What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[Edward]

I liked Film Stars Don't Die In Liverpool too.

Last night, The Dig on Netflix. Interesting period piece (1939) with good stylization and solid performances by Carey Mulligan and Ralph Fiennes. But it didn't do a great job on the secondary and tertiary characters, they were either underwritten/underplayed or telegraphed so broadly (e.g., Lily James's husband being gay, whether he knew it or not) that it hurt the story. And like nearly all Netflix "content" I've seen, it would have benefitted from dropping one of its red herring plot threads and being a half-hour shorter.

Mn, I wasn't impressed with The Dig at all myself. I agree entirely the subplot was weak, and highly unimaginative. It felt almost as if they didn't think the main, platonic relationships couldsustain it. Afine performance by the leads, but badly underwritten. Anyone hoping to learn about the actual dig itself was as badly served, imo, as anyone looking for a character story. Still, it did look lovely, and at least it was trying to do something more than flash bang wallop SFX.... Can't help but feel there was a much better picture could have been made here, though. A lot like the recent Clooney Netlfix picture in that regards. It's a shame they've been cancelling stuff as sharply written as Chilling Adventures of Sabrina seemingly in order to fund this kind of thing. Prime is currently whooping Netflix's behind for my money.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Yeah, they could have done a lot more about the historical importance of the find itself, beyond a bunch of quick comments how it was older than expected and demonstrated what skilled artisans the Anglo-Saxons were. As to the underplaying, I chalked that up to the twentieth century Brit stiff upper lip thing, where the characters are too repressed to deal with their actual feelings. At least they didn't stuff the flick with Black and Asian characters who wouldn't have been present in that time and place, which seems to be the current hot trend in period pieces.

I also found Clooney's The Midnight Sky to be very dragged out and underwhelming.

 

[Harp]

Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool...^^^

I need to learn if this flick was based on a biography. Then see the flick.

 

[Doctor Strange]

According to Wiki, it's based on a memoir by the Jamie Bell character about his experience with Gloria Grahame. So, not quite a biography, but apparently there's a factual basis.

 

[Edward]

According to Wiki, it's based on a memoir by the Jamie Bell character about his experience with Gloria Grahame. So, not quite a biography, but apparently there's a factual basis.

The evergreen classic, "based on a true story". Sometimes that's Ghandi, sometimes it's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre....

 

[AmateisGal]

Charade with Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant. Even though Grant is much older than Hepburn, it works, whereas Love in the Afternoon, with Hepburn and Gary Cooper, does not. Cooper is just far too old for her, IMO, and it just comes across as kind of creepy.

TCM is playing one of my favorites in about an hour - The Tender Trap with Frank Sinatra and Debbie Reynolds!

 

[1967Cougar390]

Dark Mountain, 1944. Robert Lowery, Ellen Drew, and Regis Toomey.
Ellen Drew chooses the wrong man to marry and finds herself implicated in truck high-jackings and a subsequent double murder. Her first love, a Forest Ranger (Robert Lowery) hides her out in a cabin at Dark Mountain after she is sought by the police. Her criminal husband (Regis Toomey) arrives unbeknownst to Lowery. Eventually, Toomey plans his and his wife’s escape from the police, but she manages to escape the moving stolen car. The Forest Rangers dog mauls the criminal husband causing him to crash into a tree in the Rangers stolen car that is loaded with dynamite, killing him, while setting up a happy ending for Robert Lowery and Ellen Drew.

Steven

 

[Harp]

The evergreen classic, "based on a true story". Sometimes that's Ghandi, sometimes it's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre....

There is a Mississippi town where homicides committed with chainsaw have been labeled "Suicide by Chainsaw"
by the county coroner. Fact. A lot of suicides happen there. Presumably.

 

[Julian Shellhammer]

Last night, it was The Shining Hour (1938) with Joan Crawford, Margaret Sullavan, Robert Young, Melvyn Douglas, and Fay Bainter. Famous dancer Crawford marries Wisconsin rich guy Douglas and returns to their mansion to live with bro, sister-in-law, and critical, judgmental, inflexible older sis. Sort of a soap opera. Is it a slam on provincial uptight midwesterners? We still don't know.
And somewhere back last week it was Little Cesar with Edward G. Robinson as Rico Bandello.

 

[Fading Fast]

Old Acquaintance from 1943 with Bette Davis and Mariam Hopkins

You could call it a drama, and it is, but that's just a way to avoid calling it by its real name, a soap opera: a wonderfully over-the-top soap opera rescued by acting talent, directing skill and occasional moments of restraint.

Spread over a twenty-year span, this tale of two female friends (one's a friend, the other's a frenemy) weaves in all the elements of a good soap opera - love, hate, affairs, melodrama, ridiculous coincidences and perfectly timed overheard conversations - that serve, more than anything else, to highlight the acting talents of Bette Davis.

