THE BLOODSTAINED BUTTERFLY 1971 - As we are in the middle of a rainstorm, I was happy to watch a film which had a big rainstorm in it--I like the synchronicity when that happens. This was ok but nothing special in the surprises. Standard murder mystery with typical giallo sleaze.
What was the last movie you saw?
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Fiberglass Cyborg
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METROPOLIS (1927)Seems like it influenced more than just the physical appearance of C3PO. I recall reading that Hitler saw this and wanted Lang to work for him. Apparently, H was impressed by how the film depicted humans as mere cogs in the machine. But there are 6 years between the release date of the film & H's ascension to power. Anyway, according to what I read, Lang being a Jew, decided to flee rather than accept to job. Note that the Wiki page says other things influenced H to offer the job to Lang.
Anyway, in viewing it, it does seem to have communist message, or, perhaps better to say a message that could easily be interpreted as such.
when the workers realize they had been led astray, & demand the death of the witch (the robot in the form of Maria) there are scenes of the pursuit of the fake M then fake M on a man's shoulders at a party, followed by more pursuit. I was almost thinking the real M was being chased. Not the case. Now, I wonder if somebody goofed in reassembling the pieces into 1 film.
Hitler also apparently offered to recognise his favourite Viennese operetta composer, Hungarian Jewish Emmerich Kalman, as an "honorary Aryan." Kalman wisely voted with his feet. Either all these stories are apocryphal, or Adolph did this a lot.
AE35Unit
]==[]===O °
The daft thing is Hitler wasn't Aryan himself!
Victoria Silverwolf
Vegetarian Werewolf
Untamed Women (1952)
Ultra-cheap example of the "guys find a land full of cave girls" subgenre. Starts with a fellow in the hospital suffering from amnesia due to a head injury. They give him some kind of drug so he can tell his story to an archeologist (?) so they can find out if it's true.
A flashback shows a bomber in World War Two getting shot down over the ocean. (Lots of stock footage.) Four survivors in a lifeboat (the macho guy, the country boy from Arkansas, the excruciating comedy relief from Brooklyn, and, oddly, a guy who resents his domineering mother) wind up on an island inhabited by beautiful, spear-wielding women in fake animal skin minidresses. The "hairy ones" killed their menfolk.
It seems they are the descendants of Druids (!) who left England when the Romans showed up. They all speak English in American accents with lots of "ye" and "thou" sprinkled in. Given the minimal acting skills of the ladies, this makes the dialogue truly hilarious. The mandatory dance sequence is pretty amusing as well.
The priestess, who gets to wear a fake animal skin cape and an amulet, sends the male prisoners into a valley full of dinosaurs (footage stolen from 1940's One Million B. C.) but they get rescued by the man-hungry cavewomen. (Mother-resenting guy gets attacked by a meat-eating plant.) Eventually the "hairy ones" (cavemen with really fake beards) attack (the priestess even gets a spear in her back), the island's volcano blows up (stock footage), the amnesia guy is the only survivor. The archeologist confirms that the amulet he got from the priestess is from the time of the Druids.
Really, really bad stuff, and thus quite enjoyable.
Ultra-cheap example of the "guys find a land full of cave girls" subgenre. Starts with a fellow in the hospital suffering from amnesia due to a head injury. They give him some kind of drug so he can tell his story to an archeologist (?) so they can find out if it's true.
A flashback shows a bomber in World War Two getting shot down over the ocean. (Lots of stock footage.) Four survivors in a lifeboat (the macho guy, the country boy from Arkansas, the excruciating comedy relief from Brooklyn, and, oddly, a guy who resents his domineering mother) wind up on an island inhabited by beautiful, spear-wielding women in fake animal skin minidresses. The "hairy ones" killed their menfolk.
It seems they are the descendants of Druids (!) who left England when the Romans showed up. They all speak English in American accents with lots of "ye" and "thou" sprinkled in. Given the minimal acting skills of the ladies, this makes the dialogue truly hilarious. The mandatory dance sequence is pretty amusing as well.
The priestess, who gets to wear a fake animal skin cape and an amulet, sends the male prisoners into a valley full of dinosaurs (footage stolen from 1940's One Million B. C.) but they get rescued by the man-hungry cavewomen. (Mother-resenting guy gets attacked by a meat-eating plant.) Eventually the "hairy ones" (cavemen with really fake beards) attack (the priestess even gets a spear in her back), the island's volcano blows up (stock footage), the amnesia guy is the only survivor. The archeologist confirms that the amulet he got from the priestess is from the time of the Druids.
