rate the last movie you saw

[Eric Paddon]

Kojak: The Belarus File (1985-TV) (4 of 10)
-I dug out a 25 year old tape of this I hadn't seen in that many years since I have become addicted to the original "Kojak" series as a result of the release of S2 on DVD at long last. I hadn't prepared myself though for how bad a follow-up to the series this was, the first of seven post-series Kojak movies (and the only one to feature Telly's brother George as Detective Stavros, who died later that same year). Basically, the Kojak character has been shoehorned into a silly attempt to dramatize a crackpot author's book "The Belarus Secret" about Americans smuggling in Nazi war criminals 40 years earlier via a thin story that has absolutely NONE of the flavor of classic Kojak or what made the series fun to watch. Granted, it's a more "serious" subject, but we see nothing in the way of solid police process work, we just see Kojak getting stonewalled by the government and then spouting off indignation that gets State Department employee Suzanne Pleshette to then leak a Top Secret file to him that reveals the sordid story of these Nazi criminals who have been getting killed off one by one. The great crackling, improvised dialogue Savalas could come up with is gone and we don't even get to see him with a lollipop at any time! Instead, it's more pretentious speeches about America disgracing itself with all this, and then we get a build-up to a predictable climax that just in the end made me feel like I'd wasted my time. I love Kojak, but not in something like this. An awful 80s synth score by Barry De Vorzon doesn't help either since it's the kind of score that means we get endless scenes of people walking streets with no dialogue while this "mood" music goes on and on and there are phony gimmicks designed to conceal the fact that Max Von Sydow is the killer when anyone can guess that from that opening minutes (it is interesting to see Von Sydow and Savalas sharing screen time together 20 years after "The Greatest Story Ever Told" but that's not saying too much).

Bottom line, if you're going to resurrect a classic TV character in a reunion project the first rule should be STAY TRUE TO WHAT MADE THE ORIGINAL FUN! This is something many people lose sight of when they're doing either reunions or reimaginings and this early example from a quarter century ago should have told them why that approach doesn't work.

[AndyDursin]

The original Kojak was before my time so my first exposure to the character was that movie, which my parents let me stay up to watch when it originally aired...needless to say it was also my last exposure to the character lol.

[Eric Paddon]

LOL, too bad, Andy because the original series is worth a look and basically brought the quality of the early 70s NY-based cop movies like French Connection to TV, but in a more viewer friendly way IMO (Savalas's Kojak being likable in contrast to Gene Hackman's Popeye Doyle).

If Season 3 eventually gets to DVD that has the episode of Sylvester Stallone in the last thing he did before "Rocky" changed his career forever guesting as a cop gone dirty.

[AndyDursin]

I'm sure it is. For whatever reason Kojak was one of those shows that never aired in re-runs locally while I was growing up in the '80s. My exposure to it was limited, though I always liked Savalas and figured he was great in that role. Maybe I should check out the DVDs!

[Eric Paddon]

Yeah, it wasn't a rerurn staple for me either in those days. I only knew of Kojak as this parodied phenomena until I finally saw the episodes and it was a pleasant surprise to see how good they are. Interestingly much of the behind the scenes production team had shifted from "Night Gallery" to this one (the more one collects vintage TV as I do the more it becomes easy to discern the mechanisms of TV production studios at work)

[Eric Paddon]

Towering Inferno (1974) (9 of 10)
-Found the Blu-Ray at a discount at Barnes And Noble today so I picked it up. I have to admit the Blu-Ray transfer doesn't look too much better than the standard which should be a reminder that not all the time is there going to be this significant level of upgrade. But the film itself is always enjoyable and IMO it continues to age better as the years go by thanks to the cast. Nothing made from the 90s on comes remotely close to this level of filmmaking style. And Williams score is still spectacular and reminds me of how for decades until early 2001 it was my Holy Grail of soundtracks until the FSM release.

[Eric Paddon]

The Search For Alexander The Great (1981) (6 of 10)

-This is one of the strangest curios from my youth I had a chance to rediscover on YouTube recently. We had to see this in my 8th grade English/Ancient History class and I never saw it again until now. It's a peculiar combination documentary/docudrama on the life Alexander The Great running four hours. James Mason hosted and narrated the documentary parts, going to the locations. And then interspersed within this, a most peculiar dramatization in which not only is Alexander's life being dramatized but everyone of importance who knew him, both friend and foe, are seen gathered at some kind of tent/dinner party talking about Alexander but this is no mere gathering after his death, the conceit has his long-dead Father Philip of Macedon and other people who knew him gathered to recall both positive and negative. Even more amusing is how we have a group of top Brit actors doing these bits of dramatization including Julian Glover (For Your Eyes Only) as Philip, Ian Charleson (Chariots Of Fire) as Alexander's friend Hephaeston and in a performance that everyone in my 8th grade class always loved to mock after watching, Robert Stephens (The Private Life Of Sherlock Holmes) as Persian king Darius, affecting a bizarre guttural voice under his layers of makeup. The documentary part is fascinating, but the dramatization bits get overly talky and repetitive. It's a strange combination of genres I've never seen done anywhere else because while we're certainly used to seeing documentaries mixed with actors doing dramatization bits, I've never seen it done on this kind of scale with so many big name performers of note. I never thought I'd see it again but there was evidently a VHS release in the early 80s that someone found and put up on YouTube in whole.

[Paul MacLean]

The Departed.

Eh...

A fascinating (and sometimes gripping) premise and some very good sequences but ultinately the movie never completely works. The resolution also ranks as one of the most anti-climactic lead balloons I've ever seen.

