Reviews by Citizen Caine

An absolutely sensational Hitchcockian black comedy, brilliantly directed by Danny Boyle. Excellent performances from the leads Kerry Fox, Ewan McGregor and particularly Christopher Eccleston as flatmates who find the newest member of the household dead along with a suitcase full of money. The almost psychedelic proceedings as the three debate what to do with the body, whether to spend the money and the eventual aftermath of dismembering the body all play out thrillingly to the final, brilliant twist after each friend is driven mad. There's genuine suspense and unease but also laughter and the witty script and creepy direction push the film along at a nice pace. Outstanding.

5/5

Enjoyable enough adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s book with a stellar cast including Michael Caine, Trevor Howard, Jack Hawkins, Donald Pleasence and Gordon Jackson all giving excellent performances in their respective parts, Hawkins in particular. Shot against beautiful Scottish locations, the film tells the tale of David Balfour (Lawrence Douglas) who is shipped off by his Uncle (Pleasence) to be sold as a slave before escaping with Alan Breck (Caine). Returning to Scotland, the two men go on the run from the evil English Redcoats as they attempt to help relations of the Stuart kings to free Scotland. The film is bookended by brilliance as Get Carter’s Roy Budd provides a hauntingly beautiful opening theme onto the Battle of Culloden and there’s an excellent, emotional finale. Caine’s real-life cockney does sometimes outweigh his Caledonian but ,all in all, this is a good watch.

3/5

“There’s a very funny smell in the air and all the stink is coming from ‘The Pig.’”

Oh yes. Enter The Dragon inspired B-movie with Jim Kelly, Harold Sakata and George Lazenby. Kelly's detective is out to protect a young woman who has a microdot, of the plans for an "Ice Bomb", implanted in her forehead. Whilst cramming in kick-ass karate, killer turtles (“If it bites your tit you’ll have to cut its head off for it to let go”), prostitutes and a funky score, we are treated to a fine performance from Jim Kelly (“Who sent you sucker?”) and in-your-face references to Oddjob – Sakata wears the same hat in one scene and there’s even an illustration of him in his Oddjob days on his wall. Cars skidding into the camera, goons getting hung from rooftops and a helicopter-cable car shootout , this is one badass flick, terrible acting aside. And Lazenby gets in on the action.
Awesome.

3/5

Back To The Future was the film of my childhood. Amazingly, I somehow managed to miss seeing the sequels (I saw most of Part III but I don’t recall it very well). Until now. From almost the very beginning (what? Marty’s girlfriend has changed?), I was transported back in time myself to my childhood as I was taken to one of the most enjoyable two hours I’ve had in a while. What I love most is how imaginative the whole thing is. From Jaws 19, hoverboards to an old Michael Jackson, the filmmakers created a world of fun, just in the first twenty minutes or so. But then the film just gets better and better as the wonderful story begins and twist upon mind-bending twist kept me glued to my seat. Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd are as wonderful as ever and even Lea Thomspson (probably my first celebrity crush) pops up. In fact the whole film is littered with cameos of character’s from the original. It was fun being reunited with them all. It’s a shame Claudia Wells wasn’t able to return but Elisabeth Shue does a decent job. I’m surprised to see that this one isn’t thought of as highly as the original as I think it’s on par, if not better. Pure harmless enjoyment from start to finish.

Absolutely terrific. One of the most gripping, engaging and engrossing films I've seen in a while and it's a great shame that Brando never directed again (I'm not sure how much input Kubrick had on this film however), as he clearly could have had a successful career as a director. Brando is reunited again with Karl Malden as a pair of bandits who, whilst in Mexico, are chased into the wild plains by Mexican Rurales, after robbing a bank. Malden runs out on Brando (who’s character it based on Billy the Kid), and Brando is imprisoned for five long years of manual labor. Thus the revenge story is set up and so continues two hours of sheer awesomeness set five years later, as Brando visits Malden’s home town in California, and we are treated to beautiful shots of the coast. Malden’s now a Sherriff and as his stepdaughter falls in love with Brando, the hate between both men builds up and up. Brando’s on top, brooding form and Malden’s superb as usual. Pina Pellicer is also a pleasant surprise (unfortunately she committed suicide just a few years after the film was made). Brilliant, brilliant film.

