last movie you watched

[pmp]

I saw the end of Chucky season 3 tonight, which is certainly an improvement on season 2, and is probably the best season so far. While the sillier storyline involving Jennifer Tilly is still there, it takes something of a backseat for much of the time, which helps, as does the interweaving of a haunted (white) house alongside the killer doll narrative. The young cast is growing up fast, and are on excellent for this time around, and the script is tighter and the satire helps. The violence, on the other hand, is far more gory than before (and it was already gory enough). I'm not quite sure what the point of so much blood and guts is, but it's an offputting element to what is otherwise a nice addition to the franchise.

[Greystoke]

I saw Alien: Romulus at the cinema this morning, and I'm glad to say that I liked it a great deal, considering that I'm not just a fan of the series, or more so, Alien and Aliens. But that I've been quite impressed by Fede Alvarez as a writer and director.

Set in between Alien and Aliens, this is very much a nuts and bolts Alien film with some fresh new ideas, some fan service that I could have done without, brilliant production design, a fine score, and Cailee Spaeny impressing once again in the film's central role.

I won't elaborate much on the plot for the sake of spoilers, other than the film involving a group of young men and women who see an opportunity to get away from a mining colony by looting an abandoned ship. Although their plan doesn't entirely stand up to scrutiny.

It's ominous almost from the beginning, and when the tension amped up, it rarely loosened, although said fan service was hackneyed and unnecessary to my mind. However, Alvarez clearly has an affection for Alien, and this is where his inspiration is largely drawn from, with the tone of the film being more akin to this film than Aliens.

Alvarez does lean into the second film in some respects, with action scenes that occasionally break the tension, and Alvarez doing in the film's third act what he seems to have a knack for in taking a swing for the fences with his movies.

It's a striking film to look it, and the young cast is good, especially Spaeny. Whose character proves early in the film that she is tenacious and has grit, but she also has intelligence. This isn't entirely true of her shipmates, although it's David Jonsson, who really stands out among the rest of the cast.

It is wanting for better dialogue and repartee, and whilst I could lament a lack of originality, especially when it not only draws from Alien, but also A Quiet Place and John Carpenter, it does exist comfortably and competently within a world established in the aforementioned films. It's familiar, functional, even basic at best. But that worked for me in spite of the shortcomings I'm alluding to.

[pmp]

It took me a long while to get hold of the blu ray at a decent price, but tonight I finally got to see The Vanishing of Sidney Hall again. This 2017 movie stars Logan Lerman in one of his best performance as Sidney Hall, a young writer who becomes famous after his first novel unintentionally becomes notorious, and whose life begins to fall apart. As we join the story, Sidney has been missing for seven years, after leaving his apartment and never coming back. Kyle Chandler is the "detective" trying to track him down. The story is told through various different timelines running parallel to each other. We see Sidney as a schoolkid, a couple of years later as the author or his first book, several years after that when his book sparks copycat suicides, still later when he turns to drink, and then seven years after that when he's missing and homeless. All of these timelines intertwine with each other, but Lerman in 2017 was perfect casting, not just giving a stunning performance, but also able to convincingly portray Sidney at all of these ages and periods in his life. There's great support from Kyle Chandler, Nathan Lane, and Elle Fanning among others.

I don't think I've ever seen a film where critics and user reviews differ so much. The Critics hated it with a passion, whereas the user reviews on IMDB are generally very positive. It's clearly influenced by other films, most notably Citizen Kane and Velvet Goldmine, both in its overall premise and non-linear structure, but it's engrossing from the get-go and always intriguing. The last twenty minutes or so is more problematic, with Lerman looking like Jeffrey Hunter as Jesus (probably intentionally, I'm guessing, although I'm not much good with bible references). But there's also a nice use of Tomorrow is a Long Time, sung by Dylan and Lerman (not together), and that song title would probably have been a good one for the film as a whole.

