#Clint Eastwood war film soundtrack

[greensparty]

Movie Review: Ennio

Italian music composer Ennio Morricone (1928-2020) was one of the greatest musicians of all time. Without a doubt! He composed the score for over 500 films. That’s not a typo! At the 2016 Golden Globe Awards, Quentin Tarantino accepted the award for Best Music Score on behalf of Morricone for the score to QT’s The Hateful Eight and he said of him:

“As far as I am concerned is my favorite composer! When I say favorite composer, I don’t mean movie composer, that ghetto. I’m talking about Mozart. I’m talking about Beethoven. I’m talking about Schubert. That’s who I’m talking about.”

I fully agree. He’s not just one of the greatest film composers of all time, but music composers! It is so hard to choose the highlights of such a rich and robust filmography and discography, but if I had to choose, I think his score for Sergio Leone’s westerns A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (which I watched in my Directing class in college and did a whole paper on FYI) are all time capsule worthy! That director / composer collaboration was among the greatest in history. Other favorites of mine include The Battle of Algiers, Terrence Malick’s Days of Heaven, Samuel Fuller’s White Dog, John Carpenter’s The Thing, Brian De Palma’s The Untouchables and Casualties of War, Phil Joanou’s State of Grace, Bugsy, and In the Line of Fire. But it was QT who finally got Morricone an Academy Award for Composing (he had received an Honorary Award in 2007) for scoring The Hateful Eight. Prior to this collaboration, QT used various Morricone pieces in the soundtracks to Kill Bill Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, Death Proof, Inglorious Basterds, Django Unchained, and Once Upon a Time…In Hollywood. I got my copy of Hateful Eight soundtrack on vinyl!

movie poster

Director Giuseppe Tornatore worked with Moriccone a ton on thirteen films he directed since 1988, notably his love letter to film Cinema Paradiso (read my 2021 blu-ray review here), which had so many beautiful themes and ideas tied together by Moriccone's score. Tornatore had a great working relationship and friendship with Moriccone and made this comprehensive documentary Ennio that premiered at the 2021 Venice Film Festival and was recently released in the U.S. including Coolidge Corner Theatre.

The doc is filled with a ton of Moriccone himself telling his story and tons of anecdotes. There's a ton of archival footage and lots of clips from films. Featured interviewees include Clint Eastwood (start of a lot of the Leone films), QT, Barry Levinson, Oliver Stone, Joanou, Dario Argento and Tornatore himself. There's also a ton of musicians represented including Hans Zimmer, John Williams, Quincy Jones, Bruce Springsteen (he grew up a fan), James Hetfield (Metallica covered his music live on numerous tours) and more.

the maestro at work

This is very much a doc about film history based on the sheer amount of films he composed and at times it borders on hagiography, but at its core it is about a legend who deserves the documentary treatment. I also commend Tornatore for not turning this whole film into a doc about his own relationship with him, but more just putting himself into the pantheon of work. There was quite a lot I learned, including how he almost scored A Clockwork Orange for Stanley Kubrick, but wasn't able to due to scheduling. In the end we're lucky this doc was made when Moriccone was alive to tell his story. Expect this to be shown in both music and film classes for years to come.

for info on Ennio

3.5 out of 5 stars

[aintitfunkynow]

2023 Eastwood Project #19 - Two Mules For Sister Sara (1970) (2/1/23) Actor. Director Don Siegel finds the sweet spot between the Leone movies and his American films. Clint has the beard, the vest and the cigarillo back along with a Morricone soundtrack. Siegel understands the humor from the Italian films. It's also a subtle anti-war film against our fighting in Vietnam. Clint and Shirley MacLaine have better chemistry than I would have imagined. https://www.instagram.com/p/CoJLcgjsfvNxL_6ntTfewPmy7RIeJujmLPcCx80/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[biblioflyer]

Hi there Tumblr, this is a narrated version of a short monologue about fandom discourse and a statement of intent. I’m experimenting with a few different platforms for publishing essays. The full text minus some improvisation is as follows:

Did you see that latest show, movie etc. that everyone hates with an incandescent passion and other people loved uncritically? Were you just sort of “whelmed” by it?

Was Captain Marvel just sort of okay? Not the pinnacle of the MCU but definitely watchable. The choice to have a sort of “Clint Eastwood” laconic and minimally emotive character was a valid choice even though it forced the film to rely on flashbacks and musical cues to convey the character’s emotional state. Maybe Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley is an example of a woman pulling off this style well and Brie Larson missed the mark?

If you’re aware of your own aesthetic biases, don’t project them onto other people, and generally find it frustrating when people conduct themselves boorishly online when talking about their fandoms, you’ve come to the right place!

Fear not, the Captain Marvel reference is bait. I have more complex thoughts about what works and what doesn’t regarding the character and the movies, and very little interest in how the actress conducts herself in interviews. A problematic relationship with fandoms is not not a problem but at the same time, let's give credit where credit is due in this messy, chaotic, and frequently venomous internet of ours it is often very challenging to identify the thoughtful, constructive critiques amid the pile of accounts with portraits of predominantly white men repeatedly typing Feminazi.

The good faith critiques are there! These aren’t flawless productions and there are still healthy, respectful ways to take issue with art but there are also a lot of trolls and I think we ought to put on our psychic armor and be mature enough to recognize when the people associated with these projects call out people who are behaving problematically, it’s probably not about you unless you’re the person arguing in bad faith! When the targets of criticism and harassment “clap back” we should apply the same “reasonable person” standard to their reactions that we would want them to apply to those of us who are approaching this from the position of wanting the stuff they enjoy to be better.

Yet if you hate, loathe, despise Brie Larson or Captain Marvel, want the film eradicated from canon or the part to be recast, this is not for you. This blog is dedicated to people who want to talk about their fandoms starting from a place of appreciation for the blood, sweat, and tears that go into these works. Chill out dude (and statistically speaking, yeah you’re probably a dude) it's just a movie and Brie’s a person with feelings too. If you think Megacorporation X needs your feedback on why they have made a terrible misstep, you can take more than 5 seconds to think through your commentary.

Edit: (This isn't in the narration, sorry. Might get updated someday.)

Did a rewatch of Captain Marvel for an essay on where to go with the character in The Marvels, and you know what? I didn't dislike the movie when I first saw it, but its aged like fine wine. With all the discussion about gaslighting, "cults" and diasporic peoples that I've absorbed since it first came out, not only is it a fun romp, I'd say its comparable to Civil War in how it plays with identity, loyalty, and the dehumanizing messiness of war. Killer soundtrack too.

[machetelanding]

[crymeariverontheradio]

River's Radio 7/17/2022: Spaghetti Western

Soooo idk if you all know the bizarre history of Spaghetti Westerns.

Westerns(for anyone who doesn't know) are movies centered around the setting of the American West, usually around the 1860-ish area, revolving around such characters as Cowboys, native Americans, bounty hunters, outlaws, soldiers, and Mexican-American settlers.

However, Spaghetti Westerns are Western movies that are written and directed by Italians, primarily, filmed and produced in Europe, particularly Spain, because of the climate and geography, which also had a lot of room to experiment with storytelling and plot and film, trying new and interesting things.

Anyways, one of the most famous is The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, directed by Sergio Leone, and starring Clint Eastwood.

One of the things I love about this movie, beyond the sheer experimentation that it takes with scene movement and the creativity with the filmmaking, is the soundtrack. It's really incentive, and extremely fun to listen to!

Here are my favorite numbers from The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly soundtrack, by Ennio Morricone!

Main Theme

This one is just riding a horse through the badlands, a gun at your hip, chewing on a cigar, thinking about where you're going, forgetting where you're coming from. And the "ayayayayaaaa waa waaa waaa" is based on the sound wild coyotes make. It's just... A good vibe, especially if you like atmospheric tunes!

The Ecstasy Of Gold

You've heard this one before. It is featured all of the time. It is featured in a lot of Dolce and Gabbana ads, and then I think Taco Bell? Idk. Lots of ads sample this, and it's just an iconic piece of music. Repetitive, determined, and rushing, almost, searching. Just like the scene where it's from. The character(Mr. Ugly), runs, breathless, aimless, through an endless, neverending, cemetery of civil war soldiers, searching for where the gold is buried. I won't spoil the story, but this is him, dehydrated and desperate, looking for the treasure that's kept him going for the entire movie.

The Trio

FACE OFF!!! FACE OFF FACE OFF FACE OFF!!! One of the most iconic scenes in this movie is the duel, one of the final moments of the 2 hour plus movie where three men stand in a circle and the cameras slowly move in closer and closer on them, until the finale of them when the guns go off. This is a dramatic, important, loud piece of music. It's really good, and it sticks in your chest and makes you sit on the edge of your seat, waiting for the moment when everything grinds to a halt and goes out with a bang, much like how 10 Duel Commandments from Hamilton works, the moments leading up to a showdown highlighted and sharpened down into a song that makes you feel emotions. Good vibes, no?

BONUS LANA DEL REY THE TRIO REMIX

It's worth it. If you liked the last song, try vibing with this one. It's a really short, really fun remix of a piece from The Trio. And the beat drop gets me every SINGLE. TIME.

