Tag: salesman

The Karate Kid
Part III

Director – John G. Avildsen – 1989 – US – Cert. PG – 112m

Review written on spec at the time of the film’s UK release and never previously published. The first film I saw in this franchise, and clearly not the place to start, since it had reached a low ebb by this point.

The third in the series, this one has the annoyingly good-natured Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) back in the title role and is punctuated throughout its running length by inane music and image sequences in which Daniel LaRusso imitates his mentor Mr. Miyagi (Noriyuki “Pat” Morita) undergoing various physical slow-mo karate exercises. These are suitably shallow as to offend any true karate fanatic with half an ounce of brain; any other viewer is liable to be terminally bored by them.

The plot concerns the defeat of stereotypically evil Karate School owner/instructor Kreese (Martin Kove) being defeated in combat by Mr. Miyagi and becoming bent on revenge, i.e. by making his pupil LaRusso taste physical pain during defeat at a big karate tournament. Only trouble is, Daniel is persuaded by Miyagi not to take part. The film travels an utterly predictable route through various attempts by the baddies to get LaRusso to change his mind.… Read the rest

Animation Features Movies

Giants of La Mancha
(Argentina: Gigantes;
Germany: Das Geheimnis
von La Mancha;
Spain: Los Exploradores;
US: Storm Crashers)

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date 7 March 2025
No Comments on Giants of La Mancha
(Argentina: Gigantes;
Germany: Das Geheimnis
von La Mancha;
Spain: Los Exploradores;
US: Storm Crashers)
Sticky post

Director – Gonzalo Gutiérrez – 2024 – Argentina, Germany, Spain – Cert. U – 88m

***1/2

The young, present day descendants of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza must save La Mancha from a villainous property developer – animated children’s adventure is out in UK cinemas on Friday, March 7th

(UK cinemas are showing the English language version: further voice credits are given for Spanish and German language versions, where available.)

Alfonso (voice: English: Micke Alejandro Morena Lamprea; Spanish: Patricio Lago; German: Julian Jansson) the great, great, great, great, great-grandson of Don Quixote, lives with his parents in the small Spanish village of La Mancha which is under threat of terrible storms that the occupants attribute to climate change. Like his ancestor, Alfonso misreads things, such as an impending storm which he believes to be a storm monster.

He and his dad Dan Quixote (voice: English: Bradley Krupsaw), who alone among all the characters here speaks in rhyming couplets, and his mum (voice: English: Jennifer Moule; Spanish: Carla Petersen) are both idealists, to the extent that Dan is the one person in the village who has refused to sign his home over to besuited property developer Mr. Carrasco (voice: English: Thomas Harris), whose snake oil salesman charms seem to have convinced all the other villagers to sell up and move out to his development “with children in mind” of Carascoland, towards which they are currently heading in their cars en masse, despite Alfonso’s hurtling around on his bicycle warning everybody of the storm monster heading in their direction.… Read the rest

Tags 3D animation, ancestor, animation, Argentina, bascule bridge, battery, battle, betrayal, bicycle, Bond villain, Bradley Krupsaw, bridge, Carla Petersen, cars, Cassie Glow, Catalina Hannon, CG, CG animation, chasm, climate change, collaborator, corridor, cranes, crossing, crush, Das Geheimnis von La Mancha, delusion, Demián Velazco Rochwerger, descendant, dirigible, dog, Don Quixote, exodus, eyepatch, Germany, giant, Giants of La Mancha, Gigantes, Gonzalo Gutiérrez, henchmen, home, housing development, idealism, Jennifer Moule, Julian Jansson, Karol Sevilla, knight in distress, La Mancha, labyrinth, landscape, Los Exploradores, Marina Blanke, Matthew Morena Lamprea, Matthew Wray, mayhem, mecha, Micke Alejandro Morena Lamprea, monster, mothers and fathers, parachute, parents and children, Patricio Lago, prejudice, property developer, refuse to sign, rhyming couplets, romance, salesman, Sancho Panza, sell up, Spain, spider, storm, Storm Crashers, suit, Thomas Harris, traffic, white rabbit, windmill

Features Live Action Movies

The Shop
Around The Corner

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date 3 December 2021
No Comments on The Shop
Around The Corner

Director – Ernst Lubitsch – 1940 – US – Cert. PG – 99m

*****

Two store employees argue constantly, unaware they are perfect for one another – out in cinemas on Friday, December 3rd

It’s quite a shock to see an old Hollywood classic for the first time and realise that you’re seeing one of the greats of which you’ve somehow never heard, but that’s exactly what happened to me watching this extraordinarily charming film which is likely to appeal to anyone who loves the much more familiar It’s A Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, 1946). Both have stories that culminate at Christmas, both star American everyman James Stewart, and both give off what you might call a generosity of spirit. But in other ways, they’re two very different films.

For a start, this is not set anywhere in the US but rather in Europe, specifically the Hungarian capital Budapest. And then, its subject is not so much a town and the people who live there as a department store and the people who work there. There are no rich people dubiously making money by exploiting the poor: certainly there are bosses and workers, but the former treats the latter well and might reasonably be described as benevolent.… Read the rest