WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

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Rita Hayworth
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by Rita Hayworth »

MATA HARI - GRETA GARBO 1931 Film


[youtube][/youtube]
Classic Trailer


What a splendid film it was and powerful drama starring Greta Garbo in a very dramatic role of love and betrayal. I was in awe of this movie that was on in the early hours of TCM today (March 28th, 2015). I just in awe of how well it was made and the acting was superb in every way - Ramon Novarro was also was top notched too and his role as Lieutenant Alexis Rosanoff was incredible. The costumes were out of this world and I was in awe of the spectacle of it.


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Greta Garbo as Mata Hari
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Fossy
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by Fossy »

Cinderella (2013)

I went to the pictures on Friday to see this show, and what a great show it is. There were several sad incidents in the movie. That old song "Sad Movies Always Make Me Cry" could have been written for me. I definitely recommend this to anyone who wants to see a good, well presented movie. I could say more about the author of what follows, but my posting would probably be deleted. Suffice to say ignore the comments of Joe Williams.

St.Louis Post- Dispatch—Joe Williams had this to say.


How could an esteemed filmmaker screw up a classic like “Cinderella”? By treating everyone in the audience like they were 5 years old, with no sense of the rich history of fairy tales or recent revisionist franchises like “Shrek” and “Once Upon a Time.”

Kenneth Branagh has directed several Shakespeare adaptations, including revisionist versions of “As You Like It” and “Love’s Labour’s Lost,” so he’s not averse to taking artistic risks with beloved material.

The only risk Branagh takes with “Cinderella” is the risk of boring anyone old enough to operate a remote control.

Even a teenager ought to groan when the prologue invokes the “magic” in the farming-estate childhood of Ella. The script by the once-vital Chris Weitz (“About a Boy”) achieves the truly magical feat of not saying an original, insightful or funny thing for almost two hours.

As Ella’s beautiful, blonde mother withers from fairy-tale flu, she counsels her lookalike daughter (played as a teen by the bland Lily James of “Downton Abbey”) to live her life with courage, kindness ... and a little magic.

But while the girl courageously cavorts on horseback and is kind to the woodland creatures who surround the family estate, she learns that magic can be malevolent when a beautiful widow (Cate Blanchett) beguiles Ella’s grieving father. Faster than you can say “bad judge of character,” Daddy (Ben Chaplin) marries the wicked woman, feathers a nest for her two swinish daughters (Sophie McShera, also of “Downton,” and Holliday Grainger) — and drops dead.

We’ve heard the Cinderella story many times before. So does Disney add anything new to this live-action version? Well, there are some cute animatronic mice (a nod, no doubt, to the corporate mascot), but the special effects are little more than chintzy sparkles, the villainy entails more snark than suffering and when the story moves to the palace for the ugly-duckling makeover, the supporting characters are shockingly nondescript.

As the undeserving beneficiary of the usual marry-a-prince propaganda, Richard Madden (a cheap knockoff of James Marsden) is about as charming as a dime-store condolence card.

With the exception of the ever-game Blanchett, the few familiar faces in the cast add little. (As a refreshingly earthy Fairy Godmother, Helena Bonham Carter disappears from the movie after the pivotal ballroom scene. Apparently this godmother isn’t big on loyalty.)

“Cinderella” is so scrubbed of personality, it’s not even worth calling a mess.
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Lomm
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

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I hate when reviewers know nothing about the subject matter they're reviewing. It's clear from reading that while he may have had some valid points, he was not familiar with Disney's version of Cinderella. The mice were not "a nod to the corporate mascot", much less "no doubt" one; they were in the classic animated film.
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Lomm
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

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The other night I watched The April Fools, with Jack Lemmon and Catherine Deneuve. It has a fantastic short appearance by Myrna Loy and Charles Boyer in some very late career work. They were by far the best part of this chauvinistic, immoral-as-only-the-70s-can-be comedy. In fact, I would even say their brief screen time makes the movie worth watching just for it. But I adore Myrna Loy, so I'm biased. I love Jack Lemmon as well, but this movie left much to be desired. It was hard to be sympathetic to either of the leads as they planned behind their respective spouses backs to run away together.
RedRiver
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by RedRiver »

immoral-as-only-the-70s-can-be

That is an excellent point! Some movies of that era simply flaunt their wickedness. Not in a clever, plotted Oscar Wilde way; more "We've discarded all sense of decency and aren't we cute!" I suppose it could be argued that this started with THE GRADUATE in 1967. But that movie raises questions. It depicts certain behavior without promoting it. The characters are anything but rewarded for their choices.
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Rita Hayworth
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by Rita Hayworth »

I'm watching EARTHQUAKE on TCM right now - Starring Charlton Heston and Ava Gardner

[youtube][/youtube]

Here's the trailer.

