What did you watch today? v 33.0

[The Professor]

Welcome to version 33, the Egg McMuffin of discussions. 

 

The first post in this thread will be # 14,394. 

 

The ghost of George Sanders reminds you to link your films, and that one should feel free to move on if bored. 

[don]

To Sir With Love

5 Stars

The basics of this story of an "outsider" teacher who gets assigned to a tough inner city classroom full of unruly teenagers has been been done many times. To Sir with Love is one of the best i've seen. I  have become a very big Sidney Poitier fan.The 60's music and variety of personalities and background stories of the teens added to my enjoyment of this Classic.

[don]

Cape Fear

4 Stars

I have not seen the remake with Deniro and Nolte but I don't think it could match the pairing of Peck and Mitchum. You really build up a good "hate" for the excon who threatens the family of the witness who helped put him away for eight years. Very good suspense created by director J. Lee Thompson (The Guns of Navarone).

[marcie]

Watch the DeNiro and Nolte version if only to see Juliette Lewis practice her budding sexuality on the smarmy DeNiro.

[Sevorin]

Juliette Lewis is a fucking revelation in that film.

[Sevorin]

Four stars? . . . Well, okay . . . but only for Mitchum.

[John A. Bailo]

Harry in Your Pocket...everyone who loves Seattle or lives near here should be enthralled by all the street scenes circa 1973...they cover almost all of downtown!

The performances are spectacular...and the great thing is the relationships are not ones that ever make it to the screen any more.  

One of the best parts of this flick is Trish Van Devere who I guess is mostly known for being George C. Scott's wife -- but she takes her 4th of the movie by both horns in this film.   She is sort of like Jane Fonda, but more of an actress who has here characteristics...as opposed to the real Jane Fonda, who simply plays "herself" in her own films.

I went looking for more Trish Van Devere films and sadly, Netflix does not have the one I wanted -- "The Last Run".    Gah!   I really just wanted to call that up and watch it...but it's not listed in the filmbase at all!!

[don]

Looks good John. Frustrating. Sevorin recs alot of good looking prospects here also which are unavailable to my searches.

 

[macroman]

The Wrong Man (1956)=I've always considered this one of Hitchcock's underrated classics and it is one of my Top 10 favorites of his.

  Based on a true story of an ordinary man whose life is turned upside down when he is wrongly accused of a series of holdups that were committed by a lookalike.

  Henry Fonda gives a great performance as the innocent man who tries to acquit himself and Vera Miles is also excellent as his wife, who begins to crack under the strain of the situation.

  This is unlike most Hitchcock films in that it is serious, sad and grim but also has great acting and production.  Vintage footage of New York as it was in the mid-Fifties is an added bonus.

  This is one of the few films in which Hitch did not make a cameo appearance.

  5 stars.  Very good bonus feature on the critiquing of this film that can be watched before the movie to enhance understanding it.

(2) Hot Coffee (Documentary. 2011)=made by a trial lawyer as her first film, Hot Coffee explains how powerful special interests are spending big money to protect themselves from prosecution from ordinary people they have harmed, aided and abetted by our mainstream media which are owned by those same special interests.

  In addition to large corporations, Karl Rove and the US Chamber of Commerce are very much involved in this.  A real informative eye-opener.  This film is broken into about four segments and the last segment on mandatory arbitration clauses many new employees are forced to sign is particularly chilling and will make you wonder whether we live in a democracy anymore.

4.5 stars.  Nominated for several film awards.

 

[marcie]

The German director, Haneke, amazes me while not exactly entertaining me with "The White Ribbon,"Cache" and the fascinating "Bennys' Video." Check out "Lilya 4- ever" for a reality check. Am also watching "Luther" on streaming as they have released a new season. Have been in a "Jeremy Irons" state of mind and just had to watch "Damages" again.

[SpeakNoEvil]

OMG - someone else has actually heard of the 1992 Benny's Video!  My introduction to Michael Haneke movies (my review is the first one on the Netflix movie page). After that one, I have watched every movie of his that Netflix carries. Arno Frisch, the star of Benny's Video went on to star in Haneke's first version of Funny Games 6 years later in 1998. 

[marcie]

Then you should appreciate "White Ribbon."  This Director frightens me so much more than vampires! I think there are two versions of "Funny Games" and the European version is far superior to ours in the States. I saw both. Catch "Liyla 4-ever. That young girl will never leave my mind completely.

[SpeakNoEvil]

Actually I've seen every movie directed by Haneke that has a DVD available.  Yes there were two versions of Funny Games, both directed by Haneke - the 1998 German language version, and the 2007 English remake.  I thought the 1998 version was much more chilling.