WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

[feaito]

I just watched "Vicky Cristina Barcellona," and I liked it. Not top-flight Woody, but very enjoyable. I really liked the actress who played Vicky. Has she done anything else?

Mike,

I also was impressed by her performance and hear beauty after watching the film last week and I looked her up at us.imdb.com and I realized that she's made few films and that she also appears in "Frost/Nixon" (2008).

[movieman1957]

From a friend's VHS stock I watched "The Egg and I." Pleasant enough comedy from Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray as city folk turned chicken farmers. Nothing too unusual but a couple of inside jokes were fun. (At least I took them that way.) The first one was when Colbert sees a couple of local Indians for the first time she screams and runs after Fred. He tells her who they are and then tells her she has seen too many westers. My thought was she screamed through a lot of "Drums Along The Mohawk" for the same reason. The best was the second one where they had a pig named Cleopatra. That was funny enough but when Cleopatra was dinner at the barn dance Claudette asked "What do you think I am, a cannibal?"

The stars are wonderful together and while not manic in the way early screwball comedies were Claudette reminds why she was among the best.

[mrsl]

I love The Egg and I myself. Fred is his usual self, but Claudette makes this picture. I think she is wonderful in it, and wish she had made more like it.

Tonight I watched about the 11th chapter in a long line of movies called 'The Love series'. I guess they're all based on a collection like the Little House TV show. This one was called Love Finds a Home. The whole thing started out with a wagon train where two strangers got together because both of their spouses had died, and each following episode was the next generation, and their adventures in moving westward and pioneering on their own. This one was just made this year and has Patty Duke as a prime character. I hate to say it but Patty is only one year younger than I am, but she looks like 10 years older, before getting upset, let me explain, I haven't lived under the hot California sun all my life like her so her skin shows every sunbeam. Also, she is still slim where I am a bit over weight but the weight helps me to avoid a 'chicken neck', and 'finger falons'.

Occasionally these movies are shown in a marathon on a Saturday and well worth watching. They are all different, with different leads, but the leads from each are usually around in the next as the aging parents saying goodbye to the younger adventurers. They are definitely family oriented and entertaining without the usual junk that fills our screens nowadays.

Anne

[movieman1957]

Anne:

I've seen some of those Hallmark westerns and while they are not great I think they are fine family fare. It is interesting that this is such a young couple making a start out west. There are troubles enough but it is a nice way to spend some time.

[mrsl]

The Leatherheads.

Liking George Clooney and also Renee Zellweger as much as I do, I don't know how it came that I never heard of this movie until about 3:30 this morning. Although I hit the 'record' button, I stayed awake through the whole thing. It's certainly not any type of award winner, it's just another cute little comedy like George and Renee are so often part of, but it is a fun movie. It gets a little bogged down for a little bit, but then it yanks on its bootstraps and pulls itself up out of the quagmire quite nicely. The chemistry between Mr. C and Ms. Z is as usual good. I say as usual because I have yet to see George NOT have good chemistry with any of his leading ladies.

This one is football in 1925 right after The Great War when professional games were close to becoming extinct. Through the use of a War 'hero', George comes up with a plan to put the game back in mind for winter sports, kind of a replacement for baseball. It has a little 'be true to yourself' lesson, but the 'love story' between George and Renee is more mindful of Punch and Judy. You fellows should like it for the sports stuff, and the ladies should enjoy Renee's pretty authentic hair and clothing. Thank God she's stopped that pursing of her lips that she used to do, needless to say, it drove me nuts!!!. She's grown up now and fun to watch.

Anne

[MikeBSG]

I finally saw the 1959 Soviet war movie "Ballad of a Soldier" yesterday on DVD.

I have to say I agree with Dwight Macdonald, who grumped that it was just a trite romance. It is more than a trite romance, but the scenes of chaste, sweet love between the soldier and the girl really got on my nerves and (to me) distracted the movie from the depiction of life during the chaos of war. "Ballad of a Soldier" opens strong and ends strong, but it sags badly in the middle. "The Cranes are Flying" is a far better film, I think.

