"Have you seen a good movie recently? Let us know!" says the category blurb.

I know there's a similar thread on the other chat boards but perhaps it would be nice to have one here too?

What's the last film you watched?

And more importantly -- without giving anything away! -- was it any good?


No spoilers.



The last film I watched was "Insomnia" directed by Christoper Nolan and starring Al Pacino. (2002)

It wasn't perfect but it was very good, very enjoyable, and slightly unusual as thrillers go. I see that the New York Times described it as a "Noir Thriller" and certainly that fits it. It has more in common with the noir genre than today's modern thriller anyway. It's more about storyline and character than car chases. Watch it if you like a good story.

4 stars!

The last one I watched was "War Horse." There are so many movies about WWll, and not nearly as many on "The Great War." To view the horrors of war primarily through the experience of a horse was an inspired concept (I don't remember the name of the book's author) and I thought it was well done and enlightening. The several horses the filmakers used to portray the war horse of the title were absolutely amazing!

I'm so glad you mentioned that one, I had forgotten about it and need to put it back on my "to watch" list.

I watched a documentary about turning it from book into stageplay for the National Theatre in London, and the puppet horse they made was astounding.

"The Kids are Alright" with Juliane Moore and Annette Bening. I thought it was pretty good - I liked that all the characters were likable people who each did something wrong. Everyone behaved badly to some extent, but nobody was really the bad guy.

My daughter didn't like it much, for much the same reason. Moral ambiguity is more appealing, I think, at 50 than at 20.

I just watched 'Abraham Lincoln', Vampire Hunter, in 3D, no less, and you know what?, i loved it.
I know the premise is, to say the least off kilter and to some, sacrilegious, but it works.
It takes the known history of Lincoln himself and the civil war and weaves vampires into the story in such a way
as to make it in it's own way, interesting.
It was directed by Tim Burton too, so take that into consideration as well.
The sight of Abe wielding an axe like he was born to it was alone worth the price of admission.

I watched The Burning Plain the other day ... Charlize Theron, Kim Basinger, Jennifer Lawrence (from The Hunger Games).

I really liked it, and was surprised to find it was a box-office bummer with generally lousy reviews. What most reviewers didn't like was precisely what kept me interested the most ... the way scenes from the film jolt forward and backwards in time without explanation, and the fact there are separate 'threads' of characters/plot that look unconnected.

Anyone else see it? Like? Hate?

Never heard of it, dsimpy. Considering the huge marketing exercise that the film industry is, it's a pity that films that don't buzz immediately at the Box Office can fall into obscurity quite easily while some duff ones go on to be household names. I fell for the buzz around the Blair Witch Project at the time and still wish I had asked for my money back.

George, I would never have thought of watching 'Abraham Lincoln', Vampire Hunter, but you have me curious now.

Agony, I really liked "The Kids are Alright" too. I thought Juliane Moore and Annette Bening were great in it. It's in the Woody-Allen-esque genre, I think. Is that a genre? It is now.

dsimpy The Burning Plain was good movie i never heard of it til a couple months when it was on Pay TV,Charlize Theron was very good

Just turned off my portable DVD player after watching "Where the Heart Is". Saw this thread and decided to weigh in. A good flick demonstrating Natalie Portmen's abilities to portray emotions. Great supporting cast with Ashley Judd, Stockard Channing, Sally Field, Joan Cusack, James Frain and Dylan Bruno.
The tale is built around a woman who gives birth to a baby in a WalMart she has been clandestinely living in since her sperm donor abandoned her outside it. Slowly her life comes back together. Though not in Kansas, there is a nice tornado scene where this Dorothy seems to grow from teen mom to Emerald City citizen. The movie shows that into each life a little rain must fall, sometimes it feels like a hurricane. A definite feel good, pick me up film to watch.

Edit: Not to be confused with the Dabney Coleman/Uma Thurman "Where the Heart Is"

Put myself through the agony of watching "My Cousin Rachel" (1952) starring Olivia de Havilland & Richard Burton, from the book by Daphne Du Maurier.

A very good story spoiled.

Full of actorry melodrama.

Ripe for a re-make.

And exactly the same goes for.... "The Tenth Man", starring Anthony Hopkins, Derek Jacobi and Kristin Scott Thomas, based on the novel by Graham Greene.

(But replace melodrama with hammy acting).

Bring on the re-make quick!

"Jesus Christ Superstar" was remarkable for the music and the unique way Norman Jewison chose to present the tale of the Passion in a mixed then and now art. Also of note is that there is not one scene shot on a sound stage (good dubbing or lip-synching as it's come to be known).

I thought watching this out of season (summer vs Easter) might impact my take on it. It turned out to be much like Christmas in July for I had never seen the film before and thoroughly enjoyed it. Actually, with the warm summer weather, I could identify more with the setting of the story and movie.

Chavs, just watched "Rebecca" (another Du Maurier) and remember why I dislike this story so much. To my eyes it's not a romance but the story of an abusive man with almost pedophiliac tendencies - obviously not the way it was seen at the time the film was made.

Yes, I agree with you, it was pretty disturbing! They pulled off the melodrama in Rebecca, though - well, more than My Cousin Rachel did anyway. ( imho, natch!)

Never seen Jesus Christ Superstar, must give it a go!

"K 19 - The Widowmaker"

Liam Neeson and Harrison Ford - need I say more?

(Only thing that could have improved it would have been adding Pierce Brosnan and Michael Douglas!)

"The Scout" with Albert Brooks and Brendan Fraser. A pretty good movie, I've always thought, that didn't have the success it deserved. I think it was probably marketed wrong - the trailers and packaging make it look like a madcap comedy and while it's funny, it's not funny in that madcap way. Kinda touching, in fact.

Brooks is a baseball scout who finds the worlds greatest player (Fraser) All would be well, except he's got some serious emotional issues. Great performances.

Just back from the new Batman movie. Action scenes good, dialogue scenes a bit long...and Michael Caine was cringingly woeful.
(Also Movie a bit long at 2.5 hours, and that is after the commercials and trailers)

i watched The Reunion with John Cena,Amy Smart & Ethan Embry this wasn't a good movie and WWE should stop making movies cause they have only made 2 good movies in The Condemned with Stone Cold and 12 Rounds with John Cena can't believe they are making a sequel to 12 Rounds called 12 Rounds:Reloaded with Randy Orton

in all wouldn't bother watching this movie again

I watched "the Guard" and it was hilarious .. in a dark kind of way.
It's an Irish movie with a bit of humour, bit of mystery and a bit of a twist at the end.

My daughter wants me to watch "The Avengers" with her, and insists we watch all the superhero movies that lead up to it. So far we've seen "Ironman", "The Hulk" and "Captain America". I'm not a fan of action movies, but found the first two at least watchable; "Captain America" was, I'm sorry, just dreadful. Barely coherent, and with no redeeming qualities that I could see.

To add the a run of disappointments, I watched "London River", a story set in London in the days after the 7/7 bombs.

It should and could have been a film of real genius. Instead it kept tripping itself up by trying to be too clever. The mixture of French & English only served to interrupt some of the most emotional scenes, with sudden subtitles shattering the moments.

One virtually wordless scene in particular was beautifully acted but the emotional climax got totally destroyed when subtitles suddenly appeared on the bottom of the screen to translate the most basic French phrase (Bon Voyage).

I concluded that it must have been written as a showcase for the male lead, Sotigui Kouyaté, who speaks French & whose acting prowess cannot be ignored. But that's a travesty because Brenda Blethyn's undeniable greatness was compromised by the interruptions, and - worse than that - all this faffing about distracted from the film's best point which was that it captured (superbly) the backstreets of ordinary London with ordinary people going through the banal, hideous, and lonely process of finding missing people after the bombings.

It's a film worth watching for all its genius, really it is, but watch it with a strong coffee and all your wits about you because you will have to work as hard as the film crew to get the most out of it.




Good to hear, will stick that on my "to watch list"!

Interesting to hear this viewpoint. I'm hard of hearing, and watch all movies with closed captioning on, just to make sure I catch everything. My kids, who have normal hearing, have gotten into the habit through watching with me, and now also always use it. The result of this is that we don't find subtitles distracting at all, we're so used to them. Probably someone like me would have a completely different reaction to this film.

That's a very good point but I find that using closed captions or subtitles stops being distracting after a short while and have watched some great films where the subtitles didn't bother me in the least - Das Boot, Pan's Labyrinth & Life is Beautiful are 3 of my favourite films and I loved Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon too. The subtitles make no difference to my rating because they didn't detract.

