rate the last movie you saw

[Paul MacLean]

Gross out F/X have always been a turnoff for me. The melting Nazis traumatized me in Raiders as a kid and that's why I never saw another Indiana Jones film (especially after I read about the violence in Temple of Doom).

I do recommend Last Crusade, Eric. It does show a character aging decades in a matter of seconds, but it is very mild compared to the gore in Raiders and Temple of Doom.

This is as bad as it gets...



Oh, and Happy Birthday!

[Eric Paddon]

Thanks!

Maybe some day I'll check it out. I've been a bit more receptive to discovering 80s-90s films I passed over at the time within reason.

[jkholm]

Gross out F/X have always been a turnoff for me. The melting Nazis traumatized me in Raiders as a kid and that's why I never saw another Indiana Jones film (especially after I read about the violence in Temple of Doom). I have never seen Carpenter's "The Thing" and have no desire to along with the 80s "Fly" and of course any other famous horror/slasher film from the 70s on has gone unseen by me. I can handle "Alien" but even with that film I admit I don't like to look at the first moment of the famous scene. To me, I just think there's something a bit warped in deciding we need to be 'realistic' for such moments in cinema depictions.

I get what you're saying, Eric. The older I get, the more turned off I am by so called "realistic" and graphic violence. I can't watch modern war movies any more and I especially detest the increasingly common use of combining gore with humor. If I read that a movie contains extreme gore and violence "but played for laughs," I stay far away.

[jkholm]

Also, Happy Birthday, Eric! (Just saw the notice at the bottom of the main page.)

[AndyDursin]

COMPANION
7/10



Sharply written concoction of sci-fi thriller, character drama, and crime thriller serves up a convincing near future where young couple Sophie Thatcher and Jack Quaid hit the woods for a weekend with friends. Alas, it turns out Thatcher’s really a robot with an implanted affection for “love-bot” owner Quaid, and once the party host (Rupert Friend) ends up dead at Thatcher’s hands in an act of self-defense, things get spicy – just as they do for the other reason they’re gathered there.

Drew Hancock wrote and directed “Companion,” which has obvious thematic similarities to other, recent entries in the “crazed-female-automaton” genre, notably “M3gan” and “Ex Machina.” However, “Companion” proves to be a lot smarter than the former and much less depressing than the latter, serving up dry humor and an engaging tone with just enough fresh plot elements for the picture to work. Thatcher, a standout on the Showtime series “Yellowjackets,” proves appealing here while Quaid manages to be enough of a sufficiently likeable jerk for the material to effectively straddle the line between black comedy and thriller. It’s not a classic but “Companion” satisfyingly stays within its lane from start to end, working especially well if you haven’t bothered to watch any of its trailers.

Warner’s good-looking UHD (2.39) includes just a few short featurettes, a Digital HD code, HDR10 and Dolby Atmos sound – I admit also I was a sucker for the movie’s soundtrack, as any film that finishes with the great Samantha Sang/Barry Gibb hit “Emotion” can’t be all bad.

[Eric Paddon]

Well, I concluded this year's Easter season viewing and this year I tried to work in some stuff I had never seen before along with some standbys. This meant not seeing any Old Testament movies and with one exception at the very end, no secular Roman world epics.

For the first time I tackled four productions from Roma Downey and Mark Burnett:

The Bible (2013) (TV)
Son Of God (2014)
A.D. (2015) (TV)
Ben-Hur (2016)

I have to say that while I appreciate the sincerity of their desire to give us something faith affirming, the Downey-Burnett material is really sub-par fare. "The Bible" works only because its presented more as an elaborate documentary/docudrama and less as a serious acted through-line. The performances are what you'd see in any other documentary recreation type series. The episodes which depict OT moments that have not been shown before on the big screen fare best, while those that have been tend to come off as less effective but overall I think it was a decent enough project.

Unfortunately I can't say the same of the follow-up projects. "Son Of God" basically takes footage shot from "The Bible" and expands it to a feature length movie that fails to really grab me because it comes off as pedestrian and by the numbers, and clearly copycatting "Passion of The Christ" in spots. Overall, it's not any different from dramatized tellings of the life of Jesus that just give us the text of a Gospel which has been done before for Matthew (with Richard Kiley) and John (narrated by Christopher Plummer) and the 1979 "Jesus" movie which used the Gospel of Luke (more about that in a minute). I expect something a bit more substantive and compelling and this just doesn't have it.

I have previously reviewed "A.D" in the TV section since it was a regular series. I appreciated what they were trying to do but they were not I think doing a good enough job on the Roman-early Christian history synthesis and got too soapy in spots when they could have advanced much further into the Book of Acts in just 12 episodes.

