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Post by Heineken Skywalker on Jun 1, 2009 12:12:28 GMT -5
PLATOON (1986)
Told from the perspective of a young idealistic soldier (Charlie Sheen) who gives up college to volunteer for service in Vietnam. Upon arriving however, he quickly becomes disillusioned at the apparent futility of the war, and also finds himself in the middle of a battle of wills between his two commanding officers, the ill-tempered and tough-as-nails Staff Sergeant Barnes (Tom Berenger) and the good-natured Sergeant Elias (Willem Dafoe).
The supporting cast is made up of a who's-who of, at the time, up-and-coming actors including Johnny Depp, Forest Whittaker, Kevin Dillon, etc.
Oliver Stone's semi-autobiographical account of his Vietnam tour-of-duty is gritty, realistic, packs an emotional whallop and is pretty flawless.
10/10
BLACK HAWK DOWN (2001)
Details the events of a mission in Somalia on October 3, 1993, when Army Rangers were dropped by helicopter in the city of Mogadishu to capture two lieutenants of a Somali warlord. This lead to a firefight between the Rangers and the heavily-armed Somalis, and it later turned into a rescue mission of the crews of two Black Hawk helicopters which were shot down in the battle.
Some amazing battle footage and yet another first-rate cast, Eric Bana, Ewan McGregor, Tom Sizemore, Josh Hartnett, etc., make this a must-see war film.
Really makes you feel the effects of being in the thick of battle and it's one of Ridley Scott's best films.
9/10
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Post by Heineken Skywalker on Jun 1, 2009 16:42:04 GMT -5
The genre/category for June is...
LOCKED UP
Films that center around prison and jails.
Some rules or guidelines, if you will:
1. Films watched can be biopics, action-adventure, comedies, horror, documentaries, sci-fi, etc., but you should try to see a variety of types of films and of different genres.
2. The main action of the film has to take place in a prison or jail of some sort, or it can be about escaping that type of facility.
3. All movies have to have been theatrical releases. Made for tv and made for cable movies are not eligible, ie: HBO, Sci-Fi Channel, etc. No television mini-series or straight to dvd features either.
4. Whenever you watch one, feel free to post it in "Just Watched Movies" like you normally would, or even write a review for "Review Hell" if so inclined, but post here also, so we can see what everyone's watching within the genre. Feel free to tell us what you thought of the film and score it using the 1 to 10 system, ie: 1 being just awful, 5 is average and 10 being perfect. Half points, ie: 8.5/10 are also allowed.
5. You have until June 30th, and then on July 1st I'll announce the next genre or category.
6. Try to watch at least four, one per week, but watch as many, or few, as you feel comfortable with.
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Post by Heineken Skywalker on Jun 8, 2009 12:33:28 GMT -5
BIRDMAN OF ALCATRAZ (1962)
Robert Stroud (Burt Lancaster), an inmate at Leavenworth prison serving a life term in solitary confinement, finds a helpless baby sparrow in the exercise yard and goes on to learn everything he can about birds. He eventually developed medications, wrote books, and became a leading authority on birds, all from within prison.
A little slow at times, but it's a great performance by Lancaster, and some nice supporting turns by Karl Malden as the warden and Telly Savalas as a fellow inmate.
7/10
JAILHOUSE ROCK (1957)
Elvis Presley plays Vince Everett, a hothead who ends up in prison for manslaughter. While serving his sentence he learns about the music business from his cellmate, a former country singer.
When he's released he decides to try his hand as a singer and what he thinks is going to be easy money. When one of his original songs is ripped off by a major label he decides to start his own label, releases another song and becomes an overnight sensation. However when he hits it big, he becomes a jerk who starts to forget the people who helped him achieve his success.
For an Elvis flick, this one is pretty watchable. Elvis is in a pretty good James Dean "rebel-mode" here, the story, while not really original, is pretty entertaining, it features a couple of pretty good songs, including the classic title track, and all the songs are incorporated into the movie in a realistic manner.
This isn't the traditional type of musical where people start singing and dancing out of nowhere.
6.5/10
MIDNIGHT EXPRESS (1978)
Fictionalized account of the true story of Billy Hayes, an American who was caught trying to smuggle drugs out of Turkey. The Turkish courts decided to make an example of him and sentenced him to more than 30 years in prison. Years of appeals by his family and lawyer, and brutality by the guards, went by before Hayes finally had to take matters into his hands.
