Last Movie You Watched

[71 dB]

Running Man (1987) Blu-ray (German release)

[asin]B07QZV2RCL[/asin]

I thought this would be reasonably well done dystopia/scifi movie, but it turned out amazingly poorly directed and silly flick. One of the worst movies I have seen in a long time. How Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose acting career was peaking at the time, bothered to be involved in this mess beats me. This idiotic movie thinks people wear the same looking clothes and have same hair styles in 2017-19 than in the 80's. Even the cars look the same. What a lazy movie! But it has got 30 seconds of Jesse Ventura! 

[aligreto]

Hearts in Atlantis





A young, fatherless, eleven year old boy befriends a man who is different. The man teaches him many things but all does not necessarily end well. A very engaging film with a not unexpectedly great performance from Hopkins and wonderful performances from the boy and his young girl friend.

[steve ridgway]

Equus - well, I saw the play in the theatre in my teens but only recently discovered there was a film version with Jenny Agutter so just watched a 4.5 minute clip on the web.

[Karl Henning]

The Mel Brooks/Anne Bancroft To Be or Not to Be

[Karl Henning]

My Fair Lady

[aligreto]

The Mountain Between Us





A small plane crashes high in the snow covered mountain wilderness. The pilot is dead and one of the two passengers is injured. They are both two different personalities so their approach to things in general, and to their survival in particular, comes into conflict with each other. It was an interesting watch.

[ritter]

Serge de Polgigny's Le baron fantôme (1943):

[asin]B00DWHYVPS[/asin]
A convoluted gothic tale, made in occupied France, with dialogues by Jean Cocteau. Rather interesting in that it includes some comic touches, and has an ending which is not what you'd expect from a gothic tale like this. A bit of a mess as a film, actually, but amusing and worthwhile.

[André]

Serge de Polgigny's Le baron fantôme (1943):

[asin]B00DWHYVPS[/asin]
A convoluted gothic tale, made in occupied France, with dialogues by Jean Cocteau. Rather interesting in that it includes some comic touches, and has an ending which is not what you'd expect from a gothic tale like this. A bit of a mess as a film, actually, but amusing and worthwhile.

Thanks, Rafael ! I didn't know this film or its director. It has its own Wiki entry. Costumes were designed by Christian Dior, no less  . Coincidentally, it came out in 1942, the same year as Carné's Les Visiteurs du soir, also with Alain Cuny in the male lead role (one of the best french films pre-1950). Both films were set in the past, which allowed more scenaristic leeway - the Vichy government's censors were ultra vigilant).

I'll keep an eye on this (Le Baron fantôme). Muy interesante ! 

[ritter]

Thanks, Rafael ! I didn't know this film or its director. It has its own Wiki entry. Costumes were designed by Christian Dior, no less  . Coincidentally, it came out in 1942, the same year as Carné's Les Visiteurs du soir, also with Alain Cuny in the male lead role (one of the best french films pre-1950). Both films were set in the past, which allowed more scenaristic leeway - the Vichy government's censors were ultra vigilant).

I'll keep an eye on this (Le Baron fantôme). Muy interesante ! 

You're welcome, André! I stumbled on Le baron fantôme  when going through Cocteau's  filmography (films directed, written by,  or in any other way connected to him). I've now ordered L'éternel retour (1943, directed by Jean Delannoy), Ruy Blas (1948, Pierre Billon) and Thomas l'imposteur (1965–i.e. posthumously, but Cocteau had apparently worked on the screenplay before his death in 1963–, directed by Georges Franju). I'm having trouble locating L'aigle à deux têtes (Cocteau's 1948 filming of his own play). I have seen Michelangelo Antonioni's later version, Il mistero d'Oberwald (with Monica Vitti), which is kind of the odd man out in Antonioni's output.

With L'aigle... I think I'll have seen the complete JC filmography.

Interestingly, Pedro Almodóvar has just released—at the Venice Biennale—an English language adaptation of La voix humaine (with Tilda Swinton).

And BTW, I definitely need to watch Les visiteurs du soir. Thanks for the reminder!

[71 dB]

Saturn 3 (Stanley Donen, 1980) (German Blu-ray)

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I love this kind of scifi from this era and Stanley Donen directs this just the correct style.

Christine (John Carpenter, 1983) (German Blu-ray)

[asin]B00LIDEW5M[/asin]
Well directed movie by John Carpenter of teenagers and their problems with an evil car.

