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Movies, DVDs, and Theater
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What MOVIES or DVDs have you watched lately? (PART FOUR - 2011) (ongoing thread)
Werner wrote: "One of the few pluses of being up for most of the wee hours with a four-year-old grandson, who won't go back to sleep, is that you get to watch a lot of late-night television. That's how I That's how I caught What I Did for Love (Hallmark, 2006) last night. ..."Werner, I know what you mean by "How you'd feel about it depends on your reaction to movies of this type..." As for me, I know they tend to be very schmaltzy but I have to admit that sometimes I can be drawn in by them. Since you say that you think "it's well done, and one of Hallmark's better efforts", I've put it in my Netflix queue as "saved" (until available).
"What I Did for Love" (TV 2006):
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0829317/
http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Wha...
Netflix description:
==============================================
"Lawyer James White (Jeremy London) has one chance to impress his fiancée Sadie's (Dorie Barton) father, Karl (James Gammon). But it's going to take more than cowboy posturing to win him over. And for a city slicker like James, a farm in rural Pine Gap might as well be a foreign country. Now, he'll find out just how far he's willing to go and what he'll do for love. Sally Struthers also stars in this endearing love story."
Genres: Dramas, Romantic Movies, Romantic Dramas
Availability: DVD availability date unknown
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Hope you like it, Joy! Of course, everybody's tastes in films (like books) are a little different and individual. (Barb and I probably like this one as well as we do because our life experiences help us to relate to it to a greater extent than some other folks might.)
Werner wrote: "... Barb and I probably like this one as well as we do because our life experiences help us to relate to it to a greater extent than some other folks might."Yes, Werner, I can understand that. The theme resonated with you and Barb. Stories mean so much more when we can relate to them.
Werner wrote: "... That's how I caught What I Did for Love (Hallmark, 2006) last night. It's in the 20-year (at least) Hallmark tradition of family-friendly, feel-good romances; ... I think it's well done, and one of Hallmark's better efforts...."The Hallmark Movie Channel is currently airing "What I Did for Love"!
(Thursday, Dec. 15: 10:00 PM to Midnight)
Netflixed Cell 211http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/p...
Offbeat, you have to be used to subtitles. I give it 3½ stars out of 5.
Earl wrote: "Netflixed Cell 211http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/p...
Offbeat, you have to be used to subtitles. I give it 3½ stars out of 5."
Earl, I see that the film is an adaptation of a book written in Italian: Cella 211 by Francisco Pérez Gandul. But the film is in Spanish.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1242422/
"The story of two men on different sides of a prison riot -- the inmate leading the rebellion and the young guard trapped in the revolt, who poses as a prisoner in a desperate attempt to survive the ordeal."
http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Cel...
Netflix says: "This movie is: Gritty"
Sounds "gritty".
I watched The Hours because it was on TV. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0274558/Good cast but I don't get why people like such depressing movies.
That's Two Hours wasted, lol
Fright Night was tonight's movie. Good fun, not a serious or scary vampire movie. David Tennant's character was over the top and loads of fun to watch and completely made the movie for me. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1438176/I started watching Equilibrium because Sean Bean was in it, but once again he gets killed off early and I lost interest. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0238380/
Jackie wrote: "I watched The Hours because it was on TV. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0274558/ Good cast but I don't get why people like such depressing movies. That's Two Hours wasted, lol"I watched the "The Hours" when it came out (2002) because I had read the book, The Hours by Michael Cunningham. The book has parallel-type stories which alternate. I had to read it twice to "get" it. I color-coded the sections in order to read each story separately the second time.
Below is the Goodreads description:
=============================================
"'The Hours' tells the story of three women:
-Virginia Woolf, beginning to write Mrs. Dalloway as she recuperates in a London suburb with her husband in 1923;
-Clarissa Vaughan, beloved friend of an acclaimed poet dying from AIDS, who in modern-day New York is planning a party in his honor;
-and Laura Brown, in a 1949 Los Angeles suburb, who slowly begins to feel the constraints of a perfect family and home.
