WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

[mrsl]

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Klondike asked: " Ever seen 1941 ? "

Answer: No, didn't know it was Spielberg, but if anything, from the few clips I've seen, it's not really to my taste.
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[Lzcutter]

Ever seen 1941 ?

Sheepishly raises hand indicating having seen it in a theater upon its initial release.

The best thing about the film is the recreation of Hollywood Blvd from that era.

[Birdy]

I watched My One and Only, 2009 with Rene Zelwegger and Kevin Bacon. The story line was loosely based on George Hamilton's life and how he and his mother ended up in Hollywood. It was more of a character/period piece. The jazz score and 50's clothes and street scenes created the atmosphere to tell this amusing but poignant story.

I got this movie not expecting much and enjoyed it more than I expected.

[MichiganJ]

Ever seen 1941 ?

Sheepishly raises hand indicating having seen it in a theater upon its initial release.

The best thing about the film is the recreation of Hollywood Blvd from that era.

I, too, saw 1941 in the theater and am a proud owner of the DVD (which is even longer!). I think it is considerably better than it's reputation suggests and at the very least the cast is amazingly impressive. (You can play "spot the cameo". )

[klondike]

I think it is considerably better than it's reputation suggests and at the very least the cast is amazingly impressive.

And that is why we live in America!

[MikeBSG]

I just watched "The Edukators," a 2004 German film about student radicals who get into unexpected trouble. It was an interesting movie, but what really hooked me was the performance of Julia Jentsch. I had seen her in "Sophie Scholl" and "I Served the King of England," but nothing prepared me for the charm and delight that she displayed in this film.

[jdb1]

Last night I watched, on one of my cable On Demand channels, Robot Monster (a/k/a/ Robots from the Moon) (1953). Words fail me. I hadn't seen this one since the days of those weekend monster fests on TV in the 1950s and 60s. It was so incredibly bad, and yet one cannot avert one's eyes. I loved it.

Know the one I mean? Where the bad guy is wearing a gorilla suit and a diving helmet, and there's a bubble machine? And George Nader, as one of the last people on earth, is wearing a tee shirt full of big holes, and yet feels compelled to take it off because of the desert heat? And Selena Royle was so embarrassed to be in this one, that she appears as "Selena Royale?"

This must have been one of Larry Blamire's inspirations for the wonderful sci-fi spoof Lost Skeleton of Cadavra. The robot/alien/gorilla creature, who, too late and rather inconsequentially, learns what loves means, talks just like the evil skeleton. If only the robot/gorilla had had the good sense to say "I sleep now," like the skeleton did.

Robot Monster's one saving grace is a somewhat interesting score by Elmer Bernstein. The credits lead one to believe this movie was shot in 3D, but there isn't much going on on the screen that's particularly 3D-worthy (it's in B&W). I think this movie is on many worst sci-fi's of all time lists. With very good reason, but it was so darned funny.

[MichiganJ]

Last night I watched, on one of my cable On Demand channels, Robot Monster

...
I love Robot Monster. Ro-Man, with his gorilla body and diving-helmet head (and let us not forget the antenna), pretty great!

It was originally in 3-D; sadly the DVD is only 2-D.

[charliechaplinfan]

I watched Caravan last night through youtube, directed by Eric Charrell starring Loretta Young, Charles Boyer, Philip Holmes and Jean Parker. It's similar to The Merry Widow but the characters aren't quite as well rounded, nor does the film flow quite as well. It is a good film, interseting to see Charles Boyer playing a gypsy violinist and to see Philip Holmes in a later role, Loretta Young is lovely as always.

Today I watched another Rohmer movie, Pauline A La Plage made in 1982. Pauline is a 14 year old girl in the care of her elder cousin, Marion. Marion has returned to her home town for the holiday after 5 years away, she meets up with an old boyfriend, Pierre and an acquaintance of his Henri. Pierre is anxious to renew his romance with Marion but instead pushes her into a romance with Henri, a man who lives for the moment, doesn't believe in being tied to one person and is quite upfront about it. Marion thinks she can change him, Pierre despairs at her choice and Pauline watches from the sidelines and makes her own acquaintance Sylvian. Henri lets the teenage Sylvian and Pauline use his bedroom and later involves Sylvian is a lie to deceive MArion that leaves Pauline upset. It's a tale of romance for two women, one young and unsure, the other wanting to be swept off her feet, Marion at least picks the wrong one. It's well told, even the cheating Henri isn't unlikeable because he's is quite honest but unable to hurt Marion to her face. I liked his speech about the comparison between the beautiful seemingly perfect Marion and the peddler and why the peddler thrills him more.

