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Post by Ish Kabbible on Dec 23, 2015 13:54:21 GMT -5
Jumanji (1995) Robin Williams, Kirsten Dunst, David Alan Grier
An enchanted board game resurfaces and those who play it are endangered by apparitions with every roll of the dice
Early computer-generated special effects drives this movie. It would seem the film was made just to show them off because there is really no other point to the movie except maybe don't play board games that make jungle drum sounds. Thankfully Robin Williams is not so manic here like other movie vehicles. A film to watch with the little kiddies who I'm sure will enjoy it
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Dec 23, 2015 14:05:50 GMT -5
Jumanji (1995) Robin Williams, Kirsten Dunst, David Alan Grier An enchanted board game resurfaces and those who play it are endangered by apparitions with every roll of the dice Early computer-generated special effects drives this movie. It would seem the film was made just to show them off because there is really no other point to the movie except maybe don't play board games that make jungle drum sounds. Thankfully Robin Williams is not so manic here like other movie vehicles. A film to watch with the little kiddies who I'm sure will enjoy it Zathura, which is based on a similar book by same author, is a better film.
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Dec 24, 2015 12:11:27 GMT -5
Cult Of The Cobra (1955) Richard Long, Faith Domergue, David Jansen, Marshall Thompson
6 American GIs in India sneak into a ritual ceremony of a snake cult. One tries to take a picture of the forbidden snake dance and a fight breaks out. The snake cult leader places a curse on the 6 GIs- a curse of death. Back in America, one of the GIs meets a mysterious woman and is smitten, even though she doesn't smoke or drink or bowl. But she can turn into a snake a kill the buddies one by one.
Faith Domerque doesn't really have any snake like qualities to her. You never really see a transformation and she never sticks out her tongue and hiss. Well acted B-movie from Universal though low on the horror quotient. Available on DVD separately from Universal Vault or part of a package called Classic Science Fiction. SF my foot! Played on a double bill during its release with Revenge Of The Creature.
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Dec 24, 2015 12:29:17 GMT -5
The Big Trail (1930) John Wayne, Tyrone Power Sr. Directed by Raoul Walsh
John Wayne leads a caravan of hundreds of pioneers via wagon train from the Mississippi River to Oregon
Historically important film for many reasons:
Walsh cast unknown Marion Morrison for the lead. He was only 23 years old and previously played bit parts uncredited. The studios insisted on a name change for the actor. Walsh had just finished reading a book about Revolutionary war character Anthony "Mad" Wayne and suggested Wayne as the name. They stuck a John in front and so John Wayne had his first starring role
The film was a 2 hour epic and the budget ballooned up to $2 Million dollars. A phenomenal amount for its time
6 versions of the film were shot simultaneously. A 70 mm widescreen version for select theaters as well as a standard 35mm. 4 foreign language versions as well (French, Spanish, Italian, and German) each with their own distinct cast
A major bomb at the box office. Despite some fantastic footage of wagon trains being lowered down mountainsides, crossing raging rivers, blasted by driving snow storms, Indian attacks, desert crossings and buffalo hunting- the public did not respond like the studio had expected. A huge blow to John Wayne's career as a leading man and he was soon relegated to B-movies only where he dwelled for almost 10 years before given another chance to star in a major production again. In fact the dismal box office returns for this film hurt the Western genre in general and basically relegated it to B- movie level as well with simplistic stories of white hats vs. black hats
A must see for movie buffs-Wayne is baby faced and, aw shucks, so ernest. Creaky at times, lots of outdoors dialogue that had to be screamed due to the primitive sound technology of its time but well deserving of a view
Tyrone Power Sr. is a giant bear of a man with some of the worst teeth in show biz. He played a great villain here and its his only sound film appearance. He died in 1931
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Dec 24, 2015 23:25:16 GMT -5
Second times the charm:
Hamburger Hill (1987) Don Cheadle, Dylan McDermott, Michael Boatman, Courtney B. Vance
The 10 day battle for Hill 937 in Vietnam during May 1969
Brutally realistic war film about a U.S. platoon trying to take a heavily armed hill in Vietnam. Based on a true incident. Extremely realistic with both the servicemen's attitudes and the mission itself. The action is relentless during the final hour. The objective seems rather pointless (not as much as the war itself) and you will be left exhausted. Viet vets lauded this movie for it's authenticity.Released a few months after Platoon
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Post by The Captain on Dec 25, 2015 7:08:14 GMT -5
Watched Strangers on a Train (1951) last night after getting the girls to bed and the presents under the tree.