I just found the switching from one language to another distracting in this one. There seemed to be no need. In some war films they have used both German and English (and therefore some subtitling) but it seemed to me to be pertinent and didn't interfere with emotional moments. In this film, emotion was everything and I thought choices about which language to use and when to use the captions just served to remind me that I was watching a film rather than let me be drawn into it.

But I am very interested to know if I am the only one who felt that. It could just have been my mood even! & Maybe if I had been forewarned it wouldn't have thrown me.

Watched Three Fugitives with Martin Short & Nick Nolte it's my favourite Martin Short ever this movie is so funny one of my favourite moments in the movie is when Ned Martin Short's character shoots Lucas in the leg and he takes him to Dr Horvath who is a vet but Dr Horvath is so out of it that he thinks Lucas is a dog he treats him like that

one of the funniest movies ever

Last American movie I watched was BOTTLE SHOCK with Chris Pine and Alan Rickman. A cute little movie about Napa Valley in 1976 and how their wines got to be world renown.

The last Bollywood film I watched was DOSTANA, the remake, not the original, which I admit, I have never seen. Abishek Bachchan did a lovely job with this fun comedy, following in his father's footsteps. Now I just have to track down the original so I can see his dad's performance.

I just enjoyed "Summer Lovers" (1982) with Daryl Hannah, Peter Gallagher and Valerie Quennessen as the characters involved in a successful love triangle on the island of Santorini. I was taken with Valerie's beauty and tried to find out more about her. She'd played the princess Conan saves in "Conan the Barbarian". She left movies after "SL" to raise a family in France. After about 5 years she was making a comeback but was tragically killed in a motorcycle accident.
You know how they say things come in threes. Well, years before "Splash" in "SL", Daryl H said she often fantasized about being a mermaid as a teen. In SL on a scene intended to show the bonding that was developing between the three characters, Valerie's gets into a moped accident when she is run off the road by a tourist bus. One prophecy remains to be garnered from this film. If I were Peter Gallagher, I'd know this film by heart.

Following on the superhero theme, we watched "Thor" the other night. Appealing and kinda cute, with about as much coherence as you can expect from a comic book movie.

Thor was my favourite comic superhero when I was a kid, ('cause he was so goodlooking, natch) and I thought they did a good job of capturing the feeling of Asgard from the comics - or at least it matches my forty-plus year old memories.

Never heard of it but that sounds my type of movie, thanks for the tip off.

We Need To Talk About Kevin.


5 stars plus! Sublime. Best film I've seen in years. Just... watch it.

Edited to clarify: Sublime film-making (not a second of film wasted, from story to cinematography every detail was thought out, every scene compelling) but it's a dark film and horrific story.

The Manchurian Candidate, the Denzel Washington version. Very decent but it really made me want to see the original again - a much better film.

We Need To Talk About Kevin
-----------------

I tried to read the book, but as a child care professional I found it very hard. I just wanted that baby taken away from his mother so bad - clear emotional abuse. I don't think I could watch it, I'd be throwing things through the screen.

Yes, I could understand that. I originally avoided it for similar reasons, & it was only a comment on these forums that made me give the film a try - it wasn't what I thought it was going to be, it was more complex. Maybe the book is different. Can't guarantee that you wouldn't throw things at the screen though; I averted my eyes occasionally.


Edited to add:

Agony, I've been thinking about what you said and I find that the film didn't leave me with feelings about the "mother's emotional abuse" of her child - in fact I don't think that phrase is really applicable.

So I'm wondering if the book really was different or whether you might have felt differently had you finished the book or watched the film. In the film, the story reveals itself slowly and so earlier scenes might not give a fair summary of the story.

Either way, if you ever decide to watch it I would be very interested to hear what you thought, so even if it's years from now I hope you update us.

I couldn't even finish the book, as I couldn't stand the way she was treating that baby. I also saw a lot of, um, nonsense, in the way the author was setting up the child to be a monster. It was like a "demon seed" movie from the fifties rather than anything reflecting what we know about how children develop empathy. I mean, sure, it's their book, their movie, they can have him sprout horns and forked tongue if they want to, but that's not how children with empathic personality disorders work. The book was presented as a serious look at children who do unspeakable things, but really it was just cheap horror.

Maybe I can give the movie a chance at some time, though, when I'm feeling well grounded.

I was channel flicking the other day and stumbled across Hitchcock's The Birds, so I ended up watching it along with my learning disabled daughter who loves most films that involve people being eaten, colonised or dismembered by abnormally large or genetically mutated animals.

Not surprisingly she loved it ... and we're now awaiting arrival of the DVD from Amazon (at her insistence). It really hasn't lost any of its power over the years, despite the almost laughable staginess of the bird attacks. Great film!

(After the film I asked my daughter if she'd like to pop outside and garage the car for the night ... as there were a few birds about that I didn't like the look of ... but she was having none of that!!)

Searching for more of Valerie Quennessen's work I came across 1979's "French Postcards".
Choppily edited together, it still presents a fair window on coming of age in a foriegn culture for some American students in Paris. It is the first major billing for the following artists:
Miles Chapin (left acting to run the family business - Steinway Pianos)
Blanche Baker (Carroll Baker's daughter and a steady supporting actress through the years)
David Marshall Grant (Did mostly Broadway work)
Valérie Quennessen (the princess saved by Arnold in Conan the Barbarian")
Debra Winger (many big roles)
Mandy Patinkin (many big roles)

The film was shot almost entirely in and around Paris, often highlighting some of the famous destination's major attractions.

Edit to add for other Valerie fans: She rides a moped in this movie too. In fact, she jump starts it by running in high heels, jumping on it and poppong the clutch!

Totally understand not wanting to watch WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN. I know I could never get through it. It was difficult enough for me to watch MY NAME IS KHAN, though I'm extremely glad I did.

As the mother of a son with autism, I would either be too overwhelmed emotionally by the film or hyper-critical of it. Either way, it just wouldn't work.

The Kingdom.... What a great action film that is! Highly recommended.

In the past two weeks I've watched:

-"Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing" - Good story but weak on character empathy and portrayal. Until the ending of course.

-"Titus"(Andronicus)- The Julie Taymor exquisite presentation of what they say was Elizabethan Shakespear's most successful effort. Her mix of modern elements with Roman parts makes the telling seem like the material is good for any age. It has Antony Hopkins, Jessica Lange and Alan Cummings at their very best.

-"Boondock Saints" - Irish South Boston as filmed in Canada? Why? But the time spent with the brothers McManus fighting the Russian mob is well choreographed and stunted.

-"Fail Safe" - still relevant, maybe even more so today with 9(?) known nuclear bomb capable nations.


Edit: I put "The Kingdom" on my buy list. Thanks Sisterseagull.

Just watched "The Descendents". Very very good indeed - a real movie for grownups. I thought it dealt beautifully with the mixed feelings we have when a much loved but imperfect person dies - "my pain, my joy..."

I've been watching a lot of superhero movies this summer, and it was so nice to see something adult in the best sense of the word.

I last watched Alexander Korda's "The Private Life of Henry VIII" with Charles Laughton in his Oscar-grabbing title role. Co-starring were Robert Donat (future Oscar-winner for "Goodbye, Mr. Chips"), Merle Oberon (who Korda later married, and whose life nephew Michael Korda would fictionalize in the novel "Queenie") and Laughton's wife Elsa Lanchester (best known for playing Mary Shelly and the title role in "Bride of Frankenstein"). Laughton and Lanchester had a long marriage (despite Laughton being homosexual) and co-starred in other films, such as Korda's "Rembrandt" and Wilder's "Witness for the Prosecution".

tjoeb};>

John Grisham’s “The Rainmaker.” (I bought it on audio from my local community library in a book sale. Still on tape one of four, but so far it’s very good.

The last book I read (in Braille) was “Firestorm” by David Klass. It’s the first in his “Caretaker Trilogy,” and I actually read it twice. It’s an environmental thriller, and I highly recommend it to those who are interested in that kind of thing. Well written, to say the least.

I watched Battleship last night. For a film based on a boardgame it was good and worth watching.

The Princess Bride.

Mom got the DVD from her friend, and thought I'd enjoy it, not realizing it was already on my list of favorite films (years ago, I used to watch the made-for-TV version). Nothing compares to the DVD!

"Sweet and Lowdown" Jazz biography, Woody Allen style. Sean Penn plays a fictional Depression-era jazz guitarist. Hilarious.

Just watched the modern remake of "The Italian Job" - enjoyable and quite a lot of fun, but with this much star power, it should have been better. Getting the original with Michael Caine from the library - love his movies from the 60's so looking forward to it.

