Saturday Evening Movie Thread 05-01-2021 [Hosted By: Moviegique]

Silents Are Golden -- Part II: The Weird

In Silents Are Golden Part I, ace link, gique link that you can comment on without getting banned), we looked at some films in the talkie era that with long stretches of no-dialogue, and you guys came up with some great ones. Spaghetti westerns, action films, and great dramas, many of which I had thought of but elided for brevity (ha) and many others that I didn't know or had forgotten.

One thing that came up is that "silent" movies were never actually silent. Music was mandatory. At one point, movie houses were the primary form of employment for musicians—and this during the dawning of the "big band" era. Rudimentary sound-effects were also employed in some cases, though they were usually at least quasi-musical, like whistles or drums.

So, when we say "silent", we really mean "without dialogue" and—for me personally—words. That is to say, there are silents with massive amounts of cards explaining every little detail and snip of dialogue and plot, and they feel (to me) like movies that are "waiting for the talkies". They're attempts to put stage plays on the screen (like a lot of the early talkies did) or even books, and they don't really exploit the medium.

Once again, you can download freely and legally almost all the films mentioned here. Some are for sale in cleaned-up/restored form as well. Many of these films have more cuts than Blade Runner and there's a wide variation on music as well—and frame rates!—so be careful about which you pick. Ironically, there is sometimes a language barrier, as with Faust, which has a wonderfully scored version on The Internet Archive—but with title cards only in German! (However, a lot of these movies have title cards in one language but easily available subs in English.)

The Weird

My entrée to the world of silent movies was not, in fact, the comedies but horror and sci-fi. My grade school did a showing of Nosferatu which was quite affecting to me as an eight-year old. Around the same time, Jack Palance played "Dracula" in a TV movie, which I also found pretty gripping. Today, however, I still get the chills from the silent—the set design and the remarkable fidelity to the (purloined) novel's vision of the Count are quite literally iconic (and the source of the trope that sunlight kills vampires).

Tinted sunlight, however, has no effect.

Also, since they were free, our UHF stations would frequently play silent movies (and Flash Gordon serials, which is another story), especially Metropolis. I can't say how many different versions of this movie I've seen with how many different soundtracks. (I did not see the Moroder version, however.) One claim is that it originally ran 3 1/2 hours, though the recent restoration claims to be all but five minutes of it and is only around 2 1/2 hours. There is debate over what frame rate it should be run at. Moroder claimed that director Fritz Lang wanted the film tinted. I reviewed the most recent version, but the more I see this movie, the less relevant I think the details of its content are. Not because Western society is not eternally thrust into the "fascism vs. communism" false dichotomy, but because Metropolis is about something greater aesthetically.

We can go 25 years back to Georges Méliès' charming little shorts to see the seeds of special effects being used to create worlds, and many of the films we'll cover later do a great job of creating scale and epic feel from their visuals. (1914's Cabiria, for example, is said to have influenced Metropolis.) Metropolis is the culmination of the art—a fully-realized fantasy world that stands alone, cinematically, at least until the 1939 Wizard of Oz. (And you have to go decades forward from Oz before you can find challengers to either.) I don't use the phrase "must see," but it's hard to imagine any earnest student of film not seeing this one.

Lang was fond of—and good at—the epic fantasy. I'm not saying Peter Jackson studied his two-part Die Nibelungen series before doing Lord of the Rings but I'm not not saying that either. He would close out his silent career with the Space Epic Woman in the Moon. If Metropolis is the king of fantastic world-building, Woman is king (queen?) of hard-sci-fi for 1929, complete with epic special effects, a countdown, a rocket with multiple stages, G-forces knocking the crew unconscious, weightlessness and a captain's log! All that's missing is a matte by Bonestell! (I find this far superior to the 1924 Soviet film Aelita, which is similar though there is some great set design in the earlier work. It's also interesting to me how these films prefigure later '50s potboilers like Cat Women in the Moon.) Now, on top of that, you get a fully human-compatible moon atmosphere, a divining rod which aggressively leads to water, and comic book reading kid who's smart enough to fly the ship but not quite bright enough to figure out the implications of losing half the oxygen. Frankly, if you were looking for a Steampunk replacement, you could worse than Art Deco Punk.

It's huge!

A good part of Lang's success is probably attributable to the writing talents of his wife, Thea von Harbou, who collaborated with him from his early classic Destiny (1921) through M(1932), when she joined the Nazi party. She would also have a successful career post-war. (The villain in Woman recalls a young Hitler, which must've created some marital stress.)

Lang fled his wife and Germany to go on to a successful Hollywood career, after directing Peter Lorre in his breakout role as a child-serial-killer Hans Beckert in M, which would serve as the inspiration for Randy Newman's creepy "In Germany Before The War". (Lucas and Spielberg would claim Lang's post-WWI serial, The Spiders, served as their inspiration for the Indiana Jones movie and, while there are clearly influences—as there are from M!—in Raiders, we can speculate they were deflecting at least a little from accusations they had straight up lifted the 1954 Charlton Heston film, Secret of the Incas.)

Nosferatu's director F.W. Murnau (whose Hollywood career was cut short by a fatal auto accident) also gave us a tremendously fun version of Faust. Starting with a beautifully shot image of the War between Heaven and Hell, and the Devil challenging the archangel Gabriel to prove there is a virtuous man on Earth, the movie goes into some weighty topics before devolving into an almost slapstick comedy around the third act where Satan is romantically pursued by an aggressive housefrau. (It comes back around by the end, but I'm not sure how or whether that comic section works, frankly.) An American version of Faust by D.W. Griffith the same year called Sorrows of Satan never quite reaches the same heights, but does feature some female nudity (in the European cut).

An archangel confronts Mephisto.

The Phantom Carriage is a Swedish supernatural tale of a wicked man who dies and has to ferry the evil dead to Hell for the next year (where each day seems like 100 years!). It's often regarded as a horror film but the fear it conveys is a moralistic one; The ghost is just a vehicle for seeing the depths of despair one's acts can drive others to (sort of like "A Christmas Carol"). That said, Kubrick lifted the axe-to-the-door bit from The Shining almost straight-up from this film. Ingmar Bergman is said to have watched this movie annually and, yeah, even an ignoramus like me who's never seen a Bergman film can pick up the influences.

Next to Nosferatu, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is a good place to start your "weird" silent movie viewing, if for no other reason than it is quite short (about 75 minutes). It's also easily among my favorite horror movies, with its mad set design and other-worldly feel. An insane hypnotist uses a somnambulist to carry out crimes for him, including kidnapping a girl whose fianceé knows Caligari is behind it all but can prove nothing. If Faust has some great narrow, twisty street-scenes, it's because that's the way the streets in those old European cities are. Caligari's streets are designed to be what H. P. Lovecraft would've called "non-Euclidean".

If the plots of these films strike you as especially dark and seedy, well: yeah. German Expressionism arose as a reaction to the horrors of WWI and—one can't help but speculate—in anticipation of the horrors foreshadowed by events unfolding in the Weimar Republic. Consider, for example, the Frankenstein-inspired novel Alraune, in which a professor takes semen from a hanged murderer and impregnates a prostitute with it to create a child who has no concept of love was filmed no fewer than four times between 1918 and 1930.

Not to leave the Americans out in the cold, during this time period Lon Chaney reigned supreme, but it's not always easy to see his films and while he was great, the movies he was in did not always age well. I love Phantom of the Opera—and once managed to catch a showing with a live organist— and when Chaney is on, the movie crackles. When he's not, you're mostly waiting for him to appear. This is back when makeup hurt—a lot—and there seems to have been no limit to what sort of torture Chaney would put himself through. He stars in Tod Browning's 1927 body-horror classic The Unknown (with a 19-23 year old Joan Crawford, whose birthdate is in some dispute) which benefits greatly from being, basically, all Chaney all the time.

