What movies have you seen recently?

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Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows (2007)

This is documentary produced and narrated by Martin Scorsese. It was written and directed by Kent Jones.
I think I've seen this on YouTube, although I watched this from a DVD I got in the mail today.
I enjoyed it very much.

I've checked. I don't think it is on YouTube.

Last night we watched a movie neither of us knew anything about. I knew nothing about the film but bought it on DVD because I was amused by the title; when I mentioned the DVD to my bride she was also amused by the title. Beyond that, neither of us knew anything at all about the film.
- We did not know whether or not we were likely to enjoy it
- We did not know whether it was from the 1920s or the 2020s
- We did not know whether it was animated or live-action
- We did not know whether it was a comedy or a horror
Until I started the disk and saw the menu screen I did not realize it was in the Criterion Collection (yes, picture quality was excellent!).

Last night we watched:

I Married a Witch [1942]
<=>"She's a witch (and we do mean witch) who gets what she wants with hex appeal!"



We both enjoyed the film!

<=/\=:=/\=>We both RECOMMEND it!


Its IMDb entry says its genres are Comedy, Fantasy, and Romance and gives it a 7.1 user rating.
Maltin gives it three stars.

Last night we watched:

Coherence [2013]
<=>"Do you know your friends? Do you know what's real? Do you know yourself?"



Low budget. Visually polished. I'm sure the story was coherent at some level...which I completely missed.

Visually polishedEh

Blood Ranch (Video 2006)

Finished The House That Dripped Blood last night. I had seen it a few years ago, but enjoyed watching it again. Now I am wanting to watch all (have seen some) of the Amicus Productions' horror anthology movies which include:

Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965)
Torture Garden (1967)
The House That Dripped Blood (1971) just watched
Tales from the Crypt (1972) have seen it before
Asylum (1972) have seen it before
Vault of Horror (1973)
From Beyond the Grave (1974)

Last night we watched:

Airplane! [1980]
<=>"Airplane!? What is it? It's a big metal thing with wings, but that's not important right now."



The movie, not the flight, is R E C O M M E N D E D 

The most interesting thing I saw this year was a movie called Damnation. It's by a Hungarian director called Bela Tarr. If you don't like arty or leftfield cinema then it won't be for you. But if you do like that kind of thing, then you'd probably love it.

Take Out (2006)

In the Grip of Terror (2025)
watched from Blu-Ray.
This is an anthology of horror stories based on Ambrose Bierce and H.P. Lovecraft.
It is a film produced, written, and directed by Lawrie Brewster. This is an independent film from [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amicus_Productions[/url]. [url=https://amicushorror.co.uk/]Amicus Productions is a revival[/url] of the production company from the 1960s and 1970s. It made some classic British horror anthology films.

Lawrie Brewster created a Kickstarter campaign to help this this first film from the new Amicus off the ground.

I enjoyed the movie. I especially like the music because it reminded me of British production music from the 1960s and '70s. It was the style and the choice of instruments.
I could not find a trailer, if found this Q&A from the Romford Film Festival

You Hurt My Feelings (2023)
streamed on HBO MAX

With Julia Louis-Dreyfus is a writer who accidentally over hears her husband confide with a friend that he does not care for her current book. He is a therapist and one of his sets of patients are a husband and wife played by David Cross and Amber Tamblyn. It is an interesting story as the characters begin to question their relationships because of the white lies they tell each other.

It is dark comedy. It is rather serious and reminded me of an Ingmar Bergman film.

Written and directed by Nicole Holofcener

Tuesday (2023)
streamed from HBO MAX

This was another film with Julia Louis-Dreyfus. It was written and directed by Daina Oniunas-Pusic. It was her first feature length film.

Rifftrax
Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. (1966)

Peter Cushing plays the Doctor.
I just learned that the character of Tom Campbell was played by Bernard Cribbins. What made me say "How about that?" is Bernard Cribbins would later play Wilfred Mott, Donna Nobel's grandfather. Tom Campbell was the movie equivalent to Ian Chesterton from the series. Jill Curzon played Louise, the equivalent to Barbara.

Another fun coincidence is last night I watch In the Grip of Terror, the first film made by Amicus in many years, maybe decades, and Amicus was a production company behind Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.

I watched this on the Rifftrax Roku app. It was selected by clicking the Random button.

Rifftrax
Rock Rock Rock! (1956)
with Mary Jo Pehl and Bridget Nelson as the riffers.

The title says it all. It is a teen film with Tuesday Weld (age 13) trying to raise 15 dollars to an evening dress to the Rock "Thing" put on by Alan Freed. Her boyfriend will be there singing a number. Early in the film, Chuck Berry sings You Can't Catch Me. He appears and Bridget yells out something to the effect "It's that guy that sings My Ding-A-Ling!" They both have genuine praise for Mr. Berry after he is through. Tuesday Weld sings a number, and Mary Jo points out how much she sound like Connie Francis. Franky Lymon is also in the film.

I personally like the fact that when anyone sings, there is always a "bathroom" echo, even why they sing outside.

This is from the film. Everyone lip syncs in the film, especially Tuesday Weld .

The movie was not GREAT, but it was entertaining.

Following its precursor, last night we watched:

Airplane II: The Sequel [1982]
<=>"In space, no one can hear you laughing."



Um...more of the same...and still very funny.

Folk familiar with media of the 70s might especially appreciate parts of the movie.

The movie, not the flight, is R E C O M M E N D E D