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

[Dragons Fury]

Minder - 70s london drama

Dallas - 70s US drama

Transformers 3 - a bunch of robots beatin each other up

Snooker PTC

Naruto Shippuden - a japanese anime about ninjas

plus other diffrent animes

[DarthKato]

Back to Bataan(1945) Starring John Wayne: Not a bad movie. Its about a colonel organizing a guerrilla force in the Philippines to fight the Japanese during WWII.

[AlbertV]

LEGION - The movie revolving archangel Michael leading an assault against renegade angels to protect an unborn child starts out pretty well, but then it disappoints into a very cruddy ending.

CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS - I actually enjoyed this animated film based on the book. Bill Hader and Anna Faris fit their roles perfectly and overall, it was a fun cartoon film.

[AlbertV]

PLAYING HOUSE - A low budgeted thriller about a doctor and his wife in a new home. Doc's best friend gets a new girlfriend who becomes obsessed with both doctor and house and goes to evil methods to attempt to get what she wants. Until the finale, the film plays off as something you would expect on Lifetime, but then the end gets quite bloody. Not too great IMO.

[masterofoneinchpunch]

Bronson (2008/2009: Nicolas Winding Refn) ***½/****

I have had the DVD of this quite awhile before I saw Drive, but viewing that movie was the impetus to watch this sooner than later.

Even after watching only two Refn films like Bronson and Drive you feel an auteuristic streak between these two. Some of the music is reminiscent of each other, though in this film you do get to hear Pet Shop Boys (It’s a Sin). Refn self admittedly has an interest in violence (obvious so far). He also has an interest in psychotic loners (one of my favorite subgenres) and likes to eschew explanation for his protagonist. I am getting the feeling that Valhalla Rising will have many similarities as well besides the use of the psychotic loner.

Bronson is based on a true story of Michael Peterson one of England’s most notorious prisoners. He was given the name Charles Bronson (he first suggested Charlton Heston, which I thought was a good pick but he is more of the Charles Bronson type) and it stuck and helped imbed itself in the subconscious of this bad (but not bad bad, he has his principles) man. Bronson is an artist and his medium is violence. Is he rebelling against anything? Is he an anarchist? There was nothing wonky about his childhood. He is also a wee bit cracked, but is an interesting study from a safe distance of the viewing screen. Tom Hardy’s (Inception) performance is intense and the heart, soul and bollocks of this film. With his bald head and old-style mustache he looks like a circus strongman from the late 1800s. If he waited a few decades he might have had a future in MMA (technically speaking I would say the mid to late 1990s; for later he would have to learn technique), if only he could purge the urge for stealing and unpaid mayhem.

The film is quite humorous and is easy to see this as a future cult classic though I do wonder if rewatchings will hurt this. Refn purposely gets rid of explanation as he just shows this tour-de-force. Bronson does not seem as much of a human, but more of a self-created character. While this is based on a true-life criminal and much of it is plausible it makes Bronson a two-dimensional character at best though to be fair to survive in prison you have to do something to your psyche to survive.

Or maybe Bronson is just insane.

[AlbertV]

SAINT - Dick Maas' latest horror film this time revolving around the legend of Saint Nicholas. On December 5 when there is a full moon, St. Nick and his men go on a horrific murdering spree and 2010 proves no different. It is up to a college student and a detective who had witnessed the last of Nicholas' murders (he murdered the detective's family when he was a kid). Excellent stunt sequence in the rooftop chase scene and some pretty gruesome death scenes. I always liked Maas' work and this is one of his good films.

[masterofoneinchpunch]

The Haunted Castle (1921: F.W. Murnau: Germany) **½/****

This is the first of hopefully twenty horror/suspense/lawyer related films to watch this month. This is a good chance to fill in some holes in the sundry lists of mine. I will start by watching the second extant Murnau film (The Dark Road being the first) and the title surely fits for this month’s theme. While Murnau’s latter Nosferatu is a classic in the horror film genre this movie is not a horror (apart from one dream sequence) and well the title is misnamed as well.

