last movie you watched

[Greystoke]

what was the one that was in the late sixties vintage, where two gay women are working on a farm, the appear to be estranged from society? Halfway into the movie, a male character arrives and one of the women falls in love with him, or so it seems ?

Anyone know the film title and who the three stars was ? Think the movie, it just revolved around the three characters.

This sounds like The Fox, Mark Rydell's directorial debut.

[Greystoke]

Nothing beats 1960's both Film and Music, my friends If you haven't guessed by now, it's My favorite era

It was a great era. With major changes and developments in both industries as the decade progressed.

[Walter Hale 4]

what was the one that was in the late sixties vintage, where two gay women are working on a farm, the appear to be estranged from society? Halfway into the movie, a male character arrives and one of the women falls in love with him, or so it seems ?

Anyone know the film title and who the three stars was ? Think the movie, it just revolved around the three characters.

This sounds like The Fox, Mark Rydell's directorial debut.

Yes i think so. I'll look for it online to help jog my memory. Must've been the same year or in 1968, as Reflection in a Golden Eye. Good one greystoke.

[pmp]

Tonight I watched Cry of the Werewolf, a Columbia horror movie (sort of) from 1944. This was a case of my memory playing tricks on me, as I had it in my head that this was of the same standard as the studio's Return of the Vampire, made around the same time. However, Return of the Vampire is far superior. Cry of the Werewolf borrows heavily both from The Cat People and The Wolf Man, but is rather a limp effort, sadly, that seems drawn out even at its 62 minute running time.

[pmp]

Got the 4 Blu ray set of musicals issued by WB a while back in the US. It's a very nicely presented set, The Band Wagon, Calamity Jane, Singing in the Rain, and Kiss Me Kate. Not bad for £25, although I have Singing already.

Also arrived today was the Warner Archives Blu ray of Brigadoon. Not my favourite musical by a long way, but could hardly refuse at £3 used on Amazon Marketplace!

[Greystoke]

Got the 4 Blu ray set of musicals issued by WB a while back in the US. It's a very nicely presented set, The Band Wagon, Calamity Jane, Singing in the Rain, and Kiss Me Kate. Not bad for £25, although I have Singing already.

Also arrived today was the Warner Archives Blu ray of Brigadoon. Not my favourite musical by a long way, but could hardly refuse at £3 used on Amazon Marketplace!

That's a nice set, although I have them all individually. But £25 is a great price. I'm quite fond of Brigadoon, too. In all of its twee, artificial, and absurd Scottishness. Gene Kelly is just great here, though. And talking of Kelly, his influence can certainly be seen in Jennifer Lopez's latest film, This is Me Now: A Love Story (which is a companion piece to her latest album), which I've watched twice over the past couple of days.

Barbra Streisand's influence and inspiration is also very much present here, and there's also influence drawn from Streisand's What's Up, Doc? in Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One, which I watched for the second time last night, and enjoyed tremendously. Another film I watched again yesterday was Sion Sono's Antiporno, which is frenetic and frantic in equal measure. But it's also quite hollow.

This afternoon I watched Junkyard Dog, which I hadn't seen before. This is Jean-Baptiste Durand's feature debut, which is about two young friends whose relationship is affectionate, but also contemptuous in many ways, as Raphaël Quenard's Mirales constantly undermines and embarrasses his quieter friend, whose nickname is Dog.

Anthony Bajon plays Dog, and much like Mirales' adored actual dog, he follows at his friend's heels until a chance encounter with Galatea Bellugi's Ella leads to a romance that pushes Mirales to the side and into fits of jealousy.

It's a quietly compelling film, with fine performances and a sparse sense of location, which at times feels like it could have been drawn from western fiction. Especially when Dog rubs some local thugs up the wrong way. An understated gem, with fine performances from the three main actors.

[pmp]

Tonight I saw the recent restoration of The Howling - a film series I have not seen, with the exception of the teen thriller The Howling Reborn, which is quite fun. The original movie from 1980 was rather different to what I was expecting, in that it's a rather slow-moving film that takes itself surprisingly seriously. It's fine, but not something I'm likely to revisit in a hurry, and didn't hold my attention all that well, if I'm being honest. Great effects here, though, especially considering the film's vintage. The StudioCanal blu ray looks excellent for the most part, even if the audio is somewhat muffled in places.

