What was the last movie you saw?

THE HOOK (1963) Three U.S. soldiers are ordered to *get rid of* a North Korean prisoner (Enrique G. Magalona) before they return to base. the * indicates not too sure of a quote, but close enough. The top ranking guy, Sgt. Briscoe (Kirk Douglas) interprets the order as kill the guy, and orders each of the others, Pvt. Hackett (Nick Adams) and Pvt. Dennison (Robert Walker Jr; Charlie X to Star Trek fans) to do the deed. But the guy is a helpless prisoner, and that would be murder!

Tense, not your usual war film.



MAIN STREET AFTER DARK (1945) Crime drama, though <60 minutes.
Lefty Dibson (Tom Trout) is just out of prison, still on parole, & has already returned to crime. Brother Posey (Dan Duryea), though also a crook, cannot dissuade him from taking a gun along. Pawn shop guy (Hume Cronyn) had no hesitation about lending the guns, confidant of repayment. Lt. Lorrigan (Edward Arnold) tried to steer them straigt, but mom (Selena Royle) was as crooked as her kids.

Lorrigan ends the film with words to the wise. The plot just zipped along along, obviously made as a message to would-be criminals.
 
KOMMISSAR X: KILL ME GENTLY 1967--Another of the Joe Walker-Tom Rowland spy movies--they are kind of like a Crosby-Hope team. I have seen this before--I wanted to revisit it because of Olga Schoberova. What a name, what a face. I am surprised she was not in a Bond movie. And she was from behind the Iron Curtain.
These are silly comedy-leaning adventures--there's some cute puppies (that's not an innuendo--there really ARE cute puppies in this in a basket on a ship). This one ends with a donkey saving the day and also being able to talk.
 
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Most of the production budget must have gone to Robert Vaughn’s salary and special effects. Vaughn, the consummate professional, was fun to watch but the rest of the cast, none of whom I had ever heard of, looked good on screen and managed appropriate facial expressions when necessary, were strictly cue card cutouts when it came to dialogue. Probably never going to watch it again.
 
Suicide Squad. The second one. Terrific. Funny, well paced, exceedingly gory and very rude. Best DC movie by a long chalk. Not quite Deadpool.
 
Mr. Sycamore (1975)

Paper-thin bit of whimsy about a mailman/failed poet (Jason Robards, Jr.) who decides to become a tree. He stands in his back yard buried up to his ankles (coming out now and then, as the plot demands) as his devoted wife (Sandy Dennis) tries to deal with this mad idea. There's hardly enough story to fill up an episode of Twilight Zone, so we have a touch of slapstick comedy, in the form of car chases and such when folks try to send him to the loony bin. (Including milk trucks. Home milk delivery in 1975? Maybe because it's based on a 1942 play, in turn based on a 1937 story.) There are also romantic fantasies involving the somewhat more sympathetic town librarian (Jean Simmons.) I suppose it can be interpreted as an allegory for a man's midlife crisis, or as the eternal battle between the nonconformist and society. The only possible source of suspense is whether he'll actually undergo the desired transformation or not. Guess what happens.
 
It Grows On Trees (1952)

Sitcom-style fantasy about an ordinary family that unknowingly gets two trees that grow real money. Mom writes to the US Treasury to ask if its legal tender. Figuring it's a joke, they write back that it's OK. Complications ensue when the green stuff starts crumbling, like dead leaves. Add in a neighbor who steals the money, the adult daughter's boyfriend who works at a bank, a newspaper reporter who tells the world about the trees, and the Treasury folks who realize they've given Mom the permission to spend the miraculous cash. Very light comedy, best described as "cute."
 
What more can I say, but Ed Wood. A woman gets married and likes her husband's gorilla more than he. Apparently, she is a reincarnation of a queen of the apes. :rolleyes:

Ed Wood 258.jpg
 
Zack Snyder's cut of Justice League. Got 40 mins in and wondered what the hype was all about? Seemed disjointed story-telling and lots of spectacle over substance. Couldn't make myself watch more. I feel I must continue on with it so hoping it gets better. I had watched the Hobbit again the day or two before it, and what a stark difference in film making. Based on the JL reviews, I am in a minority feeling this way, so if any one liked the new cut of JL please share.
 
