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Post by Hoosier X on Sept 7, 2015 22:05:21 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 Kurosawa made one great movie after another. I've seen about 20 of his movies and this is my favorite. I try to watch it every three or four years or so.
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Post by Hoosier X on Sept 7, 2015 22:08:24 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 I love Bob Hope's earlier comedies (They get a little more hit-or-miss in the 1950s) but I had never seen this before last year. It was pretty funny! Not as good as - I think it's called My Favorite Brunette - with Dorothy Lamour, Lon Chaney Jr and Peter Lorre.
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Post by Hoosier X on Sept 7, 2015 22:10:57 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 That 1969 Hamlet is a trip! Not my favorite version but it's very interesting nonetheless. Definitely worth the trouble if you like Weird Shakespeare.
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Post by chadwilliam on Sept 7, 2015 23:13:18 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.
I first watched this about five or six years ago and have seen it about 20 times since then. Watched it yesterday actually. I Bury The Living is nothing short of a masterpiece.
An amazing film, superbly acted. I disagree with you on the ending though. While I regard it as the perfect film up until about the last five minutes or so, it's the revelation at the end that really let me down. The original idea was far creepier and utilized the full, supernatural potential of having Kraft replace all the black pins with white ones. Unfortunately, the scriptwriter was forced to come up with something rational and well, maybe that's why this film isn't better known.
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Post by berkley on Sept 8, 2015 3:08:20 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 Thanks, Ish. You probably said long ago that you were going through DVDs you'd already accumulated over the years rather than new acquisitions but I must have missed it or forgot.
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Post by berkley on Sept 8, 2015 3:10:06 GMT -5
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 That 1969 Hamlet is a trip! Not my favorite version but it's very interesting nonetheless. Definitely worth the trouble if you like Weird Shakespeare. What is your favourite, I now have to ask?
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Post by Hoosier X on Sept 8, 2015 10:03:49 GMT -5
That 1969 Hamlet is a trip! Not my favorite version but it's very interesting nonetheless. Definitely worth the trouble if you like Weird Shakespeare. What is your favourite, I now have to ask? My favorite is the one from about 1990 with Mel Gibson. Yes, Mel Gibson's Hamlet is a rather shallow and pretentious fellow, but the beauty of Shakespeare is that Hamlet works just as well even when the title character is played this way. What really puts this version over is the supporting cast. Glenn Close is Gertrude, Alan Bates is Claudius, Ian Holm is amazing as Polonius but the best of them is Helena Bonham Carter as Ophelia. I like the Laurence Olivier version as well, but overall, it's just not as entertaining as the 1990 version. I do not like the Kenneth Branagh version at all. What a waste of talent! It's not quite Hamlet, but I really like the guy playing Hamlet in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Sept 8, 2015 15:47:15 GMT -5
Sanjuro (1962) D-Akira Kurosawa Toshiro Mifune
Sanjuro the Ronin helps out 9 hapless would-be warriors in their mission to clean out the corruption from their clan and rescue its noble elder.
After watching Yojimbo the other day, I couldn't wait to see it's sequel. And of course Kurosawa/Mifune never disappoint. But there are some differences between the two films. Sanjuro is still always scratching himself. He also seems sleep deprived because he's always yawning and taking naps whenever he can. Except when not eating rice balls and drinking Sake. But here he's not as mercenary as the first film. He takes pity on the warrior buffoons and helps them for no other apparent reason. There is a little bit less humor (just a little) and the story has more of a comic book adventure feel.
But its still a very good film. If Yojimbo rates 4 stars, this gets 3. Its probably a mixed blessing that Kurosawa/Mifune didn't continue this series. Oh, did I mention its another Criterion winner
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Sept 8, 2015 15:58:17 GMT -5
Hurry Sundown (1967) D-Otto Preminger Michael Caine. Jane Fonda, John Phillip Law, Diahann Carroll, Burgess Meredith, Arthur Kennedy, Faye Dunaway
1945 Georgia y'all. Henry Warren (Caine) is buying up all the property in the neighborhood to get extremely rich in a land development deal. His wife is Jane Fonda and they have the most annoying, bratty kid in cinema history. Check out Jane Fonda on saxophone early in the movie. She blows reeeeaallll good. Anyway, 2 farms refuse to sell out to Henry. One is a white man married to Faye Dunaway, the other is black and dating city girl Diahann Carroll. Arthur Kennedy is the mentally challenged sheriff and Burgess is the rascist judge
Big and sprawling southern 2 1/2 hour drama. Lots of sexual teases before the movie code loosened up. A real potboiler and so, so over the top. Throw in the KKK too. Very heavy handed but like watching a car accident you can't avert your eyes. And that kid of Michael Caine's deserves what he gets
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Sept 8, 2015 16:06:54 GMT -5
Just so you don't think of me as a Criterion snob, there are two titles I recently tried watching and couldn't get past the first 30 minutes:
The Tales Of Hoffman (1951) Directed by Powell and Pressberger. Vibrant and visually stunning . Technicolor eye candy. But its a full blown opera. Even with English lyrics and beautiful costumes and sets I couldn't get past the operatic presentation. That's me
The Story Of A Prostitute (1965) Directed by Seijun Suzuki Japanese hoes are sent to Manchuria during WWII to "entertain" the Japanese occupying army. There's 1 girl for every 1000 men. Not erotic, just lots of histrionics. I just couldn't care about the hookers, soldiers, officers. I just couldn't..
