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Post by teleadm on Feb 19, 2019 19:10:14 GMT
Bagdad Cafe 1987, directed by Percy Adlon, starring Marianne Sägebrecht, CCH Pounder, Jack Palance, Christine Kaufmann, Monica Calhoun, Darron Flagg, George Aguilar and others. West-German indie drama comedy. "A lonely German woman ends up in the most desolate motel on Earth and decides to make it brighter". Well the German woman (Sägebrecht) was actually dumped by her husband in the American nowhere, and while walking happens upon a motel and cafe that is runned na d owned by the same person, and extremely stressed and angry woman (Pounder). Where everything is pretty much runned down after bad maintenance, the coffe machine is broken, the motel's only inhabitant (Kaufmann) has some kind of tattoo parlour, and an elder weatherbitten artist (Palance) lives in a caravan nearby. Somehow this odd bunch with a little help from a few more manages to clean up the cafe and make it a very popular truckstop with magic. This movie is an oddity too, as it is an indie, that while being artistic also succeeds in being human, touching, funny and entertaining, though not for everyones taste, but I like it. It's a sort of a one of a kind movie. They say the cafe is not far away from Las Vegas, but it was filmed near Newberry Springs, CA, on National Trails Highway. The movie was nominated for the Best Music, Original Song Oscar, for the song "Calling You" by Bob Telson. In 1990 it was made into a sit-com series that only lasted 15 episodes, starring Whoopi Goldberg, who onced had been offered the the CCH Pounder part in the original movie. ![](https://d1jo0zet24jmxt.cloudfront.net/content/8483/21XgZQt5bb1r950RH7E1s7m9b7Y.jpg) ![](http://siff.bg/media/app_large/uploads/movies/b/Bagdad-Cafe/Bagdad-Cafe-Out-of-Rosenheim-2.jpg) ![](http://rarefilm.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Out-of-Rosenheim-1987-3.jpg) ![](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qyrtsrA17AY/U0zBkfq4eSI/AAAAAAANj3U/Bo1XrYR_SqU/s1600/Out_of_Rosenheim-1987-Bagdad_Cafe-MSS-065.jpg)
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Post by Lebowskidoo 🦞 on Feb 19, 2019 19:54:19 GMT
Green Book (2018) Two great actors totally inhabiting two great characters to the point where you forget they're acting. ![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/5b/Green_Book_%282018_poster%29.png/220px-Green_Book_%282018_poster%29.png)
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Post by BATouttaheck on Feb 20, 2019 15:36:36 GMT
![](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMjA2NDI0MDMwM15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNjgyMjA0Mg@@._V1_.jpg) It is described as a "Rom-Com_ and a "Chick-Flick" so what more need be said ? It's not as bad as some and it's better than others. The lead guy has a smile like Tom Cruise and the other guy has a speaking voice like Gene Kelly. Oh .. and The DVD came in a Barbie Pink Case.
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Post by kijii on Feb 20, 2019 18:50:27 GMT
Seen on TCM during the 31 Days of Oscar
This movie, based on a play and screen play by John Pielmeier, garnered three Oscar nominations: Best Actress in a Leading Role (Anne Bancroft), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Meg Tilly), and Best Music, Original Score (Georges Delerue). The movie "opens up" the stage play with some wonderful photography by Sven Nykvist. Much of the photography was done in or near Montréal, Québec, where the story takes place.
This mystery in a monastery seems to leave one with more questions than answers. But, the answer to the mystery is there all the time, and it becomes evermore clear as the drama unfolds. What DID throw me was the Sister Agnes's stigmata--a thing I never knew existed (or was even believed to have existed).
However, the movie presents even more mysteries--or points of discussion--among (and between) the three principal woman of the story: Sister Agnes (Meg Tilly), Mother Miriam Ruth (Anne Bancroft), and Doctor Martha Livingston (Jane Fonda). This is a story about a simple and truly cloistered young nun, Agnes, who gave birth to a baby that was found dead in a wastepaper basket in her room (or cell). Her life history is such that she knew nothing of the outside world from birth and absolutely nothing about "the facts of life." How, then, could she have become pregnant, hid her pregnancy from her sister nuns at the monastery, and been a possible suspect in killing the baby immediately after it was born? How?
