I Just Watched...

[Allhallowsday]

GLENGARRY GLENROSS (1992) on TCM last night.

[BagelOnAPlate]

I watched Dead Of Winter on Pluto yesterday.
Thanks to Cinema International and others here who mentioned this movie. I had never heard of it, but the comments made me seek it out.

Some of the twists were predictable, but I enjoyed it nevertheless.
I had no idea that Mary Steenburgen played three roles in the movie. I knew that she played Julie Ross and the actress hired to "replace" her, but I was surprised to see that she also played Julie's sister. She rocked the hat and the fur coat in that role!
I'm pretty sure that someone else's voice was dubbed in for the early New Years Eve scene where she played Julie in the car with the bag of money.
The movie was directed by Athur Penn, who also directed The Miracle Worker and Bonnie and Clyde.

I also watched Mary Steenburgen in Time After Time recently on Watch TCM. I had no idea that she had been married to Malcolm McDowell, her co-star in that movie. Malcolm McDowell was endearing in the role of H.G. Wells in Time After Time, but I couldn't get his very disturbing work in A Clockwork Orange out of my mind completely when watching Time After Time.

[Masha]

Good Omens 2(2023)

An angel and a demon who both have issues with authority find they have similar interests in small things such as preventing the end of the world.

I loved: Good Omens (2019) and was delighted that they would make a sequel/second season.

I am sorry to say that I was disappointed. GO2 is quite good but it lacks much of the verve and off-your-derriere antics of the original. It lacks also anything which resembles a plot to interest a viewer. It purports to be a mystery but it is ill-conceived as items are presented as definite clues but it is impossible for a viewer to know what the clues mean prior to the resolution.

David Tennant is a joy to watch and he brings his character to life magnificently! I will be quite surprised and seriously disappointed if I do no meet one such as him when I take up residence in the afterlife.

Michael Sheen is superb as usual but the script makes him considerably less dithery than the original. This is a considerable loss.

It is a loss also that they choose to replace: Anna Maxwell Martin as: Beelzebub. She had the demeanor, voice and presence to play the role perfectly. The replacement is a fine actress and was battling a weak script but she simply did not have 'it' to play the character.

There is talk of a 'third season' which will be a true sequel to the 'first season' in that it will follow the outline which Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman created as a sequel to the novel. I hope that it does not take four years and cheap out as this 'second season' does.

I am sorry to say that this is: Amazon Prime Video production and is not currently available elsewhere.

Good Omens (2019): 8.6/11
Good Omens 2 (2023): 6.4/12

[Grumpytoad]

Once in awhile I just HAVE to indulge in a 1930's Joan Blondell fix. Just finished watching a picture I have not seen or heard of before. Even if it turned out to be awful, it was still gonna be Joan.

Glad you liked it! Blondell is a fave in this household too, she could do it all.

I believe I recall someone saying on a forum that a husband called her big eyes, which is so appropriate.

Nice photo choice! I have always been partial to this one:

[Allhallowsday]

We can't grow up, see???

[Grumpytoad]

Good Omens 2(2023)

David Tennant is a joy to watch and he brings his character to life magnificently!



Good Omens (2019): 8.6/11
Good Omens 2 (2023): 6.4/12

Regarding David Tennant. He is a favorite. I have seen him do many excellent performances. But in my experience, he rises (or falls) spectacularly to the occasion depending on what he has to work with. For example, he is amazing in a tragic and very sad miniseries titled Deadwater Fell. And is boringly flat in a disappointing little movie called You, Me and Him.

He sort of reminds me of Gene Hackman in this way.

[Allhallowsday]

...
I also watched Mary Steenburgen in Time After Time recently on Watch TCM. I had no idea that she had been married to Malcolm McDowell, her co-star in that movie. Malcolm McDowell was endearing in the role of H.G. Wells in Time After Time, but I couldn't get his very disturbing work in A Clockwork Orange out of my mind completely when watching Time After Time...

I love TIME AFTER TIME. And MARY STEENBURGEN.
I truly love some of KUBRICK's films, but I hate A CLOCKWORK ORANGE.

[Belle]

"Five Fingers", 1952, starring James Mason and directed by Joseph Mankiewicz. An excellent nail-biter based loosely on a true story from WW2, involving espionage. HIghly recommended. Mason is superb. GREAT script.

[TikiSoo]

I believe I recall someone saying on a forum that a husband called her big eyes, which is so appropriate.

Haha that was my guy-he calls her "Banjo Eyes"
When introducing him to classic film, I started out showing Blondell films-she quickly won him over.

