I Just Watched...

[jimimac71]

In my opinion, if you "just watched" something, it qualifies.
I don't see where this forum should be just about movies.
The more diverse, the more attractive I believe it becomes.
I also want to say your avatar is adorable.

[laffite]

The One I love (2014) A married couple (Mark DuPlass and Elizabeth Moss) visit a marriage counselor (Ted Danson who gets about five minutes) to help with their marriage on the wane. This not a bitter dispute but an attempt to chill out and try to resolve differences. The two spouses are amicable but contentious. At one point the counselor asks the two to go the piano and strike a note. The two notes just happen to be in different keys and brings a wince to the ear. "You are both in discord, you are out of sync," announces the counselor. What to do? The counselor has just the thing. He goes to the bookcase and retrieves a brochure that regales the virtues of a small retreat where other clients have spent time tuning up their marriage and who are now back in blessed sync. The property is small, consisting of the main house, a swimming pool, and a guest house. Ethan and Sophie arrive and spend some wonderful moments in the main house, having a drink, and joking around and seem to be off to good start. And then suddenly a surreal turn takes place. The couple try to sort things out but both are quite flummoxed.

This has been termed a comedy-drama thriller but I think it's more drama. What started as a fairly innocuous movie begins transforming itself in the scenes that follow into a P-U-Z-Z-L-E-R. I wasn't expecting this. Watching a pleasant movie and suddenly have it turn into a thorny wood where you rend the thorns, and are rent with the thorns, seeking a way and straying from the way, trying desperately to find the open air ... [thanks, Will]

The two principles as I understand from subsequent reading improvised the dialogue. I imagine the director gave an idea and then let the actors run with it. Great job.

I would so like to impose on you if I could that if you have not seen this and would like to, don't read anything about if first. Cold turkey. If anyone can't do that then I say forget it and instead watch Casablanca for the 200th time. Okay, kidding ... but reading afore the viewing will diminish the experience, in my view. Let the story unfold upon the gad.

The show is amusing and deceptive with its eventual complexities, and it is devilishly clever.

Highly acclaimed.

//

[LiamCasey]

I watched Testament of Orpheus (1960) on HBO Max last night simply because it had a cameo appearance by Yul Brynner. I was definitely NOT the target audience for that movie!

[TikiSoo]

I finally saw ERIN BROCKOVICH 2000 starring Julia Roberts & Albert Finney after MrTiki said, "You've NEVER seen it? It's one of my favorites"

After watching it, I see what he liked-there's a lot of Julia Roberts' body showing despite clothing, haha. It's aways fun discovering a movie everyone else discovered 20 years ago-some hold up, others don't.

I liked it solely upon both powerhouse performances and the story they tell. Julia Roberts is outstanding as the title charactor- albeit over the top in both appearance & behaviour- but that's what gets you involved. Brockovich's sincerity & hard work overcome every mistake she makes along the way, only revealing this viewer's prejudices of discounting her as a dumb floozy.

I was blown away by Roberts' performance, but I see both her parents were actors, making perfect sense. She brought all kinds of nuance and tiny gestures to express exactly what was in the charactor's mind along with the broader played dialogue. Brilliant!

And what can be said about Albert Finney? He was the perfect match as the lawyer she worms her way into assisting. The contrast of the floozy and staid lawyer make a perfect dichotomy that blend to perfection in the end.
The story was fascinating and unfolded perfectly paced. It looked good, was photographed beautifully. I was grateful there was no trial shown, it would have bogged down the story of the people involved. Beautiful editing.

This movie's strength of story & the performances that tell it hold up well after a couple of decades. I'm finally a Julia Roberts fan.
The poster for the movie is the WORST...I'll post this picture instead:

[CinemaInternational]

A few days ago, I dipped into some silent films, and they were fascinating to look at, intimate, well made, and just plain entertaining (1919's True Heart Susie with a luminous Lillian Gish was the best of the bunch). But I knew I had to get back to get back to some recent things to wrap up some loose ends.

See the issue is that, out of impulse, I signed up for two mostly modern film premium channels (I already get HBO and Showtime, so this was for Starz and MGM+) , and now I realize I have to quickly get through a few films quickly in order to cancel at least one of them to get that cable bill down again, and well Starz does not have many interesting titles around, at least when it comes to ones I haven't seen, so that will be on the chopping block first.

