What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[Worf]

The fascinating HBO documentary Underfire: The Untold Story of Pfc. Tony Vaccaro. The incredible true story of a WWII GI who did the whole Band of Brothers experience, Omaha Beach to Germany... and photographed all of it while actively engaged in battle, shooting thousands of 35mm negatives with an Argus C3. And he's still here today, mind and body still sharp, revisiting the sites of his photos. His pictures capture the ground-level GI experience of the war in remarkable detail... and he's also a very skilled photographer generally: his portraits and found images are great. Highly recommended for WWII buffs, photography geeks, and, really, anybody:

http://tonyvaccarofilm.com/

We saw this the other night. Fantastic... moving and totally genuine. The last three photographs he discussed in detail moved me to tears. The dead soldier, the dead woman and the children.... my God what a story...

Worf

 

[Touchofevil]

We took the girls and our niece Olivia to see Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. We were really impressed by it, and the vintage (1926) imagery only added to the appeal for me!

Looks entertaining at least visually. It is on our list of possibly.

 

[Touchofevil]

Star Trek Beyond

 

[Zombie_61]

The fascinating HBO documentary Underfire: The Untold Story of Pfc. Tony Vaccaro...

Found, and set to record on Tuesday morning. Thanks!

 

[Fading Fast]

"Magic Town" staring James Stewart and Jane Wyman (she always leaves me cold, I can almost feel the temperature in a room drop when she walks in). An odd movie that starts off with Stewart as a pollster trying to find the Holy Grail of polling - a town that represents America writ large. When he does, he moves there, uses subterfuge to ingratiate himself into the community and then sells their opinions unbeknownst to the town members.

When he is discovered by a local news editor / reporter (Wyman), she exposes him and the town is overrun by everyone - more pollsters, advertisers, people wanting to live there, etc., which causes a boom and, then, when the realization that the town's value as representative of America is adulterated, a bust.

Here the movies almost switches gears into being "It's a Wonderful Life," where all the townspeople put their self interest and monetary concerns aside to come together to rebuild the town and its spirit by all pitching in to build a civic center and high school.

Despite being uneven, too long and ridiculously idealistic at the end, it is interesting as a movie curio that I had never seen or heard about before (caught it on "Movies" not "TCM"). Stewart does his usual solid job with modest material this time, the time-travel to "average town" USA in the late '40s is Fedora fun and the cockeyed plot is engaging enough to make it worth seeing.

 

[Fading Fast]

"Confessions of a Nazi Spy"

A well-done propaganda film whose most interesting fact is that it was made in '39, two years before the US' entry in WWII. But despite its early date, the film goes full-on in its anti-Nazi screed. As opposed to MGM, which made "The Mortal Storm" a year later and elided direct references to Nazis, Warner Brothers names names aggressively in "Confessions.."

Basically, Nazis = bad, American Nazis = bad, German American Bund = bad and, once again, Nazis = BAD. Warner Brothers held back nothing, referencing concentration camps, bullets to the back of the head, mock trials, Germany's plan for conquest and racial theory nonsense. Good for Warner Brothers, but surprising for '39 and argues that the facts of Nazi evil were there early for those who were willing to see them.

The plot involves the FBI investigation and breakup of an American-based network of German-American Nazi sympathizers working directly with the German government to build a web of espionage and saboteurs in America. The story is obvious, as most propaganda films are, but gets boosted above the average with strong performances by the always-outstanding Paul Lukas, George Sanders and Edward G. Robinson showing how to act in an understated way that, IMHO, carries the entire second half of the movie.

A perfect movie for a cold, grey, Fall Sunday afternoon - bad Nazis get what they deserve as America upholds the ideals of freedom and democracy. Nothing subtle - no grey moral areas here - but heck, sometimes that's fun too.

 

[AmateisGal]

Disney's Brave. A very nontraditional Disney movie in that the princess doesn't find her prince - and never wanted to find him in the first place.

 

[Skyhawk]

I just saw "The Land Unknown" (1957) - A super cheesy 1950's Sci-Fi. It was entertaining but what really surprised me is they had original WWII jackets in the film. During the flight scene in the helicopter, The pilot wears an AN-J-4 or M-445 shearling. Also in an earlier scene, an actor is wearing a AN-J-3! Totally took me by surprise and was cool to see.

 

[Julian Shellhammer]

Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, for the umpteenth time. Love it.
Room for One More, with Cary Grant and (I think) then-wife Betsy Drake. About foster care for abandoned or neglected children. The opening is emotionally rough, but then is by turns sit-com humor and pathos.

 

[AmateisGal]

Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, for the umpteenth time. Love it.

I have lost count of the amount of times I've watched this. It never gets old!

 

[Lean'n'mean]

' Meet The Spartans ' (2008).......I found the first 20 minutes or so quite funny but it got tiring after a while.

