Shame. Tolkien's life has potential fro a good movie. Speaking of potential, do you think Nicholas Hoult has potential to be the next James Bond?
Hard to say. He's certainly got looks and a good build, but every film I've seen him in--even when he plays Beast--he always plays a fundamentally sweet person. I'd like to see how he handles mean and nasty.
"I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
PPK 7.65mmSaratoga Springs NY USAPosts: 1,229MI6 Agent
I watched both The Terminator(1984) and Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991) as a double feature recently. As a long time science fiction fan it was incredible to see just how these films defined the genre upon their release. I choose to watch them over going out to the theatre to see Terminator: Dark Fate. Based on what I have heard about Dark Fate, it seems like I made a good choice.
An affectionate look at Laurel & Hardy in their last years together. While I've enjoyed Steve Coogan as a comedian, I've never rated him highly as an actor- until now. Watching the film I never thought of him as "Steve Coogan", so adroitly does he inhabit Stan Laurel. John C. Reilly captures Oliver Hardy just as well, with only the make-up letting him down on occasion. Excellent work from the supporting cast, especially the actresses playing their wives.
An affectionate look at Laurel & Hardy in their last years together. While I've enjoyed Steve Coogan as a comedian, I've never rated him highly as an actor- until now. Watching the film I never thought of him as "Steve Coogan", so adroitly does he inhabit Stan Laurel. John C. Reilly captures Oliver Hardy just as well, with only the make-up letting him down on occasion. Excellent work from the supporting cast, especially the actresses playing their wives.
I went to the cinema to watch this…I loved it…I thought both Coogan & Reilly were excellent and that the film overall was a loving tribute to them.
An affectionate look at Laurel & Hardy in their last years together. While I've enjoyed Steve Coogan as a comedian, I've never rated him highly as an actor- until now. Watching the film I never thought of him as "Steve Coogan", so adroitly does he inhabit Stan Laurel. John C. Reilly captures Oliver Hardy just as well, with only the make-up letting him down on occasion. Excellent work from the supporting cast, especially the actresses playing their wives.
I went to the cinema to watch this…I loved it…I thought both Coogan & Reilly were excellent and that the film overall was a loving tribute to them.
During the weekend I watched the 1966 spy film The Quiller Memorandum - based on the novel by Adam Hall (aka Elleston Trevor). I had just finished reading the novel, as well as a couple of other Quiller books and went into the film curious to see how the character would translate to the screen. I'd heard several times that the casting of Quiller in the film is problematic, and indeed I found the performance of George Segal to be average at best. For a start his American take on the character is puzzling, considering Quilker is supposed to be a British agent, and he is surrounded by several very English actors including Alec Guinness. The film benefits from being shot on location in Berlin, and a moody and typically 60s score by John Barry. Max von Sydow is the main villain and does a fine job of the sinister Neo-Nazi Reichsfuhrer 'Oktober'. Supporting roles are played by a capable cast of German character actors, many of whom will probably look familiar to fans of 60s films. As in the novel, Quiller spends much of his time trying to shake off agents (both friendly and enemy) who are tailing him either for sinister purposes or giving him cover (he is a fan of neither scenario). He also has his ability to stand up to interrogation tested as well.
Overall not a bad film. I was bored in parts though, but I did find the final third quite entertaining. It's a pity that Quiller never received a great screen adaptation. But this one is possibly worth your while checking out, especially if cold war spy thrillers with John Barry soundtracks are your thing.
there's two different versions on some dvd's.
It was filmed in 1945, but because the war was ending the studio wanted to rush out whatever war-related films they had, and held this one back a year. During that time Bacall became a huge celebrity and the film was re-edited with new scenes to give her more screentime.
If they have a long innuendo rich talk about horseracing, that's the later version that was originally released to the theatres.
If she's wearing a mysterious but no so flattering veil when she drops by his office, that's the unreleased version that now appears on some dvd's. It's slightly closer to Chandler's novel and marginally easier to follow the plot.
Which version did you see Gymkata?
...and I just noticed Bacall's agent, who was responsible for these changes, was Charles ("funny" version of Casino Royale) Feldman!
This was Marx Brothers' first film.