The problem is though that the two most recent things I saw on them weren't that good (not that I expected to like one of them; I approached it with a sense of grim Oscar completist duty)

Worth Winning (1989) is one of those forgettable things that also manages to unspool a pretty unsavory tale. In it, Mark Harmon plays a cad (who, like Michael Caine's Alfie , often talks directly to the camera) who makes a bet that he can get three women to agree to marry him within three months and to capture their proposals on videotape. So, we have a story about a lech who is going to break at least two hearts, and the issues feel more compounded since the movie makes two of these women into stereotypes (Lesley Ann Warren plays a married woman with an insatiable lust for Harmon and someone named Maria Holvoe is playing a very naive girl who doesn't know any better). Madeleine Stowe is fetching as the central love interest, Harmon has enough personal charm (as the character has none) to show why women would feel the way they do about him (completely off topic to this film here, but how I still treasure that moment on the TV series Moonlighting where Allyce Beasley wordlessly makes fawning eyes at him for a minute), and Warren gives her all to freshen up a lousy role and succeeds half the time (her wearing an extremely skimpy low-cut dress and a very lascivious facial expression to, of all things, a matinee screening of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is the funniest moment in the whole film), but its still a very disagreeable premise for a film coupled with often bland treatment, and not even this hard-working cast can rise above it.

More of the same, only different. That's the easiest way to sum up Top Gun: Maverick, 2022's top grossing film, a long belated sequel to the top grossing film of 1986 . I was hardly a fan of the 1986 film aside from a few fringe elements that stood out above the pallid enterprise (Meg Ryan, some of the songs, the aerial photography, and particularly Harold Faltermeyer's excellent 80s-style synth-heavy opening theme, which deserved a far better film to be attached to), so I was dreading to watch this one. I only gave in because it was a Best Picture nominee, and lo and behold, it's deja vu all over again, as the film is extraordinarily slick but thumpingly, resoundingly hollow at the center. Tom Cruise is slightly less cocky this time around, and is thus a bit more likable, its nice to see Jennifer Connelly and Ed Harris again, that wonderful opening theme makes a brief return appearance at the start of the film, the aerial work truly is stunning, and the film is extremely well edited , but that's where the kind words end. The script and character development is strictly below that of the old AIP level, and instead of the reckless assurance that the 1986 film radiated, this one, like much in current society and many recent films, is clammy and takes itself far too seriously. There is a distinctly awkward feeling as the film slightly deconstructs the past "glory", but then goes back and shamelessly reuses the credits style of the original film, and then replays old clips of Anthony Edwards death scene and Meg Ryan from film #1 to drum up audience emotion. At 130 minutes, its 20 minutes longer than the original, which is painful when you consider the bubble-gum level of things. It does have one of the most unintentionally mordantly funny credits in years though as it is still listed as "a Don Simpson production" when Simpson has been deceased since early 1996. But otherwise, this is little better than the original. One would be better off exploring some of the other, better films of 1986 instead.

[Lomm]

Maverick was basically a retread of the first film. I enjoyed watching it (Tom Cruise seldom disappoints really), but I really don't understand all the hype around it, much less the Best Picture nomination.

[Detective Jim McLeod]

Elvis (2022) HBO On Demand -5/10

Col. Tom Parker (Tom Hanks) looks back on his relationship with Elvis Presley (Austin Butler)

An uneven, overlong bio-pic of the King Of Rock N Roll. Hanks is buried under a fat suit and makeup, though I thought it was kind of interesting to tell the story from his POV. I didn't find out anything new about Elvis but I was surprised about some facts about Parker. I never knew he was an illegal immigrant from Holland, arriving here when he was in his teens, I always thought he was a native born Southern good ol' boy. Hanks uses a weird Dutch accent though I heard the real Parker never spoke with that. Director Baz Luhrmann uses his flashy, quick cut style to the early scenes which I found kind of distracting. It also ignores the early 60s part of Elvis' career even though he had a ton of hits at this time. It picks up in 1968 when he had his successful TV special, also the best sequences in this film. Butler's performance is pretty good, but I don't feel Oscar worthy. There is a scene of the real Elvis near the end of life, straining out a version of "Unchained Melody", which is another good moment in the film.

[TikiSoo]

Hanks uses a weird Dutch accent though I heard the real Parker never spoke with that.

Thank you for your take on this movie, although I'd never see it.

It has to be an outstanding movie to get me to watch anything with Hanks in it- I just saw A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN for first time recently.
I think he's a terrible actor.

[Detective Jim McLeod]

Thank you for your take on this movie, although I'd never see it.

