What are you watching (movies)?

[hawtdawg]

Starting this new thread cuz I can't find one for this topic, and don't watch much TV so can't really contribute to the TV shows one.
I recently watched The Black Sleep (1956), a great grade B horror/mystery. What a cast: Basil Rathbone, Lon Chaney Jr., Bela Lugosi, John Carradine, Akim Tamiroff, and Tor Johnson. Also with Patricia Blair in a small supporting role. If you're a fan of oldish B films, check it out. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049013/

 

[Ceewan]

Great cast. Basil Rathbone, Lon Chaney Jr., Bela Lugosi, John Carradine are just some of the best actors of their day. Maybe even of all time.


I just finished watching The Fast and The Furious (2001). A contemporary classic and the best of the series. Tempted to watch Tokyo Drift next, I always thought that was under rated but I haven't seen it in awhile. I love action movies. Horror movies are great as well but I haven't been in the mood for them lately.

 

[supersam]

Recently I watched Ex Machina, what an amazing film. I highly recommend anyone who has not seen it to watch it. Oh and that dance scene and dialogue in the film is epic

 

[Ceewan]

Finished watching Tokyo Drift, awesome movie, one of the unheralded best of the Fast and Furious franchise. Love the trivia section of imdb:

The drifting in the movie was not CGI; it was performed by professional drivers. As reported in a recent Sport Compact Car, Rhys Millen, his father Rod, and a handful of other famous rally and drift racers consistently performed amazing drift sequences for the movie.

Over 100 cars were destroyed/wrecked during the filming of this movie.

 

[hawtdawg]

Haven't seen any of the Fast and Furious movies but will check out the two you mentioned.
Another one I recently enjoyed is The Black Castle (1952) w/ Boris Karloff and Lon Chaney, Jr. Not a horror movie, more of a mystery than anything else. A fun way to spend a rainy afternoon.

 

[hawtdawg]

Was in the mood for something w/ Kirk Douglas so I recently re-watched Spartacus (1960). Epic cast (Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons, Tony Curtis, Charles Laughton, Peter Ustinov, John Ireland), and a great director (Stanley Kubrick, who had previously teamed up w/ Douglas in the classic Paths of Glory from 1957) equals classic. Using the ratings criteria of Joe Bob Briggs: loads of togas, plenty of loin cloths, brutal sword fights, hatchet swinging, lion roaring, blood bathing, multiple crucifixions. Zero bare breasts. Joe Bob says check it out.
From imdb trivia: "When Stanley Kubrick removed close-ups of Spartacus' crucifixion during the finale, Kirk Douglas (by his own account) grew so angry he attacked Kubrick with a folding chair".

 

[Ceewan]

Big fan of Kirk Douglas, they just don't make them like that anymore. Kirk couldn't play a small part if he tried, dominating the screen is what he did. One of my favorite movies of his would be the one he did with John Wayne: The War Wagon. There are very few personalities that can stand toe to toe with John Wayne but Douglas was one of them.

It was never proven, historically, that Spartacus was ever crucified. Common belief is that he perished in battle yet there is always the possibility he escaped entirely. Douglas fit his known personality perfectly, despite the historical inaccuracies of the film. Spartacus was believed to be a ferocious fighter and a charismatic personality but his actual leadership skills have always been in question. Kirk was like that, best out in front but not as great behind the scenes.

 

[hawtdawg]

The Boogie Man Will Get You (1942) was a lot of fun. Silly and campy in a horror-comedy-support the war effort way. Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre.
Pics for great justice.

 

[Ceewan]

Peter Lorre was fun in anything and everything. Acting what movies are missing the most of nowadays (that and scriptwriting). Indie films, while great, tend to be too avante garde and hollywood was ruined (as well as saved) by the SAG. In the days when acting was a job you went to and Hollywood put out a new movie every week....that was when they were at their finest. My favorite old movies tend to star Humphrey Bogart or Cary Grant but there are so many lost gems that see little air time today when once upon a time they packed theatres that served fresh popcorn and the whole family could afford to go to.

 

[hawtdawg]

You're so right, and you've got me reminiscing now... The Philadelphia Story (1940) just came to mind- Jimmy Stewart, Cary Grant, Kate Hepburn; The Talk of the Town (1942)- Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, Ronald Coleman (who had quite an interesting personal history); The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942)- Monty Woolley, Bette Davis, Ann Sheridan; so many great old movies. Great scripts, acting, direction. A shame those old treasures aren't seen and enjoyed by new generations.

