RENTAL ROUND UP TIME!!!!!!!!! Whew I’ve got a lot to catch up on! Hee Hee! Enjoy!

On 2/26/17 at 2:22PM we (my guy Dave and I, duh) rented CONTAMINATION (1980) on Blu-Ray and COUNTDOWN (1967) on DVD.

CONTAMINATION – “Let’s see what this mystery is all about?” This Italian/German horror movie starts out in New York City when a ghost ship comes to port and there’s a bloody gooey mess aboard and a lot of green egg gunk! There’s Coffee from Columbia that’s been tainted, with alien things! A cop, a government scientist and an astronaut go to Columbia to go on an adventure because; “national security is at stake!” It was gorey good, it was ridiculous, a RAT exploded, I am pretty sure for realz and GOBLIN did the music.

 

COUNTDOWN – Let’s race to space! Robert Altman directed this film and it stars James Caan as Mickey Stegler, the man who’s going to the moon in what could be a one way trip because we’re racing to beat the Russians! Will we make it? Mickey is getting the intense crash course and his pal Chiz, played by Robert Duvall is mighty jealous he’s not going up, but begrudgingly helps with training. It was a fun space adventure and goes to show political ‘tudes haven’t changed, people want to win and movie magic makes dreams comes true.

 

On 3/7/17 at 7:41PM we rented ZOOT SUIT (1981) on DVD, SMART MONEY (1931) on DVD, WAKE IN FRIGHT (1971) on Blu-Ray and MEN & CHICKEN (2015) on Blu-Ray.

SMART MONEY – Edward G. Robinson is Nick the Barber, he’s lucky, he gambles and usually wins, wins big. His pals stake him so he can go to the big city and play against a big high roller. When Nick finds himself in the big city, he gets fleeced from some local hoods. Well, Nick ain’t no dummy, he gets revenge and makes money and starts running gambling halls of his own much to the annoyance of the police. Nick’s best pal is Jack, played by James Cagney. Jack is by Nick’s side and helps to keep the racket going strong while he tries to keep Nick from falling for Blondes, which is Nick’s biggest weakness. I love me pre-code films.

 

MEN & CHICKEN – Oh boy! This was a weird one! Two brothers, one being Mads Mikkelsen, find out they were adopted and they venture out to seek their true father and find three more brothers. Men & Chicken, tries to unfold the mystery of man, their place in the world and how society can hold them back. How does a man leave a legacy when he can’t sire children? Oh my, well Science and or Nature finds a way. You just need a Cock to control the chicken coop. This is what I learned from MEN & CHICKEN.

 

WAKE IN FRIGHT – This was quite a follow up to the previous mentioned movie. Men just have a tough time when they can’t get what they want. A teacher, John Grant, played by Gary Bond, is stuck in a nowhere one train stop town of Australia and it has eaten away at his soul. He’s got a vacation and plans to head to Sydney and see his girlfriend. John gets stuck in another small outback town! UH OH! The town is filled with gambling drunkards and soon he becomes one too. John even goes hunting in the outback shooting kangaroos, which is a brutal sight to see. (The hunting footage was very sad, and they made a point of saying it was done by real licensed hunters.) Donald Pleasence is the town doctor, and full time alcoholic and he takes John on many of the weekends adventures. This was re-released on the big screen a few years back and since I missed it then I knew I’d see it eventually. As sobering as it is, I’m glad I did.

 

ZOOT SUIT – “An American Classic.” There was a recent production of ZOOT SUIT here in Los Angeles and Dave and I were fortunate enough to attend. This inspired me to rent and re-watch the movie which I hadn’t seen in a long long time. “Enjoy the pretense..play the myth.”

ZOOT SUIT in film form is still a relevant piece of cinema! Directed by Luis Valdez and I was excited to realize that it was Patricia Birch who did the choreography. (She directed GREASE 2!!!!!!) Based on a true incident of a gang of Chicanos who are put on trial for murder.

Henry Reyna (Daniel Valdez) is the gang leader at the center of the trail, and it doesn’t paint a pretty picture of the judicial system or our government. It’s angering even more so right now for what we’re all facing every single day! Zoot Suit says our system of justice can prevail; “no matter how slowly wheels grind.” but it sure doesn’t apologize for the error of it’s ways. People are ready to believe in hate, categorize what and who they don’t understand, let American’s kill American’s when they’re not white. ZOOT SUIT though is here to remind you to fight for your life, your race, your family, to shake up the country so they see the errors of it’s ways! #RESIST WAKE UP people, dance if you have to, just don’t let hate win!! Yup!
On 3/22/17 at 12:24PM we rented DEAD PIGEON ON BEETHOVEN STREET (1974) on DVD, BRANDED TO KILL (1967) on Blu-Ray and THE LAST SUPPER (1995) on DVD.

 

THE LAST SUPPER – 5 liberal friends all live together in a house and have a weekly Sunday meal, usually inviting an outsider to discuss the world and it’s politics. Oh 90’s…are you to blame? 😉 Anyways, this fun 90’s cast of characters includes Cameron Diaz, Annabeth Gish (SHAG!!!!), Jonathan Penner, Courtney B. Vance and Ron Eldard…oh and #DIRECTEDBYWOMEN Stacy Title.

