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#1
Good Movies / Re: Recent Viewings, Part 2
Last post by M.10rda - Today at 10:24:30 PML'INHUMAINE {THE INHUMAN WOMAN} (1924):
Another check in the Win column for Marcel L'Herbier, director of the staggering L'ARGENT and the earlier, passible ELDORADO. I don't know if I adore the film as a whole, but it has lots of admirable elements. A famously influential early French director, one could see L'Herbier's potential link to Scorsese in L'ARGENT... but it's anyone's guess how many filmmakers might've seen and semi-consciously held on the images of L'INHUMAINE: Fellini? Kubrick? Lynch? Tsukamoto? One more timely name that's almost a certainty: Fritz Lang, whose METROPOLIS definitely seems indebted to a ton of the scenic design elements in L'Herbier's film.
A bunch of pompous windbags (an Oligarch, a Maharajah, a western guru who broadly promotes "humanity", and others) queue up at a nouveau mansion to court a famous diva. The fact that the diva mostly comes off as a drag queen alternately impersonating Meryl Streep, Bette Midler, or Shirley MacLaine might constitute a "bug" in other movies, but somehow in this one it's basically a "feature".
The most consequential suitor is an unassuming young dude who the other characters regard as an "engineer" - though as it turns out he's actually a full-blown mad scientist.
The first hour of L'INHUMAINE required some patience, as it is essentially romantic melodrama, though with a bunch of odd flourishes (visually and sometimes narratively). Gradually as it enters its second half, the film briefly seems to flirt with supernatural horror before it finally settles comfortably into Science Fiction with some suspense-thriller flourishes. There are twists and I could only predict the final one (which wouldn't be an unusual plot point if it wasn't 1924) a couple minutes in advance. There's also a lengthy sequence towards the end where it's revealed that the mad scientist has essentially invented Zoom or Skype. Again, there's plenty of old B+W genre films where a bad guy has video conferencing technology, but L'INHUMAINE spends 10 solid minutes portraying pandemic-era themes like screen addiction and FOMO and the digital liveness debate. This is one of those films that's truly ahead of its time.
Devo could've rescored the last 5 minutes and played it on MTV in the early 80s. Those last five minutes also look like they're out of a Tsukamoto TETSUO flick (or one of my earlier experimental college editing projects). The film ends with one of L'Herbier's signature moves - the willfully out-of-focus shot. They appear here and there throughout L'INHUMAINE to signal feverish emotions or confusion, but in the finale the soft focus delivers a self-consciously overwrought sentimentality, the kind that I usually struggle to swallow outside of Lynch's work. L'INHUMAINE is kind of a shambling crazy car of a film, but moments like this one put it over for me. 4/5
Another check in the Win column for Marcel L'Herbier, director of the staggering L'ARGENT and the earlier, passible ELDORADO. I don't know if I adore the film as a whole, but it has lots of admirable elements. A famously influential early French director, one could see L'Herbier's potential link to Scorsese in L'ARGENT... but it's anyone's guess how many filmmakers might've seen and semi-consciously held on the images of L'INHUMAINE: Fellini? Kubrick? Lynch? Tsukamoto? One more timely name that's almost a certainty: Fritz Lang, whose METROPOLIS definitely seems indebted to a ton of the scenic design elements in L'Herbier's film.
A bunch of pompous windbags (an Oligarch, a Maharajah, a western guru who broadly promotes "humanity", and others) queue up at a nouveau mansion to court a famous diva. The fact that the diva mostly comes off as a drag queen alternately impersonating Meryl Streep, Bette Midler, or Shirley MacLaine might constitute a "bug" in other movies, but somehow in this one it's basically a "feature".
