Movies

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Re: Movies

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:710:
1130 - Maniac Cop (1988) - 7/10 - A series of murders are being carried out in New York City by somebody wearing a police uniform. This has the city on edge and causes turmoil among the police. The police focus their investigation on one police officer (Bruce Campbell), but a detective suspects that it is a former cop who is supposed to be dead. I enjoyed this more than I expected. It's formulaic, but fun.

:610:
1131 - High Tension (2003) - 6/10 - Two young women travel to visit the family of one of the women at their farmhouse for a nice relaxing evening. A crazy serial killer has other ideas.

:510:
1132 - Malpertuis (1971) - 5/10 - A young sailor on leave wants to visit his sister and childhood home. He ends up at a big mansion owned by his uncle and filled with relatives and others. The mansion has many halls and rooms and the people seem unable to leave. The setting was interesting, but the story was not.

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1133 - Lost Highway (1997) - 5.5/10 - David Lynch movies tend to be hit or miss for me with more misses than hits. This one had plenty of style, but I didn't really get into the story, such as it is.

:610:
1134 - Stormy Night / O noapte furtunoasa (1943) - 6/10 - This early Romanian comedy felt fairly amateurish during the first half, but got better after that. It still wasn't all that funny, but was okay.
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Re: Movies

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:510:
1135 - The Bank Dick (1940) - 5/10 - WC Fields stars as a put upon husband who becomes a substitute film director and then a bank guard. The humor generally isn't very funny (except the occasional bits with the younger daughter). I'm not really much of a WC Fields fan.

:810:
1136 - Mr. Thank You (1936) - 8/10 - A bus driver is known as Mr. Thank You since he thanks people as they move aside for his bus as it travels through the countryside. We get to see a number of people as they get on and off the bus plus nice views of the countryside as they travel. Mr. Thank You is fairly well known along his route and the people occasionally ask him for favors. It's a pleasant film.

:710:
1137 - Village of the Damned (1960) - 7/10 - Everybody in a town in England becomes unconscious for several hours. Afterward, they find that all women capable of bearing children are pregnant. They have the children on the same day and the children share common characteristics and abilities. It's a nice understated science fiction horror film.

:510:
1138 - The Horrible Dr. Hichcock (1962) - 5/10 - A doctor loses his wife, moves away, and eventually returns after he remarries. However, his first wife may not have been quite dead. The story is kind of a mess.

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1139 - Fascination (1979) - 6.5/10 - In the early 1900s, a thief is on the run from his partners and ends up at a big country estate with only two women in residence. The two women seem to be in a relationship with each other, but are also interested in the thief. Things are not quite as they seem, though. It was a decent film.

:610:
1140 - Horror Castle (1963) - 6/10 - A woman moves to a German castle with her husband, but discovers that a hooded figure is using the medieval torture instruments in the dungeon on women to maim and kill them. The WWII ties were a bit odd.

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1141 - Norrtullsligan (1923) - 7.5/10 - Four working girls share an apartment in Stockholm as they deal with work, suitors, family, and so on. It was a bit slow at times in the first half, but I thought it got better and I ended up enjoying it.

:810:
1142 - The Evil Eye / The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1963) - 8/10 - A woman on vacation arrives in Rome to visit her elderly aunt. It isn't long before the woman is assaulted and knocked unconscious. When she revives, she is still dizzy, but witnesses a woman die nearby, but the police find no evidence of the murder when she reports it. This is a nice film with a good mix of suspense and mystery.
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Re: Movies

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:810:
1143 - Asphalt (1929) - 8/10 - A young policeman's life changes when he falls for a woman caught stealing a diamond. A very nice film with good performances from the leads and supporting cast.

:810:
1144 - Le roman de Renard / The Story of the Fox (1937) - 8/10 - This early puppet animation film tells the story of Reynard the Fox as a variety of animals bring complaints to the king about him and tell their tales of how he tricked them. The final battle is a thing of beauty. Very entertaining.

:710:
1145 - Blood and Black Lace (1964) - 7/10 - A fashion model is murdered by a masked assailant. It turns out that she kept a diary filled with scandals about people at the place where she worked. Other models start to die as well by the person looking for this diary. Not Bava's best, but still pretty good.

