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World Without End - I'm always getting Hugh Marlowe and Richard Carlson confused. Marlowe stars along with Rod Taylor in this lightweight 1956 sci-fi as astronauts mapping the surface of Mars. To clarify, Marlowe is probably best known for playing Patricia Neal's boyfriend in The Day the Earth Stood Still and for Earth vs. the Flying Saucers. Carlson was in Creature from the Black Lagoon (along with ... wait for it ... Whit Bissell!) and It Came from Outer Space.

Anyway, on the way back to Earth the four man crew is caught in a time warp. You can tell because there are 4th of July sparklers and the model ship wiggles around like it’s suspended on wires. Probably because it is. They land on a planet that looks remarkably like Earth, because it is Earth. Or rather a future earth with Cyclopean cavemen types who take an immediate dislike to the newly arrived visitors. The crew takes shelter in a cave where they discover another civilization living underground. It apparently consists of super models in cocktail dresses and stilettos while the men run around in tights and shiny skullcaps. The statuesque women go crazy over the supposedly virile newcomers because their males are weak and can’t kill spiders or something. This is silly nonsense even by 50’s standards and is maybe targeted at adolescent boys. Watch it just to be able to say you did. 60/100



Bright light. Bright light. Uh oh.
Originally Posted by WHITBISSELL!
I'm always getting Hugh Marlowe and Richard Carlson confused.
ha ha, same here. If I ever find a film with both of them in it my brain will melt.
Only if you watch the war propaganda For God and Country (1943).
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L'isola degli uomini pesce (1979)
aka Island of the Fishmen, Screamers, etc.

Surprisingly entertaining pulp adventure that isn't ashamed of being just that. Italian horror meets The Island of Dr. Moreau meets the adventures of Jules de Grandin. Not for the art film snobs, but a pretty decent option for those looking for entertainment.
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Vincent N Roxxy (2016)

A decent film that cried out for a better story and storyline. It's simplicity ultimately undermines it as there is no real depth in the story. Wanted to like this more than I did but it drifted off into very predictable territory.






Carol, 2015

Aspiring photographer Therese (Rooney Mara) works in a department store and it is clear that her life is missing something. Then, one day, she crosses paths with Carol (Cate Blanchett), an older woman in the middle of a tense separation and custody dispute with her husband. As Therese and Carol tentatively explore their romance, the forbidden nature of their love (the film is set in the 50s) threatens both of their well-being.

One of the most captivating things about the movie is how embedded the filming is with the character of Therese, and specifically how the camera takes us inside her point of view at times. The first time she sees Carol the camera moves past her, but then comes back to find her. My favorite shot came toward the end, when something that I thought was a "neutral" shot suddenly began to move, and I realized that we were inside Therese's point of view. Through this subjective camera, we are able to understand Therese's adoration (and intimidation!) in regard to Carol, who is this glamorous, mature woman.

From a storytelling point of view, something I really appreciated was that Therese's attraction to Carol is not presented as an alternative to horrible men, or something she's driven toward by abuse. Therese has two, by almost any standard, really nice guys in her life. The first is her boyfriend, Richard (Jake Lacy), and it only takes a few scenes to understand that he is steering their relationship while she is in cruise control, passively allowing him to make decisions (and assumptions) about where they are going. Therese also has a friend, Dannie, who encourages her in her photography and is pretty perceptive. The closest thing that the film has to a "bad" male character is Carol's husband, Harge (Ron Livingston), but even he is regarded with a degree of sympathy. Carol being forced to deny "her grain" puts her and her husband and their child in a hard situation. It's true that Harge uses his social leverage to punish Carol for leaving him, but the film makes space to acknowledge his feelings. (At the same time, the film doesn't sugarcoat just how horrible it is for Carol that being gay makes her an "unfit parent").

Performance-wise, it's all very strong across the board. Blanchett's performance is pretty masterful: a woman who is so used to performance, that everything she does has an air of calculation. Words chosen very carefully. Furtive glances around a restaurant. When she finally begins to loosen up, you watch as carefully cultivated mannerisms fall away just a little bit.

