I Just Watched...

[Fedya]

I apologize that this is off-topic for this thread but I am very curious as to attitudes and beliefs of those here on this matter.

I have been watching: Picket Fences (1992–1996). Am I suffering a significant cultural disconnect or is this series totally bonkers?

You should see Skerritt in Big Bad Mama with Capt. Kirk and future police woman Angie Dickinson.

[Fedya]

I was also very impressed with Heather Angel. I wish TCM would show more of the films she was in, but many are early Fox or Paramount films.

The only film I know I have seen her in is The Last of the Mohicans (1936) with Randolph Scott.

I'm a fan of Ms. Angel as well. She's very good in The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1935), a film of which I am very fond. She plays Rosa Bud.


Douglass Montgomery and Heather Angel in The Mystery of Edwin Drood

Doesn't look like a sled to me.

[Swithin]

I was also very impressed with Heather Angel. I wish TCM would show more of the films she was in, but many are early Fox or Paramount films.

The only film I know I have seen her in is The Last of the Mohicans (1936) with Randolph Scott.

I'm a fan of Ms. Angel as well. She's very good in The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1935), a film of which I am very fond. She plays Rosa Bud.


Douglass Montgomery and Heather Angel in The Mystery of Edwin Drood

Doesn't look like a sled to me.

(I had to think a minute.)

[Swithin]

Living (2022)

This movie fits into the "how can I die, I haven't lived!" genre. Bill Nighy plays a stiff, formal English government bureaucrat, nicknamed "the zombie" by a subordinate. He can barely communicate with family and colleagues and finds out he has a terminal illness with only months to live. He begins to come out of his shell. The early parts of this film are almost cliched, and I found the scenes with the insomniac whom he gives the drugs to almost ridiculous. Nevertheless, the film grows on you. His obsession with the playground project, trying to push through a community project for a poor area of London (a project he once shelved), is touching and constitutes the best part of the film. Nighy, an actor I first saw on the stage of London's National Theatre in 1983, is excellent in the role. The other actors are fine, and I liked the film, and its shots of London. Nighy's office is in London's County Hall, now a hotel. I once went to a reception there, when it was still the center of London's local government. Screenplay by Kazuo Ishiguro. Based on Kurosawa's Ikiru.



The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981)

It's surprising that I'd never seen this film, which fits into the genre of movies that take place in two totally different time periods, with parallel/related stories. This is a beautifully produced film with amazing credits, directed by Karel Reisz, written by Harold Pinter, cinematography by Freddie Francis, and starring Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons. I should have liked this film more than I did, although I did enjoy it. It's beautiful to look at, shot mostly in Lyme Regis on the south coast of England, It focuses on actors making a movie in contemporary times; and the story of that movie, which takes place in Victorian England. Basically two love stories involving the Meryl and Jeremy characters, one story seemingly tragic, barreling however toward a happy ending; the other, a modern story, ending unhappily, at least for Jeremy. (Sometimes, it's almost very briefly unclear at first, which story you are actually watching, which is a nice touch.) I liked it but probably would have liked it more, had I seen it in 1981.

(Like the Jeanne Moreau character's sailor in The Sailor from Gibraltar, which I recently saw, one wonders if the French lieutenant really existed.)

[CinemaInternational]

Living (2022)

This movie fits into the "how can I die, I haven't lived!" genre. Bill Nighy plays a stiff, formal English government bureaucrat, nicknamed "the zombie" by a subordinate. He can barely communicate with family and colleagues and finds out he has a terminal illness with only months to live. He begins to come out of his shell. The early parts of this film are almost cliched, and I found the scenes with the insomniac whom he gives the drugs to almost ridiculous. Nevertheless, the film grows on you. His obsession with the playground project, trying to push through a community project for a poor area of London (a project he once shelved), is touching and constitutes the best part of the film. Nighy, an actor I first saw on the stage of London's National Theatre in 1983, is excellent in the role. The other actors are fine, and I liked the film, and its shots of London. Nighy's office is in London's County Hall, now a hotel. I once went to a reception there, when it was still the center of London's local government. Screenplay by Kazuo Ishiguro. Based on Kurosawa's Ikiru.

I saw it this week as well. It is, as you said, a bit shaky at first, but it does get markedly better as it goes along, and I know that by the time that Nighy had his big scene in the pub telling the young girl that he hadn't much more time, I was deeply moved. It's a film that I think would be pretty warmly regarded around here, as it is very classical in its filmmaking style (The PG-13 rating here in the States is only due to a scene involving a carnival dancer suggestively undulating)

[laffite]

Bill Nighy was excellent in the BBC Production of He Knew He Was Right (Anthony Trollope novel) but I hated his character. Very intrusive and quite maddening, at least in the eyes of the hero and in the eyes most viewers I would imagine. This is why people murder people.

[Swithin]

I first saw Nighy on stage in David Hare's The Map of the World, (1983), followed by Pravda (1985), followed by Mean Tears (1986), followed by King Lear (as Edgar, with Anthony Hopkins as Lear, 1986), followed by Arcadia (1992), followed by The Seagull (with Judi Dench, 1994). All great performances in excellent productions. I'll never forget that King Lear, it was my first.


