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Post by Prime etc. on Mar 10, 2019 8:14:29 GMT
THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW 1944 Well I don't know what the problem with the ending is--I think it was kind of whimsical but who cares? I think it works given the lack of vice in the character. If it ended as it seemed to be heading it would have just been a downer for no good reason.
Heard an anecdote about Nunnally Johnson once---Burgess Meredith went on a date with someone who couldn't stop talking about Nunnally Johnson and he allegedly said: "Get thee to a Nunnally."
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Post by nostromo on Mar 10, 2019 11:33:31 GMT
'Shoplifters' (2018)
One of the best films I've seen for a long, long time. Koreeda's ability to make us buy into these moving tales of family life are just brilliant.
9/10
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Post by Lebowskidoo 🦞 on Mar 10, 2019 13:25:05 GMT
Other People (2016) The true story of a TV writer returning home to help care for his mother, who is terminally ill with cancer. Very similar to my own real life experience, very well done. Molly Shannon, most well known for being goofy on Saturday Night Live, is extremely good as the mother.
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Post by kijii on Mar 10, 2019 16:18:20 GMT
Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018) / Marielle Heller Rented from Amazon Prime
Watching this movie completes my viewing of all the movies nominated in what I call "The Top Six Categories" for the 2019 Oscars. This movie received Oscar nominations for: Best Actress (Melissa McCarthy), Best Supporting Actor (Richard E. Grant) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty) which makes all these people fodder for future Garth Games, I guess.
It is sort of hard to make a biopic that is boring, depressing, and made mainly for the NYC intellectual set that is still familiar with the Algonquin Round Table. Are there really people who would pay hundreds or thousands for a scrap of paper personally autographed by Dorothy Parker? I guess the answer is "yes."
Lee Israel (Melissa McCarthy) : I have been living in a state of enormous guilt and anxiety for the past year. Not because I felt like I was doing something wrong, but because I was always afraid of being found out. I can't specifically say that I regret my actions. I don't. I thoroughly enjoyed writing these letters, living in the world of Dorothy Parker and Noel Coward, pretending I was something I am not. In many ways, this has been the best time of my life. It's the only time recently I can remember being proud of the work I was doing. But it wasn't my work, was it? I was hiding behind these people, their names. Because if I'd actually put myself out there, done my own work, then I would be opening myself up to criticism. And I'm too much of a coward for all of that. I've lost my cat, the only soul that truly loved me, maybe ever. And I lost my friend, who might have been an idiot, but tolerated me, and was nice to have around. And I've realized that I'm not a real writer. In the end, it was not worth it.
Yet, it is still entertaining to watch movies about con men, and this fits the bill perfectly, boring, depressing--but still entertaining. Plot Synopsis from Wikipedia with SPOILERS: In 1991, following the critical and commercial failure of her biography of Estée Lauder, author Lee Israel struggles with financial troubles, writer's block and alcoholism. With her agent unable to secure her an advance for a new book, Israel is forced to sell her possessions to cover expenses, selling a personal letter she received from Katharine Hepburn to local book dealer Anna.
While conducting research for a potential Fanny Brice biography, Israel discovers two letters written by Brice, one of which she takes and shows to Anna. Anna gives a low offer due to the letter's bland content, prompting Israel to return home, add a postscript to the second letter, and bring it to Anna's store the following day. Anna takes the letter for $350. Israel then starts forging and selling further letters by deceased celebrities, incorporating intimate details in an attempt to command higher prices. Anna, who is a fan of Israel's writing, tries to initiate a romantic relationship but is rebuffed.
When one of Israel's letters raises suspicion for its unguarded discussion of Noël Coward's sexuality, her buyers start blacklisting her. Now unable to sell the forgeries, she has a friend, flamboyant drug-dealer Jack Hock, sell the letters for her. She also begins to steal authentic letters from libraries and archives to sell, replacing them with forged duplicates. While out of town committing one such theft, Israel's elderly cat dies under Jack's care. She ends their friendship but continues their criminal partnership out of necessity.
Jack is caught by the FBI while attempting a sale and cooperates with them, resulting in Israel being served with a court summons. She retains a lawyer, who advises her to show contrition by getting a job, doing community service, and joining Alcoholics Anonymous. In court, Israel confesses she enjoyed creating the forged letters and does not regret her actions, but realizes her crimes were not worth it because the forgeries did not show her true self as a writer. She is sentenced to five years' probation and six months' house arrest.
