This waste of time was one of the worst documentaries I've ever seen. It starts out to be about an amateur cyclist who decides to experiment on himself with doping. A half hour later it's about some Russian scientist and conspiracy, as if suddenly a different film has been inadvertently spliced on. The film is so ineptly executed it's impossible to make any sense out of it. A total failure.
Reviews
9 Reviews
Magic Town
(1947)
Pretentious disappointment
20 January 2017
A professionally made, good-looking, but ridiculous, bad movie. The further it goes, the more preposterous the plot becomes, until it reaches a crescendo of implausible nonsense at the end. There is far too much inept rehashing of elements from "It's a Wonderful Life", with Stewart doing an impersonation of himself as George Bailey. There are places, particularly when his character is drunk in public, that are unpleasant to watch. Nice to see Ned Sparks and Donald Meek in their farewell appearances. Jane Wyman shows great legs in the basketball gym scene, but I can't believe they paid somebody a lot of money to give her that horrid hairdo.
The Sharkfighters
(1956)
Good underrated action picture
18 September 2013
Victor Mature was self-deprecating about his acting ability, which has led to the myth that he wasn't very good. However, he's terrific in this interesting, entertaining movie about a World War II U.S. Navy commander who loses some of his crew to a shark attack and is then assigned to a research team in the Caribbean to develop an effective shark repellent. The whole cast, especially Karen Steele as Mature's wife, is excellent, and the location photography, which includes pre-Castro Havana, is beautiful. The action scenes with sharks are exciting and the outcome, given the fate of several of Mature's characters in other movies, is not certain. To top it off, Jerome Moross, perhaps the greatest of all film composers, wrote the music score. "The Sharkfighters" is well worth seeing.
Blood Alley
(1955)
Decent adventure
24 September 2012
"i think they just want to evilize the Chinese communist government (they may be or not be, now their people are manufacturing for the world)"
This, posted above, reflects the attitude of several commenters whose left-wing sphincters reflexively contracted the second they read the name "John Wayne".
"Blood Alley" isn't great, and it isn't one of Wayne's best movies, but it's well-made and entertaining enough to be worthy of at least one viewing.
As for "evilizing" the Chinese government, Mao Zedong and his regime did a fine job of doing that themselves when their actions resulted in the deaths of tens of millions of their own people, not to mention brutal imprisonment of non-criminals, slavery, stupid agricultural policies that resulted in mass starvation, etc., etc. It's no wonder the people in the film's village wanted to escape. But damn John Wayne and his conservative cronies for making it the background of an escapist adventure movie. Because after all, the death and oppression of countless innocent people that is the legacy of the communists in China is okay, because "now their people are manufacturing for the world", and who is the Duke to say otherwise?
This, posted above, reflects the attitude of several commenters whose left-wing sphincters reflexively contracted the second they read the name "John Wayne".
"Blood Alley" isn't great, and it isn't one of Wayne's best movies, but it's well-made and entertaining enough to be worthy of at least one viewing.
As for "evilizing" the Chinese government, Mao Zedong and his regime did a fine job of doing that themselves when their actions resulted in the deaths of tens of millions of their own people, not to mention brutal imprisonment of non-criminals, slavery, stupid agricultural policies that resulted in mass starvation, etc., etc. It's no wonder the people in the film's village wanted to escape. But damn John Wayne and his conservative cronies for making it the background of an escapist adventure movie. Because after all, the death and oppression of countless innocent people that is the legacy of the communists in China is okay, because "now their people are manufacturing for the world", and who is the Duke to say otherwise?
Rocky Mountain
(1950)
One of Flynn's Best
20 June 2012
"For it being 1950, I was stunned to find so many real and honest performances. There was none of that obnoxious "Studio Acting" where everyone is chewing scenery and pretending to be their character."
This was the comment of a previous reviewer. Anyone who is "stunned" to find good acting in a 1950 movie has probably not seen many movies from that period. As for "chewing scenery", I wonder if this person has ever paid attention when "method" icons like Dean, Brando, Cobb, Palance, and Penn are on screen. It's often a miracle there's any scenery left uneaten to finish the movie with!
"Rocky Mountain" is one of Flynn's better films (of many good ones), and as always, this underrated actor is real and natural. The movie is also of interest as the debut of noted character actor Slim Pickens. The story is gritty and dark, and the scenery and photography are spectacular. The ending is quite moving. This is a movie worth seeing.
This was the comment of a previous reviewer. Anyone who is "stunned" to find good acting in a 1950 movie has probably not seen many movies from that period. As for "chewing scenery", I wonder if this person has ever paid attention when "method" icons like Dean, Brando, Cobb, Palance, and Penn are on screen. It's often a miracle there's any scenery left uneaten to finish the movie with!
