What was the last film you watched?

[Snarky Oracle!]

Ah! I should have known. But Pierce is funnier - and they had Prissy from Gone With The Wind.

Prissy's in Burnett's famous 'Went With The Wind' sketch from 1976, too, airing the very week that GONE WITH THE WIND was broadcast for the first time in America. The scene when Carol descends the stairs in her new "gown" became one of the most celebrated moments in all of TV comedy, causing the studio audience to collapse in several minutes of hysterical laughter such that most of those laughs had to be cut out in order to avoid the episode running too long -- in fact, nearly all the audience reaction is gone in the final edit:

BTW: Eve Arden's black-and-gold striped party outfit from MILDRED PIERCE was recycled nearly two decades later and worn by Bette Davis' dive lounge jazz keyboardist (Perry Blackwell) in DEAD RINGER. (Miss Blackwell was also manning the piano bar in PILLOW TALK with Rock & Doris).

That's what I liked the most about it, initially. It hasn't aged very well.

Even then. The ratings for FRESNO were great for its first night in 1986, but the numbers collapsed pretty quickly because people found it just really boring.

Frankly, that kind of comedy needs a live audience. Not only that, but FRESNO was played almost straight.

 

[Willie Oleson]

When she says "You're June. Your brother is....Richard" looks like one of those clairvoyant performances.

 

[Willie Oleson]

The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)



Alain Delon's Ripley is colder and more entitled. It was almost a cruel joke that someone so perfect-looking didn't have the world at his feet, at least that's how interpreted his character in the 1960s version.
Matt Damon plays a longing kind of Ripley, still a psychopath but a little easier to identify with.
It doesn't hurt (or it doesn't help, depending on your point of view) that all the other characters in this adaptation are truly despicable.
Even the most charming character, Meredith Logue, "rebels against" her wealthy, privileged upbringing in haute couture and expensive hotel suites. It all comes across as irritatingly frivolous.
Dickie Greenleaf is a spoilt brat who has the talent to make people feel good, but anyone with a little bit of instinct should see that he has commitment issues. I think he'd be exactly the same person if he didn't have money.
Then there's the appalling Freddie Miles played by Philip Seymour Hoffman and I think he plays the part a little bit too convincingly haha.
However, the biggest hypocrite is the seemingly friendly and seemingly understanding Marge Sherwood. Her suspicion is understandable, of course, but in the last act of the film she sarcastically says to Tom - in his nicely redecorated apartment - "look at you now. To the manor born".
To me that sounds like "you are supposed to be poor and miserable". Tom Ripley never had a chance to become her equal, and like Susan Stewart in The Servant Marge hates the murderous fraud for the wrong reasons.

When Dickie puts on Tom's glasses just for the fun of it, Tom remarks that he looks like Clark Kent. Now this is interesting because there's something funny going on with the various Tom/Dickie transformations. Glasses on he looks like Matt Damon, glasses off he looks like Leonardo DiCaprio. The hair looks cleaner, the complexion looks better....I'm sure they did this on purpose.
This was my first rewatch and I think it holds up very well.

 

[Willie Oleson]

Superman (1978)



It may have been re-marketed as Superman: The Movie, but there cannot be a more official source than the film itself. Also, I believe that the image posted here is the original film poster. With that out of the way....

The story starts as a disaster movie in which the warnings of a sympathetic Kryptonian scientist are being ignored. I wonder if it was a collision with planet Gallifrey.
Only one alien survives and crashes into planet earth. Teenager Clark Kent looks weird and not particularly attractive but all that is fixed during a 12 years make-over in the Fortress of Solitude.

Easy, Miss. I got you.

You got me ? Who's got you ?

Lois: That's Clark, nice.

For such a spectacular film featuring such an iconic character I think it's interesting that all the best scenes are between Clark/Superman and Lois.
The (at that time) relatively unknown Christopher Reeve showed a comedic charm and leading man quality that could easily rival the likes of Cary Grant and Gregory Peck. I have liked Margot Kidder in everything I've seen of her and together they have terrific on-screen chemistry.
However, the villians are rather weak imo. The dialogue between these characters is unimaginative, it's not funny or deliciously evil. Miss Teschmacher is actually quite horrible as a Bad Superman Girl.
It improves a little towards the final act of the film when the situation becomes more urgent but I had expected better from Gene Hackman who knows how to play a good villain.
Incidentally, the absence of the Zod Trio (except for the opening scene) made me realise I had never actually seen this first Superman film.

Technically speaking the film holds up very well. The special effects are creative with only a few shoddy inserts here and there, and I really believed Christopher Reeve could fly. I do not believe that Lois Lane can fly therefore that romantic flying scene doesn't make sense. Gravity-wise her body could not be in a horizontal position like Superman's.
The story also ends as a disaster movie, based on an a nuclear attack similar to the villainous scheme in The Spy Who Loved Me. Lois Lane's demise looks surprisingly gruesome and I assumed that Superman's kiss would bring her back to the land of the living. Instead, we get a "never happened" solution which feels a bit like a cop-out although Superman's father had made it very clear to never ever change the history of planet Earth.
When the point has been made that something should never be done then you can expect that point to be challenged, so I guess in a way it's still related.
As for Jimmy Olsen, let's all pretend he's not gay despite the fact that he's the first man to fly in Superman's arms and also the person who prevented Lois and Superman's first kiss. I know drama when I see it.

