dask
dark and stormy knight
Not sure. It was in a set of 20 musicals I ordered from Amazon.
What was the last movie you saw?
- Thread starter Tabitha
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Moonshot
Cute. More rom-com than sci-fi.
Cute. More rom-com than sci-fi.
Victoria Silverwolf
Vegetarian Werewolf
Spaceways (1953)
A man's wife and her lover disappear in such a way that he is suspected of murder, so he has to prove his innocence.
Wait a minute; isn't this supposed to be a science fiction movie?
Well, yes. It seems that the suspect is part of a secret project to send the first satellite into orbit. When the object doesn't fly quite as high as intended, it's suggested that he removed some of its fuel and replaced it with the bodies of the vanished pair. To disprove this hypothesis, he goes up to the satellite in another rocket. Along for the ride, sneaking on board in place of the guy who was supposed to go with the suspect, is the pretty female mathematician with whom he's having a romance. The audience already knows that the wife and lover ran off together, and that the man is a spy for the Reds. When she objects to this, he shoots her.
Much more of a soap opera, murder mystery, and espionage thriller than a space movie, this modest little film is an earnest attempt, with reasonably accurate science, but rather lifeless. Being based on a radio play probably has something to do with that.
A man's wife and her lover disappear in such a way that he is suspected of murder, so he has to prove his innocence.
Wait a minute; isn't this supposed to be a science fiction movie?
Well, yes. It seems that the suspect is part of a secret project to send the first satellite into orbit. When the object doesn't fly quite as high as intended, it's suggested that he removed some of its fuel and replaced it with the bodies of the vanished pair. To disprove this hypothesis, he goes up to the satellite in another rocket. Along for the ride, sneaking on board in place of the guy who was supposed to go with the suspect, is the pretty female mathematician with whom he's having a romance. The audience already knows that the wife and lover ran off together, and that the man is a spy for the Reds. When she objects to this, he shoots her.
Much more of a soap opera, murder mystery, and espionage thriller than a space movie, this modest little film is an earnest attempt, with reasonably accurate science, but rather lifeless. Being based on a radio play probably has something to do with that.
JunkMonkey
Lord High Vizier of Nowt
And it got novelised.
I have (or had) a copy.... somewhere.... in this guddle of a house. I've never read it.
Jeffbert
Well-Known Member
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Oh, I forgot the main violation in the film STAGECOACH:
John Wayne's character was expected to be returned to prison, but, not only was that forgotten, he was allowed to take revenge on those who had killed his relatives. So, he, & the lady of the night, ride away to his ranch in Mexico.
This was the 2nd dubbed & rewritten version of PLANET OF THE STORMS, which was made in the USSR, etc. The 3rd one, I cannot recall its name, & the wiki page does not mention it, has the robot as a pimp & the dubbing is rather naughty. Also, a clip from a military film about VD was included
Oh, that robot was really cool! he had articulated toes! The coolest voice, etc. Simply the best 1950s movie robot imho.
The scene of the robot attempting to relieve himself of the weight of the two cosmonauts because his feet were hot, standing in the lava would have made a nice animated gif avatar.
JunkMonkey
Lord High Vizier of Nowt
Brain Twisters - While looking for another film in one of the innumerable movie box sets I own, I got diverted by a typo. On the box it claimed this film was called 'Brian Twisters'. So instead of Pabst's strange, slow, exoticly weird, 1932 masterpiece L'Atlantide about which I had been enthusing to my daughter and had been looking for - we watched a crappy 1991 SF thriller in which Evil Corp (a wholly owned subsidiary of Mega-Bastards Inc. ) experiments in creating mind-warping subliminal messages which turn people into psychotic killers. About ten pages of highly-predictable script stretched to 90 minutes by the simple directorial decision to have everyone act as slowly as possible. As I noted in my film diary last time I watched it (I had only the fuzziest memory of having watched it.)
