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Post by Lebowskidoo 🦞 on Dec 4, 2018 17:19:15 GMT
And Then There Were None (1945), by mystery writing legend Agatha Christie, basically the seed from which many modern mysteries were styled on. Great fun and quite funny as well.
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Post by teleadm on Dec 4, 2018 19:04:01 GMT
Scorpio 1973, directed by Michael Winner, staring Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon, Paul Scofield, John Colicos, Gayle Hunnicut, J.D. Cannon, Vladek Sheybal and others. Action-spy-drama. During the Cold War, the CIA orders free-lance operative Scorpio (Delon) to assassinate his former CIA mentor Cross (Lancaster) and a deadly cat-and-mouse game ensues. A rather complicated movie to follow, I thought it was based on a novel, but it isn't, that shows a more serious side to the spy games than the James Bond movies. Winner hadn't begun making bad action movie yet. Lancaster show that he still can do action scenes and climb and jump buildings. As the story goes, nobody knows who to trust. Scofield plays a Soviet spy, and there is a rather nice scene with Lancaster, where they sit in a small apartment getting drunker and drunker and agrees that this who spy bussiness is just silly, or are they just playing each other out? Great use of the Austrian locations.
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Post by vegalyra on Dec 4, 2018 19:08:48 GMT
It's a Wonderful Life
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Post by vegalyra on Dec 4, 2018 19:13:17 GMT
I've been meaning to see this one. Here in the US it was only available on bluray via a limited edition release from Twilight Time that is sold out. Maybe I can track it down. EDIT: Looks like it's still available. Thanks for reminding me about this film.
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Post by teleadm on Dec 4, 2018 19:28:45 GMT
I've been meaning to see this one. Here in the US it was only available on bluray via a limited edition release from Twilight Time that is sold out. Maybe I can track it down. EDIT: Looks like it's still available. Thanks for reminding me about this film. It's a rather old DVD i loaned, it was distributed by MGM back then, at least in the Nordic countries.
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Post by Lebowskidoo 🦞 on Dec 4, 2018 19:39:46 GMT
Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), finally watched this famous UK comedy starring Sir Alec Guinness in nearly every role.
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Post by nostromo on Dec 4, 2018 23:21:30 GMT
'Under the Silver Lake' (2018) Will take me a while to get my head around it. Lots of metaphors and references. It's basically a homage to David Lynch and pop culture of the 90s and classic movies with a bit of cynicism and murder mystery thrown in. Mullholland Drive for the millennium. Is it a great movie? No but it might be a cult classic in a few years.
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Post by ZolotoyRetriever on Dec 5, 2018 0:29:51 GMT
The Guns of Navarone (1961). Directed by J. Lee Thompson, with Gregory Peck, David Niven, Anthony Quayle, Anthony Quinn, Irene Papas, et al. DVR’d from recent TCM telecast.
Haven’t seen this one since I was a kid. Back in the day, this was one awesome epic-level war movie. Seeing it again today, I still appreciate the epic sweep of the film, and the rather existential urgency of the commando mission: destroy some German guns so that 2,000 stranded British soldiers facing annihilation on an Aegean island can be evacuated by British naval vessels and live to fight another day.
That being said, I can’t help but notice fragments here and there that are almost eye-roll inducing: impossible lucky break after impossible lucky break, foreign language skills that defy belief, and clichéd German soldiers that seemed to be lifted from a cartoon feed, to name but a few.
Nevertheless, it’s still a good, thought-provoking, and at times almost fun, war/adventure flick - not to mention a good reminder of what warfare was like back before today’s guided missiles and drones would have made such a desperate commando mission wholly unnecessary.
Favorite moment: at one point the commandoes overtake their Nazi captors, tie them up and take their clothes so as to use them as disguise. David Niven, now bedecked in a Nazi uniform, in a waggish gesture turns to the rest of the commandoes, gives them the Hitler salute and says, “Heil, everybody!”
