Last Movie You Watched.

For all the bad rap Lazenby gotten about how he was on set, wouldn't be surprised if someone turned round now and said: You know that Lazenby wanted the same amount of lines as Diana Rigg AND Telly Savalas?

Executive Decision - mid-90s action-thriller with intelligence analyst Kurt Russell swept up in the attempt to regain control of a hijacked-by-terrorists (led by Poirot himself, David Suchet) passenger plane (with the intention of wiping out the Eastern Seaboard via their onboard nerve-toxin bomb).

Solidly entertaining with the likes of Halle Berry, Oliver Platt and Steven Seagal (in what amounts to an extended cameo) also amongst the cast.

Might have to check that out. Interesting cast list!

Hilly wrote:

For all the bad rap Lazenby gotten about how he was on set, wouldn't be surprised if someone turned round now and said: You know that Lazenby wanted the same amount of lines as Diana Rigg AND Telly Savalas?

Probably hated he had to share his dialogue with Hilly, the old devil!

I remember watching Executive Decision years ago. Channel 5 I think postponed showing it once because of September 11. Fun little film if you don't take it too seriously. Therefore, Seagal's best, ha

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I'll cherry pick amidst the films from today and yesterday:

All the Money in the World

admittedly the driving pull was Plummer, that and I was curious as to see how they did the reshoots. Early on I was too fixated on studying Plummer in the scenes, that tell-tale that halos an actor when green screen is behind them but swiftly stopped doing that.

It's not a bad film. Looks well made and the actors all do their bit and well, even Wahlberg. I think the Spacey business hangs over the film a little. You can't quite get into the film without a little thought at the back of your head knowing what happened. However, that's the rub, Plummer is fantastic in it. It seems in his twilight years he's going all out for most of his roles and it says a lot that in a mere eight days, he could produce this. Or maybe he's that kind of actor he doesn't need to sweat it.

I watched a feature on the DVD about the reshoots and incredible how you can do that in eight days. I suppose nowadays with green screens and stuff you don't need to worry too much (unlike say in 1962 if suddenly Peter O'Toole's scenes needed refilming with someone else for Lawrence). If only he was able to do the film from the off and not have scheduling issues, than maybe the film would be quite polished.

Hilly wrote:

I remember watching Executive Decision years ago. Channel 5 I think postponed showing it once because of September 11. Fun little film if you don't take it too seriously. Therefore, Seagal's best, ha

Heh, yes indeed ... this is long before he turned into the straight-to-DVD colossal twat that confronts us nowadays.

Sudden Impact - Dirty Harry 4, and the formula is well in place by now ... Harry dinosaur-stomps his way through his cases, enraging his superiors who ultimately forgive him because he gets results. This one does shake things up a little by taking him out of San Francisco and putting him on the trail of a woman who's on a rape-revenge killing spree.

Hilly wrote:

I remember watching Executive Decision years ago. Channel 5 I think postponed showing it once because of September 11. Fun little film if you don't take it too seriously. Therefore, Seagal's best, ha

--

I'll cherry pick amidst the films from today and yesterday:

All the Money in the World

admittedly the driving pull was Plummer, that and I was curious as to see how they did the reshoots. Early on I was too fixated on studying Plummer in the scenes, that tell-tale that halos an actor when green screen is behind them but swiftly stopped doing that.

It's not a bad film. Looks well made and the actors all do their bit and well, even Wahlberg. I think the Spacey business hangs over the film a little. You can't quite get into the film without a little thought at the back of your head knowing what happened. However, that's the rub, Plummer is fantastic in it. It seems in his twilight years he's going all out for most of his roles and it says a lot that in a mere eight days, he could produce this. Or maybe he's that kind of actor he doesn't need to sweat it.

I watched a feature on the DVD about the reshoots and incredible how you can do that in eight days. I suppose nowadays with green screens and stuff you don't need to worry too much (unlike say in 1962 if suddenly Peter O'Toole's scenes needed refilming with someone else for Lawrence). If only he was able to do the film from the off and not have scheduling issues, than maybe the film would be quite polished.

