rate the last movie you saw

[Eric Paddon]

No Entr'acte/Exit Music on the "Roadshow"? The Entr'acte is supposed to be when Shirley and McMartin are stuck in the elevator I think. Been awhile since I watched it all the way through.

Okay.....I know what you're thinking. But this title I am going to make the exception for because in all versions the "happy ending" cut doesn't have this stuff so for the version of the film I want to see, it's okay!

[AndyDursin]

Some of it's there, most of it is missing apparently. I can't follow it entirely, but someone on the Blu-Ray board wrote this:

Roadshow = [blank] Overture + Act1 + [blank] Intermission + Entr'acte + Act2 + Exit Music.
Kino Lorber = [titled] Overture + Act1 + [titled] Intermission + Act2.

So yeah -- it's missing the Entr'acte and Exit Music apparently, which I guess was the case on the French Blu-Ray. Must be something with Universal's master (I'll check it out again and amend my review before I run it)

At least it's not missing THIS scene -- which I take it WAS missing from Universal's 2005 DVD release!

[Eric Paddon]

It's so amazing how these foul-ups happen. Clearly the people in charge of these things are at this point incapable of knowing what the purpose of an "Intermission" on a "Roadshow" copy means!

[AndyDursin]

HONEY I SHRUNK THE KIDS (1989)
7/10

Picking out a movie before Theo's first day of Kindergarten lead me to this 1989 Disney fantasy -- one that I was never really that captivated with when I was heading into high school. Yet, this box-office hit is entertaining enough, and never overstays its welcome with a tidy 90 minute running time. Some good special effects sequences that Theo enjoyed -- especially "Anty" Vs. Scorpion, which resembled a Godzilla showdown (so of course he loved it). The rest of the movie he just felt was OK, and when it was over, he said "I never want to watch that again!" (he says that about a lot of things, but then changes his mind lol...). For me, I thought it was OK, kind of a waste of Rick Moranis' time, but there were a few funny scenes that I can imagine played well with younger audiences back at the time.

What soured me a little on this movie then and, well, now? James Horner's score. This has got to be one of the worst scores in his entire career -- absolutely auto-pilot, temp-track afflicted hack work of the worst order. Even my wife, who seldom says anything about scores, chirped "hey that's the theme from THE GOONIES!" Yes, and PEE-WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE -- plenty of that too -- but what's worse is just how lazy and uninspired it is. Only near the end is there a flash of "the real Horner", and a few cues that carry the film during the last 20 minutes work -- but before that, this is really inferior stuff from James. In fact I can't think of many other scores of his that detract from whats going on -- here, though, I felt the score let the film down for much of it.

[Monterey Jack]

Yeah, Horner's Honey score is a lemon, rife with borrowings even by his notorious standards. And, even the plagiarism aside, it just doesn't add anything to the film, often getting buried under the busy sound design. I feel it's just one of those type of 80s fantasy scores that fans clamored for because it was unavailable on CD for over two decades. I sold off my copy of the Intrada CD shortly after I acquired it, and don't regret the decision for a second. Bruce Broughton's Honey, I Blew Up The Kid score is far superior (as is the film, frankly).

[Eric Paddon]

Eye Of The Needle (1981) 5.5 of 10

-This was lying on the shelf because I'd gotten in a Twilight Time sale I think so I pulled it out. Just didn't land with me.

[Paul MacLean]

Eye Of The Needle (1981) 5.5 of 10

-This was lying on the shelf because I'd gotten in a Twilight Time sale I think so I pulled it out. Just didn't land with me.

Andy showed this to me a few months ago. I have to say I liked it quite a bit.

One of the things I found most striking about Eye of the Needle was the way the score complimented the drama. Miklos Rozsa's style is almost synonymous with movies of the 1940s, so it gave this film -- set in the 1940s -- an added sense of time and place.

[BobaMike]

Wow, do I disagree with you guys about Horner's Honey I shrunk the Kids!

I loved the movie as a kid, we wore out the VHS. The Horner score has always stuck with me as memorable and working really well in the movie. Growing up I didn't know about the lifts, and now as an adult, I don't care. I was thrilled to get the bootleg years ago, and the intrada was a instant buy. My only gripe is that it still is missing music and isn't in order. I'd rather listen to it than half his output.

My 7 year old loves the music, and requests it in the car.

[Eric Paddon]

Eye Of The Needle (1981) 5.5 of 10

-This was lying on the shelf because I'd gotten in a Twilight Time sale I think so I pulled it out. Just didn't land with me.

Andy showed this to me a few months ago. I have to say I liked it quite a bit.

One of the things I found most striking about Eye of the Needle was the way the score complimented the drama. Miklos Rozsa's style is almost synonymous with movies of the 1940s, so it gave this film -- set in the 1940s -- an added sense of time and place.

