What was the last movie you saw?

HUNT THE MAN DOWN (1951) NOIR ALLEY's last offering for Feb.

A wrongly convicted man (James Anderson) escapes, makes a new identity, etc., but ends up on the front page of the local newspaper, when he foils a hold-up of the bar where he works. The Police arrest him, etc., and he is assigned a public defender Paul Bennett (Gig Young), who, after attempts to contact witnesses ends in the murder of one of them, concludes that the man is innocent.

So much, in just under 70 minutes, back stories to more than a few characters, along with plenty of current action.

Satisfying!
 
Just finished watching Sexy, Evil Genius (2013). Wow, where do I start? Five people, eventually met up at a bar at the behest of Nikki, with whom they all had relations. The movie is dialogue heavy and what dialogue. Riveting. Questions arise: Is Nikki crazy or just misunderstood? Is Nikki as crazy as a cut snake or just eccentric? Has she called her former lovers together to complete another of her diabolical plans or is she just catching up? You won't know until the end. I usually have my thumb hovering over the fast-forward button but abandoned that idea after the first ten minutes. Do yourselves a favor and catch up with this intriguing little gem. Highly, highly recommended.
 
Just received and watched an improved (blue ray) version of "Robinson Crusoe on Mars" (one of my guilty pleasures). It was apparently modified in 2005 or 2007; with many (most) image defects removed, improved sound track and greater detail (its not quite 4K, UHD but is a vast improvement).
I recommend it over the old, standard, DVD, version.

Enjoy!
 
Born on the Fourth of July

I know that not everyone is a fan of Tom Cruise, but I think that he's a great actor and I can't remember a movie I've watched with him in that I haven't liked (for the record I've never watched Top Gun or the sequel). Some of his movies have been lightweight - not this one - and there's nothing wrong with that, because not every movie can - or should - be as emotional and thought provoking as this one.

This is no doubt an Oliver Stone movie, and an excellent one at that, but Tom Cruise really excels in his role as Sergeant Ron Kovic. The scene when he's recovering in the veteran's hospital back home is truly heart breaking.
 
paranoid marvin said:
Born on the Fourth of July

I know that not everyone is a fan of Tom Cruise, but I think that he's a great actor and I can't remember a movie I've watched with him in that I haven't liked (for the record I've never watched Top Gun or the sequel). Some of his movies have been lightweight - not this one - and there's nothing wrong with that, because not every movie can - or should - be as emotional and thought provoking as this one.

This is no doubt an Oliver Stone movie, and an excellent one at that, but Tom Cruise really excels in his role as Sergeant Ron Kovic. The scene when he's recovering in the veteran's hospital back home is truly heart breaking.
Click to expand...
I think Tom is a good actor and does most of his own stunts. Unfortunately, his Scientology rants haven't done him any justice.
 
I just watched Alien, what a masterpiece of film making.

"Final report of the commercial starship Nostromo, third officer reporting. The other members of the crew, Kane, Lambert, Parker, Brett, Ash and Captain Dallas, are dead. Cargo and ship destroyed. I should reach the frontier in about six weeks. With a little luck, the network will pick me up. This is Ripley, last survivor of the Nostromo, signing off."
 
While at home away from the computer, we watched a couple of things just to be Buster Keaton completists.

It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963)

Slapstick/farce with tons of stars and cameos. Way too BIG for my taste. Keaton is barely seen in a tiny role.

San Diego I Love You (1944)

Screwball comedy. There's a plot -- wacky daughter of a nutty inventor manages to get rich guy to finance his gizmo, while love blossoms -- but it's just an excuse for episodic silliness. Keaton has a decent supporting role as a bus driver. Wacky daughter gets him to abandon his normal route to drive on the beach. He gives a big smile at the end of his scene, which is unique.
 
THE BIRDS 1963 -60th anniversary I learned earlier today so I watched it. I think it's Hitchcock's best movie. Certainly the most mainstream and doesn't really date. He contributes what was probably the first big budget ecology horror film (if King Kong and Moby Dick don't count). In fact, it is amazing how good the fx are because the bird composition shots look really convincing in most scenes-the indoor sparrow attack is still impressive-Disney animators did some of the bird shots by painting them. And the seagull puppets used for the close up shots also look realistic. And the lack of music doesn't deter either--the use of bird sounds instead. It does make you think twice when you see birds gathered in large numbers.
 
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Seen it several times over the years. Still fun.
 