"In Bruges". Definitely not for everyone, but if you like dark humour, and don't mind violence and profanity on the way, this is quite the film.

Except for the opening sequence, the two "The Italian Job" movies are very different but each enjoyable in their own way.

Over the past week I've done eye strain with:
"Superman II" - Christopher Reeve, Gene Hackman, Margot Kidder, Ned Beatty, Jackie Cooper, Terence Stamp

"Superman III" - Christopher Reeve, Richard Pryor, Jackie Cooper, Annette O'Toole, Annie Ross, Pamela Stephenson, Robert Vaughn, Margot Kidder

"Superman IV: The Quest for Peace" - Christopher Reeve, Gene Hackman, Jackie Cooper, Marc McClure, Mariel Hemingway, Jon Cryer

"Sixteen Candles" - Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, Michael Schoeffling, Paul Dooley, Blanche Baker, Justin Henry (Oh, that Blanche Baker again! Have I mentioned "French Postcards" and "The Girl Next Door"?)

"The Mask" - Jim Carrey, Cameron Diaz, Peter Riegert, Peter Greene, Amy Yasbeck

The "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace" I found to still be pertinent to the debate about whether more nations should be allowed into the Nuclear Arms Club or whether the club should be disbanded altogether.

Upcoming: "Rent" and the first seven "Hellraiser" films. There are two more "Hellraiser"s I may look into. Anyone have input on #'s 8 & 9?

Ohmygosh, I had no idea there was even a 2nd Hellraiser! lol




Well described. I loved "In Bruges".

Made yet another attempt to watch "Dangerous Liaisons". Failed again. Apart from the pretty costumes - and they are very pretty - I just cannot concentrate on it and always end up doing something else like writing on forums or sleeping. Is it just me?

LOL, not just you Chavs. I've never been able to get all the way through it either.

Phew!

"Young Adult". The trailers make it seem like a comedy, and while it certainly is funny, I wouldn't really say "comedy". More of a character study, of an unattractive character. Charlize Theron does a fantastic job.

The original "Italian Job" from the sixties, with Michael Caine. I was hoping for something along the lines of "Get Carter", but it's more like "Carry On Thieving". Should have twigged when I saw that Benny Hill was in the cast. Not really my cup of tea.

I watched "The Iron Lady". I didn't think it was very good. It zipped around so much in time that you never really ended up caring about what was happening at all.

I would have preferred the movie picking one specific time period or crisis (maybe Falklands War?) instead. It just felt entirely too rushed and like they made a 10 hour movie and just cut out most of it to fit into the allotted time.

"The Hustler". Where can you go wrong, really, with the young Paul Newman? I hadn't seen it for years, and don't think I'd noticed before what a visually striking film it is. We really lost something when we moved to colour in the movies.

Noting both of those write ups.

I usually keep away from films made in the 70s but I watched "Dog Day Afternoon" recently and was just blown away by the quality of it. (It opens with Al Pacino about to rob a bank and the film is the hour by hour story of how that all pans out.) Great acting all around. Brilliant capturing of atmosphere and characters. Fabulous (and oscar-winning) screenplay. Intense!

That's one of my favourite movies - it was pretty daring at the time, too.

That's interesting! I think it has kept its edginess and relevance. I think it's going to get on my favourites list too.

I wondered why it didn't win more Oscars (as it was nominated for the big ones) so I looked it up and that year was a "clean sweep" for "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". Them's the breaks, I guess.

"Defendor" in which Woody Harrelson portrays a mentally challenged person who seeks self improvement by donning the persona of a superhero. There are many comical angles to this (he uses marbles as a weapon of choice, wasps in a glass bottle grenade and chewing gum and a firecracker to open unlocked doors to name a few). But the real point of the movie is that society allows this person to put himself in harm's way and that life doesn't care who you are or what your situation is. A very touching tale told by good performances by all the crafts involved in its making.

PS(edit) It takes place in The Hammer (Hamilton, Ontario).

If you count movies on television, then the last film I watched was "Wait until Dark" (1967), starring Audrey Hepburn as a blind woman on whom three criminals work a complicated confidence game, at least at first.... It is pretty startling at times, and features Alan Arkin as one of the creepiest and coldest villains I've ever seen. It's a real nail-biter! And a sountrack by Henry Manicini ("Pink Panther") to boot!

"Paris, Texas".

And, yeah, it's wonderful, it's beautiful, it's incredibly filmed, the music is flawless, the performances are wrenching, it's got that ricochet thing going that you see in great films where small things start to echo and build up a sense of depth (for example, all the conversations that take place over the phone, over walkie talkies, over distance - nobody ever sits and looks at the person they are talking to face to face, in this movie....)

But I didn't like it as much as I wanted to. I just kept thinking about that kid, a kid who needs his home, his friends, his toys, the sense that the people he loves will be there tomorrow. The kid in this movie is a plot device and a symbol, instead of being a real kid, and that's the weakness of the film. the only thing that keeps it from being perfect, IMO.

"House of Games"

I liked this quite a lot. Can't give away anything about the plot, except that it's about con games and deception. Nice noir feeling to it. In a move which I assume was intentional, our protagonist is highly unlikeable, while the bad guys are pretty appealing. It's possible that she's just a dreadful actress, but Mamet usually knows what he's doing, so I'm working from the assumption that she's supposed to be so flat - it certainly makes the final twist work. Worth seeing if you like modern noir.

"The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp"

Considering it was made in England in 1942-43, a very nuanced look at war and soldiers. Fantastic performances, and Deborah Kerr is radiant, especially in the 1902 role.

Last night I watched 'The Book of Eli', quite violent in places but not overly so and with a marvellous twist at the very end.

"Take the Money and Run", Woody Allen's first on-screen lead (after supporting in What's Up, Pussycat?" & "Casino Royale"), second director (after "What's Up, Tiger-Lily?") and third writer ("What's New, Pussycat?" & "What's Up, Tiger-Lily?") credits. Pure comic genius through the whole film. It is a mockumentary of the life of a bank robber who never got the goods through his own fault and through tragic coincidences. He's like a cartoon character, blown to smithereens in one scene only to be resurrected whole for the next, but without the explosions (Oops, there is that candle/TNT in disguise bit...).

One of my favorite quotes from a Woody Allen movie was in "Take the Money and Run". When he was going to rob the woman in the park and ended up talking to her, he said "After fifteen minutes I wanted to marry her, and after half an hour I completely gave up the idea of stealing her purse." I think his earlier movies were some of the funniest ever made. "Bananas", "Sleeper" and "Love and Death" are also hilarious.

Just watched two: "Teen Witch" and "Matilda." Both were very good, with excellent messages (the former) and a happy ending (both). And, oh, yeah, good music. Only problem is, there was a lot of visual stuff (more so in the latter movie), so it was somewhat difficult for me to follow at times.

We've been having a movie marathon the last week while I was sewing Halloween costumes. My friends were over several days this week and needed some entertainment in between fittings, so they raided my DVDs. It started with a Halloween themed week - we watched 'Zombieland', 'Shaun of the Dead', and Jeff Dunham's new show, 'Minding the Monsters'. Then they moved on to Disney/Pixar - 'Up', 'The Emperor's New Groove', 'Wall-E' and possibly one or two others. I lost track after so many.

If you like Jeff Dunham, you really need to see his new special. It's hilarious!

A couple of movies this last few days. First, "Serpico" - I'd never seen it, for some reason. I was kinda "meh" but my son liked it. Gotta admit, though, Al Pacino is a fantastic actor - it's something we are so used to that we don't always appreciate just how good he was, and to some extent still is.

We also watched "Tremors 4". Enjoyable, and quite a lot of fun. And, since this is the fourth in a horror franchise, that is saying quite a lot.

Well, during the hurricane I was trapped in my home with nothing but my cat and my cable TV to comfort me (which luckily did NOT go out), so I watched quite a few movies. Here are the best:

(1) the original "Frankenstein" movie from 1931. Wow. You've got to see it if you haven't. I can really appreciate it now the way I couldn't when I saw it on TV as a teenager. There's so much to it, the lighting, the music, I can't even explain; and

(2) "Electoral Dysfunction", a very enlightening documentary about the electoral system (or should I say non-system?) in America. Funny, too; and

(3) "King of Kings" with Jeffrey Hunter playing Jesus Christ, although it seemed like it was more about Herod, Barabbas, and Pilate than Jesus, but it's still worth watching.

Recent DVD spins:

Disney's "Sleeping Beauty". has some good behind the scenes extras and commentary by the artists who drew it.

