Movies

Post by **Rusty** » Wed Mar 20, 2024 10:28 pm

The Harveytoons Show 4 disc set. This is labeled as being the 'complete collection', but only contains 52 of the 78 episodes. Kind of formulaic and generally not as good as the Disney cartoons, but still entertaining enough. Lots of Casper, Little Audrey, Baby Huey, Herman, Katnip, and Buzzy the Crow. The later Richie Rich cartoons were left out. The shows include theatrical shorts from 1950-1962.

Spoiler:

Post by **Rusty** » Fri Mar 22, 2024 10:32 am

267 - Calendar (1993) - 5/10 - A photographer traveled to Armenia with his wife to take pictures of old churches for a calendar. His wife served as translator for the guide who tells stories about the places they visit. A lot of this is told in flashback as his wife apparently stayed behind when he returned home. Meanwhile, he has numerous dates with various women who inevitably get up to make a phone call in a foreign language while he writes a letter to his wife. It gets pretty monotonous.

268 - Girlfriends (1978) - 6.5/10 - A photographer struggles when her best friend and roommate decides to get married. Without her best friend, she is kind of lonely and feels abandoned. She survives on small, low paying jobs, but hopes to get a gallery show. The film is kind of dull.

269 - Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005) - 7/10 - A shoe salesman separates from his wife and gets a small apartment to share with his two sons. A slightly odd artist takes an interest in the man and tries to start a relationship. There are a few other subplots, including following the two sons when they are on their own. It's fairly low-key, but I liked it.

270 - Mikey and Nicky (1976) - 6.5/10 - Nicky (John Cassavetes) is on the run after stealing from a mob boss. He looks to his old friend MIkey (Peter Falk) for help. While Cassavetes and Falk gave good performances, the story just didn't seem all that interesting much of the time.

271 - Sambizanga (1972) - 7/10 - In Angola, a man named Domingos is arrested by the Portuguese secret police for sedition. He is tortured in prison to try and get him to give up information, including names of others looking to go against the colonial authority. Meanwhile, his wife is unaware of his political involvement and goes from prison to prison and police station to police station to try and find him. It's a decent effort, but with some polishing could have been very good.

272 - Sleeping with Other People (2015) - 7.5/10 - Jake and Lainey met and had a one night stand in college. They meet again 12 years later and have pretty similar personalities and habits, each unable to remain monogamous. The two decide to just remain friends, though each finds themself drawn to the other. This can be pretty crude, but I also ended up enjoying it quite a bit.

273 - The Watermelon Woman (1996) - 7.5/10 - Cheryl (Cheryl Dunye) is an aspiring black lesbian filmmaker who works in a video story and has an interest in 1930s cinema, particularly in black actresses from that era. She becomes interested in an actress known only as The Watermelon Woman. Cheryl researches the woman and sets out to make a documentary about her. The film is a mix of Cheryl's daily life and her research/documentary. It was pretty entertaining.

Post by **Rusty** » Sat Mar 23, 2024 9:24 am

274 - The Arch (1968) - 7/10 - A cavalry captain comes to stay the night at a school run by a wealthy widow. The woman falls for the captain, but so does her daughter. It was okay, but fairly slow.

275 - The Holy Girl (2004) - 7/10 - Amalia is a teenage girl who lives in a rundown hotel that her divorced mother owns. The hotel is hosting a number of doctors in town for a conference and Amalia becomes obsessed with one of them after he gets a bit too close to her. Amalia is torn between her religious beliefs and her adolescent sex drive. The interactions between Amalia and her best friend were more interesting than those with her and the doctor.

276 - Trás-os-Montes (1976) - 6/10 - I guess this is part documentary and part fiction as the film follows people in the Trás-os-Montes region of Portugal. There are a number of long stretches with little or no dialogue. It was mildly interesting.

