|
|
Post by Ish Kabbible on Apr 16, 2016 23:39:38 GMT -5
A Simple Plan (1998) Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton, Bridget Fonda, Brent Briscoe
3 honest, blue-collar men come across a crashed private plane buried in the snow and a bag with $4 million dollars in cash
An effective story directed by Sam Raimi chronicling the cascading events of subterfuge, greed and secrecy. Another brilliant performance from Thornton fresh from his masterful role in Sling Blade. This and Fargo would make a wonderful double bill during a summer heat wave. Won't insult your intelligence
|
|
|
|
Post by Ish Kabbible on Apr 16, 2016 23:57:06 GMT -5
Trading Places (1983) Dan Aykroyd, Eddie Murphy, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ralph Bellamy, Don Ameche, Denholm Elliot
Bellamy and Ameche are 2 ultra wealthy Wall St. investment officers and Aykroyd is their protege. The two tycoons have a long-standing arguement on what shapes a person's character-is it genetics or environment. They make a bet over whether they can change a street thief (Murphy) into a gentleman while stripping Aykroyd of his money and position to see if he'll fall into a life of crime
I recall when this came out that I was quite disappointed with it. I was a fan of Aykroyd and Murphy but thought this comedy was so cliched, so predictable, so uninspired. No matter how much effort the comedy duo put into it, I've seen the same plot dozens of times in the past. I'm a bit more forgiving now but I think its more of a case of nostalgia than anything else
Well you do get some scenes of Jamie Lee Curtis topless and tha'ts a fine lookin' rack. And an opportunity for veterans Bellamy and Ameche to appear on screen is appreciated. Also some quick scenes with Jim Belushi's brother James and the comedy team of Franken and Davis. Denholm Elliot is perfect as a man-servant too
So Trading Places used to rate a 5 of 10 stars from me. 33 years of inflation gets it to 6 1/2
|
|
|
|
Post by Ish Kabbible on Apr 17, 2016 2:13:55 GMT -5
3:10 To Yuma (1957) Van Heflin, Glenn Ford, Felicia Farr, Henry Jones, Richard Jaeckle, Robert Emhardt
Ford leads a gang a thieves but is captured after a stagecoach robbery. Heflin has the task of guarding Ford until the train to Yuma arrives to transport Ford to the lock-up . Ford's gang is out there waiting for the chance to rescue their boss before he boards the 3:10
Elmore Leonard story directed by the masterful hands of Delmar Daves. Frankie Lane is back again to sing the title song. An adult western relying on the building tension of the clock ticking until the train arrives, sort of similar to High Noon. Well acted. Henry Jones as the town drunk summoning up his courage to help Heflin guard the prisoner Ford.
Remade in 2007 with Christian Bale and Russell Crowe
O my, almost forgot. Criterion released their version of this classic western which includes an interview with the author.
|
|
|
|
Post by Hoosier X on Apr 17, 2016 12:14:22 GMT -5
Yesterday afternoon I watched The Girl of the Golden West (1938) with Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. I really love Jeanette MacDonald. It's too bad her movies aren't usually as good as she is. The Girl of the Golden West is about a girl who moves west with her uncle after her parents have died. She ends up in Central California, somewhere in the gold country, running a saloon called the Polka in a little gold-mining community. Walter Pidgeon is the sheriff, who wants to marry her. Buddy Ebsen is the town blacksmith, he also has a big crush on her. Nelson Eddy is the local bandit chieftain. He was kidnapped by Indians as a baby but rescued by Mexican bandits, who named him "Gringo." He grows up and becomes known as "Ramirez," and he keeps his ethnicity a secret by wearing a bandana over his face and talking like the Frito Bandito during his crimes. His sidekick is Leo Carrillo, who is most famous for having a state park named after him. I think it's the park where George Michael was arrested for trying to pick up men in a public restroom. And there's a priest at the mission who gives advice from time to time. He's played by H.B. Warner, who's probably most famous for playing cards with Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard. And everybody sort of runs around and Ramirez robs the stage when Jeanette