What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[Benzadmiral]

Two films this weekend:

The Incredible Shrinking Man, screenplay by Richard Matheson from his novel, with Grant Williams (who looked sorta like the young Richard Chamberlain). I had not seen this since I was 9 or 10, and had forgotten just how good it is. The effects are marvelous for their time. And there are no less than 3 scenes that are nail-biters: when their housecat is hunting the dollhouse-sized Williams, when he is trying to cross a gap between two pieces of furniture in the cellar, and when he's fighting the tarantula. But then Matheson was Old Reliable when it came to on-screen tension: "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" on Twilight Zone, the segment "Prey" in the '70s Trilogy of Terror with Karen Black, Duel, and plenty more.

The second was The Revenant, which I enjoyed except for the modern blue-grey lighting on everything except the blood. Haven't these people ever heard of Technicolor? But it is vivid and immediate, and features a better, more dramatic ending than the novel. If you dislike Leonardo di Caprio, never fear: he has very few lines of dialogue in the 2.5 hour film. He handles nearly everything by facial expression and body language, and does it quite well.

 

[AmateisGal]

I tried to watch The Lady from Shanghai last night with Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth, but couldn't stick with it. Also: Orson Welles creeps me out, no matter what movie he's in.

 

[Fading Fast]

I tried to watch The Lady from Shanghai last night with Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth, but couldn't stick with it. Also: Orson Welles creeps me out, no matter what movie he's in.

I saw it once years ago and thought it was a grasping attempt to remake "Gilda" when Rita Hayworth was no longer the right age for the role.

I understand your Welles comment, and for years did not enjoy his acting, but time and seeing him in movies like "The Third Man" and "The Stranger" kinda brought me around. He is definitely an acquired taste at best.

 

[AmateisGal]

I saw it once years ago and thought it was a grasping attempt to remake "Gilda" when Rita Hayworth was no longer the right age for the role.

I understand your Welles comment, and for years did not enjoy his acting, but time and seeing him in movies like "The Third Man" and "The Stranger" kinda brought me around. He is definitely an acquired taste at best.

The Stranger is the one with Loretta Young, correct? I did watch that one - and still thought he was creepy. And he's creepy in Jane Eyre, too, though not as much. I think what threw me off on the Shanghai one was his horrible Irish accent. It sounded fake.

 

[Fading Fast]

The Stranger is the one with Loretta Young, correct? I did watch that one - and still thought he was creepy. And he's creepy in Jane Eyre, too, though not as much. I think what threw me off on the Shanghai one was his horrible Irish accent. It sounded fake.

You are correct - that is the one with Loretta Young. In fairness, his character was a Nazi trying to "hide" in post-war Connecticut - creepy is what you'd expect. But no argument on Jane Eyre - he had that not-quite-attached-to-humaity vibe that maybe was his attempt to reflect the moral confusion / angst he was feeling toward his wife and Jane - but it didn't come off as romantic (the right vibe for his character) but a bit creepy.

For uber-creepy, check him out in "The Third Man," another role, in fairness, where creepy is his character's intended trait. Also, his entrance in that movie is the best entrance by a man in a movie ever: tension building as we wait for his character to appear, B&W desolate post-WWII European street with 18th and early 19th Century buildings and cobblestones, a brick arch, a on-and-off single bulb that flashes on for a second to reveal a cynically smiling Welles that then goes to black again - I get chills just thinking about it.

 

[1mach1]

The Revenant

 

[AmateisGal]

You are correct - that is the one with Loretta Young. In fairness, his character was a Nazi trying to "hide" in post-war Connecticut - creepy is what you'd expect. But no argument on Jane Eyre - he had that not-quite-attached-to-humaity vibe that maybe was his attempt to reflect the moral confusion / angst he was feeling toward his wife and Jane - but it didn't come off as romantic (the right vibe for his character) but a bit creepy.

For uber-creepy, check him out in "The Third Man," another role, in fairness, where creepy is his character's intended trait. Also, his entrance in that movie is the best entrance by a man in a movie ever: tension building as we wait for his character to appear, B&W desolate post-WWII European street with 18th and early 19th Century buildings and cobblestones, a brick arch, a on-and-off single bulb that flashes on for a second to reveal a cynically smiling Welles that then goes to black again - I get chills just thinking about it.

Oooh. What a great description. I'll check it out based on your recommendation alone.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Sorry to disagree, but I LOVE that version of Jane Eyre above other adaptations. And while plenty of Welles' performances can seem a bit too theatrical, bombastic, or downright odd, I've never found him to be "creepy", per se. But that's me.

