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The Baby (1973)
The Sequel to THREE SECRETS (1950)
One of the strangest movies ever viewed. Anjanette Comer's infatuation with the 20+ year old "baby" seems over-the-top bizarre until the final couple of scenes, when everything becomes quite morbidly clear.
But what no other reviewers have caught is that 'The Baby' is a sequel to the 1950 classic 'Three Secrets', starring three-time Academy Award nominee Eleanor Parker (Caged), Patricia Neal (The Fountainhead), and Ruth Roman who is the birth mother in the 1950 movie.
Fast forward from 1950, where the five-year-old boy, stranded on a mountaintop after a plane crash is rescued but after witnessing the death of his adopting parents and being stranded on a frozen mountaintop for a couple of days reverts to his happier days as a baby.
First watch 'Three Secrets' and know that although in the end of that movie Ruth Roman gives custody of the child to Eleanor Parker. But once Parker sees the mental condition of the young boy, she gives the child back to Ruth Roman.
Fast forward to 1973, where Roman, her daughters and 25+ year old "baby" become the interest of the new social worker, Anjanette Comer - who has an altogether new set of motives. Great sequel, great movie.
Armistice (2008)
What Did He Say?
Good documentary if you could only hear what was said! Reminders of British movies from the forties, fifties, sixties, seventies, eighties before the Brits finally understood that the viewer actually needs to hear what the speaker is saying.
Uneven blasts of totally unnecessary and inappropriate music that adds nothing to the story and drowns out what the narrator is saying. Uneven volume throughout. The narrator sometimes tapering off to mumbling or whispering at the end of sentences.
But, alas, watch it anyway for historical content. It exposes the idiocy of the United States involvement in World War I.
Now I must watch the second half.
King of the Ants (2003)
Good plot for a Wuhrer Flick
Most Kari Wuhrer movies are boobs and blood. This one has no (or few) boobs and mucho blood. Very original plotline. George Wendt (of Cheers fame) playing a heavy (multiple meanings).
Chris McKenna gives a unique and very good characterization of a lost nobody growing balls, morphing from a lousy housepainter to a hitman then 'Equalizer' - great performance. Never heard of him before.
Baldwin is his usual overacting self playing an over-the -top overacting self - almost comic.
Mid budget. Some great acting (MKenna) and an original twisted plot. Worth watching but not great.
Definitely worth watching. Not great, but good.
Texas Killing Fields (2011)
DYSFUNCTION IN SPADES
This entire movie was a dysfunction, dysfunctional overcomplicated story, dysfunctional characters, dysfunctional relationships, dysfunctional directing, dysfunctional dialog.
Characters consistently showing up out of nowhere, cannot be seen by other characters until they are in the camera frame.
The worst was the murderers hiding and waiting in a convenience store to kidnap a girl when they had no idea that she would be stopping there - unless I missed that somewhere in the rambling dialog?
Free on Amazon Prime Freevee but not free if you value your time because the ads are so frequent.
Miss this one.
Madison (2001)
GREAT RACING - TOO MUCH POINTLESS MELODRAMA
Born in Cincinnati and raised in Indiana, I witnessed the Madison races a few times in the 1960's. Was great fun and very exciting. The movie of course was ninety percent fiction. Stealing an engine from a WWII P-51 Mustang in the center of a neighboring town is pure folly.
But the property team did a great job of resurrecting older boats for the movie and actually getting them to run real fast.
Not sure what else to put down here to satisfy the six hundred character minimum. Does everyone have to meet this quota...I see many reviews way less than six hundred characters. I need eleven more characters. There, done.
The Ravine (2021)
SHOULD HAVE A RELIGION WARNING
Just like all the other warnings we get with any movie, like Violence, Drug Use, Smoking, Nudity, Language this one should have an 'Excessive Christianity' warning.
Great acting, good direction and cinematography. Too long, confusing plot with dead ends, too much time traveling (jumping back and forth in time).
What begins as serious murder mystery drama turns into a religious movie with visions and magic butterflies.
Not sure why I have to submit six hundred characters in this comment when other comments that are way short of six hundred characters. There, eezacktly six hundred characters.
Hangman (2017)
Impossible, Disconnected, Stupid
Plotline so silly and impossible to be campy funny. Pacino's fake accent, the cop boss completely recovered after hanging only 1-2 days before. Full of disconnects and contrivances and impossible connections.
Pacino's end result should have been shared by the screenwriter.
Seems there is a 500 character minimum, so no need to read this paragraph or anything past this. Pacino is in typical character - overacting and trying to stretch beyond his 5 foot 4 inch frame with wild dirty hair. The other actors were competent with a ridiculous script.
The other actors were never heard from again - having participated in this movie destroyed their careers.
Final Verdict (2009)
Any Plot?