They used green screen in it? It makes sense but that must have been the best use of the technology I've ever (not) seen. I saw it in cinemas and didn't notice it at all.

Yes, Plummer is indeed brilliant in the role, and deserving of his Oscar nomination. Perhaps he deserved the award itself for such a performance prepped in such a short amount of time, but Rockwell's performance is very dynamic in Three Billboards so who's to say.

I was gripped from start to finish. Not something I can usually say for Ridley Scott's films.

Atomic Blonde - Charlize Theron is of course very easy on the eye, the action is very good, Berlin just before the Wall fell is atmospherically re-created and there's a cracking 80s soundtrack. However, the 'list of agents' McGuffin feels overused (probably because Mission Impossible and Bond have already done it, and there are probably others that have too) and the plot gets a bit lost amongst all the 'who can you really trust?' machinations.

Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang wrote:

Hilly wrote:

I remember watching Executive Decision years ago. Channel 5 I think postponed showing it once because of September 11. Fun little film if you don't take it too seriously. Therefore, Seagal's best, ha

--

I'll cherry pick amidst the films from today and yesterday:

All the Money in the World

admittedly the driving pull was Plummer, that and I was curious as to see how they did the reshoots. Early on I was too fixated on studying Plummer in the scenes, that tell-tale that halos an actor when green screen is behind them but swiftly stopped doing that.

It's not a bad film. Looks well made and the actors all do their bit and well, even Wahlberg. I think the Spacey business hangs over the film a little. You can't quite get into the film without a little thought at the back of your head knowing what happened. However, that's the rub, Plummer is fantastic in it. It seems in his twilight years he's going all out for most of his roles and it says a lot that in a mere eight days, he could produce this. Or maybe he's that kind of actor he doesn't need to sweat it.

I watched a feature on the DVD about the reshoots and incredible how you can do that in eight days. I suppose nowadays with green screens and stuff you don't need to worry too much (unlike say in 1962 if suddenly Peter O'Toole's scenes needed refilming with someone else for Lawrence). If only he was able to do the film from the off and not have scheduling issues, than maybe the film would be quite polished.

They used green screen in it? It makes sense but that must have been the best use of the technology I've ever (not) seen. I saw it in cinemas and didn't notice it at all.

Yes, Plummer is indeed brilliant in the role, and deserving of his Oscar nomination. Perhaps he deserved the award itself for such a performance prepped in such a short amount of time, but Rockwell's performance is very dynamic in Three Billboards so who's to say.

I was gripped from start to finish. Not something I can usually say for Ridley Scott's films.

Green or blue screen yes. Where he meets the Arabs in the desert was Plummer on set. I think otherwise it's subtle. Mostly different camera angles. I wonder if Spacey's still in it thereby, from angles anyway. Like how Roy Thinnes is in one shot of Family Plot (his role recast with William Devane by Hitch).

I've not seen Three Billboards (modern cinema and I are playing catchup. Only seen Star Wars Ep9 and 1917 in past year) so can't say but Rockwell usually gives his all so not surprised. From sounds of it Plummer enjoyed the shoot for the nature of it. Coming in at short notice to do eight days of reshoots and considering he was 88 when the film was made, to do that must surely have been intensive at stages. (I didn't realise Ridley Scott is about 80 himself). He won for Beginners, Plummer, but Last Station was top notch and he did some earlier in his career that could've been Oscar-nommed but who knows. The greats, like Kirk Douglas, don't always need Oscar to underline their credentials.

Ah yes, now that you mention the desert scene... that rings a bell. I do believe Spacey is in there somewhere in long shots, I'll have to check it out.

Aching to check out Last Station, actually. Might now with Hilly's seal of approval.

BI wrote:

Atomic Blonde - Charlize Theron is of course very easy on the eye, the action is very good, Berlin just before the Wall fell is atmospherically re-created and there's a cracking 80s soundtrack. However, the 'list of agents' McGuffin feels overused (probably because Mission Impossible and Bond have already done it, and there are probably others that have too) and the plot gets a bit lost amongst all the 'who can you really trust?' machinations.

Can't disagree with this. Good assessment. Still packs a punch and a lot of fun.

