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Post by hi224 on Jul 30, 2019 19:32:55 GMT
Le Samourai.
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Post by teleadm on Jul 31, 2019 18:20:09 GMT
Pride & Prejudice 2005, directed by Joe Wright, based on a novel by Jane Austen, starring Keira Knightley, Matthew Macfadyen, Brenda Blethyn, Donald Sutherland, Tom Hollander, Rosamund Pike, Jena Malone, Judy Dench and others. Romantic drama. Sparks fly when spirited Elizabeth Bennet (Knightley) meets single, rich, and proud Mr. Darcy (Macfadyen). Mr. Darcy reluctantly finds himself falling in love with a woman beneath his class. Can each overcome their own pride and prejudice? Beautiful cinematography, sets, costumes and landscapes. Whatever makes this story such a timeless classic though totally eluded me. Plus I had a hard time knowing who is who among the Bennett girls, except Knightley, since they always seems to run around and nearly never sits still. It feels a bit like being left outside, since I had a hard time getting the grip of the story. It's still a fascinating movie filled with balls and parties and lots of movements, but to be honest, I am probably totally the wrong audience to really appreciate this movie and it's storyline. This movie was nominated for four Oscars, Actress in a Leading Role (Knightley), Art Direction, Costume Design and Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score. It lost in all categories.
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Post by ZolotoyRetriever on Aug 1, 2019 1:30:58 GMT
Mister Roberts (1955). Directed by John Ford and Mervyn Leroy, starring Henry Fonda, James Cagney, William Powell, Jack Lemmon, Ward Bond, Betsy Palmer. DVR'd from recent TCM telecast.
Still-entertaining film (I've seen it a number of times over the span of several decades) that seems to reveal interesting little tidbits every time I watch it. Today, for example, I just realized that Betsy Palmer, the actress who plays the head nurse, would later go on to play Mrs. Voorhees (Jason's mother) in the first 2 Friday the 13th movies, in 1980 and 1981. Another thing I just noticed is that both Henry Fonda and William Powell are really way too old to realistically portray their characters (Fonda was nearly 50 at the time - way too old for a Navy lieutenant junior grade, and Powell was nearly 63 at the time - way too old for a Navy lieutenant). But the interesting thing is, their acting was so flawless that their otherwise unrealistic ages didn't really seem to be noticeable. Anyway, nice to see this venerable film yet again.
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Post by Chalice_Of_Evil on Aug 1, 2019 1:56:19 GMT
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Post by louise on Aug 1, 2019 16:18:45 GMT
The Ladykillers (1955). Very funny black comedy.
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Post by teleadm on Aug 2, 2019 7:19:00 GMT
Atlantic City 1980, directed by Louis Malle, starring Burt Lancaster, Susan Sarandon, Kate Reid, Michel Piccoli, Hollis McLaren, Robert Joy, Al Waxman, Robert Goulet and others. French-Canadian crime drama. In a corrupt city, a small-time gangster (Lancaster) and the estranged wife (Sarandon) of a pot dealer (Joy) find themselves thrown together in an escapade of love, money, drugs and danger. The movie that is said to have put Burt Lancaster's career back on the map, and he is wonderful as the once big mobster who like the Atlantic City has decayed into has-beens, but maybe he was more of a dreamer of the big times, and maybe wasn't even something big at all, now running around collecting money and bets for an old-time numbers game. His only joy is being a voyeur, looking at his young female neighbour looking through the blinds of his window. The young female, beautifully played by Sarandon, has come to Atlantic City to start a new life, just as the city was starting a new life with new casinos buing built around the area. Into her life comes comed her husband, who runned away with her young hippie sister once, also they comes to Atlantic City with big dreams, with stolen narcotica. McLaren and Joy plays those characters very well, since they are so dispicable, dumb and naive it's easy to hate them. Lancaster's character's real job was to look after a gangster's moll and former beauty queen, played by Reid. When Sarandon's husband is murdered, Lancaster has a lot of narcotica hidden in his apartment that he begins to sell, and suddenly he's into the money that he's dremed of for over 40 years and begins to live up. What I liked about this movie, and it's characters, is that it only registers them, it doesn't judge or condemn them, even in criminality, we just follow them for a short time. I also liked the locations of Atlantic City at the time of it's re-birth after years of decay. This movie was nominated for 5 Oscars: Best Movie, Actor in a Leading Role (Lancaster), Actress in a Leading Role (Sarandon), Director and Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen, but lost in all categories. Though Burt Lancaster and Louis Malle both won British BAFTA Awards, and Malle won a Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.
