What was the last movie you saw?

[hitmouse]

The Caine Mutiny Court Martial (2023). A courtroom drama about a lieutenant of the Navy facing trial for mutiny because he relieved his commander of charge amid a storm on the basis of mental instability.

It’s the last movie by The Exorcist’s William Friedkin (RIP), who also wrote the teleplay. It’s a straight-to-TV movie, and it surely feels like a straight-to-TV movie. I felt like I was watching Law & Order. The camera framing sits still almost all the time. Another movie that comes to mind--but for other reasons--is Twelve Angry Men (1957): it only has dialogue and no action, and it takes place only in the courtroom, never showing what really happened.

It has a good cast. Lance Reddick (RIP), Kiefer Sutherland and Jason Clarke are the stars here. And they all--and the others too, it’s a big cast--deliver good acting performances. But the performances are subtle, showcased by dialogue, facial expressions, speech patterns and some other subtle body movements.

It’s also a great battle between the prosecutor and the defense attorney. The prosecutor is fast and cunning, whereas the attorney, only having accepted the case four days earlier, makes few questions and doesn’t examine all witnesses, but you know from the get-go that he has aces up his sleeve.

There’s a small plot twist in the end. It’s not a Sixth Sense type of twist but, still.

Fun Fact: the “mutiny” took place on December 18th, 2022, and here I was, watching the movie exactly a year later.

Recommended.

Have you seen the film, starring Humphrey Bogart? I have a vague recollection that the defence lawyer was played by Burgess “ Penguin” Meredith.

 

[alexvss]

Have you seen the film, starring Humphrey Bogart? I have a vague recollection that the defence lawyer was played by Burgess “ Penguin” Meredith.

I didn't even know about it, so no. And now I googled it and saw that it has at least three other movie adaptations

And now I'm puzzled. It's a good story, but not THAT good. In truth, it's not even the story that it's good: it depends too much on the acting.

 

[Randy M.]

Have you seen the film, starring Humphrey Bogart? I have a vague recollection that the defence lawyer was played by Burgess “ Penguin” Meredith.

Jose Ferrar, in the Bogart movie.

 

[paranoid marvin]

The Caine Mutiny Court Martial (2023). A courtroom drama about a lieutenant of the Navy facing trial for mutiny because he relieved his commander of charge amid a storm on the basis of mental instability.

It’s the last movie by The Exorcist’s William Friedkin (RIP), who also wrote the teleplay. It’s a straight-to-TV movie, and it surely feels like a straight-to-TV movie. I felt like I was watching Law & Order. The camera framing sits still almost all the time. Another movie that comes to mind--but for other reasons--is Twelve Angry Men (1957): it only has dialogue and no action, and it takes place only in the courtroom, never showing what really happened.

It has a good cast. Lance Reddick (RIP), Kiefer Sutherland and Jason Clarke are the stars here. And they all--and the others too, it’s a big cast--deliver good acting performances. But the performances are subtle, showcased by dialogue, facial expressions, speech patterns and some other subtle body movements.

It’s also a great battle between the prosecutor and the defense attorney. The prosecutor is fast and cunning, whereas the attorney, only having accepted the case four days earlier, makes few questions and doesn’t examine all witnesses, but you know from the get-go that he has aces up his sleeve.

There’s a small plot twist in the end. It’s not a Sixth Sense type of twist but, still.

Fun Fact: the “mutiny” took place on December 18th, 2022, and here I was, watching the movie exactly a year later.

Recommended.

Have you seen the Humphrey Bogart version? One of his best performances, and a brilliant movie.

 

[paranoid marvin]

I didn't even know about it, so no. And now I googled it and saw that it has at least three other movie adaptations

And now I'm puzzled. It's a good story, but not THAT good. In truth, it's not even the story that it's good: it depends too much on the acting.

Oops sorry hitmouse, just seen your post. It was a great story when Bogey did it; one of those movies that didn't need a remake.

 

[hitmouse]

Jose Ferrar, in the Bogart movie.

Yeah thats correct. Thanks.

