What I've Been Watching: The Catch-All Film Thread

The concept alone sends my head spinning ... a movie version of a theatrical production based on a movie ...
Better still: it's the movie version of a Broadway musical based on a movie about a Broadway musical!
 
Joined
Aug 31, 2006
Messages
3,754
A friend sent me this link, I think it's worth sharing here. I started watching a few of them and they seem to work, and have the full time listed on the player.

freemoviescinema.com

From what I can see, these films have i think went "Public Domain". This site puts them up for you to watch. Some of them are obvious, being quite old, and some of them are newer, so Im not quite sure how the PD thing works out. There's quite a few good flicks here, right off the bat I noticed:

Reefer Madness
Nosferatu
Freaks
Carnival of Souls
The Mansion of Madness (which pisses me off because I just bought it for like 15 bucks)

animated
Blood - The Last Vampire
Mobile suit Gundam
GI Joe pilot
Beowulf (which is pretty awesome, watching it now)


the "Automan" pilot from 1983!

and who can deny the awesomeness of "Rad", the movie that singlehandedly sparked the BMX craze of the 80's?

Interviews with David Lynch, Bill Hicks, Dario Argento

There's some good stuff on here. Like with anything on the net tho, proceed w/ caution!
 
Last edited:
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
5,228
Location
San Diego, Ca
They have Shaolin Drunken Monk ?! Greatest Movie Ever !
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
405
"Cinema Paradiso"

Terrific film! This is one of those that I had no desire to see, at all. It was playing in the background as I was doing my homework. Time passed, and my homework became less and less important, until I finally just tossed it aside and watched the movie. I wasnt getting anything done!

It's about a boy growing up in WWII Italy. His father is killed in action, and his new father figure becomes the owner of a local movie house. This film is in a way about this small Italian town, and the movie house where the boy works being their central entertainment venue. It's the one thing that binds them all together. The films that are shown onscreen in the theatre thru the boys life, lock the film at different places in time. For some, it can be a sort of nostalgia piece, as the theatre goes the way of the buggy as technology advances. The theatre, town, and everything changes with the passage of time, as seen thru the eyes of this boy as he grows older, moves away, then comes home again for the funeral of the old man. My blurb doesnt do it justice, that's for sure!

I got homework to do

100% on the tomato-meter at rottentomatoes.com -

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/cinema_paradiso/
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
5,228
Location
San Diego, Ca
There was an American 'remake' (or perhaps hommage would be better) called the Majestic with Jim Carey!!
 
Joined
Aug 31, 2006
Messages
12,806
Location
Australia
Movie: How to Eat Fried Worms
Rating: 3/5
Summary: A 'new kid at new school' story with a twist - the new kid has an extremely weak stomach and the bully and his crew put worms in the kids' thermos. All of this leads to a challenge - eat 10 worms prepared by the bully and his friends within one day. It is a decent bit of family entertainment with some fun moments, but ultimately forgettable and nothing that even my younger son (for whom pretty much all movies are 4/5 or better) really wants to see again.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
14,932
The Majestic was terrible..terribly long. Martin Landau goes on to prove why he won the Oscar then Jim Carrey shows why he doesn't deserve one for these kind of films. The Ace Venturas are incredible if you just stand back and watch him. Its like watching Jerry Lewis.

I love Jerry Lewis' hit song, Great Balls of Fire.

Anyone seen Russian Ark?

also, www.archive.org has a number of free movies including Duck and Cover.
 
Joined
Oct 19, 2006
Messages
5,212
Location
The Uncanny Valley
Wasn't that Jerry Lee Lewis? :D
 
Joined
Aug 31, 2006
Messages
3,754
Yes it was, two totally different people!! :)
 
Joined
Aug 31, 2006
Messages
12,806
Location
Australia
Its like watching Jerry Lewis.

I love Jerry Lewis' hit song, Great Balls of Fire.

As noted:
Jerry Lee Lewis:
im11.jpg


!= Jerry Lewis:
sjff_03_img1191.jpg
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
14,932
Of them both, I like the comedian better!

