What was the last movie you saw?

[Jeffbert]

TCM ran HIGH NOON immediately followed by ON THE WATERFRONT the other day, as both had been made during the 1950s HUAC trouble, and even followed them with a short documentary about them. So, it turns out that HN was about a guy who was all alone opposing the 4 bad guys out for revenge is really about the film maker's taking a stand against HUAC, and nobody will stand with him. The comparison to WITCH HUNTS is appropriate, as the accused usually was all alone, nobody dared to act as advocate, because anyone who did so, would also be accused of witchcraft, etc. OTW was about the guy who cooperated with HUAC, and named others, etc., the no win damned if you do, damned if you don't situation.

I had seen both firms previously, but never thought about why they had been made, etc. Interesting documentary, HIGH NOON ON THE WATERFRONT.


HIGH NOON (1952) The town Marshall has just retired, and married a Quaker (who opposes violence). Talk about bad timing! The villain whom the Marshall had sent to prison 4 year ago, who was expected to hang, is now free, and returning to town, seeking to kill the man who sent him to jail. Marshal Will Kane (Gary Cooper) finds the town judge, and just about anyone who even knew the bad guy, leaving town. Kane, finds the call of duty stronger than his commitment to his bride, and stays to fight. But, even the deputy, resigns, seeing that ZKane had failed to recruit any others.

So many clocks! The story starts at about 10:30 AM, and ends just after 12:00, almost real time, because the film runs about 90 minutes.


Great cast!



ON THE WATERFRONT (1954) has laborers unloading cargo ships, under union control; the union is controlled by the mob. Everybody knows it, but nobody dares to even try to oppose mob control. The union boss picks guys who will actually work on any given day, and that gives the mob power over the laborers. So, one guy is thrown off the roof of a three or four story apartment building. Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando) was the pawn that the mob used to lure the guy out of his apartment, and up to the roof, where both Terry and the victim had pigeon coops. Terry was told that the mob guys were simply going to talk to him; maybe work him over, but was not too sad when they killed him. Terry personally knew the boss, nicknamed Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb), who had given him a job when he was a teen. He owed Friendly, and both Terry and his brother Charley (Rod Steiger) worked for him. The authorities (allegories for HUAC) are investigating, but, nobody will talk, until Terry, who had been dating the victim's sister, testifies.

Great cast!

 

[alexvss]

Decision to Leave (2022). A detective gets close to the widow of a murder victim, maybe too close.

That’s the worst movie of Park chan-wook, one of my favorite directors. Not because of the movie itself, but because of the expectations. Decision to Leave is not in pair with his filmography. I got disappointed even by knowing that beforehand.

There’s almost no violence or action. It’s at the same time an investigation thriller and a romance, and you can’t tell where one starts and the other ends. If this had been made by another director, I’d have said that he is a promising talent. But I had other expectations from Park, who’s already proved himself multiple times.

 

[smellincoffee]

Ghost Town, a Ricky Gervais and Brian D'Arcy James movie from 2008 in which Gervaise plays a misanthropic dentist whose NDE on the operating table gives him the ability to see and hear ghosts -- who begin badgering him to help them resolve their unfinished business on Earth. D'Arcy James is a particularly stubborn ghost who wants Gervaise to destroy James' widow's engagement to a scumbag, but there are rom-com complications. Entertaining if predictable.

 

[Guttersnipe]

Surprisingly effective. I haven't seen anything directed by Ti West before, so didn't realize how steeped he was in 1970s, early '80s horror movies. Not only does this take place in that time period, with call backs to various horror movies, notably The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, it is effectively shot as a low-budget movie at that time would be -- a scene of a woman on a dock by a lake has a very Friday the 13th vibe. Taking advantage of that secluded lake, a long stretch of untenanted land except for the somewhat Wyeth-like farm house they are staying at, West creates a homage to those older movies about sophisticatedly clueless city folk wandering naively into situations they don't recognize and can't adjust to, while managing to turn it into a meditation on aging and love.

My wife likes horror but not gore, and I was concerned this might be gory. I expected us to turn it off at some point, but we didn't. There are some gory scenes, and maybe more than a lot of viewers would be comfortable with, but because this is obviously about something more and the performances by Brittany Snow (Southern brassy, funny porno-Marilyn Monroe wannabe) and, especially, Mia Goth (determined to be someone), are so strong, we ended up watching the entire movie. Snow is pretty well-established as a female second- or third-lead (Pitch Perfect), but I haven't seen Goth before and from this I expect to see her a lot more.

The prequel, Pearl, is out now.

 

[KGeo777]

GALLERY OF HORRORS 1967 - A terrible film but I love it. It is so sincere despite it being so bad. John Carradine narrates some nonsense for each story--and they use a lot of AIP stock footage. One story in particular spends a good five minutes on Jack Nicholson driving a coach from the Raven. The story with Lon Chaney is my favorite--he does his thespian best with a plot that is so utterly dumb--a scientist who tells a pair of students about his theory on re-animating a corpse. They decide to try it themselves and he is horrified that they would even think of it(?)--until they suggest he helps them, and then he is fully onboard. Once they succeed and discover their patient was a convicted killer, the students coerce Chaney into re-killing the man by spinning a surgical knife -whoever it points at will have to do the killing (Chaney doesn't even notice the student stopped it spinning so it points at him). There's an anecdote on the making of this which I really like too--they needed a sandwich prop for one scene and the prop man picked something disgusting out of a garbage can to assemble a sandwich with so Carradine would have it as a prop. He had planned to toss it in the garbage as soon as the shot was done but before he could retrieve it, Carradine ate it.

