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Post by Chalice_Of_Evil on Aug 16, 2023 22:18:03 GMT
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil
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Post by Chalice_Of_Evil on Aug 19, 2023 13:59:40 GMT
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Post by Lebowskidoo 🦞 on Aug 19, 2023 18:11:33 GMT
Since I hadn't seen either one, I watched Possessed (1931) and Possessed (1947), both with Joan Crawford, but totally unrelated except for Joan Crawford.
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Post by Prime etc. on Aug 20, 2023 7:35:43 GMT
LIFEPOD - 1978 -- For some reason I see it listed as 1978 although the copyright on it says 1981. I am more inclined to think it was made post-ALIEN. The production design is pretty good for cheap film like this--the logos and the insignias on the ship were rather cool and looked authentic. The cast was ok especially the captain but if the budget was higher, if it had Ridley Scott cinematography, a slightly more detailed ship model, maybe some more recognizable faces, it could have been quite an epic film--Hal 9000 crossed with the Poseidon Adventure. And strangely, the end credit music is really good--why didn't they use that for earlier in the film I wonder.
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Post by Chalice_Of_Evil on Aug 21, 2023 12:25:28 GMT
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Post by Prime etc. on Aug 23, 2023 7:23:24 GMT
RIFIFI IN PARIS 1966 - I am not sure who or what Rififi is--there is another movie Rififi in Amsterdam. This is about a French special agent who goes undercover to work for a mobster (and even kills someone for him) in order to bust a criminal racket. But there's something really odd about it. The lead is a rather awkwardly skinny guy--seems more like a bumbling professor (or John Kerry actually) rather than a secret agent. He does something I thought was horrific at one point--he has a vest containing gold and in order to avoid it being found I guess, he sticks it in a toilet. Granted it's a hotel and the room is brand new--but I don't know--of all the places to stick it--he could have tucked it into a corner, under a chair. And the goons who come in and beat him up--they don't even look around. And then someone comes in to collect it and he just waltzes into the bathroom and brings it out.
The mobsters seem to be more of the major characters--the head gangster sets a bomb to kill his rivals (George Raft shows up --I missed his name in the credits). And it ends with the agent telling the mobster that he respects him--and the mobster responds by punching him out.
Maybe it was meant to be a comedy but it sure didn't have many jokes. The cinematography was rather nice though.
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Post by Chalice_Of_Evil on Aug 25, 2023 14:04:44 GMT
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Post by Chalice_Of_Evil on Aug 28, 2023 18:52:15 GMT
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Post by Prime etc. on Aug 31, 2023 6:03:59 GMT
THE RED QUEEN KILLS 7 TIMES 1972--Rewatch. Has some slasher aspects and a couple of spooky scenes (not to mention an elaborate water flood ending where Barbara Bouchet goes soaring out of a water in a deluge--I don't think they had a stunt performers for such things.
THE HAUNTED PALACE - 1963 Released this week 60 years ago.
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Post by Prime etc. on Sept 7, 2023 6:07:21 GMT
THE WAR LORD 1965 - Charlton Heston is a miserable knight (the bowl cut hairdo doesn't help matters) who gets a pagan village to keep for an unseen duke. Grouchy man of few words Richard Boone is his sidekick. Maurice Evans is a local priest. Guy Stockwell is Heston's scenery-chewing brother. Rosemary Forsythe is a local girl who was to marry James Farentino but Heston is persuaded that he has the legal right to rape her with the village blessing but this leads to a big siege sequence which is the highlight. It's an easy to forget film--El Cid it isn't-I forgot the ending last time I watched it. I read it was a Broadway play with Darren McGavin and Robert Lansing that only lasted 4 performances.
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Post by Prime etc. on Sept 8, 2023 5:43:12 GMT
KILL ROMMEL - 1969 Anton Diffring in a rare lead role and as a British commando who is heading a team into the desert to kill someone. Take a wild guess who. It doesn't go as planned and they end up stranded with an Italian prisoner. Since it is an Italian film they aren't rooting for the Allies. Their prisoner ends up saving the British. The dub voice for Diffring sounded like Peter Cushing--he would have given it much more dramatic gravity but I like these desert war movies along the lines of Play Dirty. I have my own drinking game with these kind of movies--when someone drinks water--I usually do too.
