What's on your Daily Viewing List? (3 Viewers)

[bujaki]

Days to Come (Mint Theater Company stream) 2018 live recording of Lillian Hellman's second B'way play, a flop with a 7-performance run. The cast featured Florence Eldridge and Charles Dingle. I can see why it flopped. It's a bit clunky in exposition as it presents a family that owns a factory whose workers are currently on strike. They bring in scabs. Violence erupts. People die. The family's secrets are uncovered. The factory owner rises or falls to tragic heights or depths. The final scene is Hellman at her best.
The Little Minister (YouTube) 1921. From the Eye Museum. A "found" film starring the delectable Betty Bronson playing the dual role of Lady Barbara, alias the gypsy Babbie, who enthralls the little minister, thus scandalizing the church's elders. It's a charming story, filmed oft before and finally as a Kate Hepburn vehicle. This print is nicely toned and runs about 80 minutes. BTW, there's also a strike here that's about to be put down by force through military force. It all ends peacefully thanks to Babbie.
Saturday Night (YouTube) 1922. Tinted, but a few generations from looking pristine, DeMille "social" drama about mismatched marriages. Moral of the story: marry your own kind. But before you get there, you are treated to lavish sets and costumes, a Hallowe'en swimming pool "orgy," and a spectacular tenement fire. Milk it for all it's worth.
Man-Woman-Marriage (YouTube) 1921. From the Eye Museum. Whither goeth? This film is a feminist tract about a woman who wants fulfillment: a career, marriage, motherhood. Can she have it all, and a husband in the early 20th century who'll allow it? Her mind will wander to other eras (evoking CB DeMille epics): the Stone Age, the Middle Ages; the land of the Amazons; the Roman court in the days of Constantine; and then we wade into the pool of Christ and the power of Redemption via Faith.
The print is tinted and exhibits just a bit of damage. The film, though, is hard to digest.

 

[Robin9]

Yesterday I watched Smoke Screen, a fairly interesting tale about a car going over a cliff and the possible insurance claim that might result. The central premise is good but not big enough to sustain a film and the writer/director clearly recognized this. However, instead of buttressing the central idea with an examination of the three main remaining characters, one of whom is played by the lush Yvonne Romain, the movie instead focusses on the insurance investigator's obsession with not spending any money. I didn't find this at all interesting but reviews on both IMDB and Amazon show that many people disagree with me.

Today I had a second look at the Paramount MOD Blu-ray disc of The Molly Maguires. This is a damn' good disc of a damn' good movie. I'm sorry the film did not find a bigger audience when it was first released. Sean Connery proves yet again that he is/was one of the strongest male leads ever to play in movies: a magnificent presence.

 

[Thomas T]

 

[Mike Frezon]

The national tour came through here several years ago that I was lucky enough to see. High energy is right! It was a wonderful evening in the theater, and that unit set it utilized was magnificent.

We saw it, too, at the first stop of the tour at the gand old Proctor's Theater in Schenectady, NY. I think it was October 2014.

 

[Dave Moritz]

January 15th, 2021 Friday

West Wing S1/E1
Designated Survivor S1/E7

January 16th, 2021

Reign Of Fire
HD Digital upconverted to 4K
Dolby 5.1 upmixed to Auro 7.1

National Treasure
Disney +
4K Digital / Dolby Vision
Dolby Atmos 7.1.4 to Auro 3D 7.1.4

 

[Mike Frezon]

I took a flyer on a film which intrigued me a few months ago which I found while putting together a Weekly RoundUp. It finally dropped to a reasonable price (for a DVD release) and I pulled the trigger.

It is a small British film called Sometimes Always Never starring Bill Nighy as a man who's son disappeared one night during a family game of Scrabble. "Nighy" and "Scrabble" were the two words which got my attention to make me look into this film. I thought the plot sounded interesting and took the aforementioned flyer. And I was more than pleased with the result! Scrabble actually takes a prominent role in the film and some of the discussions surrounding the game are quite clever and were really enjoyable for someone who enjoys language as much as I do.

I haven't seen very many Bill Nighy films...but his turn as aging rocker Billy Mack in Love Actually never fails to bewitch me. I find his tics, mannerisms and expressions laugh-out-loud funny and endearing. And he delivers the goods in this role. Jenny Agutter is featured in the film as well.

The film has a rather dark yet quirky atmosphere about it. There are bright uses of color and odd camera angles and unorthodox techniques in the photography. There are evem some sequences which might make one think Wes Anderson had a hand in the production. The writing and editing are on point, you don't ever really get the idea that there is any extraneous action taking place. It is a story about a family (the references to the story of the Prodigal Son are many throughout) but the story takes a rather nice turn at the end.

