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Showing posts with label Full Movie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Full Movie. Show all posts
Siamo uomini o caporali - Are We Men or Corporals? (1955)
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Danger: Diabolik (1968)
Cliff Note Reviews #10
A badly deformed doctor gets a new lease on life with a formula that restores her beauty, but the effects are only temporary and the side effects deadly! Satanik is an odd mixture of Euro-crime meets horror, yet never the less the catchy soundtrack and the stunning Magda Konopka (also known for her smaller role in When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth) make this one a decent view for any fan of Italian cult cinema. 7/10
A small California town is struck with a series of strange deaths that appear to have been caused by over exertion during intimate relations. Seems the town is resident to a lovely female with queen bee DNA and she's transforming the city's female population and taking out all the men! Invasion of the Bee Girls is about as B-movie as it gets. Nothing says B-movie more than this completely ridiculous plot that makes absolutely no sense, extremely campy dialog, multiple scenes of nudity, and the overly bizarre bee women transformation sequence where the victim is covered in pancake batter, zapped with radiation and stuck in a chamber where they're covered in bees. Despite the fact they emerge as man killing bee women, the process seems to be quite a proficient external makeover! The highlight of the film is easily cult B-movie actress Anitra Ford, whose catalog of roles is pretty limited to mostly TV series guest appearances and a few other cheesy roles. She plays sultry head queen bee who moonlights as a scientist, I got a kick out of the fact her character wears sun-glasses all the time inside and even at night, yet everyone is too stupid to bother to comment on this or her other bizarre activities, I guess beauty trumps bizarre. The film also co-stars another When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth veteran, Victoria Vetri, in a rather odd role for her as a scientist. 6/10
John Goldfarb, Please Come Home! (1965)
I've seen my share of horrible movies over the years, but it's rare to find one like John Goldfarb, Please Come Home!, a film filled with such a talented cast, yet manages to be such a horribly pieced together mess. I take that back, it's not THAT rare... there's Casino Royale!
Blood and Black Lace (1964)
The murder of a model named Isabella during a dark and windy night is the cataylist to a series of murders surrounding the women of a local fashion institute. One by one girls are knocked off as the killer appears to be covering up a dirty little secret surrounding a diary that has secrets on the group, and what better way to shut them up than take them out one at a time!
After watching Bava's preliminary entry into the genre I'm rather confused at the love Blood and Black Lace ultimately receives compared to the stellar thriller I found The Girl Who Knew Too Much to be with an exciting plot and all around excellent execution combined with Bava's brilliance for combining cinematography, musical score and acting, Blood and Black Lace simply seems to be a step down. It's true Blood and Black Lace seems to be the standard for what giallo ultimately becomes in terms of a slasher driven thriller, but having seen many of the giallo's that follow it's still a pretty average entry into the genre. Despite the mechanical story and systematic killings it's ultimately still a decent Italian thriller with enough going for it to make it slightly interesting and the twist at the end isn't bad, but I feel this film is more popular based on it being the jet setter in the genre in terms of plot and style and not based on the quality of the film itself.
Full Movie (In Italian)
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6/10
Full Movie (In Italian)
Dick Barton, Special Agent (1948)
Watching Dick Barton, Special Agent I can only imagine how in the 1940's the theaters where full of British children engrossed in the crime stopping, comical extorts, of Special Agent Dick Barton. This film marked Hammer's first post war picture and launched it's success off the then well known radio series which chroniceled the thrilling adventures of Barton.
Dick Barton (Don Stannard) is sent on an assignment to investigate a possible smuggling operation overly in Echo Bay. Under the guise of being on a fishing trip with is goofy cohorts Snowy and Jack, Barton manages to avoid two attempts on his life by the weaselly goons of Dr. Caspar. When he mistakenly receives a package of lobster claws with jewelry and a strange vial hidden inside he's quite certain he's on the right trail. Seems that Dr. Caspar and his men are former Nazi's with a devilish plan to contaminate Britain's drinking water with the contents being smuggled in the vials.
