Last Movie You Watched

[Kalevala]

There's no Quidditch at all in the film.

No Quidditch?!  Mon Dieu!

K

[DavidW]

I rewatched The Ritual, which does not disappoint. It's a slow-burn horror based on one of my favorite horror novels.

[SonicMan46]

The Great Santini (1979) - saw on release probably as a VHS rental - did not remember much of the film but enjoyed, esp. about a half dozen years ago we drove down to Beaufort, SC and visited the museum on Parris Island. Short summary below - based on the Pat Conroy book - excellent 4* review by Roger Ebert HERE; Duvall & O'Keefe nominated for the male acting Oscars.  Dave

The Great Santini is an American drama film written and directed by Lewis John Carlino. It is based on the 1976 novel by Pat Conroy. The film stars Robert Duvall, Blythe Danner, and Michael O'Keefe. A warrior without a war, Lt. Col. Wilbur "Bull" Meechum, a pilot known as "the Great Santini" to his fellow Marines, sets off with his reluctant family at 3 a.m., moving to the military base town of Beaufort, South Carolina, in peacetime 1962. (Source)

 

[T. D.]

The Great Santini (1979) -

Outstanding film!

[DavidW]

It's been years since I've read the book and don't recall the differences.  Which plot line was left out?

K

Neville Longbottom's parents were tortured by Bellatrix until they went mad. They were spiritually dead to him. His tortured past eventually led to his triumphant rise to being the hero in the final novel, which feels like it came out of nowhere in the movies, as he was mostly just treated as comic relief until then.

[Madiel]

Neville Longbottom's parents were tortured by Bellatrix until they went mad. They were spiritually dead to him. His tortured past eventually led to his triumphant rise to being the hero in the final novel, which feels like it came out of nowhere in the movies, as he was mostly just treated as comic relief until then.

The film absolutely does have a reference to this, even if brief.

Whereas Ron's Quidditch (and Harry's expulsion from the team) is wholly absent. And indeed Ron appears in a scene in the film (meeting Grawp) that he isn't in the book because it happens while he's playing Quidditch. The filmmakers rightly recognised they would have no basis for explaining why he wasn't there, so they added him.

[Kalevala]

Back to my depressing docs: America Lost

Watch some positive news/shows/movies.  I think that this would be good for you.  Not all news is bad.

K

[Cato]

In recent days...war movies, specifically World War II and World War I.





The 1970's were big on epics with many stars who appeared for 5 to 10 minutes or so.

Despite that, this movie gives you an excellent sense of foreboding that the operation will not go well: Gene Hackman's character, a Polish general in the Polish army-in-exile, is the most tragic, as he opines from the beginning that the entire operation is idiotic: British leader Montgomery is not portrayed, but the operation is more about his ego than defeating the Nazis.

James Caan and Arthur Hill have the best scenes, and Maximilian Schell's officer character is also well-portrayed: the many minor characters are in fact more interesting than some of the major stars (e.g. Robert Redford), so on that basis, the movie is highly recommended.

Next is a classic from Stanley Kubrick and Kirk Douglas: Paths of Glory.





I always liked Adolphe Menjou's portrayal of a rather oily general: he reminded me of a similar oily character portrayed by Claude Rains in Lawrence of Arabia.


Not a war movie, but another classic:



Unlike A Bridge Too Far, the ensemble cast has few top billing stars, except for Henry Fonda and maybe Lee J. Cobb.

Instead, we see a cast of great actors...period! e.g. Edward Binns, Jack Warden, Jack Klugman, and
Joseph Sweeney, the latter a stand-out!

And now for a comedy...or two...about elephants!




Bill Murray does his Bill-Murray thing, but the scene-stealer is Matthew McConnaughey as a paranoid, lunatic trucker with a Southern accent unknown in the South, but hysterical!

And now...

The Original 1941 movie of DUMBO:




Great fun!

[hopefullytrusting]

Taking @Kalevala advice, I shall endeavor to be off the Internet completely tomorrow, while (re)watching my favorite genre of film: treasure hunting, represented best by Indiana Jones 1 and 3, but with the 3 films from The Librarian series, the 2 from Jolie's Tomb Raider, 2 National Treasures, etc.

And my newest acquisition: Secret of the Andes

[ChamberNut]

@hopefullytrusting In case you want another depressing documentary, just watched this last night. On Netflix.

[Karl Henning]

Essential viewing? Perhaps not but nevertheless some kind of fascinating.

[Karl Henning]

Essential viewing? Perhaps not but nevertheless some kind of fascinating.

Teri Garr sighting!

[hopefullytrusting]

This is how you sell a movie:

'Moving Target,' starring Don 'The Dragon' Wilson, was filmed in beautiful Galway on the west coast of Ireland. This wonderful piece of cinema follows Don's character as he moves to Ireland to pursue a relationship with a woman he met online. In order to impress her father, he buys a six-pack of Beamish Irish Stout. Unfortunately for Don, the bottles contain firing pins for nuclear warheads destined for the IRA, and now they want them back. Ass-kicking and chase scenes follow.

[SimonNZ]

Essential viewing? Perhaps not but nevertheless some kind of fascinating.

Some of their best songs in that, imo.

[Karl Henning]

Teri Garr sighting!

Also: I knew that was Vito Scotti!

[SimonNZ]

Very sloppily filmed. Almost impossible to believe it was Sydney Pollack directing. Hard not to feel they were right at the time to abandon post production. And that Aretha was right in the early 2000s not wanting a belated release.

Great music, of course, but one wonders how the album would have been received if it were thought of as the soundtrack to this film and potential buyers had seen the film first.

[Cato]

Concerning The Monkees movie Head...

Essential viewing? Perhaps not but nevertheless some kind of fascinating.

A wild movie: The Monkees as dandruff in the hair of Victor Mature still sticks in my mind!

One of the writers of the script was Jack Nicholson!!!   

Hard to believe: Mickey Dolenz is now 80 years old!     

[Karl Henning]

Concerning The Monkees movie Head...

A wild movie: The Monkees as dandruff in the hair of Victor Mature still sticks in my mind!

One of the writers of the script was Jack Nicholson!!!   

Hard to believe: Mickey Dolenz is now 80 years old!     

And Dolenz is still active! Nicholson has a cameo (easy to miss--at least, I did at first.

[Cato]

And Dolenz is still active! Nicholson has a cameo (easy to miss--at least, I did at first.

I remember watching him in a 1950's show called Circus Boy: 10 years later he became a member of The Monkees.   

Also: I knew that was Vito Scotti!

Vito Scotti was and is an all-around fave!


For those who do not know Vito Scotti:

[hopefullytrusting]

Didn't realize I had the "Special" Edition of Return of the Jedi (I'll have to rectify that eventually), so I had to go online to watch the true ending:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvXm5HuR72k

Yub nub!