What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[Trenchfriend]

The Piano (1993)

 

[Trenchfriend]

The Piano (1993)

 

[Bushman]

Had a bit of a WWII marathon over the weekend.

Started with Defiance (2008) starring Liev Schreiber, Daniel Craig, and Jamie Bell as the Bielski brothers of Belarus, three Jewish brothers who saved over a thousand Jewish refugees from Nazi extermination simply by hiding out and striking back at occupying Nazi soldiers and collaborators in the forests of then-Poland. I understand that the movie had some minor controversy in Poland due to capitulations that had to be made by the director in order to get more interest (read: money) from Hollywood investors, but the movie itself is beautifully filmed and the story it tell more than makes up for any historical inaccuracies. As well written as the story is, we also get fantastic performances from Schreiber, Craig, and Bell. All three had natural on screen chemistry, and performed extremely well in their roles. Would definitely recommend.

Then I watched A Bridge Too Far (1977) hosting an all star cast made up of James Caan, Michael Caine, Sean Connery, Elliott Gould, Gene Hackman, Anthony Hopkins, Laurence Olivier, and Robert Redford. It's slow to start, but after the first half hour, it becomes an incredibly enjoyable and high-action movie. It was amazing to see some of my favorite veteran actors, some of now who've passed, with such youthful complexions. The pacing really picked up once it did, and you could feel the tension of the operation's success hanging on the edge of a knife.

Then I moved on to Valkyrie (2008). I never found Tom Cruise believable in the role of Stauffenberg, especially considering how many English and German actors occupied the rest of the cast. Nevertheless, the movie has an incredible pacing that gets you right into the heart of the action. I have to say that the most amazing part of the entire movie is after Operation: Valkyrie is underway, and SS officers are being detained across Europe as the Wehrmacht rush in to prevent a coup de tat via the Nazi Party, and instead unknowingly engage in a coup against their own government. As report after report comes in to Stauffenberg and the other collaborators, you could almost believe they could pull it off. All the while, you're still aware that Hitler went out on his own terms with the Red Army closing in. The belief of success from the audience, even knowing how the war actually ends, is, I think, a mark of a truly successful historical drama. A movie like Valkyrie enthralls you into this entire world where you're cheering for Nazis, even if they are trying to bring about a peaceful resolution to a war that would eventually see the entirety of Berlin in ruins.

Next I watched The Pianist (2002) starring Adrien Brody. This movie is one of the most personal portrayals of the Jewish Holocaust I've ever seen. The lengths that Spielmann went to simply survive in a world where just about anybody of authority wanted him gone or dead was nothing less than miraculous. Even more so, is the raw portrayal of not just the plight of the Jewish people living in these conditions, but the emotions they were going through. From the anger stemming from confusion, to the fact that they complied if only because hope compelled them to believe that the next place they were herded to had to be better than where they already were. And the abominable fact that the Nazis eagerly preyed upon this hope.

I ended the marathon with Downfall (2004). I honestly thought I'd go into this movie thinking "F yeah, dead Nazis," but it was just so... depressing. Told from the words of Hitler's personal secretary, Traudl Junge, the movie portrays the waning days of Nazi Germany beginning at the Red Army's invasion of Berlin. The greatest shock to me was the abject denial that lived within Eva Braun and Adolf Hitler in these final days, and continued right up to almost their final hours. It was disturbing to watch as Eva Braun, in complete denial, threw bunker parties even as Soviet shells could be heard obliterating the city above, or Adolf rant and rave at his generals, still somehow believing there were reserves available, and this was just a minor setback on his quest for world domination. It was stranger still seeing Hitler's personal council of generals fighting their need to make Hitler aware of the reality of the situation - that Berlin could not be held in a siege, and their desire to simply escape Hitler's wrath at being told bad news and in turn the execution rifles. The most disgusting thing to watch were the flippant attitudes of Social Darwinism, and conniving, backstabbing behavior from Joseph Goebbels. If there was a man worse than Hitler, it may have been him. Not even Hitler went so far as to actively poison his own children. The man was a complete and utter monster.

Among the others I watched were Gladiator (2000) starring Russell Crowe and Juaquin Phoenix. Been a while since I seen this one, but I will always adore the recreated Ancient Rome, and beautiful composing from Hans Zimmer.

