ROCKtober Watching Thread!

[J.M. Vargas]

Sorry!

Sam Fuller's Park Row (1952) on TCM-HD for the first time. Fuller's love letter to the early days of New York City newspapers liberally borrows from real-life 1800's events (a newspaper sponsoring a drive to give the then-unassembled Statue of Liberty its pedestal, the invention of linotype pressing, etc.) to tell the fictitious rise and fall of The Globe, the dream newspaper of the driven journalist/dreamer Phineas Mitchell (Gene Evans). The movie's screenplay is thick with ham-fisted melodrama (what Fuller movie isn't? ) as The Globe battles rival newspaper The Star for readership, scoops and any paper it can print on. Acting is decent (Herbert Heyes' kindly old reporter Josiah Davenport steals every scene he's in) but the romantic scenes between Evans' Mitchell and Mary Welch as his archrival competitor are embarrassing (but needed for the movie's contrived ending to work). Camera work is excellent and "Park Row" is fueled by a contagious 'let's put on a show' spirit as the Globe staffers struggle to keep the presses rolling that could only come from someone (like Fuller) that lived though and respected the bygone era of American journalism depicted here. It's an 83 min. trip down memory lane that more that earns the right to end on 'THIRTY.'

Rewatched Nagisa Ôshima's In the Realm of the Senses (1976) on Criterion Blu-ray with the Tony Rayns commentary track. It's hilarious to listen to the learned and professorial voice of Rayns trying to avoid talking about the on-screen depictions of sex. Inevitably the steamier the scene on-screen the more repetitive of what he has already talked about and nervous Tony becomes. Thankfully the informative interviews with cast and crew members (a vintage Ôshima scene from '76 is a bust) along with the booklet pick-up where Tony's nervous commentary loops due to the man being uncomfortable about the images he's talking over.

The second half of HBO's True Blood (2009) on HBO 2-HD for the first time. As expected the 2nd half of the season didn't pack the punch and intensity of the first half since the 'B' storyline (involving Michelle Forbes' mysterious character) took center stage once the more promising 'A' storyline (with Jason Stackhouse, the Texan vampires and the born-again church) wrapped-up with quite a few episodes left to go in the season. Allan Hyde makes quite an impression during his brief on-screen time as Godric (I was crying during that scene between him, Eric and Sookie atop the hotel roof). It was still a gas to watch the show deliberately allow itself and its wacky characters to go wildly off-rails (the 10th episode was the type of delirious camp you couldn't keep me away from) and the addition of Evan Rachel Wood toward the end was a ton of fun (even if her scenes were way too short and meandering). But, as in Season 1 (and Jackson's "Return of the King"), "True Blood" just doesn't quite know when/how to end on a high note. The massive doses of crazy-cool fun experienced throughout 11 episodes feel kind-of wasted when they don't lead up to a 12th episode that satisfies... just like foreplay I guess.

[HGervais]

Doctor Who: The Twin Dilemma....Colin Baker's 1st story as the Doctor. A much maligned story that while not great, isn't that bad. The more I watch of Baker's Doctor the more I think he was ahead of his time and how ill-served he was by John Nathan-Turner as producer. I mean really, that costume. Ugh.
The Damned United....UK drama about football coach Brian Clough. Maybe one of the best films this year with a killer cast, a tight screenplay by Peter The Queen & Frost/Nixon Morgan and a great sense of place & time. I don't know if it is coming out in North America but if is, its worth hunting down.

[BenSaylor]

The Damned United....UK drama about football coach Brian Clough. Maybe one of the best films this year with a killer cast, a tight screenplay by Peter The Queen & Frost/Nixon Morgan and a great sense of place & time. I don't know if it is coming out in North America but if is, its worth hunting down.

After becoming a huge fan of Morgan's following The Deal and The Queen (and, to a lesser extent, Frost/Nixon), I'm very intrigued by this movie, despite knowing nothing about the subject.

[Jon Mercer]

Superman / Batman: Public Enemies - Welcome to the suck. This was so bad I think I threw up inside my soul. The DC Animated library has so far been full of solid little guilty pleasures, but this was a nugget of the purest excrement. The character designs, which i should have been ecstatic about, seeing as they were neither the Bruce Timm/Max Fleischer inspired style that has been used since the early 90s, nor were they the rather bland Sean Galloway designs from Hellboy, Wolverine, or Spectacular Spider-Man; were absolute blech. Every character looked stuffed-to-the-gills, and as a resuklt the animation came off looking at best stiff, at worst completely ridiculous. This helped to tear asunder the solid voice-work, as hearing Clancy Brown's threatening growl come out of looney-bin Lex was really off-putting.

[barnaclelapse]

Superman / Batman: Public Enemies - Welcome to the suck. This was so bad I think I threw up inside my soul. The DC Animated library has so far been full of solid little guilty pleasures, but this was a nugget of the purest excrement. The character designs, which i should have been ecstatic about, seeing as they were neither the Bruce Timm/Max Fleischer inspired style that has been used since the early 90s, nor were they the rather bland Sean Galloway designs from Hellboy, Wolverine, or Spectacular Spider-Man; were absolute blech. Every character looked stuffed-to-the-gills, and as a resuklt the animation came off looking at best stiff, at worst completely ridiculous. This helped to tear asunder the solid voice-work, as hearing Clancy Brown's threatening growl come out of looney-bin Lex was really off-putting.