277 - Veronica (1973) - 7.5/10 - Veronica is a little girl who lives in an orphanage. On her fifth birthday, a fairy godmother gifts her with a bag that can grant wishes. When she doesn't want to share it with the other children, the bag flies off into the woods with Veronica in pursuit. Veronica encounters a number of animals (people in costumes), including a fox who wants to teach her to steal and lie. I'm not the targeted audience, but it's a cute film. It's almost nonstop singing, though, so be warned if you seek it out.

10 minutes
Mother Goose Goes Hollywood (1938)
Standard Parade (1939)

152 minutes
Crazy with the Heat (1947)
Bootle Beetle (1947)
Wide Open Spaces (1947)
Chip an' Dale (1947)
Drip Dippy Donald (1948)
Daddy Duck (1948)
Donald's Dream Voice (1948)
The Trial of Donald Duck (1948)
Inferior Decorator (1948)
Soup's On (1948)
Three for Breakfast (1948)
Tea for Two Hundred (1948)
Donald's Happy Birthday (1949)
Sea Salts (1949)
Winter Storage (1949)
Honey Harvester (1949)
All in a Nutshell (1949)
The Greener Yard (1949)
Slide, Donald, Slide (1949)
Toy Tinkers (1949)

Figaro and Cleo (1943)
Bath Day (1946)
Figaro and Frankie (1947)

141 minutes
Donald Applecore (1952)
Let's Stick Together (1952)
Uncle Donald's Ants (1952)
Trick or Treat (1952)
Don's Fountain of Youth (1953)
The New Neighbor (1953)
Working for Peanuts (1953)
Canvas Back Duck (1953)
Spare the Rod (1954)
Donald's Diary (1954)
Dragon Around (1954)
Grin and Bear It (1954)
The Flying Squirrel (1954)
Grand Canyonscope (1954)
Bearly Asleep (1955)
Beezy Bear (1955)
Up a Tree (1955)
Chips Ahoy (1956)
How to Have an Accident in the Home (1956)
How to Have an Accident at Work (1959)

87 minutes
Donald and the Wheel (1961)
The Litterbug (1961)
Steel and America (1965) (not counting toward animated)
Donald's Fire Survival Plan (1965)
Family Planning (1967)

A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)
Charlie Brown's All Stars (1966)

Post by **Rusty** » Sun Mar 24, 2024 9:04 pm

278 - D'Est (1993) - 6/10 - Chantal Akerman turns her camera to life in Eastern Europe after the fall of the Iron Curtain. There is no narration or dialogue (apart from an occasional word or two caught in passing). Some parts were kind of interesting, but there were too many scenes of people just standing around waiting, whether it was for a streetcar, a train, or perhaps to get milk, bread, and toilet paper from a store. At close to two hours, that got pretty old.

Post by **Rusty** » Tue Mar 26, 2024 8:25 pm

279 - Old Joy (2006) - 6.5/10 - Two old friends who haven't seen each other for a while go on an overnight camping trip. That's basically it, though it wasn't bad.

280 - Take My Eyes / Te doy mis ojos (2003) - 8/10 - Pilar leaves home one night with her 7 year old son and very few possessions. She takes refuge with her sister Ana and it is pretty clear that it is a domestic violence situation. We are soon introduced to her husband Antonio, a man with a violent temper at times. Antonio starts trying to get Pilar back, even going to group therapy to try and change his behavior, but will it stick. Ana is very much against her sister trying to get back together with Antonio. This is nicely acted by Laia Marull and Luis Tosar.

281 - Too Early/Too Late (1981) - 4.5/10 - The camera pans through various landscapes in France and Egypt, but urban and rural, as a narrator talks about how destitute everybody is and about revolution and unrest in Egypt's past. The section in Egypt was better than that in France.

Post by **Rusty** » Wed Mar 27, 2024 9:13 am

282 - Aprili (1961) - 8/10 - A young couple is looking for a bit of privacy, but keep getting interrupted by people moving around, often carrying furniture. They finally take refuge in an empty apartment where the utilities seem to turn on of their own volition. They have some peace for a while, though the neighbors are an eclectic bunch with one man constantly lifting weights, a girl dancing ballet, and so on. The couple seems less happy after they take residence in the apartment and it is filled with all sorts of material goods. There are good sound effects and visual humor in this short film.