Then the exact last movie I'd watched was Sergeant Stubby - the 2018 animated film about the eponymous mascot of the 102nd Infantry during the first World War, and his heroics therein. I always adore this movie. Then again, I'm a sucker for dog movies with happy endings.

 

[Swing Girl]

Had a bit of a WWII marathon over the weekend.

Started with Defiance (2008) starring Liev Schreiber, Daniel Craig, and Jamie Bell as the Bielski brothers of Belarus, three Jewish brothers who saved over a thousand Jewish refugees from Nazi extermination simply by hiding out and striking back at occupying Nazi soldiers and collaborators in the forests of then-Poland. I understand that the movie had some minor controversy in Poland due to capitulations that had to be made by the director in order to get more interest (read: money) from Hollywood investors, but the movie itself is beautifully filmed and the story it tell more than makes up for any historical inaccuracies. As well written as the story is, we also get fantastic performances from Schreiber, Craig, and Bell. All three had natural on screen chemistry, and performed extremely well in their roles. Would definitely recommend.

Then I watched A Bridge Too Far (1977) hosting an all star cast made up of James Caan, Michael Caine, Sean Connery, Elliott Gould, Gene Hackman, Anthony Hopkins, Laurence Olivier, and Robert Redford. It's slow to start, but after the first half hour, it becomes an incredibly enjoyable and high-action movie. It was amazing to see some of my favorite veteran actors, some of now who've passed, with such youthful complexions. The pacing really picked up once it did, and you could feel the tension of the operation's success hanging on the edge of a knife.

Then I moved on to Valkyrie (2008). I never found Tom Cruise believable in the role of Stauffenberg, especially considering how many English and German actors occupied the rest of the cast. Nevertheless, the movie has an incredible pacing that gets you right into the heart of the action. I have to say that the most amazing part of the entire movie is after Operation: Valkyrie is underway, and SS officers are being detained across Europe as the Wehrmacht rush in to prevent a coup de tat via the Nazi Party, and instead unknowingly engage in a coup against their own government. As report after report comes in to Stauffenberg and the other collaborators, you could almost believe they could pull it off. All the while, you're still aware that Hitler went out on his own terms with the Red Army closing in. The belief of success from the audience, even knowing how the war actually ends, is, I think, a mark of a truly successful historical drama. A movie like Valkyrie enthralls you into this entire world where you're cheering for Nazis, even if they are trying to bring about a peaceful resolution to a war that would eventually see the entirety of Berlin in ruins.

Next I watched The Pianist (2002) starring Adrien Brody. This movie is one of the most personal portrayals of the Jewish Holocaust I've ever seen. The lengths that Spielmann went to simply survive in a world where just about anybody of authority wanted him gone or dead was nothing less than miraculous. Even more so, is the raw portrayal of not just the plight of the Jewish people living in these conditions, but the emotions they were going through. From the anger stemming from confusion, to the fact that they complied if only because hope compelled them to believe that the next place they were herded to had to be better than where they already were. And the abominable fact that the Nazis eagerly preyed upon this hope.

I ended the marathon with Downfall (2004). I honestly thought I'd go into this movie thinking "F yeah, dead Nazis," but it was just so... depressing. Told from the words of Hitler's personal secretary, Traudl Junge, the movie portrays the waning days of Nazi Germany beginning at the Red Army's invasion of Berlin. The greatest shock to me was the abject denial that lived within Eva Braun and Adolf Hitler in these final days, and continued right up to almost their final hours. It was disturbing to watch as Eva Braun, in complete denial, threw bunker parties even as Soviet shells could be heard obliterating the city above, or Adolf rant and rave at his generals, still somehow believing there were reserves available, and this was just a minor setback on his quest for world domination. It was stranger still seeing Hitler's personal council of generals fighting their need to make Hitler aware of the reality of the situation - that Berlin could not be held in a siege, and their desire to simply escape Hitler's wrath at being told bad news and in turn the execution rifles. The most disgusting thing to watch were the flippant attitudes of Social Darwinism, and conniving, backstabbing behavior from Joseph Goebbels. If there was a man worse than Hitler, it may have been him. Not even Hitler went so far as to actively poison his own children. The man was a complete and utter monster.

Among the others I watched were Gladiator (2000) starring Russell Crowe and Juaquin Phoenix. Been a while since I seen this one, but I will always adore the recreated Ancient Rome, and beautiful composing from Hans Zimmer.