 

[AmateisGal]

Sorry to disagree, but I LOVE that version of Jane Eyre above other adaptations. And while plenty of Welles' performances can seem a bit too theatrical, bombastic, or downright odd, I've never found him to be "creepy", per se. But that's me.

It may just be me. There's just something...off about him.

On another subject, did you see the new trailer for Doctor Strange that was appeared before Captain America: Civil War in the theater?

 

[Doctor Strange]

Yes I did. I'm not thrilled with the particular American accent that Cumberbatch seems to be using in the role, but am pretty excited otherwise. It looks like it's going to deliver exactly what it should for Strange's origin. And it's bringing the requisite psychedelia!

But maybe they just should have cast as old Asian man as the Ancient One after all, rather than "reconceiving" the character. I mean, I always love Tilda Swinton, but it's odd that with the current level of PC hysteria over diversity and color-blind casting that there's so much annoyed fixation on her not being Asian... rather than a positive feeling about making the character female. Boy, these are confusing times!

 

[AmateisGal]

Yes I did. I'm not thrilled with the particular American accent that Cumberbatch seems to be using in the role, but am pretty excited otherwise. It looks like it's going to deliver exactly what it should for Strange's origin. And it's bringing the requisite psychedelia!

But maybe they just should have cast as old Asian man as the Ancient One after all, rather than "reconceiving" the character. I mean, I always love Tilda Swinton, but it's odd that with the current level of PC hysteria over diversity and color-blind casting that there's so much annoyed fixation on her not being Asian... rather than a positive feeling about making the character female. Boy, these are confusing times!

You got that right. I don't even know which way is up half of the time because I'm not sure if society still thinks up is actually up or if it's really sideways or...but you get my drift.

 

[AmateisGal]

The Burbs. I've lost count of how many times I've watched it. But it never fails to make me laugh.

 

[Fading Fast]

"Quartet" from 1948 - four "short" films based on Somerset Maugham short stories and introduced by Maugham and all-his-Englishness-of-his-time self.

This is a little gem not because the stories are great (all are good in a short story way - quick stories that throw you right in the middle of some life conflict that, usually, has a twist ending), but what they say about England at the time: still recovering from the war, toggling between pre-war Empire confidence and post-war ennui amidst the fade of the Empire. Also, very good day-to-day living insights in some. And plenty of time-travel fun for Fedora Lounge members.

TCM is the most important cable channel there is - they dig up stuff like this, nonchalantly toss it in the mix and we all benefit.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

The second was The Revenant, which I enjoyed except for the modern blue-grey lighting on everything except the blood. Haven't these people ever heard of Technicolor?

Ha ha ! ...I can't tell if you're serious or not but in case you are, the film was shot entirely in natural light & in natural locations, which is prehaps why you found it lacking in vivid colors.

 

[Benzadmiral]

Ha ha ! ...I can't tell if you're serious or not but in case you are, the film was shot entirely in natural light & in natural locations, which is prehaps why you found it lacking in vivid colors.

Then Revenant has an excuse. But it seems half the "films" I run across nowadays are lit in this series of listless blue-gray tones.

 

[Benzadmiral]

. . . For uber-creepy, check him out in "The Third Man," another role, in fairness, where creepy is his character's intended trait. Also, his entrance in that movie is the best entrance by a man in a movie ever: tension building as we wait for his character to appear, B&W desolate post-WWII European street with 18th and early 19th Century buildings and cobblestones, a brick arch, a on-and-off single bulb that flashes on for a second to reveal a cynically smiling Welles that then goes to black again - I get chills just thinking about it.

He makes a dynamite exit from that scene, too, with just three words: "The cuckoo clock!"

 

[AmateisGal]

Watching Ernie Pyle's The Story of G.I. Joe on TCM. Love this movie.

 

[Touchofevil]

Get Shorty and Captain America: Civil War

 

[AmateisGal]

Just finished watching Shane. Now I'm watching The Magnificent Seven. (If you can't tell, it's a day in bed with TCM!)

 

[2jakes]

Just finished watching Shane. Now I'm watching The Magnificent Seven. (If you can't tell, it's a day in bed with TCM!)

Here’s hoping you are not down or sick with something!

I watched Shane too. It’s one of my all-time favorites.
Some have speculated that Shane was gravely wounded in the end
when he rides away.

I like to think that he met with Calloway along the way, took care of the wounds
& together went off to the Rocky mountains to join with Jeremiah Johnson.


I’m a dreamer!