What was the last movie you saw?

[Happy Joe]

Received the 40th anniversary version of "Alien" including the "original director's cut. I didn't expect much but was impressed; this is the movie that should have been released originally (with clearer visuals from the away crew's perspective)

Also, received my last Netflix disk... Ghostbusters afterlife.... the end of an era and the weekly movies will be much missed.

 

[paranoid marvin]

Received the 40th anniversary version of "Alien" including the "original director's cut. I didn't expect much but was impressed; this is the movie that should have been released originally (with clearer visuals from the away crew's perspective)

Also, received my last Netflix disk... Ghostbusters afterlife.... the end of an era and the weekly movies will be much missed.

The director's cut of Alien3 is the only watchable version. How they got away with releasing the theatrical version, full of plot holes and characters inexplicably disappearing was a disgrace. The DC makes it into a pretty decent movie.

 

[KGeo777]

REPORT TO THE COMMISSIONER 1975 - I was surprised this movie was unknown to me especially after the first half hour as it was quite interesting in plot with numerous familiar faces--concerning a New York police narcotics operation that goes badly awry--resulting in the death of an undercover policewoman (Susan Blakely). The cast is full of people you have seen if you have watched Kojak or Baretta. Michael Moriarty is the focus as a rookie detective and there's a French Connection feeling to it since it shoots in New York City. One scene in particular stands out where Bob Balaban as a Vietnam Vet with no legs who gets around on a rolling table, seeks to tail a suspect by scooting directly into major traffic and hitches a ride on the rear fender of a cab. Richard Gere in the first movie appearance portrays a pimp.
The trouble is, the movie deteriorates to a downbeat and over the top ending. I am not surprised it sank down a memory hole. The producer was Abby Mann of Kojak fame and the idea is something that could have been the basis for a series episode.

 

[hitmouse]

The director's cut of Alien3 is the only watchable version. How they got away with releasing the theatrical version, full of plot holes and characters inexplicably disappearing was a disgrace. The DC makes it into a pretty decent movie.

That is interesting. I haven’t seen the film since its original cinema release. My feeling at the time was that it wasn’t as good as the first two but it was a perfectly good night out. Certainly not unwatchable.

 

[paranoid marvin]

That is interesting. I haven’t seen the film since its original cinema release. My feeling at the time was that it wasn’t as good as the first two but it was a perfectly good night out. Certainly not unwatchable.

I remember watching the cinematic Aliens, and wondering if I had nodded off part way through and missed a chunk of the story, as a lot of it simply didn't make sense. I then later rematch and realised that I hadn't; the movie had just been butchered to such an extent that a lot of the footage had been left out for some bizarre reason - the final movie wasn't even that long.

When I eventually saw the Director's Cut on Blu Ray, it felt like watching a different movie. The story now made much more sense.

 

[Jeffbert]

Point Blank (1967) A man known only as Walker (Lee Marvin), being a partner in a crime, is betrayed by his partner Mal Reese (John Vernon; Dean Vernon Wormer of Animal House), who needs all the money to repay the mob. But, Walker is alive, and seeking, not only his share of the money, but revenge.

Interesting mix of current with clips of flashbacks throughout the film. Rather intense violence. My 1st time seeing it. Enjoyed it.

 

[Jeffbert]

Treasure Island (1934) Jim Hawkins (Jackie Cooper) & his mother run a tavern, into which Billy Bones (Lionel Barrymore; best known as Mr. Potter in Its a Wonderful Life; but what a performance here!) demanding rum, and forcing at sword (cutlass) point everyone present to sing with him. He takes a room and is ever vigilant in watching through a telescope for a one-legged man.

I recall having read this & Kidnapped when I bought a cd of public domain literature some years ago.

So, along with himself Bones drags a chest (rectangular not with a curved top as with the LEGO ones; & saw a very interesting one on PAWN STARS a few months ago.), whose key he wears around his neck. I forgot how he was killed, but not having paid his fee, they opened his chest & found the treasure map.

Squire Trelawney (Nigel Bruce; better known for the role of Dr. Watson), obtains a ship & hires a crew, most of which fail to appear, since they had been murdered by pirates, & is not exactly a good judge of character, so hires Long John Silver (Wallace Beery) as ship's cook. LJS just happens to know a bunch of guys who would gladly be replacements for the others who never showed up, & Trelawney is so naïve as to trust LJS' judgement.

A thoroughly enjoyable film!

 

[BAYLOR]

Jungle Cruise with The Rock J and Emily Blunt. It was a fun film !

