AndyDursin wrote: ROLLERCOASTER -- one of the better "disaster movies" isn't really a disaster film but a pleasantly nostalgic '70s thriller with a script by the Columbo/Murder She Wrote guys (I think) and Helen Hunt in an early role. Always liked George Segal in this too. The UK DVD is 16:9 enhanced whereas the US disc isn't, which is why I picked it up. Much better transfer as well in addition to the 16:9 encoding, plus a 3.1 (!) stereo soundtrack that attempts to replicate "Sensurround" at home.

Richard Levinson and William Link were indeed the ones responsible for Columbo/Murder She Wrote and the original concept of Mannix.

The US DVD release which I have has someone's idea of a practical joke in the "production notes" sequence where the name of George Segal's character is literally given as "Joe Blow".

SPIRIT OF THE DEAD C-/(no rating)/A

Mixed anthology film (are there any other kind?) of Poe stories directed by Roger Vadim, Louis Malle and Federico Fellini that deserves more viewers for the third segment. Fellini's truly mad third segment stars Terrence Stamp as a drunken actor who sees a smiling blonde girl as he goes to Rome for an award. The whole goofy segment seems to be made from Stamp's point of view--it makes hardly a lick of sense. The last ten minutes, which I won't spoil, are amazing, and anticipate at least two well-known horror flicks to come.

The only other reason to watch this is for Vadim's segment. I'm no fan of Jane Fonda, but Vadim was in his sadistic "I'm married to her and you're not" phase, around the time of Barbarella, and has Jane Fonda playing a perverse heiress. She struts around in some costumes that show her off to great effect, and she's never looked more beautiful or sexier. Too bad Vadim's bizarreness ruins any hope of this being any good (the man Fonda lusts after is played by her real-life brother, Peter--blech!

The Orphanage D+

Cliches get the thumbs up from Ebert and others if they're produced by Del Toro, I guess. I liked the MILFy heroine, but this was lame.

JSWalsh wrote:The Orphanage D+

Cliches get the thumbs up from Ebert and others if they're produced by Del Toro, I guess. I liked the MILFy heroine, but this was lame.

I liked it more than you did, but I didn't like the ending at all...lame indeed.

Eric Paddon wrote:The US DVD release which I have has someone's idea of a practical joke in the "production notes" sequence where the name of George Segal's character is literally given as "Joe Blow".

I remember that!

The transfer on the UK disc is spectacular. So crisp and detailed it looks like HD when upscaled to 1080p...it's missing the trailer, but the transfer is a big improvement on the US disc. So is the sound.

A definite solid pick-up for 3 pounds or whatever I paid

ADVENTURES OF BUCKAROO BANZAI B-/C+

Why introduce so many secondary characters and not flesh any of them out? Kind of wacky, but I notice the "cult" for this movie never really developed. Gets the grade I gave it because John Lithgow is funny and I like the alien ship design.

-Up: 9.5/10

Pixar does it again.

-Drag Me To Hell: 8/10

Terrific fun, and Alison Lohman looked yummy.

Mysterious Island-8 of 10.

There was a soundtrack re-recording wasn't there?

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON (2008) - 8/10. I watched some of the documentary footage....Fincher is pretty freaking cynical and depressing! The movie was amazing on a visual and technical level; I liked that the story took its time but it did have a tendency to be meander at times, which was the film's biggest flaw in my opinion. I thought it was sad and depressing in some ways but also a poignant love story. The acting was pretty good, and Desplat's score was outstanding. It did have that FORREST GUMP "wisdom" throughout, but it didn't bother me much. I disliked GUMP and still do.

THE PRODIGAL (1955) - 1/10. UGH! What a train wreck. Acting was very cardboardish and uninspiring across the board. Although I liked the attempt to tell the story of the prodigal son, the filmmakers should have opened up with that rather than the title card of the first commandment. It was ambitious and the sets were amazing, but they didn't have the acting corps or a solid enough story to carry it out. Lana Turner was SMOKING HOT...too bad this film didn't give her the opportunity to act. everyone looked like they were on Valium or something. Score by Kaper was okay. Goofy, silly film. The commentary was more fun to listen to than the film itself was to watch.

Seconds (1966). I'd never seen this before and found a great way to see it by downloading a torrent file which is the best stopgap way of sampling something you're not sure about buying or not as a blind buy. Have to give it no more than 6.5 of 10 because it's technical brilliance and chilling ending is IMO flawed overall because of two things: (1) I would have preferred more clarity showing Tony/Arthur's dissatisfaction with his new life. Since it was established that Arthur Hamilton's daughter had moved West, and Tony was living in Malibu I kept anticipating a scene of Tony running into his daughter and that triggering a new wave of regret (heck, wouldn't it have been even more spooky if "Tony" ran into his daughter and found her separated from her husband and she suddenly took a fancy to the handsome man who was really her father???) and (2) the orgy sequence with its restored nudity IMO just went on WAY too long and degenerated into cheap exploitation. It made me wish I could have seen the original censored version as its a classic example of how storytelling was better in the old days when you *couldn't* do certain things.

THE YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY (1983) - 5/10. I really enjoyed the acting, but the film couldn't find a center. It jumped back and forth between one theme to the next which made it confusing. If the film had focused on one major theme (and left the other stuff as minor themes) I think it would have been better: love story, social justice, political commentary, etc.

Eric Paddon wrote:Seconds (1966). (1) I would have preferred more clarity showing Tony/Arthur's dissatisfaction with his new life. Since it was established that Arthur Hamilton's daughter had moved West, and Tony was living in Malibu I kept anticipating a scene of Tony running into his daughter and that triggering a new wave of regret (heck, wouldn't it have been even more spooky if "Tony" ran into his daughter and found her separated from her husband and she suddenly took a fancy to the handsome man who was really her father???) .

Icky.

I actually found it interesting that such a thing didn't happen, because it's kind of an unstated admission that he didn't want to have contact with her. I doubt this was intended, but it makes the movie even bleaker.

A unique and indeed a depressing movie.

The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976): 8/10

Top-notch Clint Eastwood Western. Terse, violent, humorous, and with a killer Jerry Fielding score.

What happened with Eastwood's taste in music? In the 60s and 70s we had a rotating shift of Fielding, Ennio Morricone and Lalo Schifrin on most Eastwood flicks, but move into the 80s and 90's and it's all mostly Lennie Niehaus and Eastwood himself, using the same rinky-tink piano noodling and boring horn motifs.

Pirates: At World's End - 4/10

Depp and Rush were good, but I have no idea what the movie was about. Bloom and Knightley also seemed to be reduced to mere decoration.

Eric Paddon wrote:Mysterious Island-8 of 10.

There was a soundtrack re-recording wasn't there?

Yes, there is.

William Stromberg conducts the Moscow Symphony Orchestra. Score restoration by John Morgan, Anna Bonn and William Stromberg. Deluxe 32 page booklet.
Mysterious Island (UK: Jules Verne's Mysterious Island) was released in 1961 by Morningside Productions. Based upon the book The Mysterious Island (L'Île mystérieuse) by Jules Verne, it was produced by Charles Schneer and Ray Harryhausen. Directed by Cy Endfield, the film was released through Columbia Pictures. It was filmed in Shepperton Studios, Shepperton, England using SuperDynamation, which was a showcase for Harryhausen's animation effects. Like several of Harryhausen's classic productions, the soundtrack was provided by Bernard Herrmann.



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