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[73north]

SEARCH/DESTROY: A STRONTIUM DOG FAN FILM
In the far future strontium-90 fallout has created a race of mutants, outcasts from society, despised by the ‘norms’ and given only the dirtiest job – bounty hunting.
Johnny Alpha is one such mutant, working for the Search/Destroy (Strontium Dog) Agency, hunting down criminals for the Galactic Crime Commission, aided by his trusty Viking sidekick, Wulf Sternhammer.
Search/Destroy follows Johnny and Wulf as they investigate a spate of Strontium Dog disappearances.


Search/Destroy: A Strontium Dog Fan Film is exactly what the title says: a fan film based on the Starlord/2000AD comic strip 'Strontium Dog', starring Johnny Alpha, a mutated bounty hunter who has the power to read minds. With hammer wielding viking Wulf Sternhammer (Kevin Horsham) at his side, Johnny (Matthew Simpson) hunts down the 'norms' responsible for killing numerous other 'stronts', the trail leading to The Colonel (Edmund Dehn).

Just like Judge Minty, the Dredd based film from the same people, Search/Destroy: A Strontium Dog Fan Film is an amazing achievement, made by the fans for the fans *.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5EZaO1HPF4

The Characters were invented by John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra
for the short-lived ' Starlord ' comic in May 1978 and transferred to 2000ad comic -
I am sad to say I bought the very first issue which shows how old I am !
Visually the film is a real treat, with loads of impressive special effects, from huge spacecraft, to alien worlds, to an impressive array of weird and wonderful characters and futuristic weaponry.
The level of invention and technical skill on display was more than enough to ensure I was entertained throughout.
*Those familiar with the source material will be delighted by the appearance of some much loved muties (including Middenface McNulty and Durham Red) and the use of several classic Strontium Dog weapons.
You can view the film for free on you tube - its highly recommended
I was lucky enough to view the debut of the Film at the Hotel Novotel in London in February this year at the 2000ad 40th anniversary celebrations .

[MaxJoker]

Originally Posted by 73north

*Those familiar with the source material will be delighted by the appearance of some much loved muties (including Middenface McNulty and Durham Red) and the use of several classic Strontium Dog weapons.

Worth watching just to hear Wulf Sternhammer say "Old cucumber" .
Let alone to catch a glimpse of Kid Knee
I`d weep over this and Rogue Trooper still not having made it to the big screen. Yet chances are the money men would only have gone and cast Dwayne Johnston as Johnny , oh and Rogue too most likely

[Sir Honkers]

Excalibur the 1981 film with Nicol Williamson. I remembered it as being really good, but time has turned it into 140 minutes of turgid crap.

[CARLTON BROWN]

I watched Passengers (2016) the other night and it turned out to be much better than I expected. The basic plot - without giving anything away, is an engineer in hibernation on a massive starship wakes up, but finds he is the only one to do so. There are thousands of other humans in storage (on their way to a new planet), but he is alone on the ship, apart from a few robots.

The story progresses well, but I'll give away what happens if I say any more and don't want to spoil it.

I really liked this sci-fi movie. The sets are superb and some are on such a big scale they must be CG. The acting is good and the storyline is pleasing.

I'll give it 8/10. If you enjoyed Gravity or Interstellar, you'll probably like this.

[Tmee2020]

Originally Posted by loosegoose

Excalibur the 1981 film with Nicol Williamson. I remembered it as being really good, but time has turned it into 140 minutes of turgid crap.

Seeing it on release I remember it being really good too, although I didn't watch it the other night. The serious version of The Holy Grail.

Why do they have to keep retelling this silly story?

Anyway if you think Excalibur is turgid crap LG, try Camelot.

[MaxJoker]

A ,



Kind hearted hotel night concierge with a total toss for a boss. Who staggers through each evening thanks to caffeine pills and struggles through the days trying to maintain a relationship and care for his daughter. Meets a fast talking lunatic who sets him on the path to finally flipping and heading for the hills.



What starts out as a quirky flash forward flash back (Done really well) light movie , by the half way mark develops into a moving portrayal of a man coping with life best he can.



Won't say anymore other than if you watch it stick with it (Gulp you`ll know the scene I mean ). As the ending isn't what you`d have predicted

[Sir Honkers]

Originally Posted by tmee2000

Anyway if you think Excalibur is turgid crap LG, try Camelot.

In short there's simply not
a more congenial spot
for happy everaftering...
my good lady loves that film

[Brecht]

A Zed & Two Noughts (1985)



Trailer

Twin brothers and zoologists Oswald and Oliver Deuce (Brian & Eric Deacon) lose their wives in a car accident involving a large swan which crashes through the car windshield. The woman who was driving, Alba Bewick (Andréa Ferréol), survives but loses one of her legs. In their grief the Deuce brothers become obsessed with the biological process of growth and decay. They're watching documentaries on the origin of life (narrated by David Attenborough) and creating time-lapse video of various life forms in the state of decomposition. Both brothers become romantically involved with Alba Bewick who becomes a subject for the experiments of her surgeon. He claims that her other leg has to be amputated as well because it allegedly puts stress on her spine. But his actual motive is to create Alba into a subject from the paintings of Johannes Vermeer.

Peter Greenaway is one of the most interesting British film directors. A Zed & Two Noughts marks the beginning of Greenaway's collaboration with French cinematographer Sacha Vierny. It is a beautifully shot picture with meticulous framing and stunning use of lighting and colors. The influence of Dutch painting is a discerning feature, something that would become typical for all subsequent films by Peter Greenaway.

