last movie you watched

[TCB-FAN]

"Paid To Kill" 1954 | starring Dane Clark & Cecile Chevreau (Film-Noir, Crime)

He loved his wife to death!
London businessman, James Nevill, is betrayed by his uncle Cyrus McGowan in risky business that will bankrupt his company. He decides to force his former friend Paul Kirby to kill him so that his so dearly loved wife, Andrea, receives a life insurance policy to have a good life after his passing.

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Tonight I saw the much-praised new version of Nosferatu, and was left with something of a ho-hum feeling about the whole thing. It starts off promisingly, with a nice recreation of the silent era Universal Pictures logo, which is a nice touch, and it's also great to see it filmed on 35mm rather than digitally. There are other nods to the silent version, of course, which makes you wonder why they didn't go for 1.33:1 aspect ratio as a further nod to the original movie - especially as the director had used 1.19:1 for The Lighthouse. And it seems odd to use 35mm to help give the film a more cinematic quality...and then use no end of CGI effects to ruin that cinematic quality. But it is what it is, and I can't say that either of those things are what put me off. It is well acted, and often the cinematography is quite stunning (CGI aside), but it has a very plodding pace, running at around 45 minutes longer than the original film. And it's the pacing that is the issue for me, especially in a film where there are very few surprises for the viewer. We know what Orlock is. We know how he's going to be destroyed etc. So dragging out the narrative is problematic when it comes to keeping the viewer interested.

Now, I will 'fess up, and say that I don't like the 1922 Nosferatu much either. I like it more than I used to, but I firmly believe it's one of those films where the circumstances surrounding the filming of it and its overall history give it a mythic quality which is more interesting than the film itself. Murnau wasn't yet producing his best work, the character of Hutter (Harker in the original story) is a bumbling, rather stupid oaf, and the effects that have become iconic weren't even that great in 1922. But the mythic quality is key. Firstly, there have been stories about the filming of it and how secretive Max Schreck was etc. There were even rumours he was a vampire! Then there's the story about how the Stoker family sued for copyright infringement, which they apparently won, and all copies of the film were to be destroyed. But that didn't happen - not remotely. A number of prints exist. And the court case happened in 1925, but the film opened in America in 1929 - which makes no sense. It is even said that the records from the court case have somehow been lost, which is convenient - did the court case even unfold in the way we have been told? Who knows, but all of these things add up to give Nosferatu a legendary status, which only helps to give a horror movie status whether it deserves it or not.

[ForeverElvis]

Tonight I saw the much-praised new version of Nosferatu, and was left with something of a ho-hum feeling about the whole thing. It starts off promisingly, with a nice recreation of the silent era Universal Pictures logo, which is a nice touch, and it's also great to see it filmed on 35mm rather than digitally. There are other nods to the silent version, of course, which makes you wonder why they didn't go for 1.33:1 aspect ratio as a further nod to the original movie - especially as the director had used 1.19:1 for The Lighthouse. And it seems odd to use 35mm to help give the film a more cinematic quality...and then use no end of CGI effects to ruin that cinematic quality. But it is what it is, and I can't say that either of those things are what put me off. It is well acted, and often the cinematography is quite stunning (CGI aside), but it has a very plodding pace, running at around 45 minutes longer than the original film. And it's the pacing that is the issue for me, especially in a film where there are very few surprises for the viewer. We know what Orlock is. We know how he's going to be destroyed etc. So dragging out the narrative is problematic when it comes to keeping the viewer interested.

Now, I will 'fess up, and say that I don't like the 1922 Nosferatu much either. I like it more than I used to, but I firmly believe it's one of those films where the circumstances surrounding the filming of it and its overall history give it a mythic quality which is more interesting than the film itself. Murnau wasn't yet producing his best work, the character of Hutter (Harker in the original story) is a bumbling, rather stupid oaf, and the effects that have become iconic weren't even that great in 1922. But the mythic quality is key. Firstly, there have been stories about the filming of it and how secretive Max Schreck was etc. There were even rumours he was a vampire! Then there's the story about how the Stoker family sued for copyright infringement, which they apparently won, and all copies of the film were to be destroyed. But that didn't happen - not remotely. A number of prints exist. And the court case happened in 1925, but the film opened in America in 1929 - which makes no sense. It is even said that the records from the court case have somehow been lost, which is convenient - did the court case even unfold in the way we have been told? Who knows, but all of these things add up to give Nosferatu a legendary status, which only helps to give a horror movie status whether it deserves it or not.

