What was the last movie you saw?

[Mouse]

Armageddon. And before that, The Princess Bride. Both brilliant.

 

[ratsy]

Armageddon. And before that, The Princess Bride. Both brilliant.

If ever there was a better cast movie than The Princess Bride I haven't seen it. And it still confuses me that Inigo Montoya is the dude from Homeland ***brain blown*** (he is one of the best things about Homeland too!)

 

[Mouse]

Never seen Homeland! But Inigo Montoya is the best. And the ROUSes, of course.

 

[ratsy]

Ha, I call Ginger a ROUS sometimes

Everything about that movie is perfect...Peter Falk narrating, Andre the Giant and his 'Anybody want a peanut' the 'clearly it can't be in the glass in front of me' scene...Prince Humperdink! I mean that name alone is amazing..haha

I haven't read the book. I tried years ago but couldn't get into it. I think the movie spoiled me in a way most movies can't

 

[Mouse]

I've not read the book either. I wonder if it's on my Kindle. I'll have to have a look.

 

[kythe]

I read "The Princess Bride" a few years ago. Although it was funny, it is one of the few works in which I prefer the movie adaptation. The book is a satire on romance, with a narrative involving the author griping about divorce and his ex-wife interspersed with the scenes from the story. The movie substitutes scenes of a Grandpa and Grandson instead.

Ironically, I believe the story works better as a true fantasy romance than a satire. The author set out to make fun of romance, and it ended up as one of the best romance movies ever made.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Dracula's Daughter is a film I greatly enjoy, more for the look of it (and Holden's wonderful protoGoth appearance) than anything else. It may be the earliest appearance in film of the lesbian vampire theme (started long ago in literature in "Carmilla") to my knowledge.

And speaking of 1936 horror classics . . .

The Man Who Changed His Mind (1936) (American title the much less clever The Man Who Lived Again.)


Enjoyable British "mad scientist" melodrama. The great Boris Karloff stars as a fellow who has discovered a way to transfer minds between two animals. A young surgeon comes to work with him in his creepy old manor house. Her boyfriend happens to be the son of a wealthy publisher, who decides to buy Karloff a new lab with advanced equipment. When Karloff reveals the nature of his work to a group of scientists, he is laughed at. The publisher (who apparently didn't really know what he was funding) announces that he's going to withdraw all support from Karloff. Of course, Karloff decides to use his discovery to prevent that . . .

The film is greatly aided by fine supporting performances, particularly from Karloff's sardonic, wheelchair-bound assistant. After the brief opening sequence is the creepy old house, the rest of the film has a bright, gleaming, Art Deco look to it which is nice to look at. The film runs just barely over an hour, so it never wears out its welcome.

 

[JunkMonkey]

Blood Orgy of the She Devils (1973)

Written and directed by Ted V. Mikels

Those among us who have enjoyed other works from the hand of director Mikels, such as The Astro-Zombies or MST3K favorite The Girl in Gold Boots won't be surprised to find out that this is another low budget, campy offering. With the exception of a few outstanding scenes, however, it never reaches quite that level of silliness. With a little tinkering -- well, OK, a lot of tinkering -- it could be cut down into a mediocre episode of Kolchak: The Night Stalker.

I have always meant to search out more of Mr M's oeuvre - thanks for steering me away from this one.

[irritatingly overly pedantic mode]
It's Girl in Gold Boots not The Girl in Gold Boots. I don't know why but that missing article really annoys me. The film was a hoot.

Michele: "Leo says I'm really going places. Just because he deals in dope, that doesn't tarnish me."

Critter: "Oh, that's what you think, baby. Tarnish isn't a strong enough word for what he'll do to you - try "corrode" for size..."​

[/irritatingly overly pedantic mode]

 

[Toby Frost]

Gone Girl – This is a film that diminishes in my mind the more I think about it. It’s by David Fincher, so the direction is very good, and the acting’s decent as well. The look and feel are deliberately cold, as fits the subject matter. The problem, really, is that this is a thriller dressed up as slightly more than it really is. It loses a lot of its power once you realise that one of the characters is utterly raving mad – so crazy as to be barely human at all. What feels like a comment on something deeper is really just about the antics of a maniac, and one who doesn’t feel terribly convincing (despite the good acting). Still, it’s a scary, well-made and at points pretty skin-crawling film.

