Last Movie You Watched

[volgadon]

Watching (and reading) The Third Man. Classic about a man arriving in post-war Vienna only to discover that his best friend has just died in an accident, and the circumstances of his death keep getting fishier and fishier. The key to the surprise ending lies in the title. The cinematography is beautiful, the dialogue is light and engaging, which serves all the more to accentuate the issue of very human evil.

[Calm]

Watching (and reading) The Third Man. Classic about a man arriving in post-war Vienna only to discover that his best friend has just died in an accident, and the circumstances of his death keep getting fishier and fishier. The key to the surprise ending lies in the title. The cinematography is beautiful, the dialogue is light and engaging, which serves all the more to accentuate the issue of very human evil.

Beautiful and striking film. I never tire of it.

[Garden Girl]

Watching (and reading) The Third Man. Classic about a man arriving in post-war Vienna only to discover that his best friend has just died in an accident, and the circumstances of his death keep getting fishier and fishier. The key to the surprise ending lies in the title. The cinematography is beautiful, the dialogue is light and engaging, which serves all the more to accentuate the issue of very human evil.

Is that the film starring Orson Welles?

GG

[volgadon]

Is that the film starring Orson Welles?

GG

Yes, the role suited him perfectly.

[volgadon]

What is particularly chilling about the villain is that he still cares about certain people, he feels pity, and believes in God, yet makes a very profitable living from swindling children's hospitals, resulting in multiple innocent deaths.

[Garden Girl]

What is particularly chilling about the villain is that he still cares about certain people, he feels pity, and believes in God, yet makes a very profitable living from swindling children's hospitals, resulting in multiple innocent deaths.

Funny... The song, "Third Man Theme" from the movie has been going through my head all day since I read your post earlier today... I was trying to think of who recorded it. I can hear the guitar... It's starting to annoy me... ha!

GG

[Stargazer]

Just watched Sherlock Holmes -- the one with Robert Downey Jr. His English accent wasn't bad at all.

Excellent! I hope to watch the next one in the series shortly.

[volgadon]

Funny... The song, "Third Man Theme" from the movie has been going through my head all day since I read your post earlier today... I was trying to think of who recorded it. I can hear the guitar... It's starting to annoy me... ha!

GG

Anton Karas, on a zither. Lots of people though have played it on guitar, including Martin Carthy in his unique style.

[Calm]

What is particularly chilling about the villain is that he still cares about certain people, he feels pity, and believes in God, yet makes a very profitable living from swindling children's hospitals, resulting in multiple innocent deaths.

I think it is easier to reconcile that someone's heart is completely cold and unfeeling once they begin to do evil, but it seems that human beings are very good at compartmentalizing such that the most loving of family men can be the most coldblooded and profit motivated killers.

[volgadon]

I think it is easier to reconcile that someone's heart is completely cold and unfeeling once they begin to do evil, but it seems that human beings are very good at compartmentalizing such that the most loving of family men can be the most coldblooded and profit motivated killers.

That is one reason why I love Graham Greene, he avoids black and white thinking without denying the existence of right and wrong.

[followerofemmanuel]

Just watched Amazing Grace. What an incredible story...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazing_Grace_%282006_film%29

[Calm]

Just watched Sherlock Holmes -- the one with Robert Downey Jr. His English accent wasn't bad at all.

Excellent! I hope to watch the next one in the series shortly.

While I enjoyed the movies very much especially the first time through, I felt they played it for laughs just a little too much and neglected some important villain character development because of their choice to spend time on the humour. Also weren't fond of the actress chosen for Adler...didn't really feel the chemistry from her side and with Adler, since it was only admiration the original Holmes had felt for the original Irene, I felt I needed to be more sold on the dramatic change if they were going to do it. Very happy with the way they showed his calculating mind, did that quite well.

But then I am a serious Holmes fan. I probably shouldn't have watched it more than twice as then the issues I have with it began to weigh more while the enjoyment weighs less. Haven't watched it for sometime though, should see if it holds my interest or not.

Edited June 7, 2013 by calmoriah

[Ron Beron]

I am currently re-watching "The Mission" with Robert DeNiro et al. What a fantastic story of repentance and forgiveness. The film has some of the best quotes I have ever heard....

Hontar: We must work in the world, your eminence. The world is thus.

Altamirano: No, Señor Hontar. Thus have we made the world... thus have I made it.

Gabriel: If might is right, then love has no place in the world. It may be so, it may be so. But I don't have the strength to live in a world like that, Rodrigo.Altamirano:

So, your Holiness, now your priests are dead, and I am left alive. But in truth it is I who am dead, and they who live. For as always, your Holiness, the spirit of the dead will survive in the memory of the living.

Mendoza: For me there is no redemption, no penance great enough.

Gabriel: There is. But do you dare to try it?

Mendoza: Do you dare to see it fail?

Gabriel: We are not the members of a democracy, Father. We are the members of an order.

Altamirano: Your Holiness, a surgeon to save the body must often hack off a limb. But in truth nothing could prepare me for the beauty and the power of the limb that I had come here to sever.

