Last Movie You Watched? 7.0

Any movie where a fat guy in a wheelchair gets it is a winner in my book.

The White Tuxedo wrote:

The Masque of the Red Death (1964)

Now that WAS interesting! I wouldn't know what to say in the way of insightful commentary, but it's certainly a unique movie and Corman really took it to another level. Would make a good stage show, probably.

With cinematography by none other than Nicolas Roeg, which is why it's one of the more visually sumptuous Corman Poe features. Glad you enjoyed it, since I've always admired it. It's pretty demented.

The dwarf guy is something else. Using a little girl with a woman's voice dubbed has a neat effect.

Harmsway wrote:

The White Tuxedo wrote:

The Masque of the Red Death (1964)

Now that WAS interesting! I wouldn't know what to say in the way of insightful commentary, but it's certainly a unique movie and Corman really took it to another level. Would make a good stage show, probably.

With cinematography by none other than Nicolas Roeg, which is why it's one of the more visually sumptuous Corman Poe features. Glad you enjoyed it, since I've always admired it. It's pretty demented.

It's a fine film indeed. Great to see some admiration for it. Must dig out my copy of it again sometime soon, it's been a while.

The White Tuxedo wrote:

Cushing... I might enjoy him more than Lee. Can't wait to see the Frankenstein films at some point. Cushing is one those actors I'll watch in anything. I know he won't be in the next few Dracula films. I fear I shall miss him.

Oh, you'll miss him alright. I'd take him anyday over Christopher Lee, as much as I love them both. And I'd take the Hammer Frankensteins over their Draculas anyday too (although Evil Of and Monster From Hell are nothing to write home about). Hammer's first Dracula is undeniably class though, still one of the best things the studio produced, but Cushing is a really sad loss for the initial sequels, a problem compounded by the fact that Lee doesn't exactly get lots of dialogue as Dracula. The Satanic Rites Of and AD 1972 bring Cushing back though, facing Lee's Drac in the 70s. While not a patch on the original, they both still have their moments, plus the unbeatable Lee vs Cushing factor and some nice 70s female "talent".

The White Tuxedo wrote:

Any movie where a fat guy in a wheelchair gets it is a winner in my book.

WILD WILD WEST? (well, at least pudgy.)

Saw ED WOOD again. Just bliss, all the way through, same as always, and I can't say that about any other Burton movie.

It got me to thinking about whether anybody is ever going to make a movie about Phil Tucker, the guy who did ROBOT MONSTER. Apparently he had a nervous breakdown after realizing how badly it was received, and his therapists wound up helping him make another movie, one that is supposed to be even worse, called CAPE CANAVERAL MONSTERS. Aliens inhabit 2 humans and attempt to destroy Cape Canaveral, but a guard dog rips off one of their hands and trots it over to mission control. That's about all I remember about it, or maybe as far as I lasted on it, but based on that memory and ROBOT MONSTER, he has to be close to Wood level. Maybe he just didn't aim as high.

I recall in ROBOT MONSTER that a family takes a nap during their picnic.

I'm working on an Ed Wood play for a local theater. But I've still got a bit of the ole writer's block. But they want me to play Ed. The basic idea is that it's an hour-long dream of Ed's, where he's visited by the ghost of Bela and hatches his idea for GRAVE ROBBERS FROM OUTER SPACE.

Lazenby. wrote:

Oh, you'll miss him alright. I'd take him anyday over Christopher Lee, as much as I love them both. And I'd take the Hammer Frankensteins over their Draculas anyday too (although Evil Of and Monster From Hell are nothing to write home about). Hammer's first Dracula is undeniably class though, still one of the best things the studio produced, but Cushing is a really sad loss for the initial sequels, a problem compounded by the fact that Lee doesn't exactly get lots of dialogue as Dracula. The Satanic Rites Of and AD 1972 bring Cushing back though, facing Lee's Drac in the 70s. While not a patch on the original, they both still have their moments, plus the unbeatable Lee vs Cushing factor and some nice 70s female "talent".

The FRANKENSTEINs are much more inventive and interesting than the DRACULAs. The DRACULAs tend to stick pretty closely to formula, and while the sequels add a few nice touches here and there to add variety, you don't go to them to find bold stories. That said, the DRACULAs were my initiation to Hammer, so I'll always have a soft spot for them.

