Lord Of The Rings trilogy (across 3 weekends...)
Definitely the second best Tolkien adaption.
Definitely the second best Tolkien adaption.
What was the last movie you saw?
- Thread starter Tabitha
- Start date
I recorded this a couple of months ago and finally watched it. It's exactly what you say, Jeffbert, a tense thriller and another example of how Robert Ryan may have been the most interesting and underrated actor to come out of the 1940s. What increases this movie's interest, though, is that it was the first movie to be shot on location in Germany after WWII, and the background of much of the movie is the real Frankfort post-bombings. The story is enjoyable as you watch, but it's the backgrounds that stick with you, the walls still standing amid rubble, massive buildings that seem whole from one angle except you can see sky through their windows, the columns without a building, the statuary surrounded by wreakage.
I'm pretty sure I saw this as a kid or young adult. There are some striking images that ring a bell.
Randy M.
Now doesn't that make you want to go out and take a look? No? Me neither! ---- A great story which probably shouldn't have been changed in the least.
AlexH
Well-Known Member
From the best to least favourite of my most recent watches...
Paterson (2016)
A slow-burning film about a bus-driving poet, his day-to-day life and that of his creative partner. Really, I think the film was about poetry itself and writing as a satisfying pursuit. Those seemingly simple moments us writers hope to put into beautiful words. Paterson was heading for 7/10, but I loved the ending and it became an 8 (I rarely rate anything higher than 8). The best film about writing? Quite possibly,
The director, Jim Jarmusch, also directed Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai. He seems to make interesting films, so I will seek out more.
The Spirit of the Beehive (1973)
Interesting story about a kid who is creeped out by a showing of the original Frankenstein film in a Spanish village and how it changes the way she sees people.
Las niñas bien (2018)
I felt sorry for the group of female socialites trying to outdo each other in this film set during an 1980s economic crisis in Mexico.
Nymphomaniac: Vol. I (2013)
Infamous for its explicit sex on launch, I felt the few minutes of that wasn't necessary to tell the Nymphomaniac: Vol. I story any better. I liked the matter-of-factness of Stellan Skarsgård's character as he listened to Charlotte Gainsbourg's character, though some of his responses felt too contrived.
Uma Thurman was incredible as her character had a crazy mental-breakdown. I'd love to see her playing other such strong parts. Quite possibly the best single scene I've seen from anyone who was only present for a single scene. And I don't think her scene included any sex (I could be wrong) if anyone is put off by that but would like to see that scene.
If I'd known the film's ending meant I'd have to watch Vol. II, I wouldn't have watched Vol. I (meaning 4 hours in total), but I was intrigued enough to continue.
Nymphomaniac: Vol. II (2013)
Things got dark in Vol II. Difficult to watch at times, Jamie Bell (most famous as Billy Elliot) was the outstanding actor here. There were unexpected and intriguing aspects to Vol. II, as well as a couple of plain odd things. I thought the final ending was awful and in many ways predictable. What could have been a story about friendship and feminism ended up just sad. The film should've ended a couple of minutes earlier. So this film dropped from a 7 to 6/10 thanks to the ending. I found the two volumes worth watching, but 4 hours over the two volumes was a bit of a stretch.
Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1989)
Surreal sort of film about a porn star kidnapped by a released prisoner, who hopes she'll fall in love with him. I guess this was an early role for
Antonio Banderas. I was unable to suspend my disbelief enough. It was a decent film, but I always hope for more than that.
Paterson (2016)
A slow-burning film about a bus-driving poet, his day-to-day life and that of his creative partner. Really, I think the film was about poetry itself and writing as a satisfying pursuit. Those seemingly simple moments us writers hope to put into beautiful words. Paterson was heading for 7/10, but I loved the ending and it became an 8 (I rarely rate anything higher than 8). The best film about writing? Quite possibly,
The director, Jim Jarmusch, also directed Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai. He seems to make interesting films, so I will seek out more.
The Spirit of the Beehive (1973)
Interesting story about a kid who is creeped out by a showing of the original Frankenstein film in a Spanish village and how it changes the way she sees people.
Las niñas bien (2018)
I felt sorry for the group of female socialites trying to outdo each other in this film set during an 1980s economic crisis in Mexico.
