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Track the Films You Watch (2010) - Page 8

post #211 of 1166
2/14/10 at 5:55am
A Serious Man (2009)

This is a  movie that left me with quite a few questions. It's already been described so I won't do that here. I'm not sure I cared that much for it but I recognize it's well acted and well done. It certainly one I need to watch again.

Adam (2009)

This is a story of a romance involving a young man with Asperger's Syndrome and his neighbour who recently moved into the apartment above him. Adam always relied on his father for guidance and to help organize his life. After his father's death, Adam is at a loss until he meets his upstairs neighbour Beth and transfers that reliance unto  her.
Though I enjoyed the movie I felt Rose Byrne's character was mainly unsympathetic so it was difficult to relate to her and her relationship with Adam. Hugh Dancy though, who plays Adam gave an excellent, well studied performance of a young man suffering from Asperger's and the problems that develop with that syndrome. Good for a one time watch. 

Time Traveller's Wife (2009)

Henry is a research librarian who is approached one day by a young woman Clare who claims to know him and knows about his genetic anomaly, that of time travelling. She tells him that she met his future self, his older self in the past when she was a little girl and gradually over the years she falls in love with him. If this premise sounds confusing it is with Henry in the future at one moment and then the past. After awhile you forget which is the present. One thing though, this was a very effective romantic but sad tale despite the confusing plot. Kudos to Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana for their great chemistry and making me feel so much.

Thaw (2009)

Mediocre horror thriller about a deadly parasite that is found up in the Arctic that spreads by infecting the host and laying eggs. This movie did have a couple of good scenes with mostly mediocre acting. Val Kilmer as the lead scientist is mostly wasted here. There are better global warming stories than this.
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post #212 of 1166
2/14/10 at 6:27am
02/08/10: ISLAND OF CRIME (Gianfranco Mingozzi, 1967)
 
The only other Mingozzi movie I had watched was the notorious if atypical Nunsploitationer FLAVIA, THE HERETIC (1974); this is a similarly serious effort to treat the kidnapping racket that was apparently rife in Sardinia at the time – in this respect, it is only borderline “Euro-Cult”, still, the opportunity to be controversial was not shunned (as can be seen from the very first scene in which a car gratuitously smashes into a herd of sheep, mowing down one and crippling another!). The film starts with the abduction of the son of an eminent member of society while he is taking a country-side trip in his car (accompanied by a foreign student, played by Charlotte Rampling); the odd way it all happens, with almost a business-like symbiosis between criminals (hidden away in the mountains) and victim, perplexes the girl (who is left behind). Of course, she tries to dig into the matter but finds nothing but opposition – from authorities, locals and even the man’s own family and best friend Franco Nero! Eventually, it transpires that the whole was an elaborate land-grabbing scheme – with the strings being pulled by one of their own (i.e. the landowners); even so, when he gets too big for his boots – since the man starts eyeing not just land ripe for grazing (which he used to sell for peanuts to the bandits) but seaside property for the raising of hotels and such, his own collaborators turn on him!; the latter had actually been alerted to this fact by Nero, who arranges for himself to be kidnapped in order to rout the guilty party – though, when embarking on this mission, he was unaware that his pal had innocently fallen in a skirmish between kidnappers and Police. The finale, then, sees the villain literally being ‘taken for a ride’ by Nero and the dead boy’s family…with Rampling once again stranded unable to comprehend a way of life still so primitive and obviously different to her own (which is the true raison d’etre of the film – apart from the human/political drama being depicted, with its expected cinematic interpolations of suspense, action and even a little romance).
 
 
02/09/10: THE FLOWER WITH THE PETALS OF STEEL (Gianfranco Piccioli, 1973)
 
Being a latter-day entry in Carroll Baker’s Italian giallo tenure, coupled with its essential lack of reputation (probably ascribed to the involvement of an obscure director – one of only three he helmed), I was surprised to learn that the title under review was held in higher esteem by the “Cult Filmz” website than the American star’s renowned collaborations with Umberto Lenzi; in hindsight, I agree with this estimation, since I had always found that series of movies average at best (though, in all fairness, I still have one more to check out i.e. SO SWEET…SO PERVERSE [1969] and which I will do presently). Incidentally, despite her top billing, Baker is not the protagonist of the film – in fact, she is just one among a bevy of fetching females with whom leading man Gianni Garko interacts (in more ways than one) throughout. This suggests a reasonably convoluted plotline and, in fact, the revelation offered here is among the wildest (as the whole resolves itself with a bit of lesbian underwater sex!) I have seen within this genre…though I felt the added ironic twist (which sees the culprits not getting away with it after all) unwarranted and a miscalculation! For the record, two other unexpected elements here are the sheer fact that a surgeon would allow himself such an impossibly intricate love life, which would surely prevent him from functioning properly within his chosen – and ultra-delicate – profession, and also that the (hardly handsome) cop on the trail of the assassin would fall for one of the suspects, the not-so-young-anymore Baker (whose drop in stature in this case eventually numbers her among the murder victims themselves)! While the film maintains a frustratingly unhurried pace – albeit offset by a good Marcello Giombini score – along the way, like I said earlier, the premise is woolly enough to keep one engrossed trying to unravel it!; by the way, the subject of the Argento-like title is the weapon that unwittingly brings about the original killing (which party’s face is cleverly concealed until the climax).

02/10/10: THUNDER FROM THE WEST (Leopoldo Savona, 1969)
 
An obscure but fairly decent WWII actioner that has recently been shown on late-night Italian TV; the cast is made up of some moderately familiar faces like Gianni (1972’s NIGHT OF THE DEVILS) Garko, Irina (1962’s THE LONGEST DAY) Demick and Horst (1971’s THE CAT O’NINE TAILS) Frank. Garko plays an Italian agent who doubles as a neutral Swiss citizen in his mission to track down the leader of the Hungarian resistance; Demick is a Jewish member of the Resistance who meets (and beds!) Garko on the initial train journey; and Frank is the proverbial Gestapo sourpuss who hounds both Garko (of whose mission and true identity he is obviously unaware) and Demick (for her unfortunate heritage). Besides, Garko’s long-lost flame (the ailing Resistance leader’s nurse) and a duplicitous female partisan are also added to the fray – the latter also managing to convince a practically converted Garko to diffuse an explosives-laden bridge! The tragic ending sees the nurse being shot in front of Garko’s own eyes and the latter ironically expiring at the hands of the partisans themselves when they mistake him for – of all people – the hated (and recently deceased) Frank! Apart from the war sequences and the various car chases, much of the fun to be had here is attributable to the confrontations between Garko and Frank; amusingly enough, director Savona – of whose films I am familiar with just THE MONGOLS (1961) and BYLETH – IL DEMONE DELL’ INCESTO (1972) – also makes use of much (and, in my opinion, irrelevant) combat stock footage throughout...including at the film’s very coda!  
 
 
02/10/10: SO SWEET, SO DEAD (Roberto Bianchi Montero, 1972)
 
This is yet another giallo helmed by a little-known director; the suggestive but actually deceptive original title, which translates to REVELATIONS OF A SEX MANIAC TO THE CHIEF OF THE MOBILE SQUAD, would lead one to believe that this is very low-brow stuff indeed – however, the end result (propelled by a pounding Giorgio Gaslini score) is not bad at all. Besides, there is a good cast on hand: the obligatory American ‘star’ is once again Farley Granger (looking remarkably more mature than in SOMETHING IS CREEPING IN THE DARK [1971]), but then we have what can best be described as cameos by “Euro-Cult” regular Silvano Tranquilli and three of its luscious starlets – Sylva Koscina (playing Granger’s wife), Femi Benussi and Susan Scott; all the females are made to shed their clothes, with the latter two even involved in surprisingly explicit sex scenes! Incidenatlly, along with STRIP NUDE FOR YOUR KILLER (1975; also with Benussi), this was the most erotically-oriented genre effort I have watched so far; in fact, the movie under review was subsequently re-assembled and distributed as outright hard-core material under the moniker PENETRATIONS (but Granger understandably – and successfully – sued the producers over it)! The plot sees the traditional black-gloved killer targeting a small town’s apparently unending population of cheating wives (leaving as calling-card photos of them caught in flagrante, albeit with their respective partners’ face clinically erased); in this respect, it also emerges as one of the more moralistic giallo entries (at least, this time around one is spared the usual pursuit of the proceeds of either an inheritance or an insurance policy!). By the way, the film even foregoes the last-minute explanation of the killer’s motives which concludes (unsatisfactorily) many a giallo – though, in view of just this unexpected striving for satirical relevance (which proves rather vapid nevertheless, given the sheerly exploitative elements by which it is surrounded), here was perhaps a case where one would have liked to know what made this particular person tick (a gratuitously deranged morgue attendant had been made to fit the bill all along, but the real culprit was not too far off the mark anyway)!!