The movie only gives us information and points towards possibilities for the solution to the problem. It leaves it up to us to decide. But then, isn't all religion filled with some mystery about which we have to decide? In any case, the movie is filled with three wonderful performances by the three women at its center. Mother Miriam Ruth (Anne Bancroft): [about Sister Agnes] I am saying that you have a beautifully simple woman here. Doctor Martha Livingston (Jane Fonda): An unhappy woman. Mother Miriam Ruth: She's happy with us, and she could go on being happy if she were left alone. Doctor Martha Livingston: Then why did you call the police in the first place, Mother, huh? Why didn't you just throw the baby into the incinerator and be done with it? Mother Miriam Ruth : Because I am a moral person. Doctor Martha Livingston : Bullshit. Mother Miriam Ruth : Bullshit yourself. Doctor Martha Livingston : The Catholic Church doesn't have a corner on morality. Mother Miriam Ruth : Who said anything about the Catholic Church? Doctor Martha Livingston : You just did. Mother Miriam Ruth : What the hell does the Catholic Church got to do with you? Doctor Martha Livingston : Nothing. And, Meg Tilly (as Agnes of God) gives a wonderful performance in what may be the role of her lifetime: Doctor Martha Livingston (Jane Fonda): Agnes, how do you feel about babies? Sister Agnes (Meg Tilly): Oh, they frighten me; I'm afraid I'll drop them. They have a soft spot on their heads, and if you drop them so they land on their heads, they become stupid. I was dropped on MY head; that's why I don't understand things. Doctor Martha Livingston : Like what? Sister Agnes : Numbers! You can spend your whole life counting 'em and never reach the end. Doctor Martha Livingston : I don't understand them, either... Do you 'spose I was dropped on my head? Sister Agnes : [concerned] I hope not... it's a terrible thing to be dropped on your head.
Sister Agnes : I don't understand what you're talking about. You want to talk about the baby, everybody wants to talk about the baby. But, I never saw the baby. So I can't talk about the baby, because I don't believe in the baby.
Plot synopsis from Wikipedia with possible SPOILERS: In a Roman Catholic convent near Montreal, Quebec, Canada, during evening prayers, the nuns hear screams coming from the room of Sister Agnes, a young novice. Agnes is found in her room bleeding profusely, and in a wastepaper basket there is a dead baby with its umbilical cord wrapped around its neck.
Sister Agnes is suspected of killing the baby, so psychiatrist Martha Livingston is assigned by a court to determine if she is competent to stand trial. In an interview, Agnes claims she doesn't remember being pregnant or giving birth, and shows a lack of understanding of how babies are conceived. Mother Miriam tells Livingston that Agnes is an "innocent" who was kept at home by her mother and knows nothing about the world. She is desperate to keep Agnes naive, and declares that she couldn't have known what pregnancy was or remember the father.
Mother Miriam tells Livingston about the time Agnes stopped eating in the belief she was getting fat, and then exhibited stigmata in her hand that healed itself within a day. Agnes tells Livingston of her friendship with Sister Marie-Paul, the oldest nun, who showed her a "secret place" – a bell tower, which she then shows Livingston. They argue about Agnes' mother and birth, and how much Agnes knows about sex and pregnancy.
Mother Miriam tells Livingston that Agnes must have conceived on January 23, because that is the night Agnes burned her bedsheets confessing they were "stained". While looking around the convent grounds, Livingston comes across a barn. She and a young monsignor argue about whether her lack of faith will leave her unable to treat Agnes with dignity. Livingston learns that Agnes' mother was verbally and sexually abusive, telling her she was a "mistake"; and that Agnes is Mother Miriam's niece.
Livingston receives permission from the court to hypnotize Agnes, but Mother Miriam is strongly against it, believing it will strip her of her innocence. While hypnotized, Agnes admits she gave birth and that another woman in the convent knew she was pregnant, but will not reveal who. Livingston discovers that a workroom in the convent has a concealed staircase to an underground tunnel leading to the barn. (A historian explains that many old convents have "secret" tunnels, to let the nuns move between buildings during the winter.) Mother Miriam tries to have Livingston removed from the case, but she appeals to the court authorities and is retained.
