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Post by Ish Kabbible on Aug 23, 2015 13:52:24 GMT -5
Ugetsu (1953)
A supernatural Japanese film concerning war, greed and ambition. A pottery maker is doing bang-up business due to the threat of an upcoming war. However, he's so consumed with making money that he neglects to protect his wife and child for the upcoming conflict. He leaves them behind at home as he peddles his wares in the city. He comes upon a beautiful lady and her maid who are willing to buy most of his wares. They invite him to their exquisite home. He is captivated by her beauty and agrees to marry her. Meanwhile his true wife is killed by soldiers.
The potter leaves his 2nd wife's house to get some supplies. He learns that her family was wiped out some years back. In fact, the beautiful lady herself was killed. Upon returning, its confirmed she is a ghost, a young lady who died as a virgin and returned to find love and a husband who she'll keep forever.
Not scary, but effectively eerie. An easy film an average viewer to become captivated with. I'm sure this tale has been retold many times in western films and even comics but the original Japanese tale should be checked out. It is both haunting and beautiful
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Aug 23, 2015 14:03:40 GMT -5
This Sporting Life (1963) Richard Harris, Rachel Roberts
Character study of a brutish blue-collared British rugby player who rents a room from a young mother who's recently widowed. Richard Harris is a rough and tumble player who finally begins to earn good money when a professional team hires him. The widow is quiet and reserved, shut off from the world since her husbands death. This is not a couple who would have an easy relationship.
I know nothing about rugby, which is something like American football without forward passing. There are some rugby sequences but most definitely not the focus of the film. Richard Harris is mesmerizing and a tremendous actor
Available on Criterion. Includes deleted scenes which depict what happened to the rugby player after his career was over. Seems he had a baking talent, especially with cakes. But all the kicks in the head from his playing days left him a bit addled and he began to leave his cakes out in the middle of the park during inclement weather. The parks department began to fine him since the cakes melted and all that sweet icing turned to mush. Soon enough, he completely forgot the recipe. Hopefully rugby players now where helmets to prevent brain damage. Or one only hopes
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Aug 24, 2015 14:32:48 GMT -5
Slaughter-House 5 (1972) Michael Sacks, Valerie Perrine, Ron Liebman
Adaptation of a Kurt Vonnegut novel wherein Billy Pilgrim is a man unstuck in time. He bounces around from his days as a POW In Dresden Germany and witness to the firebombing of that city in 1945. In a blink of an eye he's now a middleaged man starting life in suburbia in the 50s, then an older man in the 1970s with a teenage hippie son. He's also held captive on the planet Tralfalmadore with porn star actress Montana Widhack as aliens watch how earthlings mate.
I enjoyed reading the novel back in the 1970s . The movie unfortunately is not quite effective and I think its mostly due to the bland acting of the lead actor. You just don't get affected by his performance, its quite bland. No wonder I never heard of this actor. Too bad. You do get plenty of topless Valerie Perrine scenes however and Ron Leibman, as an obnoxious POW, is excellent. Definitely watchable but a missed opportunity
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Aug 25, 2015 15:33:54 GMT -5
Touching The Void (2003)
Spectacular feature length documentary about two young men who, for the first time, successfully scaled a 21,000 ft. high mountain in Peru. Getting to the top was the easy part. I didn't watch the extra featurette on the DVD about the making of this film, but the visuals are unbelievably chilling. A perfect film to see during the hot summer months
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Aug 25, 2015 15:41:48 GMT -5
A Touch Of Class (1973) George Segal, Glenda Jackson
Lightweight rom-com concerning a married American businessman in London and his affair with a divorced woman. The movie is saved solely on the performances of the lead characters. Glenda Jackson seems like Katherine Hepburn's younger clone. This entry gives me an excuse to list my favorite George Seal films:
A Ship Of Fools King Rat Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? The Quiller Memorandum Where's Poppa? The Owl And The Pussycat The Hot Rock California Split The Duchess And The Dirtwater Fox
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Aug 26, 2015 13:32:42 GMT -5
Two-Faced Woman (1941) Greta Garbo, Melvyn Douglas, Constance Bennett, Ruth Gordon
Ah, if only this was a tale about a female Harvey Dent. Instead we have a clichéd and quite unfunny comedy about the marriage of a magazine publisher (Douglas) and a ski instructor (Garbo). They marry within 12 hours of meeting each other at a ski resort. During their honeymoon night in separate beds, the publisher promises to quit his job and live in the country. The next day he demands his wife accompany him back to the city s he can resume work. They go their separate ways. Garbo then decides to spy on her husband but in the guise of an identical twin sister. Douglas can't be fooled and plays along, pretending to fall in love with the sister
Was this idea fresh back in 1941? I doubt it. Was it funny back then? Doubtful too. Did this cause Garbo to quit Hollywood and demand to be alone? It was her last movie
Fun to watch Ruth Gordon as Douglas' young secretary
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Aug 26, 2015 13:45:04 GMT -5
Boogie Nights (1993) Mark Wahlberg, Burt Reynolds, Julienne Moore, John C. Reilly, Don Cheadle, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Luis Guzman, Heather Graham, William H. Macy
Epic film of the "rise" and fall of porn star actor Dirk Diggler (Wahlberg) who's the top star amongst director's Jack Horner's cast of thespians.