Really, really bad stuff, and thus quite enjoyable.
J-WO
Author of 'Pennyblade' and 'Feral Space'
In The Earth (2020)
Filmed during lockdown, Ben Wheatley's movie combines science fiction and folk horror. It gets a lot out of bang out of it's low budget buck and fans of Alan Garner may well get a lot out of it. It's one problem is it's too evocative of COVID and lockdown, which I sense people don't have much time for at the moment in terms of escapism. Give it a few years and I think In The Earth will get the attention it deserves.
Filmed during lockdown, Ben Wheatley's movie combines science fiction and folk horror. It gets a lot out of bang out of it's low budget buck and fans of Alan Garner may well get a lot out of it. It's one problem is it's too evocative of COVID and lockdown, which I sense people don't have much time for at the moment in terms of escapism. Give it a few years and I think In The Earth will get the attention it deserves.
Jeffbert
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BURNT OFFERINGS (1976) So, this nice family rents a house for the summer, & are rather surprised to see how little money it will cost them; little do they realize, there will be a price to pay that is not dollars or cents. Soon after arriving, they begin annoying each other, and eventually are at one-another's throats.
O.k., so this is horror, but I found myself laughing.
The ending seems like something from THE TWILIGHT ZONE,
O.k., so this is horror, but I found myself laughing.
especially when the dad goes out the attic window. It seems like he is trying to swim in midair.
The ending seems like something from THE TWILIGHT ZONE,
what, with the portraits on the shelf, which we had seen earlier, now also have the most recent tenants/victims
alexvss
Me doesn't knows no grammar.
Last Night in Soho: newest one by Edgar Wright (Scott Pilgrim Against the World, Baby Driver).
A girl from rural England enrolls in a Fashion Course in London and soon starts having visions of the terrible things that happened to a singer in the 1960s. It's Wright's first time directing a Horror movie, and boy, this bloke is way too good at his job!
The screenplay has problems though. The first act is a bore and demands patience. Although pretty short (100 min), this movie was more tiresome to watch than Dune. The societal messages remembered me about Jordan Peele's movies, but the plot twist at the end kinda ruined everything.
The girls are played by Thomasin Mackenzie and Anya Taylor-Joy, who pull terrific performances. The supporting cast, though, is either not-so-good or expendable.
The movie is similar to Black Swan (2010) in a lot of ways: the nightmares, the bullying, the fledging artist... But it doesn't feel derivative at all.
What happened here is pretty similar to what happened to Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch earlier this year: the flick is technically perfect, but not the director's best, mostly because of some screenwriting choices.
A girl from rural England enrolls in a Fashion Course in London and soon starts having visions of the terrible things that happened to a singer in the 1960s. It's Wright's first time directing a Horror movie, and boy, this bloke is way too good at his job!
The screenplay has problems though. The first act is a bore and demands patience. Although pretty short (100 min), this movie was more tiresome to watch than Dune. The societal messages remembered me about Jordan Peele's movies, but the plot twist at the end kinda ruined everything.
The girls are played by Thomasin Mackenzie and Anya Taylor-Joy, who pull terrific performances. The supporting cast, though, is either not-so-good or expendable.
The movie is similar to Black Swan (2010) in a lot of ways: the nightmares, the bullying, the fledging artist... But it doesn't feel derivative at all.
What happened here is pretty similar to what happened to Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch earlier this year: the flick is technically perfect, but not the director's best, mostly because of some screenwriting choices.
Victoria Silverwolf
Vegetarian Werewolf
Three Steps in the Dark (1953)
Old-fashioned British murder mystery. Cantankerous rich fellow invites folks over to his mansion. There's rich nephew and his wife; poor nephew and his French fiancée; niece who happens to be a mystery writer; and his lawyer. You might as well add a butler and a very elderly, very confused woman servant to the list of suspects. (By the way, one has to assume that rich nephew and mystery writer are cousins -- children of different siblings of the cantankerous fellow -- rather than brother and sister, because we find out they had a romance going before rich nephew got married!) Cantankerous fellow intends to give poor nephew his mansion, but only if he dumps the French woman. His reason is that she is technically still married to a guy who ran off. If he doesn't, he'll leave the mansion to the confused servant. Of course, somebody shoots the cantankerous guy, while both poor nephew and French woman have left the place, separately. There's also an attempted poisoning before mystery writer solves the case. It's a modest little whodunit, only an hour long, that could easily be done as a stage play.
