I somehow missed this one when it first came out, and caught it on TV and home video. “Gwangi” was an unrealized project of Harryhausen’s mentor, Willis O’Brien (who did King Kong). I think I read somewhere that this has one of the largest number of animated scenes of any stop-motion movie. I don’t think it gets the respect and recognition it deserves.
It still bothers me, though, that Harryhausen put bat wings on his pterosaur (as he did in One Million Years B.C.) He just liked the way it looked more than the ski-stretched between-the little-finger-and-thumb construction of real pterosaurs (and which O’Brien used in King Kong).
The 4:30 Movie. A Kevin Smith non-View Askew (mostly) film. Set in 1986 NJ with a bunch of high schoolers goofing around a movie theater. The kids are unknown to me but a bunch of small bits from people you know (see the IMDb list). The one with most screen time is Ken Jeong who plays evil. What a surprise.
The plot revolves around the lead boy trying to arrange a date with a girl for the title event.
The boys are keen on movies, esp. the lead who can recite who was in what, etc. Just a ton of snappy dialogue involving stuff like that and of course to 80s pop culture. Well, most of the movie. The tone changes quite a bit in the later part and it goes downhill, getting fairly sappy. I know due to the plot constraints it has to go a certain way but that’s not a reason for the dialogue to sink.
Give it 2.5 Quickstops (it coulda/shoulda been at least a 3).
It had an incredible cast in small roles. Joe Peschi, Sissy Spacek, Jack Lemmon, Tommy Lee Jones, Ed Asner, Walter Matthau, Donald Sutherland, Kevin Bacon, and Gary Oldman, John Candy!
What a dream cast for any director. I don’t know how Stone pulled that off. I guess his reputation and acclaim for Platoon made the top actors want to work for him.
He should have used a purely fictional President. Avoided the controversy. There is a lot of bullshit for a film presented as truthful.
I believe Garŕison did uncover a CIA op to supply and train anti Castro forces. Guy Bannister was in charge. David Ferrie was the pilot. There is a authenticated photo of Ferrie and Oswald at a Civil Air Patrol cookout. (8 years earlier)
Look under the section linking the two men David Ferrie - Wikipedia
The movie goes into fiction when they try to link Guy Bannister’s Anti-Castro operation to Dallas. Coincidences aren’t enough to make such a serious accusation.
It is a riveting and entertaining film. Just don’t drink the kool-aid.
Oliver Stone wanted to sell tickets. That’s all.
It’s unfortunate that this movie is the primary source of information for Gen X.
Every time I’m scrolling through channels and I see this listing, for a split second I read it as The Machinist and I have a moment of excitement followed by disappointment. Not to diss The Mechanic which I’ve never seen. Coincidently, I did just watch The Machinist a couple of days ago and I enjoyed just as much as the first 10 times.
What I really came to mention is a movie I saw on Shudder called Oddity. It’s an Irish production (which already gives it a leg up) that, to me, feels very much like films from an earlier time; there’s a little bit of corny dialogue and characters making stupid decisions, but holy cow is the end product effective. A couple if icky images, but almost tame compared to most recent films. What makes it so scary is the tension. There’s very little in the way of music so no telegraphing what’s coming up. I don’t want to give too much away but I highly reommend.
Based on your recommendation, I looked for this film and found it OnDemand (from TMC, so I got the Ben Mankiewicz/Mario Cantone commentary at the beginning and the end). And, yes, I thought it was a nearly perfect example of the genre. The acting all around was excellent (even “Touch” Connors), but I always enjoy Gloria Grahame, and Joan Crawford was rather more restrained – in a good way – than usual. Jack Palance had a smoothness to his menace that worked really well for the story. And is was very suspenseful. The bit with the little windup dog was very well done. Crawford chose the cinematographer, and she chose wisely. It’s a great looking film. Thanks for the reco!
HBO Max remake staring Bill Pullman’s son. Pretty paint-by-numbers, some changes were made but nothing that I cared about. Not real gory, some jump scares, a good date-night movie which will get your lady pressing close… which, of course, is the point.
White Bird (2023, but just released in the US (I think - I saw this in the theater).)
Tastefully done Holocaust film about a young girl who is saved via acts of kindness (this is how it is framed in the movie). Gillian Anderson is in this film, but the true discovery(ies) are the teen leads.