Dick Barton, Special Agent is essentially the British equivalent of serial spy / crime films that would have been seen in America around the same time in the late 1940's early 1950's. Of course today this type of film might seem incredibly silly due to the fact that the overacting and style of humor is incredibly dated, but I found it to still be quite enjoyable and amusing, even though it's probably not for the same reasons film goers did in the 40's. If you're looking for good clean camp, look no further, Dick Barton, Special Agent is Sherlock Holmes with a touch of Three Stooges. From the incredibly campy one-liners to the overly noticeable bad fight sequences, where it's clear no one is landing a punch. It's the type of campy serial elements that made the 1960's Batman series so popular (although Dick Barton is far from Batman cheesy), with an added British flair.
Dick Barton, Special Agent is the first of three Dick Barton adventures produced by Hammer over a span of three years. The star Don Stannard starred in all three as well as Hammer's Death in High Heels which was released before this film. Unfortunatley, Stannard met an untimely demise on the way home from the casting party of the final Dick Barton film, he died in a car crash on July 9th, 1949 at the age of 32. Quite sad because he only had a handful of films under his belt and definitely had potential as good British actor. Overall, Dick Barton was a nice surprise, I've been wanting to watch the series of films for a while but was expecting more of a straight sort of spy thriller, the more campy vibe was a surprise and quite entertaining.
7/10
Dick Barton, Special Agent Full Film
Humanoids from the Deep (1980)
In my attempt to discover another Roger Corman film that provides a similar level of entertainment as my two favorites (Death Race 2000 & Starcrash) I've finally been witness to another bizarre Corman classic that almost fits the bill of over-the-top cheesy, yet still remains to be incredibly enjoyable. If transcontinental death races aren't your thing, and campy space flicks with robots and an evil vampire looking fellow don't tickle your fancy, maybe mutated fish-men with the urge to eat dogs, kill men and mate with women will be the ticket!
Humanoids from the Deep (aka Monster) is another spin on the classic monster idea of food sources mutating into creatures that aim to kill humanity, we saw it in Forbidden World and see it again here only in a much more enjoyable execution. A small fishing town is about to get a break as a new cannery is bringing in a scientist who has been working on perfecting a new breed of salmon that will be bigger, better and reproduce faster, ultimately increasing the dwindling catch for the local fishermen. But once again what happens when you mess with nature and the cycle of life is you end up creating something not natural to this world. The fish grow at an extensive rate but what they grow into is mutated fish/man creatures that are systematically terrorizing the town by killing all the local animal life, the male population and having they're way with the women. At first a few of the townspeople blame the local Indian, Johnny Eagle, for the recent string of murdered animals and missing teenagers, but those accusations are soon thrown to the wayside when the fish creatures begin to attack in full force.
After the rather lack luster appeal with Piranha, Humanoids from the Deep was a nice retreat back into the overly campy atmosphere of a mutant Corman film. Imagine Creature from the Black Lagoon on crack, with a fair amount of gore, a fair amount of skin and about twenty plus creatures! Essentially that's the driving force behind this film and the aspects that make it an enjoyable ride. My only major disappointment was the ending which was either a teaser to a possible sequel that never ended up seeing the light of day, or the writers twisted way of leaving the viewer wanting more, whatever the case I wanted more and was sorely disappointed when it simply ended. Overall, Humanoids from the Deep is still not as entertaining as my top two Corman films but it's worth checking out if your a fan of creature films.
7/10
Forbidden World (1982)
On his way home after a lengthy mission, and many years in stasis, Mike Colby is awakened by his robot co-pilot SAM-104 to be informed they've been diverted to the planet Xarbia to assist in an emergency. A Federation research lab was established there in hopes of creating a new food source and the scientists believe they've made an fantastic breakthrough. The alien protein they discovered on the planet's surface multiplies at miraculous rates, but when a sample is mixed in with what they refer to as element B, the result is the mutation into a living life form. The researchers don't think much about it until the organism begins killing people, and breaking down their bodies into a pure protein form which it is then consuming! As the situation in the research station begins to grow more grave and the creature begins to evolve at enormous speeds, Mike is finally brought up to date with what it is their dealing with and what exactly element B is which has appeared to cause this mutation.
