This is the third Bill and Ted film, in which they travel through time in an attempt to write a song that will save mankind. I was a bit wary of this being an unnecessary cash-in but I really enjoyed it. Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter are still great as the heroes, and everyone else seems to be really enjoying it. There are lots of nods to the previous films and Bill and Ted's daughters are especially good (they both do a very good impersonation of their "fathers"). Perhaps the first half is slightly funnier but it was really entertaining overall.
I thought the prison scene with the pumped up Bill & Ted was the funniest bit of the movie. It's also nice to see Keanu revisting the role that helped launch his career. He could easily have dismissed the role as beneath his acting abilities, but it shows he obviously values his legacy and the many fans of the movies.
Not as good as the first two movies (the second being the best for me), but still worth a watch, and many laughs to be had. I'm not sure that a fourth movie with the two daughters in the lead roles would work though; they did fine as supporting actors, but Keanu and Alex Winter were the ones responsible for making the film a success.
Another one by Ridley Scott, and, sadly, not one of his best.
The movie has good acting--especially by the two main actors--, good battle scenes and great art direction (you really believe that the characters are where they are, when they are). Technically, it’s great; but it has terrible plot and character development (if any!).
Now, about its (many) problems. Firstly, the theatrical version went through numerous cuts, so much so that a four hour and a half long version has been announced for Apple TV+. The result is a number of very short scenes put together and many time lapses. Pacing and lack of coherence seem to be the biggest issues here.
A character suddenly changes his posture and there is no explanation why. It doesn’t explain why he throws his tantrums or why he’s so possessive. IMO, Scott and the screenwriter started from the assumption that they didn’t need to explain who such a prominent historical figure is. That’s what video game movies usually do by the way.
Many historians have been lashing out about this movie. I don’t consider myself to be a connoisseur of that part of history so I won’t comment on that.
House on Haunted Hill (1959) One of my favorite William Castle horror films, just wish I could have experienced EMERGO.
So, for some as yet, unknown reason, millionaire Frederick Loren (Vincent Price) invites several guests to a haunted house party, in a house that really does not much resemble a house. Chosen mainly because they all need the money, $10k, which Loren offers to any of them who stay between midnight and 8:00 the next morning.
This particular house, it is said, that several murders have occurred here. Its owner, Watson Pritchard (Elisha Cook Jr), seems to believe in ghosts that haunt the place, and desire to take anyone who stays there. But, he too needs the money, so he stays. As the night progresses, Pritchard finds occasion to remind the others of their imminent doom.
The necessary guest, the attractive young Nora Manning (Carolyn Craig), whose needed talent, is her ability to freak-out and scream.
Psychiatrist Dr. David Trent (Alan Marshal) also needs the money, but himself is needed, because head shrinkers are also medical doctors, and can tell the difference between the living and the dead. So, when he pronounces one of the peole who stay the night as deceased, nobody thinks he is wrong.
I did see some questionable things, though; such as
just how did VP have that marionette rig attached to the ceiling, and what kind of strings were they that endured exposure to the acid?
If the skeleton did emerge from the acid, why did Frederick Loren touch it? Would he not burn his fingers?
several others, but, I will skip them.
I would hardly consider this a horror film, perhaps humor film might be more appropriate. 9/10
Eyes of Laura Mars (1978) I had an misunderstanding about this film, until I actually watched it. It was not about a blind woman who receives eye transplants from a murderer.
So, this famous fashion photographer Laura Mars (Faye Dunaway) who stages sexually oriented (perhaps there is a better term?) photo shoots in public places, begins to have visions, as though she were seeing the murderer's perspective as he stalks and kills his victims. She puts her photo shoots in a book titled Eyes of Laura Mars, yet to be published. When she sees a TV news program, she realizes that she 'saw' the murder, calls the police, tells her story, which is received with a grain of salt, as the saying goes. Needless to say, she is not happy about these visions or hallucinations.
Police Lieutenant John Neville (Tommy Lee Jones, what a whippersnapper he was!) is assigned to the case. When he compares some of the police crime scene photos with those in her book, he wonders why they are so similar. Hmmm.
Interesting film! 9/10
I did notice cigarette ads atop the taxis< and while not shown, the old Alka-Seltzer jingle was heard in one scene. Nikon cameras MARLBORO in one street scene.
The Death Kiss (1933) A not so B&W film with yellow and orange in certain scenes. Yellow from flashlights and orange from muzzle blasts. So, anyway (I thought I already did this!?) the title refers to a film being made by the studio, in which the guy whom the woman kisses, is to be the assassin's target. So, the climatic scene is being made, and the car with the mobsters in it rolls up, the kiss is made, etc., and the blacks are fired. But, somewhere, there was a live bullet fired, and the actor in not just pretending to be dead, he is dead!
Joseph Steiner (Bela Lugosi) is the studio exec, whose main concern is finishing the film, and getting a financial return on the money spent on it.
1st time seeing it, and thought it was rather good.
COP IN BLUE JEANS - 1976 - Tomas Milian's signature role. I had not seen it before. Was a series of movies about a cop with a pet mouse named Serpico. Jack Palance gets kicked between the legs.
Night Ambush / Ill Met by Moonlight (1957) A British officer Patrick "Paddy" Leigh Fermor (Dirk Bogarde) is leading a group of Greek commandos in a mission to abduct a German General.
The Damned / Götterdämmerung(1969) The wealthy industrialist Essenbeck family's decadence is on display, as the 1930s progresses. Among other things, the film depicts the fall of the Nazi terrorists, the SA or Brown Shirts (whose violence was largely responsible for Hitler's ascension to Chancellor).
