Last Movie You Watched

[Cato]

Deadpool & Wolverine.  This is the first Marvel movie I've watched since Deadpool 2.  I've burned out on superhero movies in general, but this series benefits from self-awareness, fourth wall breaking, profanity, and gory violence.  The story is hot garbage, but the sarcastic and other jokes, the sheer vulgarity, and the violence is sufficient to make it a decent enough time waster. 

Evidently, the movie cost over $500 million to make, and garnered north of $100 million in UK tax rebates.  (How anyone can justify that type of tax rebate is beyond me.)  I sure didn't see that money in the basically all CGI output.  If I didn't know better, I'd be tempted to think that costs were artificially inflated for tax rebate purposes.

Yes, agreed! Endless booming battle scenes between characters who cannot really be hurt...what is the point?

Wicked (2024)
Ariana Grande, Cynthia Arivo
Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum


Can I say I am tired of taking classic characters and fleshing out their backstory? Can't Margaret Hamilton's Wicked Witch of The West just be an evil character? Does she need a moral quandry to guide her actions? Does Glinda the Good Witch of the North need to have been a prissy, air-headed Elle Woods-type character in her youth? Do I need moments of discovery finding pieces of Elphaba's iconic witch costume (nor do I need to know her first name)?

Sorry for the rant; it must have been building up. I know some enjoy characters being fleshed out in deeper dimensions and given motivations, but for me it takes away from what the mind's imagination is capable of all on its own. I wonder if I would have been more kindly to the stage production?

VS

Can I say that I am tired of supposed "singers," who do not really sing, but yell with vibrato?

I mentioned recently somewhere that yelling with vibrato is not singing: it is yelling with vibrato!

No, let us watch the original and marvel at it....without sequels, prequels, or (Shudder!) remakes!


Anyway...

In my opinion, the best of the Peter Sellers/Herbert Lom Pink Panther movies:

The Return of The Pink Panther from 1975.

(Catherine Schell could not keep it together, so director Blake Edwards gave up and kept her laughter in the scene.)

Later: "If you are the real Inspector Dreyfus, what is your code name?"     


Also recently...From 1949, The Secret Garden with Margaret O'Brien (c. age 12 at the time) and a host great actors e.g. Herbert Marshall, Elsa Lanchester, George Zucco, et al.

Directed by Fred Wilcox, who later directed Forbidden Planet!

e.g.

This held up very well!

[AnotherSpin]

Bugonia (2025), the latest from Yorgos Lanthimos.

I went in with quite high hopes, probably because Poor Things and The Favourite had blown me away. Well, it's certainly not an ordinary film, but it didn't quite live up to what I was expecting.

The acting is strong, the cinematography is inventive and up to his usual standard, yet somehow something was missing. It just didn't completely land for me.

[Karl Henning]

Curiosity has got the better of me: Branagh's Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. The first surprise: Ian Holm & Jn Cleese?!

[Karl Henning]

Curiosity has got the better of me: Branagh's Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. The first surprise: Ian Holm & Jn Cleese?!

Decades ago, when I researched Branagh's work, I allowed critical dismissal of this to dissuade me from watching. Whatever else, I find it impressive and I enjoy it much better than I might expect. Loved Pat Doyle's score, especially. 

[VonStupp]

Wait till you read my novella fleshing out Sauron's backstory! In other words, a bleeping hearty "Yes!"

I am guessing Sauron's anger could have been quelled with a large dose of Visine?
VS

[Karl Henning]

I am guessing Sauron's anger could have been quelled with a large dose of Visine?
VS

And probably an updated lens script.

[Karl Henning]

Decades ago, when I researched Branagh's work, I allowed critical dismissal of this to dissuade me from watching. Whatever else, I find it impressive and I enjoy it much better than I might expect. Loved Pat Doyle's score, especially.

a Hallowe'en or two ago, I finally saw the classic Frankenstein. As I digest my first viewing of the Branagh, I feel that he greatly elevated the material. I read Frank Darabont's reaction (in the Wikipedia article) and while I have great respect for Darabont's work, I get the impression that his ego was bruised; that his dissatisfaction stems logistically from the fact that he was brought on board to modify the script, not as a directorial advisor. Okay, so you think your script ought to have shot, and the film edited, otherwise. Fact is (and as a director, you would feel similarly) the script is an article which a director will treat as he sees fit.