What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[Frunobulax]

The hotel was supposed to be modeled on the Roosevelt, which has been in its block for a very long time. Some years back it got renamed the Fairmont, and then back to the Roosevelt again. I don't know if the crew filmed any interiors there. (Been a while since I last saw the film, too.) But the hotel is worth checking out, even if you don't stay there. It runs through the entire block from Baronne to (what is now) Roosevelt Place; you can walk in from one street and go right through the lobby to the other street. Very FL eye-candy, for sure.

I've stayed there a few times. Make certain to have a drink in the Sazerac for some real throwback vibes.


Sent directly from my mind to yours.

 

[Fading Fast]

"The Very Thought of You" 1944 with Dennis Morgan and Eleanor Parker

• Very uneven home-front WWII propaganda movie about a soldier on leave (Morgan) starting a romance with a girl he barely knew before the war from his college town

• Overall, this one plays it simple, sweet and predictable except for some jarring scenes and characters that aggressively show cynicism toward "pulling together" and "supporting 'our boys'" which is realistic (we know it wasn't all happy slappy on the home front), but is so aggressive and, then, so easily resolved that it almost feels like the director was trying to make two movies: the sweet one and a hard-edge one, but never integrated them

• Outstanding time travel to war-time California - architecture, cars, stores, clothes and background shots were Fedora Lounge heaven

• Henry Travers, Parker's father here (and Clarence in "It's a Wonderful Life"), owns playing the simple, kindly, big-hearted father / friend/ gardner / angel role - he does it incredibly well (have we mentioned him in our thread on character actors?)

 

[scottyrocks]

How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1967) featured Robert Morse trying very hard to be Jerry Lewis and failing miserably.

 

[MisterCairo]

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.

I was in the mood for a bit of history...

 

[Zombie_61]

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Slayer.

I was in the mood for a bit of history...

Assuming you meant "Vampire Hunter", that's about all that movie's worth--a bit of history. If you haven't already read it, I recommend Seth Grahame-Smith's book of the same name upon which the movie was based. It contains more of Lincoln's actual history, and does a better job of blurring the lines between it and the fictional "vampire hunter" segments of the story.

 

[Fading Fast]

"The Bride Wore Red" 1937 with Joan Crawford, Franchot Tone and Robert Young

• A early version, kinda, of "Trading Places" where an aristocrat - to prove that nurture (money, things, etc.), not nature (breeding), is all that distinguishes the upper class from the others - pays a barmaid, Crawford, to dress up (with all the accouterment) and play the part of a countess at a resort hotel

• There she meets Tone, the representing-the-regular-people postman, and Young (filling in, in the role usually played by Robert Montgomery), representing the well-bred-upper-class-young aristocrat, setting up the theme of the two world's competing for Crawford's heart and soul

• Young is engaged to and staying with his fiancee and her family at the resort, but he openly and aggressively flirts with Crawford in front of them / The fiancee and family dismiss it as harmless, but he's so obnoxious about it that it hurts the movie's credibility

• As always in Hollywood, the "regular" people are shown as good-hearted whose fun activities are really fun; whereas, the wealthy are vindictive and conniving whose "fun" activities are so circumscribed by societal rules that they aren't enjoyable (see '97 "Titanic" and a hundred other movies) - yawn. Most of us have seen both world and neither has a lock on fun nor decency / both, at times, can be ugly and venal, but in Hollywood, the "regular" people are always shown as sincere, decent and happy in their "simple" pleasures - puke

• Since you can probably figure out what happens as the movie's pretty transparent and there have been many versions of it done since, I'll just mention that Crawford sparkles here with a wonderful litheness - she, her hair, her eyes all have a youthful bounce and spirit that harder-edge 1940's Crawford didn't have
  • The recent TV series "Feud" almost makes you forget that Crawford (and Davis) only became aged-and-battling icons because they were true stars for decades. This movie highlights Crawford at the peak of her youth and beauty period (her best acting came in the next decade)

• The movie is stilted and predictable, but still enjoyable for the stars and early look at how Hollywood handles a theme it returned (and returns) to time and again

 

[MisterCairo]

Paul, with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, voice of Paul by Seth Rogen. Loads of fun!

 

[Doctor Strange]

Paul is a really fun film, but I think Kristen Wiig's fundamentalist whose worldview is destroyed by meeting an alien is clearly its MVP.

I watched Keeping Up with the Joneses, an action comedy wherein ordinary suburban couple Zach Galifianakis and Isla Fisher are mystified by the impossibly attractive and hyper-achieving couple who move in next door - Jon Hamm and Gal Gadot! Not really a good film, but it was pleasant enough to keep me watching.

