SansFin

Blubberella (2011) A quarter-ton, half-vampire, all (female dog) attacks Nazis because they are interfering with her dating pool/food supply of young Jewish men. I am reminded strongly of the review for: Lost Slaves of the Amazon (1957) which states: "You knew what you were in for when you saw the title, so don't grouse." It is perfectly appropriate to this movie. The producer/director/writer set out to insult and belittle every race, gender, body style and political affiliation and succeeded far beyond expectation. He did fail to make any of it funny but you can not have everything. Any hope that this might be a: "so bad that it is good" movie dies within the first six minutes and makes you feel ashamed for having such optimism. -37/100 It is available for viewing for free with commercials on: IMDbTV but I wish you to sign a waiver absolving me of all blame before you do.

It frustrated me greatly that I knew the precisely correct term but I did not know its English equivalent! Translation programs would return only: 'worker' or: 'servant'. He and his wife were: factotums. They were employees of the hotel providing all and sundry services to the resident guest and calling in other employees to assist when necessary. It was by this that Doris was maid and ladies maid and housekeeper and cook and seamstress and confidant and secretary and all of the other things which a lady needs doing but laundry, glass and mirror polishing, vacuuming, preparing fine dinners and other such heavy or specialized work was done by those staff who she detailed and supervised. I am sure that Carl had other duties in addition to being chauffer but I can not think now what use a man might be around the house.

Out of Sight (1966) Teenage/secret agent/musical comedy about Big Daddy who's been "driven mad by rock 'n' roll," so he plans to sabotage a music fair with a bomb. Secret agent Homer comes to the rescue aided by his girlfriend Sandra along with Marvin. The sinister villains belong to the crime syndicate F.L.U.S.H. (1998) A career bank robber breaks out of jail, and shares a moment of mutual attraction with a U.S. Marshal he has kidnapped.

Ah yes! The wonderful David Kossoff! He is quite perfect. I am sorry to say that the one off-note in the entire movie for me was the weak little attempt at humour when he dropped his glasses and did not realize that she had moved until he replaced them. It is such a joy when he is dithering about how all the stepping in and stepping back had to be right.

I must wonder how many people here have not in the last twenty-five years painted their living room and purchased new drapes. It is my estimation that that is all that TCM has done. A little freshening and moving furniture. There may be a stubbed toe or two because the coffee table is in a new place but it is not as if they knocked through a wall to turn the dining room into a combination kitchen and master bath.

Cecil Parker truly is a treasure! He was quite right that the drink he invented - Bourbon and Bisodol - did not catch on. 😀 I have been known to use in real life one of his lines: "I'm too old for this sort of evening. I always was."

My fuzzy remembers the black cat in: The Grass in Greener (1960). There is no such cat. He had to watch it twice before accepting that his memory is faulty but I am quite very sure that he would say there is one if caught unawares. I tend to conflate characters' abilities/method of operations in: The Safecracker (1958) and: Triple Cross (1966).

Commercials on: PlutoTV "live" channels are approx. ten minutes within each hour. Commercials on: PlutoTV "on-demand" offerings vary by platform, user and location. Roku, AppleTV and iOS users in rural settings see the least commercials. PlutoTV uses 'organic' advertising to target users. A few unfortunate people may see more commercials than normal because they straddle several demographics and use the mobile app. I am sorry to say that the major fault which we find with: PlutoTV is the glitch which causes a television program or movie to lock into repeating from ten seconds to three minutes continuously. This happens solely when watching "on-demand" offerings. It is best at times to check the limited schedule to see if what you desire to watch is appearing soon on a "live" channel and watch it then rather than risking using the "on-demand" feature.

Indiscreet (1958) A truly sophisticated, wonderfully talented, and very successful woman falls in love with the ultimate forbidden fruit - a married man who can not get a divorce. This movie is the most soul-warming and heart-comforting movie ever made. It shows true romance in gentle touches, soft smiles and the joy of just being together. The lingering shots of doors closing discreetly are utterly sensual. I am sorry to say that it might be a spoiler but the deepest and most meaningful scene in any movie is when she is in her bathrobe with her face covered with cold cream and is acting totally silly and turns to see the most handsome and desirable man who ever existed is standing in the archway watching her. We instantly feel her mortification and desire to become two inches tall and sneak away unseen. This is the ultimate love story within the mystical and mythic world of those who are aristocratic by right of talent. It is the good humor and gentle wit of those who know their lives are blessed. (Anna: "I wish you didn't have any money. [Pause] I wonder if I would have said that if you had not just bought a yacht.") I love Ingrid Bergman in all things but she is here beyond perfection especially after the 1:04:40 mark when there crops up the tiniest little fly in the ointment. This is a romance but it is not a women-only movie! It is one of my little fuzzy's favorites of all time. I believe that this may in part be because all men wish to be Cary Grant and this is at his most suave and smooth. I believe he identifies deeply also with Cary Grant's little subterfuge. The beauty and charm of Ingrid Bergman is not lost on him. 10/10 This is now available for viewing for free with commercials on: PlutoTV and free to subscribers to: Amazon Prime Video.

