Mark at the movies No 3

 

Prey.(2021)

In 1719 in the Great Plains, Naru, a young Comanche woman trained as a healer, dreams of becoming a great hunter like her brother, Tanabe. While tracking deer with her dog, Sarai, she witnesses the lights of an alien Predator's spacecraft, which she interprets as a Thunderbird, taking it as a sign to prove herself. At the village, one of their tribe's hunters has been taken by a mountain lion. Tanabe says Naru can come to the search party, but only so she can provide medical treatment if they find the hunter alive. They retrieve the wounded hunter and depart, though Tanabe stays behind to find and kill the big cat. Finding large unusual tracks and a meticulously skinned rattlesnake, Naru circles back with 

 and finds Tanabe. Together the three set a trap for the mountain lion but it kills Peake.

Naru faces off with the big cat on the branch of a tree but, after being distracted by the strange sounds and lights of the Predator in the distance, falls and strikes her head. She wakes up in her family home, having been carried back by Tanabe. He later returns to the village carrying the dead mountain lion, earning him the title of War Chief. Convinced of a greater threat they've never seen before, Naru departs with Sarai. She comes across a herd of skinned bison left to rot on the plains. She is baffled by the wasteful slaughter and says a prayer for their spirits. Eventually, she stumbles into a mud-filled bog pit, which nearly swallows her before she escapes. Naru and Sarai are later attacked by a grizzly bear. As they flee for their lives, the bear is killed by the Predator, giving Naru time to escape before running into a group of Comanche sent to find her. The Predator ambushes and kills the men in combat, while Naru is caught in a foothold trap; the Predator leaves as it no longer sees her as a threat.

French voyageurs, responsible for slaughtering the bison, come to check their trap, find Naru, and cage her. Their translator, Raphael Adolini, questions Naru about the Predator, who the Frenchmen have encountered before. When she refuses to talk, the lead voyageur reveals that he has Taabe captive and tortures him before using both siblings as bait for the Predator. While tied to a tree, Tanabe admits to his sister that she had weakened the mountain lion, enabling him to kill it. The Predator kills most of the Frenchmen while Tanabe and Naru escape. Naru rescues Sarai from the camp and stumbles across a dying Raphael, who teaches her how to use his flintlock pistol[a] in exchange for medical treatment for his severed leg. Naru gives him herbs that reduce his body heat to stanch the bleeding. When the Predator arrives, Raphael plays dead, and Naru realizes that, due to his reduced heat, the creature cannot see him. After it steps on Raphael, he screams, and the Predator kills him.

Tanabe arrives on horseback to rescue Naru. Together they weaken the Predator, but it kills Tanabe. Naru flees and finds the surviving lead Frenchman. She knocks him out, severs one of his legs, and gives him an unloaded gun before eating the herbs to hide her body heat, baiting the Predator to kill the voyageur. She uses Raphael's pistol to ambush the creature, knocking off its mask, which she has previously seen to hold the targeting system for the Predator's spear gun. She steals the device and flees into the woods. Naru uses the Frenchman's severed leg to lure the Predator into the area with the mud-filled bog pit, where she has positioned the creature's mask so that it targets the creature stuck in the pit. Without the mask, the Predator is less effective, so Naru injures it significantly before dragging it into the bog. As the Predator rises from the pit, it fires the spear gun at Naru and misses; the projectile bounces around and homes in on the Predator, killing it. Naru severs its head and paints her face with its glowing green blood. She brings the head and the flintlock pistol back to her tribe. They honour her victory by declaring Naru as the new War Chief.

I sat down not expecting much but I was pleasantly surprised by the action, scenery, and use of original Comanche and French Canadian language, the development of the main characters and the Predator not being too advanced, this film also ties up the mystery of the flintlock pistol found at the end of Predator 2, I would say this on par with the original version of Predator.

Rated (15)

Running Time 1 hr 27 minutes

4 of 4. stars

The Magnificent Seven

Release Date -October 12, 1960

Plot.

A gang of bandits led by Calvera periodically raids a poor Mexican village for food and supplies. After the latest raid, during which Calvera kills a villager, the village leaders decide they have had enough. On the advice of the village elder, they decide to fight back. Taking their few objects of value, three villagers ride to a town just inside the United States border hoping to barter for weapons. They are impressed by Chris Adams, a veteran Cajun gunslinger, and approach him for advice. Chris suggests they instead hire gunfighters to defend the village, as "men are cheaper than guns." At first, agreeing only to help them recruit men, Chris eventually decides to lead the group. Despite the meager pay offered, he finds five willing gunmen.

