# Movies you've seen recently (Part 2) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [August 27, 2024, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288 "2024-08-27T05:10:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 105
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2025, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/2081 "2025-05-12T15:00:39Z")
Like I said, I’m not completely consistent. It’s impossible for a historical drama to be completely true. How much fiction I’m willing to tolerate changes depending on the work. If it doesn’t completely change the outcome I’m more tolerant. In _The Great Escape_ a bunch of prisoners escaped, 50 were shot, three were successful. That’s close enough for me to enjoy the movie. Plus, it’s a really good movie. ---
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2025, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/2082 "2025-05-12T17:16:34Z")
My dog-eared paperback of “The Great Escape” is at least 55 years old. I’ve re-read it several times over the years, and the bravery and tenacity of those men never fails to move me. The 1963 movie is great cinema, but nowhere near as gripping as the real story. Author Paul Brickhill actually lived it. I read once that he was offered movie adaptations multiple times but said he wouldn’t authorize an adaptation that fictionalized the story in any way. Apparently, Walter Mirisch and John Sturges convinced him to change his mind. It could have been a great movie without adding American characters and actors, but really, to sell a three-hour movie to the American public, it needed star power. Enter Steve McQueen. (The motorcycle scene was the one thing people always talked about.) James Garner was a movie star but not at McQueen’s level. James Coburn was practically unknown. (I seem to recall Coburn played an Australian, anyway.) And there was also Charles Bronson, whose character was, I think, Polish. If you like the movie, seek out a copy of the book if you can find one. You will not be disappointed. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2025, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/2083 "2025-05-12T17:47:46Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > I saw that **Beetlejuice Beetlejuice** is now on Netflix and thought “well, the original was clever, so why not”. Bad choice. I made it to about 35 minutes and gave up. Same. My children liked it this week, but I suspect my boy stayed for the shock and gore and my girl for Jenna Ortega. I am with you, lame CGI didn’t save the non story and I wondered through most if that was really Keaton. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2025, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/2084 "2025-05-12T18:13:50Z")
> [@XOldiesJock](#): > > (I seem to recall Coburn played an Australian, anyway.) And there was also Charles Bronson, whose character was, I think, Polish. Both correct. In real life the 3 that successfully escaped were a Dutchman and 2 Norweigans who flew with the RAF. In the film it was Coburn, Bronson and an actor playing a British soldier. ETA Bronson spoke Lithuanian and Russian so he had a good grasp on Eastern European accents. He also flew 25 missions in the Pacific as bomber crew. Coburn maybe met an Australian once. Maybe. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2025, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/2085 "2025-05-12T21:37:24Z")
**Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel** (2009) on Max. I first saw this shortly after it was released, then rewatched it again years later. And today I remembered it and checked to see if it was streaming anywhere. Turns out it was an HBO / BBC production, so I imagine it will be available on Max forever. Low budget film about three British slackers who start experiencing time travel in the bathroom at the local pub. Hijinks ensue. I have always found it rather charming and fun, and this third watch did not disappoint. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2025, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/2086 "2025-05-12T22:58:52Z")
> [@dirtball](#): > > **Color Out of Space**. Uh, no. A meteorite lands on a guy’s farm (Nic Cage being the guy), and stuff happens, and Tommy Chong is in there for some reason, possibly just to explain stuff to the audience. It seemed to me like a bunch of people just got a movie camera and made up a story as they went along. Based — supposedly — on a Lovecraft story. Like most movies inspired by his writing, I’m sure there were not many elements from the original story retained. > [@dirtball](#): > > **Get Out**. A White woman from an affluent family takes her Black boyfriend home for a weekend to meet her family (race does indeed figure into the story). He, along with the audience, soon catches on that all is not as it seems, and it gets weirder from there. I thought it was reasonably good. It was also very funny while being weird. > [@EllisDee](#): > > Low budget film about three British slackers who start experiencing time travel in the bathroom at the local pub. Hijinks ensue. I have always found it rather charming and fun, and this third watch did not disappoint. I also liked it. I only saw it once, and I’d like to see it again, so thanks for the reminder! ---
