WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

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knitwit45
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Location: Gardner, KS

Post by knitwit45 »

Feaito, when I saw "Love, Actually" in a theater, I walked out planning to buy the movie as soon as it became available. Colin Firth, Hugh Grant, Alan Rickman (sigh!!!), Emma Thompson, Keira Knightley Laura Linney.... what a wonderful cast! The separate stories all come together nicely, don't they? Hugh Grant's "dance" is quite charming, and his rebuttal of Billy Bob Thornton is dead on.

So many wonderful "bits" in the movie...Bill Nighy, as a poor man's Mick Jagger, Billy Bob Thornton as a sleazy, womanizing U.S. President, and the charming Thomas Sangster as Sam, the lovestruck little boy.

I have added it to my stack of must-watch Christmas movies!
"Life is not the way it's supposed to be.. It's the way it is..
The way we cope with it, is what makes the difference." ~ Virginia Satir
""Most people pursue pleasure with such breathless haste that they hurry past it." ~ Soren Kierkegaard
feaito

Post by feaito »

I agree with all your assessments Nancy. My wife also likes very much Alan Rickman.
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mrsl
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Post by mrsl »

In relation to Love Actually, it was written and directed by Richard Curtis, and I agree it's a fine, funny, and lovable movie. The wrap-up at the airport at the end is so surprising - I didn't expect it at all. There are even some nude scenes, and exceedingly frank sex scenes, but they are done with (wait for it -- -- here it comes --) such taste and are so funny, I can't imagine being offended by it. It covers love in all its' various forms - childish puppy love, bi-racial, same sex, first flushes of new love, comfortable married love, and man-woman. All handled with taste, comedy, and emotional impact.

If you liked that one, you have to rent Four Weddings and a Funeral as a double feature some night when you want an evening of light entertainment and several chuckles to end your day on a high note. Pop the corn and snap open the beer, wine or pepsi, then sit back and enjoy.

Anne
Anne


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feaito

Post by feaito »

mrsl wrote:In relation to Love Actually, it was written and directed by Richard Curtis, and I agree it's a fine, funny, and lovable movie. The wrap-up at the airport at the end is so surprising - I didn't expect it at all. There are even some nude scenes, and exceedingly frank sex scenes, but they are done with (wait for it -- -- here it comes --) such taste and are so funny, I can't imagine being offended by it. It covers love in all its' various forms - childish puppy love, bi-racial, same sex, first flushes of new love, comfortable married love, and man-woman. All handled with taste, comedy, and emotional impact.

If you liked that one, you have to rent Four Weddings and a Funeral as a double feature some night when you want an evening of light entertainment and several chuckles to end your day on a high note. Pop the corn and snap open the beer, wine or pepsi, then sit back and enjoy.

Anne
Anne,

You covered quite completely what Love Actually is all about. It is handled with much taste.

I do have the DVD of "4 Weddings and a Funeral", which is a contemporary favourite of mine.
feaito

Post by feaito »

I watched an amusing comedy titled "The Affairs of Susan" (1945) with Joan Fontaine. It's one of the few comedies she made (I have seen bits and pieces of another one she filmed in the '50: "Casanova's Big Night" (1954)).

Miss Fontaine has a definite flair for comedy and I enjoyed her performance, although I did not watch the film continuously, from start to finish. The male leads are OK, but it's all Ms. Fontaine's show.
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Bogie
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Location: Toronto, Canada

Post by Bogie »

In the last little while I watched a real turkey

The Kissing Bandit is a 1948 comedy/musical with Frank Sinatra. If you know anything about the old Zorro movies and the like then you'll recognize the storyline as Sinatra is the son of "The Kissing Bandit" and he returns back to California after an education in Boston. Sinatra basically thinks he's been summoned back to take care of the family inn business but in reality he's brought back to take on the role of the kissing bandit.

He is talked into leading the bandit life by his father's closest friend and he along with others hold up a stage coach with the governor's daughter inside. Sinatra falls in love with her but doesn't kiss her which leads to misunderstandings and Sinatra trying to win her affections even going so far as to pose as the Spanish count who's been arranged to marry the governor's daughter.

The comedy is rather weak and the songs even weaker still but the acting is passable though Sinatra looks very uncomfortable in the movie. Kathryn Grayson who plays the love interest is beautiful in this film and one of the best character actors of the Golden Age of Hollywood (J. Carroll Naish) is Sinatra's sidekick. I also have to make mention of Clinton Sundberg who i've seen in a few other films. What a fabulous character actor (usually playing a butler type in movies) as the governor's colonel who keeps getting demoted due to bad performance LOL!


It's a middling little film but a good time waster if you like that sorta thing. I would give it a weak 2 out of 5 stars.
feaito

Post by feaito »

I can't be objective here since "The Kissing Bandit" (1948) is one of the guilty pleasures from my childhood 8)

Last weekend I watched three very good & interesting films:

"The Great Lie" (1941). It was the first time I watched this brilliant melodrama and I enjoyed every bit of it. Mary Astor is superbly nasty. She gives a great performance. She's much better in this film than in "The Maltese Falcon" (1941). Bette is very good too, playing the good woman. Superb production values, excellent Max Steiner music. Doris Lloyd has very fine small role as Astor's maid.