Guardians of the Galaxy – Like everyone else, I liked this. It’s honest, daft entertainment, well made and likeable, with strong characters and exciting (and largely comprehensible) battles. Even the Cocky Lead Guy isn’t too annoying. The thing that slightly bothers me is that it’s got vast amounts of praise really on the basis that it’s good honest fun. If more films were good honest fun, would this stand out so much? This and Serenity make me think that there will always be a market for people having exciting adventures in space.

Moon – A while ago, I commented that this would make a good companion for Outland and Alien, being another film about blue-collar workers getting crossed by vast corporations. It’s got many of the same themes: isolation, paranoia and corporate callousness. As Outland put it, even in space, man’s worst enemy is still man. Sam Rockwell is excellent in the lead (and nearly only) role. It had the strange and rare effect of making me feel sympathy to someone in a completely impossible situation. In fact, despite the strange setting, the fears and concepts that drive Moon are very familiar: making it almost the opposite of Gone Girl.

 

[Michael Colton]

What happens when you combine Steven Soderbergh and the biggest young porn star in America? The Girlfriend Experience. And oddly enough, I actually thought it was a pretty good. And that is coming from someone that is generally not much of a fan of Soderbergh or porn stars. Unlike many of his films, Soderbergh had a very specific theme he wanted to explore with the film and I think he did it rather well. He also made the wise choice to hire Sasha Grey as the main character but have her do almost nothing risque, which worked well. When one hears that Sasha Grey was actually given a chance with the pet project of A-list director, one tends to hesitate in watching it because your first thought is what was Soderbergh's reasoning in hiring her? His own fetishism? Her famous run on the talkshow circuit defending the occupation that made her a star? In reality, he seems to have picked her because he thought she was a good fit for the part. And he was right. It is a film about an extremely high-end prostitute that has virtually no sex in it, which is the point they were trying to make: she sells the titular girlfriend experience, not sex. It is difficult to tell whether Sasha Grey's subdued, nuanced acting is good or if that is just her - but either way, it was well done and beautifully understated.

 

[Michael Colton]

I read "The Princess Bride" a few years ago. Although it was funny, it is one of the few works in which I prefer the movie adaptation. The book is a satire on romance, with a narrative involving the author griping about divorce and his ex-wife interspersed with the scenes from the story. The movie substitutes scenes of a Grandpa and Grandson instead.

Ironically, I believe the story works better as a true fantasy romance than a satire. The author set out to make fun of romance, and it ended up as one of the best romance movies ever made.

A bit of delayed response, my apologies, but is this the general feeling about TPB? I always thought people did see it as a satire.

 

[Mouse]

A bit of delayed response, my apologies, but is this the general feeling about TPB? I always thought people did see it as a satire.

I always saw it as a piss take, yeah.

 

[Michael Colton]

I have never heard the phrase 'piss take' but I am going to use it all the time now. The looks I will get are going to be great. "You're taking piss . . what? Where? Who's piss?"

 

[Mouse]

I have never heard the phrase 'piss take' but I am going to use it all the time now. The looks I will get are going to be great. "You're taking piss . . what? Where? Who's piss?"

Heh. Always good to spread new phrases across the pond.

 

[Kerrybuchanan]

@Michael Colton try 'taking the piss' instead of taking piss.

 

[Foxbat]

Ghost Of Frankenstein (1942) Not as good as the James Whale efforts but still quite watchable. Notable for it being Lon Chaney Jnr's taking over from Karloff as the monster.

 

[thaddeus6th]

I'm mildly surprised you've never heard of taking the piss before. It's practically the British national pastime. That, and queueing.

On Inigo Montoya's famous phrase [and I agree, he's also fantastic in Homeland], 'My name is Inigo Montoya...' etc, that was actually written down in Homeland on a pad of scribbled notes that Claire Danes held in series 2 or 3.

 

[Michael Colton]

I'm mildly surprised you've never heard of taking the piss before. It's practically the British national pastime. That, and queueing.

On Inigo Montoya's famous phrase [and I agree, he's also fantastic in Homeland], 'My name is Inigo Montoya...' etc, that was actually written down in Homeland on a pad of scribbled notes that Claire Danes held in series 2 or 3.

I've heard of queueing. And filling 'in' a form rather than 'out' like we do. And dog's bullocks, and several others. But not the piss one yet. Piss is pretty much nothing but urine or anger in America, so it sounds very odd.

Maybe it is a more modern phrase? Most of the British television and film I watch are period/historical stuff.

 

[thaddeus6th]

Bollocks*, old bean.

It's not properly old, but it has been around for a long time as an idea.

 

[Michael Colton]

Then I suppose I am just a bit ignorant.