Beginners should skip ahead to Animal Crackers, which is one of the greatest films ever, and all their other Paramount films, and their first couple MGM films, before coming back to this one.
This is mostly a song and dance musical, with Irving Berlin music, a gaggle of sexy flapper girl dancers, and other characters singing treacly ballads to reveal their characters and advance the plot. The Brothers get maybe 2/3 of the screentime.
As this was 1929 perhaps mediocre songs were more fascinating to an audience than clever dialog?
Harpo is particularly good, and establishes many of his signature moves.
Groucho and Chico do their "why a duck" routine, so that's at least one classic dialog you need to see this film to witness.
Margaret Dumont's in this one too, establishing the Groucho vs Margaret rapport.
And there's a long complicated sequence with two bedrooms and a connecting doorway that's as good as any choreographed physical comedy they ever did (of course Harpo rules in this bit).
This was Marx Brothers' first film.
Beginners should skip ahead to Animal Crackers, which is one of the greatest films ever, and all their other Paramount films, and their first couple MGM films, before coming back to this one.
This is mostly a song and dance musical, with Irving Berlin music, a gaggle of sexy flapper girl dancers, and other characters singing treacly ballads to reveal their characters and advance the plot. The Brothers get maybe 2/3 of the screentime.
As this was 1929 perhaps mediocre songs were more fascinating to an audience than clever dialog?
Harpo is particularly good, and establishes many of his signature moves.
Groucho and Chico do their "why a duck" routine, so that's at least one classic dialog you need to see this film to witness.
Margaret Dumont's in this one too, establishing the Groucho vs Margaret rapport.
And there's a long complicated sequence with two bedrooms and a connecting doorway that's as good as any choreographed physical comedy they ever did (of course Harpo rules in this bit).
I love the Marx Bros and fully agree with your suggestion to jump in at Animal Crackers. It's a hilarious film and it was the first Marx Bros film I saw and it instantly hooked me.
As for The Cocoanuts, it's a film that I've only seen once, and it was quite a long time ago. My memories of it are very hazy - the one scene that stands out in my memory is the auction scene which was very funny as I recall.
Colossus: The Forbin Project ( 1970 )
The film James Cameron obviously had in mind when he came up with " Skynet"
Both America and the USSR make super computers to control their defence systems...
.... Who'd have thought something could go wrong !
"I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
LoeffelholzThe United States, With LovePosts: 8,988Quartermasters
An affectionate look at Laurel & Hardy in their last years together. While I've enjoyed Steve Coogan as a comedian, I've never rated him highly as an actor- until now. Watching the film I never thought of him as "Steve Coogan", so adroitly does he inhabit Stan Laurel. John C. Reilly captures Oliver Hardy just as well, with only the make-up letting him down on occasion. Excellent work from the supporting cast, especially the actresses playing their wives.
I went to the cinema to watch this…I loved it…I thought both Coogan & Reilly were excellent and that the film overall was a loving tribute to them.
You are both so very correct!
{[] Saw it on Blu-Ray at home with my girlfriend, who has no appreciation of L&H's classic films, and she quite enjoyed it. I thought it was excellent.
Check out my Amazon author page!Mark Loeffelholz
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
Every time I watch this, I keep thinking, how the creators of Columbo must have used this as
a blueprint. The plan for the murder is shown and the fun ( as with Columbo ) is seeing how
the murder is caught.
"I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
In the past few days I watched a couple of Alfred Hitchcock's earlier films, from the period when he was making films in Britain and these were Secret Agent (1936) and The Lady Vanishes (1938). I've been a big Hitchcock fan for a long time, but my knowledge of his British movies is admittedly not great. I've seen almost everything he did in Hollywood, but very few of his early works.