Davis and Mariam Hopkins are life-long friends where Davis is the genuine one and Hopkins the secretly competitive and manipulative one. When the movie opens, Davis is a critically, but only modestly commercially successful writer; whereas, Hopkins is a young housewife envious of her independent friend, despite disingenuously proclaiming her contentment as a wife and mother.

Then, Hopkins turns her closet hobby of writing romance novels into massive commercial success, which brings her much wealth and adulation. However, Hopkins still resents Davis' status as a literary talent, while her books are viewed as mass-market fluff. From here, the soap opera ramps up as Hopkins ignores her husband and child in pursuit of her new career. Davis then kindly fills in the gaps in Hopkins' domestic efforts, leading Hopkins to eventually and unfairly resent Davis for "stealing" her husband and child.

Years go by and Hopkins' husband leaves her, her daughter grows up and closer to Davis and Hopkins' resentment and anger grows despite ongoing commercial success. More affairs come into the mix, past recriminations are dredged up and Davis, oddly, winds up in a relationship with a much younger man who, then, pursues Hopkins' now-adult daughter (yup, this movie has no shame).

The story is nothing daytime soaps don't recycle regularly, but the fun in this one is Davis battling with and, also, simply out acting Hopkins. Hopkins, perhaps intentionally, acts with theatrical flourishes that exaggerate the melodrama of her character. She's the star in her so-incredibly-interesting-to-her life that she can't imagine everyone around her not finding it equally interesting.

Davis is the grounded one who, finally and literally, shakes some sense into Hopkins in the movie's climatic moment when these two have the confrontation that was coming for years. The actresses were well known to loathe each other in real life, an antipathy that seems to have inspired their acting in this one as you have no trouble feeling their passion.

The story has more zigs and zags, but you watch it for Davis versus Hopkins. And along with Davis' acting talent, director Vincent Sherman deserves a hand for somehow smoothly guiding you through all the plot's twists and turns, while keeping the focus on the two stars. It won't be on any best-of movie lists, but Old Acquaintance is a fun, nearly two hours of saponaceous indulgence.

At the end, Davis' character sums it up nicely, "Darling it's late and I'm very, very tired of youth and love and self sacrifice." By then, viewers are equally exhausted.

 

[Doctor Strange]

A mostly-in-French film by a Japanese director, The Truth (aka La Verite) from 2019.

It's mainly the story of a screenwriter (Juliette Binoche) trying to come to terms with her famous film star mother (Catherine Deneuve) after she's written a tell-all memoir that doesn't match the daughter's memories of the past. She grabs her actor husband (Ethan Hawke, the only character who speaks English throughout) and young daughter and flies to France, where her mother is making a science fiction film... that's also about a mother/daughter relationship. (Though in that film, the mother repeatedly goes into space and "does not age", and she returns to Earth to find her daughter older - ultimately older than herself. Deneuve plays the 73-year-old daughter, not the mother.) The odd dynamics of two generations living in the crazy world of screen acting are on display, with all the emotional stuff that comes along with it.

The film has a lot to say about family relationships and acting - and how they're not unrelated subjects - and Binoche and Deneuve (and the rest of the cast) are excellent. Recommended if you're in the mood for an unusual, well-observed, subtitled family drama.

When I looked up the director, Hirokazu Kore-eda, it turns out that I'd seen one of his earlier films, and it was also a charming, interesting take on unusual family relationships that I'd recommended here. That one's in Japanese: Our Little Sister (2015).

 

[Fading Fast]

A mostly-in-French film by a Japanese director, The Truth (aka La Verite) from 2019.

It's mainly the story of a screenwriter (Juliette Binoche) trying to come to terms with her famous film star mother (Catherine Deneuve) after she's written a tell-all memoir that doesn't match the daughter's memories of the past. She grabs her actor husband (Ethan Hawke, the only character who speaks English throughout) and young daughter and flies to France, where her mother is making a science fiction film... that's also about a mother/daughter relationship. (Though in that film, the mother repeatedly goes into space and "does not age", and she returns to Earth to find her daughter older - ultimately older than herself. Deneuve plays the 73-year-old daughter, not the mother.) The odd dynamics of two generations living in the crazy world of screen acting are on display, with all the emotional stuff that comes along with it.

The film has a lot to say about family relationships and acting - and how they're not unrelated subjects - and Binoche and Deneuve (and the rest of the cast) are excellent. Recommended if you're in the mood for an unusual, well-observed, subtitled family drama.

When I looked up the director, Hirokazu Kore-eda, it turns out that I'd seen one of his earlier films, and it was also a charming, interesting take on unusual family relationships that I'd recommended here. That one's in Japanese: Our Little Sister (2015).

I really enjoyed "Our Little Sister" and, based on that and your comments, will now look for "The Truth."

 

[Doctor Strange]

I think I DVR'd it from Showtime a few days ago, if that helps.

 

[Fading Fast]

I think I DVR'd it from Showtime a few days ago, if that helps.

It does - just set DVR to record it tomorrow. Thank you.