Edited by Mario Gauci - 2/14/10 at 1:10pm
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post #213 of 1166
2/14/10 at 8:52pm
The Magic Flute (rewatch) - "Charming" is not a word you usually associate with Ingmar Bergman. A couple of his comedies and the Ekdahl gatherings in Fanny & Alexander, maybe. But this one is very charming. Bergman has a ball with this, skillfully blending the blatantly theatrical with the purely cinematic. The cutaways to the smiling child in the audience and the backstage antics during the intermission reminds us that it's all in good fun. Surely for an opera fan, this is one of the best filmed operas there is. The thing is... I'm not an opera fan. I do have some affection for this one, because it's prominently featured in my beloved Amadeus, because Papageno is awesome (wonderfully portrayed here by Hakan Hagegard) and because, well, it's Ingmar Bergman. But I must say there are some parts I find quite boring. Particularly in the second act, with all of Pamina and Tamino's brooding over those somber, un-catchy tunes. If it wasn't for the intensely joyful Papageno moments occasionally breaking through the dreariness, this would be a pretty tough section to get through. But the rest of it is, as I said, quite charming. In a perverse way, it's also fitting that this comes after Scenes from a Marriage, since at its core it's essentially about a very, very bitter divorce. Rating: 7


Rusty Knife - Looks and feels a lot like an American noir... except the Japanese could be quite a bit more open about rape. It explores the common noir trope of "you can't escape your past". Perhaps a bit too familiar (the "Mr. Big" reveal at the end is quite predictable) but a sufficiently good time. It could be done with a little more flair, but there are some killer scenes (truck chase!) and it's definitely fun for fans of the genre. Rating: 8


Cruel Gun Story - A really stunning heist-gone-wrong flick, very much in the vein of The Killing (right down to the racetrack setting) and The Asphalt Jungle. It's a blast. Furukawa keeps things cooking the whole time, loading the film with dramatic angles, exciting sequences, and double-crosses galore. My only beef would be that he's all too eager to blame Japan's problems on others... besides the multiple references to the presence of the American military, it's implied that the protagonist became a bad guy because his parents were killed by the Chinese. I found this rather distasteful considering what actually happened between China and Japan. Besides this somewhat xenophobic subtext, however, I really enjoyed it. I've been buying WAY too many DVDs lately, but I think the "Nikkatsu Noir" set will eventually end up in my collection: Take Aim at the Police Van was a bit disappointing, but the other three are pretty good. Rating: 9


Night of the Demon - Terrific beginning, terrific ending... everything in between is a mixed bag. Scenes that are fairly interesting or suspenseful (the meetings with Karswell, the Hobart hypnosis) are intertwined with some dull exposition, treading water, and Dana Andrews wrestling with a stuffed animal. A number of really shoddy rear projection shots didn't help anything, either. I suspect the truncated American version feels a lot tighter. In general I guess it was a pretty good horror flick and I can see why it would have cult appeal, but it didn't really push my buttons that much. I think Tourneur's I Walked With a Zombie is a much better take on a similar premise. At least now I know where Kate Bush sample on "Hounds of Love" comes from. Rating: 7


The Times of Harvey Milk - I didn't particularly want to see this, it's not a subject I'm terribly interested in and I already felt like I knew enough about it from Gus Van Sant's film anyway. But it's on the TSPDT 1000 list and I'm still on my insane quest to finish it (860 down!) so what the hell. Since Milk primarily acts as a character portrait, this film is broader and fleshes out more of the details. Milk's politics, his associates, the aftermath of his murder, the trial and the infamous "Twinkie defense" and the resulting riots. It's a well-constructed documentary, although I wouldn't say there's anything remarkable about it. There's a real shortage of documentaries on the list and I can think of several more deserving ones, but I didn't mind watching it. Rating: 7


7th Heaven - A satisfying mix of melodrama, action and comedy. A sewer worker rescues a young lady from her villainous sister, and naturally a romance blooms. I didn't care for the religious sentiments, or the somewhat anti-feminist values, but both these elements are fairly slight in view of the larger picture. Chico and Diane (affably portrayed by Charles Farrell and Janet Gaynor) make a charming couple and watching their relationship develop and overcome hurdles is a pleasure. Borzage demonstrates some very impressive camera technique, most strikingly in the loooong crane shot up Chico's stairwell. I still don't really get into silent cinema that much, but this is one of the better ones. Rating: 8


They Died With Their Boots On - I don't know squat about General Custer, but I know bullshit when I smell it. There's little doubt that this film is 90% romanticized nonsense. Occasionally fun as brainless Hollywood fare, but that's all it is. Shallow archetypes (Charley Grapewin is almost as annoying in the "cantankeous old coot" role as Walter Brennan), broad stereotypes, syrupy score, not a shred of nuance. It's a whole bunch of cliché, saved only by Errol Flynn's natural leading man charm. Just another blah effort from Hollywood's mediocrity factory, Raoul Walsh. Rating: 5


On Dangerous Ground - I've been building up an appreciation for film noir over the years, and after watching Murder By Contract a couple weeks ago I realized how much I enjoy the genre. So I'm going to be watching a lot of it, revisiting some I've enjoyed in the past and using the TSPDT "250 Quintessential Noirs" list as a rough guideline for some new discoveries. This one starts out gangbusters... hardened cops, rain-slicked streets, cheap floozies and snappy dialogue. And then it turns into a tense manhunt. And then... well, kind of a sappy melodrama. But it still works. Noir purists may complain about the Ida Lupino segments of the film, but she's important to Robert Ryan's redemptive arc as he learns compassion. They weren't my favorite parts of the film, but I didn't really mind them so much. The first half is undoubtedly more fun for a noir fan, though. The most impressive aspect of the film is Bernard Herrmann's stellar score, which sounds much like his later work on North By Northwest. Rating: 8
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post #214 of 1166
2/15/10 at 3:34am
02/11/10: THE GUN (Pasquale Squitieri, 1978)
 
Another unknown and quasi-vintage Italian film that I happened across at my local DVD rental store (obviously exclusively released on its home ground) that follows on the heels of the same director’s THE REPENTER (1985) that I similarly discovered and watched just over a year ago. I would say that this was the better of the two thanks to a commanding central performance from Stefano Satta Flores (who used to dub Harrison Ford’s voice in the Italian-language prints of the original STAR WARS trilogy)! He plays a middle-aged engineer who, getting increasingly worried about the rising crime rate in his surroundings, follows the advice and example of his sleazy drinking cronies (whose relaxation activities include photographing nubile girls in the nude) to arm himself with the titular weapon; the problem is that he starts carrying – and, occasionally, brandishing – it with him everywhere (at his workplace, while taking a walk with his estranged wife Claudia Cardinale, etc.). Things come to a head when his rebellious daughter decides to teach him a lesson: picking her up from a cafe` late at night, he is invited inside and made ‘welcome’ by her friends; however, one of them shoots off the gun while admiring it and kills his buddy in the process! The father panics and asks his daughter to tell everybody that she had lifted his gun from his drawer – because his career would otherwise be ruined by the ensuing scandal following a police investigation. Back home, he overhears the daughter tell Cardinale that it was all a hoax and he totally flips: beats up his daughter and throws her out of the house; quits his job and evades his friends; starts following his wife around (who has left him and found work as a secretary), etc. This last act proves to be his undoing because, barricading himself inside an upper-level room in the same condominium with his gun firmly in hand, he is taken for a deranged kidnapper (a boy happens to be locked in the room with him) and, since Cardinale’s attempts to reassure the fidgety policy that he is harmless arrive too late, he is soon mercilessly laid to rest by a cold-blooded sniper from the opposite building. The film can be read as Italy’s answer to the box office phenomenon of DEATH WISH (1974) and also makes for a fine companion piece to the contemporaneous – and superior – IL GIOCATTOLO (1979; starring Nino Manfredi); even so, Squitieri is not above introducing crude humor among the tragic situations depicted (particularly the opening burglary perpetrated by three kids – one of whom cannot help himself and defecates in mid-robbery and another is shot dead by the police egged on by the delirious rallying cries of the bloodthirsty inhabitatants)! As usual with Italian genre movies of the period, the groovy music score is one definite element that stands out from the mix.
            
 
02/12/10: THE NAKED SUN (Tonino Cervi, 1984)
 
The career of Tonino Cervi took him from producing the films of Bertoclucci, Fellini and Antonioni to penning nunsploitation fare to making his own genre outings (from Spaghetti Westerns to gothic horror to saucy comedies); the film under review is easily the least of his works that I have watched so far. A cross between BLACK ORPHEUS (1958; an overrated ‘classic’ I was never too fond of in the first place) and the Broadway musical A CHORUS LINE, this would-be existentialist piece of erotica with fantasy elements is an undigestible brew that pits a young Roman businessman (David Brandon) on the verge of bankruptcy who goes to Rio in search of finance and eventually gets sucked into (obviously enough) the Carnival festivities and the allures of the current singing sensation (Tania Alves). The latter is a sort of angelic presence (with a dancing shaman for a mother no less!) who gives her body freely to virtually everyone who needs it – from her besotted theatrical director (who we are told grew up with her), casual acquaintances in Brazilian night-spots and, naturally, our unsympathetic hero. Alternating between unintentionally amusing bouts of steamy sex, interminable musical numbers and even philosophical discussions between Brandon and his equally stranded Italian waiter (Paolo Bonacelli), the film’s limited appeal lies squarely in the frequently naked form of Miss Alves...who, incongruously enough (given her ‘mission’ in life), gets to make up with Brandon on a beach at sunset – after one too many screaming match – for the finale!     
 
 
02/13/10: THE SEVEN RED BERETS (Mario Siciliano, 1969)
 
From one week to the next, I have learned to count on late-night Italian TV to come up with forgotten but worthwhile native movies from the past: this imitation of Jack Cardiff’s Congo-based actioner DARK OF THE SUN (1968; one of Martin Scorsese’s guilty pleasures) is yet another such example. The director here is a debutante and, after a cursory glance, not much else in his filmography elicits much interest – except for EVIL EYE (1974; with Richard Conte) which has recently been deigned with a R1 DVD release – even though, come to think of it, I have missed out on SCORTICATELI VIVI aka SKIN ’EM ALIVE (1978) a couple of times already and OVERRUN! (1970) seems to be an unofficial follow-up to the film under review itself! Still, a more interesting name in the credits would be co-writer Piero Regnoli, an indefatigable craftsman whose self-directed ghostly crime opus TI ASPETTERO ALL’ INFERNO (1960) I had seen for last year’s Halloween marathon. Anyway, the only two cast members which stand out (more from their familiarity than for any particular acting merit) are star Ivan Rassimov and former mythological muscleman Kirk Morris (in his penultimate film); for the record, I have also just scored the latter’s TERROR OF THE STEPPES (1964) in another nightly excursion in Italian TV land. Rassimov is a misanthropic French guide reluctantly hired by the titular misfit band of soldiers to lead them through the desert in search of some vaguely important documents. Needless to say, the band is divided by race (two of the group are negroes and one of them is a trigger-happy German!), sex (the medical officer, surprisingly enough, turns out to be a woman and so is an imprisoned reporter they meet up with along the way) and loyalty (the leader of the pack is a former member of a previously decimated group seeking to retrieve the incriminating documents). Most of them are going to be dead before the film’s end, of course, but no one suffers more than the lady doctor: having her shirt torn open by her ‘companions’ on the truck (thus revealing all her womanhood to the gasping group); being raped(!) by the clearly troubled Rassimov in the midst of combat; almost drowning while crossing an infested, swamp-like stream; and being shot dead in a train compartment (after having just cuddled up romantically with Rassimov!) at the end. The various action sequences are above par for the course and the obligatory rousing (and electric guitar-led) score is not to be amiss under the circumstances: all in all, a pleasantly enjoyable 90 minutes is to be had by undiscriminating viewers.      
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post #215 of 1166
2/15/10 at 4:46am
The Wolfman (2010)

A reworking of the 1941 horror classic, about a young man who returns home after his brother's death, encounters a werewolf, and becomes infected by its bite with the curse which causes him to transform into a man-beast during the cycle of the full moon. I felt this was a very good horror film, just as good as the original 1941 WOLF MAN in its own different way ... and I'd easily consider it the best of all those "modernized werewolf movies" of the last 30 years. This one blows that overrated AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON and THE HOWLING comedies out of the woods. It's also miles ahead of Jack Nicholson's pedestrian WOLF.

