What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[Fading Fast]

I watched Barbara Stanwyck in The Reputation last night plus The Strange Love of Martha Ivers.

I am EXTREMELY fortunate in that my new cable company allows me to watch the TCM On Demand app. Oh my! I will often just put a movie on in the background while I'm at work. It's so comforting!

I do the same all the time and, then, half the time, get sucked in and watch it.

 

[AmateisGal]

I do the same all the time and, then, half the time, get sucked in and watch it.

Yeah, that's the problem! Ha!

 

[Fading Fast]

Yeah, that's the problem! Ha!

Have you seen "The Big Lift?" It's not WWII, but centers on the Berlin Airlift - I think you'd enjoy it. Paul Douglass does an outstanding job in it.

 

[AmateisGal]

Have you seen "The Big Lift?" It's not WWII, but centers on the Berlin Airlift - I think you'd enjoy it. Paul Douglass does an outstanding job in it.

I haven't! Will have to keep an eye out for it.

 

[Windsock8e]

"La 317eme section" by Pierre Schoendoerffer. OK, this movie is in French but it is a real jewel with limited dialogue and you can probably find a subtitled version.

It starts in an outpost in Indochina just at the fall of Dien Bien Phu. It is about a platoon of indigenous infantry led by a French lieutenant, an Alsatian sergeant who fought in the Wehrmacht (Alsace was considered German by the Germans during the war so they were conscripted into the German armed forces) and a French radio operator.

They have to fall back to avoid being cut off due to a general Viet Minh offensive and the film is about that. Shot in black and white in Laos in the early 1960's it captures a certain sombre mood and certainly no special effects.

Schoendoerffer was an army combat cinematographer at DBP and was captured and interned. Unfortunately and not surprisingly, he lost all the combat footage after the surrender. He made a number of other powerful movies about the decline of the French military including Algeria, and is more recently known for his 1990's film "Dien Bien Phu" shot in Viêt Nam, but the 317th section is the best in my mind.

 

[Benzadmiral]

The second hour or a bit more of 1969's Cactus Flower, with Walter Matthau as a libidinous bachelor dentist, Ingrid Bergman (yes!) as his long-suffering (and in-love-with-him) nurse, and Goldie Hawn as Walter's 21-year-old girlfriend. This was the film version of the Broadway play that had featured Lauren Bacall as the nurse, Barry Nelson (aka "Jimmy Bond") as the dentist, and Brenda Vaccaro as the girl in the picture. The concept is that Walter decides he wants to marry the girl he's been seeing -- but he's told her (to keep things from getting too serious) that he's married and has kids. Goldie wants to meet the wife. So Walter conscripts his nurse, Ingrid, to play his wife. And complications ensue. Quite funny.

And yes, it is the basis for the Adam Sandler/Jennifer Aniston/Nicole Kidman film, Just Go With It. Both are farces in the classic mold: You say to yourself, "Nobody would put up with this sort of nonsense for a second," and then a new complication or reframe pops up that gives the characters a reason (albeit a wacky one) to continue with the deception.


Dr. Julian Winston (Talking about trying to recover his car, which was towed earlier): I went to the police station. They told me to try a garage on the East Side. When I got there they told me to try the West Side. When I got there, it was closed. I couldn't find a cab so I had to walk home. I should have listened to my mother and become an M.D. -- they let you park anywhere.

 

[Julian Shellhammer]

Dunkirk, at the movies, last week.
Here at home, High Noon; hadn't seen it in decades, but still powerful.
Also, Johnny Guitar, with Joan Crawford, Sterling Hayden, Mercedes McCambridge, and a whole bunch others actors that we all know. McCambridge steals the movie, IMHO, from Crawford.
And last night, Escape from Fort Bravo, which seemed to me like John Sturges was trying to make a John Ford movie: sweeping ginourmous landscapes, Stan Jones song, popular songs from the 1800's in lush orchestral arrangements...

 

[AmateisGal]

My Sister Eileen with Rosalind Russell. Funny, but a little too over the top for me.

 

[AmateisGal]

42, the film about Jackie Robinson. Really enjoyed it.

 

[Touchofevil]

Yeah, that's the problem! Ha!

I do not see the problem.

 

[Touchofevil]

I do the same all the time and, then, half the time, get sucked in and watch it.

I keep TCM on often just for atmosphere when I am puttering around the house, correcting papers, or reading. It is the reason I pay as much as I pay for cable.

 

[Fading Fast]

I keep TCM on often just for atmosphere when I am puttering around the house, correcting papers, or reading. It is the reason I pay as much as I pay for cable.

I recently "discussed" my cable bill with my provider and got the bill down about 10%, but right at the start I told them the two thing not negotiable are TCM (like you and Amateis Gal, I watch it a ton and quite often keep it on as background as well) and HBO (my girlfriend loves "Game of Thrones-" that's that).

