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Post by stryker on Sept 16, 2022 0:14:24 GMT
Emily the Criminal (2022).
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Post by politicidal on Sept 16, 2022 4:11:05 GMT
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Post by teleadm on Sept 16, 2022 19:32:09 GMT
5 Fingers 1952 directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and based on a book by L.C. Moyzisch. Another one of those movies I know I've seen, but seeing it again apparently only remember a few fragments. WWII Ankara 1944, the valet (James Mason) of the British Ambassador dreams of living the high life in Rio de Janeiro, and so begins copying (photoing) vital documents to sell at the Nazi German embassy, who is at the beginning reluctant, to enrich himself. An old flame, a refugee Polish Countess (Danielle Darrieux) becomes his accomplice, who was used to live the high life. Everything seems to work smoothly, but does it? Mason is at his silkiest and smoothest best, and this is an interesting and good movie, with a great supporting cast. Darrieux might have an agenda of her own and only plays along. During the 1970's the British government declassified a surprisingly large number of documents relating to WW2. Documents revealed that the British not only KNEW about "Cicero" (Mason's code name) photographing documents for the Germans, but had created most of them just to be stolen. Something that wasn't known when this movie was made, but there is actually a small hint in one scene about "Overlord" and creating false information.
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Post by politicidal on Sept 16, 2022 22:24:58 GMT
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Post by theravenking on Sept 17, 2022 16:36:34 GMT
Wonder Boys (2000; Curtis Hanson)
Such a delightful little movie warm-hearted and funny and filled with quirky and interesting characters. Also one of the best films on writers and writing I've ever seen. 8/10
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Post by politicidal on Sept 18, 2022 15:32:14 GMT
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Post by stryker on Sept 18, 2022 20:10:22 GMT
THE ROAD DANCE (2021)
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Post by persistenceofvision on Sept 19, 2022 2:54:54 GMT
THE SHELTERING SKYIf I'd read the book and understood what the fuss was about, would I have enjoyed this more, or less? Debra Winger gives it both barrels; Malkovich, with his blank demeanour alternating with sudden outbursts of shouting, is extremely hard to care about. The best thing about this is probably Vittorio Storaro's cinematography, though Apocalypse Now it isn't.
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Post by politicidal on Sept 19, 2022 22:15:17 GMT
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Post by teleadm on Sept 20, 2022 17:21:33 GMT
Gabriel Byrne and Denholm Elliott in Defense of the Real 1985 directed by David Drury. A British thriller about journalists, politicians and possible cover-ups. A Member of Parliament (Ian Bannen) is exposed as a possible spy, sharing a woman with a KGB member, by a journalist (Gabriel Byrne) for a newspaper and everything seems alright. But it might be something else, as discovered by an older journalist (Denholm Elliott, who won a Supporting Actor BAFTA), an accident near an Air Force Base might have a connection worth follow up. A near disaster that nobody should know about maybe... Is the free press not so free after all? This is a pretty solid movie that I hadn't seen since the 1980's so I was happy to see it again. It can seem a bit confusing at the beginning with a few vignettes that seems disconnected to the rest of the story. but they will get an explanation eventually if one follows the story thoroughly. A somehow a bit forgotten movie, but worth looking up. A solid cast that also includes Greta Scacchi, Fulton Mackay and Robbie Coltrane.
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Post by teleadm on Sept 21, 2022 17:48:21 GMT
Ronald Colman and Marlene Dietrich in Kismet 1944 directed by Wiliam Dieterle and based on a play by Edward Knoblock. It looks very expensive in sets and clothes but the story attached feels a bit old-fashioned even for 1944 but during WWII there might have been an urge for this kind of escapism entertainment. Universal had recently had a big success with an Arabian Nights story in Technicolor and Maria Montez, so I guess MGM wanted to do something much bigger and with bigger stars. Remember reading somewhere that both Colman and Dietrich got very well payed for this sole movie at MGM. At times it looks like a musical and they all soon will burst out in song and dance, there are a few new songs written by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg but they only appear in short sequences, There is a lot of dancing though, including a dance by Dietrich in gold legs that might have been very provocative and suggestive once, that now looks rather bizarre or have to be seen to be believed. It's a bit too big and costly to feel like an old fashioned matinee movie. Fun to have seen though.
