Prison stuff. In prison movies.
Ringo Lam (who directed the Hong Kong Prison on Fire movies) directs this as well, but if that gives you some optimism, the fact that it stars Jean-Claude Van Damme probably won’t. (more…)
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 7:25 pm. Updated on March 8th, 2016 at 3:02 pm.
The product description promised English sub-titles, the DVD itself teases by allowing English sub-titles to be selected… but nothing. So it’s a bit difficult to rate, this one; my Spanish is very poor indeed, and half the reviews of the movie on the web very earnestly outline the plot of an entirely different film and so offer no help at all. (more…)
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 7:22 pm. Updated on June 4th, 2015 at 9:55 pm.
This is not a film that you would ever watch twice. It’s a low-budget offering that offers realism (the writer and director, Sean Wilson, has seemingly done time and the movie is based on his experiences) but forgets that ‘real’ doesn’t necessarily translate to ‘interesting’. (more…)
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 7:18 pm. Updated on August 21st, 2009 at 6:44 pm.
I’m afraid I don’t really get the Hong Kong film genre. This sequel to the wholly dramatic Prison on Fire again stars Chow Yum Fat as Ching, although this is the engaging Ching, not ‘Mad Dog’ Ching of the last part of the first movie (even in the fight scenes), and is a curious blend of drama, farce, comedy, whimsy, fighting, unintentional humour and even a song or two thrown in for good measure. (more…)
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 6:58 pm. Updated on August 21st, 2009 at 6:44 pm.
A limp comedy directed by Sidney Poitier. (more…)
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 6:55 pm. Updated on August 21st, 2009 at 6:44 pm.
When even some of the Stallone-friendly sites suggest that this isn’t one of Sylvester Stallone’s best movies, you are entitled to approach it with trepidation. But it’s no worse than many other prison action flicks. (more…)
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 6:53 pm. Updated on August 21st, 2009 at 6:44 pm.
There are some who have watched this grainy, low-budget, independently-released blaxploitation movie with poor production values and have elevated it to cult status. I’m afraid I just saw a grainy movie with poor production values and an uninventive storyline. (more…)
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 6:38 pm. Updated on March 7th, 2016 at 11:04 am.
I remember reading Borstal Boy as a young teenager and being completely captivated by its bawdy, rollicking style and the irreverence and passion of its author, Brendan Behan. That memory makes this lukewarm adaptation of his autobiography so much more disappointing. Behan was larger than life, and this reduces him to something akin to a minor rebel in a coming-of-age story at an English boarding school. Or perhaps I’m getting the character in the book mixed up with the boozy, ribald celebrity that he was to become before drinking himself to death at 41. (more…)
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 6:29 pm. Updated on December 11th, 2009 at 9:00 pm.
The title makes it sound like a precursor to the 1970s’ women-in-prison exploitation movies, but this is a fair dinkum Academy Award-nominated film about a woman in prison. You know it’s set in a different era when, in the opening scene, new receptions are being unloaded from the van and they’re wearing hats, gloves and carrying handbags. Fascinatingly, there are no African-American or Hispanic prisoners, either, anywhere in the prison. (more…)
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 6:23 pm. Updated on May 7th, 2020 at 4:29 pm.
Definitely one of the sillier prison comedies, but not the worst. (more…)
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 6:16 pm. Updated on August 21st, 2009 at 6:44 pm.