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Post by wmcclain on Aug 28, 2021 15:20:16 GMT
Your comments/ratings/recommendations/film posters are welcome and much appreciated! The title says "classics" but we are always interested to know what classic film lovers have been watching, whatever the material.  |
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Post by Bella on Aug 28, 2021 15:28:21 GMT
La chienne (1931) - 8/10
The Touch (1971) - 8/10
The Witness for the Prosecution (2016) - 8/10
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Post by politicidal on Aug 28, 2021 15:28:24 GMT
A Cold Hard Truth (2019) 4/10
The Blob (1988) 7/10
The Father (2020) 6/10
Nightmare Alley (1947) 7/10
Walk on the Wild Side (1962) 5/10
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Post by wmcclain on Aug 28, 2021 15:50:25 GMT
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Post by lostinlimbo on Aug 28, 2021 16:02:13 GMT
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Post by jeffersoncody on Aug 28, 2021 16:42:27 GMT
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Post by teleadm on Aug 28, 2021 22:00:38 GMT
Here is what Tele have seen...  Geostorm 2017 directed by Dean Devlin. The world is safe from climate change thanks to space shields or something, but then the shields are starting to act rouge, and spills a little disaster here and there, and then becomes worse... Is it a little computer glitch or are there darker poliitcal powers behind it. Not bad of it's kind, though not for me.  Entrapment 1999 directed by Jon Amiel Star power enhances a pretty ordinary story, and Malaysia locations makes it attractive. Sean and Zeta somehow makes this improbable story work. OK for a lazy day.  The Day of the Dolphin 1973, directed by Mike Nichols and based on a novel by Robert Merle A notorious costly flop once, about marine scientists trying to communicate with dolphins and succeeds teaching one in capture to speak English, and what could the benefits be?. Some deep philosophy there! Certainly not the bad movie I've read it would be, but one needs a little patience, and stretching the brain. Benefactors of the whole project have ideas of using the Dolphins for political ideas, even planting mines under boats of opponents... Maybe it came out at the wrong time, beautiful music by Georges Delerue, Cinematography by William A Fraker, and it was Oscar nominated for music and sound.  ' The Case Against Brooklyn 1958 directed by Paul Wendkos and based on a "shocking" book by Ed Reid. Could nearly be a companion piece of last weeks Scorpio 1973, cracking down police bribes. Fresh from Police Academy, Darren McGavin is recruited to lead a team to crack down corrupt cops and go undercover, not an easy work as he soon finds out, costing lives of colleagues and and even closer to his own life. Money don't care about victims.. A movie I just stumbled upon, and I thought it was good.  The Colditz Story 1955 directed by Guy Hamilton and based on a book by P.R. Reid. Super-duper safe German POW camp at an old large medievial Castle Colditz, a real place. English, Dutch, French, Poles and American POW soon find small glitches in safety, small as they were, they did succeed a few times, called "home runes". We follow day to day life, small ideas, and unsuccessful attempts and back to the old drawing board for new ideas, and they keep flowing in. I had a little difficulty placing how big this place was to get the whole picture so to say, and I remember my father mentioning it with his old pals, many years ago, as the best POW movie before that Kwai movie. Great scenes with Ian Carmichael and Richard Wattis singing "I Belong to Glasgow" and "Underneath the Arches" during another POW escape. John Mills and Eric Portman are solid, nice to see a young Lionel Jeffries, and offcourse Anton Diffring pops up as a Nazi.  This is the real Colditz Castle, and it's an amazingly massive old building complex, sadly one never got that feeling watching the movie since at least I never got the sense of the place.  Senso 1954 directed by Luchino Visconti and based on a novel by Camillo Boito. Evil Austrians are occupying the Venetian vicinity, but the great Garibaldi will unify Italy against all intruders, at least that is the background to this story that is more about forbidden love between a Venezian Countessa and an Austrian lieutenant, played by Alida Valli and Farley Granger. It's a very beautiful movie to watch that's for sure, but what's it all about? still not sure. Interesting side note: The film opens in La Fenice, the Venice opera house. La Fenice was destroyed by arson in 1996, but reopened in 2003. Enlarged frames of this movie were used as a reference in reconstructing it.  