Spoiler Free Review of High-Rise 2016

Link to a spoiler free review of High-Rise

http://www.spoilerfreemoviesleuth.com/2016/04/cinematic-releases-high-rise.html#more

Spoiler Free Review of Airlift 2016

http://www.spoilerfreemoviesleuth.com/2016/04/straight-from-bollywood-airlift.html#more

Spoiler Free Review of the Belgian crime film The Ardennes

Link to a spoiler free review of the excellent Belgian crime drama The Ardennes.

 

http://www.spoilerfreemoviesleuth.com/2016/04/reviews-ardennes.html



Criminal 2016 Spoiler Free Review

Link to a spoiler free review



http://www.spoilerfreemoviesleuth.com/2016/04/Criminal-Movie-Review.html#more

Early Review for Horror Film Betrothed

http://www.spoilerfreemoviesleuth.com/2016/04/new-release-horror-betrothed.html#more

25 Cult Crime Movie List

Article I did for TasteofCinema on cult crime movies

http://www.tasteofcinema.com/2016/25-cult-crime-movies-that-are-worth-your-time/

Huntsman: Winters War Early Review

http://www.spoilerfreemoviesleuth.com/2016/04/huntsman-winters-war-review.html

Deadly Famous 2016 Movie Review

Deadly Famous

“This Town Will Bleed You Dry” [1].

If you do not like found footage films then stop reading this right now, because that’s essentially what this is. It is set up as a found footage true crime documentary and some gruesome events occurred and they are trying to tell the story. The filmmakers treat everything that we see as actual events; weaving together video that includes shaky cam footage, steady cameras, home films from other smaller cameras, personal confessionals, cell phones, audition tapes, and his prior television role footage. The story is about a former child actor who is now in his forties and is unable to get any roles; he also has a tiny affection for murdering women. If the main character in Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986) where an actor, then this would pretty much be the same movie.

The filmmakers do a good job of mixing the shaky cam footage with various other settings. I was worried at first that I was going to have to sit through a whole 90 minutes of shaky video, but thankfully it is minimal. The opening credits are similar to Seven (1995) and other films that copied it, showing bits and pieces of information that is relevant to the plot. There are many good scenic shots of the Los Angeles area and some of the interview scenes are blocked quite effectively.

Daniel O’Meara plays the main character Alan Miller. He is the main reason to see this film. His performance completely stands out as he plays this character that switches back and forth between himself and being an actor. His ranges of emotions are all over the place in this film; he is nice, passionate, mean, egotistical, psychosexual, violent, and brutal. There are moments when he is playing the actor portion of the character and he pulls out the method acting style and it is reminiscent of a Brando or DeNiro. O’Meara had started out well in his acting career, appearing in Under the Skin (1997) and Nude Descending (2002).

While O’Meara does stand out in this film for his overall performance, Eric Roberts steals the movie. In the short amount of time that he appears on the screen he is downright hilarious and awesome. That little chunk makes me want to see him get some smaller meatier roles in larger budgeted productions.

This is a horror film and so it does deliver on a heavy amount of violence and gore. The violence is so strong that it borders on exploitative. There is a crazy scene towards the end that is a bizarre mix of Bronson (2008) and Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. His confessionals at the end are unbelievable, I could see O’Meara playing the Joker as crazy as that sounds.

This film is somewhere between good and great. If you love found footage films, psychological horror, or just the horror genre then you may want to check this out. I recommend doing a double feature with this and Creep (2014).

Score 5

Holidays 2016 Review

Link to movie review of Holidays on The Movie Sleuth

http://www.spoilerfreemoviesleuth.com/2016/04/Holidays-Horror-Anthology-Review.html#more

Gwendoline AKA The Perils of Gwendoline in the Land of the Yik Yak 1984

 

“Barbarella meets Indiana Jones” [8]. The tagline pretty much says it all. This is the ultimate in a guilty pleasure movie; you’ll either absolutely love it or hate it. It is a French produced action comedy sexploitation film that is based on a series of French bondage comic books from the 1940’s and 1950’s by John Willie.

