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#1
Off Topic Discussion / Re: Random Statements About So...
Last post by lester1/2jr - Today at 04:04:30 PMRev- I read a book about the attempt to corner the gold market by a couple of hucksters. Grant was unwittingly part of it, but eventually ended it by releasing US gold reserves.
#2
Press Releases and Film News / Re: Remembering Reggie Bannist...
Last post by Alex - Today at 04:02:59 PMSad news. I know he'd been in hospice care for a while. It was a shame that his family had to ask for donations to help support him in his final days.
#3
Off Topic Discussion / Re: The Random Crap From Aroun...
Last post by lester1/2jr - Today at 04:00:03 PMhttps://www.instagram.com/p/DcBHHwotjDu/ Sadistic and campy "Stepfather" clip starring Taye Diggs, who is apparently some sort of person.
Tubi originals continue to outperform.
Tubi originals continue to outperform.
#4
Off Topic Discussion / Re: Random Statements About So...
Last post by Alex - Today at 03:54:33 PMSaw a link for a film called Kong Vs Giant Cock. I decided not to click on it just in case it turned out to be exactly what I was expecting.
#5
Television / Re: tv series with no story ar...
Last post by Alex - Today at 03:51:36 PMI've not watched them all, but the Dr Who episodes I have seen seem to have dumped the longer running story lines they had when I was a kid for a more monster of the week approach.
Pretty much any cop show I've seen. They might have the occasional theme that pops up a couple of times but no grand story line running through them (NCIS etc, although again I only see the occasional episode so I could be missing things).
Pretty much any cop show I've seen. They might have the occasional theme that pops up a couple of times but no grand story line running through them (NCIS etc, although again I only see the occasional episode so I could be missing things).
#6
Good Movies / Re: Recent Viewings, Part 2
Last post by M.10rda - Today at 02:39:55 PMHALLELUJAH, I'M A BUM! (1933):
Long-winded as I tend to be, in order to encapsulate this film I will defer now to quoting a 4.5/5 Letterboxd review from "Important Cinema Club" & "Michael & Us" co-host Will Sloan:
>>>"Harry Langdon is a leftist street cleaner and pedant who dreams of a worker's revolution. Al Jolson (the hero) is a hobo anarchist whose only militant political belief is a hatred of work in all its forms. Frank "The Wizard of Oz" Morgan is the mayor, who is basically a liberal {...} Jolson, "the mayor of Central Park," cultivates within the park an egalitarian utopia. About two-thirds of the way in, Jolson gets a taste of the high life, and his African American best-buddy has suddenly become his butler. We instantly understand that this will not do. From the height of the Depression, this is about as close as you're going to get to an American studio movie with "good politics." Al Jolson is a delight here. If you only watch one Al Jolson movie, for god's sake make it this one and not one of the others."<<<
Okay, I enjoy both podcasts even though sometimes I part ways w/ Sloan's critical opinion on flicks and (bizarrely often, as I am also a Leftist) I find his political readings staggeringly daft. (Ex. Canadian Sloan and his "M&U" partner spent five years telling listeners that Joe Biden, of whom I was not a Big Fan, was equally as bad as Donald Trump and that USAmericans might just as well vote for Trump - uh, thanks Will, hope that's worked out as well for your country as for ours.) That's the case a bit w/ HALLELUJAH as well - a Depression-era studio film spotlighting a hero who romanticizes poverty and a priori rejects the necessity for labor seems almost as tone-deaf as another Depression-era studio film (like say THE RICH ARE ALWAYS WITH US from 1932) that celebrates wealth and altogether ignores poverty or hardscrabble labor. Langdon's character "Egghead" is an honest-enough New Deal social democrat but I dunno what makes Morgan's Mayor a "Liberal" in Sloan's eyes... basically all we know about him is he's a wealthy drunk who plays the piano, dines in luxury, and can barely be bothered to show up to ceremonial appearances. (Perhaps the fact he doesn't have Jolson arrested on sight makes him "Liberal"?) Most worryingly, the film's depiction of the large ensemble of Central Park bums that surround Jolson and Langdon goes beyond satirical into the terrain of stochastic propaganda: these guys become an angry mob when they find out that Jolson and Langdon have found a "one thousand dollar bill" (apparently these used to exist!) in Langdon's sanitation can, and they literally put Jolson on trial (w/ a potential death penalty!) when they find out he's considering accepting a job from Mayor Morgan. To whom besides self-proclaimed leftist Will Sloan would this portrayal of unemployed homeless Americans constitute "good politics" - the ghosts of Rush Limbaugh, Margaret Thatcher, Grover Cleveland?