[Greystoke]

I watched Jackpot this afternoon, which is new to Prime and is directed by Paul Feig. With Awkwafina and John Cena starring in what's essentially a satire on celebrity and commerce set in 2030 L.A., after a crippling recession leads to a statewide lottery that gives instant fame to the winner, but also puts a target on their back for the remainder of the day.

It isn't especially deep or meaningful, but Awkwafina and Cena have great chemistry together, with the concept around the winning ticket essentially establishing a Purge-like scenario by way of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and zombie movies. Awkwafina plays the unwitting lottery winner, with Cena playing a freelance bodyguard for winners, who is safety conscious to a fault and obsessed with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

It's overlong and the joke soon wears thin, but it's frantic and nonstop for much of its running time, whilst Simu Liu also appears and is surely relishing playing a duplicitous corporate head. Great to see Dolly De Leon in a bit part, too. Whilst, tonally, Feig undoubtedly had Jackie Chan in mind. There's a nice nod to They Live, too.

[ForeverElvis]

I watched Monkey Man on Prime last night.

Excellent directorial debut for Dev Petal.

It’s a revenge film. The build up that introduces us to Bobby, bringing us into his world, and why he wants revenge and on who, is interesting and well staged, creates tension. it can be gruesome and is progressive in adding some interesting representation. Had me very interested the whole time about where was Patel going next.

Then the film turns into John Wick in its final 1/3rd. Its editing is excellent. It’s kick-ass but, I’m not sure it was a good enough pay-off for all that had gone before. I don’t know what I was expecting but I felt a little let down.

But, I’d recommend it. It’s different but familiar, it has a-lot going for it. I’m really excited to see what Patel does next.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9214772/?ref_=ext_shr_sms

[Greystoke]

Last night I watched the 2012 version of Total Recall, which I saw on release, but I don't think I had watched a second time. And U.S. Marshals, which I hadn't seen in maybe a decade or more. The former is slick and well made, and there's surely inspiration drawn from Minority Report, although it takes its subject matter too seriously considering how superficial it mostly is.

There are some good ideas, and visually, it's fairly impressive at times, including a wet and lurid London, whilst Colin Farrell is quite good in the role Arnold Schwarzenegger previously occupied. But there's less personality and little to really get on side with here.

I could say that Total Recall is to the original Total Recall, or even Blade Runner, what U.S. Marshals is to The Fugitive. Tommy Lee Jones, however, is good as the same character he played in The Fugitive, but this unconvincing and unintelligent retread doesn't match the smarts or excitement of the earlier film.

There are a few good stunts and set pieces, whilst Wesley Snipes brings a physicality to his role that genuinely gives him an edge over his pursuers when they can't keep pace. But it's also messy, obvious, and overstuffed with too many superfluous characters. Jones is great to watch, though.

[pmp]

While sorting out some discs this afternoon, I came across a blu ray disc of SD versions of composer biopics from the 30s and 40s. I don't know when I'd put it together, but it must have been four or five years ago, and about half are foreign language movies. So, tonight I saw La Symphonie Fantastique, a 1942 French film about Berlioz. It was actually produced by the German-controlled Continental Films, although there were calls for it to be banned as it was seen as little more than a call to arms for the French, and there's little doubt that was the case, even if it was done surreptitiously. Berlioz was very much a "if you don't succeed, try and try again" composer. For every critical success, there was two critical failures for much of his life, and the film very much concentrates on his eagerness to prove everyone wrong about his somewhat progressive music. It's actually a rather good movie, with much less cloying sentimentality than the Hollywood composer biopics of the time. It's quite dark in tone in some sections, and it tends to avoid the pitfall of making out he was an overnight success after years of struggle. I don't know much about Berlioz' life story, but enough to know that the chronology is about right, and the main elements are dealt with without too much fabrication. It seems rather short at 90 minutes, though. Jean-Louis Barrault, best known for Les enfants du paradis (a film I still haven't seen), is excellent as Berlioz.

