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What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

Messages
10,883
Location
vancouver, canada
The American version of "The Kindergarten Teacher". Well acted, Maggie Gyllenhal (SP?) was great as was the little kid. Loved it until the ending which we thought was terribly flawed. The writing and plot development let the actors down. I have ordered the original Israeli version and will receive it next week. I look forward to watching the original.
 

LizzieMaine

Bartender
Messages
33,828
Location
Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
The idea of Richard Widmark, creepy pusher of old ladies in wheelchairs down flights of stairs, starring in a fluffy Doris Day romcom is, in itself, priceless.

As an aside, I had a good friend who worked with Widmark in radio on "Front Page Farrell" before he went to Hollywood, and she said he was one of the most mild-mannered men she ever knew. She figured Hollywood would eat him alive.
 
Messages
17,264
Location
New York City
The idea of Richard Widmark, creepy pusher of old ladies in wheelchairs down flights of stairs, starring in a fluffy Doris Day romcom is, in itself, priceless.

As an aside, I had a good friend who worked with Widmark in radio on "Front Page Farrell" before he went to Hollywood, and she said he was one of the most mild-mannered men she ever knew. She figured Hollywood would eat him alive.

He was okay in the roll. Not great, but not terrible. The problem was the material not the actors. Have you seen it?
 
Messages
12,030
Location
East of Los Angeles
Mild insomnia and failure to find anything better led to me watching The Neptune Factor (1973) on TCM during the wee hours of the night/morning. Starring Ben Gazzara, Yvette Mimieux, Ernest Borgnine, and Walter Pidgeon, the phrase "underwater disaster" describes the plot and the movie. Unless you have a deep-seated desire to watch a boring movie featuring various forms of sea life interacting with an obviously plastic submarine model, don't. Just...don't. There. I've just saved you an hour and 38 minutes that would be better spent doing anything else.
 
Messages
12,030
Location
East of Los Angeles
^^^^^ Mwa ha ha ha ha!!!!! I laugh at your misery! (Done in best Ahnold Swartzenegger Conan the Barbarian Voice)

Sorry... couldn't resist.

Worf
Oh, laugh away my friend! Ten minutes in I knew it was going to be bad, and yet I stuck with it. My time would have been better spent watching a 90 minute infomercial for Snuggies or that spray paint stuff that's supposed to hide bald spots.
 
Messages
17,264
Location
New York City
Oh, laugh away my friend! Ten minutes in I knew it was going to be bad, and yet I stuck with it. My time would have been better spent watching a 90 minute infomercial for Snuggies or that spray paint stuff that's supposed to hide bald spots.

Yvette Mimieux popped up as eye-candy with some acting ability in a few early '60s movies, but seemed to disappear after that. I guess the next career stop for her was bad '70s movies.
 

Edward

Bartender
Messages
25,113
Location
London, UK
I was an everyday viewer of the original Dark Shadows spook opera in the sixties, and I think Tim Burton's film is loads of fun. Treating this crazy material dead seriously killed both (or was it three?) attempts at reviving the show, whereas Burton's comical fish-out-of-water treatment still manages to capture a lot of the original's charm. There's very palpable affection for the old show, and the impressive cast seems to be having a ball. I mean, Eva Green's Angelique alone is a total hoot.

I know this attitude is at odds with the feelings of most old-time Dark Shadows fans towards the film, but hey, I've always been a nonconformist and iconoclast!

I've never seen the original show, so I came to it frsh as it were, but I loved the Depp version. Especially hisdelviery of the line "That was - regrettable."

Yeah, that movie was way overpraised, it's got a good cast... but it's inept and disappointing. There have been some good female-fronted SF films in recent years, like Arrival and Ex Machina, but this movie is NOT one of them.

Oh, dear.... I watched Arrival on a plane last year. First film in a long time I hated that much!

I like Natalie Portman too, but I think she was a much better actress when she was younger. I don't know if someone somewhere along the way advised her to take acting lessons, or if a director or two "got in her head", but I found her performances far more believable in her early movies like Léon: The Professional (1994) and Heat (1995). Even as far back as V for Vendetta (2005) I could see the natural/organic qualities in her performances slipping away, and I haven't seen her more recent movies because of this. I did see Thor (2011), but not because she was in it.

She was terrible in Thor. I assumed they introduced Kat Denning in the second film so that there would be a female principal with charisma, who made an impression, but it did very much emphasise just how weak and lifeless Portman was. Sad to say, the third film was avast improvement not solely because of her absence, but it definitely helped.

^ I haven't seen Fright Night for a long time, but I think "romp" is a great way to describe it simply because it contains enough comedic moments to keep it from being a "straight" horror/thriller movie. Good performances, but the wardrobes and some of the visual effects "date" the movie.

The 2011 remake starring the late Anton Yelchin (Charley Brewster), David Tennant (Peter Vincent), and Colin Farrell (Jerry), wasn't nearly as well received among horror movie fans. It's not terrible and it's worth seeing for anyone who's a fan of the original, but in my opinion it's lacking the "charm" of the first movie.

A different animal, certainly, but it very much made it its own thing and works alongside the original. David Tennant completely stole the show.
 