Then the exact last movie I'd watched was Sergeant Stubby - the 2018 animated film about the eponymous mascot of the 102nd Infantry during the first World War, and his heroics therein. I always adore this movie. Then again, I'm a sucker for dog movies with happy endings.

I've seen "A Bridge Too Far" and "Downfall" and liked both of them. I'll have to see the rest of these soon.

 

[Fading Fast]

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf form 1966 with Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, George Segal and Sandy Dennis

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf answers the never-asked-by-anyone question: what would a kitchen-sink drama look like with an overlay of pseudo college intellectualism?

It's answered, though, in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf's two-plus hours of history professor Richard Burton and his wife, the college president's daughter, Elizabeth Taylor, emotionally tearing into each other relentlessly, mercilessly and spitefully all in one looooooong drunken night from hell.

Along for the ride, and collateral damage, are young and new-to-the-college biology professor George Segal and his waif-like wife Sandy Dennis who "stop by'' for an introductory drink (welcome to the college guys). Why this couple didn't immediately take stock of the situation in that house from hell and say their thank you and goodbyes quickly is the real mystery of this movie.

Burton and Taylor's twenty-plus-year marriage has more than its share of emotional baggage and grievances: his career hasn't measured up to her and her father's expectations; his first (and only) book was selfishly kiboshed by her father; her father's money supports their lifestyle; their sex life is broken or non-existent and the core injury at the center of it all is the mysterious fate of their "son."

Fueled by a double-digit consumption of cocktails, Burton and Taylor rip into each other's psychological scar tissue, push every one of their emotional buttons and rehash every marital slight in round after round of battles that cycle through passive aggression, open hostility and, sometimes, physical violence.

Burton and Taylor expertly and with bad intent draw Segal and Dennis into this dysfunctional angerfest. As the night drags on, we eventually learn the younger couple has its own, and often similar, challenges: a marriage based on a lie, emasculating money issues (sound familiar), alcoholism (sound familiar) and sexual problems (sound familiar). And this is the up-and-coming couple with promise.

Taking place mainly in Taylor and Burton's clutter, unkempt and run-down Victorian (symbolism anyone) and with only four main characters, the movie feels very much like the Edward Albee play it is based on, which, for a movie, requires a lot of the actors.

The actors bring it. Taylor, Burton, Segal and Dennis are up for this demanding effort with each delivering an impressive performance including a vicious scene of Segal and Taylor cheating with Burton and Dennis left to furtively watch and listen (it's brutal).

By the time director Mike Nichols (who handles family dysfunction with a little more humor and hope in The Graduate) brings us to the big reveal about Burton and Taylor's son, there's so little left in anyone's emotional tank that it feels anticlimactic.

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf is smart, well acted, skillfully directed and emotionally impactful. Still, your experience with this movie comes down to whether or not you want to see lives torn open with all their emotional baggage exposed, analyzed, mocked and left raw.


N.B., Taylor and Burton, as the older couple, are supposed to be about fifteen or so years older than Dennis and Segal and they easily look it. But proving how hard she lived her real life, Taylor, in actuality, is all of two years older than Segal.

 

[MisterCairo]

Once again, almost embarrassed to admit after the wonderful lists above, that I watched Weird Science last night.

Had not seen this since probably 1989. Had no idea the jerk brother, Chet, was played by Bill Paxton, and that Robert Downey Jr., looking literally pretty, was in it. Did not see Iron Man in this film!

John Hughes 1980s teen romp, nothing more.

Two words though - Kelly LeBrock... had no idea she is half Canadian...

 

[Fading Fast]

PSA: For noir fans, TCM has two really good ones coming up this afternoon (Eastern Time).

"Detour" (comments here: #28367) at 3pm


Followed by "Gun Crazy" (Comments here: #27691) at 4:15pm

 

[1967Cougar390]

I watched Detour 1945 this afternoon. It’s a great film noir tale of love lost and trouble found seemingly at every turn.