Awwww....I was really looking forward to this, too.

I'll still likely check it out, but it's unfortunate to read that.

Me, I'm still working my way through MST3K, although I plan to start getting back to my whole thing of catching up on classic films that I've been meaning to see for years.

[J.M. Vargas]

Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused (1993) on HD-DVD for the first time. Nothing important happens and there's really nothing remarkable about (a) "D&C's" high-def incarnation (insignificant improvement over regular DVD) and (b) the lives of the 20+ young characters in this movie as they go through their last day/night of school in 1976 Austin (TX). And that's a good thing. I appreached this flick expecting a 'stoner' comedy (the cover and its reputation strongly suggest it) but instead got a 'day in the life/wall on the fly'-style dramedy that does for the 70's what Lucas' "American Graffitti" did for the 50's. Surprisingly the then-unknown actors that went on to become stars (Jovovich, Posey, London, J.L. Adams, etc.) are overshadowed by the lesser-known actors except for McConaughey's and Affleck's scene-stealing turns as Woodstone and O'Bannion, respectively. Anthony Rapp and Christin Hinojosa, in particular, make a strong impression as a 'Jim and Pam'-type young couple of shy insecure-but-not-dorky people falling in love. Wiley Wiggins has an Edward Furlong presence about him (that's not a complement) but at least for "Dazed and Confused" he's the perfect Mitch. The classic 70's soundtrack is nice but, 16 years removed from its release, feels a tad formulaic (probably because it helped set a template for retrospective movie soundtracks). I expect repeat viewings of this movie to yield lots more quotable lines like 'I'm here to kick ass and drink beer, and we're all out of beer' plus a wealth of small moments that will add to the experience. No need to upgrade to the Criterion version on this one though since the film itself (not its production history or behind-the-scenes gossip) is the star of the show.

Also caught Zombieland (2009) in theaters for the first time at a packed house in Midtown Manhattan last night. I don't know if it's a testament or an indictment of director Ruben Fleischer but this is the first movie in ages that I felt lasted only two acts instead of three. As I was mentally preparing myself for a kick-ass third act after what I perceived to be the end of the second act the credits started rolling to half the audience's (and my) surprised 'that's it??!!' visible reaction. Guess that's what sequels are for. "Zombieland" is too cute by half as it proudly wears its META badge on its sleeve to its detriment (it's slow-mo credits were already spoofed on last night's "SNL Digital Short") but Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg (the Michael Ironside to Michael Cera's Jack Nicholson... wait, WAT?!?! ) help compensate for the dead weight that Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin bring to a razor-thin cast. And not even the hilarious out-of-nowhere celebrity cameo mid-section can mask that, even in a living dead comedy, when characters still do idiotic things to put themselves in danger you lose a good chunk of your self-made 'cool' personality.

[Andrew Forbes]

Night and the City. I wish this wasn't a Criterion so I could afford to buy it. Time to start saving. Ridiculously good flick.

[Future Man]

Gloria 1980
My second or third viewing--I now realize this contains one of my all time favorite female performances in a movie.

[J.M. Vargas]

Roberto Rossellini's The Flowers of St. Francis (1950) on Criterion DVD for the first time. My first Rossellini film (co-written by Fellini no less) and, as an Atheist that was raised Catholic, I was floored after watching "Flowers of St. Francis" to find out that Rossellini was an Atheist as well. This could open some of the movie's scenes to interpretations of ridicule by the director (the last vignette in particular) but on first viewing I was taken aback by how respectful of his subject matter the director is. Like the best of his fellow Italian neo-realist directors Rossellini allows his non-actor monks and the power of what they're portraying (ten vignettes from the lives of either St. Francis or his early disciples) to carry the film at the expense of dramatic momentum or even a compelling central figure. Only the segment with an over-the-top Aldo Fabrizi as a villain trying (and failing) to break Ginepro's passive resistance rings false, and one could almost sense Rossellini's hand in sabotaging this vignette to call attention at how near-perfect the other nine segments are. If you're in the mood for an uplifting spiritual flick but don't want to swallow the cheese from a Hollywood 'sandal epic' give "The Flowers of St. Francis" a shot. You might be as surprised as this former Catholic was at how a leftist Italian filmmaker was be a better interpreter of religious teachings back in the 50's than almost the entire American film industry over the past few decades (with notable exceptions like Robert Duvall's "The Apostle").

Mikhail Kalatozov's The Cranes Are Flying (1957) on TCM-HD for the first time. I loved Kalatozov's "Ballad of a Soldier" when I saw it a few months back but "Cranes Are Flying" is even better. The camera work in this movie is just a thing of beauty, so full of energy and able to be both intimate (the close-ups of beautiful Tatyana Samojlova, or anyone lucky enough to be placed on the foreground) and sweepingly epic within the same 1:33:1 frame. I couldn't help but rewind several scenes as I was watching "Cranes Are Flying" just to admire the beauty of the compositions (Boris' 'dream' wedding on the apartment building's stairs, Veronika's mad dash after a train, etc.) and laughed when I realized the movie's title is inspired by the movie's only dated element: those badly-animated birds flying in formation (cheesy). Vasili Merkuryev has a face and rotund body made for silent movies that helps his Fyodor Ivanovich character connect on-screen as a man of principle that would keep the girlfriend of his drafted son living under his roof. And even though it takes a backseat to the Vero-Boris-Mark love triangle the portrayal of wartime Russia (Stalin would have disapproved!) shows the type of sweeping motion picture spectacle that the Soviet Union machinery could deliver when it put its national film industry behind it. More Kalatozov movies, please.

