What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

Sunday night in a hotel room, not much to do but watch T.V. until bedtime, and one of the cable stations was showing a Star Wars marathon, so I watched that for a while. I had forgotten just how cringe-invokingly bad some of the dialog is. Even though most of the lines in Return of the Jedi were etched on my 11-year-old brain to the point that I could almost predict them word for word, I still couldn't sit through the scene where Luke tells Leia that she's his sister. Where are the little robot silhouettes in the corner when you need them?
I did finally see The Force Awakens. It was fine, I guess.

LizzieMaine said:

The idea that politically-outspoken performers are some kind of recent development is way off base. The performers of the Era ran the gamut, and weren't hesitant about expressing their views in public, from the very far left (Charles Chaplin, Paul Robeson, Edward G. Robinson) to the very far right (Ginger Rogers, Barbara Stanwyck, Adolphe Menjou.) Some of my favorite performers were, in fact, bats**t crazy when it came to politics -- the delightful Eugene Pallette ran away from Hollywood to hide in a survivalist compound up in the hills surrounded by guns. But I love to see him on the screen just the same.

It always makes me happy to discover that a performer I enjoy stands on the same side of the line that I do, and I admit to a bit of disappointment when I discover that someone whose work I like was a Red-baiter or a name-namer. But it's not a dealbreaker when it comes to performers of the Era, nor it is it for me with performers of today. When you go to a show, all you have any right to expect from any performer is a good performance. I don't see a show-biz personality as being any less qualified to express an opinion than Joe McBlowhard from down the block venting his spleen on the internet.

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Of course the biggest difference is that the mainstream media pays no attention to Joe McB down the block but for some strange reason they give coverage and credence to the actor's and clown's of the day when they opine on the important issues of the day. Never quite figured that aspect out.

Pretty much the same reason any American with a lot of money is given credence -- they can buy it. We have a strange habit in this country of assuming that a person's ability to hire a publicity agent somehow lends weight to any statement they might care to make. It's the same reason the media is full of the vapid and vacuous pronouncements of internet billionaires, delusional real-estate hucksters, and self-promoting "visionaries" who are as far removed from the real world as the most evanescent Hollywood star.

An excellent movie exploration of this topic is "A Face In The Crowd." A great picture, even though I think Elia Kazan was, personally, a schmuck. Doesn't make it any less of a great picture though.

Edward said:

I read the book a few months before I caught the film. The book, inevitably, is much better. It's less a satire on Hitler, more about how Germany has moved on. Mostly in the positive, but also there's an element of satire on how cynical pop culture has become and the nature of 'celebrity'. I found it very clever. Also interesting to read when you bear in mind that Timur Vermes, the author, is both German and the son of a Hungarian immigrant father, who fled the invasion of Hungary in 1956. Thus Vermes combines his consideration of what it is to be German with an element of the 'outsider within' experience of the children of immigrants, to great effect. The fact that Hitler ultimately comes across as a buffoon, left behind or at best laughed at because ther Germans and Germany have moved on is a key narrative point.

I found it a brave book - and, arguably, given the much great populism of film as a medium, a braver film, symptomatic, perhpa,s of a Germany confident in its sense of identity and perhaps finally free to satirise and deal with its own history like any other nation, without the pious expectation of others that it must forever self-flagellate.

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I guess I shall have to read the book, I often do a followup like that for controversial subjects featured in film.
You are probably aware that the Italians made an almost identical version though featuring Mussolini.

LizzieMaine said:

The idea that politically-outspoken performers are some kind of recent development is way off base. The performers of the Era ran the gamut, and weren't hesitant about expressing their views in public, from the very far left (Charles Chaplin, Paul Robeson, Edward G. Robinson) to the very far right (Ginger Rogers, Barbara Stanwyck, Adolphe Menjou.) Some of my favorite performers were, in fact, bats**t crazy when it came to politics -- the delightful Eugene Pallette ran away from Hollywood to hide in a survivalist compound up in the hills surrounded by guns. But I love to see him on the screen just the same.

