The Guernsey Literary blah blah potato peel writing group of societies and stuff:
Bizarrely i discovered this work to have an IMDB rating of 7.4...i concur, it's a great story.
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The Guernsey Literary blah blah potato peel writing group of societies and stuff:
Bizarrely i discovered this work to have an IMDB rating of 7.4...i concur, it's a great story.
Bridge On The River Kwai was on this afternoon :cool:
As I suggested it is a witty and vivacious film, directed with style and well served by the players, that bears repeated viewings and which will only be appreciated by the more articulate, erudite and sophisticated members of this Forum - typically those who respect vintage cycling jerseys. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Marco
We're half way through it having been interrupted by a phone call last night. It's charming so far, and I'm guessing it's building up to a dramatic finish. Maybe a Tarantino-style shoot out, or a horse-and-trap chase through the streets of old London. Or perhaps both - no spoilers please.
More The Outlaw Josey Wales but are you sure you haven't seen it before?Quote:
Originally Posted by noel
I watched North By Northwest this tea-time. Rather enjoyed it, with the exception of the very corny ending.
We've just finished Love and Friendship. I can see what you mean about watching it twice. The conversations are quick and the direction is interesting in that it leaves you to make your own decisions on who is getting their own way, and who has what motives.Quote:
Originally Posted by noel
Perhaps it worked better without the need for a shootout at the end. ;)
Thanks for the recommendation.
Thank you.Quote:
Originally Posted by noel
There isn't much of a shoot out but Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid directed by Sam Peckinpah is pretty good in its way; and is the only western I have ever bought on DVD. (Well actually I have two versions, one being the "Director's Cut" - although the Director was dead by the time that version was reconstructed).:)
Obviously not - but then I have seen it a few times. Obviously.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marco
And without being too much of an art-house film buff and without digressing into where the authorship of a film lies, whilst Leone undoubtedly re-energised the western genre and his films display good old shoot
'em ups in a flamboyant way, they don't raise the deeper issues that are at the core of films like Red River,The Searchers or The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.
And, of course, Pat Garrett and Bill The Kid
And if I get the hots for Claudia Cardinale I can watch my DVD of Luchino Visconti's Il Gattopardo (The Leopard to you):).
Is she any relation to a famous fell runner from Otley?Quote:
Originally Posted by Marco
Thinking of whom... tonight I shall be watching Faye Dunaway in Roman Polanski's Chinatown having just finished, possibly the outstanding film book of 2020, The Big Goodbye. Chinatown and the Last Years of Hollywood (by Sam Wasson) which is a film book like no other. Dunaway was always a handful - she deigned not to flush the toilet in her trailer when filming and Polanski, well he did plead guilty to raping and sodomising a 13 year old before fleeing the USA to avoid justice and live in France, and Jack Nicholson was no stranger to cocaine: but it's the art that matters. After all nobody has ever said Wagner was a nice man to know. :(Quote:
Originally Posted by Marco
I've seen a few Peckinpah films. Notably The Wild Bunch, which I suspect I would find too violent these days. Also Straw Dogs, which was banned until 2002 and is also very violent. I was surprised on looking through Peckinpah's wikipedia's filmography that he also directed Convoy!Quote:
Originally Posted by Graham Breeze
I'll check out Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid next time it comes around.
Peckinpah was not a nice man. He was an alcoholic, uncontrollable by studios, he used to shoot guns on set to make a point, often unemployable,...and yet Guns In The Afternoon is elegiac, The Wild Bunch was the first US film to illustrate that when a large piece of hot lead tears into a body it makes a mess.Quote:
Originally Posted by noel
Peckinpah would be happy to film a real rape if he thought it made his film better.
My recollection is that Convoy was a joke that he did for the money. I have only seen it once.
I once saw Sam being interviewed live on BBC2 "Late Night Line-Up". He came on with a bottle of whiskey and swigged from it during the interview. To say the interviewer was non-plussed doesn't quite capture the scene. ;)
Incidentally there is an intriguing cream coloured car driven by Faye Dunaway (in character) which I looked up on the International Movie Car Database which identifies 16 cars in the film in detail. It was a 1938 Packard Twelve.Quote:
Originally Posted by Graham Breeze
But isn't it interesting that a Database exists solely to identify cars used in films?