William Castle's I Saw What You Did (1964) on TCM-HD Underground for the first time. I've read about Castle's reputation and seen a couple of his flicks ("The Tingler," etc.) but that didn't prepare me for this movie's extremely opposite personalities oddly co-existing throughout its running time. On one hand we have something akin to a movie version of "Nancy Drew" or "The Patty Duke Show," complete with a Van Alexander-composed soundtrack that is as peppy and happy as the three wholesome girls (and filmed sitcom music) gets. On the other hand we have a "Psycho"-inspired performance (complete with an above-average ripoff of that movie's classic shower scene) by a creepy John Ireland trying to make sure nobody knows about his bad deeds, particularly the alone-in-the-middle-of-nowhere girls that randomly dialed up his phone to taunt him. Throw into this mix Joan Crawford in full 'LOOK AT ME' mode (for a supporting role that should have received much smaller screen time) and the Castle cheese factory just overfloweth with amusingly awful goodness that carries all the way to the final scene (complete with that goddamn wholesome sitcom music!). Easily the most screwy 'scared straight' after school photoplay since "Reefer Madness."

Alan J. Pakula's The Parallax View (1974) on TCM-HD for the first time. "All the President's Men" is one of my favorite movies of all time, a thinking man's thriller that soars for the same reasons Pakula's previous flick, "The Parallax View," falls flat on its face and never takes off. Warren Beatty comes across as an accidental action hero than a reporter (car stunts, last-minute escapes, etc.) as he stumbles upon a Kennedy-inspired conspiracy about the 'accidental' deaths of witnesses to the assassination of a US Senator. I didn't buy any of it for a moment but I sure laughed at that dopey subliminal indoctrination video Beatty is forced to watch when he attempts to join the Parallax Corporation. Improbabilities pile-up, trust in confidants is strained (Hume Cronyn is excellent as Beatty's close-to-being-fed-up-but-not-quite editor) and it all ends like most of these type of movies does: a big set piece that amounts to a big nothing when the credits roll. Decent cinematography by Gordon Willis though, who along with Pakula learned to tone down the frantic stuff and dial-up the shadowy men to great effect when Nixon gave them the best real-life conspiracy Hollywood could ever hope to dramatize for posterity.

Agnès Varda's Vagabond (1985) on Sundance Channel for the first time. What if Suzanne (Sandrine Bonnaire) from Maurice Pialat's "À nos amours" became a runaway French teenager cut from the same fabric as 'the girl' from "Two-Lane Blacktop"? In Varda's fictitious docudrama we get to meet such a teen (played by Bonnaire) from the first-person accounts of those that had contact with her, some in passing and some a little (very little) more in-depth, for a few days during a cold winter in rural France. Only toward the movie's last third do we realize how connected these characters are with each other (besides their encounters with Mona), giving "Vagabond" a poignancy one wouldn't expect given how the movie opens. Some of Varna's attempts at staging breaking-the-fourth-wall confessionals fall flat (the goat-herding couple, etc.) but, mixed with a handful of well-acted moments (Yahiaoui Assouna's wordless stare at the camera being the most potent) along with some genuinely moving scenes (Mona's drunk laughter with the old woman, etc.), collectively add-up to the incomplete portrait of a life you find yourself thinking about long after the sabotaged-by-default conclusion fades to black. My first Varda movie, and a damn good one that makes me want to see more of the woman's work.

[Steve T Power]

Drag me to Hell - Remind me again about Sam Raimi. Why am i supposed to love him? It was passable i guess, a few creepy moments totally offset by wretched acting and amateur hour humor.

[BenShultz]

Drag me to Hell - Remind me again about Sam Raimi. Why am i supposed to love him? It was passable i guess, a few creepy moments totally offset by wretched acting and amateur hour humor.

I just think it's really, really fun. It covers two extremes, by being terrifying one moment and hilarious the next, sometimes blending the two. But I guess if you don't find Raimi's sensibility amusing, you'll be lost. Personally I think it's one of the year's best movies.

And I'm just going to throw this out there: It's truly my favorite horror movie, although horror's never been one of my favorite genres.

[Andrew Forbes]

Drag me to Hell - Remind me again about Sam Raimi. Why am i supposed to love him? It was passable i guess, a few creepy moments totally offset by wretched acting and amateur hour humor.

What Raimi movies--if any--did you like, Steve?

This isn't going to be another Darkman, is it? You know, where everyone says it's great if you're into Raimi's sense of humor, but actually it's just completely incoherent and generally retarded? God, I hate that movie so much! Now I'm angry, damn it!

[HGervais]

I love Darkman.

[Andrew Forbes]

I love Darkman.