First, I loved the Victorian atmosphere and the cast. I thought Del Toro, Hopkins, and Blunt were top-notch; ditto for the other supporting characters. The Wolfman makeup (by monster movie fan Rick Baker) is superb -- he is fierce and deadly, and SCARY... I jumped a few times in my seat, and that's not something that happens very often with me and new horror movies. I appreciated that the subject matter was handled seriously and straight - no laughs (as in 1981's AAWIL). I liked how there were elements of both Universal and Hammer in there, sort of like the way the Hammer MUMMY managed to include elements of all the Universal Kharis films. I was able to feel some sympathy for Lawrence Talbot even though he was portrayed as a rather gloomy soul right from the get-go ... when we see how he's mistreated by a mental hospital, and how his father feels about him as the movie advances. I felt the bond between Larry and Gwen Conliffe, who becomes his heartbroken love interest, was pretty strong. I thought the gore effects delivered, so there's also that " '80s element " tossed in as well for that particular audience.

Is it a PERFECT movie? No. A GREAT film? No way. But it delivers the goods for horror movie lovers, and I think that's what we here care about and why so many of us seem to like it. I was relieved that, while there is noticeable and needless CGI in places, it did not get overused to the point where it ruined the movie (as was the case with the 1999 Sommers MUMMY). I didn't need the werewolf galloping on all fours, but it didn't go overboard in that feature and at times it even worked. I also thought there seemed to be some editing questions here and there -- as if sometimes we jumped to something else and missed some key information (Gwen going to her antiques shoppe, seemingly out of nowhere and with no explanation of where it was or that it even existed?). Maybe I missed something there.

At first I was a bit brought down by a "reimagining of Sir John" angle and I thought it hurt the movie ... but I was able to turn it around and by the time the reality sank in, it started to work for me as part of the story. I really didn't like the "set up" ending; that really got in the way and just was not required.

So .... overall, a very pleasant surprise, and a remake that can stand alongside the 1941 classic (which in itself was flawed and not perfect) in its own right. I personally can't see why it's getting such so-so reviews from mainstream critics. It's a horror movie, for cryin' out loud - and an effective one at that.
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post #216 of 1166
2/15/10 at 5:54am
 Yep Mario..."So Sweet So Dead" is amazingly sleazy (you have to LOVE that morgue attendant!) and for me was one of the forgotten VHS releases in the UK (where it was uncut) that thankfully avoided the 'Video Nasty' witch hunt...as it's nastier then some of the films caught up.



Seems like a fair review of "the Wolf Man" Joe (not seen it, quite fancy it) and i despair at some people not liking the fact it IS a Wolf MAN and not a four legged animal or a two legged tall wolf.

Naughty words about "American Werewolf" though Joe!!  Not ahuge fan of the sloooooooooow "The Howling" but "A W I L" is a deserved classic.
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post #217 of 1166
2/15/10 at 10:15am
The Invention of Lying (2009)

Small but charming little film, co-written and co-directed by British comic Ricky Gervais. He plays a "fat unattractive middle-aged guy with a snub nose" named Mark who lives in a fictional world where everyone says exactly what they're thinking and feeling, and don't even know what a lie is, or how not to tell the truth in their daily routines. This makes life difficult, until Mark one day secretly discovers the art of not saying what he really means, and turns his life around by telling lies. The movie's both funny and interesting, especially as we see the impact, both good and bad, in living by fabrications. Jennifer Garner is a real standout as a pretty girl that Mark continually dates and tries to impress, but who can't help herself always speaking exactly what's on her mind.  
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post #218 of 1166
2/15/10 at 6:04pm
The Ring (1927) 2.5/5 - Pretty flat melodrama about rival boxers and a girl who's married to one, but in heat for the other.  Not much to see here, the final boxing scene is a bit odd, but that's about it. 

Murder! (1930) 2/5 - Flat out boring mystery from Hitchcock.  Nothing stylistically to see, and it just drones on and on.

Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths (2010) 4.5/5 - Once again DC knocks it out of the park with an orgy of super hero action.  My only knock is that they didn't use the same voice actors in the TV show since some of them do a better job then the bigger named actors. 

Extract (2009) 3/5 - Judge doesn't hit the heights he did with OFFICE SPACE or IDIOCRACY, but it's still pretty damned funny.

Gamer (2009) 2/5 - Dude from 300 is in a live video game thing and controlled by the current boy/girl being pushed on us by Hollywood.  It all adds up to shit.
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post #219 of 1166
2/15/10 at 6:36pm
"Cash on Demand"  -

A generally forgotten, outside of 'Hammer' devotes, thriller/drama from Britain's highest profile horror studio that sees Peter Cushing's cold, dour, stuffy and bitter Bank Manager having a very bad day indeed when a sly and icy cool Andre Morel arrives at his bank one morning and announces he's going to rob the place...with Cushing's help.

A slight tale this may be, but the (mostly set in two rooms) tight script, top class acting by Morel and Cushing (morel especially has great fun), some genuinely tense set-pieces and a couple of mostly very effective twists ensure this fast paced little film (about 70 minutes) always entertains

And if the ending is rather twee thanks to another late twist you have to remember that the film is set just before Christmas and you don't always need 'spirits' to make people see the error of their ways.
Dickens' would have approved.
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post #220 of 1166
2/15/10 at 6:38pm
Thread Starter 

Fixed Bayonets! (1951)
 

Samuel Fuller
 

Well made Korean war film shares some similarities with Fuller's THE STEEL HELMET released the same year.  In this film a group of American soldiers get held up along a mountain pass where they must try and stop advancing Korean soldiers.  The main goal is to be smart and try to make the Koreans think they have a large group of people when in reality there's only forty-eight.  This isn't the greatest war film ever made and I'd put it a few notches behind THE STEEL HELMET but fans of Fuller will still want to check this out as his style is all over this thing.  I think the greatest thing about the film is certainly the direction as Fuller really makes a great atmosphere and a very claustrophobic one at that.  The men are constantly being shown one on top of the other and the tight cinematography really makes you feel as if you're sitting along side the men and after a while you really begin to feel things getting tighter and tighter as the suspense builds up.  One of the best sequences in the film is when a land mine, buried in the snow, traps one of the men and another soldier must walk to him, never knowing when he might step on one of the mines.  This entire sequence is full of great suspense and it's doubtful you'll forget it once you see it.  The cast includes good performances from Richard Basehart, Gene Evans and Michael O'Shea as well as a very brief appearance from an uncredited James Dean.  I think the film's one major flaw is that some of the dialogue is extremely weak and many of the dialogue sequences just aren't strong enough to stand up to the action sequences.  I think there were way too many short sentences and in the long run the dialogue just wasn't strong enough to carry the film. 
 

White Sister, The (1923)
 

Henry King
 

Adaptation of the Francis Marion Crawford novel, this screen version has Lillian Gish playing Angela Chiaromonte, the woman who gets cut out of her rightful inheritance by her evil step sister (Gail Kane).  She then suffers a second heartache when the man she loves (Ronald Colman) is reported dead.  With nowhere else to turn she decides to become a nun since they were the ones who saved her from the streets but soon the man she loved comes back but can she break her vow to God to take him back?  This is a very handsome production of a novel that was filmed quite a few times including a remake ten years later with Clark Gable.  This version is certainly very easy on the eyes and it features some very good performances but clocking it at nearly 140-minutes, the running time certainly doesn't do it any favors.  The biggest problem is the running time as many scenes just seem to go on and on and on when they could have been cut down and it probably would have made the film float a lot better.  Just take a look at the first thirty-minutes and everything that happens could have been told just as well with about ten or more minutes cut down.  With that said, the film is still worth viewing for several reasons with the performances being one.  Gish does her usual great job and really digs deep into this character and brings it to life as someone we really do care for and feel sorry for.  As expected, we have some wonderful close ups of Gish's brilliant eyes that have no problem showing her sadness.  Also, Gish is given another sequence where they were clearly trying to recapture the "terror" sequence from BROKEN BLOSSOMS but it doesn't work nearly as well here.  The scene involves her learning that the man she loves is dead.  Colman, in his screen debut, turns in a very good performance as well as he too really delivers in terms of the character's emotions and the pain he's going through as the woman he loves might not be able to love him.  The direction by King is very good throughout and especially towards the end when the climax features a large volcano erupting and causing major panic in the streets.  Fans of Gish and silent films will certainly want to check this out but I'm sure others will probably be bothered by the long running time.  I know some versions are out there running nearly forty-minutes shorter and I actually checked a bootleg I had bought before watching the restored version on TCM and it actually only runs 66-minutes!!!  One day I might try watching that version just to see how the film plays with more than fifty-percent of its time missing.

