What ELSE (other than KUNG FU) has everyone been watching?

[morpheus]

Double Indemnity (1944)

Early film noir with Fred MacMurrray playing against type as Walter Neff, an insurance salesman who is seduced by Barbara Stanwyck into murdering her husband.  Edward G. Robinson also stars as Neff's boss Barton Keyes.

 

[morpheus]

Here's the film poster

 

 

Edited March 28, 2021 by morpheus

[morpheus]

The Peach Thief (1964)

Watched this before.  A Bulgarian film with the beautiful Nevena Kokanova, and Rade Markovic.  Very tragic love affair between a Captain's wife and a prisoner of war.

 

[morpheus]

The Peach Thief (1964)

Watched this before.  A Bulgarian film with the beautiful Nevena Kokanova, and Rade Markovic.  Very tragic love affair between a Captain's wife and a prisoner of war.

 

[Drunken Monk]

I'm a sucker for gore so I decided to dip my toes into what constitutes as today's "extreme horror" this week. I watched...

Trauma (2017) - Some people have labeled this Chile's attempt at dethroning A Serbian Film as the king of fucked uppedness. Well, I hate to say it, but it really isn't all that extreme. Trauma's main shock factor comes from two extreme rape scenes. If you can handle rape scenes, you can handle this movie. And those scenes are no worse than the I Spit on your Grave remake.
As for the plot, it's a pretty simple home invasion/revenge movie. A handful of ladies travel to a cabin for the weekend and are brutally attacked by two men. There's a little more to is as the lead killer is given some background but, for the most part, it's all pretty standard.
The film does feature some awesome gore for those that like it. The death scenes are all pretty good. Sadly, the film is overly long and plods rather than strides. I found it all a bit boring if I'm honest. Worth watching to say you've watched it but don't expect anything great.

Atroz (2015) - This one is a rather extreme piece of sleaze from Mexico. Two guys are arrested after hitting a girl with their car and the police find a videotape of the men brutally murdering a prostitute at the scene. We're then treated/subjected two three home videos from the killers book ended with them being arrested.
As you might imagine, the home videos are pretty extreme. Again, I wouldn't say they're anything too shocking. There's rape (obviously) and brutality but most of the violence is "hidden" through camera tricks and angles. The one things that did get me with this film is one of the killers' enjoyment of bodily effluvia. When his first victim shits herself, he picks up the excrement and rubs it on his lips. It's pretty foul. And then later he greedily gobbles down some menstrual blood.
It's all very trashy and I can imagine it would get under the skin of a lot of people. Seasoned horror fans will probably roll their eyes more than they reach for a cushion.
The final home video features the most graphic stuff including some extreme genital mutilation but the film makers make the mistake of giving us so much violence that it all seems laughably and try hard.
All in all, I'd avoid this one. It's a bad film with very few redeeming qualities. This sleazy stuff just doesn't do it for me. Give me a fun gore fest like Hatchet 2 over these fake snuff movies and films where people try desperately to make their audience vomit. I want fun gore, goddamnit.

[DarthKato]

Watched the Four-Part Lifetime adaption of V.C. Andrew's "The Laundry Series"( Books written from 1994-1995, but these movies released in 2021). Not usually a fan of Lifetime movies, but I do quite like their V.C. Andrew adaptions(They also made adaptions of her "Dollanganger Series"(Books written from 1979-1986, movies released in 2014-2015) and "Casteel Series"(Books written from 1985-1990. Movies released in 2019. Haven't seen this one yet.), and these didn't disappoint. I really enjoy the characters and stories in these films, which are some of the best you will find on Lifetime(Which  usually has copy and paste trash). So yeah, if you like V.C. Andrew books or Family dramas, I recommend checking them out. I don't think that you'll be disappointed. 

[masterofoneinchpunch]

Seminole (1953: Budd Boetticher):  

A middling western from Budd Boetticher who has done so much better (every single film with Randolph Scott for example). But he was churning films out at this time. Five in 1953. 

There are some complications in the script: the female lead in love with the half-Indian (Anthony Quinn in yet another "ethnic" role; he still is awesome though, I liked that they made him different than anyone on both sides, he's not the issue with the film). 

Rock Hudson was fine here (though his hair piece was very noticeable, everyone seemed to have a bad hair piece). This may be controversial, but his worst acting tended to be with Douglas Sirk (much more wooden then here, he seems comfortable here). 

Great to see Lee Marvin in a decent role. There were some good characters here. The annoying: Richard Carlson's monomania. He does not have the range that Henry Fonda does in Fort Apace (so many similarities between these two characters). 

Ultimately the film just felt rushed and the pacing could be meandering for a short film. It has its moments, but does not shine about so many better westerns. 

[Super Ninja]

6 hours ago, masterofoneinchpunch said:

This may be controversial, but his worst acting tended to be with Douglas Sirk (much more wooden then here, he seems comfortable here). 

Would you count All that Heaven Allows in there?

[masterofoneinchpunch]

10 hours ago, Super Ninja said:

Would you count All that Heaven Allows in there?

