What was the last movie you saw?

[alexvss]

Concrete Utopia (2023). After a massive Earthquake, the residents of the seemingly last standing apartment complex struggle to survive (and be the only residents of the complex).

Great movie. Like any Korean thriller, it has it all: emotion, comedy, violence, romance etc. But this one is much more focused on the comedy, and the least in the first half.

I confess that I wasn’t expecting it to focus so much on comedy at first. I was expecting something on the likes of The Divide (2011) or even Bug (2006). Took me a while to accept that fact... but I did. I just wasn’t in the right mood for comedy.

I wasn’t so sure about the social criticism. The movie starts with a montage showing an apartment boom in the 20th century so I remembered Parasite (2019). But, after watching, I think that maybe there’s no criticism of capitalism, but rather a philosophical discussion about sharing with other people while you have so few for yourself.

Strongly Recommended.

 

[BAYLOR]

The Enchanted Cottage 1945

 

[Randy M.]

THE BLOB (1988) Dir. Chuck Russell; starring Shawnee Smith, Kevin Dillion, Donovan Leitch

This one proves that remakes don't have to be terrible. Meteor falls, old guy finds it, scoops up some goo, gets goo on him and is slowly eaten. So far, so like the original. But here the heart of the movie isn’t Steve McQueen, but Shawnee Smith (Saw) whose boyfriend, Leitch, doesn’t do well, and she shames bad boy Dillon into stepping up. Kevin has some of the same swagger as his brother, Matt, and holds his own here.

Giving it an ‘80s spin, the government knows the meteor fell here and shows up to save the day.

Well, they show up anyway and they want what was in the meteor and, really, what’s a small town compared to an advantage over the Ruskies? Oh, and there’s something about that meteor ...

This flick tracks as ‘50s horror infused with ‘80s action/adventure/paranoia. The pacing is brisk, the acting is pretty good given the number of familiar faces in the cast like Candy Clark (American Graffiti), Jeffrey DeMunn (The Mist; The Walking Dead), Art LaFleur (Field of Dreams; the Sandlot) and Paul McCrane (Fame; er) among others. Maybe not a classic, but an enjoyable, quick movie that doesn’t stick around long enough to wear out its welcome, which could also be said about …


TOTALLY KILLER (2023) dir. Nahnatchka Khan; starring Kiernan Shipka, Olivia Holt, Julie Bowen

Another in the Blumhouse stable of comedy/horror. In 1987 a masked killer stabs three young women to death and then the killer disappears. Thirty-five years later he reappears and kills one of the women’s best friends.

Jamie (Shipka) hasn’t had the best relationship with her mom, but now her mom’s dead, she’s emotionally destroyed and worried, from what Sheriff Lim has said, that her father is a suspect. Meanwhile, her best friend Amelia is building a time machine, working off plans her mother, Lauren, had devised years ago.

You can see where it’s going, right? There are moments in this straight out of horror movies, notably some creepy shots reminiscent of Halloween, at least one callback to Scream, and others. And they are effective, and the motive for the initial killings eventually revealed is plausible, at least for a horror movie. There are also callbacks to Back to the Future, apparently the main inspiration for this one, so most of the fun here is watching a teen from 2022 cope with the attitudes and behaviors formed in the 1980s, especially when dealing with her mom’s younger self who to her surprise is not the patron saint of goody-goodies.

The acting across the board is good, with familiar faces like Randall Park (Fresh off the Boat) and Lochlyn Munro (The Unforgiven; Charmed) and the direction and editing create a brisk pace. I haven’t seen Shipka before but hope to see more. As in other Blumhouse movies like Happy Deathday (which harks back to Groundhog Day), the lead actress is called on to carry the movie and Shipka does so quite well. Teen mom is played by Holt, who is good at snark and attitude, but also offers some softer moments believably. Adult mom is played by Julie Bowen, and I think we need two things, first someone smart enough to pair up Shipka and Holt again, and a movie featuring Bowen as an armed and loaded bada**. There’s a scene early on that shows just how well she could handle that role.