 

Les misérables (1935)
 

Richard Boleslawski
 

Exceptional version of Victor Hugo's classic novel about Jean Valjean (Fredric March), a man made a criminal by circumstances but paying for the crime only to then be hounded by an Inspector (Charles Laughton) without any sense of goodness or justice.  The mammoth novel doesn't get the page-by-page treatment but the screenplay does both the novel justice as well as the characters.  This novel has been filmed countless times over the decades and many of the versions run four and five hours but this one here clocks in at just 108-minutes so many of the subplots and various other items are naturally missing.  I never compare the book to the film so there's really nothing to be said between them but this movie certainly deserves its classic label for many reasons including two masterful performances from a couple of legends.  The screenplay perfectly captures the heart, mood and soul of the novel but its the actors that really bring it to life as both March and Laughton deliver extremely strong performances, which rank among the best I've seen from the men and that's saying quite a lot considering how many great roles they've had.  Laughton really got under my skin in a good way as I can't say how many times I wanted to jump through my screen and do bodily harm to him.  The character is certainly one of the most known and hated villains in history and I'm sure most actors would have just let the character do all the work but Laughton takes this rather evil man and makes him a real cold snake without any emotions.  The way Laughton constantly hounds March and that evil glance in his eye that just makes you feel the coldness is perfectly done.  Laughton would gain sympathy in a few years playing the Hunchback from Hugo's novel so it's rather amazing to see him play and perfectly capture the other side of the human nature.  March too is perfect in his role as I'm sure a role like this is pure heaven for an actor considering how many emotions and various ranges they have to go through.  Needless to say, March perfectly nails all of them whether it's the man begging for pity at the start of the film or the man finally worn down and ready for his justice.  When the two are on screen together they play wonderfully well off of one another and really deliver some great scenes.  Cedric Hardwicke, Rochelle Hudson and Florence Eldridge add nice support and look quickly for John Carradine in an early role.  Fans of the novel will certainly want to check this film out but even if you're not familiar with the work you'll still find yourself really eating everything up here.  The two legends make this a must-see for fans of classic cinema.
 

Bob le flambeur (1956)
 

Jean-Pierre Melville
 

Outstanding heist film about an old-time gangster and gambler (Roger Duchesne) who finds himself broke when he hears that a casino will have a large sum of cash available for the taking.  Even though his friends and even the police warn him against it, he decides to try for one last heist.  The French noir genre seems to be growing more and more popular each passing year as film buffs continue to check out new, forgotten or need-to-be rediscovered films from the genre.  I came to this one first as I had heard it was one of the greatest and it's somewhat hard to imagine, after seeing it, that anything else could really come close.  Everything runs so smoothly that one can't help but be entertained by the events going on and especially the noir-ish acts of always blaming the women for everything that goes wrong.  This film comes off so fresh and original that one can't help but imagine what it must have been like in 1956 when this stuff really was ground breaking.  One of the many positive aspects is the terrific cinematography that constantly has the film floating around and really giving us a great look at the streets, the casino and various other important things for the plot.  The way the music score just blends in so well with the cinematography is certainly "New Wave" but it still looks fresh all these years later.  Melville's screenplay also offers up some terrific dialogue that really puts you in the middle of what's going on to the point where you feel as if you really are watching real professionals getting ready to pull off a heist.  What also stands out are the performances with Duchesne who is wonderful in the title role.  I really loved the laid back approach to the character and felt Duchesne had so much energy building up inside of him you couldn't help but keep your eyes on him and watch every little thing he did.  Daniel Cauchy, Andre Garet and Gerard Buhr add nice support and it was fun seeing Howard Vernon in a small role years before his work with Jess Franco.  Then we have Isabelle Corey who in my opinion steals the show.  According to the IMDB she was only 16 when this was released but she certainly captures the sexuality of the role very well and she sizzles each time she is on the screen.  It's certainly easy to see why these guys would fall all over her.  I'm still very new to Melville but this here is certainly an impressive start and I look forward to checking out more of his work.


 

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post #221 of 1166
2/15/10 at 10:10pm
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938): 3.5/5

This is a very enjoyable swashbuckling film that suceeds largely from the charm of Robin Hood and his band. The Technicolor costumes look absolutely marvelous on DVD. The scene between Marian and Robin by her window is a highlight, and so is the final duel between Sir Guy and Robin Hood. I wish we could have seen Marian's hair more often because it enhanced her beauty.

I can see why audiences rallied around this picture in the 1930s and 1940s, but its episodic nature and my familiarity with the particulars of the storyline prevented me from having that same reaction. It's also tough to judge a film fairly when the parody is seen first (Star Trek: The Next Generation's "Q-Pid" in this case).

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010): 2/5

The film is paint-by-numbers in its story progression, and it does not rise anywhere near the level of the Harry Potter films. Both the closing scene and the mid-credits coda annoyed me greatly. There is a big problem of suspension of disbelief concerning the actual lightning thief. The effects work is brilliant at times but substandard at several points. The supporting cast generally does an excellent job, and Annabeth is easy on the eyes.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996): 5/5

Judge Frollo and the music are two excellent reasons to see this movie again or for the first time.
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post #222 of 1166
2/16/10 at 3:15am
Fist of the White Lotus – I guess the best way to describe this is to call it the ‘Mr. Mom’ of kung-fu flicks. Gordon Liu is determined to get revenge on the evil white haired monk who runs the White Lotus clan and is systematically wiping out the people of Shaolin. Every time he confronts the monk though, he is thwarted, humiliated or nearly killed because the monk has all these crazy secret techniques, such as blowing away like the wind or making his testicles disappear so that Gordon can’t grab them, which, for some reason, he constantly tries to do. Each time Gordon is defeated, he must discover some new approach and add it to his arsenal. When his gal pal tells him he must learn to fight like a woman, she insists he must first take care of her baby, learn to do needle point and all the other things women do. Naturally, before long, Gordon is developing his own special Tiger Claw Needlepoint technique – but will it be enough to finally defeat the wily monk? This is a pretty silly Shaw film but it is also hugely entertaining, with terrific fight scenes throughout and the confrontations between Gordon and the monk are especially good. Gordon Liu is by far my favorite Shaw Brothers actor and it seems like he is really cutting loose and having fun here. This is a gorgeous print by Celestial also.  
God’s Little Acre – Ty Ty Walden is southern dirt farmer who is systematically digging up his land, looking for a legendary pile of gold that his Grandpappy was said to have hidden. In the meantime, everything seems to be going to hell around him, as his children and their respective mates squabble cuss and fight their way through the long hot summer. I’ve really enjoyed discovering all these lesser Anthony Mann films like ‘Cimarron’ and ‘Black Book’, but this movie is so broad and corny, it’s almost as if he intended it to be a parody of the lurid Southern potboiler. Robert Ryan was not a man who overacted much, but as Ty Ty, he really swings for the fences. Not to be out done, Jack Lord, Vic Morrow and Aldo Ray, as various sons and sons-in-law, each take their turn chewing up the screen. The major draw here though appears to be the film debut of Tina Louise and Mann’s camera caresses every inch of her ample ‘attributes’. The rest is all sound and fury signifying not much at all, but everything works out in the end, and, while it’s hard to take any of this seriously, it’s still manages to be fairly entertaining. Featuring Buddy Hackett looking like a young Mr. Haney from Green Acres and Michael Landon as an albino who may or may not have magical powers.
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post #223 of 1166
2/16/10 at 8:35am
 "Chocolate"  - .5

Great stuff. 
The lovely JeeJa Yanin, as a mentally handicapped martial arts genius, is a mini marvel to behold.
She may occasionally (purely because she's still relatively new to fighting and that she's a very slight young lady) lack the power and speed of Tony Jaa (who pops up on TV to help with her moves)...but let's not be mistaken here, this is still a truly amazing, if still blossoming, talent.

Numerous fight scenes (some slightly knockabout, though bruising, some far more violent and serious) entertain throughout the perfectly attuned plot that embraces full on melodrama, light comedy, tragedy and tough drama.
JeeJa Yanin handles all the stunt heavy (no doubles of course) but generally realistic looking action to perfection and leaps, ducks, dives, kicks, elbows, punches and smashes various hard objects over people's heads with a skill truly belying her age.
And you can't deny that an extra wow factor and an extra layer of balls-out fun comes into play simply because this is not a big muscled guy doing this stuff, but a slight, pretty young woman

The finale packs the high melodrama, multiple violent deaths and driven revenge action together with clinical precision and JeeJa Yanin's superb fight/stunt work during an extended chase/battle sequence up and down and back and forth between a bridge and the side of a sign strewn building is tiring and bruising just to watch.

Highly melodramatic, with a few little speed/power issues for JeeJa Yanin to train through, but overall "Chocolate" is a wildly entertaining slice of martial arts dramatics with a truly wonderful and genuinely impressive young fighter at the helm who should become as big as Tony Jaa and then some.
__________________
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post #224 of 1166
2/16/10 at 9:47am
02/13/10: VACATION (Tinto Brass, 1971)
 
Clearly not having learned my lesson recently with Tinto Brass’ head-scratching THE HOWL (1970), I decided to try my luck again with another film of his from the same period and along the same lines (and which I acquired from the same source). For some reason, I was led to believe that this was going to be a medieval fable but that illusion was soon dispelled from the get-go with the appearance of a limo coming to pick up mental patient Vanessa Redgrave on her way to the titular ‘event’. Forty years on, it is hard to fathom what the appeal of these free-wheeling, politically-orientated, socially-conscious and sexually-aware diatribes (of which there were several from all over Europe) ever was; in this case, one would hope that Franco Nero, Vanessa and Corin Redgrave at least enjoyed some good grass while making it because, the knowledge that they agreed to do it while in the full possession of their cognitive faculties, would certainly reflect unfavourably on their taste in choice of material! Having said that, VACATION is, if at all possible, even more impenetrable than THE HOWL...but the charismatic presence of the trio of actors somehow makes the entire ungodly mixture ever so slightly more palatable. Upon arriving home from the clinic, Redgrave (who reads the lines herself in broken Italian) meets up with her bizarre family – who is prone to making godawful animal noises at table and pelt the girl with everything that comes handy. Shown the door, she embarks on a road trip which sees her encounter bird-watching tramp Nero and bicycling English gentleman Corin (also mouthing his own dialogue, I did not instantly recognize him made up as he was with glasses and hat) who somehow presides over a rambling group of grotesque whores. In the midst of all this, Redgrave also takes to narrate to Nero and enact that elusive (and utterly pointless) medieval fable, gets jailed and interrogated by poor Leopoldo Trieste and, in perhaps the film’s highpoint, witnesses at the climax [sic] the whores’ ‘orgasmic’ striking while sitting at their weaving machines in a factory!! For what it is worth, the blind madam and Nero both get shot (by the elite gentry and the Police respectively), some nudity is on display (given Brass’ involvement that was inevitable), Vanessa also gets to plaintively sing a couple of songs in Italian (with THE HOWL’s Gigi Proietti lending his vocals to the closing track)...but who really cares? The print I watched was sourced from an old Italian VHS that sported overly soft visuals and a terminally hiss-laden soundtrack that made the film that much of a chore to sit through. Ultimately, the biggest mystery surrounding this film (more than any grandiose satirical-surreal concept) is how it managed to get named “Best Italian Film” at the Venice Film Festival (during an enigmatic 12-year period in which no official prizes were awarded by the Biennale).  
       
