Rate The Last Movie You Saw

[ScarletLion]

'Under the Open Sky' (2021)

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BOTgxMjRiNjQtYzIzMi00N2QzLWJiMWQtZDNkODhjNjkyMGVmXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjUxNzgwMTM@._V1_.jpg

Very engaging film about an ex Yakuza thug who has been released from a prison after 13 year stretch for murder, based on a novel by Ryûzô Saki. The film asks the viewer to sympathise with a murderer, which is a tough ask but as the story develops, it succeeds in doing so.

Director Miwa Nishikawa channels his inner Takeshi Kitano in terms of plot, tone and emotion. Koji Yakusha gives a huge performance as the central character and the score is fantastic. Mikami the violent yakuza refuses to change his ways, and he attempts to find his mother who gave him up for adoption when he was 4. Flashbacks are used to show why Mikami is the way he is, how he ended up in prison and the relationships he’s had in his life.

The narrative explores re-integration, regret and companionship, and despite a wobble midway through that delves a little too deep into melodrama, it’s a really great character study of a man who just required more love and joy in his life than he got.

7.8/10

4

[Sedai]

Sedai, I'd be curious to hear some of your commentary about the movie. Pros? Cons? I haven't seen it yet.

In short, I thought it was great. I do plan on posting more extended thoughts, but have just been super busy this week, so haven't had time to write anything. For a film that is mostly concerned with people sitting around talking for much of its run time, it moves along at a brisk pace the entire time. We have the obligatory buildup to the test detonation of the A-Bomb, which is clearly a very cinematic moment, and of course Nolan always tends to deliver with sequences like this. What surprised me was how engaging the surrounding drama and senate hearings were throughout.

I do remember thinking "Ok, the bomb has gone off, so now things will sort of fall off, right?" Nolan manages to keep the pace up until the end, even if it does dial down from 9 to about 7.5, it still carries the viewer along right until the end.

The score will be hit or miss depending on the person watching. It's the typical Nolan-esque stuff, although Zimmer isn't the guy behind it this time around. Not a memorable score, but it also didn't annoy me, so I would just call it adequate.

All the performances were top notch, IMO. The film is concerned with the men of war doing their thing, so female screen time is limited, but the actresses do a fantastic job with the time they are allotted, especially Emily Blunt. The film's focus on Oppenheimer's alleged communist ties is sort of centered on her character, with her arc illuminating the early romanticizing of communist ideology in America, along with its rapid decline in popularity and eventual slide into the McCarthy era and the cold war. I was impressed with all the actors, really.

Anyway, looks like I had time to jot a few thoughts down after all! ;)

Definitely worth seeing, and worth seeing in the cinema.

[matt72582]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BM2UxOWQ2MWQtMjE4ZS00MzVmLTgyZWEtNjBlOGNiOGVkZDA1XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTQxNzE3ODA3._V1_.jpg


rating_3_5


Is this the one where she talks about the next chapter in her life -- exposing truth and when governments commit war crimes in relation with Wikileaks?

[matt72582]

Something Wild (1961) - The first half of this movie is great, definitely an A, however the 2nd devolves into something entirely different and honestly the ending is insulting. Too bad. So much to admire as the first part of this film is among the most bleak and brutality honest portrayals of trauma I've ever seen, then it just turns into shlock.

Grade: B-


I gave this an 8/10, so it's possible I gave it a 7.5/10, but I was so surprised. Within 5 minutes, I thought, "This doesn't seem like an American movie" and guessed it was directed or produced by Europeans. But I was hooked in all the way, and only remember the relationship between the man and woman.

[Gideon58]

No

[iluv2viddyfilms]

I gave this an 8/10, so it's possible I gave it a 7.5/10, but I was so surprised. Within 5 minutes, I thought, "This doesn't seem like an American movie" and guessed it was directed or produced by Europeans. But I was hooked in all the way, and only remember the relationship between the man and woman.

Well the problem is, the film begins by completely avoiding cliche and shows a realistic portrayal of the trauma a person faces after sexual assault or any other kind of devastating/catastrophic events in their lives - she tries to move on, tries to go into a normal routine, but minor tiny - almost trivial things becomes mountains and panic/anxiety attacks. It was interesting how she moved out, took any job and any residence available and kept battling her trauma - all while avoiding cliche. I had no idea really what the movie was and where it was going, so based on the first 40 minutes or so, it looked like it was going to be a psychological realistic and grounded film and the main conflict and dilemma wasn't such stuff like would she face her attacker in court, it wasn't a whodunnit - in fact she doesn't even go to the police - which is realistic because there's the issue of shame/doubt/possible blame and a million other things - just a very good portrayal of someone who has been attacked and abused.

But the film becomes something different after the suicide attempt and takes a silly and completely forced and unexpected turn by going into Woman in the Dunes or Misery territory and that whole second half of the film - while there's tension to be sure - it's an entirely different movie and doesn't fit the tone or atmosphere that the first part did - at all. It's not that the second half couldn't work as a sort of a thriller - even borderline horror genre piece - it could and was decent for that, but it's not in line and consistent with the first 40 minutes of the film which are absolutely brilliant - dare I say - even A+ level material. Really, really too bad, because there's the start of a great film here, there's just no second half and instead we have a different movie tacked on.

As such I rate it a B- Still, very, very much worth seeing.

https://www.criterion.com/films/28777-something-wild

[Stirchley]

This looks good, and I want something to watch while it's still dark... For some reason, I can tell by her face she's going to be a convincing actress. Hope I can find it!

It’s an excellent movie. I watched it twice.

[Gideon58]

https://moviesfilmsandflix.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/shame-movie-poster.jpg?w=584


4

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic1.cbrimages.com%2Fwordpress%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2023%2F05%2Ftmnt-mutant-mayhem.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=c4ce472f37b95c2554d331605119acc38100994ca93bc5796dfc255851892d2c&ipo=images

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, 2023

Under the streets of New York, teenage turtles Raphael (Brady Noon), Donatello (Micah Abbey), Leonardo (Nicolas Cantu), and Michelangelo (Shamon Brown Jr) live a hidden life under the worried and watchful eye of their rat-father, Splinter (Jackie Chan). The turtles just want to be normal teens, but Splinter warns them of the cruelty of the people on the surface. But when evil villain Superfly (Ice Cube) unleashes a crime spree on the city, the turtles decide that they have a chance of acceptance if they can save the city. With the help of high school journalist April (Ayo Edebiri), the turtles try to become heroes without letting Splinter know what’s up.

A fresh and funny update to the Ninja Turtles franchise, this was a blast at the theater.

4

Full review (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2406096#post2406096)

[Darth Pazuzu]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/ef/TalkToMe2022poster.jpg/220px-TalkToMe2022poster.jpg

I just saw this yesterday at my local theater. It's an Australian horror film which has only just recently been released in the U.S., and I've got to say it's pretty good. It's quite an interesting twist on haunting and possession motifs. I found the very notion of a séance - conjuring the dead by way of a severed and embalmed hand encased in plaster - being used as a kind of voluntary dare by teenage participants quite unsettling, particularly with how the youthful onlookers all have their cell phones out and are recording the whole thing. It definitely updates the subject matter into the realm of the online age. Sophie Ward was rather heartbreakingly good as Mia, the lead character, and the movie is skillfully directed by Danny and Michael Philippou (whom I had never heard of until now). The Philippous create nerve-wracking tension without indulging in too many obvious jump scares, and while I found it refreshing that I could not predict what was going to happen next, the unfolding events have a kind of horrible inevitability to them, leading to a satisfyingly logical if tragic conclusion. Plus, the teenage characters feel very real, and not like your obvious would-be slasher-movie stock victims. I read that there's a sequel and a prequel in the works. Believe me, they've got a tough act to follow!

[Takoma11]

Talk to Me is the next film that I'll be writing up. My reaction was very similar to yours.

[Fabulous]

Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957)

4

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/lhGLHAdlMkSTLzomteHiL3yqW05.jpg

[PHOENIX74]

https://i.postimg.cc/6qV5rqcn/my-man-godfrey.jpg
By Karoly Grosz - Scan via Heritage Auctions. Cropped from the original image., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=86976173

My Man Godfrey - (1936)

I chanced on My Man Godfrey before I knew it as the classic pre-war comedy that was nominated for Oscars in all acting categories as well as direction (Gregory La Cava) and screenwriting. It was in the public domain, so I was expecting a dated bore - and instead I found myself laughing merrily all the way through. Watching it again, I found myself hopelessly unable to keep a straight face even knowing all of the gags and situations. There are multiple actors here who have perfect comedic sensibilities and delivery - William Powell of course, the great Carole Lombard, the hilarious Eugene Pallette and Mischa Auer. In other roles, you're delivered stunningly well-delivered pathos and drama from Alice Brady and Jean Dixon. My Man Godfrey is THE comedy of the 1930s, even outdoing Ruggles of Red Gap as far as butler-oriented farce is concerned. There's a powerful economic and social message, and madcap fun and laughter to be had. I don't think I'll ever get sick of watching it - if I had to vote for a favourite film of the period, it might well be this one.

10/10

https://i.postimg.cc/W4PnbfK3/The-Thin-Man-1934-Poster.jpg
By Unknown author - www.thethinman1934.com, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32980813

The Thin Man - (1934)

The married couple Nick (William Powell) and Nora Charles (Myrna Loy), along with their dog Astra (Skippy) are retired sleuths that get corralled into one last assignment when thin man Clyde Wynant (Edward Ellis) goes missing. Powell and Loy made such a charming pair, with such a bright and lovely chemistry between them that another 5 'Thin Man' films were made during the 1930s and 40s. This is a fine detective film with witty banter and a host of conniving, suspicious, possible murderers. There's never a dull moment - whenever a body isn't being discovered we're entertained by the cute combination Nick and Nora make, boozing non-stop to celebrate the repeal of Prohibition! A very funny comedy with a solid mystery backing it up.

8/10

https://i.postimg.cc/HLD96P9m/after-the-thin-man.jpg
By MGM - Source, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40715548

After the Thin Man - (1936)

With the return of it's main stars and director, the second 'Thin Man' film pretty much maintains the quality the first had - even Skippy returns to play Astra, although he's more likely to eat clues than use them to solve the mystery. There are laughs to be had, but I found the mystery to require more concentration this time around, with a range of nefarious characters connected to the death of Robert Landis (Alan Marshal), including the squeaky clean David Graham (James Stewart). It's slightly less funny than the first, but still a brilliantly made detective story with first rate performances and direction. It's a movie that maintains it's momentum by alternating madcap comedy with a generally exciting action-packed story. William Powell and Myrna Loy are to be credited though - their popularity through this series was warranted - so charming, in love and on the precisely same wavelength.

7.5/10

[Citizen Rules]

https://i.postimg.cc/6qV5rqcn/my-man-godfrey.jpg
By Karoly Grosz - Scan via Heritage Auctions. Cropped from the original image., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=86976173

My Man Godfrey - (1936)

I chanced on My Man Godfrey before I knew it as the classic pre-war comedy that was nominated for Oscars in all acting categories as well as direction (Gregory La Cava) and screenwriting. It was in the public domain, so I was expecting a dated bore - and instead I found myself laughing merrily all the way through. Watching it again, I found myself hopelessly unable to keep a straight face even knowing all of the gags and situations. There are multiple actors here who have perfect comedic sensibilities and delivery - William Powell of course, the great Carole Lombard, the hilarious Eugene Pallette and Mischa Auer. In other roles, you're delivered stunningly well-delivered pathos and drama from Alice Brady and Jean Dixon. My Man Godfrey is THE comedy of the 1930s, even outdoing Ruggles of Red Gap as far as butler-oriented farce is concerned. There's a powerful economic and social message, and madcap fun and laughter to be had. I don't think I'll ever get sick of watching it - if I had to vote for a favourite film of the period, it might well be this one.

10/10 I love that movie too. I wrote this about the colorized version:


In the last few years a digital colorized version of My Man Godfrey has become available. I was curious to see what it looked like. I read about it and learned, it's not one of those hideous Ted Turner colorized movies from the 80s. Nor is it one of those cheap, color shifting YouTube colorized movies.
The colorization process was done in 2005 by the Legion company. It looked great and while I usually hate the idea of colorizing movies, I have to say it looked like an authentic early 1930s color film. The colors were not bright an garish but were muted and matched the color palette of the 30s art deco style of the movie to a tee and did not fade in and out like those on YouTube done with cheap softwear.

https://www.movieforums.com/community/attachment.php?attachmentid=27103&stc=1&d=1473811216


I quickly forgot I was watching a colorized movie and I could actually see a lot more detail in the film too. I noticed some set pieces that I hadn't even seen before. And I could spot some subtle facial inflections that I hadn't noticed before.

[John-Connor]

I love that movie too. I wrote this about the colorized version:


In the last few years a digital colorized version of My Man Godfrey has become available. I was curious to see what it looked like. I read about it and learned, it's not one of those hideous Ted Turner colorized movies from the 80s. Nor is it one of those cheap, color shifting YouTube colorized movies.
The colorization process was done in 2005 by the Legion company. It looked great and while I usually hate the idea of colorizing movies, I have to say it looked like an authentic early 1930s color film. The colors were not bright an garish but were muted and matched the color palette of the 30s art deco style of the movie to a tee and did not fade in and out like those on YouTube done with cheap softwear.

https://www.movieforums.com/community/attachment.php?attachmentid=27103&stc=1&d=1473811216


I quickly forgot I was watching a colorized movie and I could actually see a lot more detail in the film too. I noticed some set pieces that I hadn't even seen before. And I could spot some subtle facial inflections that I hadn't noticed before.
Which version would you recommend to someone who's never seen it before.. colorized/black white..?

[Citizen Rules]

Which version would you recommend to someone who's never seen it before.. colorized/black white..?I love black & white cinematography, though a film like My Man Godfrey wasn't about luscious b&w cinematography, it's about the story and the comic actors...If you're only going to watch it once and aren't a big fan of b&w, I'd watch the Legion company's colorized version. But beware of the cheapy process they use on old b&w films to colorize them on YouTube.

[Thief]

THE OLD DARK HOUSE
(1932, Whale)

https://i.imgur.com/1JgQfhF.jpg


"They were all godless here. They used to bring their women here - brazen, lolling creatures in silks and satins. They filled the house with laughter and sin, laughter and sin. And if I ever went down among them, my own father and brothers - they would tell me to go away and pray, and I prayed - and left them with their lustful red and white women."



The Old Dark House follows a group of people who seek shelter from a storm in the titular house, inhabited by the mysterious Femm family. As they prepare to spend the night, a series of strange incidents are bound to keep them awake and alert all night. Will they go away and pray, or will they try to find answers?

Directed by James Whale, The Old Dark House features an ensemble cast that's mostly solid, even if their actions don't always make sense. Ernest Thesiger and Eva Moore are pretty good as the main Femm couple. The relationship between Gladys and Roger is one of those eye-rolling, instant love encounters; but Douglas and Bond had solid chemistry, and since that's a typical sign of the times, I can let it slide.

Grade: 3.5


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2406268#post2406268)

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.indiewire.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2023%2F04%2FTalk-to-Me.png&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=b443b137203591568435efc17a71450321a21dc0ead3aed6a4cfdca5109f6665&ipo=images

Talk to Me, 2022

Mia (Sophie Wilde) is in an emotionally challenging place: her mother has died under tragic circumstances, and she’s having a hard time dealing with her father, Max (Marcus Johnson). Mia spends most of her time hanging out with her best friend Jade (Alexendra Jensen), Jade’s brother Riley (Joe Bird), and Jade’s boyfriend, Daniel (Otis Dhanji), who just happens to be Mia’s former flame. Mia, Riley, Jade, and Daniel get mixed up in a disturbing part trend where teens grasp a hand sculpture and invite the spirits of the undead to enter their minds. While it’s all fun and chills at the beginning, when one of the parties goes very wrong, Mia must try to save herself and her friends.

Disturbing and empathetic to its teenage protagonists, this is a solid and solidly-upsetting horror film.

4

Full review (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2406297#post2406297)

[mrblond]

Mort d'un pourri [Death of a Corrupt Man] (1977)

Starring Alain Delon, Maurice Ronet and Ornella Muti

A French crime thriller, showing how deep the western world is caught and controled by the monetary system and the political regimes. Some depressing thoughts can occur... Is there a deliverance?
4 79/100
94428

[Gideon58]

I love that movie too. I wrote this about the colorized version:


In the last few years a digital colorized version of My Man Godfrey has become available. I was curious to see what it looked like. I read about it and learned, it's not one of those hideous Ted Turner colorized movies from the 80s. Nor is it one of those cheap, color shifting YouTube colorized movies.
The colorization process was done in 2005 by the Legion company. It looked great and while I usually hate the idea of colorizing movies, I have to say it looked like an authentic early 1930s color film. The colors were not bright an garish but were muted and matched the color palette of the 30s art deco style of the movie to a tee and did not fade in and out like those on YouTube done with cheap softwear.

https://www.movieforums.com/community/attachment.php?attachmentid=27103&stc=1&d=1473811216


I quickly forgot I was watching a colorized movie and I could actually see a lot more detail in the film too. I noticed some set pieces that I hadn't even seen before. And I could spot some subtle facial inflections that I hadn't noticed before.


I saw it B&W, but I LOVED this movie...a link to my review:

https://www.movieforums.com/reviews/2357217-my_man_godfrey.html

[PHOENIX74]

So very pleased and happy to see My Man Godfrey getting so much love. Citizen Rules - I never knew there was a colorized version, and while I feel pretty much the same as you as per inferior, tacky and poorly done ones, this looks interesting and I'll be sure to check it out.

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1c/Tracks_2013.jpg
By The poster art can or could be obtained from the distributor., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=41324862

Tracks - (2013)

When you read stories about the explorers who ventured forth into the Australian wilderness back when much of the country remained a mystery to all except the indigenous population, they usually end with them dying. It's an inhospitable place, and while the most common joke concerns the sheer number of deadly creatures that roam or skitter through the landscape, most of the enormous land mass is desert, and it's the harsh climate and topography that'll kill you. All the time we're reminded - 'you get lost, you die' - it's hot, and it's dry. Robyn Davidson, however, was having none of that - she was one of those superhuman, larger than life figures who come along very rarely. A bohemian type who'd deal cards in illegal gambling dens, she'd become Salman Rushdie's lover and do whatever she pleased - which at one stage meant trekking from Alice Springs to the West Coast with her dog and four camels. For those who don't know - that's pretty much impossible for the hardest of men, and perhaps even Lawrence of Arabia, but she did it. Sponsored by National Geographic, Robyn (Mia Wasikowska) makes this daring feat in Tracks, accompanied now and then by photographer Rick Smolan (Adam Driver). This Australian/American combination is something of a contrast, and interesting. If you like survival stories, and meditations on life, society, family, the soul and our relationship with the world, then this is a decent enough biographical tale. You'll know so much more about camels and the indigenous population than you ever thought you would after watching it.

6/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/51/50_50_Poster.jpg
By The cover art can or could be obtained from IMP Awards., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31924956

50/50 - (2011)

I think this film pretty much proves that Seth Rogen is much better playing supporting roles instead of being the lead - Joseph Gordon-Levitt provides the heft in comedy 50/50, where he plays Adam Lerner. Adam has just discovered he has cancer in his spine, and his doctors make the prognosis that he has a 50% chance of surviving. We go through his emotional journey in a delicately comedic way, with friend Kyle (Rogan) and girlfriend Rachael (Bryce Dallas Howard). I found it interesting because in 2014 I had kidney cancer - but unlike Adam, who goes through chemotherapy, mine was fixed up with surgery alone, and although I lost a kidney, I've always felt that I got off particularly lightly. When I hear of people's horrifying battles with cancer, I feel guilty that I survived mine with a week or two of pain and discomfort. Moderately funny, the film really reaches it's emotional peak when Adam's mother and father (played by Anjelica Huston and Serge Houde - both great) see him off to surgery, unsure as to whether he'll survive the operation. A nice balance of pathos and comedy is maintained, and I enjoyed it. The film plays around a lot with the fact that people really treat you differently when they know you have cancer - and Kyle really makes sure Adam and himself make the most of it.

6/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2e/Jane_Eyre_Bronte.jpg
By Amazon.co.uk, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18181307

Jane Eyre - (2006)

This isn't strictly a movie, but I'm including it here as a one-off because of my efforts to see every adaptation of Jane Eyre. Ruth Wilson and Toby Stephens are great in this 240-minute version, and I really loved it. It's near the top of my list of adaptations, of which I've seen four so far. The 1943, 1996, 2006 and 2011 versions. There are 13 all-up, so I have 9 to go. I'll have to read the novel as well - I really enjoyed delving into Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice after seeing the 2005 version of that, and I have the '95 miniseries version of that waiting in the wings as well.

8/10

[Fabulous]

The Liberation of L.B. Jones (1970)

3

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/eA7oF1ZxSnhTye0PpFiBtaYvMna.jpg

[chawhee]

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009)
https://play-lh.googleusercontent.com/zbLTxVReJ33t_JpE_ZTIIbQa3gQQgXY6V5B0_OGpTRw5bgcJnhN7dAXMZeMh5cy6AJ-O
4
First time watching this one, and it was very enjoyable. The voice casting was great (Mr T sounds very similar to Terry Crews when it comes to animation haha), and the creativity was magnificent. I did have a couple moments (similar to Mitchells vs The Machines) where I felt the zaniness getting a little out of hand, but I look forward to checking out the sequel soon.

FYI: Looks like we might have another home page URL redirect hack kind of thing going on Yoda?

[Yoda]

FYI: Looks like we might have another home page URL redirect hack kind of thing going on Yoda?
Should be fixed now. PM better in the future though. Thank you. :up:

[Torgo]

Blue Spring - 5

Movies about the waning days of high school and the onset of adulthood likely continue to be made due to the possibilities this time in our lives conjures. This is one of the best I've seen like this even though it conjures very few possibilities and none of them are positive. That's the situation for the students at Asashi high, which is dilapidated, strewn with graffiti and its only worthwhile extracurricular activity is gang warfare. The deadliest gang has a new leader, Kujo (Matsuda), who is not sure he wanted the role or what he wants to do with his life in general. This puts him at odds with longtime friend Aoki (Arai), who knows what he would do in his place and it's not pretty.

Told in a gritty, unrefined episodic style recalling the one in a classic of this sub-genre, Dazed and Confused, it's a movie that deserves to be called "punk." The excellent soundtrack featuring Thee Michelle Gun Elephant music all but confirms this and is guaranteed to make you a fan of Japanese garage rock if you aren't already. As the state of the school implies, hopelessness permeates everything, most notably in the staff, whose instruction couldn't be more stultifying and who call out, but do not discipline the students' lackadaisical behavior as if they know they can't make a difference. The lone exception is Hanada (Yamada), whose love of gardening provides a not too subtle metaphor, but subtlety is not always a virtue. Consequently, death, both spiritual and actual, is the even more prominent vibe. What you'll likely recall more than anything is the brutal clapping game to determine the gang's leader, which involves hanging from the railing on top of the school, clapping as many times as you can and grabbing it before you fall. What I'll remember even more, though, is the experience of gang member Yukio (Takaoka), who terrifies and saddens in the same way that Patrick Bateman from American Psycho does. On that note, the violence cuts like a knife and pulls no punches like it does in Miike and Kitano's work. Instead of excitement and relief, there's an inherent sadness to these moments as if none of them had to happen.

This movie is not all doom and gloom: the comedy is dark, but it provides relief all the same, and the few glimmers of hope to be had shine like beacons. Also, while it's punk, gritty and rough around the edges, the movie is quite beautiful on the whole. In addition to its unique use of slow motion, it has a time lapse shot that's unlike any I've seen. It ends up being a movie that could very well be what I'll judge all "coming of age" movies I watch after this one against, and I appreciate that it shows a side of Japan I haven't seen before. It's just too bad that it's a side that's much more common in the world than it should be.

[SpelingError]

Blue Spring - 5

Movies about the waning days of high school and the onset of adulthood likely continue to be made due to the possibilities this time in our lives conjures. This is one of the best I've seen like this even though it conjures very few possibilities and none of them are positive. That's the situation for the students at Asashi high, which is dilapidated, strewn with graffiti and its only worthwhile extracurricular activity is gang warfare. The deadliest gang has a new leader, Kujo (Matsuda), who is not sure he wanted the role or what he wants to do with his life in general. This puts him at odds with longtime friend Aoki (Arai), who knows what he would do in his place and it's not pretty.

Told in a gritty, unrefined episodic style recalling the one in a classic of this sub-genre, Dazed and Confused, it's a movie that deserves to be called "punk." The excellent soundtrack featuring Thee Michelle Gun Elephant music all but confirms this and is guaranteed to make you a fan of Japanese garage rock if you aren't already. As the state of the school implies, hopelessness permeates everything, most notably in the staff, whose instruction couldn't be more stultifying and who call out, but do not discipline the students' lackadaisical behavior as if they know they can't make a difference. The lone exception is Hanada (Yamada), whose love of gardening provides a not too subtle metaphor, but subtlety is not always a virtue. Consequently, death, both spiritual and actual, is the even more prominent vibe. What you'll likely recall more than anything is the brutal clapping game to determine the gang's leader, which involves hanging from the railing on top of the school, clapping as many times as you can and grabbing it before you fall. What I'll remember even more, though, is the experience of gang member Yukio (Takaoka), who terrifies and saddens in the same way that Patrick Bateman from American Psycho does. On that note, the violence cuts like a knife and pulls no punches like it does in Miike and Kitano's work. Instead of excitement and relief, there's an inherent sadness to these moments as if none of them had to happen.

This movie is not all doom and gloom: the comedy is dark, but it provides relief all the same, and the few glimmers of hope to be had shine like beacons. Also, while it's punk, gritty and rough around the edges, the movie is quite beautiful on the whole. In addition to its unique use of slow motion, it has a time lapse shot that's unlike any I've seen. It ends up being a movie that could very well be what I'll judge all "coming of age" movies I watch after this one against, and I appreciate that it shows a side of Japan I haven't seen before. It's just too bad that it's a side that's much more common in the world than it should be.
I watched it in the 28th HoF and really enjoyed it. Its representation of teen angst and troubled youths encompassed by their run-down and violent surroundings with little hope for their futures resonated really well with me.

