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Post by brutalis on Dec 10, 2021 14:08:55 GMT -5
Watched 1942's My Gal Sal featuring Rita Hayworth and Victor Mature. Thoroughly enjoyable and colorful musical full of stylish designs and costuming along with the fun of watching Hayworth/Mature flirt, fight, romance and being stunning together.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Dec 12, 2021 12:37:46 GMT -5
So, having watched 1964's Last Man on Earth a last week, I got around to watching the next motion picture adaptation of I Am Legend, the much better known and - in some quarters at least - much more loved and fondly remembered The Omega Man from 1971...
Starring Charlton Heston in the main role, this one is indeed much more fast-paced and action-oriented than the Vincent Price film from the early 1960s - which was more low-key and bleak. Omega Man diverges even more from the source novel, so that the victims of the plague are not even vampire-like creatures but rather light-sensitive albinos, basically. Their society is also portrayed in a little greater detail here, so that they're technophobes among other things, which may be seen as a sort of commentary on some of the counterculture movements of the late '60s/early '70s (and the fact that they call themselves the 'Family' uncomfortably evokes the then still fresh memory of Charles Manson's commune or cult or whatever you want to call it). Much as I enjoyed this one - I'm kind of a sucker for any movie shot in the 1970s, they just hit some kind of nostalgia sweet-spot embedded in the depths of my brain - I have to say I think the earlier adaptation, Last Man, is much better, both as an adaptation of the source material and just generally as a post-apocalyptic horror.
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Post by Hoosier X on Dec 12, 2021 17:49:07 GMT -5
I’m watching Bicentennial Man and I’m really liking it.
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Post by berkley on Dec 12, 2021 18:13:41 GMT -5
So, having watched 1964's Last Man on Earth a last week, I got around to watching the next motion picture adaptation of I Am Legend, the much better known and - in some quarters at least - much more loved and fondly remembered The Omega Man from 1971... Starring Charlton Heston in the main role, this one is indeed much more fast-paced and action-oriented than the Vincent Price film from the early 1960s - which was more low-key and bleak. Omega Man diverges even more from the source novel, so that the victims of the plague are not even vampire-like creatures but rather light-sensitive albinos, basically. Their society is also portrayed in a little greater detail here, so that they're technophobes among other things, which may be seen as a sort of commentary on some of the counterculture movements of the late '60s/early '70s (and the fact that they call themselves the 'Family' uncomfortably evokes the then still fresh memory of Charles Manson's commune or cult or whatever you want to call it). Much as I enjoyed this one - I'm kind of a sucker for any movie shot in the 1970s, they just hit some kind of nostalgia sweet-spot embedded in the depths of my brain - I have to say I think the earlier adaptation, Last Man, is much better, both as an adaptation of the source material and just generally as a post-apocalyptic horror.
This was one of the first "adult" movies I saw at the theatre as a kid - I would have been 9 years old, assuming it made its way to our local cinema in 1971. We thought it was great - and the pessimistic ending was very powerful for us kids (as was the ending to another film from around the same time and in which Heston had a cameo, Beneath the Planet of the Apes).
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Post by codystarbuck on Dec 14, 2021 2:35:41 GMT -5
I’m watching Bicentennial Man and I’m really liking it. Mmmmmmm..............the original short story was so much better. I just can't separate the film from the source material.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2021 16:21:00 GMT -5
The classic Christmas movies have started going into viewing rotation in my house. Kicking it off, our family favorite 1955's We're No Angels set on Christmas Eve in a decidedly non-traditional setting of Devil's Island during the late 1800's. The chemistry of the cast is incredible with Humphrey Bogart still delivering the magic (it was one of his last films sadly), a young and already delightful Peter Ustinov, and a particularly brilliant performance by Aldo Ray as well. They play off each other incredibly well, I can't imagine a different cast performing this better.
