rate the last movie you saw

[AndyDursin]

8/10

It's been a long, long time since I've seen MEATBALLS, and since Joanne had never seen it, she chose it as our "flashback movie of the week" of sorts. I was actually delighted because I didn't just find the movie to be as good as my memory recalled -- it was actually better!

It goes without saying really that Ivan Reitman's summer camp movie is one of the best of its genre. Bill Murray is funny throughout and there are all kinds of predictable shenanigans -- but what's not entirely predictable is the friendship that blossoms between Murray and Chris Makepeace's young camper Rudy, which is given the majority of the screen time. The duo look like they worked well together and it gives the film an emotional core most comedies of this type completely lack.

Elmer Bernstein's score is the icing on the cake. The bouncy song soundtrack is comprised mostly of original Elmer songs written with Norman Gimbel (including "Are You Ready for the Summer," which was used in a classic South Park episode last year) and all of them fit the movie perfectly. Not only that, but Elmer's original score -- which cries out desperately for a release on its own -- is poignant and adds another, mostly unheralded dimension to the film.

There's still no Blu Ray for this one (it was announced then canceled in 2007), but the Special Edition DVD includes commentary from Reitman and a nice retrospective Making Of, which includes interviews with Makepeace and others. The issue of them having to reshoot and add scenes with Makepeace (obviously older) and Murray months after the film's principal shoot ended is given a good amount of discussion. Highly recommended especially now that we're into the summer!

[AndyDursin]

Just a couple of quick reviews --

THE WARRIORS WAY 6.5/10
Not terrible, green-screen-rendered "ninja western" (which bombed at the box-office last December) marked by impressive, colorful cinematography (at least this movie isn't afraid to use primary colors the way 300, Sin City, etc. all were)...lighthearted and quite offbeat, as you might expect from a Korean director, a New Zealand production, financed with Indian money and starring a couple of well-known Anglo actors (Kate Bosworth, who's actually appealing here as a red-haired cowgirl, and Geoffrey Rush, who's just cashing the check). The effects are impressive though they do become repetitive while the story is just a throwaway for the mayhem. Still not bad for a rental though, with a nice Javier Navarette score.

SEASON OF THE WITCH 6/10
The most poorly reviewed movie of the year on RT actually isn't the worst movie of the year by a long shot. This is a watchable B-movie with Nicolas Cage and Ron Perlman pillaging through the Crusades when they run into the supernatural: a woman accused of witchcraft who actually has some odd powers. It's obviously pretty ho-hum, but at least it's nicely filmed, over with by the 90 minute mark, and not completely bad.

CARNIVAL MAGIC ????/10
I can't even begin to describe this 1982 oddity, which was legendary for being one of the "lost" cult movies of the last few decades until someone found it in a warehouse in 2009. It's now on Blu-Ray and DVD and it's so bizarre....terrible, yet undeniably compelling to watch its story of a magician and his talking ape trying to revive a carnival before an evil scientist shows up. It's rated G, but there's domestic violence, a near-vivisection, and plenty of shenanigans in Al Adamson's indescribable, one-of-a-kind opus. Anyone who enjoys cult movies should check it out (the BD is $10), but alas, someone threw loads of DNR on top of it -- in the "restoration comparison," the pre-restored version looks markedly better!

[mkaroly]

PLANET OF THE APES (1968) - 10/10. This is still a surperb film: it's engaging, beautifully shot, scored, and directed. It's also thought-provoking and intelligent; despite knowing the ending I still enjoyed how the filmmakers built the mystery of discovery in the movie (especially the ending). The build-up to the hunt where the apes are revealed was well done; the pacing was good and Heston did a great job as Taylor. Ultimately the best compliment I can give this film is that it is something I can watch over and over again and enjoy in a different way each time I watch it. Outstanding accomplishment.

BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES (1970) - 5/10. I liked that they didn't spend much time with Brent and Nova getting chased by the apes...they got away pretty quickly and the plot moved on. I think its subtext (or blatant text...lol...) was way more up front than the original. It was an interesting way to continue the saga but by the time everyone discovers the hidden city it started to get too corny and silly. The church service was really bad, as was teh telepathic powers of the city dwelling leaders. The film is also quite the downer by the final credits, ending perhaps a bit too abruptly. It just wasn't a very engaging film...and they definitely trimmed the make-up budget as the masks of the apes in the crowds were really cheap. I did like the score but overall it wasn't a very good sequel.

ALICE (1990) - 9/10. This movie reminded me a bit of ANOTHER WOMAN, except this one was funny. It's a movie about Alice's journey of self-discovery and auguably my favorite Mia Farrow performance in a Woody Allen film. Joe "Fat Tony" Mantegna had a certain charm to him, and I loved Keye Luke and Allen's choice for music whenever Alice visited the good doctor. I felt the ending was very positive and that may be why I liked it so much. I enjoyed this film quite a bit.

SHADOWS AND FOG (1992) - 4/10. The first time I saw this film I couldn't quite latch on to it, and watching it again I discovered that it still doesn't do much for me. Visualy I thought the film was much better than I had thought at first; I loved the lighting and light rays he was able to get in several of the shots. However, I just wasn't able to enjoy any of the characters, not even Kleinman. Even when Irmy and her boyfriend find the baby and decide to have a family, it seemed like they would make bad parents or I wasn't sure his transformation was complete. I imagine that Allen put a lot in there that I'm not getting, but it's just not a film of his I enjoy or connect with.

