What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[Frunobulax]

Say, what you want.
But as long as Martin Sheen is alive, they should finally make a new The Final Countdown, Part 2!

I tell you, I would watch that!!

As long as the USS Nimitz is in service, it would be surely much easier to make the production. I don't think, US Navy wouldn't like to be partner, again.

Or I'm totally wrong?

Eighty-three is a little old to be playing a USN sailor. Of course, they could always bring on Charlie and set about 2000 or so.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Eighty-three is a little old to be playing a USN sailor. Of course, they could always bring on Charlie and set about 2000 or so.

Yeah, but Warren Lasky wasn't a Navy man, the Pentagon send him aboard Nimitz, because of his employer Richard Tideman's Company had it's part in constructing the Nimitz Class. And the beginning of the movie brings the assumption, that Mr. Tideman knows, that something very strange would happen.

I mean, there must be a possibility to bring a plot, which would bring Lasky and the Nimitz together, after 44 years. Not, that I really would like to see the Nimitz finally sailing into Pearl Harbor of 1941, but there could surely be a dozent of possible nice stories.

 

[Frunobulax]

Yeah, but Warren Lasky wasn't a Navy man, the Pentagon send him aboard Nimitz, because of his employer Richard Tideman's Company had it's part in constructing the Nimitz Class. And the beginning of the movie brings the assumption, that Mr. Tideman knows, that something very strange would happen.

I mean, there must be a possibility to bring a plot, which would bring Lasky and the Nimitz together, after 44 years. Not, that I really would like to see the Nimitz finally sailing into Pearl Harbor of 1941, but there could surely be a dozent of possible nice stories.

Maybe they could run into Indiana Jones.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Maybe they could run into Indiana Jones.

And imagine Chester W. Nimitz's phone call to the SECNAV, asking, if they are f.....g with him...

But Pearl Harbor Naval Command anyway wouldn't have allowed the Nimitz to sail in, right?

 

[Viking752]

Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny

 

[Frunobulax]

And imagine Chester W. Nimitz's phone call to the SECNAV, asking, if they are f.....g with him...

But Pearl Harbor Naval Command anyway wouldn't have allowed the Nimitz to sail in, right?

 

[Fading Fast]

A Woman's Face from 1938 with Joan Crawford, Conrad Veidt and Melvin Douglas


MGM brought its impressive A game to A Woman's Face, a remake of a 1938 Swedish film that starred Ingrid Bergman.

The studio chose Joan Crawford, its queen of the lot at that time, to star in its version, while handing the directorial reins over to George Cukor. MGM was serious about this one and its efforts paid off.

Aided by a very talented supporting cast, MGM smoothly shepherded this complex melodrama through its many twists and turns, all framed by a courtroom-flashback style of storytelling that could quickly have become an unwieldy tangle, but didn't.

Right at the open, we see Ms. Crawford's character on trial for murder in a Swedish high court where witnesses are questioned by a panel of judges. As the witnesses respond, the movie shifts back and forth between flashback sequences and the trial itself.

We learn that Crawford was disfigured as a child when her brilliant but alcoholic father accidentally started a fire that left one side of her face scarred. Adult Crawford tries to hide her disfigured side with hats and turning from the light, which only increases her burden.

Discovering early that the world would give her nothing, Crawford resorted to a life of crime. She earns her living heading up a small gang of blackmailers. When, by chance, she lands in the hands of a plastic surgeon, played by Melvin Douglas, her life changes.

He repairs her face, but as he laments at the time, he can't repair her soul. Knowing she's a bitter criminal who is angry at the world, he wonders out loud to Crawford if he's created a beautiful Frankenstein. The story then tests his fears in dramatic fashion.

Before her surgery, Crawford had begun dating an oleaginous Count, played by Conrad Veidt. He wants Crawford to kill his young nephew so that he, Veidt, can inherit a substantial estate, which he says he'll share with Crawford. Clearly, this is not a shy movie.

This is also a movie with a very "Old World European" feel with its Count, packets of love letters that Crawford's team uses to blackmail wealthy lovers and, as we'll see later, castles and sleigh rides. The picture feels more nineteenth than twentieth century.

From here, the rest of the movie is Crawford, now living at the nephews' family's castle as the boy's governess, ingratiating herself to the family. She becomes torn about committing the murder as she's gotten close to the boy and his family, a family that's been kind to her.

The dramatic climax (no spoilers coming) involves an impressively filmed harrowing horse-driven sleigh race through beautiful snow-covered hills, a gun, a murder, a shocking last-minute courtroom confession and a romantic revelation. It's quite a ride.