We'll come back to Chaney next time when we cover the dramas. Until then: Shhhhhh!

"There's nothing funny about a clown in the moonlight." — Lon Chaney

Posted by: Open Blogger at 07:30 PM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 MOVIE SIGN!

Posted by: Bete at May 01, 2021 07:13 PM (Ojki1)

2 Almost gave up
Sunday a week ago finally saw Come and See, it's on YouTube
2 hours of most disturbing movie that replica can show of real WWII

Posted by: Skip at May 01, 2021 07:15 PM (Cxk7w)

3 The bit in Nosferatu where the castle morphs into the count is super creepy.

German cinema was so far ahead of everyone else. Too bad they had to go batshit -- but we got a lot of talent.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Iron Fist in Velvet Glove in Iron Gauntlet Clutching an Iron Mace at May 01, 2021 07:15 PM (Dc2NZ)

4 hiya

Posted by: JT at May 01, 2021 07:15 PM (arJlL)

5 Hey movie thread! Hey Moviegique!

There was definitely an incredible, fun inventiveness about the earliest movies that's been lacking ever since, and especially today in the CGI era.

Posted by: qdpsteve at May 01, 2021 07:16 PM (L2ZTs)

6 Back to "Greenland" -- the comet fragments are starting to hit the atmosphere.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Iron Fist in Velvet Glove in Iron Gauntlet Clutching an Iron Mace at May 01, 2021 07:16 PM (Dc2NZ)

7 The only silent movies I clearly remember are Nosferatu and one about Napoleon.

Posted by: Brother Northernlurker just another guy at May 01, 2021 07:17 PM (cSyAR)

8 Skip it's brutal but fairly accurate. Actually just paging through a book based on an exhibit in Hamburg in the 90s about Wehrmacht involvement in atrocities and war crimes.

Grim, and damning.

Posted by: rhomboid at May 01, 2021 07:17 PM (OTzUX)

9 Hmm, Phantom Carriage sounds really interesting. Thanks.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Important article about what's coming at May 01, 2021 07:18 PM (yK9py)

10 ||German cinema was so far ahead of everyone else. Too bad they had to go batshit -- but we got a lot of talent.

Boy, howdy. Murnau and Lange, Thiele, Billy Wilder. And we got a lot we would've gotten anyway, like Lubitsch, Wyler and Curtiz.

Posted by: moviegique at May 01, 2021 07:19 PM (dhFCT)

11 "Albanian Gangster" (201

Meet the Malesian Robert DeNiro! Now _here's_ an original plot: psychopath, fueled by alcohol and nose-candy, skyrockets to disaster. Kudos for writing a female character unusually smart enough to steer clear of the brute! Worth watching for the amusing (perhaps improvised) tough-guy acting, if you enjoy the NYC-Wiseguy F-Word Genre.

"Sentinelle" (2020) Hopelessly stupid revenge flick has 90-pound opiate-addicted lezzie miraculously kicking everybody's ass. You get about five minutes of close-quarters chick-combat, and about eighty minutes of her staring glumly at the horizon. I suppose those FAMAS bullpups work as well as any other rifle, but boy do they ever look gay when paired with a beret.

"I Confess" (1953) Lesser Hitchcock has perfectly-exposed B&W photography, and lots of good location shots of old Quebec City in French Canuckistan. Story is something-something priest something-something murder. Victim had it coming anyway, so fuck him.

Posted by: gp's Movie Laffs at May 01, 2021 07:19 PM (qpX6U)

12 Rocket looks like SpaceX.

Posted by: dartist at May 01, 2021 07:19 PM (+ya+t)

13 There was definitely an incredible, fun inventiveness about the earliest movies that's been lacking ever since, and especially today in the CGI era.
Posted by: qdpsteve at May 01, 2021 07:16 PM (L2ZTs)

**

I think that's part of why I enjoy movies like Grand Budapest Hotel where there is attempt to avoid CGI, even if it's being used as a particular visual effect as well.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Important article about what's coming at May 01, 2021 07:20 PM (yK9py)

14 Just recalled that right before my last extended overseas jaunt I saw a surf movie called "Step Into Liquid" - as I remember it was nearly silent, not a lot of dialogue. Documentary, about old surf legends surfing in Central America, and closing with youngster stars flying into town here and chartering boats to head out to San Clemente Island and beyond, where Cortes Bank breaks every few years in the right conditions. Waves the height of small-medium buildings. Nice little movie.

Posted by: rhomboid at May 01, 2021 07:20 PM (OTzUX)

15 So recent watches: Godzilla vs Kong. Yep, what I expected but at least they cut down on pointless humans for the most part, though for some reason Millie Bobby Brown was back as the character from King of Monsters and other than helping exposition for the film didn't bring much. But at least they didn't try to make Kick Ass a thing to tie into the first film I guess.

Mortal Kombat- So you create a new character for the film, cast the least charismatic actor as that lead, and give them a power that makes no sense in the film's universe. Oh, and tease an interesting angle at the start and then reintroduce it meaninglessly at the end? Meh, still better than Annihilation I guess. But when the camp/cheesy 95 film does building characters and threat better, you might want to hand the sequel script to someone else.

Original Get Carter- Fantastic film which I need to get on BD. Dark, violent but not in a super flashy way.

Finally saw the 3 Hobbit films. Little overdone (I didn't read the book when assigned in high school, so no source bias). Enjoyed them well enough.

Posted by: Bete at May 01, 2021 07:20 PM (Ojki1)

16 Moron Robbie, just looked up Phantom on Amazon. Criterion edition available on blu for $28. Gonna add it to my list of films to get.

Also, many sitcoms have had more or less silent segments over the years. I just watched an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond where they did one, with Robert taking care of his ornery dad Frank at home (Frank has a bad foot). They did a few other silent-style segments as well, all great.

Posted by: qdpsteve at May 01, 2021 07:20 PM (L2ZTs)

17 One of the problems with German cinema is that in the mid-1930s it became Nazi cinema. :-P

Posted by: qdpsteve at May 01, 2021 07:21 PM (L2ZTs)

18 Any recs for stuff out currently on any of the streaming services??

Posted by: Chi-Town Jerry at May 01, 2021 07:21 PM (CjFDo)

19 Sunday a week ago finally saw Come and See, it's on YouTube. 2 hours of most disturbing movie that replica can show of real WWII
Posted by: Skip

Astoundingly brutal isn't it?

Posted by: Tonypete at May 01, 2021 07:22 PM (Rvt88)

20 Think it'll be Christ Stopped at Eboli tonight. Really should have some pasta and break out that nice amarone, but leftover navy bean/ham soup and an excellent cheap pinot* will have to do.

* $7 Monterey County pinot that drinks like mid-$20s, at least.

Posted by: rhomboid at May 01, 2021 07:22 PM (OTzUX)

21 Another question about movies is looking for foreign films
(mostly of WWII but do catch some more modern era as well) that are not even available here. I don't get it.

Posted by: Skip at May 01, 2021 07:22 PM (Cxk7w)

22
so who invented clowns anyway?

what is the history of them?

Posted by: will choose a nic later at May 01, 2021 07:23 PM (bTQ72)

23 Finally saw the 3 Hobbit films. Little overdone (I didn't read the book when assigned in high school, so no source bias). Enjoyed them well enough.
Posted by: Bete at May 01, 2021 07:20 PM (Ojki1)

**

I suspect reading the little 90 page (or whatever) book was a curse if you watched the 8+ hour multi-part movies.

