saw it in a theater, paid full price, was not happy
as background video at a nightclub, maybe just the thing
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I was rather underwhelmed. But then, Iāve had that movie hyped up to me for a year and a half, so maybe that was just because I went in with unreasonably high expectations.
I loved the songs (although the mixing made it hard to make out a few words, especially when the headmaster was singing). I like that it lived up to the promise it made (Thereās no such thing as a Hollywood ending). And that people universally did the smart thing after getting bitten. Still, it justā¦ ugh.
It started to lose me when they stayed put in the bowling alley after the building was compromised, and then when they went through the tree farm (although killing off the BFF was a good move).. And then the whole teacherās lounge/principalās office sceneā¦ Again, I liked the end result of it, but the scene just didnāt work for me.
Iāll definitely watch it again. Itās not a bad movie, and the musical numbers are worth watching on their own merit. But I definitely feel like I was oversold on this movie.
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You may have been terribly oversold. I went into with no expectations.
Then again, I have a weird sense of humor. The earnestness the cast members while performing the musical numbers made the whole thing more funny to me. Mr. Kidd wasnāt as amused, and went to watch something else in another room. ::whompwhomp::
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As I said, the musical numbers were great.
It was everything else that didnāt hit.
The villain was given no motivation except being a control freak who doesnāt like children - but then why is he the headmaster of a school? They give a hint that this isnāt how his life was supposed to turn out when he sings along to āHollywood Ending,ā but no real indication of what went wrong. One of the big emotional moments of the movie (when camera dude arrives to find a loved one already dead) was undercut by having never seen those two characters interact. And the layout of the town/school seems to be decided by āthis is what we need the next scene to beā rather than anything logical (Why is the principalās office inside the teacherās lounge? Why is the headmaster sitting eating his dinner by the front door of the school when he has a secure area available to him, and no reason to believe anyone else has survived? What kind of tree warehouse can you not just walk around in not-much-more time than going through?).
I get that this is a parody movie, so any of this could have been excused if they had just poked fun at it. Instead, they tried to play this up for real emotional stakes, andā¦ I just didnāt feel it.
The first third of the movie, up until āHuman Voice,ā was good. The last quarter of the movie, from āGive Them a Show,ā was well done. The stuff in between, thoughā¦
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The original āA Star is Born.ā
I think this scene show what a good actor Lowell Sherman was, although heās largely unheard of today.
Warning, you will see a suicide, as the title implies.
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Watched A Quiet Place last nightā¦ it was good, but not as groundbreaking as everyone was saying back when it was in theatersā¦ Certainly an interesting take on the genre, with a solid script, great sound editing, a great cast, etcā¦ but a bit overhyped if you ask me.
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Because Iām apparently destined to forever write about Pal Joey.
Iāve just been watching āLes Enfants du Paradisā for the first time, and it is clear that Dorothy Kingsley borrowed certain plot points from it for her adaptation of Pal Joey.
No, Joey Evans did not take the landlady to bed. Which is a little surprising when you think about it.
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Iāve never seen this movie.
But I donāt have to.
This appears to be one of those trailers that gives away the entire plot.
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Itās been ages but I recall it having a fun slapsticky opening. This opening didnāt involve Pryor, by the way.
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Thanksā¦ I paid money for that, though to be fair it was only $1 at the 2nd run theater. Still was too much. I forgot Napoleon Solo was the bad guy.
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I just saw āMickey Oneā for the first time. This is a 1965 movie directed by Arthur Penn and staring Warren Beatty. I had been wanting to see this movie for a few years but kept delaying it because I was afraid it wouldnāt be as interesting as I hoped it would be.
It was interesting. Oh yes, it was.
How can I describe this movie? Imagine a collection of photographs by Diane Arbus have come to life and tell you a story with music accompaniment by Eddie Sauter and Stan Getz. Through choppy editing and heavy symbolism, we are told the story of a Detroit nightclub entertainer who is deep in debt to the mob. He runs away and lives the life of a bum in Chicago. How much does he owe? He canāt find out. Is he saving his life by living in the shadows, or is irrational paranoia destroying him?
The mob seems to be everywhere around him, and yet when he wants to contact them directly, he canāt. Perhaps the threat of death that seems to be hanging over him is just the natural consequence we all face for being alive. Perhaps there isnāt a hitman behind the spotlight, but rather a god? I donāt think the movie answers that question, but maybe I need to see it again.
The main weakness of the movie is that the second half drags a bit. The first half is dense with unusual people and a maze of plot points. But the second half becomes a bit repetitive, where the main issue is will he or wonāt he perform at the club Xanadu.
Interesting cast notes: Warren Beatty gets disgustingly filthy in this movie, but he still looks good. This is possibly the only movie where I like Franchot Tone. Teddy Hart appears, reminding us what Lorenz would have looked like. Alexandra Stewart plays the woman who loves Mickeyā¦ for some reason. Hurd Hatfield is amazing, and talks of organic food and uses an electric toothbrush. Kamatari Fujiwara, who you may know from various Kurosawa movies, appears as an assemblage sculptor.
This trailer doesnāt quite do it justice:
There are far more documentary-like scenes featuring pit sweat, garbage cans and allegory.
And why is that manās shirt on inside-out?
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I just saw a movie that potentially could have been good if not for a handful of enormous plot holes, āFuneral in Berlin.ā The movie was annoying because it had some interesting ideas, but you will have to dwell on all of them yourself because the movie does not.
But I did enjoy the movie for three reasons: the authentic West Berlin filming location, Oscar Homolka as a Soviet Colonel, and Michael Caineās under-performance of Harry Palmer.