Just about as dark and somber as a prison film can get, with a good performance by Brad Davis as Hayes and excellent support from Randy Quaid and John Hurt as fellow prisoners.
8/10
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Post by Heineken Skywalker on Jun 9, 2009 8:50:22 GMT -5
BAD BOYS (1983)
Sean Penn plays Mick O'Brien, a delinquent who gets sent to juvenile detention for the accidental murder of the younger brother of a gang member. In retaliation, the gang member (Esai Morales) rapes O'Brien's girlfriend, is caught by the police, and as bad luck would have it, ends up in the same prison as O'Brien, where he immediately starts plotting his revenge and a showdown between the two is imminent.
Hadn't seen this one since the early eighties and except for some bad 80's music, still holds up really well. A couple of the inmates look a little too old to be in juvie, for instance, Clancy Brown was about 23 when he appeared in this flick, but that's a nitpick. Entertaining throughout and suspense is built well towards the inevitable climax.
Really good early performances by Penn and Morales, who would later be seen as Richie Valens' brother in LA BAMBA.
8/10
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Post by Heineken Skywalker on Jun 11, 2009 9:29:05 GMT -5
CHOPPER (2000)
Eric Bana in a riveting performance as Mark Brandon 'Chopper' Read, a notorious criminal who wrote his autobiography while serving a murder sentence in prison.
He went on to write a series of best-selling books.
It is widely believed that Read exaggerated many of the anecdotes in his books and it's those anecdotes that form the basis of the movie. But true or false, it's an entertaining movie, darkly funny one moment and gruesomely violent the next.
It's a good film, but it's Bana who keeps you watching. This film made him an international star and brought him to prominence in the U.S. None of his American films (MUNICH, HULK, TROY, etc.) prepare you for his performance in this film.
8/10
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Post by slayrrr666 on Jun 11, 2009 10:11:16 GMT -5
Chained Heat-1983
I've always held the view this was more of a starter WIP film, not so much in the sense of it being the first but more along the lines of being the one that showcased all the requirements of the genre without being nearly as extreme as it's counter-parts, like a stepping-stone if you will. On repeat viewings, that has held up as it does manage to feature most of what happens in these films (what little of them I've seen to begin with) such as the mass nudity, prison-yard showdown, corrupt wardens, beating of the innocents, and other areas, without being so sleazy as to leave a feeling of disgust afterward. It's not great by any means, but it serves it's purpose for those looking at those dozens of Jess Franco films and wandering what the fuss is about.
6.5/10
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Post by Heineken Skywalker on Jun 13, 2009 9:45:32 GMT -5
Three I'd never seen before...
THE HURRICANE (1999)
Based on the true story of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter (Denzel Washington), a middle-weight boxer whose career was cut short when he was accused and convicted of a triple murder. Serving three life terms for the murders, Carter kept trying to prove his innocence and even wrote his autobiography while in prison.
All efforts seemed fruitless until an African-American boy and his Canadian mentors read the book and took up his cause.
Though the writers and director (Norman Jewison) seemed to have played fast and loose with a lot of the facts, the basic story is still here and Denzel gives yet another powerful performance.
8/10
BRUTE FORCE (1947)
Very early Burt Lancaster movie. Here he plays Joe Collins, a convict at Westgate Penitentiary, an overcrowded prison where chief guard Captain Munsey (Hume Cronyn), uses fear and violence to control the prisoners.
After one of his cellmates commits suicide, provoked by Munsey, Collins plans a daring escape.
Pretty good, but the best part is easily the actual escape attempt at the the end, which turns into a massive shootout and riot.
Interesting to see Hume Cronyn as a villain since I mostly knew him from his later work as a kindly old man in films like COCOON. We also get to see a little flashback for each of the guys in the cell that reveals how they ended up there, which was kind of cool.
6.5/10
LOCK UP (1989)
Sylvester Stallone as Frank Leone, a model prisoner who is nearing the end of his prison term, six more weeks, for a fairly minor crime. Suddenly, in the middle of the night, he is transferred to a much tougher prison. The new warden there, Warden Drumgoole (Donald Sutherland), has it in for Leone over a previous incident, and wants to make his remaining time, a living hell, and if he can provoke Leone to really screw up, might even be able to add time to his sentence.