One thing that struck me. The narrator refered to the hero as a "Russian soldier" (and not a Soviet one) in a 1959 movie. To me that was really surprising.

I just watched the recent Jiri Menzel Czech film "I Served the King of England." This is one terrific film. It covers an opportunist's life from about 1925 to 1948, and it uses flashbacks and different techniques with a breathtaking skill. A marvellous movie, better than "Closely Watched Trains," Menzel's best-known work. (I also like his "Larks on a String" and "My Sweet Little Village." I didn't like "Capricious Summer," which was way too predictable.) I strongly recommend "I Served the King of England."

[charliechaplinfan]

To remind me of my holiday in the South of France I watched And God Created Woman. I watched it ages ago and I don't think I noticed last time how much everyone acted around Bardot. I suspect that was Roger Vadim's direction, to try and create a creature who would drive most men mad. I'm of the wrong sex to appreciate fully the charms of Bardot but I got pretty fed up with her pouting little mouth. It isn't terrible, it's just of a certain style set to titilate the 1950's audience. Jean Louis Tringnant is the best thing in the picture and has the most rounded character as Juliette/Bardot's husband Michel. St Tropez looked lovely and untouched, how things change, one famous film and people like me pile in to see what the fuss is about. It's worth seeing just to gaze at the scenery.

I don't get Bardot when there are much better actresses like Catherine Deneuve, Jeanne Moreau and Stephanie Audran. Catherine Deneuve is as beautiful and has starred in a couple of provocative films that highlight her allure, why the hype around Bardot? I was at a market in Cannes and there was a stall selling old memoribilia yet the only French actress he was selling articles and pictures of were Bardot.

[ChiO]

I'm of the wrong sex to appreciate fully the charms of Bardot ....

I don't get Bardot when there are much better actresses like Catherine Deneuve, Jeanne Moreau and Stephanie Audran. Catherine Deneuve is as beautiful and has starred in a couple of provocative films that highlight her allure, why the hype around Bardot? I was at a market in Cannes and there was a stall selling old memoribilia yet the only French actress he was selling articles and pictures of were Bardot.

The first sentence says it all. Acting has nothing to do with it.

[charliechaplinfan]

I thought as much

[jdb1]

Tonight I watched about the 11th chapter in a long line of movies called 'The Love series'. I guess they're all based on a collection like the Little House TV show. This one was called Love Finds a Home. The whole thing started out with a wagon train where two strangers got together because both of their spouses had died, and each following episode was the next generation, and their adventures in moving westward and pioneering on their own. This one was just made this year and has Patty Duke as a prime character. I hate to say it but Patty is only one year younger than I am, but she looks like 10 years older, before getting upset, let me explain, I haven't lived under the hot California sun all my life like her so her skin shows every sunbeam. Also, she is still slim where I am a bit over weight but the weight helps me to avoid a 'chicken neck', and 'finger falons'.

Anne

Hey, Anne, I just wanted to point out that Patty Duke is the product of a miserable and misguided childhood, a misspent youth of drugs and booze, and years and years of struggle with a mental/physical illness she didn't even know she had (bipolar disorder) until after it had ruined her life up until then. She has also survived major heart surgery in recent years. She's not only a survivor, but one of America's best and most underrated and underused actors. This isn't a scolding, it's just a reminder that if our Anna (don't call her Patty to her face) is full of wrinkles and lines and has a voice like a petite foghorn, it's for a very good reason. One of the truly admirable things about her strong character is her refusal to go under the knife -- she looks the way she looks, and she's willing to work with it.

And she is really tiny, well under 5 feet. A girl I knew in college had auditioned to be Duke's body double for the Patty/Cathy show, and this girl was about a size zero. I saw Duke on Broadway in The Miracle Worker, and although she was probably 12 or so then, she could easily have passed for 8 or 9 from the stage. I was just a kid myself, and I had no trouble accepting that she was even younger than I, although she is in fact older.

