View Full Version : Now Screening - What Are You Watching Right Now?
The Odessa File, 1974, adapted from the 1972 novel of the same name by Frederick Forsyth. It stars Jon Voight, Mary Tamm, Maximilian Schell and Maria Schell and was directed by Ronald Neame.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/50/Odessa_file_movieposter.jpg
Not the best Forsyth adaption but its ok.
The film's title song, "Christmas Dream", written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, was sung by Perry Como and the London Boy Singers.
I liked it, despite the 'neat and tidy' ending.
White Heat, 1949. James Cagney stars as only he can as Arthur "Cody" Jarrett, with co stars Virginia Mayo, Edmond O'Brien, Margaret Wycherly and Steve Cochran. It was directed by Raoul Walsh.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/42/White_Heat_%281949_poster%29.jpg/800px-White_Heat_%281949_poster%29.jpg
In 1950, Virginia Kellogg was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Story. Also that year writers Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts were nominated for the Edgar Award for Best Motion Picture, by the Mystery Writers of America. In 2003, the United States Library of Congress selected White Heat for preservation in the National Film Registry.
On June 4, 2003, the American Film Institute named Cody Jarrett in its list of the best heroes and villains of the past 100 years, he was voted 26th. Furthermore, in June 2005, "Made it, Ma! Top of the World!" was voted 18th in AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes; while, in June 2008, White Heat was voted 4th in AFI's 10 Top 10 list of gangster movies.
earlier; Fun with Dick and Jane, 1977.. George Segal and Jane Fonda...
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/bd/Fun_with_Dick_and_Jane_%281977_film%29.png
now, Blast from the Past, 1999. Brendan Fraser, Alicia Silverstone, Christopher Walken, Sissy Spacek, and Dave Foley star.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7e/BlastFromThePast.jpg
2 good comedies of differing styles.
Robert Newton' best performance now as Long John Silver in Disney's Treasure Island, 1950.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/89/Treasure_Island_%281950_film%29_poster.jpg
Thomas M. Pryor of The New York Times called the film "a grand and glorious entertainment" that "captures the true spirit of the novel." Variety praised the film for its "sumptuous" set pieces and "a virtual tour de force" performance by Newton.
Exterior scenes were shot in Cornwall (River Fal, Falmouth, Carrick Roads, Gull Rick and Helford River), Devon (cliff scenes), Bristol (wharf), and Iver Heath in Buckinghamshire. Interiors were filmed at Denham Film Studios, Denham, Buckinghamshire.
Good one that. Back when they filmed it some of those locations had hardly changed since the 1700s.
The Return Of Frank James, 1940. directed by Fritz Lang and starring Henry Fonda and Gene Tierney. It is a sequel to Henry King's 1939 film Jesse James. Written by Sam Hellman, the film loosely follows the life of Frank James following the death of his outlaw brother, Jesse James, at the hands of the Ford brothers. The film is universally considered historically inaccurate, but was a commercial success. It was the first motion picture for the actress Gene Tierney, who plays a reporter for the newspaper The Denver Star.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a1/The_Return_of_Frank_James_%28movie_poster%29.jpg
After the death of his outlaw brother, Jesse (played in the earlier film by Tyrone Power), Frank James (Henry Fonda) seeks revenge on his killers, Bob and Charlie Ford (John Carradine and Charles Tannen).
Cypher, 2002. starring Jeremy Northam and Lucy Liu.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/db/Cyphermovieposter.jpg
walpurgis
06-12-2021, 13:35
Cypher, 2002. starring Jeremy Northam and Lucy Liu
That's a great movie, nice and twisty. Not well known or often shown, I have the DVD.
It's an OK movie; receiving a score of 58% on Rotten Tomatoes. I've seen it a couple of times.
That's a great movie, nice and twisty. Not well known or often shown, I have the DVD.
yes its very good; as you say, lots of twists.
now, Dillinger, 1973. It stars Warren Oates as Dillinger, Ben Johnson as his pursuer, FBI Agent Melvin Purvis, and Cloris Leachman as the "Lady in Red" who made it possible for Purvis to kill Dillinger.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/13/DillingerPoster1973.jpg
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times awarded three stars out of four and called it "the film, we may speculate, that John Milius was born to make: violent, tough, filled with guns and blood." He added, "Dillinger is played by Warren Oates, a gifted actor with an uncanny physical resemblance to the gangster. Oates is lean in speech and lanky in appearance, and toward the end of the film, he does a good job of getting jumpy."
walpurgis
06-12-2021, 14:13
now, Dillinger, 1973. It stars Warren Oates as Dillinger, Ben Johnson as his pursuer
Two fine actors there.
Gorky Park.(pron GawKee Paak) 1983. based on the novel Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith. The film was directed by Michael Apted. Dennis Potter won a 1984 Edgar Award for his screenplay for the film.
William Hurt as Arkady Renko, Lee Marvin as Jack Osborne, Joanna Pacula as Irina Asanova, Rikki Fulton as Major Pribluda, Brian Dennehy as William Kirwill, Ian McDiarmid as Professor Andreev, Michael Elphick as Pasha and Ian Bannen as Prosecutor Iamskoy. James Horner wrote the score. Ralf D. Bode was cinematographer.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3a/Gorky_Park_-_1983_-_poster.jpg
Janet Maslin called it "a taut, clever thriller throughout, with Mr. Apted's direction establishing its intensity immediately and sustaining it well. Ralf G. Bode's cinematography and James Horner's score go a long way toward setting a hauntingly bleak mood, and the supporting players, particularly Brian Dennehy and Ian Bannen, are excellent". Though she found it odd that Hurt would affect an English accent, she found his performance "rivetingly strange".
Roger Ebert found the depiction of Soviet society to be the most interesting aspect of the film, and he credited Apted's direction for never letting the procedural lag. Ebert also praised the casting, even if it relied on typecasting an actor like Marvin. "He uses actors who are able to bring fully realized characters to the screen, so we don't have to stand around waiting for introductions"
The Professionals, 1966. Stars Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan, and Claudia Cardinale star, with Jack Palance, Ralph Bellamy, and Woody Strode in supporting roles.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d8/Movie_poster_for_%22The_Professionals%22.jpg
The film received three nominations at the 1967 Academy Awards. Writer and director Richard Brooks, for Best Director and Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay) and cinematographer Conrad Hall, for Best Cinematography. It lost all three to A Man for All Seasons.
Gorky Park.(pron GawKee Paak) 1983. based on the novel Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith. The film was directed by Michael Apted. Dennis Potter won a 1984 Edgar Award for his screenplay for the film.
William Hurt as Arkady Renko, Lee Marvin as Jack Osborne, Joanna Pacula as Irina Asanova, Rikki Fulton as Major Pribluda, Brian Dennehy as William Kirwill, Ian McDiarmid as Professor Andreev, Michael Elphick as Pasha and Ian Bannen as Prosecutor Iamskoy. James Horner wrote the score. Ralf D. Bode was cinematographer.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3a/Gorky_Park_-_1983_-_poster.jpg
Janet Maslin called it "a taut, clever thriller throughout, with Mr. Apted's direction establishing its intensity immediately and sustaining it well. Ralf G. Bode's cinematography and James Horner's score go a long way toward setting a hauntingly bleak mood, and the supporting players, particularly Brian Dennehy and Ian Bannen, are excellent". Though she found it odd that Hurt would affect an English accent, she found his performance "rivetingly strange".
Roger Ebert found the depiction of Soviet society to be the most interesting aspect of the film, and he credited Apted's direction for never letting the procedural lag. Ebert also praised the casting, even if it relied on typecasting an actor like Marvin. "He uses actors who are able to bring fully realized characters to the screen, so we don't have to stand around waiting for introductions"
An excellent film - I have it on DVD. :)
The Producers, 1967. A satirical black comedy film written and directed by Mel Brooks in his directorial debut and starring Zero Mostel, Gene Wilder, Dick Shawn, and Kenneth Mars.
http://blueprintreview.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/The-Producers-Blu-Ray.jpg
The Producers was Brooks's directorial debut.[11] For the film, he won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. In 1996, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry and placed eleventh on the AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs list.
This is the Bluray version.
Tales From The Crypt, 1970's... Arguably the most famous of Amicus' 1970's horror anthologies, 'Tales From The Crypt' sees five strangers (including a young Joan Collins) trapped in an underground tomb by a sinister, hooded crypt-keeper who forces them to relive the despicable things they have done.
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71tiNAWYl5L._AC_SL1046_.jpg
just finished... Around the World in 80 Days, 1956. starring David Niven, Cantinflas, Robert Newton and Shirley MacLaine.. plus loads of cameos.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5e/Around_the_World_in_80_Days_%281956_film%29_poster .jpg
According to Niven, when Todd asked him if he would appear as Fogg, Niven enthusiastically replied, 'I'd do it for nothing!' He later admitted to being grateful that Todd did not hold him to his claim. He also described the first meeting between Todd and Robert Newton (who suffered from drinking problems) when the latter was offered the role of the detective, Fix; Niven alleged that Newton was offered the part on condition that he did not drink any alcohol during the filming, and that his celebration following the completion of his role led to his untimely demise (he did not live to see the film released).
The Mouse on the Moon, 1963. sequel to The Mouse That Roared, and stars Margaret Rutherford, Ron Moody, Roddy McMillan and Bernard Cribbins, with June Ritchie and Terry-Thomas and David Kossoff. It was directed by Rihard Lester.
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNTc4NTk4NDgyN15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwODY2NjE2NA@@._ V1_.jpg
The film was made on sets left over from Cornel Wilde's film Sword of Lancelot. Sellers recommended Lester, whom he knew from his direction of The Running, Jumping and Standing Still Film, as director. Producer Walter Shenson and director Lester next made The Beatles film A Hard Day's Night.
Some cheer needed...Hotel Transylvania, 2012.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f5/HotelTransylvania.jpg
it did very well and started a franchise (sadly) this first film was excellent.
Python's Holy Grail from 1975. Stars Chapman, Cleese, Gilliam, Idle, Jones and Palin, and was directed by Gilliam and Jones.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/08/Monty-Python-1975-poster.png
Monty Python and the Holy Grail grossed more than any British film exhibited in the US in 1975. In the US, it was selected in 2011 as the second-best comedy of all time in the ABC special Best in Film: The Greatest Movies of Our Time behind Airplane!. In the UK, readers of Total Film magazine in 2000 ranked it the fifth-greatest comedy film of all time; a similar poll of Channel 4 viewers in 2006 placed it sixth.
the dreaded Knights Who Say "Ni!"
https://i1.sndcdn.com/artworks-NCMrtVpL3Pxymnrf-UjPanw-t500x500.jpg
Holy Grail and Life of Brian are up there with the best in my opinion, but I’ve never met a girl that liked anything Python... is it a male humour thing?
(‘Tis But a flesh wound!)
Holy Grail and Life of Brian are up there with the best in my opinion, but I’ve never met a girl that liked anything Python... is it a male humour thing?
(‘Tis But a flesh wound!)
Never occurred to me. I'm sure there must be some female fans. I know my mother thought it was rubbish though.
My two favourite Monty Python films are 'Life of Brian' and 'The Meaning of Life'. For some reason I never found 'Holy Grail' that funny; it has it's moments, but IMO it is not as good as the other two. :confused:
My two favourite Monty Python films are 'Life of Brian' and 'The Meaning of Life'. For some reason I never found 'Holy Grail' that funny; it has it's moments, but IMO it is not as good as the other two. :confused:Grail may be odd in comparison to others but for me it's the best. Pure python
My vote is for the Grail too, I never found The Meaning Of Life that good for whatever reason ;)
At Worlds End. 2007.
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81vCMwLnqLL._RI_.jpg
Ice Cold In Alex. 1958.
https://cdn.hmv.com/r/w-640/hmv/files/fb/fb074f1a-ee20-4cde-b944-24dac6ec6cc6.jpg
The film was shot in Libya, as Egypt was ruled out because of the recent Suez crisis. In the bar scene in Alexandria, Sir John Mills was drinking real beer because ginger ale and other substitutes didn't look real enough on film. In the final cut (the fourteenth take) he actually was quite drunk. The ambulance used is an Austin K2, which saw widespread service with the British during World War II.
Lawrence001
09-12-2021, 19:13
one of the best films ever made that.
one of the best films ever made that.
Agreed! :)
Agreed! :)
+1 - and not just because it's ice cold in me!
Hopscotch again. great cast and zany story.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/criterion-production/films/43b80b5305b96f14302af3745135d219/LXsJdJHsKGIMUWbeeMrwqtsVXGAOlR_large.jpg
The 39 Steps, 1935.
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71WDbFxquBL._AC_SL1500_.jpg
During a private screening, Alfred Hitchcock asked John Buchan, whose original plot had been used only very loosely, what he thought of the movie so far. Buchan replied: "Fascinating! I wonder how it will end."
Wanted to watch that new Soprano's film 'The Many Saints Of Newark.' Went on Virgin PPV - £15.99 for two days! I mean I thought it might be about seven quid tops.
Just taking the piss. It isn't even fifteen quid to see it at the pictures.
Pre-ordered it on DVD £9.99 including delivery, arrives tomorrow. So six quid less and I've got it forever not two days.
Wanted to watch that new Soprano's film 'The Many Saints Of Newark.' Went on Virgin PPV - £15.99 for two days! I mean I thought it might be about seven quid tops.
Just taking the piss. It isn't even fifteen quid to see it at the pictures.
Pre-ordered it on DVD £9.99 including delivery, arrives tomorrow. So six quid less and I've got it forever not two days.
got terrible reviews.