Nymphomaniac: Vol. I (2013)
Infamous for its explicit sex on launch, I felt the few minutes of that wasn't necessary to tell the Nymphomaniac: Vol. I story any better. I liked the matter-of-factness of Stellan Skarsgård's character as he listened to Charlotte Gainsbourg's character, though some of his responses felt too contrived.
Uma Thurman was incredible as her character had a crazy mental-breakdown. I'd love to see her playing other such strong parts. Quite possibly the best single scene I've seen from anyone who was only present for a single scene. And I don't think her scene included any sex (I could be wrong) if anyone is put off by that but would like to see that scene.
If I'd known the film's ending meant I'd have to watch Vol. II, I wouldn't have watched Vol. I (meaning 4 hours in total), but I was intrigued enough to continue.
Nymphomaniac: Vol. II (2013)
Things got dark in Vol II. Difficult to watch at times, Jamie Bell (most famous as Billy Elliot) was the outstanding actor here. There were unexpected and intriguing aspects to Vol. II, as well as a couple of plain odd things. I thought the final ending was awful and in many ways predictable. What could have been a story about friendship and feminism ended up just sad. The film should've ended a couple of minutes earlier. So this film dropped from a 7 to 6/10 thanks to the ending. I found the two volumes worth watching, but 4 hours over the two volumes was a bit of a stretch.
Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1989)
Surreal sort of film about a porn star kidnapped by a released prisoner, who hopes she'll fall in love with him. I guess this was an early role for
Antonio Banderas. I was unable to suspend my disbelief enough. It was a decent film, but I always hope for more than that.
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Last night I saw the horror movie Winchester. It's not that scary and it has the typical horror cliché (the rocking chair). Yet I thought it was interesting that they took the story of Sarah Winchester (of the Winchester gun company) who had a huge mansion that she kept building rooms in because of the ghosts of the victims who were killed by a Winchester. It has the phenomenal Helen Mirren playing the title role. I watched it on Netflix.
AlexH
Well-Known Member
Oops. Wrong Thread Vol. I.
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AlexH
Well-Known Member
Wrong Thread Vol. II.
No delete option?
No delete option?
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Victoria Silverwolf
Vegetarian Werewolf
The Pit AKA Teddy (1981)
This is a weird one. Starts with a scene that will be repeated, in whole, in the middle of the film, so it's hard to tell what's going on. Oh, and there's a quick flashback inside this scene, so that adds to the confusion. Back at the real movie, we meet our main character, a messed-up twelve-year-old boy. He's got no friends, except for his teddy bear. He talks to it, and it talks back to him. At first, this could just be the kid's imagination, but we see the teddy bear's head move when he isn't around. His parents go off somewhere and leave him in the care of a college student. Just about the very first thing the kid does when she shows up is sneak a peek up her skirt. Later he'll watch her in the shower. Mind you, she doesn't take many precautions; walking into his bedroom in a very skimpy nightie, failing to lock the bathroom door or even close the shower curtains, washing the kid's back when he's in the bath, etc. I hasten to say that she's not leading him on, she just seems to lack common sense. By the way, the kid also plays a particularly nasty trick on another woman, when he calls her on the phone, via a tape recording, and claims to have kidnapped her niece, forcing her to strip in her window to get her back, so he can take Polaroid photos. All this preteen psycho pervert stuff isn't really the main part of the movie, because the kid also knows about some little furry meat-eating humanoid creatures living in a big hole in the ground. At first he just throws raw meat into the pit, buying it from the butcher with money he steals from his babysitter. Eventually, he starts pushing people he doesn't like into the hole. (This is where the footage we saw at the beginning of the movie is repeated.) He shows the pit to the babysitter, and she accidentally falls in. Upset by the loss of the object of all his stalking, he puts a rope into the pit, so the creatures can get out and start killing folks in the community. Meanwhile, the ghost of the babysitter shows up. We get the monsters attacking some skinny-dipping teenagers, and the cops attacking the monsters. Then we get our twist ending:
It's not a good movie by any stretch of the imagination, but endlessly fascinating because of the outrageous plot elements.
