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Post by Gail in SC on Jan 30, 2019 14:25:02 GMT
Sitting here looking at the snow-covered street and ground and thinking today is a great day for a movie. I am prepping for a colonoscopy so it will have to be one I watch here. I will find something and report on it later.
But here's a question for this week.
Name a movie sequel or re-make that you really enjoyed.
I'll name THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE. I watched the 1962 version again last year and saw why it is considered a classic. It starred Frank Sinatra, Janet Leigh, Laurence Harvey and Angela Lansbury. Based on a novel by Richard Condon, it is a political thriller about the son of a prominent U.S. political family who is brainwashed into being an unwitting assassin for a Communist conspiracy.
In 2004 a remake was made, directed by Jonathan Demme and starring Denzel Washington, Liev Schreiber and Meryl Streep. While the 1962 film followed the novel, Demme moves the venue to a political one and changes a lot of the plot. Great acting again and also very good. I thoroughly enjoyed both.
Seen any good films lately? Please share.
Gail
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Post by Gail in SC on Jan 30, 2019 20:15:38 GMT
I just saw a very strange film, DIVIDED WE FALL. A Czech film from 2001, it had been entered as that country's Academy Awards nominee for BEST FOREIGN FILM. It takes place during WWII when the country is under German occupation. A businessman, Josef, who had worked for the company of a Jewish man sees his boss and family taken away by the Germans to be sent to the death camps. Josef and his wife take in David, the son of his boss's family, who has somehow escaped. David's presence and the need to keep it a secret lead to absurd consequences. Josef joins Horst, a German collaborator who has the hots for Josef's wife, in working with the Germans. At times moving, at times tragically funny, one of Josef's lines says it all: ''You wouldn't believe what abnormal times do to normal people."
It has English subtitles. I found a lot to like in it, but it is not easy.
Gail
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Post by conniej on Jan 30, 2019 22:28:01 GMT
I watched BELONG TO ME a story about stalking and possessiveness. Nothing new but did have a good ending, not like most of them.
I have to think about the question, Gail, I really don't like either but maybe there is one I did like. UMMM. brain is in gear.
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Post by conniej on Jan 31, 2019 18:25:17 GMT
I can't think of a sequel or a remake that I have liked
Not the sequel for Love Story to the remake of Affair to Remember.
Just not a fan.
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Post by Gail in SC on Jan 31, 2019 18:41:54 GMT
Thanks for thinking, Connie.
Here's another. I loved the original Swedish version of THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, which I saw after reading the book. When I heard they were coming out with an English version starring Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara I was hesitant to see it but it was good too. I think the original was a bit creepier but I totally enjoyed both.
Gail
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Post by lani on Jan 31, 2019 18:58:00 GMT
The first remake that springs to mind is The Maltese Falcon with Bogart. The earlier movie was bit more faithful to the book (less censorship), but the remake is a classic and one of my all time favorites. Considered one of the first film noir.
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Post by Gail in SC on Jan 31, 2019 19:41:25 GMT
Lani, I never knew there was another version of THE MALTESE FALCON. Indeed there were three based on the Dashiell Hammett novel, though the first two are called by other names. The second starred Bette Davis. Look here for a comparison and history of the three versions: www.mysteryscenemag.com/blog-article/1928-the-3-falcons-dashiell-hammetts-the-maltese-falcon The only one worth watching, according to that article, is the Bogart one. I don't even want to see the first two. The 1941 version is so good. Learned something new. Thanks, Lani. Gail |
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Post by yogamama007 on Feb 1, 2019 3:00:03 GMT
Thinking, thinking....nope can't come up with a movie sequel or re-make that I really enjoyed as much as the original. Remake of Sabrina maybe close. Gail- went back to Outlander, season 2 seems much better. Love the costumes they have her in, there was that one she wore with a black hat to see the herbalist the first time that could have been a Dior.  Lani- Loved Bogart...... |
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Post by conniej on Feb 1, 2019 17:46:20 GMT
Kept thinking last night and did decide maybe a couple of the sequels of Harry Potter but I got bored quick!! Was thinking of them as a series.
And yes I did like the sequels of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Johnny Depp's PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN Series have been a favorite of mine and not sure that they are considered a sequel either.
have a couple of movies I have watched on PRIME.
PRICELESS
A desperate man makes a shady cross country delivery and is compelled to save 2 frightened girls.
LEAVE NO TRACE
Will ( who suffers from PTSD and his daugher have lived off the grid in the wild and are doing quite well but when discovered things change in a hurry.
