What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[AmateisGal]

Actually, I considered it to be the best one since the first film. I liked all of them well enough, but... a Pirates film with Johnny Depp and all the great things about the first three, and shorn of drippy Orlando and that awful Kiera Knightley? GENIUS.

I was bored stiff. I couldn't make it through the first half hour.

 

[Formeruser012523]

^ :eeek:

Actually I think it took me about that long to get over how happy I was that Bloom & Knightley weren't in it.

 

[Edward]

lol Me too...

Last night, I watched The Rite (enjoyable bit of sub-Exorcist fluff) on TV, and Doghouse on DVD. The latter was much less creepily misogynistic than I had feared it might be, even if it was less slanted the other direction than I would have preferred.

 

[minkowski1552]

Four Feathers

 

[Miss Golightly]

Black Dahlia - Terrible, terrible movie - an incomprehensible and plodding plot, hammy/poor acting (in particular the robotic Josh Hartnett), the film seemed to jump all over the place and at the beginning I found the dialogue so hard to follow. I began reading the book by James Ellroy some time ago and decided I didn't like his writing style (I did however read his two autobiographies - My Dark Places was superb but it's follow up not so much) but I had some hope for this movie - that all the bad reviews were somehow wrong. They weren't but in a way I'm glad I saw it but sorry I wasted an evening on it.

 

[Chasseur]

Black Dahlia - Terrible, terrible movie - an incomprehensible and plodding plot, hammy/poor acting (in particular the robotic Josh Hartnett), the film seemed to jump all over the place and at the beginning I found the dialogue so hard to follow. I began reading the book by James Ellroy some time ago and decided I didn't like his writing style (I did however read his two autobiographies - My Dark Places was superb but it's follow up not so much) but I had some hope for this movie - that all the bad reviews were somehow wrong. They weren't but in a way I'm glad I saw it but sorry I wasted an evening on

Yes its amazingly bad. It seemed more like a cable TV feature than an actual movie. Both Josh Hartnett and Hillary Swank were badly miscast... Hillary Swank should just never be used in a role that requires her to be a seductress/femme fatale, she just cannot pull it off (see the mediocre The Affair of the Necklace for an even worse example where is supposed to be an 18th century seductress :eusa_doh:...). However, I'd like to see Scarlett Johansson in another Golden Age film, she was wasted in this one.

 

[Touchofevil]

Currently, on EncoreSuspense, "Dragnet" from 1954.

 

[ButteMT61]

We saw The Highest Pass yesterday in Pasadena. The producer and "Annand" were there as well as some other technical folks. It's a great movie. As a motorcyclist and someone looking for more meaning in life, I (we) found it very enjoyable. Recommended.

 

[jamespowers]

Yes, and an under-rated film when it comes to Welles' "canon."

Just saw The Black Book (a.k.a. The Reign of Terror), and Scene of the Crime, both from '49 and both featuring Arlene Dahl, at the Film Noir Festival at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. Enjoyed the two of them, although I'm not sure I would call either one Noir. The first, directed by Anthony Mann, filmed by John Alton and released by Eagle-Lion, dealt with the French Reign of Terror, and the end of Robespierre (played very well by Richard Basehart). It was "interesting," to say the least, to see Charles McGraw in the role of a French Hussar; some reviewer referred to McGraw, with his scraggly beard and longish hair, as looking like the leader of a French biker gang. The actor who stole all the scenes he was in, though, was Arnold Moss as Fouche'. He had a natural, almost flippant style that was unique for the time, and is almost a dead ringer for actor Adrien Brody. Intriguing film by Mann/Alton, although most of the actors looked Anglo-Saxon rather than French. The second film dealt with a L.A. detective (Van Johnson) out to avenge the death of another officer, with some of the scenes filmed on location, others on the MGM backlot; not remarkable, but with a great cast including Gloria DeHaven, Tom Powers, Leon Ames, Tom Drake, Anthony Caruso, Jerome Cowan, and Romo Vincent (as "Hippo"). (One interesting scene dealt with a Black shoeshine man who gives Johnson's character some information: the former, despite his race and position, is presented as an intelligent, articulate person, who refers to the detective by his first name. Kind of a rarity for the time.)

The highlight of the evening was listening to the remarks of an actor who appeared in both films (very memorably in the second), Mr. Norman Lloyd (and who sat right in front of me). He told stories of working with Orson Welles in the Mercury Theatre, with Alfred Hitchcock, and of his times as an actor, director, and producer, in the venues of stage, screen, and television. Great memory for a seasoned veteran 97 years old!

I saw one of your favorite Poverty Row producing companies. The film was Detour.

"In flashback, New York nightclub pianist Al Roberts hitchhikes to Hollywood to join his girl Sue. On a rainy night, the sleazy gambler he's riding with mysteriously dies; afraid of the police, Roberts takes the man's identity. But thanks to a blackmailing dame, Roberts' every move plunges him deeper into trouble..."

Talk about plot twists and turns.:eusa_doh:
It was another Claudia Drake movie too.

 

[Formeruser012523]

Four Feathers

Ugh. Zzzz....

 

[Cousin Hepcat]

Black Dahlia - Terrible, terrible movie

Yes its amazingly bad.

Agreed - bad to the point of being depressing to watch, not even due to the storyline.