Livingston obtains a second court order to put Agnes under hypnosis again. Mother Miriam admits that she knew Agnes was pregnant and put the wastebasket in her room, but denies she killed the baby. Under hypnosis, Agnes reveals that on the night Sister Marie-Paul died, she told Agnes she'd seen "Him" from the bell tower and directed Agnes to meet "Him" in the barn. Under questioning, she appears to describe an encounter with a real presence – human or divine. Suddenly, Agnes exhibits stigmata in her hands, and begins bleeding profusely. Agnes declares that God raped her, and that she hates God for it. She admits that Mother Miriam was present when the baby was born, but then left briefly; whereupon Agnes killed the child believing that, like herself, the baby was a "mistake".
Agnes is found not guilty by reason of insanity and returned to the convent where a doctor can visit periodically. She tells the judge that she heard "Him" singing beneath her bedroom window for six nights in a row, and then on the seventh night he lay on top of her.
Doctor Martha Livingston : [Last Lines] I don't know the meaning behind the song she sang. Perhaps it was a song of seduction, and the father was a field hand. Perhaps the song was simply a lullaby she remembered from many years ago, and the father was hope, and love, and desire and a belief in miracles. I want to believe that she was blessed. And I do miss her. And I hope she's left something; some little part of herself with me. That would be miracle enough, wouldn't it?
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Post by Feologild Oakes on Feb 20, 2019 18:54:15 GMT
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Post by teleadm on Feb 20, 2019 19:33:22 GMT
None But the Brave 1965, directed by Frank Sinatra, starring Frank Sinatra, Takeshi Katô, Clint Walker, Homare Suguro, Brad Dexter, Kenji Sahara, Tommy Sands, Masahiko Tanimura, Tony Bill, Tôru Ibuki and others. American-Japanese co-production, war movie, "During WW2, a platoon of Marines crash-lands on a tiny Pacific island occupied by a small Japanese unit". This is an odd movie, not only the fact that for some reason Frank Sinatra decided to direct this one, only time in his career, but more because of it's message that in war there are no winners. Since this movie was made during the raging Vietnam war a few years before all the protests had begun, so it's not a war propaganda movie, it's more a plead not to make war, and try to learn how to live and excist and understand each others and we can all be friends. Cut off from the rest of the world the Americans and Japanese learns that when in need they can co-operate with each others, and killing each others is waste of human lives, but when the "civilized world" returns, temporary friends becomes enemies again. This movie's closing end coda states: "Nobody Ever Wins." It's far from a great movie, but it's an interesting one. Sinatra himself takes a backseat and plays a supporting role, a role that sort of is the only one with any common sense, at least in the beginning, as he plays a medic he can act a little free outside the military ranks. Sinatra also produced this movie. Said to have been the first American-Japanese co-production after WWII, between Toho and Sinatra Enterprises. Filmed at locations on Kaua'i, Hawaii. ![](http://uawlocal145.com/pic/yt/20161004/39861/screenshot5.png) ![](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/2f/74/75/2f747505567ed0bfa3437622cd84004c.jpg) ![](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNTE5Yzg1OTAtZmM0OC00NDE1LWJmZTAtYTgzYjcyZWVhNDIyXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTA2MDQ4Mg@@._V1_.jpg) ![](http://rarefilm.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/None-But-the-Brave-1965-3.jpg)
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Post by Prime etc. on Feb 20, 2019 20:09:18 GMT
BILLION DOLLAR BRAIN 1967 I keep forgetting Ken Russell directed it. The Harry Palmer films I have seen (the first 3) are less jokey than James Bond which I like about them. It's fascinating to see how the Cold War was depicted in such things especially given current news. Midwinter comes across as a nut (nice subtle logo he has)-and yet he speaks about Hungarian uprisings going unaided, communist brainwashing in Europe, etc. Oscar Homolka appears as the pragmatic but sincere party soldier, and there is more organized sympathy directed at his side than the other despite the murderous goings-on. Yet when Palmer joins the Latvian resistance and they are massacred, the Russian soldiers advancing in the forest take on an impersonal superhuman appearance. And one of the rebels is shown kissing goodbye to her children before leaving-and later she is among the dead in the bathtub where Palmer awakens. What was that about? Was it a Russell idea? Felt a little subversive. There are some great visual moments in this-such as when Midwinter's army is advancing and the orange signal lights take on the appearance of lasers. Wikipedia says it was "a commercial flop."
