What was the last movie you saw?

[Judderman]

I watched Attack of the Killer Tomatoes last night which barely scrapes by in either department but is so infectiously stupid I love it because of it's shortcomings. I suspect if it had been any better in either dept it wouldn't have worked.

For some reason I thought Matt LeBlanc starred in this classic. However actually he was in Heinz Tomato Ketchup adverts

 

[Jeffbert]

Eye of the Needle (1981) During WWII, Henry Faber (Donald Sutherland) passes as a loyal Brit, though he is a Nazi spy.

Interesting film! Combines elements from several genres, including slasher.

8/10

 

[Jeffbert]

The Late Show (1977) Private investigator Ira Wells (Art Carney) is seeking to find who killed his partner, & ends up in a rather large scheme. Unfortunately, it was several weeks age, when I watched this, & my memory of it is such that I can say I did enjoy it.

Margo Sperling (Lily Tomlin) hires Wells to find her stolen cat, so it starts out rather comedic, until his partner, Harry Regan (Howard Duff) stumbles through the door and dies. Perhaps this should be called a dramady, & there is plenty of both. One particular element was !

8/10

 

[Jeffbert]

Tunes of Glory (1960) Post WWII, Major Jock Sinclair (Alec Guinness) is the acting commander of a unit of Scottish soldiers until Lieutenant Colonel Basil Barrow (John Mills) arrives, and he does thing strictly by the book. So, the men, who had been used to the sensible manner in which Sinclair had commanded them, are now caught off guard by the rigid adherence to the book.

Added to this, Sinclair's daughter (Susannah York) loves Corporal Piper Ian Fraser (John Fraser), one of the men in the unit, to whom Sinclair advised against acting honorably with women, but rather, taking advantage of them. When Sinclair sees the two of them together, he slugs Fraser, when he defends Sinclair's daughter, insisting that he stay out of family business, etc.

8/10

 

[Jeffbert]

Is My Face Red? (1932) Newspaperman William Poster (Ricardo Cortez), the newspaper is The Morning Gazette; the competition, Ed Maloney (Robert Armstrong) works for The Evening Examiner. A pre-code comedy.

The Morning Gazette's Telephone Operator (Zasu Pitts); what? no name!?


8/10; 1930s, one of my favorite decades for movies!

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Change of Mind (1969)

White DA has his brain transplanted into the body of an African-American man. The potentially comic or campy premise is treated completely seriously. The DA has to deal with his mother, his wife, his coworkers, the widow of the man whose body he now inhabits, etc. The film turns into a whodunit/courtroom drama, as the DA brings an obnoxiously racist sheriff to trial for the murder of the sheriff's African-American mistress. (He's one sick puppy, claiming she's the only thing he cares for, but also admitting he beat her from time to time.) Seems like a made-for-TV movie much of the time. More of an oddity than anything else. Music by Duke Ellington!

 

[Randy M.]

JESSE STONE: SEA CHANGE (2007); INNOCENTS LOST (2011); BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT (2012); LOST IN PARADISE (2015)

Tom Sellek seems to know a good thing when he sees it, and the Jesse Stone movies were a good thing for him as he got older. I rather hope he’ll round off the series with another now that his series Blue Bloods is ending.

These continue the story of Stone trying to overcome alcoholism and the depression of divorce through therapy with a former cop, now shrink, played by William Devane – Seleck and Devane work very well together, the dialog between them zigging and zagging, frustrating each other by not being in exactly the same conversation and often ending, "Why is this so hard?" Viola Davis left the series and Kathy Baker ably stepped in. William Sadler is good as Gino Fish, a somewhat sympathetic mob boss.

Sea Change: Trying to stay busy and away from drink, Stone investigates an unsolved case, the killing of a bank teller.

Innocents Lost: Pushed out of his position by the Town Council, Stone privately investigates the death of a friend, suspecting it wasn’t accidental. Saul Rubinek reappears as Hasty Hathaway, sometimes opponent, sometimes friend; Gloria Rueben makes her first appearance as friend and love interest.

Benefit of the Doubt: Stone’s replacement dies in an explosion; an IED to blame. The new chief was the main Councilman’s son-in-law and so the Councilman asks Stone to come out of retirement and find the killer.

Lost in Paradise: His last case seemed to clear up the crime scene in Paradise, so he moonlights a bit trying to solve a serial killer case in Boston, again trying to keep busy to lay off the drink.


DR. CALIGARI (1989) dir. Stephen Sayadian; starring Madeleine Reynal, Fox Harris, Laura Albert

The granddaughter of the original Dr. Caligari has some -- unique ideas about treating sexual disorders. Or possibly about creating sexual disorders to treat. Or … your guess is as good as mine as it takes a somewhat Reanimator-like turn near the end.

Keying off The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, this is surreal, sometimes amusing, sometimes gross, but always weird. The sets are definitely creative, the performances purposely like Acting!, the dialog sometimes funny and sometimes trying too hard to say something. A very odd movie.


DARK HARVEST (2023) dir. David Slade; starring Casey Likes, Emyri Crutchfield

In spite of good performances across the board (although, maybe Luke Kirby overacts a bit), this is an inadequate adaptation of the source novella by Norman Partridge.

A small town depends on a yearly ritual at Halloween time that produces good crops. Teenage boys are the ones who have to hunt down and kill Sawtooth Jack. And then one teenage boy learns what produces Sawtooth Jack each year.

Read the novella instead.

 

[Jeffbert]

Blessed Event (1932) Alvin Roberts (Lee Tracy), filling-in for an absent newspaper columnist, takes the column in a different direction, announcing babies' births. His editor hates it, but the owner approves of it, & he is now permanently the guy who writes the column.

