WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

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RedRiver
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by RedRiver »

I watched A LETTER TWO THREE WIVES again. I kind of like that movie. It's a little different. A lot of talk. But it's smart. Keeps you guessing. Looks a lot like a play. Cute movie. Is that a Mankiewicz film? It must be.

A couple of nights ago one of the cable channels ran MEDIUM COOL. I tried like crazy to stay awake for it. What little I saw looked good. I mean REALLY good. Like if you place yourself in the era that produced it, you'll be very impressed. But it was on too late. I fell asleep!

I remember Gene Siskel talking about this movie. More or less saying it should be seen by more people. I guess Gene was right. I still haven't seen it!
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CineMaven
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by CineMaven »

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RedRiver wrote: "ATTACK OF THE FIFTY FOOT WOMAN"

I like tall women, but this is ridiculous! I also like over-the-top, low budget melodrama. This is just my cup of tea, albeit a grande. This movie is inevitably compared to THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN. But it reminds me of poor Lon Chaney, Jr stumbling around as THE INDESTRUCTIBLE MAN. They share that "What the hell do I do now" attitude.

The Ravin' Maven! You've seen SCREAMING MIMI? I'd love to see that! It's based on a cute little pulp novel by Fredric Brown. (I swear I almost said Fredric March!) Brown was better known for stories that featured an uncle/nephew detective team. And who can forget MARTIANS, GO HOME? But "Mimi" is my favorite of the ones I've read.

It's a good thing I'm not a TCM host. "Here, from a story by Fredric March..."
Well a man would have a hard time measuring up to poor mixed up Mrs. Archer, I guess.

Yes, that would be a logical double bill of the Colossal Man and the 50 Foot Woman. What possessed Hollywood to remake that movie with Lily Tomlin? What maroons they are over there. "SCREAMING MIMI" is one of my all time favorites Red River. You've got to make it your business to find it and see it. You'll love it...or love to hate it. In any event, I'm sure you'd write a very entertaining commentary on it. Gypsy Rose Lee...and the super-structure of Anita Ekberg. Plus a Great Dane.

What's not to love? Don't come back here with out a review of "...Mimi"!!

Oh and you can be a guest host at TCM and make a mistake. But what the hey...what's a little tarring and feathering, and lambasting, and being boiled in oil amongst cyber-friends? :lol:
"You build my gallows high, baby."

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Mr. Arkadin
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by Mr. Arkadin »

CineMaven wrote:
RedRiver wrote:The Ravin' Maven! You've seen SCREAMING MIMI? I'd love to see that! It's based on a cute little pulp novel by Fredric Brown. (I swear I almost said Fredric March!) Brown was better known for stories that featured an uncle/nephew detective team. And who can forget MARTIANS, GO HOME? But "Mimi" is my favorite of the ones I've read.

It's a good thing I'm not a TCM host. "Here, from a story by Fredric March..."
Well a man would have a hard time measuring up to poor mixed up Mrs. Archer, I guess.

Yes, that would be a logical double bill of the Colossal Man and the 50 Foot Woman. What possessed Hollywood to remake that movie with Lily Tomlin? What maroons they are over there. "SCREAMING MIMI" is one of my all time favorites Red River. You've got to make it your business to find it and see it. You'll love it...or love to hate it. In any event, I'm sure you'd write a very entertaining commentary on it. Gypsy Rose Lee...and the super-structure of Anita Ekberg. Plus a Great Dane.

What's not to love? Don't come back here with out a review of "...Mimi"!!

Oh and you can be a guest host at TCM and make a mistake. But what the hey...what's a little tarring and feathering, and lambasting, and being boiled in oil amongst cyber-friends? :lol:
Fans of The Screaming Mimi might enjoy Dario Argento's debut film, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970), which is also based on Brown's 1949 novel:

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charliechaplinfan
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by charliechaplinfan »

Thanks to Nancy I got to watch Tomorrow is Forever, a film I've wanted to watch for ages. I think it's the casting of Claudette Colbert and Orson Welles together and the storyline that really caught my interest. In a nutshell, Colbert and Welles were married and Welles got badly in the war, the Germans took him to a war hospital but he had no identification and would not let them know who he was so Colbert was informed he was dead. Carrying Welles's child she marries George Brent's character but always carries a torch for Welles. At the start of the Second WW, Welles turns up but he calls himself Erik Kessler and he has a daughter with him, he meets Colbert again. It's a very well told story, I think Welles is simply maginificient in his portrayal, others may think he overacts but this story can take it. Colbert's chemistry with Welles is at odds but I think it serves the story well, she's great as Elizabeth, a widow who has mourned her husband and now faces losing her son to the war. George Brent, playing Colbert's second husband and looking like Errol Flynn's brother is adequate in the triangle, he doesn't steal Welles's thunder. This is one to put on and just wallow in the sentiment.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
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JackFavell
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by JackFavell »

Oh, I just love Tomorrow is Forever. If you want a really good woman's pic, this one is it. Welles always makes me cry.
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moira finnie
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by moira finnie »

JackFavell wrote:Oh, I just love Tomorrow is Forever. If you want a really good woman's pic, this one is it. Welles always makes me cry.
Natalie (even if they bleached her beautiful brown hair) kills me in this one, even in scenes when she didn't say a word (though her German accent was pretty darn good for a seven year old). I don't have as much patience with the adults. Claudette didn't recognize her first husband because of a limp and a beard? Really? With that voice and commanding presence? Com'n.
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JackFavell
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by JackFavell »

I agree, Moira, Natalie is really heart wrenching in this one too.

