Rate The Last Movie You Saw

[dave jenkins]

Ludwig (1972) 6/10. Three episodes of the TV version. I've tried watching the theatrical cut on home video before and could never make much headway. Watching it in episodes works for me. Not much happens, and Ludwig isn't a very interesting character, but everyone looks good. The costumes are elaborate and no one wears the same thing twice. Helmut Berger plays the mad king of Bavaria. Berger's Italian is very good--in fact, sometimes he sounds just like Giancarlo Giannini!

Woman of the Year (1942) 8/10. A sweet comedy I like very much. The Hepburn-Tracy chemistry is real. There aren't that many films about early married life, so it's nice that this one exists.

[cigar joe]

Palmetto (1998) Just Another Sucker Southern Noir
 
A Southern Noir, from the Sunshine State. Based on the James Hadley Chase novel "Just Another Sucker." Chase had a number of his novels turned into films, No Orchids for Miss Blandish (1948), The Grissom Gang (1971), and others. The film was directed by Volker Schlöndorff (The Tin Drum (1979)) and the screenplay was by E. Max Frye (Something Wild (1986)). The cinematography Tak Fujimoto (Fear (1996)). The bluesy soundtrack was by Klaus Doldinger (Das Boot (1981)).
 
The film stars Woody Harrelson as a framed jailbird who is sprung in order to be recruited to carry out a fake stepmother-daughter fake kidnapping scheme. It all goes Noirsville when Harry gets back with the loot and finds Odette dead.
 
 
Every-time Elisabeth Shue is on screen the film sizzles. She in the running for admittance into the Pantheon of Great Femme Fatales. She turns it on like a bitch in heat. She gets a certain wild eyed, out of control look when she's telegraphing obvious sexual come and get it signals all the while the brain in your upper head is strobe flashing danger ahead warning lights. But baby you don't care. 7/10
 

[noodles_leone]

Dallas Buyers Club 7/10
Cool.

[XhcnoirX]

A Walk Among The Tombstones (2014): A by-the-numbers thriller about a washed up ex-cop trying to find a pair of psychopatic kidnappers/rapists/killers. Stand out points: darker/grimmer than usual, Liam Neeson as the ex-cop and Dave Harbour as one half of the killer pair. Nice time waster, but nothing more. 7-/10

[PowerRR]

Silence (2016) - 6/10
Doesn't get better with repeat viewings - but much more likable when not having to pay full attention to in the theater.

[drinkanddestroy]

Silence (2016) - 6/10
Doesn't get better with repeat viewings - but much more likable when not having to pay full attention to in the theater.

You watched it TWICE? Are you a masochist?

[drinkanddestroy]

Report from the Aleutians (1943)

As mentioned here http://www.fistful-of-leone.com/forums/index.php?topic=7648.msg188899#msg188899  I recently read Mark Harris's fantastic book "Five Came Back," about five famous directors who left Hollywood to join the war effort in a filmmaking capacity: John Huston, Frank Capra, John Ford, William Wyler, and George Stevens. One of the films discussed in that book was Report from the Aleutians (1943), a propaganda documentary made by John Huston. Happily, the movie happened to be playing on TCM shortly after I read the book, so I watched it.

The Aleutian Islands are a string of islands in the Pacific between Alaska and Siberia. Has no use for humans, but it was an important strategically during World War II. When this documentary was filmed by Huston & Crew, the U.S. held an island named Adak and the Japs held an island named Kiska. The U.S. fighter and bomber planes held daily bombing missions over Kiska. Eventually, after the movie was made, the U.S. did take Kiska; but at the time the documentary was made, the U.S. was just doing daily bombing runs over Kiska, to prevent new supplies from reaching Kiska and to "soften up" the military installations there in anticipation of an eventual invasion. (Note: When the Allies eventually did raid Kiska; they found it deserted; the Japs had snuck away several weeks earlier. Read more about the Aleutian Island Campaign here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleutian_Islands_Campaign#Kiska_Island )

The documentary is a little over 40 minutes, in Technicolor, with narration by John Huston and his father Walter Huston. Roughly the first half shows the daily life for U.S. troops on Adak. The weather of course is crazy, the troops are in middle of nowhere, no USO shows, no comforts, letters and newspapers arrive weeks or months late, etc. etc. etc. In the second half of the documentary, the cameras go along with the planes on a bombing run.

This is a very good documentary. As you might expect, the video quality is not great - there is no market now for a restoration of a WWII propaganda film. But this is a good watch.

It's available for free on YouTube. Check it out; I think you'll like it  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdpkkdgJkqo

[drinkanddestroy]

Gifted (2017) 4/10


Chris Evans is guardian to his 7-year-old daughter (Mckenna Grace) of his sister. His sister was a gifted mathematician who committed suicide; now the young girl is brilliant at math - she is GIFTED. Everyone says Evans should send the niece to a school for gifted children; Evans insists that he wants the kid to be "normal," to have a normal childhood, and that she stay right where she is in a regular school.

