Last Movie You Watched

[Cato]

My wife will occasionally salute ala Sgt. Bilko. She thinks it is hilarious!
VS

The movie worries a little too much about plot: if it had dropped those worries, you would have had something akin to the comic chaos of a Marx Brothers epic, one fast, jam-in-as-many-jokes-as-possible movie!

Two of the stars are now deceased: Glenne Headley and Phil Hartman.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Dial of Destiny II: The Search for Antonio Banderas.

The Puss-in-Boots movies contain some of Antonio's best work!

Those animated movies are very clever and a lot of fun to watch [The fact that there's a cat in there... well, it doesn't hurt.    ].

[brewski]

Yesterday, Beach Birds for Camera (1993, dir. Elliot Caplan), one of the most beautiful dance films I've ever seen. The choreography is by Merce Cunningham, with music by John Cage (Four3).

From the Merce Cunningham Trust:
 
Cunningham said of his choreography for "Beach Birds", "It is all based on individual physical phrasing. The dancers don't have to be exactly together. They can dance like a flock of birds, when they suddenly take off." A work for eleven dancers, the rhythm for "Beach Birds" was much more fluid than other Cunningham dances, so that the sections could differ in length from performance to performance. John Cage composed the music, and painter Marsha Skinner provided the costumes and décor. The dancers were dressed identically in all white leotards and tights, with black gloves. Skinner's backcloth was a white scrim on which the light varied in color and intensity, decided by a lighting plot that was devised using chance methods. While the timings did not relate to the dance structure, the gradual changes of light have been interpreted to imitate those that might occur from dawn to dusk on a beach. "Beach Birds" was adapted for film and called "Beach Birds for Camera."

You can see an excerpt—almost half of the film—here.

-Bruce

[Karl Henning]

I was thinking of watching The Last Temptation of Christ tonight, but I'm just home from church  and it's too late for so substantial a movie.

[Karl Henning]

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Since I do not dislike Crystal Skull and indeed like quite a bit of it, let me say that I like the last movie even better. In fact, I'm very pleasantly surprised at how good a job they made of it. They had me wondering for a bit if they really would leave Indy back with Archimedes, and that question was settled in a completely satisfactory manner. Mads Mikkelsen made an excellent Nazi villain. And I saw Antonio Banderas' name in the credits, but I'm not sure I know which character he played, which of course is the best compliment one can pay an actor.

The five-part making-of featurette suite is a delight, too.

[relm1]

Last night I saw "Come and See" a very disturbing Soviet movie from 1985.  The film is as old to us today as the end of World War 2 was to when the film was released, and you can see the emotions were still very raw.  It's a bit of a child's perspective of World War 2 (or at least 15 year old boy) who gives a tremendous and very disturbing performance in what must have been a terribly difficult film shoot.  The film is on youtube with English subtitles for those who want to go into a very dark place and see a film I think is very influential on war films after.  Platoon (1986) and All Quiet on the Western Front (2019), for example, tell a similar story.  There is almost no score except for tense synth ambience and a few emotionally/visually dissonant moments of famous Germanic music like Wagner and Mozart.

Early in the film:

Later:



I think you have a good sense of the intensity and misery of the film from these images.  It goes to dark and disturbing places. 

[SimonNZ]

[hopefullytrusting]

Been on an action-adventure kick, lately. Awaiting this sets arrival: The Librarian Trilogy



I've only seen the first, and recall it being so much fun. I'm very excited to see the other two (might pick up the tv series, if I like the other two as much as the first, as well).

[Cato]

One of our favorites, with one of the most haunting endings of any story:



Jean Arthur was somewhat older than her co-stars: 8 years older than Van Heflin, 13 years older than Alan Ladd.  And at age 53, she looked very good!


She got her start in silent movies: I first saw her in a movie about railroads, an early sound movie, which was filmed in an experimental 65mm widescreen format, called Danger Lights, starring the great Robert Armstrong.

Unfortunately, no 65mm print survived the decades.  The film did not do well, as the Depression hit right around the time of its release, and theaters were chary of investing in a wide screen for a new technology.

[Karl Henning]

The Last Temptation of Christ. I'd forgotten that David Bowie and Harry Dean Stanton were in the cast.

[Karl Henning]

The Passion of the Christ.

[Cato]

The Passion of the Christ.

I have only seen excerpts, but it seems most impressive.

Supposedly a Resurrection movie is due next year.


Today, I found something from high-school days: a "silent movie short" lasting 17 minutes from 1965.  It has music and sound effects, but no dialogue.

Skaterdater, filmed with real skateboarders of the 1960's, who are now - difficult to say! - septuagenarians!

As am I!

Here the entire film, restored:

[hopefullytrusting]

In the background right now, plays The Pelican Brief (a great title, by the way), after which I'm going to try and watch again Trick, a gay romcom I've not seen in sometime -  I recall it being sweet, but I suspect today I'll find it mainly melancholy, as I've just crossed a certain age threshold ...

[SimonNZ]

[Karl Henning]

It's this one:

Watching this now.

[DavidW]

Watching this now.

You've squashed my pea!

[Karl Henning]

You've squashed my pea!

Hah! Having a medium as a plot element is intriguing. 

[Cato]

Hah! Having a medium as a plot element is intriguing.

I would say, having a medium as a plot element is TIGHT! 

[DavidW]

I would say, having a medium as a plot element is TIGHT! 

Ha!  I got the reference!



I've been known to sneak that "super easy..." line into my lectures when a student asks just the right question...

[DavidW]

The Royal Hotel.  An uncomfortable movie based upon a real story.  Two foreigners ran out of money, needed work, ended up as bartenders in a seedy town in the Australian outback surrounded by misogynists. They are sexually harrassed, stalked, assaulted until they reach a breaking point.  This is not a thriller (despite Hulu saying that), it is a drama played realistically.  But as a slow burn, I found it compelling.  Obviously not for everyone.