I warned you of: Fluffy (1965). You then watched it. I warned you of: King of Thieves (2018). You now say that you wish to watch it. It appears obvious that you do not wish my help or advice. Go ahead and watch: Mutant Vampire Zombies from the 'Hood! (2008), Curse of the Pink Panties (2007) or Blubberella (2011) for all I care! 😉

King of Thieves (2018) An aging crook comes out of retirement for one last big job. This movie broke new ground for me! I had never before had even a hint of a whisper of a suggestion that a Michael Caine caper movie might be insipid, boring and a complete waste of time. I would likely have laughed at the idea. But here it is. This movie takes the true story of men with one foot in the grave who stage the most monumental burglary in London history and turns it into an episode of: The Bickersons. The "Afterschool Movie" production values did not help. The editor and director needed a deft hand to present one of the most daring thefts of all time as a plodding exercise with all the tension and thrill of watching the gurgling of a clogged drain. Michael Caine is a particular favorite of mine but he is here with poor makeup acting as if his underwear is heavily starched and he is in his tenth consecutive day of constipation. The same might be said of his emotional range as it is obvious he can not give a The rest of the cast have stellar reputations also but one would never guess it from these performances. 1.6/23

I am certain that we would gladly pay that amount for on-demand access to all movies in the classic "TCM Library"! I am much less certain we might pay half that for a live feed of the channel and the meager offerings of their current on-demand library.

The Black Raven (1943) Several not-quite-respectable people take refuge during a thunderstorm in an old dark tavern operated by a not-at-all-respectable innkeeper. This is a quite wonderful movie! All the characters are introduced with great economy and the action simply goes on and on. It is surprising that this is only an hour long as it has better characterizations, greater action and more murders than some movies twice as long. George Zucco is perfect as the crook who got out when the getting was good and settled down to a quiet life away from the city. He is intelligent, restrained and quite gentlemanly in retirement. I believe that this movie could make any viewer become a fan of his. Not one but two comic reliefs are provided by: Glenn Strange as the dim-witted houseman and by: Charles Middleton as the equally dim-witted sheriff. Wanda McKay is the only female in the cast but her character carries the duality of a young soon-to-be-bride and disrespectful and rebellious daughter. The great variety of sets, intelligent dialogue and multi-faceted mystery set it far above a 'B' movie. 8.2/10 It is available for viewing free with commercials on: TubiTV and several other streaming services.

It is obviously all a matter of personal taste but I would greatly prefer watching: The Brass Bottle (1964) over watching: Fluffy (1965). I found the former to be a bit of a romp and an interesting take on the question of genii while the latter seemed to me to labor for laughs in many places. It is my estimation that the first is campy fun while the second is pure corn.

That is so very true. I am convinced that the reason foreign movies are held in such high regard in America is that the only ones which are shown here are the best-of-the-best and have good reviews internationally before being considered for release here. I can assure you that there are a few notable exceptions but most comedies made in Belgium in the 1940s and early 1950s were uniformly bad. No one speaks of them because they quite properly died in obscurity.

I thought that was a medication in competition with: Pfizer's little blue pill. I believe that all should consider these: 1) The September and October schedules are available. They show no difference from past schedules. There is a mixture of old and new, some great and some stinkers, a total lack of inspiration for: Sunday Silent Night and an obvious misunderstanding about what constitutes a: 'cult' movie. 2) They have stated publicly that they will not be introducing commercial breaks in the movies. 3) At least one of the on-air personalities is returning. 4) What happens between the movies is a matter of total indifference to many of us. What is the worst that they could do? Well, yes, of course, they could add a scroll bar to the bottom of the screen so that hosts and vetted viewers could add comments while the movies are playing. They could mute the soundtrack and overlay directors' and hosts' comments about particular scenes. They could insert picture-in-picture boxes to showcase other movies or DVD collections pertinent to the movie as it is playing. They could . . . Oops. ... return to hysteria in 3 ... 2 ...

I agree. 7.9/10 It is available for viewing for free with commercials on: TubiTV and: IMDbTV.