[Devius]

The Fourth Protocol (1987)



Scripted by Frederick Forsyth from his own spy thriller, The Fourth Protocol is a secret agreement between America, Britain and Russia forbidding the non-conventional delivery of a nuclear weapon into their respective countries. This figures into the schemes of several rogue spies, who hope to destroy NATO by embarking on just such a smuggling endeavor. Russian agent Valeri Petrofsky (Pierce Brosnan) is ordered to stage a nuclear accident in England, then arrange the evidence so that the Americans get the blame. British intelligence agent John Preston (Michael Caine) begins wondering why a polonium disk, used as a component of a detonator for ann atomic bomb are showing up in the unlikeliest places (a dead Soviet sailor, accidentally struck by a lorry in Glasgow). Ignored by his superior, who demoted Preston following an unauthorised (but successful) mission, Preston gathers the clues that will enable him to find out who's behind the potential breaking of The Fourth Protocol, and thwart the plot before it's too late.

An above-average old-fashioned spy thriller, made back in the day when all we had to worry about were those "pesky Russkies" (to quote from Judi Dench "Christ, I miss the Cold War").
But my favourite part of this film is the opening sub-plot (John Preston's unauthorised mission) - watching Ian Richardson with his quiet menace revealing to idealistic government official Anton Rodgers that the "South African official" he was passing NATO secrets to was actually a Soviet double agent, was akin to watching a cat toying with a trapped mouse, before it goes in for the kill.

[scoundrel]

Originally Posted by MaxJoker

Worth watching just to hear Wulf Sternhammer say "Old cucumber" .
Let alone to catch a glimpse of Kid Knee
I`d weep over this and Rogue Trooper still not having made it to the big screen. Yet chances are the money men would only have gone and cast Dwayne Johnston as Johnny , oh and Rogue too most likely

Many a true word is spoken in jest.

Obviously I don't get around much or have a life (as such) but I have only yesterday found out that there is a US cable TV network called "Hallmark"; and indeed, what I have gleaned from wikipedia etc is not very promising, what with their roots being in Bible Belt Christian TV networks from the 1970s. Yet I feel a surprising and sneaking respect for them because they are independent TV film makers, generating a steady output of 12-20 TV films every year, all original production, all no doubt cheaply made; but I am forced to take my hat off to them for being genuinely creative. I don't want to flatter Hallmark too much, but I can see a parallel with the RKO B Movie factory in the 1940s which generated a lot of forgettable formula driven output but also was a little bit original and creative and occasionally succeeded in being really good on a shoestring budget. Hollywood probably spends more more money on one average big star vehicle than Hallmark spends on its annual budget for 12-20 TV films, but Hallmark is much more interesting.

Why?





Lets take the case in point: Moonlight in Vermont (released April 2017). I saw this yesterday on an obscure UK channel called "Movies 24 + 1" and while I don't rate it in the same league as Breakfast at Tiffany's or When Harry Met Sally it is considerably better than the average Hollywood romcom made more expensively and with much bigger names. The reason why it is better is that it has a decent script and a good ensemble of capable actors, and is made simply and without fuss, and it has charm. Above all, the charm comes from the female lead, exactly as it should in a romcom: the lead actress is Lacey Chabert, whose biggest credit on her CV is as one of Lindsay Lohan's high school enemies in Mean Girls. I suspect mainstream Hollywood (where she does get work sometimes) has her down as a character actress: pretty, but nothing special and suitable to be one of Cameron Diaz's or Mila Kunis's pals in the Hollywood romcom. Silly people.

For the record I think Ms Chabert is very attractive and also looks like a real woman whom you might really meet (if you were in very good luck).

The weaknesses are the usual ones in romcom: the story relies on an artificial plot device in which Fiona Rangely (Ms Chabert) recruits her innkeeper father's handsome new head chef Derek (Carlos Marks) to be her fake boyfriend because she has just been dumped and her ex is staying in her father's inn and gallivanting around with Holly, a new arm-candy girl, so she wishes to make him feel jealous and make him think about what he is missing. Later on, when the logic of situation is clearly going to send Fiona back to her city life in New York and away from her possibility of a non-fake relationship with the chef, Derek, a crisis arises in which a road traffic accident blocks the main road to the Vermont village where Fiona's father has his inn and jeopardises a really important pre-booked evening function due to lack of fresh food supplies and the kitchen staff being unable to report for duty, meaning that Fiona must remain one more evening and help to man the pump. The film moves cleverly around these typical devices though so I can forgive it for being cliched. After all, My Man Godfrey made in 1936 was a much sillier plot and is a fantastic movie.

The biggest strength are that the players are all good; the story is a bit more meaningful than the plotline would suggest, and it is quite pleasing on the eye, filmed on location in Vermont in late winter. Most of all, the film sets out to celebrate the essentially conservative values of its patron, Hallmark TV, and does this in a humane and warm hearted way. As the heroine acknowledges in the closing scenes, what makes a place good or bad is the people, because the people matter more than the place, especially if you love them and they love you back. I happen to think so too. Also, the film is rather keen on celebrating good food and that's most definitely a plus for me.

Derek: Food is about Love.

and I came away having been entertained and having had some of my faith in life restored a little bit.

So fair play: I think this film is a lot better than I would have guessed.