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DVD Flesh + Blood
A rarely screened cult favorite from Paul Verhoeven, this story of medieval war and revenge should please action fans and admirers of the director and his semi-regular leading man, Rutger Hauer, but its graphic scenes of sexual violence earmark it for mature viewers only. Hauer stars as a 16th-century mercenary hired by a Western European ruler (Fernando Hilbeck) to assault a neighboring kingdom; when the king reneges on his promises to Hauer and his men, they kidnap his son's fiancee (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and hole up in a nearby castle. Hauer and Leigh are standouts in a strong cast that includes Tom Burlinson, Bruno Kirby, the late Brion James, and Susan Tyrrell; Verhoeven's realistic approach to the down-and-dirty facts of medieval life and the bloody aftermath of warfare offers a refreshing alternative to most Hollywood period films, but a pair of brutal rape scenes may be too much for some audiences. MGM's DVD is widescreen. --Paul Gaita
This is not a chick flick, even if you are in love with Tom Burlinson.
Verhoeven doing what he does best.
I remember seeing this movie when i was a teenager many years ago and for some reason it really stuck in my head. Upon watching it again recently it all came flooding back. The gratuitous nudity and gore on display here is much in line with most of director Paul Verhoevens other work, notably the seedy Showgirls and Basic Instinct. Flesh and Blood is a medievil tale wallowing in its own squalid setting with plenty of swordplay and lashings of sex. Rutger Hauer is in fine form but the casting of Aussie Tom Burlinson in the lead role is simply mystifying as his forays into serious dramatic acting here prove simply hammy. Overall this film for all its over the top scenes (the lightning breaking the heroes chains free...please!) and dodgy dialogue is very entertaining and at times quite unintentionally amusing. Flesh and Blood captures the period well with great set design and locations but fails to rise above anything other than B grade exploitation. But hey, whats wrong with that. Put you brain into neutral, kick back with a coldie and have a fun few hours.
Fascinating depiction of medieval warfare
You need a strong fortitude to make it through this movie on medieval warfare starring a still largely unknown Rutger Hauer (the cult favorite BLADE RUNNER at that time was still considered a failure in 1985) and Jennifer Jason Leigh (whatever happened to her). It's an entertaining movie if highly exploitative, that portrays the gruesome days of hand-to-hand swordmanship with the requisite amount of gore and bloodletting in addition to shots of severed limbs and people suffering from the bubonic plague.
The story centers on charismatic mercenary Martin and his followers (including WHEN HARRY MET SALLY's Bruno Kirby). After being promised the spoils of a castle if they help a King capture it they are betrayed by said ruler and banished from the land. Understandably a little miffed its not long before Martin is heading back to seek his revenge on the ruler and attain the riches which he feels his band was cheated of.
So Martin and friends ambush the king's carriage that is escorting the rulers son's bride Agnes (played by Leigh) back for a royal wedding. Leigh is one of Hollywood's most appealing actresses and here she is in one of her first roles really throwing caution to the wind, in addition to most of her clothes. It's not surprising that Hauer's character falls for her and intends to keep her for himself.
The son Steven (played excellently by Tom Burlinson) is an inventor of sorts and a lot of the needed humor (needed to lighten an otherwise dark and foreboding picture) comes from his sheer ingenuity and the dogged manner in which he continues his crusade to save Agnes.
Really one should know what to expect from a Paul Verhoeven directed movie. This was the same man who gave us the violent ROBOCOP, the twisted sexual thriller BASIC INSTINCT and the exploitative SHOWGIRLS. This movie is full of sex, nudity, gore and rape (perhaps the most disturbing one put to film since Susan George's scene in STRAW DOGS).
That's not to say this movie isn't entertaining. I had not planned to watch it all the way through in one sitting but 10 minutes in and I cpuld not turn my eyes away from the screen, it's a well crafted story that is both fascinating and yet repulsive in the same breath.
Recommended
Kate Beckinsale plays an art restorer. While working on her current commission, she discovers a previously hidden inscription, which points to a murder conspiracy 500 years ago. As she tries to solve the mystery, whose key lies in the paintings depiction of a chess game, people around her, connected in one way or another to the painting, begin to die. Is the past reaching out to wreak vengeance on the present? And who is the Black Queen?
I won't tell you, except to say that the answer is painfully obvious. Based on The Flanders Panel, a novel by Arturo Perez-Reverte, author of The Ninth Gate, this is a much less successful film than Roman Polanski's effort. The premise is intriguing, but the resolution is deeply disappointing. Beckinsale's character, furthermore, is so... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Jim McBride DVD Release Date: Released the 16 March 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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A love letter to movies (and the French new wave of the 1960s in particular), Bernardo Bertolucci's The Dreamers starts with a 1968 riot outside of a Parisian movie palace then burrows into an insular love triangle. Matthew (Michael Pitt, Hedwig and the Angry Inch), an expatriate American student, bonds with a twin brother and sister, Isabelle (Eva Green) and Theo (Louis Garrel), over their mutual love of film--they not only quote lines of dialogue, they act out small bits and challenge each other to name the cinematic source. Matthew suspects the twins of incest, but that doesn't stop him from falling into his own intimacies with Isabelle. As the threesome becomes threatened, Paris succumbs to student riots. The Dreamers aspires to be kinky, but the results are more... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Bernardo Bertolucci DVD Release Date: Released the 13 July 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Just finished watching this after having it for about a year or so and finally getting around to it. Well, I guess I could've waited even longer because it wasn't very good or really worth seeing at any particular time. I've seen worse so I was still able to sit through it and besides, it's loaded with typical nondescript 1980's music by unknown acts (at least here in the States, probably), bad acting, bad photography, bad special effects, bad writing and bad directing, so watching it was a kind of excercise in sadomasochistic patience. If you're a connoisseur of bad films then this one will certainly delight you. More Info about this DVD Director(s): Nico Mastorakis DVD Release Date: Released the 14 January 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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This movie started out with a lot of potential, as Lizzie (Thora Birch) recounts the sordid tale of a weekend gone horribly wrong. Four truants chose to make a weekend for themselves rather than go on a prep school field trip. The mystery lies in the telling of the tale, as Lizzie's and Martyn's accounts diverge sharply from each other. A pshychiatrist and a police detective try to sort out the stories, but ultimately it is Lizzie who determines the fate of everyone involved. The movie has suspense but it doesn't go nearly far enough in pulling the pieces together into a plausible whole. Instead, you get a compelling set of events that more or less leads to an inescapable conclusion. More Info about this DVD Director(s): Nick Hamm DVD Release Date: Released the 19 October 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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In terms of alluring female nudity, Swimming Pool shows a lot, but it's what remains concealed that gives this erotic thriller a potent, voyeuristic charge. With his Hitchcockian handling of secrets and lies, prolific French director François Ozon reunites with his Under the Sand star, Charlotte Rampling, to tell a seductive tale of murder and complicity, beginning when British mystery novelist Sarah Morton (Rampling) seeks peace and relaxation at her publisher's French villa, only to find his brash, sexually liberated daughter Julie (Ludivine Sagnier) arriving shortly thereafter to disrupt her solitary reverie. What begins as mutual annoyance turns into something more sinister and duplicitous, alternating between Julie's predatory sex with men and Sarah's observant,... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Charlotte Rampling - Ludivine Sagnier - Charles Dance Director(s): François Ozon DVD Release Date: Released the 23 August 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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