What was the last film you watched?

[James from London]

The Children Act (2017)



Fascinating but oddly unbalanced film starring Emma Thompson as a judge whose responsibilities entail making impossibly difficult rulings in legal cases involving kids. Her work consumes her at the expense of her marriage to Stanley Tucci. It's very interesting to see legal procedures depicted from a judge's point of view and I could kind of imagine this as a slick three-part series on the BBC, until about halfway through when it takes an abrupt turn into old-fashioned melodrama territory, whereupon I started to visualise it as a black and white Barbara Stanwyck movie from the '40s.

There are some beautifully moving scenes, but by the end I couldn't shake the feeling that the whole thing -- the story, the characters, their suffering -- ultimately existed as a vehicle for Emma Thompson to do her thing. In other words, it felt like the film was serving her rather than the other way round. But, you know, there are definitely worse ways to spend 98 minutes than watching ET give a predictably faultless performance.

BBC Two - The Children Act

A judge (Emma Thompson) handles the case of a teenager who refuses a blood transfusion.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Angela Channing]

Luca (2012)

Story of a friendship between 2 sea monsters who become human like when they leave the sea. Echoes of The Little Mermaid at times but no where as good as that film. This did seem like a formulaic Disney-Pixar offering with good verses bad, friends finding each other, falling out and getting back together before one makes a key sacrifice to help the other. It's not a bad film but I couldn't help thinking there wasn't a lot in it that seemed particularly original.

 

[Seaviewer]

Topper (1937)
The film that preceded the 1950s TV series. Cary Grant and Constance Bennett as the ghosts, and Roland Young in the title role played by Leo G. Carroll on television.

 

[Angela Channing]

In The Heights (2021)

I didn't like it. Musicals either need to have great songs with an average plot or a great plot with average songs. In this, the songs weren't particularly memorable and the storyline was a bit flimsy. I think it would be more of a spectacle on a stage than on film.

 

[Seaviewer]

Topper Takes a Trip (1938)
Sequel to the aforementioned Topper.
Roland Young and Constance Bennett return; Cary Grant does not, but he does get a special credit for "consenting" to the use of flashback footage from the first film. I wonder how much say he really had about it.
Another interesting casting note: Billie Burke appears in both films as Mrs. Topper, this one just the year before she played the Good Witch in The Wizard of Oz.
Her name here is Clara but for some reason the name was changed to Henrietta in the TV series.

 

[Jessie]

Fear Street 78

 

[Seaviewer]

Suicide Squad (2016)
I'm not familiar with the comic that this is based on but the premise is not hard to grasp - it's a Dirty Dozen rip-off using B- and C-list villains from other comics.

 

[Jessie]

Prom Night

 

[9unfold]

Sahara.

New levels of awful were achieved here.

 

[Sarah]

Yeah it was good - some good performances, strong female lead.

 

[Seaviewer]

Funny Face (1957)
Musical with Fred Astaire as photographer named - believe it or not - Dick Avery who falls in love with his model, Audrey Hepburn.
Yes, it's yet another variation on Pygmalion, but Astaire did it better in Easter Parade in 1948, and Hepburn is still seven years away from playing the original Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about it is the fact that Hepburn does her own singing - in My Fair Lady she was dubbed by the not-well-enough-known Marni Nixon.

 

[Jessie]

Friends Request

 

[Rove]

Logan's Run

Currently for viewing on Netflix



I haven't seen this for many years but was excited when I saw it pop up on Netflix (Australia). It's dated by todays standards but conjures up fond memories when I would sometimes catch this as a Saturday afternoon movie.​

 

[Angela Channing]

Black Widow (2021)

Superhero films often are memorable for great action set pieces but less so for plot. However, this film actually tells a story and there is a much dialogue as there are fight scenes and chases and it's all the better for it. I really liked it.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

The Silence Of The Lambs (1991)

It's some years since I last watched. It's one of those film that ages like a nice chianti. Chilling, exciting and beautiful, with terrific performance.

Curiously, the version I have (on DVD. I haven't yet got round to investing in the Blu-ray) doesn't have the film title shown on screen, nor are the main actors credited. Instead it starts with credits for the secondary actors. I'm assuming this is an anomaly rather than by design, but I'd love to know more about that.

 

[Sarah]

The Silence Of The Lambs (1991)

It's some years since I last watched. It's one of those film that ages like a nice chianti. Chilling, exciting and beautiful, with terrific performance.

Curiously, the version I have (on DVD. I haven't yet got round to investing in the Blu-ray) doesn't have the film title shown on screen, nor are the main actors credited. Instead it starts with credits for the secondary actors. I'm assuming this is an anomaly rather than by design, but I'd love to know more about that.

My favourite movie. Must look at the credits again. I know every single word uttered in the movie and it's a disgrace that the only name I can remember being featured in the credits is Chris (Blue Ho-hell!) Issacs.

 

[Sarah]

I watched something called Blood Red Sky. Looked good but I struggled with it. Something about a vampire on an airplane.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

My favourite movie.​

It is an absolutely terrific film.

And to follow it up, tonight I watched The Silence Of The Lambs: The Inside Story:

 

[darkshadows38]

Silence of the lambs (1991) is a work of art and it's one of my favorite horror films. the guy wears a person's skin in it that's horror movie. if that's not a horror movie that the Original (1974) Texas Chainsaw Massacre isn't a horror movie. hence Leather face that's what i'm getting at. for those who have never seen the Original Chainsaw film it's got no blood in it it's most really smart directing and camera angles that really make the film scary and good writing too. the dinner scene at the end for example is scary not so much as what's said it's how it was filmed and shot. all the sequels and the remakes as well that are the ones that's got the gore not the Original film

 

[Angela Channing]

The Comedy of Terrors (1963)

I was a big fan of the Vincent Price horror classics like Theatre of Blood and The Abominable Dr. Phibes which had a lot of humour in them so I thought this film was going to be in a similar vein. I also liked that the title was a clever play on the work Shakespeare. The film has a great cast including Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, Boris Karloff, Basil Rathbone and Joe E. Brown but even they can't save this film. The comedy is mostly slapstick which I found tiresome after a while. Overall the film was neither funny or horrifying, just bad.