Mixed tapes Movies: Chess

In the eighties it was the-thing-to-do to make a mixed tape (like an mp3 but touchable, always in need of a pencil and definitely cooler). On it you would make a little playlist of all the cool songs. Now the trick was to make each song correspond with the rest of the tape. In this post I will try to do the same with movies.

Every once in a while I will select a general topic and select movies to accompany it. As you can see the more child-friendly movies are at the start of the day, but  when night falls: ‘here be monsters’. Please feel free to give suggestions of other unknown movies.

One rule though: Auteur themes like ‘Shakespeare’ or ‘James Bond’ are not allowed. ‘Spy-movies’, naturally, are.

Theme: Chess

I named this little blog of mine the Chessboard factory. The reason behind it wasn’t me trying to pretend to be any kind of intellectual.

Rather I reasoned that those 64-squared things have to be made somewhere. Meaning: an item representing awe-inspiring-intelligence or ‘elite’ was probably made in some factory by a guy named Kevin (looking at the clock for his next break-time).

Still, to stay with the title of this blog I wish to name some movies dealing with the game of chess. And, as I’m sure you’ll notice, chess is –in these movies- just a metaphor for bigger things.

08:00-10:00 

Long live the Queen - A sweet little Dutch movie about a girl (without a father) who is forbidden to play chess by her mother. So obviously she does. In this fantasy world, she creates for herself -to understand the game- A white queen. This Queen teaches the girl some valuable lessons and…everything will be right in the end –as a kids movie should be.

10:00-10:30

Geri’s game - A short one but too hilarious to exclude. Two old men who look alike play chess. Who will win and, more importantly, what is the prize? And, Yes, Geri looks a lot like the toymaker from Toy Story 2 (1999)

10:30-12:00

Harry Potter and the philosopher’s stone -  I just had to include this one. Only videogames allow the player to walk a chessboard (like ‘Knight moves’ or ‘Battle Chess’). Only videogames dare to show the player that chess is actually a rather brutal game. The first Harry Potter showed it firsthand. With Ron on the knight he proved to me that he is a brave boy willing to lay down his life for his friends to stop the villain.

It is also interesting to note that a logical game of chess shouldn’t have any place in the Wizarding World (Wizards don’t ‘do’ logic).

12:00-14:00

The thief who came to dinner – I mentioned this movie in another mixed tape; but I think the movie is too darn good to leave out of this list as well. A playboy burglar leaves chess pieces and moves around as a signature of his crimes (and no other criminal copies him in this fiction). Then the cops decide to challenge him to a game against a chess-master. If he loses he has to give himself up. But out hero the burglar cheats.

14:00-16:00

Searching for Bobby Fisher - Being a chess protégée is a terrible fate. Just imagine your brain being terrifyingly good at one thing but not others. This movie shows the ordeal in a sweet, caring manner. Being good at something doesn’t mean you have to accept it.

16:00-18:00

Pawn Sacrifice – The Bobby Fisher documentary is better. The reason I put this movie on the list is twofold; first  because I love how Live Schreiber played his character (all in Russian, mind you). The whole movie is about that ONE move Fischer made against Spassky and the applause it got him. But, as movies do, the leading up to it is part of the fun. Second because I think one should combine this movie with the documentary which is coming up next

18:00-20:00

Bobby Fisher against the world – The documentary. Many think about chess as an elite, high intelligence, game. But at what cost? The persona of Bobby Fisher wasn’t a nice man; but the question here being: is it chess that destroyed his mind or was it his destroyed mind that made him good at chess?

20:00-22:00

The seventh seal – The classic. If you play against death you play chess (not Clue!: Bill and Ted!). The knight, here goes his path and finds his followers (like chess pieces) until death comes to him.

22:00-00:00

Uncovered – Chess is a game of planning and brainpower. So, obviously, a chessboard fits perfectly in a crime tale. Uncovered is such a crime tale that use the mystery of a painted chessboard as the major clue. The idea is great, the execution a bit lesser. But still it’s a fun whodunit.

00:00-02:00

Die Schachnovelle – I read the book and watched the movie (the book is better). The brain games chess offers can save a life. But, in the end, it might almost destroy you. This movie is an early attempt of German cinema to come to terms with their monstrous past. Maybe it was a bit too early; but it stays an intriguing tale nonetheless.

02:00-04:00

Knight moves – A murderer wants to play chess and he’s using victims as pawns. If the world is a chessboard how do you win against a brilliant player? The ending might be a bit dark but until then you are in for a thrill ride as Lambert plays our hero under suspicion.

