What was the last movie you saw?

The Night Walker (1964)

Twisty thriller written by Robert Bloch and directed by William Castle. We begin with the familiar narrative voice of Paul Frees telling us about dreams over some surreal images. The real story starts with a wealthy blind man who is insanely jealous of his wife. She talks in her sleep and murmurs something about the lover in her dreams. At first he -- and we -- think his lawyer, the only person who comes to their house (and the wife never leaves it, we're told) is having an affair with her. We quickly find out this isn't true. Pretty quickly there's an explosion in the blind man's attic laboratory and he is apparently killed. The wife has dreams (or are they?) both of the husband coming back with a hideously burned face and of being romanced by a young, handsome, charming man. The two come together in an eerie wedding ceremony that is a highlight of the film. Is the wife losing touch with reality? Is somebody gaslighting her? Is the supernatural (or mad science -- remember that lab) involved? Or is something else going on? The final revelation may not be terribly plausible, but this is a fun ride.
 
She-Wolf of London (1946)

June Lockhart stars as Phyllis Allenby in this Gothic mystery/suspense film set circa the year 1900. She plays a young woman engaged to be married. She lives with her aunt, the aunt's daughter, and one female servant. We quickly find out the aunt and cousin aren't really related to her. That means they aren't potential victims of the Allenby curse, which supposedly renders its victims werewolves. When a series of gruesome murders occur nearby, she fears she may be responsible and calls off the wedding. You'll probably figure out what's really happening. Barely over an hour long, the movie is nicely filmed with lots of foggy night scenes. Remarkable for having one of the victims be a young child (not shown.) Like Weird Woman, this is a film dominated by its female characters. Don't expect a monster movie and you may find it modestly entertaining.
 
Pilgrimage

Ireland 1209AD and a band of monks escort a relic across a land divided by war.

This was a pretty good movie. Small budget, but shot well. The dialogue is in Gaelic, Latin and French with the actors switiching to English as lingua franca. The action scenes are intense and somewhat gorey at times. Those who enjoyed Valhalla Rising find this movie enjoyable. It also has a good cast. Tom Holland, Richard Armitage and John Lynch are the notable players.
 
Hunt for the Wilderpeople - nice, feelgood, New Zealand has some really large forests, but as usual they kilt arf a dog for no good reason; still enjoyed this one.
 
Boom (1968)

Infamous box office flop, mentioned in The Fifty Worst Films of All Time. Tennessee Williams adapted his own unsuccessful play The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore. Elizabeth Taylor stars as an incredibly rich woman who has been married multiple times. (Insert snide comment about type casting here.) She lives alone (not counting lots of servants, a young secretary, a private doctor, and the great Michael Dunn as a militaristic fellow who controls the vicious dogs who patrol her property) on her own private island in the Mediterranean. She is dying from some terminal disease which leads to intermittent spells of extreme pain and bloody coughing. Richard Burton plays a poet/artist who shows up on the island one day, a process which involves stowing away on a boat that tosses his stuff overboard, so has to jump into the water off the coast of the island after it; climbing up the steep cliff leading to Taylor's gigantic, gorgeous, architecturally weird and eccentrically decorated mansion; and nearly getting torn to pieces by the dogs. Most of the movie consists of dialogue, often very strange and artificial, between the two. Burton is mostly arrayed in a kimono and carries a samurai sword. Taylor wears a variety of odd outfits, the most memorable of which is supposed to be a kabuki costume, but which looks more like a 1960's idea of futuristic wear, including a huge and bizarre headpiece. An elderly Noel Coward shows up as "the Witch of Capri" to share some catty dialogue with Taylor. Taylor is too young and attractive for the role, and Burton is too old and, well, rugged for what should be a beautiful young man. In case the symbolism isn't clear enough, Burton's nickname is "the Angel of Death" and he has a habit of showing up at the homes of women about to die. Taylor's last name is Goforth, and in order to avoid any subtlety, she has a couple of lines about it being her time to go forth. The scenery is dazzlingly beautiful, with location filming on Sardinia. Other than that it's nearly two hours of high camp. (The title is often given as Boom! but it appears without the exclamation point on the opening credits. This is more appropriate, as Burton says the word very softly a few times. It means the shock of still being alive, he says.)
 
The Evil of Frankenstein (1964)

Third in the Hammer series of Frankenstein movies, but it might as well not be. All continuity from The Curse of Frankenstein and The Revenge of Frankenstein is tossed out the window. This one plays out more like a parody of the Universal Frankenstein movies. (Hammer worked with Universal on this one and was allowed to imitate the classic Karloff version of the Monster. The makeup used for this version is shockingly bad.)