Clichéd characters and a predictable storyline, but I was still somewhat entertained. Sutherland is such a complete cartoon villain here, that Warden Snidley Whiplash would've been a more appropriate name. Typical late 80's fare from Sly.
6/10
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Post by ZapRowsdower on Jun 13, 2009 14:03:53 GMT -5
The Rock (1996, Michael Bay)
I'd call Michael Bay a guilty pleasure if I actually felt guilty about liking his movies. I don't. I think they're fun. The Rock fits under this category beautifully. Yeah, it's got lots of explosions and stuff, but whatever. Michael Bay accomplishes what he sets out to do and that's entertain. I don't pay him to teach me physics, I pay him to put me on a rollercoaster ride. And that's what he's good at. Sean Connery was bad-ass in one of Bay's strongest films. 9/10
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Post by slayrrr666 on Jun 14, 2009 10:10:46 GMT -5
Wow, Zapp, guess you and I thought alike:
The Rock-1996
Just like you, I don't think it's a crime to like Michael Bay's movies. Sometimes, you need a movie where you're not concerned with 'serious' matters and just watch an adrenaline-fueled, explosion-happy action film (the fact that that's 90% of my viewing habits is not lost on me, by the way) and this is a great one. Pretty entertaining story out of it, keeps you interested...eh, I can't go on, I really like this for the fact that, like any good action movie, it blows stuff up or shoots people dead with enough frequency to not make me bored. With the best car chase in cinema history, a fantastic finale and more shootouts than I care for, I can't say this is bad. I can say it's a little long, but it's not a bad movie.
9.5/10
The Great Escape-1963
A bit of a difference from the previous film, mostly due to the fact that most of the time this is spent on 'acting,' and usually watching movies like that isn't an enjoyable experience for me, a nd it's even more hampered here by the extreme length. That there was perhaps the one thing that hurt it most for me, I just can't sit through a solid 2 1/2 hour+ film without getting bored of it, which is what happened here during the first half. Once the escape plan is put into motion, it picks up a little more and actually made me somewhat interested in what happened, and the last half actually made me re-think my rating a little bit, but I can't forgive the first half's dullness.
6.5/10
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Post by ZapRowsdower on Jun 14, 2009 12:21:02 GMT -5
I mean, sure, it's a little bit on the WTF side... but interestingly enough, I'm always willing to forgive that with Michael Bay. He's the only director I forgive for doing stuff like that, but only because he does it with such finesse!
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Post by slayrrr666 on Jun 15, 2009 10:10:59 GMT -5
Exactly. You try telling me what that chemical does, or why Cage, a scientist who has worked with it in the past and knows about it, is handling it with bare hands and allows a completely clueless person to be anywhere around it, but if you really didn't pick up on stuff like that, you really won't notice it at all, which is pretty typical of his stuff I've found.
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Post by Heineken Skywalker on Jun 18, 2009 9:52:18 GMT -5
Two prison films directed by Stuart Rosenberg, one starring Butch Cassidy and the other, the Sundance Kid.
BRUBAKER (1980)
Robert Redford stars as Henry Brubaker, the new warden at Wakefield Prison. He first shows up disguised as a new inmate in order to check out the level of corruption and abuse from within. After revealing his true identity, he sets out to reform the conditions, which of course upsets some local businessmen who were benefiting from the scams and corrupt system.
Pretty good drama and one of the better performances by Redford. Good supporting cast and look for Morgan Freeman in a very early role as an inmate.
7/10
COOL HAND LUKE (1967)
"What we've got here is failure to communicate." A classic line in a classic film.
Lucas Jackson (Paul Newman) gets arrested and sent to a prison camp for "malicious vandalism of municipal property" (cutting off the heads of parking meters) while under the influence.
Working alongside the rest of the inmates on the chain gang, he earns their respect as a true individual and free spirit. But their loyalty, and his will, are tested when the prison captain (Strother Martin) decides to make an example of Luke and break his spirit for attempting to escape.
A great over-all film. Many classic scenes (the egg-eating contest!), some Christ symbolism, George Kennedy in an Oscar-winning supporting role, and it features a who's-who of actors who would go on to bigger tv and film success (Dennis Hopper, Harry Dean Stanton, Ralph Waite, etc.)