All that said... I did enjoy this movie! Failed silent-era effete mime Langdon gets to use his voice here and - turns out when you can hear him instead of just look at him, he's funny! About half the film is scored and written by Rodgers and Hart and sung or delivered in recite by the cast... which is very fun and like nothing I've seen in an old movie - it ain't a (lame) Eddy/MacDonald operetta, and it ain't a comedy w/ songs shoehorned in artificially every 15 minutes... the singing (or proto-rapping) actually moves the story along and develops the conflicts among the bums. Unfortunately the other half of the film is a dull (and music-less) love triangle plot - but there is some entertainment to glean from Madge Evans, the gorgeous female lead who (hilariously) is caught between Frank Morgan (who looks here like a cross between Boris Karloff and Gale Gordon as "Mr. Wilson II") and Al Jolson (who looks like a balding Mandy Patinkin who's been struck repeatedly in the face w/ a cooking iron).
Notorious blackface-ethusiast Jolson is not nearly as punchable here as I'd expected him to be (for one thing, he foregoes all shoe-polish)... 3/5 ...But I will take Sloan's advice and make this my sole Jolson film.
Long-winded as I tend to be, in order to encapsulate this film I will defer now to quoting a 4.5/5 Letterboxd review from "Important Cinema Club" & "Michael & Us" co-host Will Sloan:
>>>"Harry Langdon is a leftist street cleaner and pedant who dreams of a worker's revolution. Al Jolson (the hero) is a hobo anarchist whose only militant political belief is a hatred of work in all its forms. Frank "The Wizard of Oz" Morgan is the mayor, who is basically a liberal {...} Jolson, "the mayor of Central Park," cultivates within the park an egalitarian utopia. About two-thirds of the way in, Jolson gets a taste of the high life, and his African American best-buddy has suddenly become his butler. We instantly understand that this will not do. From the height of the Depression, this is about as close as you're going to get to an American studio movie with "good politics." Al Jolson is a delight here. If you only watch one Al Jolson movie, for god's sake make it this one and not one of the others."<<<
Okay, I enjoy both podcasts even though sometimes I part ways w/ Sloan's critical opinion on flicks and (bizarrely often, as I am also a Leftist) I find his political readings staggeringly daft. (Ex. Canadian Sloan and his "M&U" partner spent five years telling listeners that Joe Biden, of whom I was not a Big Fan, was equally as bad as Donald Trump and that USAmericans might just as well vote for Trump - uh, thanks Will, hope that's worked out as well for your country as for ours.) That's the case a bit w/ HALLELUJAH as well - a Depression-era studio film spotlighting a hero who romanticizes poverty and a priori rejects the necessity for labor seems almost as tone-deaf as another Depression-era studio film (like say THE RICH ARE ALWAYS WITH US from 1932) that celebrates wealth and altogether ignores poverty or hardscrabble labor. Langdon's character "Egghead" is an honest-enough New Deal social democrat but I dunno what makes Morgan's Mayor a "Liberal" in Sloan's eyes... basically all we know about him is he's a wealthy drunk who plays the piano, dines in luxury, and can barely be bothered to show up to ceremonial appearances. (Perhaps the fact he doesn't have Jolson arrested on sight makes him "Liberal"?) Most worryingly, the film's depiction of the large ensemble of Central Park bums that surround Jolson and Langdon goes beyond satirical into the terrain of stochastic propaganda: these guys become an angry mob when they find out that Jolson and Langdon have found a "one thousand dollar bill" (apparently these used to exist!) in Langdon's sanitation can, and they literally put Jolson on trial (w/ a potential death penalty!) when they find out he's considering accepting a job from Mayor Morgan. To whom besides self-proclaimed leftist Will Sloan would this portrayal of unemployed homeless Americans constitute "good politics" - the ghosts of Rush Limbaugh, Margaret Thatcher, Grover Cleveland?