It is a smorgasbord of everything that makes a great cult movie; it is comedic on purpose, overacted on purpose, mixes various genres together, there are beautifully shot scenes, nice locales and sets, great costumes, tons of nudity and sexual situations, action, violence, martial arts, an Indiana Jones/ Alan Quartermain type lead actor, Tawny Kitaen, a mysterious ancient Amazonian type female tribe, weird torture scenes, female chariot races, and a female gladiator battle for the right to have sex with the male actor.

Directed by Just Jaeckin, known for directing the erotic films Emmanuelle, The Story of O, and Lady Chatterley’s lover, the story involves a girl that goes to China in order to find her missing father who was seeking a rare butterfly. She is joined by a female friend and an adventurer that they hire to help find him; taking them on travels through China, on a river via a boat, through the desert and jungle, and coming across multiple ancient tribes. It’s a wild ride and if you like some laughs and pointless nudity, then you should find this very enjoyable.



Titanes en el Ring 1973

 





What happens when 1980’s WWF wrestling and Mexican Lucha Libre are both kind of jumbled together? The result ends up being the Argentine version from the 1960-1980’s called Titanes en el ring or Titans in the ring. They had a television show, did some Latin American tours, had toys and trading cards, weird and unusual characters, and made two feature length films: Titanes en el Ring in 1973 and Titanes en el Ring contrataca in 1984. Martin Karadagian would be considered the Hulk Hogan of the group; he was often the world champion, regularly appeared on the television show, and was the main star out of the wrestlers in the movies.

It’s hard to really call it a film because it’s basically just several wrestling shows filmed, with a very weak storyline pieced in between those shows. The plot involves a young boy that is a fan and his father promises to buy him tickets to the shows as long as he keeps doing well in school. He lies to this girl that he likes, to impress her of course, and tells her that he knows the Titans and will introduce them to her if she comes to the show with him. Let’s get out of the way what bothers me with this whole boy and girl relationship deal in this story, they are way too young to even be doing this. They’re essentially dating. And the problem is that they are seriously way too young in this, we’re talking somewhere between 7 and 10 years old. It’s really weird. After the first wrestling match/date, they have a conversation that the girl brings up about how they are in a relationship. So that’s the bulk of the story pretty much until the end of the movie.

Let’s pull a Quentin Tarantino and back up a bit, pretend there are some episodic title cards on the screen that say “Chapter 2. Opening Credits.” You can tell that the film and television show are geared towards kids, because the opening them song sounds like something from a cartoon or kids show. I don’t know what they’re saying because that part was subtitled, but you can tell that its light hearted.  The film opens up with all of the wrestlers training and already you can tell that there are some interesting characters. They used the term lucha libre or parts of it through the film, but there are only several masked wrestlers seen in the film. In the training, we see them perform various moves such as arm drags, drop kicks, kip ups, flips, collar and elbow tie ups, and other moves I couldn’t give a name for or have time to. There’s a lot going on in these scenes, with most of the wrestlers inside a ring and the camera being several feet outside of it. One funny thing that I noticed on second viewing is that one of the wrestlers is smoking a cigar while training with another wrestler, how hilarious is that.

So fast forward to the first night of wrestling that the boy and girl attend and it’s a long one, featuring eleven matches. I’ve went back and forth on how to present this and I feel that my slightly above average note taking can provide a little about each match, unfortunately I was always able to tell who was who character wise. These groups of matches are all very fast paced, short, heavily clipped, and mix in shots of the crowd and the boy and girl. The first match is Jose Luis versus Italian something (I couldn’t catch a full name), both wore black wrestling singlets and there were tons of flying head scissors, and a flip over the guys head to a roll up for the win. The second match was a pair of hippies versus Ivanoff the Gypsy, who also wore a black singlet. One hippie wore all red leather and looked more heavy metal than hippie. There were lots of drop kicks, flying head scissors, and the Gypsy body slammed one hippie onto the other and pinned them both.

The third match was Ararat versus Pedro Goitia, with both wearing black singlets but one was heavy and looked exactly like Gorilla Monsoon when he used to wrestle. There were a lot of body slams and a few monkey flip with the Monsoon lookalike winning. The fourth match was Israeli Champ Tanenbaum versus the Caveman, who actually looked like a caveman while the other guy had a black singlet. They must have gotten a sweet deal on black singlet because almost everyone is wearing them. There was a double kick to the face, some drop kicks, and a roll up for the Israeli win. The fifth match was Silvio the Italian versus Joe the Mercenary; with Silvio wearing a red shirt, black sash, and beige pants, and you just guess the other one without me repeating it. There are some punches and kicks, chops, and a ref toss after the match. The sixth match was Silvio the Italian versus Soon the Korean, with the Korean wearing a gi and the other guy with a black singlet again. I hope they at least own their own and aren’t switching in the back. There is a dropkick and a splash in this match for the pin.

