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Post by batlaw on Aug 17, 2015 19:55:35 GMT -5
Since my library had a collection of all the HELLRAISER films, except for the first two and the very last (which did not include the iconic Pinhead), I've been meaning to plow my way through them for free while I had the chance. My verdict, speaking as one who liked the second film better than the first: a couple of the later sequels are decent, but a couple are awful, and the rest are middling at best. Something about the franchise just didn't lend itself to Work By Diverse Hands, unlike (IMO) the Jason and Freddy films. I didn't follow EPIC's Hellraiser comic, but I did enjoy the HELLRAISER/NIGHTBREED crossover. And that made me wonder what would have to happen to do a crossover between Pinhead and-- Freddy Krueger! Of course Freddy hasn't been well served by comics writers in my experience. Still, I'd love to see Pinhead's dry British wit counterpoised against Freddy's diabolical wisecracks. And since both are otherworldly figures, a crossover wouldn't strain one's brain. Since neither Bradley nor Englund is likely to play either famous character, comics would probably be the only place they'd ever meet... Liked the hellraiser movies at the time but only saw the first 3? Really liked the comic and had the whole run. Dug nightbreed and got those books and that crossover too (thought I was the only one lol). I just recently depressingly sold all those books, though the sob claimed he received an empty box so it's all gone for nothing.
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Aug 18, 2015 18:01:23 GMT -5
Limelight (1952) Charlie Chaplin, Claire Bloom, Nigel Bruce, Buster Keaton
Watched all the earlier Chaplin classics a few years back but never got to this one, his final American film, until now A has-been alcoholic actor rescues a suicidal young woman in his apartment building and tries to restore her will to live. There are touches of sheer comic brilliance in this film and some very funny dialogue too. Much of the self-deprecating monologue spoken by Chaplin's character could very well be his own reflection on what had happened to his career by this stage of his life. Its maudlin and sentimental as well but Chaplin knows when to get back to the comedy. A highlight is in the finale when Chaplin and Buster Keaton team up for the first and only time for a stage skit. It starts slow but ends as a classic. Easily, anyone who watches movies and loves the art form needs to see Chaplin's work. DUH!!!
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Aug 18, 2015 18:11:47 GMT -5
Wild Strawberries (1957) D-Ingmar Bergman
A 75 year old professor is taking a long car ride to a university to be honored. Alongside is his young daughter-in-law (Bibi Anderson) and 3 teens that need a ride. The professor reflects on his younger days, has various dreams and learns a secret about his son
The film that made Bergman an internationally known director. The opening dream sequence is harrowingly magnificent. However, after that I had a tough time keeping my interest with this navel-gazing film. It did pick up again for the final half hour with another dream sequence and revelations about the professor's family.
Am I a failure as a movie lover for not shouting hosannas to the heavens over this classic Bergman film? Do I need to punish myself with forced Transformer movie viewing? Please forgive me for I might have sinned
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Post by Hoosier X on Aug 19, 2015 0:35:09 GMT -5
Limelight (1952) Charlie Chaplin, Claire Bloom, Nigel Bruce, Buster Keaton
I saw Limelight a few years ago, and it's amazing. I really admire him for his later films, because he seemed to be experimenting and getting past the "Little Tramp" character after The Great Dictator. Claire Bloom is magical in Limelight and it is great to see Chaplin and Keaton working together. Coincidentally, I saw A Countess from Hong Kong tonight. I found it for free on the Internet. This is the infamous 1967 film that Chaplin directed and it starred Marlon Brando and Sophia Loren. It also features Tippi Hedren and Margaret Rutherford and, in a small role, Geraldine Chaplin. It has a reputation for being pretty bad, but over the years (I think I first heard of this film when I bought a book about the films of Charlie Chaplin in the 1970s) I've seen all of Chaplin's feature films except this one. So when I found it for free, I decided to watch it before it disappears! (It used to be free on YouTube, and I noticed it but didn't watch it for a few weeks and by the time I went back to it, it had been removed.) It's ... interesting. I don't think it deserves its bad reputation. But it is very odd. There are a couple of amusing scenes that are very Chaplinesque, a sort of comedy ballet with Brando and Lauren in a suite on an ocean liner. It's a bit off. But everybody gets an A for effort. My mom saw it in theaters when it first came out! (I was three, so I didn't go.) She was surprised when I said it had a reputation for being a bad movie. She remembered enjoying herself and really liking Brando and Loren. She doesn't remember ever hearing anybody put it down when it first came out. I saved one amazing little bit of trivia for last. Carol Cleveland is in it! She's Margaret Rutherford's nurse and she only has a few lines. Carol Cleveland would get much better roles a few years later when she started appearing with Monty Python's Flying Circus and she would appear in one of the best of the movies of the 1970s, Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Bad Zoot! Bad wicked naughty Zoot!
