On 13/04/2020 at 13:39, Boyne said:

Watching Where Eagles Dare at the moment. A great film and I've lost count of the number of times I've seen it. Great book as well. I  read all of Alistair Maclean's books in my younger days. Wonderful action stories.

Apparently, he knocked out Where Eagles Dare - screenplay and novel - at the same time. I used to read his books along with those of Hammond Innes and, of course Sven Hassel.

On 08/05/2020 at 13:33, Stretford Ender said:

Apparently, he knocked out Where Eagles Dare - screenplay and novel - at the same time. I used to read his books along with those of Hammond Innes and, of course Sven Hassel.

Aaaah, Sven Hassel.  I haven't even thought about his books since the 70's  I used to read every one as soon as it came out in paperback.  Sadly, I didn't think to keep books back then.  I'll have to have a look round Amazon now.

You're probably going to cost me a lot of money, @Stretford Ender, you sh*t!

5 hours ago, yorkleyblue said:

Aaaah, Sven Hassel.  I haven't even thought about his books since the 70's  I used to read every one as soon as it came out in paperback.  Sadly, I didn't think to keep books back then.  I'll have to have a look round Amazon now.

You're probably going to cost me a lot of money, @Stretford Ender, you sh*t!

You're welcome. Monte Cassino was my favourite. You can probably pick up a dog-eared copy somewhere for a couple of bob.

Watched Rush last night about formula 1 in '76 when James Hunt wins the championship.

Don't follow formula 1 yet certainly enjoyed the movie,

 

I saw Rush at the cinema when it came out with a friend who knew nothing about F1 and we both enjoyed it.

Last week I saw "Biutiful" from Alejandro González Iñárritu, who also directed Birdman and The Revenent. It's about a well-intentioned criminal in Barcelona who is diagnosed with terminal cancer and spends most of the film trying to make sure his two kids will be ok after he's gone (the mother is still around but is too mentally unstable to look after them herself). It's probably one of the bleakest films I've ever seen but I thought it was excellent and shows a dark side of Barcelona that you won't often see.

35 minutes ago, bluedave said:

I saw Rush at the cinema when it came out with a friend who knew nothing about F1 and we both enjoyed it.

Last week I saw "Biutiful" from Alejandro González Iñárritu, who also directed Birdman and The Revenent. It's about a well-intentioned criminal in Barcelona who is diagnosed with terminal cancer and spends most of the film trying to make sure his two kids will be ok after he's gone (the mother is still around but is too mentally unstable to look after them herself). It's probably one of the bleakest films I've ever seen but I thought it was excellent and shows a dark side of Barcelona that you won't often see.

I didn't like the Revenent yet Biutiful's the story line reminds me of Hell or High Water, which I did like.

 

24 minutes ago, Strider6003 said:

I didn't like the Revenent yet Biutiful's the story line reminds me of Hell or High Water, which I did like.

 

I don't think I saw Hell or High Water but it seems like the sort of thing I'd like. The storyline sounds comparable to Biutiful, although I suspect Biutiful might be a more difficult film to watch for some people.

I watched Mike Basset England Manager last night on YouTube.

I missed it the previous night on TV and although I saw it when it first came out I was intrigued to see how I had thought it had aged.

I actually enjoyed it better the second time around, I thought the music session with Atomic Kitten was hilarious.

Thought Phil Jupiter leading the hostile media group was good and Gary Wackett the nutcase defender intrigued me. He looked like John Terry yet of course this was before JT was playing and I think they modelled him on Stuart Pearce aka Psycho.

The scene with Basset effing and blinding at 2-0 to Mexico looked authentic and although I| think it was modelled on Graham Taylor, I was reminded of Ferguson.

Basset getting drunk while on medication and leading the night club dancing was clever and liked his face-off with the fans getting on to the coach, I won’t spoil it though that took me by surprise.

The payback to the Argies was good and I like the way they focused on Bassett’ face as Tonka runs in on goal.

Some interesting cameos, Pele, Atomic Kitten, Ronaldo and Gabi Logan.

Couldn’t work out who Bradley Walsh was meant to be yet have seen some say it was Beardsley if so the bit pushing the Brazilian kids over makes sense.

