Paul-Anderson Movie Reviews

When I was very little, about twenty years ago, I remember watching a movie with these puppets with my brother and all I remembered was the name "Thunderbirds". I kept remembering that I liked the movie and thought it was neat, almost like a James Bond type of cleverness. I was looking it up on the internet the other day to see if it would ever be playing on any cable stations and found that is was only playing in Europe. Then I thought to look it up here at Amazon, and found many of the Thunderbirds movies. It brought back a lot of memories. I bought this video for myself and my two boys - ages 7 and 8. I wasn't sure how they would like it as compared to today's moves, but they ended up liking it alot. What really impressed them was the cool ships and the James Bond like atmosphere and equipment. The fact that the puppet's mouths didn't always look like what they were saying didn't bother them much. And there actually was more action in the movie than I remembered even though the start of the movie was slow. I thought that Zero - X ship was never going to get off the ground! I can't believe Amazon still sells these old movies and am so glad they do. I plan on buying the other videos.

Entertaining feature length version of the famous 1960s kids show. Special effects are very impressive considering the technology of the day . There's a great sense of humour at work in this film. The Cliff Richard send - up is a riot. I was lucky enough to see it up on the silver screen at "The Astor Theatre" here in Melbourne earlier this year. It was presented on a double bill together with "Thuderbird 6" which was the sequel as I understand. The latter title wasn't quite as good as the first but still fun. "Thuderbirds are Go" is almost the "Fantasia" of the stop action / diorama school of film making. Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's masterpiece.

As a child, I enjoyed Gerry Anderson's other supermarionation productions; Supercar, Stingray, and most notably Fireball XL5. When Fireball went off the air, I was despondent until the release of the Thunderbirds. I watched the television broadcasts religiously. Thunderbirds Are Go and Thunderbird 6 are fantastic movies that are now being enjoyed daily by my four year and myself. My only critisism is that the full complement of craft are not represented in either of the feature length productions. Anyway, I'm happy to see the television broadcasts are being released February 27, 2001. That is my birthday and my son (and daughter) have promised me this special gift. F.A.B. Here's to living in the futuristic past. ~T

Some explorers find a man that has been frozen inside ice for thousands of years. This man (John Lone) is believed to be a Neanderthal and a hunter from the age of the caveman. Some scientists decide to thaw him and and do some experiments on him. However, after the caveman comes back to life, the scientists get more than what they bargained for. The scientists still want to use him as an experiment, except for one of them. One scientist (Timothy Hutton) starts to treat the caveman as a real person instead of a lab specimen. Since the caveman has been frozen for thousands of years, he doesn't know what to think when he observes a water hose, a helicopter, and some of the people's language and expressions.

"Iceman" is one of the slowest paced movies I've ever seen. However, it is captivating to imagine a caveman coming back to life after being frozen for thousands of years. John Lone also does a great job acting as the caveman. Since it is a captivating idea and the actor did a great job, it keeps "Iceman" from being a boring movie. It's actually pretty good and overlooked.

If you've ever wondered what life was like back in the age of the caveman and if you wonder what it'd be like if a person from this day in age was to meet a real caveman, I recommend getting "Iceman."

Iceman is perhaps the most overlooked great sci-fi film of the 80's. Whether you're interested in anthropology, medical/scientific ethics or just a thought-provoking story on what it means to be human, try to take the time to watch this film.

I saw this movie when it first came out without foreknowledge. I expected either a horror film or a campy fish-out-of-water story - the typical Hollywood garbage we were getting in the mid-80's. And today, for that matter ("Hollow Man" comes to mind...) I was expecting laughable scenes of a prehistoric man boarding a NYC subway train and not being noticed...or something like that. But from the opening scene and credits, I knew I was in for something different. Smeaton's music here is particularly evocative of the elegiac mood of this movie.

John Lone does a magnificent job portraying a credible and sympathetic Neanderthal man. Not an easy job. Lindsay Crouse and Timothy Hutton (WHAT ever happened to them? Crouse was also good in House of Games...) are perfect as scientists with competing interests who eventually come together to realize the iceman's 40,000 year-old quest. The entire film is set in and around an arctic research laboratory that, conveniently, contains a large climate-controlled vivarium where Hutton is allowed to do his thing (cultural anthropology). The iceman, at least initially unaware of his true surroundings, is kept here between sessions subjecting him to medical experiments by the competing team using him as merely a specimen in their attempt to find the "cryoprotectant" that enabled him to be revivafied.