I thought they were bad enough that they somehow left a lingering dislike of the LOTR movies, which I had previously lurved.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Important article about what's coming at May 01, 2021 07:23 PM (yK9py)

24 So has anyone seen 2020's best picture winner, Nomadland?

I've read one of the subtexts in the film is that it's hell working for Amazon...

Posted by: qdpsteve at May 01, 2021 07:24 PM (L2ZTs)

25 I loved Metropolis and Passion of Joan of Architecture with Falconetti.

Posted by: CN at May 01, 2021 07:24 PM (ONvIw)

26 Ok, go ahead and post all the bat videos you guys want, just take down the clown, CREEPY.

Posted by: JROD at May 01, 2021 07:24 PM (0jZnq)

27 "Woman in the Moon" was good but needed some serious editing.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Iron Fist in Velvet Glove in Iron Gauntlet Clutching an Iron Mace at May 01, 2021 07:24 PM (Dc2NZ)

28 On Come and See, I read hardly anything that isn't military history including 2 books on Rape of Nanking, nothing surprises me about man's inhumanity.

Posted by: Skip at May 01, 2021 07:25 PM (Cxk7w)

29 Stupid autocuke Arc not Architecture.

Posted by: CN at May 01, 2021 07:26 PM (ONvIw)

30 I'll see your "Come and See," raise you with "The Painted Bird," and take your whole stack with "Katyn."

Posted by: gp's Movie Laffs at May 01, 2021 07:26 PM (qpX6U)

31 @22 will choose a nic later-Some asshole who wanted to scare the shit out of kids. Thats who invented clowns.

Posted by: JROD at May 01, 2021 07:27 PM (0jZnq)

32 Skip I'm finding a few (like Winterkrieg), but finding them *for free* remains the challenge. Get my DVDs from the library, so they're free. Just returned the remastered/uncut Das Boot today. Unfortunately the system doesn't seem to have the Zero movie (Ayen no zero).

Posted by: rhomboid at May 01, 2021 07:27 PM (OTzUX)

33 I watched a horse opera today, Night Passage starring Jimmy Stewart and Audie Murphy. It's an OK movie but I was amused that Beaver's dad, Ward, Hugh Beaumont, played a tough guy and Dennis the Menace's dad, Henry Mitchell, Herbert Anderson, was a sleazy corporate traitor in league with train robbers.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 01, 2021 07:27 PM (VVEnO)

34 The similarity of LotR movies and books are there are elves, humans and dwarves in each, that's about it.

Posted by: Skip at May 01, 2021 07:27 PM (Cxk7w)

35 I suspect reading the little 90 page (or whatever) book was a curse if you watched the 8+ hour multi-part movies.
Posted by: Moron Robbie - Important article about what's coming at May 01, 2021 07:23 PM (yK9py)

Given when I was assigned the book to read the only adaptation was the Rankin/Bass one...

And Leonard Nimoy's song.

Posted by: Bete at May 01, 2021 07:27 PM (Ojki1)

36 @24 qdpsteve-i'll wait for the porno communities version of it.

Posted by: JROD at May 01, 2021 07:28 PM (0jZnq)

37 JROD, you means No-man-land?

Posted by: qdpsteve at May 01, 2021 07:29 PM (L2ZTs)

38 14 Just recalled that right before my last extended overseas jaunt I saw a surf movie called "Step Into Liquid" - as I remember it was nearly silent, not a lot of dialogue. Documentary, about old surf legends surfing in Central America, and closing with youngster stars flying into town here and chartering boats to head out to San Clemente Island and beyond, where Cortes Bank breaks every few years in the right conditions. Waves the height of small-medium buildings. Nice little movie.
Posted by: rhomboid at May 01, 2021 07:20 PM (OTzUX)
---

I saw that in Hawaii when it came out -- epic!

Loved how maniacs caught a wave no matter where they were -- Ireland, Wisconsin, Mississippi Delta, whatever.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Iron Fist in Velvet Glove in Iron Gauntlet Clutching an Iron Mace at May 01, 2021 07:30 PM (Dc2NZ)

39 I could forgive the three LOTR movies for not being fairly perfect adaptations considering the ambition and scale.

I despised the three Hobbit movies for similar but opposite reasons. It could've potentially been such a wonderful, charming little prequel, and could have been done almost perfectly in 1.5-2 hours.

But there was big money to be made, so screw it.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Important article about what's coming at May 01, 2021 07:31 PM (yK9py)

40 ||"Woman in the Moon" was good but needed some serious editing.

I get that sentiment and I had that feeling at times, but by the end I was sort of on the longer-is-better side. I'm sure there ARE many different edits.

One side-effect of this being hardcore movie geekiness (no relation) is that the people restoring them are pretty much going to be "every foot of film is PRICELESS".

That said, I can understand why the 9 1/2 hour lost cut of "Greed" is so sought after.

Posted by: moviegique at May 01, 2021 07:31 PM (dhFCT)

41 Didn't know about "Katyn", I'm sure it's sickening. Not sure I'll look for it or not.

In the "Are Effing Kidding Me?" category for various dark black kettles calling each other out on their color, the Katyn site was discovered by the Germans when they began their madcap carefree jaunt east into the USSR.

Goebbels actually used it as propaganda against the Soviets.

OK, I get it, it was a world class atrocity. But, um. This horse was being beaten as the Wehrmacht and SS and assorted vile outfits did their worst (as seen in "Come and See"). Words fail.

Posted by: rhomboid at May 01, 2021 07:32 PM (OTzUX)

42 Just read that Paramount is coming out with an upgraded blu-ray of 48 HRS.

Posted by: qdpsteve at May 01, 2021 07:32 PM (L2ZTs)

43 Hunting last evening with the Mrs. we found "The Music of Silence (2017)" streaming.
We didn't know the story was a documentary.
Enjoyed it.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at May 01, 2021 07:32 PM (gtatv)

44 I've tried looking Katyn, there is a good looking ( from 2 extended trailers of Generation of War or something like that title of a small group of German friends getting through the war, and Hurtgen Forest battle, not seemingly avaliable here.

Posted by: Skip at May 01, 2021 07:33 PM (Cxk7w)

45 "M" was always a favorite of mine. The police work, the criminals looking for the same killer, the sausages and beer and cigars, etc.

When Peter Lorre explains why he does what he does, you realize that there are people out in the real world just like that and some never get caught.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at May 01, 2021 07:34 PM (R/m4+)

46 "Posted by: rhomboid at May 01, 2021 07:32 PM (OTzUX)"

I happened to contact one of the guys who worked on the movie "Katyn" on ham radio. I emailed him later to compliment him and tell him I recommend it to folks here in the USA. Everybody should see it, but just once, because you'll never want to see it again.

Posted by: gp's Movie Laffs at May 01, 2021 07:35 PM (qpX6U)

47 Back when Horror movies were silent but deadly.

Posted by: Minuteman at May 01, 2021 07:35 PM (EdANF)

48 I think Generation War (Meine Mutter, Mein Vater) was free on Prime last year. I saw it somehow.

Posted by: rhomboid at May 01, 2021 07:35 PM (OTzUX)

49 42 Just read that Paramount is coming out with an upgraded blu-ray of 48 HRS.
Posted by: qdpsteve at May 01, 2021 07:32 PM (L2ZTs)

And Another 48 Hours as well. Part of their Paramount Presents line.

I need to get the Roman Holiday release under the label sometime this month. Did pick up The golden Child as it was on sale. It is so a mid 80s movie.

Posted by: Bete at May 01, 2021 07:36 PM (Ojki1)

50 Clowns. Why did it have to be clowns?

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at May 01, 2021 07:36 PM (emxxF)

51 '"M" was always a favorite of mine. The police work, the criminals looking for the same killer, the sausages and beer and cigars, etc.'

To this day, still one of the best caper and police procedural movies ever. Lots of good little humorous bits in it too.

