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!