I enjoyed this film even more so on 2nd viewing than on its original release due to my now being familiar with all the wonderful supporting cast. Even at 2 1/2 hours the film movies quickly, plenty of fun, great soundtrack apropos of the late 70s/ early 80s time period and colorful, vibrant cinematography. Back in '93 this was hailed as Burt Reynold's comeback film.
Definitely not for prudes. Prodigious amounts of sex and drugs. For the subject matter, what would you expect? I give it two big ****** up
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Aug 28, 2015 14:36:03 GMT -5
National Velvet (1944) Elizabeth Taylor, Mickey Rooney, Angela Lansbury. Donald Crisp
England in the 1920s and a very young girl is infatuated by her neighbor's horse, Pie. She wins the horse in a raffle, discovers it has an inbred talent of jumping hurdles and winds up entering him in England Grand National Sweepstakes, a race of 4 1/2 miles and 30 jumps. When Mickey Rooney, a former jockey hesitates to ride it in the race, La Liz cuts her hair and becomes the jockey herself
Elizabeth was 12 years old when this was filmed. WOW. Angela Lansbury was a hot 19 year old teen. WOW. Mickey Rooney looked like he always done. The horse looks great too. A nice family film. Very good racing sequence for the finale. Donald Crisp did a fine job as a Liz's father. Arthur Treacher is in the movie and hadn't opened any restaurants yet. Do they still exist?
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Aug 28, 2015 14:43:00 GMT -5
Stone Killer (1973) Charles Bronson, Norman Fell, Martin Balsam
Charles Bronson, former NYC detective accused of being gun-happy, now works in L.A. When a mod war breaks out between various families on both coasts, Bronson is sucked back into NY to help put an end to the carnage
Obviously the money-making Godfather film spurred this movie into production. Plenty of dialogue like "El capo de tutti frutti " and "this thing of ours". Plenty of action, gunplay, car chases, big Afros, loud clothes, wah-wah guitar-everything you'd want in an early 70s film. Norman Fell is Bronson's boss who's just hoping to retire and become a landlord somewhere. Martin Balsam is a mob boss which I just don't buy
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Aug 28, 2015 14:50:05 GMT -5
Three Of Hearts (1993) William Baldwin, Sherilyn Fenn, Kelly Lynch, Joe Pantoliano
Fenn and Lynch are lesbian lovers. Fenn breaks off the romance, needing to think things over. Lynch is heartbroken and desperately wants her back. Lynch meets male escort Baldwin. Baldwin is willing to help by meeting Fenn, starting a relationship, breaking her heart and turning her off to men again thereby driving her back to Lynch. Something like that but of course this is a rom-com so he falls for Fenn as well. Which pisses off Lynch. Which also pisses off Baldwin's escort agency boss Pantoliano since Baldwin is slacking off his job with older rich women.
Silly story but the actors and actresses are entertaining. Sherilyn Fenn has great eyebrows
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Post by berkley on Aug 28, 2015 23:52:34 GMT -5
Loved Boogie Nights but I don't think the director has ever managed to reach that level of near-perfection again in anything he's done since, the ones I've seen at least.
