What was the last movie you saw?

The She Beast (aka Revenge of the Blood Beast 1966) Directed my Mike Reeves who, two years later, made the brilliant Witchfinder General with Vincent Price. During the shooting of Witchfinder General Reeves apparently made a suggestion on the set to which Price objected.
"I've made 87 films. What have you done?" said Price.
Reeves responded: "I've made three good ones."

He was lying.
 
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Avalanche Express (1979) Gen. Marenkov (Robert Shaw; died during the filming) is a Soviet wanting to defect to the West. So, they put him on a train, while the other soviets attempt to bury in under an avalanche. Among the good guys is Col. Harry Wargrave (Lee Marvin), while one of the bad guys is Col. Nikolai Bunin (Maximilian Schell).

supporting cast/characters:
Elsa Lang (Linda Evans); Leroy (Joe Namath); & Haller (Mike Connors)

8/10
 
Rio Bravo (1959) Ben M & the other guy compared this to High Noon, critiquing the latter because Marshal Will Kane (Gary Cooper) was attempting to recruit deputies from the townspeople, none of whom had much experience with firearms. The Marshall in Rio Bravo not only made no attempts to recruit such help, but rejected offers from such men. Neither Marshall attempted to get help from Deputy Dawg.

So anyway, a killing occurs in the saloon, Joe Burdette (Claude Akins) murders a man who objected to his abusing some other guy. The Burdette family is large & wealthy, having access to its own cowboys as well as many others who will gladly join for the pay. Marshall John T. Chance (John Wayne) has two, count 'em 2 deputies. Dude (Dean Martin) is all but worthless, since he became a drunkard. Stumpy (Walter Brennan), is rather old, and walks with a limp. Pat Wheeler (Ward Bond), a competent with a gun guy, offers to help, and is murdered minutes later.

Holding Joe Burdette in the town jail until more help arrives nearly a week later, is not a job with a promising retirement plan. One more man, competent with guns joins, though rather late, Colorado Ryan (Ricky Nelson) obviously cast to attract young viewers, etc.

Supporting cast/characters:
Feathers (Angie Dickinson) dance hall floozie; Nathan Burdette (John Russell); Carlos Robante (Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez) runs the hotel; Burt (James B. Leong) the undertaker.

8/10
 
EARTHQUAKE - 1974 - started shaking 50 years ago today.
"Earthquakes bring out the worst in some guys, that's all." George Kennedy
earthquakedoggkch.jpg
 
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Hectors Search for Happiness.

Very Zen in approach, but I can relate. Been there, and not by choice, but by domestic survival. OK, and by current choice too (from the medical point)
I enjoyed the RC airplane bit very much as I have been there in RC airplane and RC sailboats worlds myself, and in model rocketry too.
Reminded me of my Renaissance Festival days and all the traveling and people I met. In the end, no different than where I started from...
 
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City of Life and Death (2019). An account of the invasion of Nanking, the capital of China, by Imperial Japan.

Superb movie. It’s filmed in black-and-white to make it “more real”. It’s got the perfect mood and tone: it’s not super-nationalistic (as those movies tend to be) and it doesn’t demonize the Japanese soldiers as individuals.

Highly recommended.


Never Let Go (2024). After “the end of the world”, a mother and two children live in a secluded house that protects them from exterior evil, or at least that’s what the mother says.

Directed by Alexandre Aja, one of my favorite directors. He gained notoriety in the New French Extremity movement with High Tension (2003), which gave him the opportunity to direct the remake of The Hills Have Eyes (2007). Everything he did after that is very well directed.

And that’s also the case with Never Let Go. Although the premise is not original (Goodnight Mommy and 10 Cloverfield Lane are good examples), the direction keeps the suspense high, stages good jumpscares, puts violence in key moments and, more importantly, keeps you guessing.

Highly recommended.


Gladiator II (2024). Lucius, now a slave, returns to Rome after sixteen years of exile, and the Empire is now ruled by crazy twins.

Mixed feelings with this one, mostly because of the early reviews. Everyone was saying that this one was “epic”, and if you’re going into it with this in mind, you’ll be disappointed.

It’s greatly directed, with amazing action scenes. The acting by Denzel Washington is superb, but that goes without saying. The surprise is the twin emperors. They’re great villains; you hate them as soon as you put eyes on them. The protagonist, however, is mid.

Another thing that bothered me were the deus ex machinas: people get convinced too easily.
 
THE FOUR MUSKETEERS - 1974 - More dramatic turns than the previous film but like The Three Musketeers has a pace and tone imbalance between the drama and comedy that I find off-putting. Nice to look at though.
 
Parasite 2019 (Korean with English subtitles)
This movie follows the struggles of a Korean family to survive on the breadline while living in a semi-basement (called a banjiha) in Seoul. Through a stroke of good fortune, the son lands a position teaching English to the daughter of very wealthy Koreans and comes up with a plan to have his whole family employed within the household.

It's a dark comedy that has elements of a heist movie and is well worth watching. Four out of five from me:)
 
Alphaville (1965) A so-called science fiction film; though from my perspective, it had few, if any SF elements.

