Starring: Burt Reynolds, Kieu Chinh, Danielle Aubry, Cyril Collick, Bill Catching, Vic Diaz, Marsh Thomson, John Laughinghouse, Frank Estes, Santi, Michael Schwiner, Robert Gulbranson, Janet Russell, John Hoyt
Tagline: Our C.I.A. man in Saigon ... The hottest spot on Earth!
Plot: A young CIA agent is assigned to Saigon to stop a planned political assassination.
My rating: 6/10
Will I watch it again? No.
For a low budget movie like this (purported to be 70k) it looks great. The Warner Bros. Archive Collection DVD sports a marvelous B&W widescreen print. And the location shooting in Thailand does the flick a good turn, too. I rather dig the movie poster (above) although there's too much empty space in the middle on both sides of Burt. The story is pretty simple but it's not too bad. It's a low budget Bond film but with one locale, a couple of hot chicks (one local), some bad guys and a plot to kill the American ambassador and other dignitaries with a race against the clock for Mark Andrews (Burt) to save the day. Although Burt had a lot of acting experience under his belt by this time with lots of TV work, this was his third feature film and his first as the lead. He's not bad but you can see he needs a few more gigs to hone his craft. Part of the problem is the mediocre dialogue. Some of the interior scenes feel more suited for television, especially with Burt's first scene. You guessed it, the director and one of the writers (Ballinger) worked almost exclusively in TV. But these folks sure knew how to stretch a dollar. The best moments are the action scenes, especially the big chase and fight at the end. Those are quite good...but then I could be remembering them being so much better than the rest of the picture. There's nothing about this that stands out all that much except for a familiar face or two (like the always fun Vic Diaz) and of course seeing a super young Burt Reynolds in a James Bond kind of role where he gets the chicks, gives the baddies what fer and saves the day in the end...and gets more chicks after that.
Writers: Alfonso Balcazar, Alberto De Martino, Vincenzo Mannino, Giovanni Simonelli, Guido Zurli
Composer: Bruno Nicolai
Starring: Richard Harrison, Fernando Sancho, Luis Induni, Massimo Serato, Gerard Tichy, Eleonora Bianchi, Loris Loddi, Guido Lollobrigida, Monica Randall, Michel Montfort, Francisco Sanz, Romas Torres
Plot: A stranger named Lee Barton rides into the western town of Rainbow
Valley where he's mistaken for a former resident named Ward Cluster who
was believed killed in the Civil War. Cluster's wife, Rose, is now dead
but his young son, Sean -- raised by Indian chief, Gray Bear -- also
believes Barton to be his father. Barton soon finds himself in
opposition to local boss Tom Cherry who used local Indians to drive off
settlers and who then turned against the Indians. Cherry is "sweet" on
blonde townswoman Deborah but Deborah loves a drunken man named Ive.
Cherry seeks to find $200,000 stashed away by a Mexican general and
during the course of his hunt captures and flogs Barton and then kills
both Deborah and Ive. Barton, having joined forces with a wandering
sheriff from Tucson, kills Cherry in a shoot-out, finds the missing
money, and plans a future with adopted son, Sean.
My rating: 5.5/10
Will I watch it again? No.
A lot of what's in this picture is just plain bland, from the English dub to the characters, their costumes and so on. The scenery is nice but there's nothing all that great about it. The story is OK but it's rather slow despite the abundance of fights and gunplay. The music is outstanding, though, and that's a huge plus but, like anything, it's not enough to elevate the picture to more than a basic watchable level. It's an OK picture at best and that's only because of the wonderful score by Morricone friend and colleague, Bruno Nicolai. It's far more exciting than the film it accompanies. And be sure to groove to the theme song sung by none other than Bobby Solo!
Plot: An outlaw superhero's investigation of a possible conspiracy against his
colleagues changes all their lives even as evidence builds toward a
horrific conclusion.
My rating: 8.5/10
Will I watch it again? Maybe.
Man, this was great. The score, voice acting, the whole shootin' match. After having seen the movie a few times (which I love) it was time to give this a whirl. Now I'm jonesing to read the comic which is pretty much what this is. The only difference is someone else is doing all the work but it's a top notch production all around. For those of you too lazy to read, give this five and a half hour show a go. If you have read the book then this will probably be a glorified curiosity but still worth a look.
Plot: This British TV documentary covers the life and crimes of Canada's most prolific serial killer, Robert "Willy" Pickton.
My rating: 8.5/10
Will I watch it again? Yes.
This 45 minute British TV documentary is on YouTube and I can't find any information outside of the credits at the end of the program. It shows that it was produced for Bio. The Biography Channel in 2009 but since A&E is American and this program is British, A&E most likely bought this for their channel. Anyway, it's British and making cracker jack compelling TV documentaries about serial killers is what they do. I've seen a lot of them and rarely have I come across one that wasn't concise, loaded with information, well-paced and compelling as shit. This is no exception. After watching THE PIG FARM (2011) I found this 43 minute gem on YouTube and watched it immediately after and it's a much better made film. Sure, the production is much more dramatic and urgent but that helps ramp up the horror. I also learned some stuff from this one that I didn't from THE PIG FARM and the latter is twice the length this one is. I would recommend watching this shorter documentary first and then moving onto THE PIG FARM to get more out of it. It's not a contest but this doc is more compelling, interesting and entertaining. I loved it!
Tagline: The shocking true story of Robert "Willie" Pickton, one of the world's most notorious SERIAL KILLERS
Plot: This is the story about Robert Pickton, Canada's most prolific serial killer.
My rating: 7/10
Will I watch it again? Nope.