I tried to watch Heriditory but it was a horror movie and can't do them anymore. Used to love them but could hold on to my DH hands or hide my eyes in his shoulder. Can't do them alone!!!!
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Post by Gail in SC on Feb 2, 2019 15:07:16 GMT
Last night I watched a few episodes of GRACE AND FRANKIE on Netflix. If you have not seen this series, I highly recommend it. Libraries have whole seasons to view if you don't get Netflix. Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda are just wonderful as the wives in two couples that have done a lot together. After many years of marriage, their husbands (Sam Waterston and Martin Sheen) announce that they are ending their marriages and marrying each other. Lots of laughter!
This morning I watched some youtube pieces of interviews with Fonda and Tomlin. They have been good friends since making the film 9 TO 5. I have to go back and watch that movie again. I loved Dabney Coleman as the smarmy boss. I have been a fan of his at least since watching MARY HARTMAN, MARY HARTMAN on TV. Does anyone remember that show? It was weird but I was addicted. Lots of good character actors on that show. Mary Kay Place for one.
Ah...memories.
Today I am going to see CARMEN simulcast from the Met at my local movie theater. A group of people from my neighborhood go together and out to dinner afterwards. I sit with an ex-colleague and a bunch of opera lovers he has met over the years. Looking forward to that! In some ways it is even better than going to the Met itself. They have supra titles in English and interviews during intermissions with the cast, director, costumers etc. Plus you can see the orchestra, which is not always possible.
Enough rambling. Happy viewing, all.
Gail
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Post by woolworker on Feb 2, 2019 15:35:07 GMT
Good Morning:
Last night was so cold in Massachusetts, we lit a fire and had chili in front of the fireplace. We finished The Ziminsky episodes and started watching the second season of Medici on Netflix. We watched the first season last winter and loved it. The series is about the Medici, a very powerful and controversial family in 1400s Florence. I highly recommend it; fabulous acting and fast paced story line.
We are thinking of watching Christopher Robin tonight since it will be another cold, raw evening.
Good weekend to all.
Ann
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Post by lani on Feb 2, 2019 16:04:11 GMT
Gail in SC , I liked Mary Hartman. Wasn't that where Billy Crystal got his start? It was sort of like a soap opera if the Cohen Bros. did it. I saw the pilot for I Am the Night on TNT. It has gotten very good reviews. I like it all right, DH is disappointed. He prefers Christopher Pine as Captain Kirk  . I will probably see the whole thing, bu Mr. Lani will likely drop out. We are re-watching The Night Manager on Amazon, one of our very favorites. A John LeCarre adaptation. Hugh Laurie is marvelous, as is the entire cast. Tom Hiddleson is not bad with his shirt off.  He does a good acting job too.
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Post by yogamama007 on Feb 3, 2019 2:47:35 GMT
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Post by woolworker on Feb 3, 2019 16:08:11 GMT
So True, Anne avec e@ I love winter because it gives me more time for reading, movies and handwork....well not this winter because we are packing up this house!
We watched Good-by, Christopher Robin last night....not for children, but an excellent film. I was somewhat aware of the dysfunction in the Milne family, but did not know the details, such a sad family. Milne's success was at the cost of his son's well-being.
Ann
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Post by Gail in SC on Feb 3, 2019 18:03:20 GMT
Ann, I had not known anything about how hard life had been for Christopher Robin Milne until I saw that film. Dreadful treatment of a child!
I enjoyed LEAVE NO TRACE too, Connie. I looked at some of the bonus features on the DVD to see how they did it because it looked like real life...not acting.
Ahhh, Anne, Maria Callas, 'La Divina.' Thanks for the link. I wish I had been an opera fan when she was at her height. She is still recognized as one of opera's greatest. Last night's Carmen was really good, but still...
I have added NIGHT MANAGER to my Netflix queue. Thanks.
Last night I watched BOY ERASED, starring Lucas Hedges (from MANCHESTER BY THE SEA and THREE BILLBOARDS...among others) as a boy with homosexual desires who is the son of a Baptist minister father (Russell Crowe) and a mother (Nicole Kidman) who is also religious but later sticks up for her son. The father is shocked to hear that Hedges has had a homosexual experience and sends him to a conversion camp that will supposedly rid him of his sinful tendencies. Based on the book by the same name by the young man whose story this is, I found the film heart wrenching. The acting is superb. I rented it from my library. If you see it, stay for the credits, which include photos of the actual family and blurbs about what has transpired since with the main characters.
Gail
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. I will probably see the whole thing, bu Mr. Lani will likely drop out.
He does a good acting job too.