Firstly, Secret Agent...which is a film that I knew very little about going in. In the main titles I was surprised and intrigued to see that the film is based on the Ashenden short stories by W. Somerset Maugham, which I've never read but I've been aware of for a long time as an early milestone in the genre of spy fiction. The film stars a young John Gielgud. I've only ever seen him on screen as an old man, and I barely recognised the youthful version. I thought he had a bit of a Bondian look about him. His co-star is Peter Lorre, who plays a fellow agent, and provides quite a bit of comic relief as he chases the ladies and always introduces himself with his full name (General Pompellio Montezuma De La Vilia De Conde De La Rue). Madeleine Caroll, who also appeared in The 39 Steps, is the female lead. The drama takes place in Switzerland, during WWI, as Ashenden, the General and 'Mrs Ashenden' (the way she is introduced is very similar to the 'Mrs Bond' scene in LALD) set out to eliminate a German agent. The film is pretty well paced and at a mere 85 minutes is a very brisk viewing experience. Hitchcock shows off some trademark visual flair, especially in a scene involving an assasination being viewed through a telescope. In the grander scheme of things it's no more than a mid-ranking Hitchcock film but I think definitely worthy of your time and attention, especially as an example of a fairly early spy film.
I went into The Lady Vanishes with fairly high expectations as it has the reputation of being classic Hitchcock, and it didn't disappoint. It is also an espionage related plot involving a mysterious disappearance of a sweet elderly woman on a train. The protagonist, played by Margaret Lockwood, has had a blow on the head earlier in the film and seems to be the only person on the train who has seen the old woman. The film took a little while to get going, as each of the characters is introduced before the train journey begins. The ensemble cast is pretty good though, and there are some memorable characters, most notably a pair of cricket-obsessed English buffoons who were popular enough that the screenwriters decided to re-use them in several future films that they wrote. The suspense of the train-bound mystery leads to a plot involving a British agent who has to deliver a coded message to the Foreign Office and the final third of the film involves some decent action. I enjoyed The Lady Vanishes very much, its definitely a film I will revisit again in future and so far its easily my favourite Hitchcock film of his pre-Hollywood career.
The Irishman. A new gangster classic. I recommend that any and every film buff see it. Brilliant story and the film is structured so well. Pacino steals the show but Pesci and DeNiro are also superb. And Stephen Graham is also great. Martin Scorsese is still the best director working today. Check it out!
In the past few days I watched a couple of Alfred Hitchcock's earlier films, from the period when he was making films in Britain and these were Secret Agent (1936) and The Lady Vanishes (1938). ...
I gather you've already seen the 39 Steps, have you also seen the original Man Who Knew Too Much and Sabotage?
I think that's it, those are the five spy films he made in the 30s. But though he made occasional spy films throughout his career, he never made five right in a row like that again and those five spy films seem to the most discussed of his early British work.
Charles Bennett who wrote or co-wrote the screenplays for four of them (all except Lady Vanishes), also co-wrote the Climax Mystery Theatre version of Casino Royale, so there's a Bond connection.
I gather you've already seen the 39 Steps, have you also seen the original Man Who Knew Too Much and Sabotage?
I saw The 39 Steps and The Man Who Knew Too Much a number of years ago - in fact I think those two may have been the first Hitchcock films I ever saw (on a DVD with really bad picture quality). I enjoyed both, and I'd like to rewatch them sometime with a better quality transfer. I made a list of all of Hitchcock's films the other days and marked off which ones I have seen, and at last I've got past 50% as I've now seen 27 out of 53.
Sabotage is a film that I plan to watch soon, I've seen a clip or two from that film over the years but never the whole film. I'm particularly looking forward to seeing Oscar Homolka's performance in that film...I've always enjoyed his work as Colonel Stok in the Harry Palmer films.
BIG TAMWrexham, North Wales, UK.Posts: 773MI6 Agent
MIDWAY & LE MANS '66 (Saw them both on Sunday)
MIDWAY: Worthy but unmemorable. Unlike Mark Kermode I felt it was better than PEARL HARBOR (which it clearly resembles). The Japanese scenes are the best. There's genuine emotion & they're not played as villains. If the whole film had been directed the same way it would have gone up a notch or two in quality. Also, the CGI special effects feel less special these days. Once you've seen one POV shot of a bomb falling onto the deck of a battleship you've seen them all. Cliched. Rating: 2/5
LE MANS '66: Much better than I thought it would be. Preferred the first half to the second but the race scenes are exhilarating nevertheless. Christian Bale's an actor I've not always warmed to. He seems to be consciously acting but he's warm & likeable here. Josh Lucas is excellent as a slimy Ford executive. Rating 3.5/5
Peter Cushing reprising the role as the scientist, and you can't blame Gene Wilder's class for getting it wrong with a title like that - Frankie himself never appears, of course.
