Last Movie You Watched

[Bogey]

I still recall seeing Raymond Burr waist deep in debris with a cut on his forehead!

That was the version I saw as a kid.  Fortunately I have seen the original since.

[ZauberdrachenNr.7]

The modern taste for horror and depravity of all kinds pales its terror, though considerable in its day (1959).  The genius of its surreal vision and psychological insight endures.  Not to be missed; many scenes make for brilliant photographs.

[asin]B00DZP1C4A[/asin]

[TheGSMoeller]

The modern taste for horror and depravity of all kinds pales its terror, though considerable in its day (1959).  The genius of its surreal vision and psychological insight endures.  Not to be missed; many scenes make for brilliant photographs.

[asin]B00DZP1C4A[/asin]

BIG +1
I have the Criterion DVD of Eyes, but am interested in the Blue Ray transfer. So far I've been very pleased with replacing my Criterions for BR. 

[Ken B]

BIG +1
I have the Criterion DVD of Eyes, but am interested in the Blue Ray transfer. So far I've been very pleased with replacing my Criterions for BR.

I hope you are recycling safely. Criterions are made with homolgous anthro-mercurcurious chlorate, which needs special handling.
I run a low cost, safe disposal and recycling centre. I can PM you my address.  For GMGers I only charge $0.25 per disc.

[TheGSMoeller]

I hope you are recycling safely. Criterions are made with homolgous anthro-mercurcurious chlorate, which needs special handling.
I run a low cost, safe disposal and recycling centre. I can PM you my address.  For GMGers I only charge $0.25 per disc.

I do have a nice collection of DVDs that I've replaced. I accept trades 

[Brian]

I must watch that . . . and I should probably get around to reading The Shakespeare Wars.  There are certainly world-class artists (Derek Jacoby, e.g., IIRC) who endorse the Other Author theory.  I guess I was put off the idea by running into a couple of Rob Newman types (Othello in Mylar) . . . but I certainly do not object to entertaining the hypothesis.

Might I recommend this superb, and also remarkably readable, even funny book, which briskly and fairly surveys all the "Who wrote Shakespeare?" theories. (He does conclude that it was, most likely, Shakespeare.)

[asin]B0048ELD4G[/asin]

I hope you are recycling safely. Criterions are made with homolgous anthro-mercurcurious chlorate, which needs special handling.
I run a low cost, safe disposal and recycling centre. I can PM you my address.  For GMGers I only charge $0.25 per disc.

[Karl Henning]

Might I recommend this superb, and also remarkably readable, even funny book, which briskly and fairly surveys all the "Who wrote Shakespeare?" theories. (He does conclude that it was, most likely, Shakespeare.)

[asin]B0048ELD4G[/asin]

Thanks, Brian!  Pulled the trigger on that right off.

[TheGSMoeller]

(He does conclude that it was, most likely, Shakespeare.)

Lookout, spoilers!

[Brian]

Thanks, Brian!  Pulled the trigger on that right off.

Actually I enjoyed my time with it so much, a few years ago, that this thread is making me strongly consider a re-read.

[Karl Henning]

Actually I enjoyed my time with it so much, a few years ago, that this thread is making me strongly consider a re-read.

I've been inhaling the Prologue on Amazon.

[SonicMan46]

Afternoon out w/ Susan - a movie at our local independent theater & early dinner at a tapas restaurant:

Le Week-End (2014) w/ Jim Broadbent, Lindsay Duncan, & Jeff Goldblum - plot summary quoted below from RottenTomatoes - rating there was 89% from the critics but only 57% from the readers; 4/5* on Amazon - this was a good movie (at least for oldsters like us) - kind of slow at times but w/ humor interjected - Goldblum is irritatingly good - a recommendation, well read the reviews and then decide; I'd likely do a 4* rating on Amazon - Dave