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Post by berkley on Sept 9, 2015 2:14:44 GMT -5
What is your favourite, I now have to ask? My favorite is the one from about 1990 with Mel Gibson. Yes, Mel Gibson's Hamlet is a rather shallow and pretentious fellow, but the beauty of Shakespeare is that Hamlet works just as well even when the title character is played this way. What really puts this version over is the supporting cast. Glenn Close is Gertrude, Alan Bates is Claudius, Ian Holm is amazing as Polonius but the best of them is Helena Bonham Carter as Ophelia. I like the Laurence Olivier version as well, but overall, it's just not as entertaining as the 1990 version. I do not like the Kenneth Branagh version at all. What a waste of talent! It's not quite Hamlet, but I really like the guy playing Hamlet in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. Can't remember if I already said this here or if it was in an email conversation I was having the other day, but I thought the Branagh Hamlet was totally misconceived right from the start. He seemed to be trying to play Hamlet as a decisive action hero, which was never going to work. Not a film, that I know of at least, but there's another Hamlet-related play I want to read called Hamletmachine, by German author Heiner Müller. Actually, looking up the wiki entry I linked to I see that there was a film version in 2010 made by a Spanish director.
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Post by Hoosier X on Sept 9, 2015 11:58:02 GMT -5
I just finished watching Anne Shirley in a 1939 film called Sorority House.
I just love Anne Shirley! A highly under-rated actress. She was Barbara Stanwyck's daughter in Stella Dallas. She was the naïve inmate who took the rap for her boyfriend in the women-in-prison film Condemned Women with Sally Eilers.
Anne Shirley is probably most famous for her appearance in Murder My Sweet, a 1944 adaption of Raymond Chandler's Farewell My Lovely. Dick Powell is Philip Marlowe. Claire Trevor is the femme fatale. And Anne Shirley is Claire Trevor's suspicious step-daughter. Highly recommended. It's almost as good as The Big Sleep and I know a few movie fans who prefer Murder My Sweet.
In Sorority House, Anne is a college student who wants to pledge a sorority. Complications ensue, but she has the support of the Most Popular Boy at the College. And she loses her skirt when she it gets stuck on the fire escape while she's getting her wet stockings, so she's running around in her slip. Oh that Anne Shirley!
It's probably not for everybody, but I found it charming and fun. It's only a little over an hour long and I'm a sucker for hourlong films from the 1930s and 1940s.
It was directed by John Farrow, father of Mia Farrow. Also the father of Prudence Farrow, allegedly the inspiration for the Beatles song "Dear Prudence." I see his name every once in a while. He made a few good movies.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2015 12:18:05 GMT -5
On Labor Day, I watched Yoyo (1965) starring Pierre Etaix and Claudine Auger. It was on Turner Classics and is a French film. It tells the story of a family that loses their fortune and the young son works as a circus clown, hoping to regain the fortune. The son becomes a huge success and becomes rich and famous, restoring his family's home and wealth. It is a charming movie and Pierre Etaix is perfect in his role. A fun movie to watch.
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Post by Hoosier X on Sept 9, 2015 15:50:29 GMT -5
On Labor Day, I watched Yoyo (1965) starring Pierre Etaix and Claudine Auger. It was on Turner Classics and is a French film. It tells the story of a family that loses their fortune and the young son works as a circus clown, hoping to regain the fortune. The son becomes a huge success and becomes rich and famous, restoring his family's home and wealth. It is a charming movie and Pierre Etaix is perfect in his role. A fun movie to watch. I saw Yoyo on the TCM schedule but I didn't record it. I had already scheduled several foreign films on the DVR - Kurutta Ippeji, Hakuchi and The Tin Drum - and I have a feeling I'll feel like I've seen enough foreign films after I get through these. But your description makes me wish I had paid more attention because I love movies about circuses and clowns. I probably would have DVRd it if I had seen that. Kurutta Ippeji is a silent film (1926) from Japan. TCM showed it with The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and it's easy to see why! Kurutta Ippeji is like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest if it had been directed by Luis Bunuel. I haven't seen Hakuchi or Tin Drum yet. They're both fairly long movies and I'll probably wait until the weekend because I can focus on this stuff at night when I can stay up a little bit later. Hakuchi is must-see because it's Kurosawa. Tin Drum just keeps coming up as must-see bizarre German cinema. My best friend texted me yesterday about it, telling me how weird it was and how messed-up the Germans are. He couldn't believe I've never seen it. Then we traded a few texts on how great Werner Herzog's Antarctica documentary is.
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Sept 9, 2015 17:25:26 GMT -5
. Tin Drum just keeps coming up as must-see bizarre German cinema. My best friend texted me yesterday about it, telling me how weird it was and how messed-up the Germans are. He couldn't believe I've never seen it. Then we traded a few texts on how great Werner Herzog's Antarctica documentary is. I watched and reviewed it a short while back. A must see. Must see. Must.
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