What was the last movie you saw?

THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING (1975) Two ex-army buddies travel to a place once thought inaccessible, bringing modern weapons and tactics with them. Fortunately, there is one (1) English interpreter among the local people, Billy Fish (Saeed Jaffrey), who enables them to communicate. Eventually, they conquer enemy city states, and incorporate them into their own. But, on a certain attack, the one guy Daniel Dravot (Sean Connery), becomes a bit too excited, and charges into the enemy's forces. Somebody shoots an arrow, hits him, but is harmlessly plucked away, because it struck a leather strap that was under his tunic (or whatever he was wearing over it). Suddenly, all the primitive people fall on their faces, believing there is a god in their presence. The other ex-army guy, Peachy Carnehan (Michael Caine) has a lightbulb over the noggin idea, and convinces his friend to pretend that he IS a god. Eventually they are wallowing in gold, left by Alexander the Pretty Good (as THE FAR SIDE called him), and Peachy is intending to leave, taking masses of wealth with him. But, Daniel convinces him to stay for his wedding on the next morning.

The thing is, that the people believe gods have fire coursing through their veins, and any woman who has intimate relations with one, will vaporize.

Rudyard Kipling (Christopher Plummer) is seen at both beginning and end.

Very entertaining!
 
Death on the Fourposter (Delitto allo specchio aka Sexy Party) 1964.
A group of friends go to a castle for a party hosted by their weird aristocratic artist friend, but then a woman shows up--a friend of the host, and she is accompanied by John Drew Barrymore, who is an occult expert. He predicts that something bad will happen and urges them to leave before he vacates the story. Unfortunately his woman friend, Caterina (Luisa Rivelli) departs the story soon after as well. Which is a shame because she really was the life of the party.
There are some psychological games she plays with a few guests and then it becomes your standard creepy caretaker might be a killer story--but then they throw in a couple of twists to make it more complex.
Not bad as another one of those Euro proto-slasher films.
 
Jeffbert said:
THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING
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"And one day they come and they took him down and they said it was a miracle he wasn't dead and then they set him down and they let him go. And Peachy come home, in about, a year. And the mountains they tried to fall on old Peachy, but he was quite safe because Daniel walked before him. And Daniel never let go of Peachy's hand and Peachy never let go of Daniel's head.....Daniel Dravot, Esquire. Well, he became king of Kafiristan, with a crown on his head and that's all there is to tell. I'll be on my way now sir, I've got urgent business in the south, I have to meet a man in Marwar Junction."
 
The Island of Dr. Moreau (1966)

Third official adaptation of the H. G. Wells novel of the same name.

Island of Lost Souls (1932) was great.

The Island of Dr. Moreau (1977) was so-so.

There were also unofficial adaptations from the Phillipines.

Terror is a Man (1959) was surprisingly decent, in a 1930's Universal horror movie way.

The Twilight People (1972) wasn't very good.

This one is pretty bad. A famously troubled production, the contrast between a story that takes itself extremely seriously and the eccentric performances of Val Kilmer and Marlon Brando, and the latter's ridiculous makeup and costumes, is stunning. The movie's nominal hero and our mandatory beautiful cat-girl give such normal performances that they make the pair of villains look even more absurd. The human/animal costumes are OK, but not great. Having Moreau killed by the beast people (not exactly a big surprise) half an hour before the movie ends is a huge anticlimax, albeit one full of gunfire and explosions.
 
Elysium (2012)
With Matt Damon and Jodi Foster.
Good acting, with Damon at his most anguished. Settings and special effects impressive. But it somehow avoids being about people. Fighting and tech dominate.

Director/Writer Neill Blomkamp (whose District 9 I very much enjoyed) said (quoting from Wikipedia)
"I feel like I f***ed it up, I feel like ultimately the story is not the right story... I still think the satirical idea of a ring, filled with rich people, hovering above the impoverished Earth, is an awesome idea. I love it so much, I almost want to go back and do it correctly. But I just think the script wasn't... I just didn't make a good enough film is ultimately what it is. I feel like I executed all of the stuff that could be executed, like costume and set design and special effects very well. But, ultimately, it was all resting on a somewhat not totally formed skeletal system, so the script just wasn't there; the story wasn't fully there."
I'd have to agree. Six on a scale of ten.
 
TOWER OF THE SCREAMING VIRGINS 1968


Interesting if somewhat rough film-at least in the English version--the soundtrack was terribly inappropriate until the end credits where I think the original score was used. It reminded me of the Masque of the Red Death visually--and similar to the Torture Chamber of Dr Sadism. This one had a poorer man's version of Barker but he was a soldier swordsman who does move the action of the story. He does do things that influence the course of the story instead of merely reacting or being a likely victim--i.e. Witchfinder General. That was refreshing as a change but his cheerfulness was a little out of place when he is laughing just after learning that both of his sons had been killed. The queen was a fascinating character---she has this male-focused Countess Bathory thing going on but then it gets her unwittingly into incest.
It felt like a Barbara Steele part but due to the nudity they had to find a Margaret Lee type instead.
The direction and performances are not stylish enough --especially with the weak soundtrack to reach a level of suspense or dramatic tension but it was not without merits.
 
