MarkVenda

MarkVenda Pro

Favorite films

  • On Her Majesty's Secret Service
  • Raiders of the Lost Ark
  • Out of the Past
  • A Touch of Zen

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  • Hayao Miyazaki and the Heron

    ★★★★★

  • Jubal

    ★★★½

  • Non-Stop

    ★★★

  • Phantom Thread

    ★★★½

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  • Hayao Miyazaki and the Heron

    Hayao Miyazaki and the Heron

    ★★★★★

    I don't usually score documentaries (as I usually find them to be too difficult to score!) but with this one I'll make an exception.

    It was both emotionally affecting and wonderfully put together. Ostensibly a companion piece to The Boy and The Heron (as it charts it's production) but it's so much more than a making of... It's a fascinating dive into the life and mind of Miyazaki, with ruminations on friendship, grief, aging, mortality and so much more besides. I found it to be profoundly moving and a fantastic film in its own right.

  • Jubal

    Jubal

    ★★★½

    Ernest Borgnine, larger than life, is having some problems with his wife. She is more interested in Glenn Ford, but her advances are being ignored...

    Jubal is another great Delmer Daves (underrated director!) western, which I felt was a tiny bit rushed in a couple of aspects but really enjoyed for the most part: An engaging character driven set up whose quietly seething melodrama plays out on a lushly verdant backdrop soaked in technicolour. Quality cast, and it was fun…

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  • Night Moves

    Night Moves

    ★★★★

    I was relatively underwhelmed by this first time round a few years back.

    Not sure why. It's got the obtuse twisty plot and sharp dialogue exchanges of the classic noirs all dressed up in 70's decor, with scuzzy fights, chess metaphors, rampant promiscuity and the great Gene Hackman (RIP) in basically every scene. Hackman is ace here and ever likeable as the troubled Harry Moseby: Tough, smart but also off the pace a lot of the time with his personal…

  • Robin and Marian

    Robin and Marian

    ★★★★★

    I revisit this every couple of years- And will continue to do so.

    It's a stately, unassuming thing, but so soulful. Man am I starting to appreciate Richard Lester as a director... He captures so much here... It feels earthy and real, yet retains a sense of adventure and whimsy. It's quite a bleak film in some ways, but has such warmth. It's tragic, but also feels celebrationary. And It looks great. The barren rocky outcrops of the opening, the…

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