Toy Story 5 (2026). I saw the original in the Theater when it came out, mostly because it was the first feature length computer animated movie. I have seen all the other ones as well, and have enjoyed them to varying degrees. I was not sure what to expect about this latest one thinking that it would be mostly bland with a few enjoyable jokes.
I was pleasantly surprised that was not the case, it actually took a nuanced view of technology with also tales of self-worth, which I was not expecting. Of course it was full of funny moments as well, and the quality of the animation is leaps and bounds of the original. They also leaned into to using 2-D for imagination sequences which was nice touch.
On the whole a worthy addition to the series. It can’t capture the imagination the way the first one did since by now we know the characters and what the whole toy business is about, but still a welcome foray into that world.
We watched Hell or High Water, a Taylor Sheridan movie (2016). We really liked it, and it had a great ending.
We also watched The Man from Earth (2007). I’m not sure if I liked it or not. It was short (1 hr 27 min) compared to most movies now. My husband and I both said at the same time, “That was different.”
The Man from Earth was written by science fiction writer Jerome Bixby, who deserves more recognition that he gets. He’s the one who wrote the short story “It’s GOOD Life”, which was made into one of the most memorable and creepiest episodes of The Twilight Zone ever – the one with Billy Mumy as the boy who can do anything with his mind. He wrote three episodes of the original Star Trek, including “Requiem for Methuselah”, which bears a strong resemblance to The Man from Earth.
He also co-wrote the screenplay for Fantastic Voyage. In the 1950s he wrote three science fiction screenplays, including It! The Terror from Beyond Space, from which they stole the plot for Alien. (He also wrote the unusual and virtually forgotten The Lost Missile, as well as the justly-forgotten Curse of the Faceless Man.)
Lucky Strike, a WWII film starring Scott Eastwood. “Based on true events” around the Battle of the Bulge. A solid 5.5 - a lot of Scott walking through snowy woods, a framing device that is pretty awkward, McGuffin/Chekov’s guns that are shoehorned into the final action.
Mr Sardonicus (1961). Creepy Gothic horror story based on a famous short story by Ray Russell, who also wrote the screenplay. Although the story was highly acclaimed, the movie itself is just OK, but recommended if you like that sort of thing.
I finally saw this about a year ago, obtaining a copy on DVD. I had seen pictures of the main character for years, though – it was a staple of Famous Monsters of Filmland, and it’s appropriately creepy. I also read the story in the collection he published. I didn’t realize that it was considered “famous”, despite appearing in Playboy.
When I watched the film, I got the impression that they were feeling too restrained – they wanted to go further off the deep end, but you could only get away with so much in a 1961 movie. You got the impression that they wanted to show more of Krull torturing the servants – you basically just see him cracking a whip (question: Did the folks who made the movie Krull see this film?) I didn’t find the ending very satisfying.
I thought the ending was quite good, both from a creative standpoint and from the standpoint of justice. Incidentally, the general consensus seems to be that the idea of two different endings that the audience could choose from was just a gimmick invented by director William Castle, and that no alternate ending was ever filmed.
My major problem with the film was that the makeup used to represent Sardonicus’ grotesquely deformed face was pretty bad and completely unbelievable. Fortunately it only appears in a few scenes.
If you can find it, get the version of Thirteen Ghosts (the 1960 version, not the 2001 remake) that’s on DVD in two colors. You can watch the “ghost” sequences without Castle’s “Ghost Viewer” if you just use one “lens” from a pair of anaglyphic 3D movie glasses. It’s the only Castle gimmick I know of that you can see at home. t least without rigging up your own skeleton on a wire, or electric buzzer.
I love this movie! Probably because I loved it as a kid and my opinion is colored by that. It’s actually one of the few movies I own. Oskar Homolka as Krull (his Igor) is wonderful.
I agree. He looked very familiar so I had to look up his bio to find out where I might have seen him before. It was most likely the fact that he appeared in three episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, of which I’m a big fan! But he did make tons of movies, some of which I may have seen.
Just went to a cinema showing of Repo Man. I think this is the first time I’ve seen it since the ‘90s (or possibly the ‘80s) and it’s still funny and has a cracking soundtrack.
Not only has it not really aged, it’s disturbingly current (at one point the televangelist is railing against “godless communism and liberal sensibilities” and I just thought “Welp, that’s a familiar refrain”).