Two James Garner Western Comedies, the Latter of Which is Not a True Sequel, Although it Sure Sounds Like it Should Be, Double Feature:

Support Your Local Sheriff! (1969)

Garner gets a job as the lawman in a town that just discovered gold, and has to deal with the bad guys extorting the townsfolk.

Support Your Local Gunfighter (1971)

Garner is mistaken for a famous gunman and gets mixed up in the battle between two rival mining outfits.

Both films feature many of the same actors, although everybody is playing a different character in each one. Jack Elam is Garner's sidekick in both. Elam ends both movies by breaking the fourth wall and telling the audience what happens to the main characters. In the second one, he announces that he himself goes on to be a star in Italian Westerns. Very broad comedy, mostly appealing because of Garner's laid-back charisma.
 
I enjoyed both of those when I was young; saw the former recently, but waiting for TCM to show the latter.
 
Victoria Silverwolf said:
Two James Garner Western Comedies, the Latter of Which is Not a True Sequel, Although it Sure Sounds Like it Should Be, Double Feature:

Support Your Local Sheriff! (1969)

Garner gets a job as the lawman in a town that just discovered gold, and has to deal with the bad guys extorting the townsfolk.

Support Your Local Gunfighter (1971)

Garner is mistaken for a famous gunman and gets mixed up in the battle between two rival mining outfits.

Both films feature many of the same actors, although everybody is playing a different character in each one. Jack Elam is Garner's sidekick in both. Elam ends both movies by breaking the fourth wall and telling the audience what happens to the main characters. In the second one, he announces that he himself goes on to be a star in Italian Westerns. Very broad comedy, mostly appealing because of Garner's laid-back charisma.
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Garner remains one of my favorite actors from that generation, which includes Clint Eastwood, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson and James Coburn, among others. Recently re-watching early episodes of The Rockford Files has supported my sense of his ability to portray believable, sensible people who are interesting in spite of being some shade of "normal".
 
I really enjoyed the first one--the second had some funny stuff too.

Garner had a great natural humorous delivery.

Pa Danby: If that gun had gone off, it'd of blowed right up in my face.

Jason McCullough: Now it wouldn't have done my finger a hell of a lot of good either, would it?
 
Last night I watched this SF called I am Mother.

Basically a post apocalypse robot raising a girl from an embryo tank to adulthood.

However the robot turns out to be not quite the goody you first think.
 
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I started watching that, but the idea of a cyclopean hard steel robot bringing-up a child from birth, just turned me off.

Normally, mommy's pleasant soft body, face and voice are really important.
 
Fire and Ice (1983)

Animated sword-and-sorcery adventure from Ralph Bakshi, with production and design work from legendary illustrator Frank Frazetta and screenplay from comic book folks Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway. Given that, it's no surprise that this is pure Dungeons and Dragons stuff on film. Good vs evil, tons of battles, huge monsters, black magic, and a heroine who is as close to naked as it is possible to be while still wearing tiny wisps of cloth. The action never stops. Animation is about on the level of good Saturday morning cartoons. (Bakshi rotoscoping technique is a lot smoother here than it was in his failed attempt at The Lord of the Rings.) Hardly profound, but your inner thirteen-year-old will probably think its' the coolest thing ever.
 
Murder on Lenox Avenue (1941)

So-called "race film" (movie featuring an African-American cast, and intended for an African-American audience) combines music, comedy, and a melodramatic plot. The latter is somewhat hard to follow, but in essence it pits honest guy against crooked guy, both aiming to be the head of a business-promoting organization. Complicating matters is the daughter of the honest guy, who wants to marry the man she loves instead of the fellow her father wants her to marry. The murder doesn't happen until the end. A curiosity, more than anything else.
 
Robin and Marion (1976)

Sean Connery and Audrey Hepburn as Robin Hood and Maid Marion, twenty years after their adventures. He's been off on the Crusades with King Richard, she's become an abbess. The Sheriff of Nottingham is still around, so their old conflict starts up again. But what this movie is really about is growing old, and the enduring power of love. The cast is universally good. (Robert Shaw is a soft-spoken, intelligent, very patient adversary, and thus all the more dangerous.) Although there's action, don't expect an Errol Flynn swashbuckler. This is a bittersweet, elegiac, autumnal film. Recommended.
 
Blue Jasmine (2013)

A Woody Allen film. The film is a character study of Jasmine—a neurotic, socialite woman. Her life falls apart, and she is forced to move in with her sister. The performance by Cate Blanchett was incredible. She won an oscar for this and it is clear why. Her character was one of those disasters you can't look away from. The film was filled with the usual high quality dialogue you would expect from Woody Allen.
 
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