Usually I start out where you are with the "Aw, c'mon" factor, but then somehow by the end there I am bawling on the sofa.
RedRiver
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by RedRiver »

If Lois Lane can be fooled by a simple pair of glasses...
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charliechaplinfan
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by charliechaplinfan »

Well, I had to suspend disbelief at her not recognising him. Natalie Wood is really moving, I can't believe that I forgot to mention her, I particularly liked her scenes with Welles, he struck me that he must have had a way with children, he's a big bear of man all made up and she has her tiny hand in his as they walk along in this strange new country, acting so naturally together, I had tears in my eyes. I did find that it lost momentum a little bit when Claudette failed to recognise the love of her life and then when the recognition did come it wasn't well explained. I also wanted to smack her for her treatment of Erik. All that aside, I loved the movie, it was Welles and Woods who made it for me.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
MikeBSG
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by MikeBSG »

Last night I watched "Tea With Mussolini," because a group of friends wanted to. Not the kind of film I'd usually watch, but it was okay. (Only okay.)

Still, it made me think about the actresses in the film, and I realized that I really like Maggie Smith. She was played a pretty unsympathetic character here, but I liked her, and I realized that I'd have to dig pretty deep to find a film in which I didn't like Maggie Smith.

On the other hand, I realized how much Judi Dench doesn't appeal to me. I don't actually dislike her, but the films she is in (except for "Shakespeare In Love") are usually ones I end up not caring for. Last night, I kept waiting for her to finish her lines and get out of the shot.

And last, I realized that I really, really, really don't care for Lily Tomlin. I think the only thing I like her in is "The Late Show." She is just the equivalent of fingernails on the blackboard with me.
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by MikeBSG »

This morning I watched "The Taking of Pelham One, Two, Three" and I liked it a lot. I had seen it on first release decades ago, and I thought it held up very well. This was a tightly constructed caper movie (that was advertised as part of the disaster movie cycle if I remember correctly.)

What a splendid cast! Robert Shaw was terrifically menacing as the leader of the bad guys, and it was great to see Martin Balsam again as the soft guy among the hijackers.

Walter Matthau did a splendid job as the cop who unravels the case, but it is hard to single out a performance because everyone hits the right note. (I noticed that the wife of the mayor was played by the actress whom I know as the Mom on "Everybody Loves Raymond.")

I guess the movie's reputation got a boost a couple years ago with the remake, but it still deserves to be better known.
RedRiver
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by RedRiver »

"Pelham" is a fine, neatly assembled caper film, a genre I very much enjoy. The cast, as you say, is wonderful. The story spellbinding. I wouldn't even be surprised if the remake is good. I haven't seen it. But how can you go wrong with a plot like that?

As for another post, does the sublime Maggie Smith ever disappoint? She consistently achieves a depth of character rare in mainstream movies.
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charliechaplinfan
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by charliechaplinfan »

MikeBSG wrote:Last night I watched "Tea With Mussolini," because a group of friends wanted to. Not the kind of film I'd usually watch, but it was okay. (Only okay.)

Still, it made me think about the actresses in the film, and I realized that I really like Maggie Smith. She was played a pretty unsympathetic character here, but I liked her, and I realized that I'd have to dig pretty deep to find a film in which I didn't like Maggie Smith.

On the other hand, I realized how much Judi Dench doesn't appeal to me. I don't actually dislike her, but the films she is in (except for "Shakespeare In Love") are usually ones I end up not caring for. Last night, I kept waiting for her to finish her lines and get out of the shot.

And last, I realized that I really, really, really don't care for Lily Tomlin. I think the only thing I like her in is "The Late Show." She is just the equivalent of fingernails on the blackboard with me.
Dame Judi Dench is looked up to as the pinnacle in terms of actresses of her age, not wanting to knock her but I far prefer dame Maggie Smith too, I've never watched a movie with her were I haven't liked her and besides she's MacGonagle in Harry Potter and she's perfectly cast.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by Gary J. »

RedRiver wrote:"Pelham" is a fine, neatly assembled caper film, a genre I very much enjoy. The cast, as you say, is wonderful. The story spellbinding. I wouldn't even be surprised if the remake is good. I haven't seen it. But how can you go wrong with a plot like that?
The remake suffers from the eternal action gene that all Hollywood products must now adhere to. In the original, Shaw's gang is rounded up one by one by the NYPD, not by the star Walter Matthau, who stays doggedly behind the desk as his job description entails. Matthau does head out into the streets at the finale to find the final conspirator in a most understated piece of detective work. And he never has to draw a gun. The remake also puts Denzel Washington behind the desk negotiating with the kidnappers throughout the film, but tosses out the script for the final 40 minutes where everything is amped up Die Hard-style and Washington is given a gun so that he can single-handedly take down the villain.

They just don't believe in making quiet, intense thrillers any more.
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Re: WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

Post by MikeBSG »

One of the things I liked about the original "Pelham" was that it started as the bad guys got on board the subway. There was no "assembling the gang" sequence that you see in so many caper movies. (Or rather saw in so many caper movies.) The action went forward without flashbacks, just little bits of dialogue sprinkled here and there to fill you in on the background of the bad guys.
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