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Post by teleadm on Aug 2, 2019 18:25:50 GMT
Shadow of a Doubt 1943, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, screenplay thankfully credits Thornton Wilder for his perticipation, starring Teresa Wright, Joseph Cotten, Macdonald Carey, Henry Travers, Patricia Collinge, Hume Cronyn, Wallace Ford and others. Crime drama. A young woman (Wright) discovers her visiting uncle (Cotten) may not be the man he seems to be. Small Town America, or Americana, of Andy Hardy and girlfriends that used to put on a show and it's "banal" obstacles, were nobody cared to lock doors that is soon going to be invaded by a very charming uncle, who gives everyone a gift, little knowing that he is something else, friendly at first, but don't ask too many questions, or he might get very irritated and dangerous. This is prime Hitchcock in my opinion, also considered his first really American movie. Since I hadn't seen it many years, I had forgotten some scenes, especially the scenes were Cotten just lays in bed at some seedy hotel, and was hunted in a "New Jersey Town". Since we know that Cotten is no good from the start the thrill is how many should know that he is indeed making his so called business money by murdering rich widows. Wrights character is more complex, once she understands Cotten is no good, and here is the real thrill as she has to figure out the balnce to get rid of her former favorite Unce without hurting her own mother, lovely played by Collinge. The ending is moraly comfortable. "The cities are full of women, middle-aged widows, husbands, dead, husbands who've spent their lives making fortunes, working and working. And then they die and leave their money to their wives, their silly wives. And what do the wives do, these useless women? You see them in the hotels, the best hotels, every day by the thousands, drinking the money, eating the money, losing the money at bridge, playing all day and all night, smelling of money, proud of their jewelry but of nothing else, horrible, faded, fat, greedy women... Are they human or are they fat, wheezing animals, hmm? And what happens to animals when they get too fat and too old?" said by Uncle Charlie Sadly there is some truth in those lines without symphasising with Uncle Charlie.
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Post by Prime etc. on Aug 2, 2019 18:55:23 GMT
JET OVER THE ATLANTIC 1959 - George Raft is an FBI agent escorting an escaped murderer Guy Madison to the US. But there's a gas bomb on the plane planted by a disgruntled George Macready who wants to commit suicide for losing his child in an accident he blames himself for. When the crew dies from poison--Madison has to fly the plane to safety.
The passengers include an amusingly over the top opera singer (Ilona Massey) and a nosey spinster-- could have been an inspiration for AIRPORT.
HOW I SPENT MY SUMMER VACATION 1967 - Robert Wagner is a paranoid and purposeless drifter who suspects Peter Lawford is part of a spy conspiracy. He begins taking notes and spying on him. It's a combination of Sleuth and James Bond.
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Post by Chalice_Of_Evil on Aug 2, 2019 21:27:20 GMT
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Post by Feologild Oakes on Aug 2, 2019 23:25:17 GMT
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Post by Chalice_Of_Evil on Aug 3, 2019 5:00:42 GMT
Beyond (2010). An interesting thing I noticed about this^ film was the fact that this is the second time the actress Tehilla Blad has played the young version of a character played as an adult by Noomi Rapace. Here she played the younger version of Noomi's character, Leena, and I immediately recognised her as having previously played young Lisbeth Salander in the Millennium trilogy of films. I guess the casting people must've thought she played a good young version of Noomi (and since this movie came out only a year after the Millennium films, I imagine the young actress was still fresh in the casting directors' minds). Both actresses did really well in their roles as the character of Leena, though the movie was tough to watch at times/quite unpleasant in places. The movie also starred Noomi's husband (at the time. They're divorced now, apparently), Ola Rapace. I didn't know until now that Noomi's original last name was Norén, while Ola's original last name was Norell, and that when they married they decided to choose a new surname together, opting for Rapace (French for “bird of prey”).
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Post by louise on Aug 3, 2019 9:17:48 GMT
You're Only Young Twice (1952). Fairly amusing comedy set in a university.
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Post by louise on Aug 3, 2019 13:47:32 GMT
Against All Flags (1952). My favourite pirate movie, with Errol Flynn and Maureen O'Hara swashing their buckles vigorously.
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Post by louise on Aug 3, 2019 17:35:54 GMT
The Extra Day (1956). Quite interesting comedy-drama about a film company that has to re-make a scene because the film of that particular scene has gone missing. All the extras who worked on the film have to be reassembled for it, and we see their various lives leading up to the scene.
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Post by kijii on Aug 4, 2019 5:44:42 GMT
Cinderella Man (2005) / Ron Howard Streamed from Starz
After making A Beautiful Mind (2001), Ron Howard and Russell Crowe once again team up in another great inspirational American biopic. This is yet another boxing movie--I feel like I have seen 100 of them--but this one is based on the story of the World Heavyweight champion, Jim Braddock who thought he may have been all washed up as a fighter (early in his career) after his fighting license was removed before the Great Depression. Yet, he is given another chance to fight by filling in for another fighter on a one-time basis.
Jim Braddock (Russell Crowe) : For two hundred and fifty dollars I would fight your wife! Joe Gould (Paul Giamatti): Now you're dreaming Jim Braddock : ...and your grandmother, at the same time. Joe Gould : Teeth in or teeth out? Jim Braddock : Take 'em out! Joe Gould : Then you're dead, you're down, you're gone, no chance! Jim Braddock : Two hundred and fifty bucks? Joe Gould : Two hundred and fifty bananas! Jim Braddock : [rushes to hug him] Joey!
