What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[Doctor Strange]

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2... I'm still processing my feelings.

Minus the wonderful surprises of the first film (the rare Marvel property I didn't have a long history with, and my knowledge of the initial 70s comics versions of Drax and Gamora didn't help much), this one pushes even harder into the characters - it could have been subtitled "Daddy Issues". There's still plenty of action and wonderment, but the character interactions are more important, which is actually pretty gutsy. Lots of laughs, lots of cute... maybe too much? And at least it doesn't have the one-dimensional villain character that's usually the weakest thing in the Marvel films.

If you liked the first, you'll like this one. It's very entertaining, and loaded with interesting Easter eggs for old Marvel fans (for example, the Stan Lee cameo). But there's something about it that didn't quite work for me that I can't put my finger on.

Not mentioned anywhere I've seen: there's a(nother) new Marvel Studios logo at the beginning... which uses quick shots from the MCU films rather than the comics images montage of previous versions.

 

[Benzadmiral]

Arrival, with Amy Adams as a linguist tasked with communicating with aliens who have arrived in 12 ships dotted all around the earth. A good first-contact story, the kind of thing that might well have appeared in the SF magazines of the '70s: no explosions (well, there is one), no space battle scenes, a quiet and thoughtful sort of tale.

Favorite bit: The govt. agent, Forest Whitaker, asks her to join the team to translate the aliens' growls. She declines, but as he is leaving, she asks if he is going to tap So-and-So, whom she knows, as the next choice.

Whitaker: "Maybe."
Amy: "Before you commit to him, ask him what the Sanskrit word for 'war' means."

Later, Whitaker and his men land by copter at her house and meet her at the door.
Amy: "What did So-and-So say was the Sanskrit word for 'war'?"
Whitaker: "He said 'an argument.' What do you say?"
Amy: " 'A desire for more cows.' "
Whitaker: "Pack your bags."

 

[Worf]

I think that is what his audience wanted, no nuance, just punch every thing in sight! He did make two movies where he actually did act. His last, The Shootist, where he was thoughtful, and some what introspective, of course, he was dying in real life. The second, The Wings Of Eagles, about Frank "Spig" Wead. In the beginning, he is his old self, two fist and two drinks, but then he is forced to grow up and use his brain! A must see movie!

Errr.... you're talking about John Wayne... Someone I can at least "respect" as an actor... We're talking about Chuck Norris..... someone who couldn't spell "acting if you spotted him every letter but the "t".

Worf

Wait... are you yanking my chain or making a very sly (and well placed) comparison???? Hmmm Hennnh? Ehhhh?

 

[Stearmen]

Errr.... you're talking about John Wayne... Someone I can at least "respect" as an actor... We're talking about Chuck Norris..... someone who couldn't spell "acting if you spotted him every letter but the "t".

Worf

Wait... are you yanking my chain or making a very sly (and well placed) comparison???? Hmmm Hennnh? Ehhhh?

Talk about being lost! Well, never mind!

 

[Fading Fast]

"A Free Soul" TCM On Demand (TCM is awesome)

• This is a fully unfurled pre-code

• In the opening scene, a fuss is made about the large amount of underwear Norma Shearer has, then she proceeds to, quite obviously, wear none of it for the rest of the movie (pre-code!)

• Her father, a still-mobile Lionel Barrymore, defends gangsters when those of his class "just didn't do such things," (all the while hitting the bottle before his courtroom appearances - [pre-code!])

• The OJ "glove does not fit" defense is used in this '31 movie just substituting a hat for a glove

• Leslie Howard has a voice only Leslie Howard could pull off - it's all contradictions: resonant and reedy with both haughtiness and approachability - it works because that is Leslie Howard as well, there's been no star quite like him since

• Basic theme - stuffy society is boring, boorish and arrogant; the demimonde has all the fun - booze, sex and gambling / this theme was done before and would be done one billion times after
  • But then the theme slips when the "slumming it" society man - who's all for "the people -" turns super snob when his daughter's reputation is at risk / nice to see the progressive breaker of rules guilty of some hypocrisy

• The dialogue rips along with period argot, but at its core, it has a very modern honesty where all human emotion and foibles are revealed - this movie, and no movie like it, is being made after the code is enforced

• This is a pre-code / '30s "chick flick," not as we use the word today, but in a way that means something real: a strong woman taking control of her life and not letting men, any single man, tell her what to do - she makes her own decisions and choices even when society and several men push hard against her (pre-code!)

• Shearer isn't a great actress - she slips into silent-film-mode acting too often - but she is a great star and drives it all forward with her power, presence and personality

• The story unravels a bit in the middle, then ravels back up and then uses drama, melodrama, surprise and everything else - it's a mess, but it works, because there's human honesty underneath

 

[MisterCairo]

Girls were off school yesterday, a PD day, so we took in a matinee of Guardians of the Galaxy v. 2. Excellent fun, not as consistently funny as the first, some serious tones to it (relationships, feelings, something like those things), but a good time.

