What was the last film you watched?
- Thread starter Mel O'Drama
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THE CHASE (1966)
This has been in my prime rentals watchlist for quite some time but today I found it you-tube, in good quality and without commercials. I didn't even have to look for it, actually.
So...this is basically a retelling of East Of Eden, the story of two young men, a miscast and an outcast - and Jane Fonda.
From Marlon Brando's point of view this a sci-fi schlocker about a town driven to madness by forces from outerspace.
But then sometimes it's a soap opera that tries hard to be steamy and anarchic, but never really gets there, the way Valley Of The Dolls also didn't.
The adults act like horny drunken teenagers, none of them have children and the actual children we do get to see don't have parents.
There's not much of a chase going on, and during the first half of the film I thought they were chasing a good storyline.
The star-studded cast (admittedly, some of them in the early stage of stardom) could also been seen as a red flag for lack of substance, kinda how it works in those awful disaster movies.
THE CHASE even features a Shelley Winters look-alike and Marlon Brando's sister.
It's an odd mix of brilliance and awfulness. Robert Duvall is woefully underused and yet he managed to make his character "pop".
All the others were just fine and Robert Redford whose character mostly serves as the story's cataclysm makes the best of his performance when he finally gets the chance to speak.
He plays Bubba, you're going to hear that name a lot. Like, teeth-grindingly and wanna-stop-watchingly often.
I found the last part exciting and satisfying, it uses the clever irony of predicting the outcome the wrong way.
Marlon Brando leads an all-star as Sheriff Calder in...The Chase ! A film with many flavours and, evidently, many readings.
This has been in my prime rentals watchlist for quite some time but today I found it you-tube, in good quality and without commercials. I didn't even have to look for it, actually.
So...this is basically a retelling of East Of Eden, the story of two young men, a miscast and an outcast - and Jane Fonda.
From Marlon Brando's point of view this a sci-fi schlocker about a town driven to madness by forces from outerspace.
But then sometimes it's a soap opera that tries hard to be steamy and anarchic, but never really gets there, the way Valley Of The Dolls also didn't.
The adults act like horny drunken teenagers, none of them have children and the actual children we do get to see don't have parents.
There's not much of a chase going on, and during the first half of the film I thought they were chasing a good storyline.
The star-studded cast (admittedly, some of them in the early stage of stardom) could also been seen as a red flag for lack of substance, kinda how it works in those awful disaster movies.
THE CHASE even features a Shelley Winters look-alike and Marlon Brando's sister.
It's an odd mix of brilliance and awfulness. Robert Duvall is woefully underused and yet he managed to make his character "pop".
All the others were just fine and Robert Redford whose character mostly serves as the story's cataclysm makes the best of his performance when he finally gets the chance to speak.
He plays Bubba, you're going to hear that name a lot. Like, teeth-grindingly and wanna-stop-watchingly often.
I found the last part exciting and satisfying, it uses the clever irony of predicting the outcome the wrong way.
Marlon Brando leads an all-star as Sheriff Calder in...The Chase ! A film with many flavours and, evidently, many readings.
- Awards
- 44
Scrooged (1988)
This was watched on a whim. If I'd stopped to think about it I'd probably have decided it's too early for Christmas-themed films, but the poster doesn't look particularly festive and the film itself didn't really feel very Christmassy either.
I'd never watched this before, but I do remember it being popular with classmates when it was in cinemas. Bill Murray was quite big at the time, and I'd enjoyed Ghostbusters, but something put me off watching this. Something at the back of my mind tells me I was probably put off on some level by the idea of an Americanisation of a quintessentially British story.
Fortunately, this isn't a "straight" adaption. As you'd guess from the poster it's really a typical Bill Murray film which happens to follow the same basic story as the Dickens novel. The only really cringey parts are the "film within a film", with the Buddy Hackett's Scrooge opening the window on Christmas morning and ordering the all-American kid to buy a bird for the Cratchits. But then, since Murray's character is filming this version of A Christmas Carol it's meant to be cringey (I think).
Bill Murray, naturally, is Bill Murray. You know what you're getting and this film is no exception in that regard.
Besides Bill Murray, I had no idea who was in this film, and I found myself more impressed with each familiar face that appeared. It feels like the world and his wife are in this, with everyone from Robert Goulet and Lee Majors cameoing as themselves to the likes of John Forsythe (as I'd never have expected to see him), Robert Mitchum and Carol Kane (whose character feels straight out of a panto - in the best kind of way).
Giving the film its grounding are Alfre Woodard as the kind-of-Bob-Cratchit character and Karen Allen as the film's kind-of-Belle. Both are truly captivating, with radiant, natural performances.
