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#1
Bad Movies / Re: Fantastic Four: The First ...
Last post by M.10rda - Today at 08:45:06 AMWe watched it last night. It becomes significantly more interesting in the second half, when they return from space after failing to "negotiate" with Galactus (a dumb idea), and then must confront a loaded (Biblical!) morel dilemma.
Galactus himself was spot-on (which one couldn't say about RISE OF THE SURFER, obv) and the kaiju action at the end was delicious.
But the Surfer FX, oddly, look no more advanced or convincing than they did in 2006! I guess they blew the budget on Galactus and were forced to load up old CD-ROM CGI from 19 years ago...
Pascal and V. Kirby were good; J. Quinn often seems like a weaker Johnny than he actually is because the Chris Evans Torch was pitch-perfect. The Thing is simply all wrong, though - objectively. Ben Grimm is one of the most clear and iconic characters in Marvel comics... he's Ralph Kramden, w/ the grandeur turned up to 11, plus a deep tragic underlayer. Moss-Bachrach plays Grimm likes he's just on 'ludes all the time: not even Tragic, just medically subdued.
Two very dumb things about the film: 1.) Women who are 8-9 months pregnant aren't even allowed to fly on planes, let alone into space.
2.) Whatever other criticisms one might level at the acting, the real clincher was the resolutely dry eyes during the climactic (apparent) death scene. We got a spouse, a sibling, and a best friend with a pulse-less body for sixty seconds, not a single tear can be mustered by the actors and their director? 
Galactus himself was spot-on (which one couldn't say about RISE OF THE SURFER, obv) and the kaiju action at the end was delicious.
But the Surfer FX, oddly, look no more advanced or convincing than they did in 2006! I guess they blew the budget on Galactus and were forced to load up old CD-ROM CGI from 19 years ago...
Pascal and V. Kirby were good; J. Quinn often seems like a weaker Johnny than he actually is because the Chris Evans Torch was pitch-perfect. The Thing is simply all wrong, though - objectively. Ben Grimm is one of the most clear and iconic characters in Marvel comics... he's Ralph Kramden, w/ the grandeur turned up to 11, plus a deep tragic underlayer. Moss-Bachrach plays Grimm likes he's just on 'ludes all the time: not even Tragic, just medically subdued.
Two very dumb things about the film: 1.) Women who are 8-9 months pregnant aren't even allowed to fly on planes, let alone into space.
2.) Whatever other criticisms one might level at the acting, the real clincher was the resolutely dry eyes during the climactic (apparent) death scene. We got a spouse, a sibling, and a best friend with a pulse-less body for sixty seconds, not a single tear can be mustered by the actors and their director? #2
Bad Movies / Re: Boop (Public domain Betty ...
Last post by M.10rda - Today at 08:14:20 AMGood point, Jim. I've played at least two indie horror games where old episodes of "Popeye" are playing on TVs as the player character explores a spooky house. Probably the same episodes that were on cheap VHS tapes near the check-out aisles of my local Woolworths when I was a child.......
#3
Solved / Re: 80s or 90s movie, couple s...
Last post by M.10rda - Today at 08:08:47 AMThis might be the first time I solved one of these! 
#4
Bad Movies / Re: Generate Movie Poster with...
Last post by bob - November 14, 2025, 11:52:49 PMQuote from: claws on November 14, 2025, 11:29:41 PM
Visually stunning
#5
Entertainment / Re: What have you been listeni...
Last post by Allhallowsday - November 14, 2025, 11:30:10 PMBUZZCOCKS Singles Going Steady If interested in PUNK, this album is the best there is
#6
Bad Movies / Re: Generate Movie Poster with...
Last post by claws - November 14, 2025, 11:29:41 PM
#7
Bad Movies / Re: Odd DVDs, VHSs and Blu-ra...
Last post by chainsaw midget - November 14, 2025, 10:47:33 PMThis isn't in my collection... YET.
I found it while looking for movies online. Don't you just love the cartoony artwork? Really does a great job representing the movies inside.
I found it while looking for movies online. Don't you just love the cartoony artwork? Really does a great job representing the movies inside.
#8
Off Topic Discussion / Re: strange dream depository
Last post by Trevor - November 14, 2025, 09:23:13 PMJust woke up from a dream where I was back at work. I was just about to leave when the FBI, Tommy guns, hats, coats etc raided the place and I had been doing my laundry 😳😄
No more cheese, bean and peanut butter burritos before bedtime 😳😉😏
No more cheese, bean and peanut butter burritos before bedtime 😳😉😏
#9
Bad Movies / Re: Generate Movie Poster with...