My life has been so sheltered.:)
Having opined on Red River I watched it again.Quote:
Originally Posted by Graham Breeze
Then I looked at one of the reference books I sometimes consult:
"magnificent
"one of the greatest achievements of American cinema
"rich masterpiece
"John Wayne's finest performance
"Hollywood film making at its highest level".
It was made 72 years ago, so before Hollywood descended into making serial comics for children and teenagers, and I don't think, in its genre, it has ever been surpassed.
It was written by Borden Chase, the music is by Dimitri Tiomkin and it was directed by Howard Hawks who I think was the best of the "jobbing" Hollywood directors. Red River is his masterpiece and is a Hollywood masterpiece.
Couple of films watched over the past couple of days...
Midway: good
Great Escape 2: not so
How to train your dragon 3: OK, but not quite as good as the other two.
I’m really liking South Korean films nowadays. Parasite and the Handmaiden are completely brilliant.
Parasite has to be one of the most beautifully filmed movies ever made and it’s just so so clever and funny in a black humour sort of way.
And before you say, although the handmaiden revolves around a lesbian love affair, it’s that affair, because nobody expected or planned for it, that causes all the double and triple dealing in the film which is really what it’s all about. Another really clever, funny and occasionally gruesome film that you can’t really predict how it will end until you get there
I recently bought the "special" edition DVD of Point Blank directed by John Boorman in 1967.
I saw it at the time of release (so in that endangered species known as a cinema) and recognised it as a breathtakingly original film noir and so it has remained. One of my reference books describes it with adjectives such as "metaphysical, gripping, magnificent, subtle complexity, mythical proportions,..."
It has been copied (eg a scene on the LA storm drain) ever since but skipping a 5000 word essay on film noir and Boorman's subsequent career, what makes the special DVD worth while is that it includes Boorman and Steven Soderbergh chatting to each other in real time as the film runs about how and why Boorman came to make the
film, determined the scenes, composed the shots, the response of the actors, the colour of the clothes and backgrounds, the use of the new Panavision camera lenses. And how great an actor Lee Marvin was.
It is the most illuminating insight into the art of film making that I have ever encountered.
I finally watched Death of Stalin last night, which I had been looking forward to for a while. I had very mixed feelings. Although there were some moments when I felt the film captured the absurdity of the situation, most of the time I was just appalled by the senseless brutality of it all. Overall I felt it fell between two stools of telling the story, which is horrific; and making satire.
One highlight for me were the scenes focused on Michael Palin's character. Always striving to walk the fine line between personal feelings and the need to be in agreement with the party line.
Quote:
Originally Posted by noel
I saw it in the cinema.Obviously:)
I thought it straddled the two stools and I was pleased I had made the effort although I doubt if I would want to watch it repeatedly.
Big trouble in little China- where was that this consumermas? That and Highlander.
You can rent both on Amazon Prime if that’s any good ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by mr brightside
Although the title of this thread is 'Favourite Films', I think the content has evolved such that we don't have to limit ourselves to just our 'favourite'.
Given all that's going on with the antics of a self-obsessed, narcissistic, obnoxious, conspiracy theorist, I thought I could do with a bit of humour so I re-watched The Damned United. I love that introduction to Bremner, Hunter, Giles, et al. And Bremner's dive for the penalty could almost be archive footage. And Jim Broadbent is always worth watching. (That's a cue for someone to point out that he had a bit-part in some god-awful third-rate thriller from the early 70s or something.)
But back to the self-obsessed, narcissistic, obnoxious, conspiracy theorist. Whatever happens now the newspapers will be full of his 'words of wisdom'. If Spurs win in April all we'll hear is his uniquely-irritating blend of gloating, whinging, moaning, and victim-blaming, and repeated reminders of how many cups 'he' has won. If Spurs lose it will be pretty much the same except less of the gloating and even more of all the rest.
I loved that. Michael Sheen is fantastic in most things, and this was no exception. He captured Clough's cocky genius very well.Quote:
Originally Posted by Flem
It also nailed Leeds the city itself* and the dour Revie system of Leeds United at that time. And the dark and dingy board rooms, pretty naff training facilities and the fact that most of the team smoked fags too 😊Quote:
Originally Posted by noel
*As a full time ‘suvvener’ until 1997, the first time I actually visited Leeds was in the early 1980’s for a couple of days for work and it was grim as heck then and most likely grimmer still in the 70’s. It’s now quite suave and sophisticated by comparison....
