What was the last movie you saw?

[Victoria Silverwolf]

I can't dislike Baron Munchhausen even though it's bizarre and kind of depressing like other Gilliam films. You get the feeling there is something great within it but it doesn't quite come out somehow.
There are a lot of memorable visuals---the dancing scene--the Zodiac creatures soaring in the stars--and the Grim Reaper, and Eric Idle running feats.

The 1943 version uses a similar special effect with the running.

"Is there a doctor in the fish?"

The new version is obviously inspired by the 1940's version to some degree. I enjoyed both. (Even though the earlier version is a German film made during the Nazi regime, it is entirely free, as far as I can tell, from the propaganda you'd expect.)

 

[KGeo777]

Yes the 1980s version is definitely influenced by the 1943 version. The nudity is the most surprising thing but there's some other things I didn't expect to see in it.

I watched THE FIGHTING PRINCE OF DONEGAL 1966--which I had put off for a couple of years. I should have watched it sooner. It was pretty good.
The humor was well-utilized. The Disney live-action films made in the UK are better than one would assume--or rather, one assumes that since they are Disney and "family-friendly" they would have a lot of child-focus when in fact they have none. Compared to Treasure Island, 20 000 Leagues, or Mary Poppins, they don't get much attention. Plus, while the princes in their animated films tend to be not very pro-active, that isn't the case with the live action versions. Needless to say, modern Disney probably considers the Fighting Prince to be a red-haired embarrassment and they don't want to draw attention to it--but it's a decent historical adventure-especially in 1966--what else did you have to choose from--THE WAR LORD is very bleak by comparison. I notice these Disney efforts try to incorporate glimpses of cultural distinctiveness such as traditional dancing and singing.

 

[Toby Frost]

There's nudity in the 1980s version? I must have missed that. I suppose there's Uma Thurman as Botticelli's Venus but she is suitably covered by nymphs etc. That said, I think there was full on nudity in Jabberwocky and a load of (ridiculous) gore, and that's a PG. And Michael Palin's bum.

 

[alexvss]

Kate (2021). A Netflix original staring Mary Elizabeth Winstead, an actor that I like and that has been taking supporting roles for an awful amount of time.

After starting to fail missions, a hitwoman is poisoned while working in Japan, thus having just 24 hours to identify and kill the perpetrator.

As a weeb, I found the Japanese setting to be wonderful to look at, although the shots doesn't add much to scene, not more than just being cool. That's because the Rule of Cool is king here: hot gal fighting Yakuza guys that have the poorest marksmanship, all while running through the cyberpunk-ish alleys of Tokyo. The one who poisoned her is obvious from the start, and the movie is pretty predictable; but the action scenes managed to keep me hooked enough to not just drop it and go play videogames.

 

[Toby Frost]

I quite enjoyed Kate as daft fun: everything in it seemed cliched and predictable, but Mary Elizabeth Winstead was very good indeed. She'd make an excellent Ripley. How it got a 15 is beyond me, given the gore.

 

[Ian Fortytwo]

I recently watched Charade. With Audrey Hepburn, Cary Grant and James Coburn. Quite a quirky film with plenty of entertainment. 9/10

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

There's nudity in the 1980s version? I must have missed that. I suppose there's Uma Thurman as Botticelli's Venus but she is suitably covered by nymphs etc. That said, I think there was full on nudity in Jabberwocky and a load of (ridiculous) gore, and that's a PG. And Michael Palin's bum.

There are some topless women in the 1940's version.

 

[KGeo777]

There's nudity in the 1980s version? I must have missed that. I suppose there's Uma Thurman as Botticelli's Venus but she is suitably covered by nymphs etc. That said, I think there was full on nudity in Jabberwocky and a load of (ridiculous) gore, and that's a PG. And Michael Palin's bum.

I meant the 1943 version had the nudity.
A LOT of it.
When I describe it to others I say--imagine a nudist colony in the Emerald City.

 

[Toby Frost]

I'm amazed it got past the censors, especially those censors!

 

[Randy M.]

Probably wouldn't have played in the U.S. at that time. Maybe in the previous decade, before the Hayes Commission, but not from about 1934 until the late '60s.

 

[jjcomet]

The last movie I went to a cinema complex to see was Dr. Strange.
The last movie I saw on TV was the Last Skywalker. It was ok. The last trilogy of that series is a lot better then the three prequels. Those were mainly a lot of visual candy with the CGI stuff for the Attack of the Clones trilogy.
And the movie Rouge One - to paraphrase a line from Heavy Metal: "He dies, she dies, everyone dies."

 

[KGeo777]

I believe Germany did not have qualms about nudity-- during the 1930s, I am told that the Hitler government published a pamphlet on civic nudism.
But in the US-even before the Hayes Code, I don't think they showed that much skin. It was more of a puritan taboo in the US than Europe.
Nudity was always associated with sex in the US, while in Europe it wasn't.
But it is surprising to see it in a color film from the 1940s.
Then again showing a nude child--Superman the Movie did it.
That was a G-rated film.

 

[AE35Unit]

The last movie I went to a cinema complex to see was Dr. Strange.
The last movie I saw on TV was the Last Skywalker. It was ok. The last trilogy of that series is a lot better then the three prequels. Those were mainly a lot of visual candy with the CGI stuff for the Attack of the Clones trilogy.
And the movie Rouge One - to paraphrase a line from Heavy Metal: "He dies, she dies, everyone dies."