[André]

You're welcome, André! I stumbled on Le baron fantôme  when going through Cocteau's  filmography (films directed, written by,  or in any other way connected to him). I've now ordered L'éternel retour (1943, directed by Jean Delannoy), Ruy Blas (1948, Pierre Billon) and Thomas l'imposteur (1965–i.e. posthumously, but Cocteau had apparently worked on the screenplay before his death in 1963–, directed by Georges Franju). I'm having trouble locating L'aigle à deux têtes (Cocteau's 1948 filming of his own play). I have seen Michelangelo Antonioni's later version, Il mistero d'Oberwald (with Monica Vitti), which is kind of the odd man out in Antonioni's output.

With L'aigle... I think I'll have seen the complete JC filmography.

Interestingly, Pedro Almodóvar has just released—at the Venice Biennale—an English language adaptation of La voix humaine (with Tilda Swinton).

And BTW, I definitely need to watch Les visiteurs du soir. Thanks for the reminder!

You're far ahead of me. I'm not familiar with Cocteau's films - except his masterpiece, La Belle et la Bête, of course - a cult movie if ever there was one.

Antonioni was Carné's assistant for Les visiteurs du soir. A young Alain Resnais plays a small role. Script and dialogues by Jacques Prévert. High quality across the set !

A very hieratic film, far from the hubbub and high romanticism of Carné's next film, Les enfants dû paradis. You could be forgiven to think it was the work of Dreyer !

[Karl Henning]

For the second time: The Best Years of Our Lives

[milk]

A Brighter Summer Day

Definitely one of the best movies ever made.

[SonicMan46]

Susan & I have been watching a lot of TV series, PBS shows, and documentaries - BUT, a couple of films owned as BDs in the last few nights:

To Catch a Thief (1955) w/ Cary Grant & Grace Kelly; Alfred Hitchcock, director - short synopsis below - just a few classic comments, e.g. the cameo of Hitchcock on the bus next to Grant (one of the better ones, IMO) and the car chase scenes around of roads of the French Riviera - highly recommended.

The Third Man (1949) w/ Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles, and Trevor Howard - a British film noir w/ a great cast in search of the disappearing Harry Lime, played by Welles; plus a beautiful Valli - short summary below - the Vienna sewer scenes were mostly on location - also highly recommended.  Dave

To Catch a Thief is an American romantic thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock.  The film stars Cary Grant[3] as a retired cat burglar who has to save his reformed reputation by catching an imposter preying on the wealthy tourists of the French Riviera. Grace Kelly stars opposite him as his romantic interest in her final film with Hitchcock. (Source)

The Third Man is a British film noir directed by Carol Reed, written by Graham Greene, and starring Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles, and Trevor Howard. Set in postwar Vienna, the film centers on American Holly Martins (Cotten), who arrives in the city to accept a job with his friend Harry Lime (Welles), only to learn that Lime has died. Viewing his death as suspicious, Martins elects to stay in Vienna and investigate the matter.(Source)

     

[71 dB]

Die Neun Pforten (The Ninth Gate) (Roman Polanski, 1999) Liongate Blu-ray

[asin]B079VD2YTB[/asin]

Great movie! If you like Rosemary's Baby and Kubrick's Eye Wide Shut you should enjoy this. Wojciech Kilar's music works very well. This was DVD to Blu-ray upgrade, but sadly the picture quality is pretty pathetic and the improvement was quite marginal. British or Nordic releases don't even exist!

4.5/5 for the movie, 2/5 for the lame Blu-ray.

[Karl Henning]

Susan & I have been watching a lot of TV series, PBS shows, and documentaries - BUT, a couple of films owned as BDs in the last few nights:

To Catch a Thief (1955) w/ Cary Grant & Grace Kelly; Alfred Hitchcock, director - short synopsis below - just a few classic comments, e.g. the cameo of Hitchcock on the bus next to Grant (one of the better ones, IMO) and the car chase scenes around of roads of the French Riviera - highly recommended.

The Third Man (1949) w/ Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles, and Trevor Howard - a British film noir w/ a great cast in search of the disappearing Harry Lime, played by Welles; plus a beautiful Valli - short summary below - the Vienna sewer scenes were mostly on location - also highly recommended.  Dave

     

Two faves, Dave!

[Karl Henning]

And so, taking your cue: To Catch a Thief

[SonicMan46]

And so, taking your cue: To Catch a Thief

+1 Karl - enjoy!  Dave

[Karl Henning]

And then: A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy, which gets even better each viewing.

[steve ridgway]

Die Neun Pforten (The Ninth Gate) (Roman Polanski, 1999) Liongate Blu-ray

I've enjoyed it a couple of times on TV, great story.