Last movie seen — Page 232

Have not finished the movie yet but was watching the first ten minutes of Man of Steel and noticed Krypton looks like a desaturated Pandora from Avatar.  Also annoyed by just how bad Crowe is as Jor-El.

Hope the rest of the film picks up as i was bored to tears and thought the CGI was pretty terrible.

Reegar said:

Man of Steel is a weird film on every conceivable level. I could sit and write a novel-sized post on how weird it is, but it honestly speaks for itself. The plot, the acting, the pacing, all feels (appropriately?) semi-alien.

I'd recommend watching it twice, Skyjedi. People seem to form their concrete opinion of MOS in their second viewing.

I read when it gets to Earth its like a ripoff of Batman Begins.  Honestly i hope not.  I got the same from the trailer.  And Superman is anything but brooding, full of angst and unsure of himself.  Nolan got away with it because its supposed to show that he was like that before he was Batman.

I love Batman Begins and the other 2 Batman flicks by Nolan despite their flaws.  But I don't know people are saying he really is not Superman til the last 5 minutes of the movie and that part 2 was going to be a Superman film proper, that was until it became another Batman film.

I went through the majority of the Universal classics...though it gets verry bad:

Dracula-Masterpiece with all of its flaws. 4/4

Spanish version-Better made in every way but drags on too long and is inferior sadly. 3/4

Frankenstein-Masterpiece. 4/4

Murders in the Rue Morgue-nothing to do with Poe, Lugosi is the only redeeming thing and is onscreen far too little, terrible monkey-suited man, and liberal doses of WTF. Terrible. 1.5/4

Island of Lost Souls-Poor version of Island of Dr. Moreau, with 90% of the novel gone for this cheapy 70 minute horror. Only Laughton's performance and the generated atmosphere are worthwhile. 2.5/4

The Mummy-Masterpiece. 4/4

The Old Dark House-I LOVE JIMMY WHALE. 4/4

The Invisible Man-Masterpiece. 4/4

The Black Cat-Obviously shorn to pieces by censors, made obvious by the ludicrous lack of plotting. Still it's Bela vs. Boris amidst supreme atmosphere, what's not to love? 3/4

The Raven-Mad ideas abound in this diabolically plotted picture that makes little to no sense. Bela and Boris are wonderful the rest is absolutely silly. 3/4

Werewolf of London-Absolutely dull and beyond silly. 1/4

Bride of Frankenstein-One of the great American films, one of the best films ever made, arguably the best picture of the 1930's, Whale's masterpiece, and easily by and large the greatest of all horror films. 4/4

Dracula's Daughter-Unbelievably dull and monotonous. A waste of everyone involved. 2.5/4

The Invisible Ray-Silly. 2/4

Night Key- Surprisingly effective crime thriller that has nothing to do with horror. Boris is wonderful. 3/4

Son of Frankenstein-Most underrated Universal horror. A great classic with Lugosi's best performance. 4/4

Tower of London-forgettable historical drama that is good only for basil Rathbone as Richard and an extremely young Vincent Price. 2.5/4

The Invisible Man Returns-Good plot setup but only middling to dull production. The beginning of the lesser budgeted cheapy horrors on tight economics courtesy of new studio owners. 3/4

The Invisible Woman-Good god, why make this a comedy? Abysmal. 1/4

The Mummy's Hand-The only good Mumym sequel, with plenty of humor and good ol' serial action. A true B-movie classic. 3.5/4

The Wolf Man-the least of the original monsters, because of plotting and low budgets, TWM excels in atmosphere and character portrayal with Lon Chaney Jr. truly nailing Talbot's accursed existence and Claude Rains performing as the screen's greatest supporting actor. 4/4

The Ghost of Frankenstein-Drivel. Pure and simple. Make it end. 2/4

Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man-surprisingly good sequel to two different films that is good albeit obviously edited down to remove thew Creature's speech. 3/4

Phantom of the Opera (1943)-unnecessary beyond tepid remake of the silent classic where Claude Rains is horribly miscast as a more sympathetic Phantom. Make no mistake, this is merely a Technicpolor musical vehicle and not a horror film. Gorgeous to look at but not at all recommended. 1/4

Now time to finish off my hated Mummy sequels, then on to the rest of the 40's/40's output.