I will try to give a short recap later on ... :)


SHORT RECAP

It's pretty well dated and I have to admit it's kind of dated but very spectacularly done as far the special effects goes. I find it to have way too many actors and I think it would be better if they reduce a couple of them - but which one?

I enjoyed it - but it's been 20 years since the last time that I've seen it and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
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Lomm
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

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Last night's family movie night was Arsenic and Old Lace. I want to wean my kids into black and white movies so they don't become those adults who think "black and white is boring". So far I'm very selective. We've seen Some Like it Hot and now Arsenic. They enjoyed both, so I'm off to a good start! I'm going to hit some noir soon, maybe the Maltese Falcon or Laura. I have to mix in lots of recent stuff too, or they'll get overwhelmed! :) We're also making our way through all the James Bond movies in order of appearance.

While I always enjoy watching Arsenic and Old Lace (pratfalling Cary Grant is the best), I was really struck this time by how lost the running Boris Karloff joke is without Boris Karloff actually playing the character, as he did in the play. It's still amusing, because the guy is so strange looking, but if it were actually him it would have been hysterical.
RedRiver
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

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without Boris Karloff actually playing the character

It's a good play either way. But it must have been SO much funnier with Boris in the role! I often wonder, did the playwright know Karloff would be cast? Or was that just a case of unbelievably good fortune?
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Fossy
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by Fossy »

I read recently that the Ann Blyth movie “I`ll Never Forget You” had never been released on DVD, but was available as one of the movies in a Tyrone Power collection. As my copy could only be played on my computer, I went looking for the Tyrone Power collection.

It was a bit expensive, and I am not really a fan of Tyrone Power, but I found that I had none of the ten movies in the collection. Also featured in the collection were movies featuring Loretta Young (3), Gene Tierney, Joan Fontaine, Linda Darnell and Anne Baxter, whose movies I also collect. So this made it good value.

In her book Jacqueline T. Lynch compared “Berkeley Square” (1933) with the remake “I`ll Never Forget You” and said that the remake was superior to the original.

I disagree with Jacqueline. Even though Ann is my favourite, ( see General Chat, New York City and A visit from Australia from Fossy )and the remake is visually better, it was the original which brought me to tears.
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Jacqueline T. Lynch
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by Jacqueline T. Lynch »

I enjoyed reading your comment on "Berkeley Square" versus "I'll Never Forget You", Fossy. There is one really cute moment in "Berkeley Square" which I love -- when Leslie Howard notices his 18th century pony tail for the first time, and keeps trying to shift around quickly to see it in the mirror.

Interestingly, both films have one thing in common -- the actress Irene Browne played the part of the mother, Lady Anne Pettigrew, in both movies.
Another Old Movie Blog -- [url]http://anotheroldmovieblog.blogspot.com[/url]
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movieman1957
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by movieman1957 »

I saw Gary Cooper and Joan Crawford in a wartime drama called "Today We Live." Melodrama may be more the description. Cooper comes to England and rents house from Crawford and brother Franchot Tone after their father is killed in the WW1. Along with best friend Robert Young they join the war as does Cooper. It's a fairly involved love story between Cooper and Crawford and Young. Almost everything that could go wrong does. It is full of self sacrifice and devotion and heroics but it all doesn't amount to much of an enjoyable film.

There are some pretty good aerial combat scenes (Cooper is a pilot) and some exciting action scenes on the water as Tone and Young man an early version of a torpedo boat. Otherwise it all is just sad. Frankly, I didn't care that much for the acting. Franchot Tone came off best for me in the leads and Roscoe Karns makes a very good buddy to Cooper. (One thing that was a bit of a distraction, albeit minor, was Crawford's early wardrobe was in no way WWI era.)

It is directed by Howard Hawks and you might see some familiar things in it but it isn't one I'd rush to see.
Chris

"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana."
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Fossy
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by Fossy »

Star Wars : The Force Awakens (2015)

Among my Christmas gifts this year was a double pass to the movies. I went to watch this movie. I recall that when I saw the first Star Wars movie that I enjoyed it. After that they got progressively worse. This new movie is so bad that I could only call it garbage. The special effects took up so much time that it was hard to find a story line. I even laughed (I am sure I was not supposed to) at some scenes. There was, however one good thing about it--I did not have to pay to see it.

Worse still, I see that another Star Wars film is scheduled for release in 2017.
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Lomm
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

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I loved the new Star Wars movie, a return to form after 3 pretty awful films. :( I don't think it had any more special effect shots than the original trilogy though. I rank them 5, 4, 7, 6, 3, 1, 2.
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Vienna
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by Vienna »

I saw my first Japanese film,THE SEVEN SAMURAI and was blown away. The Magnificent Seven seems a pale shadow in comparison. I also liked another Kurasawa film, THE HIDDEN FORTRESS, but was disappointed in his HIGH AND LOW. Next up is RASHOMON!
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