“Before Michael Mann set the big screen alight with the brilliant, epic Heat, he rehearsed the story in this made-for-TV version. Heat was a tour de force, with the scuzzy, spacey metropolis of LA as backdrop to a titanic battle between charismatic cop (Pacino) and taciturn tough guy robber (Pacino. This dynamic is hardly replicated in this earlier TV version – and if LA Takedown shows anything, it’s that a compelling story and talented director really do require stellar talent to generate the requisite screen effect. Intended as the pilot for a TV series, this tough and energetic story went straight to video in the UK, but achieved minor cult status, and is well worth watching for the differences to the remake, as well as the similarities. The central cop character Vincent Hanna (Plank) is retained, and the emphasis is on him as he pursues the bank robber. What is lacking is the density of characterisation and the myriad subplots. Still, it would be unfair to dismiss the film. Judged as a TV movie, it has merit, it’s just that the other elements are more modest.” – Channel4Read More »

Japanese Title: 森と湖のまつり

quote:One of the major joys of writing about Japanese movies is that whenever you begin to get that tired, jaded feeling that you think you’ve seen it all and that there’s nothing left that’s ever going to set your pulse racing, you stumble across a whole previously hidden seam of movies that completely revolutionises any ideas of what Japanese cinema is. I remember getting this feeling watching the works of Hiroshi Shimizu at the 2003 Tokyo FILMeX, and I got it again at the same festival exactly one year later, during a 13-film retrospective of Tomu Uchida, which travelled to the Rotterdam Film Festival in a slimmed-down version a couple of months later.Read More »

An unidentified flying object crash-lands on Earth and is taken into custody by the United States government. The occupant of the “flying saucer” turns out to be a cat-like alien named Jake. Using a special collar, he is able to communicate with humans. The cat tries to have American scientists help him find some Org 12 so that his ship may rendezvous with his fleet. After determining that “Org 12” is gold, Jake uses his collar’s powers to affect the outcome of various sporting events, including horse races and pool games, to win money to buy the needed gold and repair his saucer.Read More »

Brief Synopsis:
A hot-shot reporter risks his life to land an interview with a notorious crook.

Quote:
Hot Summer Night is an out-of-the-ordinary crime yarn from the TV/radio production team of Morton Fine and David Friedkin. Unemployed journalist William Joel Pertain (Leslie Nielsen) hopes to reestablish himself by capitalizing on a recent wave of bank robberies. Pertain has a “lead” to the gang’s leader Tom Ellis (Robert Wilke), and intends to parlay this into a hot news story. Instead, he places the lives of himself and his wife Irene (Colleen Miller) in dire peril. Of interest is the fact that the villain is portrayed with a modicum of sympathy, while the reporter comes off as a bit of a jerk. — Hal EricksonRead More »

A day in the life of Malek, a young man who suffers from sleep disorders and is obsessed with thoughts of his ex-girlfriend. Meanwhile, his overprotective mother struggles with the disappearance of her husband, who was kidnapped more than 15 years ago during the civil war.Read More »

Synopsis:
The thoughts and dreams of a group of people riding a subway in Paris provides the springboard for Jean-Claude Guiguet’s drama Les Passagers/The Passengers. As the train rolls along, various characters either talk among themselves or address the camera on a variety of subjects. A mathematician (Bruno Putzulu) speaks with one of his students (Stephane Rideau) about the statistical implications of the spread of AIDS. A nurse (Fabienne Babe) meets with a security guard she’s infatuated with (Philippe Garziano), while her friend enjoys a daydream about the joys of life as a rural housewife. A man rants about problems with sex and the virtues of masturbation, while another person debates the relative merits of the films Savage Nights and The Mother and The Whore. Les Passagers/The Passengers was screened as part of the “Un Certain Regard” series at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival.

~ Mark Deming, All Movie GuideRead More »

Quote:
The adventures of a young Senegalese, Abdoulaye Faye, who comes to Paris to try his luck as a boxer. His dream of winning the championship and conquering women – especially Michèle Morgan – whom he worships, his his adaptation to Paris life, the cold and fog which astonish him, occupy his thoughts. He meets a Japanese woman in the Bois de Boulogne, consults a medium. And then comes the championship fight.

Critique award, Venice Film festival, 1962.
Cameo of Jean-Paul Belmondo, as a member of the audience during the fight of the young Abdoulaye Faye.
Music by Michel Legrand and Georges Delerue.Read More »

Quote:
An alien virus’s brief pit stop in the new American West, starkly documented by Michael Crichton and Robert Wise. A satellite crashes in a New Mexico burg, soon the place is filled with bodies whose circulatory systems have turned to powder — these are the best sequences, full of hushed dread and unnerving use of widescreen dead spaces (the camera focuses on the placid, dusty face of a fallen villager, then tilts up to frame a couple of researchers approaching in hazmat suits and a helicopter whirring against a cobalt sky). The scientific team is rounded up: Exposition-dispenser Arthur Hill, surgeon James Olson (who gets a crush on the computer’s female voice), splenetic researcher Kate Reid, and veteran doctor David Wayne (“A hippie! He’s going to a love-in,” his suspicious wife cries as he packs for the secret mission).Read More »

review:
*** might contain spoilers ***

Story: After being convinced by his friend Ishii, Asai decides to take part in a fixed
underground Thai-Boxing fight as a last minute replacement. The deal is simple; convince
the crowd that he is in fact a Muay Thaï champion from Thailand, which should be
miraculous considering the fact that he has no experience, and get knock out on the
second round. However, an unexpected incident during the fight turns the event into total
chaos.Read More »