I Just Watched...

[Lorna]

CINEMA INTERNATIONAL WROTE: So, was Ruffalo's performance quite at the low tide level of Billy Zane in Titanic

I do not say this lightly, but YES.

in fact, the roles are REALLY SIMILAR, as are the "acting"styles of ZANE and RUFFALO.

Also, imagine if BILLY ZANE had a montage of extremely explicit sex acts in TITANIC wherein we actually witnessed him perform real life oral sex on someone.

Sorry, are you ALL throwing up now?

[CinemaInternational]

POOR THINGS

Yeah.... I'm not exactly sure I could quite handle this film's boldness...and I know that seems odd coming from someone who sat through Showgirls, The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981), and 9½ Weeks, but there it is....

OH HONEY,

I was getting ready to send you a PM to explicitly tell you: NO, YOU COULD NOT HANDLE THIS MOVIE.
it would break you.
HONESTLY.

(you and I have a lot in common, but I DEFINITELY have more tolerance of DEPRAVITY. ALSO, THIS MOVIE LEGIT MAKES "SHOWGIRLS" LOOK LIKE "LITTLE WOMEN"- THE JUNE ALLYSON VERSION!!!!)

Oh, wow, that strong. Goodness. How does it stack up against say Ken Russell's The Devils in shocking the audience? I ask because I was talking to someone the other day, saying that I didn't know if I could see Poor Things because it sounded shocking, and she replied that she actually saw it, was shocked by it, and said that the audience of mostly senior moviegoers looked stunned (or shell-shocked) afterwards.

[Lorna]

THE THING IS THOUGH,

I have respect for GOOD ACTING- even in material I find objectionable- and both EMMA STONE and WILLAM DEFOE were FANTASTIC in the film- STONE was especially good and genuinely funny, even eliciting laughs during really wild or unsettling scenes. she could very well win tonight, but if she does, there might be some blowback if a wider audience decides to check POOR THINGS out.

[Lorna]

POOR THINGS and THE DEVILS are neck-and-neck in terms of shockingness.

[Lorna]

EMMA STONE'S level of commitment to the part reminded me very very much of KATHLEEN TURNER in CRIMES OF PASSION.

[CinemaInternational]

THE THING IS THOUGH,

I have respect for GOOD ACTING- even in material I find objectionable- and both EMMA STONE and WILLAM DEFOE were FANTASTIC in the film- STONE was especially good and genuinely funny, even eliciting laughs during really wild or unsettling scenes. she could very well win tonight, but if she does, there might be some blowback if a wider audience decides to check POOR THINGS out.

It is a bit of a tough call on who will win Best Actress tonight. Stone took the Comedy Golden Globe and the BAFTA. Her main competition, Lily Gladstone, took the Drama Globe and the SAG award. Both films are up for at least 10 Oscars, but the Scorsese film, while being a dark look at mistreatment of Native Americans, will likely not offend many people, and thus Gladstone likely has the edge (maybe also too because she would be the first Native American to win for acting.....although Chief Dan George should have won for Little Big Man.....)

[CinemaInternational]

EMMA STONE'S level of commitment to the part reminded me very very much of KATHLEEN TURNER in CRIMES OF PASSION.

Hmm. I actually saw Crimes of Passion last year. the film was extremely sloppy, but Kathleen Turner certainly gave it her all. She actually managed to turn in pretty good work amidst all the hothouse antics. And she was really very good in the film's quietest scene with her in her call girl mode and the dying man.

[CinemaInternational]

POOR THINGS and THE DEVILS are neck-and-neck in terms of shockingness.

One last irony. Poor Things was released by Searchlight Pictures (nee Fox Searchlight Pictures), which means that, due to a certain much publicized merger a few years ago, this super shocking film was financed by DISNEY! (Too bad we can't reach old Walt for comment)

[Lorna]

POOR THINGS and THE DEVILS are neck-and-neck in terms of shockingness.

One last irony. Poor Things was released by Searchlight Pictures (nee Fox Searchlight Pictures), which means that, due to a certain much publicized merger a few years ago, this super shocking film was financed by DISNEY! (Too bad we can't reach old Walt for comment)

IT WOULD MAKE ONE HELL OF A DARK RIDE!

