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Absolute Top 20 Movies 2021

Posted by absolutebadasses on December 31, 2021

Posted in: Reviews, Views. Tagged: 007, annette, belfast, belfast movie, best films 2021, bluray, bluray collection, cinema, cinema fan, cinematographer, cinephile, cruella, dune, dvd, film collection, film fan, film geek, film reviews, films 2021, geek, ghostbusters, like, love, minamata, movie nerd, movie stills, movies, nerd, not time to die, photos, pictures, the last duel, titane movie, west side story. Leave a comment

James Cameron : Absolute Top Four

Posted by absolutebadasses on August 16, 2021

Posted in: Views. Tagged: action, aliens, aliens 1986, avatar, big screen, bluray collection, cinema, dvd collection, film fan, films, imax, james cameron, james cameron movies, judgement day, like, love, movies, movies i love, scifi, t2, the abyss, the terminator, titanic, true lies. Leave a comment

What can I say that I haven’t already said about the legendary Canadian Filmmaker James Francis Cameron : each and every one of his movies are BADASS… filthy, beautiful, iconic slices of Badass CINEMA that I have crazed over since I was thirteen years of age, sneaking into my local big screen and falling in love with 1984’s Sci-Fi Classic The Terminator, the film, the cast, the story just blew my tiny mind to smitherines… and then if that wasn’t enough of a cinematic awakening how about 1986’s ALIENS the BEST godamn movie sequel that’s ever been, the film has the greatest ensemble, the greatest number of quotes that I’ve used in daily life than any other movie and a movie that sits comfortably in My Top 10 Greatest Movies of ALL TIME… James Cameron is an innovator, a visionary, an artist and although he doesn’t knock out movies every few years like say Ridley Scott or Clint Eastwood the quality and substance of his material is high end, near perfect and usually they turn out to be ground breaking in every way possible, just look at the visual effects, the ideas put together and what was achieved on the likes of The Abyss, Titanic and still the Best 3D IMAX experience that’s ever been in Avatar… and how about the comedy he injects into his films such as T2 Judgment Day and True Lies, both rock the pants off most in the action genre and both are incredibly funny too… so if like me your a fan of James Cameron then raise a glass and salute one of Cinema’s Greatest Filmmakers…

A woman wakes in a cryogenic chamber with no recollection of how she got there : Oxygène is yet another example of why I’m bonkers over French filmmaker Alexandre Aja, he’s currently in My Top 10 filmmakers directing horror/scifi, I mean his debut is still one of the scariest slasher movies in the last 20 years in High Tension, he’s directed good remakes of The Hills Have Eyes and Piranha 3D, the supernatural Mirrors that starred Kiefer Sutherland certainly had it’s moments, the brilliant Daniel Radcliffe led Horns just blew me away and 2019’s Crawl made my best of list that year, an aligator pic that’s delicious on every level, fast paced, inventive and downright scary……. now it’s 2021 and I’ve just watched the magnificent Frenchman’s latest Oxygène and WOW it’s bloody good : shot during last year pandemic and starring Inglourious Basterds Mélanie Laurent this is one helluva nerve shredder, from those opening ten minutes your sucked into a claustrophobic mind melt trying to find out answers to what’s going on as you discover the main character has just woken up in a medical cryo chamber, her oxygen levels are dangerously low and she has to first find out how she ended up in this cryo whilst trying to preserve as much oxygen as she can whilst trying to deal with the internal workings of the chamber that’s only assisted by a rather creepy AI named Milo : Christie LeBlanc’s screenplay debut and the acting by Laurent are what makes Oxygène such a facinating (I still can’t stop thinking about it), utterly engrossing (watching the change of emotion from Laurent as she discovers that little bit more about herself and her where-abouts as her Oxygen decreases) and it’s disturbing reveal (it’s crushing yet hopeful depending on which side of the fence you sit) : overall Oxygène is another hugely enjoyable nail biter from Alexandre Aja and one I can’t wait to revisit ★★★★½

Cloris Leachman (1926-2021)

