clovis-man
Prehistoric Irish Cynic
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I'll have to watch it again to catch all the little hidden gems. Even a clay-mation Sigourney Weaver ala Paul.
What was the last movie you saw?
- Thread starter Tabitha
- Start date
I'll have to watch it again to catch all the little hidden gems. Even a clay-mation Sigourney Weaver ala Paul.
- Joined
- Sep 9, 2011
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- 5,298
Me as well. I caught a lot, I think, but I'm sure there were things in the background I missed.
Laura R Hepworth
Lady of the Rings (chainmaille rings that is)
Mazes and Monsters (1982). It was alright, but not what I was expecting from the summary. I was also rather disappointed with how they chose to end it, not a particularly satisfactory ending in my opinion.
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That's the one with Tom Hanks and Chris Makepeace, right? It was based on a book by Rona Jaffe. I remember watching it because it was connected to D&D/rpgs. I don't think I've seen it since but I don't imagine it would hold up very well. If I recall this came out when the religious paranoia around RPGs was pretty hot.
Laura R Hepworth
Lady of the Rings (chainmaille rings that is)
Yup, that's the one. I saw it more as a cautionary tale of losing yourself to coping mechanisms instead of finding the strength to deal with your problems in reality, than as paranoia about RPGs (though I can see that too). I just think the ending could have been better and less of a downer.
hitmouse
Well-Known Member
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- Jul 3, 2011
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Just saw Parasite. Good black comedy. Wonderful cast, set design, script and directing. Very intense at times. The class aspect was ladled on a little heavily in places but overall recommended. Two little old ladies were sitting next to us, looked as if they had got lost on the way to bingo. When the film finished, one said to the other,”Doris, that was immense!”
the cinema was completely overrun with little kids. The guy behind the counter looked weary, and blamed Sonic which was showing hourly, and completely sold out. He said it was more popular than the last Star Wars or Avengers movies. Good timing I suppose: a memorably wet school holiday week.
the cinema was completely overrun with little kids. The guy behind the counter looked weary, and blamed Sonic which was showing hourly, and completely sold out. He said it was more popular than the last Star Wars or Avengers movies. Good timing I suppose: a memorably wet school holiday week.
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AlexH
Well-Known Member
Phoenix (2014)
A disfigured Holocaust survivor arrives back in Berlin and aims to track down her husband, who believes she's dead and is suspected of betraying her trust. Phoenix became very intriguing around a third in (unless you'd already read the film synopsis) and was twisty without being a thriller. The two lead actors were excellent, but I did feel there was something missing from this film that made it good rather than great.
Kosmos (2009)
Bizarre Turkish film about a guy who heals people (not a spoiler: the film starts with him bringing a boy back from the dead). The sounds of a howling wind (indoors and outdoors) for the whole film and pretty much constant war/military explosions in the background were strangely atmospheric. The cinematography was great, though I was more interested in the fascinating setting (Kars, a snowy dystopian former-Soviet city in east Turkey) than the film itself, which I didn't really understand.
(By the way, I hope it's okay to say this (I feel I could be doing someone a service), but if anyone UK-based would like 2 months free DVD rental, I have two codes for Cinema Paradiso who I've used for years (PM me). They have a much bigger catalogue than any streaming site!)
A disfigured Holocaust survivor arrives back in Berlin and aims to track down her husband, who believes she's dead and is suspected of betraying her trust. Phoenix became very intriguing around a third in (unless you'd already read the film synopsis) and was twisty without being a thriller. The two lead actors were excellent, but I did feel there was something missing from this film that made it good rather than great.
Kosmos (2009)
Bizarre Turkish film about a guy who heals people (not a spoiler: the film starts with him bringing a boy back from the dead). The sounds of a howling wind (indoors and outdoors) for the whole film and pretty much constant war/military explosions in the background were strangely atmospheric. The cinematography was great, though I was more interested in the fascinating setting (Kars, a snowy dystopian former-Soviet city in east Turkey) than the film itself, which I didn't really understand.
(By the way, I hope it's okay to say this (I feel I could be doing someone a service), but if anyone UK-based would like 2 months free DVD rental, I have two codes for Cinema Paradiso who I've used for years (PM me). They have a much bigger catalogue than any streaming site!)
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Victoria Silverwolf
Vegetarian Werewolf
Horror Hospital (1973)
British scare flick that manages to walk a very thin line between being an exploitative shocker and a tongue-in-cheek parody of such. The pre-title sequence introduces our Mad Scientist villain, Michael Gough. He and his midget assistant are in a fancy motorcar, as two young people, their heads covered with bloody bandages, run away from them. Gough tells the midget driver to be careful because the car has just been washed. Blades come out of the sides of the car, they chase after the young folks, and chop their heads off. (I'm baffled as to how they managed to aim the blades at their victims.)