"Rocky Mountain" is one of Flynn's better films (of many good ones), and as always, this underrated actor is real and natural. The movie is also of interest as the debut of noted character actor Slim Pickens. The story is gritty and dark, and the scenery and photography are spectacular. The ending is quite moving. This is a movie worth seeing.
Garbo: The Spy
(2009)
A Disappointment
10 May 2012
Garbo was a Spanish secret agent during World War II who sold his independent services to the Nazis, while really working for the allies. His brilliantly imaginative approach to espionage was to invent dozens of fictional subordinate spies, then make up false information to feed to the Germans.
This potentially interesting subject was spoiled by an odd attempt at a documentary that appears to have been intended to be artistic and funny, rather than informational. The film bounces back and forth between talking heads who remain unidentified until halfway through, and clips from old B movies. All this is accompanied by irrelevant, anachronistic music and silly science fiction sound effects. The overall result is unfocused, annoying, and almost unwatchable.
This potentially interesting subject was spoiled by an odd attempt at a documentary that appears to have been intended to be artistic and funny, rather than informational. The film bounces back and forth between talking heads who remain unidentified until halfway through, and clips from old B movies. All this is accompanied by irrelevant, anachronistic music and silly science fiction sound effects. The overall result is unfocused, annoying, and almost unwatchable.
College Coach
(1933)
Unethical behavior pays in the end
9 August 2011
Warning: Spoilers
This pre-code movie is interesting and entertaining on a few different levels. There's plenty of footage of real football games at a time when helmets were padded leather, as well as optional, and head injuries were commonplace. There's Pat O'Brien in an early, cynical, performance that's quite unlike the fatherly characters he settled into a few years later. But most of all, it's the way our expectations about what his character's fate is going to be (or should be) are shattered that makes this movie unique.
O'Brien's character hires players for his college football team, bribes professors to make certain his players have passing grades, is involved in a shady real estate deal that will pay him a fortune if a football stadium gets built, plays around with other women behind his wife's back, and directs his team to gang up on an opposing player, which results in the man's death. The wages of these sins are that in the end he wins the season, gets the stadium deal, evades any responsibility for the death of the player, gets a higher-paying job offer, and lives happily ever after with his wife. This is an amazing affirmation of the corrupt life!
It's also a pretty good movie, with O'Brien at his best.
O'Brien's character hires players for his college football team, bribes professors to make certain his players have passing grades, is involved in a shady real estate deal that will pay him a fortune if a football stadium gets built, plays around with other women behind his wife's back, and directs his team to gang up on an opposing player, which results in the man's death. The wages of these sins are that in the end he wins the season, gets the stadium deal, evades any responsibility for the death of the player, gets a higher-paying job offer, and lives happily ever after with his wife. This is an amazing affirmation of the corrupt life!
It's also a pretty good movie, with O'Brien at his best.
She Wouldn't Say Yes
(1945)
The worst Rosalind Russell movie ever
4 March 2011
Warning: Spoilers
I'm a big Rosalind Russell fan and have seen most of her films, but this is the weakest. Lee Bowman is a decent actor, but the character he plays is an annoying, intrusive stalker who should have been served with a restraining order before the half-way point in the movie. After nearly an hour and a half of forcefully rejecting his irritating harassment, Russell suddenly turns one hundred and eighty degrees and is in love. It makes no sense. This was an unfunny, uninvolving waste of talent, film, studio space, electricity, you name it, that even the great Miss Russell couldn't save. She must have really needed money at the time.
The Hellstrom Chronicle
(1971)
Precursor to "An Inconvenient Truth"
26 October 2009
"The Hellstrom Chronicle", a well-done science mocumentary, came more than thirty years before Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth," but the parallels are uncanny.
Both movies received undeserved Oscars in the documentary field.
Both were fake.
Both fooled a lot of people who might otherwise have been assumed to be intelligent.
The frightening differences are that "Hellstrom" did not spawn a religion of hysterical fanatics who want to destroy our quality of life and our economy.
"Hellstrom" was never used as a bible to brainwash college students and even innocent school children.
The producer of "Hellstrom" was not given the Nobel Prize (presumably the Nobel still had some credibility in 1971).
And "Hellstrom" was ultimately laughed off as a silly piece of entertainment.
Which is exactly what should happen to "An Inconvenient Truth."
Both movies received undeserved Oscars in the documentary field.
Both were fake.
Both fooled a lot of people who might otherwise have been assumed to be intelligent.
The frightening differences are that "Hellstrom" did not spawn a religion of hysterical fanatics who want to destroy our quality of life and our economy.
"Hellstrom" was never used as a bible to brainwash college students and even innocent school children.
The producer of "Hellstrom" was not given the Nobel Prize (presumably the Nobel still had some credibility in 1971).
And "Hellstrom" was ultimately laughed off as a silly piece of entertainment.
Which is exactly what should happen to "An Inconvenient Truth."
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