They are the gunfighter Vin Tanner, who has gone broke after a round of gambling and resists local efforts to recruit him as a store clerk; Chris's friend Harry Luck, who assumes Chris is hiding a much bigger reward for the work; the Irish Mexican Bernardo O'Reilly, who has fallen on hard times; Britt, an expert in both knife and gun who joins purely for the challenge involved; and the dapper, on-the-run gunman Lee, plagued by nightmares of fallen enemies and haunted that he has lost his nerve for battle. On their way to the village, they are trailed by the hotheaded Chico, an aspiring gunfighter whose previous attempts to join Chris had been spurned. Impressed by his persistence, Chris invites him into the group.

Arriving at the village, they work with the villagers to build fortifications and train them to defend themselves. They note the lack of women in the village until Chico stumbles upon Petra and discovers the women were hidden in fear that the gunmen would rape them. The gunmen begin to bond with the villagers, and Petra pursues Chico. When Bernardo points out that the gunmen are being given the choice food, the gunmen share it with the village children.

Three of Calvera's men are dispatched to reconnoitre the village; due to a mistake by Chico, the seven are forced to kill all three rather than capture at least one. Some days later Calvera and his bandits arrive in force. The seven and the villagers kill another eight of their cohorts in a shootout and run them out of town. The villagers celebrate, believing Calvera will not return. But Chico infiltrates Calvera's camp and learns that Calvera must return, as his men are short of food.

Some fearful villagers thereupon call for the gunfighters to leave. Even some of the seven waver, but Chris insists that they stay, even threatening to kill anyone who suggests giving up the fight. The seven ride out to make a surprise raid on Calvera's camp, but find it abandoned. Returning to the village, they are caught by Calvera and his men, who have colluded with some of the villagers to sneak in and take control. Calvera spares the seven's lives, believing they have learned the simple farmers are not worth fighting for and fearing reprisals from the gunfighters' "friends" across the border. Preparing to depart, Chris and Vin admit they have become emotionally attached to the village. Bernardo likewise gets angry when the boys he befriended call their parents cowards. Chico declares that he hates the villagers; when Chris points out he grew up as a farmer as well, Chico angrily responds that it is men like Calvera and Chris who made the villagers what they are.

The seven gunmen are escorted some distance from the village, where their weapons are returned to them. They debate their next move and all but Harry, who believes the effort will be futile and suicidal, agree to return and fight.

The gunmen infiltrate the village and a gunfight breaks out. Harry, who has had a change of heart, returns in time to save Chris's life but is himself fatally shot. Harry pleads to know what they were fighting for, and Chris lies about a hidden gold mine to let Harry believe he died for a fortune; Harry smiles before dying. Lee finds the nerve to burst into a house where several villagers are being held, shooting their captors and releasing the prisoners to join the fight, but is gunned down as he leaves the house. Bernardo, shot protecting the boys he befriended, tells them as he dies to see how bravely their fathers fought. Britt dies after shooting at many bandits but exposing himself from cover. Chris shoots Calvera, who asks him, "You came back... to a place like this? Why? A man like you? Why?" He dies without receiving an answer. The remaining bandits take flight.

The three surviving gunmen ride out of town. As they stop atop a hill overlooking the village, Chico parts company with them, realizing he wants to stay with Petra. Chris and Vin bid farewell to the village elder, who tells them that only the villagers have really won, whereas the gunslingers are "like the wind, blowing over the land and passing on." As they pass the graves of their fallen comrades, Chris admits, "The Old Man was right. Only the farmers won. We lost. We'll always lose."

I have included this film for the reason it'ss my wife's favourite film, she knows every scene , can quote most of the classic lines This is a great action western with many famous actors many no longer with us, it the classic good vs evil which is why you watch to see the bad guys get their just deserts.

My wife's favourite quote is The graveyard is full of the young and the foolish, my favourite scene is at the beginning which involves a hearse, a dead Indian, upset local, and the main character Chris.

Rated (U)

Running Time (128 minutes)

4 out of 4 stars

Metamorphosis 

Plot

Metamorphosis is a Canadian short comedy-drama film, directed by Barry Greenwald and released in 1975.

