Return of the RECENT VIEWING

[Phil T]

I'm sure it was a bit more complicated than this film suggests, but still, the central events - a late 80s plebiscite in Chile on whether Pinochet should have another 8 years and the "happiness" promised in a TV campaign by the anti-Pinochet "No!" lobby - is factual and the film is enjoyable and absorbing.

That one looks intriguing.

[Phil T]

Well worth the effort, Tonner.

I'll try and dig that one out...

[Matt Wilson]

The Train

Pretty good John Frankenheimer picture from '64 ('65 in America, which has a shorter cut - unfortunately the one used here) about Nazi-stolen priceless French paintings about to be exported back to Germany right before the end of the war, and how the French resistance kept the train holding the paintings from ever reaching Berlin. The message is that the paintings aren't really worth the lives wasted in the endeavor but Frankenheimer makes the whole production into a well-shot action film with Burt Lancaster in full-physicality mode. It's a bit over two hours but moves along nicely. I'd never seen it before and only picked it up as it's now out-of-print.

[Jimbly]

The Train

Pretty good John Frankenheimer picture from '64 ('65 in America, which has a shorter cut - unfortunately the one used here) about Nazi-stolen priceless French paintings about to be exported back to Germany right before the end of the war, and how the French resistance kept the train holding the paintings from ever reaching Berlin. The message is that the paintings aren't really worth the lives wasted in the endeavor but Frankenheimer makes the whole production into a well-shot action film with Burt Lancaster in full-physicality mode. It's a bit over two hours but moves along nicely. I'd never seen it before and only picked it up as it's now out-of-print.

It's good but a little odd. Burt is fantastic.

[Matt Wilson]

Django
Besides the Leone films, probably the most influential Italian western. There were literally dozens of films which used the "Django" name after this 1966 film. Star Franco Nero was even in the Tarantino Django movie which used the same theme song. The story, of course, had nothing to do with the coffin-toting ex-Union soldier in this picture. Entertaining in the extreme though the transfer is only average.

Have you heard The Upsetter's "Return of Django?" They're singing about this guy. When Ivan watches a western in The Harder They Come? It's this film.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Django_%28film%29

[Snarfyguy]

St. Vincent

It really is a shame about this one. Nothing bums me out more than actors doing what they do best but doing it without much to do. Or at least nothing we haven't seen before.

It's your typical cherubic kid taken under the wing of a supposed fuck-up and getting him to see his inner worth while the kid learns to stand up to his bullies and life in general. We've seen it all a million times before (About A Boy being one of my favorites) and this will come down to whether or not you want to see Bill Murray at the top of his game. If that sounds like an ok thing, you probably won't be disappointed. It's good entertainment, just don't expect much more.

I view it even less favorably. Emotionally manipulative, already done to death and corny as hell.

What was up with his accent?

[straw mimsy]

I view it even less favorably. Emotionally manipulative, already done to death and corny as hell.

What was up with his accent?

Seconded.
I was really annoyed that someone somewhere thought I might enjoy this. I wrote up a big thing when I saw it months back. What i didn't mention there, but I've thought back to.

...and I GUESS I should say I'm putting in a spoiler, but it's not really anything of the kind.

But near the end when they're all around the table, it's supposed to be a big moment, where we all accept our lot in life. It reminded me a lot of the last scene in You Can't Take it With You. Okay the two movies are almost 80 years apart, but it's pretty much the same sort of idea. It's a coming together of people, who are all struggling in their own way, with their own cultural and class issues-- breaking the bread and being human. Only in You Can't Take it With You, the tone is INFINITELY less bleak. People have struggled through the ages, with poverty and no social mobility-- and yet in St. Vincent -- there's this feeling of being Trapped, rather than acceptance. It almost argues the opposite point. That those in less fortunate socio-economic circumstance are NOT alright. Which sort of implies if you're not rich, you're nothing.

I found that particularly uninspiring.

[Sneelock]

I loved it. just watched it for the second time. BAWSTON!

[Snarfyguy]

I loved it. just watched it for the second time. BAWSTON!

But it said he grew up in Brooklyn, I thought.

Otherwise he was very good in it. It was just too sappy for me, although I didn't have Mimsy's takeaway on the ending. I thought it was more like a we're-all-in-this-together, one-big-crazy-family kind of thing.

Interestingly, we were debating whether to go see You Can't Take it with You tomorrow evening at the Loews Palace in Jersey City tomorrow night. It's one of the only examples of this kind of place left:



and they do revivals. I think we're leaning against going because while our three year-old can sit through Charlie Chaplain or an animated feature in a theater, the notion of 90 minutes of people in a room, talking, sounds unpromising, and I don't want to schlep out to Jersey just to spend the whole time in the lobby - even though it makes Versailles look like a Brutalist monolith by comparison.