In Mr. Michell's magically buoyant and bittersweet film, Jim Broadbent and Lindsay Duncan play a long-married couple who revisit Paris for a long weekend for the first time since their honeymoon, in hopes of rekindling their relationship-or, perhaps, to bring it to an end. Diffident, wistful Nick (Broadbent) and demanding, take-charge Meg (Duncan) careen from harmony to disharmony to resignation and back again as they take stock and grapple with love, loss, regret and, disappointment, in their own very English way. When Meg and Nick run into their insufferably successful old friend Morgan, an American academic superstar with a fancy Parisian address played with pure delight by Jeff Goldblum, their squabbles rise to a register that's both emotionally rich and very funny.

[SonicMan46]

Yet again, some recent BD arrivals, both DVD replacements:

Vertigo (1958) w/ James Stewart & Kim Novak; director, Alfred Hitchcock - 8.5/10 IMDB rating - yet another excellent blu-ray transfer, from HERE, video 4/5 & audio 4.5/5 - a recommendation for fans of this film and the director.

Sabrina (1954) w/ Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn, & William Holden; director, Billy Wilder - 7.8/10 IMDB - AND also another phenomenal blu-ray transfer, 4.8/5 video & 4.5/5 audio (HERE - Audrey could not look better in this film, the blacks & whites are superb!  Dave

 

[Karl Henning]

Yet again, some recent BD arrivals, both DVD replacements:

Vertigo (1958) w/ James Stewart & Kim Novak; director, Alfred Hitchcock - 8.5/10 IMDB rating - yet another excellent blu-ray transfer, from HERE, video 4/5 & audio 4.5/5 - a recommendation for fans of this film and the director.

Sabrina (1954) w/ Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn, & William Holden; director, Billy Wilder - 7.8/10 IMDB - AND also another phenomenal blu-ray transfer, 4.8/5 video & 4.5/5 audio (HERE - Audrey could not look better in this film, the blacks & whites are superb!  Dave

 

Both of them stunners, Dave.  And you are right:  Audrey is at her dishiest (even if some of the costuming is not up to other roles she has played) in that movie.

[Sergeant Rock]

Just love Corbett.

Just love Madeline Smith in Hampton Wick 

Sarge

[Octave]

Un condamné à mort s'est échappé ou Le vent souffle où il veut [aka A MAN ESCAPED, OR, THE WIND BLOWETH WHERETH IT LISTETH] (Robert Bresson, 1956)

Better every time I see it.  I think I've always liked this one, but the first time I just could not understand the style and the direction of actors.  It still seems unusual, but the tension has become richer for me.
This time the motivation was seeing a newly restored image (in this case, Criterion blu) with substantial extras I'd not seen.  This was my second time to see the installment of the Cinéastes de notre temps series devoted to Bresson ("Ni Vu, Ni Connu" aka Without a Trace, 1965), and it was just as frustrating and exciting as before.  To wit (taken down from an old set of subs clearly inferior to the new Criterion copy):

Things should be said mechanically, but as they are being said mechanically, something changes inside the person and there is a reversion which makes this person come alive.  This mechanism makes the character come alive with the life of the film, and the character gives life to the dialogue.  This is very similar to the way a great pianist plays the piano...not a virtuoso, but a great pianist such as Lipatti.  That is to say, Lipatti gave out great feeling with restraint and regularity.  It was by restraining himself, by holding back his emotion itself, by even trying to suppress it, and by regulating himself as much as possible that he succeeded in giving an emotion that no other pianist could achieve.

I really like hearing him speak, though it doesn't always clear much up.  Bruno Dumont's much more recent comments on another doc included in this disc (The Essence of Forms, 2010) were also similarly fake-clear but stimulating.

In the 1965 doc, Bresson says of the Domaine Musical, "I never miss a concert"; then a short portion of a performance of Webern.  That's a bit on-the-nose....but it's apt.

