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Track the Films You Watch (2011) (1 Viewer)

Michael Elliott

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Escape to Witch Mountain (1975)


Andy Fickman


Disney's reboot/remake/sequel (or, once again, whatever) of ESCAPE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN has a couple alien children (Anna Sophia Robb, Alexander Ludwig) landing on Earth and being chased by a group of men wanting to use their powers. Thankfully, for them at least, they ended up with a cab driver (Dwayne Johnson) who will protect them to the end. Perhaps it wasn't best for me to view ESCAPE and RETURN before viewing this third film in the series because when you watch the films so close together it's hard not to compare them. I found the 1975 and 1978 movies to be mildly entertaining even though they were nothing overly special but the biggest difference with this film is how much its been dumbed down. Instead of some sort of story we just get one loud, obnoxious explosion after another and in the end you can't help but feel that you've wasted your time. I think the screenplay is pretty poor but I guess this sort of thing passes for a kids movie today. None of the characters are written very and in fact I'd say there isn't a single one of them that has an ounce of a personality. It's hard to care for the alien children here because they're simply so cold and unlikeable. Part of the problem is without a doubt the screenplay but another problem is that the performances themselves are rather lame. Neither Robb or Ludwig have any energy and they come across very weak in the film. Perhaps this was what the director wanted and if so he deserves the blame but either way when your leads aren't entertaining then your movie is in trouble. I'm really not familiar with the work of Johnson in these kids movie but I found him to be pleasant here. He's certainly game for anything they throw at him including some of the silly humor. Tom Everett Scott, Ciaran Hinde and Garry Marshall wound out the supporting cast. In a nice move, Disney brought back Kim Richards and Ike Eisenmann who played the children in the original movies. I had expected just a quick cameo but the writers went the extra mile and gave both of them nice parts. I'm really not sure how children will see this movie but for me it doesn't come close to the original two. I think the first two contain enough good moments to where most kids of today should still be able to enjoy them. As for adults, seeing the older movies will show how much better kids entertainment use to be.
 

Pete York

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Dec 1, 2004
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THE OUTLAW is so, so bad. Especially your point about all the contradictory tones going on at the same time. The actors are doing the opposite of the dialogue, the score is opposite of the acting. It feels incompetent and I'll say that even if Ben Hecht and Jules Furthman wrote it and Toland shot it and Hawks directed. There has to be a closet gay movie out there that's actually well made for people to embrace. Weirder is when someone calls it "compelling" like in Maltin, where it got 3 stars.


...but a certain pair at least got people into the theater.

I laughed until I realized you obviously meant those two great thespians Huston and Mitchell. out of 4
 

PatW

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Patricia
01/16 Terminator 3 (2003) 3/5


Mediocre terminator movie, the weakest of the four out, right now. Some great special effects here but the movie just seems to be a rehash of what we've seen before. The weak link here is the actor playing John Connor. I'm sure Nicholas Stahl is a fine young actor but here he just doesn't have the personality to play such an iconic character. Arnie is fine as the Terminator turned protector but he's just a retread from the second movie. I would have liked it better if the story had been more original. Still it gets a mild pass from me for the great special effects and action sequences.


01/16 The Secret Life of Bees (2008) 4/5


Heart felt story about a young girl searching for info on her dead mother, after escaping along with the famly housekeeper, her abusive father. The story takes place in 1964 a time when racial relations in the South weren't at their best. Lily played by Dakota Fanning is haunted by the accidental shooting of her mother at her own hands. She is an ignored, physically abused child who decides to run away with her housekeeper when her housekeeper is arrested after an assault. Lily has one thing in her possession that belonged to her mother, a picture of a black madonna. When Lily spies this image on a jar of honey this leads the two of them to the house of the Boatwright sisters, the eldest (Queen Latifah) who is a bee keeper and harvester of honey. Here Lily finally finds a home, love, compassion and acceptance.


Dakota Fanning is great here as Lily, as is Queen Latifah as August Boatwright. In fact the whole cast was great, the shock here being Paul Bettany as the abusive father who I didn't recognize at first. The is a wonderful story with a message of acceptance across colour lines a message still as important today as back then. Sappy at times, yes but sometimes it's good to have a good cry. Highly recommended.


01/16 I Love You, Alice B Toklas (1968) 2.5/5


This movie is alittle slice of 1960's flower power some of which I spent my early teens years in. Peter Sellars is Harold a rather tight-lipped uptight lawyer who after an interesting experience with a hash brownie decides "to turn in and drop out." This is not a great film but I can remember liking it alot better way back when. It's worth watching it alone for the scene of Harold's parents's abandonment after sampling those 'special' brownies. It's also always a treat seeing Peter Sellars in a movie no matter how terrible. Unfortunately this has not stood the test of time for me. Enjoyed watching it again though.



01/17 End of Days (1999) 1/5


I don't know why I didn't turn this off but my daughter seemed to be enjoying it. Pretty bad end of the millennium flick about a woman who is destined to conceive satan's child thus issuing a new hell on earth, and the former police officer who's duty it is to prevent that from happening. One of the weakest of Schwarzenegger's movies. Gabriel Byrne isn't half bad though as the devil.
 

Michael Elliott

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Originally Posted by Pete York




I love Walter Huston but he wouldn't be the reason I'd be willing to go to a theater and watch this film.


I was rather shocked at all the controversy surrounding the film and if the scene in Scorsese's THE AVIATOR has any truth to it then I see the reason for him fighting the Hayes Office. The size of her breasts were certainly something not too normal for the times but I don't think the level of what was shown was worst than other movies out there at the time.

After watching this I'm certain Hughes didn't have anything to do with HELLS ANGELS. I'm not certain that James Whale had more to do with that picture's greatness than anything Hughes might have shot. What's so shocking about the tone is when



Doc gets killed. You'd think people would be "sad" but the score makes it appear as if everyone was having a party. The score makes it seem as if his death was a funny thing and it makes you keep looking for the Marx Bros. to walk out.
 