This movie shaped my life; I watched this movie too early in my life and was left me wondering. Chess, to me became the game of the most intellectual minds of the world. As I grew older I realized that this isn’t the case. Just some people playing games.

When your knight is cornered you attack!.

Honourable Mentions: 

Computer Chess – The whole idea of a computer beating a grandmaster at chess was, for a long time (before Deep Blue at least) unfathomable. Nowadays it’s a reality and computer are getting even smarter by the minute.

Mixed Tape Movies: Trains.

In the eighties it was the-thing-to-do to make a mixed tape (like an mp3 but touchable, always in need of a pencil and definitely cooler). On it you would make a little playlist of all the cool songs. Now the trick was to make each song correspond with the rest of the tape. In this post I will try to do the same with movies.

Every once in a while I will select a general topic and select movies to accompany it. As you can see the more child-friendly movies are at the start of the day, but  when night falls: ‘here be monsters’. Please feel free to give suggestions of other unknown movies. 

One rule though: Auteur themes like ‘Shakespeare’ or ‘James Bond’ are not allowed. ‘Spy-movies’, naturally, are.

Theme: Trains

I love a good long train ride. Far more comfortable than that annoying ear pain you receive from airplane travel. Just sitting back and seeing the landscape fly past (or towards you depending on how you are sitting).

The second thing I enjoy is that it is cramped. You are all in this contraption together (but comfortable, at least). All these strange people piled on top of each other. It’s the closest thing to camping except the privies are a lot more private.

So with all these stranger on a train mystery and adventure are bound to happen. So let me just give you ten of my favourite train-movies.

08:00-10:00

Thomas and the Magic Railroad (2000): A small forgotten movie. There’s a reason for that: It’s not a very good movie! But it’s definitely not worse than The polar express (Sorry, I don’t like that movie..at…all). Kids will love it and that’s all that’s important here.

10:00-12:00

Silver Streak: A bit of a gamble this one (the black-face scene is a ‘no no’ nowadays). But overall this is one very clever and funny thriller which actually turned Gene Wilder in somewhat of an action hero. Also seeing the poor bloke getting thrown off the train four times in a row is a hoot.

12:00-14:00

Narrow margin: “Do you know what I like about you? You’re tall!”

Gene Hackman has to keep a  witness safe on a train filled with potential mobster hitmen. A cleverly constructed thriller that builds up to the inevitable finale on the train roof (one of those tropes that just keeps on giving, like that great rooftop fight in The seven percent solution (1977)).

14:00-16:00

The first great train robbery: I wrote about this movie before (HERE). This movie is a mixed bag. It’s very good; but the three small things that feel ‘off’ about this movie are so way off they actually hurt the bigger picture. Still for a crime caper adventure movie with a charming lead this is one of the best around.

16:00-17:00

The lady vanishes: Even though the Hitchcock version is the best version out there I carry a torch for this 1979 version. Angela Lansbury plays elderly women-you-don’t-mess-with like the best. And then there are Elliott Gould and Cybill Shepherd  having lovely chemistry as the leads. Plus Shepherd gets to poke fun at Hitler which is always good.

17:00-19:00

Murder on the orient express: Another 70s version but this time I chose the absolute (1974) best. Everything is perfect in this rendition of Agatha Christie’s greatest novel. The script has been cleverly adapted, the pacing is fast and Lauren Bacall is, as always, a marvel.

19:00-21:00

Runaway train: Just for Danny Trejo alone. This movie made the genre of an unstoppable train common practice and it has been copied to death ever since. A little rough around the edges this movie delivers a harsh, cold, adventure ride that hits your senses ‘like a freight train’ (sorry about that pun).

21:00-23:00

Snowpiercer: Trains have always been about class (1^st, 2^nd, coach). So why not use this concept for a science fiction story about survivors of the apocalypse trying to escape their oppressors. All of which this takes place aboard a continuously moving train. As our heroes move from cart to cart towards the engine things become more and more luxurious and (people) ludicrous. Snowpiercer creates an intriguing tale with various similarities between its fiction and (our) reality.

23:00-01:00

Horror express: Terry Savalas, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee all in the same movie. In movies it’s never wise to transport a danger by moving vehicle (trains, planes or even automobiles). In this case it is a prehistoric monster being relocated. But we’ve got The Count AND Von Helsing to rely upon, so we’re good.

