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I watched Nightbreed today. I know there is someone on the forum that mentions it a lot and is a big fan, but I don't recall who it is. Sorry to say this didn't do much for me and was very underwhelming.




Destination Murder (1950)

A pure “B” noir, directed by one of the Kings of the “B” movies, Edward L. Cahn (The Dead End Kids, many 50s sci-fi films), is both fun and a little preposterous in equal measure.

Cahn probably never directed a movie that ran longer than 60-75 minutes, and this one is no exception. A hit man leaves a theater at intermission to murder a man whose wife sees escaping the yard. Later she suspects the perpetrator in a line-up, but after feigning ignorance, allows the same man to drive her home. When the man leaves the premises in the same fashion, she knows he is the killer.

The wrong man is charged with the crime by the local detective chief. Meanwhile even though the widow continues to date the killer, she develops a romantic interest in the local crime boss. There follows plenty of double dealing, and even introducing a second femme fatale, as the plot continues to convolute. Naturally it’s all wrapped up in the end, with the bad guys getting their just desserts. The ending provides a surprising, almost surreal finale, as the woman takes an interest in yet another man…

Fun parts are provided to Stanley Clements (The Bowery Boys), the lovely Joyce MacKenzie (The Racket), and the quixotic darkly handsome Hurd Hatfield (The Picture of Dorian Gray). They perform ably as characters that slightly strain credulity.

Many of the studios during that era were churning out these noirs referred to as “crime films”, and it’s easy to see how a good number of them were destined for double feature bills, which was popular at the time, at least up through the 1950s. This is a prime example.
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I forgot the opening line.

By https://www.ucalgary.ca/~tstronds/no...m/TheNews.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34273437

Stalker - (1979) - U.S.S.R.

This was a hell of a thing. I wasn't sure how I felt about Stalker as I watched it last night. It defies any expectations you might have. Then I watched an interview with Geoff Dyer, author of Zone : A Book About a Film About a Journey to a Room. He hated the film the first time he saw it - then on subsequent rewatches he kept on seeing more and more in it, up to the point where his fandom in relation to this film has become his whole life. This is that kind of movie. The fact that it starts sepia-toned and then turns to colour when the three main characters enter the zone had me trying to relate everything in it to The Wizard of Oz. Maybe the professor needs a brain? The stalker a heart? The writer definitely needed some courage. But all of that kind of broke down as the film went on. All of my analyzing broke down. But man oh man, I want to watch this a few times. Most, if not all, foreign language countdown films I've watched recently will probably draw a 10/10 rating from me as time goes on.

8/10

Foreign language countdown films seen : 44/101


Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20131670

The Warriors - (1979)

I can't believe I'd never seen this film before. It's a great John Carpenter-type action film where an unarmed gang have to fight their way home after an every-gang-in-New York conference goes awry and someone is killed. It's very stylized fast-paced and well-crafted. I'd recommend it to anyone that likes films such as Escape From New York and Assault on Precinct 13. Not to be confused with the 1979 gang film The Wanderers (which is what this stupid idiot did.)

7/10
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Latest Review : Le Circle Rouge (1970)




28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
Dear Evan Hansen

Here is a troubling film that tries to deal with some pretty dark topics. Teen suicide is told through the eyes of a depressed kid...but it's a musical.

The obvious age problem aside, my main issue with this film is the lack of consequences it has for Evan. He has social anxiety and is put in an awkward situation when the parents of the dead kid think he was friends with their son. Instead of correcting them or letting it slide and never speaking of it again, he goes headfirst into this fake life where he was the only friend of this disturbed individual. He even uses these lies to get with the dead kid's sister, whom he has had a crush on for a while. Once his lies unravel around him towards the end of the film, nothing really happens. In a high school setting, if someone did this they would be target #1. Yet all the film is interested in showing us as consequences for his disturbing actions is that people give him scowls. To me, it felt misguided.