As the film starts during their most recent things dinner goes over the edge when they kill a racist, evil man played by Bill Paxton. (R.I.P. Bill Paxton!) and so they fall down the rabbit hole of their moral dilemma. When you’re a liberal spouter do you take some action too? Could they do it again? Should they? The timid ones find new strength while some begin to feel their conscious creeping.

 

BRANDED TO KILL – A Japanese Yakuza movie that focuses on hitman #3, Goro Hanada, who finds himself on the kill list after a hit went wrong. He’s running from hitman #1, who’s tormenting him mentally rather than just taking him out the way he expects. Goro is trying to survive, trying to outsmart #1, while indulging in his fetish for white rice and women.

This movie just exudeds C-O-O-L, Cool! 1960’s Cool. It was visually beautiful and slick. Goro was a good #3 but it was a butterfly that got in his way. I really am leaning towards old stylish flicks these days and this was a great discovery.

 

DEAD PIGEON ON BEETHOVEN STREET – A film by Samuel Fuller and set in Germany. I’m a big fan of Samuel Fuller and this was an interesting discovery. It was actually part of a TV series in Germany but given a theatrical cut in 2015 UCLA Film and Television Archive put out the directors cut. This is what I watched on DVD.

An American agent dies on Beethoven Street with photos of a US official up to some dirty deeds with a woman. His pal, an American detective, played by Glenn Corbett, takes on the case and he joins up with the gang of drug dealers who delve into blackmail of entrapping officials with scandalous deeds.  Of course he plans to expose their plans, and it’s fun in Fuller’s style. The detective is an American in Germany and one of my favorite things is him talking in English to his German contact who replies in German, they just talk back and forth no subtitles on the German end but you know just what’s going on. It is a bit clunky along the way, but some cool stuff for sure and I loved Fuller’s little cameo off camera as his puff of cigar smoke is rising from a chair.

 

And our last rental was on 4/5/17;  GRAVEYARD SHIFT (1990) on DVD, NEEDFUL THINGS (1993) on DVD, HEART OF MIDNIGHT (1988) on DVD, SLEEPWALKERS (1992) on DVD, ALI FEAR EATS THE SOUL (1974) on DVD and THE DAMNED DON’T CRY (1950). Sadly we didn’t get to finish ALI FEAR EATS THE SOUL, but what I saw was quite good and a bit sad…I will have to finish it another day (I did see it was on FILMSTRUCK under their CRITERION collection!)

 

HEART OF MIDNIGHT – HEART OF MIDNIGHT is a very creepy, dark, moody piece that’s more than a little disturbing. There are some great visuals that lead to some great jump scares.

Jennifer Jason Leigh is Carol Rivers, she’s a survivor, recovering from a recent mental breakdown when she inherits her uncle’s night club Midnight. She heads there with plans to revamp it to her own style to fulfill a fantasy of her own, yet, she’s haunted by memories of her uncle’s past. Carol soon discovers his nightclub was more of a sex club with a series of fetish rooms. As Carol moves in an inhabits the building strange visions take over and local boys, one being a young Steve Buscemi, sexually assault her which only adds to the pain of sorting out her past and present. Peter Coyote comes in, who is intriguing from the start, trying to piece together the puzzles pieces of his own that involve the MIDNIGHT. I would love to delve more into this movie, but there’s so much that could be spoiled. As it started I really wasn’t too keen on where i thought it would go, but Jennifer is an amazing actress!! I actually read Ebert’s piece on the movie and it ended up spoiling some things, so don’t do that until after you watch the movie. And look out for Frank Stallone as a detective, a chauvinistic one at that.

Since this was a DVD, Dave and I  actually listened to some of the DVD commentary after watching the movie. It was great to learn about the director, his take on the movie from a recent viewing compared to when he made it. It really is a look at a women trying to survive in a man’s world and facing day to day exploitation. A fun factoid discovered, in the film commentary, Jennifer has a cast on her leg, when asked about it in the movie she says an Elephant stepped on her, the truth was she had a cast when filming started and the director said go with it instead of dropping her from the film. Yea movies! Yea Commentary!!

 

 

THE DAMNED DON’T CRY – Joan Crawford is a rich socialite Lorna who’s mixed up with the mob, she’s gone missing after young gangster Nick Prenta is found dead. Now it’s time for flashbacks as we discover Lorna was once Ethel, who came from a poor family. She was married to an oil worker, they had a kid and just worked to survive. When Ethel’s young son dies in an accident she leaves her husband determined to become someone, make some money and find another sort of life.

What we learn is Ethel is willing to take what she wants, and is ready to use men even as they use her too. Joan is an amazing woman and she plays this role so well. You see the tragedy that fuels her on the surface. As Ethel becomes Lorna she has a taste of living with money, and hopes to have happiness yet it is soon evident that a gangster lifestyle means just using others for more riches and love is not in the cards.
Next up is the Stephen King trilogy of DVD’s that my guy Dave was really keen on watching. I had seen two of the three, realizing I never watched all of GRAVEYARD SHIFT! I had rented the other two flicks back in the day, on VHS! So now re-sees on DVD! Woot Woot!

 

GRAVEYARD SHIFT – I remember catching this movie from the beginning on cable but never watch the whole thing, I must have found something else to watch because channel flipping was so much fun! Anyways, GRAVEYARD SHIFT, there’s a killer creature hiding in the bowels of a cotton factory in Maine that’s overrun by rats! David Andrews is John Hall, the latest employee to join the factory and wrangled into the basement clean up crew for double holiday pay! The things people do for money! There’s good gross out monster kills! There’s crazy rodent killer played by Brad Dourif and the cool touch chick played by Kelly Wolf. Watch this movie to learn what a slingshot and a soda pop can can do when you’re in trouble!

