|
Post by wmcclain on Mar 4, 2023 14:05:57 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.
|
|
|
Post by Chalice_Of_Evil on Mar 4, 2023 14:10:11 GMT
Don’t Worry Darling (2022).
|
|
|
Post by wmcclain on Mar 4, 2023 14:22:43 GMT
|
|
|
Post by politicidal on Mar 4, 2023 15:11:29 GMT
First Viewings:
The Young Savages (1961) 5/10
Analyze That (2002) 6/10
Saturday the 14th (1981) 3/10
Cocaine Bear (2023) 6/10
Blacklight (2022) 4/10
The Invitation (2022) 5/10
The Amazing Mr. X (1948) 6/10
Repeat Viewings:
The African Queen (1951) 7.5/10
|
|
spiderwort
Junior Member
@spiderwort
Posts: 2,100
Likes: 9,421
|
Post by spiderwort on Mar 4, 2023 15:54:07 GMT
First time viewings: What They Had (2018):A woman (Hilary Swank) returns to Chicago to visit her dad and mom, who’s now suffering from Alzheimer’s. Written and directed by Elizabeth Chomko in a stunning debut, with superb performances by all the cast in very difficult roles. A deeply moving film that’s brutally honest and a bit haunting. I look forward to seeing more Chomko films. Highly recommended. Storm Boy (2019):When a successful retired businessman (Geoffrey Rush) starts to see images from his past that he can't explain, he's forced to remember his childhood and how, as a boy, he rescued and raised an extraordinary orphaned pelican. A beautiful, deeply moving film that unites the natural world with humans in a profoundly meaningful way. The second version of the Colin Thiele novel. I look forward to seeing the first version next. Highly recommended. Happy - Go - Lucky (2008):
A look at the life of a cheery, colorful, North London schoolteacher whose optimism tends to exasperate those around her. An excellent Mike Leigh film with a wonderful performance by Sally Hawkins in her first starring role. Highly recommended.
Moontide (1942): A marvelous film with great performances by all the cast: Jean Gabin, Ida Lupino, Claude Rains, and Thomas Mitchell. Visually and emotionally beautiful. Directed by Archie Mayo and Fritz Lang (uncredited) with great, Oscar nominated cinematography by Charles G. Clarke. Wish I hadn’t waited this long to see it. Highly recommended.
Life with Father (1947): Was never able to get through this one before, but finally did it. Better toward the end; not great, but mildly entertaining overall — a little too stage bound for my taste. One of Powell’s Oscar nominated roles. Recommended for the story and the cast. Re-watches: The Mad Miss Manton (1938):A delightful screwball comedy mystery; the first pairing of Stanwyck and Fonda. Definitely worth a view for fans of the cast. Maisie (1939):My favorite Maisie film. Ann Sothern shines in it and gets great support from Robert Young, Ruth Hussey, and Ian Hunter. A must-see for fans of the Maisie series.