Michael Elliott

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Kansas City Confidential (1952)


Howard Bretherton, William Keighley


Based on the life of tycoon Ivan Kreuger, who would become known as Match King, this Warner film was rushed into production after Kreuger killed himself on March 12, 1932 and would be released before the end of the year. In the film Warren William plays Paul Kroll, a poor man working as a janitor who cheats countless people before eventually getting a hold of a match company, which he plans to use to take over the world. As Kroll sees it, gold is only valuable because man makes it so but matches are needed by everyone from the rich to the poorest in the world. I wish THE MATCH KING were a better movie but you can tell it was rushed because the screenplay isn't nearly as good as it needed to be and it also gets bogged down in a love story with Lila Damita playing a Swedish beauty who goes to Hollywood and pretty much breaks the heart of Kroll. Apparently this part was based on Greta Garbo but this doesn't add any value to the movie. The main thing this film has going for it is the performance by William who is downright terrific in the part. There wasn't anyone in the pre-code era that could play sleazy characters better than William and he once again delivers the goods here. The coldness to this guy is perfectly brought to life with William who just has a certainly smile that you can see in his eyes when he gets one over on people. It could be getting a friend fired to that he can make more money or pretending to love his best friend's wife so that she will take her husband's life savings and give to him. William delivers the goods and makes this one of his most memorable performances. Damita is also good in her part but the screenplay does very little for her outside of a few quick lines. The supporting cast includes Claire Dodd, Glenda Farrell and Juliette Compton as well as Harold Huber, John Wray and Alan Hale. The film starts off pretty good as it seems to have fun showing off how greedy and crooked this guy is but it loses itself during the middle with the silly love story and things don't pick up much during the final half. The film is certainly still worth viewing for fans of William due to his performance but you can't help but think the thing could have been much better had the studio taken their time with a better story. It is worth noting that the movie has a pre-credit sequence, which was very rare for its time. Also fascinating is that there's a sequence in the film where the legend of "three on a match" gets started by Kroll to help sales and William actually appeared in the Warner film THREE ON A MATCH also released in 1932.
 

Mario Gauci

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[SIZE= 12px]01/17/11: THE SOCIAL NETWORK (David Fincher, 2010) [/SIZE]


[SIZE= 12px]This has been getting a belated reputation (I admit to being totally unfamiliar with it up till now!) as a sort of dry-run for one of last year’s most acclaimed films, BLACK SWAN. In fact, it similarly deals with a young and beautiful ballerina whose life is inextricably altered when she applies for the starring role of the famous Tchaikovsky opus “Swan Lake” (though here everything eventually works its way to a happy ending).[/SIZE]


[SIZE= 12px]While it does not go into the psychological avenues taken by Darren Aronofsky’s recent effort, the film nonetheless plays out like a Kafkaesque thriller – with the two protagonists (the hero is a likeable fellow American who happens to stay on the same floor of her Budapest hotel) sucked in by a vortex of surreal events that literally transcends the passage of time! If anything, ETOILE also recalls Hitchcock’s VERTIGO (1958) in equal measures, as ageing and crippled impresario/dancer(!) Laurent Terzieff moulds leading lady Jennifer Connelly (still in her Euro-fantasy phase that had kicked off with Dario Argento’s typically elaborate PHENOMENA [1984] and also comprised Jim Henson’s kiddie film LABYRINTH [1986]) into a prima ballerina from a past age who had perished tragically after a performance. Interestingly, 17 year-old Connelly – though she is meant to be spell-bound and, thus, also unable to recognize the young man – slips into the intricacies of her dual role much more easily than Natalie Portman in BLACK SWAN! [/SIZE]


[SIZE= 12px]A dilapidated country-house also plays a central part in the ‘re-enactment’ – where the male lead (whose life had until then been controlled by art-collecting uncle Charles Durning, who is himself mysteriously hypnotized at one point, gets violent towards his relative and hit by a passing car!) eventually goes to meet the evil head-on just as the Tchaikovsky ballet is being played out on stage. He has to fight with a giant black swan which, when he kills, Terzieff falls dead in mid-performance elsewhere! In the end, while hardly a lost classic, this is a reasonably interesting (and stylish) effort, regardless of the BLACK SWAN connotations which will probably be attributed to it from here on in… [/SIZE]
 

Martin Teller

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Martin Teller
I agree that 99 River Street has a slight edge over KC Confidential but I love 'em both.



Jour de fête - I was tackling the remainder of the TSPDT list roughly in order of their placement, but now I've decided to skip around a bit and get to the ones I really wanted to see. In his first feature, Tati reprises his hectic postman character from L'ecole des facteurs (here named "Francois"), a more cantankerous figure than Hulot. And more talkative... it's a little odd to hear Tati actually speak, although a lot of it is just mumbling. But the character has the same talent for creating chaos and of course the same lankiness that lends itself to some splendid physical gags. And in the same spirit of the later Hulot films, Tati celebrates the simple life and quietly rages against modernity as Francois tries to deliver mail "the American way", with predictably disastrous results (but if we're going to be fair, his normal methods aren't always that effective, either). The tone is a bit more zany and slapsticky than I'm accustomed to from Tati, but he still takes his time and doesn't rush things too much. What's more disappointing is that Francois is the town laughingstock. It's not as distressing as the cruel parts of Trafic, but it does seem a bit mean-spirited compared to the other Hulot films. Nonetheless, the humor is overall quite good and the film is a breezy delight. Rating: 7


Two English Girls - I've now seen everything Truffaut directed, with two minor exceptions (Une visite, his first short, and The Army Game, which he co-directed). This one comes right on the cusp between his early masterpieces and the period where he often seemed to be losing his touch. Comparisons to Jules et Jim are too easy to ignore. For one thing, they're both based on novels by the same author, in fact this one even references the other book, albeit under a barely-disguised name "Jerome et Julien." More importantly, as the film itself admits, it's largely the same love triangle with the genders flipped. Don't expect the same brilliance, however. There are definitely nice touches (Claude's English room is blue to reflect the chasteness, while his Parisian room is red to match his libertine lifestyle) and clever moments, but they're relatively few. Some people seem especially bothered by the narration, but for the most part I was fine with it, except when it degenerated into something resembling one of those trashy Victorian novels. "Her ribbon broke"? Gross. I dunno, the film is watchable and has its charms, but at the end of it you have no sense of why these characters were drawn to each other, except that they seemed to force themselves into it. None of them has the strength of personality of Jules, Jim or Catherine (such a bland performance from Leaud!). To be quite honest, the more I dwell on it, the less I like it. It starts out promising, but gradually goes off the rails and starts spouting a lot of abstract nonsense about romance, while perhaps making some vague point about sexual freedom. Despite some lovely cinematography by Nestor Almendros and a pleasant Georges Delarue score, it's Truffaut's weakest, in my opinion. Rating: 6



Tale of the Taira Clan (Shin heike monogatari) - This just dropped off the TSPDT 1000 list, but I've resolved to complete the 2010 edition (as much as possible) anyway. Besides, I adore Mizoguchi so I would have gotten around to it regardless. This really isn't his thing, though. It's a fairly entertaining story with some complex (i.e., hard to follow) politics. Lots of clans and factions and matters of honor and respect... man, living in ancient Japan must have been a bitch. You always have to know who to kowtow to, and it's always changing. It flows along well with enough interesting moments, and it has good music and some dynamite shots... including crowd scenes, a rarity for Mizoguchi (and like Princess Yang Kwei Fei, is in color). But there isn't a whole lot of passion in it. It's similar to his take on the 47 Ronin tale, lacking in real human insight. Not bad, just not great. As a sidenote, I can't help but think the runaway popularity of Rashomon influenced the multiple tellings of Kiyomori's parentage. Rating: 7


