Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Michael Rennie in the original version? Iconic performance, and no, Fonda shouldn't have played it instead. Top tier classic and is an easy .

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Managed to get two in last night


Takács, 1987





Perhaps objectively, this is pretty rough, but I used to watch this a lot as a teen so there is a strong nostalgia factor here. Still fun, with some great 80s cheese and fun 80s attire and hair etc. Kudos for playing into the silly satanic panic via heavy metal that was big in those days - I love the detail they put into the Sacrifyx band and lore in this film. Also, for a PG-13 flick, there are some intense scenes that my wife said freaked her out when she was a kid; she is almost 10 years younger than me, so she saw it at a young age. A guilty pleasure that I plan on continuing to enjoy throughout the years.



Bava, 1966





I had trouble finding a screenshot for this film, since the cinematography is such total shit. Oh wait, every single frame in basically poster worthy. My favorite Bava, and an absolute pleasure from start to finish. Seminal camera, use of color and set design portray a story that is pretty much perfect for the season. Almost fits in the bloodless category, but it doesn't matter, as it just serves to reinforce its classic status. If you haven't seen this, run, don't walk to see it immediately.

Love this one as well and Bava in general.
You've gotta see his Planet of the Vampires if you haven't already.

I've just seen Kill, Baby...Kill! and Bay of Blood, I think. Would have to check his catalog to make sure, though. I will put Planet of the Vampires on my watchlist!

Thank you!

Enjoy, and I'll be adding A Bay of Blood to mine. It looks indeed, for lack of a better word...bloody.

The Radley's (2024) - + It's one of those 'vampires live like normal people' vampire films and it does it pretty well. If you like Damien Lewis you get a double dose of him here, as he plays brothers. One the father and head of the titular Radley family, trying to live a normal life and abstain from his/their vampiric ways, while the other is the 'wild child'/bestial nomadic vampire, all hedonism and blood lust. There's also the wonderful Kelly Macdonald and she's the best thing in it. Without her there really isn't a lot from the drama as she's the heart of the whole thing.

There's some nice touches with Vampire lore and I like the way the story gets kickstarted and its repercussions early on before it finds its groove. From there though, it kind of hits the beats I expected and, for the most part, they play out as expected. This isn't a bad thing and it's done well enough, I guess I was just interested in something else? In having it go another way and I think that's the films main problem. I don't think it's enough of any one thing to satisfy that crowd. Also, I just found bad brother too cliche? Or maybe it was just too much Damien Lewis for me? I don't know. Worth a look though I thought and I'm not sad that I spent the time watching it. But if you're looking for thrills or real horror, there's nothing for you here.

Housebound (2014) - + This is probably horror comedy rather than an amusing horror film? And it ramps up towards the end in a way I enjoyed, but there's a lull towards the end of the second act (I think) which felt like it was winding down, so when it picks up again I was a little surprised that we still had about 20 minutes to go. I was aware of this because Morgana O'Reilly is in it. She played Naomi in Neighbours and she and Rima Te Wiata (who plays her mother) are really good in this.

Dracula, Prince Of Darkness (1966) - I know a lot of Hammer fans really like this one, but it's just a little too much of a retread of the original for my liking and without Peter Cushing ((or Christopher Lee for a lot of it) and so it's mostly basic Hammer period stuff and you get the wonderful Barbara Shelley as well. But, while watching it, I just get the feeling that I should just watch the 58 version instead as I'd get the same thing and a better time.

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

Umpteenth Rewatch...The late Dudley Moore is probably remembered for his drunken playboy in Arthur, but I actually prefer his much richer performance in this witty Blake Edwards comedy playing a three dimensional character. Moore plays George Webber, a man having a midlife crisis. He has everything a man could ask for money, fame, a beautiful girlfriend stage actress girlfriend (Julie Andrews) but still feels something is missing in his life. One day while stopped a traffic signal, he gets a glance of a bride in a limo (Bo Derek(, and becomes completely obsessed with her. From the above poster, this film was incorrectly marketed as a smarmy sex comedy which it is not. This is the story of a man who has to go through comical and pathetic journey to learn that maybe the grass isn't always so greener somewhere else. Edwards penchant for physical comedy gets exercised here, but this story is told in a completely realistic vein. Moore is superb and has a terrific ensemble backing him up including Robert Webber as his gay songwriting partner, Dee Wallace as a romantically challenged divorcee he meets in Mexico, James Noble as Derek's father, Max Showalter as a songwriting minister, and Don Calfka as George's sex maniac neighbor. This movie has endless rewatch appeal for me.

