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

That Richard Lynch in that role. He had a lot of B- and cult movie credits, thought MSTies will remember him as Noel, the lead archaeologist, from "Werewolf". And the bad guy driver in the chase scene is played by Bill Hickman, who did the same type of role in "Bullitt" and coordinated both chase scenes.

 

Metro Eddie Murphy 1990s action film. Murphy stars as hostage negotiator Scott Roper who becomes involved in a game of cat and mouse with a psycho jewel thief called Korda played by Michael Wincott. Not too bad for a typical low budget action adventure of its era. But come the third act it falls apart, Murphy decides to become a cross between Axl Foley and Chandler Jarrell in a scene that’s jarring because he’d done well to steer clear of those characters all the way through. Then there seems something cut as we jump from a meal between Roper and his girlfriend in the evening, to Korda escaping prison and Murphy and girlfriend arriving home and him telling his girlfriend that Korda had escaped in the morning. It’s quite a jarring jump and then the end showdown that follows is way too rushed as well.

 

It’s an adaptation of a spy novel by the same title, so it’s actually just a coincidence.

 

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. This is a fun, unusual film, but with a seriously flawed structure. When widow Gene Tierney moves into a purportedly haunted seaside cottage that turns out to be actually haunted, she manages the situation through the unusual expedient of befriending the ghost, a cantankerous old sea captain played hilariously by Rex Harrison. This stretch of the movie is pretty great, leaning into some actual thrills and chills initially before settling into delightful banter between woman and crustily charming ghost. The only real weakness of this stretch, and it applies to the rest of the film, is that though Tierney has a daughter, you would be forgiven for forgetting about her, since the film largely does, and Tierney for that matter seems to as well. The film does not do quite so well when it moves into a second half where Harrison takes a backseat while Tierney falls for an obviously bad, but at least living, match. This is the kind of thing that would provide the stereotypical obstacle to a romance, but instead it simply derails the budding woman/ghost romance, banishing it and eventually Harrison with far too much movie to go. This is intended to set up a moving ending, but while the ending is strong, the film has killed all its momentum deader than Harrison to get there. It prevents the central relationship from properly blossoming and leaves the film with no sense of direction and absent its strongest character. The only thing from this second half that really stands out is the hilarious joke that the leering, incredibly forward cad she meets at the publisher’s office is, in fact, beloved children’s author Uncle Neddy. That’s a winner, but the rest of the plotline isn’t, and it’s a shame to see an enjoyable film derail itself like this.

 

A Hard Day’s Night. The Beatles’ music is pure joy, and this film absolutely captures that. It’s a film of absolute and unbounded exuberance, which only makes sense for a film about being young, fabulously rich, and literally the coolest thing on planet Earth. Bouncing along with delightfully irreverent and sometimes just plain oddball humor, following nothing in particular as the Beatles hurtle self-amusedly through another day in the life, it’s a perfect text of the sixties’ youth culture, capturing the sense that everybody under thirty is in on an absolutely fantastic in-joke that everybody over thirty will never get. It is a riotous, silly, magnificently energetic film with one of the all-time great soundtracks. A pure delight to watch.

 

@Havac
Of all your great reviews here, your review of A Hard Day's Night is my favorite. Brought a smile to my face.
Thank you sir.

I love that movie. I'm also a huge fan of the indefinitely silly, random and wacky Bond spoof that is HELP!

 

There were two sequel novels, both written after the movie was made: The Fall of Colossus and Colossus and the Crab. I read the second one, and had some serious problems with it. Never got to the third one.
Here, Eric Braedon creates a computer that takes over the world. And in "Escape from the Planet of the Apes", he tries and fails to prevent apes taking over the world. The guy just couldn't catch a break back then.

 

I understand that rock 'n roll was looked down upon by "serious" musicians back in 1964, but the MPAAS not giving an Oscar nomination to any of the Lennon/McCartney songs written for this movie astounds me. Yeah, "Chim Chim Cheree" (the actual winner) is a nice song, but better than the Beatles?

 

Last night I watched two movies. First off Back to the Future Part II.

This is my least favorite BTTF movie, although that means it's still a good movie. It's a tight film that always keeps moving, but it does suffer from the fact that the characters' goal changes like every 15 minutes. Wild ride. Still good. Can't wait for part III, which is my favorite.

B

Then I watched the Japanese thriller Cure on Criterion Channel. Has anyone else seen this one? It was definitely different than its peers in 90s Japanese horror. That's why I called it more of a thriller. Great performances from the leads. Very eerie film. But I found the ultimate payoff a bit predictable. Maybe it wasn't predictable in the late 90s though.

B

 

I just saw this , I enjoyed it but agree about the ending . Also I was more interested in the 2 klunky robots and their emotions but that aspect didn't go very far.

 

We had already seen Earthquake in the duoplex and been suitably scared by the rumbling that echoed in our chests and aching suspense of when will the dam break? sequences. Next week, we went to see https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072703/ Birds Do It, Bees Do It and at the exact moment when Boy Elephant succumbed to Girl Elephant's charms, the Sensurround throbbed throughout the building ...

 

and Walter Mathau as an uncredited drunk !

 

Yes, I read the original novel. As I recall, the movie is a pretty close adaptation. And, yes, the book ends just like the movie does, and just as abruptly. The book was written in 1966, and the movie was made in 1970. The Fall of Colossus was published in 1974, so I doubt a sequel was considered at the time.