The film seems a little bit timeless with CFC players getting injured using new technology a couple of seasons ago and the farce with Allardyce getting caught on camera trying to arrange a deal.

If they did a newer version I would go with Lampard’s strike against Germany hitting the cross bar bouncing away yet this time hitting the keepers head and going in.

19 hours ago, Strider6003 said:

Watched Rush last night about formula 1 in '76 when James Hunt wins the championship.

Don't follow formula 1 yet certainly enjoyed the movie,

 

Have you seen 'Grand Prix'? One of my favourite fims and loads of F1 stars of the day appearing in cameo. Has my favourite actor in it too - Toshiro Mifune.

47 minutes ago, Stretford Ender said:

Have you seen 'Grand Prix'? One of my favourite fims and loads of F1 stars of the day appearing in cameo. Has my favourite actor in it too - Toshiro Mifune.

Is this the one with James Garner?

1 hour ago, Strider6003 said:

Is this the one with James Garner?

That's the one. I've still got a Yamura Motors tee-shirt somewhere lying around.

Watched Nurse Edith Cavell last night. Film was produced in the USA and released in that country on 22 September 1939. I'm not sure when it was released in the U.K. Anna Neagle plays Edith Cavell who was executed in October 1915 after being found guilty of helping British and French military personnel from Belgium. She had worked as a nurse in Belgium for sometime and she and her colleagues helped injured service personnel and was based in Brussels. There was, understandably, outrage in the U.K. over her execution. The U.S Ambassador argued for the death sentence to be changed to imprisonment but to no avail.

There is a statue of Edith Cavell near Trafalgar Square and every year on 12 October - the anniversary of her execution - there is a service at it which is attended by those who work and worked in the nursing profession. There are also memorials at Norwich Cathedral. Cavell was born not far from Norwich.

2 hours ago, Boyne said:

Watched Nurse Edith Cavell last night. Film was produced in the USA and released in that country on 22 September 1939. I'm not sure when it was released in the U.K. Anna Neagle plays Edith Cavell who was executed in October 1915 after being found guilty of helping British and French military personnel from Belgium. She had worked as a nurse in Belgium for sometime and she and her colleagues helped injured service personnel and was based in Brussels. There was, understandably, outrage in the U.K. over her execution. The U.S Ambassador argued for the death sentence to be changed to imprisonment but to no avail.

There is a statue of Edith Cavell near Trafalgar Square and every year on 12 October - the anniversary of her execution - there is a service at it which is attended by those who work and worked in the nursing profession. There are also memorials at Norwich Cathedral. Cavell was born not far from Norwich.

An interesting case. The Germans maintained that she was a spy and recent revelations from none other than Dame Stella Rimington pretty much confirmed that Edit Cavell was involved in espionage: some say peripherally, others directly. Her contact in Belgium- Dr. Bull - was admittedly an agent of the British Secret Service. The Belgian national who brought evading British soldiers to Cavell and was arrested with her, later stated that intelligence on German activities was passed to the British by his network. In fact the men who denounced Cavell to the Germans were both assassinated by the Belgian Resistance shortly afterwards. If she was passing intelligence, either directly or was aiding those doing it, the Germans were entitled to shoot her as a spy. That was the price paid by members of that profession.

 

Watched Scoob. It's terrible, skip it.

You can probably sum up how little they 'get' Scooby Doo with the following statement: it's a Scooby Doo film without a mystery to solve. Not funny, spends way too much time on Blue Falcon (and setting up a Hannah Barbera shared universe in general) and it splits up the gang for about 90% of the film. The only good thing about the film is them re-doing the classic Scooby Doo intro in CG. 

On 19/05/2020 at 19:52, Stretford Ender said:

An interesting case. The Germans maintained that she was a spy and recent revelations from none other than Dame Stella Rimington pretty much confirmed that Edit Cavell was involved in espionage: some say peripherally, others directly. Her contact in Belgium- Dr. Bull - was admittedly an agent of the British Secret Service. The Belgian national who brought evading British soldiers to Cavell and was arrested with her, later stated that intelligence on German activities was passed to the British by his network. In fact the men who denounced Cavell to the Germans were both assassinated by the Belgian Resistance shortly afterwards. If she was passing intelligence, either directly or was aiding those doing it, the Germans were entitled to shoot her as a spy. That was the price paid by members of that profession.

