movies worth mentioning

[Matnum PI]

Cletus, I appreciate old(er) and foreign films but, with few exceptions, I struggle to enjoy them. In my films, books, arts, music, across the board, I prefer current and american. Tried Sunset Strip and just couldn't do it. (Sorry.) But... I don't normally go to Crackle and looked around and found Anomalisa. Great film I haven't seen in a while. So... It all worked out. Thank you.

https://www.crackle.com/watch/6169

[Brooklyn]

Mystic River - 2003






The beginning may have plodded along just a bit too slowly and was sorta like a made for TV plot. It did pick up and left us with a morally ambiguous ending. Go setting, no artifice about it all. Absolutely superb lead acting by Sean Penn - one of the greatest performances I have ever seen. Small wonder why he won the Academy Award for best actor. I read where director Clint Eastwood refused to do second takes on a number of scenes as he liked the improvisation done by the actors though, once again, most had to be coached as to how to do a proper Boston accent. A consensus 4 star rating, one well deserved.

[Cletus]

Cletus, I appreciate old(er) and foreign films but, with few exceptions, I struggle to enjoy them. In my films, books, arts, music, across the board, I prefer current and american. Tried Sunset Strip and just couldn't do it. (Sorry.) But... I don't normally go to Crackle and looked around and found Anomalisa. Great film I haven't seen in a while. So... It all worked out. Thank you.

https://www.crackle.com/watch/6169

I hear you. I watched it years and years ago at an older cousins recommendation and couldn't get with it. The other day when I put it on it just hit the spot.

Glad you found Anomalisa on Crackle. There are some other good free online movie sites:

Tubi https://tubitv.com/home

IMDbTV https://www.imdb.com/tv/?ref_=fd_vi_close

YouTubeTV https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClgRkh ... CAmdLfDE4g

Vudu https://www.vudu.com/

[Matnum PI]

Tubi has The Big Short and Memento. Thanks.

[Cletus]

Tubi has The Big Short and Memento. Thanks.

Glad to help you pass the time...

[Typical Lax Dad]

What a great movie. First time I ever really watched it through. While watching, I noticed many influences on other movies (like To Die For and Misery). Holden is great. Swanson is great as the crazy has-been but she never goes too far. No wonder it's listed at the top of so many best of lists.

In case you feel like watching this classic, it's here--free with commercials (which mute automatically each time after you mute the first commercial)

https://www.crackle.com/watch/6214

To Die For was an under appreciated film. I also really liked Misery. If you want to see a great foreign film, check out Tell No One. It is excellent. Invisible Guest was also entertaining.

[Matnum PI]

Agreed. Good film.

[Cletus]

Agreed. Good film.

No doubt about it, Suzanne Stone's character was etched with Norma Desmond's influence. Some of the moments might as well have been lifted right off the screenplay. For instance, the way they both come under a mild trance when they realize cameras are close by. And the way they walk dreamlike toward them.

Great film--I agree. Here it is to watch free online (with commercials) in case anyone is in the mood after mentioning it:

https://www.crackle.com/watch/609

[Cletus]

To Die For was an under appreciated film. I also really liked Misery. If you want to see a great foreign film, check out Tell No One. It is excellent. Invisible Guest was also entertaining.

Thanks--I jotted the titles down. I'll keep an eye out for them.

[Nigel]

Cletus, I appreciate old(er) and foreign films but, with few exceptions, I struggle to enjoy them.

Try Europa Europa


or Cinema Paradiso

[Nigel]

Mystic River - 2003






The beginning may have plodded along just a bit too slowly and was sorta like a made for TV plot. It did pick up and left us with a morally ambiguous ending. Go setting, no artifice about it all. Absolutely superb lead acting by Sean Penn - one of the greatest performances I have ever seen. Small wonder why he won the Academy Award for best actor. I read where director Clint Eastwood refused to do second takes on a number of scenes as he liked the improvisation done by the actors though, once again, most had to be coached as to how to do a proper Boston accent. A consensus 4 star rating, one well deserved.

If you're gonna do the gritty Boston thing, ya gotta make it a double feature with Gone Baby Gone.

[Brooklyn]

If you're gonna do the gritty Boston thing, ya gotta make it a double feature with Gone Baby Gone.

Aha! I had that on my to do list. Was gonna watch "Friends of Eddie Coyle" but may check it out instead.

[Matnum PI]

Try Europa Europa
or Cinema Paradiso

Seen both. Both good.