Last post by bob - November 14, 2025, 09:04:52 PMQuote from: Rev. Powell on November 14, 2025, 08:32:20 PMQuote from: bob on November 14, 2025, 07:24:58 PM
I should have typed "The Incredibly Strange Hebrews Who Ate Pork and Became Crazy Mixed-Up Gentiles," but thank you. Chat-GPT, or does Copilot continue to show a double standard between me and Bob?
copilot
#10
Good Movies / Re: Recent Viewings, Part 2
Last post by M.10rda - November 14, 2025, 09:02:31 PMAN ANGEL FOR SATAN (1966):
It's always a pleasant surprise when you settle in for a modest, unassuming 60s B+W gothic horror flick and you get a Real Movie with a script and storyline and production values and tasteful cinematography and characters with 2+ dimensions and good acting (and still some genre frisson into the bargain). AN ANGEL FOR SATAN is a little closer to IL DEMONIO and THE THIRD EYE (which is to say legitimate art films, or I guess the 60s version of what folks call "elevated horror" today) than it is to other Barbara Steele vehicles of the era like NIGHTMARE CASTLE or CASTLE OF BLOOD or even BLACK SUNDAY. Yeah I think this is a better film than BLACK SUNDAY, so if that perks up your ears, read on.
In a deeply moody opening that has almost Tarkovskian qualities, a sculptor arrives in a foggy, remote Italian county - maybe even an island, as it seems you can only get there in a boat (and very slooooooowly). The sculptor is played by Anthony Steffen, an actor to whom I've never paid any attention because I've only ever seen him play poorly dubbed Django-like cowboys in an endless array of mediocre-to-bad westerns. Here he looks like a cross between James Mason and Peter O'Toole with maybe Dirk Bogarde sprinkled in, and he's compelling. (It's possibly he's dubbed here, too, but he's dubbed well by a real actor.) Oh yeah - Steffen the Sculptor has been hired to repair a spoooooooky old damaged statue that looks suspiciously like Barbara Steele, who plays the heiress who will soon inherit the palatial estate that overshadows the poor community. Steffen is enamored by the statue - of course he is, it looks like Barbara Steele! - and then Barbara Steele shows up in the flesh, and he's even more enamored... and it seems kind of obvious where AN ANGEL FOR SATAN is going. But there's still an hour of movie left, and AN ANGEL OF SATAN has more storylines to incorporate than just a single haunted romance.......
Let's talk about the main attraction, Ms. Steele. Most of her characters in the early 60s (obviously excluding BLACK SUNDAY) were hapless damsels in the clutches of forces beyond their control Not so here, where Steele's character is the prime mover of and at the center of the many plots, or at least that's how it appears until the film's final moments. That gives her a lot to play - possibly as many as two (!) characters and a whole lot of distinct colors and flavors per each. That's one reason AAFS seems like the quintessential Barbara Steele film - if nothing else, you can't argue she gets 500% as much screentime and dialogue as or more than she gets in BLACK SUNDAY. Moreover, though, this is Steele six years on from her breakthrough role. She explicitly understands the assignment - to be as Barbara Steele as possible! She's in total control of all the gifts God gave her: her voice (her own voice, it seems), her hands, her hips, the inclination of her head (showcasing of course those unholy cheekbones), and naturally her singular eyeballs. I think Steele was never sexier or creepier than she is in this role.
Although the film could be watchable just on Steele's account, it's worth mentioning again that there is a rather complex plot that (mostly) makes sense and develops methodically and effectively. Perhaps it shouldn't surprise me that it's adapted from a short story, not in the way that 60s producers adapted Poe for instance (which is to say: loosely!) but rather in a way that reflects the logic and thoughtfulness of a carefully written piece of literary fiction. The direction is steady, confident, if not flashy; the director worked almost entirely in Italian comedies, so if he was playing his cards close here, at least he never missteps. AAFS could have been exploitative - Steele repeatedly takes off her top in front of other characters and in one (...stirring...) scene, she whips a dude while topless (!). However the cinematographer refuses to ever show us the goods - the most we ever get is her erect nipples through her blouse - and that choice proves frustrating in all the best ways.
