Lindsay Anderson’s third ‘Mick Travis’ movie is a crazy comedy eager to overstep lines of cinematic decorum. Britain in 1982 is a country at war with itself, torn by elitist snobbery and working-class revolt. Union grievances cripple the functioning of a major public hospital, on a day when the Queen is set to visit. A huge comic cast grapples with satire that reaches beyond cynicism to express total dysfunction. And the comedy has a wicked sting in its tail: Graham Crowden’s mad-as-a-hatter scientist has diverted National Health funds into grisly experiments with human body parts. The ‘visionary’ maniac spills more blood than Peter Cushing and Sam Peckinpah, put together.
Britannia Hospital
Region B Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
1982 / Color / 1:85 widescreen/ 117 (111) min. / Street Date June 29, 2020 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £15.99
Starring: Leonard Rossiter, Vivian Pickles, Graham Crowden, Jill Bennett,
Marsha A. Hunt, Joan Plowright, Malcolm McDowell, Mark Hamill.
Cinematography: Mike Fash...
Britannia Hospital
Region B Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
1982 / Color / 1:85 widescreen/ 117 (111) min. / Street Date June 29, 2020 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £15.99
Starring: Leonard Rossiter, Vivian Pickles, Graham Crowden, Jill Bennett,
Marsha A. Hunt, Joan Plowright, Malcolm McDowell, Mark Hamill.
Cinematography: Mike Fash...
- 7/7/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Returning to the world of sci-fi following his iconic films Alien and Blade Runner, filmmaker Ridley Scott has caught everyone's attention with the exciting trailer for his upcoming Prometheus.
Although it began life as a straightforward prequel to Alien, the project spun off into something else.
Damon Lindelof, who co-wrote the script with Jon Spaihts, had earlier explained how Prometheus and Alien are connected.
He said: "It started as an Alien prequel. That is what everybody wanted it to be. Obviously, Ridley Scott has not made a science fiction movie in 25 years, since Blade Runner, so the idea that he's returning to this genre is huge.
"But there is a real issue which is - what is the state of the Alien franchise at this point in our lives? There has been Alien vs Predator and all these things, and its been completely and totally diluted.
"I've always felt that...
Although it began life as a straightforward prequel to Alien, the project spun off into something else.
Damon Lindelof, who co-wrote the script with Jon Spaihts, had earlier explained how Prometheus and Alien are connected.
He said: "It started as an Alien prequel. That is what everybody wanted it to be. Obviously, Ridley Scott has not made a science fiction movie in 25 years, since Blade Runner, so the idea that he's returning to this genre is huge.
"But there is a real issue which is - what is the state of the Alien franchise at this point in our lives? There has been Alien vs Predator and all these things, and its been completely and totally diluted.
"I've always felt that...
- 4/19/2012
- by David Bentley
- The Geek Files
Returning to the world of sci-fi following his iconic films Alien and Blade Runner, filmmaker Ridley Scott has caught everyone's attention with the exciting trailer for his upcoming Prometheus.
Although it began life as a straightforward prequel to Alien, the project spun off into something else.
Damon Lindelof, who co-wrote the script with Jon Spaihts, had earlier explained how Prometheus and Alien are connected.
He said: "It started as an Alien prequel. That is what everybody wanted it to be. Obviously, Ridley Scott has not made a science fiction movie in 25 years, since Blade Runner, so the idea that he's returning to this genre is huge.
"But there is a real issue which is - what is the state of the Alien franchise at this point in our lives? There has been Alien vs Predator and all these things, and its been completely and totally diluted.
"I've always felt that...
Although it began life as a straightforward prequel to Alien, the project spun off into something else.
Damon Lindelof, who co-wrote the script with Jon Spaihts, had earlier explained how Prometheus and Alien are connected.
He said: "It started as an Alien prequel. That is what everybody wanted it to be. Obviously, Ridley Scott has not made a science fiction movie in 25 years, since Blade Runner, so the idea that he's returning to this genre is huge.
"But there is a real issue which is - what is the state of the Alien franchise at this point in our lives? There has been Alien vs Predator and all these things, and its been completely and totally diluted.
"I've always felt that...
