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  • Golrush007Golrush007 South AfricaPosts: 3,418Quartermasters
    Marx Brothers - the Cocoanuts

    This was Marx Brothers' first film.
    Beginners should skip ahead to Animal Crackers, which is one of the greatest films ever, and all their other Paramount films, and their first couple MGM films, before coming back to this one.

    This is mostly a song and dance musical, with Irving Berlin music, a gaggle of sexy flapper girl dancers, and other characters singing treacly ballads to reveal their characters and advance the plot. The Brothers get maybe 2/3 of the screentime.
    As this was 1929 perhaps mediocre songs were more fascinating to an audience than clever dialog?

    Harpo is particularly good, and establishes many of his signature moves.
    Groucho and Chico do their "why a duck" routine, so that's at least one classic dialog you need to see this film to witness.
    Margaret Dumont's in this one too, establishing the Groucho vs Margaret rapport.
    And there's a long complicated sequence with two bedrooms and a connecting doorway that's as good as any choreographed physical comedy they ever did (of course Harpo rules in this bit).

    I love the Marx Bros and fully agree with your suggestion to jump in at Animal Crackers. It's a hilarious film and it was the first Marx Bros film I saw and it instantly hooked me.

    As for The Cocoanuts, it's a film that I've only seen once, and it was quite a long time ago. My memories of it are very hazy - the one scene that stands out in my memory is the auction scene which was very funny as I recall.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    Colossus: The Forbin Project ( 1970 )
    The film James Cameron obviously had in mind when he came up with " Skynet" :D
    Both America and the USSR make super computers to control their defence systems...
    .... Who'd have thought something could go wrong !
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • LoeffelholzLoeffelholz The United States, With LovePosts: 8,988Quartermasters
    Hardyboy wrote:
    Sir Miles wrote:
    Barbel wrote:
    Stan & Ollie

    An affectionate look at Laurel & Hardy in their last years together. While I've enjoyed Steve Coogan as a comedian, I've never rated him highly as an actor- until now. Watching the film I never thought of him as "Steve Coogan", so adroitly does he inhabit Stan Laurel. John C. Reilly captures Oliver Hardy just as well, with only the make-up letting him down on occasion. Excellent work from the supporting cast, especially the actresses playing their wives.

    I went to the cinema to watch this…I loved it…I thought both Coogan & Reilly were excellent and that the film overall was a loving tribute to them.

    You are both so very correct!

    {[] Saw it on Blu-Ray at home with my girlfriend, who has no appreciation of L&H's classic films, and she quite enjoyed it. I thought it was excellent.
    Check out my Amazon author page! Mark Loeffelholz
    "I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
    "Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    Dial M for Murder.

    Every time I watch this, I keep thinking, how the creators of Columbo must have used this as
    a blueprint. The plan for the murder is shown and the fun ( as with Columbo ) is seeing how
    the murder is caught.
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • Golrush007Golrush007 South AfricaPosts: 3,418Quartermasters
    In the past few days I watched a couple of Alfred Hitchcock's earlier films, from the period when he was making films in Britain and these were Secret Agent (1936) and The Lady Vanishes (1938). I've been a big Hitchcock fan for a long time, but my knowledge of his British movies is admittedly not great. I've seen almost everything he did in Hollywood, but very few of his early works.

    Firstly, Secret Agent...which is a film that I knew very little about going in. In the main titles I was surprised and intrigued to see that the film is based on the Ashenden short stories by W. Somerset Maugham, which I've never read but I've been aware of for a long time as an early milestone in the genre of spy fiction. The film stars a young John Gielgud. I've only ever seen him on screen as an old man, and I barely recognised the youthful version. I thought he had a bit of a Bondian look about him. His co-star is Peter Lorre, who plays a fellow agent, and provides quite a bit of comic relief as he chases the ladies and always introduces himself with his full name (General Pompellio Montezuma De La Vilia De Conde De La Rue). Madeleine Caroll, who also appeared in The 39 Steps, is the female lead. The drama takes place in Switzerland, during WWI, as Ashenden, the General and 'Mrs Ashenden' (the way she is introduced is very similar to the 'Mrs Bond' scene in LALD) set out to eliminate a German agent. The film is pretty well paced and at a mere 85 minutes is a very brisk viewing experience. Hitchcock shows off some trademark visual flair, especially in a scene involving an assasination being viewed through a telescope. In the grander scheme of things it's no more than a mid-ranking Hitchcock film but I think definitely worthy of your time and attention, especially as an example of a fairly early spy film.

