Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Jun 25th 
Ryan's Daughter**                       
(GB 1970)
MGM/Faraway. 197m. Super Panavision

In Ireland during the Troubles, a  publican's daughter unwisely marries a widowed schoolteacher, who sticks by her when she enters into a passionate affair with a British officer.
A watershed for David Lean, a romantic epic done with his usual finesse,  but overreaching itself in telling a slight story that could have been covered in half the length. Only some of the later scenes justify the amount of expense. It would be 14 years before he tried again.

Written by: Robert Bolt.
Producer: Anthony Havelock-Allan.
Director: David Lean.
Starring: Sarah Miles, Robert Mitchum, Trevor Howard, Christopher Jones, John Mills, Leo McKern, Barry Foster, Gerald Sim.
Photography: Frederick A. Young.
Music: Maurice Jarre.
Production Design: Stephen Grimes.

Monday, June 25, 2012

Jun 22nd 
Spirited Away**                         
(Jap 2001) 
Studio Ghibli/Tohokushimsha Film/Tokuma Shoten. 125m.

A girl tries to get her parents back after they are turned into pigs in a parallel netherworld where the gods are fed and looked after.
Captivating Japanese animation with echoes of Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz, tricky to follow in some of its plot and setting but full of atmosphere and rich in imagination. The most imaginative film of its year - and this, bear in mind, was also the year of The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter.

Written and Directed by: Hiyao Miyazaki.
Producer: Toshio Suzuki.
Animation: Masashi Ando.
Music: Joe Hishaishi.
Art Direction: Yoji Takeshige.

(English version): voices of Daveigh Chase, Jason Marsden, Suzanne Pleshette, Lauren Holly , Michael Chiklis, David Ogden Stiers, John Ratzenberger.




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Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Jun 19th
The Green Man**                                           
(GB 1956)

British Lion/Grenadier. 80m. bw

A professional assassin's latest victim is thwarted by a bumbling vacuum cleaner salesman.
Amusing black comedy British thriller, the best since Kind Hearts and Coronets with Sim in good form, although the rest is rather overenergetic farce, but with a reliable set of British comedy faces.

Written/Produced by: Sidney Gilliat, Frank Launder, from their play "Meet a Body".
Director: Robert Day.
Starring: Alastair Sim, George Cole, Jill Adams, Raymond Huntley, Terry-Thomas, Dora Bryan, Colin Gordon, Avril Angers, John Chandos, Arthur Brough, Eileen Moore, Michael Ripper, Arthur Lowe.
Photography: Gerald Gibbs.
Music: Cedric Thorpe Davie.

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Saturday, June 16, 2012

Jun 14th 
Stiff Upper Lips                            
(GB 1996)
Cavalier Features/Impact Pictures/Ivory Hall. 90m.

A coming-of-age girl seeks eligible suitors, whom unfortunately include a handsome local peasant.
The conventions and all the subtexts of the period drama are laid bare in this overdue but crude spoof, authentically lavish in style although most of the jokes are laboured and unsubtle, but some occasionally hit the bullseye.

Written by: Paul Simpkin, Gary Sinyor.
Producers: Jeremy Bolt, Gary Sinyor.
Director: Gary Sinyor.
Starring: Samuel West, Robert Portal, Georgina Cates, Prunella Scales, Peter Ustinov, Sean Pertwee, Brian Glover, Frank Finlay.
Photography: Simon Archer.
Music: David Hughes, John Murphy.



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Sunday, June 10, 2012

Jun 9th 
Red Tails** (12A) 
(Cineworld Ipswich)


Episodes in combat of the US Army Air Corps 51st all Negro squadron, who battle their way out of obscurity in Italy to the front line against the Germans in 1944.
Quite industriously made variation on Glory (combined with elements of  Top Gun and Journey's End), with the wider issues of racism commendably restrained without being too overstated, in between some impressive action, where for once Lucasfilm manage to combine both good CGI and strong performances.

d:Anthony Hemingway
s: Nate Parker, David Oyelowo, Cuba Gooding Jnr, Terrence Howard, Tristan Wilds, Ne-Yo, Elijah Kelley, Daniela Ruah

Roger Ebert review

RED TAILS. Where once George Lucas had the Rebel Alliance and X-wings fighting the evil Empire, now he has the Tuskegee Airmen and B51s fighting the evil Nazis - complete with their own Darth Vader/Red Baron figure (Lars van Riesen).


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Jun 8th
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home*           
(US 1986)
Paramount/Industrial Light and Magic. 119m. Panavision

Kirk and co. travel back in time to present day Earth to retrieve an extinct species to communicate with a mysterious life force.
The Star Trek series regains some momentum in this nonetheless leisurely and sometimes pompous fourth outing, with an ecological message and some wry comments on contemporary 1980's society, although both are treated rather casually.

Written by: Harve Bennett, Steve Meerson, Peter Krikes, Nicholas Meyer.
Producer: Harve Bennett.
Director: Leonard Nimoy.
Starring: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForrest Kelly, James Doohan, George Takei, Walter Koenig, Nichelle Nichols, Catherine Hicks, Brock Peters, Mark Lenard, Jane Wyatt.
Photography: Don Peterman.
Music: Leonard Rosenman.


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Thursday, June 07, 2012

June 2nd 
Devil-Ship Pirates*                               
(GB 1963)
Columbia/Hammer. 96m. Megascope

A rogue member of the Spanish Armada runs aground off the Cornish coast and holds the local village to ransom.
Workmanlike as always with Hammer, but with the intriguing concept and characterisation undone by blood-and-thunder heroics, and the swashbuckling fairly limited.

Written by: Jimmy Sangster.
Producer: Anthony Nelson-Keys.
Director: Don Sharp.
Starring: Christopher Lee, Duncan Lamont, Barry Warren, John Cairney, Andrew Keir, Suzan Farmer, Ernest Clark, Natasha Pyne, Michael Ripper, Johnny Speight.
Photography: Michael Reed.
Music: Gary Hughes.

DEVIL-SHIP PIRATES. Christopher Lee, now 90, was as adept as anyone with a sword, and few cinema villains could be more imposing. Ernest Clark is on the end of the blade this time, as Suzan Farmer anxiously watches.

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