They are three convicts who break out of the local prison, wander their way into the life of a "proper" family running a store on the island, and find themselves drawn into the dramas that ensue. A most charming blend of light-hearted moments, occasional serious points, and as the events unfold through Christmas Eve and into Christmas morning you see these purported criminals (though as we eventually learn there is a bit more than meets the eye with each) truly earn their "angel wings". Highly recommended.
Next up: It Happened on 5th Avenue and then The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942 version).
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Post by EdoBosnar on Dec 19, 2021 12:44:18 GMT -5
Watched the Terminator again last night... I realized as I was watching it that this was the first time I'd seen it since probably the mid-1990s (I know I've watched Terminator II two or maybe three times in the last decade and a half). I'd almost forgotten how good damn good it is. To quote Casey Doran from the Radio vs the Martians and the Podcasta La Vista Baby podcasts, it's close to a perfect horror movie and one of the best SF/horror movies ever made. I'll just add that it really holds up quite well - I'd say the only things that stuck out to me as looking dated were a few of the scenes after the Terminator's human tissue got burned off and the metallic skeleton was chasing Sarah and Reese.
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Post by codystarbuck on Dec 26, 2021 15:36:17 GMT -5
Watched the Terminator again last night... I realized as I was watching it that this was the first time I'd seen it since probably the mid-1990s (I know I've watched Terminator II two or maybe three times in the last decade and a half). I'd almost forgotten how good damn good it is. To quote Casey Doran from the Radio vs the Martians and the Podcasta La Vista Baby podcasts, it's close to a perfect horror movie and one of the best SF/horror movies ever made. I'll just add that it really holds up quite well - I'd say the only things that stuck out to me as looking dated were a few of the scenes after the Terminator's human tissue got burned off and the metallic skeleton was chasing Sarah and Reese. I'd put it more at the dance club, as it screams the 1980s more than anything else in there. I tried to listen to Cameron's commentary track and it soured me on him, as a person, quite a bit. I think it is during the credits or maybe just before he mentions the Harlan Ellison notation and tries to paint the lawsuit as cheap opportunism, when Ellison had, in print, Cameron admitting to ripping off his Outer Limits stories, in an interview. Watched that movie for the first time, in 1985, while on my first Midshipman Training Cruise, while we were on holiday routine, after an entire day of refueling ships in the USS New Jersey battlegroup. It was the perfect kind of movie to watch, while at sea. Sadly, for me, tastes in the Navy tended towards cheaper horror and action films, and it was one of the few movies I enjoyed watching at sea, while in the Navy. Saw way more Seagal and Van Damme movies then I ever wanted.
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shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,748
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Post by shaxper on Dec 27, 2021 6:40:07 GMT -5
After 42 years of hearing how great it is, Amber and I finally tried to watch Caddyshack last night.
What the hell were people thinking?
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on Dec 27, 2021 14:20:28 GMT -5
We're No Angels is a favorite movie of mine that I first saw as a young boy. At the age where a movie like that wouldn't really appeal to me because not enough action, etc in it. But I really held my attention. I especially liked Aldo Ray's character, Albert. But I think it was Ustinov as Prince John/King Richard in Disney's Robin Hood that hooked me long enough to give the movie a chance. Robin Hood was my favorite Disney movie growing up and Ustinov having such a distinct voice, I recognized it in his first line in We're No Angels. One of the few movies where I felt the supporting cast, Ray and Ustinov as more entertaining than Bogart. Edward G Robinson and his goons in Key Largo being another instance. Another favorite movie of mine.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 27, 2021 14:53:19 GMT -5
We're No Angels is a favorite movie of mine that I first saw as a young boy. At the age where a movie like that wouldn't really appeal to me because not enough action, etc in it. But I really held my attention. I especially liked Aldo Ray's character, Albert. But I think it was Ustinov as Prince John/King Richard in Disney's Robin Hood that hooked me long enough to give the movie a chance. Robin Hood was my favorite Disney movie growing up and Ustinov having such a distinct voice, I recognized it in his first line in We're No Angels. One of the few movies where I felt the supporting cast, Ray and Ustinov as more entertaining than Bogart. Edward G Robinson and his goons in Key Largo being another instance. Another favorite movie of mine. I'm a huge Bogie fan and thought he was still great in this, but I totally agree, Ray and Ustinov really made this film.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 27, 2021 15:00:54 GMT -5
After 42 years of hearing how great it is, Amber and I finally tried to watch Caddyshack last night. What the hell were people thinking? I agree. The sequel is far better. Watch that instead.
