I Just Watched...

[Intrepid37]

That's what he meant. Leaving the Board. I have not communicated with him but he has threatened this before.

Are you saying he's a drama queen? Threatens to quit repeatedly?

That seems like odd behavior for an adult.

He is anything but a drama queen. He seems to be merely a little sensitive at times.

Well, that's a relief.

I guess I was right, then - I didn't think he was quitting and from what you say, he wasn't. Just pretending to quit in order to demonstrate being "a little sensitive" according to you.

I think he just meant he was done posting for the day - but you know him better than I, I'm sure.

[TikiSoo]

Please, can we get the thread back on topic?

[Fedya]

The Duellists (1977).

Harvey Keitel, of all people, plays a soldier in Napoleonic France who has on obsession with duels, and keeps challenging fellow soldier Keith Carradine to a duel every time they meet over the course of 15 years.

This was director Ridley Scott's feature film debut, and he wanted to pay homage to the visual style of Barry Lyndon in the way he filmed this movie. Scott is visually very successful in that regard, showing he had a lot of potential that would come to fruition with Alien a few years later. The problem is that the story is a bit thin, having been based on a short story by Joseph Conrad. That, and Keitel (especially) and Carradine (somewhat less so) are miscast.

The Duellists is the sort of movie that it's easy to see why critics would go gaga over it. Normal people who can't comprehend why Sight and Sound critics would put crap like Jeanne Dielmann at the top of their greatest films list might have a somewhat less positive view of The Duellists, although it's not as if it's bad by any stretch of the imagination.

7/10.

[Intrepid37]

I just watched When We Were Kings again - a chronicle of the lead up to and fight between Muhammed Ali and George Foreman in 1974 Zaire.

What an amazing fighter Ali was. Virtually nobody gave him a chance against the seemingly invincible Foreman. We watch Foreman annihilating top-ranked opponent after opponent before he fights Ali. Foreman was a humorless monster back then - a truly frightening man with whom to be locked into combat.

But Ali knew what his own body could take - and Foreman would never be the same after Zaire.

Very exciting period in sports history -fascinating to watch even now.

[CinemaInternational]

I saw a 90s film the other day that, in spite of bad reviews at the time and being completely forgotten today, was actually a very good film. The film was 1995's moonlight and Valentino, and it was a great showcase for four fine actresses (Elizabeth Perkins, Whoopi Goldberg, Kathleen Turner, and Gwyneth Paltrow) in a story about coping with grief and starting over. Perkins plays a woman who in the opening minutes of the film finds out that her husband has been killed in a traffic accident, and the rest of the film deals with her attempts to pick up the pieces of her life with help from her best friend (Goldberg), her sister (Paltrow), and her former stepmother (Turner, who pretty much steals the film). It's very simple, but very well acted, touching, and it has a few amusing lines in the second half. The acting is very good across the board. Some of the supporting characters are very vague, but otherwise I really liked it.

Side note; Despite what the end credits claim, it was inspired by real life incidents, as the Perkins character is based on the film's writer, who happens to be Neil Simon's daughter. So that means that the Kathleen Turner character is actually based on Marsha Mason.....

[Detective Jim McLeod]

[
Strawberry Blonde (1941) TCM On Demand 7/10

A dentist (James Cagney) in late 19th century New York looks back on the courtship of his wife (Olivia de Havilland).

First time viewing for me and it was a fun romantic comedy. Cagney gives his usual great energetic performance, a scrappy guy but loses more fights here than he does in other films. de Havilland is also wonderful as the outspoken free thinking nurse he falls for. They have great chemistry, I would like to see their other film The Irish In Us (1935) . They were also in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935) which I saw but they don't have any scenes together. Rita Hayworth is also fun as a flirty gold digger who nearly steals Cagney away. Superman fans like myself will be delighted to see George Reeves as a college boy who annoys Cagney at the beginning and end of the film.

[Allhallowsday]

LAND OF THE PHARAOHS (1955)

Popcorn movie! So much fun!

[Cinemaspeak59]

John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023) Don't fret over why an army of professional assassins are such lousy shots. Just enjoy the soaring fight & action scenes, nourish setting, and the movie taking itself so darn seriously but without a trace of smugness. A successor to Keanu Reeves could be in the wings in the form of Rina Sawayama, making her debut.

[laffite]

Beautiful Creatures (2013) This movie gets 47-54 ratings from Rotten Tomatoes. Gosh, I thought it was better than that! Emma Thompson is absolutely stupendous! She can still be sensuous as she matures further along in age and talent. Go Emma!

Comments? About Emma, or anything?

//

[Lomm]

Not a classic film, but a classic character...Sunday night we watched Marlowe, starring Liam Neeson in the title role as a former cop turned private detective investigating a disappearance. Many twists and turns along the way, with a good cast and very good capture of the time period (1940s). However the story is a bit dull and predictable. Honestly, I dozed off once. Worth seeing just for the setting and atmosphere of 1940s California.

[Intrepid37]

Not a classic film, but a classic character...Sunday night we watched Marlowe, starring Liam Neeson in the title role as a former cop turned private detective investigating a disappearance. Many twists and turns along the way, with a good cast and very good capture of the time period (1940s). However the story is a bit dull and predictable. Honestly, I dozed off once. Worth seeing just for the setting and atmosphere of 1940s California.

How would you say it compares with the one starring James Garner?

[Lomm]

I haven't seen the Garner film, sorry. But based on what I just read (that it became the basis for the Rockford Files) I would say it's probably better. The only previous Marlowe material I've seen is The Big Sleep.

[Feinberg]

How would you say it compares with the one starring James Garner?

I believe the Neeson one is based on a novel not written by Chandler. Like the James Bond novels not written by Fleming.
But to answer your question, I didn't think it was nearly as good as the Garner film - which if memory serves was not period.
Neeson wasn't Marlowe IMO and the story was weighed down by superfluous details that were there just to keep you confused until the end. But the core of the story as Lom says was predictable.

[Hibi]

No, the Garner Marlowe was updated to the present day, though I think the plot was similar to the story (but modernized). Think it was based on The Little Sister? The name was in the end credits. I guess they decided to change the title but didn't bother to change it in the end credits...

[txfilmfan]

[
Strawberry Blonde (1941) TCM On Demand 7/10

A dentist (James Cagney) in late 19th century New York looks back on the courtship of his wife (Olivia de Havilland).

First time viewing for me and it was a fun romantic comedy. Cagney gives his usual great energetic performance, a scrappy guy but loses more fights here than he does in other films. de Havilland is also wonderful as the outspoken free thinking nurse he falls for. They have great chemistry, I would like to see their other film The Irish In Us (1935) . They were also in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935) which I saw but they don't have any scenes together. Rita Hayworth is also fun as a flirty gold digger who nearly steals Cagney away. Superman fans like myself will be delighted to see George Reeves as a college boy who annoys Cagney at the beginning and end of the film.

I just watched this at the festival the other day. Never had seen it before, not even sure I was aware of it before, to be honest, and thoroughly enjoyed it. To add to the fun, they showed it as part of their "Night at the Movies" gimmick, where we saw a trailer (for Sgt. York), WB cartoon (one in the B.Bunny vs. tortoise/turtle series) and a short (about Hollywood polo players), all from the same year as the film. At the end of the film was a sing-along.