Son of Frankenstein (1939)

Director: Rowland V. Lee

Writer: Wyllis Cooper

Composer: Frank Skinner

Starring: Basil Rathbone, Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Lionel Atwill, Josephine Hutchinson, Donnie Dunagan, Emma Dunn, Edgar Norton, Perry Ivins, Lawrence Grant, Lionel Belmore

More info: IMDb

Tagline: The black shadows of the past bred this half-man . . . half-demon! . . . creating a new and terrible juggernaut of destruction!

Plot: One of the sons of Frankenstein finds his father's monster in a coma and revives him, only to find out he is controlled by Ygor who is bent on revenge.

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again?  Probably.

The great Frankenstein series continues with this third Universal entry and it's fun.  The cast is great, really.  Lugosi has moments of genius.  There's one scene early in where he's just staring at the Baron (Rathbone) and his look is layered with curiosity, amusement and contempt.  It's brilliant.  Sure, Lugosi is playing the deformed Ygor and you could make the case that he's over the top but he's also the most interesting and sinister character in the show.  Fans of YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (1974) will get a kick out of Inspector Krogh with his wooden arm and darts marksmanship.  Frankenstein's castle is very sparse with decor.  The walls are barren and there's very little furniture.  At first this was a turnoff as the picture could've used something more elaborate and appealing for the eyes but then I started thinking about it and it suddenly made sense why they made this choice.  The elder, now dead, Frankenstein probably ran through his fortune over the years as he wasn't actively working in the public sector, instead spending all of his money on maintaining the castle and his experiments so by the time his son got the joint, it was pretty bare and bleak.  It also gives the place a more stark, shadow-filled, angular look akin to the German expressionist pictures of that decade.  If I could add one thing to this film it would be adding a couple of more locations for shooting to mix it up a bit.  It's still a fine film and a good part of the Universal franchise.  So far, of the original Universal monster franchises, Frankenstein is consistently the best of the lot.  

Mr. Lucky (1943)

Director: H.C. Potter

Writers: Milton Holmes, Adrian Scott

Composer: Roy Webb

Starring: Cary Grant, Laraine Day, Charles Bickford, Gladys Cooper, Alan Carney, Henry Stephenson, Paul Stewart, Kay Johnson, Erford Gage, Walter Kingsford, Florence Bates

Tagline: Cary at his grandest in the story he chose himself - plus lovely Laraine in the role that makes her great!

Plot: A gambler has plans to swindle money from a charity program, but starts to have second thoughts when he falls for a rich society girl.

My rating: 8/10

Will I watch it again?  Yes.

For much of the film this is a straight up romantic comedy with the emphasis on the funny.  Grant is one smooth cat and it's easy to see why he was such a big star.  He's got charisma in spades. As he gets deeper into Dorothy (Day) and the shit gets closer to hitting the fan, things get more serious and this picture goes into dark territory.  The priest interpreting the letter (written in Greek) for Joe (Grant) is powerful stuff and you can see a complete transformation in Joe's character in Grant's face as the letter is read.  By the time the letter is finished, you're looking at a different Joe and he's now a man with a mission and there's no time for quips.  It's a remarkable picture to give this kind of dynamic, change tone and work so solidly.  The ending is really nice, too.  There was a part of me that wanted something a little different but I was very pleased at how it was handled.  The picture runs longer than your standard comedy of this period would (at an hour and forty minutes) and there are some bits here and there that could be trimmed that wouldn't hurt the narrative but they would rob you of some fun bits with the actors who all do a fine job.  I highly recommend this one. 

31 (2016)

Director: Rob Zombie

Writer: Rob Zombie

Composers: Chris Harris, John 5, Bob Marlette, Rob Zombie

Starring: Sheri Moon Zombie, Jeff Daniel Phillips, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, Meg Foster, Kevin Jackson, Malcolm McDowell, Jane Carr, Judy Geeson, Richard Brake, Pancho Moler, David Ury, Lew Temple, Torsten Voges, Elizabeth Daily, Michael 'Red Bone' Alcott, Esperanza America, Andrea Dora, Tracey Walter, Ginger Lynn

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Welcome To Hell

Plot: In 1976, on the eve of Halloween, an itinerant troupe is forced to stop their truck and attacked by strangers. Charly, Venus Virgo, Panda Thomas, Levon Wally and Roscoe Pepper survive. They are forced to participate in a sadistic game called "31" for 12 hours, and whoever survives will be released.

