SaitoRyo

City of Industry Late-90s neo-noir starring Harvey Keitel as a retired thief who vows revenge on the man who double crossed him after his last heist. This was perfectly fine. A professionally-made film with a great lead performance by Keitel. It's not to be lumped in with the rest of the post-Tarantino crime films from that era, as the criminals don't sit around spouting post-modern pop-culture references (thank God). It's a simple story, decently told and they get it wrapped up within 100 minutes. It has some late-90s/early 2000s things that I don't like it (some of the music, the way certain scenes are shot etc.), but I'd say it's worth a watch overall, especially if you're a Keitel fan (and you'd be a fool not to be really). It's on Tubi.

You’re probably getting arrested tomorrow then.

Personal Best Two female track and field athletes begin a relationship that threatens their pursuit of qualifying for the Olympics. I really enjoyed this as both a sports film and a romantic drama. It's a very realistic, very sweaty film and an amazingly good (and respectful) depiction of a lesbian relationship on screen. Felt ahead of its time, in that respect, and the performances by Mariel Hemingway, Scott Glenn (who is excellent as the coach with questionable motives) and Patrice Donnelly (an actual track and field athlete) are all top notch. I thought it was significantly better than Robert Towne's follow-up directorial effort, Tequila Sunrise, which I watched a few weeks back.

No love for big, pervy Tinto Brass? To be honest, I thought he had already died, but he acually passed away yesterday at the age of 93. He started out doing avant garde stuff in the sixties and early seventies before going all-in on erotic cinema as the decade wore on. Probably best known for directing the big-budget and very controversial Caligula (with Malcolm McDowell and Helen Mirren), which is infamous for its unsimulated orgy scenes. Brass ended up disowning the version of the film that was released at the time, though the director's cut was later put out. Anyway, I've never been into his stuff, to be honest, but he was an interesting fella and certainly made his mark within the industry. Here's hoping there's some nice, firm tits and juicy arses wherever he is now. RIP

Action U.S.A. Now this - THIS - is what a 1980s B movie action film is supposed to be, baby! I'd summarise the plot, but that's really besides the point. I'd talk about the acting, but what good would that do? This is a stuntman's movie. It was directed by a stuntman and written around the particular stunts he wanted to put on film. Cars are blown up. People are set on fire. Buildings are fallen off. It is fucking class. Plus, it has Mac's Dad as one of the main guys and a brawl in a massive Texas honky tonk. Five stars.

I remember about eleven or twelve years ago, I was living in London and my tooth sort of broke when I bit into a sandwich. Went to the dentist the next day and they said I could either get it fixed privately for hundreds of pounds or they'd take it out there and then for (I think) about twenty quid on the NHS. A very easy decision to make. I miss my tooth a lot less than I'd have missed those hundreds of pounds, especially back then. P.S. glad they knocked the pice down but, yeah, it's still an absolute disgrace tbh.

Lest we baguette, et cetera...

As a Newcastle fan, last night was such a depressing watch. Even more depressing than the hammerings by Leeds and Coventry, in a way. Expected a response after the League Cup exit performance and got absolutely nothing. No final pass or even an idea of what to do with the ball in the final third. Scarily easy to play through. It got better with the substitutions later on, but we never looked like scoring and Everton could have been out of sight by then. Fair play to Everton, they managed the game well and were good value for the win. We need a result against Fulham at the weekend because there is an awful run of games coming up after the international break. Not convinced by 'Matthias Jaissle' or his 'vertical football', I must say.

It's really not that bad, is it? I'd read some scathing things about it in the past, which didn't put me off but did make me go into it with an idea of what it was already in my mind. It's very late 70s hicksploitation in spirit and there's an energy about it that I liked. I also tend to like films that take place predominantly in one location. The all-AC/DC soundtrack isn't half-bad, either.

Maximum Overdrive A coked-out-of-his-mind Stephen King directs his sole feature film, which sees earth's inanimate objects come to life and turn evil after a comet causes a radiation storm. A lot of people seem to hate this one, but I couldn't bring myself to. It's just a mad exploitation horror movie by a guy who doesn't really know what he's doing. A hick flick with a big budget. And I like that sort of thing, you know? Not a great film, but an entertaining watch despite all of its flaws (of which there are many). Number One with a Bullet An 80s buddy cop film with Robert Carradine and Billy Dee Williams as mismatched LAPD vice guys. It's a Cannon Films production directed by a career journeyman, so it has the feel of a made-for-TV movie or an extended pilot for a show that was never picked up. Not without its moments, but it's pretty by-the-numbers fare and lost my interest towards the end.

Galvestone A seemingly terminally-ill hit man is set up in New Orleans, but ends up surviving and rescuing a sex worker and her kid sister. He vows to return to Galveston and seek vengeance before his time runs out. I really, really wanted to like this one more than I did, considering it's a neo-western revenge crime thriller. Right up my street. And it's fine. It's not bad. It's just not very good, in my opinion. I thought Ben Foster and Elle Fanning were both great in the lead roles, but they don't add up to a great film, unfortunately. Felt like something was missing and I can't quite put my finger on what it was. I thought the last five or six minutes were very powerful, however.