Besides the movies, all the "stuff" TCM puts in-between the movies is enjoyable - word of mouth, shorts, even the self-promotion commercials can be entertaining - and it all has a pleasant vibe. Yesterday, I had it on as background and caught a travel-short on Washington DC. How nice was it not to hear the vitriol and snark that everything today has on or just below the surface. It was a positive but light narration covering the major DC buildings and monuments and their historical connect.

 

[Fading Fast]

"Trumbo" 2015

• The period details appeared to be rich and beautifully done

• But I only saw about ten minutes and then stopped when communism was lovingly and sympathetically explained to be metaphorically equivalent to a school girl sharing her lunch with an unfortunate child who did not have one

• I stopped the movie, took the disk out, put it in its envelope and sent it back to Netflix for the next one in our queue

 

[Benzadmiral]

Logan, Hugh Jackman's final (so far) performance as Logan the Wolverine. It's an odd film, set in 2029 when it's thought that all the mutants -- except for Logan and nonagenerian Professor X -- have died out, and neither Logan nor Prof. X are feeling all that great. No, really, it's more science fiction than comic story: no costumes, no hyper-villains (with one interesting exception), and the writers give more than a passing nod to the classic Shane (including the closing credits, which feature music by Johnny Cash!). An elegiac story, if I'm using that word correctly.

The first X-Men film was more about Wolverine (and Anna Paquin's Rogue) than anything else, and it was crucial that the role be cast correctly, or the film would have fallen to the floor of its own weight. And Jackman embodied Wolverine. The moment I saw him in the cage fight, even from behind, I knew it was right. That, and the quiet little moment when Rogue asks about the infamous claws:

Rogue: When they come out . . . does it hurt?

Logan (flatly and calmly): Every time.

And in the second film:

William Drake: What exactly are you a professor *of*, "Professor Logan"?

[A pause, as Rogue, Bobby, and Pyro look at Logan, none of the kids knowing what to say]

Wolverine: Art.

 

[Doctor Strange]

The Red Turtle, a beautiful little animated film with no dialog. More of a fable than an actual story, it was released by Studio Ghibli (of Miyazaki fame) though it's mainly a European production. Many would find it slow going (though it's only barely feature length) and lose patience. But I was fascinated... and I found myself unexpectedly moved by it.

 

[Zombie_61]

Logan, Hugh Jackman's final (so far) performance as Logan the Wolverine. It's an odd film, set in 2029 when it's thought that all the mutants -- except for Logan and nonagenerian Professor X -- have died out, and neither Logan nor Prof. X are feeling all that great...

This was one of the things I appreciated about Logan--with the exception of a few stylized vehicles, they didn't emphasize the fact that it took place 12 years in Earth's future. Actually, I think they could easily have set it in modern-day 2017 (when the movie was released) and it wouldn't have made any difference.

As for, "...Neither Logan nor Prof. X are feeling all that great...", I found it interesting that the writers chose to use their greatest "mutant gifts" against them (I'm being intentionally vague so as not to reveal too much for anyone who hasn't seen the movie yet). Considering the consistent theme in the X-Men (and related) movies of the prejudices and warring between the "humans" and the "mutants", their ultimate vulnerabilities reveal they are indeed more "human" than "mutant".

...The first X-Men film was more about Wolverine (and Anna Paquin's Rogue) than anything else, and it was crucial that the role be cast correctly, or the film would have fallen to the floor of its own weight. And Jackman embodied Wolverine. The moment I saw him in the cage fight, even from behind, I knew it was right...

I had heard of the X-Men comics, but otherwise had zero knowledge of the premise and the characters before I saw the first movie. I remember quite a bit of protesting among the loyal fans when it was announced Hugh Jackman was cast as Wolverine: "He's too tall...", "He's too thin...", "He's too this...", "He's not that...", and so on. But I think he made the role his own and won over all but the most obstinate of X-Men fans, and I can't think of another actor who would have been a better choice.

 

[AmateisGal]

They Met in Bombay with Rosalind Russell and Clark Gable. I enjoyed it - those two had chemistry!

 

[AmateisGal]

Janie, a delightful war-time comedy with Ann Harding. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

[Benzadmiral]

This was one of the things I appreciated about Logan--with the exception of a few stylized vehicles, they didn't emphasize the fact that it took place 12 years in Earth's future. Actually, I think they could easily have set it in modern-day 2017 (when the movie was released) and it wouldn't have made any difference. . . .

A neat touch was that the stern of Logan's limo immediately made me think of today's Chrysler 300. When the car is revealed to be a Chrysler in later scenes, it fitted beautifully -- as if the automakers of 2029 in Logan's world were deliberately echoing design cues from the 300 of our day.

Logan/Wolverine, as I understand it, was originally inspired by Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry films. To do justice to the character, you'd need somebody with the ability to deliver dialogue in that same level but effective fashion. Jackman's got it. In fact there are moments in this film where he very much reminds me of the younger Eastwood.

 

[Fading Fast]

Janie, a delightful war-time comedy with Ann Harding. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

I caught some of it as I had TCM on "in the background," and was intrigued with what I saw, but didn't have time to watch it. Darn, wish I had recorded it.