"By the end of the novel, these three stories intertwine in remarkable ways, and finally come together in an act of subtle and haunting grace. The Hours is the winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction."
=================================================
Below is a link to my review:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
I don't remember much about the movie.
BTW, I loved Cunningham's book, A Home at the End of the World. I liked his style of writing. I read it before I read _The Hours_. I liked it better. See my review of _A Home at the End of the World_ at: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
PS-Jackie, thanks for reminding me about Michael Cunningham. I meant to watch the film adaptation of "A Home at the End of the World" via Netflix streaming, but I forgot. Now I'll watch it!http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0359423/
http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/A_H...
Joy, Did you see the TCM movie, "It Happened on Fifth Avenue?" It was a nice, simple pleasant movie with good acting. What a relief.
Nina wrote: "Joy, Did you see the TCM movie, "It Happened on Fifth Avenue?" It was a nice, simple pleasant movie with good acting. What a relief."No, Nina, I haven't seen it but I've saved it to my Netflix queue films which might become available in the future. Thanks.
http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/It_...
http://shop.tcm.com/detail.php?p=3069...
http://www.moviesunlimited.com/musite...
"Heartfelt comedy, with an Academy Award-nominated story, stars Victor Moore as a New York City hobo who moves into the vacant 5th Avenue mansion of vacationing millionaire Charlie Ruggles for the winter."
I watched 'Thor' this weekend. Not bad. Can't wait to see the Avenger's movie.
Jim wrote: "I watched 'Thor' this weekend. Not bad. Can't wait to see the Avenger's movie."Links:
"Thor" (2011)
http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Tho...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0800369/
"The powerful but arrogant warrior Thor is cast out of the fantastic realm of Asgard and sent to live amongst humans on Earth, where he soon becomes one of their finest defenders."
"The Avengers" (2012):
http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/The...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0848228/
"The S.H.I.E.L.D. agency brings together a team of superhumans to help save the Earth from annihilation by extraterrestrial invaders."
Jim, Thor was better than I thought it would be. It surprised me because I never could get into the Thor titles (comics). I couldn't stand Natalie Portman's weak character but Chris Hemsworth did an excellent job as Thor. Avengers is gonna rock.
Do you get BBCAmerica, Jim? If so, this Saturday at 9pm is The Nerdiest Year in Review. I can't wait to see it, on the off chance I missed some geek activity this year.
Ditto for me & Thor all the way, Jackie. I like Downey as Ironman a lot & the Black Widow (Scarlet) is hot. I always like her dressed in comic uniform.;-)
Yea, it's going to rock.
Not sure about BBC America. I think so. I did find that we don't get the Prophets of SF, though. Drat. For $15 more per month, I could up our number of channels & get it, but Marg & I just can't see doing it now. Maybe when Erin is out of college, but we're already spending $75/month on TV. That's just a crazy amount, although she'd love for us to get Animal Planet again.
Jim, I couldn't agree more with the additions of extra channels. I only get the Science Channel because it's part of our DVR package. Pay extra, I don't think so. If you wait a few months you could rent the DVD for a whole lot cheaper.
I wish we could pick our channels. I'd be down to a couple of dozen. I'd seriously like to block most of them.
I recently read something about that very thing, I'm pretty sure it was on DVICE, a part of Syfy.com. Some country does it, can't remember who, but it was saying wouldn't it be great if we could do that? I have a feeling our cable companies would deter us, that getting individual channels would cost as much as the package deals.
I watch network TV: ABC, NBC, FOX and CW. Out of my couple hundred cable channels, I only watch Science Channel, BBCA, FX and Syfy. I rarely go to any other channels, including Showtime and HBO unless there's a particular series I'm watching.
Blocking them is an interesting idea, I wonder if there's a way we can do that. Pre-cable box we were able to program the remote to 'skip over' channels but now that we have the box I don't know if there's a way to do that. I'll have to investigate after I watch Terra Nova tonight. I'll let you know if I find a way.
Jackie wrote: "... Pre-cable box we were able to program the remote to 'skip over' channels but now that we have the box I don't know if there's a way to do that. ..."Jackie, there's an easy way to program your "Favorites". Do you have a "FAV" button on your remote?