    I went into The Lady Vanishes with fairly high expectations as it has the reputation of being classic Hitchcock, and it didn't disappoint. It is also an espionage related plot involving a mysterious disappearance of a sweet elderly woman on a train. The protagonist, played by Margaret Lockwood, has had a blow on the head earlier in the film and seems to be the only person on the train who has seen the old woman. The film took a little while to get going, as each of the characters is introduced before the train journey begins. The ensemble cast is pretty good though, and there are some memorable characters, most notably a pair of cricket-obsessed English buffoons who were popular enough that the screenwriters decided to re-use them in several future films that they wrote. The suspense of the train-bound mystery leads to a plot involving a British agent who has to deliver a coded message to the Foreign Office and the final third of the film involves some decent action. I enjoyed The Lady Vanishes very much, its definitely a film I will revisit again in future and so far its easily my favourite Hitchcock film of his pre-Hollywood career.
  • Revolver66Revolver66 Melbourne, AustraliaPosts: 470MI6 Agent
    The Irishman. A new gangster classic. I recommend that any and every film buff see it. Brilliant story and the film is structured so well. Pacino steals the show but Pesci and DeNiro are also superb. And Stephen Graham is also great. Martin Scorsese is still the best director working today. Check it out!
  • caractacus pottscaractacus potts Orbital communicator, level 10Posts: 3,907MI6 Agent
    Golrush007 wrote:
    In the past few days I watched a couple of Alfred Hitchcock's earlier films, from the period when he was making films in Britain and these were Secret Agent (1936) and The Lady Vanishes (1938). ...
    I gather you've already seen the 39 Steps, have you also seen the original Man Who Knew Too Much and Sabotage?

    I think that's it, those are the five spy films he made in the 30s. But though he made occasional spy films throughout his career, he never made five right in a row like that again and those five spy films seem to the most discussed of his early British work.

    Charles Bennett who wrote or co-wrote the screenplays for four of them (all except Lady Vanishes), also co-wrote the Climax Mystery Theatre version of Casino Royale, so there's a Bond connection.



    Gymkata wrote:
    Next up: TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE, another one from Bogie that I haven't seen
    Eagerly awaiting your review of this one!
  • Golrush007Golrush007 South AfricaPosts: 3,418Quartermasters
    I gather you've already seen the 39 Steps, have you also seen the original Man Who Knew Too Much and Sabotage?

    I saw The 39 Steps and The Man Who Knew Too Much a number of years ago - in fact I think those two may have been the first Hitchcock films I ever saw (on a DVD with really bad picture quality). I enjoyed both, and I'd like to rewatch them sometime with a better quality transfer. I made a list of all of Hitchcock's films the other days and marked off which ones I have seen, and at last I've got past 50% as I've now seen 27 out of 53.

    Sabotage is a film that I plan to watch soon, I've seen a clip or two from that film over the years but never the whole film. I'm particularly looking forward to seeing Oscar Homolka's performance in that film...I've always enjoyed his work as Colonel Stok in the Harry Palmer films.
  • BIG TAMBIG TAM Wrexham, North Wales, UK.Posts: 773MI6 Agent
    MIDWAY & LE MANS '66 (Saw them both on Sunday)

    MIDWAY: Worthy but unmemorable. Unlike Mark Kermode I felt it was better than PEARL HARBOR (which it clearly resembles). The Japanese scenes are the best. There's genuine emotion & they're not played as villains. If the whole film had been directed the same way it would have gone up a notch or two in quality. Also, the CGI special effects feel less special these days. Once you've seen one POV shot of a bomb falling onto the deck of a battleship you've seen them all. Cliched. Rating: 2/5

    LE MANS '66: Much better than I thought it would be. Preferred the first half to the second but the race scenes are exhilarating nevertheless. Christian Bale's an actor I've not always warmed to. He seems to be consciously acting but he's warm & likeable here. Josh Lucas is excellent as a slimy Ford executive. Rating 3.5/5
  • Napoleon PluralNapoleon Plural LondonPosts: 10,239MI6 Agent
    And Frankenstein Created Woman

    Peter Cushing reprising the role as the scientist, and you can't blame Gene Wilder's class for getting it wrong with a title like that - Frankie himself never appears, of course.
    Quite eerie stuff, with some nasty dramatic symmetry involving a guillotine. I'm not clear, having lazily watched this, where it is set. It's not Dracula, so it's not Romania, and they mostly speak in an English accent, but so what? It could be Europe, it has that medieval flavour.

