What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Masterofoneinchpunch
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out

Post by Masterofoneinchpunch »

The Fuller Brush Girl (1950: Lloyd Bacon)

Prolific director Lloyd Bacon has helped helm many successful pictures including Footlight Parade, Picture Snatcher, 42[sup]nd[/sup] Street and more working in a plethora of genres from musicals to gangster films to slapstick comedies like this. However, a lot of the success of this film can be attributed to Frank Tashlin, the cartoonist and soon to be movie director who’s written and directed films always had a bit of cartoonishness to them. When the gags go from normal slapstick to what Buster Keaton would call an impossible gag (a gag that would not happen in reality; the busted door gag seemed to be directly out of Keaton’s The Cameraman) then I think of Tashlin. Because his movies and gags to be outlandish he has fallen somewhat out of favor, though still loved by particular critics like Jonathan Rosenbaum. I am a big fan because Tashlin wrote for and directed both Jerry Lewis (The Disorderly Orderly) and Bob Hope (Son of Paleface).

Here we get to see Lucille Ball, top billed here, a year away from her most famous vehicle I Love Lucy. She could effectively work in different genres (watch film noir The Dark Corner (1946)), but her comedic TV shows are what most people remember today. She is effective here with Eddie Albert (Green Acres) as her husband as they get caught up in trying to buy a house they cannot afford unless they get better jobs (I wonder what Lucy is going to get) and later trying to avoid going to jail for murder.

This film follows The Fuller Brush Man (I have not seen) with Red Skeleton (Buster Keaton wrote a lot of gags unbilled for Skeleton) who has a guest appearance in this movie strangely enough as himself. I thought I was having déjà vu until I looked it up but the performance of “Put the Blame on Mame” is the exact same one from Gilda (1946, I have seen.)

There are some hilarious gags to this film none of which I will spoil if you are going to ever watch this. I ended up liking it more than I thought going in. Fans of Lucille Ball should definitely see this, but fans of Golden Hollywood comedy should as well. As long as you know you are going to get some silly cartoonish comedy.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out

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There was plenty of cartoon sensibility and sound effects in Son of Paleface which I enjoyed :D Feels weird seeing Bob Hope play the son (I think) of his Paleface character though
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grim_tales wrote:There was plenty of cartoon sensibility and sound effects in Son of Paleface which I enjoyed :D Feels weird seeing Bob Hope play the son (I think) of his Paleface character though
I agree about seeing him as his son and somewhat of a dissing of the original character. I like both films quite a bit. I know Tashlin was not overly happy with the filming of his script for the first movie (The Paleface), but he got to make it up by filming the second one. The weird reaction I got for watching The Paleface for the first time was that it was quite similar to The Shakiest Gun in the West :D. And if you have seen Rango you can see the influence that the Don Knotts version had on that film.
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Masterofoneinchpunch
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out

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Mo wrote:I also watched Videodrome recently. I'm not really a fan of it but after 3 viewings I noticed that it gets a little better each time. Such a strange movie. I am always looking for different kinds of movies. Movies that are unlike anything I've seen before. But I have to be careful what I ask for, because Videodrome is fucked up.

I am the video word made flesh.
I feel that same way about several Cronenberg films like this Dead Ringers and Naked Lunch (I can think of two things wrong with this title.) Now there are several films of his like The Fly, Eastern Promises and A History of Violence which I love. Then there are films like The Brood I hate. What else have you seen from him?
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Masterofoneinchpunch wrote:This film follows The Fuller Brush Man (I have not seen) with Red Skeleton (Buster Keaton wrote a lot of gags unbilled for Skeleton) who has a guest appearance in this movie strangely enough as himself.
Funnily enough, I've seen MAN but not GIRL. So, the opposite of yourself. MAN has some neat slapstick (especially in the finale) but the mystery plot is second rate.
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Markgway wrote:
Masterofoneinchpunch wrote:This film follows The Fuller Brush Man (I have not seen) with Red Skeleton (Buster Keaton wrote a lot of gags unbilled for Skeleton) who has a guest appearance in this movie strangely enough as himself.
Funnily enough, I've seen MAN but not GIRL. So, the opposite of yourself. MAN has some neat slapstick (especially in the finale) but the mystery plot is second rate.
That's the case in the second film as well. It's not too much of a mystery plot as more of a plot to keep the gags going. The finale in the second is just chock full of crazy slapstick and gags. Tashlin worked on the screenplay for the first though it looks like he had more involvement in the second. I like Skeleton so I think I would like the first film. I notice for the R1 it is a MOD DVD-R (argh, though at least it is available.)

