Saw a Takashi Miike picture called The Great Yokai War. "Yokai" is a Japanese term for monsters from folklore, as opposed to the more familiar kaiju. It's a kids' picture, about a young boy from Tokyo sent out to live in the countryside with his older sister and his intermittently senile grandfather. When a vengeful spirit appears, the boy gets caught up in a war between warring groups of yokai and must find his courage to become the "Kirin Rider", the hero who will set everything to rights. It's not a bad picture - nothing deep, but an amusing story. Some of the yokai are really trippy, Japanese folklore can get pretty "out there", apparently.
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This was the first movie showing solving a murder with forensics. Bones found on a beach are all they have to start with. An early U.S. role for the great Ricardo Montalban, who plays a police lieutenant. It was shown on TCM and is available for streaming there until November 13. Very well done!
Richard Willis > Richard WillisNovember 17, 2024 at 6:38pm
If you missed it, at this point it’s not streaming anywhere. So you jump on it next time it’s shown, here’s Eddie Muller’s Noir Alley six-minute introduction from a few years ago:
...So I saw the most-streamed (or one of them) film of the last month, My Old Ass (2024).
I really enjoyed it. It's short and it harkens back to a time when coming-of-age films were low-key and not accompanied by an endless parade of pop songs and crude jokes (title notwithstanding). Having missed any publicity, I didn't realize that it was both casually Canadian (set in the Muskoka region, and the protagonist plans to go to the University of Toronto) and casually queer (the protagonist is queer, but she doesn't specifically need to be for this story to make sense. It might have lessened the film, and also would have avoided the filmmakers some trouble, but more on that later).
Writer/director Megan Park's second feature film stars, ostensibly, Maisy Stella and Aubrey Plaza, both of whom are excellent. However, Plaza's in it in the same way that Donald Pleasance is in the original Halloween. She appears to have done a day or two of shooting and some voiceover work. She's there to get the film an audience and she's excellent when she does turn up. It's no Safety Not Guaranteed (that other SF-crossover-genre film starring Plaza), but I liked it and even appreciate its short running time. Basically, a girl has a 'shroom trip on her 18th birthday and somehow meets her 39-year-old self.
After watching, I searched, wondering about a particular (if, IMO, entirely wrong-headed) reading that someone might make and, yep, there is some controversy based entirely on that interpretation. However, none of it can be discussed without significant spoilers.
Has anyone else seen My Old Ass? [Add cheeky, lazy joke here]. What did you make of it?
This has actually been on my radar for a little while, but I haven't pulled the trigger yet. Like Richard, it is Aubrey Plaza's presence that intrigues me. I will endeavor to watch it...or not. I haven't decided yet. hahaha
Somehow, I don't think we ever acknowledged the recent death of Teri Garr. I’ve heard the phrase “thank you, doctor” twice recently and it always reminds me of her classic scene in Young Frankenstein:
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Mystery Street (1950)
This was the first movie showing solving a murder with forensics. Bones found on a beach are all they have to start with. An early U.S. role for the great Ricardo Montalban, who plays a police lieutenant. It was shown on TCM and is available for streaming there until November 13. Very well done!
TRAILER
If you missed it, at this point it’s not streaming anywhere. So you jump on it next time it’s shown, here’s Eddie Muller’s Noir Alley six-minute introduction from a few years ago:
VIDEO
...So I saw the most-streamed (or one of them) film of the last month, My Old Ass (2024).
I really enjoyed it. It's short and it harkens back to a time when coming-of-age films were low-key and not accompanied by an endless parade of pop songs and crude jokes (title notwithstanding). Having missed any publicity, I didn't realize that it was both casually Canadian (set in the Muskoka region, and the protagonist plans to go to the University of Toronto) and casually queer (the protagonist is queer, but she doesn't specifically need to be for this story to make sense. It might have lessened the film, and also would have avoided the filmmakers some trouble, but more on that later).
Writer/director Megan Park's second feature film stars, ostensibly, Maisy Stella and Aubrey Plaza, both of whom are excellent. However, Plaza's in it in the same way that Donald Pleasance is in the original Halloween. She appears to have done a day or two of shooting and some voiceover work. She's there to get the film an audience and she's excellent when she does turn up. It's no Safety Not Guaranteed (that other SF-crossover-genre film starring Plaza), but I liked it and even appreciate its short running time. Basically, a girl has a 'shroom trip on her 18th birthday and somehow meets her 39-year-old self.
After watching, I searched, wondering about a particular (if, IMO, entirely wrong-headed) reading that someone might make and, yep, there is some controversy based entirely on that interpretation. However, none of it can be discussed without significant spoilers.
Has anyone else seen My Old Ass? [Add cheeky, lazy joke here]. What did you make of it?
Having always enjoyed Aubrey Plaza, this has been on my "To Watch" list since it was first advertized. Haven't seen it yet.
This has actually been on my radar for a little while, but I haven't pulled the trigger yet. Like Richard, it is Aubrey Plaza's presence that intrigues me. I will endeavor to watch it...or not. I haven't decided yet. hahaha
Somehow, I don't think we ever acknowledged the recent death of Teri Garr. I’ve heard the phrase “thank you, doctor” twice recently and it always reminds me of her classic scene in Young Frankenstein:
SCENE
"What knockers!"
"Zsank you, herr Doktor!"
"Roll, roll, roll in ze hay!"
Finally saw Godzilla Minus One (2023).
And...?