The man who knew too much (1934) yesterday, and The Monster That Challenged the World (1953) today
The Last Movie You Watched?
- Thread starter TravelingMan82
- Start date
Pelham is a fun, under-appreciated, movie. With an interesting supporting cast, and an action-paced story line that perfectly depicted NYC, and New Yorkers then, as I remembered.
The primary tension is between two excellent ones in their primes: Matthau and Robert Shaw (correctly cast as an Englishman).
Matthau was good at bad boys. He plays a more intellectual villain in the similarly under-appreciated cold war film noir classic, Fail Safe.
And a fun romantic hero (of sorts) in his semi-spy flick with Glenda Jackson, Hopscotch.
The story goes that when he read for the stage role of Oscar Madison, he told Neil Simon he really wanted to play Felix Unger. "Anybody could play Oscar," he said. "Felix would be the challenge." Simon replied, "Walter, go and be an actor in somebody else's play. Please be Oscar in mine." Matthau finally agreed to it.
Watched Leave No Trace from 2018. It was a really good movie. I enjoyed it immensely.
A 1948 B & W police procedural, He Walked by Night, with Richard Basehart and Scott Brady, plus a slew of other familiar character actors from movies and TV. I had thought it was going to be a serial killer story, but no; Basehart plays a clever criminal who shoots a cop and then has to stay ahead of the law. Good B & W photography and use of the LA underground drainage tunnels as a backdrop, but it isn't one of the great crime movies.
It does have a footnote to film/TV history. It's the first film appearance by Jack Webb, who here plays a lab technician. And it was apparently during this shoot that he was inspired to create the radio series of Dragnet and later the TV version. This film even has a disclaimer at the front, saying, "Names have been changed to protect the innocent."
It does have a footnote to film/TV history. It's the first film appearance by Jack Webb, who here plays a lab technician. And it was apparently during this shoot that he was inspired to create the radio series of Dragnet and later the TV version. This film even has a disclaimer at the front, saying, "Names have been changed to protect the innocent."
My wife and I watched the recent documentary Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice
It is excellent.
It is excellent.
Ball of Fire
Serpico last night.
... the dark sequel to Car 54 that Nat Hiken didn’t want you to see.
Spoiler: Nicholson put on some weight.
... the dark sequel to Car 54 that Nat Hiken didn’t want you to see.
Spoiler: Nicholson put on some weight.
ALL OF ME with Steve Martin and Lily Tomlin. Tomlin dies and takes over the right side of Martin's body. Martin spends the movie arguing with himself (Tomlin), slapping himself, and being pulled in two directions at the same time. His physical comedy is genius. I loved his old, stupid arrow thru the head and banjo routines, but not so much his movies. This one is the exception. My wife and I hadn't seen it in years and we laughed our a**es off. Even watching Martin and Tomlin dance thru the credits was funny.
Last edited:
Shining Through with Michael Douglas, Melanie Griffith & Liam Neeson.
Lost in Translation with Bill Murray and Scarlette Johansson.
Explores the idea of men and women just being friends - is it possible? (Regrettably has a brief and token strip club scene to gain the "R" rating so stand ready to fast forward through it.) Otherwise in a general sense it is in the genre of When Harry Met Sally. Not giving anything away to note that this film more reflective and contemplative.
Explores the idea of men and women just being friends - is it possible? (Regrettably has a brief and token strip club scene to gain the "R" rating so stand ready to fast forward through it.) Otherwise in a general sense it is in the genre of When Harry Met Sally. Not giving anything away to note that this film more reflective and contemplative.
I doubt any woman could be “just friends” with Bill Murray.
The Stand (1997 TV miniseries)
Just the right amount of cheesiness
Just the right amount of cheesiness
Was so disappointed in it after having read the book.
Agreed and the same could be said about every King book to movie (possible exception with It (2017)). Even The Shining, while a great movie, is quite the departure from the book. The Shining miniseries is unwatchable.
I think I would have to agree. It was pretty good, but my imagination is way better than any special effects studio. I was also really disappointed in Tommyknockers.
Stand By Me was pretty good, but then I never read The Body that it was based on.
I was an SK book fan from the late 70s til the late 80s when he lost it and began repeating himself. I probably have 3 boxes of King crap from that period in storage. My favorite screen adaptions were Dead Zone (both movie and tv series) and Stand By Me.
Ooo! I forgot about Dead Zone. I loved the series and was sad to see it end.
On impulse I clicked on a B & W movie on YouTube called Adventure in Manhattan with Joel McCrea and Jean Arthur. It's a neat mix of mystery/crime, screwball comedy (it's from that period, 1936), and romance. A fun hour and 12 minutes!
Regarding the Shining miniseries from 1997: I found it much better than the Stanley Kubrick film. In Kubrick's work, we do not care in the slightest about Nicholson's character or Shelley Duvall's either. Okay, Jack turns into a kind of hairless werewolf; so? Part of the power of King's story was that we did care about the main characters, and the '97 story made that happen. And Rebecca DeMornay and Steven Weber did a great job in the roles.
Trivia: We all know that King was inspired to write the novel when he and his wife stayed at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, CO. Well, the 1997 miniseries was filmed right there. And the month I moved to CO was when the show ran. A local Denver station ran a contest, and the winners got to spend the night at the Stanley after the show -- and to sit and watch the second part right there in the hotel lobby and bar where the action on screen takes place. That must have been memorable!
Trivia: We all know that King was inspired to write the novel when he and his wife stayed at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, CO. Well, the 1997 miniseries was filmed right there. And the month I moved to CO was when the show ran. A local Denver station ran a contest, and the winners got to spend the night at the Stanley after the show -- and to sit and watch the second part right there in the hotel lobby and bar where the action on screen takes place. That must have been memorable!