Things get very dark towards the film's climax: Steele and/or the forces channeled through her really mess up the lives of a lot of innocent (or more-or-less innocent) poor folks. My only real qualms w/ AN ANGEL FOR SATAN derive from the last 3 minutes or so, where a hidden door slides open, there's a gunshot, someone proclaims "It was I!", and briefly it feels like we're watching a finale spliced in from another euro-thriller. I suppose the ending does underline one of the film's primary themes, that being that the petty insecurities of the aristocracy always get played out at the expense of the working class. Jeez, that's a theme that resonates with the news, eh?
4/5 Nice one.
It's always a pleasant surprise when you settle in for a modest, unassuming 60s B+W gothic horror flick and you get a Real Movie with a script and storyline and production values and tasteful cinematography and characters with 2+ dimensions and good acting (and still some genre frisson into the bargain). AN ANGEL FOR SATAN is a little closer to IL DEMONIO and THE THIRD EYE (which is to say legitimate art films, or I guess the 60s version of what folks call "elevated horror" today) than it is to other Barbara Steele vehicles of the era like NIGHTMARE CASTLE or CASTLE OF BLOOD or even BLACK SUNDAY. Yeah I think this is a better film than BLACK SUNDAY, so if that perks up your ears, read on.
In a deeply moody opening that has almost Tarkovskian qualities, a sculptor arrives in a foggy, remote Italian county - maybe even an island, as it seems you can only get there in a boat (and very slooooooowly). The sculptor is played by Anthony Steffen, an actor to whom I've never paid any attention because I've only ever seen him play poorly dubbed Django-like cowboys in an endless array of mediocre-to-bad westerns. Here he looks like a cross between James Mason and Peter O'Toole with maybe Dirk Bogarde sprinkled in, and he's compelling. (It's possibly he's dubbed here, too, but he's dubbed well by a real actor.) Oh yeah - Steffen the Sculptor has been hired to repair a spoooooooky old damaged statue that looks suspiciously like Barbara Steele, who plays the heiress who will soon inherit the palatial estate that overshadows the poor community. Steffen is enamored by the statue - of course he is, it looks like Barbara Steele! - and then Barbara Steele shows up in the flesh, and he's even more enamored... and it seems kind of obvious where AN ANGEL FOR SATAN is going. But there's still an hour of movie left, and AN ANGEL OF SATAN has more storylines to incorporate than just a single haunted romance.......
Let's talk about the main attraction, Ms. Steele. Most of her characters in the early 60s (obviously excluding BLACK SUNDAY) were hapless damsels in the clutches of forces beyond their control Not so here, where Steele's character is the prime mover of and at the center of the many plots, or at least that's how it appears until the film's final moments. That gives her a lot to play - possibly as many as two (!) characters and a whole lot of distinct colors and flavors per each. That's one reason AAFS seems like the quintessential Barbara Steele film - if nothing else, you can't argue she gets 500% as much screentime and dialogue as or more than she gets in BLACK SUNDAY. Moreover, though, this is Steele six years on from her breakthrough role. She explicitly understands the assignment - to be as Barbara Steele as possible! She's in total control of all the gifts God gave her: her voice (her own voice, it seems), her hands, her hips, the inclination of her head (showcasing of course those unholy cheekbones), and naturally her singular eyeballs. I think Steele was never sexier or creepier than she is in this role.
Although the film could be watchable just on Steele's account, it's worth mentioning again that there is a rather complex plot that (mostly) makes sense and develops methodically and effectively. Perhaps it shouldn't surprise me that it's adapted from a short story, not in the way that 60s producers adapted Poe for instance (which is to say: loosely!) but rather in a way that reflects the logic and thoughtfulness of a carefully written piece of literary fiction. The direction is steady, confident, if not flashy; the director worked almost entirely in Italian comedies, so if he was playing his cards close here, at least he never missteps. AAFS could have been exploitative - Steele repeatedly takes off her top in front of other characters and in one (...stirring...) scene, she whips a dude while topless (!). However the cinematographer refuses to ever show us the goods - the most we ever get is her erect nipples through her blouse - and that choice proves frustrating in all the best ways.
Things get very dark towards the film's climax: Steele and/or the forces channeled through her really mess up the lives of a lot of innocent (or more-or-less innocent) poor folks. My only real qualms w/ AN ANGEL FOR SATAN derive from the last 3 minutes or so, where a hidden door slides open, there's a gunshot, someone proclaims "It was I!", and briefly it feels like we're watching a finale spliced in from another euro-thriller. I suppose the ending does underline one of the film's primary themes, that being that the petty insecurities of the aristocracy always get played out at the expense of the working class. Jeez, that's a theme that resonates with the news, eh?
4/5 Nice one.