After the title, we meet our hero, a rock musician fresh from a fight with his band, ready for a vacation. On the train to, yes, you guessed it, the place run by Gough as a health resort, he meets our heroine, the niece of Gough's wife (or possibly mistress and/or assistant), who used to run a brothel before World War Two. Heroine is there to meet her aunt for the first time. It isn't very long before we find out that Gough performs brain surgery on his young guests, transforming them into zombies under his control.
As I've tried to indicate, the whole thing is halfway between a sleazy horror film, with enough gore and nudity to qualify, and a clever satire of that kind of thing. Some scenes are corny, others are very nicely filmed. (A flashback, late in the film, contains some striking images.)
British scare flick that manages to walk a very thin line between being an exploitative shocker and a tongue-in-cheek parody of such. The pre-title sequence introduces our Mad Scientist villain, Michael Gough. He and his midget assistant are in a fancy motorcar, as two young people, their heads covered with bloody bandages, run away from them. Gough tells the midget driver to be careful because the car has just been washed. Blades come out of the sides of the car, they chase after the young folks, and chop their heads off. (I'm baffled as to how they managed to aim the blades at their victims.)
After the title, we meet our hero, a rock musician fresh from a fight with his band, ready for a vacation. On the train to, yes, you guessed it, the place run by Gough as a health resort, he meets our heroine, the niece of Gough's wife (or possibly mistress and/or assistant), who used to run a brothel before World War Two. Heroine is there to meet her aunt for the first time. It isn't very long before we find out that Gough performs brain surgery on his young guests, transforming them into zombies under his control.
As I've tried to indicate, the whole thing is halfway between a sleazy horror film, with enough gore and nudity to qualify, and a clever satire of that kind of thing. Some scenes are corny, others are very nicely filmed. (A flashback, late in the film, contains some striking images.)
Starbeast
Benevolent Galaxy Being
Sons of the Desert (1933) - One of Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy's finest films. I haven't seen it in a while. But when I found it, I watched it three times. It's another fine mess they get themselves into.
Way Out West (1937) - Another fine masterpiece from the amazing comical duo that I've enjoyed for many years by Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy. Tremendously entertaining and brilliant comedy, set in the wild west.
Stan & Ollie (2018) - Ironically, I watched Way Out West, a day before I stumbled across this movie on TV. A wonderful, but sad movie featuring Laurel and Hardy in their final days, doing what they do best, entertaining people.
Thank you Mr Laurel and Mr Hardy, for the laughter you gave me when I was going up. I was inspired by your genius.
Way Out West (1937) - Another fine masterpiece from the amazing comical duo that I've enjoyed for many years by Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy. Tremendously entertaining and brilliant comedy, set in the wild west.
Stan & Ollie (2018) - Ironically, I watched Way Out West, a day before I stumbled across this movie on TV. A wonderful, but sad movie featuring Laurel and Hardy in their final days, doing what they do best, entertaining people.
Thank you Mr Laurel and Mr Hardy, for the laughter you gave me when I was going up. I was inspired by your genius.
Jeffbert
Well-Known Member
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- Dec 23, 2011
- Messages
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From Victoria Silverwolf's description of Horror Hospital (1973) , I watched this. As I suspected, as I hoped, it was my kind of horror film. It had some very conveniently located quicksand, that being used in the middle of the film, suggested that it would be seen at the end, and it was. But it seemed to have been in the woods earlier, yet, at the side of the road in the end! Who makes a road next to such a danger as that? 
Not a bad film, but it has to be the type of thing one enjoys.
Not a bad film, but it has to be the type of thing one enjoys.
Jeffbert
Well-Known Member
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- Dec 23, 2011
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Oops! forgot something; though on 2nd thought, it seems rather obvious. The audience knowing about the QS earlier in the film was to establish its existence later, rather than just it being there at the end, "oh, how convenient!" Yet, as I said, there seemed to be two very different locations. As the film progressed from the 1st incident involving the QS, I was anticipating a 2nd incident; yet, putting it at roadside!?
dask
dark and stormy knight
The Caine Mutiny. Humphrey Bogart gives an Oscar worthy performance as a naval officer who spent too much time in war torn waters. Topnotch cast breathes life into this adaptation of Herman Wouk's Pulitzer Prize winning novel of naval upheaval in World War Two.
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Re-watched In The Heat of the Night staring Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger. First saw this when it was released in 1967 and I'd forgotten just how good it was. Poitier got a lot of the plaudits but Steiger was immense and got the Academy Award for best actor.
Way Out West, one of my favourites.
