What was the last movie you saw?

[Randy M.]

Puppet Master II (1990; dir. Charles Band; starring Elizabeth Maclellen, Collin Bernsen)

I watched this so you don't have to.

PM II starts with one of my favorite gambits, paranormal investigators arriving and setting up their equipment in a supposedly haunted ediface, this time the hotel from the first movie, the influence of Toulon, the titular puppet master from the PM I, still hovering over the site. The puppet gang from the first movie shows up with a couple of additions, one of whom has a Frankenstein-like (1931) moment with a little boy which is gratuitous and ugly. Unfortunately the novelty that carried the first movie wears off shortly after this begins.

Probably the only reason I watched to the end was a sense of call-back to older movies. Besides the scene mentioned above, the over-arching plot ultimately re-works the Boris Karloff The Mummy; this was pretty much confirmed near the end when an actor's make-up and prosthetics resemble Karloff's face. Oh, and the theme music. Maybe someday someone will find a story that works with the theme, filming a movie by turns melancholy, whimiscal and creepy.

 

[KGeo777]

You might try Pyro: The Thing Without A Face or The 4D Man or the Projected Man.

I can't think of another one that has that interesting element of seeing through dimensions though or quirky humor as X-The Man With the X-Ray Eyes.

 

[paranoid marvin]

Gangs of New York

Definitely not one of Scorsese's best movies. As historically accurate a portrayal of 19th Century New York as Mary Poppins or Oliver! was of Victorian/Edwardian Britain. Some over the top performances , and no particular character that you feel any affinity for.

It's many years since I last watched this movie, and I remembered very little from previous viewings. It is quite a spectacle , and even at almost 3 hours long, you want to watch it through to the end. Is it a good movie? Well, it's not a bad movie.

 

[KGeo777]

I saw it but can't remember a damn thing about it.
I am wondering how I missed Barbara Bouchet but in those days I was not familiar with her beyond a Star Trek episode.

 

[JunkMonkey]

Extraction (aka Extracted 2012) - interesting little SF movie. Lone researcher and assistant develop a way of accessing memories and determining if they are real or not. The people paying for the research want to use it to determine the guilt or innocence of crime suspects. The scientist reluctantly agrees to a trial run... the inevitable Something Goes Wrong and he gets stuck in the perp's head. He's trapped in this jailed junkie's memories while his own body lies in a coma. Four years later the perp starts to remember seeing the scientist in his memories in places he could not have been. They establish a dialogue. The hows and why of this are a leettle vague and handwavium but not enough to sink the film. There are twists and revelations which, for the most part, work. There are a leaps of - well that was lucky... and okay, movie, I'll let you off with that... but on the whole this is a movie that punches well above its weight and sidesteps the worst of the clichés of the genre - ferrinstance: the mysterious funder of the research is not your usual, off-the-peg Evil Corporation, or Mysterious Covert Black Ops Unit but a law enforcement official with political ambitions. He's not painted BAD but just sees a use for the tech that pushes ethical boundaries. He sees an opportunity to move the boundaries to accommodate it and make a name for himself. It's credible. He's not a villain. When the tech fails he drops it fast. Only to pick it up again when the problems are sorted and the extraction of the title achieved.

There a few annoyances that I could have done without. The pointless, endless, hand-held reframing of just about every shot got tedious very quickly as did the standard low budget timeless, tuneless, ambient plink... plang.... one-note-at-a-time echo-chamber piano and gongy-thing 'music' which played under every scene smudging the lack of any real sound design.

And it did contain one of my personal pet hates.

Junkmonkey SF Movie Clichés to Avoid #36
The GIANT SYRINGE. In any Hollywood SF movie any experimental drug, nano-technology or other plot device injected into our hero will be done by the medium of a Giant Silver Syringe with a pistol grip and a transparent bit so you can see a (usually greenish) liquid gurgling in it. Nine times out of ten this Giant Syringe will be taken out of a specially padded, metallic, briefcase case just before the procedure.

BUT, having got those minor gripes out the way, it's a better and more intelligent film than a lot of vastly more expensive movies.

 

[Jeffbert]

THE PACK (1977) Stray dogs survive how ever they can, including munching on humans. Worse yet, this is an island with only the HAM radio as communication, & the wind has taken the antenna down. Besides that, it is cold outside. A very unfortunate family had come here as a vacation. Oops, bad move.

O.k., so this film made it clear who was going on the dogs' menu next, so, no suspense as far as that goes. Just a matter of when & where.



RATTLERS (1976) The rattlesnakes have become aggressive in this small desert town & its surroundings. So, the local herpetologist is called upon to deal with it. Strange that the local military base is rather close to the center of it all. If you guessed that the military had something to do with it, you win a cookie.