Pigmy Pony
10-12-2021, 16:59
Wanted to watch that new Soprano's film 'The Many Saints Of Newark.' Went on Virgin PPV - £15.99 for two days! I mean I thought it might be about seven quid tops.
Just taking the piss. It isn't even fifteen quid to see it at the pictures.
Pre-ordered it on DVD £9.99 including delivery, arrives tomorrow. So six quid less and I've got it forever not two days.
Taking the piss is an understatement.
A couple of weeks ago I fancied watching "Absolute Power" which I'd seen listed somewhere. Unfortunately that somewhere was Sky Store, which wanted 14 quid to rent. For a 1997 film! No doubt due to Covid or Brexit or something.
We cannot let these bandits get away with this shite, and the best thing we can do is avoid it like the plague.
Taking the piss is an understatement.
A couple of weeks ago I fancied watching "Absolute Power" which I'd seen listed somewhere. Unfortunately that somewhere was Sky Store, which wanted 14 quid to rent. For a 1997 film! No doubt due to Covid or Brexit or something.
We cannot let these bandits get away with this shite, and the best thing we can do is avoid it like the plague.
that's crazy money - and it's on the telly pretty regular anyway, either on film 4 or TCM. Must think people are mugs.
got terrible reviews.
77 percent fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. Okay it's not up there with 'The Godfather' but it's not terrible.
Anyway anything Sopranos-related I'm still going to watch even if it get zero percent. :D
Bleak but compelling
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51738694266_5fc89fddbe_o.png
War years and Dad's Army, 1971..
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/41/Dads_army_movie.jpg
"How can the stupid British ever hope to win?!"
sounds familiar to this day :D
The Secret of My Success, 1987.. Great fun this. the scenes with his 'hot' aunt are hilarious.
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZWVmY2I3OTQtZTdiNC00ODZkLTg3ZDgtNmE4ZmFhNjQwN2 ZjXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNDk3NzU2MTQ@._V1_.jpg
Chevy Chase, Daryl Hannah and Sam Neill star in the si-fi black comedy, Memoirs of an Invisible Man, 1992.
https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQcjSZFTvfIRrgMrxNsMw3vLmvHCrP8U xQNFZ9Eu5Baj-qfSQ43
Stick with comedy and this...The Man Who Knew Too Little, 1997. Bill Murray and the sexy Joanne Whalley star.
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQaz-ObOQmjZWr4EF97HXWGeAcoYr5OqIfcKdmX9c8qOVJpTe-P
He Walked by Night, 1948. A police procedural film noir directed by Alfred L. Werker and an uncredited Anthony Mann.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/48/He_Walked_by_Night_poster.jpg
During the film's production, one of the actors, Jack Webb, struck up a friendship with the police technical advisor, Detective Sergeant Marty Wynn, and was inspired by a conversation with Wynn to create the radio and later television program Dragnet.
Pigmy Pony
11-12-2021, 16:55
Bleak but compelling
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51738694266_5fc89fddbe_o.png
Me and Mrs. Pony watched this a few months ago - you're right, bleak it is, and compelling it is too. Worth watching.
The Apartment, 1960. Billy Wilder writes and directs. Stars Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine and Fred MacMurray. THE APARTMENT picked up five Oscar wins including Best Picture and Billy Wilder picked up awards for his direction and screenplay, and over the years it's reputation has grown as today it's considered one of the greatest pictures ever made.
CC Baxter finally took his doctor's advice and became a Mensch.:D
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51g2OZ4QYgL._AC_SY445_.jpg
The office Christmas party scene was actually filmed on December 23, 1959, so as to catch everybody in the proper holiday mood. Billy Wilder filmed almost all of it on the first take, stating to an observer, "I wish it were always this easy. Today, I can just shout 'action' and stand back."
To create the effect of a vast sea of faces labouring grimly and impersonally at their desks in the huge insurance company office, designers Alexandre Trauner and Edward G. Boyle devised an interesting technique. Full-sized actors sat at the desks in the front and children dressed in suits were used at tiny desks toward the rear, followed by even smaller desks with cut-out figures operated by wires. It gave the effect of a much larger space than could have been achieved in the limited studio space.
This bluray was exclusively restored by Arrow Films and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 with the original mono soundtrack
Another film with Wilder/Lemmon/ MacLaine now. Irma La Douce, 1963. The Masters of Cinema remastered bluray here.
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81IqBWDWwQL._AC_SL1500_.jpg
In order to be able to play Irma properly, Shirley MacLaine traveled to Paris to see what it was like for real Parisian prostitutes. They were eager to tell her what it was like, and very willing to answer any questions she had. When asked if she would like to "watch them in action", she politely declined, but to her surprise they became indignant. They requested that she watch one of their weekly customers with three of the girls through a small window in the hotel door; she unwillingly obliged.
ive been watching the 5 of these today..
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81D2e1rqCyL._AC_SL1500_.jpg
David Copperfield, 1999.. bbc tv mini series starring Maggie Smith, Pauline Quirk, Ciarán McMenamin, Daniel Ratcliffe, Trevor Eve, Michael Elphick, Nicholas Lyndhurst and Bob Hoskins among many...
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/5a/David_Copperfield_%281999_film%29.jpg/250px-David_Copperfield_%281999_film%29.jpg
Political satire black comedy now with the 2017, The Death of Stalin. It stars Steve Buscemi, Simon Russell Beale, Paddy Considine, Rupert Friend, Jason Isaacs, Michael Palin, Andrea Riseborough, Paul Whitehouse, Olga Kurylenko, and Jeffrey Tambor.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/86/The_Death_of_Stalin.png
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 95% based on 243 reviews, with an average rating of 8.06/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "The Death of Stalin finds director/co-writer Armando Iannucci in riotous form, bringing his scabrous political humor to bear on a chapter in history with painfully timely parallels." On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 88 out of 100, based on 43 critics, indicating "universal acclaim"
Nikita Khrushchev: I really need your help.
Georgy Zhukov: To do what? There's bodies fucking piling up in the street, it's a bit late, isn't it?
Nikita Khrushchev: What if we blame this on someone...
Georgy Zhukov: Wait...
Nikita Khrushchev: Who's out of control?
Georgy Zhukov: Nicky, be very careful what you say next. Who?
Nikita Khrushchev: Beria.
Georgy Zhukov: I'm going to have to report this conversation. Threatening to do harm or obstruct any member of the Presidium in the process of...
[grins]
Georgy Zhukov: Look at your fucking face!
[bursts out laughing]
Switch, 1991. Directed by Blake Edwards. Based on George Axelrod's 1959 play Goodbye Charlie (and the 1964 film of the same title), the film stars Ellen Barkin, Jimmy Smits, JoBeth Williams, and Lorraine Bracco.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a8/Switch_poster.jpg
The motion picture was supposed to have a soundtrack composed and arranged by Henry Mancini, who shares composer credits with Don Grady, but Mancini's score was ultimately replaced by a variation of Joni Mitchell's song "Both Sides, Now", done by Paul Young/Clannad. Both the unused Mancini score and the pop song soundtrack were produced on CD in 1991, as a result of which two motion picture soundtrack albums exist for the film.
The Guns Of Navarone, 1961. Directed by J. Lee Thompson. It starred Gregory Peck, David Niven, Anthony Quayle, Anthony Quinn, Stanley Baker and James Robertson Justice.
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMDIyNDA3NGMtNWFmMi00NDRlLWEzMTEtOGIxMDZhZmRmYj JlXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNjUwNzk3NDc@._V1_.jpg
To receive a 'U' certificate the original UK cinema version was overdubbed to remove all of Barnsby's uses of the word 'bloody' (the word was replaced with the less offensive 'ruddy'), and this same print appeared on early video releases. The film was restored in 1993 and all later widescreen releases feature the full unedited version
Good book but IMO the film is over-rated and looks cheaply made.
I'm probably the only person to much prefer the sequel 'Force Ten From Navarone'. That's not that great either but better than the first film in many ways.
Good book but IMO the film is over-rated and looks cheaply made.
I'm probably the only person to much prefer the sequel 'Force Ten From Navarone'. That's not that great either but better than the first film in many ways.
the book it terrific, and this not as good of course, but its not too bad. i have force 10 as well.
https://i.ibb.co/RzKYkmM/saints.jpg (https://ibb.co/ZWrGpPw)
'The Many Saints Of Newark' (2021)
Not sure what to make of this. As a big Soprano's fan it's essential watching for me, but I'm not sure what anyone who is not a fan would make of it.
Despite being set in the late 1960s through to the early 1970s, starring Ray Liotta (playing two characters who are brothers) and having a soundtrack contemporaneous with the times, this is a long way from being an accessible watch for anyone, unlike 'Goodfellas.'
Won't give away any spoilers but the film does seem to be all over the place, like it needed to be 4 hours when it's just over 2. Nothing really gets fleshed out like it did in the TV series where they had 80-odd hours to develop characters and plotlines.
I was very disappointed that Pauli Walnuts is only in a couple of scenes since he was always my favourite character. He should have his own film.
No-one seems to care these days if a film is very long, and Soprano fans certainly would watch it even if it was twenty hours so not sure why they felt constrained to two hours, that doesn't really make much sense to me.
Despite that if you liked the Sopranos then it's still good enough to be mandatory viewing. If you've never seen the Sopranos then this won't really be much more to you than another fairly forgettable gangster film.
Box office performance was poor but it did set a record for downloads on HBO so it's possible that there will be a sequel that follows the story on into the 1980s. We can only hope.
not seen it but it got pretty well slated in reviews i read, even from fans.. i wasnt into the soprano's either i must admit.
I can't understand anyone not being into The Sopranos. Best thing that's ever been on telly.
walpurgis
15-12-2021, 14:27
Saw it a few times. I think I preferred 'Ray Donovan' from around that time. That was a bit savage too.
Saw it a few times. I think I preferred 'Ray Donovan' from around that time. That was a bit savage too.
not seen that one. im not overly big on gangster stuff in general; especially series. goodfellows etc are exceptions, and many of the oldies.
Gangster series and movies leave me cold: The Sopranos; Peaky Blinders; the original Untouchables and Goodfellows - they all do nothing for me. Though the remake of 'The Untouchables' with Sean Connery and Kevin Costner wasn't too bad. I thought the first 'Godfather' film very good, but not the sequels.
I really liked 'The Guns of Navarone', but loathed the sequel.
Shooter, 2007. directed by Antoine Fuqua, and stars Mark Wahlberg, Michael Peña, Danny Glover, Kate Mara, Levon Helm, and Ned Beatty.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7a/Shooter2007Poster.jpg
Most of the film was shot on location in New Westminster, Kamloops, Mission, Ashcroft and Cache Creek in British Columbia, Canada. For example, Swagger's escape was filmed in New Westminster along the Fraser River, standing in for the Delaware River. The car chase that ends when it plunged into the river was filmed down 6th Street and off the Westminster Quay. The following scene of Swagger clinging to the side of a dredger was also filmed on the Fraser River near the Pattullo Bridge.
The assassination scenes were filmed in Independence National Historical Park in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia. The sniper location was created from using the exteriors of the church steeple at the junction of New Street and North 4th Street and combining them with an elevated view from another building to create a fictional vista of the park. The final scene was in Mammoth Lakes, California, in the lakes basin.
The mountaintop confrontation was shot on the glaciers of Rainbow Mountain, near the resort town of Whistler, British Columbia.
Pigmy Pony
15-12-2021, 20:22
Political satire black comedy now with the 2017, The Death of Stalin. It stars Steve Buscemi, Simon Russell Beale, Paddy Considine, Rupert Friend, Jason Isaacs, Michael Palin, Andrea Riseborough, Paul Whitehouse, Olga Kurylenko, and Jeffrey Tambor.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/86/The_Death_of_Stalin.png
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 95% based on 243 reviews, with an average rating of 8.06/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "The Death of Stalin finds director/co-writer Armando Iannucci in riotous form, bringing his scabrous political humor to bear on a chapter in history with painfully timely parallels." On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 88 out of 100, based on 43 critics, indicating "universal acclaim"
Never seen this but I'll look out for it. Steve Buscemi and Paddy Considine are two of my favourite actors.
Pigmy Pony
15-12-2021, 20:31
Shooter, 2007. directed by Antoine Fuqua, and stars Mark Wahlberg, Michael Peña, Danny Glover, Kate Mara, Levon Helm, and Ned Beatty.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7a/Shooter2007Poster.jpg
Most of the film was shot on location in New Westminster, Kamloops, Mission, Ashcroft and Cache Creek in British Columbia, Canada. For example, Swagger's escape was filmed in New Westminster along the Fraser River, standing in for the Delaware River. The car chase that ends when it plunged into the river was filmed down 6th Street and off the Westminster Quay. The following scene of Swagger clinging to the side of a dredger was also filmed on the Fraser River near the Pattullo Bridge.
The assassination scenes were filmed in Independence National Historical Park in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia. The sniper location was created from using the exteriors of the church steeple at the junction of New Street and North 4th Street and combining them with an elevated view from another building to create a fictional vista of the park. The final scene was in Mammoth Lakes, California, in the lakes basin.
The mountaintop confrontation was shot on the glaciers of Rainbow Mountain, near the resort town of Whistler, British Columbia.
Really like this film, seen it a few times. My favourite has to be Levon Helm's character. Just great, I wish he'd been in it more.
Pigmy Pony
15-12-2021, 20:36
I can't understand anyone not being into The Sopranos. Best thing that's ever been on telly.
I've seen the entire series of The Sopranos three times, so I suppose that makes me a fan. Although I'd say "The Wire" would give it some competition.
