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AKB48Fan rated Cantonen Iron Kung Fu

 Cantonen Iron Kung Fu 7/10

4 years, 11 months ago

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

Leung Kwan lives and works as a foreman in a village with his friends. A corrupt businessman named Black Eagle wants to take over the supply routes of the area. When Kwan's friend is killed by Black Eagle's henchmen, he tries to take revenge but is rescued by Master Lin Tao-hoi who becomes Kwan's friend and trains him in martial arts. Black Eagle then kills Lin and Kwan's friends. The stage is set for Kwan to confront Black Eagle but not before going through his henchmen. This is a great low budget martial arts movie which has a plot seen in similar stories around this period with basically the same template in slapstick and comedy to begin with followed by intense training sequences and wild kung fu fights until the story gets serious before the climax. The first half of the movie isn't particularly that good but that doesn't matter as you're just waiting for things to liven up and it certainly does that with a fantastic lengthy climatic battle in a forest between Kwan and Black Eagle. Good acting from Leung Kar Yan as the hero with Phillip Ko working hard as the chief villain Black Eagle. Whilst this martial arts movie isn't that well known, it's definitely worth seeking out just for the second half alone.

4 years, 11 months ago

AKB48Fan rated Not Tonight, Darling

 Not Tonight, Darling 2/10

4 years, 11 months ago

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

Karen is a beautiful and intelligent housewife, but she is tired of her solicitor spouse and her empty, suburban lifestyle. She is lonely and wants something more. With a title like this, you're probably thinking this is a British sex comedy that the general public was so fond of at the time but it isn't. It's a pretty glum affair, enlivened by Luan Peters, lovely and sympathetic as the vulnerable Karen. The husband's strange attitude is not explored and the ending is abrupt and unsatisfactory. I thought it might get interesting when Karen starts to get blackmailed by her lover but it doesn't go anywhere. There's really nothing to entice the viewer to watch this movie at all as it's so dull and boring. A truly appalling movie.

4 years, 11 months ago

AKB48Fan rated Hell Drivers

 Hell Drivers 7/10

4 years, 11 months ago

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

Tom Yately is an ex-con who takes a job as a construction-supply trucker. He soon befriends Lucy and Gino, who help him adjust to the fast-paced, competitive nature of the dangerous job. Red, the company foreman, encourages the truckers to drive as fast as possible in order to complete more trips, while he pockets the extra money. Yately finds himself torn between beating Red's driving record and exposing his crooked schemes. This is a very well acted British movie. Stanley Baker isn't an obvious choice for a mild mannered everyman but he pulls the role off very well. There's a host of faces who'd be well known in 1957 like William Hartnell, Herbert Lom, Sid James and Gordon Jackson alongside lesser known faces at the time such as Sean Connery and David McCallum. The best performance is by Patrick McGoohan as Red, the psycho workmate from hell who is the stuff nightmares are made from. Just one thing I didn't like is the story has too much melodramatic roots and is tied up a little too easily even though it does have a suspenseful ending. The plot contains intense drama, action, violence, brawls and truck races in their high-speed vehicles. Definitely well worth seeking out.

4 years, 11 months ago

AKB48Fan rated Highly Dangerous

 Highly Dangerous 5/10

4 years, 11 months ago

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

The British government asks entomologist Frances Gray to go behind the Iron Curtain and examine insects that might be used for germ warfare. Grudgingly accepting the job, Frances goes undercover as a tour director and meets American reporter Bill Casey in the process. Unfortunately, the chief of police quickly sees through Frances' cover. When her contact is murdered, Frances is taken into custody and harshly questioned, prompting Casey to come to her aid. A so and so movie with a plot that is extremely daft with the inclusion of some nonsense about how Frances incorporates a radio show to determine her actions in order to get the job done. The problem with this movie is that there is no real tension or feeling of danger. The lives of Frances and Bill are in danger and yet there is no suspense. Margaret Lockwood makes for a very beautiful and personable innocent, drawn into a story about a form of biological warfare. Overall, this isn't a movie to write home about and as such not worth bothering to seek out.

4 years, 11 months ago

AKB48Fan rated Venetian Bird

 Venetian Bird 6/10

4 years, 11 months ago

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

aka Venetian Bird. Richard Todd is Edward Mercer, who comes to Venice on behalf of an insurance company, looking for a man named Uccello who has a reward coming for the rescue of an Allied airman during the war. Unfortunately for Mercer, the first person he's supposed to see is dead. Then he meets Adrianna, who knew Uccello, and he is told that Uccello is dead. After a while, though, he begins to think that's not the case. This is a bit of an underrated and forgotten British thriller. The director, Ralph Thomas, borrows a good deal from Hitchcock in this movie and does some effective things, particularly at the end, which is great. He also uses Venice and its surroundings very well to create an excellent atmosphere. If only the script had been less talky and the plot better, you might really have something here. Richard Todd is effective as the leading character. There's a small cameo from Carry On star Sid James as well. A good British noir movie.