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Post by kijii on Dec 5, 2018 1:58:14 GMT
ZolotoyRetriever-- While all that you say IS true, we need to remember that this is a fictional movie, and almost all fiction movies are made up of of totally unlikely events and lucky breaks. If Die Hard were not a fictional movie, it never could have existed in real life. Fun, but not real, is the name of the game here. It is the same with The Guns of Navarone. It is just a great movie that seems like a real war movie but is really an just another entertaining, action-packed action adventure. We love to follow the adventure that gives us a great "high" at the end. Those German soldiers do seem like cartoons with their mountain of guns overlooking that body of water. But, here, they are just the villains of the adventure.
It is fun to think of David Niven as the person upon which the final outcome of the overall mission depends, but it is.. And [as I remember] he can't even swim.
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Post by kijii on Dec 5, 2018 16:52:34 GMT
Green Book (2018) / Peter Farrelly Seen at the moviesMy wife and I saw this at the local movie plaza this weekend. The theater was packed with people about our age (50-80). The movie audience seemed to loved it, laughed at times, and applauded at the end. With two "Oscared" performers and a true story about an aspect of the Civil Rights Movement of the 60s, this movie seems like a likely prospect for some Oscar nominations. Even though the IMDb reviews give it an 8.3 as of this writing, I would probably rate it a bit lower. It was very good and entertaining, but not that outstanding. I remember hearing of the Don Shirley Trio, but I never knew about this tour though the deep South. Doing this particular tour seemed to be very important to Don Shirley even though he knew he would have to stay in black hotels and eat at different places than his ensemble and driver. He knew he would face discrimination--just as Nat King Cole had done 6 years earlier-- but he felt it was an important thing to do. No two people could have been more different than Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali) and his Italian driver, Tony Lip (Viggo Mortensen), a night club bouncer who happened to be out of work at the time. But from the tour, they built a great friendship.
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Post by ZolotoyRetriever on Dec 5, 2018 18:03:07 GMT
Watusi (1959). Directed by Kurt Neumann, with George Montgomery, David Farrar, Taina Elg. DVR’d from recent TCM telecast (full movie is available for free on YouTube). First-time viewing for me.
Pretty enjoyable adventure pic that plays out in some region of East Africa west of Zanzibar. It’s another quest for those elusive diamonds to be found in King Solomon’s Mines for the intrepid - and lucky - explorers willing to make the treacherous journey there and back.
I liked just about everything about this one: the cast was great, with good dialogue throughout. The scenes of Africa and its abundant wildlife (filmed on location, in Technicolor) were excellent, and the native singing and drumming and other ambient noises gave this a very rich atmosphere. True, parts of it were a bit corny and clichéd, but understandable for the time period in which it was made.
The screenplay, by James Clavell, was loosely based on the novel King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard.
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Post by teleadm on Dec 5, 2018 18:35:55 GMT
The Wizard of Oz 1939, directed by Victor Fleming (and uncredited bits by George Cukor, Norman Taurog, Mervyn LeRoy and King Vidor), based on the books by L. Frank Baum, staring Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley, Billie Burke, Margaret Hamilton, Charley Grapewin, Clara Blandick, Terry (as Toto) and a lot of Munchkins and others. Musical, that I don't think needs any closer presentation storywise. This was a great nostalgia kick back in time when I used to watch it way back on black and white television. I've seen the colour verson too many years ago, and I must say that there are a very good reason some movies are called classics, not just because they are old, but because the magic they still give the viewers after all those years. Yes some things looks very artificial in Oz, but don't forget, this is how Dorothy dreams it, and she is just a little girl. Interesting to see the Kansas scenes in sepia colour, as they were originally showed. Funny to see Billie Burke in something different than the feather brained wives she used to play in movies. There are some very dark scenes too, for example the original meeting of the famed wizard, that I'm surpriced to see in a wholesome family movie like this, but kids yesteryears maybe could stand much more back then. By the way, I love this movie! A feeling that is hard to explain. The movie won two Oscars, Best Music, Original Score (Herbert Stothart) and Best Music, Original Song (Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg) for the evergreen "Over the Rainbow". Judy Garland won a Juvenile Award Oscar at the same ceremony for "For her outstanding performance as a screen juvenile during the past year", but that it was an award for The Wizard of Oz is not mentioned or written out, at least not officially, for that award.