[Gideon58]

https://rhysopayne.files.wordpress.com/2023/05/img_0990.jpg


4

[Torgo]

I watched it in the 28th HoF and really enjoyed it. Its representation of teen angst and troubled youths encompassed by their run-down and violent surroundings with little hope for their futures resonated really well with me.Same. I wish I had participated in that one.
One reason I was blown away was I went in knowing it's based on a manga, and I've never watched anything adapted from one that cut that deep. My expectations will be much different now, that's for sure!
Oh, and thanks for the link!

[Takoma11]

I didn't put this in my review of 25th Hour, but there's a dialogue exchange where Monty calls his drug dealer friend a "fat Russian f*ck", which his friend corrects saying he's a "fat Ukranian f*ck." To which Monty replies, "Is there a difference?"

Anyway, chalk that one up to lines that have aged in an interesting way.

[SpelingError]

Same. I wish I had participated in that one.
It was actually one of the most drama filled Halls I've been in lmao.

[Torgo]

It was actually one of the most drama filled Halls I've been in lmao.Aww, too bad. At least I got to experience the Themroc one.

[SpelingError]

Aww, too bad. At least I got to experience the Themroc one.

#teamthemroc

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cheatsheet.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2021%2F05%2FMare-of-Easttown-Episode-6-recap.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=25c2820256a1ae8924495576afb9ecb08e4568bdd66bc857414efe6f95069c97&ipo=images

Mare of Easttown (8 Episode Mini-Series), 2021

Mare (Kate Winslet) is a police detective in a small town in Pennsylvania. Mare is dealing with a full plate of personal and professional issues. Her former basketball teammate’s daughter has been missing for a year and Mare has hit a dead end in the case. She and her family have been raising her grandchild following the death of Mare’s son, but the boy’s mother has sobered up and wants custody. Her ex-husband announces that he is getting remarried. When a young woman is murdered, Mare must try to sort through the case while keeping her family’s dramas in check.

A solid miniseries. Just wish that the mystery hadn’t been so easy to crack.

4

Full review (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2406570#post2406570)

[Fabulous]

Barabbas (1961)

3

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/xa43VdFBm0zrI6t4lyVuKQaOBMQ.jpg

[PHOENIX74]

Blue Spring - 5

In addition to its unique use of slow motion, it has a time lapse shot that's unlike any I've seen.

Amazing time-lapse shot - the director actually had actor Hirofumi Arai stand at that railing on top of the building for the entire night in the same position, around 12 hours just standing still. I hope he took care of business before commencing. Director Toshiaki had his doubts but Hirofumi insisted it was okay, and who could blame him - it's a bravura moment.

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6a/Janeeyre.1.jpg
By Omnibus/Sagittarius Productions, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24370659

Jane Eyre - (1970)

You can somewhat reverse-engineer all of these Jane Eyre adaptations and kind of know exactly how Charlotte Brontë's book goes, but that doesn't make me any less curious to read it. In this version (which has been cheaply transferred to digital medium for the version I saw - thus looking awful) we forego anything at all to do with Gateshead Hall, Sarah Reed, the Reed children or Jane's rich uncle - thus excising a major portion of the story. We simply begin at Lowood, and when our character moves to Thornfield she never gets called back to a dying Sarah - still clinging desperately to her hatred of Jane. At first I really wasn't convinced of having George C. Scott playing the part of Edward Rochester - but that man's acting skill overwhelmed any reluctance to engage with his unsightly visage (he made this during his great Patton era.) He uses the craft to give himself much dignity (and later vulnerability) while Susannah York wrestles with the momentous task of playing Jane. The performances elevate the talented Jack Pulman's adaptation, and while it's not the best Jane Eyre I've ever seen it works well enough. For those wondering which version I recommend - the 1996 theatrical version and 2006 TV miniseries ones are really good, but there's nothing like steeping yourself in all the versions for comparison's sake.

This was my 5th - I've seen the 1943, 1970, 1996, 2006 and 2011 versions. Since 1910, when the first version was made, we've never gone more than 13 years without an adaptation. Currently we're at 12 years since the last one.

6/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/14/Evan_almightymp1.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10062440

Evan Almighty - (2007)

I don't know if Steve Oedekerk or Tom Shadyac are really religious people, but I can tell you without any doubt in my mind that they made a big mistake making Evan Almighty, a $175 million comedy that thinks it's hilarious but in all actuality is one of the unfunniest romps I've seen on such a scale. It's predecessor, Bruce Almighty cost $81 million to make and raked in $484.6 million - so I can understand the thinking as far as the producers are concerned. Evan plops us off in the logic-free fairy land of fundamentalist Bible fantasy and is so freeform that nothing in it makes a lick of sense. In it we have a God (played by Morgan Freeman) who shrugged his shoulders when the Holocaust was going on, but is mightily offended by a land seizure bill being passed in the U.S. Congress. So he decides to enact his second flood - to stop that bit of legislation. In the meantime animals come from all over the world, but since the only area flooded is the immediate local surrounds, they may as well have not bothered with that journey. If this had of been remotely funny, I'd have forgiven the silly story, and if the story had of made sense I might have forgiven the embarrassingly awkward deluge of "dad jokes" but mix both together and you get one of the worst mainstream films ever made. Adding insult to injury, it uses bizarrely substandard home-computer level CGI, despite costing nearly $200 million to make. Those effects are awful, and just rub salt in. Astonishing all-round in this day and age.

2/10

[Takoma11]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6a/Janeeyre.1.jpg
By Omnibus/Sagittarius Productions, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24370659

Jane Eyre - (1970)

You can somewhat reverse-engineer all of these Jane Eyre adaptations and kind of know exactly how Charlotte Brontë's book goes, but that doesn't make me any less curious to read it.

Jane Eyre is a fascinating and disturbing book. I often feel like adaptations have to do this weird dance around Rochester and how messed up he is (not just because of The Big Secret, but because of the way he treats all of the women in his life). It's also a really fast read.

[skizzerflake]

They should have stuck with the first hour - the Barbie movie. Early on, it was full of light hearted satire of all that pink doll stuff that I don't get. Margo Robbie is the PERFECT Barbie and Ryan Gosling excels at being Ken. Once they tried to make it about social commentary about gender roles however, I got tired, shifting in my seat. I didn't go to a Barbie movie to be enlightened about gender stereotypes by a crew that is making millions exploiting gender stereotypes.

Never one to be an easy-sell on moral commentary in movies that are obviously driven by the desire to capitalize on a phenomenon and then slam it, I don't see the point. It was a lot like drawing people to a NASCAR race and then lecturing them on air pollution and noise. Oh well.

2 out of 5 at the best.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBk4NYhWNMM

[Nausicaä]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/39/You_Can_Live_Forever_poster.jpg/220px-You_Can_Live_Forever_poster.jpg

4

SF = Z


Trailer:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=OF3VyGB19Pc&pp=ygUceW91IGNhbiBsaXZlIGZvcmV2ZXIgdHJhaWxlcg%3D%3D



[Snooze Factor Ratings]:
Z = didn't nod off at all
Zz = nearly nodded off but managed to stay alert
Zzz = nodded off and missed some of the film but went back to watch what I missed
Zzzz = nodded off and missed some of the film but went back to watch what I missed but nodded off again at the same point and therefore needed to go back a number of times before I got through it...
Zzzzz = nodded off and missed some or the rest of the film but was not interested enough to go back over it

[skizzerflake]

Popped a disk into the player and what is it? It's one of the pre-eminent pot-boilers in movie history, also ranked as one of the all time greats of the movie world, Casablanca. It's WW II, Morocco, full of vultures, thieves, refugees, human traffickers, Nazis and also Rick and Ilsa, star-crossed lovers, re-united by the war. And then, there's Sam, singing As Time Goes By and Peter Lorre as a sleazy smuggler and fez-wearing Sidney Greenstreet as another sleazy smuggler. It has Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Dooley Wilson. Movies have rarely ever been better than this.

Ten stars

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-p6xFMGK7g

[Act III]

They should have stuck with the first hour - the Barbie movie. Early on, it was full of light hearted satire of all that pink doll stuff that I don't get. Margo Robbie is the PERFECT Barbie and Ryan Gosling excels at being Ken. Once they tried to make it about social commentary about gender roles however, I got tired, shifting in my seat. I didn't go to a Barbie movie to be enlightened about gender stereotypes by a crew that is making millions doing exactly that.

Never one to be an easy-sell on moral commentary in movies that are obviously driven by the desire to capitalize on a phenomenon and then slam it, I don't see the point. It was a lot like drawing people to a NASCAR race and then lecturing them on air pollution and noise. Oh well.

2 out of 5 at the best.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBk4NYhWNMM

I miss the good old days before every movie was required to have a hindering kink in it. Back in the day they took extra measures to pull the kinks out. Now every time you see a movie youre telling yourself "wait for it, the catch is coming."

[skizzerflake]

I miss the good old days before every movie was required to have a hindering kink in it. Back in the day they took extra measures to pull the kinks out. Now every time you see a movie youre telling yourself "wait for it, the catch is coming."

The irony to this one is that Mattel still owns the Barbie trademark, so, the producers must have their blessing to use the brand. That probably means that, somewhere in the corporate meeting room, somebody decided that putting the gender commentary into the movie would give the, A - a publicity boost and B - the appearance of being somewhat enlightened while doing things just as they have always done with Barbie.

This movie is a case in point for those who wish to be cynical, but for the first hour at least, somewhat entertaining, if horrifyingly pink.

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91PPR5VVHeL._AC_UF894,1000_QL80_.jpg


4.5

[mrblond]

Midnight Run (1988)

Directed by Martin Brest

Starring Robert De Niro, Charles Grodin, John Ashton, Joe Pantoliano, Dennis Farina and Yaphet Kotto

Caught it on the telly last night. Probably my tenth view since I saw it first in a theater when it came out.

One of the three super entertaining classics by Martin Brest. A perfect work in its scope. One of the most quotable films in the history. De Niro at his best, surrounded by colorful ensemble of masterly created characters. Can't stop watching this movie over and over again. Can be called a Hollywood masterpiece. Everything is perfect here, screenplay, dialogues, acting, directing...
4.5+ 94/100
86542

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BM2JmMmE0NjYtODUzNS00ZDg2LTk2ZjMtNDBiNjhlMGU2NjJlXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTQ4NTgxNzYx._V1_.jpg




2

[Act III]

The irony to this one is that Mattel still owns the Barbie trademark, so, the producers must have their blessing to use the brand. That probably means that, somewhere in the corporate meeting room, somebody decided that putting the gender commentary into the movie would give the, A - a publicity boost and B - the appearance of being somewhat enlightened while doing things just as they have always done with Barbie.

This movie is a case in point for those who wish to be cynical, but for the first hour at least, somewhat entertaining, if horrifyingly pink.

From what I gather the Director had a large portion of the creative control so, who knows, it could be the boardroom, it could be the camera girl, it could be both, but unfortunately, these big time directors usually keep these sort of details ambiguous and seal their lips. Nobody wants to take the blame, but they all know it was wrong and hurt the movie in the long run. It cannot be a perfect movie, it is now impossible.

[Takoma11]

the appearance of being somewhat enlightened while doing things just as they have always done with Barbie.

I mean, an entire subplot of the film was about the gap between what brands say their products do and what those brands actually do.

I'll write more about this later in my own review, but I thought that the movie did a pretty good job of balancing celebrating a property that a lot of people have nostalgia for and also examining the flaws and shortfalls of that property.

[jal90]

The irony to this one is that Mattel still owns the Barbie trademark, so, the producers must have their blessing to use the brand. That probably means that, somewhere in the corporate meeting room, somebody decided that putting the gender commentary into the movie would give the, A - a publicity boost and B - the appearance of being somewhat enlightened while doing things just as they have always done with Barbie.

This movie is a case in point for those who wish to be cynical, but for the first hour at least, somewhat entertaining, if horrifyingly pink.
I see it a bit of the other way around. If Barbie can include a -compelling to a lot of people- gender commentary, why don't other blockbuster corporate movies do the same?

We are already assuming that the core of everything is pure commercial bait, but the fact that this so-called commercial bait is not more widely showcased in these kinds of films is quite a matter of discussion in itself. One way or the other Barbie put a discourse in it that most mainstream films do not engage in as strongly as it does. The issue being, not that this film does include this discourse with "cynical" intent, but that the rest do not even consider including it at all.

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thewrap.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2022%2F11%2Fnanny-NNNY_2022_FG_01541210_Still1087R_rgb-1.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=444424b24c47c7e6ef0684b3d5ec50edf5f364d7fee455a31859a684b875d089&ipo=images

Nanny, 2022

Aisha (Anna Diop) is an immigrant from Senegal who gets a job as a nanny for a wealthy Upper East Side couple, Amy (Michelle Monaghan) and Adam (Morgan Spector), caring for their young daughter Rose (Rose Decker). Aisha is hoping to raise money quickly to bring her son, Lamine (Jahleel Kamara), to the United States. While things seem good on the surface---Aisha has great rapport with Rose, and she begins to tentatively pursue a romance with the building’s doorman, Malik (Sinqua Walls)--Aisha soon becomes aware of a dark presence following her, and does not know how to read the strange signs she sees around her.

A fantastic melding of a story about the anxieties around immigration and supernatural horror, this is an emotionally powerful film across both the real and paranormal

4

Full review (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2406770#post2406770)

HUGE thanks to Stirchley for putting this one on my radar!

[GulfportDoc]

Popped a disk into the player and what is it? It's one of the pre-eminent pot-boilers in movie history, also ranked as one of the all time greats of the movie world, Casablanca. It's WW II, Morocco, full of vultures, thieves, refugees, human traffickers, Nazis and also Rick and Ilsa, star-crossed lovers, re-united by the war. And then, there's Sam, singing As Time Goes By and Peter Lorre as a sleazy smuggler and fez-wearing Sidney Greenstreet as another sleazy smuggler. It has Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Dooley Wilson. Movies have rarely ever been better than this.

Ten stars
I couldn't agree more. And to think they didn't realize what a great film of the ages that they had done. Few movies have had more of its lines quoted over the years..:)

[GulfportDoc]

[The Out-Laws]

rating_2
Yeah, this was pretty God-awful. I read a review of Adam Devine's where he was extolling the benefits of clean humor and non-political humor, which caused me to watch the film. The problem was that it wasn't funny. It was even embarrassing to see Ellen Barkin and Pierce Brosnan blithely trying to make sense of the picture. Maybe it got better, but I bailed after 30 minutes.

[skizzerflake]

It's The Last Voyage of the Demeter - A must for anybody who likes Dracula stories, especially Bram Stoker's actual book, the source of the stories. If you've read the book, you know that the story starts when a ship, The Demeter, arrives in Whitby, England and something horrible has happened. Everybody is gone but the captain who is lashed to the wheel. Dracula has arrived in England. The movie is an amplification of that plot element....what happened on the ship.

It's a multi-national cast with nobody I am familiar with, quite good cinematography, props and acting. It's suspenseful right up to its grisly end (it is very grisly) and full of darkness and visceral fear. It's Stoker's Dracula (a loathsome shape shifter rather than Bela Lugosi in a tux and cape), and at this point, there's no Van Helsing to step in and save the day. As in the book, crosses are not much help.

Given that the end of the movie is the beginning of Dracula in England, I can easily imagine sequels. As a guy who has seen lots of Draculas, I have to say that this is a new favorite. I actually hope there is a sequel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FgUUO9Ztd0

[Nausicaä]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/98/EvilDeadRiseTeaser.jpg/220px-EvilDeadRiseTeaser.jpg

3

SF = Z


[Snooze Factor Ratings]:
Z = didn't nod off at all
Zz = nearly nodded off but managed to stay alert
Zzz = nodded off and missed some of the film but went back to watch what I missed
Zzzz = nodded off and missed some of the film but went back to watch what I missed but nodded off again at the same point and therefore needed to go back a number of times before I got through it...
Zzzzz = nodded off and missed some or the rest of the film but was not interested enough to go back over it

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3d/Liar_Liar_poster.JPG
By http://www.impawards.com/1997/liar_liar_ver1.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1061628

Liar Liar - (1997)

I'm never been a huge fan of the Jerry Lewis school of excess and frenetic facial contortion, but I admit that Jim Carrey was top of the class in his younger days. What grabs me most about Liar Liar isn't Carrey's over the top performance though - it's the premise. Originally set to feature a lying real estate agent, rewrites hit upon gold when the main character was changed to a lawyer to be played by Mike Myers. History was made when Jim Carrey turned down the lead role in Austin Powers : International Man of Mystery and Myers chose that project instead, creating a win/win situation for both actors and audiences worldwide. I'd have loved to have been a fly on the wall during the pitch meeting for this - a birthday wish (turned curse really) whereupon devious lawyer Fletcher Reede (Carey) is incapable of lying for 24 hours. There are no end of situations where that's funny. Also, hooray for mainstream comedies in the 90s - this barely tops 80 minutes in runtime by getting right to the point. Carrey could have dialed it down just a little - his kind of comedy seems like it needs a stunt double for fear of him being injured, but pushing the limits of what he could do with his face and body won him a lot of fans - I can't argue with that.

7/10

https://i.postimg.cc/ydHqCzns/pillow-talk.jpg
By Designer unknown. "Copyright 1959 by Universal Pictures Co., Inc." Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=87946772

Pillow Talk - (1959)

Having conflict in your romantic comedy can often leave the guy (in this Brad Allen, played by Rock Hudson) looking like a bit of a jerk. Brad shares a party line with Jan Morrow (Doris Day), and his womanizing is making it hard for her to make telephone calls. The two bicker, but when Brad finds out that his friend Jonathan (Tony Randall) is dating her, and that she's gorgeous, he makes an underhanded play for her himself. Pretending to be a Texan new to the New York, he woos Jan in the smoothest of ways - but when he falls in love with her, he has that big lie hanging over his head. This is a top notch production, great looking and funny (the parts where Brad accidently seeks help from an obstetrician is a particularly amusing running gag in the film) with two magnetic leads. Standards concerning sexuality and permissiveness concerning male behaviour can make a few rapey moments a little uncomfortable, and like I said, Brad could have been a little less morally bankrupt to sweeten the romance to some degree (Jan is expected to cut out all of this "angry with him" nonsense by the end, like she's the one in the wrong), and as usual, love has to be enough - Brad doesn't really do anything to redeem himself. Thinking about the friendship Hudson and Day had, lasting the rest of the former's life, helps soothe the mind though. Loved the use of split-screens and the dozens of clever allusions to sex in this as well. Bright, lively and entertaining.

7/10

[Fabulous]

Peeping Tom (1960)

4

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/zNUr47uEO6eWCe0FNMiDVFFbpdw.jpg

[matt72582]

I Will Buy You - 6/10
It gets repetitive, and all that deception, greedy sharks was a turn-off, especially when my alarm tells me I have to change the back-up battery, and of course, my Philips screwdriver is too big, but it was at a time I knew what was going on without reading.. Just teams fighting over him with bonuses, pay-offs to the agent, etc., and eventually I knew I'd see the result I was expecting.



https://youtu.be/PDAiEp9UmLE

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.showboxmovies.net%2Fresize%2F1281x771%2F1d%2Fd3%2F1dd35fcabb8ae79a907a2efbf5438 58a%2F1dd35fcabb8ae79a907a2efbf543858a.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=46d22d2b9f2e3e78c5775d12e39fcd0caa6b9e1f1579ffe7f8ac4c3d72156bf1&ipo=images

Corpus Christi, 2019

Daniel (Bartosz Bielenia) is a young man serving time in prison for a second-degree murder. While incarcerated he finds religion and develops a close relationship with the priest at the detention center, but his dream of becoming a priest himself can never happen because of his criminal record. When Daniel is sent to be a worker in a sawmill in a small town, he is mistaken on arrival for a priest. The village’s vicar must take a leave of absence due to illness, and asks if Daniel will assume the duties at the church. Daniel agrees, but the deception soon grows to a large and intense scale when he becomes enmeshed in a local drama. The people of the village are grappling with a horrific accident in which a local man and a car full of young people had a deadly collision. Daniel’s own ideas about forgiveness and redemption come up against the culture of the village.

I can’t recommend this one enough. It had me on the edge of my seat until the closing credits appeared.

4.5

Full review (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2406841#post2406841)

[Thief]

THE FOG
(1980, Carpenter)

https://i.imgur.com/vNAKu5R.jpg


"Get inside and lock your doors. Close your windows. There's something in the fog."



The Fog follows a group of people that find out about what's happening while trying to alert the townspeople and survive. They include Stevie and her young son, town resident Nick Castle (Tom Atkins) and a young hitchiker he picks up (Jamie Lee Curtis). There is also Father Malone (Hal Holbrook) who finds out about the curse and is determined to make it public, and Kathy Williams (Janet Leigh), the organizer of the town centennial who is determined to cover it all up.

Going back to it now, after 40+ years, I was glad to see how well it holds up. The best part is indeed the eerie and dread-filled atmosphere that the film patiently builds around the curse and the potential arrival of these ghosts. Carpenter takes his time allowing us to warm up to the characters, while giving us some doses of good scares in the process. There's some real talent in the way he builds his jumpscares that works so well, without feeling gimmicky.

Grade: 4


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2406849#post2406849)

[Thief]

THE DYATLOV PASS CASE
(2016, Lemmino)

https://i.imgur.com/fqVqtoO.jpg


"The cause of death was an unknown compelling force which the hikers where unable to overcome."



The Dyatlov Pass Case is a short documentary by YouTube creator LEMMiNO that chronicles most of the facts about the case, presenting possible explanations, while trying to offer a potential conclusion to what could've been this "unknown compelling force". It is a fairly simple documentary but it is well structured and engaging.

I love how LEMMiNO goes as far as presenting all of the possible explanations, which go from something as "simple" as an avalanche to something as "far out" as UFO attacks, only to then present what seems like one of the most grounded conclusions. Still, it's interesting to see him raise questions and leave them out there.

Grade: 3.5


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2406854#post2406854)

[WHITBISSELL!]

I remember watching a movie called Devil's Pass (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1905040/). I also remember thinking it was pretty good. I'll have to check out the documentary.

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic1.moviewebimages.com%2Fwordpress%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2022%2F11%2Fenys-men-3.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=49d210f42506a886801476cdbbcba99c8b069f2e38a42725eff8f88f3ccdec14&ipo=images

Enys Men, 2022

On an empty island off the Cornish coast, a volunteer (Mary Woodvine) lives in a solitary hut, venturing out daily to check the temperature and monitor the growth of a strange batch of flowers. The volunteer has strange encounters with the island itself, but also encounters a young woman (Flo Crowe), a fisherman (Edward Rowe), and a slew of strange voices that come over her radio.

This one oozes atmosphere, but the visual themes and character building feel a bit simplistic.

3.5

Full review (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2406867#post2406867)

[Thief]

I remember watching a movie called Devil's Pass (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1905040/). I also remember thinking it was pretty good. I'll have to check out the documentary.
Yeah, I've heard about the film. Don't know if it is any good, but this documentary was a solid jump into the rabbit hole for anyone not familiar with the incident.

[GulfportDoc]

Pillow Talk - (1959)

Having conflict in your romantic comedy can often leave the guy (in this Brad Allen, played by Rock Hudson) looking like a bit of a jerk. Brad shares a party line with Jan Morrow (Doris Day), and his womanizing is making it hard for her to make telephone calls. The two bicker, but when Brad finds out that his friend Jonathan (Tony Randall) is dating her, and that she's gorgeous, he makes an underhanded play for her himself. Pretending to be a Texan new to the New York, he woos Jan in the smoothest of ways - but when he falls in love with her, he has that big lie hanging over his head. This is a top notch production, great looking and funny (the parts where Brad accidently seeks help from an obstetrician is a particularly amusing running gag in the film) with two magnetic leads. Standards concerning sexuality and permissiveness concerning male behaviour can make a few rapey moments a little uncomfortable, and like I said, Brad could have been a little less morally bankrupt to sweeten the romance to some degree (Jan is expected to cut out all of this "angry with him" nonsense by the end, like she's the one in the wrong), and as usual, love has to be enough - Brad doesn't really do anything to redeem himself. Thinking about the friendship Hudson and Day had, lasting the rest of the former's life, helps soothe the mind though. Loved the use of split-screens and the dozens of clever allusions to sex in this as well. Bright, lively and entertaining.

7/10
I loved this film. It was both fresh and a riot when it came out. I still get a few laughs out of it. Some commentary:

Pillow Talk (1959)

This is THE quintessential romantic comedy of the 1950s, and it fired on all four burners. Not a frame or gag was missed, nor a story line nor scene was left unresolved. It was a runaway hit that year, and deservedly so. It stars Doris Day, Rock Hudson, Tony Randall and Thelma Ritter.

Written in the 1940s by four contributors: Russell Rouse, Maurice Richlin, Stanley Shapiro, and Clarence Greene, the original play was bought by a production company owned by Doris Day’s husband, Martin Melcher, who took it to Universal Pictures for development.

The story was both attractive, naughty, and appealing. A female interior decorator Jan Morrow (Day), who is incensed by bachelor composer Brad Allen’s (Hudson) playboy life --exposed via encroachment on their shared party line-- is eventually tricked into a romance by Allen who has since masqueraded as a Texas rancher in order to fool her into a romance. She eventually learns of the ruse just as the composer is about to bed her, exposed by one of her clients who is also a close friend of Brad’s (Randall as Jonathan Forbes), who has been unsuccessful with marriage proposals to Jan. Along the way we’re treated to hilarious scenarios by the chief protagonists and also by Jan’s maid (Ritter), and the elevator man (Allen Jenkins).

