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

[stills]

Gotham

I've always been a Marvel fan, but I do have a soft spot for batman.

[AlbertV]

QUEENS OF THE RING - A French comedy from Warner Brothers and WWE Studios that revolves around four female cashiers who become wrestlers and their lives change forever. Yes, it's the "zero to hero" theme that brings reminiscence to one of my favorite Korean films, THE FOUL KING. I actually liked it. My full review for this film can be seen at http://albertvfilm.blogspot.com/2014/10/queens-of-ring-les-reines-du-ring-2013.html

The film is getting an official US DVD release on November 11. I had gotten an advanced copy from RLJ Entertainment, the DVD distributor.

[Keung]

Intouchables (2011)

Having a shitty day? Watch this. If you're not grinning like a loon the whole time, you'll most certainly be laughing.

A wonderful French film based on a true story. François Cluzet and Omar Sy steal your heart with their phenomenal performances. Honestly, one of the best films I've ever seen.

[DrNgor]

From my Halloween marathon:

La Chiesa/The Church (1989)

Some Teutonic Knights slaughter an entire village at the bequest of a priest who thinks the plague they carry is of the devil. A church is then built atop the burial ground. Jump to the present, where a librarian hired to put the church's book collection in order learns of something hiding beneath the church. He ultimately unleashes the evil buried under the building, at which point the film becomes something of an EVIL DEAD clone.

If you like Italian movies for their atmosphere, memorable imagery and/or rock/synth soundtracks, you should find something to like here. There's not a lot of logic or follow-up to scenes, like the teacher who gets impaled in front of her pupils, but is forgotten by the cast by the very next scene. The children, for their part, just disappear from the film without any explanation whatsoever. The main hero of the movie (at least in the second half—during the first half it’s librarian boy and his love interest, artist girl) is a black priest, which is cool. Unfortunately, despite the film establishing him as a champion archer, we are denied the privilege of watching him shoot down hordes of possessed people. Major fail there, guys.

Memorable Scenes: The old lady ringing the bells with her curmudgeon husband's head; the rise of the slaughtered villagers from the church basement.

Ominous Music? Atmospheric prog rock/synth music and and spooky/dance-y organ music courtesy of Goblin and Keith Emerson

Costume Ideas: Try dressing up as a knight using a wastepaper basket with a cross cut into it as a helmet

Blood and Lace (1971)

A prostitute and her john are violently murdered by some wacko wielding a hammer. The woman's daughter, now an orphan, is shipped off to the local orphanage, run by a sadistic lady and her lecherous drunk of a handyman, both of whom are hiding secrets of their own.

Said to be the bloodiest PG film ever, but after opening murder scene, the film is quite tame. In fact, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK was 10X worse than this. Nonetheless, two death scenes, together with endless references to the protagonist's mother being the town tramp, a 16-year-old girl undressing and seducing a 20-year-old man , and a sexual assault scene are generally not considered PG-movie material. In any case, after the first five minutes or so, the film is rather boring (not to mention cheap and badly lit) until the last reel, which serves us a series of twists (I thought I had the murderer and the motive down in the first 15 minutes, but I was wrong), including a rather depraved double-whammy at the very end.

Memorable Scenes - The opening POV hammer murder, which makes me wonder if the filmmakers were trying to copy Dario Argento.

Ominous Music: Only in the opening sequence (following the title credits), the rest sounds like stock cues from 1950s sci-fi movies, complete with theremin music.

Costume Ideas: Put on a flannel shirt, some jeans, an old man mask and wave a hammer around to get the full effect of this movie.

Jason and the Argonauts (1963)

An old favorite, this is a good example of how to adapt and make changes to a myth while sticking to the spirit of the source material. Sure there was no hydra in The Argonautika, but having done a traditional dragon in THE SEVENTH VOYAGE OF SINBAD, I can see Harryhausen wanting to do something different. I also like how the swordplay during the skeleton fight is livelier than the brief duel between Jason and Acastus.

Great Line: "I know all of the Sea God's moods, and most of them are dangerous."

Memorable Scenes - Any scene involving Ray Harryhausen's special FX.

Ominous Music - Not really, but Bernard Hermann's score is awesome. The bit they play in the foundry/jewel box sequence is very similar to the Twilight Zone theme.

Costume Ideas: Your usual togas and tunics, or you can dress as a skeleton and wield a plastic sword and shield

Phenomena (1985)

I had seen the final scene from this on Youtube years ago, but only now got around to watching it from start to finish. Such a bizarre little movie. Jennifer Connelly is sent to a girl's school in Switzerland where young women have been disappearing for the past eight months, but never once has any parent removed their child from the premises. Connelly eventually uses her supernatural ability to communicate with insects to help solve the crime, although thankfully Donald Pleasance and his pet chimp are on her side.

