Last Movie You Watched

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Woody Allen, Whatever Works.

[Karl Henning]

Woody Allen, Whatever Works.

Very nice! Inchworm!

[Madiel]

... Agora and Hypatia ...

That Hypatia was murdered by Christian fanatics is fact, not simply part of the myth.

That she was murdered by Christians is fact. The issue is declaring that they were fanatics and declaring that they must have murdered her because of religious fanaticism.

Given that the contemporaneous sources refer to Hypatia being well regarded by Christians, and all cite politics rather than religion as the cause of the murder, what is the point of repeatedly emphasising the religion of the murderers?

Fanaticism is fanaticism. Religion is usually just the particular excuse for it, and certainly the specific religion is no more than the excuse for it. What Islamic fundamentalists and Christian fundamentalists have in common isn't their beliefs, but their attitude towards beliefs in general.

[bhodges]

Last weekend, three movies (actually two-and-a-half) new to me:

Wait Until Dark (1967, dir. Terence Young) - Audrey Hepburn was nominated for an Oscar as a blind woman terrorized by drug dealers who invade her home. It fell a little short of its reputation, but a fun watch, anyway.

Suspense (1946, dir. Frank Tuttle) - Belita (Maria Belita Jepson-Turner) is an ice-skating star embroiled in a murder plot. Though ostensibly a noir classic, the film has some amusingly over-the-top ice-skating sequences, including a scene in which she bursts onto the rink through a large paper skull, before leaping through a ring of large, wiggly knives.

Valley of the Dolls (1967, dir. Mark Robson) - Some kind of classic (with music by André Previn, Dory Previn, and John Williams). Despite uproarious laughter, I turned it off after a half-hour, realizing that this would be the ideal movie to watch with a group of friends, a few beers, and some pizza.

--Bruce

[LKB]

Airplane! ... I discovered that the Blu-ray disc has "The Long Haul Version" with deleted scenes and various interviews. Great fun!

At work, I'm the " old fart " in a team comprised of folks who are generally under the age of thirty. When an opportunity presents itself, I'll steer one of them towards Airplane!

Once they've viewed the film and reported back with their inevitably positive reaction, I'll inform them that l now possess all rights to their first-born.

,

LKB

[Karl Henning]

At work, I'm the " old fart " in a team comprised of folks who are generally under the age of thirty. When an opportunity presents itself, I'll steer one of them towards Airplane!

Once they've viewed the film and reported back with their inevitably positive reaction, I'll inform them that l now possess all rights to their first-born.

,

LKB

Hah!

TD: last night, Murder! (1930, Hitchchock ... tangentially, another exclamation-mark title.

[71 dB]

The Exorcist (Extended Director's Cut*) (William Friedkin, 1973/*2000) Nordic Blu-ray release

The scariest movie of all time? No! Not even close! I have never considered this movie "hide behind the couch" scary, but then again I didn't see this movie in 1973 when it probably was somewhat shocking. Nowadays pretty much any horror movie is scarier than this film. This is not the scariest movie of all time. This is scary drama rather than horror. However, this is a very good movie. Friendkin's directing is really good. The music used in this movie is of high quality. Acting is good if not stellar. The pace of the movie is enjoyable compared to many newer movies. This movie has style, althou I feel the "demonic" stuff in the end gets almost silly at times (head turning around for example). I have never been a big fan of this movie, but it is a classic and it is good so the 7 euros and 29 cents I had to pay for it delivered wasn't too bad.

[Florestan]

OK, but look at it this way:  the (feeble) rationales for Communism, Nazism, and Fascism are the good of mankind or at least of Germans,  Italians, or American rednecks, while that of religion is the (supposedly) Will of God.

Are you implying that killing people for the good of humanity is a lesser evil than killing them in the name of God's will?

[Karl Henning]

The Exorcist (Extended Director's Cut*) (William Friedkin, 1973/*2000) Nordic Blu-ray release

The scariest movie of all time? No! Not even close! I have never considered this movie "hide behind the couch" scary, but then again I didn't see this movie in 1973 when it probably was somewhat shocking. Nowadays pretty much any horror movie is scarier than this film. This is not the scariest movie of all time. This is scary drama rather than horror. However, this is a very good movie. Friendkin's directing is really good. The music used in this movie is of high quality. Acting is good if not stellar. The pace of the movie is enjoyable compared to many newer movies. This movie has style, althou I feel the "demonic" stuff in the end gets almost silly at times (head turning around for example). I have never been a big fan of this movie, but it is a classic and it is good so the 7 euros and 29 cents I had to pay for it delivered wasn't too bad.