 

 

NEEDFUL THINGS – I had good memories of this movie when I first watched it on VHS with my dad. We dug it then and I am glad that it holds up just as good now. Dave had never seen it and dug it too! So woot! Oh and this time around I realized W.D. Richter wrote the screenplay!

Ok, let’s go to the little Maine town of Stephen King land and meet the latest tenant who has opened an antique shop, Leland Gaunt, played by Max Von Sydow. Leland has everything, especially that one thing your heart desires most, you just have to do some pranking! Leland spins the wheels to drive the town’s residents into killers. I love the twists of having one person taunt another thinking it’s someone else and so the vicious small town gossip circle spins rampant! The town though, is lucky to have newcomer Sheriff Alan Pangborn, played by Ed Harris. Will evil win? Can the human race survive it’s dance with the devil? (I’m feeling dramatic! Thanks Stephen King!)

 

AND last but NOT least!

 

SLEEPWALKERS – Oh 1992, thank you! SLEEPWALKERS are a cat like, incestuous race that need virgins! So the Mother and Son SLEEPWALKER team (Son Sleepwalker Charles played by Brain Krause and Mom Sleepwalker played by Alice Krige) are in a new town and in desperate need of that virgin goodness. From the start Charles has plans for local girl Tanya Robertson played by Mädchen Amick. There’s some cool old school effects mixed in with new computer moves (well new in 1992!) and it’s the old school bits that keep things fun. I still wonder why cat’s don’t like SLEEPWALKERS though, but maybe cause they got to be human cats and they’re still cats? Yeah, that’s my big question of the movie. I do love though how mad Mom Sleepwalker gets when those cats are around, you think she’d be better at killing ’em. Again more questions!?

 

Whew! Finally wrapped up a RENTAL ROUNDUP before I rented more movies! So now my guy Dave and I can go rent more movies!!!!!! See you soon Vidéothèque!! See you readers soon too with more movie stuff. Yup!

Since I have fallen behind in sharing my movie views I worry about rambling in a long posts and I was thinking of combining my rental round up with my movie tally, but let me do one post for each…

I am making a promise to myself (AGAIN!) to set a regular blog schedule. But,…then again summer is around the corner (EXCUSES, EXCUSES!) and who knows what will happen!! WHAT will tomorrow bring!?!?

Right now I am here and I this is my movie tally as I put on the finishing touches on that Rental Roundup! (The coming thing, from me!) Some of the best of my movie outings since the last time I posted a tally (GEE, FEBRUARY!), was my movie outings to celebrate my b-day back in March. Oh and fun re-see’s especially with my nieces Celia and Effie, they finally got to see BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA! “It’s all in the reflexes.”

NEW MOVIES

  • JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 2 (2017) | 2/9/17 | AMC Atlantic

  • SWISS ARMY MAN (2016) | 2/10/17 | Netflix 
  • GRIZZLY (1976) | 2/12/17 | Amazon 
  • THE MASK OF DIMITRIOS (1944) | 2/18/17 | DVD 
  • VOYAGE OF THE DAMNED (1976) | 2/18/17 | DVD 
  • WOOL 100% (2006) | 2/20/17 | DVD 
  • GUMSHOE (1971) | 2/21/17 | DVD 
  • LOOPHOLE (1981) | 2/21/17 | DVD 
  • OUT OF THE DARK (1988) | 2/23/17 | DVD 
  • GET OUT (2017) | 2/24/17 | AMC Monterey Park
  • DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS (1962) | 2/24/17 | DVD 
  • THE NESTING (1981) | 2/26/17 | DVD
  • CONTAMINATION (1980) | 2/28/17 | Blu-Ray 
  • COUNTDOWN (1967) | 2/28/17 | DVD 
  • SMART MONEY (1931) | 3/7/17 | DVD 
  • MEN & CHICKEN (2015) | 3/10/17 | Blu-Ray 
  • WAKE IN FRIGHT (1971) | 3/13/17 | Blu-Ray |
  • NIGHTMARE AT BITTER CREEK (1988) | 3/14/17 | Amazon Instant 
  • HUNT FOR WILDER PEOPLE (2016) | 3/17/17 | DVD

  • MST3K: ZOMBIE NIGHTMARE (1987) | 3/19/17 | Netflix 
  • KONG: SKULL ISLAND (2017) | 3/25/17 | Edwards Alhambra
  • THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE (2017) | 3/25/17 | Edwards Alhambra 
  • THE BELKO EXPERIMENT (2016) | 3/25/17 | Edwards Alhambra
  • THE LAST SUPPER (1995) | 3/25/17 | DVD 
  • BRANDED TO KILL (1967) | 3/27/17 | Blu-Ray 
  • DEAD PIGEON ON BEETHOVEN STREET (1974) | 3/28/17 | DVD 
  • HEART OF MIDNIGHT (1988) | 4/5/17 | DVD 
  • THE DAMNED DON’T CRY (1950) | 4/10/17 | DVD
  • GRAVEYARD SHIFT (1990) | 4/11/17 | DVD
  • MST3K: THE RETURN: REPTILICUS (1961) | 4/16/17 | Netflix 
  • RiffTrax: SAMURAI COP (1991) | 4/18/17 | Edwards Alhambra