Sue postpones her marriage to Al and leaves for the bright lights of Los Angeles; soon followed by her boyfriend and pianist. As Al sets out on his hitchhiking, cross-country journey he catches a ride that seems almost to good to be true. After the friendly stranger, Charles Haskell pulls into a diner and buys them both dinner, they continue their journey with Al driving. As rain starts to fall, Al stops to put up the convertible top. Haskell does not wake up and Al opens the door to check on him. Haskell falls out and strikes his head on a rock killing him. Al panics and thinks nobody would believe his story, so he hides Haskell’s body and assumes Haskell’s identity for the remainder of the trip to Los Angeles. Al picks up a mean but beautiful hitchhiker named Vera, both will live and die to regret the decision. Al did not know that the mysterious Vera had already hitched a ride with the real Haskell and she basically holds him prisoner by threatening to go to the police if Al does not do as she says.

The performance is strong by each of the actors. If you have a chance, be sure to watch Detour.


Steven

 

[Zombie_61]

Once again, almost embarrassed to admit after the wonderful lists above, that I watched Weird Science last night...

That's okay. I've been refraining from mentioning I watched Fiend Without a Face (1958) earlier this week.

 

[MisterCairo]

Looking for not too taxing material to view while working out and on the treadmill.

Have now seen First Blood and Rambo First Blood 2.

 

[Fading Fast]

Test Pilot from 1938 with Clark Gable, Myrna Loy and Spencer Tracy

Even under the restrictive Motion Picture Production Code, some genuine and intense movies, like Test Pilot, were made.

Clark Gable is a hard-drinking, hard-living, womanizing star test pilot at a time when that career all but equaled early death. With his best friend and mechanic, dour Spencer Tracy, these returning World War I vets bounce around the country in the 1920s testing new planes and trying to break records while spending more than they make.

It's all fun and games until Gable has to make an emergency landing in Kansas where he meets whip-smart and super-cute farm-girl Myrna Loy. After the flirting and denial, they marry and, with Tracy in tow, move to New York where Gable continues his test-pilot career.

The movie now subtly shifts focus from Gable to Loy, a woman in love with a man who goes off to a job everyday that could easily kill him. Despite, most of the time, putting up a brave face, the pressure is slowly breaking Loy.

But Loy gets that she's no match for Gable's true love - flying. She knows she doesn't have to compete with another woman for his affections, but worse, she has to compete with the entire blue sky. She knows if she makes him choose, either way, she'll lose, as to take away the sky would be to kill the man.

So, day after day, week after week, she smiles outwardly while dying inside. When another test pilot is killed in a crash, she cracks a bit, but has no choice but to buck up one more time or lose her husband. So, once again, out comes the smile. When Tracy compliments her on her fortitude, her answer, "It's easy to be gallant when you're doomed," reveals the desperation of her mental state.

Movies then, and even now, are often about the pre-marital dance - the chase - or the post-marital stress - the affair. But in Test Pilot, Loy and Gable's marriage is engaging because we see a good marriage stressed to the limit by external forces. As in The Thin Man series, Loy manages to make marriage not the goal of life, but the fun and exciting thing in life itself.

Test Pilot is engaging because it asks a powerful question: how do you survive - how do you hold up mentally - when you love someone who chooses to tempt fate every day?

All this takes place amidst fantastic flight scenes that are still pretty captivating today, but must have been amazing in 1938. The wrap up is too easy, but audiences even then could tell when the Motion Picture Production Code was at work.


N.B. #1 When Clark Gable is at his worst and just mugging it for the camera (which he does from time to time), he's still a rich man's Robert Taylor.

N.B. #2 Under the code, many things were verboten to show on screen, but having too many drinks and wearing too few bras were allowed. QED, Gable for the first and Myrna Loy for the second in Test Pilot.

 

[Zombie_61]

Looking for not too taxing material to view while working out and on the treadmill.

Have now seen First Blood and Rambo First Blood 2.

Unless you're really enjoying the franchise, if you haven't seen it yet you can skip Rambo III (1988). Col. Trautman is captured and held prisoner by Soviet forces in Afghanistan, and Rambo goes in to rescue him; it's just more of the same and doesn't really add much to the overall story. Rambo (2008) finds him back in southeast Asia, where he's "convinced" to rescue Christian aid workers from "the bad guys" in Burma. It's also more of the same, but doesn't pull punches with the violence and at 92 minutes it's not going to waste much of your time. I can't advise you on Rambo: Last Blood (2019) because I haven't seen it yet for reasons too numerous and unimportant to explain.

 

[MisterCairo]

"I watched this film so you don't have to" - Part 3

Netflix original film "Polar".

Based on a web based graphic novel, it has an interesting premise. A firm of assasins retires its killers at 50. Retirement is actually just that at first, saving up funds which are paid out in one lump sum then a pension for life to compensate for the forced retirement.

