WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

[feaito]

Last night I watched Dick Barthelmess' last film at WB-FN "Midnight Alibi" (1934), which was disappointing due to uninspired direction by Alan Crosland and the miscasting of Barthelmess in the leading role. He doesn't look good as the hero (he looks old and not in fine form)...in fact he looks totally different and much better and comes off ditto in the 1880s scenes with lovely Helen Chandler (who has the best role in the film, along with Helen Lowell, who plays her in old age). Beautiful Ann Dvorak has little to do and is wasted. Interesting but flawed. Based upon a Damon Runyon short story (The Old Doll's House). The story seemed so familiar, that I kep thinking I had seen a remake of the film, which I remembered to be much better and I HAD seen sth. of sorts: a WB Short titled "At The Stroke of Twelve" (1941) with Craig Stevens and Elizabeth Risdon, which is better than this film.

Today I saw (for the first time) the Classic Minnelli comedy "Father of the Bride" (1950). Elizabeth Taylor looks gorgeous, but this is Spencer's and Joan's film all the way and what adds a sense of poignancy to this film is the fact that both stars co-starred in a couple of films circa 1932 at Fox, around the time Liz Taylor was born....Unforgettable sequences (at the in-laws with Billie Burke & Moroni Olsen- a delight) and vignettes galore. Loved this comedy. Russ Tamblyn plays Liz's younger brother.

[MikeBSG]

Yesterday I was utterly surprised by "Under the Sun," a Swedish film from 1998. (apparently it got an Oscar nomination. I have no idea why I put it in my Facets queue.)

It is about a 40 year old farmer who advertises for a housekeeper. What I liked about the film was that it kept me guessing. Would it be a comedy, a "Postman Always Rings Twice" thing, a heartbreaker? It was very refreshing and very well done. The performances were terrific and everything worked. I liked the fact that the protagonists were unlike the performers we usually see in films (a little older and less perfect.) The hero could have entered a Wallace Beery look alike contest. (He wouldn't have won, but he could have entered.)

[JackFavell]

Mike, I am going to try Under the Sun - it sounds like my cup of tea.

Feaito - I am so happy you got to watch Father of the Bride - it's another of those movies that just gets better and better the more you watch it.

I was taken out to the movies for my birthday the other night - my friends wouldn't tell me what we were seeing. They know I like British films. The credits started to roll and I realize that it was Another Year by Mike Leigh.... I groaned inwardly when I realized it was Leigh - I knew I was in for a tense time! I don't think they MEANT to take me to a movie about aging and depression... It was very well done, the acting was more than terrific all the way around, especially Lesley Manville, but it made me so uncomfortable the way only Mike Leigh can. I also was expecting Imelda Staunton to come back into the mix somewhere along the way and she never did... there were so many loose ends it disturbed me! Things left unresolved, messy situations, workplace anxiety, this movie was far too much like real life for me to really enjoy it. Still, it made me want to be like Jim Broadbent and Ruth Sheen's characters - these giving people who just let those around them blossom, like their garden.

My friends hated it.

[charliechaplinfan]

I'm with your friends Wendy, I've never liked Mike Leigh even though he's quintessentially British, I just don't find him entertaining. I'm glad you liked Another Year though.

I've been watching some screwball comedies that I hadn't got around to seeing yet, seeing as we have our competition running.

The Palm Beach Story is great, a real laugh out loud comedy. I never knew Rudy Vallee was an actor as well as a singer and Mary Astor as the much married duchess nearly stole the show. Claudette Colbert has such a talent for comedy and wearing beautiful clothes and Joel McCrea is, well quite lovely. I mean how could any woman resist him when she sits on his knee as he unzips her dress. The train journey with the hunting club had me chuckling, I love trains in films. There were so many screwball moments. My favorite character is the Weenie king.

My next film surpassed it though.

Midnight Claudette Colbert and Mary Astor again, not that I noticed she was pregnant whilst making this film, ROs intro was on the end of this movie and I didn't notice John Barrymore reading any cue cards but I did notice him stealing every scene that he's in, this is the best film I've ever seem him in. He might have been in his decline but he's still a handsome roue of a man with quite a good figure. I don't think the film would have worked as well without his casting. Don Ameche isn't someone I'm overly fimiliar with but I'm more than willing to check him out in other films. Again Claudette wore some beautiful clothes and hats as did Mary Astor. One of the delightful things about this movie is that I didn't know quite were it was going, it never went quite were I expected it to go, it was such fun.

[MikeBSG]

I like "The Palm Beach Story" and "Midnight" a lot.

I first saw "Midnight" in an auditorium at Case Western Reserve University. when John Barrymore was on the phone talking babytalk, I swear the auditorium shook with laughter.

I understand that Preston Sturges and Claudette Colbert didn't really get along during the filming of "Palm Beach Story."

[JackFavell]

Oh, Midnight and Palm Beach Story are two of my favorites! I'm so glad you enjoyed them, and I agree with everything you wrote about them.

And just for the record, I don't like Mike Leigh either. I thought the movie was exhausting, and I left with a backache, because it was like watching a train wreck, but you don't know where or when the wreck is going to show up. I didn't hate it, but I really want to stay away from his movies from now on. I've seen a couple others and had the same feeling. I know he's the darling of the independent crowd, but why do I need to see this at the movies? I can go down to my local homeless shelter and see it without paying.