If this sounds boring, it's my fault in not conveying the mood of this film. But the sci-fi part is really only half the story. There is some great interaction; Hutton and the iceman singing "Heart of Gold" around a campfire for instance. Or the iceman "telling" about his children who he doesn't know have been dead for 40,000 years. Or the startled and bemused look of a scientist as he's speared through the chest with a stick by a frightened prehistoric Neanderthal in a laboratory basement. And of course the ending. Which is, surprisingly, quite satisfying.

ok, so everyone thinks it's a humane story, touching blah blah, but personally I only like it as it is the best worst film I have ever seen. The tenuosity of someone being able to thaw out after thousands of years and come alive, without the freezing of the water in every cell not rupturing it from the inside is usually saved for a more tongue in cheek comedy (caveman?). The beardy scientist who looks a bit neanderthal-esque is also a nice touch. But the highlight is the scene at the end with the 15 minute dialogue from a caveman who hasn't developed vocal chords (meaouu ugh ugh). I use this film as a benchmark for every other bad film I watch, and so far none have beaten it. can't wait to proudly have it in my collection.

When I was a kid (maybe 8 or 9) I remember seeing this on the TV with my Dad (a big fan of 50's sci fi), and I thought it was the scariest thing I'd ever seen. Frankenstein didn't even begin to compare. Recommended, but don't show it to your kid, unless you want them to wake up screaming.

There is something grotesquely ironic about seeing former First Lady Nancy Regan as the caretaker of a disembodied brain bent on world conquest--but at the time the movie first appeared the great irony in casting concerned actor Lew Ayres, who was best remembered as for his screen series as the respectable and responsible Dr. Kildaire, and who here plays a mad scientist. One way or another, cult-film enthusiasts will have tremendous fun with this one. But even so, DONOVAN'S BRAIN has a lot more going for it than cult-film appeal: the story line continues to resonate in the modern era of medical ethics issues, the script is surprisingly intelligent, and the director and actors play it out at a snappy pace.

Based on a successful novel, DONOVAN'S BRAIN concerns a scientist (Ayers) who is experimenting with keeping monkey brains alive in tanks--and when a nearby plane crash lands a terminal accident victim on his surgery table he presses his wife (Nancy Davis, later Regan) and surgical sidekick (Gene Evans) into recovering a human brain for his work. And he succeeds beyond all expection. Trouble is, the brain belongs to a truly evil multi-millionaire who wants to take over the world, and under Ayres care the brain grows... and begins to exert an unexpectedly nasty psychic influence on those around it.

Ayres was a gifted leading man whose credits ranged from ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT to JOHNNY BELINDA, and the film owes much of its success to his talents; Gene Evans is also quite good as the drunken surgeon Ayres befriends. As for Nancy, she is clearly a B-Movie actress, but she is a surprisingly competent one. Cult fans will have a field day, but the movie is too interesting as a whole to be designated such pure and simple; it has a lot going for it, and just about every one who sees it will have a good time. Recommended.

Heres one that just gets better with time. I saw this movie years ago and ordered it with just a vague memory of the theme. Wow! The former first lady has her hands full fighting for her husbands life. The brain grows stronger and more deadly as the movie progresses. MGM Midnight movies are fast becoming my favorite source for classic sci-fi. The price being right is one reason and the other is the high quality of picture and sound. A must see for any fan of sci-fi from the golden age. This review is for the DVD!

The issue of leaking information to the press has been around for years, and this film does its best to illustrate how badly it can backfire when the sources aren't properly checked and re-checked.

Having said that, and being a journalist myself, I just want to shoot Sally Field for her gross violations of journalist ethics. Getting involved with the subject? No how, no way. It just isn't done. If you can accept this HUGE leap of journalistic and editorial faith, then the rest of the movie is a breeze.

Aside from Newman, I think the best performance in the movie is one of the briefest...Wilford Brimley as the U.S. Attorney who gets to the bottom of the mess. It's just a pleasure to watch him go through the paces of tearing Bob Balaban's little vendetta all to pieces, and to experience his grudging approval to let Newman walk.

Sally Field is an earnest but ambitious newspaper reporter who skirts the boundaries of journalism ethics - a term not yet regarded as an oxymoron when this movie came out in the early 80s - and Paul Newman is the unfairly indicted son of a south Florida mobster. Field chases her story with unintended tragic consequences and sparks fly between her and Newman, in more ways than one.

