WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

[Birdy]

I finally saw 7 Pounds, Will Smith, 2008. wow it was very moving and i'm surprised it didn't win more awards - it seems the type that would.

[klondike]

Seven Pounds was indeed very good . . and just strong enough in its convictions that you want everybody you care about to see it, even though some parts are relentless enough that you often hesitate to recommend it . . it is that rare, genuinely sad movie that nonetheless presents a really strong story, and succeeds in elevating one's sense of "the human spirit".
Deb & I actually put off renting it for about a month after it came out, even though we're both big Will Smith fans - because we were experiencing a rough patch at the time, r.e. Cait's passing.
But we did rent it, & watched it together last year, and were deeply moved, and wept a little, and felt better in a lot of little, quiet ways, afterward.
Intersetingly, the Mrs. "got" the plot significance of the super-toxic jellyfish immediately . . for me, the bulb was just lighting up during the tub scene.

[charliechaplinfan]

I watched Bordertown with Paul Muni and Bette Davis, I'm quite a fan of Bette's earlier films as a blonde, in this movie she's a bored wife married to a fat and bawdy nightclub owner played by Eugene Pallette but in love with the bar manager played by Paul Muni, a Mexican self trained lawyer who had been disbarred). Her character is bored with her lot, even though she enjoys a nice livestyle, when Johnny comes to town (Paul Muni) she sees something she wants, he's not interested in making a play for the bosses wife, so she kills her dear old husband and makes it look like an accident. The way is clear for Davis to pursue Muni, he's not attentive, caught up more in a shared business venture. Finally when Muni succumbs to another woman, she confesses to the police in an act of vengenance blaming Johnny for putting her up to it, he's arrested but when she turns mad the case against him is dropped.

As good as Bette is, it's Paul Muni who is the star of the picture, bringing sympathy to the role of the hot headed Mexican lawyer.

[Mr. Arkadin]

I was surprised at how much the plot from Bordertown mirrored They Drive by Night (1940). The latter clearly seems to have been influenced by the former.

[feaito]

I watched a superb Argentinian film which is running for best foreign film in the 2010 Oscars: "El Secreto de sus Ojos" (The Secret in Their Eyes) (2009). This film is really smart, with very fine performances and a great script and story. The performances are fabulous and it's involving and well paced; it´s set during the 1970s and 1990s. It tells the story of a terrible murder and how it affects a group of people who work at a Tribunal of Justice. It makes you think about the lack of real justice that exists in our society. Absolutely recommended. Serious discussion will ensue after seeing this magnificent picture. The leading actors are awesome. The word to describe it is EXTRAORDINARY.

[charliechaplinfan]

I was surprised at how much the plot from Bordertown mirrored They Drive by Night (1940). The latter clearly seems to have been influenced by the former.

It's a long time since I've seen They Drive By Night but now you mention it, it's very much like Bordertown. Remakes aren't uncommon on film but looking at the thirties and forties they would remake films after only a small amount of time had passed, like in this case.

[klondike]

It's a long time since I've seen They Drive By Night but now you mention it, it's very much like Bordertown. Remakes aren't uncommon on film but looking at the thirties and forties they would remake films after only a small amount of time had passed, like in this case.

You're exactly right, Alison!
The most obvious example I ever noted was Slim, with Fonda & O'Brien, to Man Power, with Robinson & Raft; just three years later, nearly identical plot, and they barely bothered to change the dialogue!

[Birdy]

Klonike -
I took a long time to get it. I usually am good at figuring out the ' gun in the drawer' but didn't on this one. I didn't get the jellyfish till the tub and had to speed that scene up a little. Maybe it was the painkillers. Very moving.
B

[MikeBSG]

On the DVD of "They Drive By Night," they said that Warners did use stuff from "Bordertown" in the second half of the later film.

I really enjoyed watching part of "Ball of Fire" last night on TCM. I think I like that movie more each time I see it.

Later, I watched part of "Teachers." It is not a good movie, but I love Richard Mulligan as the "teacher" who dresses up like various characters to teach his class American history. Of course, someone once said that I was like that, so I'm biased.

[moira finnie]

It's a long time since I've seen They Drive By Night but now you mention it, it's very much like Bordertown. Remakes aren't uncommon on film but looking at the thirties and forties they would remake films after only a small amount of time had passed, like in this case.

You're exactly right, Alison!
The most obvious example I ever noted was Slim, with Fonda & O'Brien, to Man Power, with Robinson & Raft; just three years later, nearly identical plot, and they barely bothered to change the dialogue!

Slim and Manpower both have roots in Tiger Shark (1932-Howard Hawks), which lifted its plot from Danger Lights (1930-George Seitz). Warner Brothers never left a plot sitting around the studio going unused...even if they had to borrow it from a forgotten early talkie from RKO.

[Ann Harding]

I am just back from London where I saw a film that just came out: A Single Man (2010) by Tom Ford with Julianne Moore & Colin Firth. Apparently the film made a hit at the Venice Film Festival. It's based on a short story by Christopher Isherwood. It revolves around a British expat who teaches literature at University in California in 1962. He is coming to terms with the fact that his partner (he is gay) has died in a car accident. He is thinking of committing suicide, but slowly comes to term with it before dying of a heart attack. Strangely enough, the director of this film is a fashion designer who worked for Gucci. It doesn't sound like a proper training in film making....! The actors are doing a really good job, but visually it wasn't my cup of tea. The director overindulges in extreme close-ups of lips and eyes (like a cosmetic advert!) or an excess of subjective camera with a steadycam. Colin Firth provided the perfect example of repressed gayness in the 60s when it wasn't possible for a man to be open about his sexuality. Julianne Moore was a bit underused as his friend playing a British expat like him. I guess I have been watching too many classic films and I am now quickly bored when I see a film that tries to mimick video clips or adverts (at least, they didn't copy video games: that's even worse!!!). Anyway, you might be interested to see this film when it comes out in the US. I found it a bit bland. Trying to create an atmosphere and to convey feelings to the screen is extremely difficult. I guess Mr Ford did the best he could.

