Amph What was the last movie you saw? (Ver. 2)

I really like the first half of Airplane II but it loses its steam for me in the second half. Obviously not a classic like the first film but I still think it's worth watching.

 

My favorite part with the bomb had to be in the beginning when he's picking it out from a bunch of them at an airport shop lol. My guess is it was attempting to make fun of the lack of security at terminals back then; considering all the hijackings that went on in the 70s.

 

One of my favorite parts is when one of the co-pilots is battling the fire and he's passing some barrels that read: Dynamite, explosive, brilliant, a must see!

 

I think Naked Gun 33 1/3 might've borrowed that take when Frank opens up the envelope on the Oscar Stage and shouts out, "IT'S THE BOMB!"......and you see the cast and crew of one of the nominated movies come up to accept the award

 

I missed the beginning - was watching Milo Murphy.

Edit - credits are rolling now. Time to find something else. Silliness itch scratched.

 

First Man (2018)
I was enthralled. The opening scene in the X-15 grabbed me and I was hooked. The rendezvous with the Agena and what came of it was another highlight. And the ground test with the crew in Apollo 1, I knew where it was going as soon as they mentioned it, and the tension of waiting for it to happen was gut-wrenching.

As for the human interest family stuff, I found it believable, but not all that interesting. It was the rockets and gee-whiz 60's tech and NASA people that made the movie work for me.

Also, I have to say I totally identified with Neil. All through the film, I was thinking, yeah, that's what I would have said, that's how I would have done that, that's how I would react.

 

"Phantom of the Opera" with Lon Chaney. I saw it at Union County Performing Arts Center (which celebrates its 90th birthday today), with live organ accompaniment by Bernie Anderson on a old-style, non-electronic Wurlitzer. They even had a cartoon: the silent, surreal Felix the Cat movie "Woos Whoopie". Great stuff.

 

A Quiet Place (2018) – John Krasinski

A Quiet Place has a premise to die for. It’s the story of a family isolated in the wilderness trying to survive while being hunted by creatures who navigate by sound. Thus, their life is a life of enforced silence. It’s the stuff of a taut, gripping thriller; it already kind of has been actually if you remember a little movie called Don’t Breathe. Krasinski does a good job as director, building tension through silence; the film opens with a lengthy prologue that is deathly quiet and at one point an audience member down the row from me took a drink and I literally heard the ice rattle in his glass; in a movie theater these days that kind of quiet is astounding. The cast is very good. Emily Blunt is predictably terrific and Millicent Simmonds is very good as the hearing impaired daughter. Krasinski is mostly good, but he fumbles a couple of significant moments, unfortunately one of them is in the climax of the film, so that’s not really good. But then he is directing himself, so, you know. The film deserves a lot of praise for going in some unexpected directions. The film has the nerve to break one of the fundamental rules of blockbuster filmmaking in its very first sequence and right the **** in front of you, right in the foreground of the camera frame. This gives the rest of the film a more unnerving feeling since, while you can make your guesses and probably be right, you can never be quite sure what the filmmakers are going to be willing to do next. Still, though it has flaws, it’s still a really masterful achievement; with a tiny cast and a small setting, it still manages to build a compelling world and maintain interest, which is also due, I think, to its restrained running time. Some people would have bulked this up to two-and-a-half hours in order to feel suitably epic, but Krasinski recognizes the power of a simple premise simply told and it’s just right at ninety minutes. It’s a load of fun and, for a blockbuster that wants to be a load of fun, it’s also surprisingly risky and smart. 4 stars.

tl;dr – great premise simply & briskly explored; it has its flaws, but not that many, and the pleasures are too numerous to count. 4 stars.

 

Rewatched Mothra for the second time in a week, since the DVD came in the mail yesterday. This time in Japanese, which I preferred to the tv version dubbed in English.
I like the movie a lot, but I was bummed at the sub par DVD presentation of the film, as it was somehow worse than what I saw on tele.
The colors were very dull and lifeless, some shots with the ship at the beginning were almost completely black, and when Mothra is building the cocoon, it was hard to even see the strands for the most part. Just a few examples. It took away from my enjoyment quite a lot, although hearing the Japanese and reading the subtitles was a big improvement over whatever it was they did in the English tele version.

