Last Movie You Watched

[Cato]

I watched The Da Vinci Code, a terribly stupid movie. The worst part was that the clever insight to solve the last puzzle was associating Newton with apples, which a child could do. I didn't read or watch this when it was new, and I don't know why it was so popular.

When the book came out, I skimmed through it and thought of what an obviously frustrated literary agent wrote to me over 40 years ago:

"Thank you for letting me read your book: it is highly original with unique characters and great style, which is why it will never be published."

Yes, a stupid book, but I suspect that much of what is published is stupid, which says nothing good about the continually dwindling number of people still buying and reading books.

Apparently Alfred Hitchcock's "rule" that mediocre books can be made into great movies did not apply in this case.

Perhaps the book is too mediocre to be salvaged through a movie!

Anyway...we revisited this excellent movie about the autistic animal husbandry expert Temple Grandin:



Temple Grandin came out in 2010 as a television movie: Claire Danes was most excellent in her portrayal.

[Karl Henning]

Haven't watched this in a while: Clint Eastwood's Bird.

[krummholz]

I watched The Da Vinci Code, a terribly stupid movie. The worst part was that the clever insight to solve the last puzzle was associating Newton with apples, which a child could do. I didn't read or watch this when it was new, and I don't know why it was so popular.

Interesting little factoid: the late Umberto Eco, in reference to Dan Brown and specifically to The Da Vinci Code, remarked that Brown was "one of my creatures", i.e. a character in Eco's own novel Foucault's Pendulum.

[Kalevala]

I thought Marvel Studios, Sony, and Disney all have their hands in the pot when it came to Spider-Man. Personally, I can't keep up with who owns what amid the back-room dealings, so I won't pretend to know. For me, the Marvel movies really fell off the cliff, with few exceptions.


I think we are well beyond that point. Now, I serve the role of dutiful father and husband to those who like to watch such things. My superhero movie exhaustion reared its head long ago, but if I am going to watch them, I might as well keep an open mind and expectations low.
VS

What a good (and patient) daddy!

Tangential thoughts:  perhaps try and get them back into the kitchen/grilling and/or wear out the young ones with outdoor activities?  😇

K

[Iota]

Last night, The Singing Detective, which reignited Robert Downey Jr.'s career after a year in a rehabilitation clinic.

An odd movie, which keeps you guessing (Is this a hallucination or not?) about things, and has some funny, satirical moments.

Interesting, haven't seen the movie, but I should check it out.

I did not know that the movie derives from a British television mini-series in the 1980's with Michael Gambon.

A series which, like many things written for tv by Dennis Potter, was brilliant. Also one of the first things that made me sit up and pay attention to Michael Gambon.

[VonStupp]

Kraven the Hunter (2024)
Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Russell Crowe

Of Morbius and Madame Web, Kraven is probably the best. Of course, the company it keeps doesn't say much, and none are very good.

Disney owns Marvel, which currently has rights to Spider-Man, but Sony still has rights to the other characters in the Spiderverse. That means that Sony can make movies with recurring Spider-Man characters, except the titular character himself. So they are oddly making movies about some of his villains, but then making them into the protagonists??

Having now just seen Kraven, I can't imagine seeing any of these characters teaming up either as protagonists or antagonists. They are all rather nonsensical, and considering this is a comic book genre, nonsensical should work, but doesn't in these movies.

As I understand it, all of these entries were expected to have sequels, but all have been disappointments for the studio, so I don't see a future for any of them.
VS

[DavidW]

When the book came out, I skimmed through it and thought of what an obviously frustrated literary agent wrote to me over 40 years ago:

"Thank you for letting me read your book: it is highly original with unique characters and great style, which is why it will never be published."

Yes, a stupid book, but I suspect that much of what is published is stupid, which says nothing good about the continually dwindling number of people still buying and reading books.

You've reminded me of this parody of Dan Brown: https://jimmyakin.com/2024/03/dont-make-fun-of-renowned-dan-brown.html

[SonicMan46]

Niagara (1953) - synopsis below w/ two beautiful gals, Monroe and Peters - always loved the color filming because wife and I have been there three times; always took the boat ride but on our last visit, probably 10 years ago we took a helicopter ride over the falls - now that was dramatic; plus the copter was a new model with great sound suppression (did not need to wear headphones).  Dave

Niagara is an American noir thriller film directed by Henry Hathaway, produced by Charles Brackett, and written by Brackett, Richard Breen and Walter Reisch. The film stars Marilyn Monroe, Joseph Cotten, Jean Peters, and Max Showalter. Unlike other films noir of the time, which were typically black-and-white, Niagara was filmed in "three-strip" Technicolor (one of the last films in that format; Fox began converting to CinemaScope soon after.) Monroe was given top billing in Niagara, giving her star status. Her next two films, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) and How to Marry a Millionaire (1953), were even bigger successes. (Source)

   

[VonStupp]

What a good (and patient) daddy!

Tangential thoughts:  perhaps try and get them back into the kitchen/grilling and/or wear out the young ones with outdoor activities?  😇

K

There is plenty of that! We do not use the TV as a babysitter, nor phones or other devices. They do karate, piano lessons, and regional youth wind ensembles, as well as exploring the neighborhood on bikes. My wife is crafty (not the fox or witch kind of crafty), so there is a lot of creation and imagination in my household. I do like them to have a break just to do nothing, even if only to give their minds time off of activity.

Movie night can be special though, and giving them choices is important. We are not in the habit, however, of watching the same thing 100 times over. Usually once every weekend or so, and a discussion of themes after viewing, if necessary.
VS

[Cato]

You've reminded me of this parody of Dan Brown:

https://jimmyakin.com/2024/03/dont-make-fun-of-renowned-dan-brown.html

Great stuff!  That satire would have made S.J. Perelman laugh!