The Beachcomber 1954 directed by Muriel Box and based on a story by W. Somerset Maugham. The new British Resident (Donald Sinden) of the Welcome Islands of the Indian Oceans, is pretty lonesome, except for a fanatic Missionary couple and a drunkard called Honorable Ted, and offcourse the natives who looks nothing like Polynesians, but more Lankanese and no wonder since it was made in Sri Lanka back when it was called Ceylon. That sorta explains why an elephant is around. Honorable Ted is payed by relatives to stay away from United Kingdom, and is played by Robert Newton, who strangely enough kept sober during this production, a kind of man who will always be who he has always been, a careless drunkard. Sent to labour work by the "New Resident" Ted must work with Fanatic missionary, played by over-cute and perky Glynis Johns, and Ted behaves. When a cholera epidemic break outs and kills around 1200 people (surprisingly sober facts for a light movie like this). They suddenly makes an unexpected team. While no great shakes I liked it since I like the stars.   All from me this time! |
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Post by Chalice_Of_Evil on Aug 28, 2021 23:51:02 GMT
Clueless (1995). The Keeper (2018). Kursk (2018). First Man (2018).
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Post by OldAussie on Aug 29, 2021 0:28:57 GMT
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Post by mikef6 on Aug 29, 2021 4:14:44 GMT
Reveille With Beverly / Charles Barton (1943). Ann Miller plays Beverly, a switchboard operator at a radio station. When the early morning classical music DJ takes some time off, Beverly – whose whole family is involved in the Home Front war effort, including her brother who has enlisted – decides to play pop swing tunes dedicated to the men and women in uniform (“If you liked that one, we’ve got more. Hotter than your morning coffee”). BTW, she is also being courted by two new enlistees, but never mind that. Most of the film’s run time is taken up with Beverly spinning her platters. When she would put a record on we would get a close-up of the turntable (remember turntables?) and the label would expand into another scene where we can actually see the artists performing (a technique I also remember seeing in an rock ‘n roll cheapee from the early 1960s – it may have been Teenage Millionaire.) We get to see and hear Count Basie and his Orchestra playing “One O’clock Jump”; the Duke Ellington group in “Take the ‘A’ Train” (or, as Lawrence Welk once introduced the song, “Take thee a train”); Frank Sinatra crooning “Night and Day,” among others. Miller herself does not get to do her thing until the final number when she appears showing off her long stemmed American beauties in a micro-mini (backed up by a chorus of males in military uniforms) while she tap dances at about a thousand miles per hour. The number ends with her tapping literally (and I mean “literally”) causing flames from her feet which form a “V” for victory. Critics of the time got really creative in slamming every aspect of RWB, but it was a huge hit with the public, becoming Colombia’s biggest “B” moneymaker of the year.    Cutter’s Way / Ivan Passer (1981). A rather slow-moving mystery thriller that for all its talkiness and time wasting really does thrill and shine in its good moments. SoCal slacker Richard Bone (Jeff Bridges) is headed home one night when he witnesses a body being dumped in an alley. His friend Alex Cutter (John Heard), a Vietnam vet wounded in mind and body (lost left eye, left arm, and left leg) and usually in a hyper alcohol fueled state, makes up his mind that the two of them are going to find the killer themselves. He is even more determined when Bone thinks he recognizes the murderer in the person of a rich leading citizen. Even though Cutter gets the title, it is Bridges as Richard Bone who is the lead here. Also there is a great performance by Lisa Eichhorn as Mo Cutter. She isn’t given much to say or do but is in a lot of scenes where she is listening, reacting, and trying to stifle her attraction to Bone. Subtle, but near great. Heard’s almost hysterical performance does get on the nerves just a little but the film is anchored by Jeff Bridge’s fine performance. Also with Ann Dusenberry as the victim's sister.    