 

[AmateisGal]

View attachment 311299
Old Acquaintance from 1943 with Bette Davis and Mariam Hopkins

You could call it a drama, and it is, but that's just a way to avoid calling it by its real name, a soap opera: a wonderfully over-the-top soap opera rescued by acting talent, directing skill and occasional moments of restraint.

Spread over a twenty-year span, this tale of two female friends (one's a friend, the other's a frenemy) weaves in all the elements of a good soap opera - love, hate, affairs, melodrama, ridiculous coincidences and perfectly timed overheard conversations - that serve, more than anything else, to highlight the acting talents of Bette Davis.

Davis and Mariam Hopkins are life-long friends where Davis is the genuine one and Hopkins the secretly competitive and manipulative one. When the movie opens, Davis is a critically, but only modestly commercially successful writer; whereas, Hopkins is a young housewife envious of her independent friend, despite disingenuously proclaiming her contentment as a wife and mother.

Then, Hopkins turns her closet hobby of writing romance novels into massive commercial success, which brings her much wealth and adulation. However, Hopkins still resents Davis' status as a literary talent, while her books are viewed as mass-market fluff. From here, the soap opera ramps up as Hopkins ignores her husband and child in pursuit of her new career. Davis then kindly fills in the gaps in Hopkins' domestic efforts, leading Hopkins to eventually and unfairly resent Davis for "stealing" her husband and child.

Years go by and Hopkins' husband leaves her, her daughter grows up and closer to Davis and Hopkins' resentment and anger grows despite ongoing commercial success. More affairs come into the mix, past recriminations are dredged up and Davis, oddly, winds up in a relationship with a much younger man who, then, pursues Hopkins' now-adult daughter (yup, this movie has no shame).

The story is nothing daytime soaps don't recycle regularly, but the fun in this one is Davis battling with and, also, simply out acting Hopkins. Hopkins, perhaps intentionally, acts with theatrical flourishes that exaggerate the melodrama of her character. She's the star in her so-incredibly-interesting-to-her life that she can't imagine everyone around her not finding it equally interesting.

Davis is the grounded one who, finally and literally, shakes some sense into Hopkins in the movie's climatic moment when these two have the confrontation that was coming for years. The actresses were well known to loathe each other in real life, an antipathy that seems to have inspired their acting in this one as you have no trouble feeling their passion.

The story has more zigs and zags, but you watch it for Davis versus Hopkins. And along with Davis' acting talent, director Vincent Sherman deserves a hand for somehow smoothly guiding you through all the plot's twists and turns, while keeping the focus on the two stars. It won't be on any best-of movie lists, but Old Acquaintance is a fun, nearly two hours of saponaceous indulgence.

At the end, Davis' character sums it up nicely, "Darling it's late and I'm very, very tired of youth and love and self sacrifice." By then, viewers are equally exhausted.

This is a fantastic movie. I love how over the top Hopkins is.

 

[Fading Fast]

This is a fantastic movie. I love how over the top Hopkins is.

Agreed. Have you seen Davis and Hopkins pair up again (actually in an earlier movie) in "The Old Maid? I have it on DVR and plan to watch it soon.

 

[AmateisGal]

Agreed. Have you seen Davis and Hopkins pair up again (actually in an earlier movie) in "The Old Maid? I have it on DVR and plan to watch it soon.

No, I haven't! But I find it interesting that they kept pairing these two up knowing they loathed each other.

 

[Fading Fast]

No, I haven't! But I find it interesting that they kept pairing these two up knowing they loathed each other.

My guess it happened because (1) they were both under contract at the same studio, Warners Bros., (2) their movies made money and (3) Jack Warner was enough of an SOB that he enjoyed forcing those two to work together.

 

[Haversack]

Just watched a couple of older, little known films. The first was Beyond Tomorrow, (1940). It starts out like a Capra feel-good Christmas movie and then turns into an afterlife ghost story like A Matter of Life and Death, (1946). I found the movie as I like C. Aubrey Smith, (who has a prime role in the film). All in all, I enjoyed it. At first I thought it was going to be mawkish but the three bachelors running an engineering firm quick became engaging with their three distinct personalities.

The second movie was Blood on the Sun, (1945). Set in Tokyo sometime between 1928 and 1932, (judging by the photo of Herbert Hoover on the wall), this film stars James Cagney as a senior newspaper reporter who is given a copy of the Tanaka Plan which lays out a covert plan for Japanese world domination. Most of the film involves Cagney maneuvering to get out of Japan alive with the information. Although most of the Japanese characters, (including a Colonel Tojo and a Captain Yamamoto), were played by occidentals, I found it treated the Japanese as a culture better than a lot of US wartime media did at the time. In particular the scenes at a dojo where Cagney's character was learning judo was honestly portrayed.

 

[Harp]

^^^Kyokushinkai derives Shotokan karate post war courtesy Mas Oyama, and many Tokyo dojo
had a practice called "beat up the American." Doesn't always work out that way but when I was a kid
it was common practice and something to be expected. Cagney, I believe was a judoka off screen as well.