jimmccool Reviews

Frackman (2015)

Thoroughly entertaining - as well as thought provoking

[10/10 · 15 March 2015]

We watched Frackman at a screening in Sydney last night and were sufficiently motivated to go home and switch our power company to one that isn't involved in Coal Seam Gas in Australia. It just seemed the right thing to do. The film itself is not just another whining documentary. And it doesn't take itself so seriously as 'Gasland' for example. The style is quite different, although the subject is the same - how small land-holders are threatened by the extreme mining techniques of CSG extraction, and how it risks Australia's people, water table and land. It is often very funny; although this is a very serious subject and at times Frackman himself is moved to tears. The photography is excellent and the story itself rolls along at a cracking pace...

At the end, the crowd in the cinema gave it a very well deserved round of applause. Absolutely recommended.

Choppertown: The Sinners (2005)

The American dream

[10/10 · 23 October 2012]

Some folks say the American dream is dead, but this movie shows this is just not so... Here lies dream fodder for folks all over the world who can dream of long South California summers, dream of real buddies who will help a guy hand-build a real beauty of a roarin' machine, dream of soundtracks by the brilliant James Inveldt, soundtracks of real punk and real rockabilly to a life of freedom on the open highways, rippin' through the desert.

Beautiful.

Many thanks to all the guys who made this wonderful and inspiring film.

This is the best motorsnuckle film I have seen The Loveless and deserves similar acclaim.

Capitalism: A Love Story (2009)

Brilliant... But also Beautiful

[10/10 · 16 March 2010]

This is Moore's best film by far, at times brilliant, at times beautifully moving, and often, very, very funny. Moore moves from the personal - his own history, and that of his family as blue-collar workers, to an overview of an economic system, and does these difficult transitions smoothly, to present a rounded picture of actions and consequences. And at times, this movie just makes you GASP! How did Paulson get away with it? Are the American people really just going to just lie there and let the bankers rob them blind?? The choice of music and archive clips is also superb. A really important film. Well done, Mr. Moore!

Gran Torino (2008)

A masterpiece

[10/10 · 4 July 2009]

I was more moved by Gran Torino than by any film I have watched - and I've watched plenty - for quite some time. The tears were literally streaming down my face, Mr Eastwood, so I reckon you done your job as director, and main actor, pretty damn good. This is a - superficially - totally 'American' film, and yet I cannot help but think that Eastwood has reached beyond Hollywood here, and brought back some of the knowledge he learnt from the masters in Europe. A superb piece of film-making. An artist at the very height of his powers, and with something very important to say. I've watched some of his other recent work and been very impressed, but his goes beyond that. Certainly one of Eastwood's best ever films. Brilliant.

The Garment Jungle (1957)

Great Little Film - Well Worth the Effort of Tracking Down

[8/10 · 13 December 2007]

I was lucky enough to see a VHS-transfer copy of this, and despite the poor quality, I can recommend this as a top-notch Crime/Mob/Racket thriller. Not exactly noir, but shares many many similar qualities - fast pace, seedy NY locations, opening voice-over etc. Think 'Phenix City Story' and you won't go far wrong - though this is actually even better than that. As usual, Lee J. Cobb is outstanding. And it seems strange to see Cobb here, in such an unashamedly 'leftish' film, after the trouble he had with HUAC earlier in the decade. There's not one mention of the 'C' word, though "anti-communism" would undoubtedly have been the cover for the Mob's anti-union activities... This is only one of very few films I can think of from Hollywood with a pro-Union message - and I doubt if it could even have been made during the height of the McCarthyite witch-hunt. Find it, watch it, enjoy it. And then join your local trade union, organise to keep the mobsters and agitators out.

Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten (2007)

Don't Miss This Intensely Moving Film – The Spirit and Essence Of An Interesting and Inspiring Subject, Brilliantly Captured.