The real strength of the movie is in the fine acting. Newman and Field are in top form but it is the supporting roles which catch your attention. The then little known character actor Wilford Brimley shows up in the third reel as a down-home U.S. prosecutor and walks off with the movie. "At the end of today two things are gonna be true that ain't true now. One is we're going to know what in the good Christ has been going on down here, and two is I'm going to have somebody's ass in my briefcase." "Wonderful thing, subpeenees." Bob Balaban is also vivid as an overzealous prosecutor whose ruse sets the plot in motion.

If you like this one, you may also like "Independence Day." Not the recent studio blockbuster starring Will Smith but a "small" movie from the early 80s featuring tight writing and a terrific ensemble cast, with Kathleen Quinlan and David Keith in the leading parts and Dianne Wiest in an unforgettable supporting role.

Not quite a star-studded flick, but chock full of subtly forceful personalities. Paul Newman plays Gallagher, a crusty but otherwise legit Florida-based liquor wholesaler whose life is turned upside-down when the Miami Standard fingers him as a possible material witness. Under current laws regarding libel, Newman can always sue the paper for libel. However, the law sets a higher standard of wrongdoing to be proven when the victim is a public-figure. (The distinction was meant to prevent public officials from using libel laws to block any criticism of their actions - most notably in the case of southern police officials during the early civil-rights years; unfortunately for Gallagher, the laws have been expanded to cover any figure in the public eye, whether he's there by choice or despite it.) Because the Standard acts without malice, and only reports what's been leaked to it by a shifty DoJ official (Bob Balaban), the fact that the story itself is actually incorrect is irrelevant. While DoJ hopes to pressure Gallagher to turn state's evidence, or somehow lead them to somebody who can, the newspaper hopes Gallagher will come forward and give his own spin. (Exaggeration is an often-used media tactic - one hoped to pressure a story's subject to reflexively come forward and give a story that, while less spectacular, is nonetheless worse off now that it's been confirmed.) While Gallagher comes forward, and hooks up with Sally Field as the Standard's ace reporter, he soon finds another way to wreak havoc - by turning his enemies against each other.

There's something satisfying about the deceptive ease with which Gallagher turns the media against itself, but the resolution is unsatisfying. Wilford Brimley plays the Assistant Attorney General who gets everybody honest by threatening to make people talk under oath. (We get the point, people have no problem saying anything as long as they don't have to stand by it.) The last scene is essentially Brimley's one-man show, one that upstages Sally Fields's character's turn-about: rather than disclose Gallagher as the source of her latest story, she's willing to take the fall for him. Her logic is impeccable - somebody is going to take the blame and the fall no matter what. Why not her? If anything, the film disappoints in underplaying the attraction between the two, which only makes you wonder whether her denouement is one of journalistic integrity or love. Instead, we cheer that Brimley will get to tell the media what he thinks (and nobody in this room is going to like what I have to say, he warns) and the way he exacts retribution (you're no White House appointee, he tells Balaban's character. "The one who hired you, is me." Start packing).

If you've ever wondered what it takes to succeed as a cop in a Third World country like Jamaica, writer/director Chris Browne has a simple answer for you -- be as ruthless as the criminals. But despite the charisma of lead actor Paul Campbell ("Dancehall Queen"), it's hard to root for a lawman with an itchier trigger finger than all the bad guys in the film combined. Consequently, his childhood friend, Ratty (Mark Danvers), a dancehall promoter by day/gunrunner by night comes across as the better man simply because he's that much less violent. Of course, it's possible that we're meant to see Ratty's importing and distribution of weaponry as the *means* by which gunfire continues to fill the air of Kingston Town as loudly and as insistently as dancehall. But never fear! Campbell's Capone, like De Niro before him, proceeds to "wipe the scum off the streets" until there's no scum left to wipe. And that may very well make him a successful cop...but at what cost? That will have to wait for another movie. Nonetheless, fans of Carribean culture will probably want to check out what has become the most successful Jamaican film of all time (despite camera work that often makes it looks like a home movie). Music by Sly and Robbie and featuring an appearance by veteran actor, Carl Bradshaw ("The Harder They Come") as Ratty's boss, The Don.

This is a great movie, especially if you like "Dancehall Queen". Paul Campbell does a great job as Capone and Carl Bradshaw is excellent as usual as the crime boss. While the story is somewhat generic it is still well worth watching.

I bought this video because it had some of the same actors as "Dancehall Queen" and boy did I get my monies worth! I like that Paul Campbell, the bad guy in "Dancehall Queen", is the hero in "Third World Cop". I enjoyed the interplay of action, drama, and comedy. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoyed "Dancehall Queen" and does not mind some non-graphic violence.