Visually it is also a rather bland-looking film except for the chase through Chinatown (which, oddly, looks like something out of Blade Runner). There are also a slew of blatant continuity errors and shots that don't match-up in this movie, which is surprising for a director of his stature.

[AndyDursin]

The Departed.

Eh...

A fascinating (and sometimes gripping) premise and some very good sequences but ultinately the movie never completely works. The resolution also ranks as one of the most anti-climactic lead balloons I've ever seen.

Visually it is also a rather bland-looking film except for the chase through Chinatown (which, oddly, looks like something out of Blade Runner). There are also a slew of blatant continuity errors and shots that don't match-up in this movie, which is surprising for a director of his stature.

Yup. Overrated!

I was let down the second I saw it (ooo, look, it's a rat at the end -- what does that signify? lol) and I never bought DiCaprio's performance.

BTW it's also a remake of a Korean film.

[Paul MacLean]

I was let down the second I saw it (ooo, look, it's a rat at the end -- what does that signify? lol) and I never bought DiCaprio's performance.

BTW it's also a remake of a Korean film.

Interesting, I didn't know that.

The more I think about it, the more I realize this film didn't work at all. It started out really well, but just unravels as it goes along.

SPOILERS AHEAD...

The scene toward the end where the girl goes into the bedroom and won't come out had me thinking "Oh, she's killed herself", then she shows-up near the end of the film.

And they didn't tie-up a lot of the loose ends. Will the girl rat out Matt Damon? Is her kid DeCaprio's baby? And did Mark Wahlberg shoot Damon as revenge for Martin Sheen's murder, or is Wahlberg in the mob too? I also thought it was preposterous that Nicholson would not IMMEDIATELY accuse DeCapprio of being the police spy (when he knew DeCapprio had been in the police academy). A real mob boss would have whacked him just for the peace of mind.

And I almost wonder if they didn't know how to end the film so they decided "Ah, lets just have everyone shoot everyone else!"

The whole thing made no sense. I can't believe this thing won Best Adapted Screenplay.

Oh, and I could have done without the scene where Nicholson pulls-out his unit in the porn theater and shows it to Damon.

It's too bad because the premise of this film really intrigued me, since I have a friend whose real-life youth was similar to that of DeCapprio's character. He too was raised in a mob neighborhood and was tempted to join an organized crime family, but he turned from the dark side and became a cop instead.

[Paul MacLean]

Harry Brown

Not a pleasant film, but exceedingly well-done, with riveting performance from Michael Caine. On the surface it seems like a Cockney version of Death Wish, but it is a much more serious and realistic -- and prophetic -- film, which eerily predicted the troubling yob riots in the UK during this past summer.

I don't recall this movie getting a whole lot of attention, but it should be required viewing for every MP.

[John Johnson]

Harry Brown

Not a pleasant film, but exceedingly well-done, with riveting performance from Michael Caine. On the surface it seems like a Cockney version of Death Wish, but it is a much more serious and realistic -- and prophetic -- film, which eerily predicted the troubling yob riots in the UK during this past summer.

I don't recall this movie getting a whole lot of attention, but it should be required viewing for every MP.

Strangely enough, I kept thinking that when the riots were taking place. Not my favourite Caine film by a long shot, but it does have some good bits in the film. My favourite line:

You failed to maintain your weapon, Son.

[John Johnson]

The original Kojak was before my time so my first exposure to the character was that movie, which my parents let me stay up to watch when it originally aired...needless to say it was also my last exposure to the character lol.

It could have been worse. It might have been the laughable version with Ving Rhames. Suddenly, Kojak is a brother. LOL

[John Johnson]

Harry Brown

I don't recall this movie getting a whole lot of attention, but it should be required viewing for every MP.

Another was a film called Blitz, a recet film with Jason Statham. Set in London, he plays a maverick cop, good at his job who likes to dish out his own type of justice against the yobbos on the streets. Nice use of a hockey stick. I think it went straight to BD/DVD over here. Nothing special, although there's good scenes with Statham in action, quite a few dry one liners. Makes a change to hear Statham using his natural voice and not the usual faux America accent. Would like to a sequel.

[mkaroly]

THE A-TEAM - 4/10. I don't know...I like that it's not as corny as the TV show (people actually die in this one) but it was kind of silly. Definitely entertainment that does not require any thought. Don't know what else to say about it. I didn't like the Murdock character.

PLAY MISTY FOR ME - 7/10. I have decided to go back and watch Clint Eastwood's directorial output (and some of his other stuff). His directing style is kind of easy-going...not a lot happens with the camera. He tkes his time...there's almost a laid-back sense to his style of directing. Having said that, I enjoyed this movie since it was a precursor to films like Fatal Attraction and such. It's effectively creepy and the woman who plays the stalker was REALLY creepy...that scene in the cab when she keeps telling him she loves him freaked me out. She was really the motor that kept the film interesting since she had to go back and forth between so many different emotional changes. The ending was suspenseful and well filmed with the light and shadows. Good directorial debut.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER - 9/10. I really enjoyed this film...it never got too heavy (nor should it have gotten heavy), had likeable characters, a good "love story", and was well put together. It even had a nice emotional touch towards the end between Peggy and CA. It was kind of like THOR in those regards...there's a nice quality in them and something heartfelt and moving. The heroes aren't tortured souls (though I do like that with Batman) but people who one can relate to on a human level (if that makes sense). Hugo Weaving played Red Skull really well...he's good in those evil roles! I am really looking forward to THE AVENGERS.