# Movies you've seen recently (Part 2) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [August 27, 2024, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288 "2024-08-27T05:10:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 23
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2024, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/441 "2024-10-28T14:24:37Z")
Always worth watching just for Cloris Leachman. ---
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2024, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/442 "2024-10-28T14:24:56Z")
> [@teelabrown](#): > > _I’ve seen The Thing and all the Alien movies, so I assume I should be able to tolerate The Fly._ It’s every bit as grotesque, and in many ways, even more so. I saw it once and have no desire to ever watch it again. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2024, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/443 "2024-10-28T15:30:26Z")
> [@teelabrown](#): > > I haven’t seen it yet, but plan to watch it this week in honor of Halloween: _The Fly_, the 1986 version. > > I have seen a couple of minutes of it in the past and found it grim and grotesque. But I’ve seen _The Thing_ and all the _Alien_ movies, so I assume I should be able to tolerate _The Fly_. The David Cronenberg version (starring Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis) is actually a pretty good film. It avoids the ridiculousness of the original David Hedison 1950s movie and of George Langelaan’s original story, where the the hero swaps body parts with the fly, getting a fly’s head (but inexplicably keeping his own mind) and one hand. If you think about it for more than a moment you realize that it’s absurd – how do all the veins and nerves hook up? How do the oversized fly parts not fall apart under their own weight? It’s pretty clearly science fantasy, having the trappings of science fiction, but ignoring facts in the service of pure body horror. (Another odd bit of trivia – in Langelaan’s story the scientist also has parts of a kitten that went into the teleporter and inexplicably got “lost”) In the Cronenberg version, scientist Seth Brundle gets his DNA merged with that of a fly in the machine, and his body slowly rebuilds itself to the new DNA-spliced instructions. It’s still science fantasy, but it explores issues in an interesting way, and the writing is good. Definitely worth a watch. Ignore the stupid sequel, which was directed by the guy who did the special effects for this one. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2024, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/444 "2024-10-28T15:53:47Z")
**Don’t Move** (Netflix, 2024) Am I the only one who gets Nicholas Hoult confused with Finn Wittrock? No amount of ‘smokey eye’ makeup will turn Kelsey Asbille into Jennifer Lawrence which is fine she just had to lay on the floor and moan. It was made on a budget but it was at least watchable. Recommended for only those desperate for a date night thriller that on it’s best day could be described as mediocre. On RT the Critics gave it 70% and fans 50%, which is what I would have guessed. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2024, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/445 "2024-10-28T17:07:50Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Always worth watching just for Cloris Leachman. The whole cast is at peak form. “Sed-a-give?!?!?!” Showed clips to my daughter and she loved it. “Butin’ on da ritzzzz!!!” ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.winston_oboogie/32/2945_2.png) [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Winston_OBoogie)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2024, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/446 "2024-10-28T17:42:47Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > I’d call this Mel Brooks personal best directed movie. I’ve always said that The Producers is the best Mel Brooks movie for people who don’t like Mel Brooks. > [@Mahaloth](#): > > “Butin’ on da ritzzzz!!!” Got that as part of my Halloween play list! > [@CalMeacham](#): > > The David Cronenberg version (starring Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis) is actually a pretty good film My wife talks about watching this version while eating beef stew served over rice. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2024, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/447 "2024-10-28T17:48:55Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > > [@Pleonast](#): > > > > _ **oung Frankenstein** _ (1974) > > I re-watched the original Universal **Frankenstein** (1931) and **Bride of Frankenstein** (1935) recently in honor of Halloween. They both have issues I’ve written about often enough, but they’re fun nostalgia I read someplace that Mel Brooks used original props from the 1931 Frankenstein movie when making Young Frankenstein. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2024, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/448 "2024-10-28T17:57:22Z")
> [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](#): > > > [@Pleonast](#): > > > > I’d call this Mel Brooks personal best directed movie. > > I’ve always said that The Producers is the best Mel Brooks movie for people who don’t like Mel Brooks. It’s on my watch list. I’ll report when I get around to it (eventually). ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2024, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/449 "2024-10-28T17:58:40Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > “Butin’ on da ritzzzz!!!” Every movie should have a song and dance number. (I’m only half kidding. 😃 ) ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2024, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/450 "2024-10-28T18:41:57Z")
John Carpenter’s **Village of the Damned** Meh ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2024, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/451 "2024-10-28T19:38:11Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I read someplace that Mel Brooks used original props from the 1931 Frankenstein movie when making Young Frankenstein. He got hold of Kenneth Strickfaden’s original electrical apparatus from the Universal Frankenstein movies. He even credited him in the opening credits. Not that Brooks had to drag him out of retirement to do this – Strickfaden had been working all along doing special effects for movies. His stuff had appeared the previous year in **Blackenstein** and two years before that in **Dracula vs. Frankenstein** He also gave lectures and gave demonstrations. He died ten years after _Young Frankenstein_ came out > **[Ken Strickfaden | Special Effects, Camera and Electrical Department, Art...](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0834349/)** > > Known for: The Lost City, Flash Gordon, The Shadow A biography of him came out almost twenty years ago > **[Kenneth Strickfaden, Dr. Frankenstein’s Electrician - McFarland](https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/kenneth-strickfaden-dr-frankensteins-electrician/)** > > Kenneth Strickfaden, Dr. Frankenstein’s Electrician Harry Goldman 978-0-7864-2064-3 978-0-7864-8355-6 Strickfaden had been working long before he made it big in Frankenstein. He had been running one of Charles Willard’s “Temple of Music” shows, which featured sparking electrical musical instruments, and he inherited a lot of apparatus from Willard when he retired. I wrote about him in **Lost Wonderland.** ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.winston_oboogie/32/2945_2.png) [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Winston_OBoogie)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2024, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/452 "2024-10-28T22:58:18Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > It’s on my watch list. I’ll report when I get around to it (eventually). The original with Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder is much much better than the musical with Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick. I love Nathan Lane, but he played Max Bialystock with too much energy. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2024, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/453 "2024-10-29T13:33:45Z")
