The "I'm watching/just watched *movie title* thread....

[21st Century Man]

Excalibur - 1981 - This one is an old favorite of mine and I consider it a classic. Watched it again last night and it holds up. This is the single best film adaptation of the story of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.  I wish it was longer.  The lead actors playing Arthur and Guinevere were relative unknowns and maybe a better Arthur could have been found but Terry did a fine job.  Nicol Williamson absolutely sparkles as Merlin and Mirren is right behind as Morgana. I'm partial to this film and I give this a 4.75 stars out of 5.  Boorman's best film, IMHO.

Das Boot - 1981 - Best submarine film ever.  Everything is perfect. Wolfgang Peterson's best film by far. 5 out of 5.

Hitler's Children - 1943 - Bizarre film propaganda with Tim Holt strutting around in children's clothes for the first half-hour of the movie.  Bonita Granville is a German-American young woman who refuses to submit to Nazi authority.  Holt as the young man who loves her but also loves Hitler.  Get's a bit exploitative with Granville being whipped in public. H. B. Warner gives a bit of gravitas to the movie as a Catholic priest who protests Granville's punishment.  Definitely worth a viewing. 3.25 out of 5 stars

La Vie En Rose - 2007 - Sad film biography of Edith Piaf who rose from poverty to world-wide stardom as a very great singer.  Died tragically young at 47 though she looked 67.  Marion Cotillard won a Best Actress Oscar for this bio.  She was indeed quite good; however, I thought her old age makeup looked horrible. 4.0 out of 5 stars.

[21st Century Man]

Gorky Park - 1983 - Lee Marvin's last really good film.  I'm not a big William Hurt fan.  He is very wooden and stolid as an actor usually.  He showed a bit more emotion in this and he was well-cast as a Soviet police officer.  Very fine film with solid direction and a complex plot. 3.75 out of 5 stars.

Yellowbeard - 1983 - See  74 years old James Mason in bed with a hooker.  See Cheech and Chong playing a couple of villainous Spanish scalawags.  See Graham Chapman bed scores of maidens.  See David Bowie as a cabin boy. All this and more in Yellowbeard.  Also with Peter Boyle, Eric Idle, Madeline Kahn, Peter Cook, Marty Feldman among others.  A slightly amusing film that must have been hilarious on paper but failed to translate well to the screen. It had some funny bits but never really made me laugh.  Still, I have a warm spot for it.  3 out of 5 stars.

I, Madman - 1989 - Fun little horror film about a serial killer who comes to life when a horror novel is read.  Probably could have been better but it has a certain charm.  I dig the stop-motion animation of the creature. 3.5 out of 5 stars.

The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein  - 1972 -  The title says it all.  Dr. Frankenstein is killed by a bird-woman and his creature is stolen to the castle of Cagliostro, the mad magician, who attempts to create a mate for the monster that will beget a super-race. Poor Doc Frankenstein can find no peace as he keeps on being resuscitated to life for brief moments during the film.  First by his daughter , Vera and then by Dr. Seward of Dracula fame.  I must say this mate for the monster has it all over Elsa Lanchester. Britt Nichols is a perfect 10 and every inch is on display.  Bird lady is kind of sexy herself and resembles Brigitte Bardot in her prime.  Is the film ridiculous?  Yes, of course it is.  Is it fun?  You bet! One of the most fun of Jess Franco films that I have seen.  This is not one of those dreamy type films of his that are more mood-pieces.  The film moves fast and a lot happens in 74 minutes.  The climax of the film is almost literally a climax in the biological sense of the word. 3.5 stars out of 5.  That is probably the highest rating that I can give for any Franco film as the man was not necessarily the most competent of film-makers.

Embrace Of The Vampire - 2013 -  Pretty bad vampire film with lots of T & A, a lesbian sex scene and such.  The biggest problem is that the story-line is dull and the lead actress is rather annoying and not particularly beautiful.  I'll give it 2 stars out of 5 mainly for the T & A but you'd probably be better off watching a porno.