(but I have never warmed to his violent/gore/gangster films)

[speedracer5]

I decided to jettison the "Important" stuff for a while and get back to my bread & butter: goofy "trash". Namely, stuff that aired on TCM Underground that I haven't seen, or stuff from the Psychotronic Movie guides. Thus far I've watched:

I like that kind of movie too & have a stack of SOMETHING WEIRD DVDs gifted to me that I haven't watched. Oh, I watched a few but wish I had some better idea of which to start with.

Your Maltinesque one line plot description & one line opinion were perfect for this type of movie - "only felt like 4 hours" LOL.
Thanks!

"Something Weird" used to be on Comcast On Demand back in the day (I haven't had Comcast now for at least 10 years, so I don't know if it's still on On Demand, it's not on Dish) and aside from the 1920s/1930s burlesque videos, I remember watching this bizarre 1950s Dupont paint commercial (that was over 5 mins long) that just featured mimes painting a house. A male and female mime would paint all the walls of the house, then paint them all again, using a different color. It was such an odd commercial, but I suppose effective, because I still remember it.

[speedracer5]

"Deadline - USA" (1952) Richard Brooks, starring Humphrey Bogart.

An excellent film, beautifully restored with an intelligent script from director Brooks. Thought-provoking and Bogart is very good as the editor of a newspaper enduring an existential threat (that part of the film, and its resolution, is the one weakness in the film). All the cast are excellent and, really, this could easily have been a stage play!!

Deadline USA is an excellent journalism film. It's nice seeing Bogart in a different type of role. I also liked Ethel Barrymore as the widow (now owner) of the soon to be closed newspaper. I was also fascinated with the stenographer device that Bogart's secretary used to take down the letter he wanted to write. I think this device might still be used in the court setting, but I love seeing either defunct or unique technology that I don't see often. Watching someone type on a computer is not nearly as interesting as seeing someone operate a switchboard machine or stenographer device.

[speedracer5]

THE SWIMMER (1968) last night on TCM. I first saw this in a mid 1970s TV broadcast...

I just saw this again for the third or fourth time. I still get engrossed in it. I believe it's Burt Lancaster's best performance.

This is a really great movie. I watched TCM's broadcast of it too. It is a unique premise and there isn't much to the film other than Lancaster's performance and his interactions with his neighbors, so it is up to Lancaster to make it compelling. And he does. I love how he just casually drops trou in the (blurred) background when he reaches his nudist neighbors' home.

[Allhallowsday]

...

This is a really great movie. I watched TCM's broadcast of it too. It is a unique premise and there isn't much to the film other than Lancaster's performance and his interactions with his neighbors, so it is up to Lancaster to make it compelling. And he does. I love how he just casually drops trou in the (blurred) background when he reaches his nudist neighbors' home.

The director also directed DAVID AND LISA ...according to Ben M. Both films are unforgettable, and frequently uncomfortable.
No one other than BURT could have starred.

[norfious]

GLENGARRY GLENROSS (1992) on TCM last night.

I watched this for the first time the day before yesterday, and I can't stop thinking about it. The evening I watched it, I was working on some crafts and just thought I'd just give it half my attention by playing it in the background, but it was so much better than I was expecting and had me absolutely transfixed. I had to stop my crafting and give it my full attention. There was so much depth to the characters and interactions and I am definitely planning on watching it again soon.

[CinemaInternational]

Ken Russell is an auteur, if by "auteur" you mean someone who makes the same mistakes over and over again.

I remember liking Russell's film The Boy Friend, but that was his most restrained work, at least by his standards. Women in Love was OK as well, but Tommy felt like my eyes and eardrums were being attacked.

I always want to like Ken Russell's films, but they often do not live up to my expectations. I loved Women in Love, which I haven't seen in years; and I love The Lair of the White Worm (1986), which has sort of an OTT plot, but which is very well done, has a great cast and script, and is at times howlingly funny. I remember going to many of the other Ken Russell films when they were released, and in fact found the ones judged to be OTT to be not OTT enough. I do remember liking The Devils. And Russell has directed some fine work (mostly documentaries) for television.

Gothic is an example of a film that could have been a contender. Great story, based on that famous evening at the Villa Diodati in Geneva in 1816, but it just doesn't work as well as it should. A snippet of the story is presented at the top of Bride of Frankenstein (1935), with Mary and Percy Shelley, and Lord Byron.

One of the funniest scenes in The Lair of the White Worm is when Amanda Donohoe is snake-charmed.

I saw Lair of the White Worm last week, and aside from one brief scene that I found offensive, I had a pretty good time with it. Its so over the top, and has such a rich vein of deadpan humor amidst the blood and nudity. It also gave me a lot to think about the next time I go back to see an episode of LA Law with Amanda Donohue in it.....