This was my second time watching it, although it has been years, and even though I knew how it ended, I still really enjoyed it. Written by Raymond Chandler and directed by the incomparable Alfred Hitchcock, it is a fantastic suspense movie with a fantastic climax, one of my favorite Hitchcock movies (along with Rear Window).
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Post by Hoosier X on Dec 25, 2015 9:37:42 GMT -5
Cult Of The Cobra (1955) Richard Long, Faith Domergue, David Jansen, Marshall Thompson 6 American GIs in India sneak into a ritual ceremony of a snake cult. One tries to take a picture of the forbidden snake dance and a fight breaks out. The snake cult leader places a curse on the 6 GIs- a curse of death. Back in America, one of the GIs meets a mysterious woman and is smitten, even though she doesn't smoke or drink or bowl. But she can turn into a snake a kill the buddies one by one. Faith Domerque doesn't really have any snake like qualities to her. You never really see a transformation and she never sticks out her tongue and hiss. Well acted B-movie from Universal though low on the horror quotient. Available on DVD separately from Universal Vault or part of a package called Classic Science Fiction. SF my foot! Played on a double bill during its release with Revenge Of The Creature. OMG! Faith Domergue! I've only seen in her two movies. One of them was the ultra-silly Voyage to a Prehistoric Planet but the other was Where Danger Lives, with Robert Mitchum and Claude Rains. It's one of the noiriest noirs ever. Mitchum meets a dame in a bar and is soon in trouble way over his head and beyond his comprehension. Domergue is amazing! I'd like to see Cult of the Cobra.
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Post by Hoosier X on Dec 25, 2015 9:47:41 GMT -5
The Big Trail (1930) John Wayne, Tyrone Power Sr. Directed by Raoul Walsh John Wayne leads a caravan of hundreds of pioneers via wagon train from the Mississippi River to Oregon Historically important film for many reasons: Walsh cast unknown Marion Morrison for the lead. He was only 23 years old and previously played bit parts uncredited. The studios insisted on a name change for the actor. Walsh had just finished reading a book about Revolutionary war character Anthony "Mad" Wayne and suggested Wayne as the name. They stuck a John in front and so John Wayne had his first starring role The film was a 2 hour epic and the budget ballooned up to $2 Million dollars. A phenomenal amount for its time 6 versions of the film were shot simultaneously. A 70 mm widescreen version for select theaters as well as a standard 35mm. 4 foreign language versions as well (French, Spanish, Italian, and German) each with their own distinct cast A major bomb at the box office. Despite some fantastic footage of wagon trains being lowered down mountainsides, crossing raging rivers, blasted by driving snow storms, Indian attacks, desert crossings and buffalo hunting- the public did not respond like the studio had expected. A huge blow to John Wayne's career as a leading man and he was soon relegated to B-movies only where he dwelled for almost 10 years before given another chance to star in a major production again. In fact the dismal box office returns for this film hurt the Western genre in general and basically relegated it to B- movie level as well with simplistic stories of white hats vs. black hats A must see for movie buffs-Wayne is baby faced and, aw shucks, so ernest. Creaky at times, lots of outdoors dialogue that had to be screamed due to the primitive sound technology of its time but well deserving of a view Tyrone Power Sr. is a giant bear of a man with some of the worst teeth in show biz. He played a great villain here and its his only sound film appearance. He died in 1931 I've seen a bunch of John Wayne's 1930s films (I bet I've seen 25 of his wonderfully silly low-budget Westerns; I highly recommend Lawless Frontier) but I've never seen The Big Trail. I'll have to keep my eyes open. Maybe it's on YouTube! Don't forget that he has a small role in Baby Face with Barbara Stanwyck! The last time I watched it on TCM, I DVRed it and didn't delete it so I could watch it again. I'm thinking of watching it again this week before consigning it to oblivion.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 25, 2015 10:17:47 GMT -5