[au10]

Eastwood

So I watched all the westerns by Eastwood. Below you’ll find my list of what I’d say are his best to not necessarily worst just not great. Keep in mind that this list is just my opinion and yours very well may differ and hey that’s great. Also keep in mind there will be spoilers but to be fair the majority of these movies are older than me. I would also like to point out that I didn’t view Rawhide as I really didn’t seem like something I’d like. The list is as best as I can tell are all of his westerns. Some are kind of iffy as I don’t consider them a western. 

http://most-wanted-western-movies.com/clint-eastwood-westerns/

1.”Unforgiven” 1992

 My original pick was going to be “For a Few dollars more”. I re-watched Unforgiven again and have decided that Unforgiven is his best western. Made in 1992. It features Morgan Freeman, Gene Hackman and Richard Harris. There might even be more stars but those are the ones that stood out to me. The plot basically goes like this. William Munny a ruthless killer back in the day settles down with a woman who changes his life. He gave up his killer ways. The wife is already dead when the movie starts and Munny stays on the good path for lack of better phrasing. I don’t want to spoil to much more but needless to say a large bounty put on some ruffians leads to some nice action. 

I love the soundtrack to this movie. Well at least one song in particular and that’s Claudia’s theme. You can YouTube if you wish. I think it’s really great. 

A couple of quotes that I enjoyed. 

“ I've killed women and children. I've killed everything that walks or crawls at one time or another. And I'm here to kill you, Little Bill, for what you done to Ned”

.”It's a hell of a thing, killing a man. You take away all he's got and all he's ever gonna have.“

2. “For a few dollars more” 1965

 This is the sequel to a “Fistful of dollars”. It’s part of the famous dollar trilogy movies. Made in 1965 Eastwood portrays the man with no name. I really like  Lee Van Cleef as Col. Douglas Mortimer. It’s a revenge type of western. Both Cleef and Eastwood characters are pretty much bounty hunters. Cleef has an entirely different motive for his actions though. They seem to have great chemistry together too. I also like the dialogue between them as well. Clint Eastwood's character calls Lee Van Cleef's character "old man", while Van Cleef's character calls Eastwood "boy". Once more I love the music plays when the pocket watch is opened up. 

3.” A fist full of dollars.” 1964  

The beginning if you will of the the man with no name trilogy or dollars trilogy which ever you prefer. The dollars trilogy is what you call a spaghetti western. “ Spaghetti westerns were not rated highly due to their low budgets, over the top violence and inferior art work. But, these Spaghetti Westerns changed that perception forever. Director Sergio Leone gave one after another hit and this trilogy made Clint Eastwood a mega star. “ Some people don’t like them or they find them to corny. Each to their own. I loved the movies. My father pointed out to me one of the things that bugged him was the constant camera cuts to the other characters in the film. It especially focuses on their eyes. I never noticed it until he pointed it out. I do love the scene where he confronts the bullies/bad guys. On his way to them. He passes by the undertaker and tells him to get three coffins ready. After the shootout he passes back by the undertaker and tells him my mistake 4 coffins.

4. “The Good, The bad and the Ugly.” 1966 

The last of the dollars trilogy. A lot of people will say that this is the best of the three movies. Like the previous  film it also stars Lee Van Cleef. This time though he is one of the villain’s. It’s a good movie. I enjoyed  Eli Wallach as Tuco. Once more you have the music on point with  The Ecstasy of Gold. I heard that song years earlier when Metallica would use it. My last thought on this trilogy is I do love how Eastwood is always smoking those little cigars. I have read though he actually hated them.

“ You see, in this world there's two kinds of people, my friend: Those with loaded guns and those who dig. You dig. “

5. “Two Mules for Sister Sara” 1970

This one is a film I really liked. It doesn’t seem to be as serious as the previous I’ve listed above. It actually has quite a few comedic moments in it. I think one of the best parts of the movie is after Hogan (Eastwood) saves Sara from impending doom. She gets dressed and comes back out in her nun gear. Once Hogan realizes she is a known his expression is great then he exclaims “Jesus Christ”. I noticed this movie had blood in it. A lot of the earlier ones don’t. One guy gets his arm cut off and one takes a machete to the face. It’s a good movie and I enjoyed it. I should note the soundtrack or at least one song they play over at times in the film is a play on the title. It sounds like a mule actually braying. Pretty nifty. 

6. “Pale Rider” 1985

Another good movie. Eastwood is just known as the preacher in this movie. He helps out a prospect town from becoming a mining town. When the prospectors will not give up their land. A marshal and his deputies are sent in to get prospectors out. It’s hinted at that the marshal may know the preacher form the way he reacts after told his description. This is definitely one of my favorites though. It does get a little weird with the preacher having intercourse with a guy’s girlfriend. The action is great though. It should be noted that it’s been told that Eastwood’s charter is a ghost in this film. Richard Kiel is in this movie as well. He is a well established actor. Most likely known for playing Jaws in Moonraker. 

7. Outlaw Josey wales 1976

A lot of people like this movie. It’s Eastwoods only PG rated western. It’s once more a revenge type western. Josey’s family is murdered by the Union army and he joins a confederate group to get his revenge. I think one of the best parts in the movie is when Josey shoots the rope holding a ferry going across the river. Some of the Union soldiers horses fall into the river preventing them from reaching Wales. This movie is said to be George Strait’s favorite. I did find it funny that the old man in charge of the ferry was playing to both sides. If you were a Confederate he would sing “Dixie” if you were a Union solider he would sing “Battle hymn of the republic” Ever the opportunist I suppose. 

"Well Mr. Carpetbagger, we got something in this territory called a Missoura boat ride!"

"Well are ya' gonna pull those pistols or whistle Dixie?"

8.”High plains drifter” 1973

This movie could be almost a part of the man with no name trilogy. It’s just not as good. I liked the midget character named Mordecai . He is one of the best in the movie and funny. This is one of the movies where it’s possible that the stranger (Eastwood’s character) could be a ghost. Some people say he is the sheriff’s brother. Eastwood has said that himself. Then again some people say he is the ghost of the sheriff himself. It’s up to the viewer and how you choose to interpret it. This movie also marks the first movie Eastwood directed that was a western.

“You're going to look pretty silly with that knife sticking out of your ass.“

9. “Hang’em High” 1968

This was Eastwoods first major role in America. The Dollars trilogy had yet to come out over here in America. Jed  (Eastwoods character) is wrongfully hanged by a posse. He naturally seeks revenge after being rescued. He becomes a Marshal and winds up bringing some of the posse to justice. It also stars Pat Hingle. I really only know him from Tim Burton’s Batman. He played Commissioner Gordon. 

10. “Joe Kidd” 1972

To be honest with you this movie really doesn’t do anything for me at all. It’s not a bad movie but it’s not one that really captivates me either. It stars Robert Duvall as a rich/wealthy landowner trying to push Mexicans off of their land. He hires Eastwood’s character named Joe Kidd. It does have some decent moments. A pretty cool scene shows Kidd taking out a gunman upon a rock. The final fight is also pretty neat where Kidd drives a train through the bar.

Honorable Mentions: 

1.”Bronco Billy” 1980

This movie was on the list and I viewed it. I liked it. Eastwood plays a carnival showman. It’s your typical story of guy and girl don’t get along. Then as the movie progresses they start to get along and wind up with one another. It’s not a western but it has the theme. It does have  Scatman Crothers in it as Doc. Throw in a crooked lawyer and a crooked husband and this is the movie you have. 

2. “Paint your wagon” 1969 

This set during the gold rush. It is a musical though and you can get the soundtrack on itunes. I heard about this movie from The Simpsons years ago. It doesn’t have a western feel to me. Eastwood plays Pardner. It’s a cool little musical. It’s an interesting movie though. A Mormon has two wives and he sells one. Well Pardner and his partner Ben rum son played by Lee Marvin buys her. Elizabeth the wife that was purchased basically has two husbands. It’s really a good movie. My favorite song being “Wand’rin Star”

3. “The Beguiled” 1971

They had this movie on the list and there again I witched it. It’s certainly not a western. It’s okay. Eastwood kind of plays a bad guy in it but only to survive. Set in the Civil War era. He is an injured Union solider rescued by a little girl. She takes him to an all girls school. It should be noted that this is the only movie in which a character portrayed by Eastwood dies. 

[daleisgreat]

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

A movie podcast I listen to, The Big Picture, did a recent episode on the 10th anniversary of 2010’s Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (trailer). Coincidentally enough, that film remains in my backlog box all these years later, so I made sure to re-watch it before giving that podcast a listen. For those unfamiliar with this film, it is based on a series of six graphic novels of the same name by Bryan Lee O’Malley released between 2004 and 2010. The basic gist is that Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) falls for newcomer to town, Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). In order to win her over Pilgrim has to defeat Ramona’s “Seven Evil Ex’s.” Scott spends the rest of the film exploring Ramona’s mysterious past and dueling her ex’s while practicing with his band, Sex Bo-Bomb, as they progress through a battle of the bands tournament. Sex Bo-Bomb is one slick act! Stephen Stills (Mark Webber) is the doom-and-gloom frontman of the band. Kim Pine (Alison Pill) is a 2010 take on Daria and effectively nails her vintage expressionless glares and blunt quips. Young Neil (Johnny Simmons) is the affable, DS-loving, always ready alternate for Sex Bo-Bomb. Their #1 fan and also other girlfriend of Scott Pilgrim is one Knives Chau (Ellen Wong). Knive’s arc is probably my favorite of this ensemble cast as her journey from adoring fan and girlfriend to her final destination is a fascinating quest to see develop and a faithful translation from the books.

