shaxper
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Post by shaxper on May 11, 2020 9:23:28 GMT -5
We watched this one just a few weeks back. So much fun, but I have to say I found the solution upsetting. I absolutely knew who the real villain was long before it was revealed, and I don't mind that too much, but I found Hepbern's helplessness and completely insane willingness to trust a man she had just met, even when it came out that he was repeatedly lying to and manpipulating her, infuriating. I was waiting for it to be revealed that she was playing him all along. She wasn't. Also, don't some of the rarest stamps in the world sort of lose a huge amount of their value if they are all pasted to the same envelope? How is the stamp collector not utterly devastated by this fact? Letting flaws in plot disrupt your enjoyment of a movie? There is the teacher's need for accuracy again!  This is where you go and assign your students essay questions to explore and explain or rationalize the errors in within the movie. A healthy suspension of disbelief goes a long way in a film (after all, I'm the guy who just spent the past five months watching every B film to ever feature Bela Lugosi), but in a mystery, the pay-off is everything. If it isn't totally earned, then the film falls apart. Hepbern's character only makes sense because we assume it's going to make sense by the close. |
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Post by berkley on May 11, 2020 21:17:41 GMT -5
Even though I've always liked mysteries I've never really been one to get into trying to figure out the murderer or guess the surprises before they happen. For me, it more about the characters, the atmosphere, the suspense, etc, so plot holes or lapses in logic don't usually bother me too much, even when I notice them. I read pretty much every Agatha Christie book she ever wrote when I was a teenager but if I ever re-read them I won't be surprised if I've forgotten the murderer in most of them (I can only think of three off the top of my head that I definitely recall, and those were each unusual in one way or another).
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on May 11, 2020 21:31:44 GMT -5
Watched A&E's The Murder of Roger Akroyd (1989) with my kids today. My mother is a huge Agatha Christie fan, I'm a mild one, and my kids have recently caught the mystery bug. So, for Mothers' Day, I bought my mom the same A&E Poirot boxed set we had just gotten for ourselves, and we are going to try to watch them at the same time and then zoom discuss after.
This is one of four Christie novels I've read, and I like how the film adapted it. In the book, the big surprise was that the narrator was the murderer. The film couldn't pull that stunt, but they did their best to still conceal the surprise, and it worked. I'm not sure I'm sold on the actor playing Poirot, but he's at least more tasteful than Kenneth Branagh. Hopefully, he'll grow on us as we watch more.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on May 12, 2020 16:55:43 GMT -5
Finally had some times to peruse a mystery. Robert Altman's controversial 1973 film The Long Goodbye starring Elliott Gould as Phillip Marlowe. I've heard tell that you either love the film or you hate it. Apparently I'm the middle ground. Is it the Marlowe film I'd have made? Oh heaven's no. Would I have cast Gould as Marlowe...not on your life. But I absolutely get what Altman was doing and I appreciate it. Particularly in that moment in time.
I can't say it's a film that I love, but it's a film I like and that I'm glad I've seen. And Sterling Hayden is excellent (when isn't he) particularly for a guy who was allegedly drunk and/or stoned the entire time he was filming.
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Post by berkley on May 12, 2020 17:03:37 GMT -5
Finally had some times to peruse a mystery. Robert Altman's controversial 1973 film The Long Goodbye starring Elliott Gould as Phillip Marlowe. I've heard tell that you either love the film or you hate it. Apparently I'm the middle ground. Is it the Marlowe film I'd have made? Oh heaven's no. Would I have cast Gould as Marlowe...not on your life. But I absolutely get what Altman was doing and I appreciate it. Particularly in that moment in time. I can't say it's a film that I love, but it's a film I like and that I'm glad I've seen. And Sterling Hayden is excellent (when isn't he) particularly for a guy who was allegedly drunk and/or stoned the entire time he was filming. I'm in the "love it" camp, but it's very possible that I might have felt differently if I'd read Chandler's Marlowe books before seeing the movie. Then again, maybe not, as it's so different that it's easier to accept it as "inspired by" rather than a faithful film adaptation of the novel. |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on May 12, 2020 17:47:11 GMT -5
Finally had some times to peruse a mystery. Robert Altman's controversial 1973 film The Long Goodbye starring Elliott Gould as Phillip Marlowe. I've heard tell that you either love the film or you hate it. Apparently I'm the middle ground. Is it the Marlowe film I'd have made? Oh heaven's no. Would I have cast Gould as Marlowe...not on your life. But I absolutely get what Altman was doing and I appreciate it. Particularly in that moment in time. I can't say it's a film that I love, but it's a film I like and that I'm glad I've seen. And Sterling Hayden is excellent (when isn't he) particularly for a guy who was allegedly drunk and/or stoned the entire time he was filming. I'm in the "love it" camp, but it's very possible that I might have felt differently if I'd read Chandler's Marlowe books before seeing the movie. Then again, maybe not, as it's so different that it's easier to accept it as "inspired by" rather than a faithful film adaptation of the novel. I'm pretty sure the only movie based on a Chandler work that I saw before I read his oeuvre was The Big Sleep. And I saw it a number of times before I read the book. |
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Post by Prince Hal on May 12, 2020 18:10:41 GMT -5
Caught an Otto Preminger/ Dana Andrews 40s noir the other day. But it wasn't "Laura." It's called "Unfaithful" and I'd never heard of it. Andrews is a bitter con man who stumbles on a potential gold mine: the luscious Linda Darnell (lusted after by everybody, including the old guy she works for at a diner) and aload of dough that belongs t repressed, sheltered Alice Faye. If he can latch on the latter, he can have the former. But complications arise.