I must disagree Shane.
I saw the current Nosferatu about a week after it opened.
I think it’s one of the best films of 2024.

Pacing is a bit slow but I don’t want it to play out too quickly. The director maintained a constant fear of dread for the viewer. It was creepy, well acted, well shot. Just my kind of horror film, I don’t like the slasher genre so I would rate this up there with the exorcist 1973 or the omen 1976 - two classic horrors.

I highly recommend it.

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Warner Archive have announced their March slate of releases, and there's some interesting stuff included, most notably the 1921 Valentino silent film The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse from a 4K scan (on blu ray). I don't think this even had an official DVD release. Also included are Earth II (1971), Hit Man (1972), a three film Monogram Western release (the first of a new series of discs), Magilla Gorilla (animation), and Sadie McKee (1934).

[Mister Mike]

Warner Bros. is making movies available on its Youtube channel:

https://ca.yahoo.com/news/warner-bros-releases-31-full-164446190.html

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Tonight I saw The Lodge, a 2019 horror (kind of) thriller starring Riley Keough and Jaeden Martell. It's an unsettling film about a couple of kids who are forced to spend a few days with their Stepmum, trapped by bad weather, in the days approaching Christmas. And then strange things start to happen. First things first, it's about twenty minutes too long. Secondly, for some reason the constant images of the doll's house in the first half lead absolutely nowhere, which is really weird. But it does exert a creepy, unnerving atmosphere, and both Keough and Martell do the best they can with the script that doesn't go very far.

Talking of horror thrillers that are a bit of a let-down, I saw the 2009 UK horror movie "Tormented" a couple of days ago, in which a bully victim who committed suicide comes back to kill off his tormenters. There's nothing wrong with that premise, but this is pretty bland stuff, with cardboard cut-out characters, and a ghost that gets its strength from an asthma inhaler. I kid you not.

To round out my trio of disappointments, I've also seen the 1916 silent movie "The Intrigue," which doesn't live up to its name. We've all seen those p***-takes of silent films where the villain has a big moustache and swivels his eyes like he's Dick Dastardly. This could well be the film they're apeing, for that is pretty much what happens here. Heaven knows why Kino Lorber thought it was worthwhile issuing it on blu-ray.

[Mister Mike]

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Over the last two days, I've seen two new Amazon Original movies. The Order, starring Jude Law and Nicholas Hoult (who seems to be everywhere right now). Law plays an FBI agent hunting down a domestic terrorist group planning to overthrow the government. Or something like that. Hoult plays the leader of the group. The first hour is certainly better than the second, as the second half is pretty routine stuff with a rather unexciting finale - which, perhaps, the filmmakers couldn't help as it's a true story. Law isn't particularly good at portraying the "play it by his own rules" FBI agent. We've seen these characters many times before, and there's nothing new here. Hoult is good, though, as is Tye Sheridan in a supporting role. While I enjoyed this, my takeaway was that in the 1970s, this would have been an A-grade movie, and we seem to have lost the knack in making these kinds of film, substituting violence and swearing for real tension and setpieces.

The second Amazon movie was "My Fault: London." Why is it called "My Fault?" No idea, really. But it tells the story of a teenage girl moving to London and falling in love with her stepbrother (they hate each other at first, but you guessed that anyway). Oh, and it just so happens that they both love fast cars and racing. This is glossy, bloated and full of plotholes - or perhaps that should be potholes. The lead characters are gorgeous to look at (of course), and the dialogue is cheesy. It's basically a kind of teen romance crossed with Fast and Furious films. It's entertaining enough, I guess, but is bloated at two hours, and has absolutely no depth of character whatsoever. If you like good-looking people and fast cars, then it's fine. Otherwise, it's a pretty dim-witted attempt at trying to replicate the successes with this kind of material that Netflix was having about five years ago.

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Tonight I revisted Topaz, Hitchcock's espionage thriller from 1969. Topaz is an awkward film in Hitchcock's filmography. Firstly, it's not one of his best efforts. And secondly, the version available on DVD and blu ray in English speaking countries isn't the version that was released in cinemas. Instead, it's a quarter of an hour longer, and the ending is completely different to the one that Hitch settled on. The ending is, though, not so much of a problem - the other endings are included as extras. But the pacing drags due to the extra footage, and it's easy to see why the director chose a slightly brisker movie. There is no explanation of why this longer edit is on home video releases, or where it comes from, or who put it together. In fact, we're not even told it's a longer version. One of the VHS issues was the original length, and another states there is 17 minutes of extra footage. But nothing once we get to shiny discs.

