501. Casablanca Behind the Scenes (1992) book review!

           It is a book review, not a movie review.  Maybe, some day we will get to the movie.

RIP Roger Corman

 

From Wiki- Roger William Corman (April 5, 1926 – May 9, 2024) was an American film director, producer, and actor.^[2][3] Known under various monikers such as "The Pope of Pop Cinema", "The Spiritual Godfather of the New Hollywood", and "The King of Cult", he was known as a trailblazer in the world of independent film.^[4] Many of Corman's films are low-budget cult films including some which are adapted from the tales of Edgar Allan Poe. Me again:  I have enjoyed many of the movies Roger directed and produced.  He brought us Godzilla 1985, dontcha know.

The Eternals (2021)

Started watching this last night.  I am almost sure the title refers to the 2 hour and 28 minute run time, rather that the titular characters themselves.  Damn this movie is far longer than it needs to be now.  I thought this was an odd choice for a movie, since the Eternals were a new addition to the Marvel Universe.  Especially since they were actually not even set in the MU comic book universe to begin with.  They don't really make sense to exist there anyway, since Marvel had long established the real Olympian Gods have existed there.  Roy Thomas finally brought them together in a great long story line, leading up to Thor #300.  That was my main introduction to the characters.  The two pantheons had a brawl with their counterparts having some choice words for each other.

What If... the World Lost Its Mightiest Heroes?

 

It's SO nice to see Agent Coulson again.  He is just the best.  I really need to catch up on the last two seasons of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. at some point, just to see what happened to him.  Having said that, I was a bit worried about this episode, thinking it was going to be a bit dark.  It sure was.  However, the whole premise of this episode is flawed.  It had nothing to do with the Avengers, but rather an event which has nothing to do with them.  Also, had they told us what the divergence was, the mystery would be no mystery.  It was hopeless to try. (spoilers, see what I did there?)

Gentle Giant (1967)

watching this pilot movie for the series "Gentle Ben".  the cast pretty much is the same from movie to series, except for Vera Miles.  which is OK.

almost Hallowe'en time...

... and what monstrous terror awaits us this month?

so tomorrow begins the Hallowe'en season, and last year I started showing a trailer a day for the entire month.

I did a lot of my favorite movies last year, so I am going to try to show ones that I didn't use last year.  probably will have a few repeats though.  I'm going to look through last year's crop.

man it was fun to do!

Filmation's Original Ghostbusters

I have fond memories of the original 1975 The Ghost Busters live action series.  seeing it now it's cornball and hammy and full of vaudeville routines (or stuff that would have played) but it's fun and charming.  even the ghosts and vampires were fun.

naturally, after Ghostbusters was a big hit for Columbia in 1984, Filmation decided to redo their version for a new generation.  since they owned the rights to the name, it was easy, right?

well, Columbia had licensed the rights and made their own version which was enjoyable. they called this The Real Ghostbusters to avoid confusion, but I am sure there was some anyway.

so these are the sons of the original Ghost Busters, and the ape, Tracy, is still the same ape.  I want to like it, but after the first couple episodes it's pretty lame.  perhaps it gets better later one.  fortunately it's available for viewing on netflix so I don't have to rent the discs.

living or dead

do they even do things like this any more?  I wonder if they thought characters in a serial (this is from the first Green Hornet serial) were based on actual living people.  seems like you rarely see this any more though.

Secret of the Loch (1934)

watched this early attempt at explaining the Loch Ness Monster the other day.

hoo boy, it sure is funny, but I don't believe it's supposed to be a comedy.

the main bit was supposed to be about the professor who believes a monster is living in the loch and is responsible for a number of disappearances in and around the place.

however, it's the reporter who gets all the best lines and gets to chase the granddaughter of the professor around in a romantic subplot.


she can't stand him of course, until she decides she likes him.  he falls for her immediately and even after betraying the professor to the papers he decides to help out the prof by...

spoilers-

Citizen Kane (1941)

watched this movie today.  haven't seen it since 1980, on one of those new fangled top loader video recording machines.  on a 13" b/w TV.  I am not sure why we watched it in school, but naturally I was glad to see it.  we had to watch it in 3 parts.

I quite enjoyed the movie. it's the exact right length, and it's never boring at all.  I felt sorry for Kane, but I also liked him.  there's quite a bit of humor in the movie, which is a good thing.  I hadn't realized how much of "The Brain" was based on this movie (not just Orson himself, but his second wife and the Brain's infatuation with Billy the mouse for example).  the Mr. Burns comparison was a lot easier though.

and it's still really topical today.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010)

an excellent ship

I have read  The Chronicles of Narnia many times since I was a lad.  they hold up pretty well as fantasy adventure, even as I got older, and the Christian metaphors got more apparent it was still a fun easy read.

I have been frustrated watching the first two big budget adaptions, as they added useless things to the stories and changed essential plot lines to make them more palatable.  which is just plain stupid as anyone who reads the books doesn't want those changes, and people who haven't should get them the way C.S. Lewis actually would have wanted them presented.

anyway, this third movie in the series is the best one.  naturally there are changes, but overall it was well done.  they combined a lot of things to condense the story, as the book is more or less a series of adventures to reach the end of the world. no real villains to battle, and not even much of a quest.  mostly it makes Eustace into a better human being, after changing him into a dragon.

which leads to an improvement, as the dragon now gets to fight the sea monster.  I gotta say I enjoyed that.  an enjoyable movie overall.

