Last Movie You Watched

[Karl Henning]

I forgot there even was a remake!

The best thing to be said about the remake, perhaps, is that they probably paid Michael Keaton and Gary Oldman well.

[DavidW]

I have never seen it (Jaws 4) but by all accounts it is terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built and it is terrific --Michael Caine

[VonStupp]

I forgot there even was a remake!

And two sequels... The third at least brought back Poledouris' theme.
VS

[Karl Henning]

I have never seen it (Jaws 4) but by all accounts it is terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built and it is terrific --Michael Caine

Classic Caine!

[Cato]

Great character actors in this one: Earl Holliman, Strother Martin, Dennis Hopper, John Doucette, George Kennedy, et al.

"She blamed Texas for taking her sons. Texas is a woman, she used to say, a big, wild, beautiful woman. You raise a kid to where he's got some size, and there's Texas whispering in his ear and smiling, saying, "Come and have some fun!."

"We want you to become rich and respectable, so you're going back to college!"

"I don't want to be rich and respectable: I want to be like you!"

[Cato]

Double Feature tonight!  John Wayne Westerns!



Stagecoach, 1939, directed by John Ford.

This movie moved John Wayne out of small studios and "B-movies."

In 1930, he had made an epic 70mm movie called The Big Trail, directed by Raoul Walsh.

Unfortunately, the Depression prevented theaters from investing in the new 70mm technology, and the more expensive tickets in the few theaters able to show the movie kept people away.  The failure of the movie sent John Wayne back to the minors, so to speak.

A similar fate happened to a 65mm movie around the same time with Jean Arthur and Robert Armstrong called Danger Lights, which featured an amazing locomotive tug-of-war.

The Big Trail is available on a restored Blu-Ray, as is Stagecoach.  Danger Lights is only available in a 35mm version, so far unrestored.

[Karl Henning]

One of the best movies in our collection:


The Spitfire Grill

A young woman hit by tragedies throughout her childhood and into early adulthood tries to find a new life in a small town in Maine.

It has one of the finest speeches you will hear in any movie: delivered by Will Patton toward the end.


Music by James Horner, with help from Gustav Mahler's Second and Third Symphonies!





Highly recommended!

To the Library catalogue I go!

TD: last night, Star Wars (1977)  I don't say it's a great movie, especially with Lucas's irrelevant "improvements," but it's still good fun, and if it is not concert music, Jn Williams' score is a  notable asset. He was a professional, so I am unsurprised, but I always marvel at Sir Alec Guinness' dignified delivery of some of the most banal lines of his career.

[Cato]

To the Library catalogue I go!

TD: last night, Star Wars (1977)  I don't say it's a great movie, especially with Lucas's irrelevant "improvements," but it's still good fun, and if it is not concert music, Jn Williams' score is a  notable asset. He was a professional, so I am unsurprised, but I always marvel at Sir Alec Guinness' dignified delivery of some of the most banal lines of his career.

You remind me of an interview with Richard Basehart, when in later middle age he was offered a TV show called Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, which was something less than a classic.

During the off-season he performed in the theater, and was in a production of a Shakespeare play (I think it was King Lear).

The interviewer said that Shakespeare must be very hard to do, after something so simple like Voyage.

Richard Basehart said that the reporter had it backwards:

"No, Shakespeare is easy because the lines are there!"

[LKB]

So the most recent film I've been semi-introduced to ( via a reaction video ) was 1987's Amazon Women on the Moon. Fortunately, my favorite bit has been uploaded:

https://youtu.be/-sTD9gFOcP8?si=dbmLf8TgCvKO_MSJ

[Karl Henning]

Richard Basehart said that the reporter had it backwards:

"No, Shakespeare is easy because the lines are there!"

Indeed. Hence, Lucas's sophomoric platitudes spoken in reverse grammar by a muppet is much more of a piece. And thus, TD:
last night, The Empire Strikes Back, in which Sir Alec Guinness and the muppet gravely discuss the trials of bringing up Luke. I was caught up so in simply enjoying the movie, that only afterwards did I wonder, is this the movie of the original trilogy with which Lucas fiddled the least? Not at all, even? ... @Brian ...?

[NumberSix]

Great character actors in this one: Earl Holliman, Strother Martin, Dennis Hopper, John Doucette, George Kennedy, et al.

"She blamed Texas for taking her sons. Texas is a woman, she used to say, a big, wild, beautiful woman. You raise a kid to where he's got some size, and there's Texas whispering in his ear and smiling, saying, "Come and have some fun!."

"We want you to become rich and respectable, so you're going back to college!"

"I don't want to be rich and respectable: I want to be like you!"

Interesting note: In 1971's "Doc", Holliday's girlfriend — played by Faye Dunaway - is named Kate Elder.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Slow and unfocused, imho. Not for me. Plus Timberblake is a little annoying.

