What was the last movie you saw?

WORLD OF THE VAMPIRES - 1960 --Mexican film with a suave vampire who has a bunch of vampire women and goons in cheap rubber masks to carry out his plan for world domination. But first he has to kill the last descendant of his archenemy, Colman. He plans to get revenge by turning his daughters into vampires and he does it to one. He then has her bite a family friend who has a theory of destroying vampires by playing certain music on a piano. He starts to turn into a vampire himself (starting with his hand--which looks like a werewolf claw). The vampire also has a pit of stakes in his lair--not so smart it turns out. Kind of goofy but atmospheric.
The vampires when cornered make seagull sounds.


BLOOD AND BLACK LACE -1966 - Had planned to rewatch something else but it came up first so....
KGEO777 , here in Scotland , I picked up a Mexican films blu ray box on the Powerhouse label .

" Il VAMPIRO " which contained The Vampire and The Vampire's coffin . Perhaps related to your film ?
 
KGEO777 , here in Scotland , I picked up a Mexican films blu ray box on the Powerhouse label .

" Il VAMPIRO " which contained The Vampire and The Vampire's coffin . Perhaps related to your film ?
That's interesting that they were released in blu ray.
 
Hang 'Em High (1968) TCM's Saturday afternoon last week movie. I guess this was #4, after the Dollars Trilogy. Very different from those three, no longer the man with no name, Jedediah Cooper (Clint Eastwood) had bought some cattle from a man he had thought owned them, & finds himself surrounded to a lynch mob, determined to kill him. Despite his attempting to reason with them, and one of them mentions that he just stood there while they approached him, they strung him up, and just rode away. Fortunately, a lawman cut him down. Having been a lawman in the East, the Judge offers Copper a job as a Marshall. But he insists that Cooper bring the men who lynched him alive, so he can hang them.

Supporting cast/characters: Rachel Warren (Inger Stevens), whole always was on hand, when the Tumbleweed Wagon arrived in town, hoping among the prisoners would be the men who raped her, and murdered her husband, Captain Wilson (Ed Begley) the leader of the lynch mob, Adam Fenton (Pat Hingle) the hanging judge, responsible for Oklahoma Territory, who is not one for lenient sentences. Miller (Bruce Dern), one of the lynch mob, who also helped himself to Cooper's wallet, since he would have no use for money, etc. Sheriff Ray Calhoun (Charles McGraw; known for his noir roles of decades past). Too many too mention.

The hanging scene was like a circus! People came from miles just to see men die. Fathers put their sons on their shoulders so they too, could see the sight. I guess if I had been there & then, I might also have done so.

8/10
 
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1954 dark comedy, more vicious than dark however. Interesting goofy role for George Cole who is to young Ebenezer Scrooge what Sean Connery is to James Bond.
 
"The Ambushers"
A campy spy movie centering around lots of slinky dressed babes and plenty of beer. Fun, puns and jokes are served all around!

I was working on a short story with the TV on in the background when I got distracted by this. Go figure...
 
"The Ambushers"
A campy spy movie centering around lots of slinky dressed babes and plenty of beer. Fun, puns and jokes are served all around!

I was working on a short story with the TV on in the background when I got distracted by this. Go figure...
If it's the late '60s Dean Martin movie, I can understand getting caught up in it like a guilty pleasure. The Matt Helm movies were stupid but so light-hearted and Martin so unserious they're stupid fun. (Sexist and lightly raunchy, but somehow both stupid and fun.)


King on Screen (2023) dir. Daphne Baiwir; with Mike Flanagan, Tom Holland, Frank Darabont, Mick Garris and many others

Begins with a somewhat (maybe silly) attempt at building a King-like atmosphere with nods to the movies and TV shows based on his books and stories. It then moves into an appreciation of his work as it's been translated to screen. It's interesting to hear various directors comment on King, his legacy, and what makes so many of his works translatable to screen. I thought it was not critical enough, at times bordering on fawning, but what comes across is a genuine respect for King's work as well as respect and liking for the man himself.
 
If it's the late '60s Dean Martin movie, I can understand getting caught up in it like a guilty pleasure. The Matt Helm movies were stupid but so light-hearted and Martin so unserious they're stupid fun. (Sexist and lightly raunchy, but somehow both stupid and fun.)
Yep, that's the one! Stupid fun and worth the groans and laughs! :)
 
The Shadow Strays (2024). A member of a group of assassins goes on a rampage against corrupt cops and politicians after she witnesses a murder.

A Netflix Original, this is the newest release by Indonesian director Timo Tjahjanto. I really like his movies since the segment Safe Haven from V/H/S 2 (2013, co-directed with Gareth Evans, who directed The Raid). In Safe Haven and in May the Devil Take You (2018), he shows he’s a master of Horror; in Headshot (2016) and The Night Comes for Us (2018), he shows he’s a master of stylized action. The segment The Subject, from V/H/S/94 (2021), combines the two genres.

