Last Movie You Watched

[VonStupp]

Christmas With the Kranks (2004)
Tim Allen, Jamie Lee Curtis, Dan Aykroyd

Based on the novel by John Grisham, Skipping Christmas.

I know there are a slew of movies where characters compete and fight over Christmas, although I haven't seen them. This one isn't cynical, foul, obscene, or mean spirited, at a time when it is increasingly difficult to find family-friendly fare we haven't seen, even at the holidays.

A host of fun character actors litter this movie, although I wouldn't call this great cinema in any stretch of the phrase. VS

[aligreto]

Enduring Love:





The opening scene depicts a group of men attempting to rescue a child trapped in a runaway hot air balloon and one of them dies in the process. The film portrays the mental and emotional anguish of one of those men and a subsequent situation which develops between this man and another one of the would-be rescuers. Craig does well in this one.

[Todd]

Red Notice.  Three of the biggest movie stars today together in a straight to streaming action flick.  Dwayne Johnson cracks wise, Ryan Reynolds cracks wiser, and Gal Gadot looks gorgeous while kicking ass.  There's a story about stealing some magic eggs from the time of Cleopatra - or something, plot is not important - and the whole thing ends in a way allowing for as many sequels as fans may or may not want.  The movie looks awful, for the most part, as it was clearly shot mostly in a studio with everything CGId in later.  (Some of the outdoor light shots have miscalibrated color temperatures, but whatcha gonna do?)  A not terrible, not great way to kill some time.

[SonicMan46]

Last few nights, two more DVD replacements w/ Amazon HD streamers (first two below):

Adam's Rib (1949) w/ Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Judy Holliday, and others in the short synopsis below; one of the best of their nine films made together; married lawyers on screen in this production, unmarried couple off-screen for nearly three decades until Tracy's death in 1967 - Holliday wonderful in one of her early pictures until her untimely death from cancer at age 43 years.  A 'must see' if fans of these two together - ranked at the top their performances HERE.

Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939) w/ Robert Donat and Greer Garson - summary below (much more at link); Donat won the 'Best Actor' Oscar.  There was a musical remake in 1969 starring Peter O'Toole as Chips and Petula Clark who wisely handled the singing numbers; I've seen this remake only once and remember enjoying (possibly another rental?) - but for those interested, an excellent review by Ebert HERE.  Dave

Adam's Rib is a 1949 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by George Cukor from a screenplay written by Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin. Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn star as married lawyers who come to oppose each other in court. Judy Holliday co-stars as the third lead in her second credited movie role. Also featured are Tom Ewell, David Wayne, and Jean Hagen. The music was composed by Miklós Rózsa, and song "Farewell, Amanda" was written by Cole Porter. The film is considered a classic romantic comedy. It was nominated for both AFI's 100 Movies and Passions lists, and ranked at #22 on the AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughslist. (Source)

Goodbye, Mr. Chips is a 1939 romantic drama starring Robert Donat, Greer Garson and directed by Sam Wood. Based on the 1934 novella Goodbye, Mr. Chips by James Hilton, the film is about Mr Chipping, a beloved aged school teacher of a boarding school, who recalls his career and his personal life over the decades. The film was dedicated to Irving Thalberg, who had died on 14 September 1936, and was nominated for seven awards, including Best Picture; Donat won the award for Best Actor. At the time of its release, the picture appeared on Film Daily's and the National Board of Review's ten best lists for 1939, and received the "best picture" distinction in the Hollywood Reporter Preview Poll of May 1939. (Source)

   

[Karl Henning]

Well a couple more DVD replacements w/ HD Amazon purchases, one another classic Christmas film and the other a long time favorite:

Christmas in Connecticut (1945) w/ Barbara Stanwyck, Dennis Morgan, Sydney Greenstreet (from Maltese Falcon fame), and S.Z. Sakall (a.k.a. 'Cuddles' - love him in whatever movie!); short summary below (more at the link) - a screwball holiday comedy - Stanwyck great in a comedic role - recommended!

People Will Talk (1951) w/ Cary Grant, Jeanne Crain and the supporting cast listed in the short synopsis below - I've enjoyed this film for decades and Jeanne Crain is absolutely scrumptious in this role; Finlay Currie also outstanding - check the link - highly recommended.  Dave

 

Hey, Dave! I recently re-watched People Will Talk, myself. Love it!

[SonicMan46]

Hey, Dave! I recently re-watched People Will Talk, myself. Love it!

Hi Karl - same here and probably watch at least once a year - the Shunderson story in the hearing near the end is just a HOOT!  Susan was even chuckling, a rarity for her in an old B&W film!    Dave

[VonStupp]

People Will Talk (1951) w/ Cary Grant, Jeanne Crain and the supporting cast listed in the short synopsis below - I've enjoyed this film for decades and Jeanne Crain is absolutely scrumptious in this role; Finlay Currie also outstanding - check the link - highly recommended.  Dave

Reading the synopsis after Karl's post, I immediately latched on to Cary Grant's character name: Doctor Pretorius. Does anybody remember Bride of Frankenstein (1935)?!?   

