What Movie Are You Watching?

The-Real-Deal82

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I watched the Godfather Part two the night before last and then last night I watched The Departed. Obviously seen these films before but they are classics.

It’s amazing how the use of mobile phones in modern movies really dates them rather quickly. Does anybody else ever think that?
 

DT

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Godfather I and II, easily in our Top 10 best films of all time, and a rare time a sequel exceeded the original. Seriously, we flip past them, we're in, and done for day, we'll talk to you 6 hours later ... :D

Has anyone ever seen the recut versions of I and II? Basically it's edited into a single, chronologically ordered 5+ hour movie, so the opening scenes of two (with Vito in Sicily as a child) open up the movie.
 

The-Real-Deal82

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Godfather I and II, easily in our Top 10 best films of all time, and a rare time a sequel exceeded the original. Seriously, we flip past them, we're in, and done for day, we'll talk to you 6 hours later ... :D

Has anyone ever seen the recut versions of I and II? Basically it's edited into a single, chronologically ordered 5+ hour movie, so the opening scenes of two (with Vito in Sicily as a child) open up the movie.

I’ve never seen that version no but would love to. I hadn’t realised it existed.

I went to Sicily on my honeymoon and part of the reason for that was my love of the Godfather films. My favourite location is Savoca which is where Michaels wedding to Apollonia takes place. It’s also where he asks her father for her hand in marriage and I sat I the exact same place under the sign which is still there. Loved it. I ate the most amazing ice cream overlooking an amazing view where the roads snake up the mountainside as it’s really high above sea level. There is a shrine to France Ford Coppola in the village square and some of the residents sell tacky souvenirs lol.
 

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I’ve never seen that version no but would love to. I hadn’t realised it existed.

I went to Sicily on my honeymoon and part of the reason for that was my love of the Godfather films. My favourite location is Savoca which is where Michaels wedding to Apollonia takes place. It’s also where he asks her father for her hand in marriage and I sat I the exact same place under the sign which is still there. Loved it. I ate the most amazing ice cream overlooking an amazing view where the roads snake up the mountainside as it’s really high above sea level. There is a shrine to France Ford Coppola in the village square and some of the residents sell tacky souvenirs lol.

Read your reply to my wife, who's got a good bit of Italian in her, and she was giddy :)

Here's some info on that edit, that appears to be called "The Godfather Saga", it was just I and II, not III, though there's the "Complete Epic" that __does__ include III, and also some other, longer edit of I and II, good grief, hahaha, this turned out to be more complicated that I expected, now I'm not even 100% sure what we saw :D

 

Thomas Veil

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There were a couple of movies that had intrigued me for a while, even though I only came in at the end of each of them. Yesterday I got to see them both in their entirety.

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Even before seeing it I always thought of this film as a major camp fest, and it is (it's got Bette Davis and Victor Buono in it, after all), but it's also an exercise in some pretty good Grand Guignol horror. Though the film was made in 1964, the first 15 minutes contain some gruesome shots that would be right at home in 2021. Can't remember the last time a film this old shocked me like that. 🍿🍿🍿🍿

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A more recent movie, but set in the 1960s, "Bad Times at the El Royale" was better than I expected. More than a few people have noticed it has a definite Quentin Tarantino vibe to it, and I'm kind of ambivalent about his films, but I think the characters (well, some of them) were more sympathetic in this one.

Coincidentally, both films revolved upon situations and people who are not what you think they are...which of course led to some interesting surprises.

I have my thoughts about who it was on that reel of blackmail film, and I'll bet your ideas are along the same lines as mine. Despite the appearance of being rather ambiguous, I think they made it fairly clear. 🍿🍿🍿🍿
 
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lizkat

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Can't remember the last time a film this old shocked me like that.

Suddenly Last Summer... was certainly shocking for a late 1950s movie. Taylor should probably have gotten the Oscar, not just a nomination, and Hepburn was impressive as well. As for Montgomery Clift, well he was struggling with his addictions at the time and it shows as much as Mankiewicz was going to permit while not firing the guy but without blowing the film's budget completely out of the water on retakes. In some ways though his impaired performance suited the role he was playing. The film has other flaws for today's audiences in particular, being character-driven and showcasing dialogue as revelation of both plot and personality. But it is a mesmerizing, horrifying, emotionally exhausting experience of taboos set in gothic Southern culture. Considering its veritable raft of hot button issues, it's amazing that this particular Tennessee Williams play --with screenwriter Gore Vidal expanding on it even while mindful of the Production Code constraints of that era-- even ever got made and released without getting totally shredded by Hollywood censors of the day.
 