:310:
1146 - Bloody Pit of Horror (1965) - 3/10 - A group of people break into what they think is a deserted castle so that they can do a photo shoot with the models in the group. The owner wants them to leave, but caves and allows them to stay, provided that they don't go down into the dungeon. So what do they do immediately? Go down into the dungeon to take photos of course. The acting and action here are laughably bad at times which turns this into a comedy.

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1147 - The Grapes of Death (1978) - 6.5/10 - A pesticide turns people in a vineyard into zombies. There were a number of interesting things in the film and I thought it started well, but it generally became less interesting as it progressed.
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Re: Movies

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:6510:
1148 - [Rec] (2007) - 6.5/10 - A reporter and cameraman are doing a story on firefighters during the overnight hours when they accompany them on a call to an apartment building. It turns out to be much more than they expected. I don't generally enjoy found footage movies, but this was okay.

:810:
1149 - Santa Sangre (1989) - 8/10 - A man in a mental institution was traumatized as a child, which we get to see through flashbacks. He was a circus performer with a mother who was part of a religious sect and a father who was a knife thrower. The movie is surreal at times and was pretty good, though I thought it did drag slightly at times in the middle.

:910:
1150 - The Cabin in the Woods (2011) - 9/10 - Five college friends head to a remote cabin for a weekend only to find more than they expected. This is a pretty funny movie that pays attention to a number of little details along the way.

:5510:
1151 - The Awful Dr. Orlof (1962) - 5.5/10 - A scientist and his henchman kidnap young woman so that the scientist can try using the skin of the victims to repair his daughter's scarred face. I've seen this story before and done better than this.
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Re: Movies

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:710:
1152 - Kalpana (1948) - 7/10 - A man goes to a film producer and pitches his story which then plays out visually so we get a film within a film. The man (Uday Shankar) wants to open a cultural center to celebrate Indian dance in all its varieties. The film is filled with numerous performances in a variety of styles. The choreography, music, and camerawork were all very good. It could get a bit wearing for the viewer since the film is 2.5 hours long, but I thought it was good.

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1153 - Marius (1931) - 7.5/10 - Marius is a young man who works at his father's bar in Marseille. He is in love with Fanny, a young woman that he has known since childhood, but he is also longs to go to sea. Soon he will have to make a decision about which to choose. You can see the stage roots of the story at times, but it is still pretty entertaining.

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1154 - Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951) - 6.5/10 - Abbott and Costello graduate from detective school and start their own agency. They take on boxer Tommy Nelson as a client. He's accused of killing his manager and takes an experimental invisibility formula to evade the police. There are some funny moments and decent boxing scenes, though this isn't one of the better Abbott and Costello films.

:710:
1155 - Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff (1949) - 7/10 - Costello is a bellboy at a hotel where Abbott is the hotel detective. When a guest is found murdered, the hapless Costello is initially the main suspect. I thought this one was fun, even if Boris Karloff's role in the film wasn't as big as the title would suggest.

:810:
1156 - Battle Royale (2000) - 8/10 - I first heard of this film a long time ago, but never sought it out. It was a lot of fun. I didn't like it quite enough to put it on my Top 20 Japan list, but it isn't too far off.
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Re: Movies

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:810:
1157 - Killer of Sheep (1978) - 8/10 - Stan works in a slaughterhouse and the movie portrays life in Watts during the early 1970s, primarily through the lives of Stan and his family. It's a nice, leisurely paced film that brings you into their world. It also has a very nice soundtrack.

:410:
1158 - The Illusionist (1983) - 4/10 - This is an odd dialogue-free film that had a few funny parts, but mostly didn't work for me.

:810:
1159 - Oscar (2004) - 8/10 - Oscar is a taxi driver in Argentina who carries around paint, glue, posters, and cutouts with him as he drives. He uses these to create street art or to alter advertisements with his own political statements. Some of the work was pretty creative and I enjoyed the documentary.

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1160 - El Inmortal (2005) - 7.5/10 - The lasting effects of the Contra/Sandinista conflict in the 1980s are shown here through one family where one boy was forced to fight for the Sandinistas while his twin brother and other siblings were forced to fight for the Contras. They talk about what it was like and we get to see what their families are like when the film was made. Some of them have become evangelicals as a result of their experiences.

:410:
1161 - Satan's Sadists (1969) - 4/10 - A group of bikers terrorize people at a diner in the desert. The acting is pretty poor in this one.