I always hated Ace Ventura tho, I can watch it for about twenty minutes max. Jerry is never really annoying to me, but Ace is a walking annoyance imho.

"PELTS"
B000KJTFBG.01._AA240_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg


Another entry in Showtime's "Masters of Horror" line of short films. Think Tales from the Crypt, with each episode done by an acclaimed director of the macabre. This one is done by Dario Argento, and is easily the bloodiest and most NPM (nudity per minute) of all the episodes so far. It even outdoes Takashi Miike's "Imprint", not in sheer cruelty of course, but in the gore and sex department it surpasses it. It's like he's trying for some sort of penance after the truly mediocre, out of character crime dramas "The Card Player" and "Do You Like Hitchcock". Well, he achieves that here in spades, as even my jaded self was cringing at some of the stuff taking place. The 70's rock star "Meatloaf" seems to take on many a supporting role in these types of films, but lands the lead role here as a greedy and perverted furrier. He's a slimeball basically (which might I add he plays quite well), and will stop at nothing to get the stripper of his dreams. Even if it's making her a fur coat out of a bunch of enchanted raccoons. Seriously.

Yep, it's magical 'coons guarding an ancient place of power, with the prerequisite old crone living in a shack near them, filled with dire warnings and so forth. Cute little fellas, I might add. Now, while I will concede that raccoons are truly underrated animals when it comes to their great looks, I do have a hard time seeing a furrier getting all too excited about coon furs. The people in this flick in general are totally aghast at raccoon furs, and it's a little unbelievable. But then again, I dont know much about the fur trade, perhaps 'coons are the meat of the industry. All in all, I enjoyed this little hour-long video nasty for what it is - a little bit of brain fast-food between serious movies. Nice cover too.

Just dont watch this one with the kiddies, or for that matter, anyone who is sensitive to boobs and blood!
 
Last edited:
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
5,228
Location
San Diego, Ca
Texas Chainsaw : The Beginning

Basically goes into the backstory of the Hewitt family and their beloved son, "Leatherface". Youve got pretty much a replicate of the last modern TCM film, with the pack of disposable, pretty young things meeting their maker in various ways, the majority at the end of a chainsaw. Not necessarily a bad thing, it's a very simple formula, and you know that going in. I liked it.

Nice gore, pleasant violence, and convincingly doomed, dirty, rusty, 60-70's rural Americana look. As Sir Mellencamp once said, "Rain on the scarecrow, blood on the chains- er, i mean plow."


Murder-Set-Pieces
The horror messageboards were spammed with it's de-facto announcement for months before it's release, so I went ahead and gave it a whirl. There's advertising in action for ya there. It was bad, real bad. I'll just put it this way- this is one of those films that you lament the money that was spent to create it while youre watching it

The aforementioned Texas Chainsaw series of films are very simple film in both premise and execution, yet they do what they do competently, with style to boot. They make sense, in their own sick little way. This film (and it's PR ground troops) not only misrepresents itself as some sort of shockfest, it features some incredibly idiotic characters that make no sense whatsoever, and are increasinly hard to watch as time goes on.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
5,228
Location
San Diego, Ca
We saw Bridge to Terabithia yesterday for my younger son's 9th birthday (at a cool 'dinner theater' place that has huge over-stuffed chairs) - very true to the book and well acted.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
14,932
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
13,535
Location
Illinois, USA
watched Ball of Fire on TCM again, taped it this time. God I love that movie, and moreover, Barbara Stanwyck herself. She's steadily becoming one of my all-time favorite actresses. Printed this one 24x36 at work of her as "Sugarpuss O'Shea", nighclub singer and gangster moll from Ball of Fire.

0Barbara_02.jpg


a good site for great scans of the classic beauties can be found here at "Dr. Macro's High Quality Movie Scans"
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
5,228
Location
San Diego, Ca
Found that "The Prestige" lived up to my lofty expectations. A little tricky to follow at times due to the intermixing of 3 time lines, but well worth the effort. One of those movies (like "Diehard") where you appreciate the way seemingly meaningless details are woven in once you understand the big picture.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
13,535
Location
Illinois, USA
Back
Top Bottom