WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

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Bogie
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Post by Bogie »

movieman1957 wrote: I also saw the remastered version of "How The West Was Won" on the Westerns channel. Very clean. They even managed to get rid of the screen lines most of the time. There should be some more showings coming up.
Is it shown in the correct aspect ratio? It's not my favorite western but i'll watch it if it's shown the way it's meant to be.
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movieman1957
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Post by movieman1957 »

They do show it in a widescreen format. I know that channel is not always particular about it but they did on this one.
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mrsl
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Post by mrsl »

Bogie: Re: How the West Was Won

Some of you guys are always talking about 'aspect ratio'. What exactly does that mean? I am a 'watch it every couple of years fan', and knowing it was on Saturday night, I did sit down and watch it all the way through. It looked very neat and tidy to me. The color was sharp, and the images clear and precise. My TV is an inexpensive Walmart 24" special, but has a lovely picture on it. Although I don't know what that ratio stuff means, I do know the difference between a bad print from 1939 and a good one. I also know most of the 1940 through 1960 B&W films are quite clear and sharp, and I think that is due to the type of film used. I prefer letterbox for original wide screen epics like How the West Was Won, and the fact that everyone is on screen instead of speaking 'from the wings', but as long as a film is sharp and the contrast is bright enough, to me the story or plot, is more important than how much of the TV screen is filled up. :lol:

Aspect ratio has been explained before to me, but he got so technical, he lost me at the beginning. All I got out of it was how big or little those little squares that make up the picture were. I just don't get it. The bigger your TV screen is, the more blurry your picture is. I've checked it out on the same program playing on different size screens, of the same manufacturer, in the stores, and it doesn't matter if it's plasma, LCD, or plain old convex screen. So . . . what am I missing?

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ken123
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Post by ken123 »

Dirty Harry is a film that I first show in the movie theatre, I was so appalled that I almost walked out, but my wife & I decided to stay.
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Bogie
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Post by Bogie »

mrsl I don't get technical but what I mean is if a movie is originally in widescreen (aka with the black bars) and a channel shows it full screen you end up missing a lot of the picture. TCM used to do an excellent little feature about it between movies that illustrated it quite well.
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Bogie
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Post by Bogie »

ken123 wrote:Dirty Harry is a film that I first show in the movie theatre, I was so appalled that I almost walked out, but my wife & I decided to stay.
I hate double posting but oh well. Was it really THAT shocking at the time? Did you see Death Wish in the theatres too and did it have that kind of affect on you as well?
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Post by feaito »

Over the weekend I watched:

"Asesino en Serio" (Serious Killer) (2002), a rather funny Mexican comedy, which is definitely not for all tastes.

"La Sagrada Familia" (The Sacred Family) (2004), a Chilean film marred by bad cinematography and excessive dialogue.

"Le Roi de Coeur" (King of Hearts") (1966), a highly entertaining, offbeat, unique French film directed by Philippe De Broca, set during WWI in a small town in France, which is taken over by escapees from an Insane Asylum. Allegorical and surrealistic film, whose moral is, in my opinion, that aparently normal, regular people are the least sensible when it comes to issues like war. A marvelous cast headed by Alan Bates, a very young and beautiful, ethereal Genevieve Bujold, the ever-lovely Micheline Presle, Adolfo Celi, Michel Serrault et al. My wife and I loved this film. And one of the things I liked the most is that Germans spoke in German language, French in French and Scottish in English.
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Post by Synnove »

I watched The Labyrinth yesterday. Boy is this a very... 80's film. Not that there is anything wrong with that! On the contrary, in the case of fantasy movies, I think it's a positive thing if they're from the 80's. Now, they have the technical skill that can bring magic alive on the screen. But in the 80s, they brought a flair for adventure and a sense of wonder to the screen, which I think is missing from films like Harry Potter. So, thumbs up for Labyrinth, and David Bowie.
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Post by MikeBSG »

I'm glad to see that there is another person in the world who likes "Labyrinth." I loved it when it first came out, but I think it was rather coldly received and people wished Jim Henson stuck to making muppet movies with Kermit. I'll have to see "Labyrinth" again.

Yesterday, I watched "Leningrad Cowboys The Total Balalaika Show" on DVD. I really enjoyed watching this concert of Finnish rock musicians and the Red Army Orchestra and Chorus. It sounds dopey, but the combination works surprisingly well on "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" and "Gimme All Your Lovin'". Or maybe I'm just crazy.

Today I watched "The Dam Busters," the classic British war movie. Well-made, with a good documentary-type feel. Indeed, seeing all the little things that go into staging an air raid was probably the most interesting part of the movie. Michael Redgrave did a good job as the heroic inventor struggling with red tape (he designed the special bomb used on the air raid) but bureaucratic red tape isn't the most cinematic of subjects.
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Bogie
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Post by Bogie »

Well I watched Magnum Force (the 2nd Dirty Harry) movie and it was alright. Actually I fell asleep before the movie ended so I couldn't tell you 100% how I feel about it but I thought they softened the Harry Calllahan character a bit. He didn't have quite the same hard edge as he had in the original and I didn't really care for the whole story either even though David Soul did quite well as the heavy.