Contras' City - Taking a short break from the TSPDT list... although you could call this a "spinoff" since it's an extra on the Touki Bouki DVD, which I just bought. Mambety's first film is one of those "city portrait" shorts, showing us around Dakar. Even this early, there is a distinct French New Wave influence, it reminded me most of Varda's Du cote de la cote. A freeform style with a lot of witty asides and clever commentary about the encroachment of French culture on Senegalese life (for example, exaggerated oohing and aahing on the soundtrack as local women peruse a stack of trendy, shallow magazines). I wouldn't call this a great piece of work, but it's a fine start that shows a strong artistic sensibility and has some amusing moments. Nice music, too. Rating: 7


Kitchen Stories - Folke is a Swedish researcher in the 1950's, tasked with observing the kitchen movements of Isak, a stubborn Norwegian who doesn't particularly wish to be observed. The situation takes on a series of unusual turns as the relationship between the two men develops, with interventions by Folke's stern supervisor and Isak's jealous friend. This is a wonderful little bit of absurdism, highlighted by that delightful Scandinavian sense of deadpan humor and some truly touching moments. The film draws on several themes (postwar attitudes, tensions between the Nordic nations, the role of the documentarian, privacy) but ultimately is simply a testament to the triumph of the human spirit over all sorts of nonsense. Great performances all around, a hilarious and clever script, and fine camerawork. Definitely worth checking out. Rating: 8


Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence - I had a bad feeling about this film. Not because I've had such varying results with Oshima, it's just always looked... well, kinda boring. I'm happy to report it's not boring, at least most of it isn't (I don't ever need to watch talk someone talk about his dream, in real life or in the movies). It's a pretty interesting meditation on power, cruelty, duty, compassion and a little bit of homosexuality. Some of Oshima's compositions are very striking, and rarely ostentatious. As for the cast, Tom Conti and Takeshi Kitano are the highlights, and their final scene together is a real treat. David Bowie and Ryuichi Sakamoto (the resident pop stars) hold their own well enough, with one noteworthy flaw. Sakamoto thick accent makes his English dialogue very difficult to understand, and since Criterion didn't deem it necessary to provide subtitles for the English, there was a bit of rewinding required and even then I didn't catch it all. While we're talking about Sakamoto, a few words about the score. I don't mind a synthesized score for a WWII movie, that's just artistic license. But often the music is just completely wrong for the scene. It's cool music (the main theme is dynamite), and sometimes spot on... but at other times it's jarringly inappropriate. As for the film as a whole, I didn't love it and it didn't really resonate with me, but I found it frequently intriguing. Rating: 7


Louis C.K.: Hilarious - If you like Louis C.K., you know what to expect. The man never disappoints. Probably about 70% of this material was familiar to me, but a lot of that is my fault for listening to bootleg shows. Some of it appeared on his amazing show "Louie" as well. But it's all honed and expanded upon and built into a great feature-length set with very, very few lows. Near the end I was laughing myself to tears, despite already knowing the bits. It's a shame the stand-up film never really caught on. I remember going to a show of Eddie Murphy: Raw with a packed and appreciative house. Every now and then one like this will come along, but they're definitely few and far between. Maybe since Hilarious actually screened at Sundance, we'll see them more often. Rating: 9
 

Michael Elliott

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Saturday was D.W. Griffith's birthday and I had made plans on going to his hometown where they celebrate it each year but ended up having to work so I just watched a couple of his shorts that I hadn't seen before. Also continued with the crap Saturday flicks, which keeps this bad tradition going.



Rose O'Salem Town (1910)


Ed Hunt


In 1970 three children are born at the same time during an eclipse. Ten years later they go on a killing spree and it's up to a local boy and his sister to put an end to it. I've seen a lot of dumb movies in my life but this one here must enter the top ten for all time dumbness. I'm really not sure where to start on this thing but it is without question one of the dumbest and most insane movies I've ever witness and I can't believe that anyone could find this thing entertaining. The screenplay would make Ed Wood walk away in embarrassment because there's no rhyme or reason to anything that happens. Things just appear for no reason and there's never any follow up to what events do happen. There are at least fifteen or so murders here yet the police or adults in the town never seem too worried about what's going on. The continuity level in this film is also the worst I've ever seen and one good example is when a kid sneaks out of his house and the next day the sheriff is murdered. We then see the sheriff's funeral and the next scene has the kid who snuck out of the house questioned about where he was. The continuity here is that the sheriff was murdered and buried in the matter of hours. There are other murders that happen and then the follow up to them either never happens or is just overlooked. One of the three children murder their own sister and the mother never even drops a tear about it or mentions the fact that her child was just killed! The entire storyline is downright stupid and we're never even told why the kids are killing except for the fact that they were born during an eclipse. Uhh....what about all the other kids in the world who were born on the same day? BLOODY BIRTHDAY is so incredibly awful that you have to keep watching just to see how much dumber it's going to get. Take a look at a scene towards the end where the boy and his sister are trapped in the house with the three murderers firing a gun at them, chasing them with a knife and a bow and arrow. How does the sister stop one of the killers? By picking up a fish bowl and pouring water on him. The film delivers some pretty sleazy murder scenes ranging from people get shot to hit with shovels and even a baseball bat to the head. We even get an arrow in one poor girl's eye. There are a handful of death scenes but none of them are overly violent or gory. The film also gives a lot of nudity including Julie Brown who appears topless and without her panties. If you're a fan of Brown then you're going to enjoy her smoking body here, which is clearly the highlight of this film. The music score is also one of the most unbarring in the history of music as it's so over dramatic and often time steals cues from the scores of PSYCHO and FRIDAY THE 13TH. This film here is so incredibly stupid that you almost have to recommend just so people can see how bad it is. Again, I view a lot of bad movies but very seldom does a movie get under my skin for being so annoying and stupid but BLOODY BIRTHDAY did just that. It's pretty bad when you're watching a movie and would give anything you own just to jump through the TV and beat the hell out of everyone in the film.
 

Mario Gauci

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Hey Martin...is there a way to learn which films have fallen off of or been added to the TSPDT list over the years? I've been to their website but, although they supposedly have links to this info, I can only access this year's list!