The most consequential suitor is an unassuming young dude who the other characters regard as an "engineer" - though as it turns out he's actually a full-blown mad scientist. The first hour of L'INHUMAINE required some patience, as it is essentially romantic melodrama, though with a bunch of odd flourishes (visually and sometimes narratively). Gradually as it enters its second half, the film briefly seems to flirt with supernatural horror before it finally settles comfortably into Science Fiction with some suspense-thriller flourishes. There are twists and I could only predict the final one (which wouldn't be an unusual plot point if it wasn't 1924) a couple minutes in advance. There's also a lengthy sequence towards the end where it's revealed that the mad scientist has essentially invented Zoom or Skype. Again, there's plenty of old B+W genre films where a bad guy has video conferencing technology, but L'INHUMAINE spends 10 solid minutes portraying pandemic-era themes like screen addiction and FOMO and the digital liveness debate. This is one of those films that's truly ahead of its time.
Devo could've rescored the last 5 minutes and played it on MTV in the early 80s. Those last five minutes also look like they're out of a Tsukamoto TETSUO flick (or one of my earlier experimental college editing projects). The film ends with one of L'Herbier's signature moves - the willfully out-of-focus shot. They appear here and there throughout L'INHUMAINE to signal feverish emotions or confusion, but in the finale the soft focus delivers a self-consciously overwrought sentimentality, the kind that I usually struggle to swallow outside of Lynch's work. L'INHUMAINE is kind of a shambling crazy car of a film, but moments like this one put it over for me. 4/5
#2
Bad Movies / Re: 100 Historical Movies in O...
Last post by Rev. Powell - Today at 10:12:59 PMFeel free to keep going with ones set in the future. E.g.
101. Children of Men (ends in 2027, I'm told).
101. Children of Men (ends in 2027, I'm told).
#3
Bad Movies / Re: RECENT VIEWINGS (Bad Movie...
Last post by LilCerberus - Today at 09:55:35 PMQuote from: M.10rda on Today at 09:38:59 PMI can't argue w/ your criticisms, but the giant killer alien bigfoot FX are simply unmissable. There is an MST or Rifftrax version, one or the other, to ease the pain.Yeah, I guess in hindsight, the props used to imply just how big the bigfoot is are noteworthy, it's just that the chaos unfolds so slowly....
#4
Bad Movies / Re: RECENT VIEWINGS (Bad Movie...
Last post by M.10rda - Today at 09:38:59 PMI can't argue w/ your criticisms, but the giant killer alien bigfoot FX are simply unmissable. There is an MST or Rifftrax version, one or the other, to ease the pain.
#5
Bad Movies / Re: 100 Historical Movies in O...
Last post by M.10rda - Today at 09:35:07 PMIt's a major accomplishment. 
I can think of a few future ones but none within the next 22 years...
I can think of a few future ones but none within the next 22 years...
#6
Bad Movies / Re: RECENT VIEWINGS (Bad Movie...
Last post by LilCerberus - Today at 09:21:44 PMTonight's Stinker
Terror in the Midnight Sun(1959)
https://youtu.be/aUn6FdRypjM?si=kiecD7JlnhfY0NcP
A meteor crashes somewhere in Sweden, locals see it, then roll opening credits to a corny d00-wap song while some guy skis across the frozen landscape to a telegraph office.... Next, we're introduced to a scientist, the hansom young geologist who'll being joining him & later on, to the mischievous young niece of the scientist, who spends the first half hour teasing the young geologist.....
Then there's some hubbub about something killing the local reindeer & finding some giant footprints in the snow... The next day, everyone goes to the crash site & discover the meteor is a spaceship.... The relationship of the aliens inside to the bigfoot creature terrorizing the countryside, their intentions is never fully explained....
Pretty formulaic, with some of the reveals being laughable, & even at a short hour & twelve minutes, is gratingly slow....
Terror in the Midnight Sun(1959)
https://youtu.be/aUn6FdRypjM?si=kiecD7JlnhfY0NcP
A meteor crashes somewhere in Sweden, locals see it, then roll opening credits to a corny d00-wap song while some guy skis across the frozen landscape to a telegraph office.... Next, we're introduced to a scientist, the hansom young geologist who'll being joining him & later on, to the mischievous young niece of the scientist, who spends the first half hour teasing the young geologist.....