[Karl Henning]

The Empire Strikes Back

... and now, of course, The Return of the Jedi. I retain fond memories of seeing all three movies of the original trilogy in the cinema. Still, I remember that the final instalment had more things that made me cringe, than either of the first two, Nevertheless, I'm in it to enjoy it this evening.

[Karl Henning]

... and now, of course, The Return of the Jedi. I retain fond memories of seeing all three movies of the original trilogy in the cinema. Still, I remember that the final instalment had more things that made me cringe, than either of the first two, Nevertheless, I'm in it to enjoy it this evening.

The shade of Obi-Wan, offers Luke, instead of a frank admission that the statement that Luke's father had been killed was false, a weaselly "from a certain point of view" rationalization. So Lucas tarnishes Obi-Wan's character, rather than admit his (Lucas's) shortcomings as a writer.
And Luke proves correct in his refusal to kill his father, and Obi-Wan's shade is mistaken and unbecomingly fatalistic in suggesting, "then the Emperor has already won."

[Karl Henning]

The shade of Obi-Wan, offers Luke, instead of a frank admission that the statement that Luke's father had been killed was false, a weaselly "from a certain point of view" rationalization. So Lucas tarnishes Obi-Wan's character, rather than admit his (Lucas's) shortcomings as a writer.
And Luke proves correct in his refusal to kill his father, and Obi-Wan's shade is mistaken and unbecomingly fatalistic in suggesting, "then the Emperor has already won."

All that said, I found Luke's reconciliation with Anakin more affecting this evening than earlier. 

[NumberSix]

Pleasantville

Never get tired of this one. More relevant today than 25 years ago.

[Ganondorf]

The shade of Obi-Wan, offers Luke, instead of a frank admission that the statement that Luke's father had been killed was false, a weaselly "from a certain point of view" rationalization. So Lucas tarnishes Obi-Wan's character, rather than admit his (Lucas's) shortcomings as a writer.
And Luke proves correct in his refusal to kill his father, and Obi-Wan's shade is mistaken and unbecomingly fatalistic in suggesting, "then the Emperor has already won."

Yeah, Obi-Wan was definitely full of shit with his certain point of view crap. Prequels (which I don't in any way like) show other aspects of Jedi's shortcomings such as taking children away from their parents and using child soldiers. As said, I don't like the prequels but that at least is consistent with obi wan's moral failings. I think Christopher Lee's character left the Jedi specifically because he grew tired of the corruption of the Jedi.

Kreia from Star Wars Knights of the old republic 2 is one of the expanded universe's most brilliant characters and she shows with her sharp logic how Jedi were certainly not the goody Two-shoes in a way some people seem to think they are. She also shows the Sith's potential for being good.

[relm1]

The shade of Obi-Wan, offers Luke, instead of a frank admission that the statement that Luke's father had been killed was false, a weaselly "from a certain point of view" rationalization. So Lucas tarnishes Obi-Wan's character, rather than admit his (Lucas's) shortcomings as a writer.
And Luke proves correct in his refusal to kill his father, and Obi-Wan's shade is mistaken and unbecomingly fatalistic in suggesting, "then the Emperor has already won."

You might enjoy the Obi-Wan tv series.  It acts as a great prequel to SW and sort of fixes this issue (I found it satisfactory).  Also helps establish how he becomes the weird Ben Kenobi isolationist.

[DavidW]

The shade of Obi-Wan, offers Luke, instead of a frank admission that the statement that Luke's father had been killed was false, a weaselly "from a certain point of view" rationalization. So Lucas tarnishes Obi-Wan's character, rather than admit his (Lucas's) shortcomings as a writer.
And Luke proves correct in his refusal to kill his father, and Obi-Wan's shade is mistaken and unbecomingly fatalistic in suggesting, "then the Emperor has already won."

This kind of overthinking is done when you put movies with talking muppets and robots on a pedestal!  Lucas meant to recapture his childhood fun of watching serials on the big screen.  He didn't intend to have every single decision and line of dialog examined under a microscope.

[Karl Henning]

This kind of overthinking is done when you put movies with talking muppets and robots on a pedestal!  Lucas meant to recapture his childhood fun of watching serials on the big screen.  He didn't intend to have every single decision and line of dialog examined under a microscope.

"Why is a raven like a writing desk?"

This is one of those "both things can be true" deals. The idea could be to have fun, and the writing could be better.

As to the microscope, there's a kind of tradition of looking arguably too closely at "kid stuff."
When Lewis Carroll wrote that raven riddle, I'm prepared to think it was just good-naturedly absurdist, yet we've had people theorizing actual solutions. The only one which I recall offhand being: the notes for which they are noted are not noted for being musical notes.