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Post by Doghouse6 on Sept 22, 2022 8:57:40 GMT
Ronald Colman and Marlene Dietrich in Kismet 1944 directed by Wiliam Dieterle and based on a play by Edward Knoblock. It looks very expensive in sets and clothes but the story attached feels a bit old-fashioned even for 1944 but during WWII there might have been an urge for this kind of escapism entertainment. Universal had recently had a big success with an Arabian Nights story in Technicolor and Maria Montez, so I guess MGM wanted to do something much bigger and with bigger stars. Remember reading somewhere that both Colman and Dietrich got very well payed for this sole movie at MGM. At times it looks like a musical and they all soon will burst out in song and dance, there are a few new songs written by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg but they only appear in short sequences, There is a lot of dancing though, including a dance by Dietrich in gold legs that might have been very provocative and suggestive once, that now looks rather bizarre or have to be seen to be believed. It's a bit too big and costly to feel like an old fashioned matinee movie. Fun to have seen though. Colman brought his customary dignity, Dietrich her customary exoticism and always-dependable Edward Arnold is a more-than-serviceable villain in the kind of role he could do in his sleep. But most of the rest of the casting is curiously weird, rounded out by quintessentially American players like James Craig, Florence Bates, Harry Davenport and a completely out-of-place Hugh Herbert with all his "woo-hoo" mannerisms intact. Joy Page (best remembered as the newlywed Bulgarian refugee in Casablanca) seems a bit more comfortable in the surroundings and looks great in Technicolor, but has little to do. When I reviewed it on IMDB a dozen or so years ago, I dismissed it as "a lightweight trifle" and "a bit of Arabian nights cotton candy," and I don't think my opinion's changed any. Its multiple components just don't quite fit together well enough to allow it to get into gear. A tiny note (oh, no, another one of those): the frame grab at top is from the 1955 version (which was a musical), with Howard Keel and Dolores Gray pictured.
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Post by teleadm on Sept 22, 2022 16:45:34 GMT
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Post by teleadm on Sept 22, 2022 17:44:36 GMT
Mafia aka Il giorno della civetta aka Day of the Owl 1968 directed by Damiano Damiani and based on a novel by Leonardo Sciascia. An Italian-French co-production starring Claudia Cardinale, Franco Nero, Lee J. Cobb, Serge Reggiani and Nehemiah Persoff. Following a murder in a small Sicilian town, the new chief of the Carabinieri (Nero) must fight corrupt officials, the frightened silence of witnesses and the local Mafia boss (Cobb) in order to solve the case. In a lone house near the place where the murder took place lives a woman (Cardinale) with a daughter who might be a key witness and her husband went missing at the time of the murder. Interesting and serious movie dealing with the mafia pre- Godfather movies from the 1970's. Though it rely's more on dialog than action and that made it a bit hard to follow as I had to read a lot of subtitles to be able to follow the storyline and I might have missed somethng. Both Cardinale and Nero won David di Donatello Awards for their performances as did the director.
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Post by Doghouse6 on Sept 22, 2022 21:42:02 GMT
So you did. Excellent. Inasmuch as all the images presented here have been frames directly from the films, rather than posed on-set publicity stills, there's an opportunity to note the progression (or perhaps "regression" is a better word) of cinematic artistry from one decade to the next. The careful framing, evocative lighting and precise focus of '44 have given way by '55 to flatter, proscenium-like staging, more general focus and illumination that throws harsh shadows onto the scenery behind the players. It had the effect of putting viewers at a remove from the action and characters, rather than inviting their involvement with them. In those early years of CinemaScope, a number of directors seemed unsure of what to do with so much screen real estate, and reverted to techniques that harken back to the earliest decades of film: plant the camera for a longshot and line the players up in front of it.
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Post by louise on Sept 23, 2022 14:33:44 GMT
The Adventures of Tartu (1943). Robert Donat is a bomb disposal expert who is asked to go to Germany and sabotage a factory making poisonous gas. Quite entertaining.
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Post by teleadm on Sept 23, 2022 17:33:31 GMT
In those early years of CinemaScope, a number of directors seemed unsure of what to do with so much screen real estate, and reverted to techniques that harken back to the earliest decades of film: plant the camera for a longshot and line the players up in front of it. I think I noticed something like that when I watched King of the Khyber Rifles 1953 recently. I couldn't pinpoint what I thought was a bit strange, then I came up with what bothered me, there were hardly any close-ups. As if nearly every shot had to have the splendor of the Khyber Mountains in the background, though it actually was Sierra Nevada Mountains and Alabama Hills.
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Post by teleadm on Sept 23, 2022 18:27:53 GMT
Where the Sidewalk Ends 1950 directed by Otto Preminger and based on a novel by William L. Stuart. About a Police Detective Sergeant (Dana Andrews) who uses brutality to get answers, but now he has a new boss (Karl Malden) who don't like his methods. Meanwhile there is a dead body at an illegal gambling joint, and who killed the now dead body. The new boss goes one way and Dana goes another to solve the case, and while questioning a possible witness Dana kills him and tries to hide the body. The possible witness wife is played by Gene Tierney, her character begins to grow a tenderness into Dana's brutal cop. Not sure if I did the story any justice, but this a a very solid crime noir.
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Post by politicidal on Sept 24, 2022 3:01:06 GMT
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Post by Chalice_Of_Evil on Sept 25, 2022 13:57:39 GMT
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