"Notable only for the incredibly slow pace at which everything happens. Everything. Establishing shots take an age to establish. People deliver their lines slowly to other people who wait a long time before replying. People walk slowly to places, find something uninteresting, and then walk slowly back to where they came from. It's like watching a film shot in a vat of treacle. Very odd. sh*t but odd. "
"Notable only for the incredibly slow pace at which everything happens. Everything. Establishing shots take an age to establish. People deliver their lines slowly to other people who wait a long time before replying. People walk slowly to places, find something uninteresting, and then walk slowly back to where they came from. It's like watching a film shot in a vat of treacle. Very odd. sh*t but odd. "
Victoria Silverwolf
Vegetarian Werewolf
Invasion From Inner Earth (1974)
Unbelievably cheap and incoherent and content-free mess of a film. Starts with random images of people running, red smoke, a close-up of an eye, etc. The music under the opening titles is a blatant rip-off of the famous theme from The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly played on a cheap electronic organ.
What little plot there is involves a guy, his sister, and some vaguely scientific guys stuck in a cabin in the far north of Canada. (The role of Manitoba is played by Wisconsin.) The three science types tried to fly back to civilization, but the one guy who operates the airport told theM to stay away because everybody was dying, just before he keeled over himself. Lots of talking in the cabin follows. Red lights appear, obviously done by somebody off-camera with a flashlight. The one person they reach on the shortwave radio talks in a monotone, in the style of somebody pretending to be a robot.
The endless cabin scenes are intercut with odd stuff like UFO cult types on a talk show that, weirdly, is said to be broadcast after the sermonette and test pattern. A guy broadcasting from a radio station that only plays Dixieland jazz slowly goes nuts when he can't reach anybody. A drunk in a bar does something or other. One of the science guys, who up to now has been our excruciating comedy relief, offers his insane theory about what's going on. You see, Mars used to be really close to Earth, so the Martians went underground and are now emerging. One of the cabin guys finds a snowmobile, rides around, and a red light makes him vanish.
At the jaw-droppingly bizarre conclusion, the sister and the guy with the insane theory are walking in the snow, when they suddenly change into little kids wearing only loincloths walking through sunny fields of flowers. An atrocious film, tolerable only for the fascination of its ineptitude and irrationality.
Unbelievably cheap and incoherent and content-free mess of a film. Starts with random images of people running, red smoke, a close-up of an eye, etc. The music under the opening titles is a blatant rip-off of the famous theme from The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly played on a cheap electronic organ.
What little plot there is involves a guy, his sister, and some vaguely scientific guys stuck in a cabin in the far north of Canada. (The role of Manitoba is played by Wisconsin.) The three science types tried to fly back to civilization, but the one guy who operates the airport told theM to stay away because everybody was dying, just before he keeled over himself. Lots of talking in the cabin follows. Red lights appear, obviously done by somebody off-camera with a flashlight. The one person they reach on the shortwave radio talks in a monotone, in the style of somebody pretending to be a robot.
The endless cabin scenes are intercut with odd stuff like UFO cult types on a talk show that, weirdly, is said to be broadcast after the sermonette and test pattern. A guy broadcasting from a radio station that only plays Dixieland jazz slowly goes nuts when he can't reach anybody. A drunk in a bar does something or other. One of the science guys, who up to now has been our excruciating comedy relief, offers his insane theory about what's going on. You see, Mars used to be really close to Earth, so the Martians went underground and are now emerging. One of the cabin guys finds a snowmobile, rides around, and a red light makes him vanish.
At the jaw-droppingly bizarre conclusion, the sister and the guy with the insane theory are walking in the snow, when they suddenly change into little kids wearing only loincloths walking through sunny fields of flowers. An atrocious film, tolerable only for the fascination of its ineptitude and irrationality.
