The Adventures of Robin Hood

Posted on March 29, 2016 by jaycluitt

When King Richard is taken captive in Europe in 1191, his villainous brother Prince John usurps the throne, raising taxes dramatically and forcing many of his subjects into poverty. Enter Sir Robin of Locksley (Errol Flynn), the self-proclaimed greatest archer in the land, who amasses an army of townsfolk and loyal followers, with the intention of righting Prince John’s misdeeds, and winning the heart of Lady Marian (Olivia DeHavilland), who is to be wed to John’s right hand man, Sir Guy of Gisbourne (Basil Rathbone).
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Rocco and His Brothers

Posted on March 20, 2016 by jaycluitt

This review was originally written for Blueprint: Review.

After the death of her husband, Rosario Parondi (Paxinou) takes her four youngest sons Simone (Salvatori), Rocco (Delon), Ciro (Cartier) and Luca (Vidolazzi) to stay with their oldest brother Vincenzo (Focás) in Milan. However, Vincenzo is trying to build his own life there, having just celebrated his engagement to Ginetta (Cardinale). The family are forced to stay in very humble lodgings, all sharing one room and not enough beds, whilst the boys struggle to find work in the city. Eventually the multitude of vices commonplace to city life begin to drive the brothers apart, especially by the beautiful yet troubled Nadia (Girardot).
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Naked Lunch

Posted on March 11, 2016 by jaycluitt

A bug exterminator, Bill Lee (Peter Weller) discovers the supply of his bright yellow bug-killing powder is running low, because it turns out his wife Joan (Judy Davis) has been shooting it up like heroin. Bill gives the powder/drug a try too, leading to some rather bizarre possible-hallucinations involving giant bugs, alien-like creatures and who knows what else?
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The Adventures of Prince Achmed

Posted on March 4, 2016 by jaycluitt

A magician known as the African Sorcerer conjures up a flying horse, which he refuses to sell for anything other than the Caliph’s daughter, Princess Dinarsade. Disgusted at the notion, Dinarsade’s brother Prince Achmed is convinced by the Sorcerer to ride the horse, but he is only shown how to make it fly up – pulling the lever at the horse’s head – but not how to make it come down – a similar lever at the tail. The Prince flies ever higher, unable to control the horse, until he eventually descends in a strange land, and that’s only where his adventures begin.
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Juliet of the Spirits

Posted on March 1, 2016 by jaycluitt

A woman, Giulietta (director Federico Fellini’s wife, Giulietta Masina), suspects her husband Giorgio (Mario Pisu) is having an affair, as he forgets their anniversary, takes her successful, attractive friends to events and says the names of other women in his sleep. Instead of confronting him, Giulietta begins to experience more of life with the help of her more sexually adventurous neighbour (Sandra Milo).
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In The Heat Of The Night

Posted on February 22, 2016 by jaycluitt

When wealthy businessman Phillip Colbert is found dead by a patrolling policeman in Sparta, Mississippi, Officer Sam Wood (Warren Oates) immediately assumes that the African American found loitering at the train station with excess cash in his wallet is the prime suspect, and his chief, Gillespie (Rod Steiger) is inclined to agree. That is until they discover the man, Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier), is an acclaimed and learned homicide detective from Philadelphia, who had been waiting for a connecting train after visiting his mother. After being prejudiced against and treated poorly, Tibbs wants nothing more than to catch his train and head home, but his own captain insists he stay and, when Colbert’s widow (Lee Grant) makes the same demand after Tibbs shows more detective skills than the Sparta force, Tibbs and Gillespie have no choice but to work together until the case is solved. tibbs Continue reading →

Inglourious Basterds

Posted on February 20, 2016 by jaycluitt

In France during World War 2, SS Col. Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) is known as the “Jew Hunter” for his propensity for catching Jewish fugitives hiding from the Nazi party. Meanwhile, Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) has been tasked with building a team of his “Basterds,” predominantly Jewish-American soldiers sent in to kill as many Nazis as possible. Finally, Jewish cinema owner Shosanna Dreyfus (Melanie Laurent) has caught the eye of war hero Private Fredrick Zoller (Daniel Bruhl), whose exploits have been made into a film, Nation’s Pride, which Zoller aims to have premier at Shosanna’s theatre, only for her to hatch a plan to take out as many Nazi officers as possible.
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The Breakfast Club

Posted on January 31, 2016 by jaycluitt

One Saturday, five kids from different social cliques are all brought in for a day’s detention. Over the course of the day, they’ll find that their generic labels – the athlete (Emilio Estevez), the princess (Molly Ringwald), the brain (Anthony Michael Hall), the criminal (Judd Nelson) and the basket case (Ally Sheedy) – may not reveal every detail about their respective personalities.
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Breakfast at Tiffany’s

Posted on January 31, 2016 by jaycluitt

In New York, a horrid freeloader by the name of Holly Golightly flitters through life utterly oblivious to how vile and despicable she is, mooching off everyone, never doing anything to benefit society and aiding criminals along the way. She receives a new upstairs neighbour, Paul Varjak (George Peppard), whom she insists on calling Fred because that’s how frustrating a creature she is. Paul is a semi-failed penniless writer working as a sort-of escort on the side. He is bemused by Holly’s lifestyle and inexplicably falls for her, despite her gold-digging tendencies and his own significant lack of funds.
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Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

Posted on January 31, 2016 by jaycluitt

Best friend singing-dancing double act Dorothy Shaw (Jane Russell) and Lorelei Lee (Marilyn Monroe) have very different approaches to love. Dorothy is looking for a penniless hunk for a night of passion, whilst Lorelei is content settling down with her bookish but extremely wealthy fiancé Gus Edmond (Tommy Noonan). When Gus’ father imposes upon the upcoming wedding, Lorelei and Dorothy jump aboard a cruise ship to Paris, with the intention that Gus will join them at a later date and they will have the wedding in France. However, once aboard the ship the wealth-obsessed gold-digging Lorelei soon finds her attention drawn to Sir Francis “Piggy” Beekman, the owner of a diamond mine.
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