It's also worth mentioning Sarah Paulson's performance as Abby, Carol's lover before she met Harge. Carol and Abby have become confidants--something that speaks to their chemistry but also to the challenge of finding a queer ally in such a closeted situation. She's a great character because she serves as an interesting counter-point to both Harge and Therese, and gives Carol some much needed background.

My one complaint would be that at times the film gets too drawn in to Carol and Harge's separation. The film feels incredibly grounded in its scenes with Therese, and her burgeoning awareness of the structure of her own life. Scenes of Carol working things out with her lawyer advance the literal plot, but they pull away from the Therese's arc.

Overall a lovely little film with strong performances and a compelling story.




Glad you liked this. I thought it was pretty darn good.
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'Beanpole' (2019)

Kantemir Balagov



It's incredible that a 27 year old has enough guile to make any feature film yet alone one this good. And it's Kantemir Balagov's second feature. How does one so young get the life experience, technical know how, intellect, ideas and confidence to accomplish this project? I have no idea.

It's a tale of two women rebuilding their life after the war in the barren, torn apart Stalingrad, but could also be an analogy for how the city or even Russia itself begins to heal wounds and give itself new life after conflict. The film is bathed in a rich green colour palette to perhaps symbolise peace / fertility / hope / a new era etc. The performances by Viktoria Miroshnichenko and Vasilisa Perelygina are completely off the charts. They portray these broken women searching for any way to become fixed, if that's even possible. A search for new life after all the death they must have encountered.

Although the final 20 minutes is a tiny bit flawed, this is a stunning piece of work by someone who's seemingly one of the most promising young directors around.




You’re the disease, and I’m the cure.
Caddyshack (1980):
A classic comedy which started off the film careers of such legends such as Bill Murray, Chevy Chase, and Rodney Dangerfield. Without this film the comedy genre would be much different. Harold Ramis, Brian Doyle-Murray and Doug Kenney put together a great script that is immensely quotable.
9.5/10
National Lampoon's Vacation (1983):
Harold Ramis and John Hughes put together one of the greatest Road Trip comedies of all time, aged quite well and filled with cameos throughout by many SCTV and SNL cast members such as Brian Doyle- Murray, John Candy, Randy Quaid, and Eugene Levy.
9.5/10
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'Beanpole' (2019)

Kantemir Balagov



It's incredible that a 27 year old has enough guile to make any feature film yet alone one this good. And it's Kantemir Balagov's second feature. How does one so young get the life experience, technical know how, intellect, ideas and confidence to accomplish this project? I have no idea.

It's a tale of two women rebuilding their life after the war in the barren, torn apart Stalingrad, but could also be an analogy for how the city or even Russia itself begins to heal wounds and give itself new life after conflict. The film is bathed in a rich green colour palette to perhaps symbolise peace / fertility / hope / a new era etc. The performances by Viktoria Miroshnichenko and Vasilisa Perelygina are completely off the charts. They portray these broken women searching for any way to become fixed, if that's even possible. A search for new life after all the death they must have encountered.

Although the final 20 minutes is a tiny bit flawed, this is a stunning piece of work by someone who's seemingly one of the most promising young directors around.


For a while, this film was everywhere I looked but regretfully I never actually took the opportunity to watch it. Will get round to it soon enough. Was waiting on your endorsement






For a while, this film was everywhere I looked but regretfully I never actually took the opportunity to watch it. Will get round to it soon enough. Was waiting on your endorsement
It's a cracker in my opinion.





A sanitized version of the book. Usually I prefer the movie to the book, but the reverse is true in this case. Worth seeing, but it skirted around many parts of the book.



