Lucifer_666
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Weekend Movie List # 6Sorry in delay babe in getting this on for you to choose 
FRIDAY:
Final Destination BBC 1
Battle of the Sexes BBC 2
SATURDAY:
American Perfekt BBC 1
Mosquito Squadron BBC 2
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within CH 5
Independence Day CH 4
The Crooked Way BBC 2
SUNDAY:
Critters BBC 1
The Stringer BBC 2
Beverly Hills Cop ITV (This is on at 3 in the afternoon so it will be seriously cut)
The Prophecy 2 ITV
TLOTR The Return of the King CH 4
Riding Giants CH 4
Parineeta CH 4
Dragonheart: A New Beginning CH 5
The Age of Innocence CH 5
Erin Brockovich CH 5
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roddglenn
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Oooo lots of choice there!
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Catnapper
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I know Rod  That's why it's so hard picking one out!
Ooohhh decisions.....decisions......I thought of going for something different this time....
Riding Giants - is all about surfing but it's a documentary more than a proper film.
Parineeta - A Bollywood film, we've never reviewed one so should I pick that???
Dragonheart: A New Beginning - Animated with some great actors voicing and we've never picked an animated film either....
The Prophecy - Christopher Walken as Gabriel and Viggo Mortensen as Lucifer  ......sounds good and it's certainly different with a story about a battle in Heaven......but it could be gory 
HELP!!.........I can't decide! Any thoughts?!!
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roddglenn
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Now I've seen the first Prophecy film which was excellent, but I haven't seen the second or third films. I think they were both straight to video releases.
Dragonheart might be good. Bollywood...ewwww no! Riding Giants maybe interesting.
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Catnapper
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Right, so we're down to 3 now.....
The Prophecy
Dragonhearts
Riding Giants.......I keep thinking of that Guinness ad where he says tick....tock.....and it shows horses as waves!
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roddglenn
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That was an absolutely brilliant advert.
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Catnapper
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I just thought.....he says tick follows tock.....not tick tock
Yeah it was atmospheric alright!
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Catnapper
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Right.....I've decided 
The movie up for review this week is......drumroll.......
The Prophecy........because I haven't seen it before and it looks intriguing.
But I'll be watching Dragonhearts and Riding Giants too.
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roddglenn
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The only problem is it appears to be Prophecy 2...not the first one. That might make it a bit awkward!
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Catnapper
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Blast! I hadn't noticed that It could be awkward if you haven't seen the first one
In that case.......the film up for review is American Perfekt......
I've never seen it or even heard of it before but it looks a good film!
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roddglenn
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I've never heard of that one either, so why not!
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Lucifer_666
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We are all in tthe same boat then Flickers because I never heard of it either.....should be fun ....good choice babe 
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Catnapper
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The reviews should be interesting if none of us have seen it before!
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Lucifer_666
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Yes we are entering the unknown pit ....... the abyss......the hidden hole ...the desolate crack......erm I don't know where I'm going with this 
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roddglenn
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lol descending into darkness and depravity! Yay!
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Lucifer_666
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Hey its where I live man its where I'm at my best
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roddglenn
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The Man Chump
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I was planning to stay up and watch it, but fell asleep a trip to choices of me then!
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Catnapper
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Not to worry Chump!
I got a copy from a carboot on Saturday.......I hope it plays ok
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Lucifer_666
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I found American Perfekt the strangest yet one of the most interesting road movies I've seen in a while......It begins with Angela Plummer's character Sandra driving on a desolate road and gets abruptly veered off it by some strange other guy in a car...it is here that she meets another passer-by ...named Jake Nyman (Robert Forster) a criminal Physchologist who has incorporated into his life the idea of every decision having to be
made by the flip of a coin and it isn't long before he is helping Sandra out to get to her destination where she is to meet up with her wayward sister..... Sandra is intrigued with the idea of living your life by chance and starts to obviously come on to Jake... The truth is early on you really don't know what to make of the characters because both are so quirky my initial gut feelings were telling me neither can be trusted...and it was this uncertainty I liked from the beginning.
When they reach the place to get someone to tow her car back Sandra notices the car that run her off the road earlier and crazily gets in and steals money from it so then when Later down the line they run out of
fuel and go walking on the hope of being picked up by another car it kind of adds that bit more tension when that very same car makes a reappearance.
Anyway they eventually flip to take the ride and we get introduced to Santini played by David Thewlis who explains that some woman nearly run him off the road earlier when he tried to return her lighter ...Santini is a small time con man.... a trickster and when they stop later at a cafe Jake notices him tricking a local Deputy out of money meanwhile Sandra is getting exceedingly jealous of Joanna Gleason's Shirley who comes over and chats to Jake..It builds to Santini striking Sandra (which just seemed to come from nowhere) and Jake flipping his coin on whether he should kill Santini or just make sure he never talks to Sandra in the same way he did before.....
It all leads to Jake on his own meeting Sandra's more suspicious and to me more streetwise sister played by Fairuza Balk who seems much more like a normal human being than her sibling...this part of the movie mainly features her very different relationship with Jake, searching for her sister. and of course in the end she finds her......It also shows the Sherriff (Paul
Sorvino) enter Santini's room and start tracking the others down
I don't know about anyone else but as I was watching each conversation and event occur.....it was almost like a movie that was based on a stage play I was watching..... that may sound strange after all its a road movie... I know!!.... but it was very character driven and the conversations seemed at times like staged acts and scenes...
The acting was very good too but who steals the show is Robert Forster who plays Jake...he's exellent and its a completely different role for him...I wouldn't normally associate him with this kind of part at all.