And speaking of the ongoing MoS debate and the horrid Supes movies that keep coming down the pipeline...I read this recently and felt it worked as a movie so well...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Son_%28comics%29

captainsolo, can you recommend Gods and Monsters? I've been curious about it.

Bingowings said:

SilverWook said:

captainsolo, can you recommend Gods and Monsters? I've been curious about it.

It makes a great double bill with Ed Wood (1994).

Though those sort of drama/biography things always make me feel uncomfortable especially when they aren't too accurate.

Yeah, Hollywood biopics have always required a dose of salt. I'd been avoiding the movie because I thought it might be too much of a downer, but it's near the top of the unwatched stack since depleting the stuff I saved for Halloween.

THE 13th FLOOR (1999)

I enjoyed this, yet it did have a fair amount of brutal violence. It's a murder mystery film that is kind of a cross between "The Matrix" and "Dark City".

captainsolo said:

I went through the majority of the Universal classics...though it gets verry bad:

Dracula-Masterpiece with all of its flaws. 4/4

Spanish version-Better made in every way but drags on too long and is inferior sadly. 3/4

Frankenstein-Masterpiece. 4/4

The Mummy-Masterpiece. 4/4

The Old Dark House-I LOVE JIMMY WHALE. 4/4

The Invisible Man-Masterpiece. 4/4

The Black Cat-Obviously shorn to pieces by censors, made obvious by the ludicrous lack of plotting. Still it's Bela vs. Boris amidst supreme atmosphere, what's not to love? 3/4

Bride of Frankenstein-One of the great American films, one of the best films ever made, arguably the best picture of the 1930's, Whale's masterpiece, and easily by and large the greatest of all horror films. 4/4

Son of Frankenstein-Most underrated Universal horror. A great classic with Lugosi's best performance. 4/4

The Wolf Man-the least of the original monsters, because of plotting and low budgets, TWM excels in atmosphere and character portrayal with Lon Chaney Jr. truly nailing Talbot's accursed existence and Claude Rains performing as the screen's greatest supporting actor. 4/4

 

Nice reviews! Bold-ed for agreement! Bride Of Frankenstein is my favorite film. James Whale is too wonderful for words. Glad to see someone else giving Son Of Frankenstein some respect. I think it fits right along with the first two and is followed up nicely by Mel Brooks Young Frankenstein.

The Silencers (1966)

2 of my favorite things. 007 and Dean Martin. When you throw them together, you get Matt Helm the star of this James Bond spoof.

While I never felt that this movie was going an all out Austin Powers route in making fun of every single tiny little thing, because they could, I felt it sort of respected the subject and actually made a fairly decent flick.

This film is mostly a vehicle for Dean Martin's overall likeability, regardless of whether you like the man or his music, it's undeniable he had talent. It was once said that he would've had a great career as a comedian if he wasn't such a good singer.

While this film is pushing 50 years old, it still has laughs, at least to Bond fans. Really, the bulk of jokes that could be made about Bond films weren't yet filmed. Austin Powers had decades of Bond films to draw from, even though it mostly focused on the 60's to early 70's.

While it might not make you spill your popcorn in laughter, you should at least crack a grin or two. It has some scenes that might not be politically correct, like ripping of dresses or drinking and driving, but if you are sensitive to political incorrectness, you shouldn't be watching Dean Martin or Bond films, or anything from the 60's for the most part.

I didn't see it as much of a parody, just a fun film. Was it a masterpiece? Not at all, but if you start running out of good masterpieces to watch, grab this one.

White Heat (1949)

I absolutely love the noir movies of the 30's and 40's, and it doesn't get much better than this one. James Cagney gives an amazing performance as the emotional and psychotic mob boss, Cody Jarrett.

People often argue that James Cagney played the bad gangster too many times, but it's his thing. John Wayne was usually a cowboy, and nobody calls him out for that. I think if you're good at it, why not stick with it.

Cagney's performance in this film deserves every ounce of praise.

8.5 out of 10,

ah who am I kidding 10 out of 10

I don't know what could've made it better, I don't know what makes a film perfect, but this film is great.

Bingowings said:

SilverWook said:

captainsolo, can you recommend Gods and Monsters? I've been curious about it.

It makes a great double bill with Ed Wood (1994).

Though those sort of drama/biography things always make me feel uncomfortable especially when they aren't too accurate.

Haven't seen it in ages, but Bingo nails how I felt originally seeing it. Though now coming in knowing more about Whale I might be able to appreciate it better.

