Weld Hall Film Forum

So I borrowed the Val Lewton box set off of my brother Scott. Last night I watched Cat People, he had warned me that it was a slow film and that nothing really happened at all. That is the way to watch that film, with much lowered expectations, it's got some mood and a couple of fairly tense scenes but overall not much happens I rated it a C+ probably that high because I wasn't expecting anything to happen so I paid more attention to the characters and as a slightly silly drama it worked to a point. But it's not the sort of thing the kids are gonna be able to stay awake through or get anything out of.

Now I'm not actually getting on the blog to bash Cat People. what I am working up to is a few thoughts on The Curse of the Cat People. Is it a sequel? yes. It has three of the same characters all played by the same actors as the original. It picks up the story of the survivors from the first film, and doesn't assume the things that happened in the first didn't. But while Cat People was suposed to be a horror film, or at least checked into motel rooms under the pretext of being one, The Curse of the Cat People never really attempts to lead you down the path of pretending to be a horror film. In fact aside from the title there isn't really a mention of Cat People. I don't know why they even called it The Curse of the Cat People. In Cat People at least it appears that someone turns into a cat and we see a panther. I can imagine a lot of angry young boys coming out of The Curse of the Cat People on a Saturday afternoon. Because The Curse of the Cat People doesn't have thrills, it has heart. It doesn't have chills it has story and character and the ability to move you. Most of all it has a little girl who pulls you into her world and at times breaks your heart. Young horror movie fans are not the audience for this film, parents are. Now the bummer is that I think you benefit from seeing Cat People first you get to know the girls parents in that film, and understand that they are good decent people. also you get to know Irena The husbands first wife, who plays a much different and unrelated part in this story. So Watch the Cat people, with lowered expectations, you may be pleasently surprised. Then pop in the Curse of the Cat People and watch it with such heightened expectations that it'll never have a chance to work for you. Damn, why is it like that?

This film is based on Neil Simon's Tony Award-nominated play and Director Herbert Ross wisely keeps the cinematic elements to a minimum and lets the script and actors do all the showcasing. Any overly artistic editing or camerawork would have distracted attention from star Walter Matthau, who demands your attention with every line, whether mumbled or shouted ("En-taaar!").

Walter Matthau had a run of great films in the mid 70's: The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, The Front Page, The Bad News Bears and The Sunshine Boys. He won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Actor - Musical/Comedy for 'Sunshine,' his sixth nomination in that category between 1967 and 1975. This film also earned him a Lead Actor nomination for an Academy Award--his second in five years.

Surprisingly, it was his co-star George Burns who walked away with the Oscar for Supporting Actor, one I feel must have been more of a lifetime achievement award, as it was his only Oscar nomination (and first film role since 1939!). It's interesting to note that it was fellow co-star Richard Benjamin who won the Golden Globe as Supporting Actor for this film while Burns wasn't even nominated!

Three award-winning performances in a film mainly about three people; two has-been vaudevillian comedians who worked together for 43 years and now can't stand each other and a newphew/manager depserately trying to give them one more opportunity to shine.

A truly outstanding film, updated for a TV verison in 1995 starring Woody Allan and Peter Faulk and probably will be done again in 30 years with Adam Sandler and Tony Shaloub.

Sweet.

Heads up on a great deal. there was a TV series that ran on the USA Network in the 80's called Ray Bradbury Theatre it was very low budget but has quite a few famous faces in it including Peter O'Toole, Drew Barrymore, William Shatner, Jeff Goldblum, Eugene Levy and others, a who's who of Hollywood it isn't but it is filled with people you'll know and wh can act. The series contains 65 1/2 hour episodes it's an anthology series ala the Twilight Zone but every episode is based on a story by Ray Bradbury, the writing is fantastic!! Anyway the entire series is available on 5 DVD's, I ordered it from amazon.com for about $18!!! Quality? Somewhere in the neighborhood of VHS, completely watchable, and let's face it the best it's ever going to look! It's a great show and a great deal thought I'd share it with whoever checks this blog.

I was at Best Buy this weekend picking up a 40th birday present for Scott (Happy Birthday Scott) and while we are on the subject Happy Birthday Darin!!! Anyway... in sept. MGM releaseed under their Midnight Movies banner a new group of (use the term lightly I'm sure)classic horror and Sci- Fi films, most double feature packs. Well Best Buy had, in what was labeled on the packageing, as a Best Buy Exclusive, 2 box sets of these releases. Each Box set was around $45 to $50 I believe and contained I think five DVD packages, 4 were double features and one was single title only. they were divided by topic, one was more horror based the other more Sci-fi. Sorry if details are a bit vague but I cannot readily find them on their website. Thought this would be interesting to mention to anyone following and intrigued by the list. Probably will not add those sets as they will probably not be around for long, but it sounds like for less that $100 you could about 18 films, The midnight Movies are usually from decent prints and in the correct Aspect ratio.

This just in*****************

Vampires and Witches Set ($39)
The Beast Within/The Bat People
Devils of Darkness/Witchcraft
The House on Skull Mountain/The Mephisto Waltz
The Return of Dracula/The Vampire
Witchfinder General

Monsters and Creatures Set ($39)
Chosen Survivors/The Earth Dies Screaming
Food of the Gods
Gorilla at Large/Mystery on Monster Island
Konga/Yongary
Phantom from 10,000 Leagues/The Beast With a Million Eyes

No idea if I am doing this correctly, this is my first ever attempt to blog. More or less a test, but so as not to be terribly boring I'll try and make a couple of random film comments so it all, more or less seems worthwhile.

DVD viewing suggestions:

1408: Watch the original theatrical cut as opposed to the extended cut with alternate ending, I felt the theatrical ending was the superior one. Other then the endings they are fairly close to the same cut.

Two surprisingly decent small films

Separate Lies
Duane Hopwood

Both interesting little films that slid through the cracks more performance peices then anything else wont make your top tens but enjoyable little films.

Hamlet: Still the best film ever made

Best of the year so far:

Once
Sunshine
Zodiac
Knocked Up
superbad
Grindhouse: Terrible what has happened to this on DVD, they are still fun films but come on the point is the experience the double feature the missing reels the fake trailers, I wish I could see it again in the theatre.
Hot Fuzz (I know it's not quite as good as Shaun of the Dead, but I still love it)
300
The Simpsons movie
3:10 to yuma
Ratatouille
Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon ( it's October check it out!!)
Shoot em up
Black Snake Moan
Hairspray
Live free or Die Hard

Well...... Let's see if that worked.