Mads Mikkelsen is retiring, expecting 8 million up front. He is not aware that the owner, played by the repulsive Matt Lucas (Little Britain), is selling, and increasing the value by having the soon to retire hit men really "retired", that is, killed off, thus retaining their pension funds.

I can say the film improved as it went along, with a nice twist in the story. Mads is good, Lucas simply awful as the baddy, cartoonish in fact. Vanessa Hudgens and the glorious Katheryn Winnick from Vikings are good in their roles, but it is sadly bad for two thirds of the film.

Clearly filmed in Toronto, rural Ontario with some British Columbia thrown in, the visuals are off set by relatively poor production values overall.

The reviews are awful, but this 2019 film may have sequels, as Mikkelsen is a huge graphic novel fan and the director is keen to continue the stories. It ends in a way that telegraphs a sequel.

Unless you have literally nothing to do - do not watch this film.

 

[Julian Shellhammer]

On Thursday, it was Gun Crazy (1950), and last night it was Operation Mad Ball (1957). The Missus sort of remembered seeing Gun Crazy, but watched it again. I raved about the camera set ups, the long takes, and so on. Then she chose last night's movie, which I don't think either of us had ever seen before. Think of the frantic tempo of His Girl Friday, with its convoluted plot, and flip dialogue, and you have a rough idea of the movie. The character played by Mickey Rooney appears to be misusing pharmaceuticals.

 

[Fading Fast]

The Flirting Widow from 1930 with Dorothy MacKaill and Basil Rathbone

Watching a "talkie" from 1930 is a bit like driving a car from 1910: you need a different approach and it takes more work, but it can be a heck of a lot of fun.

The Flirting Widow still has silent-movie tics, is in need of restoration and feels more like they play it's based on than a movie. But if you push through all that, it provides a solid just over an hour of entertainment driven by the verve and chemistry of early talky stars Dorothy MacKaill and Basil Rathbone.

MacKaill is the unmarried oldest-of-three daughters of a wealthy family where the father won't let the younger daughters marry until MacKaill marries (a rule he follows more in word than deed).

When cute-as-heck MacKaill first appears, she's dressed in manish clothes with a boy's short haircut, signally, though never said, she's probably not interested in marrying a man. Owing to her father's "rule," this is quite the problem for the middle sister who's itching to marry her boyfriend.

With everyone pressuring MacKaill to marry effete and boring-as-heck family friend Raleigh to solve the problem (if I had a daughter and she brought Raleigh home, I'd shoot one or both of them), she makes up a fiancé in the military whom she says just deployed to India. The family then pressures her to write him a letter (yes, her family is annoying), so she mails Colonel "John Smith" a love note.

Having solved that problem for all of one second, MacKaill then puts a death notice in the paper to extricate herself from the engagement to her made-up colonel. But MacKaill can't catch a break as her letter, by chance, finds a real Colonel John Smith, Basil Rathbone, in India.

Worse for MacKaill, Rathbone, a few weeks later, shows up at her house masquerading as a friend of Colonel John Smith in order to learn what the heck is going on. He quickly susses out what MacKaill did and then mischievously spends the rest of the movie trolling her in front of her family.

You can pretty much guess what happens from here: two hints, MacKaill's earlier gender-bending getup was a feint and Rathbone's goading is covering up his real feelings. Sure, the movie is old, dated and clunky, but Rathbone teasing MacKaill feels modern, real and, most importantly, you believe the two stars had fun filming it. It takes a little adjusting to, but these early talking pictures can still deliver entertainment today.


N.B. Dorothy MacKaill is my favorite "lost" early movie star as she had it all - looks, acting talent and whatever it is that makes someone a star. Check out Safe in Hell (comments here: #27097) to see full-throttle MacKaill completely driving a movie.



@Swing Girl: I believe you mentioned Rathbone is your favorite actor. If so, you'd enjoy The Flirting Widow as he's a hoot teasing the heck out of MacKaill while the two fall in love.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Basil Rathbone fans should check out Basil Rathbone: Master of Stage and Screen !

Last night's flick was Beowulf & Grendel from 2005, with Gerard Butler as Beowulf and Stellan Skarsgard as King Hrothgar.