Wait, what was the question?

[Samoan]

The Look of Love came up on the TV the other week so I thought I'd watch it.

I grew up in London and I'd heard of Raymond's Revue Bar and the production, Pyjama Tops and I think Fiona Richmond wrote a regular column in The Evening Standard.
Anyway, it made for fascinating viewing but more than anything else I thought it was incredibly sad seeing Imogen Poots, who brilliantly plays Raymond's daughter Debbie, endeavour to do well and succeed in the entertainment world and then to slowly unravel.

[...]

The Look of Love came up on the TV the other week so I thought I'd watch it.

I grew up in London and I'd heard of Raymond's Revue Bar and the production, Pyjama Tops and I think Fiona Richmond wrote a regular column in The Evening Standard.
Anyway, it made for fascinating viewing but more than anything else I thought it was incredibly sad seeing Imogen Poots, who brilliantly plays Raymond's daughter Debbie, endeavour to do well and succeed in the entertainment world and then to slowly unravel.

But Raymond's daughter was essentially talentless and only got any kind of break because Daddy threw pots (no pun intended) of money at her.

Thought Steve Coogan was abysmal - he was the same Steve Coogan as he is in every part he plays

[Samoan]

Yes, I got the impression she was indeed probably talentless. I was couching it in more generous terms.
Poor kid all the same though.

[harvey k-tel]

Watched Inherent Vice last night. If I had known PT Anderson was going to try his darndest to make me feel stoned, I wouldn't have smoked hash before watching it. What an odd movie. I understood about 40% of the dialogue and after about 50 minutes couldn't even remember what 'case' Doc was trying to solve.

Are PT Anderson and Wes Anderson related? Because the first half of IV felt a whole lot like a Wes Anderson movie, if he made movies for perverts.

[Matt Wilson]

Watched Inherent Vice last night. If I had known PT Anderson was going to try his darndest to make me feel stoned, I wouldn't have smoked hash before watching it. What an odd movie. I understood about 40% of the dialogue and after about 50 minutes couldn't even remember what 'case' Doc was trying to solve.

Are PT Anderson and Wes Anderson related? Because the first half of IV felt a whole lot like a Wes Anderson movie, if he made movies for perverts.

Wow, I didn't even know that was a film. I read the book a few years ago and was a bit bored. You'd think it was my kinda thing, too.

Anyway:


Laura

One of the best '40s noirs stars the beautiful Gene Tierney, the rather dull Dana Andrews, and Clifton Webb - who steals every scene he's in. Preminger's direction matches his work on Anatomy of a Murder and the famous song from the picture has had a life which has lasted as long as the film. A classic.

[Matt Wilson]

Not much activity on this thread lately.


Rio Grande

Perhaps the least of Ford's cavalry trilogy, it's still a classic. And it looks crystal clear as well.

[Snarfyguy]

[Snarfyguy]

I really want to go back and re-read the book now. (It's adapted ffrom Evelyn Waugh's Vile Bodies.)

[Matt Wilson]

Gladiator

At the time I thought that Kubrick's Spartacus was the superior film. Forty years separate these two sword and sandals epics and in 1960, Spartacus wasn't considered worthy of a Best Picture nomination. By 2000, when Gladiator hit theaters, it was considered good enough to win. I wasn't impressed. Now, I'm not so sure - as it holds up well. The stories are similar, but Gladiator has the better screenplay and the better leading-man performance. It's also got Richard Harris and Oliver Reed (in his last role), both of whom acquit themselves well. First impressions can be wrong, sometimes.

[Charlie O.]

Just got back from seeing two Capra movies from the thirties, both starring Barbara Stanwyck. The Bitter Tea Of General Yen was worth seeing - once - but was ultimately a let-down. Some great performances/scenes/sets/photography, and the story was an interesting one, but Capra (or somebody) grafted on this half-assed love story (not in the source book, apparently) that just didn't make a lick of sense and wasn't the slightest bit believable. Aside from Stanwyck, the standout performance was from character actor Walter Connolly, probably best known for playing Claudette Colbert's father in It Happened One Night, and who was also in another '30s Capra that I saw earlier this week, Lady For A Day (which, though totally Capra-corny, I enjoyed a lot). (In that one, Connolly played an Italian count!)

The other one I saw tonight was The Miracle Woman, in which Stanwyck played a successful and somewhat crooked evangelist. I could imagine watching that one again - I liked it, although I didn't think Stanwyck really had the right voice for that kind of role.

[Matt Wilson]

Cape Fear
The original, not the Scorcese remake - which I think is just as good, just in a different way. This could be classic film noir if it would've been released in the '50s. But then the sexual tension and all the unspoken threats of rape would have been toned down. Was Mitchum ever this threatening? It makes his performance in Night of the Hunter seem tame.