Quite eerie stuff, with some nasty dramatic symmetry involving a guillotine. I'm not clear, having lazily watched this, where it is set. It's not Dracula, so it's not Romania, and they mostly speak in an English accent, but so what? It could be Europe, it has that medieval flavour.
Director Martin Scorcese cites this as a great as it distills the soul to its very essence or something: there is a bit of that but I wouldn't overstate it. The film gets more perfunctory as it goes on, just as it should be hotting up. Fans of Yes Minister and Heartbeat will notice a young Derek Fowlds as one of the trio of posh nobs, a sort of Bullingdon Club set who deserve to get their comeuppance.
It's okay, but not quite as sadistically sexy as it might be or latterly intends to be; it opts for poignancy instead.
Some material was cut before release (stills exist) which might have made the story clearer and perhaps less perfunctory. It's probably meant to be set in Switzerland, since that's where the early adventures of Peter Cushing's Baron Frankenstein were supposed to be happening.
An affectionate look at Laurel & Hardy in their last years together. While I've enjoyed Steve Coogan as a comedian, I've never rated him highly as an actor- until now. Watching the film I never thought of him as "Steve Coogan", so adroitly does he inhabit Stan Laurel. John C. Reilly captures Oliver Hardy just as well, with only the make-up letting him down on occasion. Excellent work from the supporting cast, especially the actresses playing their wives.
I'm the opposite to you Barbel. Though I love Alan Partridge I've never rated any of Coogan's other comedic characters but always thought him a fairly decent actor.
I've seen 'Stan & Ollie' twice now and thoroughly enjoyed it both times. I thought both Coogan and John.C.Reilly did an excellent job.
I never tire of the dance routine from 'Way Out West'
On a totally different note I saw Rocketman recently. Really enjoyed that too. Very well put together. I don't think Elton John likes John Reid very much though )
An affectionate look at Laurel & Hardy in their last years together. While I've enjoyed Steve Coogan as a comedian, I've never rated him highly as an actor- until now. Watching the film I never thought of him as "Steve Coogan", so adroitly does he inhabit Stan Laurel. John C. Reilly captures Oliver Hardy just as well, with only the make-up letting him down on occasion. Excellent work from the supporting cast, especially the actresses playing their wives.
I'm the opposite to you Barbel. Though I love Alan Partridge I've never rated any of Coogan's other comedic characters but always thought him a fairly decent actor.
I've seen 'Stan & Ollie' twice now and thoroughly enjoyed it both times. I thought both Coogan and John.C.Reilly did an excellent job.
I never tire of the dance routine from 'Way Out West'
On a totally different note I saw Rocketman recently. Really enjoyed that too. Very well put together. I don't think Elton John likes John Reid very much though )
Fair enough, Lady Rose. I think we're basically on the same page here, Stan & Ollie is well worth seeing.
For a huge Elton fan (I've seen him live three times) it's unfortunate that I've still to see Rocketman but I hope to correct that in the near future. And yes, I think Sir Elton doesn't like John Reid very much!
Comments
Hard to say. He's certainly got looks and a good build, but every film I've seen him in--even when he plays Beast--he always plays a fundamentally sweet person. I'd like to see how he handles mean and nasty.
Has anyone seen him as Nikola Tesla in "The Current War"?
Indeed.
An affectionate look at Laurel & Hardy in their last years together. While I've enjoyed Steve Coogan as a comedian, I've never rated him highly as an actor- until now. Watching the film I never thought of him as "Steve Coogan", so adroitly does he inhabit Stan Laurel. John C. Reilly captures Oliver Hardy just as well, with only the make-up letting him down on occasion. Excellent work from the supporting cast, especially the actresses playing their wives.
Fan. Hated it.
I went to the cinema to watch this…I loved it…I thought both Coogan & Reilly were excellent and that the film overall was a loving tribute to them.
You are both so very correct!
nothing happened.