  • THE FATE OF THE FURIOUS (2017) | 4/18/17 | Edwards Alhambra
  • MST3K: THE RETURN: CRY WILDERNESS (1986) | 4/19/17 | Netflix 
  • MST3K: THE RETURN: TIME TRAVELERS (1964) | 4/24/17 | Netflix
  • MST3K: THE RETURN: AVALANCHE (1978) | 4/26/17 | Netflix
  • PATERSON (2016) | 4/30/17 | On Demand Rental
  • AFRAID TO DIE (1960) | 5/1/17 | DVD
  • GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 (2017) | 5/4/17 | Arclight Pasadena
  • MST3K: THE RETURN: BEAST FROM HOLLOW MOUNTAIN (1956) | 5/5/17 | Netflix
  • MST3K: THE RETURN: STARCRASH (1978) | 5/7/17 | Netflix

 

RE-SEE MOVIES:

  • WILD BEASTS (1984) | 1/13/17 | YouTube
  • ZOOT SUIT (1981) | 3/14/17 | DVD

  • ALIEN (1979) | 3/22/17 | Blu-Ray
  • ALIENS (1986) | 3/22/17 | Blu-Ray
  • ALIEN 3 (1992) | 3/23/17 | Blu-Ray
  • WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT (1988) | 3/27/17 | Netflix (w/ Celia and Effie!)
  • ALIEN RESURRECTION (1997) | 3/29/17 | Blu-Ray
  • BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA (1986) | 4/1/17 | Netflix (w/ Celia and Effie!)

  • NEEDFUL THINGS (1993) | 4/7/17 | DVD
  • SLEEPWALKERS (1992) | 4/7/17/ | DVD

So my movie watching total is now up to 82 movies which is including new and re-sees. Slow and steady! Watching movies yup yup yup!

 

Back in February, with another 10 movie rental package my guy Dave and I got more movie to watch from the comfort of home with homemade popcorn! Movies and popcorn! Homemade popcorn with lots of butter and salt! It’s the little things and movie watching takes us to a happy place! Happy Place Break!

Though, for this round of movies we sure did pick some serious flicks! It wasn’t all happy, happy, joy joy… in fact it only helped to highlight my feelings to our current political climate. But I’m getting ahead of myself!

On 2/16/17 at 7:31PM the five rental picks we got were: MASK OF DIMITRIOS (1944) on DVD, GUMSHOE (1971) on DVD, VOYAGE OF THE DAMNED (1976) on DVD,  WOOL 100% (2006) on DVD and LOOPHOLE (19781) on Blu-Ray.

THE MASK OF DIMITRIOS – It was a pizza and movie night when we watched this one, another movie starring Zachary Scott! (I previously mentioned him with the DVD rental of RUTHLESS!)

WHO IS DIMITRIOS?

Set in 1938 in Istanbul, Zachary is Dimitrios, a bad man, who’s dead body recently washed ashore. The police captain who finds Dimitrios tells the story to a vacationing mystery writer, Cornelius Leyden, played by Peter Lorre. Cornelius is instantly fascinated and wants to know more about Dimitrios!  He sets off on a journey to unfold the mystery and discover what kind of man Dimitrios really was, with flashbacks! It’s a fun journey as Cornelius meets those who were dealt a hand of Dimitrios. He discovers there’s a lot of anger, love lost and pain. With every story Cornelius gets caught up in more danger. Peter Lorre is absolutely great as the curious writer!

 

VOYAGE OF THE DAMNED – Looking through the aisles of the store, picking up random titles, I’m not sure what really caught my eye when it came to Voyage. It was probably the cover of familiar faces like Max von Sydow, Faye Dunaway, Malcolm McDowell, and Oskar Werner; then reading the description which sounded intense, I decided why not. Little did I realize just how intense this viewing would be as it is based on a true story.

Right now there’s a rise of hate going on in the world, anti-semitism and a backlash about refugees. It’s not cool by any means. I am not happy about it and this movie I chose VOYAGE OF THE DAMNED illustrates just what fear and hate can cause between governments and people.

The SS St. Louis carried over 900 Jewish German refugee passengers in 1939 right before World War II and they are headed to Havana, seeking asylum to escape Hitler’s Germany. It was a frightening realization knowing this would not end well as it is a big star hollywood splash with classic glam, you truly hope for a glimmer of a happy ending.

Faye Dunaway is a beautiful and fierce presence as the wife of a doctor played by Oskar Werner who’s hated for having helped German Nazis. We see Jonathan Pryce in an introductory role for him as a jew who escaped the camps along with a friend. There’s a family, the Rosen Family, the father played by Sam Wanamaker who was tortured by the Nazis and his wife Lee Grant who have a young daughter and they all just want a chance at life and peace.

There’s other big players with cameos galore; Ben Gazzara as a US representative and an American Jew trying to fight for the people aboard the ship. Orson Wells is a rich man in Havana toying with the cause for financial gain and Katharine Ross as a prostitute on the island who has some connections of her own. Lastly I also have to highlight Max von Sydow as Capt. Schroeder, a German officer who has sided with his passengers hopes of a place to go safely. Lastly there’s the Captain’s steward played by Malcolm McDowell. Look out for: Jose Ferrer, James Mason and Maria Schell to name a few more.