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Post by kijii on Feb 21, 2019 7:30:22 GMT
Roma (2018) / Alfonso Cuarón Just viewed from Netflix
This movie has been nominated for 10 Oscars this year: Best Picture, Foreign Language Film, Best Director (Alfonso Cuarón), Best Cinematography (Alfonso Cuarón), Best Actress (Yalitza Aparicio), Best Supporting Actress (Marina de Tavira), Best Original Screenplay (Alfonso Cuarón), Best Production Design, Best Sound Editing, and Best Sound Mixing. Anyone who subscribes to Netflix can stream it. I only found out about it being on Netflix yesterday.
Sra. Sofía (Marina de Tavira): We are alone. No matter what they tell you, we women are always alone.
![](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTU3OTE4MDE1Ml5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNTUyNTQ3NjM@._V1_SY1000_CR0,0,1708,1000_AL_.jpg)
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Post by teleadm on Feb 21, 2019 18:48:55 GMT
Strangers on a Train 1951, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, based on a novel by Patricia Highsmith, screenplay by among others Raymond Chandler, starring Farley Granger, Ruth Roman, Robert Walker, Leo G. Carroll, Patricia Hitchcock, Kasey Rogers, Marion Lorne, Jonathan Hale, Howard St. John and others. Crime-Thriller that I don't think needs any closer introduction. I watched the so called British version that has a few extended scenes, especially the fatal first meeting scenes when the two men who switches murders first meets, at least one of them takes it serious, the other thought it was just a little mind game. Those first scenes that by some are called homoerotic, normally if somebody who comes up that close to talk and ask rather intimate questions would have been asked to leave, but the tennis player stays on and later follows the other into is compartment to have lunch, so maybe there is some kind of homoerotic feelings underlaying the reasons the tennis player agrees to eat lunch with the other. Since the Walker character knows so much about the Granger character when they first meet, maybe this wasn't just a chance meeting. I had forgotten that the tennis players wife was such a flimsy character, refusing to divorce him now when he is beginning to make money on tennis, and then she just walks out with male friends another day to some small amusement establishment and into her fatal end, one doesn't pity her so much actually. The merry-go-round scenes at the end, without giving anything away, why on earth can the lever be but into super speed? and what was that policeman thinking shooting straight into it when there where kids riding on it? Those wasn't complaints just a few things I noticed. Ruth Roman has a rather thankless role, of looking worried and lovely. 9/10 The movie was Oscar nominated for it's beautiful Black and White cinematography. Funny liittle trivia, Kasey Rogers who played Walker's murder victim, and Marion Lorne who played Walker's mother, would later both be semi-regulars on the sit-com Bewtched in the 1960s. ![](https://cdn1.thr.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/landscape_928x523/2017/06/strangers_on_a_train_-_h_-_1951.png) ![](https://images.ctfassets.net/22n7d68fswlw/3oFmVymq3m8QIoKEQYcMMA/b0e915055e6ffe1d2c5235f0f8319e8b/CTQ_Strangers_on_a_Train_0000_00333371.jpg) ![](https://mjedmo.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/strangers-glasses.jpg)
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Post by kijii on Feb 22, 2019 7:16:27 GMT
At Eternity's Gate (2018) / Julian Schnabel Rented from Amazon Prime
Willem Dafoe has received his fourth Oscar nomination for this movie, but this is his first nomination as a Best Actor in a Leading Role. I just watched this wonderful biopic of Vincent van Gogh.
While we learned a lot about van Gogh from Kirk Douglas's performance in Lust for Life (1956) / Vincente Minnelli [based on Irving Stone's great novel], this movie takes us even further into van Gogh's personal life and paintings. As I watched this movie, I could see how Kirk Douglas and Willem Dafoe seemed alike in their appearances and performances--both were great. Yet, this movie takes us even deeper into his life by showing his interaction with several of the common people whose portraits he painted, why and how he may have approached them, and interacted with them while painting. Many of his landscapes were also covered here too. This is a movie I watched twice today and completely enjoyed it the second time as much as the first.
While not quite as emotional as the Kirk Douglas performance, Dafoe depiction showed us the ridicule and pain van Gogh received from the villagers, as well as his very close relationship with his brother, Theo (Rupert Friend). I would love it if Dafoe--probably a dark horse in the category--would surprise us all and win the golden statuette for this performance. This movie is just different, in a very good way.
Vincent Van Gogh : I paint, as a matter of fact, to stop thinking. I stop thinking, and I feel that I'm a part of everything outside and inside of me.
Vincent Van Gogh : I've spent all my life alone, in a room. I need to go out and work to forget myself. I want to be out of control. I need to be in a feverish state. It's called the act of painting for a reason.