This is a weird one. Starts with a scene that will be repeated, in whole, in the middle of the film, so it's hard to tell what's going on. Oh, and there's a quick flashback inside this scene, so that adds to the confusion. Back at the real movie, we meet our main character, a messed-up twelve-year-old boy. He's got no friends, except for his teddy bear. He talks to it, and it talks back to him. At first, this could just be the kid's imagination, but we see the teddy bear's head move when he isn't around. His parents go off somewhere and leave him in the care of a college student. Just about the very first thing the kid does when she shows up is sneak a peek up her skirt. Later he'll watch her in the shower. Mind you, she doesn't take many precautions; walking into his bedroom in a very skimpy nightie, failing to lock the bathroom door or even close the shower curtains, washing the kid's back when he's in the bath, etc. I hasten to say that she's not leading him on, she just seems to lack common sense. By the way, the kid also plays a particularly nasty trick on another woman, when he calls her on the phone, via a tape recording, and claims to have kidnapped her niece, forcing her to strip in her window to get her back, so he can take Polaroid photos. All this preteen psycho pervert stuff isn't really the main part of the movie, because the kid also knows about some little furry meat-eating humanoid creatures living in a big hole in the ground. At first he just throws raw meat into the pit, buying it from the butcher with money he steals from his babysitter. Eventually, he starts pushing people he doesn't like into the hole. (This is where the footage we saw at the beginning of the movie is repeated.) He shows the pit to the babysitter, and she accidentally falls in. Upset by the loss of the object of all his stalking, he puts a rope into the pit, so the creatures can get out and start killing folks in the community. Meanwhile, the ghost of the babysitter shows up. We get the monsters attacking some skinny-dipping teenagers, and the cops attacking the monsters. Then we get our twist ending:
The kid meets a girl about his same age, she leads him to yet another pit full of flesh-eating monsters, and pushes him in.
It's not a good movie by any stretch of the imagination, but endlessly fascinating because of the outrageous plot elements.
Victoria Silverwolf
Vegetarian Werewolf
Because I'm a glutton for punishment . . .
Nightfall (2000)
Direct-to-video version of the Asimov story. The conflicting forces are the Watchers (religion) and the University (science.) Starts with a Watcher archaeological expedition of some sort opening a pit containing the remains of the folks who went mad and killed each other the last time there was darkness, a millennium ago. The daughter of David Carradine, the head of the University (and the only big name in this thing), although forbidden to enter, sneaks in. (The Watchers only leave one guard, and he falls asleep, even though this is supposed to be a very big deal and vital to keep the University folks out.) Even though this pit was covered up until just now, it's full of a huge number of cobras. (This was filmed in India, and you can tell. The Watcher temple is quite obviously a Hindu temple.) A Watcher rescues her with his amazing telekinetic powers, setting the snakes on fire. You see, he was born with these superpowers, left to die by his parents, and adopted by the evil head of the Watchers for his own sinister purposes. Since this superhero is our Good Guy, however, he doesn't really believe in the Watcher stuff. He goes with the heroine out into the desert. After a random battle with "sand searchers" (folks with faces painted black and white, wielding huge swords, and riding horses), they go into a cave, have a random battle with "darklings" (underground folks with, again, big swords) and meet a woman who is living in yet another set of ruins from the last time of darkness. They make their way back with a telescope. (Even though the heroine has a Flash Gordon style zap gun to fight with, apparently this civilization never got as far as telescopes. Oh, by the way, the clue that led them to the cave was the fact that the hero found a camera there sometime in the past; another form of technology they don't have, it seems.) The two become lovers, of course. It all boils down to darkness coming, and the Watchers launching an attack on the University with, you guessed it, big swords, intent on killing them all. Instead of the appearance of the stars driving people mad, as in the story, apparently civilization falls every time it gets dark because of this kind of violence.
This version is a tiny bit better than the 1988 version, I think, although it's not very good at all. It's got a few little bits that actually have something to do with the original story. (The fact that the folks have an inherent fear of darkness, so that a "thrill ride" is just walking through a dark tunnel. When the heroine finds a notebook in the cave, the text, apparently the observations of a witness to the last time of darkness, is taken from the last few lines of the story.)
