I don't think I've seen Duck Soup, maybe TCM will show it one night.
I don't recognize "Female" with Ruth Chatterton. What's the story like?

Duck Soup is one of the funniest movies I've seen, and the best of the Marx Brothers in my opinion. TCM will be showing it June 1st at 2:30pm. You can go to their site here and have them send you a reminder.

thanks for the info Thunderhappens

but don't the kids notice that he has a new head? it's so disturbing. and there is such a thing as working out too much. :shrug:

WHAT IS GOING ON???

Doubt, Reno 911 Miami, and Quarantine

Martyrs (Brilliant, has renewed my faith in French horror after the monstrosity that was Haute Tension swore me off France as a whole)

Home Movie (Dear Christopher Denham - Please don't ever do that again! Thanks! Sincerely, Zombie)

Last week: Harold and Maude (didn't care a whole lot for it)

This week: Breakfast at Tiffany's (much better, thank you. OMG the party scene... LOL! the drunk lady laughing inthe mirror and then bawling her eyes out, mascara running down her face.)

Coming up: What's Up Doc?

I love Netflix.

Just wanted "7 Pounds" and "Yes Man" with the wife...both enjoyable movies.

"Madame de ..."

Frost Nixon... enjoyed the history lesson....

I got out The Party by Blake Edwards (with Peter Sellers) cause I hadn't seen it in ages. I'd forgotten how great the first 2 thirds were and how bad the last third was.

I own that DVD. I feel about it exactly as you do.

Blake Edwards puts a bum carbuncle on many of his movies, like "The Party" & "The Great Race," by stretching the gimmick out well beyond what feels initially very funny, & continually coming back to motifs until all else has been crowded out from your mind. He's the Wagner of film farceurs.

Yeah I mean Sellers is at his best and you're thinking that this was a great laugh and wondering how they're going to finish it off and then...wtf it just keeps going, elephants, hippies, bubbles invading the house....way way too far and Sellers isn't even necessary, had absolutely no continuity with the first part. Just like some kiddies film tacked on to the end that happens to have Peter Sellers in it but could be anyone.

I just returned The Party and got out the australin film Chopper with Eric Bana and that was so good. He was beyond great but geez Melbourne doesn't seem as great anymore!

Haven't had as much time to watch movies lately, but one I did see
was very, very disturbing. An American Crime, has anyone
else seen that? I had to turn my head away several times during that
movie. Supposed to be based on a true story. Sometimes people can
be animals. You'll know what I mean if you dare to watch it.

I am so behind on my Movie thread...

First, I bought and watched Breakfast at Tiffany's, because I just love that movie and always will.

Next, just to temporarily break my nostalgia binge, I rented The Reader. Had to watch it twice because I got too hung up on the love scenes the first time around. After watching the interviews and director's comments and then viewing the movie for a second time, I caught a better drift of the story and it was truly poignant. Winslet was stunning with her German accent. Quite the heartbreaking ending.

The other night I downloaded Streetcar Named Desire. I'd never seen that movie before and it had fabulous acting also. Looked a little low-budget, but who cares. I can almost see Blanche's influence on several actresses and celebrities. Has that movie ever been colorized? It was great in black and white. I didn't think I'd like it in black and white, but I really did.

Next up: Wait Until Dark.

... and the binge continues.

PS: I didn't care for What's Up Doc. Too much slapstick.

I did see that one. Very disturbing indeed!

I finally got around to renting 'Finding Neverland". Definitely a feel good movie and very well done. Plus I adore Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet!

the new friday the 13th, it reeked
gran torino, loved it
play misty for me, i adore this film~

7 Pounds - Great movie, kinda sad at the end.
The Wrestler - another good movie - also kinda sad.
Bride Wars - typical chick flick - ok movie
Yes Man - funny movie!!

There Will Be Blood

The first time I watched this, I didn't like it so much.
But now it's grown on me. I think I'll have to buy this
on DVD.

