Last film you saw, vol. 6

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Dr. Seuss's The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T (1953)


The main character, Bart (Tommy Rettig), is a reluctant student of a prestigious piano teacher, Dr. Terwilliker (Hans Conried, who gave me the impression of Peter Cushing).

Tommy Rettig had a fairly short life and wasn't involved in movies or television for long, but he was a very interesting and intelligent guy. There are some excellent interviews with him posted online.

The cheesy Timmy episodes of Lassie with Jon Provost are the ones that everyone has seen, but the Jeff episodes with Rettig are much better, largely because of him and producer-writer Robert Maxwell.

Rettig stood 5'4" as an adult, which made him difficult to cast, so he moved into software engineering and had a very successful career there.

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[Rifftrax:] The Happening (2008)

"It's okay, movie, we'll wait."

A Howling in the Woods (1971)

"I've never seen a clothes horse before."

Alright TV-movie mystery about a woman who goes back to her childhood home during a separation from her husband only to find out she's getting the cold shoulder from the town, who is covering up something. Notable for reuniting Barbara Eden and Larry Hagman right after I Dream of Jeanie (unrelated) ended. [Free on Youtube.]

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In watching Rettig's early episodes of Lassie, I realized that Claire Kennedy was a first-rate writer. I had trouble finding any information about her online, but finally discovered that this was a pen name that Robert Maxwell used.

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Alien Arrival [aka Arrowhead] (2016)

"Sometimes you have to break something to make it better."

Timecop (1994)

"He must have read my mind.
-The way you speak English, he'd have to."

Turned 25 last night. Pretty sure I saw this in theater. Fun. They could've done a little more with the time travel. Too much of it takes place in '94 DC.

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Marvel's the Avengers



"We've got a Hulk"


Was thinking about doing an Avengers week, so naturally, we start with this one...

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Hard Hunted (1993)

"We were never lovers! I faked an orgasm!"

Out for Justice (1991)

"Who's this one over here?
-Which one?
The one with nipples you could dial a phone with."

Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins (1985)

"Professional assassination is the highest form of public service."

I liked this, but it felt like it didn't know where to be tonally---action adventure or comedy. And while those two can be successfully merged (a la True Lies), this felt more like it oscillated between the two. For instance, it's supposed to be a very light adventure, but this organization totally kidnapped "Remo," destroyed his life, and then threaten to murder him if he doesn't kill without question. And those are the good guys that we're supposed to joke about?

Perhaps a little long (2h1m) but a decent way to pass the time. My dad hated the synth music though.

The running time was definitely too long. There's a fair amount that can be cut. Oddly enough, I thought the soundtrack was a strength (though slightly derivative), especially the theme.

Over all, the training stuff is the best part of the film. The Remo/Chiun relationship is the most interesting.

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Avengers: Age of Ultron 2015





"Guy's multiplying faster than a Catholic rabbit."


Not too long ago, I saw a bayhaters meme of Ultron and Megatron from TLK. Now I totally see the resemblance. Heh.


In the movie timeline, I was wondering if there were too many other franchises installments that would
D make it hard to connect the first 2 avengers films, but much to my surprise, they tag team quite nicely. I'm also curious if the same can be said for the time between Ultron and Infinity War. We shall see.

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Attack of the Beast Creatures (1985)

"What were those things?"

Really bad, low-budget flick where castaways are stranded on a mysterious island that includes acid pools and little killer creatures that look like rejected concepts for the Zuni doll in Trilogy of Terror. [They're sort of cute in a pathetic way.] The tautological title also humorously reminds me of the bit in The Simpsons where the studio execs proudly explain their reasoning behind titling their show Police Cops.

Ellie Parker (2005)

"I don't know who I am."

Masters of the Universe (1987)

"What the hell is that?"

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Saw "Between Two Ferns: The Movie" on Netflix. Painfully unfunny except for the outtakes at the very end... there, I was laughing.

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The Hand that Rocks the Cradle (1992)

"The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world."

This is one of those weird cases of a movie that's right up my alley and fairly famous but I somehow missed for 27 years.