It's not the kind of film I'd want to watch every Christmas. Now I've seen it, I don't feel the need to revisit it. All the same, I'm glad I watched it just this once.
This was watched on a whim. If I'd stopped to think about it I'd probably have decided it's too early for Christmas-themed films, but the poster doesn't look particularly festive and the film itself didn't really feel very Christmassy either.
I'd never watched this before, but I do remember it being popular with classmates when it was in cinemas. Bill Murray was quite big at the time, and I'd enjoyed Ghostbusters, but something put me off watching this. Something at the back of my mind tells me I was probably put off on some level by the idea of an Americanisation of a quintessentially British story.
Fortunately, this isn't a "straight" adaption. As you'd guess from the poster it's really a typical Bill Murray film which happens to follow the same basic story as the Dickens novel. The only really cringey parts are the "film within a film", with the Buddy Hackett's Scrooge opening the window on Christmas morning and ordering the all-American kid to buy a bird for the Cratchits. But then, since Murray's character is filming this version of A Christmas Carol it's meant to be cringey (I think).
Bill Murray, naturally, is Bill Murray. You know what you're getting and this film is no exception in that regard.
Besides Bill Murray, I had no idea who was in this film, and I found myself more impressed with each familiar face that appeared. It feels like the world and his wife are in this, with everyone from Robert Goulet and Lee Majors cameoing as themselves to the likes of John Forsythe (as I'd never have expected to see him), Robert Mitchum and Carol Kane (whose character feels straight out of a panto - in the best kind of way).
Giving the film its grounding are Alfre Woodard as the kind-of-Bob-Cratchit character and Karen Allen as the film's kind-of-Belle. Both are truly captivating, with radiant, natural performances.
It's not the kind of film I'd want to watch every Christmas. Now I've seen it, I don't feel the need to revisit it. All the same, I'm glad I watched it just this once.
- Awards
- 27
To be honest, I wouldn't have a clue.
Oddly enough I've never bothered to find any of his films but now you've given me the inspiration. On that note...
84 CHARING CROSS ROAD (1987)
If 84 CCR is considered a Christmassy movie then I'll say that this is completely coincidental since I chose it for the lead actors who had starred so magnificently in the other biopic THE ELEPHANT MAN.
"A big love affair" could be a little misleading to those who are looking for something overtly romantic - and spoilers be damned, that scene on the beach with two people running towards each other is not going to happen. Ever. But there is a beach, and Judi Dench in a supporting role.
I would compare 84 CCR to that other transatlantic story LOCAL HERO in terms of being uneventful, wholesome, soothing and also somewhat hypnotizing.
The story of a correspondence also plays out as a correnspondence, interspersed with mentions or showings of historical events, and that gives it a bit of a novelty quality. At least I had never seen something like this before.
As life goes on and the years go by the characters are inevitably confronted with mortality, but the lack of high drama doesn't make it less impactful.
I don't know if Helene Hanff continued her correspondence with any of the people in England or if she visited any members of the Doel family once she finally got there.
One note of criticism: bad fake-typing.
It also made me think of how we, here on tellytalk, have become a similar story to 84 CCR. And I did, indeed, receive some soapy goodness from people who live in foreign countries. And so it has become a Christmassy affair after all.
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- Awards
- 44
Perhaps I should have added the caveat "...if you've seen one Bill Murray film."
In a nutshell, there's a whole lot of wry, sarcastic deadpanning going on, together with quirky eccentricities.
He did a couple of Hitchcocks which are worth it on that basis alone. Most notably black comedy The Trouble With Harry:
The 1950s Vermont setting gives it a bit of a Peyton Place vibe, I think. And the premise (kind of) informed an iconic Knots Landing season finale.
I've never seen either, but now I'm interested.
Aww, that's lovely.
- Awards
- 20
You might try Madame X (with Lana Turner) as well.
- Awards
- 27
THE INTRUDER (1962)
William Shatner shines as the dashing and manipulative segregationist on a mission.
You could say that this is an early "Mississippi Burning" and I guess it's not surprising that "The Intruder" looks a bit safer by comparison - but probably more challenging to make considering the conditions and the time it was made.
This being a B&W 1960s film also means that the eeriness comes very naturally, and the theory that racial integration was nothing but a devious plot hatched by pro-Russia Jews usually has a whiff of "Twilight Zone" imo.
Since the local paper is part of the story it also reminded me of Flamingo Road.
Not to be missed if you're a fan of sixties cinema.
William Shatner shines as the dashing and manipulative segregationist on a mission.
