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| chris563 |
 Posted: Sat Oct 02, 2004 10:23 am |
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Joined: 28 May 2004
Posts: 50
Location: SF CA USA
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pleasance, palance, landau...
caught this on IFC last night and wonder how I ever missed it. one of the campiest movies donald pleasence has ever graced (and that's sayin a lot). intentionally overacted throughout, it's the story of a new psychiatrist starting work at an experimental asylum run by pleasence, who is as touchy-feely-hippy-dippy as ever was an oregon-sinsemilla smoking mister rogers impersonator, letting the inmates rule the roost. a few especially violent psychos (including leader palance in his own hissingest charicature of himself, landau so over the top as a violent fundamentalist arsonist preacher that he goes right through the roof of the picture, a hugely fat childmolestor, and a jason-type dude whose face we never see who always gets a big nosebleed when he gets his murder on) are required by the state to be kept locked up despite Donald's best alan-alda type intentions, and so live in a communal setting rigged with electronic locks and watched over by a single, small, blackstploitation caliber brother who clearly just can't find a better job--and of course they all of them get loose when a blackout hits the area and the locks fail, starting their wild journey to join the rest of the looters and arm up so they can track down the psychiatrists and terrorize them. and when the fun winds down, there's still time for a trip to a punk rock disco bar!
this movie started off great but dragged just a little once it got to the night of the living dead type ripoff about 3/4 of the way through. but still it is a new classic in my book
http://imdb.com/title/tt0083542/ |
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| Melody |
| Posted: Sat Oct 02, 2004 10:39 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 2242
Location: TX
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Nice review of All or Nothing, Syd. When I see one of Mike Leigh's movies, I wonder when was the last time he had his dosage checked. HE'S the one who needs a trip out of London once in a while.
Chris, love your review of Alone in the Dark, which I haven't seen but will start looking for in the DVD cheap bins. You've got a way with words that just cracks me up. (And if you've gotta smoke sensimilla, it might as well be Oregon quality, honestly.) |
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My heart told my head: This time, no. |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Sat Oct 02, 2004 10:56 am |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
Posts: 8424
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Mike Leigh is an extraordinary director. I can think of at least four of his films that are among the best I've seen:
NAKED, SECRETS AND LIES, LIFE IS SWEET, HIGH HOPES.
Even his lesser films are better than most, including NUTS IN MAY, TOPSY TURVY, ABIGAIL'S PARTY and MEANTIME. I can't think of a director that has created a more consistent body of excellent work. His skill with actors is brilliant. I can't wait to see his next film VERA DRAKE.
Despite the bleakness of some of Leigh's films, I find his work ultimately quite life-affirming. Sometimes the truth hurts. But, it is wonderful watching a director and his actors coming to terms with the "human condition". Leigh is one of the best things happening in modern films. God bless him. |
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| chris563 |
| Posted: Sat Oct 02, 2004 11:31 am |
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Joined: 28 May 2004
Posts: 50
Location: SF CA USA
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| thanks, melody! it is actually pleasence himself whose mad doctor says the words "oregon sinsemilla" (which he smokes from a native american pipe and says helps him emphasize with his schizophrenic patients) |
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| Melody |
| Posted: Sat Oct 02, 2004 1:32 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 2242
Location: TX
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Marc wrote: Despite the bleakness of some of Leigh's films, I find his work ultimately quite life-affirming. Sometimes the truth hurts. But, it is wonderful watching a director and his actors coming to terms with the "human condition". Leigh is one of the best things happening in modern films. God bless him.
Marc, I liked Secrets and Lies, which I remember more for the acting than directing, and the preview I saw yesterday for Vera Drake looks riveting ... and very very bleak.
You've got a point, I agree: hooray for directors like Mike Leigh coming to terms with the "human condition" and all its bumps and warts. It's just not always the most entertaining option on the shelf. Being in love these days, I lean more toward laughter and smiles. I'm comfortable with putting the human condition on hold for a while. |
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My heart told my head: This time, no. |
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| Mr. Brownstone |
| Posted: Sat Oct 02, 2004 3:11 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 2450
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I'm probably an idiot, but I watched Jackass this weekend and laughed my ass off.
"Ass Kicked By Girl" might be the funniest reality entertainment sequence ever. I mean, ever. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sat Oct 02, 2004 7:35 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12892
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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| Marc: I like Secrets and Lies and Topsy-Turvy lot, acknowledging the latter is relatively minor Leigh. The other Leigh film I've seen is Naked which evokes a similar mixture of admiration and repulsion as Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. David Thewlis was absolutely brilliant, and the scene with the night watchman is classic. I can't say I love the film, but having a lead actor that good makes up for a lot of negative feelings. |
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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| Marilyn |
| Posted: Sat Oct 02, 2004 8:16 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 8210
Location: Skokie (not a bad movie, btw)
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| Tim - I saw Jackass: The Movie on a dare and liked it more than I should admit, being the middle-aged pseudo-intellectual that I am. |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Sat Oct 02, 2004 10:01 pm |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
Posts: 8424
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Quote: David Thewlis was absolutely brilliant
Sadly, Thewlis has NOT lived up to that amazing performance in NAKED. |
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| Private Joker |
| Posted: Sat Oct 02, 2004 10:21 pm |
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Joined: 28 May 2004
Posts: 322
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Marc wrote:
Sadly, Thewlis has NOT lived up to that amazing performance in NAKED.
As much as I love NAKED and think Thewlis' performance is among the best in the history of cinema, this statement could not be more true. |
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-joker
www.privatejoker.org |
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| ehle64 |
| Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2004 12:59 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 7149
Location: NYC; US&A
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| Experienced BAADASSSSS!! tonight. Really cool, touching film of a heartwarming Father/Son relationship, one that suffers a bit due to the Father's Wise Cinematic Phrophecy. Pretty much an independent filmmaker's joy/hell ride. |
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It truly disappoints me when people do something for you via no prompt of your own and then use it as some kind of weapon against you at a later time and place. It is what it is. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2004 6:24 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Melody wrote: [color=blue]
Chris, love your review of Alone in the Dark, which I haven't seen but will start looking for in the DVD cheap bins. [color]
I had the same thought (thanks, Chris, for the cool review), but unfortunately the flick is apparently only available on VHS. |
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| censored-03 |
| Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2004 9:45 am |
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Joined: 24 May 2004
Posts: 3058
Location: Gotham, Big Apple, The Naked City
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R.I.P
Janet Leigh
Halloween H20
The Fog
Night of the Lepus
Hello Down There
Three On A Couch
Harper
Bye Bye Birdee
The Manchurian Candidate
Pepe
Psycho
Touch Of Evil
My Sister Eileen
Pete Kelley's Blues
Walking My Baby Back Home
Houdini
Angels In The Outfield
Little Women
Act Of Violence |
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"Life is a comedy for those who think and a tragedy for those who feel."
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| Marilyn |
| Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2004 10:03 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 8210
Location: Skokie (not a bad movie, btw)
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2004 10:09 am |
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| Janet Leigh was one of the only (maybe only) fair haired actresses that I had a crush on. |
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