I first heard of the books on the videogame podcast, Team Fremont Live where they reviewed the first book and their breakdown of it caught my attention when they dissected all the nonstop videogame references that are peppered regularly throughout it. The film captures that imagery to a T where it feels like Pilgrim is living in a real life videogame. In this world suspending disbelief is required because it is jam-packed with extraordinarily choreographed battle scenes, makes anyone capable of instantly pulling off bombastic martial arts moves in the blink of an eye without any training whatsoever, and quirky little animations of objects like Mario Bros.-esque coins and pixelated items inserted throughout that any videogame fan will pick up on. The fighting game fan in me popped a little each time a thunderous “KO” blared out each time Pilgrim emerged victorious after an evil ex duel. As a lifelong fan of videogames, it was fun picking up on all the references and Easter eggs in the background throughout. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World hit at an interesting time where Michael Cera was the only established star at this point in 2010 and was riding the last wave of critical success coming off of Arrested Development, Superbad and Juno. Brandon Routh is noteworthy appearing here as one of the evil ex’s after flaming out in his single appearance in a Superman film. However, a few other stars are here right before they exploded into bigger success like the aforementioned Mary Elizabeth Winstead. Chris Evan is here as another evil-ex shortly after his two Fantastic Four films, but a year before donning the Captain America costume for the first time. Anna Kendrick is here in a small role as Scott’s sister Stacey while in the midst of her initial Twighlight run. Finally, Brie Larson is here as Scott’s evil-ex, Envy Adams and she is the lead for her band, Clash at Demonhead in my personal favorite musical performance of the film as they belt out “Black Sheep.”

It is worth repeating that I highly recommend suspending all disbelief going into Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and simply roll with it. The battle scenes are a hoot to take in and feature a ton of CG that holds up well ten years later. It is also worth pointing out this film is part absurd videogame battles, part early 20s love triangle drama and to a lesser extent part musical with several performances from Sex Bo-Bomb and other bands throughout the film. Director Edgar Wright tracked down a few bands to play the tracks for some of the featured bands in the film such as Beck performing the handful of Sex Bo-Bomb songs in addition to a slew of other tracks from artists like The Rolling Stones and Blood Red Shoes that perfectly supplement the outlandish tone of the film. It is not too often on here I recommend hunting down the soundtracks for a film, but the soundtrack for Scott Pilgrim vs. the World I wholeheartedly recommend! I think the Scott Pilgrim vs. the World BluRay may have set the record for amount of extra features for a single film in the near seven years of movies I have covered on this blog. A rough tally on my notes gives an approximate sum of nearly five hours of bonuses, and then four feature length commentary tracks on top of that! I will not detail every bonus, but will give some highlights of the ones that stood out for me. There is just under a half hour of deleted scenes with or without commentary from Edgar Wright. Most of them are extended scenes from the first act to trim out excess background info, but an alternate ending is what stood out the most that Wright explained he changed because it did not go over that well in test screenings. I can always appreciate a good blooper reel, and an excellent 10 minute reel is compiled here that I would rate right up with the stellar ones in the Marvel films.

There are three features grouped together in the ‘Docs’ section of the extras tallying up to a little over an hour. If you only had time for one of the five hours of bonuses I would go there because that has the core making of documentary which breaks down collaborating with Bryan Lee ‘O Malley, nailing the casting, detailing the extensive stunt training and interviews several of the bands about being featured in the soundtrack. Speaking of the soundtrack, there are four music videos included. Definitely check out the four minute animated short, Scott Pilgrim vs. Animation that is essentially a prequel to the film that dives into Scott and Kim’s former relationship. There are 12 ‘Video Blogs’ totaling 45 minutes that are raw on set interviews with the cast and crew between takes that sees the crew up to all kinds of mischief to kill downtime. This BluRay easily has the largest photo gallery of any home video I have covered with several hundred photos. One gallery is labeled ‘storyboards’ but each storyboard panel is nearly identical to the excellent quality of the art in Bryan Lee O’Malley books so that is essentially a free comic book adaptation of the movie buried in the extras! I experienced all four of the commentary tracks in one re-watch of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World via jumping around to a different commentary about every five minutes. Edgar Wright is on two of them, one with Bryan Lee ‘O Malley and writer Michael Bocall and the other with photography director Bill Pope. The other two commentaries are split among nine cast members, with Michael Cera and the rest of the leading cast on one and the ancillary cast members on the other cast commentary track. Wright has tons of nonstop insight and production facts on his tracks, and the cast tracks are have a lot of fun anecdotes such as Cera failing at trying to get additional people on the commentary via phone call. On top of the commentary I had on during my re-watch was also a factoid subtitle track to really take in the extra features. Despite going on now for three paragraphs about the bonus features, I think I only touched on about half of what is available, and it is truly astonishing to see how much they crammed into one BluRay disc.

A part of me thought going into this that Scott Pilgrim vs. the World would not hold up after 10 years. I would chalk that up to thinking I may have got easily won over with all the hype from being vastly into the books back then and being too caught up into the build to the film’s initial release. I can put those reservations to rest thankfully as I immensely enjoyed this ode to videogame fandom as much as I first did in 2010. Throw in a plethora of extra features to last all year to make Scott Pilgrim vs. the World one of my highest recommendations yet! If you want even more commentary from me about this film than below I have embedded the podcast I originally recorded 10 years ago shortly after seeing the film on its opening weekend. I bring on a couple other special guest hosts that are also ardent Scott Pilgrim fans and we review the film, soundtrack, the books and the videogame. Enjoy!

I brought on a couple other Scott Pilgrim experts on as guest hosts on my podcast to review the film, books, videogame and soundtrack shortly after they all released 10 years ago. Check it out in the embed above for more Scott Pilgrim goodness or click or press here to queue it up for later. Other Random Backlog Movie Blogs 3 12 Angry Men (1957) 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown 21 Jump Street The Accountant Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie Atari: Game Over The Avengers: Age of Ultron The Avengers: Infinity War Batman: The Dark Knight Rises Batman: The Killing Joke Batman: Mask of the Phantasm Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice Bounty Hunters Cabin in the Woods Captain America: Civil War Captain America: The First Avenger Captain America: The Winter Soldier Christmas Eve Clash of the Titans (1981) Clint Eastwood 11-pack Special The Condemned 2 Countdown Creed I & II Deck the Halls Detroit Rock City Die Hard Dredd The Eliminators The Equalizer Dirty Work Faster Fast and Furious I-VIII Field of Dreams Fight Club The Fighter For Love of the Game Good Will Hunting Gravity Grunt: The Wrestling Movie Guardians of the Galaxy Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 Hell Comes to Frogtown Hercules: Reborn Hitman I Like to Hurt People Indiana Jones 1-4 Ink The Interrogation Interstellar Jay and Silent Bob Reboot Jobs Joy Ride 1-3 Last Action Hero Major League Man of Steel Man on the Moon Man vs Snake Marine 3-6 Merry Friggin Christmas Metallica: Some Kind of Monster Mortal Kombat Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpions Revenge National Treasure National Treasure: Book of Secrets Not for Resale Pulp Fiction The Replacements Reservoir Dogs Rocky I-VIII Running Films Part 1 Running Films Part 2 San Andreas ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Shoot em Up Slacker Skyscraper Small Town Santa Steve Jobs Source Code Star Trek I-XIII Sully Take Me Home Tonight TMNT The Tooth Fairy 1 & 2 UHF Veronica Mars Vision Quest The War Wild The Wizard Wonder Woman The Wrestler (2008) X-Men: Apocalypse X-Men: Days of Future Past

[honeylikewords]

Talk to me about all the mandalorian.

THANK G O D 

OKAY SO HERE I GO

MAJOR WARNINGS FOR POTENTIAL SPOILERS FOR THE MANDALORIAN BELOW! I’m going to do my best not to spoil anything too important, but if you want to be totally safe, here’s your warning!

So! I have a lot of feelings about it! First and foremost, I really enjoyed this first episode; I watched it three times, and noticed new stuff every time!

One of my most major takeaways is how noticeably more “western”-like this series is; the entire Star Wars series is very inspired by westerns and is very much about “space cowboys”, but The Mandalorian definitely is very reflective of being a spaghetti western. I likened it to the Dollars Trilogy and specifically matched the character of the titular Mandalorian to the Man With No Name, the Clint Eastwood character who starred in all three of the films comprising the Dollars Trilogy (The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly and more). 

Like that Clint Eastwood character, the Mandalorian speaks very little, has no canon name (so far), is of mysterious, roaming origins, is covered from view (in place of the hat and serape, the Mandalorian has his helmet and cape), and seems to be a neutral character with heroic and villainous qualities alike, but having some soft spots, as many stoic, masculine figures of westerns are wont to have. The Man With No Name is also, himself, a bounty hunter. 

Hell, even that shot he takes during the finale of the bar fight? He poses just like Clint Eastwood. 

The music and opening bar scene are also INCREDIBLY western-y. I loved it. The moment the Mandalorian stepped onto screen, it was all shivers and joy. The music really adds to the experience, with those flute-y, wavering notes, and the intensity of the opening theme. When I was re-watching the episode for the third time with my little brother, I noticed him start to unconsciously move his head to the intense beat the opening lays down, and it was a really cool testament to how entrancing the soundtrack is, and how it adds to the immersion and, well, badass-ery of the episode. 

Also, throwaway note, I love how they canonize “life day”, now, from the Star Wars Holiday Special. Oh, the infamous special… wherein the animated sequence featured Boba Fett using a weapon very similar to the Mandalorian’s current one! The pronged rifle wasn’t really seen anywhere else, as far as I know, so I like to think it’s an intentional, tongue-in-cheek nod to that Special.

I also have to talk about how amazing Pedro Pascal’s acting is for this. His face is covered, his whole body is covered, and yet he’s able to convey so much emotion through tiny gestures; even things down to using just his pinky to point at a droid while he’s holding a gun, he’s got nailed. His body language and vocal choices (when he does choose to speak) say leagues about our character without ever having to say anything, and it tells us even more when he chooses to stay silent. I think Pedro Pascal is doing a fantastic job; I’m in love with this character already!

