What was the last movie you saw?

[CupofJoe]

Mum's List [2016]
Not an easy watch and I cannot say i enjoyed watching it but my time was very well spent.
It is the true story of a father coming to terms with the death of his wife. At the same time it is also a story about how they got there and how she tries to prepare him for life without her.
Meeting as kids falling in love and all the little steps in between, right through to her illness and death and he he copes.
The title comes from the notes and prompts she leave for him before her death to help him cope.
No car chases or explosions, just acting. Believable, emotional acting.
There is no happy ending, in the Hollywood sense, just a hint of a future.

 

[Jeffbert]

HOLD BACK THE DAWN (1941) Georges Iscovescu (Charles Boyer) is a European refugee in Mexico seeking a Visa to enter the USA. His country of origin has very few openings in the U.S.' quota system, & the guy who works in the U.S. consulate tells him so. So, anyway, the guy is a gigolo, who intends to marry any willing U.S. woman, so he can get preferential treatment in the immigration dept. , & divorce her soon after receiving his citizenship.

The before & after discussion was about WWII & Hollywood's handling of it. The refugee situation was rarely a subject. The guy with Alica Mallone, Christian Blauvelt had written a book on the subject. Hollywood Victory: The Movies, Stars, and Stories of World War II . Given my interest in WWII, I might just get a copy.

A touching scene occurs when the American physician who examines the would be immigrants, tells the wife of a man that he cannot enter because he suffers from tuberculosis. Given the current issues at the U.S.' southern border, this is food for thought.

Anyway, he seduces and marries Emmy Brown (Olivia de Havilland) a young school teacher, who had brought a car full of little boys into Mexico as a field trip, but the car had engine trouble, thus giving him time to work his wiles on her. He obtained more time by tossing the car's distributor rotor away while talking to the mechanics (who, themselves seemed to be making a simple radiator repair into a major engine overhaul). But, things happen & he realizes he actually does love her, etc.

 

[pogopossum]

Devil In A Blue Dress. (1990)
Starring Denzel Washington, it is a densly plotted, often quite violent, mystery/adventure carried both by Washington's arresting physical presence and the atmosphere of 1948 Black LA.
Police oppression, an appreciation of neighborhood and the gradual development of Washington's Easy Rawlins character all characterize the movie. Of note is that this was also Don Cheadle's first big role and a filming of Walter Mosely's first novel.

 

[Ian Fortytwo]

High Plains Drifter.
Great movie with Clint Eastwood, playing a stranger out for revenge. Apart from a couple of quite violent whipping scenes, it is a film worth watching. 9/10

 

[KGeo777]

STATION SIX SAHARA 1962- It feels more like a stage play at time but still quite interesting thanks to the cast. It's about a remote petrol station in the Sahara where the 5 men got on each others nerves until a woman shows up. particularly amusing is the relationship between snob Denholm Elliot and slob Ian Bannen. The former cherishes the letters he gets so the latter dares him to sell him one of his letters for one month's pay. It's funny how something so trivial becomes fascinating and suspenseful.

TAUR THE MIGHTY 1963- Considered one of the worst peplums ever made--it certainly competes for the honor. It doesn't feel like your standard one-there's not even a dancing girl scene--although unusually, it does have a women gladiator sequence. The hero is pretty useless and boring. His sidekick Harry Baird is poorly dubbed and the role is not flattering but it does have one funny moment where he hides under the queen's bed while the hero is romancing her.
It's a mess.

 

[Parson]

peplums

This one sent me to Google! It turns out it is a word for a "Sword and Sorcery" film, but the prevailing modern usage is a short overskirt worn over other articles of clothing. ---- English, the language of a thousand thefts and unbelievable transformation in definition.

 

[KGeo777]

lol the first time I heard peplum I was confused too. Same with giallo and krimi.

 

[JunkMonkey]

This one sent me to Google! It turns out it is a word for a "Sword and Sorcery" film, but the prevailing modern usage is a short overskirt worn over other articles of clothing. ---- English, the language of a thousand thefts and unbelievable transformation in definition.

Not sure 'Sword and Sorcery' is quite right. There may be fantastical elements in Peplum films (Gods demigods and mythical beasts will crop up) but I get the idea they were pretty much all set in a Greco-Roman mythic past rather than ever taking place in alternate worlds or any hypothetical Hyboria.

EDIT: Though, having said that, I would be astonishingly grateful if anyone could point me at a decent copy of Giant of Metropolis (1963) a very odd Mashup of Peplum and Flash Gordony SF set in Atlantis. The copy I have, part of one of those 50 movie public domain 'Classics' boxsets, is pretty ropey.

The Giant of Metropolis (1961) ⭐ 4.7 | Adventure, Fantasy

1h 38m | A

www.imdb.com

 

[pogopossum]

Had to look up peplum, giallo and krimi. Had heard two of them used previously, but assumed their meaning from context, not knowledge.
The best def. that I found for "peplum" was "Sword and Sandal" films, which would encompass both films with magical elements and without, The example films made it clear that although they were in the majority Greco-Roman adventures and included magical or mythic elements, any film with swords, tunics and lots of conflict could apply.

 

[JunkMonkey]

any film with swords, tunics and lots of conflict could apply.

Basically, to misquote Marx, any movie where the hero's tits are bigger than the heroine's.

 

[KGeo777]

I think sword and sandal is more generally-used definition. Sword and sorcery feels more like the 80s term.

The peplum of the 60s could be on Roman history with no sorcery in it at all, although some of them have science fiction elements too--Hercules vs the Moon Men. Or they may have soothsaying without any magical display.