DuracellEnergizer said:

captainsolo said:

And speaking of the ongoing MoS debate and the horrid Supes movies that keep coming down the pipeline...I read this recently and felt it worked as a movie so well...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Son_%28comics%29

The plot description leaves me cold, to be quite honest. It's just more preoccupation with Krypton, Phantom Zone criminals, yada, yada, yada. Movies need to move away from all that; it's time that the human side of the character -- the side that is Clark Kent -- was focused on.

So did I, upon seeing it in a library, but then I noticed that Donner had actually co-written the book which necessitated my reading it. What I found most appealing was the frequent glimpses of humanity within.

FanFiltration said:

 

THE 13th FLOOR (1999)

I enjoyed this, yet it did have a fair amount of brutal violence. It's a murder mystery film that is kind of a cross between "The Matrix" and "Dark City".

Always meant to see this as it sounded different and featured one of my favorite songs in the history of time on the soundtrack. ("Erase/Rewind" from The Cardigans' masterpiece Gran Turismo)

ray_afraid said:

captainsolo said:

I went through the majority of the Universal classics...though it gets verry bad:

Dracula-Masterpiece with all of its flaws. 4/4

Spanish version-Better made in every way but drags on too long and is inferior sadly. 3/4

Frankenstein-Masterpiece. 4/4

The Mummy-Masterpiece. 4/4

The Old Dark House-I LOVE JIMMY WHALE. 4/4

The Invisible Man-Masterpiece. 4/4

The Black Cat-Obviously shorn to pieces by censors, made obvious by the ludicrous lack of plotting. Still it's Bela vs. Boris amidst supreme atmosphere, what's not to love? 3/4

Bride of Frankenstein-One of the great American films, one of the best films ever made, arguably the best picture of the 1930's, Whale's masterpiece, and easily by and large the greatest of all horror films. 4/4

Son of Frankenstein-Most underrated Universal horror. A great classic with Lugosi's best performance. 4/4

The Wolf Man-the least of the original monsters, because of plotting and low budgets, TWM excels in atmosphere and character portrayal with Lon Chaney Jr. truly nailing Talbot's accursed existence and Claude Rains performing as the screen's greatest supporting actor. 4/4

 

Nice reviews! Bold-ed for agreement! Bride Of Frankenstein is my favorite film. James Whale is too wonderful for words. Glad to see someone else giving Son Of Frankenstein some respect. I think it fits right along with the first two and is followed up nicely by Mel Brooks Young Frankenstein.

Thanks! Whale so imprinted his own personal brand of life into his films that they are absolutely one of a kind. Bride absolutely was life changing for me.

And Son is a remarkably effective film that gets no credit whatsoever. There would have been no 40's horror revival without it, or if it had been filmed/released as written because the script was rather poor. In fact, the film as stands is and was largely improvised by the director and cast on-set. The big drawback is that there became very little for the Creature to do besides stand around as a figure of horror, leaving Karloff's last performance rather understated.

LMS:

Abominable Dr. Phibes-Eloquent, pure joy that paved the way towards the glorious Theater of Blood. DON'T FREAKING REMAKE THIS BURTON!!! 4/4

And I started the 1943 Batman serials for the first time...deplorable quality in places but despite the cheesiness and poor production--this is seriously watchable stuff folks. Though watch out for typical racist anti-Japanese sentiment commonplace of WWII era media.

Yeah, my jaw dropped at the narration making the internment sound like a good thing. And I've watched plenty of propaganda cartoons of the era.

The Rifftrax gang has been slowly doing one of the later serials, and I'd like to see them tear into this one.

DuracellEnergizer said:

All-Star Superman (2011)

Contrary to popular opinion, my least favourite version of Superman is not the pre-Crisis Superman of the Silver & Bronze Ages. No, not at all. The truth is my least favourite version of the character is the pre-Crisis Superman of the Silver & Bronze Ages as interpreted by Modern Age navel-gazers like Grant Morrison.

Suffice it to say, any interest I ever had in reading the comic version of the story is now stone-cold dead. One of the best takes on Superman my ass.

5.6/10

Nooooo!! Don't judge All Star Superman from the crappy animated version! The comic is way better than the movie. Please give the comic a chance, you may find that you like it.

Or you may not.

But you'll never know until you give it a chance.