Sometime later, Israel reconciles with Jack, who is now dying of AIDS, and asks his permission to write a memoir about their escapades, to which he agrees. While passing a bookstore, she sees a Dorothy Parker letter she forged on sale for $1900. Disgusted, she writes the store owner a sarcastic note in Parker's voice. Upon receiving Israel's note and realizing that the letter in the storefront window is a fake, the owner removes it from the window but changes his mind and decides to keep it on display.
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Post by louise on Mar 10, 2019 16:48:27 GMT
Carry On Abroad. never get tired of the Carry Ons.
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Post by kijii on Mar 11, 2019 4:50:23 GMT
Daniel (1983) / Sidney Lumet Rented from Amazon Prime
This is an excellent movie, told in such a complex way---going back and forth between two time periods, with the 50s shown in a slightly different (orange) color tinge. No review that I could write could possibly come close to the one I am posting here. So, I will just re-post an old review from the IMDb (with proper citation to the IMDb user who wrote it.)
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Post by mikef6 on Mar 11, 2019 13:55:16 GMT
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Post by teleadm on Mar 12, 2019 19:18:13 GMT
The Song of Bernadette 1943, directed by Henry King, based on a novel by Franz Werfel, starring Jennifer Jones, William Eythe, Charles Bickford, Vincent Price, Gladys Cooper, Lee J. Cobb, Anne Revere, Roman Bohnen, Charles Dingle, Sig Ruman, Blanche Yurka and many others. Fantasy drama. In 1858 France, Bernadette, an adolescent peasant girl, has a vision of "a beautiful lady" in the city dump. She never claims it to be anything other than this, but the townspeople all assume it to be the virgin Mary. The pompous government officials think she is nuts, and do their best to suppress the girl and her followers, and the church wants nothing to do with the whole matter. But as Bernadette attracts wider and wider attention, the phenomenon overtakes everyone in the town, and transforms their lives. The opening titles include "For those who believe in God, no explanation is necessary. For those who do not believe in God, no explanation is possible." This is a truly remarkable movie from the first scenes when Bernadette's father walks around searching for work, to the last at the convent where Bernadette lived her final years. Around 150 minutes goes by remarkably fast. This is far from a preachy movie, and even I who is among those who don't belive can see the very entertaining story it tells and it's hight production values. The panic of both the established church and the nearly comic and satirc nabbs towards local politics and politicians. Where the sound voice or reason comes from the local doctor who can see changes but can't explain. I would like to call this an ensamble piece with Jennifer Jones as the centerpiece, because so many of the actors and actresses has their own little moments to shine, and what a great cast it is. The movie won four Oscars, Best Actress in a Leading Role (Jones), Best Cinematography, Black-and-White, Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture (Alfred Newman). It was also nominated for another eight Oscars, Best Picture , Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Bickford), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Cooper and Revere), Best Director, Best Writing, Screenplay (George Seaton), Best Sound, Recording and Best Editing. The miracle spring in Lourdes.
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Post by teleadm on Mar 13, 2019 18:17:14 GMT
Assassination of a High School President 2008, directed by Brett Simon, starring Reece Thompson, Mischa Barton, Bruce Willis, Michael Rapaport, Kathryn Morris, Melonie Diaz, Josh Pais, Luke Grimes and others. At a Catholic high school, the popular girl teams up with a sophomore newspaper reporter to investigate a case of stolen SAT exams. Once the duo target their suspects, a larger conspiracy is unearthed. It's called comedy-crime-mystery. Some movies just doesn't succeed at all in what it tries to be. Some quirky movie can be both funny and entertaining, but this one is too quirky for it's own good. The sad part is, that I can see what they were trying to do, a mix of a typical high school movie and a 1940s noirish detective story were a journalist follows a lead, or to be modern, follows the money. It's either overplayed or underplayed and never finds the right balance. Bruce Willis sleepwalks through his role as the schools principal. Reece Thompson has some boyish charm as the reporter, and Mischa Barton makes a good femme fatale, pity it isn't in a better film.