    Director Martin Scorcese cites this as a great as it distills the soul to its very essence or something: there is a bit of that but I wouldn't overstate it. The film gets more perfunctory as it goes on, just as it should be hotting up. Fans of Yes Minister and Heartbeat will notice a young Derek Fowlds as one of the trio of posh nobs, a sort of Bullingdon Club set who deserve to get their comeuppance.

    It's okay, but not quite as sadistically sexy as it might be or latterly intends to be; it opts for poignancy instead.
    "This is where we leave you Mr Bond."

    Roger Moore 1927-2017
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 36,057Chief of Staff
    Some material was cut before release (stills exist) which might have made the story clearer and perhaps less perfunctory. It's probably meant to be set in Switzerland, since that's where the early adventures of Peter Cushing's Baron Frankenstein were supposed to be happening.

    d-LLAc-Coqt-I6-RROe0-TOZp8w-E3-Yv-W.jpg
  • Lady RoseLady Rose London,UKPosts: 2,667MI6 Agent
    Barbel wrote:
    Stan & Ollie

    An affectionate look at Laurel & Hardy in their last years together. While I've enjoyed Steve Coogan as a comedian, I've never rated him highly as an actor- until now. Watching the film I never thought of him as "Steve Coogan", so adroitly does he inhabit Stan Laurel. John C. Reilly captures Oliver Hardy just as well, with only the make-up letting him down on occasion. Excellent work from the supporting cast, especially the actresses playing their wives.

    I'm the opposite to you Barbel. Though I love Alan Partridge I've never rated any of Coogan's other comedic characters but always thought him a fairly decent actor.

    I've seen 'Stan & Ollie' twice now and thoroughly enjoyed it both times. I thought both Coogan and John.C.Reilly did an excellent job.

    I never tire of the dance routine from 'Way Out West'


    On a totally different note I saw Rocketman recently. Really enjoyed that too. Very well put together. I don't think Elton John likes John Reid very much though :))
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 36,057Chief of Staff
    Lady Rose wrote:
    Barbel wrote:
    Stan & Ollie

    An affectionate look at Laurel & Hardy in their last years together. While I've enjoyed Steve Coogan as a comedian, I've never rated him highly as an actor- until now. Watching the film I never thought of him as "Steve Coogan", so adroitly does he inhabit Stan Laurel. John C. Reilly captures Oliver Hardy just as well, with only the make-up letting him down on occasion. Excellent work from the supporting cast, especially the actresses playing their wives.

    I'm the opposite to you Barbel. Though I love Alan Partridge I've never rated any of Coogan's other comedic characters but always thought him a fairly decent actor.

    I've seen 'Stan & Ollie' twice now and thoroughly enjoyed it both times. I thought both Coogan and John.C.Reilly did an excellent job.

    I never tire of the dance routine from 'Way Out West'


    On a totally different note I saw Rocketman recently. Really enjoyed that too. Very well put together. I don't think Elton John likes John Reid very much though :))

    Fair enough, Lady Rose. I think we're basically on the same page here, Stan & Ollie is well worth seeing.

    For a huge Elton fan (I've seen him live three times) it's unfortunate that I've still to see Rocketman but I hope to correct that in the near future. And yes, I think Sir Elton doesn't like John Reid very much!
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    Given all the good reviews it's getting, I must check it out. -{
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • Lady RoseLady Rose London,UKPosts: 2,667MI6 Agent
    Given all the good reviews it's getting, I must check it out. -{

    It's worth it. It's just a really sweet film about two beloved people.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    edited November 2019
    I've always been a fan of the duo, still laugh out loud at their films. -{

    Watching " Smokey and the Bandit " Jackie Gleason as Sheriff Buford T. Justice
    is simply a brilliant character, so many funny moments. :D apparently he
    improvised most of his lines.
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • Lady RoseLady Rose London,UKPosts: 2,667MI6 Agent
    Just watched The Exception with Christopher Plummer and Lilly James.