I got very emotional watching this movie and just thinking upon it again. Voyage had a tagline of: “The Ship that shamed the world.” But it seems it’s been forgotten in this day and age and it when we forget these things happened they can repeat themselves. I do not want that to happen!!! NO ONE should be shamed for their heritage, or beliefs, as they all just want to live their life. At one point Wanamaker said, about leaving Germany at the start of the film…”It’s only a temporary madness, of course we come back.” I can only hope that here and now we as a country can come back too.

We all must continue to fight, resist and survive.

 

WOOL 100% – This was a nice switch of pace after a heavy duty punch of Voyage. Two adorable old sisters live in a house filled with junk they collect from town. The two have a routine each and every day, they wake, eat and trek into town in the early morning hours. They lovingly pick up things tossed aside, clean them up, draw them into their collection diary and give them a place among their mansion.

One day when they pick up a basket of red yarn they find it is that of a young girl they dub Knit Again. Knit Again knits up a sweater that she undoes to knit again. Knit Again causes trouble in the house, upsetting the collection, and soon inspires the sisters to start cleaning house.

Part of the charm of WOOL is the animation bits that come and go, flashbacks via a dollhouse and animated tantrums of Knit Again. It was a bittersweet tale and the visual flair made me love this movie. What lead the ladies to become recluses? Well you’ll have to watch yourself.

 

GUMSHOE – This film was the feature debut of director Stephen Frears. Albert Finney is Eddie Ginley and he has just turned 31 years old. Eddie is an aspiring comedian who has a penchant for talking like a Dashiell Hammett detective and thinks his own analysts is crazier than he might be. “Me moments of glory all in me head.”

Eddie puts an ad in the local paper offering his services as a Private Eye and is soon caught up in a case that involves gun trading, being a hired killer, and heroine. The whole time Eddie has a sharp tongue spitting out witty remarks; “Gumshoe’s the game.” So much charm just oozes from Eddie. “A girl, a gun, a grand.” It was a fun mystery that took some turns. It goes to show ya that a delightful fella knows how to make good friends that will be at his side at the right time!

Oh and a funny side note I was surprised to see Andrew Lloyd Webber was the one who did the score to the movie! Fancy that! It was good too!

 

 

LOOPHOLE – We had ourselves an Albert Finney double thanks to this movie! And more Jonathan Pryce! Funny little random movie connections! (Hey, did someone say shrimp?) Anyways…

LOOPHOLE stars Albert Finney as thief Mike Daniels, and he is a good one with a small crew of two other fellas. After their latest score Mike reveals he has a new plan, that he’s scoped out for some time, but they’ll need a little extra help.

The heist involves robbing a big bank vault and taking all the safety deposit boxes but they need an architect! That’s where Martin Sheen as Stephen Booker comes in and he happens to be an architect down on his luck without a job and in debt.  After a little nudge and some big bucks temptation he’s of course in on the team. There is real good suspense and tension as the heist begins, it was also fun to watch the set up. I really recommend this one, but before you know it the film is done.

 

On 2/23/17 at 11:51AM we picked up three flicks:  OUT OF THE DARK (1988) on DVD, THE NESTING (1981) on DVD and DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS (1962) on DVD.

OUT OF THE DARK – This was one amusing thriller horror movie with a super cool cast (Karen Black, Bud Cort, Geoffrey Lewis) and cameos (Divine! Tab Hunter! Paul Bartel!). Set in the 80’s, WOOT, a group of ladies work at a phone sex line, run by Karen Black as Ruth in the heart of downtown Los Angeles.

There is more than a little bit of sleaze, and some good killer killing moments. I’m not afraid of clowns and this killer is rockin’ a pretty cool clown mask! The first kill at MacAurthur Park is one of the phone call gals walking her dog when the clown killer shows up to play a mime game with her. Most people I know, especially those with clown-phobias, would have been out of there faster than you can say BOZO. But play they do and bad stuff happens. Who is that masked clown? His name is Bobo, by the way. What’s his deal? What’s he got against phone sex ladies? Seriously, what’s his hangup? HAHA! Hang-up!

As the ladies who work at the phone sex line are knocked off one by one by Bobo, the cop on case is Lt. Frank Meyers played by Tracey Walter; “Another gritty crime in the city of angels.” Frank, he’s tough and his lady partner stays by his side.

The kills are good, the comic relief is all 80’s and there’s cool yellow Chucks and a weird not so sexy sex scene that is all there to distract you from who could be the real bad guy! A Clown mystery! Beware of BOBO!

 

DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS – Dave had never seen this one and I hadn’t watched it in ages. So this was a fun sci-fi re-see for me. These foreign seeds on earth are germinated when a meteor shower strikes all over the world creating walking killer plants, Triffids, and those who watched the meteors fall were blinded. Our hero Bill happened to bandaged in a hospital so he’s among the few see-ers left in world. Bill finds a young girl who can see as well and they pair up trying to find safety, search out others and just survive. We also follow a married scientist pair who’s relationship is on the rocks as they continue their studies in a lighthouse along the shore.

Will the Triffids overtake humanity? Can the human race survive and overcome the odds? Do the bad men try and take over the new world? So many questions are set forth, and you wonder, what side would you be on? Survive? Give up? Help others? Just sit back and watch! Let’s cheer Sci-Fi, always there to ask the tough questions! Yea Sci-Fi!