 

[Fading Fast]

"Patterns" 1956

• Had heard a lot about it, saw it once before and was disappointed (expectations too high), enjoyed it this time (expectations low)

• Rod Serling wrote it and it feels like a long-play "The Twilight Zone" episode
  • The characters are emotional and philosophical exaggerations - the President of the company is like a super-mean Ayn Rand character
  • The long, slow, painful breaking of a man is classic "TTL"
  • There is an almost otherworldliness about it - the somber church bells used to introduce each "office" scene emphasizes this
  • You can see "A Stop at Willoughby" and several other "TTL" episodes in this movie
  • The pace, transition, style and timing are all "off" for a movie, but spot on for "The Twilight Zone"

• I love that all three main characters are morally grey (with big leans one way or the other) as most people in life are

• 90% sure the office building used as the NYC headquarters is 120 Broadway NYC - the first office building I worked in, in NYC
  • Could not get more iconic pre-war office building architecture (I loved working in that building)
  • First office building in NYC to encompass a full city block (the building is a behemoth)
  • NYC ticker tape parades pass right by on Broadway - it was fun to throw confetti out the window for the parades they held when I worked there and feel a connect back to all the famous ticker tape parades

• While I still give the nod to "Executive Suite" for '50s movies on big business politics and morals, "Patterns" has move up in my ranking

 

[Worf]

Talk about being lost! Well, never mind!

Despite your shortcomings... we luv you anyways.... No harm... no foul!

Worf

 

[Zombie_61]

...I respect your opinion so if it's "laugh out loud" funny... let me know I'll catch it some other time.

Worf

I finally watched The Beast of Hollow Mountain (1956) last night. While Reptilicus has it's unintentionally funny moments, Beast doesn't even have that going for it. The Beast doesn't even appear in the first hour of the movie, which plays like a straight Western that takes place in Mexico. And when it finally shows up it does so for no apparent reason; it's just suddenly there for the hero to defeat. It feels as if the studio had two different but incomplete movies with the same actors playing the same characters, and they decided at the last minute to splice them together. And The Beast, which is mostly a stop-motion animated puppet, looks just as phony as the Reptilicus marionette; it just looks phony in a different way. The actors' performances aren't bad for a movie of this caliber, and it might have fared better if they had eliminated the whole "Beast" story and stuck with the "two warring cattle ranchers" plotline that dominates the first hour of the movie. Seek it out if you're a fan of low-budget "Cowboy vs Dinosaur" movies that are light on dinosaurs, but I can think of far better ways to spend an hour and 20 minutes.

 

[Stearmen]

Despite your shortcomings... we luv you anyways.... No harm... no foul!

Worf

I mixed up Lone Wolf McQuade with McQ. Long story short, I don't think I have ever seen a movie with "he who must not be named" in it!

 

[Stearmen]

Despite your shortcomings... we luv you anyways.... No harm... no foul!

Worf

That should be, many, many, many shortcomings!

 

[Stearmen]

The Huntsman: Winter's War (2016)

 

[green papaya]

MURPHY'S WAR (1971) starring Peter O'Toole

A lone survivor from a WW2 British naval ship is obsessed with getting revenge on a German U-boat crew that massacred his shipmates in the water.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Indignation - recent film adapted from a Phillip Roth novel about a Jewish honor student facing difficulties at a Christian college during the early fifties.

A solid, smart drama with two impressive standout scenes: the student (Logan Lerman) confronts the dean (Tracy Letts) over his Jewish-atheist position and lack of socializing; the student's mother (Linda Emond) forbids him from seeing the troubled non-Jewish girl (Sarah Gadon) with whom he's fallen in love.

 

[Fading Fast]

Indignation - recent film adapted from a Philip Roth novel about a Jewish honor student facing difficulties at a Christian college during the early fifties.

A solid, smart drama with two impressive standout scenes: the student (Logan Lerman) confronts the dean (Tracy Letts) over his Jewish-atheist position and lack of socializing; the student's mother (Linda Emond) forbids him from seeing the troubled non-Jewish girl (Sarah Gadon) with whom he's fallen in love.

Agreed - smart movie, well written, well done - but definitely not cheery or easy. You identified the two strongest scenes.

My review here if you care http://www.thefedoralounge.com/thre...ovie-you-watched.20830/page-1146#post-2208478

 

[Doctor Strange]

Your review's right on, if a bit more spoiler-heavy than my brief one. You realize that Roth is nearly the same age as Woody Allen, right? So it's not at all surprising that they exhibit the same degree of Jewish angst and sexual fascinations... They're part of the same generation, raised not so differently in Newark and Brooklyn.

And yeah, it's not cheery or easy... but you don't go to Roth for that! This is the second recent Roth film adaptation I've watched in the last few weeks: the other was American Pastoral. Also good.

 

[1mach1]

The Great Escape

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[Doctor Strange]

Europa Report. A serious SF flick about a space mission to explore Jupiter's moon Europa... where bad things happen and the crew must improvise. From the 2001/Mission To Mars/Deep Impact "realistic" school, but on a lower budget and with no happy ending. Recommended for fans of NASA-esque SF films.

 

[belfastboy]

Watched an Argentinian movie "Lighthouse of the Orcas" a Netflix offering. A good watch, an unassuming little movie that is sweet without becoming treacle.

 

[Feraud]

MURPHY'S WAR (1971) starring Peter O'Toole

A lone survivor from a WW2 British naval ship is obsessed with getting revenge on a German U-boat crew that massacred his shipmates in the water.

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Great selection. I really enjoy this film. It reminds me of Moby Dick with O'Toole as Ahab obsessing over his white whale. The novel is a good read too if you've not read it.