RIOT IN CELL BLOCK 11 (1954)

I'm a sucker for prison movies of the Forties and Fifties, when writers and directors were sympathetic to prisoners. In this film, inmate Dunne (Neville Brand, Eternal One-Note Thug) leads a riot against the usual list of inhumane conditions. Thanks to an intelligent script, he gets to show leadership qualities and motivation, plus support for the prisoners' demands from the warden (Emile Meyer, Eternal Bohunk). Of course the bad guys are the corrections commissioner and the state legislators, who double-cross Dunne, the warden and the prisoners. It's preachy in parts, but packs a strong punch and message. Ace B-director Don Siegel uses a knowing hand with this material, and the supporting cast includes lots of familiar faces, like Whit Bissell (as a hated guard), Robert Osterloh (a former Army colonel looked up to by prisoners), Frank Faylen (the treacherous commissioner),and Leo Gordon (a violent psychopath who's dressed in an undershirt for the entire movie so he can show off his physique). Pretty good movie.

Blood Spot 2020

Not a typical Vin Diesel movie watcher but this flick had a great story line and was well done.

I enjoyed it
6.5

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1634106/

TORA TORA TORA (1970)

No dearth of Pearl Harbor movies--and this one is the best by far, for four reasons: It's an American/Japanese production, so the other side is portrayed realistically, not in the "Yellow Peril" paint of so many other "Day of Infamy" movies. It's done in a documentary style, without the sappy love stories and maudlin tragic deaths of kid soldiers. The special effects of the attack are incredibly good, considering that 1970 was the early dawn of CGI.

And, most important, the cast: EG Marshall and Wesley Addey as the Army and Navy intelligence guys vainly trying to get someone to pay attention to their decrypts pointing to an attack; Martin Balsam (one of the most versatile and underappreciated actors ever) as Adm. Kimmel, and Jason Robards as Gen. Short, the Navy and Army honchos at Pearl; George ("Mr. Detestable") Macready as Secy. of State Hull; Joseph Cotton as Secy. of War Stimson; and look fast for Neville Brand as an Army Air Corps officer; Richard ("The Evil One") Anderson as a Navy Capt., and G.D.(Senator Geary) Spradlin as an aide to Kimmel. The Japanese side is strong, too, with Su Yamamura as Adm. Yamamoto, the reluctant warrior, and Takahito Tamura as Lt. Commander Fuchida, leader of the air attack. A fine movie that vividly portrays the inevitability of the attack--and the stupidity on both sides that led to it.

I enjoyed it as well DP. Unfortunately, it came out right as the theaters were beginning to close down due to the pandemic but I've heard rumors they may go ahead with a sequel. I'd watch it.

THE LADY IN RED (1979)

Farm girl Polly Franklin (Pamela Sue Martin) escapes her stifling home and cruel, Bible-belting father for Chicago in the Thirties. She slaves in a sweatshop, then as a taxi dancer, then in a brothel, does a stint in jail, and ends up as John Dillinger's girlfriend. This ultra-B movie was directed by Lewis Teague, but it's a Corman production from start to finish--deliriously and unashamedly trashy and lurid, and often funny, pushing the limits of ca.1979 nudity, f-bombs and general mayhem. The jail scenes are over the top, even by the generally sadistic treatment of women's prisons in earlier movies. But, it's never obnoxious because Corman spent money on this production, and got excellent performances from Martin, spunky and resilient; Louise Fletcher as Anna Sage, who betrayed Dillinger; and Nancy Parsons, who plays the cruel but somehow entertaining Tiny Alice, prison matron, with verve and conviction (to say nothing of self-parody--you'll howl). This movie is good, dirty fun.

We got this to stream today and glad we did.
It fit right in with a slow day.

We did enjoy the scenery and loved Miguel, we sometimes did not like Edee.

6 / 10

12 Angry Men.

I generally don't watch movies that were made before the 70s but this was okay I guess. It's extremely dated now but it probably would've been a lot better then. It was an interesting premise with a claustrophobic atmosphere; 95% of the movie is set in the one room.

Looking forward to watching the remake by William Friedkin with James Gandolfini.

12 Angry Men sucked. So overrated. Getting Even With Dad was better

Watched JUSTICE LEAGUE today in anticipation of the Snyder cut finally dropping tomorrow on HBO Max. The reviews have been positive so far (not that they could be any worse than the original). Looking forward to the 4 hour cut!