|
|
|
Post by stryker on Mar 4, 2023 16:37:06 GMT
|
|
|
Post by mikef6 on Mar 4, 2023 16:49:38 GMT
The Painted Desert / Howard Higgin (1931). Two men heading west – Cash Holbrook (William Farnum) and Jeff Cameron (J. Ferrell MacDonald) find an abandoned baby boy. They fight over who will raise him. Holbrook leaves with the infant. Jump forward a few decades where the boy, Bill (William Boyd, four years before donning the persona of Hopalong Cassidy), is grown. Now a mining engineer, he has discovered a payload on Cameron’s property. Holbrook kicks him out for suggesting a partnership with his old rival. When Bill meets Cameron’s daughter Mary Ellen (Helen Twelvetrees), they fall in love. Also desiring Mary Ellen is the sulking ranch hand Rance Brett (Clark Gable). Gable is so young here I only recognized him by his voice, the public’s first chance to hear him speak as “The Painted Desert” was his talkie debut. It all seems like an explosive situation but except for some actual explosions late in the picture, there is not much action. The reason for this is that about 8-minutes of action footage was cut to provide scenes for the 1938 remake called just “Painted Desert” – no definite article. It starred George O’Brien and Laraine Day. Our 1931 film has undergone some restoration but for some unexplained reason, the missing footage has never been restored even though it is readily available in the newer movie. “The Painted Desert” is an early sound feature. but it seems crudely made compared to some other great pictures from that year. Still, there are some pleasures to be had, especially in the second half. Les Rivières Pourpres (The Crimson Rivers) / Mathieu Kassovitz (2000). Pierre Niemans (Jean Reno), a legend in French police work but now so burnt out he can barely speak, is sent to a remote rural area to investigate a particularly brutal and unusual murder. In a nearby small town, Max Kerkerian (Vincent Cassell), has been assigned as police chief in a nearby small town in this out-of-the-way area. He is looking into the desecration of a grave. Max eventually meets up with Niemans when their cases overlap. They are led to a very unusual university where the students are all offspring of professors and former professors. They are being vigorously trained both academically and physically. Niemans is helped by the only rebellious student, Fanny Ferreira (Nadia Farès) a mountain climbing expert. The two detectives uncover a deadly conspiracy that has been decades in the making, putting their own lives at risk. The mystery is a good one. At the end, when the killer appears in the distance, out of focus, and approaching the detectives, I seriously hadn’t the faintest idea who it might be. There are cameo appearances by veteran actors Jean-Pierre Cassell (Vincent’s dad) and Dominique Sanda. Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex, Drugs and Rock 'N' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood / Kenneth Bowser (2003). The most entertaining movie history documentary you will ever see with almost all footage being Talking Heads, interspersed with the occasional film clip. This is an oral history of the ending of the Hollywood studio system and the beginning of New Hollywood from the late 1960s through the 1970s. I think it would be even better if you lived those years. It is based on a book of the same title by Peter Biskind and covers basically the same ground as one of my favorite books “Pictures At A Revolution” by Mark Harris and another doc from the same year from a book with a corresponding title: “A Decade Under The Influence.” I recommend both movies and both books. “Easy Riders…” suggests three stages in American film during these years. First, following on the end of the Production Code, was the Counterculture Era (Bonnie and Clyde, Easy Rider, Roger Corman) and the growth of the youth market. This is followed, in the first half of the ‘70s by the Movie Brats-Film School crowd (Scorsese, Coppola, Bogdanovich) who cemented the idea in American film of the director as the “author” of the movie. Last is what this account calls the Big Budget B-Movie era (Jaws, Towering Inferno, Superman, Alien) which has set the template for the Hollywood money machine to this very day – and all of this done through the haze of pot, cocaine, and harder drugs. This is essential movie history. Midsomer Murders “Death By Persuasion” Season 19, Episode 5 (August 20, 2017) Secrets Of The Dead “Viking Warrior Queen” Season 18 Episode 4 (July 7, 2020) NOVA “Cat Tales” Season 47, Episode 3 (February 19, 2020) Star Trek: Deep Space 9 “The Forsaken” Season 1, Episode 16 (May 23, 1993) “Dramatis Personae” Season 1, Episode 17 (May 30, 1993) “Duet” Season 1, Episode 18 (June 13, 1993) “In the Hands of the Prophets” Season 1, Episode 19 (June 20, 1993) ----Season 1 Completed Star Trek: Voyager “Cathexis” Season 1, Episode 12 (May 1, 1995) “Faces” Season 1, Episode 13 (May 8, 1995) “Jetrel” Season 1, Episode 14 (May 15, 1995) “Learning Curve” Season 1, Episode 15 (May 22, 1995) ----Season One Completed Agatha Christie’s Poirot “The Third Floor Flat” Season 1, Episode 5 (February 5, 1989) “Triangle At Rhodes” Season 1, Episode 6 (February 12, 1989) “Problem At Sea” Season 1, Episode 7 (February 19, 1989) Secrets Of Britain “Secrets Of Underground London” Season 1, Episode 2 (of 6) (May 21, 2014)