I enjoyed all the SW films. Good fun

 

[Jeffbert]

NIGHTMARE ALLEY (1947) A newcomer to the sideshows, Stanton Carlisle (Tyrone Power) wants the code that Zeena Krumbein (Joan Blondell) & her alcoholic partner had used in earlier years to put on a persuasive mind-reading show, & eventually gets it, but at a high price. Eventually he leaves the show for a career of his own, & teams-up with a psychologist who records her sessions with patients, and gives certain information to the presumptive mind-reader.

Ben M. said that the image of a war hero as such a lowlife scoundrel made this a flop at the theaters, but, to contemporary audiences, such as myself, I thought it was a very good drama.

 

[KGeo777]

BATWOMAN 1968 - Mexican movie about a millionaire secret agent who uses her skills to fight crime. She wears a batman cowl and cape borrowed from the 1960s tv show and a bikini. She does wear the grey leotard when undercover as a wrestler to investigate a series of murders involving a mad scientist who wants to make fish men out of dead wrestlers. It's silly.

THE GOLDEN CLAWS OF THE CAT GIRL 1968 - A trapeze artist/burglar is enlisted to steal some heroin from an embassy but things go awry and she is on the run from the police and criminals. Not bad. Some have detected Nikita inspiration in this. I wonder if it influenced the plot of The Return of the Pink Panther.

 

[Jeffbert]

THE GREAT BANK ROBBERY (1969) Great cast, but not so great film. I tried to like this, & if I critique it, I would say it was just too slow-paced. I might have enjoyed it more, if I could have watched it at 1.5x, but it was on my DVR, not Netflix streaming.

So, there is a bank where criminals deposit their ill-gotten gains, & it is said to be truly secure. There are several forces attempting to rob it, all on the same day. Rev. Pious Blue (Zero Mostel) leads a small band of 'religious' folk, who had been aboard a train that had just been robbed by Slade (Claude Akins) & Jeb (Elisha Cook, Jr.), who will deposit their stolen loot in said bank. The Rev. & co. intend to tunnel under the bank, and enter through the basement. Papa (Akim Tamiroff) & son Juan (Larry Storch) are the Mexican banditos who intend to ride into town, & rob the bank using conventional methods. Ranger Ben Quick (Clint Walker) is under orders to seize the bank's records that are expected to be rather incriminating, & intends to use the same method as the Rev. Sister Lyda Kebanov (Kim Novak) is in the Reverend's gang, while Secret Agent Fong (Mako Iwamatsu) as well as several others are the fake Chinese laundry guys who work under Quick who is disguised as a wimpy business owner. The robberies are scheduled for the 4th of July festivities, the noise of which should cover the explosion that opens the vault.

Amusing, but it should have been a bit better than it was.

 

[Jeffbert]

FIVE STEPS TO DANGER (1957) NOIR ALLEY.
John Emmett (Sterling Hayden) has major car trouble while driving East from California. He is offered a ride by Ann Nicholson (Ruth Roman), who wants to drive continuously & expects him to drive while she sleeps. All goes well, until cops pull them over, and pull the guns on them. They end up handcuffed together, & on the run. Emmett now suspects his companion is a criminal, etc. She tells him a story about cold war spy stuff, but he is not buying it; at least not initially.

Good, tense drama.


As usual, Muller makes it even better.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

The Flesh and Blood Show (1972)

More flesh than blood in this giallo-style British slasher. Starts with a couple of women in bed when somebody knocks on the door. The one who gets up to answer it is stark naked; you'd think her roommate, in baby doll nightwear, would have been the one to go see who's there. Anyway, there's a guy with a knife in his belly, bleeding profusely. Our first murder? No, it's just a joke.

The real plot starts when these folks, and some other actors, get invited to do some kind of show at an old abandoned theater by the sea. (This play-within-the-movie seems pretty bizarre, as it involves the actors dancing around in cavepeople costumes, then in leotards and such, and is said to have a "witchcraft scene.") They settle into the place for the night, offering more scenes of the women taking off their clothes, and our mandatory lesbian scene.

Eventually one of the women gets decapitated by the usual gloved killer, but her head and body are replaced by parts of a mannequin, so the cops dismiss the whole thing as a prank. More killings follow, in pretty slow fashion, until we get a long flashback sequence revealing the murderer's insane motive. You'll figure out whodunit long before this.

(This climactic sequence was filmed to be shown in 3-D, so it looks weird on the flat screen; black-and-white with red and green highlights. The flashback also offers full male as well as full female nudity, which is a refreshing change.)

Not a great film, but at least one older actor really gets to show off his stuff among all the younger performers.

 

[KGeo777]

I liked the location of that film-the seaside pier.

I watched the Buck Rogers tv movie Planet of the Slave Girls. Guest stars Jack Palance who really hams it up big time and Roddy McDowall (they misspell his name in the credits). And Buster Crabbe. They show a cave entrance which I believe was used in the 1950s Son of Sinbad--Vincent Price ran out of the same cave. Price said he had no formal training as an actor. He studied art history etc in school-not drama.

Anyway I digress. Buck Rogers proves he who he says he is by using trivia about OJ Simpson. He mentioned his football career. Apparently Dr. Theopolis didn't update him about Simpson in the 90s.

 

[Toby Frost]

Mad Max: Fury Road (2016)

Still excellent. The story is simple but good, the two leads are decent, the cars are great and the chases are brilliant.

I'd forgotten how stylised it is. Quite a lot of the acting is not very good (for large chunks, all the lines are shouted), and some of the lighting is quite unrealistic: the nights are completely blue, apart from red blood and a green plant. But it has good ideas and action. 8/10.