[pate]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Yy0pPTrHlk

One of the best sets'abacks, mmm...

Evuh?

Oh RoverAndUhm.

Nevermynd...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCB8Uz0dY58

Best book-to-movie, evah!

'pologies

[comaphobe]

I don't watch movies too often lately. But I recently watched a couple from the 80s that I haven't seen in a while.

One of them was Sea of Love with Ellen Barkin and Al Pacino. It also has John Goodman. I like a lot of crime dramas and suspense thrillers. I hadn't seen this one in a long time and to me it hasn't aged much. It's still damn good, I like it.

Recently I also watched Cobra. It's about a slasher cult and a matchstick chewin' vigilante cop. If you ignore the musical soundtrack, this is still actually a really good movie without any vaudeville or too much nostalgic bullshit rammed down your throat. Not the typical corny action nonsense of the 80s either. A really doomy feeling movie with elements of the quickeninggggggggg. If Death Wish and Falling Down had a kid it would be the movie Cobra. LOL

"Go ahead, I don't shop here." - Cobra

[analog kid]

The Netflix documentary "Making a Murderer." If you haven't seen it, do whatever it takes to watch it. Torrent it. You'll be WTFing for a week.

[analog kid]

Bone Tomahawk with Kurt Russell is really good. Gory as hell in some parts - I had no idea there was horror elements going into it - but man, as a Western it's great. Strong characters, good dialogue. There's some NSFL scenes and kids should definitely not watch it. It's so satisfying throughout I didn't realize it's an hour and a half long.

[coaster]

The Netflix documentary "Making a Murderer." If you haven't seen it, do whatever it takes to watch it. Torrent it. You'll be WTFing for a week.

I watched some episodes. Got to the part where they arrested that dumbshit kid. The folks who made it recently said they left out a lot of evidence that would prove his guilt. I thought he was guilty from the start. The kid is a mouth-breathing moron, but I think he's guilty as well.

[analog kid]

I watched some episodes. Got to the part where they arrested that dumbshit kid. The folks who made it recently said they left out a lot of evidence that would prove his guilt. I thought he was guilty from the start. The kid is a mouth-breathing moron, but I think he's guilty as well.

There's a lot of theories. The kid was railroaded by the cops and his defense though, and didn't get a fair trial. If you kept watching, you'd see how bizarre his attorneys and the DA are, and how everyone in the police department is pretty much as slow as he is. There's some holes in Steve Avery's defense that they didn't show, but I don't personally think the kid is guilty. The prosecution's case depends on these two morons' ability to completely scrub the entire house and garage of all blood and DNA evidence, for one. Which isn't feasible. Then there's the police department who originally framed Avery illegally having unfettered access to his property for months, where pieces of evidence suddenly began to appear. That conflict of interest alone should have been enough to throw the trial.

[albrecht]

There's a lot of theories. The kid was railroaded by the cops and his defense though, and didn't get a fair trial. If you kept watching, you'd see how bizarre his attorneys and the DA are, and how everyone in the police department is pretty much as slow as he is. There's some holes in Steve Avery's defense that they didn't show, but I don't personally think the kid is guilty. The prosecution's case depends on these two morons' ability to completely scrub the entire house and garage of all blood and DNA evidence, for one. Which isn't feasible. Then there's the police department who originally framed Avery illegally having unfettered access to his property for months, where pieces of evidence suddenly began to appear. That conflict of interest alone should have been enough to throw the trial.

Actually Dave Schrader had a good recent C2C show about the case(s), excepting (but it is C2C so it has to get a bid crazy) the last guest who is the guy who thinks there is a uber-master serial killer named Edward Edwards who was singly behind just about, it seems, every high-profile murder out there in the past many decades.) Granted Edward Edwards is one nasty sicko but to behind everything from Zodiac, JonBenet Ramsey, and Avery stuff (and many more?) Stretches credibility, to me.