Re-watch. Still a very good movie.
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It Came from Beneath the Sea - Ray Harryhausen's six tentacled (budget constraints) giant octopus is the primary reason to watch this. Because outside of that it doesn't have all that much to offer. The casting is solid enough with sci-fi stalwart Kenneth Tobey, along with Faith Domergue and Donald Curtis. The three form this amorphous kind of romantic triangle which fills in all the non-octopus moments. Unfortunately it's kind of perfunctory even for one of these fill-some-screentime romances. Script-wise Domergue isn't given much help with her character. Even though she's supposed to be a respected researcher in her field she's portrayed as an indecisive vamp who's not above using her "feminine wiles". It's aggressively 50's with only Harryhausen's marvelous creation to satisfy the viewer. Which is thankfully enough. 65/100



It Came from Beneath the Sea - Ray Harryhausen's six tentacled (budget constraints) giant octopus is the primary reason to watch this. Because outside of that it doesn't have all that much to offer. The casting is solid enough with sci-fi stalwart Kenneth Tobey, along with Faith Domergue and Donald Curtis. The three form this amorphous kind of romantic triangle which fills in all the non-octopus moments. Unfortunately it's kind of perfunctory even for one of these fill-some-screentime romances. Script-wise Domergue isn't given much help with her character. Even though she's supposed to be a respected researcher in her field she's portrayed as an indecisive vamp who's not above using her "feminine wiles". It's aggressively 50's with only Harryhausen's marvelous creation to satisfy the viewer. Which is thankfully enough. 65/100
I would have liked this one a lot more if it wasn't for the sexism. It's bad even for the time. The scene where the lady says she doesn't want to dance, or something, and the guy says not to lister to her to the other guy. Urrrgh. Harryhausen's movies otherwise always come through as upper tier 50's sci-fi. Not sure why, but they always have above average production quality.



I would have liked this one a lot more if it wasn't for the sexism. It's bad even for the time. The scene where the lady says she doesn't want to dance, or something, and the guy says not to lister to her to the other guy.
Or the scene where she gets the crewman from the sunken freighter to talk by doing everything but fluttering her eyelashes at him. Hard not to notice.



That’s my point.

‘Like’ is not the word. I thought whoever the **** is in charge of this universe has never before, or since, produced anything as supremely perfect.

P.S. not that I’m expecting that profound an impact on Takoma - @Takoma11, please tell me you’re not mad at me
Eh, I see no reason to think that @Takoma11 wouldn't love it the same as anyone else. I know she was hesitant to start it because of the vocal (but very small) minority of Skyler-manhaters out there, when those guys completely missed the point of the show anyway (that Walter is the real bad guy in the end); it's like not wanting to check out Taxi Driver despite all the praise for that movie just because a few people somehow manage to idolize Travis. It's like, did you guys watch the same movie that I did?



Eh, I see no reason to think that @Takoma11 wouldn't love it the same as anyone else. I know she was hesitant to start it because of the vocal (but very small) minority of Skyler-manhaters out there, when those guys completely missed the point of the show anyway (that Walter is the real bad guy in the end); it's like not wanting to check out Taxi Driver despite all the praise for that movie just because a few people somehow manage to idolize Travis. It's like, did you guys watch the same movie that I did?
Hmm, my communications skills this week have already proven... limited, and were less than 24 hours in?.. Basically, I’d beg to differ, but this probably isn’t the place or time. I’m no incel Walter White fan, but god, I hated Skyler. I would more or less agree that she works as a character to propel the plot - and everything in that show is meticulously done - but I really truly disliked every bit of her, and I dare you to tell me how on Earth that means I missed ‘the point of the show’. It’s a personal experience of the character, in the end.

As for @Takoma11, I was joking - of course Takoma probably appreciates more things than I do. If something is brilliant, I doubt that disagreeing with it ideologically can really ruin the enjoyment. (Takoma, do show your face when you feel like it, as I feel a bit awkward talking about you in third person.)

P.S. Far more importantly, ‘You’ is no ‘Breaking Bad’. My original post was about the potential impact of ‘You’ on Takoma, which I couldn’t possibly compare on the impact ‘Breaking Bad’ had on me.

ADMIN EDIT: continued in the Breaking Bad thread, here: https://www.movieforums.com/communit...53#post2149053