:610:
1162 - Desperate (1947) - 6/10 - A truck driver gets a last second job to haul some freight, but finds that they really want him to carry stolen goods. They force him to help them, but when the job goes bad and they try to get him to take the rap, he takes his wife cross country in an effort to escape. The plot seemed a bit thin in places, but it was watchable enough that I mostly enjoyed it.

:610:
1163 - The Last Warning (1928) - 6/10 - A theater closes after the death of its namesake star actor. It is vacant for years before an attempt is made to reopen it. Some of the previous people from the theater are brought back, but it seems that there is a ghost afoot. The plot is kind of sketchy and while the camerawork was interesting, I thought the story and acting weren't too convincing. It seemed like a Scooby Doo episode which is fine for the cartoon series, but didn't work as well for me here.

:410:
1164 - Olga's Girls (1964) - 4/10 - Olga runs a brothel and buys prostitutes to sell their bodies and to sell drugs. The film uses a narrator plus Olga's voice to tell the tale. It's a pretty dumb film with some nudity and mild torture.

:810:
1165 - Head-On (2004) - 8/10 - Cahit is a German Turk who drives his car into a building to try and commit suicide. While in the hospital, he meets a young Turkish woman who wants to escape from her disapproving family and convinces him to marry her in a marriage of convenience, even though he is much older than her and not interested in getting married. I thought the first half of the film was better than the second half, but overall a very nice film.

:710:
1166 - The Housemaid (1960) - 7/10 - A music teacher at a factory hires a housemaid since his pregnant wife is weak from the pregnancy. They get more than they bargained for. I wanted to slap the parents at times for the decisions they made, though part of the reason behind their actions might be cultural differences. The ending was also a bit strange.
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Re: Movies

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:810:
1167 - Winter Sleep (2014) - 8/10 - A wealthy former actor owns a tourist hotel on a mountain plus other properties. He spends time writing a column for a local paper and is fairly detached from the day to day running of his business, leaving it instead to his head employee. He is seemingly unaware that he is not very popular. His wife feels smothered by him and involves herself with charity work. The film also focuses on a poor family of tenants who are also very prideful. The characters don't seem capable of truly understanding each other. It's a pretty good film.

:710:
1168 - Mad Monster Party? (1967) - 7/10 - Dr. Frankenstein is looking to retire as the leader of the World Organization of Monsters. He invites Dracula, the Invisible Man, Mr. Hyde, the Mummy, and other monsters to a party where he plans to name his (human) nephew as his successor. I'm not really a Phyllis DIller fan or a fan of the James Stewart voice impersonation used for the nephew, but it was enjoyable enough for what it was.

:810:
1169 - The Black Phone (2021) - 8/10 - In 1978, a serial killer is abducting young boys. Finn is the latest abductee and he has to try to escape the trap he is in. Fortunately he has some supernatural help. I enjoyed this one quite a bit. They did a good job capturing the feel of the era and the lead performances of the kids playing Finn and his sister Gwen each gave a very nice performance.

:7510:
1170 - Scream Blacula Scream (1973) - 7.5/10 - Blacula is resurrected using voodoo by a man who was passed over as the heir when a Voodoo Queen dies. This was a lot of fun and I liked it a bit more than the first one.

:610:
1171 - Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975) - 6/10 - I liked the first two parts a lot more than what came after.

:7510:
1172 - Rodan (1956) - 7.5/10 - Water levels are rising in one of the shafts of a mine. When people go to investigate, they discover that giant creature is inhabiting the mine. It isn't long before giant flying reptiles called rodan are terrorizing many areas with their size, speed, and power. It has nice camerawork and effects. I enjoyed the story as well.
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Re: Movies

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:7510:
1173 - Free Jimmy (2006) - 7.5/10 - Jimmy is an elephant who is hooked on drugs and is being used to smuggle more drugs. Animal activists are out to free him, mobsters are after Jimmy for the drugs, and hunters may look to bag an elephant. The character designs are pretty ugly, but I found myself laughing at the humor much more often than not.

:810:
1174 - 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007) - 8/10 - Two friends/roommates in Romania in 1987 navigate getting a black market abortion. Things don't go exactly as planned and a few problems arise.

