Author: Dave Franklin
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The Not Quite #1: Wolfen (1981)
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Read more: The Not Quite #1: Wolfen (1981)To recommend a flick I usually have to give it seven out of ten. And yet the cinema is so vast there’s plenty of stuff rating 5.5 to 6.9 that’s certainly worth a watch. Guess you can call such movies interesting… almost. Or, er, not quite. For example, they might be built on a fantastic…
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Blaxploitation #9: Foxy Brown (1974)
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Read more: Blaxploitation #9: Foxy Brown (1974)What the hell are these crazy cats up to? Off the top of my head, prostitution, drug dealing, plastic surgery, shoving a baby in a pram into the middle of a busy road, watching porn, threatening fratricide, fighting in the street, slapping an unsatisfied, erect penis, getting punched in the balls and cutting off a…
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This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
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Read more: This Is Spinal Tap (1984)I often argue movies are made-up nonsense that have no effect on me. Like a lot of things I say, I’m probably on dodgy ground. Consider Spinal Tap. Good grief, the first watch was a minor revelation. Up until its chastening, palate-cleansing introduction in my mid-twenties, heavy metal could do little wrong. That’s why I…
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Memorable Movie Directors and Writers: Paul Schrader: Part 3
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Read more: Memorable Movie Directors and Writers: Paul Schrader: Part 3The underappreciated gem: The Mosquito Coast (1986) “How did America get this way?” Allie Fox (Harrison Ford) asks while driving around his hometown. “This place is a toilet.” The thing is, the pictures that unfold at the start of The Mosquito Coast don’t match his words. Everything looks like run of the mill. So why…
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Memorable Movie Directors and Writers: Paul Schrader: Part 2
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Read more: Memorable Movie Directors and Writers: Paul Schrader: Part 2The biographies: Raging Bull (1980), Mishima (1985), Patty Hearst (1988) & Auto Focus (2002) Raging Bull is an essential watch, but it’s the kind of unsentimental, uncomfortable two hours that’s easier to admire than love. Jake LaMotta (De Niro) is an archetypal angry, destructive and self-destructive Schraderian character, although he stops short of being suicidal.…
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Memorable Movie Directors and Writers: Paul Schrader: Part One
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Read more: Memorable Movie Directors and Writers: Paul Schrader: Part OneMen Gotta Have Fun I’ve always believed religion fucks you up and thank God it did just that to Paul Schrader. Raised in a strict Calvinist household, he famously didn’t get to see a movie until his late teens. No matter, because once he dipped an intellectual, alienated toe into the celluloid pool the floodgates…
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Memorable Directors: Brian De Palma: Part 2
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Read more: Memorable Directors: Brian De Palma: Part 2The Heaven’s Gate moment: Bonfire of the Vanities (1990) Do you ever avoid a flick because the critics pissed on it? You know, stuff like Ishtar and Battlefield Earth. The laughable quality of these efforts is so taken for granted that they’re only supposed to be trundled out if a snigger fest is required. I…
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Memorable Directors: Brian De Palma: Part One
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Read more: Memorable Directors: Brian De Palma: Part OneThere’s only one way to describe Brian De Palma’s five-decade-long career: all over the shop. There have been glorious artistic highs, far too many Hitchcockian homages, the odd mainstream megahit, a sprinkling of high-profile awards, condemnation for tawdry subject matter, a pronounced tendency to work with the same collaborators both in front of and behind…
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Blaxploitation #8: Coffy (1973)
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Read more: Blaxploitation #8: Coffy (1973)What the hell are these crazy cats up to? Coffy’s eleven-year-old sister is in a juvenile rehab center trying to kick smack. It’s obviously time for our heroine to tackle LA’s growing drug problem by setting up a Neighborhood Watch, noting down any suspicious activity and passing on the information to those upstanding boys in…
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Fucked-Up Films #9: Death Wish II (1982)
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Read more: Fucked-Up Films #9: Death Wish II (1982)What are these sick bastards doing? Sending civilization to hell in a handcart. Luckily, one man has the answer. And it isn’t rehabilitation or any other namby-pamby shit. How skuzzy are the men? Our obnoxious five-strong street gang is happy to sit around at fairgrounds scoping potential victims. Apart from having names like Stomper and…