Another faux US movie made by Canadians with a ridiculous plotline. But good acting by the female lead. Always a token African-Canadian cop who dies - Usually the only Afro-Canadian in the movie. Can't they find more than one Afro-Canadian and actually give them a serious role?
Where do they sell this ridiculous-formula stuff? Was this made for US TV? US TV or Canadian TV? Aren't Canadian TV viewers hoping for something actually set in and portraying Canada? Or do they even see this drivel in Canada?
The real 'Final Verdict', based on Adela Rogers St. John about her father Earl Rogers was a little better - with Treat Williams and Glenn Ford made in 1992 and an American movie about Americans filmed in the United States.
This stuff litters amazon and tubi because it costs so little. Are these actors making minimum wage?
Vipers (2008)
Good for a few laughs
Another terrible Canadian formula "movie" filmed in Canada but set in the USA. They are so easy to spot - Simple silly plot, low budget, one has-been American actor (Corbin Bernsen) and otherwise unknown white actors that all look alike and always the one token black.
They must make money on these stinkers, amazon runs many of them for free. Whatever happened to Christopher Plummer and Atom Egoyan?
One goof is calling the US navy corpsman a "medic". The US Marine corps does not have "medics", they use US Navy corpsmen specially trained to serve with the Marines and the Marines call them "Corpsmen", not "medics". An American writer/director would hav known that.
Watch it twenty minutes for a few good laughs. It's so bad you won't even have snake nightmares.
Coyote Lake (2019)
Creative Plot Well Written
A unique Coming-of-Age Chix flick. Kind of Noir. Great plot and great direction and great acting. Low budget, cheap sets don't matter - not necessary to tell a story. Hope she didn't move to my neighborhood........
The Flaming Urge (1953)
Flaming says it all
This classic was a mirror of male homosexuality in the early 1950's. Written by 'Ray Pierson' and directed by 'Harold Ericson', likely both pseudonyms for father or son Lloyd, since neither ever directed or wrote another film.
Almost every line and image comes with double meaning - fire-chasing and homosexual urges.
Filmed in Monroe, MI - it depicts a very nice young gay man (Harold Lloyd Jr. - who was openly gay in real life) chasing his urges. If you catch all the double meanings, it is a very funny film.
Watched it again 7/2023 with a friend from Monroe, MI. He recognized some of the landmarks. It is much deeper than I realized in my first viewing. It covers much more about male homosexuality than I earlier realized. If you carefully follow each line's double-meaning, it is even deeper and funnier in the second viewing.
Watched it again 3/2024 with a group and got even more out of it. Notice that leading man Mr. Smith only gets the "flaming urge" when a new man comes to his tie counter. It is both groundbreaking and so entertaining in how it depicts the perception male homosexuality in 1953 USA. Favorite lines: "Go and see Mr. Chalmers, he's probably planning a fire sale and wants your advice" and "I was watching you the other day at the fire, and you were not enjoying it"
Brilliantly written - both inciteful and belly-laugh funny at the same time. Worth seeing if you can find.
The Outrage (1964)
Newman's worst since Silver Chalice
Just when you thought that Newman could not do anything worse than 'Silver Chalice' comes 'The Outrage' (strange title meaning nothing).
A silly remake of the brillian classic 1950 Kurosawa-Mifune masterpiece 'Rashomon'
Harvey is so out of place. Newman's Mexican accent is laughable and distracts from the weak story.
Robinson & Shatner & DaSilva have meaningless parts - there for their names only.
If you've seen 'Rashomon', this is a real stinker. If you have not, give it a 3/10 instead of a 2/10.
So bad it's embarrassingly funny.
Reckoning (2019)
Midsommer meets the Hatfields & McCoys
The Creed is the law of the mountain. Plot twists that smack you in the face. Totally fictitious unbelievable plot that binds you start to finish.
But you must pay attention to details to follow the story.
Highly recommended.
The North Star (1943)
Big Star Propoganda
Another Walter Huston propoganda piece to try to get a suspicious American public to stomach our support for WWII alley - Stalin's Soviet Union. Not at all realistic. In reality, Ukrainian peasants welcomed the invading Germans until they found how brutal the Germans were. Stalin had starved 6 million plus Ukrainians in the 1930's forced famine because they would not collectivize and send their food to Russia. These poor people were caught between two monsters, Soviet Russia (Stalin) and Nazi Germany (Hitler). This film is pure wartime propoganda that probably served its purpose to galvanize the American public against Germany. But it is pure folly.
Zandalee (1991)
SLOAP OPERA
Is soap opera for slopeheads. This movie is billed as a "thriller". That Reinhold cannot act very well, Cage makes up for by overacting. The full frontal nudity cannot save this wretch. So if you view it for the nudity - OK. That works because it is all at the beginning, so after 15 minutes turn it off, go for a walk.