Both of these were shown amid a block of critter horror films on TCM from last October. I figured they would be bad, so I waited this long to see them. Neither was really bad, just not quite good.

 

[KGeo777]

The Pack has a couple of scary scenes like the attack on the car as well as the sudden appearance of the dog in the abandoned house.
But it is a tear jerker with that little dog.

 

[Toby Frost]

Some over the top performances

Why, I ordda... evisherate you and... feshtoon the wallsh with a shade of sanguine, sir.

Literal moustache-twirling villainy. Still, it looked good, in an utterly squalid way.

 

[Guttersnipe]

The Mist (2007). It wasn't quite as good as I remembered it. The thing that bothers me most is that the main protagonist just isn't a good actor. I think even I could do better. There's at least one line that I really wish I could change, but I won't spoil it here.

 

[KGeo777]

I hated the Mist--and part of the reason was the ending was spoiled for me so I couldn't enjoy it.
But even if I knew the ending-it would irritate me.
So many things bugged me in that one.
For starters the lawyer who refused to look in the other room. That was crazy.
There was no reason for him to doubt the word of three people.

The religious nut was really overdone. They would have threatened to punch her out.

The weirdness of the young soldier who had makeup on? He looked like a vampire. And then after they see the body cut in half--he and the girl are chatting like they are in high school?
I will say only this about the ending--military units going through fog should have bullhorns.

 

[AE35Unit]

The Wonder of the Dog 2021
Weird, slow post-cowboy film set in Montana in 1925 about a miserable cranky rancher played by Cucumberpatch. New Zealand stands in nicely for the midwest but its just so boring! Barely stayed awake ...

 

[paranoid marvin]

I hated the Mist--and part of the reason was the ending was spoiled for me so I couldn't enjoy it.
But even if I knew the ending-it would irritate me.
So many things bugged me in that one.
For starters the lawyer who refused to look in the other room. That was crazy.
There was no reason for him to doubt the word of three people.

The religious nut was really overdone. They would have threatened to punch her out.

The weirdness of the young soldier who had makeup on? He looked like a vampire. And then after they see the body cut in half--he and the girl are chatting like they are in high school?
I will say only this about the ending--military units going through fog should have bullhorns.

I think that's the alternate ending isn't it?

There was tv series also I think.

 

[Guttersnipe]

Brightburn. It had an interesting premise, and the execution was OK for the most part, but I wasn't a fan of the non-ending, which let the brat get off scot free with mass murder.

 

[KGeo777]

THE KREMLIN LETTER 1970 - I rather like this spy movie with Patrick O 'Neil, Max Von Sydow, George Sanders, Nigel Green (very good as an agent specializing in prostitution and drugs), but the movie belongs to Richard Boone as a psycho assassin who cheerfully carries out blackmail and murder with a folksy-speaking charm and memorable dialogue. "She can still be saved if only you'll agree. But if you dont agree, we'll turn her into the most perverted human being our minds can conceive. And when we're finished with her we'll start on your other daughter and your wife."

 

[Droflet]

Yeah, I remember this one. Indeed, Boone makes for a very unpleasant villain.

 

[KGeo777]

Yeah, I remember this one. Indeed, Boone makes for a very unpleasant villain.

"Buck up nephew, buck up! We still got the Grand Mute, the receiving set, and me!"

 

[Randy M.]

Boone was an underappreciated actor, I think. Even when up against John Wayne or the like, he commanded attention on screen. I still recall fondly a pilot for a TV series with him and Michael Dunn as seedy private detectives, and wonder how it would hold up now, some 40 or so years after it was first shown.

 

[KGeo777]

Boone was an underappreciated actor, I think. Even when up against John Wayne or the like, he commanded attention on screen. I still recall fondly a pilot for a TV series with him and Michael Dunn as seedy private detectives, and wonder how it would hold up now, some 40 or so years after it was first shown.

Yes! I saw that a few years ago. Goodnight My Love.
It was a black comedy-noirish detective story.
Boone was a burned out Sam Spade.

The Last Dinosaur I need to revisit as well.

I used to watch Have Gun, Will Travel.

 

[Parson]

I used to watch Have Gun, Will Travel.

I loved this show as a kid. Now when I read the plot summaries they look pretty sketchy.

 

[Extollager]

Just resaw the Bedford Incident. Terrific movie. I first saw it in the 60's and at that time it was very, very scary.

Just watched that one again a few days ago. I agree.

[Later: Whoops! I see I had already mentioned seeing this a few days ago.]