283 - Autumn of the Magician (2009) - 5.5/10 - This documentary about screenwriter Tonino Guerra was slightly interesting. I didn't really know much about him, but he seems to have worked with quite a few famous directors.

284 - Latif (1930) - 7/10 - Latif is a young boy in a poor village where one man controls most of the wealth. The arrival of a tractor in the village may lead to a more equal distribution of wealth. Latif herds sheep for the wealthy man, but starts dreaming of being able to drive the tractor. He gets blamed when saboteurs break the tractor. The film is a bit primitive at times in its storytelling, but Latif is still fairly engaging as the lead character and I did like the film.

285 - A Thousand and One (2023) - 8/10 - In 1994, Inez is released from prison and returns to her old neighborhood. Her 6 year old son is in foster care and she decides to kidnap him, move to another part of New York City and assume different names. There are a couple of time skips involved, but it is clear that Inez is pretty concerned about getting the best for her son, but expresses her feelings in the only way she can, which can seem harsh to some. She also has to worry about the law possibly catching up to them. Teyana Taylor is excellent as Inez.

286 - Certain Women (2016) - 6/10 - Three short stories involving women are told here. The first one stars Laura Dern as a lawyer dealing with a client who was injured on the job, but is not able to sue since he took a small settlement after the injury. It was good and was a lot better than the other two. Lily Gladstone was decent in her role in the third story as a woman who attends a night class on school law only because she has a crush on the woman teaching it. Too bad the story was kind of dull, though it was better than the middle story.

287 - Pariah (2011) - 7.5/10 - A 17 year old lesbian is inexperienced, but curious. She's afraid of coming out to her parents because of her mother's probable reaction, though the parents seem to realize already and are dealing with it in their own way. The mother tries pushing her daughter toward different friends and ways of dressing. The father basically ignores it and seems somewhat distant. The parents also fight pretty frequently. It's a good coming of age tale with nice performances by Adepero Oduye and the rest of the cast.

Post by **Rusty** » Thu Mar 28, 2024 8:16 am

288 - Romeo My Neighbour / Romeo moy sosed (1963) - 8.5/10 - Arif and Nona are twentysomethings who meet briefly while waiting for a train home and fall for each other. It turns out that they are from the same city, Baku. Meanwhile, their families have each moved into a new apartment next door to one another and quarrel because each family wanted the apartment with the sea view. Can the families overcome any bad feelings for the two young people to come together? There is plenty of music and a fair amount of comedy along with the romance. I liked the acting, the sets, and the various views of the city as well. It is a very nice film.

289 - Border (2009) - 7/10 - A buffalo is rescued from a ditch and taken back to a farm where it is around other animals. It makes more than one escape attempt, but is chased down and returned to the farm. There is also a focus on the people there with a house being constructed and a wedding where neither participant seems particularly happy to be getting married. It is essentially dialogue free with a good use of sound and is somewhat interesting.

290 - Gogi Ratiani (1927) - 7/10 - A boy loses his family during an earthquake and then goes off in search of his best friend who has been taken to a hospital in the city. The boy has to survive for a bit on the streets, but soon makes a friend who helps him.

Post by **Rusty** » Fri Mar 29, 2024 8:12 am

291 - La cigarette (1919) - 7.5/10 - A middle aged Egyptologist has a young wife who likes to be active and hang out with friends when he is buried in his books. She loves him, but he becomes suspicious that she is seeing another man and decides to commit suicide in a manner similar to what he's read about from ancient times. I thought it was pretty good overall.

292 - The First Slam Dunk (2022) - 8/10 - The film features a high school championship game with flashbacks telling some of the backstory for team members, the point guard in particular. It has nice animations and does a good job capturing the action of the game. If you're not familiar with the source material or anime series, it probably won't be as entertaining, but I loved the manga series and am also a big fan of two other series from Takehiko Inoue, Vagabond and Real. Vagabond is an adaptation of the novel Musashi and Real is another basketball series, though focused more on wheelchair basketball.