Easily. I still like the film (great I'm sure my writing on this is gone now since my Criterion site is gone), but I would not have allowed some of his acting choices along with Magnificent Obsession.

Just watch him act with Doris Day.  He works well with her and is more relaxed.  He tends to work better with men overall though check out Bend of the River.

Edited March 30, 2021 by masterofoneinchpunch
More blather

[DrNgor]

18 hours ago, masterofoneinchpunch said:

Seminole (1953: Budd Boetticher):  

A middling western from Budd Boetticher who has done so much better (every single film with Randolph Scott for example).

But the Seminoles lived in Florida, didn't they? Wouldn't that make the movie a "Southern"? I'll see myself out.

[Killer Meteor]

On 2/10/2021 at 1:15 AM, masterofoneinchpunch said:

Things to Come (1936: William Cameron Menzies) on the Criterion 660 DVD.  

I was expecting this to be a better film; though I was wary when I knew that H.G. Wells was the writer. Wells's earlier works I have enjoyed like The Invisible Man and The Island of Doctor Moreau. 

But when he became more interested in his ideas and less interested in humanity books like In the Days of the Comet became a choir to read. This movie has the same issues. It is full of archetypes, propaganda and analogous to L. Ron Hubbard's Mission Earth series it is stock characters that represent an ideal or the opposite and none of them feeling human at all. The didacticism runs rampant. For goodness sake, the town in the movie is named "Everytown." How lazy can you be with the script. 

The acting is typical of British 30s acting with a stage influence (not going into Fritz Lang 20s here, but still) and sometimes too wooden of a delivery. The enunciation is good though. The film itself looks fine (the print from Criterion is not particularly good, but the best with the surviving elements), the special effects are quite nice. Not sure about the outfits, but still interesting. 

This is a particularly nice shot. You will certainly see a good use of matte shots in this movie. The special effects are a highlight, but there are a lot of nice composition shots. 

One person's utopia is another person's dystopia. The "perfect" society seems to dress all alike. Hmmmm. One of the more scary quotes I have heard in a long time. But typical of Wells's later writings. 

I see this as an interesting artifact. One that is prescient (though using the colloquialism "the writing was on the wall") on some issues. But absolutely idealistic and overly preachy. On several sci-fi lists, but there are so many better sci-fi films. 

 

I like to think that the scene where the artist complains about progress on a large streamed TV service was the inspiration for Sideshow Bob using a giant TV screen to call fo TV to be abolished.

[masterofoneinchpunch]

Tenet (2020: Christopher Nolan):  

A film I liked, but nowhere near as good as Nolan's best. The problem, of course, like many time travel films lies in the plot. Trying to be too tricky while forgetting the main focus is the story. 

Like most sci-fi films I would have easily preferred to see this in the theater. There are so many other time travel films I was thinking of. Some explicitly like Timecop (like don't touch yourself, I mean your other self which can have bad consequences).  

Also it is hard not to think of Looper. Something from the future coming into the past. An unknown entity. It mentions parallel universes, but avoids the Marvel Route. Think of 12 Monkeys as well (that is a better film). 

This will explain everything. Kidding of course. Just because you mention The Grandfather Paradox, does not mean you can avoid thinking about logic issues in here. Like did you really need to add the power of reversing causality within the main forward timeline? 

There is something cool about the reverse timeline. That could be done. Rewatching the film a second time you will catch more of those plot elements. Because it already happened (once again don't think). 

Yes, he is the protagonist. I figured out the ending early on when it gives a bit way too much with Neil (Robert Pattinson). His character is cool, but still not enough of a full bodied human. Like him I do pull-ups and pushups everywhere. 

What was worse was the one-note performance of Sator (Kenneth Branagh). Stop yelling so damn much. Yell when you lose control, not all the time. Still like this line though: 

Some lines are just cool. Yes, I'm stealing this one. 

A scene taken from Airplane. Don't call me Shirley and I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue. 

Yes, we do live in a Twilight world. Still not sure when I will ever watch that movie. So I gave the movie a 7/10. It is a mess, but an interesting mess. It just should have been better. 

[masterofoneinchpunch]

6 hours ago, DrNgor said:

But the Seminoles lived in Florida, didn't they? Wouldn't that make the movie a "Southern"? I'll see myself out.

Argh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

3 hours ago, Killer Meteor said:

 

I like to think that the scene where the artist complains about progress on a large streamed TV service was the inspiration for Sideshow Bob using a giant TV screen to call fo TV to be abolished.

That's an interesting possibility. I like this mention.

[Super Ninja]

21 hours ago, masterofoneinchpunch said:

Easily. I still like the film (great I'm sure my writing on this is gone now since my Criterion site is gone), but I would not have allowed some of his acting choices along with Magnificent Obsession.

Just watch him act with Doris Day.  He works well with her and is more relaxed.  He tends to work better with men overall though check out Bend of the River.

Gotta be honest, I haven't seen Magnificent Obsession, only All That Heaven Allows and Written on the Wind. I remember Heaven being one of the more beautiful and unique films I've seen though I've never paid too much attention to Hudson's acting there.

