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julianwest74
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The Pooch (1932)
A Movie with a Lot of Heart!
This is one of my favorite episodes of Our Gang. It's very funny, but also quite poignant. Stymie is wonderful, and a very young Spanky is effortlessly charming.
It's the Depression, and the two appear to be pretty much on their own, begging for food. Stymie charms a woman by pretending he's asking for food for his dog ("He might nibble on that pie!"), but she quickly sees through his ruse and gives him a sumptuous meal, including an artichoke. Stymie attempts to unpack the vegetable, but gives up, saying, "It might choke Artie, but it ain't gonna choke Stymie!"
A mean dogcatcher grabs Stymie's dog Pete and takes him off to the pound. Stymie has only a half-hour to get $5.00 (a fortune for a kid back then) to pay for a dog's license, or Pete will be gassed. At his wits' end, Stymie prays to God to send him five dollars. Just then, a five-dollar bill that has blown out of a nearby woman's hand flutters down. Stymie exclaims, "Boy, that's what I call service!!" After some suspense, all ends well.
Some people today might call this film corny. Maybe it is. But it also says something about friendship and the love of a boy and his dog that is timeless.
I also feel that I have to respond to some of the earlier postings about this film. One person claims that the "...short begins with Stymie stealing a pie and eating it..." No, it doesn't. Stymie did eat the pie, and it wasn't his, but it happened off camera, before the movie began. And Stymie didn't "decide" to do something nice for the gang - he had an opportunity to help them, and he took it. The dog catcher was set up as the bad guy, and that's why he tried to kill Stymie's dog. (He failed.) If that's too creepy for kids, then so is Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. You might remember that the Wicked Queen tried to kill Snow White in that one.
Another writer claims that no member of Our Gang is "in the center of it all." What movie did this person see? STYMIE is at the center of it all!! Pete is Stymie's dog, Stymie's the one begging for food, Stymie's the one trying to get back in the gang's good graces, Stymie saves the gang's dogs from the dog catcher, and Stymie's the one who cries when he thinks that his dog is dead. This is Stymie's movie all the way!
A third writer claims that "five stone-hearted White Adults" try to "intimidate Stymie into self-deporting to a "S@#$HOLE" country." This is ridiculous. The owner of the diner where the kids are sitting at the start of the film does eventually say "C'mon, you kids, scram, get out," but he DOESN'T yell it. He says it in a normal tone of voice. He's just a guy trying to make a living during the Depression and he can't afford to give food to destitute kids, but he seems sympathetic to them. He hardly seems "stone-hearted."
Stymie does trick one boy (a boy, not an adult) into tossing him a doughnut, but it immediately gets run over in the street. The reviewer then claims that people in the film "would sooner feed a hungry mutt than provide a meal to a starving child." This just isn't true. Stymie's ruse, that he's not begging for food for himself but for his dog, simply backfired. A nice young woman gave him a bunch of dog biscuits. She didn't refuse to give Stymie food at all. She gave him what she thought he wanted, food for his dog.
And then Stymie encountered the woman who gave him a feast! Pretty "stone-hearted," huh? Also, if you're keeping count, that's only four whites (and one of them was not an adult) and they were all nice. So where are the "five stone-hearted White Adults"?
This reviewer goes on to claim that then "a government official (dog catcher!) ups the ante, kidnapping Stymie's title pet and food provider" (actually just doing his job, although he was very nasty about it). The stuff about the governor of Michigan trying to find the most efficient way of eliminating the state's poor citizens is too insane to even comment on. And no, the short wasn't shot in Michigan, although I'm sure it had nothing to do with non-existent social engineering experimentation. Why should I even have to comment about lunacy like that?
Into the Night (1985)
Knives Out!
Hey, this movie has Carl Perkins and David Bowie in a knife fight!!!! What more do you want?
"Into the Night" is fun, the two leads are charming, and it has a zillion cameos. The only drawback: a DREADFUL, OBTRUSIVE, OBNOXIOUS 80s music soundtrack. I would have rated this movie higher if it had a decent score.