It looks like the film has maintained the original superhero worshipping and I think it's precisely the simplicity of it all that gives this film such an enduring charm.
I mean, there's something liberating and perfectly uncomplicated about loving a character that much, even if Superman himself admits that being a superhero is not without a whiff of vanity.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Superman (1978)

View attachment 59511

It may have been re-marketed as Superman: The Movie, but there cannot be a more official source than the film itself. Also, I believe that the image posted here is the original film poster. With that out of the way....

The story starts as a disaster movie in which the warnings of a sympathetic Kryptonian scientist are being ignored. I wonder if it was a collision with planet Gallifrey.
Only one alien survives and crashes into planet earth. Teenager Clark Kent looks weird and not particularly attractive but all that is fixed during a 12 years make-over in the Fortress of Solitude.





For such a spectacular film featuring such an iconic character I think it's interesting that all the best scenes are between Clark/Superman and Lois.
The (at that time) relatively unknown Christopher Reeve showed a comedic charm and leading man quality that could easily rival the likes of Cary Grant and Gregory Peck. I have liked Margot Kidder in everything I've seen of her and together they have terrific on-screen chemistry.
However, the villians are rather weak imo. The dialogue between these characters is unimaginative, it's not funny or deliciously evil. Miss Teschmacher is actually quite horrible as a Bad Superman Girl.
It improves a little towards the final act of the film when the situation becomes more urgent but I had expected better from Gene Hackman who knows how to play a good villain.
Incidentally, the absence of the Zod Trio (except for the opening scene) made me realise I had never actually seen this first Superman film.

Technically speaking the film holds up very well. The special effects are creative with only a few shoddy inserts here and there, and I really believed Christopher Reeve could fly. I do not believe that Lois Lane can fly therefore that romantic flying scene doesn't make sense. Gravity-wise her body could not be in a horizontal position like Superman's.
The story also ends as a disaster movie, based on an a nuclear attack similar to the villainous scheme in The Spy Who Loved Me. Lois Lane's demise looks surprisingly gruesome and I assumed that Superman's kiss would bring her back to the land of the living. Instead, we get a "never happened" solution which feels a bit like a cop-out although Superman's father had made it very clear to never ever change the history of planet Earth.
When the point has been made that something should never be done then you can expect that point to be challenged, so I guess in a way it's still related.
As for Jimmy Olsen, let's all pretend he's not gay despite the fact that he's the first man to fly in Superman's arms and also the person who prevented Lois and Superman's first kiss. I know drama when I see it.

It looks like the film has maintained the original superhero worshipping and I think it's precisely the simplicity of it all that gives this film such an enduring charm.
I mean, there's something liberating and perfectly uncomplicated about loving a character that much, even if Superman himself admits that being a superhero is not without a whiff of vanity.

One pithy critic said in 1978 that SUPERMAN couldn't make up its mind whether it wanted to be The 10 Commandments or The Three Stooges.

 

[Willie Oleson]

Noises Off...(1992)



I can't remember the last time a film made me howl with laughter. I presume the only thing more entertaining than watching this film is to be in the film.
A group of American actors are doing a British sex farce stage play with the intent to show it on Broadway. Michael Caine plays the director who makes a fuss about everything, little does he know just how chaotic it's going to be.
This also gives us a detailed account of what the play is supposed to look like which is important when we watch the alternative versions.
Because no matter how crazy it gets it still has to make sense. If a scene in the play fails it has to fail for a reason and I think this film is great regardless of the humour because it's like an enormous complex puzzle and I cannot begin to imagine how they made it the way it is.
The slapstick comes with some serious stunt work like John Ritter's tumble down the stairs (if it wasn't him then it was the mightiest editing I've ever seen).

The cast is sublime both in the play and the story about the play, the humour is non-stop as in "crammed into every single second" and I don't think it's possible to notice everything on first viewing. Glad I bought the DVD so I have it ready for a rewatch.
When I was young these sex farce plays were very popular on TV but they never looked as good as this one. And it was always the same setup: middle-aged man tries to have a steamy afternoon with his sexy secretary but then another couple arrives and they all have to pretend that "nothing funny is going on here". Chaos ensues.
Noises Off...continues the farce based on various relationships backstage while the play itself continues as audio-only with some of the actors on stage but not on camera.
Impressive.


Birth (2004)



Good grief, this film was hard to get. I mean, just the idea that a Nicole Kidman film is not available to stream is insane, but on top of everything I had to buy the DVD three times before I could actually watch it today. First purchase: wrong item sent, second purchase: lost in the mail, third purchase: heavily scratched disc but, oh well, it works.
The whole situation smells like a conspiracy most foul but the film itself is everything I had hoped for, very Todd Haynes-esque in the way it combines elegance and disturbance.
It also might be Nicole's best performance I've seen although she was great in The Others. If this film had been made in the 1980s I could picture Mia Farrow in the role of "Anna".

The story made me think of David Cronenberg's The Brood and how the emotional trauma manifested itself as a physical antagonist.
I'm not saying this is happening in Birth because the film is rather ambiguous about who-instigates-what, but that also leaves room for interpretation.
There's also the theme of grief and the need to hear the proverbial "voice from beyond the grave" but in this particular story it's the haunting that learns something from the living. It's a clever script in a sober no-frills presentation (kinda necessary to make the Anna character pop) but the kid gets smacked and shoved around and that's often a joy to watch in film.