I've seen the entire series of The Sopranos three times, so I suppose that makes me a fan. Although I'd say "The Wire" would give it some competition.
Could not get into that, I only watched first few episodes but it didn't grab me. I thought it was all a bit false, I didn't believe the characters were real people. Whereas with the Sopranos you had to remind yourself that it wasn't real.
Pigmy Pony
15-12-2021, 22:45
Could not get into that, I only watched first few episodes but it didn't grab me. I thought it was all a bit false, I didn't believe the characters were real people. Whereas with the Sopranos you had to remind yourself that it wasn't real.
Maybe that's because some of the characters were real people, just not great actors. Including a former police commander, and a previous high up Baltimore drug dealer who played a deacon in the series.
Some things do take a while to get into, and I couldn't even understand half of what was said during the first series.
Really like this film, seen it a few times. My favourite has to be Levon Helm's character. Just great, I wish he'd been in it more.
yeah he was very good; they all were tbh.. loved the quote... "welcome to Tennessee, patron state of shootin' stuff".
Free State of Jones,2016. American historical war film inspired by the life of Newton Knight and his armed revolt against the Confederacy in Jones County, Mississippi, throughout the American Civil War. Written and directed by Gary Ross, the film stars Matthew McConaughey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mahershala Ali, and Keri Russell.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fb/Free_State_of_Jones_poster.png
The story is based on the history of Jones County, Mississippi, during the Civil War and the period immediately after it. The overall story follows the history of Jones County; some of the events portrayed are true. The film is credited as being "based on the books The Free State of Jones by Victoria E. Bynum and The State of Jones by Sally Jenkins and John Stauffer."
film was a financial flop.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/true-story-free-state-jones-180958111/
some info on this story.
Pigmy Pony
16-12-2021, 18:59
For anyone who hasn't seen the film
https://youtu.be/mn60YWO218k
Public Enemies, 2009. Good cast icluding Johnny Depp, Christian Bale and Marion Cotillard .
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81eSAetzn5L._AC_SL1500_.jpg
Not as good as it should have been but still not too bad a film. It was Directed by the legendary Michael Mann.
Rooster Cogburn, 1975. Directed by Stuart Millar and stars John Wayne and Katharine Hepburn.
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81jwDxe0EKL._AC_SY445_.jpg
The Bank Job, 2008. directed by Roger Donaldson, written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, and starring Jason Statham and Saffron Burrows, based on the 1971 Baker Street robbery in central London, from which the money and valuables stolen were never recovered. The producers allege that the story was prevented from being told in 1971 because of a D-Notice, to protect a prominent member of the British royal family.
https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT5HFBLKWc4Vl5vN27AI8Tm0S9EvXfVO Y4-oOBHyDFA9avYNgRH
The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 80% of 148 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 6.8/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Well cast and crisply directed, The Bank Job is a thoroughly entertaining British heist thriller."
It made a good profit too.
A bit of nonsnse now with Blame It on the Bellboy, 1992. starring Dudley Moore, Bryan Brown, Patsy Kensit, Richard Griffiths, Andreas Katsulas, and Penelope Winton.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9d/Blame_It_on_the_Bellboy_%281992_film%29_poster.jpg
i quite like this as i like penelope...
The Day the Earth Stood Still, 1951. 4k version. directed by Robert Wise. It starred Michael Rennie and Patricia Neal.
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81PiN505gnL._RI_.jpg
In a 1995 interview, producer Julian Blaustein explained that Joseph Breen, the film censor installed by the Motion Picture Association of America at the Twentieth Century Fox studios, balked at the portrayal of Klaatu's resurrection and limitless power. At the behest of the MPAA, a line was written into the script; when Helen asks Klaatu whether Gort has unlimited power over life and death, Klaatu explains that Gort has only revived him temporarily: "that power is reserved to the Almighty Spirit". Of the elements that he added to Klaatu's character, screenwriter Edmund North said, "It was my private little joke. I never discussed this angle with Blaustein or Wise because I didn't want it expressed. I had originally hoped that the Christ comparison would be subliminal"
One of the great early Si-Fi films.
It is true to life too, as the Yanks first thought is to shoot at the occupants.. He must be destroyed... Yup thats the American way:ner:
Keeping with early Si-Fi, and 1953's The War Of The Worlds. directed by Byron Haskin, and starring Gene Barry and Ann Robinson.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3b/The_War_of_the_Worlds_%281953_film_poster%29.jpg/800px-The_War_of_the_Worlds_%281953_film_poster%29.jpg
As Caroline Blake has written, the film is very different from the original novel in its attitude toward religion, as reflected especially in the depiction of clergymen as characters. "The staunchly secularist Wells depicted a cowardly and thoroughly uninspiring Curate, whom the narrator regards with disgust, with which the reader is invited to concur. In the film, there is instead the sympathetic and heroic Pastor Collins who dies a martyr's death. And then the film's final scene in the church, strongly emphasizing the Divine nature of Humanity's deliverance, has no parallel in the original book."
The Time Machine. Rod Taylor stars in this H. G. Wells story from 1960. Gene Warren and Tim Baar received the Academy Award for Best Special Effects.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Poster_for_the_1960_film_The_Time_Machine.jpg
Director George Pal originally considered casting a middle-aged British actor like David Niven or James Mason as George. He later changed his mind and selected the younger Australian actor Rod Taylor to give the character a more athletic, idealistic dimension. It was Taylor's first lead role in a feature film.
Stay with 1960 and Peter Sellers in Two-Way Stretch. Also stars Wilfrid Hyde-White, Lionel Jeffries and Bernard Cribbins.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9e/TwoWayStretchPoster.jpg
The prison scenes were filmed at the South Cavalry Barracks at Aldershot, and the security van robbery at Pirbright Arch in the village of Brookwood in Surrey.
The Day the Earth Stood Still, 1951. 4k version. directed by Robert Wise. It starred Michael Rennie and Patricia Neal.
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81PiN505gnL._RI_.jpg
In a 1995 interview, producer Julian Blaustein explained that Joseph Breen, the film censor installed by the Motion Picture Association of America at the Twentieth Century Fox studios, balked at the portrayal of Klaatu's resurrection and limitless power. At the behest of the MPAA, a line was written into the script; when Helen asks Klaatu whether Gort has unlimited power over life and death, Klaatu explains that Gort has only revived him temporarily: "that power is reserved to the Almighty Spirit". Of the elements that he added to Klaatu's character, screenwriter Edmund North said, "It was my private little joke. I never discussed this angle with Blaustein or Wise because I didn't want it expressed. I had originally hoped that the Christ comparison would be subliminal"
One of the great early Si-Fi films.
It is true to life too, as the Yanks first thought is to shoot at the occupants.. He must be destroyed... Yup thats the American way:ner:
The first and the best - unlike the awful 2008 re-make with Keanu Reeves. :doh:
The Simpsons Movie, 2007.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a0/Simpsons_final_poster.png
film did very well and mad close to half a billion profit.
The first and the best - unlike the awful 2008 re-make with Keanu Reeves. :doh:
remake was not in same league really although as a flm in its own right its ok. just not really the film its supposed to represent for me anyway.
Mass Killings now with John Wick, 2014. It stars Keanu Reeves, Michael Nyqvist, Alfie Allen, Adrianne Palicki, Bridget Moynahan, Dean Winters, Ian McShane, John Leguizamo, and Willem Dafoe.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/98/John_Wick_TeaserPoster.jpg
The best of the franchise. His kill count is low tho at only 77.
the man that killed the boogeyman lol:guns:
..in comparison, this guy is just a pussy;) .... The Bourne Identity, 2002.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/ae/BourneIdentityfilm.jpg
Mass Killings now with John Wick, 2014. It stars Keanu Reeves, Michael Nyqvist, Alfie Allen, Adrianne Palicki, Bridget Moynahan, Dean Winters, Ian McShane, John Leguizamo, and Willem Dafoe.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/98/John_Wick_TeaserPoster.jpg
The best of the franchise. His kill count is low tho at only 77.
The role was tailor made for Reeves - totally unemotional. :D Still prefer Jason Bourne.
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, 1970. Directed by Billy Wilder. It stars Robert Stephens as Holmes and Colin Blakely as Doctor Watson.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d6/Private_Life_of_Sherlock_Holmes_1970.jpg
Elaborate sets were built on the backlot at Pinewood Studios, including 150 yards of the Baker Street set, at a cost of £80,000. The reproduction of the Diogenes Club stood until 1973 having been used in other films such as Hands of the Ripper and Carry On at Your Convenience. The sets were designed by art director Alexandre Trauner.
The scenes set in Scotland were filmed on location at Urquhart Castle on the banks of Loch Ness; Kilmartin Hall on Loch Meiklie; Nairn railway station. The cemetery scene with Stanley Holloway was filmed at the Church of St Mary, Winkfield in Berkshire. Somerset House in London and the London Coliseum were also used as locations. Castle Stuart and Eilean Donan Castle in Scotland and Broadway Tower in Worcestershire made fleeting appearances.
Logans Run, 1976. directed by Michael Anderson and starring Michael York and Jenny Agutter. With co stars Richard Jordan, Roscoe Lee Browne, Farrah Fawcett, and Peter Ustinov.
https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT0dC_LNXD4oO9C6DIaod2xuYwIlfc-N633dB6vvCqZPeoT0BJL
Produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the film uses only the novel's two basic premises: that everyone must die at a set age, and that Logan and his companion Jessica attempt to escape while being chased by another Sandman named Francis. After aborted attempts to adapt the novel, story changes were made, including raising the age of "last day" from 21 to 30 and introducing the idea of "Carrousel" [sic] for eliminating 30-year-olds. Its filming was marked by special-effects challenges in depicting Carrousel and innovative use of holograms and wide-angle lenses.
The film won a Special Academy Award for its visual effects and six Saturn Awards, including Best Science Fiction Film. A spin-off TV series aired in 1977-1978 on CBS for 14 episodes.
An absolutely stupid film, unless you like films about a sort of thanatognomonic society wherein all the female members there run around bra-less! :D
An absolutely stupid film, unless you like films about a sort of thanatognomonic society wherein all the female members there run around bra-less! :D
cant say i noticed:)
An absolutely stupid film, unless you like films about a sort of thanatognomonic society wherein all the female members there run around bra-less! :D
Not a deal-breaker for me.:D
I think it's a film that has got better over time, especially compared to modern sci-fi films which are generally terrible.
I loved Logan’s Run, but then I was a teenager when I first saw it. I fell in love with Jenny Agutter after An American Werewolf in London... :drool:
some never aging humour now with Some Like It Hot, 1959. Directed by Billy Wilder and stars Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, with George Raft, Pat O'Brien, Joe E. Brown, Joan Shawlee, Grace Lee Whitney and Nehemiah Persoff in supporting roles.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b8/Some_Like_It_Hot_%281959_poster%29.png/800px-Some_Like_It_Hot_%281959_poster%29.png
Jack Lemmon wrote that the first sneak preview had a bad reaction with many audience walkouts. Many studio personnel and agents offered advice to Billy Wilder on what scenes to reshoot, add and cut. Lemmon asked Wilder what he was going to do. Wilder responded: "Why, nothing. This is a very funny movie and I believe in it just as it is. Maybe this is the wrong neighborhood in which to have shown it. At any rate, I don't panic over one preview. It's a hell of a movie." Wilder held the next preview in the Westwood section of Los Angeles, and the audience stood up and cheered.
Planet of the Apes, 1968. Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner and loosely based on the 1963 French novel La Planète des Singes by Pierre Boulle. Written by Michael Wilson and Rod Serling, it stars Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans, James Whitmore, James Daly and Linda Harrison.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fd/PlanetoftheapesPoster.jpg
The film was released in the United States on February 8, 1968, and was a commercial success, earning a lifetime domestic gross of $32.6 million. The film was groundbreaking for its prosthetic makeup techniques by artist John Chambers and was well received by critics and audiences, launching a film franchise, including four sequels, as well as a short-lived television show, animated series, comic books, and various merchandising. In particular, Roddy McDowall had a long-running relationship with the Apes series, appearing in four of the original five films .
You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!
Charley Varrick, 1973. Directed by Don Siegel. Walter Matthau stars.
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTvLOpencjNFZoE-B1kew8TftKSgRRGCPADxtpys8nMp2laP-wr
This was the first of four consecutive films comic actor Walter Matthau appeared in that were not comedies. they were 'The Laughing Policeman', 'The Taking of Pelham One Two Three' and 'Earthquake'.
Oliver twist, 1948. great cast and directed by David Lean.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e0/Oliver_Twist1948.movieposter.jpg
As a result of objections by the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith and the New York Board of Rabbis, the film was not released in the United States until 1951, with 12 minutes of footage removed. It received great acclaim from critics, but, unlike Lean's Great Expectations, another Dickens adaptation, no Oscar nominations. The film was banned in Israel for anti-semitism. It was banned in Egypt for portraying Fagin too sympathetically.
Beginning in the 1970s, the full-length version of Lean's film began to be shown in the United States. It is that version which is now available on DVD
Home Alone -1990
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20211222/8849186dcf0e890266b1cc8830248953.jpg
Family movie time. Now Christmas can really begin!
What actually does constitute a Christmas film?
'Home Alone' is set at Christmas but it could just as well be at any time of year, doesn't matter to the plot.
Same with 'Die Hard', 'Die Hard 2' and 'Trading Places'
But I think of 'Zulu' as a Christmas film because it was always on at Christmas in the 1970s.
Most films that actually have Christmas as an integral part of the plot, in other words a 'real' Christmas film, are all a bit rubbish.
Young Frankenstein, 1974. one of the very best.
http://www.movienewsletters.net/photos/006773R1.jpg
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein:
For the experiment to be a success, all of the body parts must be enlarged.