is going to Monterey but she doesn't see his face and he follows her to Monterey and courts her and then follows her back to the Polka and so on and so forth. It's not one of my favorite Jeanette MacDonald movies. I found it watchable and mildly entertaining for about 100 minutes, but there is really no reason for this movie to be two hours. Her best movies are Rose-Marie and San Francisco. Naughty Marietta is too long, but it has beautiful costumes and some great musical numbers. The Firefly is also too long, but "The Donkey Song" is hilarious! The rule of thumb for Jeanette Macdonald's movies is they're good if there's at least one scene at the opera! If there's one scene at the opera ( Rose-Marie and San Francisco both have scenes at the opera), it shows that the filmmakers understood Jeanette's unique star quality and at least made some small effort to accommodate her. |
|
|
|
Post by Hoosier X on Apr 17, 2016 12:23:45 GMT -5
And last night I watched Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1953). This is a movie with Bud Abbot and Lou Costello. And Boris Karloff as Dr. Jekyll. So I realized it was a Boris Karloff movie I've never seen. It's not bad. It's actually fairly inventive with the way it used London in 1905 (or so) and included a bunch of suffragettes. But I did get a little restless at the end and I was glad it was only 75 minutes. It's not as good as Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein or Africa Screams, but I admit I laughed out loud when Lou was changed into a giant mouse. |
|
|
|
Post by Ish Kabbible on Apr 17, 2016 20:49:59 GMT -5
The Island (2005) Ewan McGregor, Scarlett Johansson, Sean Bean, Steve Buscemi, Michael Clarke Duncan Director-Michael Bay
An idyllic future society underground where, from time to time, lottery winners are allowed to leave for their only opportunity to the world outside-an island
This futuristic ultra modern city reminds me visually with what was portrayed in Logan's Run. And just like Logan's Run, the society is not told the real truth with what lies beyond it's walls. The movie has some very compelling and intelligent plotlines, characteristics not usually associated with Michael Bay movies. In fact, the makers of the movie Clonus sued over this film's script, pointing out over 100 similarities to their film. It was settled out of court for at least $1 million dollars.
And being a Michael Bay film, there will be plenty of explosions, gunplay, explosions, car crashes and even explosions. Scarlett Johansson has never looked more voluptuous. During a love-making scene she gave permission to be filmed topless. Bay refused in order to insure a PG-13 rating. That rat bastard.
Still, it's by far Michael Bays best film. It even has explosions. And Steve Buscemi is in it. He gets yanked from a toilet seat in a key scene. Explosively too
|
|
|
|
Post by Ish Kabbible on Apr 18, 2016 0:34:46 GMT -5
Bowfinger (1999) Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy, Heather Graham
Shades of Edward D. Wood Jr. Steve Martin as Bowfinger, failed Hollywood movie producer. He's told he's get financing for his film Chubby Rain if he can get Hollywood's hottest action hero, Eddie Murphy, to agree to star in it. So Bowfinger follows Eddie Murphy around surreptitiously, filming the actor and inserting him in the movie without consent
Two legendary comic actors in their last gasp of decent films joined together to make a movie that's 2/3 good and 1/3 out of steam. IMHO, Martin has done just one funny film after this one-Bringing Down The House, and Murphy, besides animated voicing, did nothing else but crap.
Steve Martin wrote the script and it does have a great premise but it just holds up for about an hour or so. Terence Stamp and Robert Downey Jr. add some small supporting work.
Based on a true incident back in 1927 where a Russian filmmaker followed Mary Pickford around and shot footage of her for his movie claiming she was the star
Gary Coleman worked as a security guard on the set for this film
|
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 18, 2016 8:12:58 GMT -5
A page or two back someone here mentioned F for Fake and I borrowed my friend DVD and I thought it will be more like a movie and as it's turns out it was a more like a documentary of which I did not care for. I was very disappointed in that.
