Recent Viewings, Part 2

[Rev. Powell]

"Toby Dammit" (1968): This is Fellini's 45-minute segment for the anthology film "Spirits of the Dead."  An English actor (Terrence Stamp) is haunted by visions of a young girl with a ball, which drives him to drink. Brought to Italy to receive an honorary award and star in a film, he gets drunk and gets into a Ferrari and drives like a maniac until he comes to a bridge that's out. This is Fellini's only horror movie, but it makes you wish he had made more. 4.5/5.

FELLINI: A DIRECTOR'S NOTEBOOK (1969): An hour-long experimental documentary made by the director while preparing to shoot SATYRICON, it consists of (frequently staged) segments where he visits an abandoned movie set that's been taken over by hippies, creates a scene for Marcello Mastroianni where he plays a cello while his eyes are dilated, and holds screen test for amateurs who are hoping to play extras in his latest film, among other sketches. Fascinating for fans (especially the incredible gallery of eccentrics who show up for Fellini's open casting call); unfortunately, the surviving prints are poor quality. 3/5

[RCMerchant]

"Toby Dammit" (1968): This is Fellini's 45-minute segment for the anthology film "Spirits of the Dead."  An English actor (Terrence Stamp) is haunted by visions of a young girl with a ball, which drives him to drink. Brought to Italy to receive an honorary award and star in a film, he gets drunk and gets into a Ferrari and drives like a maniac until he comes to a bridge that's out. This is Fellini's only horror movie, but it makes you wish he had made more. 4.5/5.

I seen the whole film. I quite enjoyed it, but the episode with Anita Ekberg as a 50 foot woman is my favorite.

[Rev. Powell]

"Toby Dammit" (1968): This is Fellini's 45-minute segment for the anthology film "Spirits of the Dead."  An English actor (Terrence Stamp) is haunted by visions of a young girl with a ball, which drives him to drink. Brought to Italy to receive an honorary award and star in a film, he gets drunk and gets into a Ferrari and drives like a maniac until he comes to a bridge that's out. This is Fellini's only horror movie, but it makes you wish he had made more. 4.5/5.

I seen the whole film. I quite enjoyed it, but the episode with Anita Ekberg as a 50 foot woman is my favorite.

That's a different anthology film, BOCACCIO '70. The Anita Ekberg segment was directed by Fellini. I still need to see BOCACCIO '70 to complete my Fellini bingo card.

[Jim H]

Broken Arrow (1950) - this is a movie I'd been aware of for a long time because of its identical title to the John Woo film.  Suffice to say, way different movie.  But it's pretty good, with a balanced depiction of Apache people.  I found the intentional choice where all the dialogue that would be in Apache is simply in English to be an interesting one too.  It helped them avoid stereotypes of the time.  Jeff Chandler as Cochise got an Oscar nom, and it's a good performance.  Jimmy Stewart is good, though the romance subplot feels a bit off.  A pretty solid Western.

[Rev. Powell]

PERIOD PIECE (2006): Made for about $10, this absurdity interweaves several obscene stories, highlighted by the repeated molestation of a teddy bear and a naked old man trying to hack off the head from a pig's corpse while he screams insults. Unforgettable, but for all the wrong reasons. 1.5/5.

[RCMerchant]

"Toby Dammit" (1968): This is Fellini's 45-minute segment for the anthology film "Spirits of the Dead."  An English actor (Terrence Stamp) is haunted by visions of a young girl with a ball, which drives him to drink. Brought to Italy to receive an honorary award and star in a film, he gets drunk and gets into a Ferrari and drives like a maniac until he comes to a bridge that's out. This is Fellini's only horror movie, but it makes you wish he had made more. 4.5/5.

I seen the whole film. I quite enjoyed it, but the episode with Anita Ekberg as a 50 foot woman is my favorite.

That's a different anthology film, BOCACCIO '70. The Anita Ekberg segment was directed by Fellini. I still need to see BOCACCIO '70 to complete my Fellini bingo card.

]

OK. I seen SPIRITS OF THE DEAD, because I recall the Toby Dammit episode. Maybe I seen both, and got them mixed up.

[Dr. Whom]

Rim of the World (2019)

The alien invasion has struck and four early teen stereotypes have survived the mayhem by wandering off on summer camp. They now have to get the McGuffin to JPL to save the world, with a very persistent alien monster on their heels.