A classic of the genre, and Lucas Jackson is right up there with Nicholson's R.P. McMurphy in CUCKOO'S NEST, as one of the great non-conforming anti-heroes. My favorite Newman film.
9/10
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Post by slayrrr666 on Jun 19, 2009 10:06:03 GMT -5
Victory-1981
Frankly, this story, about a group of inmates at a concentration camp who are forced into playing soccer against the undefeated team run by the prison guards, is supposedly based on a real story, but if it was, I hope it wasn't this cliched or predictable. It goes just as what you would expect: prisoners are pissed off at the foul treatment and demand justice, the authorities offer up a plan they know can't lose and bully the prisoners into accepting it, and are then tormented while they practice so they lose their spirit and must overcome 'insurmountable odds' for the slim chance of victory. You know how this is going to go right from the start, and it plays out exactly straight to the point. That doesn't make it bad, as the final game is extended and quite fun, even though if you actually looked at it from a reviewer stand-point it loses a lot. If you don't then it's not so bad.
6.5/10
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Post by Heineken Skywalker on Jun 20, 2009 9:07:30 GMT -5
re: VICTORY.
It's basically a cliché Sports Movie combined with a cliché Prison Movie.
Couple of films loosely based on true stories:
PAPILLON (1973)
Steve McQueen stars as Henri "Papillon" Charriere, a petty criminal who was wrongly convicted of murder and sentenced to life in a penal colony in French Guiana, South America. The prisoners are warned that escape attempts are dealt with harshly. First attempt, you get two years in solitary confinement, second attempt, you get 5 years, a third attempt means death by guillotine. However, almost from the get-go, Papillon was determined to escape, and the film chronicles his attempts, recapture and punishment.
Also stars Dustin Hoffman, in one of his best roles, as Dega, a renowned counterfeiter who befriended Papillon.
At 2 1/2 hours, it drags a little at times, but it's ultimately a really good film with a strong performance by McQueen and a harsh portrayal of life in a penal colony.
8.5/10
DEAD MAN WALKING (1995)
Sister Prejean (Susan Sarandon) receives a letter from a death row inmate (Sean Penn) who is seeking a stay of execution for the double murder of a young couple, and she decides to visit him. He claims he was there, but his partner actually committed the crimes.
While the nun tries to be sympathetic to the criminal and give spiritual support, it's her job, she must also deal with the families of the murder victims and the grief that they're going through.
Very strong writing/directorial effort by actor, and Sarandon's partner, Tim Robbins. Robbins intercuts scenes from the rape and murders throughout the film, revealing a little more each time, so as to never let us forget the actual crimes, and become too sympathetic towards Penn's character. He never pushes a pro or anti-death penalty message down our throats, he just tells the story, and let's us see how the crime, and the criminal's upcoming execution, affects everybody involved.
Sarandon gives one her best performances and won an Oscar. Penn is simply amazing, as he almost always is, and lost the Oscar to Nicolas Cage in LEAVING LAS VEGAS.
8.5/10
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Post by slayrrr666 on Jun 21, 2009 10:17:31 GMT -5
Bad Boys-1983
Heiney, I know you really liked this one from what I remember, but I just really couldn't get into it. Aside from the general dullness that comes from the fact that this is an 'acting' based film, there wasn't a whole lot for me to stay interested in. It really wasn't sleazy, it wasn't disturbing (well, I'll grant a few liberties here, but I meant in my usual sense) and it just didn't hold my interest all that well. The rape scene is definitely a little uncomfortable, but I've seen much more disturbing, and the final showdown does redeem this one slightly, but I just couldn't get into it like you did.
5/10
Fortress-1995
Well, I can say I liked this one a little more, but that's still not a huge sign of encouragement in this regard. Frankly, this seemed like it was trying to create a WIP flick only with men instead of women, as we get a lot of familiar elements throughout, from the corrupt warden, the innocent inmate, the mass shower scene that features mass nudity, the helpful inmate who's been in there for a while and a late-in-the-game twist that adds heat for the final showdown. Unfortunately, it's just not that good, as the attempted sleaze (forcing the wife to sleep with the warden to make the husband's stay easier) just doesn't come off like it's supposed to, the prison scenes just don't have the drama behind them, and outside of the rather-frenetic finale, it just moves too slowly to get into.
5.5/10
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