Below is yet another excellent melange of viewings:


  1. I've acquired a boatload of Phil Karlson movies recently, from Swashbucklers to Westerns to Noirs (including his 3 with John Payne - the other being two copies of 1955's HELL'S ISLAND aka SOUTH SEA FURY!); next month should see me tackle some of the latter genre..with the emphasis on some!
  2. I'm not too hot on Tati (even if I own most of his work regardless!) but JOUR DE FETE (1949) - like MON ONCLE (1958) - is one of the two that I unreservedly liked. For the record, I've seen all 6 of his feature films but they've each received a sole viewing from me so far.
  3. Francois Truffaut is another French director which I'm thoroughly familiar with (with just 2 features remaining) and yet I'm not (in that I've seen most just once)! I recall loving TWO ENGLISH GIRLS (1971) when I rented it on VHS some 12 years ago and, in fact, I was not all that surprised when a Venetian friend of mine (a renowned Francophile - of the Jess variety! - that Michael Elliott also 'knows' from a previous online Forum) named it as his all-time favorite film!
  4. As you may know, Mizoguchi is one of the 12 film-makers I most admire and I've always loved his penultimate film, even if it is a notch below UGETSU (1953) and SANSHO THE BAILIFF (1954). It's too bad there is still no official English-friendly DVD of it in the US or UK and, even though I recently 'upgraded' my VHS original to a DivX download, it looks like its merely a port of that same tape! In any case, next July I should be delving into the 20 or so unwatched Mizoguchis I have gathered over the last couple of years!
  5. I loved DEATH BY HANGING (1968) which I rented while in Hollywood and, subsequently, acquired; I'm not the biggest fan of IN THE REALM OF THE SENSES (1976) but I do have a copy still, plus several other Nagisa Oshima movies in my unwatched pile...including MERRY CHRISTMAS, MR. LAWRENCE (1983).



Originally Posted by Martin Teller

I agree that 99 River Street has a slight edge over KC Confidential but I love 'em both.



Jour de fête - I was tackling the remainder of the TSPDT list roughly in order of their placement, but now I've decided to skip around a bit and get to the ones I really wanted to see. In his first feature, Tati reprises his hectic postman character from L'ecole des facteurs (here named "Francois"), a more cantankerous figure than Hulot. And more talkative... it's a little odd to hear Tati actually speak, although a lot of it is just mumbling. But the character has the same talent for creating chaos and of course the same lankiness that lends itself to some splendid physical gags. And in the same spirit of the later Hulot films, Tati celebrates the simple life and quietly rages against modernity as Francois tries to deliver mail "the American way", with predictably disastrous results (but if we're going to be fair, his normal methods aren't always that effective, either). The tone is a bit more zany and slapsticky than I'm accustomed to from Tati, but he still takes his time and doesn't rush things too much. What's more disappointing is that Francois is the town laughingstock. It's not as distressing as the cruel parts of Trafic, but it does seem a bit mean-spirited compared to the other Hulot films. Nonetheless, the humor is overall quite good and the film is a breezy delight. Rating: 7


Two English Girls - I've now seen everything Truffaut directed, with two minor exceptions (Une visite, his first short, and The Army Game, which he co-directed). This one comes right on the cusp between his early masterpieces and the period where he often seemed to be losing his touch. Comparisons to Jules et Jim are too easy to ignore. For one thing, they're both based on novels by the same author, in fact this one even references the other book, albeit under a barely-disguised name "Jerome et Julien." More importantly, as the film itself admits, it's largely the same love triangle with the genders flipped. Don't expect the same brilliance, however. There are definitely nice touches (Claude's English room is blue to reflect the chasteness, while his Parisian room is red to match his libertine lifestyle) and clever moments, but they're relatively few. Some people seem especially bothered by the narration, but for the most part I was fine with it, except when it degenerated into something resembling one of those trashy Victorian novels. "Her ribbon broke"? Gross. I dunno, the film is watchable and has its charms, but at the end of it you have no sense of why these characters were drawn to each other, except that they seemed to force themselves into it. None of them has the strength of personality of Jules, Jim or Catherine (such a bland performance from Leaud!). To be quite honest, the more I dwell on it, the less I like it. It starts out promising, but gradually goes off the rails and starts spouting a lot of abstract nonsense about romance, while perhaps making some vague point about sexual freedom. Despite some lovely cinematography by Nestor Almendros and a pleasant Georges Delarue score, it's Truffaut's weakest, in my opinion. Rating: 6



Tale of the Taira Clan (Shin heike monogatari) - This just dropped off the TSPDT 1000 list, but I've resolved to complete the 2010 edition (as much as possible) anyway. Besides, I adore Mizoguchi so I would have gotten around to it regardless. This really isn't his thing, though. It's a fairly entertaining story with some complex (i.e., hard to follow) politics. Lots of clans and factions and matters of honor and respect... man, living in ancient Japan must have been a bitch. You always have to know who to kowtow to, and it's always changing. It flows along well with enough interesting moments, and it has good music and some dynamite shots... including crowd scenes, a rarity for Mizoguchi (and like Princess Yang Kwei Fei, is in color). But there isn't a whole lot of passion in it. It's similar to his take on the 47 Ronin tale, lacking in real human insight. Not bad, just not great. As a sidenote, I can't help but think the runaway popularity of Rashomon influenced the multiple tellings of Kiyomori's parentage. Rating: 7



Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence - I had a bad feeling about this film. Not because I've had such varying results with Oshima, it's just always looked... well, kinda boring. I'm happy to report it's not boring, at least most of it isn't (I don't ever need to watch talk someone talk about his dream, in real life or in the movies). It's a pretty interesting meditation on power, cruelty, duty, compassion and a little bit of homosexuality. Some of Oshima's compositions are very striking, and rarely ostentatious. As for the cast, Tom Conti and Takeshi Kitano are the highlights, and their final scene together is a real treat. David Bowie and Ryuichi Sakamoto (the resident pop stars) hold their own well enough, with one noteworthy flaw. Sakamoto thick accent makes his English dialogue very difficult to understand, and since Criterion didn't deem it necessary to provide subtitles for the English, there was a bit of rewinding required and even then I didn't catch it all. While we're talking about Sakamoto, a few words about the score. I don't mind a synthesized score for a WWII movie, that's just artistic license. But often the music is just completely wrong for the scene. It's cool music (the main theme is dynamite), and sometimes spot on... but at other times it's jarringly inappropriate. As for the film as a whole, I didn't love it and it didn't really resonate with me, but I found it frequently intriguing. Rating: 7
 

Mario Gauci

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[COLOR= #181818]01/08/11: ELVIS: ’68 COMEBACK SPECIAL [Extended Version] (Steve Binder, 1968; TV) [/COLOR]


