What MOVIES or DVDs have you watched lately? (PART FOUR - 2011) (ongoing thread) Showing 1,101-1,136 of 1,136

[Jackie]

Joy and Nina, you are so right about Cary Grant! I concur, fully and wholeheartedly.

The Hobbit was a quick easy read, unlike LOTR. Something exciting happened in every chapter. Great story.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Jana, I hope you too have a happy holiday. We're getting down to the wire now!

Am intermittently watching a Netflix DVD, an adaptation of A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley (first published 1992). Not a very Christmassy movie, but since I had read the book a while ago, I wanted to see the movie:
"A Thousand Acres" (1997)
http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/A_T...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120323/
""King Lear" set on a farm in Iowa."

Wiki: "King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The title character descends into madness after foolishly disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_lear

[Jackie]

I saw that one, Joy. It was good. Great actors in it.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Jackie wrote: "I saw that one, Joy. It was good. Great actors in it."

Yes, I agree, Jackie. They were all excellent. I see that Jessica Lange won a Golden Globe Award in 1998 for "Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture-Drama" in "A Thousand Acres".
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120323/a...

[Jackie]

She's a fabulous actress; she's nominated this year for a Golden Globe Best Supporting Actress in a Drama for her truly outstanding performance on American Horror Story.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Jackie wrote: "She's a fabulous actress; she's nominated this year for a Golden Globe Best Supporting Actress in a Drama for her truly outstanding performance on American Horror Story."

Jackie, thanks for keeping me up on the latest. I'm way behind on my movies.
"American Horror Story" (TV Series 2011)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1844624/
http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Ame...
"Following a personal tragedy, the Harmon family hopes for a fresh start in Los Angeles, unaware their palatial new home is haunted. And everyone, particularly an eccentric neighbor, seems to know more about the house's history than they're telling."

I hadn't heard about this one... probably because I don't usually watch FX... although I see that they're airing "Two and a Half Men" right now. Oooo ... Robert Wagner was a guest star! He still looks great. He's 81 now and was 78 when the sitcom first aired. (I kept his picture over my bed when I was a teenager.) He's as well preserved as Cary Grant was!

[Nina]

"Tom Brown's Schooldays," was on Netflix; two discs. Great acting.

[Jim]

If you like Shakespeare, you should see Mel Gibson in Hamlet. Very impressive. Even the kids liked it.

[Jackie]

I saw that Hamlet. Far more impressive is this one:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1449175/
With Patrick Stewart and David Tennant.

[Nina]

Soon I am off to a Christmas Eve gathering with somewhere under a hundred people; including children at my son in law's sister's home. They always include us as their parents are no longer living and we are the substitute parents/grandparents. Glad to do it. Some day we too won't be around to help them celebrate. It is cold here tonight but the rest of the week is in the forties and fifties. NOt bad for almost January. And to all A Merry Christmas! And a good night.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Merry Christmas! Enjoy. The temp here is currently 16.9 F. Brrrr.

[Jim]

Merry Xmas. We're at 21, about the same as yesterday. It got up to 40 during the day, though. Lots of sunshine. I'm hoping for the same today.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Thanks, Jim.

We need some sunshine for our solar Christmas lights! Send some here please. Temp here is 35.2 F. Gray skies.

Everyone is here except the grands. They usually arrive after dark.

I rented some DVD movies from the library for the grands for later in the visit:
"The Princess Bride" (special request from my granddaughter)
"Old Yeller"
"Tom Brown's Schooldays"
"Sands of Iwo Jima" (with John Wayne) (special request from my DIL)

[Nina]

Yesterday, Christmas Day was in the fifties. Great for almost January. Never know; we have had ice storms on Christmas. We are taping five hours of "Little Dorrit," tonight on TCM Are any of you watching it? I received two new books for my Kindle as preesnt from my grandson. Will give details; titles etc. later.

[Jackie]

Joy, I love The Princess Bride, it's one of my favorites. I hope your granddaughter enjoyed it.

I watched one of my guilty pleasures, The Final Destination movies, #5. This one was the best of them all. Eric told me he saw it in 3D, I wish I saw it that way.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Nina, I've had "Little Dorrit" on my Netflix queues (both DVD and streaming) for a while but haven't gotten around to watching it. Which version did you tape, 1988 or 2008? Below is the Netflix page showing both:
http://movies.netflix.com/WiSearch?oq...

Also below are the IMDb pages:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1178522/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095530/

Somehow I think I've seen it, but my Netflix history doesn't show it. Ah, I see that I rented the 2008 TV mini-series from our public library in November 2010. It's the one with Claire Foy, Matthew Macfadyen, and Tom Courtenay.

Thank goodness for these history lists showing what I've watched.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Jackie, I had never heard of "The Final Destination". So I looked it up:
http://movies.netflix.com/WiSearch?oq...
http://www.imdb.com/find?q=Final+Dest...

2000 Film: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_De...
Film series: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_De...
2009 Film: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fina...

I see there are many different parts but they are all horror films.

Did these air on TV? If so, what channel?

PS-Below is an excerpt from Wiki page about the 2000 film:
========================================
""The main thing they wanted about Death coming to get people is that you never saw a kind of a Michael Myers figure. You never saw a killer. And they liked that idea and they said "Okay. Go write it"."
—Glen Morgan on how he accepted the writing privileges for the film.
========================================

[Jackie]

By now they must have been aired on regular TV with the exception of the last one which came out on DVD just a couple of weeks ago. I don't know what channel, I don't watch movies on TV, they cut too much and have too many commercials. I'd rather pay a few dollars and see the whole thing. After cutting these films, there wouldn't be much left. Maybe FX wouldn't cut so much but the networks would surely butcher them.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

So, Jackie, I guess you saw the "Destination" movies via DVDs or at the movie theater.