293 - Under the Boardwalk (2023) - 7/10 - We get some Romeo and Juliet action on the Jersey Shore, but with crabs. It's tourist season and the sea crabs have arrived at the resort on the shore. There is a rivalry between the land crabs and sea crabs, especially among the young bravos. Armen is a shy land crab who becomes interested in a sea crab named Ramona. The two must cooperate to survive when a large wave sweeps them away. I enjoyed this a lot more than expected. It isn't exactly original and is fairly predictable, but it was still fun.

294 - Wish (2023) - 6/10 - A king controls the wishes of his subjects, but only chooses to grant them on rare occasions. The people forget the content of their wishes after they make them and gift them to the king for safe keeping. Asha is up to be the king's apprentice, but recoils at what he does with the wishes when she finds out the truth. I thought the film looked decent, but the story was fairly simple. Overall, the movie wasn't that good, but also wasn't really as bad as some of the reviews that I've read.

Post by **Rusty** » Sat Mar 30, 2024 8:11 am

295 - Celia (1989) - 8.5/10 - Rebecca Smart stars as a young girl named Celia who is growing up in Australia during the 1950s. She is disturbed by the death of her grandmother and has dreams and visions on occasion where her grandmother appears as well as visions of scary creatures known as hobyahs. Celia wants very much to have a pet rabbit, but this is during a time when rabbits are viewed as an invasive species that many would like eradicated. Celia befriends the neighbor children who are on her side when her cousins bully and harass her. There are also adult problems like the Red Scare that intrude into Celia and her friends' lives. Smart is very good as Celia and the film does a good job capturing the era.

296 - Enchanted Desna (1964) - 6.5/10 - A man looks back on his childhood along the Desna River near the beginning of the 20th Century. There are a number of interesting things here and I enjoyed the interplay of the family early in the film. It does a decent enough job of capturing the feel of life in the village, but it seemed to lack focus.

297 - Thoth (2002) - 7.5/10 - The film profiles a street performer who uses the name Thoth. He plays violin, dances, and sings in a language that he invented. He has also created a back story for the fictional language and world. Thoth's mother was a pioneering timpanist from Harlem while his father was a Russian jew. We get to see a number of performances and also get to know more about Thoth, his life, and his mother. He's an interesting character and I enjoyed the film just as much as the first time that I saw it.

298 - Repentance (1984) - 7.5/10 - The long serving mayor of a town dies and he is buried. His body is discovered in his son's garden the next day. It is dug up again the next day and the culprit is found shortly thereafter. The woman responsible relates her tale in court that paints the mayor in a different light than is commonly known.

Post by **Rusty** » Sun Mar 31, 2024 7:49 pm

It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown (1974)

Mickey Mouse Shorts watched in March
Mickey's Mellerdrammer (1933)
Ye Olden Days (1933)
The Mail Pilot (1933)
Mickey's Mechanical Man (1933)
Mickey's Gala Premier (1933)
Puppy Love (1933)
The Pet Store (1933)
The Steeple Chase aka Mickey's Trick Horse (1933)
Giantland (1933)
Shanghaied (1934)
Camping Out aka Camping Troubles (1934)
Playful Pluto (1934)
Gulliver Mickey (1934)
Mickey's Steam Roller (1934)
Orphan's Benefit (1934)
Mickey Plays Papa (1934)
The Dognapper (1934)
Two-Gun Mickey (1934)

Post by **Rusty** » Mon Apr 01, 2024 12:53 pm

299 - Lovers of the Arctic Circle (1998) - 8/10 - Otto and Ana meet as children and feel an immediate pull toward one another. Their lives are intertwined from that point forward, though a number of events complicate matters and also work to push them apart. The film takes place at three different stages of their lives - as children, as teenagers, and as adults. My favorite of the three was when they were children, but all three stages are good in their own way. The style is a bit different, poetic in its way, and serves the story well.

