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Post by teleadm on Jun 12, 2019 17:25:30 GMT
Everlasting Moments aka Maria Larssons eviga ögonblick 2008, directed by Jan Troell, starring Maria Heiskanen, Mikael Persbrandt, Jesper Christensen, Ghita Nørby, Amanda Ooms, Emil Jensen, Claire Wikholm, Ann Petrén, Maria Lundqvist and others Swedish-Danish drama. Sweden, early 1900s - an era of social change and unrest, war and poverty. A young working class woman, Maria, wins a camera in a lottery. The camera grants her the eyes to view the world, and empowers her over several decades to raise and nurture her family of six children and an alcoholic, womanizing and sometimes violent, although ultimately loving, husband. Piff, paff, puff and an everlasting moment are saved forever in the shape of a photography. Since this movie was directed by Troell I knew it wouldn't dwell in misery, but also show lighter and brighter moments in the life of this specific family. For example the joys of suddenly living in a house with electricity. Offcourse they are very poor and have trouble making ends meet, especially when the father is on his drunken sprees. The camera becomes the mother's freedom and as it turns out since she has great skills in taking photos also a surpicing way to get some extra money. It's a joy to see a Swedish movie that is interesting and entertaining at the same time, that doesn't try to be deep and pretentious, Troell avoids all such traps. The movie is based on real events (and also mixes in real events), and started with Troell's wife's cousin finding a box of old photographs that her mother had taken... The movie was nominated for a Golden Globe.
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Post by ZolotoyRetriever on Jun 12, 2019 19:57:01 GMT
The Asphalt Jungle (1950). Directed by John Huston, with Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, Jean Hagen, James Whitmore, Sam Jaffe, John McIntire, Marilyn Monroe. DVR’d from recent TCM telecast.
A classic crime drama - one of the greats - and it’s all done without the modern-day movie emphasis on over-the-top violence, gunplay, car chases, explosions, foul language, and so on. Here it’s all about the acting and the storytelling. This one is also interesting to watch as it features Marilyn Monroe in her first significant film role. And, if you look, you’ll see Strother Martin in a brief, uncredited appearance as a hoodlum in a police lineup.
This film looks great in its original Black & White cinematography… I understand there’s a computer colorized version somewhere, but I have no interest in seeing it.
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Post by louise on Jun 13, 2019 10:37:35 GMT
the Horse's Mouth (1958). Alec Guiness very funny in a wonderful comedy about a very eccentric artist.
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Post by kijii on Jun 13, 2019 15:29:41 GMT
the Horse's Mouth (1958). Alec Guiness very funny in a wonderful comedy about a very eccentric artist. I just rented this movie based on your post here, I think I might work on seeing some early Alec Giness again.
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Post by teleadm on Jun 13, 2019 17:53:56 GMT
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest 1975, directed by Milos Forman, based on a novel by Ken Kesey and a play by Dale Wasserman, starring Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, Will Sampson, William Redfield, Scatman Crothers, Danny DeVito, Sydney Lassick, Christopher Lloyd, Brad Dourif and others. Drama. McMurphy (Nicholson) has a criminal past and has once again gotten himself into trouble and is sentenced by the court. To escape labor duties in prison, McMurphy pleads insanity and is sent to a ward for the mentally unstable. Once here, McMurphy both endures and stands witness to the abuse and degradation of the oppressive Nurse Ratched (Fletcher), who gains superiority and power through the flaws of the other inmates. McMurphy and the other inmates band together to make a rebellious stance against the atrocious Nurse. This is a great movie, so don't get me wrong, but can it be that some days can be the wrong days to watch a movie one knows one have loved in the past? I couldn't build up the usual enthusiasm that I have felt for this movie, I hope it was the wrong day I watched it, and not that the movie has aged badly, it's been over ten years I've seen it the last time. Still the acting is fantastic with each part carefully etched out, but there might be a few that has fooled us. Good use of Oregon locations too, and very greyish skies. It's interesting to see a few actors that later became famous in early roles, like DeVito, Lloyd and Brad Dourif. Strange at the same time that Louise Fletcher never managed to build a career of any substance in movies. Showered with Nine Oscar Nominations, it won for Best Movie, Actor in a Leading Role (Nicholson), Actress in a Leading Role (Fletcher), Director and Screenplay Adapted From Other Material. The other four nominations was for Actor in a Supporting Role (Dourif), Cinematography, Editing and Music Scoring. The film was the third-highest-grossing film released in 1975 in the United States and Canada with a gross of $109 million, being UA's biggest hit.