Don't try to seduce me, schlock-vixen!

[HGervais]

If Creepy magazine had done a superhero comic book with Marvel, it would have looked a lot like Darkman and if either Spider-Man or Spider-Man 3 would have had half the quirky energy of Darkman they would have been much better movies.

[Andrew Forbes]

If Creepy magazine had done a superhero comic book with Marvel, it would have looked a lot like Darkman and if either Spider-Man or Spider-Man 3 would have had half the quirky energy of Darkman they would have been much better movies.

In 300 years, 45% of the world's population will subscribe to IMDbism, a religion founded on the principle that everyone must hate exactly the same movies as me, or be labeled as gay! Additionally, "gay" will be synonymous with "stupid," whereas homosexuals will be referred to as "Travolting."

[HGervais]

If Creepy magazine had done a superhero comic book with Marvel, it would have looked a lot like Darkman and if either Spider-Man or Spider-Man 3 would have had half the quirky energy of Darkman they would have been much better movies.

In 300 years, 45% of the world's population will subscribe to IMDbism, a religion founded on the principle that everyone must hate exactly the same movies as me, or be labeled as gay! Additionally, "gay" will be synonymous with "stupid," whereas homosexuals will be referred to as "Travolting."

No offense but that is a post Chris Sax could have written.

[Dan Mancini]

Drag me to Hell - Remind me again about Sam Raimi. Why am i supposed to love him? It was passable i guess, a few creepy moments totally offset by wretched acting and amateur hour humor.

I'm not down with STP in the Raimi hate department*, but I have to agree with him about Drag Me to Hell. The second half of the movie would be entertaining if it wasn't so predictable (Gee, I wonder what's in that envelope...). The first half of the movie is an excruciating exercise in pandering to Raimi fanboys. Yet none of the stylistic flourishes work like they do in the Evil Dead flicks because they don't fit the overall tone of the movie. At. All.





*I also don't think Roland Emmerich has ever come anywhere near making a good movie (and by "good" I mean, "makes at least a modicum of sense and can be watched more than once without wanting to take a pickaxe to one's own head"), so you can be the judge as to which of us is more unsane than the other.

[Steve T Power]

Drag me to Hell - Remind me again about Sam Raimi. Why am i supposed to love him? It was passable i guess, a few creepy moments totally offset by wretched acting and amateur hour humor.

What Raimi movies--if any--did you like, Steve?

Mainly his pretentious "artsy" effort - A Simple Plan, that was Raimi showing what he was really capable of... But i also really dig The Quick and the Dead and (of course) Evil Dead II(the first one was garbage) and Army of Darkness. Keep me the hell away from the Spider-man stuff, though in fairness to Raimi i'm not a fan of the character to begin with, or the super-hero genre outside of Nolan's bat-films.

This isn't going to be another Darkman, is it? You know, where everyone says it's great if you're into Raimi's sense of humor, but actually it's just completely incoherent and generally retarded? God, I hate that movie so much! Now I'm angry, damn it!

That assessment is pretty much dead on.

I still say the best thing Raimi's ever done was get shot in a Coen Brothers flick

[HGervais]

So The Invention of Lying is just about the best piece of satire I have seen in quite some time and brutal enough that it got a person upset enough to walk out when the character played by Gervais makes up the concept of heaven to help make his dying mother's last few moments peaceful & happy ones. Oh and Jennifer Garner really is wonderful in the movie. A film well worth checking out.

[HGervais]

Park Chan-wook's Thirst. A vampire movie Korean style. Chan-wook's style is very classical but he has a way of breaking a story that causes it to go in very unexpected directions. He also is a master at getting a cringe & a laugh within the same beat. I need to see this one again.

[Gabriel Girard]

The Lives Of Others - Really interesting film about communist era Germany. I didn't know Orwell was that prescient.. A really interesting main character and a worthwhile story are somewhat marred by a third act contrivance, but it's still worth seeing. With his role in this and Black Book Sebastian Koch is becoming my favorite modern German actor.

Che Part One : The Argentine - My favorite film of 2008 so far. Gripping, detailed, beautifully photographed and magisterially acted. Soderbergh eschews traditional biopic rhythms and shoots with a documentary aesthetic - handheld, natural lighting, he also throws us directly into the story without much background and he skips over some events - Which is why the movie is worth seeing . Can't wait to see part two this weekend.

Erin Brockovich - Soderbergh-lite. Still he films this fairly realistically and doesn't rely as much on melodrama as other directors would have.

Berlin Alexanderplatz - Episode One - Touching, weird, humanistic and fascinating. I definitely will see the rest.