You could say that this is an early "Mississippi Burning" and I guess it's not surprising that "The Intruder" looks a bit safer by comparison - but probably more challenging to make considering the conditions and the time it was made.
This being a B&W 1960s film also means that the eeriness comes very naturally, and the theory that racial integration was nothing but a devious plot hatched by pro-Russia Jews usually has a whiff of "Twilight Zone" imo.
Since the local paper is part of the story it also reminded me of Flamingo Road.
Not to be missed if you're a fan of sixties cinema.
- Awards
- 27
SPENCER (2021)
And yet another unintentional choice for a Christmas movie. What's going on here?
The first thing to notice it the modern one-word title. Could it be an origins story for a Disney or James Bond character? Nooo, it's all about then-Princess Diana.
Not really a biopic or something that is supposed to reveal new information, and I think it's more about the "how" than the "what".
From that point of view I think this is a gorgeous film, and the score covers almost half of the narrative.
With the focus on Diana's state of mind during this fictionalized event it often comes across as a Roman Polanski-esque mystery drama, and I can even read a little bit of Alice In Wonderland in it. The pheasants, the scarecrow, the military precision especially in relation to the Queen - and at the beginning of the film she even says "I have no idea where I am".
I think the film is ambiguous enough in its portrayal of paranoia vs. being gaslighted (or is it gaslit?) but it does make me re-think the actual situation (what we know of it anyway) and Diana's death in particular.
Apart from that it is also a story about a marriage on the rocks, the clash of past, present and future, and also what it means to be part of a monarchy.
SPENCER mostly shows without being too literally informative, something that can only be achieved in film so that's a big plus imo.
I haven't seen Netflix's BLONDE (see? another hip one-word title) but I suspect it's somewhat similar to this one.
Now I feel I should watch CRUELLA but it's only available to buy for 14 Euros. Well, I think not!
And yet another unintentional choice for a Christmas movie. What's going on here?
The first thing to notice it the modern one-word title. Could it be an origins story for a Disney or James Bond character? Nooo, it's all about then-Princess Diana.
Not really a biopic or something that is supposed to reveal new information, and I think it's more about the "how" than the "what".
From that point of view I think this is a gorgeous film, and the score covers almost half of the narrative.
With the focus on Diana's state of mind during this fictionalized event it often comes across as a Roman Polanski-esque mystery drama, and I can even read a little bit of Alice In Wonderland in it. The pheasants, the scarecrow, the military precision especially in relation to the Queen - and at the beginning of the film she even says "I have no idea where I am".
I think the film is ambiguous enough in its portrayal of paranoia vs. being gaslighted (or is it gaslit?) but it does make me re-think the actual situation (what we know of it anyway) and Diana's death in particular.
Apart from that it is also a story about a marriage on the rocks, the clash of past, present and future, and also what it means to be part of a monarchy.
SPENCER mostly shows without being too literally informative, something that can only be achieved in film so that's a big plus imo.
I haven't seen Netflix's BLONDE (see? another hip one-word title) but I suspect it's somewhat similar to this one.
Now I feel I should watch CRUELLA but it's only available to buy for 14 Euros. Well, I think not!
- Awards
- 7
look up the history of what went behind the making of The Intruder (1962) they shot that in the deep south and they were not welcome by anyone there including the law & yes they were threatened and given a day of when they had to leave they finished before they had to be forced to leave by the law. but had to get one more shot so they snuck back in the middle of the nite to get it done and than left before anyone noticed they were there. i haven't seen it yet but it is on my list of films to watch & according to Corman it's the only film of his that lost money & it's been bothering him ever since because he loves the film so much and considers it his best actually.
i watched Halloween: Resurrection (2002) and yeah it's the worst one of them all well that one and Halloween 6: The curse of Michael Myers (1995) at least the Theatrical cut i have not seen the (2009) sequel or the last 2 films to be fair but i'm going by the ones i've seen thus far.
why did i watch it? good question it's on the small set i own on bluray and i had the audio commentary on and wasn't really watching it but listening to it lol. my rating 3/10 the audio commentary? i'd say 6/10 cause it wasn't that great either
i watched Halloween: Resurrection (2002) and yeah it's the worst one of them all well that one and Halloween 6: The curse of Michael Myers (1995) at least the Theatrical cut i have not seen the (2009) sequel or the last 2 films to be fair but i'm going by the ones i've seen thus far.
why did i watch it? good question it's on the small set i own on bluray and i had the audio commentary on and wasn't really watching it but listening to it lol. my rating 3/10 the audio commentary? i'd say 6/10 cause it wasn't that great either
- Awards
- 24
I also watched this one recently and I loved it. So sweet that Mel Brooks gifted Bancroft the novel copyrights for her birthday. It´s flawlessly played, and everything´s in its place. Hopkins could be so gentle before the "Lambs"... What a couple of great actors.