300 - Running on Karma (2003) - 7/10 - A former monk turned bodybuilder and stripper can see the karma people have earned from their past lives. He becomes involved with helping a young police detective after he sees that she is in danger of dying due to her past life as a Japanese soldier who committed atrocities. The film has a strange villain and the storyline gets a bit messy at times, but there is enough to like here that I did mostly enjoy the film.

301 - Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar (1992) - 6.5/10 - Aamir Khan portrays a slacker who goes to the 'poor' school in the area and hangs out with his friends. Their rivals are a nearby 'rich' school which has a few jerks of their own, including the big man on campus and his followers. This isn't a great film, but it's not really worse than a lot of similar American films from the era, though it comes with a couple of song/dance numbers and is more than 2.5 hours. The song/dance numbers weren't really all that intrusive and at least were few in number.

Post by **Rusty** » Tue Apr 02, 2024 9:48 am

302 - Devdas (2002) - 5/10 - This one was a real chore to get through. Devdas (Shah Rukh Khan) has been living in the UK for many years when he finally comes home, apparently as a lawyer. He reunites with his childhood friend, Paro, and the two expect to marry, but Devdas's mother (egged on by her scheming daughter-in-law) insult Paro's family and refuse to allow the wedding. This leads Paro away as Devdas rejects her and starts a downward spiral for Devdas. The film has pretty good visuals, but the background music was pretty annoying much of the time as were many of the various characters, with the exception of Paro and Chunnilal.

303 - The Third Oath / Teesri Kasam (1966) - 7.5/10 - A man who drives a cart pulled by bullocks falls in love with a dancer that he transports to a fair. She falls for him as well during the journey, but there are a number of obstacles in the way of their relationship. It's pretty well done.

304 - The Stranger / Agantuk (1991) - 9/10 - A woman receives a letter one day from an uncle that she hasn't seen since he left India 35 years earlier when she was 2 years old. The woman lives with her husband and young son and they are fairly well to do, but don't quite know what to make of the letter. The uncle will be arriving back in India soon and wants to visit during his stay to get to know his last relatives. The son is quite taken with the uncle while the wife isn't quite sure and the husband is suspicious that the man is an imposter with an ulterior motive. The uncle is very well traveled and knowledgeable with plenty of stories, but he won't confirm or deny their suspicions. Utpal Dutt gives a very nice performance and it is a pretty entertaining film.

305 - The Big City (1963) - 8.5/10 - A family in Calcutta is having trouble making ends meet. Subrata (the husband) works at a bank while Arati (the wife) stays home and takes care of the household, which includes Subrata's parents and his teenage sister. Reluctantly, Subrata agrees to allow Arati to find a job to help support the family. She gets a job as a saleswoman and she does very well, bringing home more than expected. She also starts to blossom and gain in confidence with her success in the workplace. Meanwhile, her husband becomes a bit insecure about her success. This is a very nice film that shows a society that is beginning to change with women leaving the home and entering the workforce.

Post by **Rusty** » Wed Apr 03, 2024 12:22 pm

306 - Blow Out (1981) - 8/10 - John Travolta stars as a sound engineer for a studio that makes very low budget movie. He is out one night capturing nature sounds to use in the films when he sees a car crash into the river. He manages to save a young woman from the car and soon comes to suspect that the car going into the river was no accident. He recorded the whole incident with his sound equipment and becomes involved in a conspiracy that could put his life in danger. It was pretty entertaining.

307 - Night Train (1959) - 6.5/10 - A man and a woman meet on a train when they happen to have tickets for the same compartment. Each seems to be trying to escape from something, but they agree to share the compartment for the duration of the trip. Later, a murderer is sought aboard the train and some signs seem to point to the man from the compartment. There are some interesting scenes and I liked the closing shots, but the film as a whole didn't quite come together for me.

308 - I Stand Alone (1998) - 5.5/10 - Following on from his short film Carne, Gaspar Noé tells the tale of a butcher who is out of jail and in an unhappy relationship with a woman who has promised to purchase him a butcher shop, but backs out on it. The Butcher has few marketable skills and dark thoughts continually seem to run through his mind. I did like this more than Irreversible, but I still didn't like it very much. Others seem to have a different opinion of the film.