**Author:** ![dirtball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dirtball/32/18772_2.png) [@dirtball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dirtball)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2025, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/2087 "2025-05-12T23:07:41Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > Based — supposedly — on a Lovecraft story. Like most movies inspired by his writing, I’m sure there were not many elements from the original story retained. I read some Lovecraft many years ago and remember the general tone but not too many specifics. It’s not the kind of thing I’ve been drawn back to. That said, as well as I remember it, I could easily believe the filmmakers were at least influenced by him. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2025, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/2088 "2025-05-13T00:02:14Z")
> [@dirtball](#): > > I read some Lovecraft many years ago and remember the general tone but not too many specifics. It’s not the kind of thing I’ve been drawn back to. That said, as well as I remember it, I could easily believe the filmmakers were at least influenced by him. IMDb lists Lovecraft as one of the writers. The first writer listed, for whatever that’s worth. ---
**Author:** ![dirtball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dirtball/32/18772_2.png) [@dirtball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dirtball)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2025, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/2089 "2025-05-13T01:48:31Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > IMDb lists Lovecraft as one of the writers. The first writer listed, for whatever that’s worth. It doesn’t seem likely he’d be credited that way unless there was some amount of identifiable material in the movie. Looking it up on Wikipedia, I see it’s based on a Lovecraft story by the same title, a detail that whooshed past me when the credits rolled. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2025, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/2090 "2025-05-13T11:20:08Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > Based — supposedly — on a Lovecraft story. Like most movies inspired by his writing, I’m sure there were not many elements from the original story retained. There have been a surprising number of films based (or supposedly based) on Lovecraft’s _The Colour out of Space_. I know of at least three. Most of them change the story pretty significantly – which is usually the case with Lovecraft. I’ve never understood why anyone would want to dramatize this one. In Lovecraft’s original, it was the color (or “colour” – Lovecraft affected the British spelling, even though he was from Rhode Island) itself that was responsible for the evil. A meteorite crashes down on a New England farm, virtually dissolves, is studied before its dissolution by professors who can make nothing of their tests, and proceeds to pollute the local farmland. If you leave out the supernatural effects, it’s basically a story about the creeping effects of chemical pollution on a farm and its inhabitants. The plants and animals mutate and die, the grass starts to wither and crumble, and eventually the people living there are affected physically and mentally. If the meteorite had been made of radioactive metal, or beryllium, or arsenic you would’ve had much the same story. Imagine a story about people getting cancer from chance pollution and you have the same story dynamic. It’s not surprising that the movies try to jazz this up. The 1965 movie **Die, Monster, Die!** (starring Boris Karloff and Nick Adams) tried to mix in Satanism and actually did suggest radioactivity as the cause, and has at its climax a glowing radioactive Karloff. I’ve long suspected that The Blasted Heath of the story was inspired by The Desert of Maine – Lovecraft seem,s to have been inspired by the curiosa of New England. > **[Desert of Maine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_of_Maine)** > > The Desert of Maine is a natural curiosity and privately owned tourist attraction whose main feature is a 20-acre (8.1 ha) expanse of barren glacial sand in the town of Freeport, Maine, United States. The area was de‑vegetated by poor farming practices in the 19th century. > The land that encompasses the Desert of Maine became a farm in 1821 when it was purchased by the Tuttle family. Like other Maine farmers of the era who were struggling to compete in an expanding agricultural market, the Tu... The analysis of the meteorite , with references to the spectra and the like was Lovecraft indulging his love of astronomy and science ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2025, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/2091 "2025-05-13T14:04:37Z")
The IMDb lists 281 things (movies, shorts, television episodes, podcasts, whatever) that have already been made from Lovecraft writings and 24 more that are at some level of production: > **[H.P. Lovecraft | Writer](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0522454/?ref_=tt_ov_wr_1)** > > Known for: Color Out of Space, Re-Animator, From Beyond ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2025, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/2092 "2025-05-13T14:32:03Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > The IMDb lists 281 things (movies, shorts, television episodes, podcasts, whatever) that have already been made from Lovecraft writings and 24 more that are at some level of production: Yeah, and they’re mostly pretty bad. The ones made by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society ( **The Call of Cthulhu** and **The Whisperer in Darkness** ) are largely faithful and worth watching. Part of some others are OK, but until recently filmmakers seem to just throw away Lovecraft’s story and write something unrelated to put under the title. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2025, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/2093 "2025-05-13T16:54:43Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > The ones made by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society ( **The Call of Cthulhu** and **The Whisperer in Darkness** ) are largely faithful and worth watching. Yes, those are quite good! ---