[Greystoke]

I watched The Frighteners last night, and as always, I enjoyed it a great deal, although the visual effects certainly show their age, but this supernatural comedy from Peter Jackson has much to like. Not least of all, Michael J. Fox in the film's leading role as a paranormal investigator, who gets embroiled in a series of murders.

It's meticulously crafted, even if the story could do with more meat on its bones, given how much Jackson draws from the likes of Spielberg, Kubrick, and Hitchcock, amongst others. Whilst the climax isn't wholly satisfying, but it's fun and frenetic, with genuinely dark elements and Fox on appealing form.

I also watched Tales That Witness Madness, which is a film I last saw more than 20 years ago, I would think. This was one of many anthology horror films from the sixties and seventies, and it's no better or worse than most of them.

Here, the framing device revolves around a visit to an asylum, where a psychiatrist, played by Donald Pleasance, gives a visitor, played by Jack Hawkins, an introduction to four patients. One, a young boy who has befriended an imaginary tiger. Another, featuring a time travelling penny farthing. The third is about a husband and wife, who fight over a tree the husband brings into the house and becomes infatuated with. And the final story, starring Kim Novak as a literary agent, revolves around a sinister native ritual.

Pleasance is good as the psychiatrist, and whilst it's slow paced and less than thrilling with regards to the stories themselves, the structure and pacing is an asset. Even if the performances aren't. But it does end on a satisfying note.

[Greystoke]

I watched Shiva Baby for the second time this afternoon, Emma Seligman's tense and claustrophobic drama set almost in real time at a shiva, where Rachel Sennott's Danielle gradually unravels as her most personal secrets come into the open.

Running at under 80 minutes, Seligman directs with an assured hand that allows Sennott's edgy and captivating central performance to grip tight, as her secret life as a call girl and the presence of an ex-girlfriend comes into close proximity with the meeting and greeting of the aforementioned shiva.

It's the kind of situation that might occupy a few scenes in a much bigger film, but with such great writing, Danielle's lack of direction in life only becomes more amplified with each interaction. Making it tense and compelling in the most unassuming of settings. Complete with sharp social commentary and genuine compassion for the film's central character.

[pmp]

@Greystoke ,which version of Spellbound do you have on blu ray (if any)?

[Greystoke]

@Greystoke ,which version of Spellbound do you have on blu ray (if any)?

I have the MGM Blu-ray from 2011. It's region free and looks great. Good bonus material, too.

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[Greystoke]

I watched Mansion of the Doomed tonight, which is essentially a deliberately gruesome reworking of Eyes Without a Face, by way of Frankenstein, although it's more a case of a face without eyes. With Richard Basehart playing a surgeon, who kidnaps and removes the eyes of numerous victims in an attempt to successfully complete an eye transplant on his blind daughter, whose sight was lost in a car crash when he was at the wheel.

Trish Stewart plays the daughter, with Gloria Grahame in a thankless role as her mother, who is complicit in the increasingly deranged doctor's plans. Michael Pataki directs with a complete lack of subtlety, whist the script lacks the kind of allegory and satire that might have made this more than an exercise in nihilism. Especially when the film leans into even darker territory, yet doesn't have the courage of its convictions and, instead, resorts to the same repeated ideas with little variation.

[pmp]

@Greystoke ,which version of Spellbound do you have on blu ray (if any)?

I have the MGM Blu-ray from 2011. It's region free and looks great. Good bonus material, too.

Thanks. I think that's out of print, which is a pain. I was looking at the 2023 German release, but I don't know if it's the same. It's really annoying that Amazon bundles all of the reviews together for all the different releases. I've got an amazon voucher, so might give it a try, but the bonus features aren't the same, which is a bit concerning - but I guess I can always return it if it's not good. Oddly, the running time is listed as 7 minutes shorter than your copy. It seems madness that this, Rebecca, Paradine Case, and Notorious haven't been issued in the UK, and some of them are even out of print in the US. I've found the BFI restoration of Downhill on a French blu ray, so was going to get that and Spellbound together. I'll have to sleep on it.

[Greystoke]

I saw The Zone of Interest at the cinema again today. I've seen it twice now, and as per my previous comments, it's an extraordinary film. And one I wanted to not just see on the big screen one more time, but to hear, because part of this film's brilliance is its sound. Horrific as those sounds may be. It's the very definition of powerful cinema.