Posted by absolutebadasses on January 28, 2021

Posted in: Views. Tagged: academy awards, actress, bluray, cinephile, Cloris Leachman, dvd, emmy, film fan, films, frau blucher, geek, kiss me deadly, maw maw, mel brooks, movie geek, rip cloris leachman, star, the last picture show, tv actress, young frankenstein. Leave a comment

It’s with a heavy heart that we hear of the passing of one of the screen’s brightest and funniest stars in Cloris Leachman : for me her more memorable roles came with playing the likes of Ruth in The Last Picture Show for which she won the Academy Award, the hilarious Maw Maw in Raising Hope, her scene stealing film debut in Kiss Me Deadly, Madame Defarge in History of the World, Part I and of course my personal favorite Frau Blücher in Young Frankenstein : Cloris had a wonderful and varied career including eight Primetime Emmy Awards from 22 nominations, making her the most nominated awarded actress in Emmy history : she will be sorely missed down here, but up there a party is about to begin….

A teenager uses her wits & survival skills to fight for her life, and help those around her against a group of terrorists : Don’t you just love it when you discover a new film that you haven’t seen any promotional material for, not even a poster or trailer? Kyle Rankin’s RUN HIDE FIGHT really got under my skin, from it’s creepy protagonist and alarming relativity to the film’s dark and twisted narrative, realising that this could happen to you or your loved ones really gave this Die Hard-esque action movie one helluva kick : I love the way Rankin sets the tone early with Isabel May’s Zoe going all Nic Cage on a deer whilst out on a hunt with her dad played by Thomas Jane, the film’s backstory is given an early gut punch too as we get to discover more about Zoe’s state of mind and those touching scenes that involve Radha Mitchell who plays Zoe’s mum are quite sublime : loved the small roles from some of my favorite actors of yester-year including Barbara Crampton who plays Mrs Crawford and Treat Williams turn as the Sheriff, Rankin’s story is tight and ramped with tension and hats off to debutant Olly Sholotan who’s superb in an eye catching turn as Zoe’s bestie Lewis : overall Run Hide Fight is a gritty, disturbing and violent action movie that tackles the ugly reality of domestic terrorism in an ever so slighlty unrealistic movie sort of way : EXCELLENT ★★★★

A couple get stranded in an abandoned 6-meter pool alongside a deadly Crocodile that has recently escaped captivity : I love watching world cinema and recently discovered the work of Thailand’s Ping Lumpraploeng an excellent writer/director who’s latest work THE POOL captured my imagination, so without further ado here’s my movie thoughts : Theeradej Wongpuapan is one of Thailand’s most popular stars and his performance in The Pool is one of the main reasons the movie is so damn watchable, from it’s opening shots of Wongpuapan’s character Day slowly opening his eye’s to find himself in the depths of the drained pool and as he tries to fend of the jaws of this gnarly crocodile with a bucket I knew instantly this would be my movie jam : what I really look for in a good survival movie is whether it’s filmmaker can bring something new to the party and keep the film from being the same old…. well Lumpraploeng’s The Pool is certainly not stale, it’s inventive and for it’s 90mins runtime your truly on the edge of your seat : I love the way the film shifts it’s dynamic and goes from Day’s crocodile attack at the beginning to “6 Days Earlier…” it’s quite brilliant as we not only discover how Day and Koi find themselves at the bottom of this abandoned pool but we also get the build up to the events of those opening survival shots : along with it’s cast and location another triumph in creating the film’s high anxiety levels is the film’s sound, of course the growl of the Crocodile or the crack of thunder is effective and nerve jangling but it’s the atmospheric score that really does ramp up the tension levels : some of my favorite moments in the movie include that scene with an injured Day crawling through the underground drain tunnels and manages to get through an adjacent manhole… also that moment when Day tries to retrieve the tape from the open jaws of the basking Crocodile is nail biting… in these type of movies you can usually call a few things before they happen but I have to say that what happens to Lucky the dog absolutley floored me, it came right out of the blue and what followed straight after was insane and tough to swallow : so if you love your survival movies then look no further than Ping Lumpraploeng excellent THE POOL it’s SUPERB and highly ENTERTAINING ★★★★

Tanya Roberts (1955-2021)