This dumbass melodrama does not miss a cliche. Of course, Evans and his niece's teacher shtup. Of course, Evans's estranged mother – the evil woman who turned her back on her daughter when she got knocked up and never saw the kid till now – shows up, threatening to take legal action to obtain guardianship of the child if Evans does not put her in the special school. Blah Blah blah. Stupid movie.

Why did I see it? Cuz Miss Bush wanted to go see a movie, she lives near the beautiful AMC Loews Kips Bay theater on 32nd Street and 2nd Ave., with its big recliner seats (tickers are like 16 or 16 bucks each), and this was the only drama playing. It's impossible to find regular dramas anymore. Movies all seem to be franchises like Fast & Furious, or sci-fi/post-apocalyptic stuff, or comedy or whatever. It's so hard to find a decent drama/thriller anymore. Anyway, so I had a nice time leaning waaaaay back on the beautiful recliner, eating popcorn and ignoring the movie. This was the first movie in which my friend and we were literally the only people in the theater. I've been to movies where there was one or two other people, but never an instance I can remember in which my friend and I were literally the only ones. I suggested to Miss Bush (in my usual subtle, gentle way, of course), that it would be a great story we could tell if we took advantage of the empty theater and amazing recliners and do something that you couldn't do in a movie theater if it wasn't empty and didn't have recliners ... but the little prude refused.   But for once, I could act like a little kid and kiss and make out in a theater: I am against Public Displays of Affection, but there was nothing public about an empty theater.

Anyway, fun times, stupid movie.  

[cigar joe]

Strange Compulsion (1964) Fringe Noir/Lost Noir
 
Directed by Irvin Berwick (The Monster of Piedras Blancas (1959, )The 7th Commandment (1961), The Street Is My Beat (1966)). The screenplay by Jason Johnson. The Cinematography was by Joseph V. Mascelli (The Thrill Killers (1964), The Street Is My Beat (1966)) and the cheap jazz music was provided by S.F. Brownrigg of the Sound Department.
 
The film stars the son of Preston Sturges, Solomon Sturges as Fred, a twenty-two year old pre med student trying to follow in his late father's footsteps and become a doctor. Fred lives in an affluent household with his mother and their maid.
 
Fred is a smart, good looking, young man with an irresistible compulsion to voyeur women. He is very aware of the problem and is seeing Dr. Hazzlett about his neurosis. Throughout the film we see the various sessions Fred has with Dr. Hazzlett. These sessions consist of Fred telling Dr. Hazzlett of his various compulsive acts and these are shown mostly as voice over narrated flashbacks.

Strange Compulsion is available on DVD from Something Weird Video. Incredibly seedy surreptitious entertainment, you'll need to take a shower afterwards, 7/10.

Note for drinkanddestroys it's bush free (mostly T&A) so you won't have to deal with your own neurosis.  
 

[XhcnoirX]

The Man Who Finally Died (1963): Stanley Baker is summoned to Germany by his dad, whom he believed died 20 years ago. When he arrives, he's told it couldn't possibly be his dad as he died a week earlier! Baker has no idea what's going on, but is determined to find out. Also starring Peter Cushing and a plethora of familiar British characters actors playing German parts (some of who drop  the German accent here and there). The first half is pretty interesting, but it loses steam in the second half, which could've used some trimming. 6/10

Watched this on the UK DVD from Network. Good image quality, but I would've appreciated some subtitles to go with all those 'German' accents.

[Jessica Rabbit]

Xh, I've been on a Stanley Baker binge lately, and this movie has so far eluded me. I'll try to track it down.

[XhcnoirX]

Xh, I've been on a Stanley Baker binge lately, and this movie has so far eluded me. I'll try to track it down.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_JkfrRfuiw
It's taken from the Network DVD, so it's good quality

[dave jenkins]

Norman, The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer (2017) - 8/10. A very Jew York story: Norman Oppenheimer is a "fixer", which I guess means influence peddler. He's not very good at it, and he in fact has little influence to peddle, until one day an Israeli politician he once befriended becomes Prime Minister of Israel. And the guy remembers Norman, in fact, fondly. Suddenly Norman and his services are very much in demand. But Norman is his own worst enemy and can't keep his mouth shut and precipitates a scandal. Great cast: Richard Gere is the title character, doing a solid Woody Allen impression; Michael Sheen and Steve Buscemi both play Jews (Buscemi in fact plays a rabbi). I liked the fact that although most of the focus is on Norman, the Israeli politician gets almost as much screen time.  Characters are well drawn. The plot is resolved a bit too neatly, but hey, you can't have everything.

A Quiet Passion (2017) - 5/10. Terence Davies does Emily Dickinson. Costumes, sets, locations, lighting and photography: top notch. Writing and performances: meh.

[Jessica Rabbit]

Xh, I could have looked there myself, couldn't I?  I usually do.

[XhcnoirX]

Xh, I could have looked there myself, couldn't I?  I usually do.

You could have, but a real lady let's the men do the work for her 

Have you seen Perfect Friday (1970) btw? It's a fun little caper, with Baker as a deputy bank manager(!).