[Greystoke]

I watched The Cranes are Flying tonight, which I last watched when Criterion's excellent Blu-ray was released around four years ago. It's a remarkable film, set in Moscow during the German invasion of 1941, with a documentary style approach by director, Mikhail Kalatozov. Which is helped considerably by Sergey Urusevsky's mesmerising and deceptively fluid cinematography.

The performances are terrific, whilst the narrative and the film's themes are thoughtful, poignant, and quite complex. But also beautiful. It's a film that's vibrantly alive and still rings true after almost seventy years.

[pmp]

A couple of months ago, Warner Archive in the US released a double bill of silent comedy-dramas, featuring The Boob and Why Be Good. Why Be Good is well-regarded, but I didn't know much about The Boob and so watched it yesterday. It's difficult to see why Warner Archive would include it on what is only its third silent entry in the blu ray Archive series. If a film was ever the definition of mundane, mediocre and dull, The Boob would be it, and this despite George K Arthur in the lead role, Joan Crawford popping up for a few minutes, and William Wellman at the helm. There's probably enough material here for an OK two-reel comedy, but not more than that, and one can only assume it is released due to Crawford's quick appearance. In many respects, Warner Archive would have been better off selling the blu ray on Why Be Good alone, and presenting The Boob as a generous bonus feature. WB has many silents worthy of blu ray release, but this most definitely is not one of them. On the plus side, the soundtrack is very good indeed, and the print and transfer is almost flawless.

[pmp]

Tonight I saw Red Eye, Wes Craven's thriller from 2005 about a woman who finds herself sitting next to a man involved in the forthcoming assassination of one of the guests at the hotel the woman works for. If she doesn't help him, her father dies. We've been here before with peril-on-a-plane films, but it's a very competent thriller with good pacing (85 minutes), a taut script, and some decent performances from Rachel McAdams, Cillian Murphy, and Brian Cox. Craven made four films in the final fifteen years of his life, and this is certainly the most successful and satisfying, even if it's the least horror-like of the four. There's relatively little ambition here beyond making a good popcorn thriller, but sometimes that's all that is required. It's showing on Netflix UK.

[ForeverElvis]

Tonight I saw Red Eye, Wes Craven's thriller from 2005 about a woman who finds herself sitting next to a man involved in the forthcoming assassination of one of the guests at the hotel the woman works for. If she doesn't help him, her father dies. We've been here before with peril-on-a-plane films, but it's a very competent thriller with good pacing (85 minutes), a taut script, and some decent performances from Rachel McAdams, Cillian Murphy, and Brian Cox. Craven made four films in the final fifteen years of his life, and this is certainly the most successful and satisfying, even if it's the least horror-like of the four. There's relatively little ambition here beyond making a good popcorn thriller, but sometimes that's all that is required. It's showing on Netflix UK.

I saw this a couple of months ago on Netflix as well. I had missed it upon original release and passed over it too many times to count since then.

Shouldn’t have.

Agree with you Shane, very good, entertaining thriller.

[Greystoke]

I saw Blink Twice and Kneecap at the cinema today. The former is quite an assured directional debut from Zoe Kravitz, with Naomi Ackie and Alia Shawkat starring as two friends who make the acquaintance of Channing Tatum's scandal-ridden tech billionaire. And subsequently take a vacation on his private island.

I was reminded to some degree of Get Out, especially in the way Kravitz was able to ramp up the tension and encourage a much darker side to the typically charismatic Tatum. Ackie is very good here, too, whilst some of the narrative beats also reminded me of Ira Levin's work.

It's always good to see such a well-rounded debut, whilst Tatum really adds another dimension to his acting here. Kneecap is radically different, although this witty and funny biopic of the Irish rap group, Kneecap, is another assured feature debut, this time from director, Rich Peppiatt.