JunkMonkey
Lord High Vizier of Nowt
One of those films I can honestly say I never want to watch again. As you said, 'atrocious'. I developed the idea that the incoherent soundtrack was a concert recording of John Cage's Music for Radios.
dask
dark and stormy knight
Jeffbert
Well-Known Member
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CLOSELY WATCHED TRAINS (1966) Czech film about a train station during WWII, and one young man who is wanting his 1st sexual conquest. The guys who work there have finally had enough of the Nazis, & are planning to destroy a trainload of ammunition.
It must be a comedy, though not really much like English language ones. The humor was subtle.
Everything happens all at once when a teenage or young adult woman's mother discovers train station stamped inked marks on her hind-end, and takes her to the local authorities, demanding action against her partner. They call in their superiors, who are the Germans, so they arrive just as the sabotage is about to occur. They are upset about the misuse of their language, stamped on the girl's leg and rump.
It must be a comedy, though not really much like English language ones. The humor was subtle.
Victoria Silverwolf
Vegetarian Werewolf
Mondo Balordo AKA A Fool's World (1964)
One of the many Italian "mondo" films, consisting of random, and frequently faked, documentary footage. This one has stuff like a midget rock 'n' roll singer, an elephant hunt, a Las Vegas beauty contest, the Berlin Wall, a riot at a soccer game, a twenty-four-year old prostitute marrying an eighty-one year old man, bondage models, a transvestite singer, a lesbian nightclub, and a whole bunch of other stuff. Notable only for the fact that it's narrated by Boris Karloff, who seems amused by the stuff he's been paid to say.
One of the many Italian "mondo" films, consisting of random, and frequently faked, documentary footage. This one has stuff like a midget rock 'n' roll singer, an elephant hunt, a Las Vegas beauty contest, the Berlin Wall, a riot at a soccer game, a twenty-four-year old prostitute marrying an eighty-one year old man, bondage models, a transvestite singer, a lesbian nightclub, and a whole bunch of other stuff. Notable only for the fact that it's narrated by Boris Karloff, who seems amused by the stuff he's been paid to say.
Take the Hard Ride 1975 -- late spaghetti western with a blaxploitation angle (Jim Brown, Fred Williamson, Jim Kelly) directed by Antonio Margheriti who provides some impressive miniature fx work towards the end of it. But it feels dispassionate and paint by numbers despite nice locations and a Goldsmith score.
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Hidden City
A hidden gem I found tucked away on BritBox starring a young Charles Dance. Back when Channel 4 made really great movies, it's a cross between Edge of Darkness, The Game and Neverwhere. It's described as a 'political thriller', but it is so much more than that. Very surreal film, and even after watching it I'm still not sure that I fully understand it.
A hidden gem I found tucked away on BritBox starring a young Charles Dance. Back when Channel 4 made really great movies, it's a cross between Edge of Darkness, The Game and Neverwhere. It's described as a 'political thriller', but it is so much more than that. Very surreal film, and even after watching it I'm still not sure that I fully understand it.
AE35Unit
]==[]===O °
Pet Sematary (1989)
The original, far better than the remake. Quite close to the book too. And Stephen King has a cameo in it as a vicar at the graveyard with coke bottle glasses.
The original, far better than the remake. Quite close to the book too. And Stephen King has a cameo in it as a vicar at the graveyard with coke bottle glasses.
Jeffbert
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- Dec 23, 2011
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- 2,119
CAST A DARK SHADOW (1955) NOIR ALLEY; Young guy marries older women for their money, and murders them, hoping for all of it. The ending is very satisfying!
Edward Bare (Dirk Bogarde) insists that his much older than himself wife not make a new will leaving all her money to him, only because he expects he will get it anyway, because of the law, etc. Too bad he did not know she already had a will, in which she left him nothing but the mansion, leaving the money to her sister. If at 1st you don't succeed, try again, so he does.
Edward Bare (Dirk Bogarde) insists that his much older than himself wife not make a new will leaving all her money to him, only because he expects he will get it anyway, because of the law, etc. Too bad he did not know she already had a will, in which she left him nothing but the mansion, leaving the money to her sister. If at 1st you don't succeed, try again, so he does.
