WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

[feaito]

I watched the 2007 film "Juno" and the brilliant spy thriller "5 Fingers" (1952) directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, with James Mason and Danielle Darrieux. Great plot, Mason is sublime, Darrieux is excellent and the ending is one of the best I've ever seen.

[Hollis]

Hi Everyone,

Today? "Penny Serenade" for the first time. It wasn't the best film that Cary Grant and Irene Dunne made together, but you know what? I cried. Twice. Then it was "Grosse Pointe Blank" (for the 2nd time) with John Cusack, Minnie Driver (I just fell in love with her all over agian) and Dan Aykroyd. And you know what? I laughed. More than a few times. A great little comedy. I highly recommend catching it when you can. I saw it on Starz.

Seeya,

Hollis

[feaito]

Hollis,

"Penny Serenade" (1941) is one of my perennial favorites. I have to watch it once in while. Irene and Cary at their very best!

[Birdy]

I just rewatched Skyscraper Souls.

Whew, what a pre-code doosy with Warren William, a couple of suicides, and Norman Foster bumbling all over the place like he's prepubescent.
I think this was discussed at length somewhere on here, but if you need pre-code fix, I highly recommend it. Why do these pre-code tragedies make me laugh?

B
P.S. I just love Norman Foster's voice.

[feaito]

I watched the beautiful film "Away From Her" (2006) starring Julie Christie and Gordon Pinsent. Very touching movie about a woman in her sixties who suffers Alzheimer's disease and the effects this horrible illness has on her husband and their relationship. Recommended viewing. I should add this film to the list of films that made me cry...

I also saw part of the excellent "The Body Snatcher" (1945) starring Boris Karloff, Henry Daniell and Bela Lugosi. I wish I had watched it from the beginning.

Finally I saw the documentary "The Man Who Made the Movies: King Vidor" (1973) which is very interesting an contains an invaluable interview with Master Vidor, but which is somewhat disappointing because it leaves many interesting films out of the analysis of the director's career: "The Wedding Night", "Stella Dallas", "H.M. Pulham Esq.", "An American Romance", "Cynara", "Street Scene", "The Patsy" et al.

[bryce]

I watched the 2007 film "Juno"

What did you think of this film? I am curious as a) not many people around here will have seen it and b) you are not from the United States. While being from an English-speaking former-colonial nation isn't a requirement for 'getting' or 'enjoying' the film, I do question its ability to speak to people who aren't - and people who are from said nations, too.

[moira finnie]

I saw Juno at the movies and loved it, and wrote about it on here and elsewhere at the time. It was terrific. I think that the film's humanity and humor transcends cultural and national barriers quite well. I know for a fact that Fernando (Feaito)'s cosmopolitan appreciation for films from every time and place has led him to explore a broader range of movies than 99% of the planet.

[bryce]

I'm getting the impression that you think I was trying to insinuate something with my post. I wasn't. I was merely curious if the film's obsession with pop culture and its distinctly American (in)humanity was difficult for someone not from, you know, America.

Me, I'll take Nick Hornby's book Slam as a (much more) realistic representation of teenage pregnancy and (ir)responsibility, thank you. I've avoided commenting on Juno for the most part, but my curiosity as to what someone, again, not from America, thought, got the better of me. Personally, I have a hard time swallowing the idea of a 16 year old girl that drops references to the Thundercats, listens to the Moldy Peaches and speaks like a walking, talking caricature of a stripper-cum-scriptwriter that grew up in the 80s (oh, wait a minute!). I do not think it's much of a stretch to think that a person from a country that does not natively speak English might not be aware of a) awful 80s pop culture, b) crappy indie bands from the 90s, and c) what terribly untalented 'indie'-darling screenwriters think teenagers speak like.

He could be fascinated by all of this, maybe bewildered, or maybe completely bored. My intention was to find out what he thought and why. Nothing. Else. I'm sorry if it came across otherwise.

