I Just Watched...

[CinemaInternational]

Oregon has a brothel in it!
Yesterday afternoon, Hallmark Mystery showed "Trouble In Eden."
(Murder, She Wrote)
In the dialog, a lady said she went down to Medford.
I'm suspecting the town of Eden, Oregon is somewhere near Roseburg in the middle of the state.
Once again, Jessica Fletcher pretends to be someone else and doesn't get away with it.

That's one of my favorite episodes....

[CinemaInternational]

In the Cut (2003) was one of the biggest cinematic scandals of the early 2000s. There is a lot of nudity. It has some of Lorna's most hated film people all on one film (Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jane Campion).

no lies detected on JJL or Miss Campion, BUT...I was literally thinking the other day of how POOR THINGS represented a perfect triune of examples in terms of ACTING ON FILM (whatever that is anymore): with EMMA STONE you had a performance so gutsy and so daring and so successful you HAD to applaud it even if you hated the film; with RUFFALO- it was, yes, a BAD PERFORMANCE, but maybe moreso a failed performance that nonetheless was executed with some guts and some technique- the soufflee just didn't rise, but you HAVE to again, applaud the effort AND RECOGNIZE THAT THE performer doing it is not doing it without brains and skill (see also: LIZ TAYLOR in VIRGINIA WOOLF or BRENDA BLETHYN in LITTLE VOICE)

...but then there was JERROD CARMICHAEL, a stand-up comedian who has recently made the news for behaving really badly on a new REALITY SHOW (Didn't know who he was until I read a PAJIBA article and then read the comments, many of which mentioned how terrible he was in POOR THINGS, that I was like "OH THAT GUY???! YEAH HE WAS TERRIBLE!!!!" His is just a bad performance by someone who is obviously a novice and it should have been cut from the film because DAMN he just WRECKS all 8-12ish minutes of scrteentime he has and he especially effs up a MAJOR SCENE

I recall in our little discussion after you watched Poor Things that you said that Ruffalo and some other guy were really bad in it, and I know I said that I think you were referring to Carmichael, whose performance was really slated in online Oscar talk circles.

Having not seen the man in Poor Things, his reality show and "comedy" specials on HBO, his one-time NBC show,or his controversial awards hosting stint, the only thing I saw him in (and I don't have much memory of him) was in a Susan Sarandon vehicle (The Meddler) nearly a decade ago.

I notice a disconnect where critics slather him in praise (that reality show has a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes), but the public isn't buying it at all. I wonder why the critics are so much in his alley. I recall a (rather myopic)TV book about what the writers thought were the 100 Best TV shows that had an appendix on shows running at the time of publication (summer of 2016) that marked many programs, including his show as a possible future contenders for best of TV status. (Of course, this was the same book which ranked SpongeBob SquarePants as a better show than the likes of Twin Peaks, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Golden Girls, Moonlighting, St. Elsewhere, Cagney and Lacey, China Beach, Frasier, Taxi, The Bob Newhart Show, Gilmore Girls, and thirtysomething. )

[Lorna]

EVER SINCE they shuttered YE OLDE MESSAGEBOARDS I have had the hardest time watching what used to be one of my favorite genres of film- PRECODES, because I missed our discussions of them (and also I'm STILL mad at TCM.)

that aside, I checked out THE MIND READER (1933)- a curious little precode with WARREN "WOW-E-WOWOW" WILLIAM in a role that I think a lot of other actors could've done better, not that I dislike WARREN WILLIAM- (it's funny, there was someone on ye olde boardes who DESPISED WARREN WILLIAM and referred to him as "a walking venereal disease"- which I have to admit, is A GOLD-STANDARD INSULT....and possibly an apt statement)- but he's just not up to the challenges presented in the second act, also he can't WERK a TURBAN anywhere NEAR as well as BELA LUGOSI.

FRANKLY, he needed a second fitting. (it looks kinda dumpy)



I can imagine the seeds for NIGHTMARE ALLEY being sown here, although this film is nowhere near as dark or as well-structred as that one.

ALLEN JENKINS is in this in a very VERY ALLEN JENKINSY ROLE and he's great,. he even gets the last line of the film about PROHIBITION being lifted and it's very funny.

this was directed by ROY DEL RUTH who did a lot of "eh" films, but he uses some REALLY CLEVER (if heavy) CANTED CAMERA ANGLES in many scenes and it works, he also has a real knack for visuals (theres a funny scene where a cheating husband hides under his mistress's bed)

this is not a great film, but it does get interesting in the second half.

spoliers:

MAYO METHOT is in this as a CRAZED woman who throws herself down an elevator shaft. SPOT-ON CASTING. She is always in "I'M NOT GOING TO BE IGNORED, DAN" mode in EVERY film I see her in- which knowing about her personal life, totally make sense.