Vincent Van Gogh : There's a lot of destruction and failure at the door of a successful picture. I find joy in sorrow. And sorrow is greater than laughter. You know, an angel is not far from those who are sad, and illness can sometimes heal us.
Vincent Van Gogh : Paintings have to be done in one clear gesture. Paul Gauguin (Oscar Isaac) : Think about the surface that you're painting on and how the paint will sit on it. You're changing things so fast, you can't even see what you've done. Vincent Van Gogh : Paintings have to be painted fast. The painters I like all paint fast in one clear gesture, each stroke. You've heard of a stroke of genius? Well, that's what it means. Paul Gauguin : You don't even paint that way. You paint fast and you overpaint. Your surface looks like it's made out of clay. It's more like sculpture than painting.
![](https://sanatkaravani.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/at-eternitys-gate.jpg) Plot synopsis from Wikipedia with SPOILERS Vincent Van Gogh is on foot on a country road while on his way to Paris in 1888. He comes across a young woman herding her sheep after allowing them to graze. He is captivated by her and asks to briefly sketch her. She is surprised and asks why he should bother to draw her. Later, he continues on to Paris where he meets Paul Gauguin and they share thoughts about aesthetics and the artistic life in the Paris art community. After visiting his brother Theo in Paris, Vincent continues on foot to the South of France in Arles.
Vincent seems to nearly always be in a state of artistic and emotional exhaustion. He is on occasion stopped in his steps by his aesthetic responses to the country landscapes around Arles which often results in his deploying his canvas and palette to render such landscapes either in oil or in a large artist's sketch pad. As he arrives in Arles itself he finds a vacant room in a local yellow house for himself. Vincent begins to artistically contemplate the fleeting nature of many forms of still life. He thinks about paintings dealing with seasonal flowers, and thinks of making a defense of the artistic process which renders a permanent and eternal quality to the representation of flowers on the canvas which do not wilt and wither with time.
For a while, Vincent's preferred medium becomes an empty large sketchbook about 11" by 14" in size given to him by a local woman and which he begins to fill with renderings of local landscapes done mostly in pen and ink. Vincent continues to ponder various philosophical and existential questions such as his desire "not to see a landscape but only the eternity behind it", and that "there cannot be such a thing as nature without there also being a meaning to nature." Vincent wishes to devote increasing amounts of time to rendering the landscapes which surround him in Arles. In his personal life while in Arles, Vincent creates ill feelings with students he encounters on a school field project where he happens to be painting and the students begin to mock him and the canvas he is working on at that time. He causes bad impressions upon the school teachers with their students who report his eccentric behavior to angry parents and angry town officials. His brother Theo is called to Arles from Paris, and somehow Theo quickly manages to get Gauguin to agree to visit his brother in Arles. Gauguin soon arrives in Arles.
Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin (Man in a Red Beret), 1888, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
Vincent is at first exhilarated by the presence of his friend Gauguin though things quickly sour. When Gauguin quickly thereafter announces that he is to soon depart, the news is emotionally crushing to Vincent. He then cuts off a piece of his ear to show Gauguin his artistic allegiance to Gauguin, but Gauguin is already gone and departed from Arles. Vincent obscurely then turns to give the piece of his cut ear to a local prostitute who is horrified by receiving the bloody artifact and reports Vincent to the authorities. Vincent is then sent to mental hospital in nearby Saint-Rémy-de-Provence for recovery. After some time in recovery, he is released by a sympathetic supervising pastor at the mental hospital and goes to Auvers-sur-Oise (near Paris) since the town authorities in Arles will deny him permission to return to Arles.
In the last months of his life, Vincent returns to his habit of drawing and painting local scenes and landscapes, now in Auvers. While painting one day in the courtyard of a deserted estate, two teenagers with their hunting gear including a working hunting rifle and pistol see Vincent and begin playing at cowboys-and-Indians to distract Vincent. During the horsing around disrupting Vincent's painting a spurious shot goes off. Vincent is hit by the bullet and the boys beg him not to tell anyone about their mischief. The boys then throw their rifle and pistol into a local river while Vincent goes the other way back to his room in Auvers. When he returns with his injury, medical help is called for and the local police make a report. Vincent tells them nothing about the boys and states the wound is self-inflicted. His brother Theo is called for from Paris but does not arrive in time. Upon arrival in Auvers, Theo finds his brother to have already died from the bullet wound he received less than thirty hours ago while he was painting his last landscape in the suburbs of Auvers. At the age of thirty-eight Vincent had finally passed through eternity's gate.