 

[DFurr]

Sunday afternoon matinee today......1954 Dial M for Murder.
35mm side by side polarized 3D using Dolby filters and glasses. Nice afternoon for watching movies.....81 degrees and 10% humidity!!

 

[bujaki]

Callas: Tosca 1964 (PBS) Documentary intercutting Callas's comeback performance as Tosca at the Royal Opera House (Act 2 was televised live), with talking heads analyzing her artistry as she performs.
Mon oncle Antoine (TCM app) 1971. Regarded by Canadians as one of their greatest films. It is a slow, contemplative story that unfolds during a few days before Christmas in a remote French-Canadian mining village exploited by the English. December 1945. It's cold. There's adolescence; small-town gossip; drunkenness; infidelity; death; humor; human foibles; a lot of things and nothing. Human existence.
Before Midnight (TCM app) 1933. Pre-Code who-done-it which allows for a denouement that wouldn't be allowed in future films. Ralph Bellamy stars in this first entry of the "Detective Trent" series. Betty Blythe is one of the suspects (she of "She," silent version). It's a rather lazy programmer, but it's an OK time filler. The print, however, is quite lacking in quality.

 

[bujaki]

The Man Who Came to Dinner (TCM app) 1942. I first watched this film in the late '50s. I relied on Spanish subtitles for the dialogue was too rapid and my English was too rudimentary to follow its subtleties, not too mention the topicalities which were completely lost on me. And yet...I laughed my head off. I can't remember the last time I watched this film; but watching it last night on an excellent transfer, I was able to recognize Noel Coward, Harpo Marx, identify many of the topical references (that comes from being well-read and old), and enjoy the wit in its original language. Not to mention the great performances! So yes, what I enjoyed as a child, I enjoyed much more as a senior.
My Dream Is Yours (HBO Max) 1949. Glorious transfer. Doris Day is sassy, sweet, cries beautifully, and I just wanted to slap her for being so stupid and not grabbing the good guy right away. But all's well that ends well, and Eve Arden is always an asset. And before I forget, Day sings in various styles and is so good! Curtiz was on a roll. No wonder Jack Warner liked him so much.
On Moonlight Bay (HBO Max) 1951. Doris Day and Gordon MacRae play sweethearts and do so winningly. You don't care that they are too old. You just care about them and about their parents and about Wesley. It's almost like Meet Me in St. Louis in terms of small-town Americana, a mythical world we wish had existed because it was so beautiful. The transfer does justice to the film.

 

[Matt Hough]

I watched the first episode of Miss Scarlet and the Duke on PBS tonight, a wonderful British mystery series set during the Victorian era. This first one sets up the setting and characters quite nicely, also introducing some antagonists that she's going to have to deal with in subsequent episodes.

 

[Dave Moritz]

January 17th, 2021 Friday

Designated Survivor
HD Digital upconverted to 4K
Dolby 5.1 upmixed to Auro 7.1

S1 / E08 "The Results"
S1 / E09 "The Blueprint"
S1 / E10 "The Oath"
S1 / E11 "Warriors"
S1 / E12 "The End of the Beginning"
S1 / E13 "Backfire"

NFL Saints vs Buccaneers
Divisional Playoffs

 

[Toronto Argonauts]

Tonight:

 

[Mike Frezon]

Via Disney+, Peg and I watched Disney's new live-action Mulan tonight.

Meh. Peg was totally disinterested. I was surprised It wasn't shut off a half-hour in. I thought it was going to be really bad. It wasn't great. But it wasn't awful. Peg would have been okay if it had been shut off.

 

[Jake Lipson]

But it wasn't awful.

I think you liked it more than I did.

I don't know why I feel like I need to watch these remakes all the time when the vast majority of them have only succeeded in pissing me off by making something that I love from my childhood way worse.

 

[Mike Frezon]

It's just...different.

It's basically the same story just told in a completely different way for a completely different audience.

So, those of us who enjoy the original animated musical can enjoy that while those who appreciate more of an adult action film (with hardly a drop of blood to be seen) have the new one.

Mulan is a great story which I imagine has been retold in many different ways over the centuries.

 

[DFurr]

The matinee yesterday was Dial M For Murder. So while the special lens are still in the projector and the masking is pulled in for 1:33 I've decided to screen House of Wax, 35mm side by side polarized 3D using Dolby 3D filters and glasses. Always fun to watch!!