But there are a lot of bad points. The hero's god-like superpowers are ridiculous, and the heroine seems more like a whiny teenager than the bold scientist she's supposed to be. The film doesn't really need the seemingly endless scenes of sword fights, explosions, fires, and the like.
Victoria Silverwolf
Vegetarian Werewolf
Yeah. That whole scene looks a lot like Raiders of the Lost Ark, which is hardly appropriate.
@Victoria Silverwolf ..... My hat's off to you. I would never have attempted to watch that movie. As bad as the Nightfall (2000) sounded that it was better than the 1988 version is nearly unbelievable. ----- I have an idea! Maybe someone should make a movie and actually use the story in the book! --- I'm a genius. 
AE35Unit
]==[]===O °
Fahrenheit 451 (2018)
Hmm not sure what to make of it. Parts of it reminded me of the novel 1984 by Orwell, there were elements which I don't remember being in the original film and I've not read the book
Were Eels mentioned originally?
Its said that the director admitted that he didn't 'get' the book or how to make it into a film. In that case you should walk away.
Hmm not sure what to make of it. Parts of it reminded me of the novel 1984 by Orwell, there were elements which I don't remember being in the original film and I've not read the book
Were Eels mentioned originally?
Its said that the director admitted that he didn't 'get' the book or how to make it into a film. In that case you should walk away.
Victoria Silverwolf
Vegetarian Werewolf
Cyclone AKA Terror Storm (1978)
Mexican disaster/survival/shark attack film. Starts with the cyclone (or "terror storm," if you prefer) as some folks in a glass-bottom tour boat, a fishing boat, and an airplane wind up stranded in the middle of nowhere in the Caribbean. In an amazing coincidence, the survivors of the fishing boat (in a dinghy) and the survivors of the plane crash (in flotation vests) wind up near the glass-bottom boat, so they climb aboard. Along with footage of stuff going on on shore, in order to fill up the two-hour running time of this very slow-moving flick, we mostly have these people suffering from lack of water (relieved by rain) and food (relieved by, well, see below) as they wait to be rescued for days and days and days. We've got some kids, a priest, a very pregnant woman, a woman with her spoiled little dog, and so on. Not much happens, really, until we get to the movie's brief dramatic (the childbirth) and gruesome scenes. Among the latter are the killing and eating of the dog, the cannibalizing of those folks who die along the way, and, after the boat sinks because somebody drops an ice chest containing the fresh water supply on the glass bottom, a bloody shark attack on everybody. It's deadly dull for the most part, with the sudden shock scenes breaking up the monotony.
Mexican disaster/survival/shark attack film. Starts with the cyclone (or "terror storm," if you prefer) as some folks in a glass-bottom tour boat, a fishing boat, and an airplane wind up stranded in the middle of nowhere in the Caribbean. In an amazing coincidence, the survivors of the fishing boat (in a dinghy) and the survivors of the plane crash (in flotation vests) wind up near the glass-bottom boat, so they climb aboard. Along with footage of stuff going on on shore, in order to fill up the two-hour running time of this very slow-moving flick, we mostly have these people suffering from lack of water (relieved by rain) and food (relieved by, well, see below) as they wait to be rescued for days and days and days. We've got some kids, a priest, a very pregnant woman, a woman with her spoiled little dog, and so on. Not much happens, really, until we get to the movie's brief dramatic (the childbirth) and gruesome scenes. Among the latter are the killing and eating of the dog, the cannibalizing of those folks who die along the way, and, after the boat sinks because somebody drops an ice chest containing the fresh water supply on the glass bottom, a bloody shark attack on everybody. It's deadly dull for the most part, with the sudden shock scenes breaking up the monotony.
Victoria Silverwolf
Vegetarian Werewolf
Go Tell the Spartans (1978)
Modestly budgeted movie about the Vietnam war, released at a time when big budget films about that conflict got more attention. Unlike the others, this one takes place very early in the war, when Americans were still "advisors." Burt Lancaster stars as a Major who has to send a small team of GIs with several Vietnamese to set up a garrison in a village abandoned by the French years ago. This draws the attention of the enemy. Lancaster gets orders to evacuate the Americans and wounded Vietnamese, but, due to the limitations of the evacuating helicopter, has to leave the "walking wounded" behind. One idealistic GI refuses to leave the wounded, and Lancaster reluctantly stays with him, intending to help him evacuate over land. Let's just say that things don't work out too well. The small scale of this film works to its advantage, letting us feel the frustration, uncertainty, and fear of the American soldiers, in a land where an ally who casually beheads a prisoner is also the guy who helps you survive the worst moments, and where you can't tell who is just a villager trying to survive and who is an enemy out to kill you. Lancaster is excellent.