 

THE NESTING – More horror movie fun. We almost thought we had seen it already but thankfully it was a new movie to us both! An agoraphobic writer, Lauren (Robin Groves), finds a new home at a country house that turns out to be haunted. It’s as though the house had actually drawn Robin in to experience it’s history through strange vision of days long past and it happens that in it’s heyday was as a brothel. Can Robin overcome her phobia to move on in her life and get back to writing?

There’s plenty of jump scares and tension in the houses mystery which all adds up to make this a creepy film piece. It was a solid haunting, ghost, revenge tale that just focused on a few kooky characters and knocked ’em off in gruesome deserving ways. There’s some cool old actors too who give it solid cred; Gloria Grahame and John Carradine! They’ve still got their acting chops and show off just why there are always cool.

 

Yeah ROUNDUP!!! More movies have been rented since I started this post and I’m ready for Round 4, so stay tuned, it won’t be long, I promise! (I think…I just can’t let myself go and be lazy!!!!!!!!!) There’s movies to share after-all! Yup!

Round 2 of my DVD rental report is here! Yeah, renting movies like it’s 1990! (Oh days of old!) Since the last one I have rented 10 movies from Vidéothèque! There was one of the 10 that I did not watch though! You know how it is, you expect to watch them all right away and then there’s distractions! But dude…9 out of 10 rentals ain’t bad. There were some fun picks indeed.

On 1/9/17 at 6PM my guy Dave and I rented: BIG DEAL ON MADONNA STREET (1958) on DVD, BLACK EYE (1974) on DVD, FORGOTTEN SILVER (1995) on DVD and lastly A BITTERSWEET LIFE (2005) on DVD.

The movie we did not watch was BIG DEAL ON MADONNA STREET, but we plan to rent it again as I realized there is a sequel to it as well! Yup. I want both at the same time!

 

A BITTERSWEET LIFE – As the dvd began the movie felt pretty familiar and after a while we realized we had seen it already! But, you know what we kept on watching because a good movie is worth watching again! Looking back I realize I actually watched this movie in the early 2000’s after it had come out, but that was way before my official tally tracking.

From South Korea, the film is about a mob enforcer who’s asked to follow his bosses girlfriend to find out if she’s cheating on him and if she is, he’s got to kill her and the guy off! You can guess that he decides to not do the deed and suffers later for the choice. It’s not any easier that another enforcer is causing trouble with a rival gang so our hero has a lot to fight against. There’s action, torture and more action! If gang members just took care of each other rather than letting their egos get in the way, but then again, revenge is always a sweet thing to watch, because bad people get what they deserve.

 

BLACK EYE – Fred Williamson is private eye Shep Stone, he was once a cop and now does his own thing; solving cases and eating peanuts along the way.

An old silent movie star dies, he was involved with the local drug scene and a group of bad guys want the old man’s cane. It all happens to be going on in Shep’s neighborhood and so he’s immediately involved when his neighbor, a local prostitute, is killed. On top of that, Shep is a bit sad as his part time lady is also in a relationship with another woman. Yeah, he’s jelly, but he knows she’s a woman who can do as she pleases.

I really dug this little movie. Fred Williamson is bad ass as Shep. He’s chomping peanuts all the time and he gets his peanuts from the local bar where he takes his calls and does his private eye business.

The mystery in this film ties drugs, the pornography the film business, rich folks, a missing girl and a local cult all into one pot and you can bet Shep sorts it all out with peanuts in hand!

 

FORGOTTEN SILVER – A mockumentary, by Peter Jackson and Costa Botes, looking back at a silent era filmmaker from New Zealand. They cleverly made this documentary seem quite real and possible, and that’s wonderful movie magic from the start. Their filmmaker Colin McKenzie just about started all the trends of the filmmaking era and no one seemed to know about it as his greatest achievement was a lost film. As Colin’s film is discovered, and restored we learn about his rise and fall and it is all captivating. I really enjoyed this fun little film that jabs at the industry. Anything is possible and when you love movies! Movies let us achieve our dreams! YEA MOVIES!

 

On 1/19/17 at 3:04PM we rented: IGUANA (1988) on BluRay, THE QUILLER MEMORANDUM (1966) on DVD, DAY AFTER HALLOWEEN (1979) on DVD, CRY OF THE CITY (1948) on DVD and THE PUSHER (1960) DVD.

 

CRY OF THE CITY – I love old movies and I can’t get enough. I’m a big fan of Victor Mature! So we start our story from a hospital where a man is surrounded by family as it seems he’s on the verge of death. Martin Rove is the man in the bed, played by Richard Conte. Turns out Martin killed a cop, and is caught up in jewel heist! Detective Candella (Victor Mature) is on his trail. Candella knows Martin’s family and doesn’t want to see them hurt, but wants justice served.

Both men are from the same neighborhood and each took a different route. The film delves into family, loyalty, honor. Martin is a selfish man, he’s on the run, pushing his mother to the edge and making his life look glamorous to his younger bother. Candella doesn’t want Martin’s brother to go down the same road, and tries to be a better big brother figure. There’s a great cameo from Shelley Winters too as Brenda, a girl who helps Martin out in a time of need. Filled with suspense this film is a noir classic.