Sin City / Robert Rodriguez & Frank Miller (2005). Ultra violent but hypnotic, this all CGI cinematography built around live action performances is designed to resemble the graphic novels by Frank Miller who gets co-writer and co-director credits. Three crime stories which don’t seem to have any relation to one another are followed until the strands cross in the crime ridden and dangerous Basin City, whose city limits sign has the first two letters of the name scratched out by vandals. Bruce Willis is a cop on the verge of retirement who is shot to near death by his partner who is in the pay of crime boss and U.S. Senator, Roake. Mickey Rourke plays Marv, an ugly giant of a man, virtually unkillable, who is on a mission of revenge. The third story stars Clive Owen as Dwight who tries to protect his new girlfriend from her psycho Ex (Benicio Del Toro) only to learn too late that the Ex is a cop. The large cast includes Elijah Wood, Jessica Alba, Alexis Bledel, Michael Madsen, and Rutger Hauer.  -screenshot.jpg)  Some Velvet Morning / Neil LaBute (2013). Neil LaBute has written a two person one-act play that runs 1:20 in real time not doing a thing to “open up” or widen the scope. If you enjoy live stage plays, then imagine you are seeing this in an intimate theater of about 150 seats and you are in the center of the fourth row back from the stage watching two superb actors. It opens with Stanley Tucci arriving at the door of the townhouse apartment where Alice Eve lives. He is loaded down with suitcases. He tells her he has left his wife of 27 years to be with her. Over the remainder of film, the two rehash their previous relationship which had broken up four years earlier. Emotions boil over and some shocking facts emerge about their earlier time together; Tucci keeps getting more and more worked up and threatening. The final few minutes are pretty hard to watch. But…there is a final fade-out surprise. You know how sometimes when critics tell you that a movie has a major switcheroo, that will help you guess what the trick is? Well, that doesn’t apply here. Whether the ending is fair or not (I hope THAT is not spoiling anything) could be a matter of debate.   
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Post by claudius on Aug 29, 2021 8:37:01 GMT
This Week’s MASTERPIECE 50 are:
THE TALE OF BEATRIX POTTER (1982) BBC TV Serial on the life of the children’s author with Penelope Wilton as the authoress. I first saw this on PBS in 1991. For the 20th Anniversary of MT, a viewers request was done of its past shows. This was among the selected. YouTube Presentation of a VHS Recording of a 1980s PBS broadcast with Alastair Cooke.
THE IRISH R.M. (1983) BBC TV Serial Based on the Somerville and Ross books. Starring Peter Bowles. Acorn Media.
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STAR TREK IV: THE VOYAGE HOME (1986) 35th Anniversary this month. The conclusion of the Genesis Trilogy is a more light hearted affair after the intense drama of WoK and TSfS. Finally getting into Trek in the mid 1980s. this was the film whose theatrical release I remembered. Much of the film I learned about from a promo magazine and a comic book adaptation (which kept the profanities). I had the opportunity to see it in theaters, but my brothers bowing out caused me to grow uneasy with just seeing it with my dad, so I bowed out as well. I finally got to see the film on VHS in November 1987. My viewing is a Tinseltown presentation.
GREAT EXPECTATIONS (1946) 75th Anniversary this year. David Lean’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’ novel, starring John Mills, Martina Hunt, Valerie Hobson, Finlay Currie, the first credited role of Alec Guinness and the film debut of Jean Simmons. I first learned of this film from Bob Dorian’s CLASSIC FILMS book in 1991. I got the VHS for Christmas 1992, but stopped at the middle part and didn’t see the rest until 1995. Paramount VHS.
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JEM AND THE HOLOGRAMS (1986) “Adventure in China” 35th Anniversary Rhino DVD
THE SLAYERS NEXT (1996) “The Thousand Year Old Truth! The Traitorous Demon Dragon King!” 25th Anniversary. Lina interfaces with the Claire Bible, learning about Chaos and the Lord of Nightmares. With knowledge, she learns to wield the Rondu Blade. However the stakes have risen with several characters getting severely injured. Japanese with English Subtitles. Software Sculptor DVD.
