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Canopy (2013)
Only Watch this movie if you like National Geographic
I agree with other reviewers, this has to be one of the most BORING war films ever. At least 30mins into the film and no action. Just two guys lost and surviving in the jungle in WWII in Singapore. Great visual shots of the Singapore jungle and the sound effects of the jungle and atmosphere are incredible. This movie feels more like a National Geographic film than a movie in the first 15mins. The acting is flat, one dimensional with weak character development. You start out with no dialog and the plot is thin. That said I would overlook all that if there was an interesting action scene in the first 5 mins of the film. Only Rambo could save this film from boredom!
Only watch this film if you are into the sounds and cinematography of exotic jungles of National Geographic documentaries. As one reviewer here said, turn up the volume, turn off the lights and enjoy the sounds of the jungle...and for that alone I would give this film almost 10 stars!
Django (1966)
Underrated Masterpiece and Game changer in Western and Action Cinema
I wrote this review because too many reviewers, even after over half a century later after theatrical release, still give Fistful of Dollars and Django only a one star review!
Both Django and Fistful of Dollars are the two classic Italian-made Spaghetti Westerns that not only changed the landscape of the Western genre but all Action genre movies after 1964. The three Sergios (Leone, Corbucci and Sollima) were all genius Italian directors. As with Fistful of Dollars, Django was inspired by Akira Kurosawa's 1961 film Yojimbo. Both Django and Fistful of Dollars should be taught in film school to all new directors and actors going to film school on how to make an action movie, along with the cinema work of all the greatest movie directors in cinema history inspired by it from: Sam Peckinpah, George Lucas, John Carpenter, George Miller, Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, Bruce Lee and many more directors.
Corbucci's direction in Django (1966) is both artful and brilliant along with the screen writing and of course the music by Luis Bacalov. The movie starts out with a lone drifter (played by the talented actor Franco Nero) with a mysterious past dragging a coffin to a bleak, mud drenched town, overrun by outlaw cults and a local war between two factions. To those new to this film and the Spaghetti Westerns genre I wont reveal what was in the coffin... but lets just say what is in the coffin evens the odds!
If you didn't like Django after watching it then I recommend only watching cliché westerns ... John Wayne western oaters like McLintock! or westerns before 1964. This movie is not for everyone and if you feel this movie truly deserves one star or less ...you are not alone. Even when these movies came out in the 1960s it received bad reviews! But you probably won't enjoy over a half century of the finest artful cinema either (mostly grindhouse) including: Yojimbo, Django Unchained, Sukiyaki Django, The Wild Bunch, El Mariachi, Hannie Caulder, Kill Bill, Star Wars, Escape from New York, Way of the Dragon...etc. , and too many other classic action movies inspired by the Spaghetti Western genre.
Indio Black, sai che ti dico: Sei un gran figlio di... (1970)
The Sauce is Dripping off the Screen in this Stylish Spaghetti Western!!!
Hands down the best movie of the Sabata Trilogy. I saw all the movies in the Sabata Box DVD Trilogy set and Adios Sabata (Indio Black) was not even meant to be a third Sabata film but Lee Van Cleef was unavailable for this third Sabata film being on the Magnificent Seven Ride! So ironically the great actor from the original Magnificent Seven, Yul Brynner was cast!! Don't get me wrong Lee Van Cleef is marvelous as Sabata in the first two Sabata films, but Brynner is just better as Sabata in this last Sabata film. If you can get past some sloppy film production typical of Spaghetti Westerns (bad voice-over dubs, Italian actors playing Mexican characters, fake overacted gunshot deaths sometimes without even blood...etc) then you will be rewarded with a stylish, tongue-in-cheeky western that rivals the best Spaghetti Westerns ever made!!
This Spaghetti Western has such a talented all-star cast, starting with the great thespian actor Yul Brynner who's gypsy style and charm bring depth to the character. And the musician Dean Reed who plays the slick yet tricky sidekick. The music from the great Italian composer Bruno Nicoli in this film rivals that of the maestro of film music, Ennio Morricone. The film music in Adios Sabata just ROCKS. Even the wardrobe is beautiful. This film was produced by Alberto Grimaldi who produced all the major Spaghetti Western including Sergio Leone's Dollar Trilogy. Even Quentin Tarantino has highly regarded this film and selected this film once for his film fest.
Overall a slick Spaghetti Western complete with original electric guitar rock music, awesome gun-play / weapon gadgets, double/triple crosses, stylish wardrobe/props that make this movie a classic in the Spaghetti Western genre!!
Flash Gordon (1980)
Best Sci-Fi Camp Rock Opera Ever Made!!! Fun-Campy-SciFi!!
Hands down this is the BEST Sci-Fi /Campy movie ever made. The rock music from Queen is awesome as is the colorful cinematography. There are great actors and great direction from director Mike Hodges who bring camp to the sci-fi genre. This film was produced by the late legendary producer Dino De Laurentiis who sadly passed away in 2010. I saw this movie decades ago and again on the new Blue-Ray 2010 DVD and it is the sharpest format version of the movie I have ever seen, I highly recommend the HD Blue-Ray DVD. Great interviews from the original screen writer and Alex Ross comic artist as well as the original first 1930's episode Flash Gordon serial in the DVD extras section.
This movie was made to be CAMPY. If you enjoy campy films like the Rocky Horror Picture Show that never takes itself seriously with great rock music, fun lines, then this movie is for you. It was never meant to be a "serious sci-fi" film. If you want a serious sci-fi film go watch Avatar, Blade Runner or 2001. Breck Eisner is reported to be working on a 2013 version of Flash Gordon that is supposed to be a "non-campy" version so there is that film too if you are looking for serious sci-fi version of Flash Gordon.