“Junior, why don’t you be a nice guy and beat it.” – Brenda

 

IGUANA – From director Monte Hellman we follow a disfigured man (Everett McGill) who’s lived his life at sea as one of the crew aboard a ship and because of his scaled face he’s been called Iguana most of his life. Since Iguana is a practitioner of Voodoo he’s soon tossed off and when he washes ashore of a small island he offers thanks to his Voodoo gods but then his crew finds him only to torture him again.

Once Iguana escapes he declares himself King of the island and vows to be the kind of ruler who is cruel yet fair. Michael Madsen is Sebastian, who was left on the island too. Sebastian becomes Iguana’s loyal subject after he lost a few fingers to Iguana’s “just” hand. As others wash ashore they must choose to obey Iguana’s law for a chance at life over death.

The film offers up questions of “Do men want to be ruled?” “What will men do to survive?” “Would you rather be free and alone or dead?” Iguana himself is a man questioning existence as he suffers with his disfigurement and being treated terribly all his life, but he only seems to knows how to return hate. Is he just a reflection of all the wrong doing he himself faced?

There’s also a side story of a young Spanish woman who’s lusting for adventure, lusting for a life of her own choosing and when she spends a night on the island with her future husband she’s captured by Iguana and forced to be at his side.

It was a movie that is rumored to come from a true old story. It’s visual and most unusual. Not easy to watch at times, but fascinating take on human nature and survival.

 

THE QUILLER MEMORANDUM – It does feel like I’m picking movies that, though they’re from days past, they’re more relevant now than ever. There’s spies, nazi, British Intelligence. At this point in time it seems the Nazi are making a return in Germany, but they must be uncovered! Quiller (George Segal) is sent in after the latest operative was killed. His handler is played by Alec Guiness!

Our big baddie is Oktober (Max von Sydow) and he wants to details on Quiller’s people. Quiller and Oktober have quite the back and forth and no one wants to give up what they know. Will Quiller bring down their operation? Can Oktober’s team kill Quiller? Will the Nazi group continue to infiltrate the current state of the country? Only time will tell, but Quiller won’t give up!

 

 

DAY AFTER HALLOWEEN, a.k.a. SNAPSHOT, a.k.a. ONE MORE MINUTE…Oh first things first, as I rented this movie the DVD title was DAY AFTER HALLOWEEN and it has nothing at all to do with Halloween! After reading up on it, those putting out the movie just decided to give it a Halloween title to capitalize on the Halloween movie at the time. So the titles SNAPSHOT or ONE MORE MINUTE are actually more appropriate.

It’s about a young and pretty girl who’s shown off her naked body as a model and is soon tormented, stalked, terrorized…I would say many days after HALLOWEEN. There’s a lot of people attracted to this girl, and every time it is a deadly attraction…the old ice cream man ex BF who’s loved by her puritanical mother, and oddly obsessed and really too old for this 17 year old girl!!! Next there’s the photographer who likes to photograph dead things, the older woman friend who knows the modeling ropes and the old film producer who is more than a little skeezy. I mean there’s a lot of skeezy and misdirect about who could be causing all the trouble. Dun, Dun, Dun!!!

 

THE PUSHER – Based on The 87th Precinct series by Ed McBain we see what a drug pusher known as Gonzo is doing to the neighborhood as he peddles heroine to kids, couples, anyone he can hook. The Lieutenant and his best detective are on the case! But, the detective is engaged to the Lieutenant’s daughter and wouldn’t you know it, she’s hooked on “the dope” and looking for a fix! Uh oh!

Smack! Dope! Fix! What would you do for that fix? It’s all bad news when smack is on the streets! The Lieutenant is ready to catch that pusher and set things straight! Oh, Keep a sharp eye out for a John Astin cameo! (And a weird coincidence, after watching this movie I got my hands on a few Ed McBain books to delve more into the Precinct stories when I find some time! READING TIME!)

 

On 1/27/17 at 7:58PM we rented: HORNETS’ NEST (1970) on DVD and THE LAST RUN (1971) on DVD. These rentals used up my rental packages so I guess it’s time to buy more! 😀 Yup!

 

HORNETS’ NEST – A group of boys see their whole town of mothers, grandfathers and children mowed down by Nazis while they were off hiding with the other fighting men and they were powerless to stop them. The same day a group of paratroopers land nearby and are also mowed down by the Nazis but one survives, Captain Turner, played by Rock Hudson (sporting his mustache).

Turner is rescued by the kids and they demand his help to avenges their town! After that he plans to uses the kids to complete his mission of blowing up a nearby dam. It’s a harsh look at war and the effect is has on people, especially children. Children who are forced to grow up fast, children who think they have the answers, children who are ready to kill because that’s all they have seen around them. Innocence lost right from the start.

It was a solid film and the kids were great, and real. Rock Hudson was pretty tough and gruff.

 

THE LAST RUN – George C. Scott is Harry Garmes, he lives a lovely lonesome life in Spain along the coast where he rents his boat to a local fisherman. Harry is getting older and is looking for something to help pass the time. He used to be a getaway driver and wants to give it another go to prove he’s still got it.

Harry makes some plans, has one last night with his prostitute gal pal (Colleen Dewhurst) and sets off to help a young guy Paul (Tony Musante) break out of jail. Paul makes Harry pick up his gal pal Claudie (Trish Van Devere) and as a trio they go on the run through the Spanish countryside.

