Last Movie You Watched

[Draško]

Have you read the Sturgatskys' Roadside Picnic? I finally got around to it recently and now think its my new favorite first contact sf.

Don't think I have. That's the novel that Tarkovsky's Stalker was loosely based on. I've seen Stalker. I've read something by Strugatskys but can't quite remember what, was long time ago.



This one was savaged by the critics, I think it's watchable. The problem is that it has quite preposterous soapy story played quietly and measured, masquerading as drama. But it's well paced and has more than decent cast which makes it passable.

[Karl Henning]

Movies are creepier with a harpsichordist.

I've always found them so.

[André]

Based on Maxim Gorky's play, this Criterion double set offers totally different visions by 2 giants of the silver screen.

[listener]

another from the Shaw Brothers
THE CHINATOWN KID  1977    directed by Chang Cheh
with Alexander Fu Sheng, Sun Chien, and the ripped Lo Meng
some establishing shots are definitely local, but generally it's a Hong Kong production - right hand steering and left side of the road for car chases give that away.  Starts in Taiwan, moves to Hong Kong then San Francisco without a lot of notice.   Multilingual jokes - Cantonese/Mandarin/English may add to hilarity.

[Daverz]

https://www.youtube.com/v/h08szD0wfbo

[Karl Henning]

https://www.youtube.com/v/h08szD0wfbo

Said to be the director's favorite among his own films.

[James]

The Last Laugh
1924 ‧ Drama ‧ 1h 41m

Proud of his position, responsibilities and uniform, a hotel doorman is shocked to find out that he has been demoted to washroom attendant., humiliated, the old man struggles to carry on with his life.

[asin]B075P5XHQB[/asin]

[Jaakko Keskinen]

Said to be the director's favorite among his own films.

That and Rear Window, IIRC.

[Draško]

I'm not a horror fan but some of the gialli from 60s and 70s are really gorgeous.

[André]

The Last Laugh
1924 ‧ Drama ‧ 1h 41m

Proud of his position, responsibilities and uniform, a hotel doorman is shocked to find out that he has been demoted to washroom attendant., humiliated, the old man struggles to carry on with his life.

[asin]B075P5XHQB[/asin]

A moving, powerful film. Emil Jannings is at his best despite some underlining of the pathos.

[listener]

a light double bill. two films with composers in my database

LA CRIME DE M. LANGE    score by Jean Wiener, songs by Joseph Kosma
THE CONSTANT HUSBAND    score by Malcom Arnold

[Karl Henning]

Tangential to the topic, strictly speaking:

Orson Welles died before finishing his final film. It will debut this weekend after years of legal battles.

[Omicron9]

Wow.  Thank you, Karl.  And thank you, Netflix.

-09

[lisa needs braces]

Honestly, I miss the days of Blockbuster. Something has been lost with digital streaming services: Renting movies and having to commit to them.  And running into other movie lovers, etc. I worked at a Blockbuster in the last years while the business was still viable. In 2006 I moved to a new neighborhood in my region and was glad that I was now close to a Hollywood Video. They got replaced by a mattress store a year later. 

[NikF]

Honestly, I miss the days of Blockbuster. Something has been lost with digital streaming services: Renting movies and having to commit to them.  And running into other movie lovers, etc. I worked at a Blockbuster in the last years while the business was still viable. In 2006 I moved to a new neighborhood in my region and was glad that I was now close to a Hollywood Video. They got replaced by a mattress store a year later. 

Yeah, I miss going in to specifically rent something cool like  -



- but then also seeing something that you think must be a terrible, terrible thing -



- and renting it too anyway.

[Madiel]

Honestly, I miss the days of Blockbuster. Something has been lost with digital streaming services: Renting movies and having to commit to them.  And running into other movie lovers, etc. I worked at a Blockbuster in the last years while the business was still viable. In 2006 I moved to a new neighborhood in my region and was glad that I was now close to a Hollywood Video. They got replaced by a mattress store a year later. 

This is fundamentally why I still buy my music on CD wherever possible. And for movies and TV shows I care enough to want to keep, purchase DVDs.

I'm a bit less fussy about renting, but I understand where you're coming from. After I lost a good store nearby, and wasn't set up for streaming, a friend pointed out that the local library system had a quite extensive DVD collection.

[North Star]

Honestly, I miss the days of Blockbuster. Something has been lost with digital streaming services: Renting movies and having to commit to them.  And running into other movie lovers, etc. I worked at a Blockbuster in the last years while the business was still viable. In 2006 I moved to a new neighborhood in my region and was glad that I was now close to a Hollywood Video. They got replaced by a mattress store a year later. 

Ha, one of the two big movie rental companies in Finland was actually just this week in the news since it's closing. The other one is still surviving, though not present in every big city, mostly thanks to selling snacks - the other company was killed by the warm summer and its reliance on candy sales - everyone bought ice cream instead. I didn't even know either of them had survived this long before I saw the news..

[SonicMan46]

Honestly, I miss the days of Blockbuster. Something has been lost with digital streaming services: Renting movies and having to commit to them.  And running into other movie lovers, etc. I worked at a Blockbuster in the last years while the business was still viable. In 2006 I moved to a new neighborhood in my region and was glad that I was now close to a Hollywood Video. They got replaced by a mattress store a year later. 

When our son was at home (several decades now), we rented often from Blockbuster (just a 5 min drive from our house) - started w/ VHS tapes (and went through a number of those cheap tape rewinders), the onto DVDs - the place closed a few years ago - seemed like a 'way of life' back then.  We do have a number of those Redbox rental units close by (Walgreens & Harris Teeters) and often pass a brick & mortar renter name FamilyVideo but never stop - streaming or purchase have become are new 'way of life'.  Dave

[SonicMan46]

For Orson Welles fans, Criterion will release their blu-ray version of The Magnificent Ambersons in November - I have the film on a CD-R (burned from TCM), so will be purchasing the BD when a sale comes up (Criterion or Barnes & Noble) - of course, this was a controversial film regarding its directorship and final editing, but remains a favorite Welles movie for me - more details below for those interested (Source).  Dave

The Magnificent Ambersons is a 1942 American period drama, the second feature film produced and directed by Orson Welles. Welles adapted Booth Tarkington's Pulitzer Prize–winning 1918 novel, about the declining fortunes of a wealthy Midwestern family and the social changes brought by the automobile age. The film stars Joseph Cotten, Dolores Costello, Anne Baxter, Tim Holt, Agnes Moorehead and Ray Collins, with Welles providing the narration.

Welles lost control of the editing of The Magnificent Ambersons to RKO, and the final version released to audiences differed significantly from his rough cut of the film. More than an hour of footage was cut by the studio, which also shot and substituted a happier ending. Although Welles's extensive notes for how he wished the film to be cut have survived, the excised footage was destroyed. Composer Bernard Herrmann insisted his credit be removed when, like the film itself, his score was heavily edited by the studio.

Even in the released version, The Magnificent Ambersons is often regarded as among the best U.S. films ever made, a distinction it shares with Welles's first film, Citizen Kane. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and it was added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 1991.

 

[Karl Henning]

For Orson Welles fans, Criterion will release their blu-ray version of The Magnificent Ambersons in November - I have the film on a CD-R (burned from TCM), so will be purchasing the BD when a sale comes up (Criterion or Barnes & Noble) - of course, this was a controversial film regarding its directorship and final editing, but remains a favorite Welles movie for me - more details below for those interested (Source).  Dave

 

A bit of news dangerous for me . . . I've never seen it, and the Blu-ray will be a temptation.  A sore temptation.