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Post by Hoosier X on Aug 19, 2015 0:44:47 GMT -5
Wild Strawberries (1957) D-Ingmar Bergman
A 75 year old professor is taking a long car ride to a university to be honored. Alongside is his young daughter-in-law (Bibi Anderson) and 3 teens that need a ride. The professor reflects on his younger days, has various dreams and learns a secret about his son
The film that made Bergman an internationally known director. The opening dream sequence is harrowingly magnificent. However, after that I had a tough time keeping my interest with this navel-gazing film. It did pick up again for the final half hour with another dream sequence and revelations about the professor's family.
Am I a failure as a movie lover for not shouting hosannas to the heavens over this classic Bergman film? Do I need to punish myself with forced Transformer movie viewing? Please forgive me for I might have sinned I love this movie. Maybe you'll like it better if you watch it again in a few years! Ingrid Thulin is the daughter-n-law. Bibi Andersson is one of the teens. They're both great. Bibi especially is hilarious. I talked my mom into watching it. She DVRed it and watched it 10 to 20 minutes at a time for a week. She didn't like it too much. (She wants to see more classic foreign films so I tell her when a good one is on TCM. She loved Kurosawa's Throne of Blood, so this experiment hasn't been a total wash. Maybe I should have suggested Smiles of a Summer Night instead of Wild Strawberries?)
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Aug 19, 2015 13:41:01 GMT -5
The Tin Drum (1979)
In the late 1920s in Danzig, Poland Oskar Matzerath is born. By the age of 3 he is obsessed with his tin drum, beating it constantly. He is also turned off by the behavior he sees amongst adults. He decides to stop growing, never becoming one himself. And so it was. He also discovers he has a voice like Ella Fitzgerald, able to break glass when he screams. He's a celebrity in the playground
So the years past, Oskar learns he has a different, true father. His mother develops a weird appetite for fish. The Nazis rise to power in Germany and annex Danzig. Society changes, the drums of war begin to beat (not Oskar's tin drum- he tries to counter-rhythm the war cadence). But Oskar does not grow
I have a personnel history with this film. I had met a then current porn actress and we had a first date back then. She wanted to see this film during its debut at a Manhattan art house cinema. A 3 hour long foreign film all in subtitles. Immature Ish wasn't thrilled but was even willing enough to go to an opera in a tux for his first date with this lusty lady. And guess what-it was a great film and I learned she had a brain as well as a hot body. At least until the 2nd date when she decided for us to see Beatlemania live on Broadway.
But I digress. A great epic that will haunt you the rest of your life. Even without a porn star escort
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Post by Rob Allen on Aug 19, 2015 17:46:57 GMT -5
The Tin Drum (1979) A great epic that will haunt you the rest of your life. True indeed. I saw the movie once, decades ago, and there are scenes I remember clearly, like the counter-rhythm scene you mention.
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Aug 20, 2015 15:29:25 GMT -5
Rashomon (1950) D-Akira Kurasawa Toshiro Mifune
A husband and wife journeying through the forest are beset by a bandit. The husband is defeated in battle and tied up. The wife is raped. Not long after the body of the husband is found, stabbed to death by a passerby. At a trial, the bandit tells his story of what happened. The wife re-surfaces and gives a conflicting version. A spiritual medium contacts the dead husband and receives yet a third version. Which is true? Can the unexpected 4th version be the correct one?
An all time classic movie-amongst the few that needs to be seen by cinema buffs or even casual fans before your last buttered popcorn gets served to you. What else is there to say. Available through Criterion
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Aug 20, 2015 15:43:33 GMT -5
Grand Prix (1966) James Gardner, Yves Montand, Eva Marie Saint, Toshiro Mifune, Jessica Walter
Big scale formula one racing epic bloated to a 3 hour length with various soap opera subplots. The racing scenes , which probably accounts for over an hour of the film are excellent-filmed to give you the sense of being in the driver's seat. Many many multi screen shots as well- a film that helped contribute to that late 60s special effect's popularity. Ron Howard copied many of the story points for his recent film Rush from this film (drivers complaining about upcoming rain conditions before the event/ racing through the rain/ driver on drugs)
Pete Aron (Garner) is an American racer who may have caused the near death of his teammate in a race. Aron's fired from the team but re-hired by Japanese car manufacturer Mifune. Aron's team mate slowly recovers, takes a boatload of drugs and begins to race again. Reigning champion Sarti (Montand) puts the make on a female reporter.
