What was the last movie you saw?

[Foxbat]

Cool Air (2004)
An adaptation by Lurker Films of the HP Lovecraft story of the same name. It may be short (43 minutes) and low budget but it is a pretty decent if somewhat grainy movie
that is a worthy addition to any Lovcraftophile’s DVD library.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

The Dark Corner (1946)

Another nifty film noir. Hard-drinking private eye gets tailed by a beefy guy in a white suit (third-billed William Bendix.) The 'tec beats the (supposed) truth out of the guy, who says he's working for the PI's old partner, who set him up for a two-year stretch in the slammer for manslaughter. The audience knows more than the shamus throughout the film, so we quickly find out an art dealer (second-billed Clifton Webb) made up the whole story in an elaborate scheme to have the 'tec kill his old partner, who is fooling around with Webb's beautiful, much younger wife. That doesn't work, so Webb has Bendix kill the old partner himself and frame the PI for the murder. Along for all the fun is the 'tec's secretary, first-billed Lucille Ball.

Besides enjoying the film, I learned some old-time slang with which I was not familiar. "Take a Brodie" = "suicide by jumping" from a guy named Brodie who supposedly jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge and lived in the late 19th century. (There's some evidence that the jump was faked.)

 

[KGeo777]

NIGHTWING 1979 - A strange mix of horror and drama--feels like a stage play acted out at times. It doesn't work as a horror film despite a few effective moments (such as when the bats leave the cave and fly over the canyons and the attack on David Warner's truck). Nick Mancuso is good in a lead role and Warner has a lot more to do than average--bringing gravity to dialogue which others may have choked on.

"I killed over 60,000 of them last year in Mexico. You really understand the presence of evil when you go into their caves. The smell of ammonia alone is enough to kill you. The floor of the cave is a foul syrup of digested blood. And the bats: up high, hanging upside down, rustling, fighting, mating, sending constant messages, waiting for the light to fade, hungry for blood, coaxing the big females to wake up and flex their nightwings to lead the colony out across the land, homing in on any living thing; cattle, sheep, dogs, children, anything with warm blood. And they feast, drinking the blood and pissing ammonia. I kill them because they're the quintessence of evil. To me, nothing else exists. The destruction of vampire bats is what i live for."

 

[paeng]

Prey. I gave it around 6/10 because of major problems with the story (mostly issues with pacing, characterization, illogical behavior, lack of naturalness in terms of animal and human movement as well as the environment probably due to overuse of CGI, banal dialogue).

To fix these problems, go back to the first movie, try depiction of characters in movies like the 1990s version of Last of the Mohicans, use CGI sparingly, etc.

 

[Randy M.]

The Dark Corner (1946)

Another nifty film noir. Hard-drinking private eye gets tailed by a beefy guy in a white suit (third-billed William Bendix.) The 'tec beats the (supposed) truth out of the guy, who says he's working for the PI's old partner, who set him up for a two-year stretch in the slammer for manslaughter. The audience knows more than the shamus throughout the film, so we quickly find out an art dealer (second-billed Clifton Webb) made up the whole story in an elaborate scheme to have the 'tec kill his old partner, who is fooling around with Webb's beautiful, much younger wife. That doesn't work, so Webb has Bendix kill the old partner himself and frame the PI for the murder. Along for all the fun is the 'tec's secretary, first-billed Lucille Ball.

Besides enjoying the film, I learned some old-time slang with which I was not familiar. "Take a Brodie" = "suicide by jumping" from a guy named Brodie who supposedly jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge and lived in the late 19th century. (There's some evidence that the jump was faked.)

I remember liking that one as a teen when I saw it one afternoon. I liked that the secretary steps up to help solve the mystery, a neat twist on the usual hard-boiled/film noir story. There's commentary on Raymond Chandler that in his novels Philip Marlowe is often on the edge of hysteria and this film strikes me as showing the hero with a similar reaction to his situation.

 

[JunkMonkey]

The Crawling Eye (aka The Trollenberg Terror) - which was even more considerably crapper than I remember Joel and the MST3K bots just about made it just about watchable for #1 Son and myself on a cold, wet Sunday afternoon.

 

[Rodders]

Boy (2010, directed by Taika Waititi.) quite a funny and sweet coming of age story about a young boy as his deadbeat dad comes back into his life.