 

[Jeffbert]

The Secret Fury (1950) NOIR ALLEY. on her wedding day, Ellen R. Ewing (Claudette Colbert) is taken by surprise when someone actually objects to her marrying David McLean (Robert Ryan), saying that she is actually already married! Confident that this can be settled by going to the hotel where she supposedly took a room with the man allegedly married to her, she is stunned to find the desk clerk and cleaning lady both support the allegation! Is she losing her mind?

Interesting film, but the ending left even Muller wondering what just happened.

 

[Phyrebrat]

More a warning than a review:

I’d heard good things about No One Will Save You from the horror community. It’s available to stream on Disney so I watched it. Not good.

I’m getting tired of the modern day practice of reviews and articles claiming something or other (book, film or television) is ‘really playing with the ropes/genres’ and then you watch it and … yep, no.

I’m no fan of Halloween (John Carpenter’s original has great music and introduced a clearer format for slashers, but I’m also tired of it being held up as some holy grail); I love Halloween III which has to be the best narrative entry altho no reference to Myers.

So, anyway, I thought I’d watch Halloween Kills …. I cringed. The mob culture message/theme is so on the nose, so hamfisted and full of examples of characters doing things that made no sense.

Is the bar on horror so low that films like these get a good reception? It seems to happen with horror so much. I feel we should be taking about films like Aterados or The House with the Laughing Windows and not crap like this. Or the Nun, or Conjuring and other reductive offerings.

I avoid — or try to — Hollywood horror (after the dreadful The Boogeyman, I shan’t go and see any big horror titles anymore) but I’m getting bored of K/J-horror because it’s all so samey. Over the last few years I’ve really turned onto Central/South American and Spanish horror movies.

North America has forgotten how to horror. It’s all bombastic cgi tedium nowadays.

 

[Jeffbert]

More a warning than a review:

I’d heard good things about No One Will Save You from the horror community. It’s available to stream on Disney so I watched it. Not good.

I’m getting tired of the modern day practice of reviews and articles claiming something or other (book, film or television) is ‘really playing with the ropes/genres’ and then you watch it and … yep, no.

I’m no fan of Halloween (John Carpenter’s original has great music and introduced a clearer format for slashers, but I’m also tired of it being held up as some holy grail); I love Halloween III which has to be the best narrative entry altho no reference to Myers.

So, anyway, I thought I’d watch Halloween Kills …. I cringed. The mob culture message/theme is so on the nose, so hamfisted and full of examples of characters doing things that made no sense.

Is the bar on horror so low that films like these get a good reception? It seems to happen with horror so much. I feel we should be taking about films like Aterados or The House with the Laughing Windows and not crap like this. Or the Nun, or Conjuring and other reductive offerings.

I avoid — or try to — Hollywood horror (after the dreadful The Boogeyman, I shan’t go and see any big horror titles anymore) but I’m getting bored of K/J-horror because it’s all so samey. Over the last few years I’ve really turned onto Central/South American and Spanish horror movies.

North America has forgotten how to horror. It’s all bombastic cgi tedium nowadays.

As for horror, I myself much prefer the 1950s 'horror' films. Just watched The Wasp Woman. While I cannot imagine the response of audiences at the time, I myself found it rather funny.

There are several films, of which I had high expectations, cannot recall them, though. Going in without such expectations might be unrealistic, but, if possible, might make films more enjoyable.

 

[Jeffbert]

The Wasp Woman / The Bee Girl / Insect Woman (1959) Janice Starlin (Susan Cabot) is CEO of a cosmetics business, named after her. She is about 40, and has been the face of her business, since its creation. Sales have been lagging lately, and one of the board members suggests that her face is showing its age, and is losing its appeal, etc. So she wants to regain her youth; not a rare desire.

Enter Dr. Eric Zinthrop (Michael Mark), who has been fired from his former employer, also in the same business. He has the idea of using royal jelly from queen wasps to make a youth restoration serum. Not exactly the type of product a cosmetics business should be making, but the CEO is desperate to regain her youth. Not only desperate, but recklessly anxious, and she insists that she be Zinthrop's 1st human Guinea pig.

Spoiler

Not satisfied with the rate of progress, Cabot injects herself with a drug intended to be a face cream, not a serum. Too bad, she did not know that the cat that had become a kitten, had become a cat again, and went mad. Zinthrop did know, and had attempted suicide by stepping off the curb at just the right time.

Thus, she become this, but only during certain times.

Quality entertainment!

 

[KGeo777]

HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS 1970 - It occurs to me this is the only vampire movie I can recall where a vampire is killed with silver bullets.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Gang Smashers aka Gun Moll (1938)

Low budget gangster movie. The girlfriend of the boss of a protection racket is, inevitably, a sultry nightclub singer. She's also a spy for the police, recording what the hoodlums say in another room on a record player. A new crook shows up to build up the racket and catches her talking to the cops. Then there's a major plot twist, leading up to a car chase/foot chase/gun fight/fist fight.