    It's about Kaiser Wilhelm's exhile in Holland during WW2.

    Wasn't expecting much but really enjoyed it. Great cast and very understated.

    I love Christopher Plummer. Such a brilliant actor.
  • Number24Number24 NorwayPosts: 21,704MI6 Agent
    The Kaiser visited Hotel Øye every summer before "the Great War". There's a story (I don't know if it's true) that he visited the place as a priviate citizen after the war and ran into a local farmer he knew from earlier visits. When he was kaiser a visit was a big operation.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZBVq9sTQG4

    My sister had her wedding party at the hotel and sometimes we go there for Sunday lunch. Sorry. Got carried away ….. I'm a history nerd.

    [img]https://www.smp.no/incoming/article13872604.ece/j5la4c/ALTERNATES/w980-default/Hotel_Union_Øye.jpg[/img]
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    Not to worry, I've had to be carried out of a few weddings too :p
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • Number24Number24 NorwayPosts: 21,704MI6 Agent
    Oh TP, you always understand exactly what I'm talking about :))
  • Napoleon PluralNapoleon Plural LondonPosts: 10,239MI6 Agent
    Shooter - the Mark Wahlberg thriller. It's going back a bit. Former AJB member Dan Same (whatever happened to him?) recommended it back in the day, said he liked generic action films. Shooter is that, it's very good but I imagine you might have been disappointed seeing it in the cinema, as it's a tad sub-Jason Bourne. Indeed, were it not for Bourne you'd have Matt Damon playing the role really. It follows the usual tropes, great cinematography however. Also some good tips on just how corrupt the entire State is, and how everyone is embedded and it's run by fear. To the extent that the lead character ever really prevailing is a tad fanciful, but there you go.
    "This is where we leave you Mr Bond."

    Roger Moore 1927-2017
  • Golrush007Golrush007 South AfricaPosts: 3,418Quartermasters
    I remember being quite dismissive of Shooter when it came out. I was never a fan of Wahlberg, and I did find it a bit generic.

    However, one section of the film which gave me unbridled pleasure was seeing Levon Helm (of The Band fame) in a cameo in the movie. I'm a huge fan of Helm as a musician, and enjoy seeing him in films as well. In fact, before I ever heard his music I knew him as Jack Ridley from one of my all-time favourite films, The Right Stuff.
  • Lady RoseLady Rose London,UKPosts: 2,667MI6 Agent
    I never saw the film Shooter but did watch the TV series. It started off quite well but then lost it so never finished the series. Put me off watching the film.
  • Napoleon PluralNapoleon Plural LondonPosts: 10,239MI6 Agent
    Catch Us If You Can

    As The Beatles made a big hit with A Hard Day's Night, so their nearest competitor for a year, the Dave Clarke Five, got to make this black and white film a year later.
    Actually the DC5 made it big in the US but are one of those bands that left no footprint. I mean, apart from the carbon one from their personalised jet. Never having any R&B grounding, not any pop art sensibility, they became one of those bands like The Hollies that get overlooked, assisted by the fact that Dave Clarke sort of buried the band once it finished. Their records don't get played now.

    The film is all set to be the worst most bonkers movie every, it's mad. The Five don't play themselves, and never play instruments and only later did I find out they're meant to be stuntmen. They're working on a rubbish TV campaign for meat. DC5 hits get played over the soundtrack, often to shots of them boogying at parties.

    It's really only Dave Clarke who stars, the other band members are so low key it's like they don't exist, they have no charm and don't get to 'do a turn'.

    John Boorman directs and brings in all the gimmicks of the day. It's very dated and appears to have no point until you realise it's a 'goofing off' film like Ferris Bueller. Or like Ringo bunking off in A Hard Day's Night.