The seventh match is one of the big ones because they give extra time and show the entrance, it’s Yolanca versus Tufic Memet. Yolanca comes floating down in a silver space ship and clear fish bowl helmet; he’s in all yellow with patched areas of around and has a mask. The kids have flags they are waving with his name on it. Memet has the dreaded black singlet, but did enter wearing a turban. There was a flying head scissors, some kicks and punches, and then a botched roll up for the win. The eight match is the Red Knight versus Ulysses the Greek. The Red Knight is a luchadore dress all in red and came out to entrance music and kissed a kid in the ring. Is that weird? He is taking on a guy with just a one arm black singlet, who did come out wearing a red jacket. There is a full nelson, reversal, running the ropes, hip toss multiple times, arm drag off the top rope, and some other moves that I would have to look up to name. It was the longest and best match highlights and ended up being declared a draw.

The ninth match is Cucumber the Clown versus The Viking. The clown is in a patched, multi colored clown suit and the Viking is in black with fur boots. There are some drop kicks and a rope tie up, with someone called super kid (who had his own them music) coming in to help the clown. The tenth match is Puechele the Thick versus Il Comendattore Benito Durante, with both wearing black singlets except the more muscular guy has a thinner one. There is a powerbomb backbreaker and the match is cut away without a finish. The final match is the Mummy versus Martin Karadagian. The mummy gets a huge entrance with music, walking out slowly. His mouth is covered with clothe also and he is able to do a creepy breathing thing, where the fabric sucks in and out of his mouth. The top guy Karadagian wears a black singlet with black tights. There are lots of punches and the mummy tries to choke him most of the time, there ends up being blood and they call the match a draw.

So this is the point where they have the relationship talk and he leaves he house and there is always a red car with its hood up across the street. There is another training sequence with the wrestlers and then another show, this time only showing two matches; one involving the hippies and Ararat versus Sancho Panzo and the Knight, and one involving Red Knight and Cucumber the Clown versus Karadagian and Durante. The knight is something that has to be mentioned, he wears an all silver cloth outfit that looks like its medieval battle armor.

Chapter 5. The Birthday Party. I’m thinking about right now that I should’ve gone all out Tarantino and started with the end of the movie. Or maybe even one step further, by borrowing elements from other writing and incorporate it into this. “We're all going to die, all of us, what a circus! That alone should make us love each other but it doesn't. We are terrorized and flattened by trivialities, we are eaten up by nothing” [1]. So the little girl is having clowns at her birthday party, hoorah! They are somewhat creepy, but aren’t all of them? These two clowns play instruments, trombone and clarinet. Then it switches to boy band time, as some Argentine pop band plays and gets the kids to dance. All of this once again brings up the question, should you be in a relationship when the person you’re dating has clowns at their birthday party.

After the party is over, the boy is home asleep and has a nightmare about all of the titans fighting each other in a bar brawl. They don’t go to wrestling this time, instead watching it on television because the girl is sick. The mummy gets some more stage time and wins his match.

The infinite finality of being. This is the point in the story where the boy and girl get to meet the wrestlers while they are training and have lunch with Karadagian. They want to meet the mummy and he tells them that he is sleeping and takes them to see him, but they must be quiet. He’s in the locker room, standing up sleeping in between some lockers. He slowly starts to shake his hands and do the creepy breathing thing and they quickly leave. While at lunch, Karadagian tells them the story of how the Titans came to become a wrestling organization. There were the good guys and the bad guys and they were all together and an argument happened between two that resulted in all of them fighting. Once they were tired, they decided to join up and forget about the past. And so ended their lunch and visit together.