Bren G said:
Zack Snyder's cut of Justice League. Got 40 mins in and wondered what the hype was all about? Seemed disjointed story-telling and lots of spectacle over substance. Couldn't make myself watch more. I feel I must continue on with it so hoping it gets better. I had watched the Hobbit again the day or two before it, and what a stark difference in film making. Based on the JL reviews, I am in a minority feeling this way, so if any one liked the new cut of JL please share.
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I did and have. The new cut is very different in tone. Gone are almost all the jokes and light moments. It is far more sombre. I like that it doesn't rush to the climax. It's not all positive. The fight scenes are a bit blah [but over the last 10+ years we have seen so many superhero face-offs], but they are efficient. My only real criticism is that it sets up an MCU style next act and we already have seen those.
I would like to see a film centred on the Amazons. They seem the most interesting part of the film.
 
POLICEWOMEN 1974 - Rewatch. Uninhibited drive-in fare with real charm. Take Police Woman and replace Angie Dickinson with a centerfold and throw in the plot of SUPERBITCH crossed with HAROLD AND MAUDE and you come close to this bizarre but constantly amusing copsploitation film with some hilarious one-liners. Some of the acting is amateur but since the whole thing is light-hearted and ludicrous, that is easily dismissed. It has a stock musical score and yet despite the eclectic range of cues is rather effective-especially the main melody which sounds like it was lifted from a 1960s department store muzak selection.
 
The Wicker Man (1973) The Final Cut

Well this certainly is a very unusual film. Many years since I've watched it and (for some reason) I had the impression it was filmed in black and white; not so. A brilliant acting display from a brilliant actor in Edward Woodward and an intriguing mystery, with a twist that completely shocked me at the time. A horror movie with all the horror saved up for the last 5 minutes. Brilliant, imaginative, memorable.
 
Superman - The Donner Cut. First time watching since I was a kid. 55 minutes until Christopher Reeve is on screen, and those preliminary 55 minutes aren't wasted in the slightest - they introduce us into Clark's quandry as an alien who loses two fathers, as someone who can be only hurt by danger to those he cares about, why he chooses good over evil. Fantastic, well written dialogue, plot and well executed action with some great acting. Truly iconic music. Such heart.

Reeve really sells the Clark / Superman dichotomy just through his posture - Clark hunched over, Superman chest out - and you can really believe that people fall for it. There's a bit, where Clark is due to go on a date with Louis where he thinks about telling her, and this is all conveyed by him just standing up straight.

I love this movie. Probably the best superhero movie ever.
 
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989), a very artistic film I wasn't expecting. I don't remember who recommended it to me, and I watched without much prior knowledge so it was very surprising. It's pretty much filmed play. The mise-en-scene is colorful and the lines are clever. It keeps telling you its theme of how gluttony and lust are related. There's a Brazilian movie called Stomach that has a very similar theme (now I think it got inspired by this movie), so it didn't add much to me. Yet, a pleasant experience.
PS: I didn't know Tim Roth was that old.
 
alexvss said:
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989), a very artistic film I wasn't expecting. I don't remember who recommended it to me, and I watched without much prior knowledge so it was very surprising. It's pretty much filmed play. The mise-en-scene is colorful and the lines are clever. It keeps telling you its theme of how gluttony and lust are related. There's a Brazilian movie called Stomach that has a very similar theme (now I think it got inspired by this movie), so it didn't add much to me. Yet, a pleasant experience.
PS: I didn't know Tim Roth was that old.
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Good film. Check out Peter Greenaway’s others, particularly Drowning by Numbers, and Belly of an Architect.
 
John Carter. I was able to let go of the inconsistencies from the book and found it an enjoyable enough film this time. If Disney had dropped the Therns, focused more on the original story, and done a better job in marketing it could have been better received.
 
Vince W said:
John Carter. I was able to let go of the inconsistencies from the book and found it an enjoyable enough film this time. If Disney had dropped the Therns, focused more on the original story, and done a better job in marketing it could have been better received.
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I own it on dvd and, Im glad that we at least got this film. Disney bungled things , this could have become a major film franchise for them, if only they'd used their brains.
 
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