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Post by kijii on Jun 14, 2019 0:58:26 GMT
Victor Victoria (1982) / Blake Edwards DVR'd from TMC
Although I had seen sections of the movie over the years. This is the first time I had seen it from start to finish, and I can say with confidence that the whole is worth way more than the sum of its parts. All four main performers in the movie were great and add warmth and humor to the overall story. While Julie Andrews was nominated for Best Actress here, and Robert Preston and Lesley Ann Warren were nominated for supporting roles, one should not forget the humor and embarrassment of James Garner's role as a French mobster: Garner finds he is love with Andrews even though he is not sure Andrews if Andrews is a a man--or not --how could this be....
King Marchand (James Garner) : I don't care if you are a man. [kisses Victoria] Victoria (Julie Andrews): I'm... not a man. King Marchand : I still don't care.
Norma (Lesley Ann Warren): You're kidding? You really are... queer? Toddy (Robert Preston): Ah! We prefer "gay". Norma : But... you're so... attractive. [Toddy chuckles] Norma : . Well, I just think it's a terrible waste. [Toddy laughs heartily] Toddy : Well, if it's any consolation, I assure you it is not wasted. Norma : You know... I think that the right woman could reform you. Toddy : You know, I think that the right woman could reform you, too. Norma : Me? Give up men? Forget it! Toddy : You took the words right out of my mouth.
Wikipedia Plot Synopsis with SPOILERS: In 1934 Paris, Toddy, a performer at Chez Lui in Paris, sees Labisse, the club owner, auditioning a frail, impoverished soprano, Victoria Grant. After her failed audition, Victoria reluctantly returns to her apartment to find herself deciding whether or not to spend her rent money for food. That night, when Richard, a hustler whom Toddy pays for sex, comes to Chez Lui as part of a straight foursome, Toddy incites a brawl. Labisse fires Toddy and bans him from the club. Walking home, he spots Victoria in a restaurant. She invites him to join her. As neither of them can pay for the meal, she dumps a cockroach in her salad to avoid paying, but it escapes and mayhem ensues.
The duo run through the rain to Toddy's, and he invites her to stay when she finds that the rain has shrunk her cheap clothes. The next morning, Richard shows up to collect his things. Victoria, who is wearing his clothes, hides in Toddy's closet. When she thinks that Richard might harm Toddy, she assaults him and kicks him out. Seeing this, Toddy is struck with the inspiration of passing Victoria off as a man and presenting her to Andre Cassell, the most successful agent in Paris, as a female impersonator.
Cassell accepts her as Count Victor Grazinski, a gay Polish female impersonator and Toddy's new boyfriend. Cassell gets her a booking in a nightclub show and invites a collection of club owners to the opening. Among the guests is King Marchand, a shady owner of nightclubs in Chicago, and his ditzy moll Norma Cassidy and burly bodyguard Bernstein, a.k.a. Squash. Victor is an immediate hit, and King is smitten, but he is shocked when she is "revealed" to be a man at the end of the act. King, however, is convinced that "Victor" is not a man.
After a quarrel with Norma, King sends her back to America. Determined to get the truth, King sneaks into Victoria and Toddy's suite and confirms his suspicion when he spies her getting into the bath. He invites Victoria, Toddy, and Cassell to Chez Lui. Another fight breaks out. Squash and Toddy are arrested, along with many of the club clientele, but King and Victoria escape. King kisses Victoria, pretending that he does not care about Victoria's gender, leading them to get together.
Squash returns to the suite and catches King in bed with Victoria. King tries to explain, but then Squash reveals he himself is gay. Meanwhile, Labisse hires a P.I., Charles Bovin, to investigate Victor. Victoria and King live together for a while, but keeping up her deception strains the relationship to the breaking point, and King ends it. Back in Chicago, Norma tells King's partner Sal Andretti that King is having an affair with a man.
At the same time that Victoria has decided to give up the persona of Victor in order to be with King, Sal arrives and demands that King transfer his share of the empire to Sal for a fraction of its worth. Squash tells Victoria what is happening, and she shows Norma that she is really a woman, saving King's stake. That night at the club, Cassell tells Toddy and Victoria that Labisse has lodged a complaint against him and "Victor" for perpetrating a fraud. The inspector tells Labisse that the performer is a man and Labisse is an idiot.
In the end, Victoria joins King in the club as her real self. The announcer says that Victor is going to perform, but instead of Victoria, Toddy masquerades as "Victor". After an intentionally disastrous, but hilarious performance, Toddy claims that this is his last performance.