"A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1935). Apparently the film is more Teutonic or German than 100% Shakespere or British, but is a superb film in its own right. It's a supremely filmed fantasy, with impressive performances by a very "unique" cast. I had read about the strange casting of many Warners stock players in Shakesperean roles, but it worked perfectly for me. In my opinion the actors captured the essence of their characters. Lively, felt performances. Mickey Rooney is fantastic as Puck and the mise-en-scene is awesome. The sets, Mendelssohn's music, Korngold's arrangaments, the staging of the dances, the photography, etc. This film needs to be viewed many times. It looks like a super-production made by MGM, because of its production values. Much, much more succesful, cinematographic and entertaining than Cukor's "Romeo and Juliet" (1936).

"Murder by Death" (1976). A great, delightful mystery-comedy with some of my favorites: Peter Sellers, David Niven, Alec Guinness, Elsa Lanchester and dear Estelle Winwood. Full of vignettes.
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movieman1957
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Post by movieman1957 »

A couple of Ford silents have graced my TV lately.

3 Bad Men is an early version of 3 Godfathers and in its way a lighter film than its successor. The men adopt a young lady after her father is killed and be come her provider and protector. The three are rather charming for bad guys as is most of the cast. Plenty of Ford humor and redemtption all around at the end. A fine effort. My main gripe is the music.

Hangman's House is a melodrama set in Ireland with Victor McLaglen. While it is a lovely looking picture with great sets and cinematography the story is only fair. The cast is at times a little overly dramatic. It does have a fine climax though. Another gripe about the music. Modern music and I don't get along too well.
Chris

"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana."
MikeBSG
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Joined: April 25th, 2007, 5:43 pm

Post by MikeBSG »

I watched a couple of unusual Westerns lately.

"Heller in Pink Tights" directed by George Cukor. This was a fun movie about a troupe of actors in the wild West. Very enjoyable thanks to the supporting performers, such as Margaret O'Brien and Eileen Heckart, but there was a coldness at the heart of this movie, Sophia Loren. She just seemed unapproachable. Perhaps Marylin Monroe would have been better, or, if made in 1950, it would have been great for Dietrich. I got the feeling that this movie was working around Loren instead of having her be the real center of things.

"They Came to Cordura" directed by Robert Rossen. I had read the novel decades ago. This film felt like the missing link between "The Treasure of Sierra Madre" and "The Wild Bunch." It is structured unusually, with the big action scene coming early and no final show-down, but the performances are fine. Cooper gives a good performance, but the real surprise to me was a deglamorized Rita Hayworth as the woman who gradually moves from scorning Cooper to seeing his value. It was alos interesting to see Van Heflin as a villain (or something very close to one.) Heck, I even liked Tab Hunter in this movie.
Mr. Arkadin
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Post by Mr. Arkadin »

They Came to Cordura usually gets a bad rap from people because Cooper and Hayworth were no longer spring chickens, but I think the film contains some of the best acting they brought to the screen. Hayworth as you mentioned, has real depth of character in this film. Good movie.
feaito

Post by feaito »

I have just finished watching "The Duchess" (2008), a movie about the life of Georgiana Spencer Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire. Visually it's very handsome and I was quite amused. The filming locations are incredible; the attention to period detail too. Ralph Fiennes gives a grand portrayal. Charlotte Rampling is also superb. As for Keira Knightley, she's very pretty, but I feel that her performance was not up to the level of the aforementioned actors.
melwalton
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Joined: October 14th, 2007, 5:58 pm

movies

Post by melwalton »

Recently, we saw part of "SWINGTIME' ( '36 Astaire /Rogers / Kern) ) I consider the BOJANGLES number the best thinG Astaire ever did, . ... mel
feaito

Post by feaito »

Thanks to a friend who lives in my Building, I've been watching episodes of the series "Jeeves & Wooster" with a pre-Dr. House Hugh Laurie. Stephen Fry is excellent! And what about Aunt Agatha! Highly amusing.
MikeBSG
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Joined: April 25th, 2007, 5:43 pm

Post by MikeBSG »

One last thought on "They Came to Cordura." It was based on a novel by Glendon Swarthout, who later wrote the novel that became "The Shootist."

Odd how the same guy could write the stories for what was one of Gary Cooper's last movies and John Wayne's last movie.
jdb1

Post by jdb1 »

feaito wrote:Thanks to a friend who lives in my Building, I've been watching episodes of the series "Jeeves & Wooster" with a pre-Dr. House Hugh Laurie. Stephen Fry is excellent! And what about Aunt Agatha! Highly amusing.
I loved those Jeeves & Woosters, Nando. I thought Fry and Laurie (as the upper-class twit Bertie Wooster) were just about perfect. Watching House these days (and it seems to be on every cable channel, 24/7), seeing Laurie growl and smolder as Dr. House, I often wonder if American fans of the show know anything about Laurie and his comedy background - and do they know he's English for that matter? My all-time favorite Laurie turn was as the foolish and foppish Prince George in the Blackadder series. Hilarious.
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