**Author:** ![dirtball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dirtball/32/18772_2.png) [@dirtball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dirtball)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2025, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/2094 "2025-05-14T01:08:30Z")
I found both on Tubi and put 'em in my list. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2025, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/2095 "2025-05-14T11:30:37Z")
This is complicated by the fact that Lovecraft himself let anyone and everyone steal whatever they wanted from him, which means that plenty of Lovecraftian elements and characters have appeared in other people’s works. There’s good argument that the best and most successful Lovecraft movie ever was **Hellboy** (2004) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2025, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/2096 "2025-05-14T12:58:24Z")
That explains why Lovecraftian elements are so widespread, but doesn’t really complicate things. Lovecraft certainly encouraged fellow writers (especially in his “KALEM Club” circle) to not only use elements from his works, but to elaborate on them, just as he liberally “borrowed” from Robert Chambers’ and Arthur Maachen’s works. There was virtually a competition to see who could come up with the most abstruse-sounding “forbidden book” to rival Lovecraft’s _Necronomicon_ – like Robert Bloch’s _De Vermis Mysteriis_ (a favorite of Stephen King’s) or Robert E. Howard’s _Unaussprechlichen Kulten_. But as far as I’m aware, no one has tried to adapt any of these Cthulhu Mythos tie-in stories by other authors into movies or TV shows, either (although there have been graphic novel adaptations). It’s other people, working long after Lovecraft died, who took elements from his work and turned them into movies, like the **Hellboy** movies or John Carpenter’s **In the Mouth of Madness** or Matt Ruff’s **Lovecraft Country** and the HBO series based on it. Despite what you say, by and large these other works don’t have for me the flavor of Lovecraft’s own works, not like the movies made by the Lovecraft Historical Society do. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2025, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/2097 "2025-05-14T13:03:30Z")
_Scary Movie_ 2000 Anna Faris On Paramount+ I liked a lot of the first half. But grew tired of the non-stop crude jokes. I was relieved when it finally ended. I’m surprised they got away with copying the opening of _Scream_ and parodying the attack on Drew Barrymore. I’m glad they did because it’s the funniest part of _Scary Movie_. The girl with a huge bush and the guy pruning it was very funny. I usually enjoy parodys. This was just to crude for me. Especially the gay jokes at a characters expense. That wouldn’t be accepted today. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2025, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/2098 "2025-05-14T15:24:53Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > _Scary Movie_ 2000 Anna Faris > > On Paramount+ > > I liked a lot of the first half. But grew tired of the non-stop crude jokes. I was relieved when it finally ended. > > I’m surprised they got away with copying the opening of _Scream_ and parodying the attack on Drew Barrymore. I’m glad they did because it’s the funniest part of _Scary Movie_. > > The girl with a huge bush and the guy pruning it was very funny. > > I usually enjoy parodys. This was just to crude for me. Especially the gay jokes at a characters expense. That wouldn’t be accepted today. I remember liking it well enough. You have to go into it expecting crude jokes. It also doesn’t work unless you know _Scream_ well. It parodies other movies but mostly _Scream._ That’s the main weakness, it’s a parody of a movie that is already a parody of horror movies. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2025, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/2099 "2025-05-14T15:32:30Z")
I watched a few minutes of Scary Movie 2. It was parodying the Exorcist. I don’t know that movie well. I saw it once 40 years ago. There was no reason to watch Scary Movie 2. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2025, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/2100 "2025-05-14T15:40:03Z")
The Four Seasons, 1981, Netflix. Alan Alda and Carol Burnett star. Nice movie, worth a date night. You can definitely tell this is Alda’s vehicle as he has all the good monologues, he’s in most scenes, etc. Not too sure why Carol Burnett was in this - she wasn’t used well, just an appendage to Alda, really. I guess the idea was “You laughed at them on TV, now you’ll laugh at them in the movies”, but this one wasn’t really funny. I will say… I thought the solution to a couple having loud sex in the room next to you was to have loud sex yourself, but apparently that didn’t occur to Alda/Burnett. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288.md?page=104) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288.md?page=106)