[Sassy and Oh So Sweet]

I’m a (relatively) young classic movie fan who’s been lurking here for a while and finally decided to register so I could contribute to these discussions. I’ve been watching “old” movies since I was in elementary school. My parents (especially my mom) are movie buffs and were always sharing their favorite movies and loved discussing them with me. I’ve continued to watch these movies as an adult (love the Criterion Channel!) and while I’m no expert, I have seen a lot of classic movies. I’m pretty sure my love of these films influenced my choice to pursue a career in the arts, specifically dance. The Red Shoes is a favorite of mine.
I’m high-strung by nature, and watching these movies always seem to help restore my sense of serenity in this chaotic and often distressing world we live in.
Sertraline helps too . . .

I just re-watched a favorite movie of mine since childhood, Goodbye, Mr. Chips from MGM in 1939. It gets better every time I see it. Robert Donat, in a Best Actor Oscar-winning performance, plays the title character, Mr. Chipping, a Latin teacher at a boys’ boarding school in England from the beginning of his career until his 80s, a span of over 60 years. The movie actually starts out with Chipping as an old man with most of the story told in flashback. Honest to God, I thought a different actor played the elderly Chipping the first time I saw the movie. In my defense, I was 9 years old at the time. How great that the Academy gave an Oscar to such a non-showy performance.

Mr. Chipping, shy by nature, gets off to a bad start at the school despite his love for teaching. One of my favorite parts early in the movie is when the students in his first class try to trick him into saying the word “virgin.” By the time he’s in middle-age, he’s become disheartened that he’s not beloved by the students like some of his colleagues and is disappointed that he’s passed over for a house master position despite his tenure with the school. His life changes when a fellow teacher invites him to join him on a walking tour of Austria. This is the point where one of my favorite performers makes her movie debut. That performer is the wonderful Greer Garson!

The sequence where Donat’s Mr. Chipping and Garson’s Kathy Ellis meet while climbing the Austrian mountain is one of my favorite movie sequences. It never fails to make me tear up a bit. I always look forward to Greer Garson’s “Hello!” emanating from the mountain mist and to her sharing her sandwiches with Robert Donat’s character. You really believe that these two people are falling in love (or at least I do). Another favorite part is when Chipping, hoping to track down Kathy after their first meeting, thinks he’s found her and her traveling companion in Vienna, only to learn that there are two (very) different English ladies who are also bicycling through Austria!

Greer Garson was nominated for (but didn’t win) a Best Actress Oscar for her movie debut. (A few years later she would receive the award for her performance in the title role in Mrs. Miniver, another favorite of mine.) It is Garson’s character who gives Mr. Chipping the nickname “Chips.” After Kathy and Chips marry and return to the school, her encouragement and support help him to become comfortable sharing his personality with his students (including his Latin jokes). He soon becomes the school’s beloved Mr. Chips and eventually a school institution.

Some technical notes: The movie does a good job showing the passage of time through montages of “call overs”, with different groups of boys stating their names throughout the years. Terry Kilburn (who had previously played Tiny Tim in 1938’s A Christmas Carol) plays multiple generations of Colley boys taught by Mr. Chipping.
I also find it interesting that a lot of these early MGM movies have their opening credits with the same generic drawing of a seated lion in the background.

[Swithin]

I’m a (relatively) young classic movie fan who’s been lurking here for a while and finally decided to register so I could contribute to these discussions. I’ve been watching “old” movies since I was in elementary school. My parents (especially my mom) are movie buffs and were always sharing their favorite movies and loved discussing them with me. I’ve continued to watch these movies as an adult (love the Criterion Channel!) and while I’m no expert, I have seen a lot of classic movies. I’m pretty sure my love of these films influenced my choice to pursue a career in the arts, specifically dance. The Red Shoes is a favorite of mine.
I’m high-strung by nature, and watching these movies always seem to help restore my sense of serenity in this chaotic and often distressing world we live in.
Sertraline helps too . . .

I just re-watched a favorite movie of mine since childhood, Goodbye, Mr. Chips from MGM in 1939. It gets better every time I see it. Robert Donat, in a Best Actor Oscar-winning performance, plays the title character, Mr. Chipping, a Latin teacher at a boys’ boarding school in England from the beginning of his career until his 80s, a span of over 60 years. The movie actually starts out with Chipping as an old man with most of the story told in flashback. Honest to God, I thought a different actor played the elderly Chipping the first time I saw the movie. In my defense, I was 9 years old at the time. How great that the Academy gave an Oscar to such a non-showy performance.