Forbidden World is your typical alien story, where researchers end up taking exploration and science too far and create a beast that ends up killing them all. For a B-movie the film has some pretty good special effects and a few pretty gruesome scenes that are well executed. The story is alright and the acting mediocre, but that shouldn't be a shock. Throw in a couple gratuitous skin shots from the film's two lovely ladies June Chadwick (of the original V television series) and Dawn Dunlap (who only has a few other B-movies to her name), and Forbidden World is a Corman classic that I've now seen twice (actually I've watched the director's cut entitled Mutant, but I don't think there's much of a difference between the two) and can say it's worth a viewing if this type of film suits your fancy. And the new Corman Cult Classic release definitely boasts some excellent improvement on the video quality for the original release.
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6/10
Forbidden World Full Film
The She-Beast (1966)
One of the more well known scream queens in B-movie history during the 1960's was the exotic looking Barbara Steele. I haven't seen much of her work but can definitely understand why she had become a popular fixture in the 1960's horror circuit, as she has a very creepy yet sexy look. Unfortunatley The She-Beast is not one of Steele's better films which is probably how it ended up in the Mills Creek 250 Horror Collection.
A young recently married couple find themselves the rundown town of Transylvania where the inhabitants are all incredibly superstitious. Their honeymoon soon takes a turn for the worst when they're traveling on the narrow village road and lose control of their car flying into the nearby lake. The husband, Philip, manages to escape relatively unscathed but his wife Veronica (Barbara Steele) is nowhere to be found. In her place is the ghastly corpse of a 200 year old witch who was put to death in the same lake by the townspeople in the 18th century. She'd vowed to one day return and seek revenge on the dissidents of those who killed her, now that time has come as she's used the soul of Veronica to make her return. In order to have a chance of getting his wife back Philip has to join forces with the local supernatural exerciser Count von Helsing, a decent of the Van Helsing's who rid the country of the Dracula's so many generations ago. The Count informs Philip that the only way to get his wife back is to exercise the witch, if she is killed his wife will forever be lost.
For those of you looking for a good Barbara Steel film pass this one by, Steele makes an appearance for about five minutes in the beginning and is never seen again until the very end. The film itself is an odd mixture of bizarre comedy and horror but is never once remotely creepy. For a public domain horror film it's about the same level of quality entertainment as a majority of the other Mills Creek films I've reviewed, if you like extremely low budget horrors then you'll probably find this mildly amusing.
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4/10
The She-Beast Full Film
Galaxy of Terror (1981)
With the re-releasing and upgrading of many Roger Corman classics I thought it would be a perfect time to dive into some of these films and see if I could discover any that match the entertainment value of Death Race 2000 and Starcrash. The two Corman classics being released this month (July 2010) are Galaxy of Terror and Forbidden World, which are both in their own ways looked at as Alien ripoffs. Galaxy of Terror is one I've been looking forward to viewing for sometime, and not because of all the "worm scene" hype, but because the film's trailer is awesome.
A spaceship is sent on a mission to investigate and retrieve any survivors from a recently discovered crash on a deserted planet. But when the crew arrives they quickly succumb to the same fate and find themselves stranded on the planet. Quickly they realize they're not alone, and no survivors remain from the first crash. Whatever was responsible for killing them is now picking off this crew one at a time. Eventually they stumble upon a giant pyramid, the source of whatever dragged them down to the planet, it's also responsible for making the crew's fears turn into reality, fears that literally end up killing them!
To say I expected a lot more from a B-movie almost sounds crazy, but I actually was pretty disappointed with this film after all the Corman films I've seen up to this point have been fairly enjoyable. Galaxy of Terror is nothing more than a bad science fiction film where someone gets killed every ten minutes and half the time you can't see much of it because the lighting is so dark. The plot of the film is a lot like Sphere (with Sharon Stone, and Dustin Hoffman) which was made after this but is plenty close in terms of your fears killing you, only Sphere was a lot more entertaining. Aside from that the story itself is simply a mess, there's no point in bothering to understand what's going on because I don't think the writers even had a coherent thought about it. But this horrible excuse for an alien flick has some big names associated with it, you might recognize Erin Moran (Joanie from Happy Days), Ray Walston (My Favorite Martian), and someone named James Cameron did the production design (who might even be responsible for the worm scene), with Bill Paxton on set design.