[COLOR= #333333]To begin with, the opening credits of this English-dubbed version (of mediocre quality, which does not preclude a word of thanks from me to its enthusiastic supplier, a Venetian friend of mine!) omits any mention of it being in any way based on Octave Mirbeau’s novel “Diary Of A Chambermaid”, previously idiosyncratically filmed by Frenchman Jean Renoir in the U.S. and Spaniard Luis Bunuel in France (the very same situation as Jess Franco and his ‘adaptation’ – except for the end result, of course!).[/COLOR]


[COLOR= #333333]Since Franco’s career has had many phases, most people are drawn to one while being disappointed or, like the undersigned, left scratching their head at virtually all the others. So far, I have tried films from all these various periods except for the latest (though I own the reasonably well-received SNAKEWOMAN [2005] from it) but I find myself more comfortable with his work emanating from the 1961-1971 years. Others, however, consider his “Robert De Nesle” titles (dating approximately from 1970-1978) his most creative – from which I only really like 3 i.e. 1971’s A VIRGIN AMONG THE LIVING DEAD, 1973’s THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MIRROR and 1974’s LORNA THE EXORCIST. With this in mind, though I watched the film as part of my ongoing Bunuel retrospective, it is practically useless to compare it with his version (much less the Renoir one). The thing is that Franco has made of it a sex comedy – complete with silly score – pretty much on the similarly bawdy and vacuous lines (read invincibly low-brow) of Italian efforts dating from the same period and featuring any number of popular starlets (and which have by now acquired a largely undeserved cult reputation)![/COLOR]


[COLOR= #333333]To be honest, the only reason I ended up not rating this even less than I did was the fact that Celestine’s presence in the household ultimately brought its members closer together. Incidentally, her obsession with sex (though, truth be told, all characters seem to share this and, by extension, so does the director – amazingly, the script was written by Jess’ wife Nicole Guettard, while the leading lady was her replacement in his life i.e. Lina Romay!) is excused here by making the heroine a prostitute (at one point, she ‘services’ practically the entire household in quick succession, having to hide away every ‘client’ with each new knock at her bedroom door!). At least, Franco displays some inventiveness with the sex scenes so as to avoid slipping into hardcore territory (were it that he adopted this much tact more often)![/COLOR]


[COLOR= #333333]The cast is peppered with his regulars from this era, notably Howard Vernon (embarrassing as a bed-ridden old-timer), Pamela Stanford (playing the naïve daughter here, this at least attests to her versatility – since she would play the witch Lorna soon after!), Lynne Monteil (whom I had liked in the same year’s EXORCISM, now as the lady of the house), Monica Swinn (curiously uncredited) but, unfortunately, also Bigotini (who with his plump features and thick whiskers makes for the least ideal lover one could imagine, and a far cry from his sinister counterpart in the Renoir and Bunuel versions!). In the end, having finally just purchased Mirbeau’s source novel, I know there is little chance of it being closer to the Franco film than those of the two more renowned directors (both of whom are among my absolute favorites). Then again, the person who regaled me with this copy of CELESTINE also sent along a book he edited – and personally contributed to – about “Uncle Jess” (as he is affectionately called by hardened fans) which I appreciated a great deal more (and intend delving into in the near future) than this very minor effort in his never-ending legacy… [/COLOR]
 

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01/20 October Sky (1999) 4.5/5


October Sky is based on the book Rocket Boys and is the true life story of Homer Hickam a NASA engineer during a short period in his adolescence. Homer is a young man drifting along when one day in class he is inspired by his teacher Miss Riley and the launch of the Russia satellite Sputnik. From then on he has a dream of building and launching his own rockets. He enlists his friends plus the school's science nerd to help him in his task. His teacher Miss Riley encourages the boys and Homer especially, and talks them into entering the science fair. Unfortunately Homer receives no support from his miner father who believes he's destined for the mines.


This is a well acted movie especially Laura Dern as Miss Riley and Chris Cooper as the miner father. Also of note is Jake Gyllenhaal as young Homer. The movie does well in displaying the late 1950's from the music to just the general feel of the film. The setting is deary but the hopes and accomplishments of these boys light up the film. Well worth seeing with ones family.


01/20 King Arthur (2004) 3/5


Interesting version of the King Arthur story and though this version seems more credible than others it certainly not as entertaining. Despite that, it's a mildly interesting slice of fictional? history set during a time in Briton when the Roman legions are set to leave and the Saxons ready to take their place. Clive Owen makes a fine Arthur as does Stellan Skarsgaard as the Saxon chief. I'm sure alot of people dislike this film due to the twisting of a well-loved story but I count it as just one more version of the legend. But do youself a favour and watch Excalibur instead.
 

Martin Teller

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Originally Posted by Mario Gauci

Hey Martin...is there a way to learn which films have fallen off of or been added to the TSPDT list over the years? I've been to their website but, although they supposedly have links to this info, I can only access this year's list!


Go here and at the very bottom of the Google document, click "Ex-Top1000".




Time of the Gypsies (rewatch) - Thanks to South Korea, I finally own this masterpiece on a legitimate DVD. Granted, it's not very good quality and there's a few flubs in the subtitles, but at least it's anamorphic. I did a little soul-searching while watching it. Have I latched on to this movie for some bogus reason, heaping more praise on it than it merits? Did I perhaps arbitrarily choose to make it one of my all-time favorites? It's one of only three films that I rated 100 on Criticker... is it really so perfect? Well, disregarding the inherent silliness of assigning scores to works of art, I'll say yes. Or damn close. The one area where it might fall short is the cinematography. It's got some great shots (all the dream/magic sequences especially) but it's not really an eye-popping visual delight. Then again, neither is Scenes from a Marriage, and I gave that 100 too. So not every element has to be perfect for it to make a perfect whole. It's a film that resonates deep within my soul, with wonderful characters, charming comedy, devastating tragedy, brilliant scoring (I still maintain that "Ederlezi" is the best film music ever), great performances, unforgettable moments, just the right balance of reality and fantasy, social commentary and narrative ambiguity. And not a moment of it is dull. It's a cinematic world that I love to inhabit, one I find richly rewarding every time. Someone still needs to release this properly, with extensive bonus features and preferably both versions (although a bit bloated, I still intend to watch the television version again someday). Until then, I'll cherish my Korean DVD. Rating: 10