[milk]

Un condamné à mort s'est échappé ou Le vent souffle où il veut [aka A MAN ESCAPED, OR, THE WIND BLOWETH WHERETH IT LISTETH] (Robert Bresson, 1956)

Better every time I see it.  I think I've always liked this one, but the first time I just could not understand the style and the direction of actors.  It still seems unusual, but the tension has become richer for me.
This time the motivation was seeing a newly restored image (in this case, Criterion blu) with substantial extras I'd not seen.  This was my second time to see the installment of the Cinéastes de notre temps series devoted to Bresson ("Ni Vu, Ni Connu" aka Without a Trace, 1965), and it was just as frustrating and exciting as before.  To wit (taken down from an old set of subs clearly inferior to the new Criterion copy):I really like hearing him speak, though it doesn't always clear much up.  Bruno Dumont's much more recent comments on another doc included in this disc (The Essence of Forms, 2010) were also similarly fake-clear but stimulating.

In the 1965 doc, Bresson says of the Domaine Musical, "I never miss a concert"; then a short portion of a performance of Webern.  That's a bit on-the-nose....but it's apt.

Bresson was really a singular and confounding genius. That film is one of the greatest ever made. Some of his other films are also amazing but much more miserable. I find that the Catholics speak to me more than, say, Bergman does. It's a generalization though...and directors with a tight vision of cinema.     

[Octave]

I find that the Catholics speak to me more than, say, Bergman does.

This interests me: who do you mean?  I imagine this would applies to lots of filmmakers I admire, but without me knowing about this dimension of their life, their faith and thinking.

I can relate to ambivalence towards Bergman.  He and Bresson are two guys that I don't ever (?) "just" enjoy, but no year goes by (recently) without me seeing at least a few of their movies, if not many.
There's an anthology of essays on Bresson edited by James Quandt, supposed to be really good; I'm keen to check out that and also Tony Pipolo's book.

[milk]

This interests me: who do you mean?  I imagine this would applies to lots of filmmakers I admire, but without me knowing about this dimension of their life, their faith and thinking.

I can relate to ambivalence towards Bergman.  He and Bresson are two guys that I don't ever (?) "just" enjoy, but no year goes by (recently) without me seeing at least a few of their movies, if not many.
There's an anthology of essays on Bresson edited by James Quandt, supposed to be really good; I'm keen to check out that and also Tony Pipolo's book.

Well, maybe I'm just more aware of consciously catholic filmmakers like Rohmer and Bresson and the interpretation of realism by Andre Bazin in a Catholic sense (going back to college). My comment was a bit off the cuff. But I like the sort of "God in the world" sense of catholicism in Southern European film. Id like to re-watch Bergman though. It was so much easier when I used to have a sort of film-club. These days I'm lazy and go for entertainment.   

[SonicMan46]

Rear Window (1954) w/ James Stewart, Grace Kelley, & Raymond Burr - another Hitchcock classic w/ yet a gorgeous Grace in this blu-ray restoration; video 4.0/5 & audio 4.5/5 (HERE) - the details of the apartment complexes in this BD are phenomenal - now the reviewer did have some quibbles w/ his video rating, but 4/5 is fine w/ me - another recommendation!

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988) w/ Steve Martin, Michael Caine, and Glenne Headly (Tess in Dick Tracy, and just delightful here) - again, a fine restoration (video, 4.5/5; audio, 4.0/5 - HERE) - of course, this is a remake of the film, Bedtime Story (1964) w/ Marlon Brando, David Niven, & Shirley Jones - I've not seen the latter in decades, but would like to; as I recall Brando (out of character, of course, and likely the reason for some negative reviews) was quite good in this comedic role, as I remember - Dave


   

[Karl Henning]

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988) w/ Steve Martin, Michael Caine, and Glenne Headly (Tess in Dick Tracy, and just delightful here) - again, a fine restoration (video, 4.5/5; audio, 4.0/5 - HERE)

Love that one, Dave!