What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[MisterCairo]

At the cottage, recording the odd flick for late night viewing, and saw Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Such an odd fluffy picture, and yet, I may need to own it.

Rutger Hauer and Pee-Wee Herman together on screen?

 

[belfastboy]

How does it end?

Yeh, my smart ass wife wanted to know if this was the one with the alternative happy ending! I replied it depended on your point of view what constitutes 'happy'

 

[Worf]

View attachment 247113
Lady from Shanghai from 1947 with Rita Hayworth, Orson Welles and Everett Sloan

What do you do after your directorial debut is a film-industry-defining classic? You reach for greater heights and end up making artistic, crazy, confusing, interesting, but not necessarily good, movies like Lady from Shanghai.

The TCM Noir-Alley host Eddie Muller sums this one up pretty well when he calls it a "hot mess." It tries too hard to be what? Noir, groundbreaking, moving, alluring - all of those, I don't know.

The plot, while confusing, doesn't rise to the confusing heights of, say, The Big Sleep, as you kinda get it even before it's ploddingly explained at the end.

Hayworth married an older and partially crippled wealthy criminal attorney (Sloan) who resents his wife for marrying him for, we and he guess, his money.

On a long cruise aboard his yacht, where he has hired a young sailor (Welles) to join the crew, Sloan cruelly needles both Hayworth and Welles (and anyone else in his surround), which serves to drive those two together. And, yes, Welles sporting an intermittent Irish brogue and Hayworth with cropped platinum blonde hair and an "are you kidding me" body are attracted to each other.

However, it's hard to take Welles seriously in this one as he takes himself waaaaay-too seriously. And while Hayworth looks beautiful, her aloofness combined with Welles' character's pretentiousness leave you all but disinterested in Welles-and-Hayworth's struggle to get together and out of her husband's clutches.

Thrown into the mix is a confusing-for-confusing-sake plot about Sloan's law partner wanting Welles to help him fake his murder (for insurance money and to get away from Sloan). It goes horribly wrong (no surprise there) leading to a trial followed by a Hitchcock-on-steroids final chase scene in a house of mirrors and Lady From Shanghai staggers to a close.

We all know the Welles story: the boy-genius director of Citizen Kane spends the rest of his career running from or trying to top Kane with neither effort often leading to good results. Lady From Shanghai seems to be a "top Kane" effort that spun horribly out of control. It's worth the watch for some good or, at least, interesting parts, but also simply because it's another piece of the more-interesting Welles' life saga.

In that I've never done psychedelics (knowingly) before, I really have a hard time "getting" this flick. But it's been years... May have to watch it again...

Worf

 

[Fading Fast]

In that I've never done psychedelics (knowingly) before, I really have a hard time "getting" this flick. But it's been years... May have to watch it again...

Worf

As noted, the TCM host said it best - "it's a hot mess." It has some interesting elements and Welles and Hayworth are engaging in part because of their lives' stories, but as a pure movie...hot mess.

 

[Worf]

"Superman Red Son" - I've always liked DC's/Warner Bros. animated adaptations of their characters and the premise of this one had me intrigued for months. Finally watched it last night and didn't really like it. What if Supes dropped into Russia instead of Kansas? Man you could do a LOT with that and truth be told, they tried but the whole tale twists itself into a long winded battle between Communism and Capitalism. With the warts of the former shoved down the audiences throat while the numerous sins of Capitalism are whitewashed LITERALLY! As you'd expect, in order for things to play out "right" in the end, the whole debate is switched from Communism vs. Capitalism to a battle between Democracy (where people are free to starve in the streets) and Totalitarianism where everyone's fed and housed but not "free" to be... fill in the blank.

Of course freedom and democracy carry the day thanks to the kind stewardship of Lex Luthor (WTF?) and his doting wife... Lois Lane (double WTF?). The bottom line is that the politics of this thing are a big clumsy mess. I feel for none of the characters and the plot left me with no stakes and nothing to root for. Watch only if you're a completest of all things DC or a Superman fan. There are some nice "twists"... Batman is a mass murdering anti Commie terrorist. The Green Lantern is a Gung Ho tool of the US Government that somehow clones his ring so he can command a whole cadre of ring wielding G.I. Joes... Nice touches but this doesn't save the souffle.

