What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[Fading Fast]

Fleischer Studios was largely responsible for giving Superman the power of flight. Superman could only leap from place to place in the comic books at the time the Fleischers started on their cartoon series. When they saw the finished animation of Superman leaping they thought it looked silly and asked if he could just fly instead. The publishers at Action Comics agreed, and Superman acquired the power of flight in both the cartoons and the comics.

As a kid (and adult), I love(d) Superman, but have always struggled with his ability to fly as it doesn't really make sense to me. What powers it / what keeps him up there / what allows him to accelerate, etc? Hey, don't get me wrong, I just go with it and enjoy it most of the time, but once in awhile, I think about it and it bothers me.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Excellent synopsis of Supes' powers over the years as the character's been revised and retconned. There have been a number of explanations for his flying... but honestly, it functions primarily because of the reader/audience's willing suspension of disbelief!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powers_and_abilities_of_Superman

 

[Edward]

While on holiday, our hotel had a smart TV that let me hook up to Netflix, so one evening we watched the Russell Crowe take on Noah. It was ok.... very significant departures from the Biblical tale with which I'm familiar, which were presumably the source of the small controversy around it. I'd be curious to read more of the alternative versions of the flood mythology that it carries. The Great Flood - much like vampires, curiously enough - is one narrative that seems to have developed independently in every human culture yet known, which I find intriguing.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Excellent synopsis of Supes' powers over the years as the character's been revised and retconned. There have been a number of explanations for his flying... but honestly, it functions primarily because of the reader/audience's willing suspension of disbelief!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powers_and_abilities_of_Superman

I really miss "super-ventriloquism."

 

[Worf]

"10 Cloverfield Lane" - An interesting movie who's ending will either have you cheering or jeering. Either way, we ate a whole tub o' corn and had a un-expectedly good time. John Goodman is gettin' REAL good at playing "creepy".

Worf

 

[DesertDan]

"They Live" - John Carpenter must have had his own pair of "sunglasses" when he wrote that one.

 

[Doctor Strange]

No Regrets For Our Youth, a very early Akira Kurosawa film (1946), DVR'd from Turner Classic Movies. Not up to the level of his later masterworks, but I liked it a lot.

 

[MisterCairo]

The family went to see Zootopia on Sunday, took in a matinee. We'd seen the trailer before Star Wars TFR, if you've seen it you know it as the "sloths at the motor vehicle office" scene.

It was really good; kept the girls enthralled and lots of adults will get it humour.

 

[Otter]

I loved the reference to the Godfather and to Breaking Bad in there. Well animated as well.

 

[MisterCairo]

I loved the reference to the Godfather and to Breaking Bad in there. Well animated as well.

I haven"t watched BB, which were the refs?

 

[Otter]

Where they were making the drug from the flowers. The whole mobile lab was a homage to the BB Winnebago, that and his accomplices were named Jessie and Walter.

Breaking Baaaad.

 

[Stearmen]

The Honeymoon Machine (1961) Steve McQueen and Jim Hutton. Shame Jim died so young, he was the ultimate straight man! Dean Jagger was his usual great self.

 

[Fading Fast]

The Honeymoon Machine (1961) Steve McQueen and Jim Hutton. Shame Jim died so young, he was the ultimate straight man! Dean Jagger was his usual great self.

ditto on Dean Jagger - a talented, very natural actor who, IMHO, would have been a huge star if he had had matinee idol looks.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Watched two more episodes of the Fleischer Superman cartoons - "The Billion Dollar Limited" and "The Arctic Giant." Like the ones before, both are artistically beautiful - the Art Deco style is stunning. The stories are formulaic, but watching them today, you don't watch for the story but for the artistry and history, I find myself almost lost in the beauty of the drawings.

Some common themes are emerging: (1) cops use their machine guns at the drop of a hat, (2)Lois Lane is no shrinking violet - she goes after a story with gusto, takes risks, pushes men out of the way, etc. and (3) they hadn't quite settled on superman flying versus jumping, in particular, in "The Arctic Giant" he does both.

Much fun - very impressive.

With all the recent talk of the Fleischer Superman cartoons, I thought I'd link to this brand new mini-documentary I just stumbled on. While it's got some mistakes (the Fleischers didn't "create" Popeye, the shorts are frequently referred to as a "show" rather than theatrical cartoons, it implies that the rotoscope was invented for the Superman cartoons... but the Fleischers had used it since 1923, etc.), it does a great job of showing how beautiful, innovative, and extraordinarily influential they are (to the Superman mythos and superhero tropes, Sky Captain, B:TAS, Godzilla, film noir, etc.) Absolutely worth eight minutes!

 

[rocketeer]

ZOMBIE FEST: Dead Snow + Dead Snow 2
Just watched back to back Dead Snow + Dead Snow 2. What better combination than Nazi's and Zombies can you really get, though I do think Snow 2 should have stayed in the snow covered mountains with the Zombie Red Army and lost the Zombie Squad storyline.
Totally bad taste = killing civilians, women, children, syphoning fuel using intestines and blood by the bucket load are when Zombie films are at there best.
They should not be taken seriously which is what Walking Dead did appear to me.
Anyone want to start a new thread on Ørjan Gamst as Standartenführer Herzog

I know someone will point this out but thought I would get in first:-
The WWII Tiger tank had a petrol engine whereas in the fuel syphoning scene, fuel is drawn from a large passenger coach, traditionally fuelled by diesel.

 

[Fading Fast]

With all the recent talk of the Fleischer Superman cartoons, I thought I'd link to this brand new mini-documentary I just stumbled on. While it's got some mistakes (the Fleischers didn't "create" Popeye, the shorts are frequently referred to as a "show" rather than theatrical cartoons, it implies that the rotoscope was invented for the Superman cartoons... but the Fleischers had used it since 1923, etc.), it does a great job of showing how beautiful, innovative, and extraordinarily influential they are (to the Superman mythos and superhero tropes, Sky Captain, B:TAS, Godzilla, film noir, etc.) Absolutely worth eight minutes!

Thank you for posting, really enjoyed this. The artistry in the Fleischer Superman cartoons is stunning, period and even more stunning when put in the context of the time period and that they were first in doing so much of what they did. This documentary does a good job of highlighting all that.

 

[LizzieMaine]

For a postscript on the Fleischer Superman shorts, look up a 1942 Bugs Bunny cartoon called "Super Rabbit." The opening montage is a rather pointed parody of the Superman cartoons, complete with "faster than a speeding bullet," etc.

 

[2jakes]

^^^^
My favorite parody cartoon hero!

 

[Stearmen]

McHale's Navy (1964) It was a lot more fun, now that I know the history of PT-73, a Vosper boat!

 

[2jakes]

Lost Weekend (1945)
Love the movie except for the background music.
It’s probably appropriate for the story.