When you’re dealing with ex-cons, cops and gangster types it’s never going to be an easy escape. Along the way Harry does his soul searching and does what he does best; DRIVE. The driving scenes were amazing along small mountain roads.  It was a great film and George C. Scott was pretty cool. It was fun to read up on George a bit more and learn that his wife at the time of this movie was Colleen and soon after they divorced (for the second time) and he then married Trish after who he stayed with the rest of his life.

 

And this now concludes my Round up!! I have already rented a new batch as I finally finish writing this piece and will be back even sooner with more movies to share! Now go out and rent some movies too! Yup! Yup! Yup! MOVIES!

I’ve had a rental membership to Vidéothèque for a while now. Vidéothèque is a cool video store in South Pasadena. My guy Dave and I meander through the aisle looking for movies, just like the good old days of movie renting. It’s fun to just browse, but most times we do rent DVDs and or VHS. It’s a little game between Dave and I to find movies to watch, he picks out one, shows it to me and more often than naught I say “Seen it”! Well, I can’t lie, cause I’ve seen it!  We aim for new movies, things we haven’t seen and when we pick a re-see we get to check out DVD extras like commentaries and what not. We’ve been renting about 5 movies a time, using their 5 movies for $17.99 deal and we get them for a week. I think I’m working my way up to the 100 rentals for $199.00.

At the start of this year we began our rental adventures on January 2nd! I’ve decided to keep track and share the fun of movie renting here on my blog because that’s what this place is for! Sharing fun things that I’ve enjoyed!

On 1/2/17 at 2:32PM we rented: THE FOG (1980) on BluRay,  WAR REQUIEM (1989) on DVD, RUTHLESS (1948) on BluRay, EAT THE RICH (1987) on DVD and lastly EATING RAOUL (1982) on BluRay.

THE FOG was a re-see for me, Dave had never watched it all the way through. Who doesn’t love a John Carpenter movie? It’s a ghost story that takes place at a little town along the coast on their 100th anniversary. The ghosts of the past roll in on the fog to exact revenge on local residents! Along for the ride there’s DJ Stevie Wayne played by Adrienne Barbeau, local weird guy Tom Atkins who picked up hitch hiker Jamie Lee Curtis. Oh and Jamie’s mom Janet Leigh is the town woman in charge of the 100th anniversary celebrations! It’s a good creepy flick and still makes me jump no matter how many times I’ve seen it!

 

RUTHLESS was a good film discovery! Zachary Scott is Horace Woodruff Vendig, a most wealthy man who’s at the top of his game! He’s made it there by being ruthless and it seems he’s considering repentance as he gathers his spurned acquaintances. Through a series of flashbacks we see how he climbed up with love and support but spurned and hurt those he loved as he saw no other way to become rich and powerful.

 

 

WAR REQUIEM has no dialogue, it’s music from composer Benjamin Britten and tells the World War 1 story of a British soldier who’s trying to survive and fight. We see the toll the war takes on people and it is a most visual operatic movie that also uses old war stock footage. The cast is amazing and features the beautiful Tilda Swinton and a very young Sean Bean. It’s a movie that has to be seen and heard more than described.

 

EAT THE RICH was another discovery, something I never heard of before. And since I knew we were going to be renting EATING RAOUL, it sounded like a good double feature combo. EAT THE RICH is a British black comedy commenting on class struggles, the rich rich and politics. Alex is a waiter at BASTARDS, the very fancy place to be place where only the rich go to nosh. Alex hates his job, hates the people and is soon fired. Left unemployed and homeless he is pushed to rebel against the system when he gets a gun killing employees at the unemployment office. Alex and his fellow homeless friend are on the lamb and ready to fight and die for their new found cause! The other side of the RICH adventures is singer Lemmy as an arms dealer named Spider who’s working with another government agent (spy for Russia), who wants to use Alex’s rebellion to ruin Nosher, the Home Secretary, who is campaigning for Prime Minister. Nosher is beer drinking everyman who uses muscle and attitude, hmmmmm, yup. This ridiculous movie, with music from Motörhead, turned out to be incredibly fun! Oh keep an eye out for a Paul McCartney cameo.

 

EATING RAOUL is a cult classic and it has got Janus Film cred! I love this movie. I saw it as a young movie watcher, thanks to my dad’s good taste in movies. Directed and starring Paul Bartel he is Paul Bland. Paul is married to Mary (Mary Woronov) and they dream of opening their own country kitchen even though they lack the funds, because they’re in debt! Now, this is their dream and there has to be a way to make it come true!?! It is the 80’s! It’s a time for swingers, swingers who want sex and drugs and they happen to have lots of money! When Mary is almost raped by a swinger, and he’s killed by Paul with a frying pan, they steal his money and decide to become involved in the sex trade! The Bland’s are knocking off perverted sex maniacs taking all their money! Who would miss them, right? When Paul and Mary start making a pretty good business they cross paths with locksmith, thief, jack of all trades, hot blooded crazy Chicano Raoul (Robert Beltran). Raoul joins their scheme and helps to get rid of the bodies and evidence. He also falls for Mary and starts to plot on how to knock off Paul. This film is just sexy sleazy fun with cool cameos like Buck Henry, Edie McClurg, John Paragon and Ed Begley Jr. (which I realized watching again, this role is a reason I probably am not a big fan of his, the hippie rapist.) Anyways, EATING RAOUL holds up and is a great fun 80’s black comedy!

Stay tuned for more Rental Rounds up! We’ve already rented 4 more movies! Yup!