Victoria Silverwolf
Vegetarian Werewolf
Offbeat Black-and-White British Dramas of the Pre-Beatlemania Era Triple Feature:
Serious Charge (1959)
Anthony Quayle is an unmarried vicar. The daughter of the previous vicar aggressively pursues him with amorous intent. (She's terrified of being an old maid at the advanced age of thirty.) Meanwhile, one of the local teenage punks has gotten his girlfriend pregnant and has dropped her like a hot potato in favor of the vicar's sexy French housekeeper. The pregnant girlfriend talks to the vicar about her problem, she rushes out into the street and sees the punk making out with the housekeeper, freaks out and runs right into an oncoming truck that kills her. The vicar confronts the punk, the punk smashes the stuff in the vicar's room and tears his own clothes, accusing the vicar of trying to "interfere" with him. The daughter of the previous vicar happens to come in, and, given her recent rejection by the vicar, is ready to serve as a witness to this supposed attempt at molestation. The vicar becomes a pariah of the community, subject to bricks thrown through windows, poison pen letters, and so on. It's a slow-moving, talky film, revealing its origins as a stage play, but worth a look for daring to deal with these kinds of issues in a frank way. Notable for featuring Cliff Richard in a small role, his first film appearance, singing parts of a few of his hit songs.
A Matter of Choice (1963)
Starts off like a comedy, as a couple of young would-be Lotharios fail to connect with their intended objects of seduction, then go to a jazz club, where they get tossed out by the bouncer. One guy is hungry, so they find a vending machine, but it takes the fellow's money without dispensing his sandwich. They bang on the machine, a cop comes by to see what's going on, an argument breaks out, and the guy accidentally pushes the cop into the path of an oncoming car. Before this happens, we've seen scenes, alternating with the two guys' misadventures, showing a married woman having an affair; she and her lover are the folks in the car. The lover chases the guys, and one throws a brick at him, knocking him out. While the woman talks to the police, claiming she was the only one in the car, the guys take the injured man to the garage of a nearby house, which happens to be where the woman lives. More chaos ensues, as the woman tries to keep the affair secret and the guys wind up tripping the house alarm. This makes it sound like a farce, with all these coincidences and running back and forth, but it really isn't, and it ends tragically. As the narrator of the film said at the very start, trivial choices lead to serious consequences. An interesting example of the randomness of events.
Lunch Hour (1963)
Appropriately, this movie is only sixty minutes long or so. It starts with characters who are credited only as The Man and The Girl arriving at a hotel, where they intend to remain for only an hour, for an obvious purpose. We then get flashbacks as to how they met at the wallpaper company where they both work, and how they developed a romance in brief moments of time stolen from their lunch hours, despite the fact that The Man is married. Back at the hotel, The Man gives the proprietress a long, complex story about how The Girl is his wife, living hundreds of miles to the north because he was transferred to a London office, and that she has arrived here by train, dropping their two children off with their aunt, so they can have an important talk. Here's where things get weird. The Girl demands to hear all the details of this imaginary life The Man made up as an excuse, and the film suddenly goes into that universe. We see the two bratty kids and the nasty aunt that hates The Girl (or maybe I should say The Wife, in this world.) Back in reality (?) The Girl argues with The Man as if they really are married, and if he really did drag her all this way to have a talk. It's a very strange little film.
Serious Charge (1959)
Anthony Quayle is an unmarried vicar. The daughter of the previous vicar aggressively pursues him with amorous intent. (She's terrified of being an old maid at the advanced age of thirty.) Meanwhile, one of the local teenage punks has gotten his girlfriend pregnant and has dropped her like a hot potato in favor of the vicar's sexy French housekeeper. The pregnant girlfriend talks to the vicar about her problem, she rushes out into the street and sees the punk making out with the housekeeper, freaks out and runs right into an oncoming truck that kills her. The vicar confronts the punk, the punk smashes the stuff in the vicar's room and tears his own clothes, accusing the vicar of trying to "interfere" with him. The daughter of the previous vicar happens to come in, and, given her recent rejection by the vicar, is ready to serve as a witness to this supposed attempt at molestation. The vicar becomes a pariah of the community, subject to bricks thrown through windows, poison pen letters, and so on. It's a slow-moving, talky film, revealing its origins as a stage play, but worth a look for daring to deal with these kinds of issues in a frank way. Notable for featuring Cliff Richard in a small role, his first film appearance, singing parts of a few of his hit songs.
A Matter of Choice (1963)
Starts off like a comedy, as a couple of young would-be Lotharios fail to connect with their intended objects of seduction, then go to a jazz club, where they get tossed out by the bouncer. One guy is hungry, so they find a vending machine, but it takes the fellow's money without dispensing his sandwich. They bang on the machine, a cop comes by to see what's going on, an argument breaks out, and the guy accidentally pushes the cop into the path of an oncoming car. Before this happens, we've seen scenes, alternating with the two guys' misadventures, showing a married woman having an affair; she and her lover are the folks in the car. The lover chases the guys, and one throws a brick at him, knocking him out. While the woman talks to the police, claiming she was the only one in the car, the guys take the injured man to the garage of a nearby house, which happens to be where the woman lives. More chaos ensues, as the woman tries to keep the affair secret and the guys wind up tripping the house alarm. This makes it sound like a farce, with all these coincidences and running back and forth, but it really isn't, and it ends tragically. As the narrator of the film said at the very start, trivial choices lead to serious consequences. An interesting example of the randomness of events.