|
|
|
|
Post by MDG on Apr 18, 2016 14:55:44 GMT -5
From Calgari to Hitler (2014) is a documentary about the films of the Weimar Republic. It's in German with English sub-titles. So if you watch it, there's a lot of reading! I liked it a lot. It's based on a 1947 film critique of German films from 1920 to 1933. And it doesn't just mention the super-obvious films like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Nosferatu, The Golem, Metropolis, the Mabuse films, M, Pandora's Box, etc. It mentioned a lot of movies I've never heard of! I just got done looking at the entry on IMDB and writing down 10 or 12 movies that I'm going to look for on YouTube. I watched this last night on TCM on demand. Very well done and clips were much better quality than I'm used to seeing on many of those movies. Appreciated the look at non-expressionist movies of the time, which traditionally hadn't gotten as much exposure. Watched three movies in the Zatoichi, The Blind Swordsman, on Hulu last week. Probably my favorite samourai/martial arts movies. Some sameness to the plots, but Shintaro Katsu is great in the title role. Also re-watched Family Plot the other day 'cause I hadn't watched any Hitchcock in a while. Actually thinking of getting one of those film journal things (or at least a notebook) because as I'm finding and watching giallos or roughies that show up on YouTube, I can't always keep track of them. Need to record running times too, 'cause things have different cuts. |
|
|
|
Post by Hoosier X on Apr 18, 2016 15:05:27 GMT -5
This week on YouTube Theatre: I saw part of Kiss Them for Me (1957) a year or so ago and I really wasn't that excited about watching the whole thing. But since then, I've seen a bunch of Cary Grant movies and I find that there's only one Cary Grant movie made after 1941 (or so) that I haven't seen - Kiss Them for Me. And since I sat all the way through Dream Wife and The Pride and the Passion, I guess I can sit through all of Kiss Them for Me. And it's not that bad. It's actually pretty good at times. Seeing the whole movie and seeing the context for some of the scene I saw before that I didn't like, I now find this rather enjoyable, a look back at the World War II years that's only a tad nostalgic and doesn't hold back its punches when it really matters. Joining Cary Grant are Ray Walston, Suzy Parker and Werner Klemperer. And Jayne Mansfield is pretty awesome. I don't know if she was a great actress but she was certainly a very savvy, sly performer who just couldn't quite find her niche in the films of the 1950s and 1960s. (Except maybe for Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? I also love Primitive Love and The Wild, Wild World of Jayne Mansfield. And I also have a soft spot for The Girl Can't Help It, The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw and her Hercules movie.) And in smaller roles, Kathleen Freeman, Richard Deacon and Nancy Kulp! |
|
|
|
Post by Hoosier X on Apr 18, 2016 16:36:20 GMT -5
Over the weekend, I watched Burnt Offerings (1976) and Rocky Horror Picture Show (1976). Burnt Offerings was on TCM and I saw it because it's on my Bette Davis list. It's a haunted house movie with quite a cast, including Karen Black, Oliver Reed, Burgess Meredith, Eileen Heckart and Dub Taylor. It's not a great haunted house movie, but it's got a lot of great actors who are fun to watch. I was especially amused by Oliver Reed. I'd forgotten how entertaining he can be when he starts sulking or coping with the dramatic problems he's faced with in his many cheesy genre roles. It makes me want to see Curse of the Werewolf again. Karen Black is also noteworthy. I've loved her since I saw Trilogy of Terror on TV when I was a kid. My favorite thing about the "Time Warp" number?" Columbia's outfit! I saw Rocky Horror a bunch of times in the 1980s and I actually saw it again about ten years ago. OMG! It's so much fun! But I've never seen it without a bunch of yelling and screaming and getting hit in the back of the head with toast and cards and what-not. I've long been curious about what it's like if you watch it and judge it as a movie on its own merits without being drunk and deafened and physically abused by fellow movie patrons. I noticed it was scheduled on LOGO, so I DVRed it and watched it yesterday, just me and the cat. Next time I watch it, I'll make popcorn. And there will be a next time! I loved it! Whenever I could remember the shout-out lines, I would shout them out. Like during the dinner scene, you say "What's for dinner? Meat Loaf!" (I even remembered a few local shout-outs that were only funny in Muncie, Ind. Like when they show the conventioneers lined up to see the birth of Rocky in the lab, you yell "Muncie Central football team!") I did not delete it from the DVR. I think I'll want to see this again soon. |