I’ve seen the musical version in film and on stage, and my view is that while Bialystock is a “type” that can be played reasonably well by many actors, Bloom _only_ works with Gene Wilder. One could do a whole masterclass on comedic timing and delivery from the “I’m hysterical” bit alone. Broderick didn’t land it. John Gordon Sinclair (whom I saw live) didn’t land it. Wilder was perfect. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2024, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/454 "2024-10-29T14:01:03Z")
> [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](#): > > The original with Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder is much much better than the musical with Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick. > [@Gyrate](#): > > I’ve seen the musical version in film and on stage, and my view is that while Bialystock is a “type” that can be played reasonably well by many actors, Bloom _only_ works with Gene Wilder. Noted. I’ll seek out that version. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2024, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/455 "2024-10-29T21:15:10Z")
In honor of the season, **The Mummy** (1932). Amazon Prime. Boris Karloff in the title role, is brought back to life after 3700 years by an ill-timed reading of a sacred forbidden scroll. He then discovers that someone in his social circle is the reincarnation of his old girlfriend, and he spends the rest of the film ensorcelling her through his mystical powers, luring her to the museum where he can kill her (for … reasons?) and then bring her back to life, like himself. He’s foiled when the girlfriend – played by the unforgettable Zita Johann – reads her own sacred prayers, and a statue of Isis comes to life and zaps Boris to death. The end. Surprisingly dull. And also surprisingly, Karloff only spends a few minutes in the iconic mummy makeup. The remainder of the film he’s a normal looking, albeit wrinkly, man wearing a fez. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2024, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/456 "2024-10-29T21:57:59Z")
I just received another painful lesson on the folly of revisiting the joys of one’s youth. Last night (at - good grief- _5pm_!) I saw **Rocky Horror Picture Show** (1975) in a movie theater for the first time in 45 years. Not an experience I will ever repeat again. No one in the audience was younger than 50 and the audience participation was limited to the few who remembered the call outs and an attempt by three or four to get people into the aisles to dance the “Time Warp” was a failure. No dancing after that and precious few attempting to sing along. The ban on throwing things was met with universal compliance. I share equal guilt as I fruitlessly waited for the enthusiasm to reach critical mass before adding my own. The movie by itself? Well…it’s not really very good, is it? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2024, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/457 "2024-10-30T00:21:07Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Boris Karloff in the title role, is brought back to life after 3700 years by an ill-timed reading of a sacred forbidden scroll. He then discovers that someone in his social circle is the reincarnation of his old girlfriend, and he spends the rest of the film ensorcelling her through his mystical powers, luring her to the museum where he can kill her (for … reasons?) and then bring her back to life, like himself. He’s foiled when the girlfriend – played by the unforgettable Zita Johann – reads her own sacred prayers, and a statue of Isis comes to life and zaps Boris to death. The end. > > Surprisingly dull. And also surprisingly, Karloff only spends a few minutes in the iconic mummy makeup. The remainder of the film he’s a normal looking, albeit wrinkly, man wearing a fez. Interesting film, and another entry in the “monster discovers modern woman in the reincarnation of his lost love” John Balderston (who rewrote Dracula for the stage and wrote the Universal screenplay, and also contributed to Frankenstein) used the same idea (without a monster) in _Berkeley Square_ (Also, it’s not in his “Dracula” – the idea of Dracula claiming the reincarnation of a lost love is a more recent invention). But, yeah, it’s generally pretty dull. Also racist at times, with Karloff’s mummy having the power to control black people. If you want action , watch Steven Sommers’ remake with Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz. It actually IS a remake, if you look close, but it takes a lot of liberties with the original. More fun, though. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2024, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/458 "2024-10-30T01:41:07Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > No one in the audience was younger than 50 and the audience participation was limited to the few who remembered the call outs and an attempt by three or four to get people into the aisles to dance the “Time Warp” was a failure. Not my experience. About a year ago I saw the movie with many younger people. Many danced. Showings are very common: [TRHPS Official Fan Site: Participation: Showtimes: Regular Showtimes](https://www.rockyhorror.com/participation/showtimes_listings.php?type=r#:~:text=There%20are%2089,showtimes%20listed%20below). ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2024, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/459 "2024-10-30T02:51:53Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Also racist at times, with Karloff’s mummy having the power to control black people. I didn’t realize until reading the credits, but “the Nubian” was played by Noble Johnson, who’s most noteworthy role was as the chief in King Kong. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2024, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/460 "2024-10-30T03:18:01Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > I didn’t realize until reading the credits, but “the Nubian” was played by Noble Johnson, who’s most noteworthy role was as the chief in King Kong. He was also in **Son of Kong** , and was the Guard in the 1925 silent version of **The Thief of Bagdad**. He had quite a career, even if a lot of his roles were stereotyped. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288.md?page=22) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288.md?page=24)