rate the last movie you saw

[Eric Paddon]

It is still the Holy Week. And as I've done in the past, it's time to watch the movies of the season. I've reviewed them before in the past, so this time I'll instead note what's been watched and the quality of the current release.

The Robe (1953)

-The Fox Blu-Ray transfer looks great, but they really dropped the ball IMO in terms of the presentation. Starting with the awful cover that just gives a red robe instead of poster art, it manages to look generic. The navigation for all the supplements may be the most difficult I've ever tried on a Blu-Ray, and finally whose dumb idea was that "picture in picture" bonus to compare with the flat release? The sane thing would have been to present the "flat" version of the film as a bonus for us to watch separately. Had TT or Kino done this, maybe that's how it would have been done.

Demetrius And The Gladiators (1954)

-Surprisingly bare bones for a TT release, but maybe that's just as well since I am not a fan of commentaries that feature Kirgo. The transfer is excellent.

Barabbas (1961)

-Given how TT went out of its way to release so many Richard Fleischer films on Blu-Ray, it's too bad they missed this one. The old Columbia DVD looks very fuzzy as the years go by and this underrated gem of a movie deserves a quality remastering and Blu-Ray release. Watching it not long after "The Robe" for me shows the difference between a weak Biblical fiction story and a great one and "Barabbas" just gets more compelling with each viewing for me.

Ben-Hur (1959)

-Can't complain with the 2009 Blu-Ray release. My personal pick for the best film ever made looks great (though it could have used a better commentary).

The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)

-I heard all sorts of bad things about the Blu-Ray I've never gotten it. I keep thinking I should get it just to have a Blu-Ray but is it that different from the DVD?

[AndyDursin]

Demetrius And The Gladiators (1954)

-Surprisingly bare bones for a TT release, but maybe that's just as well since I am not a fan of commentaries that feature Kirgo. The transfer is excellent.

That transfer was derived from an ancient Fox master and TT took a LOT of heat for using it. It changed how they did business and Nick, from that point on, either used new masters or waited for them to be made in most situations. The encoding on the disc is fine, but the source was aged, detail was low, and it's probably the worst technical presentation (along with TITUS) that they had on one of their releases.

When you watch it now it's clear how deficient the transfer is (compared to the fully restored, marvelous looking THE ROBE). Unfortunately if there was a new scan made, it'll end up on streaming most likely instead of disc.

Barabbas (1961)

-Given how TT went out of its way to release so many Richard Fleischer films on Blu-Ray, it's too bad they missed this one. The old Columbia DVD looks very fuzzy as the years go by and this underrated gem of a movie deserves a quality remastering and Blu-Ray release. Watching it not long after "The Robe" for me shows the difference between a weak Biblical fiction story and a great one and "Barabbas" just gets more compelling with each viewing for me.

I'm also surprised they didn't release this, especially with them having a relationship with Sony, and Sony having an HD master available...could be Nick simply didn't like it (most of what they chose to release was based on his personal viewing preferences most of the time -- not always, but when it came to catalog pre-1980 movies, I think that was the major deciding factor). I've been meaning to track down one of the import releases but haven't gotten around to it.

The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)

-I heard all sorts of bad things about the Blu-Ray I've never gotten it. I keep thinking I should get it just to have a Blu-Ray but is it that different from the DVD?

It's not -- by Blu-Ray standards that's a really bad release. I'm still not sure it's even high-definition, it looks like an upscale from standard-def, or it's so fuzzy and poor that you can't make out any detail in it. Yet it may be worth getting just the same since a) it's so cheap and b) the audio is better than the DVD. Just don't expect anything other than that!

Sadly, it's MGM, so much like THE ALAMO, they'll seemingly never spend the money on it to restore it. Yet even a fresh, modern scan of a decent print would best that old home video master very, very easily.

[Eric Paddon]

Thanks for that overview. Demetrius looked okay to me compared to the DVDs of "Barabbas" and GSET. It's really painful to hear a HD master exists for "Barabbas" that wasn't taken advantage of. With all due respect, "10 Rillington Place" and "Doctor Doolittle" are not the best representatives of Fleischer's work. His creativity in managing to shoot the Crucifixion during an actual eclipse may be the most brilliant stroke of his career IMO.

I might as well get the GSET Blu-Ray then as a freebie with my bonus points sometime (derived from all my credit card purchases which is how we do most of our shopping). The one other favorite film of mine I've been scared off from getting a Blu-Ray due to bad notices was Kino's release of "The Enemy Below" (and I also heard bad stuff about "The King And I" and "West Side Story")

[AndyDursin]

I wouldn't stop from getting THE KING AND I and WEST SIDE STORY, they are fine discs (if could be improved upon) and def don't belong in the same category as GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD. That's one of a handful of transfers in this format I'd rank as being legitimately bad from a major studio.