 
02/14/10: SO SWEET...SO PERVERSE (Umberto Lenzi, 1969)
 
As mentioned in my recent review of THE SWEET BODY OF DEBORAH (1968), that movie’s American star (Carroll Baker) would soon after embark on a four-picture collaboration with major “Euro-Cult” exponent Lenzi, treading much the same ground both plot-wise and stylistically. That said, this first entry is perhaps the most effective of the lot (certainly more so than the lackluster DEBORAH) – which, more than anything else, may be due to a more significant leading man than usual in Jean-Louis Trintignant; an equally impressive element, though, is the Riz Ortolani score – which includes the powerful ballad “Why?”. Typically, too, the supporting cast is well chosen: Erika Blanc as Trintignant’s estranged wife, an under-used Helga Line` as his mistress, and Horst Frank as a brute whose ambiguous relationship with mystery woman Baker (who naturally also entices our hero’s attention) anticipates the one between Edwige Fenech and Ivan Rassimov in Sergio Martino’s THE STRANGE VICE OF MRS. WARDH (1970; it is no coincidence, then, that Martino served as Executive Producer on Lenzi’s film!). The real coup in this case is the fact that the hero is unexpectedly knocked off half-way through – but the rest of the twists (the lover was only acting, while his wife was in cahoots with the killers all along, not to mention the last-minute realization that the whole elaborate scheme backfired) hardly constitute a surprise, since these were basically recycled from one entry to the next (even in Martino’s own directorial efforts, as already stated in the review of THE SWEET BODY OF DEBORAH), which is a pity…
 
 
02/14/10: THEY HAVE CHANGED THEIR FACE (Corrado Farina, 1971)
 
A largely unknown but highly rewarding Euro-Cult gem that transposes the ancient Transylvanian vampire legend into the commercialized industrial age of 1970s Italy; director Farina is perhaps best-known (if at all) for the Carroll Baker-starring adult comic-strip adaptation BABY YAGA (1973) – a film which I was kind of lukewarm on at first glance but would now love to revisit (for the record, I do own the Blue Underground DVD of it). The mostly anonymous cast is headed by distinguished character actor Adolfo Celi (playing the all-powerful tycoon Giovanni Nosferatu) and whose underlings include one Harker, one Van Helsing, etc.!; the hero of the piece is played by Giuliano Disperati (who reminded me of a less handsome version of Hurd Hatfield) and their female counterparts are essayed by Geraldine Hooper (as Celi’s androgynous secretary) and red-headed hottie Francesca Modigliani (portraying a bare-breasted hippy who hitches a ride in Disperati’s car and stays on). Obviously, Jean-Luc Godard had already paid similar tribute to F.W. Murnau’s Silent vampire masterpiece in his own iconic neo-noir/sci-fi opus ALPHAVILLE (1965) by naming the Howard Vernon character as Professor Nosferatu von Braun; the beauty of Farina’s – and co-writer/assistant director/editor Giulio Berruti (who would go on to direct the middling nunsploitation/slasher KILLER NUN [1978]) – concept, however, is that (as the film’s very title implies) vampires have nowadays changed their faces and instead of sporting bloodied fangs and enveloping cloaks, they don suits, haunt business boardrooms and prey upon millions of gullible TV viewers via puerile (but obviously effective) commercials! The film’s initial stages have a deceptively light-hearted air about them: predating the amiable “Fantozzi” comedy series of movies by four years, Disperati cannot believe his luck in being invited to meet the elusive President of the firm he works for (who inhabits the 20th floor on which, apparently, only a handful of people have ever been to); when Disperati is invited to Nosferatu’s country house, he is made to listen to commercials whenever he gets to sit on the sofa or take a shower! Even so, the subtle choral music on the soundtrack ominously underscores the sinister air of the rural surroundings – represented by Nosferatu’s omnipresent watchdog army of white Fiat 500 which ‘accompany’ every visitor to the villa. Needless to say, the usual expected elements of vampire movies are also present in the mix here: the crypt housing Nosferatu’s decaying coffin; the midnight secret meeting of the Vampire and his acolytes (here made up of, among others, a Renfield-like advertising agent dreading his boss’ reaction to his clips and even an ecclesiastical authority who imparts his blessing on the latter’s work vis-a-vis censorship issues, etc.). Despite Disperati’s apparent shooting of Nosferatu (whose main relaxation activity is taking target practice on moaning puppets!), the eventual climactic defection to the cause – conformism to the consumerist mentality – of both hero and (the sadly largely absent) heroine does not really come as a surprise and concludes the movie on a satisfying ROSEMARY’S BABY-like coda.      
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post #225 of 1166
2/16/10 at 5:59pm
 "Flashpoint" - .5

Donnie Yen vehicle that has highs and lows.
Lows are the lack of any action scene over a minute long until about 55 minutes (Yen's first real action scene!) in with 30 minutes to go.
This seems to be a problem with many newer Hong Kong actioners.

HK used to make action films that had (perhaps melodramatic, but hey) solid and interesting plot
s but still managed to cram in numerous, memorable (even iconic) smaller set-pieces into the running time at strategic places. They didn't used to leave almost everything until the last 20 minutes.
This seems to have changed recently, with straight action films seemingly 'below' HK film makers so much so that they feel the need to only make serious drama/thrillers for 60 minutes and only succumb to full on action film making until the finale because they have to.

Woo's "The Killer" had a layered, solid, melodramatic plot-line but contained numerous action scenes, that have gone one to be classic, even before the jaw dropping church finale. It remained a pure action film throughout the entire running time...As did the likes of "Tiger Cage 2", "In the Line of Duty", "Full Contact", "Iron Angels" etc etc.
This skill at combining lots of action within a still solid plot seems to have been thrown away.

That being said, the action that there is is well done and nicely bruising and the finale features some top class Donnie Yen (looking and moving extremely well for his age) martial arts mayhem that looks bone crunching and thudding and grounded in more reality then normal.
Yen may never reach the heights of "Tiger Cage 2" again...but he's looks damn impressive here. and he has some nice support from all involved.
The finale is let down a bit by a lack of 'canon fodder' characters though and so we have only around 6 bad guys for the big showdown.   Again...HK seems to have moved away from the glorious excess that made its very name.

What we have is entertaining, is superbly made and very impressive at times, but it is a shame the action is so sparse and the unashamed, wonderful, excess that made Hong Kong action cinema so unique has been toned down and forced to 'mature' and put a suit on.
The fact is, for all the rough edges sometimes as far as budget and equipment went, the glory days of wildly entertaining excess and abandon were better days for the audience.
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post #226 of 1166
2/16/10 at 7:01pm
My understanding of Flashpoint was that it was an attempt to capture the same lightning in a bottle as 'SPK (Sha Po Lang)' with Donny and Samo Hung. In fact, I think iit's even considered a sequel of sorts. 'SPK' was hugely entertaining simply because it was a throwback to the glory days of Hong Kong crime cinema that you describe. Thanks for the review...

Gate of Flesh - In post-war US occupied Japan, a group of girls forced into prostitution by desperate straits, set up house keeping in a bombed out building and construct their own version of a small society full of rules and recriminations. The girls make the best of their sad situation and soon become a close-knit family, albiet a family that savagely punishes anyone who goes against the tribe. When their world is invaded by a callous, moraly bankrupt soldier (Shishido Joe), the girls start to swoon and begin questioning their loyalties to each other. Once again, master director Seijun Suzuki takes an ordinary assignment, in this case a Pinky Roman programmer, and elevates it to new heights using surrealistic, theater-like sets and lighting and creating amazing symbolism-drenched set pieces. In the end, 'Gate of Flesh' becomes a simmering cauldron of helpless rage and a deep seated longing to once again feel the comforts of a normal life. I'm a huge Suzuki fan, so I'm more than a little biased here, but I can't recommend this (or any of his Nikkatsu films) enough. Pure crack for the ardent film viewer.
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post #227 of 1166
2/16/10 at 7:45pm
Strangely I picked up "Gate of Flesh" myself a few days ago,  2nd hand.  Thanks for the views, I'll give it a look soon.
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post #228 of 1166
2/16/10 at 10:49pm
Thread Starter 

How to Undress in Front of Your Husband (1937)
 

Dwain Esper
 

Exploitation pioneer Esper is best known for his cult titles MANIAC and MARIHUANA but this thirteen-minute short tries to tell women what the best way of undressing is.  Actually, I'm not too certain what this film is about as we get an extremely stupid prologue talking about various things that make no sense and then we meet a peeping tom looking at a couple different ladies.  Then we meet the beauty who knows how to properly undress and then we meet an obese woman who doesn't.  I really hope no one goes to watch this expecting some sort of real lesson as they're going to be disappointed but those who know the name Esper will know to expect trash and that's pretty much what we get.  The movie isn't nearly as over-the-top as MANIAC as we only get one brief bit of nudity but it does have the politically incorrect humor aimed at the overweight woman who is shown as a slob (constantly scratching herself) and having really bad lines like "life is a bowl of cherries and she's the pits" thrown at her.  The most interesting aspect is that Elaine Barrie, John Barrymore's wife at the time, plays the pretty woman.  I was surprised to see her in the picture and the fact that the title credits and the narration makes sure everyone knows who we're looking at.  I'm not sure why she'd need to appear in an exploitation movie like this but it's does add some charm.  This is a pretty bad movie from start to finish but it is unique as this certainly wasn't normal for 1937 so fans of trash will want to check this out for a few laughs. 