Set in Belfast, with the group playing themselves, this is a film that knows exactly what it wants to say, and how it wants to say it. In the Irish language, I might add, with acute political points made alongside acerbic wit and a frankness that often crackles on the screen.

Trainspotting is clearly a touch point, and some biopic clichés are present, but this is a film that - at its heart - is about culture and language, and whilst small in scale, it does take some big swings. It would make for a great companion piece to 2012's Good Vibrations.

[pmp]

Tonight I saw Dark Places, a 1973 horror movie starring Robert Hardy, Joan Collins, Jean Marsh, Jane Birken, Herbert Lom, and Christopher Lee. Quite a cast for what is basically a low-key ghost story crossed with a Cat-and-the-Canary style hunt for a hidden fortune by money-grabbing neighbours and friends of the deceased. Robert Hardy inherits a haunted mansion which was the scene of a previous tragedy. Meanwhile various people try to become part of his circle of friends so that they can hunt for the missing treasure supposedly hidden there. This is a slow-burn of a movie, and anyone expecting anything more than slamming doors and the sound of laughter from the haunted house will be in for a disappointment, but that is less of a problem than Robert Hardy as the leading man in a ninety minute cinema film. He was quite capable of helming the half hour horror Stalls of Barchester, based on an M R James short story, but he fails to provide much depth to his character in Dark Places. There is partly a reason for this due to the plotline, but it still doesn't work, especially when he's surrounded by a bunch of actors who are much more capable of grabbing attention when on-screen. Most of them are wasted, really, but it's a decent film overall, largely unknown, even if it's not particularly special.

[Greystoke]

Tonight I saw Dark Places, a 1973 horror movie starring Robert Hardy, Joan Collins, Jean Marsh, Jane Birken, Herbert Lom, and Christopher Lee. Quite a cast for what is basically a low-key ghost story crossed with a Cat-and-the-Canary style hunt for a hidden fortune by money-grabbing neighbours and friends of the deceased. Robert Hardy inherits a haunted mansion which was the scene of a previous tragedy. Meanwhile various people try to become part of his circle of friends so that they can hunt for the missing treasure supposedly hidden there. This is a slow-burn of a movie, and anyone expecting anything more than slamming doors and the sound of laughter from the haunted house will be in for a disappointment, but that is less of a problem than Robert Hardy as the leading man in a ninety minute cinema film. He was quite capable of helming the half hour horror Stalls of Barchester, based on an M R James short story, but he fails to provide much depth to his character in Dark Places. There is partly a reason for this due to the plotline, but it still doesn't work, especially when he's surrounded by a bunch of actors who are much more capable of grabbing attention when on-screen. Most of them are wasted, really, but it's a decent film overall, largely unknown, even if it's not particularly special.

I haven't seen Dark Places in quite a while, although I think the last time might have been on Talking Pictures TV. Great cast, as you've said, and a type of film that was undoubtedly quite popular at the time.

Over the weekend I watched The Train Robbers, which is always good to revisit. It hasn't been that long since I last watched it, but I think it's one of John Wayne's better films of the seventies, and one of Burt Kennedy's best as a director. It's well shot, with some fine dialogue, good action, and a solid cast, including Ann-Margret and Rod Taylor.

I also watched An Autumn's Tale, which is a real gem of a film and another that I can watch time and again. Less so, Eyewitness, which I hadn't seen in a while, and whilst there's some interesting aspects to this unusual thriller, it plays out with a heavy hand and seems a bit daft at times.

Aliens was also good to watch again after seeing Alien: Romulus recently, and of its kind, I still think that it has rarely been matched. Sigourney Weaver was and is iconic as Ripley, and she is good in Eyewitness, too. I'll probably watch Alien 3 again fairly soon.

