Last Movie You Watched

[SonicMan46]

Six Days, Seven Nights (1998)
 

Entertaining but nothing particularly memorable.  You'll forget all about it after its brief 90 minute runtime.  I always thought Harrison Ford was funny in his interviews with late night hosts.  He has a wide range but is typecast as the tough rogue hero guy.  So here is a film by Ivan Reitman who's made some of the best comic films of the 1980's like Stripes, Ghostbusters, Kindergarten Cop, etc.  He tends to make films that are reliably humorous and generally have some heart but with shallow depth. 

Harrison Ford looks great and I realized he was 56 during the making of this film.  Still would have been great at another Indiana Jones at that point.  His costar is Anne Heche who was 29 at the time and becomes his love interest.  That's nearly half Harrison Ford's age - she could have been his daughter - but while watching they still seemed believable as a couple.  She looked great here - AGREE! 

Well, sometimes these 'father-daughter relationships' seem to work out - inserted above Cary Grant and Dyan Cannon (33 yrs age difference) - even had a daughter but their marriage lasted only 2 years - 

I liked the Ford-Heche movie but only seen twice and don't own so agree with your assessment - Heche (1969-2022) of course died tragically as a result of a car accident - more HERE for those interested.  Dave

[Karl Henning]

The Killers (1964)

Reagan was already into politics, so they had to convince him to play the villain. Lee Marvin is great, even if he was sometimes drunk on the set. It's really shocking when he and his partner assault the secretary of the School for the Blind. It certainly establishes their character. 

[Karl Henning]

David Lynch was a director whose work never appealed to me. Saw Eraserhead when it first came out and didn't like it, never investigated his other films or TV shows.
There have been all kinds of Lynch retrospectives around here the past couple of weeks. I decided to try The Straight Story, because it was free and I expected less stagey/contrived weirdness.



Well, it was OK but slow (granted there was a little contrived weirdness) and I left halfway through. Not that the film was terrible, but I'm currently reading two interesting books that I strongly felt were more deserving of the time.

We all do our own curating, of course. I found it rewarding to watch, so I'm thankful for the reminder to request it anew at the Library. 

[Karl Henning]

No, probably it is cathartic, and thus you feel better!

Great dramas will always do that, hence the continuation of drama as a popular experience: Shakespeare, Eugene O'Neill, and many others.  Some of my favorite books and movies have some (or even a good number of) tragic scenes: Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain and Doctor Faustus, Herman Hesse's Narziss und Goldmund, Herman Melville's Moby Dick, Joseph Conrad's Lord Jim, and many others.

For movies: (just at random) Shadow of a Doubt, The Mask of Dimitrios, Strangers on a Train, The Searchers, Dark of the Sun, The Spitfire Grill.

Books and movies: Marcel Pagnon's Jean de Florette and Manon of the Springs.

Speaking of drama and mystery: Arrival from 2016 intrigued us last night.

At first I thought: "Okay, another 'aliens have landed' movie,' you will need to do something different to interest me!"

I saw that the main character was a Linguist, which was different enough to interest me!

And the story was indeed somewhat different from what one might expect!  Usually the aliens have already learned Earth's languages...because they are advanced aliens with supraluminal technology!  But not in this scenario!

Thanks for reminding me to revisit The Spitfire Grill!

[Cato]

Six Days, Seven Nights (1998)



Entertaining but nothing particularly memorable.  You'll forget all about it after its brief 90 minute runtime.  I always thought Harrison Ford was funny in his interviews with late night hosts.  He has a wide range but is typecast as the tough rogue hero guy.  So here is a film by Ivan Reitman who's made some of the best comic films of the 1980's like Stripes, Ghostbusters, Kindergarten Cop, etc.  He tends to make films that are reliably humorous and generally have some heart but with shallow depth. 

Harrison Ford looks great and I realized he was 56 during the making of this film.  Still would have been great at another Indiana Jones at that point.  His costar is Anne Heche who was 29 at the time and becomes his love interest.  That's nearly half Harrison Ford's age - she could have been his daughter - but while watching they still seemed believable as a couple.  She looked great here. 

Overall, entertaining but forgettable.

Mrs. Ausonius usually wants to watch this once a year, and it has some funny moments, from both Harrison Ford and David Schwimmer.

Poor Anne Heche: she had a nightmare for a childhood (assuming one can trust her story: a sister (apparently) did not dispute her claims about it). 

Undoubtedly such traumas led to her instability later.  Her sister died from cancer in 2006, and her brother died at age 18 in a car accident (perhaps a suicide?).

[Cato]

Reagan was already into politics, so they had to convince him to play the villain. Lee Marvin is great, even if he was sometimes drunk on the set. It's really shocking when he and his partner assault the secretary of the School for the Blind. It certainly establishes their character.

Yes!  Few scenes equal that one, but one movie has a scene, which would be a good candidate: it is in Rawhide, which has nothing to do with the later T.V. show.