Worf

 

[Touchofevil]

Everything you said, with a special emphasis on the top-notch acting.

Robert Ryan, Ernest Borgnine, and Lee Marvin: what a cast of bad guys. Guys who I normally like, but happily enjoyed watching be bested by Spencer Tracy. I would watch it again tomorrow morning.

 

[Touchofevil]

View attachment 247113
Lady from Shanghai from 1947 with Rita Hayworth, Orson Welles and Everett Sloan

What do you do after your directorial debut is a film-industry-defining classic? You reach for greater heights and end up making artistic, crazy, confusing, interesting, but not necessarily good, movies like Lady from Shanghai.

The TCM Noir-Alley host Eddie Muller sums this one up pretty well when he calls it a "hot mess." It tries too hard to be what? Noir, groundbreaking, moving, alluring - all of those, I don't know.

The plot, while confusing, doesn't rise to the confusing heights of, say, The Big Sleep, as you kinda get it even before it's ploddingly explained at the end.

Hayworth married an older and partially crippled wealthy criminal attorney (Sloan) who resents his wife for marrying him for, we and he guess, his money.

On a long cruise aboard his yacht, where he has hired a young sailor (Welles) to join the crew, Sloan cruelly needles both Hayworth and Welles (and anyone else in his surround), which serves to drive those two together. And, yes, Welles sporting an intermittent Irish brogue and Hayworth with cropped platinum blonde hair and an "are you kidding me" body are attracted to each other.

However, it's hard to take Welles seriously in this one as he takes himself waaaaay-too seriously. And while Hayworth looks beautiful, her aloofness combined with Welles' character's pretentiousness leave you all but disinterested in Welles-and-Hayworth's struggle to get together and out of her husband's clutches.

Thrown into the mix is a confusing-for-confusing-sake plot about Sloan's law partner wanting Welles to help him fake his murder (for insurance money and to get away from Sloan). It goes horribly wrong (no surprise there) leading to a trial followed by a Hitchcock-on-steroids final chase scene in a house of mirrors and Lady From Shanghai staggers to a close.

We all know the Welles story: the boy-genius director of Citizen Kane spends the rest of his career running from or trying to top Kane with neither effort often leading to good results. Lady From Shanghai seems to be a "top Kane" effort that spun horribly out of control. It's worth the watch for some good or, at least, interesting parts, but also simply because it's another piece of the more-interesting Welles' life saga.

Touch of Evil was pretty darn good.

 

[Zombie_61]

At the cottage, recording the odd flick for late night viewing, and saw Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Such an odd fluffy picture, and yet, I may need to own it.

Rutker Hauer and Pee-Wee Herman together on screen?

Not a perfect movie, but not horrible either. The one thing that always bothered me about it is that, apparently, no one told Donald Sutherland it was a comedy before they started filming.

 

[Fading Fast]

Touch of Evil was pretty darn good.

I think Welles has done some very good post-Kane stuff - I enjoy his performance in both "The Third Man" and "The Stranger" for example, as well as, in a slightly different way, his performance in "Long Hot Summer." And good or bad overall, he's almost always interesting to watch, as he is in "Lady from Shanghai." Heck, even when he pops up in odd places - an "I Love Lucy" episode or the '60s movie "The VIPs -" he's engaging.

 

[Worf]

Robert Ryan, Ernest Borgnine, and Lee Marvin: what a cast of bad guys. Guys who I normally like, but happily enjoyed watching be bested by Spencer Tracy. I would watch it again tomorrow morning.

A one armed Spencer Tracey kicking the ever lovin' crap out of Borgnine is one for the ages. I love the look of surprise on any Bully's face when he/she realizes they've picked the wrong pigeon to pluck. Gold.....

Worf

 

[Worf]

Touch of Evil was pretty darn good.

Nah ya think?