For those with the option (since most BD players and TVs have these apps built in), WEST SIDE STORY also has a beautiful 4K remaster I picked up for $5 on Vudu streaming a few months ago.

[Paul MacLean]

Conrack (8.5/10)

Pat Conroy's inspiring, touching memoir is brought to life in Martin Ritt's exceptionally well-mounted adaptation. Despite its age, Conrack holds-up very well today, as a compelling portrait of compassion and altruism in a time and place when such attitudes were not only unwelcome, but potentially even dangerous. After taking a job teaching a coterie of impoverished, rural black children (dismissed as "stupid" and "hopeless" by local educators) Conroy (or "Conrack" as his students pronounce his name) enlightens them about history, art, classical music, and the wider world itself. Through his committed tutelage, the students learn that they are smarter and capable of more than they ever supposed. Inevitably though, Conroy's unorthodox methods ruffle the feathers of his superiors (both black and white).

John Voight gives one of the finest performances of his career, aside an equally-excellent cast including Madge Sinclair, Hume Cronyn and Paul Winfield. Conroy's students are mostly played by local unprofessionals, which adds a convincing verisimilitude to the production. John Williams' score is one of his best of that era -- very understated but with a wonderful main theme. It's clear this project was more than "just another job" to him (and likely a welcome respite from all those disaster movies).

Twilight Time's Blu-ray offers-up an excellent transfer, and I'm very grateful for the release of this obscure and underrated film, which previously was only available on a Japanese DVD before Nick Redman (heaven rest him) stepped up to the plate.

[Paul MacLean]

The Lighthouse (3/10)

Full disclosure -- I did not finish watching this movie. I tried and tried to get through it, but had to give-up after 2/3 of way through. I'm incredibly impressed with the cast and crew's willingness to subject themselves to the inclement weather of the film's location, and Willem Defoe and Robert Pattinson both give excellent performances. But the film is just so unrelentingly unpleasant, overlong and redundant (ok, Defoe's character is a sadistic nut, we get it).

I decided I'd had enough when I reached the scene where Pattinson starts masturbating. Beyond that, the story about two people being cooped-up in a confined location and slowly losing their marbles wasn't something I particularly wanted to see, considering that's what everyone on Earth is going through at the moment.

[Monterey Jack]

The Lighthouse was garbage. I appreciated director Robert Eggers' stylish and eerie The VVitch (especially on a second viewing), but this is "arty" in the worst possible sense, stultifying in the extreme. The photography was luminous, but other than that, it was easily the worst film I saw in theaters last year (and one of the worst overall). When Robert Pattinson screamed, "You sound like a cliché...!" at Willem Dafoe's farting sea cap'n, I would have stood up and applauded...had I not been in a virtual boredom-induced coma.

[AndyDursin]

I just wanted to write "it sucks".

Overrated in every sense of the word

[Paul MacLean]

When Robert Pattinson screamed, "You sound like a cliché...!" at Willem Dafoe's farting sea cap'n, I would have stood up and applauded...had I not been in a virtual boredom-induced coma.

Sadly I was all-too conscious for my viewing.

[AndyDursin]

EXTRACTION
6.5/10

Good-looking Netflix action vehicle for Chris Hemsworth features Thor as an Aussie special ops agent reeling from the death of his young son. He's now drunken and washed up -- but of course is pressed into duty, one more time, to retrieve the kidnapped teen son of an Indian drug dealer. Into Bangladesh he goes, leaving a massive body count in his wake -- plus syrupy, heavy-handed pauses wherein the movie contemplates its blood bath...all before venturing right back into the fray for more bune-crunching deaths and dizzying action scenes.

Hemsworth's Marvel buddies, the Russo brothers, produced (with the actor) this adaptation of a graphic novel they also crafted. Under the direction of first-time helmer Sam Hargrave (also a Marvel stunt coordinator), "Extraction" looks nifty when it relies on its visual FX and action choreography. The fights are crisply rendered and the story reasonably compelling, though whenever there isn't an explosion on the soundtrack, "Extraction" sags.

There's not much chemistry between Hemsworth and the boy -- not really any relationship that's meaningfully crafted -- while the attempts to humanize both Hemsworth and the boy's would-be guardian, himself a special ops vet, feel REALLY forced. It'd have been easier to accept these sequences had the rest of the film not been so rambunctious and over the top -- Hemsworth basically lays waste to everybody, including traffic cops who you aren't fully sure are in pursuit of him.