Doris Day’s ravishing outfits, hair styles and makeup radically revised her reputation of a girl next door type, catapulting her into a sexy bombshell in the space of 100 minutes. It also rescued Rock Hudson’s career from decline following several box office bombs-- notably A Farewell to Arms. It was also his first comedy role, which was long overdue, owing to the fact that he was never more than a medium weight dramatic actor. Also Tony Randall was thrust into comedic stardom from a career chiefly in television, and also from the popularity of the Jayne Mansfield vehicle Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? Randall’s performance is one of the best of his career as the neurotic millionaire who lusts after Brad Allen’s prowess as a playboy, but loves to twist the knife with ridicule when Allen appears to be failing with Jan Morrow.

The series of scenes where Jan suddenly realizes that her Texas Rex has been a clever ruse by her nemesis Brad Allen, along with the subsequent “rescue” of her by Randall’s Jonathan Forbes, are some of funniest pieces of film in any movie of its type. And the scenes would be impossible without the superb music score by Frank De Vol.

The film was considered fairly naughty during its era. In fact the title itself was challenged by Melcher, who wanted it changed to “Any Way the Wind Blows”, but co-producer Ross Hunter happily held his ground. The film’s suggestiveness was not totally unusual at the time, but its continuous sexual references and visual hints at sexual contact was fairly ground breaking in 1959. Keep in mind that in the same year, a line in Hitchcock’s North By Northwest had to be dubbed from “I never make love on an empty stomach” to “I never discuss love on an empty stomach”. So Pillow Talk was taking some refreshing risks. Of course all that seems quaint today in light of cinema’s fashionable moral debasement and bottomless noxious film dialogue and action.

Clever, cute and saucy films such as Pillow Talk really can’t be made today, and would be considered woefully anachronistic. Unfortunately we’re probably at a loss because of it.

[LChimp]

https://cdn.awsli.com.br/2500x2500/1181/1181256/produto/218717064/sisu-0u7w47xkyi.jpg

Sisu (2022)

Poster says it all. This guy will stop at literally nothing.

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fspookyflix.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F12%2Fsfscreens-2019-12-09-15h33m14s486.png&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=2464e098cf47801f2c0c1da1ed1671dee1ac4cb73391d875f14fe125dfffdd67&ipo=images

The Haunted Palace, 1963

In the Massachusetts town of Arkham, the wicked Joseph Curwen (Vincent Price) is using dark magic to enchant the young women of the town in order to use them in a strange ritual in the dungeon of his home. Curwen is burned to death by the furious townspeople, cursing the town with his dying breath and promising to return from the grave for revenge. Over 100 years later, Curwen’s descendent, Charles (also Price) comes to Arkham with his wife, Ann (Debra Paget). The longer the two stay in the palace, the more Charles is taken over by Joseph’s personality, and he begins assembling a crew to follow through with the wicked plan he started a century earlier.

This one’s full of lush photography and genuinely disturbing moments of suspense and horror.

4

Full review (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2406911#post2406911)

[Fabulous]

Set Me Free (1999)

4.5

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/rOUizGOqxObUH9bhmNi1L56j1uW.jpg

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/02/Me%2C_Myself_and_Irene_Posters.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10873034

Me, Myself & Irene - (2000)

The Farrelly brothers followed up their monster hit There's Something About Mary by reuniting with Dumb and Dumber's Jim Carrey, and the results were, umm, kind of average. A prologue, narrated by Rex Allen Jr., has Carrey's young Rhode Island state trooper Charlie Baileygates cheated on by wife Layla (Traylor Howard) who falls in love with an uber-smart African American little person - and while I didn't find that offensive, it feels kind of awkward to be going in that direction, and trying for laughs in such a manner. (Something I did find hilarious was Carrey's trooperish mustache, a sublime touch.) She gives birth to triplets - all black, and they grow into large young men with high IQs, loving their father regardless. Fortunately, the rest of the film doesn't depend on that kind of stuff. Instead it works a split personality into the equation, with the docile and eager to please Charlie transforming into the wild and obnoxious Hank Evans whenever he's threatened. In the meantime he's tasked with protecting Irene P. Waters (Renée Zellweger) from crooked cops to save a faltering career. This comedy has it's moments, and Carrey still had some zap despite having just branched out into a career as a dramatic actor with some great success (he was coming off The Truman Show and Man on the Moon.) The Farrelly's are at their best when they're pushing at the edges of horrifying us (that cow segment still provides a gasp) while still accessing our comedic sensibilities with their absurdity. It's not consistently funny or hilarious, but fine.

6/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c0/Theringer_poster.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3447785

The Ringer - (2005)

Here's a taboo breaker that does such a good job not putting a step wrong as far as being offensive is concerned that it feels as if the comedy component was a second thought. The Ringer treats it's cast of young guys with intellectual disabilities as equals and neither patronizes nor pokes fun at them - a perfect recipe for this film, but unfortunately it doesn't hit any good comedic notes, and as such it's a bland hour and a half. Johnny Knoxville as a lead actor in a comedy didn't really work out all that well - he has the stuff for smaller roles, but his transformation from Steve Barker into "Jeffy" as he tries to fix the Special Olympics by pretending to be mentally disabled isn't as hilarious as it might have seemed rehearsing the role, and that seems to be the only idea the movie has. Brian Cox doesn't exactly cover himself with glory either, as Steve's uncouth uncle Gary. Well made, but very unfortunately not funny or entertaining.

4/10

[Stirchley]

94521

Excellent movie from Spain. Romantic & sad.

[Gideon58]

https://flxt.tmsimg.com/assets/p3186_p_v8_ad.jpg


4

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fthefilmtower.files.wordpress.com%2F2022%2F12%2Faftersun-.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=5779ebaf580c9d6605a28672d5610108f832cb716c9d9d5cdde35f491e31f883&ipo=images

Aftersun, 2022

Sophie (Frankie Corio) goes to a resort in Turkey with her father, Calum (Paul Mescal). The dynamics between father and daughter are somewhat unsteady: while they clearly care for each other, Calum struggles mightily with depression and anxiety, and Sophie is beginning to see and name her father’s behavior.

At first I found the film a bit slight, but then that last act hit me like a ton of bricks, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since.

4

Full review (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2407141#post2407141)

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5c/BlackBerryFilmPoster.png
By Elevation Pictures - IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=73061546

BlackBerry - (2023)

Another great corporate story and comedy, this the adaptation of Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoff's Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of BlackBerry. It tops Air as far as great theater goes, and everything that happens in it is played on a level where you could imagine it's bizarre scenes actually happening in real life. At it's essence it's a meeting of two worlds - the first the world of computer geeks, man-children, awkward shy guys and generally nice people, the second the world of corporate pirates, money-men, cutthroat dog-eat-dog movers and shakers and dealers. When Mike Lazaridis (Jay Baruchel) and Doug Fregin (Matt Johnson) approach corporate climber Jim Balsillie (Glenn Howerton) with the idea for a handheld device that can compose and send e-mails as well as being a cell phone, it's up to the latter to whip a bunch of computer game-playing nerds into fast-moving, savvy entrepreneurs. That's no simple task, with Mike and Doug being like two fish flipped out of a fish tank when exposed to how ruthless the game is - constantly embarrassing themselves, but being brilliant enough to turn their invention into the biggest thing in the world at that moment. Matt Johnson takes a step beyond The Dirties and Operation Avalanche with this - and it might be a big breakthrough for him. I strongly recommend BlackBerry - it's razor wit, tense and fast-moving pace along with it's superb sense of humour wins out and I really enjoyed watching it today.

I almost forgot to mention the soundtrack. A real blast! Great stuff.

8/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/27/TheCableGuy.jpg
By May be found at the following website: IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=886068

The Cable Guy - (1996)

The Cable Guy has aged really well - it's well shot, and has a great dynamic between it's co-stars Jim Carrey and Matthew Broderick. Here's what I wrote on letterboxd yesterday : "A one-off I know, but Jim Carrey and Matthew Broderick have the Martin/Lewis feel of an old-time comedy duo in The Cable Guy, so pronounced are their manic comic/straight man roles. I think this is one of Carrey's best crazed facial gymnastics performances, portraying a character that exists in real life. The desperately lonely yet hopelessly obnoxious person - unable to read your discomfort or the general situation, and as such always stressful to handle. For the mid-90s this film also has an incredible number of faces in roles small to medium that would become much more well known over the years. Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Owen Wilson, Bob Odenkirk, Joel Murray and David Cross while featuring the likes of Eric Roberts and Kathy Griffin in cameos. Not to mention Charles Napier, George Segal, Janeane Garofalo...jeez. No wonder I love watching it. Maybe it should have been darker? Or is was too dark? Well, it really works in a comedic sense, with all performers hitting their marks perfectly and never missing timing-wise. Obviously the casting is perfect. A high rating from me - but I really see something in this, and even if I didn't, it's funny - and I can't argue with that." It's turned into a cult film, and I think that's because it's quite well made as well.

7.5/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/10/Fun_with_D_%26_J.jpg
By [1], Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=27048901

Fun with Dick and Jane - (2005)

There's nothing overtly wrong with Fun with Dick and Jane, and we all like a dig at criminal corporate America - there are even a few good laughs to be had - but we're used to getting so much more. Forgettable, but it's impossible to hate it.

5/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/cb/Stuck_on_you_ver2.jpg
By http://www.impawards.com/2003/stuck_on_you_ver2.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=23888170

Stuck on You - (2003)

Stuck on You goes for nearly two hours, and I'm not sure it merited such length - you can see all of the funny ideas the Farrelly brothers had about conjoined twins during some of the montages (the boxing part is really good - with Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear an unbeatable four-fisted opponent) and I really like the main thrust, which is the fact that Walt (Kinnear) wants to be an actor but Bob (Damon) doesn't. Walt just drags poor Bob around the stage, and it's hilarious when he scores a TV part opposite Cher while the camera crew try to keep Bob out of view (unsuccessfully). I thought those things were really funny - but they're spread thin in a comedy that goes maybe 20 minutes too long. You can argue that a story about two brothers was being told, and it was, but it's pretty hard to suddenly pivot and claim it's a serious story when you're making fun of conjoined twins. Like a few comedies I've seen lately - it gives us something, but it doesn't offer enough.

5/10

[Act III]

The Cable Guy - (1996)

The Cable Guy has aged really well - it's well shot, and has a great dynamic between it's co-stars Jim Carrey and Matthew Broderick. Here's what I wrote on letterboxd yesterday : "A one-off I know, but Jim Carrey and Matthew Broderick have the Martin/Lewis feel of an old-time comedy duo in The Cable Guy, so pronounced are their manic comic/straight man roles. I think this is one of Carrey's best crazed facial gymnastics performances, portraying a character that exists in real life. The desperately lonely yet hopelessly obnoxious person - unable to read your discomfort or the general situation, and as such always stressful to handle. For the mid-90s this film also has an incredible number of faces in roles small to medium that would become much more well known over the years. Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Owen Wilson, Bob Odenkirk, Joel Murray and David Cross while featuring the likes of Eric Roberts and Kathy Griffin in cameos. Not to mention Charles Napier, George Segal, Janeane Garofalo...jeez. No wonder I love watching it. Maybe it should have been darker? Or is was too dark? Well, it really works in a comedic sense, with all performers hitting their marks perfectly and never missing timing-wise. Obviously the casting is perfect. A high rating from me - but I really see something in this, and even if I didn't, it's funny - and I can't argue with that." It's turned into a cult film, and I think that's because it's quite well made as well.

7.5/10


Looking back to those days of seeing all of the Jim Carrey movies through 90s this was probably the most memorable one that everyone, friends and family, saw and enjoyed a lot. I rate this one up there with his top 3 best works.

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZjYxYWVjMDMtZGRjZS00ZDE4LTk0OWUtMjUyOTI4MmYxNjgwXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTUzMTg2ODkz._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.j pg


3

[Gideon58]

[QUOTE=PHOENIX74;2407180]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5c/BlackBerryFilmPoster.png
By Elevation Pictures - IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=73061546

BlackBerry - (2023)

Another great corporate story and comedy, this the adaptation of Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoff's Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of BlackBerry. It tops Air as far as great theater goes, and everything that happens in it is played on a level where you could imagine it's bizarre scenes actually happening in real life. At it's essence it's a meeting of two worlds - the first the world of computer geeks, man-children, awkward shy guys and generally nice people, the second the world of corporate pirates, money-men, cutthroat dog-eat-dog movers and shakers and dealers. When Mike Lazaridis (Jay Baruchel) and Doug Fregin (Matt Johnson) approach corporate climber Jim Balsillie (Glenn Howerton) with the idea for a handheld device that can compose and send e-mails as well as being a cell phone, it's up to the latter to whip a bunch of computer game-playing nerds into fast-moving, savvy entrepreneurs. That's no simple task, with Mike and Doug being like two fish flipped out of a fish tank when exposed to how ruthless the game is - constantly embarrassing themselves, but being brilliant enough to turn their invention into the biggest thing in the world at that moment. Matt Johnson takes a step beyond The Dirties and Operation Avalanche with this - and it might be a big breakthrough for him. I strongly recommend BlackBerry - it's razor wit, tense and fast-moving pace along with it's superb sense of humour wins out and I really enjoyed watching it today.

I almost forgot to mention the soundtrack. A real blast! Great stuff.

8/10

So glad someone else watched and liked Blackberry. I really enjoyed it. Jay Baruchel was amazing.

[ScarletLion]

'Past Lives' (2023)

Directed by Celine Song

https://weliveentertainment.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/past-lives-cover.jpg

It made me bawl my eyes out, so I've no idea how it made people who grew up in overseas countries and emigrated at a young age feel.

Essentially it tells the story of a young girl who moves to North America from Korea at the age of 12, and then is contacted by her childhood sweetheart years later. It explores fate and what life choices are best at the right time. But it does so extremely tenderly and with such precision. A deeply personal film to write and direct I expect.

The writing is absolutely superb. Perhaps as you'd expect from a playwright effectively telling her own part biography on screen. It's shot amazingly well too - with New York almost playing a character, as it does so often. There are shades of Edward Yang's Yi Yi in some of the reflection shots.

Sometimes the sacrifices you make, despite their benefit will hurt for the rest of your life. One of the best films of the year.

4

[Gideon58]

https://images.static-bluray.com/movies/covers/240962_front.jpg?t=1558192400


2

[GulfportDoc]

BlackBerry - (2023)

Another great corporate story and comedy, this the adaptation of Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoff's Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of BlackBerry. It tops Air as far as great theater goes, and everything that happens in it is played on a level where you could imagine it's bizarre scenes actually happening in real life. At it's essence it's a meeting of two worlds - the first the world of computer geeks, man-children, awkward shy guys and generally nice people, the second the world of corporate pirates, money-men, cutthroat dog-eat-dog movers and shakers and dealers. When Mike Lazaridis (Jay Baruchel) and Doug Fregin (Matt Johnson) approach corporate climber Jim Balsillie (Glenn Howerton) with the idea for a handheld device that can compose and send e-mails as well as being a cell phone, it's up to the latter to whip a bunch of computer game-playing nerds into fast-moving, savvy entrepreneurs. That's no simple task, with Mike and Doug being like two fish flipped out of a fish tank when exposed to how ruthless the game is - constantly embarrassing themselves, but being brilliant enough to turn their invention into the biggest thing in the world at that moment. Matt Johnson takes a step beyond The Dirties and Operation Avalanche with this - and it might be a big breakthrough for him. I strongly recommend BlackBerry - it's razor wit, tense and fast-moving pace along with it's superb sense of humour wins out and I really enjoyed watching it today.

I almost forgot to mention the soundtrack. A real blast! Great stuff.

8/10

So glad someone else watched and liked Blackberry. I really enjoyed it. Jay Baruchel was amazing.
I thought the picture was very watchable. I'm a sucker for that kind of insider startup business subject matter. However I did think that Glenn Howerton was pretty miscast as Jim Balsillie. Some of it was the writing, but I never thoroughly believed Howerton in his part.

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.denofgeek.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2021%2F10%2FNoomi-Rapace-and-Ada-in-A24s-Lamb-Review.jpeg%3Ffit%3D1300%252C707&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=816f58bf8d3625d00736e78db73e7f64b70f542fac642c4a691aa4a476d23fbb&ipo=images

Lamb, 2021

Maria (Noomi Rapace) and her husband, Ingvar (Hilmir Snaer Gudnason) live on a mountainside where they raise a flock of sheep. Unbeknownst to them, a strange force is stalking the countryside, and pays a visit to their flock one night. Maria and Ingvar are shocked when one of their sheep gives birth to a lamb that is part sheep, part human. The couple takes the lamb in, naming her Ada, and begin to raise her as their daughter. This strange arrangement is shaken up when Ingvar’s troublesome brother, Petur (Bjorn Hlynur Haraldsson), arrives unexpectedly and takes an interest in Ada.

Underwhelming.

3

Full review (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2407308#post2407308)

[Captain Steel]

Cria Cuervos (1976)

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BOGFhMDQzYzQtN2FjMC00ZDAyLTljNDUtNDcxOWMyMjMwMDI0XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTA0MjU0Ng@@._V1_.jpg

Caught this foreign (Spanish) film on TCM during a day devoted to Geraldine Chaplin films.

I didn't intend to watch the whole thing, but found I couldn't pull myself away.
Talk about child performances - I was lost in the sadness of a little girl's eyes (Ana Torrent). Granted, she mostly just stared through the film, but what a stare since there was a lot more going on behind those eyes. Her performance was hypnotizing.

Not sure what the ultimate message was (but I later came to learn it's really a metaphor about Spain under Franco's leadership). It was intriguing, filled with grief, loss, hurt, betrayal, fear & death, and what happens when a childhood is filled with these things. A richly layered film.

4.5

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2a/Antwone_Fisher_film_poster.jpg
By impawards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9969887

Antwone Fisher - (2002)

Antwone Fisher (Derek Luke) is an angry man, liable to erupt in violence at the slightest provocation. Being in the navy, it's not long before an incident involving fisticuffs leads him to being reprimanded, and he's sent to Navy psychiatrist Dr. Jerome Davenport (Denzel Washington) who slowly earns his trust and learns of a childhood that mostly consisted of abuse after being abandoned by his jailbird mother. The relationship between Fisher and Davenport is key to this film, and there's no problem there because we're in the capable hands of Denzel Washington, who also decided that Antwone Fisher would mark his directorial debut. There's a lot of ground to cover, so it's almost a shame we skip through important aspects of Fisher's childhood, but with a life's history, as well as the man's efforts to overcome sexual abuse and open up to his Navy girlfriend Petty Officer Cheryl Smolley (Joy Bryant) we must move at a heady pace. Have tissues handy for the film's especially moving final few scenes, which will get to even the hardiest of movie watchers. Antwone Fisher is about a man who in the end refuses to be defined by his circumstances growing up, and has instead survived, stood strong and thrived - with a little help from Denzel of course. A very good film.

7.5/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/63/1408poster.jpg
By BoxOfficeMojo.com, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21207429

1408 - (2007)

1408 gets a little out of hand, throwing the kitchen sink at us in a climax to top all other horror movie climaxes, but it also has one of the best buildups I've ever seen in a movie of this type. Once Mike Enslin (John Cusack) is in room 1408, despite the warnings from hotel manager Gerald Olin (Samuel L. Jackson) the dread has been building and building - with the latter having shared a dossier with Mike that details all the strange deaths that have occurred there. Such a great building of tension and atmosphere, and the film doesn't let us down either - it's full of frightening and surreal moments, adding to the preceding scenes. In the end the strange events get a little too loudly catastrophic and severe, but if you like simple, to the point films about paranormal activity and haunted hotels, then 1408 will do. I've watched it several times, because it's rare a psychological horror film like this does so much right, even if it's somewhat flawed in a way that stops it from becoming a classic. It feels like a guilty pleasure to me. Based on a story by Stephen King.

7/10

[SpelingError]

The Sun Shines Bright (1953) - 3

An atypical John Ford Western. Not solely due to the strong de-emphasis on gunfighting, but also due to the fractured sense of community. Plagued by racial tensions and economic disparity, those elements serve to test the comradeship of the town. While Bill Priest is portrayed as the agent of change, what's made clear is that turning the town around requires more than just the efforts of one man. Everyone else needs to find forgiveness in each other and recognize their mistakes in order for there to be an understanding. Such themes are complicated when the film adopts some somewhat sterotypical depictions of the black characters in the film (such as the disproportionately spooked black character trope), and I also found a central romance sub-plot unnecessary, but I don't know that Ford's primary goal was to necessarily create a masterpiece so much as correcting a prior mistake. Though I don't believe this was billed as a remake (someone can correct me on this if that's untrue), "The Sun Shines Bright" adapts some of the same material in John Ford's earlier film "Judge Priest", along with some of the same characters. Calling "The Sun Shines Bright" a retread of the earlier film's themes though misses the point as there's a crucial difference between both films. Ford initially wanted to include a scene of an attempted lynching (as well as a condemnation of the act) in "Judge Priest", but this scene was cut by 20th Century Fox. Once studio intervention was no longer a threat nearly two decades later though, Ford then went on to direct the film he originally intended to make, along with the aforementioned scene.

While I respect what Ford was going for though and while I recognize that his heart was in the right place, his intentions came off as naive. The film establishes early on that women and people of color in the town are walking on thin ice and one small misstep could put their lives in danger. Take an early scene where a black character has to stop another black character from unknowingly playing a Yankee song to a group of Confederate veterans. This should set you up for the tone of the rest of the film. Unfortuately, we instead get an outdated idea that an authority figure with a good sense of morals and justice is all that's needed to fix the hierarchical and systemic problems with the town and turn it into a utopia, and this idea is just pure fantasy. If anyone from the upper class wishes to provide a perfect solution to systemic racism, they first need to recognize their complicity in the hierarchical system which still exists today. Ford didn't properly do this. After the two main conflicts are resolved in the film, the resulting, supposed fixed society is still hampered by the same hierarchy and status quo which engendered those issues in the first place. Overall, Ford certainly has good intentions. His message just wasn't well-thought out.

[Act III]

94411

Crazy Heart (2009)

Interesting movie. Didn't much like the old man / young woman romance, had to skip forward through the several sex scenes. I guess this sort of defines a certain stereotypical musicians life so maybe thats what got the Oscar here, but I don't really see it. I dont want to spoil the movie but theres some tricks n turns in the story and some funny charming stuff.

6/10

[ScarletLion]

94521

Excellent movie from Spain. Romantic & sad.

I can't find this. There is only a tv series. Has it got another name?

[Fabulous]

Body Heat (1981)

4

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/o8wqyVw3s31vXVWG4R8Gd4Twail.jpg

[Stirchley]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fthefilmtower.files.wordpress.com%2F2022%2F12%2Faftersun-.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=5779ebaf580c9d6605a28672d5610108f832cb716c9d9d5cdde35f491e31f883&ipo=images

Aftersun, 2022

Sophie (Frankie Corio) goes to a resort in Turkey with her father, Calum (Paul Mescal). The dynamics between father and daughter are somewhat unsteady: while they clearly care for each other, Calum struggles mightily with depression and anxiety, and Sophie is beginning to see and name her father’s behavior.

At first I found the film a bit slight, but then that last act hit me like a ton of bricks, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since.

4

Full review (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2407141#post2407141)

I have to try this again. I bailed out, but will take another stab as everyone rates it quite high.

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.denofgeek.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2021%2F10%2FNoomi-Rapace-and-Ada-in-A24s-Lamb-Review.jpeg%3Ffit%3D1300%252C707&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=816f58bf8d3625d00736e78db73e7f64b70f542fac642c4a691aa4a476d23fbb&ipo=images

Lamb, 2021

Maria (Noomi Rapace) and her husband, Ingvar (Hilmir Snaer Gudnason) live on a mountainside where they raise a flock of sheep. Unbeknownst to them, a strange force is stalking the countryside, and pays a visit to their flock one night. Maria and Ingvar are shocked when one of their sheep gives birth to a lamb that is part sheep, part human. The couple takes the lamb in, naming her Ada, and begin to raise her as their daughter. This strange arrangement is shaken up when Ingvar’s troublesome brother, Petur (Bjorn Hlynur Haraldsson), arrives unexpectedly and takes an interest in Ada.

Underwhelming.

3

Full review (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2407308#post2407308)

Underwhelming? Wow, I love this movie.

Cria Cuervos (1976)

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BOGFhMDQzYzQtN2FjMC00ZDAyLTljNDUtNDcxOWMyMjMwMDI0XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTA0MjU0Ng@@._V1_.jpg

Caught this foreign (Spanish) film on TCM during a day devoted to Geraldine Chaplin films.

I didn't intend to watch the whole thing, but found I couldn't pull myself away.
Talk about child performances - I was lost in the sadness of a little girl's eyes (Ana Torrent). Granted, she mostly just stared through the film, but what a stare since there was a lot more going on behind those eyes. Her performance was hypnotizing.

Not sure what the ultimate message was (but I later came to learn it's really a metaphor about Spain under Franco's leadership). It was intriguing, filled with grief, loss, hurt, betrayal, fear & death, and what happens when a childhood is filled with these things. A richly layered film.

4.5

Seen this about two million times.

94411

Crazy Heart (2009)

Interesting movie. Didn't much like the old man / young woman romance, had to skip forward through the several sex scenes. I guess this sort of defines a certain stereotypical musicians life so maybe thats what got the Oscar here, but I don't really see it. I dont want to spoil the movie but theres some tricks n turns in the story and some funny charming stuff.

6/10

Love this movie.

I can't find this. There is only a tv series. Has it got another name?

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13322938/

Body Heat (1981)

4

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/o8wqyVw3s31vXVWG4R8Gd4Twail.jpg

Still holds up as a great movie.

[Act III]

Love this movie.


I will. Thanks for the movie

[ScarletLion]

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13322938/

.

It says TV Series?

[WrinkledMind]

Past Lives

It's a soothing, mature take on romance. A lot of people are rightly applauding Greta Lee's wonderful performance, but I thought John Magaro was equally brilliant as her husband.

[Act III]

94557

I'm Not There (2007)

You must know what it's all about beforehand to really be tuned in to what it's all about. There's some cool moments. I connected with the Christian Bale scenes the most, but the majority of the time I was confused and tried to let it all sink in. My problem, I ascertained, was that I was drinking, not tripping or smoking. So, wrong vice, right flick. But then, it got bad. 2+ hours of Lynch-like confusciousness = triathalon of holding on. I could see that there was a deeper message here or something going on that I don't get. Maybe... someday... maybe.