Tux, if you can get hold of it, check out another Lee/Cushing Hammer flick: THE GORGON.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Directors Cut)

Still my favourite Spielberger, a tour de force of emotional storytelling, seemingly without resorting to any of the usual and imo cheap mechanisms of involvement (unlike ET). Wonder and awe is lavished on every frame and it is evident today that even though the effects are top notch, its really the direction, music and performances that lift the movie way beyond its literal ambition. The directors cut is thankfully pretty much a return to the original theatrical release, dispensing with the needless 'inside the spaceship' and looks beaitiful on blu...if not quite as crystal clear as some restorations - or is that Spielberg playing with focus.... In any event this is a real treat of a movie and essential viewing for anyone who has been hiding under a rock.

9/10

What to expect when you're expecting

Actually pretty funny. Made me cross my legs a few times, though.

Santa wrote:

What to expect when you're expecting

Actually pretty funny. Made me cross my legs a few times, though.

Congratulations, Santa. :-)

Not mine, is it?

Drive
Ryan Gosling plays a cross between the Transporter and Travis Bickle in this brutal actioner
(although not quite as brutal as Dredd 3D)

Santa wrote:

What to expect when you're expecting

Actually pretty funny. Made me cross my legs a few times, though.

Shhh...

The White Tuxedo wrote:

I recall in ROBOT MONSTER that a family takes a nap during their picnic.

I'm working on an Ed Wood play for a local theater. But I've still got a bit of the ole writer's block. But they want me to play Ed. The basic idea is that it's an hour-long dream of Ed's, where he's visited by the ghost of Bela and hatches his idea for GRAVE ROBBERS FROM OUTER SPACE.

Another super-8 guy I knew wrote a 40 page screenplay about Wood in the late 80s and he was going to have me play Wood. He went VERY light on the cross-dressing, to the point that all Wood ever really does is touch the wool with serious longing, but a lot of the other stuff was very much like the Burton film.

Harmsway wrote:

Lazenby. wrote:

Oh, you'll miss him alright. I'd take him anyday over Christopher Lee, as much as I love them both. And I'd take the Hammer Frankensteins over their Draculas anyday too (although Evil Of and Monster From Hell are nothing to write home about). Hammer's first Dracula is undeniably class though, still one of the best things the studio produced, but Cushing is a really sad loss for the initial sequels, a problem compounded by the fact that Lee doesn't exactly get lots of dialogue as Dracula. The Satanic Rites Of and AD 1972 bring Cushing back though, facing Lee's Drac in the 70s. While not a patch on the original, they both still have their moments, plus the unbeatable Lee vs Cushing factor and some nice 70s female "talent".

The FRANKENSTEINs are much more inventive and interesting than the DRACULAs. The DRACULAs tend to stick pretty closely to formula, and while the sequels add a few nice touches here and there to add variety, you don't go to them to find bold stories. That said, the DRACULAs were my initiation to Hammer, so I'll always have a soft spot for them.

Tux, if you can get hold of it, check out another Lee/Cushing Hammer flick: THE GORGON.

Yeah, I got THE GORGON from YouTube.

trevanian wrote:

The White Tuxedo wrote:

I recall in ROBOT MONSTER that a family takes a nap during their picnic.

I'm working on an Ed Wood play for a local theater. But I've still got a bit of the ole writer's block. But they want me to play Ed. The basic idea is that it's an hour-long dream of Ed's, where he's visited by the ghost of Bela and hatches his idea for GRAVE ROBBERS FROM OUTER SPACE.

Another super-8 guy I knew wrote a 40 page screenplay about Wood in the late 80s and he was going to have me play Wood. He went VERY light on the cross-dressing, to the point that all Wood ever really does is touch the wool with serious longing, but a lot of the other stuff was very much like the Burton film.

Well, mine would be a crazy dream sequence. With all of the iconography. Speaking of writer's block. A film I'd been acting in has been put on hold for a second time because of trouble with a few of the other actors. The director wants to shoot something an hour long for the net with me and a few other people, and I may be in a position to write for it. So there are TWO things where I'm being asked to write. But on the film, I have no fecking clue where to go with it. Just voicing crap with like-minded peoples.

So....

Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968; dir. Freddie Francis)

Watchable. :/ Not terribly exciting. Missing Cushing a hell of a lot. Nobody's been able to match him. Not by any imaginable stretch.

The Tomb of Ligeia (1964; dir. Roger Corman)

Another good 'un of these. I think my favorite Corman/Poe flicks are PIT AND THE PENDULUM, THE RAVEN, and MASQUE. MASQUE takes the cake. With PIT I like how straight forward it is. RAVEN was simply very entertaining.

