The new film from Palme d’Or winner Ruben Östlund takes aim at obvious targets, and makes a mess of hitting them
Strident, derivative and dismayingly deficient in genuine laughs, Ruben Östlund’s new movie is a heavy-handed Euro-satire, without the subtlety and insight of his breakthrough movie Force Majeure, or the power of his comparable Palme-winning spectacle about the art world, The Square. This film, on the other hand, congratulates itself deafeningly on being against the cruelty of the global super-rich, against the trite culture of fashion, against the vapidity of social media influencers. It uses a howitzer to shoot drugged fish in a barrel, inserts flabby lite-surrealism where the comedy might otherwise go and the plot turns out to be a retread of Jm Barrie’s stage-play The Admirable Crichton.
Everything of interest happens in the first ten minutes. A male model called Carl (Harris Dickinson) senses after...
Strident, derivative and dismayingly deficient in genuine laughs, Ruben Östlund’s new movie is a heavy-handed Euro-satire, without the subtlety and insight of his breakthrough movie Force Majeure, or the power of his comparable Palme-winning spectacle about the art world, The Square. This film, on the other hand, congratulates itself deafeningly on being against the cruelty of the global super-rich, against the trite culture of fashion, against the vapidity of social media influencers. It uses a howitzer to shoot drugged fish in a barrel, inserts flabby lite-surrealism where the comedy might otherwise go and the plot turns out to be a retread of Jm Barrie’s stage-play The Admirable Crichton.
Everything of interest happens in the first ten minutes. A male model called Carl (Harris Dickinson) senses after...
- 5/21/2022
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Pairing wine with movies! See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies and many more at Trailers From Hell. A trio of island-related movies are on the card this week to help you escape the pandemic virtually, if you’re not ready to brave an airline flight just yet.
Paradise Lagoon is the name used in the U.S. for the release of the 1957 British-American film, The Admirable Crichton. The screenplay was based on a play written in the early 20th century by J.M. Barrie, the guy behind Peter Pan. The main character in the movie is a butler. He lacks Peter Pan’s ability to fly, but he has the added advantage of being able to serve drinks.
The story of Paradise Lagoon centers on a group of upper-crust castaways who try to escape scandal on a yacht and end up shipwrecked. It’s sort of like Gilligan’s Island,...
Paradise Lagoon is the name used in the U.S. for the release of the 1957 British-American film, The Admirable Crichton. The screenplay was based on a play written in the early 20th century by J.M. Barrie, the guy behind Peter Pan. The main character in the movie is a butler. He lacks Peter Pan’s ability to fly, but he has the added advantage of being able to serve drinks.
The story of Paradise Lagoon centers on a group of upper-crust castaways who try to escape scandal on a yacht and end up shipwrecked. It’s sort of like Gilligan’s Island,...
- 9/2/2020
- by Randy Fuller
- Trailers from Hell
One of the most charming movies ever made, Lewis Gilbert’s bittersweet comedy is escapist entertainment at its best. Kenneth More plays the by-the-book butler to a household of insufferable snobs—the tables are turned, and how, when the whole crew is shipwrecked on a paradisiacal island. Sally Ann Howes is the prim aristocrat turned swinging Jane to More’s Tarzan.
The post Paradise Lagoon appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
The post Paradise Lagoon appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
- 8/31/2020
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
The Admirable Crichton
Blu ray
Twilight Time
1957 / 1:85:1 / 94 Min. / Street Date – February 12, 2019
Starring Kenneth More, Sally Ann Howes
Cinematography by Wilkie Cooper
Directed by Lewis Gilbert
True love and the British Empire collide in 1957’s The Admirable Crichton, the riches to rags story of one hard-to-get butler and a boatload of love struck aristocrats.
Loam Manor is run with steely officiousness by the valet known simply as Crichton, a kindly martinet who views the class system as the crowning achievement of British society – a notion which not coincidentally coincides with Crichton’s dominance over the servant’s quarters.