I'm guessing that this is one of Dario Argento's most accessible movies, at least in terms of mainstream audiences. It suffers from the usual plot holes associated with the genre and filmmaking in general, but for the most part, it satisfies. In a lot of ways, it feels like a fusion of Argento’s own Suspiria and Deep Red, but with a better cast.

Memorable Scenes – One of the killers getting his/her comeuppance via Pons Troglodytus.

Ominous Music - While the hard rock/metal cues feel out of place, the music that plays when Donald Pleasance talks about the foehn is spooky.

Costume Ideas - How about a gorilla suit complete with a straight razor?

Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971)

Okay, this wasn't very interesting. At 100 minutes, it felt a good 15 minutes too long (watching it in Italian will frequently-unintelligible subtitles that frequently had English phrases inserted because the translators didn't know the equivalent Portuguese expression didn't help). Basically, a musician is tricked into killing a complete stranger while another fellow in a spooky happy mask takes pictures. The musician is drawn into an elaborate game of extortion and torment that'll result in a few deaths before the identity of the man in the mask is revealed.

Cinephile note: Spaghetti Western favorite Bud Spencer has an extended cameo as the hero's friend, God (Dio).

There are a few effective stalking sequences, principally in the park. Unfortunately, the movie never hits its stride and frequently drags. Also, the motive for the killings and extortion is quite unsatisfying. The film strangely enough features a primitive attempt at bullet-time camerawork and features a flamboyantly gay character in an important supporting role as a private detective, whose death has nothing to do with the fact that he's gay. Unfortunately, the pacing is almost glacial and there's almost no forward momentum at all here. The title refers to an image that turns out to be the main clue in determining the killer's identity.

Memorable Scenes - The final decapitation, which uses slow motion in an almost pre-Matrix manner.

Ominous Music - Ennio Morricone's score is minimal (i.e. a lot of suspenseful scenes are played without any musical accompaniment) and actually rather generic.

Costume Ideas - The jolly fat man mask the killer uses would make a creepy addition to any party.

Kung Fu Wonder Child (1986)

Okay, so there's this evil kung fu master/sorcerer who's going around and stealing the souls of various masters so he can steal their energy and become super strong. Said villain turns out to have a day job as the master of the local Taoist Sorcery school. The school cook (Taiwanese old school legend Jack Lung), his grandson (actress Lin Xiao-Lan), and her two bumbling friends end up opposing him, joined by the daughter of one of the soul-snatched masters (played by a young Yukari Oshima).

I would say that almost 60% of the movie is relegated to random comic segments/vignettes based around the cook's grandson and her (er...his) cronies trying to humiliate people at the school. The rest of the movie consists of gonzo wire-fu fight scenes and magic sequences, reminiscent of those Yuen Clan sorcery films, but not as charming. Fisticuff fans should enjoy Yukari Oshima's fight scenes, including one against a hopping vampire that has nothing to do with the rest of the movie.

Memorable Scenes - The finale where the villain transforms himself into an animated dragon, like some sort of demented kung fu-version of WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT.

Ominous Music - A few spooky cues stolen from various film libraries, but nothing remotely memorable.

Costume Ideas – Being a period piece, you have lots of choices. You can be a Taoist priest--just get a Chinese outfit and sew a giant Yin Yang symbol onto it. Or you could search around for a Mandarin outfit and go as a kuangxi (hopping vampire). As this film proves, little girls look especially darling wearing them. Or you can be the demon that main villain employs; all you need is some oatmeal to smear on your face, a lime green wig, and a red cape.

Curse of the Fly (1965)

I've actually never seen any of the films in the series, so this was cheating. However, it's the most widely available version in Brazil (the double DVD of the first two sells for about 80 reais, and I picked up a disc of this one for 5), so there you go.

An attractive woman (Carole Baker) escapes from a mental institution and is taken in by Martin DeLambre, the great-grandson of the main character from The Fly. The two get married after knowing each other for only a week and move into his laboratory in the Quebec countryside. Both are harboring secrets. In his case, it's that his family is STILL working on the gosh-darn teleporter machine, which still hasn't been able to re-integrate living matter correctly. Of course, the secrets that both newlyweds share will bring with them consequences, aggravated by the extreme dislike that the...er...”Chinese” maid harbors for Martin's new wife.