ZACK SNYDER'S JUSTICE LEAGUE

The version that fans have clamored for so long is finally here and it was good (not great). In all honestly, after the theatrical version of JUSTICE LEAGUE that was released in 2017, this could only be an improvement upon it. More time is devoted to flesh out characters and storylines, which is appreciated for those who are fans of Cyborg, Darkseid, or others. The film is double the runtime of the original version (this coming in at around 4 hours), so set aside some time to view it. Overall, it didn't seem to lag too much and I'm glad Snyder was finally given the permission and tools to release his original vision. Honestly, I hope this is a trend that continues in Hollywood. I'm curious where a Justice League 2 and 3 would have went but in interviews recently, Snyder said the theatrical version is canon and he will not be making more DCEU movies as he's focusing on other projects. A nice sendoff for this great filmmaker. 7/10

RUN SILENT RUN DEEP (1958)

WWII Navy Cmdr. Rich Richardson (Clark Gable). sidelined for a year because he lost his sub to a Japanese destroyer, pulls strings to command another sub that was slated for Lt. Jim Bledsoe (Burt Lancaster). This sets off a bitter feud between them, and the crew (siding with Bledsoe) that both officers manage to finesse with dedication to duty, as Richardson obsesses about finding and sinking that destroyer. Gable, who never played anyone other than himself no matter what the nominal role, is ageing, paunchy but turns in a surprisingly nuanced performance. Lancaster is excellent, as always, in a typically manly role. The human drama is very well done, as are the battle scenes. This is a typical WWII movie made 15 years after the fact, but still packing the punch of those earlier films. Instead of Alan Hale, Sam Levene, Richard Conti and Dane Clark, the all-ethnic crew in "Run Silent," includes Jack Warden, Eddie Foy III, Nick Cravat, Brad Dexter, Rudy Bond and...Don Rickles. The obligatory kid sailor on his first mission gets killed off, too. Very fine movie.

I just watched Captain Fantastic starring Viggo Mortensen on Netflix, a great film. It's a comedy with a few serious moments. He is raising his 6 children, ages 18 down to about 5 years old, in the wilderness, cutting them off from the world as much as he can. When they have to travel to a funeral for his wife, and we see how out of touch the children are.

THE COURIER

Benedict Cumberbatch stars as Greville Wynne, a private citizen and businessman who the British government approaches about being a middle man between England and their mole in Russia during the 1960's and the height of the Cold War. Cumberbatch as usual is a chameleon in his role, playing the part of a businessman who at times, doesn't want to know too much. He plays the role of amateur spy wonderfully, while Merab Ninidze, who plays Oleg Penkovsky and is Wynee's mole in Moscow, works well with Cumberbatch as the more seasoned spy. Overall for a movie about spies during the Cold War, there's very little suspense with the exception of one part in the film about three-quarters of the way in. Cumberbatch also lost quite a bit of weight too for the role during the later part of the film (unexpected but props to the man for going for it). Otherwise, this is nothing more than an average B film, which is sad as it is based on actual events. 5.5/10

Malice(1993). I saw when around when it came out. It’s one of those early 90’s Hitchcockuan thrillers they made a lot in the early 90’s. This one was with Nicole Kidman and Bill Pullman. Pretty good with a lot of twists

I love this movie. Saw it as a kid. There's so many of those great black and white WWII movies. Loved Lancaster in it.

Just watched it on HBO on Demand last nite...saw it when it hit video back in the day,,luv it...I like the scene where the lawyers are discussing Baldwins character w/ him (Baldwin)..being silent about the god fixation & then Baldwin gives a speech about himself & ends it w/..( " I am god")...flawless.

I Ditto that...

Oh boy...I saw that a couple of yrs. ago..Playboy did a pictorial w/a very pretty Pamela to promote the movie which I still happen 2 own..not in the best shape 4 a collectors item..but still nice having in my collection.

Love that movie. So many twists and turns and never loses its momentum. Alec Baldwin is great as the sleazy villain you hate to like and Bill Pullman does his job as the sympathetic dweeb.

If you enjoyed that, I recommend Pacific Heights which is in the same wheelhouse, with a similarly charismatic villainous performance from Michael Keaton.