Inga:
His veins, his feet, his hands, his organs vould all have to be increased in size.
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein:
Exactly.
Inga:
He vould have an enormous schwanzstucker.
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein:
That goes without saying.
Inga:
Voof.
Igor:
He's going to be very popular.
We're No Angels, 1955. Directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Humphrey Bogart, Peter Ustinov, Aldo Ray, Joan Bennett, Basil Rathbone, Leo G. Carroll, and Gloria Talbott.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/16/We%27re_No_Angels_-_1955_-_poster.png
One of Bogeys lines went...' We came here to rob them and that's what we're gonna do - beat their heads in, gouge their eyes out, slash their throats. Soon as we wash the dishes '.
This is another of my favs...
Memphis Belle (1990)
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20211223/0e880d9f9aa3a914a8c9e93dfa0805cb.jpg
I seem to have got stuck in 1990 movies... and what a belter this is. I haven’t seen it in a long time, but prompted by doing a lot of reading, research and visits to abandoned American airbases in Norfolk and Suffolk this summer, I bought it a while back but hadn’t got round to watching it.
It’s harrowing, of course, but a very realistic portrayal of what it was like for those young airmen displaced from their country, 200,000 of whom never returned home.
What I didn’t realise until relatively recently is that there was an original Mphasis Belle film, made by the war department at the time when the crew became the first to complete their 25 missions and finish their tour of duty. The movie must have been based on it, as there are some striking comparisons. It’s available on YouTube if you’re interested and haven’t seen it. (The Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress)
Memphis Belle (1990)
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20211223/0e880d9f9aa3a914a8c9e93dfa0805cb.jpg
I seem to have got stuck in 1990 movies... and what a belter this is. I haven’t seen it in a long time, but prompted by doing a lot of reading, research and visits to abandoned American airbases in Norfolk and Suffolk this summer, I bought it a while back but hadn’t got round to watching it.
It’s harrowing, of course, but a very realistic portrayal of what it was like for those young airmen displaced from their country, 200,000 of whom never returned home.
What I didn’t realise until relatively recently is that there was an original Mphasis Belle film, made by the war department at the time when the crew became the first to complete their 25 missions and finish their tour of duty. The movie must have been based on it, as there are some striking comparisons. It’s available on YouTube if you’re interested and haven’t seen it. (The Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress)
good film. ive got that one myself Alex.
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, 2007.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5a/Pirates_AWE_Poster.jpg
At World's End had a gross worldwide total of $963m.
According to Xinhua, the state news agency of the People's Republic of China, ten minutes of footage containing Chow Yun-fat's portrayal of Singaporean pirate Sao Feng were trimmed from versions of the film which may be shown in China. Chow is onscreen for twenty minutes in the uncensored theatrical release of the film. No official reason for the censorship was given, but unofficial sources within China have indicated that the character gave a negative and stereotypical portrayal of Chinese people.
Never could get my head around issues in films and comedy in general with stereotypes. Some folk are far too touchy, and it shows them in an even worse light. History proves this too.
The Streisand Effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect
walpurgis
24-12-2021, 12:38
The Streisand Effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect
That actually makes hilarious reading :). I'd not heard of it before.
An American Werewolf in London, 1981. Directed by John Landis.
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71xA8cplaSL._AC_SL1065_.jpg
This film made a lot of money and was also a critical success, and at the 54th Academy Awards, An American Werewolf in London won the first-ever Academy Award for Best Makeup.
A true classic imo and you can never see it too often.
Darn it, I was going to watch that, wasn’t I? Watching some shitty Netflix Christmas film, wife’s choice, but she’s glued to her iPad, so if you can’t beat ‘em... :lol:
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
The Front Page, 1974. Remake of the Howard Hawks version called His Girl Friday. Stars Walter Matthau, Jack Lemmon and Susan Sarandon(all 3 Oscar winners); Its directed by Billy Wilder(who won 6).
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81gu6HY4B0L._AC_SL1500_.jpg
Walter Burns' idea for Hildy Johnson to surreptitiously snap a photo of Earl Williams' execution by strapping a camera to his ankle with the shutter release in his pocket is based on a real-life incident. On January 12, 1928, Ruth Brown Snyder and Henry Judd Gray were executed at New York's Sing Sing prison for the murder of Ruth's husband, Albert Snyder. Tom Howard, a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, used a one-time-use camera strapped to his leg to snap a picture of Ruth's electrocution. The picture became a notorious example of the things some reporters would do to get an exclusive. The camera is now part of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. The Snyder and Gray case was also the basis for the novel later made into Double Indemnity (1944), also directed by Billy Wilder.
The Devil And Miss Jones, 1941. US import.
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/515vQcw+M6L._AC_SX342_.jpg
Silver Streak, 1976. Jill Clayburgh, Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor. Directed by Arthur Hiller.
https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSdee0p4S0Z5hD4Z9xg7K7bqd19IEWET PyJyD4sTzm3Q-MBGEPW
On Channel 4, E4 and their "+1" later screenings, the animated Raymond Briggs stories:
'The Snowman', 'The Snowman and the Snow Dog', and 'Father Christmas'.
Well, Christmas is for children after all. ;)
ceejaydee
25-12-2021, 16:36
On Channel 4, E4 and their "+1" later screenings, the animated Raymond Briggs stories:
'The Snowman', 'The Snowman and the Snow Dog', and 'Father Christmas'.
Well, Christmas is for children after all. ;)
Do love the Snow Dog :)
The Revenant, 2015. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy.
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/712nPTA1EPL._AC_SL1500_.jpg
"As starkly beautiful as it is harshly uncompromising". Alas no everyone agreed.. Canadian actor Roy Dupuis was strongly critical of the movie for portraying French-Canadian voyageurs as murderous rapists.
Old adage." you cant please everyone"
I have to say I didn't enjoy the film, despite agreeing with your first quotation.
I have to say I didn't enjoy the film, despite agreeing with your first quotation.
Quite a film imo, but as you say, its disconcerting to say least, hence you have to be in the mood i think Barry.
Now, a 50's classic .. On the Waterfront, 1954. It was directed by Elia Kazan and starred Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb, Rod Steiger and Eva Marie Saint.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/criterion-production/films/8682fec5356a2cff41d1e090662f8a02/pvQjxjt452yR9hjwgX5DJ4UZeCraAL_large.jpg
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a critical score of 99% from 99 reviews with an average rating of 9.2/10 and a critical consensus of "With his electrifying performance in Elia Kazan's thought-provoking, expertly constructed melodrama, Marlon Brando redefined the possibilities of acting for film and helped permanently alter the cinematic landscape". Brando's performance is regarded as one of the watershed moments in the history of movies.
"Some people think the Crucifixion only took place on Calvary. They better wise up!"
walpurgis
26-12-2021, 12:24
I'm not a fan of DiCrapio. Usually miscast and definitely overrated.
I'm not a fan of DiCrapio. Usually miscast and definitely overrated.
me neither geoff, although he fitted this rather well.. no pretty boy thats for sure. the bear attack was incredibly realistic. his part was more clint eastwood in style as he doesnt say too much
I used to think of him a just a "pretty boy" actor, without any real substance. But his abilities as an actor are improving - unlike those of Tom Cruise who, IMO, is totally overrated. Keanu Reeves is also another totally overrated actor.
Now, a 50's classic .. On the Waterfront, 1954. It was directed by Elia Kazan and starred Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb, Rod Steiger and Eva Marie Saint.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/criterion-production/films/8682fec5356a2cff41d1e090662f8a02/pvQjxjt452yR9hjwgX5DJ4UZeCraAL_large.jpg
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a critical score of 99% from 99 reviews with an average rating of 9.2/10 and a critical consensus of "With his electrifying performance in Elia Kazan's thought-provoking, expertly constructed melodrama, Marlon Brando redefined the possibilities of acting for film and helped permanently alter the cinematic landscape". Brando's performance is regarded as one of the watershed moments in the history of movies.
"Some people think the Crucifixion only took place on Calvary. They better wise up!"
An excellent film.
'He "could have been a contender" ' ( ;) )
Scrooge, 1951. the best of the versions for me. Alistair Sim stars.
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81fBUEaOw6L._AC_SL1500_.jpg
Pigmy Pony
26-12-2021, 17:02
I used to think of him a just a "pretty boy" actor, without any real substance. But his abilities as an actor are improving - unlike those of Tom Cruise who, IMO, is totally overrated. Keanu Reeves is also another totally overrated actor.
I can't be doing with Keanu Reeves, he only has two looks - surprised or confused. I have enjoyed a few of his films, though I'm sure they would have been better if someone else had been cast.
Pigmy Pony
26-12-2021, 17:09
The Revenant, 2015. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy.
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/712nPTA1EPL._AC_SL1500_.jpg
"As starkly beautiful as it is harshly uncompromising". Alas no everyone agreed.. Canadian actor Roy Dupuis was strongly critical of the movie for portraying French-Canadian voyageurs as murderous rapists.
Old adage." you cant please everyone"
A brutal film for sure - I watched with my mate and his wife. She left the room after just 15 minutes, too uncomfortable a watch. I thought the camera work was incredible, really conveyed the chaos and confusion of the opening scenes, and much of the other "action".
And imo Tom Hardy was the star of the show.
A brutal film for sure - I watched with my mate and his wife. She left the room after just 15 minutes, too uncomfortable a watch. I thought the camera work was incredible, really conveyed the chaos and confusion of the opening scenes, and much of the other "action".
And imo Tom Hardy was the star of the show.
all the acting was very good.. in fact its a superb film, if a bit bleak and seamingly heartless
"are there no prisons?, are there no workhouses?" merry xmas
I can't be doing with Keanu Reeves, he only has two looks - surprised or confused. I have enjoyed a few of his films, though I'm sure they would have been better if someone else had been cast.
I’d agree, with one exception - The Matrix. Apparently Will Smith was offered the role of Neo before Keanu- I couldn’t imagine that... (Samuel L. Jackson also turned down the role of Morpheus which evened everything up after Lawrence Fisburn turned down Pulp Fiction!)
Keanu Reeves isnt my first pic of actors i have to say, but in john wick he found his home:D
walpurgis
26-12-2021, 17:59
I’d agree, with one exception - The Matrix
I agree. The Matrix is still one of the most incredible movies and Reeves was just right. Seen the film many times, but the WOW factor remains!
As tiny Tim said. " God bless us, Everyone!
great film, and they just dont have the actors now to make films like that..
Now, The Belles Of St Trinians..1955. Inspired by the great cartoonist Ronald Searle, it was directed by Frank Launder and written by Launder and Sidney Gilliat.
It stars Alastair Sim stars in a dual role as the headmistress Miss Millicent Fritton and her twin brother Clarence Fritton. With Joyce Grenfell, George Cole and Hermione Baddeley.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/25/The-Belles-of-St-Trinians.jpg
Pure Genius.
I agree. The Matrix is still one of the most incredible movies and Reeves was just right. Seen the film many times, but the WOW factor remains!
I recently bought the trilogy on apple at a cheap price so will be revisiting them soon i guess. red pills and blue ones if memory serves.. some have classed covid vaccine this way:doh:
walpurgis
26-12-2021, 18:22
I recently bought the trilogy on apple at a cheap price so will be revisiting them soon i guess. red pills and blue ones if memory serves.. some have classed covid vaccine this way:doh:
Go ask Alice :).
Go ask Alice :).
is that to do with white rabbit??
walpurgis
26-12-2021, 18:40
is that to do with white rabbit??
As from Jefferson Airplane, which is an allusion to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
Didn't help Keanu Reeves, but then I only liked the first part of the Matrix trilogy. And if there was a 'star' - it was Hugo Weaving. (:sofa:)
Pigmy Pony
26-12-2021, 23:16
I’d agree, with one exception - The Matrix. Apparently Will Smith was offered the role of Neo before Keanu- I couldn’t imagine that... (Samuel L. Jackson also turned down the role of Morpheus which evened everything up after Lawrence Fisburn turned down Pulp Fiction!)
I agree too that The Matrix is the exception - the premise, the story, the effects, and the casting of the other characters.
I think the central character (Neo) had to be a sufficiently "blank" canvas as he moved through the story, and nobody can do blank like Keanu. A stronger or comedic personality would have skewed and ruined the whole thing, and in that way Will Smith would have been a terrible choice imo.
There is a new Matrix film around the corner, with Reeves and Carrie Ann Moss. I wonder what that'll be like. It's almost 20 years now since the first one.
Defence Of The Realm, 1986. directed by David Drury, starring Gabriel Byrne, Greta Scacchi, and Denholm Elliott, with Robbie Coltrane in a supporting role.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7c/DefenceOfTheRealm.jpg
Defence Of The Rhelm, 1986. directed by David Drury, starring Gabriel Byrne, Greta Scacchi, and Denholm Elliott, with Robbie Coltrane in a supporting role.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7c/DefenceOfTheRealm.jpg
An excellent film. I have a copy somewhere.
Classic western now, with The Searchers, 1956. Directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne, Vera Miles, Jeffrey Hunter, Natalie Wood and Ward Bond.
https://i.pinimg.com/564x/1c/83/09/1c8309cd33f0dd1ffc2bc3a4fe3fcd42.jpg
The Searchers has been cited as one of the greatest films of all time, such as in the BFI's decennial Sight & Sound polls. In 1972, The Searchers was ranked 18th; in 1992, 5th; in 2002, 11th; in 2012, 7th. In a 1959 Cahiers du Cinema essay, Jean-Luc Godard compared the movie's ending to the reuniting of Odysseus with Telemachus in Homer's Odyssey. In 1963, he ranked The Searchers as the fourth-greatest American movie of the sound era, after Scarface (1932), The Great Dictator (1940), and Vertigo (1958)
The eccentric character of Mose Harper, played by Hank Worden, is loosely based on an actual historical personage called Mad Mose, a legendary half-crazy Indian fighter of the American southwest with a fondness for rocking chairs.