Mr. Chipping, shy by nature, gets off to a bad start at the school despite his love for teaching. One of my favorite parts early in the movie is when the students in his first class try to trick him into saying the word “virgin.” By the time he’s in middle-age, he’s become disheartened that he’s not beloved by the students like some of his colleagues and is disappointed that he’s passed over for a house master position despite his tenure with the school. His life changes when a fellow teacher invites him to join him on a walking tour of Austria. This is the point where one of my favorite performers makes her movie debut. That performer is the wonderful Greer Garson!

The sequence where Donat’s Mr. Chipping and Garson’s Kathy Ellis meet while climbing the Austrian mountain is one of my favorite movie sequences. It never fails to make me tear up a bit. I always look forward to Greer Garson’s “Hello!” emanating from the mountain mist and to her sharing her sandwiches with Robert Donat’s character. You really believe that these two people are falling in love (or at least I do). Another favorite part is when Chipping, hoping to track down Kathy after their first meeting, thinks he’s found her and her traveling companion in Vienna, only to learn that there are two (very) different English ladies who are also bicycling through Austria!

Greer Garson was nominated for (but didn’t win) a Best Actress Oscar for her movie debut. (A few years later she would receive the award for her performance in the title role in Mrs. Miniver, another favorite of mine.) It is Garson’s character who gives Mr. Chipping the nickname “Chips.” After Kathy and Chips marry and return to the school, her encouragement and support help him to become comfortable sharing his personality with his students (including his Latin jokes). He soon becomes the school’s beloved Mr. Chips and eventually a school institution.

Some technical notes: The movie does a good job showing the passage of time through montages of “call overs”, with different groups of boys stating their names throughout the years. Terry Kilburn (who had previously played Tiny Tim in 1938’s A Christmas Carol) plays multiple generations of Colley boys taught by Mr. Chipping.
I also find it interesting that a lot of these early MGM movies have their opening credits with the same generic drawing of a seated lion in the background.

Welcome, Sassy, and thanks for your write-up of a wonderful movie. It's amazing how many great movies have been adapted from novels by James Hilton:

Goodbye Mr. Chips
Lost Horizon
Random Harvest
We Are Not Alone
So Well Remembered
The Story of Dr. Wassell
Rage in Heaven
(and more)

And screenplays that Hilton collaborated on, to name a few:
Mrs. Miniver
Camille
Forever and a Day

P.S. I think Terry Kilburn, born in 1926, is still with us.

[kingrat]

(you and I have a lot in common, but I DEFINITELY have more tolerance of DEPRAVITY. ALSO, THIS MOVIE LEGIT MAKES "SHOWGIRLS" LOOK LIKE "LITTLE WOMEN"- THE JUNE ALLYSON VERSION!!!!)
[/quote]

Lorna, I misread your post as "SHOWGIRLS" - THE JUNE ALLYSON VERSION!!!

Now that would be something to see. Or, possibly, avoid.

[CinemaInternational]

THE THING IS THOUGH,

I have respect for GOOD ACTING- even in material I find objectionable- and both EMMA STONE and WILLAM DEFOE were FANTASTIC in the film- STONE was especially good and genuinely funny, even eliciting laughs during really wild or unsettling scenes. she could very well win tonight, but if she does, there might be some blowback if a wider audience decides to check POOR THINGS out.

Stone took it. Now, we shall see what happens.

[Lorna]

THE THING IS THOUGH,

I have respect for GOOD ACTING- even in material I find objectionable- and both EMMA STONE and WILLAM DEFOE were FANTASTIC in the film- STONE was especially good and genuinely funny, even eliciting laughs during really wild or unsettling scenes. she could very well win tonight, but if she does, there might be some blowback if a wider audience decides to check POOR THINGS out.

Stone took it. Now, we shall see what happens.

[CinemaInternational]

(you and I have a lot in common, but I DEFINITELY have more tolerance of DEPRAVITY. ALSO, THIS MOVIE LEGIT MAKES "SHOWGIRLS" LOOK LIKE "LITTLE WOMEN"- THE JUNE ALLYSON VERSION!!!!)

Lorna, I misread your post as "SHOWGIRLS" - THE JUNE ALLYSON VERSION!!!

Now that would be something to see. Or, possibly, avoid.
[/quote]

This made me laugh. If they ever had done an MGM version of Showgirls, it clearly would have starred Lana Turner and Joan Crawford