[pmp]

Tonight I saw Dark Places, a 1973 horror movie starring Robert Hardy, Joan Collins, Jean Marsh, Jane Birken, Herbert Lom, and Christopher Lee. Quite a cast for what is basically a low-key ghost story crossed with a Cat-and-the-Canary style hunt for a hidden fortune by money-grabbing neighbours and friends of the deceased. Robert Hardy inherits a haunted mansion which was the scene of a previous tragedy. Meanwhile various people try to become part of his circle of friends so that they can hunt for the missing treasure supposedly hidden there. This is a slow-burn of a movie, and anyone expecting anything more than slamming doors and the sound of laughter from the haunted house will be in for a disappointment, but that is less of a problem than Robert Hardy as the leading man in a ninety minute cinema film. He was quite capable of helming the half hour horror Stalls of Barchester, based on an M R James short story, but he fails to provide much depth to his character in Dark Places. There is partly a reason for this due to the plotline, but it still doesn't work, especially when he's surrounded by a bunch of actors who are much more capable of grabbing attention when on-screen. Most of them are wasted, really, but it's a decent film overall, largely unknown, even if it's not particularly special.

I haven't seen Dark Places in quite a while, although I think the last time might have been on Talking Pictures TV. Great cast, as you've said, and a type of film that was undoubtedly quite popular at the time.

Over the weekend I watched The Train Robbers, which is always good to revisit. It hasn't been that long since I last watched it, but I think it's one of John Wayne's better films of the seventies, and one of Burt Kennedy's best as a director. It's well shot, with some fine dialogue, good action, and a solid cast, including Ann-Margret and Rod Taylor.

I also watched An Autumn's Tale, which is a real gem of a film and another that I can watch time and again. Less so, Eyewitness, which I hadn't seen in a while, and whilst there's some interesting aspects to this unusual thriller, it plays out with a heavy hand and seems a bit daft at times.

Aliens was also good to watch again after seeing Alien: Romulus recently, and of its kind, I still think that it has rarely been matched. Sigourney Weaver was and is iconic as Ripley, and she is good in Eyewitness, too. I'll probably watch Alien 3 again fairly soon.

Which Eyewitness did you see - the 1970 film with Mark Lester or the 1981 one? I prefer the 1970 one!

Tonight I watched Blumhouse's "Imaginary," about a family that moves into the stepmother's childhood home only for their young daughter to get an imaginary friend who isn't too friendly. It's very much a film of two halves. The first half is surprisingly effective, and there's a twist that comes at the halfway point that is genuinely surprising. And then the movie gets completely derailed as it moves into Insidious territory, and the final half hour is utterly appalling, with awful effects, a dire script, and a "monster" that looks like Winnie the Pooh with rotten teeth. It borrows heavily from Insidious, IT, and others, but the problem is not the borrowing, but how badly it's done in that second half. It makes Night Swim, which we talked about last week, seem like a classic.

Last night I watched the awful-titled Scooby-Doo: Pirates Ahoy. This is one of the best of the straight-to-streaming feature length movies, with the emphasis less on the comedy and more on the horror elements. Sadly Casey Kasem is past his prime as Shaggy's voice, and it wouldn't be long before Matthew Lillard took over. The cast also include Ron Perlman and Tim Conway. It's far more classy than Imaginary.

I also saw the BBC adaptations of The Tractate Middoth and Number 13 by M R James over the last few days. Middoth is especially good, and surprisingly close to the original story. Number 13 is fine, but it's not one of James's best stories, with no real climax to speak of, and therefore the TV version isn't espcially effective as a chiller.

[Greystoke]

Tonight I saw Dark Places, a 1973 horror movie starring Robert Hardy, Joan Collins, Jean Marsh, Jane Birken, Herbert Lom, and Christopher Lee. Quite a cast for what is basically a low-key ghost story crossed with a Cat-and-the-Canary style hunt for a hidden fortune by money-grabbing neighbours and friends of the deceased. Robert Hardy inherits a haunted mansion which was the scene of a previous tragedy. Meanwhile various people try to become part of his circle of friends so that they can hunt for the missing treasure supposedly hidden there. This is a slow-burn of a movie, and anyone expecting anything more than slamming doors and the sound of laughter from the haunted house will be in for a disappointment, but that is less of a problem than Robert Hardy as the leading man in a ninety minute cinema film. He was quite capable of helming the half hour horror Stalls of Barchester, based on an M R James short story, but he fails to provide much depth to his character in Dark Places. There is partly a reason for this due to the plotline, but it still doesn't work, especially when he's surrounded by a bunch of actors who are much more capable of grabbing attention when on-screen. Most of them are wasted, really, but it's a decent film overall, largely unknown, even if it's not particularly special.