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Post by Lebowskidoo 🦞 on Mar 13, 2019 18:35:01 GMT
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Post by BATouttaheck on Mar 13, 2019 23:04:02 GMT
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Post by kijii on Mar 14, 2019 1:53:07 GMT
Rented from Amazon Prime
This film, based on the play and screenplay by John Hopkins, is truly remarkable. I would call it a psychodrama that unfolds, in stages, until the protagonist, British Police Detective Sergeant Johnson (Sean Connery), discovers that the "scum" he is trying to destroy--serial child molester and murderer, Kenneth Baxter (Ian Bannen)--is the only man who might understand him, and that he is the only one that might understand the what makes the child molester's mind tick. That is, this psychological drama, in the final analysis, turns on itself.
The thing that connects the police detective to the child molester is seeing (and/or experiencing) repeated and suppressed acts of sadism, which in turn, causes each of them to become sadists in their own way. In the end, it is a mind game between two sickened man. The original John Hopkins stage play from which this movie was adopted is called This Story of Yours.
Kenneth Baxter (Ian Bannen): You're mad! You must be! Detective Inspector Johnson (Sean Connery): Mad? Mad? It's you that's mad, Baxter. You won't find me chasing after little girls and ripping their clothes off. You won't find me following little girls home from school. "Would you like a sweet?" "You come with me, little girl, I've something to show you." I know you! Can't get enough at home. Don't know what to do with it. You start looking at your secretary, think about her. What would she look like stripped off? You've got money! Easy when you've got money. "You, I want you, come here. Cash on delivery." But when you bring it off, when you see something in her eyes that says, "I'll remember you." I mean, suppose she just looks at you, and it's just one face. One more face, and 10 million others! Suppose she doesn't even see you! Kenneth Baxter: You sad, sorry, little man. ------------------------------------
Detective Inspector Johnson (Sean Connery) [to Kenneth Baxter] : It hasn't always been like this, like it is now. I can't think, I can't stop thinking. Is it like that? Is it the same for you? Is your mind full of things all the time? [grabs Baxter's hand, squeezes] Thoughts, pictures, shadows, darkness. White, smooth white legs, thighs and breasts, blood and pain? Kenneth Baxter (Ian Bannen): You're hurting me. Detective Sergeant Johnson: [sobbing] Help me! Kenneth Baxter: You're hurting me. Detective Sergeant Johnson: Help me! Kenneth Baxter: [breaks free from Johnson] Help your bloody self!
This, IMO, is Sean Connery's finest acting to date. This movie, like another great Sidney Lumet psychodrama, Peter Shaffer's Equus (1977), actually ventures to takes us into the mind of something we could never understand on our own; something so bizarre that only a great playwright might venture to take us there.
Kenneth Baxter (Ian Bannen) [to Detective Sergeant Johnson (Sean Connery): Nothing I have done can be one half as bad as the thoughts in your head..
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Post by Prime etc. on Mar 14, 2019 4:30:52 GMT
I have to admit, I didn't think much of Connery's acting until I saw THE HILL and THE OFFENCE. Clearly he would have done more interesting parts if given the chance.
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Post by kijii on Mar 14, 2019 6:17:53 GMT
I have to admit, I didn't think much of Connery's acting until I saw THE HILL and THE OFFENCE. Clearly he would have done more interesting parts if given the chance. I agree. I loved him in The Molly Maguires (1970), too. And, if you haven't seen Fred Zinnemann's last movie, Five Days One Summer (1982), I think you may find something quite nice there too. The Offence was such a great movie that I found it hard to review in the usual way. I liked it so much that I watched it about three times to pick up its meaning. It's not your usual plot-driven or action-driven movie, but it is supreme in the way it was structured. I haven't seen The Hill yet, but thanks for mentioning it. I just put in an order for the DVD.
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Post by Lebowskidoo 🦞 on Mar 14, 2019 17:32:57 GMT
Captain Kidd (1945) Charles Laughton and Randolph Scott backstab each other on the high seas! AARRGGHH me hearties!
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Post by louise on Mar 14, 2019 17:35:12 GMT
The Smallest Show on Earth. A whimsical 50s comedy about a couple who inherit a run down old cinema, together with the three elderly employees (Margaret Rutherford, peter Sellers and can't remember the third one.) it is mildly amusing but not really funny enough to be memorable.