Old-fashioned British murder mystery. Cantankerous rich fellow invites folks over to his mansion. There's rich nephew and his wife; poor nephew and his French fiancée; niece who happens to be a mystery writer; and his lawyer. You might as well add a butler and a very elderly, very confused woman servant to the list of suspects. (By the way, one has to assume that rich nephew and mystery writer are cousins -- children of different siblings of the cantankerous fellow -- rather than brother and sister, because we find out they had a romance going before rich nephew got married!) Cantankerous fellow intends to give poor nephew his mansion, but only if he dumps the French woman. His reason is that she is technically still married to a guy who ran off. If he doesn't, he'll leave the mansion to the confused servant. Of course, somebody shoots the cantankerous guy, while both poor nephew and French woman have left the place, separately. There's also an attempted poisoning before mystery writer solves the case. It's a modest little whodunit, only an hour long, that could easily be done as a stage play.
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Mary Poppins Returns (2018)
I can't help feel that this should be called Mary Poppins Reloaded, or Mary Poppins Resupercalifradulisticexpialidocialised. Anyhow, it's surprisingly good. Emily Blunt is very good as Poppins: similar to the original, although not really an impersonation of Julie Andrews, which is probably a good thing. She could be another being of the same species with the same title, although I might be overthinking this. Ben Whishaw and Emily Mortimer are decent as the grown-ups. Lin Manuel Miranda is Jack, the equivalent of Bert in the original. His accent is better than Dick van Dyke's (faint praise!) and he makes an excellent sidekick to Poppins.
Musicals aren't really my sort of thing, but the choreography of the songs is very good and there are some fun and touching moments. It's pretty ingenious and good fun.
I can't help feel that this should be called Mary Poppins Reloaded, or Mary Poppins Resupercalifradulisticexpialidocialised. Anyhow, it's surprisingly good. Emily Blunt is very good as Poppins: similar to the original, although not really an impersonation of Julie Andrews, which is probably a good thing. She could be another being of the same species with the same title, although I might be overthinking this. Ben Whishaw and Emily Mortimer are decent as the grown-ups. Lin Manuel Miranda is Jack, the equivalent of Bert in the original. His accent is better than Dick van Dyke's (faint praise!) and he makes an excellent sidekick to Poppins.
Musicals aren't really my sort of thing, but the choreography of the songs is very good and there are some fun and touching moments. It's pretty ingenious and good fun.
THE ST. VALENTINE'S DAY MASSACRE 1967 - Tends to be overlooked as far as Roger Corman movies go but it's a crime procedural higher budget effort thanks to the cast (Jack Nicholson gets one line of dialogue). Historically, it is interesting that this had a machine gun massacre sequence--and this came out a few weeks before Bonnie and Clyde. At the time--that kind of machine gun violence display was not too common. I can't think of an early film that would use exploding blood squibs on a body.
Victoria Silverwolf
Vegetarian Werewolf
The Spectre of Edgar Allan Poe (1974)
What if Poe's life had been like a Poe story? You might have something like this cheap little film. Starts with a tree with the words "Edgar Loves Lenore" written on it. A guy in front of the tree talks directly to the audience, explaining that Poe's experience drove him to write his macabre tales. We see Poe (the guy who played "Charlie X" on Star Trek, unrecognizable under Poe wig and makeup) and Lenore (some very 1970's blonde) share a shampoo commercial style love, then Lenore suddenly collapses. Cut to the opening titles, which are done as words on the spines of books, which is kind of cute. This is ruined by a dreadful, and wildly inappropriate, soft pop song.
Anyway, Lenore is buried, but just before the dirt is piled on her coffin -- you guessed it -- they find out she's really alive and pull her out. Her hair is solid white and she's in a catatonic state, so she winds up at the seemingly humane asylum of Doctor Grimaldi (Cesar Romero.) The rest of this thing is so poorly lit that it's hard to follow, but somehow it involves a howling madman, brain surgery experiments, a raft floating in a pool of water full of snakes, a torture chamber, and a bunch of killings at the end. Not a good film, but odd enough.