It always makes me happy to discover that a performer I enjoy stands on the same side of the line that I do, and I admit to a bit of disappointment when I discover that someone whose work I like was a Red-baiter or a name-namer. But it's not a dealbreaker when it comes to performers of the Era, nor it is it for me with performers of today. When you go to a show, all you have any right to expect from any performer is a good performance. I don't see a show-biz personality as being any less qualified to express an opinion than Joe McBlowhard from down the block venting his spleen on the internet.

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Well said.

rocketeer said:

I guess I shall have to read the book, I often do a followup like that for controversial subjects featured in film.
You are probably aware that the Italians made an almost identical version though featuring Mussolini.

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Oh, no - I didn't know that. Did it come later or...? I'd be interested to see that. Mussolini is often overlooked due to Hitler, evne if he was only a little less dangerous, largely due to what seem to have been smaller ambitions.

Yesterday was cold and rainy so after my ranch chores were done for the day I settled in with my Secret Santa project and watched Laura (1944) and Peeping Tom (1960). Both excellent movies with plot twists that I can get behind!
Laura kept my attention so thoroughly throughout that at one point I forgot I was crocheting and just held my project still in my hands for a good half hour. I also had some serious hair envy going on; Dana Andrews is absolutely lovely.
Peeping Tom had the sort of creepy subject matter that I cling to every time I see it. Mark is a straight up creep, even if not by his own doing. Antagonistic main characters are a favorite of mine, especially when there is heavy internal conflict!

Fanny said:

The other day I watched The 39 Steps. I like Hitchcock a lot, but this one wasn't my favorite. Maybe I was just distracted by my crochet project, but it seemed kind of boring and anticlimactic.

Also recently, The Uninvited, a story about a brother and sister who move into an old house and spooky things start happening. I enjoyed this one quite a bit even though the plot twist was very predictable and I saw it coming.....

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I, too, recently watched "The 39 Steps." Like you, I'm a Hitchcock fan, but see this as one of his middling efforts. That said, since I've seen it before, my expectations were set low and I enjoyed it. Also, since it was '35, Hitchcock was still becoming Hitchcock. And I was impressed with Madeleine Carroll and wondered why she didn't have more of a career.

I love "The Uninvited." I agree the plot twist isn't that surprising (maybe it was more so then, don't know), but for me, the movie is more about atmosphere and characters (and architecture - I love the house they bought and "The Commander's" house).

rocketeer said:

Look Who's Back
OK so this one is a year or so old. Anyone see it? One of those satirical looks at life but this time it is Adolf Hitler who comes back by waking up at his old wartime bunker but he still thinks it is 1945. After he is befriended by a newspaper seller he realises it is 2014, then introduced to a TV reporter he realises Germany still needs him but everybody thinks he is an actor.
A funny film made with scripted scenes but also interaction with the German public, reminds me of a sort of 'Borat' in places but even though there are English subtitles I didn't quite get it except where Hitler was ranting about 'Make Germans Proud to be German again' came across a little to near what was being said pre war.
Funny in parts, but I am not into German satire so didn't get some of it.
Anyone else got any views?

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I reviewed this one some time ago. I loved it. The premise was fun and they ran with it well. I did get a case of the "willeys" though towards the end. When Uncle Adolph first appears he's in a plaza and folks are taking pictures of him (mostly tourists) and they're laughing it up. Later on when he starts talking in earnest to REAL people who're not too pleased with the current state of affairs in Germany vis a vis immigration... chit get's a bit too real if you ask me. I've seen this film before... God help the world if Germany ever goes down that road again!

Worf

Sorry I've been slacking lately... Had to have a tooth removed. Found out yesterday the gums infecticated... I'm on antibiotics with an occasional swish of brandy (I don't drink). Oooh... ahm dyin!

"The Irishman" - As many have said, a "decent" film but no masterpiece. Way too long and I'm not much for the idea of sympathetic killers for hire but hey... Scorcese can make what he wants, when he wants... he's earned it. I really didn't think it lived up to the hype.

