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Post by mickthecactus on Dec 26, 2021 16:54:04 GMT
One of the channels here was showing Les Girls yesterday. Not sure I’ve seen that.
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 26, 2021 16:57:25 GMT
That's because they only let you see Singin' in the Rain.
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Post by mickthecactus on Dec 29, 2021 19:04:29 GMT
Just watched Murder On The Orient Express from 1974 with Albert Finney. Absolute dross. Finney looks like Hitler with his moustache and hair plastered down and acts like him at a Nuremburg rally.
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 29, 2021 19:10:40 GMT
Some of these movies don't age as well as we would like, which is a reason that I am not against appropriate remakes.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 1, 2022 14:13:38 GMT
I love Gene Kelly but what do we have over Xmas? Today they are showing Anchors Aweigh (1945) with Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Kathryn Grayson. They all look so young, particularly Frank Sinatra who plays the naive young sailor who doesn't know how to pick up girls and needs Gene's reluctant help. (When you hear the way they talk about women, they would all be subject to arrest by 21st century standards.)
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Post by Kimby on Jan 2, 2022 6:23:06 GMT
PBS Saturday Night Cinema featured THE ARTIST, a black and white, mostly silent film about a silent film actor not making a graceful transition to talkies. www.imdb.com/title/tt1655442/Anyone else see it?
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 2, 2022 8:05:27 GMT
Well, since it won the Oscar for best film and best actor and the César in France for best film and best actor, I suspect that a few people have seen it. In any case, it was a big hit in France and was the only French film ever to win the best picture Oscar in Hollywood.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 2, 2022 10:33:22 GMT
Kimby, I should add that this does not at all make it the best film of the last decade, but if you consider exactly who votes for these awards (actors, directors, technical crew, etc.), it is not hard to understand how this sort of movie pushes every button in their soul.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 2, 2022 10:43:39 GMT
I watched 1917 this morning which is in my top ten best of all time for its visual power.
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Post by lugg on Jan 5, 2022 19:25:40 GMT
I have not yet watched 1917 but will do.
I watched a choice made by my niece and really did not expect to enjoy it as much as I did. The Gentlemen Enjoyed seeing another side to Hugh Grant.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 5, 2022 19:44:24 GMT
Today, I watched How I Live Now again and was even more impressed by Saiorse Ronan, George Mackay and Tom Holland very early in their respective careers. And Saiorse Ronan's American accent is amazing in its quality.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 5, 2022 20:48:00 GMT
Last night I watched The Electrical Life of Louis Wain. Since I had read a couple of reviews, I knew not to expect too much. As expected, Benedict Cumberbatch in the title role was outstanding, really transforming himself into the character. Claire Foy was an excellent choice as his wife, with both of them conveying a very natural sense of their attraction to each other. Another favorite actor of mine, Toby Jones, gave a great performance as the crusty but soft-hearted proprietor of The Illustrated London News. I can't unequivocally say that I did not enjoy the movie, as I went into it for entertainment. That said, it shoots itself in the foot because of the director and his entirely self-indulgent, jejune approach to the subject. For instance, the movie is pretty, something that can sometimes be enough to make me like a movie. But the prettiness too often turns syrupy or downright silly, as in a protracted and ultimately boring "psychedelic" sequence. The portrayal of Wain's mental illness was almost offensive, it was so trite, and Wain's interactions with important people in his life were sometimes abbreviated to the point that they seemed like mere excuses to give those other actors cameos. Here is the Rotten Tomatoes page on the movie, if you want to see a trailer: www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_electrical_life_of_louis_wain
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Post by casimira on Jan 5, 2022 21:00:44 GMT
Just watched Murder On The Orient Express from 1974 with Albert Finney. Absolute dross. Finney looks like Hitler with his moustache and hair plastered down and acts like him at a Nuremburg rally. I had to look up the word "dross" as I had never heard it before. So, thank you Mick for introducing me to a new word, one that I know I will use often. Apologies Bixa and Kerouac and Lugg for the threadjack.
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Post by mickthecactus on Jan 5, 2022 21:44:21 GMT
Snap!
Bixa just used the word “jejune “ which I’d never heard before, so looked it up and now I know!
Anybody else agree with my view on Albert Finney btw?
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Post by casimira on Jan 5, 2022 21:55:20 GMT
Are you referring to his role in the film you mention or his acting skills? I haven't seen the film you reference but, as an actor I find him to be immensely talented and have enjoyed many films in which he has starred in.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 5, 2022 22:48:33 GMT
It's been so long since I saw him in anything that I really can't say. What was the name of that movie where he was a person who told tall tales -- Big Fish, or something like that? I only watched a few minutes of it because it struck me as so broad & fake, which I guess was partly Finney's fault.
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Post by lugg on Jan 9, 2022 7:55:50 GMT
I have not seen Finney in anything for ages either Mick. I watched 1917 this morning which is in my top ten best of all time for its visual power. Absolutely agree, finally watched it last night. So powerful. I had to close my eyes several times as just too painful -it is a long time since a film has moved me so much.
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Post by lugg on Jan 15, 2022 17:52:08 GMT
Ive watched a couple of Sci-Fi films this last week - Dont Look Up - ok but too long and Annihilation which I really enjoyed to my surprise.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 23, 2022 21:25:04 GMT
I watched Sibyl again tonight, Gaspard Ulliel's last theatrical movie. It was being shown as an homage, replacing the scheduled movie. It is as odd as ever, but I liked it when I saw it, unlike many other people. But the amazing Belgian actress Virginie Efira is once again the person to watch.