Overall not a bad film. I was bored in parts though, but I did find the final third quite entertaining. It's a pity that Quiller never received a great screen adaptation. But this one is possibly worth your while checking out, especially if cold war spy thrillers with John Barry soundtracks are your thing.
The Boys from Brazil, great thriller about cloning Hitler
there's two different versions on some dvd's.
It was filmed in 1945, but because the war was ending the studio wanted to rush out whatever war-related films they had, and held this one back a year. During that time Bacall became a huge celebrity and the film was re-edited with new scenes to give her more screentime.
If they have a long innuendo rich talk about horseracing, that's the later version that was originally released to the theatres.
If she's wearing a mysterious but no so flattering veil when she drops by his office, that's the unreleased version that now appears on some dvd's. It's slightly closer to Chandler's novel and marginally easier to follow the plot.
Which version did you see Gymkata?
...and I just noticed Bacall's agent, who was responsible for these changes, was Charles ("funny" version of Casino Royale) Feldman!
This was Marx Brothers' first film.
Beginners should skip ahead to Animal Crackers, which is one of the greatest films ever, and all their other Paramount films, and their first couple MGM films, before coming back to this one.
This is mostly a song and dance musical, with Irving Berlin music, a gaggle of sexy flapper girl dancers, and other characters singing treacly ballads to reveal their characters and advance the plot. The Brothers get maybe 2/3 of the screentime.
As this was 1929 perhaps mediocre songs were more fascinating to an audience than clever dialog?
Harpo is particularly good, and establishes many of his signature moves.
Groucho and Chico do their "why a duck" routine, so that's at least one classic dialog you need to see this film to witness.
Margaret Dumont's in this one too, establishing the Groucho vs Margaret rapport.
And there's a long complicated sequence with two bedrooms and a connecting doorway that's as good as any choreographed physical comedy they ever did (of course Harpo rules in this bit).
I love the Marx Bros and fully agree with your suggestion to jump in at Animal Crackers. It's a hilarious film and it was the first Marx Bros film I saw and it instantly hooked me.
As for The Cocoanuts, it's a film that I've only seen once, and it was quite a long time ago. My memories of it are very hazy - the one scene that stands out in my memory is the auction scene which was very funny as I recall.
The film James Cameron obviously had in mind when he came up with " Skynet"
Both America and the USSR make super computers to control their defence systems...
.... Who'd have thought something could go wrong !
{[] Saw it on Blu-Ray at home with my girlfriend, who has no appreciation of L&H's classic films, and she quite enjoyed it. I thought it was excellent.
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
Every time I watch this, I keep thinking, how the creators of Columbo must have used this as
a blueprint. The plan for the murder is shown and the fun ( as with Columbo ) is seeing how
the murder is caught.
Firstly, Secret Agent...which is a film that I knew very little about going in. In the main titles I was surprised and intrigued to see that the film is based on the Ashenden short stories by W. Somerset Maugham, which I've never read but I've been aware of for a long time as an early milestone in the genre of spy fiction. The film stars a young John Gielgud. I've only ever seen him on screen as an old man, and I barely recognised the youthful version. I thought he had a bit of a Bondian look about him. His co-star is Peter Lorre, who plays a fellow agent, and provides quite a bit of comic relief as he chases the ladies and always introduces himself with his full name (General Pompellio Montezuma De La Vilia De Conde De La Rue). Madeleine Caroll, who also appeared in The 39 Steps, is the female lead. The drama takes place in Switzerland, during WWI, as Ashenden, the General and 'Mrs Ashenden' (the way she is introduced is very similar to the 'Mrs Bond' scene in LALD) set out to eliminate a German agent. The film is pretty well paced and at a mere 85 minutes is a very brisk viewing experience. Hitchcock shows off some trademark visual flair, especially in a scene involving an assasination being viewed through a telescope. In the grander scheme of things it's no more than a mid-ranking Hitchcock film but I think definitely worthy of your time and attention, especially as an example of a fairly early spy film.
