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Post by berkley on May 29, 2014 23:34:49 GMT -5
Andromeda had a couple good seasons there. Several friends of mine used to watch it but I could never get over the lead actor, Kevin Sorbo, from Hercules and that horrendous Kull movie. I did like Lexa Doig, though. |
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Post by Ish Kabbible on May 30, 2014 11:26:13 GMT -5
Badlands (1973)
Martin Sheen,Sissy Spacek,Warren Oates
D-Terrence Malick
Based on the real-life 1958 killing spree of 25 year old Charles Starkweather and his 15 year old girlfriend in South Dakota
The disspassioned and random style of these killings are much more effective and chilling than something like Natural Born Killers.Malick's directing debut is unjudgemental.Photography of the flatlands is beautiful. Sheen and Spacek both give intriguing performances.Criterion DVD includes a 48 minute making of,interview with the producer and an episode of American Justice about the real-life killer 8 of 10 stars
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Post by Ish Kabbible on May 30, 2014 13:01:46 GMT -5
Coincidences ....or something else
Rosemarie's Baby and The Beatles
Directed by Roman Polanski, whose pregnant wife actress Sharon Tate was murdered in 1969 by Charles Manson and his followers, who titled their death spree "Helter Skelter" after the 1968 song by The Beatles, one of whose members, John Lennon, would one day live (and in 1980 be murdered) in the Manhattan apartment building called The Dakota - where Rosemary's Baby had been filmed. The Beatles wrote the song "Dear Prudence" about Prudence Farrow, sister of Rosemary herself, Mia Farrow who starred in the movie. 
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Post by The Man of Tomorrow on May 30, 2014 15:22:51 GMT -5
I'm watching No Time for Sergeants right now. OMG! Don Knotts is hysterical! The whole thing is hysterical! I actually saw the earlier teleplay sometime during the mid-'80s on WNET in NY and it was just as funny as the film. |
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Post by Jasoomian on May 31, 2014 11:06:20 GMT -5
I second the thumbs-up on Magic Christian. I studied Badlands in a film class as an undergrad. Beautiful cinematography. Natural Born Killers is certainly more kinetic, but I think it is a powerful film as well.
Rosemary's Baby is the scariest film ever. There is no denying the dark energy in the Dakota. It's no coincidence Yoko moved John there. She wasn't above using black withcraft to keep him under her thumb.
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Post by Ish Kabbible on May 31, 2014 14:29:54 GMT -5
Blood Diamond (2006)
Leonardo DiCaprio,Djimon Hounsou,Jennifer Connelly
D-Edward Zwick
Admidst a civil war in Sierra Leone,a fisherman (Hounsou) finds a rare,100 carat pink diamond. Separated from his family,the fisherman's find is now the target for the local warlord,a diamond smuggler (DiCaprio) working for the cartels and a band of mercenaries.A reporter (Connelly) is covering the story of how the illegal diamond trade fuels the violence
A movie to raise your consciousness of the struggles in 3rd world nations created by the greed in the western world. The film succeeds .In what should be a paradise on earth location, the locals are just as guilty in sucumbing to the lure of power and wealth and brutalize their fellow people.Nothing can be as disturbing as watching young children brainwashed and trained to be killers.The violence is intense.The performances by DiCaprio and Hounsou are riveting. Connelly doesn't come close to that level
One distracting moment.Solomon Vandy,the fisherman is separated from his family and time passes when he comes upon a giant refugee camp holding a million people from his nation.As he approaches the fence from the outside,he spots his wife and daughter. Even in Africa,the magic of Hollywood works
A great action/political thriller 8 and 1/2 stars of 10
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Post by Ish Kabbible on May 31, 2014 14:42:35 GMT -5
Boom Town (1940)
Clark Gable,Spencer Tracy,Claudette Colbert,Hedy Lamarr,Frank Morgan,Lionel Atwill,Chill Wills
D-Jack Conway
Two buddies who rise from fly-by-night wildcatters to oil tycoons over a twenty year period both love the same woman
3rd and final pairing between Gable and Tracy. The cast has perfect characters to portray.Gable as a man's man who's real life father worked the oil fields as did young Clark. Tracy as a square-shooting no nonsense rival/buddy of Gable's who gets an opportunity for an eloquent speech in a court room. Colbert as the object of their affections,trying to domesticate Gable and trying to be strong against his womenizing. Lamarr as the alluring,femme fatale.