There is a castle, but it is not haunted. The German title Schloß Vogeloed literally means Castle Vogeloed which is the castle owned by Lord Vogelöd. Vogelöd is hosting several guests in his abode for hunting if the weather permits. An uninvited guest Count Johann Oetsch, who was previously accused and put on trial of murdering his brother, shows up and is mysteriously antagonistic towards everyone (why they do not just kick him out is probably due to aristocratic “rules of the game” possibly). His presence particularly annoys the former wife (Olga Chekhova) of his brother who is now married to the Baron Safferstätt. But what are his reasons for being there? And why did Father Faramund who is another guest suddenly disappear?

If you are used to seeing Murnau’s exquisite later films this movie is more of a shock. The camera, while characteristic of the era, almost never moves -- I only detected one shift of the camera to cover a scene. The sets, while decent, are not as expressionistic as his later works. It is impressive how Murnau would improve as a director in such a short period of time is and unfortunate that he died too young.

There are much better Murnau films out there and there are certainly better early period horror films as well (Nosferatu covers both categories). But if are looking to see an early Olga Chekhova film (who had a vast career in Germany; read about her exploits during WWII), an early Murnau that is a precursor to Tartuffe in part of its theme or an early whodunit mystery then this is an OK pick. Unfortunately this is not more than that.

[masterofoneinchpunch]

The Comedy of Terrors (1963: Jacques Tourneur) ***/****:

This is the second pick for this month. I am deciding to try to get to as many variants of unwatched horror films as possible (of course I can always change my mind and strictly watch classic horror). From a silent murder mystery in The Haunted Castle to a later comedic horror film there is one thing in common to both of these films – they are considered minor films by great directors. Tourneur helped helm some of my favorite horror films (also produced by Val Lewton) in Cat People, I Walked with a Zombie and The Leopard Man. He also directed one of the best noir films in Out of the Past.

I was wary going into the movie, mostly caused by a few comments here and there on this film (not even sure where now) and the inauspicious beginning did not help. It was a sped-up (undercranked) scene that was plebian and had me wondering if Tourneur was going to treat this as a lowball comedy. I further thought this with the first scene between Boris Karloff, Joyce Jameson and Vincent Price. Karloff is underused, but ultimately that was because of his advanced arthritis and bad back. Jameson is not as good at acting as the others, but when she is the target of Price’s quips they are just priceless. But then the movie gets better and the character interactions work well.

While the movie was on a tiny budget and was made quickly it has two solid strengths going for it. The direction, with some minor quibbles and a few scenes that could have been reshot, is still quite fluid and looks good. The biggest strength is the actors though. You have a brilliant performance from Price whose antagonist performance as Waldo Trumbull is so good I ended up rooting for him – so what if he is a murderer and an alcoholic. His partner in crime is played by Peter Lorre as Felix Gillie an inept burglar and an inept carpenter who has an eye for Price’s wife who is an inept singer. Lorre has the ability to sway sympathy towards him and is quite effective here. Trumbell married into a funeral business that was owned by Amos Hinchley (Boris Karloff), but business has dying because of the lack of deaths. In fact when times get tough he has to help create his own business.

Trumbell is in another jam. He owes a year’s worth of rent to the stalwart Shakespearean spouting (mostly MacBeth) John F. Black (Basil Rathbone in another good performance in the film; originally Boris was to have this role but it proved to be too physical for his aging body). But why not kill two birds with one pillow?

Add in Joe E. Brown in what is mostly a cameo role as a cemetery keeper, a very talented feline who is throughout the film and you have one of the best cast “B” horror/comedy films I have seen. I recommend this as it is quite a good time.

You can find this on a dual MGM R1 combo release with The Raven which has much of this cast though I still need to see it. Unfortunately it is OOP and prices are rising. There is a nice little interview with the writer Richard Matheson who wrote I Am Legend as well as the screenplays for several Roger Corman films like Pit and the Pendulum.