 

[dask]

Unsettling 1928 silent historical drama about the trial of Joan Of Arc using actual notes written at the time this farce of a trial took place but can easily be viewed as a cautionary tale of the deadly power and arrogance of the learned elite. This film must have been remastered with technology not yet invented, it’s just as sharp and clear as anything on the screen today. Noticed one goof: one guy, clergyman I think, sported a pair of Clark Kent glasses.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

The Cat's Meow (2001)

In 1924, film mogul Thomas Ince died aboard William Randolph Hearst's yacht, while celebrating Ince's birthday with other famous folks like Charlie Chaplin. There have been all kinds of rumors about the event. The most innocent is that Ince died of natural causes. The least innocent involves murder. Guess which one this fictional version of the tragedy involves.

Based on a stage play, the movie takes place almost entirely aboard the yacht. It's very handsomely filmed, and I'm a sucker for the glamorous/scandalous stereotypes of the Roaring Twenties anyway. Fine acting from all involved. Financial scheming, booze, drugs, illicit affairs, violence, and blackmail. What more could you ask?

 

[jd73]

Was watching Catherine Called Birdy last night on Prime. It's very good, a kind of Bridgerton-style period/modern mashup with a lot of laughs and tender moments. Thought I confess I have not finished it yet as it was 2:29AM.

 

[jd73]

Surprisingly effective. I haven't seen anything directed by Ti West before, so didn't realize how steeped he was in 1970s, early '80s horror movies. Not only does this take place in that time period, with call backs to various horror movies, notably The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, it is effectively shot as a low-budget movie at that time would be -- a scene of a woman on a dock by a lake has a very Friday the 13th vibe. Taking advantage of that secluded lake, a long stretch of untenanted land except for the somewhat Wyeth-like farm house they are staying at, West creates a homage to those older movies about sophisticatedly clueless city folk wandering naively into situations they don't recognize and can't adjust to, while managing to turn it into a meditation on aging and love.

My wife likes horror but not gore, and I was concerned this might be gory. I expected us to turn it off at some point, but we didn't. There are some gory scenes, and maybe more than a lot of viewers would be comfortable with, but because this is obviously about something more and the performances by Brittany Snow (Southern brassy, funny porno-Marilyn Monroe wannabe) and, especially, Mia Goth (determined to be someone), are so strong, we ended up watching the entire movie. Snow is pretty well-established as a female second- or third-lead (Pitch Perfect), but I haven't seen Goth before and from this I expect to see her a lot more.

This is on my to-watch. Started it last night but wasn't quite in the mood.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

No Time to Kill (1959)

Swedish crime film (but filmed in English) with John Ireland as the token American star. He's a guy framed for arson who gets out of prison after ten years, determined to kill the guy who sent him up the river. There are some twists and turns in the plot. Only an hour long.

 

[alexvss]

Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022). In this horror comedy, rich kids go to a secluded manor in the woods to do very important things like fooling around, record tik tok dancing videos, get on the sauce and play a game of tag (because they’ve got nothing else to do), but someone appears dead and hell breaks loose.

It succeeds in what it tries to do. It succeeds as a whodunit because the suspense is high and makes you wonder whodidit (couldn’t resist the pun). It succeeds as comedy because the rich kids are very dumb, exactly how you’d image them to be. When they suspect someone, they say things like, “You gotta be the murder because… you're the only one who’s middle class!” or “No way it’s him. He's a libra moon. They’re cool!”

The main reason I watched this is because of the producer: A24. They’ve produced the best films of the last decade, such as Ari Aster’s and Robert Egger’s movies. It doesn’t feel like an A24 movie, as there’s not that sense of wonder (A24 just hits different). It’s also not something I’d watch again, but it managed to give me a few laughs.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Blonde in Bondage (1957)

Another Swedish crime movie filmed in English, with an American actor as the hero. He's a reporter sent to Sweden to report on the nation's morals. Maybe that goes along with the fact that about half a dozen Swedish women throw themselves at him as soon as they meet him. Anyway, an automobile accident (caused when the hero takes his eyes off the road to admire yet another Swedish woman with a come-hither look, this one on a bicycle) gets the guy mixed up with a morphine-addicted singer/stripper, her manager/supplier, and the kingpin running the drug ring. It all leads up to a running gun battle in an amusement park. It drags a bit, but it's OK.

