» Mercenaries (2014, USA)
Oh dear. I fear that I’m becoming a little repetitive regarding these action prison movies… but this is truly lamentable. (more…)
Posted on January 17th, 2015 at 7:31 pm. Updated on March 16th, 2015 at 7:45 pm.
Clichés
» Z mrtvého domu / From the House of the Dead (2007, France)
You might think that I’m struggling to find new prison movies when I have to resort to watching filmed performances of operas about prison life. And you’d be right. But at least this has more prison in it than Carmen (2003). (more…)
Posted on January 3rd, 2015 at 8:40 pm. Updated on January 3rd, 2015 at 8:40 pm.
» Timelock (1996, USA)
Surely the chief joy in watching futuristic movies of any sort is examining the bits of contemporary culture that have survived in the filmmaker’s vision of what the future might look like. “Besides, the ship won’t fly without this,” says the spaceship pilot, Wilson, smugly holding aloft a 3½” floppy disk. It is supposed to be the year 2251. Wonderful. (more…)
Posted on December 26th, 2014 at 10:15 pm. Updated on December 26th, 2014 at 10:15 pm.
» Coldwater (2013, USA)
I don’t quite understand these extra-judicial prisons, juvenile or otherwise. They seem to be somewhere in between a strict boarding school for which parents pay exorbitant fees, and out-of-control prisons where the brutality comes for free. (more…)
Posted on December 7th, 2014 at 11:45 am. Updated on December 7th, 2014 at 11:45 am.
» Jing: King of Bandits – Seventh Heaven (2004, Japan)
I’m still trying to work out myself whether this qualifies as a movie. It’s a three-part original video animation (OVA), apparently, following on from the TV series based on Yuichi Kumakuru’s manga. (more…)
Posted on November 30th, 2014 at 1:34 pm. Updated on November 30th, 2014 at 1:34 pm.
» Ha’Bodedim / The Loners (2009, Israel)
The Loners is a classic tragedy. It charts the fall of two proud, patriotic soldiers accused of treason, and follows them through a doomed prison insurrection. Over nothing. (more…)
Posted on November 18th, 2014 at 9:23 pm. Updated on November 18th, 2014 at 9:23 pm.
» Blackwell’s Island (1939, USA)
The opening credits of Blackwell’s Island contain the standard disclaimer about no resemblance to any person living or dead being intended, but without the resemblance to actual persons and events this film would be decidedly more silly than it already is. (more…)
Posted on November 10th, 2014 at 7:57 pm. Updated on November 10th, 2014 at 7:57 pm.
» House of Whipcord (1974, UK)
There are private prisons, and then there are private prisons. (more…)
Posted on November 3rd, 2014 at 6:37 pm. Updated on November 5th, 2014 at 7:49 pm.
» La Révolte des Enfants / The Children’s Rebellion (1992, France)
It’s 1847, and juvenile offenders, waifs and strays are being transferred from La Roquette children’s prison in Paris to the Colonie de Grande–Île in Brittany. It’s a “Fatherly Home, not a penal colony,” insists the reform school’s idealistic warden, Monsieur Alexis (André Wilms). And to underscore the homeliness, his deputy (Michel Aumont) is required to be referred to as Uncle and all the other staff are known as Cousins. It all sounds really very jolly. (more…)
Posted on October 26th, 2014 at 3:45 pm. Updated on October 27th, 2014 at 7:50 pm.
» Son of a Gun (2014, Australia)
Sadly, this is a crime thriller, not a prison movie. It’s also a movie about strategy, but not as much as its laboured chess metaphor would want you to believe. It’s more of an old fashioned shoot ’em up heist movie, with liberal doses of intrigue and black humour, and a master-apprentice theme. (more…)
Posted on October 21st, 2014 at 9:22 pm. Updated on January 1st, 2017 at 9:03 am.