DAVY CROCKETT DIES....

Fess Parker

1924 - 2010

R.I.P.

Bears can sleep in safety again.

THE MIND BENDERS (1963)

I've always thought that Basil Dearden was an under-rated director but this border-line sci-fi/psychological story really hasn't stood the test of time. The problem is that it starts out as a spy thriller, becomes a psychological thriller and ends up as a domestic drama with the climax of the film being nothing more exciting that a protracted birth scene. Dirk Bogarde (being as overwrought as only he can be on a bad day) undergoes an extended session in a sensory deprivation tank to prove that a colleague who commited suicide was not a traitor. The thought is planted in his mind that his marraige is an unhappy one. Wifey gets pregant, Dirk delivers the baby and is immeadiatly cured of his delusion. End of film. A competent cast which includes Mary Ure as the wife and Michael Bryant as his rather transparently motivated friend look rather unconvinced by it all while John Clements as a secret service man gives new emphasis to the word "stiff" in stiff upper lip. Wendy Craig's character is introduced as the local slut but there is nothing in the film to suggest why and fans of stars in early appearances will spot a young Edward Fox who gets a couple of lines as a student. I tried to watch this a couple of years ago and fell asleep....I wasn;t as lucky this time. Rating **

PETER GRAVES

PETER GRAVES

1926 - 2010

R.I.P.

Mission Impossible, Whiplash, Airplane, Stalag 17 etc

This post will self destruct in 24 hours.....

THE STEPFATHER (2009)

Another example of Hollywood's remake obsession. This time it is an overblown reworking of a neat little sleeper of a movie from back in 1987. The original worked because it was a lean little thriller that pressed all the right buttons aided by tight direction and a memorable performance from actor Terry O'Quinn as the family obsessed serial killer. There are two scenes in the original that were particularly memorable - the murder of an inquisitive relative and a scene where the killer momentarily forgets his assumed identity. Neither scene was played for suspense and thus the audience was taken by surprise. Both scenes are in the remake but the first builds up the suspense so you know something is going to happen while the second completely ruins the moment by having the killer already in a psychotic rage when he utter the classic line "Who am I here?". It's all very predictable and tedious with director Nelson McCormack probably using the same "Direct by numbers" kit as Peter Hyams. Rating **

BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT (2009)

An official remake of Fritz Lang's last American film this is pretty sub-standard stuff and simply not in the same league as the same director (Peter Hyams) excellent remake of Richard Fleischer's THE NARROW MARGIN. Hyams seems to still be using the "direct by numbers" kit that somebody bought him a few years back rather than using the undoubted talent he exhibited earlier in his career. None of this is convincing and the characters are mere cardboard cut outs. Douglas as the one dimensional villain of the piece not only looks more like his father with every passing year there were times in this film when I thought Kirk had come out of retirement. Rating **

DORIAN GRAY (2009)

I watched this with no expectations of enjoying it but was very pleasantly surprised. Very. Oliver Parker has made a very respectable version that, despite elaborations and a fleshing out of the characters with a bit of back story, does not stray very far from the spirit of Oscar Wilde's classic original. Even better is the fact that the director is content to tell the story at a leisurely pace with literate dialogue rather than aiming it at the "fast forward" MTV audience. The film looks beautiful even if such locations as The Royal Naval College at Greenwich seem to turn up in films set in the Victorian era with predictable regularity. Older horror fans will spot a reuse of the Columbrarium at Highgate Cemetery which was used in TALES FROM THE CRYPT and THE ABOMINABLE DR.PHIBES as well as other horror films. The cast is excellent with Ben Barnes striking just the right note as the rather torn souless Dorian. Colin Firth seemed to me an odd choice as Lord Henry but is just about perfect. Rebecca Hall plays Lord Henry's daughter with an appealing mixture of gawkiness and sincerity that I found very attractive and refreshing. Nice to see Fiona Shaw again although she is rather wasted in a minor role that makes little use of her considerable talents. All in all I was pleasantly impressed by this film. Rating ****

THE ROAD (2010)

John Hillcoat's THE ROAD is a very faithful adaption of Cormac McCarthy's novel. Set in a post apocalyptic world the movie carefully avoids going down the route taken by the MAD MAX movies and others of this genre. The story is simple - a man travelling with his ten year old son across a devestated America. Born at the time of the largely unexplained disaster the boy has known no other world, yet he is the one who retains the human emotions of pity and charity that have been driven from his father by the need to survive. The movie is bleak and unrelenting in its depiction of a world where armed bands roam the country and cannibalism is becoming the norm yet it determindly rebuffs the sensational for something rather more valuable. While it is never forced upon the viewer the film is open to almost endless interpretation - especially in the figure of the old, nearly blind man, the travellers meet on the road. It's not a pleasant film nor an easy onebut it is an impressive one. Performances by a largely unreconisable cast which is headed by Viggo Mortenson, Charlize Theron, Robert Duvall and Guy Pearce are uniformly excellent and Kodi Smit-McFee is truly outstanding as the boy. Impressive if somewhat difficult. Rating ****