- 4/17/2012
- by David Bentley
- The Geek Files
There is significant discussion in the various Prometheus forums across the internet concerning the pictures from the film which we revealed yesterday, this one being my favourite with lots of speculation on one image in particular, and now we’ve got our hands on the full transcript from the Q&A which followed the fifteen minutes of footage screened in London earlier this week.
Ridley Scott was on fine form, talking about the evolving process as the film found its feet (and how much was already done before the light turned green) and it’s a fascinating read with each of the actors giving hints to the inspirations behind their characters as well as the experience of working on such an anticipated film.
You can read my brief description of the footage shown here.
You can see the pictures from Prometheus we revealed yesterday here.
The Q&A follows below,...
Ridley Scott was on fine form, talking about the evolving process as the film found its feet (and how much was already done before the light turned green) and it’s a fascinating read with each of the actors giving hints to the inspirations behind their characters as well as the experience of working on such an anticipated film.
You can read my brief description of the footage shown here.
You can see the pictures from Prometheus we revealed yesterday here.
The Q&A follows below,...
- 4/12/2012
- by Jon Lyus
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
If you're going to tell a wildly implausible tale of fortune hunting and unlikely heroes, you could do worse than "National Treasure". Mind you, there is not a single moment in the movie that isn't complete nonsense. But with a script decked out with fascinating historical tidbits from the American Revolution and Masonic lore, set pieces in and around numerous East Coast monuments and historical buildings and a tongue thrust firmly in cheek, "National Treasure" is an above-average popcorn movie.
Starring Nicolas Cage and directed by Jon Turteltaub with more of an eye toward comedy and character byplay than is usual for a Jerry Bruckheimer production, the movie relies less on action than mystery and suspense. Other than the use of historical locations rarely seen onscreen, the movie is instantly forgettable. Yet it should make a pleasant diversion during the holiday season and could give the Walt Disney Co. a much needed respite from a truly unmemorable year at the boxoffice.
The story and script by five writers (assisted by even more uncredited scribes) imagines an American family named Gates has been cursed since post-Revolutionary times by the secret knowledge that the United States of America harbors the legendary Knights Templar treasure, handed down from the Crusaders to other grave robbers and thieves until it found its way to the rebel colonies.
It falls to the current Gates family member named Ben (Cage) -- that's Benjamin Franklin Gates, if you will -- to discover that a treasure map of sorts exists on the back of the Declaration of Independence. Look, if you don't mind being ridiculous, why not? Watch for the next Bruckheimer movie in which the Magna Carta offers clues to the hideout of space aliens.
The heist of America's most prized historical document and the hunt for the treasure finds various dogs nipping at Ben's heels. A group of baddies headed by Sean Bean will stop at nothing to claim the treasure. An FBI team lead by Harvey Keitel is desperate to nab America's most-wanted thief. Ben can only rely on his trusted tech wizard Justin Bartha, National Archives conservator Diane Kruger and, later, must ask his reluctant and disparaging dad, Jon Voight, for help.
The chase leads from an old ship frozen in the Arctic wilderness to the National Archive, Library of Congress and other monuments in Washington, D.C., then on to the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall in Philadelphia and Trinity Church in Wall Street and catacombs beneath Manhattan. Clues come from objects ranging from a Meershaum pipe to a $100 bill.
The production hits on all cylinders from start to finish with Caleb Deschnel's crisp cinematography and Norris Spencer's design opening up marvelous spaces for the characters to rush through while Trevor Rabin's insistent music urges the action on. Unfortunately, the third act settles for conventional hokum involving collapsing wooden stairways and Indiana Jones archeological tricks that betray the wit and cleverness of the earlier sequences.
Similarly, Cage's character, that of a nerdy, obsessive conspiracy theorist who is actually right, show more promise in the early going than he later delivers. Only Bartha and Voight have actual characters to play while Kruger supplies energy and beauty but in a role not fully fleshed out by the many writers.