This film is adapted and stays true to the original Flash Gordon comic book serial of the 1930's. IMO the legendary actor, Max Von Sydow was the best actor in this 1980 Flash Gordon movie and the best actor to ever play Ming the Merciless!! Compare Sydow's acting performance to the actor Charles Middelton in the 1930's Flash Gordon serials and they are not even in the same universe (no pun intended)!! Not only does he play the character perfectly but his intro in the beginning is classic camp, as Ming decides to toy with Earth's destruction in the cross hairs with Queen rock music in the background!! Too many great scenes to mention!! There are a a ton of other who's who British "thespian" actors that do a fabulous job in the film. Just sit back enjoy the rock music and all the campy fun!!
Princess of Mars (2009)
80 Years to make this Burrough's Classic and this First One is Garbage!!!
This movie is such a disaster I don't know where to begin. If Disney's John Carter of Mars due for release in 2012 is even one hundredth as bad as this turkey then it is already doomed. I don't think so however, as I have more faith in Disney, they actually are a studio that has proved itself to make some awesome Sci-fi films (Tron/Tron Legacy 2010). They have proved they can deliver digital special F/X at the Avatar level (or close) to it.
This is not even a "proper" adaption of Edgar Rice Burrough's (creator of Tarzan) classic pulp fiction / sci-fi fantasy novel "The Princess of Mars". Hollywood has been trying to make this into a movie since the 1930's but due to producers who have felt "low audience interest" (even though ironically Flash Gordon serials were very successful in the 1930's) and film special effects technology not ready for a film requiring monumental special effects on a literally "Avatar" level until the Digital Age only recently in the last 10-20 years. Unfortunately this actually is the first live action movie made based "very loosely" on Burrough's classic.To their credit though at least they tried, and they are indeed the first to make this a live action film of Burrough's classic pulp novel. But the production is so bad I felt as if I was watching the "Power Rangers"!!
So this first Burrough's feature "inspired" classic stars actor Antonio Sabata Jr and former porn adult star turned B-actress Traci Lords. Actually these two actors hold their own and did their jobs even if was probably just for a 'paycheck' for them. I actually like these two actors and they did a good job considering the bad script and the low budget film they are given. What's bad is everything else... from a horrible script "loosely based" on Burrough's pulp novel, bad direction, to other bad actors, bad costume, low budget art direction, special F/X, locations (all cliché over-filmed locations filmed around LA). The worst was the script which completely deviated from John Carter's original character and story in the beginning. The lines are so bad in this movie you will laugh!! This film would have been better as a comedy or soft-porn than a dreadful adaption of a sci-fi classic.
Vivi o preferibilmente morti (1969)
Another bad Spaghetti Western-Comedy
This film is also known as Sundance and the Kid in the U.S. release. Starting as early as the 1970's most Euro-Westerns started going downhill in quality and budget. So Italian producers started combining the usually dramatic Spaghetti Westerns with comedy and later in 1970's with martial arts! This film, Sundance and the Kid, is just plain awful in everything from the acting to the screenplay. This turkey was cranked out to compete with the more original Spaghetti Western comedies with Italian actors Bud Spencer and Terence Hill such as Boot Hill, They Call Me Trinity, Trinity is Still My Name..etc. and also perhaps to certain extent the quality U.S. film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid with Robert Redford and Paul Newman which is recommended if you want to see a quality made comedy-western.
Ironically, in my opinion, Italian directors made the very best westerns and the very worst westerns. On most all these Spaghetti Western-Comedies everything from the title of the movie to the names of the Italian actors, directors and sometimes even the production crew would change their names to American names and add awful English dubbing all designed to sound more American so it would sell better. In Spaghetti Westerns everything in fact is made in Italy but to make $$$ they had to make it look like an American made western as much as possible...but sometimes failed miserably as in this movie.
Vamos a matar, compañeros (1970)
Another fun to watch Spaghetti Western!!!
Vamos a Matar Companeros! is an authentic, made in Italy, Spaghetti Western film classic and is a must see movie for anyone who wants to discover the very best of the Spaghetti Western film genre. This Western-Comedy film was directed by Sergio Corbucci, the number #2 Italian director of all time for Spaghetti Westerns, after of course Sergio Leone, for the entire Spaghetti Western genre, which is saying a lot because there were hundreds of films in that genre alone! This film is just plain fun and entertaining to watch! All the actors are charismatic, comical and professional. The all star cast in the film are Jack Palance, Franco Nero and Thomas Milian. The story is basically about the Mexican Revolution of 1910 where a mercenary (Nero) and rebels, lead by rebel leader (Milian), must rescue a idealist professor to lead the revolution who is held hostage in Texas. This film was made during the height of student protests to the Vietnam War in the late 1960's and early 1970's which may explain the political theme. There are many good scenes, too many to list here, but the best scenes and most surreal, in my opinion, are the ones with the pet falcon and the strange one wooden-handed and marijuana smoking villain (Palance).
The cinematography is beautifully filmed by cinematographer Alejandro Ulloa who also filmed other excellent Spaghetti Westerns. The music in the film is by the maestro of Spaghetti Western music and film music in general, Italian composer Ennio Morricone. Companeros includes a theme song and the beautiful classic acoustic and twangy electric guitar riffs invented by Morricone.