|
|
|
Post by Ish Kabbible on Apr 19, 2016 16:18:09 GMT -5
Diner (1982) Steve Guttenberg, Kevin Bacon, Daniel Stern, Mickey Rourke, Tim Daly, Ellen Barkin, Paul Reiser Written/Directed by Barry Levinson
1959 Baltimore. A group of young 20-year old life long friends. One's married, one's going to get married if his fiancée passes his football trivia quiz, one owes the mob $2000 on gambling debts, one is a spoiled drunk wise guy. They wind up at the diner at the end of the day quite often
Barry Levinson's first film, later going on to greater fame with The Natural, Rain Man et.al. There's no real plot, its character interplay and personalities, a good sense of that bygone time. Amazingly all the actors and actresses for the film where pretty much unknowns at that time. MGM was quite hesitant in releasing it, thinking there was no reason folks would pay to see it. But these are characters you can relate to, probably had similar experiences as them. I for one at that age who spend the night with a group of friends and at the end we would wind up at a diner before going home. I got the bacon cheeseburger, fries with some gravy and a vanilla coke. We talk about the girls we tried to pick up and argue about sports or other silliness. Good times.
Yes, its a small film but worth seeing for the cast and their acting. Bacon and Rourke are quite good. Levinson has written some great dialogue too. Baltimore, 1959-I'm sure John Waters is probably at that diner too |
|
|
|
Post by Ish Kabbible on Apr 20, 2016 0:05:12 GMT -5
Cracking open a Cary Grant DVD boxset- 4 films from the late stage of his career. Probably watch only 1 every day or so. It's not prime Archibald
Operation Petticoat (1959) Cary Grant, Tony Curtis, Dina Merrill, Dick Sergent, Gavin McLeod, Marion Ross, Virginia Gregg
Cary is a submariner commander during WWII. His new sub gets sunk before it's maiden voyage. They are barely able to manage raising it back up but must travel over a thousand miles in the Japanese patrolled Pacific to get the proper repairs. Tony Curtis is on board as a Lt. and master supply scavenger. A group of 5 women nurses who were stranded are also aboard for the ride
This is where Gavin McLeod got his training to be a future skipper for The Love Boat. Otherwise, the humor here is very dry, maybe 2 or 3 chuckles are to be found. It's a fact during this time shooting the film that Cary Grant was taking LSD thru a doctor that supplied him with the drug. Watch the TV show McHale's Navy instead for better comedy
|
|
|
|
Post by Ish Kabbible on Apr 20, 2016 2:54:09 GMT -5
Over The Edge (1979) Michael Kramer, Matt Dillon, Vincent Spano, Ellen Geer, Harry Northup
A upper middle class planned community in 1979. Bored teenagers have nothing to do but get high and get crazy
The opening prologue "In 1978 110,000 kids under 18 were arrested for crimes of vandalism in the United States. This story is based on true incidents occurring during the 70's in a planned suburban community of condominiums and townhomes, where city planners ignored the fact that a quarter of the population was 15 years old or younger".
I'm expecting Jack Webb from Dragnet to crack down on these young punks and lecture them on the evils of mary jane and loud rock music.
Matt Dillon's debut. Kurt Cobain's favorite movie and inspiration for the video to Smells Like Teen Spirit. A good double bill with The Warriors. Has a soundtrack including Cheap Trick and Hendrix.
These punks better stay off my lawn
|
|
|
|
Post by Hoosier X on Apr 20, 2016 8:56:45 GMT -5
I watched Kind Lady (1951) last night. It's about a home invasion in Victorian England. I found it rather compelling, only stopping once to bring the dogs in. Kind Lady features Ethel Barrymore, Maurice Evans (most famous for his portrayal of Dr. Zaius in Planet of the Apes), Angela Lansbury (reprising her Gaslight accent) and Keenan Wynn. A fine film for a Tuesday evening. I also DVRed Pinky, the 1949 film in which Jeanne Crain plays a black girl. |
|
_02.jpg)