NATIONAL TREASURE
Buena Vista Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures in association with Jerry Bruckheimer Films
Credits:
Director: Jon Turteltaub
Writers: Jim Kouf, Marianne Wibberley, Cormaca Wibberley
Story by: Jim Kouf, Oren Aviv, Charles Segars
Producers: Jerry Bruckheimer, Jon Turteltaub
Executive producers: Mike Stenson, Chad Oman, Christina Steinberg, Barry Waldmana, Oren Aviv, Charles Segars
Director of photography: Caleb Deschanel
Production designer: Norris Spencer
Music: Trevor Rabin
Costumes: Judianna Makovsky
Editor: William Goldenberg
Cast:
Ben Gates: Nicolas Cage
Sadusky: Harvey Keitel
Patrick Gates: Jon Voight
Abigail Chase: Diane Kruger
Ian Howe: Sean Bean
Riley: Justin Bartha
John Adams Gates: Christopher Plummer
MPAA rating PG
Running time -- 130 minutes...
Starring Nicolas Cage and directed by Jon Turteltaub with more of an eye toward comedy and character byplay than is usual for a Jerry Bruckheimer production, the movie relies less on action than mystery and suspense. Other than the use of historical locations rarely seen onscreen, the movie is instantly forgettable. Yet it should make a pleasant diversion during the holiday season and could give the Walt Disney Co. a much needed respite from a truly unmemorable year at the boxoffice.
The story and script by five writers (assisted by even more uncredited scribes) imagines an American family named Gates has been cursed since post-Revolutionary times by the secret knowledge that the United States of America harbors the legendary Knights Templar treasure, handed down from the Crusaders to other grave robbers and thieves until it found its way to the rebel colonies.
It falls to the current Gates family member named Ben (Cage) -- that's Benjamin Franklin Gates, if you will -- to discover that a treasure map of sorts exists on the back of the Declaration of Independence. Look, if you don't mind being ridiculous, why not? Watch for the next Bruckheimer movie in which the Magna Carta offers clues to the hideout of space aliens.
The heist of America's most prized historical document and the hunt for the treasure finds various dogs nipping at Ben's heels. A group of baddies headed by Sean Bean will stop at nothing to claim the treasure. An FBI team lead by Harvey Keitel is desperate to nab America's most-wanted thief. Ben can only rely on his trusted tech wizard Justin Bartha, National Archives conservator Diane Kruger and, later, must ask his reluctant and disparaging dad, Jon Voight, for help.
The chase leads from an old ship frozen in the Arctic wilderness to the National Archive, Library of Congress and other monuments in Washington, D.C., then on to the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall in Philadelphia and Trinity Church in Wall Street and catacombs beneath Manhattan. Clues come from objects ranging from a Meershaum pipe to a $100 bill.
The production hits on all cylinders from start to finish with Caleb Deschnel's crisp cinematography and Norris Spencer's design opening up marvelous spaces for the characters to rush through while Trevor Rabin's insistent music urges the action on. Unfortunately, the third act settles for conventional hokum involving collapsing wooden stairways and Indiana Jones archeological tricks that betray the wit and cleverness of the earlier sequences.
Similarly, Cage's character, that of a nerdy, obsessive conspiracy theorist who is actually right, show more promise in the early going than he later delivers. Only Bartha and Voight have actual characters to play while Kruger supplies energy and beauty but in a role not fully fleshed out by the many writers.
NATIONAL TREASURE
Buena Vista Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures in association with Jerry Bruckheimer Films
Credits:
Director: Jon Turteltaub
Writers: Jim Kouf, Marianne Wibberley, Cormaca Wibberley
Story by: Jim Kouf, Oren Aviv, Charles Segars
Producers: Jerry Bruckheimer, Jon Turteltaub
Executive producers: Mike Stenson, Chad Oman, Christina Steinberg, Barry Waldmana, Oren Aviv, Charles Segars
Director of photography: Caleb Deschanel
Production designer: Norris Spencer
Music: Trevor Rabin
Costumes: Judianna Makovsky
Editor: William Goldenberg
Cast:
Ben Gates: Nicolas Cage
Sadusky: Harvey Keitel
Patrick Gates: Jon Voight
Abigail Chase: Diane Kruger
Ian Howe: Sean Bean
Riley: Justin Bartha
John Adams Gates: Christopher Plummer
MPAA rating PG
Running time -- 130 minutes...
- 12/10/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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