Altamirano: With an orchestra, the Jesuits could have subdued the entire continent.

Fielding: Father, he's done this penance long enough, and well, the other brothers think the same.

Gabriel: But he doesn't think so, John. Until he does, neither do I.

Mendoza: Father, I've come to ask you to bless me.

Gabriel: No. If you're right, you'll have God's blessing. If you're wrong, my blessing won't mean anything.

[Muc'ul Ajwalil]

The Dark Knight Rises. I can't help but notice the parallels between Bane and Satan.

Also recently, The Return of the King. Lots of Christian symbolism there too.

[blackstrap]

Watching Robert Downing as Sherlock is like watching Neil P Harris in ' How I met your Mother ' . As good as they both are , and they are both excellent actors, something just seems amiss.

[Calm]

Watching Robert Downing as Sherlock is like watching Neil P Harris in ' How I met your Mother ' . As good as they both are , and they are both excellent actors, something just seems amiss.

Yes, one doesn't think of RDJr. as a most logical, emotionally controlled individual. I went into that movie with the frame of mind this is not a Sherlock Holmes movie, but a period piece buddy detective movie with a guy who has the same name as Sherlock Holmes did. It worked for me. Besides the portrayal of the calculation, I felt little else was true Holmes, for example Holmes was not intentionally insulting nor did he babble like RDJr portrayed him to do, but he was a fun character to watch. Jude Law was not a Watson either as Law portrayed someone who cared but more tolerated his antics than approved of them and he pushed back when pushed which Watson would not have done. Watson rarely criticized Holmes, he respected him as a gentlemen as well as a genius.

Jeremy Brett was almost the ideal Holmes both in appearance and in attitude, especially before he got sick and put on weight. He just needed to be a bit taller to be perfect.

Edited June 8, 2013 by calmoriah

[thesometimesaint]

Madagascar 3 Afrocircus

Good fun for the entire family.

[media=]

Edited June 9, 2013 by thesometimesaint

[Ron Beron]

Madagascar 3 Afrocircus

Good fun for the entire family.

[media=]

I just knew "sometimes" would get the Democrat donkey in his post somehow!

[thesometimesaint]

He's a Zebra in clown makeup.

[Ron Beron]

He's a Zebra in clown makeup.

LOL...I know...I was joking. I couldn't help myself. It is a funny movie.

[thesometimesaint]

LOL...I know...I was joking. I couldn't help myself. It is a funny movie.

I'm bit slow on the uptake today. Now I understand.

[altersteve]

I saw the midnight premier of Man of Steel last week, and I'm disappointed. Don't get me wrong, the acting and special effects were fantastic, and the action scenes were well done, but there's very little humor or joy in this movie at all. I'm not saying a Superman film should be campy or jokey, but this entire movie was just generic and sometimes a little boring. The interrogation scene with Superman and Lois Lane, a pretty hilarious shot earlier in the film involving a semi-truck, and the first time you see Clark Kent wearing the iconic glasses are the only things in this movie that made me even smile. I did think, however, that Michael Shannon and Kevin Costner were both phenomenal in their roles. Scenes with Kevin Costner especially were in my opinion the best parts of the movie.

But I don't know. I'm not a fan of midnight shows, since I'm always too tired to really enjoy the movie, so maybe I'll have to give it another shot. Maybe it's because my expectations were through the roof, but as a Superman fan, I wasn't very impressed. Superhero films are supposed to be fun, and I had barely any fun watching this.

[Garden Girl]

I watched Robert Downey, Jr. in "Chaplin"... part of a free preview on HBO or STARZ... he was terrific in the role. I was never that taken with Chaplin, but he apparently endeared himself to American moviegoers... too bad he got caught up in all the McCarthy trials and ended up back in the UK for his political views.

How ironic that today most of Hollywood leans left...

GG

Edited June 19, 2013 by Garden Girl

[Ron Beron]

I watched Robert Downey, Jr. in "Chaplin"... part of a free preview on HBO or STARZ... he was terrific in the role. I was never that taken with Chaplin, but he apparently endeared himself to American moviegoers... too bad he got caught up in all the McCarthy trials and ended up back in the UK for his political views.

How ironic that today most of Hollywood leans left...

GG

We need a good filmography of Buster Keaton.

[Garden Girl]

I just finished watching "How Green Was My Valley" (1941) starring Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O'Hara and Roddy McDowell... what a story... about a boy growing up, the youngest of six sons and one daughter, in a Welsh mining town. Hollywood just doesn't make them like this anymore. There was not one swear word... no one hopped into bed... no speeding cars squealing around corners... just solid storytelling as Hugh Morgan grows up, having to decide whether to go for an education or down into the mines..

I've seen it several times and each time it touches me deeply... my husband was 100% Welsh, both sets of grandparents immigrating from Wales... on our trip to the British Isles in 1986 we went to Wales, to the village of his grandfather... it probably looks about the same except for some minor changes.

I can enthusiastically recommend the movie...

GG