All that said... I did enjoy this movie! Failed silent-era effete mime Langdon gets to use his voice here and - turns out when you can hear him instead of just look at him, he's funny! About half the film is scored and written by Rodgers and Hart and sung or delivered in recite by the cast... which is very fun and like nothing I've seen in an old movie - it ain't a (lame) Eddy/MacDonald operetta, and it ain't a comedy w/ songs shoehorned in artificially every 15 minutes... the singing (or proto-rapping) actually moves the story along and develops the conflicts among the bums. Unfortunately the other half of the film is a dull (and music-less) love triangle plot - but there is some entertainment to glean from Madge Evans, the gorgeous female lead who (hilariously) is caught between Frank Morgan (who looks here like a cross between Boris Karloff and Gale Gordon as "Mr. Wilson II") and Al Jolson (who looks like a balding Mandy Patinkin who's been struck repeatedly in the face w/ a cooking iron).
Notorious blackface-ethusiast Jolson is not nearly as punchable here as I'd expected him to be (for one thing, he foregoes all shoe-polish)... 3/5 ...But I will take Sloan's advice and make this my sole Jolson film.
#8
Bad Movies / Re: 100 *alliterative* movie t...
Last post by bob - Today at 02:36:43 PM1 THE FABULOUS BAKER BOYS (1989)
2 Dirty Dancing (1987)
3 Mr. Magoo
4 THE GREAT GATSBY (2013)
5 Mad Max
6 Hardcore Henry
7 LEAVING LAS VEGAS (1995)
8 The Pink Panther
9. What's Eating Gilbert Grape?
10. FREAKY FRIDAY (1976)
11 Mr. Mom
12. MR. MAJESTYK (1974)
13 Wayne's World
14. WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT? (1988)
15 Wonder Woman
16 IT'S A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD (1963)
17 Seven Samurai
18 Fantastic Four
19 CUTTING CLASS (1989)
20 KING KONG (1933)
21 Disclosure Day
22 The Mad Monster
23. KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE (1988)
24 Devil Doll (1964)
25 HAMBURGER HILL (1987)
26 DRACULA'S DAUGHTER (1936)
27 The Wild World of Batwoman (1966)
28 DROP DEAD FRED (1991)
29 The Giant Gila Monster (1959)
30. THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN (1974)
31 The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
32 Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
33. TROPIC THUNDER (2008)
34 Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter
35. ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE (1969)
36 Wild Wild West
37 Bad Boy Bubby (1993)
38. FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET (1971)
39 The Thing That Couldn't Die
40 Monolith Monsters
41. FLESH FEAST (1970)
42 Danger!! Death Ray
43. The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension (1984)
44. Wild Women of Wongo (1958)
45. The American Astronaut (2001)
46. HARD HUNTED (1992)
47 Taken 2
48 The Phantom Planet
49. Batman Begins
50 50. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)
51 Avengers: Age of Ultron
52 No Time to Die
53 The Time Travlers
54 Corrina, Corrina (1994)
55 Glengarry Glenn Ross
56 The Karate Kid
57. FASTER PUDDYCAT KILL! KILL! (1965)
58. Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970)
59. The Butcher Boy (1997)
60 Fast Five
61 Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling (1986)