It’s pretty clear that our Mandalorian isn’t going to be a super bad guy. Just from what we have in the first episode, it’s pretty transparent that he’s not a big fan of the Empire, and was likely a victim of theirs, in some way or another. I don’t want to say anything too definite– I certainly don’t expect our Mando to become some great hero of the Resistance– but I do think that we can extrapolate that he has pretty negative feelings about the Empire and its businesses from what we see of him, from his rejecting Empire credits as payment (instead taking half of what he’s owed in a different currency, forgoing the other half entirely just on principle, it seems) to the melting of the Empire symbol away from a slab of his people’s specialized ore, to his clear hesitation when entering the room of Stormtroopers and speaking with the man wearing the Empire-symbol medal. 

There’s also the scenes wherein he offers the old man extra payment, saying “please, you deserve this”, being more gentle with an animal and successfully taming it, and That Thing He Does At The End (which is a major spoiler but certainly changes the entire game!), all of which show that he definitely has a softer side to him. That’s not to say he’s going to be a perfectly noble man, but I do believe he’s going to be a good guy for us to root for, even if he’s played a little “morally grey” (like Han in the first film). 

I also like that he’s not played to be perfectly perfect at everything. Him struggling to learn to ride a blurrg was actually really endearing, and performing the aforementioned taming of the blurrg was, likewise, very sweet. Seeing him fall on his ass and grumpily storm off to ask if he could rent a speeder was so fun, and allowed us, the audience, to see him a little bit more humanly; sure, he’s efficient and capable, but he isn’t automatically awesome at everything. Sometimes, things go wrong for him, and that makes him more relatable and less pedestalled and statuesque.

It was also cute to see him getting frazzled during the shootout and while also trying to keep IG-11 under control. He still had mastery and command over his situation, but I loved how so much more emotion came into his voice and he was clearly expressing way more widely, shouting and grumbling and snarking and just generally allowing himself to be more emotive. It was kind of adorable!

Also the “I can bring you in warm… or cold” was… ooh boy.

Anyway.

I could definitely spin a lot of yarns based on what we’ve seen, and I do think I know where things are going, or what certain lines or details in the episode might connect to, but I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself or accidentally spoil anything. I want to go into this wide-eyed and excited, and I’m ready for what comes next!

I can’t wait for the next episode to come out this Friday so I can unpack even more!

[irishrebelvoice]

Kelly's Heroes - Burning Bridges (Movie Soundtrack)

Kelly’s Heroes – Burning Bridges (Movie Soundtrack)

Kelly’s Heroes is a 1970 war movie about some opportunism within the US army as they discover a massive cache of gold being guarded by the SS. The enterprising individuals, led by Kelly – played by Clint Eastwood – set out to try to acquire the precious metal for their own use.

Although it’s a solid war movie with plenty of action, it’s also fairly tongue-in-cheek. There is a strong cast with the…

[aintitfunkynow]

2023 Clint Eastwood Project #13 - The Good, The Bad & The Ugly (1966) (1/28/23) Actor. The third pairing of Eastwood and director Leone is easily one of the best films of both the Western and War genres. Eastwood has solidified his movie star status. Add to that one of the most memorable soundtracks by Morricone. It's got the Civil War and classic Western tropes but at the heart It's the classic bag of gold greed story that drives so many films. Just beautiful in every way. https://www.instagram.com/p/Cn98yrDvklLzj2aBVadC1b-3JmMQKfqs7-dpAk0/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[ryanmeft]

Three Movies That Deserve Criterion Editions, 5-27-2018

Crime films are among the most popular genres. Yet, while slick, stylish fare like the Ocean’s series or Fast and the Furious draw the greatest share of box office revenue, real-world crime is more often ugly, vicious, and not the least bit sexy, something this week’s films know all to well. Note that my predictions for whether these will ever be on the Collection are based entirely on my own gut feeling.

A Simple Plan (1998)

A morality play about the corroding effects of money on the souls of men, Sam Raimi’s sadly forgotten crime film owes a debt to Fargo and Of Mice and Men. It strikes its own identity by setting a tale as dark as night against wholesome midwestern living in a winter wonderland backdrop. A bag of money literally falls out of the sky, and three men, two of them brothers in fact and two others in blood, make a pact to ensure they keep it. Predictably, things go wrong. One of Raimi’s genius touches that sets this apart is in casting the wonderful, too-rarely-seen Bridget Fonda as someone you think will be a cliche womanly voice of reason, but turns out to fall quite as easily as the men. Between the performances of her, Billy Bob Thornton, and the recently late and greatly missed Bill Paxton, this shifty, bloody story without a shred of the relieving dark humor of the Coen’s masterpiece is a disquieting look into nature’s scariest animal.

Chances of seeing it: 50%. This one is hard to say. The only time I can find mention of Raimi at Criterion’s site is pondering whether he saw the early camp horror film Equinox before making Evil Dead. The Collection has quite a few overlooked noir classics from the heyday of the genre, and it’d be great to add in a more modern take, as well.

The Proposition (2005)

“...plays like a western moved from Colorado to Hell,” said the late Roger Ebert. He wasn’t blowing smoke. American westerns in the good old days always had to have a clear good guy and a clear bad guy, and even the darker spaghetti westerns popularized by Sergio Leone and Clint Eastwood weren’t quite as blood red as advertised. John Hillcoat’s film about a savage outlaw sent to kill his savagely deranged older brother so that his mentally challenged younger brother might be spared the rope is, to put it mildly, not fucking around. Set in late 19th century Australia, this is a place populated by the merciless, idiotic, delusional and cruel, but never in any measure the heroic. The protagonist participated in a crime so heinous that to portray it in anything but the sporadic glimpses we get might make even the strongest stomachs sick, but at some point you realize he is simply one of many terrible results of a world that seems run by demons. Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, Emily Watson and Danny Huston give performances tinged with terror both experienced and inflicted, we get a small-but-wonderfully-touched role from the greatly missed John Hurt, and the entire thing is backed by a moody, dusty score from Nick Cave and Warren Ellis.

Chances of seeing it: 50%. This one already has a Blu-Ray release, but given you’ll never see anything else like it from the typically tradition-beholden western genre, it deserves to be on the Collection, rather than languishing away on an edition most will likely never come across. Oh, and Criterion, if you do this? See if you can get the soundtrack as a supplement. It’s amazingly gorgeous and haunting for such a bleak film.

Hard Eight (1996)

Unless you were actively looking for it, chances are slim you’ve seen Paul Thomas Anderson’s first feature film. Unlike most of his later filmography, it does not attempt to analyze human nature or break the rules of movies. Instead, it’s simply---and I use that world lightly---an update of the classic noir formula made appropriate for the much less idealistic 90’s. Just as The Proposition took westerns and truly made good on their promises of bleak and hopeless worlds, so Hard Eight does with noir, taking out any semblance of a hero---even Jake Gittes would be a hopeless romantic here---and in their place giving us pimps, hookers, pushers, an all-around soot-blackened rainbow of desperate people. From the moment a stranger offers a drifter a leg up in life, the film never quite zags the way you expect. Even in this, his first outing, the strength of Anderson’s talent managed to attract a cast any director would envy, including John C. Reilly, Samuel L. Jackson and Philip Seymour Hoffman. The standout performances, however, belong to the severely underrated Philip Baker Hall as an altruistic old man with a secret, and to a pre-Goop Gwyneth Paltrow playing hard against later type as a drug-addicted hooker. It would be almost two decades before Anderson again made a film about such “ordinary” subject matter, but as proven with last year’s Phantom Thread, ordinary is such an elusive word when here applied.

Chances of seeing it: 80%. I’m rolling the dice here. Do you know why? Because after spending years in limbo, Anderson sort of kind of said he was working on a Blu-Ray release in an AMA about Phantom Thread. Someone in the conversation even asked if it was going to be Criterion, and it damn well better, because after a half century of waiting they’re just about the only ones who can do this thing justice.

That’s all for this week, guys. I have no teases this time for anyone who might like to predict these, as I haven’t decided what I’m going to cover next time yet. It’s a toss up between the best of Michael Bay and the Star Wars Christmas Special. See you next time.

[hadarlaskey]

RIP Ennio Morricone – Eleven essential compositions

This morning, at a hospital in Rome, the great Italian composer and musician Ennio Morricone passed away at the ripe age of 91. The instant that the sad news broke, social media channels were flooded with an outpouring of sympathy for the most esteemed name in film scoring, each message of condolence complete with its poster’s choice for their favorite Morricone soundtrack cut.

It’s striking how varied the picks have been, a testament to the longevity and prolific nature of the late great’s discography. Over a staggering eight decades, he worked at a consistent pace for an eclectic host of collaborators, from the Spaghetti Western classics of Sergios Leone and Corbucci to the bloody fever dreams of Dario Argento to Stateside productions headed by John Carpenter, Brian De Palma, and Quentin Tarantino. And while his death inspires the expected twinge of melancholy, we can also take this as an opportunity to survey the vast body of work this peerless artist leaves behind.

Below, we’ve assembled a brief playlist of 11 choice cuts covering the breadth of Morricone’s expansive oeuvre. Given that he worked on hundreds of films, consider this a jumping-off point…

1. ‘Concerto No.1 for Orchestra’, 1957

Morricone began his career in what some call “absolute” classical music, composed for its own free-standing sake rather than for soundtracking purposes. He started writing for voice and piano in the ’40s, before he was even out of his teen years, building a foundation of orchestral knowledge that would factor prominently into the opulence and diverse instrumentation of his later work. Below, we have one of his more expansive and ambitious ‘absolute’ works from this early period, characterized by the same tone of palpable tension – dread, even – that would come to be his trademark.

2. ‘The Ecstasy of Gold’ – The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, 1966

Morricone got his feet wet in film during the ’50s and early ’60s as an arranger, devising the orchestration for other composer’s scores. He got his first “Music By” credit all his own in 1961 on the film The Fascist, a politically charged military drama, and made his way to the world of Spaghetti westerns that he would come to call home with Gunfight at Red Sands two years later.