 

Thank you for the information. I didn't know about the revelations by Stella Rimington. A bit off subject but there are great stories about nurses who served in WW1. A couple of nurses spring to mind:  Elsie Inglis and Flora Sandes.

https://www.forces.net/services/tri-service/dr-elsie-inglis-wwis-unsung-hero

https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Flora-Sandes/

'The Last Samurai' (not the one with Tom Cruise). Kenji Misumi's last film before he died in 1975. One of the best samurai films I've seen.

Anyone seen the Indonesian film Raid II, I watched it last night some terrific fight scene action. 

Can't remember the rating though must have been 18.

Never heard of Pencak silat martial art yet looked neat.

Probably one of those rare films better than the original.

 

Edited May 31, 20206 yr by strider6004

Watched Dunkirk (the 1958 version) yesterday. A fine film with a good cast including John Mills, Bernard Lee and Richard Attenborough. Tells Operation Dynamo from the points of view of the military; the press; and the crews of the small boats. Also shows the important role undertaken by the Royal Navy's Bertram Ramsey one of the great military planners of WW2.

I've also seen the 2017 version. Another good film. 

On 31/05/2020 at 20:14, Strider6003 said:

Anyone seen the Indonesian film Raid II, I watched it last night some terrific fight scene action. 

Can't remember the rating though must have been 18.

Never heard of Pencak silat martial art yet looked neat.

Probably one of those rare films better than the original.

 

I don't think so, but I saw the original where they have to storm the apartment building and thought it was brilliant. Alex Garland's Dredd (based on the Judge Dredd comic strip) was released around the same time and has a suspiciously similar set-up, that was also pretty good but I much preferred The Raid. 

15 hours ago, bluedave said:

I don't think so, but I saw the original where they have to storm the apartment building and thought it was brilliant. Alex Garland's Dredd (based on the Judge Dredd comic strip) was released around the same time and has a suspiciously similar set-up, that was also pretty good but I much preferred The Raid. 

The Raid was good though a little hazy for me now and agree does have similar theme to that Dredd film.

This was a little different being placed on the outside. I missed the first 15 mins in the prison where the undercover cop protects a mob boss's son to get into a crime organisation. The story has shades of the Departed, the action is similar to Jason Bourne style with a few close up fights thrown in with echoes of Enter the Dragon.

 

13 Assassins - the 1963 version, is brilliant. The first in Eiichi Kudo's trilogy 'Samurai Revolution'. The 2010 remake was pretty good but doesn't show the depth of character that the original does. Fans of swordplay should not miss this one. In fact, I'll stick my neck out and say that it ranks just below Seven Samurai as the best ever made.

Watched Tora Tora Tora this afternoon I've lost count of the number of times I've seen it The first time I saw it was when my Dad took me to the pictures back in the day

Have to say it is much better than Pearl Harbor

On 07/07/2020 at 12:51, Boyne said:

Watched Tora Tora Tora this afternoon I've lost count of the number of times I've seen it The first time I saw it was when my Dad took me to the pictures back in the day

Have to say it is much better than Pearl Harbor

Good film but might have been even better if Akira Kurosawa hadn't taken himself off the project. He was supposed to direct the Japanese side of the film but he was replaced with Masuda and Fukasaku. It was felt that Kurosawa was out of his element and unused to being told what to do and how to do it by the producers. 

20 hours ago, Stretford Ender said:

Good film but might have been even better if Akira Kurosawa hadn't taken himself off the project. He was supposed to direct the Japanese side of the film but he was replaced with Masuda and Fukasaku. It was felt that Kurosawa was out of his element and unused to being told what to do and how to do it by the producers. 

I havent watched this... i think ill watch this next

2 hours ago, nala said:

I havent watched this... i think ill watch this next

It is far better than the awful 'Pearl Harbor' which asks the viewer to suspend disbelief (USAAC pilots flying Spitfires in the Battle of Britain).