|
Post by Jesse on Sept 4, 2015 6:02:12 GMT -5
Eaten Alive (1977) Directer Tobe Hooper's follow up to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre where the proprietor of a creepy hotel murders people and feeds them to his pet crocodile that he keeps in the swamp beside his porch. The use of lighting, camera angles and eerie score all effectively enhance the atmosphere and there is lots of brutal gore throughout. Neville Brand gives a convincing performance as the disturbed hotel owner Judd and he's also pretty menacing brandishing that scythe. There's also an appearance from horror alum Robert Englund who I don't think I've ever seen so young. The old age special effects makeup for Carolyn Jones's character Miss Hattie is laughably bad. I would only recommend this to fans of awesomely bad horror movies in which case this is certainly a classic worth checking out.
|
|
|
Post by Ish Kabbible on Sept 4, 2015 12:13:20 GMT -5
Northern Pursuit (1943) Errol Flynn, Helmut Dentine, Julie Bishop
A squad of Nazis emerge from a submarine in Hudson Bay, Canada and trek north. An avalanche kills most of them and the remainder including their leader (Dentine) are arrested by the Mounties. Errol Flynn is one of those Mounties and he's of German descent and acts humanely with the Nazi prisoner. Soon after the prisoner escapes, Flynn starts acting unpatriotically including stiking an officer and his drummed out of the Mounties. His girl Nell doesn't know why Flynn is acting so weirdly. He's arrested, bailed out by a Nazi sympathizing lawyer and joins up with the escaped leader
The weird thing about this film is everyone knows Flynn is acting unpatriotically to worm his way into the Nazi group to gain info on their plans. The audience knows within the first half hour. The Germans know it too, but they think Flynn is useful with his survival skills in the Great North and will kill him when convenient. The dogs that drive the sled know. Everyone knows except his dumb girlfriend Nell, who follows him around and is used by the Germans as a hostage to keep Flynn in line.
Good actioner, great skiing scenes, lots of commands for the dogs to mush. I love seeing dogs mush.
|
|
|
Post by Ish Kabbible on Sept 4, 2015 12:27:00 GMT -5
Men Of Honor (2000) Robert De Niro, Cuba Gooding Jr., Charleze Theron, Michael Rapaport, Hal Holbrook, Powers Boothe
Inspirational bio pic of Carl Brashear. Born the son of a poor sharecropper, he joins the navy in WWII. As a black man he's only able to serve as a cook. However seeing Master Chief Diver De Niro in rescue action, Carl is determined to become the first black Master Chief Diver despite institutional and physical obstacles
Fine picture, fast paced and loads of action. Gooding is adequate in his role but De Niro dominates this film with his superior acting abilities. It sometimes gets to the point where you're waiting for De Niro to be back on screen even though this movie is not his story. Gooding tries out the Iron Man armor towards the end. A try-out for the Rhodey Rhodes role ?
|
|
|
Post by Jesse on Sept 5, 2015 6:10:24 GMT -5
Dragon Fist (1979) From Lo Wei who directed Bruce Lee in Fist of Fury (1972) and The Big Boss (1971) and stars a young Jackie Chan. Far from either's best film still Jackie Chan gives a solid performance, there are some interesting plot twists and excellent fight choreography throughout especially the final fight scene. Might be worth checking out for fans of classic martial arts movies.
|
|
|
Post by berkley on Sept 5, 2015 16:30:35 GMT -5
Anyone have a recommendation for buying dvds online? Like a lot of people I don't buy many dvds these days but every now and then something catches my interest. I was talking to some friends via email about Shakespeare movies the other day and the 1969 Hamlet directed by Tony Richardson came up. It had Nicol Williamson as Hamlet, Anthony Hopkins as Claudius, and Marianne Faithfull, of all people, as Ophelia. Wiki says there was a dvd release in 2012. Amazon probably has it but I wondered if there were any other good online sites anyone here might like for dvd hunting.
|
|
|
Post by Ish Kabbible on Sept 5, 2015 19:59:34 GMT -5
Mystic River (2003) D-Clint Eastwood Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon, Tim Robbins, Lawrence Fishburne
Homicide mystery revolving around three childhood friends. Jimmy (Penn) has done a prison stint, runs a grocery store, and has a 19 year old daughter. Sean (Bacon) is now a police detective. Dave (Robbins) was abducted by child abusers and held prisoner for 4 days before escaping. He's now married but no longer associates with his former friends. When Jimmy's daughter is killed, Sean is the lead investigator and Dave becomes a suspect
Taut, thrilling and suspenseful. Eastwood does a masterful directing job. All the actors are top-notch, especially Sean Penn. Well deserving of the boatloads of Oscars it won or was nominated for
|
|
|
Post by Hoosier X on Sept 5, 2015 21:16:32 GMT -5
I'm watching Atlantic City right now. I vaguely remember being curious about it after seeing bits of it on cable in the early 1980s. (I thought it was cool to see Susan Sarandon in a "real" movie because I only knew her from Rocky Horror Picture Show at the midnight movies when I was in high school.)
So here it is more than 30 years later and I'm finally getting to see it.
I didn't know Louis Malle directed it!
I'm about a half hour into it and it's great so far! So glad I decided to watch it! I especially like the way Atlantic City looks like a war zone. I was there just a few years later (we were visiting my aunt in Doylestown, Pa., and we went to Atlantic City for a few days) and I don't remember it looking like that! What I do remember is laying on the beach and reading "Tarzan the Terrible.")
|
|
|
Post by Hoosier X on Sept 6, 2015 0:13:42 GMT -5
Wow! Atlantic City was fantastic! The kind of movie that makes me mad that I didn't see it years ago!
|
|
|
Post by Hoosier X on Sept 6, 2015 0:28:33 GMT -5
Sometimes I look at the TV schedule and notice three or four movies that I want to see. I like to watch them as soon as I record them so I don't record movies if I don't think I'll watch them within a day or two.
