Prison stuff. In prison movies.
The Director of this Spanish-language, low-budget movie calls it an ‘amazing story’ and its publicity proclaims that making a movie of the escape was ‘the only option’. Wrong, on both counts. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on June 7th, 2009 at 6:41 pm. Updated on August 11th, 2013 at 12:05 pm.
Translates roughly as ‘Don’t Let Them Shoot the Kite.’ A woman, imprisoned for murder in self-defence, befriends another inmate’s child. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on June 5th, 2009 at 9:19 pm. Updated on August 21st, 2009 at 6:42 pm.
I’m deeply, deeply suspicious of any film where the Director casts himself in the lead role and not only gives himself the best lines, but gets to bed the beautiful woman and be the hero all at the one time. Not even Woody Allen can always pull that off, and Rob Schneider certainly can’t in this limp, misconceived comedy. But it’s not just that. This is a one-joke movie, and when that one joke concerns homosexual rape, or any rape (even if it’s mostly about the avoidance of rape), it’s going to have trouble making me laugh.
Posted on May 31st, 2009 at 6:15 pm. Updated on August 21st, 2009 at 6:42 pm.
A curious mix of British prison architecture (well, Dublin’s Kilmainham Jail), the look and feel of a US reality TV show (think ‘Britain’s Unruliest Prisons’ with prisoners dressed in thin beige boilersuits), and some very un-American and unexpected plot twists that unapologetically break faith with the genre. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on May 23rd, 2009 at 10:38 pm. Updated on September 3rd, 2009 at 10:15 pm.
It’s my fault, or Amazon.com’s. I thought that this was the 1986 prison movie, but it is a black-and-white film of the same name which contains very few prison scenes. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on May 18th, 2009 at 8:57 pm. Updated on August 27th, 2009 at 10:31 pm.
It is said that this is the best of the Elvis Presley films, which in itself is a worry. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on May 18th, 2009 at 8:56 pm. Updated on August 27th, 2009 at 10:20 pm.
This is the worst sort of prison movie; clichéd and predictable, with dialogue that would make even Magnum PI blanch. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on May 18th, 2009 at 8:55 pm. Updated on August 27th, 2009 at 10:19 pm.
Susan Hayward won an Oscar (for Best Overacting, surely) for her portrayal of Barbara Graham in this vehicle for the anti-death-penalty campaign. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on May 18th, 2009 at 8:53 pm. Updated on August 27th, 2009 at 10:18 pm.
This is a prison escape movie, but it’s the antithesis of an action film, and probably not even a prison film, really. Filmed in stunning black and white, it is deliberate, slow, and consciously off-centre. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on May 18th, 2009 at 8:51 pm. Updated on August 27th, 2009 at 10:17 pm.
This is about as far as you can get from being a prison movie for a film that has the words ‘goes to jail’ in the title. Not to be confused with the 2009 flick of the same name but with a completely different plot, this is a film of a Tyler Perry play. Perry is the writer, producer, director, and creator of the character, which he plays in drag. He is a tall man and Madea, an elderly, bosomy, gun-totin’, chain-smokin’ matriarch is a formidable presence. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on May 18th, 2009 at 8:49 pm. Updated on August 27th, 2009 at 10:16 pm.