- Awards
- 27
...AND JUSTICE FOR ALL (1979)
The blend of straight drama, social commentary, satire and even bits of quirky comedy gives this film a very vibrant rhythm.
The story only deals with black-and-white situations: the idealistic underdog, the merciless villain, the extremely unlucky victims of the judicial bureaucracry - and in that way it almost caricatures the heavy-handed dramas in the "everything wrong with America" film genre.
I had already watched a few clips on youtube and I feared this was going to be one of Al Pacino's most shoutiest performances, now that I've watched the entire film I wish it had been a little shoutier. The final courtroom scene could have been at least 10 minutes longer and more excessive, but perhaps that would have undermind the point of the story.
But anyway, here we have John Forsythe as judge Henry T. Fleming who considers himself an avenging angel rather than a man who serves the law and The People.
For the squeamish Dynasty fans amongst us: this film features some images of our beloved Blake Carrington in "hobby" outfits that even Peter De Vilbis wouldn't wear.
I don't know if the pictures are real or photoshopped but that doesn't matter.
Larry Hagman as JR Ewing was probably the bitchiest soap insulter - and in fact so entertaining that it kinda justifies his villainy - but when John Forsythe plays the villain it's downright diabolical.
There were a few scenes in JUSTICE that reminded me very much of DYNASTY's first season in which Blake's victims (especially Krystle and Steven) didn't even realize they were being preyed on until it was too late. Like a giant snake that slowly and oh-so-quietly wraps itself around its victim's neck.
But of course there's also this
I want an answer, dammit! Is my daughter going to live or not?
Overall, not quite as magnificent as DOG DAY AFTERNOON but maybe that's because the supporting cast is in individual parts of the story rather than in one big mise and scène as we saw it in DOG.
Lee Strasberg is great as the adorable grandfather, Jeffrey Tambor performs a pre-Krystle Carrington "dinner's served!" and Craig T. Nelson's role of prosecutor proves (once again) that being on the right side doesn't necessarily make you a good person (big shades of Cliff Barnes here).
This film is not to be missed by the fans of seventies cinema.
- Awards
- 44
Yipes. Is it really sixteen months since I watched Into The Spider-Verse? No wonder I felt more than ready for...
Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse (2022)
After the first film, hopes were high for this one. Overall it was a really good film, but I felt it didn't feel as engaging or accessible as the first. I suspect it suffered from being very clearly designed as the middle part of a trilogy, making it less satisfying when watched in isolation. And at risk of sounding like an old fart, I found the soundtrack quite noisy and intrusive at times.
Gripes aside, I applaud the film's design. The aesthetics are amazingly eye-catching and diverse, and this film pushed the boundaries further still with brief visits to, for instance, a Lego universe, what appeared to be the "real" world and even glimpses of previous live-action Spidey films.
The Spot is a choice for a villain that made me raise an eyebrow. I was reading Spider-Man titles at the time he was introduced and still remember picking up the issue with his first appearance from the rack in a particular newsagents. Even at the time he was treated quite light-heartedly as a bit of a "joke" character, not to be taken seriously, and I don't remember him ever seeming a real threat for Spider-Man, so to have this taken to a level where he was a threat to the entire multiverse felt very unexpected.
With all the MCU films and spinoffs, it feels quite criminal that Marvel's main Spider-Woman - to the best of my knowledge - has still to appear. Probably her only outing in films other than comics and motion comics has been the 1970s cartoon with Joan Van Ark, which was great fun (and my introduction to the character) but is tonally very different from the brooding, almost gothic Spider-Woman appearing in comics of the time.
When animated superheroes got serious and serialised in the Nineties, it was Julia Carpenter's Spider-Woman who featured. Ironically it kind of happened again here. While it was just a brief silent cameo, we did get a glimpse of a Julia Carpenter Spider-Woman who looked very much like that version when she first appeared (she even features on the poster, right above Jess Drew's afro).
While I'd love for original recipe Jessica to have somehow appeared in this film, I'm glad to say I did like Jess Drew, the alternative universe version who featured quite prominently here. Which is probably just as well since I'd hazard a guess we'll be seeing more of her. The aesthetics and persona feel closer to, say, Misty Knight than Jessica Drew, but given the nature of this film it's not difficult to accept an alternative version that's done well.
Perhaps I wasn't paying close enough attention, but I noticed far fewer of these in this film. There were certainly a hell of a lot of Easter eggs with the various Spider characters who have appeared in the comics and media over the years. They even squeezed in the Bombastic Bag-Man costume (another issue I remember well). I missed this in the actual film, but he, too is on the poster above, to the left of Jess Drew and Julia Carpenter.