01:00-03:00

Train to Busan: Zombies on a train. Why not? We’ve had those undead critters everywhere else by now. But what Train to Busan does very cleverly is that it uses the claustrophobia of trains to its advantage to increase the tension. Especially the ‘climbing across’-scene is an absolute nail biting tension scene.

Honourable mentions:

When you get right down to it there are four sub-genres of movies involving trains. (1) The finding a person on a train-genre (Source code, The Commuter, or the various adaptations of The lady vanishes and Murder on the orient express). (2) The Terrorists on a train who need to be dispatched-genre (Finale run, Under siege 2). (3) The there’s horror on the train and you can’t get off-genre (Terror train). And (4) the train is a runaway (which is usually reserved for the finale of the movie).

I think I named an example for each of those movie movies in my list. These honourable mentions are the others that just didn’t make it.

There are also movie that take only partially take place on a train. The railway children, From Russia with love (James Bond movies love trains), Harry Potter 1 to 7. I discarded them.

Now I didn’t include subway movies like Death line, The taking of Pelham one, two three, Money train or Midnight meat train, because these movies are about subway trains, not railroad trains. Maybe for the next Mixed tape movies.

Mixed Tape Movies: Who is who?

In the eighties it was the-thing-to-do to make a mixed tape (like an mp3 but touchable, always in need of a pencil and definitely cooler). On it you would make a little playlist of all the cool songs. Now the trick was to make each song correspond with the rest of the tape. In this post I will try to do the same with movies.

Every once in a while I will select a general topic and select movies to accompany it. As you can see the more child-friendly movies are at the start of the day, but  when night falls: ‘here be monsters’. Please feel free to give suggestions of other unknown movies.

One rule though: Auteur themes like ‘Shakespeare’ or ‘James Bond’ are not allowed. ‘Spy-movies’, naturally, are.

Theme: Who is who? .

Identity is a strange concept when you think about it. I am me! But there a millions of people on the world who ‘think’ like me. Then there are hundreds of thousands of people on the world who like the things I like. And, then, there are probably a few thousand people on the world who like their coffee they way I like it. The point being: I am unique; yet there a quite a few people around on this silly little planet of ours who are exactly like me.

They might even look like me according to the popular theory of ‘seven doppelgangers’.

This time ‘round I want to focus on movies that delve into this concept of ‘identity’. ‘Who are you’- really and can somebody else fill your shoes. We will soon find out.

08:00-10:00

Freaky Friday: The original body change routine between a mother and her daughter. I prefer the 1995-version because that movie is a bit less over the top for me girl.

Still, the original is the best of the bunch. There’s nothing better than a (young) Jodie Foster telling her classmates how it is.

10:00-12:00 

Hilfe ich bin ein junge: A German movie in which a young girl and boy switch places. Hilarity ensues. It’s tame childhood fare as only the Germans could produce in their years of dividedness.

12:00-14:00

Like father, like son: The boys took over. That’s the way to look at this particular genre. Girls go first (if it’s a hit!), the boys follow. This tale isn’t very different from the first if not for the fact that the ‘cringe’ is nudged to eleven!

14:00-16:00

Vice Versa: Accepting the mood this movie goes down on the ‘cringe’-factor and merely plays it as a boy trying to understand his father (and ‘vice versa’). Yes, there are those terrible scenes of a boy pretending to be an adult (which always fail). But at the same time this movie has an sweet paternal love story between father and son at its core. And some adventure to boot!

16:00-17:00

Switch: The difficult one. Here we have a guy being killed by his former lovers. This guy is a bastard! Period! But then he ‘re-awakens’ as a gorgeous girl. What to do? Hunt donwn his killers (check), get accustomed to his/her body (check), accept the fact that he was quite the bastard in his previous life and the women were (rather) right to kill him (double check).

In the end Switch is a story about accepting your flaws and becoming a better person. Only, in this fantasy, murder had to come first.

17:00-19:00

Prelude to a Kiss: Alec Baldwin and Meg Ryan at their most charming. It’s a small story about love and aging as a young woman and an elderly man switch places.

19:00-21:00

Face/Off: An action flick by the master of the genre John Woo. A criminal and a terrorist change places. Be prepared for some, almost, operatic violence and the white dove or two as the forces of good and evil collide.

The best part of this movie is the ease with which Travolta and Cage manage to mimic each others little habits. Having strong capable actors in such a silly tale almost makes the fantasy it is based on plausible.

21:00-23:00

Dark reflection: (Yes, I’m almost cheating) Another switch this time between grown up clones/ or brothers – separated at birth. A guy finds out that he was a clone and his older ‘sibling’ comes to meet him.