One of those movies that is less than the sum of its parts. Great performances by one helluva cast: Andrews, Percy Kilbride, Charles Bickford, Linda Darnell, Alice Faye, John Carradine, and the always great Anne Revere. Unique title sequence form the perspective of a bus driver barreling down a dark highway. Wonderful photography and sets. Some nice touches in the plot and the dialogue. BUT.... it smacked of a film that had been tampered with, cut indiscriminately and mangled by the suits.
Come to find out, it was tampered with by the suits, who downplayed Faye for Darnell and sacrificed crucial bits of character development and plot. They also redid the ending, which was merely okay, but nothing compared to what should have been.
Still, I love these 40s noirs. Fatalistic, existential, bleak, cynical, but emotional. This one had touches of "Nightmare Alley" and "The Postman Always Rings twice" to go along with its many echoes of "Laura." Faye was excellent in a complicated role after returning from a couple of years away from movies. Darnell smoldered. God, was she hot! Just a neat little movie that could have been so much more. Still, much of it was quite enjoyable.
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Post by brutalis on May 12, 2020 18:53:57 GMT -5
Nice shout out Prince Hal. Will have to keep an eye out for it on MoviesTv in the future! Thxs. Right now getting ready to watch Anatomy of a Murder from 1959 with Jimmy Stewart & Ben Gazzarra on MoviesTv.
ADDENDUM: so Anatomy of a Murder is quite the interesting movie. Otto Preminger produced and directed based on a novel of an actual murder case written by the defense attorney. A plethora of stars from movies and television: Jimmy Stewart, Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara, Geroge C. cott, Eve Arden, Arthur O'Connell, Kathryn Grant, Brooks West, Orson Bean, Murray Hamilton being the big names as well as quite a few familiar faces you may recognize from television. The mystery here is focused upon Gazzara as an Army Lieutenant on trial for first-degree murder. He doesn't deny the murder, claiming the victim raped his wife and that he has no memory of the murder. So the case becomes a game of did he do it or not intentionally? Considering this is a mostly trial movie it is still quite the entertaining circus as Stewart the defender is playing every card in his deck and creating new ones in trying to make his case. A real dog and pony show from Stewart's antics in court to the manipulation and aggravation of George C. Scott trying to send the young Lieutenant away once you begin watching you can't take yourself away.
Really worth watching if you have ever seen it.
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Post by brutalis on May 19, 2020 8:12:24 GMT -5
This last weekends mystery movie watches for a lazy Sunday afternoon: Started off with the movie which made me a Kenneth Branagh fan and reminded me why I like Derek Jacobi so much. Dead Again from 1991 wherein Branagh and then wife Emma Thompson portray dual roles as 1st a 1949 murder (dang does Branagh nail the 40's style Hollywood movie vibe here filmed in B/W) and then jumps to 40 years later as Branagh is an detective investigating the identity of Thompson who has appeared at the orphanage where he grew up and she has amnesia and cannot speak and having nightmares. Jacobi is an Antiques dealer and hypnotist helping Branagh try to recover Thompson's memory. Eventually she begins to speak but still suffering amnesia and Branagh is falling in love with her. It all plays out in a wonderful mystery style dealing out doses and pieces of information of her memory returning. Confusion and fear ensues until the ending when it rushes to a stunning conclusion connecting the 1949 murder to the modern couple through past life regression or reincarnation, however you wish to name it. When I saw this at the theater back in '91 I was hooked instantly and began to watch any and all Branagh films thereafter.