My Journey Through French Cinema (2016) Wikipedia redirects it to a page about the guy who made it. Not happy about that. So the film is a documentary about directors, actors, composers, etc., starting with the silent films & ending with modern ones. I found it interesting, but not fascinating. 3.5 hours, watched in two (2) days. Recognized several films I had seen on TCM, such as Elevator to the Gallows. Actors such as Lino Ventura. Learned about many films I had never known.
 
The Monster of Blackwood Castle 1968 --krimi film about a dog equipped with vampire fangs and a spooky castle. Watchable.
 
Cthulhu.Science said:
Who remembers

Amélie (2001)​

IMDB describes the story: Amélie is an innocent and naive girl in Paris with her own sense of justice.

Finally, the film's director tells the true story:
Jean-Pierre Jeunet, director of the 2001 romantic comedy The Fabulous Destiny of Amélie Poulain, has recut his beloved movie into a cheeky short film that reveals that Amélie was actually a KGB spy.


Film editors are magicians.

Click to expand...
That's, well...fabulous!
Love that film.
and Audrey Tautou
 
Saw this short film at a private showing (wife is friends with the director/writer/producer). Filmed with LED screen technology. Intriguing story with an ending I did not see coming. Truth (Short 2023) - IMDb
 
I Love Trouble (1948) dir. S. Sylvan Simon; starring Franchot Tone, Janet Blair, with familiar faces like John Ireland, Raymond Burr and Glenda Farrell

Shown on Turner Cable Movies Noir Alley, based on Roy Huggins novel The Double Take, which is based on Raymond Chandler's work, enough so that Eddie Muller said Chandler was tempted to sue, but ended up not doing so. Good for Huggins, since this kicked off a long movie/tv career that included shows like 77 Sunset Strip, Maverick, The Fugitive and The Rockford Files.

Tone plays Stuart Bailey, P.I. (see also the name of main character in 77 Sunset Strip) who is hired to find a wife. The wife was apparently being blackmailed, ran away, and the husband wants her back, he doesn't care about what she might have done before knowing him. Complications ensue leading to Bailey getting beat up, drugged, nearly run over and, perhaps more frightening, meeting the wife's sister.

This is less noir than a light-grey, at times playing more like a comedy, which was in line with Simon's past directorial efforts with Red Skelton, and Abbott and Costello. With the Chandleresque wisecracks and a fairly quick pace, it was a pleasant hour and a half.
 
Mausoleum (1983)

Inept and goofy demonic possession movie. Little girl is at her mother's funeral. Oddly, she's wearing a short black cape over normal little girl clothes, She runs off and enters a MAUSOLEUM full of glowing green lights and a sarcophagus covered with rats, out of which comes a monster hand. Some guy wanders in, runs out screaming, and the back of his head pops open.

Cut to twenty years later. Girl is now a married woman. Once in a while, her eyes glow green, she transforms into a monster, and kills people, pretty much at random. A helpful diary sort of explains the incoherent plot. You see, women in the Nomed family (spell it backwards!) are doomed to be possessed. The diary also explains that the way to stop it is to take a crown of thorns from the MAUSOLEUM and shove it on the head of the possessed woman while in monster form.

Notable aspects are the comedy relief African-American maid who says things like "great googly moogly" and vanishes from the house (and the movie) to the accompaniment of "funny" music; the fact that, in monster form, the possessed woman's breasts turn into demon heads; and the incomprehensible ending, in which the heroic psychiatrist who did the crown of thorns thing tells some guy we've never seen before, dressed in a monk's robe and holding a bunch of flowers, to make sure nobody ever enters the MAUSOLEUM. The guy then laughs hysterically.

Full of poor acting, oddball dialogue (some of which reveals that neither the possessed woman nor her comedy relief maid can spell the word "guava"), elaborate monster effects, copious fake gore, and other fun stuff.
 
Seance on a Wet Afternoon

Eerie and somewhat unsettling B&W thriller about a man (Richard Attenborough) and his wife (a medium), who decide to kidnap a child and then become famous by 'finding' her. I came across this movie entirely by accident on Youtube, and it really was very well filmed with tons of atmosphere. Attenborough is outstanding as the reluctant husband, but Kim Stanley (the narrator from To Kill a Mocking Bird) steals the show (and was nominated for an Oscar) as the domineering wife who starts to mentally unravel as her plans go awry. A very emotionally moving story, and it's wonder why it appears to have disappeared into relative obscurity.

It's possibly one of the greatest movies I've ever seen, and definitely one of the most understanding when it comes to dealing with aspects of mental illness.


Highly recommended, although some of the issues raised are quite upsetting.
 
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