[silentscreen]

I just rewatched "Directed by William Wyler." He was very relaxed, and a perfect interview subject.(He died three days later.) I really enjoyed what Billy Wilder, Terrence Stamp, Barbra Striesand, John Huston, and a host of others had to say about him. Especially enjoyed what Bette Davis had to say. (She had an affair with him while shooting "Jezebel", and he was the love of her life. Well, he ran a distant second to her career. ) The "Great" actress said he made her do forty-eight takes while she had never done more than two. Now there was a man she could respect!She was such a hoot!

[feaito]

I watched the 2007 film "Juno"

What did you think of this film? I am curious as a) not many people around here will have seen it and b) you are not from the United States. While being from an English-speaking former-colonial nation isn't a requirement for 'getting' or 'enjoying' the film, I do question its ability to speak to people who aren't - and people who are from said nations, too.

I'm not really sure if I'm going to be able to express my feelings towards Juno, since it's always best for me to write about them as soon as I've finished watching the film. Juno was a movie that had been in my pending list since April 2008 when some people who had seen it had recommended it to me; as well, I had read some good reviews about the film.

I also must admit that at this point of my life I enjoy more watching Silents and good vintage 1930s to 1950s films, although sometimes I get to see some contemporary films and very few films from the '60s, '70s, '80s and '90s. It's a matter of lack of time; one has to privilege one's current main interests.

This being said, there are few contemporary films that really leave a mark on me or impress me. Few times I have felt connection with what's going onscreen, in spite of the fact that I might find some of them well done.

I did not feel that in the case of "Juno" or wasn't particularly moved by the film, although the performances of Ellen Page and others are very good and I found the movie's script is quite clever -I gave it 8 out of ten at http://www.us.imdb.com. Totally the opposite happened to me yesterday with "Away from Her", a film that touched me very deeply; after all what touches you of a film has to do with reminiscenses, personal experiences and what you are living at a certain moment of your life -I'm 41 and have been married for 16 years to a woman who's everything to me, so "Away from Her" really devastated me.

I must also admit that in general I'm not particularly interested in movies about teenagers or the troubles of the younger generation, but anyway I think "Juno" objectively is a very good movie and it's not the typical Hollywood product.

There have been times in which contemporary films that I wouldn't have expected to like, have impressed me quite a lot in a certain way; for example "Shortbus", "Dan in Real Life" and "Little Miss Sunshine".

Today I watched the brilliant, vintage, moving, superb Ronald Colman impersonation of Sydney Carton in MGM's "A Tale of Two Cities" (1935), which benefits of top production values and such brilliant supporting performers as -the priceless-Edna May Oliver (what a character!), Basil Rathbone, Reginald Owen, Henry B. Walthall, Blanche Yurka, H.B. Warner, Isabel Jewell, Basil Rathbone et al. The very epitome of Hollywood's Golden Age. A CLASSIC!

[charliechaplinfan]

I've been trying to shake off whatever ails me by watching Japanese movies. I revisited one of the first ones I saw The Life of Oharu and got far more out of it than I did first time. Then I watched in random order, Equinox Flower, Tokyo Twilight, Floating Weeds and Good Morning after reading a book about Japanese movies I knew I had to revisit Ozu. All were superb apart from perhaps Floating Weeds which was very good.