While on the desert locale, John Ford was stung by a scorpion. Worried about his investment, financial backer C.V. Whitney asked John Wayne, "What if we lose him? What are we going to do?" Wayne offered to check in on the "stricken" director. A few minutes later he came out of Ford's trailer and said to Whitney, "It's OK. John's fine, it's the scorpion that died."
The Criteron Bluray version of Lost In America, 1985, directed by Albert Brooks and stars Albert Brooks and Julie Hagerty.
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81Mq0FPmkwL._AC_SL1500_.jpg
For the cross country across America shoot, thirty cast and crew were crammed into just two Winnebagos staying overnight in cheap motels. Actor-writer-director Albert Brooks has said: "We got about as far as Phoenix, Arizona before everyone stopped talking to each other."
Lost In America received mostly positive reviews from critics and holds a 97% rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, based on thirty-six reviews. The site's consensus states: "A satire of the American fantasy of leaving it all behind, Lost in America features some of Albert Brooks' best, most consistent writing and cultural jabs."[4] The film was a commercial success, though not a blockbuster. The film's script won the National Society of Film Critics award for Best Screenplay.
Frenzy, 1972. The penultimate feature film of Hitchcock's extensive career. stars Jon Finch, Alec McCowen, and Barry Foster and features Billie Whitelaw, Anna Massey, Barbara Leigh-Hunt, Bernard Cribbins and Vivien Merchant.
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR4ltkxSOTrlZgsl-u8YruwODZ7qqR0jvoCRQMpIeM-vyUINmjf
Variety also posted a rave review, declaring: "Ingeniously fresh story-telling ideas, stamped with the same mischievous, audacious and often outrageous mixture of humor and suspense that first made him and later sustained him, make the Universal release one of Hitchcock's major achievements."
The Matrix, 1999. written and directed by the Wachowskis. Starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, and Joe Pantoliano.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c1/The_Matrix_Poster.jpg
A pirates life for me.....Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, 2003.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/89/Pirates_of_the_Caribbean_-_The_Curse_of_the_Black_Pearl.png
Its directed by Gore Verbinski and stars Johnny Depp, Keira Knightley, Geoffrey Rush and Orlando Bloom.
Because of the quick schedule of the shoot, Industrial Light & Magic immediately began visual effects work. While the skeletal forms of the pirates revealed by moonlight take up relatively little screentime, the crew knew their computer-generated forms had to convince in terms of replicating performances and characteristics of the actors, or else the transition would not work. Each scene featuring them was shot twice: a reference plate with the actors, and then without them to add in the skeletons, an aesthetic complicated by Verbinski's decision to shoot the battles with handheld cameras. The actors also had to perform their scenes again on the motion capture stage. With the shoot only wrapping up four months before release, Verbinski spent 18-hour days on the edit, while at the same time spending time on 600 effects shots, 250 of which were merely removing modern sailboats from shots.
I agree too that The Matrix is the exception.
There's one other film he is good in, you're forgetting his performance as 'Ted' Theodore Logan in 'Bill And Ted's Excellent Adventure', although in retrospect it turns out he was just playing himself.
Also there's 'Point Break' where he does sort of suit the character he is playing - with the added benefit of occasionally being unintentionally amusing. The film is so daft anyway that it kind of works.
Only films I watched over Xmas was 'Carry On Again Doctor' and 'Back to the Future'.
I'm developing a theory about 'Carry On' in that the best ones are those where Sid James' character is also called Sid. If he's called something else or he's not in it then it's almost always a bad one.
Great Expectations, 1946. Directed by the great David Lean and stars John Mills and Valerie Hobson. Co stars include Bernard Miles, Francis L. Sullivan, Anthony Wager, Jean Simmons, Finlay Currie, Martita Hunt and Alec Guinness.
It won 2 Oscars at the 20th Oscars.
This is the Bluray version.
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51HjLshsVNL._AC_.jpg
At the end, a shot of Valerie Hobson staring into a mirror was taking longer than anticipated and was suspended, it was lunchtime, and returned to in the afternoon. Approximately three months after this movie had been on exhibition, a moviegoer asked what was meant by a Chad being reflected in the mirror. It seems that a worker on the movie had drawn it on the wall during the break in filming, and it is dimly visible in the final scene behind Sir John Mills's shoulder as he says "I've never ceased to love you when there seemed no hope in my love."
Pigmy Pony
29-12-2021, 16:27
There's one other film he is good in, you're forgetting his performance as 'Ted' Theodore Logan in 'Bill And Ted's Excellent Adventure', although in retrospect it turns out he was just playing himself.
Also there's 'Point Break' where he does sort of suit the character he is playing - with the added benefit of occasionally being unintentionally amusing. The film is so daft anyway that it kind of works.
Forgot all about Point Break, ("Death on a stick mate") Maybe I like Keanu Reeves after all.
Pigmy Pony
29-12-2021, 16:33
Christmas telly was so grim, we gave 3 hours of our life to Netflix's "The Salisbury Poisonings", which was actually quite good. And it looks like New Year's Eve telly is gonna struggle to keep me out of the pubs.
The Hunt for Red October, 1990. directed by John McTiernan, and starring Sean Connery, Alec Baldwin, Scott Glenn, James Earl Jones, and Sam Neill. It is the first installment of the film series with the protagonist Jack Ryan.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/36/The_Hunt_for_Red_October_movie_poster.png
excellent soundtrack from Basil Poledouris.
The film caused a minor sensation in the black projects submarine warfare technology community. In one scene, where USS Dallas is chasing Red October through the submarine canyon, the crew can be heard calling out that they have various "milligal anomalies". This essentially revealed the use of gravimetry as a method of silent navigation in US submarines. Thought to be a billion dollar black project, the development of a full-tensor gravity gradiometer by Bell Aerospace was a classified technology at the time. It was thought to be deployed on only a few Ohio-class submarines after it was first developed in 1973. Bell Aerospace later sold the technology to Bell Geospace for oil exploration purposes. The last Typhoon-class submarine was officially laid down in 1986, under the name TK-210, but according to sources was never finished and scrapped in 1990.
Christmas telly was so grim, we gave 3 hours of our life to Netflix's "The Salisbury Poisonings", which was actually quite good. And it looks like New Year's Eve telly is gonna struggle to keep me out of the pubs.
It was shocking wasn't it? Neither 'Zulu' film was on and I couldn't find my DVD. So that was Christmas Night ruined. No Bond on any channel not even the rubbish later ones.
Manged to watch Christmas Top Of The Pops for about the first time in five years. Never even heard of any of the acts. Wall to wall crap, thought I'd tuned in to the open auditions for the local school dance by mistake.
Christmas telly has been crap since 1984 anyway, I don't expect anything different these days.
Pigmy Pony
29-12-2021, 20:30
Back in the 70s, we only had 3 channels and we got by. Though to be fair I was down the pub 7 days a week, and that's no exaggeration. At present we have hundreds of channels and yet I struggle to find an evening's worth of viewing.
Further pisses me off that I couldn't afford a daily pub visit, because Sky, Amazon Prime Video and Netflix are swallowing most of my disposable :( Thank God for my records and CDs, without them I'd really lose my shit...
Maybe I should take up fishing, she bought me all the gear about ten years ago.
Edit: forget everything I just said, new series of Magnum pi starts Sunday. Yay!
Only films I watched over Xmas was 'Carry On Again Doctor' and 'Back to the Future'.
I'm developing a theory about 'Carry On' in that the best ones are those where Sid James' character is also called Sid. If he's called something else or he's not in it then it's almost always a bad one.
Oh I don't know - 'Carry on Screaming' was pretty good.
Oh I don't know - 'Carry on Screaming' was pretty good.
Haven’t watched that in decades but I loved it as a kid/teenager - I do have it recorded as well as Carry On At Your Convenience, for when I feel the urge...
The Four Feathers, 1939. directed by Zoltan Korda, starring John Clements, Ralph Richardson, June Duprez, and C. Aubrey Smith.
John Laurie plays the Khalifa (was he ever young?) but alas even as he speaks a foreign language, he still sounds like Laurie.:D
https://s3.amazonaws.com/criterion-production/films/2da4d0c79beb86847c2261375f9398b8/jmY6oDkuPgJEbutjseJAERGXAYyRVG_large.jpg
This is the Reg A Criterion Bluray. Its colour and pretty decent pic for a film so old.
The action scenes, photographed by Osmond Borradaile, were not only filmed where the historical battles had taken place, but also included among the many extras, people who had witnessed or participated in the fighting more than forty years earlier. These battle scenes further benefitted from Director Zoltan Korda's expertise at large-scale action and his early experience as a cavalry officer. The sailing ships pulled by hordes of Sudanese along the Nile were constructed specially for the production in exact period detail at great cost.
Pigmy Pony
30-12-2021, 16:40
https://whatsondisneyplus.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/The-Jungle-Book.jpg
The Jungle Book (2016) Just quality.
https://whatsondisneyplus.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/The-Jungle-Book.jpg
The Jungle Book (2016) Just quality.
super film steve.. really realistic too
Big Jake, 1971. starring John Wayne, Richard Boone and Maureen O'Hara. supporting cast features Patrick Wayne, Christopher Mitchum, Glenn Corbett, Jim Davis, John Agar, Harry Carey Jr. and Hank Worden.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/39/Big_jake_ver2.jpg
Poirot series 1(tv series)1989. David Suchet plays the title role....fabulously
https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQg2o14Ehobh87-jAMyaQGOh43pP2NWC0K_mXjESfE9r6hXgy9Y
David Suchet is now the definitive Poirot, he has made that part his own. (Though I thought Albert Finney made a good job in playing Poirot in 'Murder on the Orient Express'.)
Notorious, 1946. Dircted by Alfred Hitchcock and stars Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman.
This is the remastered Criterion version and region A
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61tr7oTRQAL._AC_SL1500_.jpg
After filming had ended, Cary Grant kept the famous UNICA key. A few years later he gave the key to his great friend and co-star Ingrid Bergman, saying that the key had given him luck and hoped it would do the same for her. Many years later, at a tribute to director Sir Alfred Hitchcock, Bergman went off-script and presented the key to him, to his surprise and delight.
I will stay with my region A collection and this...Night Train to Munich, 1940. Its directed by Carol Reed and starring Margaret Lockwood and Rex Harrison. Written by Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder, based on the 1939 short story Report on a Fugitive by Gordon Wellesley.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/criterion-production/films/b5824ced3bf57cab7eeeec449300d5a2/yeWQyGUC9wbJ1ik9nmZdOGx1nxPY71_large.jpg
The second of six film appearances by Charters and Caldicott (played by Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne). They first appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's "The Lady Vanishes (1938)," also written by Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder. They later appeared in "Crook's Tour (1940)," "Millions Like Us (1943)," and "It's Not Cricket (1949)," which were also written by Gilliat and Lauder, and in "Dead of Night (1945)."
Considering the early release date of this movie--August 1940 in the UK and December 1940 in the US--there are many remarkable depictions of the onerous nature of the Nazi system, something not fully appreciated even by UK audiences at the time. The UK had bent over backward to accommodate Adolf Hitler in the late 1930s, and the war had only "gotten serious" a few months earlier with the debacle at Dunkirk in France and the following aerial Battle of Britain, which was well underway when this movie was released. The US would not enter the war for a full year after the December release date.
As of 2011, this movie has not been released in Germany at all.
The Hound of the Baskervilles, 1939. Directed by Sidney Lanfield, the film stars Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Dr. John Watson. with Richard Greene as The Baskerville in question.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fb/The_Hound_of_the_Baskervilles_-_1939-_Poster.png
Quite good this version.
The Spy in Black , 1939. This was the first collaboration between the British filmmakers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. It stars Conrad Veidt, Valerie Hobson and Sebastian Shaw, with Marius Goring and Torin Thatcher as two German submarine officers. Grant Sutherland, a minister in Powell's The Edge of the World (1937), appears in this film as a Scottish air raid warden. Bernard Miles has a small uncredited role here; he was knighted in 1969, and was created a life peer as Baron Miles, He was only the second British actor to receive a peerage, after Laurence Olivier..
https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSV6WJXrFnHsTfcak15sN8Rj613IQKC8 UrcwAtB5IXgCKCN8Gvy
The Spy in Black was filmed at Denham Studios, with location shooting at Northchurch Common in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire and in Orkney, Scotland. The film wrapped production on 24 December 193 and was released in the U.K. on 7 August 1939 – just weeks before the country again went to war with Germany. Its American premiere was held in New York City on 5 October of that year, and it went into general release two days later.
this is the restored version from a dvd and then onto my plex. pic is rather good too
Vertigo, 1958, directed and produced by Alfred Hitchcock, and starring James Stewart and Kim Novak.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/75/Vertigomovie_restoration.jpg/800px-Vertigomovie_restoration.jpg
This movie is often credited or blamed for creating or popularizing the misconception that vertigo means a fear of heights. For the record, the proper name for that condition is "Acrophobia", whereas vertigo is "a sensation of whirling and loss of balance, associated particularly with looking down from a great height" (Oxford Dictionary).