 

[KGeo777]

THE WITCHES 1966 - I had planned to watch Quatermass and the Pit but in the opening scene there is a poster for the Witches so I decided to watch it instead. I had seen it before but forgot most of it.
There's something about it that probably causes amnesia. It's not a very suspense-oriented film. There's not much that happens which is traditionally horror. I can see the trace elements for the Wicker Man in this--the idea of a secluded village where everyone is involved in pagan customs. The Hammer psychological horror films usually had a woman (with mental troubles) as protagonist and this seems to fit that style. The witches' dance is a real laugh riot unfortunately. It's too silly to be scary.
A different directorial approach and it may have been gangbusters.
One thing that stood out, seemed a little odd that a teacher would say it to another teacher about the students: they all look alike--it's because they are inbred. There is an attitude in Hammer films which suggests a village can only be saved from the outside. The villagers can never help themselves. It's the anti-Beowulf message---no one in the village has the ability to defend the village from any threat. An outside savior has to do it.
Also, this is a Hammer film where the male characters are either devious or useless. That's not unusual with the psychological films--the women dominate in sparking the action (Scream of Fear, Paranoiac etc).

Anyway, Joan Fontaine doesn't look like her sister at all-except when she smiles--then you can see the family resemblance.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen (1981)

In 1980, an award-winning, highly acclaimed actor with the first name Peter played a famous fictional Asian character in an abysmal, laugh-free spoof; namely, Peter Sellers in The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu. One year later, another award-winning, highly acclaimed actor with the first name Peter did the same thing; namely, Peter Ustinov in this thing.

There's sort of a plot, I guess. In flashback, Chan proves that a woman known only as the Dragon Queen (Angie Dickinson, in Technicolor Goth outfits) was guilty of murder. Part of the movie is her attempt, in the present, to have her revenge. Meanwhile, there have been bizarre murders at random in San Francisco. Four of these take place before the film starts, for some reason. We get to see murder by flooded elevator and death by acupuncture.

Never mind. All this is just an excuse for extreme slapstick and extreme overacting. Worst of all, Chan is only a minor character compared to the amount of time spent with his half-Jewish grandson, who is so clumsy that he creates total chaos just walking down the street.

The two brief, black-and-white flashback sequences are the only scenes that are even slightly worth watching. They serve as tongue-in-cheek pastiches of the old Chan movies, and avoid the scenery chewing found everywhere else in the film.

Shamefully, one joke is blatantly stolen from the old Get Smart series, when a man and woman who are tied up get a dog to blow out the candle that is about to set off a deathtrap by singing "Happy Birthday to You" to the animal.

 

[Ubergeek]

Randy , I only realised afterwards that Mia Goth plays 2 characters - Maxine and Pearl .

Ti West directed " The House of the Devil " . Haven't seen it myself , but heard good things about it .

 

[Randy M.]

Randy , I only realised afterwards that Mia Goth plays 2 characters - Maxine and Pearl .

Ti West directed " The House of the Devil " . Haven't seen it myself , but heard good things about it .

I had heard that, and I'm curious what the movie Pearl will be like. If I get a chance, I'll hunt down The House of the Devil.

 

[KGeo777]

Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen (1981)

I remember it heavily advertised when it came out.
I never got to see it.
I have composed my own Charlie Chan expressions btw.

Here's one:

"friend who advises curing itchy back with hot poker,
not missed when gone on long vacation."

 

[KGeo777]

THE HORRIBLE SECRET OF DR HITCHCOCK 1962 - Rewatch. Type of story suited for Vincent Price though the ending is too traditional for it to be an AIP film since the younger male doctor isn't so helpless. He actually saves the heroine.

QUATERMASS AND THE PIT 1967 - Since I watched the Witches, I rewatched this. Duncan Lamont walks by the poster of the Witches--he was jumping and leaping in that one and does the same in this.

 

[Toby Frost]

The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996)

Geena Davis plays a woman with amnesia who discovers that, in her former life, she was a spy. She hires a private eye (Samuel L Jackson) and they end up fighting a terrorist plot run by renegade agents.

This is a real laugh. It works fine as a thriller, in a violent-but-slick 90s style, but as a comedy it's very good indeed. Jackson and Davis both have some excellent lines, and both are very likeable. Brian Cox appears as an irritable master spy, in an odd hint of what he'd do more seriously in the Bourne films. It's interesting to see terrorism referenced in a pre-9/11 film, as happened much more seriously in The Siege. If there is a problem with The Long Kiss Goodnight, it's that there are more jokes in the first half and more action in the second half, and the jokes are better than the (still good) action. Definitely underrated.

 

[Jeffbert]

VIOLENT ROAD (1958) An American remake of The Wages of Fear (1953). Both are about a handful of losers hired to drive trucks loaded with high explosives over dirt roads to reach the destinations. VIOLENT ROAD has three, count 'em, 3 trucks carrying different liquids to the new site for the rocket manufacturing plant; among them, nitric acid. Among the drivers, Mitch Barton (Brian Keith) and 'Sarge' Miller (Dick Foran); going along for the ride, chemist George Lawrence (Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.), who being familiar with the liquids, was qualified to best know what to avoid in transporting them.

VR was o.k., but had an extended barroom scene that was more than just a bit too long. Tense drama, as the expected occasional complications occurred, just to make the film interesting. I saw The Wages of Fear twice, and it was much better, and was praised by critics. As the guy at the carnival would say, NICE TRY, BUT NO CIGAR.