It has to be an outstanding movie to get me to watch anything with Hanks in it- I just saw A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN for first time recently.
I think he's a terrible actor.
[/quote]

And he won a Razzie for the Elvis movie.

I think he can be good with Southern accents ( Forrest Gump, The Green Mile) but if he tries a European one (like in The Terminal ) , he can be embarrassingly bad.

[TikiSoo]

Thanks to Cinema International, I just watched Three Thousand Years of Longing 2022, borrowed from the library. (see his thoughts on it in this thread page 28)
There was a lot about this movie that I loved- the special effects of the Djinn (Genie in a bottle) were astounding-EXACTLY how CGI should be used, imho. He had a distorted aura of rising heat and a tunnel vision effect when his stories involved his POV. A few times the action was sped up/slowed down that felt "otherworldly".
All the sets, costumes, lighting & photography added to the atmosphere. This is definitely a top notch production:


I loved the hunky actor Idris Elba as the Djinn but his soft spoken accent made it difficult to understand, making me think I missed something. I did not care for Tilda Swinton (seen above) who played the heroine -actually- I liked her, she was excellent. What I didn't like was the stereotype of her being a frumpy "old maid" just because she was an academic/bookish person.

The premise of the story grabbed me immediately and I enjoyed the Djinn's tales. The ending made me wonder what I had missed, it was somewhat unsatisfying. I had expected a culmination of longing & passion that would sweep me away in fantasy like fireworks, instead it was more like sparklers waving.



I had expected the heroine to be revealed as reincarnation of all the women the Djinn had loved throughout eternity, but guess that would have been too obvious, too typical. I plan on giving this a second try, it seems worth it.

[laffite]

Help! Movie identification please. I usually watch cable movies on the DVR and therefore I can go back to them if needed. However, I happened to pick up one while browsing at random and not on the DVR and when I had to interrupted i couldn't get to it because it was gone.

This is modern movie, probably within the last 10 years, about a man who was desperately trying to get this other guy to sell him a Russian helicopter because he had himself a buyer for it to get money to help a small bereaved third-world type country. I know none of the actors. I was really enjoying this, any idea anyone, thanks.

[CinemaInternational]

More adventures with new-ish films via premium channels.... plus one classic era film.

The classic era film is the 1939 western Jesse James with the famous outlaw being portrayed in a surprising positive light by Tyrone Power, with Henry Fonda as his brother. Most, if not all here, have likely seen it, suffice it to say it is a top-notch production with one of Tyrone's best performances and ravishing use of early Technicolor.

The three recent films are all from the 2000s, all were up for at least one Oscar, none of them won anything, and they are all period pieces that are flawed to varying degrees.

Nine (2009) is an adaptation of the 1982 Broadway musical based on Fellini's 8½ (1963). That film was a very personal confessional for Fellini, admitting so many of his flaws, from his womanizing, to his insecurities, to what drove him through life. It was a very personal film, and it worked very well. The problem with this particular film is that it is not personal for any of the people who made it; its frankly very hollow and stultifying, made stranger by the fact that, save for the barely featured Sophia Loren, wasted in a cameo part, the cast is emphatically not Italian seeming in the least: Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotilliard, Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench, Kate Hudson, and Nicole Kidman. The film itself seems a bit awed by the lineup of actresses; they are smashing, but only Cotilliard (as the long suffering wife) and Cruz (as the mistress who has a song scene so steamy its a wonder that it didn't get an R) are the only ones who have any depth to their character. And the problems are only confounded by the fact that, with maybe the exception of the song Kate Hudson gets to sing, none of them are very memorable songs. The whole look is magazine glossy with much showy snaps betweeen black and white and color, but it lacks the soul it really needs.....

Judi Dench is back again in Mrs. Henderson Presents (2005) playing a wealthy widow whose claim to fame late in her life was in owning a theatre that displayed vaudeville acts that were very scandalous in their day for having nude women stand as still as statues in the background of the sketches and songs. For a movie that has such a copious amount of nudity in it (much topless nudity and a brief scene with genitals of both genders, including more of Bob Hoskins than I personally cared to see), its rather innocent and very old-fashioned. Indeed, the same basic story, minus the nudity, was filmed as Tonight and Every Night, back in the mid-1940s. This whole film is basically a two movie star affair with Dench and Hoskins making a fine oil and water, cat and dog like pair. However, it is somewhat predictable (how did I know in advance that the Blitz was going to claim the life of a character?), and the heaviness of some of the later scenes set in WWII take a little bit of air out of the film's sails, but overall its still very likable