    But as it went on I started to warm to it. That English actor who pops up as the voice of reason at the UN meeting in the pts of YOLT is in it, along with comic actress Yootha Joyce... It has a meandering charm almost not unlike Oh Lucky Man or Barry Lyndon. Some on the IMDB say it's better than A Hard Day's... and I can see their point because that film did have some comic naffness in it, I mean the stuff about old man Steptoe getting the kids to sneak him into the Beatles showing had the feel of a Tommy Trinder film in the 40s. This film, on the other hand, is very downbeat and has a real strangeness and cynicism about it.
    "This is where we leave you Mr Bond."

    Roger Moore 1927-2017
  • Napoleon PluralNapoleon Plural LondonPosts: 10,239MI6 Agent
    Ad Astrad

    Coming out a fortnight or so after his star turn in Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Brad Pitt's sci-fi film got somewhat panned for not being in the same mold, when it's not supposed to be.

    A sort of cross between 2001: A Space Odyssey and Heart of Darkness, this sees Pitt's astronaut being sent on a mission to er, space, to find out the cause of these intergallactic space storms or something that threaten Earth with devastating effects. It seems to be something to do with a mission by a previous astronaut, who was his father.

    Now the film looks and sounds great, and Pitt in a space suit makes us nostalgic for Connery in his YOLT get up, and it's the kind of film where you daydream a bit, get lost a bit, wondering how great it would be if Connery in his late 60s prime (sort of) did a film as good as this, not that Pitt is bad at all, he's very good.

    But things do niggle a bit... Scorcese's youthanasia of old folk in his film The Irishman has brought some controversy, but something like this should be done here, and if it's not, perhaps I've missed the point. It just doesn't make sense.
    as flashback clips of Pitt's father Tommy Lee Jones in famous astronaut mode show his as old as he is now, 85 if he's a day, when he was supposed to have gone missing, I dunno, 40 years ago or something.

    What's more...
    It's all about whether there's life out there... but Pitt and a couple of co-travellers attend a mayday where they're attacked by two space baboons... I mean what the hell are they doing up there if that's not alien life

    The allegory is all I suppose, and a bit heavy handed, but I did like this film - probably best to see in the cinema on your own, however, without having to pick up on the audience's mood, which might amplify any objections. It's not a group think movie, really.
    "This is where we leave you Mr Bond."

    Roger Moore 1927-2017
  • Herr StockmannHerr Stockmann Posts: 8MI6 Agent
    They're attacked by two space baboons... I mean what the hell are they doing up there if that's not alien life
    They're not alien life per say, they're just baboons from Earth and on which experiments were carried out in space.

    In my opinion, Ad Astra is probably my favorite film of this year, and perhaps one of the most important of this decade, because of its interrogations and reflexion.
  • HardyboyHardyboy Posts: 5,882Chief of Staff
    Anna and the Apocalypse. My, but you Scots can make a funny movie--a high school musical about teen angst that turns into a zombie horror extravaganza! I enjoyed it very much, though it brings up a question I've had for years. . .why is it in teen movies, the geeks, losers, and outsiders are usually played by performers who would be drop-dead gorgeous (and popular) in the real world?
    Vox clamantis in deserto
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    Just to lower the tone .......

    I've been re-watching the Fast and Furious movies, I love these films so over the top, fun
    entertainment -{ Just switch off and join the gang.
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • Golrush007Golrush007 South AfricaPosts: 3,418Quartermasters
    I've only seen one Fast & Furious film (the first one) and I'm afraid I fell asleep for a few minutes about half way through 8-) So you could argue that I haven't seen a Fast & Furious film at all.
  • CheverianCheverian Posts: 1,446MI6 Agent
    KNIVES OUT! I know it's done as friendly trolling around here to say that Craig can't carry a non-Bond film, etc. But this one is a lot of fun if you're fans of murder mysteries. The characters are great. And Craig is fun in a role that allows him to stretch without falling into what could be an easy caricature.

    Speaking of Craig's non-Bond film work, I would argue that, at this stage, only Connery has a more impressive list of movies he acted in outside the 007 franchise. Craig has been in some stinkers, no doubt, but he also has LAYER CAKE, GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, and now KNIVES OUT on his resume, plus strong supporting roles in some excellent movies (MUNICH, ROAD TO PERDITION).
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