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Post by Primemovermithrax Pejorative on Dec 6, 2018 1:57:16 GMT
CROMWELL 1970 -- I had seen it before and forgotten pretty much all of it. Really, the only things in it worth watching are Richard Harris and Alec Guinness (I was thinking how both portrayed Marcus Aurelius--but Harris had a harder time of it given how poorly written the dialogue in Gladiator was). As well as giving employment to a who's who of British character actors from Charles Grey to Frank Finlay to Geoffrey Keen to Patrick Wymark. Like Alfred the Great, a stuffy historical film that seems too artificial to be authentic to the story it is trying to tell. It dates badly in ironic ways. Much of the story centers on preserving English sovereignty and protecting it from foreign influences. This would be a good film to show the current mayor of London.
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Post by kijii on Dec 6, 2018 6:33:15 GMT
Norma Rae (1979) / Martin Ritt DVR'd from TCM this weekend
Continuing my Martin Ritt viewing quest...
I have seen this movie a few times but since it was showing on TCM, I saw it again as part of the Martin Ritt quest. This movie was nominated for four Oscars: Best Picture, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium, and winning Oscars for Best Song, "It Goes Like It Goes." and Best Actress, Sally Field.
Though I know it was based on true events, every time I see it, it feels more exaggerated than the last time I saw it. The stereotypes of the liberal New York Jewish union organizer and the poor North Carolina factory girl just seem too pat, leaving little room for expanding the story beyond those stereotypes.
Here is the real story upon which the movie was based: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_Lee_Sutton
Reuben Warshowsky (Ron Leibman) : I don't say goodbye. I have been known to cry. Norma Rae Webster (Sally Field) : Well, whadda you say? Reuben Warshowsky : [sighing] Be happy. Be well. Norma Rae Webster : Same to you. Reuben Warshowsky : [stuttering] Best wishes don't seem hardly enough, but I'd like to thank you. I do. I, I thank you for your companionship, your stamina, your horse sense, and a hundred and one laughs. I also enjoyed very much looking at your shining hair and your shining face. Norma Rae Webster : Reuben, I think you like me. Reuben Warshowsky : I do. Norma Rae Webster : I was gonna buy you a tie clip or some shaving lotion or something, but I didn't know what you'd like. Reuben Warshowsky : Norma, what I've had from you has been sumptuous. [they shake hands, and stare long and hard at each other before Reuben gets in his packed up car and drives away]
However, the casting of Norma Rae was very good.
Here is the REAL "Noma Rae Webster" [Crystal Lee Sutton] And here is Sally Field cast as Norma Rae Webster
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Post by teleadm on Dec 6, 2018 18:39:03 GMT
Funny how things can turn out sometimes, since the movie I've seen depicts the some historical time and events as Cromwell 1970 as Primemovermithrax Pejorative reviewed recently. To Kill a King 2003, directed by Mike Barker, staring Tim Roth, Dougray Scott, Olivia Williams, James Bolam, Corin Redgrave, Rupert Everett and others. British-German historical drama. In 1645, after the revolutionary movement of the puritans against the King of England Charles I of Stuart (Everett), under the leadership of the best friends General Oliver Cromwell (Roth) and General Thomas Fairfax (Scott), the king is judged and condemned to death by decapitation. General Oliver Cromwell wishes to implement the republic in England, but his monarchist friend Fairfax does not agree, and they break their friendship. Cromwell becomes a dictator, with the title of Lord Protector of the Commonwealth, until 1658, when he is very sick and dies. Historical events I know very little about, and that England for a short time was a republic. We had our own kins and queens to read about in Sweden, and they sure did kill and poison each others here too. How accurate this movie is compared to history is very hard for me to tell, but as a cinema movie it's interesting, beautifully made, but somehow never gripped me. If it's true as showed in this movie, they disposed one tyrant only to be replaced by another tyrant. Those expecting a spectacle might be very dissapointed, as it's mostly indoors walking and talking. Not bad and worth a look.