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

I've seen most of Zombie's movies and I really dig this guy's work for the most part.  The lower budget on this one shows a little but he does get a lot of mileage out of what's there.  This picture was crowd funded but to what degree I don't know.  I mostly LOVE the cast...mostly.  If Sheri wasn't married to Zombie then I'd be less inclined to find fault in her taking center stage except that it's nice when that rare pick-'em-off'-one-by-one horror movie comes along that does something different with the lone survivor being the obvious chick you can pick out at the beginning of the picture.  Phillips and Brake are fantastic, especially Brake.  He's fantastic.  I really like how Zombie casts his pictures with maybe the exception of Sheri who often seems like she's trying to hard to 'act'.  Sometimes she does really well but others...  There is a lot of gore and the bad guys are fun.  And there's some nudity (yah!).  The biggest issue I have, though, is with the camerawork and fast editing during the fight scenes.  Zombie stays in close for all of the action/horror stuff, always moving the camera and cutting it quick so all you get are frenetic scenes without an opportunity to soak anything in.  It was really frustrating and I should probably lower my score by another half point just for that.  Since this is his latest film, I hope that this being crowd funded doesn't mean he's having a hard time getting backing for his movies.  I don't mind the lower budget nature of this one but I don't want to see his movie career on the downward slope to where he can't get much made the way he wants it.  I like his horror voice and I want more.  His movies are distinctively his and they're usually a lot of fun.

Mr. Klein (1976)

Director: Joseph Losey

Writers: Franco Solinas, Fernando Morandi

Composers: Egisto Macchi, Pierre Porte

Starring: Alain Delon, Jeanne Moreau, Francine Berge, Juliet Berto, Jean Bouise, Suzanne Flon, Massimo Girotti, Michael Lonsdale

More info: IMDb


Plot:  Paris, 1942. Robert Klein cannot find any fault with the state of affairs in German-occupied France. He has a well-furnished flat, a mistress, and business is booming. Jews facing discrimination because of laws edicted by the French government are desperate to sell valuable works of art - and it is easy for him to get them at bargain prices. His cosy life is disrupted when he realizes that there is another Robert Klein in Paris - a Jew with a rather mysterious behaviour. Very soon, this homonymy attracts the close - and menacing - attention of the police on the established art trader.

My rating: 8/10

Will I watch it again?  Probably.

I knew nothing about this going in except the director and stars.  It's a mysterious picture in that Klein (Delon) knows very little about what's been going on and we're in the same boat as he is.  There were moments when he figured out something and I wasn't sure where his thinking was taking him but it didn't matter as I was invested in the film and was wanting to know desperately what his fate was to be.  There were times when I thought he might be imagining  things and people.  Then there was the very real possibility that he'd been set up, and if so then by whom?  That had me thinking, and that's the best part.  I was intrigued by the film and I was filled with all kinds of possibilities even after the film was over.  Often I'll watch a movie and let it take me where it wants without over-thinking the plot.  This one was tough to give over as it's a mystery until the end but the social commentary doesn't hit home until the final scene which is absolutely brilliant.  It's a wonderful ending.  

The Navy Comes Through (1942)

Director: A. Edward Sutherland

Writers: Borden Chase, Earl Baldwin, John Twist, Roy Chanslor, Aeneas MacKenzie

Composer: Roy Webb

Starring: Pat O'Brien, George Murphy, Jane Wyatt, Jackie Cooper, Carl Esmond, Max Baer, Desi Arnaz, Ray Collins

More info: IMDb

Tagline: We've just begun to fight!

Plot: A U.S. Navy crew aboard a merchant marine ship gives the Nazis what fer.

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

I probably won't understand why Pat O'Brien was a big star.  He's always so laid back and wooden.  He's great when he's a compassionate priest or something of the ilk but when it comes to taking charge and getting into some action business, he's just stiff.  Despite that, this picture is rather entertaining.  It's got a wild story that has our fightin' boys capturing a Nazi sub and using it to blow up other Nazi subs.  It's crazy but it works.  At about 80 minutes, there's enough time to get in and out of it before it overstays its welcome.  O'Brien in the lead doesn't help and it does have what you'd expect from a pure propaganda driven flick but then there are also a few lines that had me in stitches.  They were throwaway lines that felt genuine, the kind of thing you'd see in real life.  Desi Arnaz and Jackie Cooper add to the fun.  I'd recommend it but keep your expectations lower.  It's no wartime classic but it does provide some entertainment.

The Naked City (1948)

Director: Jules Dassin

Writers: Albert Maltz, Malvin Wald

Composers: Miklos Rozsa, Frank Skinner

Starring: Barry Fitzgerald, Howard Duff, Dorothy Hart, Don Taylor, Frank Conroy, Ted de Corsia, House Jameson, Anne Sargent, Adelaide Klein, Grover Burgess, Tom Pedi, Enid Markey, Mark Hellinger, James Gregory

More info: IMDb

Tagline: RAW LIFE! REAL LIFE! RECKLESS LIFE!

