What was the last film you watched?

[Angela Channing]

Encanto (2021)

This animation has had some great reviews so I thought I'd give it a watch. It's about Columbian family who live in a place called Encanto which blesses every child in their family with a particular gift such as great strength, the ability to look into the future or to make flowers grow wherever they want. They use their powers to benefit their entire community. One member of the family, a young woman called Mirabel, did not receive a gift and always felt inadequate as a result until the powers of the others begin to weaken so she takes it on herself to find out why and if she can stop them from going altogether. It's far fetched story but it is a Disney animation so it's what you expect. Unlike many recent Disney animations which I thought had weak songs, here the songs were good and the whole film felt like it could make a successful stage adaptation. It's a nice film that will appeal to children and adults.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

I've watched The Shining a couple of times but was never keen on seeing a sequel without Jack Nicholson as he is so closely associated with the film however, your review has sparked an interest is seeing this now.

I had nothing to lose as it was free on Prime (they actually have two versions, with the Director's Cut running 30 minutes longer, but I felt two and half hours was quite long enough).

While I don't think it's as good a film as The Shining, it has quite a different tone and story. It's missing the oppressive, claustrophobic atmosphere, and instead of the psychological element it's more overtly supernatural which I think makes it less frightening. But it's an interesting journey for the main characters and like I said, the way it's linked back to the original film is nicely done.

(It did help, though, that I went in trying not to think of it as a sequel, but as a new story that's partially related).

 

[J. R.'s Piece]

To Be Or Not To Be

with Carole Lombard (watching on the 80th anniversary of her death…she died just over three weeks after shooting was completed), Jack Benny, Robert Stack and Sig Rumann

Remembering Carole Lombard

Carole Lombard died eighty years ago today. She was returning to Los Angeles from a successful WWII defense bonds tour in Indiana, which was organized by the Hollywood Victory Committee in support …

thescrewballgirl.com

Pearl Harbor Turns 80: Carole Lombard Was Hollywood’s First World War II Casualty

The starlet and wife of Clark Gable perished along with 21 others after a flight on her war bond tour crashed outside Las Vegas, as chronicled in this exclusive excerpt from the new book, 'Hollywood Victory: The Movies, Stars, and Stories of World War II.'

www.hollywoodreporter.com

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lT65_FHwqbk
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=idw8JLe_r_8

 

[Angela Channing]

Death of a Salesman (1985)

Dustin Hoffman plays a troubled salesman who has troubles at home and troubles at work. His mental health isn't great either. Dustin Hoffman's performance in this is like an acting masterclass. He totally dominates the film and although John Malkovich shines as his son Biff as does Kate Reid (Aunt Lil from Dallas) but it's Hoffman that you can't take your eyes off. As a film it's ok but I think its format is more suited to the stage.

 

[Angela Channing]

Sunshine On Leith (2013)

How did I not know about this film before? It was only by chance that I saw an interview with the actor George MacKay promoting his new film during which he mentioned he had done a musical film. Out of curiosity I got a copy and I'm glad I did. A musical based on the music of The Proclaimers can't be bad. The songs are great and the narrative that stitches them together to form the plot of the film is interesting and entertaining. Two solders decide to return home to Scotland after a stint on active duty and they have to pick up their lives and loves. The film at times is joyous, sad, funny and it even brought a tear to my eye.

 

[Seaviewer]

As a film it's ok but I think its format is more suited to the stage.

We studied the play Death of a Salesman in English class in high school but I don't think I've ever actually seen it either on film or stage.

 

[Angela Channing]

We studied the play Death of a Salesman in English class in high school but I don't think I've ever actually seen it either on film or stage.

I only became interested in seeing the film because I couldn't get a ticket when the play was staged in London's West End. There was an Arthur Miller season and I saw All My Sons and An American Clock but couldn't see Death of a Salesman because it was sold out and then when it moved theatres, it closed early due to the Covid lockdown. Seeing the film made me think it was a shame I didn't see it in the West End as I don't think it worked particularly well on screen but its structure seemed more suited to a stage production.

We studied Macbeth at school and I've had a lasting interest in the play and I've seen many of the film versions, most recently the one with Michael Fassbender in 2015 and I'm planning to see the new version with Denzel Washington tonight.

 

[Angela Channing]

The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021)

This film has had some great reviews and been nominated for multiple awards but I didn't like it. I've seen many film version of Macbeth, most recently the excellent 2015 version starring Michael Fassbender and what I consider to be the best version, the 1971 version directed by Roman Polanski, so it's hard to see what the point of this version was as it doesn't offer anything particular new or interesting. This is a minimalist telling of the story, the sets are sparse and some scenes and dialogue have been cut and the actors deliver their lines at quite a brisk pace. This is main problem with the film. Unless you are familiar with the story (which I am as I studied the play for my GCSE English literature exam in high school) it's difficult to follow because like a lot of Shakespeare, the language can be challenging and the pace of the film doesn't give you enough time reflect on what has been said to understand it. I wonder whether the actors actually understood everything they were saying as their lines were often delivered in a matter of fact way without the necessary passion and emotion which would have helped in the storytelling. The bare sets provide little help in offering visual clues about what is going on. Like many versions of Macbeth, the actors make no attempt to sound Scottish and the mix of American and English accents seems out of place. The film is atmospheric though and the director of photography did a great job in how each scene was lit and how they created long shadows to give a sense of foreboding. Sadly that was one of the few positives I could take from this film.

 

[Seaviewer]

We studied Macbeth at school

We studied Macbeth, too, but in that case we were taken to a screening of the Orson Welles version. Don't remember much about it now.