Happy Star Wars day!

A Longmont time ago…

(A Star Wars Memory)

In the middle of 1977 my life was about to change. Surprisingly, I knew it would a bit, but not like it did. I had passed sixth grade (no useless graduations back then!) and was a little apprehensive about entering junior high. There would be new friends met, old friends lost and many other discoveries that I had no idea were going to happen to me. Mostly, junior high seemed very overwhelming and a little scary.

three movies

here are three movies that I greatly enjoy- some folks can't understand why, and sometimes I am one of them!

• The Brain from Planet Arous (1957)- an evil brain from space, Gor, possesses John Agar, and a good brain, Vol, possesses his dog to stop him.  some interesting effects and the brains are classic.  Agar does a good job here as well.
• Plan Nine from Outer Space (1959)- enough has been written about this, and some morons call it the worst movie of all time.  they are morons.  it may not be well made, but it's never boring, which is pretty much the worst thing any movie can be.  add to that the surreality of Edward D. Wood, Jr's auteurship and it makes for a very entertaining picture.  as Ed got better at movies (and he did) they weren't as much fun.
• Robot Monster (1953)- another "how did this get made and who was it made for" sort of movie.  the first time I saw this was in a theater maybe 10 years ago, and it was all sorts of fun.  Ro-man is scary and silly all at once.  somehow I get the feeling the filmmakers were in on the joke, as the movie starts out with comic book covers.

I'll do some more of these next year.

The Valley Of Gwangi

possibly my second favorite Harryhausen movie.



as documented here I have discussed Gwangi a few times. for the longest time it was the movie that had the most minutes of stop-motion animation in it of all of Ray's films.  there's a lot more to this movie than a lot of people think.  but watch it yourself and see!

"tastes like chicken"

Against All Flags (1952)

here's a fun little movie, with a great cast and lots of really cool miniatures.

the DVD looks great. Errol Flynn is a bit past his prime, but it still charming.  Anthony Quinn is excellent as the villain, Capt. Roc Brasilian, and one almost feels sorry for him as we all know his eventual end!

however, it's the wonderful Maureen O'Hara who steals the show.  she is just great in this.  has she made a bad movie?  if so, I've not seen it yet.  she also does her own swordfighting in here, and kills more of the pirates than Flynn does.  she's just awesome and looks quite spectacular in her pirate gear.

the DVD is paired with Buccaneer's Girl (1950) which is also very cool and has a great lead in Yvonne De Carlo (the later Lily Munster). both movies are a lot of fun.

horror of dracula (1958)

trailer of the day-

one of Hammer's best movies!  I saw it on tv and remembered the end the most.  Lee was truly scary as the Count.

Tarantula (1956)

another great movie I saw as a kid on a Friday night, after "The Outer Limits". I think Leo G. Carroll was scarier than the tarantula took to the hills.

I'll tell you, almost anything that followed "The Outer Limits" was automatically scarier than it should have been.

they slimed us

just a shot of the title card of a cool movie that deserves a proper US DVD release.

a mystery solved!

ever have a lifelong mystery solved unexpectedly?  happened to me tonight.

when I was very young, I remember being at the drive in, possibly around 1970 or 1971.  it would have been in the summer time, being in CO, so I would have been either 5 or 6 years old.  I don't remember what movie we saw for the first feature, but I do remember seeing part of the second feature.

why? because one of the characters took out his eye.  I'd never considered that being possible.  now, either we left after that or I fell asleep and didn't see any more of the movie.  in the ensuing years I thought about that scene, and wondered if I would ever know the name of the movie or see it again.  not knowing what kind of movie it was, I thought my chances were slim to none.

tonight, I decided to watch this film.

visiting Tera!

I had heard of it of course, and knowing it was a Gerry Anderson production I was looking forward to if nothing else, the fine miniatures.  I was not expecting to see Herbert Lom remove his eye in the exact same manner I had remembered so long ago!  so now I know what movie I didn't get to watch!

so far, it's a good movie, too.

the Coloring Book of Gwangi

I love the movie "The Valley Of Gwangi" (1969) for a variety of reasons, but I think what started me on the path was this:

just an awesome painting

yep, a coloring book for the movie.  it had the entire story, right down to the burning of Gwangi (if I remember correctly).  I don't remember buying it, or having it given to me.  I just always remember having it for a long time (until I gave it to an owner who would love it more than me, even).  I colored in lots of pages, removed some, I am sure, and who knows what else.

all this prepped me very well for my first actual viewing of the movie, sometime in late '73 or early 74 on the late show. even though I knew the plot and what dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals would show up, I was still awed by the experience.

I'd love to find a copy of this again, but it seems pretty rare.

here's a fun viewing experience that was on prime time tv  at one point.  I think the best part was that Colin actually knew the (almost) proper name of the movie!