The Professor (2018)
Learn from "The Professor"
This is a profane, profound film. I don't think it quite achieves the heights it goes for, but it comes close. At its base, it's about the meaning of life, and what we do with our lives. Life is short. Don't waste it.
Gimme Danger (2016)
Stoogependous!
If you know little or nothing about The Stooges, this will fill you in. If you're a Stooges fan, this is as great a documentary as you could want. If you're not a Stooges fan, why are you reading this?
The Shining (1980)
Nicholson's Great, But So Is Duvall
This movie has many classic quotes: "Redrum!" "I corrected them." "Give me the bat!" "Here's Johnny!" But the best has to be when Wendy Torrance finally sees the manuscript her husband has been working on for who knows how many months, and she is forced to realize that her husband Jack is as crazy as a bedbug. And then he comes up behind her and says, "How do you like it?" Nobody plays crazy as well as Jack Nicholson, but I think his flamboyant portrayal has overshadowed Shelley Duvall's excellent characterization of Wendy Torrance, a somewhat dull-witted mother who nonetheless is fiercely protective of her child. It's a truly great performance.
The Good Liar (2019)
The Good Film
Wow, what a great movie! The two leads are excellent, as you would expect, and you think that you sort of know where the movie is going, and you do... but you don't. Really good.
Hotel Mumbai (2018)
Intense!
Yes, this is a Hollywood version of what happened, as another user posted -- although I don't know that it's "totally fictionalized." But as a movie that puts you into the middle of a horrific situation that really happened, this is as good as it gets. It's a real nailbiter, and -- just as in the real situation -- not everyone makes it. So it's not totally Hollywood. If you don't want the Hollywood version, maybe watch the documentary "Surviving Mumbai."
Color Me Obsessed: A Film About The Replacements (2011)
Color Me Digressed
Let me say, first of all, that I'm not a huge Replacements fan. I like their music, but for me, they were just another good Minneapolis band (and I heard a lot of them). I liked this film, and I think that it succeeded on its own terms for the most part. According to the director, this is the film that he wanted to make. He didn't need, or even want, The Replacements in the movie -- not even in interviews. That was his choice, and as far as it went, I think he made it work. But ultimately, it's unsatisfying. There are points when you really would like to see the incidents being described -- to take one obvious example, the SNL appearance. It eventually seems kind of perverse to make a film about The Replacements that you don't see any of the band members in, on stage or in interview (although it seems in keeping with the 'Mats ethos, I guess).
What bothered me more than the absence of any performances or other input from the band, though, were some odd omissions. The film asserts that Bob Stinson's death at the age of 35 was not due to a drug overdose -- and says nothing more. So, he died of natural causes? The film doesn't say. (Years of drug and alcohol abuse eventually killed him. How hard is that to say?)
The film does not explain why Peter Jesperson, their manager, who did more than anyone else to make their careers, was fired. The film does not explain why Chris Mars was fired just before the band's final tour. And the film basically ignores Bob "Slim" Dunlap, who replaced Bob Stinson. According to this film, Bob Stinson was the spark plug who powered the band, and after his departure, the band sucked. That may or may not be true, but Bob Dunlap should have been accorded at least some respect. He was considered a member of The Replacements, although you'd never know it from this film. Unless I missed something, no one said his name, and you only saw it twice onscreen. The film actually went into (slightly) more detail about Steve Foley joining the band! That's just wrong. To me, that shows that the director went into the project with the idea that the original Replacements were the Real Deal, and everything after that was crap. If I'm wrong, why completely ignore Bob "Slim" Dunlap?
The Alligator People (1959)
Gator Madness!
I first saw this movie when I was about 7 years old, at a matinee double feature with "The Return of the Fly." I got scared out of my mind!! Even today, I think that "The Alligator People" has an eerie ambiance that belies its B-movie origins: the hypnotism therapy, the mysterious plantation, Lon Chaney Jr.'s gators, and the tormented lead character. This is a good little movie. It scared me so much that I ran all the way home from the theater -- in the middle of the afternoon!