Bend of the River I did see although it was long time ago. Mann is the only one that could've competed with the big league guys like Ford and Hawks, don't think I've seen all of his westerns, but my favorite is definitely The Tin Star.

[nectarsis]

Robowar, Italian flick shot in the Philippines mixing Predator with Robocop (some scenes EXACT copies)... so, sooooooo bad, but sooooooooooooo much fun.

[nectarsis]

Robowar, Italian flick shot in the Philippines mixing Predator with Robocop (some scenes EXACT copies)... so, sooooooo bad, but sooooooooooooo much fun.

[Drunken Monk]

If anyone has been putting off watching the new animated show on Amazon Prime, Invincible, I highly recommend it. The first episode alone absolutely blew my socks off. Now I’m three episodes in and loving it. It feels so original, has a genuinely interesting plot and is beautifully animated at times.

Also, you get to play a fun game of “Name that voice actor.”

[nectarsis]

I haven't seen this one since I was a kid...should be fun

[nectarsis]

one of the biggest button hooks in coverart history...a bit bland but decent

[nectarsis]

one of the biggest button hooks in coverart history...a bit bland but decent

[nectarsis]

haven't seen this since it scared the crap out of me as a kid

[DarthKato]

Watched a Psychological-Horror film the other day called "Incident in a Ghostland(2018)": Didn't know too much going into this film, but it turned out to be really good. I did figure out the twist about 10-15 minutes into the movie, but it didn't take away from the movie, for me at least. The characters where well written and acted, that you could actual root for, instead of hoping that they die as fast as possible. Now this film can get pretty grim at times, but overall, I enjoyed this one a lot. 

[masterofoneinchpunch]

Little Women (2019: Greta Gerwig):  

I had just read the book so I figured that I was going to be annoyed with any film adaptation. This is decent movie of a good (not great book) but I'm a little perplexed on the overwhelming praise for it. I have no issues with modifying the narrative structure. I probably would have cast different actors for the different time periods, but not an issue. Gerwig keeps quite a bit of the dialogue from the book, but there is some important omissions and additions. 

It is annoying that I could guess before hand what would be kept out. The Christianity of course which plays an important part of the book (their faith) and is eschewed here. Not a big issue, but I knew it was going to be ignored. 

One scene I had an issue with was this one. Not only does this contradict the book it really makes no sense. Is she ashamed that her country is fighting to end slavery? It is a PC addition that caters to an audience but makes no sense in the context of the film. Propaganda. 

This scene was a little annoying. They just happened to find the manuscript at home of a book he had no interest in? A little too contrived. 

This I don't have a big issue because she does say that through the book. I was never overly happy with who she ends up with in the book. Neither this nor the book have great endings. 

But was Friedrich Bhaer miscast or what? Completely different from the book and the most important aspects missing is how much more of a human being he is in the book (and older and bigger and loved by many). Still thought they should not have got together in the book. 

The direction and atmosphere is nice. It is well done. A bit too antiseptic, the March's are dressed way too nice, everything is too clean and too new which makes nothing looked lived in. 

She is a 19th Century version of The Hulk. 

[Drunken Monk]

I decided to revisit Lucio Fulci this week. I grew up a huge horror fan but many of his films I haven't watched since I was a teen. I opted for his "Gates of Hell" trilogy first:

The Beyond - There's something about Fulci's style that makes his movies an "experience" more than just a simple watch. He is a true master of atmosphere. The Beyond is typical for this trilogy: a specific event has resulted in the gates of hell opening in a specific place. This makes way for plenty of ultra violence and eerie goings on.
In my eyes, The Beyond is one of the greatest horror movies of all time. It doesn't necessarily need to be coherent. It's a vague film. But it makes sense in a "spooky shit is happening kind of way." Just sit back and let it take you on its journey.
There is some really nice gore scenes in this one for those who are into that.

House by the Cemetery - Another blood drenched masterpiece. This one feels a little more claustrophobic than his other movies as most of the spooky stuff happens in a particular house. But the stuff that does happen is pretty original; including a rather vicious bat attack.
Again, another somewhat vague film that feels like Fulci just wants to take you on a hellish ride. This might actually be my favourite of the three.

City of the Living Dead - Fulci doesn't need to justify this one, though some people may feel that way. There are a lot of unusual happenings here. Thankfully, they lead to the maestro's trademark ultra-gore. A woman vomits up her internal organs and a poor dude catches an industrial drill through the brain.
I love the final fifteen minutes of this one. It's just so dark and grim. Though, admittedly, I have no idea what happens in the last five seconds.

Onto The New York Ripper, Zombie and A Cat in the Brain.

[Drunken Monk]

The New York Ripper - While many of Fulci's films have an (arguably) artistic feel to them, The New York Ripper sees the director go the opposite route. This is sleazy, gore soaked nonsense. And that is not to be taken as a positive. I'm a gore lover but I like some substance to go along with it. This has none of that. The whole film feels like Fulci trying to crowbar as much bush as he can into 90 minutes. He's obviously bending his craft to some kind of audience. I'm just not sure what that audience is.
I understand that people like exploitation movies. So do I to an extent. But this is just a mess from start to finish. A shame really as when the violence rolls around, it really is a treat.