Topaz isn't a bad movie overall, and sits nicely alongside Torn Curtain. But it is sluggish in this longer version, and it lacks anything approaching real star power. It's also lacking in the Hitchock humour, and there aren't any real set-pieces of the kind we are used to in almost all of the American Hitch movies. The plot is interesting enough, and it's rarely dull, and looks goods on blu ray, but Frederick Stafford isn't a good leading man, and I'm not sure anyone really cares whether he lives or dies, or stays with his wife or leaves her. So, a minor work for Hitchcock, but he would regroup and come back a couple of years later with the largely-excellent Frenzy.

[JEFF d]

I watched Prisoners last night starring Hugh Jackson, excellent movie

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After a rather disastrous trip to London was cut short by a fall, I saw the Whole Truth last night, a murder mystery from the late 1950s starring Stewart Granger, Donna Reid, and George Sanders. This is a decent potboiler that seems to be somewhat in the same mould as the better ChaseA a Crooked Shadow, starring Richard Todd. Granger plays a film producer dealing with a diva of a female star. Sanders arrives at a party, saying he is a police officer, and tells Granger that the star has been murdered - and then she turns up at the party alive and well. Up until this point, it's an intriguing premise, but it does rather fall apart as the film goes on, and there are many plot holes. But Granger is good, even if Sanders looks as if he's exceedingly bored - I'm not sure I've ever seen him looking quite so disinterested in a movie. It's a little sad to see, especially knowing how his life ended fourteen years later. The cinematography is nice, but there's no location work to speak of, and the film does feel very studio-bound. It's on blu ray, issued by Indicator/Powerhouse.

[Mister Mike]

Only watched about 45 minutes of it because it was on late in the evening and I was tired and wanted to get to bed. Light romantic comedy. I thought Darin was quite good in his role. Couldn't help but wonder what Elvis would have done with the same role. Speaking of Elvis, he does appear in the movie via the presence of the first KING CREOLE E.P. in Darin's apartment. Though it's only partially seen (along with other records), it somehow caught my eye.

[Johnny2523]

Dante's Peak
A great movie starring pierce brosnan and linda hamilton, never bores and is a thrilling watch start to finish.

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Only watched about 45 minutes of it because it was on late in the evening and I was tired and wanted to get to bed. Light romantic comedy. I thought Darin was quite good in his role. Couldn't help but wonder what Elvis would have done with the same role. Speaking of Elvis, he does appear in the movie via the presence of the first KING CREOLE E.P. in Darin's apartment. Though it's only partially seen (along with other records), it somehow caught my eye.

I have to say it's not a favourite of mine, but it;s serviceable entertainment. Bobby wasn't actually meant to have that role - in fact, he had said the previous year that he didn't want to act with Dee again in the near future. He only took the role because negotiations broke down with intended star Warren Beatty. Darin and arranger/composer Richard Wess (arranger of Mack the Knife) wrote the score for the movie. It's the penultimate cinema film directed by Richard Thorpe.

[pmp]

Tonight I watched the 1970 version of That's The Way It Is which, for all its faults and problems is still, to me, the better of the two versions. Do i want to see the bike auctioned off? Not really. But the film has a better narrative than the 2000 version, which just seems to be a compilation of musical highlights. That's nice in itself, but the 1970 version follows through on its various narrative strands, such as the building of the arrangement of Bridge, and whether or not he'd remember the words to IJCHB.

Last night I rewatched Rollercoaster from 1977. This is about as close as we can get to what a disaster movie might have looked like if directed by Hitchcock, and it works really very well, even if Timothy Bottoms' character could have done with fleshing out.

[TCB-FAN]

Mitchell, 1975 Police Drama (U.S. Film, directed by Andrew McLaglen)

Trailer :



Mitchell (played by Joe Don Baker), is a principled, hard-nosed, no nonsense cop who doesn't accept bribes. His latest assignment: taking down a crime boss, drug smugglers and a corrupt businessman while also keeping his own high class prostitute girlfriend (played by Linda Evans) in line.