Doctor Strange

I'll Lock Up
Messages
5,262
Location
Hudson Valley, NY
My favorite Depp line reading in Dark Shadows is when, after escaping his coffin, he encounters a paved road for the first time: (while feeling smooth road surface) "Unusual terrain."

I guess you don't recall, Edward: Kat Dennings was also in the first Thor film. Regarding Portman's Jane Foster, it always seemed more likely that (as in 60s/70s comics) Lady Sif was going to be Thor's ultimate partner... but then Jaime Alexander got the lead in a TV series, and Lady Sif was rather obviously MIA in both Ragnarok and Infinity War. (Making her essentially nearly the only original Asgardian supporting character who didn't die.) Ragnarok also seemed to want to position Tess Thompson's Valkyrie as Thor's next partner...

I'm surprised that you "hated" Arrival so violently, which I thought was one of the most interesting SF films of recent years. But hey, we all have our opinions...
 
Messages
12,030
Location
East of Los Angeles
Yvette Mimieux popped up as eye-candy with some acting ability in a few early '60s movies, but seemed to disappear after that. I guess the next career stop for her was bad '70s movies.
A quick review of her page on IMDb-dot-com shows she worked fairly steadily in movies and television from the early-1960s through the mid-80s. I can't say I've seen a lot of her work, but in what I have seen she pretty much played every character the same way--a one-trick-pony who was capable, but not particularly notable.
 
Messages
17,264
Location
New York City
A quick review of her page on IMDb-dot-com shows she worked fairly steadily in movies and television from the early-1960s through the mid-80s. I can't say I've seen a lot of her work, but in what I have seen she pretty much played every character the same way--a one-trick-pony who was capable, but not particularly notable.

The two reasons I even remember her is her arresting beauty and that wonderfully perfect-for-her name.
 

MisterCairo

I'll Lock Up
Messages
7,005
Location
Gads Hill, Ontario
Not sure why the vitriol against Buzz Aldrin is necessary.

If it has to be between him and everyone else, he's the one entitled to an opinion on the subject.

Second man is infinitely closer to First Man than anyone here on this forum.

Saw the movie and loved it, to be honest. Viewed it with a Brit friend and his Canadian wife: it was interesting hearing what those from other nations experienced in July of 1969, when the major actors in the film were not even alive.


Aldrin is evidently one of those cheerleading disapproval of the film for its failure to portray the flag on the moon salute sequence. Perhaps that crowd can come up with their own $59 million in funding and produce a feature centering on Aldrin entitled, "Second Man," or alternatively, "First Man (To Piddle on the Moon)."
 

Formeruser012523

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,466
Location
null
Faust 1926 F.W. Murnau

This movie was a beat down to watch. Thankfully it's the first one I've DVR'd in a long time and I sped through a lot of it. Is that wrong?

A good reminder to myself of why I stick to silent comedies. :confused:
 

LizzieMaine

Bartender
Messages
33,828
Location
Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
Not sure why the vitriol against Buzz Aldrin is necessary.

If it has to be between him and everyone else, he's the one entitled to an opinion on the subject.

Second man is infinitely closer to First Man than anyone here on this forum.

I'll say this for Aldrin -- when that Moon Hoax clown accosted him in that hotel lobby, and he just punched the guy in the face, I don't think there's a thinking human being on the planet who'd have begrudged him the moment.
 

Edward

Bartender
Messages
25,113
Location
London, UK
My favorite Depp line reading in Dark Shadows is when, after escaping his coffin, he encounters a paved road for the first time: (while feeling smooth road surface) "Unusual terrain."

Ohyes! Full of classics, great little film.

I guess you don't recall, Edward: Kat Dennings was also in the first Thor film. Regarding Portman's Jane Foster, it always seemed more likely that (as in 60s/70s comics) Lady Sif was going to be Thor's ultimate partner... but then Jaime Alexander got the lead in a TV series, and Lady Sif was rather obviously MIA in both Ragnarok and Infinity War. (Making her essentially nearly the only original Asgardian supporting character who didn't die.) Ragnarok also seemed to want to position Tess Thompson's Valkyrie as Thor's next partner...

Totslly forgot that, yes! I think in my head the first two are a bit muddled. The Valkyrie / Asgardians made more sense by a long way.

I'm surprised that you "hated" Arrival so violently, which I thought was one of the most interesting SF films of recent years. But hey, we all have our opinions...

Yes, there were a tiny few ekements I liked and i appreciated they were trying to do something different, but overall I just found it pretentious and a drag.v(but thrn I found 2001 at least an hour too long, so...) I have a vague recollection of loathing the female lead character and some of the moral choices she makes, but can't call to mind why.
 

MissMittens

One Too Many
Messages
1,628
Location
Philadelphia USA
Last night's movie was "Chopping Mall" (1986). Sort of an "AI-goes-bad" horror flick, where robot "guards" in a shopping mall with lasers, tasers, and "chopping" claws, kill and maim people after hours in a shopping mall. The kids use weapons (AR-15's "borrowed" from a gun store and other items from an automotive store. It's cheesy in every way, but appeals to my twisted sense of humor. When it comes to horror, the worse a movie is, the greater the probability that I'll like it, in a cringeworthy kind of way, lol
 

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