What if Poe's life had been like a Poe story? You might have something like this cheap little film. Starts with a tree with the words "Edgar Loves Lenore" written on it. A guy in front of the tree talks directly to the audience, explaining that Poe's experience drove him to write his macabre tales. We see Poe (the guy who played "Charlie X" on Star Trek, unrecognizable under Poe wig and makeup) and Lenore (some very 1970's blonde) share a shampoo commercial style love, then Lenore suddenly collapses. Cut to the opening titles, which are done as words on the spines of books, which is kind of cute. This is ruined by a dreadful, and wildly inappropriate, soft pop song.
Anyway, Lenore is buried, but just before the dirt is piled on her coffin -- you guessed it -- they find out she's really alive and pull her out. Her hair is solid white and she's in a catatonic state, so she winds up at the seemingly humane asylum of Doctor Grimaldi (Cesar Romero.) The rest of this thing is so poorly lit that it's hard to follow, but somehow it involves a howling madman, brain surgery experiments, a raft floating in a pool of water full of snakes, a torture chamber, and a bunch of killings at the end. Not a good film, but odd enough.
I have been wanting to see that Poe movie. I have it on the shelf for watching sometime.
FOR A FEW DOLLARS LESS 1966-- A spoof of For A Few Dollars More. Maybe it works better in italian but the humor is hit and miss and mostly a miss although the opening scene is a parody of the opening of FAFDM where someone shoots a character from a distance. It doesn't work as planned. There are puppets of Eastwood and Van Cleef in the opening credits but other than a character who spoofs Gian Maria Volonte it's not particularly funny.
FOR A FEW DOLLARS LESS 1966-- A spoof of For A Few Dollars More. Maybe it works better in italian but the humor is hit and miss and mostly a miss although the opening scene is a parody of the opening of FAFDM where someone shoots a character from a distance. It doesn't work as planned. There are puppets of Eastwood and Van Cleef in the opening credits but other than a character who spoofs Gian Maria Volonte it's not particularly funny.
Jeffbert
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I was going to watch that, but after your comments, I think I will pass.
TCM ran both ALIEN & the film that may have inspired it a few nights ago. Ben M introduced both, as well as gave closing comments. 1st was
It! The Terror From Beyond Space (1958), which had the 1950s one piece spaceship with decks connected by staircases right in the middle, and was much wider on the inside than the outside.
So, a 2nd mission to Mars goes to capture the sole survivor of the 1st mission, who is assumed to have murdered the others. On the voyage home, because somebody left a hatch open for a few minutes, It! boards the 2nd ship & starts munching on its crew. They try various ways to 1st find it, and more than a few ways of killing it. most are killed in the attempts.
ALIEN (1979) Having watched IT! Monday night, & watching this Tuesday, it is easy to see the similarities. Granted, Alien makes IT! look like an Elementary school play by comparison, but much changed in films, etc., in the 21 years between these films. Alien adds several elements, including the company's rather self-centered policies, which place profit far above the lives of the employees.
TCM ran both ALIEN & the film that may have inspired it a few nights ago. Ben M introduced both, as well as gave closing comments. 1st was
It! The Terror From Beyond Space (1958), which had the 1950s one piece spaceship with decks connected by staircases right in the middle, and was much wider on the inside than the outside.
So, a 2nd mission to Mars goes to capture the sole survivor of the 1st mission, who is assumed to have murdered the others. On the voyage home, because somebody left a hatch open for a few minutes, It! boards the 2nd ship & starts munching on its crew. They try various ways to 1st find it, and more than a few ways of killing it. most are killed in the attempts.
ALIEN (1979) Having watched IT! Monday night, & watching this Tuesday, it is easy to see the similarities. Granted, Alien makes IT! look like an Elementary school play by comparison, but much changed in films, etc., in the 21 years between these films. Alien adds several elements, including the company's rather self-centered policies, which place profit far above the lives of the employees.
JunkMonkey
Lord High Vizier of Nowt
And including not letting astronauts play with bazookas. I never could work out why the second Manned Mission To Mars needed one of them. I think the set of IT! is a brilliant bit of low-budget design. Having the same set function over and over again as different places must have saved a fortune.
Tonight I watched Vampire Circus a wonderfully sleazy, dreamlike piece of, 'let's fill the screen with tits', late Hammer horror nonsense.
MODESTY BLAISE 1966 -- I had seen it before and forgot it--probably to spare myself the awful memory.
It is really a bad movie. These Hollywood spy comedies can be so awful. So terrible. And it was nominated for a Palme d'Or!
It is really a bad movie. These Hollywood spy comedies can be so awful. So terrible. And it was nominated for a Palme d'Or!
AE35Unit
]==[]===O °
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