Worf

 

[belfastboy]

In that I've never done psychedelics (knowingly) before, I really have a hard time "getting" this flick. But it's been years... May have to watch it again...

Worf

I have done my share of psychedelics and trust me the experience didn't help me with this movie. Not sure why we continued to watch it through to the end.....I think laziness, inertia mostly the reason....it ranks up there on our all time 'dog list'.....with my apologies to Rover.

 

[Worf]

I have done my share of psychedelics and trust me the experience didn't help me with this movie. Not sure why we continued to watch it through to the end.....I think laziness, inertia mostly the reason....it ranks up there on our all time 'dog list'.....with my apologies to Rover.

Mwa ha ha ha ha... snort! Best laugh I had all day! But as Curly said...

"Day ain't over yet...."

Thanks

Worf

 

[belfastboy]

Watched "The Harder They Fall" with Bogie and Rod Steiger. It was much better than I thought. Bogie was well....Bogie doing his usual....not a big fan but don't dislike him. It just seems in every movie he is Bogie being Bogie. A very young Rod Steiger was a great bad guy....somewhat over the top but very watchable.

 

[Fading Fast]

"Please Believe Me," from 1951 with Deborah Kerr on mute in the background. Even when young (she's 29 here) Kerr never looked truly young (in a young girl way) and, yes, she's pretty, but she always looks to me like she thinks sex is just a bit too messy for her.

 

[Haversack]

The 1935 version of Hitchcock's The 39 Steps with Donat and Carroll. I liked the bit on the Firth of Forth bridge particularly.

 

[Fading Fast]

The Gentlemen from 2019 with Mathew McConaughey, Charlie Hunnan, Hugh Grant, Jeremy Strong, Colin Farrell, Henry Golding and Michelle Dockery

Sometimes the most-important question about a movie is did you enjoy it? For The Gentlemen, my answer is an emphatic "yes."

Director Guy Richie has a somewhat-lighter, somewhat-more-stylish view of the world than Quentin Tarantino, but they both live in the same zip code of Crazytown.

Richie's world is one of insanely dapper and chess-master-smart gangsters, drug dealers and thugs who completely understand how their criminal world works and co-exists with the regular world of, comparatively, more law and order. They don't view themselves so much as criminals, but as men and women who've chosen an alternative path.

Here, the plot - surprisingly less confusing to follow than most Richie movies - is about a current London drug kingpin (Mathew McConaughey) trying to "get out" by selling his business to another kingpin (Jeremy Strong), which sets off a crazy serious of machinations including violent raids attempting to drive the price of McConaughey business down, shifting criminal alliances, generational mob coups, blackmail and extensive murder and mayhem. It's fun, over the top and ridiculously engaging. You know it's all beyond the pale and you don't care.

And that's in part because Richie knows what he wants and how to get it. The sequences are seamless when that's what he needs or effectively jarring when that's his intent. He also knows how to make good actors great and great actors greater. Here, Mathew McConaughey, Charlie Hunnan, Hugh Grant, Jeremy Strong, Colin Farrell and Henry Golding put in the best or nearly the best performances of their careers.

Michelle Dockery as McConaughey's wife, too, would have given a career performance, but her part was too small. However in her one main scene - outwitting and, eventually, out shooting her husband's rival drug kingpin and his thugs - she gives you a hint of what Mary from Downton Abbey would have been like had she grown up on the streets and not in a manor house.

Guy Richie, similar to Tarantino, creates a captivatingly fictitious world of super-intelligent, super-violent, super-Machiavellian and super-well-dressed criminals. To be sure, while that world is no longer new to us - the Godfather movies introduced it and Tarantino reinvented it a few decades later - Richie knows how to amp up the roller-coaster ride while also, somehow, lightening its tone just enough so that you're laughing as the insanity unfolds. And the best part, because the dialogue is so smart and rapid fire, the movie will still be enjoyable - maybe even more so - the second and third time you see it.