Lemmy Caution (Eddie Constantine) is a private investigator sent to Alphaville, a high-tech dictatorship that makes real ones seem pale, by comparison.

supporting cast/characters:
Henri Dickson (Akim Tamiroff) & Natacha von Braun (Anna Karina).


I thought it was weird, & one time seeing it is enough for me.
 
The Mighty McGurk (1947) Roy 'Slag' McGurk (Wallace Beery) is a two-fisted brawler in the Bowery, who ends up as the guardian for a very young boy, he calls Nipper (Dean Stockwell). Unfortunately, Slag's lifestyle is not what is needed for the nurturing of children.

So, the boy was sent from England to his uncle in NY, but that uncle had died. There is another relative, but this guy sees the adoption of the boy as gain money, rather than costing it. So, poor Slag is stuck. His boss, Mike Glenson (Edward Arnold) owns the saloon where Slag gets his beer free, and is against Slag's recent change of lifestyle. Mamie Steeple (Aline MacMahon) who owns the pawnshop, where Slag's title belt is pawned, was once his girlfriend, and wants him to become responsible, etc., so she puts his belt in the window, with a very low price on it.
Johnny Burden (Cameron Mitchell) was once a brawler himself, and is close to Slag, but is now involved in the Salvation Army.

8/10
 
Last weekend I watched Code 8 on Netflix with Stephen Amell. I went in with very low expectation as the quality of Netflix sci-fi has been so bad (looking at you, Rebel Moon) but I was pleasantly surprised by this one. Strong plot if a bit simple but very enjoyable. I just watched the sequel tonight, it's much weaker but not bad by any means. I wonder if Amell/Netflix are hoping to set up a lengthier franchise with Code 8. I'd prefer if they left it as is though. One good movie and a decent one, I don't think there's much steam beyond that.
 
Emilia Perez (2024) on Netflix
I'm not a fan of musicals at all but this was really well done. It has a unique style, and felt very modern, and perhaps we will see similar styles in films going forward. Over half of the film was spoken rather than sung which helped keep it moving along nicely and made the songs more interesting rather than monotonous (for a non-musical fan). The plot was somewhat absurd but when you accept the key plotline it was good.
Great acting by Zoe Saldana and the support.
It has mostly positive reviews though such as CBC (Canada) called it a mess.
 
Phenomena (1985) dir. Dario Argento; starring Jennifer Connolly, Donald Pleasence

I'd forgotten how long Connolly has been around. Even at 15 (maybe 14 when filming), she's perfectly natural in front of the camera, though there are spots where either the directing or editing don't do her any favors. Still, she makes a compelling final girl. Also appearing, Daria Nicolodi, who seems to have been a good luck charm for Argento (also mother of his daughter, Asia).

Premise: Jennifer (Connolly, natch) arrives at an exclusive Swiss boarding school about the time the area is experiencing a series of murders and disappearances of young girls. Thing is, she shows signs of having a peculiar affinity with insects, which she explores more after meeting the renowned entomologist, Prof. McGregor (Pleasence, with an understated Scottish accent that occasionally fades in and out). Circumstances bring her into conflict with the other girls, and seem to enhance her rapport with bugs.

Outlandish premise and it's dubious explanation aside, the movie flows tidily and with a reasonable logic given the premise, rather like a Stephen King novel along the lines of Firestarter, and makes for a good supernatural thriller until the very end. For roughly the last fifteen minutes, Argento pulls the kind of ending Stephen King used early on: I've painted myself into a corner, so I'm going to turn it into a small scale apocalypse and much red dye flows.

On the whole, I'd call it worth a watch.
 
Randy M. said:
Phenomena (1985) dir. Dario Argento; starring Jennifer Connolly, Donald Pleasence
Click to expand...
Was surprised to see an adult chimp in the film given that they are so dangerous (i.e. they can rip your face off when mad). Sure enough, later read:
During the film's climax, the hand wielding the straight razor hitting Daria Nicolodi was in fact Tanga's own, which managed to scar her despite the object being blunted. It then proceeded to attack Connelly and bit off part of one of her fingers.


FEAR IN THE NIGHT - 1972 - I had seen it before but forgot some of it. Forgot Joan Collins appeared in a Hammer film (and married to Peter Cushing although they never appear together).
 
PAYROLL - 1961 - Suspenseful heist story where the ringleader of an armored car robbery that kills the driver finds himself in a romance with a confederate's wife on one side and stalked by the widow of the deceased on the other. Quite absorbing with a very good cast including Michael Craig and Billie Whitelaw.


THE BLACK TORMENT - 1964 - An early Tigon (known for being Hammerish but with fancier sets and more sleaze) production. It has a few Hammer regulars pop up but also seems to be inspired by an AIP Corman Poe film that would have starred Vincent Price. I suspect it is meant to make you think of one of his films but with fancier sets. John Turner is ok as the nobleman who thinks he is going mad due to stories he keeps hearing about a murderer who is his apparent doppleganger (a secret they blow really early due to too much information).
There's a lack of cohesion or unified style which is a little clumsy and sometimes comes close to bordering on a Mel Brooks comedy ( you expect someone to say "put ze candle back!"). On the other hand, it goes so far into gothic territory--especially in the final part, you could argue the excesses make it more faithful to the Gothic literary sensibility than a more restrained and stylish Corman film.
 
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