Fuller Brush Girl
is available on a few discs but I got the Lucille Ball: First Lady of Comedy which is Mill's Creek but since they got the movies from Sony they are restored and look great (unfortunately no extras or subtitles.) A great price for the set. Mills Creek has a few sets from Sony/Columbia which are all worth getting (as long as you do not need subtitles.)
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out

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Ohhh haven't seen this in 20 years! DVD hunt time.
Markgway wrote:F/X (1985-USA) **½
Comic thriller doesn't hold up quite as well as I'd hoped, but has good cast and is still entertaining enough. I'll pick up the sequel from Kino in Dec.
What happened to Lipton (Cliff DeYoung)? Is he still in the bashed trunk of that car?
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out

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Yo Romero :D
Havent seen you out here for a long while
I remember watching F/X about 2 years ago (I think) and quite enjoying it, havent seen the sequel though.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out

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Howdie doody Grim :) hey I look and linger once in a while haha

I cannot remember the sequel much, hopefully I can find both for a quid a piece.
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Fuck me Romero posting again :o next.......the return of Bradavon!
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Romero: You can have my Italian import DVD (anamorphic) for £4.25 inc. postage. :D
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Evil Dead 2 3.5/5 Sequel/redux is far more polished than the first movie .great fun with some great gore effects.

Southpaw 2/5 by the numbers boxing movie follows the predictable well worn path these films take. entertaining but unsurprising.

Zipper 1/5 Patrick Wilson is an up & coming lawyer preparing to run for senate when he becomes addicted to escort agencies. boring sex/political drama, Lena Headey,Ray Winstone and Richard Dreyfuss collect their paychecks and run.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out

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Hey a post a year ;)
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Robot Overlords 1.5/5 Ben Kingsley & Gillian Anderson slum it in this low grade british sci-fi kids actioner.
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Army Of Darkness 3/5 final entry in the Evil Dead trilogy is much lighter on the gore but has some great stop motion effects and is always entertaining. The French BD containing the DC is very good.

Robbery 3/5 british 60's thriller based on the Great Train Robbery. Stanley Baker leads a cast of stalwarts in this solid film. i never knew Joseph Koo's score for Way Of The Dragon nicked some music from the opening sequence here :)
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Black Rock (2012-USA) **
Intense thriller in which three female friends encounter fatal trouble when they run afoul of a trio of disgraced soldiers on a secluded island. OK for a late night view, but nothing you haven't seen before.

Dead of Night (1972-Canada-UK) *½
Amateurish shocker directed by Bob Clark, in which a KIA soldier turns up on his parents' doorstep sort of alive and not every well.

Scorched (2003-USA) **
Flat farce about three separate attempts to rob the same bank wastes fair cast.
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Ninja: Shadow of a Tear (USA, 2013) [VoD] - 3/5
Solid DTV actioner never entirely escapes its origins, but nevertheless feels better and bigger than most DTV films. It's the kind of film Toei used to put out in the 1990s via their V-Cinema line. The script is predictable and Adkins lacks charisma, but he's a good fighter and the film features good locations. While an R-rated movie, the film somewhat tones down the graphic violence and refrains from gore, which is actually refreshing.
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And Now For Something Completely Different 1/5 dated and dreadfully unfunny first Monty Python feature,a series of sketches some of which they'd previously done in the tv series.

