Last Movie You Watched

[NumberSix]

Re Mogambo:

I am strongly of the opinion that Grace Kelly is the most beautiful woman ever ever come out of Hollywood. However, in this one movie I have to say that Clark Gable is an idiot for chasing her when he has Ava Gardner right there. Ava's earthy raw sexuality is so powerful here. It makes Grace Kelly's character look like a useless milksop.

[Karl Henning]

Wm Friedkin's commentary upon the extended director's cut of The Exorcist. Which is really only a few minutes longer than the theatrical release.

[SonicMan46]

The Devil's Disciple (1959) - our 'revolutionary' film for the July 4th celebration (usually watch 1776 but were sated on that film, only for the moment) - Olivier as 'Gentleman Johnny' Burgoyne just before the battle of Saratoga - check the link for more of the plot.

China Seas (1935) - cast below; story at link - Gable & Harlow made 6 films together (from 1932-1937, the last Saratoga released posthumously - Harlow died in 1936 at 26 years of age); according to the IMDB ratings, Red Dust (7.2/10) and China Seas (6.9/10) are at the top.  Dave

The Devil's Disciple is a 1959 British-American film adaptation of the 1897 George Bernard Shaw play The Devil's Disciple. The Anglo-American film was directed by Guy Hamilton, who replaced Alexander Mackendrick, and starred Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas and Laurence Olivier. Mary Grant designed the film's costumes. (Source)

China Seas is a 1935 American adventure film starring Clark Gable as a brave sea captain, Jean Harlow as his brassy paramour, and Wallace Beery as a suspect character. The oceangoing epic also features Rosalind Russell, Lewis Stone, Akim Tamiroff, and Hattie McDaniel, while humorist Robert Benchley portrays a character reeling drunk. The lavish MGM epic was written by James Kevin McGuinness and Jules Furthman from the 1930 book by Crosbie Garstin, and directed by Tay Garnett. This is one of only four sound films with Beery in which he did not receive top billing. (Source)

 

[NumberSix]

Fly Me to the Moon (2024)
8/10
As a rom-com, this movie gave me everything I wanted:
Two stunningly gorgeous charismatic leads surrounded by fun supporting cast. Plenty of jokes and even some tears. Meet cutes and drama. Beautiful period clothes and visuals.

ScarJo still can do no wrong. And Jim "This Better Not Awaken Anything in Me" Wise continues to be outstanding comic relief.

[NumberSix]

MaXXXine (2024)
8/10

Second viewing earlier today. I'd have given it a 7 after first viewing. The ending is nutty. But it works in the "80s cheap video horror" mode. And it helps to realize this is a giallo, not a slasher.

Love the cast. Love the visuals. Love the soundtrack.

[Karl Henning]

Blue Jasmine. Some time has elapsed since I first watched this 'un, and I didn't remember how sombre the main plot is. Great writing and a fine cast. Alec Baldwin's character is one hell of a heel.

[NumberSix]

Daddio (2024)
9/10

What a film. It's just about perfect. (I have a rule: no movie gets a perfect score on first viewing, no matter how much I liked it ) Two people sitting in a taxi for 90 minutes talking about life. It should be boring, but I was mesmerized and kept worrying they were getting too close to her apartment.

Sean Penn should be up for another Oscar. Dakota kept up, and IMO she's never looked more beautiful.

[Cato]

Yesterday, we saw the new Western Horizon, which apparently will be a tetralogy.

It is marvelous with one caveat: the story-lines need to be - at times - separated better.  Mrs. Cato found herself wondering which story was suddenly appearing.

"Horizon" is the name of thousands of acres being sold (fraudulently) in the West: it is obvious that all the stories will eventually converge somehow on that area.

There are brilliant scenes showing the horror of massacres on both sides of the Native Americans-Settlers divide.

Other scenes of great tenderness are equally memorable, e.g. a young girl saying good-bye to frontier cavalry soldiers who are on their way into The Civil War in 1863.

Despite its length (3 hours), most of the audience never left their seats!

