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I recently watched: The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) - IMDb ~ What a stylish, fantastic revenge film! And, its sequel is a worthy one. Many consider this one of Vincent Price's finest roles. The Court Jester (1955) - IMDb ~ Every time I watch this~and that's actually 100+ times~it's so funny that I feel as if I laugh as much as I did the first time I saw it. "The pestle with the poison... The chalice from the palace... The flagon with the dragon..." "Get it? Got it? Good!" Attack the Block (2011) - IMDb ~ I can't believe I got to the end of this one! It's quite bad, with some of the most loathsome protagonists I can recall. Beautiful Wave (2011) - IMDb ~ I just do not "get" surfing, so this road picture wasn't one I'd care to visit again. When the idiots ran into trouble in Mexico, I couldn't believe how stupid they continued to be.
I'm now watching a longtime favorite: To Sir, with Love (1967) - IMDb
I saw this at the drive-in when I was about 16 and have always loved it. I still have the novel and the vinyl album, and I watch the movie several times each year. It makes a great marathon with "Up the Down Staircase" and "Conrack". The late Sixties, my final years of high school, had me thinking of a career. While I had my heart set on being a parapsychologist, perhaps minoring in paleontology, I had to be sensible and pick one I could get a degree in at a nearby college. Thus, I decided to teach English at the high school level. So, "TSWL" and "UTDS" had an especially deep effect on me. Add in "Room 222" TV series, and it could be inspiring but intimidating to enter that career. Movies so often bring back when and where I saw them and the feeling of the time. This definitely is one.
It says "Do you know who your enemy is" on the VHS jacket and to that question i respond "YES I DO" (Alot of ppl have been fooled and brainwashed by them to NOT SEE THE REAL ENEMY)
For Almrausch and anyone else into Indian movies: I'd recommend Trishna. Not a happy, joyful Bollywood movies. Loosely based on Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbavilles---poor girl meets wealthy guy. Nicely done.
jazzcat
thank you and I will check that movie out....I heard ,,Veer-Zaara'' is good (a 2004 Indian romantic drama film directed by Yash Chopra under the Yash Raj Films banner. The film stars Shahrukh Khan, Preity Zinta and Rani).Did you see that movie?Let me know please...
Gigi - B+. This beat Vertigo for best picture which is ludicrous, but it's still quite good. Very fine nuanced performance by lovely Leslie Caron in the title role; wonder why she didn't do more major roles. I want to get drunk with the Maurice Chevalier character. For old musicals set in France, this is easily better than An American in Paris, but not quite Umbrellas of Cherbourg.
The Secret World of Arrietty - B+. Studio Ghibli adaptation of the children's book The Borrowers. It's a simple story but told very well. They clearly relished the opportunity to animate a garden landscape from within.
Men in Black 3 - B. I've only seen snippets of the first two on TV, but this seemed much funnier than either of them. Thumbs up.
Saw Lincoln yesterday. Maybe because it was so hyped, it didn't quite live up to my expectations. For some odd reason (living under my red rock... haha, that's my little Denver joke), I also didn't know it was a Spielberg film 'til the ending credits. The film was quite quiet, focusing on voting. Okay, history changing voting, but that alone isn't enough without a great script.
I misunderstood & assumed in 2-1/2 hrs there would be sweeping, epic battle scenes like in the movies Gettysburg or Napoleon. I wanted to see a tortured soul as a leader on-screen, like Rod Steiger's Bonaparte, because that's what I'd read about Lincoln. I wish more material focused on Lincoln's personal, family life & inner turmoil, rather than Lincoln sitting & sitting some more & sitting some more. But, true to what I expected, it showed Lincoln as a profoundly decent human being, something that seems to have gone by the wayside in recent years of vacant celebrity, wealth at any cost worship & people not taking responsibility for their actions & ill behaviors from gov't officials to reality show nutters to Jerry Springer type shows to increasing violence over the decades. Maybe this film, for that reason alone, should be shown in schools.
One distraction for me was Daniel Day Lewis' voice, which I never noticed was quite high. I guess my impression of Lincoln, with that tall figure & battle-worn face, was that he had a far lower, booming voice. There was also a fair amount of humor coming from Lincoln, which again differed from the gloomy, depressive Lincoln I'd read about in the past. Poetic license or truth? Also, Lincoln was killed at 56, but Lewis had him moving about like a far older man. Maybe I'm not aware this was a well-known fact & that he had some sort of back issues or leg injury (or was he merely projecting presidential weariness?)... but, I felt I was watching Lincoln at 85. Or, maybe 56 in the 1800s was far different than of today. Sally Field, who was good, but not my favorite actress with her nervous, squeaky voice has such a small part, I can't believe she was nominated for best actress. She was acceptable (honestly, anyone could have played that part... it was so small it had little impact to the film), but, it certainly was a minor supporting role only.
The acting all around was okay... nothing grabbed me & left me hobbling out of the theatre with tears in my eyes, which for some reason I expected. I think David Strathairn as Seward did a far more worthy job of being nominated as a supporting role than Tommy Lee Jones as Stevens, who I found ridiculously comical looking with his supremely beaten-up face & bad, dark wig. I guess I focused more on the visuals, because there was so little in the story that grabbed me, I was a bit bored & searching for something to hold my interest. I didn't find it & I love Lewis' work & wanted to love this movie.
It isn't one of Spielberg's best. No mesmerizing cinematography, clever dialogue, intriguing characterizations... just a darkly shot, muddy film which focused on voting, which wasn't done with any sort of suspense & didn't impart any knowledge of which I wasn't aware going in. I wished Spielberg didn't give me a chapter out of a text book, but instead made me want to rush out with the thrill of patriotism in my blood to buy every book on Lincoln I could find. Sad, that.
The old version of the 39 Steps with Kenneth More and enjoyed it ...
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