[analog kid]

Actually Dave Schrader had a good recent C2C show about the case(s), excepting (but it is C2C so it has to get a bid crazy) the last guest who is the guy who thinks there is a uber-master serial killer named Edward Edwards who was singly behind just about, it seems, every high-profile murder out there in the past many decades.) Granted Edward Edwards is one nasty sicko but to behind everything from Zodiac, JonBenet Ramsey, and Avery stuff (and many more?) Stretches credibility, to me.

What kind of sicko names their kid Edward Edwards?

Didn't know there was a C2C show on it, but I also didn't know Dave Schrader was a host. I haven't listened to the show in about four years.

[21st Century Man]

     Ok.  I just finished watching the Cohen Media Group's restoration of the Charles Laughton film, Jamaica Inn (1938), directed by the one and only Alfred Hitchcock.  Why do I call it a Laughton film and not a Hitchcock film?  It is complicated but Charles Laughton as producer had ultimate control of the picture and the final product is more his vision than Hitchcock's.  That does not make it a bad film at all.  As a matter of fact, it was highly successful at the box office and I think it is HIGHLY UNDERRATED.  This is going to be a little lengthy so please forgive me.  I'm going to start with a little background on the project.

     In 1938, Charles Laughton discovered a bright, fiery, Irish lass who went by the name of Maureen Fitzsimmons.  He signed her to a contract and went about looking for a film to feature her as one of the leads beside Laughton.  He thought the name Fitzsimmons would not be appealing on a cinema marquee so he wanted to change her last name to either O'Mara or O'Hara.  Fitzsimmons did not like either name but ol' Charlie decided to change it anyway to O'Hara.  Thus a new screen goddess, Maureen O'Hara, was born.  Charlie gave her a minor part in a film so she could brush up on her screen acting before taking on a lead role. Then he went about looking for a suitable film for her to star in.  He found it in Jamaica Inn.  Next he needed a director.

     Ol' Charlie went to his good friend, Alfred Hitchcock, and asked him to direct.  Hitchcock said ok as a favor to his friend.  He liked the book, Jamaica Inn, as it was written by Daphne Du Maurier and thought he could make a compelling film from it.  The central villain of the book was a priest with a Jekyll/Hyde persona and Hitchcock loved playing with the idea of the duality of good and evil so Jamaica Inn seemed like the perfect canvas for the auteur director.  A screenplay was written and submitted to the Hays office in the United States.  They said the movie was ok except for one thing.  A priest cannot be the villain.  Fuckin' Joe Breen. Thus the screenplay had to be rewritten and Hitchcock soured on the project.  Laughton begged Hitchcock to stay on as the director.  Hitchcock decided to stick with the production for his old friend's sake as he really had nothing else to do until he set sail for America.

   Jamaica Inn went into production and Charlie hired J. B. Priestley to beef up Charlie's role in the screenplay.  Hitchcock also didn't particularly care for this but he went along with it. The result is a film that is more Laughton's vision than Hitchcock's but Hitchcock directed more than competently and added some of his own touches.  The emphasis is more on melodrama than suspense though the latter is not absent.

     Now for my review.  I have never seen Jamaica Inn before as I was loathe to watch it owing to the bad prints that were widely available of the film.  Cohen Media restored the film and now it looks great and can be judged on its merits without the interference of lousy prints and jump-cuts.  I've got to say that I highly enjoyed the film.  Yes, Charles Laughton is very hammy in this film but his role quite literally calls for a broad characterization.  Maureen O'Hara is stunning and gives a fiery performance, a sign of things to come,  from beginning to end.  Leslie Banks, completely unrecognizable and quite different from his roles in The Most Dangerous Game and the first adaptation of The Man Who Knew Too Much, is brilliant in this film.  Robert Newton is also quite good as the hero even though it is a bit of a thankless role. The rest of the cast is equally fine.