Friedrich Bruckmann (Dirk Bogarde) marries Sophie von Essenbeck (Ingrid Thulin) and was already a biggie in the Essenbeck steel works .
As I recall, this was the final film in TCM's Dirk Bogarde day.
Very intense, and sexually so. Wiki page says it was X-rated, and heavily censored in its USA release.
Night Ambush / Ill Met by Moonlight (1957) A British officer Patrick "Paddy" Leigh Fermor (Dirk Bogarde) is leading a group of Greek commandos in a mission to abduct a German General.
I did not know that there was a film of this. A famous exploit of one of my favourite writers. The really interesting thing is that Leigh-Fermor is far more famous for other things and this, relatively speaking, is just a footnote in his biography.
The Mortal Storm (1940) A family living in Germany in 1933, suffers increasing discrimination, etc., after Von Hindenburg appoints Hitler to Chancellor. The father Prof. Viktor Roth (Frank Morgan) is a distinguished Professor of biology. His two stepsons Otto (Robert Stack) and Erich von Rohn (William T. Orr) are enthusiastic as the radio announces Hitler is appointed Chancellor, believing that the shame of Versailles treaty will soon be forgotten as their new leader will return pride to Germany. Both stepsons join the SA, and soon are unrecognizable as the men they had been just days ago. They are of the mind that only their philosophy, that of war and aggression, is the only one for the new Germany. BTW, as I recall, the word 'Germany' was rarely used in this film, for fear of the German-Americans avoiding it.
The Professor's students, nearly all of them, wore the SA uniform, and were hostile to his scientific view of biology. One accusingly demanded of him, if there was no difference between Aryan and non-Aryan (Jewish; the word was avoided entirely in the film) blood. The Professor's response, "Until now, physiology has been unable to discover any difference in the blood of the various races. It cannot be altered to suit the policies of the hour or the clamor of immature hoodlums!" This is the only dramatic role I can recall for the Wiz! He lost nearly all his students, and eventually was tossed out of the university, and even sent to a concentration camp.
But this just touches the story, whose hero, James Stewart, I only now mention.
I did not know that there was a film of this. A famous exploit of one of my favourite writers. The really interesting thing is that Leigh-Fermor is far more famous for other things and this, relatively speaking, is just a footnote in his biography.
I had not even bothered to click the link for this guy (on the wiki page), as my intense interest in WWII history was years ago. WTF!? He did not even know his mother until 4 years old? no wonder he was a problem child!
I had not even bothered to click the link for this guy (on the wiki page), as my intense interest in WWII history was years ago. WTF!? He did not even know his mother until 4 years old? no wonder he was a problem child!
This was pretty common for children of parents working in India, which was perceived as an unhealthy/unsuitable place for children. Many postings allowed for a furlough every 4-6 years when the adults would come back to the UK by boat for a few months. Children were sent to boarding school at a very young age and barely saw their parents.
I did not know that there was a film of this. A famous exploit of one of my favourite writers. The really interesting thing is that Leigh-Fermor is far more famous for other things and this, relatively speaking, is just a footnote in his biography.
Korrupt FM head out to make it in Japan. A mockumentry movie following a garage pirate radio station. Quite sweet, very funny and heartwarming. Love the ego on those guys.
THE BLACK ANGEL (1946) dir. Roy William Neill; starring Dan Duryea, June Vincent, Peter Lorre, Broderick Crawford
Turner Cable Movies, Noir Alley presentation hosted by Eddie Muller. Blackmailer Mavis (Constance Dowling) is murdered. The people she's blackmailing have alibis, except for Kirk Bennett, who was seen leaving her apartment just before her body was discovered. Bennett's wife, Catherine (Vincent) won't give up on him, though he's been two-timing her and he's convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Tracking down Martin (Duryea), Mavis' husband, she finds him dead to the world after accumulating one more drunk night, something he's become good at since Mavis dumped him. But he has an alibi, too, and they end up teaming up to find the real murderer.
Based on a Cornell Woolrich novel of the same title -- and if you've read some Woolrich aside from that novel, the ending may not come as a surprise -- and directed by Neill, who had experience with mysteries, having headed up 11 of the 14 Rathbone/Bruce Sherlock Holmes movies (as well as Frankenstein vs. the Wolf Man), this develops nicely and has a good pace. Muller pointed out that after coming to stardom as a heel in several Fritz Lang movies, Universal Pictures wanted to test Duryea as a leading man. I've no idea how well the movie did in its day, but Duryea is just fine in this. Vincent mostly holds her own, though maybe leaning a bit hard on wounded and martyred dignity. Lorre has a pivotal role, and slouches through the movie amiably. Crawford plays a somewhat sympathetic detective. If you're in the mood for noir this just might hit the spot.
Strange Bargain (1949) Bookkeeper Sam Wilson (Jeffrey Lynn; never heard of him, until now) goes to asks his boss for a raise... & boss, instead wants him to make boss' suicide appear to be a murder, so his family can collect the insurance! Boss offers $10,000 as the reward for guy's cooperation.
The less said, the better! I really enjoyed this film, & this was my 1st time seeing it. NOIR ALLEY, with all the fixins.
Black Dragons - A 1942 Bela Lugosi cheapo in which he played a Nazi plastic surgeon killing American industrialist 5th columnists who he had surgically duplicated from Japanese fanatics. Pretty routine stuff. Though "He injected me with an insidious serum that transformed me into the hideous monster you see before you !" is not a line I'm going to forget in a hurry.
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