The Matrix Reloaded, 2003.
https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQUSaKvjFjJLp0J6B50ts0nmtqMRgC24 PYIwVR1i5rRT3VG6KRm
Poirot series 1(tv series)1989. David Suchet plays the title role....fabulously
https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQg2o14Ehobh87-jAMyaQGOh43pP2NWC0K_mXjESfE9r6hXgy9Y
more of this today. as Barry said, he made the role his own really. Hugh Fraser did a super job as Hastings too, as did Philip Jackson as Japp.
Insignificance, 1985. directed by Nicolas Roeg, and starring Gary Busey, Michael Emil, Theresa Russell, Tony Curtis, and Will Sampson.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2b/Insignificance.jpg
Adapted by Terry Johnson from his 1982 play of the same name, the film follows four famous characters who converge in a New York City hotel one night in 1954: Joe DiMaggio, Albert Einstein, Marilyn Monroe, and Joseph McCarthy—billed as The Ballplayer, The Professor, The Actress and The Senator, respectively.
This is the Bluray version
walpurgis
02-01-2022, 14:14
As 'The Ipcress File' has just started on BBC 2, I'm watching it. Excellent movie!
https://i.ibb.co/qFy7tNd/Screen-Shot-01-02-22-at-02-13-PM.png (https://ibb.co/fG1qhk2)
As 'The Ipcress File' has just started on BBC 2, I'm watching it. Excellent movie!
https://i.ibb.co/qFy7tNd/Screen-Shot-01-02-22-at-02-13-PM.png (https://ibb.co/fG1qhk2)
great film geoff..
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, 2006.
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTKp5KKVpoYkHVFoFCD0xC-FWBN1ZA2TTe20MNswXlzJ8I06QCM
As 'The Ipcress File' has just started on BBC 2, I'm watching it. Excellent movie!
https://i.ibb.co/qFy7tNd/Screen-Shot-01-02-22-at-02-13-PM.png (https://ibb.co/fG1qhk2)
The first and the best. I have it on DVD.
Insignificance, 1985. directed by Nicolas Roeg, and starring Gary Busey, Michael Emil, Theresa Russell, Tony Curtis, and Will Sampson.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2b/Insignificance.jpg
Adapted by Terry Johnson from his 1982 play of the same name, the film follows four famous characters who converge in a New York City hotel one night in 1954: Joe DiMaggio, Albert Einstein, Marilyn Monroe, and Joseph McCarthy—billed as The Ballplayer, The Professor, The Actress and The Senator, respectively.
This is the Bluray version
I love the bit where Marilyn explains/confirms some aspect of relativity theory to Einstein, after which he says "I'm so glad". :lol:
I love the bit where Marilyn explains/confirms some aspect of relativity theory to Einstein, after which he says "I'm so glad". :lol:
its an interesting film.
Pigmy Pony
02-01-2022, 18:49
As 'The Ipcress File' has just started on BBC 2, I'm watching it. Excellent movie!
https://i.ibb.co/qFy7tNd/Screen-Shot-01-02-22-at-02-13-PM.png (https://ibb.co/fG1qhk2)
Well that was annoying...
I started watching this (never seen it before), but then nodded off :( When I woke up I was looking at Robert Duvall dressed like an SS officer. Took a minute or two to realise I was now watching The Eagle Has Landed.
Happens all the time with films, no matter how good they are. If I'm stationary for more than 20 minutes I go into standby, like my CD player.
Well that was annoying...
I started watching this (never seen it before), but then nodded off :( When I woke up I was looking at Robert Duvall dressed like an SS officer. Took a minute or two to realise I was now watching The Eagle Has Landed.
Happens all the time with films, no matter how good they are. If I'm stationary for more than 20 minutes I go into standby, like my CD player.
It's called 'getting old'. :D
Mikeandvan
02-01-2022, 21:54
Death Wish 1,2,3,4 and 5.
'Like losers in a Michael Winner script'
Talking of Michael Winner, Im about to watch one of his. Chato's Land, 1972. Starring(of course) Chuck Bronson, with Jack Palance and James Whitmore.
https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRR02pCSEt4BloSyQEiET8V1mcLu6J9R jDlzBJ1HhTGsxmOyLcG
Charles Bronson refused to eat at the same table as Jack Palance during the shooting breaks. Michael Winner's book says Bronson had a great dislike for Palance during the filming of "Chato's Land". Every evening Charlie, Jill, and Winner would have dinner together at the hotel restaurant while Palance ate by himself. Winner would tell Charlie that there was nothing wrong with Palance but Charlie held a great distrust. Finally, toward the end of filming Charlie had dinner with Palance. The next day Charlie told Winner that "Jack Palance is a very nice man." Winner said that was typical of Charlie to be so guarded.
Palance did have a reputation in Hollywood for being as eccentric as he was tough. Jack Palance and Bronson were maybe the two toughest actors ever.
Jack was a professional boxer before he served in WW II.He had also worked as a coal-miner in Pennsylvania.Bronson was also a coal-miner and he served in the WW II too.They were both wounded and received the purple heart.
Pigmy Pony
03-01-2022, 13:23
Talking of Michael Winner, Im about to watch one of his. Chato's Land, 1972. Starring(of course) Chuck Bronson, with Jack Palance and James Whitmore.
https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRR02pCSEt4BloSyQEiET8V1mcLu6J9R jDlzBJ1HhTGsxmOyLcG
Charles Bronson refused to eat at the same table as Jack Palance during the shooting breaks. Michael Winner's book says Bronson had a great dislike for Palance during the filming of "Chato's Land". Every evening Charlie, Jill, and Winner would have dinner together at the hotel restaurant while Palance ate by himself. Winner would tell Charlie that there was nothing wrong with Palance but Charlie held a great distrust. Finally, toward the end of filming Charlie had dinner with Palance. The next day Charlie told Winner that "Jack Palance is a very nice man." Winner said that was typical of Charlie to be so guarded.
Palance did have a reputation in Hollywood for being as eccentric as he was tough. Jack Palance and Bronson were maybe the two toughest actors ever.
Jack was a professional boxer before he served in WW II.He had also worked as a coal-miner in Pennsylvania.Bronson was also a coal-miner and he served in the WW II too.They were both wounded and received the purple heart.
Thanks for that Grant, educational as always :)
I bet Michael Winner wouldn't have got away with saying "Calm down dear" to Bronson... to be fair Palance didn't have a "come sit with me" kind of face. Seems like a lot of the yesteryear Hollywood "tough guys" were just that in real life too, I wonder how many of today's actors could be described thus.
Interesting bit re Keanu Reeves.
Keanu Reeves donated 70% of his salary from the first The Matrix film to fund leukaemia research - after his younger sister battled the disease for 10 years.
The actor, 57, who was reportedly paid $10million upfront and earned $35million total for the first film in the franchise in 1999, was inspired to fund research into the blood cancer after his sister Kim, now 55, was diagnosed in 1991.
Keanu became Kim's primary carer during this time and helped with her recovery after she spent a decade fighting the cancer, before going into remission.*
Dark Passage, 1947. directed by Delmer Daves and starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.
https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQdpJ7D6hrKuuXMgwso8GrR_4O1HrOPj 76w2cwHpNQLC5Y4AE2s
The photo of Vincent before surgery is shown in the newspaper and elsewhere. It represents the height of photomanipulation of the day, with carefully masked double-exposures and careful airbrushing. The lower half of the face is that of character actor Kenneth MacDonald. The upper half, from just below the bridge of the nose, is that of Bogart himself.
Warner Brothers studio head Jack L. Warner was not pleased to discover that the face of one of his biggest stars, Humphrey Bogart, is not seen for the first half of the movie. By the time Warner knew this, the film was too far along to be changed.
Enemy of the State, 1998. Stars Will Smith, Gene Hackman and John Voight. Directed by Tony Scott.
https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQw-tfev51yV7zx0ObgZiOcogqOZ2HUV6FUrKnWcPHWtirYp34x
The N.S.A. refused to cooperate with the production. Aerial footage of their headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland had to be shot from public air space.
The mark left on the mailbox to signal Brill is standard spycraft.
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/U28o4iE9vbJpTeurToMDUn-1024-80.jpg
Time Bandits, 1981.. Written and directed by Terry Gilliam. It stars Sean Connery, John Cleese, Shelley Duvall, Ralph Richardson, Katherine Helmond, Ian Holm, Michael Palin, Peter Vaughan, and David Warner.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/82/Time_bandits.jpg
In the original script, King Agamemnon was introduced as: "The warrior took off his helmet, revealing someone that looks exactly like Sean Connery, or an actor of equal but cheaper stature." To writer, producer, and director Terry Gilliam's surprise, the script ended up in Connery's hands. He expressed interest in the part, and his agent approached them for the role.
Joe Kidd, 1972. Directed by John Sturges and starring Clint Eastwood and Robert Duvall.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/33/Joe_kidd.jpg
Writer Elmore Leonard certainly did know something about classic firearms. From Frank Harlan's (Robert Duvall's) Custom Savage 99 (1899), Olin Mingo's (James Wainwright's) Remington-Keene sporter (1880) in .45-70, Lamarr Simms' (Don Stroud's) Mauser C-96 (1896) broomhandle, and Joe Kidd's (Clint Eastwood's) Cased Ross Rifle sporter model M-10 (1910) in .280 Ross. Leonard took special care to ensure all weapons (even the optics) were period accurate for that movie, being set in pre-statehood New Mexico territory (1912).
walpurgis
05-01-2022, 11:33
Saw that again recently, not a bad movie. Was there ever a film where Don Stroud didn't play a baddie?
Saw that again recently, not a bad movie. Was there ever a film where Don Stroud didn't play a baddie?
lol yeah he has the face of a real baddie. still alive and lives in hawaii. still surfs i think.
Prime Cut, 1972 again, and also featuring Gregory Walcott as Weenie.(who was the Sheriff in Joe Kidd) Stars Lee Marvin, Sissy Spacek and Gene Hackman(all 3 Oscar winners).
https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQr5_LdZFpk0kQ8COuhMBCD-w1m_VL7BzQeT2FgHc_qTne-XyDW
The submachine gun used by Nick Devlin in the last part of the film is the now rare Smith & Wesson model 76, a near copy of the Swedish M/45. It was produced in very small numbers in the late 1960s, and it was eventually discontinued due to lack of interest in such a weapon by military and law enforcement agencies. In US service, it was largely known as the "Swedish-K" or "K-Rifle. It was used by US special services (like Navy SEALS and CIA operatives) during the Vietnam War.
Lee Marvin had a serious feud with director Michael Ritchie, because Ritchie wanted him to have love scenes with the too young actress Sissy Spacek. Marvin hated Ritchie for this lack of respect for Spacek. Actually she was 22 at time so not"TOO Young", but Marvin was a bit of a dick at times.
walpurgis
05-01-2022, 12:18
Very rarely shown and not well known now. One of my favourites!
Very rarely shown and not well known now. One of my favourites!
a class film geoff.. its on my plex drive; ex a dvd. as you say fairly rarely shown
Back to the Future, 1985. directed by Robert Zemeckis.
https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT9d_lBBx0xxB7_d4RP82MlRcK82lzT2 W1ZavxhV39SSTZOofDX
Universal Pictures head Sid Sheinberg did not like the title "Back to the Future", insisting that nobody would see a movie with "future" in the title. In a memo to Robert Zemeckis, he said that the title should be changed to "Space Man From Pluto", tying in with the Marty-as-alien jokes in the film, and also suggested further changes like replacing the "I'm Darth Vader from planet Vulcan" line with "I am a spaceman from Pluto!" Sheinberg was persuaded to change his mind by a response memo from Steven Spielberg, which thanked him for sending a wonderful "joke memo", and that everyone got a kick out of it. Sheinberg, too proud to admit he was serious, gave in to letting the film retain its title.
Back to the Future Part II, 1989. again directed by Robert Zemeckis .
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/812LZaH2z-L._AC_SY445_.jpg
To commemorate the release of a 30th anniversary Back to the Future Blu-ray box-set, a short movie called Back to the Future: Doc Brown Saves the World (2015) was filmed with Christopher Lloyd reprising his role of Doc Brown. In the movie, Doc tapes a video message, explaining that he travelled to the 2040s in a rebuilt DeLorean, and discovered that inventions such as the Hoverboard and hydrated food will cause people to become massively overweight; even worse, a simultaneous glitch in every nuclear Mr. Fusion device on the planet will cause a nuclear holocaust that decimates the world's population. He subsequently travels back in time, and successfully prevents such dangerous devices from ever being invented, thus explaining why the future 2015 as seen in this movie did not come true in reality.
I watched that again the other day.
I suppose if they remade it then the present day Marty would have to go back to 1992
I don't think that the differences between 2022 and 1992 would be of the same magnitude as the difference between 1985 and 1955. No smartphones or flat-screen TVs I guess, otherwise not much has really changed that I can think of. The sequel was way off in its predictions of what 2015 would be like.
Very rarely shown and not well known now. One of my favourites!
Me too. The opening of the film is quite shocking - enough to put you off eating sausages for life. The "cattle market" is equally shocking.
Lee Marvin is always a good actor however, and I'll watch everything he is in. Certainly no "dick"!
Me too. The opening of the film is quite shocking - enough to put you off eating sausages for life. The "cattle market" is equally shocking.
Lee Marvin is always a good actor however, and I'll watch everything he is in. Certainly no "dick"!
he was a decent man, but his drinking got in the way of things often, and his attitude at times annoyed his fellow workers.
this from the professionals.. According to Richard Brooks, Burt Lancaster and Lee Marvin did not get along during filming due to Marvin's alcoholism, which was making him unreliable and difficult at the time, infuriating Lancaster. Brooks, who had directed Lancaster in Elmer Gantry (1960), felt the need to intervene because he feared Lancaster was going to "take Lee Marvin by the ass and throw him off that mountain".
