An apology to Rolfw and others...

[Saturlight]

...with my caustic remarks about the Shamkshaw Redemption. If you like it, ok, but I really dislike the amount of praise heaped on this average low budget film, with then a cast of unknowns, and basically one set. It was a film made on a shoestring.

Not that there aren't any shoestring movies that are good, but this is ok, at its very most.

It's just to me the story is absurd. Robbins spends 40 years in jail, from about 30 to 70 years old. Then crawls through a sewer as long as 15 football pitches, and splashes out into the river, and raises himself up, tears his shirt off - ALL LIKE THE SPRING CHICKEN HE WAS, 40 YEARS AGO! If that's not stupid, Lord knows what is. By rights, he should have looked like the old guy who hanged himself.

I am sorry. In all my years I have been watching and following the cinema, Shamshank probably rates well into the lower thousands. Not, at number two! No way. So like I say, I know some of you guys have bought it on DVD, and that's fair enough. I bought Dr Terror's House of Horrors (1964) on DVD, and some people hate that.

We all have our opinions. ;)

And since this is the new critics forum, there's a few other films I'd like to slate and praise.

 

[mhku]

Tim Robbins character (in the film) enters the prison is 1946 and escapes in 1966. (wikipedia)

He is his mid-20's when he enters the prison. (screenplay)

 

[Saturlight]

Still, 20 years is a long time, to remain the same...

Not an ounce of extra fat. No baldness. And what about the other guy, his buddy? He was definitely in his mid to late 40s in 1946, making him nearing 70 by 1966. Yet he still looked the same, and had all that energy to walk through the countryside to find Robbins' letter.

And why should he want to work for Robbins at the age of 67? After all that time in prison, I'd want to relax, not start a business.

Anyway, you have your opinion, and I have mine. It sucks from my point of view.

Sorry.

 

[jimbo]

No problem and no need to apologise for your opinion. I don't mind who disagrees with whom and would only get involved if there were any abuse or something like it.

 

[Saturlight]

Cheers, Jimbo, you cannot beat constructive criticism. And I hope I was constructive, with just a teeny bit of venom! ;)

 

[rolfw]

As Jimbo says, we have no problem with criticism of a film, as long as things don't get personal or insulting.

I wouldn't call your crtiicism on that particular film constructive, "put the masters in a furnace" would probably be more constructive. ;) But it is your opinion and everyone is entitled air their opinions in this section.

I never expect as much as you obviously do from a film, even the highly acclaimed ones, sometimes I like to be challenged, sometimes, merely entertained, but normally if it entertains me, then I'll enjoy it.

 

[Saturlight]

As Jimbo says, we have no problem with criticism of a film, as long as things don't get personal or insulting.

I wouldn't call your crtiicism on that particular film constructive, "put the masters in a furnace" would probably be more constructive. ;) But it is your opinion and everyone is entitled air their opinions in this section.

I never expect as much as you obviously do from a film, even the highly acclaimed ones, sometimes I like to be challenged, sometimes, merely entertained, but normally if it entertains me, then I'll enjoy it.

Hey, Rolfw, how about a Criticising The Critics section?

Thanks for your reply. And I am glad you like the movie...unfotunately, not my cup of tea. But I bet you hated Vampire Circus...

 

[rolfw]

LOl, no, can't say that I remember watching it, but if it was a Friday night after the pub rental, then who knows?

 

[Channel Hopper]

Lust for a Vampire is the best Horror film (in my collection).
But the Doctor Phibes duo are put on a couple of times a year.

 

[Llew]

A minor British classic (in my opinion) is 'Death Line', starring Donald Pleasance. More ghoulish than your usual Hammer flick, it sometimes crops up (I believe with some cuts) late on Sky Movies.

Unsubtly titled on US release as 'Raw Meat', I saw it at the cinema in the early '70's and it chilled the hell out of me.

Pleasance stole the show as a (sometimes drunk) police inspector, but the scenes in the London Underground showing the remains of wayward travellers hanging on meathooks was a real 'gorefest'.

My abiding memory is that of the resident killer repeating the call 'Mind the Doors' as the only phrase he ever heard, having lived all his life in the tube.

When a film sticks in the mind long after having seen it (only seen it once since) it becomes a personal film classic, even if it may have been panned by critics and others on release.

Llew

 

[Saturlight]

Lust for a Vampire is the best Horror film (in my collection).
But the Doctor Phibes duo are put on a couple of times a year.

I agree there, I lurve horror! Ever seen Wolf Creek?

 

[Saturlight]

A minor British classic (in my opinion) is 'Death Line', starring Donald Pleasance. More ghoulish than your usual Hammer flick, it sometimes crops up (I believe with some cuts) late on Sky Movies.

Unsubtly titled on US release as 'Raw Meat', I saw it at the cinema in the early '70's and it chilled the hell out of me.

Pleasance stole the show as a (sometimes drunk) police inspector, but the scenes in the London Underground showing the remains of wayward travellers hanging on meathooks was a real 'gorefest'.

My abiding memory is that of the resident killer repeating the call 'Mind the Doors' as the only phrase he ever heard, having lived all his life in the tube.

When a film sticks in the mind long after having seen it (only seen it once since) it becomes a personal film classic, even if it may have been panned by critics and others on release.

Llew

I also lurve the British flick, Vault of Horror (1973). Got it on DVD.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070868/