Uninvited, The (1944)
 

Lewis Allen
 

A brother and sister (Ray Milland, Ruth Hussey) buy an old house and soon begin to hear crying and other strange noises.  The secret might lie with a woman who fell off a cliff by the house and her now grown daughter (Gail Russell) who is attracted to the house even when it appears it might be trying to kill her.  This Paramount thriller has gained the reputation as being one of the greatest ghost movies ever made.  I personally wouldn't call it that great but there's no doubt that the movie is quite impressive and certain broke down many doors that future haunted house movies would use.  I think the first eighty-minutes of this movie are a lot better than the final twenty.  The biggest problem I had with the film were the final twenty-minutes when we start to learn the secrets behind the haunting.  I won't give away why they're happened but I will say that I was disappointed and thought that something different would have helped.  The first part of the film works wonderfully well because director Allen is smart enough to let the viewer use their imagination in terms of all the haunting stuff going on.  We hear the cries in the far distance and there's another good scene where a servant sees something yet we never really know what and we certainly don't get to see it.  These unseen forces are certainly used to good effect as there are a few creepy moments and the atmosphere is quite thick due to a nice music score.  The performances are a lot better than your typical ghost movie thanks in large part to Milland who really stands strong and delivers a nice character.  I thought he was very believable in the role and his comic timing, when needed, was right on the mark.  Hussey is also very good as the sister as Alan Napier as the good doctor.  The one and only Donald Crisp is good as the dead woman's father and Russell also comes off very effective.  This film certainly deserves to be called a classic but I'm not sure I'd attach the "greatest of all time" marker on it.  The film is certainly very impressive and worth watching but I do wish the writing had been better in the final act.

Daughter of the Mind (1969)
 

Walter Grauman
 

Mildly entertaining made-for-TV thriller about a father (Ray Milland) who lost his daughter in a car crash thirteen-months earlier but on the way home from her grave one night she stops him and passes along a message.  The father seeks the help of his doctor friend (Don Murray) and soon the two try to figure out if this is really her ghost or if something else is going on.  The supporting cast includes Gene Tierney as Milland's wife and we get small roles with Ed Asner and John Carradine.  The film isn't a total success because it tries to be a lot smarter than it actually is with a couple plot twists that take place in the film.  The first part of the movie plays out like a horror film but then we switch gears with some espionage thrown in for good measure.  I can't say the spy and horror genre mixes too well together but the cast never let things get too boring.  Milland, at this point in his career, will certainly be love-him or hate-him because he does have the ability to go over the top and something this hampers a film.  He stays under control here for the most part, although some of his rants are a bit questionable.  Murray is a tad bit too laid back in his role but Tierney turns in a good performance even if it's pretty much a thankless role.  Both Asner and especially Carradine are wasted so if you're tuning in to check them out just be warned that they don't have too much to do with Carradine only getting one brief scene.  The plot twists are extremely silly and don't work too well and when the movie is over you're going to think back and catch about fifteen other plot holes but while watching the film it isn't too bad thanks to the actors.  This is certainly something very minor so only major fans of there's will want to check this out.   

Freeway Maniac (1989)
 

Paul Winters
 

By 1989 the slasher genre was pretty much drying up and dying off as even mainstream fair like FRIDAY THE 13TH and HALLOWEEN were turning up dead numbers at the box office.  A few films still snuck onto video and here's one example that I still have fond memories of renting when I was around ten years old.  Young Arthur sees his mom getting nailed on the kitchen table so he takes a butcher knife to her and the lover.  Years later he (James Courtney) escapes from the nut house and goes on a killing spree that takes him to an actress (Loren Winters) who stops him and send him back to the nut house.  Have no fear as he escapes yet again and goes after the actress who is now making a sci-fi movie out in the desert.  I remember renting this thing so much as a kid that the video store owner finally gave me the store's only copy because he said I was the only one who ever rented it.  It had been at least fifteen or more years since I last watched this thing but I gave it another viewing and I must admit that I respect this film a lot more now and I understand why I loved it so much as a kid.  This film certainly belongs in the group of such films as MANIAC (1934), REEFER MADNESS and TEENAGERS FROM OUTER SPACE as all-time disasters that are so incredibly horrid that you can't help but laugh and be entertained by how bad everything you're seeing is.  This movie has an awful production value, a horrid story, horrendous acting, bad special effects and everything else is just as worse.  Everything in this movie is so bad that you can't help but laugh at it and just take a look at the first escape sequence when our maniac body slams a guy by jumping off a three or four story building.  It's also funny that after each murder sequence we see the dead person lying there yet nearly every time they're still breathing.  It looks like someone would have caught this at some point.  This film was released by Cannon who were well known for delivering trash and this certainly fits that bill.  This isn't as good as some of their other horror films like HOSPITAL MASSACRE but fans of the weird are going to love this.  The movie is rather tame in terms of violence, blood and nudity but it makes up for that in the sure brilliance of the awfulness of everything.  The body count is pretty high as people just seem to come out of no where for our maniac to slaughter.  The title comes from the fact that our killer is constantly having to hitchhike or kill people for their vehicles in order to track down the actress.  Fans of art house pictures aren't going to find anything entertaining here but if you love bad movies then this here is certainly one of the all-time greats.

 

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post #229 of 1166
2/17/10 at 2:20pm
Quote:
Uninvited, The (1944)

 

Michael, I didn't have too much of a problem with the final act but it's been awhile since I've seen it. I can remember it being one of the first ghost stories I'd ever seen. I was probably around 7 or 8 and this movie  stuck with me. I also had the good forture of finding the book in a store when I was around 11 or 12. It was my favourite gothic romance growing up. Well as luck would have you I lost the book and over time forgot the title but the story itself stayed with me. About 30 year later I started to watch a movie called the Uninvited and I was delighted to find out it was the movie I had been searching for. So as you can guess I just love this film. I even had a piece of piano music called Stella by Starlight and it was so hauntingly familiar but I couldn't place it until I saw the movie again years later.
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post #230 of 1166
2/18/10 at 9:32am
The Lower Depths (rewatch) - This kind of stage play really isn't Kurosawa's bag. He's a director who speaks largely in action and gestures. I can't think of any other Kurosawa film that's even close to being as dialogue-heavy as this one. Being bound to one set (or two and a half, if you count the brief excursions to the slum's exterior and landlord's house) seems to cramp his style, as does the absolute lack of scoring. I realize this is probably a minority opinion, but I feel Dodeskaden is a much more accomplished and intriguing look at a similar situation. However, this film certainly does have some considerable assets. The compositions are striking as always, especially working in such a confined space. Each character is allowed to shine... it's nice to see that the film isn't dominated by Mifune, as the other actors are quite good and each has a compelling role. There's a lot of humor, some of it excellent. And the last 2 or 3 minutes are amazing, with that fascinating, exuberant a capella song and dance, undercut by a gutshot ending (and that darkly comic final line). So it's not one of his worst, but it is definitely uneven. Rating: 7


Thirst - Park's take on vampires is intriguing but all over the place. It can't seem to settle on any particular theme (shame, lust, sin, redemption, domestic violence, et cetera) so it kind of flits from one to the next. None of it makes a lasting impression because it's not adequately developed. But there is some pretty good humor, interesting situations, striking imagery and a lot of style. Not as much style as Park's masterpiece Lady Vengeance, but enough. I did think he went way overboard with the shock value, though. Much of it was rather unnecessary. Rating: 7


Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country - The third Oscar-nominated documentary I've seen, and it blows the other two out of the water. Who the hell cares about dolphins or corn when this kind of shit is going on? The story is told from the perspective of one of a very small, very brave group of underground reporters who risk everything to smuggle out footage of Burma's military regime, their acts of oppression, and their efforts to silence those who dare to speak out about it. It's a nightmarish situation, and stories of true heroism are intertwined with stories of utter horror and outrage. Director Anders Ostergaard wisely takes an extremely "hands off" approach, letting the reporter "Joshua" speak for himself with his footage and narration. He does add a score, but it's very subdued and appropriate. This is a powerful and memorable film about people's ability to rise up and speak out, and an oppressive government's ability to crush them. Rating: 9


The Damned - This was Fassbinder's favorite film, and the influence is apparent. Bright primary colors, homosexual content, heavy on melodrama, displays of decadence. And much like Fassbinder, I find Visconti hard to get into. His career is all over the map, from poor to mediocre to good, but never really wowing me. And so I always approach his movies with some hesitation, but try to keep an open mind. This one has its pluses and minuses. It does make striking use of color, the acting is generally not that bad (I'd have to say not that great either, though) and it eventually builds to a somewhat compelling, operatic tale of corruption under the Third Reich. But it does take some time to get going. The first part is dreadfully confusing, as characters keep referring to other characters that the audience isn't familiar enough with yet. Eventually it gets sorted out, but surely there's a better way to present all that information. And the film is often quite hysterical, and occasionally absurd. I guess the bottom line is that while I had some admiration for what Visconti was doing and how he was going about it, I didn't much want to be watching it. I kept vacillating between confused, impressed, bored, intrigued, and annoyed. Rating: 6
Edited by Martin Teller - 2/19/10 at 11:49pm
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post #231 of 1166
2/18/10 at 3:19pm
Re: "The Damned"

I wasn't expecting much either (pretentiousness and tedium were expected) but I thought it was pretty damn good.

The wonderful sets and costumes and great cinematography enhance a rather overly melodramatic soap opera plot (I agree it is a bit hard to know who is who at first).

But we have a top cast including the debut of Euro fave Helmut Berger who steals the show as the paedarist, mother loving dandy who goes from a twisted, frightened, pitiful man-child to ruthless Nazi powermonger.
Berger also looks absolutely fantastic and dangerously erotic in his Nazi uniform,  and the film is chock full of striking images of bloodshed, shadowed perversion and fascist decadence.

Indeed anyone with a fetish for Nazi uniforms (say what you want about their beliefs, but they sure knew how to dress!) will appreciate the hordes of black and silver decorated SS adorning the screen.

Overall I thought it well made, very well acted Euro arthouse cinema and (though i expect unintentionally) due to it's explicit 'Nazi Chic' visuals and attitude would be one of the first films (along with that other Borgarde movie "The Night Porter", which was the true start) that helped to launch the infamous 70's Naziploitation phase with full on visual embracing to come (unlike the earlier "Love Camp 7" which had the set-up but lacked any and all Nazi iconography)  that would reach it's erotic, flamboyant  and a decadent heights with "Salon Kitty" and it's grotesquely nasty heights with the likes of "The Beast in Heat", "Ilsa" and "Gestapo's Last Orgy".