Last night we happened to catch...

The Cowboys (1972) with John Wayne, Roscoe Lee Browne, and Bruce Dern at his Bruce Derndest  !


John Wayne was in his mid-60's when he made this movie.

I had forgotten - but soon sensed from the musical score's style - that John Williams composed it.




One of the movie's best scenes has been called "Great Moments in Speech Therapy."

A stutterer tried to tell John Wayne's character that one of his friends was in trouble in the river and was drowning, but failed to get the words out.

[Karl Henning]

Last night, Brazil. Hadn't watched it in a while. When I watched Blade Runner the other night, I remembered how when I saw it in the theater, that original release had explanatory voiceovers which Ridley Scott thankfully scrapped from the final cut. That recollection put me in mind also of Brazil since the studio added a happy ending resulting in what Terry Gilliam sarcastically referred to as the Love Conquers All version. Aggravated rather than caused by the world around us going haywire, I find that this gets more bitter with each viewing. I mean, I have always known that it ends badly for Sam Lowry, but the very first time I saw it, not only was I beguiled by the enormously inventive dream sequences but, for instance, one hopes, and is led on to hope, that Sam Lowry will somehow muddle through it all. Living with this brilliant movie over time becomes a matter, in part, of finding the point where it is clear that Sam's rescue is raw delusion, and that therefore his "necrophilia" with Jill is his only moment of genuine happiness in the movie, but that Sam is not merely a victim of the machine, but something of an instrument of his own downfall. Was it Beauty that killed him? His need to pursue Jill which pries him out of the safe mediocrity of a mere functionary in a lower office of the Ministry of information, so that he begs Mr Helpmann to refresh the offer of a promotion? Yet, since he had been dreaming of Jill, how could he have done otherwise? But character is Destiny, and what with the young vandals' destruction of the Personal Transport, Sam's cocking up of the Buttle check, and his juvenile glee in running Jil's truck through the gate and on: Sam sowed the seeds of his own immolation by bureaucracy. As to his friend Jack, the very fact that Michael Palin is so brilliant a comedian makes him chilling as Information Retrieval's chief Retriever.

[Karl Henning]

Dangerous Days: The Making of Blade Runner. 
I'm curious to revisit the theatrical release version. 

[Kalevala]

There is plenty of that! We do not use the TV as a babysitter, nor phones or other devices. They do karate, piano lessons, and regional youth wind ensembles, as well as exploring the neighborhood on bikes. My wife is crafty (not the fox or witch kind of crafty), so there is a lot of creation and imagination in my household. I do like them to have a break just to do nothing, even if only to give their minds time off of activity.

Movie night can be special though, and giving them choices is important. We are not in the habit, however, of watching the same thing 100 times over. Usually once every weekend or so, and a discussion of themes after viewing, if necessary.
VS

Excellent!     Well done parents!

K

[DavidW]

Last night I watched a movie about fishermen who didn't save sailors from a sinking ship because they knew everyone would starve if they saved them. They are haunted by a sea draugr.

It was captivating, short, and sweet.

[VonStupp]

Excellent!    Well done parents!

K

Not perfect, by any means, but as any family, we try our best. For instance, you will never see me in the Green-Thumb thread. Alas my mother's and grandmother's fondness for gardening and greenery didn't take with me.
VS

[Karl Henning]

Dangerous Days: The Making of Blade Runner.
I'm curious to revisit the theatrical release version.

I satisfied that curiosity.  Moving on: back when I first reeled in the Final Cut I listened to Scott's commentary. I then promptly forgot that there are two other commentaries. One, to which I've just listened, is by screenwriters Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, producer Michael Deeley and Production Assistant Katherine Haber. Both informative and thoroughly entertaining. 

[DavidW]

A lot of twists and turns on this one, Mormons knock on the wrong door. Don't watch if you can't stomach Hugh Grant as a baddie.

[Kalevala]

Not perfect, by any means, but as any family, we try our best. For instance, you will never see me in the Green-Thumb thread. Alas my mother's and grandmother's fondness for gardening and greenery didn't take with me.
VS

Hey, we all try our best...none of us are perfect.

One idea re gardening:  a lot of times gardening centers will have *classes (other sources too like community centers, Y's, etc.).  Perhaps you might take them to a couple of them as a family--it could be a fun time for all.  There are also things like wreath decorating classes which your wife and kids might enjoy?  Just some thoughts. 

* If you have a yard which gets a fair bit of sunshine, you might try putting in a raised bed and growing a few veggies (or a small variety of tomato in a pot on a porch) or some flowers or bulbs? 

Best wishes from the gardener with a semi-brown thumb,

K

[VonStupp]

Hey, we all try our best...none of us are perfect.

One idea re gardening:  a lot of times gardening centers will have *classes (other sources too like community centers, Y's, etc.).  Perhaps you might take them to a couple of them as a family--it could be a fun time for all.  There are also things like wreath decorating classes which your wife and kids might enjoy?  Just some thoughts. 

* If you have a yard which gets a fair bit of sunshine, you might try putting in a raised bed and growing a few veggies (or a small variety of tomato in a pot on a porch) or some flowers or bulbs? 

Best wishes from the gardener with a semi-brown thumb,

K

This is a great idea. 👍

We have done some painting/visual art activities like you mention, but I hadn't thought of gardening. With my mother having recently passed, this might be a good opportunity to get them digging in the soil to remind them of grandma's favorite pastime.
VS

[Karl Henning]

You've reminded me of this parody of Dan Brown: https://jimmyakin.com/2024/03/dont-make-fun-of-renowned-dan-brown.html

Fun!