Watching movies! That’s what I wish I could be doing all the time…(I am finally over 100 movies adding together my new and re-sees! Whew…) And writing about movies is what I should absolutely be doing more of too, yup! Too bad that I love to procrastinate! Oh, how I am easily distracted and I’ll just make up excuse as life goes on and on because the world is crazy! But that nonsense should be put aside to share the happy, and the fun and so here’s a little list and some rambling about what has filled my eyes and mind when I do find the time to sit in front of a TV or big screen. Yup.

The fun is sharing movies with friends and I got to see movies at Rosemead High with their film club back in May for a marathon! There was actually one movie I had never seen too! I am very lucky that I can join in that event with some awesome friend who love movie marathons as much as I do! Yup!

WONDER WOMAN finally hit the big screen and that was a big ball of emotions for me. (I’m wearing my Wonder Woman tiara now as I write this!) I got to see WONDER WOMAN twice, the second time was with my nieces, Celia and Effie, and that second time it still packed a teary good punch! (The tears of joy are a good thing!) It’s kind of hard to explain just what brings those tears in Wonder Woman; there’s tears of joy, tears in reaction to things going on, and the feeling that a WONDER WOMAN movie was long overdue, more tears of joy.

More highlights: My friend, Karen, was back from Ireland and we got to check out a documentary on the Kings Hockey commentator Bob Miller called VOICE OF THE KINGS! There was a Q&A and of course we got to met him too! GO KINGS GO!

Karen, Bob and I! BOB MILLER! GO KINGS GO!

 

I got to show Celia THE LOST BOYS and she dug it, she’s getting a small taste for horror things! YEA!!! I appreciated that Celia was most amused to see Alex Winter as a vampire, since she had only known him a Bill from you know what…(Oh, I know Celia finally watched GREMLINS with her mom and she loved it, I’m happy to report.)

Oh and Celia and Effie and I watched STREETS OF FIRE which was also a hit! (WHEW again!) Effie like noticing LEE VING who she recognized from CLUE! She said it’s “Not Mr. Body!” Also, funny to realize how PG STREETS OF FIRE is and what PG was then compared to now…right? Yea the 80’s!!! Good times!

 

Ok, now here’s the list, NEW MOVIES and RE-SEES! Yup!

NEW MOVIES: 

  • MST3K: THE RETURN: THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT (1974) | 5/8/17 
  • WHERE HAVE ALL THE PEOPLE GONE? (1974) | 5/8/17 | Stream 
  • THE STREET WITH NO NAME (1948) | 5/15/17 | DVD 
  • MST3K: THE RETURN: THE LOVE OF HERCULES  (1960) | 5/18/17 | Netflix 
  • ALIEN: COVENANT (2017) | 5/20/17 | AMC Monterey Park 
  • CRIMSON PEAK (2015) | 5/20/17 | HBO Go 
  • THE JUNGLE BOOK (2016) | 5/26/17 | Netflix 
  • ANNIE GET YOUR GUN (1950) | 5/27/17 | Rosemead High 24hr Film Fest

  • DON’T THINK TWICE (2016) | 5/29/17 | Netflix 
  • ADRENALINE DRIVE (1999) | 5/30/17 | DVD

  • THE IRON HORSE (1924) | 5/31/17 | DVD 
  • MST3K: THE RETURN: YONGARY (1967) | 5/31/17 | Netflix 
  • WONDER WOMAN (2017) | 6/1/17 | Vista 
  • WILD TALES (2014) | 6/4/17 | DVD 
  • VOICE OF THE KING (2017) | 6/7/17 | NoHo7 | Q&A w/ Bob Miller

  • IT COMES AT NIGHT (2017) | 6/8/17 | AMC Monterey Park 
  • THEM (2006) | 6/18/17 | Amazon Prime 

 

RE-SEE MOVIES: 

  • THE LOST BOYS (1987) | 5/22/17 | DVD (With Celia, she loved it!…whew!)
  • ANIMAL CRACKERS (1930) | 5/27/17 | Rosemead High 24hr Film Fest
  • ALIENS (1986) | 5/27/17 | Rosemead High 24hr Film Fest
  • MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (1960) | 5/27/17 | Rosemead High 24hr Film Fest
  • CLUE (1985) | 5/27/17 | Rosemead High 24hr Film Fest
  • SPIDER-MAN 2 (2004) | 6/12/17 | CABLE
  • WONDER WOMAN (2017) | 6/13/17 | Edwards Alhambra (With Celia and Effie)
  • MIDNIGHT MADNESS (1980) | 6/17/17 | YouTube (rental)

    R.I.P. Stephen Furst!

  • STREETS OF FIRE (1984) | 6/22/17 | DVD (Finished 6/26/17)
  • TANK GIRL (1995) | 6/27/17 | Blu-Ray

Oh, I have rented a flick or two just the other day so lookout for a rental round up popping up here soon! I’m hoping I can get my dad out to see BABY DRIVER. Slow and steady I’ll watch those movies! Oh yea, I will!

P.S. – I did watch the entire series of GLOW on Netflix in one day/night! You should check it out too if you like lady leads, wrestling, and good stories! Yup!

Now, what have you been watching?

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!

This past Tuesday night I got to attend a screening of YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN at the Academy in Beverly Hills. The theater was packed and sold out!

IMG_20140909_182916 (1)It’s was a special 40th Anniversary screening with Mel Brooks, Terri Garr,  and Cloris Leachman in attendance along with producer Michael Gruskoff. The whole Q&A was moderated by critic/historian Leonard Maltin.  He began with a little history of the movie, reminding us how timeless the film truly is and shared some correspondences from Gene Wilder and Gene Hackman. (Gene Hackman said how he got involved with the movie by asking Gene about his latest project over a game of tennis.)

The Q&A was full of laughs and memories for all to share in. Mel and Cloris had more than a few back and forth jabs at each other. Everyone was very quick witted for sure.

Cloris complained that Mel didn’t stop Gene when he would continue to laugh and ruin takes. The scene walking along the stairs when they first arrive at the castle took like 15 takes. Mel says he couldn’t yell at his star. Terri admitted her mother worked on the film on the costumes and Mel never knew that they were related.

Everyone shared their favorite scenes on down the line. Mel said how the first cut was over 2 hours and after his test screening he cut it down to 91 minutes and delivered the film we all know and love and laugh along with.

One of the most enjoyable moments was when Cloris picked out her grand-daughter who was in the audience and explained to her the “knockers” joke. Cloris stood up, and made it clear that “knockers” had two meanings.

It had been a while since I last saw YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN. It was a lot of fun and the theater was full of laughter. No matter how many times I’ve seen it the jokes get me every time. Oh, Mel and Cloris stuck around to watch too. I could peek over and see Mel chuckling along, and his son Max Brooks was there too.

I’m so happy the Academy put on screenings like this and that I was fortunate enough to attend. For $5.00 it’s a great deal! I know there’s a new Blu-Ray out of YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, so do yourself a favor and get it, watch, and laugh. (I have to go get myself a copy too!)