Bunny Harmon (Dick Powell) is a prominent band leader, who performs on radio, and at live events. The two men are not friends!

Frankie Wells (Allen Jenkins; voice of cop in TOP CAT; sole occupant of old Criminals' home in an episode of BATMAN) is a gangster's henchman, ordered to pressure Roberts into writing nothing about him; but Roberts out-psyches him. Referring to a voice recorder (that made cylindrical rather than flat disc recordings), he convinced Wells that he would get the chair if anything ever happened to Roberts. So, Wells is now in a spot: he cannot please his boss because of the recordings with his voice threatening Roberts, but can ill-afford to not please his boss.

George Moxley (Ned Sparks; guy who claimed nobody could ever catch him smiling, much less laughing ) also works for the same newspaper as Roberts, as does Reilly (Frank McHugh).

Lots of fun! 8/10

 

[Lady of Winterfell]

We watched Transformers (2007). The special effects actually stood up pretty well for it being 17 years old. My daughter enjoyed it enough that she wants to watch more of them, so we'll probably be making our way through the series. I think I originally stopped watching them after the second or third installment, so many of them will be new to me...if we make it that far.

 

[Randy M.]

We watched Transformers (2007). The special effects actually stood up pretty well for it being 17 years old. My daughter enjoyed it enough that she wants to watch more of them, so we'll probably be making our way through the series. I think I originally stopped watching them after the second or third installment, so many of them will be new to me...if we make it that far.

For what it's worth, my family, including my 6-year-old grandson, really enjoyed Bumblebee.

 

[KGeo777]

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SHERIFF! 1969
Joe Danby: What's your name?
Jason McCullough: Jason McCullough. What's yours?
Joe Danby: Joe Danby. And you had better remember it.
Jason McCullough: Oh, I'll remember it, Joe. That's about all I'm gonna do the rest of my life is go around rememberin' your name.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Julie Darling (1982)

Canadian/West German shocker. Julie is a teenager who enjoys feeding live rats to her pet snake and who is a crack shot with a rifle or shotgun. Things gets worse when Mom has a sleazy delivery guy get rid of the snake, and plans to send Julie to boarding school. The creep comes back and attempts to rape Mom, accidentally killing her in the process. Where was Julie? Pointing a gun at him, but deciding not to shoot him. The guy gets away.

Dad gets a new girlfriend with a young son. This leads to a game of hide-and-seek involving an abandoned refrigerator. When Julie peeks on Dad and girlfriend (soon to be stepmother) in an intimate moment, she imagines herself in her place. Yes, it's that kind of film.

Julie tracks down the fellow who killed her mother and says she'll go to the cops unless she does him a favor. Let's just say this leads up to a blood-soaked climax.

This is a sleazy, nasty thriller. I mean that in the best possible way.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Black Shampoo (1976)

Guess what popular Warren Beatty film this trashy blaxploitation film was inspired by.

Our hero is Mr. Jonathan, an African-American hairdresser who provides a whole lot more to his eager white female clients than a rinse and a cut. But his heart belongs to an African-American woman. The plot eventually gets going when a white mobster who used to be involved with the woman wants her back, having his hoods trash the salon . It all leads up to a remarkably violent and bloody climax after what starts as sexploitation. Often deadly slow, but the way it revels in its sleaziness adds some interest,

 

[Lady of Winterfell]

For what it's worth, my family, including my 6-year-old grandson, really enjoyed Bumblebee.

Thanks for this reminder! I forgot about Bumblebee, and I haven't seen it before, so we'll have to add it into the mix. Do you know where it fits in with the rest of the movies?

 

[Randy M.]

Unfortunately, no, though I recall it's set in the 1980s.

 

[Jeffbert]

Targets (1968) Another of TCM's salute to the late Roger Corman, this one directed by one of his subordinates, Peter Bogdanovich, who learned his trade under RC.

Made on the cheap, even by RC's standards, it begins with the final few minutes of The Terror. Byron Orlok (Boris Karloff), has had enough of making movies, & he wants no more. But, the other guy, needs him to do a live performance at a drive-in theater. Just so happens another guy snaps & becomes a homicidal maniac, with his car's trunk full of weapons & ammo.

Karloff as a tired old man, who just wants peace & quiet, ends-up being the guy who takes down the killer.

8/10

Ben M. gave the intro & follow-up comments.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Baba Yaga AKA Kiss Me, Kill Me (1973)

Adaptation of one segment of an Italian adult comic strip called Valentina, with which I am not familiar. Valentina is our wide-eyed heroine, a photographer. She gets mixed up with a woman calling herself Baba Yaga. (Little, if any, connection with the character from Slavic folklore.) Weird stuff happens.

When Valentina photographs somebody, they die. A doll dressed in BDSM gear comes to life. It all winds up with the predatory Baba Yaga enslaving Valentina, shackling her, and having the doll-come-to-life whip her. Along the way we get dreams/hallucinations that generally fit the sadomasochistic theme. Despite all this kinkiness, it's pretty slow and sedate.

 

[KGeo777]

THE MONOCLE LAUGHS - (1964) -- But I didn't. A french spy comedy notable for Barbara Steele participation. Probably wanted to visit Hong Kong.

 

[KGeo777]

A L I E N - 1979 - The set design in this is really impressive. Compared to other science fiction films--I don't think there was ever a ship that looked so busy and realistic. Even the self-destruct mechanism was a fancy chrome cylindrical contraption. So much attention to little details to make the environment feel real.

 

[Jeffbert]

Caged Heat / Renegade Girls (1974) Another women in prison film from Roger Corman & co.; also shown as part of TCM's RC tribute. Several shower scenes, & one woman, whose upper - body characteristics just ruined the whole scene.

7/10