[Brooklyn]

If you're gonna do the gritty Boston thing, ya gotta make it a double feature with Gone Baby Gone.

Thanks again for tip (will watch "Coyle" some other time). 'Gone' got a 4 to 4½ star rating. Well deserved, too.

Once again, a tale of moral ambiguity. For some reason, Boston seems to be the ideal setting for such a thing. I well remember many moons ago that if you attempted to open a pron shop, adult entertainment theater, or topless joint, picketers would march in front of your door with placards and be screaming KEEP BOSTON CLEAN. You know, the old Puritan ideals in living color in prim and proper Bean Town. Utter a profane word and everyone would shush you. Even the word d@mn would make old ladies blush. But the truth was that this was all hokey and so full of shìt that stinks to High Heaven and beyond. All these movies reveal that behind closed doors there were lots of naughty things going all over the city and its surrounding areas. That this corruption extended from the churches, the schools, the playgrounds, the businesses, the police stations, and into every manner of political office. Propriety? That's what you get on the surface. Behind closed doors, that's where the real world, the real Hell exists. Now the question becomes, what do you do about it? And, if necessary, would do you the wrong thing in order to set things right? That's a question both "Mystic River" and "Gone, Baby, Gone" leave open.

[Brooklyn]

Consensus 4 to 4½ star. Roger Ebert gave it a 4 (highest rating of the old era) and said it was the best of the 70s. I thought Eddie was a very interesting character and well played by Robert Mitchum though he failed to do a convincing Southie accent. In fact, except for a young female terrorist character, nobody could do a Bostonian accent. Interesting how every bank heist was in a suburban setting while Charlestown (the Massachusetts area best known for bank robberies) was what was called "Townie" back in the day. That is, highly parochial, congested, urban, and kinda on the downswing side. The movie also had what may be characterized as a morally ambiguous ending. I thought that was highly unusual for an early 1970s flick because in those days the bad guy always got his and the cop always ended up smelling like a bouquet of roses.

[Brooklyn]

Watched it when released in the early 90s. Good movie.

[Brooklyn]

Every rating I saw gave it a 4½ to 5 star and it probably deserved it. Some even called it the best movie they ever saw. But in all honesty, I didn't care for it all that much. Except for the F bombs in it, the movie played a rated PG13. There were some interesting characters such as Lambeau & Sullivan (sounds like the name of a bail bond firm or possibly a second rate accounting firm) and the interplay between them about things such as success and prestige. But I thought Skylar (one of the main characters) was rather shallow - a girl from a wealthy background drops all interest in her elitist background, suddenly finds herself in love with what some call an unwashed, gin breath Southie white trash from the dregs of the urban jungle, and we are supposed to believe she's for real. What? Instead of working as an intern in some hospital, she's more at home in the back seat of a sedan getting humped by 4 drunken degenerates. Since when would a girl who some day will clearly be a wealthy doctor in a high class hospital and living in a three story mansion fall for a dumpster reject like Will and his gang of disheveled townies??? Not a very realistic portrayal at all. Overall, a rather well made movie, good acting, but one that was not quite my cup of tea.

The movie reminded me of Michener's novel The Fires of Spring. It, too, was a psychological story of how a character evolved from childhood tensions into a productive citizen. This sans the naughty language and excessive violence.

[Matnum PI]

An unwashed, gin breath Southie white trash from the dregs of the urban jungle who has the good looks of Matt Damon and the brains of a savant. Not so far-fetched. Plus, Will says this to her. It's not like the screenplay ignores their economic disparity. What was unbelievable was that Will has a breakthrough in therapy and then he's seemingly cured. But I was OK with this. Forced the viewer to suspend their disbelief but I was willing because it made for a better story, a better ending.

[Brooklyn]

suspend their disbelief

That's a great quote and helps illustrate my point that the movie played like a PG13.

Again, I acknowledge that it is viewed as one of the greatest movies of the modern era (if not of all time). During my younger days in God's Country Brooklyn, I was considerably better looking than I am today. Was considered one of the class geniuses of my time (a professor at CCNY told me years later that I was his best student), like Will was also known as one who stood up to bullies, but alas did not encounter a gorgeous gal from a wealthy background who set aside all class distinction and swooned for me (or any of the better loooking guys in the neighborhood) like she just met Elvis. But yes, you do have to suspend your sense of reality to make for a better ending in life and in the movie.

[Matnum PI]

If you like Black Cinema, Netflix’s “They’ve Gotta Have Us” Documentary Series is excellent.

http://joecabot.com/films/netflix-theyv ... us-series/