Director Cukor is completely in control of this twisting story from beginning to end. His filming of the climatic sleigh race and an earlier and tense overhead tram scene, which has echoes of A Separate Peace, are armchair gripping.

His transitions through several complex flashback sequences are seamless, while his economical use of the movie's score adds to the drama. All along, he showcases MGM's impressive sets and its even more impressive talent.

Crawford gives one of her career-best performances here by smartly underplaying several scenes; although, she lets rip with her signature Crawford slap-fest in one. Sensing its value, Crawford grabbed this role by the collar and shook it for all it was worth

Because Crawford's character is embarrassed and insecure about her appearance, she is styled with, atypical-for-her, modest makeup, hair and clothing for much of the movie. The result is a softer and prettier look for the usually Hollywood chic star.

The overarching conflict in the story, though, is that, almost until the end, you never really know if Crawford is a good or bad person, if she's changed or not. And while her excellent performance drives the movie, the rest of the cast isn't overshadowed.

Melvin Douglass as her doctor, savior and conscience, Veidt as the devil and Reginald Owen, Osa Massen, Marjorie Main, Donald Meeks and others in critical supporting roles give the picture a professional feel from its first frame to its last.

Also elevating this effort, despite its very soap-opera story, is a serious philosophical debate about character at its center. The movie asks a couple of not-pretty questions and gives a couple of not-easy answers.

Does one's physical appearance help determine a person's inner character or is it the way society treats a person, based on his or her physical appearance, that drives character? They are tough questions with A Woman's Face providing some uncomfortable answers.

MGM and Crawford were at the height of their powers when they made A Woman's Face, making it a bit surprising this isn't a better-known picture. Possibly the formal, almost aloof "Old World European" setting and feel has held this wonderful movie's reputation back.

 

[Bushman]

"Evil Dead Rise" - It's been a while since a horror movie actually put me in fear for the characters in it, but dang, did this one ever!

 

[Edward]

"Evil Dead Rise" - It's been a while since a horror movie actually put me in fear for the characters in it, but dang, did this one ever!

I love the franchise. I enjoyed the first 'new' one - for me, it felt in keeping with the originals, more of a 'different group of kids get taken in by the cabin' than a remake as such. The TV series was the last thing i saw - lovely continuation of Ash's story. This new film I want to see. Will have to wait for a bit - Prime want £15.99 (just about two month's subscription charges - on top of the subscription!) to rent it at the minute. Stuff that - I want a disk I can own for that sort of money.

 

[Bushman]

I love the franchise. I enjoyed the first 'new' one - for me, it felt in keeping with the originals, more of a 'different group of kids get taken in by the cabin' than a remake as such. The TV series was the last thing i saw - lovely continuation of Ash's story. This new film I want to see. Will have to wait for a bit - Prime want £15.99 (just about two month's subscription charges - on top of the subscription!) to rent it at the minute. Stuff that - I want a disk I can own for that sort of money.

Ooof, yeah I'd wait at that price, too. Max has it included, so I watched it through them. The gore was definitely the level you'd expect from an Evil Dead movie. The characters literally turn red from blood splatter.

 

[earl]

Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny

Saw it today. I only attend a movie about once every 3-4 years as there are so few that entice me, but love the Indiana Jones character. I don't get all the hate for this movie. The only Jones movie in the series I liked better was the first one.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny

Saw it today. I only attend a movie about once every 3-4 years as there are so few that entice me, but love the Indiana Jones character. I don't get all the hate for this movie. The only Jones movie in the series I liked better was the first one.

I caught it and luvvver its tooze. Love the retirement background and Phoebe Waller-forgot the 2nd Act goddaughter,
Dr Jones the octogenarian and the dial gizmo is fantastic film fantasy. I regret a lack of sufficient spine precluded
my wear of my fedora but on me not the film.

 

[Fading Fast]

The Male Animal from 1942 with Henry Fonda, Olivia de Havilland and Jack Carson


"You can't suppress ideas...just because you don't like them."

"We hold the fortress of free thought and speech."

- Henry Fonda as Professor Tommy Turner


The Male Animal has too many styles in one movie - screwball romance, college nostalgia and political polemic - resulting in a bumpy picture that still manages to entertain, while saying a few important things about marriage and free speech.

At its core, The Male Animal asks what constitutes true male courage: physical strength or personal and ideological integrity, but the movie first bounces all over the place until it offers an answer in its "Capraesque" climax.

Henry Fonda plays a seemingly milquetoast English professor at a Midwest college married to his former college sweetheart, played by Olivia de Havilland. Their relationship is fine until two related things stir it up during homecoming weekend.