 

[Fading Fast]

Paul is a really fun film, but I think Kristen Wiig's fundamentalist whose worldview is destroyed by meeting an alien is clearly its MVP.

I watched Keeping Up with the Joneses, an action comedy wherein ordinary suburban couple Zach Galifianakis and Isla Fisher are mystified by the impossibly attractive and hyper-achieving couple who move in next door - Jon Hamm and Gal Gadot! Not really a good film, but it was pleasant enough to keep me watching.

I saw that last year, I think, and, as you said, not good, but okay enough to watch it all the way through. I remember at the time thinking the female lead was a talented actress and stupid gorgeous, but I didn't tick and tie her back to "Wonder Woman." Glad her career just vaulted forward.

 

[scottyrocks]

Last night on TCM I saw Taxi! (1932) with James Cagney and Loretta Young. Great old film with Cagney at his early Cagneyest best!

 

[Fading Fast]

Last night on TCM I saw Taxi! (1932) with James Cagney and Loretta Young. Great old film with Cagney at his early Cagneyest best!

Recorded it last night and hope to watch it tomorrow - now I'm even more excited. I'll report back afterwards.

 

[scottyrocks]

Yeah, TCM had a 'taxi' theme going for a while.

 

[Zombie_61]

Last night on TCM I saw Taxi! (1932) with James Cagney and Loretta Young. Great old film with Cagney at his early Cagneyest best!

I wish I'd known this was on yesterday. By the time my wife and I settled in after dinner and walking our dog TCM was airing Carry on Cabby (1963) which we both found okay, but lacking. After that was Taxi Driver (1976), which I've never cared for, and Night on Earth (1991), a Jim Jarmusch movie that's essentially a collection of five vignettes involving cab drivers and their passengers in Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Rome, and Helsinki, during the same night. It's worth seeing at least once, unless you dislike Jim Jarmusch movies.

 

[Fading Fast]

"Taxi" 1932 staring James Cagney and Loretta Young

• Uneven material that Cagney and Young elevate

• Movie's pace seems set by Cagney's dialogue delivery - fast, quick bursts / Warners knew how to move a movie along

• Pre-code and modern in that people are complex and irrational at times
  • Cagney's half psychotic character - decent, angry, loving, pugnacious who can go from calm and good to unhinged killer on a dime - is a precursor to Tarantino's characters in movies like "Pulp Fiction" where they combine regular life with crime-ridden underworlds as if it's all just part of a normal day

• Not a great movie, but still fun, good pre-code action and morals with wonderful early Cagney (by today's standards a bully and wife abuser) and Young (glowing with youth and beauty) holding her own with his force-of-nature style

P.S. This movie has the "Cagney speaking Yiddish" scene that Lizzie posted about in the "So Trivial Yet It Really Ticks You Off" thread. The scene is awesome as you can see how much fun Cagney is having.

 

[Otter]

Kong, Skull Island (Yay!), Guardians of the Galaxy 2 (YAY!!) and the new Fantastic 4 (Boo Hiss)

 

[Touchofevil]

Rear Window and 711 Ocean Drive on TCM, yesterday and today.

 

[Fading Fast]

Rear Window and 711 Ocean Drive on TCM, yesterday and today.

Caught the tail end of "Rear Window" last night; fortunately, I've seen it once or twice (or 700 times) before. Just recorded, but haven't watched, yet, "711 Ocean Drive -" what did you think of it?

 

[Touchofevil]

Caught the tail end of "Rear Window" last night; fortunately, I've seen it once or twice (or 700 times) before. Just recorded, but haven't watched, yet, "711 Ocean Drive -" what did you think of it?

That I would like to watch it again. Too many distractions going on to truly follow it. It is still on right now. I do enjoy the feel of it. Visually, it is entertaining to watch. The exterior shots of big city night life were really eye catching for me.

 

[Fading Fast]

That I would like to watch it again. Too many distractions going on to truly follow it. It is still on right now. I do enjoy the feel of it. Visually, it is entertaining to watch. The exterior shots of big city night life were really eye catching for me.

I like that 10am on Sunday is "Noir Alley." Sadly, it shows you how susceptible to marketing I am. I now check what's on at 10am on Sunday on TCM and, more often than not, watch or record it. I am not that way with all channels, but TCM does own me.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Every morning with my second cup of coffee, I do a scan of all movies on my cable system for the next 24 hours. It's time-consuming to page through, but I frequently find stuff playing at odd hours or on off-my-radar channels that I'm interested in, and set the DVR.

Even so, I find that I still miss stuff - there's just too much "content" out there these days...