The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970) Dr. Watson wrote of some of Sherlock Holmes' exploits but left instructions that the manuscript was not to be read until fifty years after his death. This is two of those stories. This was to be: Billy Wilder's magnum opus consisting of two vignettes and four stories. Total original running time of the rough cut was three hours and twenty minutes. The studio backed away from their original promises and ordered it cut to two hours and five minutes. What is left is a short introduction, one short story and a main story. I found this to be quite wonderful because it shows that even great people can have less-than-stellar incidents in their working life. The idea that Dr. Watson insisted on writing of some but having the tact to withhold them from publication until all interested parties were deceased shows an admirable mixture of dedication and tact and the viewer forgets that Dr. Watson was a fictional character also. I believe that the gentle humor mixed with madcap incidents mark this as pure Billy Wilder. The pacing is a little tighter than normal because there were to be so many stories crowded into one movie. I found: Robert Stephens and: Colin Blakely quite believable in their roles as Holmes and Watson. They may or may not have been as good in a tense drama but they fit well the breezy true-to-life tone of this movie. Geneviève Page was quite charming and exceptionally beautiful as a lady worthy of tempting the great Sherlock Holmes. The rest of the cast were notables: Christopher Lee, Clive Revill, Stanley Holloway and Robert Cawdron proving the "no small roles, only small actors" maxim. 8.1/11 I am sorry to say that I can not find this available for viewing for free on any streaming service. We watched it as part of subscription to: Amazon Prime Video.

The Abyss (1989) A nuclear submarine meets aliens. The military enlists a team of deep-sea oil riggers to check out the submarine and rescue any survivors. Sphere (1998) A psychologist researched the finest science fiction available to create a 'first contact' scenario for a report which he sold to the government. He becomes victim of his own imagination when the government pulls him in to enact the plan after they find an alien ship at the bottom of the ocean. These movies are only very superficially similar. Both have a crew stranded on the ocean floor because a storm caused support ships on the surface to clear the area. Both depict an unsettling alien contact. Both are unnecessarily long and each would benefit having fifteen to twenty percent excised. The Abyss (1989) is listed as: Adventure, Drama, Mystery. Sphere (1998) is listed as: Action, Mystery, Sci-Fi. There is more action in the first and the second is more of an adventure. The mystery elements of both are low-grade and are secondary to horror/thriller elements. Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio is far more powerful as an engineer in a situation without a documented protocol to follow but Sharon Stone is often compelling as an unreliable neurotic. Ed Harris and Dustin Hoffman are credited as the star of their respective movie but both are weak leads. The true stars of both are the scripts and the special effects. They are about even in the latter. Sphere (1998) was an adaptation of a Michael Crichton novel. It is the more powerful story of the two but it suffers greatly in translation to the screen. The director of: The Abyss (1989) wrote the script as an original story and so it fares much better. I would recommend either or both and rank them evenly at: 6.8/9. I am sorry to say that I know of no streaming service which carries either for viewing for free at this time.

It is my understanding that the censors would not allow the song until the addition of the last stanza which denoted her as an "honest" married woman rather than a side-show prostitute.

I prefer my science fiction fights to be done by a ballerina:

It makes me happy that you enjoyed my recommendation. I have found PlutoTV to be a great resource but there are significant problems in several areas. I have found that deleting the app, restarting the Roku and reinstalling the app has absolutely no effect when it comes to most problems. They may decide to show most of a movie and then have it continuously loop twenty seconds and no power on Earth will break it out of that. There are times when I feel the best option is to simply check the schedule for their: "Live TV" movie channels. We have had no problems with that. It is one of our go-to providers because one of their channels is: BBC Antiques Roadshow and we like the convenience of simply selecting: "PlutoTV" from the Roku home page and not having to scroll, highlight, click or select any other things for it to begin showing an acceptable program.

I was under the impression the series had been rebooted previously to be multicultural. Little Mosque on the Prairie (2007–2012) was a Canadian television series. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0923293/?ref_=hm_rvi_tt_i_2

I wonder at all times how many people are terribly unimpressed during the first one-fourth of the movie and stop watching because it is so very prosaic. I do not wish to give a spoiler but I am forever torn in my guess as to whether Harry knew of the twist of the last scene or if that was a secret which Emile kept from him. Whether or not Harry knew It changes substantially the magnitude of his final action. I would like to think that he did not know of it but he was sufficiently a rogue that I would not put it past him to have worked it into his calculations.

Gambit (1966) A man has a foolproof criminal plan. Then Shirley MacLaine happens. This has long been one of my favorite movies of all time. It is wonderfully understated humor and an interesting little caper. It has Michael Caine as a bit of a rogue and shows how beautiful Shirley MacLaine truly is. I consider it one of Ronald Neame's best. I hesitate to speak of the best parts because it would be spoilers and I would hate very much to taint any person's first viewing. All I can say is that it is glorious and that all should watch it. 8.6/10 I am sorry to say that I can find it on streaming services only by rental or purchase. I purchased it on: Amazon Prime Video because we had promotional credits which were soon to expire and I could think of no higher purpose for them.