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Post by teleadm on Mar 14, 2019 19:16:50 GMT
Erin Brockovich 2000, directed by Steven Soderbergh, starring Julia Roberts, Albert Finney, Aaron Eckhart, Marg Helgenberger, Conchata Ferrell, Peter Coyote, William Lucking and others. Drama based on real events. "An unemployed single mother becomes a legal assistant and almost single-handedly brings down a California power company accused of polluting a city's water supply". In the wrong hands this could have looked like now forgotten TV movie-of-the-week, but thankfully it isn't. This is a great movie based on real events and with the usual poetic freedom of the producers and the director, creating an entertaining movie drama with a broad appeal without loosing it's important core story. I've never been a big fan of Julia Roberts, but when she begun acting in so called character parts she have succeeded in winning me over, at least in those kind of parts. Both Julia and Albert Finney gives powerhouse performances, that is both a battle of the sexes and a battle of wit that both wins and loses alternately over and over as the movie progresses. The movie won an Oscar for Actress in a Leading Role (Roberts), and was nominated for Best Picture, Actor in a Supporting Role (Finney), Directing and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen categories. The real Erin Brockovich made a cameo as a waitress.
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Post by hi224 on Mar 14, 2019 19:19:36 GMT
Loving Story.
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Post by Archelaus on Mar 15, 2019 2:03:28 GMT
A Letter to Three Wives
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Post by kijii on Mar 15, 2019 15:41:29 GMT
The Pawnbroker (1964) / Sidney Lumet Viewed on Amazon PrimeThis is my second viewing and I am still not sure how to interpret this movie about a Jewish holocaust surviver currently living in New York and running a pawn shop in Spanish Harlem. Did he have a chance to DO something here and fail? Marilyn Birchfield (Geraldine Fitzgerald): What happened? Sol Nazerman (Rod Steiger): 'Happened'? Marilyn Birchfield: Yes. Sol Nazerman: I didn't die. Everything that I loved... was taken away from me, and... I did not die. Marilyn Birchfield: Mr. Nazerman! Sol Nazerman: There was... nothing I could do. Nothing. Strange, I could do nothing. No, there was nothing I could do.
Was he trapped behind that cage in the pawnbroker's shop and fail to DO anything again?
People did look up to him for help NOW. He does get a second change to do something. Sol Nazerman (Rod Steiger): I do not believe in God, or art, or science, or newspapers, or politics, or philosophy. Jesus Ortiz (Jaime Sánchez) Then, Mr. Teacher, ain't there nothing you do believe in? Sol Nazerman: Money.Jesus Ortiz : That's all life is about? Sol Nazerman : That's *all* life is about! Jesus Ortiz : You mean... money is the whole thing? Sol Nazerman : Money is the whole thing!Wikipeda Plot Summary,with SPOILERS: With the rise of Adolf Hitler, Sol Nazerman (Steiger), a German-Jewish university professor, was dragged to a concentration camp along with his family. He saw his two children die (one while riding in a cattle car) and his wife raped by Nazi officers in the camp. Now he operates a pawnshop in East Harlem, while living in an anonymous Long Island apartment. Numbed by his experiences, he has worked hard not to experience emotions.[6] Nazerman is bitter and alienated, viewing the people around him as "rejects, scum."[7] He is shown interacting cynically as he bargains with the many desperate characters pawning their goods.
Nazerman is idolized by a young Puerto Rican, Jesus Ortiz (Sánchez), who works for Nazerman as his shop assistant, but the youth's friendship is rebuffed, as are the overtures of Marilyn Birchfield (Fitzgerald), a neighborhood social worker.[6]
Nazerman learns that Rodriguez (Peters), a racketeer who uses the pawnshop as a front, makes his money through prostitution. Nazerman recalls his wife's degradation and wants no part of it. This results in a clash with Rodriguez, who threatens to kill Nazerman. Meanwhile, Ortiz, his feelings hurt when Nazerman says that Ortiz means nothing to him, spitefully arranges for the pawnshop to be robbed by a neighborhood gang. During the robbery, Nazerman refuses to hand over his money. Ortiz takes the gang member's bullet intended for Nazerman and dies in Nazerman's arms in the street.
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