:710:
1175 - Cryptozoo (2021) - 7/10 - A couple of hippies find their way into a cryptozoo (a zoo for creatures of legend) and manage to disrupt things. Meanwhile, the zookeeper is out hunting for a rare cryptid. I thought the pacing was way too languid at times, particularly during the first half of the film. The voice acting played a role in this as well. I also found the character designs for some of the humans a bit off. That worked for me in Free Jimmy, but not as much here. I didn't have a problem with the magical creatures or backgrounds. I did like the film more during the second half and it had a number of interesting takes on things.

Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi Episodes 1-6 (99 minutes) - A nice short series, though nothing extraordinary.
Garakuta no Machi (2006) (13 minutes)
Grey Wolf and Little Red Riding Hood (1990) (26 minutes)
Cat Soup (2001) (32 minutes)
Rowing Across the Atlantic (1978) (21 minutes)
Film Film Film (1968) (19 minutes)
Dojoji Temple (1976) (19 minutes)
Tuning the Instruments (2000) (15 minutes)

:7510:
1176 - D.O.A. (1949) - 7.5/10 - A man has been murdered. He just hasn't died yet. Frank Bigelow walks into a police station and tells the story of how he solved his own murder. A good twist on the genre and a solid film

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1177 - He Walked by Night (1948) - 6.5/10 - A police procedural about the hunt for a man who shot a cop. They use a variety of investigative techniques to track him down. It wasn't bad, but you never really get to know the villain.
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Re: Movies

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:810:
1178 - Niagara (1953) - 8/10 - A couple on a delayed honeymoon (Jean Peters and Max Showalter) arrive at Niagara Falls to find that their cabin is still occupied by a couple having some marital problems (Marilyn Monroe and Joseph Cotten). The backdrop of Niagara Falls works really well here and Jean Peters is excellent. Cotten is also good as the troubled and jealous husband.

:810:
1179 - Mad God (2021) - 8/10 - A strange figure descends into a nightmare world with strange creatures, some of them working at various tasks only to be randomly knocked off. I'd classify this as an animated sci-fi experimental horror film and I liked it quite a bit. There is a fair bit of humor mixed in with the horror early in the film and since there isn't really any dialogue you're left to figure things out from context.

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1180 - Neo Tokyo (1987) - 6.5/10 - There is a framing story with a little girl and her cat plus two other stories. The last story was kind of funny, but the middle story wasn''t very interesting and overall the film is a slight disappointment.

:8510:
1181 - Pompo: The Cinephile (2021) - 8.5/10 - Pompo runs a movie studio and has been directing/producing quite a few popular B-movies. She has written a script with a couple of actors in mind - an experienced pro and a newbie - and assigns her assistant to direct the film in his first directing role. The film shows a respect and love for cinema and also spins a pretty entertaining story.

:6510:
1182 - Kill It and Leave This Town (2020) - 6.5/10 - The art was a bit different, but not bad. The music was pretty good. The film didn't have the pacing issues that I thought Cryptozoo had, but I didn't find the story all that engaging. It was a personal film about loss and I could see that and I wanted to like it more than I did.

:8510:
1183 - The Old Man Movie (2019) - 8.5/10 - When the farmer's grandchildren come to visit, it disrupts his milking routine and the cow goes missing. They have 24 hours to track down the cow or it will explode. This movie is crazy (in a good way) and I was laughing throughout much of it. We get all sorts of things in here - chainsaws, hippies, tree sex, rock and roll, a mechanical cow, and lots of shit.
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Re: Movies

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:910:
1184 - The Crossing (2021) - 9/10 - A brother and sister are separated from their family in a war torn country as the family seeks to cross the border into the relative safety of a neighboring country. They face hardships and continue to make the journey, hoping one day to be reunited with the rest of their family. The girl keeps a sketchbook with her during the journey, adding to it as she goes along. The story is told from the girl's point of view and is very well done. The art is gorgeously painted on glass.

:7510:
1185 - The Powerpuff Girls Movie (2002) - 7.5/10 - I've never seen the cartoon series, though I had some familiarity with the characters from the comic books. This movie serves as a prequel/origin story for the Powerpuff Girls and it was fun.