 

[JunkMonkey]

Project Ithaca (2019) - a lowish budget Canadian SF film which had some almost interesting ideas going on it it but dropped the ball by nailing its characters down - almost literally - so all they could do was talk. And talk they did. Endlessly. Sometimes they talked in flashbacks and sometimes in "where is this place?" sequences that took place in virtual realities (inside people's heads). In the end one of the characters realised it was the the last act of the movie, decided she had superpowers after all and took everyone back in time. The end. I've seen worse. But I have seen an lot that were better.

 

[Jeffbert]

The Dark Corner (1946)

...
Besides enjoying the film, I learned some old-time slang with which I was not familiar. "Take a Brodie" = "suicide by jumping" from a guy named Brodie who supposedly jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge and lived in the late 19th century. (There's some evidence that the jump was faked.)

Is this the guy?

The Crawling Eye (aka The Trollenberg Terror) - which was even more considerably crapper than I remember Joel and the MST3K bots just about made it just about watchable for #1 Son and myself on a cold, wet Sunday afternoon.

I loved this film! So wonderfully bad is was good!

I rarely watch the MST3K versions, & this was no exception. I think the USA title gave away too much of the plot, though.

 

[Jeffbert]

SCARLET STREET (1945) As a fan of Edward G. Robinson, I am surprised that nothing in this film seemed familiar. A middle-aged man Christopher Cross (Edward G. Robinson) falls in love with a hoodlum's girlfriend, not knowing her love for him is a scam.

Katherine 'Kitty' March (Joan Bennett) mistakenly believes him to be a famous / wealthy artist, because he knows a lot about paintings they view when the two go to a museum. He was walking home from work, and saw her boyfriend slapping her around. His instinct for chivalry kicked-in & he leaped on the attacker Johnny Prince (Dan Duryea), and somehow knocked him out. She was grateful, etc, & he invited her for coffee, then, took her to the art museum.

She is simply using him, milking him for money he must obtain from others. As he is a bank teller, he has access to money. He also has a wife (Rosalind Ivan), who has insurance money from her 1st husband's death, but she refuses to spend any of it, claiming it is for her old age. The wife is clearly from Hell, as she dominates him, demands he buy her this and that, wash the dishes, while she relaxes, etc. So, he really finds this younger, far more attractive woman, very desirable, and allows himself to believe that she really loves him. He sincerely asks the young woman, if she would marry him, if somehow, he were free from his present marriage. She answers in the affirmative, being sure such a situation was far from reality.

His wife tells him that she is going to throw away the paintings he made, & this, combined with his delusional love for Kitty has him rent a studio apartment, both to keep his paintings safe from his wife, and give, the poor downtrodden woman a place to live. Johnny Prince, always looking for easy money, wants to sell the paintings, which conveniently Cross had not bothered to sign his name upon. So, he has Kitty sign her name, & feign that she is the artist. So, seeing Price far too often in the company of Kitty, he is sure he had seen him somewhere, but cannot recall where. She excuses his presence, by saying Prince is her roommate's boyfriend. Cross, being blinded by love, accepts this excuse.

Hmm, I usually do not write so much about a film, but a quick & dirty synopsis has eluded me! Fritz Lang directed, & this is a crime drama; though, so far, my description lacks the crime element. It is coming, & I much prefer to skip any further details, as they would give away the good stuff.

Just watched the French film LA CHIENNE (1931); & these two stories are very similar. I had both recorded from TCM, & wonder if they ran one after the other? The wiki page for LA CHIENNE says that the American film was a remake of it. That explains a lot!

So, this milquetoast in both films is an amateur artist, who does not bother to sign his paintings. There were more than a few changes made to the American version, most importantly the ending imposed by the Hayes Code.

After having watched SCARLET STREET, & after some time, realizing that this LA CHIENNE was very similar, I decided that it was different enough to watch until the end. I recall seeing LAST MAN STANDING, & the anger of realizing it was a remake of FIST FULL OF DOLLARS. I had paid for the ticket, the popcorn, & the Coke, not knowing that. By then, I did know that FISTFUL was a ripoff of Kurosawa's Yojimbo.

Anyway, I usually record foreign films, hoping to see something new to me.