[NumberSix]

Yesterday, we saw the new Western Horizon, which apparently will be a tetralogy.

It is marvelous with one caveat: the story-lines need to be - at times - separated better.  Mrs. Cato found herself wondering which story was suddenly appearing.

"Horizon" is the name of thousands of acres being sold (fraudulently) in the West: it is obvious that all the stories will eventually converge somehow on that area.

There are brilliant scenes showing the horror of massacres on both sides of the Native Americans-Settlers divide.

Other scenes of great tenderness are equally memorable, e.g. a young girl saying good-bye to frontier cavalry soldiers who are on their way into The Civil War in 1863.

Despite its length (3 hours), most of the audience never left their seats!

I really need to give it another try. I didn't care for it. But enough people have liked it and pointed out things that they enjoyed, that I may have a better perspective on a second visit.

[Cato]

Yesterday, we saw the new Western Horizon, which apparently will be a tetralogy.

It is marvelous with one caveat: the story-lines need to be - at times - separated better.  Mrs. Cato found herself wondering which story was suddenly appearing.

In the context of telling stories with different characters, one must keep in mind the achievement of D.W. Griffith in his great movie Intolerance, where he tells 4 different stories of "intolerance" and cuts back and forth among them, the cutting occurring (as I recall) more rapidly as the stories reach their climaxes.

To be sure, since the stories are in 4 quite different eras of human history, it would always be quite clear which story was on the screen.

Horizon does not have that to distinguish its assorted stories.  Perhaps that criticism will affect the future movies, and a revision perhaps of this one.

And if you have never seen Intolerance, it is worth your while!

[Karl Henning]

Watching Woody Allen's Anything Else, for only the second time.

[drogulus]

    I watched Civil War. As you might have guessed, the Jesse Plemons character goes full Todd and then some.

    The Dao of Todd

   

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Not for me. Quit in half an hour.

Forgot to say that Margaret Mitchell's original novel was rejected by thirty-eight publishers before becoming one of the best-selling books of the twentieth century. (Also, Robert Pirsig's best-selling Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance was rejected by 121 publishers before seeing the light of day.)

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

For some reason, I prefer this sequel to The Silence of the Lambs.

[Cato]

It's certainly "of its era." I like it very well, but not everyone will.

It was re-released to theaters in the 1960's, so I saw it on the BIG screen and thought that Clark Gable's performance was so natural, i.e. he seemed not to be acting, that everyone else suffered in comparison.

My opinion has not changed.

We have it on Blu-Ray and enjoy watching it every so often.

[relm1]

Yesterday, I quite enjoyed watching Apocalypto (2006).  It's a very good and entertaining film featuring some effective sequences.  Though the entire film is primitive and in Mayan, it has subtitles, and the characters are immediately engaging.  I thought the Mayan city sequence was quite terrifying as you can imagine how foreign this would be to the simple forest people.  The film is not historically accurate so should be taken in as entertainment only and I thought it was quite effective at world and culture building, compelling characters who are primitive and I would imagine hard to connect with, very interesting visuals and an overall effective and emotional ride.  The ending is quite startling as the Mayan's see their first Europeans ever which we know would sadly introduce smallpox to their unexposed region and imperial ambitions. 

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Blue Jasmine. Some time has elapsed since I first watched this 'un, and I didn't remember how sombre the main plot is. Great writing and a fine cast. Alec Baldwin's character is one hell of a heel.

I have the disc here but haven't watched it. Will watch it soon. Same for Interiors.

Watching Woody Allen's Anything Else, for only the second time.

I don't have it. Is it good?

[Karl Henning]

I have the disc here but haven't watched it. Will watch it soon. Same for Interiors.



I don't have it. Is it good?

Yes, good but not great (Anything Else). Even when he's riffing, Woody Allen does engaging work and it's well made.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Yes, good but not great (Anything Else). Even when he's riffing, Woody Allen does engaging work and it's well made.

For that time period, I like Celebrity and Whatever Works.

[Karl Henning]

For that time period, I like Celebrity and Whatever Works.

I should re-watch Celebrity. Whatever Works is great!