"Ben Hur" I've noted before. Just awful beyond measure. This should never have been remade or attempted if they weren't going to go back to the original story and show things the 1925 and 1959 movie versions didn't do. The change to force a reconciliation at story's end between Judah and Messala is forced and the whole mechanism to send Judah into slavery is ridiculous.


Other new items:

Jesus (1979)
The Fourth Wise Man (1985) (TV)

"Jesus" I have never seen this one before but I will note its Blu-Ray release is not the original 1979 version but a relooped and re-edited version from 2013 which also has a new F/X laden prologue that almost looks as if it was influenced by the Downey-Burnett "Bible." This has resulted in the loss of Alexander Scourby's narration as a new narrator is now needed. An editorial decision of another kind is that in the original cut, there was a scene of John The Baptist's execution. This has been cut because in the original cut, this featured actress Rula Lenska as Herodias, who at the time was the wife of Brian Deacon, who plays Jesus. She is no longer in the current cut. As mentioned they use the Gospel of Luke, and I would rate it as better than "Son of God" but no better than the other efforts aimed at a purely religious market like the aforementioned lower budget efforts that have done the book of Matthew etc. Was glad to have seen it but I think the original cut should also have been presented too.

"Fourth Wise Man" is a 1985 TV movie produced by Paulist Productions, which also produced the religious oriented drama "Insight" for decades. It's a slightly comical but ultimately serious tale of Martin Sheen as a Magi who is unable to connect with the three Wise Men and spends 30 plus years prevented from finding the newborn King he was searching for to give gifts too until it finally converges at the moment of the Crucifixion. Alan Arkin is his frustrated servant/sidekick. For a TV production it was fine and had some uplifting moments. The one odd quirk though was to also see Richard Libertini in it and I had to get past in my mind this reunion of two cast members of "The In-Laws"!

These were the old favorite standbys that I revisited:

Ben Hur (1925-Silent)
King Of Kings (1927-Silent) (Shorter Cut, Organ Score)
Quo Vadis (1951)
Ben Hur (1959)
Barabbas (1961)
The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
Passion Of The Christ (2004)
Risen (2016)

These TV productions I have seen before:

Playhouse 90-"Pontius Pilate" (1952)
Hallmark Hall Of Fame-"Give Us Barabbas!" (1961)

I still don't get what's holding up Criterion from doing the silent King of Kings on Blu-Ray.

And finally, the Focus On The Family radio productions of "Ben Hur" (2000) and "The Luke Reports" (1996-2003), the latter of which dramatizes Luke's search to find eyewitnesses who help write the Gospel account. Both are outstanding and their version of "Ben Hur" proves that you CAN do another take on the material properly, which the 2016 film did not do.

After all of this was done I then last night added this:

Fall Of The Roman Empire (1964) 6 of 10
-A Blu-Ray release of this is elusive so for the first time in probably 15 plus years I took out the old DVD release which is uncut. This film's heavier subject matter which I know "Gladiator" (which I have never seen) later revisited is a bit ponderous but manages to work until it's finally half hour when it goes off the rails completely from my standpoint. Stephen Boyd, so brilliant in "Ben Hur" is just not strong enough to be the hero lead (Heston had turned the part down) against Plummer's Commodus. The sets are a standout but Tiomkin's score which deliberately avoided authenticity and went only for bombast is not in the same league as what Rozsa did for the films he scored (or what Alex North did on "Spartacus" and "Cleopatra"). The film also strangely never mentions Christianity once other than the fact there's subtle implication that James Mason's character is a Christian when we see his dead body wearing a necklace that apparently was an early Christian symbol.

So that's the wrapup for this year!

[AndyDursin]

Thanks for the Easter wrap Eric, always a good read!

[Paul MacLean]

"Ben Hur" I've noted before. Just awful beyond measure. This should never have been remade or attempted if they weren't going to go back to the original story and show things the 1925 and 1959 movie versions didn't do. The change to force a reconciliation at story's end between Judah and Messala is forced and the whole mechanism to send Judah into slavery is ridiculous.

I couldn't bring myself to watch this one. One look at Esther's costume was evidence this movie was completely tailored to modern trends, with no interest in historic fidelity.

