What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[Miss Golightly]

That movie was depressing, and Kevorkian.....made me want to shoot myself about half way through it. The book from the 30's is worse. Did you like it?

I can't say that I enjoyed the movie - I'm not sure it's the kind of movie that you could enjoy - it is depressing and relentlessly bleak. I found certain scenes particularly harrowing - the pregnant woman lurching around the dancefloor, the derby, the desperation of the characters performing for pennies. I didn't really engage with any of the main characters or their stories (the characters on the periphery of the tale were more sympathetic I felt) but it was constantly in the back of my mind that this was based on fact which I find really disturbing. Watching real life footage of these marathons has always reminded me of the Stephen King novel The Long Walk. I can't say that I would watch it again.

 

[Rudie]

I just saw African Queen for the first time. Loved every minute of it.

 

[DanielJones]

Crocodile Dundee II this afternoon. Haven't seen that one in a very long time. Forgot how fun it was.

Cheers!

Dan

 

[Widebrim]

Film Noir

Just watched Fallen Angel, with Dana Andrews, Alice Faye, Linda Darnell, Charles Bickford, Bruce Cabot, with John Carradine in a small role, and produced/directed by Preminger. It's about a fast-working drifter (Andrews) who lands up in a small California town and gets involved with local "fun" girl, Darnell. The latter wants security before she'll marry anyone, so Andrews warms up to a local rich girl (Faye), hoping to get some of her dough.

This is a film which I think sometimes gets lost in the shuffle, due to Preminger's/Andrews' success with Laura a year earlier. The plot isn't novel, but still held my interest, mainly due to the performances of the principals. The Preminger "mark," is not that evident as in Laura or his later films, but scenes and camera set-ups are well-composed; the lighting and use of actual and studio sets were also pretty well done. Andrews' character, to me, isn't always believeable, but he turned in good a performance. (Andrews had a certain way of furrowing his brow, and slightly squinting his eyes which were effective in conveying a change in thoughts--see Where the Sidewalk Ends.) Although Faye was cast against type (as was Andrews), I think that she was good in a role which mostly asks her to be passive and trusting of a guy she hardly knows. Linda Darnell was very good (and beautiful) as the waitress-floozy who keeps a stable of admirers, and it was hard to believe that this was the innocent girl from The Mark of Zorro. Cabot was kind of wasted in a secondary role which he sleep-walked through, Carradine was his usual theatrical self, and Bickford (in a role with a twist) was credible as a tough cop.

 

[Miss Golightly]

Just watched Fallen Angel, with Dana Andrews, Alice Faye, Linda Darnell, Charles Bickford, Bruce Cabot, with John Carradine in a small role, and produced/directed by Preminger. It's about a fast-working drifter (Andrews) who lands up in a small California town and gets involved with local "fun" girl, Darnell. The latter wants security before she'll marry anyone, so Andrews warms up to a local rich girl (Faye), hoping to get some of her dough.

I saw this a few weeks ago thanks to a Film Noir boxset I got - I hadn't seen it before (nor had I even seen Linda Darnell in a movie before either - she's stunning) and really enjoyed it although I felt the ending was kind of rushed.

 

[W-D Forties]

Just watched Terrence Davies's 'Of Time and the City'. A rather lovely love letter to a city.

On New Years Eve I introduced my 11 year old son to 'Night Of The Demon' with Dana Andrews and Peggy Cummings. A great film, I first saw it at about his age and loved it (even the slightly shonky demon). To think it was an X / R rated on release and now it's a PG - how times have changed!

 

[Dapper Dave]

Out of the Past with Robert Mitchum 1948. Great film noir movie.

 

[BinkieBaumont]

I watched "To Be or Not to Be" Mel Brooks

[video=youtube;IW_zIbkE788]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW_zIbkE788&feature=related[/video]

 

[Lefty]

Dinner for Schmucks - how many times can this plot be recycled?
Taxi Driver - still crazy
Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work - a pretty great documentary of a woman I'd never want to cross

 

[FStephenMasek]

It's A Wonderful Life.

 

[dhermann1]

Just now watching the ORIGINAL State Fair on TCM, with Jeanne Crain, Dana Andrews, Dick Haymes, Vivian Blaine, and a wonderful cameo from the great Harry Morgan. And the lush gorgeous music if Rodgers and Hammerstein. Just appreciating the great art direction and costumes. Jeanne Crain and Vivian Blaine show up in a different outfit in every scene.

 

[Widebrim]

Finally saw Dick Powell in Cry Danger. I'm a Powell fan, and so liked this one quite a bit. Even though he didn't play a detective, as in Murder, My Sweet, Powell still had to do a lot detecting as a man trying to find out who framed him for a robbery. Rhonda Fleming played his duplicitous ex-flame, now-married to the other man sent up the river for the robbery, and William Conrad was the "60% legitimate" heavy who framed Powell. As usual for his crime/noir films, Powell was tight-lipped and wise-cracking. A large part of the film's appeal, at least for me, was its Los Angeles setting; you first see Powell getting off a train at Union Station, he then hangs around a trailer park in what was Bunker Hill, and for the rest of the film you see him driving/walking quite a bit through downtown. (It's also rumored that Powell directed the film, but gave director credit to Robert Parish.)

 

[Miss Golightly]

Bruno

 

[Doctor Strange]

The latest Hayao Miyazaki film, Ponyo.

Aimed at a younger audience than his more sophisticated films - it's more like My Neighbor Totoro than Spirited Away or Princess Mononoke - but still dazzling and transporting. Even my cynical college-student son was transfixed. A massively charming and beautiful film: its unbridled imagination and childlike sincerity effectively overcome its somewhat sloppy narrative.

(That's "somewhat sloppy" for Miyazaki. As one reviewer memorably put it: "This is a 3-star vs. 4-star film only in terms of going against Miyazaki's own previous efforts... it would be a 4-star film by any other director.")

 

[VitaminG]

Wet Hot American Summer

 

[Akubra Man]

Watched Salt with my teenage daughter. Angelina Jolie can carry an action movie by herself. It helped having a few good supporting actors along with her but she did carry the movie.

 

[scottyrocks]

Black Swan

 

[anon`]

Got my first semester grades on Friday. Being the last piece of my first semester to fall into place, I celebrated by finally watching The Paper Chase.

Nowhere near as depressing as my fellow students seem to believe, and I loved the fact the Professor Kingsfield taught contracts. I think I was having flashbacks!

 

[Harp]

Black Swan

...any impressions?????opcorn:

 

[MissMittens]

Bruno

OMG!! After preparing for the gross factor, I watched it in the movies. Absolutely hilarious. He managed to upset both the anti-gay and gay community all at once. Comic genius