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Post by kijii on Feb 22, 2019 16:02:54 GMT
Strangers on a Train 1951, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, based on a novel by Patricia Highsmith, screenplay by among others Raymond Chandler, starring Farley Granger, Ruth Roman, Robert Walker, Leo G. Carroll, Patricia Hitchcock, Kasey Rogers, Marion Lorne, Jonathan Hale, Howard St. John and others. Crime-Thriller that I don't think needs any closer introduction. I watched the so called British version that has a few extended scenes, especially the fatal first meeting scenes when the two men who switches murders first meets, at least one of them takes it serious, the other thought it was just a little mind game. Those first scenes that by some are called homoerotic, normally if somebody who comes up that close to talk and ask rather intimate questions would have been asked to leave, but the tennis player stays on and later follows the other into is compartment to have lunch, so maybe there is some kind of homoerotic feelings underlaying the reasons the tennis player agrees to eat lunch with the other. Since the Walker character knows so much about the Granger character when they first meet, maybe this wasn't just a chance meeting. I had forgotten that the tennis players wife was such a flimsy character, refusing to divorce him now when he is beginning to make money on tennis, and then she just walks out with male friends another day to some small amusement establishment and into her fatal end, one doesn't pity her so much actually. The merry-go-round scenes at the end, without giving anything away, why on earth can the lever be but into super speed? and what was that policeman thinking shooting straight into it when there where kids riding on it? Those wasn't complaints just a few things I noticed. Ruth Roman has a rather thankless role, of looking worried and lovely. 9/10 The movie was Oscar nominated for it's beautiful Black and White cinematography. Funny liittle trivia, Kasey Rogers who played Walker's murder victim, and Marion Lorne who played Walker's mother, would later both be semi-regulars on the sit-com Bewtched in the 1960s. ![](https://cdn1.thr.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/landscape_928x523/2017/06/strangers_on_a_train_-_h_-_1951.png) ![](https://images.ctfassets.net/22n7d68fswlw/3oFmVymq3m8QIoKEQYcMMA/b0e915055e6ffe1d2c5235f0f8319e8b/CTQ_Strangers_on_a_Train_0000_00333371.jpg) ![](https://mjedmo.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/strangers-glasses.jpg) teleadm-- Isn't it interesting that most of Hitchcock's best movies occur on trains or have trains somewhere in the story development?
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Post by Doghouse6 on Feb 22, 2019 16:14:21 GMT
teleadm-- Isn't it interesting that most of Hitchcock's best movies occur on trains or have trains somewhere in the story development? Hitchcock was quite a devotee of trains and train travel. He always kept up to date timetables of lines and routes all over the world, and a favorite hobby was the elaborate planning of imaginary train journeys he knew he'd never take. In a way, it mirrored his approach to film making: the real interest was in the preparation process, and he considered shooting just a chore, because all the creative fun was had in the planning.
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Post by kijii on Feb 24, 2019 7:28:51 GMT
12 Years a Slave (2013) / Steve McQueen Rented from Amazon Prime
This movie received Oscar nominations in Nine Categories including, Best Picture, Best Actor (Chiwetel Ejiofor), Best Supporting Actor (Michael Fassbender), Best Supporting Actress (Lupita Nyong'o), and Best Director (Steve McQueen), Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (John Ridley) [The three categories in bold were Oscar winners]. The story presented in the movie is based on an autobiography by Solomon Northup. Here is his Mini Bio from IMDb: For most of us in America, the incidents portrayed in this story is not new. We have experienced it through many movies and TV mini-series about slavery in America, such as Roots, based on Alex Haley's novel. What IS fairly new about this movie is that the principle performers, characters, and creative people who made the movie were black. That is, the white characters in this movie were in supporting roles while the black characters were the principle roles.