Burt Lancaster was as tough as they came and rediculously strong apparently.
I watched that again the other day.
I suppose if they remade it then the present day Marty would have to go back to 1992
I don't think that the differences between 2022 and 1992 would be of the same magnitude as the difference between 1985 and 1955. No smartphones or flat-screen TVs I guess, otherwise not much has really changed that I can think of. The sequel was way off in its predictions of what 2015 would be like.
it was one of the best trilogy films ever i think.
Fox was in asia in a jungle clearing and they came across some monks, and one said, hey, its marty mcfly.:D
Back to the Future Part III, 1990. Robert Zemeckis again directs the third part ...
https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRhsQKfwXKgBjNqApLyHvUNQYs_7269G chzhjwloGlvRurceWq7
Clint Eastwood was asked for permission about his name being used for Marty in the film. He consented and was said to be tickled by the homage.
When Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen tried to lynch Marty, Michael J. Fox was accidentally hanged, rendering him unconscious for a short time. He records this in his autobiography "Lucky Man"
Pigmy Pony
05-01-2022, 21:31
Joe Kidd, 1972. Directed by John Sturges and starring Clint Eastwood and Robert Duvall.
Happy birthday Mr. Duvall. 91 today.
Happy birthday Mr. Duvall. 91 today.
"I love the smell of 91 candles burning on my birthday cake". ;)
Pigmy Pony
05-01-2022, 22:08
"I love the smell of 91 candles burning on my birthday cake". ;)
:D Smells like victory
Predestination, 2014. It stars Ethan Hawke, Sarah Snook, and Noah Taylor, and is based on the 1959 short story " '—All You Zombies—' " by Robert A. Heinlein.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4b/Predestination_poster.jpg
The picture of the Crosby Shoes building in the beginning of the movie is actually a picture of the exploded reactor number 4 from Chernobyl Power Plant which erupted on 26 April 1986.
walpurgis
06-01-2022, 13:37
Predestination, 2014. It stars Ethan Hawke, Sarah Snook, and Noah Taylor, and is based on the 1959 short story " '—All You Zombies—' " by Robert A. Heinlein.
Seen that a couple of times and enjoyed it. It keeps you thinking.
Paul, 2011. screenplay by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.
https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRgoGJIqW_SFQT2t14u9RXuOUDsjJH0u h2QVVA_9TPlXLx73UzZ
Simon Pegg and Nick Frost made the film to demonstrate their love for Steven Spielberg's science fiction classics Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982). When Spielberg got wind of the project, he happily suggested that he make a cameo appearance of some sort, in this case a voice on a speakerphone.
While researching the film, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost drove an RV along the route Clive and Graeme take in the script. During the trip, they stopped at the Little A'le'inn, where they encountered a chatty waitress and some belligerent locals. The encounter inspired them to include it in the script.
Con Air, 1997. starring Nicolas Cage, John Cusack and John Malkovich.
https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTQJAfpXKEP5j2j2Q5lwLTTLOkn0k9Vk 84_wRGDbRE4FmmpRzRL
The Las Vegas scenes were filmed at the legendary Sands Hotel immediately prior to its demolition in late 1996. When the production team heard about the city's intentions to raze the historic landmark, they immediately scheduled a multiple camera setup to take advantage of the rare event, which is what you actually see in the movie.
Good film that. Steve Buscemi is great in it.
Good film that. Steve Buscemi is great in it.
not much he isnt good in martin. quality actor.
Dances With Wolves extended version. 1990. directed by and starring Kevin Costner.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/82/Dances_with_Wolves_poster.jpg
The film earned favorable reviews from critics and audiences, who praised Costner's directing, the performances, screenplay, and production values. The film was a box-office hit, grossing $424.2 million worldwide, making it the fourth-highest grossing film of 1990, and is the highest-grossing film for Orion Pictures. The film was nominated for 12 Academy Awards at the 63rd Academy Awards and won seven, including Best Picture, Best Director for Costner, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, and Best Sound Mixing.
The Lone Ranger, 2013. directed by Gore Verbinski, It stars Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0d/TheLoneRanger2013Poster.jpg
Todd McDaniels, a linguist at the Comanche Nation College, commented favorably on Johnny Depp's attempts to speak Comanche, a language with 23 to 30 living native speakers. "The words were there, the pronunciation was shaky, but adequate."
To minimize the film's overall cost, Gore Verbinski, Jerry Bruckheimer, Johnny Depp, and Armie Hammer equally deferred 20 percent of their salaries.
still not seen that. It's never on telly for some reason.
Murder, My Sweet, 1944. film is based on Raymond Chandler's 1940 novel Farewell, My Lovely. It was the first film to feature Chandler's primary character, the hard-boiled private detective Philip Marlowe. Stars Dick Powell, Claire Trevor, Mike Mazurki and Anne Shirley.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/31/SweetPoster.jpg/225px-SweetPoster.jpg
For the scene in which Marlowe is drugged, Edward Dmytryk showed Dick Powell falling through a sea of faces. He borrowed a trick from "Saboteur (1942)" by having the camera pull back from the actor to make it seem like he was falling. He also had the camera accelerate as it pulled back, to intensify the horror.
In order to make Mike Mazurki more threatening, Edward Dmytryk had the sets built with slanted ceilings to force the perspective. As Mazurki walked closer to the camera, he seemed almost to grow.
Erik the Viking, 1989.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/31/Eriktheviking.jpg
Although in many ways a fantasy film, a certain amount of historical accuracy was intended. Most notably, not one horned helmet is seen in the entire movie.
Peggy Sue Got Married, 1986. directed by Francis Ford Coppola starring Kathleen Turner.
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSBoRGRjkyWYpvL_d-VD5vkIqlOR8N4Zljv7CTrn_hEKqlRL1r9
The blue 1958 Chevrolet Impala convertible that Nicolas Cage drives was later given away in a sweepstakes tied in with the opening of the film.
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/d3/63/99/d36399a5a8853a110a7434d6ba374030.jpg
Harlem Nights, 1989.
https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ23NNuiDaiRA_LHTWnNq7S1Q_0h-qUI1HaGlq1zq2J4AR2DmcG
During the scene at Sugar Ray's house, detective Phil Cantone falsely sings "It Don't Mean a Thing" by Duke Ellington. In real-life, Danny Aiello is an accomplished jazz singer.
Despite its harsh critiques by film critics, it has become a cult classic over the years, due to its humor and dialogue.
Not a bad little film. :)
Mikeandvan
08-01-2022, 23:45
Rising damp, it's quick fire dialogue has aged well. I remember b n bs like that back in the 80s.
Pigmy Pony
09-01-2022, 08:43
Harlem Nights, 1989.
During the scene at Sugar Ray's house, detective Phil Cantone falsely sings "It Don't Mean a Thing" by Duke Ellington. In real-life, Danny Aiello is an accomplished jazz singer.
Despite its harsh critiques by film critics, it has become a cult classic over the years, due to its humor and dialogue.
I did not know that - I like Danny Aiello, he was good as the "chiropractor" Louis in the film Jacob's Ladder. We all need a "Louis" in our lives :)
The House of Fear, 1945.. another Holmes film starring the great Basil Rathbone.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/52/Sherlock_Holmes_and_the_House_of_Fear_-_1945_-_Poster.png
According to Harry Cording, the movie was filmed completely out of sequence. With first week filming the beginning and ending when all the cast members were present. He said that Cyril Delevanti, this first person murdered, only worked four days. Universal saved money by only paying for days work and filming each victim's part in sequence. With the climax already filmed there was no need for any actor to return. Except for Aubrey Mather and Paul Cavanagh , when you died the pay stopped.
Sunday western is... Cheyenne Autumn. 1964. Directed by John Ford and starring Richard Widmark, Carroll Baker, James Stewart, and Edward G. Robinson.
It tells the story of a factual event, the Northern Cheyenne Exodus of 1878–79, told in "Hollywood style" using a great deal of artistic licence.
https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSD7ASgGer_d_xUOAsm-6X5bvrqDn7mD1Fu6RBoKHOvQDZJxUm9
Years earlier Richard Widmark had the historical subject matter researched at Yale. He brought the material to John Ford, who didn't want to make it. Years later Ford, who had kept the research, changed his mind and asked Widmark to star.
Little Wolf was a chief of the Cheyenne tribe in 1878. He and another chief led the Cheyenne off their Oklahoma reservation and took them back to their homeland in Montana, despite hundreds of US cavalry troops trying to stop them. This was called the "Cheyenne Autumn Trail" and is the basis for this film.
The "Cheyenne" in the film are actually Navajo, and they are speaking in the Navajo language (mostly telling each other dirty jokes).
a bit lighter now with ... Doc Hollywood, 1991, and stars Michael J. Fox, Julie Warner, Barnard Hughes, Woody Harrelson, David Ogden Stiers, Frances Sternhagen, and Bridget Fonda.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/05/Doc_hollywood_poster.jpg
This movie was filmed in Micanopy, Florida, a small town of 650 people just south of Gainesville.
The car driven cross-country is a 1956 Porsche 356 Speedster.
While Melvin and Lane are looking at Ben's car after it was hit by the semi at the end the movie, a kid on a skateboard passes by in similar dress as Marty McFly from Fox's film Back to the Future.
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/00/71/dc/0071dc5c15aeda98035aa4d5e9a779c9.jpg
a beauty
The Scarlet Claw, 1944. another Rathbone/Bruce mystery.
https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTY3RZ7cwOoPInS3L_Cu2biTAZVoQU2v Qo0XomYFH38zScWTNDQ
The eighth of 14 films based on Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional consulting detective Sherlock Holmes starring Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson.
Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror, 1942.
https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSmBXL7pG7QUrKB_VkcPBtDK2aU_ZoQD 9fSc3XoL-_-kkdw7NRF
The Voice of Terror is based on the type of genuine Nazi radio propaganda broadcast by the American-born fascist William Joyce, AKA Lord Haw-Haw. Joyce was hanged for high treason against the United Kingdom after the war in 1946, so becoming the last person executed for treason in the UK and the penultimate one hanged for a crime other than murder.
Went The Day Well, 1942. British war film adapted from a story by Graham Greene and directed by Alberto Cavalcanti.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/60/Went_the_Day_Well_Poster.jpg/330px-Went_the_Day_Well_Poster.jpg
The poem from which the title is taken and which appears at the start of the film, is actually the second of four epitaphs written in 1918 by Greek scholar John Maxwell Edmonds. These were written for graves and memorials for those who died in battle. The full epitaph included a heading, "On Some who died early in the Day of Battle Went the day well? We died and never knew. But, well or ill, Freedom, we died for you." Another of Edmonds' epitaphs is "When you go home, tell them of us and say, For your tomorrows these gave their today".
It didn't go so well for this guy alas...
When the man running the pub in the village where the film was being shot discovered that he had used up his alcohol ration on the film crew, he was so distraught he committed suicide.
Went The Day Well, 1942. British war film adapted from a story by Graham Greene and directed by Alberto Cavalcanti.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/60/Went_the_Day_Well_Poster.jpg/330px-Went_the_Day_Well_Poster.jpg
The poem from which the title is taken and which appears at the start of the film, is actually the second of four epitaphs written in 1918 by Greek scholar John Maxwell Edmonds. These were written for graves and memorials for those who died in battle. The full epitaph included a heading, "On Some who died early in the Day of Battle Went the day well? We died and never knew. But, well or ill, Freedom, we died for you." Another of Edmonds' epitaphs is "When you go home, tell them of us and say, For your tomorrows these gave their today".
It didn't go so well for this guy alas...
When the man running the pub in the village where the film was being shot discovered that he had used up his alcohol ration on the film crew, he was so distraught he committed suicide.
Is that the War Department's 'moral boosting' propaganda film? Either way it's a good film.
Got this lined up for later
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51813529019_eed85de392_o.jpg
Citizen Kane, 1941. Produced and directed by Orson Welles, WHO also co-wrote the screenplay with Herman J. Mankiewicz.
The picture was Welles' first feature film. Citizen Kane is considered by many critics and experts to be the greatest film ever made. For 50 consecutive years, it stood at number 1 in the British Film Institute's Sight & Sound decennial poll of critics, and it topped the American Film Institute's 100 Years ... 100 Movies list in 1998, as well as its 2007 update. The film was nominated for Academy Awards in nine categories and it won for Best Writing (Original Screenplay) by Mankiewicz and Welles. Citizen Kane is praised for Gregg Toland's cinematography, Robert Wise's editing, Bernard Herrmann's music, and its narrative structure, all of which have been considered innovative and precedent-setting.
https://cdn.hmv.com/r/w-1280/p-webp/hmv/files/48/48f02f24-4765-4de9-8436-1585fd9fceb9.jpg
The camera looks up at Charles Foster Kane and his best friend Jedediah Leland and down at weaker characters like Susan Alexander Kane. This was a technique that Orson Welles borrowed from John Ford who had used it two years previously on Stagecoach (1939). Welles privately watched Stagecoach (1939) about 40 times while making this film.