'Bulletproof Monk ' (2003).....Good ridiculous fun.

 

[Fading Fast]

I have lost count of the amount of times I've watched this. It never gets old!

Recognizing that AMC and TCM have been playing it for, at least, three decades, it's hard to believe that the number of times I've seen it isn't in the double digits (which is probably true of more classic movies than I want to admit).

I always enjoy the open scene in the apartment because - while a bit exaggerated - it is still reflective of how many live in NYC today owing to how expensive apartment are here.

 

[Julian Shellhammer]

For All Mankind, the documentary on the Apollo missions. Basically the home movies of NASA and the astronauts.

 

[Zombie_61]

For All Mankind, the documentary on the Apollo missions. Basically the home movies of NASA and the astronauts.

This might be my favorite documentary on the Apollo moon landings.

I was fortunate enough to see it for the first time at a special screening at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood, California, intended to promote the release of the documentary on DVD. My friend and I attended a matinee showing in the middle of the week, so we nearly had the theater to ourselves. As such, we were able to choose seats that put the Cinerama Dome's curved screen to good use, filling our "line of sight" wherever we looked. At one point in the documentary there is a simple shot of the moon's landscape with no evidence whatsoever of human presence, and two thoughts immediately entered my mind. The first was Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin's simple two-word description of the moon's surface: "Magnificent desolation." The second was the realization that that moment would be the closest I'd ever get to experiencing what it might be like to stand on our moon first-hand. I grew up watching and being fascinated by the Apollo missions on television, so for me that was one of those "perfect" moments in life.

 

[Fading Fast]

"Three on a Match"
Warp speed (63 minutes) pre-code
Husband wealthy good guy (surprising roll for Warren William)
Wife spoiled brat, ruins it all - ends up junkie
Gangsters, kidnapping and some genuinely good women (wife's childhood friends) trying to help wife and husband
That's it / decent not fantastic pre-code / worth one viewing

 

[Fading Fast]

"Labyrinth of Lies", a 2014 German movie (English subtitles) based on the real life Frankfurt Auschwitz trials of '63. The movie starts in '58 and shows a Germany in deep denial or, at least, cover-up mode about its Holocaust past. A young prosecutor tries to pursue a case against a former Auschwitz prison guard only to run into resistance and cover-up at several levels and branches of government.

With the support of one atypical senior official and a few junior team members, he slowly builds evidence not just against the one guard, but against several Auschwitz guards and officers as he tries to bring the atrocity of the "camp" into public view - something almost no one in the government, or the public at large, wants.

The movie operates on two levels - one is the narrow cases against the former Auschwitz staff and, two, is the larger social and moral issue of Germany being forced to acknowledge and face its past. The movie works well on both levels as the narrower case details keep it from becoming too preachy. The broader philosophical and moral issue of what a country owes to and for its past / how it has to recognize its worst actions to move on with hope for a honest and better future / who is or isn't guilty / when does "following orders" stop justifying actions, etc., are needed to provide context for those narrow cases and to address the real issues that German society was facing twenty or so years after the war.

In addition to the young prosecutor - a journalist (and former 17-year-old guard at the camp), the daughter of a former German infantry man and a Jewish artist / Auschwitz survivor - provide personal perspective on the moral issues while allowing the movie to work at a story level - the young prosecutor and infantry man's daughter develop a relationship - that keeps you engaged with the characters.

For Fedora Lounge members, the period sets, cars, clothes and, in particular, the architecture are beautifully done as you feel transported to late '50s Germany (or an idealized version of it, anyway).

The above comments avoid spoilers, but the movie builds to an impressive, if a tiny bit cliched, conclusion. This is a "story" movie that engages the viewer on several levels and keeps you thinking about the issues it raises well-after you have finished the movie.

 

[2jakes]

Grey Gardens

When you're wealthy, you are "eccentric." When you're poor,
you are bat $hit crazy.

 

[Worf]

"Boyhood" - Richard Linklater's two hour and 45 minutes magnum opus from 2014. The film follows a young boy through 12 turbulent years of his life. The catch? Linklater films the same principal leads all the way through over a span of 12 years. Like life itself, the film grows on you slowly showing the pitfalls of being the youngest child of a single mom who conceives poorly and marries even more tragically twice over. Stellar performances, great understated direction (more like a documentary than a feature) and a wonderful script make this film almost a must see. Life's real monsters are poverty, alcoholic stepdads, rotten teachers, crappy bosses and the powerlessness of youth. After a while you keep waiting for the Hollywood "drama"... the car crash, the suicide you know... something! But it never happens... and by the end, you're fine with that.

Worf

 

[1mach1]

Trading Places

 

[Stearmen]

Mr. Bean's Holiday.