"The Gate" where tweens battle the emergence of an otherworldly creature into our world through a hole in the ground. Some good Harryhausen type stop-action animations. The Director commentary reveals some forced perspective shots that were unbelievable. Where I thought it was composited tiny claymation figures in some scenes were really full sized humans in rubber costumes off in the distance with all the environment and actors suspended in the air in front of the camera. That was worth the look-see.

A Grindhouse Double Feature of "Star Odyssey" and "Prisoners of the Lost Universe". Is there a class of films called D? They define what it was to waste a Saturday afternoon at a theater watching tripe rot on the screen.

"How to Steal a Million", a classic William Wyler romantic farce created to spotlight Audrey Hepburn's return to the screen after her split with Ferrer. This is a good performance by Peter O'Toole. Some good commentary by Eli Wallach and Wylter's daughter, herself now a director/producer. There is also the A&E's Biography short of Audrey Hepburn's life.

"True Blood" an early Jeff ("Lawnmowerman") Fahey lead vehicle. A fair example of teen gang warfare in NYC noir.

"Mystery Men" which seems to grow in my estimation as a good comedy each time I see it. A Darkhorse Comics based film from before Darkhorse became as respected as Marvel for its comics. A good rock music soundtrack rather than scored effort. Tom Waits hustling 90 yr old women is hilarious!

"Objective Burma" A good historical representation thrown together as a wartime recruitment and propaganda film starring Errol Flynn and some great character actors as his paratrooper squad. Bonus features are two recruiting shorts: "The Rear Gunner" with Burgess Meredith as a flying fortress tail gunner and "The Tanks Are Coming"


EDIT to add: Gracious1 inspired me to order "King of Kings" thank you. I will research acquiring the others mentioned here this week too.

"Mystery Men" is one of the favourites around our house. So many great little moments.

I'm still waiting to see "Mystery Men". looks like a fun movie.

Last night I was more or less "bed ridden" so watched 3 movies in a row:

1) Quantum of Solace
Even though I'd seen it before. Craig, as Bond, what's not to like? - even beaten to a pulp, he somehow still comes off as quintessential lol. The only part that bugs me about those first two movies is how much "M" distrusts Bond - I think they overemphasized that aspect more than they should have.

2) The King's Speech, for the first time.
I cried through most of it, although people much younger than me probably wouldn't understand why and

3) Melancholia. Complete waste of time in my opinion, unless you're wowed by artsy-fartsy visuals or are a fan of the so-called "acting abilities" of the "fang-y" Kirsten Dunst (which I am not).

I really loved "The King's Speech".

"The Adventures of Don Juan" starring Errol Flynn good costumes and sword fighting stunts and that's about it.

"Billy Jack" still a pertinent comment on society and that's a shame because the movie is forty years old or two generations by some measures.

"Prey" (2007) See "Melancholia" above but switch Weller for Dunst. I learned: fairly fresh lion turds are called scat and they are kinda warm to the touch. No sensory input was given for how they smell, though that was tested too.


Edit: hope you feel better Jakeroo. Too much good living got you down?

My kids talked me into watching "Cabin in the Woods", and I'll admit, although it took a while for me to sit through a lot that I'm not crazy about, it's brilliant, in its way.

"How the Grinch Stole Christmas": a near perfect application of modern cinematic techniques by Ron Howard to relate the holiday rituals as analysized in a humourous way by Dr. Seuss. Jim Carrey certainly rivals his other heavy make-up role efforts as Wiploc in "Earthgirls Are Easy", as Stanley Ipkiss in "The Mask" and as the Riddler in "Batman Forever". This may be the best of them all. Overall it should be on everyone's holiday watch list.


"The Misfits": John Huston's collaboration with Arthur Miller which examines just what does it mean to be alive? Is vivacity something you can waste? How come some seem to have more of it? Can it be contagious? Is it something that can or needs to be destroyed (as suggested by the mustang enigma) for the rest of society to be able to cope? The last screen appearances by two of Hollywood's greatest icons, screen legends, Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable. After they'd played opposite each other could any other duo match the life they gave to their characters? Sad that there is no commentary or bonus extras on the DVD I watched. If there was, I'd probably still be watching it.

Just saw the second Sherlock Holmes movie that came out a year ago - very good. I thought the actress who played the gypsy was very good as well. And I even thought the story moved along a little better in this one than the first movie.

I just enjoyed two well known films: "Some Like It Hot" and "Fargo"

I am stunned at the resemblence of two characters to each other: Joe E Brown and William H Macy (why they both even use a middle initial in their stage name!). Having recently watched "Mystery Men", I can imagine Joe E Brown as 'The Shoveler'!

And in watching the credits from "Fargo" I had my next film chosen for me. The early character who is the Highway Patrol officer's killing witness, who survives his own auto crash only to be gunned down with a shot to the back, is credited to be that funny symbol that The Performer Formerly Known As Prince uses! I fortunately recently got "Purple Rain" and was at or near the top of my next 'to view' list anyway.

Just about my favourite British film of all time. It summed up the old-time British way of thinking just about perfectly and (to an extent) foresaw the change in British society that WWII was bound to wrought. I'm always amused by the fact that it was commissioned as a propaganda piece by the Ministry of War and then banned by the same office for being unpatriotic!

"Colonel Blimp"

I was taken by this event described in the notes with the DVD - I'm copying here from Roger Ebert's review, as I've taken the DVD back to the library. Walbrook is the Austrian actor who played the main character's German friend.

I've just watched 'Winter's Bone'. An extraordinary and totally gripping film: the lead Jennifer Lawrence ('The Burning Plain', 'X-Men: First Class', 'The Hunger Games') is developing into a truly great actor.

But OMG is Missouri really THAT depressing?!!

"Anatomy of a Murder" - 1959, Jimmy Stewart and Lee Remick, George C Scott looking impossibly young. The most interesting thing to me about this courtroom drama of a rape and murder case is how they got around the Hays code. It's startlingly frank, for the kind of movie it is. Also, although there is a little gloss put on it for appearances, it's pretty obvious that the "bad" guys got away with it (another Hays Office no-no) - she wasn't really raped, and he wasn't really temporarily insane.

Also interesting to see how societal attitudes toward a free and easy young woman have changed - and, depressingly, how much they haven't.

"Fire and Ice"

Edit to add: Much better than I thought it would be--I'm always afraid I won't be able to follow things like this

I have just watched 'The Life of Pi', and having not read the book,(yet), cannot offer an opinion as to how it compares, but after reading an article about how the book was supposedly unfilmable, i must say that Ang Lee did a beautiful job. The cinematography is astounding, the story heart wrenching and uplifting at the same time.
The casting of relative unknowns was a masterful stroke, as it allowed you to concentrate your attention on the story, not who was playing who.
It has to be my favorite movie of the year, by far.

'Dungeons and Dragons: The Book of Vile Darkness'

Edit to add: I was pulled in right from the beginning, when the book's prior history was discussed.

"Marty" from 1955 with Ernest Borgnine.

Really love this movie - it's low key, it's simple, but it's got a lot of heart.

"How Green Was My Valley" from 1941.

This one didn't hold up so well for me. I now know what a Welsh accent sounds like, for example, and it doesn't sound much like any of these. I'm also a lot less sentimental in my fifties than I was in my teens, when I saw this first.

I know more about film-making, now, though, and can appreciate how beautifully made this movie is - I'm sure the first time I saw it, I didn't even notice all the bit with Angharad's veil at her wedding, for example. And the singing!

All in all, I'd say that if you haven't seen this, you probably should, sort of as a beautifully filmed time machine, back to a kind of movie they don't make anymore.

"Purple Rain" - Prince, Apollonia, Morris Day, Olga Karlatos, Clarence Williams III
Did you know that Prince wrote most of 'The Time''s music?

Pirates of the Golden Age - A two disc, four movie collection ("Against All Flags" / "Buccaneer's Girl" / "Yankee Buccaneer" / "Double Crossbones") Errol Flynn, Maureen O'Hara, Yvonne de Carlo, Antony Quinn, Don O'Connor, Jeff Chandler. All from Universal studios. Each had their own model ship when used in the sea tank but it was the same deck shown in all four movies for actor's staging!

"To Catch a Thief" - Cary Grant, Grace Kelly, Jesse Royce Landis, John Williams. One of Hitchcock's great use of camera perspective to add suspense. And, of course there's Kelly in her future Riviera setting to appreciate. It's sad that some of her big 'action' scenes were racing her car through the twisty streets. It reminded me so much of her demise it was almost too hard to watch.

