rated Shampoo

 Shampoo 7/10

4 years, 3 months ago

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

George Roundy is a Beverly Hills hairstylist whose uncontrolled libido stands between him and his ambitions. He wants the security of a relationship. He wants to be a hairdressing “star” and open his own salon. But the fact that he beds down with the wife, daughter and mistress of a potential backer doesn’t help. It also does little for his relationship with his current girlfriend. Some say this is Warren Beatty's best movie, I can't agree with that, but not because his acting performnace is bad, but simply because of the fluffy, silly nature of this story about the worries of a womaniser, who sleeps around with every pretty women he can lay his hands on, but is constantly broke at the same time. It's difficult for me to sympathise with such a care free character. It is billed as a comedy but it's not one of those straight out laughs movie. Great acting also from Julie Christie, Goldie Hawn and a young Carrie Fisher as an underage nymphet. The movie is worth watching, but it's nowhere near the classic that many reviewers thought of it back in 1975.

4 years, 3 months ago

AKB48Fan rated The Forest

 The Forest 3/10

4 years, 3 months ago

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

A cannibal hermit living in the woods preys on campers and hikers for his food supply. This is another generic run of the mill 'deep in the woods' 1980's slasher complete with ghost kids helping the hikers escape from the cannibal killer. The killer's cuckolded flashback is probably my favorite part of the movie just for being so ridiculous and unintentionally funny. The ghost children were completely laughable and the acting from everyone involved was horrendous. The kills were pretty lackluster too. The movie is neither scary or fun; it simply just exists. And to top it all, the director/writer Don Jones lost his house by financing this garbage! A poor movie.

4 years, 3 months ago

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

A series of teenage gangs struggle against each other in a not-so-distant future. Eventually they united against an evil corporation, as represented by evil CEO Robby Benson who wants to control everything. With a good cast led by John Stockwell and featuring Kim Cattrall and Rae Dawn Chong, you'd think this post apocalyptic Mad Max movie rip-off might be great but unfortunately it's not. It's probably one of the worst movies you'll ever get to see. Some movies are so bad they are fun to watch in a perverse way but this is just dull and boring, although, seeing James Earl Jones (who is wasted in a small role), taking out the baddies with remote control radio Spitfire planes has it's bizarre, surreal moment to be sure! The acting is crap, the action scenes are lame and you'd be hard pressed to find one good thing about this movie. Total rubbish!

4 years, 3 months ago

AKB48Fan added 2 items to their collection

4 years, 3 months ago

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

Two inept gamblers on the run from their debts and a gang of crooks find refuge in a film studio. An absolutely terrible comedy and a painful one to watch. It is badly written and doesn't have a lot of laughs in it. Reg Varney and Norman Rossington don't have great chemistry together and it's blatantly obvious from the beginning. A number of cameos from British TV stars at the time pop up such as Bob Todd (Benny Hill) and the sexy Anoushka Hempel. The only redeeming feature of this movie is seeing the large complex at Pinewood studios. In the end, this is an awful comedy and a waste of 90 mins.

4 years, 3 months ago

AKB48Fan rated The Pit

 The Pit 6/10

4 years, 3 months ago