I went into The Lady Vanishes with fairly high expectations as it has the reputation of being classic Hitchcock, and it didn't disappoint. It is also an espionage related plot involving a mysterious disappearance of a sweet elderly woman on a train. The protagonist, played by Margaret Lockwood, has had a blow on the head earlier in the film and seems to be the only person on the train who has seen the old woman. The film took a little while to get going, as each of the characters is introduced before the train journey begins. The ensemble cast is pretty good though, and there are some memorable characters, most notably a pair of cricket-obsessed English buffoons who were popular enough that the screenwriters decided to re-use them in several future films that they wrote. The suspense of the train-bound mystery leads to a plot involving a British agent who has to deliver a coded message to the Foreign Office and the final third of the film involves some decent action. I enjoyed The Lady Vanishes very much, its definitely a film I will revisit again in future and so far its easily my favourite Hitchcock film of his pre-Hollywood career.
I think that's it, those are the five spy films he made in the 30s. But though he made occasional spy films throughout his career, he never made five right in a row like that again and those five spy films seem to the most discussed of his early British work.
Charles Bennett who wrote or co-wrote the screenplays for four of them (all except Lady Vanishes), also co-wrote the Climax Mystery Theatre version of Casino Royale, so there's a Bond connection.
Eagerly awaiting your review of this one!
I saw The 39 Steps and The Man Who Knew Too Much a number of years ago - in fact I think those two may have been the first Hitchcock films I ever saw (on a DVD with really bad picture quality). I enjoyed both, and I'd like to rewatch them sometime with a better quality transfer. I made a list of all of Hitchcock's films the other days and marked off which ones I have seen, and at last I've got past 50% as I've now seen 27 out of 53.
Sabotage is a film that I plan to watch soon, I've seen a clip or two from that film over the years but never the whole film. I'm particularly looking forward to seeing Oscar Homolka's performance in that film...I've always enjoyed his work as Colonel Stok in the Harry Palmer films.
MIDWAY: Worthy but unmemorable. Unlike Mark Kermode I felt it was better than PEARL HARBOR (which it clearly resembles). The Japanese scenes are the best. There's genuine emotion & they're not played as villains. If the whole film had been directed the same way it would have gone up a notch or two in quality. Also, the CGI special effects feel less special these days. Once you've seen one POV shot of a bomb falling onto the deck of a battleship you've seen them all. Cliched. Rating: 2/5
LE MANS '66: Much better than I thought it would be. Preferred the first half to the second but the race scenes are exhilarating nevertheless. Christian Bale's an actor I've not always warmed to. He seems to be consciously acting but he's warm & likeable here. Josh Lucas is excellent as a slimy Ford executive. Rating 3.5/5
Peter Cushing reprising the role as the scientist, and you can't blame Gene Wilder's class for getting it wrong with a title like that - Frankie himself never appears, of course.
Quite eerie stuff, with some nasty dramatic symmetry involving a guillotine. I'm not clear, having lazily watched this, where it is set. It's not Dracula, so it's not Romania, and they mostly speak in an English accent, but so what? It could be Europe, it has that medieval flavour.
Director Martin Scorcese cites this as a great as it distills the soul to its very essence or something: there is a bit of that but I wouldn't overstate it. The film gets more perfunctory as it goes on, just as it should be hotting up. Fans of Yes Minister and Heartbeat will notice a young Derek Fowlds as one of the trio of posh nobs, a sort of Bullingdon Club set who deserve to get their comeuppance.
It's okay, but not quite as sadistically sexy as it might be or latterly intends to be; it opts for poignancy instead.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
I'm the opposite to you Barbel. Though I love Alan Partridge I've never rated any of Coogan's other comedic characters but always thought him a fairly decent actor.
I've seen 'Stan & Ollie' twice now and thoroughly enjoyed it both times. I thought both Coogan and John.C.Reilly did an excellent job.
I never tire of the dance routine from 'Way Out West'
On a totally different note I saw Rocketman recently. Really enjoyed that too. Very well put together. I don't think Elton John likes John Reid very much though
Fair enough, Lady Rose. I think we're basically on the same page here, Stan & Ollie is well worth seeing.
For a huge Elton fan (I've seen him live three times) it's unfortunate that I've still to see Rocketman but I hope to correct that in the near future. And yes, I think Sir Elton doesn't like John Reid very much!