The result is pretty empty as a dramatic experience (and STRANGER THINGS' David Harbour gets to show up and never leave the one room he appears in). It's kind of a skeletal enterprise minus the biffs, bams and booms -- but at least those are sufficiently loud enough and attractively shot to make it a worthwhile "junk food view" in the Corona era.

[AndyDursin]

FIST OF FEAR, TOUCH OF DEATH

After the death of Bruce Lee, a series of awful “Bruce-sploitation” flicks popped up all over the globe. One of the most notoriously amusing is FIST OF FEAR, TOUCH OF DEATH (90 mins., 1980), a hodge-podge of material culled from a late '50s Lee appearance and a Japanese-set HK samurai film (!), strung together with new scenes shot in NYC during the 1979 World Karate Championship. The latter are hosted by actor Adolph Caesar (as himself!) and spotlight “special appearances” by the likes of Ron Van Clief and Fred Williamson, in material that seems to have been shot in, around, and outside his hotel room!

Producer Terry Levine and director Matthew Mallinson took scenes from the 1957 drama “The Thunderstorm” where Lee played a teenager, mixed them with a 1971 HK-produced, samurai film named “Invincible Super Chan” and came up with this silly nonsense that's nevertheless entertaining for its out-there, fictional storyline involving Lee's death and unabashedly shameless approach to hit feature-length by any means necessary.

For Lee buffs, The Film Detective's Blu-Ray – now becoming widely available this month – is an invaluable piece of history. The 4K (1.66) restored transfer was struck from the 35mm original negative and looks good though the elements show their age; fans will note a ton of library music here, including the CBS/Fox Home Video theme and music from NBC's “Wimbledon” coverage. Interviews with Mallinson, Levene, writer Ron Harvey, Van Clief and Williamson are on-tap plus the trailer and booklet notes. If you sound intrigued, don't miss this 1500-copy limited edition!

[Paul MacLean]

Good heavens -- that looks ever "better" than Game of Death!

[Paul MacLean]

Alexander Nevsky (Алекса́ндр Не́вский) (7/10)

I had actually never watched this film until now. Lauded as a classic, "high art" and required viewing for every cinema student (though we were actually not shown this movie when I was in film school), Alexander Nevsky is certainly one of the most influential movies ever made. Homages to (and even blatant cribs from) this 1938 Sergei Eisenstein effort are apparent in a slew of later movies -- El Cid, Spartacus, Excalibur, Conan The Barbarian, Braveheart, just to name a few. Sergei Prokofiev's score has been likewise enormously influential (particularly on the work of James Horner).

And yet, for all the inventive staging and mise-en-scene, I was surprised at how stilted Alexander Nevsky was. The acting is often very stiff and sedate, as if the actors are reciting the dialog rather than actually playing a role. The battle scenes are well-staged, but the fighting is obviously choreographed, and Eisenstein employs too much "undercranking" to speed-up the action. Swords and battle axes are clearly fake, with visibly smooth, blunt edges that wouldn't cut through a kleenex. And -- this is sacrilege I know -- but even Prokofiev's sometimes kooky, euphoric music pushes things over the edge into the realm of unintentional humor...



Of course Prokofiev is a major figure in the classical world (and rightly so) and while his score for Alexander Nevsky does otherwise have fine moments, it is not nearly as impressive (to my mind) as Hollywood music from the same era (like King Kong, The Bride of Frankenstein or The Adventures of Robin Hood).

It is also interesting how Alexander Nevsky functions as Soviet propaganda (which is understandable in 1938) but its secular/socialist agenda is often "on the nose" -- the diabolical German invaders brandish crucifixes and include an organ-playing friar among their ranks (the helmet of one German knight even displays a crucifix / swastika hybrid). In contrast, the noble Russian protagonists exhibit no religious belief whatsoever, which is historically inaccurate (and leads one to suspect that much of the acclaim heaped on this film has less to do with artistry than ideology).

The film does have effective moments to be sure -- the immediate aftermath of the battle is dramatically potent (and for me the strongest chapter of the picture). But Alexander Nevsky is a very uneven film. And yes, I know, this movie was made in 1938 -- but so was Gone With The Wind, while Citizen Kane appeared just two years later -- and the performances and overall visual style of those films (particularly Kane) are far-more naturalistic and believable (even by today's standards). Likewise, the action sequences in The Adventures of Robin Hood (also made the same year) are superior to those in Alexander Nevsky -- a film which (excepting it has sound) looks like it was made ten years earlier than it actually was.

Sorry.