 

[Worf]

"The Old Guard" - This Netflix movie was a fun ride. Despite getting somewhat mixed reviews, Puddin and I were thoroughly entertained for 2 plus hours (she actually stayed awake for the whole thing). Due to Covid, this film was denied a theatrical release. Cherize Theron is spectacular as is the entire cast. Based on a series of graphic novels (AGAIN??! Does ANYONE write "original material" anymore?) I think it's a solid start to a franchise about a group of immortal warriors who've battled alone and finally together down through the ages of time. You get enough backstory to intrigue and more than enough "John Wick" style murder and mayhem to entertain. The only nitpick I have is the one dimensional villain (think Mark Zuckerberg on steroids) who does everything but twirl his mustache and cackle. Still I was happy to see him go. It's free on Netflix and trust me you could do much, much worse.

Worf

 

[MisterCairo]

While at the cottage, we had some rainy nights, so the DVR was put into use.

Bram Stoker’s Dracula one night. I had never seen it, but recall it was a “big deal” when it came out.

I have no idea why that was the case. Dear Hollywood: with rare exceptions, hire English actors to play English characters.

And one night, Smokey and the Bandit. I had not seen it since about 1985.

I had never had a thing for Sally Field. Until that night.

Bandit 1, Dracula 0.

 

[belfastboy]

View attachment 247768
The Gentlemen from 2019 with Mathew McConaughey, Charlie Hunnan, Hugh Grant, Jeremy Strong, Colin Farrell, Henry Golding and Michelle Dockery

Sometimes the most-important question about a movie is did you enjoy it? For The Gentlemen, my answer is an emphatic "yes."

Director Guy Richie has a somewhat-lighter, somewhat-more-stylish view of the world than Quentin Tarantino, but they both live in the same zip code of Crazytown.

Richie's world is one of insanely dapper and chess-master-smart gangsters, drug dealers and thugs who completely understand how their criminal world works and co-exists with the regular world of, comparatively, more law and order. They don't view themselves so much as criminals, but as men and women who've chosen an alternative path.

Here, the plot - surprisingly less confusing to follow than most Richie movies - is about a current London drug kingpin (Mathew McConaughey) trying to "get out" by selling his business to another kingpin (Jeremy Strong), which sets off a crazy serious of machinations including violent raids attempting to drive the price of McConaughey business down, shifting criminal alliances, generational mob coups, blackmail and extensive murder and mayhem. It's fun, over the top and ridiculously engaging. You know it's all beyond the pale and you don't care.

And that's in part because Richie knows what he wants and how to get it. The sequences are seamless when that's what he needs or effectively jarring when that's his intent. He also knows how to make good actors great and great actors greater. Here, Mathew McConaughey, Charlie Hunnan, Hugh Grant, Jeremy Strong, Colin Farrell and Henry Golding put in the best or nearly the best performances of their careers.

Michelle Dockery as McConaughey's wife, too, would have given a career performance, but her part was too small. However in her one main scene - outwitting and, eventually, out shooting her husband's rival drug kingpin and his thugs - she gives you a hint of what Mary from Downton Abbey would have been like had she grown up on the streets and not in a manor house.

Guy Richie, similar to Tarantino, creates a captivatingly fictitious world of super-intelligent, super-violent, super-Machiavellian and super-well-dressed criminals. To be sure, while that world is no longer new to us - the Godfather movies introduced it and Tarantino reinvented it a few decades later - Richie knows how to amp up the roller-coaster ride while also, somehow, lightening its tone just enough so that you're laughing as the insanity unfolds. And the best part, because the dialogue is so smart and rapid fire, the movie will still be enjoyable - maybe even more so - the second and third time you see it.

Yes, I enjoyed it when I did not expect to as I am not a fan of Ritchie's highly stylized and in my view self conscious movies....to me they have the thought bubble above the director that screams...."Look at me and how coolandhip I am." However it was a fun romp...Grant was a marvel (as my wife said..."Little Hugh has grown up!", Colin Farrell was a hoot and Mathew Mc was well Mathew Mc in a role that did not require much of him other than him doing his schtick. A fun romp for 2 hours.