Cheers sir. Forgot to say that purely from a 'dirty old man' point of view, the lesbian love scene is frustratingly short .

I thought that's what you meant by the "action is very good" as opposed to great.

Ghost Stories (2017) - Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson adapt their successful stage play to film. This in many ways is a tribute to the likes of the Amicus portmanteau horrors, and manages a goodly amount of scares. With Nyman, Paul Whitehouse and Martin Freeman.

Now that I've ticked off my long accumulated 'to watch' pile of DVD/blu-ray's, looking about and so amidst some DVD's revisited went to on-demand.

Mindhorn

at an hour and twenty it's a snip of a movie. It's not bad, nice little cast (Julian Barratt is enjoyable). Nothing too flash but there we go.

War of the Planet of the Apes

On C4 last night and for a week on 4OD. I was hesitant. I have seen Rise and Dawn but once each and whenever they hit the TV over here. (I might be alone in thinking they got the titles the wrong way round. First should've been Dawn and second Rise...)

Anyway. I lost interest halfway into it. Technically a well worked film, I mean CGI has come on leaps and bounds and whatever else they use but I couldn't connect to it. Battle did this better in its way, as much as I have reservations about that film. I guess the ending here lends itself to more films.

And Topkapi on the Beeb today.

Ustinov is a delight in most things and here zips along at steam. Max Schell was a handsome chap in his day and it's a light fun film. Ideal in a way for 21 degrees (Celsius), blue skies...
...and a lockdown.

Youth (Sorrentino)

Perhaps the masterpiece of the decade. And one that's sadly gone under the radar.

Hilly wrote:

Now that I've ticked off my long accumulated 'to watch' pile of DVD/blu-ray's, looking about and so amidst some DVD's revisited went to on-demand.

Mindhorn

at an hour and twenty it's a snip of a movie. It's not bad, nice little cast (Julian Barratt is enjoyable). Nothing too flash but there we go.

War of the Planet of the Apes

On C4 last night and for a week on 4OD. I was hesitant. I have seen Rise and Dawn but once each and whenever they hit the TV over here. (I might be alone in thinking they got the titles the wrong way round. First should've been Dawn and second Rise...)

Anyway. I lost interest halfway into it. Technically a well worked film, I mean CGI has come on leaps and bounds and whatever else they use but I couldn't connect to it. Battle did this better in its way, as much as I have reservations about that film. I guess the ending here lends itself to more films.

Watched Mindhorn myself recently, it's a hoot.

War of ... disappointed me, there was surprisingly little action given the title I thought. Dawn is the best of the trilogy for me.

I think I could make Mindhorn my guilty pleasure film. I didn't dislike it. Another film wouldn't be too bad.

Demolition Man - another 'action distraction', this Stallone sci-fi flick sees his 'wrecking ball' cop John Spartan cryo-frozen in '96 due to perceived manslaughter in his apprehension of ultra-violent crim Simon Phoenix (Wesley Snipes) who is also frozen but then escapes from a parole hearing in an ultra-PC 2032. Unable to cope, the 'San Angeles' PD defrost Spartan to tackle him.

This rattles along nicely, with an early role for Sandra Bullock and also featuring Nigel Hawthorne and Denis Leary reworking his pissed-off stand-up persona into that of a literally underground rebellion leader.

Gold

found a few of these free DVD with newspaper things, well, er DVDs and one of them is Gold.

It feels odd to watch a Hunt movie that isn't OHMSS, so intrinsically linked is he with OHMSS and indeed there are a few Bond alum involved. Sir Roger obviously but Bernard Horsfall (dodgy accent included), Syd Cain, Maurice Binder, John Glen and there's probably others.

The cast might well be the strongest thing. I lost interest along the way. Then you have this somehow awkward feeling cut to Tony 'Camp Freddie from the Italian Job' Beckley trying to run Bradford Dillman over in his Rolls and it has cuts and zooms reminiscent of OHMSS.

What also works is the fact it seems to be all on location and if not on location, within actual buildings and mines etc.