Plot: New York City film noir about two detectives investigating the death of an attractive young woman. The apparent suicide turns out to be murder.

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

Alright, so this is an OK picture.  I liked the NYC outdoor filming.  It's always neat seeing everyday life from the past.  The story is good.  I particularly liked how they emphasized the mundane but important tasks of sheer legwork and the countless hours of manpower it takes to ask hundreds of people lots of questions in the hope of finding that one clue that furthers the investigation.  Outside of that, there's some hokey acting going on and the narration is borderline silly sometimes.  I've seen lots of these films from the era that did it much better.  Hell, some of these folks are acting like it was an early 30s picture.  I bring this up because this picture has a highly respected reputation which I just don't understand.  The extras on the Criterion DVD would probably enlighten me on the reasons why but I don't have the patience to sit through a commentary among the other extras.  It's just not interesting enough to keep digging into it.  It is neat seeing James Gregory in his first role.  I love that guy.

Rogue One (2016)

Director: Gareth Edwards

Writers: Chris Weitz, Tony Gilroy, John Knoll, Gary Whitta

Composer: Michael Giacchino

Starring: Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Alan Tudyk, Donnie Yen, Wen Jiang, Ben Mendelsohn, Forest Whitaker, Riz Ahmed, Mads Mikkelsen, Jimmy Smits, Alistair Petrie, Genevieve O'Reilly, Ben Daniels, Paul Kasey, Stephen Stanton, James Earl Jones

More info: IMDb

Tagline: A rebellion built on hope.

Plot:  The Rebel Alliance makes a risky move to steal the plans for the Death Star, setting up the epic saga to follow.

My rating: 8.5/10

Will I watch it again?  Yes.

SPOILERS AHEAD, YE MATEYS!!!!   YARRRRRR!!!!

In a nutshell, I really liked it and I'm liking it more over the past 24 hours since I saw it.  I can't think of anything that I didn't like which already makes it different than THE FORCE AWAKENS which is loaded with stuff that should've been a lot better but still managed to be a really fun picture.  The pandering to fans in TFA was over the top and embarrassing.  The call backs in RO are more subtle and acceptable.   I'm just going to briefly hit the things that stood out for me that I dig.  Bringing Tarkin back is one of the coolest things about this.  I'm a HUGE fan of Peter Cushing so I'm really studying him whenever he's on.  I could easily tell he was CGI but they still did a great job.  The voice isn't quite there but it's close enough.  It was off enough that when he says, "You may fire when ready.", I'd swear it was directly lifted from the '77 film.   He's a tough sumbitch, though, and I loved it.  Vader is great but you can tell Jones' voice isn't what it was.  I'm surprised they didn't electronically play with it to more closely match what he did nearly 40 years ago.  And speaking of Vader, did you notice that his helmet looks closer to his shoulders or that his shoulders were larger than before?  It felt odd somehow. The bit that had me tearing up, though, was hearing and seeing the two X-Wing/Y-Wing pilots in the final battle.  That was one piece of fan service that really touched me, taking me back to when I was a kid that summer 39 years ago. 

The trailers painted Jyn (Jones) as a cocky badass to the point of making her looking like the typical Hollywood flick where she'd own the joint in an over the top way.  I REALLY hated that line where she said something like, "You want rebels, don't you?  I rebel.".  It's just awful.  Fortunately it's not in the film.  I did leave my seat for 3 minutes to take a squirt during the scene immediately following Vader's entrance, where Jyn is talking to the Alliance council or something.  Maybe she said it there.  But I liked her a lot and the same goes for the rest of the cast.  Cassaian (Luna) is terrific.  He does what's necessary despite what it means to other people.  Shortly after we meet him, he kills a character that's on his side simply because allowing him to live would jeopardize the cause.  It's cold but I loved it and he did it without hesitation.  K-2SO was hilarious and it was a welcome sight to see a prominent droid not be so damn cute or silly.  Krennic (Mendelsohn) is fantastic and I kind of felt sorry for the guy having worked so hard for so long only to have someone else take the credit. 

And the final few minutes with the Death Star plans making their way to the hands of Leia was fucking intense and fun as shit.  I about lost it for the all too brief scene when Vader goes to town on the rebels.  WOW!!!  I really love how they did something different for a change.  It's nice that we're going to get stand alone films because it allows us to take a break from the friggin' force, Jedi and laser swords and shit.  It's nice getting to see something that doesn't involve a Skywalker (but I do loves me some Luke stuff, just to be clear).  Oh, and something else, the Rebel pilots look like normal people and I was pleased as blue milk to see that one of them was a woman in her 50s that looked like she was somebody's mom.  Refreshing.  I'm looking forward to seeing this at least 2 or 3 more times before it leaves the theater which is a lot more than I anticipated before yesterday.