La course à l'abîme (1992) (4 minutes)
Girls Night Out (1987) (6 minutes)
Le concert de M. et Mme. Kabal (1963) (7 minutes)
The Hat (1999) (6 minutes)
Feelings of Mountains and Waters (1988) (19 minutes)
The Hand (1965) (18 minutes)
Franz Kafka (1992) (16 minutes)
The Lion and the Song (1959) (15 minutes)
Fast Film (2003) (14 minutes)
Satiemania (1978) (14 minutes)
The Three Inventors (1980) (13 minutes)
Hen, His Wife (1990) (13 minutes)
Monsieur Tête (1959) (13 minutes)
Le nez (1963) (11 minutes)
The Little Soldier (1948) (11 minutes)
A (1965) (10 minutes)
Au bout du fil (1974) (10 minutes)
The Public Voice (1988) (10 minutes)
Caroline Leaf and Her Two Sisters (1991) (10 minutes)
Rope Dance (1987) (10 minutes)
La demoiselle et le violoncelliste (1965) (9 minutes)
Felix in Exile (1994) (9 minutes)
Harpya (1979) (9 minutes)
La joie de vivre (1934) (10 minutes)
Au bout du monde (1999) (8 minutes)
A Night on Bald Mountain (1938) (8 minutes)
Mindscape (1976) (8 minutes)
Repete (1995) (9 minutes)
The Roll-Call (1971) (7 minutes)
Flux (2002) (7 minutes)
Jumping (1984) (6 minutes)
Le pas (1975) (7 minutes)
Broken Down Film (1985) (6 minutes)
Café Bar (1974) (5 minutes)
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Re: Movies

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:710:
1186 - Angel's Egg (1985) - 7/10 - A girl wanders through an abandoned city looking for food, water, and bottles. She carries a large egg with her wherever she goes. The film has nice music and felt like a poem, but since I'm not much into poetry, I liked, but didn't love the film.

:7510:
1187 - 5 Centimeters per Second (2007) - 7.5/10 - We get three episodes in the life of Takaki - as a young teen going to visit his friend Akari who moved away, in high school just before graduation, and years later as an adult. I read the manga adaptation when it came out and enjoyed it. This is a good film and I liked it, but it also felt a little bit incomplete and would have benefitted from being fleshed out a bit more.

:7510:
1188 - Blood: The Last Vampire (2000) - 7.5/10 - Saya is a vampire hunter who is sent into a high school disguised as a student. The film is short, but entertaining as she goes about the business of eliminating the creatures that she is seeking.

:710:
1189 - Asterix and Cleopatra (1968) - 7/10 - Asterix and Obelix travel to Egypt to help Cleopatra build a summer home. I've read quite a few of the Asterix graphic novels and this was a decent adaptation.

:810:
1190 - Paprika (2006) - 8/10 - A device that allows people to enter the dreams of others is stolen. The device was intended to aid in therapy, but is now being used as a weapon. One researcher/doctor enters the dream world in order to track down the missing device and the person who stole it. In the dream world, she becomes Paprika. She also has the assistance of a police detective who is also a patient. The visuals and dream world are very cool and the film is pretty entertaining. It's been too long since I watched Perfect Blue and Millennium Actress to make any comparisons. I probably need to rewatch each of them.

:8510:
1191 - Tokyo Godfathers (2003) - 8.5/10 - Three homeless people find an abandoned baby at Christmastime and head out to try and track down the mother. This leads them on an adventure throughout the city. There is plenty of humor mixed in with the adventure and drama. I enjoyed the film quite a bit.

:710:
1192 - Raw Deal (1948) - 7/10 - Joe breaks out of jail with the aid of his girlfriend Pat and sets out to get revenge on the man who framed him and cheated him out of his payoff. They pick up a woman named Ann who is also in love with Joe and she accompanies them on their journey. A solid film that I enjoyed.

:7510:
1193 - Side Street (1950) - 7.5/10 - A part time mailman who has a pregnant wife and is hurting for money gives into temptation and steals a folder which he things contains $200, but really contains $30,000 which was extorted by a corrupt attorney. This sets up a chain of events which leads to a number of murders and the police hunting for the man. The film is part police procedural and was pretty good.

:610:
1194 - The Big Combo (1955) - 6/10 - A police lieutenant is out to get a gang boss, partly because the lieutenant is interested in the girlfriend of the boss. The gangster doesn't take kindly to this and captures the lieutenant to have some 'fun' with him. I didn't really enjoy this one all that much, though parts of it were okay. I thought it was kind of dull.
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Re: Movies

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:8510:
1195 - Night and the City (1950) - 8.5/10 - Richard Widmark stars as Harry Fabian, a small time hustler trying to make it big in London. He tries to set up a wrestling circuit by using an old champion named Gregorius whose son Kristo controls all of the wrestling in the city. The mood is established early and is pretty consistent throughout in a very entertaining film which also features a nice wrestling fight.

