I Just Watched...

[TikiSoo]

I just watched The Fabelmans (2022), Steven Spielberg's semi-autobiographical coming of age film.
(snipped)
So, for me, The Fabelmans is decent, with many flaws. Though I've enjoyed many of Spielberg's films, he's no John Ford.

Thanks for the great description of what you liked/didn't like about this (you too DetectiveJim) it's always so much better hearing it from the classic movie fan perspective.

While I have come to appreciate Spielberg's talents for making movies "for the average everyman", I very much appreciate the classic film fan opinion & detailed explanation. I always kind of feel manipulated after watching a Spielberg film, he's just a bit too obvious. But it also must have been obvious to all who knew him that he would succeed in his chosen career.

[TikiSoo]

I just watched NIGHT OF THE HUNTER '55 at the Eastman House in Rochester projected in 35mm. It was worth the 90 minute drive each way. It's obviously an incredibly great film, but I hadn't seen it in years, so every scene unfolded almost as if new.

The intimate theater was sparsely attended, I'd say only about 40 people. What a joy it was to hear all the audience reactions-gasps, twitters of laughter, stunned silences. There were several times the picture was so stunning it brought tears to my eyes. Shadows that register as flat black on DVD showed dim detail, really rounding the composition even better than previous viewings. Amazing. Astounding. A religious experience.

When I think of this movie, this is the image that comes to mind:


MrTiki chuckled when he saw this, said it looked just like me on my porch:


What I really loved about this film is we don't need no stinkin' back story or "prequel" to understand ANY of the charactors; not Willa, not Rachel Cooper, not even the Reverend Powell. The story is complete & self contained.

[laffite]

I am no doubt getting persnickety in my old age, but any story that preys on children is not my cup of tea. "Stunned silence" I understand. But "twitters of laughter." ?

[EP Millstone]

When I think of this movie, this is the image that comes to mind:

From the Internet Movie Database:

"The sequence with Powell riding a horse in the distance was actually a dwarf on a pony. It was filmed in false perspective."

Filmsite Movie Review

Deep Focus Review

[jamesjazzguitar]

I am no doubt getting persnickety in my old age, but any story that preys on children is not my cup of tea. "Stunned silence" I understand. But "twitters of laughter." ?

The basement scene where Mitchum mimics Karloff is kind of funny.

[laffite]

Let me guess. The child wasn't laughing.

[TikiSoo]

I am no doubt getting persnickety in my old age, but any story that preys on children is not my cup of tea. "Stunned silence" I understand. But "twitters of laughter." ?

I agree, children being preyed upon is distasteful, especially since I endured similar rage & violence before the age of 5.
Let me tell you, during this screening I almost re-experienced my childhood traumas. For the first time I realized Reverend Powell acted exactly like my perpetrator, even sounded like him. It was actually kind of therapeutic. As an adult, I recognized the perp's mental weaknesses instead of physical strengths.

That said, the "twitters of laughter" were usually benign scenes where the boy -clearly lying- kind of contorts his face. Or when the Gish charactor calls the Sheriff saying she has some wounded animal trapped in her barn. Not really "funny", but teeny little releases of tension. I think it helps make the movie brilliant.

[Fedya]

My Forbidden Past (1951).

Absurdist comedy starring Ava Gardner as a turn-of-the-century New Orleans belle from a family that's fallen like Blanche Dubois. She's fallen in love with a research professor at Tulane (Robert Mitchum, hilariously miscast), but her aunt (Lucile Watson) and cousin (Melvyn Douglas) want her to marry for money, so Douglas puts the kibosh on the relationship.

Then Gardner is in line to inherit money from Grandma, who is the one with the forbidden past, but aunt and cousin don't want that because the money comes from the wrong place and will cause scandal for them. Gardner takes the money, and when Mitchum returns from South America married, thinking Gardner jilted him, Gardner decides to use the inheritance to get Mitchum's wife out of the way.

This is supposed to be melodrama, bu it goes way over the top thanks to a ridiculous script. I found myself wondering whether Douglas watched Jack Carson in Mildred Pierce before taking the role. Douglas didn't get to play this sort of villain much, and plays it like smarmy, scheming Wally Fay from Mildred Pierce, running with the role for all it's worth and then some. Watson isn't quite to the level of Madam Konstantine in Notorious, but she's a decidedly menacing matriarch.

