Topic: The little known movie review depot

[Jimmy]

But they are all good

This is the one I have and I try to find some others (but for some I really doubt I will succeed)

Gina (1975)
Deux femmes en or (1970)
Après-ski (1971)
L'initiation (1970)
La gammick (1975)
Bingo (1974)
Scandale (1982) / I don't know this one but it looks fun
La mort d'un bûcheron (1973)
L'eau chaude, l'eau frette (1976)
Les ordres (1974)
Jusqu'au coeur (1969)
IXE-13 (1972)
Cordélia (1980)

[Jimmy]

I don't know if I want to read about them if the movie is really good because I'll want to watch them. Since they aren't available maybe you should only review the crappy ones!  

BTW Kathy as I know you have an open mind when we talk cinema maybe that could interest you that many of our productions are available to view online on the ONF/NFB website. Most of the french subtitled in english version aren't available to view online. But this is a short films I've always found funny, can you believe that I thought it was real when I saw this the first time at 12 years old

But in a certain way it is kind of real

The Bronswik Affair

Maybe you will find some interesting "cinema" there

[Jimmy]

MOVIE / DVD INFO:

Title: Le viol d'une jeune fille douce (1968)

Genre: Drama
Director: Gilles Carle
Rating: NR
Length: 1h23
Video: Full Frame
Audio: French
Subtitles: None

Stars:
Julie Lachapelle
Jacques Cohen
Katerine Mousseau   
Daniel Pilon
Donald Pilon

Plot:
Julie, a Quebecoise, wants to live a free life. But she finds herself pregnant and unmarried. Her brothers want to catch and punish the man who seduced her. But they do not. So, Julie decide to keep the child and brought up with her new friend.

My Thoughts:

For this one I feel like I wrote the review for Sebastien and Eric, unless someone else understand the french language enough to watch a movie without subtitles. This film is where our cinema finally found its identity, the entertainment industry like pretty much everything in our sociey was in revolution in those years when our parents "fight" to free themselves of the Church excessive power in all the part of their life. But it isn't the point of this review...

In his second feature film (La vie heureuse de Léopold Z being his first one) Gilles Carle found the genre where he will be confortable for the rest of his career. This one isn't as known as those he will do in the next years when he will find Carole Laure who will became his muse, but it's a good start. Of course our french complex was always alive at that time, something that explain the forced accent sometimes (an accent that come and go as the film was made over a seven month period). Also the excessive ammount of nudity our cinema was known for in the seventies isn't present yet, for that we will have to wait the next year when Cinépix will produce Valérie (interesting note : Cinépix was the most succesfull french canadian studio and they are now known as Lions Gates).

The title can give a wrong idea of this film (in english you can translate it as The Rape of a Sweet Young Girl) as nowhere it is said that Julie was attack when she became pregnant. In fact the film is more about how she deal with her pregancy in her everyday life (a strange life in my book, but what do I know I wasn't born in 68...). The film really got its start when Daniel and Donald Pilon appears (BTW this is the beginning of their careers), not that it isn't interesting before but I cared less for the relation between Julie and Jacques.

The acting is more or less correct, but the forced accent can be annoying by moment and some of the actors talent is really wooden. This is also the film where the career of Katerine Mousseau began and strangelly the first of only three films for Julie Lachapelle even if I think she did quite a good job in this film.

As I've said previously this film isn't available on the market and will probably never been (thanks to the Quebecor monopoly who have kidnapped our cultural history). But for the benefit of Sébastien and Eric (and everyone else who can understand our language) you can watch watch it online. The quality isn't too bad, maybe a little bit bright by moment but maybe it was like that originally.  

Le viol d'une jeune fille douce on Tag Télé.

Rating :

[Jimmy]

MOVIE / DVD INFO:

Title: Stanley (1972)

Genre: Horror
Director: William Grefé
Rating: PG
Length: 1h47
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1
Audio: English
Subtitles: None

Stars:
Chris Robinson
Alex Rocco
Steve Alaimo   
Mark Harris
Susan Carroll

Plot:
Tim Ochopee, a shell-shocked Seminole Indian has just returned from a tour in Vietnam. He lives a peaceful life deep in the Everglades with his pet snake Stanley . Upon his return, he finds out his father has passed away. When he learns how he was killed, Tim lets Stanley and his brood loose on the people who ve done him wrong, leading to a thrilling climax.

My Thoughts:

Don't let the rating fools you, if snakes scare you that film will be. As Bill Greffé say it's Willard with snakes and believe me there are a lot of them... For a small budget production this is really well done and it was a successfull film (it made more money on its openning weekend than The Godfather did, no chance to see that happening anymore...). The acting from the main characters is more than decent, but Alex Rocco is always great in anything and Chris Robinson was already a veteran TV actor. The fact it was made in the Everglades bring a lot to it as it was a beautifull undevelopped area at that time.

Thanks to the Code Red DVD this one is back on the market as the precedent release from BCI goes OOP really fast. Of course if you own already the BCI special edition a double dip would be a waste of money, but if you don't you get the same great tranfer full of good extras (all of them are interesting) and for a very good price.