Typical stuff, right? What makes it of some interest is the fact that it's a "race film," with an all African American cast, and intended for African American audiences. Gifted comic actor Mantan Moreland, who is in a zillion old movies, provides comedy as a gangster named Gloomy, but he doesn't do much. The star of the film is Nina Mae McKinney as the singer, who was a big hit in Europe, known as "the black Garbo." Less than an hour long, and filled with tons of nightclub acts (which are actually pretty darn good,) so don't expect a lot of plot.

 

[Toby Frost]

I’m getting tired of the modern day practice of reviews and articles claiming something or other (book, film or television) is ‘really playing with the ropes/genres’ and then you watch it and … yep, no.

Definitely. A lot of stuff that "plays with genre" or is "ironic" turns out to just be a rubbish rehash of better material.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Dogs (1977)

Pretty basic title for a pretty basic "animals attack" film. Domestic pooches go on the rampage, first mutilating cattle then killing people. David McCallum is one of the Science Guys trying to figure out what's going on. No real explanation; there's some talk about a nearby linear accelerator where a secret government project is underway, and some talk about pheromones. A little bit The Birds (random unexplained attacks), a little bit Jaws (the president of the university where McCallum works refuses to warn the locals), a little bit Psycho (woman attacked by a pooch while she's in the shower), and a little bit Night of the Living Dead (folks taking shelter against the killer canines outside.)

Notable scenes:

1. McCallum and his ex seal themselves in a garage, nailing boards of wood over the door to strengthen them, but forget about the open doggie door.

2. The only overweight student at the university sneaks over to the commissary to get a snack while singing "The Future Belongs to Me" from Cabaret, but changes the lyrics to "These sweet rolls belong to me."

3. The very last scene, in freeze frame, implies a sequel that would be called Cats.

Not a great movie, although I've seen worse. It looks like a made-for-TV flick, except for the fact that there's plenty of blood and gore.

 

[KGeo777]

THE MAN WHO COULD CHEAT DEATH 1959 - This Hammer film I do not watch often, it does not have much horror scenes but it have building tension due to the drama about Anton Diffring needing his serum and the mystery surrounding it. Peter Cushing was originally set to star.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Viy (1967)

Soviet dark fantasy film. Young seminary student, with a couple of buddies, gets lost in the middle of nowhere and is taken in by an old woman. Right away she climbs on his back and they go flying above the ground. Upon landing, he beats her savagely, and she turns into a beautiful young woman. Wisely, the student runs back to the seminary. (No clue what happened to the other two guys.)

The fellow gets a message that the dying daughter of a Cossack demands that he pray over her. By the time he gets there (the film slows down for scenes of him getting drunk with the peasants), she's dead. Her father will pay him richly to have him pray over her, locked in a church with her for three nights.

Well, it's obvious that she's the witch from the beginning, and weird stuff happens during those three nights. The movie is leisurely, to be sure, but it explodes into a riot of spooky, surrealistic special effects during the last ten minutes. Recommended.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

The Possessed aka Love, Hate and Dishonor (La donna del lago "The lady of the lake," 1965)

Proto-giallo is narrated by a novelist who goes back to a hotel in the dead of winter to revisit the servant with whom he was involved. (To what extent? Like a lot of things in this movie, it's ambiguous. Whether he was just infatuated or they had an affair is unclear. In any case, he breaks up with his girlfriend [just a voice on the telephone] to go see her.)

It turns out she's dead. The death was ruled a suicide, but of course there's more to it than that. Characters arousing suspicion as the narrator begins a remarkably passive investigation are the owner of the hotel, his daughter, his son, and the son's wife. There's also a photographer, who provides a clue, and the dead woman's drunken father.

In true giallo fashion, more deaths follow, and the plot races to a convoluted conclusion. But the story isn't the most striking thing about this film. The black-and-white cinematography is stunning in its starkness. Some scenes appear to be only the narrator's imaginings. At times, the contrast is turned way up, resulting in extremes of black and white. Recommended.

 

[Jeffbert]

Reunion in France (1942) Prior to America entering WWII, Pat Talbot (John Wayne) is a downed bomber pilot evading the enemy in Paris. Exhausted, and wearing civilian clothes he stumbles into Michele de la Becque (Joan Crawford), whose empathy he gains; she, not realizing he is an RAF pilot, assumes he is just a student. Her boyfriend, Robert Cortot (Philip Dorn), is an engineer, apparently working for the enemy, and has thus earned her loathing.

Head of the Paris Gestapo (John Carradine) is nasty, but this role was tame, compared with Hitler's Madman.

So, the film covers Talbot's efforts to avoid the Gestapo. Interesting twists, but the title is about Becque and Cortot.