 

[RICK BOND]

I got Universal Horror Collection vol. 5 yesterday from Amazon ! The Gorilla & Gorilla Girl films 1940-1945. I enjoyed them Very much. PQ is Very Nice.

 

[bujaki]

The Falcon's Brother (TCM app) 1942. Mark Robson edits and Russell Metty lights this entry (with some nice "noir" touches. Spies, Nazis, and the Falcon passes the baton to his brother while exiting heroically.
Tea for Two (HBO Max) 1950. Doris Day and Gordon MacRae warble alone and together. Gene Nelson dances and dances (as he did in Sondheim's Follies). Plenty of good tunes, dancing, comedy (the always reliable Eve Arden). And that young man Gordon could sure sing! So could Doris, who also dances!
A Tale of Two Cities (HBO Max) 1936. I had never seen this film on a screen, so this gorgeous presentation is the best I'll ever see, and I'm not complaining. It's spectacular! I love the story ever since I saw the Dirk Bogarde version in '58, which prompted me to read the novel in Spanish (later in English, that's how much I liked it). Colman should have been nominated for his great performance; I would have bumped off Tracy in his place. And Blanche Yurka should have also been nominated for her seething fury as Madame De Farge. The TV print I saw in the '70s really obscured the greatness of this film.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Gene Nelson did a little dancin' in Oklahoma, too!

I've got to see Tea for Two sometime.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Yellow Rose
Originally Released: 10/09/2020
Watched: 01/18/2021
1080P Blu-ray disc, upscaled to 4K via Panasonic DP-UB820

The two women to give Tony-nominated performances as Kim in Miss Saigon play aunt and niece in this musical drama about a very unconventional country music singer.

Rose Garcia (Eva Noblezada) is a Filipina teenager living at the motel where her mom (Princess Punzalan) works, in housekeeping during the day and at the front desk in the evenings. Her father passed away recently enough that the wound is still somewhat fresh.

Rose idolizes country music, and writes songs she's afraid to let anybody else hear. The boy at the local music store has a crush on her; at the start of summer vacation after her junior year of high school, he takes her to Austin to see Dale Watson (playing himself) perform at the Broken Spoke in Austin.

They get back just in time for Rose to see her mother taken away in handcuffs by ICE. Rose's parents brought her to America seven years earlier, and overstayed their visa. Rose's mother had missed multiple court dates, and her efforts to secure legal counsel only resulted in her falling victim to scams and fraud.

Suddenly Rose finds herself alone and undocumented, with only her guitar and the possessions she could stuff into a garbage bag. Her mother, having foreseen this possibility, has left her a backpack with some money and directions to her tía in Austin. But her aunt's husband is not amenable to taking in a teenage illegal immigrant.

Instead, Austin's country music scene takes her in. She washes dishes and sells merch at the Broken Spoke and finds encouragement for her songwriting.

Despite the kindnesses of many within her circle, she finds herself flailing; her mother was very strict and conservative raising her, so her world before ICE separated her was very small. For the first time, she has to figure out her own and decide for herself what to prioritize. In doing so, she finds her own voice and the courage to share it with others.

The songs performed by Dale Watson and Rose are all terrific.

Noblezada imbues Rose with a prickly quality that makes her feel more real; there are times when Rose lashes out at the people who have done the most for her, and Noblezada allows those moments to play out unapologetically. Rose is in way over her head, she's infuriated with the world for her predicament, and sometimes whoever is right in front of her takes the brunt of that.

Lea Salonga has less screen time than I expected as Rose's aunt, who has been estranged from Rose's mother for many years, but she makes the most of every moment she's on screen. Whereas Rose's parents came over together, Rose's aunt came over alone. She married an American, got legal status through him, and had a daughter who is a U.S. citizen. You really feel how torn her character is, between the pull toward the family she left behind and the life she has now.

Dale Watson's presence in the film grants Rose's journey a degree of credibility it wouldn't have otherwise had. He misjudges her the first time they meet, and never makes that mistake again for the rest of the film. He is patient and kind and encouraging, but not saintly. There are things he can help Rose with, and in those areas he is generous. There are things that he can't help Rose with, and in those areas he is frank.

This could have easily been a polemic on America's immigration policy, but the movie stays character-driven. The experience serves as a crucible for Rose, forcing her to shed everything that doesn't help her become the person she wants to be. Despite the bleak subject matter, the film is not bleak. By the time the credits roll, must about Rose's situation remains unsettled, but she is moving forward with what she's gained rather than focusing backward on what she's lost.