Posted by absolutebadasses on January 4, 2021

Posted in: Views. Tagged: 007, a view to a kill, charlies angeles, charlies angeles tv show, cinephile, fantasy, film fan, hollywood, james bond, love movies, marc singer, movies, scifi, tanya roberts, tanya roberts rip, That '70s Show, the beastmaster. Leave a comment

Today the world of film has lost Tanya Roberts aged 65 : I will always remember Tanya for the beauty she gave us in two films that came out whilst I was in my early teens, 1982’s fantasy movie The Beastmaster where she played Kiri opposite Marc Singer and in 1985 she starred alongside Roger Moore in A View to a Kill playing Bond Woman Stacey Sutton : on the small screen Tanya starred in over a dozen episodes of the TV show Charlie’s Angels as Julie Rogers and in recent years playing Midge Pinciotti on That ’70s Show : she will be missed !!

For me the rules of a great Festive Movie are quite simple : try and make the person who’s watching feel good, put a big Cheshire Cat smile on their face and spread that heartfelt message of love, hope and well wishes far & wide : each year around early December our home is full of Christmas Cheer and we love nothing more than to revisit some of our favorite movies : alternate festive treats such as Die Hard and Gremlins, classics of yesteryear such as The Goonies and Raiders but without question each and every year the Absolute Top Four always get a looking : Richard Donner’s magnificent Scrooged, Frank Capra’s emotionally acclaimed It’s a Wonderful Life, The Griswalds send me into hysterics in Christmas Vacation and Ron Howard magical family movie How the Grinch Stole Christmas : for me these movies embody everything that makes this time of year so special……. what’s you favorite festive movies?

A family of fur trappers who live in a remote wilderness find their tranquility threatened by what they think is a wolf, but something else has been stalking the woods and Joseph, Anne and Renee are about to find out what : WOW !! I wasn’t really prepared for this movie and I’m not just talking about it’s macabre, unforgettable finale but also the harshness of it’s story about a family that live off the grid in the Canadian wilderness, living off the land, killing animals for their fur whilst teaching their young daughter to set traps, to shoot a gun, skin animals and generally learning how to fend for herself without little knowledge of the outside world : during the opening twenty minutes of Hunter Hunter I realised that I didn’t care much for the parents, their treatment of Renee and the animals butchered for monetary gain didn’t particular sit well with me so I was rather hoping that the rogue wolf that had been terrorising the area for years would finally get even, it would have been a slice of karma but things don’t always go to plan and the course of the movie was about to shift and things were about to get real : without giving too much away my only criticism with the film is that I felt that the plot could have expanded to include more backstory to some of the more relevant aspects throughout, that being said filmmaker Shawn Linden captures the danger of inhabiting the wilderness with a provocative, tense driven ride that explodes during it’s final act which what can only be described as incredible : ONE TO WATCH ★★★½

Following the loss of their son in a freak accident, a retired sheriff and his wife leave their ranch in Montana to rescue their young grandson from the Weboys, a dangerous family living deep in the heart of the Dakotas : if it’s action or light hearted entertainment your after then Let Him Go is certainly not for you, the sombre tone throughout is backed up by it’s hard hitting narrative, you’d think you were watching something by Taylor Sheridan but instead it’s directed by Thomas Bezucha based on a novel written by Larry Watson and what an excellent job he does too : watching two old pros in Lane and Costner deliver screen magic by simply talking around a breakfast table, drinking a coffee whilst on a roadtrip or sleeping the night in an empty prison cell is what I call BLISS and luckily for me there’s plenty of character investment in Watson’s sombre driven story, a real hearty, honest picture that examines getting old, loosing loved ones, abuse and fighting for what you believe in no matter what the cost : one of my favorite moments in the movie is when George & Margaret arrive at the Weboy’s for dinner and sit around the table, it’s polite until it’s not and your just made to feel as uncomfortable as the characters in the scene watching it all play out : overall Let Him Go is a real belter of a movie, it’s a slow paced, character driven mystery western that delivers an intense final act with stunning photography and a powerhouse display by Lesley Manville as Blanche Weboy ★★★★½