The Shadow Strays, although not original in its premise (it’s basically John Wick with a boy instead of a dog), it’s very effective on entertaining you with action (fist-fights, sword-fights and gun-fights) while conveying the emotion, making you care .

I missed getting to know more of the lore though. We don’t get to see the story of the guild, its HQ, its training etc. Stories with similar themes--like Ninja Assassin (2009) and Ninja Kamui (2024)--did that just right.

The ending is kind of a cliffhanger that indicates a sequel.

Highly recommended. This movie as well as the director’s filmography.
 
Twisters
It was ..ok. Some good scenes once you get past the typical American gung ho idiot character that is really annoying at first.
The usual disneye-esque happy crappy ending.
But overall a fun watch
 
The Black Cat (1941) Not to be confused with a film of the same name from about a decade earlier. An elderly woman, waiting for death is surrounded by vulture-like relatives, who just cannot wait to get the inheritance they expect. Also present is her servant, and her many cats. It seems her will specifies that nobody gets anything, until her servant and all her cats die. But, nobody bothered to read that far!

Moreover, another two men are there to buy the estate and its furniture. One is serious, the other is the comic-relief.

The house is filled with secret passages, some of which add to the suspense, while others, the comedy.

The elderly woman: Henrietta Winslow (Cecilia Loftus)

The vultures: Montague Hartley (Basil Rathbone); Richard Hartley (Alan Ladd); Myrna Hartley (Gladys Cooper); & several others.

The grounds-keeper: Eduardo Vigos (Bela Lugosi)

The buyers: Hubert A. Gilmore Smith (Broderick Crawford); Mr. Penny (Hugh Herbert).


8/10
 
The Prisoner of Zenda (1952) Very nice to see this in color! Yet, I still prefer the version with Ronald Colman. I think the color is the best thing about this version, which, according to its wiki page, used the script, music, as well as other things from the Ronald Colman version.

Rudolf Rassendyl/King Rudolf V (Stewart Granger); the hero/drunkard; Princess Flavia (Deborah Kerr)

Rupert of Hentzau (James Mason).

Colonel Zapt (Louis Calhern) Only his voice was recognizable, as his beard was cut square. I really liked his performance, is he usually a villain?

Anyway, my 1st time seeing this version, & liking it very much!

8/10
 
36 HOURS - 1965 - James Garner is a US agent kidnapped by Germans and sent to a fake US army hospital where they want to trick him into spilling the Normandy invasion plans by convincing him it is years later and he suffers from recurring amnesia. Rod Taylor is the charming cunning German doctor who must win his trust before an SS officer interferes. It was a little uneven due to the shifts in dramatic focus between Garner and Eva-Marie Saint but Taylor has the best character arc.
 
36 HOURS - 1965 - James Garner is a US agent kidnapped by Germans and sent to a fake US army hospital where they want to trick him into spilling the Normandy invasion plans by convincing him it is years later and he suffers from recurring amnesia. Rod Taylor is the charming cunning German doctor who must win his trust before an SS officer interferes. It was a little uneven due to the shifts in dramatic focus between Garner and Eva-Marie Saint but Taylor has the best character arc.

Mission: Impossible began in 1966. I wonder if it was inspired by this film?

:unsure:
 

A Quiet Place: Day One

Enjoyed this more than I thought I would. Set in New York City on the day that the Space Aliens arrive to Earth on a meteor shower. (not a spoiler) You learn this in the first couple scenes -- Our lead character is in hospice dying of cancer and in NYC with fellow dying patients for a day out to see a theater matinee.

To digress a bit - a quote from one of the greats!
“Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, BAGOMBO SNUFF BOX.

In this movie, our lead character is not trying to save the world. She wants a slice of pizza.
Perhaps one of the greatest movie plot motivations since What's Up, Tiger Lily? - the 1966 Woody Allen spy thriller (comedy) about secret agents pursuing the world's greatest egg salad recipe.

So many movies rely on McGuffins. It's great they put this one up front -- The quest through the space-alien infested streets of New York to get a slice of pizza from a specific pizza shop in Harlem.
 
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Mission: Impossible began in 1966. I wonder if it was inspired by this film?

:unsure:
Never thought of it while watching--however--there are some similarities--especially as the Eva-Marie Saint character is playing a phony wife not unlike Barbara Bain often did on the series, and they take a lot of time to fake things. I.e. his medical history. And when Garner becomes suspicious, he asks to read a book on how WW 2 ended and she has to come up with an excuse to throw him off.
 
Goldilocks and the Three Bares (1963)

Even by the low standard of nudie cuties, this is pretty bad stuff. For one thing, the intended audience must have been annoyed, because it takes a long time to get to the nudie stuff. The barely existent plot has a lousy nightclub singer find out his girlfriend is a nudist. Along for the ride is his buddy, the world's worst comedian. Eventually we get the requisite nude swimming and horseback riding. Despite the title, it's not a parody of the famous fairy tale. That's just a wisecrack the comedian makes when he sees a blonde next to three guys.
 

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