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MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 (1991) “It Conquered the World” 30th Anniversary. Roger Corman film with Peter Graves, Lee Van Cleef, Beverly Garland, and an upside down ice cream cone with tentacles. I only saw this episode once before in its MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER HOUR in December 1993. The COLOSSAL GUIDE book give a page to Garland and her strong character. YouTube Presentation of a VHS Recording of its original Comedy Central Broadcast on August 24 1991.
HELTER SKELTER: AN AMERICAN MYTH (2020) “The Seed” YouTube.
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X/1999 (2001) “Omen” 20th Anniversary. The second Anime adaptation of the Clamp manga series (there was a film done in the turn of the century). Although the series won’t officially begin until October 2001, a special was broadcast in August with a new prologue using incidents from a previous manga series TOKYO BABYLON, and setting up the cast. First saw this on a rental DVD in 2005. Japanese with English Subtitles. Geneon DVD.
TRAPP FAMILY STORY (1991) “Orange and Seedlings” 30th Anniversary. Georg visits Yvonne, and realizes that there is going to be a possible irreconcilable difference in their future (she wants the children out of the relationship). Japanese with English Subtitles Bootleg DVD.
DOUG (1991) “Doug’s Dog Date/Doug’s Big Nose” 30th Anniversary Bootleg DVD.
RUGRATS (1991) “At the Movies/Slumber Party” 30th Anniversary. Reptar (the Godzilla-nod) and the Dummi Bears (Care Bears mock-up) make their debut. Amazon Prime.
THE REN AND STIMPY SHOW (1991) “Robin Hoek/Nurse Stimpy” 30th Anniversary. Stimpy reads a bedtime story (trying to make up the story as he goes along). Also the debut of Ren’s simmering “What EEZ it, man!?” catchphrase. Paramount DVD.
THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS (1971) 50th Anniversary this year. George C. Scott plays a Judge who believes he is Sherlock Holmes. His greedy brother tries to have him committed (and getting his fortune), by the prognosis of a female psychiatrist named Dr Watson (Joanne Woodward). Things so not go as planned. I didn’t realize Rue McClanahan was in this one. YouTube.
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VICTORIA AND ALBERT (2001) “Part One” 20th Anniversary. BBC TV film about the relationship of the titled characters (Victoria Hamilton and Jonathan Firth). The first part details Victoria coming to the throne and her marriage, with Albert growing frustrated over his lack of authority. Also starring Penelope Wilton, Diana Rigg, David Suchet, Nigel Hawthorne, and Peter Ustinov. First saw parts of this on Arts & Entertainment on its premiere. A & E Home Video DVD.
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VICTORIA AND ALBERT (2001) “Part Two” The conflict continues, as Albert gets his own back and sets his partnership with Victoria. A & E Home Video DVD.
SPACECAMP (1986) 35th Anniversary this year. 80s film about a rejected astronaut and her failed students being forced into a flight in space. Saw this in theaters in June 35 years ago. YouTube.
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THE THREE MUSKETEERS (1921) 100th Anniversary. Douglas Fairbanks Sr.’s adaptation of the Dumas novel (the production and its success led to him continuing his career with costume swashbucklers, as well as a mustache). Also with Leon Barry, Margueritte LaMotte, Eugene Pallette, Adolphe Menjou, and Nigel deBrulier in his first of 4 performances of Cardinal Richelieu (this is the 4th film I’ve seen of him this year: FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE, DON JUAN, and the CAPTAIN MARVEL serial). First saw this on American Movie Classics in April 1997. I saw two versions on DVD: the 2016 Underground DVD with color tints and Ben Model organ score, and the Kino Lorber DVD with a reconstruction of the original 1921 score by Louis F. Gottschalk (using known themes like “Funeral March of a Marrionette”).
NARUTO SHIPPUDEN (2014) “I’m Always Watching You” English Dubbed. Viz Media DVD.
