What was the last film you watched?

[James from London]

I watched Cosmopolis yesterday. Almost the entire film takes place in the back of a stretch limo. It reminded me a lot of The Man Who Fell to Earth. R-Patz is in every scene and he's a really compelling, weird screen presence. More like a young Christopher Walken than a young Bowie though.

And I watched Maggie's Plan the other day. Really enjoyable and funny, with interesting, unpredictable characters, and a neurotic Woody Allen vibe.

 

[James from London]

Oh I forgot, I also watched this, which was lovely:

 

[Seaviewer]

17 Again

Matthew Perry youthens into Zac Efron thanks to a mystical janitor with unexplained motivations and tries to redo high school.

I've seen this sort of thing done better. Efron is okay but he and Perry are not really enough alike to convince me they are the same person and Thomas Lennon steals the show from both of them. It's interesting to seem him with Matthew Perry in almost the reverse of the roles they later played in The Odd Couple on TV.

 

[James from London]

Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool -- a beautifully tender, compassionate, intimate love story. Full of heart and very moving.

Added bonuses: Julie Walters reprising her Educating Rita scouse accent and Billy Elliot dancing, joyously, to 'Boogie Oogie Oogie' by Taste of Honey.

 

[Michael Torrance]

Bohemian Rhapsody. I do not recommend it, especially if you are a fan of Freddie Mercury of historical truth about real persons. What is more disturbing is that while they were showing Live Aid in July 1985 all I kept thinking was "oh my God, that is the summer of the Moldavian cliffhanger!"

 

[Seaviewer]

historical truth about real persons

I've heard a lot of criticism about that but biopics as a genre are infamous for "stretching" the truth.

 

[James from London]

They Shall Not Grow Old

As remarkable and powerful as everyone says. Not an easy watch by any means, but I guess that's the point.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/20...-peter-jackson-review-first-world-war-footage

 

[Willie Oleson]

to 'Boogie Oogie Oogie' by Taste of Honey

They also played that on "The Deuce"

 

[James from London]

 

[James from London]

I watched the 1976 version of A Star is Born which starts as a really cool time capsule piece, but then just goes on and on and on. As is often the case with Barbra Streisand, there's a slight feeling that you're watching her write a love letter to herself, but that's still kind of interesting, and anyway is offset by Kris Kristofferson's craggy, sad-eyed soulfulness (which kind of reminded me of Nick Nolte's craggy sad-eyed soulfulness in Prince of Tides). But about two-thirds of the way through, I finally got Barbra'd out and had to give up.

So for light relief, I then watched The Hunt, a Danish film which stars yer man from the TV version of Hannibal, and deals with the effect on a small-town community when a kindergarten teacher is unjustly accused of child abuse. It's really gripping and, at times, very moving.

 

[Willie Oleson]

and deals with the effect on a small-town community when a kindergarten teacher is unjustly accused of child abuse

Seems like a story I would enjoy.

 

[Swami]

Crocodile Dundee.

Swami

 

[James from London]

Just watched ...

Girl On The Train - not a bad film but was kind of hoping it would have been better.

Yeah, I think I was expecting something more substantial. Had I known it was so popcorny going in, I might have enjoyed the ride a bit more. But as a mixture of Hitchcock (The Lady Vanishes, Vertigo) and one of those slick domestic thrillers from the early 90s (Sleeping with the Enemy, The Hand That Rocked the Cradle) with a vaguely proto-feminist spin, it was good dumb fun.

It could have been more, it could have been....a season.

Yes! They could have pretended it was The Affair!

 

[Justine]

Julie and Julia.

It's such an enchanting film and Meryl Streep is wonderful, as always!

 

[Angela Channing]

I watched the 1976 version of A Star is Born which starts as a really cool time capsule piece, but then just goes on and on and on.

A couple of weeks ago I watched the original Janet Gaynor version of A Star Is Born. The film is over 80 years old and feels very dated at times but is still an interesting watch. I think it's a lot better than the Barbra Streisand version and I probably prefer it to the Judy Garland version too.

The Judy Garland version follows the plot of the original quite closely, several scenes were almost identical and I even noticed some of the dialogue was very similar. I've not yet seen the Lady Gaga version but it will be interesting to see how it compares with the others.

 

[Swami]

Pretty Woman.

Swami

 

[Michael Torrance]

Before the Fall (2016), a gay re-imagining of Pride and Prejudice. Byrum Geisler, the writer and director, decided to make the Bennett and Darcy characters gay men and also invert, quite cleverly, many of the situations of the original, though he committed one huge omission: he decided not to make it at all comedic. Despite the bizarre decision to eliminate humour (can I mention again that the main characters are gay, albeit one closeted), the way the spirit of the original love story of pride and preconceptions is adapted is quite brilliant, though the acting of some could use work--but the leads are good. And for once the character of Bingley is not a complete idiot, like he is in most of these film versions.

 

[Swami]

Notting Hill.

Swami

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

I watched the 1976 version of A Star is Born which starts as a really cool time capsule piece, but then just goes on and on and on. As is often the case with Barbra Streisand, there's a slight feeling that you're watching her write a love letter to herself, but that's still kind of interesting, and anyway is offset by Kris Kristofferson's craggy, sad-eyed soulfulness (which kind of reminded me of Nick Nolte's craggy sad-eyed soulfulness in Prince of Tides). But about two-thirds of the way through, I finally got Barbra'd out and had to give up.

Although I tend to defend Streisand to some degree, not all criticism of her over the years has been baseless --- and any woman who shamelessly demands Rosie and Ellen flip their sets so Barbra's "good side" will appear on camera must be someone whose divadom is partly about establishing territory absurdly, rather than creative perfectionism. And the way she lets Nolte give his climactic speech while his face is buried in her --- lap ---- in the height of passive-aggression as the director and co-star of the movie,

Funny about STAR IS BORN: it's not a very good movie -- I could tell that from seeing it in the theatre in the '70s; yet so many of the individual scenes are so weirdly memorable. It's a film that seems to be less than the sum of its parts.

 

[Swami]

Creed II. Absolutely brilliant.

Swami