He fully arrived with his career-defining work on Sergio Leone’s Dollars trilogy, in particular his triumphant backing to its final chapter. As Eli Wallach’s bandito Tuco searches for a cache of hidden gold, we hear the wailing of singer Edda Dell’Orso, a melody that gets a refrain later on in the Mexican standoff against Clint Eastwood’s Man with No Name. The grandiose, cathartic uplift has made this Morricone’s most well-known and oft-alluded-to pieces; the jackasses of Jackass used the tune to open their second feature film, for just one example.

3. ‘Navajo Joe’ – Navajo Joe, 1966 

While the names of Morricone and Leone would eventually come to be seen as somewhat synonymous with one another, the musician got around during the ’60s and ’70s. He was credited with a dumbfounding fourteen feature credits in the year 1966 alone, three of them bona fide all-timers: the one cited above, his brisk military marches for Gillo Pontecorvo’s immortal war film The Battle of Algiers, and the selection below.

He went to more experimental places for Sergio Corbucci’s racially problematic shoot-em-up, in which Burt Reynolds portrayed a Navajo warrior fighting off marauders threatening his tribe. The primal screaming that opens the track – memorably interpolated in Alexander Payne’s Election as a leitmotif of deep-seated rage – speaks to Morricone’s spirit as a self-professed experimentalist, always on the hunt for unfamiliar sounds that he could integrate into his work to make it unlike anyone else’s.

4. ‘Rotativa’ – Per un pugno di samba (with Chico Buarque), 1970

As his fame in Italy’s booming film industry grew, Morricone never allowed himself to lapse into a creative rut, or grow distant from his roots in the concert hall. To that effect, he joined forces with the Brazilian guitar virtuoso Chico Buarque for an album that bridges the gap between his soothing, gentle bossa nova/samba stylings and Morricone’s symphonic might.

It’s a demonstration of their shared versatility, a unique talent to slip into any genre or musical tradition and recognize the building blocks required to fit in perfectly. Buarque and Morricone would go on to release two more record together after the millennium, a touching illustration of the widespread respect and admiration Morricone commanded among his peers in all stripes of music.

5. ‘Piume di Cristallo’ – The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, 1970

By the time the ’70s rolled around, everyone in the Italian film biz wanted a piece of Morricone, a popularity that brought him to unexpected places, including the bloodstained glass interiors of Dario Argento. The maestro of giallo, the Italian movement of lurid cheapo slasher pictures, enlisted Morricone for his career-best Animal Trilogy comprising The Cat O’ Nine Tails, Four Flies on Grey Velvet, and the high-water mark The Bird with the Crystal Plumage.

Delving into horror opened up new realms of eerie, inhuman noise for Morricone, who opened the title track with little more than tinkling chimes, creepily intimate cooing, and a thin organ line to back it. While Argento’s more known for his team-ups with the prog-rock band Goblin, Morricone still had a significant role in codifying the singularly unsettling sound of giallo.

6. ‘Regan’s Theme (Floating Sound)’ – The Exorcist II: The Heretic, 1977

Morricone made his mark on Hollywood in the magic year of 1966, with some uncredited contributions to John Huston’s biblical epic The Bible: In the Beginning. He would come to land more high-profile American gigs in the years to come, though he would become famous for his reluctance to leave Italy, or develop any fluency in English.

While John Boorman’s sequel to the hall-of-fame horrorshow The Exorcist has been largely (and, for the most part, rightly) pilloried, even the severest critics can agree that Morricone’s score represents the most redeemable component of the film. Bringing his slinking giallo guitars across the Atlantic, he sets the scene with the utmost eeriness, a slow-rolling mist preceding the great demonic hurricane the film will whip up.

7. ‘Days of Heaven’ – Days of Heaven, 1978

When viewers think back on the music of Terrence Malick’s epic of divine ruin in the heartland, they most likely remember the opening credits set to the cascading Aquarium movement from Camille Saint-Saëns’ ‘Carnival of the Animals’. But Morricone shared the proper Music By credit with guitarist Leo Kottke, the two of them bringing a magisterial sweep befitting the biblical proportions of Malick’s story.

The music attests to Morricone’s unique ability to disappear into setting; whether through melody or arrangement, we can perceive time (1916) and place (the Texas panhandle). While he never occupied an especially major place in the American arthouse, working mainly in Europe and in a mixed bag of Hollywood productions (for every The Untouchables, there’s an Adrian Lyne’s Lolita), he delivered a true masterpiece when called on by Malick.

8. ‘The Thing (Theme)’ – The Thing, 1982

A composer who begins his career as mature and fully-formed as Morricone runs the risk of stagnating as the years go by. It’s not easy to continuously evolve as an artist when you work for nearly an entire century, but to Morricone’s credit he constantly challenged himself to push outward into new territory. There’s something revelatory about his accompaniment to John Carpenter’s monster mash down in the forbidding tundras of Antarctica.

He achieved an indelible iciness by going minimal and adopting the emergent synthesizer, emitting an electronic pulse that throbs like a computerized heartbeat. While not typical of the Morricone corpus, this has turned into a point of entry for many young cinephiles, stricken by the exceptional score and rushing to google what else the composer’s done.

9. ‘Serene Family’ – Disclosure, 1994

One of Morricone’s more unlikely jobs paired him with Barry Levinson on this 1994 erotic thriller, a film best described as “of its era”. (Business executive Michael Douglas must clear his good name from the false sexual harassment accusations of vindictive ladder-climber Demi Moore. A different time!) While the track list boasts some great titles – give a listen to ‘Unemployed!’ or ‘Sex, Power, and Computers’ – the opening number stands out for showing Morricone’s softer side.

Without sacrificing the rich string lines he so adores, Morricone spins an image of domestic tranquility between a family soon to be torn asunder by scandal. It can be helpful to think of Morricone as an outdoor composer trying to bring his style inside, taking on a dialogue-driven drama as a departure from his usual work in bigger, more kinetic pictures. He manages both stances with grace.

10. ‘L’Eau, the One’ – Dolce and Gabbana campaign, 2009

Morricone did his fair share of ad work, packaging little minute-long snippets of his music for the likes of Telecom Italia and pasta manufacturer Barilla. (It pains me that I can’t find a YouTube clip of the Italian Chef Boyardee commercial Morricone did in 1990, in which little Hector Boyardee  vows to become a great chef and make delicious food for all the children after a teacher ladles him a serving of unsatisfactory polenta.)

A 2009 campaign for Dolce and Gabbana featuring Scarlett Johansson as an international screen idol sitting for a sexy interview nearly tips into self-parody, as if she’s doing her best impression of Anita Ekberg in La Dolce Vita. Morricone’s in on the bit, his swooning violins and piano plinks emulating the glamour of Old Hollywood. This was part of what made him such a great, enduring talent: the ability to see what each individual assignment called for, and adapting to fit it.

11. ‘The Last Stage to Red Rock’ – The Hateful Eight, 2015

The final stage of Morricone’s career saw him easing up on his incomprehensible rate of output, easing into his station as an elder statesman of film music. To such worshipful filmmakers as Quentin Tarantino, who tapped Morricone for the foreboding Hateful Eight score that won the master his only non-honorary Oscar, he was a living allusion.

Inserting him in a Western tucked away in snowy wilderness serves as a double nod to his past work on spaghettis and The Thing, suggesting that present-day Morricone can be used as a reference to himself. (Tarantino has been a longtime booster, dropping samples into Kill Bill, Death Proof, Inglourious Basterds, and Django Unchained.) Unlike so many geniuses, Morricone lived to see his legacy borne out, an influence that’s shaped the last sixty years of Westerns and other action pictures. He’s in a class by himself.

The post RIP Ennio Morricone – Eleven essential compositions appeared first on Little White Lies.

source https://lwlies.com/articles/ennio-morricone-best-compositions/

[pigballoon]

The Beguiled

(Sofia Coppola, 2017)

It’s something to see how two different filmmakers can adapt the same book, change very little, use much of the same dialogue, and yet come away with two completely different movies. In 1971, Don Siegel and Clint Eastwood, just before unleashing Dirty Harry, adapted Thomas P. Cullinan’s A Painted Devil for the screen, and produced a movie that while full of various little subtleties, and lined with some grander subtext, essentially on the surface produced a horror movie for men, riffing on the grand old idea of how hell hath no fury, etc.

Born that same year was Sofia Coppola, and over 40 years later she reintroduces the story to society, only this time it’s not a movie catering to straight white men in an era where they find the walls closing in around them, and a society less ready to stand for their crap, but a movie for women, and the perils to which they can so easily fall victim.

Indeed, Coppola removes a lot of the aforementioned subtleties in Siegel’s movie, producing instead a far more black and white tale of one cad, and all the innocents at his mercy. In doing so, while obviously unable to eradicate some of the ideas inherent in the story, primarily of the potentially destructive effects of isolation on a community, it also completely transforms, sometimes intentionally, sometimes I think not so much, a fair deal of what that movie did, and comes out with what while still entirely worthwhile in its own way, is a far simpler, more straightforward movie.

In doing that, one of the things it does is rob Nicole Kidman of so much of the ambiguity that allowed Geraldine Page to knock this role out of the park. Kirsten Dunst fares far better, giving another in her recent line of gloriously low key turns, knowing just where to look when, knowing how to inject each line delivery with just the right inflections at just the right points to radiate complete and utter fragility. Colin Farrell is blessed by the fact he isn’t required to put on an accent, and blesses the movie with the fact that without seeming to do much at all, he effortlessly projects precisely the qualities his director needs him too. Elle Fanning too continues to round out her filmography, and like the others manages to reflect a lot while doing a little.