Modestly budgeted movie about the Vietnam war, released at a time when big budget films about that conflict got more attention. Unlike the others, this one takes place very early in the war, when Americans were still "advisors." Burt Lancaster stars as a Major who has to send a small team of GIs with several Vietnamese to set up a garrison in a village abandoned by the French years ago. This draws the attention of the enemy. Lancaster gets orders to evacuate the Americans and wounded Vietnamese, but, due to the limitations of the evacuating helicopter, has to leave the "walking wounded" behind. One idealistic GI refuses to leave the wounded, and Lancaster reluctantly stays with him, intending to help him evacuate over land. Let's just say that things don't work out too well. The small scale of this film works to its advantage, letting us feel the frustration, uncertainty, and fear of the American soldiers, in a land where an ally who casually beheads a prisoner is also the guy who helps you survive the worst moments, and where you can't tell who is just a villager trying to survive and who is an enemy out to kill you. Lancaster is excellent.
biodroid
A.D.D.
The Kissing Booth 2 - If you liked the first movie you will probably like this one as well. Long distance relationships get tested to the limit in this one.
The Lost Continent (1968).
A quite bizarre movie from Hammer. It begins as a drama set upon an old ship heading for Caracus. On board, a cynical captain on his last voyage. He’s secretly carrying a dangerous and illegal cargo in the hold. Meanwhile, a group of passengers, each with their own reason for fleeing port, drink and reveal their motivations for being on board. A storm forces them to abandon ship, only to be reuinted with it in the Sargasso Sea, where living seaweed threatens to devour them.
Also present in this ’lost continent’ are a religious cult, boy king, conquistadors and other strange characters. What stikes me as bizarre is not the presence of monsters or strange characters but that all the build up into the pysches and motivations of the passengers is all but forgotten whilst monsters are battled. It’s as if some editor spliced two different films into one. As an example, Hildegard Knef and Suzanna Leigh play a couple of femme fatales in the first half of the movie and we witness the stresses and strains driving them, only to be almost forgotten about in the second half. They are wheeled out now and again for the odd scream at invading plant life, which seems to have a strange predilection for beautiful women. I’d have thought carniverous kelp wouldn’t care whether its food were male or female but it seems a shapely leg or two can really wrack its bladders. Who’d have thought it....
It’s an odd movie with poor special effects, yet strangely compelling. I’ve watched it before and I’ll probably watch it again...and yet....I don’t know why....
A quite bizarre movie from Hammer. It begins as a drama set upon an old ship heading for Caracus. On board, a cynical captain on his last voyage. He’s secretly carrying a dangerous and illegal cargo in the hold. Meanwhile, a group of passengers, each with their own reason for fleeing port, drink and reveal their motivations for being on board. A storm forces them to abandon ship, only to be reuinted with it in the Sargasso Sea, where living seaweed threatens to devour them.
Also present in this ’lost continent’ are a religious cult, boy king, conquistadors and other strange characters. What stikes me as bizarre is not the presence of monsters or strange characters but that all the build up into the pysches and motivations of the passengers is all but forgotten whilst monsters are battled. It’s as if some editor spliced two different films into one. As an example, Hildegard Knef and Suzanna Leigh play a couple of femme fatales in the first half of the movie and we witness the stresses and strains driving them, only to be almost forgotten about in the second half. They are wheeled out now and again for the odd scream at invading plant life, which seems to have a strange predilection for beautiful women. I’d have thought carniverous kelp wouldn’t care whether its food were male or female but it seems a shapely leg or two can really wrack its bladders. Who’d have thought it....
It’s an odd movie with poor special effects, yet strangely compelling. I’ve watched it before and I’ll probably watch it again...and yet....I don’t know why....
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