[Jon Mercer]

Law Abiding Citizen - Starts out as an over-the-top but reasonably taut and well-acted little thriller, but it soon becomes apparent that the script was either written in bullet points, or everyone involved was completely insane. Gerard Butler commences as a fairly sympathetic character who's equally as determined as he is disturbed. He's painted in the same light as Liam Neeson was in Taken or Jack Nicholson in The Crossing Guard. There is something definitely unbalanced in his psyche, but we want to feel he is justified in his viciousness. By the film's end Butler becomes a character who would seem very much at home in Batman's rogue's gallery. His overreaching plan is Machiavellian in design, and his hypothesized result is something that could have been born out of the mind of The Joker. I was half expecting Batman to come through a window after him at one point, or for Jamie Foxx to use some massive sonar machine to stop him in the end. Speaking of Jamie Foxx, who is the story's lynch pin as Dr. Doom...sorry Gerard Butler's scheme is completely based around teaching him a lesson as to the results of his duplicitous means to attaining any conviction is rendered meaningless to the story by its end. Does he learn his lesson? He says he does, but in the end he's still used underhanded tactics to come out on top instead of standing up to any sort of principles. Butler himself tells him that if he'd gone to trail and failed, but gave him his all he could've walked out of the court with his head held high and any man should be able to live with that. But in LAC's Justice League inspired third act, he still resorts to playing dirty to win. The only thing that was missing was he and Butler having a karate fight over the bomb's detonator.

[Andrew Forbes]

Child's Play. Well, that was a lot better than I expected. I mean, assuming you're willing to go along with the premise of a possessed, killer doll, this is a really well made horror flick that relies a whole lot more on tension and mood than gore or shocks. I can't even recall any real bloodshed. Chucky's POV shots are especially effective, as are the lightning-fast glimpses of him dashing between hiding spots. And his final(ish) incarnation is downright creepy. I always assumed this would be uninspired trash, but it turns out to be really well-directed trash.

[J.M. Vargas]

^^^ You'll be happy to know that "Child's Play 2/3" sustain the quality of understatement of the original flick (seek them out ASAP). They're not as good as the first but it's not until the fourth and fifth movies ("Bride of Chucky" and "Seed of Chucky") that the movie goes over the top with gore and insane plots. But even taking these two into account (they're not bad, just traded the subtlety of the first three movies with a "Scream"-type degree of self awareness) I still consider the entire "Chucky" saga an above-average horror franchise. I credit Don Mancini, who has written every installment in the series (and directed/produced many of them), with the consistency with which Chucky has remained a sick SOB. If you like the first three "Child's Play" movies don't hesitate to give "Bride/Seed" a look, since they're all in the (Mancini) family.

Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1938) on Blu-ray for the first time. Prior to seeing it in high-def I had only seen "Snow White" through scenes shown in other movies (particularly "Gremlins"). Didn't like the movie much but mainly because I can't stand musicals (particularly in animated flicks) and most of the singing in "Snow White" is as annoying and shrill as the lead character's high-pitched voice. The plot moves slow as hell (understandable given it was the first feature-length cartoon) plus Snow White and her Prince couldn't have been bigger cyphers. But man, I can't deny the thrill I felt watching Snow White running through that 'scary' forest, some of those sidekick animal hijinks and the classic 'Hi Hoooo' Dwarves marching scenes in their entirety for the first time in high-def... pure movie magic. I dug Grumpy (coolest character in the flick by far), Doc was an idiot leader (straight out of the "Transformers" school that led to Optimus Prime being the Autobot's leader) and the Queen was a wicked cool gal (I'd do her ). Along with the Witch in "Sleeping Beauty" Disney sure had the market cornered in attractive older women in black with giant chips on their shoulders. Audio/video were OK for Blu-ray but there's clearly not much that can be done to improve a movie as old as this one. If anything the clarity with which the brush strokes and other imperfections stand out now even more than before make this HD presentation a strike against introducing new generations to the old-school charms of "Snow White." Oh well, for ten bucks from amazon I can't complain.

Michelangelo Antonioni's Blow-Up (1966) on TCM-HD for the first time. I'm going to have to see this one again because, on first viewing, "Blow-Up" has left me more puzzled than entertained even though I really didn't hate it. Having already seen "The Passenger" (but not "L'avventura") I know that the key to 'getting' an Antonioni movie is to enjoy the mood the visuals create, disregard A-to-B storyline concerns and try to appreciate whatever the characters are experiencing internally (and not expressing verbally). By setting this particular story/mystery in the artificial world of fashion photography (did Thomas really photograph what he thought he did?) Antonioni heightens the surrealism of the situations Hemmings find himself in. His character is clearly somebody that operates on impulse and the moment (loved Thomas' quest for, then disregard for, a guitar destroyed by The Yardbirds' Jeff Beck) which contributes to the somewhat elliptical nature of the narrative. Impulse, vouyerism and the reality/unreality of what the camera sees or not. That plus a truckload of Fellini-inspired mimes gives "Blow-Up" plenty to chew on even if 95% of those that see it for the first time (like me) have every right to ask 'WTF did I just watch?'

Lucio Fulci's The New York Ripper (1982) on Blu-ray for the first time. Other than a stunningly-clear high-def transfer and the usual degree of mysogyny we've come to expect from gruesome deaths in Fulci flicks (i.e. something sharp meets someone's peepers; unpleasentness ensues) "The New York Ripper" threads water as either a thriller, whodunit, police procedural and even the now-cliche serial killer genre. There's not a single sympathetic character worth investing one's emotions in (although Almanta Suska's hotness carries her through the unbelievably contrived finale) and Jack Hedley's Lt. Williams is such a cypher as the cop chasing after the killer he gives Albert Finney's cop in "Wolfen" a run for his blandness. Every actor (including Fulci himself during a cameo) is either trying too hard or not hard enough to come across as New Yorker, which almost (but not completely) buries the timeless depiction of Times Square and the Big Apple as one steamy pile of Biblical hedonism. I'm glad I've seen another Fulci mini-masterpiece of grindhouse cliches, but "The Beyond" this ain't.