5/5

David Niven and Marlon Brando star in this fully swinging-sixties conman caper, full of vibrant colours, dodgy back-projection and phony European locations (although a lot of it was filmed in Cannes). The sort of film I'd love. And I really did. We're first introduced to our unlikely heroes at the French Riviera and in Germany, as both men stalk rich, single women and attempt to con them out of their wealth - Brando's technique is making them think that the money is going his ill grandmother, who changes nationality in accordance with each girl. It takes a while to get going, but once the pair of loveable rogues team up, the film turns into a rollicking ride as both men try to outwit each other and claim the lovely Shirley Jones. Great fun, the only alarming thing is the amount of weight Brando has put on. Still, he's excellent in his comedic role as is Niven as always

Very good. Very good indeed. Not the strongest of debuts for Marlon Brando but certainly a strong debut from him. He plays a paraplegic war veteran who, straight from his opening monologue, has completely given up on leading a normal life. It takes his wife, Teresa Wright, and doctor, Everett Sloane (who gives a teriffic performance) to literally try to get him back on his feet. There are some excellent, very well scripted scenes, notably the one where Sloane checks on the patients of the ward at the beginning of the film, backed by a superb supporting cast including Jack Webb, Richard Erdman and Arthur Jurado (which is criminally his only screen credit). But it's Brando's film through and through and he's brilliant, giving a naturalistic and, in the end, very touching performance. Worth a watch.

4/5

Surprisingly not that bad. Obviously it's not a patch on Hitchcock's original, but rather than trying to copy the 1954 version exactly, it instead turns out to be a personal project for Christopher Reeve, who of course was suffering from his horse-riding accident that left him paralysed. Daryl Hannah takes over from Grace Kelly, but her character is underwritten and doesn't get to wear a dress. Ritchie Cost is the villain but is rather awful. There's a fair bit of suspense, but it's an average film that needs a musical score.

3/5

Five years after George Roy Hill's classic buddy-movie western Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid, the director and stars Paul Newman and Robert Redford tried to replicate the magic with The Sting. Whilst the film was a major hit, earning seven academy awards, the screen time in which both stars appeared was very limited. With The Early Days, Richard Lester took a different approach to follow on the success of the original film by making this hugely entertaining, perfectly cast prequel. Not only do Tom Berenger and William Katt actually look like Newman and Redford, they share a great chemistry that matches the original duo perfectly. Helped along by a fabulous score, this film is a rollicking ride that also has a great supporting cast that includes Peter Weller, Christopher Lloyd, Brian Dennehy and Vincent Schiavelli in a small part. An exceptionally fun and very worthy progenitor to the original classic.

5/5

Seven years after Outland, Peter Hyams and Sean Connery reunited for this lazily scripted mystery thriller. It’s a partnership between director and star that didn’t work in Outland and definitely does not work here as Connery again appears to be sleepwalking his way through the film. It doesn’t help that the writers seem to accept Connery’s weaknesses as an actor, in this case accents, by making his American Lieutenant Colonel an immigrant from Scotland. We are also made to believe that Connery and Jack Warden’s sergeant fought together in Vietnam, when there looks to be a difference of about thirty years between the two (In reality there’s only ten). Major flaws aside, the plot is half decent as a female MP from the Presidio Army base in San Francisco is shot dead during an investigation of a break-in at the base. Amidst horrendous dialogue, Connery Mark Harmon’s cop are sent out to find the killer and Harmon falls in love with Connery’s daughter, Meg Ryan. Well, I say fall in love – they make out once and we a meant to believe they have fallen in love. The film tries really hard to be emotionally engaging, but when it’s three leads are about as engaging as a sack of potatoes, the only thing going for this film is the action, which is rather good. Connery’s bad. Harmon’s very bad. Warden’s hammy. Meg Ryan’s hot.
Avoid.

2/5