Marie I think this one would please you



Rating :

[Jimmy]

MOVIE / DVD INFO:

Title: BloodRayne the Third Reich (2010)

Genre: Action
Director: Uwe Boll
Rating: 18
Length: 1h29
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78:1
Audio: English / French
Subtitles: English (CC)

Stars:
Natassia Malthe
Brendan Fletcher
Michael Paré   
Willam Belli
Annett Culp

Plot:
Half-vampire, half-human, Rayne (Natassia Malthe) hides in the shadows slaughtering vampires and those that get in her way. In 1943 Europe, during World War II, Rayne faces her greatest foe, a growing army of undead Nazi soldiers led by Ekart Brand, a top Nazi official turned day-walker. Rayne must team up with a group of resistance fighters to defeat Brand and his vampire army before they reach Berlin to grant Hitler immortality.

My Thoughts:

I'm sure it won't be a surprise if I told you I love this film. Even more, Uwe Boll is the only actual movie maker who is worthy of my time as he never deceived me and deliver everytime (OK almost everytime, Alone in the Dark isn't really good). Of course I love what was the cinema in the seventies and for me he is the last of the independant movie makers, sure independant movies are always made but most of them are artistical pretentious borefest or awfull crap. In fact I don't hesitate to compare him to Roger Corman, David Friedman or Harry Novak in the sense that he do what he wants, how he wants to do it and don't give a damn of what the people think (without forgetting the fact that all his films make money).

Here we have the third part of this serie and I hope not the last one. As it was the case with the others two the setting is a new one. This time we have more fighting compare to the second part (as much as this one was good there were too much gunfight) without going in CGI overdose mode. Most of the effects are practical one wich is always a plus for me, but the blood effects are done with computer and I ain't a big fan of this as it doesn't look real to me. As usual we have his core acting group who is always reliable and work better than when he used big name actors who are only there for the money in the past. Too bad Kristanna Loken isn't the title character anymore (but it almost happened) as I prefer her to Natassia Malthe. Clint Howard is also in the cast with a big role that make me think at Richard Liberty in Day of the Dead. This film was made in Croatia and this bring a lot to the cinematography and this time we got some really hot sex scenes (common you know me...).

Again another great watching time as I expected it will be

Rating :

[Jimmy]

MOVIE / DVD INFO:

Title: Demon (2010)

Genre: Horror
Director: John Erick Dowdle
Rating: 13+
Length: 1h20
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.40:1
Audio: English / French / Spanish
Subtitles: English / French / Spanish

Stars:
Chris Messina
Logan Marshall-Green
Jenny O'Hara   
Bojana Novakovic
Bokeem Woodbine

Plot:
Trapped in an elevator high above Philadelphia, five people discover that the Devil is among them – and no one can escape their fate. This chilling, supernatural thriller from M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense, Signs) will keep you on the edge of your seat all the way to a heart-stopping ending with a truly wicked twist.

My Thoughts:

First ignore what is written after the first phrase of the plot, yes he is a producer and this is all (thank god as this pretentious one timer annoyed the hell out of me)... not that it prevent that we have to endure him and his full of himself attitude in the extras (BTW those are kind of shitty). OK now that this is beyond me it's time to talk about the movie.

Is it scary? Yes... at least for me it was. We know that Pete is scared to death by the spiders and I have the same fear of the elevator. Not because I think Satan haunt them, but because I get caught in one of them a complete night alone with no way to contact the security (but at least I had cigarettes on me to help me relax ). As written this is "who done it?" type of story and surprisingly this is well done considering the space isn't really big. The group of actors (who are unknown to me except for Woodbine) do a good job at conveying the nerve racking mood of the situation. The end isn't that much of a twist, I don't really get why they played it this way as a couple of hints are given and if you are attentive you know who will survive and why. But even with this the script is well written enough that it stays focus and don't go in hundred of directions for nothing... Also nice little bonus for us French Canadian since Caroline Dhavernas had a little role

I think I can recommand this one. Just imagine that you watch an episode of The Twillight Zone or Tales from the Darkside with a better budget.



Rating :

[Kathy]

Another one in the category no one care because it's a French Canadian movie unavailable in english...

You can't leave us hanging - at least let us know the title of the film. And, where's your review? 

[Jimmy]

I've decided to delete what I've writen, but I didn't saw your response before doing so... Sorry Kathy

It was for Gina a film made by Denys Arcand in 1975. Maybe you know him for Le déclin de l'empire américain who was nominated for an Oscar or Jésus de Montréal who was also nominated for an Oscar and win the grand prize at the Canne Festival or Stardom who wasn't nominated for any award out of here but got some international success or Les invasions barbares the movie he finally win an Oscar with

While I was writing my mind told me that it was for nothing as the film is no longer available even in french... It is even not shown on our TV anymore since the day Quebecor took all our movie industry in hostage, supposedly to restore them but it didn't happen...

I won't rewrite my review, but I can tell you that Gina is for me the best that our industry can produce. A very good representation of what is small French Canadian town boredom and what can be the bad result of this ennui. The film relies on the strong performances of Céline Lomez, Claude Blanchard, Paule Baillargeon and, even if his part is small, Donald Lautrec.