TerrorVision (1986) on TCM-HD Underground for the first time. "Night of the Creeps" meets "Videodrome," but it's a Charles Band Production (think Troma without the charming cheese) in which a monster from outer space is trapped inside the satellite dish of the freaky (and very 80's) Putterman family. Hilarity and gross-out moments supposedly ensue but the movie is too low-budget and the acting too OTT (and just plain bad) to make its ripe-for-yucks premise deliver more than a handful of chuckles and shrugged shoulders from this viewer. Mildly amusing: Giovanni Natalucci's set/art designs (which effectively date the Putterman household as an 80's swingers paradise), Frank Welker (half the voices on the original "Transformers" cartoon) as the voice of the monster and Alejandro Rey (a 60's/70's TV bit player) humiliating himself as a Greek swinger that only goes for guys.

And, last but not least, Black Dynamite (2009) in theaters for the first time. This is what "Undercover Brother" and "Grindhouse" (minus the 'phony' trailers) wished they could have been but weren't: a tribute to a dismissed period of cinema that feels like it belongs (and comes from) its era. But this isn't a collection of random jokes or stabs at blaxploitation genre cliches without rhyme or reason. There is an actual story (convoluted and non-sensical but it's there, and even allows long scenes that advance the plot to unfold without a single obvious joke), there are real characters (over-the-top but and cliche' but not two-dimensional walking cardboards) and there are action/fighting scenes (enhanced via the same green screen/CG technology used in "Kung-Pow" a few years back) that make this an actual blaxpoitation movie that just happens to be funny because it's being so true and respectful to the genre it represents. Michael Jai White looks and inhabits his lead role like he stepped out of the 1970's; it's the best casting for a movie since Christopher Lee got the Superman/Clark Kent role, and I'm not kidding. Supporting actors really get into their blaxpoitation roles (Arsenio Hall and Tommy Davidson are hilarious in too-brief cameos) but they don't overplay their OTT personalities or overstay their welcome. The way "Black Dynamite" gets around its 'R' rating to sneak in a graphic sex scene is not only genius but ties directly with the movie's best scene in which the 'heroes' crack the code in a cafeteria. And the orphanage scene has to be seen to be believed. Only the overblown finale that pushes things way past the breaking point (yes, it's that big a misfire) betrays the cinematic illusion that this is a 70's flick that has been rotting in a vault somewhere without release. Forget "Zombieland," this is the real deal.

[Andrew Forbes]

it's the best casting for a movie since Christopher Lee got the Superman/Clark Kent role, and I'm not kidding.

I must have missed that one.

[J.M. Vargas]

^^^ Crap, REEVE... Christopher Reeve. I'm such an ass!

[HGervais]

Wagon Master.....upper middle tier John Ford. It's amazing to me that Ben Johnson didn't have a better career as a leading man. No arguing that Ward Bond was a personality that the camera, and Ford, loved. Great use of Monument Valley. Good looking disc from Warner...and nice to see a catalogue title not sent to the back of the class as a DV-R Warner Archive release.

[Andrew Forbes]

^^^ Crap, REEVE... Christopher Reeve. I'm such an ass!

[HGervais]

Going through the Doctor Who Dalek War set. It's funny but Jon Pertwee is my least favorite Doctor and Katy Manning my least favorite companion but the storytelling from that period was so strong and the show was in the process of really inventing its own backstory that I find that era really easy to watch and appreciate.

[tucco]

Drag Me To Hell----Found this to quite enjoyable....I always expect less of horror movies these days, but this one was good in an old fashioned kind of way. Meaning it had a story. Not complicated but still some actual suspense. The female lead kept reminding me of Jenna Fischer..speaking of which..

The Office-----The wedding episode was very good but not as great as it's made out to be...I think it's mid to upper middle-tier.
The mob episode was just average at best, I thought.

[Andrew Forbes]

The Violent Men. A really beautifully shot Western by Rudolph Maté. With the cattle baron plot and Barbara Stanwyck's manoeuvrings for power, this recalls The Furies, yet The Violent Men lacks the mythic quality of that film. While the tone does rise to the level of high melodrama, The Furies had characters always seeming to be on the brink of being swallowed up by gathering clouds that reflected their own dark psyches. The Violent Men is content to play on the level of western action. Not that I mean to be too critical. The movie works up a good deal of emotional momentum, with Glenn Ford's small-time rancher finding his pride and refusing to be ousted by Edward G. Robinson's bully tactics, while Stanwyck schemes for her own ends. This deserves mention in the underrated westerns thread, but I don't feel like resurrecting it.

[Steve T Power]

Away We Go - I think that flick might be enough to make me feel like a million bucks for the rest of the week. Just an honest, heartfelt, enjoyable relationship film about two soon-to-be parents finding their way. Quite possibly my favorite film of 2009.

[Future Man]

Roman Holiday
Another "Where has this been hiding all my life" experience. Much more compelling than I expected.

