The Last Movie You Watched?

[Benzadmiral]

Watched 2 this weekend. On Sunday night, got hooked by A Night to Remember from 1958, the epic story of the Titanic with Kenneth More and short appearances by Honor Blackman and David McCallum, and a dynamite adaptation of Walter Lord's book by thriller writer Eric Ambler. After 63 years, and even though we know how it will end, the darn thing still compels you to watch.

On Saturday, a rare new movie, and a fun one: Fatman with Mel Gibson. Written and directed by the Nelms brothers, it's a hardboiled Christmas fantasy thriller, a Die Hard attitude meeting The Santa Clause and coming out ahead. Be aware that it is much more DH than the latter movie. There is humor, often dry *; there is real danger and gunplay (Gibson's "Chris Cringle" is a solid marksman with a 9mm). There is good world-building: The elves are simply pro workers and not cutesy, for instance, and we're told that they live much longer than humans because they eat 6 meals a day of simple carbs and sugar (!). Walton Goggins turns in a low-key performance as the hit man sent after Chris. It's a one-of-a-kind movie, and I think everybody should try it.

* Chris (after singlehandedly righting an enormous crate that 2 or 3 U.S. soldiers are struggling with): "Steroids."

Chris (when a govt. bureaucrat is startled by a nip from one of the reindeer): "Ah, that's Donner. Lucky it wasn't Blitzen. She'd tear your package clean off."

 

[2Vu5_T]

Amazon Prime documentaries:

Buzz One Four (2017) - 9/10
The World According to Amazon (2019) - 9/10
Science on the Edge: Fukushima: Robots in Hell (2016) - 9/10

 

[Nofx_Phan]

The Third Man

 

[Lefonque]

The Last Six Minutes

 

[emwolf]

The Third Man

That's one I try to get in at least once a year.

 

[Nofx_Phan]

That's one I try to get in at least once a year.

It's such a great movie.

 

[Whilliam]

It's such a great movie.

Great zither music, too.

 

[Whilliam]

"Shattered Glass" (2003). Tight and suspenseful account of the misadventures of Stephen Glass, the reporter who caused quite a stir by writing and publishing dozens of bogus stories in The New Republic. Hayden Christensen is outstanding as the one-time wunderkind who couldn't tell fact from fiction--or just chose not to.

Free on YouTube, and well worth watching.

 

[FL shaver]

Night Train to Lisbon. Won’t recommend this drama, but I was interested in the sights and history.

 

[Nofx_Phan]

The Hot Heiress

 

[Nomadce]

Coming 2 america

 

[Lefonque]

Black Hawk down.

 

[Whilliam]

"Mysterious Mr. Moto" (1938). Fun programmer in which Peter Lorre, an Austrian, plays protagonist Mr. Moto, a Japanese detective in the years preceding Pearl Harbor. Slim chance of anything like this ever being re-made today.

I believe the Moto series was made by 20th Century after the success of their other Asian detective, Chinese-Hawaiian Charlie Chan (then played by Swede Warner Oland).

This one, and several more Motos and Chans, are free on YouTube. The prints are lousy, but what the hell--they're great fun.

 

[emwolf]

"Mysterious Mr. Moto" (1938). Fun programmer in which Peter Lorre, an Austrian, plays protagonist Mr. Moto, a Japanese detective in the years preceding Pearl Harbor. Slim chance of anything like this ever being re-made today.

I believe the Moto series was made by 20th Century after the success of their other Asian detective, Chinese-Hawaiian Charlie Chan (then played by Swede Warner Oland).

This one, and several more Motos and Chans, are free on YouTube. The prints are lousy, but what the hell--they're great fun.

I do enjoy Moto and Chan and their poverty row cousin Mr. Wong (played by Karloff, a Brit). Moto was a bit more of a "spy" than detective, with a lot more action than most of the Chan movies.

 

[Nofx_Phan]

"Mysterious Mr. Moto" (1938). Fun programmer in which Peter Lorre, an Austrian, plays protagonist Mr. Moto, a Japanese detective in the years preceding Pearl Harbor. Slim chance of anything like this ever being re-made today.

Peter Lorre is great to watch. I saw a couple more last night with him called "The Mask of Dimitrios" and "Three Strangers"

I will watch Passage to Marseille tonight.

 

[Whilliam]

Peter Lorre is great to watch. I saw a couple more last night with him called "The Mask of Dimitrios" and "Three Strangers"

"The Mask of Dimitrios" is based on the Eric Ambler novel, "A Coffin for Dimitrios." As engaging to read as the movie is to watch.

Tiny Peter Lorre was always at his best playing next to gargantuan Sidney Greenstreet. Zachary Scott was a slick piece of work, no?

 

[Nofx_Phan]

"The Mask of Dimitrios" is based on the Eric Ambler novel, "A Coffin for Dimitrios." As engaging to read as the movie is to watch.

Tiny Peter Lorre was always at his best playing next to gargantuan Sidney Greenstreet. Zachary Scott was a slick piece of work, no?

Greenstreet and Lorre play very well together, no doubt about it. And Zachary Scott was definitely a piece of work, haha. I will check out Coffin for Dimitrios. Thanks for letting me know about that.

 

[Benzadmiral]

The Lighthouse, an atmospheric sort-of drama directed and co-written by Robert Eggers, the director of The Witch from a few years ago. Here, Robert Pattinson (who has developed into a solid actor since his Twilight days) and Willem Dafoe play two lighthouse keepers in the New England of the 1890s. It's filmed in a square aspect ratio, and in today's shadowy, grimy version of B & W. The acting is tremendous, the cinematography excellent (though I could have wished for a little more light in the interior scenes).

But that is where the good stuff ends. It's plotless and incoherent. Maybe there are literary themes in there, but they didn't make themselves known; perhaps they were hiding. I failed to develop an interest in either character. At about 1:20, when the younger man begins a loud rant about how he hates the smell of the older keeper and compares the stench to various bodily fluids, I got up and went to brush my teeth. Maybe it's supposed to be a portrait of madness . . . but I know I've read and watched better, and more entertaining, portraits of insanity.

NOT recommended unless you want to mark off a 2-hour block in your life that you will wish afterward you had back.

 

[Nofx_Phan]

Angels in the Outfield

 

[emwolf]

Nobody--it would have been your standard John Sick ripoff if not for an incredible performance by Bob Odenkirk. Like Liam Neeson, here's another middle aged man reinventing himself as an action star.