[pmp]

Tonight I watched the Hammer version of The Hound of the Baskervilles, which I haven't seen in a long time. Peter Cushing and Andre Morell are a very fine Holmes and Watson - it may be that Morell is the best Watson on film. The film as a whole is good, but there are lots of changes to the book. I'm not generally against that - it's whether the adaptation works as a film or TV programme that ultimately is the important thing for me - but I'm not sure much is gained through those changes here, although they don't really do the film any harm. The re-enactment of the story of the Baskerville curse that makes up the opening sequence is surprisingly dark and vicious for the period, and must have been quite an eye-opener for audiences at the time. I prefer the 1939 take on the story with Rathbone and Bruce, which is (perhaps surprisingly) somewhat more faithful to the book, but there is much to recommend in the Hammer version, too, particularly the two lead actors.

[Greystoke]

Tonight I watched the Hammer version of The Hound of the Baskervilles, which I haven't seen in a long time. Peter Cushing and Andre Morell are a very fine Holmes and Watson - it may be that Morell is the best Watson on film. The film as a whole is good, but there are lots of changes to the book. I'm not generally against that - it's whether the adaptation works as a film or TV programme that ultimately is the important thing for me - but I'm not sure much is gained through those changes here, although they don't really do the film any harm. The re-enactment of the story of the Baskerville curse that makes up the opening sequence is surprisingly dark and vicious for the period, and must have been quite an eye-opener for audiences at the time. I prefer the 1939 take on the story with Rathbone and Bruce, which is (perhaps surprisingly) somewhat more faithful to the book, but there is much to recommend in the Hammer version, too, particularly the two lead actors.

I'm very fond of Hammer's Hound of the Baskervilles, although, as you've said, the changes to the story add nothing and do little into the bargain. But it's so very atmospheric and well staged, with great performances and terrific set design. It's unfortunate that Hammer didn't do a second film with Cushing and Morell as Holmes & Watson. It's definitely one of my favourite Hammer films.

[pmp]

Tonight I tried (again) to watch Hitchcock's The Secret Agent (1936), but failed miserably to get through it - just as happened on the other couple of times I've attempted it. I'm not quite sure what it is about the film that I can't get to grips with, but the first half hour is more than enough for me. I don't think the casting helps. Peter Lorre is (unsurprisingly) awful blacked up as a womaneering Mexican (who, we are told, doesn't just like the ladies). And John Gielgud is bland in what appears to be his earliest surviving leading role. It all seems remarkably stiff and uninvolving, and feels far more like early 30s Hitchcock rather than something directed shortly after The Man Who Knew Too Much and The 39 Steps. I'll give it another go, perhaps, if it ever pops up on blu ray. Currently, however, it's one of only two Hitchcock movies from the 1930s not to be on blu ray (the other being Waltzes in Vienna - and the least said about that, the better)

Tonight I saw Femme (2023), in which Nathan Stewart-Jarrett stars as Jules, a drag performer who is attacked on the street by Preston (George MacKay) and his gang of friends. A few months later, Jules is at a gay sauna, and sees Preston there and approaches him, and the two begin an affair - with Jools slowly but surely getting ready to expose Preston to his friends and beyond as revenge.

It's an interesting film, but not a great one, although there are top marks here for a relatively original tale and trying to do something different. Both actors are on top form, but there is still quite a lot that doesn't work - not least a lack of hope. And this is important, I think, especially at a time when hate crimes in the UK are soaring, plus the fact that our sympathies move from Jules to Preston over the course of the film, and there's almost the feeling that Jules, the victim of a gay-bashing, is the bad guy because of the revenge that he seems to be determined to enact. There's also an issue here with the characterisation of Preston and his friends, who seem surprisingly stereotyped for a film that is, basically, a character-driven piece. They're a bunch of lads covered in tattoos who swear and drink alot, and say "innit" and "yeah man" with alarming regularly. k

There are sequences within the film that take it into more unexpected areas, but they all end up being dead ends, whereas following THOSE ideas through would have made for a more interesting (and more convincing) movie. MacKay manages to rise above this and makes his character convincing despite the various narrative twists and turns that don't seem quite true, but Stewart-Jarrett is saddled with an unconvincing character arc that is both depressing and unlikely.