Unhinged (2020)
Big clue at the END
Lots of gore, makes no sense, little character development but we laughed at its silliness throughout. Like, how does a 6'2" 300 lb Russell repeatedly appear out of nowhere in plain sight?
Lots of the old Hollywood idiocy of 'women cry a lot' and 'women do stupid things under stress' sexism.
Decent acting, poor direction and writing. Makes no sense until the end, then you realize it was all very, very dark comedy. If you can suffer through it, watch for the tow truck hauling away one of the dozens of wrecked cars at the end - then you will understand that it's comedy.
Barton Fink (1991)
Soooo Sloooowwee
Poor Coen Brothers who were not around HWood in 1941 and have no idea what it was really like. Soooo, they made a really boooorrrring movie about their own experiences in HolWood thirty years later. Scenes tooooo looooonnnggg, dialog boring and predictable.
Pointless and boring. Thanks for fast-forwarD
Had it figured from the first view of the wall art of the woman on the beach - obviously Gene Tierney. I did like the Gene Tierney look-a-like at the end.
Who cares what was in the box. Just so it was finally over. The END.
He's Out There (2018)
Perfect Chix Flik
The males all die and the females all scream and cry a lot. Pure Schlock. Don't watch.
Female Jungle (1955)
Tierney is a GOOD GUY?
Now way.
This is a great movie. The dialog is sharp, diverse, beckoning, and funny. OMG is it fun to watch.
Cinematography is great
Carradine, Mansfield, Tierney in a low budget independent psych thriller.
The diverse unusual comedic dialog is excellent - comparable to 'The Thing from Another Planet", "Kiss of Fire", etc - other 1950's noir.
Watch it. Then watch Tierney's magnificent role in "Hoodlum"
Anywhere Is Here (2019)
Interesting Plot Nice Cinematography Amateur Acting
Watch it anyway, it holds your attention. Instead of my usual reaction to the rare poor actor in a film, this one made me notice the 2 or 3 actors with any talent. But, for very low budget, still interesting
Silence (2002)
A Real Predictable Stinker
I coulda sworn this was a cheapo filmed in Canada, but maybe not - another reviewer laid it in KCMO. Boxleitner was the only talented actor. Second takes were not allowed, no matter how bad the acting. The lame plot was trivial and predicable. They did not even bother to tell us what was on the disc that everyone died for.
Undertow (2004)
Night of the Hunter Remake
But not in the same class as the terrifying road & river trip of two children being chased through the depression-era South by an evil Robert Mitchum - directed by Charles Laughton. Scenes too long and cinematography and direction no match for Night of the Hunter.
Emperor (2012)
Miscast and Story
Miscast - Tommy Lee Jones is cast as Genl Douglas MacArthur. Not possible. Wrong look, wrong voice, wrong attitude, wrong bearing - the most notable miscast I can remember. Shemp Howard would have been more believable.
The true story of Fellers and his work to take the heat off the emperor is compelling on its own, but in real life he had six months (instead of three days in the movie) to complete the task of coordinating fake stories of Japanese officials to absolve the Emperor of his role in supporting WWII.
The American public was crying for the Emperor to be hung as a war criminal. MacArthur knew that he would have great difficulty managing post-war Japan if the Emperor was executed or even imprisoned, so MacArthur gave Fellers the job of clearing the Emperor.
Birthright (1951)
Cracker Heaven
My guess is that International Harvester sponsored this, because their brand new Internation pick up truck was the best actor in the show.
They sure grow some homely crackers in Georgia. But, Paula Haygood (Hayseed) is definitely a fox. Get ready for the pause button on your DVD player for the very brief nude scene.
The breach birth delivery scene makes up for all else lacking in this public health special - pushing prenatal doctor exams and blood tests.
"Oh honey, we all make mistakes" from the cheated-on-wife is a little hard to swallow.
Definitely worth seeing. On the same DVD with 'Not Wanted' (also named the Wrong Rut), which also has a birthing scene - Caesarian. Shows the slices to the stitches - also worth seeing
Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005)
Objective Reporting - or entertainment
Would Ed Murrow have approved of this PC film, made 40 years after his death? I think not.
The filmmakers lied by omission - which is an insult to Ed Murrow. Any objective representation of McCarthy (ism) would not have dwelt only on his aide Roy Cohn,but would have shown his other top aide - Robert F. Kennedy - later senator from Massachusetts.
"Not only had McCarthy been a frequent guest at the Kennedy compound in Hyannis, but McCarthy had also dated two Kenendy sisters, first Eunice (the mother of Maria Shriver) and then Pat (who later married actor Peter Lawford)" from 'The Kennedys and McCarthyism'
It's fun to make fun of McCarthy - he's a dead buffoon. Clooney should have had the guts to include RF Kennedy. Murrow would have.