Yes, no doubt there are some people complaining about gentrification. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Fellbeast
And on the subject of great performances. I watched Phantom Thread starring Daniel Day Lewis. Again, on iPlayer now if anyone's interested.
It's like all the other Daniel Day Lewis films, in that he's nothing like any of the characters in any of the other Daniel Day Lewis films! Yet again, he comes across as a completely natural character playing himself. The story is entertaining, and kept my attention despite not being my usual fare (no car chases, zombies, etc ;)).
Sheen is very good in it. I think I read somewhere that the Clough family weren't happy when the film came out, and that they were actually quite upset at how Clough came over in the film. But I think Sheen's portrayal of him makes him seem really quite likeable and human - vulnerable, even. I can imagine how the families of some of the other people portrayed in the film might feel upset, but I think Clough came out of it very well.Quote:
Originally Posted by noel
That first image of Bremner with a fag in his hand in the film is excellent.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fellbeast
* Well since you asked: apparently he was an uncredited cricket match spectator in The Go-Between (1971). But that wasn't the role he won his Oscar for, nor his various Golden Globes,...Quote:
Originally Posted by Flem
I knew you could be relied upon to come up with an obscure fact. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Graham Breeze
I'm sure if there had been an Oscar category of 'best cricket match spectator' he would have been in serious contention.
I have studied/worked/lived in or around Leeds for 100 years.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fellbeast
In the 1960s Leeds was smokestack, heavy engineering industry, forges, bridge builders, glass manufactures, gas works, steam locomotive builders,... All that has gone to be replaced by huge international legal and accountancy firms, ASDA HQ etc. These jobs brought money into the city prompting a building boom which meant Harvey Nichols moved in and John Lewis. And Leeds developed three Universities and now has one of the biggest student populations in the country bringing a vibrancy to city life.
For many years the M1 finished in Leeds. Outside London only Birmingham has a busier railway station and trains = people = wealth.
A virtuous circle.
But this didn't just happen. Take a look at the decline of Bradford less than 10 miles away. So credit is due to the vision of local politicians to bring about the transformation of Leeds over the last half century that has been a revelation and a joy. Almost sufficient to make me forget the 8 wonderful years I had working and living in and enjoying the infinite delights of London - before returning to the fell running and cycling heaven of Yorkshire. :)
Deepwater Horizon is on film4 tonight. As a CompEx sparky working in oil and gas the nature of the ignition source is of key importance to me in this film. It seems to have been natural gas getting into the intakes of the standby generators causing engine overspeed. When the crank cases overheated that was the ignition source that exploded the vapour and blew everything to bits.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mr brightside
Mr Brightside i worked as a Mechanical Site Engineer at both Murco and BP Oil Terminals, mechanical maintenance of the sites and supervising the transport of fuel into the sites.
Murco was interesting because the fuel was delivered by huge trains which needed to be piped up to our site pipework and pumped in. BP was a little less physical because it came in on the underground pipeline, but it was a huge site.
Fantastic jobs, but the 24/7 nature of the job and shift work was unsustainable for me for more than a few years...
Disasters don't need sophisticated chains to occur.Quote:
Originally Posted by Travs
I used to work on a steam/naptha reforming plant and it had 900 tons of butane ("Calor Gas") stored in adjacent steel "cigar" containers which were kept topped up by delivery from road tankers, such as you see at any petrol station, using a reinforced hose. During the middle of one night the driver coupled up the hose and left his lorry to get warm in the plant control room. Unfortunately the hose had a leak ,the butane escaped and rolled along the ground (being heavier than air) until it ignited.
I came to work at 6.30 am and drove past a very blackened lorry parked next to the 900 tons of butane storage thinking "it looks as though my night shift colleague has had an interesting night!"
Still cracking on with the list.
Enjoyed Zodiac
Thought The Master was a bit weird.
Watched A Serious Man
Twas a bit depressing.
In fact my complaint about most of these "good films" is that they rarely have a happy ending.
As Victoria Wood mentioned, "that's life, that is, now think on".Quote:
Originally Posted by millipede