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Post by Prime etc. on Jun 14, 2019 7:14:46 GMT
A DATE WITH DEATH 1959 - Gerald Mohr seems to turn into Humphrey Bogart in this noir that one could imagine Bogart starring in. A train hobo stumbles across a body in a car and when he gets blood on his hands decides to impersonate the dead man. He is escorted into town and taken to city hall where he is welcomed as...the new police chief hired to clean up the town corruption! Realizing he is in over his head he wants out--but when the body is discovered he is forced to play along. Amusing.
HELL'S ANGELS ON WHEELS 1967 -- Jack Nicholson shows he is not just Peter Lorre's idiot son--good lead performance as a middle class kid caught up with a motorcycle gang (I was expecting him to be a member-glad they didn't do anything so ridiculous as Peter Fonda in the same role). Like previous biker films of the time, the biker antics seem somewhat tame when looking at it now.
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Post by louise on Jun 14, 2019 13:07:23 GMT
Sparrows Can't Sing (1963). A comedy set in the east end of London, with James Booth and Barbara Windsor as a sparring couple. Interesting for the location shots of a London that has changed completely since this film was made.
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Post by teleadm on Jun 14, 2019 16:39:35 GMT
Forever, Darling 1956, directed by Alexander Hall, starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, James Mason, Louis Calhern, John Emery, John Hoyt, Natalie Schafer, Mabel Albertson, Nancy Kulp, Willis Bouchey and others. Comedy. A socialite (Ball) has married for love (Arnaz), but after five years their marriage has stagnated. Into her life comes her guardian angel (Mason) and tells her to follow her husband and not what her high society friends tells her. She learns that her husband actually do good things to keep deadly diseases, something she didn't know before following her husband on a field trip. Lucille Ball had become one of the greatest TV stars in the 1950s (and last 'till the mid 1970s, so one have to ask, why go to the cinema to watch Lucy when you could stay right at home and witch her on TV? Ok The Long, Long Trailer had proved that many where willing to leave their comfartable chairs and watch Lucy in colour at a cinema. This movie has a feel that it was based on a play, but it isn't, but yet have a stale feeling and didn't do too well commercially, maybe once was enough. With that said Lucy is still beautiful, and there are some really good laughs, but they are spread too far apart. There are also some scenes that sort of cries for canned laugher (not sure if that is the right term), that falls flat without them. Nice to see James Mason in a comedy, he made to few. Old-timer Calhern is an asset in a few scenes too. Final parts in Yosemite are beautiful. Since Lucy did very few movies in the 1950s I still think it's worth a look.
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Post by louise on Jun 14, 2019 19:37:35 GMT
The Moonspinners (1965). Lighthearted thriller set on Crete, with Hayley Mills, Joan Greenwood, and Pola Negri with a leopard.
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Post by kijii on Jun 15, 2019 5:27:39 GMT
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Post by Prime etc. on Jun 15, 2019 6:35:11 GMT
AFRICA SCREAMS 1949 -- Watching this after many years I was beginning to wonder if I had was having a Mandela Effect experience since I could have sworn there was a giant ape in it and the one they were showing was so small--fortunately my memory was proven correct. Some good laughs in this-and especially to see the duo opposite other comedians like Shemp Howard and Joe Besser--I probably know him better from being spoofed in cartoons and other representations. As I finally tracked down MEETS THE KILLER, BORIS KARLOFF I will will get to it soon.
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Post by Lebowskidoo 🦞 on Jun 15, 2019 12:30:10 GMT
The Birth of a Nation (1915) D.W. Griffith claims to have been taken aback when audiences called his movie racist, but how could he have been so clueless? He had white men play black men and women in blackface for the more important roles! This is not a product of the times, it's the point of view of the Griffith, the producers and the people who liked the movie at that time. Not everyone was happy with it then, it was not shown in some cities because of protests. It's probably done more damage to black people than can be measured. The KKK regained popularity after this excellent recruitment tool came along. As a technical achievement, it's quite a feat. I feel guilty even praising this movie on this basis, but it has some impressive scenes for it's period than no doubt contributed to the motion picture industry overall, and possibly why it didn't simply vanish like so many other very old movies. This has to be one of the most racist classic movies I've ever witnessed.
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Post by teleadm on Jun 15, 2019 15:01:45 GMT
Was there a theme one could hum along to? I remember this Soundtrack because it was one of those I wasn't sure if I wanted to sell, among 300 soundtracks that I sold in the early 1990s, something I regret nowdays offcourse.