Rozsa's score was okay but wasn't exceptional to me. A lot of spots reminiscent of "Private Life Of Sherlock Holmes". I think the problem I had was the slow-moving nature of the story, the fact that Sutherland is really notwithstanding the nuance they try to give him, a dishonorable monster (I much prefer his Liam Devlin in "The Eagle Has Landed") and the fact that Ian Bannen doesn't get enough screen time to serve as a strong counterweight, plus the husband being killed much sooner than I expected (and giving him the throwaway line about wishing he wasn't married and had "free time" seemed like a cheap way of trying to get the audience to root for his demise.) just didn't make this click with me.

[AndyDursin]

I don't see why Banen needed a bigger part -- the movie's not about him, it's about Kate Nelligan's character and her relationship with Sutherland. I found his performance much more interesting than THE EAGLE HAS LANDED -- but I also found this movie far more engaging, entertaining and "alive" than that movie, which I found decent but not much more than serviceable. Rozsa's score is superlative IMO as well.

I've sat through EYE OF THE NEEDLE a few times and even knowing the dramatic beats, it keeps me engaged every time. Terrific stuff.

[Eric Paddon]

"Eagle Has Landed" was a favorite book of mine before I saw the film. Some day I need to do an entry on it in the book/movie thread. Other than the fact that the film made a critical change in the ending that tended to undermine the book's subtext, it was a good adaptation of a story I was already familiar with. In Eye Of The Needle this was my first exposure to the source material. I get the fact that its supposed to be about Nelligan, but after getting so much time devoted to the horror of Sutherland's killing spree including the guy from the beginning of the film on the train, I was really taken out of that story before it even got started.

[Paul MacLean]

"Eagle Has Landed" was a favorite book of mine before I saw the film. Some day I need to do an entry on it in the book/movie thread.

I've never read the book, which I understand is excellent. As far as The Eagle Has Landed as a film, I thought the plot was excellent, and the cast outstanding -- but for some reason the movie wasn't very compelling to me. A time-passer, but one with no energy or anything to really draw me in.

As for Rozsa's score for Eye of the Needle, I wouldn't say it is one of his best efforts -- but I loved how a movie made in the 1980s had an authentic 1940s-style score -- and since it was by Rozsa himself, it was the real thing, not a pastiche or imitation. I thought it added a special dimension to the film.

[AndyDursin]

ALADDIN (2019)
5/10

Coming to home video September 10th is Disney’s live-action remake of ALADDIN, director Guy Ritchie’s charmless exercise which nevertheless retained enough of its source material’s charm to carry it to a tidy $1-billion worldwide box-office gross.

Despite the commercial performance, it’s unlikely this film – much like Tim Burton’s “Dumbo” and Jon Favreau’s critically lambasted “Lion King” – is going to resonate much beyond a year or two of home video and on-demand sales. The script by John August and Ritchie mostly keeps the plot from the original – as well as its Broadway successor – in line, with Mena Massoud as Aladdin and Naomi Scott as Jasmine providing a likeable enough pair of protagonists.

Less satisfying is, well, everything else: Will Smith’s autotuned Genie is neither as funny as Williams nor as musically capable as any number of talents who filled the role on-stage (like Tony winner James Monroe Iglehart). The big song addition, Jasmine’s late ballad “Speechless,” is a contrived popish number that functions as a #metoo statement instead of an organic part of the story. Ritchie’s direction lacks any sort of identifying characteristic and the green-screen laden production looks phony and unimpressive – not to mention cheap for a production that reportedly cost $183 million. While more watchable than the dark and dreary “Dumbo” recycle, it all adds up to another “so what?” exercise in Disney’s parade of “guaranteed 2019 hit remakes” that has yet to yield a worthy live-action counterpart to the animated classics that preceded them.

[Johnmgm]

When I saw Dumbo, I found it bla. But, after seeing Aladdin and The Lion King it’s starting to look pretty good. All three movies are pretty dire and not a patch on the originals. Looking for anything in the positive column: Dumbo looks good, especially the Pink Elephant sequence; Aladdin’s leads are charming, especially Naomi Scott; and The Lion King is technically impressive, but is a failure in every other respect, it is the worst “kids movie” I have seen this year. I was kind of amazed how absolutely pointless it was/is.

Dumbo 2/4;
Aladdin 2/4;
The Lion King 1.5/4.

[Monterey Jack]

While more watchable than the dark and dreary “Dumbo” recycle, it all adds up to another “so what?” exercise in Disney’s parade of “guaranteed 2019 hit remakes” that has yet to yield a worthy live-action counterpart to the animated classics that preceded them.

I liked The Jungle Book and really liked Kenneth Branagh's glowing Cinderella, but otherwise, these live-action Disney retreads are every bit as bad as those direct-to-video "cheapquels" that stained the studio's legacy a decade ago, only more expensive. And once Disney has cycled through all of the "Big Hits", what's left? No one's gonna be lining up for remakes of Atlantis, Treasure Planet or Home On The Range.