Prison stuff. In prison movies.
Based loosely, it seems, on the story of Father Patrick O’Neil who helped quell a riot at Canon City Prison in Colorado in October 1929 in which five prisoners and eight guards were killed, this film is an unabashed tribute to all prison chaplains. (more…)
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 7:28 pm. Updated on August 21st, 2009 at 6:43 pm.
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 wasn’t exactly blown away by The Hoose-Gow (1929), the only other Laurel & Hardy prison film I’d seen, but this one came with a much more promising reputation. And it opens well, with crew-cut Stan and Ollie trying to tunnel out of prison, only to come up, pick-first, through the carpet in the Warden’s office. In unsoiled, pristine prison uniforms, what’s more. (more…)
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 7:16 pm. Updated on August 21st, 2009 at 6:44 pm.
Unfortunately it’s a bit hard to rate this film when you can’t understand Spanish and there are no English sub-titles, but it should rate very highly in the cult status stakes. (more…)
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 7:12 pm. Updated on August 21st, 2009 at 6:44 pm.
When the best line in this comedy is from the last of a series of out-takes as the final credits are rolling over, you can be pretty sure that it’s been a waste of time. (more…)
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 7:04 pm. Updated on August 21st, 2009 at 6:44 pm.
A Hindi classic, apparently, but not quite a prison movie classic. Mind you, the Naini, Yeravada and Bhagalpur Central Jails all appear in the credits, so one would hope that the prison scenes have a degree of authenticity about them. (more…)
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 7:02 pm. Updated on January 1st, 2010 at 5:21 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.