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Post by berkley on Sept 24, 2021 20:59:44 GMT -5
GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT (1973) This is the 3rd time in only a year I've watched this. I got it on a DVD-R from a seller in England who specializes in rare, out-of-print films. This one's a nice, sharp fullscreen copy recorded off some UK cable movie channel. I just had someone over the weekend tell me, with the new film " THE GREEN KNIGHT" coming out this year, he doesn't understand how it is this older version is so hard to find. The strangest thing is, director Stephen Weeks made the same film TWICE, 10 years apart. This one features Nigel Green as the mysterious, supernatural figure. A decade later, Sean Connery played the part. Both films totally distort the original classic folk story in the same ways, but this one is played more straight and serious, and, frankly, nearly every part of it MAKES MORE SENSE than the 1983 film. GO FIGURE. An amusing element of this film is... it's apparently the film MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL was done as a parody of. NO, REALLY. If you've seen HOLY GRAIL, it's probably impossible to watch this without getting a massive case of deja vu. In my case, I just watched the 1983 and 1973 films back-to-back. Some scenes are so similar it's spooky. Many play quite differently, and as I said, this one just makes more sense. Also, this one has a BETTER ending. And, dare I say it, BETTER music. The casts both include a nice range of terrific English character actors. Among them is Ronald Lacey... who, insanely, plays the SAME part in BOTH movies. He dies much earlier in the earlier film (heh). Right after getting his hand BURNED by a magic talisman. (Sound familiar??) Overall, both films (especially the later one) play out like extended DREAM SEQUENCES. Logic is not the driving force here. I recently joked the '83 films might make a good double-bill with The Monkees' movie HEAD, for that very reason. Both have the logic one finds in vivid dreams. They don't make much sense... but you can't take your eyes off them. I understand there's an early-90s TV version which hews CLOSER to the classic story than any of the others. Which makes me want to get my hands on it. The way things are right now, I'm more likely to get the new version on disc than to actually GO SEE IT in a theater.
I'd like to see this, not only because I'm interested in the story, having read a Penguin version of it as a kid in the 870s, but also because I'm curious to see how Murray Head does as an actor: he was great on the original Jesus Christ Superstar album singing the part of Judas, and his solo album Say It Ain't So, Joe is an absolute masterpiece in my book. I'm hoping to see the new Green Knight movie whenit plays here next month.
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 24, 2021 22:40:45 GMT -5
GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT (1973) This is the 3rd time in only a year I've watched this. I got it on a DVD-R from a seller in England who specializes in rare, out-of-print films. This one's a nice, sharp fullscreen copy recorded off some UK cable movie channel. I just had someone over the weekend tell me, with the new film " THE GREEN KNIGHT" coming out this year, he doesn't understand how it is this older version is so hard to find. The strangest thing is, director Stephen Weeks made the same film TWICE, 10 years apart. This one features Nigel Green as the mysterious, supernatural figure. A decade later, Sean Connery played the part. Both films totally distort the original classic folk story in the same ways, but this one is played more straight and serious, and, frankly, nearly every part of it MAKES MORE SENSE than the 1983 film. GO FIGURE. An amusing element of this film is... it's apparently the film MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL was done as a parody of. NO, REALLY. If you've seen HOLY GRAIL, it's probably impossible to watch this without getting a massive case of deja vu. In my case, I just watched the 1983 and 1973 films back-to-back. Some scenes are so similar it's spooky. Many play quite differently, and as I said, this one just makes more sense. Also, this one has a BETTER ending. And, dare I say it, BETTER music. The casts both include a nice range of terrific English character actors. Among them is Ronald Lacey... who, insanely, plays the SAME part in BOTH movies. He dies much earlier in the earlier film (heh). Right after getting his hand BURNED by a magic talisman. (Sound familiar??) Overall, both films (especially the later one) play out like extended DREAM SEQUENCES. Logic is not the driving force here. I recently joked the '83 films might make a good double-bill with The Monkees' movie HEAD, for that very reason. Both have the logic one finds in vivid dreams. They don't make much sense... but you can't take your eyes off them. I understand there's an early-90s TV version which hews CLOSER to the classic story than any of the others. Which makes me want to get my hands on it. The way things are right now, I'm more likely to get the new version on disc than to actually GO SEE IT in a theater.