[mrsl]

.
Just a note to Feaito and Jack Favell about your discussion about seeing Father of the Bride. That was another thing that Tom Selleck mentioned on The View the other day. He verified they are looking for a good script to make a third three men movie, this time Three Men and a Bride, but all the stuff he had seen was too much like Father of the Bride and he didn't want to mess with a classic like that and a star of Spence's calibre. Every time I see him, I come away thinking what a nice guy he must be because he always talks in such glowing tones about people and movies, with never a negative view of anything. BTW, that is a movie I would be waiting to see. I loved the first two and hope they find a good third story.
.

[feaito]

I'm glad to hear that Anne...I never wanted to see Steve Martin's remake.

[charliechaplinfan]

Oh, Midnight and Palm Beach Story are two of my favorites! I'm so glad you enjoyed them, and I agree with everything you wrote about them.

And just for the record, I don't like Mike Leigh either. I thought the movie was exhausting, and I left with a backache, because it was like watching a train wreck, but you don't know where or when the wreck is going to show up. I didn't hate it, but I really want to stay away from his movies from now on. I've seen a couple others and had the same feeling. I know he's the darling of the independent crowd, but why do I need to see this at the movies? I can go down to my local homeless shelter and see it without paying.

We really do agree, I couldn't put it better myself, especially about Mike Leigh. I really can't understand his popularity although I do like some of the actors and actresses he uses, Brenda Blethyn and Alison Steadman the two who spring to mind.

I watched Inglorious Basterds last night, a film I bought hubby for Christmas. I filled in my dissappointment with it on the Quentin Tarantino thread. I really think the problem is that when I've enjoyed a director's films like I've enjoyed Taratino's (as long as I cover my eyes at the gory bits) when he misfires the disappoinment felt is really keen. It's still lots better than lots of the films offered as entertaiment these days just not Tarantino at his peak.

[MikeBSG]

I just saw "Niagara" (1953) for the first time this afternoon. I really enjoyed it. Brisk and speedy, not a minute wasted. Interesting to see Monroe not only serious but evil. Joseph Cotten was superb. The scene in which Monroe is trapped and killed in the Carillion made me think of "Vertigo." Really a well done film.

[charliechaplinfan]

I watched L'Avventura by Michaelangelo Antonioni and was sutiably impressed, it even encourages me to go back and try L'Eclisse again. The story takes a strange turn as the main character goes missing on an island cruise, she just dissappears off an island that she's visiting with her friends after having a disagreement with her boyfriend. The story doesn't follow a fimiliar pattern, the girl is searched for but to no avail, te police are brought in and leads are pursued but the story switches to the girl's best friend Claudia played by Monica Vitti and the girl's boyfriend played by Gabrielle Ferzetti who reminded me of an Italian James Garner. The film is wonderfully complimented by the beautiful scenery of Sicily and surrounding islands. The ending of the movie is particularly beautiful, Claudia has had her worse fears confirmed and seems to be released from them, Sandro seems a broken man who needs Claudia as much as she needs him.

[MikeBSG]

I just watched a very enjoyable German film from 2003, "Liberated Zone."

It is about a small city in the former East that comes down with soccer fever thanks to a successful team. It made me think of "Local Hero," not because the plots are the same, but they have a similar sense of humor. A very interesting film, funny, but with some serious bits.

[MikeBSG]

I came in late to the 1967 short film "Stop, Look and Listen" which TCM played before "Amadeus" last night, but it was very, very funny. My fifteen year old son ran over because I was laughing so hard, and he nearly died laughing too.

It is a stop-motion film about two guys who have a drag race. However, there are no cars. The guys are sitting on the road as they go speeding along.

This is a very, very funny film, almost a Pink Panther cartoon with real people. (There is no dialogue.) I think the makers had their eye on Buster Keaton, because the hero wore a semi-Keaton-ish hat.

worth a look.

[JackFavell]

I saw Stop Look and Listen too! I couldn't help thinking of how long it must have taken them to film it - sitting on the ground here and there and a little further and a little further... taking all those stop motion pictures! Ugh....talk about a long process! They must have gone through a hundred pairs of pants! Very enjoyable little movie with Keaton influences.

I also watched about half of Amadeus, which aged very well, I thought. I used to love this movie, there are stretches at the beginning where I knew all the lines without even trying - but by far my favorite part is when Salieri first feelsthe power of Mozart's music - his hand goes up high in the air as he describes the note lingering high above the orchestra in the Serenade #10 in B flat major:

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It's a beautifully made movie, with gorgeous sets, costumes and some of the best makeup I have ever seen. It's written and directed extremely well. This film was the first to make me really appreciate Milos Forman. His ability to integrate music and how it makes us feel into his movie is amazing. It speaks of the longing of the artist - those who long for God-given talent and beauty in an ugly life, and those who simply long to be understood. It is also about how easily a closed puny mind and bureaucracy can kill the artistic soul.

[movieman1957]

My favorite scene in "Amadeus" is near the end when Mozart is dictating his "Requiem" to Salieri. The way He hums it while the music plays under it. The way Salieri looks as he copies. He questions Mozart's direction but then sees the genius of it.

Movies about classical music have not always come out well. I do want to see "Copying Beethoven" (i think that is the title.) The premise is interesting if historically questionable. The film "Eroica" is interesting because it is a fictional account of the first rehearsal of Beethoven's Third Symphony. It helps that he is my favorite composer.