A few years before that movie came out I read a fascinating article in Rolling Stone about the death of John Holmes, the famous 70s porn star, and I'm pretty sure the episode about the bungled drugs/money heist towards the end of the film must have been partly based on it. Really gripping narrative about sleazy side of Hollywood and one of the best true-crime reads I can recall coming across. Highly recommended, if you can track it down. I imagine it must be in one of the best-of Rolling Stone collections or on-line somewhere.
Charles Bronson is one of my favourite actors, and probably my number 1 favourite "tough guy" actor (thinking of the type that became prominent from the late 60s onwards, like Clint Eastwood, etc), but he seems to have had the bad luck - or bad judgement? - to have been in a lot of medicore to just plain bad movies. Where does Stone Killer rank in his filmography, would you say (Ish or anyone else with an opinion)?
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Post by batlaw on Aug 29, 2015 2:54:20 GMT -5
Boogie nights is great. It's most definitely based on john holmes and the infamous wonderland murders. It's a truly fascinating case and a good representation of police work. If interested and unaware, the movie actually based on the murders is called "wonderland". stars Val Kilmer and is an exceptional movie.
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Aug 29, 2015 15:26:07 GMT -5
Charles Bronson is one of my favourite actors, and probably my number 1 favourite "tough guy" actor (thinking of the type that became prominent from the late 60s onwards, like Clint Eastwood, etc), but he seems to have had the bad luck - or bad judgement? - to have been in a lot of medicore to just plain bad movies. Where does Stone Killer rank in his filmography, would you say (Ish or anyone else with an opinion)? Sticking to the films where Charles Bronson is the star , IMHO, Hard Times is my favorite by a long shot. A depression era actioner where Bronson is a touring bare-fisted boxer. #1 on my list
The Death Wish series would be next with diminishing results as you get further on.
Besides Stone Killer, I've seen St. Ives, Telefon, Kinjite, Assassination, Murphy's Law, Death Hunt, 10 To Midnight and possibly a few more. But after all these years, since I saw them when they were released (Stone Killer so far the only recently re-watched) I recall they were all somewhat decent but not special and fade from memory .
Hard Times is the only non-Death Wish film that made a big impression on me. Of course Bronson co-starred in some other great films like The Great Escape, Once Upon A Time In The West and The Dirty Dozen
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Aug 29, 2015 15:49:33 GMT -5
Missing (1982) Jack Lemmon, Sissy Spacek
Based on a true story. Some history:
During the Nixon administration, the people of Chile voted into office a socialist regime headed by Salvador Allende. U.S. policy would not abide with any country remotely sympathetic with Russia or Cuba. Fairly quickly, a right-wing coup d'etat by the Chilean military aided by covert American aid put an end to that. The military placed the country under strict and brutal lockdown. Mass executions of political prisoners where documented and the soccer stadium was used as a mass grave
In the film, a group of young, left-wing Americans decide to move to Chile when Allende took over. They are caught up by the military when the coup begins. Sissy Spacek returns to her Chilean home to find it trashed and her husband missing. The military denies any knowledge. The missing man's father (Jack Lemmon) arrives in Chile to help Sissy get answers. Lemmon is an American conservative but slowly begins to agree with Spcek's belief that the US government was complicent with the son's fate
A powerful political movie directed by Costa-Gavras. The depiction of Chile under martial law is very harrowing. Not to be missed
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Aug 29, 2015 15:56:11 GMT -5
Make Way For Tomorrow (1937) Victor Moore, Beulah Bondi, Faye Bainter, Thomas Mitchell
Anonther important film from Criterion and this is quite unique from Hollywood Barkley and Lucy have been married over 50 years and are now in their 70s. They lose their house when their saving run out. Even though they have 5 children, none are to anxious to have them both move in with them for varying reasons. Barkley and Lucy must separate and move into different homes of their children. They are seperated by hundreds of miles and unsure if they will ever be together again
A very sad story. The movie, thankfully doesn't wallow in melodrama but makes its point well. It still packs a punch after all these years. Some things don't age unfortunately
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