Monday, December 22, 2008

Movies


Jeanne Moreau reading


I've seen some good movies in the last two weeks. Didn't expect to like FROST/NIXON but I did. The two actors are just outstanding and the battle of egos is riveting. Watergate never gets old for us.
MILK- Sean Penn-Josh Brolin, what can I say. Sure there's a predictability and preachiness about it, but maybe we need that once in a while. And biopics are always predictable.
BEAUTY IN TROUBLE was very fine. Do you go with sexuality or security if you're a poor Eastern European woman with kids? I don't know.
My husband watched THE NAKED SPUR while I was out one night and thought Mann made a compelling movie.
We both liked CONVERSATIONS WITH WOMEN with Helena Bonham Carter and Aaron Eckhart. The constant usage of split screen seemed a bit pretentious and a bit 1970s, but it was interesting.

What have you been watching at home or at the theater? With all these reruns we need some help.

24 comments:

Tribe said...

I don't think Anthony Mann ever did a bad western...come to think of it, I don't think he ever did a bad movie...

pattinase (abbott) said...

Hey, you. How are you guys?

Lolita Breckenridge said...

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. Loved it.

Todd Mason said...

Glad you liked CONVERSATIONS...if you want distended use of split screen ("clever," if you will), see (or avoid) THE RULES OF ATTRACTION. And TIMECODE. And WICKED, WICKED (finally back to the 1970s...).

They yanked Anthony Mann off SPARTACUS and installed Stanley Kubrick, and I've never looked into why. Perhaps in my next break...

Todd Mason said...

CONVERSATIONS WITH OTHER WOMEN, I meant to add.

debra said...

I live the photos you're posting of people reading, Patti.
As for movies, I haven't had time :-)
but I am re-reading Rex Stout.

pattinase (abbott) said...

I liked it too, Chris. One big puff of charm.
Winchester 77 any good?
Rex Stout was so much fun. He gave me a love of orchids that's cost a bit over the years.

Todd Mason said...

Has there been a better adaptation of Wolfe stories than Timothy Hutton's series for A&E?

pattinase (abbott) said...

Funny you should mention it. My husband just picked it up at the library. Thanks.

Charles Gramlich said...

These are not movies I've seen. maybe I should let someone else guide me on movies since I don't usually like the ones I pick.

pattinase (abbott) said...

Charles-My husband doesn't usually like the ones I pick. I am the netflix person in the house and get lots of flak.

Terrie Farley Moran said...

Public television had The Searchers last week.

This week the public channel will have In the Heat of the Night.

So that's it for me.

Terrie

Anonymous said...

Been blessed with a county library that stocks old school noir collections. "DEAD RECKONING" "IN A LONELY PLACE" both with Humphrey Bogart this past weekend. Next up, more classic cop stuff: "THE SEVEN-UPS".

pattinase (abbott) said...

In a Lonely Place, been waiting for Out of the Past to do this for months.
Ah Seven Hoods. Wonder if it holds up.
Terrie-you're in good hands. love that movie. Have you read the book that compares the five movies up for oscars in 1967. Something about the revolution by Mark Harris. So fascinating.

Scott D. Parker said...

Winchester 77 was my granddad's fav western. I bought it and really like it, too. Good use of two hours.

Just watched "Smart People" with Dennis Quaid, SJParker, THChurch, and the Juno girl. Quite a good little film.

Started Foyle's War Season 3 last night. ALWAYS a good choice.

Gary Dobbs/Jack Martin said...

Anthony Mann and James Stewert made some great westerns together - Hard to pick a fave from their collaborations. Oh I've just had the magnificent seven boxset with all the movies. Okay only the first is a classic but I'm a sucker for westerns.

pattinase (abbott) said...

Gosh I have Foyle's Three sitting right here. Are we all moving in the same circle?
I like Western movies too. My favorite is The Searchers, followed by The Unforgiven, Magniificent Seven, She Wore A Yellow Ribbon, Three Godfathers.

John McFetridge said...

Lately I really enjoy a BBC show called New Tricks. Three retired cops brought back to look into cold cases. The writing is excellent, every episode is a first-rate mystery and the character development is fantastic, lots of humour and just the right amiount of pathos for me.

We see it on TVO, sort of Ontario's version of public TV.

pattinase (abbott) said...

I don't think we get that, John. I'm going right out to look though.

Todd Mason said...

NEW TRICKS is also syndicated to US public stations, but WTVS Detroit might or might not want to overlap with TV Ontario.

Todd Mason said...

WTVS isn't running it anytime soon, but TVO should be on your cable--the Windsor TVO affiliate is CICO (broadcast channel 32), and they run NEW TRICKS Wednesdays at 9p and repeats Thursdays at midnight (three hours later).

pattinase (abbott) said...

It looks like it skips right over that channel. We get CBC but that's it. We used to get that channel before COMCAST came along. I'll keep hunting. Todd, see this is why those women hang on to you.

Barbara Martin said...

I tend to watch mostly DVDs as I don't subscribe to cable. A recent old movie I saw was IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE with Jimmy Stewart. I had watched this movie as a child in the late 50s, but rewatching it now provided whole new meanings to the background, where I understood the dilemmas adults got themselves into. It provided a clear message of no matter how bad something is, you can always manage by doing the best you can.

Naomi Hirahara said...

Merry Christmas, Patti!

See GRAN TORINO. The ads don't do it justice. It's a perfect holiday movie, at least for our crowd. And it's set in Michigan.