I haven't seen Dark Places in quite a while, although I think the last time might have been on Talking Pictures TV. Great cast, as you've said, and a type of film that was undoubtedly quite popular at the time.

Over the weekend I watched The Train Robbers, which is always good to revisit. It hasn't been that long since I last watched it, but I think it's one of John Wayne's better films of the seventies, and one of Burt Kennedy's best as a director. It's well shot, with some fine dialogue, good action, and a solid cast, including Ann-Margret and Rod Taylor.

I also watched An Autumn's Tale, which is a real gem of a film and another that I can watch time and again. Less so, Eyewitness, which I hadn't seen in a while, and whilst there's some interesting aspects to this unusual thriller, it plays out with a heavy hand and seems a bit daft at times.

Aliens was also good to watch again after seeing Alien: Romulus recently, and of its kind, I still think that it has rarely been matched. Sigourney Weaver was and is iconic as Ripley, and she is good in Eyewitness, too. I'll probably watch Alien 3 again fairly soon.

Which Eyewitness did you see - the 1970 film with Mark Lester or the 1981 one? I prefer the 1970 one!

Tonight I watched Blumhouse's "Imaginary," about a family that moves into the stepmother's childhood home only for their young daughter to get an imaginary friend who isn't too friendly. It's very much a film of two halves. The first half is surprisingly effective, and there's a twist that comes at the halfway point that is genuinely surprising. And then the movie gets completely derailed as it moves into Insidious territory, and the final half hour is utterly appalling, with awful effects, a dire script, and a "monster" that looks like Winnie the Pooh with rotten teeth. It borrows heavily from Insidious, IT, and others, but the problem is not the borrowing, but how badly it's done in that second half. It makes Night Swim, which we talked about last week, seem like a classic.

Last night I watched the awful-titled Scooby-Doo: Pirates Ahoy. This is one of the best of the straight-to-streaming feature length movies, with the emphasis less on the comedy and more on the horror elements. Sadly Casey Kasem is past his prime as Shaggy's voice, and it wouldn't be long before Matthew Lillard took over. The cast also include Ron Perlman and Tim Conway. It's far more classy than Imaginary.

I also saw the BBC adaptations of The Tractate Middoth and Number 13 by M R James over the last few days. Middoth is especially good, and surprisingly close to the original story. Number 13 is fine, but it's not one of James's best stories, with no real climax to speak of, and therefore the TV version isn't espcially effective as a chiller.

It was the 1981 Eyewitness I watched. Great cast. On paper, at least. I agree that the earlier film is the better one.

I haven't seen Imaginary yet, but I'll keep an eye out for it. And I'll probably watch a few M.R. James adaptations as we get into the winter months. It would be good to see another new adaptation around Christmas.

[pmp]

Tonight I saw A Romance of Seville, another one of those films I bought a while back because it was cheap. This is a (very) late British silent film from 1929, and re-edited somewhat in 1930. While it's set in Spain and is clearly attempting to replicate the success of the "Latin lovers" in Hollywood movies, it actually feels much more like a routine B-movie western. Like those B westerns, it manages to pass its hour running time entertainingly without any need to engage the brain. It's competently put together, and the leads are engaging enough. The biggest problem is the 1930 synchronised music soundtrack, which is pretty dire, and doesn't really help the film in the way that a sympathetic piano score from the likes of Ben Model or Neil Brand would. This was a Network blu ray, and while some of their film choices were slightly left-field, it is a label that is sorely missed.