[10/10 · 19 September 2007]

This is a film which will be essential to those of us who found their own lives inspired and enriched by the works and legend of Joe Strummer. However, The Future Is Unwritten proves itself more than just a music biography, by being a crystal clear platform for Joe Strummer's heartfelt (though often contradictory) humanist views, by being outstanding as a creative work in its own right, and by demonstrating just how good, and how engaging, a well made documentary can be.

Julien Temple's film had me weeping (frequently), laughing aloud and made me feel at times like I was running back through my own, damaged and painful, memory tapes. Tender, intense and intimate, the film is cleverly held together by the campfire 'motto' - which adds to the intimacy and is perfect for this squat-hippy-punk history.

Best music film of all time? I can only think of that long-ago BBC2 Arena doc on Jerry Lee Lewis to rival it. This film really is THAT good. Thanks, Julien Temple. You done the world and Joe's memory a very good thing.

Meteor (1979)

Serious Hair Malfunction and Marital Aids in Space

[1/10 · 3 September 2007]

This is cheesier than a cheese-o-phile's toenails, and if it wasn't so darned boring in most scenes, would actually be almost entertaining. Unfortunately, ten minute plus scenes of overpaid actors watching 70s style monitors in silence does not make for riveting drama. And the uh 'special' effects? These resemble nothing more than a cohort of marital aids taped together and heading woozily space-ward. They uh, don't look very real - as the 'artist' hadn't twigged the concept of 'weathering' at that stage - making models look realistically aged and grimy. Still we do have the spectacle of Karl Malden having a severe hair malfunction during the 'money' shot when the Hudson river, or what looks like either (a) chocolate soup, or (b) sewage, engulfs the assembled anti-Meteorites. Helpfully, Sean Connery is on hand to help Karl sweep back that 'repartino' and dignity is restored. Great for those of us older folk who have trouble sleeping, I struggled to stay awake to watch this over the course of three evenings and felt greatly refreshed for weeks afterwards. Q - another hair featurette - isn't Martin Landau's hair a wee bit on the uh, longish side for a serving U.S. officer??

99 River Street (1953)

A Must-See For Noir Fans

[10/10 · 27 June 2007]

Think Kansas City Confidential - and you'll known where this hot potato is a-comin' from.

Terse, twisty, and more than a bit brutal, with performances from both main and secondary characters that are never short of excellent, 99 River Street is a real treat for hard-boiled Noir fans. This 'B' was an unknown quantity to me and gave me a real pleasant-as-cold-beer-on-a-hot-Sunday surprise. The plot turns and twists like a rattlesnake on ketamine, while the host of slimy villains oozing their way through the deitrus of the Dark City - when not force-feeding puppies! - reflect an ocean of corruption and moral decay. Even Payne is a very flawed hero, wrestling with wife-beating rage, and lashing out even at those who try to care for him. Stand-outs include Brad Dexter as a sleaze-ball crook, even more cunning than the homicidal private eye he played in Asphalt Jungle; and Jack Lambert, brilliantly playing the Dum-Dum psycho as always, as in The Killers, TheEnforcer.

99 River Street - 'B' Movie Hell, Pulp Noir Heaven!

Crime Wave (1953)

Pulp Fiction Boiled Rock Hard

[10/10 · 6 June 2005]

Simply one of the best hard boiled noir films I have seen. Sterling Hayden is, as usual, excellent, while a very young Charles Bronson is surprisingly good as a 'punk' hood. Seems to feature nearly all scenes as location, or hand-held camera and it seems at times like a particularly effective episode of a 50s TV cop show - except that the content is much more brutal and sharp. This is a dark, dark film both in storyline and in the quite brilliant photography. I'd really love to see this neglected classic come out on a restored print on DVD. Isn't it time Criterion updated their 'noir' list? This cries out for restoration and a re-release.