ODD MAN OUT (1947)

Johnny McQueen (James Mason), a leader of the IRA, and his comrades pull off a heist of a Belfast mill to fund their revolutionary activities. This part (~25 minutes) is pretty good, allowing Mason to flex his considerable acting chops. But, he gets shot during the robbery and spends the rest of this long (2 hrs.) movie dying in various arms. It's a long, boring drag, and director Carol Reed throws in an interminable parade of superfluous characters, including some right out of "them Elves which kiss'd th' Blarney Stone" Irish cliches archive. What a mess!

Pacific Heights is a good one

I liked this cut, hopefully it's a new start for DC's live-action movies, although we already had Joker.

They're planning on doing another Batman movie plus The Flash but as far as the DCEU is concerned, I believe they've given up on that. They shot themselves in the foot IMO. They should have given all the characters their own movies (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, etc) BEFORE doing Justice League. Rather than rushing it and trying to introduce 3 new characters to the mix in The Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg.

Yes I agree like Marvel did till Avengers: Endgame.

Yes, they tried to play catch up too fast and wound up screwing themselves over IMO.

NOBODY

Bob Odenkirk, the action star we never knew we wanted. I honestly never thought I would type those words. I love Odenkirk’s previous work, particularly in regards to BREAKING BAD and BETTER CALL SAUL. So I was game when he spread his wings at his attempt at being an action star. The story came together from a personal experience, as he’s had his home broken into previously. The film follows Odenkirk as Hutch Mansell, an auditor at his father-in-laws manufacturing company. In a loveless marriage that seems headed for divorce, robbers break in one evening. Hutch stumbles upon them and asks them to take what they want and leave. They only grab a few bucks, his watch, and (inadvertently) his daughters kitty cat bracelet. Before leaving, his oldest son gets a drop on the burglars but Hutch tells him to let them go. Afterwards, he has to live with the shame of not lifting a finger to protect his family and property. Hearing it from everyone from the police that first respond, to his father and brother-in-laws, his neighbor, and finally, in a passive-aggressive way, his wife. Once his daughter informs him they must have taken her kitty cat bracelet as she’s unable to locate it, Hutch has finally had enough. Similar to Liam Neeson in the TAKEN series, Hutch unleashes he’s very particular set of skills upon the thieves before he finds himself taking on the local Russian mob as well. Having Odenkirk involved, you know it’s going to have a fair amount of levity to it and at times the action was (enjoyably) way over the top (think something along the lines of Jason Statham’s CRANK). Not much of Hutch’s background on how he obtained his skills is given, which I honestly didn’t mind. It still leaves the man a bit of mystery. The film is a fun, B-action movie that if they decided to revisit another time, I’d be on board! 6/10

Thank you for the Review.

We plan on trying to stream it tomorrow, I will read this to My wife, she will enjoy it.

Let me know what you think DP. Curious if you guys enjoy it as much as I did.

GODZILLA VS. KONG

The payoff after a rebooted Godzilla, Kong, followed by a sequel to Godzilla played out as the previous installments of this monsterverse: plenty of eye-candy, huge third act finale, and a decent story. As a payoff film it did leave something to be desired story wise, but at least the writers and director kept a nice, tight pace rather than something bloated like a Michael Bay Transformers movie. Millie Bobby Brown continues to grow as an actress before our very eyes. For my money the stand out of the film was Brian Tyree Henry as Bernie Hayes, a nerdy/eccentric podcaster, who works for a company whom may be responsible for the epic battle between the two titans. It was very enjoyable to see him display his comedic chops as he's mostly known as a dramatic actor. Overall, worth a watch for the visual effects alone, but still pretty average. 5.5/10

THE GRIFTERS (1990)

Lilly Dillon (Anjelica Huston), tough as nails, works at laying off bets at racetracks for the Mob. She wants to reconnect with her son Roy (John Cusack), a small-time grifter, whom she birthed at 14. But he's preoccupied with Myra (Annette Bening), his bouncy, scheming girlfriend who wants to set him up with a Big Con. The two women take an instant dislike for each other that turns deadly, while Roy tries to decide if he wants to stay a grifter or go legit. This is an ugly movie, but it's enlivened by a brilliant triple-cross at the end, and excellent performances, particularly from Huston. Nicely filmed, too. Good movie.