The Loams themselves, three spoon-fed sisters and their dithering father are naturally spoiled rotten, viewing their stable of servants as an exotic species to be kept on invisible leashes – in such a fraught situation the tables are just begging to be turned. And so they are when the Lord’s ship sinks,...
Blu ray
Twilight Time
1957 / 1:85:1 / 94 Min. / Street Date – February 12, 2019
Starring Kenneth More, Sally Ann Howes
Cinematography by Wilkie Cooper
Directed by Lewis Gilbert
True love and the British Empire collide in 1957’s The Admirable Crichton, the riches to rags story of one hard-to-get butler and a boatload of love struck aristocrats.
Loam Manor is run with steely officiousness by the valet known simply as Crichton, a kindly martinet who views the class system as the crowning achievement of British society – a notion which not coincidentally coincides with Crichton’s dominance over the servant’s quarters.
The Loams themselves, three spoon-fed sisters and their dithering father are naturally spoiled rotten, viewing their stable of servants as an exotic species to be kept on invisible leashes – in such a fraught situation the tables are just begging to be turned. And so they are when the Lord’s ship sinks,...
- 3/2/2019
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
Indicator follows up The Wonderful Worlds of Ray Harryhausen, Volume One: 1955-1960 with, wait for it, Volume 2: 1961-1964, featuring three of Harryhausen’s most ambitious productions. Good news for fans, the UK company delivers another robust box set with beautiful transfers and an abundance of extras including newly produced interviews, a small treasure trove of promotional ephemera and a limited edition 80-page book with essays from Kim Newman and Tim Lucas. The set is region free, playable on Blu-ray devices worldwide.
The Wonderful Worlds of Ray Harryhausen, Volume 2: 1961-1964
Blu-ray – Region Free
Indicator/Powerhouse
Street Date November 13, 2017
Starring Herbert Lom, Joan Greenwood, Niall MacGinnis, Nigel Green, Lionel Jeffries, Edward Judd
Cinematography by Wilkie Cooper
Produced by Charles Schneer, Ray Harryhausen
Directed by Cy Endfield, Don Chaffey, Nathan Juran
Raging thunderstorms and a tempestuous score from Bernard Herrmann kick off 1961’s Mysterious Island as a water-logged crew of Union...
The Wonderful Worlds of Ray Harryhausen, Volume 2: 1961-1964
Blu-ray – Region Free
Indicator/Powerhouse
Street Date November 13, 2017
Starring Herbert Lom, Joan Greenwood, Niall MacGinnis, Nigel Green, Lionel Jeffries, Edward Judd
Cinematography by Wilkie Cooper
Produced by Charles Schneer, Ray Harryhausen
Directed by Cy Endfield, Don Chaffey, Nathan Juran
Raging thunderstorms and a tempestuous score from Bernard Herrmann kick off 1961’s Mysterious Island as a water-logged crew of Union...
- 11/25/2017
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
Ron Moody as Fagin in 'Oliver!' based on Charles Dickens' 'Oliver Twist.' Ron Moody as Fagin in Dickens musical 'Oliver!': Box office and critical hit (See previous post: "Ron Moody: 'Oliver!' Actor, Academy Award Nominee Dead at 91.") Although British made, Oliver! turned out to be an elephantine release along the lines of – exclamation point or no – Gypsy, Star!, Hello Dolly!, and other Hollywood mega-musicals from the mid'-50s to the early '70s.[1] But however bloated and conventional the final result, and a cast whose best-known name was that of director Carol Reed's nephew, Oliver Reed, Oliver! found countless fans.[2] The mostly British production became a huge financial and critical success in the U.S. at a time when star-studded mega-musicals had become perilous – at times downright disastrous – ventures.[3] Upon the American release of Oliver! in Dec. 1968, frequently acerbic The...
- 6/19/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
By rights I should hate the English. Seriously, my background is almost entirely Scots and Irish. I grew up hearing about the troubles the English gave to the Scots and Irish, both in school and from my parents.