Aspects of the film that kind of work involve the dangerous use of social media. How one misguided act can ruin or destroy lives and how the internet is ready to be venomous to anyone at any given time no matter what. It can be an extremely powerful tool for good and raising awareness, as depicted in the film, but it can also tear down grieving family members when you can be anonymous behind a keyboard. A rather unintentionally funny sequence involving people supporting Evan pops up halfway through the film, it involves social media.

The music is pretty good, but not the type you want to tap your toes to. I wish they didn't use some of the music for the intensely emotional scenes, they needed to play on the strengths of the actors and not the talents of the singing. It took me out of the emotional moment when someone is confronted with the truth and then all of a sudden he breaks out into song.

Dear Evan Hansen has people up in arms about a lot of things, it's not great, but it's not a total trainwreck either.

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Suspect's Reviews



Tonight's interesting movie - I'm Your Man - Directed by Maria Schrader - It's a German language sci-fi-rom-com from the Greenwich Village studio Bleeker Street, also partly filmed in Denmark...about as hybrid as you can get. It was a good night to be downtown, actually going to a theater, having some tacos in the food hall, seeing a "foreign" movie.

It's an interesting variation on the artificial human theme that originated with Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and has been re-done numerous times. In this case, it's a handsome faux-lover, pursuing a woman whose hopes have diminished. Now and again, he needs a re-boot or a software upgrade, but he's smart, sensitive and "willing".

I enjoyed it and would like to see it again. It was subtitled, but with my family-aquired feel for German dialog, I was trying to catch speech and subtitles at the same time and missed some of the jokes. It's really quite smart, with likable characters and a benign story.




6/10 ive never seen the sapranos but a friend is a big fan and wanted to see this in the theater. The cold violence didnt sit right with me and Maybe i would have liked better if i saw the series.







Film about Karen Silkwood, a union negotiator for a plutonium processing plant, who was getting ready to expose all kinds of shady shenanigans within the plant when things start going terribly bad for her. I usually enjoy these "true" stories about exposing corruption (China Syndrome, All the Presidents Men, Erin Brokovich) and this is on par with them.







This film deserved a better poster. A mixture of Aztec Mayan Apocalypto with martial arts from all Asia, a great mixture, punches, every kind of swords, smoke bombs, you name it. This movie has it all, it doesn't lack a thing: the action is great, the script is very good, there's vengeance, tears, emotion, the acting is on point, the costumes, the ambiance, the mysticism, the shamanism, the cinematography. Sadly, it's the only Ong Bak that worth the watch, the rest is Jackie Chan type film with Tony Jaa.



THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK

Loved it. I’ve heard some say it doesn’t standalone. I don’t think it should or needs to. It builds and connects to the Sopranos story magnificently and slips you back into that world like a warm bath. Outstanding performances and writing abound.




Women will be your undoing, Pépé




Panic in the Streets (1950)
+++ Director Elia Kazan is someone I've scarcely touched the surface of exploration. While rummaging about on his film list, this one truly caught my eye, being a lesser-known, hidden gem that stood out to me.
Kazan's penchant for the seedier of human aspects as well as the talent, insight, and realistic perspective while at the same time delivering the beauty of the beast onto celluloid is that of a true craftsman. The drama he is capable of drawing out of his actors is incredible.
And this is no exception.

What would become a practical checklist for Clock Running thrillers for so many modern films, Kazan's almost noirish approach brings a gravitas that so many attempts but rarely achieve.
Found at the docks in New Orleans is a dead immigrant with two bullet holes in him. What initially appears as murder is quickly discovered that the dead man would have been just as dead because he was carrying the pneumonic plague. Enter Richard Widmark as gung-ho Health Official, Lt. Cmdr. Clinton Reed. Hellbent to find the killer(s) within 48 hours. Not for Justice, but to stop the plague from spreading. An uninvited partner to Paul Douglas' Capt. Tom Warren of the New Orleans Police. There is a kind of Buddy Cop relationship going on as they bang heads and earn each other's respect as they set out on the trail, both taught with tension and done with realism and true leg-work.
An additional aspect that I truly enjoyed (along with everything else) was seeing Jack Palance as Blackie and his subordinate, Zero Mostel, in a serious role as Raymond Fitch. Two of the three men responsible and thereby sought out by Reed and Capt. Warren.
Palance is the epitome of menace, and most times that I've seen his early work, his screen time is somewhat limited and given little to say or do but BE menacing. But here, holy crap, the man is given plenty to say and do, and he utterly f@ckin shines doing it.
The pacing is pretty impeccable as the tension builds and the Search draws to a climactic end.