[Greystoke]

Tonight I saw A Romance of Seville, another one of those films I bought a while back because it was cheap. This is a (very) late British silent film from 1929, and re-edited somewhat in 1930. While it's set in Spain and is clearly attempting to replicate the success of the "Latin lovers" in Hollywood movies, it actually feels much more like a routine B-movie western. Like those B westerns, it manages to pass its hour running time entertainingly without any need to engage the brain. It's competently put together, and the leads are engaging enough. The biggest problem is the 1930 synchronised music soundtrack, which is pretty dire, and doesn't really help the film in the way that a sympathetic piano score from the likes of Ben Model or Neil Brand would. This was a Network blu ray, and while some of their film choices were slightly left-field, it is a label that is sorely missed.

Network is certainly missed, although it does look as though some of their titles are being picked up by other labels now, but their catalogue was quite deep. I'm keeping an eye open for titles I've missed over the years.

[pmp]

Tonight I saw The Body Stealers, a Tigon science fiction movie from 1969 with a cast including George Sanders, Maurice Evans, and Patrick Allen. A fine cast in a film with an interesting initial premise (parachutists disappearing after jumping out of the plane but before they reach the earth) that sadly ends up just rehashing old already-rehashed ideas, and turns rather laughable towards the end. George Sanders, though top-billed, doesn't have much to do but wander around looking puzzled. That said, the blu ray mostly looks good, apart from a few short sequences, and there are some very nice bonus features, including one on Sanders' role in the film.

[Greystoke]

Tonight I saw The Body Stealers, a Tigon science fiction movie from 1969 with a cast including George Sanders, Maurice Evans, and Patrick Allen. A fine cast in a film with an interesting initial premise (parachutists disappearing after jumping out of the plane but before they reach the earth) that sadly ends up just rehashing old already-rehashed ideas, and turns rather laughable towards the end. George Sanders, though top-billed, doesn't have much to do but wander around looking puzzled. That said, the blu ray mostly looks good, apart from a few short sequences, and there are some very nice bonus features, including one on Sanders' role in the film.

It's good to see 88 Films diving into the Tigon catalogue. Their 4K releases of Witchfinder General and The Blood on Satan's Claw are both superb. I haven't seen The Body Stealers in a while, so I might pick that one up at some point, too.

[Greystoke]

I enjoyed watching Bedlam and The Ghost Ship again tonight, both being short, and enjoyable thrillers that Warner Archive did such a good job with on a double-feature Blu-ray release. Both have their shortcomings, but they're also quite atmospheric, with great cinematography and a fine cast in both instances. Especially Karloff in Bedlam.

I don't think they're up to par with the best films Val Lewton produced, but it is great to have some many of Lewton's productions on Blu-ray now, and 4K soon enough.

[pmp]

I enjoyed watching Bedlam and The Ghost Ship again tonight, both being short, and enjoyable thrillers that Warner Archive did such a good job with on a double-feature Blu-ray release. Both have their shortcomings, but they're also quite atmospheric, with great cinematography and a fine cast in both instances. Especially Karloff in Bedlam.

I don't think they're up to par with the best films Val Lewton produced, but it is great to have some many of Lewton's productions on Blu-ray now, and 4K soon enough.

I am not particularly fond of Bedlam, but Ghost Ship is weirdly fascinating and I think better than its reputation.

Warner Archive have announced The Beast With Five Fingers, The Return of Doctor X, The Walking Dead, and Sweethearts as part of their October line-up - although the users on bluray.com aren't very happy with it. I'll certainly get the horror movies, but not Sweethearts - although I would have got any other Eddy/McDonald pairing.

Warner Archive have certainly concentrated on niche films this year, with very few "big hitters," despite many still unreleased on blu ray. But presumably they know their customer base quite well, and going along with guaranteed sales.