The last 30 minutes were punishment because by then the movie already accomplished what it was created to do, so it was like, I already completely didn't get it so why the extended outro?

5.5/10

[skizzerflake]

THE FOG
(1980, Carpenter)

https://i.imgur.com/vNAKu5R.jpg




The Fog follows a group of people that find out about what's happening while trying to alert the townspeople and survive. They include Stevie and her young son, town resident Nick Castle (Tom Atkins) and a young hitchiker he picks up (Jamie Lee Curtis). There is also Father Malone (Hal Holbrook) who finds out about the curse and is determined to make it public, and Kathy Williams (Janet Leigh), the organizer of the town centennial who is determined to cover it all up.

Going back to it now, after 40+ years, I was glad to see how well it holds up. The best part is indeed the eerie and dread-filled atmosphere that the film patiently builds around the curse and the potential arrival of these ghosts. Carpenter takes his time allowing us to warm up to the characters, while giving us some doses of good scares in the process. There's some real talent in the way he builds his jumpscares that works so well, without feeling gimmicky.

Grade: 4


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2406849#post2406849)

That's an old favorite of mine. The first time I saw it, it was playing on a cable channel and I was sequestered in an oceanfront hotel in the midst of a hurricane strength nor'easter. The building was shaking, wind was roaring, roads were flooded and I could not sleep. This came on from about 1 AM to 3 AM. The movie seemed to suit the weather that night. I really love the somber minimalist piano musical soundtrack, written and played by Carpenter. He really earned his auteur credentials on this movie, writing, directing, doing music and doing a cameo.

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZGRiYWVhZTAtMDI5YS00OWI0LThjNWItYWU4NmI1YzM1ODkzXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNjE2MzI5ODM@._V1_.jpg


2

[Stirchley]

94521

Excellent movie from Spain. Romantic & sad.

ScarletLion Duh, brain dead today. Why did I even say it’s a movie. It’s totally in the wrong thread. Yes, it’s a limited series with quite a clever way of showing time that I haven’t seen elsewhere.

So sorry for the confusion. Stressed about numerous things, as per usual. :rolleyes:

[Act III]

94568

The Doors (1991)

This was a pretty damn good movie. Vh1 used to play it all the time and I saw parts of it here and there but here was my first time seeing it through start to finish without commercials. The best movie they ever played in my opinion on either Vh1 or MTV. Although the movie is great and the band was okay I can't say I care for Mr. Morrison much and his meandering poetry and preachy crowd arousal. I also wonder how true this story is because he was, after all, fronting one of the biggest bands at that time while simultaneously his father was fighting as an Admiral in the Vietnam war. Strange coincidence to say the least. I think it could have been a setup to some degree, that his death seems mysterious. Get rid of the male nudity, give it a new ending and I'd say 9-10/10 but I will have to give it an 8 as it is.

8/10

[Takoma11]

I have to try this again. I bailed out, but will take another stab as everyone rates it quite high.

In my full review I talk quite a bit about how I wasn't really feeling it at first. But that last act really hit me hard.

Underwhelming? Wow, I love this movie.

I was really excited about Lamb, but I thought that of all the interesting themes and dynamics introduced, none of them were addressed at any more than a surface, sometimes kind of stupid level.

There was just no depth to any of it. And while it looked nice (I guess), it didn't look nice/interesting enough to sustain my interest for the full runtime. And I thought that the ending was nonsensical and dumb.

[Act III]

94583

Amadeus (1984)
Director's Cut

Top notch everything. 3 hours of me stuck to this screen. The picture quality is that you might think it was filmed 10 years ago, not 40 and since all the costume and set dress is perfect and unstylized to suit the times you have no clue when it was made unless you recognize the actors. Very affecting story and tragic account of Mozart's life. If you could find a reason to rate this under 10 I would love to hear it.

10/10

[Fabulous]

The Colour of Pomegranates (1969)

4

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/fOQTGc58JWEVispDAjMO88olENG.jpg

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5e/Bleed_For_This_poster.jpg
By Studio or Graphic Artist - [1], Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=51192248

Bleed For This - (2016)

The tagline for true story Bleed For This mentions the fact that it's about the "greatest comeback in sports history" which piqued my interest. It ended up a film that would have gone great as a double bill with Antwone Fisher. Never giving up can either be inspirational or absolutely stupid, and for quite a while after Vinny Pazienza (Miles Teller) breaks his neck in a car accident, it looks like the latter for him. After watching him being brutalized in the ring, it really pains you to hear doctors advise Vinny that he may never walk again if his shattered vertebrae finally severs his spinal cord - all shortly after winning the WBA World Light Middleweight title. His coach, Kevin Rooney (super performance by Aaron Eckhart), flat out tells him at his birthday party - "You will never box again. Accept it." Period. But Vinny is a little like that knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail - carrying on against insurmountable odds at the risk completely destroying his body. His father, Angelo (Ciarán Hinds) won't be in his corner if he goes through with getting back into the ring, but Lou Duva (Ted Levine) is only too happy to make money because of how attention-getting this is. End up getting killed or stuck in a wheelchair and it's "Why didn't he listen?" End up on top of the world, and it's one hell of an inspirational story. The biggest thing working against this film is that, despite being a true story, it ends up being yet another boxing film - having to compete against the likes of Cinderella Man, Rocky and many others. Quality - especially performance-wise.

7.5/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/86/Shattered_film.jpg
By http://www.impawards.com/2022/shattered.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=69314853

Shattered - (2022)

Shattered is a thriller that doesn't mess around too much, with segments that border on torture porn. The story seems to have been written by people who really didn't believe they could fly, and sticks to the basics in such a straightforward way that it's kind of originally unoriginal - no other thriller going around these days would do so little. It has one saving grace - for some curiously peculiar reason, John Malkovich is in it - and he makes his part, a pathetic, vain landlord, exceedingly more interesting than anything else the film has to offer. I won't give anything away plot-wise (although there's hardly anything to give away - but all the more reason to hide the small twist it has, lest it have absolutely nothing to offer.) If you like drills going into human flesh, cuts, severed digits, broken bones, stabbing and violence - there's something for you. Very basic and bloody.

4/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/Radio-movie_Poster.jpg
By The poster art can or could be obtained from Columbia Pictures., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4727575

Radio - (2003)

This is based on a real person and true story - but if you're the least bit cynical, you'll probably end up rejecting Radio. It's the meta-movie within a movie from Tropic Thunder - Simple Jack - brought to life in our universe. James Robert "Radio" Kennedy (Cuba Gooding Jr. - Razzie nominated, for good reason) is a developmentally challenged boy who is kind of adopted by school football coach Harold Jones (Ed Harris) and eventually the whole town of Anderson, South Carolina. This is the kind of film where Harris gets to deliver lines like "The truth is, we're not the one been teachin' Radio, Radio's the one been teachin' us," and as such, Radio is a very hackneyed and corny piece of cinema. If you open your heart to it, and leave every drop of cynicism you have at the door, it has some feelgood value. But most of us will hear the James Horner score, watch the overblown and really bad performance from Cuba Gooding Jr., and follow the trite screenplay and wonder if all of this is some kind of joke. This is a film for the most innocent among us - for those as innocent as Radio himself - I really hate to dump on it, because it's whole attitude is so squeaky clean and cheerful. Despite it's many egregious faults, I even have a kind of soft spot for it - it's no fun being a skeptical misanthrope all the time, and I'm quite willing to be manipulated into an "aww" kind of attitude. As such, it really depends on which way you look at this film.

5/10

[Fabulous]

All About My Mother (1999)

4

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/u2CvJwAWDNk9w63gbOifmqd4W9r.jpg

[wositelec]

Swamp Thing (1982) - 8/10


https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51ri-Ug+kbL._AC_UF894,1000_QL80_.jpg

[ScarletLion]

'In Cold Blood' (1967)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/05/In_cold_blood99.jpg

Very watchable re-telling of Truman Capote's book focusing on a real life brutal killing in 50s Kansas. The pace of the film is so well marked out that the 135 minute runtime breezes by. It's also quite a gritty film for 1967 with some coarse language that only serves to make the criminal characters more realistic. Great photography too.

8.6/10

4.5

[Fabulous]

The Hawaiians (1970)

2.5

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/mYnOKbSjjCXWVY1ktKgGe0wxLux.jpg

[Jeff]

Streetwalkers directed by Matilde Landeta in 1951 seen on Mubi, those wonderful folks there offered a month for just a buck to lure me back in, and i guess i'll be active here for a little bit, boasting of the great cinema being seen, i give this Mexican melodrama a solid 4 out of 5, or 7 and a half out of 10.

Before that saw Booksmart on Prime, fresh and funny 8/10

Toys Are Not for Children -- seen on Arrow, grimy sleazy exploitation 6/10

Run Rabbit Run seen on Netflix, a Babadook wannabe i think 6/10

The Masque of the Red Death seen on Criterion, Corman's best films were i think the Vincent Price Poe adaptations, and this one looked fantastic, no wonder as it was photographed by Nicolas Roeg -- 9/10

[GulfportDoc]

'In Cold Blood' (1967)


Very watchable re-telling of Truman Capote's book focusing on a real life brutal killing in 50s Kansas. The pace of the film is so well marked out that the 135 minute runtime breezes by. It's also quite a gritty film for 1967 with some coarse language that only serves to make the criminal characters more realistic. Great photography too.

8.6/10

rating_4_5

I agree. This was a seminal film that, once one has seen it, it's never forgotten. It's authenticity was chilling, and the trek to the inevitable end was like watching an automobile accident in slow motion.

Everyone was impressed with this movie in 1967, including me. There were several side bars to the film, including Capote's real life involvement with the convicted murderers, and Robert Blake's subsequent mental problems stemming from his realistic acting in the picture.

It's a film I don't want to watch again, but one that most cinephiles really must experience. The picture is tame by today's films, but the direction, acting and pacing are first rate.

[Darth Pazuzu]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/eb/Lynch_Oz_2022_film_poster.png/220px-Lynch_Oz_2022_film_poster.png

I just saw this one two days ago. I was intrigued by the subject matter, and I had seen director Alexandre O. Philippe's Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist. So I was very intrigued. And I was not disappointed at all! Quite honestly, a movie documentary like this is absolute catnip to a geek like me, who never stops thinking about movies in terms of theme, subtext, archetype and influence.

To put it briefly, it's about the influence of 1939's The Wizard of Oz on the films of David Lynch specifically, as well as its influence on cinema in general overall. It's divided into six different chapters narrated by different people, including other filmmakers such as John Waters, Karyn Kusama, Rodney Ascher and David Lowery, and each chapter deals with the subject from different angles and perspectives. I personally found it absolutely fascinating, and it's rekindled a desire to re-watch the Lynch filmography. (I have all of his feature films on either DVD, Blu-ray or 4K, and I also have all three seasons of Twin Peaks on Blu-ray, including the mind-blowing 2017 revival.)

Oh, and here's a rather cool picture, of two cinematic mavericks from the '70s who eventually cracked the mainstream. (It's in the movie.)

https://th.bing.com/th/id/R.0f48bb944908f0fa226cb68a33a13385?rik=pFab%2bK2arUWM%2fw&riu=http%3a%2f%2fwww.rowsdowr.com%2fwp-content%2fuploads%2f2014%2f04%2fJohn-Waters-and-David-Lynch.jpg&ehk=rzrtoOosq4n6J9g%2fuoFT%2bCqnDQ1qQgeVTnHakLiA1dA%3d&risl=&pid=ImgRaw&r=0

[beelzebubble]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/eb/Lynch_Oz_2022_film_poster.png/220px-Lynch_Oz_2022_film_poster.png

I just saw this one two days ago. I was intrigued by the subject matter, and I had seen director Alexandre O. Philippe's Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist. So I was very intrigued. And I was not disappointed at all! Quite honestly, a movie documentary like this is absolute catnip to a geek like me, who never stops thinking about movies in terms of theme, subtext, archetype and influence.

To put it briefly, it's about the influence of 1939's The Wizard of Oz on the films of David Lynch specifically, as well as its influence on cinema in general overall. It's divided into six different chapters narrated by different people, including other filmmakers such as John Waters, Karyn Kusama, Rodney Ascher and David Lowery, and each chapter deals with the subject from different angles and perspectives. I personally found it absolutely fascinating, and it's rekindled a desire to re-watch the Lynch filmography. (I have all of his feature films on either DVD, Blu-ray or 4K, and I also have all three seasons of Twin Peaks on Blu-ray, including the mind-blowing 2017 revival.)

Oh, and here's a rather cool picture, of two cinematic mavericks from the '70s who eventually cracked the mainstream. (It's in the movie.)

https://th.bing.com/th/id/R.0f48bb944908f0fa226cb68a33a13385?rik=pFab%2bK2arUWM%2fw&riu=http%3a%2f%2fwww.rowsdowr.com%2fwp-content%2fuploads%2f2014%2f04%2fJohn-Waters-and-David-Lynch.jpg&ehk=rzrtoOosq4n6J9g%2fuoFT%2bCqnDQ1qQgeVTnHakLiA1dA%3d&risl=&pid=ImgRaw&r=0


This looks fascinating.

[Takoma11]

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ucAE_GrFrfM/SYXA_Z7p_UI/AAAAAAAADG4/iFwLrTY0W3A/s320/aka_cassius_clay.jpg

aka Cassius Clay, 1970

This documentary---filmed during the period where Muhammad Ali was barred from fighting due to his refusal to abide by the draft--traces the rise of Ali’s career, his point of view on the sport, and his activism as an adult.

In some senses, not the most that could have been made of this. But the undeniable charm and watchability of its star makes this an easy, fun watch.

4

Full review (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2407756#post2407756)

[Jeff]

I must make note of having just seen Poison for the Fairies, as it was a forgettable picture, Spanish i think from the 70's, the date that amc+ gives was erroneous. In it we follow a couple of girls who dabble in witchcraft, we rarely see the faces of adults unless it's a spooky close up. There's portions where it's just music and scenery which gave off a pleasant Pasolini vibe, but not enough good things to raise it above a mediocre 5/10

[Takoma11]

I must make note of having just seen Poison for the Fairies, as it was a forgettable picture, Spanish i think from the 70's, the date that amc+ gives was erroneous. In it we follow a couple of girls who dabble in witchcraft, we rarely see the faces of adults unless it's a spooky close up. There's portions where it's just music and scenery which gave off a pleasant Pasolini vibe, but not enough good things to raise it above a mediocre 5/10

It's from the 80s, and I thought it was fabulous.

[Jeff]

Good for you :)

It's from the 80s, and I thought it was fabulous.

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b4/The_Paper_movie_poster.jpg
By The cover art can or could be obtained from Universal Pictures (USA)Universal Pictures (non-USA/Canada), Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26192867

The Paper - (1994)

The Paper is a good ensemble piece, with five really solid, fleshed out characters working in the pressure-filled atmosphere of the New York Sun over a 24-hour period. Newspaper movies are nothing new, and although the very best of them seem to be the ones that give us insight into true events, those fictional ones often inspired by the varied cinematic versions of The Front Page can be great as well. In this Henry Hackett (Michael Keaton) goes to war with fellow journalist Alicia Clark (Glenn Close) over how to report on the arrest of two murder suspects - proclaim them guilty, despite rumours to the contrary, or dig deeper and hold the presses for an inordinate amount of time to discover the truth. Their boss, Bernie White (Robert Duvall) is distracted by prostate cancer and desperate efforts to reconnect with an estranged daughter. Hound McDougal (Randy Quaid) is paranoid, and fears retribution over a story he reported on. Hackett's wife Martha (Marisa Tomei), once a fellow reporter, is pregnant and terrified of being stuck home with a baby and losing her career - thus coming into conflict with her husband, who is choosing the story over her. What I liked about this is how frenetic the action is from start to finish, and how all of the characters have depth to them. Added to this are the varied smaller characters and their various sub-plots, filling the film in with added interesting detail. A few people hate this one - I liked it.

7/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0b/Goonfinalposter.jpg
By The poster art can or could be obtained from Alliance Films and Magnet Releasing., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=33771428

Goon - (2011)

I haven't watched many films sequel first, and then original - if you do, you might be surprised at how backwards your appreciation of the two films might be. A couple of years ago, I borrowed Goon : Last of the Enforcers from the library, not knowing that it was a sequel to this film. It was a crazy, Zucker bros kind of comedy about ice hockey, and I thought it was okay. I was expecting the same with the original, but this first iteration isn't nearly as insane as the second was. It's actually based on a true story - that of a hockey player better at fighting than playing, and thus on the team to intimidate opposition players. Seann William Scott, Liev Schreiber, Alison Pill and Jay Baruchel feature. I was a little disappointed that it didn't get as silly as expected. Don't watch your movies the wrong way round kids - it messes with your admiration of the originals.

5/10

[Fabulous]

Juliet of the Spirits (1965)

4

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/ucQomirnTrbhAL6XGVE3xNJnxf1.jpg

[StuSmallz]

'In Cold Blood' (1967)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/05/In_cold_blood99.jpg

Very watchable re-telling of Truman Capote's book focusing on a real life brutal killing in 50s Kansas. The pace of the film is so well marked out that the 135 minute runtime breezes by. It's also quite a gritty film for 1967 with some coarse language that only serves to make the criminal characters more realistic. Great photography too.

8.6/10

4.5Hey, of my all-time favorites!: https://letterboxd.com/stusmallz/film/in-cold-blood/

[Torgo]

Knock at the Cabin - 3

Shyamalan's latest is a pretty good thriller about the nature of faith. Husbands Eric (Groff) and Andrew (Aldridge) are vacationing in a cabin in the Pennsylvania wilderness with their daughter, Wen (Cui). Without warning, a man named Leonard (Bautista) arrives on their property, talks to Wen as she collects grasshoppers and informs her that he's there to accomplish a very, very important task. It's not long until three more strangers arrive.

The movie's drama comes from whether the intruders are who they say they are or if they have ulterior motives and it does a decent job of maintaining it. I like how it peels the layers of the onion, if you will, such as making you wonder if it's personal, if they're cultists, etc., and it helps that the consequences of the small family's doubt are pretty dire. I have no complaints about the casting: it's nice to see Dave Bautista continue to stretch his muscles - no pun intended - and Jonathan Groff succeeds at making his fear palpable. The movie's tasteful handling of violence, which I especially appreciate due to Wen being only eight years old, is another nice touch.

Unfortunately, there's not quite enough sugar to make the medicine go down. The thrills are ultimately mild, which is a problem when you consider how many good thrillers also occur in confined spaces. It doesn't help that the interspersed flashbacks of the family's origin story are more like commercial interruptions than suspense builders. Shyamalan's dialogue is also as unnatural, stilted and self-conscious as it usually is, and it took me out of the moment more than I would like. I still recommend it, because if anything, the movie succeeds at making you wonder how much it would take you to believe something that is truly extraordinary. Oh, and make sure to always pay close attention to the cabin's TV because you will be rewarded with a good laugh.

[Jeff]

Monkey Shines -- terrific and nostalgic, but that scene where he has the monkey by his teeth and swinging it back and forth was almost comical, like from the Scary Movie franchise. Loved it though 8/10

[Thief]

SORCERER
(1977, Friedkin)

https://i.imgur.com/dPNLo9R.jpg


"No one is just anything"



Sorcerer follows Victor, along with three other characters: Jackie (Roy Scheider), Nilo (Francisco Rabal), and Kassem (Amidou), all of which are wanted and on the run for different reasons leading them to the remote South American village of Porvenir. But as the above quote says, no one is just anything. The four of them are more than just wanted men, but what will fate have in store for them here? Turns out it is two trucks loaded with unstable dynamite.

What Friedkin does different than director Henri-Georges Clouzot is to give a bit more depth and background to these characters. Now, granted, I don't think background and explanations are always necessary, but those first 30 minutes where you see how these four characters end up where they're at are really effective and give a lot of weight to what will happen in the rest of the film.

Grade: 4.5


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2407897#post2407897)

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZjE3NmQzMDYtN2I3OS00YzA1LTk2YjAtNWU5YTM2OTNiNjU3XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTQxNzMzNDI@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.j pg


3.5

[Gideon58]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b4/The_Paper_movie_poster.jpg
By The cover art can or could be obtained from Universal Pictures (USA)Universal Pictures (non-USA/Canada), Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26192867

The Paper - (1994)

The Paper is a good ensemble piece, with five really solid, fleshed out characters working in the pressure-filled atmosphere of the New York Sun over a 24-hour period. Newspaper movies are nothing new, and although the very best of them seem to be the ones that give us insight into true events, those fictional ones often inspired by the varied cinematic versions of The Front Page can be great as well. In this Henry Hackett (Michael Keaton) goes to war with fellow journalist Alicia Clark (Glenn Close) over how to report on the arrest of two murder suspects - proclaim them guilty, despite rumours to the contrary, or dig deeper and hold the presses for an inordinate amount of time to discover the truth. Their boss, Bernie White (Robert Duvall) is distracted by prostate cancer and desperate efforts to reconnect with an estranged daughter. Hound McDougal (Randy Quaid) is paranoid, and fears retribution over a story he reported on. Hackett's wife Martha (Marisa Tomei), once a fellow reporter, is pregnant and terrified of being stuck home with a baby and losing her career - thus coming into conflict with her husband, who is choosing the story over her. What I liked about this is how frenetic the action is from start to finish, and how all of the characters have depth to them. Added to this are the varied smaller characters and their various sub-plots, filling the film in with added interesting detail. A few people hate this one - I liked it.

7/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0b/Goonfinalposter.jpg
By The poster art can or could be obtained from Alliance Films and Magnet Releasing., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=33771428

Goon - (2011)

I haven't watched many films sequel first, and then original - if you do, you might be surprised at how backwards your appreciation of the two films might be. A couple of years ago, I borrowed Goon : Last of the Enforcers from the library, not knowing that it was a sequel to this film. It was a crazy, Zucker bros kind of comedy about ice hockey, and I thought it was okay. I was expecting the same with the original, but this first iteration isn't nearly as insane as the second was. It's actually based on a true story - that of a hockey player better at fighting than playing, and thus on the team to intimidate opposition players. Seann William Scott, Liev Schreiber, Alison Pill and Jay Baruchel feature. I was a little disappointed that it didn't get as silly as expected. Don't watch your movies the wrong way round kids - it messes with your admiration of the originals.

5/10

Was pretty sure I was the only person on the planet who had seen either of these movies. I agree with just about everything you said about movies. Loved Schreiber in Goon

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://occ-0-1123-2568.1.nflxso.net/dnm/api/v6/E8vDc_W8CLv7-yMQu8KMEC7Rrr8/AAAABRho_MT4PZZhYBy6Sy2mNby3RCBhalfGNoJvm4L5NXxxeN8bhVW58C76YHwwxYtN_kwhPRvvpJ0P0FQGhL8qBAvmwO2m7Iut aAr-.jpg?r=189

The Irishman - Frank Sheeran (Robert DeNiro), Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci) and James Riddle Hoffa (Al Pacino) were all real life characters. The screenplay is based on Charles Brandt's 2004 novel I Heard You Paint Houses. It's a three and half hour long movie (which, in it's defense, didn't seem to noticeably drag) that could be seen by some as a last hurrah of sorts for Scorcese. Others have called this his magnum opus but I'm not sure I can go along. It doesn't have the focus of some of his other works even though it centers on two or three characters. And I'm not sure it qualifies as "sprawling" which is the descriptor usually applied to these type of generational sagas. So if it's not tightly focused or sprawling what is it? It's elegiac but it also has a bunch of wise guys talking in circles about mostly everything. Some people will see their patience rewarded and love it unconditionally, others will see the sum of it's parts as lacking.

80/100

[Allaby]

You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah (2023) Directed by Sammi Cohen and starring Sunny Sandler, Samantha Lorraine, Adam Sandler, Idina Menzel, Jackie Sandler, and Sadie Sandler. This was really funny and sweet. Sunny Sandler is wonderful and charming in this and the rest of the cast are good too. Watched on Netflix. My 8th favourite film of the year so far. 4

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwehavebackissueshome.files.wordpress.com%2F2021%2F06%2Ffb_img_1622836002394.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=02808811e13acf2487aa88bef4d63690ab0d2fcc458d8d0c3221dee3fd4e9fb1&ipo=images

Sgt Kabukiman, NYPD, 1990

Harry Griswold (Rick Gianasi) is a police detective investigating a string of murders involving kabuki actors. One night, while attending a kabuki performance as part of his investigation, Harry witnesses a mass attack on the actors, one of whom with his dying breath passes on to Harry the gift of being able to become the hero Kabukiman. The dying actor’s granddaughter, Lotus (Susan Byun), doesn’t care much for Harry, but agrees to help him tap into his new powers. Unfortunately, several powerful men would like to see the last of Kabukiman, and a wicked entity known as The Evil One is expected to appear at any moment.

Fun lead performances and a few solid visual gags can’t quite get this one into the right kind of stupid fun zone.

2.5

Full review (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2408016#post2408016)

[PHOENIX74]

https://i.postimg.cc/fTRjVHsp/the-hustler.jpg
By "Copyright © 1961 – Twentieth Century–Fox Film Corp." - Scan via Heritage Auctions. Cropped from the original image., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=86890206

The Hustler - (1961)

Very heavy film - raw and honest, like a Tennessee Williams play. There are moments of excruciating spiritual agony for our two main characters, Eddie Felson (Paul Newman) and Sarah Packard (Piper Laurie) - and while Paul Newman is forever remembered for his performance, it's matched in every way by Piper Laurie, who is terrific in this. Fast Eddie believes himself to be the best pool player in the country, and with partner Charlie (Myron McCormick) he scams money by hustling his way through town after town. When he comes across the great Minnesota Fats (Jackie Gleason) an epic 25 straight hours of pool between them has Eddie ahead $18,000 (nearly $200,000 in today's money.) Eddie is exhausted, and dead drunk, but he refuses to stop until Fats can no longer go on - he thus loses all of that money. Broken, he leaves Charlie and becomes acquainted with Sarah, an alcoholic - they grow closer and fall in love, but a meeting with the street smart, uber-cool Bert Gordon (George C. Scott), who will stake Eddie the cash to get back into the game, will set him on a divergent and tragic path.