[J.M. Vargas]

The Pride of the Yankees (1942) on MGM-HD for the first time. I'm cursed with decent knowledge of sports history (not statistic-heavy or trivia-filled, just basic knowledge) yet I have zero passion for any sport, let alone the boredon that is professional baseball. But "The Pride of the Yankees" won me completely over, to the point I was bawling like a little girl when Gary Cooper re-enacts Lou Gehrig's touching farewell speech. Despite scenes that in any other biopic would drive me nuts (civilians becoming weak at the knees when meeting Gehrig, Lou's conversations with his doctor using baseball metaphors, the whole 'sick kid that can walk again' pap, etc.) and the movie's melodrama quota dialed up to 11 I completely bought that there really was as selfish and nice a man like Lou Gehrig playing baseball back in the day. Cooper's performance is that good. I thought the guy playing Babe Ruth was a pretty good doppleganger for the real article even if his acting was iffy; imagine my surprise when I realized that was the real Babe playing himself! Walter Brennan is excellent as Gehrig's friend/partner (back when sports stars and media people could get along) and Teresa Wright is adorable as Lou's love interest/wife. Elsa Janssen and Ludwig Stössel are a little too cliche' in the obligatory 'immigrant parents that don't approve of their son's fiance' roles, but the overall package in "Pride of the Yankees" is more stallar and significant than the sum of its parts.

David Lynch's Eraserhead (1977) on Sundance Channel for the first time. I have a pretty good idea of what Lynch was trying to tell in his career-making debut movie but have a hard time trying to verbalize it or put it in writing. Something along the lines of this being a love story with all the notions of romance or human connection replaced with a (dream-like) clinical look at the biological process or reproduction, and the way imagination (personified obliquely by the girl inside the radiator) can save us from going mad trying to comprehend something infinitely complex and relatively simple. Whatever, "Eraserhead" (I loved the scene that explains the movie's name; all this time I thought it was a reference to Jack Nance's hairdo) has more mood and timeless disturbing imagery in its short running time than a hundred Hollywood movies put together. It's both accesible and unreachable, deeply personal and universally philosophical. It makes me want to read a David Lynch autobiography, or for David Cronenberg to remake it with the same budget he had for "Naked Lunch."

George Miller's Mad Max (1979) & Max Max 2/The Road Warrior (1982) on IFC-HD and HD-DVD (respectively) for the first time. Why can't Hollywood make post-apocalyptic movies like this anymore? With no CG, an army of ballsy stuntmen and limited budgets (by Hollywood stamndards) George Miller delivers a terrific one-two punch of comic book-inspired archetypes surviving in a ravaged land in which only the strong-willed (and well-armed) survive. Steering clear of graphic violence or needless blodshed (which took me by surprise) the first "Mad Max" spends more time setting up the tragedy that sends Mel Gibson's cop over the edge than on the payoff (which actually works for the best). The sequel is where the franchise fleshes-up its potential, culminating in a road chase finale that is every bit the equal to the "Raiders of the Lost Ark" chase scene. Brian May's suitably energetic score drives home the emotions of anger, rage, fear and peril the characters are feeling and or experiencing but rarely verbalizing. I was taken aback that Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell stole Mad Mel's looks from "Road Warrior" for "Evil Dead 2" (the last five minutes) and "Army of Darkness," which bummed me out for five whole seconds. "Mad Max" looks OK in 'stretched' IFC-HD format but in HD-DVD (and Blu-ray) "The Road Warrior" is a freaking revelation. Max's souped-up car has never looked more dusty or bad-ass, and those 'eye bulging' shots when the bad guys crash/blow-up are sicker than ever. Bring on "Thunderdome."

Sid and Nancy (1986) on MGM-HD. I've seen Alex Cox's homage to the memory of the Sex Pistols' bad boy and his American girlfriend several times before, but this time I watched it because I realized Roger Deakins ("Fargo") was the cinematographer. For a low-budget indie production that recreates late 70's London and NY underground locales Deakins' camera paints this period of time in the loveliest and most postcard-friendly hues possible, thus enhancing the dream-like narrative with which Cox chose to remember Sid and Nancy's anything-but-average love story. Along with an excellent performance by the reliable chameleon-like Gary Oldman "Sid and Nancy" is becoming a favorite movie of mine with every unscheduled viewing I stumble upon while channel-surfing through premium HD cable channels.

[Gabriel Girard]

Drag Me To Hell - Pure Raimi goodness! Loved that cemetary set-piece, Alison Lohmann is one game actress! I also liked that it referenced Night Of The Demon (1957.) I do have to admit that I was in Mancini's camp at the beginning of the movie - finding that the humor was a little off, but the film regained its balance pretty quickly.

Berlin Alexanderpatz - Episodes 2,3,4 - Fassbinder continues his deconstruction of cinema, story and character. It really feels like the adaptation of a novel, exploring the hero's identity under every facet. I can't believe this played on t.v., it's so obviously an ''art flick''. This is so masterful and intense that i can only take it one hour (episode) at a time and then wait a few days for the next one.

[Andrew Forbes]

Vertigo at the Metro with a theater full of f***ing film class tools who kept laughing at the most inappropriate times.