“I remember the time I was kidnapped and they sent a piece of my finger to my father. He said he wanted more proof” [2]. The red car finally makes sense, even though it made for a weak subplot. The boy and girl return back to her home and her father is kidnapped by a group of three thugs in a red car. The boy enlists the help of the Titans and they find the house where he is being held and unleash some ass kicking upon thine enemies. Now some of the thugs have guns and could’ve shot them at any point but let’s just let that slide, besides it’s a kid’s movie. We can’t have their version Hulk Hogan getting killed. Besides, the Mummy makes his grand entrance to eliminate the gunmen, coming out from some large bushes and then disappearing back once done.  The dad ends up getting saved and everyone is happy and, the end.

If you are a hardcore wrestling fan that has seen and enjoyed the Mexican lucha libre movies with Santo, then this is something you have watch for morbid curiosity more than anything else. I wouldn’t even call what was there a plot, but they have some crazy hilarious characters worth seeing. And they made the Mummy seem cool as hell. If anything, he is what’s worth checking out on this one.

 

 

 

 

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25 Cult Sci-fi Film List From TasteofCinema

List I did for tasteofcinema




http://www.tasteofcinema.com/2016/25-great-cult-sci-fi-movies-that-are-worth-your-time/

25 Cult Fantasy Film List

Link to a cult fantasy film list that I did for TasteofCinema.com

http://www.tasteofcinema.com/2016/25-cult-fantasy-films-that-are-worth-your-time/

Marlon Brando Birthday Top 10 Performances

Today is the birthday of Marlon Brando. He was controversial, highly respected for his memorable performances, considered difficult to deal with at times, and is one of the greatest actors of the 20th century. He didn’t believe in memorizing lines, believing that using cue cards brought a sense of realism to the dialogue. In celebration of his birthday and great career, we list his ten best performances. I am just going to list them by the year the film was released.
1. A Streetcar Named Desire 1951

Brando had played the role of Stanley Kowalski on the stage  before bringing Tennessee William’s character to the big screen. The role is widely considered one of his finest and earned him his first nomination for an Academy Award for Best Actor. The film was nominated for a total of 12 Academy Awards and won four. It instantly made him a Hollywood superstar and sex symbol.

2. Viva Zapata! 1952

 

He was nominated for his second Academy Award for Best Actor, portraying the life of the Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata. Brando spent time in the Mexican village Zapata had lived in  leading up to the start of the film, learning the people’s mannerisms and the way that they spoke.

3. Julius Caesar 1953

 

 Brando plays Mark Antony and was the only American in an essentially all British cast that had performing the Shakespeare material theatrically for years. Many were concerned that Brando would destroy the movie with his penchant for his style of mumbling his dialogue, but he surprised everyone delivering all of his lines clearly and definitively. It would mark another Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, the third one in three consecutive years. The film was nominated for a total of five Academy Awards. He won a BAFTA for Best Foreign Actor, his second of three in a row that included Viva Zapata! And On the Waterfront.

 



4. The Wild One 1953

 Brando plays the leader of a motorcycle gang that terrorizes a small town and gets into a battle with another rival gang. The movie is all about Brando and his character, as he truly stands out. This teenage rebellion movie didn’t garner any awards, but it made him a role model for teenage rebellion much like James Dean and Elvis Presley would end up doing.

5. On the Waterfront 1954

 Brando plays a former boxer turned dockworker. who witnesses the murder of another dockworker that the mob connected union boss wants silenced. His character then deals with the torment and guilt and the decision of whether to stay quiet or testify. His famous “I could have been a contender speech” was improvised at the request of Brando, believing that the original scripting wouldn’t have been believable. The end result was an absolutely superb performance that won his first Academy Award for Best Actor. The film was nominated for a total of 12 Academy Awards, wining eight.

6. Sayonara 1957

 Brando plays an Air Force officer who strongly opposes interracial marriages between American and Japanese, but his viewpoint is challenged when he falls in love with a Japanese woman. The film was controversial when it was released, but did well commercially and was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, with Brando winning Best Actor.

7. The Godfather 1972

 The 1960’s weren’t very kind to Brando, as his films didn’t perform as well financially and he was criticized for taking roles that were below his acting ability for financial gain. This all changed when he took on the character of Don Vito Corleone, the leader of a mafia family in The Godfather. His portrayal of the mafia head was the polar opposite of the versions that had been displayed on the screen before, a powerful man who is quiet and gentle. He would win an Academy Award for Best Actor and the film would be nominated for a total of eleven.