There are no human flies in this film. The “curse” refers to the destructive results of the failure for each DeLambre generation to get the teleporter working. There are a few deformed people running around as the result of some failed experiments, but the film is mainly about the DeLambre's racing against time to hide their tracks as the universe conspires to keep them from making the scientific breakthrough they feel they're destined to make.

Memorable Scenes – Albert DeLambre in emotional shambles following the fate of Henri DeLambre, played by Brian Donlevy.

Ominous Music – None that stuck out.

Costume Ideas – Put some latex on your face to make it as if your skin grew over your eye.

Gaslight (1940)

In what turned out to be a pure coincidence, this was the second film in a row to feature a mentally-unstabled woman being manipulated by her husband because he wants to hide some sort of secret from her. Obviously, Luis Bauer here is a lot more malicious in his intentions than Martin DeLambre was, but the parallels are interesting. Most of the suspense comes in the last reel, when time is running out to find evidence for the evil plot before Bella is committed. I'm curious to see how the 1944 version compares to this, considering that it also came with the DVD I purchased.

Memorable Moments – The predator/prey switch at the end was compelling enough.

Ominous Music - None that I remember.

Costume Ideas - A couple can put on Victorian-era outfits and the man can harp on his companion in front of everyone at the party about his watch missing, after which he finds it in her purse and starts berating her until she becomes hysterical...oh wait a minute.

[laagi]

I just watched Casualties of War feat. M.J. Fox and Sean Penn. Brilliant performance by both! First time I've seen this, although I had it on my radar for quite some time.

Thought provoking to see what can become of a human being given the wrong (right?) circumstances. And how "easily" we can cast aside our moral values.

[Keung]

I just watched Casualties of War feat. M.J. Fox and Sean Penn. Brilliant performance by both! First time I've seen this, although I had it on my radar for quite some time.

Thought provoking to see what can become of a human being given the wrong (right?) circumstances. And how "easily" we can cast aside our moral values.

Amazing and haunting score by Ennio Morricone. One of my all time favourites films, but I have since developed something of a distaste for Sean Penn's over-acting - particularly in this film.

[laagi]

but I have since developed something of a distaste for Sean Penn's over-acting - particularly in this film.

Sean Penn really scared me, to be honest. Overall a very intense movie experience.

[DrNgor]

Five Man Army - Peter Graves recruits four men, including Bud Spencer and the awesome Tetsuro Tamba, to rob a train full of gold belonging to the Mexican army. There's quite a bit of action and suspense in this unpretentious spaghetti western, ranging from swordfights, gunfights, explosions, etc. The movie is fun and the train robbery itself is very well handled, and I'm glad that the object of the gorgeous-Italian-posing-as-a-Mexican-girl's lust is Tetsuro Tamba, the minority of the cast. Written by Dario Argento.

Big Jake - John Wayne and his sons (Patrick Wayne and Chris Mitchum) team up to take down Richard Boone, one of the most unpleasant-looking actors I've ever seen, who has kidnapped his son and murdered numerous members of the household. John Wayne, in the twilight is the career, is as hardcore and bad-a** as ever. This movie was surprisingly bloody (for a John Wayne movie), especially at the end, when one of the villains kills two of the main protagonists with a machete. Still, I found it to be really enjoyable, except for the ending, in which the surviving heroes are so happy to have completed their mission that they seem to have forgotten their companions who got killed only a few minutes ago.

[masterofoneinchpunch]

I do like Big Jake. It has been a few decades since I have seen it though.

Westbound (1959: Budd Boetticher):

This was the last Budd Boetticher and Randolph Scott collaboration (often known as the Ranown cycle) that I had not seen. This was because it was only released on the Warner Archive MOD. While I would consider this a lesser of the Ranown films (possibly my least favorite of the seven, but several of those like Seven Men from Now are among my favorite films regardless of genre), it is still a good western. The plot is mediocre and definitely predictable, but the direction of Boetticher and the acting from Scott help make this a worthy watch (if you have already seen the rest of their films.) Scott plays Capt. John Hayes and he is assigned a dangerous duty of making sure the wagon gold supply route from California makes it safe to the North away from prying Southern hands. This is especially hazardous through a Southern sympathizing town in which Hayes has history there, including a past love affair. The story gets bogged down there unfortunately with understandable results. I was hoping more of a story about the whole route, but with the short running time I knew that was not going to happen.

Boetticher (like John Ford) is not afraid to kill off pretty much anyone except the lead character. If Boetticher was writing films outside of the Hays Code era I’m sure you would have seen the lead die now and then. You think a child character will be safe – nope.