[cdouglas]

Vertigo at the Metro with a theater full of f***ing film class tools who kept laughing at the most inappropriate times.

I feel your pain. The first time I watched Vertigo was with my dad and my brother. I was fully absorbed by the movie, but they were laughing hysterically at the ending because they thought it was so cheesy.

[Future Man]

That would never happen in the USA! A theater full of people watching a classic movie I mean.

[Gabriel Girard]

Observe & Report - Dark comedy served the way I like it. I found o=it interesting that it takes us a while to really understand how messed up Ronnie is. Rogen is really becoming an interesting actor. I think this could make a great double feature with The King Of Comedy.

Seconds (1966) - Where has this movie been all my life? I haven't seen all of Frankenheimer's movies but I still think this is his best. Creepy, mysterious and affecting with marvelous photo by James Wong Howe. Loved that German Expressionist hallucination. Features a truly great score by Jerry Goldsmith and a Rock Hudson performance for the ages. Thanks for speaking about it way back when Harold!

[J.M. Vargas]

Charles Laughton's The Night of the Hunter (1955) on TCM-HD for the first time. HO...LY S***, this is one of the most intense, hardcore and fun 'noir' thrillers I've seen in my life. And good-looking to boot (dozens of memorable images permanently etched in my brain: the underwater car, the floating raft, Powell in the bedroom, etc.) with great use of aerial photography, shadows, forced perspective and even sound (any scene where a character sings) to establish one hell of an oppressive mood. Imagine what Laughton might have been able to accomplish had he stuck to directing. Great performances too (the little kid was a dead ringer for Peter Graves' character!) but even Lillian Gish brandishing a shotgun can compete with Robert Mitchum's pitch-perfect portrayal of a money-hungry and sadistic religious nut. It's been years since I've been so engaged into a movie's narrative that I was (mentally and physically) kicking, punching and strangling Harry Powell (his neck around my hands in front of the TV, "Kids in the Hall"-style) for being such an evil bastard to those poor children. Other than a slightly preachy ending "Night of the Hunter" is perfect. And you know what that means? An inevitable Hollywood remake.

George A. Romero's Martin (1977) on DVD for the first time. Long before "True Blood" and "Dexter" hit mainstream pop culture George A. Romero explored similar psycho-sexual horror territory in this low-budget movie that first teamed up the director with many of his future collaborators (chiefly Tom Savini and George's future wife Christine). Martin (John Amplas) goes around Pennsylvania killing women to drink their blood. He may or may not be a vampire but he's definitely gotten his serial killing ritual down pat (like a teenage "Dexter" without Harry's Code) despite being under the watchful eye of an elder cousin (Lincoln Maazel) that believes Martin to be the 84 year-old vampire he claims to be. The movie is pretty rough around the edges (the relationship scenes between Martin's cousin Christina and her boyfriend Arthur are pointless and lead nowhere) but Amplas' low-key performance, great local atmosphere (the use of the town's overnight radio show as an outlet for Martin's thoughts is brilliant), disturbing violence (Savini's first gore effects for a Romero flick) and unpredictably predictable ending (your mileage may vary) make "Martin" a winner. Great commentary too, you can feel the warmth and love between the participants come through the microphone.

Tim Burton's Corpse Bride (2005) on HD-DVD for the first time. I'm predisposed to not liking Tim Burton projects (the man's creative vision just doesn't do much for me) but even by my lowered expectations "Corpse Bride" was a boring, dull and depressing rehash of "Beetlejuice"-type humor in CG stop-motion animated form (which at least looks great in 1080p high-def). I know the supporting characters are meant to steal the spotlight in this type of movie (Christopher Lee scores some laughs with a religious man not far removed from his Saruman character from "Lord of the Rings"; Tracey Ullman and Michael Gough were also good) but my God, Victor/Victoria (I get it! ) along with the title character are a seriously boring and dull trio of leads on which to movie has to constantly revolve. Depp, Bonham-Carter and Watson completely phone in their VO performances, as does Danny Elfman with several failed cracks at doing Disney-type catchy songs. By-the-numbers soulless animated dreck like "Corpse Bride" makes me appreciate the likes of "Snow White" and anything from Pixar more than ever before. Cool making of featurettes though; like it or not you can't deny "Corpse Bride" is a technical marvel.

[BenSaylor]

A Serious Man--Definitely one of my favorites from the Coen Brothers, and on my shortlist for the best of 2009. This is a pitch-perfect dark comedy, with stellar performances all around, eerie cinematography and editing, and a fascinating, subtle score from Carter Burwell. The Coens are going to be hard-pressed to top this one.

[Steve T Power]

The 2nd Avatar trailer - over and over again...

[maintcoder]

Below - a fun Halloween spookfest that Molly1216 turned me onto. WW2, submarines, and ghosts - what's not to like!

Romance & Cigarettes - close to one of the most strange cinematic experiences I've ever seen - a musical black comedy is the best way to describe it. Filled with top notch talent (Susan Sarandon, Christopher Walken, Kate Winslet, James Gandolfini, Mary Louise Parker, Steve Buscemi, etc), it seemed at times like John Turturro just let them do whatever they wanted as outrageous as they wanted within the confines of the story.