    Hitchcock, if not completely in control, gives excellent direction with quick cuts that do build up the suspense in certain parts of the film.  While this may not be in the top tier of his films, it is surely far from the bottom.  He has made less interesting pictures. The film never lags and is generally excellent.  I think it will be re-evaluated as a better film from this time forward.  4 out of 5 stars for Jamaica Inn, a minor classic, IMHO.
       

[Auslandia]

The Martian: Meh

[21st Century Man]

Another 9 1/2 Weeks - 1996 -  And Boy did it feel like I sat there for  9 1/2 weeks watching this snorefest.  Mickey Rourke looking a little rough but not as rough as he would look 10 years later after getting beaten to a pulp in the boxing ring.  He mumbles through his role, lamenting lost Basinger with bad girl, Angie Everhart, wanting to sample some of the action that Basinger had in the first movie.  Somehow the film-makers do their best to make Everhart completely unattractive for most of the movie save for 1 sex scene.  If you want to see Everhart at her best, watch Bordello of Blood.  This tedious waste of film is better off skipped.  Not even good for a fap.  1.5 stars out of 5 and that is being kind.

[coaster]

^ I'm really enjoying your in-depth reviews. top notch.
I'm currently re-watching A Serious Man. I'm such a Coen Brothers fanboy. And I have to say, this remains one of my favorite movie posters of all time. I'm not exactly sure what it is, but I love it.

[stenjay]

^ I'm really enjoying your in-depth reviews. top notch.
I'm currently re-watching A Serious Man. I'm such a Coen Brothers fanboy. And I have to say, this remains one of my favorite movie posters of all time. I'm not exactly sure what it is, but I love it.

Tried to do that one while pretty drunk on an airplane and kept falling asleep.  I don't think it was the movie's fault, and want to give it another shot.  Thanks for the reminder.

[coaster]

Tried to do that one while pretty drunk on an airplane and kept falling asleep.  I don't think it was the movie's fault, and want to give it another shot.  Thanks for the reminder.

The beginning of the movie is very slow,  (the first ten minutes are a snooze) and the movie is slow in general, but it gets better as it goes along. I just really like the story it tells.

[FightTheFuture]

Straight Outta Compton

Awesome flick. I felt like I was back in the 90s watching this. The actors are amazing, and look just like the people they are portraying, especially Eazy E.

[nooryisawesome]

The graduate

[akwilly]

True Detective season 2. The writing is so bad it is almost a comedy.

[inuk2600]

Straight Outta Compton

Awesome flick. I felt like I was back in the 90s watching this. The actors are amazing, and look just like the people they are portraying, especially Eazy E.

Aw yea. Ice Cube's son crushed it too, good authentic feel. Almost hoping for a sequel with more Snoop Dogg and Death Row.

[akwilly]

Straight Outta Compton

Awesome flick. I felt like I was back in the 90s watching this. The actors are amazing, and look just like the people they are portraying, especially Eazy E.

just watched it this afternoon. Great film just wish it had more special features like real footage of a concert.

[trostol]

hmm..Art's books made into a movie is on...do i watch or not.....

[21st Century Man]

^ I'm really enjoying your in-depth reviews. top notch.
I'm currently re-watching A Serious Man. I'm such a Coen Brothers fanboy. And I have to say, this remains one of my favorite movie posters of all time. I'm not exactly sure what it is, but I love it.

Thanks Man.   I've been off the board for a few days.  Went to see 2 movies at the cineplex and saw one movie on video.  I'll post them next.

[21st Century Man]

First the 2 new movies, both focusing on historical events.