[TaranofPrydain]

Meet Joe Black (1998) -- 8/10


There is much to admire about Meet Joe Black, and I would say that it is a very good film with one major flaw. This film, concerning the angel of death (Brad Pitt) giving a dying tycoon (Anthony Hopkins) a few extra days of life so that he can find out what life is like, is silky, elegant, mature, charming, and nuanced, qualities that were becoming quite rare in major studio films in 1998 (how I generally prefer early '90s films over late '90s ones....), and are almost extinct in them now. Anthony Hopkins gives a brilliant performance, and Brad Pitt gives one of his most likable, while Claire Forlani has a distinct charm to her and its always great to see Marcia Gay Harden. The production design is gorgeous, the musical score is enthralling, the cinematography is marvellous.... But we have to come to the flaw, and it is very noticeable: this film, as good as it is, is far too long for its own good, and the long pauses sometimes between the words of dialogue just help one to realize that this film could have been done in a more compact manner than 178 minutes. Indeed, it is a remake of 1934's similarly elegant and impressive Death Takes a Holiday, which told this story with an equal amount of elan in only 74 minutes. So, yes, this film is overextended. But, I still like this film, and was actually quite moved by it, so that is enough.

[mkaroly]

Meet Joe Black (1998) -- 8/10


There is much to admire about Meet Joe Black, and I would say that it is a very good film with one major flaw. This film, concerning the angel of death (Brad Pitt) giving a dying tycoon (Anthony Hopkins) a few extra days of life so that he can find out what life is like, is silky, elegant, mature, charming, and nuanced, qualities that were becoming quite rare in major studio films in 1998 (how I generally prefer early '90s films over late '90s ones....), and are almost extinct in them now. Anthony Hopkins gives a brilliant performance, and Brad Pitt gives one of his most likable, while Claire Forlani has a distinct charm to her and its always great to see Marcia Gay Harden. The production design is gorgeous, the musical score is enthralling, the cinematography is marvellous.... But we have to come to the flaw, and it is very noticeable: this film, as good as it is, is far too long for its own good, and the long pauses sometimes between the words of dialogue just help one to realize that this film could have been done in a more compact manner than 178 minutes. Indeed, it is a remake of 1934's similarly elegant and impressive Death Takes a Holiday, which told this story with an equal amount of elan in only 74 minutes. So, yes, this film is overextended. But, I still like this film, and was actually quite moved by it, so that is enough.

I absolutely love the score by Thomas Newman...one of my favorites of his. I agree with you that the film goes on too long. I have not seen it in a long time, but I remember being moved by it as well!

[AndyDursin]

Outside of being too long, that was an underrated movie and I always liked it too. My cousin was also married in the mansion where much of the film takes place! Beautiful spot here in RI.

[Eric Paddon]

The Last Starfighter (1984) 6.5 of 10
=This is another case of my discovering only now an 80s movie I passed on seeing at the time it was out and never saw before until now. I have a feeling I would have liked it more if I'd seen it when I was 15. Seeing it now for the first time makes me more aware of the flaws in story etc. But what makes it worth it for me is the fascinating presence of Robert Preston in his last big screen role (he only did a few TV movies after this) in a sci-fi/FX movie and where he is doing his Professor Harold Hill "Music Man" character in all but name basically (Right from the moment he says, "Centauri's the name!" you can tell he's channeling Harold. I was practically waiting for his pitch to Alex to include a chorus of "We've got trouble my friend!"). The movie loses something when his character disappears past the halfway point (though his return at the end is welcome). Dan O'Herlihy as a lizard alien is another bit of surreal crossover from an earlier generation of film and TV to this genre.

=Having seen the film now I do realize I need to get Safan's score to add to the list of symphonic sci-fi music of this era so I've just purchased the OOP Intrada CD at a not too unreasonable price.

[Eric Paddon]

Hurricane (1979) 2 of 10
-The demise of the disaster movie genre in the late 70s is often attributed to the dual rise of sci-fi blockbusters like "Star Wars" and also the fact that Irwin Allen churned out one bad disaster film after another starting with "The Swarm". But it wasn't just Irwin's incompetence as Dino de Laurentiis served up another bad entry in the form of "Hurricane" a reimagining of the 1937 John Ford directed film based on a novel by the authors of "Mutiny On The Bounty" and which was also one of the first films to launch the stardom of Dorothy Lamour as the sarong queen

