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#12
Good Movies / Re: Top 31 Horror Movies Of Th...
Last post by bob - Today at 10:43:15 AMI have not seen or heard of about half of the movies listed
#13
Off Topic Discussion / Re: And I quote...
Last post by Trevor - Today at 10:37:59 AMQuote from: Rev. Powell on Today at 10:07:45 AM"Stop trolling."--Rev. Powell
☺️😄😅🐢
#14
Games / Re: Movie Title Chains
Last post by Rev. Powell - Today at 10:17:43 AMI Was on Schindler's List (1996 TV movie)
#15
Off Topic Discussion / Re: And I quote...
Last post by Rev. Powell - Today at 10:07:45 AM"Stop trolling."--Rev. Powell
#16
Off Topic Discussion / Re: WingedSerpent's thoughts, ...
Last post by Rev. Powell - Today at 10:05:53 AMQuote from: WingedSerpent on September 12, 2025, 09:23:10 PMSince starting my diet/workout regime I have lost 40 lbs!
The hardest part has been the carb counting. I miss having pasta.
I've recently started a strength training class, so that should help with the blood sugar levels.
That's great! I don't count carbs, but I'm religious about counting calories. I eat whatever I want, just less of it.
#17
Good Movies / Re: Recent Viewings, Part 2
Last post by M.10rda - Today at 08:56:02 AMTHE LAST WARNING (1928):
First let me say that I played the Phantom of the Opera thirty-some years ago (sans makeup!
) so I've had a lifelong relationship with and affinity for the character and his story. I like the 1926 movie and acknowledge it's got two perfect/iconic moments: Christine unmasking the Phantom at his organ and then his appearance as the "Red Death" at the masquerade. But I gotta' admit, the last time I watched the film in its entirety (yeah, over a decade ago) I was a little... underwhelmed with it in toto. It's fine. Maybe I should revisit it again but I seem to remember it pretty clearly. (I currently feel identically about o.g. DRACULA and FRANKENSTEIN, for the record...)
So for those of you who might feel similarly to me or who perhaps have just watched o.g. PHANTOM too many times and need sorbet for your palate, I give you THE LAST WARNING from 1928. It's a theatre company in a huge old theater and their production stops dead in the middle of a performance one night - along with the leading man. When efforts are made to jump-start the production, threatening letters arrive and then weird accidents start happening. The leading lady looks uncannily like Sheryl Lee and the new producer looks like a grumpy Gerald Ford. And of course there's a shadowy figure dashing from shadow to shadow, and when glimpsed up close he's got a hideous pulpy skull... okay, there is little novel or surprising about LAST WARNING's script, least of all its final reveal. No direct spoilers, however there's only one silent-era actor I recognized in this large cast, and for most of the film he plays a trivial role.
Yeah, that old trope.
LAST WARNING was directed by Paul Leni (of WAXWORK, MAN WHO LAUGHED, and CAT AND THE CANARY) and produced with Carl Laemmle's money. Laemmle quite clearly wanted a similar picture to cash in on PHANTOM and somehow managed to find a novel with a nearly identical premise (heck, maybe written to cash in on Gaston Leroux's original novel!). There's no reason to expect LAST WARNING would be anything more than a cheap knock-off... but whoah, Laemmle sure had a lot of money to throw around, and whoah, Leni was good and inspired to put every penny of that money onscreen. LAST WARNING isn't the best directed silent film I've ever seen (it ain't PASSION OF JEANNE D'ARC or THE GOLD RUSH, surely, or even EERIE/UNCANNY TALES '19) but it is perhaps the slickest and most modern silent film I've ever seen.
In other words, in terms of cinematography and editing and crisp clear storytelling, it's much closer to a good solid thriller from the 70s or 80s than it is to most films from the 1920s... and in fact its leagues beyond most static, stagey, moribund films from the 30s and 40s. Most specifically, Leni executes a whole bunch of camera movements that range from impressive & lovely to almost unbelievable. There are some crazy shots, including one during the climax, that can only have been executed w/ a smaller 16mm camera and then blown up to 35mm... 'cause otherwise... they violate 1928 laws of filmmaking physics!
There's also a suspenseful montage right before the climax that obviously predates Hitchcock or Welles and, though fairly brief, really makes me think DePalma was directly inspired by Leni's work here when he orchestrated famous sequences from CARRIE and SISTERS and so on. Actually, the climactic mayhem w/ the masked Phantom-ish stalker leaping and climbing around the theater certainly seems like a more clear precedent to PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE than o.g. PHANTOM OTOPERA...
4/5
I do think both Todd Browning and James Whale were good (not really great) directors - but I really wish Paul Leni had gotten a crack at the early 30s Universal monster pics.......
First let me say that I played the Phantom of the Opera thirty-some years ago (sans makeup!