Goliath vs the Vampires is one of the hardest to define.


Pretty much every Italian peplum has a dancing girl scene. They always find a way to stick at least one in it. If it is set in the desert, then it is a Bedouin dancer.

 

[KGeo777]

Basically, to misquote Marx, any movie where the hero's tits are bigger than the heroine's.

Except when Anita Ekberg is the star.

 

[KGeo777]

Rewatches. THE WARRIORS - 1955 Errol Flynn has to fight off various gangs-including the Baseball Furies (my favorite). Oh wait--I am confusing it with another movie. Errol Flynn has to fight off the French--and as he says 10 Frenchman are worth 1 Englishman so you know this wasn't made yesterday. Rumpor has it he was taking alcohol injected into oranges but despite cutting off Christopher Lee's finger in one scene and appearing tired, it is still decent movie. The picturesque scenery and knights are most refreshing. No drabby colors.

I also watched a 60s spy movie --nothing special except they show stork nests--which was kind of neat to see. Il Nostro Agente A Casablanca. I am too lazy to translate it.

 

[biodroid]

Dune - Denis Villeneuve. It was good, the music score drowned out dialogue here and there and also said score was always playing in the background even when certain scenes didn't need it. I got annoyed when the Harkonnens attacked but we did not see Josh Brolins character die from the attack, unless I didn't see that part properly.

 

[JunkMonkey]

Rumpor has it he was taking alcohol injected into oranges but despite cutting off Christopher Lee's finger in one scene and appearing tired, it is still decent movie. The picturesque scenery and knights are most refreshing. No drabby colors.

All hail Rumpor, dispenser of unverifiable wisdom!

Rumpor also has it Lon Chaney Jr did the same while shooting Spider Baby - I wonder if this was a real thing or a Hollywoodian urban legend.

 

[KGeo777]

All hail Rumpor, dispenser of unverifiable wisdom!

Rumpor also has it Lon Chaney Jr did the same while shooting Spider Baby - I wonder if this was a real thing or a Hollywoodian urban legend.

I think Rumpor is much more trustworthy than Rumor. Rumor has been proven wrong at times but Rumpor has a much better record for accuracy since he is less publicized and Rumor probably takes credit for some of Rumpor's reports anyway.

 

[Jeffbert]

SKIDOO (1968)Tony Banks (Jackie Gleason) is a retired hitman, whose services are demanded by his ex-boss known as God (Groucho Marx) to infiltrate the prison and knock off George Packard (Mickey Rooney) lest he testify against him.

A very extensive supporting cast, including 3 of the 5 most frequent of BATMAN's guest villains, "Hechy" (Cesar Romero), man (Frank Gorshin), & the Warden (Burgess Meredith), among many others.

Weird!




THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY (1903) Of all the 'silent' films I have seen, this one was indeed silent; that is, nobody bothered to add a musical score to it. Cuts to the chase, runs not even 20 minutes.

 

[pogopossum]

SKIDOO (1968)Tony Banks (Jackie Gleason) is a retired hitman, whose services are demanded by his ex-boss known as God (Groucho Marx) to infiltrate the prison and knock off George Packard (Mickey Rooney) lest he testify against him.

A very extensive supporting cast, including 3 of the 5 most frequent of BATMAN's guest villains, "Hechy" (Cesar Romero), man (Frank Gorshin), & the Warden (Burgess Meredith), among many others.

Weird!




THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY (1903) Of all the 'silent' films I have seen, this one was indeed silent; that is, nobody bothered to add a musical score to it. Cuts to the chase, runs not even 20 minutes.

^Interesting. Have seen Robbery both with a soundtrack & on another occasion with live accompaniment. There's a lot out there.

Addendum: If you are a Yank and ever get a chance to hear Jeff Raspis accompany a silent, do so. He is a master and has gigs all over the US. His bag of tricks and instruments go far beyond simple piano work.

 

[KGeo777]

A note on Taur the Mighty:
It may have been re-edited into another film Thor and the Amazon Women, but it also could have been made as an unauthorized Tarzan film. That would explain a few things, such as a sequence where they swing through the jungle.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I'm Your Man. German with English subtitles. A science fiction Rom-Com about a woman, Alma, who has been asked to be part of an experiment to live for three weeks with a robot (very convincingly human in appearance) who has been programmed to be her perfect companion/romantic partner. Well, Tom's not perfect yet. He has an algorithm that can be adjusted based on their interactions. She's an academic and is expected to write up an evaluation at the end of the three weeks. Then he will be taken back and his personality erased.

It's not a deep exploration of what it means to be human, what relationships ought to be, or how far technology should go in creating ever more sophisticated AI devices, but it does, of course, touch on all these things, and raise some of the obvious questions, though it doesn't exactly answer any of them. So that's the SF bit. As for the romance, it never does progress far because Alma is far too raw and touchy as far as relationships go, because of her previous experiences and partners. (I should say that when Alma writes up her evaluation she does answer some of the deep questions, but it is left to us, the viewers, to decide whether those are just her own opinions, or the same conclusions that we are expected to reach. Since the story sort of cuts off without a definitive ending, it is a bit hard to say.)

For those who might be reminded by this synopsis of Tanith Lee's Silver Metal Lover: it definitely lacks the same emotional intensity. And doesn't even consider how it might be for her if she does fall in love and then the three weeks are over and he is erased.

I would have much preferred to see a movie based on Lee's story. However, watching it was a pleasant afternoon diversion. (And Dan Stevens, as Tom, is certainly easy on the eyes.)