Yet I do not, I love the English. How can I hate a country that gave us not only Monty Python but also Benny Hill and the Carry On Films? How can I bear any ill will to a country that gave us writers of the caliber of Ramsey Campbell, Brian Aldiss, Michael Moorcock and J. G Ballard? How can anyone hate a country that not only prizes eccentric behavior but encourages it? Take Mr. Kim Newman for instance, a brilliant writer whose work appears regularly in Video WatchDog and Videoscope Mr. Newman dresses himself, has his hair and mustache styled and speaks in the manner of someone from the 19th Century!
Yet I do not, I love the English. How can I hate a country that gave us not only Monty Python but also Benny Hill and the Carry On Films? How can I bear any ill will to a country that gave us writers of the caliber of Ramsey Campbell, Brian Aldiss, Michael Moorcock and J. G Ballard? How can anyone hate a country that not only prizes eccentric behavior but encourages it? Take Mr. Kim Newman for instance, a brilliant writer whose work appears regularly in Video WatchDog and Videoscope Mr. Newman dresses himself, has his hair and mustache styled and speaks in the manner of someone from the 19th Century!
- 5/26/2015
- by Sam Moffitt
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Well, a few things, maybe.
It’s not at all hard to understand why Harvey Weinstein turned to Diane Paulus to overhaul Finding Neverland, the musical based on Miramax’s 2004 movie starring Johnny Depp as Peter Pan creator J.M Barrie. Paulus brings a broad catholicity of taste to her work as artistic director of the non-profit American Repertory Theatre, and that wide-ranging sensibility has led to her own souped-up, physically dazzling revivals of Hair and Pippin, both of which moved to Broadway.
When a 2012 tryout in Leicester, England under the leadership of Rob Ashford was met with yawns, Weinstein sent Finding Neverland back to the drawing board. In addition to hiring Paulus, he replaced Allan Knee (who wrote The Man Who Was Peter Pan, the basis for the film) with James Graham as book writer. U.K. pop-music specialists Gary Barlow...
It’s not at all hard to understand why Harvey Weinstein turned to Diane Paulus to overhaul Finding Neverland, the musical based on Miramax’s 2004 movie starring Johnny Depp as Peter Pan creator J.M Barrie. Paulus brings a broad catholicity of taste to her work as artistic director of the non-profit American Repertory Theatre, and that wide-ranging sensibility has led to her own souped-up, physically dazzling revivals of Hair and Pippin, both of which moved to Broadway.
When a 2012 tryout in Leicester, England under the leadership of Rob Ashford was met with yawns, Weinstein sent Finding Neverland back to the drawing board. In addition to hiring Paulus, he replaced Allan Knee (who wrote The Man Who Was Peter Pan, the basis for the film) with James Graham as book writer. U.K. pop-music specialists Gary Barlow...
- 8/14/2014
- by Jeremy Gerard
- Deadline
Joseph Losey's superb 1963 film about class and sex is once again in cinemas – but to locate its elusive gay gene, you have to revisit its source in Robin Maugham's extraordinary and disturbing novella
Homosexuality is everywhere and nowhere in The Servant. Harold Pinter's superbly controlled, elliptical, menacing dialogue is able to hint, to imply, to seduce, to repulse, in precisely the manner that gay men were forced to adopt in 1963, when homosexuality was still a criminal offence, and when representing homosexuality on screen was forbidden. To locate the gay gene in The Servant, you have to go back to its source, the 1948 novella written by Robin Maugham, the nephew of W Somerset Maugham. The Servant has its spark in an extraordinary event in Maugham's own life, to be treasured by connoisseurs of British sex and class.
Maugham had rented a house, which came with its own servant,...
Homosexuality is everywhere and nowhere in The Servant. Harold Pinter's superbly controlled, elliptical, menacing dialogue is able to hint, to imply, to seduce, to repulse, in precisely the manner that gay men were forced to adopt in 1963, when homosexuality was still a criminal offence, and when representing homosexuality on screen was forbidden. To locate the gay gene in The Servant, you have to go back to its source, the 1948 novella written by Robin Maugham, the nephew of W Somerset Maugham. The Servant has its spark in an extraordinary event in Maugham's own life, to be treasured by connoisseurs of British sex and class.