Posted by: gp's Movie Laffs at May 01, 2021 07:37 PM (qpX6U)

52 And since I mentioned the animated Hobbit, I still remember in the early days of VCRs becoming large market friendly how late at night there would be commercials for it, for only $89.99 I believe. That and Akira stand out to me from that era's ads for whatever reason.

Posted by: Bete at May 01, 2021 07:38 PM (Ojki1)

53 gp I'll have to find it and see it then. If I were the Polish govt., I'd host it/stream it free of embassy websites everywhere.

Well, not in Moscow, maybe.

(which reminds me, one week til my annual late night ritual of watching the Victory Day parade in Red Square - and from many other places)

Posted by: rhomboid at May 01, 2021 07:38 PM (OTzUX)

54
g'early evenin', 'rons

Posted by: AltonJackson at May 01, 2021 07:40 PM (DUIap)

55 https://youtu.be/XbC--A8Gios
I take its call A Nameless Height and watched it this week
(3hrs), follows a Russian woman sniper and a recon platoon hunting a German sniper team, pretty well acted, blew it at end for non WWII tanks and from what I see getting the really thing isn't hard these days.

Posted by: Skip at May 01, 2021 07:41 PM (Cxk7w)

56 which reminds me, one week til my annual late night ritual of watching the Victory Day parade in Red Square - and from many other places
Posted by: rhomboid at May 01, 2021 07:38 PM (OTzUX)

Given it is May 1st you could probably have watched some Reds do a victory day parade in most medium to large cities live today.

Posted by: Bete at May 01, 2021 07:41 PM (Ojki1)

57 Bete, sounds good. I also got The Golden Child Paramount Presents reissue.

Posted by: qdpsteve at May 01, 2021 07:41 PM (L2ZTs)

58 ||And since I mentioned the animated Hobbit, I still remember in the early days of VCRs becoming large market friendly how late at night there would be commercials for it, for only $89.99 I believe. That and Akira stand out to me from that era's ads for whatever reason.||

Back in 1988, when I was...uh...nearly -3 years old...I was customer service at Paramount Home Video. (It was just me.)

The big breakthrough they'd made the summer before was to sell Top Gun for $20 instead of $60 or $80 and they sold a million copies.

Posted by: moviegique at May 01, 2021 07:42 PM (dhFCT)

59 I believe Ralph Bakshi did a 1970s-era animated version of Lord Of The Rings.

I'm sure people were wondering why a JRR Tolkien adaptation had so many naked women in it... ;-P

Posted by: qdpsteve at May 01, 2021 07:43 PM (L2ZTs)

60 I made the wife watch The Man from Earth today. She likes movies that seem to be adapted from one act stage plays. But she dozed off near the end.

The most talking and least action in a film since My Dinner with Andre.

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at May 01, 2021 07:44 PM (emxxF)

61 Currently have Jake on. Can't seem to get the DVD player hooked up correctly, so not much choice.

I do love John Wayne.

Posted by: Infidel at May 01, 2021 07:44 PM (E0OEG)

62 ||I believe Ralph Bakshi did a 1970s-era animated version of Lord Of The Rings.

Half of it. The second half didn't really get made, except kinda-sorta as a Rankin-Bass musical TV special called "Return of the King".

||I'm sure people were wondering why a JRR Tolkien adaptation had so many naked women in it... ;-P

There are NO naked women in Bakshi's LOTR, tragically. Nor in "Wizards", his unofficial ripoff.

Posted by: moviegique at May 01, 2021 07:44 PM (dhFCT)

63 Infidel, you mean Big Jake?

I joke that Wayne spends most of his time in that film abusing his sons. ;-)

Posted by: qdpsteve at May 01, 2021 07:44 PM (L2ZTs)

64 Skip - at least for T-34s, absolutely. They're still finding them and restoring them to working order in Russia and elsewhere (I mean private groups - plenty of official ones up/running, typically lead the armor in the Victory Day parades).

Bete - not really - Victory Day is separate, entirely about the WWII victory in Europe. Have no idea if May Day events even take place in much of the former Soviet empire or Warsaw Pact states. Victory Day usually gets at least small events even in former Soviet republics.

Posted by: rhomboid at May 01, 2021 07:45 PM (OTzUX)

65 "So has anyone seen 2020's best picture winner, Nomadland?"

It's good. I learned a lot from watching it. When you watch it, compare the successful attitudes and ethics of these homeless nomads to the sloth of the forever sainted "homeless." It's a very positive movie in that respect.

Posted by: gp's Movie Laffs at May 01, 2021 07:45 PM (qpX6U)

66 moviegique, I know Bakshi is one of these directors who seemed to actually *get off* on making everything of his own super-raunchy.

Posted by: qdpsteve at May 01, 2021 07:45 PM (L2ZTs)

67 Infidel, you mean Big Jake?

I joke that Wayne spends most of his time in that film abusing his sons. ;-)
Posted by: qdpsteve

Yes, and I enjoy him knocking the boys down a peg or five.

Posted by: Infidel at May 01, 2021 07:46 PM (E0OEG)

68 Infidel, yup, LOL. In fairness they do start off as rather lazy/unmotivated.

Still it seems they can't do anything right to please their dad. If they told him "Dad, I love ya," Wayne would say "what are ya queer?!!" and hit 'em again. (On the other hand, a lot of real-life dads are like that.)

Posted by: qdpsteve at May 01, 2021 07:47 PM (L2ZTs)

69 "Nor in "Wizards", his unofficial ripoff."

I knew a chick in real life who was built exactly like the princess in that movie.

I saw it in the theatrical release, and there was a scene where an orc gets his head split open, and two little boys sitting behind me shouted "Wow that's the coolest thing I've ever seen!!!"

Posted by: gp's Movie Laffs at May 01, 2021 07:47 PM (qpX6U)

70 I love 'Woman in the Moon'. It's the first half hour that should have been edited down; it goes on and on setting up the background of the professor, the love triangle, and the sinister attempt by shadowy moguls to take over the moon expedition. But once that's out of the way, the adventure really gets cracking and it's a great ride.

Interesting thing about Thea von Harbou, Lang's wife and co-writer. They were both married to other people when they met, and their affair broke up their marriages so they could marry each other. Lang's wife shot herself during an argument with Lang, and there's some who wonder if he might have shot her himself!

Von Harbou was married to Rudolf Klein-Rogge, who was a prominent actor in Lang's movies: he played Dr. Mabuse in the silent and sound films, the criminal mastermind Haghi in 'Spies', and most memorably, Rotwang in 'Metropolis'. And all these were AFTER his wife divorced him to marry Lang! They were pretty broad-minded, those Germans. Why let a little matter like adultery and desertion get in the way of a good professional relationship?

Posted by: Dr. Mabuse at May 01, 2021 07:48 PM (85Ax+)

71 59 I believe Ralph Bakshi did a 1970s-era animated version of Lord Of The Rings.

I'm sure people were wondering why a JRR Tolkien adaptation had so many naked women in it... ;-P
Posted by: qdpsteve at May 01, 2021 07:43 PM (L2ZTs)

So many naked wome?

Wait til they get a load of me.

Posted by: Amazon's LotRs adaptation at May 01, 2021 07:48 PM (Ojki1)

72 ||I know Bakshi is one of these directors who seemed to actually *get off* on making everything of his own super-raunchy.

Well, he's very counter-culture. (He will say "Trump and Hitler" as if the two were interchangeable these days, e.g.) But I think that was more the impetus behind his raunchiness than anything. His post-'70s stuff was pretty mild.