Personal growth often necessitates great pain, and if there's a silver lining to what Eddie goes through in The Hustler, it's that. There are some great characters, and actors that rise to the occasion - Jackie Gleason and George C. Scott are great to watch as well. There are some crazy pool shots that look like they were pulled off by a magician, including one in which the spin put on the cue ball makes it reverse it's direction after it's sunk one going the other way. I tell you, I'd have ruined the pool table if I tried to do it. 1961 was a big year for movies - along with this there was West Side Story, The Guns of Navarone and Judgement at Nuremburg nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars (the first mentioned would win) and, wait...what the hell is Fanny? Anyway, great film this - it was my first time watching it, so if I come across The Color of Money I can finally watch it - it's a film I've always said no to because I hadn't seen The Hustler.

9/10

[mamnito]

little miss sunshine (2006) 8.5/10

[sawduck]

Asteroid City 5/10 - As a huge Wes Anderson fan i was so excited to watch this but i found it very disappointing and dull
The Super Mario Bros. Movie 6.5/10 - its fun but i think it's also quite overrated
Shot Caller - 8/10 an underrated gem
SLC Punk! 8/10 - a very entertaining 90s classic, Matthew Lillard was great in this

[Citizen Rules]

https://i.postimg.cc/fTRjVHsp/the-hustler.jpg
By "Copyright © 1961 – Twentieth Century–Fox Film Corp." - Scan via Heritage Auctions. Cropped from the original image., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=86890206

The Hustler - (1961)

Very heavy film - raw and honest, like a Tennessee Williams play. There are moments of excruciating spiritual agony for our two main characters, Eddie Felson (Paul Newman) and Sarah Packard (Piper Laurie) - and while Paul Newman is forever remembered for his performance, it's matched in every way by Piper Laurie, who is terrific in this. Fast Eddie believes himself to be the best pool player in the country, and with partner Charlie (Myron McCormick) he scams money by hustling his way through town after town. When he comes across the great Minnesota Fats (Jackie Gleason) an epic 25 straight hours of pool between them has Eddie ahead $18,000 (nearly $200,000 in today's money.) Eddie is exhausted, and dead drunk, but he refuses to stop until Fats can no longer go on - he thus loses all of that money. Broken, he leaves Charlie and becomes acquainted with Sarah, an alcoholic - they grow closer and fall in love, but a meeting with the street smart, uber-cool Bert Gordon (George C. Scott), who will stake Eddie the cash to get back into the game, will set him on a divergent and tragic path.

Personal growth often necessitates great pain, and if there's a silver lining to what Eddie goes through in The Hustler, it's that. There are some great characters, and actors that rise to the occasion - Jackie Gleason and George C. Scott are great to watch as well. There are some crazy pool shots that look like they were pulled off by a magician, including one in which the spin put on the cue ball makes it reverse it's direction after it's sunk one going the other way. I tell you, I'd have ruined the pool table if I tried to do it. 1961 was a big year for movies - along with this there was West Side Story, The Guns of Navarone and Judgement at Nuremburg nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars (the first mentioned would win) and, wait...what the hell is Fanny? Anyway, great film this - it was my first time watching it, so if I come across The Color of Money I can finally watch it - it's a film I've always said no to because I hadn't seen The Hustler.

9/10Good review of one of my all time favorite movies. I rated it highly too. I don't usually post links to my old reviews on this thread but just in case you're interested here it is. (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=1431822#post1431822)

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BYzMzNTJjYmMtZTkxNS00MjI4LWI3YmQtOTQ4MDZjZDJlZjQyXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNjc0NzQzNTM@._V1_.jpg


1st Rewatch...holds up extremely well, think I might have enjoyed it more this time. Baz Luhrman's razzle dazzle is on display in every frame and Austin Butler was the only serious competition Brendon Fraser had for the Best Actor Oscar. I also wanted to watch this again because a lot of folks around here hated Tom Hanks as Col Tom Parker and I wanted to take a second look at his performance in particular. Sorry, but I have to stick to my opinion in my original review. I think Hanks is superb in this movie. I think he is so good that the movie should have been titled Elvis and the Colonel. 4

[Jeff]

Pieces of April -- a family gets together for Thanksgiving put on by the member of the family that is most different, has never cooked and lives furthest away. Depicted almost in a Dogme 95 style, it is very much of the time, and has some nice moments. 7/10

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/32f6e17a-67de-4f81-9cb2-a5cc340a9975/d4tkree-7216de70-336a-4d0e-9d3e-78a9fde149bf.gif?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQz NzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6 W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcLzMyZjZlMTdhLTY3ZGUtNGY4MS05Y2IyLWE1Y2MzNDBhOTk3NVwvZDR0a3JlZS03MjE2ZGU3MC0zMzZh LTRkMGUtOWQzZS03OGE5ZmRlMTQ5YmYuZ2lmIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.ak3J2EEH AF_DbLqgo4za5rW9WMMtXOxpjn4YnMQe8Ek


Beginning of the End - Thought I had seen most of the 50's era giant mutated insect flicks but then there's this one that goes the grasshopper route. It doesn't try particularly hard at originality with boilerplate characters and shoddy special effects. This time it's Peter Graves as the stalwart male lead and entomologist and someone named Peggie Castle as a reporter looking into the mystery of how the entire population of a small Illinois town disappeared. I suppose they had to make these type of films as appealing to as wide an audience as possible. Which might explain the desultory manner in which their incipient romance is portrayed. They did get the dependable Morris Ankrum to once again play a military type leading the battle against our soon to be insect overlords. It's all very by the numbers and uninspired but worth watching if only to tick off the giant grasshopper box on your movie watching scorecard.

60/100

https://media3.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExYm9mOWtxMG44ZjcyazBnbHp1N2N4azFmeDY2dDJrNm44ZG0zZ3FkcCZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfY nlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/3oEjHIx1Vndnu5iI4o/giphy.gif

First Man Into Space - This is part of the Criterion Collection for some reason. Hotshot test pilot Lt. Dan Prescott (Bill Edwards) is determined to be the first man into space. Refusing to listen to his stern older brother, Commander Charles Prescott (Marshall Thompson), he decides to push the envelope of his experimental aircraft and ends up drifting in space. Cue the requisite freak accident and anyone remotely familiar with The Fantastic Four and Ben Grimm might be able to see where it's all headed. The plot does go through the usual creature feature paces but does at least try to wrap things up with a good faith effort at clearing up any questions the audience might have. And that's the closest I can get to explaining why Criterion added it to it's collection.

65/100


https://64.media.tumblr.com/c3821e4c89925cb1b78e27ad4cd0a50d/2dc87730485fc8d4-5f/s250x400/c9beca652c23fc7dd0bbd91e6d2e62e8ee82726a.gifvhttps://64.media.tumblr.com/bd5ca49dbfbc8f0a8bf38d1966361a84/440c3debcc0833b3-8d/s500x750/131a2d2d3521dcebab3a1b92d9499525181c8c38.gifv


Quatermass 2 (Enemy from Space) - This was a bit of a surprise. After watching 1955's The Quatermass Xperiment I wasn't expecting a negativistic exercise in cold war paranoia. TQX was a tidy enough British thriller and dealt with a rocket sent into space and the mysterious aftermath of the ship crashing back to Earth. But Brian Donlevy is back and starring as Professor Bernard Quatermass and knowing this was also a Hammer Film Production I figured it was at least worth a watch. It starts out with an unexpected meteor shower and veers into insidious, far-reaching conspiracy territory. It might not have the cachet of a sci-fi classic like Invasion of the Body Snatchers (which had come out the previous year) but it's still a respectable entry into the specific sub-genre that flourished in the late 50's/early 60's.

85/100

[Gideon58]

https://public-assets-pressexpress.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/releases/docimages/0217a05b/HarryTheInterviewPressRelease-3_html_f62507231babe744.jpg


3

[Jeff]

Jennifer's Body it was ok, was expecting something a little more from it. 7/10

[GulfportDoc]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/eb/Lynch_Oz_2022_film_poster.png/220px-Lynch_Oz_2022_film_poster.png

I just saw this one two days ago. I was intrigued by the subject matter, and I had seen director Alexandre O. Philippe's Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist. So I was very intrigued. And I was not disappointed at all! ...
'Preciate the tip, DP! This looks very interesting, and I'm not even a big Lynch fan. Will see if I can find it.

[GulfportDoc]

The Hustler - (1961)

Very heavy film - raw and honest, like a Tennessee Williams play. There are moments of excruciating spiritual agony for our two main characters, Eddie Felson (Paul Newman) and Sarah Packard (Piper Laurie) - and while Paul Newman is forever remembered for his performance, it's matched in every way by Piper Laurie, who is terrific in this. Fast Eddie believes himself to be the best pool player in the country, and with partner Charlie (Myron McCormick) he scams money by hustling his way through town after town. When he comes across the great Minnesota Fats (Jackie Gleason) an epic 25 straight hours of pool between them has Eddie ahead $18,000 (nearly $200,000 in today's money.) Eddie is exhausted, and dead drunk, but he refuses to stop until Fats can no longer go on - he thus loses all of that money. Broken, he leaves Charlie and becomes acquainted with Sarah, an alcoholic - they grow closer and fall in love, but a meeting with the street smart, uber-cool Bert Gordon (George C. Scott), who will stake Eddie the cash to get back into the game, will set him on a divergent and tragic path.

Personal growth often necessitates great pain, and if there's a silver lining to what Eddie goes through in The Hustler, it's that. There are some great characters, and actors that rise to the occasion - Jackie Gleason and George C. Scott are great to watch as well. There are some crazy pool shots that look like they were pulled off by a magician, including one in which the spin put on the cue ball makes it reverse it's direction after it's sunk one going the other way. I tell you, I'd have ruined the pool table if I tried to do it. 1961 was a big year for movies - along with this there was West Side Story, The Guns of Navarone and Judgement at Nuremburg nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars (the first mentioned would win) and, wait...what the hell is Fanny? Anyway, great film this - it was my first time watching it, so if I come across The Color of Money I can finally watch it - it's a film I've always said no to because I hadn't seen The Hustler.

9/10
I agree perfectly with your rating. At the risk of being boorish I'm going to include my commentary simply because The Hustler is one of my all time favorite films.


The Hustler (1961)

It's delightful to see this unique movie singled out for review. The Hustler was a life changing film for me. As an impressionable 17-year-old who fancied himself a budding pool hustler, I first saw the film upon its release in 1961. The effect that the experience had on me was monumental, and it's still possible to recall a shadow feel of it's emotional impact.

It's subject matter was unusual for its day, and was a seminal film in many ways. There had been movies about golfers, baseball players, tennis players, etc.; but never a film about a seedy pool hustler. The public was not even aware that this type of activity existed. It was based on the 1959 book of the same name by Walter Tevis, himself a pool devotee. The excellent screenplay by Sidney Carroll was fairly faithful to the novel, with a major exception regarding the denouement of Fast Eddie's girlfriend, Sarah. There was fine direction by Robert Rosen who was also a frequent customer of the New York pool rooms, and was aware of Gleason's above average abilities with the pool cue. Rosen was able to guide the production into a sense of authenticity.

The acting couldn't have been any better. It's as if everyone was born to play their respective parts. George C. Scott carried on his cut-throat, abrasive, dominant character acting that was introduced two years earlier in Anatomy of a Murder. Piper Laurie was perfect as the crippled alcoholic intellectual who was trying to find herself. Jackie Gleason fit his role perfectly with class and style. Paul Newman stated that he had over-acted his part, and in hindsight would have liked to tone it down a little. But that type of performance is always appreciated and remembered by the public.

Newman established himself as an expert at playing handsome, devilish rogues, which he was to hone in many more pictures, most notably Hud, Harper, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and The Sting.

The film score by Kenyon Hopkins written in the jazz idiom was tasteful, but exciting. Few scores --another similarity to Anatomy of a Murder-- had used jazz exclusively up to that time, and here it was a perfect match. I can still hear the strummed major 9th chord underlying the ending of the film.

The movie seemed so real and so familiar. I fell in love with Sarah, and to this day am a fan of Piper Laurie's. I spent several years looking for a girl like Sarah, but to be honest, when I finally found one, it didn't play out too well. I even traveled to Ames' Pool Room in NYC on 46th St. west of Broadway. I got into a game of rotation with the off duty cook for $2 a pop, and he almost busted me. Had enough jack left for one more trip to Geenwich Village, then onto a Trailways outta town.

A word about the subject matter. Its pool/hustling portions were very authentic because several involved in the production had real life experience with gambling and pool. However the character "Minnesota Fats", along with all the other characters, was pure fiction, as attested by Walter Tevis. Shortly after the movie came out, Rudolph Wanderone, aka New York Fats, was given a suggestion by Paulie Jansco (of the Johnston City World's Pocket Billiards tournaments) to go down to the local theater, set up a card table, and represent yourself as the "real" Minnesota Fats. Wanderone was a tremendous self promoter, excellent pool player, story teller, and B.S. artist. He parlayed the hoax into a fortune.

The Hustler was one of a small group of films from the late '50s and early '60s that ushered in a new type of realism-- both in action and in personal relationships. The love interest was complicated but alluring. Eddie didn't realize what he had in him, both emotionally and in his pool playing fortitude. In the end he found out just what those facets were, and became a better man because of it. The book develops those characteristics very well, but Carroll's screenplay pushed the story further, and arguably made a better tale because of it.

Doc's rating: 9/10
[BTW, the great Willie Mosconi provided all the fancy shots in the movie]

[GulfportDoc]

Asteroid City 5/10 - As a huge Wes Anderson fan i was so excited to watch this but i found it very disappointing and dull
The Super Mario Bros. Movie 6.5/10 - its fun but i think it's also quite overrated
Shot Caller - 8/10 an underrated gem
SLC Punk! 8/10 - a very entertaining 90s classic, Matthew Lillard was great in this
Yeah, I don't recall if I made it 30 minutes before bailing.

[Jeff]

A Wounded Fawn -- had a good time with it, good for spooky season 7.5/10

[Yoda]

A Wounded Fawn -- had a good time with it, good for spooky season 7.5/10
It's an odd one. There's a few things I love about it, but it kinda feels like those great things are just floating around by themselves with a lot of weird, underwhelming connective tissue between them.

Very memorable and oddly ambitious. But I think it left a lot of potential on the table.

[Citizen Rules]

Beginning of the End...60/100
First Man Into Space - 65/100
Quatermass 2 (Enemy from Space) - 85/100
Nice to see some enthusiasm for these 1950s b scifi-creature flicks. I have all 3 movies that you mentioned but haven't gotten around to seeing them yet. They made a lot of them, one of these days I'm going to binge watch them until I get my fill.

[Takoma11]

It's an odd one. There's a few things I love about it, but it kinda feels like those great things are just floating around by themselves with a lot of weird, underwhelming connective tissue between them.

Very memorable and oddly ambitious. But I think it left a lot of potential on the table.

Agreed. It has a great ending, though, which is where a lot of horror of this type totally drops the ball.

[Citizen Rules]

I agree perfectly with your rating. At the risk of being boorish I'm going to include my commentary simply because The Hustler is one of my all time favorite films.


The Hustler (1961)

It's delightful to see this unique movie singled out for review. The Hustler was a life changing film for me. As an impressionable 17-year-old who fancied himself a budding pool hustler, I first saw the film upon its release in 1961. The effect that the experience had on me was monumental, and it's still possible to recall a shadow feel of it's emotional impact.

It's subject matter was unusual for its day, and was a seminal film in many ways. There had been movies about golfers, baseball players, tennis players, etc.; but never a film about a seedy pool hustler. The public was not even aware that this type of activity existed. It was based on the 1959 book of the same name by Walter Tevis, himself a pool devotee. The excellent screenplay by Sidney Carroll was fairly faithful to the novel, with a major exception regarding the denouement of Fast Eddie's girlfriend, Sarah. There was fine direction by Robert Rosen who was also a frequent customer of the New York pool rooms, and was aware of Gleason's above average abilities with the pool cue. Rosen was able to guide the production into a sense of authenticity.

The acting couldn't have been any better. It's as if everyone was born to play their respective parts. George C. Scott carried on his cut-throat, abrasive, dominant character acting that was introduced two years earlier in Anatomy of a Murder. Piper Laurie was perfect as the crippled alcoholic intellectual who was trying to find herself. Jackie Gleason fit his role perfectly with class and style. Paul Newman stated that he had over-acted his part, and in hindsight would have liked to tone it down a little. But that type of performance is always appreciated and remembered by the public.

Newman established himself as an expert at playing handsome, devilish rogues, which he was to hone in many more pictures, most notably Hud, Harper, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and The Sting.

The film score by Kenyon Hopkins written in the jazz idiom was tasteful, but exciting. Few scores --another similarity to Anatomy of a Murder-- had used jazz exclusively up to that time, and here it was a perfect match. I can still hear the strummed major 9th chord underlying the ending of the film.

The movie seemed so real and so familiar. I fell in love with Sarah, and to this day am a fan of Piper Laurie's. I spent several years looking for a girl like Sarah, but to be honest, when I finally found one, it didn't play out too well. I even traveled to Ames' Pool Room in NYC on 46th St. west of Broadway. I got into a game of rotation with the off duty cook for $2 a pop, and he almost busted me. Had enough jack left for one more trip to Geenwich Village, then onto a Trailways outta town.

A word about the subject matter. Its pool/hustling portions were very authentic because several involved in the production had real life experience with gambling and pool. However the character "Minnesota Fats", along with all the other characters, was pure fiction, as attested by Walter Tevis. Shortly after the movie came out, Rudolph Wanderone, aka New York Fats, was given a suggestion by Paulie Jansco (of the Johnston City World's Pocket Billiards tournaments) to go down to the local theater, set up a card table, and represent yourself as the "real" Minnesota Fats. Wanderone was a tremendous self promoter, excellent pool player, story teller, and B.S. artist. He parlayed the hoax into a fortune.

The Hustler was one of a small group of films from the late '50s and early '60s that ushered in a new type of realism-- both in action and in personal relationships. The love interest was complicated but alluring. Eddie didn't realize what he had in him, both emotionally and in his pool playing fortitude. In the end he found out just what those facets were, and became a better man because of it. The book develops those characteristics very well, but Carroll's screenplay pushed the story further, and arguably made a better tale because of it.

Doc's rating: 9/10

I'm glad you posted that review Doc, as otherwise I would've not seen it and it's an interesting read. This particularly caught my eye:
"[B]I fell in love with Sarah, and to this day am a fan of Piper Laurie's. I spent several years looking for a girl like Sarah, but to be honest, when I finally found one, it didn't play out too well."

Ah, I see we've something else in common besides an interest in Gloria Grahame and Dorothy Kilgallen:) When I first watched The Hustler I was taken by Piper Laurie and the character she played. It was her inner wounded soul that played out so well in the movie, much pathos. I've sought out other of her movies over the years but I don't think she ever was given a real chance to play such a heart wrenching role as she did in The Hustler...Except on TV that is, in Playhouse 90, Days of Wine and Roses (1958). Now that is something I've seen once and never forgotten. If you haven't seen it I'd suggest seeking it out, it's worth it.

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.simbasible.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2022%2F11%2F2-14.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=2256e3629a7eefd337d59868b90eacf7d2ec914968ffbeda23de1fbab8bfab29&ipo=images

Tar, 2022

Lydia Tar (Cate Blanchett) is a star conductor, and the first female conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic. She’s got an autobiography on the way, a lovely wife (Nina Hoss) and child (Mila Bogojevic), and audiences of admirers. But Tar is flirting with several looming scandals, including the death of a former mentee, her unfeeling treatment of her graduate students, and her questionable motives for pushing to add a very young and pretty new cellist (Sophie Kauer) to the orchestra.

Powered by Blanchett’s hilarious and disturbed performance, this is a very funny look at the collision of art, artist, and ego.

4.5

Full review (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2408185#post2408185)

[Jeff]

Beyond the Door III, i've seen the first and loved it, and this too, wonder how the other 109 are? 8/10

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c1/The_Mission_%281986_film_poster%29.jpg
By http://www.joblo.com/movie-posters/the-mission, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20132130

The Mission - (1986)

The Mission is one of those films that came out at a time when I was of an age to rush out and see the likes of Aliens, Platoon, Crocodile Dundee, The Fly and Stand By Me, which were all big films at the time. Over the years though, I became curious about it - looking back, it seemed well regarded according to my limited awareness, although from what I understand now reviews were mixed. That image of a Jesuit attached to a crucifix falling down a waterfall stuck in my mind - I thought it was metaphorical, but it's something that actually happens in the film. This is really famous for it's Oscar-winning cinematography and score by Ennio Morricone. Huge factors, but the big hurdle for me was how prepared I was to overlook the colonization of South America by the Spanish and Portuguese. Obviously the Jesuits were very kind about it, and had the best of intentions, but it still meant destroying the native Guaraní culture - so in the end when troops are trying to shift the Jesuits off of their newly claimed territory, it was choosing the lesser of two evils.

Jeremy Irons features as Father Gabriel, nervously venturing into native territory with a flute and a tune - quite terrified, because previous attempts have ended in the above-mentioned "cross down a waterfall" way. Robert De Niro is Captain Rodrigo Mendoza, who starts off as a mercenary helping out the slave trade, but has a moral awakening when he kills his own brother in a duel. Mendoza, as a form of penance, joins the Jesuits - at first in body, but then in spirit as well. The Missions that were built, and that Gabriel and Mendoza look after, come under threat when Cardinal Altamirano arrives with orders to shift the Jesuits out. Spain has sold the territory to Portugal, and as such the protection given to the natives will be withdrawn, and the slave trade cranked up again. Mendoza and a priest called John Fielding (Liam Neeson) decide to fight - but Gabriel accepts his fate as it is in God's hands. The Mission is obviously well made, but it's not quite the sum of it's parts - I wanted the Guaraní to survive, and be left in peace without being slaughtered or sold into slavery, but the plain fact is they would have been fine if no Europeans had of decided the whole place was theirs to begin with. Therefore, my feelings for Gabriel and Mendoza remained limited.

If music and great cinematography is all that matters for you when you watch a film, then The Mission is great - the story and way the film is put together leans more toward "average" when you weigh them up. It was fine for a one-off watch, but I don't see myself watching The Mission all that often. It lacked that spark of inspiration needed to rise to the level of Chris Menges and Ennio Morricone's work.

6/10

[crumbsroom]

Beyond the Door III, i've seen the first and loved it, and this too, wonder how the other 109 are? 8/10


I love the first two of these...so I guess I should also consider watching the third?

[Nausicaä]

https://i.weltbild.de/p/small-town-secret-072503907.jpg?v=7&wp=_ads-scroller-mobile

Also called Elsewhere.

2

SF = Zzz


[Snooze Factor Ratings]:
Z = didn't nod off at all
Zz = nearly nodded off but managed to stay alert
Zzz = nodded off and missed some of the film but went back to watch what I missed
Zzzz = nodded off and missed some of the film but went back to watch what I missed but nodded off again at the same point and therefore needed to go back a number of times before I got through it...
Zzzzz = nodded off and missed some or the rest of the film but was not interested enough to go back over it

[Jeff]

Even though it literally goes off the rails, the 1st was crazier, hope to see the 2nd some time.

I love the first two of these...so I guess I should also consider watching the third?

[Fabulous]

The Pit and the Pendulum (1961)

3.5

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/3GRDo6mZDfzksqk6czlbjgDMKNr.jpg

[WHITBISSELL!]

Nice to see some enthusiasm for these 1950s b scifi-creature flicks. I have all 3 movies that you mentioned but haven't gotten around to seeing them yet. They made a lot of them, one of these days I'm going to binge watch them until I get my fill.I do like watching them. I'd put them on a par with noir flicks in that they're like comfort food for me. Even when they're somewhat disappointing I still can't muster any regret for having watched them.

[Citizen Rules]

I do like watching them. I'd put them on a par with noir flicks in that they're like comfort food for me. Even when they're somewhat disappointing I still can't muster any regret for having watched them.Exactly the same for me. I can always find something redeeming when I watch old noir or old 50s sci fi...those are kinda my film roots.

[Jeff]

Black Swan -- pretty good!! 8.5/10

[Fabulous]

Camera Buff (1979)

3.5

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/zMzh7y3bcvFdHxPFedOOp8zFgOS.jpg

[Jeff]

You're Next, it was bloody awesome, and quite the ear worm of a song in there on a loop

https://youtu.be/VQ6CflnSxyo?si=pMftQ3QWP5ut-90O

9.5/10

[Act III]

94585

I actually saw this movie, twice, in very extremely unorthodox circumstances. I forgot most of it but here on this rewatch its sort of a bittersweet thing. I didn't listen to this band and so much of it is so far removed from my life that its like I can relate on some levels but on others its like, life was never like this. This movie hypes the KISS band with a filling story but theres a bunch of prat falls and tomfoolery and comic book three stooges stuff in there. Its like the black sheep of rock n roll. KISS wasn't a thing then, at least anywhere in my world but its like looking into a world that you kinda like but know its too far away and you dont know anybody from that place.

I actually met Shannon Tweed. I was alone sitting outside of a club with a notebook, writing, drinking. This car made a stop right in front of me. She got out and came over to me, also a bit annebriated. She asked what I was doing. I said writing. She asked writing what. I told her some bullshit story about how important it was but it wasnt. She said she wanted me to get in her car full of studs and tell her about it. I respectfully declined. The rest is KISStory.

6/10

[mamnito]

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (2020) was weirdly a touching film for a Borat movie non less it's a great film thought.

RATING: 3.5/5

[chawhee]

Women Talking (2022)
https://d32qys9a6wm9no.cloudfront.net/images/movies/backdrop/79/82cd233d6519e78bcd864b1a3e0e40fc_706x397.jpg?t=1665429537
4
Just the kind of movie I wanted to watch right now, with philosophical and analytical elements of how decision-making can work in society. I didn't realize the setting was basically going to be present-day, but this was fantastic as far as dialogue goes. Bursting with emotion, the movie never really has a dull moment.