That goes for this Beguiled overall, Coppola’s movie is in true (mostly) Coppola fashion a very quiet movie in comparison to Siegel’s more heart on its sleeve melodrama. That low key approach to such bombastic material is a nice touch, and probably Coppola’s greatest move on this project, transforming it from what could easily be all out black comic absurdity into something that better channels the innocence and naivety that aids her in making her point.

I just can’t say that I like a lot of the alterations that she makes. Altering a piece of material to communicate different feelings is fine, but when some of your changes make your movie less interesting without doing much to make up for what’s lost, it’s tough to say they were worthwhile. Other aspects of the story she attempts to be adapting in different ways, only to go nowhere with them. Siegel filmed characters constantly fretting about the nearby war, in more cinematic fashion this version replaces said verbalization with a gorgeous ambient soundtrack of cannonfire in the distance. Only that’s it, it doesn’t seem to spend any time at all detailing said wars impact on its characters psychologies. The final dinner scene also removes a moment of eating that alters the movies ending more than you can ever imagine a character not eating something could ever transform a film.

Ultimately, while it is always nice to see a filmmaker like Sofia Coppola reappear, and keep the family name alive and well, and it’s doubly nice to see so personal a filmmaker able to operate on a level of production that she hasn’t been able to in a decade, and while The Beguiled certainly fits comfortably into her pantheon of explorations of the effects of varying kinds of loneliness and isolation on young women, it probably works a lot better if you avoid seeing the previous screen incarnation of the story, because all this one really ultimately has on that one are a more lifelike pet turtle, and in true Sofia Coppola fashion, courtesy of the magical lensing of Philippe Le Sourd, some of the most gorgeous imagery you’ll see in a movie this year.

[tcm]

Desert Noir: Wherein writer Jeremy Arnold takes us through a weekend at the Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival in Palm Springs

For the fourth year in a row, I drove to Palm Springs this May not for music festivals or partying but for NOIR. Film noir. Strange as it may seem, the bright, blinding sun and heat of the desert is actually a perfect setting in which to settle down for 72 hours of dark, rain-soaked streets, shady guys in fedoras and the wicked dames who wreck their lives.

For its 18th annual edition, The Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival offered 12 classic movies (11 of them in 35mm prints), from Thursday evening, May 11, through Sunday afternoon, May 14. Named for the longtime (and now deceased) Palm Springs resident and film historian who founded it, The Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival is presented at the Camelot Theater by the Palm Springs Cultural Center and programmed and hosted by film historian Alan K. Rode. Rode is also director/treasurer of the Film Noir Foundation, founded by Eddie Muller, who was also on hand to present some of this festival’s screenings. Eddie, of course, is the host of TCM’s new Noir Alley series, which airs every Saturday morning at 10am, and Turner Classic Movies was one of the festival’s official sponsors this year. A third host, film scholar Foster Hirsch, is also on the Board of Directors of the Film Noir Foundation.

Joining noir experts Alan, Eddie and Foster for some of this year’s films were special guests Monika Henreid (daughter of Paul Henreid), Sara Karloff (daughter of Boris Karloff) and actor Andy Robinson.

I always enjoy making the trip to Palm Springs for this festival because it has a wonderfully relaxed atmosphere. The screenings are always pretty full, but there’s never a rush to get in. The Camelot Theatre has comfy, spacious seats and a nice, big screen (plus good popcorn). The films are spaced out at 10am, 1pm, 4pm and 7:30pm, and with short running times it’s easy to head back to the hotel or go grab a meal between shows and still get back in time for the next picture. And finally, everyone you meet is incredibly nice and enthusiastic. I really couldn’t recommend it more highly for classic movie fans.

Visit the festival’s website for more information and mark your calendars for May 2018!

Meanwhile, here’s a brief rundown of the movies and presentations I took in this year...

THURSDAY, MAY 11

HOLLOW TRIUMPH  [also known as THE SCAR] (’48) opened the festival and looked great in its 35mm print. I’ve always loved this movie for its utterly crackpot story (even in an era of movies FULL of crackpot stories!) and for the work of its leading man, Paul Henreid, who also produced (and partially directed, uncredited). As guest Monika Henreid explained in conversation with Alan Rode, her father liked the script because it gave him a chance to stretch himself. He wanted to move away from the debonair, romantic, Continental leading man that he had played so well in CASABLANCA (’42), and NOW VOYAGER (’42) and had been asked to play again and again ever since. In Hollow Triumph, Henreid is bad—twice over! The script by Daniel Fuchs has him playing TWO bad guys. Monika Henreid explained that the studio, Eagle-Lion, asked her dad to produce this picture as well as star in it because it was so low-budget that they couldn’t come anywhere close to his usual acting fee. This way, they were able to pay him to do both. Henreid enjoyed having the extra level of creative control, and Monika said he was “all over” this movie down to the choices of songs and operas heard on the soundtrack (his real-life favorites).

Joan Bennett is perfectly cast in a complex role and HOLLOW TRIUMPH is satisfyingly layered with delicious ironies. Henreid’s principal character is simply fated to not win, and there’s nothing more “noir” than that—except perhaps noir maestro John Alton’s brilliant cinematography.

Following the screening, there was a friendly catered reception outside the theater to celebrate the opening night.

FRIDAY, MAY 12

Friday morning started with THE CHASE (’46), but having seen it recently, I opted for a little bit of “vacation” time and instead ambled to the Camelot a little later, for the 1pm screening of SIDE STREET (’50). This exceptional Anthony Mann directed picture, as Rode proclaimed in his intro, is one of the ultimate “shot on location in New York” noirs. Mann uses the claustrophobia of the city to great affect as he follows the story of Farley Granger’s mailman inadvertently getting mixed up in a mess far beyond his planning when he succumbs to the temptation of stealing “only” 200 bucks.

I love how the opening montage of New York skyscrapers comes back to figure prominently in the elaborate car-chase finale. The opening shots are not mere decoration or throwaway images; they function as a kind of unconscious visual foreshadowing, and their reappearance gives the film a satisfying visual unity. SIDE STREET was shot by Joseph Ruttenberg, a reminder that even without his frequent collaborator John Alton, Mann’s films were breathtakingly visual and dynamically lit and framed, proving Mann’s chops as a visual stylist himself. (Of course, Ruttenberg was also one of the great cameramen.)

Next up was ALL THE KING’S MEN (’49), which as Foster Hirsch said in his intro was “not visually noir, but philosophically, politically, emotionally noir.” Indeed, to see Broderick Crawford’s Willie Stark—modeled by novelist Robert Penn Warren on 1930s political populist Huey Long—racing to the top of the political world by the foulest of methods, I was not only reminded of the still-topical aspects of the story but of the way film noir can be described as a “world.” It’s as if Stark, who begins with his heart in the right place, falls into the noir world, is seduced by it, and can’t get out, or even know enough to want to get out. He catches the noir “virus,” which is very hard to cure.

Eddie Muller was back on hand to conclude the day with the stylish BLACK ANGEL (’46), because what would a film noir festival be without an appearance from Dan Duryea?!

SATURDAY, MAY 13

Saturday began with somewhat of a rarity, the “nuclear noir” SPLIT SECOND (’53), in which escaped convicts Stephen McNally and Paul Kelly take shelter in a Nevada ghost town with four hostages while an atom bomb test is set to go off less than a mile away in mere hours. This was the first film ever directed by Dick Powell, and as Foster Hirsch said in his introduction, Powell’s direction is as clipped, efficient and no-nonsense as his portrayal of Philip Marlowe was in Murder, My Sweet, which of course had represented another shift in talents for the former crooner Powell.  He directs excellent performances by all involved here including Arthur Hunnicutt, who seems to have wandered in from the set of a nearby western with his welcome, grizzled, western humor. Hunnicutt and everyone else are helped enormously by a tight script with the usual superb dialogue from William Bowers, one of the best dialogue writers in Hollywood history. If you ever get a chance to see any movie written by Bowers, take it. Is Split Second “noir”? Well, its visual look shifts from flat and bright to deep and shadowy when the hostage portion of the story begins and the ever-present knowledge of that atom bomb about to go off certainly lends fatalism, so I would say a resounding “yes.”

The 1pm screening was William Cameron Menzies’ excellent and little-known Columbia film ADDRESS UNKNOWN ('44). Well, perhaps not that little-known anymore - I had seen it just six weeks earlier at Noir City Hollywood, so no need to see it again here. But it’s well worth seeking out should you get the chance. Set in the years before World War II, it chronicles the dissolution of a close friendship between two German men and their families as the rise of Nazism tears them apart. Masterfully shot by Rudolph Mate, later a fine director himself, this one will stay with you.

MEET DANNY WILSON (’52) is another of those movies whose “noir” status is debatable at best, but as Eddie Muller said, “Any movie with Raymond Burr can be placed in a film noir festival.” Fair enough! He plays a gangster who spots the singing talent in Frank Sinatra when others seem unable to (for some strange reason) and signs him to a contract for his nightclub and beyond. Shelley Winters is a heart-of-gold chanteuse and the result is a “noir-stained musical.” This was Sinatra’s first credit to really show he could act dramatically, outside of pure musical roles, although he does sing six songs here extremely well.