The Big Trail (1930) John Wayne, Tyrone Power Sr. Directed by Raoul Walsh John Wayne leads a caravan of hundreds of pioneers via wagon train from the Mississippi River to Oregon Historically important film for many reasons: Walsh cast unknown Marion Morrison for the lead. He was only 23 years old and previously played bit parts uncredited. The studios insisted on a name change for the actor. Walsh had just finished reading a book about Revolutionary war character Anthony "Mad" Wayne and suggested Wayne as the name. They stuck a John in front and so John Wayne had his first starring role The film was a 2 hour epic and the budget ballooned up to $2 Million dollars. A phenomenal amount for its time 6 versions of the film were shot simultaneously. A 70 mm widescreen version for select theaters as well as a standard 35mm. 4 foreign language versions as well (French, Spanish, Italian, and German) each with their own distinct cast A major bomb at the box office. Despite some fantastic footage of wagon trains being lowered down mountainsides, crossing raging rivers, blasted by driving snow storms, Indian attacks, desert crossings and buffalo hunting- the public did not respond like the studio had expected. A huge blow to John Wayne's career as a leading man and he was soon relegated to B-movies only where he dwelled for almost 10 years before given another chance to star in a major production again. In fact the dismal box office returns for this film hurt the Western genre in general and basically relegated it to B- movie level as well with simplistic stories of white hats vs. black hats A must see for movie buffs-Wayne is baby faced and, aw shucks, so ernest. Creaky at times, lots of outdoors dialogue that had to be screamed due to the primitive sound technology of its time but well deserving of a view Tyrone Power Sr. is a giant bear of a man with some of the worst teeth in show biz. He played a great villain here and its his only sound film appearance. He died in 1931 I've seen a bunch of John Wayne's 1930s films (I bet I've seen 25 of his wonderfully silly low-budget Westerns; I highly recommend Lawless Frontier) but I've never seen The Big Trail. I'll have to keep my eyes open. Maybe it's on YouTube! Don't forget that he has a small role in Baby Face with Barbara Stanwyck! The last time I watched it on TCM, I DVRed it and didn't delete it so I could watch it again. I'm thinking of watching it again this week before consigning it to oblivion. I didn't know The Duke was in Baby Face!? I picked up this DVD collection last year that has that movie and 2 others in it...I will have to keep an eye out for him when I finally watch it.
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Post by Hoosier X on Dec 25, 2015 10:22:04 GMT -5
I've seen a bunch of John Wayne's 1930s films (I bet I've seen 25 of his wonderfully silly low-budget Westerns; I highly recommend Lawless Frontier) but I've never seen The Big Trail. I'll have to keep my eyes open. Maybe it's on YouTube! Don't forget that he has a small role in Baby Face with Barbara Stanwyck! The last time I watched it on TCM, I DVRed it and didn't delete it so I could watch it again. I'm thinking of watching it again this week before consigning it to oblivion. I didn't know The Duke was in Baby Face!? I picked up this DVD collection last year that has that movie and 2 others in it...I will have to keep an eye out for him when I finally watch it. Those are all good!
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Post by Deleted on Dec 25, 2015 10:22:13 GMT -5
Cult Of The Cobra (1955) Richard Long, Faith Domergue, David Jansen, Marshall Thompson 6 American GIs in India sneak into a ritual ceremony of a snake cult. One tries to take a picture of the forbidden snake dance and a fight breaks out. The snake cult leader places a curse on the 6 GIs- a curse of death. Back in America, one of the GIs meets a mysterious woman and is smitten, even though she doesn't smoke or drink or bowl. But she can turn into a snake a kill the buddies one by one. Faith Domerque doesn't really have any snake like qualities to her. You never really see a transformation and she never sticks out her tongue and hiss. Well acted B-movie from Universal though low on the horror quotient. Available on DVD separately from Universal Vault or part of a package called Classic Science Fiction. SF my foot! Played on a double bill during its release with Revenge Of The Creature. OMG! Faith Domergue! I've only seen in her two movies. One of them was the ultra-silly Voyage to a Prehistoric Planet but the other was Where Danger Lives, with Robert Mitchum and Claude Rains. It's one of the noiriest noir ever. Mitchum meets a dame in a bar and is soon in trouble way over his head and beyond his comprehension. Domergue is amazing! I'd like to see Cult of the Cobra. Never heard of Where Danger Lives...I watch anything that has The Mitch in it and I just looked it up...it sounds great. Plus it has Maureen 'O Sullivan in it too! I love her! Now I've just got to track that down!