Starman (1984)
Jeff Bridges is a Star, Man
I liked this movie when it came out in 1984, and I recently saw it again, and I like it even more, if that's possible. Jeff Bridges' performance is absolutely Oscar-worthy. He truly seems to be an alien being inhabiting a human body. Karen Allen also gives a very nuanced performance, playing a woman who has to travel with an alien who looks exactly like her late husband. This movie has heart, and it's funny. Perhaps the best-remembered line is the alien's deduction about stop lights: "Green means go, red means stop, and yellow means drive very fast."
Avatar (2009)
King of the Hurled
This movie is cliched junk. Is there ANYONE who didn't KNOW that crippled whatsisname was NEVER going to return to his crippled body as soon as he got into his new uncrippled alien body? Was that really a surprise to anyone? And this plot was done before, by Rich Corben in Slow Death #3 (an underground comic) in 1971, and that was better than Cameron's version anyway. This movie is incredibly overrated.
Soaked in Bleach (2015)
Soaked in Bleeech!
This isn't a movie, it's a crash course in manufacturing Fake News. This film offers no proof of anything -- it simply makes claims and then lets them hang there. If you want to believe that someone conspired to murder Kurt Cobain, this film is for you. If you care about evidence as opposed to innuendo, forget this.
The More the Merrier (1943)
They don't make 'em like this any more
Another great screwball comedy starring the incomparable Jean Arthur. Charles Coburn is at his annoying best, too, and won a Supporting Actor Oscar for his trouble. If you like 1930s-1940s comedies, you'll LOVE this film!
Life (2017)
Alien Lite
This isn't a terrible film, but it's pointless. If you've seen "Alien," you've seen this movie already.
Dunkirk (2017)
This was their finest hour
This is one of the best war movies I've ever seen, and I've seen quite a few. It's very cleverly constructed, with three timelines that gradually converge. To respond to one critic, I didn't remember any character's name either, but I remembered who they WERE: The father and his two sons who went to the rescue, the pilot who kept going when he really should have turned back, and the soldier who just wanted to get the hell off the beach. It also shows the random violence and random survival that happens in war. It's an excellent movie.
The Lobster (2015)
This Lobster Stinks
This movie is utterly dreadful, possibly the worst film I've ever seen in more than 50 years of movie-watching. This is not a story about human beings, it's about cardboard automatons moving around a landscape, doing and saying things that actual humans never would. "True reflections of our society"? "An absurdist screwball comedy"? In some nightmare parallel universe, maybe. Words aren't adequate to describe how much I loathed this film. It made me want to poke my own eyes out so I would never again have to watch a movie as bad as this one. I wish I could give it a rating of zero. Run away! Run far, far away!!
Saps at Sea (1940)
Last of the Classic Laurel & Hardy Films
This movie is a lot of fun, from the opening scenes in the incredibly noisy horn factory to the unforgettable meal aboard the boat. Oliver Hardy (understandably) has a nervous breakdown from working in a horn factory, where all the horns seem to be blowing simultaneously. (For some reason, this doesn't seem to faze Stan Laurel in the slightest.) To recuperate, Ollie & Stan rent a boat, which is supposed to remain in port. However, a criminal on the run sets them adrift and then orders Stan & Ollie to make him something to eat, but they don't have any food aboard. They use their imaginations to come up with something, but it doesn't work out the way they wanted...
I love this movie!
Midnight Cowboy (1969)
Lowlifes You Care About
"Midnight Cowboy" is a great film, mostly thanks to the performances of the two leads: Jon Voigt as dense wannabe male prostitute Joe Buck and Dustin Hoffman as doomed bum Ratso Rizzo. Their unlikely friendship is the soul of the movie. Why should we, the audience, care about these guys? At best, they're losers, and at worst, they're criminals. But they're also human beings, and the movie shows that -- and that's why it's great.
Under the Skin (2013)
Incredibly Bad
Sixth-graders could make a better movie than this piece of junk. Incoherent, incomprehensible, and who cares anyway? It would be laughable except it isn't funny. Scarlett Johansen walks around seducing buff yabbos who get swallowed up in some kind of digital morass -- I guess. But the guys didn't seem to care about what was happening to them, and neither did I. Dialogue was almost non-existent, and as for characterization, forget it. Plot? That's old-fashioned movie-making.