"A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood" - Unlike Lizzie I did NOT grow up watching Mr. Rogers. I was too busy consuming daily doses of mayhem with The Three Stooges and Warner Bros. cartoons. However my son and his mum watched it religiously. She was in tears.. It was a decent (man I'm using that phrase a LOT) film but it really didn't rock my world as I've no emotional connection to the man. I did tear up a couple of times. All my friends said "watch the documentary" which I will do soon.

"Knives Out" - Of the three films I've seen recently I enjoyed this one the most. I'm not a big mystery man but this one had me riveted. Man I love an old fashioned "who dunnit" where the sleuth is smart and the villains vile! I had a rollicking good time. Gotta love dem geezer matinees!

Worf

Edward said:

Oh, no - I didn't know that. Did it come later or...? I'd be interested to see that. Mussolini is often overlooked due to Hitler, evne if he was only a little less dangerous, largely due to what seem to have been smaller ambitions.

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I was reading a write up on 'Look Who's Back' and the Italian version was mentioned in that, can't remember where though sorry. The German version came first.
I'm not sure about this but I think there is still a bit of a cult of Mussolini in Italy, Sicily t least. I went on a horse and coach ride around the city or Palermo, the driver pointing out all the places Mussolini was associated with, especially the huge post office building.
Reading a book about the local Mafia and WWll landings in Sicily, Mussolini had all but destroyed the Mafia's power in Sicily but the US had some American Sicilians with influence (Luciano?) persuade the locals to help out on the island making the landings possible, giving the local Mafia another foothold in the island.

Bachelor Mother from 1939 with Ginger Rogers, David Niven and Charles Coburn

Here's the story they told: a single woman (Rogers) who was just let go from a department store sees a baby left on the doorstep of a foundling charity and is mistaken by the charity for its mother. The charity reaches out to the department store whose young, playboy heir (Niven) hires her back at a higher wage believing this will allow her to keep her baby. From here, it's a standard screwball-ish comedy where Niven's father (Coburn) becomes convinced his son is the baby's father and he wants his son to man-up and, even more, he just wants a grandkid. Rogers and Niven parry back and forth with great chemistry - while both also deny they are falling in love with the baby (and each other) - until the inevitable conclusion.

Okay, it's a pretty good movie despite all the silliness because the actors have the talent to carry the script past its nonsensical parts. Rogers shines. She was great with Astaire, but didn't need him. In Bachelor Mother, she and Niven imbue it with enough gravitas to keep you engaged. But here's the story they wanted to tell: A playboy heir of a department store knocks-up one of the store's cute salesclerks. He denies he's the father but guilt has him give the salesclerk a raise while his father figures it all out and wants his son to do the right thing by the salesclerk (by the standards of that day). And he also wants his grandkid. Unfortunately, it's another serious movie forced into screwball-land owing to the movie production code. It still works; it just could have been so much better if not mangled by the code.

N.B., The time travel in this movie is good overall with several visits to a department store standing out - the toys, the management (much harsher than today's surface-nice management approach) and the openly mocked return department are a wonderful window into stores of that era. It's a consistent view with the department store in 1949's A Holiday Affair.

Last night was Snowpiercer. After a chemical is released that freezes the earth and kills off all life, the remainder of the human race all live inside one train with an eternal engine. The train mimics the real-life class structure with the status of the passengers' tickets determining their place on the train. The financer and engineer of the train up front as the "head" and the cheapest/charity tickets at the rear as the "feet". The movie leads you through the third revolt of the train 18 years after its departure. I quite enjoyed this movie. It had a good mix of action, slow scenes, and even conveniently placed splashes of comedic relief. Throw in a great ax battle scene reminiscent of Gangs of New York and a plot twist that was apparent but I still didn't see and you've got a great movie. There are scenes where characters are each talking in their own languages and we didn't have subtitles so I did miss some probably important bits of conversation, but they seemed non essential to get what was going on.

Last night (or more like early this morning) was at the midnight screening at Hoyts Broadway of The Rise of Skywalker. No spoilers, will only say that it answers all the questions raised by the previous two films in the trilogy and wraps the saga up very nicely. Even the mega-critics known as 'fans' were raving about it afterwards, saying it was the best of the three new films. Loved it.

