Last Movie You Watched

[Belle]

"The Last Angry Man", 1959, Paul Muni, David Wayne, directed by Daniel Mann, cinematography James Wong Howe.  A beautiful film, fabulously acted by Muni and wonderfully directed.  Thoroughly recommended:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MV3x1VsBLU

[Roasted Swan]

I recently saw a meme which said that growing up watching The Sound of Music and Cabaret had led the person to believe the rise of fascism would have more show tunes.

"Springtime for Hitler & Germany"

Pure Genius

[Madiel]

Newsies



A semi-musical story about the 1899 newspaper boy strike in New York. Starring a rather young Christian Bale.

It's not a great movie, but it's bad in interesting ways. I think the real issue is that it's released in 1992 but feels like it comes from the 1950 or 60s. It has the tone of Mary Poppins. Everything is rather cheesy (including the thick New York accents) and the performances tend to be highly theatrical (though only Robert Duvall is genuinely bad). In some ways I've not surprised that it found some later success as an actual musical because the film doesn't feel much like a film.

The director, Kenny Ortega, was a choreographer and this definitely shows. He's directed a few more since.

[Belle]

"Springtime for Hitler & Germany"

Pure Genius

I've never found this funny or particularly original.  See Lubitsch's "To Be or Not To Be" from 1943.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5sHOpniXqI

[Brian]

I've never found this funny or particularly original.  See Lubitsch's "To Be or Not To Be" from 1943.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5sHOpniXqI

I don't see why one needs to choose. I watched To Be Or Not To Be last week but The Producers has been (since childhood) one of my favorite movies.

[Belle]

Yes, and fair enough.  Each to his own;  I was just expressing my own response;  I've never found Brooks funny.  My preferred Jewish comedian is Woody Allen.  He's a cerebral comic.

[71 dB]

Recent J-Horror by Takashi Shimizu: Sana ミンナのウタ (2023) and Sana: Let Me Hear あのコはだぁれ？(2024). I had high expectations, but I was mildly disappointed. Hard to say why exactly, but at least the soundtrack of these movies felt strange. The levels of different elements were odd so that the volume felt too loud and quiet at the same time. Despite of this I welcome all J-Horror and these are 4-/5 to my liking.

 

[71 dB]

The Producers has been (since childhood) one of my favorite movies.

I have never seen this, but I ordered the Blu-ray a few days ago because I am interested to see it.

[Belle]

"The Innocents", 1961, Jack Clayton; starring Deborah Kerr with cinematography by Freddie Francis.  I watched it last night and adored the glorious restoration, except that there's no celluloid grain in the images and I find that disappointing.  I love black and white, especially in Cinemascope (letterbox) and it's absolutely perfect for this film.

Truman Capote wrote the screenplay and did the complete treatment from a play, taken from the novella by Henry James, "The Turn of the Screw".  I wasn't at all frightened by the film but the very ending is shocking for modern audiences today!!  Never a fan of Kerr, I think she did well enough.  The real stars are the director, writer (who had a big hand in the production design) and cinematographer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxTR3G5ioi8

The camera needed for Cinemascope for 20th Century Fox used 35mm anamorphic lenses;  this means the images are wider and, this film, highly choreographed, gliding elegantly through the film.  It took me back to my youth when I attended a picture theatre with widescreen and sat there mesmerized by the movements of the camera and the grain of the film - as cultural artefact.

From Wiki:

Lens manufacturer Panavision was initially founded in late 1953 as a manufacturer of anamorphic lens adapters for movie projectors screening CinemaScope films, capitalizing on the success of the new anamorphic format and filling in the gap created by Bausch and Lomb's inability to mass-produce the needed adapters for movie theaters fast enough. Looking to expand beyond projector lenses, Panavision founder Robert Gottschalk soon improved upon the anamorphic camera lenses by creating a new lens set that included dual rotating anamorphic elements which were interlocked with the lens focus gearing. This innovation allowed the Panavision lenses to keep the plane of focus at a constant anamorphic ratio of 2x, thus avoiding the horizontally-overstretched mumps effect that afflicted many CinemaScope films. After screening a demo reel comparing the two systems, many U.S. studios adopted the Panavision anamorphic lenses. The Panavision technique was also considered more attractive to the industry because it was more affordable than CinemaScope and was not owned or licensed-out by a rival studio. Confusingly, some studios, particularly MGM, continued to use the CinemaScope credit even though they had switched to Panavision lenses. Virtually all MGM CinemaScope films after 1958 are actually in Panavision.

[Karl Henning]

The Producers has been (since childhood) one of my favorite movies.

Gene Wilder and Zero Mostel verging on Screwball.

[Belle]

"The Tall Men", 1955, Raoul Walsh director, starring Clark Gable, Cameron Mitchell, Robert Ryan, Jane Russell.  Beautifully restored Cinemascope in Technicolor.  A rip-roaring yarn and, in typical Walsh fashion, full of wonderful action (and no CGI!!).  What a job putting all that together it was for this terrific director!  Jane Russell is weak and annoying in the part (Anne Baxter would have been much better), but Gable in in top form.  Highly recommended.  This is a long film, at just over 2 hours.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nas8Y1IW_Tk

[AnotherSpin]

Beautiful film about grace. Not earned. Not deserved. It simply happened, because the seeker at last stopped running. What is left is lightness, at last. Sorrentino has finally grown quiet.

[LKB]

Gene Wilder and Zero Mostel verging on Screwball.

I actually saw it in the theater, though I was too young to " get it ". ( The first time one of the Nazi uniforms appeared, I decided it must be a war movie and was waiting for a GI to open fire, like they did in Combat! on TV. )

[VonStupp]

I've never found this funny or particularly original.  See Lubitsch's "To Be or Not To Be" from 1943.

I am guessing you don't care for Mel Brooks' 80s remake of To Be then.

I enjoy The Producers well enough, but haven't quite brought myself to watch the 2005 remake nor the Broadway iteration, despite my coworkers loving those versions.
VS

[Belle]

I've never found Mel Brooks funny, no matter how hard I try, yet I love Jewish humour going back to Sid Caesar.  Brooks is too obvious, not subtle and neurotic like Woody Allen - whom I hugely prefer

[Iota]

I've never found Mel Brooks funny, no matter how hard I try, yet I love Jewish humour going back to Sid Caesar.  Brooks is too obvious, not subtle and neurotic like Woody Allen - whom I hugely prefer

I agree completely with virtually everything you say. The only thing of Brooks' I do enjoy, and I enjoy it very much, is the 'Springtime for Hitler' song from The Producers.

[Karl Henning]

I am guessing you don't care for Mel Brooks' 80s remake of To Be then.

He's world-famous in Poland.

I enjoy The Producers well enough, but haven't quite brought myself to watch the 2005 remake nor the Broadway iteration, despite my coworkers loving those versions.
VS

Nor me. I like the of-its-era qualities of the original.

[Karl Henning]

Mel Brooks, either you're on the trip with him, or not.
TD: The three Rush Hour movies with my wife (she was in the mood) and mom-in-law. Jackie Chan was 53 when he made the third. Man, I wish I had that energy. 

[Bachthoven]

[Madiel]

If it's the Swedish one, I agree with the assessment.