I have the newest DVR and remote available, so of course they drop the most convenient features. The old one had the Fav button but this one doesn't. Isn't that dumb? Why do they do that?
Jackie wrote: "I have the newest DVR and remote available, so of course they drop the most convenient features. The old one had the Fav button but this one doesn't. Isn't that dumb? Why do they do that?"That's strange, Jackie. We got our latest cable box and remote only about a month ago or two ago. But it's not a DVR.
We don't have favorites any more either & that's not really what I'm looking for. That works just the opposite of what I want. Some channels we very rarely watch, but would want to keep because they'll occasionally have something on. We NEVER want to see the religious, shopping, & Spanish channels, though.Another service that has gone by the wayside or never been implemented properly is recording a program via an embedded code. 20 years ago or so, they implemented a coding system into shows that you could put into the VCR & have it record. The VCR checked for the code, not the date or time. Very cool, never fully implemented. Now, you can't do it at all & it really stinks. Football games, political speeches & other such dreck can push a program to run late, but the DVR still records at the specific date & time, so we miss shows occasionally.
There's really no reason for that with the technology we have. If the companies had a lick of sense, they'd get users to allow them to use their viewing data & kick the butt of any other polls that are out there. They HAVE to be able to see what people are recording through DVR. That information would be very, very valuable to sponsors & networks. If they gave me a break on my bill, there's no question I'd allow it. I probably would, even without since it would help me in the long run by letting me tell them what I like, so hopefully they'd deliver it & not cancel shows I watch faithfully.
Joy, I have a different box and remote. We have the newest DVR, very few people have them. The only reason I have it is because we kkept having problems with the old type, finally they gave me a different model. Most people have the silver box and remote. Mine is black. Jim, I don't know why they don't use our recording data. How do they figure out how many people are watching a program?
Neilsen sent me a journal to see what I was watching in a one week period. The only problem is the week in question was the week after all the season finales. It was so stupid, why bother?
And that's just one week anyway, where do they get the information posted in the TV Guide each week with how many viewers for the top rated programs.
Netflixed The House Maidhttp://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/p...
An insight into the Korean psyche, with a horrific ending. I gave 3 1/2 stars out of 5
Netflixed Gullivers Travels
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/p...
One of those detestable dvds that won't let you skip the previews, have to pick up a book a read. It was better that I expected, I gave 2 1/2 stars. Best I ever give comedies is 3. I fast-forwarded thru the musical (so-called) sections.
We did the Nielsen ratings for a week once, too. Silly thing & a stupid way to operate in this age. Why fill out a paper form where you can lie or make mistakes when your receiver can give out accurate information so easily? I don't know how they can figure future ratings, unless they have selected people watching them ahead of time. It's probably just made up BS.
Jim wrote: It's probably just made up BS. I think you're right.
I finally watched "Old Yeller" (1957), adapted from Old Yeller by Fred Gipson.http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050798/
It was a good follow-up to listening to the audio-book of Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog.
Great stories for animal lovers. Very enjoyable.
I'm watching Darjeeling Limited, it's pretty good.
Earl, That's interesting about "Gulliver's Travels" (2010). I never thought of it as a comedy. (Didn't even realize it was a "satire", but Netflix says it is. ) I haven't seen the movie. The version with Jack Black seems to be an unusual take.http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1320261/
http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Gul...
James Berardinelli panned the movie:
http://www.reelviews.net/php_review_t...
Jackie wrote: "I'm watching Darjeeling Limited, it's pretty good."Jackie, you have to "get it" to enjoy it. It took me a while to realize what it was about.
We watched, "Tom Brown's School Days," and it was very good but hard to watch the punishment at times. Great acting though.
Nina wrote: "We watched, "Tom Brown's School Days," and it was very good but hard to watch the punishment at times. Great acting though."Wow, that's an oldie which I've never heard of. Below are the links:
"Tom Brown's School Days" (1940)
http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Tom...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033169/
"A young boy starts at Rugby boarding school. He is tormented by Flashman, the school bully."