For anyone who enjoys an Old School Thriller done right, without all the outlandish, over-the-top procedures of most modern versions, I HIGHLY recommend this.
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I watched Nightbreed today. I know there is someone on the forum that mentions it a lot and is a big fan, but I don't recall who it is. Sorry to say this didn't do much for me and was very underwhelming.
Lol that might be me, but the movie in question is Nightbeast. Slightly different title.


I do like Nightbreed. It's uneven, especially in terms of the monster design, but I like its ambition. I wrote a review in the horror thread once, let me link it here: https://www.movieforums.com/reviews/...ightbreed.html



Women will be your undoing, Pépé




The Croods: A New Age (2020)
An equal to its predecessor, which I was astonished that I ended up enjoying it AS MUCH as I did.
The neanderthal family, in all their feral hilarity; Nicholas Cage's over-the-top intensity is gold as the father of the pack. Cloris Leachman is the manic grandma/mother in law and Emma Stone, like so many things, nails the teenage warrior daughter that falls in love with the next step in the Revolution Ladder, Guy (Ryan Reynolds).
For this sequel, Dreamworks has adopted a "Hillbilly Clan meet Hipster Comune" setting. Bringing in Peter Dinklage to play Phil Betterman. The mom, dad, and daughter knew Guy as a small child when the Tar Pits took his parents.

The humor is explosive and frenetic. The animation color scheme is bold, the characters are easily endearing and wonderfully outrageous, resulting in a fun romp of a sequel.







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




Can't say I really liked it but I also couldn't stop watching it. Really nice looking, B&W film from South African about a teacher who has a relationship with a student and things go from bad to worse. Told from the teachers POV so we are in on his hallucinations/ nightmares which get confusing at times. Kind of slow moving, arty film but it's one of those that if you hang around long enough you want to see how it ends.



26th Hall of Fame (REWATCH)

Daisies (1966) -


So far, this film has been pretty love-it-or-hate-it amongst us. Personally, I enjoyed the film quite a lot when I watched it a few years ago and was looking forward to revisiting it. In spite of a couple reservations I have with it, I thought it held up quite well. To get my issues out of the way, I think the delivery of its themes can get a bit Nolan-y from time to time, like the opening conversation between the two women which spells its themes out as blatantly as possible. For the most part, the film maintains a playful atmosphere, but I did have to jump through a couple hurdles here and there to get the full benefit of that. Also, the shifts from black and white to color and the changing camera filters felt unnecessary and, though I was initially intrigued by them, they grew rather repetitive given how much they were utilized. For the most part though, I found this film to be a compelling critique of patriarchal roles and an effective portrait of feminist rebellion. Instead of beating you over the head with these themes (again, for the most part), Chytilová uses those themes as building blocks for a variety of fun sequences of the two women annoying people around them with their antics, starting romances with various men only to dump them soon afterwards, a highly suggestive scene of them cutting up phallic foods, or the climactic feast sequence. While this film may be too weird for some people, there's a strong sense of playfulness to this weirdness which should make it an easy watch if you go into it with the right set of expectations. While I didn't love this film, I thought it was pretty good and I'm glad I had a chance to rewatch it.
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Slashlorette Party (2020). Directed by Paul Ragsdale and Angelica De Alba, this horror film is about a co-ed bachelorette party where the guests start getting killed off. I enjoyed this a lot. It has a 80s throwback feel to it. There are entertaining kills, some laughs, and even a little nice nudity to spice things up. I thought the performances were fun too. My only complaint is the ending felt anti-climatic and could have been much better. Still, I had a pretty good time up until that point. If you like fun slashers, this is worth checking out. Currently streaming on Amazon Prime.