This is an homage to 80s kids adventure movies and is almost completely by the numbers. Enjoyable for what it is, but forgettable. Midway it briefly turns into a commercial for clothing.

[Jim H]

Wrath of Man - OK Statham revenge flick.  Statham is quite good in the role, but it's limited in range.  The fractured narrative seems a bit much, doesn't really add anything.  It's well-made.  I dunno.  It's alright.  Considerably less action than I expected. 

Shoutout to Paramount Plus for being the technically worst streaming app I've ever used (PS4/5 app, specifically), as I watched this film on it and am watching a couple shows on it.  Here's the list of issues I had.  Subtitles are delayed, out of sync, in every show.  Subtitles are ugly and distracting.  The app forgets you're logged in, so you have to login EVERY DAY.  Fast forward and reverse don't show a preview, and on TV shows do not work at all - if you fast forward or reverse, it will break and you have to start the episode over - and you can't fast forward to where you were. 

Also, it abruptly cuts off the last 30 seconds to a minute of many things.  This includes movies, as it's trying to cut back when the credits start, but it's always early so you just miss the very end of the film.  If you resume the movie and try to fast forward past the "break" point, it'll break the stream.  You literally can't see the end of some movies on the PS4 app.  It is appallingly, bafflingly bad. 

On the plus side, it's better on PC, with most of these issues resolved.

[Rev. Powell]

THE WIZARD OF OZ: RFIFFTRAX: OZ is a classic that Rifftrrax jokes could neither improve, nor detract from. I got a few laughs, but basically it was a minor novelty and a fun excuse to travel the yellow brick road again. Still 5/5.

[indianasmith]

FREE GUY (2021) - An NPC in an online shooter game becomes self-aware, and falls in love with a human player - who happens to be the designer of the original game, whose code was stolen to make the game he lives in.  He has to help her find an isolated piece of code showing the original game's build, so she can prove the theft and get her intellectual property back.  A fun fantasy romp with Ryan Reynolds as Guy, an everyman NPC who becomes an unlikely hero.  5/5

[Jim H]

West Side Story (2021) - I've actually never seen the original, but ended up seeing the remake today.  I'm not really sure what I think.  It's well-made and well-performed, very good dance choreography, often visually very strong too.  But, I dunno, I didn't really like most of the songs in it, the love story is very thin, and it's long and feels it.  I think I'd rather have just seen a really nice version of Romeo and Juliet again.  

[Dr. Whom]

Monsieur Verdoux (1947)

The one Chaplin movie where he is cast completely against type as a suave and extremely well dressed Bluebeard serial killer. He is absolutely delightful as the loving father and husband and friend to stray cats who simply happens to be a ruthless and efficient killer. In the last third, there is some slapstick and vaudeville, whether to lighten the mood or out of force of habit, I can't tell. For me, this weakens rather than strengthens the dark comedy.

On a side note, I wonder whether the character of Verdoux was the inspiration for Mayor Wilkins in Buffy. They have the same kind of cheerful friendliness coupled with cunning and ruthlessness.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Ghostbusters: Afterlife" (2021)
The estranged family of the late Dr. Egon Spengler inherits his run-down farm property in the middle of nowhere, Oklahoma. When his grandchildren start poking around his old laboratory and discover his Ghostbusting gear, they learn why he'd moved to this remote location in the first place -- because it's about to become Ground Zero for the second coming of the dreaded Gozer (the big bad from the O.G. 'Busters movie).
Jason Reitman (son of the original film's director, Ivan) attempts to bring the franchise back from the brink after the disastrous 2016 all-female remake, and the results are good, but not great. It gets off to a very slow, unexpectedly melancholy start but the total fan-service second half is great fun, with lots of action, old school zapping-and-blasting creature effects, and a welcome visit from some old friends. Better than expected.

[Trevor]

"Ghostbusters: Afterlife" (2021)
after the disastrous 2016 all-female remake

Calling that pile of poo disastrous is being kind to it. 

[WingedSerpent]

The Lost City. (2022) An archeologist turned  romance novelist  gets kidnapped because the main villain thinks she can lead him to a lost treasure.  Her novels cover model tries to save her. Better than a bad movie, but not good enough to be called a good movie.  Some good performances brought down by what can be called moder humor

The Beast with Five Fingers  Really good old fashion horror movie that,  for me at least, was almost brought down by its very ending.  Its seems the director couldn't decide which gag to go out on so he put both in the film.