Victoria Silverwolf
Vegetarian Werewolf
Planet of Dinosaurs (1977)
A toy spaceship blows up, and a handful of survivors escape on a shuttlecraft, only to crash land on the PLANET OF DINOSAURS. Besides the crew, we've got an obnoxious business executive and his secretary. Given that she wears a low-cut tank top and pants that are slit on both sides and worn far below her belly button, I suspect her duties involve more than typing and dictation. The crew are a pretty bland bunch. Most memorable are a muscular guy who remains shirtless throughout the film, the only female crewmember who wears a Star Trek style minidress instead of pants, and a big guy with a heavy black beard. The latter is our no-nonsense survivalist character, arguing with the captain as to whether they should remain in a place of relative safety or go out and hunt down the dinosaurs.
Oh, yes, the dinosaurs. They're done through really excellent stop-motion animation, and are by far the best thing in the film. They make the rest of the movie look even worse than it is. The plot is pretty much the people wandering around, alternating with dinosaur attacks. The only suspense is which person is going to be killed next. Besides this, there's stuff like the drinking of "fermented berry juice" followed by the singing of "Auld Lang Syne" and the secretary doing a belly dancing routine she calls the Dance of Desire.
A brief end scene, set some years later -- the big guy now has a gray beard, and there's a toddler running around -- reveals that the folks who didn't get eaten by dinosaurs have settled into their new home.
Cheaply made, badly scripted, and poorly acted, only the fine stop-motion animation (which, the story goes, took almost all the modest budget) makes it worth a look.
A toy spaceship blows up, and a handful of survivors escape on a shuttlecraft, only to crash land on the PLANET OF DINOSAURS. Besides the crew, we've got an obnoxious business executive and his secretary. Given that she wears a low-cut tank top and pants that are slit on both sides and worn far below her belly button, I suspect her duties involve more than typing and dictation. The crew are a pretty bland bunch. Most memorable are a muscular guy who remains shirtless throughout the film, the only female crewmember who wears a Star Trek style minidress instead of pants, and a big guy with a heavy black beard. The latter is our no-nonsense survivalist character, arguing with the captain as to whether they should remain in a place of relative safety or go out and hunt down the dinosaurs.
Oh, yes, the dinosaurs. They're done through really excellent stop-motion animation, and are by far the best thing in the film. They make the rest of the movie look even worse than it is. The plot is pretty much the people wandering around, alternating with dinosaur attacks. The only suspense is which person is going to be killed next. Besides this, there's stuff like the drinking of "fermented berry juice" followed by the singing of "Auld Lang Syne" and the secretary doing a belly dancing routine she calls the Dance of Desire.
A brief end scene, set some years later -- the big guy now has a gray beard, and there's a toddler running around -- reveals that the folks who didn't get eaten by dinosaurs have settled into their new home.
Cheaply made, badly scripted, and poorly acted, only the fine stop-motion animation (which, the story goes, took almost all the modest budget) makes it worth a look.
Coda on Apple+ --- This is a really good movie. I loved the plot which revolved around a family of deaf people with a hearing daughter. It dealt with family expectations, obligations, and opportunities. It was really nice to see a movie where all of the main characters obviously love one another even though they all have flaws. One of the best I've ever seen. 5 stars for sure!
But one thing really bothered me, and I'm sure would cause some people to hate the movie. The deaf father in the story, and to some degree all of the deaf people in the story, seem to have a serious case of only expressing themselves in a vulgar manner. I can't see why it was necessary for the plot. And if I were deaf I think I would be offended that the hearing world might have the idea that deaf people spoke mostly in vulgarities.
But one thing really bothered me, and I'm sure would cause some people to hate the movie. The deaf father in the story, and to some degree all of the deaf people in the story, seem to have a serious case of only expressing themselves in a vulgar manner. I can't see why it was necessary for the plot. And if I were deaf I think I would be offended that the hearing world might have the idea that deaf people spoke mostly in vulgarities.
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