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Post by telegonus on Jun 15, 2019 19:45:39 GMT
The Birth of a Nation (1915) D.W. Griffith claims to have been taken aback when audiences called his movie racist, but how could he have been so clueless? He had white men play black men and women in blackface for the more important roles! This is not a product of the times, it's the point of view of the Griffith, the producers and the people who liked the movie at that time. Not everyone was happy with it then, it was not shown in some cities because of protests. It's probably done more damage to black people than can be measured. The KKK regained popularity after this excellent recruitment tool came along. As a technical achievement, it's quite a feat. I feel guilty even praising this movie on this basis, but it has some impressive scenes for it's period than no doubt contributed to the motion picture industry overall, and possibly why it didn't simply vanish like so many other very old movies. This has to be one of the most racist classic movies I've ever witnessed.
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Post by telegonus on Jun 15, 2019 19:48:15 GMT
Birth Of A Nation created a major stir in its day, was praised by no less than President Woodrow Wilson. It's almost too easy to laugh at now, especially considering how seriously audiences took it over a
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Post by Doghouse6 on Jun 15, 2019 20:29:42 GMT
The Birth of a Nation (1915) D.W. Griffith claims to have been taken aback when audiences called his movie racist, but how could he have been so clueless? He had white men play black men and women in blackface for the more important roles! This is not a product of the times, it's the point of view of the Griffith, the producers and the people who liked the movie at that time. Not everyone was happy with it then, it was not shown in some cities because of protests. It's probably done more damage to black people than can be measured. The KKK regained popularity after this excellent recruitment tool came along. Kentuckian Griffith was, quite literally, a child of the Confederacy (that of a Confederate Army colonel) in the wake of Reconstruction and the establishment of Jim Crow. It excuses nothing, but explains much. It's not unlike viewing Leni Riefenstahl's Triumph Of the Will and Olympia. One can be dazzled by the cinematic achievement while still chilled and repelled by the messaging. The discomfort this brings about may be among the most valuable aspects of their legacies: documents of where we were; lessons on how we got there; measures of how we've progressed.
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Post by Lebowskidoo 🦞 on Jun 16, 2019 14:47:16 GMT
Double Negative (1980) a.k.a. Deadly CompanionSnoozy Canadian thriller. On paper it sounds great, with Anthony Perkins as a baddie involved in an unsolved murder, but drifts aimlessly most of the time. Perkins is great though, easily the best thing about this movie. There are a few attempts to recreate Hitchcockian camera angles involving Perkins that I liked. Apparently the SCTV studios doubled as the casting offices for this movie, the following all have tiny roles: John Candy, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Dave Thomas and Joe Flaherty. They attempted to cash in on the star value of John Candy, who is only in the first few minutes of the movie!
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Post by kijii on Jun 17, 2019 6:01:57 GMT
DVR'd from TCM
Based on Mary McCarthy's popular novel, this movie traces the stories of eight women (The Group) from their 1933 graduation from a private girls' college 'til the beginnings of WWII. Though the plot density of the movie was rather daunting--following the loves, marriages, and affairs of eight different women--it is entertaining, never resting on one episode too long and always moving the overall story along.
While this movie was the feature film debut for several performers: Candice Bergen, Joan Hackett, Joanna Pettet, and Hal Holbrook; Elizabeth Hartman and Shirley Knight had both received Oscar nominations before making this movie.