I'd like to see this, not only because I'm interested in the story, having read a Penguin version of it as a kid in the 870s, but also because I'm curious to see how Murray Head does as an actor: he was great on the original Jesus Christ Superstar album singing the part of Judas, and his solo album Say It Ain't So, Joe is an absolute masterpiece in my book. I'm hoping to see the new Green Knight movie whenit plays here next month.
I saw part of it; but, it was a looooong time ago. If memory serves, it was showing on our local PBS station and I fell asleep, about of the third of the way into it.
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 24, 2021 23:11:42 GMT -5
Been rewatching Godzilla, after watching the Legendary Pictures stuff, as well as King Kong, for the same reason. Last night, I finally watched the entirety of the Peter Jackson monstrosity. The film didn't need another 88 minutes of screen filler, I can tell you that. Still, interesting, if bloated attempt at both adapting the material and the production, in a manner of speaking. The thing has many great moments; but, Jackson is way too in love with his shots and slow-mo and goes overboard with the dangers of Skull Island. Good performances and Serkis did nice mo-cap work for Kong. I do have to say, Ann Darrow would be freezing her butt off, in new York, in December, in that dress she's in, not to mention while Kong carries her along and especially up on the Empire State Building. There should also be waaaay more wind up there!
Still, you can throw $200+ million at it, add CGI, and all of the lush cinematography you want; but, the original still stands above. It just perfectly captures the story, at a run time that never feels long or slow-moving, with enough character development to make them interesting and terrific effects, for the period. Never saw Son of Kong or Mighty Joe Young; but, the DeLaurentiss one is bad, with a few highlights and I will take the Toho stuff over it. Their suit is bad, but King Kong vs Godzilla is great (for what it is, which is monster pro wrestling, coupled with goofy comedy) and I loves me some King Kong Escapes, both for Mechani-Kong and Dr Who.
With the Big G, I am up to Godzilla vs Mecha-Godzilla and have sat through a lot of Akihiko Hirata, between the original Godzilla and this point, as well as Tadao Takashima, Kenji Sahara, and Hideyo Amamoto (who is Dr Who, in King Kong Escapes and was the villainous Dr Shinigami, of SHOCKER, in the original Kamen Rider).
My viewing of Godzilla vs The Sea Monster and Godzilla vs Megalon are, of course, from the MST3K showings, with references to AWA wrestling, in the latter ("I can't believe it, Wally Karbo...", a reference to co-promoter and frontman Wally Karbo) and Rex Dart, Eskimo Spy!
I do have to say that Godzilla vs Gigan is a weird plot, with the World Children's Land park, and the Godzilla Tower. It looks like Big G is trying to hump a building!
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Post by Mister Spaceman on Sept 27, 2021 21:15:46 GMT -5
Watched The Black Room (Roy William Neill, 1935). Boris Karloff plays twins (the usual: one good, one evil), in this well-executed thriller. Easily one of Karloff’s best performances. Production values are high, the direction first-rate, and the EC-like story never fails to entertain.
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Post by Prince Hal on Sept 27, 2021 23:23:36 GMT -5
Watched The Black Room (Roy William Neill, 1935). Boris Karloff plays twins (the usual: one good, one evil), in this well-executed thriller. Easily one of Karloff’s best performances. Production values are high, the direction first-rate, and the EC-like story never fails to entertain. Neill directed some of the better Sherlock Holmes movies with Rathbone as well as "Frankenstein meets the Wolfman."