4 years, 11 months ago

AKB48Fan rated Personal Services

 Personal Services 7/10

4 years, 11 months ago

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

Christine is a struggling single mother who reluctantly rents out rooms in her apartment to prostitutes to make ends meet. But when a financial jam forces her to sell her own body, Christine forsakes her reservations about her tenants. Soon, with help from veteran hooker Shirley, Christine transforms her apartment into a house of ill repute, her makeshift brothel servicing a gaggle of older male clients with decidedly kinky sexual appetites! This is a fictionalised version of famous London brothel keeper Cynthia Payne's life. Director Terry Jones and screenwriter David Leland concoct a bawdy farce which manages to be quite funny and always engrossing without ever getting too vulgar or sleazy. Instead they treat the sordid subject matter of sex with admirable wit, taste and sensitivity. There's a surprising and even touching sense of compassion and humanity for the seedy main characters and their seamy profession. Julie Walters is fantastic as Christine and she shines in her role ably supported by Shirley Stelfox as brash tart Shirley, Danny Schiller as wise old transvestite pal Dotty and Alec McCowen as jolly regular Wing Commander Morten. Well worth seeing if you're not offended by the subject matter.

4 years, 11 months ago

AKB48Fan rated Blood Beach (1980)

 Blood Beach (1980) 5/10

4 years, 11 months ago

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

People are mysteriously disappearing off a beach, literally getting sucked under the sand by an unknown creature. This is a fairly typical example of a B-grade horror movie. It's fairly entertaining but should have been a lot better. It's a little drawn out at times but if you can override that hindsight it's a neat little movie...plus it's got John Saxon in it! The cast of characters is predictable: the stoic male lead doing his best to look moody, the typical love interest, the sceptic, the comic relief, and the wise all-knowing scientist who no-one listens to. All the boxes have been checked here. The creature under the sand is never shown until right at the end but it's really disappointing if I'm honest about it. The movie ends the way all good horror movies do in that something has survived and the threat under the beach is still there. The movie might not be special but as a bit of late-night disposable viewing it's good enough.

4 years, 11 months ago

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

A London female punk rocker named Kate rises and falls with her group Breaking Glass, backed by her hustler manager and a shady producer. A fantastic movie set in the post punk era of Britain. The story is decent, the acting is good, and the music is absolutely in tune with the period. The depiction of the music industry with it's main players often exploiting every new trend, sound and artist until it and they are completely exhausted is spot-on. What truly makes this movie is the music. Each track is a perfect reflection of Kate's journey and is pretty darn catchy to boot. The cast is excellent with Phil Daniels sharing top billing with Hazel O'Connor alongside a young Jonathan Pryce and The Bill's Mark Wingett who support them. For anyone aspiring to be a musician for a living, take heed of the moral behind this tale.

4 years, 11 months ago

AKB48Fan added 2 items to their collection

4 years, 11 months ago

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

After his master and fellow students at a school are killed by a bloodthirsty Premier, Nie Zheng escapes to a nearby province where he tries to live a normal life but when another fugitive on the run comes to Nie and tell him his friend was killed by the Premier, he promises to kill him. This great heroic bloodshed Shaw Bros movie is based on a true story that has been passed through the ages in China. It's a character driven movie and not a story that is full of action and blood because there are only 4 action scenes in total but don't let that put you off this movie as its compelling and rich with strong characters, excellent acting and fascinating interplay of characters' social roles and the accompanying little rituals and ceremonies. It's all very well acted and beautifully photographed on a mix of studio sets and outdoor backlots. Jimmy Wang Yu cuts an impressive figure as the assassin tormented by his inability to achieve what he strongly feels is his destiny. I did find it off-putting that some music from the James Bond movie You Only Live Twice has been copied here. All in all, this is a very good movie that I really enjoyed.

4 years, 11 months ago

AKB48Fan rated Billy Jack

 Billy Jack 3/10

4 years, 11 months ago

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

Half-breed Vietnam-vet Billy Jack lives on a Reservation protecting the natives, wild horses, and the peace-loving people. He confronts a man named Posner and his men poaching wild mustangs for dog meat. Billy Jack is asked to protect a young woman who is pregnant and hide her at the native school from some corrupt cops. The school is home to every race run by Jean Roberts. The tension between the school and the locals grow until it boils over. I came into this movie thinking it was some kind of martial arts movie having watched a clip on a documentary but it isn't (in fact there's only 1 martial arts scene throughout the entire movie). Most of the storyline is about hippie ethics and a sympathetic depiction of the native Indian plight. The story is very predictable and the dialog is sometimes terrible. There are some brief action scenes but even those aren't really done that well. At the time this movie was well received but it has badly dated and is quite embarrassing to watch now. Can't really recommend this to anybody at all.