He used to complain that he had trouble getting artists, though. They were either too squeamish to draw nudity or too aroused. (eep)

Posted by: moviegique at May 01, 2021 07:48 PM (dhFCT)

73 I saw "Fritz the Cat" at its Chicago opening. Can't recommend it as anything other than a period curiosity. Robert Crumb (a giant asshole in his own right) was disgusted by it and walked away from the movie.

Posted by: gp's Movie Laffs at May 01, 2021 07:50 PM (qpX6U)

74 ||I knew a chick in real life who was built exactly like the princess in that movie.

And yet, not a single picture. What kind of moron are you?

||I saw it in the theatrical release, and there was a scene where an orc gets his head split open, and two little boys sitting behind me shouted "Wow that's the coolest thing I've ever seen!!!"

That might've been me.

Posted by: moviegique at May 01, 2021 07:50 PM (dhFCT)

75 Nor in "Wizards", his unofficial ripoff.
Posted by: moviegique at May 01, 2021 07:44 PM (dhFCT)

I'm not sure what I should have been on it to dig that film, I just know I wasn't on whatever it was.

Posted by: Bete at May 01, 2021 07:50 PM (Ojki1)

76 gp, that's reallysomething. Crumb was no prude at all.

Posted by: qdpsteve at May 01, 2021 07:51 PM (L2ZTs)

77 Naked women? Seems too niche. It'll never catch on.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Important article about what's coming at May 01, 2021 07:51 PM (yK9py)

78 ||gp, that's reallysomething. Crumb was no prude at all.

A good time to mention the doc on him, which is excellent.

The Flower says of him, "He's a great artist but I wouldn't want to be in the same room with him."

Posted by: moviegique at May 01, 2021 07:52 PM (dhFCT)

79 moviegique, that's true of a lot of great creative people. I'd bet Richard Wagner was also insufferable to have to spend time with.

Posted by: qdpsteve at May 01, 2021 07:53 PM (L2ZTs)

80 That late 70s animation of LotR is to disjointed to watch

Posted by: Skip at May 01, 2021 07:54 PM (Cxk7w)

81 Yes, the Zwigoff documentary "Crumb" is a brilliant look at how insanity and genius run together in families.

Watch it together with Zwigoff's "Ghost World." The two movies fit together like hand in glove.

Posted by: gp's Movie Laffs at May 01, 2021 07:54 PM (qpX6U)

82 77 Naked women? Seems too niche. It'll never catch on.
Posted by: Moron Robbie - Important article about what's coming at May 01, 2021 07:51 PM (yK9py)

How about Naked what identifies as Woman but hasn't had surgery yet?

Wonder how the MPAA will deal with this as they tend to be OK with Female (XX) nudity but Male (XY) tends to get the NC-17 rating really quickly.

Posted by: Bete at May 01, 2021 07:55 PM (Ojki1)

83 Victory Day is a wonderful and somber celebration in the former Soviet empire - they suffered immensely. The Russians still viscerally hate the Hun to this day.

Posted by: Only Context at May 01, 2021 07:55 PM (xEIoY)

84 RE: The Music of Silence

If the preview makes me tear up, I'm bound to like the movie. Free on Prime.

Posted by: chris-cross at May 01, 2021 07:56 PM (k8uM2)

85 ||I love 'Woman in the Moon'. It's the first half hour that should have been edited down; it goes on and on setting up the background of the professor, the love triangle, and the sinister attempt by shadowy moguls to take over the moon expedition. But once that's out of the way, the adventure really gets cracking and it's a great ride.||

You know, I hear you and Erin on this. But somehow, to me, all that setup really enhanced the ending of the movie.

The Germans were definitely VERY sophisticated. Sort of like the French before Napoleon or Russia before Lenin. *kaff*

Posted by: moviegique at May 01, 2021 07:57 PM (dhFCT)

86 ||Victory Day is a wonderful and somber celebration in the former Soviet empire - they suffered immensely. The Russians still viscerally hate the Hun to this day.||

Now, now. Let's not be beastly to the Germans.

Posted by: moviegique at May 01, 2021 07:58 PM (dhFCT)

87 Now, now. Let's not be beastly to the Germans.
Posted by: moviegique at May 01, 2021 07:58 PM (dhFCT)

Waiting for ze Germans are we?

Posted by: Turkish at May 01, 2021 07:59 PM (Ojki1)

88 There's a Czech version of "Faust" (1994) with some wicked stop-motion puppetry, if you're in a surreal mood.

https://tinyurl.com/yth8rx9z

Posted by: Dr. Varno at May 01, 2021 08:00 PM (vuisn)

89 *performs the package dance*

Posted by: Silent Naked Clowns in the Woods at May 01, 2021 08:04 PM (Zo1BN)

90 *Starts movie*
*Sees Miramax logo*
*Ponders how many of the starlets in the film know what Weinstein looks like naked*
*Wonders is, on an hourly scale, starlets made more than the street walkers they passes going to and from the studio for essentially the same job*

Posted by: Bete at May 01, 2021 08:05 PM (Ojki1)

91 ||Now, now. Let's not be beastly to the Germans.

Dammit. I meant:

Don't let's be beastly to the Germans
When our victory is ultimately won
It was just those nasty Nazis
Who persuaded them to fight
And their Beethoven and Bach
Are really far worse than their bite

Posted by: moviegique at May 01, 2021 08:05 PM (dhFCT)

92 "And yet, not a single picture. What kind of moron are you?"

I do have a photo of her sister somewhere, but her head's cut off. From the neck down, they looked very much the same anyway. Which is to say, pleasing to the eye.

I remember where I buried the body, but forgot what I did with the head

Posted by: gp's Movie Laffs at May 01, 2021 08:06 PM (qpX6U)

93 89 *performs the package dance*
Posted by: Silent Naked Clowns in the Woods at May 01, 2021 08:04 PM (Zo1BN)

It is a dance, so you're eligible to be a friend of mine.

Posted by: Men Without Hats at May 01, 2021 08:06 PM (Ojki1)

94 I saw a YT video comparing the animated and live action Lord of the Rings movies, and while the animated movies were creaky and uneven, they were often more subtle than the wretched Peter Jackson slugfests.

When Galadriel ponders ownership of the ring in the cartoon version, the conflicting emotions play across her features. Jackson's Galadriel suddenly morphs into some sort of harsh wraith-elf with heavy base lines in the soundtrack shouting Eeeeevil! It was almost as awful as old Bilbo becoming a slavering Gollumesque creature when he's tempted by the ring. Just in case we didn't get it!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Iron Fist in Velvet Glove in Iron Gauntlet Clutching an Iron Mace at May 01, 2021 08:06 PM (Dc2NZ)

95 Bakshi's LOTR was the first movie to put me to sleep. I was 11.

Posted by: Dr. Varno at May 01, 2021 08:06 PM (vuisn)

96
https://tinyurl.com/yth8rx9z
Posted by: Dr. Varno

Kinda creepy.

Posted by: Infidel at May 01, 2021 08:07 PM (E0OEG)

97 I have looked in past for pre or early WWII German movies but they are not to be found, like someone is afraid of opening a can of whoop ass.

Posted by: Skip at May 01, 2021 08:07 PM (Cxk7w)

98 || Just in case we didn't get it!

Yeah. I get it, Peter. We're dummies.

But the signs have always been there with that guy.

Posted by: moviegique at May 01, 2021 08:09 PM (dhFCT)

99 "I have looked ..."

If you have no scruples, you can find any movie you want. But you didn't hear it from me.

Posted by: Nobody You Know at May 01, 2021 08:10 PM (qpX6U)

100

Ever see the 1951 American version of "M" ?

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043766

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at May 01, 2021 08:10 PM (63Dwl)

101 I wonder if Fritz Lang wrote Thea Harbou a letter in 1945 saying "SEE? I TOLD YOU!"

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 01, 2021 08:10 PM (QZxDR)

102 That rocket looks just like Elon Musks starship.

It goes into space and lands on a tail of fire the way God and Robert A Heinlein intended.