After this fight, his manager, Joe Gould (Paul Giamatti), is able to get him other fights which ultimately lead all the way up to the championship fight with Max Baer.
This movie gives us a somber feeling for the depths of the Great Depression and how it affected many people who had to go "on the dole" and/or send their kids away to other family members because they could not feed or house them properly due to poverty and the lack of jobs. The movie takes from the darkness of the Depression and builds nicely to the climax. Career Oscar nominees, Russel Crowe, Renée Zellweger, and Paul Giamatti (nominated for a Supporting Best Actor in the movie) lead a great cast in presenting a great story.
Jim Braddock (Russell Crowe): You think you're telling me something? Like, what, boxing is dangerous, something like that? You don't think working triple shifts and at night on a scaffold isn't just as likely to get a man killed? What about all those guys who died last week living in cardboard shacks to save on rent money just to feed their family, 'cause guys like you have not quite figured out a way yet to make money off of watching that guy die? But in my profession - and it is my profession - I'm a little more fortunate.
Mae Braddock (Renée Zellwege): Maybe I understand, some, about having to fight. So you just remember who you are... you're the Bulldog of Bergen, and the Pride of New Jersey, you're everybody's hope, and the kids' hero, and you are the champion of my heart, James J. Braddock.
Wikipieda plot Synopsis with SPOILERS: James J. Braddock is an Irish-American boxer from New Jersey, formerly a light heavyweight contender, who is forced to give up boxing after breaking his hand in the ring. This is both a relief and a burden to his wife, Mae. She cannot bring herself to watch the violence of his chosen profession, yet she knows they will not have enough income without his boxing.
As the United States enters the Great Depression, Braddock does manual labor as a longshoreman to support his family, even with his injured hand. Unfortunately, he cannot get work every day. Thanks to a last-minute cancellation by another boxer, Braddock's longtime manager and friend, Joe Gould, offers him a chance to fill in for just one night and earn cash. The fight is against the number-two contender in the world, Corn Griffin.
Braddock stuns the boxing experts and fans with a third-round knockout of his formidable opponent. He believes that while his right hand was broken, he became more proficient with his left hand, improving his in-ring ability. Despite Mae's objections, Braddock takes up Gould's offer to return to the ring. Mae resents this attempt by Gould to profit from her husband's dangerous livelihood, until she discovers that Gould and his wife also have been devastated by hard times.
With a shot at the heavyweight championship held by Max Baer a possibility, Braddock continues to win. Out of a sense of pride, he uses a portion of his prize money to pay back money to the government given to him while unemployed. When his rags to riches story gets out, the sportswriter Damon Runyon dubs him "The Cinderella Man", and before long Braddock comes to represent the hopes and aspirations of the American public struggling with the Depression.
A title fight against Baer comes his way. Braddock is a 10-to-1 underdog. Mae is terrified because Baer, the champ, is a vicious man who reportedly has killed at least two men in the ring. He is so destructive that the fight's promoter, James Johnston, forces both Braddock and Gould to watch a film of Baer in action, just so he can maintain later that he warned them what Braddock was up against.
Braddock demonstrates no fear. The arrogant Baer attempts to intimidate him, even taunting Mae in public that her man might not survive. When he says this, she becomes so angry that she throws a drink at him. She is unable to attend the fight at the Madison Square Garden Bowl or even to listen to it on the radio.
On June 13, 1935, in one of the greatest upsets in boxing history, Braddock defeats the seemingly invincible Baer to become the heavyweight champion of the world.
An epilogue reveals that Braddock would lose his title to Joe Louis and later worked on the building of the Verrazano Bridge, owning and operating heavy machinery on the docks where he worked during the Depression, and that he and Mae used his boxing income to buy a house, where they spent the rest of their lives.
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Post by Prime etc. on Aug 4, 2019 7:38:04 GMT
All I remember about Cinderella Man was Crowe going to those rich guys and begging for a hand out!
A contrast from... Mickey Rooney as he was in THE LAST MILE-a 1959 prison film about death row inmates counting down their time. It felt like a sad drama about doomed men (without mentioning what they were convicted for) but then--Mickey gets a hold of a cruel guard by the throat and leads the other condemned prisoners on a rampage--taking the guards hostage and executing them one by one! I used to think Martha Vickers was too fast for Mickey Rooney-I think it's probably that Mickey was too fast for her! He's a volcano!
THE TREASURE SEEKERS 1979 --Rod Taylor, Stuart Whitman, Jeremy Kemp, and Elke Sommer on a pirate treasure quest. Rather bland--limp cinematography and by the numbers. Diverting enough thanks to the cast but the most interesting stuff probably happened off camera. It needed Mickey Rooney.
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Post by kijii on Aug 4, 2019 21:32:04 GMT
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Post by Chalice_Of_Evil on Aug 5, 2019 2:17:07 GMT
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004).
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Post by Chalice_Of_Evil on Aug 5, 2019 14:33:07 GMT
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005).
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Post by BATouttaheck on Aug 6, 2019 3:55:26 GMT
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004). My favorite Potter --- Book and Movie
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