A kid who was once celebrated in his local town, given the key to the region and free Ice Cream for life for solving local crimes is now 31, he has low self-esteem, his popularity has decreased and has become the butt of most jokes, but then a chance arrises from a client who’s boyfriend was murdered and it’s upto The Kid Detective to solve his first real case : ORIGINALITY in film is rare these days so when a movie comes out that truly blows your socks off with it’s dark humor, wild and WTF scenario’s and a new take on the private detective in small town USA then you have to pay attention, you have to rewatch it as the film’s that bloody good and then you have to find some way of telling your family and friends… “listen, this may not conform with some of your believes, it may embarrass, it will make you laugh and it will certainly make you feel uncomfortable, but hell The Kid Detective is certainly worth the watch” : what struck me most about Evan Morgan’s movie is it’s serious story arc about murder, kidnapping and adults abusing their power, it’s told with humor that’s close to the bone as you follow young Abe Applebaum through his days of youth, happiness and town stardom to this washed out, guilt ridden 31yr old who’s self pity and attitude makes you question everything about him, as the story unfolds you find yourself not agreeing with alot of his choices but somehow your still rooting for him, cheering him on nevertheless : I felt Adam Brody is outstanding, for me it’s his best role yet and along with Morgan’s original and edgy script, enjoyably quick pace, perculiar town’s folk and the flashbacks of a young Abe solving petty crimes that’s cute as a button The Kid Detective is one of the brightest films to hit our screens this year : it’s BRILLIANT ★★★★½

After losing his wife in a car accident, a father relocates to a new home with his daughter, but things go horribly wrong when strange things start to happen and his daughter vanishes after being cared for by a local nanny : with shades of the Ring and James Wan’s Insideous Kim Kwang-bin’s THE CLOSET is a chilling ghost story that tells of personal grief and trauma of others : apart from a short back in 2011 this is Kim Kwang-bin’s directorial debut that he also wrote, and what a spooky way to start your career behind the camera, the film is dark, it deals with disturbing images and has a haunting message that you’ll discover deep inside the belly of Kwang-bin’s storytelling : there’s moments during every good horror movie when the penny drops and during The Closet the real pay off comes with a small flashback scene involving Myung-jin and what happened to her, it’s disturbing and is certainly a choke you up moment that I didn’t see coming, the combination of supernatural elements, creepy characters and eye peeling effects mixed with a bunch of relatable characters creates the perfect balance in the movie and one I found extremely fun to watch : I loved the father and daughter played by Ha Jung-woo and Heo Yool both are excellent in their respective roles, Heo Yool’s Yi-na especially is quite innocent to begin with and then changes when the evil gets hold, super scary and those rolling eyes GULP, I also found the local exorcist played by the superb Kim Nam-gil who involves himself with the father in helping him find his daughter was a brilliant touch adding that bit of Poltergeist/Insideous element to proceedings : overall The Closet is worth every minute of your time, it’s a thought provoking, gut twisting ghost tale that packs a punch ★★★★

Kirk Douglas was born on the 9th December 1916 in New York, he may no longer be with us but his work has brought so much joy to my screen over the years and will continue to do so : to name four of his best movies is near impossible as like most great actors he has numerous films to choose from dependent on the mood you find yourself in…. for example if your looking for a bit of fun the Douglas way then look no further than Tough Guys a 1986 gem that sees two gangsters released from prison into a world that has vastly changed since they were put away, Burt Lancaster and Eli Wallach share the screen in this sweet, emotional and hilarious turn by the maestro, or if your looking for something more sombre, a bit more dramatic then take a peek at the 1951 Billy Wilder movie Ace in the Hole, one of his very best and a good old fashioned nail biter, that sees Chuck Tatum a reporter who slows down a rescue attempt of a man trapped in a cave so his career can flourish, it’s one of my favorites and Kirk is dynamite but if you want a night in and your after excitement, gun fights and the old west then jump onboard The War Wagon that sees Kirk team up with John Wayne in one of my favorite guilty pleasure westerns directed by Burt Kennedy : so if over the next few weeks you find yourself looking for some movie inspiration, you fancy a revisit or maybe you’ve never seen the likes of Lust for Life, The Vikings or The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral well take it from me there’s a Kirk Douglas movie for each & every mood, let that chin dimple, enormous heart and big smile fill your screen, you’ll thank me later…..