"Cabin Fever 2" -   .5
Not bad.  Starts off slow but engaging.  But then loses it's way during the Prom, until things pick up again.
Some nicely gross moments involving various body fluids, lost of blood but only some (though strong) gore.

Some of the FX are dubious (awful latex finger and chest piece) while some are very good (head smashing and drippy cock), but the end is weak and anti-climactic with a tagged on piece that's too long, though leads to an okay pay-off during the animated credits.

Nothing special, weak ending, but has enough gross moments and interesting characters (who are not as obnoxious as those in the first film) to make a good rental.



"Ride the High Country". -
Early Peckinpah flick is well though of, but failed to impress me.
Nothing much happens for nearly an hour, no gun is fired until about 70 minutes in and the end seems to be the kind of forced cliche the basic set-up of the film (aged gunslingers trying to find a place in the changing West) was playing against.
Joel McCrea and Randolph Scott (Scott especially does good work )  should have been given lots of fine dialogue moments about aging and change but their time together seems rushed so we have less great character moments between them than we should have as too much time is spent on their younger partner and a wayward young woman who joins them...to less than interesting effect.

Eventually some kind of plot kicks in and we have a great support cast (L.Q Jones, R.G Armstrong, Warren Oates) and a smattering of effective action (including a surprisingly shocking for the time zoom in on a dead face, complete with bullet hole in the head)...but the bad guys are not initially that bad and seem to be having a lark more than acting like hardcore killers and the finale is, as said, forced and unlikely.

If you want a look at the changing West and those old guys trying to live in it Peckinpah's masterful [i]"The Wild Bunch" [/i]does this much better and if you want an aging Western star playing an aging gunslinger facing up to his fate watch the wonderful [i]"The Shootist"[/i] with John Wayne.



"Werewolf of London" - .5
Before 'Universal' gave us the now iconic Wolfman with Lon Chaney Jnr we had this Werewolf flick Starring Henry Hull.

For me the design of the Werewolf here is much better than the more famous later design. 
Chaney kind of looked like a teddy with a silly black snout...But Hull looks far more feral with his bottom row fangs and pointed ears and although perhaps more human looking than Jack Pierce's later Wolfman make-up it looks far more savage.

The problems here are that in a 70 minute film the Werewolf takes too long to appear, Hull is amazingly stuffy and everyone else is so overly theatrical that much of the film looks like a stage play.
The film also makes a major mistake with the way the Werewolf acts. 
Despite uncontrolled howling, Hull has presence of mind the dress up in a big coat, put on a cap and cover his face up as he skulks around (in one scene, despite the fact he leaps through a window after he changes, Hull puts on his hat before doing so!!) as such the film actually plays far more like a 'Jekyll and Hyde' film than a Werewolf film. 
Hull never loses control or goes totally animal like Chaney did...he's basically a wolfy looking Mr Hyde and acts like a skulking serial killer rather than a feral beast.

BUT...The film is still fun, the Wolfman looks good, there is some nice atmosphere and there are two great support characters (two gin swigging old women who spend their time trying to put one over on each other) who provide comic relief and give the film much needed energy.
Strange mix of sci-fi in this too, including a way before its time CCTV/video phone set up that lets Hull see who is at his door, and a huge meat eating plant with tentacles!

If they had got the Werewolf in quicker and have it acting more like a feral wolf this would have  been improved greatly, but it has enough successful moments to pull it through and make it worth a watch.
Edited by 42nd Street Freak - 2/18/10 at 6:19pm
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post #232 of 1166
2/18/10 at 11:32pm
One Armed Boxer - When I discovered that 'Master of the Flying Guillotine' was actually the sequel to 'One Armed Boxer', I knew my film watching world would feel all topsy-turvy til I got to see the original first film. All I can say now is WOW, what a double feature these two films would make. You've got to 'hand' it Jimmy Wang Yu - after starring in the ultra classy instant epic 'One Armed Swordsman' for the Shaw Brothers, he went on to write, direct and star in this violent, over-the-top exploitation series for Golden Harvest. He was surely a man of singular (or should I say one-armed) vision. Here he must battle a group of mercenaries, each specializing in a different discipline, hired to wipe out his teacher and clan. The leader of the mercenaries, 'The Man from Okinawa' is a giant beast guy (with FANGS!) who severs Jimmy's arm with a single karate chop. Jimmy is snatched from the jaws of death by an old medicine man who gives him a potion that renders his remaining arm invinicible and the One Armed Boxer is born. This film is easily just as bat-shit crazy as M of the FG, and Jimmy deserves a lot of credit for putting so much energy and imagination into what could have easily been another cheap, kung-fu quickie. Like Sonny Chiba, he seems determined to show how his 'fighting style' can defeat all others. It looks like there might even be more 'One Armed...' movies than there are Flying Guillotine movies; let's hope they're all this much fun. 
Edited by Holer - 2/19/10 at 4:22am
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post #233 of 1166
2/19/10 at 5:13am
Yeah..."One Armed Boxer" is a fine and violently exciting movie.
Has it got a good DVD release though?  I still only have it on VHS.


"Hush"  -

http://www.beardyfreak.com/rvhush.php

Low key but very effective, well made thriller/horror from Britain that has some excellent moments and a plot that manages to avoid most of the pitfalls such an idea (kidnapping by a mysterious lorry on a motorway) brings up (Cops, CCTV, other cars/people) better than the slightly similar "Shuttle" did.

Nothing groundbreaking, but very well crafted, acted and satisfying.
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post #234 of 1166
2/19/10 at 7:21am
The One Armed Boxer release looks to be one of those Public Domain deals but it's widescreen and the print was fairly clean - these movies were made so cheaply that they can only look so good anyway, but the picture was fairly sharp and sounded okay, tho it is strictly an english dub. I tend to think that cheap-ass kung fu flicks are better with the ridiculous english dubs anyway. 

Not sure it will be much of an improvement over your VHS version, but I think I picked it up for like 5 bucks on Amazon. I'm sure there would be a multitude of versions available on HKFlix.com - they always have every version in the world. That's where I got M of the FG also. They are a great resource for obscure martial arts movies.

BTW - just discovered in my rummaging around the net that a new SDVD release of 'Return of the One Armed Swordsman' is being released in the next few months. I didn't even know a sequel existed and word is it's every bit as good as the first film. That will be a tall order from my perspective. I am just hoping, now that Dragon Dynasty is finally ramping up their Blu releases that they will include the original OAS there also. It's really a beautiful film visually, as well as a great story.

I guess 36th Chamber is going to be their first Blu release, which is just outstanding news!
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post #235 of 1166
2/19/10 at 7:28am
 Thanks Holer.

I have to say, that I prefer "Return of the One-Armed Swordsman" to the original (which I never much cared for as it seemed all build-up and not much else) as it ups the action a lot but keeps the classic storyline intact.
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post #236 of 1166
2/19/10 at 8:51am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by PatW View Post



Michael, I didn't have too much of a problem with the final act but it's been awhile since I've seen it. I can remember it being one of the first ghost stories I'd ever seen. I was probably around 7 or 8 and this movie  stuck with me. I also had the good forture of finding the book in a store when I was around 11 or 12. It was my favourite gothic romance growing up. Well as luck would have you I lost the book and over time forgot the title but the story itself stayed with me. About 30 year later I started to watch a movie called the Uninvited and I was delighted to find out it was the movie I had been searching for. So as you can guess I just love this film. I even had a piece of piano music called Stella by Starlight and it was so hauntingly familiar but I couldn't place it until I saw the movie again years later.
 

It's funny but in the introduction Robert Osborne talked about the Stella b Starlight song and how it came to be.  As much as I love classic horror films and the fact that I've seen most a dozen times or more, this was actually only my second viewing of THE UNINVITED.  All the hype around the film left me disappointed with it when I was a kid but I enjoyed it enough this time around to where I'd certainly watch it more often.


Quote:
Originally Posted by 42nd Street Freak View Post

Re: "The Damned"

 and a decadent heights with "Salon Kitty" and it's grotesquely nasty heights with the likes of "The Beast in Heat", "Ilsa" and "Gestapo's Last Orgy".


"Werewolf of London" - .5
Before 'Universal' gave us the now iconic Wolfman with Lon Chaney Jnr we had this Werewolf flick Starring Henry Hull.
 

 
I actually picked up THE DAMNED a few weeks ago for $3 at that "get rid of all DVDs for as cheap as you can" sale at Big Lots.  The naziploitation genre isn't one of my favorites but I did just order a R2 collection of six titles including a few Franco titles I haven't seen and some other rare ones.

As for WEREWOLF OF LONDON, I've always had a mixed thing for this one.  I know many people hate the film because Hull isn't as sympathetic as Chaney but I don't feel it's fair to compare the two.  I do wish this film got released a year earlier so that the Hayes Code didn't take a knife to it.  Apparently the make up was due to the Code not allowing them to show a "full animal" and this has always been a problem for me.  I enjoy the make up but I think it's too much Jekyll and Hyde.  I also didn't care for the humor too much just because it seemed like a weak, James Whale inspired creation.

I still enjoy watching the film though.
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post #237 of 1166
2/19/10 at 9:00am
Thread Starter 

Les miserables (1952)
 

Lewis Milestone
 

Slick production of Victor Hugo's classic novel has Michael Rennie in the role of Jean Valjean and Robert Newton as the Inspector hounding him for decades.  This is only the second version of the novel that I've seen (the 1935 being the first) so it's hard for me to compare various versions but it's interesting some of the changes made here.  Of course we get small changes like the amount of money owed Valjean after he's released from jail but the final chase through the sewers is changed a bit and some of the overall attitudes towards the two leads are also changed.  I think these type of changes always make for an interesting viewing experience when it comes to often filmed stories like this one, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and various others.  While there's a lot to enjoy here I think the biggest issue is the performance of Rennie.  He has proven that he could be great in certain roles but I found here pretty bland here and not the least bit interesting.  His performance here will remind plenty of his one in THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL but where that laid back approach worked for that classic, it really hurts this film.  I never really bought him in the role and instead of seeing and feeling the character it felt more like I was watching an actor struggle with a part.  Newton on the other hand is one I really enjoyed.  He played the part with a nice coldness that comes through quite well but he also adds a stern, father-like touch that make the character stand out.  Debra Paget, Cameron Mitchell and Elsa Lanchester round out the cast.  The music score is an effective one and the cinematography is top-notch.  Milestone handles the material quite well and he really makes a beautiful looking film with plenty of style and some really good looking shots.  I think it would be fair to say that this is a handsome production but it's missing some of the heart and soul of the earlier version. 