What I found most affecting in this movie is the way Steve McQueen held several screen shots for much longer time periods than usual to allow the audience to experience a character's reaction more fully. Here is one example of where a long screen shot was used to great affect:
Ford (Benedict Cumberbatch): I believe Tibeats is skulkin' about the premises somewhere. He wants you dead, and he will attempt to have you so. It's no longer safe for you here. And I don't believe you will remain passive if Tibeats attacks. I have transferred my debt to Edwin Epps. He will take charge of you. Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor): Master Ford, you must know; I am not a slave. Ford : I cannot hear that. Solomon Northup : Before I came to you I was a free man. Ford : I am trying to save your life! And... I have a debt to be mindful of. That, now, is to Edwin Epps. He is a hard man. Prides himself on being a "n****r breaker." But truthfully I could find no others who would have you. You've made a reputation of yourself. Whatever your circumstances, you are an exceptional n****r, Platt. I fear no good will come of it.
![](http://movieripped.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/12-Years-a-Slave-2013-Download-Movie-Free.jpg)
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Post by Prime etc. on Feb 24, 2019 8:26:57 GMT
CRIMINAL COURT 1946 directed by Robert Wise-- A flamboyant defense attorney (Tom Conway) running for higher office gets into a jam after a local crime boss (Robert Armstrong--say it ain't so Denham!) is accidentally killed. His girlfriend (I thought she was his daughter or niece at first) gets blamed for it--and he has to get a witness before its too late. A feel good ending kind of film--I've seen a few RKO films of this period and they have a similar kind of whimsical conclusion--I'm not complaining!
NEWMAN'S LAW 1974 -- Surprisingly underplayed George Peppard performance, usually (in the 70s especially) I see him as either the confident kind of character or somewhat bored, but while the film is a typical 70s police corruption story--his performance is so memorable--poignant moments like talking to his comatose father in a nursing home or deciding whether to blow the head off a drug lord with a sniper rifle. As expected for the era, it has something of a downbeat ending, yet provides more successful closure for the character than in either Dirty Harry or Serpico which were obvious inspirations.
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Post by Lebowskidoo 🦞 on Feb 24, 2019 18:42:28 GMT
Being Oscar Sunday, I viewed A Star Is Born (1937) and A Star Is Born (1954) back-to-back. Going to watch the 1976 version later, I needed a break. ![](https://loverofthesilverscreen.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/poster-a-star-is-born-1937_02.jpg) ![](http://i.pinimg.com/736x/51/17/98/5117980095d9874dc994b372e232a015.jpg)
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Post by kijii on Feb 24, 2019 23:56:00 GMT
Khartoum (1966) / Basil Dearden Seen on TCM during 31 Days of Oscar
This is my second complete viewing of this great epic movie. It is long, but interesting at every turn. At first, Laurence Olivier (as The Mahdi) looks ridiculous in blackface--just as he did in Othello--but one soon gets interested in the story and overlooks the blackface.
This is the story of Gen. Charles 'Chinese' Gordon's (Charlton Heston) attempt to rescue Egyptians and Brits trapped in Khartoum and return them to Cairo. 'Chinese' Gordon is given a mission to do this by an agent of the British Prime Minster, William Gladstone (Ralph Richardson). However, due to politics in London, Gladstone refuses to support Gordon and Gordon refuses to leave the Sudan, believing that British forces will come to back him up...this plays out like a high-steaks game of "chicken" as Gordon remains in the city, while Gladstone expects him to leave.
(Sadly, I don't think they make on-location epics like this anymore.)
Gen. Charles 'Chinese' Gordon (Charlton Heston): Colonel, what are the chances of my sacking you as my aide? Col. J.D.H. Stewart (Richard Johnson): If any exist General, please be assured that I'd be the first to point them out to you.
Col. J.D.H. Stewart : Why did you let them talk you into this mission? Gen. Charles 'Chinese' Gordon : As is well know, I, ah..regard myself as a religious man, yet I belong to no church. I'm an able soldier yet I abhor armies. I can even add that I've been introduced to hundreds of women but never married. in other words no one's ever talked me into anything.
Gen. Charles 'Chinese' Gordon [to the The Mahdi]: If you, as a servant of your god, must use one hundred thousand warriors to destroy me, a solitary servant of my God, then you whisper to me Muhammed Ahmed: who will be remembered from Khartoum, your god or Mine?