Posted by: blaster at May 01, 2021 08:10 PM (ZfRYq)

103 Was looking up Nomadland. Could be interesting.

Who new Roger Ebert was still alive?

Posted by: Infidel at May 01, 2021 08:11 PM (E0OEG)

104 ||Ever see the 1951 American version of "M" ?

It would be hard for me to watch.

David Wayne in the Peter Lorre role was probably interesting. I believe he ends up with Marilyn Monroe in "How To Marry A Millionaire".

Posted by: moviegique at May 01, 2021 08:12 PM (dhFCT)

105 Just this past weekend I watched _Mr Jones_, about the Welsh journalist Gareth Jones reporting on the Ukrainian famine under Stalin.

It is the most subversive movie ever made.

Communists are the bad guys. Not just Stalin but Communism. Walter Duranty is the main on-screen villain, shown as a multi-layered hypocrite -- he mouths platitudes about journalism to conceal his Soviet sympathies, but his Soviet loyalty is just an excuse for his personal degeneracy and corruption.

And William No-Kidding Randolph Fucking Hearst is the last-act deus ex machina who helps Jones get his story to the world.

Like I said, it's the most subversive movie ever.

The credits explain: it was made with serious support from a bunch of Polish and Ukrainian national film and cultural organizations. They remember.

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 01, 2021 08:14 PM (QZxDR)

106 Who new Roger Ebert was still alive?
Posted by: Infidel

Are you sure it wasn't an animatronic by Disney?

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at May 01, 2021 08:14 PM (gtatv)

107 "Just this past weekend I watched _Mr Jones_, about the Welsh journalist Gareth Jones reporting on the Ukrainian famine under Stalin."

Yes, recommended.

Posted by: Nobody You Know at May 01, 2021 08:14 PM (qpX6U)

108 ||The credits explain: it was made with serious support from a bunch of Polish and Ukrainian national film and cultural organizations. They remember.||

Eastern Europeans need to do for Communists what the Jews have done for Nazis.

Posted by: moviegique at May 01, 2021 08:15 PM (dhFCT)

109 We ALL need to do to the Communists what we did to the Nazis. Anyone who admits to sympathizing with them should be a lifetime pariah.

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 01, 2021 08:17 PM (QZxDR)

110 I remember the animated The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. Recorded it off TV. Oddly, the thing I remember most is that it was sponsored by Kraft with limited commercial interruptions, so the few commercials were all from Kraft. I supposed media's changed too much for a company to do something like that again.

Posted by: No One of Consequence at May 01, 2021 08:17 PM (CAJOC)

111 https://youtu.be/XbC--A8Gios
Sorrows of Satan

I do like to see the conditions of life 100 years ago

Posted by: Skip at May 01, 2021 08:18 PM (Cxk7w)

112 Watching "Apocalypto" for the second time. Deserves a careful review. For now, I'll just say that anytime you think _you're_ having a bad day, watch this to see how wrong you are.

Posted by: gp's Movie Laffs at May 01, 2021 08:20 PM (qpX6U)

113 Should turn this off before the ONT shows up

Posted by: Skip at May 01, 2021 08:20 PM (Cxk7w)

114 I do like to see the conditions of life 100 years ago
Posted by: Skip at May 01, 2021 08:18 PM (Cxk7w)

Wait 6 months and look at Baltimore.

Posted by: Bete at May 01, 2021 08:22 PM (Ojki1)

115 Lessee, I saw -

"The Twentieth Century" - a screwball comedy built around John Barrymore(!) and Carole Lombard and Broadway actor types. Not hilarious but consistently amusing. Barrymore surprisingly brings the laughs.

"Mortal Kombat" - Meh. Essentially a kid's movie with gore. Imagine Pokemon with Pikachu taking heads.

"Shadow and Bone" - streaming Netflix, a very girly SJW romance disguised as a epic fantasy with random teh gheyness. "Princess Mononoke" deer god thievery.
Made for the ladies. so you know who you are and what you like. If it sounds like something you'd like you probably will.

"Perdita Durango" - prequel to Lynch's "Wild at Heart" involving character played by Isabelle Rossellini. Nihilistic and rapey. Violent. Feels like it wants to say something but is too retarded to manage it. A movie based on a novel by Barry Gifford that's actually worse than WaH - so an accomplishment of sorts.

Posted by: naturalfake at May 01, 2021 08:23 PM (dWwl8)

116 Skip,

||I do like to see the conditions of life 100 years ago

That link doesn't go to Sorrows of Satan.

||Watching "Apocalypto" for the second time. Deserves a careful review.

It has aged well, I think.

Posted by: moviegique at May 01, 2021 08:23 PM (dhFCT)

117 so the few commercials were all from Kraft. I supposed media's changed too much for a company to do something like that again.
Posted by: No One of Consequence

Running errands earlier. Heard on radio Wokacola has lost 36% of the customers.

Posted by: Infidel at May 01, 2021 08:24 PM (E0OEG)

118 Best silents? Metropolis and anything with Buster Keaton.

Posted by: Eromero at May 01, 2021 08:24 PM (0OP+5)

119 I don't know how this made it into my recommendations, but if you're interested in a 21-year-old Christoph Waltz in a rainbow unitard singing and dancing on Austrian Romper Room...

https://tinyurl.com/8zurvp5x

Posted by: Dr. Varno at May 01, 2021 08:24 PM (vuisn)

120 Watched Greenland
Kinds forgettable imo

Posted by: Herr Frau Doktor vmom at May 01, 2021 08:25 PM (Wafzl)

121 How is anything worse than "Wild at Heart"?

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Iron Fist in Velvet Glove in Iron Gauntlet Clutching an Iron Mace at May 01, 2021 08:25 PM (Dc2NZ)

122 I'm watching "Greenland" right now.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Iron Fist in Velvet Glove in Iron Gauntlet Clutching an Iron Mace at May 01, 2021 08:26 PM (Dc2NZ)

123 so the few commercials were all from Kraft. I supposed media's changed too much for a company to do something like that again.

***

Do they even make "special event" TV movies anymore, or is that the hook that's reserved for the streaming services associated with the channel?

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Important article about what's coming at May 01, 2021 08:26 PM (yK9py)

124 In before the Kwisatz Haderach of turd squeezes known as Raykon...

Posted by: weft cut-loop at May 01, 2021 08:27 PM (pAjZN)

125 Hoity toity indeed.

Posted by: Chairman LMAO at May 01, 2021 08:27 PM (0M2wm)

126 Keaton's _Steamboat Bill Jr._ had my whole family cracking up laughing.

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 01, 2021 08:27 PM (QZxDR)

127 ||How is anything worse than "Wild at Heart"?

I take it, Eris, you're not part of the Lynch Mob?

Posted by: moviegique at May 01, 2021 08:28 PM (dhFCT)

128 WokaCola cares about countries like China and India where they have billions of potential customers.

They don't give a shit about losing 40 million conservatives.

Posted by: AlaBAMA at May 01, 2021 08:28 PM (4fSQf)

129 This is vaguely film-related: can anyone explain to me why Elon Musk is an official Bad Person according to the moral and intellectual giants of SNL?

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 01, 2021 08:29 PM (QZxDR)

130 Trimegistus & Eromero

Yeah, I talked about Keaton (and Chaplin and Lloyd) last time. Keaton will come up again when I cover the melodramas.

Posted by: moviegique at May 01, 2021 08:29 PM (dhFCT)

131 Well with Aelita are we sure the main male character was not having a very lucid hallucination?

The color tinted version of Metropolis which was based off the Paramount edit I really do not remember it much. But I do love Queen's "Radio Ga Ga" music video of it all.