No doubt greenlighted in the fantasy boom that followed the huge success of the LOTR trilogy, this version of the story removes most of the supernatural elements, similarly to its contemporary Troy (Grendel is essentially a human giant, not a monster... though his mother is still a sea hag), and adds some unusual touches (Sarah Polley as a witch who knows Grendel's history, um, intimately). It sets the story in 500, at the start of the Christianization of Northern Europe and adds a priest (Eddie Marsan) who's not a target of Grendel's wrath. Another familiar face is Rory McCann (Game of Thrones' The Hound) as one of Beowulf's warriors

Shot in Iceland on a modest budget, there's no CGI or model work, and not as much action as you'd expect, but it has a great look that's suitably age-of-monsters. And the dialog includes reasonably mature considerations of concepts like family, vengeance, belief, friendship, and heroism. Skarsgard is typically good, if a bit too Theoden King-weakened-by-Saruman after his hall's been attacked repeatedly. Butler is also good, surprisingly thoughtful and restrained compared to his large-ham bellowing as King Leonidas a couple of years later.

I liked it. It's definitely better than the freaky Zemeckis animated version of around the same time, and would make a good double feature with The 13th Warrior, which it resembles somewhat in being a more "realistic" take on Beowulf.

 

[Swing Girl]

View attachment 336754
The Flirting Widow from 1930 with Dorothy MacKaill and Basil Rathbone

Watching a "talkie" from 1930 is a bit like driving a car from 1910: you need a different approach and it takes more work, but it can be a heck of a lot of fun.

The Flirting Widow still has silent-movie tics, is in need of restoration and feels more like they play it's based on than a movie. But if you push through all that, it provides a solid just over an hour of entertainment driven by the verve and chemistry of early talky stars Dorothy MacKaill and Basil Rathbone.

MacKaill is the unmarried oldest-of-three daughters of a wealthy family where the father won't let the younger daughters marry until MacKaill marries (a rule he follows more in word than deed).

When cute-as-heck MacKaill first appears, she's dressed in manish clothes with a boy's short haircut, signally, though never said, she's probably not interested in marrying a man. Owing to her father's "rule," this is quite the problem for the middle sister who's itching to marry her boyfriend.

With everyone pressuring MacKaill to marry effete and boring-as-heck family friend Raleigh to solve the problem (if I had a daughter and she brought Raleigh home, I'd shoot one or both of them), she makes up a fiancé in the military whom she says just deployed to India. The family then pressures her to write him a letter (yes, her family is annoying), so she mails Colonel "John Smith" a love note.

Having solved that problem for all of one second, MacKaill then puts a death notice in the paper to extricate herself from the engagement to her made-up colonel. But MacKaill can't catch a break as her letter, by chance, finds a real Colonel John Smith, Basil Rathbone, in India.

Worse for MacKaill, Rathbone, a few weeks later, shows up at her house masquerading as a friend of Colonel John Smith in order to learn what the heck is going on. He quickly susses out what MacKaill did and then mischievously spends the rest of the movie trolling her in front of her family.

You can pretty much guess what happens from here: two hints, MacKaill's earlier gender-bending getup was a feint and Rathbone's goading is covering up his real feelings. Sure, the movie is old, dated and clunky, but Rathbone teasing MacKaill feels modern, real and, most importantly, you believe the two stars had fun filming it. It takes a little adjusting to, but these early talking pictures can still deliver entertainment today.


N.B. Dorothy MacKaill is my favorite "lost" early movie star as she had it all - looks, acting talent and whatever it is that makes someone a star. Check out Safe in Hell (comments here: #27097) to see full-throttle MacKaill completely driving a movie.
View attachment 336755


@Swing Girl: I believe you mentioned Rathbone is your favorite actor. If so, you'd enjoy The Flirting Widow as he's a hoot teasing the heck out of MacKaill while the two fall in love.

This sounds great! I'll try to get ahold of it somehow.

Basil Rathbone fans should check out Basil Rathbone: Master of Stage and Screen !

Last night's flick was Beowulf & Grendel from 2005, with Gerard Butler as Beowulf and Stellan Skarsgard as King Hrothgar.