One thing that did shock me a little was the age of Pauline and the pimping of her to the older Pierre to 'lose her cherry' and also the miniscual bikini the pubescent Pauline wore, barely a scrap but times change or perhaps this viewer is getting older.

[MichiganJ]

Today I watched another Rohmer movie, Pauline A La Plage made in 1982.

Last year I revisited most of Rohmer's films and Pauline at the Beach, the third in his Comedies and Proverbs series, is among his best. But I honestly can't say I've seen a bad Rohmer film.

I'm a great fan of the French New Wave and while Rohmer is a pioneering member, it's interesting that his films are quite different in approach to those of the other, perhaps more famous, members. Unlike early Truffaut and much of Godard, Rohmer isn't interested in reminding the audience that we are watching a movie. He rarely uses close-ups despite the fact that most of the films are simply people talking; and yet his films are still cinematic. (It helps that many are filmed in the South of France.) Except for a few stylized (but wonderful) films (Perceval and the Marquise of O), Rohmer also rarely uses music, unless it's sourced, adding to the realism of his films and the feeling that we are eavesdropping on some interesting (and usually good looking) folks.

[charliechaplinfan]

I find the New Wave genre of films confusing, who and what films fit in there, I find films like Godard's Alphaville very far removed from Pauline a La Plage. I like the intimacy of Rohmer's films and wonder why I hadn't discovered him before. I liked Pauline as much as Maud.

[MichiganJ]

I like the intimacy of Rohmer's films and wonder why I hadn't discovered him before. I liked Pauline as much as Maud.

Maud is part of Rohmer's Six Moral Tales series. From that series I'd also highly recommend Le Genou de Claire (Clair's Knee) (1970) and L'Amour l'aprés-midi (Chloe in the Afternoon) (1972).

From the Comedies and Proverbs series, don't miss Le Rayon vert (The Green Ray or, absurdly titled for the U.S., Summer) (1986). The main character is somewhat difficult to identify with early on, but the rewards are plenty if you stick with her. Also check out L'Ami de mon ami (Boyfriends and Girlfriends) (1987)

Rohmer also has a Tales of Four Seasons series, of which my favorite (I think) is Contre de printemps (A Tale of Springtime) (1990), although all of them are pretty great.

[JackFavell]

It's really sad that I have jumped to conclusions about some movies... I know what has kept me away from Rohmer. It is because of a certain trend in French movies of the eighties up to about 2000 toward older man - very young woman stories. I got so sick of every popular French film dealing with this subject, that I pretty much lumped all the films into one ugly pot. I am guilty of having judged movies without watching them, a practice which I usually abhor. I really should watch some of these films, before I make up my mind in a prudish manner. It isn't that I have really judged them harshly, just that I don't have interest in seeing these stories in the first place.

[charliechaplinfan]

Thanks for the recommendations. I've already added some to my list, I've renting all the moral tales but I guess I'll end up buying them. I really do like his style, I wonder why he is wasn't as well known to me as Truffaut or Godard.

I hadn't noticed that about French movies, Wendy, although I usually watch movies from an early period. I find that some of Godard's movies put me off the genre, I wish with Godard I knew which oes I'd like before I rent them because I either love them or hate them.

I've just watched the most American loving British film I've ever seen. I was quite quite choked up at the sentiment even though it was quite heavily ladled on. The White Cliffs of Dover starring Irene Dunne as an American woman who marries an English lord and first watches as her husband goes to WW1 and then her son fights in WW2. Frank Morgan is great as the American father/grandfather and C Aubrey Smith great as the English colonel. Irene Dunne is superb in this role, I coludn't imagine anyone playing it better, she is the epitome of how to ladylike. I can only imagine that when this was made by MGM the pro British feeling was running high and the patriotism that runs so highly in time of war is evident but most strongly is the message at the end that we must find a peace that sticks this time. I love to see these glimpses of movie propaganda.

[JackFavell]

I've only seen Breathless, and I think it's the movie I am most disappointed with, having waited for years to see it.... I was expecting something exciting and fun, but it was actually a bit boring, I thought.

I love White Cliffs of Dover so much, I am no Irene Dunne fan, but when she is good, she's very good. Alan Marshal is so terribly good looking, and the story is in that great tradition of 40's women's pictures that sway you so. A lovely movie, very well done. I too like the propaganda pictures of WWII.

I'm sure you've seen Penny Serenade, but it's another of Dunne's knockout roles. Both movies are way up there on my list of weepies.