[Eric Paddon]

The ending of "Beneath" I despise. And it's incredible how the film got a G rating with all that gunfighting and bloodshed.

"1776" (1972) (LASERDISC CUT!) 10 of 10.
-A flawless translation of a great musical on all levels and appropriate viewing as always this time of year. I will never acknowledge the existence of the DVD release until the LD cut is made available with the entire score INTACT. What Peter H. Hunt did for the DVD and how he threw Joe Caps who did such a great job with the LD under the bus was despicable.

[AndyDursin]

I am going to make a fresh transfer of my 1776 LD with my AVCHD high-def PC recorder this summer. Just need to figure out the proper bit rate for a dual-layer disc.

You know I agree with you Eric, the laserdisc cut is better than the DVD, and JoeCaps got it right with that release. What Hunt did to the DVD -- either he has Alzheimers or he's got some weird revisionist history going on there.

[Eric Paddon]

Interestingly, word comes today that when "1776" hits Blu-Ray next year, Hunt is finally going to relent and allow what he is calling a "kitchen sink" cut to accompany his Vanity cut but which properly translated means the LD cut. If this is true, then that will be the guarantee to get me to go Blu-Ray at long last! (in the tradition of Connecticut waiting for the appropriate moment to finally say yea to Independence).

[AndyDursin]

Wow that would be awesome. If that's true I won't bother transferring this again because it takes up a massive amount of time.

[Eric Paddon]

There's a thread at HTF about it. Apparently Hunt has been feeling the pressure on this for quite a few years. It probably won't be the pure LD cut (the Overture/Intermission may not end up there) but if I have an intact "Piddle" and the underscored scenes back I'll swallow my pride on that point.

[AndyDursin]

It's good to see him coming to this conclusion or feeling the pressure now because I'm pretty sure there is no existing HD master of the movie out there -- at least none that I've seen on any of the HD movie channels. With a title like 1776 (much like LEGEND) you want to make sure they transfer the right version in HD because there's scant chance they'll revisit it again down the line...once they do it, we'll be stuck with it!

JoeCaps did a great job with the laserdisc cut and the commentary, which is still one of my all-time favorite commentary tracks. From what I just read on the HTF board it looks good in terms of getting the footage on there as Ron is on top of the situation from his Sony contracts. I would miss the Overture and Intermission (especially the Overture), but it's not a dealbreaker if everything else gets restored -- in likely better condition than what we had on the laserdisc too.

[Paul MacLean]

Children of Men

An often-effective and suspenseful thriller, as well as a chilling depiction of what might happen if (when?) our society disintegrates owing to a global catastrophe. Well-acted and superbly shot, edited and designed.

That said, the film is also frequently confusing, convoluted and vague in regard to what is happening in this future society, and who the rebels are, or what kind of government is running the country, etc. It also incongruously seems to espouse a belief in the ultimate altruism of man, while being very nihilistic in tone.

I think Alfonso Cuarron is a very gifted visual stylist, and this film looks great -- even the now-hackneyed use of hand-held cameras and green tinting actually is effective. But I also think Cuarron has a sour world-view, and is a somewhat pretentious filmmaker (as was previously exhibited in his heavy-handed attempt to shoe-horn his world into a Harry Potter movie).

The film is interesting and worth watching, but succeeds best on the level of a suspenseful actioner rather than its attempts at social commentary (which are a bit forced and contrived). It is a good picture, but not as "important" as we're expected to think it is.

P.S. -- I was also annoyed when I popped-in the rental disc only to find it was a 4:3 transfer! The copy of Minority Report I rented two weeks ago was ALSO in 4:3!

[Monterey Jack]

P.S. -- I was also annoyed when I popped-in the rental disc only to find it was a 4:3 transfer! The copy of Minority Report I rented two weeks ago was ALSO in 4:3!

Wow...in this day and age, full-frame rental discs are a no-no. Did you get them through Netflix?

[Paul MacLean]

Wow...in this day and age, full-frame rental discs are a no-no. Did you get them through Netflix?

Family Video. They actually have a great selection (and many $1 rentals) but some of their inventory is a little old I guess.

Neither Minority Report or Children of Men were shot in anamorphic so I guess I didn't miss anything, but it was annoying!

[AndyDursin]

Yeah, neither were. MINORITY REPORT was Super 35 and it probably loses more in 4:3 since the effects were shot at 2.35. CHILDREN OF MEN was 1.85.

Those had to have been some of the last movies to even be released in full-screen on DVD...haven't seen one of those in a long time!

[Monterey Jack]

-The Tree Of Life: 7/10

Typical Terrence Malick movie...a lot of ravishing cinematography, scored to a variety of classical pieces (and fragments of original score by Alexandre Desplat cut up and used as aural wallpaper), overlaid with poetic/pretentious voiceover, signifying...uh, something. Sure was pretty to look at, but when will Malick make a movie with an actual narrative throughline?

-Legend (1985, director's cut): 1/10

Yay, all of the glittery tackiness of Ridley Scott's embarrasing fantasy turkey, now presented in crystaline HD!

What a piece of KEE-RAP. I hate it I hate it I HATE IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT (aside from Jerry's music, of course).

[AndyDursin]

And always, the insightful commentary from Monterey Jack on LEGEND.