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Post by Rob Allen on Sept 28, 2021 10:57:43 GMT -5
I see that I was in this movie, 21 years before I was born. I hope I gave a good performance.
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Post by Mister Spaceman on Sept 28, 2021 11:07:32 GMT -5
I see that I was in this movie, 21 years before I was born. I hope I gave a good performance. Best of all, you got the girl!
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Post by Rob Allen on Sept 28, 2021 11:23:07 GMT -5
I see that I was in this movie, 21 years before I was born. I hope I gave a good performance. Best of all, you got the girl! Well, that's to be expected.
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Post by Prince Hal on Sept 28, 2021 12:01:03 GMT -5
I see that I was in this movie, 21 years before I was born. I hope I gave a good performance. You were superb in a thankless role. I liked you way more when you were Bob Allen, Ranger... (And you look great for your age!) From the LA Times: Bob ‘Tex’ Allen; 1930s Western Movie StarBY ERIC MALNIC OCT. 13, 1998 12 AM PT TIMES STAFF WRITER Bob “Tex” Allen, an enduring actor whose stardom in Hollywood Westerns during the 1930s was eclipsed by the arrival of such singing cowboys as Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, has died in Oyster Bay, N.Y. He was 92. Although he was best known for the “Bob Allen Ranger” film series that made him one of the most popular Western stars, his roles as a white-hatted cowboy were only a brief part of an acting career that spanned more than 60 years, including dozens of major screen, television and Broadway roles. Allen, who died Friday after a brief battle with cancer, was born Theodore Baehr on Aug. 9, 1906. Despite the disapproval of his father, who wanted him to join the family import-export business, the young Dartmouth graduate wanted to be an actor. After attracting the attention of a talent agent--who gave him his new name--Allen soon found himself under contract to Columbia Pictures and 20th Century Fox. During the 1930s, he appeared in a wide variety of successful movies, including “Perils of Pauline,” “Love Me Forever,” “Crime and Punishment” and “Winter Carnival.” In 1934, Allen married Evelyn Pierce, an actress whom no less an expert than Florenz Ziegfeld once pronounced the prettiest woman in the world. Allen’s leading role in “The Life of Lafayette” won him an Academy Award nomination in 1936. But it was as a virtuous cowboy lawman, chasing down bad guys, that he won his greatest popularity. He starred in a series of Westerns that included “Rio Grande Ranger,” “The Unknown Ranger,” “The Rangers Step In,” “Ranger Courage,” “The Reckless Ranger” and “Law of the Range.” When the Box Office Poll of Western stars was published in 1937, Allen ranked right behind one of the all-time favorites, Tim McCoy. “I thought, ‘Boy, I’m on my way,’ ” Allen recalled several years ago. “But Columbia signed Buck Jones up to produce his own pictures, and that gave the studio three Western stars--Jones, Charlie Starrett and me. Being the low man on the totem pole, my series was dropped.” Allen said he was negotiating with Republic Pictures, which was looking for a new Western star, when the studio’s casting director, Harold Dobbs called him in for an interview. “He said, ‘Bob, they want to build up someone to compete with Gene Autry. As you don’t play the guitar, they’ve decided to go with a kid from Ohio they have under contract at $75 a week, a boy named Roy Rogers.’ “That was the end of Bob ‘Tex’ Allen.” But Allen persevered. During World War II, he starred in the USO production of “Over 21,” which toured North Africa and Italy. After the war, he moved to Broadway, with roles in “Showboat,” “Auntie Mame,” “Kiss Them for Me” and “I Killed the Count.” More Broadway and off-Broadway work followed, along with appearances in television programs, movies and commercials. Allen’s wife died in 1960. He is survived by a daughter, Katherine Meyer; a son, Theodore Baehr; seven grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.