Saturday evening, I got to meet the Scorpio Killer and lived to tell the tale. And he was actually a perfectly nice guy. Andy Robinson’s film debut was in DIRTY HARRY (’71) as that famous screen killer, but this night he was in Palm Springs for another ’70s classic, CHARLEY VARRICK (’73). I’d never seen this one, even though it’s directed by Don Siegel, one of my favorites. It did not disappoint. It has an entertaining story, terrifically taut action scenes, welcome humor, moves right along and it features a superb cast, starting with an unlikely Walter Matthau as a very clever bank robber who has a way with the ladies. Siegel originally offered the role to Clint Eastwood, who turned it down because he saw no redeeming qualities in the character when he read the script. I find that hard to believe because Matthau imbues the man with sympathetic qualities just by virtue of his own screen persona and the tone of his performance, and I think Eastwood would have accomplished the same. In any case, Matthau is very appealing here. In a conversation with Alan Rode afterward, Robinson said that Matthau was wondering aloud constantly during the shoot about why he was acting in this silly film, but when he saw the finished product he realized it was actually very good.

Robinson, meanwhile, was happy with his role as Matthau’s accomplice right off the bat. Just two or three years earlier, Robinson had been doing “off off off off Broadway” roles, when suddenly DIRTY HARRY “changed everything.” CHARLEY VARRICK was his second feature, and he was off and running in a long career that has focused mostly on television. His role as Garak in STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE was particularly noteworthy and he said that it “changed my career as much as Dirty Harry... I did some of the best acting in my life on DEEP SPACE NINE. That mask liberated me.”

Two other notes about CHARLEY VARRICK: the hood of a car pops open during a chase and that was not planned. Robinson said everyone simply improvised when it happened. And Joe Don Baker has never been better than as the entertainingly ruthless killer named “Molly” he plays here. See this movie!

SUNDAY, MAY 14

The final morning began with DESPERATE (’47), another masterful little film noir from Anthony Mann, but one that is not as often screened as T-MEN (’47), RAW DEAL (’48) or SIDE STREET (’50). This one was really Mann’s calling card, the first that truly bore his full-fledged stamp from beginning to end. Mann co-wrote the story, which follows Steve Brodie’s truck driver as he is tricked into taking part in a heist led by Raymond Burr; things go haywire, and Brodie and his pretty new bride (Audrey Long) must take it on the lam to some relatives in the country... although Burr is not giving up on finding them.

Desperate marks a rare leading role for Brodie, who is probably best known to noir fans as Robert Mitchum’s dangerous partner in OUT OF THE PAST (’47), which was released six months after DESPERATE. He is excellent in this role, as is Raymond Burr who brings more to the part than what’s written. So do Mann and his cameraman George Diskant, of course, shooting Burr from low angles and lighting to emphasize his ominous girth and demeanor.

Mann had little time or money to shoot films like DESPERATE, so he concentrated on the two or three set pieces that he could really show off stylistically, shooting the rest of the film quickly and more straightforwardly so as to allow time for scenes like the superb finale, a showdown between Brodie and Burr that shifts from a room to an apartment building staircase without losing an ounce of tension. Eddie Muller and Foster Hirsch introduced this one together and waxed poetic on some details that only noir fans could love. “This is the best swinging light bulb I know of,” said Foster. “And the best staircase in noir.” To which Eddie added with a grin, “Are we the ultimate nerds or what?”

My final movie was THE BODY SNATCHER (’45), one of producer Val Lewton’s excellent cycle of chillers for RKO. Lewton’s films are usually classified as “horror,” not “noir,” but a case could certainly be made. There may not be a strong sense of fatalism to the proceedings, but stylistically and visually, this looks like many noirs of the period. But really, who cares? It’s a great film, it looked crisp in 35mm and the cast includes Boris Karloff, Henry Daniell and Bela Lugosi, a film lover’s dream.

Karloff’s daughter Sara regaled the audience afterward in her conversation with Alan Rode. I had interviewed her myself at the TCM Classic Film Festival in April and she was as charming and funny as ever. She spoke of her father’s love of gardening and the theater and his work as a founding member of the Screen Actors Guild in 1933. He was one of the twelve founding members and was very proud of this accomplishment because of his own suffering during outrageously long hours on the set before union rules existed to prevent studios from abusing their actors in such ways. She also said that “FRANKENSTEIN was his 81st film, and, as he said, no one saw the first 80!” Indeed, it’s easy to forget that Karloff had such a long career even before his turn as The Monster really “started” it.

Sara also brought along some rare home movies of her father (with herself as a toddler). They included very rare color footage of Boris Karloff in makeup as Frankenstein’s monster. She narrated the home movies expertly, including the funny story of the time her Dad, having shaved his own head to star in TOWER OF LONDON ('39), shaved little Sara’s head while her mother was out of the house one day. Mom was not pleased!

There was a final film in the festival: Jules Dassin’s masterful NIGHT AND THE CITY (’50), one of the quintessential titles in all of film noir, but I had to hightail it out of Palm and get back to the mean streets of Los Angeles. I’m already looking forward to next year. And I hope that now, you are, too.

[bansheefunk]

Just watched: A bunch of pirated DVDs I found around the house.

8 nov '18, night I haven't watch a DVD in years but somehow this bulk found a way to my home, mostly from my sister, I think she saw these movies on her laptop but I didn't had a way to even play them. My sister ditched her old laptop, I took it, installed Windows 8.1 and I released that I can use it as a media player with ease, immediately these old DVDs came to my mind so I decided to actually watch them for the first time. Having physical media on my hands after so long feels super nostalgic. actually interacting with the movie as an object is an unique feeling we've lost, I've yearned for it and this has made me so happy.

The Baron of Arizona (1950) I have to admit I saw this movie last week but didn't feel like writing anything about it. My first thought was "This is the count of montecristo but backwards" because it's about a man who organizes a complex plot to better his life but as the movie goes on this persists showing that his well being is ruining the lives of other people. Is not a movie that challenges the viewer but it's a ruse so outlandish it makes for it.

The Steel Helmet (1951) I should point out these criterion movies I have are from a collection of the early films of Samuel Fuller, Who is Samuel Fuller? I don't know really. This movie was produced while the korea war was still gong on and you can tell they could not film on location. I'm very undecided if this movie is propaganda or not, it may even be sincere on it's language of support but if it's not then it fails terribly, it's too soft on its criticism and makes no attempt to show the worst parts of war or trying to humanize the enemy. This movie bothers me, I don't want to think it's sincere propaganda but offers really little out of it. After watching this movie I decided to write these impressions, it's trip worth going across.

15 nov 18, night I Shot Jesse James (1949) I didn't work!. my computer wasn't even able to read it! Cue Family Guy skit about the goodness of physical then it doesn't work.

Heat (1995) My first reaction was seeing this movie's play time and going all '3 fucking hours!' in disbelief. When I finally sat to watch it I was very surprised, all these big name actors, how come I never heard of this movie before? Possibly because it was never on TV because of '3 fucking hours!' Soon enough I was very charmed. this movie is well made and there is no other way to put it, everything from the photography to the performances everything deliverers the right point, like eating food at the exact temperature that you like adding more to the experience. When I first started watching I didn't release this movie was from 1995 and there is nothing in the movie that sets it on such year giving an authentic atemporal feeling. Still there is something grand about this movie, like if this was the top of what hollywood schlock could aspire to be, this is still a crime movie after all but a damn good one and I feel bad I never saw it before.

20 nov '18, night Skyfall (2012) I'm not the biggest James Bond fan, I've seen some of the movies when they're on TV, saw casino Royale on theaters and I'm familiar with the lore. I'm not a casual but I can't spout mindless trivia. The movie was quiet long, two and a half hours but it was so well photographed, why does this type of schlock always look so good? This entry tried to be a game changer for the franchise, we get new characters in the old roles, new offices for the M16 and they try to give Bond some character, it's all acknowledged and it's so strange because on the Bond films I've seen they don't pretend the new actors took over the previews one. Giving Bond some depth really disgusted me, Bond has mostly been like Tintin or Link, a blank slate for the viewer but now that Bond is a scotsman from a wealthy family and an orphan I don't like him so much but beside that I can't hate this movie, it's just schlock for those who like schlock and doesn't try to e anything but schlock and I respect that. I also want to complain that once I was done with this movie the plastic bag where it came from was nowhere to be found, I'm frustrated about having to look up a freaking plastic bag just for this.

26 nov '18, night Max Payne (2008) When I started to watch this movie I thought it was good, the right balance of style, action, drama and grit. When I sat to watch the second half the sound started to go off but I fixed it switching the language but this cycled continued and the audio laster shorter and shorter times until I hat to sit on front of the laptop and changing the language each minute, it was awful and by the end when I got a montage of what we saw 20 minutes ago but with different cuts  felt offended, I felt like if the movie wanted to waste my time and overall any joy or good opinions I had were extinguished, maybe some other time I could had enjoyed this better but not I only feel a Family Guy gag mocking me for trusting a DVD that had lived in a plastic bag for years.

30 nov '18, night Serpico (1973) My first reaction to this movie was "What a fucking boomer and his boomer booms" but our main character grew on me and I started to empathize with him, he's a pure soul, too pure for this world but strong who fought for what he believed and for a better world, it's really a touching drama and hard to hate. A thing that fascinated me was the mise en scene, everything looks old, like if it was already old when the movie was shot but I know all that stuff was new I'm just used to see every prop after years and years of use. And I loved the way everything in the city looked, it felt like it had a sad story to tell. This is a good move that won me over after having a bad first impression.

5 nov '18, night Blue (1993) I started seeing this the night I finished Serpico, I thought I could watch the first 10 minutes but the dvd died before that, I thought I was set for another bad disc but few days later I tried again, skipped around and managed to get the movie running tho there are like 6 minutes missing at the beginning, I didn't mind them but as the movie went on I released that I missed something important stuff, I didn't got what it was supposed to be but the negative space stays with me. This movie is a damn good movie and there is no other way to put it, everything is too well done and the only thing I feel is left behind is the soundtrack but that is just me being tires of all soundtracks sounding the same but it's used so well it charms for different reasons. This is a very slow and thick character drama and examination, is the kind of movie I wish I could make, the kind of story I wish I could tell.