:710:
1196 - The Dark Corner (1946) - 7/10 - A private investigator notices that he is being followed and thinks that his former partner is out to frame him. He is also being harassed by a police lieutenant. This is a decent film with a nice supporting role from Lucille Ball.

:910:
1197 - The Banshees of Inisherin (2022) - 9/10 - In 1923, Padraic (Colin Farrell) lives with his sister Siobhan (Kerry Condon) on an island off the mainland of Ireland. He has a daily routine of meeting his friend Colm (Brendan Gleeson) at 2pm so that they can head to the pub for a pint. However, Colm informs Padraic that he doesn't like him any more and wants to be left alone. There are very nice performances here from Farrell, Gleeson, and Condon plus Barry Keoghan as the dimwitted Dominic. The cinematography is gorgeous and the film is pretty funny much of the time, but also sad.

:7510:
1198 - Battle Angel (1993) - 7.5/10 - I've been a fan of the Battle Angel manga since 1992 so this film was right up my alley. It's a decent adaptation of the early part of the manga, though it would have benefitted from a longer format.
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Re: Movies

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:710:
1199 - Spriggan (1998) - 7/10 - This anime adapts the Noah' Ark story from the Spriggan manga. I just finished reading that story a few days ago so it seemed like a good time to watch the movie. Spriggan is a decent manga, though nowhere close to a favorite. This seemed like a pretty good adaptation of the source material. Noah's ark has been discovered on Mt. Ararat and it turns out to be an ancient artifact with the power to affect Earth's climate. The story makes a bit more sense if you've read the earlier stories in the series.

:7510:
1200 - Short Peace (2013) - 7.5/10 - Four short stories are included here. My favorites were the first story about a traveler who takes refuge in an abandoned shrine and the third story about a giant white bear who fights an ogre in the forest to protect a little girl. I'd seen the first story before, but it was still a lot of fun.

:710:
1201 - Alice (1988) - 7/10 - The film is based on Alice in Wonderland and features a live action girl interacting with a stop motion rabbit and other items/characters. It's fairly well done and somewhat dark. The only thing I didn't like was that they kept going to a close up of the girl's mouth whenever the narration got to "said the rabbit" or something similar. That got old fast.

:6510:
1202 - Dead Leaves (2004) - 6.5/10 - The art style is pretty different, but I got used to it pretty fast. A man and woman wake up naked in a park with amnesia and go on a crime spree, ending up in a lunar prison. The film has tons of action and crude humor. The plot seemed a bit thin, but it's the ride that counts here.

:710:
1203 - Genius Party (2007) - 7/10 - This anthology film had its ups and downs through the seven stories, but was generally good.

:710:
1204 - Genius Party Beyond (2008) - 7/10 - The second anthology film has five more stories and I liked it about the same as the first film.

:810:
1205 - Fantasia 2000 (1999) - 8/10 - I enjoyed this quite a bit. I wasn't a big fan of the original Fantasia when I watched it around 30 years ago on videotape, but might give it another try at some point. I think that I might like it more the second time around.

:5510:
1206 - Hollow Triumph (1948) - 5.5/10 - A criminal on the run from a gangster that he tried to rip off takes the place of his psychoanalyst double. I thought it was kind of mediocre.

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1207 - The Reckless Moment (1949) - 7.5/10 - Joan Bennett stars as a mother whose 17 year old daughter is involved with a shady character. She discourages the relationship and later does her best to protect her daughter and her daughter's reputation. It was pretty good and James Mason was decent in a supporting role.

:810:
1208 - This Gun for Hire (1942) - 8/10 - Alan Ladd is excellent as Raven, a hired killer who is looking for revenge when the payment for his last job turns out to be in marked bills. Veronica Lake is a singer whose fiance is a police lieutenant. She is hired by the man that Raven is after and she happens to encounter Raven on a train. Lake isn't as good as Ladd, but was good enough to help make this a nice noir.