BATTLING BUTLER (1926) 95th Anniversary. Buster Keaton silent comedy of a milquetoast millionaire pretending to be a boxer champion to impress a girl, only to keep up the facade. First knew if this film from pictures from Walter Kerr’s THE SILENT CLOWNS in 1995. Saw the film on DVD in June 2009. Kino Lorber DVD.
Saw parts of:
RAINTREE COUNTY (1957) MGM’s attempt to do a Northern GWTW, starring Montgomery Clift, Eva Marie Saint, Elizabeth Taylor, Lee Marvin, and Nigel Patrick. I tend to catch this one, if only the first hour. TCM Broadcast.
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Post by marianne48 on Aug 30, 2021 2:04:40 GMT
The Doughgirls (1944)-Alternately funny and annoying screwball comedy, which seems like an attempt to make a full-length feature film of the stateroom scene from A Night at the Opera, with the Marx Brothers now all female. Jane Wyman plays a Gracie-Allen type of airhead bride who checks into a Washington, D.C. hotel with her new husband (Jack Carson) on their honeymoon; due to the housing/hotel shortage, they wind up rooming with her two old friends, Alexis Smith and Ann Sheridan, who are also on their honeymoons, except at least one of these couples isn't legally married. Then Carson's boss shows up and sexually harasses Wyman. Then a female Soviet soldier, played at full caricature speed by Eve Arden, arrives. Then a roomful of babies and toddlers...and a poodle...and a desperate little man who just wants a place to sleep for the night (Joe DeRita, who would play one of the Three Stooges in their final incarnation in their 1960s movies)...and periodic appearances by a team of manic cleaning women...and on and on. If you like fast-paced, ridiculous farces, this is enjoyable, as long as you don't blink or you may miss a plot twist.
The Longest Day (1962)--fairly decent adaptation of Cornelius Ryan's book on the D-Day invasion, which was made up largely of individual snippets of personal experiences of many different soldiers from different sides/locations. Some good drama and action, but it's one of those films which used a popular gimmick of the time, the "Spot the Star" stunt in which countless well-known actors appeared in small roles. While this worked a little better in comic films, such as Around the World in 80 Days and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, in dramas such as this and The Greatest Story Ever Told, thoughts such as "Hey, look, isn't that Sal Mineo?" and "That's that guy from A Hard Day's Night!" tend to get in the way of a good story. Most of the actors do a serviceable job, although some are a little too old for their parts. The worst thing about this film, IMO, is the putrid presence of war hero poseur John Wayne, who plays a real-life soldier who was reportedly annoyed that he was being portrayed by someone who was in his fifties (and looked older) while he was just in his twenties at the time of the invasion. But Wayne apparently pushed his considerable weight around and not only wound up playing the (better-looking) officer, but also insisted on separate billing from all the other actors in the film, presumably in order to preserve his heroic movie persona. He would later appear in the similarly cameo-laden The Greatest Story Ever Told, where he was given (did he insist on this, too?) the final line in the film, which became notorious for its wooden delivery. Unlike Wayne, a few of the actors here actually were veterans--Richard Todd was at Normandy on D-Day, while Eddie Albert not only was at Tarawa and saved the lives of several Marines there, but also worked as a secret intelligence agent before the war (as a fisherman and a circus trapeze artist!) and as an environmental activist in his later years--so those patriotic rants about "the American farmer" that he used to deliver on Green Acres were genuine. Now that guy deserves his own film bio.
Rams (2015) and Rams (2020)--The original takes place in Iceland, where two brothers who are estranged socially but live next to each other raise prize-winning sheep. When a serious disease threatens the herds and requires that all the sheep in the area be destroyed, they take desperate measures to try to save their sheep and their livelihoods, even if they have to resort to working together. The remake is set in Australia, with the same basic story, but with some padding added--a tacked-on romance between one of the brothers and a female veterinarian, a smarmy government official, etc. Which version is preferable depends on whether you like a more naturalistic outcome or a feel-good movie--the first seems more realistic, but the second has Sam Neill. Oh, just watch both of them.