Pursuit to Algiers (1945)

Dashed Good Fun

[7/10 · 17 May 2005]

Please make sure and get the UCLA restored version of this classic on DVD. There are some appalling Public Domain versions of the Rathbone/Bruce series floating about, especially in the U.K., which seem to have been ripped from poor quality VHS tapes, and they're worse than VCD quality. You'll certainly enjoy this series even more if you see them in good quality prints. Pursuit To Algiers is not the best of the series - that honour goes to SH and the Spider Woman - but it's very certainly worth watching, as it contains some delightful moments, although the storyline is a bit thin. Poor old Watson is put upon, as usual, while Holmes has, at least, the sense to keep his hair tidily back-combed in this episode, unlike others in the series where his barnet is all over the place. This is one to come back to again and again - a cosy evening in front of the fire, and Holmes and Watson off on a chase. But remember! Do yourself and your family a favour and get the RESTORED version. Avoid the market cheapies!

Son of Dracula (1943)

psycho-billy spooktastic craziness in the vampiric swamps

[8/10 · 19 January 2005]

This film is actually much better than you might think - much better than some of the others in this Universal series, like House of Dracula, for example, which features a whole roster of horror characters, but no plot whatsoever. Son of Dracula, on the other hand, does have a fairly reasonable plot, special effects which are excellent for the period, and a very good performance from Lon Chaney Jr. as the Count. Chaney is much better than you might expect, and although obviously not in the same vampiric league as Lugosi, is much more credible than John Caradine, who starred as Dracula in others in this series. At times, you can *almost* forget that Chaney is forever typecast as the Wolfman, and suspend disbelief in his portrayal as the Romanian - but with an American accent - Count. Apart from that, you have here all the ingredients for a psycho-billy treat - steaming Southern swamps, Gothic Southern mansions, creepy fortune tellers, raven haired Gothic beauties, and even hot roadster coupes - yep, all this in a in a Dracula movie. Just a shame that the original Meteors or the Cramps didn't get to play on the soundtrack! So, don't dismiss this as another ragbag filler - it's actually quite entertaining.

Shark Tale (2004)

stinks like a very dead fish

[1/10 · 31 October 2004]

Too cute for my liking, and so plugged into b-celeb pop trash culture as to be unbearable. A real McMovie, which in about three weeks time is going to seem as outdated as Duran Duran. Even De Niro and Scorcese get on my nerves - now becoming even less than a parody of themselves. Perhaps they thought it would be fun, but it AIN'T, guys. Will Smith is totally unfunny, as usual, and is as amusing as a cheesegrater rubbing on a bunion. Smart alec remarks that are stale, and all the sparkling wit of a mouldy cabbage. Really third rate and poor. This only goes to show how really wonderfully talented Eddie Murphy [whom he obviously hopes to emulate here] in Shrek is. Smith is simply completely untalented, in comparison.

Everyone I talk to who has seen this movie has a low opinion of it - avoid.

Border Incident (1949)

Absolutely First Class

[2 September 2004]

* contains spoilers *

A first class little thriller, which contains scenes of violence [torture by electric shock] and death [by farm tractor and harrow!] which were surely very explicit for its period, and remain quite shocking today. Also shocking is the idea that Ricardo Montalban's character is unable to prevent the death of his fellow-agent. Expectations are upset - can a hero really be allowed to die [at least one user, below, has been upset by the film's refusal to follow the set formula] ?

And yes, it IS noir [although that is surely a subjective term], for the photography, the bleakness, the cynicism...

Deserves a place in the collection of anyone interested in late 40s US film. Excellent.

On the Beach (1959)

every bit as boring as the book

[1/10 · 1 September 2004]

A dull as dishwater portrayal of Nevil Shute's extremely bleak and boring book. This is a portrayal of a post-apocalyptic landscape, and virtually all interesting life has been wiped out - all that remains is 1950s Australia - yes, things are THAT bad.

Yes, the photography is excellent, and the shots of the sub very well done... but there is a complete absence of any real story or drama. The viewer ends up bored, and not giving a damn about ANY of the characters. Ava Gardner and Fred Astaire, are quite frankly, ridiculous... while Gregory Peck looks vaguely embarrassed right throughout the proceedings.

This is a message [anti-nuke] movie which would make even the most ardent supporter of CND wish for a quick Neutron bomb strike to put everyone out of their misery. A dreadful waste of time. Avoid.