What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[Doctor Strange]

I watched this one a few months ago. A strange story that doesn't really work, but it held my interest for two reasons. Like a ton of other 1946 films, it's using melodrama to work through the traumatic aftermath of the war; no doubt audiences at the time brought their own powerful emotions and fused them into the drama. And Welles - I thought I'd seen most of his performances, but not this one - is indeed fascinating here.

It's not really a good film, but it's certainly an interesting one.

 

[KY Gentleman]

Hostiles starring Christian Bale and Wes Studi.
Hollywood doesn’t make many Westerns anymore, but when they do the love for the genre shows through and it’s done well.
This is a good story that offers several points of view of our country’s western expansion.
Beautiful scenery and excellent performances make this one worthy of a 2 hour viewing time.

 

[Fading Fast]

I watched this one a few months ago. A strange story that doesn't really work, but it held my interest for two reasons. Like a ton of other 1946 films, it's using melodrama to work through the traumatic aftermath of the war; no doubt audiences at the time brought their own powerful emotions and fused them into the drama. And Welles - I thought I'd seen most of his performances, but not this one - is indeed fascinating here.

It's not really a good film, but it's certainly an interesting one.

Without Welles, I couldn't have sat through it (although, as always, I enjoyed Lucile Watson), but I thought his acting was incredible in it.

And it was fun to see a very young Richard Long - Jared Barkley from "The Big Valley -" as the elder son.

 

[AmateisGal]

My Reputation with Barbara Stanwyck and George Bent. Enjoyable, but doesn't quite work.

 

[Zombie_61]

Over the weekend my wife and I watched I Want to Live! (1958) on TCM. Susan Hayward plays Barbara Graham who, along with male accomplices Jack Santo and Emmett Perkins, was convicted of murdering 64-year-old Mabel Monohan in her home during a failed robbery attempt in March of 1953 and subsequently became the third woman to be executed by the State of California. Co-starring a list of character actors that includes Simon Oakland, Theodore Bikel, Raymond Bailey, John Marley, and Russell Thorson, among others, the "true" story as it's told suggests Graham might have been innocent as she always insisted. Hayward, who won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Graham, later stated in at least one interview that after doing her own research she concluded Graham was probably guilty. Overall, not a bad movie that handles the usual "trying to tell a person's entire life story in only two hours" problems well. Hayward plays Graham as near-constantly on the emotional edge regardless of whether she's the "party girl" (Graham was a known prostitute), the "defiant inmate", or, more understandably, the woman waiting until the last moment to learn of her ultimate fate. As such, in my opinion her performance comes off as being a bit "hammy" at times, but the movie is still worth seeing at least once.

 

[Julian Shellhammer]

Agree completely - fun movies to compare. I very recently watched them all but back to back and posted these comments: http://www.thefedoralounge.com/thre...ovie-you-watched.20830/page-1251#post-2401146

FF, is that you gracing the Ask Andy trad forum? Hmmmmm?

 

[Fading Fast]

FF, is that you gracing the Ask Andy trad forum? Hmmmmm?

One and the same - it is the only other Internet Forum I post on, but I was happy I could get the same name at both. I'm sure there are other "crossovers" as I know Gamma68 also posts on both forums.

 

[1mach1]

The Commuter (2018) with Liam Neeson.

Exactly what you would expect from one of his films.

 

[Formeruser012523]

The Commuter (2018) with Liam Neeson.

Exactly what you would expect from one of his films.

This is where I'd ask: "Isn't he a little old to be doing these kinds of films?" but it's not like younger actors are doing these kinds of films any better.

 

[Edward]

Avengers: Infinity War last night. Daughter and I are huge fans, so of course we had to go ASAP.

It was incredible. Tugged on ALL the emotions.

I was a bit meh about the supposedly dark ending (given 99.9% of ''' will be retconned in the first five minutes of the next part), and overall it could have easily lost twenty minutes run time to its betterment, but all in all a good film. Looking forward to Netflixing it with the cat (Greta Cat is in love with Ricket Racoon).

 

[Doctor Strange]

Queen of the Desert starring Nicole Kidman, James Franco, and Damian Lewis, directed by Werner Herzog.

This film was not well-reviewed and failed financially, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. The (sort of) true story of Gertrude Bell, whose remarkable travels around the middle east before World War I were hugely important in helping the British understand the native cultures, and she was a key player in determining the borders and rulers of several countries (Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia) afterwards. Sort of a less epic, female version of Lawrence of Arabia... and T.E. Lawrence is in it, played by Robert Pattinson!

 

[AmateisGal]

Looking forward to Netflixing it with the cat (Greta Cat is in love with Ricket Racoon).

You mean "Rabbit"?

 

[Zombie_61]

You mean "Rabbit"?

I think he meant "Rocket". Or maybe he meant Rocket Raccoon has rickets; I haven't seen the movie yet.

The Mad Magician (1954). Vincent Price stars as Don Gallico/Gallico the Great, an illusionist and master of disguise/impersonation. When his former employer closes down his first big show claiming ownership of any and all designs Gallico creates, Gallico kills him in a fit of rage and uses his skills to hide his murderous deeds. Co-starring Mary Murphy, Eva Gabor, John Emery, Patrick O'Neal, Jay Novello, and Lenita Lane, it plays out pretty much as you would expect. Intended to "cash in" on the success of Price's 1953 movie House of Wax, there are definite parallels between the two but Mad Magician plays much more like the "B" movie that it is.

 

[Edward]

I think he meant "Rocket". Or maybe he meant Rocket Raccoon has rickets; I haven't seen the movie yet.