[masterofoneinchpunch]

The Mummy (1959: Terence Fisher) **½/****:

Any horror movie marathon should include at least one Hammer (must fight the urge to add Bros. after Hammer) horror film. While they were often inspired by the Universal horror films (and the many sequels) of the 1930s and 1940s they add an atmosphere that is unique to their studio with lush sets, vivacious color, more violence, and usually more sex appeal. So for my third horror pick of the month I decided to go for the most famous Hammer film I had not seen.

The plot and characters are derived from The Mummy’s Hand (1940) and The Mummy’s Tomb (1942) which had Lon Chaney Jr. as the Mummy (first of three for him). In 1895, Stephan Banning with his injured son (Peter Cushing) and relative Joseph Whemple desecrates the tomb of Princess Ananka against the warning of Mehemet Bey (George Pastell) a fez wearing follower of Karnak (do not tell him Karnak is a minor deity) and with the Scroll of Life accidently awakes Kharis (Christopher Lee) a man who had his tongue cut out and was forced to guard/keep company Ananka for the rest of eternity (this is later shown in flashback; this part was taken from The Mummy’s Hand). This puts Banning in a catatonic shock. Whemple orders the entrance to be closed, but not before Bey getting his hands on the scroll. Bey vows vengeance.

Three years later in England …

There is a unique problem with the Mummy itself. It is a slow and plodding creature that you could normally avoid with a brisk walk. The movie takes pains to put victims where they cannot escape his strangulated grip and slow flailing arms and gives the protagonist a limp which makes it harder for him to get away (though not as much is made of this as you might think). At one point his controller Mehemet Bey takes out victims with more effectiveness than the Mummy. It makes you think that he really did not need the creature at all. I think Lee did a good performance for what he was given – the very tightly wrapped dirty toilet paper body wrap mixed with his stucco head (though it makes you realize how good the make-up done by Jack Pierce in the 1932 version was). I also always enjoy Peter Cushing’s acting.

While this movie has its fans to me it is a minor Hammer horror film. Lee is given more to do in his Dracula performances and this does not have the uniqueness of a film like Night Creatures. The movie feels full of pastiche – though done well with the direction of Fisher and the early Hammer sets are done well. If you have not watched the Universal Mummy series than you will probably get more out of this. Though you may wonder why Kharis speaks English.

The English subtitles on the R1 Warner Bros 2001 release (which is probably the same release issued in the Hammer Horror Classics set that same year) are quite bad and often are truncated and in the wrong order of what is spoken (common for the early Warner Bros releases).

[skipsweet]

Last night: True Legend and Baseket Ball (still hilarious!). this morning: Goonies "Hey you guys!!"

[Lionclaw]

I just watched Hanna and I liked it but felt Hanna spent too much time not doing much then showing off her skills. It could have been a bit more fast paced but it was good for what it was.

[lifejuice]

Twin Peaks and Star Trek TNG are on Netflix instant, so I've been powering through those lately.

[masterofoneinchpunch]

Magic Story (1987: Lau Bing-gei: Hong Kong) aka Corpse Master **/**** (if you haven’t seen a hopping vampire film take a half a star or more off):

For the fourth horror pick of the month I thought it was time for a Hong Kong hopping vampire (僵屍) film. I have two of these types of films on DVD that I have not seen (I do need to get the Mr. Vampire sequels) and it was between this and a badly filmed (and very poorly transferred) TV release (I really hope that movie is not a theater release) starring Gordon Liu named Shaolin Vs. Vampire.

This independent quickie cheapie lasted about a week in Hong Kong theaters and was one of many made to make money off of the Mr. Vampire series which was very popular at the time and would keep going a few years after this movie. This was Lau Bing-gei’s, the writer and director, only credit in any film anywhere that I could find. That is not a good sign and something I normally do not see for a Hong Kong film, even a cheap one. It makes you wonder if it is a pseudonym, though several in this film only seem to have this as their only credit. Lo Wei (The Big Boss) actually produced this. Quite a downturn since his days with Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan.