 

[Jeffbert]

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920) Dr. Henry Jekyll / Mr. Hyde (John Barrymore) does a very different one than the other thee I recall seeing. Spencer Tracy & ???, & A&C meet Dr. J & Mr. H. Oh, should Capt. Kirk not have shown some facial difference, both of them?

Here, the only make-up was on JB's hands. His face showed the transformation in expression, & not much else.
9/10!

 

[Jeffbert]

Black Angel (1946) Pianist Martin Blair (Dan Duryea) wants to reconnect with his ex-wife, Mavis, but she wants nothing to do with him. He has been living in the bottom of a bottle of booze, since the split, and this drunkenness will come into play later. He eventually learns that she had been strangled, moreover, there was a heart-shaped broach that MB sent to Mavis that was also missing. MB determines to find both the broach and the murderer, as he had fallen in love with the convicted man's wife. So much did he love her that he cared more for her happiness than his own. Even though it meant losing her, he wants to clear her husband.

8/10

 

[Jeffbert]

I Wouldn't Be in Your Shoes (1948) NOIR ALLEY. Being deprived of sleep by some cats outside, Tom J. Quinn (Don Castle) had thrown his shoes out the window at them. These were tap shoes as he was a dancer, but the murderer who also stole the victim's money, used those shoes to frame Quinn. Moreover, the guy found some very old money that had belonged to the victim, and after determining that nobody had lost it, he and his wife began spending it. This old currency was the icing on the cake that convicted poor Quinn.

Another very unexpected ending!

 

[KGeo777]

Serenade für zwei Spione 1965 - Truly dreadful as spy comedies go. The agent is 006 (and 1/2) and he walks into a hotel which starts playing the Goldfinger theme. He exits and sees it is the Bond Hotel. It is so bad--the only thing going for it is the location shooting which looks great in HD but that's it. There's absolutely nothing else going for it.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

The Demon (1979)

South African slasher with two very loosely related plots.

1. Unseen maniac kidnaps a teenage girl. Parents hire psychic (cheap movie favorite Cameron Mitchell!) to track him down. Mom just wants the girl back, but Dad wants revenge.

Spoiler

Girl has been killed already, Dad fights the killer and gets killed himself, and then Mom shoots Mitchell dead for messing things up! Not a happy ending, to be sure.

2. Killer stalks a couple of teachers and their boyfriends. There's a lot of time wasted with dating and such.

Spoiler

Ends with the typical Final Girl killing the killer.

A dreary little film. The killer has no back story or motive, there's no twist ending. Not worth your time.

 

[Guttersnipe]

Imperium (2016): An FBI agent adopts a false back story and goes undercover to investigate a white nationalist hate group. This movie was very intense for me, with every plot twist catching me totally off-guard. The main character was relatable to the point where I felt as though I was experiencing things firsthand. Highly recommended for thriller fans.

 

[AE35Unit]

Leave the World Behind
A stark film that seems at first to be about a cyber attack, but weird things begin to happen.
Julia Roberts stars. And swears a lot

 

[Guttersnipe]

Carol for Another Christmas (1964): A TV film written by the one and only Rod Serling, a modern-day, decidedly more political and more strongly didactic (as a critic noted) adaptation of A Christmas Carol. While I thought the dialog and acting were good, it did something a Christmas story, imho, shouldn't do: Most of it made me sad and wistful. I mean, I don't mind the inclusion of dark themes, but it didn't leave me feeling optimistic. I don't think it was as bad as most think, as again, Serling is a master. I do feel the need to watch a Christmas comedy now.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Carol for Another Christmas (1964): A TV film written by the one and only Rod Serling, a modern-day, decidedly more political and more strongly didactic (as a critic noted) adaptation of A Christmas Carol. While I thought the dialog and acting were good, it did something a Christmas story, imho, shouldn't do: Most of it made me sad and wistful. I mean, I don't mind the inclusion of dark themes, but it didn't leave me feeling optimistic. I don't think it was as bad as most think, as again, Serling is a master. I do feel the need to watch a Christmas comedy now.