6th Rewatch...This 1986 Best Picture nominee is my favorite Woody Allen movie. It's the story of three sisters (Mia Farrow, Barbara Hershey, Dianne Wiest) and the various people who drift in and out of their lives. Woody's Oscar-winning screenplay is witty and intelligent, filled with fantastic one-liners and a depth you don't really see coming. Michael Caine won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance as Farrow's confused husband and Dianne Wiest won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her nutty Holly, though Farrow, Hershey, and the Woodmeister make the most of every minute they have onscreen. A winner.

1st Rewatch...Rita Hayworth's steamy performance is the heart of this sexy and stylish 1946 film noir. Glenn Ford plays a gambler who gets hired by a wealthy casino owner (George Macready) to be his right hand man. The boss goes on vacation and returns with a sexy new bride (guess who), initiating on of the steamiest and most intense love triangles ever put on the screen. A lot of the credit has to go to director Charles Vidor who doesn't allow the script to tell the whole story, the camera gets equal time. Most of what is going on between these characters comes through subtle glances and body language, and even when the script takes center stage, none of the characters ever say exactly what they mean, it's all in subtext. And what can be said about Rita's rendition of "Put the Blame on Mame" that hasn't been said.

Halloween Party (2012) There isn't much of a plot to this, but it is all about the vibes and the chill. The acting isn't great, but does have some charm. It has some quirky characters and a few funny lines. Worth a watch if you want to hang out with some wacky costumed partygoers for a couple chuckles.

1st Rewatch...This musical was the biggest hit of Marilyn's career, the film she is most associated with and that is no accident. Based on a Broadway musical that starred Carol Channing, this is the story of Lorelai Lee, a chorus girl who has an eye and nose for money and diamonds (in the opening scene we actually watch the girl notice a ring box in the coat pocket of her boyfriend), who in order to get said boyfriend (Tommy Noonan) to propose to her, takes a cruise to Paris with her BFF Dorothy Shaw (Jane Russell). The girls don't know that the boyfriend's father has sent a detective (Elliott Reid) on the cruise to keep an eye on Lorelai, but he is distracted when he falls hard for Dorothy. This sparkling musical directed by Howard Hawks has a lot going for it, but the thing you go away from this movie with is why the love affair between Marilyn and the camera lens was so intense. No matter what else was going on in this movie, I just couldn't take my eyes off of her. There will never be another Marilyn. Musical highlights include "Two Little Girls From Little Rock", "Bye Bye Baby", "When Love Goes Wrong", and of course Marilyn's "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend", which has become part of pop culture. And if you look close, you will notice Julie Newmar and George Chakiris as dancers in that number. Charles Coburn and little George Winslow also garner laughs as wealthy passengers who fall under Marilyn's spell. And I didn't notice this the first time I watched, but the actress who plays Coburn's wife, Lady Beekman is Norma Varden, who twelve years later would play Captain von Trapp's housekeeper in The Sound of Music.

An Inspector Calls (2015)

An interesting adaptation of the JB Priestley novel. An upper-class family are visited by an inspector over the suicide of a pregnant young woman that they had all individually wronged in some way. Driving her from a dedicated worker at the family factory seeking workers rights to eventual prostitution through despair. I'd never seen/read this but had heard of it as my son did it at school. For those who have, the one big question is about the ending.....who was "The Inspector" and how did he have the knowledge to pose the questions pre-incident???

(1962) short film.
9.75
A superb experience. I want to see a feature length film like this!!
Genius!

I watched A Taxi Driver, the Korean historical drama. Is a great film. I wouldn't say I loved it though. I'm glad I watched it all the same.

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I destroyed the dastardly dairy dame! I made mad milk maid mulch!

Is it streaming somewhere?

It's on Amazon's Freevee. It came with ads which didn't bother me. Freevee is part of Prime.

Five Graves to Cairo (1943) - Early BIlly Wilder; automatically gets the shit luck of being compared to his latter masterpieces. I don't know if it totally deserves it's 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes but it's a movie not to be missed... I only wish I had seen it with subtitles and maybe a more relaxed mindset to pick up on it's naunces some more, especially those regarding Peter van Eyck's character and performance.

What is there to see is an entertaining war-set story with some thrilling character moments among the protagonist (Franchot Tone, unforgettable face from Mutiny on Bounty starring here as a British soldier finding himself in the role of a servant in an egyptian bar hosting German officers during WW2. Yeah! ), a lovely (and multi-layered) Anne Baxter and Field Marshal Rommel himself (an expectedly wonderful Eric Von Stroheim). Even though it mostly takes place in the saloon building and it's corners, Wilder milks the situation to create some visually outstanding moments, take the fight between Tone and Van Eyck scene for example.

It just lacks a memorable finishing spark like that time when Robinson lights up MacMurray's last smoke, or when Gloria announces she's ready for her close-up, or when we were reminded that nobody's perfect, or that that's another story...

Judge Priest (1934, John Ford) - A

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