Our son gave me "Roku" for Christmas. I'm now able to stream movies to my TV much more easily than I did before. He set up the whole thing for me. Now that I see how it works, I'm very pleased. I can manage the whole thing from my recliner! LOL

[Jim]

Roku?

[Jackie]

http://www.roku.com/
I saw it a while ago, looks great and has good reviews. If I ever do Netflix, this is the way to go.

[Nina]

Joy, How do I remove a book that I have read from my "to read" list on goodreads? I can't seem to figure it out.

[Jackie]

Nina, go to the page where the book is located. You'll see 'Bookshelves' directly below your star rating. Next to 'bookshelves' is 'Edit shelves'. Click that and it'll open a dropdown box, inside the box at the top you'll see 'read' 'currently reading' and 'to read', on the left of each is a circle, click the one with the dot inside which should be 'To Read' and then click the circle that says 'Read'.

[Jim]

Jackie wrote: "http://www.roku.com/
I saw it a while ago, looks great and has good reviews. If I ever do Netflix, this is the way to go."

Thanks. I wonder if they cache it enough that even my crappy wireless would work for streaming. We don't really need it, though. There's plenty to watch - too much really. I don't get enough reading time in.

[Jackie]

Same feelings here, Jim. As it is, the TV encroaches on my reading time in a serious way. Some day in the future I may get Roku or WDTV Live but not any time soon. We have so many channels, so many movies and series, and as cool as these devices are, I have no need of them yet. Once vid-store rental is obsolete, then I'd probably get one.

[Nina]

Thanks, Joy for your help with Goodreads book sorting. My grandson says if I update my Goodreads he'll send me books. That was my impetus. I recently read, "The Painted Veil," and the watched the movie. I enjoyed both, but was astounded at how they changed the story from the book into a movie.The ending was completely different. This gave a whole new meaning to the story.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Jackie, thanks for giving those directions to Nina. I'm resting up after all the company we had for Christmas. It was fun but exhausting.

Jim, I don't know how to explain Roku. Basically, it's a device for streaming films to your TV screen. There are all sort of options. I only know that I go to their Netflix section and I'm able to quickly see the movies on my Instant (Streaming) Queue at Netflix. I also can browse for other movies available (not yet on my queue) by streaming from Netflix. Roku has other sections besides Netflix where you can choose movies to stream. I think they call them Channels. They have the regular news Channels too.
http://www.roku.com/

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Today I streamed "The Card" (aka "The Promoter") (1952). It's a British comedy with Alec Guinness and Glynis Johns. It was fun to watch. Alec Guinness was so young then.
http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/The...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045056/
"A charming and ambitious young man finds many ways to raise himself through the ranks in business and social standing- some honest, some not quite so. If he can just manage to avoid a certain very predatory woman."

PS-The movie was adapted from the novel: The Card: A Story of Adventure in the Five Towns by Arnold Bennett, first published in 1911.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

PS-I just realized that Petula Clark was also in "The Card". She was younger then and looks very different from the Petula Clark we knew when she was a pop singer. I didn't recognize her in the movie.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

I am now watching a Netflix DVD of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" (2005).
http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/The...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0371724/
"Mere seconds before the Earth is to be demolished by an alien construction crew, journeyman Arthur Dent is swept off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher penning a new edition of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."

It was adapted from: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (first published 1979).

It's a quirky movie. Lots of strange names. I don't know how the author came up with them all.

"[A] WHIMSICAL ODYSSEY...Characters frolic through the galaxy with infectious joy."
-Publishers Weekly

[Jackie]

That's a comedy I can enjoy. I love the books and I loved the movie. Thanks for reminding me of it, Joy.

All you need to know is: Don't Panic, bring a towel and the answer to everything is 42, hahahaha I'm laughing like a loon right now. I gotta rent that again. I should have bought it. Maybe I will.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

LOL - Jackie, I didn't realize that there's more than one "Hitchhiker's Guide" book. I see them now, listed at the author's GR page:
Douglas Adams: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...

I remember that the words "Babel Fish" originated in the movie. Wiki says:
===========================================
Babel fish may refer to:
-Babel fish (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy), a fictitious animal (in Douglas Adams' books), which performs instant translations
-Babel Fish (band), a Norwegian band that took its name from the creature in the books of Douglas Adams
-Yahoo! Babel Fish, a Yahoo! web translation service, originally created by AltaVista, also named after Douglas Adams' fictitious creature
FROM: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babel_fish

Below is a link to the online translator:
http://babelfish.yahoo.com/

[Nina]

I like both Alec G. and Pet..Clark. What was the song she made so famous. I can almost hear it; but not quite. will drive me crazy..help.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Nina, Wiki mentions the following songs, sung by Petula Clark: "Downtown", "I Know a Place", "My Love", "Colour My World", "A Sign of the Times", and "Don't Sleep in the Subway."
FROM: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petula_C...
She's 79 years old now!

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Nina, at your recommendation I watched "Tom Brown's School Days" and enjoyed it very much. Thanks for recommending it. It was fun to see Jimmy Lydon before he became famous as Henry Aldrich!
http://www.google.com/search?q=jimmy+...

[Joy H., Group Founder]

I've started a new thread for 2012.
See it at:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/7...