Full TCM synopsis with SPOILERS: In 1883, 10,000 untrained British troops in Sudan are lured into the desert and slaughtered by Arab tribesmen under the leadership of the Mahdi, a religious fanatic who believes he is the "expected one of Mohammed." As a result of the massacre, Britain's Prime Minister William Gladstone reluctantly sends one of England's great military men, Gen. Charles Gordon, to Khartoum with orders to evacuate troops and civilians. Gordon, a brandy and Bible loving soldier nicknamed "Chinese" because of the 6 years he spent in the East eliminating the centuries-old slave traffic, is told that his mission must remain unofficial and that he has no authority to act in the name of the Queen. Although Gordon is hailed in Khartoum as a savior, he and his only aide, Col. J. D. H. Stewart, are unable to negotiate with the Mahdi. Instead they are told that the streets will run with blood and every man, woman, and child will die. In England, Gladstone, informed of the increasing hopelessness of the situation, orders Gordon home; but, as fanatical in his own right as the Mahdi, Gordon refuses. Following the murder of Stewart, a final confrontation takes place between the two men, and both assert that they welcome death if dying brings about the destruction of their enemy. Soon, Gordon's small army faces the onslaught of 100,000 Arabs. Khartoum falls, and Gordon is slain by a dervish's spear. His head is mounted on a pole and brought before the Mahdi. Outraged, the Mahdi screams that he forbade such an action. Some months later, the British, under the command of Major Kitchener, retake the besieged city and Gordon is honored as a national hero.
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Post by Lebowskidoo 🦞 on Feb 25, 2019 19:32:49 GMT
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (1995) What did I just watch, and why? ![](https://s26.postimg.cc/5hoy7902h/confused.gif) ![](http://www.morphinlegacy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Mighty-Morphin-Power-Rangers-The-Movie-Poster.jpg)
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Post by Lebowskidoo 🦞 on Feb 26, 2019 18:27:30 GMT
Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie (1997) Oops, I did it again! Better than the first, actually. ![](http://i.pinimg.com/736x/63/6c/77/636c77a58fee37154b7e1c4609f84865.jpg)
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Post by teleadm on Feb 26, 2019 18:47:43 GMT
The Night of the Iguana 1964, directed by John Huston, based on a play by Tennessee Williams, starring Richard Burton, Ava Gardner, Deborah Kerr, Sue Lyon, Skip Ward, Grayson Hall, Cyril Delevanti, Mary Boylan and others. American drama "A defrocked Episcopal clergyman (Burton) leads a bus-load of middle-aged Baptist women on a tour of the Mexican coast and comes to terms with the failure haunting his life". Great acting in beautiful black and white cinematography, at Puerto Vallarta (before it became a well-known tourist destination) in Mexico. There is much anger, frustrations, yelling and screaming before the movies conclusion. Is it really worth it, well to my surprice movie audiences thought so, because it did very well back then, and played in four times it's costs. Making movies from unfilmable sources was one of John Huston's specialities, it's thanks to his expertise that this movle works and has a flow and never stands still for too long even if some dialogs are long. Burton has the kind of voice that can make a telefon dictionary interesting. Garner is a surprice as a hotel owner, still beautiful but aging gracefully, and very lively in this role. Kerr is a woman who travels with her grandather, the oldest practioning poet in the world (Delevanti), fragile at first but has much more inner strength than anyone thought she was capable to have. Lyon once again plays a nymph, a very seducing lovethirsty nymph. Hall plays the "leader" of the Babtist women in a way too hysterical and manic way for my taste. Well worth the watch, if one is in the right mood and are used to Tennesse Williams type of dramas. This movie won an Oscar for it's Black and White Clothes Design by Dorothy Jeakins. It was also Oscar nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Grayson Hall), Best Cinematography, Black-and-White (Gabriel Figueroa) and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White. ![](https://www.unsungfilms.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/night-iguana_04.jpg) ![](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BYTIzY2NmZGYtZDdhMi00N2MyLTkxNzEtMzg4M2NmYmNjZWU3XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNzU1NzE3NTg@._V1_CR0,45,480,270_AL_UX477_CR0,0,477,268_AL_.jpg) ![](https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3260/2912075812_b34f33210e.jpg) ![](http://www.secca.org/cms/img/Night_of_the_Iguana_Featured_Image-1.jpg)
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Post by BATouttaheck on Feb 27, 2019 0:27:01 GMT
Just finished City Heat (1984) A slick private eye and tough police lieutenant--once partners, now bitter enemies--reluctantly team up to investigate a murder. Not their best. Not their worst. Lots and lots of gunplay with bright white gun flashes, some blown up cars and a few laughs (very few). Madeline Kahn and Jane Alexander ![:D](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/grin.png) Two characters in it went to hide out in a theater where The Marx Brothers' Horse Feathers was playing.
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