The treasure of all these movies was Tokyo Story, I've seen it before but this time it resonanted even deeper. The first time I watched I comdemned the children for not having the time for their parents but my life gets busier and busier it doesn't seem as clear cut. It's hard to know how such gentle parents came to give birth to Shige the eldest daughter who is as hard as nails but they are children to be proud of, a doctor, a self employed beautician and a journalist . They have two other children, a daughter who is still at home and a son who died during the war. When the grandparents travel to Tokyo it is their daughter in law who has the most time for them. Unlike her brothers and sister in law, she has known death and lonliness having been widowed for 8 years, she is able to enjoy the parents whilst they are in Tokyo, the others being unable or unwilling to take leave of their day to day lives. The parents are shuttled backward and forwards, feeling especially unwelcome at their daughters. The children pay to send them away but the resort is noisy and they return early and upset daughter's plans, so father gets drunk with an old friend and causes a commotion when he finds his way back and mother goes to her daughter in laws. On the return home the mother falls ill and on reaching home telegrams are sent to the children in Tokyo to tell them that their mother is critically ill, they all make the overnight trip to her bedside and she dies without recovering consciousness. The eldest children have thought ahead and brought mourning clothes but the daughter in law and youngest daughter have to borrow theirs. The funeral is arranged and soon after eldest daughter picks what she wants of her mothers and departs with the other children. This leaves the daughter in law and youngest daughter at home with father. Daughter in law learns how mother enjoyed her company, the youngest daughter speaks what we feel, how can the elder children be so heartless but they live lives far away and have already started going back to their own lives.

There are many, many little lessons in this movie, it is a subtle and masterful piece of filmmaking. If I sat here editing my post for the next 24 hours I could not do the film justice. It really is a must see film for any film lover.

[charliechaplinfan]

I watched The Story of Qiu Ju directed by Yimou Zhang in 1992 and starring Gong Li. It doesn't have the beauty of Raise the Red Lantern or The Road Home, it doesn't have the visual quality of Red Sorghum and it isn't a sweeping epic like Hero or House of the Flying Daggers. Gong Li, a very beautiful woman is not above playing dowdy and in this film she is extremely dowdy. it's the tale of one woman's fight for an apology after the village chief kicks her husband in the private parts. The chief quite willingly gives compensation but will not apologise and Qiu Ju takes her battle for an apology to the district, the city and then takes a private law suit. In the end she realises she has taken matters too far. The ending is reminiscient of 400 Blows by Francois Truffaut.

This is a film that rewards the viewer for sticking with it for the first 15 minutes, it's hard at first, it feels a little like a documentary but what emerges is a compelling film.

[MikeBSG]

Yesterday I watched the recent Romanian film "12:08 East of Bucharest." It is as good as they say. I reminded me of the Milos Forman film "The Fireman's Ball."

The film takes place on the 15th anniversary of the Romanian Revolution of 1989. Its centerpiece is a talk show on the local TV station that tries to address what actually happened in this small city that day. Did the people actually rebel against the Communists, or did they only come out in the streets after the Communist dictator fled Bucharest.

The movie is both funny and sad and filled with real people and their problems. In short, it seems filled with stuff that has vanished from Hollywood movies in recent years. Highly recommended.

[charliechaplinfan]

I've been watching a couple of Ozu films. Late Spring and Late Autumn, both films tackle the same theme, a girls reluctance to get married and break up the happy home she shares with her one widowed parent, in Late Spring it's a widowed father and in Late Spring it's the mother. In both films concerned family members or friends matchmake trying to arrange good matches for their nieces. These films say a lot about the tradition and what is expected of Japanese girls from middle class homes. Neither girl has the desire to find her own husband, although it is an option for them, both except marriage only after they believe that their parents will remarry and therefore not need them anymore. As always Ozu uses some of his usual actors. Setsuko Hara playing the daughter in Late Spring and the widowed mother in Late Autumn.

[feaito]

Yesterday I watched some of the extras of the fourth DVD of GWTW Collector Edition: The reminescences of Olivia De Havilland and part of the Gable documentary.

I also watched a superbly acted film with Shirley MacLaine and Bob Mitchum: Robert Wise's "Two For the Seesaw" (1962). The movie is an adaptation of a stage play -and its theatrical origins are quite apparent- and it's an impressive tour de force for both actors' talents. Bob Mitchum gives one of the best performances of his career as a attorney trying to begin a new life in NYC. Bob tries desperately to love another woman -he's divorcing his wife of 12 years whom she still loves- and Shirley -all the opposite- doesn't want to fall for him. Beautifully acted. MacLaine's heart-of-gold character reminded me of the girl she played in Minnelli's "Some Came Running". A very touching, honest, human film. A small gem.