You will see many similarities in the other Ranown films as well. The antagonist with human qualities. The “real” bad guy which will not be redeemed. A love interest for the Randolph Scott character with a woman who already has a relationship (I probably should make a chart of each film and what happens with the love interest.)

I am a Randolph Scott fan. He is a stoic actor, but there is nuance with his performances. It is interesting how in his career he purposefully stereotyped himself and just took on westerns after a certain point in his career. He also does not seem to age much over the years either. I have seen him in a few Shirley Temple films of the 1930s (Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938: Allan Dwan), Susannah of the Mounties (1939: William A. Seiter)) and he does not look that much different decades later.

On a trivia note: fans of film nouveau have seen this played in Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless.

[masterofoneinchpunch]

A Countess From Hong Kong (1967: Charlie Chaplin)

This was the final existing film that I had not seen of Charlie Chaplin’s directorial oeuvre. This was also his last film after not having directed since A King in New York done a decade earlier. I have put it off for quite a while because of its reputation. It is not horrible, but it is not good either. Chaplin has so many so great films in his filmography from his Mutual shorts to what I would consider his last classic in Monsieur Verdoux that those new to Chaplin (or even those in the middle of his works) can put this off for a while (or ever.)

The movie has its moments of comedy that do work from a repeating buzzer gag, a small but very effective scene with Margaret Rutherford as mostly sickly lady who several think is someone else, to a delightful performance from Patrick Cargill (Hudson the manservant). But the plot with its insipid romance between the two (Marlon Brando and Sophia Loren) just does not work. Loren plays a Russian countess (technically her parents who left Russia because of the revolution), but because of circumstance was orphaned, found by a gangster, because a prostitute and at the start of the movie is slow dancing for money. She stowaway’s on a ship in Ogden Mears (Brando) closet so she can get to America (with no passport; in a weird way reminds me of when Chaplin himself could not get back into America.) There is some social commentary early on that also disappears as the film goes on. The movie is just too predictable, too languid, overly simple direction and too superficial. It is ironic that it feels overlong, but the original version has twelve more minutes (at 120 minutes.) It also is not as funny as one would expect either.

What seems weird (or just something Brando would do) is that his performance seems to be better or worse depending on the actor he is acting with. When he is with Sydney Chaplin (the son of Charlie who performs rather woodenly here) he seems to be coasting versus when he is with Cargill. Tippi Hedren as the icy wife of Brando’s character is perfectly cast though. But what I am still pondering is how effective Brando and Loren are together. I have read that they did not get along (not new with Loren, she did not get along with Heston in El Cid, though Heston has stated that he was at fault; Brando also had this reputation and also did not get along with Charlie Chaplin) and it really does seem to show.

New York Times Review: negative review on this film.

[DrNgor]

Back to Bataan - As part of my commemorating my late dad's birthday, I check out some John Wayne movies in his honor. The first one is this war movie that I never got around to watching while dad was alive. John Wayne plays a military officer in the Phillipines tasked with organizing a resistance against the Japanese. There are some moments of surprising brutality here, like a kid dying onscreen and exhausted prisoners getting shot and bayonetted during the Bataan Death March. The action scenes are fairly well done, although I would've liked them to have lasted longer. I liked that the Filipino fighters are never portrayed as cowards, but as courageous men ready to fight for their country, even if it means taking on armed soldiers using only machetes.

The Flying Leathernecks - John Wayne plays a Marine captain in charge of air support during the battle of Guadacanal, who has to deal with a group of pilots who have almost been pampered by their previous officer (Robert Ryan). The film is generally entertaining, although I assume that WW2 buffs will complain about discrepancies between the plane models talked about and those actually used in the film, not to mention the action scenes made up of Korean War footage. Nonetheless it moves at a nice clip, the Clancy character (who's always stealing stuff from other companies and giving it to Wayne and his men) is funny, and there are some nice explosions here and there to make this worth a view.

[NoKUNGFUforYU]

Sean Penn really scared me, to be honest. Overall a very intense movie experience.

Great flick! yes, Morricone does it again!

[DrNgor]

Son of Sinbad (1955) - Basically a 1950s RKO-produced, Technicolor skin flick. The movie stops in its tracks not once, not twice, but FOUR TIMES to have some scantily-clad lovely do a sensual dance, including a pole dance(!) right before the clímax. RKO hired A LOT of attractive women to lounge about in belly dancing outfits and look pretty in this one. Sinbad, son of Sinbad, is portrayed as an unrepentant womanizer who in the grand scheme of things, does surprisingly little heavy lifting when it comes to defeating the villains, the Tartars. Leave that to the 40 Thieves, or their descendants, who are all women. Vincent Price plays Sinbad's sarcastic poet sidekick who gets most of the film's best lines, a hot girl at the end, and gets to kill the villain at the end. Yay, Vincent! Best scene: Vincent is reciting poetry to his girl in front of the 40 Thieves and the girls comment on how much more interesting he is than Sinbad. How true indeed.

