Film Reviews · Backpex

Title	Overview
Kes	A young, English working-class boy spends his free time caring for and training his pet falcon.
The Last Relic	A medieval love story with lots of adventures. The times are troubled - there's a revolt of peasants going on. To secure its safety a monastery chases for a relics of a holy Brigitte. A nobleman promises to get it if he gets beautiful Agnes as a reward. But she fells in love with a handsome adventurer. The monastery has to act shrewd now and play double game. The movie is still the best achievement of the Estonian cinema. Based on a novel.
Armour of God II: Operation Condor	Agent Jackie is hired to find WWII Nazi gold hidden in the Sahara desert. He teams up with three bungling women (the 3 stooges?) who are all connected in some way. However a team of mercenries have ideas on the ownership of the gold. A battle / chase ensues as to who gets there first. Lots of choregraphed Kung-Fu and quirky Chan humor.
The Smiling Lieutenant	A misfired flirtation lands a young lieutenant married to a princess instead of the one he loves.
Little Ashes	About the young life and loves of artist Salvador Dalí, filmmaker Luis Buñuel and writer Federico García Lorca.
Christmas with Holly	After being dumped at the alter on her wedding day, Maggie Conway moves to the island town of Friday Harbor in Washington State, where she meets Mark Nagle, the local coffee shop owner.
A History of Horror with Mark Gatiss	Mark Gatiss examines the history of the horror film, from classic Hollywood monsters to Hammer's glory days and beyond.
Das Lied einer Nacht	He was known as Anatole Litvak during his Hollywood directorial career, but he was still Anatole Litwak when he helmed the German musical Das Lied Einer Nacht (The Song of Night). Famed Polish tenor Jan Kiepura stars as famed Italian tenor Ferraro. Escaping from his tyrannical manager, Ferraro switches identities with a young tourist (Fritz Schulz) and goes off on an unscheduled Swiss holiday. Still travelling incognito, our hero falls in love with a winsome mountain girl (Magda Schneider). Alas, both his romance -- and his freedom -- are placed in jeopardy when it turns out that the charming young fellow with whom Ferraro traded identities was actually a notorious swindler. Anatole Litvak also directed the English-language version of Das Lied Einer Nacht, Be Mine Tonight
The Mystery of Picasso	Using a specially designed transparent 'canvas' to provide an unobstructed view, Picasso creates as the camera rolls. He begins with simple works that take shape after only a single brush stroke. He then progresses to more complex paintings, in which he repeatedly adds and removes elements, transforming the entire scene at will, until at last the work is complete.
The Temptress	In a masked ball in Paris, Manuel Robledo, a young Argentinian architect, meets Elena, the Marquess of Torre Blanca. Later, the young woman is rightly accused causing the misfortune and loss of wealth of Fontenoy, a man who fell for her charms. To escape social criticism, the Marquis of Torre Blanca transfers his residence to Argentina. There, Elena meets again Manuel, when he is building a river's dam. Manos Duras, a thug, harasses Elena, and when Manuel intervenes, he defies him to a whip duel. The duel is long and vicious, both men suffering many cuts on their faces and naked chests, but in the end, the thug is vanquished and humiliated. Manos Duras sets up an ambush to murder Manuel, but the Marquis of Torre Blanca is killed instead. Now, there only two men in love for Elena, the eternal temptress
Gun Woman	A brilliant doctor on a quest for revenge buys a young woman and trains her to be the ultimate assassin, implanting gun parts in her body that she must later assemble and use to kill her target before she bleeds to death.
Things We Lost in the Fire	A recent widow invites her husband's troubled best friend to live with her and her two children. As he gradually turns his life around, he helps the family cope and confront their loss.
Last I Heard	Released from federal prison after 20 years due to his ailing health, a formerly powerful New York mobster moves back home and attempts to reconnect with former life in this poignant Sopranos-esque character study.
Trailer Park Boys: Live at the North Pole	Bubbles and the other boys get a letter from a TPB fan club president in Minneapolis, Minnesota to do a live show at the State Theatre for Christmas. Ricky goes along with it to make nice with Santa Jesus God after a rough-up the previous year, while Julian brings along Randy to sell 60/40 raffle tickets and make some money. Mr. Lahey sneaks along to spoil the boys' fun. A Netflix original production.
The Painted Veil	A British medical doctor fights a cholera outbreak in a small Chinese village, while also being trapped at home in a loveless marriage to an unfaithful wife.