In fact I would say Michael Caine is the only reason to see this movie, just like Clara Bowās performance is the only reason to see āIt.ā
And if you are trying to capture that Harry Palmer look, I recommend:
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Iāve enjoyed all 3 of the original Harry Palmer films (Caine brought Palmer back for two made for TV films in the ā90s which were supposedly quite negligible). The idea was that he was supposed to be the anti-James Bond, although something like The Spy Who Came in from the Cold did that rather better. My favorite of the bunch is the third, the Ken Russell helmed Billion Dollar Brain.
As I recall, I found the plot a little too confusing to notice any plot holes, or maybe that was the plot holes doing the confusing. Didnāt really bug me though.
Have you seen A Dandy in Aspic, in which British spy Laurence Harvey is assigned the task of eliminating Soviet agent Krasnevin? This is a bit tricky as Laurence Harvey is Krasnevin.
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Iāve seen pieces of āBillion Dollar Brain,ā but not the entire thing. I hope Karl Malden does a better job in it than he did in āMurdersā Row.ā
Yes, āthe Spy Who Came in From the Coldā does a better job in many ways.
No, I have not seen āA Dandy in Aspic.ā I always find the title a little off-putting. But I suppose Iāll see it if I get a chance.
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Today I managed to catch Apollo 11. Or, as the marque read, Apollo II.
I was going to make some humorous observations about this being some sci-fi movie from the 60s, with special effects not up to the latest CGI. But, wow. Let me just say, seeing a Saturn V launch is thrilling no matter how many times youāve seen it before.
Among other things, we got to experience the entire LM decent to the Moonās surface.
This is the closest I will ever get to taking a trip to the Moon.
The marque:
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So library browsing and I found
It was both worse and better than I remembered. I canāt remember whether I saw it on the Saturday afternoon TV movie or VHS some 25+ years ago now.
Ron Ely was actually a good choice for Doc if a bit old for the part. The casting of his 5 companions however is just awful as well as the dialog it is like a bad parody of the pulp novel dialog. Nice opening narration by an uncredited Paul Frees though.
The story itself is well done but there are some real eyeroll moments where the corrupt local official sleeps in a giant crib and the final fight with the villain.
Bonus for Pamela Hensley (Queen Ardala from Buck Roger in the 25th Century) as the heroine of sorts and veteran character actor Paul Wexler as the main bad guy.
Also bit parts by Michael Berryman of The Hill Have Eyes Fame, Robert Tessier who you have seen as a burly bald henchman in many many tv shows, and William Katt is one of the Inca assassins apparently.
And then there are the songs or rather lyrics added onto John Phillips Sousa music to match the plot that will make you roll your eyes or fall over laughing or both.
See it with booze and friends who appreciate awful cheesey movies.
Next up I got it simply for the title.
Not much to say other than it simply does not pretend to be anything more than what the title says and succeeds in not taking itself seriously as well as being a lot of fun to watch. Bonus for Anthony C-3PO Daniels as a motorcycle riding priest.
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Amicus horror anthology from ā72. Probably not the best of their anthologies (my vote would go to The House That Dripped Blood) but itās got the best framing story. In order to be hired at the titular asylum, psychiatrist Robert Powell must interview four incurably insane inmates and determine which one is in reality the former director of the institution. All of the tales are Robert Bloch recyclings originally written decades before. (One of them, āThe Weird Tailor,ā had already been adapted, in a rather more satisfying fashion, in Boris Karloffās Thriller TV series.) Fairly predictable, but overall satisfying with good work from Peter Cushing, Britt Ekland and especially Herbert Lom, who easily steals the final story (or should the credit go to his little buddy?)
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TV50 in Detroit used to play Doc Savage every couple years. I loved it as a kid, and still remember the theme and the elevator shaft scene. not much else, though.
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Today I had the privilege of seeing a 70mm print of ā2001: A Space Odyssey.ā This is the first time I have a) seen the movie in a theater, and b) watched it from beginning to end in one sitting. Up to now Iāve always watched a DVD copy on various computer-based screens, and watched it over the course of a few nights to prolong the magic.
I saw it here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Village_East_Cinema.
The screen was big. Unfortunately, the theater was not. The theater was wide but not very deep. It could be described as an āintimateā space, where you feel that you are sitting in the stage. A excellent space for a stage show, but not ideal for Super Panavision. This left the theater with a relatively small āsweet spotā of only a few seats. Fortunately only approximately 15 other people attended my showing so getting a good seat was not a problem.
The print was not in great shape. It had clearly been around the block a few times. It was a bit muddy with occasional intrusions of scratches and dirt. There was also a very noticeable jitter, which might have been caused by worn sprocket holes or a worn-out projector. There was also a lot of grain. A surprising amount of grain. Iām not entirely convinced what we saw was a 70mm print as promised.
The audio was a simple optical stereo track played by an array of speakers from behind the screen. The volume was too high. Higher than the system could support. It was loud, not beautiful. If every line of dialogue was not already engrained in my memory I would have had a hard time understanding what the characters were saying. When TMA-1 emitted its high-powered signal to Jupiter, I put my hands over my ears the same time the astronauts did. I guess thatās inter-active cinema.
But despite the dirt, scratches, jitter and poor audio, on the whole Iām glad I saw it. Kubrickās framing just made more sense on a huge screen. Also, there was something intangibly ārealā about the experience ā had I gone to see his movie at a normal theater during its original run, this is probably what I would have seen. It reminded me of seeing Star Wars at the Rivoli Theater in Cedarberg.
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Pictures I took of the Village East Cinema itself!
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