Movies I Have Seen Lately

[The Baron]

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.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Luke Blanchard said:

Since vampires are dead already, you can't kill them. You deanimate them.

I have heard the term "put them to their final rest."

[JD DeLuzio]

Richard Willis said:

Last Night in Soho (2021). Watched on rental DVD.

I can’t say enough about this movie, but I don’t want to spoil it for anyone. The trailer and the casting of Anya Taylor-Joy as Sandie made me want to see it (Everything starring her has been great, including The New Mutants, which you should see). Soho also boasts great performances by Diana Rigg and Terence Stamp. This is either Diana Rigg’s last role or one of her last. This is definitely a genre movie and is definitely not for kids.

We watched Last Night in Soho last night. It's good, well-acted, with an intriguing premise and great visuals-- I have to say I generally agree with Richard Willis on this one. I love how it moves from uosʇɐlƃᴉɐ ʇo ʇɥǝ pɐɹʞ sᴉpǝ oɟ ʇɥǝ dɐsʇ uosʇɐlƃᴉɐ lᴉʞǝs ʇo ᴉƃuoɹǝ. A "genre" film-- but which one?

Originality aside, it does feature a couple of hoary tropes (ɘƨnɘƨ ƨɘʞɒm ɈɒʜɈ ϱniʜɈγnɒ nɒʜɈ ɘɔnɘibυɒ bnɒ Ɉqiɿɔƨ ɘʜɈ γd ɘɿom bɘɈɒviɈom ƨγɒw ϱnibɒɘlƨim Ɉʜϱiɿ ɘʜɈ Ɉƨυį ni ƨɈɔɒ oʜw ɿɘɈɔɒɿɒʜɔ ƨυoiɿɘɈƨγm ɘʜɈ llɘɈ oɈ ɘvivɿυƨ Ɉnow oɈ ϱniʞlɒɈ ɘɿγɘʜɈ noƨɿɘq ɘʜɈ ɘɿυƨ ɘɿγɘʜɈ ɘƨυɒɔɘd ƨɘmiɿɔ ɿiɘʜɈ ƨɘυϱolonom oʜw ɿɘɈɔɒɿɒʜɔ ɘʜɈ) and there's a jump between the climax and epilogue that is a bit challenging to fill in.

However, as RW wrote, commentary spoils the film, which does not behave as expected.

(The altered text doesn't contain major spoilers, but those who have not seen the film and intend to may want to avoid anything that smacks of spoilerage, which is now a word)

[Jeff of Earth-J]

THE LITTLE RASCALS SAVE THE DAY (2014): After being pleasantly surprised by The Little Rascals (1994) two nights ago, we watched the direct-to-video The Little Rascals Save the Day ("direct-to-video" always being a sure sign of quality) last night. It was a bad as we expected the 1994 to have been, absolutely terrible. Whereas the 1994 version took pains to carefully meld the '30s with the '90s (by filming in old neighborhoods but with skyskrapers in the background, for example), the 2014 version took no such pains. All of the music, too, was contemporary, which help add to the impression that the cast were out of place in the 2Ks. Watch the 1994 if the mood strikes, but avoid the 2014 one at all costs.

[Tracy of Moon-T]

I agree with Jeff. However, if you want to watch the kids play weird instruments that should sound terrible, and sing an old song that wouldn't normally know, then ending isn't too bad. 

Jeff of Earth-J said:

THE LITTLE RASCALS SAVE THE DAY (2014): After being pleasantly surprised by The Little Rascals (1994) two nights ago, we watched the direct-to-video The Little Rascals Save the Day ("direct-to-video" always being a sure sign of quality) last night. It was a bad as we expected the 1994 to have been, absolutely terrible. Whereas the 1994 version took pains to carefully meld the '30s with the '90s (by filming in old neighborhoods but with skyskrapers in the background, for example), the 2014 version took no such pains. All of the music, too, was contemporary, which help add to the impression that the cast were out of place in the 2Ks. Watch the 1994 if the mood strikes, but avoid the 2014 one at all costs.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

They are the "International Silver String Submarine Band" (that's from the shorts). 

[Jeff of Earth-J]

THE HIDDEN CITY (1950): This is the fourth movie in the "Bomba the Jungle Boy" series, the first to be filmed outdoors.

[PowerBook Pete, the Mad Mod]

That's funny.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Yeah, prior to that he was "Bomba the Soundstage Boy."

[PowerBook Pete, the Mad Mod]

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

Went to the theater yesterday to see Three Thousand Years of Longing. It's a stunner of a movie -- a sprawling, centuries-spanning epic set largely in an Istanbul hotel room and, eventually, a London townhome. Miller's a master, giving us all we need in every story, whether it's as visually rich as the story of the two brothers and the giantess, or as mundane and brief as Alethea's husband's infidelity.

A soaring exploration of the power of story and myth and magic. It feels like Sandman, but with romance at its core instead of horror. I loved it.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

THE INNOCENTS (1961): We are up to the "Quentin's Ghost" sequence in Dark Shadows which naturally led in turn to The Innocents, based on Henry James' The Turn of the Screw. I read Daisy Miller and The Turn of the Screw when I was in college (for a class), but it didn't make much of an impression on me. I found James' writing style (at the time) to be dense and impenetrable. Years later, Gil Grissom expressed his opinion of it to Sara Sidle on CSI and I resolved to try reading it again some day. I followed the movie up with the section dealing with The Turn of the Screw from Novels Into Film, a 1999 guide to movies adapted from books which reviews both source and adaptation side by side and compares/contrasts them. 

The Innocents is a classy little film, low key by today's standards but suspenseful. Richard Willis, based on the opinions you've expressed here I think you would like it. (It's on Youtube.)

[Richard Willis]

Jeff of Earth-J said:

THE INNOCENTS (1961):

The Innocents is a classy little film, low key by today's standards but suspenseful. Richard Willis, based on the opinions you've expressed here I think you would like it. (It's on Youtube.

Having not read the original, I had heard that it was a classic, I watched The Others (2001), another adaptation. I thought it was low-key to a fault. I recently rewatched it and liked it a little better.

I wasn't sure if I had seen this version, starring Deborah Kerr, with a great opening featuring Michael Redgrave. * Thanks for telling me it was on Youtube. I just watched it and really enjoyed it. Right after the movie this "filming of" documentary played, which is also very good:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpV5J91BnV0

* The other day I watched Dead of Night (1947), the grandaddy of the horror movies that have a group of people all telling spooky stories. Michael Redgrave (father of Lynn, Vanessa and Corin) initiates the evil ventriloquist dummy subgenre in this terrific movie. It's available on TCM.com until September 30.