Plenty of 1960s male chauvinism. Beavis and Butthead's favorite movie title
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Aug 21, 2015 14:05:27 GMT -5
Empire Of The Sun (1987) D-Steven Spielberg Christian Bale, John Malkovich, Joe Pantoliano, Ben Stiller
When the Japanese invade Shanghai, a young Bristih boy is separated from his parents and placed in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp for the duration. Based on J.G. Ballard's autobiography.
Grabbed this DVD off the shelf without looking at the box. The credits didn't appear until the end of the 155 minute long epic .So I had no idea I was watching 13 year old Christian Bale in his feature debut. Like his subsequent work, Bale is both annoying and mesmerizing. Taken as a whole, you do have to give him loads of credit for this challenging beginning to his career. This was also Spielberg's 2nd "serious" movie, after The Color Purple. The invasion scenes are spectacular. The POW sequences are quite good. Malkovich gives a bravura performance. Ben Stiller also has his film debut.
An excellent movie
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Aug 21, 2015 14:14:06 GMT -5
Rushmore (1987) D-Wes Anderson Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray
Wes Anderson's sophomore feature film. Max Fischer participates in an insane amount of extra-curricular activities at school. That plus has odd behavior gets him expelled from Rushmore prep and forces him into a public high school. Meanwhile he's infatuated by his friend's mother and winds up as a rival for her affections with Bill Murray
Quirky is the word for Wes Anderson. Schwartzman's film debut and has gone on to other Anderson movies. Quirky describes him as well. Quirky is good. Rushmore is good. Quirky Quirky Quirky
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Post by dupersuper on Aug 21, 2015 19:50:04 GMT -5
Rushmore (1987) D-Wes Anderson Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray Wes Anderson's sophomore feature film. Max Fischer participates in an insane amount of extra-curricular activities at school. That plus has odd behavior gets him expelled from Rushmore prep and forces him into a public high school. Meanwhile he's infatuated by his friend's mother and winds up as a rival for her affections with Bill Murray Quirky is the word for Wes Anderson. Schwartzman's film debut and has gone on to other Anderson movies. Quirky describes him as well. Quirky is good. Rushmore is good. Quirky Quirky Quirky 87?? God, I'm old...
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Aug 22, 2015 14:58:22 GMT -5
The Hill (1965) Sean Connery, Ossie Davis, Harry Andrews, Michael Redgrave
Its a British military disciplinarian fort in the middle of the North African desert during WWII. A place were the insubordinate, Awol., thieves and malcontents wind up for punishment. In the center of the yard is a massive pile of sand and stone which the prisoners march up and down as part of their regimen. Sean Connery plays a washed-up Sgt. who disobeyed orders and struck his commanding officer. He, along with his 4 cellmates, must withstand the brutal treatment of one of the staff while the other commanders look the other way
The movie starts off rather harsh and relentlessly builds to a powerful conclusion. It certainly did not look to be a pleasure for the actors to film this movie. Made in-between Goldfinger and Thunderball, Connery is at his prime. An excellent film for fans of prison fare or sweat ,
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Aug 22, 2015 15:08:12 GMT -5
Seabiscuit (2007) Toby MaGuire, Jeff Bridges, Chris Cooper
The story of the depression-era champion racehorse as well as the background of its owner, trainer and jockey. The little horse that could
It canters along in the beginning to give us the origins of red-haired Toby, Jeff Bridges the car-manufacturer (soon to invent the Tucker) and Chris Cooper (he who thinks like a horse). It begins to gallop when Seabiscuit makes his appearance and races along until its conclusion. Bill Macy as a radio racetrack reporter almost steals film. Enjoyable. Excellent race sequences
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Post by Prince Hal on Aug 22, 2015 15:20:23 GMT -5
Seabiscuit (2007) Toby MaGuire, Jeff Bridges, Chris Cooper
The story of the depression-era champion racehorse as well as the background of its owner, trainer and jockey. The little horse that could
It canters along in the beginning to give us the origins of red-haired Toby, Jeff Bridges the car-manufacturer (soon to invent the Tucker) and Chris Cooper (he who thinks like a horse). It begins to gallop when Seabiscuit makes his appearance and races along until its conclusion. Bill Macy as a radio racetrack reporter almost steals film. Enjoyable. Excellent race sequences I very much enjoyed this, too. Read the book, though, which was even better.
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