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Post by Fox in the Snow on Aug 30, 2021 3:52:07 GMT
Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle (1987, Eric Rohmer) - another great film from Rohmer, one of his lightest and breeziest. Excellent use of the 4:3 ratio as usual, especially when shooting the French countryside in the opening segment  Le Trio en mi bemol (1988, Eric Rohmer) – two hander filmed on theatrical stage set Kicking and Screaming (1996, Noah Baumbach) – rewatch, like Clerks if it was written and directed by Woody Allen  The Squid and the Whale (2005, Noah Baumbach) - effective character driven drama Margot at the Wedding (2007, Noah Baumbach) - effective character driven drama Greenberg (2010, Noah Baumbach) - rewatch, effective character driven drama Frances Ha (2012, Noah Baumbach) – rewatch, probably my favorite Baumbach film. Breezy, charming and care free. His most overtly French New Wave inspired effort, featuring an appropriately scattered performance from Greta Gerwig  Atomic Blonde (2017, David Leitch) – felt like a Mission Impossible installment directed as an 80s rock video. Fun and stylish with a serious butt-kicking performance from Charlize Theron, but fell flat overall. That sort of style needed to be pushed much further into the opaque to work for me 
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Post by petrolino on Aug 30, 2021 3:58:22 GMT
Clueless (1995). The Keeper (2018). Kursk (2018). First Man (2018).
I love the movie 'Clueless', and the work of Heckerling in general. I think 'Clueless is the only artistic work I've ever truly loved that's rooted in the work of author Jane Austen.
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Post by timshelboy on Aug 30, 2021 14:44:13 GMT
Two rewatches  A notch or two below the original, but still huge fun. Asta gets a lot of attention in this one. Joseph Calleia the most obvious choice of the suspects.  Agatha Christie's story, billy wilder script and a bobbydazzler of a turn from Laughton as the defense attorney are the main draws. The cockney red herring never fooled me though. First Viewings Two I'd recommend:  Moody French romantic drama about salvage tug skipper falling for the deshabilee married woman he plucks from the briny (Michele Morgan), whilst wife with weak heart (Madeleine Renaud) suffers patiently. Amazing storm sequence.  Unexpectedly absorbing, and occasionally riveting drama based on the Boston Marathon bombings and the search for the bombers. It's actually an upper bracker thriller. Film spends as much time with the bombers as those hunting them and film alll the better for it Themo Lelikidze and Alex Wolff are the bombers. I can't say I find Wahlberg an interesting actor - although he has done very well considering his inauspicious beginnings (Boyband, underwear model, and I think rape and homophobia allegations when he was younger) - but he can certainly "carry" a movie - but its really an ensemble piece. JK Simmons gets best lines as old lag cop. Kevin Bacon persuasive as FBI head honcho. Some terrific setpieces - the execution of a cop, nerve shredding sequence with Student Jimmy O Young being carjacked by the bombers, the bombers trapped in a cul de sac . But the scene I will never forget is late in the film when Lelikidze's wife (Melissa Benoist) is brought in for questioning by an authority beyond the FBI, who don't overly concern themselves about the civil liberties of those living with terror suspects. Best 5 minutes of the film , with Benoist defiant and unrepentant and a scary Khandi Alexander as the interrogator and her broken record technique "Are there more bombs?" is still ringing in my ears. Not quite sure the BOSTON STRONG great for community spirit rationalising is actually evident on screen, but it never felt expoloitative, the way HOTEL MUMBAI did (although sorry to report that was for me an even better thriller). would be curious to hear any Bostonian