 

[Seaviewer]

Ghostbusters (2016)
I've seen the first two Ghostbusters movies but I'm not what you would call an aficionado so I was able to approach this one without the rancour that I read about in the lead-up to its release.
Judged on its own merits, this is an enjoyable film. I like the gentle banter between the leads, especially Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy; the effects were good; and the cameos by the original cast were done nicely.
I can sympathise with the fans' disappointment that they were getting a reboot rather that the sequel that they'd been wishing for, but it doesn't deserve the sexist vitriol that's been heaped upon it.

 

[Jimmy Todd]

Doctor Sleep (2019)

I rewatched The Shining last year for the first time in decades. I really didn't think it needed a sequel, but this looked far enough removed from the original for me to watch it without too much comparison. As it turned out I was impressed by how the new story managed to work in references to (plus characters and locations from) the original in a way that felt natural and unforced.

I read the book, which while not as good as The Shining, was very good. I have some trepidations about seeing the movie because of the scene where the torture the poor kid in the beginning. It's one of Stephen King's most disturbing scenes.

 

[Angela Channing]

We studied Macbeth, too, but in that case we were taken to a screening of the Orson Welles version. Don't remember much about it now.

The Orson Welles film is not the best version and not the most faithful telling of the story. Again, I think the Roman Polanski version is the closest to Shakespeare's text of those that I've seen.

 

[Angela Channing]

Cyrano (2021)

Overall, I kind of liked this film. Changing the story so Cyrano is a man with dwarfism rather than having a huge nose really worked and Peter Dinklage has a great screen presence. It's a musical and the songs let it down as most of them were instantly forgettable but they are well staged and the dance sequences were good.

 

[Angela Channing]

Mass (2021)

Two couples meet at a church too discuss a mass shooting at a school. One couple is the parents of one of the murdered students and the other couple is the parents of the student who did the shootings. I don't know the history of the making of the film and if it was impacted by Covid lockdowns but in many ways it's a perfect film to make in these times because 90% of the film is just 4 actors in one room. It is an acting tour de force by all 4 main leads but particular Ann Dowd (Aunt Lydia in The Handmaid's Tale) and had this film been made by a major studio and not an independent one she would be nominated for all the major film awards this season. The film is totally gripping well worth watching.

 

[Karin Schill]

Rebeccca (2020)
I had watched the original movie with Laurence Olivier from 1940 before. It was interesting to see how this movie compared to that one.
As I was watching this I tried to figure out where I had watched the leading lady before. She looked familiar but I couldn't really place her. Then it finally dawned on me that it was the same actress who played "Young Donna" on "Mamma Mia 2".

The settings in the movie were gorgeous. It was also really nice to see it in color. But the original movie, which was directed by Hitchcock, was more suspenseful and had more mystery to it. It also seemed darker and had a more gothic vibe due to being in black and white. The original movie also had the advantage of being set closer to the actual time era. In this movie it is pretty obvious it's 2020 even though they have the 1920s cars etc.

If anyone's curious about the movie. Here's a trailer:

 

[Angela Channing]

Arthur (1981)

I was at the gym earlier this week when Arthur's Theme was played on the radio and I thought what a great song and brilliant voice Christopher Cross's sang it with. It made me think I need to watch this film as I've never seen it. Arthur Bach is a playboy who is promised a fortune from his family when he marries Susan but he becomes attracted to poor shoplifting Linda. The best thing in film was his butler Hobson, played by Sir John Gielgud, and his acerbic asides and withering put downs. He completely steals the film. The rest of the film is just OK.

 

[J. R.'s Piece]

Smarty (1934). Starring Joan Blondell, Warren William, Edward Everett Horton, Frank McHugh and Claire Dodd.

 

[Karin Schill]

I watched "Once Upon A Time in Hollywood" (2019) yesterday afternoon.
It was an interesting movie. The plot was pretty thin. But yeah it was a what if sort of story that had a rather surprising ending.
I didn't realize how the pieces of the puzzle fit together until the very end of the movie as there were some scenes with some hippies that made no sense to me until suddenly it did.

The movie also portrayed some real life people, which was something that took me a while to understand, as they mixed scenes with fictional people and real life people.

I was also a little disappointed to realize that Luke Perry's scene had been cut. It was among the deleted scenes.
Oh and it took me ages to realize that the director of the movie they were filming was played by Nicholas Hammond - one of the kids from Sound of Music!

Here's a trailer for the movie:

 

[DallasFanForever]

I watched "Once Upon A Time in Hollywood" (2019) yesterday afternoon.
It was an interesting movie. The plot was pretty thin. But yeah it was a what if sort of story that had a rather surprising ending.
I didn't realize how the pieces of the puzzle fit together until the very end of the movie as there were some scenes with some hippies that made no sense to me until suddenly it did.

The movie also portrayed some real life people, which was something that took me a while to understand, as they mixed scenes with fictional people and real life people.

I was also a little disappointed to realize that Luke Perry's scene had been cut. It was among the deleted scenes.
Oh and it took me ages to realize that the director of the movie they were filming was played by Nicholas Hammond - one of the kids from Sound of Music!

Here's a trailer for the movie:

This was one of those movies that I thoroughly enjoyed yet everyone I recommended it to absolutely hated it. Without giving anything away I really love the ending most of all. I think it’s the best part of the movie and really does a great job of bringing everything full circle.

 

[Karin Schill]

@DallasFanForever Oh yes the ending of "Once Upon A Time in Hollywood (2019) was great. It was both expected and unexpected at once.