I've always loved Freddie Bartholomew. He was great in "Captains Courageous" with Spencer Tracy.(1937).
I see that there were several adaptations of the story which was originally a semiautobiographical novel by Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown's Schooldays, (first published 1857).
The GR description says: "A classic of Victorian literature, and one of the earliest books written specifically for boys..."
I've added the movie to my Netflix instant queue for streaming. Thanks, Nina.
Speaking of Freddie Bartholomew, do any of you remember the child actor, Jackie Cooper. My husband used to play poker with him when they were at Norte Dame.
My husband loves Jackie Cooper! He watches all his old movies.
"The Tom Brown's School Days," that I just saw was the one made in 1971.
Yes, I remember Jackie Cooper. I see from Wiki that he died in May this year at the age of 88.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_C...
Below are links to the 1971 version of "Tom Brown's School Days":
http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Tom...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068142/
"Flashman's role in the show was significantly expanded in comparison to the novel."
Where did you see it, Nina?
I remember Jackie Cooper, too. He was Perry White in the Christopher Reeve Superman movies & in a couple of Twilight Zones, I think. Definitely one with an evil ventriloquist dummy. Can't remember which one, there were a couple. I think it was the one where he became the dummy at the end, but it could be the one where the dummy deserted him for a little girl while he got sent to jail. Was he in the "Little Rascals"?
Jim wrote: "I remember Jackie Cooper, too. ... Was he in the "Little Rascals"? ..."Doesn't look like it:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0178114/
I guess it was the freckles that through me. We were watching TV last night & saw a Campbell's soup commercial with a freckle faced kid. Reminded me of Jonathan, the original one from the 60's commercials. He was a friend along with his brother, Craig. I haven't seen him in years, but my cousins still do. He owns a restaurant with my aunt now, but isn't cute at all from what they tell me.;-)
Jim, nobody is as cute as they used to be!
Even Elizabeth Taylor who was such a beauty as a child and young teen ager; perhaps sometime after that but not later. Sadly.
But if anyone kept their good looks into their seventies it was Cary Grant.
I just Googled Jackie Cooper; yes, he was in the Little Rascals and because of that it was a springboard to his succeeding films. At age nine he was nominated for an Oscar for the film, "Skippy," and for sixty years he was the youngest to ever be nominated. He lost that title to the child who played in Kramer versus Kramer. He directed the TV series, "Mash." He was the editor of the newspaper, "Planet," in the Superman series starring Christopher Reeve. He died last May at age 88. One sad note; his father left the family when Jackie was two and never was reunited with his son.
Jim, have you seen the trailer for The Hobbit?http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0903624/#...
I wish they didn't release this so far in advance!
But it did get me excited for my yearly LOTR marathon.
Just watched Fireflies in the Garden: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0961108/
Good cast, good movie
I rented Dolphin Tale: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1564349/
Based on a book of the same name and inspired by a true story of Winter, a bottlenose dolphin who lost his tail and had to get a prosthetic one.
That's my plan for tomorrow.
Nina wrote: "But if anyone kept their good looks into their seventies it was Cary Grant."Nina, you are so right about Cary Grant!
Thanks for the links, Jackie. "The Hobbit" looks like a "must-see". I wonder why it will take them so long to release it. I enjoyed the 1977 animated version via Netflix a while ago:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077687/
http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/The...
"Orson Bean voices Bilbo and John Huston voices Gandalf."
I finally read the book when I was in my 60s.
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (first published July 1st 1937)
Joy, I love this book too. Looking forward to the new Hobbit movie. Wishing you a happy holiday.Best wishes, Jane
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Glens Falls (NY) Online Book Discussion Group
Books mentioned in this topic
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (other topics)The Card (other topics)
A Thousand Acres (other topics)
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again (other topics)
Tom Brown's Schooldays (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Douglas Adams (other topics)Arnold Bennett (other topics)
Jane Smiley (other topics)
J.R.R. Tolkien (other topics)
Fred Gipson (other topics)
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Game of Thrones was excellent & we've enjoyed each season of True Blood. We're really looking forward to a new show about horse racing called 'Lucky'. That looks like it will also be really well done.