I wish I had bought a Japanese blu ray of Mothra, but my player isn't compatible.
I'm not even sure about the quality of the other two Toho films packaged with what I bought; but I guess I shouldn't complain for spending $10 for the set, although the three films are annoyingly seated one on top of the other in the jewel case, and as it was used, there was an old price sticker defacing the cover and oddly, nasty scotch tape sealing the DVD case shut that I had to pry off just to open it.
Never know what to expect from Amazon I reckon. Still, I like Mothra a lot, so it's better than having no 1961 Mothra.

This film must not be well liked in the USA, for why else would we not be able to get a blu ray with even a couple special features at this point?

 

@Dagobahsystem Mothra might eventually make it on blu ray here. Several obscure Italian horror films/giallos I love are finally gearing up for blu ray next year. I've owned some of them on dvd for almost 20 years now. Hope you don't have to wait that long.

Star Wars (1977) - wow. The death star trench sequence is still my most favorite SW moment. I love how worn the ships look and the fights etc. are still so darn cool. I remember being so scared for Luke when I saw this in the theatre. The movie as a whole is just so much fun, yet if you want something deeper than fun, you'll get it. I would happily pay $50 for blu ray version I saw in theaters that summer in 1977.

Okay, so I own the 1997 version digitally. I do not approve of the changes/additions, but that does not diminish my love for this movie, Luke or the universe.

Ultimately, I saw this 13x theatrically over a four year period between 77 and 81. Such a blast(er).

I think it took seeing The Last Jedi to make me realize It doesn't matter what Disney does to these characters and universe, I still have this movie which for me was a defining moment as a little girl. Watching this, I know little me is still inside, and pops out during certain scenes. And the Force will be with her, always.

 

Dick Barton: Special Agent. Early Hammer film based on a BBC radio series from the 40's. The plot, which sees Barton going to a seaside town to Nazi spies from releasing a deadly virus, is totally ludicrous and most of the acting is over the top, but it's harmless fun.

 

Evil of Dracula(1975)

“We also offer prayers for the body’s revival.”

This Japanese movie wastes no time getting into its vampire lore.

Psychology Professor Mr. Shiraki (perhaps the de facto Jonathan Harker), travels to a distant school in modern Japan to join its staff. The psych professor learns from the principal that the school official’s wife died two days prior. In the reverential Japanese way, Shiraki wishes to pay his respects at her grave.

This would be fine except there’s no grave: instead the deceased is kept in a coffin in the school cellar for seven days (Dun-Dun-Duuuuunnnnnn!) “It’s an old local custom,” the principal says, while cheekily admitting “We also offer prayers for the body’s revival. “ Erm, if I was Shiraki, hearing that would inspire me to make like a banana and split. Our principal is more than he seems (Of corpse! Of corpse!)

Then the new arrival is told he was hired to take over as principal of the school. News to him!

Naturally, Shiraki-San falls for these rather unusual excuses and the instant job promotion.

Intermission:

This is the kind of Captain Obvious horror that is always fun because it gets silly and so on the nose rather quickly.

For me, it is always a blast to occasionally watch a horror film so self aware, it doesn’t care if you chuckle for most of the screen time. That ridiculousness extends into this review.

End Intermission...Carry on Evil of Dracula!

Soon Shiraki-San meets vampire brides including the dead Mrs. principal and thinks he’s dreaming (Not) which prompts him to check her coffin. His boss is not amused.

We finally see some more living people on campus including a few lovely ladies. One of them makes a crack about the Renfirld character’s creepy stare. More professors pop up, like a vampire-lore collecting fellow.

And then stuff hits the fan.

There’s a lot more skin than even the Hammer horrors (but the Japanese like their sexploitation), still you cannot take any of this remotely serious especially when a vampire co-ed asks Mr. Shiraki if he’d marry her. Yeah, that’s seduction alright!

Things that stood out: In the police station, everyone is dressed in brown or beige (and the walls are beige), the aforementioned hilariously obvious dialog between our hero and the blood sucking principal, how unconvincing every vampire is, and the neat time lapse of daylight fading fast.

I suppose I’d compare this Hammer if they made goofy horrors with lots of cleavage...(Hammer made semi serious horrors with lots of cleavage, but I digress.)

It seems like every country that produced 70s genre movies experimented and pushed the envelope, Japan made far more risqué movies than this, but they also know when to wink at the audience too.