Rawhide stars Tyrone Power, Susan Hayward, and Hugh Marlowe, the latter as a cool villain with sophistication, who dislikes dealing with crude and evil-loving minions like Jack Elam, whose character is the candidate with a scene to rival the one in The Killers.

It is a hair-raising, gasp-of-horror scene, which made me wonder how it ever survived the censorship in 1950!

Now that I think of it, the scene absolutely surpasses the one in The Killers!

[Karl Henning]

Not long ago I was all but ignorant of The Paradine Case, and now it's practically one of my favorite Hitchcock movies. It lacks the kind of flashy technical touches or elements characteristic of many of his justly celebrated movies, so my newfound attachment appears counterintuitive. In a way it's visually muted, with a subtle mastery of shadow reflecting (as it were) his tutelage under expressionistic German cinema. The drama is as much in the characters and the fluidity of relationships, as in the crime mystery element. Ann Todd is ostensibly a supporting actor as Mrs Keane. Yet in spite of her husband's dismissing her acumen, her perception and the wisdom of her heart prove some of the more important factors in the story. A very young Louis Jourdan is beautiful, and his performance has a signal intensity. Gregory Peck is brilliant, and I say no more, to avoid spoilers. Applies equally to Valli. Lush score  by Franz Waxman. There's a lot to love in this undersung item of Hitchcock's very considerable portfolio.

[Brian]

We all do our own curating, of course. I found it rewarding to watch, so I'm thankful for the reminder to request it anew at the Library.

I found The Straight Story totally lovely - maybe a little bit of an enigma for the first few scenes (with his relationship to his adult daughter) but pure joy for the rest of the movie, especially the ending. If it weren't a true story, and very clearly based on that true story, it would be unbelievable.

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

Not long ago I was all but ignorant of The Paradine Case, and now it's practically one of my favorite Hitchcock movies. It lacks the kind of flashy technical touches or elements characteristic of many of his justly celebrated movies, so my newfound attachment appears counterintuitive. In a way it's visually muted, with a subtle mastery of shadow reflecting (as it were) his tutelage under expressionistic German cinema. The drama is as much in the characters and the fluidity of relationships, as in the crime mystery element. Ann Todd is ostensibly a supporting actor as Mrs Keane. Yet in spite of her husband's dismissing her acumen, her perception and the wisdom of her heart prove some of the more important factors in the story. A very young Louis Jourdan is beautiful, and his performance has a signal intensity. Gregory Peck is brilliant, and I say no more, to avoid spoilers. Applies equally to Valli. Lush score  by Franz Waxman. There's a lot to love in this undersung item of Hitchcock's very considerable portfolio.

Being a Hitchcock fan but also not having seen all of his films, thanks for mentioning this one, Karl. I'll have to check it out.

[Karl Henning]

Not long ago I was all but ignorant of The Paradine Case, and now it's practically one of my favorite Hitchcock movies. It lacks the kind of flashy technical touches or elements characteristic of many of his justly celebrated movies, so my newfound attachment appears counterintuitive. In a way it's visually muted, with a subtle mastery of shadow reflecting (as it were) his tutelage under expressionistic German cinema. The drama is as much in the characters and the fluidity of relationships, as in the crime mystery element. Ann Todd is ostensibly a supporting actor as Mrs Keane. Yet in spite of her husband's dismissing her acumen, her perception and the wisdom of her heart prove some of the more important factors in the story. A very young Louis Jourdan is beautiful, and his performance has a signal intensity. Gregory Peck is brilliant, and I say no more, to avoid spoilers. Applies equally to Valli. Lush score  by Franz Waxman. There's a lot to love in this undersung item of Hitchcock's very considerable portfolio.

"Doesn't life punish us enough, Tommy?"

[Cato]

Not long ago I was all but ignorant of The Paradine Case, and now it's practically one of my favorite Hitchcock movies. It lacks the kind of flashy technical touches or elements characteristic of many of his justly celebrated movies, so my newfound attachment appears counterintuitive. In a way it's visually muted, with a subtle mastery of shadow reflecting (as it were) his tutelage under expressionistic German cinema. The drama is as much in the characters and the fluidity of relationships, as in the crime mystery element. Ann Todd is ostensibly a supporting actor as Mrs Keane. Yet in spite of her husband's dismissing her acumen, her perception and the wisdom of her heart prove some of the more important factors in the story. A very young Louis Jourdan is beautiful, and his performance has a signal intensity. Gregory Peck is brilliant, and I say no more, to avoid spoilers. Applies equally to Valli. Lush score  by Franz Waxman. There's a lot to love in this undersung item of Hitchcock's very considerable portfolio.

Yes!  I need to re-watch that: I recall catching it on T.V. many, many years ago on a Saturday afternoon, and was fascinated by it.