A satirical parable about the rat race, the film centres on a man (Bob Green) who is bored with his daily routine, and decides one day to undress and dress himself again in the elevator on his way to work; successfully accomplishing the task, he sets greater challenges to accomplish during the nine-floor elevator ride culminating in a day when he lives his entire life in the span of the trip and is dead by the time he reaches the ground floor.

This short film although billed as a comedy but would say it's a bizarre watch and is the sort of film you watch when in a happy state of mind due to the nature of it's subject.

It's a short film so it's not going to take too much out of your rat race life to give it a watch and if like me think it's one of the strangest films I watched.

Running time(10 minutes)

I could not find a rating but I would say (15)

4 out of 4 stars.

Three Thousand Years of Longing.

Plot

Alithea Binnie is a lonely British scholar who occasionally suffers from bizarre hallucinations of demonic beings. During a trip to Istanbul, Alithea purchases an antique bottle from which she accidentally unleashes a Djinn that was trapped within it. The Djinn offers to grant Alithea three wishes if they are her heart’s desire, but Alithea argues that wishing is a mistake, accusing the Djinn of being a trickster. In response to her accusation, the Djinn proceeds to tell her three tales of his past and how he ended up trapped in the bottle.

The Djinn tells the story of the Queen of Sheba, his cousin and lover, being wooed by King Solomon, who imprisons the Djinn in a bottle to keep Sheba for himself. The Djinn's second story centres on Gulten, a young concubine in the palace of Suleiman the Magnificent. After finding the Djinn's bottle, Gulten wishes for Suleiman's son, Mustafa, to fall in love with her and subsequently wishes to bear his child. However, Mustafa is murdered by his paranoid father, causing Gulten to hide the Djinn's bottle and flee before she can make her final wish.

The Djinn wanders the palace for over 100 years, invisible and intangible due to the concealment of the bottle. Meanwhile, the bottle is eventually found by royal brothers Murad IV and Ibrahim, but are unable to successfully get the bottle. Murad IV goes into war, where he becomes a vicious and ruthless ruler, later being assassinated as revenge. Ibrahim becomes the new sultan and finds himself entangled with several concubines, including Sugar Lump, who manages to retrieve the bottle. The Djinn appears to her and desperately begs her to make a wish but Sugar Lump, scared and confused, wishes for the Djinn to return to his bottle and for the bottle to be cast into the sea.

In the Djinn's final story, he tells of Zefir, the young wife of a Turkish merchant, who is gifted the bottle after it is recovered in the mid-19th Century. Zefir wishes for knowledge, which the Djinn grants in the form of literature, and to perceive the world as djinns do. Despite the Djinn's growing affection for Zefir, she grows increasingly crowded by his presence and her newfound knowledge. The Djinn offers to reside in his bottle whenever she wishes, but Zefir instead wishes to forget she ever met the Djinn, effectively imprisoning him once again. The Djinn's final story moves Alithea to the point where she wishes for Djinn and herself to fall in love.

Afterwards, the Djinn and Alithea move to London together. One day, Alithea discovers that the Djinn is slowly becoming weaker due to the effects of cell tower and satellite transmissions. She uses her second wish to get the severely ill Djinn to speak again, apologizes for using her wish to deny them the chance to fall in love naturally, and uses her third and final wish to set the Djinn free, so he is able to return to "The Realm of Djinn." Though expecting never to see him again, the now-healthy Djinn visits Alithea three years later and periodically again afterwards.

This film is like a bad brothers Grimm fairytale without the magic or intrigue it tries it best to be a decent film but it does lack imagination and craftmanship to do so which is plenty as it could have gone the Aladdin for adults route 

The main characters don't seem to gel shame as I would have liked to see more chemistry between them.

Running time (108 minutes)

Rated (15)

2 out of 4 stars.

The Forgiven 

Plot

A belligerent surgeon and his young wife are off to a party in the desert, whilst speeding they row about being lost when suddenly their car hits and kills a teenager.

Their place the said teenager into their car and carry on the party.

The surgeon bribes the police thinking he is Scott free of his crime but he does not account for the lost boy's dad demanding the Englishman will pay.

Of course, the Surgeon goes on a journey of remorse and retribution.

I liked the comedic spats which are quite spiteful between the married couple, this film is slightly too long and could have been condensed but it does cleverly show the contrasts between the wealthy and the poor.

My favourite line in the film is (The Roads are Empty)which of course sparks the movie.

Running time(117 Minutes)

Rated (18)

4 of 4 stars.