 

[Jeffbert]

The Murder Man (1935) Steve Grey (Spencer Tracy) is the newspaper's leading reporter on the subject of murder. Shorty (James Stewart) and Red Maguire (William Demarest) are his associates. Police Capt. Cole (Lionel Atwill; surprised me that he was a good guy); Mary (Virginia Bruce) is Grey's girlfriend.

Henry Mander (Harvey Stephens) & his partner J. Spencer Halford (Theodor Von Eltz), two investment frauds, have cheated many people out of their savings, and more than a few of those people would like to see them both dead. As one of the two is sitting in his convertible limo, across the street from a shooting gallery, the other is enjoying the shooting gallery. When the guy's limo arrives at its destination, he is found dead, with a bullet hole in his head. All the evidence points to his partner, and Grey, the so-called Murder man is sought by his co-workers, but he is not easily found.

Apparently James Stewart's debut film.

8/10
https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/199713|146229/Theodor-Von-Eltz

 

[Jeffbert]

THE BLOB (1988) Dir. Chuck Russell; starring Shawnee Smith, Kevin Dillion, Donovan Leitch

This one proves that remakes don't have to be terrible. Meteor falls, old guy finds it, scoops up some goo, gets goo on him and is slowly eaten. So far, so like the original. But here the heart of the movie isn’t Steve McQueen, but Shawnee Smith (Saw) whose boyfriend, Leitch, doesn’t do well, and she shames bad boy Dillon into stepping up. Kevin has some of the same swagger as his brother, Matt, and holds his own here.

Giving it an ‘80s spin, the government knows the meteor fell here and shows up to save the day.

Well, they show up anyway and they want what was in the meteor and, really, what’s a small town compared to an advantage over the Ruskies? Oh, and there’s something about that meteor ...

This flick tracks as ‘50s horror infused with ‘80s action/adventure/paranoia. The pacing is brisk, the acting is pretty good given the number of familiar faces in the cast like Candy Clark (American Graffiti), Jeffrey DeMunn (The Mist; The Walking Dead), Art LaFleur (Field of Dreams; the Sandlot) and Paul McCrane (Fame; er) among others. Maybe not a classic, but an enjoyable, quick movie that doesn’t stick around long enough to wear out its welcome, which could also be said about …

I thought this was rather funny. The audience is in-on the joke, as below the sink, we see the drain pipe being strained and swollen, knowing what will happen, but not when. Waiting for the poor guy trying to unclog the sink to get a face full of blob. There are several other similar scenes, that I could not believe were not meant to be comedic; though I must note that all the victims were adults. Yet, there was one scene that I thought was absolutely horrifying. I will spare you the details.

About that meteor:

Spoiler

As I recall, this blob was developed in a lab, as a WMD! Government uses small town as test site for WMD. Your tax dollars at work.

I found this element rather tasteless, awful, etc.

 

[BAYLOR]

I thought this was rather funny. The audience is in-on the joke, as below the sink, we see the drain pipe being strained and swollen, knowing what will happen, but not when. Waiting for the poor guy trying to unclog the sink to get a face full of blob. There are several other similar scenes, that I could not believe were not meant to be comedic; though I must note that all the victims were adults. Yet, there was one scene that I thought was absolutely horrifying. I will spare you the details.

About that meteor:

Spoiler

As I recall, this blob was developed in a lab, as a WMD! Government uses small town as test site for WMD. Your tax dollars at work.

I found this element rather tasteless, awful, etc.

There also a 1972 film Beware the Blob which takes a comic spin on the concept.

 

[Randy M.]

I thought this was rather funny. The audience is in-on the joke, as below the sink, we see the drain pipe being strained and swollen, knowing what will happen, but not when. Waiting for the poor guy trying to unclog the sink to get a face full of blob. There are several other similar scenes, that I could not believe were not meant to be comedic; though I must note that all the victims were adults. Yet, there was one scene that I thought was absolutely horrifying. I will spare you the details.

In that respect, it was very much an '80s film, not far from the effect of Gremlins or The Goonies or even The Howling,

About that meteor:

As I recall, this blob was developed in a lab, as a WMD! Government uses small town as test site for WMD. Your tax dollars at work.