Nah, my misspelling, but 'Rabbit' is a reference to the film.

 

[Fading Fast]

"Under the Tuscan Sun" 2003 with Diane Lane

HBO is a great way to catch up with movies you missed when they were first out and would have been better off never seeing.

UTTS is less a movie than a combination of a middle-aged fantasy and updated version of the travel shorts from the '50s that TCM still plays.

Diane Lane plays [the following to be said in one breath] a middle-aged New York City writer / book reviewer whose husband leaves her for (yawn) a younger woman shattering her belief in love and leading to her, on a whim, buying a run-down villa in Tuscany while on a pick-me-up-after-my-divorce vacation.

As if all that isn't Cliche 101 enough, while there, Lane's character hires a bumbling but well-intentioned construction crew to restore the home, is fooled by a too-good-looking man into thinking he's in love with her, finds some quirky but big-hearted friends, has a few scenes where she dances joyously to music and - and this is the second driving feature of the movie - looks gorgeous, in gorgeous clothes, driving in gorgeous cars all over gorgeous Italy.

That's pretty much it. You know immediately what will happen and you know how each character will develop the minute they are introduced - it's a script reverse engineered by a polling firm. That said - and I'm not proud of this - it is all so darn pretty that I did find myself enjoying watching it go by while only half listening to the silly dialogue.


N.B., My guess is this one played very well with Lizzie's theater audience.

 

[Julian Shellhammer]

A double feature last night, with The Greatest Showman, followed by The Great Gatsby, the one with Leonardo DiCaprio.
The first was entertaining, with a La La Land vibe, seasoned with Les Miserables. My father-in-law asked if it was historically accurate: I did not think very much so.
The second came close on the heels of reading the novel, like two days after. The Missus had seen the movie some time ago, and recommended it. I, with great effort, refrained from pausing every few moments and making remarks like, "Now, in the book he didn't say that, what he said was--".
Well-done, frequently beautiful visuals, but I was put off by the hyperkinetic partying and speakeasy moments.
When Nick meets Gatsby, my Golden-Age-movies-filter made me think DiCaprio was channeling the early Orson Welles.
Bear in mind, I tend to think that the novel is un-filmable. I have seen no other versions.

 

[Worf]

"Seven Days in May" from 1964 and chockablock with stars like Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster, Frederic March, Eva Gardner (starting to look a bit less sparkly) and Edmond O'Brien (definitely looking less sparkly).

It's a well-done political propaganda film that works because of incredible star power (these are actors who know their craft - can own a scene, bring passion, pull it back and do it time and again), intense-and-smart dialogue and a story that carries you along despite a plot full of flaws and questionable moments of believability.

The other thing it has is style - a very early '60s "this is an intense political drama" style that clearly had its moment as can be seen in other movies like "The Manchurian Candidate" and "Fail Safe." Its echo of a documentary brings a verisimilitude and a sense of immediacy to the story. And kudos to the decision (or budget constraint) to film it in B&W which adds to both its real-life documentary feel and general atmosphere of seriousness bordering on doom.

While the political propaganda is thick, biased and, at times, heavy handed (having the President of the United States deliver a "heart felt" monologue while, literally, embracing a flag displaying E Pluribus Unum" won't win any subtlety awards), if you let that go and just enjoy the style, the acting and the passion - it's an enjoyable movie.

I've always loved this film. It has Rod Serling's fingerprints all over it and if you know anything about history it's a far more plausible "what if" than you might think.

Worf

 

[AmateisGal]

"Under the Tuscan Sun" 2003 with Diane Lane

HBO is a great way to catch up with movies you missed when they were first out and would have been better off never seeing.

UTTS is less a movie than a combination of a middle-aged fantasy and updated version of the travel shorts from the '50s that TCM still plays.

Diane Lane plays [the following to be said in one breath] a middle-aged New York City writer / book reviewer whose husband leaves her for (yawn) a younger woman shattering her belief in love and leading to her, on a whim, buying a run-down villa in Tuscany while on a pick-me-up-after-my-divorce vacation.

As if all that isn't Cliche 101 enough, while there, Lane's character hires a bumbling but well-intentioned construction crew to restore the home, is fooled by a too-good-looking man into thinking he's in love with her, finds some quirky but big-hearted friends, has a few scenes where she dances joyously to music and - and this is the second driving feature of the movie - looks gorgeous, in gorgeous clothes, driving in gorgeous cars all over gorgeous Italy.

That's pretty much it. You know immediately what will happen and you know how each character will develop the minute they are introduced - it's a script reverse engineered by a polling firm. That said - and I'm not proud of this - it is all so darn pretty that I did find myself enjoying watching it go by while only half listening to the silly dialogue.


N.B., My guess is this one played very well with Lizzie's theater audience.

I LOVE this movie. It's romantic escapism at its very best. Heck, after my disastrous divorce last year, I've been greatly tempted to go to Italy and fix up a rundown villa, meet a hunky Italian, dance in a fountain, and end up finding the love of my life.

 

[AmateisGal]

The Magnificent Seven (the original one, not the recent one with Chris Pratt).

I'm not sure you can pack any more incredibly cool actors into one film as they did in this one. McQueen, Brynner, Bronson, Coburn...

 

[ChiTownScion]

A Bag of Marbles, a 2017 French and Canadian production based upon the autobiographical account of Joseph Joffo. Two Jewish brothers and their family flee Nazi occupied Paris and attempt to survive the German occupation. Very well done and highly recommended.