Of course, the dystopian "Christmas Future" segment is the most interesting, and darkest.

 

[paranoid marvin]

The Residence at Whitminster

Narrated by Robert Lloyd Parry, who apparently yours the country with his readings of M R James' ghost stories. Very atmospheric and spirited interpretation, although I suspect that Christopher Lee's understated narration would have been closer to the original version.

It's a great shame that none of Parry's other readings are available to view or purchase, as he breathes new life into a story that is often overlooked.

 

[Dave]

I've just watched the first Paddington film. I've somehow never seen it before, and it's very little like the book series which I had read to me as a child, but it is surprisingly funny, with a great cast. It doesn't show the Natural History Museum in a good light, nor the Royal Geographical Society either.

I'm going to watch Die Hard again in few minutes time. I've seen that countless times, but not now for several years, and it's probably the best of the series. And it does count as a Christmas film (for those who were in doubt.)

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Murder is a Murder (Un meurtre est un meurtre, 1972)

Twisty French suspense film, known in Italy as La sedia a rotelle ("The Wheelchair"). I mention this because the version I saw was dubbed into Italian and had English subtitles.

Woman confined to a wheelchair is killed in what seems to be an automobile accident. Guy shows up to tell her husband that he (the guy) arranged the accident, and that he's got plenty of evidence to convince the cops that he (the husband) did it, so pay up. Complicating matters is the presence of the dead woman's look-alike sister (same actress, of course) who is convinced that the husband really is the killer. She takes on the dead woman's identity, even making use of the wheelchair. Then there's the clever police commissioner on the case, and a minor character who turns out to be much more important than we thought.

Full of surprises that hold one's interest, this is well worth a watch if you don't mind subtitles (or know Italian, or know French and find the original version.)

French director Claude Charbol has a comic cameo role as a clumsy train conductor who breaks his glasses, which is actually an important plot point. That's kind of like having Alfred Hitchcock giving his blessing to another director by playing a small part.

 

[Steve Harrison]

Leave the World Behind
A stark film that seems at first to be about a cyber attack, but weird things begin to happen.
Julia Roberts stars. And swears a lot

I watched it last night and it was strangely disturbing, mainly because with the world the way it is at the moment, it's a bit too believable.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Pre-Code Gothic Suspense Films That Feel Like Horror Movies And Feature Scary Locked Rooms Double Feature:

Double Door (1934)

In 1910, a young man from an "old money" family marries a woman of modest means. He's got two much older half-sisters. One is our villainess, the other is a meek creature, obviously bullied and psychologically tortured by the other. The antagonist hates her half-brother's bride so much that she does everything she can to make her life miserable, including accusing her of having an affair with a male friend. (Pre-Code!) By the way, the spooky old mansion where this all takes place has a locked room put in by the now deceased patriarch as a place where he could sleep without noise. You can bet somebody is going to be locked inside with the vents shut and thus likely to die of suffocation.

Based on a play that (according to the opening titles) "made Broadway gasp," and it sure seems like a stage production. The villainess, who completely dominates the film, played the role on stage and never appeared in any other movies. Lots of stark black-and-white cinematography and filming from odd angles, to give everything the look of a horror movie.

Secret of the Blue Room (1933)

Based on a German film of the year before, and remade by Hollywood in 1938 and 1944. Somewhere in a spooky old castle in Europe, a woman celebrates her twenty-first birthday with Dad and her three male friends, kissing each one on the mouth in turn. (Pre-Code!) We find out that the Black-And-White Blue Room was locked up twenty years ago, after three people died in mysterious ways there, all at one o'clock in the morning. To prove his love for the birthday girl, the youngest of the three men offers to stay in the room that night. He vanishes. Another dares to stay in the room, and is shot dead. The police get involved, questioning everybody. What does it have to do with a mysterious figure seen hanging around the castle?

Pretty much a whodunit, with red herrings and a twist ending. The seemingly cursed room gives it the feeling of a horror movie.

Both worth a look for fans of old-fashioned chills.