It could have used a bit more action maybe (like towards the end when a decision is made), but I will strongly recommend this for those who simply like movies about talking haha

[Act III]

94653

Stunt Rock (1978)

Half Stunt Man with Peter O'Toole and half Spinal Tap this flick shows dozens and dozens of death defying stunts on a late 70s lens. The acting is campy and candid, Grease-like but something somehow not as genuine. Kinda empty, but thats okay, they were screwed out of their minds on drugs and 70s excess and watching icons die around them at the same time. The protagonist is a stunt man I like to refer to as Fantasy Bob. He's Australian and puts his life in mortal danger on a daily basis. The band is named Sorcery and its very hard to tell if they were made for the movie if they are real or maybe a figment of your imagination. Never heard of them outside the movie... so, you make your own call.

I can see myself rewatching this numerous times as it is in a category all its own and captures that essence and attitude of that interrim transitionary period of the 70s into the 80s but as a cinematic feature I must give it a 5/10.

5/10

[honeykid]

Something strange happened yesterday. Something happened which hasn't happened for so many years I can't actually remember the last time it did happen. I watched three films in a day! Okay, I watched them whilst I was at the computer so I haven't really watched them, but I watched them enough to follow the story and know what was going on so I'll take that and tell you about it.

Game of Death (1978) 2.5 a famously odd film, being that it contains so little footage of the star and the lengths they go to to disguise the fact he isn't there and it's use of two other stunt men/body doubles. Saw this when I was about 10 or 11 years old on a poor quality VHS cassette and didn't like it at all, which, looking back makes sense. It's not actually as bad as I remember, though that's hardly glowing praise. I guess I'd say it's a decent attempt at a bad job? Still no closer to finding out why the yellow jumpsuit became iconic though. :shrug:

M3gan (2022) 2.5+ I've only gone and watched a modern bloody film! I don't know why I decided to go with this, but I saw it was on and it felt right so I went with it. Maybe it's because I saw it on Gogglebox and it looked a little bit more like the sort of thing I might like than I thought it was. And it is. When I saw the TV spots for this it felt very much as it being pushed as a horror film and, while there are certainly elements of Horror and horror tropes, I'd say it falls mostly in the psychological thriller genre. Though I think, for many, that is horror. Anyway, as a psychological thriller I thought it worked pretty well and did what it wanted to do admirably. Managing to feel both immediate and futuristic, while still leaning heavily on the old favourites such as science bad, man playing God, not foreseeing the consequences of our actions, there are no shortcuts to grief, etc. I actually felt it had a bit of a late 80s/early 90s vibe with dolls, creepy children, new tech in the home, an enemy which was been taken into the home etc. I'd happily watch this again. Whether it would stand up to a repeat watch I don't know, but I feel it would.

Kickboxer 2 (1989) They seemed to be having a bit of a martial arts day on the movie channel and so I added another one with this 80s classic. Haven't seen this since I rented it in whatever it was and still quite enjoyed it. A little more talky than I remember and very evocative of its time, there's nothing here you haven't seen before a dozen times, but if you're watching this surely that's why? It feels like Van Damme's version of Blood Sport, which is probably pretty close to what it is. If you want to get it down to one line think; Van Damme saw Rocky IV and thought I want to make that for a 10th of the budget.

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://assets.tumblr.com/images/x.gif
https://64.media.tumblr.com/a51c30e9f8615f7ab4fcc479fe0dd9d8/2f166a0436c4d3c8-76/s1280x1920/2b66a5b1d4d43a2ad492559c68a8ca61235db7e1.gifv
https://64.media.tumblr.com/3dd109dcbd5e0765285ccccfeecd0314/1c14067d67c555a8-b8/s540x810/d2058b07572a151ca6b58a97b192a319c76d85b4.gifv
https://64.media.tumblr.com/94387d2afc673ec505ebdbea6c28e43e/40702f2e346ee38a-4f/s540x810/546b4be059dafaed589394327176d10b604dcb81.gifv


They Cloned Tyrone - I was looking forward to this after watching a very promising trailer and, unlike so many other films that ultimately don't measure up, it actually delivered. And once I finished watching it I was further surprised when reading the reviews. Both critics and audiences really liked it. It's a conspiracy mystery steeped in a blaxploitation milieu.

It also features a top-drawer trio of protagonists. Fontaine (John Boyega) is a drug dealer that's owed money by a pimp named Slick Charles (Jamie Foxx). One of Charles' girls is Yo-Yo (Teyonah Parris), who is making yet another attempt to retire from the hustling life. All three reside in an unspecified neighborhood known simply as The Glen. Their daily routines are repetitive to the point of monotony and they're seemingly stuck in a Groundhog Day-like time loop. It takes a sudden act of violence to propel the three down a mind-blowing rabbit hole that makes every unhinged conspiracy theory seem tame by comparison.

The cast is great with Foxx turning in a hilarious, inspired performance with Parris matching him comic beat for comic beat. Boyega being the star has the more electic role to fill as his character Fontaine is shown to be an inherently tragic figure. It's all elaborated on in a third act that, despite some problems, ultimately delivers. This was a good time and wholeheartedly recommended.

90/100

[PHOENIX74]

Stunt Rock (1978)

Half Stunt Man with Peter O'Toole and half Spinal Tap this flick shows dozens and dozens of death defying stunts on a late 70s lens. The acting is campy and candid, Grease-like but something somehow not as genuine. Kinda empty, but thats okay, they were screwed out of their minds on drugs and 70s excess and watching icons die around them at the same time. The protagonist is a stunt man I like to refer to as Fantasy Bob. He's Australian and puts his life in mortal danger on a daily basis. The band is named Sorcery and its very hard to tell if they were made for the movie if they are real or maybe a figment of your imagination. Never heard of them outside the movie... so, you make your own call.

I can see myself rewatching this numerous times as it is in a category all its own and captures that essence and attitude of that interrim transitionary period of the 70s into the 80s but as a cinematic feature I must give it a 5/10.

5/10

If you ever watch Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation, you'll find that Stunt Rock is one of the films they cover. The doc kind of talks about it as a crazy idea, but Brian Trenchard-Smith speaks very affectionately about it whenever he's interviewed or the time he did a "Trailers From Hell" take on it.

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f6/A_Wounded_Fawn_poster.webp/258px-A_Wounded_Fawn_poster.webp.png
By The poster art copyright is believed to belong to the distributor of the film, the publisher of the film or the graphic artist. - https://bloody-disgusting.com/movie/3740129/a-wounded-fawn-trailer-shudder-original-inspired-by-surrealist-art-and-greek-mythology/, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=73495624

A Wounded Fawn - (2022)

"Don’t read anything about it," is the advice given by one reviewer of A Wounded Fawn, and I agree - so I won't say anything about the film's plot. It's the kind that takes a few sharp turns, and goes down horror avenues you might not be expecting. Also, when I saw Josh Ruben I had flashbacks to Scare Me - another horror film streaming on Shudder - but even though this film is much better, it doesn't depend on performances as much as it does ideas. The supernatural, ancient mythology, insanity and murder are a heady mix - and while I wasn't convinced during it's first 15 minutes - the film soon had me onboard as it loosened it's grip on the straightforward and explicable. Overall this was an extraordinarily watchable and interesting offering horror-wise. A movie that really gets crazy and other-worldly. With Speak No Evil, Smile, Skinamarink, Incantation, Deadstream and Resurrection along with this, 2022 was a great year for horror films.

7/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4f/Ladyinthewater_pos_gal.jpg
By The poster art can or could be obtained from Warner Bros.., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5122915

Lady in the Water - (2006)

Paul Giamatti kind of half-sold me on Lady in the Water, but even his great performance can't carry this extremely self-indulgent exercise by M. Night Shyamalan. To be fair, kids might be an easier target audience - and this seems to be a kid's fantasy kind of film. But a kid's fantasy film is really the wrong place to be awkwardly screaming "I hate film critics!" - his hurt feelings don't belong here. Critics love a pile-on, and often delight in finding funny ways to critique bad movies - I don't blame the bitterness, but putting a critic in your movie and then murdering him, all the while winking at your audience - that's unpleasant. If he wants to play Super Jesus character Vick Ran - fine. A magic land with water nymphs dragon-dogs tree-people and magic mud - fine. Just stop killing fictional film critics. Some of your movies can be pretty bad - but there are quite a few I like as well, so take a deep breath, walk around your $15 million mansion, and have a swim in your pool instead of reading stuff that's going to hurt your feelings. Someone in the film business really needs fortitude when it comes to what others think.

5/10

[damosteez]

Oppenheimer - 9.5/10
-----
Love Me or Hate Me!

[Act III]

If you ever watch Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation, you'll find that Stunt Rock is one of the films they cover. The doc kind of talks about it as a crazy idea, but Brian Trenchard-Smith speaks very affectionately about it whenever he's interviewed or the time he did a "Trailers From Hell" take on it.

They sure look like they are having fun but they couldve used some higher quality film to risk their lives to. I will check your recommendation out.

[Stirchley]

Women Talking (2022)
https://d32qys9a6wm9no.cloudfront.net/images/movies/backdrop/79/82cd233d6519e78bcd864b1a3e0e40fc_706x397.jpg?t=1665429537
4
Just the kind of movie I wanted to watch right now, with philosophical and analytical elements of how decision-making can work in society. I didn't realize the setting was basically going to be present-day, but this was fantastic as far as dialogue goes. Bursting with emotion, the movie never really has a dull moment.

It could have used a bit more action maybe (like towards the end when a decision is made), but I will strongly recommend this for those who simply like movies about talking haha

I just know I’m gonna love this. But there’s loads of movies in front of this in my watchlist.

[Nausicaä]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/94/Cafe_Society.jpg/220px-Cafe_Society.jpg

2.5

SF = Zzzzz



[Snooze Factor Ratings]:
Z = didn't nod off at all
Zz = nearly nodded off but managed to stay alert
Zzz = nodded off and missed some of the film but went back to watch what I missed
Zzzz = nodded off and missed some of the film but went back to watch what I missed but nodded off again at the same point and therefore needed to go back a number of times before I got through it...
Zzzzz = nodded off and missed some or the rest of the film but was not interested enough to go back over it

[Marco]

https://i.postimg.cc/fTRjVHsp/the-hustler.jpg
By "Copyright © 1961 – Twentieth Century–Fox Film Corp." - Scan via Heritage Auctions. Cropped from the original image., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=86890206

The Hustler - (1961)

Very heavy film - raw and honest, like a Tennessee Williams play. There are moments of excruciating spiritual agony for our two main characters, Eddie Felson (Paul Newman) and Sarah Packard (Piper Laurie) - and while Paul Newman is forever remembered for his performance, it's matched in every way by Piper Laurie, who is terrific in this. Fast Eddie believes himself to be the best pool player in the country, and with partner Charlie (Myron McCormick) he scams money by hustling his way through town after town. When he comes across the great Minnesota Fats (Jackie Gleason) an epic 25 straight hours of pool between them has Eddie ahead $18,000 (nearly $200,000 in today's money.) Eddie is exhausted, and dead drunk, but he refuses to stop until Fats can no longer go on - he thus loses all of that money. Broken, he leaves Charlie and becomes acquainted with Sarah, an alcoholic - they grow closer and fall in love, but a meeting with the street smart, uber-cool Bert Gordon (George C. Scott), who will stake Eddie the cash to get back into the game, will set him on a divergent and tragic path.

Personal growth often necessitates great pain, and if there's a silver lining to what Eddie goes through in The Hustler, it's that. There are some great characters, and actors that rise to the occasion - Jackie Gleason and George C. Scott are great to watch as well. There are some crazy pool shots that look like they were pulled off by a magician, including one in which the spin put on the cue ball makes it reverse it's direction after it's sunk one going the other way. I tell you, I'd have ruined the pool table if I tried to do it. 1961 was a big year for movies - along with this there was West Side Story, The Guns of Navarone and Judgement at Nuremburg nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars (the first mentioned would win) and, wait...what the hell is Fanny? Anyway, great film this - it was my first time watching it, so if I come across The Color of Money I can finally watch it - it's a film I've always said no to because I hadn't seen The Hustler.

9/10

Great review Phoenix74. Try the Color of Money.....it's similarly gritty and Scorsese does a great job on it.

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/fec3186/2147483647/strip/true/crop/640x360+0+0/resize/1760x990!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Flegacy%2Fsites%2Fkansaspublicradio.org%2Ffiles%2Fstaff-uploads%2FKPR%20Staff%2Fkillers.gif
https://i.makeagif.com/media/8-18-2016/YG4qig.gif


Killers from Space - 1954 sci-fi directed by W. Lee Wilder (Billy Wilder's brother) and written by his son Myles. It stars a young Peter Graves as nuclear scientist Dr. Doug Paul Martin who's been tasked with measuring radiation levels from A-bomb tests. When the jet he's in crashes during one of their flybys he goes missing then randomly reappears at the Air Force base he was flying out of. He doesn't remember a thing and has a strange scar on his chest. His whereabouts and strange behavior are eventually accounted for but it's such an implausible story that no one believes him. I know this sounds like a perfectly reasonable story line and it is, but the actual execution is so lacking in finesse that it might almost fall under the "so bad it's good" banner. Almost.

I watched this on Prime and don't know if there's any halfway decent prints out there but both the lighting and sound were distressingly muddy. You could actually see the lighting reflectors bought into play during certain indoor scenes. Besides the literally eye popping alien makeup there were other moments of unintentional humor or outright WTF moments. Like the call sign of Dr. Martin's jet inexplicably being Tar Baby. And maybe watching it had lulled us into such a torpor but towards the end of the movie the subtitles provided the biggest laugh of the night. I'm still not sure if it legitimately qualifies as a "so bad it's good" flick or if it's simply bad.

40/100

[Fabulous]

Conflict (1945)

3.5

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/tLUANAgxUMhzlVxOgLKaRK0KCNB.jpg

[Torgo]

https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/fec3186/2147483647/strip/true/crop/640x360+0+0/resize/1760x990!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Flegacy%2Fsites%2Fkansaspublicradio.org%2Ffiles%2Fstaff-uploads%2FKPR%20Staff%2Fkillers.gifDavid Bowie meets Judge Doom and is...not impressed.

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNTU1ZjNmNjktNjk4Yy00MzdjLTk0YzktMDRlYTllMjE0N2I0XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTQxNzMzNDI@._V1_.jpg


3.5

[GulfportDoc]

[Lynch/Oz] 'Preciate the tip, DP! This looks very interesting, and I'm not even a big Lynch fan. Will see if I can find it.
Sorry to say that I couldn't find it in any of my sources. Will keep it on my list though!

[wositelec]

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/w500/d04WV9puZsVg10cwmPhEy5VyhOm.jpg

8 / 10 - in my opinion :-)

[mamnito]

what I watched right now

BLADE 3.5/5

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/3K2Qc4L2ZDTLb7YjLbuMgyTNWfa.jpg

[ScarletLion]

Klute

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P1smbLKH9Zg/T_ooq5bMEyI/AAAAAAAAFPA/QHO6hebToaU/s1600/Klute+1.jpg

Quite a gritty neo-noir mystery. A man goes missing in New York and Donald Sutherland is hired to track him down. First half of the film is excellent, but it trails off in the last 30 or so. Jane Fonda is as good as I’ve seen her here as an aloof high class call girl.

7/10



Fast times at Ridgemont high

https://www.tshirtsonscreen.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/fasttimesatridgemonthighsexwaxtshirt-e1449518068480-1024x545.jpg

Never seen this film before somehow. Has all the hallmarks of a high school / teenage comedy that must have inspired so many after it (Dazed and Confused, Breakfast Club etc) but also takes from films like American Graffiti. Very funny at times and also finally good to see THAT Phoebe Cates scene in context.

7.7/10


Volver

https://www.intofilm.org/intofilm-production/scaledcropped/970x546https%3A/s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/images.cdn.filmclub.org/film__3144-volver--hi_res-fa2b66bb.jpg/film__3144-volver--hi_res-fa2b66bb.jpg

Has Almodovar ever done a bad film? This is one of his very best. A pair of sisters have their own poverty struggles, when suddenly their Aunty dies. Out of nowhere, reports of people seeing their late mother arise in the village where the family grew up.

Almodovar’s adoration for mothers, sisters, grandmothers and daughters is evident in this film. It’s wonderfully stitched together, and although the plot drivers are somewhat predictable, it doesn’t matter as the dialogue and performance from Penelope Cruz are terrific, and bring it home in style.

Almodovar filmed the village scenes in the actual village where he grew up and it acts as this sort of limbo like place where ghosts and the living co-habit. The viewer is given themes to ponder such as family disputes, death, grief and secrets. This is a magnificent film and Almodovar is one of the best modern European film-makers still working today.

8.7/10

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a1/The_Adventures_of_Tintin_-_Secret_of_the_Unicorn.jpg
By The poster art can or could be obtained from IMP Awards., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31796385

The Adventures of Tintin - (2011)

This was interesting and unusual - trust Steven Spielberg and John Williams to combine and absolutely ace the action - this felt more than a little like an 80s Indiana Jones flick. The motion-capture animation though, made all of the people in this film really weird, as if we're stuck half-way between the animated and real worlds. I was ultra-conscious about it the entire time I was watching. There are parts that are cute - take for example the portrait of Tintin that the artist at the beginning paints, capturing his comic-book likeness. I never read them, so I came into this with no real knowledge about the characters or what a Tintin adventure was like. Apparently not all that far from an Indiana Jones one. Did the creators love their creation? If so, why the hell were there no sequels made to this? I would have continued watching.

7/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/ae/Startup_dot_com.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8027245

Startup.com - (2001)

We watch a new company grow from it's inception to it's breakout success to it's demise (kind of ) in Startup.com - a documentary where the viewer kind of senses what's going on in the highly technical worlds of business and online product. Internet companies were suddenly failing, and the bubble was bursting - so the people we follow in this, Kaleil Isaza Tuzman and Tom Herman, go through the stresses, fights, highs and lows of all of that. In the end, their friendship is just about in tatters, and they listen to their lawyers first and conscience second. We make huge leaps forward in time, but never lose what's important in this - the personal relationships and how successful things are going by how everyone is behaving. These people are still basically kids, but they do a good job - they only failed because of timing and the fact that the business world is a dangerous jungle. A really interesting documentary - well edited together and presented.

7/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0f/The_Sound_of_Freedom_Poster.jpg
By The Sound of Freedom - IMDB, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=64930808

The Sound of Freedom - (2023)

I was curious. The Sound of Freedom doesn't put forward explicitly crazy ideas or try to score political points - it's more like a Steven Seagal film without the action, where Jim Caviezel plays real-life activist Tim Ballard like an idealistic God-fearing hero. He saves kids that have been stolen and sold into child sex slavery. The movie comes up with a lot of figures and statistics that it provides no sources for - I like sources, because it sounds dodgy when a movie doesn't provide them - it makes the numbers seem made up. It's just a really straightforward movie - little nuance, with good guys and bad guys. Unfortunately for those who'd just like to see a movie - those who made it keep coming out and saying crazy or offensive things. I try to separate the movie I'm watching from all the outside noise, but it's hard. There wasn't much to the movie anyway - a little tension built up in the final act, and like I keep saying, very straightforward. "There's a kiddie sex slave. There's the bad guy. I'm the good guy. Let's go!" It doesn't get controversial (until the credits maybe) - and I have to say that one movie like it, Denis Villeneuve film Prisoners, does it a million billion times better - the kidnapping angle, even religion. Very basic this, and very forgettable - but it's based on the incredible true story, so you know everything it says is true.

5/10

[Gideon58]

https://lumiere-a.akamaihd.net/v1/images/image_17ad972d.jpeg?region=0,0,540,810


3.5

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://images.martincid.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/gog.gif?strip=all&lossy=1&ssl=1

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 - I consider this a successful Marvel franchise. Certainly more consistent than Dr. Strange, Ant-Man or Thor. This being the final entry (of this particular iteration of the Guardians) it had some built-in obstacles to get past. There was quite a bit of wrapping up to do but I think James Gunn really came through and, after watching it, feel more confident with Gunn taking over the DC reins. There was the proper balance of humor to action (Taika Waititi) :shifty: and the emotional appeal is never allowed to get maudlin. The surest sign of a successful conclusion is that it leaves you both nostalgic and wanting more. I'm kinda hoping that last "Star Lord will be back" message is for real.

90/100

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://i.makeagif.com/media/2-10-2017/pjtrpG.gif


Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 - Been wanting to rewatch this since I kept catching bits and pieces which I had trouble remembering. Watching Vol. 3 proved to be the impetus I needed. Another solid effort from Gunn and his cast (plus Pom Klementieff as Mantis). Kurt Russell might not be be the first name out of your mouth when running down a list of the strongest actors but he always manages to find just the right roles. That's probably the very definition of a good actor. And once they do the big reveal you can more or less guess which path the plot will take and which beats and plot twists Gunn has to hit before the denouement. But he still manages it in a fresh and entertaining way. It's likely a combination of a really likable cast and directorial talent. Either way if people are looking for a weak link in the trilogy it's not to be found here IMO.

90/100

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://www.cageyfilms.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/between-midnight-and-dawn_01.jpg
https://assets.mubicdn.net/images/film/112433/image-w1280.jpg?1619966210

Between Midnight and Dawn - 1950 noir with Edmond O'Brien and Mark Stevens as Officer's Dan Purvis and Rocky Barnes. They're best friends who served in WWII together and they're now street cops in an unnamed city. Dan is the misanthrope of the two and has most of humanity pegged as unprincipled and treacherous. Rocky, being the more easygoing one, is willing to meet people halfway. While on their appointed graveyard shift they take note of one of the female dispatcher's voices. When they finally put a face to the voice it's Katharine 'Kate' Mallory (Gale Storm). She's the daughter of a police officer killed in the line of duty and she has a strict rule against getting involved with another policeman.

Both men take a run at asking her out with and the three start going out together on platonic terms, but Rocky ultimately succeeds in winning Kate over. This is where the film takes a bit of an odd turn. They keep going out on "dates" with Dan playing third wheel and no one seems to mind. The audience never quite comes to understand Purvis' motivations but in the post credits commentary Noir Alley host Eddie Muller alluded to an element of homosexuality in the relationship. That might or might not clarify things but it's not really integral to the story.

The two partners end up arresting gangster Ritchie Garris (Donald Buka) in the first act,. He then swears to even the score and this chain of circumstances takes up the last two acts of film. Somewhere in there Rocky and Kate find the time to get married which means everything is in place for things to shake out in standard fashion. Most viewers will be able to guess where it's all headed. I didn't find this to be essential viewing except maybe for noir or Edmond O'Brien fans.

65/100

[Fabulous]

Jubilee (1978)

3

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/nD4T5wpYaS5HcPoi9z2Oh7RyQSC.jpg

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w663/files/images/film/photos/161/680/161680695_c7d99f.jpg

The Night Watchmen - 2017 low budget vampire flick with a strong comedic element running through it. I guess you could go ahead and call it a comedy but I'm not sure if it sets out to be one. But it is largely successful in keeping the thrills and scares going all the way through. As far as casting goes the only person I recognized is James Remar but everyone else seems really game even covered in fake blood the majority of the time.

A handful of lunkheaded security guards are working overnight at a newspaper office in Baltimore. The setup being that a clown named Blimpo died under mysterious circumstances while on tour in Romania and shipped back home. Two ganja smoking delivery men mistakenly bring the coffin to the newspaper and, after bribing one of the security guys with weed, promise to return in the morning.

The plot leans heavily toward weed humor and even though it can be considered low budget it doesn't really show onscreen. A fair amount of money looks to have been spent on practical effects (mostly of the fake blood variety) and the acting is decent enough. This is a respectable entry in the bloodsucker genre so feel free to kick back and enjoy the ride. Chances are you won't feel like you wasted your time watching it.

75/100

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/9997e9e25e5a52a5ed1c2fa0810ce87e/f094022583734f48-e5/s540x810/e95951aed3cefddc03ae94ce81553ace7fffe9d5.gifv
https://media1.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExdTAxa2FrNGsydGwwcWxiaGt6MGgwazV6NmMxMDNuamhqZXpjNnF5cSZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjd D1n/5z4IGLHrDujS0V6yFh/giphy.gif


Thor: Love and Thunder - This was certainly disappointing after Ragnarok. Same director and most of the same cast but Taika Waititi seems to have lost his way. As in not really sure how exactly to tell the story. You could blame the screenplay maybe except that he co-wrote it. The premise sounds promising enough and they did land Christian Bale to play the main baddie, Gorr the God Butcher. And he certainly delivers in his performance. Natalie Portman's part was either problematic or underwritten.

But the biggest distraction was the ongoing bombardment of largely ineffectual humor. After Branagh's dour original and Alan Taylor's misfire maybe they were looking to turn this into the fun loving, loosey-goosey comic book movie franchise. And yes, it is a CBM about a Norse god wielding a gigantic hammer (or axe) so it wouldn't be unheard of to poke a little fun at it. Just not in these quantities. If they ever let Waititi make another Thor movie I'm pretty sure he'll have learned his lesson.

65/100

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic1.moviewebimages.com%2Fwordpress%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2023%2F07%2Famerica-ferrera-ariana-greenblatt-and-margot-robbie-in-barbie.jpeg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=536758546b63593855c1938b4d8f75bcd8fccd8eb2fe06dbe0c1517d8007a336&ipo=images

Barbie, 2023

Barbie (Margot Robbie) lives in Barbieland, a pink plastic femme-topia where all the Barbies are gorgeous, empowered, and indulge in nightly dance parties. Barbie is longed-for by Ken (Ryan Gosling), whose every day is measured in the kind words or glances he gets from Barbie. When Barbie suffers a sudden-onset existential crisis, Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon) advises her that she must journey to the Real World and find out what’s happening with the young person playing with her. When Ken tags along for the ride, they both discover that the Real World is far different than they imagined, and a very far cry from the female-centric society of Barbieland.