Anthony Hopkins, Bill Nighy in King Lear


Bill Nighy, Felicity Kendal in Arcadia (1992)

[laffite]

I first saw Nighy on stage in David Hare's The Map of the World, (1983), followed by Pravda (1985), followed by Mean Tears (1986), followed by King Lear (as Edgar, with Anthony Hopkins as Lear, 1986), followed by Arcadia (1992), followed by The Seagull (with Judi Dench, 1994). All great performances in excellent productions. I'll never forget that King Lear, it was my first.


Anthony Hopkins, Bill Nighy in King Lear


Bill Nighy, Felicity Kendal in Arcadia (1992)

Edgar is so difficult to play, you almost have to be half-maniac to begin with. I would not associate Nighy with this role but I'm not sure I've seen anything when he was younger. In The Sea Gull, I can see him as the writer but also as the playwright (if young enough.)

[Allhallowsday]

THE BIG CUBE (1969) Starring LANA TURNER and GEORGE CHAKIRIS. Ech, so bad I want to look at all of it instead of going to bed.

[Fedya]

I watched Lana in Love Has Many Faces, which is objectively not very good, but still entertainingly bad. Unfortunately, it's not as entertainingly bad as The Big Cube.

[Swithin]

I first saw Nighy on stage in David Hare's The Map of the World, (1983), followed by Pravda (1985), followed by Mean Tears (1986), followed by King Lear (as Edgar, with Anthony Hopkins as Lear, 1986), followed by Arcadia (1992), followed by The Seagull (with Judi Dench, 1994). All great performances in excellent productions. I'll never forget that King Lear, it was my first.


Anthony Hopkins, Bill Nighy in King Lear


Bill Nighy, Felicity Kendal in Arcadia (1992)

Edgar is so difficult to play, you almost have to be half-maniac to begin with. I would not associate Nighy with this role but I'm not sure I've seen anything when he was younger. In The Sea Gull, I can see him as the writer but also as the playwright (if young enough.)

Nighy played Trigorin, the writer, in The Seagull. Nina was played by Helen McCrory. Alan Cox (Brian's son) played Konstantin, the young playwright. Judi Dench was Arkadina.

Here's Bill in A Map of the World (1983), the first play I ever saw him in, with Diana Quick, who was his partner for many years and with whom he has a child. Diana Quick was Julia in Brideshead Revisited.

[Masha]

Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970)

An innocent and pious nun is rescued from a fate worse than death by a simple-minded cowboy with a noble heart.

Yeah, right.

Clint Eastwood and Shirley MacLaine may seem an odd pairing but they truly do have great chemistry. I feel that it is a shame that they did not make any other movie together.

The plot is thin and there are some gaping holes but I believe it deserved a much better box office than it received.

7.4/10

It is available with no closed captioning on: Movieland TV. This is supposedly an ad-supported streaming service but commercials are quite rare.

[Intrepid37]

An innocent and pious nun, huh?

Quite a clever disguise, wasn't it?

I remember an interview with Eastwood in the 70's in which the interviewer noted that MacLaine was the only major leading lady Eastwood had deigned to appear with in his movies. I remember thinking that it was an interesting observation at the time.

[TikiSoo]

Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970)
I believe it deserved a much better box office than it received.

I remember when Two Mules came out it seemed to be very popular, everyone I knew saw it.

Last night I finished watching THE COURTSHIP OF EDDIE'S FATHER '63 a movie I had only seen once maybe two decades ago.
I remember liking it, but had forgotten most of it so on a whim borrowed it from the library.

What a great movie! I was dumbstruck at how Ronny Howard pretty much carried the entire movie along with greats Glenn Ford & Shirley Jones. Stella Stevens, Jerry Van Dyke & Dina Merrill defined what supporting acting roles are about.

It's the story about a newly widowed man & his son and how they are coping with the loss. When the boy discovers one of his goldfish has died he's transfixed by the sight & screams while his Dad quickly scoops the floating fish away- the neighbor (Jones) consoles the boy explaining it's trauma caused by his Mother's death. I could just see Rance Howard off stage coaching Ronny-this pitch perfect scene is just the first that make this movie great.

Ronny was perfect in EVERY scene he was in, which was 95% of this film. I was delighted to spot CLINT Howard in a scene, a birthday party where Jones is dressing him up as an Indian. So cute!

I was also happy to see Jerry Van Dyke in a decent size role, he was so talented but overshadowed by his brother's career. He played a predatory womanizing radio celebrity that Glenn Ford's charactor managed.
Eddie befriended a flashy looking gal in an arcade thinking she might be a good candidate for Dad, played by adorable Stella Stevens! Stevens took this one note part and gave her dimension, very impressive. Dina Merrill did well with the thankless role of the beautiful socialite the Dad was dating but was always an outsider.
And what can be said about Shirley Jones? She never looked more gorgeous and was given some great situations to show her acting skills.

All that talent brought together with a well written script & outstanding direction by Vincent Minelli. The editing & pace of the movie was perfect, despite the predictable outcome and I especially enjoyed the "big evening out" montage.

But the very BEST part about this movie was that it didn't tell you everything, it didn't spoon feed you with unimportant "pre-story" or conclusion details, but left it for you to surmise.

[Cinemaspeak59]

Stranger Than Paradise (1984) has been hailed as a minimalist masterpiece, and put its writer-director Jim Jarmusch on the map. Shot in pristine monochrome by Tom DiCillio, the unglamorous production design & drab environs add to the film’s beauty. The three main characters start in New York, go to Cleveland, and then Florida. Not much happens. Yet somehow, it becomes an immersive and heady experience.