 

[hawtdawg]

For pure entertainment it doesn't get much better than Singin' in the Rain (1952). Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, and Debbie Reynolds were all at or near the top of their games. O'Connor doing the classic Make 'em Laugh for great justice:

 

[Ceewan]

Loved Donald O'Connor. Never figured out what happened to him. I do know That the "Francis The Talking Mule" series really got to him. He felt upstaged by the mule and I think it diminished his confidence. That series was the inspiration for the "Mister Ed" series (both animals had the same trainer) and it was also the lesser known debut of a small time bit player who went by the name of Clint Eastwood. You don't often see a huge star in basically an extra role but there Eastwood was, in "Francis in the Navy". A very funny series.

 

[mealtimeshadow]

Wushu. It stars Sammo Hung. It was okay. So-so predictable plot. Not much in the way of fight sequences. But the individual competition performances are pretty damn good. If you want a rough idea of how Jet Li became famous, the movie gives a glimpse into the kind of lifestyle a wushu martial artist had, growing up. Although in truth, he was already national champion in all of China by age 11 or 12. I forget.

I'm trying to watch Once Upon a Time in America, starring Robert DeNiro. It's a 4+ hour movie!!!! Freaken long!

 

[Ceewan]

Once Upon a Time in America: Sounds like the directors cut but that was a long movie either way. It is pretty decent. Some really good performances. I prefer Pacino in Scarface and the movie isn't as long.

 

[hawtdawg]

"Francis The Talking Mule" series... did you see the last one, Francis in the Haunted House (1956) with Mickey Rooney? Rooney was off the rails in that one, seemingly determined not to be upstaged by the mule by overacting and hamming up his lines.

 

[Ceewan]

Yep, long time ago. That was after O'Connor refused to do the movie. I looked it up in the Wiki and apparently Donald was offered the co-starring role in White Christmas but had contracted a disease from the mule and they went with Danny Kaye instead. That must have stuck in his craw until the day he died.


The seventh and final entry in the series, Francis in the Haunted House, was made without any of the key creative personnel. Leonard Maltin, in most editions of his Movie Guide, says O'Connor quit, quoting the actor, "When you've made six pictures and the mule still gets more fan mail than you do...."

 

[hawtdawg]

White Christmas (1954)... now you've really got me reminiscing, will have to go back and watch all those great old Christmas movies: Holiday Inn (1942), The Bishop's Wife (1947), Christmas in Connecticut (1945), and of course It's a Wonderful Life (1946). Which ones am I forgetting?

 

[Ceewan]

Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

 

[Ceewan]

I have actually been pondering this because nowadays most of my Christmas movie list is with more modern adaptations/cinema. "Jingle All the Way (1996)" , "Oliver! (1968)" (not really centered around Christmas at all but the best time of the year to watch this classic), one of the Scrooge adaptaions (either the Alistar Sims or the Albert Finney musical) and "Elf 2003" (which is funny but not very good otherwise). Usually incuded are also aforementioned Holiday Inn (one of my favorites!) and Miracle on 34th.

My favorite old movies would have to incude anything done by Fred Astaire (who co-starred in Holiday Inn) especially with Ginger rogers. Those are perfect examples of the Golden Age of movies that were just mild fun and so-so scripts but highly entertaining.

Any of the Marx Brothers, Abbott and Costello, Martin and Lewis or Crosby and Hope road films. Those are still hilarious and stand the test of time.

Now that I am thinkg about old movies I do have one you might like on your list: The Lemon Drop Kid (1951) which I watched last Christmas. It is a Bob Hope vehicle centered around Christmas that is really very good.

 

[Ceewan]

I saw "Southpaw" (2015) the other day. Reminded me of some of the things I hate about my government but can't change. Despite that the story wasn't awful and had that whole Rocky thing going on. I stopped being a boxing fan once I discovered mma but I thought I would at least give this one a go. It was an above average movie but not by much.

Being a student of Tae Kwon Do, which I will argue with experts is the heart of all martial arts and Korea likely the birth place of the same (the popular belief is it is China but Korea had the same problems with raiders that China did), I actually prefer good action movies that include martial arts. I am a big fan of Chinese Boxing as well, which took martial arts to a different level but lacks the natural power and simplicity of Tae Kwon Do and takes a lot longer to learn. So my next movie will likely be a martial arts film. So many to choose from.......