|
|
|
Post by teleadm on Mar 4, 2023 18:15:35 GMT
Here are the movies Tele have lately seen: Honest Thief 2020 directed by Mark Williams. Here we go again, another action movie with Liam, here playing a notorious bank robber who wan't to go straight and become honest. Giving himself up, calls FBI, promise to deliver all money stolen, pity FBI sends a dishonest man who thinks of stealing the loot for himself. Via a lot of action Liam has to trap the dishonest FBI man, before Liam get's blamed. At least those later Liam action movies isn't too bad, and neither is this. He hasn't fallen through the roof like some action actors. Blithe Spirit 2020 directed by Edward Hall and based on a play by Noël Coward. Well I've already given my fire and brimstone thoughts about this movie. More or less from the start it goes wrong as it tries too hard straining for laughs. Three writers behind this script didn't trust Coward, and changed many of the concepts thinking they could do better, it all fails miserably. I can feel some charm in old B-Monster movies and rate them higher than this monstrosity, and I'm not even fond of the 1945 version. Der Fall Collini aka The Collini Case 2019 directed by Marco Kreuzpainter based on a novel by Ferdinand von Schirach and partly based on real events. Read a synopsis and thought it sounded interesting, and it was, and easy to follow with subtitles. A retired Italian worker (a restraint and effective Franco Nero), who had been living in Germany for 35 years, kills an elderly wealthy industrialist well known throughout the country. He's assigned a young lawyer (Elyas M'Barek) who's first case this is. An open and shut case on the surface, but digging deeper it's about something else that happened in Italy during WW2 and a massacre, and a glitch in the whole German judicial system. A movie well worth watching, that I wish was just a little bit edgier. Arthur Newman 2012 directed by Dante Ariola. Wallace Avery (Colin Firth) hates his life and fakes his own death and returns as Arthur Newman and hoping to live the good life at golf country clubs, but it turns out to be bumpier than he though, especially after he hooks up with a young unstable nymphomaniac (Emily Blunt). The kind of movie one wonders were it's going, but just keeps on going and going and going until it's just boring. The acting and locations are good though. As Good as It Gets 1997 directed by James L. Brooks. A sort of off-center comedy that pleased the masses, including me and I've watched it many times. I enjoyed it this time too. Johnny Cool 1963 directed by William Asher and based on a novel by John McPartland "The Kingdom of Johnny Cool". A gangster revenge tale with a very interesting cast. Exiled American gangster Colini (Marc Lawrence) sends his protégé-killer Giordano (tall lanky and fit Henry Silva) to the USA to eliminate Colini's mob enemies. He does so with a certain efficiency that is not always explained, it just happens. Tagging along is a bored socialite who needs a thrill ride (a young Elizabeth Montgomery). It's very fast-paced and it has it's flaws, with a cast of familiar faces, but worth a look. Nice to see Silva in a lead before he was "lost" to Italian gangster and Police movies. Not bad for a director of Beach Party movies, and he married the girl, directing her in 131 episodes of Bewitched TV-series. Lilies of the Field 1963 directed by Ralph Nelson and based on a novel by William E. Barrett. Always cautious when watching movies like this, since they are famous, and I might not like them. This time though it turned out to be a light and entertaining movie. even for someone like me who isn't very religious. Traveling handyman (Sidney Poitier) just stops by a shabby nunnery to fill water in his overheated car, but stays a build the nuns a chapel, the nuns think he is Godsend and the answer to many prayers, and they have tricks to keep him around. A low-budget movie that proofs that a good story well told can be done. Maybe not so much old classics, but I might recapture it sometime in the future, and that was all from me this week.
|
|
|
Post by Old Aussie on Mar 4, 2023 19:59:44 GMT
|
|
|
Post by lostinlimbo on Mar 4, 2023 20:53:57 GMT
|
|
|
Post by Rufus-T on Mar 5, 2023 6:22:25 GMT
|
|