    The Revenant -  Excellent film in most respects with DiCaprio really suffering for his art.  He will win Best Actor for his portrayal of Hugh Glass, the fur trapper that was mauled by a bear and left to die by John Fitzgerald and a young Jim Bridger ( blameless in this instance).  Maybe Bryan Cranston as Trumbo will surprise everybody and Eddie Redmayne as a transgender in the Danish Girl also has an outside chance due to the subject matter of his film but I think this is DiCaprio's year.  For the first time, I view DiCaprio as a man in this film as opposed to a boy playing men in films like Hoover and The Aviator.
          The film takes a bit of artistic liberty with the story of Glass but for the most part, it is historical.  My main fault with the film is that it is a bit too artsy for my taste.  I love art films but the flourishes were not needed to tell this interesting story.  That is a purely subjective opinion and perhaps many others will not have that problem watching the movie.  I also felt that the pacing was a bit slow in spots.  It could have been tightened up a bit. However, I have to say that the cinematography more than made up for the film's flaws.  It is a really beautiful film made in the snow-capped Rockies of Alberta and the Andes mountains in Argentina (due to the long shoot, the film finished there as summer was coming along in Canada).  Furthermore, I want to dispel the stories that Drudge manufactured for this movie.  There was no bear rape. 4.25 stars out of 5.

        Next I saw 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi.  Maybe Michael Bay's best film. The cast is relatively unknown but they do an outstanding job.  It is not a formal indictment of Hillary and Obama as their names are not mentioned but it does beg the question. Where the hell were American fighter pilots during the siege?  There should have been air support to at least fly over Benghazi and instill the fear of God in the revolutionaries. Too many people died while Obama and Hillary were asleep at the wheel.
        The film focuses on the DDS employees and CIA operatives that were in Benghazi during the attack.  They fought courageously against overwhelming odds and many of them managed to survive but sadly, some did not. The main problem I had with the film was the jittery camera technique was overused.  Film-makers should use this minimally.  Otherwise Bay did an excellent job and I was not expecting much from this director.  He really needs to get away from making garbage like the Transformers films and make serious movies. Do yourself a favor, see this movie before you vote in 2016.  4 out of 5 stars.

     Now an old classic Hammer horror film from the early 70's.  Countess Dracula with the insatiable Ingrid Pitt as the Countess Elisabeth Nádasdy ( a thinly veiled Elisabeth Bathory).  This is not history but horror inspired by history.  Ancient Elisabeth discovers the Fountain of Youth when she accidentally discovers that blood from young maidens restores her to her 20 year old prime.  A killing spree thus begins. See Ingrid in all her voluptuous glory.  Probably the plum part for Ingrid at the height of her fame.  Nudity is minimal at least where Ingrid is concerned. Nigel Green is excellent as Elisabeth's right hand man, Captain Dobi.  Lesley-Anne Down has a bit of a thankless role as Elisabeth's daughter who is imprisoned during the movie.  All she gets to do is scream and run around for the most part. Though she does look lovely nevertheless.  Left-over sets from Anne of A Thousand Days are used to great effect.  A bit slow in parts but overall great fun. 3.25 stars out of 5.

[Rix Gins]

I needed something on Netflix to eat my lunch by.  Had gone through all the Star Trek Original episodes, and The Andy Griffith Shows (before the RFD dude showed up.)  I had seen Nazi Mega Weapons selection on occasion but kept avoiding it because of "what a downer thing to watch while I'm eating" considerations.  Well, you know...Hitler, storm troopers, concentration camps and what not.  But, I was desperate for something to watch a couple weeks back, so I thought I'd give it a try.  This show was something else, and I was hooked.  There were lots of cool elements to the series.  Neat computer graphics that combined the past with the present.  Personable experts that were great at commenting on things.  (A guy by the name of Tony Pollard was my favorite.)  And great actors who played the parts of all the "heavy hitters" of the time plus other more minor characters who were usually young German soldiers or sailors who had written first hand accounts through their diaries.  Yes, Hitler was there too of course.  The producers used two different actors to portray him and they didn't look too much like him but they still managed to give me the creeps when they started yelling out orders.  The Nazi Mega Weapons themselves were awesome.  Mega sized tanks, ships, structures, they are all here.  One episode dealt with Wernher von Braun and the development of rocket power.  I enjoyed the series very much and I guess the highest praise I can give it is that I would continue to watch a number of the hour long episodes even after I had finished eating.