Here's a serial killer I've never heard of. That this guy was able to kill so many women for so many years is remarkable. It's dumbfounding that it took so long for the cops to stop him. It's also terrible how many people went missing before authorities began to take notice. One cop did and he hit a brick wall from his superiors to look into it properly. The documentary is interesting to a point but it takes an hour and a half to tell a story (from what they've got) that could've been done in an hour. It's not as compelling as it the subject dictates. For anyone not familiar with this killer, it's definitely worth a look. After searching YouTube a few minutes ago looking for a trailer or clip from this film, I came across a British documentary on this guy that tightens the story to 45 minutes. Most every serial killer documentary I've seen from England, it's likely to be excellent. I'm watching it next.
Tagline: The Enterprise is back. This time, have they gone too far?
Plot:
Capt. Kirk and his crew must deal with Mr. Spock's half brother who
hijacks the Enterprise for an obsessive search for God.
My rating: 7/10
Will I watch it again? No.
Trek fan phantomedit2001, like myself, is a fan of STAR TREK V: THE FINAL FRONTIER (1989). Since the film had the feeling of a lost episode of TOS he edited the 107 minute picture down to something closer to the 60s pilot of 63 minutes and try to give it the feeling of an episode which also included adding a little of the 60s sound effects and music (but not much so that it was distracting or all that noticeable). He did this in the guise of the planned but shelved 70s version of the show in the 1970s until STAR WARS (1977) hit the scene and forced them to steer toward STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE (1979) instead. The result is a little odd but satisfying. Haters of ST5 will likely enjoy this a lot more. The only thing I missed in this truncated version were the scenes with Kirk, Spock and McCoy in their bonding moments in the mountains. But this version does work as it is, if for no other reason, as a curiosity for those who have seen the full feature film.
Starring: Josh Brolin, Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Don Cheadle, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Holland, Chadwick Boseman, Zoe Saldana, Karen Gillan, Tom Hiddleston, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Idris Elba, Danai Gurira, Peter Dinklage, Benedict Wong, Pom Klementieff, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Gwyneth Paltrow, Benicio Del Toro, Chris Pratt, Sean Gunn, William Hurt
Plot: The Avengers and their allies must be willing to sacrifice all in an
attempt to defeat the powerful Thanos before his blitz of devastation
and ruin puts an end to half the universe.
My rating: 9/10
Will I watch it again? Yes.
SPOILERS AHEAD!!! YARRRRRRR!!!
In a word...it's pretty fuckin' great. In some ways it's more of a marvel that these people were able to make a movie involving nearly thirty main characters and giving each of them something to do that justifies their inclusion AND using them in a way that serves the picture as a whole without feeling like they got the short end of the stick. Because this is such a huge film (part one and the conclusion coming in almost exactly one year) I'm just going to throw out some thoughts based on my first viewing. The IMAX 3D is outstanding and it will be the only way I see it the next time. I'm rarely impressed with post conversion 3D but this one blew me away. It makes a difference. There's a lot of movie here and they start off running and barely stop until the credits roll. It's battle after battle with the final one being the biggest and heaviest. A LOT OF PEOPLE DIE in this picture and that really surprised me. But then again, I suspect that most or all of them will somehow return by the end of the next film because there are sequels on record coming out for some of these characters so there's at least that. Some of their deaths have more weight than others (Spidey had me choked up something fierce - that kid is so damned endearing).
Thanos is fantastic. Even though he's a psychopath, he's a psychopath with a legitimate and reasonable (to him) goal. His motivation is admirable to a point but it is fucked up and there are better ways to handle his endgame. This is his picture and Brolin knocks it out of the park. It would've been nicer for him to be more sympathetic so that you could kind of root for the guy much like the two sides in CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR (2016). But as it stands, it works well enough to get the point across and better than most villains in comic book movies. We spend a lot of time with him and he even has a tender moment with Gamora which was a wonderful respite from the massive amount of action that fills the movie. And everything from Thanos' finger snap to the end was excellent. My only complaint is the forced humor which often didn't work or got in the way of the otherwise excellent flow of the film. For example, as the monsters are at the barrier of Wakanda, T'Challa, his massive army plus a few of the Avengers, are making their way to stop them which begins the climactic battle for the final Infinity Stone. Okoye and T'Challa have a brief exchange that goes something like this:
Okoye: When you said you wanted to open Wakanda to the world I didn't expect this.
T'Challa: Then what were you expecting?
Okoye: I don't know, a Starbucks or something.
Really? Jokes just before their entire population is potentially about to be wiped out? It's so out of place it's embarrassing. That's just one of several moments where the comedy goes too far. It's so bad that it's all too noticeable and often groan-inducing. I'd like to know those responsible for insisting on this kind of bullshit when it wasn't needed. Some of the humor works but the kind mentioned above rarely did. It literally feels like there were moments in the script where someone just wrote in "INSERT JOKE HERE" and let amateurs fill in the gags. It's just too fuckin' much, man. Outside of that gripe, it's a remarkable achievement for these people to make a movie that juggles so much, give a lot more time to a somewhat sympathetic villain, to kill off a lot of people AND let the bad guy win. The final shot of the film with Thanos sitting down and seeing his life's dream completed, with that smile on his face was so cool. Of course all of this will change and he will be defeated because there's the sequel coming in a year but it's a hell of a way to end a super hero movie. Oh, and my favorite super hero super moment was when Doctor Strange replicates himself many fold to battle Thanos. I'm sure we'll find out in part 2 that he's THE reason that Thanos is defeated. I can't fucking wait to see how.
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