Fanny, I also really like Snowpiercer. It's one of my favorite flicks of recent years.

But not so much as an action movie (not really a favorite genre), as for its very clever metaphor of position in the train equaling societal social class. It takes that idea and really runs with it.

Sure, the story is TOTALLY unbelievable (even with its magical perpetual motion Engine, without crews actively maintaining the tracks in the icy wastes, the train could never keep circumnavigating), but between its political commentary, outstanding production design, and ace cast - Chris Evans, Ed Harris, John Hurt, Tilda Swinton, Octavia Spencer, Jamie Bell, etc. (*) - it's a fascinating and thought-provoking ride. Bong Joon-ho is a very talented filmmaker.

(* And Alison Pill in a one-scene-wonder role - the schoolteacher: "If the Engine stops... WE ALL FREEZE AND DIE!")

Just got home from a 10 O'clock showing of "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker." No spoilers from me, but in a word - intense!

Bushman said:

Just got home from a 10 O'clock showing of "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker." No spoilers from me, but in a word - intense!

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Wait, not "faster" and "more intense"? George Lucas will be disappointed.

Joyeux Noel from 2015 staring Diane Kruger and Benno Furmann

Based on the true story of the 1914 Christmas truce that spontaneously broke out along various parts of the Western Front, Joyeux Noel soars at showing the humanity that pushed through the hardened lines, top-down-orders, battle-inspired emotions and strict rules of war to allow combatants to jointly share some Christmas merriment in the least merry place on earth then - WWI's no-man's land.

To be sure, there's some oversimplification - early scenes showing each country teaching its little children to hate - passionately hate - every single person from the other country unfairly presents the complex feelings and relationships that then existed between the two countries highlighted (England and Germany). The goal seemed to be to show that even men taught to hate and hardened by war have enough innate humanity to "love thy neighbor" if they can just get to know "thy neighbor."

Fair enough - movies have limited timespans and their own agendas, but very few things are black and white. Yes, war is horrible; yes, maybe we'd have fewer of them if only those who had to fight voted for war (although, our volunteer armed forces today challenge that view) and, yes, the destruction of lives and property are a monumentally insane tragedy.

But none of that has stopped countries from invading / blockading / boycotting / sanctioning other countries and doing all the other things that lead to war. And when those things happen to your country, what is the right response? World War II was horrible on a scale never before seen - and I'm sure the majority of allied and axis men fighting would have gotten along fine if introduced in a social situation - but none of that was going to stop Hitler or the Empire of Japan from waging war.

So, yes, as done so well in Joyeux Noel, seeing a German soldier carrying a small Christmas tree into no man's land to start the truce is poignant / seeing men who had been trying to kill each other hours ago pray together, play soccer together and share food and drink with each other is touching and moving, but smugly thinking there's an answer to be found in that spontaneous bonhomie denies the realities of history.

Joyeux Noel shines at the personal - a soldier's joy of finding his lost wallet with his wife's picture, a hawkish minister and his ambivalent soldier son arguing about the morality of the Christmas truce or a French lieutenant letting German soldiers he just befriended shelter in his trench while his own army's artillery shells the German trenches - and it's well worth watching for those moments. But, as always, the bigger questions of war and humanity that have challenged the great philosophers and the common man forever don't fit easily into a two-hour movie.

N.B. I have no idea if there's any truth behind the story of Diane Kruger's character - Anna Sörensen - negotiating a pass for herself to come to the front, and, then, sing Ave Maria during the truce, but even if completely made up, kudos to director Christian Carion for creating a moment where it appears an angel from above descended to bring joy, hope and beauty to the crucible of war.

Miracle on 34th Street - the original in black and white. Watched it while thumbing through some photo albums to pick out some old pics to take to Christmas dinner. I found a version that was in the original black and white, which made me realize how much rarer this version has become as most channels seem to air the colorized version almost exclusively these days.

Kicked off the Christmas movie season with the our traditional favorite, Elf. Then, about a week later, Miracle on 34th Street. Even though we have it practically memorized, we still watch it with delight.

Completely disconnected from Christmas movies, watched The Asphalt Jungle, recorded off TCM.