Baron Frankenstein and his assistant Hans (not a hunchback) rush away from wherever they are after a priest discovers them reviving a heart from a recently deceased (and body-snatched) corpse. They go back to the Baron's old hometown to discover his castle ransacked. It's flashback time! It's seems that the Baron created his lousy-looking monster, it escaped and killed some sheep, it fell over a cliff, the Baron was exiled. Well, with one thing and another the Baron finds his creation frozen in an ice cave. (Shades of Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man!) It gets thawed out but its brain doesn't work right, so they get a carnival hypnotist to fix it. (No, that didn't make much sense to me either.) It seems that the hypnotist now controls the Monster and sends it out to do his own dirty work. (The Baron has his own grudge with the local Burgomaster, who stole a bunch of stuff from his castle. There's an early scene where the Baron invades the Burgomaster's bedroom which is played as pure slapstick. It could have come straight from Carry On Screaming!) There's a strikingly pretty young mute woman somewhere in there, too.

Despite the usual good production values (except for the lame Monster) and good performances (except for the overacting of the hypnotist), this is a pretty lame affair.
 
Valerian. Read the first two graphic novels in preparation. But it didn't help. I had to just enjoy the film for what it was, a spectacular space opera based on a simple plot. I'm sure there will be much criticism due to its somewhat fragmented flow, but I just sat back and enjoyed the ride. Some surprising cameo roles for such as John Goodman and Herbie Hancock. Rhianna as Bubble certainly was a show stopper. The title characters were adequate, but not overwhelming. All in all quite worthwhile!
 
Another Baby Driver (2017) viewer. Ran like a weird cross between early Tarantino (though not as good) and "code" Hollywood movies. (Three odd lags in the otherwise non-stop flick, the last of which was related to the "code" issue.) Still, enjoyable, entertaining, way above the standard car chase flick but way below true greatness. If you're looking for fairly high-grade fun, check it out. If you're looking for a masterpiece, you can safely pass.
 
Picked up the 2014 Godzilla for a couple of quid on DVD so watched it the other night. I enjoyed it despite its flaws:)
 
The Maggie (1954). An american business man unwittingly entrusts his cargo to a coastal puffer full of dodgy but endearing characters and a comical chase along the coast of Scotland ensues.

In today's cynical world, films like this from Ealing Studios may seem simplistic and naive but I still see them as the product of a golden age of British film-making - gone but not forgotten. A worthy companion to Whisky Galore:)
 
I've been neglecting my movie watching over the past couple of years, so I made a list of films that I've wanted to see but have so far missed and have started working my way through them. Over the past week I've watched:

Inside Out
Captain America: Civil War
X-Men Apocalypse
Logan
Kong: Skull Island
10 Cloverfield Lane
Doctor Strange
 
Phoenix Forgotten - a 2nd 'Phoenix lights' based found-footage flick. Teens disappear, you know the UFOs got them, but it takes forever to find the footage. Then they are grabbed by an ancient Ezekial wheel and the mystery continues. Slow for a purported action movie.*
 
House of Cards (1968)

Pretty good Hitchcockian film based on the novel of the same name by noted suspense writer Stanley Ellin. George Peppard stars as a boxer down on his luck in Paris who winds up being hired as a guard/companion for the young son of the American widow of a wealthy Frenchman killed during the war for Algerian independence. Since this is a thriller instead of a mystery, we very quickly find out that her in-laws and her psychiatrist are part of an international plot to overthrow the government and restore fascism.

Hitchcockian points:

1. The widow is an icy blonde (Inger Stevens, dead by apparent suicide just two years later.)

2. The hero has to go on the run from both the police and the bad guys.

3. There's a MacGuffin; in this case, just a piece of paper.

4. Charming, silky villains; third-billed Orson Welles is the main one, although he only has a few short scenes.

5. Romantic and sexual tension between the hero and heroine as they are forced to be on the run together.


Non-Hitchcockian point:

The hero is a tough guy who thinks with his fists rather than an ordinary man.

Despite music which isn't always appropriate (although I liked the title song, probably because it was sung in French and I couldn't understand it) and a few thriller cliches, it was enjoyable.
 
Yesterday I watched a film noir: Kiss Me Deadly. Pretty good acting especially by Ralph Meeker, loads of noirish camera angles, resolves, etc, and of course plot twists, double crossers, mystery men, femme fatales, and bare knuckle action. I can definitely see the influence of this film on more modern movies and television shows.
 
Schlock! The Secret History of American Movies (2001)

Pretty basic documentary account of the rise and fall of exploitation films. Not much new here for fans of such, but enjoyable. Heavy on Roger Corman and sexploitation.
 
just watched Valerian - my word! What an assault on the eyes! I loved it - that Mr Bay is how to properly use SFX!!!!
 
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