As a serious movie, My Forbidden Past isn't very good, maybe a 5/10 if I'm being generous. As unintentional comedy, however, it's a lot of fun, a 7 or 8 out of 10.

[jamesjazzguitar]

Let me guess. The child wasn't laughing.

The children did laugh. They were ACTORS!!!!!!

[Masha]

Zombieland (2009)

A shy geek with a multitude of phobias and irritable bowel syndrome develops a set of rules for surviving the zombie apocalypse.

This is a bit of a romp. It is not as wild and zany as it could be but this allows for more characterization. This is much more complete and complex than any mere zombie-exploitation movie. There is pathos, adventure, lost love, philosophy, hope and a glimpse of what it might be like to get stoned with Bill Murray. It is with no doubt the best comedy-zombie movie which I have watched.

I am sorry to say that there is quite graphic gore consistently and so it will be a non-starter for some.

8.7/11

This movie is available for viewing for free with commercials on: Freevee.

[laffite]

I am no doubt getting persnickety in my old age, but any story that preys on children is not my cup of tea. "Stunned silence" I understand. But "twitters of laughter." ?

I agree, children being preyed upon is distasteful, especially since I endured similar rage & violence before the age of 5.
Let me tell you, during this screening I almost re-experienced my childhood traumas. For the first time I realized Reverend Powell acted exactly like my perpetrator, even sounded like him. It was actually kind of therapeutic. As an adult, I recognized the perp's mental weaknesses instead of physical strengths.

That said, the "twitters of laughter" were usually benign scenes where the boy -clearly lying- kind of contorts his face. Or when the Gish charactor calls the Sheriff saying she has some wounded animal trapped in her barn. Not really "funny", but teeny little releases of tension. I think it helps make the movie brilliant.

I see. Thank you.

[Swithin]

The Pale Blue Eye (2022)

Spoiler alert!

This thriller, which takes place at West Point in 1830, is on the cusp of horror. A cadet has been murdered — hanged — and his heart cut out. The military brass engage detective Augustus Landor (Christian Bale). Landor enlists the help of a young cadet — Edgar Allan Poe (Harry Melling) — who is interested in the case. Animals are discovered hanging from trees, with their hearts removed, and black magic is suspected. Another cadet is murdered, and his heart and genitals removed. West Point physician (Dr. Marquis, played by Toby Jones) is involved in the case. His family is strange. Landor consults a professor friend (Robert Duvall) who knows about witchcraft. Poe falls in love (too quickly) with Lea, Dr. Marquis’s daughter, who has a mysterious disease.

This is an odd film. Poe’s dead mother talks to him, in his sleep. Lea communicates with an ancestor who was involved in witchcraft. The climax (at least we think it’s the climax) is pure horror: Landor saves Poe just as the Marquis family, chanting in Latin, is about to cut his (Poe’s) heart out, in a ritual that is supposed to cure Lea of her disease. Landor drags Poe off that horror film table with the same urgency that we’ve seen distressed characters dragged off that table in so many movies. There’s a fire, and, as Landor escapes with Poe, also saving the bizarre Mrs. Marquis (Gillian Anderson), the flames engulf Lea and her brother Artemus.

But that’s not the end, because Poe has discovered all the facts, which are really quite tragic. It seems that the first murder was a sort of symbiotic situation: a vengeance killing, followed by “Well, the guy’s dead, we might as well cut out his heart and use it and the blood in our ritual.” The poor cow and sheep were red herrings.

Christian Bale is very good as the moody Landor, who has a lot on his mind. Harry Melling is good as Poe. I’ve seen him on stage three times and always enjoy his performances: in a Pinter play (The Hothouse); as the lead in Hand to God; and as Edgar in King Lear.

This may not be a great movie, but I liked it, with its moodiness, collection of oddballs, heightened (some might say stilted) dialogue, and Dickensian-type characters played by an A-list cast. Btw Poe really was a cadet at West Point in 1830.


Bale and Melling as Landor and Poe


Gillian Anderson, Toby Jones: A very odd couple


Christian Bale, Robert Duvall

[laffite]

LIKE

[CinemaInternational]

The reason why I haven't posted anything this week is because I went into one of my television phases, currently juggling two massive series, Knots Landing and Peyton Place. Plenty of soapiness in both, but both are high quality TV shows with top-notch acting and writing, and both are extremely habit forming

[Fedya]

If you haven't seen a young Abby Dalton in Stakeout on Dope Street before, I highly recommend the movie.