The Black Dahlia (2006) was once eagerly anticipated, but it dropped like a stone on its release due to bad reviews and word-of-mouth. I know there are some here who couldn't stand it, and given the sheer brutality of the real-life murder that gave it its name, it can get very nasty in the gore department at times. I realize that most of the leads of the film are totally miscast (although they did grow on me the longer the film unspooled), and supporting player Fiona Shaw acts as if she was appearing in a very campy spoof of the same material (she made me laugh out loud, which is likely not what the film was going for). But yet, director Brian De Palma really understands the noir tradition; and he does an exceptional job with making the labyrinthine script work in a very cinematic way. It's meticulously designed, and it is far from the disgrace that was claimed in 2006. Make no mistake, it does have flaws, big ones, but it is a fascinating venture.

[LawrenceA]

After three "Important" movies (Celine & Julie Go Boating, India Song, and The Travelling Players) all proved to be laborious duds for me, 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:

Escort Girl (1941) - Betty Compson as a single mother running an "escort bureau", without the knowledge of her college-aged daughter. You know where this is headed.

The Jungle Captive (1945) - Third and final in the "Ape Woman" series, and the last Universal horror of their Golden Age that I hadn't seen. Evil doctor Otto Kruger resuscitates the Ape Woman, while Rondo Hatton looks on.

The Medium (1951) - One of the most obscure features ever nominated for an Oscar, this is a B&W opera about a phony spiritualist (Marie Powers) who may have accidentally actually contacted a real ghost. With Anna Maria Alberghetti. Is this bad opera or good opera? I couldn't tell.

The Electronic Monster (1958) - British sci-fi with Rod Cameron as an insurance investigator looking into suspicious deaths that trace back to a mental health clinic and their new, cutting-edge procedures. I was promised a monster and there wasn't one. Blah.

Girls on the Loose (1958) - Mara Corday runs an all-girl robbery gang. Solid late-50s B-movie trash from director Paul Henreid.

House of Dreams (1963) - A writer has dreams that seem to come true. This very low budget, shot-in-Indiana obscurity has a very annoying score.

House of the Damned (1963) - Dopey "old dark house" shenanigans with two couples staying at a supposedly haunted castle in California. It only seems like 4 hours.

Ikarie XB 1 (1963) - Czechoslovakian sci-fi that, while dated in the effects department, is still ahead of much of the US science fiction of the time. Recommended.

Sin You Sinners (1963) - Lurid sleaze about an aging stripper who hypnotizes people with a medallion she got from a voodoo woman in Haiti. Others plot to steal it.

Violent Midnight (1963) - Murders in a small New England town are suspected to be the work of a wealthy family's black sheep artist son (Lee Phillips). With Sheppard Strudwick, James Farentino, Dick Van Patten, and Sylvia Miles. One of two movies also known as "Psychomania".

Dr. Orloff's Monster (1964) - Eurotrash horror from director Jesus Franco, with the good doctor once again using a mind-controlled guy with a weird face.

It Happened Here (1964) - Serious alternate history tale wherein Great Britain was conquered by the Nazis, leading to an underground resistance movement. Good stuff.

Go-Go BigBeat (1965) - Hour long British musical performance revue, featuring the Animals, the Hollies, and others. Not too bad.

Who Killed Teddy Bear? (1965) - Juliet Prowse keeps getting creepy phone calls from a stranger. Could they be from sweaty waiter Sal Mineo, or sweaty cop Jan Murray? With Elaine Stritch as her lesbian boss! Recommended.

Wild Seed (1965) - Drifter Michael Parks looks after runaway teen Celia Milius. This was better than I expected. Recommended.

Young Dillinger (1965) - Incredibly dumb, completely ahistorical crime thriller with Nick Adams as the title goon, in love with Mary Ann Mobley, and teamed up with Pretty Boy Floyd (Robert Conrad) and Baby Face Nelson (John Ashley).

The Magic Serpent (1966) - Japanese fantasy with a deposed prince who learns various martial arts and magical skills in order to win back his throne. This wild adventure, featuring dragons and other weird creatures, was released to TV in the US by AIP.

[nakanosunplaza]

Great !! Do this more often, love your funny comments,I have seen India Song many many years ago,do not remember anything except it was very very boring. Thanks

[TikiSoo]

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!