Movie Talk

Bonnie and Clyde was his breakout film. He got an Oscar nod for that. And then yeah, The French Connection a few years later was just crazy, where he won a bunch of awards.

The movie that first brought him to my attention was The Conversation. Since then I've just been a huge fan. One of the few actors where I'll watch a movie just because he's in it. He elevates everything.

(I feel like I've written this same post already.)

The Pacino/Hackman vehicle _Scarecrow_ is a wonderful, heartbreaking film.  In the '70s, a host of character driven films were made, and this is one of them.  https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070643/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2

Yeah, I remember being moved by Scarecrow years ago, but I haven't seen it in a long time. Will have to see if I can dig it up.

Sites where you can find Scarecrow:  https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/scarecrow

Did a quick scan of some of his films and spotted Mississippi Burning. Loved both the film and his performance. And as a courtroom drama addict I loved him in Runaway Jury. He was very believable in The Firm.

Enjoyed On the Rocks, the recent Sophia Coppola directed movie with Bill Murray and Rashida Jones.

I'm not exactly an enthusiast but I keep a list of well reviewed horror movies and catch up with them slowly. I watched The Conjuring yesterday. It's a well executed, watchable but completely unoriginal horror movie.  You've seen its back story and jump scares 100s times before, albeit in poorer and sometimes terrible horror flicks. 

If your idea of a good horror flick is something with a meaningful subtext, and not just about scares (and with fresh inventive scares when they surface), there' a lot better stuff than this - The Babadook, A Quiet Place, Let the Right One in, The Others - and more, skip this.  On the other hand, if you're a horror enthusiast and just want a well done job, this movie was more than adequate.

Last night, yes, I watched Ice Road on Netflix. It's dumb as a post but I enjoyed it.  If you  like adventure, action, good crashes, explosions and car chases on ice, and a grizzled, gruff  Liam Neeson, this is for you. 

Last night I went to the Angelika theater to see Summer of Soul. This is a fantastic movie and I recommend everybody go see it. It had me in tears.  

upcoming doc about one of my favorite actors, Val Kilmer.

Real Genius! Booyah!

Two interesting films I ran across on Showtime, Resistance a story of Marcel Marceau with a troupe of children during the Nazi occupation in France and A Call to Spy, based on England's recruitment of female spies, also to combat the Nazis.

Avoid From The Vine, starring Joe Pantoliano. Magical realism pushed beyond comprehension tacked onto one of those stories where a successful Westerner has a mid-life crisis and treks off to somewhere pretty in Europe to make wine. 

It's not as terrible as the Ridley Scott/Russell Crowe tonal disaster A Good Year, but still thoroughly predictable and  Joey Pants looks like he's going to collapse at any minute through the movie.

Robert Downey Sr. has died. Flimbro, mfpark and a few other MOL commenters have mentioned Putney Swope, which he directed in 1969, among their favorites. I've still never seen that movie, so my regard for Downey is regrettably more confined: While living in Philly in 2005, he directed his last film, a documentary about Rittenhouse Square, in which my wife and I spotted a brief shot of our 5-year-old son.

Today I watched Snow White and the Three Stooges.

It was ... painful.

drummerboy said:

Today I watched Snow White and the Three Stooges.

It was ... painful.

 Did you already get through everything else on your watch list?   Sheesh.

I was intrigued because I had never seen the 3 stooges in color.

It made it worse.

Pic didn't attach.  See here  https://www.jhnewsandguide.com/the_hole_scroll/caught-on-camera-that-time-the-three-stooges-came-to-yellowstone/article_6b040520-895b-5a7d-a365-b5b6543eb7e2.html

Saw Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962 version) for the first time.

Anthony Quinn, Jackie Gleason, Mickey Rooney and Julie Harris - teleplay by Rod Serling.

Great, great film.

Has anyone noticed that on the new interface for IMDB, there is always a question on the bottom of the page that asks if this particular movie has a different name in India?

Every time.

.

Summer of Soul.  Loved it. 

drummerboy said:

Saw Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962 version) for the first time.

Anthony Quinn, Jackie Gleason, Mickey Rooney and Julie Harris - teleplay by Rod Serling.

Great, great film.

 One of several great boxing films. Quinn was perfect in the role of Mountain Rivera.

Cinderella Man has been running lately. Another favorite.

Watched a British TV movie last night fro 2019 called Brexit: The Uncivil War, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Dominic Cummings. Not only is it a great insight into how data, single-line sloganeering, and social media ads won the Brexit referendum, it also helps point to how TFG won the Presidency in 2016. Exceptional cast, and exceptional insight into today's post-truth political world. I found it on HBO Max.

Morganna said:

drummerboy said:

Saw Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962 version) for the first time.

Anthony Quinn, Jackie Gleason, Mickey Rooney and Julie Harris - teleplay by Rod Serling.

Great, great film.

 One of several great boxing films. Quinn was perfect in the role of Mountain Rivera.

Cinderella Man has been running lately. Another favorite.

 I never saw Cinderella Man. Will have to put that on my list.

drummerboy said:

 I never saw Cinderella Man. Will have to put that on my list.

 I think you'll like it. It's the true story of James Braddock, affectionately known as The Bulldog of Bergen. Very good performances by Russell Crowe and Paul Giamatti. Loved Craig Bierko as Max Baer.

I have to say, I've been enjoying TCM's tribute to Abbot and Costello. They played The Time of Their Lives, a very influential film for me, which I first saw as a kid, and which I haven't seen for decades. It was quite different than the regular Abbot and Costello movie, dealing as it did with death and redemption. It was fun to get re-acquainted with it.

I was muttering to myself that there are so few good comedies, my excuse for watching endless drama and then it happened, flipping channels I ran across A Mighty Wind, with all of the madness of Christopher Guest's crew and a week later, Best in Show! Giggled out loud watching Fred Willard's inane comments. Might be worth buying a DVD collection to have that madcap crew at my fingertips.

Morganna said:

I was muttering to myself that there are so few good comedies, my excuse for watching endless drama and then it happened, flipping channels I ran across A Mighty Wind, with all of the madness of Christopher Guest's crew and a week later, Best in Show! Giggled out loud watching Fred Willard's inane comments. Might be worth buying a DVD collection to have that madcap crew at my fingertips.

 yeah, those are my two favorites from that crew. What channels did they show up on? I didn't see them in my listings.

For those of us non-channel-flippers without cable, those movies are on HBO Max.

drummerboy said:

 yeah, those are my two favorites from that crew. What channels did they show up on? I didn't see them in my listings.

 HBO.

Now another favorite popped up today, The Full Monty. I have to stop and watch Robert Carlyle each time I run across it.

As for the Christopher Guest crew, I wouldn't mind seeing a rerun of Spinal Tap. Waiting for Guffman and For Your Consideration.