 

The Climb (2019) – Michael Angelo Covino

This movie, a kind of post-modern buddy comedy that leans hard into the toxic parts of male friendship, was written by Michael Covino and Kyle Marvin who also play the two main characters, who are, by the way, named Mike & Kyle. Covino, of course, is also in the director’s chair. The film takes place in short vignettes as we follow the “friendship” between Mike & Kyle over a period of several years, a relationship plagued with ups and downs because of, just boiling it down to its most basic parts, just what awful people they are. Mike is the more toxic of the two, or perhaps it would be better to say that he’s the more actively toxic; Kyle’s toxicity is of the more passive kind, when he lets Mike get away with things no one should let anyone get away with and wants Mike’s approval even as he himself realizes that Mike is not a good person.

This is a movie where your mileage is going to vary on just how much of these characters you can take. They’re obnoxious and frustrating and challenging. But I have to say I really, really went for this movie. It is, for one thing, the funniest movie I’ve seen in a couple of years. I laughed harder and longer at this movie than I have at anything since Toni Erdmann, I’d say. The script is unflinching in the ways it deconstructs these guys and Covino and Marvin give brilliant, warts-and-all performances. Gayle Rankin is particularly excellent as Kyle’s girlfriend, a woman who would just really like the guy she loves to walk away from this insane friendship with Mike. She brings more to the role than the standard girlfriend character and when it comes to really getting awkward and biting and cruel, she can hold her own with Covino & Marvin. This is a film where you’re cringing as hard as you’re laughing and the movie isn’t afraid to just let awkward silences spool out until you want to crawl under your chair. At other times, one or other of the characters just won’t. shut. up. And THAT’s the reason you want to crawl under your chair with empathetic embarrassment. It’s strong medicine. Covino and Marvin could easily have lightened this up and made it more audience friendly by not going quite as dark or quite as pained, but they wrote the movie they wanted to make and audiences are, by and large, not going to love it. But, boy, I did.

The film also has a surprisingly rich visual identity. The vignettes spool out in really, really long uninterrupted takes. The first one follows our dynamic duo on a bike ride in Italy and is a real masterpiece. Later there’s one that tracks everything that’s going on at a Christmas party through the windows of the small house where the party is, the camera circling around the house like an uninvited guest that can’t find a way in; that one had to be a nightmare. I really loved that the film went all in on its visuals because this is the kind of movie where you often come out raving about the script but have to admit that the visuals are very bland and workmanlike. Not here. Here, everything is working to create a weird, unique take on toxic relationships and arrested male development. Some people are sick of those things as movie subjects, I get it, but they’re done here with more wit and intelligence and vibrancy than I’ve seen them done in a really, really long time. Look, as I so often say when I’m raving about some movie or other, this isn’t for everyone. But, dammit, it’s for me and I loved every second of it. 4 stars.

tl;dr – weird buddy-comedy deconstructs toxic male relationships in a sharp, often hilarious, cringe-inducing way; a great script, great performances and surprisingly gorgeous visuals. 4 stars.

 

The Horse Soldiers. This is not a particularly good movie, but it is not bad, either, and it has a cavalry charge and John Wayne kicking Reb ass for two hours, so I was thoroughly satisfied. Wayne stars as a Union cavalry commander leading a raid into Confederate territory and in constant conflict with the surgeon he’s saddled with, Wiliam Holden, as well as having to restrain a beautiful but hostile Southern belle who overhears their plans and thus has to be dragged along so she can’t sabotage the mission. John Ford resolutely resists romanticizing the South, and the movie is full of solid action. It’s a pretty fun way to pass the time.

 

My Favorite Year. A loving tribute to the past of both film and television, this is the story of a young writer on a thinly disguised Your Show of Shows who is assigned to babysit the guest star, his idol, Peter O’Toole as an Errol Flynn-type star, now a washed-up alcoholic. The results are an utter delight. O’Toole, who knows something about stardom and something about boozing, is mesmerizingly charismatic in the role as he befriends his young fan and rediscovers a zest for life, and convincingly shambolic as an alcoholic wreck — the real kind, the kind that switches suddenly between apparent functioning and not being able to stand up. The film is hilarious throughout, tapping into that great Jewish comedy tradition (with Mel Brooks apparently producing uncredited). A real gem of a film.

 

Keanu

It's about a kitten...named Keanu. It's a decent enough comedy. Keegan Michael Key and Jordan Peele are their usual brilliant selves, and really the driving energy here. Method Man and Will Forte have a couple of great character moments that add to it.

I liked it. Didn't hate it.

 

The movie is loosely based on one of the most successful Union Cavalry raids in the Civil War, Grierson's raid.

 

All My Life


In an emoji:

The trailer gives all the major plot and emotional points of the movie, and yet I still watched the movie. Why? Because we still live in a world of Covid-19 and there isn't much in the way of new films, more particularly, movies I'd want to watch. Anyway, despite the trailer giving all the major points of the film, I wanted to watch the lines that connect those dots and get the full picture.

All My Life is a character driven film and I bought into those characters. It's the reason why knowing the plot and ending of the film didn't impact my enjoyment of the film. It's about getting to know the characters and watching their story.

It's not worth the $20 for rental, probably okay for $2.99 though.

 

I thought that movie looked really bad, you know, just a predictable romantic weeper. BUT. Ever since Happy Death Day, I have been all in on Jessica Rothe. So I have been considering it throwing it a watch just for her.

 

Bedknobs and Broomsticks. It’s not quite on the same level as Mary Poppins, due to the fact it was made just after the death of Walt Disney, but it’s a great Disney movie nevertheless.