Snatch - This is my cousin Jamie's favorite movie. I didn't love Lock Stock, but amazingly, I didn't hate it either, so I decided to give this one a shot. And it's a little bit better, although very much in the same vein. Quirky tough guys, convoluted scenarios, lots of flashy edits and snappy one-liners. But none of it really annoyed me at all, and I was able to kick back with it and just enjoy the fun. Ritchie introduces a large cast of characters very quickly, but manages to keep all the plot threads organized in a way that doesn't lose the viewer. I wish it was a bit more original (it's impossible not to think of Tarantino and Scorsese) but I must admit I enjoyed it despite some trepidation. It even had moments that I found very clever (Dennis Farina's lighting-quick flights, for example). You're off the hook, Jamie. Rating: 8


The More the Merrier - A leftover from my Jean Arthur binge. Here she is teamed up with Charles Coburn again after Devil and Miss Jones, with Joel McCrea in the Robert Cummings role. McCrea makes a much better lead, and the film is a fun romcom with some very good gags, and no terrible ones that I can recall. There's some great little moments, some of them toying with the production code, and the movie manages to generate quite a lot of heat for the time. My only complaint is that it feels a bit long. The last few scenes should feel like a madcap flurry of activity, instead they seem to drag on sluggishly. It's not a dealbreaker though, and overall it's a charming and enjoyable experience. Rating: 8


By the Bluest of Seas - If Happiness was a novelty as a Soviet comedy, then what do you make of a romantic comedy? And with a few brief musical interludes, no less! This unusual little flick from Boris Barnet follows the adventures of two strapping young men in love with the same girl, who also happens to be the leader of their Communist island collective. There's nothing really great here and not much to comment on, but it's a very pleasant film with a few neat tricks, likeable actors, and propaganda that doesn't feel too blunt. Rating: 7
 

Michael Elliott

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Re: OCTOBER SKY


I remember seeing that one in the theater when it was first released. I haven't seen it since but I remember it being an incredibly powerful film.



Blue Angel, The (1930)


Tod Browning


Set in China, Lon Chaney plays animal trapper Tiger Haynes who has spent his entire life making sure his daughter (Lupe Velez) is happy. She informs him that she's going to marry a man (Lloyd Hughes) but soon her estranged mother (Estelle Taylor) shows up to cause trouble and try to steal the man from her. This would be the final time that star Chaney and director Browning would work together and sadly it's not nearly as good as many of their films together. This certainly isn't a bad movie but at the same time when you consider the talent involved you can't help but be somewhat disappointed. Those expecting a horror film or for that matter anything bizarre are going to be disappointed because this is a pretty straight melodrama. The story itself is a pretty weak one as you sit there waiting for some sort of big revelation to happen but it really never does. The story is played right down the middle and when the film is over you get pretty much everything you'd expect but at the same time you'll be wondering what the entire point was. There really aren't any major twists in the story and anyone will see the ending coming. What makes the film worth viewing are the performances with Chaney leading the way. It's a shame some people have labeled him (incorrectly) a "horror star" because he was always capable of so much more and you can see that here. It's hard to think of very many other actors who could deliver so much emotion in their face but Chaney delivers the goods and manages to make Tiger a memorable character. Thankfully he has a strong supporting cast with Taylor doing a terrific job in her part. The screenplay doesn't do her any favors but the actor is really terrific on screen and you can't help be drawn to her character. Velez is excellent in her role and manages to have a great relationship with Chaney. Their early scenes together are so fun because they really do come across as a real father and daughter. The sex appeal is also quite high with Velez. There's no question the screenplay is a problem but another issue is the direction by Browning. Those expecting to see that wonderful style and vision are going to be disappointed because this looks like anyone could have directed it. Browning turned in some lazy directorial jobs in this period and sadly this is one of them. With that said, fans of Chaney will certainly want to check it out and at just 67-minutes there's really nothing too bad that would make you want to stay away.
 

Martin Teller

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Yesterday Girl - An early example of the New German Cinema, but I really don't know what to make of it. At times it seems to be about opening and coping with old wounds, picking at the scab of the Third Reich, dredging up things that most are trying to ignore. Or it could be about dealing with a new Germany, one torn between economic prosperity and Communism. But then it also indulges in a lot of non-sequitur, or at least what appeared to be non-sequitur to my eyes. Alexander Kluge, in his debut feature, is wallowing far too much in the newness of his cinema, too eager to introduce one Godardism after another, that he seems to forget what he's doing. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, it has the potential to be exciting. Instead I just felt lost and a bit bored... either I wasn't "getting it" or there wasn't enough to be gotten. Either way, I ceased to be engaged after a while. Rating: 5


The Draughtsman's Contract - Whenever a director has a very distinctive style, I always feel inclined to start pointing out the commonalities. I find myself wanting to make a grid cross-referencing certain characteristics with the films they appear in (an endeavor that Greenaway would no doubt approve of). Here we have: murderous conspiracies, decoding art, extremely formal compositions (often crammed with bric-a-brac), highly mannered dialogue, dispassionate sex, and heaps of symbols and historical references. It's Greenaway's first dramatic feature (The Falls being more "mockumentary" than anything else), and comes up a bit lacking in some areas. The framing is impeccably precise, but without Vierny behind the camera, often looks rather drab, even ugly. It's not as aesthetically exciting as the later works. And this might be an odd complaint to make about Greenaway, but it's really too cold and formal. His other films manage to find some kernel of humanity... that's what makes them rewarding. Here it feels largely like a plot plastered on top of an exercise. In fact, Greenaway's introduction on the DVD practically says as much. But it's an amusing film, and interesting to see some of his pet obsessions flowering. Also, an amazingly memorable Nyman score, perhaps his best. Rating: 7
 

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[SIZE= 12px][COLOR= #333333]01/20/11: ASSIGNMENT TERROR (Tullio Demicheli and, uncredited, Hugo Fregonese and Eberhard Meichsner, 1970) [/COLOR][/SIZE]


[SIZE= 12px][COLOR= #333333]To begin with, I vaguely knew of the 1960s TV series and Bruce Lee’s involvement in it. I cannot say to being particularly excited about watching this (being unfamiliar with Seth Rogen’s work and lukewarm about Gondry’s ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND [2005], which did not rush me into catching up with his subsequent efforts – THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP [2006] and BE KIND REWIND [2007], though both are readily available at my local DVD rental outlet!), and I did it basically so as to get another superhero flick under my belt.[/COLOR][/SIZE]


[SIZE= 12px][COLOR= #333333]Rogen has to be the least appealing alter-ego of a superhero ever, making Tony Stark’s antics seem like child’s play (no wonder he co-wrote this himself)! Not having watched the ‘original’, I cannot say how big Bruce Lee’s contribution was but the Kato figure here easily steals the leading man’s thunder! Cameron Diaz (as Rogen’s secretary) and Tom Wilkinson (as his stern newspaper-publisher dad) sleepwalk through their roles, while Edward James Olmos (as Wilkinson’s right-hand man, who immediately clashes with Rogen once the latter takes over) looks positively bored. As for Christoph Waltz, one would be hard-pressed to associate the stiff (and “not scary”) villain he portrays in this case with his scene-stealing and Oscar-winning turn as a slyly sinister Nazi in INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS (2009)![/COLOR][/SIZE]