There's a small political storm brewing at the college over a letter written by the anarchist Bartolomeo Vanzetti. Fonda plans to read the letter, mainly as an example of moving writing, in his English class, which the Board of Trustees - hunting communists - doesn't want read.

De Havilland wants Fonda to relent, especially because he's up for a promotion. Fonda, though, sees it as an academic-independence and free-speech issue. Complicating matters is the homecoming return of de Havilland's old beau.

Jack Carson plays the big, loud, back-slapping former college football star who is now a successful businessman in town for the "big game" and, maybe, to make a play for de Havilland. Mad at her husband because of the letter, de Havilland encourages Carson's attentions.

With that set up, the movie bounces back and forth between the romantic and political storylines amidst a lot of screwball comedy meant mainly to show how much physically stronger Carson is than Fonda.

On the political side, Eugene Pallette plays the blowhard bullying head of the college's board of trustees who wants Fonda to relent. Mixed into this very busy movie is the age-old argument about the negative influence of sports-related money on academic integrity.

There's also a superfluous subplot that, as subplots do, echoes the main one, involving de Havilland's younger sister, played by the adorable Joan Leslie, dating two boys, one a nerdy intellectual and one a football star. Yawn.

If you can't tell where this story is going all along, you've never seen this type of movie before, so it shouldn't be a spoiler to say that Fonda, in the climax, defends academic freedom by reading the letter in a, as noted, Capraesque-style scene.

His point is that true freedom - freedom of speech and its related academic freedom - means the right for speakers to espouse unpopular ideas and views that contradict the prevailing political leanings of the college, the trustees, the professors or the students.

Hollywood, then and now, rightfully loves supporting this view when it means arguing for liberal ideological freedom in a conservative environment. This is why, to this day, there is an endless stream of movies made denouncing communist witch hunts from seventy-year ago.

While much less popular, the reverse, supporting conservative ideological freedom in a progressive environment, is the same ideological fight. Yet few movies are made about the current environment where "unpopular" conservative college speakers and professors are cancelled.

The Male Animal is uneven as it never decides if it wants to be a lighthearted screwball comedy or a serious look at free-speech politics at college. Yet, Fonda, de Havilland and Carson are so talented they shepherd the movie past several awkward and silly scenes.

They are likable stars who are even appealing when throwing a temper tantrum, as each one does at some point. With assists from Hattie McDaniel, Eugene Pallette, Don DeFore and others, you can't help marveling at the studio system's marshalling of talent.

The movie does, though, show that director Irving Reis is no Frank Capra, the master of combining slapstick humor with serious political commentary. The final scene, when Fonda proves his courage and de Havilland melts for him again, doesn't have the Capra punch.

Still, The Male Animal is entertaining and a bit enlightening, even if you have to look past some flaws and an awkward mix of styles.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

Fast, spot on. Fonda fits the bill for rectitude. Has it down cold. A twister though I abhor. Too torturous scripting
spoils the soup for me but Olivia de does it always.

 

[AmateisGal]

View attachment 530253
The Male Animal from 1942 with Henry Fonda, Olivia de Havilland and Jack Carson


"You can't suppress ideas...just because you don't like them."

"We hold the fortress of free thought and speech."

- Henry Fonda as Professor Tommy Turner


The Male Animal has too many styles in one movie - screwball romance, college nostalgia and political polemic - resulting in a bumpy picture that still manages to entertain, while saying a few important things about marriage and free speech.

At its core, The Male Animal asks what constitutes true male courage: physical strength or personal and ideological integrity, but the movie first bounces all over the place until it offers an answer in its "Capraesque" climax.

Henry Fonda plays a seemingly milquetoast English professor at a Midwest college married to his former college sweetheart, played by Olivia de Havilland. Their relationship is fine until two related things stir it up during homecoming weekend.

There's a small political storm brewing at the college over a letter written by the anarchist Bartolomeo Vanzetti. Fonda plans to read the letter, mainly as an example of moving writing, in his English class, which the Board of Trustees - hunting communists - doesn't want read.

De Havilland wants Fonda to relent, especially because he's up for a promotion. Fonda, though, sees it as an academic-independence and free-speech issue. Complicating matters is the homecoming return of de Havilland's old beau.

Jack Carson plays the big, loud, back-slapping former college football star who is now a successful businessman in town for the "big game" and, maybe, to make a play for de Havilland. Mad at her husband because of the letter, de Havilland encourages Carson's attentions.

With that set up, the movie bounces back and forth between the romantic and political storylines amidst a lot of screwball comedy meant mainly to show how much physically stronger Carson is than Fonda.