views on the film. in the WATCHABLE/OF INTEREST category  RICHARD EGAN FESTIVAL REPORT Gangster's widow June Havoc gets sent to the slammer for theft - even though she has just offed her hubbie's murderer - and has to adjust to prison life, including the man she murdered's squeeze getting herself delibarately sent to the same prison to expose Havoc as a murderess. Connie Gilchrist & isabel Jewell among Havoc's fellow inmates, Katherine Warren the firm but fair warden. Shame no Hope Emerson type at all though and any self respecting Chicks In Chains melo deserves a Hope Emerson type. . Great bitchfight between Havoc & her adversary Dorothy Hart though. Oh yeah - Egan made his uncedited debut as a cop. .  Efficient road rage thriller.  Intriguing if not very plausible romantic drama - chance playing a significant supporting role. Strong cast.  I was expecting a dark drama but got a rather sly comedy - in occupied France a pig is slaughtered and two men tasked with transporting the contraband meat across Paris.  THE WAGES OF FEAR with thermal underwear.  Huppert as deceased war photographer remembered by her eldest son is the reason to watch otherwise tepid family drama.  Cumberbatch solid as buttoned up Brit in 1960 drawn into Cold war manoeuvering. Nice period detail but it never flies. You can safely miss all the rest below, which range from mediocre to bad.             STINKER OF THE WEEK AWARD goes to  |
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Post by marianne48 on Aug 30, 2021 16:44:42 GMT
Reveille With Beverly / Charles Barton (1943). Ann Miller plays Beverly, a switchboard operator at a radio station. When the early morning classical music DJ takes some time off, Beverly – whose whole family is involved in the Home Front war effort, including her brother who has enlisted – decides to play pop swing tunes dedicated to the men and women in uniform (“If you liked that one, we’ve got more. Hotter than your morning coffee”). BTW, she is also being courted by two new enlistees, but never mind that. Most of the film’s run time is taken up with Beverly spinning her platters. When she would put a record on we would get a close-up of the turntable (remember turntables?) and the label would expand into another scene where we can actually see the artists performing (a technique I also remember seeing in an rock ‘n roll cheapee from the early 1960s – it may have been Teenage Millionaire.) We get to see and hear Count Basie and his Orchestra playing “One O’clock Jump”; the Duke Ellington group in “Take the ‘A’ Train” (or, as Lawrence Welk once introduced the song, “Take thee a train”); Frank Sinatra crooning “Night and Day,” among others. Miller herself does not get to do her thing until the final number when she appears showing off her long stemmed American beauties in a micro-mini (backed up by a chorus of males in military uniforms) while she tap dances at about a thousand miles per hour. The number ends with her tapping literally (and I mean “literally”) causing flames from her feet which form a “V” for victory. Critics of the time got really creative in slamming every aspect of RWB, but it was a huge hit with the public, becoming Colombia’s biggest “B” moneymaker of the year. This movie was ahead of its time--Jean Ruth Hay, the real DJ who starred in the popular "Reveille with Beverly" radio show, was the technical advisor for the film and it was at her insistence that the musical numbers be presented in full, so they foreshadowed music videos of years later. It was also her idea to highlight Frank Sinatra in the Tommy Dorsey number, as she was a big fan. What the film couldn't show was that she sometimes read scripts on her Armed Forces Network radio program that were actually coded messages to the French Underground, mentioning fictional songs such as "Torpedo Junction" and "Opening Night." After the war she continued as a radio DJ and later hosted a daytime TV show, "Beverly on 3."