Cabaret (1972)

"Do you know what she has done to me? It's terrible! She has turned me into an honest man."

This was better (and deeper) than I expected for what my tastes are.

Fit to Kill (1993)

"In America, anything is possible."

I'm still liking the Sidaris movies, but they're so formulaic/repetitive that I've abandoned my plans to marathon the final four in the set before vacation and hold off til post Halloween.

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Thor: Ragnarok




“Thor: You and I had a fight recently.
Bruce Banner: Did I win?
Thor: No, I won. Easily.
Bruce Banner: Doesn’t sound right.”


Loki: "I'm not doing 'get help'."


Took a sidestep in the Avengers films to watch this again because it was just loads of fun. And every time the Immigrant Song played, I was that much more impressed.

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Ugh, you guys aren't making it easy for me to spread out my movie posts. Right now it looks like I watch three movies for every one the whole rest of the board watches. Hopefully that's not quite true . . .

Hoosiers (1986)

"God wants you on the floor."

Liked this movie much more than I expected considering I don't like basketball at all. But it focuses much more on the drama of a new coach changing things in a suspicious town. And the game action is actually sparse and/or dramatized. I'm willing to watch a movie about things I don't care for as long as it's culturally significant and that applies here.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

"Boy, I got vision, and the rest of the world wears bifocals."

One of my top 5 or so favorite Westerns turned 50.

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The Hand that Rocks the Cradle (1992)

"The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world."

This is one of those weird cases of a movie that's right up my alley and fairly famous but I somehow missed for 27 years. ..

True story: this is how I learned what a breast pump was. I did see it back in the day and it was damn disturbing. Probably still is. I wouldn't watch it again.

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[Rifftrax:] Spider-man (2002/7)

"One can only assume spiders are morons."

Megamind (2010)

"Oh, you're a villain, all right; just not a super one.
-What's the difference?
PRESENTATION!"

Thor: Ragnarok ... And every time the Immigrant Song played, I was that much more impressed.

When I first saw that movie and that first bar played, I was like "about time." Wish it went even longer.

True story: this is how I learned what a breast pump was. I did see it back in the day and it was damn disturbing. Probably still is. I wouldn't watch it again.

One thing struck me. At the beginning, when Rebecca De Mornay has the miscarriage and they do that shot like in a lot of movies of all the blood, I realized that always bothers me. It's kind of odd since that's a uniquely womanly thing and I don't have any kids. Not sure why that bothers me any more than all the decapitations or disembowlings I've seen in movies unless it's that I've known some women who suffered miscarriages (and, thankfully, no one that were capitated).

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Hairspray (1988)

"Don't you try to cast one of your voodoo spells on me, native woman."

"Oh my God! There's colored people in my house! I'm going to make a citizen's arrest!"

(Some quote about Lucy Taylor dancers that I can't find and I'm not rewatching even the early part of the film for it, but my dad thought it was hilarious).

Ricki Lake, a plump girl, gets on the town's big dance show and insists on desegregating Baltimore/MD, clashing with the upper-class bigots (a family led by Sonny Bono).

I maybe should have tried watching this before recently rewatching Cry-Baby, but I saw CB first growing up and only recently remembered (specifically while watching the making-of for CB) that this film came first.

It was something of a serious flashback for my dad, who liked the cars, laughed at the absurd attitudes of adults-vs-teens, and some of the costumes and humor (he got that Lucy Taylor joke and loved Jerry Stiller's fuck-ugly golf ball shirt). We both got a laugh out of the dances and Prudence Pingleton launching into hysterics every time she even glimpsed a black person (everyone laughing at her both on the street and in the store is very fitting). The race riot at the amusement park was filmed in Dorney Park in Allentown, PA, which is probably why my dad thought it was so familiar. He also got a good laugh out of what the von Tussle's hair looked like after the bomb went off.

I enjoyed seeing Waters's cameo as the nutball psychiatrist, with his swirl disc and cattle prod.

I wouldn't rate this as highly as Cry-Baby, but it's definitely a good film.