There is a spectacular oil field fire scene that stands up to modern special effects.This film was #1 in the box office for 1940 and is easy to see why. 8 of 10 stars
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Post by gothos on May 31, 2014 15:26:15 GMT -5
Raft turned down both The Maltese Falcon and High Sierra. He was pivotal in making Bogart a star. One Bogart bio-- I forget which-- claimed that Raft would sometimes consult Bogart, who would tell him, "Naw, that part ain't your style; it's no good" and then take the part himself when Raft turned it down. We'll never know if it's true. But it's a fair likelihood that Bogart probably did a better acting-job with any role Raft turned down. |
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Post by Ish Kabbible on May 31, 2014 23:54:11 GMT -5
Branded To Kill (1967)
Jo Shishido,Koji Nanbara
D-Seijun Suzuki
The number-three-ranked hit-man (Shishido), with a fetish for sniffing boiling rice, fumbles his latest job, which puts him into conflict with a mysterious woman whose death wish inspires her to surround herself with dead butterflies and dead birds. Worse danger comes from his own treacherous wife and finally with the number-one-ranked hit-man (Nanbara), and their deadly showdown
I've seen plenty of weird films.This is a great weird one. When the dirextor completed this film and gave it to the movie studio,they immediately fired him and shelved it.A court battle decided that the director had sucessfully completed his contract no matter what the studio thought of the finished product.Suzuki got paid,the movie released to recoup the money and the director was blackballed from further films for 10 years
Actor Jo Shishido had gotten check surgery for his face and always looks like he's got 2 golf balls in his mouth. He became a big star after the surgery. In the film there's plenty of gun battles (why I'm not sure),Jo is constantly searching for boiled rice to smell and eat,a man gets his eyeball plucked for some reason,the mysterious #1 hit-man pisses in his pants and there is loads of naked women and sex scenes.
I liked the previous Youth Of The Beast by the same director/actor team.But that was a "normal" film that will fade in my memory.This one won't. 7 of 10 stars
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Post by Jesse on Jun 2, 2014 3:35:23 GMT -5
The Lair of the White Worm (1988)  Just watched this on FEARnet On Demand and was surprised at how young Peter Capaldi looks. I almost didn't recognize him. Capaldi plays an archaeologist who unearths an unusually large snake skull. Legend tells that it was slain by the ancestor of Hugh Grant's character. The sexy villainess played by Amanda Donohoe is actually an immortal vampire priestess. She steals the skull and plans to sacrifice a virgin to her snake god Dionin. It's all the fun of a Hammer Film without actually being a Hammer movie. The specials effects are pretty low budget and there's a little bad acting but other than that it's a really solid B-movie.