One of the worst movies I have ever seen, possibly THE worst. Instead of watching this crap, better you should poke your eyes out with a sharp stick. But what did I REALLY think...?
King Kong (1933)
The 8th Wonder of the World
It doesn't get any better than this. Action, adventure, romance (!), wonder. This film is why movies were created. If you've never seen it, you should. The special effects were astounding in 1933, and they're still pretty damn good.
I know that Peter Jackson's heart is in the right place, but his remake just doesn't have the heart of the original. His Kong doesn't have the soul of the original. Willis O'Brien, the special effects wizard on the first King Kong, was somehow able to invest an armature made of metal and fur with a personality. On the other hand, the less said about the 1976 Dino De Laurentiis atrocity, the better.
The original King Kong is one of the greatest movies ever made.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)
Idiotic Disappointment
I finally saw this movie, and I was shocked by how ridiculous it is. I saw "Raiders of the Lost Ark" back in the day at a sneak preview, and I gave it a good review -- but this movie is a piece of crap.
In the first film, events were more or less believable. Well, forget about believability in this movie. Here, Indiana Jones isn't just an archaeologist/teacher, he's some kind of superhero. This film is filled with action sequences that could never happen, incredible coincidences, junk science, and general nonsense. Does anyone believe that you could pull someone out of quicksand (or whatever it was) with a snake? And why would you send the crazy guy off to get help when the only people around were the ones trying to catch you? And that just covers about 5 minutes of the film.
If you think about it, the plot is essentially the same as "Raiders"! Just change the Nazis to Commies and the Ark to the Crystal Skull, and there you have it. This movie should have been so much better -- it has a great cast (Cate Blanchett, fer Chrissake!, not to mention Karen Allen and John Hurt), and impressive special effects. It's a pity so much effort was wasted on such a silly story.
Django Unchained (2012)
A movie that shoots itself
I have never been a fan of Quentin Tarantino, but I know that other people think he's great so I decided to give him another chance and actually paid $3 to see "Django Unchained." I was surprised to find that I liked the first part of the movie. It was interesting, funny, suspenseful, and actually seemed to have a point. Some of the story strained credulity (look it up), but it stayed within the bounds of believability... until the German bounty hunter shot DeCaprio. Then believability went out the window.
The movie didn't even make sense within itself. The entire film built up Dr. Schultz as not only a great shot, but also an extremely cunning strategist. And yet, he shot DeCaprio and then just stupidly said, "I couldn't help it!" and stood there waiting to be killed. (Which he was.) But his derringer had two barrels, which presumably means two bullets, so why didn't he whirl around and shoot the guy who was standing there with a gun?
He could have, but then there wouldn't have been the bloodbath that follows, which I guess is Quentin Tarantino's "signature." The movie quickly degenerates into a stupid, pointless bloodbath. White guys come out of nowhere to be shot, blood gets spattered everywhere, and so what?
Then the film gets even worse! The black guy who killed so many white people is in the hands of his oppressors, yet instead of torturing and killing him, they decide to send him off to a (allegedly horrible) mine, thus giving him the opportunity to escape and wreak his horrible vengeance. Does this seem believable to ANYONE?
After that, it's completely predictable. I don't need to tell you what happens because you can figure it out for yourself. But think about this: the movie makes a big deal about how nobody in the South back then was used to seeing a black person on a horse. For most of the film, the white Dr. Schultz accompanied Django and helped smooth the way. But at the end of the movie, Django and his (black) wife ride away on horses -- in Mississippi before the Civil War! So they'll just wander through the South to freedom? Really?? What a great happy ending! I could criticize this piece of sh*t on many more levels, but I've wasted enough time on it.
I actually liked the first 3/4 of this film. I absolutely HATED the last section. And ultimately, Quentin Tarantino's popularity says something troubling about the state of American culture.