Lunch Hour (1963)
Appropriately, this movie is only sixty minutes long or so. It starts with characters who are credited only as The Man and The Girl arriving at a hotel, where they intend to remain for only an hour, for an obvious purpose. We then get flashbacks as to how they met at the wallpaper company where they both work, and how they developed a romance in brief moments of time stolen from their lunch hours, despite the fact that The Man is married. Back at the hotel, The Man gives the proprietress a long, complex story about how The Girl is his wife, living hundreds of miles to the north because he was transferred to a London office, and that she has arrived here by train, dropping their two children off with their aunt, so they can have an important talk. Here's where things get weird. The Girl demands to hear all the details of this imaginary life The Man made up as an excuse, and the film suddenly goes into that universe. We see the two bratty kids and the nasty aunt that hates The Girl (or maybe I should say The Wife, in this world.) Back in reality (?) The Girl argues with The Man as if they really are married, and if he really did drag her all this way to have a talk. It's a very strange little film.
Jeffbert
Well-Known Member
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- Dec 23, 2011
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- 1,904
Shape of Things to Come (1979?) 1st., I do not believe I ever read the novel, so I have no idea if this is any closer to book than the 1930s film. I will say that this obviously took inspiration from STAR WARS. too many robots to count, all of them were lame; though not as lame as some of the 1950s B-grade robots. Movie was so-so; I have seen worse plots, worse characters. Jack Palance as villain. Barry Morse (Space 1999) as Obi Wan wanna be.
Earth has become pretty much uninhabitable, everyone but mutants moved to the moon long ago. A certain drug is needed by everyone, and its only source is the planet Jack Palance rules. Morse had built a spaceship able to reach JP's planet, but the computer that rules the moon says it is untested and forbids its use. Morse is exposed to a lethal dose of radiation while preparing his ship for flight. I do not even remember if he dies.
Earth has become pretty much uninhabitable, everyone but mutants moved to the moon long ago. A certain drug is needed by everyone, and its only source is the planet Jack Palance rules. Morse had built a spaceship able to reach JP's planet, but the computer that rules the moon says it is untested and forbids its use.
Morse is exposed to a lethal dose of radiation while preparing his ship for flight. I do not even remember if he dies.
Victoria Silverwolf
Vegetarian Werewolf
Shape of Things to Come (1979?) 1st., I do not believe I ever read the novel, so I have no idea if this is any closer to book than the 1930s film. I will say that this obviously took inspiration from STAR WARS. too many robots to count, all of them were lame; though not as lame as some of the 1950s B-grade robots. Movie was so-so; I have seen worse plots, worse characters. Jack Palance as villain. Barry Morse (Space 1999) as Obi Wan wanna be.
Earth has become pretty much uninhabitable, everyone but mutants moved to the moon long ago. A certain drug is needed by everyone, and its only source is the planet Jack Palance rules. Morse had built a spaceship able to reach JP's planet, but the computer that rules the moon says it is untested and forbids its use.
An absolutely terrible film, and, no, it has nothing at all to do with H. G. Wells than to steal the name of his book.
tegeus-Cromis
a better poet than swordsman
- Joined
- May 17, 2019
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- 1,343
Godard's Masculin Féminin (1966). With Chantal Goya, who is cute as a button, and Jean-Pierre Léaud, the most amusing French actor ever. I used to love Godard back when I was in college, but this one I didn't get a chance to see back then. He's perhaps no longer quite in my top ten of film directors, but I really enjoyed it. I don't really know how to describe it: I suppose it's the closest that Godard got to making a romantic comedy (at least after 1961's Une Femme est une femme), but that means little if you don't know his giddy, jumpy, experimental mid-'60s style. It contains a film-within-the-film that is a hilarious parody of Bergman (yeah, I know Woody Allen did it all the time, but I would never have expected it of JLG), in which the actors just "speak" in grunts. And he shot it (the parody) in Sweden, because the movie was a Franco-Swedish production and that was the (required?) Swedish content, I guess? The rest is all the lovely Paris of late 1965. Mostly cafes, but also a disco, department stores -- it has a real documentary feel to it. Pretty funny cameo by Brigitte Bardot. And a bunch of in-jokes by Léaud about his most famous character, Antoine Doinel, who appeared in several Truffaut movies. Oh, and the soundtrack is filled with French yé-yé hits, many sung by Goya herself. What's not to like?
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