Want to buy or sell something? Check the classifieds
  • The Fedora Lounge is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.

What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

Messages
17,223
Location
New York City
Introducing Lily to The Sound of Music. She lost interest after the puppet show.

And how did it go? There are only a few musicals that I like (I'll watch Fred Astaire movies because he's so stupidly talented, but that doesn't make them good movies), but "The Sound of Music" is one of them. I don't care about all it's cheese, all its silliness, the darn movie works.
 
Messages
12,021
Location
East of Los Angeles
It was a new one to me, as well. So it at least had that going in it's favor.
Looking forward to your 2¢. [emoji3]
Well, I watched it, and I agree with you about the cars. Unfortunately, the cars and the musical scores borrowed from Creature From the Black Lagoon and This Island Earth were the best things about it, though I thought Robin Hughes (Gideon Drew) was pretty good in the brief scenes in which he was more than just a disembodied head. You were also right that they could have/should have trimmed away a lot of the excess plot, and it might have made a decent Twilight Zone or Outer Limits episode. I can't go quite so far as to say I felt it was a waste of two hours, but I don't feel the need to ever watch it again.
 
Messages
13,672
Location
down south
Well, I watched it, and I agree with you about the cars. Unfortunately, the cars and the musical scores borrowed from Creature From the Black Lagoon and This Island Earth were the best things about it, though I thought Robin Hughes (Gideon Drew) was pretty good in the brief scenes in which he was more than just a disembodied head. You were also right that they could have/should have trimmed away a lot of the excess plot, and it might have made a decent Twilight Zone or Outer Limits episode. I can't go quite so far as to say I felt it was a waste of two hours, but I don't feel the need to ever watch it again.
I definitely have no regrets about the time spent watching it, but it was interesting (and evident) to see the dwindling of Universal's reign of the horror genre.
I suppose with the real horrors of WWII and Korea still well in the public concousness, and the rumblings of Vietnam already underway, as well as the Cold War and the spectre of nuclear holocaust uneasily in the back of people's minds, it's easy to see how the old Universal offerings just didn't get the jump out of audiences any more, and with competitor Warner Brothers backing the American distribution of Hammer studio's generally more graphic interpretations, the writing was on the wall.
 
Messages
12,021
Location
East of Los Angeles
I definitely have no regrets about the time spent watching it..
I'm the opposite of a "movie snob", in that I can watch good and not-so-good movies (at least once, anyway) and appreciate them for what they are. There have been times when I've truly felt as though I'd wasted my time by watching a particular movie, but those times have been few and far between. I get the feeling you're similar in that regard.

...but it was interesting (and evident) to see the dwindling of Universal's reign of the horror genre.

I suppose with the real horrors of WWII and Korea still well in the public concousness, and the rumblings of Vietnam already underway, as well as the Cold War and the spectre of nuclear holocaust uneasily in the back of people's minds, it's easy to see how the old Universal offerings just didn't get the jump out of audiences any more, and with competitor Warner Brothers backing the American distribution of Hammer studio's generally more graphic interpretations, the writing was on the wall.
Well, just like every other movie studio, Universal has produced their fair share of not-so-good movies over the years. After all, while filming The Raven in 1935 actor Ian Wolfe asked Boris Karloff to direct him to the toilet, and without missing a beat Boris replied, "This is Universal; the whole place is a toilet." Also, some of the classic Universal horror movies (Dracula and Frankenstein, particularly) experienced a resurgence in popularity in the mid-1950s, only a few years before The Thing That Couldn't Die was released. So while Universal did have some serious competition to deal with, and with the popularity of sci-fi movies also being on the rise, I'm not sure either can be used as an excuse for Universal simply producing low-budget B movies just to have something to run on a double-bill with one of their "potentially more successful" movies.
 
Messages
17,223
Location
New York City
Because it is that good!
:D
I believe that I have seen it about the same number of times.

As have I, and for the same reason. That and "To Catch a Thief" are so beautifully filmed, that you can watch them just for the settings, scenery, clothes, homes, cars, etc. Oh and Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and Grace Kelly aren't bad to look at either.
 
Messages
17,223
Location
New York City
Indiscreet with Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman. Guess it is Cary Grant night!

I watched this a few months ago and thought, if it wasn't for Cary Grant, this movie wouldn't work. Nothing against Ingrid Bergman, but he carries (tee-hee) the movie which kind of slogs along in parts. And some of the over use of color (in her apartment for example) to, I guess, highlight the technicolor capabilities was annoying.
 