His brother wants to take his place and all kinds of shenanigans happen in-between. But, the true question happens in the end: when we are talking about reality. Who is real and who is false?

I excluded Multiplicity here because this movie doesn’t really feature a switch between two different souls as it were.

23:00-01:00

Fallen: ‘Ti-i-i-me is on my side; yes it is!’
According to Biblical stories: when the war in the heavens ended God punished each fallen angel accordingly. Some angels were stripped away from a body, cursed to live eternity without a permanent host, dependent on the humans de detest.

We are in the horror genre now (well, supernatural-thriller, at least).
What is identity? Is it our mind or our body or both? Think about it. Then imagine that the ‘body’-part gets stripped away.

This is what the villain in Fallen is experiencing. He has no body anymore –he’s all mind. What does that do to a being? For starters: he becomes everything, with no identity of sex, race, color or creed.

Lou Diamond Phillips' The First Power (1990) uses the same concept but Fallen is the better movie.

01:00-03:00  

The Thing: Talk about identity. Here we have a shape-shifting Alien monster intent on killing every single living soul it can find. Who is who? Who can one trust? What’s that around the corner?

Honourable mentions:
I decided to let most of the movies on this list have a bit of ‘magic’ behind it all. So I’ll probably keep Trading Places, Big Business and Filofax for another time. Still there are many other movies to mention:

18 again!, Dream a little dream: An elderly man and a teenager switch places. I like the use of this concept better in Prelude to a kiss because of the romantic angle and the fear of aging after marriage.

It’s a boy girl thing: Boys and girls switching places is a staple of this particular niche genre. This movie is one of the better outings.

All of me: A woman’s soul enters the body of a young man. All kind of hilarious things happen along the way as he tries to help her (and she helps him).

Horror movies: Lot’s of horror movies use the concept of the ‘switch’ or ‘unreliable/reliable’ character dynamic. But including it on the list would be spoiling the movie. One I can tell you is the underappreciated The witch in the window. The other is a brilliant 2005 movie. That’s all I can say.

Mixed Tape Movies: Mobsters

In the eighties it was the-thing-to-do to make a mixed tape (like an mp3 but touchable, always in need of a pencil and definitely cooler). On it you would make a little playlist of all the cool songs. Now the trick was to make each song correspond with the rest of the tape. In this post I will try to do the same with movies.

Every once in a while I will select a general topic and select movies to accompany it. As you can see the more child-friendly movies are at the start of the day, but  when night falls: ‘here be monsters’. Please feel free to give suggestions of other unknown movies.

One rule though: Auteur themes like ‘Shakespeare’ or ‘James Bond’ are not allowed. ‘Spy-movies’, naturally, are.

Theme: Mobsters.

I've always been a sucker for the fictional 'good' criminals. The Robin Hoods of this world that steal from the rich and give to the poor. Mobsters are the opposite of that; they are vile and evil and they know it! Yet ,somehow, alongside the bloodshed they leave behind these villains (in movies at least) care deeply about friendship, family, tradition and respect. It’s this grey area that always struck me as intriguing in the mobster genre.

08:00-10:00

Bugsy Malone: One of my favorite childhood movies was The phantom kid (1977) –completely unfindable nowadays. The movie was a western with an all children cast. I loved this movie to bits.

Then, when I was ‘round about ten’ I saw Bugsy Malone. It’s a lesser movie to me, too childish – even for a child. But then again it did have Jodie Foster portraying the ultimate dream girlfriend (that is, until I realized that she was quite a bit older than me). Nevertheless, Jodie will always be in my heart.

10:00-12:00

Little miss marker: This is one of the few movies in which the remake is better than the original. Walter Matthau and Julie Andrews (and Brian Dennehy and Tony Curtis) are brilliant in this sweet tale about a hustler accepting a young child as a bet-marker.

If you are ever feeling down this is the movie to watch. Just that horse-race-scene alone.

12:00-14:00

Oscar: An often criticized movie, and I don’t understand why. The moment Tim Curry’s character bellows his naïve ‘Hellooou!’ you just have to be giggling. And that’s way after (immortal?) Kirk Douglas slapping Rambo in the face.

Arnold Schwarzenegger tried his hand at comedy with Kindergarten cop (which is also a brilliant thriller in the last act) and Junior. Sly did the same with Oscar and Stop or my mom will shoot! The latter we’ll just pretend never existed. But Oscar should have more credit than it is usually given.

Based on an old stage farce it is a hilarious movie that never denies its origins and –in case you are wondering- Sly Stallone is perfect in the part of the mob boss trying to give up being a mob boss. 