This is the sort of movie people talk about when they say they don’t make movies like this anymore. I disagree with that sentiment whenever I hear it, as a general rule, but I highly recommend this one to everyone as they don’t make very many movies like this anymore.
We watched Will and Harper last night. It’s a documentary about Will Ferrell and Harper, his recently transitioned friend, driving across country. It’s a sweet movie, but kind of flawed. I still find myself thinking about it the next day.
Monster Summer. I can’t think of anything good to say about this movie. Don’t be tricked into thinking it is even remotely like Stranger Things. Zero humor and, frankly, less scary than even the children’s fairy tale it’s based on. Mel Gibson is the best thing about it if that tells you anything.
Given it was jammed into less than two hours, it felt like a Cliff Notes summary of the book, with some characters combined and some reduced to very little. It was good for what it was, and some of the cinematography was great, but it made me yearn for a new miniseries.
Also interesting to see Bill Pullman’s kid as the lead, he looks quite a bit like his dad.
Did they significantly change the suspense in Salem’s Lot from the original 1979 2 part miniseries? King was a master of building suspense before the horror begins.
They used the miniseries format to cover the material in King’s long novel.
I expected a two hour movie to be condensed.
I’ve gotten used to seeing my favorite movies being redone for todays audiences.
The headless monster approaches and todays teen is frantically texting. LOL it’s not quite the same as screaming and running to a telephone.
As someone who has read the original a million times (and I have an autographed copy!), and seen the miniseries, it’s a little hard to judge the tension, particularly for a new audience. What I’ll say is that there are enough changes that I didn’t know where every scene was headed, so there were some mini-tensions.
Actually, thinking more, my wife doesn’t like horror movies, but watched with me because she knows the book, but she stopped halfway through. So, yes?
I was hoping to like this movie, but it wasn’t meant to be. Couldn’t even finish it. Most of the actors looked like they’d rather be shoveling shit somewhere than be in this film.
I just watched Murder on the Orient Express tonight, the 1974 version with Albert Finney as Poirot. I’ve seen it before, or course, but not for years. It holds up well. Got a great cast, with not enough time for some of them.
Much is made of the number 12; 12 members of a jury, 12 letters in the threatening notes, 12 stab wounds. I noticed that a couple of Finney’s great quotes, “touch nothing” and “too many clues” are also 12 letters; I wonder if that was intentional. And DAISY was in one of my wordle variations today.
It got me wondering what movie had the most Oscar winners amongst its cast. MotOE had Martin Balsam, Ingrid Bergman, Sean Connery, John Gielgud, Wendy Hiller, and Vanessa Redgrave. (Bergmen won for her role in this movie, as well as two other wins.) Lauren Bacall, Albert Finney, Anthony Perkins, Rachel Roberts, and Richard Widmark have been nominated, but not won. Bacall has an honorary Oscar.
The Player by Robert Altman used to be the traditional trivia answer to that question, and it appears it still is. 14 winners if you include the one honorary one.
Been watching the Halloween movies and boy, this series started great and just kind of meandered along.
Halloween (1978) - really great. Like, a great movie. Holds up well. Probably the best slasher movie? I’m not sure. It’s so well made.
Halloween 2 - Pretty good, a cash-grab sequel, but still maintaining some quality. Feels like the natural conclusion.
Halloween 4 - Well, they tried. Not trash, but the series is turning into a regular slashed series instead of what it used to be. Neat ending.
Halloween 5 - Uh oh, they didn’t know what to do and so they slapped together a story as quick as they could. They also wimped out and backed out of the storylines before. Terrible movie, really. Kind of pathetic. A definite low-budget, quick cash grab.
Halloween 6 - Better than 5, but still makes no real sense. In fact, the theatrical cut I saw of this actually appears to be an incomplete movie, which is what I have read about online as well. Nothing to see here
(Halloween 3 I have seen and love. Not re-watching this year. It’s the one without Michael Myers. I’d probably rank it best of the whole series.)
I’m not sure I agree completely with that list. It includes Sydney Pollak, whose Oscars are for producing and directing. Buck Henry’s nominations are for writing and directing. Among the rest, most are just playing themselves in cameos.