 

[Jeffbert]

Reign of Terror / THE BLACK BOOK (1949) I am so ashamed that, despite the powdered wig, I failed to recognize Richard Basehart's voice! He portrayed Maximilien Robespierre, & the title The Black Book, refers to his list of people he wants to eliminate. So, he has their alleged crimes, and evidence of them written in the book, and fears if it should fall into his enemies' hands, he will be discredited, etc. Prominent citizens, including his own henchmen are named in the book, which he says has been lost. He hires Charles D'Aubigny (Robert Cummings) to recover it, & he eventually discovers that Robespierre never lost it in the 1st place, but, was using the thought that it had been lost, as a toll against his enemies.

Very intense, & well worth watching!

 

[JunkMonkey]

I loved this film! So wonderfully bad is was good!

View attachment 91974
I rarely watch the MST3K versions, & this was no exception. I think the USA title gave away too much of the plot, though.

I will admit I had forgotten how indescribably lovely Janet Munro was.

 

[Parson]

Prey --- I found this to be a crackjack! I give it 8.5 out of 10. Without giving any of the plot away there were two things I had trouble believing. One, the skill level of the lead character with a hatchet, especially a hatched with a tether. Two, the way a tiny shield could stop a hail of bullets from multiple angles. Three the effectiveness of an unprocessed herbal remedy. ---- But those are picky all of the big things were done very well indeed.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Trouble in the Southern California Suburbs of Sixty-Odd Years Ago Triple Feature:

The Careless Years (1957)

Teenagers from different social classes (he's blue collar/lower middle class; she's business-owner/upper middle class) fall in love and almost hop into bed together, but instead decide to get married. Their parents don't approve, of course, so he forges his dad's signature to get the money he was supposed to use to go to college so they can run off to Mexico and elope, then live in a crummy by-the-month motel. Sanity prevails, and they decide to wait. This modestly budgeted film has its corny and campy aspects, but it's not a bad drama. Both kids and parents seem like decent people, even when Dad and son get into a fistfight about the forgery.

No Down Payment (1957)

Young married couples have all sorts of soap opera problems. Surprisingly, adultery isn't one of them, although there's some heavy drunken flirting. Alcohol is definitely one of the problems, although there are also frustrated ambitions, a past history of giving up an illegitimate child for adoption, financial worries, racism (a Japanese-American family wants to move in), all the way up to rape and accidental death. It's like Peyton Place boiled down to four houses and less than two hours. Good performances all around, particularly from Joanne Woodward and Cameron Mitchell as the most melodramatic couple and, in a surprising role, Tony Randall as a desperate, heavy drinking, woman-chasing used car salesman with unrealistic dreams of glory whose income is shrinking down to zero.

Strangers When We Meet (1960)

Evan Hunter adapts his own novel of infidelity. Kirk Douglas is an architect building an ultra-modern house for a cynical novelist. (Innovative television comic Ernie Kovacs, stealing the film in his few scenes.) They actually built a house from the ground up for the movie, which adds some interest. He has an affair with unhappy married woman Kim Novak. Sleazy guy Walter Matthau finds out, so he figures Kirk's wife is easy pickings, making a clumsy attempt to seduce her. (It's pretty much just sexual harassment.) This causes her to figure out what's going on, ending the affair. That's pretty much the whole plot, so its a pretty leisurely film.

 

[JunkMonkey]

Prey --- I found this to be a crackjack! I give it 8.5 out of 10. Without giving any of the plot away there were two things I had trouble believing. One, the skill level of the lead character with a hatchet, especially a hatched with a tether. Two, the way a tiny shield could stop a hail of bullets from multiple angles. Three the effectiveness of an unprocessed herbal remedy. ---- But those are picky all of the big things were done very well indeed.

I'm always on the lookout for something that doesn't totally suck - but which Prey? I found 140 films called Prey on IMDb.

Find - IMDb

IMDb's Find Results Page

www.imdb.com

Though I know I can discount the Norman J Warren weirdness from 1977 with the shapeshifting carnivorous alien and the lesbian couple, the ones 'in development' and the shorts, that still leaves a lot of chaff to winnow.

 

[Parson]

@JunkMonkey this one: Here's the trailer. Prey 2022

It is being streamed in the UK on Disney+ and here in the States on Hulu. I suspect that you could see it free if you take a free trial.

