Black Lizard (Kurotokage) - So there's infamous master female cat burglar and a famous master detective chasing after her, based on a story by famous master author Edogawa Rampo. And they might have a thing for each other. It's a story you've sort of seen before (although usually between two dudes with unspoken ****-eroticism), but I bet you've never seen it done like this. Musical numbers and a lot of off-the-wall lighting and camera work. It was pretty entertaining and apparently not available on english subtitled DVD anywhere, so I was pretty pleased that Turner Classics decided to show it.
The Creeping Flesh - Alright, so here's a confession: Up until watching this, I had seen pretty much nothing Peter Cushing had done other than Star Wars, and I don't think I'd seen many Christopher Lee films, either. I don't think I'd ever seen a single Hammer film. It's something I've been slightly embarrassed about ever since I really got into movies and I'd always planned to get into the Hammer catalogue someday, but I just never did. And then I found this on one of the HD movie channels. And now I'm hooked.
Really enjoyed it. It's kind of B-movie-ish, but it's not really overly cheesy. I actually thought the climax was really well done and effectively creepy, especially considering the implausibility of what was happening. A lot of it was Lee and Cushing being so good that they made everything work, and a lot of it was just good directing. Of all the Cushing/Lee movies I've seen since this, which I'll mention here, this is still my favorite.
Female Convict Scorpion - A Hong Kong remake of one of my favorite movies of all time, starring Miki Mizuno, who was awesome in the Hard Revenge Milly movies. I went in not expecting much, maybe some decent fight scenes, but I didn't even get that. This movie suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucked. Just all around bad. Badly edited, shot and directed. The fight scenes were ridiculous. Nope. Avoid.
Life Of Pi - Very pretty and worth watching. Wouldn't say I loved it, but I enjoyed it.
Hidden In The Woods - Bleh. A lot of the reviews for this talk about it being a great, disturbing horror flick, but I thought this movie blew chunks. Extreme gore alone does not make for a great, disturbing horror flick. I was constantly wondering why the characters would do what they were doing. Eventually, it got to be too much for me and I just fast forwarded to the gorey stuff. Some of that was decent, at least, but story-wise this felt very amateur hour. Maybe the reviewers who liked it haven't seen Martyrs.
Horror Of Dracula - So, like, two days after I watched The Creeping Flesh, this was on Turner Classics. Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet. I liked this movie well enough, but, to be completely honest I was disappointed that there wasn't more of Christopher Lee/Dracula. I do enjoy watching Peter Cushing and I did still enjoy the movie, but, dammit, I need more Dracula and less Van Helsing talking to people about Dracula. I guess Lee has made around 10 Dracula films, though, so I assume I'll get my chance. Also, I completely had no idea that that was Michael Gough playing Arthur until I saw the IMDB listing. I think this was my first time seeing him in a film outside of the original Batman flicks, too.
The Romantic Englishwoman - It's rare that my mancrush on Michael Caine is not enough to sustain my attention for a movie, but this one pushed the limits. So ****ing boring. Caine was great, and got to step away from the type of role he usually plays by just being a tremendous dickhead, but the rest of the movie was slow and not terribly interesting. Don't be fooled by the racy cover, there ain't much too look at here.
The Brave One - Someone remind me why I watched this again. I guess because I wanted to see what it looks like when Jodie Foster goes Punisher. And I like Terrence Howard. It was ok. Just kind of there. Not bad, not great.
Jarhead - Hadn't seen this since it was in the theater. I like it. Sam Mendes, man. Jamie Foxx is pretty great.
The Curse Of Frankenstein - For the first half of Halloween day, TCM showed nothing but Cushing/Lee movies and I recorded them all. The second half of the day was all Vincent Price movies and I only recorded one because my DVR is not infinite and they'll show most of them again next year, but he's next on my list. Anyway, remember how I said I was disappointed with Horror Of Dracula because there wasn't enough Christopher Lee? Yeah, there was even less of him in this. But, I enjoyed the non-Lee stuff a little more, so I think it just about balanced out. Good stuff.
The Mummy - By now, I knew what to expect. This one was pretty similar to the Frankenstein and Dracula flicks as far as tone and style, and I had pretty much the same feelings about it. I enjoyed it, not enough Christopher Lee. I wish we could get a Blu-ray box of these flicks. Goddamn.
Dracula: Prince Of Darkness - Ok, seriously. Are any of these movies going to have Dracula as more than a supporting character? Again, I enjoyed this movie plenty, but I'm much more interested in what Dracula is doing at any given moment than what four random strangers who happen upon his castle are. Extra points on this for the resurrection scene, which was pretty fantastic, and because this is actually available on Blu-ray. Probably pick it up at some point.
Wandering Ginza Butterfly - Hadn't seen this Meiko Kaji flick in a while and decided it was a good time to watch it again. The overall story is sort of rote and ho-hum, but it's elevated by the performances, especially hers, and the pool hall stuff, which I thought was really interesting. Apparently, shortly before agreeing to this role, Meiko had seen The Hustler with Paul Newman in it and talked the director into making one of the showdowns be a game of billiards. It's pretty cool. The final battle isn't exactly Lady Snowblood level, but it's entertaining.
Horror Express - Theeeeeeeeeeere we go. Lots of Christopher Lee. I really liked this one, especially the creature effects.
Purple Noon - An adaptation of The Talented Mr. Ripley made in France in 1960. Pretty solid and entertaining, mostly thanks to Alain Delon who's got to be be one of the most attractive men who ever walked the planet and is a damn good actor. I wouldn't buy it, but I liked it.
