Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Although not a "popular" film per se, Safe in Hell is one of the most notable Pre-Code films. These were films released between the establishment of the Hays censorship code in 1930 and its enforcement in 1934. These films were notable for pushing the boundaries of what was allowed in Hollywood in terms of nudity, drugs, murder, as well as other themes and topics that were deemed forbidden in films.

Mackaill does a pretty good job in transmitting that confidence and empowerment of her character mixed with the ever-growing despair and defeat that befalls on her. The rest of the island cast also does a good job in showing the immorality and decay of their characters. The portrayals are one-dimensional and might even seem cartoonish, but they do the job that the film asks from them.

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot

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Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man - I had never seen this 1943 Universal monster classic which chronologically takes place 4 years after 1941's The Wolf Man. As it opens two grave robbers break into the Talbot family mausoleum where


There were changes made to the film following negative test screenings which sort of muddies the water but it still plays out as one would expect with the two iconic monsters going toe to toe. The setup takes awhile but when it finally goes down it happens fast. The villagers don't even get the chance to assemble the usual flaming-torches-and-pitchforks wielding mob. This might not be near the top as far as classic Universal creature features go but it's a fun watch just the same.

70/100

The Boys in the Boat (2023)

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[ J ] - [ S ] - [ F ]

i loved the gore and blood and shooting scenes and loved michelle dockery shes one of my favorite people, loved bill skarsgard he did really good and loved famke janssen shes one of my favorite people aswell and on marvel aswell.

SF = Zzz



[Snooze Factor Ratings]:
Z = didn't nod off at all
Zz = nearly nodded off but managed to stay alert
Zzz = nodded off and missed some of the film but went back to watch what I missed
Zzzz = nodded off and missed some of the film but went back to watch what I missed but nodded off again at the same point and therefore needed to go back a number of times before I got through it...
Zzzzz = nodded off and missed some or the rest of the film but was not interested enough to go back over it

Encanto - 2021

Friday night movie with the family. Kids loved it, me and the wife, not so much.

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There has been an awekening.... have you felt it?

Kiss of the Vampire (Kiss of Evil) - 1963 Hammer offering that I had never seen nor heard of. It was just dissimilar enough from other Hammer productions to make it memorable while still not being as good.

There's a promising opening with a funeral procession interrupted by the arrival of a lone figure who blesses the grave and then pierces the coffin with a shovel. An unearthly shriek and blood flowing from the staked coffin causes everyone to bolt and run away in terror which I found unintentionally funny. Cue the opening credits followed by a young honeymooning couple, Gerald and Marianne Harcourt, who run out of petrol somewhere in turn of the century Bavaria. They're forced to take shelter in a mostly unoccupied Inn where the troubled owners are quite obviously harboring a dark secret. Obvious to everyone but the unwitting honeymooners. They fall firmly under the clueless travelers trope of most horror movies. A letter comes for them from wealthy area resident Dr. Ravna. He invites them to his chateau for dinner and, with some dubious encouragement from innkeeper Bruno, accept. The couples obliviousness continues unabated as Dr. Ravna pays the young wife an unhealthy amount of attention. He introduces them to his daughter and piano playing son who spellbinds Marianne with his own composition.

You can see how it's going to play out and this was actually meant to be the third of the Hammer Dracula films. But after the usual delays the script had jettisoned the character but retained some of the plot details from the second installment 1960's The Brides of Dracula. There were also parts of the plot from the 1950 thriller Too Long at the Fair. The Harcourts are invited to an opulent party at Ravna's chateau which is the pretense for some cultlike skullduggery. The husband is gaslighted while the wife seemingly disappears. It takes the intervention of the lone figure at the cemetery who turns out to be a Professor Zimmer. He's turned to alcohol to mitigate the pain of having lost his own daughter in much the same fashion.

Director Don Sharp was quoted as saying he'd never seen a horrror movie so he tried going the suspense route which IMO only served to undercut the overall atmosphere that was Hammer's stock in trade. He shouldn't have tampered with a winning formula. It's a well turned out thriller but there's a certain something missing which gave Hammer films an undefined cachet.

70/100

Eraser (1996)

You're a lover, not a fighter

Strawberry Mansion -

With all due respect to writers/directors Kentucker Audley and Albert Birney and their imaginations, this isn't far off from what would happen if David Lynch and Wes Anderson collaborated, with perhaps David Cronenberg along for the ride as a consultant. It posits a sadly believable future in which the powers at be have access to one of our last refuges: our dream lives. In our dream taxman hero, Preble (Audley), we have a fitting Winston Smith for our times: a person who values his dream life more than the next guy, but who has resigned himself to working for those who treat them as just another source of revenue. That brings us to his "dream auditee," Bella (Fuller), who seems just as out of place in our current lonely world as she does in the movie's speculative 2030s: someone who wants to share her dreams with someone else. Their resulting adventure is equal parts whimsical, funny and frightening.