If you are new to the genre and reading this review then I heartily recommend starting off with Mr. Vampire or Spooky Encounters. I have seen so many better hopping vampire films that I cannot recommend this to really anyone. There are no martial arts in this film, though a few stunts, which is a little strange since Mars and Benny Lai (both stuntmen/actors for Jackie Chan’s Sing Ga Ban for many years) both have big roles in this movie.

Beware of the magic Ding Dong.

Ding Dong is a child vampire (whom everyone thinks is a cute little hopping bloodsucker), one of several vampires on the loose. A scientist (Bill Tung: Supercop), his assistant (no idea who this is) who is in love with the scientist’s daughter, A Taoist priest (Mars) and several others are trying to capture vampires for money or other plot purposes. The assistant and his girlfriend befriend the little bloodsucker and try to keep him from harm. The movie’s plot is pretty much all over the place so you get the idea that it was make-it-up as you go and/or when we get hold of the actors working on other projects. There are a couple of nice scenes involving the child vampire (especially one where he interacts with other dead children – that does not sound good does it), but much of the direction, handling of humor and plot construction is somewhat inept.

The R1 BCI DVD (now OOP) has this film named Corpse Master (though that name is never used in the credits) along with Satan’s Slave in an Eastern Horror combo. I hate when they make up names for the film. It wastes my time trying to find information on the movie. The English/Chinese subtitles are burnt in and sometimes poor (well the English ones are). The transfer is widescreen, somewhat decent but I was not expecting much so I was fine with it.

[AlbertV]

ABANDONED - Brittany Murphy's final film is not bad for what it was. She played a woman who goes to the hospital where her boyfriend is receiving surgery and when he mysteriously "disappears", her sanity is questioned. Really tense at times with a very insane twist.

ARENA - Kellan Lutz and Samuel L. Jackson. Will write a full review on the main page, but it is quite brutally violent, Lutz does pretty good using boxing and low kicks and even is nifty with the sword. It yells "B-movie", but has one hell of an ending twist that hit me in the face.

[Dragons Fury]

watched the first episode of the italian drama Romanzo criminale which is about a small-time gang tryin to make it big in 1970s rome , so they decide that they will take over rome. - gotta giv the first episode 10/10 i just loved it

[blue_skies]

I've been recording a lot of Futurama off the telly so I've probably watched a good 6 – 10 episodes over the last week and more stored ready to watch:tongue:

Freeview Channel 11 – Pick TV – for anyone in the UK wanting to see the show.

[masterofoneinchpunch]

Zodiac (2007: David Fincher) ***½/****:

“This world's divided into two kinds of people: the hunter and the hunted. Luckily I'm the hunter. Nothing can change that.”

For the fifth pick of the month I thought a serial killer movie would be appropriate. It was the only David Fincher film I had not seen and I had read good reviews about it. Technically it is more of a police procedural than a suspense or horror film, though it has elements of both.

The strength of a good procedural is that it gets you involved in trying to figure out the murderer as well with the facts given. Though I knew that ultimately the culprit(s) was not found and the movie is based on Robert Graysmith’s book Zodiac. The more research I have done on this case the more I realize it will not be solved. Too much time has elapsed, too many problems: unknown finger print at the cabbies murder scene, which technically could have been a cops, I do not remember if all the cops fingers were matched to correspond with the potential oops (so many crime scenes have been disturbed in various ways especially many associated with this case); possibility of copy cats (especially with several of the letters; possibility with additional murders as well); the fact the Zodiac took credit for crimes he did not do and there is many more issues as well.

Will the case ever be solved? I do not think so unless some excellent information/clues come out. Though an interesting point was made later in the film when it posed the scenario about two killers.

This is a fascinating film with some good to excellent performances. Fincher’s direction seemed understated for him which helps in this type of film. Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal) is portrayed, rightfully so, as becoming more and more obsessed by the case to the detriment of everything around him, until the publication of his first book. It was more than just him that was consumed by the media frenzy as inspectors David Toschi, William Armstrong and reporter Paul Avery lives were upended.