14:00-16:00

The Sting: The Sting just has to be on this list! This is one of the few movies that actually gets hurt the minute you watch the sequel. Just don’t!

Redford and Newman are perfect as always as they try to cheat a local mob-lord out of his money. True the plot takes a few side-roads at times (the whole sudden assassin plotline) that just don’t work. But in the end it is the ultimate conman movie that still has to be surpassed (Ocean’s eleven [the remake] came very close).

16:00-17:00

The untouchables: A very polished movie for today’s standards that walks the narrow line between the real-life story of Eliot Ness and the fantastical. Especially the style of the various sets (very reminiscent to those old-time Dick Tracy comics) and, of course, the explosive portrayal of Al Capone by Robert de Niro make this movie.

17:00-23:00

The Godfather Trilogy: The classic! A full shelve of books have been written about these three movies (or one big movie, to be honest). The original movie never mentions the word ‘Mafia’. But then the Don liked the first movie so much that he allowed the word to be used in the sequels.

Then there’s the reason the third movie is the lesser of the three is because Robert Duvall (with reason) didn’t want to appear in it.

After all, the first two movies are a big buildup to a confrontation between Michael and Tom.

So we got to see that Sophia Coppola can’t act if her life depended on it (poor woman – but then again she’s is a very impressive director with an unique interest in stories to tell). But also Andy Garcy playing what he does best: an arrogant smuck that you –can’t help yourself to- love.

The story of the Corleone family is a brilliant watch. Al Pacino never surpassed his performance as he did in the second chapter. Marlon Brando used his screen-presence to the max and suffered a slow carreer death afterwards. And Diane Keaton shows the world of women what a woman is capable of in a world of men.

The Godfather trilogy is a must watch for anybody who loves film. Go into it blank and then, and only then, read up about what went on behind the scenes. 

23:00-01:00

Road to Perdition: Tom Hanks as a villain! What more; Paul Newman as a villain. And yet, I would call neither such. Based on a (brilliant) graphic novel Road to Perdition this underrated Mendes forte explores the themes of love and honor amongst thieves.

Sam Mendes is always a daring director and Road to Perdition proves this. This movie is a thrilling story about the love between an father and son. A love that, under the circumstances will only end in blood.

01:00-03:00 

Goodfellas: When talking about mobsters one has to talk about Scorsese. Casino and The Departed might have been his new Magnus Opi (yet, I always preferred The Aviator). It was Goodfellas that showed this strange concoction between ‘cool to be a mobster’ and ‘the pure insanity of it all’.

Relying heavily on Joe Pesci’s performance Goodfellas shows that ‘wanting to be a Goodfella’ is the equivalent of bathing yourself in the blood of the criminally insane. This insanity explains the Henry Hill character in the end – when all are dead.

Honourable mentions:
There are, of course, numerous mobster movies that I've forgotten to include in this list. But, luckily for me, a lot of mobster movies also use different themes that I might be able to highlight in a future article.

We own the night: Four brothers: Utterly forgettable. The only reason I put it here is to remind myself that this movie exists and that I’ve seen it four times. What is it about? I can’t remember.

Donnie Brasco: A brilliant movie with strong performances. But it cannot hold a candle against the movies in this list (nor to Scorsese’s The Departed – which has the same story).

The Departed: A brilliant movie but less about mobsters and more about spying and cat-and-mouse-games. The same goes for Eastern Promises.

Scarface (the original): The true mobster blueprint. But like cars getting more advanced over the years so did this blueprint. Scarface is still a great movie if you are willing to accept that a lot of the things you’ll see have been reused in later movies.

Scarface (the remake): The ultimate gangster-movie. And for that sole reason I excluded it from the list. I wanted to talk about ‘classical’ mobsters, not modern day gangsters. The Scarface-character in this movie isn’t about the ‘inner circle’ of family and friends. Scarface’s – Tony Montana- is all about himself.  And he is willing to accept all kinds of sacrifices to get to his goals.

Scarface, therefore, wouldn’t feel out of place in a sociopath-topic.

Carlito’s way – Again an ex-criminal getting dragged back into crime. Even though this movie has one of the best endings ever to grace the silver screen I had to exclude it due to time constraints.  That and the fact that I preferred the paternal love of Road to Perdition over the stupid friend from Carlito’s way.