It's very good, indeed. My sister saw it in the cinema when it opened, it waas certainly the scariest thing she had seen to date. It's also a movie which has aged well.

[Ganondorf]

Still the best Star Wars movie ever and one of the greatest films ever made. Here's a fun story: my family member once saw me watching The Empire Strikes Back and he saw Chewbacca and asked: "Is this Planet of the Apes?" 

[Fëanor]

Are you implying that killing people for the good of humanity is a lesser evil than killing them in the name of God's will?

Perhaps ... if it really were for the good of humanity.

[bhodges]

It's very good, indeed. My sister saw it in the cinema when it opened, it was certainly the scariest thing she had seen to date. It's also a movie which has aged well.

It's a fun movie, but I never found it all that scary -- more fascinating and claustrophobic than anything else. I first saw it with a college pal -- a devout Catholic -- who was terribly upset by the desecration of certain symbols, and he didn't like the levitation, either.

All that said, it's undeniably a classic.

--Bruce

[Karl Henning]

It's a fun movie, but I never found it all that scary -- more fascinating and claustrophobic than anything else.
--Bruce

Perhaps if I had seen it back when, I should have found it scarier. Is it splitting hairs to say I find it disturbing? Not now, upon more viewings, to be sure, but it rather creeped me out the first time.

TD: At long last—A Midwinter's Tale (1996, dir. Branagh)
And Mary! Hitchcock's German 1931 reshoot of:

Murder! (1930, Hitchchock ... tangentially, another exclamation-mark title.

[Karl Henning]

And, another movie I haven't seen since the year of its release: Somewhere in Time. Directed by Jeannot Szwarc, screenplay by Richard Matheson. Christopher Reeve, Jane Seymour and Christopher Plummer.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

The Reader.

[VonStupp]

And, another movie I haven't seen since the year of its release: Somewhere in Time. Directed by Jeannot Szwarc, screenplay by Richard Matheson. Christopher Reeve, Jane Seymour and Christopher Plummer.

And a giant commercial for the Grand Hotel in Mackinac Island, Michigan. We go up there every few years and it is quite beautiful, with no motor traffic allowed. Of course, they will screen the movie for you and you can stay in the Jane Seymour Suite. If I recall John Barry did well by this movie too.

[Karl Henning]

And, another movie I haven't seen since the year of its release: Somewhere in Time. Directed by Jeannot Szwarc, screenplay by Richard Matheson. Christopher Reeve, Jane Seymour and Christopher Plummer.

Thoroughly charming.

[Karl Henning]

And a giant commercial for the Grand Hotel in Mackinac Island, Michigan. We go up there every few years and it is quite beautiful, with no motor traffic allowed. Of course, they will screen the movie for you and you can stay in the Jane Seymour Suite. If I recall John Barry did well by this movie too.

What I learnt last night: Szwarc wondered aloud whom they should get for the score. (They were on a very slender budget) Seymour suggested Barry. Szwarc said they'd never be able to afford him. Seymour said, "he's a friend of mine, let me ask him." Barry (as was most everyone involved) was immediately charmed by the project.

[ritter]

Prompted by comments by Papy Oli and André in the "Funniest Movies" thread, watched Les Tontons flingueurs last night:


Great fun, even if some of this cult film's legendary lines are not easy to understand for the non-native French speaker (or even for the native speaker, I presume  ).

Surprising to find a reference to Reynaldo Hahn when Antoine, the pretentious, musique concrète composer boyfriend of Fernand's "niece" talks about his father: "Un père...Adolphe Amédée témoigne en matière d'art de perversion assez voisine des vôtres, défenseur de Puvis de Chavannes et Reynaldo Hahn..." 

[Papy Oli]

Prompted by comments by Papy Oli and André in the "Funniest Movies" thread, watched Les Tontons flingueurs last night:


Great fun, even if some of this cult film's legendary lines are not easy to understand for the non-native French speaker (or even for the native speaker, I presume  ).

Surprising to find a reference to Reynaldo Hahn when Antoine, the pretentious, musique concrète composer boyfriend of Fernand's "niece" talks about his father: "Un père...Adolphe Amédée témoigne en matière d'art de perversion assez voisine des vôtres, défenseur de Puvis de Chavannes et Reynaldo Hahn..." 

Ah excellent, Rafael ! That Hahn reference passed me by completely as the name was still unknown to me on my last viewing. Here's my excuse for another umpteenth viewing in the near future