Overall i'd give it ** stars just for the random violence and action set pieces alone.
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Post by feaito »

I finished watching Gregory la Cava's 1934 "The Affairs of Cellini" a very fine so-called comedy of manners which plays better as a Farce with good tongue-in-cheek performances, especially by Constance Bennett, who shows her flair for comedy as the scheming Duchess of Florence and Fredric March who gives an elaborate, yet effective portrayal of the title character. Frank Morgan is funny as the manipulated, kind of absent-minded Duke and he's more playing Frank Morgan than the Duke of Florence really, IMO. His performance his enjoyable though.

Only Fay Wray comes off worse in a colorless role as a dumb model. On the other hand she looks very pretty. Louis Calhern is wickedly charming as Cellini's antagonist and Jessie Ralph is a hoot as Wray's ugly mother :D An amusing romp, with some lavish sets and costumes.
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moira finnie
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Post by moira finnie »

Fernando, how was the quality of the print of The Affairs of Cellini? The one that Fox itself shows on FMC here in the states was very poor last time I watched it. The soundtrack desperately needed to be cleaned up too. With the exception of Death Takes a Holiday, I have a tough time being serious when Fredric March plays in most costume dramas. There's something that happens to him when he puts on tights...otherwise I think he's very funny, especially in modern dress comedy such as The Royal Family of Broadway, Design For Living, Nothing Sacred, I Married a Witch, etc...

I'm not sure what went wrong with this film, except that La Cava may have been trying to improvise his script or action as he went along, a technique that worked well in a few instances, such as My Man Godfrey & Stage Door, but not so hot other times. I usually find something enjoyable in his movies, despite the sometimes mixed results.
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Post by feaito »

moirafinnie wrote:Fernando, how was the quality of the print of The Affairs of Cellini? The one that Fox itself shows on FMC here in the states was very poor last time I watched it. The soundtrack desperately needed to be cleaned up too. With the exception of Death Takes a Holiday, I have a tough time being serious when Fredric March plays in most costume dramas. There's something that happens to him when he puts on tights...otherwise I think he's very funny, especially in modern dress comedy such as The Royal Family of Broadway, Design For Living, Nothing Sacred, I Married a Witch, etc...

I'm not sure what went wrong with this film, except that La Cava may have been trying to improvise his script or action as he went along, a technique that worked well in a few instances, such as My Man Godfrey & Stage Door, but not so hot other times. I usually find something enjoyable in his movies, despite the sometimes mixed results.
Hi Mora,

I think that the copy that was aired by Cinecanal Classics is the same one that's been aired by FOX in the United States. It's not very sharp and lacks constrast, if I put it coreectly and in some small parts the soundtrack has certain problems, audio gets lost a bit, but in the whole, considering it is a 1934 film it is quite a watchable copy. Not very good, but not bad either.

You are right about Fredric March, something happens to his performances when he puts on tights :wink: Are they more florid? Although in period dramas such as the 1935 "Les Miserables" and the 1934 "The Barretts of Wimpole Street" I think he's very fine. I liked him in "Anthony Adverse" too, but I am a sentimental. I agree that "Death Takes a Holiday" is superb!

"The Sign of the Cross" (1932) used to be a huge favorite of mine when I was a youngster, but when I saw it recently with "adult's" eyes I found it too stiff and artificial in certain parts, notwithstanding its marvelous Pre-Code aspects, Colbert's milk bath and Laughton's amusing Nero. March isn't at its best here and Elissal Landi has a thankless role.

Well, 20 years later the very similar "Quo Vadis?" (1951) is very enjoyable as a colorful, "DeMillesque" kind of spectacle, but Robert Taylor and Deborah Kerr have little to do with their lackluster roles. Patricia Laffan and Peter Ustinov as the villains are a joy to behold! And beautiful, sexy Marina Berti's infatuation with Leo Genn's character is much more interesting. Marina Berti really glowed with beauty in this film in comparison with her role as Angela Borghia in Ty Power's "Prince of Foxes"; she looks stunning and so does Kerr, but her role is less interesting and colorful.
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Bogie
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Post by Bogie »

I apologize for not going through with the rest of the Dirty Harry movies. I haven't gotten a chance to watch the rest of them for various reasons. Luckily for me, AMC will be re-airing all 5 near the end of the month.
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Post by MikeBSG »

I finally saw "The Dark Knight." I wrote it up under "The Superhero Genre" on the science fiction part of Silver Screen Oasis.

bottom line, it was a well-made movie, but I had problems enjoying it because of my preconceptions about Batman. I still prefer the 1989 version.
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