Mixed Tape Movies: Welcome to the jungle

In the eighties it was the-thing-to-do to make a mixed tape (like an mp3 but touchable, always in need of a pencil and definitely cooler). On it you would make a little playlist of all the cool songs. Now the trick was to make each song correspond with the rest of the tape. In this post I will try to do the same with movies.

Every once in a while I will select a general topic and select movies to accompany it. As you can see the more child-friendly movies are at the start of the day, but  when night falls: ‘here be monsters’. Please feel free to give suggestions of other unknown movies.

One rule though: Auteur themes like ‘Shakespeare’ or ‘James Bond’ are not allowed. ‘Spy-movies’, naturally, are.

Theme: Welcome to the jungle.

I’ve never been to the jungle. I’ve never handled a machete to carve my way through the bush. But, talking about movies I do know one thing: jungles are always adventures. Now I kept away from Indiana Jones (not a lot of jungles in those movies) or King Kong just to keep things interesting. So put on your raincoat and grab your knife because you are going into the green!

08:00-10:00

The jungle book: The classic. Forget about the various live-action remakes. This Jungle Book is the only one that matters (though I thought the Netflix version was rather good as well). It has everything a good Disney has to offer: brave heroes, dastardly villains and a good heart at its core.

10:00-12:00 

Jungle 2 jungle: The idea is simple: New York is called a ‘jungle’. So; why not take a real jungle kid there. And so the story was born. However, leave it up to Disney to get a sweet tale out of it.

12:00-14:00

George of the jungle: I love this little rage in the ‘90s when (lesser known) pop-culture items were made into big movies (Dennis the Menace, Mr. Magoo and the Stupids being the others I enjoyed). ‘George’ is hilarious all the way (even the sequel). I don’t know why really but it has a heart and it has George slinging his vine into a tree every three minutes so I’m happy.

14:00-16:00

Tarzan: Phil Collins wrote some of his best songs for this movie (though Jesus he knows me is still the best) which, as it turned out, caused the whole ordeal known as The emperor’s new groove (watch the fascinating documentary The sweatbox). Still this movie stands as one of the best ‘new wave’ Disney animations. The last moment in time in which the studio wasn’t afraid to show some real terror.

16:00-17:00

Romancing the stone: A love story at its core. This movie has everything, thick jungle plants, swinging vines, drug smugglers, crooked bridges, hungry alligators and -of course- ‘Pepe’. This movie is 80s adventure to the max and so enjoyable.

17:00-19:00

Medicine man: Sean Connery is terrible at accepting scripts (he turned down the role of Gandalf and his tailor-suited role in Skyfall). But when he accepts a script he gives his all. Here he plays the man curing cancer in a movie troubled by terrible voice-overs. But still, with Connery on the job you can only marvel.

19:00-21:00

The emerald forest: A boy gets lost in the jungle. The father (after grieving) continues his job at the local dam. The boy returns and father and son reunited over the destruction of the villainous, environmentally dangerous, dam.

This is the story in a nutshell but, strangely enough, it works. Moreover, it tells you that movies in the 80s were a lot more preoccupied by making the world a better place than they are now.

21:00-23:00

The secret of the Incas' empire: Now, I had a blank to fill. I haven’t been able to re-see this movie for over twenty years (yes, I’m that old). So my review is based on memory and thus biased.

What did I like about this movie when I was a child? It was bloody bloody! It had a nice Indiana Jones kinda fibe to it, and it ended happily within a guy swinging a vine above a pit of lave yelling: “I’m not bloody Indiana Jones!” to his girlfriend in need of rescue.

If I can ever refind it on youtube I will write a full article about it. For now accept this movie as an Italian rip-off of the Indiana Jones-franchise and have fun with it, because that’s what it had with it, a lot of fun whilst waiting for Indiana Jones 4…oh sh*t.

23:00-01:00

Anaconda: Forget Snakes on a plane. Just focus on one big bloody snake –meters long. This snake has every intention of eating each and every explorer trying to find it. Luckily the movie knows that that’s not enough to keep an audience invested so it toys around the genre. Basically Anaconda is a dark comedy. And if you see it as such (with some beers) it becomes hilarious.

01:00-03:00  

Predator: The official ‘rumble in the jungle’. An intergalactic hunter versus our own ‘Dutch’ Arnold Schwarzenegger (the guy is so impressive he never had to change his name). The interesting thing is the amount of blood this movie allows. This is ‘Arnie’ at his finest. All of it taking place in the tropical jungle.

Honourable mentions:

Tropic Thunder: A fun genre movie that pokes fun at the cinema industry. And that's the point, it's more about the movie-business than it is about the jungle.