WARREN WILLIAM lets his wife take the rap for a murder and go to jail for six months before confessing and bringing up, oh by the way, it was in self defense and we are supposed to VIEW HIM IN A HEROIC LIGHT FOR THIS. I love how blissfully, gleefully DAFT some movies of the 1930s are about personal responsibility and ethics.

[Lorna]

I recall in our little discussion after you watched Poor Things that you said that Ruffalo and some other guy were really bad in it, and I know I said that I think you were referring to Carmichael, whose performance was really slated in online Oscar talk circles.

Having not seen the man in Poor Things, his reality show and "comedy" specials on HBO, his one-time NBC show,or his controversial awards hosting stint, the only thing I saw him in (and I don't have much memory of him) was in a Susan Sarandon vehicle (The Meddler) nearly a decade ago.

this is the article, from PAJIBA, which is one of the last free media review sites that hasn't gone under or been ruined:

https://www.pajiba.com/tv_reviews/jerro ... y-show.php

honestly, in reading it, it occurred to me that there is a pretty HILARIOUS PREMISE for something in the story of how CARMICHAEL ambushed his father by getting him to sign a waver then get in a car on the interstate with a cameraman and peppered him SO vigorously with with SUCH intrusive questions while both men knew that the footage was very likely going to be seen that- get this: NUMEROUS LGBTQ ACTIVISTS HAVE ACTUALLY PUBLICLY SIDED WITH OR DEFENDED TO SOME DEGREE THE HOMOPHOBIC, ABSENTEE, BIGAMIST FATHER- which, Bravo, JERROD, that is a NANCY KERRIGAN level achievement of unlikability.

[Lorna]

One of the other fun things about THE MIND READER (1933) was that many of the women's costumes featured one of the more curious fashion trends of the time, which was to have TWO ENTIRE MINKS WITH HEADS and GLASS-EYES AND CLAWS ATTACHED, sort of lashed together and wrapped about the body- giving off the effect that whoever was wearing it was being rounded by a pair of fighting or mating woodland creatures, and yet for some reason was unbothered by it.

it's WEIRD and I am 100% okay with this trend never coming back.

this was the best image i could find, but i know some of you know what I mean.

[Allhallowsday]

Trying again:

JAWS (1975) Are there different cuts of this film? Does Mrs Kintner slap or spit?

[Fedya]

Trying again:

JAWS (1975) Are there different cuts of this film? Does Mrs Kintner slap or spit?

Or swallow?

[Fedya]

Au hasard Balthazar (1966).

Parallel stories of donkey and French village girl each suffering unrelenting cases of "sh!t happens".

This is one of those movies where I wonder what the critics who select the films for lists like the Sight and Sound all-time lists are smoking. It's not a bad movie; it certainly has excellent black-and-white cinematography and very effectively gets its point about suffering across. But one of the top 20 films of all time? (Wikipedia says it was #16 in the 2012 poll; I haven't looked up later editions to see where it's ranked now.) Really?

[laffite]

Au hasard Balthazar (1966).

Parallel stories of donkey and French village girl each suffering unrelenting cases of "sh!t happens".

This is one of those movies where I wonder what the critics who select the films for lists like the Sight and Sound all-time lists are smoking. It's not a bad movie; it certainly has excellent black-and-white cinematography and very effectively gets its point about suffering across. But one of the top 20 films of all time? (Wikipedia says it was #16 in the 2012 poll; I haven't looked up later editions to see where it's ranked now.) Really?

No, not really. O should not be. Agree completely, it's a good movie and let it end there. These all-time lists are full of nonsense (often), as you know. How many "critics" are in on these type lists. It's not credible that a random selections of whoever makes up these list would just so have that movie as #16 !! Of all time ?? LoL

[Bronxgirl48]

I am still recovering from PORTNOY'S COMPLAINT.

Oy vey.

Not the best choice.....

[HoldenIsHere]

I am still recovering from PORTNOY'S COMPLAINT.

Oy vey.

Not the best choice.....

Karen Black scares me in this one!

[Bronxgirl48]

lol, more than BURNT OFFERINGS?

[Bronxgirl48]

Or --- TRILOGY OF TERROR!

Actually it was Lee Grant as Alex's mother who was the real scary one.

I barely recognized Jill Clayburgh as the Israeli girl.

[HoldenIsHere]

lol, more than BURNT OFFERINGS?

I admit that she scares me more at the end of BURNT OFFERINGS.
"I've been waiting for you. Ben . . ."

[Bronxgirl48]

I never get tired of A FACE IN THE CROWD (which is a good thing since they air it so much, lol) so decided to dive in again.

Now, some of you might know that my recent great will power (not when it comes to Lay's Dill Pickle potato chips) concerning maintaining a calm attitude towards a certain main host's intros and outros was, shall I say, sorely tested the other night while this individual was chatting with their guest programmer about the prescient nature of the movie. Mr. Main went political, naming three people on a certain side of the aisle, including the current presumptive presidential nominee.

I admittedly fumed for about five minutes, then took deep breaths and went into zen mode. Slowly but surely, all was well again!