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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A reformed outlaw becomes stranded after an aborted train robbery with two other passengers and is forced to rejoin his old outlaw band.
I recorded this off TCM, but my recording had a big jump in it. I watched it on Prime as an included movie. Gary Cooper is too old for the part, but he did a good job. Robert Wilke was shot in the back by Grace Kelly in High Noon. Six years later he is shot in the front by Gary Cooper. Pre-Hawaii 5-O you will enjoy watching Jack Lord play a psycho killer.
There is a bit wrong with this film. Gary Cooper's age versus Lee Cobb's. The coincidental stranding of Julie London and Arthur O'Conell after the train robbery. The abrupt ending.
There is quite a bit not wrong also. The outdoor photography. The interior train scenes seem to have been entirely shot on a real train going down the tracks, not a set with rear projection. All the settings are real looking not Hollywood whitewash. Gary Cooper is low-key but builds his conflicted character well. The villains are among the nastiest ones you can see in pre-1960's westerns. They really lay the groundwork for the stock western psycho in later Spaghetti Westerns. Jack Lord plays a real maniac!
Anthony Mann's eye for visual composition really adds to the psychological atmosphere. You can see the influence on Leone and it seems like Leone imitated a couple of shots from this film. The set design for the town of Lasso could have been used in any Italian western.
Last week I did watch the new animated moved Predator: Killer of Killers. Presented in 4 chapters. 1st one sucked, I almost bailed out of the entire thing. 2nd chapter was amazing! 3rd so-so, but kind of unbelieveable, even in the Predator universe. The final was pretty good, and obviously sets up for a future move. The director was the same one who directed Prey, which I thought was pretty bad myself, but others liked it. The animation was incredible though. I do recommend it, if you are a fan of the series.
We watched it, too. We found a lot of it preposterous -- the American sure was a quick study! -- but we were entertained. Nice animation! Yeah, sequel obviously planned, complete with Amber Midthunder.
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I've never seen this picture, because I always had the vibe that it was so bad that even the Forresters wouldn't use it.
Not a movie, but creator Larry Gelbart talks about the death of Hanry Blake in M*A*S*H.
Larry Gelbart on killing off "Henry Blake" on "M.A.S.H" - EMMYTVLEG...
Man of the West (1958)
A reformed outlaw becomes stranded after an aborted train robbery with two other passengers and is forced to rejoin his old outlaw band.
I recorded this off TCM, but my recording had a big jump in it. I watched it on Prime as an included movie. Gary Cooper is too old for the part, but he did a good job. Robert Wilke was shot in the back by Grace Kelly in High Noon. Six years later he is shot in the front by Gary Cooper. Pre-Hawaii 5-O you will enjoy watching Jack Lord play a psycho killer.
This review is on the nose:
Tough gritty western that influenced the Spaghetti Western
There is a bit wrong with this film. Gary Cooper's age versus Lee Cobb's. The coincidental stranding of Julie London and Arthur O'Conell after the train robbery. The abrupt ending.
There is quite a bit not wrong also. The outdoor photography. The interior train scenes seem to have been entirely shot on a real train going down the tracks, not a set with rear projection. All the settings are real looking not Hollywood whitewash. Gary Cooper is low-key but builds his conflicted character well. The villains are among the nastiest ones you can see in pre-1960's westerns. They really lay the groundwork for the stock western psycho in later Spaghetti Westerns. Jack Lord plays a real maniac!
Anthony Mann's eye for visual composition really adds to the psychological atmosphere. You can see the influence on Leone and it seems like Leone imitated a couple of shots from this film. The set design for the town of Lasso could have been used in any Italian western.
A good, if depressing, alternate western.
Last week I did watch the new animated moved Predator: Killer of Killers. Presented in 4 chapters. 1st one sucked, I almost bailed out of the entire thing. 2nd chapter was amazing! 3rd so-so, but kind of unbelieveable, even in the Predator universe. The final was pretty good, and obviously sets up for a future move. The director was the same one who directed Prey, which I thought was pretty bad myself, but others liked it. The animation was incredible though. I do recommend it, if you are a fan of the series.
We watched it, too. We found a lot of it preposterous -- the American sure was a quick study! -- but we were entertained. Nice animation! Yeah, sequel obviously planned, complete with Amber Midthunder.
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