One of my favorite Kirk Douglas quotes : I was not a tough guy. I just acted like one.

The story of social critic and alcoholic screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz as he races to finish the screenplay of Citizen Kane in 1930’s Hollywood : Fincher’s Old Hollywood treatment about the man who wrote Citizen Kane is sublime, it feels like it was shot in the 30s, the photography & detail is astounding, it’s black & white canvas beguiling & over time with multiple watches MANK will be regarded as one of his finest works : Gary Oldman throws everything into his portrayal of Herman J. Mankiewicz, the energy and passion he excudes is phenomenal, Lily Collins gives a scintillating display as Rita, Herman’s straight shooting secretary and Amanda Seyfried illuminates the screen with the beauty and wonder of the 30s with a humdinger of a turn as actress Marion Davies : the score by Reznor & Ross fits the picture’s showstopping era and Erik Messerschmidt photography gives authenticity to Fincher’s work that’s so believable that you feel you’ve been transported back in time : Mank has many wonderous scenes and not many better than Herman’s party crashing scene at Hearst Castle…. “hello everyone” he proclaims as he staggers around the long table drunk, slurring his words with an unamused Louis B. Mayer and William Randolph Hearst looking on, it’s one of those great movie scenes and Oldman nails it : I’ve been a long admirer of David Fincher, from his pop videos in the mid 80s to his varied film career, I just love the way as a filmmaker he can suck you into the time & place of one of his movies, with Zodiac it was the late 60s San Francisco, The Social Network was New York early 2000’s, the prison planet Fury 161 in Alien3 and with his latest Mank your thrust head first into the mid 30s Hollywood with it’s politics, studios, screen stars and egos filling your screen in wonderful monochrome, each scene more compelling and more facinating than the last, a truly wonderful picture by a filmmaker at the peak of his greatness ★★★★★

The Call 콜 (2020) : Movie Thoughts

Posted by absolutebadasses on December 5, 2020

Posted in: Movie Reviews, Reviews. Tagged: cinema, death, film fan, film geek, films, friends, horror movies, horror night, 콜, Jeon Jong-seo, Jo Young-jik, Kim Sung-ryung, Lee Dong-hwi, Lee El, like, love, movie blog, movie website, movies, murder, netflix, Next Entertainment World, Park Shin-hye, photography, south korea, south korean cinema, south korean films, time loop, time travel, Yong Film. Leave a comment

Two women in South Korea who are from different times connect through a phone call which interchange their fates in an unexpected & devistating way : the horror genre in South Korea is insanely exciting, beautiful and shocking at times and THE CALL from director Lee Chung-hyun continues that trend with it’s blistering violence, originality and crazy twists that leave you breathless when the film ends and your pondering what on earth just happened? : I love the way Chung-hyun slowly builds the tension making you belive one thing and then quickly turning the screw with flashes of diabolical cruelty that has an effect on both main characters in the movie, Kim Seo-yeon played by the wonderful Park Shin-hye recently seen in #Alive and Oh Young-sook played by the tremendous Burning actress Jeon Jong-seo, both actresses are top notch with Jong-seo delivering a searing display that’s quite unforgettable in the film’s final third : the camera work around the house by Jo Young-jik is tremendous giving each & every scene a darkness, a sense of foreboding and combine this with the film’s lightening and sound The Call really is a tense, agonising watch : there are loads of haunting moments in the movie but the highlights for me are Young-sook and the strawberry guy when he discovers the bags in the freezer is utterly bone chilling, those scenes with Young-sook being whipped by her adpotive shaman mother is terrifying, Kim’s dad disintegrating whilst sat in the passenger seat of a car she’s driving is mouth wide shocking and those final ten insane minutes will blow your mind : so if you love your South Korean horror or you’ve not seen any and want a superb introduction then check out Lee Chung-hyun The Call it’s SUPERB ★★★★