On the political side, Eugene Pallette plays the blowhard bullying head of the college's board of trustees who wants Fonda to relent. Mixed into this very busy movie is the age-old argument about the negative influence of sports-related money on academic integrity.

There's also a superfluous subplot that, as subplots do, echoes the main one, involving de Havilland's younger sister, played by the adorable Joan Leslie, dating two boys, one a nerdy intellectual and one a football star. Yawn.

If you can't tell where this story is going all along, you've never seen this type of movie before, so it shouldn't be a spoiler to say that Fonda, in the climax, defends academic freedom by reading the letter in a, as noted, Capraesque-style scene.

His point is that true freedom - freedom of speech and its related academic freedom - means the right for speakers to espouse unpopular ideas and views that contradict the prevailing political leanings of the college, the trustees, the professors or the students.

Hollywood, then and now, rightfully loves supporting this view when it means arguing for liberal ideological freedom in a conservative environment. This is why, to this day, there is an endless stream of movies made denouncing communist witch hunts from seventy-year ago.

While much less popular, the reverse, supporting conservative ideological freedom in a progressive environment, is the same ideological fight. Yet few movies are made about the current environment where "unpopular" conservative college speakers and professors are cancelled.

The Male Animal is uneven as it never decides if it wants to be a lighthearted screwball comedy or a serious look at free-speech politics at college. Yet, Fonda, de Havilland and Carson are so talented they shepherd the movie past several awkward and silly scenes.

They are likable stars who are even appealing when throwing a temper tantrum, as each one does at some point. With assists from Hattie McDaniel, Eugene Pallette, Don DeFore and others, you can't help marveling at the studio system's marshalling of talent.

The movie does, though, show that director Irving Reis is no Frank Capra, the master of combining slapstick humor with serious political commentary. The final scene, when Fonda proves his courage and de Havilland melts for him again, doesn't have the Capra punch.

Still, The Male Animal is entertaining and a bit enlightening, even if you have to look past some flaws and an awkward mix of styles.

View attachment 530254

I enjoy this movie. The drunken fight scene is hilarious!

 

[Edward]

Flicked through the streamers last night looking to rewatch the Jones pictures ahead of seeing Dial next week, but it turns out they're all charging more than I could buy them for on disk to hire [I already own the disks, but they're in storage still], or it's a 'sign up to Disney Plus' deal, which I'm very reluctant to do right now. Eh well. The good old BBC iPlayer however has Good Vibrations on currently, which is always worth a rewatch. Not a performance in it that's less than perfect. Watch out especially for a recent Doctor Who as Mrs Hooley, though the ultimate stand out remains Richard Dormer as Terri Hooley himself. If you've ever had the pleasure of meeting Terri himself, you'll see just how perfectly Dormer captures the man here. As perfect a statement about a slice of life in Belfast - and the rest of the Six Counties, more or less - (there's a sudden kick to the teeth about the fate of the Miami Showband in '75 which really does remind you what balls of steel Terri had to do what he did back then) in the 70s, and what it was really like back then, and how folks just got on with it.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1920945/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt

 

[Julian Shellhammer]

The Great Escape (1963) directed by John Sturges, with Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, and a host of others. If you've seen it, you know Sturges doesn't waste a single frame of screen time telling the story. If you haven't seen it, Attenborough organizes and inspires the mostly English prisoners of war in a German prison camp to undertake a mass break-out, the aim of which is to tie up German troops in a massive man hunt who would otherwise be involved in combat. Historical verities give way to an engrossing viewing experience.
Followed by Chariots of Fire (1981) which actually held the attention of the grandkids; the grown-ups liked it very much. "Sandy, the kingdom of God is not a democracy." It is impressive (to me, at least) that a Hollywood production featured old-fashioned gospel material without invoking the spirit of a DeMille spectacular. Solidly acted, wonderfully filmed, and with a well-told story about real people.
Wrapping up the list was Kiss of Death (1947) as presented by Henry (Spawn of the North) Hathaway, featuring Victor Mature as a crook who gets a second chance at life, Brian Donlevy as an assistant district attorney who uses Mature to capture some higher-ups in the world of crime, Colleen Gray as the love interest, and Richard Widmark as Tommy Udo, the creepiest thug ever on a 1940s movie screen. His sick sick sick giggle is bad news. Mature's good guy- bad guy is a the heart of the story, and you root for him to once and for all sever all ties with his past.