On the other hand, recently saw on Netflix Streaming, the "B" movie comedy/Mystery/Romance flick "Detective Kitty O'Day" (1944) (Not to be confused with the not-as-good 1945 sequel, "The Adventures of Kitty O'Day"), and LOVED it! I disagree wholeheartedly with the IMDB rating of 5.3/10 from 67 users. I think if you liked "Bringing Up Baby" an/dor "Holiday" both with Grant & Hepburn, and you've got Netflix streaming and 61 minutes to spare, you should lower your expectations from the former two mentioned Grant & Hepburn movies, give it a whirl, and be pleasantly suprised.

 

[AmateisGal]

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - the Daniel Craig version. I've read all of the books and I saw all three Swedish movies. This remake pales in comparison to all of them.

 

[VictorJSimental]

I watched The Avengers yesterday. Its awesome.

 

[Flicka]

The da Vinci Code on tv - by accident (while sewing a hat). I loathed the book so it wasn't a big surprise that I didn't like the movie. Hadn't expected the absolutely cringe-worthy cheesiness though. It didn't really help that I can't stand Tom Hanks.

Audrey Tatou and Ian McKellen, what were you thinking??

 

[Chasseur]

The da Vinci Code on tv - by accident (while sewing a hat). I loathed the book so it wasn't a big surprise that I didn't like the movie. Hadn't expected the absolutely cringe-worthy cheesiness though. It didn't really help that I can't stand Tom Hanks.

Audrey Tatou and Ian McKellen, what were you thinking??

That film was awful. I have to admit when I was on a long plane flight I read the book and it was so bad that it actually proved somewhat amusing. Like a reading version of watching a B film.

 

[Edward]

The da Vinci Code on tv - by accident (while sewing a hat). I loathed the book so it wasn't a big surprise that I didn't like the movie. Hadn't expected the absolutely cringe-worthy cheesiness though. It didn't really help that I can't stand Tom Hanks.

Audrey Tatou and Ian McKellen, what were you thinking??

Of the paycheque most likely. It possibly also appealed to Ian McKellan on grounds of the subject matter. He is vociferously opposed to Christianity (hardly a surprise, given the prejudice he must have suffered at the hands of many of my co-religionists, some of whom sadly still preach hatred towards the gay community). I have read some articles which noted how it upset him when some fans approached him and wanted to talk about the Christian underpinnings of Lord of the Rings: Tolkien was explicit in his own letters that his greatest work was a Christian apology, and perhaps most prominent among all the Biblical references is the character of Gandalf, a clear allegory to Christ. By portraying a character associated with being "anti-Christian" (they play it down a bit in the film, but in the book Leigh Teabing is very bitterly anti-Christian), perhaps he felt he could distance himself from that a bit.

As regards the Da Vinci Code itself, well. I read the book a couple of years ago, as much as anything because I knew it would cause a stir in some of the circles in which I move, and because among others I knew I would be expected to have an opinion on it - which I felt should be informed. The book is a cracking yarn, badly told. The story held my attention, but Brown's prose is simply awful. I actually thought the film was a little better, as the narrative seemed to flow more easily - the book was very clumsy in that respect. It was also interesting to see how they downplayed some of the plot points in the book, such as the ending. In the book, as memory serves, the female lead is confirmed to be an actual descendant of Christ, whereas in the film it is left much more open. A number of plot points which might have been interpreted as "anti-Christian" were toned down or excised for the film - notably, there are a couple of pages in the book in which Teabing explicitly refers to the crucifixion as a fiction in very disparaging tones - that is completely absent in the film. Presumably these changes were made for commercial reasons.

Yesterday I spent the day lazing around in the hotel after a long teaching week ended on Saturday. I watched Daddy Daycare (not my kind of thing, but I've seen much worse), Gattica (again; enjoyed it), Just Go With It and No Strings Attached. The latter I would never normally have touched, as I loathe how rom coms are so painfully predictable - almost as predictable as real life, but in the other direction. I correctly surmised the plot of each from the title and TV spot trailer. Screamingly formulaic. JUst once I'd like to see a mainstream, Hollywood film where they don't end up together, where they do part in the bitterest of ways. 500 Days of Summer almost did it, but then they went and ruined it by feeling the need to introduce a possible new love interest right at the end (the same way they sold out Duckie's integrity in Pretty in Pink).

 

[Miss Golightly]

Yes its amazingly bad. It seemed more like a cable TV feature than an actual movie. Both Josh Hartnett and Hillary Swank were badly miscast... Hillary Swank should just never be used in a role that requires her to be a seductress/femme fatale, she just cannot pull it off (see the mediocre The Affair of the Necklace for an even worse example where is supposed to be an 18th century seductress :eusa_doh:...). However, I'd like to see Scarlett Johansson in another Golden Age film, she was wasted in this one.

I agree - Swank's performance was bordering on creepy - she just can't do Femme Fatale. I found Johansson's turn a bit OTT - particularly in the scene at the gym where she swans in with her cigarette holder - it was all too full on.

 

[AmateisGal]

I watched The Avengers yesterday. Its awesome.

I can't WAIT to see this one!!!

 

[Miss Golightly]

The Bridge

 

[Feraud]

Last movie watched was Mutiny on the Bounty ('62 version) with Trevor Howard, Marlon Brando, and Richard Harris. Historical accuracy aside I was hoping Capt. Bligh would make it back to Tahiti and hunt down that foppish Fletcher Christian!

I recorded the 1942 movie The Falcon Takes Over on TCM . George Sanders stars (he was later replaced in the series by his brother) in what seems to be the first filming of the Raymond Chandler story Farewell My Lovely. The film is apparently overshadowed by next year's excellent Murder My Sweet by Edward Dmytryk.
Apparently Hollywood's fever for remakes is nothing new.