4 years, 11 months ago

AKB48Fan rated Zombieland: Double Tap

 Zombieland: Double Tap 7/10

4 years, 11 months ago

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

Zombie slayers Tallahassee, Columbus, Wichita and Little Rock leave the confines of the White House to travel to Graceland in Memphis. Along the way, they encounter other post-apocalyptic warriors and a group of survivors who find refuge in a commune. The scrappy fighters must now rely on their wits and weapons more than ever as they soon find themselves in a relentless battle against smarter, faster and seemingly indestructible zombies. Essentially this movie has every single aspect that we all loved and cherished in the first installment to the series, and is incredibly entertaining however, that's just it, the movie took a decade to be made and it doesn't offer us anything new at all or any added unique aspects instead we have essentially the first movie with a different plot and some new characters! Above all it is a good movie and very entertaining. Plus there's a bonus mid-credit scene with Bill Murray kicking zombie ass!!

4 years, 11 months ago

AKB48Fan rated Jumanji: The Next Level

 Jumanji: The Next Level 7/10

4 years, 11 months ago

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

When Spencer goes back into the fantastical world of Jumanji, pals Martha, Fridge and Bethany re-enter the game to bring him home. But the game is now broken and fighting back. Everything the friends know about Jumanji is about to change, as they soon discover there's more obstacles and more danger to overcome. I thought the last Jumanji movie was pretty decent, not perfect, but definitely not bad. If you liked that one you will like this. It is very much just more of the same. The action is like last time, it's entertaining, but not mind blowing. The effects are overall good. They once again have fun with the fact that the characters "in game" represent characters in the movies "real life". All of the cast are brilliant. It seems they'll be another movie judging from the post-credits scene which will probably round up the trilogy. Can't wait for it!

4 years, 11 months ago

AKB48Fan rated Knives Out

 Knives Out 8/10

4 years, 11 months ago

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

When renowned crime novelist Harlan Thrombey dies just after his 85th birthday, the inquisitive and debonair Detective Benoit Blanc arrives at his estate to investigate. From Harlan's dysfunctional family to his devoted staff, Blanc sifts through a web of red herrings and self-serving lies to uncover the truth behind Thrombey's untimely demise. What a great whodunit this is that's unpredictable and extremely funny, skillfully playing with the tropes and conventions of a murder mystery. All of it's incredible cast are excellent but Chris Evans, Daniel Craig and Ana De Armas give the standout performances. Rian Johnson's direction is great and the movie is extremely well filmed. The music by Nathan Johnson is also fantastic. Many people (mostly Star Wars fans) have avoided this movie due to Johnson's awful directing on The Last Jedi but I say forget about it as you're missing out on a brilliant piece of filmmaking. This is a charming and satisfying mystery/comedy which is well worth watching.

4 years, 11 months ago

AKB48Fan rated 1917

 1917  9/10

4 years, 11 months ago

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

During World War I, two British soldiers - Lance Cpl. Schofield and Lance Cpl. Blake - receive seemingly impossible orders. In a race against time, they must cross over into enemy territory to deliver a message that could potentially save 1,600 of their fellow comrades including Blake's own brother. This movie is downright amazing. Definitely one of the best movies of 2019 and one of the best war movies I've seen. It's thrilling, exciting, scary, shocking and heartfelt, all jam-packed into one beautiful movie. The biggest topic of this movie is probably how it looked as if it was shot in one single, continuous take. And there's good reason for it. The one-take format just elevated this whole movie with so much more tension and immersiveness. It's very well done from director Sam Mendes. The entire cast is superb especially George MacKay. His performance was just fantastic and I liked that the story didn't focus on the big names such as Benedict Cumberbatch and Colin Firth. All in all, this is an epic, visceral, stunning depiction of WWI. Buckle up cause once it starts, it doesn't stop. Highly recommended.

4 years, 11 months ago

AKB48Fan voted for list

Film Diary 2020 (78 movies items)

4 years, 11 months ago

AKB48Fan voted for list

Favorite Movies of 2019 (35 movies items)

4 years, 11 months ago

AKB48Fan rated The Pot Carriers

 The Pot Carriers 6/10

4 years, 11 months ago