 

The Siege of Jadotville (2016)
Based on the true story of a company of UN peacekeepers from Ireland who were attacked in the Congo in 1961 and hung out to dry by their politicians. Lots of realistic combat scenes and period military equipment along with believable characters as young soldiers.

 

Two words: duct tape.

 

The Sisters Brothers (2018) – Jacques Audiard

In this off-beat Western, Joaquin Phoenix and John C. Reilly play a pair of squabbling brothers/bounty hunters. Their latest assignment is to track down a prospector played by Riz Ahmed who has perfect a new method of mining. Their on-again/off-again partner Morris, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, is either an ally or an enemy depending on the time of day. The movie is off-beat and strange, but not as strange as the press it’s been getting would indicate. Yes, it has a rather bizarre sense of humor at times and it’s paced at arthouse speed, by which I mean slow, but it’s a Western for sure, with plenty of gun battles to go around. The film opens with a bravura slow zoom in on a gunfight taking place in pitch black and it’s a gorgeous shot. The rest of the film is less overtly directed, but it ends with a surprising one-take shot that is mainly surprising because it actually is just one take, even though it seems like it would be edited together. The performances are quite good. Reilly’s production company optioned the novel the movie is based on and you can tell it’s something of a passion project for him; it’s his best dramatic performance to date, I think, or at least right up there. Riz Ahmed once again proves his acting chops by turning in another “wait, that’s the same guy?” performance. For a guy with a somewhat unique look, he’s incredibly chameleonic. Phoenix is good as the wild-card of the brothers, though he isn’t asked to do any particular heavy lifting. Neither is Gyllenhaal which might explain why feels a character named “John Morris” needs to have some sort of intrusive, incredibly inconsistent accent. Actors, amirite? Anyway, if you can tell what the hell he thinks he’s doing, you’re doing better than me. Allison Tolman, who you might remember from Fargo’s first season, has a really wonderful cameo, essentially a one scene appearance; it starts hilariously funny and ends up surprisingly sad, but then that’s where this movie is a lot of the time. Still, though the film does feel kind of like a trifle at times and could stand to have a solid twenty minutes or so shaved off its more than two-hour running time, it’s enjoyable, affable and surprisingly touching at times. It’s no masterpiece, but it’s a solidly entertaining, creatively written shaggy dog of a movie and who could say no to that? 3 ½ stars.

tl;dr – off-beat Western has plenty of strangeness, but also hews to genre conventions; mostly good performances and a shaggy dog of a script add up to a fun time at the movies. 3 ½ stars.

 

The Nightmare Before Christmas
Hadn't seen this in ages and watched it on blu ray for the first time. Love the stop motion animation, those artists are so talented, and Damny Elfmann's music is excellent as usual. I might start watching this every year as it works for multiple holidays lol.

Rocky 5
Caught this on television and it's alright, I mean, it's really cheesy, but maybe not as much as part 4. I've always liked the original Rocky and the second one is good too, but man are these sequels ever formulaic and definitely a product of their time. Can't say this is really that great though.

 

An old Germany film titled M.

 

A mod made references to "my cousin Vinny" so I watched it. Very funny, I liked it a lot.

 

Whenever MCV is on cable, we always watch and quote Mira Sorvino waaaay too much.

Glad you enjoyed. I wish screenplay teachers would use this script in class, it is so great.

 

First Man. The space program is pretty much as cool as it gets, and I’m up for anything about it, so I’m pretty easy to please, but this was great by any standards. A gripping biopic that portrays not ao much how inspirational the moon landing was — though it can’t help but be — but how difficult it was. Being an astronaut isn’t just the coolest job ever — it’s one that takes incredible talent, intellect, and balls the size of watermelons. You can’t come away with this anything but impressed with Armstrong and the men around him, and the film also does a great job with his family life and the impact his midcentury emotional reserve has on his wife.

Great film. My one frustration was Chazelle’s dependence on claustrophobic shakycam, which was often effective in the cockpit sequences but didn’t need to be the film’s entire aesthetic. I would have loved more long shots of the flight. It does make for a hell of a payoff when Chazelle finally cuts loose with some long shots during the Apollo 11 sequence, which is just transcendent. Seriously, I could just watch that on a loop.