BTW, I think Daniel Plainview is a lot like me. Especially
when he's sitting in the dark with his supposed brother and
says the line about "people".

You mean in the set or production design? The movie was one of the major Warner Bros. productions of that year: highly anticipated & heavily advertised. Took three Academy Awards for acting at the Oscars. The low-budget look you sense was possibly the deliberately tawdry set design for the Old Quarter? The crumbling facade -- the Old South vs. the New South -- is one of the big themes in the play.

I've never seen it colorized. I don't think TBS or TNT ever bothered.

I've been watching the British series YES, MINISTER all week. What a hoot this firebomb in the lap of bureaucracy is!

Sex, Lies, Videotape - one of the best movies of the 80s IMO.

Just got through watching Fanboys.

I thought it was very funny.

I understood the tawdry set design was purposeful to create a certain look for the old quarter. Whenever I see a movie that consists of only a handful of sets, I call it low-budget because I imagine they didn't spend a lot of money on a several different set designs or for location travel. Street Car basically had the apartment, outside the apartment and the streetcar for scenes. Granted, you didn't need any more to tell the tale, but I still call them low-budget. I have Old Man in the Sea in my queue too. If I remember correctly, that one didn't have a lot of different sets or locations, but a wonderfuly told and acted story nonetheless. It's what I love about those old movies... leaves more to the imagination.


I watched Wait Until Dark and enjoyed it quite a bit. There was more time spent setting up the story about the drug dealers than I remembered, but the scary apartment scene was every bit of frightening as it was last time I saw it years ago. Not to mention, I just love Audrey Hepburn's acting anyway.

Next up is Splendor in the Grass with Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty and/or On the Waterfront with Marlon Brando.

Love this thread! Recently, I have seen lots of new movies. Including...

four of my favorite films (Stardust Memories, Dead Poets' Society, Stealing Beauty, and Something's Gotta Give)

a few old films (8 1/2, Some Like It Hot, Fight Club)

some newer comedies (The Hangover, Wedding Crashers)

and some newer dramas (Kill Bill Vo. 1 and 2, The Virgin Suicides)

It's been a good movie week!

OH and how can I forget.... HARRY POTTER.

I just "watched" the WATCHMEN.

I didn't realize the Blue Djinn from TV's "I Dream Of Jeanie"
would be walking around the whole movie with his root hanging out.
I guess things have changed since the 60's.

(I hope somebody gets that)

Another 2 3/4 hours I need back.

To Kill a Mockingbird
"I may not be much, Mr. Finch, but I'm still sheriff of Maycomb County. And Bob
Ewell fell on his knife. Good night, sir. "

Double Indemnity
.... it was odd to watch Chip and Ernie's dad confessing to murder, beads of sweat
dripping down his forehead.

Read the graphic novel instead. Much better.


Saw DRAG ME TO HELL today. Creeped me out.

After a good run of bad luck, I had to see a classic:

Cary Grant's Mr. Lucky

Last Week's Movie:
"You know what I feel like? I feel all the time like a 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'" ... hmmm, when I was younger, my mother used to say I was like a fart in a hot skillet... but I don't suppose the two are anywhere near the same. Anyhow, excellent movie... Liz and Paul were sooo very hawt back then.

This Week's Movie:
Dial M for Murder. I enjoyed this Hitchcock film, but not nearly as much as The Birds. I could watch Tippi and the crows a hundred thousand times and never tire of it. Anyone ever take one of those college classes on the study of Hitchcock? I've been tempted but fear I may end up disliking his movies after dissecting them to the enth degree.

Did you not think that movie was stupid as hell??? haha. I don't know--I went to the theater to see it when it came out, and I was expecting it to be super scary, but it turned out to be weird and funny. Did you not find that part funny when the old lady attacked the girl in the car and she was slobbering? lol.

K--maybe I am twisted, but it was funny to me.

It depends on the movie and your approach to it. I've taught several of those types of classes, although I prefer to use Rear Window for teaching. Having studied film for years (just finishing phD right now) Hitchcock is often a great way to introduce students to film studies after giving them an introduction via more current stuff. Psycho is of course always used too.

