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Buffalo Stampede aka The Thundering Herd (1933)

I never considered myself a fan of Westerns growing up. That all changed in 1993 with the release of Tombstone. Before that, I just assumed that Westerns were all more or less like, well, Buffalo Stampede What do we have here? Randolph Scott in his 30s. A much different man than in his late 1950s films, for sure. Here he plays Tom. He does a couple of cool tricks making exits off his horse and a stagecoach. He likes Milly (Judith Allen), a gal that seems to be under the control of Mr. Jett (Noah Beery). The idea of the film is that white men want to slaughter buffalo and make a killing on the killing. At one point, the buffalo stampede. I guess Milly is endanger, but she's pretty capable of taking care of herself. Some of the white people are being attacked by Indians, too, who probably don't want the white people killing all the buffalo. The Indians only kill what they need. But other white people "stampede" in and chase the Indians off. And since this movie is only ...
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The Jungle Book (1967)

At first, I thought: How did the boy learn to speak English (or any human language)? But it's a moot point. All the animals of the jungle speak English, of course. The problem with Mowgli the Man Cub is that he's growing up. The jungle is all he knows, and while some of the animals might be sad to see him go, he's certainly not safe in the jungle (actually, again, I have to wonder how the monkeys, tigers, or snakes didn't eat him before he reached "dangerous Man Cub status). But anyway... Does the movie have a plot? I read some reviews that poo-pooed the movie for not going anywhere, with the "journey to the village" not being a satisfactory goal. But I like the plot. We see different groups in the jungle interact with the boy, and, of course, they all get their songs. This movie has one of the most iconic Disney soundtracks, and to be honest, there's nothing like 1960 Disney animated films. Other reviewers don't like the lack of female characters...
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Rage at Dawn (1955)

Although the film begins with a brief written intro and puts names to the Reno boys, from there, it just jumps right into masses of men shooting and riding horses. I mean, I guess that's the popcorn eating "Western action" movie goers in the 1950s were looking for... but I need to care about who's shooting and riding. What's really at stake? What do these people want, but like I said, more importantly, why should I care? Four of the Reno boy are bad hombres. They basically run Seymour, Indiana, with corrupt elected officials providing cover. Special Agent James Barlow (Randolph Scott) is called into stop them. Since Bill Reno is gunned down in the opening sequence, they're down a man. Barlow's plan is to stage a train robbery and then win over the corrupt officials and Renos so he can infiltrate their organization. His plan goes off without a hitch. The Renos also have another, good brother, Clint (Denver Pyle), and a good sister, Laura (Mala Powers). They...
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The Golden Compass (2007)

The more movies I watch, the more I'm amazed at the number of movies that I somehow have never heard of. Movies come and go so quicky, and it seems like if they don't latch on and make an impression quickly, they are sometimes never discovered. The Golden Compass seems to be one of those forgotten films, even though it received a 4/4 rating from Roger Ebert when it was first released. (Maybe there's a reason some films are forgotten... see below.) The basic premise is pretty cool. We live in a multiverse, but there's no real way to "prove" it, let alone travel to parallel universes. In the movie, people's souls live in "spirit animals" that travel with them outside their bodies. The spirit animals of children have the ability to change, only locking into one specific form upon adulthood. Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig) has a plan to prove the existence of parallel universes, and even to travel to one. The Powers That Be would rather this not happen. A...
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Brick (2005)

This is one of those movies I've never heard of, but I caught enough of a trailer for the film when watching another film on DVD that I thought I'd give it a watch. It also stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who I just watched and enjoyed in Don Jon (2013), so I was curious to see what he was up to in an earlier work.  When I first started watching, I noticed the artificial sound to the dialogue. No one talks like that. It's sort of like 21st century high school kids talking like 1940s gangsters. So, I listened a little bit more. Were they speaking in some sort of high school or generational slang that I wasn't used to? No, I don't think that's it. I think it was an intentional choice made by writer/director to have these high school kids sound like 1940s gangsters.  This choice doesn't work for me. I think it's a gimmick, and I wonder what the film would be like if they just talked normally. I have a feeling that maybe the story wouldn't be strong enough t...
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Zanjeer (1973)

This is the answer to the $100 question on Slumdog Millionaire's "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," and since I just re-watched that, I had to see what this movie is all about. Zanjeer isn't a person. It means "chain," and Vijay (Amitabh Bachchan) is chained to a never-ending life of revenge, or so it would seem. In that respect, I've got to believe that Quentin Tarantino loves this film. So to confirm that, I just asked ChatGPT to tell me what Taratino has said about this movie; according to ChatGPT, Tarantino compared its cultural significance in India to the cultural significance Taxi Driver and Dirty Harry had in the United States. That does actually give some interesting context to how important this film is in Hindi film history. Tarantino also praised Amitabh Bachchan. Not a household name in the United States by any means, but IMDb lists about 250 film credits across his 50+ year career. And he's still active to this day. In some respects, this...
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Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

Joel (Jim Carrey) isn't impulsive, but as the film begins, he cuts work and writes in his diary about his sudden urge to visit the beach in winter. It's his first entry in two years and he notices ripped out pages. He doesn't remember ripping them out. Clementine (Kate Winslet) and Joel start chatting on the train to the beach. They're attracted to each other, and she feels like she's seen him before. She has blue hair and starts talking about her hair color obsessions. She doesn't stay one color for long. Joel listens, but there's some sort of awkward tension between them. Clementine almost gives up chatting with Joel, but then maybe she decides to try again. She comes on as aggressive; Joel is more passive. He wants to meet a woman, he writes in his diary, but he can't talk to women. He's better at sharing his thoughts in his diary. She gives him a punch goodbye, but then Joel decides to give her a ride and a second chance. Just an odd way to star...
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Groundhog Day (1993)

Probably one of my favorite films: Although I've always liked this movie, this time viewing it, I watched it very closely. How did Phil (Bill Murray) originally act (selfishly), and what was the moment that he changed (selflessly)? We never know "why" he gets stuck or unstuck, but we do know that he's "in love" with Rita, actually able to show it -- when he confesses to being in love with her, his actions towards everyone else changes. Here's what I noticed he did in the first half of the movie (his time being selfish): He decided that there were no consequences. And so, He and his drunk buddies went on a car chase with the police. He punched Ned in the nose. He kissed the old B&B woman. He ate whatever he wanted. He learned about Nancy (while calling her Rita) when the kissed. He watched his favorite film 100 times, dressed up as a cowboy and got a woman to dress up as a barmaid. And after all that, he started to learn what Rita wanted in a man. He ...
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The Black Cat (1934)

Directed by Edgar Ulmer -- People on Sunday (1930) and Detour (1945) -- and starring Bela Lugosi (Vitus) and Boris Karloff (Poelzig). Not to mention featuring a black freakin' cat, a modern castle built on a mass grave filled with war dead and dynamite, and home to a crazed Satanic cult leader... this movie has it all. Maybe a little too much. It's like Peter (David Manners), the self-professed crappy writer, wrote it all in a fever dream. Even the ending makes fun of what we just watched, noting (in a newspaper review of Peter's latest novel) that none of it was believable. None of it was remotely realistic.  When Vitus sees a black cat, it triggers him. In no real way, to be honest, except to be overdramatic. This is another instance of the film jabbing at itself when Poelzig tells Vitus to "stop being so overdramatic." But Vitus and Poelzig have beef. It goes back to the War and to the fact that Virus spent the past 15 years in a prison -- a kind of Hotel Calif...
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