I'm not suggesting that all queer films/tv should suddenly jump on the bandwagon of Heartstopper, where everyone is nice to everyone else, but this is a depressing way to spend ninety minutes or so, despite also being engrossing. But there were ways to go down the dark avenues of this narrative and yet not make it so utterly void of hope and the possibility of understanding between two disparate cultures.

[pmp]

Interesting news from Warner Archive today, with March released including 3 Godfathers, They Drive By Night, and a double bill of the silent films The Boob and Why Be Good. The silent movies are interesting, as Warner Archive have released very few on blu ray, and so a double if films featuring Joan Crawford and Colleen Moore is most welcome.

Tonight I saw Final Destination 3, which is the worst of the five films. It seems tedious, and suffers from horrible misogynistic elements, with gratuitous nudity, upskirting etc. It's ok, but little more than that, and the blu ray suffers from very quiet sound compared to other films.

[pmp]

I saw City of Fear, a couple of days ago, part of the cycle of 50s movies where there is an attempt to find someone carrying a nuclear bomb, radioactive materials, or a deadly illness before it destroys the city. This one is only average fare - part thriller, part police procedural. Vince Everett is ok on the lead, but he fails to breathe much life into this the average script.

By contrast, I saw Figaro last night, a 1929 very late French silent, which condenses the Figaro trilogy of plays (Barber of Seville, Marriage of Figaro, The Grieving Mother) into 110 minutes. This is an unexpected delight and, for the most part, great fun. The Grieving Mother is the only section not to have been adapted into a popular opera (although there are obscure operatic versions), and the tone of that play is much more serious. This is a funny, sexy movie that deserves to be far better know than it is - I knew nothing of it until a fortnight ago - and the Gaumont Blu ray print is absolutely flawless. The Blu ray is multi region and has English subs for the main feature - but not the extras.

[Greystoke]

I saw City of Fear, a couple of days ago, part of the cycle of 50s movies where there is an attempt to find someone carrying a nuclear bomb, radioactive materials, or a deadly illness before it destroys the city. This one is only average fare - part thriller, part police procedural. Vince Everett is ok on the lead, but he fails to breathe much life into this the average script.

By contrast, I saw Figaro last night, a 1929 very late French silent, which condenses the Figaro trilogy of plays (Barber of Seville, Marriage of Figaro, The Grieving Mother) into 110 minutes. This is an unexpected delight and, for the most part, great fun. The Grieving Mother is the only section not to have been adapted into a popular opera (although there are obscure operatic versions), and the tone of that play is much more serious. This is a funny, sexy movie that deserves to be far better know than it is - I knew nothing of it until a fortnight ago - and the Gaumont Blu ray print is absolutely flawless. The Blu ray is multi region and has English subs for the main feature - but not the extras.

The location work in City Fear is rather good and effective, in my opinion. It's a bit of a curio in some respects. I think I like it a bit more than you do. Of a similar nature, Seven Days to Noon is hard to beat. I'll actually have to watch that one again quite soon.

[pmp]

I saw City of Fear, a couple of days ago, part of the cycle of 50s movies where there is an attempt to find someone carrying a nuclear bomb, radioactive materials, or a deadly illness before it destroys the city. This one is only average fare - part thriller, part police procedural. Vince Everett is ok on the lead, but he fails to breathe much life into this the average script.

By contrast, I saw Figaro last night, a 1929 very late French silent, which condenses the Figaro trilogy of plays (Barber of Seville, Marriage of Figaro, The Grieving Mother) into 110 minutes. This is an unexpected delight and, for the most part, great fun. The Grieving Mother is the only section not to have been adapted into a popular opera (although there are obscure operatic versions), and the tone of that play is much more serious. This is a funny, sexy movie that deserves to be far better know than it is - I knew nothing of it until a fortnight ago - and the Gaumont Blu ray print is absolutely flawless. The Blu ray is multi region and has English subs for the main feature - but not the extras.

The location work in City Fear is rather good and effective, in my opinion. It's a bit of a curio in some respects. I think I like it a bit more than you do. Of a similar nature, Seven Days to Noon is hard to beat. I'll actually have to watch that one again quite soon.