Now onto the worm scene. The only real memorable scene in the entire film (and everyone agrees on this) is the scene with actress Taaffe O'Connell, who plays one of crew members, is molested by a giant worm. Each crew member's death is supposedly tied in with one of their deepest fears. She happens to be afraid of worms, so enter gigantic worm. But this is no ordinary gory death scene, this granitic worm essentially sucks O'Connell's clothes off and then proceeds to slobber all over her in a manner that could be referred to as being raped. But what's even more controversial about this scene to the fanboys of the film is the fact that in the final few seconds she's alive it appears she's actually enjoying it. Personally I find the scene a little overrated, but I do see it's appeal to some of the more hardcore B-movie fans, it's 100% corny yet at the same time 100% unique and compared to the rest of this deary film is easily the most memorable scene.
Overall, Galaxy of Terror simply didn't do anything for me. While it definitely fits into the genre of bad movies nothing was Starcrash quality in it's absurdity, and there's nothing about this film (except for the worm scene), that remotely makes it standout among the hundreds of other alien kill-fest films. Had the story not appeared to be written while filming by an incoherent eight year old, and the characters been minutely cohesive and interesting there might be something here worth carrying on about, but unless you're a dyed in the wool B-movie fan I don't see this impressing you.
4/10
Galaxy Of Terror Full Movie
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Galaxy Of Terror Full Movie
Time Lock (1957)
You'd think after watching four of the earliest Sean Connery films I could get my hands on that only 30 minutes of combined Connery screen time would soon become a little disconcerting. But strangely enough I've thoroughly enjoy three of the four films I've had the recent pleasure of viewing. All films I never new existed that have turned out to be some early hidden gems in the great actor's varied career.
Time Lock is a film that takes place in a little bank in Toronto Canada in the 1950's. When the son of the bank's accountant is accidentally locked inside the bank's sealed vault panic erupts. With possibly only 10 hours of air inside the vault, which is locked via a timing mechanism, it's not set to reopen for another two days! A welding crew is brought in with the faint chance of cutting through the thick steal door, but they quickly discover it's all a futile attempt. The only man with enough knowledge of bank vaults in the vicinity is nowhere to be found and the chances of the boy's survival are quickly diminishing with each passing hour.
I know I'm beginning to sound like a broken record, but once again Time Lock is another early Connery appearance I didn't expect much from upon reading the film's brief synopsis. How can an entire film about getting a kid out of a bank vault be engaging for 73 minutes? Well surprisingly it is. While the acting is below average, and as the viewer you can pretty much expect the kid is going to survive (although him dying would be an interesting twist) the film does a great job of keeping the film flowing smoothly and keeping tension high. Sean Connery (in another bit role) plays one of the welders brought in to attempt to cut through the door. While the film is far from a comedy, Connery manages to still bring a smile to my face as his character, in frustration, suggests blasting through the safe, only to receive the reply that it would blow the kid up! For me Time Lock was simply a pleasant treat, with an excellent use of consistent tension and a short run-time it's a nice little low budget thriller worth checking out.
7/10
Time Lock Full Movie
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Time Lock Full Movie
Hercules and the Tyrants of Babylon (1964)
As I've stated in the past the B-movie industry in the 50's and 60's carved out for itself a niche in the film world with many sub-genres that all grew their own cult following. One of those said genres is swords and sandals, a series that was especially popular in Spain, which release many of the Hercules titles. Hercules and the Tyrants of Babylon is simply one of the many examples, while it's one of the lesser loved films in the sub genre it's an excellent example of Helga Line's magnificent presence that makes even a mediocre B-movie worth watching.
Hercules has returned from a three year journey to discover his people and his queen have been taken as slaves for the rulers of Babylon. Babylon is currently being jointly ruled by three siblings, two brothers and their lovely younger sister Taneal (Helga Line). The joint ruler-ship is an unsteady one as each sibling has plans to overthrow the others to become sole ruler. Taneal even has a plans to use an ancient device beneath Babylon's castle to destroy the city and take control as Queen of Nineveh.
The rulers of Babylon are unaware that within their prisoners is Hercules queen, the Queen of Helene. It's not until Phaleg, King of Asiria, comes to them with piles of gold offering for a trade all of their slaves that they sense something is a rye. They later learn King Phaleg's plan is to marry Asparia (the queen) that he may extend his ruler-ship to Helene, but now the two brothers of Babylon wish to do the same. Meanwhile Hercules will side with whoever he can to gain closer access to Asparia, agreeing to assist both King Phaleg and Taneal in their ordeals, and making sure they pay when they decide to turn against him.