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Dec 25, 2015 18:48:04 GMT -5
The Jazz Singer (1927) Al Jolson, Warner Oland, May McAvoy
The Rabinowitz family has had 5 generations of Cantors (Not Eddie but rabbis who sing at synagogue). Papa Rabinowitz Warner Oland) is dismayed to learn that his young son has decided to sing rag time jazz at saloons instead of taking on the family tradition. "He's no son of mine" is his justification for kicking him out of the house. " Wait a minute, you ain't heard nothing yet" the son says via synchronized sound to the amazement of the theater audience The 1st feature length feature to incorporate synchronized sound for singing and talking. Actually the sound is only featured for at most 15-20% of the 90 minute running time, otherwise its good old fashioned speech placards. Still enough to cause a public sensation and start the stampede to outfit all movie theaters with the ability to run sound films. 3 classic songs are highlighted by the sound technology-Toot Toot Tootsie Goodbye, Blue Skies and My Mammy. Warner Oland has a bushy Santa Claus beard but will soon be shaved off in time for his immortal Charlie Chan performance. Too bad Jolson appears in black face for the last 1/4 of the film for his Mammy song. His Mammy doesn't even recognize him Warner Bros does a spectacular job with it's DVD presentation. The film quality looks pristine. There are 3 discs with disc 2 loaded with docs and disc 3 containing about 2 dozen early shorts featuring sound-some preceding The Jazz Singer. Obviously a must see for film buffs. Yes its very sentimental and oy vey cornball too. But like a bowl of chicken soup it goes down good.
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Dec 26, 2015 13:49:46 GMT -5
Murder! (1930) Directed by Alfred Hitchcock Herbert Marshall
Herbert Marshall has second thoughts about convicting a female suspect in a murder case he was serving as a juror. He investigates the murder on his own as time winds down for the woman's death sentence
I've seen every Hitchcock film from 1931 and up-time to tackle some of his earliest. The first 15 minutes and conclusion of the film is of interest, the middle hour plods along like a creaky turtle. There are occasional scenes shot where you see the Hitchcock talent come forth but he's still developing his craft. And yes, Hitch makes his trademark cameo and hour into the film walking down the street
Of interest-This is the first film were you hear a character's inner dialogue. Herbert Marshall's thoughts come to sound as he stares at his reflection in a mirror pondering the murder case.
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Post by Hoosier X on Dec 27, 2015 22:29:10 GMT -5
Here's the movies I saw the last few days:
I watched Samson and Delilah on Christmas Day while everybody else was tinkering with their new electronics. Angela Lansbury is in it as Delilah's ill-fated sister. Hedy Lamar is Delilah. And Victor Mature is Samson. He is such a bad actor but a great performer. I'm always entertained by a Victor Mature movie. (I think he's really good in Million Dollar Mermaid though.)
The channel known as MOVIES! had a Shirley Temple marathon. A Very Shirley Christmas they called it. I taped the two I hadn't seen - Susannah of the Mounties and Bright Eyes. And TCM showed I'll Be Seeing You from later in her career when she was 15 and co-starring with Ginger Rogers and Joseph Cotton. So I had a little Shirley Temple marathon. Bright Eyes is pretty good. The other two had their moments (in Susannah of the Mounties, Shirley teaches Randolph Scott how to waltz) but I was kind of wishing I had DVRed Stowaway or Wee Willie Winkie because I love those two movies.
Last night I watched The Mummy's Hand on Svengoolie.
This morning I watched Peter Ibbetson on YouTube. I didn't like it too much. I likes the beginning with Dickie Moore and Virginia Wiedler as the two lead actors as children. They are about to be separated and they try to run away but are caught. I very quickly started thinking it would have been a better movie if they had become street urchins surviving in Paris, making friend with Charles Boyer and Luise Rainer as beggars.
And I DVRed Doctor Zhivago today. I've been wanting to see it for 25 years but I could never take the plunge because I don't like watching long movies on a small screen. It's time to bite the bullet.
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Dec 28, 2015 12:40:22 GMT -5
Gentleman Jim (1942) Errol Flynn, Alexis Smith, Alan Hale, Jack Carson, William Frawley, Ward Bond
Fictionalized light hearted bio of boxer Gentleman Jim Corbett up to his defeating John L. Sullivan for the Heavyweight Championship of the World.
Taking place in the 1890s, director Raoul Walsh scores an entertaining knockout with this film. Great support from Warner Bros. stable of actors. William Frawley plays Corbett's manager when he is able to sneak away from Ethel Murtz. Alan Hale is Flynn's father in the film even though they are close to the same age. Jack Carson as Corbett's best buddy is always fun. There's a great boxing scene on a barge in the river. Corbett gets knocked out of the ring and swan dives into the river. The final fight between Corbett and Sullivan is also a good one. Flynn did all the boxing himself, no doubles. He suffered a minor heart attack during the filming which shut down production. Upon his return he continued to do his own stunts. However the heart incident kept him out of the army for the duration of the war.
It is fictionalized. Corbett was never a bank clerk like the movie depicted. He never had a wife like the Alexis Smith character. But its still a fine film and Ward Bond plays a great John L. Sullivan
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