[AlbertV]

The Hunt (Thomas Vinterberg, 2012), starring Mads Mikkelsen of Casino Royale and Hannibal

http://albertvfilm.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-hunt-jagten-2012.html

[Secret Executioner]

Good To See You Again, Alice Cooper (1974)

A really strange movie featuring the Alice Cooper group. The history of the film (with how it evolved, its bootlegging and its final official release on DVD in 2006) and what it's like (really strange mish-mash of scenes creating something similar to a plot and footage of Alice Cooper in concert) would need so much explaining that I guess I'm gonna have to write a full review of it - it deserves it also for how strange it is.

Will probably write on it some time soon, but I'd like to point out this could be my very favorite music-based movie (can't call this a musical, or can I ?), ahead of Zappa's 200 Motels (1971) and Ken Russell's adaptation of The Who's concept album Tommy (1975).

[DiP]

A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010) - 8/10

The Silence of the Lambs (1991) - 10/10

[Keung]

Only God Forgives (2013)

Well, that was quite an experience. This is the kind of film that really draws in the snobs who feel like they have to excessively praise everything about it. It's pretentious garbage disguised as art. I'd much rather staple my dick to a cactus than watch that again...

"TAKE IT OFF!"

Fucking hilarious, Ryan. You're better than this, come on.

[laagi]

Only God Forgives (2013)

Well, that was quite an experience. This is the kind of film that really draws in the snobs who feel like they have to excessively praise everything about it. It's pretentious garbage disguised as art. I'd much rather staple my dick to a cactus than watch that again...

"TAKE IT OFF!"

Fucking hilarious, Ryan. You're better than this, come on.

I actually liked it, especially Vithaya Pansringarm as the crazy Police Chief

Anyway, I just got around to watch Predestination & Maze Runner.

Predestination profits a lot from the great performance by Sarah Snook, Kudos!

Maze Runner was an OK movie there is some interesting aspects, never read the book...

[Secret Executioner]

Only God Forgives (2013)

Well, that was quite an experience. This is the kind of film that really draws in the snobs who feel like they have to excessively praise everything about it. It's pretentious garbage disguised as art. I'd much rather staple my dick to a cactus than watch that again...

"TAKE IT OFF!"

Fucking hilarious, Ryan. You're better than this, come on.

First time I don't read praise for this film - I read a lot of reviews and it always seemed like the film was the best thing since sliced bread or something. On a sidenote, I must say I haven't seen it as I wasn't interested.

[masterofoneinchpunch]

First time I don't read praise for this film - I read a lot of reviews and it always seemed like the film was the best thing since sliced bread or something. On a sidenote, I must say I haven't seen it as I wasn't interested.

I had a so-so review of it. For me though quite a step down from Drive.

[laagi]

Just got around to watch Dragonslayer for the first time, now that's a bad ass dragon!

[wongfeihung62]

[GOLDEN DRAGON YIN-YANG]

I visited my buddy Wednesday and listened to a lot of Grateful Dead as we both are deadheads.

Then.

Went to my local library Thursday morn.

Crossed the street and went into the pawn shop to see if I could find a DVD to my liking.

They sell their DVD's for a $ buck.

The first rack I looked at and the first DVD I saw I bought.

What was that DVD and what are the odds of this?

See below.

It was fantastic.

GD Y-Y

[Takuma]

Only God Forgives (2013)

Well, that was quite an experience. This is the kind of film that really draws in the snobs who feel like they have to excessively praise everything about it. It's pretentious garbage disguised as art. I'd much rather staple my dick to a cactus than watch that again...

"TAKE IT OFF!"

Fucking hilarious, Ryan. You're better than this, come on.

I actually liked it, especially Vithaya Pansringarm as the crazy Police Chief

I had a so-so review of it. For me though quite a step down from Drive.

I saw it twice in cinema. Not as good as Drive (few films are) a very enjoyable film nevertheless. Refn must be laughing his ass off how many people he managed to anger with it.

[wongfeihung62]

Only God Forgives (2013)

Well, that was quite an experience. This is the kind of film that really draws in the snobs who feel like they have to excessively praise everything about it. It's pretentious garbage disguised as art. I'd much rather staple my dick to a cactus than watch that again...

"TAKE IT OFF!"

Fucking hilarious, Ryan. You're better than this, come on.

Agree with you 100%.