I’m so glad that I made sure to see this one in the theater. Literally at the moment the film delivered its Depressed Barbie joke, I had my hand in a bag of Starburst, and my sister turned and looked at me like a laser. I felt so seen! Just all around a good time and a great big screen experience.

4

Full review (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2408810#post2408810)

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/cf/Wyatt_earp_ver1.jpg
By Warner Bros - impawards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11493073

Wyatt Earp - (1994)

There's not a whole lot to say about Wyatt Earp - and considering it's a 191-minute movie, you'd hope there'd be a lot of ground to cover. There are a couple of interesting aspects that I hadn't seen in a film about this figure before. After his first wife, Urilla (Annabeth Gish) dies he becomes an alcoholic, mugging one passerby and stealing his horse - whereupon Wyatt's father, Nicholas (Gene Hackman) has to save him from a hangman's noose. Also, we get to see a lot more of Wyatt's overzealousness when it came to upholding the law - often pistol-whipping some poor man for a minor infraction. Overall though, it goes through the motions carefully - making this a handsomely adequate epic biography that doesn't rise to it's mythical potential. Dennis Quaid outshines Kevin Costner as Doc Holliday, thereby making his a more interesting character, and we get to see an interesting array of acting talent - Téa Leoni, Mare Winningham, Tom Sizemore, JoBeth Williams, Bill Pullman, Isabella Rossellini, Michael Madsen, Jeff Fahey, Jim Caviezel and Mark Harmon. Plenty of room for them all in a film that goes for over 3 hours. It ticks all the boxes and does a good job, but on the whole this is a remarkably unremarkable movie - I couldn't read Costner at all, or have any idea of what's going through Wyatt Earp's head - it's a bit of a blank, and perhaps he was going for ruggedly stoic, but delivered Wyatt Earp's pod person. I didn't hate it though - it's a noble (if overlong) failure, whereupon there's no glory to bestow on it, but no shame either.

6/10

[StuSmallz]

There was the proper balance of humor to action (Taika Waititi) :shifty:Heh, yeah, seriously...

[Act III]

94654

The Song Remains The Same (1976)

You gotta love this movie. An artful music video and concert in one, there isn't any story in here. Each band member has his own cinematic short film, opening with Bonham's mob scene.... without music. The other three put their scenes on top of the concert footage, so, you see where I'm going with this...

If you listen to the studio albums theres some unheard treats on here you'll be surprised and pleasured. The second half man they really start poppin' and so it's a 2 hour 15 minute concert. They sound good through the first half but believe me they lock in at the halfway mark almost exactly. If you want to hear how extremely brutal John Bonham was this was the concert you didn't see.

:up:
:up:
:up:

[ScarletLion]

'The Elephant Man' (1980)

https://popcultureocd.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/the-elephant-man-movie-still-the-elephant-man-11130936-800-362.jpg

Watched the Italian 4K disc. Beautiful presentation. Never realised that Mel Brooks produced this but left his name off the credits so audiences didn't go in thinking it was a satire. He hired David Lynch to direct after watching Eraserhead. Lynch was working as a roofer at the time to fund his next film. Though rumours are that Terrence Malick was Brooks' first choice. Lynch also was responsible for the sound design for the film which is piercingly brilliant.

John Hurt is outstanding as John Merrick and he spent 5 hours in make up each day before takes.. Apparently the industry outcry at the film not being given awards for best make up / costume design directly resulted in the formation of a new award for that specific category in a certain major awarding body.

Though not a direct true to life adaptation of John Merrick's real life story (despite claiming to be that) it's a beautiful film with a heart-wrenching ending.

8.6/10

4.5

[Stirchley]

Klute

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P1smbLKH9Zg/T_ooq5bMEyI/AAAAAAAAFPA/QHO6hebToaU/s1600/Klute+1.jpg

Quite a gritty neo-noir mystery. A man goes missing in New York and Donald Sutherland is hired to track him down. First half of the film is excellent, but it trails off in the last 30 or so. Jane Fonda is as good as I’ve seen her here as an aloof high class call girl.

Seen it a million times. Love it.

[Stirchley]

94654

The Song Remains The Same (1976)

You gotta love this movie. An artful music video and concert in one, there isn't any story in here. Each band member has his own cinematic short film, opening with Bonham's mob scene.... without music. The other three put their scenes on top of the concert footage, so, you see where I'm going with this...

If you listen to the studio albums theres some unheard treats on here you'll be surprised and pleasured. The second half man they really start poppin' and so it's a 2 hour 15 minute concert. They sound good through the first half but believe me they lock in at the halfway mark almost exactly. If you want to hear how extremely brutal John Bonham was this was the concert you didn't see.

:up:
:up:
:up:

Seen it a million times. Love it.

[Stirchley]

Excellent movie. Sweet & very sad. Never seen a Gaelic movie before.

ScarletLion, I think you would like this.

94754

[Thief]

NIGHT OF THE KINGS
(2020, Lacôte)

https://i.imgur.com/rY0PXyH.jpg


"From now on, you're Roman, the prince without a kingdom. When the red moon comes out tonight or tomorrow, you'll tell us stories."



Set in MACA, a remote prison in Cote d'Ivoire, Night of the Kings follows a young thief and gang member (Bakary Koné) who finds himself reluctantly appointed as "Roman", or storyteller, by Blackbeard (Steve Tientcheu), a fellow prisoner who serves as "king" from within. Since his health is failing, Blackbeard is pressured to surrender his position and commit suicide, according to their beliefs. But in an effort to delay the inevitable, he tasks Roman to tell stories to the inmate population.

This is a film I hadn't heard of until a couple of months ago, but I've always said it's really interesting to experience films from other countries and cultures. Night of the Kings goes a bit further, not only in how it highlights some specific cultural aspects of Cote d'Ivoire, but also a specific belief system from within this prison. I'm not sure how much of this system is based in real life, but I still find it mesmerizing.

Grade: 3.5


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2408949#post2408949)

[Fabulous]

Genghis Khan (1965)

2.5

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/aVnEni2Pir0tsNHRYHyzR9tMlcl.jpg

[Gideon58]

'The Elephant Man' (1980)

https://popcultureocd.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/the-elephant-man-movie-still-the-elephant-man-11130936-800-362.jpg

Watched the Italian 4K disc. Beautiful presentation. Never realised that Mel Brooks produced this but left his name off the credits so audiences didn't go in thinking it was a satire. He hired David Lynch to direct after watching Eraserhead. Lynch was working as a roofer at the time to fund his next film. Though rumours are that Terrence Malick was Brooks' first choice. Lynch also was responsible for the sound design for the film which is piercingly brilliant.

John Hurt is outstanding as John Merrick and he spent 5 hours in make up each day before takes.. Apparently the industry outcry at the film not being given awards for best make up / costume design directly resulted in the formation of a new award for that specific category in a certain major awarding body.

Though not a direct true to life adaptation of John Merrick's real life story (despite claiming to be that) it's a beautiful film with a heart-wrenching ending.

8.6/10

4.5

I think this movie was amazing. I rated it 5

[Darth Pazuzu]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/ad/The_Last_Voyage_of_the_Demeter_%282023%29_poster.jpg/220px-The_Last_Voyage_of_the_Demeter_%282023%29_poster.jpg

THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER (2023)

Kind of a mixed bag, this one. Still not bad, though. An adaptation of "The Captain's Log" from Bram Stoker's original Dracula - making this virtually a prequel to the classic story - this movie really brings back the nasty, bestial and predatory tradition of vampirism, which has long been languishing in the shadow of the troubled, sensitive, post-Anne Rice, post-Twilight, faux-goth trend. (Not that I'm necessarily knocking all of that, mind you...) The Dracula which is stowed away aboard the merchant ship of the title is perhaps a throwback to the more feral Nosferatu or Salem's Lot type of vampire with the brute aggression of the From Dusk Till Dawn vamps, with even a little bit of Alien thrown in. As a matter of fact, this movie could even be described as a seafaring Alien, with the crew of the ship getting picked off one by one, with the survivors desperately attempting to hatch a plan to defeat the monster. (I am also reminded of Tobe Hooper's 1985 sci-fi thriller Lifeforce, which tended to be unfairly dismissed as an Alien knockoff on its initial release, but whose spacefaring energy vampires definitely owe something to Stoker. So, in terms of storytelling tradition, there's not as tenuous a connection between the two genres as some would imagine, I'd say!)

On the positive side... The acting is really quite excellent, in particular Corey Hawkins in the lead role of Clemens and Liam Cunningham as the ship's Captain Elliot. The movie also really delivers in terms of mortal dread and tragedy. Without giving spoilers, it is also very emotional at times, in particular because of the involvement of a young child, the captain's grandson Toby, well-played by Woody Norman. The movie perhaps wears its thematic significance on its sleeve a little, with its characters pondering the meaning of life and attempting to reconcile its horror with its beauty. But I'm very forgiving of this kind of excess, preferring that screenwriters err on the side of intelligence and thoughtfulness. We also get a fair amount of jump scares, which can be grating sometimes, but here they're executed with an expert sense of timing, landing always just shy of when you expect them. Yeah, it's kind of a dead giveaway when the soundtrack gets perhaps a little too quiet in preparation, but somehow you end up getting jolted anyway!

On the downside... As is far too often the case these days, there's too much CGI, and consequently the character of Dracula doesn't seem as horrific and menacing as he should be. This movie certainly doesn't skimp on the gore, and the sheer nastiness of the bloodletting sort of balances things out a bit. But I would have preferred, shall we say, a more "organic" Dracula over a digital one. Also, while Aisling Franciosi is very good in the role of Anna, a young Bulgarian woman who serves as a kind of "sacrifice" to Dracula, having been packed away in another crate as someone for the vampire to feed on, her character is played perhaps a little too strong. By which I mean, here is a character who is in essence a traumatized rape victim, but while Franciosi does give off a fair amount of nervous energy, once her character is treated back to functioning, reasonable health (health being in this case relative) she becomes too much of an action heroine, being (of course) a deft hand with a shotgun. I'm not saying she should have been cowering in a corner and babbling like Judith O'Dea in the original 1968 Night of the Living Dead, but a better balance should have been attempted with her character. I guess it's this newfangled syndrome of not wanting to risk female characters being seen as too weak.

Recommended? With some reservations, but ultimately... yes.

[Act III]

94761

Green Room (2015)

Cabin in the woods, escape the trap type non-paranormal realistic horror movie. Bloody cuts and bullets, graphic. I don't consider this a ''music movie'' per se and wouldn't bunch it together with all these other movies I've watched this month. Probably won't see it again but it was something to see and could be a TV movie if they wanted it to be. Tragic and bloody.

6/10

[PHOENIX74]

https://i.postimg.cc/9Q60N40m/looking-for-alibrandi.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=45669453

Looking for Alibrandi - (2000)

Looking for Alibrandi is a coming of age story based on a popular 1992 novel - one that has the distinction of being the most stolen book from Australian high school libraries. Stealing it became a thing, which means that most kids who really wanted to read it had to buy a copy, for they'd hardly have a chance to borrow it. I hear that the International market hasn't had much exposure to this, and I pretty much know for sure that people haven't seen much of Pia Miranda, because her career never took off here, never mind world-wide. It gives audiences some insight into what it's like to grow up in an Italian family in Australia, and is the kind of movie that shows you scenes from inside the head of it's protagonist in a quirky way - Alibrandi is an intelligent girl with Amélie levels of reverie and a deep embarrassment regarding her family. She goes through more than the average teen has to deal with though. The Italian-Australian experience is unique, and in case you were wondering what it was like it's worth seeing this - a lot of people love it, and I feel like recommending it just based on other people's reviews. It wasn't for me - I found myself a little bored and restless, not being at a level to relate to this teen girl, but it did move me at times or else make me smile. I'm still glad that I've finally seen it. If it sounds like your kind of thing though, go for it.

6/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/ff/Avengers_Age_of_Ultron_poster.jpg
By http://www.impawards.com/2015/avengers_age_of_ultron_ver11.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=45669453

Avengers : Age of Ultron - (2015)

Watched this again hoping it'd go down easier the second time around. I really like Ultron, and a half-billion dollar movie is always going to dazzle, but it's my least favourite of the series still. My thoughts about it didn't change much, but that's not to say it isn't worth it for all the moments where it's delivering on it's promise. The Avengers just happen to have ridiculously high standards.

6/10

[Act III]

94762

Sweet and Lowdown (1999)

A faithful biographical drama about Emmet Ray, the "second best" guitarist of his time, in the 1930's. Good movie, something you should see if you're into this historical period. I will definitely watch this movie again.

8/10

[ScarletLion]

Excellent movie. Sweet & very sad. Never seen a Gaelic movie before.

ScarletLion, I think you would like this.

94754

Was one of my top 5 films of last year:

https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&highlight=the%20quiet%20girl&p=2320668#post2320668

[Torgo]

Eye of the Tiger - 3

In case you didn't know, the song of the same name was not written for this movie. It came out a few years later and you get to hear the song in it four times. Believe it or not, that is the least strange thing about this silly, derivative yet never dull Gary Busey action vehicle. Back on the streets (couldn't help myself) of his hometown after serving time, Busey's Vietnam vet Buck Matthews runs afoul of a drug-dealing motorcycle gang who has seen The Road Warrior one too many times and who have taken over the place in his absence. After the gang make it personal, Buck decides to take them on himself, but his old friend J.B. (Kotto) thinks they should attack from the sky as well as the ground.

As my Road Warrior reference implies, this is essentially a patchwork quilt of other movies' ideas from Walking Tall to Rolling Thunder. What it lacks in originality, though, it makes up for in craziness. Every one of their confrontations has a moment bound to make you ask, "did you just see that" and the craziness escalates in the best way. Highlights include a scene with a tripwire and one with dynamite and petroleum jelly you may think twice about. Luckily, the insanity peaks at the finale, which features a pickup truck that could end wars in some countries and Yaphet Kotto doing his best Red Baron impression. Having Busey and Kotto as the heroes makes it all the more fun as do familiar supporting players like Seymour Cassel's corrupt and perpetually angry sheriff and William Smith's main bad guy, who terrifies despire his very strange haircut.

Despite all its jawdropping moments, it doesn't improve upon anything it cribs from. Also, the Kotto character from his own, non-"Eye of the Tiger" theme song to an odd moment during the ending seems like he'd be just as offensively dated in 1986 as he does now. Even so, if you are in the mood for some macho '80s cheese and/or a movie made to be played on the TVs at veterans or country/western bars, you could do much worse. Another word of warning, though: you'll never look at dynamite the same way again.

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BYjA0MGU4MzYtYTYxMy00MjRhLTlmMDYtZTVhZDc1Y2QwNWY2XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjY5ODI4NDk@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.j pg


3.5

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BOTMzNjIwNjEtNWU5ZC00NzY2LTg2ZDktNDhkNGMxMjc2YTdjXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjUxODE0MDY@._V1_.jpg


3.5

[Nausicaä]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c3/Indiana_Jones_and_the_Dial_of_Destiny_theatrical_poster.jpg/220px-Indiana_Jones_and_the_Dial_of_Destiny_theatrical_poster.jpg

3.5

SF = Z

Pfft, I loved it. Nice addition and end to the series if this is the last one.



[Snooze Factor Ratings]:
Z = didn't nod off at all
Zz = nearly nodded off but managed to stay alert
Zzz = nodded off and missed some of the film but went back to watch what I missed
Zzzz = nodded off and missed some of the film but went back to watch what I missed but nodded off again at the same point and therefore needed to go back a number of times before I got through it...
Zzzzz = nodded off and missed some or the rest of the film but was not interested enough to go back over it

[beelzebubble]

https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/fec3186/2147483647/strip/true/crop/640x360+0+0/resize/1760x990!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Flegacy%2Fsites%2Fkansaspublicradio.org%2Ffiles%2Fstaff-uploads%2FKPR%20Staff%2Fkillers.gif
https://i.makeagif.com/media/8-18-2016/YG4qig.gif


Killers from Space - 1954 sci-fi directed by W. Lee Wilder (Billy Wilder's brother) and written by his son Myles.
The Alien looks like he is being played by Marty Feldman.

[Fabulous]

Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson (1976)

3.5

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/gX3N0qLLKCizQMOdmAsexImjzFZ.jpg

[Citizen Rules]

The Alien looks like he is being played by Marty Feldman.It's Mar-tian Feldman:p

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/dc/St_Vincent_poster.jpg
By The poster art can or could be obtained from the distributor., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=43853163

St. Vincent - (2014)

How lucky are you when you're a young filmmaker and you have Bill Murray really buying into your film and sinking his teeth into it? Well, we're the lucky ones with St. Vincent - with added support from Melissa McCarthy and Naomi Watts (who play straight) Bill Murray features as Vincent MacKenna, a hard-drinking, smoking, gambling wreck, perpetually in a bad mood and at war with the world. Tunneling into his life is young Oliver (Jaeden Martell), a young boy who wins over Vincent's hard-to-please cat - and somebody ready and eager to be molded into Vincent's tough-guy image. With Oliver's mother, Maggie (McCarthy) often at work, Vincent earns gambling money babysitting him with Russian sex worker Daka (Watts). Even underneath all of the layers, Vincent is still a deeply irresponsible grouch with a mean streak - but he also has heart as well as suffered loss - something which St. Vincent explores in a funny and moving way. This is all about Bill Murray being Bill Murray though - with a performance that's a real highlight of this stage of his career.

7/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/71/GhostRiderBigPoster.jpg
By [1], Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7264171

Ghost Rider - (2007)

A heavy metal superhero in a pretty bad movie - Ghost Rider doesn't take itself too seriously, but it still suffers from a Mark Steven Johnson screenplay devoid of clever originality - the writer/director coming off the transgression that was Daredevil. That's not to say I didn't have fun watching this, because no matter which direction was taken, a screaming skeleton covered in flames riding a Harley-Davidson will always be a sight to see - even if it's coming to us via cartoon-level CGI. A guilty pleasure, because who better than Nicolas Cage to play Johnny Blaze? Check out the Rebel Wilson cameo, and behold her untapped comedic potential which is sometimes underutilized. Silly film which had a lot more potential, but I can't say that I didn't enjoy a lot of it in spite of itself in a "good bad" kind of way.

5/10

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://media.tenor.com/m-nfkHPG77EAAAAd/corey-haim-silverbullet.gif
https://64.media.tumblr.com/d04e3fe2fd040238d18259e9c2068207/0e112968ee79c4bc-65/s500x750/dd7c5bd9ffb6148ccce02d1a4f9a065f4a5aac6a.gifv

Silver Bullet - People can either take this as a rather tame and dated horror offering or that it's right up your alley. It's got gore but it never gets to the point where it would make people uncomfortable. I think it's an ideal experience for someone who normally shies away from horror movies. I do find it a bit corny in parts especially when it comes to the dialogue. You don't have to be intimately familiar with Stephen King to sense his part in the screenplay since he wrote Cycle of the Werewolf, the novella it's based on. Anyone who has read his earlier work will place it immediately in that it leans heavily on his usual blue collar slob characters. But if you're not too desensitized to horror and can work your way past that it does provide genuine moments of disquietude.

The small town of Tarker's Mills finds itself plagued by a string of gruesome murders. Young and disabled Marty Coslaw (Corey Haim), along with his resentful older sister Jane (Megan Follows), find themselves caught up in the hunt for the killer. Gary Busey plays their black sheep Uncle Red and he's actually quite good in the role. Maybe even the highlight of the movie. There's an underlying message in the film having to do with forgiveness and family which might make this the most wholesome werewolf-eviscerates-numerous-people movie out there. I've always had a soft spot for it.

80/100

[wositelec]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTM4MTgxMzc2M15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMzYzNzUxMQ@@._V1_.jpg


My opinion - definitely 8,5 / 10 - it is very good and interesting movie!

[Stirchley]

Was one of my top 5 films of last year:

https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&highlight=the%20quiet%20girl&p=2320668#post2320668

I had a feeling you’d be ahead of me on this one. The ending was so painful, I still think about it.

[Stirchley]

94794

Re-watch, didn’t realize it was Joe Alwyn’s debut as it were. He made the movie for me.

94795

Seen this many times. Mark Ruffalo so handsome in this. Book is very good too. Dark movie.

[ScarletLion]

I had a feeling you’d be ahead of me on this one. The ending was so painful, I still think about it.

Nearly just started crying thinking about it.

[Stirchley]

Nearly just started crying thinking about it.

Same.

Watching it I was thinking that the actors who played the foster parents were also stage actors they were so good. (The entire cast was new to me.)

[Valdez23]

Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning.


Not a fan of the MI franchise but I've thoroughly enjoyed the last two (but didn't like the others). Fallout is still the superior film but this one comes in second, IMO.


4.5/5.

[Raven73]

Children of the Corn (2020)
7.5/10.
These hobbits and this ent are not so friendly.
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNzBkNWJjY2QtZWY2NS00MjU0LTk0M2UtY2JmN2ExZTJiNTI0XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTUzMTg2ODkz._V1_.jpg

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/S/pv-target-images/d7765e416b72350fdcc8af7368910e8466b5d9b5919ef94b761d23d0d443cee1._UR1920,1080_SX720_FMjpg_.jpg
https://1630revellodrive.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/lansbury-in-burrs-mind.gif


Please Murder Me! - This is what happens when you cast a wide net while looking for something to watch. Found this on some nondescript Roku noir channel after first using their somewhat new search feature. You type In Noir and it gives you a list of channels that apparently anyone can put together since most of it appears to be public domain offerings. Which means they share the same crappy quality along with limited libraries. The ones with commercials are of course better quality with the paid subscriptions being the best. So #1 cast a wide net and #2 don't throw any bottom feeders back.

The title drew me in but the cast is what made me give it a try. And once it got going it turned out to be relatively involving. It starts out with attorney Craig Carlson (Raymond Burr) in his darkened office dictating a confession of sorts into a tape recorder. He tells all about his wartime experiences and his lifelong friendship with the man who saved his life, Joe Leeds (Dick Foran). Joe is married to Myra (Angela Lansbury) and Craig announces that Myra is in love with another man and wants a divorce. He then confesses that he is that man. Joe tells him that he needs time to think it through which leads to all sorts of drama. About an hours worth more or less.

It's a quick flick of around 78 minutes. There's a murder trial in which Burr channels his soon to be most famous role of Perry Mason. There are secrets revealed, gold-digging hoochies and double crosses and maybe even a spy in the house of love. Who knows? Burr and Lansbury both make for compelling leads. I first thought that I would never have taken her for a femme fatale but then thought of The Manchurian Candidate and told myself to shut up and watch. It turned out to be not so shabby considering how spur of the moment it was.

I would definitely recommend avoiding any public domain offering though. If you should ever find yourself in the same situation and faced with watching either a low quality film print or one with too many commercial interruptions try looking for it on youtube. There's a better than even chance you'll be able to find a better, commercial free copy there.

70/100

[Thief]

THREE O'CLOCK HIGH
(1987, Joanou)

https://i.imgur.com/v7GsFAs.jpg


"You and me, we're gonna have a fight today, after school. 3:00 in the parking lot. You try and run, I'm gonna track you down; you go to a teacher, it's only gonna get worse; you sneak home, I'm gonna be under your bed. You and me. 3:00"



That's a sentence that every student in Weaver High School dreads, but as fate had it, it would fall on meek student and school journalist Jerry Mitchell (Casey Siemazko). Three O'Clock High follows Jerry's day after he receives this threat from new student/juvenile delinquent Buddy Revell (Richard Tyson) when he awkwardly approached him in the school restroom for a school newspaper interview; something that Buddy's not happy about.

In this regard, the direction of Phil Joanou, helped by the cinematography of Barry Sonnenfeld, was really fantastic. The way they move the camera, the angles they choose, how they block certain scenes, it was definitely above the average teen movie standards. In addition, the two leads are pretty solid, which makes you wonder why both of them didn't have better careers. I do think the character of Buddy could've been more developed, but it was still a pretty good performance from Tyson.

Grade: 3.5


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2409387#post2409387)

[Allaby]

Pretty Baby (1978) Rewatched on Kino Lorber blu ray with the commentary by Kat Ellinger. The film looks fantastic. Ellinger is articulate and her commentary is insightful and informative. This is a really well written, beautifully directed film with excellent performances. 4.5

[Thief]

ZODIAC
(2007, Fincher)

https://i.imgur.com/0LWIOcl.jpg


"I... I need to know who he is. I... I need to stand there, I need to look him in the eye, and I need to know that it's him."



Starting in 1969, Zodiac mostly focuses on Graysmith, but it also follows police detective Dave Toschi (Mark Ruffalo) and journalist Paul Avery (Robert Downey, Jr.), all of which "need to know" who this killer is for different reasons; even if it is at the expense of their careers, their families, or even their lives.

David Fincher uses a clever story structure to reel us in with a bunch of incredibly intense, and sometimes gruesome murder sequences during the first act. Much like the Zodiac Killer himself used different modus operandi for each murder, the way Fincher handles these sequences is different, but they're all incredibly effective. I can say that the Lake Berryessa scene is one that sticks with you.

Grade: 5


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2409476#post2409476)

[PHOENIX74]

https://i.postimg.cc/JzF4NkPm/barefoot-gen.jpg
By May be found at the following website: https://www.cinematerial.com/movies/hadashi-no-gen-i85218/p/jy9k28or, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=56758937

Barefoot Gen - (1983)

Barefoot Gen taught me that you can sometimes translate horror through animation in a way that captures the essence of said horror in a more psychologically confronting way than would otherwise be possible with real life performance. The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima left a lasting scar on the Japanese psyche, and manga artist Keiji Nakazawa was 6-years-old and present in the city when the bomb was dropped. His experience was translated through his art starting in 1973, and a decade later this manga series was animated and released as the movie I watched last night. Seen through the eyes of Gen Nakaoka, who lives in Hiroshima with his sister, young brother and parents (his mother is pregnant, and yeah, she'll go into labour shortly after the bomb is dropped), Barefoot Gen gives you a glimpse of a sickening horror that could only be matched by the German concentration camps - a parade of burned, walking dead and doomed families trapped in the burning rubble of their houses, left to burn alive. It'll make you rethink the necessity of the bombing, and war itself - which the Japanese started and refused to stop long after the cause was lost. Animated horror, both in an emotional sense as far as Gen is concerned and in a more broad, psychological way that's sure to impact anyone who watches.

