Last Movie You Watched

[AnotherSpin]

...

This post has been deleted, following the  announcement made yesterday  in the WAYL2N thrrad.

[ritter]

I don't know what part of my post in the WAYL2N thread was unclear. As stated, new post posts regarding the incident there have been deleted.

[DavidW]

I checked this out immediately upon finding it on display at the Library, but I waited until I was quite in the humor. An earnest slowburn that puts me in mind of Ridley Scott. Visually very stylish, too. There's also a bit of The Exorcist in this. Tangentially, on the same table at the Library I saw Alien Romulus, which like the DVD of Alien Covenant sported a line of hyperbolic praise. I don't believe I'll bother.

Alien Romulus is IMO bad in another way. It is nostalgia bait. Decently made, but sterile and empty. Still entertaining. While I think that Covenant is indulgent, and Ridley wasn't interested in the franchise, and wanted to make a different story.

Still... the Alien Earth (title?) show looks interesting, and I think I'll give it a watch when it comes out. It is the first time in a while that I've been excited about the franchise.

[ritter]

Luigi Comencini's Proibito rubare (Hey Boy), from 1948.



This social comedy, set in postwar Naples, was partly inspired by the 1938 movie Boys Town, for which Spencer Tracy won the Academy Award as best actor, playing the rôle of Father Edward J. Flanagan.

Young priest Don Pietro (Aldo Celi) arrives from Northern Italy in Naples, intending to sail to Kenya to become a missionary. Street urchins —played by "real", non-professional Neapolitan boys— steal his suitcase and wallet, and after these are returned to him, he decides to stay to work with these dispossessed children in the war-ravaged city. He ends up unwillingly involved in a robbery of gold watches (an outlaw uses the children to prevent the loot from being seized by the police), but all ends well, and the children's future seems brighter than it was when the movie started.

Nice enough film, but the funny thing is that it felt like being at a party in which you know everyone personally or at least by name. Director Comencini, screenwriter Suso Cecchi d'Amico (I was reading some texts by her a couple of weeks ag), production designer Bianca Lattuada (sister of director Alberto and daughter of composer Felice Lattuada —whom our fellow GMGer @Roy Bland recently mentioned—), composer Nino Rota, conductor Fernando Previtali (who led the second opera performance I ever attended as a teenager, almost fifty years ago now),  producer Carlo Ponti, e così via.

[DavidW]

Mr.Jones is emotional, political, and absolutely necessary — especially today.

I will watch this movie, it is on Prime here.

[Karl Henning]

My second time: The Marsh King's Daughter. Now I appreciate the initial positive portrayal of the M.K.

Now: Director Neil Burger's commentary. 

[AnotherSpin]

I will watch this movie, it is on Prime here.

I'd also recommend reading about Walter Duranty — a Stalin apologist who denied the Holodomor in Ukraine — and the history of his Pulitzer Prize. You might start to see a thread connecting to some of today's admirers of the Kremlin's dictator.

[Karl Henning]

Robt Eggers' Nosferatu.

Now, the director's commentary.

[AnotherSpin]

Rewatched a classic movie with Gene Hackman. Ah, the golden days, when tough guys didn't bother calling scumbags to strike a deal — they just dealt with them, fast and hard. At least we can still remember.

[Karl Henning]

Alien Romulus is IMO bad in another way. It is nostalgia bait. Decently made, but sterile and empty. Still entertaining.

I returned Nosferatu and The Marsh King's Daughter to the Library today. With expectations informed by your comment, I was curious enough to consider checking out Alien Romulus, but another patron has checked it out. Will I think/care to look it up again in future? Qui sait?
Separately, while it is not among my 75 best-loved movies, I remember mostly enjoying Beetlejuice. I was entirely cool to the news of a sequel. I saw both original and sequel at the Library, so I went ahead and checked both out. Will Report.

[DavidW]

Separately, while it is not among my 75 best-loved movies, I remember mostly enjoying Beetlejuice. I was entirely cool to the news of a sequel. I saw both original and sequel at the Library, so I went ahead and checked both out. Will Report.

I thought the sequel was a little dull and forgettable. But it is still a decent movie. It didn't feel like just a cash grab. (Edit: clarification, I was talking about Beetlejuice)

[Karl Henning]

I forgot (if ever I had marked) that Dick Cavett and Robt Goulet appear in Beetlejuice. 

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

I forgot (if ever I had marked) that Dick Cavett and Robt Goulet appear in Beetlejuice.

Speaking of Beetlejuice, have you seen the next installment Beetlejuice Beetlejuice? I haven't seen it yet, but I imagine it will be hard to top the first film.

[Karl Henning]

Speaking of Beetlejuice, have you seen the next installment Beetlejuice Beetlejuice? I haven't seen it yet, but I imagine it will be hard to top the first film.

Haven't yet, but I've checked it out from the Library, as well. 

[DavidW]

Speaking of Beetlejuice, have you seen the next installment Beetlejuice Beetlejuice? I haven't seen it yet, but I imagine it will be hard to top the first film.

This made it obvious to me that I was unclear about what I was talking about. I've now edited my post.

[Karl Henning]

I should have guessed that this [Red 2] is a sequel. Have you seen the first movie, K?

~K.

Yes, it was a while ago.  From what I remember, I enjoyed it.

Now watching. I'm tickled that I may consider this a Christmas movie, too.

[Karl Henning]

Now watching. I'm tickled that I may consider this a Christmas movie, too.

"Get a car; try not to kill anyone."

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Visconti, Death in Venice. Annual revisit.

[ritter]

Visconti, Death in Venice. Annual revisit.

I should revisit that!

[Madiel]

I'm only halfway through for various reasons and I might hold off finishing it until tomorrow, but I'm rather enjoying The Thief of Bagdad (the 1924 version).



I think it's a very long time since I watched any silent film at all. This one holds up well.

Watched the second half. There's a section of treasure hunting that becomes a little tedious plotwise, as it's very much about "look at all the crazy scenes we can do". Some of them were probably more impressive at the time than they are now.

Having said that, some of the special effects (more in other) scenes) hold up pretty well even a century later. And the film as a whole was well worth a watch, with some pretty lavish design. It's making me contemplate trying some of the other acknowledged classics of the silent era.