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Post by codystarbuck on Dec 27, 2021 22:27:30 GMT -5
After 42 years of hearing how great it is, Amber and I finally tried to watch Caddyshack last night. What the hell were people thinking? GA--HGH----WHA? You did not see the sublime magnificence of Ted Knight? The raucous poking at the privileged, by Rodney Dangerfield? The inspired lunacy of Bill Murray? The pixie chaos of the gopher? Chevy Chase is in it, too! To each their own; but, I find the movie hilarious, to this day, and have seen it a dozen times or more. I don't think much of Chevy in this (never did, in anything other than Vacation and Christmas Vacation); but Ted Knight is a hoot and I love Rodney's skewering of the snooty old money at the club, in the fine tradition of the Marx Brothers, Charlie Chaplin and the Three Stooges. The romantic parts, such as they are, don't work, and the Danny Noonan stuff doesn't do much, except set other people up for their stuff. Still, it's naughty enough to be cheeky and satirical enough to elevate some of the lower brow stuff, and some great characters in it. Not much of a plot; but, then again, it's more of a series of vignettes, in and around the club. In my circle, we quote Bill Murray and Rodney Dangerfield, from that film, often. "Hey waiter; this steak still has marks from where the jockey was hitting it!" "So I got dat goin' for me."
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shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,748
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Post by shaxper on Dec 28, 2021 0:58:51 GMT -5
After 42 years of hearing how great it is, Amber and I finally tried to watch Caddyshack last night. What the hell were people thinking? GA--HGH----WHA? You did not see the sublime magnificence of Ted Knight? The raucous poking at the privileged, by Rodney Dangerfield? The inspired lunacy of Bill Murray? The pixie chaos of the gopher? Chevy Chase is in it, too! To each their own; but, I find the movie hilarious, to this day, and have seen it a dozen times or more. I don't think much of Chevy in this (never did, in anything other than Vacation and Christmas Vacation); but Ted Knight is a hoot and I love Rodney's skewering of the snooty old money at the club, in the fine tradition of the Marx Brothers, Charlie Chaplin and the Three Stooges. The romantic parts, such as they are, don't work, and the Danny Noonan stuff doesn't do much, except set other people up for their stuff. Still, it's naughty enough to be cheeky and satirical enough to elevate some of the lower brow stuff, and some great characters in it. Not much of a plot; but, then again, it's more of a series of vignettes, in and around the club. In my circle, we quote Bill Murray and Rodney Dangerfield, from that film, often. "Hey waiter; this steak still has marks from where the jockey was hitting it!" "So I got dat goin' for me." Loved Ted Knight, and this is the most I've ever liked Chevy Chase, but the rest felt over the top and lacking in cleverness. Bill Murray fantasizing over women twice his age was amusing as a single gag, but nothing else he did for me was on the usual Bill Murray level. I really wanted to like Rodney Dangerfield, but man did he annoy me. I'll take the Marx Bros. and Chaplin over him any day.
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Post by berkley on Jan 14, 2022 21:51:20 GMT -5
Watched "And God Created Woman" (Et Dieu Créa la Femme) last night, the Roger Vadim movie that made Brigitte Bardot famous. Much better movie than I'd been expecting, to be honest, as from memories of reading about it in various movie histories or reviews by famous critics, I had the impression it wasn't highly rated. As a comics reader, I found myself wondering if Gibert Hernandez might be a fan, because the setting, characters and story felt reminiscent of some of his Palomar stories, in spite of being set in southern France and not in Latin America. I recall one or both of the Hernandezes citing Sophia Loren as an influence but not Bardot.
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