AmateisGal

I'll Lock Up
Messages
6,126
Location
Nebraska
I watched this a few months ago and thought, if it wasn't for Cary Grant, this movie wouldn't work. Nothing against Ingrid Bergman, but he carries (tee-hee) the movie which kind of slogs along in parts. And some of the over use of color (in her apartment for example) to, I guess, highlight the technicolor capabilities was annoying.

Yeah, the plot isn't the greatest (and I was noticing for the first time the bizarre colors in her apartment, especially the framed artwork. It just looked...off.)

To have him say, "I wouldn't get married if you put a gun to my head" and then suddenly, one day later, he decides to get married because he's jealous? Not buying it. I was thinking last night how they could have made a small change in dialogue and fixed this (it's the writer in me, I guess). While talking to Ingrid's brother-in-law, Cary Grant could have simply said, "But Anna is making me rethink my stance and I don't like it." or something to that affect.

Anyway. I still like it.
 

AmateisGal

I'll Lock Up
Messages
6,126
Location
Nebraska
I feel the sadness in that movie more with each subsequent viewing. (And if they'd taken the Mickey Rooney character out completely, the movie would be almost perfect.)

I watched Breakfast At Tiffany's for the first time a few months ago and I have to wonder what all the fuss is about. Ha! Probably a very unpopular opinion, but I just didn't like it very much.
 
Messages
17,223
Location
New York City
Yeah, the plot isn't the greatest (and I was noticing for the first time the bizarre colors in her apartment, especially the framed artwork. It just looked...off.)

To have him say, "I wouldn't get married if you put a gun to my head" and then suddenly, one day later, he decides to get married because he's jealous? Not buying it. I was thinking last night how they could have made a small change in dialogue and fixed this (it's the writer in me, I guess). While talking to Ingrid's brother-in-law, Cary Grant could have simply said, "But Anna is making me rethink my stance and I don't like it." or something to that affect.

Anyway. I still like it.

I'm so glad you saw the craziness in her apartment colors - sometimes I think it's just me. And, yes, Grant's turn from player to jealous man was unconvincing. I, too, sometimes think about how much better a line(s) or even plot twist could have been written in some movies.
 
Messages
17,223
Location
New York City
I watched Breakfast At Tiffany's for the first time a few months ago and I have to wonder what all the fuss is about. Ha! Probably a very unpopular opinion, but I just didn't like it very much.


It's a movie that has grown on me over the years. I heard too much hype about it before I ever saw it to enjoy my first viewing. It couldn't live up to my expectations - I kept waiting for it to "get great." But over the years, I've seen it four or five times and it has grown on me as it is a movie that washes over you and works quietly in the background as you feel how sad Holly's and Paul's lives are despite surface appearances to the contrary.

It is also beautifully film which, at least for me, I tend to appreciate after I have the plot / main characters down and can focus on other aspects of the movie on subsequent viewings.

So maybe in several months or even years, you'll see it again and it might work more for you then.
 

AmateisGal

I'll Lock Up
Messages
6,126
Location
Nebraska
It's a movie that has grown on me over the years. I heard too much hype about it before I ever saw it to enjoy my first viewing. It couldn't live up to my expectations - I kept waiting for it to "get great." But over the years, I've seen it four or five times and it has grown on me as it is a movie that washes over you and works quietly in the background as you feel how sad Holly's and Paul's lives are despite surface appearances to the contrary.

It is also beautifully film which, at least for me, I tend to appreciate after I have the plot / main characters down and can focus on other aspects of the movie on subsequent viewings.

So maybe in several months or even years, you'll see it again and it might work more for you then.

I may do that. I remember when I first watched Casablanca (I was in high school) and was left wondering, What was all the hype about? Little did I know! I'm so glad I went back to it years later.

I find that on the second or third viewing, I can appreciate some films more.
 
Messages
13,672
Location
down south
I agree with FF's assessment that "Breakfast" is a beautifully shot movie, and would probably enjoy seeing it again with the sound off, but while it is redeeming in that Audrey Hepburn, like Julia Roberts in a later era, shows us that not all whores are necessarily skeezy crackheads, the main reason I do not care one bit for this film (Rooney's gut-curdlingly racist turn as the landlord notwithstanding) is that I just can't get past
e47414922e32dcb57b51a0cfe2a3fa90.jpg
. Young George Peppard is even more smarmy and annoying even though (or maybe because) he's trying to play it serious. I struggle to find any sympathy for his character whatsoever.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
109,329
Messages
3,078,989
Members
54,243
Latest member
seeldoger47
Top