[Greystoke]

I enjoyed watching Bedlam and The Ghost Ship again tonight, both being short, and enjoyable thrillers that Warner Archive did such a good job with on a double-feature Blu-ray release. Both have their shortcomings, but they're also quite atmospheric, with great cinematography and a fine cast in both instances. Especially Karloff in Bedlam.

I don't think they're up to par with the best films Val Lewton produced, but it is great to have some many of Lewton's productions on Blu-ray now, and 4K soon enough.

I am not particularly fond of Bedlam, but Ghost Ship is weirdly fascinating and I think better than its reputation.

Warner Archive have announced The Beast With Five Fingers, The Return of Doctor X, The Walking Dead, and Sweethearts as part of their October line-up - although the users on bluray.com aren't very happy with it. I'll certainly get the horror movies, but not Sweethearts - although I would have got any other Eddy/McDonald pairing.

Warner Archive have certainly concentrated on niche films this year, with very few "big hitters," despite many still unreleased on blu ray. But presumably they know their customer base quite well, and going along with guaranteed sales.

The horror films are the ones I'll pick up, too. And I'm sure they do have a careful eye on what's popular, but I think they probably want to spread out some of the more highly anticipated titles. Although some films surely need more work than others before they're able to offer a release that's up to Warners Archive's usual standards.

There's certainly more Gable, Wayne, Bogart, Davis, and Sinatra films that we'll surely see. Not to mention Weissmuller's Tarzan and more Elvis films. I would like to see The Naked Runner finally getting a proper release, since it was last released on VHS and has never even been on DVD.

The First Deadly Sin has been released twice on DVD, but I would like to see it on Blu-ray. I think we'll see Dancing Lady and High Society on Blu-ray soon enough, too. Given that both have been alluded to buy George Feltenstein over the years. I'm also quite surprised that Enough hasn't been released yet.

[Greystoke]

I watched House of Bamboo this afternoon, which is a film I've always liked a great deal, largely because it took quite a routine crime narrative and placed it in Japan during the 1950s. The location work is really good and Sam Fuller's direction is assured, even if Robert Stack's bull in a china shop approach to his role makes his character a complete lunk at times.

It's elevated by Robert Ryan in the kind of role that was second nature for him, and whilst it spells out and simplifies aspects of Japanese life, along with putting certain words and phrases to the fore, this was a Hollywood film made in Japan only ten years after the end of World War II. Eureka's Blu-ray is very good, incidentally.

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Today I saw The Blue Lamp and The Man They Could Not Hang. I don't think I've seen The Blue Lamp since I was a teenager, but it remains a very fine piece of work, even given the fact that nearly everyone watching today knows about the big dramatic scene that occurs halfway through. Rather like Went the Day Well, it's a dark and surprisingly gritty tale for a studio best known for its comedies. The tight, almost social realist, script is played to perfection by the cast which includes Jack Warner and Dirk Bogarde. Bogarde would often talk disparagingly about his "criminal in a mac" roles, but there's little doubt that they contributed to the more complex roles that came later. Indeed, the Blue Lamp was directed by Basil Dearden, who would go on to direct him in Victim (and he worked with Joseph Losey for the first time in The Sleeping Tiger). The blu ray looks excellent.

This evening, I returned to The Man They Could Not Hang, which is possibly the best movie in Eureka's Karloff at Columbia set. It's the first of Boris's Mad Doctor movies, and here he plays a scientist sentenced to death for "murdering" a student who volunteered to have his heart stopped in a scientific experiment. Karloff then comes back and starts killing off the jury, judge and prosecutor. There are elements here that we associate with Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, but they were released at around the same time as each other. The influence on both seem to come from the 1934 film The Ninth Guest, and the book it is based on. Indeed, the first killing in the Karloff film is by electrocution of the exit to the building everyone's trapped in. But MTCNH is a good movie, even if it's perhaps rushed in the second half, running at just 64 minutes.