Walk with Life and Death, A (1969)
 

John Huston
 

When people discuss the great or awful films in the career of John Huston, this effort here rarely gets mentioned and that's probably because even the most die-hard Huston fan either hasn't sat through it or simply can't make it through.  Apparently Huston selected to do this as something small and personal and one does have to respect him for trying a poetic movie like this but in the end the thing just didn't work for me.  A man (Assaf Dayan) "hears" the "calls" of the sea and decides to leave Paris and walk to it.  Along the way he encounters various forms of violence and a blooming relationship with a young woman (Anjelica Huston) who soon joins him on his journey.  This film wasn't popular when it was first released and it seems very few people have bothered checking it out since then even though we've got a legendary director and his famous daughter in her first role.  From the reviews I've read there appear to be a few fans of the film and it's poetic vision but for me the thing was a pretty big misfire.  One of the biggest problems is Anjelica who is simply way out of her range in this type of part. This would have been a challenging role for anyone let alone someone making their first acting appearance.  At times she seems all over the place while at other times she seems as if she doesn't know where to turn.  Dayan doesn't fair much better but at least he seems at ease going through everything on this journey.  The film moves at a rather slow pace, which I didn't really mind as Huston was trying to build some atmosphere out of it.  The dialogue, cinematography and even the music score are all used to be dream-like but it just never really came together for me.  This isn't an awful movie or an embarrassing one but it just felt too empty for me.

Sin of Madelon Claudet, The (1931)
 

Edgar Selwyn
 

Early soap opera with Helen Hayes who would end up winning the Best Actress Oscar for her performance here as Madelon Cludet, a woman who runs away from home and finds one disaster after another.  She gives birth to a son but soon is railroaded into prison where she comes out of and agrees to tell the child that his mother is dead.  She then turns to prostitution so that she can give the son money to go through medical school.  If you don't like sappy stories then it's probably best to stay away from this thing as there's so much sugar running around that many will gag on everything that happens from the opening scene to the closing one.  I must admit that there were times where I felt the filmmakers were beating the viewer over the head with the sentimental moments but the nice performances make this film worth viewing.  Hayes is exceptionally good here as her character goes from one abuse to another and she perfectly nails each emotion no matter how raw it is.  I also found her to be excellent under all the make up of the older woman as she pulled this off as well.  Lewis Stone has a brief role but he's his typical excellent self and Robert Young plays the adult kid.  The ending is one you'll see coming from a mile away but I thought it packed a good little punch.  The editing is something else that really worked well and this can easily be seen during the sequence where we cut back and forth to the mother "working" and the son getting the benefits of it.  The biggest problem is that the film plays out like several 15-minute short films put together as the story pretty much just builds itself up for a payoff and then we go to the next short sequence that will then build up for a quick payoff. 

Pacific Liner (1939)
 

Lew Landers
 

Disappointing RKO picture about a ship going from Shanghai to San Francisco and the crew coming down with cholera.  The Captain (Victor McLaglen) tries to keep the men calm but soon they're threatening mutiny while the ship's doctor (Chester Morris) tries to find a way to keep the epidemic from spreading.  Being a fan of McLaglen and especially Morris, I found this film to be pretty disappointing and it was made even worse when I noticed Landers was the man behind the camera as I usually enjoy his "B" pictures.  What didn't work for me was the fact that the film seemed to forget what type of story it was trying to tell.  The screenplay is all over the place as we're sometimes looking at the feud between the Captain and the doctor but then we'll jump to stories involving the crew members and then jump again to the outbreak on the ship.  The movie just keeps jumping all over the place and at times I started to wonder if it had completely forgotten the stuff dealing with the outbreak, which seemed to be the main story for most of the running time.  McLaglen gives his usual tough performance as he was born to play this type of role.  Morris really doesn't get to do too much and I must admit that he left me a bit disappointed in terms of his performance.  Not only is the character laid back too much but it seemed like Morris just wasn't all that interested in anything that was going on.  The supporting cast includes Alan Hale, Barry Fitzgerald and Wendy Barrie.  The film runs 76-minutes but it feels much longer due to the slow pacing and the lack of any real energy or thread of danger.  Landers lackluster direction really doesn't help matters but I guess it's worth noting that RKO would use this ship again in Val Lewton's THE GHOST SHIP.  It's also worth noting that the music score got an Oscar nomination even though you hardly hear it here.
 

Leave Her to Heaven (1945)
 

John M. Stahl
 

A not-so-typical film-noir about a man (Cornel Wilde) who meets the woman of his dreams (Gene Tierney) only to have his life disrupted due to her loving him too much and leading to some insane jealousy.  When one thinks film-noir they really don't think of color movies but I guess this film is the exception as we get that dark and seedy female character but here we get to see her in some beautiful Technicolor by Leon Shamroy who would end up winning an Oscar for his cinematography here.  The film has gained a large following over the years but the first hour really left me bored and I had quite a difficult time getting involved in anything going on.  The build up on the romance felt very dry to me and it felt as if it went on for way too long.  The first hour really drug on for me but the final fifty-minutes are pure mayhem and brilliance with some very chilling moments.  I won't ruin what happens but the scene with the crippled brother swimming is still rather shocking to watch so I can't even imagine how it would have played in a much safer 1945 era.  There's another sequence involving some steps that is equally as powerful and shocking.  Tierney, receiving her only Oscar nomination here, does a marvelous job at playing the beautiful, full of life character at the start of the film and her descent to madness is very believable and perfectly done.  That evil look in her eye is perfect and I really loved the way she could turn to pure ice at the drop of a hat.  Wilde is very good in his role as well as is Jeanne Crain as the step-sister.  Vincent Price eats up the scenery at the end as the D.A. who goes after a certain person and he is wonderfully entertaining.  The performances and the final fifty-minutes really makes this film worth viewing but I still wish the first hour had been more compelling.  The melodrama of the first half isn't nearly as strong as everything that would follow but the performances and the shocking nature of the second half makes this a must see.

 

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post #238 of 1166
2/19/10 at 2:03pm
Just briefly since I'm caught up in watching the Olympics.

Unborn (2009)

Rather silly story about a young woman haunted by her unborn dead twin that is possessed by an evil spirit. There are some interesting images here but it can't save this for me. What is Gary Oldman doing in this movie?

Inkheart (2008)

Interesting fantasy about a man played apeallingly by Brendan Fraser who has the ability of being able to read characters out of books. This had a large cast of mainly well known British actors, including Paul Bettany, Helen Mirran, Jim Broadbent and Andy Serkis as the evil Capricorn. Stellar acting from everyone involved in a vastly entertaining fantasy film.

Changeling (2008)

Angelina Jolie is outstanding  as a young single mother struggling with the disappearance of her son. When she refuses to acknowledge a substitute that the police presented as her son, she is sent to an institution for the mentally ill by the police captain. He is angered by her stubbornness and the potential embarrassment to the police force. It's a bit overlong but it remains one of my recent favourites by Clint Eastwood.

Kinky Boots (2006) 

Another well loved gem and I can't help but have a smile on my face every time I watch it. This movie is based loosely on fact about a shoe factory in Northhampton that switches it's line of product in order to avoid further lay-offs and eventual closure. The catch here is that it switches from producing a sturdy line of mens leather shoes to a line of boots for transvestites. This was such a delight to watch from the preformances especially Chiwetel Ejiofor as Lola and the catchy musical numbers. Of note, Chiwetel Ejiofor sang all his songs and he could challenge some of the recording artists nowadays.

Pride & Prejudice  (2005)

Very lush and beautiful to watch this is my favourite adaptation of Jane Austin's book. Just outstanding all around.

Kitty (1945)

Paulette Goddard gives a good performance in the title role in the Pygmalian story of a street woman who is transformed into a grand lady by an unscrupulous man out to serve his own interests. Ray Milland plays quite the cad here who is able to manoeuvre his transformed "lady" into a couple of marriages with very wealthy gentlemen all to support his gambling habit. Kitty agrees to all this because unfortunately she loves him. It was a good movie until the ending. I just hated how this was resolved.

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post #239 of 1166
2/20/10 at 3:58am
Shutter Island (2010)

Engaging if overlong film from Martin Scorsese based on the novel. Leonardo DiCaprio is a U.S. Marshal in 1954 who travels with his partner (Mark Ruffalo) to a heavily guarded mental institution for the criminally insane, far off on a creepy island. He's there to investigate the recent escape of a female patient who drowned her three children, and to possibly uncover what he feels are some unorthodox brain treatments on some of the inmates.

Scorsese really handles this material well, but the viewer needs to pay close attention because there are so many twists and turns during DiCaprio's journey that things may sometimes become confusing. However, everything manages to make sense in the end, which is always what's important in a maze of a movie such as this. Leonardo's character is complicated because he plays a cop who had to kill many men during the war, and as a result has to contend with flashbacks which affect his work and better judgment. The rest of the cast is splendid, among them Max von Sydow as the elderly head psychiatrist, and especially Ben Kingsley as the mysteriously evasive and multi-layered head doctor who DiCaprio must deal with during his investigations.

Without revealing spoilers, the ending wasn't really anything I couldn't have figured out, which is partly why I haven't rated the movie higher (that along with its excessive length and some possible lingering plot holes). But on the plus side, this is a film that I think may reward with a second viewing, and could conceivably come out with a slightly higher score next time.    
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post #240 of 1166
2/20/10 at 7:09am
Thread Starter 
Normally I'd never miss the first daily screening of my "my wanted" movie but I passed on SHUTTER ISLAND yesterday and went with UP IN THE AIR since my girlfriend wanted to see it.  We'll be seeing it later today though. 

It's nice to see you watching a DiCaprio movie and I'd be interested in your opinions on THE DEPARTED also from Scorsese. 

I remember we were visiting another forum before GANGS OF NEW YORK was released and everyone was throwing a fit about Scorsese and DiCaprio working together.  I said at that time I thought it would lead to great things and could be a nice replacement for DeNiro, which so far it has turned out to be. 
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