michael_russell Reviews

The Thousand Plane Raid (1969)

Low budget war movie that is watchable

[4/10 · 13 June 2023]

I would say the best part of this movie is Gary Marshall as a British fighter pilot attached to an American bomber group for mysterious reasons... Christopher George is a professional scowler, and he is over the top as an hardass commander who cares so much he convinces everyone he doesn't care at all.

The low budget is almost tolerable except the over use of stock footage leads to major continuity errors, like when a b-17 crashes and they cut to a burning b-29 which looks nothing like the b-17. That was a bridge too far.

But I watched the whole movie which means it wasn't that bad... when I researched the topic turns out the British had already tried thousand bomber night missions prior to this so it wasn't a big deal and this is revisionist history. Oh well.

Wiener-Dog (2016)

Solondz: You awful, evil man

[1/10 · 11 September 2016]

Okay this review has spoilers. "Spoiler" Absolutely because I am writing this to warn people not to watch this dog snuff film. This film is mean spirited. You want to see a wiener dog poisoned? Made into a bomb and blown up? Run over with a truck? Here it is. The movie starts semi-coherently and is not that bad, but it steadily gets worse. You can "Dark comedy" with humans all you want, but leave the dogs alone. Besides, it isn't a comedy, it is just "people are pathetic" freak show --I already know people are pathetic and films people are self indulgent narcissists. No news there. We stopped watching when the director killed the dog, as there is no redemption from that, this film actually ruined our evening. We were expecting a comedy about a wiener dog, not this abortion. Fair warning viewers.

The Girl of Your Dreams (1998)

For fans of Penelope Cruz

[8/10 · 2 December 2004]

Penelope Cruz is so good in this movie she carries it; you really want to see what happens next. She has some great musical numbers and some excellent dramatic scenes. I also found the set design and scenery superior, as well as just the visuals who contrast the small, swarthy Spaniards against the Aryan ideal. The DVD I rented had two versions, in Castillian Spanish and Mexican Spanish, with English sub-titles, which was interesting when the characters spoke in German, as that was not translated unless a translator actually did it in the film. Actually there was even a little Russian. The supporting cast gets a little slapstick at times, but I found the film well worth it as a Cruz vehicle--she is quite a beautiful actress. 8/10.

The Sum of All Fears (2002)

The Sum Of All Cop Outs

[3/10 · 19 January 2004]

I read the book "The Sum of All Fears" with fascination--Palestenians discover an Isreali nuclear device lost when the aircraft is shot down in the six day war, sell it to Al Queda, and the arab terrorists proceed to blow up Denver with said nuke.

I was very much looking forward to this movie, only to find that for fear of offending Al Queda, the director and screenwriters had substituted some ridiculous plot about German Nazi's and turned the whole thing into a melodramatic hash.

This could have been a GREAT, prophetic, movie. instead it became a silly waste of money and talent. I know Tom Clancy hated the movie, so did I.

Billion Dollar Brain (1967)

SGT Harry Palmer was a better spy than James Bond

[10/10 · 17 January 2004]

England exported two different MI6 agents in the mid 1960's; Sean Connery as James Bond, and Michael Caine as Harry Palmer. Palmer was far more intelligent, his work more realistic, and his adventures far more plausible, but it was 007's over the top womanizing that won the day. Palmer fans will want to see the Ipcress file, Billion Dollar Brain, Funeral in Berlin, Midnight in St. Petersburg, and Bullet to Bejing.

The Razor's Edge (1984)

A Truly Exceptional Movie and All Time Favorite

[10/10 · 17 June 2001]

If you are an intelligent viewer who is looking for a significant and possibly mind expanding movie event then `The Razor's Edge' is for you. It has remained one of my favorite films for fifteen years, and I have owned it and replayed it many times. If you look at the viewer feedback for this film you will find that the vast majority of people rate is as `Excellent' movie (29% of IMDB viewers give it a perfect `10/10' rating). Those who fail to see it's qualities can be divided fairly equally into the `don't get it' camp (Unlike the typical Hollywood lowest denominator flicks, the minimum IQ for viewing is Razor's Edge is probably at least 100, and that leaves ½ the population out), and the `disappointed' crowd, who have so typecast the star (Bill Murray) that they wanted `Caddyshack' and just can't allow him to be a serious actor. You must set aside your prejudices and give the man a chance-Bill Murray is a Harvard grad who co-wrote the screenplay-this was a labor of love for him. Just because he has a sense of humor does NOT make him a lightweight, as this film demonstrates for anyone with the eyes to see it.

Based upon the 1942 W. Somerset Maugham novel, it follows the evolution of a spoiled upper class boy from Illinois (Larry, Bill Murray), who volunteers to be an ambulance driver in WW I for a little `fun and adventure' and instead gets a dose of PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder). His world was forever changed by the events he experienced. He literally could not go home again after the war. He tried, and found the lives of those around him to be shallow and meaningless, and their pursuits and interests just trivial. There had to be a reason why he was here, and this sets the stage for the real point of the movie, which is an exploration of the meaning of life. (I told you it wasn't Caddyshack!)

Obsessed with these existential issues, and finding that alcohol did not make the need go away, Larry travels to Paris, and starts to read, serious books on philosophy and religion, supporting himself as a laborer. He does not care much for his surroundings-his lack of materialism is in marked contrast to his peers and friends from before, whose dreams are to grow wealthy in the stock market. As such Larry was an early Bohemian. I found this particularly poignant, realizing as I watched this movie that it foreshadowed yet another stock market boom and bust: a whole new generation of crass materialists have had their world was just as rocked by a stock market crash in 1999 as in 1929. History does repeat, and these themes are timeless. His fiancee could not deal with his `common' friends and lack of modern plumbing, and left him to marry someone she did not love but who had money. Another contrast to the shallow and materialistic, which is a recurring theme throughout the film-what brings happiness to a man?

Larry's journey took him to India, and Hindu religion, and then on to Tibet to discover Buddha-the scenes filmed there are absolutely breathtaking, so I hope you can find a letterbox laserdisc or they finally bring this out on DVD-it is worth it to see the whole screen. There is romance, and love, and loss. I won't reveal the ending, which is truly bittersweet, and a bit nihilistic. This is truly the best thing this fine actor ever accomplished, and I rate it a strong `10'. This should have won many awards, and should also be considered a true classic; I am disappointed in my fellow man that they so typecast the star that they could not see what a great contribution he made with this effort here. Not light fare, and a long film, but one worth seeing.