View attachment 336760

No doubt greenlighted in the fantasy boom that followed the huge success of the LOTR trilogy, this version of the story removes most of the supernatural elements, similarly to its contemporary Troy (Grendel is essentially a human giant, not a monster... though his mother is still a sea hag), and adds some unusual touches (Sarah Polley as a witch who knows Grendel's history, um, intimately). It sets the story in 500, at the start of the Christianization of Northern Europe and adds a priest (Eddie Marsan) who's not a target of Grendel's wrath. Another familiar face is Rory McCann (Game of Thrones' The Hound) as one of Beowulf's warriors

Shot in Iceland on a modest budget, there's no CGI or model work, and not as much action as you'd expect, but it has a great look that's suitably age-of-monsters. And the dialog includes reasonably mature considerations of concepts like family, vengeance, belief, friendship, and heroism. Skarsgard is typically good, if a bit too Theoden King-weakened-by-Saruman after his hall's been attacked repeatedly. Butler is also good, surprisingly thoughtful and restrained compared to his large-ham bellowing as King Leonidas a couple of years later.

I liked it. It's definitely better than the freaky Zemeckis animated version of around the same time, and would make a good double feature with The 13th Warrior, which it resembles somewhat in being a more "realistic" take on Beowulf.

This is a very cool site. Thanks for the link!

 

[Harp]

Had a bit of a WWII marathon over the weekend.

Then I watched A Bridge Too Far (1977) hosting an all star cast made up of James Caan, Michael Caine, Sean Connery, Elliott Gould, Gene Hackman, Anthony Hopkins, Laurence Olivier, and Robert Redford. It's slow to start, but after the first half hour, it becomes an incredibly enjoyable and high-action movie. It was amazing to see some of my favorite veteran actors, some of now who've passed, with such youthful complexions. The pacing really picked up once it did, and you could feel the tension of the operation's success hanging on the edge of a knife..

Market Garden was a poorly planned operation and a classic example of how airborne were incorrectly employed.
Why the brass failed to order a drop on the damn bridge instead of accepting casualties in favor of a further zone is
still cause for barracks swearing whenever discussed.

 

[Edward]

This weekend I watched the latest 'Dead' flick. The first post-Romero film that is directly linked to the Romero franchise. (I do think it a shame they didn't have a zombie George lookalike in there, I think he'd have appreciated it...) Zack Snyder in the big chair. Snyder's previous remake of Romero's Dawn of the Dead (produced by Romero) received mixed reviews, though I rather liked it myself. Although not as seminal as the original, it was a nice update on the story with some interesting comments of its own on consumer and celebrity culture. I also thought it extremely clever that those who left as the credits began to roll got a very different ending than those of us who stayed.

Snyder's return to the franchise for Army of the Dead has gone straight to Netflix because of the pandemic (it actually predates the pandemic itself, though naturally this hasn't stopped all sort of conspiracy theory interpretations!). The set-up is a really nice mix of strong genre narratives, picking up on Romero's themes in Land of the Dead about the zombies evolving, or at least some of them, and a heist picture. And at least one Elvis Zombie. It is set in Vegas... Lots of fun, highly recommended for anyone with a passing interest in the genre. Lots of great characters (about evenly split gender-wise; interestingly one actor was dropped owing to some scandal or other, and his role was recast "genderblind", now played as female).

 

[Harp]

View attachment 336195
I watched Detour 1945 this afternoon. It’s a great film noir tale of love lost and trouble found seemingly at every turn.

Sue postpones her marriage to Al and leaves for the bright lights of Los Angeles; soon followed by her boyfriend and pianist. As Al sets out on his hitchhiking, cross-country journey he catches a ride that seems almost to good to be true. After the friendly stranger, Charles Haskell pulls into a diner and buys them both dinner, they continue their journey with Al driving. As rain starts to fall, Al stops to put up the convertible top. Haskell does not wake up and Al opens the door to check on him. Haskell falls out and strikes his head on a rock killing him. Al panics and thinks nobody would believe his story, so he hides Haskell’s body and assumes Haskell’s identity for the remainder of the trip to Los Angeles. Al picks up a mean but beautiful hitchhiker named Vera, both will live and die to regret the decision. Al did not know that the mysterious Vera had already hitched a ride with the real Haskell and she basically holds him prisoner by threatening to go to the police if Al does not do as she says.

The performance is strong by each of the actors. If you have a chance, be sure to watch Detour.


Steven

Ann Savage cast as the wicked witch in The Wizard of Oz would've driven all the munchkin Lollipop Guild guys crazy.

In Detour she is the focus and until I saw this film never considered how the Code interfered with artistic form.