62 Donnie Darko
63 Ad Astra
64 Doctor Death Seeker of Souls (1973)
65 Gone Girl
66 Final Flesh (2009)
67 El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie
68. Double Dragon (1994)
69 Curse of the Cannibal Confederates (1982)
70 Flesh for Frankenstein
71 Funky Forest: The First Contact (2005)
72 Dracula: Dead and Loving It
73 Elvira's Haunted Hills
74 Dr. Dolittle
75 Santa Sangre (1989)
2 Dirty Dancing (1987)
3 Mr. Magoo
4 THE GREAT GATSBY (2013)
5 Mad Max
6 Hardcore Henry
7 LEAVING LAS VEGAS (1995)
8 The Pink Panther
9. What's Eating Gilbert Grape?
10. FREAKY FRIDAY (1976)
11 Mr. Mom
12. MR. MAJESTYK (1974)
13 Wayne's World
14. WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT? (1988)
15 Wonder Woman
16 IT'S A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD (1963)
17 Seven Samurai
18 Fantastic Four
19 CUTTING CLASS (1989)
20 KING KONG (1933)
21 Disclosure Day
22 The Mad Monster
23. KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE (1988)
24 Devil Doll (1964)
25 HAMBURGER HILL (1987)
26 DRACULA'S DAUGHTER (1936)
27 The Wild World of Batwoman (1966)
28 DROP DEAD FRED (1991)
29 The Giant Gila Monster (1959)
30. THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN (1974)
31 The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
32 Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
33. TROPIC THUNDER (2008)
34 Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter
35. ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE (1969)
36 Wild Wild West
37 Bad Boy Bubby (1993)
38. FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET (1971)
39 The Thing That Couldn't Die
40 Monolith Monsters
41. FLESH FEAST (1970)
42 Danger!! Death Ray
43. The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension (1984)
44. Wild Women of Wongo (1958)
45. The American Astronaut (2001)
46. HARD HUNTED (1992)
47 Taken 2
48 The Phantom Planet
49. Batman Begins
50 50. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)
51 Avengers: Age of Ultron
52 No Time to Die
53 The Time Travlers
54 Corrina, Corrina (1994)
55 Glengarry Glenn Ross
56 The Karate Kid
57. FASTER PUDDYCAT KILL! KILL! (1965)
58. Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970)
59. The Butcher Boy (1997)
60 Fast Five
61 Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling (1986)
62 Donnie Darko
63 Ad Astra
64 Doctor Death Seeker of Souls (1973)
65 Gone Girl
66 Final Flesh (2009)
67 El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie
68. Double Dragon (1994)
69 Curse of the Cannibal Confederates (1982)
70 Flesh for Frankenstein
71 Funky Forest: The First Contact (2005)
72 Dracula: Dead and Loving It
73 Elvira's Haunted Hills
74 Dr. Dolittle
75 Santa Sangre (1989)
#9
Television / tv series with no story arc...
Last post by zombie no.one - Today at 02:00:26 PMone thing I've noticed about a lot (if not most) tv series from the 70s and 80s is how there is basically zero story arc running over the course of a series.
take TJ HOOKER, THE A TEAM, KNIGHT RIDER, THE BIONIC WOMAN, THE FALL GUY, MISSION IMPOSSIBLE '88, etc etc... all of these seem to operate in terms of self-contained episodes. you could theoretically watch episodes of any series of the above in any order.
the only time there would really be a continuation of a particular storyline would be in the occasional 'two-part episode'
not sure why, but I personally really like this.
are there any tv series from the 2000s which adopt this approach? it all seems to be about the story arc and 'character development' from episode to episode now, which puts me off.
take TJ HOOKER, THE A TEAM, KNIGHT RIDER, THE BIONIC WOMAN, THE FALL GUY, MISSION IMPOSSIBLE '88, etc etc... all of these seem to operate in terms of self-contained episodes. you could theoretically watch episodes of any series of the above in any order.
the only time there would really be a continuation of a particular storyline would be in the occasional 'two-part episode'
not sure why, but I personally really like this.
are there any tv series from the 2000s which adopt this approach? it all seems to be about the story arc and 'character development' from episode to episode now, which puts me off.
#10
Bad Movies / Re: 100 *alliterative* movie t...
Last post by zombie no.one - Today at 12:41:52 PM77. SEVEN SAMURAI (1954)
(btw why does CURLY SUE keep coming into my head for this thread?! lol)
(btw why does CURLY SUE keep coming into my head for this thread?! lol)