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Post by paulie on Jun 2, 2014 14:25:30 GMT -5
Branded To Kill (1967)
Jo Shishido,Koji Nanbara
D-Seijun Suzuki
The number-three-ranked hit-man (Shishido), with a fetish for sniffing boiling rice, fumbles his latest job, which puts him into conflict with a mysterious woman whose death wish inspires her to surround herself with dead butterflies and dead birds. Worse danger comes from his own treacherous wife and finally with the number-one-ranked hit-man (Nanbara), and their deadly showdown I've seen plenty of weird films.This is a great weird one. When the dirextor completed this film and gave it to the movie studio,they immediately fired him and shelved it.A court battle decided that the director had sucessfully completed his contract no matter what the studio thought of the finished product.Suzuki got paid,the movie released to recoup the money and the director was blackballed from further films for 10 years Actor Jo Shishido had gotten check surgery for his face and always looks like he's got 2 golf balls in his mouth. He became a big star after the surgery. In the film there's plenty of gun battles (why I'm not sure),Jo is constantly searching for boiled rice to smell and eat,a man gets his eyeball plucked for some reason,the mysterious #1 hit-man pisses in his pants and there is loads of naked women and sex scenes. I liked the previous Youth Of The Beast by the same director/actor team.But that was a "normal" film that will fade in my memory.This one won't. 7 of 10 stars Have you seen Tokyo Drifter? I like that one a little better than Branded to Kill. The garish Technicolor just does it for me. |
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Jun 2, 2014 14:59:30 GMT -5
Branded To Kill (1967)
Jo Shishido,Koji Nanbara
D-Seijun Suzuki
The number-three-ranked hit-man (Shishido), with a fetish for sniffing boiling rice, fumbles his latest job, which puts him into conflict with a mysterious woman whose death wish inspires her to surround herself with dead butterflies and dead birds. Worse danger comes from his own treacherous wife and finally with the number-one-ranked hit-man (Nanbara), and their deadly showdown I've seen plenty of weird films.This is a great weird one. When the dirextor completed this film and gave it to the movie studio,they immediately fired him and shelved it.A court battle decided that the director had sucessfully completed his contract no matter what the studio thought of the finished product.Suzuki got paid,the movie released to recoup the money and the director was blackballed from further films for 10 years Actor Jo Shishido had gotten check surgery for his face and always looks like he's got 2 golf balls in his mouth. He became a big star after the surgery. In the film there's plenty of gun battles (why I'm not sure),Jo is constantly searching for boiled rice to smell and eat,a man gets his eyeball plucked for some reason,the mysterious #1 hit-man pisses in his pants and there is loads of naked women and sex scenes. I liked the previous Youth Of The Beast by the same director/actor team.But that was a "normal" film that will fade in my memory.This one won't. 7 of 10 stars Have you seen Tokyo Drifter? I like that one a little better than Branded to Kill. The garish Technicolor just does it for me. Not yet.I already own and need to watch Suzuki's Gate of Flesh,Fighting Elegy and Story of a Prostitute.Then I'll track down Tokyo Drifter |
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on Jun 2, 2014 15:57:47 GMT -5
The Lair of the White Worm (1988)  Just watched this on FEARnet On Demand and was surprised at how young Peter Capaldi looks. I almost didn't recognize him. Capaldi plays an archaeologist who unearths an unusually large snake skull. Legend tells that it was slain by the ancestor of Hugh Grant's character. The sexy villainess played by Amanda Donohoe is actually an immortal vampire priestess. She steals the skull and plans to sacrifice a virgin to her snake god Dionin. It's all the fun of a Hammer Film without actually being a Hammer movie. The specials effects are pretty low budget and there's a little bad acting but other than that it's a really solid B-movie. I enjoyed it when I watched it for the first time some months back. There was a gory eyes scene (my personal turn your head body part violence) and the end was not what I expected. And I like predatory women. |
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Jun 2, 2014 17:18:31 GMT -5
Cinema Paradiso (1988)
Salvatore Casio,Marco Leonardi,Jacques Perrin,Agnese Nano
D-Giuseppe Tornatore
A little boy's love of the movies circa 1945 in a little Italian town. He grows to be the projectionist and falls madly in love with a girl whose father forbids their relationship.
I've seen the 173 minute director's cut.One of the best films I've seen in quite a while.If you love movies,the history of movies,the heartbreak of love then this is a must see.A beautiful soundtrack and wonderful acting between Casio,Leonardi and Perrin all portraying Toto Di Vita as he ages.This is a movie I will want to see again in a few years.I will refrain from further summarizing and only recommend this with my first 10 out of 10 stars
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Post by Jasoomian on Jun 2, 2014 17:22:14 GMT -5
I watched Lost In Translation (2003). Not much in terms of a plot there, but good performances by Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson.
Also of note -- TCM is playing the newly-restored print of A Hard Day's Night tonight.
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