Maugham had rented a house, which came with its own servant,...
- 3/27/2013
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Everybody's favorite movie decade: Which ones are the best movies released in the 20th century's second decade? Best Film (Pictured above) Broken Blossoms: Barthelmess and Gish star as ill-fated lovers in D.W. Griffith’s romantic melodrama featuring interethnic love. Check These Out (Pictured below) Cabiria: is considered one of the major landmarks in motion picture history, having inspired the scope and visual grandeur of D.W. Griffith’s Intolerance. Also of note, Pastrone's epic of ancient Rome introduced Maciste, a bulky hero who would be featured in countless movies in the ensuing decades. Best Actor (Pictured below) In the tragic The Italian, George Beban plays an Italian immigrant recently arrived in the United States (Click below for film review). Unfortunately, his American dream quickly becomes a horrendous nightmare of poverty and despair. Best Actress (Pictured below) The movies' super-vamp Theda Bara in A Fool There Was: A little...
- 3/27/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Alluring Australian actor best known for her role in The Wicker Man
Such is the superficial nature of fame that the Australian-born actor Diane Cilento, who has died of cancer aged 78, was best remembered as the wife of Sean Connery from 1962 to 1973, during the height of his fame as James Bond. The attractive, blonde, husky-voiced Cilento would be more fittingly recalled for her roles in a dozen or so British films in the 1950s and 60s, to which she brought a dose of much-needed sexuality. However, her best-known part was in the cultish The Wicker Man (1973), her last British picture before returning to her homeland.
Born in Brisbane, she was the daughter of Sir Raphael and Lady Phyllis Cilento, both physicians. Much to their initial disappointment, Diane decided against following them into the medical profession. After winning a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London, at the age...
Such is the superficial nature of fame that the Australian-born actor Diane Cilento, who has died of cancer aged 78, was best remembered as the wife of Sean Connery from 1962 to 1973, during the height of his fame as James Bond. The attractive, blonde, husky-voiced Cilento would be more fittingly recalled for her roles in a dozen or so British films in the 1950s and 60s, to which she brought a dose of much-needed sexuality. However, her best-known part was in the cultish The Wicker Man (1973), her last British picture before returning to her homeland.
Born in Brisbane, she was the daughter of Sir Raphael and Lady Phyllis Cilento, both physicians. Much to their initial disappointment, Diane decided against following them into the medical profession. After winning a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London, at the age...
- 10/7/2011
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
When I was offered to review one of my all-time favourite movies from my youth, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, I jumped at the chance. The movie has been completely remastered and is released today on Blu ray. Me and my sister must have watched this movie 100 times and never got bored of it. How can a car that flies get boring?!
Chitty Chity Bang Bangs stars Dick Van Dyke, Lionel Jeffries, Adrian Hall and Hether Ripley in a film adaption of Ian Fleming’s book. The film was adapted for the sc reen by Roald Dahl and is directed by Ken Hughes and also stars Sally Ann Howes, and James Robert Justice.
Synopsis: Award-winning Dick Van Dyke (Mary Poppins, Dick Tracy, Night at the Museum) stars as eccentric widowed inventor Caractacus Potts in this magical tale set in early twentieth century England. Caractacus is poor but happy, living with his...
Chitty Chity Bang Bangs stars Dick Van Dyke, Lionel Jeffries, Adrian Hall and Hether Ripley in a film adaption of Ian Fleming’s book. The film was adapted for the sc reen by Roald Dahl and is directed by Ken Hughes and also stars Sally Ann Howes, and James Robert Justice.
Synopsis: Award-winning Dick Van Dyke (Mary Poppins, Dick Tracy, Night at the Museum) stars as eccentric widowed inventor Caractacus Potts in this magical tale set in early twentieth century England. Caractacus is poor but happy, living with his...
- 10/18/2010
- by David Sztypuljak
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
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