This being my first swords and sandals film I was fairly impressed by how much I enjoyed it, sure it's extremely campy both in terms of the acting and the action, but the sets, location, and costumes were very impressive. According to most fans of this sub genre, Hercules and the Tyrants of Babylon is one of the more mediocre attempts and I will admit I probably wouldn't have enjoyed this film as much if it wasn't for my interest in Miss Line. Helga Line definitely brings a presence to this film that none of the other actors can accomplish. She has the ability to express her character without saying anything solely through her facial expressions. She would have been an outstanding actress in the silent era. Overall, this film is another example of Helga's range as a low budget actress, and another title that's a must see for any fan of hers. Aside from that there really isn't anything extraordinary about this one.
6/10
Hercules and the Tyrants of Babylon Full Movie
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Bonus pics:
Hercules and the Tyrants of Babylon Full Movie
Virtuosity (1995)
After a series of mostly dramatic roles it was a nice change to see a Russell Crowe film that was a little more action packed and fast paced. Even though Virtuosity is not known as being even a remotely good film it's hard to overlook the performances, which at least in Crowe's case was quite explosive.
Virtuosity stars Denzel Washington as Parker Barnes an ex-cop who has been imprisoned for the murder of Matthew Grimes, the terrorist that murdered his family. Barnes had been trailing and building a case against him for sometime, but Grimes uses his family to lure him in an attempt to exterminate him. Only Barnes survives Grimes trap and therefore takes revenge on him for killing his family. Now Barnes is in prison and he's a lab-rat for a new virtual reality police training program which pits the participants against SID 6.7 (Russell Crowe), a ruthless computer program with the personalty's of 200 psychopaths.
With the assistance of SID's creator, he's able to escape his virtual prison and exist in the real world only to begin his tirade, killing people wherever he'll have the biggest audience, because all SID craves is attention. This leads the police to turn to Barnes, the only person whose come close to matching SID in the simulations. If Barnes can find and stop SID then he can regain his freedom. The twist is one of SID's 200 personalities is Matthew Grimes; now Barnes mission is personal.
Virtuosity is a pretty awful film, there's really no getting around that but it gets points solely on Russell Crowe's performance which is extremely sadistic, creepy and would give Health Ledger's Joker a fight to the death. In such a poor and campy film I think Crowe's performance gets overlooked as simply over-the-top. But if you transferred his performance into something like The Dark Knight in a role of the Joker, or personally I think with his look would be well suited for the Riddler, you'd be hearing some high praise from critics because it's legitimately scary a times how well Crowe plays this psychopath.
Denzel doesn't give a bad performance either, although it's nothing above a beyond what we're used to seeing from him. He's a little corny at the beginning but when his character is finally let out of prison to stop SID, we get the typical Denzel stoic performance. In the end, Virtuosity is another film only worth checking out for Crowe's performance (or unless you have a taste for bad science fiction thrillers), nothing else stands out and there is absolutely no saving grace for the story. It's simply a horribly recycled tale of revenge with some virtual reality mixed in for flavor.
4/10
Virtuosity Full Movie
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Virtuosity Full Movie
Gray Matters (2006)
Originally Reviewed
Wednesday February 13, 2008
Wednesday February 13, 2008
I'm a big fan of romantic comedies, probably because I wish meeting that "perfect" someone could be as easy as it's portrayed in the movies. I guess I'm a sucker for a sappy romantic comedy, waiting for my own Kate Beckinsale to bump into me in a department store while we both grab the last pair of gloves (a la Serendipity)...yea it sounds pretty corny but if it only it could be that easy. Point being I'm a big fan of a good romantic comedy, one that is not only entertaining but revolves around something that hasn't been done before, which now a days is hard to find in this genre. Gray Matters definitely fits the profile of "different" but it's so off the wall unrealistic that the film ends up becoming a mess, and there's nothing worse than a bad romantic comedy.