Last evening, I skipped the traditional televised holiday fare and watched Edward Dmytryk's "Walk On The Wild Side" (Columbia Pictures, 1962). Let's just say that the next time you're having friends over for melba toast and you're looking for the perfect over-the-top extravaganza to project on to the living room wall, this should be the featured attraction. Barbara Stanwyck is the lesbian owner of a New Orleans brothel known as "The Doll House." Glamorous Capucine (a 60's version of Garbo)is the most popular call girl since Holly Golightly and coveted by both her butch madame and a drifter named Dove (not kidding) played by the inscrutable Laurence Harvey. Add a youthful Jane Fonda (in her bulimic period) and a miscast Anne Baxter as a Mexican diner owner (cascading dark wig, inauthentic accent and all) and you've got one mesmerically curious flick. Oh, did I forget to mention that the entire thing kicks off with a title sequence in which two felines (one black, one white) engage in a vicious catfight punctuated by Elmer Bernstein's pulsating jazz score? Meow! They sure as hell don't make e'm like this anymore! - Mark Griffin ("Genre" Magazine)

This cinematic adaption of Nelson Algren 1930's New Orleans classic novel suffers by the dated censorship of the early 1960's, given its content love, morals and prositution, it needs the free rein of the post 1970 era to achieve its full impact. Laurence Harvey, gifted, elegant, articulate (Hebraic and English/Luithanian) is miscast a bit and asked to play a Texas farmer of high morals seeking lost love in a den of iniquity, the Big Easy, encounters beauty after beauty who adore and want him whom he spurns for his lost love! The beauties are respectively, Jane Fonda, Anne Baxter, Jo Anna Moore and all for the love of the abstract remote and cold Capucine! Brook Benton title song is classic and the direction excellent, Barbara Stanwyck leads the cast of villans who are all superb. Only the censors and the extreme reach called for by Mr. Harvey are the only flaws here. In all his other roles, Mr. Harvey is superb, alas,he died too soon, of cancer.

I wish this movie would be released on DVD. I would buy it for the soundtrack alone. Elmer Bernstein does the music, and it is fabulous, but to-date Varese Sarabande (who owns the rights) see no need to release the soundtrack on CD. I wish womeone would release this movie on DVD.

You might consider this a ultra-typical, run-of-the-mill, almost ordinary John Wayne Western, in which the hero makes a grand and mysterious entrance and finishes the bad guy with a no-BS finale. Yet in between all this is a wonderful movie, with good performances and an intriguing plot.

The story of Katie Elder and her strong sons are what entertained me the most. The brothers return home for their mother Katie's funeral, disliked and unwanted by most everyone in Clearwater, and yet the townsfolk can't help themselves in their praise for Katie. Also, there is some mystery concerning how their father died 6 months earlier, and how Katie lost the family ranch, and as the Duke and company begin to ask questions, you get a real sense of the "Wild Elder Brothers" and a town about to explode into violence.

Little things make this movie seem kinda amateurish, like the fact that 55+ Wayne plays brother to an 18 year old kid, or the guns-a-blazin' "Go, Duke!" finale. The entire movie has that typical 1960s feel, as if the movie was made for television (it was probably shot on a TV-sized budget) and it shows in the acting and the laughable music. Still, the rough-housing scenes between the brothers are great and the mystery of their parents make for some great entertainment. 4 stars for Wayne or Western fans.

In this movie, John Wayne plays a character most of us who are familiar with his movies have seen before--a tough never-do-well man, too stubborn to stay out of trouble and too tender at heart to avoid ultimately doing the right thing. Wayne plays John Elder, the eldest son of the deceased Katie Elder, for whose funeral John returns home. Also returning are his three younger brothers: Tom (Dean Martin), Matt (Earl Holliman) , and Bud (Michael Anderson Jr.).

The brothers are prevented from mourning their mother adequately by a scheming entrepreneur named Hastings, who swindled the Elders' parents out of their ranch. It falls on the shoulders of the Elders to redress their mother's loss of the ranch, and try to earn enough money to force Bud to go back to college (that is what Katie wanted).

The plot of this movie is interesting enough--it is distinctly typical of John Wayne and yet innovative enough to not be a cookie-cutter type story. Most of the acting in the movie is poor, especially that of Hastings and his accomplice, Curly. The bad acting (Wayne's is not the best of his career, but not bad, either) is offset, however, by the great performance of Dean Martin, who never fails to impress me in Western roles. All in all, this is probably not a timeless Western classic, but it is good. Anyone who enjoys Westerns should be satisfied with The Sons of Katie Elder.