309 - A Night in the City / Jagte Raho (1956) - 8/10 - A poor farmer comes to the city looking for a job. He's thirsty, so he wanders into an apartment block to look for a drink of water. The residents there call him a thief and before he knows it, he is being chased all over the apartment block by hordes of people. Along the way, he sees all sorts of illicit behavior among the residents. The chase takes on comic proportions and lasts for quite some time. The film has a pretty nice ending.

310 - Devi (1960) - 7/10 - The patriarch of a well to do family has a dream that convinces him that his young daughter-in-law is an incarnation of a goddess. He starts to worship her and convinces others to do the same. The girl's husband is away and when he returns, is appalled at the situation and finds his wife to be somewhat confused. The music and cinematography is nice, but I didn't find myself as engaged in the story as expected.

311 - Distant Thunder / Ashani Sanket (1973) - 8/10 - In 1943, a Brahmin doctor/teacher and his wife have a good life and are well respected in the village they live in. The doctor starts a school for the village children (only the boys apparently) and asks only that the villagers pay what they can. Then word of rising prices for rice, famine, and disease start to reach the village. Soon, shortages and rising prices affect everyone in this village as well. The doctor and his wife struggle to survive like everyone else.

312 - Rabindranath Tagore (1961) - 7/10 - A documentary about an Indian poet/writer/painter/etc. who won the Nobel Prize for Literature. I'd never heard of him before, but he seems to have led a fairly interesting life.

Post by **Rusty** » Thu Apr 04, 2024 9:56 pm

313 - Bhumika (1977) - 7.5/10 - Usha is a strong-willed girl who doesn't have the happiest childhood. Her grandmother was a well known singer, but her mother doesn't want Usha to have anything to do with performing. A family friend takes Usha to audition and soon she is performing as a singer and actress. She attains stardom, but it doesn't bring happiness, either with her marriage or elsewhere. It's a decent film.

314 - Sant Tukaram (1936) - 7/10 - Tukaram spends most of his time contemplating his god or singing songs praising his god. This makes his wife exasperated with him since he doesn't actively look out for his wife and two children. She still loves him, though, and everything ends up being taken care of. There is also a priest who is jealous of Tukaram and is always plotting against him, though these plots inevitably backfire. There is a lot of singing throughout the film which may be a turnoff to some, though I didn't mind it, and the effects are kind of primitive. I liked the film and the performances of the man who played Tukaram and the woman who played his wife. There's a fair amount of humor throughout.

Post by **Rusty** » Fri Apr 05, 2024 2:27 pm

315 - Awaara / The Tramp (1951) - 9/10 - Raj is on trial for attempted murder and his lawyer is his girlfriend/childhood friend Rita. Rita is the ward of the man Raj is charged with attempting to kill. The story of what led to this moment is told through flashbacks and goes back to before Raj was even born. It's a very nice film and moves quickly through its nearly 3 hours. The requisite songs work well within the context of the film.

316 - Madhumati (1958) - 7.5/10 - A pair of travelers are forced to seek shelter in an old, run-down mansion during a storm. One of the travelers recognizes a painting in the mansion and says that he painted it in another life that has just been restored to his memory. He goes on to relate a tale of his love for a young woman and the cruel ways of his boss in the earlier life.

317 - Mughal-E-Azam (1960) - 8/10 - A Mughal prince falls for a court dancer/maid. She tries to resist because of the difference in their stations, but loves him as well. Unfortunately, this relationship displeases the emperor and he takes steps to keep it from happening. I thought the first half of the film was pretty well paced and maintained my interest throughout. I even enjoyed the musical numbers. It got bogged down during the second half and was less interesting. It would have benefitted from a number of cuts in the runtime during that section. The costumes and sets were excellent all the way through the film, though. I've read a couple of novels which take place around 35 years later and feature the prince's son and grandchildren so this was interesting to me for that reason, too.

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