VS 

[Karl Henning]

Reading the synopsis after Karl's post, I immediately latched on to Cary Grant's character name: Doctor Pretorius. Does anybody remember Bride of Frankenstein (1935)?!?   

VS 

Don't believe I've ever watched it!

[VonStupp]

Don't believe I've ever watched it!

It's a doozy, for sure. Dr. Pretorius is an extremely odd character too.

VS

[SonicMan46]

Don't believe I've ever watched it!

Hi VS - assume that you mean the film w/ Boris Karloff & Elsa Lanchester (wife of Charles Laughton) in the pic below from 1935 - saw as a kid on TV a long time ago - but never bought into owning those early 'horror' films w/ Karloff and Lugosi.  Below from IMDB about the Praetorius name - now was that done intentionally?  Don't know but Shunderson's story as a potential waking cadaver by Grant as a medical student 'fits in' -    Dave

Cary Grant's character has the same last name as Ernest Thesiger's character in Bride of Frankenstein; both are Dr. Praetorius. (IMDB)

P.S. I went to the U of Michigan Medical School and 4 of us 'freshman' med students worked on one cadaver, a lady who was quite embalmed and certainly did not have the appearance of the beautiful young girl lying face down as a potential dissection at the start of the film - 

[Iota]

doozy

Whenever I see that word, for some reason I have to remind myself it's not pejorative. It seems so precariously close to 'dozy'. I'm aware this would only apply for non-native cultural slowcoaches such as I ...

(Can't think how glad you must be I shared that ..  )

[VonStupp]

Hi VS - assume that you mean the film w/ Boris Karloff & Elsa Lanchester (wife of Charles Laughton) in the pic below from 1935 - saw as a kid on TV a long time ago - but never bought into owning those early 'horror' films w/ Karloff and Lugosi.  Below from IMDB about the Praetorius name - now was that done intentionally?  Don't know but Shunderson's story as a potential waking cadaver by Grant as a medical student 'fits in' -    Dave

P.S. I went to the U of Michigan Medical School and 4 of us 'freshman' med students worked on one cadaver, a lady who was quite embalmed and certainly did not have the appearance of the beautiful young girl lying face down as a potential dissection at the start of the film - 

That's the one. While the original Frankenstein is actually sombre and quite sad, its sequel rides the line of hilarity and the bizarre, peaking with Dr. Septimus Pretorius and his 'experiments'. I only happened to see it as a double feature with the original.

Interesting story...I consider myself as one with a solid constitution, but I don't think I could do cadavers (and the processes that go with it). God bless medical professionals who do it day in and day out.

VS

[Karl Henning]

Whenever I see that word, for some reason I have to remind myself it's not pejorative. It seems so precariously close to 'dozy'. I'm aware this would only apply for non-native cultural slowcoaches such as I ...

(Can't think how glad you must be I shared that ..  )

Thanks for sharing

[VonStupp]

Whenever I see that word, for some reason I have to remind myself it's not pejorative. It seems so precariously close to 'dozy'. I'm aware this would only apply for non-native cultural slowcoaches such as I ...

(Can't think how glad you must be I shared that ..  )

I started using the term doozy again after seeing the movie Tucker and Dale vs. Evil. Backwoods yokels who, after innocently dealing with hilarious amounts of accidental deaths at their hands, utter 'We have had a doozy of a day'. It never fails to leave my wife in stitches, and neither of us much care for horror movies.

Share away with alacrity! If not here...

[Iota]

Thanks for sharing

I started using the term doozy again after seeing the movie Tucker and Dale vs. Evil. Backwoods yokels who, after innocently dealing with hilarious amounts of accidental deaths at their hands, utter 'We have had a doozy of a day', and it never fails to leave my wife in stitches.

Share away with alacrity! If not here...

Hehe, thanks, guys.

That does sound quite funny, VS!

[VonStupp]

Hehe, thanks, guys.

That does sound quite funny, VS!

I guess doozy must be a US colloquialism? If it helps, I don't think I have ever heard the term slowcoach before. 

VS

[LKB]

If memory serves, " slowcoach "  pops up in The Lord of the Rings while the hobbits are in Bree. This would suggest an English or, possibly, South African provenance as J.R.R. Tolkien was born in the latter.

In any event, this slowcoach is going back to bed, four hours of sleep just isn't enough...

[Iota]

'Slowcoach' was quite common when I was young. If I was dawdling/holding them up, 'Come on, slowcoach!' would be a familiar call from parents/siblings. It's possibly less common now, though am not sure.

[VonStupp]

'Slowcoach' was quite common when I was young. If I was dawdling/holding them up, 'Come on, slowcoach!' would be a familiar call from parents/siblings. It's possibly less common now, though am not sure.

In the US, I think it would be common to call someone a 'slowpoke'; maybe I can turn some heads by using slowcoach instead.

VS

[Karl Henning]

In the US, I think it would be common to call someone a 'slowpoke'; maybe I can turn some heads by using slowcoach instead.

VS

That's true. I'd forgotten slowpoke.