Now the cast, amongst this cast you have Susannah York. Taken from us too soon. Christopher Plummer said, re: Battle of Britain, that she was a distracting affect on set in her undies and there is something about Ms York in her heyday that is attractive. A Bond girl that wasn't.

So, yes. Gold was made in 1974, had Lazenby done his seven films it would have been around the time say a third Lazenby had been made. And you know what, such is the world we lived in, in 1974, Hunt should've gotten Lazenby for Gold.

Wonder if one could get their hands on Gold (legally) in Oz. Supposedly one of Moore's best non-Bond performances.

Lazenby not being taken seriously as an actor is one of the cinema's gravest mistakes. He probably didn't help himself with his attitude... but still.

I can't imagine his attitude did help as you say Fields but it's tempting to imagine his career had he stayed as Bond and kept a performance similar to OHMSS. I'm not saying he'd be pitchforked into Oscar-nom performances, but though he's done alright moneywise since...Well, say he did 7 films averaging the same period as what we had, that takes you to 1981 and thus he's bridged two decades. He'd be 42, so matured into the role.

At the same time, as Sir Roger did and Brosnan (and I guess Connery but I've not seen much of his Bond-era films bar Marnie), he does a film or two inbetween Bond's. Maybe into the likes of Escape from Athena etc. Maybe a Hitchcock (who knows, maybe Hitch would do it as a giggle) and then he leaves but sadly the 90s aren't kind, questionable roles and then he's saved, Michael Bay...

Well.

So long as he wouldn't say no to The Man From Hong Kong between his Bond adventures, I'd be happy with that timeline. A Lazenby-led TMWTGG, fighting his way through Hai Fat's school, is certainly an opportunity missed!

Aye, I wouldn't mind seeing the Man from Hong Kong. Looks like he had more fights in that than OHMSS. And if he had fought at Hai Fat's school, no ruddy schoolgirls helping him for a start

I've discovered that on the quiet, YouTube has a smattering of old movies in their entirety. So you had that Honor Blackman film Account Rendered, something a little forgettable called Murder on the Campus and today...

The Private Life of Henry VIII

For a start, this film is incredibly 87 years old. For a film of the period it's well done with fine attention to detail for costumes and that's where accuracy sort of falters. It's more of a comedy really and indeed Charles Laughton's Henry (brilliant performance by the way) has done more than anything to give us the idea we have of Henry. Gluttonous, an ogre in his way and how he was with his wives. (Though poor Catherine of Aragon, divorced of course, is discarded in a title card as "her story is of no interest").
39 Steps' Robert Donat features which took me by surprise but it's a fine film.

Town Without Pity

Trying to see what films I haven't of Kirk Douglas and this is one. Very serious subject matter. Four US soldiers gang rape a German girl out for a swim. Douglas plays the guy given the unenviable job of defending them. It's a solid looking film, filmed in West Germany with a largely German cast making up the rest (no Britishers or Americans playing Germans) and indeed a joint American-Swiss-West German production. Douglas gives his all.

But the jarring aspect is the damn song. Fine, you see a bar with a jukebox where these soldiers hang out and I guess the idea was to have the song follow out the door and into the town so to speak...But it's out of place as it does so. It apparently was Gene Pitney's first top 40 single and it crops up throughout the film. Pity as the film's subject matter is underscored by a Rock and Roll tune (or whatever Pitney did).

Life Of Brian - my annual Easter rewatch of this peerless religious satire. Hurrah for the Pythons .

The Wrath Of Khan/The Undiscovered Country - whilst I don't FULLY subscribe to the 'it's only the even-numbered Trek movies that are worth bothering with' opinion, there's no doubting that the second and sixth big-screen outings for the original Enterprise crew are terrific slices of populist sci-fi.

True Romance - long time since I last saw this Tarantino-scripted crime caper, but I had every bit as much fun with it as the first time round.

Berberian Sound Studio - this psychological horror strives for an unsettling atmosphere, but for all its reality-shifts and 'soundscaping' it just didn't really get there for me. A major flaw is that the 'giallo' movie that Toby Jones' sound engineer is working on (which we never see any footage of) sounds much more entertaining than the movie we ARE seeing.