:810:
1209 - Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950) - 8/10 - A police detective (Dana Andrews) hates criminals due to his upbringing. He often gets violent with them. When he makes a mistake that costs a life, he tries to pin the deed on a known criminal. Gene Tierney co-stars, but this is mostly a vehicle for Andrews and he is pretty convincing in his role.


Screwball Squirrel (1944) (7 minutes)
Who Killed Who? (1943) (8 minutes)
Motion Painting No. 1 (1947) (11 minutes)
Stoopnocracy (1933) (5 minutes)
The Karnival Kid (1929) (8 minutes)
Renaissance (1963) (10 minutes)
House (1959) (12 minutes)
Breakfast on the Grass (1987) (25 minutes)
The Mascot (1933) (26 minutes)
Kak kazaki nevest vyruchali (1973) (19 minutes)
The Owl's Feathers (1989) (18 minutes)
El héroe (1994) (5 minutes)
Pochemu u lastochki khvost rozhkami (1967) (9 minutes)
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Rusty
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Re: Movies

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:6510:
1210 - Fist of the North Star (1986) - 6.5/10 - I've read the manga this is based on and while the movie might rearrange things a bit, it keeps the spirit (and violence) of the manga. It's definitely not my favorite series, but some people love it.

:6510:
1211 - On-Gaku: Our Sound (2019) - 6.5/10 - For a film with no budget, it's not bad. I thought the animation style was dine, but I didn't find it very funny for the most part, except for the chase scene with Kenji and the recorder. The second half was more interesting than the first half.

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1212 - The Garden of Words (2013) - 7.5/10 - A 15 year old who wants to make shoes skips school on rainy days to go to a pavilion in a park to make sketches. He forms a bond with a woman who is skipping work to spend time in the park as well. It's a bit short, but the animation is nice and the story is decent.

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1213 - The Hunchedback Horse (1947) - 7.5/10 - A boastful boy is given a special small horse which gives good advice. He encounters a number of magical beings and has to please the king while avoiding the enmity of the evil soothsayer. It is a nice fairytale.

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1214 - The Snow Queen (1957) - 5.5/10 - In a fit of pique, the Snow Queen kidnaps a human boy and keeps him in her ice palace. The boy's friend Gerda goes off in search of him to try and bring him back. It's all fairly simple - the art, the story, the acting, etc.
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Rusty
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Re: Movies

Post by Rusty »

:710:
1215 - Gyo: Tokyo Fish Attack (2012) - 7/10 - Numerous fish start appearing in Japan that are attached to legs and emit a gas which stinks. People start being killed and become bloated sources for the gas as well. This is a nicely animated film, but weird, which is to be expected from an adaptation of a Junji Ito story. I did enjoy it, though.

:6510:
1216 - Mind Game (2004) - 6.5/10 - This movie is bonkers. I didn't like the art very much nor the first 20 or so minutes. It got better after that and there were some parts that I liked a lot.

:610:
1217 - Momotaro's Divine Sea Warriors (1945) - 6/10 - A black and white propaganda film made toward the end of WWII. The art's okay and the story is so-so.

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1218 - My Life as McDull (2001) - 6.5/10 - McDull is a young anthropomorphic pig who tries hard and does his best in order to please his mother, but he isn't exactly the smartest kid in his class. There is a bit of charm to the film, but I also thought it was kind of dull overall.

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1219 - Panda! Go, Panda! (1972) and Panda! Go, Panda! Rainy Day Circus (1973) - 7.5/10 - Fun tales about a little girl who is left alone when her grandmother has to go off on a trip. She does a good job taking care of herself and forms a family with a baby panda and Papa Panda who show up at her house.
Our Lady of the Sphere (1969) (9 minutes)

:810:
1220 - The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949) - 8/10 - The first part adapts The Wind in the Willows and the second part adapts The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. I enjoyed both parts, especially the headless horseman.

:610:
1221 - The Emperor's Nightingale (1949) - 6/10 - Live action sequences with a lonely boy bookend the rest of the film which features stop motion and deals with an emperor who gets a pet nightingale, but prefers a mechanical one. It was okay, but not all that interesting.


Song of the Prairie (1949) (21 minutes)
Dárek (1946) (16 minutes)
Early Abstractions (1987) (23 minutes)
Fuji (1974) (9 minutes)
Lapis (1966) (9 minutes)
Film Exercises 2-3 (1944) (2 minutes)
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