My wife walked out on You Only Live Twice. She got up and left about forty minutes in. I finished it because I figured forty minutes was halfway and I could make it. It was tough.
The film’s memorable because of the beginning, where James Bond dies. It’s an interesting scene, even though it’s never explained. The […]
Entries Tagged as 'Donald Pleasence'
You Only Live Twice (1967, Lewis Gilbert)
May 31st, 2009 · 1 Comment
Tagged: Donald Pleasence· Harold Jack Bloom· Ian Fleming· Lewis Gilbert· Roald Dahl· Sean Connery· United Artists· ⓏⒺⓇⓄ
Halloween II (1981, Rick Rosenthal), the television version
March 9th, 2009 · No Comments
Halloween II–if it isn’t the worst film John Carpenter ever worked on in some capacity–certainly features Carpenter’s worst script. There isn’t a single well-written conversation in the entire picture–the closest one is a couple young women talking; presumably co-writer Debra Hill wrote that conversation–and then it’s one of the handful of scenes Carpenter himself directed. […]
Tagged: Debra Hill· Donald Pleasence· John Carpenter· Rick Rosenthal· Universal Pictures· ⓏⒺⓇⓄ
Halloween (1978, John Carpenter)
October 31st, 2008 · No Comments
Halloween is a technical masterpiece. It’s absolutely spectacular to watch. Carpenter’s composition is fantastic, but Dean Cundey’s cinematography and the editing–from Tommy Lee Wallace and Charles Bornstein–creates this uneasy, surreal experience. The way Carpenter uses the wind in the film is probably my favorite, since he establishes it early on and keeps it going until […]
Tagged: Compass International Pictures· Debra Hill· Donald Pleasence· John Carpenter· Tommy Lee Wallace· ★★★
Ground Zero (1987, Michael Pattinson and Bruce Myles)
October 15th, 2008 · No Comments
Ground Zero opens with a title card attesting to the film’s historical relevance. The intended effect is apparently to convince the viewer of the film’s authenticity and plausibility. So, for a film featuring a cameraman who can outfight spies, Ground Zero is completely plausible until the helicopter shows up. Not the first helicopter, but the […]
Tagged: Avenue Pictures· Bruce Myles· Colin Friels· Donald Pleasence· Jan Sardi· Mac Gudgeon· Michael Pattinson· ★★½
Prince of Darkness (1987, John Carpenter)
July 11th, 2008 · No Comments
I’d forgotten Prince of Darkness’s more fanciful notions–Jesus the space alien, still sent to Earth to save us from the Devil, but this time, the Devil’s kind of a space alien too (or not)–and it’s less creative ones (the Devil uses projectile vomit to posses people). It’s Carpenter at his strangest, the late 1980s period, […]
Tagged: Donald Pleasence· John Carpenter· Universal Pictures· ★½
Ground Zero (1987, Michael Pattinson and Bruce Myles)
November 23rd, 2007 · No Comments
Until the current administration, I could always take comfort knowing the British probably did more terrible things than the Americans ever could. For instance, they might test atomic bombs in Australia and radiate the aborigines, which is the public service announcement of Ground Zero. It isn’t only a PSA, it’s also a reasonably thrilling thriller […]
Tagged: Bruce Myles· Colin Friels· Donald Pleasence· Jan Sardi· Mac Gudgeon· Michael Pattinson· ★★½
The Black Windmill (1974, Don Siegel)
October 30th, 2006 · No Comments
The Black Windmill features Michael Caine and John Vernon shooting it out with Uzis. I’m sorry, I’m wrong. They’re shooting it out with MAC-10s. It’s an absurdity worthy of Siegel’s directorial protege Clint Eastwood–actually, Eastwood might have been paying homage to Siegel’s choice of lunacy here in Blood Work (when the serial killer happened to […]
Tagged: Clive Egleton· Don Siegel· Donald Pleasence· Janet Suzman· John Vernon· Leigh Vance· Michael Caine· Universal Pictures· ★