 

[Fading Fast]

The Great Escape (1963) directed by John Sturges, with Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, and a host of others. If you've seen it, you know Sturges doesn't waste a single frame of screen time telling the story. If you haven't seen it, Attenborough organizes and inspires the mostly English prisoners of war in a German prison camp to undertake a mass break-out, the aim of which is to tie up German troops in a massive man hunt who would otherwise be involved in combat. Historical verities give way to an engrossing viewing experience.
Followed by Chariots of Fire (1981) which actually held the attention of the grandkids; the grown-ups liked it very much. "Sandy, the kingdom of God is not a democracy." It is impressive (to me, at least) that a Hollywood production featured old-fashioned gospel material without invoking the spirit of a DeMille spectacular. Solidly acted, wonderfully filmed, and with a well-told story about real people.
Wrapping up the list was Kiss of Death (1947) as presented by Henry (Spawn of the North) Hathaway, featuring Victor Mature as a crook who gets a second chance at life, Brian Donlevy as an assistant district attorney who uses Mature to capture some higher-ups in the world of crime, Colleen Gray as the love interest, and Richard Widmark as Tommy Udo, the creepiest thug ever on a 1940s movie screen. His sick sick sick giggle is bad news. Mature's good guy- bad guy is a the heart of the story, and you root for him to once and for all sever all ties with his past.

Three different types of movies, but all are good ones. No matter how many times I see it, I still root for Pleasence to make it as it's so heartbreaking when he doesn't. I recently watch "Chariots of Fire" and was surprised at how good I thought it was. When it came out, I enjoyed it, but I enjoyed it much more now, obviously, watching it at a much older age.

 

[Fading Fast]

Phffft from 1954 with Judy Holliday, Jack Lemmon, Jack Carson and Kim Novak


Judy Holliday was a talented actress, but she was almost always playing Judy Holliday. With that "distinctive" voice, no matter what character she portrayed, she was Holliday. Having a personal brand and distinctive voice worked for Cary Grant, so it's no insult.

In Phffft, Holliday plays a successful radio and TV script writer. Holliday is fully on brand here portraying a somewhat scatterbrained-on-the-surface woman with an underlying intelligence and tenacity that leads to success.

When the movie opens, Holliday is married to a tax attorney played by Jack Lemmon. He, too, is on brand as the nervous and insecure, but in a "cute way," guy. Their marriage is failing from boredom and neglect, so without kids, they get an uncomplicated divorce.

It's a tough start to a romcom as they are pretty hostile to each other until the divorce is final. Once final, though, and while neither will admit it, they each, almost immediately, feel some regret. At this point, the normal romcom formula can kick in.

Two people who want to be together can now do a bunch of stupid things apart while also seeing other people. After all that just makes them more unhappy, they can finally admit to themselves and each other that they want to be together.

Holliday, post divorce, updates her wardrobe and goes out with a "sophisticated" New Yorker, one of the stars of the TV show she writes. She thinks he'll be the opposite of her reserved ex-husband.

The star, though, goes out with her and lures her back to his apartment, not for sex, but so that he can cajole her into increasing the size of his role on her show. The only thing worse than being dated just for sex is being dated not for sex.

Lemmon, at the advice of his well-meaning but stupid "guy's guy" friend, played with pitch-perfect obtuseness by Jack Carson, tries to become a swinger. He grows a moustache, buys a sports car and learns to rumba, which is classic fish-out-of-water comedy.

He even has a date with a woman played by a young Kim Novak. It's one of her first screen appearances, but she's already got "it." She lifts off the screen in two fun-as-heck scenes.

Kudos to the, at the time, much-bigger star Holliday for not being jealous of Novak, who is, in a way, a prettier version of Holliday. One imagines Holliday could have nixed Novak from the movie, but she didn't.

While all this "getting back out there" is going on, Holliday and Lemmon are really pining for each other. Playing to romcom tropes, they even have a post-divorce meet-cute in one of the movie's best scenes as they end up accidentally doing the rumba together.

If you know anything about romcoms or Holliday movies, there are no surprises in this okay picture. What keeps it going is not the awkwardly tweaked romcom formula of having a divorced couple fall right back in love, but the stars themselves.

Holliday is a comedic genius. Maybe she had range beyond comedy, but there's no doubt that she fully understood the timing, facial expressions and physicality of comedy. Lemmon is just about her equal even if he overplays the histrionics in a few scenes.

In support and in addition to already-noted Novak, Carson is the biggest surprise in this one as he tones down his usual blustering sidekick performance to deliver several good, almost-dramatic scenes, especially his last and introspective one with Holliday.

Phffft, like most romcoms, isn't going to win many awards, but it does provide ninety-minutes of cute fun driven by likable actors in comfortable roles. Plus, for us today, there are several enjoyable on-location shots of mid-century New York City.

 

[AmateisGal]

Watched this for the first time a few weeks ago and enjoyed it. Judy Holliday has become one of my favorite actresses.