The Seven Year Itch (1955; dir. Billy Wilder)

It was a'ight. I think the word "dated" is overused, but this one is certainly constrained by it's time. Tom Ewell was surprisingly good. I expected him to be a wash, but he actually held the film, I thought. It's just that Wilder couldn't really delve into the material as much as needed for this film to transcend it's time.

Monroe is good.

The White Tuxedo wrote:

The Tomb of Ligeia (1964; dir. Roger Corman)

Another good 'un of these.

LIGEIA has some interesting echoes of VERTIGO. I don't think it's quite as visually polished as some of the films that came before in the series, but it nevertheless has some really interesting sequences.

The White Tuxedo wrote:

The Seven Year Itch (1955; dir. Billy Wilder)

It was a'ight. I think the word "dated" is overused, but this one is certainly constrained by it's time. Tom Ewell was surprisingly good. I expected him to be a wash, but he actually held the film, I thought. It's just that Wilder couldn't really delve into the material as much as needed for this film to transcend it's time.

Monroe is good.

I love that film, and don't find it especially "constrained" despite its PG-ish nature. Like UNFAITHFULLY YOURS, it has a marvelous sense of the humor inherent to male psychology.

Harmsway wrote:

LIGEIA has some interesting echoes of VERTIGO .

Would you expand on that?

Erica Ambler wrote:

Harmsway wrote:

LIGEIA has some interesting echoes of VERTIGO .

Would you expand on that?

Sure. Both LIGEIA and VERTIGO have a story about a guy who can't break away from the memory of his deceased love, both LIGEIA and VERTIGO double-cast the female leads to help along the story's moments of identity confusion, and, if I recall correctly, both feature surreal nightmare sequences dominated by similar imagery involving graves and flowers.

Harmsway wrote:

Erica Ambler wrote:

Harmsway wrote:

LIGEIA has some interesting echoes of VERTIGO .

Would you expand on that?

Sure. Both LIGEIA and VERTIGO have a story about a guy who can't break away from the memory of his deceased love, both LIGEIA and VERTIGO double-cast the female leads to help along the story's moments of identity confusion, and, if I recall correctly, both feature surreal nightmare sequences dominated by similar imagery involving graves and flowers.

I don't recall the dream sequence as being overly surreal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZct0ips7ek#t=50m10s

If that isn't surreal, what is? Sure, it doesn't go for the full animated abstraction of VERTIGO's dream sequence, but it's pretty far from realism.

Harmsway wrote:

If that isn't surreal, what is? Sure, it doesn't go for the full animated abstraction of VERTIGO's dream sequence, but it's pretty far from realism.

Maybe it's just me.

Canadian Bacon (1995, Moore)


Goldeneye (1989, Boyd)

A passable portrayal lacking any of the heroisation kitsch that modern Hollywood biopics are riddled with.
I was surprised to see Christoph Waltz in a little role.

THE CROW

If there ever was a MTV movie of the 90's, THE CROW is it. It's stylish, slick, brooding, and held together by some pretty thin plot and characterization. In spite of it's basic structure, THE CROW is a great piece of popcorn entertainment. It's pathos and emotional weight is enhanced dramatically by Brandon Lee's death and it's not something you can tune out entirely. It doesn't help that Lee died during the shooting of the opening murder, after completing the majority of his scenes as a reanimated corpse. In retrospect, the opening sequences seem truncated because of this as well.

FIRST BLOOD

I consider FIRST BLOOD a classic. A war of attrition and wits between a loner Vietnam vet and a cadre of police and National Guardsmen. Stallone works very well both physically and emotionally. A classic example on how you can make a movie realistic without tons of portable camera-work.

The Fearless Vampire Hunters (1967; dir. Roman Polanski)

I really dug it. Wish it were titled DANCE OF THE VAMPIRES, though. Love the mood. Love the way the comedy is handled. Love the score.

The White Tuxedo wrote:

The Fearless Vampire Hunters (1967; dir. Roman Polanski)

I really dug it. Wish it were titled DANCE OF THE VAMPIRES, though. Love the mood. Love the way the comedy is handled. Love the score.

The UK always carried that title, though don't you also get 'Pardon me but your teeth are in my neck!'

Oddly I always regard this as a Christmas film, one of those you tend to get late night, just when you are trying to recover from the over indulgences of the season.

The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966)

An old favorite. Love this movie. Maybe that's a badge of shame or something, but I don't care. It's so tied into THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW, which is probably the biggest piece of my childhood. Many of the people involved with this film came right out of that show. It's bursting at the seams with TV character actors of that period.

And I think it's a good flick. I enjoy the score, too. Got a hold of that.

Joan Staley was a looker. Funny I didn't notice that when I was a kid.