I enjoyed the film but it is weird most notably the ending.......if your staying with the film thinking your going to get all the answers your going to be disappointed however if the ending is really getting on your wick I do think the reason Jake collapses to his knees is simply because he cannot decide what to do next without his coin to flip
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Catnapper
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You beat me to posting first Luc....but I'll let you off! Well summed up review
American Perfekt
I must admit....after the first 15 minutes or so I seriously thought about not watching the rest of it and apologising to you guys for picking such an average film But, it's the movie club and we're supposed to watch the film whether we like it or not and give an honest review.
From the opening few scenes I thought it was going to be a Goldie Hawnesque type film......you know the ones.....ditzsy woman gets into all kinds of embarrassing/amusing scrapes. In the first scene, Sandra (Amanda Plummer) gets blocked in by another car at a diner and can't get back into her car, so she climbs over the other car, which she encounters again on the desert Highway. The car moves close behind her car, pulls alongside and the driver pulls out what looks like a gun gleaming in the sunlight. She panics, gets a burst tyre and crashes off the road.......the other car waits ominously....I thought the film was taking a sinister turn.....then the car drives off.....she opens her door....which gets ripped off by another car! I thought we were back in Goldie Hawn mode again........and that's when I thought it was going to turn into some vaguely amusing film that would be rubbish!
Anyway, I'm glad to say I carried on watching because the film turned out to one that keeps you guessing till the end. When Sandra meets the driver of the car who ripped off her door, it turns out he's a Criminal Psychologist, Jake Nyman (Robert Forster) who quirkily likes to live his life by the flip of a coin. Robert Forster was fresh from his Jackie Brown role and he's excellent in this film.....he gives a subtle performance going from being world weary to full psycho mode in a completely believable way!
The appearance of David Thewlis as the English magician and smalltime con operator Ernest Santini seems a bit strange at first.......telling a joke about a kipper???!! To answer your question about why he slapped Sandra Luc, wasn't it because she was hysterical?!.....but I felt sorry for him at the end when he couldn't understand why it had happened to him.....
I know what you mean about it being character driven and feeling almost like a stage play Luc......the scene where Jake and Sandra go to the motel?? and the guy shows her that butterfly collection and invites them to dinner......the actor in that scene, I can't remember his name , almost looked like he was doing a cameo performance especially for the writer and the scene didn't look quite right somehow........Geoffrey something's his name I remembered part of his name!
The film took on a sinister turn right after the steamy sex scene with Jake and Sandra.......and that's when it went from being an average type of film to a full on sinister, horror type.......and became absorbing for me. I liked the idea of flipping a coin to decide what to do next, apparently that idea is featured in Luke Rhinehart's cult novel The Dice Man, so I don't know it the film's writer got the idea from the book.
Excellent cast......the standouts for me were Robert Forster and Fairuza Balk (why doesn't she appear more in films?)......I'd bought the dvd last week at a carboot for £1 and, at first, I thought I'd wasted my money but this film is going into my movies to hang on to pile! I hadn't looked at what it said on the dvd (apart from the title of course!) but after the film ended I looked at the reviews featured on the cover.......
"Will have you biting your fingernails down to the elbow".......Daily Star
"Powerful!.....original!....absorbing!"......Flicks
"This is one helluva thriller."........Total Film
"Tarantino-esque....something a bit special.".........by none other than Jonathan Ross himself!
Very good film......keeps you wondering.......and I think you're spot on with the ending Luc
Oh, I nearly forgot to mention, the use of music in the film was good too......especially the choral feel of the music "Vision" ("O Euchari In Leta Via").......I love that tune!
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roddglenn
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Great reviews, Cat and Luc. I didn't get a chance to see it unfortunately, so I will have to grab a copy of eBay or Amazon as soon as poss. It does sound like a very interesting film and I do like both Amanda Plummer and Robert Forster.
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Lucifer_666
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Great review Babe well done
The only thing that bothers me about Amanda Plummer which I didn't add to my review is her voice....she has a kind of Meg Tilly type of voice doesn't she  and it can get a little bit tiresome after a while
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Catnapper
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You'll like it Rod.....it's quirky!
That's another thing I meant when I said about it being like a Goldie Hawn film Luc.........that voice  .....it was like a cutesy little girlish type of voice and that's why I thought it'd end up being some flimsy comedy type film!
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Lucifer_666
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Yeah babe your right very girlie Goldie Hawnish
Oh and as for the slap Sandra got....I didn't think she was overly out of control or exciteable to warrant the slap she got??...she was been unreasonable with the other one not knowing where she was ......staggering all over the place and slumping to the floor
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The Man Chump
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Hey guys i'm sorry i've been so busy this week I haven't been able to get to watch it either. :(
I'll try harder this week!
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Catnapper
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Not to worry Chump You should enjoy watching it when you're not as busy!
Luc - What did you think of David Thewlis in the film? It seemed a bit bizarre having a Cockney type appearing on a deserted desert highway.......I expected him to come out with "Cor blimey" any minute
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Lucifer_666
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No worries chump How you doin mate?
Yeah Thewlis was a strange choice alright and aI have to say years ago I wasn't really pushed on him as an actor but since seeing him in Gangster No 1 and then the Harry Potter movies I've actually got to end up rating him quite highly now...... Though your right babe it would make you wonder what this cockney is doing out there on some American desert road
Paul Sorvino also played a strange role .... I always expect him to play the gangster or bad guy it was unusual to see him as Sherriff
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