The People Under The Stairs 1.5/5 disappointing Wes Craven effort seems to be unsure what type of movie it is.at times i felt like i was watching an adult version of Home Alone.

Rise Of The Krays 1/5 cheap,predictable and violent DTV feature with mostly no name actors clearly intending to cash in on the upcoming Tom Hardy version.
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saltysam wrote:And Now For Something Completely Different 1/5 dated and dreadfully unfunny first Monty Python feature,a series of sketches some of which they'd previously done in the tv series.

The People Under The Stairs 1.5/5 disappointing Wes Craven effort seems to be unsure what type of movie it is.at times i felt like i was watching an adult version of Home Alone.

Rise Of The Krays 1/5 cheap,predictable and violent DTV feature with mostly no name actors clearly intending to cash in on the upcoming Tom Hardy version.
Not much luck with movies recently, eh? :lol:
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HungFist wrote:
saltysam wrote:And Now For Something Completely Different 1/5 dated and dreadfully unfunny first Monty Python feature,a series of sketches some of which they'd previously done in the tv series.

The People Under The Stairs 1.5/5 disappointing Wes Craven effort seems to be unsure what type of movie it is.at times i felt like i was watching an adult version of Home Alone.

Rise Of The Krays 1/5 cheap,predictable and violent DTV feature with mostly no name actors clearly intending to cash in on the upcoming Tom Hardy version.
Not much luck with movies recently, eh? :lol:
Most of my first time watches this year have been poor in the main. People Under The Stairs i remembered liking it years ago, not so now.
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saltysam wrote:....
Not much luck with movies recently, eh? :lol:
Most of my first time watches this year have been poor in the main. People Under The Stairs i remembered liking it years ago, not so now.[/quote]

I had seen that film when it came out in the theater. I have not seen it sense then. I remember being OK with it (still remember lots of scenes), but not overly enthusiastic nor scared.

I really wish that The Krays (1990) was released here in the States. I remember Ebert giving it a thumbs up and I almost watched the VHS of it (which then disappeared from the rental place.) I've then been waiting for a good DVD release of it, which never came. With the new Tom Hardy film coming out, I hope that might have someone release it here.
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saltysam wrote:And Now For Something Completely Different 1/5 dated and dreadfully unfunny first Monty Python feature,a series of sketches some of which they'd previously done in the tv series.

The People Under The Stairs 1.5/5 disappointing Wes Craven effort seems to be unsure what type of movie it is.at times i felt like i was watching an adult version of Home Alone.
:o :o

The Last Horror Film (1982-USA) *½
NYC cabbie Joe Spinell haunts the Cannes Film Festival in a deranged bid to film a guerrilla horror movie with his favourite starlet Caroline Munro. Black comedy piffle, amateurishly made on the fly. Some gory bits, but considerably less repellent than the leads' previous collaboration - Maniac.
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Legend Of The Seven Golden Vampires 2/5 Hammer/Shaw co-production isn't bad and does have some atmosphere but it's crime is to be rather dull,which films like this shouldn't be. Cushing looks really old as Van Helsing,Robin Stewart is bland as his son and David Chiang is a shadow compared to most of his shaws output. Pity Hammer couldn't tempt back Christopher Lee for Dracula's two sequences in this.
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Spasmo (1974-Italy) **
Umberto Lenzi's good-looking, but nonsensical psychological thriller ostensibly qualifies as a giallo, but is unusually tame in the violence department. English actress Suzy Kendall is the damsel in distress.
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Graduation Day (1981-USA) *½
Routine slasher flick has few moments of interest - a lengthy "live" performance by rock band Felony is intercut with the stalking of a female victim - but mainly lacks the ambition or smarts to be anything other than bottom shelf fodder.
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