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Post by louise on Sept 8, 2023 15:19:21 GMT
Belfast (2021). A child’s eye view of life in Belfast in 1969. Great film, a poignant portrait of the breakdown of a community into bitter sectarianism, with excellent performances all round.
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Post by Prime etc. on Sept 15, 2023 5:45:11 GMT
PERFECT FRIDAY 1970 - Stanley Baker is a bored bank employee who decides to rob it--needing the help of a (frequently broke) earl (David Warner) and his (frequently naked) wife (Ursula Andress). The editing in the first half gets extremely erratic but somehow I was able to follow it and it gets rather suspenseful when the actual heist happens (a low key scheme involving Warner posing as a bank inspector). If you have seen enough of these late 60s quirky caper films where these is two men and one woman--they always doublecross each other and the one who usually gets the loot is the woman. Can't say the outcome was a surprise here. What was interesting is that they shot some scenes on the street among non-actors--it's surprising that they even shot a shouting match dialogue scene among such a crowd where you can see them smiling and looking at the camera and the actors.
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Post by Prime etc. on Sept 21, 2023 7:03:02 GMT
SUPER BITCH 1973 -- Ivan Rassimov is a government agent who plays criminals against each other and also his employers. The SB of the title is Mama the Turk, a matriarchal mob boss. Or, considering how it ends, it might actually be Stephanie Beacham. If one ever wondered if she did nude scenes--this movie will end the deliberation.
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Post by Prime etc. on Sept 28, 2023 16:46:04 GMT
Lots of rewatches for me
THE MAN WHO WAS NOBODY - 1960 Edgar Wallace mystery with Hazel Court as a private investigator hired to find someone who ran off with a diamond.
MR MAJESTYK - 1974 - Perhaps the most exciting movie ever about watermelon farming.
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Post by Prime etc. on Oct 1, 2023 7:10:28 GMT
REPORT TO THE COMMISSIONER 1975 - I was surprised this movie was unknown to me especially after the first half hour as it was quite interesting in plot with numerous familiar faces--concerning a New York police narcotics operation that goes badly awry--resulting in the death of an undercover policewoman (Susan Blakely). The cast is full of people you have seen if you have watched Kojak or Baretta. Michael Moriarty is the focus as a rookie detective and there's a French Connection feeling to it since it shoots in New York City. One scene in particular stands out where Bob Balaban as a Vietnam Vet with no legs who gets around on a rolling table, seeks to tail a suspect by scooting directly into major traffic and hitches a ride on the rear fender of a cab. Richard Gere in the first movie appearance portrays a pimp.
The trouble is, the movie deteriorates to a downbeat and over the top ending. I am not surprised it sank down a memory hole. The producer was Abby Mann of Kojak fame and the idea is something that could have been the basis for a series episode.
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Post by Prime etc. on Oct 6, 2023 6:02:42 GMT
PENDULUM 1969 - George Peppard is a cop who got a promotion after beating a confession out of a murderer. But due to a technicality exposed by a defense attorney (Richard Kiley), the murderer is given a new trial. Kiley tries to get the murderer to take a plea deal for treatment but when he learns he may be able to get off completely, his client opts to walk free which he does. The next day, Peppard's wife and another man are found dead in their home. Naturally, suspicions fall on Peppard and he soon learns who his friends are in the department (which includes Dana Elcar--how many cop friends of the main character did that guy play?). Peppard hires Kiley as his defense attorney and soon searches for the real killer. The story is about the difficulties in balancing the rights of the accused vs public safety. I don't think it provides any solutions but it does keep one in suspense until the kinetic finale.
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Post by Prime etc. on Oct 17, 2023 5:27:01 GMT
CHARLEY VARRICK 1973 -- Premiered this week although I couldn't get a precise date (did it really show in Sweden and Italy before the US?) Was worth a rewatch anyway.
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Post by louise on Oct 18, 2023 22:40:23 GMT
The Pajama Game (1957). Joyful musical with wonderful songs and the whole cast in great form. Delightful.
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Post by Prime etc. on Oct 19, 2023 6:00:08 GMT
THEATER OF BLOOD 1973 -- This is not one I watch often. It is just an uptown version of Dr. Phibes. You have the fiendish revenge schemes and an assistant, the police tagging along, but with a lot more dialogue for Price.
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