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Post by whatagain on Jan 24, 2022 9:32:17 GMT
I watched Van Helsing. Not really new, it dates from 2004 and has several sequels but it was fun to watch. No need to have been to university to catch the plot.
Dracula was well played imo.
Special effects pleased me.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 30, 2022 20:29:35 GMT
Watched The Social Network again on Arte tonight. So amazing to see how just a few people fucked up the world for some and created an artificial paradise for others.
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Post by whatagain on Feb 4, 2022 4:52:46 GMT
We saw alibi.com, a typical ftench comedy. We laughed a lot.
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Post by casimira on Feb 5, 2022 17:58:36 GMT
Watched The Social Network again on Arte tonight. So amazing to see how just a few people fucked up the world for some and created an artificial paradise for others. I haven't seen this film as of yet but it's on my list. Last night I watched a movie (on Netflix) The Lost Daughter.It stars Olivia Coleman, one of my favorite actresses. Her role as an "empty nester" who takes a holiday on one of the Greek Isles (Hydra I believe) and the twists and turns she experiences is riveting and truly accents Coleman's talent and versatility` (Ed Harris and Dakota Johnson join the cast as well ).
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 5, 2022 18:07:31 GMT
It's funny -- the idea of these small European escapes seems to be such a Europeam theme. The people in mourning or with a sense of abandonment always seem to go to Greece or Italy, which are places that are apparently good for the soul. Have not seen that movie, but I'm sure it is interesting, if only for the scenery.
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Post by Kimby on Feb 6, 2022 15:33:47 GMT
Sanibel has a film screening series of less well-known art films including many foreign films. The DVDs are donated to the public library after the screenings, and DVD cases with a yellow dot on the spine are ones from the “BIG ARTS” film series. (BIG ARTS = B.I.G. Arts, short for Barrier Island Group, and besides films, they host art exhibits, live musical performances, speakers, etc.)
Many of the films that have been languishing “on our list” for many years we find when we look for those yellow dots. The latest two are SITA SINGS THE BLUES, a retelling of the Ramayana love story in animation with four overlapping tellings of the age old romance: the traditional version, a commentary by modern voices questioning some aspects of the story, another version of animation with a blues singer crooning songs that seem to tell the same story, and a modern couple )a third animation style) who are separated by modern events, but following a similar storyline as the Ramayana.
The film we are watching now (it’s long so we took an intermission) is called BALZAC AND THE LITTLE CHINESE SEAMSTRESS. This one is more typical filmmaking, with live actors, and is set in a gorgeous part of China. Two young men have been relocated to a re-education camp where they are forced to do manual labor and are separated from the cultural creative aspects of their former bourgeois lives. They both become enamored of a bright but uneducated young lady who is the grand-daughter of the village tailor. They decide to educate her by reading to her from some stolen foreign books, including Balzac. They also rearrange these stories into appropriately revolutionary tales (on the surface) for oral telling to spellbound villagers who are unaware that they are the ones being re-educated. The head honcho becomes suspicious, but he needs these young men to help him with a painful tooth (one is the son of a dentist, so of course he can do dentistry!). With the help of their seamstress friend, they rig up a slow and painful drill using a treadle sewing machine and spinning wheel parts, and have a grand old time drilling in their nemesis’s sore jaw and pouring in melted tin for a filling.
Both good films, but I’m liking Balzac better.
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 6, 2022 15:45:46 GMT
Yes, Balzac was a wonderful movie.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 6, 2022 16:19:23 GMT
SITA SINGS THE BLUES, a retelling of the Ramayana love story in animation with four overlapping tellings of the age old romance: the traditional version, a commentary by modern voices questioning some aspects of the story, another version of animation with a blues singer crooning songs that seem to tell the same story, and a modern couple )a third animation style) who are separated by modern events, but following a similar storyline as the Ramayana. Kimby, I am tickled that you saw this wonderful & infinitely clever film & love your explanation of its structure. For all those who think they can't lay their hands on this gem, rejoice: anyportinastorm.proboards.com/thread/3988
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Post by rikita on Feb 6, 2022 18:24:31 GMT
Lately watched a few movies on Netflix because they are about to disappear from there - so I watched Heidi (the 2015 version - actually watched it twice, once just me, once with Agnes and a few other kids while sitting in a snowed in house in Switzerland - and actually Agnes' and my bedroom was right under the roof and called the hayloft - fun was trying to understand the parts in Swiss German ...), and Wonder, and Joker.
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 6, 2022 18:30:49 GMT
I saw Chaos Walking which was never released in France in spite of the popularity of Tom Holland, Daisy Ridley and Mads Mikkelson. But it received horrible reviews and the source material is completely unknown in France. So it was probably a wise decision for the distributors to give it a miss. It ook about 4 years to make with shoots, rewrites, reshoots, changed directors and covid, so it was certainly doomed. A yet Rotten Tomatoes shows that spectators liked it as much as the critics hated it.
There are a lot of things wrong with this movie, but I liked it too, particularly because of the horrible premise of being in a world where everybody's most private thoughts can be heard by everybody else in the area. The movie (and I'm sure the book) avoids the obvious sex thoughts -- that's one aspect that makes it totally unrealistic, but since it was a teen novel, they just can't go there. There were also plenty of other plot holes, but once I accepted the original premise, I did my best to ramp up my suspension-of-disbelief metre. I found the ending too abrupt, but that is probably because they originally hoped for a sequel.
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 6, 2022 18:32:46 GMT
The Heidi movie looks very cute. This may surprise some people, but I like cute movies, too.
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