Movie Thread

[downer]

I watched MASS recently. It felt like it had been adapted from a play, which normally is not a good sign. But it was amazing. Deeply serious in a good way.
Trailer here: https://youtu.be/oU56Ns1nXsE
The actors were astonishing: Jason Isaacs and Martha Plimpton, Reed Birney and Ann Dowd.

[saffie]

Recently saw Belfast, Licorice Pizza, and The Tragedy of MacBeth in the (sparsely populated) theater.  Previews have included the 2022 version of Death on the Nile, with Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot. Looks to be interesting!

[Sun_Worshiper]

The Night House (2021; Amazon Prime rental)

Atmospheric horror film about a woman (Rebecca Hall) who starts uncovering strange secrets about her husband after his suicide. The film is a little slow to get going, but it is pretty effective once it does. Hall is very good and the soundtrack is great. That said, the twist is not that original and there are no scares. 

Grade: B


Lansky (2021; Amazon Prime)

Biopic of Meyer Lansky, the Jewish gangster who ran with Bugsy Siegel and Lucky Luciano, staring Harvey Keitel as an aged Lansky recalling his story for a down-on-his-luck writer. Keitel is very good, but the movie is disappointing. There is no character development, no thrills, and the whole thing is very generic.

Grade: C


The Dark and the Wicked (2020; Amazon Prime rental)

Another atmospheric horror movie - this one about siblings who return to their parent's farm to take care of their dying dad. This one starts a little slow, then gets very tense, violent, and nasty. Not a perfect movie, but I liked it well enough. Not for the squeamish though.

Grade: A-

[mamselle]

Recently saw Belfast, Licorice Pizza, and The Tragedy of MacBeth in the (sparsely populated) theater.  Previews have included the 2022 version of Death on the Nile, with Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot. Looks to be interesting!

Look out, rant (unreasonable, I know)...

How in the world can Branagh think he can take on Poirot after Suchard? (For that matter, KB's Wallander was dreadful, too....)

And Bumbercatch is cute, but Jeremy Brett was the only Sherlock for me, sorry.

Hubris, all of it.....grumble, grumble... [/rant]

M.

[ab_grp]

Recently saw Belfast, Licorice Pizza, and The Tragedy of MacBeth in the (sparsely populated) theater.  Previews have included the 2022 version of Death on the Nile, with Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot. Looks to be interesting!

We've been eyeing the Macbeth movie.  It seems to have received fairly good reviews.  What did you think of it?

[ab_grp]

I spent a fair amount of time reading the IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes ratings for a bunch of movies we have that we hadn't watched yet (1917, A Private War, Darkest Hour, Whiplash, etc.) and narrowing them down.  Then the mail arrived with Dune (2021), so that was all out the window.  Dune is one of my husband's favorite books, so of course we had to watch the movie! I had seen the 1984 version (yikes) and was hoping this one was better, especially since we like this director (Villeneuve).  I think we both wanted more out of it.  Some of the aspects almost seemed like homages to the 1984 version.  There were a number of really good scenes from the book that were either left out or compressed.  There was way too much melodrama (though maybe not quite as much as the 1984 version).  Even having read the book and seen the 1984 movie, I felt a little lost at times.  I wonder how easily the plot would be understood by someone who hadn't? I thought they did a good job kind of explaining the overall political issues, but there was not much description of what was happening at specific points in time, or anything about the mentats.  There also wasn't much chance to get to know some of the main characters.  Even at 2.5 hours, only some of the book was covered, so I guess I'll have to see what happens with the sequel at some point.  We still have the 2000 miniseries to watch (my husband has seen it before).  Anyway, this was a disappointment, especially with all the build up.  The cinematography and special effects were very good, but maybe there's some sort of curse that prevents the existence of a good adaptation.  Unfortunately, that seems true for many beloved books.  Luckily, next weekend's movie is my choice!!

[mamselle]

Just discovered an old series of Dorothy Sayers' Harriet Vane works:

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHsZqNCOzCw

is one, Gaudy Night and Strong Poison have also show up in their entirety....

Like I need more distractions right now...!!!!

;--}

M.

[cathwen]

Oh no!  I don’t need distractions, either, but Gaudy Night is one of my favorite of the Dorothy Sayers novels!  There is no way I cannot watch this!  : )

[Langue_doc]

Oh no!  I don’t need distractions, either, but Gaudy Night is one of my favorite of the Dorothy Sayers novels!  There is no way I cannot watch this!  : )

I remember seeing them on PBS years ago. The novels, in boxed sets, can be downloaded through your Amazon Prime account.

Just rewatched Titanic, the old one with Barbara Stanwyck. It's one of the classics, as far as I'm concerned, and far superior to the later version.

[apl68]

Vickie Baum's Grand Hotel is best remembered for its 1932 MGM screen adaptation.  It pioneered the concept of the all-star cast with Lionel and John Barrymore, Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, and Wallace Beery.  It also boasts fantastic art-deco sets, and a lot of fine camera work.  It's the movie where Garbo's character famously said "I want to be alone."

After running across a copy of the original novel, I decided to get the movie on DVD to compare the two.  The movie tones down certain aspects of the book quite a bit--popular fiction could get away with a lot more in those days than Hollywood could.  For most of its running time the movie is a good example of a pragmatic adaptation that does a lot of condensing and rearranging, while remaining fundamentally true to the story and characterizations.

Then they greatly alter the climax.  In the book a flawed but largely sympathetic character finds himself confronted in a darkened room by a man who threatens to shoot him, reacts by beaning the assailant with the handiest heavy object, then is horrified when the lights come on to see that he has accidentally killed a man who was unarmed and bluffing.  In the movie the character savagely beats to death a man who clearly posed him no real threat.  The DVD commentary provides no insight into why they so egregiously altered Baum's original characterization by turning the character into an outright villain.  And they had done so well at respecting the source material up to that point!

[mamselle]

Speaking of book-to-film transitions, I liked what there was of Gaudy Night (spread the watching of the 3 episodes over a couple of days) but....oh, dear.

Several sub-plots were omitted, and the ending...no "Placetne, Magistra"???

What were they thinking???

(Actually, the male lead went on record as having been dissatisfied with the omissions as well...)

But the screen work and other aspects were satisfying. Several of the comments noted that had a fourth episode been done they could have included most of the omissions; the earlier version (haven't found it yet) was apparently better in that regard.

Sigh...

I'll still watch the others, though.

M. 

[hmaria1609]

"West Side Story" (1961) on Kanopy
The movie is available for this month only. I first saw this movie in junior high so it was good to see it again.

[mamselle]

Found the earlier (Ian Carmichael) D. Sayers threads on YT, watched "Cloud of Witnesses" and "Murder Must Advertise" over the past few nights.

Carmichael's OK, he has more vitality, but almost too much; Petherington has the more dimensional neurasthenic vulnerability I find makes the character more interesting and believable in the books.

No Miss Vane, so far, in the older ones I've seen; I liked EP's co-star, so I am reluctant to audition someone else in her role...mais, on va voir.

M.