But tonight I decided to have a marathon and stay up to 3 am if I have to. Here's what I got in addition to Atlantic City:
1. Two episodes of Batman with Julie Newmar as Catwoman. Do I have to explain why I recorded this? I'm not always too keen on some of the guest villains that aren't from the comic (I love, for example, Art Carney, but his Batman episodes are not good at all. Anne Baxter is great though.), but I love Cesar Romero, Burgess Meredith, Frank Gorshin, John Astin, George Sanders, Otto Preminger, etc. as major villains. (Victor Buono and Vincent Price are great!) And Julie Newmar is just awesome!
2. The Night Walker is on Svengoolie tonight. There are three great reasons (for me) to watch this: 1) I love horror movies, even silly ones. This looks like it has the potential to be as amusing as Trog; 2) It was made in 1964. That was the year I was born and I love movies from that year; 3) Barbara Stanwyck. Love her to pieces. One of my favorites. If Barbara Stanwyck made something like Trog, I want to see it!
3. Sniper - This is from the early 1950s. Many years ago, I saw most of this, but I missed the beginning. It's really good! A really well-made police procedural. I've wanting to see the whole thing for ages! Since the 1990s!
|
|
|
Post by Jesse on Sept 6, 2015 5:31:58 GMT -5
I Bury the Living (1958) Underrated horror noir from B-movie director Albert Band. Richard Boone gives a fantastic performance as the lead character who starts to question his own sanity after he discovers people die every time he puts a black pin in their grave site on the map in the cemetery office. I found it fascinating watching his decent into depression and madness. The use of lighting and score set the mood perfectly and the building tension throughout is superb. The reveal at the end was a bit predictable by today's standards but nonetheless effective and the ending is very satisfying. I'm already looking forward to rewatching this.
|
|
|
Post by Ish Kabbible on Sept 7, 2015 18:48:33 GMT -5
Yojimbo (1961) D-Akira Kurosawa Toshiro Mifune
A wandering ronin Sanjuro (Mifune) happens upon a town over-run by thieves and gamblers, divided into two warring gangs. He sees this as an opportunity to play the gangs against each other, earning him plenty of money and the satisfaction of killing
Got to love a movie that opens with a dog shambling down the main street with a severed hand in it's jaws. Kurosawa and Mifune once again team up for a masterpiece. Plenty of tension as well as humor. The film has the Japanese version of Richard Kiel, a 7 ft tall hulk who wields a huge mallet. Plenty of other weird looking goons. Wonderful soundtrack. No rabbits with swords. The best Kurosawa film? Most definitely amongst them. Followed by the film Sanjuro. Criterion does it again
|
|
|
Post by Ish Kabbible on Sept 7, 2015 19:00:56 GMT -5
Richard III (1955) Lawrence Olivier, Cedric Hardwicke, Ralph Richardson, John Gielgud
Faithful Shakespeare adaptation, Wicked and deformed Richard plots to ascend to the throne of England. There is nothing he's unwilling to do to achieve his goal
Lawrence Olivier is a force of nature in this movie. Rarely will you ever see an actor so dominating, so enthralling, so mouthy as here. Once again its a Criterion. Even with a 238 minute running time and loads of Elizabethan verbiage, I saw it in one sitting.
My kingdom for a horse. My ass for a pillow
|
|
|
Post by Ish Kabbible on Sept 7, 2015 19:17:34 GMT -5
My Favorite Blonde (1942) Bob Hope, Madeleine Carroll, George Zucco, Gale Sondergaard
Larry Haines (Hope) has a vaudeville act with Percy the Penguin. Karen Bentley (Carroll) is a British spy with an amulet containing secret codes for the Americans. She uses the unsuspecting Haines to foil the Nazi spies following her.
If you're going to watch a Hope comedy, stick to the earlier ones. Not bad for its type. At 78 minutes it breezes quickly along with some good lines. Percy the Penguin almost steals the show. Zucco and Sondergaard play evil Nazis which was their specialty. As always, a Bing Crosby cameo too
|
|
|
Post by Ish Kabbible on Sept 7, 2015 19:20:39 GMT -5
Wow! Atlantic City was fantastic! The kind of movie that makes me mad that I didn't see it years ago! I saw Atlantic City way way long ago on HBO or videocassette shortly after it's release. At that time I was probably too immature for it and found it boring. Its a film I do intend to revisit
|
|
|
Post by Ish Kabbible on Sept 7, 2015 19:25:32 GMT -5
Anyone have a recommendation for buying dvds online? Like a lot of people I don't buy many dvds these days but every now and then something catches my interest. I was talking to some friends via email about Shakespeare movies the other day and the 1969 Hamlet directed by Tony Richardson came up. It had Nicol Williamson as Hamlet, Anthony Hopkins as Claudius, and Marianne Faithfull, of all people, as Ophelia. Wiki says there was a dvd release in 2012. Amazon probably has it but I wondered if there were any other good online sites anyone here might like for dvd hunting. Not any help from me. Besides Amazon, I only bought online from Warner Archives and the occasional Ebay private seller offering for an OOPS disc (fortunately never had a problem there). All my other purchases came during the heyday of DVD over 10 years ago, through brick and mortar stores like Tower Video, Borders, Best Buy, Virgin Megastore, HMV and Kim's Underground Video. Haven't bought a disc in about 5 years
|
|