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Post by mikef6 on Aug 30, 2021 18:15:15 GMT
Reveille With Beverly / Charles Barton (1943). Ann Miller plays Beverly, a switchboard operator at a radio station. When the early morning classical music DJ takes some time off, Beverly – whose whole family is involved in the Home Front war effort, including her brother who has enlisted – decides to play pop swing tunes dedicated to the men and women in uniform (“If you liked that one, we’ve got more. Hotter than your morning coffee”). BTW, she is also being courted by two new enlistees, but never mind that. Most of the film’s run time is taken up with Beverly spinning her platters. When she would put a record on we would get a close-up of the turntable (remember turntables?) and the label would expand into another scene where we can actually see the artists performing (a technique I also remember seeing in an rock ‘n roll cheapee from the early 1960s – it may have been Teenage Millionaire.) We get to see and hear Count Basie and his Orchestra playing “One O’clock Jump”; the Duke Ellington group in “Take the ‘A’ Train” (or, as Lawrence Welk once introduced the song, “Take thee a train”); Frank Sinatra crooning “Night and Day,” among others. Miller herself does not get to do her thing until the final number when she appears showing off her long stemmed American beauties in a micro-mini (backed up by a chorus of males in military uniforms) while she tap dances at about a thousand miles per hour. The number ends with her tapping literally (and I mean “literally”) causing flames from her feet which form a “V” for victory. Critics of the time got really creative in slamming every aspect of RWB, but it was a huge hit with the public, becoming Colombia’s biggest “B” moneymaker of the year. This movie was ahead of its time--Jean Ruth Hay, the real DJ who starred in the popular "Reveille with Beverly" radio show, was the technical advisor for the film and it was at her insistence that the musical numbers be presented in full, so they foreshadowed music videos of years later. It was also her idea to highlight Frank Sinatra in the Tommy Dorsey number, as she was a big fan. What the film couldn't show was that she sometimes read scripts on her Armed Forces Network radio program that were actually coded messages to the French Underground, mentioning fictional songs such as "Torpedo Junction" and "Opening Night." After the war she continued as a radio DJ and later hosted a daytime show, "Beverly on 3." That's some great info, marianne. Thanks so much.
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Post by timshelboy on Aug 30, 2021 19:22:18 GMT
.I'll happily second (or third REVEILLE WITH BEVERLY (one of my favourite film titles ever) - the critics were wrong!  Cutter’s Way / Ivan Passer (1981)Revisited CUTTERS WAY a month or so back - it holds up well. Offbeat and absorbing paranoia thriller. Agree the Heard performance is... a little "busy"... and character is one you might find interesting to watch but wouldn't want to spend an evening with. Eichorn was VG too in role that barely exists if you count her lines... but as you say, she works wonders unobtrusively in the reaction shots .... and I thought Ann Dusenberry was rather wonderful too.
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Post by Cat on Aug 30, 2021 19:59:07 GMT
Repast (1951)
Beautiful. Concise, sharp, layered.
Setsuko Hara does a similar version of a thoughtful but unhappy woman, though this one is more upfront about it. The film sympathizes with her situation without making her the hero. Her husband has issues of his own.
The Suicide Squad (2021)
Much better than the first, in my opinion. James Gunn brings an intelligible touch to the concept. The effects are good. James Gunn does a really good job at breaking the tension with levity while keeping comic relief in line with how the characters would behave.
That's my fancy way of saying the characters are funny for their own benefit. Using humor to pull oneself from their own darkness is a good character trait that can easily get lost if the humor is laid on too thick. The film comes just shy of laying it on too thick. It's not less is more. It's more is more, which is also great.
Saint Maud (2019)
Very cool, I liked it. Smart, intriguing thriller with a small feeling cast and the A24 aesthetic that's somewhere between the long pauses of A Ghost Story and the atmospheric tension of Gretel and Hansel, without being comparable to either in premise or plot.
Primary Colors (1998)
Mike Nichols makes thoughtful, mature movies. This is a film (in my opinion, like many Nichols films) that aged very well. Everyone does a good job. It's one of John Travolta's better performances in a good movie. I like it when a good performance in a good movie sync up.
The Berlin Express (1948)
Pretty good! My first glimpse of Merle Oberon. Decent political thriller. Subterfuge, misdirection and post war-torn Frankfurt. It's good.
Batman: Death in the Family (2020)
Peculiar. I liked it, though I was thrown off my expectation that it would continue the story from Batman: Under the Red Hood. It recapped the story by way of Bruce Wayne explaining the story across an unidentified listener in a diner. The unidentified listener is later revealed to be Clark Kent, Superman.
What follows are several intriguing if unexpected animated shorts that probably come from so deep within the DC comics that I've never heard of any of them.
The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer (1961)
It doesn't get much better than this.
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Post by Fox in the Snow on Aug 30, 2021 22:43:50 GMT
You can safely miss all the rest below, which range from mediocre to bad. Admittedly not one of Hong's stronger outings.
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Riverbend (1989) - 6/10 