 

[JunkMonkey]

I think may have got Disney+ (piggybacking as a friend on someone else's account) but it's been so long since I used the TV as anything but a monitor for the myriad of games machines, PC, VHS, and disc players plugged into it I don't know any more. I may go have a look.

 

[JunkMonkey]

Now You See Me (2013) - Meh!

 

[KGeo777]

The Internecine Project 1974 - Seen it before and totally forgot it and watching it again I can see why I forgot it. Has a cheap paint by numbers feeling to it. One of those American films that saved a few bucks by shooting in London apartment buildings. James Coburn is some kind of American bigwig promised advancement in the White House by another bigwig (Keenan Wynn) who stops by in London to tell him his network of UK spies needs to be killed. So Coburn arranges a plan where the four will kill each other and let him know by telephone rings coordinated through a time table chart.
Lee Grant is an ex-flame who doesn't have much purpose except to pop in now and then to represent the courageous free press and promising to make a Watergate-style article on golden boy Coburn.
Someone on IMDB said the movie feels like an extended Avengers episode without Steed and Peel.
Good description.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

The People At Rifftrax Help Me Endure Abysmal Florida-Based Action Films With Geographically Misleading Titles Double Feature:

The Guy From Harlem (1977)

Takes place in Miami, although we're told several times that the title character is, indeed, the guy from Harlem, both in dialogue and in the lyrics of the funky title song, which we'll hear several times throughout the film. He's hired by the CIA to be the bodyguard of the American-accented wife of the (never seen) leader of an unnamed African nation. For some reason, unnamed "foreign powers" are out to kill her. They make a feeble attempt to do so while he's busy romancing her. This draws the attention of a crime boss, who hires him to rescue his daughter, who is being held by kidnappers working for a rival crime boss. He manages to do so, while romancing her as well.

Pretty basic blaxploitation/detective stuff. The double plot makes it seem like two episodes of a lousy TV series. What distinguishes it from others of its ilk is the fact that it is extraordinarily cheap and amateurish. The actors frequently blow their lines or step on each other lines. Terrible editing, which even results in an entire scene being repeated less than a minute after we already saw it. (It's quite obviously an error and not a flashback.) In both subplots, the guy from Harlem kicks his girlfriend out of her apartment so the woman in danger can hide out. In both subplots, the seduction scenes feature the woman wearing an outrageously modest nightgown, covering her from neck to toe in solid white material revealing less than a nun's habit.

Most amusingly, the guy from Harlem gets a detailed description of "Big Daddy," the guy behind the kidnapping, although we're told nobody has ever seen him. This allegedly invisible guy shows up, exactly as described, almost immediately, but the guy from Harlem doesn't catch on.

Miami Connection (1987)

There's a scene set "somewhere in Miami" introducing us to our major villains, motorcycle-riding ninjas, before the credits, as they steal a bunch of cash and cocaine from drug dealers, easily defeating them with swords and arrows and such even though the dealers have a bunch of Uzis blasting out bullets at lightning speed. The rest of the movie is in Orlando. Our heroes are five guys who are 1. college roommates 2. orphans 3. members of a rock band 4. black belts in tae kwon do. The leader is a Korean guy (played by a real world expert in the martial art, who was also the producer/co-writer/co-director of this thing) whose accent is so thick it's difficult to make out what he's saying. The girlfriend of one of the guys is the band's Pat Benatar style lead singer. (The band is called "Dragon Sound" by the way.) Their hit songs are "Friends" and "Against the Ninja." The latter is an odd bit of foreshadowing. The confusing plot has the guys fighting a rival band, some street thugs, and the motorcycling ninjas, all of whom seem to be working together. Two of the bad guys are the singer's brothers, although she and one brother appear to be 100% white, and the other guy seems to be 100% Asian. More racial confusion exists during the subplot in which one band member, who seems to be 100% African-American, is said to be the son of an African-American father (for whom he is looking) and a Korean mother. Anyway, there's a lot of bloody killing before the words Only through the elimination of violence can we achieve world peace appear on the screen.

It's not as poorly made as The Guy From Harlem, which would be nearly impossible, but it's pretty bad. Lots of amateur acting by tae kwon do students, lots of random, pointless scenes, lots of very 1980's fashion and music.