[mrsl]

Judith, believe me, 'Anna' has all my respect for what she has accomplished considering the life she has led. That seems to be a problem I have in making certain comments, I thought the bit about the sun would show that I didn't mean to be nastily critical. As for the chicken neck and talon fingers, that I would attribute to someone like Holly Hunter, starring in Saving Grace, a made for TNT channel TV show. She, like so many others is over 50 and still dressing like a 20-something, with her scrawny little body and arms like a weight lifters. When Mr. L saw a 'female' like her, he would sneer and say something like "put some clothes on that gal", she looks like one of the chickens we used to have out in the coop on the farm in Arkansas. I never said anything, but I'm glad my daughter finally realized she is the mother of a 15 year old boy, and is now dressing like it.

Okay, everybody, go ahead and get mad at me, but before you do, take a good look in your mirror tonight.

Love, love, love,
Anne

[Birdy]

Thanks for the tip on The Egg and I - I will try to get this one, sounds amusing.
I have watched all my Torchy Blane marathon recordings, finally. I didn't realize there was another Torchy besides Glenda Farrell!
B

[Garbomaniac]

I finally got to see Monsieur Verdoux! It was a GREAT film. I thought Chaplin was, oh, I can't even come up with an adjective! He was GREAT, but I repeat myself. I thought, while watching, that it was similar to Orson's Citizen Kane. Chaplin produced and directed it, starred in it, and, I think, wrote it. It was so comsuming. I never tired of watching him. I haven't really seen much of his work, so I forced myself. I just can't get over what a brilliant little film it was. I thought the casting was great, and I figured he chose them, too. I love Isoble Elsom, and Martha Raye was very effective. Even "Fred" had a small part in it. And, the real beauty of it was that he finally resigned himself to his fate. I especially related to that. After losing his family, why was life worth living? I am so glad I watched him. I will watch him again.

[mrsl]

For the heck of it, I sat down and watched last year's offering of the re-make of Journey to the Center of the Earth. One can really only ask, "Why did they bother?" The 1959 original with Pat Boone, James Mason and Arlene Dahl, was done in beautiful color and the lower world was gorgeous when they encountered the various sections of it. The story, once they got down there was basically the same except the time spent in each locale was shorter considerably. I especially loved 'Gertrude' the goose in the original, and missed that spark of comedy in the new one, Brendan Fraser had a few good lines, but often they are muffled by the noise of the background events going on. The original also had a larger cast which allowed for a longer movie as well as a slight mystery. Altogether with little need for green/blue screen stuff going on, this second go around was kind of a tame and boring 'action' movie. If I were going to recommend the story, I would definitely suggest renting the original.

Anne

[charliechaplinfan]

I finally got to see Monsieur Verdoux! It was a GREAT film. I thought Chaplin was, oh, I can't even come up with an adjective! He was GREAT, but I repeat myself. I thought, while watching, that it was similar to Orson's Citizen Kane. Chaplin produced and directed it, starred in it, and, I think, wrote it. It was so comsuming. I never tired of watching him. I haven't really seen much of his work, so I forced myself. I just can't get over what a brilliant little film it was. I thought the casting was great, and I figured he chose them, too. I love Isoble Elsom, and Martha Raye was very effective. Even "Fred" had a small part in it. And, the real beauty of it was that he finally resigned himself to his fate. I especially related to that. After losing his family, why was life worth living? I am so glad I watched him. I will watch him again.

I'm so pleased you liked Monsieur Verdoux. It's so multilayered. Some of the comedy really tickles me, like Martha Raye turning up at the wedding and Verdoux trying to duck out of sight. And on the boat, Martha Raye was inspired casting.

Madame Grosnay was meant to have been played by Edna Purviance but after a few days by mutual agreement, Edna returned to retirement.

There are not many films were the spectator ends up on the side of the murderer.