There are several ways to approch it. Either you just discuss the techincal elements, camera movement, framing etc, and how they contribute to the film... or you talk more about the history of the film and studio industry at that point, or Hitchcock's repeated use of the same techniques and how his work can be identified...or you can get into a major discussion about "proper" film theory and psychoanalysis etc (which was very in vogue in the 50s and 60s). That's the stuff that can turn a lot of people off though, for very good reason! Of course the best way is to consider all these at the same time and focus on one or two of them...

If you seriously do want to study him then pm me and I will happily answer any questions you may have and provide you with a watching/vieiwing list and give you some notes on the key films - it will get you ahead in whatever couirse you take! Of course if you're just after general information and noa qualification or anything then I can just discuss them with you via pm if you want and save you taking a course at all.

Sorry, that made me sound abit full of myself there!

I bought a couple of DVD's.

Neil Diamond "Hot August Night NYC".
People seem to either love or hate Neil, but at 68 years
old the guy still sells out Madison Square Garden for four
nights. It's a great DVD. It sounds and looks great.

Coraline. I like these weird movies. I thought it
might be a little more scary, but it was still worth watching.
The sound was amazing, and so was the picture.

I guess if I mixed the two DVD's together I would get Sweet Coraline.

sweeeeeeeet coraliiiine....
Baa baaa bAAAAA!

:laugh:

Coraline was a great movie.

Since insomnia was my best friend this morning I tried watching
Duplicity. I wasn't able to make it through. Boring! I'll
try watching the second half some other time, when I feel like
being bored again.

I'm right now on a Burns & Allen kick -- watched "Here Comes Cookie" & "Six of a Kind" -- Dada masterpieces. I laughed so hard I farted a bunch of times.

Midnight Cowboy, made in 1969. An extraordinary film. Dustin Hoffman's performance is beyond amazing. A very sad story but still very uplifting.

what a great title. I"m a horror freak so I may need to investigate this one. The creepier the better!:nod:

My roommate was assigned to watch that movie for one of her American Studies classes last semester and became obsessed with it.

I saw the Pursuit of Happyness last night and thought it was wonderful (although it made me an emotional trainwreck.)

Just felt I should re-post the above, especially as I now learn that Apres Luis has just been released straight to DVD. A Gael Morel film: straight-to-dvd!?!? This is officially a cinema crisis. SERIOUSLY: SEE THE TIGER'S TAIL!

Meanwhile, I caught up on some movies this weekend. Saw David R. Ellis' The Final Destination 3D, which was stupid and ludicrous. . . especially after the soulful Final Destination 3 by James Wong. Ellis is, officially, a hack who is nothing without Larry Cohen (screenwriter of Cellular). Ellis tries to get all racial here but he conflates critiquing racism with class bias, and Black perserverence with Black pathology (a ludicrous characterization) -- and deflates--buries--these matters with unimaginative shocks.

Also watched Watchmen. Unlike Ellis, director Zack Snyder is no hack. His mastery of cgi made visionary the fascist abstractions of 300; but here Snyder gets Fascism--and, more importantly, comic books--all wrong by taking too seriously the graphic novel's pseudo-intellectual approach to comic book mythology. It's better than The Dark Knight (of course) but it also shows us from whence The Dark Knight sprang.

The DVD of the remake of Black Christmas: well-cast (Andrea Martin! Mary Elizabeth Winstead!!) and well-made (by Glen Morgan), but this unpleasant movie's sick Christmas twist (warding off evil spirits in the righteous climax confuses paganism with Christianity. . . or does it?) seemed removed from the real-world anxiety that grounded Morgan's previous horror remake, Willard, via the uncanny--unforgettable--use of Michael Jackson's "Ben".

For more on MJ, Willard, and "Ben," check out Armond White's new book KEEP MOVING: THE MICHAEL JACKSON CHRONICLES.