[SIZE= 12px][COLOR= #333333]When not adopting the ‘freeze-motion’ technique spear-headed by “The Matrix” films (and it is about time this is laid to rest), the action set-pieces are too fast-paced to be properly digested! Besides, the 3-D effect was barely utilized and, what is more, it left no particular impression – which suggests that this latest craze is just another way to scam the public at large, seeing how the ticket is set at a higher price for no very good reason![/COLOR][/SIZE]
 

Michael Elliott

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Fighter, The (2010)


Ida Lupino


Fairly entertaining, if overly familiar, drama about a deaf woman (Teresa Wright) running her father's cabins in a remote part of the woods. A couple men (William Talman, Peter Lorre) show up to stay a few days and what she doesn't know is that they're wanted by the law for a robbery where Lorre killed a couple men. Over the next couple days Wright and Talman begin to get closer, which doesn't sit well with Lorre who thinks his partner is turning yellow and telling the girl too much. The catchy title is just one of the good things on display here, although I'm sure most people are going to be feeling some deja vu as the storyline certainly isn't anything original. Even though it's not original at least director Lupino keeps the film moving and there's no question that the performances are very good and the thing is well made. What I enjoyed most about the film is how they used the deafness to bring out the character played by Talman. There are several times where he wants to tell this girl that he's falling for how he really feels but can't do it to her face so instead he tells it to her knowing she can't hear. This makes for a couple effective scenes as does another sequence where the two are fishing and he explains to her why not being able to hear could be viewed as a good thing. Wright, who would soon retire from acting, turns in a very strong performance as she's certainly believable playing the deaf girl. As good as she is I don't think there's any doubt that the movie belongs to Talman who is downright terrific in his part. That softness he's able to bring the character makes it a very memorable one and I couldn't help but eat up every word he was saying. The actor was so convincing that I couldn't help be drawn more into the story. Lorre is what you'd expect from him as he delivers a nice performance and adds some hilarious scenes. He plays a real creep here and the film uses it for some great laughs including a couple scenes where Lorre "pretends" to be upset about some of the violence he's caused. The way Lorre delivers the lines is priceless. The ending somewhat comes out of no where but it's an effective one and a good way to close this rather interesting take on the noir genre.
 

Mario Gauci

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[SIZE= 12px][COLOR= #333333]01/22/11: BURKE & HARE (John Landis, 2010) [/COLOR][/SIZE]


[SIZE= 12px][COLOR= #333333]Fairly maligned but, in retrospect, reasonably enjoyable version of the notorious body-snatching double act – played here by Derren Nesbitt (a regular in director Sewell’s work) and Glynn Edwards (surprisingly, for a title role, played by a prolific character actor rather than a star or even a familiar face); both men are now married and their spouses get wind of their nefarious activities before long. The end is also closer to the truth, with Hare turning State’s Evidence (eventually dying blind and destitute), leaving Burke to hang alone, and Dr. Knox (a typically full-blooded Harry Andrews, with an eye-patch over his right eye and given to cracking dirty jokes for his colleagues’ amusement!) – the eminent surgeon they sold the bodies to – being expelled from his profession but subsequently setting up a traveling medicine show! Oddly enough, the rivalry between Knox and the other surgeon-lecturers is all but inexistent here![/COLOR][/SIZE]


[SIZE= 12px][COLOR= #333333]The style is agreeably redolent of Hammer Films (nicely book-ended by recreations of period illustrations dealing with the case), though like the brand-new John Landis rendition, the tone is bawdily comic rather than the sleazy seriousness adopted by two more British treatments of these events (unfolding in 1820s Edimburgh) by notable directors – John Gilling’s THE FLESH AND THE FIENDS (1959) and Freddie Francis’ THE DOCTOR AND THE DEVILS (1985), both of which I had reviewed soon after their first viewing. For the record, the screenplay is the handiwork of Ernle Bradford; his major claim to fame was penning the bestselling chronicle of The Great Siege of Malta of 1565 and, not only is a street in my hometown named after him, but he was to die on our shores in 1986![/COLOR][/SIZE]


[SIZE= 12px][COLOR= #333333]The brothel scenes (ostensibly demonstrating Knox’s students’ leisure time, as well as provide convenient victims for the titular duo, but all-too-obviously mandated by the new-fangled permissiveness) feel rather like padding – incidentally, former Hammer starlet Yutte Stensgaard appears briefly as one such prostitute (which she unconvincingly plays drunk much of the time!). [/COLOR]One unexpected asset, however, is a rollicking folk-tune sung by The Scaffold during the film’s opening and closing titles.[/SIZE]


[SIZE= 12px]I do not know if the copy I acquired is culled from the film’s DVD edition (through Redemption) but it came accompanied by an interesting 12-minute ‘lecture’ featuring [COLOR= #333333]an unusual-looking (displaying tattoos and piercings galore!) female Professor who, amongst other things, parallels the real-life Dr. Knox’s dabbling in body parts so that others may live with the literary figure of Baron Frankenstein attempting to re-animate composites of dead tissue (especially since both came by them illegally).[/COLOR][/SIZE]
 

PatW

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Michael, not really a boxing fan but looking foward to seeing the Fighter.


01/21 Pork Chop Hill (1959) 3.5/5


One of a very few Korean war movies that I've seen. The story for this one is fairly simple. A group of GI's lead by Lt. Joe Clemons is ordered to take and hold the hill that has become overrun by the Chinese. I found much of the story dull and a couple of scenes repetitive but the acting was quite good. Gregory Peck is outstanding as Lt. Joe who seemingly has been given an impossible task but he's able to keep his men together mostly and their spirits up. There are many future stars in this cast including George Peppard, Gavin McLeod, Robert Blake and Norman Fell. The scenes with Woody Strode were surprising to me. He's a black GI that just doesn't feel that he belongs in Korea and has tried to desert. Some of the scenes between him and Gregory Peck were surprising given the period in time. Overall mildly entertaining but well-acted.


01/22 Sahara (1943) 4.5/5


Humphrey Bogart plays tank commander Sgt. Joe Gunn who finds himself alone with his men in the North African desert. They come across some British allies, a French soldier, a Sudanese Sgt.Major and his Italian prisoner and eventually a German fighter pilot that they shot down. Their priority is to find water. The first well is dry but the Sudanese leads them to a second well where they decide to stay and hold against any enemy forces. The decisions made in this movie don't really make any sense but then again we wouldn't have a movie or see alot of brave men die. As a propaganda film it's highly entertaining.