- Awards
- 27
SALTBURN (2023)
Story-wise I don't think it's possible to put any spoilers in this review. If you've seen trailers or just the first three minutes of this film then you know what you're going to get.
After I had watched the film I wondered how it compares to the fourth season of Carolyn Kepnes' YOU which also takes place in England's high society.
Predictability can also have a good effect on my viewing experiences as I'm less focused on the "what" and more on the "how".
And the "how" in SALTBURN certainly doesn't disappoint.
Rosamund Pike as matriarch Elspeth Catton's character description of family friend Poor Dear Pamela is priceless. If everything else in this film had failed then at least there's still that.
Pamela herself looks like a Nina Hagen-played-by-Helena Bonham Carter (but played by Carey Mulligan) and this underlines the wealthy and very priviliged family's desire to dabble in faux-bohemianism every now and then.
Oliver Quick is the "invisible" blue-collar classmate of Catton heir Felix and of course it doesn't take long before he worms his way into the world of the quasi-casual yet oh-so-snobby aristocrats.
At the same time it's the aristocrats themselves who think they've found a new exotic thing to play with.
To be fair, it's only at the end of the film that it becomes perfectly clear how calculated Oliver had been. Personally I didn't need to know that because the moments of ambiguity work really well in this story, and it's interesting that the most disturbing scene happens in the home of Oliver's family.
I think this film is beautifully shot, very very well acted and also incredibly funny in some unexpected moments.
The film poster looks very modern - a mix of "Babylon" and "Everthing Everywhere All At One".
Story-wise I don't think it's possible to put any spoilers in this review. If you've seen trailers or just the first three minutes of this film then you know what you're going to get.
After I had watched the film I wondered how it compares to the fourth season of Carolyn Kepnes' YOU which also takes place in England's high society.
Predictability can also have a good effect on my viewing experiences as I'm less focused on the "what" and more on the "how".
And the "how" in SALTBURN certainly doesn't disappoint.
Rosamund Pike as matriarch Elspeth Catton's character description of family friend Poor Dear Pamela is priceless. If everything else in this film had failed then at least there's still that.
Pamela herself looks like a Nina Hagen-played-by-Helena Bonham Carter (but played by Carey Mulligan) and this underlines the wealthy and very priviliged family's desire to dabble in faux-bohemianism every now and then.
Oliver Quick is the "invisible" blue-collar classmate of Catton heir Felix and of course it doesn't take long before he worms his way into the world of the quasi-casual yet oh-so-snobby aristocrats.
At the same time it's the aristocrats themselves who think they've found a new exotic thing to play with.
To be fair, it's only at the end of the film that it becomes perfectly clear how calculated Oliver had been. Personally I didn't need to know that because the moments of ambiguity work really well in this story, and it's interesting that the most disturbing scene happens in the home of Oliver's family.
I think this film is beautifully shot, very very well acted and also incredibly funny in some unexpected moments.
The film poster looks very modern - a mix of "Babylon" and "Everthing Everywhere All At One".
- Awards
- 17
I have to agree that the first film was more enjoyable, although I also feel that the ending of this one does have me anxiously awaiting the third one.
- Awards
- 25
Just watched this last night and I must say I can't remember the last time I was so impressed by a modern film, probably cause I don't watch many of them. As you say it's beautifully shot, beautifully lit and has some very impactful imagery (I have never seen anything in a film quite like that grave scene and it will remain etched in my memory!) And the stately home and estate where it's filmed is very impressive. The cast is great and Rosamund Pike is particularly good, and funny, as the frightfully posh mother. I haven't seen anything with Barry Keoghan in it before and he gave a very powerful performance, unsettling as it needed to be, however I perhaps would have liked him to be a bit more charming for me to believe that everyone should be so enamoured with him.
Overall a really good film that I'd highly recommend.
- Awards
- 44
That's good, and I'm glad you had that positive experience with the ending.
I must confess that ending didn't give me a great sense of excitement about the third one, and I'm quite disappointed about that. I have a quiet anticipation about the third and will certainly watch it, but at the same time I don't feel desperate to know what happens next.
- Awards
- 17
Funny because the two people I saw it with said exactly what you just did. I guess maybe the ending of this last one being left so “up in the air” is what appealed to me.
Definitely a much different kind of Spider-Man saga than anything else we’ve seen though. I’m still not even sure what to make of these first two movies to be honest. I know I enjoyed them, yet I keep asking myself why if that makes any sense.