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Post by jeffersoncody on Dec 7, 2018 7:03:13 GMT
GUNS GIRLS AND GANGSTERS (1959) with Mamie Van Doren, Gerald Mohr and Lee Van Cleef, directed by Edward L. Cahn. Rating: 6, 5 out of 10. Looking terrific on Blu Ray, this is a sleazy, fast paced, above average crime flick with a vicious, storming supporting turn by Van Cleef. Recommended for those who enjoy this type of movie.
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Post by teleadm on Dec 7, 2018 17:46:28 GMT
Bell Book and Candle 1958, directed by Richard Quine, based on a play by John Van Druten, staring James Stewart, Kim Novak, Jack Lemmon, Ernie Kovacs, Hermione Gingold, Elsa Lancaster, Janice Rule, Pywacket (The Cat) and others Romantic comedy. Gillian Holroyd (Novak) is just your average, modern-day witch, living in a New York apartment with a shop and her Siamese cat, Pyewacket. But one day a handsome publisher, Shep Henderson (Stewart) walks into her building and Gillian decides she wants him, especially as it turns out he's marrying Merle Kittridge (Rule), an old poison penpal from Gillian's college days. So, Gillian casts a spell over Shep. But her powers are in danger of being exorcised by something stronger than the bell-book-and-candle routine: Love. Interfering in her moves is her warlock brother (Lemmon), her witch aunt (Lancaster), a fake writer on witchcraft (Kovacs) and a larger-than life witch (Gingold). I hadn't seen this movie in about 25-30 years, and as it turned out I didn't remember a thing excepts a few brief scenes, and apparently a few other scenes that must belong to some other movies and not this one. Being in the company with this diverse cast, I couldn't help but to sit with a smile on my face through the whole movie. It's never boring and there is a few good laughs spread out in this movie, I just wish there was some more since the story has such great potential to have it. The story starts on Christmas Eve (another thing that I had forgot) and continues over some weeks during the wintry time in New York, but mostly made in a studio, since one can't see any cold breath smoke when they talk. Not a bullsye, but still worth watching, if only for it's lovely cast. The movie was nominated for two Oscars, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White or Color and Best Costume Design, Black-and-White or Color categories.
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Post by Primemovermithrax Pejorative on Dec 7, 2018 22:15:15 GMT
ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST 1968 - Third time viewing and it remains a sublime experience. There's only a couple of things that sit uneasily with me--the main one being the fate of Cheyenne. No signs of injury that I can see in the previous scene inside the house. I have only seen the restored version but I am curious now to see how that plays out in the original releases. The US version from what I read did not have it, but it also removes the "Morton crawling" scene which is one of my favorite moments.
I think in the most technical analysis a great deal of the impact is due to the operatic score, it feels like an opera at times, and since the music was composed before filming, it's an unusual freedom for the composer to think of the music before seeing any footage. Beyond the score, the use of normal sounds punctuate key moments in the film. What I noticed this time was the symbolism. The driving element in the story is water. Water is the focus of desire for the settler McBane who sees it as the means to build his dream "Sweetwater", Jill to clean herself of the past, and the railroad baron Morton, as his body disintegrates, it represents his one last ambition-to reach the element in its strongest form, the ocean-but he has to settle for a puddle. It features in the story in other ways--as droplets on a hat, as the tears of children, and as the steam of the locomotive. Water is the essential need of life, the building block of civilization, as well as the means with which the barbarian can assume the garb of the civilized by cleaning and shaving. When Frank confronts Harmonica for the final duel, there are railroad workers drinking behind him. In the end, when Jill finds her new role as den mother to the workers of the railroad, she is serving water.