But when Freder is feverish and Death comes swinging the scythe, as a kid that really stuck.

Posted by: Anna Puma at May 01, 2021 08:29 PM (xvEYc)

132 >>120 Watched Greenland
Kinds forgettable imo
Posted by: Herr Frau Doktor vmom at May 01, 2021 08:25 PM (Wafzl)

Has Gerard Butler done anything *not* forgettable since '300'?

Posted by: Dr. Varno at May 01, 2021 08:29 PM (vuisn)

133 In Aelita it is all depicted as being just a dream, Wizard of Oz style. Our Hero didn't kill his wife, he just winged her, and they ride off into the sunset together in a sled.

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 01, 2021 08:30 PM (QZxDR)

134 My first elongated exposure to silent films was at Disneyland. 6 or 7 screens all doing silent films.

It got boring after 20 minutes.

Posted by: JAS, AoSHQ addict at May 01, 2021 08:30 PM (xopIz)

135 ||This is vaguely film-related: can anyone explain to me why Elon Musk is an official Bad Person according to the moral and intellectual giants of SNL?||

He shows signs of BadThink...FreeThink...same-same.

Posted by: moviegique at May 01, 2021 08:30 PM (dhFCT)

136 129 This is vaguely film-related: can anyone explain to me why Elon Musk is an official Bad Person according to the moral and intellectual giants of SNL?
Posted by: Trimegistus at May 01, 2021 08:29 PM (QZxDR)

He seems to care more about actual results than forwarding Wokeness, and that is reason enough to these cultists.

Posted by: Bete at May 01, 2021 08:31 PM (Ojki1)

137 ||But when Freder is feverish and Death comes swinging the scythe, as a kid that really stuck.

You might like The Phantom Carriage.

Posted by: moviegique at May 01, 2021 08:31 PM (dhFCT)

138 The Germans sure knew how to worship the demons.

Posted by: JAS, AoSHQ addict at May 01, 2021 08:31 PM (xopIz)

139 Just tried to watch a WC Fields pool game silent movie. Dang commercials. The first half of the 10 min. movie was cute.

Posted by: Infidel at May 01, 2021 08:32 PM (E0OEG)

140 Musk has his own cult. Mostly because he smoked pot on Joe Rogan's podcast.

Posted by: AlaBAMA at May 01, 2021 08:32 PM (4fSQf)

141 One of the problems with German cinema is that in the mid-1930s it became Nazi cinema.

And before that it was porn.

Posted by: JAS, AoSHQ addict at May 01, 2021 08:32 PM (xopIz)

142 Has Gerard Butler done anything *not* forgettable since '300'?
Posted by: Dr. Varno at May 01, 2021 08:29 PM (vuisn)

His " ( ) Has Fallen" trilogy is excellent. Great action. Great choreographed violence. Bad guys are the kind of bad guys you want to see die.

Highly recommended. Esp "London Has Fallen"

Gets no respect from critics for, I suspect SJW reasons.

Posted by: naturalfake at May 01, 2021 08:33 PM (dWwl8)

143 This is vaguely film-related: can anyone explain to me why Elon Musk is an official Bad Person according to the moral and intellectual giants of SNL?
Posted by: Trimegistus

He keeps telling Newsom and California they have screwed up. That's enough for the LIV at SNL.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at May 01, 2021 08:33 PM (gtatv)

144 Re: Aelita

It's a little slippery. It's made clear that he didn't kill his wife, at least in the cut I saw, and she was salvaged from her impending capitalism or whatever. But that only covers the trip to the moon.

The literal depiction shows the Evil Moon Queen having her own issues, and if those are just hallucinations, the movie's kinda pointless apart from the propaganda aspects.

Posted by: moviegique at May 01, 2021 08:34 PM (dhFCT)

145 ||Has Gerard Butler done anything *not* forgettable since '300'?

I will never forget "Machine Gun Preacher".

Posted by: moviegique at May 01, 2021 08:34 PM (dhFCT)

146 Oh! "Perdita Durango" is streaming on Shudder should you care to watch.

Posted by: naturalfake at May 01, 2021 08:34 PM (dWwl8)

147 I take it, Eris, you're not part of the Lynch Mob?
Posted by: moviegique at May 01, 2021 08:28 PM (dhFCT)
---

Heh. I really dig most Lynch films, but "Wild at Heart" was just the sleaziest piece of shit. My boyfriend and I saw it with a friend and we all hated it but thought everybody else liked it (Lynch!) so none of us walked out. BF and I watched "The Trouble With Tribbles" when we got home to wash the grime from our souls.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Iron Fist in Velvet Glove in Iron Gauntlet Clutching an Iron Mace at May 01, 2021 08:34 PM (Dc2NZ)

148 Fritz Lang's early German sound films - "M" and "The Testament of Dr. Mabuse" - are great. "Metropolis" is a great film, but like most "visions of the future" (including "Things to Come"), Lang got everything wrong.
The talent of the likes of Sirk, Lang, Wilder and so many other German, Austrian and Hungarian expats was limitless and exemplifies the rottenness and stupidity of the Nazi war on its own intellectual and creative classes.

Posted by: Darwin Akbar at May 01, 2021 08:35 PM (r7uqz)

149 The Phantom Carriage does seem interesting. Imagine Marley sentenced to being Charon I guess ferrying the wicked dead across the Styx.

Posted by: Anna Puma at May 01, 2021 08:35 PM (xvEYc)

150 Has Gerard Butler done anything *not* forgettable since '300'?
Posted by: Dr. Varn

Gods of Egypt is a fun, underrated movie

Posted by: Herr Frau Doktor vmom at May 01, 2021 08:35 PM (Wafzl)

151 You had me at "Perdita."

Posted by: JAS, AoSHQ addict at May 01, 2021 08:36 PM (xopIz)

152 In that vein, a recent fun teen coming of age movie is Love & Monsters

Posted by: Herr Frau Doktor vmom at May 01, 2021 08:36 PM (Wafzl)

153 ||Heh. I really dig most Lynch films, but "Wild at Heart" was just the sleaziest piece of shit. My boyfriend and I saw it with a friend and we all hated it but thought everybody else liked it (Lynch!) so none of us walked out. BF and I watched "The Trouble With Tribbles" when we got home to wash the grime from our souls.||

So, yeah, basically my reaction to "Blue Velvet".

I know a lot of people who like him...LOVE him, even. But the ones who say, "Yeah, Blue Velvet, that's what relationships are really like!" are the ones I give a wide berth.

Posted by: moviegique at May 01, 2021 08:37 PM (dhFCT)

154 Also like "Law Abiding Citizen" with Gerard Butler.

Posted by: naturalfake at May 01, 2021 08:37 PM (dWwl8)

155 154 Also like "Law Abiding Citizen" with Gerard Butler.
Posted by: naturalfake at May 01, 2021 08:37 PM (dWwl

That was a good one.

What was that romcom he did with Nipples? She was his ex wife.

Posted by: AlaBAMA at May 01, 2021 08:39 PM (4fSQf)

156 You had me at "Perdita."
Posted by: JAS

Shouldn't that be "you had be at lost"?
I guess it would be lost in translation anyway.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at May 01, 2021 08:39 PM (gtatv)

157 Quiet night. Are we still recovering from the meltdown?

Posted by: moviegique at May 01, 2021 08:39 PM (dhFCT)

158 Raising Arizona was Lynch's best film.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Important article about what's coming at May 01, 2021 08:39 PM (yK9py)

159 Thank you for the content! Now I will reread the content and the comments for some ideas.
Some of my movie viewing:
Prisoners 3.5/5, children abducted, second time watching. Pretty good.
Promising Young Woman 0/5, terrible, could not finish
Gone (2012), 3.5/5, Pretty good.
I spit on your grave, 1/5 brutal rape porn. No, not my cup of tea.
Alone 4/5 I thought very good.