Seven Days to Noon is excellent, as is the one about the plague. Richard Widmark, I think??

[Greystoke]

I saw City of Fear, a couple of days ago, part of the cycle of 50s movies where there is an attempt to find someone carrying a nuclear bomb, radioactive materials, or a deadly illness before it destroys the city. This one is only average fare - part thriller, part police procedural. Vince Everett is ok on the lead, but he fails to breathe much life into this the average script.

By contrast, I saw Figaro last night, a 1929 very late French silent, which condenses the Figaro trilogy of plays (Barber of Seville, Marriage of Figaro, The Grieving Mother) into 110 minutes. This is an unexpected delight and, for the most part, great fun. The Grieving Mother is the only section not to have been adapted into a popular opera (although there are obscure operatic versions), and the tone of that play is much more serious. This is a funny, sexy movie that deserves to be far better know than it is - I knew nothing of it until a fortnight ago - and the Gaumont Blu ray print is absolutely flawless. The Blu ray is multi region and has English subs for the main feature - but not the extras.

The location work in City Fear is rather good and effective, in my opinion. It's a bit of a curio in some respects. I think I like it a bit more than you do. Of a similar nature, Seven Days to Noon is hard to beat. I'll actually have to watch that one again quite soon.

Seven Days to Noon is excellent, as is the one about the plague. Richard Widmark, I think??

Panic in the Streets. That's very good. Widmark is great in that one. Jack Palance in his debut, too.

[Greystoke]

I watched Griselda a few nights ago, the Netflix series based on the life of Griselda Blanco, the notorious ringleader of a drug dealing operation in Miami during the seventies and eighties. Sofia Vergara stars and is absolutely captivating as Blanco, with the series beginning as Griselda flees from Colombia to Miami, where she takes her sons to live with a friend who works in the travel business.

It's a six part series that covers quite a lot of ground, albeit in condensed ways, as episodes sometimes jump ahead several years. Whilst the characters aren't well-developed outside of Griselda, who is conceived as a character that's afforded perhaps too much sympathy alongside a degree of understanding.

On one hand, Griselda's maternal instincts are evoked quite strongly, whilst the danger surrounding her is never downplayed, although this is a character who doesn't seem to entirely conjure the sense of fear that's suggested as the series begins.

The story is played out with a lot of broad strokes and formulaic aspects as Griselda's rise and fall is depicted, although it never really has a strong feel or flavour for the eras it's set in. Which is partly due to a lack of wider context as the story is very much told from inside Griselda's organisation, however, that bubble is never burst. It's pretty good on the whole, all the same. Especially Vergara. Whose makeup seems partly inspired by Heath Ledger's Joker.

[Greystoke]

I watched the new version of Road House tonight, which stars Jake Gyllenhaal as a former UFC fighter who takes a job at a Florida Keys roadhouse that's struggling due to rowdy customers. Directed by Doug Liman, this is more a reimagining of the 1980s film than a remake, complete with western themes that are played up so much as to be on the nose.

Gyllenhaal is certainly well cast and he looks magnificent, although his performance is quite low key and charming in between fight scenes. Including unnecessary flashbacks to a UFC career that don't really add much to the story. I was reminded of The Quiet Man in some respects with the flashbacks. And I'm sure Follow That Dream was set quite nearby.

Its quite thinly plotted all the same, although there's nuance from Gyllenhaal amidst some risible dialogue and bad guys that are lined up to be knocked down, before Connor McGregor appears as henchman who is hired to finish the job. McGregor really can't act, although his character is played up to the hilt, and has all the charisma of a castoff Bond henchman from the Roger Moore years.

I did, however, buy into and believe in Gyllenhaal as a warrior with a troubled heart, although this wasn't mined nearly enough, whilst it all falls apart in a final act that throws everything at the wall. Furthermore, the fight scenes themselves weren't entirely convincing, with Liman far too fussy in his approach, which stripped away some of the excitement and visceral qualities the film needed.

[pmp]

Tonight I waded through the original Amityville Horror film tonight from 1979. "Waded" being the key word. I found it hard work - surprisingly long-winded, and rather heavy-handed in its character arcs. I'm not a fan of Ryan Reynolds, but have to say I found the 2005 remake with him considerably more entertaining, and all the better for being 30 minutes shorter.