"Roman Holiday" - Audrey Hepburn, Gregory Peck, Eddie Albert, Hartley Power. A good companion period piece to "To Catch a Thief" showing what post WWII was like on the Riviera and in Rome.

"Coonskin" (or "Street Fight") - Ralph Bakshi's mix of real footage and animation, with Barry White and Scatman Crothers.

The film "Against All Flags" (1952), starring Errol Flynn and Maureen O'Hara, I believe has a speaking role for Ernest Borgnine in it. He had just signed with Paramount but this film is from Universal and he would have had to use a different name or else ruin his other contract. The role was as the booty slave auctioneer and then as the pirate who discovers Flynn sabotaging the cannons, for which EB is killed. The way he strutted around doing the aution and the fighting stances he took are exactly the mannerisms he used as Sgt. 'Fastso' Judson in "From Here to Eternity" a year later. He seemed destined to play the heavy. EB's bio doesn't list "Against...Flags" as one he was in but maybe he enjoyed keeping this little secret? There are close ups of his face and the voice is the same. I think I saw tooth gaps in there too. Of course I may be wrong on this, but hours of searching hasn't produced the name of the auction character or a cast member who wasn't listed in many other films. It's like he was a speaking uncredited character (which was known to happen in studio crossovers). More looking will follow...

A bit of trivia to titilate: During the filming of "Against...Flags", Flynn broke his ankle and in the hiatus created by his recuperation, Universal threw together another movie, "Yankee Buccaneer" with Jeff Chandler to keep the sets in use!

If only someone would re-invent the Pirate film genre. I bet a lot of people would watch them (he he he)

Borgnine speculation: Here is a scenario that might fit the events. EB started the film for Universal. He got his scenes in the can. Flynn broke his ankle, putting that project on hold. EB signs with Paramount. Universal finishes "AAF" but cannot use the name of an actor under contract exclusively to another studio. Paramount decides to not credit the part at all to avoid legal issues. They also decide it would be to costly to reshoot his scenes (both include Flynn) with a stand in, so they leave him in but without recognition.

Wow, that's a rave review if ever there was one.

I'm sticking that straight on my "to watch" list.

"The Exorcist".

I wasn't too impressed, to be honest. The first forty minutes or so really dragged, for one thing, and I kept being distracted and pulled out of the moment by stupid little stuff. As an example, hours (days?) after the famous pea soup scene, Regan's face and bedding is still stained and I'm thinking "You just leave the child up there in her own filth, and we're supposed to think of you as a loving and concerned mother? Is she wearing diapers?" which is not, I think, what I was supposed to be thinking about just then. Not the masterpiece of its genre I was led to expect.

"Rosemary's Baby"

Enjoyed this one much more, happy to call it a classic in its genre. And Ruth Gordon is just so wonderful.

"The Mothman Prophecies" (2002) with Richard Gere, Laura Linney and Will Patton. An interesting look at the phenomenon of angels without any ascribed religious belief. There are Christmas lights, trees and wrapped presents but no link is drawn between the angels acting on behalf of a specific theology. The film is based on events recorded and reported surrounding the collapse of the Silver Bridge in Point Pleasant, West Virginia that took 46 lives. Point Pleasant is one of three municipalities at the confluence of the Ohio and Kanawha Rivers. Before the tragedy, many local people were 'visited' by an entity they called the Mothman. That entity gave some precognition to one resident about plane crashes and earthquakes. Have to wrap this up. My lepidopteran friend says the sky is falling. He speaks with a Mayan accent so I'd better heed his warnings. If you survive, watch this talking/movie.

Last night I watched, "Star Trek: Nemesis". I had completely forgotten some very important plot points, not to mention the ending. So it was almost like watching it for the first time!

"Harvey"

Haven't seen this one since I was a little kid, what a wonderful movie.

"Well, I've wrestled with reality for 35 years, Doctor, and I'm happy to state I finally won out over it."

The best part of that movie was seeing Janeway outrank Picard

"Harvey": ordered today!

"The Manchurian Candidate" the original one, from 1962.

Hard to know what to say about this one. The performances are so good,and the premise is so ridiculous. Post hypnotic suggestion just doesn't work that way. Women picking up men on the train doesn't work that way, either - we would consider a real modern woman who behaves the way Janet Leigh does in this movie to be insane, or at the very least to have real issues with her relationships with men.

But, dang, the performances are good. At the end I was thinking "Man, what a good movie" even though through much of it I'd been thinking "Ah, this is just so stupid".

We went to the new James Bond movie the other night. "Skyfall" was really the best Bond in the series, in my opinion.

"The Sons of Katie Elder"

Good basic John Wayne western. I always like Dean Martin in a western, and Dennis Hopper plays a nasty little snot to perfection. James Gregory is the bad guy - he was one of the bad guys in "Manchurian Candidate" too.

The last movie I watched was Gus van Sant's Last Days. A film loosely based on the death of Kurt Cobain.

-Nam

"Patton"

I'm not really a big fan of war movies, but this is quite something. I'm becoming a huge fan of George C Scott - in the last little while I've seen him in "The Hustler", "Anatomy of a Murder" and now "Patton" and every performance has been outstanding.

For some good early Scott work, you might enjoy "Petulia" with Julie Christie. I know I enjoyed it. Not a great work but there's some good acting. And it has some Janis Joplin and Greatful Dead cameos.

Last night I watched one of those rare beasts - a film so bad that it bordered on the brilliant called 'Iron Sky'.

In this masterpiece, a colony of Nazis, on the moon since 1945, are planning an invasion of Earth. The world's people look toward the US President (a Sarah Palin look-alike) for leadership... I shall say no more but can recommend it as a serious spoof (is there such a thing?) that I found quite funny and immensely entertaining!

Oh, my son told me about that one, sisterseagull - he thoroughly enjoyed it, too.

I'll check that one out, mehaul - I think I'll be having a little Scott film festival here over the next couple months.

"Seven Years in Tibet" - Brad Pitt, David Thewlis, B.D. Wong, Mako, Danny Denzongpa, Jamyang Jamtsho Wangchuk, Lhakpa Tsamchoe
The film was enjoyable and had beautiful scenic vistas (mountains from all around the world)except for when Pitt let out his german version of an accent. Why? The character wasn't speaking English. A fair telling of the Chinese takeover of Tibet in the 40s.

"Little Shop of Horrors" - Rick Moranis, Ellen Greene, Steve Martin, Frank Gardenia, Jim Belushi, John Candy, Frank Oz (dir)
A humorous take-off of the off Broadway hit musical based on the 2-day movie shoot by Roger Corman.

"Epic Movie" - Kal Penn, Adam Campbell, Jennifer Coolidge, Jayma Mays, Faune Chambers, Fred Willard.
A spoof done as well as spoofs are done.

"Airplane II: The Sequel" - Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty, Lloyd Bridges, Peter Graves, William Shatner
Some repeat jokes and scene re-uses but ohterwise a fair spoof of the original.

"The Adventures of Robin Hood" - Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Basil Rathbone, Claude Rains
One of the first epics Action/Adventure films done in full color. A classic swashbuckler.

Posted watched movies in the thread as of 12/11/12 in order of posting. (Discussion posts not recorded.) A location can be approximated by the 33 postings. (On average, thirty-three titles per page) Sorry, there might not be quotemarks, italics or underlining employed and the single apostrophes must be included in copies then deleted and switched to quotes so I didn't change them either. Has anyone noticed using those single quote marks makes going to Wiki's search difficult because they aren't recognized or ignored?

