Monday, October 21, 2019
First Knight (1995)
Lancelot falls in love with Guinevere, who is due to be married to King Arthur. Meanwhile, a violent warlord tries to seize power from Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table.
Very professionally produced adaptation of the saga, good production design, excellent cinematography and some solid performances, but Richard Gere is a quite dubious casting choice for Lancelot.
Halliwell (no star): "This is less the medieval epic it attempts to be, and closer in spirit to A Yankee in King Arthur's Court, thanks to Gere's American gigolo masquerading as Lancelot; it lacks passion and there is no feeling that anything is worth fighting or dying for."
Maltin***: "Handsome, sweeping, romantic adventure saga...Awkward narrative moments (and the casting of a contemporary-sound American as Lancelot) outweighed by the overall intelligence of William Nicholson's script, John Box's breathtaking production design, Jerry Goldsmith's majestic score, and the splendid performances by Ormond and Connery. Camelot has never looked so magical."
Sunday, October 20, 2019
The Jungle Book (2016)
The man-cub Mowgli flees the jungle after a threat from the tiger Shere Khan and, guided by Bagheera the panther and the bear Baloo, he embarks on a journey of self-discovery, though he also meets creatures who don't have his best interests at heart.
Highly entertaining updated version of Kipling's classic, mixing excellent CGI animation with a real (good) actor playing Mowgli, resulting in more realistic and in parts dark and upsetting sequences for a child audience.
On renewed viewing: menawhile a guilty pleasure of mine.
Island of Doomed Men (1940)
An undercover agent gets paroled to a remote tropical island with a diamond mine manned by slave labor run by a sadistic landowner.
Predictable crime drama with a sinister touch; Peter Lorre does his thing and makes it worth the watch.
Maltin**: "Stock characters, stale melodramatics."
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