-Having remade "King Kong" before with a new story and only some loose elements of the original, de Laurentiis had Lorenzo Semple write another reimagined take of the tale and the results let us just say are beyond awful. Roman Polanski was originally supposed to direct until his notorious sexcapades and becoming a fugitive from American justice forced him to be replaced. But the hand of Polanski on the script and concept clearly remains in the beyond creepy depiction of Samoan governor Jason Robards and his estranged daughter Mia Farrow (BADLY miscast) in which there are obvious incestuous overtones that are impossible to overlook and which persist even as Farrow falls for a native island king who has run afoul of American jurisdiction for allowing an outlawed pagan practice to take place (the fact that this practice results in the death of the native woman the prince didn't want to marry because he has fallen for Farrow keeps the audience from having too much sympathy for him. Unlike the clear injustices rooted in racism that we saw in the original film this version is not giving us characters we can support and root for even though the film THINKS we should). Why in the world Farrow was cast is bewildering. She looks simply gangly and frail and also she's 34 playing someone supposed to be 21. Even when she implausibly ends up in a sarong just in time for the climactic storm it does nothing for her. The original had fascinating supporting characters in the form of Thomas Mitchell as a drunken doctor and C. Aubrey Smith as a noble priest. Naturally in the age of the 70s, the priest is now the lush (Trevor Howard) while Max Von Sydow is the worldly-wise doctor but their screen time is so minimal they never have time to resonate as interesting characters. And the ending is just completely nihilistic in that we have Farrow and her native hunk the last two survivors on a small section of island left undestroyed and......where do they go from here?

-The film has not had a US Blu-Ray release but I did pick up a Spanish release that despite being marked as Region B, plays fine on US players. The only caveat is that the English soundtrack can only be heard with Spanish subtitles. It clearly underwent no remastering so it doesn't look much improved from whatever older masters there were. I'd be interested to see how the location photography looks remastered but I doubt very much it would improve the film's rating. It was another reason why the disaster genre died off at this point.

[AndyDursin]

The score is nice though!

I had that Spanish disc. I ended up selling it but dubbed it to remove the subtitles before doing so. Its remarkable Kino didnt license it with all the Paramount titles they put out over the years but its not high on anyones list lol. That master though is ancient.

[TaranofPrydain]

Hurricane (1979) 2 of 10
-The demise of the disaster movie genre in the late 70s is often attributed to the dual rise of sci-fi blockbusters like "Star Wars" and also the fact that Irwin Allen churned out one bad disaster film after another starting with "The Swarm". But it wasn't just Irwin's incompetence as Dino de Laurentiis served up another bad entry in the form of "Hurricane" a reimagining of the 1937 John Ford directed film based on a novel by the authors of "Mutiny On The Bounty" and which was also one of the first films to launch the stardom of Dorothy Lamour as the sarong queen

-Having remade "King Kong" before with a new story and only some loose elements of the original, de Laurentiis had Lorenzo Semple write another reimagined take of the tale and the results let us just say are beyond awful. Roman Polanski was originally supposed to direct until his notorious sexcapades and becoming a fugitive from American justice forced him to be replaced. But the hand of Polanski on the script and concept clearly remains in the beyond creepy depiction of Samoan governor Jason Robards and his estranged daughter Mia Farrow (BADLY miscast) in which there are obvious incestuous overtones that are impossible to overlook and which persist even as Farrow falls for a native island king who has run afoul of American jurisdiction for allowing an outlawed pagan practice to take place (the fact that this practice results in the death of the native woman the prince didn't want to marry because he has fallen for Farrow keeps the audience from having too much sympathy for him. Unlike the clear injustices rooted in racism that we saw in the original film this version is not giving us characters we can support and root for even though the film THINKS we should). Why in the world Farrow was cast is bewildering. She looks simply gangly and frail and also she's 34 playing someone supposed to be 21. Even when she implausibly ends up in a sarong just in time for the climactic storm it does nothing for her. The original had fascinating supporting characters in the form of Thomas Mitchell as a drunken doctor and C. Aubrey Smith as a noble priest. Naturally in the age of the 70s, the priest is now the lush (Trevor Howard) while Max Von Sydow is the worldly-wise doctor but their screen time is so minimal they never have time to resonate as interesting characters. And the ending is just completely nihilistic in that we have Farrow and her native hunk the last two survivors on a small section of island left undestroyed and......where do they go from here?

-The film has not had a US Blu-Ray release but I did pick up a Spanish release that despite being marked as Region B, plays fine on US players. The only caveat is that the English soundtrack can only be heard with Spanish subtitles. It clearly underwent no remastering so it doesn't look much improved from whatever older masters there were. I'd be interested to see how the location photography looks remastered but I doubt very much it would improve the film's rating. It was another reason why the disaster genre died off at this point.

I saw it last month on rarefilmm, and it was just incredibly leaden. The cinematography was glorious, but the characters were so paper thin, the pacing was glacial, and the script was a disaster. The 1937 film moved and was absorbing. This one was nearly sleep inducing.