1.Insomnia
2.War Horse
3.The Kids are Alright
4.Abraham Lincoln', Vampire Hunter
5.The Burning Plain
6.Where the Heart Is
7.My Cousin Rachel
8.The Tenth Man
9.Jesus Christ Superstar
10.Rebecca
11.K 19 - The Widowmaker
12.The Scout
13.Batman (version unstated)
14.The Reunion
15.The Condemned
16.12 Rounds
17.the Guard
18.The Avengers
19.Ironman
20.The Hulk
21.Captain America
22.London River
23.Das Boot
24.Pan's Labyrinth
25.Life is Beautiful
26.Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
27.Three Fugitives
28.BOTTLE SHOCK
29.DOSTANA
30.Summer Lovers
31.Splash
32.Thor
33.We Need To Talk About Kevin
34.The Manchurian Candidate, the Denzel Washington
35.The Birds
36.French Postcards
37.MY NAME IS KHAN
38.The Kingdom
39.Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing
40.Titus (Andronicus)
41.Boondock Saints
42.Fail Safe
43.The Descendents
44.The Private Life of Henry VIII
45.The Rainmaker
46.Battleship
47.The Princess Bride
48.Sweet and Lowdown
49.The Italian Job (remake)
50.In Bruges
51.Superman II
52.Superman III
53.Superman IV
54.Sixteen Candles
55.The Mask
56.Rent
57.the first seven "Hellraiser" films
58.Dangerous Liaisons
59.Young Adult
60.The original "Italian Job"
61.The Iron Lady
62.The Hustler
63.Dog Day Afternoon
64.Defendor
65.Wait until Dark
66.Paris, Texas
67.House of Games
68.The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
69.'The Book of Eli'
70.Take the Money and Run
71.Teen Witch
72.Matilda
73.Zombieland
74.'Shaun of the Dead'
75.'Up
76.'The Emperor's New Groove'
77.'Wall-E'
78.Serpico
79.Tremors 4
80.Frankenstein
81.Electoral Dysfunction
82.King of Kings
83.Sleeping Beauty
84.Star Odyssey
85.Prisoners of the Lost Universe
86.How to Steal a Million
87.True Blood
88.Objective Burma
89.Mystery Men
90.Quantum of Solace
91.The King's Speech
92.Melancholia
93."The Adventures of Don Juan" starring Errol Flynn
94.Billy Jack
95.Prey
96.Cabin in the Woods
97.How the Grinch Stole Christmas (not the animated one)
98.The Misfits
99.Sherlock Holmes (2011)
100.Some Like It Hot
101.Fargo
102.'Winter's Bone'
103.Anatomy of a Murder
104.Fire and Ice
105.'The Life of Pi'
106.'Dungeons and Dragons: The Book of Vile Darkness'
107.Marty
108.How Green Was My Valley
109.Purple Rain
110.Pirates of the Golden Age- 4 movie features
111.To Catch a Thief
112.Roman Holiday
113."Coonskin" (or "Street Fight")
114.The Exorcist
115.Rosemary's Baby
116.The Mothman Prophecies
117.Star Trek: Nemesis
118.Harvey
119."The Manchurian Candidate" the original
120.Skyfall
121.The Sons of Katie Elder
122.Last Days
123.Patton
124.Iron Sky
125.Seven Years in Tibet
126.Little Shop of Horrors
127.Epic Movie
128.Airplane II: The Sequel
129.The Adventures of Robin Hood - w/ Errol Flynn

There are some good movies in that list.

I just sat here (again) and watched the wonderful 'Forrest Gump' (again) and found my eyes welling up (again)... That Tom Hanks is one helluva 'n actor and what a film, just awesome, so touching

Going over bonus material of the 65th Anniversary DVD of "The Adventures of Robin Hood", I came across this wonderful trivial tidbit:
The horse ridden by Maid Marian (Olivia de Havilland) on her entrance in the caravan through Sherwood Forest was a Palomino that would later be owned by Roy Rogers and then known as Trigger!
From the Legacy paragraph in the Wikipedia entry for the film:
"Trigger (then named Golden Cloud) was the horse ridden by Olivia de Havilland in the film. Roy Rogers admired the horse so much that he bought Trigger to use in his own films. This eventually made Trigger one of the most famous animals in show business."

Another clip from the bonus shows a scene shot later - to fill exposition and sync it with the visual tale - required Flynn and Patric Knowles (Will Scarlet) to enter Sherwood in the opening scenes. The clip was in the bonus material to point out that the scene was shot in a different location (Warner Ranch) than all the other filming. But the scene clearly shows that Knowles is riding the Palomino later ridden by de Havilland. The scene ends with the two horses, side by side, jumping synchronously over a fallen log which represented the edge of the forest. Seems Trigger was ridden by both de Havilland and Knowles in the film. There are two or three other scenes showing a Palomino being ridden by other horsemen in various scenes. My final review of the film felt like a Where's Waldo exercise looking for that Golden Cloud to flash on the screen.

"3 Godfathers"

Highly sentimental but enjoyable John Ford/John Wayne western about three bad guys being chased by a posse across the desert who make a promise to a dying woman that they will care for her newborn. Great visuals - watch the smoke and the dust.

Last night I saw “Fatal Reunion.” I first saw it a year ago—then, over the summer, I saw a different [older, I think] version. That day in summer, I didn’t even watch the rest—but the one last night was the version I liked, so I watched to the end.

Yes, indeed!

And yesterday I saw "Star Trek: The Motion Picture." Now I remember why it's my favorite Star Trek movie; it's the most like the original series, and everybody still looks likes themselves (and Shatner is still handsome). And it is more like what sci-fi used to be; not action-adventure-fantasy in space but really science fiction.

Tonight I'm watching a strange little movie from the 1940s called "Flight From Destiny". A dying professor plots the murder of a woman who is ruining his friends' marriage, because of his theory of socially necessary murder.

"Chico and Rita" ... one of those I expected to be mostly indifferent about, but got happily rewarded when I completely enjoyed it. And ended up watching it twice! Insanely fine music and incredible animation, too.

The 1970 "Jane Eyre" with George C Scott.

I'm not a big fan of Mr Rochester, never found this story as romantic as many do, but I'd say Scott does as good a job as can be done, making the character seem sympathetic.

"Oranges and Sunshine"

As a film, so-so. As a document of a story that needed to be told, incredibly moving. Watching it today of all days, my heart just breaks for all the children who are harmed.

"The Best Years of our Lives"

Story of veterans returning from the war and not finding things the way they expected. Made in 1946, it's not very modern in style, but very modern indeed in the issues it deals with. Doesn't pull any punches - I really liked this movie.

I've only just read this review and it's fabulous & hilarious. All reviews should be from this point of view.

"The Age of Innocence"

I've avoided Edith Wharton all these years because I had a feeling I wouldn't like her, but now I think I need to read some of her books - this was astonishing.

Has Daniel Day-Lewis ever been in a bad movie?

Nope, I don't think he has now you mention it!

Over the weekend, saw two films which I’d watched before, but missed the beginning or end (or both). First: “Taken From Me,” about a woman whose ex-husband gets her permission to take their son on vacation to Florida, when his real plans are to abduct the boy and take him to another country, then make all sorts of claims about what an unfit mother she is. The second movie was “The Elizabeth Smart Story,” which is the one where I missed the beginning (and, subsequently, lost interest). That’s why I made sure to watch it closely this time). I was reminded, the first time I watched, of a book I had read in which the villain said something similar (if not the exact line). Both films, I found, were pretty easy for me to follow the story line,and the portrayal of emotion was very realistic, not overly done.

"Hollow Man" (2000) with Kevin Bacon, Elisabeth Shue and Josh Brolin. The story sets the exposition of how a modern day invisible man is made and some bit of a story of the troubles it brings him. Done by Paul Verhoeven, master of modern cinematic techniques, there are few scenes without digital participation. The scenes of becoming in- and visible are quite stunning.

"Hollow Man 2" (2006) with Christian Slater, Peter Facinelli, Laura Regan is the direct to DVD sequel produced by Verhoeven. Once he figured out where costly effects were not required to tell the invisible man story, he put this together. It is a good story, with just enough visual effects added to convince the viewer of the activities of the unseen.

Also beginning in 2000 there was a Sci-Fi Channel series called "The Invisible Man" which ran for two seasons that relied on the same digital image manipulations (sans the gory transition phases) as the first Hollow Man. It was an amusing look at what a government agent may encounter using his abilities. In this vehicle it was played that the government saw not much advantage to the ability and relegated the operation to a backwater agency.

"The Sweet Smell of Success"

Wow. When Burt Lancaster plays a bad guy, he's bad all right. Tony Curtis is so slimy he glitters. This is a great movie, full of wonderful little touches. Great dialogue, slick wet city streets, all that texture that you only get with black and white. And a couple of thoroughly nasty human beings.

"Rock of Ages"

Whoops ... there went 90 minutes of my life I'll never get back . The music was a rather fun trip down memory lane and recalling that we really DID walk around with that much hair on our heads back then was worth a giggle, but the script was painfully bad and the love story just didn't feel right, at least not to me. And I refer to the love story between the two young singers, not the one between Russell Brand and Alec Baldwin (?). The latter coupling didn't feel right either, of course, but that was because they were both so annoying. It's pretty telling, and kinda scary, when the following statement sums up a movie being watched at my house: Tom Cruise was the best thing in it?! Ugh.

lol! (But surely the inclusion of Russell Brand was a tell-tale sign that it would be bad?)