) so I've had a lifelong relationship with and affinity for the character and his story. I like the 1926 movie and acknowledge it's got two perfect/iconic moments: Christine unmasking the Phantom at his organ and then his appearance as the "Red Death" at the masquerade. But I gotta' admit, the last time I watched the film in its entirety (yeah, over a decade ago) I was a little... underwhelmed with it in toto. It's fine. Maybe I should revisit it again but I seem to remember it pretty clearly. (I currently feel identically about o.g. DRACULA and FRANKENSTEIN, for the record...)So for those of you who might feel similarly to me or who perhaps have just watched o.g. PHANTOM too many times and need sorbet for your palate, I give you THE LAST WARNING from 1928. It's a theatre company in a huge old theater and their production stops dead in the middle of a performance one night - along with the leading man. When efforts are made to jump-start the production, threatening letters arrive and then weird accidents start happening. The leading lady looks uncannily like Sheryl Lee and the new producer looks like a grumpy Gerald Ford. And of course there's a shadowy figure dashing from shadow to shadow, and when glimpsed up close he's got a hideous pulpy skull... okay, there is little novel or surprising about LAST WARNING's script, least of all its final reveal. No direct spoilers, however there's only one silent-era actor I recognized in this large cast, and for most of the film he plays a trivial role.
Yeah, that old trope. LAST WARNING was directed by Paul Leni (of WAXWORK, MAN WHO LAUGHED, and CAT AND THE CANARY) and produced with Carl Laemmle's money. Laemmle quite clearly wanted a similar picture to cash in on PHANTOM and somehow managed to find a novel with a nearly identical premise (heck, maybe written to cash in on Gaston Leroux's original novel!). There's no reason to expect LAST WARNING would be anything more than a cheap knock-off... but whoah, Laemmle sure had a lot of money to throw around, and whoah, Leni was good and inspired to put every penny of that money onscreen. LAST WARNING isn't the best directed silent film I've ever seen (it ain't PASSION OF JEANNE D'ARC or THE GOLD RUSH, surely, or even EERIE/UNCANNY TALES '19) but it is perhaps the slickest and most modern silent film I've ever seen.
In other words, in terms of cinematography and editing and crisp clear storytelling, it's much closer to a good solid thriller from the 70s or 80s than it is to most films from the 1920s... and in fact its leagues beyond most static, stagey, moribund films from the 30s and 40s. Most specifically, Leni executes a whole bunch of camera movements that range from impressive & lovely to almost unbelievable. There are some crazy shots, including one during the climax, that can only have been executed w/ a smaller 16mm camera and then blown up to 35mm... 'cause otherwise... they violate 1928 laws of filmmaking physics!
There's also a suspenseful montage right before the climax that obviously predates Hitchcock or Welles and, though fairly brief, really makes me think DePalma was directly inspired by Leni's work here when he orchestrated famous sequences from CARRIE and SISTERS and so on. Actually, the climactic mayhem w/ the masked Phantom-ish stalker leaping and climbing around the theater certainly seems like a more clear precedent to PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE than o.g. PHANTOM OTOPERA...
4/5
I do think both Todd Browning and James Whale were good (not really great) directors - but I really wish Paul Leni had gotten a crack at the early 30s Universal monster pics.......
#18
Good Movies / Re: Chainsawmidget and the Uni...
Last post by M.10rda - Today at 08:33:48 AMQuote from: chainsaw midget on September 12, 2025, 10:36:18 PMConsidering one of the TWO werewolves (!) in this movie has been a werewolf for years ... well... he must have killed a lot of people.
Little old lady got mutilated late last night...
Werewolves of London again!
Warren Z really did his research!
#19
Off Topic Discussion / Re: And I quote...
Last post by ER - Today at 08:28:30 AM"If you believe free speech is for you but not your political opponents, you're illiberal. If no contrary evidence could change your beliefs, you're a fundamentalist. If you believe the state should punish those with contrary views, you're a totalitarian. If you believe political opponents should be punished with violence or death, you're a terrorist."
---JK Rowling
---JK Rowling
#20
Good Movies / Re: Movies which put you off d...
Last post by M.10rda - Today at 08:27:44 AMQuote from: HappyGilmore on September 12, 2025, 05:33:55 PMTexas Chainsaw Massacre has kept me far, far away from Texas.
But, I live just outside Philadelphia, near Delaware. Delaware is close enough to The Hills Have Eyes.
Show your work, sir! Citations, please!I know what you mean, though, I think. I've been to nice parts of Delaware and I've been to many parts of Pennsylvania, many of which are nice. I've also driven through the hills of rural PA and I suppose folks in Delaware might think those parts of PA have eyes, too!
And I visited Philly a couple times in the past 20 years and thought it was nice - but of course it was the land of nightmares for David Lynch.Also, there are plenty of reasons besides TCM to stay away from TX - though Austin and parts of Houston are nice.
Also, I live 40 minutes outside Buffalo, NY - which has its own issues, but - I'm only a 5-10 minute drive from places that could also be the setting of TCM or THILLSHE. Degenerate madness, autophagia, and Deplorable behavior lingers in every state, alas.