Charles Laughton, as always, is also not to be missed in The Paradine Case!

I found The Straight Story totally lovely - maybe a little bit of an enigma for the first few scenes (with his relationship to his adult daughter) but pure joy for the rest of the movie, especially the ending. If it weren't a true story, and very clearly based on that true story, it would be unbelievable.

One of our favorite movies!

"Ah, geeze, Alvin, that's my best grabber.  I'd hate to sell it!"

"Whatcha need that grabber for, Alvin?"

"Grabbin' !"   

[Madiel]

No, probably it is cathartic, and thus you feel better!

Great dramas will always do that, hence the continuation of drama as a popular experience: Shakespeare, Eugene O'Neill, and many others.  Some of my favorite books and movies have some (or even a good number of) tragic scenes: Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain and Doctor Faustus, Herman Hesse's Narziss und Goldmund, Herman Melville's Moby Dick, Joseph Conrad's Lord Jim, and many others.

For movies: (just at random) Shadow of a Doubt, The Mask of Dimitrios, Strangers on a Train, The Searchers, Dark of the Sun, The Spitfire Grill.

Books and movies: Marcel Pagnon's Jean de Florette and Manon of the Springs.

Speaking of drama and mystery: Arrival from 2016 intrigued us last night.

At first I thought: "Okay, another 'aliens have landed' movie,' you will need to do something different to interest me!"

I saw that the main character was a Linguist, which was different enough to interest me!

And the story was indeed somewhat different from what one might expect!  Usually the aliens have already learned Earth's languages...because they are advanced aliens with supraluminal technology!  But not in this scenario!

I adore Arrival. Precisely because it is so very different from most "aliens sci-fi" films. And Amy Adams was the perfect casting choice.

It's also an excellent example of a movie you can watch twice, with your understanding of large parts of it completely changed the 2nd time.

[Madiel]

O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) - any Coen brothers fans here?    Now I've seen virtually all of their films but own just four, including 'O Brother....' which is our favorite to watch together - love the traditional music performers in the movie, especially the harmony of Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, & Gilian Welch singing as the sirens (left pic below).  Dave

 

Definitely a Coen Brothers fan though I have somewhat lost track of their later work.

More people need to know about The Hudsucker Proxy.

[ritter]

Another vintage film with musical connections:



Jean Anouilh directed in 1944 (before the liberation of France) this screen adaptation of his 1937 play Le Voyageur sans bagage (The Traveller without Luggage, or Travelling Light for the movie) which tells the story of an amnesiac WW1 veteran who, when being "claimed" by several families from the sanatorium he's been interned in for 15 years, must come to terms with his unpleasant former self. In some aspects, the premise is somewhat similar to that of Jean Giraudoux's beautiful novel Siegfried et Le Limousin.

The incidental music for the original play was by Darius Milhaud, and it has had some circulation since as his Suite for violin, clarinet and piano, Op. 157b. For the film, Anouilh turned to Francis Poulenc (and the score is conducted by Roger Désormière — misspelled as "Désormières" in the opening credits). The score is OK, but unremarkable and slightly "disjointed". In any event, the movie is quite attractive. Recommended.

[Karl Henning]

any Coen brothers fans here?

Here. it's a peculiar personal fact that A Serious Man was the last movie I watched prior to my stroke. That doesn't affect my enjoyment of the movie.

[Kalevala]

Red 2 starring Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich and others.  How to describe it:  spies trying to save the world with a lot of tongue in cheek humor?  Lots of fun and interesting twists.  Quite enjoyed it.  John Malkovich's character and delivery had me laughing.

K

[Brian]

I adore Arrival. Precisely because it is so very different from most "aliens sci-fi" films. And Amy Adams was the perfect casting choice.

It's also an excellent example of a movie you can watch twice, with your understanding of large parts of it completely changed the 2nd time.

I watched it in the theatre and, right when the alien starts communicating to Amy Adams, the fire alarm went off. At first, we all thought that the alien was talking in alarm sounds. Somebody had to get us and tell us it was a fire 

As compensation they gave us all free tickets to see it again after lunch (the alarm was false), and it made the "contact" scene all the more tense. I have yet to rewatch it but I do look forward to watching it for the 2.5th time with the knowledge of what happens at the end.

[Madiel]

Here. it's a peculiar personal fact that A Serious Man was the last movie I watched prior to my stroke. That doesn't affect my enjoyment of the movie.

Somehow this says you're quoting me, but you're not!

[Karl Henning]

It's like a  miniature @Cato recommendation film festival!

[Karl Henning]

Red 2 starring Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich and others.  How to describe it:  spies trying to save the world with a lot of tongue in cheek humor?  Lots of fun and interesting twists.  Quite enjoyed it.  John Malkovich's character and delivery had me laughing.

K

Reminds me loosely of Hudson Hawk, which is a favorite. I've reserved a copy from the Library.