[Paul MacLean]

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (7.5/10)

I went into this one with low expectations -- not many people I know were impressed with this movie, and Disney's handling of the Star Wars franchise has been, to put it charitably, clumsy (I really disliked both Rogue One and Solo, and the previous sequel -- whose title I honestly don't ever remember -- was the worst Star Wars film ever). But I must say The Rise of Skywalker was a pleasant surprise -- which I found entertaining, engaging, and downright impressive in its third act.

This is not to say The Rise of Skywalker doesn't have a few bugs. It doesn't get off the best start, it gets a touch dull about a third into the film, some things don't add-up -- why does Rey have trouble climbing the Death Star wreckage when earlier she was able to casually levitate when meditating? What planet is that Death Star wreckage located on? Is it Endor (where it logically should have wound-up) or did it somehow fly across the galaxy and land somewhere else? What was the motive of that First Order admiral who turned traitor? How can there be massive tidal waves when the wreckage of the Death Star offshore would effectively prevent such waves? Just what is it that Finn needs to tell Rey (which he never does)?

And yet, I was able to excuse these things, as I was impressed with the overall script, and the way it took the story and characters in an interesting direction (as opposed to the A New Hope re-hash that was Episode 7, and the top-to-bottom senselessness of Episode 8). The strange symbiosis of Kylo Ren and Rey is developed in an imaginative (and unexpected) way, leading to a very compelling resolution. Some things were a bit predictable (you knew the bearded guy was going to get killed, and that Po's old flame would return), but I found the whole climactic battle sequence incredibly well done, and its aftermath very touching, even moving. John Williams' music for the final scenes is some of his best in a long time (though I will say that the majority of the score was not as memorable).

Of course there's no getting around the fact this (and the other recent sequels) are still a pastiche of Star Wars tropes, but JJ Abrams' love for the universe George Lucas created is still very much in evidence, and that sincere affection permeates The Rise of Skywalker. I'm not sure I can call it a "great" film -- but it does have great moments (again especially toward the end), and I found it more enjoyable than most anything else I've seen in the past several years.

[AndyDursin]

And yet, I was able to excuse these things, as I was impressed with the overall script, and the way it took the story and characters in an interesting direction (as opposed to the superficial pastiche of A New Hope which was Episode 7, and the top-to-bottom senselessness of Episode . The strange symbiosis of Kylo Ren and Rey is developed in an imaginative (and unexpected) way, leading to a very compelling resolution. Some things were a bit predictable (you knew the bearded guy was going to get killed, and that Po's old flame would return), but I found the whole climactic battle sequence incredibly well done, and its aftermath very touching, even moving. John Williams' music for the final scenes is some of his best in a long time (though I will say that the majority of the score was not as memorable).

I didn't quite enjoy it as much as you did, and Williams' score came up empty, even at the end (I literally felt nothing during that last scene, which by itself felt contrived for me). But, in general, this movie was a LOT more satisfying than THE LAST JEDI, and I was definitely more entertained by it.

I also liked the Kylo Ren/Rey material and felt there were some good looking individual set-pieces, especially that battle on the ravaged star destroyer. That's where Abrams shined in this picture. (It was more the outcome of the Kylo Ren storyline that disappointed me, that he couldn't figure out anywhere else for the story to go)

Driver's performance was easily the most interesting thing about these movies -- the Kylo Ren plot was the most compelling part of these pictures, yet whenever he wasn't on-screen in this movie (or the other films), I was mostly bored. Abrams wasn't very good at establishing the other characters or giving them something to do -- the Keri Russell character (Poe's old flame) basically disappears, making it a total waste of her time. I also actually can't even remember the outcome for Finn in this movie or what he was doing in it! Poor guy, spent 2 movies pining after Rey and Abrams decided to not even TRY to come up with a solution to "their relationship".

Quite unlike Driver, Daisy Ridley never grew as a character, and I felt that was a problem. Her emotions and expressions are identical from her first scene in THE FORCE AWAKENS to the last scene in this movie. She has a very limited scope in terms of her ability, and that was a handicap to some degree. I suppose some of that was due to the fact that Rey doesn't really ever endure hardship in these films or learn answers in her journey like Luke, but Ridley ultimately came off as a very one-dimensional actress in general...quite unlike the different shadings, and unpredictable nature, of Driver's performance.

But didn't you enjoy how Abrams pretended THE LAST JEDI never happened? One of the few sequels in movie history where you could pick up right at the end of Part 1 (THE FORCE AWAKENS) and not have missed anything! At least it had more going for it than that one, and Abrams at least understood the prior movie and didn't try to shoehorn his artistic ideology into it as Rian Johnson did.