8.Last Tango in Paris 1972

Released the same year as The Godfather, Brando would star in this highly controversial directed by Bernardo Bertolucci. He played an American that has an affair with a young Parisian woman solely based upon sex. Despite the controversial sex scenes, Brando was still nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor in 1974.

9. Apocalypse Now 1979

 Despite all of the major issues with the film’s production and the director’s difficulty dealing with Brando, he still delivers an excellent and memorable performance. Brando showed up to the film extremely overweight and Coppola couldn’t get him to remember his lines, leading the director to film mostly his face and having Brando improvise most of what he said.

10. A Dry White Season 1989

 Brando returned to the screen after a nine year retirement to play a supporting role as a lawyer in South Africa in 1976 during the apartheid. The role led to a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

25 Cult Rip off Movies Link

Link to an article I did for TasteofCinema.com


http://www.tasteofcinema.com/2016/25-cult-movies-that-are-rip-offs-of-popular-movies/

Christopher Walken Birthday Top 10 Performances

 

Christopher Walken turned 73 yesterday and in celebration of the actor’s birthday I am going to do a very quick list of his top 10 performances. Now in a long and storied career that includes credits of appearing in 129 films and playing a bevy of strange and often psychologically unhinged characters, there is always going to be some debate over what should be included.

10. Romance and Cigarettes 2005

 

While most people may suggest his role in the musical Hairspray, I prefer this even more offbeat musical which has Walken doing a performance of Tom Jones “Delilah.” By the way, the film was written, produced, and directed by another offbeat performer in John Turturro.



9. Biloxi Blues 1988

This one sees Walken play a slightly unhinged drill sergeant putting Matthew Broderick and a group of recruits through boot camp in Biloxi, Mississippi during World War II.

8. At Close Range 1986

A crime drama that was based on a real life Pennsylvania crime family, Walken plays the head of a crime family that sees his two sons (Sean and Chris Penn) get involved. There are strong performances all around and it received critical acclaim, but did not fare well at the box office.  

7. Seven Psychopaths 2012

His performance in this is being picked over The Prophecy solely on the one scene that is linked here, where he refuses to put his hands up. Walken plays the eccentric Hans and is just hilarious throughout the entire film, totally deadpan and is almost a self-parody of himself.

6. Pulp Fiction 1994

He’s only appears in one-scene about the gold watch, but the combination of Walken and Tarantino’s witty dialogue creates one of the most memorable scenes of the movie.

5. Pennies From Heaven 1981

Who else are you going to get to play a singing and dancing pimp; Walken had been training for this type of a role since he was a kid. The film was a box office flop because it was more serious role Steve Martin, but it has since gained a cult following.

4. King of New York 1990

Walken plays a crime drug lord who has just been released from prison and is looking to take back the empire he had left behind, while also deciding to try and help rebuild a hospital in his old neighborhood. This one kind of got lost in the mix because of its dark and gritty style and its direction by Abel Ferrara, who had a reputation for making dark and controversial movies. Regardless, this is one of Walken’s best performances and somewhat of a cult classic.

3. The Dead Zone 1983

A story from Stephen King directed by David Cronenberg that features a superb and haunting performance from Walken, possibly his most underrated. He plays a man who awakens from a coma and discovers that he has a psychic ability to see future events when he touches people. The film won a Saturn award for best horror film and Walken was nominated for Best Actor.

2. Catch Me if You Can 2002

Walken received a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for his portrayal of Frank Abagnale Sr. The film is based upon the real life events of Frank Abagnale Jr. (Leonardo DiCaprio), who ends up being hunted down by the FBI primarily for check fraud. Walken gives a moving performance, especially in the last scene where he realizes he will probably never see his son again.

The Deer Hunter 1978

This is truly an epic masterpiece of a film about a group of friends living in a small industrial town in Pennsylvania and how their lives are impacted by the Vietnam War. The film went on to win five Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Sound, Best Editing, and Best Supporting Actor for Walken. It had other amazing performances from Robert DeNiro, Meryl Streep, and John Cazale. It is best remembered for the iconic Russian roulette scene involving Walken and DeNiro. If you have never seen this before, it truly is a must see film.