Rate The Last Movie You Saw

[cigar joe]

U Turn (1997) entertaining enough 6-7/10

[Groggy]

The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith - 9/10 - An Australian Aborigine grows tired of abuse and exploitation by white bosses and embarks on a bloody killing spree. Bleak and disturbing Aussie Western, strongly reminiscent of Ulzana's raid.

[dave jenkins]

The Warriors: Ultimate Director's Cut (1979/2005?) Blu-ray - 5/10. This was $10 at Best Buy--cheaper than the ticket for the screening of the theatrical cut the other night. So I picked it up. The changes don't amount to much: a prologue, told in comic panels, that makes explicit the parallel between the film and a classical story of Greek soldiers fighting their way home through Persia; and new scene transitions, roto-scoped stills from the original cut made to look like comic panels that sometime includes character thoughts (as in, "Holy Shit!"). Not enough of a change to detract from or improve the film.

Hotel du Nord (1938) Region 2 DVD - 8/10. This is the film Rene Clement made between two of his more famous works, Port of Shadows (1938) and Le jour se lève (1939), and without the aid of usual screenwriter Jacques Prevert. Nevertheless, it might be the best of the three--the dialogue really sparkles (credit to Henri Jeanson), and the story isn't bad (apparently there was a novel; Jean Aurenche did the adaptation). A desperate and desperately in love couple check into the titular establishment, a kind of Not-So-Grand Hotel, intending to top themselves; things do not go to plan. Annabella is half of the unhappy couple; her mate is played by some pretty boy who no one really remembers now. The androgynous Arletty is also in the picture, as is the man who steals the show: Louis Jouvet. Well, Jouvet steals just about any show he appears in. There's some nice music (by Maurice Jaubert, stealing from his previous score for L'Atalante), and an amazing canal-side set (courtesy of Trauner: but of course!)

[cigar joe]

Darker Than Amber (1970) re-watched the cut version then the cut scene on Youtube, it was my first introduction to John D. MacDonald, many years ago. Improves like fine wine especially for a Travis McGee fan 9/10.

[moviesceleton]

Nebraska (2013) - 8/10
"An aging, booze-addled father makes the trip from Montana to Nebraska with his estranged son in order to claim a million dollar Mega Sweepstakes Marketing prize." A warranted Alexander Payne film - maybe even too much so. But anyway it's always refreshing to see film set outside of the big cities in the US. And the understated B&W cinematography is beautiful. 

[drinkanddestroy]

Hell Drivers Director: Cy Endfield, Stars quite the cast, Stanley Baker, Herbert Lom, Peggy Cummins, Patrick McGoohan, David McCallum, Sean Connery and Jill Ireland. Truck drivers in competition, driving like maniacs, WHERE'S THE COPS? a bit silly with the sped up driving footage but entertaining enough 7/10

I just saw Hell Drivers; I mostly agree with you; I'll bump this one up to a 7.5/10

I loved Peggy Cummins as one of the classic femmes fatale in Gun Crazy; needless to say, her role in Hell Drivers isn't anything close to Gun Crazy. Sean Connery and Jill Ireland have small supporting roles. The driving footage is ridiculous, it's sped up so much; any truck going that fast around curves would have flipped over a million times. In the beginning, the driving footage is annoying; eventually, when you see the same BS over and over again, it just becomes hilarious. The whole love story with Peggy Cummins is kinda useless; Cummins is wasted here. Still, solid entertainment.

I watched it on TCM; the print is pretty beat-up. But I am glad I saw it; there is no Region 1 DVD available; according to imdb, this film was never released in America before it was shown at the Noir City Film Festival in April 2013 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051713/releaseinfo?ref_=tt_ov_inf

[stanton]

Hotel du Nord [/b] (1938) Region 2 DVD - 8/10. This is the film Rene Clement made between two of his more famous works, Port of Shadows (1938) and Le jour se lève (1939),

Actually Marcel Carné ...

[drinkanddestroy]

The Honeymoon Killers (1969) 7/10

I was enjoying myself very much in the beginning of the movie, but as time went by, I was getting bored; seems to me that it was the same stuff over and over; they could have cut a big chunk of the movie. Basically, the couple pulls the same scam on various women, over and over; the girl is madly jealous and does all she can to make sure the guy never actually gets too close to any of his victims. Okay. But it's the same thing over and over. After a while, it just got boring.

Francois Truffaut once called this movie "my favorite American film," as quoted in the first paragraph of this 1992 NY Times article http://www.nytimes.com/1992/10/20/movies/behind-the-filming-of-the-honeymoon-killers.html?pagewanted=all

[dave jenkins]

Actually Marcel Carné ...

Right. One of those Frenchies . . .

[dave jenkins]

Nebraska (2013) - 8/10
"An aging, booze-addled father makes the trip from Montana to Nebraska with his estranged son in order to claim a million dollar Mega Sweepstakes Marketing prize." A warranted Alexander Payne film - maybe even too much so. But anyway it's always refreshing to see film set outside of the big cities in the US. And the understated B&W cinematography is beautiful. 

You are lucky to have seen this already. I'm looking forward to seeing how Bruce Dern is holding up after all these years. I didn't realize this was in B&W, that makes it even more interesting . . .

[drinkanddestroy]

not sure where to post this, so what the hell:

new documentary on the (sort of) guy that inspired Dog Day Afternoon http://news.yahoo.com/documentary-tells-the-real-story-of-the-man-who-inspired--dog-day-afternoon--194954301.html

[Groggy]

Nice find Drink.

Sanders of the River - 6/10 - The movie's racist content is hard to ignore, but the bigger problem is a choppy, almost silent movie structure. The narrative stops cold for native ceremonies and Paul Robeson singing which grows tiresome after awhile. Some nice directorial tricks (the wildlife montage midway through is really impressive) and Robeson overcomes his role's limitations, but not a patch on The Four Feathers or Gunga Din.

[drinkanddestroy]

Here is the ABC News report the day after the attempted robbery that was later featured in Dog Day Afternoon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75LQKUF9wC0

[drinkanddestroy]

Grand Hotel (1932) 7/10

Maybe a few minutes could have been cut, but overall it's pretty good.

Once upon a time, Joan Crawford wasn't ugly.

[dave jenkins]

The Pianist (2002) Studio Canal Blu-ray. The film gets a 10. The Blu-ray transfer does too.