Heather Graham plays Gray Baldwin, Gray has a very close relationship with her brother Sam, in fact they are so close that strangers think they're a couple. But Gray's brother is getting antsy to meet the right girl and Gray assists him in meeting a hottie they see in the park named Charlie (Bridget Moynahan) and so begins the film's unbelievable decline. Sam and Charlie instantly hit it off and after one date Sam proposes to Charlie and they plan on flying to Vegas that weekend to get married. Things begin to get awkward for Gray when the night before her brother's wedding she's starts making out with the drunken Charlie, and realizes she's falling in love with her brother's fiancée. The rest of the story focuses on Gray attempting to deal with the fact she's attracted to women (mainly her brother's now wife) and whether or not she should tell her brother what happened that night.
Somewhere within this movie might have been a decent idea. I actually enjoyed the start of the film which focused more on Sam and Charlie, too bad they didn't carry that forward and make the film about them. Instead it goes off on the wild tangent of Gray falling for her brother's wife and it feels entirely out of place. Bridget Moynahan is smoking hot in this film and there's a couple shots of her from the behind that almost make the pain of watching this worth while, but still it's not worth sitting through this film, which quickly tanks when Gray attempts to come to grips with her feelings. The subject matter doesn't make for an entertaining romantic comedy, Heather Graham isn't a great actress, and the film isn't even funny a majority of the time. In the end, it's a Women's Entertainment or Oxygen type cable film that boasts only a nice shot of Bridget's tight butt (which is shown above to save anyone the time of watching this).
3/10
Gray Matters Full Movie
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Gray Matters Full Movie
Archangel (2005)
Originally Reviewed
Monday January 29, 2007
Monday January 29, 2007
Before he was James Bond 007 Daniel Craig was Fluke Kelso (whew! what a step up!) history professor and connoisseur of everything on the life of the murderous and evil Russian dictator Josef Stalin. During a conference in Russian, speaking on the life of Stalin, Dr. Kelso finds himself in the middle of what could possibly be a ground breaking and wealthy discovery that could completely alter Russian history and shed new light on its most notorious ruler.
About to return home to New York, Dr. Kelso is approached by an elderly man claiming to have been one of the two people at the side of Stalin when he died. At the time he was a young soldier, but his entire life he had been keeping a secret that he no longer wanted to bear. He spoke to Dr. Kelso of a diary that Stalin had kept locked away in his quarters, and that at the time of his death one of Stalin's Generals took this journal and ordered him to bury it, obviously it was something of great importance, if Stalin kept it under lock and key and after his death not even his right hand man wanted it to be discovered.
Fascinated Dr. Kelso expresses his excitement to the old man and informs him that a find such as this magnitude could be worth upwards of one million dollars. At the mention of money the old man quickly disappears leaving Dr. Kelso with the possibility of an incredibly large discovery but no proof or way of contacting the old man again. Dr. Kelso begins to do whatever he can to try and piece together this puzzle in an attempt to collaborate the old man's story, when he finds out there is truth behind it he hits another dead end in learning the old man has been murdered. Now he's positive that the story is true, and finds himself in the middle of something quite dangerous. As the mystery continues Dr. Kelso begins to discover that this mystery is more than simply a journal, and his involvement in bringing it to light is no luck of the draw, but a carefully devised plan to bring the rule of Stalin back into power!
I accidentally stumbled across Archangel in some recent rental browsing, saw Daniel Craig on the cover, read the description of the film and thought I would give it a shot. Archangel was a made for TV British film put out by the BBC. I'm not a big fan of BBC films, which usually end up being quite long and boring but I was pleasantly surprised that it held my attention. Being a made for TV film it's certainly low budget, but it accomplishes it's task of being a decent thriller. Craig shows similar demeanor in this film as he did in Casino Royale, and half the time I expected him to say some suave one liners; while that never happened he did a good job of carrying the story and making it quite interesting.
Overall, Archangel is a descent thriller, not worth a run out and rental right away but if you're ever bored and have nothing to watch Archangel certainly isn't a waste of time. The film is a little long, but never drags much, it's got quite a few interesting twists and turns and the climax of the film where Dr. Kelso discovers what's really going on is pretty interesting. My only complaint is the film's ending is rather abrupt, after such a long time building up this mystery and bringing it to light it's over fairly quickly. It would have been interesting to see what would have occurred prior to the conclusion.
7/10
Archangel Full Movie
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Archangel Full Movie
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