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Post by Doghouse6 on Dec 8, 2018 2:24:24 GMT
Crossfire (1947) This most recent was perhaps my fifth viewing of this film, and I've admired it more every time. While it fits comfortably enough into "film noir" stylistically, with its stark and spare atmospherics, director Edward Dmytryk doesn't overdo the more outré visual signatures of the form, reserving those for moments of maximum impact and a point to make. Thematically, though, it's fairly straightforward crime drama, as homicide detective Robert Young sorts out the threads entangling several soldiers billeted in a Washington D.C. hotel and their possible connection to the brutal beating death of a man in his own apartment, in what soon becomes apparent as what we now call a hate crime. While postwar disillusionment and uncertainty figure into the story, moral ambiguity is absent, and the only hints of internal conflict are those related to fear of self-incrimination and mistrust of the workings of law and its enforcers. An especially arresting sequence opens the film: with no preamble, the beating is first seen as shadows on a wall... ...followed immediately by its aftermath... ...as the as-yet-unidentified parties involved make their hasty retreat. The PCA at the time still forbade overt references to homosexuality, so John Paxton's screenplay transposes the victim in Richard Brooks's 1945 Novel, The Brick Foxhole, to that of an antisemitic attack. Present-day lamentations about Production Code exclusions of certain facts of life are valid, but the alteration works in the story's favor, rendering repellence toward the senselessness of the crime more widely accessible to audiences then and, to an extent, now. That story unfolds with great intelligence and restraint, with its tense but low key execution punctuated by more intense sequences only as it gathers steam toward its climactic moments, and is presented along with a series of intriguing flashback vignettes: some poignant; some Rashoman-like in their conflicting narratives. Three sequences centered around saloon drink-hustler Gloria Graham, and Paul Kelly in a piquant role as a visitor to her apartment who may or may not be her husband, provide moody texture and allure at points when a viewer is least sure of the truth of what's being seen or heard. A word about The Three Bobs, Mitchum, Ryan and Young: It's positively frightening how well Robert Ryan played the kind of volatile, human-powder-keg characters he so convincingly presents here. Long before a viewer can be sure of what his involvement in the crime may or may not be, he embodies the story's element of danger. Robert Mitchum, at his Mitchum-est, is cool, collected, cagey and ultimately earnestly compassionate, providing the film with its heart and conscience. But it's Robert Young as Finley who furnishes both the story's foundation and the film's most subtly-layered performance: weary but determined; discouraged but unrelenting; cordial but guarded. Finley plays his cards close to the vest, revealing little to those with whom he must deal but much to the viewer, while saying only what needs to be said in order to elicit the answers he's after. Late in the film, Young is called upon to deliver a monologue about prejudice that hammers the message home, and which could easily have been heavy handed but for his skillfully controlled performance, and the total package from start to finish represents beautifully nuanced work from an actor who appeared comfortable in any role or genre, and one I believe remains underappreciated. And yes, he sometimes does remove the pipe from his mouth. Ryan, Mitchum, Graham and Kelly, along with Steve Brodie, George Cooper, William Phipps and Sam Levene have the more colorful roles, but for my money, it's the steadfast, steely and quietly strong Young who dominates without bombast and indispensably anchors the entire enterprise.
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Post by kijii on Dec 8, 2018 5:42:52 GMT
Perfectly stated, Doghouse--- Whenever I see Robert Ryan on the screen, I can feel that his anger is under the surface, about ready to explode. In fact, when you see him in another type of role, such as About Mrs. Leslie , I am surprised.
Who could have guessed how Act of Violence (1949) would end? It really didn't matter in the end since throughout the movie HE is the person who holds us captive waiting to see how it all would end.
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