It is usually cool to see Modesto mentioned in a movie, though often as in this case it is of an ignoble nature. I am glad Fincher got the facts right involving the area like the correct name for the newspapers (Modesto Bee, Sacramento Bee) and the highway (132; technically a very dangerous highway up until recent; many fatalities were from head-on collisions where people tried to pass) where the incident happened. I have seen too many films put the wrong information down when dealing with the area. There are even a couple jokes on the Sacramento Bee about them being less prestigious than the San Francisco Chronicle especially when Paul Avery “downgraded” his job.

[DarthKato]

I have not been watching too many movies in the past few days, due to college:nerd:. I have mainly been watching tv shows like Scrubs and twilight Zone in between work assignments.

[The Dragon]

Fast Five.

Whew!

[kungpowmaster]

I watched TOHO's WAR IN SPACE, the other day.

I'd not seen it before. I liked it, as I am partial to this type of stuff.

[masterofoneinchpunch]

I blather a bit below so forgive. But if I can talk you into watching either short ...

Haunted Spooks (1920: Alfred J. Goulding, Hal Roach) ***½/****

The Haunted House (1921: Edward F. Cline, Buster Keaton) ****/****

For the sixth and seventh picks of this month I thought I could compare and contrast two famous silent shorts on the same basic theme: the fake haunted house. In Haunted Spooks we have an Uncle (Wallace Howe) trying to trick a couple, played by Harold Lloyd and his future wife Mildred Davis, out of their inheritance. They are supposed to live in the house for at least a year, but if they fail in this her Uncle gets the inheritance. To do this he decides to create a haunted house. In The Haunted House we have the more familiar variation of this theme of crooks establishing a haunted house to get away with their nefarious deeds (several Scooby Doo episodes, The Ghost and Mr. Chicken). Here we have local crooks led by Keaton-villain Joe Roberts who created an elaborate haunted house to cover up his counterfeiting scheme. Buster Keaton is the inept bank clerk who happens upon this scheme.

Harold Lloyd to me is the most underrated silent comedian now, though at the time he was with Charles Chaplin the most popular comedians of his era. Here he plays his typical The Boy character, but with a small twisted twist. After a snubbed love affair he decides to commit suicide (much like Keaton would do in Hard Luck a year later), which he is completely inept at. Luckily he runs into a lawyer (or the lawyer almost runs into him) who is looking for someone for The Girl to marry. He has no issue with this and gives up his current quest for The End.

There is some controversy as to how racist Haunted Spooks is. While the portrayal of the blacks is stereotypical in the aspect of them being scared by ghosts, the fact is everyone else besides the Uncle is as well. However, the use of intertitles in its characterized drawings of blacks is the most racist aspect about the film and the most difficult to defend.

However, the most known fact about the film is that this is the movie where Lloyd lost a thumb, a finger, was blinded for awhile by a prop bomb that exploded in his face. After this he wore a hand prosthesis for most of his work including this film.

Buster Keaton is one of my favorite comedians, so I am a bit biased. But his popularity had endured because his comedy is brilliant. He is appreciated more by critics now than he ever has during his lifetime and like Chaplin the resurgence started in the 1960s and has not stopped since.

While in The Haunted Spooks the house is more of the end of a punchline since its presence is at the end of the short, the house in The Haunted House is one of the best visual gag themed films of its time. It is an elaborate built, well thought out haunted house. Both films are disjointed in storyline, but neither is hurt by this. It seems like a natural progression within the plot both leading up to the haunted house. However, their approach with it is different and helps make the difference between a good film versus a great film. So much thought is given into the gags of The Haunted House.

Here is an interesting blog entry on the acting differences between “the big three.” http://artandcultureofmovies.blogspot.com/2010/05/dilemma-of-harold-lloyd.html while focusing on Harold Lloyd. The reason I was searching this was to try to describe the difference between the acting styles of the two. He correct in that Keaton would elongate scenes if the comedy was there where Lloyd is more plot oriented working off of what comes his way. He believes that this is because of Keaton’s vaudevillian background and Lloyd’s strictly movie background. While Keaton was the more physical of the two, Lloyd had no issue with doing stunts as well. Lloyd was the outwardly more emotional of the two (this is not saying much since Keaton was known as the stoneface – though he did act through the eyes) and often took a more optimistic approach that Keaton. However, even after seeing all of their major works it is still a question I ponder.