As John Wayne got older it seemed his movies got better and better. The Sons of Katie Elder is no exception. The Duke is his usual heroic, brawling type with Dean Martin, Earl Holliman, and Michael Anderson Jr. as his brothers. The relationship between the four brothers is very believable especially as they do their "house cleaning." Good storyline with great ending with the ambush and confrontation in the Hastings gun store. Excellent supporting cast with Paul Fix, Jeremy Slate, George Kennedy, and Dennis Hopper in an early role. Well worth the money for DVD with widescreen presentation and the theatrical trailer

Here's the plot- some cool criminals in a not too distant future industrial London steal cars, only to drive them into posh shopping malls to loot what they can before hearing police sirens, basically for the rush- wicked. This debut from PAUL ANDERSON (EVENT HORIZON) is a nifty little film that manages to exite in it's short running time. Gritty and well acted by some up and comming English talent (SEAN PERTWEE is excellent as usual as a tough scumbag), this flick has some slick production for an indie. A movie that looks good, moves with purpose, and draws the viewer into a world of grime and crime is always worth it.

This is one of those films that you have to watch, if not have. The lo-budget rawness of the acting, nihilistic action and setting really make this one stand out more than anything than Paul Anderson has done (Event Horizon, Mortal Kombat and other big-budget busts).

Immediately I was intrigued by the performances of Sadie Frost and Jude Law and by the gritty, post-industrial setting of the Bowery-equivalent of London.

Paul Anderson defintely has a knack for picking the best techno soundtracks, remember Mortal Kombat? Go see it and then buy it. It's not even a cult film yet but it will be!

Riveting drama with first class direction by Anderson and excellent performances by leads Sadie Frost and Jude Law (who incidentally are now married in real life). Wonderful noir-ish photography in the industrial wastelands of London masks the fact that the car chases are not really as high octane as they seem (the Police drive Ford Sierras for goodness sake). Dated now, particularly by its thumping soundtrack but still a film which proves beyond doubt that high budgets are not necessary for good movies. Don't miss the opening sequence, Pertwee and Bean's sinister villains and the violent ending. A film that will have you thinking about right and wrong and offers some real insight into youths who sincerely believe that theft is property. Not for the squeamish.

Ok, so I'm a Biehn fan. His talents were totally wasted on this movie. Only die-hard Adrian Paul and Biehn fans will appreciate this movie, and that's just because so few of their movies make it to meaningful/wide release. I'm a feminist, too, but the plot of a practically entirely female platoon behind enemy lines to disarm a No. Koren nuclear facility is too much.

I purchased this video due to Adrian Paul's presence in the cast. Paul is one of my favorite actors and, in my opinion, one of the most attractive men on the screen today. This 1997 outing is definitely not for kids -- there is a great deal of violence. I won't give away plot points, but I did find some of the scenarios highly improbable. I would recommend this as a novelty to any fan of Adrian Paul, but that's about as far as it goes.

Lots of fun, lots of action. The title doesn't make much sense, but if you like military action stuff, you'll like this movie!

Often, after seeing a movie, I wish I had spent my time more wisely. Not so with this film! My 7 and a half year old son both enjoyed this film. It has lots of laughs, a good-hearted responsible child as its hero, an adequate storyline, and features -- drumroll, please -- involved parents. Wow!

Make more of these, Hollywood. And if you're wondering why there weren't more box office revenues from the film, look at the Marketing budget you allocated to Good Boy vs. Spider Man.

This was a really a cute movie that I enjoyed (age 58), as well as my 10 yr old grandson! Lots of belly laughs throughout, and a clever story. As a family movie I rate it 5 star.

Here is a wonderful, beautiful, delightful movie that conjurs images of "E.T" and "Beethoven". It's a wonderful break from flaky action-figure heroes and animated Barbies. Owen adopts a unique terrier who is actually from the dog star Sirius. He tries to make the "Earth Dogs" look like they are in control of humans, since that was their mission, and his owner, "Owen" happily goes along, not wanting all the dogs in the world to be sent back to Sirius for retraining. But when two bullies change that, Owen and "Hubble" must convince the Greater Dane that dogs belong on earth. I laughed and cried during this film, and I came out with a new revelation of how precious dogs are to us.