I found this element rather tasteless, awful, etc.

That's what I meant by '80s paranoia, essentially the same impulse that produced The X-Files. I didn't find it tacky, and unfortunately it has real-life precedents.

 

[Toby Frost]

In which case it's probably best to avoid the Alien films!

 

[KGeo777]

THE VENGEANCE OF LADY MORGAN - 1965 - Susan loves Pierre. But her Uncle Neville has arranged for her to marry Harold. She tells Harold she loves Pierre and Harold wishes her the best. But since he is played by Paul Muller, we know he doesn't mean it. So he gets Gordon Mitchell to shove Pierre off a boat. But Pierre survives--and is bed-ridden with amnesia. Meanwhile Susan is hypnotized by Harold and his mistress (Erica Blanc) into thinking she is crazy.

Spoiler: spoiler

And finally she is made to kill herself. But Susan seeks revenge from the spirit world and Pierre remembers who he is and visits her manor. But finds it deserted until Susan appears. Apparently ghosts can take physical form if they died a violent death and can appear to a true love. She tells him that she got her revenge on her killers by driving them to kill each other. But they are still a danger because they need human blood to drink so they can hang around. In fact, this idea is found in the Aeneid I believe--the spirits drink blood in order to materialize.

Anyway, I wonder why it is called Lady Morgan's revenge when no one in it is named Morgan.

 

[Jeffbert]

The Mysterious Island (1929?) One of MGM's last silent films, was upgraded with several sound scenes, and not released until later.

Anyway, like those that followed, this film has not really much to do with Verne's novel of the same name. Count Dakkar (Lionel Barrymore) is a genius inventor, has his own island, where everyone is equal, & work together, etc. But, he has a friend, Falon (Montagu Love), who is of the stratified social order, and thinks workers are at the lowest stratum, while he, at the highest. He is offended when he sees a common worker in love with Dakkar's daughter.

So Dakkar invents 2 submarines, and demonstrates one for Fallon, whose soldiers have just been ferried to the island, in an invasion. Fallon now demands Dakkar give-up all his designs, and under torture, hopes to persuade him. Failing that, Fallon uses the same torture on the lovely Sonia, Dakkar's daughter.

So, sub #1, is still at sea, which learns of Fallon's betrayal, but is damaged, and plunges deeper. Here they encounter deep sea humanoids, who attack them.

Interesting film, but has less to do with Verne's novel than the others I have seen.

 

[Jeffbert]

The Big Caper (1957) Frank Harper (Rory Calhoun) has a caper in-mind, and expecting his friend Flood (James Gregory) to he enthusiastic about it, finds him uninterested. Flood has things going well, and expects to lay low for the next year. Eventually, Harper persuades him, & Flood recruits several team members, some of whom are unreliable. The caper involves robbing a bank on Sunday evening, and setting fires at two locations on the far side (not Gary Larson's) of town, expecting all the authorities will be there while the safecracker does his work.

For whatever reason, Flood advances the day from Sunday to Saturday. After the other gang members have already gone on their way, Harper learns that the High School, which is one of the targets for arson, will be occupied by elementary children, rehearsing for their event at the stadium on Sunday. He cannot allow the arsonist Zimmer (Robert H. Harris), whom he knows has no such scruples, to burn the place.

NOIR ALLEY, and well suited to it. 8/10

 

[Randy M.]

PHANTASM (1979) Dir. Don Coscarelli; starring A. Michael Baldwin, Bill Thornbury, Angus Scrimm

Released the same year as Halloween with no where near the press, it was pretty much an instant cult classic, a horror movie playing around the fringes of s.f.

Mike (Baldwin) is the younger brother of Jody (Thornburg). They lost their parents recently, and even more recently a close friend, whose death we see as the film begins. Living close enough to the cemetery for Mike to ride his motorcycle along its paths, he sees some odd behavior from the funeral director (Scrimm), like single-handedly lifting the casket that holds their friend. His investigation pulls in his brother and another friend, with dire results.