01/23 Lost Horizon (1937) 5/5


I can remember my mother reading the novel by James Hilton to me as a kid. As expected it is one of my favourite novels as well as one of my favourite classic movies. This is a great adaptation of that wonderful novel. A plane is hijacked and crashes somewhere in the Himalayas in Tibet. There the survivors are lead to a valley deep in the mountains where the weather is perfect and the people are happy and tranquil. Of course the inevidable love match develops between Robert Conway a British diplomat played by Ronald Colman and one of the valley's residents played by Jane Wyatt. Members of Conway's party are quite content with their surroundings and reluctant to leave except Conway's brother who arranges passage with the porters that deliver supplies to the valley. The brother George is in love with a Russian girl a long time residence of the valley who plans on leaving with George. She is warned that she can't survive on the outside but she pays no attention to the warning. A heartbreaking scene was watching a reluctant Robert gazing back on the valley and the funeral ceremony for the High Lama and then climbing down the ladder away from the peaceful surroundings, into the wind, snow and cold. This is a beautifully photographed movie with a clear message and that last closing shot has stayed with me for a long time.



01/25 Pitch Black (2000) 4/5

01/25 Chronicles of Riddick (2004) 3.5/5


Both these film are directed by David Twohy and involve some of the same characters, the lead being Riddick as played by Vin Diesel. Though the second has more story it's more muddled and would have been better if spread over two movies. The people, the religion of the Necromongers, the various planets that they conquer all make for a fascinating story but too much for one movie to due it justice. Pitch Black is my favourite of the two. It's just basically a creature feature where an assorted group of people crash land on a desolate planet. Every 22 years the planets and suns line up throwing everything everywhere into a lasting darkness. And of course with the darkness comes the creatures, a particularly viscious alien that will strip your bones clean in seconds. Riddick is a serial killer but he's the most fascinating member of this group and you want him to survive and suspect he will. I never expected much from Vin Diesel but he surprised me here with his handling of this complicated character and this movie the best of the two comes high recommended.


01/26 Nanny McPhee (2005) 4/5

01/26 Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang (2010) 3.5/5


My granddaughters received these two movies at Christmas and brought them over for me to watch with them. I had seen the first and found it quite entertaining. I thought the second movie the weaker of the two, was a bit too cutesy for me. But when I look at the delight on both my granddaughter's

faces it's hard to be critical even when some scenes leave you groaning. But I'm not the target audience of these movies and they adequately entertained the younger set so well done.
 

Mario Gauci

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[SIZE= 12px][COLOR= #333333]01/24/11: THE MUMMY’S REVENGE (Carlos Aured, 1973) [/COLOR][/SIZE]


[SIZE= 12px][COLOR= #333333]This misleadingly-titled film should not even really be classified as horror, despite the myriad diabolic invocations and torture scenes. It is a good-looking medieval epic with a plot which basically amalgamates Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” (spurned nobleman Paul Naschy being egged on by his ambitious wife to seize power from the current ruler) with the legendary exploits of Robin Hood (opposition to the tyrant being provided by a band of outlaws) – cue numerous athletic action scenes, and there is even a jousting tournament in an effort to catch their leader (who happens to be the tyrant’s former ally) but, rather than hide his identity, he smiles defiantly at Naschy’s wife before taking on her husband in mortal combat!![/COLOR][/SIZE]


[SIZE= 12px][COLOR= #333333]As usual, the star also penned the script – attempting to lend sympathy to his character by making him gullible rather than truly evil (he is also shown feeling remorse and being, economically but effectively, haunted by his victims)…though he still gets to lose an eye and, eventually, expires from a hail of arrows in clear imitation of Akira Kurosawa’s own definitive “Macbeth” adaptation THRONE OF BLOOD (1957). Still, Klimovsky being no more than a journeyman director, the result is too often heavy-handed (if undeniably enjoyable) and, in any case, the countless references to the villain’s lust for power as “The Great Work” is not a little silly (especially since he only sends for the man he himself dubs “the world’s greatest sorcerer” to this end only after several other alchemists had failed – WTF?!). To add insult to injury, the latter is just another quack who even performs the “Wizard of Oz” routine of enlightening the hero through a dead man’s skull (when, in reality, he is hiding behind some rocks nearby and talking through a primitive microphone)! Equally anachronistic is the fact that, while generally appropriately robust, the music score is marred by intermittent and completely incongruous electronic passages![/COLOR][/SIZE]


[SIZE= 12px][COLOR= #333333]While Naschy’s “Waldemar Daninsky” Werewolf effort CURSE OF THE DEVIL (1973) similarly adopted a medieval setting (as did the opening scene of his best outing in that popular series i.e. THE CRAVING [1980]), THE DEVIL’S POSSESSED – whose original Spanish title translates to HELL’S MARSHALL – was the first of a loose trilogy, to be followed by two the star directed himself (which he actually considered his own personal favorites and that I will be checking out in quick succession): INQUISITION (1976) and THE TRAVELER (1979).[/COLOR][/SIZE]
 

Michael Elliott

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Wow, I've actually seen all four that you just watched (rare these days).

THE HANGING WOMAN is certainly the best of the four, although it's not really a Naschy movie. I thought the atmosphere was great and what a crazy sex scene! THE MUMMY'S REVENGE would probably rank next, although it's only a 2-star movie IMO. I watched an English dubbed version, which had the mummy sounding like he was in a porno so I hope to eventually see a better version. THE DEVIL'S POSSESSED and EXORCISM are both only 2-star movies. It's doubtful I'd ever watch them again.


It's funny you posting these because I actually had some rare Naschy titles that I was getting ready to watch including THE PEOPLE WHO OWN THE DARK, INQUISITION and SEVEN MURDERS FOR SCOTLAND YARD.

I must admit that I find most of his movies to be rather boring, although there are a few gems including DR. JEKYLL VS THE WEREWOLF and THE WEREWOLF VS THE YETI (what a double feature!!).

With that said, my Naschy viewing hit a backseat because I've become obsessed with Thelma Todd over the past week. I've been watching countless Hal Roach material on TCM and while I've always enjoyed Todd there was something about seeing her that caused me to go into my typical overdrive so I've ordered countless films of hers as well as several books. Her murder/death/suicide has got me quite interested in learning more about it as well as the L.A. D.A. from that era who seemed to have quite a few bad doings at that time. Not only the weird "trials" from this era but I was rather shocked to see how many crime and autopsy photos of celebs that managed to be leaked (including Todd).
 

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