"Still of the Night"

Oh, this film is so tantalising! One moment brilliant and intriguing, the next bizarrely boring and switch-offable. It's a psychological thriller, but really it's like a pale version of a Hitchcock film. It should have been a classic but something was wrong and I cannot decide what.

Perhaps it was Roy Scheider - he seemed a bit wooden. & The plot was a bit confused. It reminded me of a "choose your own adventure" story in that it was full of twists (great) but I felt that not all the twists and turns linked up with each other. Meryl Streep was her usual Meryl Streepness of good, even if a bit hammy at times.

All that said, I enjoyed it! Worth watching if there's nothing else on.


From wiki:

"---When Streep appeared on the Bravo talk show, "Watch What Happens Live," in August, 2012, host Andy Cohen asked her to “Name one bad film that you have made.” Streep replied, “Still of the Night.” “What was that about?” asked Cohen. Streep replied, “Never mind.”---"

Of course, if you are the fabulous Meryl Streep a "bad" film might be what anyone else would call an okay one.



Incidentally, following on from Mehaul's observation that Joe E Brown and William H Macy were separated at birth, Roy Scheider was born to play Groucho Marx!

"The Postman", one of Kevin Costner's post apocalyptic/dystopian self produced/directed/lead efforts. I think this may be one of his better ones since he emphasizes the minor characters a little more than in his other works. I was distraught when the credits didn't reveal the narrator/Hope Postman's identity. There was a good cameo performance from Peggy Lipton of "Mod Squad" fame. Giovani Rebisi is excellent portraying his obnoxious character. Horseman work played a big part in the successful presentation. The scenery of Northern Arizona through Southern Washington and Oregon is breathtaking at times (just remember that there was a lot of digital sky manipulation done.)
A propos to recent discussions about mass shootings is the segment of the movie where the Postman and Abby arrive at Bridge City and the Mayor, Tom Petty, tells them that Bridge City is a gun free city. Good idea but would have fallen prey to Bethlehem (Will Patton's evil General)'s artillery and superior fire power. No, a post WW3 world would need a well armed militia, IMHO.

Edit to add:
"The Man with the Golden Arm" dir: Otto Preminger, with Frank Sinatra, Eleanor Parker, Kim Novak, Arnold Stang and Darren McGavin. Remember Arnold Stang of the unusual face who did Chunky candy bar commercials and was the original voice of the Honey-nut Cheerios Bee? Sorry for the divert. This film starts as looking like an Alcoa (another Stang backed product) Theater TV presentation in the way the sets are lit and the scenery of Chicago is noticably a stage set. Once the acting of the cast begins in earnest you quickly dismiss those failings. The story rolls on with will he or won't he (Sinatra) do heroin)? Will he screw up his drumming audition? Will he catch his faking wife in her deceptions? Will he go back to dealing cards in back room poker games? Will life drag him back to being the jigsaw puzzle piece it has decided he should be? Can he kick the habits that have built to the climax? Tune in next week when Victor Borge hosts our cavalcade of European Stars in the next Alcoa Presents! Really, this film was a barrier breaker that even went to the courts to allow having it shown in theaters because of the drug use depicted! The Board of Standards had no qualms about the violence in refusing to accredit the film, just the drugs! The animated lead credits tableaux became a Preminger hallmark. Finally, continuing a minor theme in these postings, Doro Merande playing opposite Stang looks like Stang's twin sister (Oh the chuckles the casting crew must have had). Merande playing Vi is a Margaret Hamilton look alike too.

I just watched "French Postcards" again. What a treat. There is a Christmas scene where Valerie Quennessen goes on a double date (her and two guys) which leads to the "No, right door!" line of dialogue. And it is joyous to see how wonderfully Blanche Baker has aged through the years. And Paris...
Joy Noel.

I can think of a "bad" DDLewis movie. It's called "Stars and Bars". It's supposed to be a comedy (and it might be to folks in Georgia, but I confess I didn't get/wasn't aware of all the "inside jokes" when I watched it). Lewis wasn't "awful" particularly, but the movie was and I think there's a reason he never did comedy before or since lol

Last movie I watched? "Harvey", because I make a point of viewing it every December : ) (have it on VHS and DVD since we don't have a VHS machine anymore lol)

"Catwoman" Halle Berry, Benjamin Bratt and Sharon Stone, a cinematically well done presentation of an alternate version of the Catwoman myth. If anyone wants to see how a silk screen camera filter can make a woman look so much younger on screen just check out Sharon Stone's shots in this one (Note it was a need of the story though, I'm sure not her imperative, I speculate).

AND, THE 1st 3rd POSTING: "Harvey", which earned an Academy Award for Josephine Hull, a glimpse into another myth, this time of the Celtic origin Pooka (also see puca and pouque), a mischievous animal manifestation that can take many forms, a giant white rabbit in this case. If only we all, or at least more of us, were of the Elwood P. Dowd mien.

Edit to add: In researching Pooka I found that "Donnie Darko" is a tale wrapped around the Pooka existence myth. Have ordered a copy and will watch it soon I hope.

We went and saw "Looper" yesterday. It was good with a twist.

Mehaul: You're kinda "weird" like me (I mean that in the best way possible), so you'll probably enjoy Donnie Darko. The movie is pretty much left entirely up to the viewer's interpretation (I wish more of them would do so, rather than "preach" to me/the choir or beat me over the head with platitudes lol).

Been too busy with company/family over the last two weeks, so haven't watched anything lately except non-stop seasonal reruns of HBO/etc series (some of which I had missed previously, so it was nice to catch up on/make "sense" of shows like True Blood, Lost Girl, Boardwalk Empire, Band of Brothers et al)

The only "real" movie I watched that I hadn't seen before was "Nativity!" - a really hokey but surprisingly endearing movie about a British elementary school teacher and a Christmas play.

As for movies (at the theatre) that I'd LIKE to see is "The Hobbit". However, I'm disappointed because while it IS only one book, it is apparently going to be THREE movies. Wow, take a break Mr. Jackson. It's already starting to smell like Star Wars prequels. Sigh (because I LOVED the book) it should have been released as ONE movie, BEFORE the 3 that were released originally. I can't say how annoyed I was in the first film that you already knew who "Strider" was. And, if he had done them "in order, then my husband (who doesn't read much and certainly not Tolkien) wouldn't have assumed that the first movie in the series actually "ended" and wouldn't have stomped out of the theatre annoyed at wasting 3 hours of his time LOL

Gee, I could have written that sentence except changed the word "husband" to "mother"!

"State Fair" (1945) - Jeanne Crain, Dana Andrews, Dick Haymes, Vivian Blaine, Fay Bainter and Charles Winninger - A Rogers and Hammerstein product. What could be said to the deficit of one of their musicals? A bit of USA State Fair background if someone watches this who is unfamiliar with the event: Most State Fairs are run by counties in each state (meaning a state with 50 counties might have 50 state fairs); They are for exhibiting farm products usually (produce, livestock, arts and crafts, cooking recipes, hobbies and other regional society interests) and give awards based on decisions by learned judges; There is usually a Carnival of rides and amusements that set up adjacent to the fair (a reason the fair dates are staggered by agreement to allow the carnies to move from venue to venue). Now when you hear the opening song's lyrics of "Our State Fair is the best State Fair in our State" you might understand the expectations that came with the arrival of the Fair dates (most often in the fall harvest season). I just loved that the state of Iowa is pronounced Eye-owe-way rather than Eye-owe-wah (do the locals actually use that pronunciation?) as the theme in one of the songs.

I've been watching quite a bit of Dana Andrews in the last year or so - I can't decide if he's a good actor, or if I just kinda like the movies he's in.

I know exactly what you mean!

"A Boy and His Dog" (1975)
Don Johnson, Susanne Benton, Tiger, Tim McIntire, Jason Robards, Jr.
A wonderful telling of several connected short stories authored by Harlan Ellison. It covers a few days in the life of young man scratching out an existence in a surrealistic, post-apocalyptic, dystopian world brought about by the five minute WW-IV. He relies on telepathically communicating with a dog who was a result of some parapsych... well that's giving too much away. You have to research the books/stories to find out how they got that way. It is just a given you must accept as part of the tale. For all you Hannibal L fans out there, it has a delicious ending! If you've enjoyed Mark Hamill's "Slipstream" (1989) or Sandahl Bergman's "She" (1982) versions of strange futures, you might enjoy this one.

Edit to add: My DVD had a mix-up of the audio sync. The sound precedes the motion by a good half-second. Maybe other copies are fixed but I found it added to the disfunction of the world being depicted, as if the Nuclear War had effected the speed of sound somehow.