Full Movie :

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Tonight I watched the blu-ray release of The Stone Tape, a 1972 BBC TV play written by Nigel Kneale, who wrote the Quatermass stories and also adapted the infamous 1989 TV version of The Woman in Black. The Stone Tape tells the story of a group of engineers looking for a new recording medium who realise that a haunting might be simply the playback of something recorded in the foundations of the house. Rather unusually, the title caught on, and this idea of repeated residual hauntings is now referred to as "The Stone Tape theory." It's a TV play that's gone down in history here in the UK, although I'm not sure if that's the case oversees. As usual, Kneale wrote a script that was both entertaining and intelligent, and mixing horror with science fiction. There's an element of folk horror here, too, just as there is in Quatermass and the Pit. Sadly, it was filmed on video tape, and so the upscaling to HD is a bit hit and miss, but it's better than the DVD was.

As for the play, despite its undoubted influence, it's a bit "shouty" for much of the time, with people talking over each other constantly, or seemingly shouting for no apparent reason. Other elements - the misogyny and racial references - have also worn less well, it's fair to say.

[Johnny2523]

With the passing of Gene Hackman today, i felt like watching "The Package" where Mr. Hackman starred opposite Tommy Lee Jones

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[JEFF d]

I watched the French Connection this morn, after hearing of the passing of Gene... fine movie!

[ForeverElvis]

I watched Unforgiven 1992 last week.
Great film. Hackman deservedly won the Oscar for that film, his second.

Seems very odd circumstances surrounding their death. It’s very unfortunate that no one checked on them for several days. They probably died around Feb 22-23.

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Yesterday, I watched Behind the Mask, a 1932 thriller starring Tim Holt and Boris Karloff. It's featured in the Indicator Columbia Horror blu ray set, although it's got no real links with the genre other than Karloff and Edward van Sloan featuring. To be honest, it's not very good, and is, at best, routine - and, at worst, downright dull. Karloff is the best thing in it, but he disappears halfway through and doesn't come back. Perhaps he'd read the script.

Tonight, I saw the US remake of Pulse, made in 2005. Kristen Bell stars in this remake of the 2001 Japanese movie, and it's actually very watchable. It got terrible reviews at the time of release, and I remember seeing it in the cinema and not thinking much of it. But a distance of a couple of decades can make quite a difference, and the animosity towards these remakes of Asian horror movies has faded away. In its favour is a strong storyline, decent acting and direction, and the fact that it's all over and done with in 85 minutes. It's currently streaming on Amazon Prime in the UK.

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Today I watched the Netflix drama series Zero Day, a six-part self-contained series in which America suffers a devastating cyber attack, and former president Robert de Niro is put in charge of the commission trying to find the culprits and the motives. I'm not quite sure why this has got mixed reviews, as I thought it was an excellent piece of television. It is, at its heart, a political/espionage whodunnit, but beautifully scripted, allowing it to be complex without being convuluted and confusing. De Niro isn't someone I would go out of my way to watch (just personal preference), but he is excellent here. for reasons I won't go into here for fear of giving spoilers, the series very much taps into current concerns, and it couldn't have been released at a more apt moment in history. Well worth a watch.

[Mister Mike]

[rjm]

Dr. Strangelove. Always fun. I ain't gonna play Vers Lynn unless you wish to talk about her music.

But when he got into the Coca Cola machine? My favorite scene! Always wanted to get into a soda machine!

rjm

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I've continued with my TV watching rather than film watching. This week, I binged "Prime Target" on Apple TV, a thriller about a maths genius who is working on a theory that some nasty people won't want solving. That makes it sound a bit silly, and it is in some ways, but I thoroughly enjoyed it in its Good Will Hunting/Jason Bourne/Da Vinci Code kind of mash-up. It's got mixed reviews, and I can see why. Many have cited its pacing as its main problem, and the pace does drag, particularly in episodes 6 and 7 (of . But this is a thriller about maths, and if people are expecting Die Hard then they're probably watching the wrong thing. Leo Woodall makes a very likeable lead, though, and he's nice to hang out with for six hours or so. His character is well-written, too, and its especially nice to see a character who is on the autism spectrum but with those words never mentioned, and without the series being about that. Ditto his being gay, although that does seem a bit shoe-horned in, and the relationship doesn't ring true. But it's a very small part of the storyline, so it doesn't matter all that much, I guess. There are a few familiar faces in the supporting cast, most notably David Morrissey and Jason Flemyng, but it's very much Woodall's show, and it's he who the whole (slightly lumbering) show together. Now, what do you know about prime numbers...?