Next up is an Agatha Christie murder mystery filled with a cast of stars and Albert Finney as a delightful Hercule Poirot in Murder on the Orient Express from 1974. Talk about a movie with a pedigree? Christie author. Diney Lumet Director, Sreenplay by Paul Dehn. Casting with Finney, Lauren Bacal, Martin Balsman, Ingrid Bergman, Jacqueline Bisset, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Sean Connery, John Gielgud, Wendy Hiller, Anthony Perkins, Vanessa REdgrave, Rachel Roberts, Wichard Widmark and Michael York. Full of magnificent splendor inside the train and exterior train shots lovingly creating an atmosphere of decadence unheard of or seen by many. This film is pure exquisite film making and a must see for everyone.
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Post by EdoBosnar on May 19, 2020 8:17:19 GMT -5
Yeah, Dead Again is a really good thriller. One thing you forgot to mention: Robin Williams has a small but brilliant role in it, playing a disgraced former psychiatrist working as a supermarket clerk.
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Post by Prince Hal on May 19, 2020 9:09:08 GMT -5
Late question, shaxper: do made-for-TV miniseries count? Thought of that because we've been watching "Baptiste" on PBS and "Dublin Murders" and "The Missing" (Season One) on Starz over the last two weeks. |
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on May 19, 2020 12:30:17 GMT -5
Late question, shaxper: do made-for-TV miniseries count? I guess it depends on whether it's written and filmed like one complete work, or whether it feels more episodic in nature. Really, I'll allow your own judgment on this one. |
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Post by shaxper on May 19, 2020 12:32:11 GMT -5
The kids and I watched our next selection in our exploration of the A&E Agatha Christie films, Lord Edgeware Dies (2000). I'd never read this one before, but it wasn't hard to piece the mystery together. Fun, and it managed to wholly captivate a 12 year old, 11 year old, and 8 year old for its entire running time.
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Post by Prince Hal on May 19, 2020 16:00:47 GMT -5
Late question, shaxper : do made-for-TV miniseries count? I guess it depends on whether it's written and filmed like one complete work, or whether it feels more episodic in nature. Really, I'll allow your own judgment on this one. Okay, thanks! I think I'll count them because each series is one contained story. And I can recommend both! Back later with reviews, etc. |
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Post by brutalis on May 26, 2020 8:51:16 GMT -5
3 Day holiday weekend so managed to watch 4 mysteries!
1. Hollywoodland the 2006 movie presenting a fictionalized account of the George Reeves death. Or was it murder? Or was it suicide? Or was it accidental? Really hits the sympathy notes for Reeves in how difficult it must be SUPERMAN to everyone to the point where you can't do anything else? Can you say painful, bitter and emotionally damaging? Amazing acting from Adrian Brody, Diane Lane, Bob Hoskins and Ben Affleck won Best Actor nodds at the Venice Film Festival. Stunning visualization of 1950's Hollywood as well.
2. Dark Passage, 1947 Bogey and Bacall team up with Bogart portraying an escapped convict who killed his wife and Bacall plays a young woman who helps smuggle him past police to her apartment. Bogey has plastic surgery to alter his appearance to help him try to escape San Francisco but along the way he finds his best friend killed, and is held at gunpoint by a friend of Bacall's who is in love with here and demands $60,000 or Bogey will be turned over to the police. During a fight Bogart escapes when the man falls to his death from the Golden Gate bridge but beforefalling provides Bogart information which leads to proving his innocence in his wife's death. So Bogart confronts the true killer and escapes to South America where he Bacall soon joins him happily ever after...
3. Another Bogart and Bacall goodie: THe Big Sleep, 1946's Howard Hawks of Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe story. Exquisite play and acting from Bogey/Bacall making for a memorable and iconic partnership. you don't really care for much else in the movie or plot because the 2 stars captivate your attention thoroughly. Lots of scenery chewing talk from Bogart with memorable moments. IF you haven't seen it, what are you waiting on?
4. One last Bogart film working alongside Ava Garnder (did Bogey get the best leading ladies or what?) In The Barefoot Contessa from 1954. Ava is a Madrid night club dancer who is transformed into Hollywood royalty. And yet she is not satisfied, unhappy and eventually marries an Italian Count. But the Count has a secret: due to an old war injury he is impotent and doesn't tell Ava until the wedding night and that his noble line and title will die out with him. Months pass and Gardner surprises Bogart (who is her friend throughout the movie) with telling him the story and that she is now pregnant from an affair and that she is going to tell her husband the count, believing he will want the child to maintain the family royal lineage. When she arrives home the count had followed her and comes in upon her and her lover and shoots them both before she can tell him about the pregnancy. Bogart arrives just moments after the shootings and the Count calls the police turning himself in and Bogey chooses NOT to tell the Count of the pregnancy.
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This is where you go and assign your students essay questions to explore and explain or rationalize the errors in within the movie. 