If you're also a fan of movies like Pi and Brazil that rely on obscure and/or obsolete technology, this will be right up your alley. From VHS tapes to the hilariously unwieldy wearable tech Audley and Bella use to interact with the dream world, you can cut the ingenuity with a knife. The same could be said of the dream world itself, which has colors, odds, and ends recalling those in Wes Anderson movies, but that have their own personality and are thankfully not too precious. Audley, Fuller and Glowicki as the younger, dream world Bella are endearing, but it's Phillip's Buddy, a frequently occurring, uh...buddy in Preble's dreams who steals the show. Speaking of, as insidious as dream taxes seem, Audley and Birney manage to devise an evil that's much worse.

In a world where the powers that be gain more and more control of the images we feed our eyes, whether it's what we want to see or what we have to sit through, it begs the question if our imaginations can remain pure or produce anything original anymore. At this point, we can at least be thankful that a movie that's not only like this, but also stands up to those powers slipped through the cracks. If my mentions of other filmmakers who likely inspired it are of any indication, as clever as it is, it’s hardly the most original movie ever made. Even so, its timeliness, personality, boldness as well as its delightfully odd sense of humor make up for it. If you need a reminder that there is value in our dreams and in trying to remember them, this movie will provide it. Just don't be surprised if a saxophone-playing frog waiter makes his way into them afterwards.

The Fall Guy (2024)


Pretty much what you expect. Could it have been wittier? Yes. Was it still a moderately amusing popcorn movie? Yes.

Godzilla Minus One (2023)

This is a good old fashioned entertaining monster movie. It holds one’s attention from beginning to end. And what’s surprising is that virtually everyone who sees the picture knows what to expect, and eagerly anticipates it, despite there being 36 previous Godzilla films. We know we are going to see a gargantuan monster who causes catastrophic urban damage, and will likely not be completely eradicated in the end.

Much has been made of the picture’s minuscule budget, with reports in the neighborhood of $10-15 Million (easily one-tenth of a similar U.S. picture’s cost). And that is eyebrow raising. But it’s even more impressive that one man, Takashi Yamazaki, wrote, directed, and did the visual effects for the film. And all three were facets were first rate.

What differs from the movies of this type that we’ve become accustomed to is that there is a basic human story, both along with, and undergirding the abundant monster scenes. At the end of 1945 a kamikaze pilot returns his troubled airplane to base on a Japanese island. That night Godzilla surfaces and attacks the island. The pilot is tasked with trying to destroy the monster by use of his airplane’s powerful machine guns, but the pilot freezes up, cannot pull the trigger, and is subsequently knocked unconscious. Only one other soldier survives the attack.

When the pilot returns home, he discovers that his parents and most people he knew were killed in the bombing of Tokyo. There is devastation everywhere. He comes across a new widow with a baby, who he commences to protect and provide for. The carnage he sees, along with his previous experience on the island gives him the incentive to be determined to help destroy the monster. The story develops along those lines which provide the settings for some impressive and frightening monster attacks.

Most of the dialogue, along with the actions of the main characters, seemed emotionally overly exaggerated, which often seems typical in movies featuring Japanese culture. In fact for a moment I thought that the picture might be a spoof, satirizing that aspect of the style. But it’s not. The picture simply seems patterned after 1950’s monster movies, and to good effect.

I kept thinking that the story’s premise was adding insult to injury, given that Japan was beaten to a pulp during WWII. Then I realized that was probably what the title was referring to: nothing, and then some. Japan couldn’t have been lower, then Godzilla showed up and made it even worse!

It was the first Godzilla picture in history to be nominated for, and win, an Oscar for Best Visual Effects, as well as the first non-English language film to win it. So the great special effects will wow you, but you might find yourself fascinated by the side story as well.

Doc’s rating: 7/10

Attachments

 

Burn! (1969)

huh?

