Last Movie You Watched

[aligreto]

Beautiful Creatures....





Fanciful but entertaining with great performances from Jeremy Irons and particularly Emma Thompson.

[Karl Henning]

I've been on a bit of a "truncated James Bond" binge . . . after watching the entirety of Tomorrow Never Dies, I've watched the first hour of each of Octopussy and Living Daylights.  (I will, though, finish the Dalton . . . .)

At last, too, I watched Sanjuro, whose soundtrack takes some . . . curious turns.

[Jaakko Keskinen]

Jonathan Pryce is hilariously over the top in Tomorrow Never Dies. I may have mentioned it more than once but the portrayal is just good enough to mention several times. 

[Karl Henning]

Jonathan Pryce is hilariously over the top in Tomorrow Never Dies. I may have mentioned it more than once but the portrayal is just good enough to mention several times. 

Yes, but never hectoring.

[Ken B]

The Hundred Foot Journey

Cute but overlong and overpredictable.

[aligreto]

The Hundred Foot Journey

Cute but overlong and overpredictable.

An entertaining watch though.

[Karl Henning]

Jonathan Pryce is hilariously over the top in Tomorrow Never Dies. I may have mentioned it more than once but the portrayal is just good enough to mention several times. 

Ebert was a treasure, he was:

There is also the obligatory Talking Killer scene, in which the madman explains his plans when he should simply be killing Bond as quickly as possible ....

[Jaakko Keskinen]

I think my favorite part has to be Carver's mocking imitation of Wai Lin's martial art moves. "Pathetic!"

[aligreto]

The Lady Vanishes

[Karl Henning]

In this interval I've watched:

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.  Some time ago, I watched (at last) A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More.  I then stalled, which was not an artistic remark but simply the desire for a change of pace/tone.  So now I have returned to the final instalment of the "trilogy," and it really is the best of an excellent lot.

8½.  Sublime.  Why, even the 50-minute documentary about the discarded original ending (original? Or was the director was sorting it all out on the fly?) is sublime.  I can see this one becoming a slow-burn obsession with me.

Never Say Never Again.  This may and may not be my favorite Connery turn in the rôle.  The first two or three times I saw this (at first in the cinema, afterwards on the TV) I allowed myself the willing subconscious amnesia of not noting that this film "misses" (a) the gun barrel opening, (b) the iconic musical signatures (!), and the Big Theme Song Opening Credits.  I might argue that the fact that I did not miss these things is a merit on the part of the production.  (Or, maybe I am a poor Bond fan.)  It has been (was?) something of a running joke that hardly any actor played Felix Leiter twice (and it is only in the Craig era that one of the two actors who have played twice, did so with the same Bond);  so it may have been an additional jest that, while the opening maguffin is, the question of whether Bond is too old for the job, Felix seems scarcely to have aged a day.  I admit I enjoy how they remade M into a Wodehousian frivolity;  and Rowan Atkinson's character, Small Fawcett, is a coy inversion of the hamfisted Fleming trope (Pussy Galore, Plenty O'Toole).

[SimonNZ]

The Lady Vanishes

interesting. How was it? Does it still have the whistling thing?

[Bogey]

I absolutely loved the plot on this one from 1956.  You can find it on Amazon Prime, but beware that the condition of the film is pretty poor.  I picked up the dvd, and I read that it is probably the same copy.  Both Burr and Landsbury are excellent in this one.  He plays a lawyer (Perry Mason began a year later), but Landsbury's role was a bit more surprising.





Black Angel from '46.  Enjoyed the few twists and the ending did not disappoint.  Lorre in a supporting role and Dan Duryea is always fun to catch in crime/noirs.

[aligreto]

interesting. How was it? Does it still have the whistling thing?

Typical old school "murder on a train" type fare but enjoyable enough viewing.
I do not understand the whistling reference so you will have to enlighten me 

[Cato]

Yesterday was KING KONG day, released 85 years ago yesterday (according to one source).

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

[Karl Henning]

Typical old school "murder on a train" type fare but enjoyable enough viewing.
I do not understand the whistling reference so you will have to enlighten me 

Ah, that means an element which got cut from the Hitchcock . . . you'll just have to watch the original  0:)


FWIW, fan though I am of the Coen Bros. (and much as I enjoy their remake of True Grit) I cannot bring myself to watch their Ladykillers . . . .

[aligreto]

Ah, that means an element which got cut from the Hitchcock . . . you'll just have to watch the original  0:)


FWIW, fan though I am of the Coen Bros. (and much as I enjoy their remake of True Grit) I cannot bring myself to watch their Ladykillers . . . .

Cheers Karl. Although I was aware that this was a remake I have not seen the original version.

BTW no remake could ever surpass the original Ladykillers 

[SimonNZ]

Yup, what Karl said about the Hitchcock original, If it doesn't have that silly plot device I'll be pleased.

fwiw I thought the Coen Ladykillers was way better than I expected it to be.

[Karl Henning]

fwiw I thought the Coen Ladykillers was way better than I expected it to be.

There are quite a few remakes that I do like (including remakes which raise a few eyebrows here).  I could not put my finger on just why I am glacially slow to give this one an airing.

[SimonNZ]

There are quite a few remakes that I do like (including remakes which raise a few eyebrows here).  I could not put my finger on just why I am glacially slow to give this one an airing.

I also took longer than I ordinarily would to see it. Can't remember exactly why now, but suspect maybe the original trailers and other advertising misrepresented the film in some ill-conceived way. I think they made it seem all about Hanks' mannerisms.

[Ken B]

There are quite a few remakes that I do like (including remakes which raise a few eyebrows here).  I could not put my finger on just why I am glacially slow to give this one an airing.

All mammals avoid pain.