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Still with Hamilton.

A friend very kindly arranged for me to "piggyback" on his (brief subscription to Disney Plus) so that I could watch it.

The problem is - as (unlike, say, the Civil War era, or 20th century history, where I do know a bit about the material), I keep pausing the movie, to chase down rabbit holes of history to confirm stuff, or to find out more about, certain specific stuff (okay, wikipedia, but Ron Chernow's biography of Hamilton is beside my bed, waiting to be read).

Thus, - and the musical Hamilton is brilliant, absolutely brilliant, - seriously brilliant - but incredibly intense, there is a lot to learn and unpack and think about and mull over - I am a lot less far in the musical than you would think, given that I started watching it hours and hours ago.

So, I shall also be watching Hamilton tomorrow.
 

Thomas Veil

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“Charade” with Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn had been on my list of movies to see someday, and it was on TCM recently.

Described as the best Hitchcock film he never made, I was surprised to see the director was Stanley Donen. The only other film of his I’ve seen was “Saturn 3”, and boy how tonally different they are.

Anyway, the plot is intriguing, suspenseful and...complicated. The McGuffin is a missing quarter of a million dollars, and perhaps I missed something, because while I clearly saw how several other characters figured out where the money went, I never saw how Hepburn figured it out.

Anyway, entertaining enough way to pass a couple of hours. 🍿🍿🍿
 

ronntaylor

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Hamilton.

A friend very kindly arranged for me to "piggyback" on his (brief subscription to Disney Plus) so that I could watch it.

We're trying to finally watch Sunday or Monday since we have about a week left. Cancelling again as just not enough to justify Disney+ with Netflix, Prime, ATV+ and regular cable.

Looking forward to it as I'm not a fan of Hamilton the historical figure and have read extensively about Miranda's creative mixing of fact and fiction for the musical.
 

Scepticalscribe

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We're trying to finally watch Sunday or Monday since we have about a week left. Cancelling again as just not enough to justify Disney+ with Netflix, Prime, ATV+ and regular cable.

Looking forward to it as I'm not a fan of Hamilton the historical figure and have read extensively about Miranda's creative mixing of fact and fiction for the musical.

Finally finished Hamilton.

Superlative.

Just superlative.

Outstanding.

I watched some (many, most) of the scenes several times.

And so intelligent - this is an extraordinarily intelligent and thoughtful production, and demands much (by way of attention, concentration, focus) from the viewer, audience; blink, and you miss something important.

As politics, music (and musical forms), songs, lyrics - oh, those lyrics - history, costumes, choreography, acting, art, narrative, (yes, race and gender also feature) - philosophy - and not to mention the wonderful subversion of tradition (and traditional story telling) seeing people of colour fully own and inhabit with commanding confidence and gleeful mastery these (revolutionary) roles. Absolutely outstanding.
 
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Scepticalscribe

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Actually, the ultimate test of how good Hamilton is (and "Wolf Hall", and "Bring Up The Bodies" - superb productions by the RSC, based on Hilary Mantel's superlative books of the same name, performed in in the Aldwych - oh, being able to attend a performance, of a play performed, live, in a theatre is something treasured in blessed but distant memory... also passed this particular test), is that my beer was not just not finished by the end of Hamilton, but, was barely touched.
 

DT

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Well, after all the Hamilton talk, I was excited to see what it looked like on the new TV (it's pretty stunning), but we could not escape, sat down, watched the whole thing again (it had been a while and the upgrade visual presentation made it feel brand new!)

Yes, it's still just fantastic, and we even picked up on a few new things, wow. :)
 

Scepticalscribe

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Well, after all the Hamilton talk, I was excited to see what it looked like on the new TV (it's pretty stunning), but we could not escape, sat down, watched the whole thing again (it had been a while and the upgrade visual presentation made it feel brand new!)

Yes, it's still just fantastic, and we even picked up on a few new things, wow. :)

I know.

Just wow.

I shall make time to watch it again, before my friend's subscription expires; it was very kind of him to think of me, for he knew that I am "toute seule" these days, on account of Covid regulations.
 

Thomas Veil

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Well I don't have Disney+, so I had to be content to root around HBO Max where I found an old classic I hadn't seen in years.

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Mind you, this was the John Carpenter original, not the remake. And it was every bit as good as I remembered it. I love the framing of being a scary tale being told to children by an old fisherman around a campfire. 🍿🍿🍿🍿
 
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