It's just too bad those films aren't available for the international market. This film had a short release on DVD but not even with an english subtitle track. Something I can't understand at all, this is like the company here can't understand that our cinema can have an appeal out of the french market... wich is unfounded as I know many english speakers who want to watch those films...

Again Kathy, sorry to be a tease on this one

[samuelrichardscott]

I enjoyed The Barbarian Invasions (but a long time since I viewed... need to buy) and I think I've seen Jesus of Montreal (but a long time ago... can't remember). It's always a pain when companies take a film 'hostage' though. Sometimes makes it difficult to stand up against piracy.

[Kathy]

No problem Jimmy - I was just curious that's all.

Reading the Overview this movie seems familiar. I'm not sure if I've seen it or one that is similar.

[Jimmy]

MOVIE / DVD INFO:

Title: Tomorrow Never Comes (1978)

Genre: Drama
Director: Peter Collinson
Rating: 15
Length: 1h42
Video: Full Frame
Audio: English
Subtitles: English

Stars:
Oliver Reed
Susan George
Raymond Burr   
John Ireland
Stephen McHattie

Plot:
Jim Wilson is a police lieutenant in a corrupt resort town. Revolted by the brutality of modern police work, he decides to leave and take up duties in his quiet home town. But on his final day a violent drama explodes. A deadly confrontation breaks out between Frank, the abandoned lover of singer Janie and her new boyfriend Lyne. The police are called and Frank shoots a young officer. Whitin minutes a full siege is underway in full view of the tourists on the beach and the television cameras.

My Thoughts:

I've searched this one more than 20 years, I know I'm a patient guy. I've seen it dubbed in french when I was younger and I never knew the original title. I finally did the connection sooner this year while watching another movie with Susan George. Believe me I was happy to finally watch it again after all those years

This is a canadian movie made in the seventies using the canadian tax shelter program. This program was responsible for the best period of our cinema (at least in the english part of our country) but there is a negative to it, the producers of those films didn't do them to make money but to loose money for the tax credit so many of those movies disapeared or neglected. If you want to watch an action films forget this one as it isn't what it is about. This is more a psychological drama about a guy who completly lost it when he return home and learned that his girlfriend is with another man. So what we will watch is the standoff between Frank and the city police force at the beach resort. A crisis that we are a spectator of like the crowd at the resort (a crowd who watch that as if it was a special attraction included with their vacancy. in a certain way we aren't different as we watch it too as a form of entertainment...). The movie gain what its lack in action in the acting performances who are pretty strong (even Donald Pleasence despite the strange accent he use).

If you expect a sad film without the happy ever after Holywood style with acting in place of action you can't go wrong with this one. The DVD itself is OOP whatever it is region 1 and 2 (one of my friend who own an indie label wanted to release a special edition of this film some years ago, but he was unable to trace the producers), but if your set is zone free and you check Amazon marketplace as I did you will find for an ok price (there is a recent Televista release but don't buy, this company only release crappy transfer).


Rating :

[Jimmy]

MOVIE / DVD INFO:

Title: The Sentinel (2006)

Genre: Suspense/Thriller
Director: Clark Johnson
Rating: PG-13
Length: 1h48
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.40:1
Audio: English / French / Spanish
Subtitles: English / Spanish

Stars:
Michael Douglas
Kiefer Sutherland
Eva Longoria   
Martin Donovan
Ritchie Coster

Plot:
There's never been a traitor in the United States Secret Service...until now. And the evidence points to Pete Garrison (Douglas), one of the most trusted agents on the force. Now on the run, with two relentless federal investigators (Sutherland and Longoria) hot on his heels, Garrison must fight to clear his name and thwart an attempt on the President's life before it's too late!

My Thoughts:

I expected something better with this one as it was writen by Gerald Petievich who wrote To Live and Die in L.A. and the principal cast members are usually good. The film is OK (I feel generous), but there are so many plot holes and non senses in the script that it's really hard to keep our attention on the screen and not thinking at what rationally would happen. Also the direction is poor, seriously you want to do a public shooting scene try to made this interesting by creating a sentiment that it is dangerous for the standbyers (is this a word?). You want to see it well done just check The International, sure it's a little bit over the top but it looks dangerous. Too bad that Kim Basinger is the only performer that gave a performance here. Kiefer Sutherland think he is in 24, Michael Douglas seems to be bore to death and Eva Longoria is in this for God know why...

Probably just not my type of film...

Rating :

[Najemikon]

I think you might be over-thinking this!  I've never bothered with it for the simple reason it was obviously designed merely to exploit 24. You said yourself about Sutherland, but that's entirely why he is there. Sentinel was made inbetween seasons and they were trying to make money from the hype.

[Achim]

Probably just not my type of film...

I saw this final sentence coming when I saw the film's title

[samuelrichardscott]

and Eva Longoria is in this for God know why...

Not sure how she continues to get work. She was OK in Harsh Times but that was more to do with the cast around her... everything else I've seen her in, she has been far from good.