Can I ask where you watched it recently? Is it streaming yet? I saw it in theaters last year and would love a second viewing.
I loved this movie and thought of it when saw trailers for this one. I’ll probably watch the new one, but I endorse your recommendation of The Stunt Man. Great setting at the Hotel del Coronado, too.
M (1931). This Fritz Lang production starring Peter Lorre has to be evaluated in a different context than other movies. For one thing, it’s probably the oldest movie I’ve seen other than the incredible 1922 silent classic Nosferatu whose chilling atmosphere may never be equaled.
It was a decent enough film but I don’t see the justification for the wide praise except for some of its pioneering aspects forging new boundaries in filmmaking. For me, the most interesting thing was that it was like time travel – a real authentic time-capsule of 1931 Berlin, just as the Nazis were beginning to rise to power. Some of the characters with their Hitler-like moustaches and speaking mannerisms suggest that Hitler’s personal behaviours were not so much an anomaly as a product of his times.
1931 was also the very early period of the “talkies”, and some elements of the film are very reminiscent of the silent era – exaggerated actions and facial expressions, and periods of silence instead of background noise when there is no dialog.
I’d consider this more of an important historical artifact than a great film, but some might disagree.
Oh, I disagree. I thought it was very suspenseful. I also enjoyed the idea of the underworld needing to ban together to get the killer found. Peter Lorre’s portrayal was also poignant and sensitive. It handled the material (a child sex murderer) very sensitively. The camera angles were also reminiscent of the German Expressionist movement.
But I’ve seen a ton of silent and early talkie movies. A lot of them are awful. This one is not.
Yeah, M is one of my favorites among older movies. During Covid we did an online seminar with a movie critic who discussed the movie with us, which we enjoyed… it was a rewatch, but always interesting to get a different perspective.
The Contestant
Recommended.
Did you ever hear about the guy in Japan who lived in a small room and his only source of food or anything was from winning magazine mail-in contests? Well, here is the documentary about it and the experience was as difficult as you might have expected. Great documentary and it really gets into the experience, but also the meanness coming from the producer who kept the show going way past what is reasonable.
Even if you have never heard of this incident, the documentary is well worth checking out.
Is there any relationship to the Lee Majors TV show?
Yep. Loosely based on it.
I saw The Fall Guy today and enjoyed it despite my desire to encourage Hollywood to create more original movies and not sequels, prequels, ones based on comic books or novels, or TV shows (as is the case with this one).
Very loosely. Though if you’re a fan of the TV series, stick around for the end of the credits.
Apparently, I liked this more than most people. It’s almost like a two hour segment of Drunk History except with better production values and less actual facts. The cast are all unfailingly funny, especially the two dumpster kids. I suspect you have to be a child of the 1960s-70s to see it in the intended perspective. My only criticism is the abrupt insertion of a Jan. 6, 2021 parody which just pulls the viewer out of the imaginary 1963 setting.
That would make me hate it.
The Holdovers finally made it to Amazon Prime. Excellent story. Excellent acting by all involved. Very deserving of all the acclaim. It could just as easily been made in 1970/71 as set in that time period.
Why don’t they make more movies like this?
Another good (but not great) movie.
The Idea of You: A 40 year old divorced woman with a kid gets into a relationship with a 24 year old member of a boy band. Complications ensue.
Anne Hathaway is the woman. Does a great job. Don’t really know the rest of the cast except Reid Scott as her ex. (Getting to be a real fan of that guy.) In particular I have no idea who the boy band guy is and his acting skills aren’t nearly as good as Hathaway’s (which is not surprising).
A lot of tender, romantic, etc. moments. But the key scene is one sort of late in the movie when Hathaway learns some really unexpected stuff that changes things. OTOH the final scene was not done well.
The big drag on the movie is the whole boy band thing. So there’s a lot of boy band craptastic songs. There’s also several other songs by current artists that aren’t worth much as far as I care. The best song in the whole soundtrack is an old Wang Chung thing and that’s not saying much.
But bonus point for being co-written by the wonderful Jennifer Westfeldt. (I.e., the former future ex not Mrs. Jon Hamm.) It is based on a novel. It must be kind of weird for her since movie web sites pics of her have a lot with them together and they broke up a long time ago.
Give it 4 overpriced watches.
And watch Kissing Jessica Stein if you haven’t seen it.
Dunno if an edited-for-cinema showing of a theatrical production counts as a “movie”, but we went to see the recent production of Macbeth starring Ralph Fiennes and Indira Varma yesterday. Despite some abridgement (including most of the cauldron scene) it was one of the better versions I’ve seen. Fiennes and Varma absolutely shone as the Macbeths, their descent into madness and despair is clearly mapped (and the role of the witches in it also made clear), and the rest of the cast was stellar.
It seems to be doing a limited UK run in the cinemas (I think it’s literally one showing per theatre, spread out over about a three period) but if it comes to streaming near you and you like the play, would definitely recommend.
It would make me love it. I still fondly think of Alia Shawkat as Alexander Hamilton.
I saw Unfrosted today, and enjoyed it. Of course it’s not meant to be historically accurate, and accepting it as such, I had fun watching it.
I watched Deadpool for the first time last night. Now, it’s not my genre, but it was entertaining enough while I was watching it. I appreciated the humor, but it was basically mindless fluff and forgettable. My major issue was that he didn’t look all that bad. I’ve seen people with bad facial burns and have had to control myself not to flinch the first time I saw them. Deadpool raised no reaction from me at all. When everyone was staring at him on the street, I felt it was waaaaay overplayed. Also, in one scene his makeup was almost non-existent. None of his features were really distorted, and you easily recognize Ryan Reynolds. But it was an o.k. way to waste a little time.
The extended torture scene was too much, but yeah it was a fun film- other than that. (and I was watching at home and had fast forward). And I got a buddy who was a firefighter, and he has some scarring like that- about a palm sized bit on his forehead etc- and he has no problem getting girls.
I’m just popping in here to say that this thread is an excellent resource to remind me of terrific movies that I’ve seen over the last few years. My son is visiting for a few days and I went through the thread noting my own posts and those of many others and compiled a list of the best movies to watch over the next few days. I swear that I would otherwise have forgotten at least half of them, if not more!