Movies you've seen recently (Part 2)

Cafe Society
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CHUD (1984). I remember seeing part of this when it first came out on video but couldn’t remember much of it at all. What’s kind of fun about the movie is how many actors got their start here and went on to be very recognizable in other projects. The cast includes John Heard, Daniel Stern, Sam McMurray, John Goodman, Jay Thomas, and Patricia Richarson (who I didn’t recognize at all).

Heard is a photographer who starts investigating disappearances in New York City; he teams up with Stern, who runs a homeless shelter. Meanwhile, police Captain Bosch (Christopher Curry) starts his own investigation into the disappearances as well. It’s personal for him as his wife is included in the list of missing people. His investigation is hampered by his superiors, who are following their cues from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Turns out there are some Canibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers down in the sewers, but the surprise is that CHUD actually stands for Contamination Hazard Urban Disposal.

The actual CHUD monster looks decent, imo, and of course the message in there is that humans and bureaucrats protecting their own asses are the real monsters. The pace is slow though and there is not a lot of monster action. It’s an average movie but interesting to see this movie of its time.

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During Christmas and New Year’s we watched the big trio of holiday-based romcoms. First was Bridget Jones’s Diary, starring the impossibly cute Renee Zellweger. Of course we had seen it before. In fact, we were on vacation in London in 2001 where we saw Les Miz, and upon exiting the theatre we saw a big commotion across the street. It was the London premiere of the film, but at the time we had no awareness of the film. The story is sweet, with Hugh Grant and Colin Firth as both suitors, and she ends up choosing the “right” one. TCM was showing this, and the hosts commented on the same thing we did: there sure was a lot of smoking! Ha! But they loved the movie.

The second romcom we watched was Sleepless in Seattle, starring the impossibly cute Meg Ryan in pursuit of Tom Hanks. We had seen this; I’ve always liked Nora Ephron ever since I had a female TA in my college Freshman English class assigned us to read Nora Ephron – A Few Words About Breasts | Genius.
She had a point of view I hadn’t seen until that time (in 1976), and it was raw and funny (and adult). She kept that viewpoint in her screenplays and directing, and it works.

The third film we watched was another Nora Ephron screenplay, directed by Rob Reiner: When Harry Met Sally, again with Meg Ryan being even more impossibly cute. For some strange reason we had never seen it before, but with Reiner’s recent murder it finally appeared on HBO. Well, we had at least seen THAT clip. Again, the girl gets her man (Billy Crystal) at the end, but the path to get there was a bit “talky”, almost like a Woody Allen film. Another great film.

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Werewolves (2024) on Hulu. Frank Grillo plays a CDC researcher (?!) working to get to the bottom of why the last supermoon turned the entire population into werewolves. The next supermoon is tonight so the clock is ticking! I don’t want to call this a true B movie but it’s pretty close. I mean, Lou Diamond Phillips makes an appearance, so…maybe a B+ movie? Not recommended unless that’s exactly the kind of movie that would appeal to you, like it does to me, in which case, it was okay. I’m a big Frank Grillo fan but this was not one I’ll revisit. (Unlike Boss Level, which was peak Grillo for me.)

Last week I fired up Tubi for the first time in a while and saw that a bunch of movies in My List were expiring in 2 days. When I say a bunch, I mean 20. I ended up watching five before the deadline:

Rec (2007): Spanish film (subtitles) about emergency services being called to an apartment building and then getting locked in with the residents when the building is put in quarantine. Rage zombies ensue. I loved it; would recommend.

I’d seen the American remake Quarantine (2008) with Jennifer Carpenter years ago, but never the original until now. Many of the scenes gave me deja vu, though not so much that it felt like a shot-for-shot recreation. But it was so familiar I want to rewatch Quarantine now.

Safety Not Guaranteed (2012) Guy puts an ad on craigslist for a partner to join him going back to the past in his time machine. (“Bring your own weapon.”) A writer and a couple interns from a local magazine go out to meet and do a story on him. The cast is led by Aubrey Plaza and Mark Duplass; can’t go wrong there. I remember this getting glowing reviews when it came out, and I think it holds up well. I’d seen this back then but barely remembered anything about it apart from enjoying it. Would recommend.

One Percent More Humid (2017) Two best friends spend a summer hanging out, trying to deal with past trauma. Stars Juno Temple and Julia Garner, both of whom I’m enough of a fan of where I’ll occasionally check their IMDb page to see if I’ve missed anything of theirs. Put them together and I’ll watch them read the phone book.

It was fine. I’ll put it this way: If you watched Manchester By the Sea and thought to yourself: “This is all well and good, but what if instead of Casey Affleck it was two 20-something women who deal with their severe trauma by acting out sexually?” then this is the film for you.

No Stranger Than Love (2015) Alison Brie plays her entire small town’s crush who finally decides to ditch the perfect good girl image and have an affair with a married man (Colin Hanks), but soon after he gets to her place a supernatural hole opens up in her living room floor and swallows him up. Hijinks ensue as she desperately tries to get him out of the hole before the town discovers their attempted affair. By far the best part of this one is in the beginning when we see every guy she encounters practically throw themselves at her feet like puppies desperate for her attention. I didn’t regret the time I spent watching this but I don’t think I can say I recommend it.

The Shortcut (2009) I’ve seen this one before but it’s still fun to revisit Shannon Woodward, Dave Franco and Katrina Bowden in their younger days. Fairly pedestrian high school slasher flick.