Despite all the publicity, the film was a box-office flop and was quickly consigned to the RKO vaults. At 1941's Academy Awards the film was booed every time one of its nine nominations was announced. It was only re-released to the public in the mid-'50s.
walpurgis
11-01-2022, 17:28
Citizen Kane, 1941. Produced and directed by Orson Welles
'Rosebud'
'Rosebud'
:lol: Beat me to it! :)
(but the "Greatest film ever made"? :hmm:)
:lol: Beat me to it! :)
(but the "Greatest film ever made"? :hmm:)
not my words but theirs.. but will say its a very well made film; you can usually find something likable in a main character but not in this; that in itself is a triumph. the 4k version is stunning, even tho im watching in quasi 4k
Total Recall, 1990. This is the UHD version too. a decent film as an adventure si-fi made just around the computer special effects boom.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f9/Total_recall.jpg
When Ronald Shusett and Dan O'Bannon first started working on the screenplay for this movie back in the 1970s, they realized that the movie would probably be too expensive and difficult to make (by the standards of special effects and budget at the time). They delayed working on the story and instead worked on an idea O'Bannon had about a space monster terrorizing a spaceship crew. This became Alien (1979).
Arnold Schwarzenegger noticed that Michael Ironside was constantly on the phone between takes. When he broached the subject with Ironside, he was told that he was phoning his sister and that she was currently suffering from cancer. Arnold immediately brought Michael to his trailer and they had an hour-long, three-way conversation with Ironside's sister about what exercises she should do and what kinds of foods she should be eating. Ironside has never forgotten Schwarzenegger's kindness and neither has his sister.
IMO, a rather good short story by Philip K.Dick that was trampled to death by Hollywood. :(
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, 2017.
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRXhEeDOpouHNg3A75Ngkgl-pQdWrr8ErxSuYCbb8-Tn7KcuD79
Salazar's face was full make-up that took Javier Bardem three hours to put on, but the hair was all CG. To achieve this, Bardem's hair was pulled back and a make-up artist added marking dots on his face, which tracked the motion of his head in post-production.
The father of Captain Jack Sparrow was played by a Rolling Stone (Keith Richards), and in this movie, the uncle of Captain Jack Sparrow was played by a Beatle (Sir Paul McCartney).
Got this lined up for later
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51813529019_eed85de392_o.jpg
Funny old bit of hokum, you'd never think you could make a film about metal fatigue in an aircraft tail (you'd probably be right after watching this!). It's worth watching for the aircraft interior sets, pre-dated the TARDIS by 22 years :lol:
Avanti, 1972. Drected by Billy Wilder and stars Jack Lemmon and Julia Mills.
https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS3P59Ui7KVWBIGqO2Wkc1_gD4WRaHwN 1aAS-hgy_ii1plQwlvN
Billy Wilder wanted the hero's father's long-running affair to have been with a male bellhop at the hotel; studio executives dissuaded him.
Carlo Carlucci quote, 'The coroner, he eats very well. He knows all the widows'. :eyebrows:
Just landed on Disney+
Be watching this later.
Looking forward, heard its very good.
https://lumiere-a.akamaihd.net/v1/images/eternals_payoff_1-sheet_v6_lg_9dd357ba.jpeg
Pigmy Pony
12-01-2022, 21:58
Just landed on Disney+
Be watching this later.
Looking forward, heard its very good.
https://lumiere-a.akamaihd.net/v1/images/eternals_payoff_1-sheet_v6_lg_9dd357ba.jpeg
We got Disney+ recently, haven't really bothered with it so far. I'll give this a watch though :)
One of my all-time classics and favs, Young Frankenstein, 1974. PURE GENIUS!
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b5/Young_Frankenstein_movie_poster.jpg/220px-Young_Frankenstein_movie_poster.jpg
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/YpiBTfouY3Y/maxresdefault.jpg
When Mel Brooks was preparing for this film, he discovered that Ken Strickfaden, who'd made the elaborate electrical machinery for the lab sequences in the Universal Frankenstein films, was still alive and living in the Los Angeles area. Brooks visited Strickfaden, and found that he had stored all the equipment in his garage. Brooks made a deal to rent the equipment, and gave Strickfaden the screen credit he didn't receive for the original films.
Gene Hackman learned about the film through his frequent tennis partner Gene Wilder and requested a role, because he wanted to try comedy. He volunteered to play the Blind Hermit for free. It was four days of shooting for about four minutes of running time.
Gene Hackman ad-libbed The Blind Man's parting line "I was gonna make espresso." The scene immediately fades to black because the crew erupted into fits of laughter. Hackman was unable to repeat the line without laughing with the rest of the crew, so the first take was used. Hackman was uncredited when the movie was originally released in theatres.
Excellent! "Hump - what hump?".
Excellent! "Hump - what hump?".
Oh. Where you going?... Oh, you men are all alike. Seven or eight quick ones and then you're out with the boys to boast and brag. YOU BETTER KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT. Oh... I think I love him.
walpurgis
13-01-2022, 21:47
Just watched the DVD of 'Kiss Me Deadly' 1955, with Ralph Meeker. Based on a Mickey Spillane story, really enjoyed it!
(the exploding beach cabin scene was ripped off by David Lynch and replicated in 'Lost Highway')
https://i.ibb.co/WVG0qgb/Screen-Shot-01-13-22-at-09-40-PM.png (https://ibb.co/dmjt1Gd)
Just watched the DVD of 'Kiss Me Deadly' 1955, with Ralph Meeker. Based on a Mickey Spillane story, really enjoyed it!
(the exploding beach cabin scene was ripped off by David Lynch and replicated in 'Lost Highway')
https://i.ibb.co/WVG0qgb/Screen-Shot-01-13-22-at-09-40-PM.png (https://ibb.co/dmjt1Gd)
not sure if ive seen that. title is very familiar tho.
anyway after a fair amount of poirot, im watching a remastered oldie... Night Train to Munich - 1940.
https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSrtCSd6tl3Zpwu4pY_QYss1vjrBbNtO 12wCQChCMypPH2LAULK
Considering the early release date of this movie--August 1940 in the UK and December 1940 in the US--there are many remarkable depictions of the onerous nature of the Nazi system, something not fully appreciated even by UK audiences at the time. The UK had bent over backward to accommodate Adolf Hitler in the late 1930s, and the war had only "gotten serious" a few months earlier with the debacle at Dunkirk in France and the following aerial Battle of Britain, which was well underway when this movie was released. The US would not enter the war for a full year after the December release date.
walpurgis
14-01-2022, 20:43
Another DVD, 'The Mean Season' 1985 with Kurt Russell and Mariel Hemingway. A solid serial killer thriller. Not seen it for years, but remember Richard Jordan being great as the murderer.
https://i.ibb.co/58w64BB/Screen-Shot-01-14-22-at-08-38-PM.png (https://ibb.co/xjdDLJJ)
Another DVD, 'The Mean Season' 1985 with Kurt Russell and Mariel Hemingway. A solid serial killer thriller. Not seen it for years, but remember Richard Jordan being great as the murderer.
https://i.ibb.co/58w64BB/Screen-Shot-01-14-22-at-08-38-PM.png (https://ibb.co/xjdDLJJ)
not seen that for a while. was fairly good i think, if i remember right.
walpurgis
15-01-2022, 09:15
not seen that for a while. was fairly good i think, if i remember right.
Yeah, shame about Richard Jordan. Struck down by cancer as I recall and died young. He was a decent actor.
Yeah, shame about Richard Jordan. Struck down by cancer as I recall and died young. He was a decent actor.
yes, brain cancer... was when he was about to star in the fugitive film.
Another absolute classic and fav.. Kind Hearts and Coronets, 1949. Directed by Robert Hamer and stars Alec Guiness, Joan Greenwood, Valerie Hobson and Dennis Price.
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZjc1Yzc0ZmItMzU1OS00OWVlLThmYTctMWNlYmFlMjkxMz c0XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNTA1NjYyMDk@._V1_.jpg
Initially, Sir Alec Guinness was only offered four of the roles. It was Guinness who insisted on playing all eight.
Sir Alec Guinness nearly drowned in the scene where the Admiral goes down with his sinking ship. Guinness was held down by wires whilst the set filled up with water. Once the scene was wrapped, the crew started to leave, until one technician suddenly realized that they had forgotten to release Sir Alec from the wires holding him underwater. He immediately dove into the waters with some wire-cutters and freed Guinness. Fortunately for all concerned, Guinness took great pride in his ability to hold his breath for long periods of time.
Agatha's death in the movie caused some consternation for Sir Alec Guinness. The scene in question, a hot air ballooning accident filmed in a field next door to Pinewood Studios, prompted him to ask the producers if he was well insured. They told him that he was, to the tune of ten thousand pounds sterling, but Guinness didn't think that was enough. He then declared that the balloon could not be raised any more than fifteen feet unless they raised the insurance to fifty thousand pounds sterling. Ealing Studios was renowned for being very penny-pinching, and it naturally refused Guinness' demand, pointing out that he would be accompanied in the balloon by a well-qualified Belgian balloonist hidden in the basket with him. Guinness was undeterred in his refusal to perform the stunt, so the scene in the finished movie is not him, but the Belgian balloonist wearing Agatha's dress and wig. Guinness had the last laugh, however, when a high wind pulled the balloon off course. The Belgian balloonist was found fifty miles away, having had to jump into a river.
The Blue Dahlia, 1946. An American crime film and film noir with an original screenplay by Raymond Chandler directed by George Marshall and starring Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake and William Bendix. It was Chandler's first original screenplay.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6b/Bluedahlia.jpg
The pressure of having to finish the screenplay combined with the curve ball of having to write an entirely new ending was too much for Raymond Chandler. He quickly came down with a severe case of writer's block. According to a near-legendary story, screenwriter Raymond Chandler offered to finish the screenplay by working drunk: in exchange for sacrificing his health to produce the requisite pages on time, Chandler was permitted to work at home (a privilege rarely granted to screenwriters) and was provided two chauffeured cars, one to convey the completed pages to the studio and the other for his wife. Chandler turned the script in on time. Many now believe the "drunkenness" was simply a ruse by Chandler to wrangle extraordinary privileges from the desperate studio.
Ruthless People, 1986. starring Danny DeVito, Bette Midler, Judge Reinhold, Bill Pullman and Helen Slater.
https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSQmlCmxbvwp3Aqg0jXKXxSv6Hkm6seh X9TI2eOJucvfP5Uw50i
Bette Midler claims that Danny DeVito called her twice after the premiere of this film: once to congratulate her, and a second time, 20 minutes later, during which he and Midler both broke down in a nervous frenzy over how terrible the movie was, and how their careers were over. The film went on to become a box-office smash.
The make and model of the classic red sports car that Sam Stone (Danny DeVito) drives is the American Excalibur Series IV red Roadster convertible, model year 1980.
https://www.schmitt.com/vendio/4062853.JPG
It is GHASTLY!! lol
Another absolute classic and fav.. Kind Hearts and Coronets, 1949. Directed by Robert Hamer and stars Alec Guiness, Joan Greenwood, Valerie Hobson and Dennis Price.
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZjc1Yzc0ZmItMzU1OS00OWVlLThmYTctMWNlYmFlMjkxMz c0XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNTA1NjYyMDk@._V1_.jpg
Initially, Sir Alec Guinness was only offered four of the roles. It was Guinness who insisted on playing all eight.
Sir Alec Guinness nearly drowned in the scene where the Admiral goes down with his sinking ship. Guinness was held down by wires whilst the set filled up with water. Once the scene was wrapped, the crew started to leave, until one technician suddenly realized that they had forgotten to release Sir Alec from the wires holding him underwater. He immediately dove into the waters with some wire-cutters and freed Guinness. Fortunately for all concerned, Guinness took great pride in his ability to hold his breath for long periods of time.
Agatha's death in the movie caused some consternation for Sir Alec Guinness. The scene in question, a hot air ballooning accident filmed in a field next door to Pinewood Studios, prompted him to ask the producers if he was well insured. They told him that he was, to the tune of ten thousand pounds sterling, but Guinness didn't think that was enough. He then declared that the balloon could not be raised any more than fifteen feet unless they raised the insurance to fifty thousand pounds sterling. Ealing Studios was renowned for being very penny-pinching, and it naturally refused Guinness' demand, pointing out that he would be accompanied in the balloon by a well-qualified Belgian balloonist hidden in the basket with him. Guinness was undeterred in his refusal to perform the stunt, so the scene in the finished movie is not him, but the Belgian balloonist wearing Agatha's dress and wig. Guinness had the last laugh, however, when a high wind pulled the balloon off course. The Belgian balloonist was found fifty miles away, having had to jump into a river.
Sheer perfection - the ending has a wonderful 'twist' to it. :)
Sheer perfection - the ending has a wonderful 'twist' to it. :)
yes i like the end too.. they had to change it for the usa censor as they didnt allow crime to pay at that time so an extra 10 secs were filmed.. then dumped later. they can be found in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, in a drawer somewhere.lol
Monty Python and the Holy Grail, 1975. The team perform a superb bit of nonsense..:eyebrows:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/08/Monty-Python-1975-poster.png/330px-Monty-Python-1975-poster.png
The French tactic of pelting Arthur and his knights with livestock echoes the relatively modern legend of a medieval siege of the fortified southern French town of Carcassonne. Said to have been near starvation, the townspeople used the last of their food to pelt the besieging army to convince them, suffering likewise, that the town was well stocked with food and that the siege was hopeless. The tactic was successful, and the siege was lifted.
walpurgis
15-01-2022, 16:38
Monty Python and the Holy Grail, 1975
Ah, I actually dug out my copy last night whilst browsing through my DVDs. May watch it later.
Ah, I actually dug out my copy last night whilst browsing through my DVDs. May watch it later.
I don't want to talk to you no more, you empty-headed animal food trough wiper! I fart in your general direction! Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!
:D
:D
1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: Who goes there?
King Arthur: It is I, Arthur, son of Uther Pendragon, from the castle of Camelot. King of the Britons, defeater of the Saxons, Sovereign of all England!
1st soldier with a keen interest in birds: Pull the other one!:eyebrows:
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.3 Copyright © 2026 vBulletin Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.