Full TCM Synopsis with SPOILERS: During the depression of the 1930's, eight young women graduate from college and confidently face their futures. Lakey, the undisputed leader of the group, leaves for an extended stay in Europe. Dottie, a Boston Brahmin, abandons her well-ordered life to become the mistress of a Greenwich Village artist. Their affair lasts only one night, and the heartbroken Dottie returns to New England and the inevitable "proper" marriage to an Arizona business magnate. Priss, quiet and frail, is forced to give up her dream of working for President Roosevelt's poverty program when Congress declares it to be illegal. Instead, she marries an ambitious pediatrician and has two miscarriages before finally giving birth to a son. Her husband's insistence that their child be breast-fed results in a physically weak and exhausted Priss and a spoiled child. Kay, nervous and insecure, quickly marries a young playwright and helps support him by working at Macy's, but he has a weakness for liquor and other women. During a party at their apartment, when the entire group except Lakey is present, the failure of Kay's marriage, as well as her husband's career, becomes obvious. Polly, sweet and practical, takes a hospital job and has a brief, unrewarding affair with an indecisive man who cannot break the ties holding him to his estranged wife and his psychiatrist. She does, however, find happiness with a young doctor. Helena, rich, talented, and the class valedictorian, is denied her parents' permission to teach and spends her unmarried life traveling, collecting art, and giving teas. Libby, attractive and the most ambitious of the group, plunges into New York's literary set and rapidly achieves professional success but is frigid and a personal failure. Finally there is Pokey, who, after short-lived flings at flying lessons and veterinary classes, becomes an uncomplicated wife and the mother of two sets of twins. In 1939, war pressures in Europe force Lakey to return. The entire group assembles to meet her, and upon seeing her mannish baroness companion, they realize that Lakey is a lesbian. At a party celebrating Polly's engagement to her doctor, the radio announces Hitler's invasion of Holland and Belgium. Polly, worried about Kay, who has had a nervous breakdown following a violent marriage breakup, telephones her at her apartment. Hysterical, Kay has heard the newscast and, hearing what she believes to be German planes overhead, leans too far out of a window and plunges to her death. At the funeral, her arrogant husband is quietly but firmly rebuked by Lakey.
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Post by Prime etc. on Jun 17, 2019 6:59:23 GMT
Someone remarked how DW Griffith-despite pioneering many of the conventions we take for granted in cinema, and Riefenstahl, a woman who also pioneered many filmmaking conventions herself--are constantly vilified for their politics while Sergei Eisenstein, a devout comrade of Stalin and the Soviet mass-murdering system, is never painted with the same brush and his contributions to film are far less significant! Where is the criticism of him? Likewise, how come no one questions the racist depiction of Sam in CASABLANCA? He is Rick's servant-he spends the movie being told to play a song he is forbidden to perform-and he is obviously afraid of the reaction from "Boss." The other employees call him Mr Rick. When he gets a job offer Rick insists that Sam give his answer in front of him. The reason this film gets a pass for its overt racism is because it was anti-fascist. This is such obvious Orwellian wrongthink. I haven't seen Birth of A Nation -I saw Intolerance in school and it had some memorable parts--4 hours is a long time to sit through a silent movie. It seems unfair to condemn Griffith for casting whites for the black parts. How many professional black actors were around in 1915? Given the increasing race relation problems in America (and other countries) I suspect Birth of a Nation will endure if it depicts elements that are truthful. Ultimately that is the real test of art-does it contain enduring truth. Othello can still be appreciated on many levels because it depicts truths of human behavior. By modern standards it is a very unPC work--since it suggests a black man might get so angry about the alleged infidelity of his white wife that he might kill her in a rage. www.filmsite.org/birt.html"Its pioneering technical work, often the work of Griffith's under-rated cameraman Billy Bitzer, includes many techniques that are now standard features of films, but first used in this film. Griffith brought all of his experience and techniques to this film from his earliest short films at Biograph, including the following: -special use of subtitles graphically verbalizing imagery -its own original musical score written for an orchestra -the introduction of night photography (using magnesium flares) -the use of outdoor natural landscapes as backgrounds -the definitive usage of the still-shot -elaborate costuming to achieve historical authenticity and accuracy -many scenes innovatively filmed from many different and multiple angles -the technique of the camera "iris" effect (expanding or contracting circular masks to either reveal and open up a scene, or close down and conceal a part of an image) -the use of parallel action and editing in a sequence (Gus' attempted rape of Flora, and the KKK rescues of Elsie from Lynch and of Ben's sister Margaret) -extensive use of color tinting for dramatic or psychological effect in sequences -moving, traveling or "panning" camera tracking shots -the effective use of total-screen close-ups to reveal intimate expressions -beautifully crafted, intimate family exchanges -the use of vignettes seen in "balloons" or "iris-shots" in one portion of a darkened screen -the use of fade-outs and cameo-profiles (a medium closeup in front of a blurry background) -the use of lap dissolves to blend or switch from one image to another high-angle shots and the abundant use of panoramic long shots -the dramatization of history in a moving story - an example of an early spectacle or epic film with historical costuming and many historical references (e.g., Mathew Brady's Civil War photographs) -impressive, splendidly-staged battle scenes with hundreds of extras (made to appear as thousands) -extensive cross-cutting between two scenes to create a montage-effect and generate excitement and suspense (e.g., the scene of the gathering of the Klan) -expert story-telling, with the cumulative building of the film to a dramatic climax
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