[charliechaplinfan]

I looked for this movie at weekend when I was going out with my friend but it hadn't been released here. I like Colin Firth, like you I'm jaded with modern movies but occasionally I go to see one. I'll have to nag my friend again about going to this one because there is no chance that hubby would ever go.

[feaito]

Sounds like an interesting film to see Christine.

I have been looking for a thread devoted to William Dieterle, but I did not found any, because yesterday my wife and I watched "I'll Be Seeing You" (1944) -can't believe the song was not nominated for an AA for that year- and we were mighty pleased by the feature. Yes sir!

William Dieterle's talent at portraying romantic relationships has definitely grown on me; films that come to my mind are the masterful "Portrait of Jennie" (1948), "September Affair" (1950), "Love Letters" (1945) -Joseph Cotten seems to have been his favorite cator, because he stars in the four aforementioned films- and even "Juarez" (1939) (Carlotta and Maximilian), the latter which has one of the most haunting Love Themes ever composed for a single film, by Korngold the master.

This film depicts quite realistically and touchingly the beautiful relationship that develops between a psychologically damaged WWII soldier, deftly played by Joseph Cotten and a prison inmate, sincerely impersonated by Ginger Rogers. Whereas Rogers was wrong for the part in that same year's "Lady in the Dark" (1944), she was all right for this role! The chemistry and interplay between both actors is wonderfully built up by Dieterle. Rogers gives a layered, nuanced performance and she tends to underplay, which suits perfectly her character. ***Spoilers ahead*** She conveys all the frustration of this young woman, who was imprisoned for trying to defend herself from a man who tried to rape her. Cotten, on the other hand, conveys all the angst of a soldier who's lived through hell and his desperate need of love and caring (he's an orphan). Spring Byington as Roger's congenial, generous aunt is superb -she's the aunt anyone would love to have in the family. Tom Tully plays his equally good natured husband and teenaged Shirley Temple plays Rogers' "full of life" cousin. John Derek has a bit role as Temple's beau. A very good drama, which manages to be entertaining, realistic, and moving in an unsentimental way. Very good.

[charliechaplinfan]

I've been getting more acquainted with Jennifer Jones and find her now, more to my liking.

Since You Went Away - The biggest thing that recommends this movie is the stellar cast list it boasts. Claudette Colbert, Jennifer Jones, Shirley Temple, Joseph Cotten, Hattie Mac Daniels, Robert Walker, Monty Woolley, Agnes Moorhead and Nazimova. I've never found Joseph Cotten so appealing, Claudette Colbert is perfect as the mother left behind to look after hearth and home. Monty Wooley gave such a moving performance as the curmudgeonly old Colonel, softened by his stay with the Hilton's. Jennifer Jones just as moving as the girl with a father missing in action, her wanting to become a nurse instead of going to college, she mirrors her mother but is allowed to act on her sense of duty, her mother doesn't want her to give up her education at first but at towards movie's end, it's Anne, the mother who feels the need to go to work befriending Nazimova, playing an immigrant who tells her friend that she is what she imagined America to be. Jane/Jennifer's sense of duty is tested all the more when her sweetheart, played by real life estranged husband Robert Walker goes away to the front and is killed in Monte Casino. The parting is all the sadder because his estranged Grandfather misses seeing him off on the train. Jane's open adoration of the Tony/Joseph Cotten at the beginning of the film but with the finding of love and the necessary growing up she has to do, he rcrush dissipates. The only wrong note I feel about the film is the relationship between Anne and Tony. It doesn't feel quite right, he openly adores her, paints her in a cheesecake pose, yet she nevr really berates him. I know his role in the plot is partly to make Anne seem nobler and he is wonderful in his part but I just feel a little strange with it. Apart from the wonderful performances I can't help wondering if it could have been edited a bit more, it is a nice film journey to make and doubtless people who love this film because of it's nostalgia and feel good theme will not agree with me on this one. One or two tweeks perhaps

[charliechaplinfan]

Song of Bernadette - I don't really watch many religious movies but I've loved Bernadette's story ever since I was a little child, perhaps that is what has kept me away form this movie, thinking it was a story best confined to my head. I was wrong though, this is a beautiful telling of a miracle that happened in Lourdes in the 1850's. You don't have to be a believer to be carried along by a movie like this, perhaps just a spectator of history. I watched it in parts with my hubby who was not at all moved like I was and saw it just as a story, whereas I watched the whole story unfold rapt with attention, even though I knew what was going to happen next. As historical films go it's pretty accurate to the known facts. Pictures of Bernadette survive, she doesn't look too unlike Jennifer Jones, I'd like to think that the way Jennifer portrayed her was the way she was in life.

Love is a Many Splendored Thing - Great song, lovely technicolour and location shots, two very competent actors in the starring roles, some pretty crummy dialogue but I stayed with it, even with hubby trying to be sick in a bucket. I think the plot was a little off centre. We were led to believe that the doctor's career was everything, yet she gave it up so quickly only to be left trying to pick up the scraps of her career. I'm possibly too cynical. I think the thing that kept me with it the most was Jennifer's gorgeous outfits and her ability (apart from the height) to look partly convincing as a Eurasian. Part of me feels, why can't they have cast an actual Eurasian but Jennifer I'm sure was the next best thing.