10 dic '18, night Red (1994) Is hard to talk about this movie, so many things go on yet it doesn't feel rushed or cramped, it a human story realistic but yet has that edge that reminds you it's pure fiction. Its a roller coaster of emotions but feels so serene. All honest I feel Blue is above Red but I can't wait to see white.

14 dic '18, past midnight White (1994) I don't have much to say about this one, it took me by surprise that most of it was in polish, I didn't expect one of these movie to be set in poland like this but still has ties to france. all the movies in this trilogy tell a human story that also has something that bents it and requires some suspension of disbelief, they're not fantasy but they're like a urban legend or a very distorted real account. Right now I think in order of quality they're Blue > White > Red which is also the order that came out, maybe watching them out of order really affected how do I think about them.

21 dic '18, night Cry baby (1990) When I saw the cover I expected a drama, a greaser crying just summoned he image of a post war hollywood drama like Blackboard Jungle, Picnic, The Lost Weekend or the obvious choice rebel Without A Cause. I pop the movie in and I'm greeted a a dumb comedy wrapped in some many layers of irony the core is completely lost, I can tell is a comedy but only one joke made me laugh, none of the songs stuck with me and overall the only thing the movie leaves on me is a slight ironic 50's nostalgia. When I was done with the film I told my sister about it (She own the DVD after all) and she said this movie was too tame for a John Waters film, the guy who made Pink Flamingos also made this and that was so shocking. This movie is just strange on the inside and the outside.

29 dic '18, night The Breed (2006) This movie is so bad it only survived by sharing a case with a good movie, I found this crap in the same case for two Clint Eastwood movie, I never heard about it before and after finally watching I can see why. Supposedly this is a horror movie but everything it sets out to be fails on its task, the first thing I found jarring was the photography, is very warm and mellow, in no point does this look like a horror movie and always looks like a romance or an R&B video. The second big issue are the dogs, the dogs are the monster of the movie and they just don't rub me in a bad way, the movie fails to show dogs in a scary or aggressive manner and some scenes that are supposed to be scary are actually kind of cute, these dogs are adorable no matter how much they bark, as the movie went on I released the dogs didn't stand a chance, tons of dogs get hurt or killed while we only get two humans dead and a third from an accident were a dog also died. This movie is bad, a legitimate 4/10, goddammit.

7 ene '18, night Unforgiven (1992) I can't say much about this movie beside that it's damn good, I'm unsure why but I think it has the right balance between, character development, action and drama but I may be wrong. Also the photography is very crispy I can't believe this movie is from 1992, I thought it was from 2002 the first time I popped the DVD in.

10 ene '19, night The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) Another really good movie. I'm very charmed by the sense of adventure, things happen out of nothing and some of them go away just like that, there is a sense of restlessness across the movie and that drives it, we feel the character's pathos and march with them without feeling the same danger and it's that chaotic feeling what makes this movie feel so human, things happen up and down like in life and not like in movies where things happen to move the story, the characters were the ones moving and things happened to them. Also both of the Clint Eastwood movies had several things in common, both start with Eastwood's characters as simple men who have to take arms for money and war respectively, both feature a younger sidekick who gets tired with the violence and an overall feeling that the violence we're seeing is not the way things should be, I'm sure these movies were packed together because of that and I really like that message. These are all the DVDs that are around the house, I should catch up with some cartoons now, I want to take a picture of the DVDs but as the moment I'm writing this I don't have a camera, it'll be a while before I can publish this.

[daleisgreat]

Hell Comes to Frogtown, Grunt: The Wrestling Movie, I Like to Hurt People

It has been a spell since I logged an ‘intentionally bad gifted movie’ entry. For newer readers here, my buddy Matt and I have a long tradition of gifting each other bad movies for Christmas and birthdays, and it least gives me something to rag on here about. Past entries here meeting this bad gift criteria consist of my coverage for Bounty Hunters, Hercules: Reborn and The Tooth Fairy 1 & 2. We have eased up on it this past year or two, but I still have a few sitting in the backlog box and will be covering a video today that is a three-for-one on a disc special titled ‘Wrestling Superstars Triple Feature’. Now we all may be familiar with WWE pushing wrestlers in its movie division going back 16 years, but wrestlers have been in bad straight-to-video films long before that and this disc features 1988’s Hell Comes to Frogtown (trailer), 1985’s I Like to Hurt People (trailer), and 1985’s Grunt: The Wrestling Movie (trailer). I originally watched Hell Comes to Frogtown with Matt on one of our ritual bad movie nights several years ago. It stars Roddy Piper as Sam Hell, fresh off his success in John Carpenter’s They Live. This is a cracked out post-apocalyptic movie where nuclear fallout radiation makes Hell one of the last few non-sterile males. The government discovers him and makes him a deal against his will to contract him to…..traverse the nuclear wastes and impregnate as many women as possible in order to restore the dwindling human population….seriously. The movie tries to not make Hell come off as a creepy serial rapist by having Piper deliver some meek attempts at sympathy and breaking prisoners out of a gang’s Road Warrior-esque facility. This is ridiculously bad, but in a 80s campy-fun sort of way so if you are into so-bad-they-are-good movies, especially two brew-skis in, then Hell Comes to Frogtown will not disappoint.

I Like to Hurt People is a unique beast. It barely comes off as a motion picture and feels more like something I would make if I was a young proactive filmmaker in my teens and decided to make a movie about wrestling and had no idea about assembling a cohesive plot whatsoever. That is essentially I Like to Hurt People which shows several condensed matches interspersed with backstage interviews, TV production staff losing it while trying to keep the wrestlers in check and fans being interviewed outside the ring who are all hyped up for a night at the wrasslin’ matches. I love the geriatric 80s rock soundtrack that plays nearly nonstop throughout the film that brought back fond memories of Miami Connection’s mesmerizing score. 80s NWA/Crockett fans will get a thrill with the nonstop cameos featuring stars like Terry Funk, Dusty Rhodes, The Sheik, Dick the Bruiser, Abdullah the Butcher and Andre the Giant. A controversial non-finish in the main event between Dick the Bruiser and The Sheik is followed up with an interview in the car with Sheik and his manager the Grand Wizard, where Wizard promises revenge in a cage match....and then I Like to Hurt People promptly ends. Again, this does not feel like a complete movie and is difficult to properly judge as a whole, but that aside it was fun to take in and get a dose of the fervor of southern mid-80s wrestling fandom that I Like to Hurt People encapsulates to a T.

While I Like to Hurt People feels like what my first wrestling movie would be like with barely any filmmaking under my belt, Grunt: The Wrestling Movie feels like what my third or fourth wrestling-adjacent film would be like if I got full of myself and would conjure up a silly Disaster Artist-esque plot over a weekend I thought would be a masterpiece, but instead was nonstop bonkers. There is a crazy 1979 flashback backstory in the opening minutes explaining why controversial wrestler ‘Mad Dog Joe’ was thought to have committed suicide after decapitating an opponent in a title defense. Fast forward six years later when the promotion’s management finally decide to vacate Joe’s title and hold a battle royal to crown a new champion. The film then follows a documentary crew who are obsessed that Joe is still alive and will return at the battle royal. Lots of shenanigans ensue as the documentary crew interviews multiple people who harass them and turn them away, with a standout scene transpiring at a hot-button, public access political talk show. Eventually everything culminates at the battle royal, but nothing can save this train wreck. Grunt: The Wrestling Movie takes itself way too seriously, and is not even campy-cheesy-bad, but instead the undesirable straight-up-bad. Avoid this one in the DVD bargain bin at all costs. As a whole, Wrestling Superstars Triple Feature is a semi-decent package, which is glowing praise when compared to this DVD’s cover art! Hell Comes to Frogtown is prime cheesy bad movie night material and I Like to Hurt People is something I would throw in to have on in the background with fellow wrestling fans. Grunt is a complete waste, but as the old adage goes, two out of three isn’t bad! Other Random Backlog Movie Blogs 3 12 Angry Men (1957) 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown 21 Jump Street The Accountant Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie Atari: Game Over The Avengers: Age of Ultron The Avengers: Infinity War Batman: The Dark Knight Rises Batman: The Killing Joke Batman: Mask of the Phantasm Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice Bounty Hunters Cabin in the Woods Captain America: Civil War Captain America: The First Avenger Captain America: The Winter Soldier Christmas Eve Clash of the Titans (1981) Clint Eastwood 11-pack Special The Condemned 2 Countdown Creed Deck the Halls Detroit Rock City Die Hard Dredd The Eliminators The Equalizer Dirty Work Faster Fast and Furious I-VIII Field of Dreams Fight Club The Fighter For Love of the Game Good Will Hunting Gravity Guardians of the Galaxy Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 Hercules: Reborn Hitman Indiana Jones 1-4 Ink The Interrogation Interstellar Jay and Silent Bob Reboot Jobs Joy Ride 1-3 Major League Man of Steel Man on the Moon Man vs Snake Marine 3-6 Merry Friggin Christmas Metallica: Some Kind of Monster Mortal Kombat National Treasure National Treasure: Book of Secrets Not for Resale Pulp Fiction The Replacements Reservoir Dogs Rocky I-VII Running Films Part 1 Running Films Part 2 San Andreas ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Shoot em Up Slacker Skyscraper Small Town Santa Steve Jobs Source Code Star Trek I-XIII Sully Take Me Home Tonight TMNT The Tooth Fairy 1 & 2 UHF Veronica Mars Vision Quest The War Wild Wonder Woman The Wrestler (2008) X-Men: Apocalypse X-Men: Days of Future Past