I watched a remastered version of this on Amazon Prime, and the effects, though low budget, hold up surprisingly well; when Mike slips into another world, the result is jarring and phantasmagoric. The music reminds me of John Carpenter’s for Halloween, but I wonder if both weren’t keying off either the music from The Exorcist or some of the European horror and giallo movies of the 1970s. The acting isn’t great, though Baldwin is effective as a scared but determined kid damaged by loss and afraid of future loss; and Scrimm, billed as The Tall Man, is both physically imposing and menacing.

The film moves less by setting up a plot and resolving it, than by following Mike dealing with loss and grief and fear of death. It’s hard to tell how much of the movie is Mike imagining it versus a real threat - -there are dream sequences with the implication The Tall Man can enter or at least affect your dreams – though the ending itself suggests Mike wasn’t entirely paranoid. Still, his fantasies connect to fear of dying and the loss of his family and friends. Probably this isn’t a classic of cinema, but it’s at least a minor classic of the horror movie.

 

[Jeffbert]

House of the Seven Gables (1940) Very different from the version in TWICE TOLD TALES.

The father and his 3 (notice I did not say "count 'm, three") adult children are living in the H7G. They are high society, but bankrupt.
Clifford Pyncheon (Vincent Price) wants to sell the estate, but, both papa (Gilbert Emery) & younger brother Jaffrey Pyncheon (George Sanders) resist. Sister Hepzibah Pyncheon (Margaret Lindsay) sides with Clifford. Later, Clifford has a heated argument with papa, who suffers a stroke or heart attack, collapses, bangs his head on his desk, and dies. Outside, Jaffrey views the scene through the window, but accuses his elder brother of murdering papa. Because of the nature of the evidence, the judge sentences Clifford to life in prison, rather than death, for the crime of patricide.

In prison, Clifford meets Matthew Holgrave (Dick Foran), whose ancestor cursed the Pyncheons and particularly the H7G. Neither one believe in curses, and plan to take revenge on Jaffrey.

Also, the subject of abolition is mentioned. Jaffrey, an attorney, becomes a judge during the decades leading up to the governor's releasing Clifford.

A very interesting story. no idea how accurate it is to the novel.

 

[KGeo777]

THE HOUSE OF LONG SHADOWS - 1983 - Had seen it before and remember not being particularly fond of it despite the star power of Vincent Price! Christopher Lee! Peter Cushing! John Carradine! Desi Arnez!

Wait a minute?
Yes, I am afraid Ricky Jr is a fifth wheel -- but even if he wasn't, the story was only kind of meh so it would have been underwhelming anyway.
He gets as much help as he can--Richard Todd contributes to that end and he has a likable and humble co-star in Julie Peasgood (when you have a name like that you better be humble).

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

THE HOUSE OF LONG SHADOWS - 1983 - Had seen it before and remember not being particularly fond of it despite the star power of Vincent Price! Christopher Lee! Peter Cushing! John Carradine! Desi Arnez!

Wait a minute?
Yes, I am afraid Ricky Jr is a fifth wheel -- but even if he wasn't, the story was only kind of meh so it would have been underwhelming anyway.
He gets as much help as he can--Richard Todd contributes to that end and he has a likable and humble co-star in Julie Peasgood (when you have a name like that you better be humble).

By coincidence, this popped up as one of the free-to-watch-with-ads on YouTube, so I gave it a go.

Random thoughts:

John Carradine is billed below Desi Arnaz, Jr. -- shameful! True, he does leave the film earlier than anybody else, but still . . .

Desi Arnaz, Jr., is billed as Desi Arnaz -- might have been more interesting with a Cuban-accented drum player; couldn't have been any more out of place, anyway.

It's based on a creaky old novel/play from way back in 1913 (Seven Keys to Baldpate) that had already been filmed six times, including back in the silent days, so it's incredibly dated. Maybe the last Old Dark House film that isn't an out-and-out parody. (There's supposedly some comedy, but not really.)

As noted, the only film with Price/Lee/Cushing/Carradine together. Carradine is as usual, Cushing is unusually mild-mannered (and affects a slight lisp), Lee and Price work very well together. (Price has the best line. "Don't interrupt me while I'm soliloquizing.")