Pretty Woman (1990)

1st Rewatch...What if upon completing your education to become a surgeon, you learned that one prerequisite is that for every patient you lose on the operating table, you will lose a member of your own family? That is the disturbing premise of this creepy psychological thriller from director and co-screenwriter Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things). The film stars Colin Farrell as Dr. Stephen Murphy, an arrogant and brilliant surgeon who has been secretly maintaining a relationship with a young man named Martin (Barry Keoghan), whose father was in a car accident but Murphy was unable to save his life through surgery. One day, Martin quietly announces to Dr. Murphy that, because of his father's death, the doctor's two children and wife will all die. Before the halfway point of the film and without Maritn laying a hand on them, Murphy's son and daughter are in the hospital and unable to walk. Lanthimos' direction here is a master class in the craft. The look of the film is breathtaking, featuring an antiseptic canvas upon which the story unfolds. I also love the way a large portion of the film is shot from long distances, purposely distancing the viewer from what's happening while piquing curiosity. We're never provided an explanation for what's happening and the ending doesn't draw any conclusions, but we are still riveted up to this point. I don't think Colin Farrell has ever been better as the good doctor and Nicole Kidman offers another of her icy performances as his wife. Barry Keoghan was robbed of a supporting actor nomination for his enigmatic Martin. Not for all tastes and I don't understand a lot of what happens here, but I find it oddly riveting.

Stahl, 1945





Yikes. Very chilling stuff in this classic color noir. One of the most evil femme fatales ever put to screen. This film at first presents itself as a cheery sort of oil painting come to life, with rich landscapes and likable main characters, only to completely subvert its opening acts with some really nasty stuff. As I watched, I wondered if the film had been nominated for an Academy award for its sumptuous cinematography; turns it it was nominated, and ended up winning the award that year, along with a few others. I watched this in a continuing effort to rectify my noir lists. Superb film.


Maxwell, 1980





Early 80s coming of age flick starring several of the big name teen stars of the time. I recall this film being the subject of many whispered, wide-eyed conversations back when I was in 5th or 6th grade, as all the girls had heard about a film that featured a clandestine contest at a summer camp that had two girls competing with each other to see who could lose their virginity first. I presume this was aimed at a high school audience as a sort of reaction to the years of free love that had kicked off in the late sixties - a sort of cautionary tale for teens.

At the time, I am sure it may have saved a few girls from the heartbreak and embarrassment of giving it up too early to some dumb guy on a dirt bike, but today this thing plays out as a misguided and at times pervy and exploitative exercise with a bizarre blend of tones that don't mix well. In the end, it all ends up as expected with the obligatory moral messaging. The actors are fine, especially McNicol, but this would rank in the bottom tier of coming of age flicks for me.

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1st Rewatch...This inventive, imaginative, and often moving comedy drama tackles some familiar cinematic territory with some new storytelling techniques we don't see coming. The "Me" in the title is Greg, a smart and likable high school teenager who has managed to get through the first three years of high school relatively unscathed by becoming mildly acquainted with all of the different high school cliques. His senior year is turned upside down when his mother forces him to spend time with a classmate named Rachel, with whom Greg is barely acquainted, but has now been diagnosed with leukemia. Greg and his BFF Earl also make spoofs of classic movies with titles like "A Box of Lips Now", "Death In Tennis", and "Gross Encounters of the Turd Kind", which motivate a girlfriend of Rachel's to ask Greg to make a movie for her. This movie is stupid with imagination, especially in the creation of Greg and Earl's movies, which are an ingenious combination of live action and clay-mation. Usually movies where a lead character is dying, there are expected scenes that we just expect and none of them happen here. I also like the fact that it's not a love story...Greg and Rachel don't fall in love with each other, they fight for each other. The film also features the best narration for a movie since Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. A richly entertaining movie experience that offers hope and constant surprises.

2nd Rewatch...Will Ferrell really scores here, playing one of his most likable characters who he really puts through the wringer. Farrell plays Brad Whitaker, a radio executive who works harder than any man on the planet at being the best stepfather he can to his new wife's son and daughter. Just when it looks like Brad might be finally be making some inroads with his stepchildren, their real dad, Dusty (Mark Wahlberg), shows up out of nowhere on a mission to get his family back. with clueless wife, Sarah (Linda Cardellini) not really putting up a fight to stop him. And that's the part of this movie that really pisses me off. They expect the viewer to except that Sarah as no idea what Dusty is doing and by the halfway point, just completely stops supporting Brad and all the work he has put into being a real father figure to her kids. It is fun watching Wahlberg as the genuine villain of the piece, but he gets away with WAY too much before he finally gets what's coming to him. Ferrell shines in the Christmas in April scene and his drunken speech at the basketball game. I also love the scenes of Ferrell and Wahlberg badmouthing each other to the kids via bedtime stories. Though it takes too long to get to the happy ending, there are laughs here and Ferrell and Wahlberg work really well together.