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Post by Mister Spaceman on Sept 30, 2021 17:44:34 GMT -5
Watched Vampire's Kiss (Robert Bierman, 1989). As a literary agent who convinces himself he’s been turned into a vampire after a one-night stand, Nicolas Cage vigorously sinks his fangs into the late Eighties Manhattan scenery. It might be the most “Nicolas Cage” performance of his career and it suits the material well. Screenwriter Joseph Minion takes the externalized paranoia of his After Hours and completely internalizes it here. The subplot involving a secretary that Cage abuses leads to a climactic encounter with her vengeful brother that is underwritten and poorly realized by Bierman. For a story about a man who serially abuses women (and projects his own failures onto the fantasy figure of a female vampire), reducing the film to a mano y mano conflict is unsatisfying. But, on the whole, this is an entertaining escapade that is carried on the wings of Cage’s excessive performance. Kasi Lemmons is adorably sexy in a supporting role and Jennifer Beals is dead sexy as the vampire seductress.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Oct 3, 2021 7:14:43 GMT -5
While scrolling through the movies offered on the HBO streaming platform I pay too much money for every month, I stumbled across this:
...and that despite all of my familiarity with Cheech & Chrong's comedy routines (some of which appear in this film in modified form), I realized I'd never watched Up in Smoke before. And - it's pretty uneven. There are some really funny bits, provided that you like their brand of stoner humor, but it's more like a bunch of comedy sketches strung together by a loose overarching story. However, I can see why this movie was so popular at the time (and made over $100 million on a $2 million budget). It's silly and juvenile, but all of the drug humor makes it seem kind of subversive - so it was eaten up by many in the 15-25 age cohort back then.
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Post by berkley on Oct 4, 2021 1:04:47 GMT -5
While scrolling through the movies offered on the HBO streaming platform I pay too much money for every month, I stumbled across this: ...and that despite all of my familiarity with Cheech & Chrong's comedy routines (some of which appear in this film in modified form), I realized I'd never watched Up in Smoke before. And - it's pretty uneven. There are some really funny bits, provided that you like their brand of stoner humor, but it's more like a bunch of comedy sketches strung together by a loose overarching story. However, I can see why this movie was so popular at the time (and made over $100 million on a $2 million budget). It's silly and juvenile, but all of the drug humor makes it seem kind of subversive - so it was eaten up by many in the 15-25 age cohort back then.
I've never seen it either, though I do like Cheech and Chong. I have fond memories of me and my school friend listening to their comedy records at his house, which we thought were great, even though we were just 10 or 11 year old kids, so the drug references were totally outside our experience.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Oct 4, 2021 6:09:29 GMT -5
I've never seen it either, though I do like Cheech and Chong. I have fond memories of me and my school friend listening to their comedy records at his house, which we thought were great, even though we were just 10 or 11 year old kids, so the drug references were totally outside our experience.
Yep, pretty much the same for me: my older brother had (or borrowed) some of their comedy albums on cassette and we'd listen to them. He was also older enough to actually go to the theater and see their movies, and would then tell me all about them. Then later, when I was a teen, my buddies and I also listened to their recorded material on cassette (along with Eddie Murphy's comedy albums) and laughed our a**es off. I've listened some of it more recently (I think a bunch of it is still up on YouTube) and I think a lot of it still holds up pretty well.
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Post by brutalis on Oct 4, 2021 7:38:34 GMT -5
Cheech and Chong movies were a summer staple for us at the drive-in theater. A perfect summer Saturday night with a carload of friends laughing and munching down pizza's.
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Post by codystarbuck on Oct 4, 2021 21:36:06 GMT -5
I saw at least parts of it and all of Cheech and Chong's Next Movie (on Cinemax, in high school). As I recall, they were staples of the Midnight Movie Circuit, which involved a lot of smoking inside the theater. Also stuff like Flesh Gordon, Pink Floyd's The Wall, Tommy, Heavy Metal, and similar.
Their albums and stage stuff were always better, because they were more spontaneous and the live stuff fed off the crowd. The movies tended towards just dumb, with the odd funny bit, here and there.
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