Kes

A young, English working-class boy spends his free time caring for and training his pet falcon.

The Last Relic

A medieval love story with lots of adventures. The times are troubled - there's a revolt of peasants going on. To secure its safety a monastery chases for a relics of a holy Brigitte. A nobleman promises to get it if he gets beautiful Agnes as a reward. But she fells in love with a handsome adventurer. The monastery has to act shrewd now and play double game. The movie is still the best achievement of the Estonian cinema. Based on a novel.

Armour of God II: Operation Condor

Agent Jackie is hired to find WWII Nazi gold hidden in the Sahara desert. He teams up with three bungling women (the 3 stooges?) who are all connected in some way. However a team of mercenries have ideas on the ownership of the gold. A battle / chase ensues as to who gets there first. Lots of choregraphed Kung-Fu and quirky Chan humor.

The Smiling Lieutenant

A misfired flirtation lands a young lieutenant married to a princess instead of the one he loves.

Little Ashes

About the young life and loves of artist Salvador Dalí, filmmaker Luis Buñuel and writer Federico García Lorca.

Christmas with Holly

After being dumped at the alter on her wedding day, Maggie Conway moves to the island town of Friday Harbor in Washington State, where she meets Mark Nagle, the local coffee shop owner.

A History of Horror with Mark Gatiss

Mark Gatiss examines the history of the horror film, from classic Hollywood monsters to Hammer's glory days and beyond.

Das Lied einer Nacht

He was known as Anatole Litvak during his Hollywood directorial career, but he was still Anatole Litwak when he helmed the German musical Das Lied Einer Nacht (The Song of Night). Famed Polish tenor Jan Kiepura stars as famed Italian tenor Ferraro. Escaping from his tyrannical manager, Ferraro switches identities with a young tourist (Fritz Schulz) and goes off on an unscheduled Swiss holiday. Still travelling incognito, our hero falls in love with a winsome mountain girl (Magda Schneider). Alas, both his romance -- and his freedom -- are placed in jeopardy when it turns out that the charming young fellow with whom Ferraro traded identities was actually a notorious swindler. Anatole Litvak also directed the English-language version of Das Lied Einer Nacht, Be Mine Tonight

The Mystery of Picasso

Using a specially designed transparent 'canvas' to provide an unobstructed view, Picasso creates as the camera rolls. He begins with simple works that take shape after only a single brush stroke. He then progresses to more complex paintings, in which he repeatedly adds and removes elements, transforming the entire scene at will, until at last the work is complete.

The Temptress

In a masked ball in Paris, Manuel Robledo, a young Argentinian architect, meets Elena, the Marquess of Torre Blanca. Later, the young woman is rightly accused causing the misfortune and loss of wealth of Fontenoy, a man who fell for her charms. To escape social criticism, the Marquis of Torre Blanca transfers his residence to Argentina. There, Elena meets again Manuel, when he is building a river's dam. Manos Duras, a thug, harasses Elena, and when Manuel intervenes, he defies him to a whip duel. The duel is long and vicious, both men suffering many cuts on their faces and naked chests, but in the end, the thug is vanquished and humiliated. Manos Duras sets up an ambush to murder Manuel, but the Marquis of Torre Blanca is killed instead. Now, there only two men in love for Elena, the eternal temptress

Gun Woman

A brilliant doctor on a quest for revenge buys a young woman and trains her to be the ultimate assassin, implanting gun parts in her body that she must later assemble and use to kill her target before she bleeds to death.

Things We Lost in the Fire

A recent widow invites her husband's troubled best friend to live with her and her two children. As he gradually turns his life around, he helps the family cope and confront their loss.

Last I Heard

Released from federal prison after 20 years due to his ailing health, a formerly powerful New York mobster moves back home and attempts to reconnect with former life in this poignant Sopranos-esque character study.

Trailer Park Boys: Live at the North Pole

Bubbles and the other boys get a letter from a TPB fan club president in Minneapolis, Minnesota to do a live show at the State Theatre for Christmas. Ricky goes along with it to make nice with Santa Jesus God after a rough-up the previous year, while Julian brings along Randy to sell 60/40 raffle tickets and make some money. Mr. Lahey sneaks along to spoil the boys' fun. A Netflix original production.

The Painted Veil

A British medical doctor fights a cholera outbreak in a small Chinese village, while also being trapped at home in a loveless marriage to an unfaithful wife.