"The Big Red One" from 1980. Pretty good WWII movie - I betcha Spielberg watched this before filming "Saving Private Ryan", especially the Omaha Beach section. Lee Marvin is fantastic as the Sergeant.

"Notorious". Ingrid Bergman, Cary Grant, Claude Rains. I find the whole thing is spoiled a bit for me because the relationship between Grant and Bergman is so mired in the gender politics of the forties. I could see a young person watching this movie now and not being able to figure out what is going on - why did he do that? Why did she do that? We just don't have the concept of the "soiled woman" anymore, not the way they did then. Fantastic performance from Claude Rains, though - he's the bad guy, but he's the character you feel most for.

"Out of the Past" Robert Mitchum, Kirk Douglas, Jane Greer. Now in this one, the bad girl is really a bad girl, no confusion. This is classic film noir - they must have lit 200 cigarettes during this movie, and Mitchum hardly ever takes off his trench coat. Loved every minute of it.

Just the other night I watched "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" (2005). It was brilliant.

"Brief Encounter" Made within a few years of the last few I've watched, but so very different. I've never seen this before, and knew nothing about it, so came to it "cold", without a lot of preconceptions - read up on it later. I can see why it's been mocked, but I also see the strength that made it well enough known that it *could* be mocked. I have to say, I enjoyed it very much.

"Donnie Darko" (2001)
Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Mary McDonnell, Holmes Osborne, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Drew Barrymore, Patrick Swayze, Noah Wyle
I see it as a statement of what Purgatory may possibly be: a short lived tangent lifespan. I also found it thoughtful that even in this tangent, once the Psychoanalyst made Donnie aware that he was sane by revealing ____, she seems to have robbed Donnie of his access to Frank, the Pooka bunny being. I sensed some S King in here in the bad boys of "It" and the bad boys of Middlesex Ridge. All Donnie's acquaintances were ending up in nasty situations (teacher fired, enemy counselor going pedophilic, Grandma Death's burglary...). The expanded myth of "The Philosophy of Time Travel" is an interesting read if you do some research. For me all was explained except for where the second plane jet engine came from. Did it mean a second tangent life was beginning for one of the other characters? Maybe that is revealed in "Donnie Darko 2". This film is as good as "The Mothman Prophecies" as a non-religious look at ideas about death's mechanics.

Edit to add: In the bonus commentary by Richard Kelly, the director, he had Mrs. Darko reading S King's "It" in an opening scene! Another scene, where Donnie is shooting bottles with a pellet rifle is much like the sling shot practice/decide who's the best shot out of "It". The sequel movie, "S. Darko" is the telling of Donnie's younger sister, Samantha's, tale (played by the same actress, Daveigh Chase).

The last two films I saw were "The Artist" and "Avengers Assemble".

Both highly hyped films but only one lived up to the billing for me; The Artist. A very well-made and imaginative film with engaging performances and a cracking soundtrack.

Avengers was a disappointment. I probably should have expected to have been underwhelmed as I prefer my movies a little more grown up but I found it a little too try hard - particularly the near-constant quipping from Robert Downey Jr. Some good action sequences, some stunning CGI and the performances of Mark Ruffalo and the bloke playing Loki made it watchable but I won't hurry back to watch the inevitable sequel(s). Not a patch on Dark Knight Rises for me.

Prêt-à-Porter (Ready to Wear) (1994)
Sophia Loren, Marcello Mastroianni, Julia Roberts, Tim Robbins, Kim Basinger and dozens more
A wonderful light comedy that follows several subplots. The drawback is that there is no main plot. Perhaps that is appropriate considering that the subject matter is the annual fashion reveals of Paris (someday, mehaul, someday) which is a madhouse of individual couturier expressions. Director, writer, producer Robert Altman I think managed to bring out the cartoonish "Popeye" to the reality of the cutthroat fashion world. Jean Rochefort, who played the head of the Parisian academy in "French Postcards" plays the lead inspector of a suspected murder turned choking accident so straight faced to the crowd of French Clouseaus that surround him. A standout performance. There are also several 'step in dog poop' jokes that fill some dead time humorously.

"Django Unchained".

Well.

It's a Tarantino movie, so if you didn't get what all the fuss was about for his previous movies, you certainly won't like this one. I think I'm going to have to see it again, to sort out what I really think from all the images.

Snowman, I really liked "The Artist", too. One of the best films I saw last year, if not the best. And mehaul, I had fun with "Prêt-à-Porter" a few years ago. I can still hear The Cranberries' song in my head.

Just recently viewed "It Came From Outer Space" (1953). Unfortunately, it wasn't in the original 3-D, but it was everything you'd expect from a sci-fi film of the 1950s!

"Darkman" - Liam Neeson, Frances McDormand, Colin Friels, Larry Drake, Nelson Mashita
"Darkman 2: The Return of Durant" - Arnold Vosloo, Larry Drake, Renee O'Connor, Kim Delaney, Rod Wilson
"Darkman III: Die, Darkman Die" - Arnold Vosloo, Jeff Fahey, Darlanne Fluegel, Roxann Biggs, Nigel Bennett

A nice series of a dark graphic comic abnormalhero (rather than super-). The Darkman artificially makes skin masks for himself which certainly is a valuable resource casting-wise for the producer, Sam Raimi. It adds suspense when you aren't sure whether the character you're watching is Darkman or the guy he's imitating. Villains die and get resurrected for the sequels, pure comic lore! Jenny Agutter has an uncredited role in the first one.

"S. Darko" (2009)
Daveigh Chase, Briana Evigan, Ed Westwick, James Lafferty, John Hawkes, Jackson Rathbone
Intended not to be a sequel but an Homage, this film certainly pushes all the buttons that comprised the original, "Donnie Darko". It takes place a decade later and chronicles some of little sister Samantha Darko's (Daveigh in both) journey through life and a tangent life or two. It's got the countdowns, the ghosts, the cloud tunnels, the suddenly appearing metal objects of death, the misguided do-gooders, the liquid sphere wormy things that show future positions, the burning buildings, the "Philosophy of Time Travel" by Roberta Sparrow, the wonderous recollection montage after the time lines are repaired and more. This has a saving within a saving that sets it apart from the original. Great music again. And a reason I find it one of the best films I've seen in a while, the Tesseract meteorites from the fourth dimension sent to destroy the world.

Look for Daveigh and Briana to beautify our screens for decades to come.

Yet Another Dar... title. Did not plan that.

"Darby O'Gill and the Little People" (1959)
Albert Sharpe, Janet Munro, Sean Connery, Jimmy O'Dea
Cleopatra the horse was a Pooka! Once forcing Darby to fall into the abandoned well and then enticing Katie into a fall off a bluff. The merry and wise Leprechaun King, Brian Connors, shares wisdom with Darby and all is saved for what is just another day in Rathcullen, County Kerry. The DVD bonus material contains an old "Wonderful World of Disney" episode which had Pat O'Brien and others explain the history of Irish lore: the origin of Leprechauns, the Banshees and the Death Carriage.
For those who enjoyed "Paint Your Wagon" for the singing performance of Clint Eastwood, this film offers the tonsil tingling of Sean Connery as he performed the duet "Pretty Irish Girl" with Janet Munro. According to Connery the sales for the vinyl were profitable.

Coincidences to the other Dar... films:
King Brian can make himself appear to be someone or something else as in the "Darkman" series.
Darby transports a metal object, a church bell, which at a key point is heard to ring and transfix Darby who makes a decision, like Donnie and Iraq Jack, to sacrifice his life for the good of others. I mentioned the pooka. The Death Carriage and the deathly red car are key adjuncts to both tales. The banshee and the manipulated dead seem to be drawn from the same imaginary cloth. Rathcullen has its public house for partying and tale telling as do both Darkos have party scenes.

Maybe I could watch "The Dark Crystal"again? Maybe not.

"The Bad Seed". Made me shiver.

"Big Night" Completely charming. And the food.....!

"Double Indemnity" This one is as good as I remember it.

"Charade"
Audrey Hepburn, Cary Grant, Walter Matthau, James Coburn, George Kennedy
A delightfully confusing re-mix of the pair that made "Roman Holiday" such a wonderful experience.
Edit: I always seem to misrecollect the characters played by Gregory Peck and Cary Grant. It was Peck with Hepburn in the Roman film and it was Grant (with Grace Kelly) in a role similar to the one of the above "Charade" character in "To Catch a Thief". Anyway, if you haven't seen any of these films and aren't easily confused like some of us, "Charade" is a nice diversion.