The plot (Arnaz makes a bet that he can write a novel in twenty-four hours in a supposedly deserted, spooky old house. Folks show up, there's a Dark Secret, folks get killed) takes forever to get going. The film only comes to life after an hour or so.

It's pretty bloody for a PG-rated movie.

Most notably, the double (or triple, depending on how you count it) twist ending is really, really lousy.

 

[Astro Pen]

A Quiet Place 2 (2021)

Almost as good as the first one. Enhanced by the knowledge that the excellent young actress Millicent Simmonds really is deaf.

Spoiler: comments on the film

I think they made the same mistake as the Alien franchise in showing us too much detail of the creatures, they really were more effective as fleeting images.
The railcar scene is a good set piece.
And you just cant help whispering around the house for an hour or so after watching either of these movies.
(This is a lesson in how we subconsciously adapt our behaviour, even to fiction.)
Obviously we have a setup for Quiet Place 3, (starting to fight back), though quite how that is going to be accomplished after their blundering has wiped out the only known colony of survivors I'm not sure? To be honest these films are more slasher horror that sci-fi. but well worth watching

 

[KGeo777]

By coincidence, this popped up as one of the free-to-watch-with-ads on YouTube, so I gave it a go.

If it had cinematography like a Corman Poe film, it would probably have helped make it more palatable.
There are a lot of elements that remind me of those films-such as the paintings and someone locked in a room--but the black--shadowy location is so bland.
It was amusing that Lee got to wrestle with an axe as if it was a Dracula film.

 

[Jeffbert]

His Kind of Woman (1951) Was hardly expecting to see the villain (Raymond Burr) in the 1st few minutes! He usually shows up much later.

Anyway, I think this is the last of the Vincent Price films on my DVR.

Dan Milner (Robert Mitchum), a gambler, is invited to a Mexican resort, and paid a large sum of money, merely to board a yacht, which has yet to arrive. There he meets Lenore Brent (Jane Russell) and Hollywood actor / big game hunter Mark Cardigan (Vincent Price), among others.

Milner enjoys his stay, until a presumed drunk, named Bill Lusk (Tim Holt) demands a private word, who then tells him that a deported gangster Nick Ferraro (Raymond Burr) wants to have his face, and will eliminate him after the plastic surgery.

Among the supporting actors are Mr. Magoo (Jim Backus), the voice of Poppin Fresh (Paul Frees; who uses more than just his voice), along with a few others.

I really enjoyed this film, VP's character seemed to prefer the danger of real combat, to the pretending on screen.

I think this film was mentioned here a few years ago.

 

[Jeffbert]

The Las Vegas Story (1952) Watched this one yesterday. It was the next to the last Vincent Price film on my DVR. I thought the ending was drawn-out, and unnecessarily tacked-on. Once the villain is dead, roll the credits. Both this & the one above were made under Howard Hughes, whom I believe ruined the ending here.

Lloyd Rollins (Vincent Price) and wife Linda (Jane Russell) divert from their train trip to LA, to stop at Las Vegas. Yet, Lloyd is in deep financial trouble, and hopes that the hotel will extend a line of credit of $100K, intending to win enough to pay his debts.

Dave Andrews (Victor Mature; the hero) knew Linda from a decade ago, when she was a singer working for the Casino. Now, he is a lawman. Then, he was in love with her, but she simply vanished without a word.

Happy (Hoagy Carmichael) wants to stay clear of the fireworks that will go-off between these two.

Tom Hubler (Brad Dexter; never heard of him, until now) is the PI hired by the insurance agency to keep tabs on Linda's $150K necklace, suspecting Lloyd will pawn it for gambling money.

Also, the District Attorney (Paul Frees).

Tense drama and whodunit, ruined by the tack-on ending.

 

[JunkMonkey]

Tom Hubler (Brad Dexter; never heard of him, until now) is the PI hired by the insurance agency to keep tabs on Linda's $150K necklace, suspecting Lloyd will pawn it for gambling money.

You've never seen The Magnificent Seven?