What has always stood out to me about this one is how sympathetically the asshole jock is portrayed. Still an asshole, yes, but a largely harmless one with wholesome motivation: he’s just looking for his dog. Even when the main character – the new boy in school – starts cozying up to a different jock’s girlfriend (Bowden), not only does that other guy not confront him, we never even meet that character. I just enjoyed that little subversion of expectation.

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Yep, it isnt bad at all. The rest of the cast is pretty damn good, in fact.

Oddly the Pink Panther is the pink gemstone, which does not make an appearance in this film, or others IIRC. Peter sellers really overacts in the rest of the film series, and to me, they are unwatchable.

(Nor does the actual Thin Man show up in the sequel’s to that film)

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I believe you must be thinking of either The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976) or The Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978) because The Return definitely features the gem prominently.

//i\\

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My memory may have been blanked out due to Sellers horrible overacting, so I accept your correction. Note that I did add “IIRC” which I clearly did not. thank you.

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Trauma (1993)

Mildly recommended.

Dario Argento directs a movie about a very traumatised girl, played again by his own daughter Asia Argento. This movie opens with her, at age 16, trying to jump off a bridge and a man saving her from her suicide.

We learn about the girl’s trauma, having seen both of her parents killed(beheaded!). It’s an interesting movie and gives us some insight as to what Dario Argento thinks about therapy and therapists in general(not good!).

Doesn’t really go anywhere too interesting, but an interesting topic.

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I agree! It has a generally poor rating from critics, but this is one of those cases where I disagree with the critics. It really is a fun movie, and I recommend it! A rare example of a fine and very worthwhile movie with a rating of below 6 on IMDb (for some reason that I cannot fathom.)

IMHO, The Return of the Pink Panther is the best of the whole lot, or at least, the funniest. IIRC, it was omitted from some of the early DVD box sets because of ownership/licensing issues, which was a real shame.

If you’re only going to watch one Pink Panther movie, watch this one!

ETA: But if you’re going to watch several, start with A Shot in the Dark, and then this one!

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That was the original intent, so I’ve read. Clouseau was to be played by Peter Ustinov, who apparently walked off a couple of days before production began. Sellers was hired as a last-minute replacement, but his performance was so outstanding that the role of Clouseau was expanded and ended-up as the film’s centerpiece, much to the annoyance of David Niven, who was actually the star of the film. I always liked Ustinov but I can’t imagine this movie being anywhere near as entertaining with Ustinov in the role.

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Peter Sellers was sheer genius in the Pink Panther movies. They would not have been anywhere near as good with anyone else.

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I was a big fan of the Pink Panther sequels back when they were released.

Too young for The Pink Panther and A Shot in the Dark, but I was 12 to 15 when Return, Strikes Again, and Revenge came out.

The humor was probably right in a t(w)eenage boy’s wheelhouse. Perhaps I’ll revisit the series and see what I think of them now.

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I like these movies well enough thanks to Colin Firth, who makes me swoon, and the epic nerd fist fight.

I was once forced to read the source material, the book, and was not impressed, though it made more sense learning the book was a series of news articles intended as satire. Bridget is written as grotesquely shallow and narcissistic. The movie took from this cynical source material and created a charming little story.

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1922, based on the novella by Stephen King. Pretty well done, with a good cast.

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Stalag 17 1953 William Holden, Peter Graves, Neville Brand

Neville Brand fought at the Battle of the Bulge and awarded a Silver Star. Brand, a sergeant and platoon leader, was wounded in action along the Weser River on April 7, 1945. He was shot in the upper right arm and nearly bled to death.

Stalag 17 is my favorite Billy Wilder film. William Holden won the Oscar for his role.

Don’t avoid watching because it’s a black and white film. Stalag 17 holds up really well. The tension and desperation of the prisoners is very relatable today. It’s intensified when a traitor is suspected in the barracks.

My only nitpick are the two barracks clowns. One reminded me strongly of John Belushi’s slob, bully character. I understand Wilder wanted to break the dramatic tension.

I think the comedy could be dialed back a little bit. Cut the scene with the two goof balls going into the Russian womens camp.

I give it a 9 out of 10 rating

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Some of them are a little dated but Strikes Again (the one with all the international assassins and the “Does your dog bite?” joke) still entertains the crap out of me.

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In Returns, the whole extended scene where he’s searching/cleaning the hotel room in Gstaad is comedic brilliance.

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What an interesting post. You make me want to watch all of those.

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When Worlds Collide (1951).

I’d never seen it, and TMC was airing it the other day, so I watched. It was surprisingly entertaining. I expected it to be totally cheeseball, but it wasn’t completely. Lots of suspension of disbelief required (like tons), but I was never bored.

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I haven’t seen When Worlds Collide. The premise is very interesting. I’ll check it out.

Big Jake 1971 Richard Boone, John Wayne and many of his stock players

I’ve wondered why this movie isn’t much better. Richard Boone was excellent as a villian in several 50’s Westerns. Wayne was working with several actors that appeared in his other films.

The violent ranch raid is an excellent beginning.

The child’s rescue and shoot out at the end is very well done. It’s more bloody than you expect in a John Wayne film. That bastard with the machete was a total psychopath.

The movie loses something in the middle. The motorcycle stunts looked like they used a 1970 Yamaha Enduro. Motorcycles in 1909 were too primitive for those dirt bike stunts.

Patrick Wayne is not a strong actor.

My score 6 out of 10

At least it’s better than Cahill U.S. Marshal.

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Yeah, it is pretty damn good.