[Mind Flayer Monk]

"The Deadliest Man Alive"
Advertisement for Count Dante's 1968 World's Deadliest Fighting Secrets. The text reads "Black Dragon Fighting Society brings you the forbidden secrets of Dim Mak "The Death Touch" in this exclusive book!"

In 1967, Keehan legally changed his name to Count Juan Raphael Danté, explaining the name change by stating that his parents fled Spain during the Spanish Civil War, changed their names, and obscured their noble heritage in order to effectively hide in America (the surname Dante being in fact of Italian origin). (Count Dantès is the protagonist of Dumas' 1844 The Count of Monte Cristo). Keehan was prone to boasts that furthered his reputation, his most notorious one being that he’d participated in secret "death matches" in Thailand and China, winning by killing opponent after opponent before crowds numbering in the thousands.[2]

He began heavily promoting himself via comic book ads as the Deadliest Man Alive. One had only to mail order for his instructional booklet World's Deadliest Fighting Secrets (in which he outlined the "Dance of Death") and they would also receive a free Black Dragon Fighting Society membership card. These comic book ads account for much of Count Dante's lasting notoriety in pop culture. They read

https://youtu.be/gf-LJQuGc5o

[Hautex]

I watched some episodes. Got to the part where they arrested that dumbshit kid. The folks who made it recently said they left out a lot of evidence that would prove his guilt. I thought he was guilty from the start. The kid is a mouth-breathing moron, but I think he's guilty as well.

I think Avery's brother did it... just a hunch

[21st Century Man]

A couple of reviews.  First a relatively new film from Ron Howard, In The Heart Of The Sea, with Chris Hemsworth.  The story that Moby Dick is based on though this adventure is a bit more nauseating.  A great white sperm whale destroys a Nantucket whaling ship in the middle of the Pacific in the early 19th century and the survivors have to sail in a rowboat thousands of miles to reach South America.  Can they survive?  They should have gone west toward the Pitcairn Islands but they were afraid of native cannibal tribes.  Turns out, human meat was in their future anyway.

Generally excellent film but Hemsworth's accent bothered me.  One minute it sounds Bostonian as we hear it today, the next minute it sounds English and both are interweaved with a flat American accent.  I guess he was trying to mimic what he thought a Bostonian accent might have sounded like in 1800 but it really distracted me from the story at times.  One point that I want to add is that I was pretty much cheering on the whale to destroy the ship.  It has a right to live just all God's creatures do.  I guess that paints me as a bit of a softie.   I have no desire to kill any animals unless I am forced to do so under similar circumstances that the crew found itself in after the ship was destroyed. That said, I'll have my steak rare.   Brendan Gleeson, Benjamin Walker and Cillian Murphy offer fine support. 3.75 stars out of 5.

Next, Witness to Murder from 1954 with Barbara Stanwyck, George Sanders and Gary Merrill with support from future Maytag repairman, Jesse White, and Claude Akins.  A taut little suspense thriller that revolves around a murder Stanwyck witnessed from her apartment window. Sanders is the villain who tries to convince the police and Stanwyck that Stanwyck is crazy.  Will he succeed and what will he do if he fails?  This movie echoes Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window though actually this movie was released 4 months earlier.  Still, Cornell Woolrich's novel of Rear Window was published in 1942 and I imagine word had gotten out of Hitchcock's proposed film and this one was quickly made to cash in on it. It is a bit predictable but the climax is a nail-biter and quite unnerved me for a second. Besides no one can play a nasty villain like Sanders and here he is in top form.  Just short of a classic. 3.75 out of 5 stars

[GaborSweden]

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nahBBvscBo

[GaborSweden]

I like old  police  movise

I want be police cope ))




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrcVKWm7vog