Posted by: MikeM at May 01, 2021 08:39 PM (3F0Ql)

160 What meltdown?
What did I miss?

Posted by: Herr Frau Doktor vmom at May 01, 2021 08:40 PM (Wafzl)

161 I thought Aelita wanted to be Queen of Mars, not the Moon.

And that ties into Battle Angel Alita where Gally literally falls from Heaven as trash to the Earth below and is reborn unknowing she is originally from Mars.

Posted by: Anna Puma at May 01, 2021 08:40 PM (xvEYc)

162 ||I spit on your grave

Which one?

Posted by: moviegique at May 01, 2021 08:40 PM (dhFCT)

163 As far as Lon Cheney, he made a lot of films, some of which are way better - and creepier - than some of the best-known ones. "Phantom" is good, but the physical cruelty Cheney inflicted on himself with his makeup is creepier than the film itself. Both "West of Zanzibar" and "The Unknown" are better, and will haunt the viewer for far longer.

Posted by: Darwin Akbar at May 01, 2021 08:41 PM (r7uqz)

164 vmom--just talking the server issues from a week or two ago

Posted by: moviegique at May 01, 2021 08:41 PM (dhFCT)

165 I always think of Gerard Butler and Russell Crowe as the same type of actor; almost interchangeable

Posted by: Herr Frau Doktor vmom at May 01, 2021 08:42 PM (Wafzl)

166 Oh, the hamster bbq!

Posted by: Herr Frau Doktor vmom at May 01, 2021 08:42 PM (Wafzl)

167 I'm out for a while, y'all have fun.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Important article about what's coming at May 01, 2021 08:43 PM (yK9py)

168 So did Eris imbibe in some strong spirits whilst watching "Trouble With Tribbles" just to ensure nothing from Wild at Heart remained in the memory banks?

Posted by: Anna Puma at May 01, 2021 08:43 PM (xvEYc)

169 I spit on your grave
Which one?
Posted by: moviegique
1978 one. What did you think?

Posted by: MikeM at May 01, 2021 08:43 PM (3F0Ql)

170 168 So did Eris imbibe in some strong spirits whilst watching "Trouble With Tribbles" just to ensure nothing from Wild at Heart remained in the memory banks?
Posted by: Anna Puma at May 01, 2021 08:43 PM (xvEYc)
---

The magic of lighthearted Trek purged all the bad away.

And maybe a few beers.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Iron Fist in Velvet Glove in Iron Gauntlet Clutching an Iron Mace at May 01, 2021 08:45 PM (Dc2NZ)

171 Watched Dark Blue again today. Haven't seen that one in a while. Kurt Russell doesn't really get much props for his acting skills.

Posted by: AlaBAMA at May 01, 2021 08:45 PM (4fSQf)

172 @158 "Raising Arizona" was the Coen brothers.

Posted by: Chairman LMAO at May 01, 2021 08:45 PM (0M2wm)

173 For me the interchangeable actors are Mark Wahlberg and Matt Damon. I literally cannot tell them apart. Brad Pitt used to be part of a trio with them, but he has aged interestingly and no longer looks like he came from the same clone factory.

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 01, 2021 08:45 PM (QZxDR)

174 So, yeah, basically my reaction to "Blue Velvet".

I know a lot of people who like him...LOVE him, even. But the ones who say, "Yeah, Blue Velvet, that's what relationships are really like!" are the ones I give a wide berth.
Posted by: moviegique

"Blue Velvet" was weird and surrealistic. You just aren't sure you know what is going on or what is going to happen next.
Even at the end, you wonder "what did I just watch?"

Wild at Heart is just stupid. Vulgar and dumb.

I can understand people being revulsed by "Blue Velvet", but it is so surrealistically weird it makes you anxious, and makes you re-think reality (just a little).

Posted by: Bozo Conservative ...meticulous weirdo at May 01, 2021 08:46 PM (tjZg/)

175 I never thought of "The Trouble With Tribbles" as soul-cleansing material.

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 01, 2021 08:47 PM (QZxDR)

176 I always think of Gerard Butler and Russell Crowe as the same type of actor; almost interchangeable
Posted by: Herr Frau Doktor vmom

Russell Crowe is a much better actor, but...he is also somewhat insane.
Butler is a good action movie guy, but I am not sure just how much he can really act.

Posted by: Bozo Conservative ...meticulous weirdo at May 01, 2021 08:48 PM (tjZg/)

177 173 For me the interchangeable actors are Mark Wahlberg and Matt Damon

--

Specially in The Departed

Posted by: Herr Frau Doktor vmom at May 01, 2021 08:49 PM (Wafzl)

178 Tribbles is one of the best episodes ever because everyone wanted it to succeed so the cast and crew kept tinkering with it. It's just fun.

The bar fight scene is classic. Cyrano Jones dodging people

Posted by: Anna Puma at May 01, 2021 08:49 PM (xvEYc)

179 Nood

Posted by: NaCly Dog at May 01, 2021 08:49 PM (u82oZ)

180 Although I like Mark Wahlberg much more than Matt Damon

Posted by: Herr Frau Doktor vmom at May 01, 2021 08:50 PM (Wafzl)

181 Matt Damon's 'acting range' was amply demonstrated in Dogma

Posted by: Anna Puma at May 01, 2021 08:51 PM (xvEYc)

182 Fact is, by 1925, the silent film was a Perfect Art Form. The masterpieces of that late silent era - "The Crowd," "Sunrise," anything by Douglas Fairbanks, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd and Charlie Chaplin- are just SO good and so sublime that they boggle the mind. And then, just like that, it was over.
Luckily, many remain with us to be enjoyed.
If you can, take your children to a revival house playing silent comedies. Listening to them laugh at films from 100 years ago is a treat.

Posted by: Darwin Akbar at May 01, 2021 08:52 PM (3WlA6)

183 I normally like David Lynch but the fake Southern accents in "Wild at Heart" drove me up the wall.

I can't un-hear it and I can't un-hate it.

Posted by: Dr. Varno at May 01, 2021 08:55 PM (vuisn)

184 Raising Arizona, 'well alrighty then'.

Posted by: Eromero at May 01, 2021 09:05 PM (0OP+5)

185 ||1978 one. What did you think?

Well, I didn't know, is why I asked.

Some folks like the remakes. (And, in fairness, some of the remakes are good.)

Remaking ISOYG struck me as deeply weird, tho'.

Posted by: moviegique at May 01, 2021 09:29 PM (dhFCT)

186 Diogenes

You said you were in Grenada for the all services tour.

I'd like to hear your stories on that. Read only one book on it. By a guy I am not sure I can trust.

We were flash deployed out of Norfolk to cover you all, if things went South.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at May 01, 2021 09:35 PM (u82oZ)

187 If you want weird, don't forget "The Man Who Laughs" (192

directed by Paul Leni.

Posted by: Old Radio Guy at May 01, 2021 10:01 PM (KCv/M)

188 I missed the discussion of movies with minimal dialogue, but _The Black Stallion_ fits that description. I haven't seen the whole movie maybe ever, I want to rewatch it sometime.

Posted by: goodluckduck at May 02, 2021 12:17 AM (V8zw+)

189 The Giorgio Moroder version of Metropolis is actually pretty excellent. Don't be a snob.

Posted by: Comment Monster at May 02, 2021 11:19 AM (1h8q+)

190 ||The Giorgio Moroder version of Metropolis is actually pretty excellent. Don't be a snob.

I yam what I yam.

Posted by: moviegique at May 02, 2021 05:44 PM (dhFCT)

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