Li'l Duce's Reviews Palace

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The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015) As a kid I was waiting anxiously every Sunday at 10 pm to watch the show but I remember little of it, after almost 6 decades. Now, this movie is really an enigma: it is set in 1963, even before the series began and I suspect it bears little resemblance to the original concept. And the fact that it is set in Rome and its seacoast appendage works even more to keep the new viewers dumbfounded. In fact I read at IMDB that it bombed at the box office. But I can't say is deprived of merits, though probably they only are apparent to me: the colours, the clothes, the women make up? Probably. Surely I liked it more than the last Tarantino. 7/10, especially for the sequence of the truck while Peppino Gagliardi's song is playing on the radio.

[cigar joe]

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015) As a kid I was waiting anxiously every Sunday at 10 pm to watch the show but I remember little of it, after almost 6 decades. Now, this movie is really an enigma: it is set in 1963, even before the series began and I suspect it bears little resemblance to the original concept. And the fact that it is set in Rome and its seacoast appendage works even more to keep the new viewers dumbfounded. In fact I read at IMDB that it bombed at the box office. But I can't say is deprived of merits, though probably they only are apparent to me: the colours, the clothes, the women make up? Probably. Surely I liked it more than the last Tarantino. 7/10, especially for the sequence of the truck while Peppino Gagliardi's song is playing on the radio.

Never seen it.

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Never seen it.

Few have.

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Smiley's People (1982) This was the last Cornwall I read so I don't know what he came up with in the last novels. Here are the good ol' times when the Russians were still the enemy, somebody to fear and fight, unlike today when the son of a KGB official and Putin's crony is elevated to the House of Lords and can own a couple of newspapers; and the Foreign Minister, soon to be PM, can evade security and go to have a weekend party in the Umbria's castle of the above KGB official (oh, yes: "ex" KGB official. But, as Putin explained, there can be no "ex" KGB official). But the movie is as good as Tinker Tailor if not for the obvious absence of Ian Richardson. But Lonsdale's performance is top notch, as it is the one of all the rest. 9-10/10 

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They Shall Not Grow Old (2018) Amazing the work on old colorized  footage making the images look like they have been shot today. Of course, though some of the footage was never seen before, it cannot cover the moments of battle themselves, so that Jackson had to recur to drawings and photographs. The narration is provided by the voices recorded presumably in the 50's by the soldiers themselves  and it provides angles I had never guessed before. 8/10

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Hard to Kill (1990) Probably the best Seagal with the two Under Siege. The scene in the hospital is one of the best ever in action movies but even the other ones are good. 7-8/10

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Eraser (1996) Not the best Schwarzenegger action movie, but it has 2 scenes worth the price of admission: the one in the air and that in the NYC Zoo. 6-7/10

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Lock Up (1989) Not much originality in this one, it blends all the tropes of the jail movies with Stallone's inept acting and stilted dialogues. But somehow some of the actors (Sutherland, Landham and Cool Hand Lukish Amos) and the sets combine to produce a decent time-waster. 6-7/10

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Heartbreak Ridge (1986) Eastwood's Green Berets. I wonder what our friend thought when he saw Sgt. Hartmann a few months later and if he felt ashamed. I'd give it a 2/10 were it not that the Grenada scenes may have some interest for those like me who had no idea what that invasion was about.3/10

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Nighthawks (1981) In a sense this is the last of the '70's NYC cop movies, as it shows the dirty, gritty look of Gotham for the last time: from then on the photography  will be more slick, the colors more defined, the cops themselves more "clean". Stallone looks like Pacino's Serpico and that is to advantage. A bit stupid the trick that solves the hostages rescue but the finale (the only thing I remembered of the movie together with the Jamie Gillis cameo) is memorable. 7-8/10

[drinkanddestroy]

@titoli - what is your sig pic?

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Matt Damon.

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The Musketeer (2001) Worst movie of the genre. The story is different from the original but it doesn't help at all. Only thing with originality is the fight scenes but the rest of the story is simply boring even thanx to the actors, unremarkable as can be (with the possible exception of Castaldi). Tim Roth sleepwalks as usual through his part trying to persuade you lthat no expression is better than wrong expression, especially if you can produce none of the last. Catherine Deneuve is her name, Suvari one of a million, the 3 musketeers irrelevant, Chambers just can't act. 3-4/10     

[drinkanddestroy]

Matt Damon.

I know. And whom?

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I know. And whom?

  Damon (and Casey Affleck) paid a visit to NYC A.S. Roma (my football team) club. The boy beside him is a supporter. Damon is wearing a club scarf.