Criterion needs both Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd. I suspect the first Keaton will be his small role in Limelight (1952) since they have the rights to this and they have been slowly rereleasing Chaplin’s films.

Roger Ebert on Safety Last: http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20050703%2FREVIEWS08%2F507030302%2F1023

[AlbertV]

BANGKOK KNOCKOUT

FREERUNNER

Reviewed these today on the main page along with ARENA.

[masterofoneinchpunch]

The Raven (1963: Roger Corman) ***/****

The month I had to watch at least one Roger Corman horror flick that I had not seen. For the eighth pick of the month I chose The Raven which like the previously mentioned The Comedy of Terrors has quite a bit of similarities: three outstanding actors in Vincent Price, Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre, a comedic take on the horror genre, the same writer Richard Matheson, an AIP release and both of these films are quite fun to watch. While I would say overall The Comedy of Terrors is a better film, I still recommend this to those who are reading this (you know who you are; ultimately that statement really doesn’t make any sense, but I digress).

The beginning is an adaptation of the titular poem, but after that nevermore for the rest of the film. This is to be expected though and like most of the Edgar Allen Poe adaptations they tend to stray or were never there in the first place. I certainly do not fault Corman and Matheson for this though and I like what Matheson does with the script. He has the ability to eschew too much predictability and Corman has the ability to make a miniscule budget go quite far. The reuse of the old sets and the addition of new sets over the years for the Corman films certainly helped create better looking films.

Price plays Erasmus Craven a wizard who pines for his lost love Lenore (who else) to the dismay of his daughter Estelle. The raven sitting “lonely on the placid bust” has the voice of Peter Lorre and is actually a wizard named Adolphus Bedlo who lost a duel between Dr. Scarabus (Boris Karloff) the life-long enemy of Craven’s father. Craven, after turning Bedlo back to a human after a few tries, just wants to be left alone and wants nothing to do with the wizard world – until he hears that the spirit of Lenore might be in Scarabus’s command. Or is Bedlo lying to get Craven’s help to destroy a possibly innocent Scarabus?

This is the first film of two Price, Karloff and Lorre did together though all of them had done earlier pairings with Lorre and Karloff working in such films as You’ll Find Out (1940) and the underrated The Boogie Man Will Get You (1942); Price and Lorre working together in The Big Circus (1959); Karloff and Price working as far back together as the Tower of London (1939). Add in a very early appearance of Jack Nicholson as Lorre’s son (yes his son) and you have quite a strong cast. Though at this point I doubt anyone had the foresight to predict the type of career Jack would have.

While the optical effects are a bit goofy in the film, especially during the duel, as well as the exterior shots of the castle, the performances, sets and direction is quite good. I think fans of earlier horror comedy will enjoy this.

You can find this on a dual MGM R1 combo release with The Comedy of Terrors. Unfortunately it is OOP, but since I last wrote on The Comedy of Terrors there are more copies on Amazon (can I talk you into buying this?). There is a nice little interview again with the writer Richard Matheson (Richard Matheson: Storyteller) a Roger Corman interview (he really digs these films; though it is rare for him to trash one of his movies; I’m not sure I have ever heard him do that), a promotional record for the film and the original trailer which is worth watching because of unique footage in it (always fun to see trailers that have footage not in the film whether it is unique to the trailer or unused scenes, here it is promotional). From the extras you learn that The Raven was a bigger box office hit between the two films though you get the feeling that The Comedy of Terrors is the preferred film.

[MonkeyFu]

British TV series Luther. Which is OUTSTANDING!

But only four episodes in season 2? Really?

[Fightingfist]

City on fire and Bullet in the head, both amazing and explosive action films!!!