Then there's some hubbub about something killing the local reindeer & finding some giant footprints in the snow... The next day, everyone goes to the crash site & discover the meteor is a spaceship.... The relationship of the aliens inside to the bigfoot creature terrorizing the countryside, their intentions is never fully explained....
Pretty formulaic, with some of the reveals being laughable, & even at a short hour & twelve minutes, is gratingly slow....
#7
Good Movies / Re: Recent Viewings, Part 2
Last post by indianasmith - Today at 08:48:04 PMA DARK PATH (2024) Two English sisters travel to eastern Europe to attend a bachelorette weekend for one of their friends. While driving across the countryside in a rented car to get to the airport in the next city, they get lost, go down a dirt road in the middle of nowhere, break down, and wind up being stalked by a horrifying creature. Basically a solid hour of sibling quarrels, fifteen minutes of trying to find the lost sibling, and 15-20 minutes of monster mayhem at the end. The monster design was cool, and definitely deserved more screen time and back story. The rest was just boring! 2/5
#8
Good Movies / Re: Recent Viewings, Part 2
Last post by FatFreddysCat - Today at 07:34:15 PM"Rush Hour" (1998)
When the daughter of a Chinese diplomat is kidnapped for ransom in L.A., a Chinese detective (Jackie Chan) is summoned to the U.S. to assist in the investigation. He's partnered up with a wise-ass LAPD cop (Chris Tucker) and their East-meets-West pairing leads to many asses being kicked.
This box office smash led to two sequels (with a third supposedly on the way by request of the Commander in Chief, who's apparently a big fan) and even a shortlived TV spinoff version. Tons of action packed fun.
When the daughter of a Chinese diplomat is kidnapped for ransom in L.A., a Chinese detective (Jackie Chan) is summoned to the U.S. to assist in the investigation. He's partnered up with a wise-ass LAPD cop (Chris Tucker) and their East-meets-West pairing leads to many asses being kicked.
This box office smash led to two sequels (with a third supposedly on the way by request of the Commander in Chief, who's apparently a big fan) and even a shortlived TV spinoff version. Tons of action packed fun.
#9
Good Movies / Re: Recent Viewings, Part 2
Last post by lester1/2jr - Today at 04:17:12 PMCannibal Apocalypse (1980) - Well, it wasn't the greatest story ever told and it certainly didn't live up to it's title, but I did make it through, which has become more of a challenge in the free streaming movie era. I've started like 5 movies lately and just been like ".......nah this is boring".
John Saxon from "Enter the Dragon" is a Vietnam vet whose platoon may or may not have been exposed to some sort of cannibal virus and become...some cannibals. The budget seemingly runs out after the pretty decent first half and the script runs out of steam, too. It was probably pretty fun to see on bootleg vhs in the 90's, but compared to "Jacob's Ladder" or something, it's pretty weak sauce. The shootout at the mall had some grimey, grindhousey 70's vibes. I think the director was more of an action guy.
3.25/ 5
John Saxon from "Enter the Dragon" is a Vietnam vet whose platoon may or may not have been exposed to some sort of cannibal virus and become...some cannibals. The budget seemingly runs out after the pretty decent first half and the script runs out of steam, too. It was probably pretty fun to see on bootleg vhs in the 90's, but compared to "Jacob's Ladder" or something, it's pretty weak sauce. The shootout at the mall had some grimey, grindhousey 70's vibes. I think the director was more of an action guy.
3.25/ 5
#10
Bad Movies / Re: movies that namecheck anot...
Last post by zombie no.one - Today at 02:34:42 PMjust watching SHARK SEASON (2020) with Michael Madson in it
one of the characters very randomly said to the other:
"have you ever seen SOYLENT GREEN, the 1973 classic with Charlton Heston?"
no idea why she says that, but it'll do for this thread
one of the characters very randomly said to the other:
"have you ever seen SOYLENT GREEN, the 1973 classic with Charlton Heston?"
no idea why she says that, but it'll do for this thread