Director: Charlie Ahearn Starring:Nathan Ingram, George David Conzales, Migeul WIllanueva. USA. 1h m
You’ll not find any film as authentic while investigating New York Black and Puerto Rican culture than this collector’s gem. Ahearn had always been in love with the streets and his down to earth and accurate portrayal is extended to this more fictional story surrounding the troubles between a man trying to enjoy his love of martial arts peacefully and those trying to use it to arm their drug runners.
Director: Tobe Hopper, John Cardos
Starring:William Devane, Cathy Lee Crosby, Jacquelyn Hyde. USA. 1h 32m
This could have been a real contender as one of the more imaginative bold and vibrant sci-fi thrillers of the late 70’s but it fails on a few fronts which is a crying shame. The total of it’s dismal failures is all down to a ton of rewrites as the director duo of Tobe Hopper and John Cardos scramble around trying to wedge their classic into the shadow of the other highly successful sci-fi movies like Ridley Scott’s ALIEN (1979).
Director: Gary Nelson Starring: Maximillan Schell, Joseph Bottoms, Robert Forster, Yvette Mimieux, Ernest Borgnine, Anthony Perkins. USA. 1h 38m
Black Hole is one of those gems from my childhood that, no matter how advanced space exploration has become, or my personal knowledge about the universe has grown, I can always return to Black Hole with a wonderment and fascination that takes me back to my youth and just makes me believe we’ll reach the stars one day.
It’s very much a Disney version of 2001 A Space Odyssey (1968) or possibly their first attempt to jump into the Star Wars universe? The original story was conceived as a space themed disaster movie, but after being re-written several times and then adopted by a moderately desperate Disney for additional computerised camera technology to create the effects it slowly grew into a highly ambitious space opera. The Black Hole was finally reborn for it’s dismal box office failure not that this takes anything away from the films unique philosophy and small cult following, it still delivers a quirky look into space exploration and the mysteries of a black hole with lots of fancy additions, cute robots, sinister robots, and the moral questions that hangover he heads of those men who are willing to sacrifice everything to step into the true unknown . Continue reading The Black Hole (1979)→
Director:Lucio Fulci . Writer : Dardano Sacchetti Starring. Tisa Farrow, Ian McCulloch, Richard Johnson, Al Cliver, Olga Karlatos, Auretta Gay. Italy. 1h 31m.
I had seen a great deal of movies around the time I finally found a copy of this on DVD and being in my early 20’s I prided myself on seeing a lot of horror and gore films, banned movies galore, I honestly thought I had seen it all, but half way through this Zombie Flesh Eaters, I realised I hadn’t see anything quite like the Tiger Shark Vs Zombie scene… I got into more detail here, but the film is a testament to Fulci’s ability to try new things while being a staple in the 70’s horror scene.
Director: George Miller Starring: Mel Gibson, Hugh Keays-Bryn, Joanne Samuel, Steve Bisley, Tim Burns, Roger Ward, Geoff Parry. Australia. 1h 35m
Let me just start this off with a short introduction to explain that I absolutely live for this film and can’t even come close to express my obsession with it with mere words, I’m going to try and remain as calm as possible while writing this short review as I feel I need to put something on my blog but there will be a Post Discussion where I’ll get into much more details and pour my heart out even more..
This bleak dystopian thriller stars Mel Gibson as “Mad” Max Rockastansky, a seasoned police officer who prefers to work alone but begins to fear that he’s becoming as crazy as the people he hunts down in high speed chases across the Australian desert roads.Continue reading Mad Max (1979)→
Starring: Sting, Phil Daniels, Leslie Ash, Toyah Wilcox, Mark Wingett, Phil Davies, Ray Winstone UK. 2h 0m.
Based heavily on one of the musicals written The Who, this landmark film really captures a slice of British History, albeit a little glamorized and hyped up, it’s a great glance back in time for us youngins. One of the merits of this “not a musical/musical” is that there is no singing or dancing.. , it’s heavily structured by the Who’s powerful soundtrack but it’s only a part of the film and isn’t too overbearing.
Starting with some ambiguity, the film slowly and passionately details the working man’s life, the working man is Johnny, day to day he’s the mail boy, dealing with post by day and dealing with drugs and parties by night. He makes the schoolboy error of falling in love with a popular girl Lesley Ash (without her trout pout) but she hardly notices him and in turn he totally ignores a chemist who’s besotted with him and keeps him pilled up played by the lovely round faced Toyah Wilcox. Generally the drugs comes from Milky a black two-stone dealer who can be hard to find but the mods like to party and they party a lot, the only thing on their mind (apart from girls) is partying until the big event in Brighton and fighting the Rockers!
On first viewing the film is just another English drama, all about Johnny, getting by in life and living for the big beaches of Brighton where he and his crew are heading for long bank holiday weekend but as the movie progresses, through the bath houses, and greasy spoon cafes of the london street sceen, Johnny is experiencing something a little deeper than his’ peers and family really understand. Johnny is a pure mod, he lives and breathes the movement, and is a pillar of the small community, but his dreams are to be noticed with the big guys in Brighton, especially; Face (Sting) his ultimate hero and he can’t wait to meet him and bask in his company.
The copious amounts of pills and hormones aren’t helping, his head is all over the show, often missing work to spend time working on his bike, his future employment is at risk but he doesn’t care, he doesn’t want the 9-5, he has no aspirations to fit in with society he just wants the mod life, the young hopeful is building himself up to something so great it might not be achievable. His family barely notice that he’s alive, and have no clue what he’s really about, his family are his chosen friends..
The second half of the film things do start to spiral out of control, the group make their way to Brighton, they meet the legends and icons, go dancing and do some fighting, everything they dreamt of, Johnny even gets a bizarre encounter with his beloved up a dodgy alleyway during the fight, this spot is still a mod mecca point which is testament to the everlasting cult behind this film. Sting makes a small appearance at Face, the mod of all mods with the moddest bike on the planet, his character is also the breaking point for little Johnny when the a reality check hits him at a crucial moment and as his life is spiralling out of control, but with his eureka moment it dawns on the viewer that there might be an underlying mental problem here, Johnny is made up of all the characters from the Who, his schizophrenic personality changes in tune with the music… The end of the film is the beginning of the film, leading some to believe that this is a cycle of life that our hero Is trapped in, or it could just be artistic licence…
It’s pretty unmissable and you don’t need to be an acolyte of the scene to appreciate the heart of our lonely hero. It’s easy to identify with Johnny he’s the inner teenager within most of us stumbling over the problems that arise from not wanting to adult. We all crave some excitement but most of us regain some kind of balance and end up conforming, what happens to Johnny as he walks back from the White Cliffs of Dover might have made a powerful sequel.
Rating 9/10
R – Northern Soul (2014), One Man Black Metal (2012)
Another crazy night but I didn’t have to babysit my sister and got down to some hardcore painting so I didn’t watch anything new but I had to watch a particular movie again, as there was a puzzling element to it but I think I’ve cracked it now, but I won’t reveal that spoiler until the Post Discussion and that will come after the full review.. but for now here’s a mini insight into my second viewing of…
Admit One Film Addict 