8/10

https://i.postimg.cc/PrQz6twP/barefoot-gen-2.jpg
By DVD image, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24407274

Barefoot Gen 2 - (1986)

The sequel to Barefoot Gen is hampered by the fact it doesn't have the horror of the day the bomb was dropped as part of it's narrative - it takes place 3 years later, and deals with the long-lasting aftermath, with the many orphans left eking out an existence amongst the sections of rubble still undisturbed, and cancer cruelling the lives of survivors, still dying from the dreaded poison "pika" brought with it. Cancer-wise, Gen's mother is riddled with it and only has months to live. Gen and his adopted brother, Ryuta, naively think the new drug on the market, penicillin, will cure her - so they join a gang of street urchins and put into motion plans through which they manage to scratch up food and money from the changed world they live in. If you've seen a few of these manga films, you'll know that they pretty much trade in bittersweet heartbreak - any positive note they end on lubricated with tears of grief and sadness.

6/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/08/On_the_Count_of_Three.jpeg
By Studio and or Graphic Artist - Can be obtained from film’s distributor., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=70642479

On the Count of Three - (2021)

Friends Val (Jerrod Carmichael) and Kevin (Christopher Abbott) put their suicide pact on hold to enjoy one last day of life, where the freedom of their impending death means they can settle accounts and do whatever they'd truly like to do without consequences. This directorial debut from Jerrod Carmichael is fun - I like black comedies and this one features suicide, murder, sexual abuse of minors, parental abuse and violence. Not for everyone, but in me it has a lover of anything Christopher Abbott is in and any comedy where taboos are transgressed. Simple and under 90-minutes in length, with a slick screenplay - there's not much to dislike. A very winning movie that's more positive underneath it's grim exterior than you'd think when you first encounter it.

7/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/66/Transformers07.jpg
By http://www.impawards.com/2007/transformers_ver13.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32771845

Transformers - (2007)

I've never really been all that interested in Transformers, but what got me in the end is the fact they're still making sequels - so somebody must like 'em. What surprised me about this first film is how funny it's sporadic comedic elements are - but the action feels a little like being in a really bad car accident. I'm old - and after sitting though an hour and a half of robot movie, I don't really have the stamina for 40-straight minutes of concrete pulverizing, destructive non-stop action. What can I say - it's brash, it's dumb (it's Michael Bay) and it's loud, with a very basic premise - a cube macguffin which both good and bad extraterrestrial robots are after, with the fate of the world at stake. The special effects are admittedly good. Too long though - by at least 20 minutes. Maybe if I were a kid, I'd be more excited about it - but as it is it's expensive cinematic junk food.

5/10

[Nausicaä]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/ab/Cocaine_Bear_poster.jpg/220px-Cocaine_Bear_poster.jpg

3

SF = Z


[Snooze Factor Ratings]:
Z = didn't nod off at all
Zz = nearly nodded off but managed to stay alert
Zzz = nodded off and missed some of the film but went back to watch what I missed
Zzzz = nodded off and missed some of the film but went back to watch what I missed but nodded off again at the same point and therefore needed to go back a number of times before I got through it...
Zzzzz = nodded off and missed some or the rest of the film but was not interested enough to go back over it

[Fabulous]

7 Women (1965)

2

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/wXZ1B8eCiEWeQ8nlGnKgc2NwvrW.jpg

[Act III]

94812

The Red Violin (1998)

You might think there's some truth to this story but it's a fabrication inspired by the prestige and luxurious privelege of owning a Stradovarious violin. Tragic and sad throughout, the legend around this fictional violin is lost to time as its value shoots through the roof during auction. The added charm is that the entire film culminates into a word play on a particular actors' name. The disappointment is that it isn't a true story, but there's plenty of eye candy and great violin playing.

7.5/10

[Takoma11]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/08/On_the_Count_of_Three.jpeg
By Studio and or Graphic Artist - Can be obtained from film’s distributor., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=70642479

On the Count of Three - (2021)

Friends Val (Jerrod Carmichael) and Kevin (Christopher Abbott) put their suicide pact on hold to enjoy one last day of life, where the freedom of their impending death means they can settle accounts and do whatever they'd truly like to do without consequences. This directorial debut from Jerrod Carmichael is fun - I like black comedies and this one features suicide, murder, sexual abuse of minors, parental abuse and violence. Not for everyone, but in me it has a lover of anything Christopher Abbott is in and any comedy where taboos are transgressed. Simple and under 90-minutes in length, with a slick screenplay - there's not much to dislike. A very winning movie that's more positive underneath it's grim exterior than you'd think when you first encounter it.

7/10

I really liked this film, and I think that if I were to rewatch it my rating might even go up a bit. The way that it pulls apart the traumas that people endure (bullying, abuse, domestic violence) and what it takes to live with them---or maybe not live with them---is really fascinating. And I also like that it leaves room for understanding that not everyone is the same: what one person can cope with might be unbearable for another, and there's no weakness or shame in that, just tragedy.

[Mr Minio]

7 Women (1965) So long, ya bastard.

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://media.tenor.com/9UdJ9rHt6pEAAAAC/the-flash-supergirl.gif
https://media.tenor.com/Y5thuoK0N5EAAAAC/the-flash-2023.gif
https://media0.giphy.com/media/WY2HC60GfOyOKSCNiH/giphy.gif?cid=ecf05e47yfn7hg8h3eq8uzef35v4ox2zwhac1t13q68qmozi&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g


The Flash - James Gunn is on record as saying that this is one of the greatest superhero movies he had ever seen. And I can understand why he in particular would say that. It captures the irreverence that he himself brings to so many of his projects. He might have been a little gobsmacked that anyone else could carry that off successfully to the degree Andrés Muschietti did. I don't think he was hyping the movie in anticipation of taking over DC Studios. He probably sensed a kindred spirit which would, of course, explain his enthusiasm. Muschietti does indeed successfully mix in moments of brash humor in between all the action and tribulations.


I can also see why so many people complained about the CGI, especially when Flash was using the Speed Force. It came off a little jarring to say the least. But outside of that and an opening that was a little too similiar to Quicksilver's rescue at Xavier's school in X-Men: Apocalypse, the film was sure-footed for the most part.

So why did it fail at the box office? I think it was the victim of a one-two punch. I think comic book movie fatigue is real at this point. Which took a lot the usual casual viewers off the board that would have accounted for a significant amount of ticket sales. And the hard core CBM fans that were left would have been exactly the type of people that would have followed the Ezra Miller drama. When all that came up I had never heard about any of it. And once I had familiarized myself a little it still didn't land with me. Not enough to grind my teeth and swear to never ever support any project involving Miller. But again, being a take it or leave it kind of viewer meant that I shrugged my shoulders and figured to catch it on streaming. Which I did.

It's too bad though. I don't think it deserved it's fate and that people missed out on watching a pretty decent CBM film. I hope they decide to catch it now that's it's streaming.

85/100

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BM2YzMGE2NmUtOTlhMi00MzQyLTgyOTAtMTNiNWRiMjFjYjE3XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjUzOTY1NTc@._V1_.jpg


Umpteenth Rewatch...Even though I've lost track of exactly how many times I 've watched this 1979 Best Picture nominee, it's been at least a couple of years since my last viewing and I can't believe how entertaining this vibrant and edgy musical still is...mad re-watch appeal, Bob Fosse's version of 8 1/2, based on his own life, still has mad re-watch appeal, especially that Oscar-nominated performance by Roy Scheider and Fosse's one-of-akind choreography. That "Take Off With Us/Aerotica" number never gets old. Cabaret is still Fosse's masterpiece but this was a more than worthy follow-up. 4.5

[SpelingError]

Hacksaw Ridge (2016) – 1.5

This film should be used as a model example of everything you should avoid when making an anti–war film. This is what results from someone who's clearly never read or understood François Truffaut's musings on anti–war and doesn't understand that the tone of an anti–war film, as well as its themes, both need to be anti–war for this to work. There is a clear disconnect between the excitement and high energy of the action scenes and the anti–war themes which run throughout the film. Not only is the action exciting though, but I'd also describe it as over–the–top given the abundance of slow motion and the occasional ridiculous set pieces such as using a dead soldiers body as a meat shield, destroying entire bunkers with explosives, waves of soldiers being consumed by a wall of fire, or grenades being swatted out of the air (yes, I know Doss actually did this in real life, but not in dramatic slow motion like he did in the film). Simply put, you can't pass your film off as anti–war, while simultaneously including lengthy sequences of action which feel like a blend between a superhero movie and a Zach Snyder film. Granted, virtually all the action occurs in the second half, but the first half didn't impress me much either. The building romance between Doss and Dorothy in the first half hour is hobbled by some cheesy dialogue, much of which comes off as corny pick–up lines taken straight out of a chick flick. On the plus side, the second half hour at the boot camp is probably the strongest portion of the film (or the least glaringly flawed) since the conflict between Doss and the rest of his recruits was somewhat engaging to watch (even though I wasn't in love with this sequence or anything). Also, while I generally don't pay attention to acting, I felt Garfield's soft–spoken voice fit his character really well. As a whole though, the bad far outweighed the good and, given a couple war films we got in the years after this was released like 1917 and All Quiet on the Western Front which actually understood anti–war, this film seems pretty unremarkable and disposable by comparison.

[GulfportDoc]

Sweet and Lowdown (1999)

A faithful biographical drama about Emmet Ray, the "second best" guitarist of his time, in the 1930's. Good movie, something you should see if you're into this historical period. I will definitely watch this movie again.

8/10
'Preciate the recommendation. Haven't seen this since it came out, but I do remember it being good. Looking forward to a re-watch. There are very few of Allen's movies that I didn't like.

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi.guim.co.uk%2Fimg%2Fmedia%2Fefb73c60fa44610d6c25776f89841dc492358816%2F0_122_2339_ 1404%2Fmaster%2F2339.jpg%3Fwidth%3D465%26quality%3D85%26dpr%3D1%26s%3Dnone&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=918e3bf4cef5b414d8580883c4fb6ff8e62e4507ffacaca9eca288d90866fc26&ipo=images

Of an Age, 2022

Kol (Elias Anton) is a recent high school graduate who wakes up to a frantic call from his good friend Ebony (Hattie Hook), his partner for a dance competition. Ebony got trashed and is stranded in the middle of nowhere without her costume or a ride. Already walking a fine line with both their parents, Kol is able to get a ride with Ebony’s brother, Adam (Thom Green), to retrieve Ebony. On the ride, Adam and Kol strike up a flirty relationship that carries through the rest of the day and into the night.

Overall I thought that this was just a lovely film. Yes, the main characters are gay and that involves some specific story elements, but I think that anyone can relate to having had an encounter with someone that settled in your heart and gave you a new sense of the possibility of what your life could be and what kind of love you could receive and be worthy of. No complaints (though boy is Ebony annoying!), and just a lovely film that manages to pack punches all the way to the end credit.

4.5

Full review (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2409644#post2409644)

[PHOENIX74]

https://i.postimg.cc/WzY8j88K/the-red-awn.jpg
By http://ent.tom.com/2007-12-05/001Q/50769605.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16749007

The Red Awn - (2007)

Have not seen many films from China - so few I couldn't even put together a "Top 5", but The Red Awn was a really pleasing film to settle down and watch. Song (Yao Anlian) returns to his home town for the first time in 5 years and finds a son, Yongtao (Lu Yulai) with a burning rage concerning his father - a murderous, all-consuming hatred for the man who has come back with plans to earn money harvesting crops with his son and friend Yongshan's (Shi Junhui) red combine. With modernization threatening to steal away all the customers, a son who's literally trying to kill him, ailing health and a secret lover, Song will be hard pressed to teach his son, and be forgiven his transgressions. If the combine isn't breaking down, then it's Yongtao setting fire to crops - do all wounds heal, or has Song really lost his son forever? A hit at festivals, The Red Awn really hasn't been seen by enough people - it questions the worth of a father leaving the family unit to earn necessary money, but leaving a child directionless and alone. On letterboxd, 17 people have logged this, while another film I watched yesterday but was much inferior, Transformers : Revenge of the Fallen, has been logged by 393,000 people. Where's the sense in that? Where's the balance?

8/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0c/Destination_Tokyo_poster.jpg
By http://www.movieposterdb.com/poster/ffb95e95, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9402033

Destination Tokyo - (1943)

You have to give Destination Tokyo a little slack for being made during the war, but it only needs a little. Cary Grant's speech about young Japanese boys being taught to kill and some of the messages chalked on torpedoes might raise a few eyebrows today, but overall this stands as an eventful submarine film in which you get the thrill of naval combat on a scale that was good for it's day - plenty of models and a shaking camera. Highlights include the appendectomy performed despite no surgeons or doctors being aboard (a worried medic has to read how to perform one in a textbook), sneaky and stabby Japanese airmen who evade capture, depth charges and critical damage, Christmas day aboard a sub, an unexploded bomb stuck in the sub's superstructure, negotiating minefields and a submarine net in Tokyo bay, attacks from the air and more. A young Tony Curtis signed up after seeing this film - not knowing that one day he'd be impersonating Cary Grant in Some Like it Hot and costar with Grant in the submarine movie Operation Petticoat. Made to make the job look like an adventure (Das Boot shows us what it was really like), Destination Tokyo slows down a little during the Tokyo bay segment, but has enough variation to keep things interesting during it's long runtime - most films about subs used this as a starting template. Fun, if a little too lengthy.

7/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/cb/TF2SteelPoster.jpg
By IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22734684

Transformers : Revenge of the Fallen - (2009)

Watching Transformers : Revenge of the Fallen feels like rolling down a rocky hillside inside a barrel filled with bees and cats. It's special effects and explosive action taken to it's absolutely ridiculous and excessive limit - an exercise that proves bigger isn't necessarily better, and probably the biggest (and most successful) Razzie winner for Worst Picture. Underneath the constant noise and motion, there's a sense of humour and a few little clues that people made this, and that there are people in it - but mostly this is what it would be like if your spirit was stuck inside a malfunctioning video game arcade that was on fire.

4/10

[Thief]

THE CONFORMIST
(1970, Bertolucci)

https://i.imgur.com/SYTMEQs.jpg


"I've already repented. I want to be excused by society. Yes. I want to confess today the sin I'll commit tomorrow. One sin atones for another. It is the price I must pay society. And I shall pay it."



Set near the beginning of World War II, The Conformist follows Marcello Clerici (Jean-Louis Trintignant), a Fascist that is instructed to assassinate his former mentor and professor. But things get complicated when he starts a relationship with the professor's wife. Will he pay the price?

Regardless of how much I appreciated its strengths, I still feel like I missed something. Overall, I enjoyed it, but I think that my inability to get into the film's vibe early on hindered its overall effect. Bottom line, this is a film I feel I might or should revisit again at some point to maybe appreciate it more. It is the price I must pay, and I shall pay it.

Grade: 3


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2409673#post2409673)

[Fabulous]

The World of Henry Orient (1964)

3.5

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/jgfhWP1i70niAT3J4JtVpNJRZVm.jpg

[iluv2viddyfilms]

Some catching up from the past week or so...

Tales of Terror - C+
The Tomb of Ligeia - C-
The River's Edge - B+
My Fair Lady - A+
Gone in 60 Seconds (1974) - B-
Senso- A
Shotgun - B-
River of No Return - B+

[skizzerflake]

This is a strange one, from one of my DVD sets, a '50's monster flick, The Monolith Monsters, in which a meteor arrives in the usual southwestern, dusty town. It's carrying some odd rock. Scientists are baffled. What is it? We find out. The rocks grow. Huge. They tumble over, smashing everything in the area. What do you do? What makes them grow?

As these sort of movies go, this one is pretty good. Actors play it straight, nothing hammy. FX are obviously animated (500 foot rocks, growing and toppling over), but quite effective for that era.

What can be worse? When the locals start turning into stone. What will stop it?

It's definitely a B+

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxohSwDFjxg&t=41s

[Citizen Rules]

This is a strange one, from one of my DVD sets, a '50's monster flick, The Monolith Monsters, in which a meteor arrives in the usual southwestern, dusty town. It's carrying some odd rock. Scientists are baffled. What is it? We find out. The rocks grow. Huge. They tumble over, smashing everything in the area. What do you do? What makes them grow?

As these sort of movies go, this one is pretty good. Actors play it straight, nothing hammy. FX are obviously animated (500 foot rocks, growing and toppling over), but quite effective for that era.

What can be worse? When the locals start turning into stone. What will stop it?

It's definitely a B+
The Monolith Monsters (1957) is one of my favorite sci fi flicks from the 1950s. It has more in common with the original The Outer Limits than it does with the run of the mill 50s sci-fi/creature flicks, which I love but admittedly can be over the top. Like you said The Monolith Monsters plays it straight and serious.

[skizzerflake]

The Monolith Monsters (1957) is one of my favorite sci fi flicks from the 1950s. It has more in common with the original The Outer Limits than it does with the run of the mill 50s sci-fi/creature flicks, which I love but admittedly can be over the top. Like you said The Monolith Monsters plays it straight and serious.

Quite true. Like many of the original TOL episodes, the creatures or situation doesn't bear much rational scrutiny, but because of the mood and acting, it works quite well as a drama, like, who would NOT be terrified or confused about growing and falling rocks from outer space.

[Citizen Rules]

Quite true. Like many of the original TOL episodes, the creatures or situation doesn't bear much rational scrutiny, but because of the mood and acting, it works quite well as a drama, like, who would NOT be terrified or confused about growing and falling rocks from outer space.For me it worked quite well as the rocks were a force of nature, like super crystals that grow and grow...Which was much more threatening than some 'walking rock monster with evil plans.'

[Nausicaä]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5b/Pearl_theatricalposter.jpg

3.5

SF = Zzz



[Snooze Factor Ratings]:
Z = didn't nod off at all
Zz = nearly nodded off but managed to stay alert
Zzz = nodded off and missed some of the film but went back to watch what I missed
Zzzz = nodded off and missed some of the film but went back to watch what I missed but nodded off again at the same point and therefore needed to go back a number of times before I got through it...
Zzzzz = nodded off and missed some or the rest of the film but was not interested enough to go back over it

[WHITBISSELL!]

This is a strange one, from one of my DVD sets, a '50's monster flick,

As these sort of movies go, this one is pretty good.

It's definitely a B+



The Monolith Monsters (1957) is one of my favorite sci fi flicks from the 1950s. It has more in common with the original The Outer Limits than it does with the run of the mill 50s sci-fi/creature flicks, which I love but admittedly can be over the top. Like you said The Monolith Monsters plays it straight and serious.Good to see some love for this. After looking for a streaming version for quite awhile I finally ran across a copy. I forget where exactly. I hate it when I do that. :frustrated:

[WHITBISSELL!]

Quite true. Like many of the original TOL episodes, the creatures or situation doesn't bear much rational scrutiny, but because of the mood and acting, it works quite well as a drama, like, who would NOT be terrified or confused about growing and falling rocks from outer space.For me it worked quite well as the rocks were a force of nature, like super crystals that grow and grow...Which was much more threatening than some 'walking rock monster with evil plans.'Plus that whole turning people into living statues.

[Thief]

FLIGHTPLAN
(2005, Schwentke)

https://i.imgur.com/uob4YT6.jpg


"Think about what you're suggesting, captain. That I imagined bringing her on board... and that I'm now pretending to look for her. Does that make any sense? Can you think of a reason why I would do that?"



Flightplan follows Kyle's efforts to find her daughter while also trying to keep her sanity and convince the captain and those around her that the simplest explanation is the right one... or is it the simplest? Because, either there's a conspiracy of some sort involving several people including crew members to kidnap Julia to get something out of Kyle... or she's actually struggling with her sanity and has imagined her daughter getting on the plane and is just now realizing she's actually not there as she pretends to look for her. Does either of these possibilities make any sense?

This is a film that I remember got not so good reviews back in the day, which is probably why I avoided it. With time, it has more or less vanished from the public consciousness, so when Andrew recommended it I thought, did I imagine those bad reviews? I did approach it with little to no expectation which maybe hampered the overall effect a bit. The film feels like a bit of a play on Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes, a film that starts with a similar premise that gets a bit more complex and darker as it goes on. Unfortunately, that's not the case here. Flightplan starts with a mildly intriguing premise that becomes less and less interesting, and more and more generic as it goes on.

Grade: 1.5


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2409759#post2409759)

[Takoma11]

FLIGHTPLAN
(2005, Schwentke)

https://i.imgur.com/uob4YT6.jpg




Flightplan follows Kyle's efforts to find her daughter while also trying to keep her sanity and convince the captain and those around her that the simplest explanation is the right one... or is it the simplest? Because, either there's a conspiracy of some sort involving several people including crew members to kidnap Julia to get something out of Kyle... or she's actually struggling with her sanity and has imagined her daughter getting on the plane and is just now realizing she's actually not there as she pretends to look for her. Does either of these possibilities make any sense?

I liked Flightplan okay. But for a much, much better take on the premise, check out Bunny Lake is Missing.

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/faf94fe676d3824c25cb4731fc55a304/bf31c1a559d41d4d-fa/s1280x1920/eea00b24fa9a14f1fae069ddc342710c7a742369.gifv
https://64.media.tumblr.com/87d3cbeb21b21987af62dbbb2df4129c/6e3d493ab5c390cd-bc/s540x810/f59ef4badbeca86ec993060bb1f11ce037d38a89.gifv

The Pale Blue Eye - There are a number of things to like about this movie despite it coming and going without much fanfare. Christian Bale inhabits his role as is usually the case. But it's Harry Melling that surprises you. Outside of his numerous appearances in the Harry Potter films I've only ever seen him in this and in a much smaller role in The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. But in both those instances he turned in quietly memorable performances. And any actor who can hold his own alongside Bale is someone to be reckoned with. I only hope he gets more chances at juicy roles like this one.

Bale plays Detective Augustus Landor who has been summoned by the commanding officer at West Point Academy to investigate the hanging death of a young cadet. Suicides don't usually necessitate far-reaching investigations but someone has crept in and removed the corpses heart. During his initial inquiries Landor happens across another young underclassman who makes quite an impression by presenting his own unique but fanciful take on the crime. The cadet turns out to be a young Edgar Allan Poe (Melling). I kept waiting for him to put his foot wrong or misstep but he showed remarkable restraint in his characterization.

There were also not one but two curveballs having to do with the casting when I failed to recognize an actress whose work I make a point of taking note of. And there was also my complete failure to realize that another supporting character was played by one of the most well known and legendary actors of all time. I won't give away who it was just in case anyone else should watch this in the future.

The cinematography and location shooting contribute mightily to the overall atmosphere. It put me in mind of Sleepy Hollow even though neither project was actually filmed in the Hudson Valley. There are the usual third act hiccups and the viewer is asked to follow along unquestioningly while red herrings and a final twist is thrown at them. But all in all this is a story that more people should be made aware of. Recommended.

80/100

[Gideon58]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3d/Red_white_and_royal_blue_film.png

4

[LChimp]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNTBmMTIyZWItZTFjYi00ZjliLWEzNzgtOGFlMzEwOGM0YzIyXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTA3MDk2NDg2._V1_.jpg

Kinda bland story wise, but I liked the fight scenes. I thought it was a little more serious, I didn't watch any trailers.

[Takoma11]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3d/Red_white_and_royal_blue_film.png

4

This looks adorable. Saving it for a rainy day.

[GulfportDoc]

This is a strange one, from one of my DVD sets, a '50's monster flick, The Monolith Monsters, in which a meteor arrives in the usual southwestern, dusty town. It's carrying some odd rock. Scientists are baffled. What is it? We find out. The rocks grow. Huge. They tumble over, smashing everything in the area. What do you do? What makes them grow?

As these sort of movies go, this one is pretty good. Actors play it straight, nothing hammy. FX are obviously animated (500 foot rocks, growing and toppling over), but quite effective for that era.

What can be worse? When the locals start turning into stone. What will stop it?

It's definitely a B+
Can't remember if I ever saw this one! I looked it up, and noticed that it has Lola Albright in it. She was my serious heart throb from watching the series "Peter Gunn". She was the sexiest and most alluring woman on TV from 1958 to 1961. Hell, she may STILL be...:cool:

[Allaby]

Black Legion (1937) Bogart is excellent in this well written and interesting film. 4

[Gideon58]

It was adorable

[skizzerflake]

Can't remember if I ever saw this one! I looked it up, and noticed that it has Lola Albright in it. She was my serious heart throb from watching the series "Peter Gunn". She was the sexiest and most alluring woman on TV from 1958 to 1961. Hell, she may STILL be...:cool:

Yeah, I noted her appearance and it was good.

[skizzerflake]

Good to see some love for this. After looking for a streaming version for quite awhile I finally ran across a copy. I forget where exactly. I hate it when I do that. :frustrated:

It was included in a 5 movie collection, The Classic Sci Fi Ultimate Collection, which also had another favorite creature feature, Tatantula, in which a different dusty southwestern town is attacked by the titular 200 foot spider.

[Gideon58]

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/aZxMccR8ac78GQpjC7hApQmqHQ.jpg

4

[Thief]

THE GUARDIAN
(1990, Friedkin)

https://i.imgur.com/GvWVCq8.jpg


"I hope you never have to wake up and find out your worst nightmare is real."



The Guardian follows Phil and Kate (Dwier Brown and Carey Lowell), a young married couple that is going through some changes: Phil was just hired for a new job, they just moved to Los Angeles, and they're about to have a baby. Their worst nightmare, though, is that Camilla (Jenny Seagrove), their lovely new nanny, is actually a supernatural being that sacrifices babies to a tree entity.

Director William Friedkin certainly has a talent for building atmosphere and dread; whether it is in The Exorcist or Killer Joe, or Sorcerer which I just saw earlier this month. His films always give you that sense of uneasiness and danger to its characters, whether that danger is spiritual, human, or in this case, supernatural.

Grade: 2


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2409849#post2409849)