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I watched American Gangster and Michael Clayton the other night. Gangster was really entertaining. Clayton lost me in a few places and was a bit.. eccentric, but I liked it, too.

JL21 wrote:

G. Keenan wrote:

Richie Allen wrote:

JL21 wrote:I'm probably going to make a bunch of people angry, but...

-Carrie
I caught Carrie earlier this week. And I hated it. Couldn't stand it. I just don't like Brian DePalma, and I've tried.

++
Agree on both counts.

Ah, but the opening scene is outstanding.

If by "outstanding", you mean "disgustingly full of menstrual blood in a way that made me want to puke", then yes... you're spot-on.

Richie, mostly I'm just sick of watching DePalma rip off Hitchcock. It's obnoxious.

Oh yeah, forgot about that part. I was just thinking about the boobs.

G. Keenan wrote:Oh yeah, forgot about that part. I was just thinking about the boobs.

Boobs.... and late 70's, very unkempt full frontals all over the place. That part was muy bueno.

omaha_red wrote:

Richie Allen wrote:Just watched Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes. hadn't seen it since I was a teenager and I liked it a lot more than I did back then. Not quite the nail-biter that some of Hitch's films are but great dialog and really great to look at. ****1/2

i'm currently trying to do all 53 of hitchcock's movies..
i'm at 48 right now.. the last few are pretty hard to find..

By last, do you mean last on your list? I assume you're not talking about his last films but, more likely, some of his early films? Let us know, at some point, what your favorites were. I think I've seen just about all of his American films, with the exception of The Wrong Man and I Confess, and a good number of his British films. Not sure what the count would be. I'd probably guess 35 to 40.

Wow, I've only seen like 10 Hitchcocks. You [expletive] are way ahead of me.

Anyway, today I watched a 1951 noir called His Kind of Woman, with Robert Mitchum (awesome), Jane Russell ( ), and Vincent Price, who was absolutely hilarious in an incredibly campy role. It's got a great balance of comedy, adventure and noir. Great performances, great photography, great plot, and laugh-out-loud humor from Price. I can't imagine anybody not finding something to like here. Worst comes to worst, Jane Russell looks [expletive] smoking. I almost wanted to pause and go have a cigarette every time she showed up in a dress. Even at 2 hours, which is long-ish for a noir, it never felt slow or overlong.

The Third Man wrote:Wow, I've only seen like 10 Hitchcocks. You [expletive] are way ahead of me.

Anyway, today I watched a 1951 noir called His Kind of Woman, with Robert Mitchum (awesome), Jane Russell ( ), and Vincent Price, who was absolutely hilarious in an incredibly campy role. It's got a great balance of comedy, adventure and noir. Great performances, great photography, great plot, and laugh-out-loud humor from Price. I can't imagine anybody not finding something to like here. Worst comes to worst, Jane Russell looks [expletive] smoking. I almost wanted to pause and go have a cigarette every time she showed up in a dress. Even at 2 hours, which is long-ish for a noir, it never felt slow or overlong.

I've got that recorded but haven't watched it yet. I have the feeling I'll like it, as Mitchum is one of my favorites.

I've caught four from the Val Lewton collection recently:

-Cat People
-Curse of the Cat People
-Ghost Ship
-Leopard Man

The wild thing is... as crappy as they sound, they're actually well-made flicks. In fact, Hitchcock borrowed stylistically from Cat People (no lie). Lewton wrote the screenplays for, and produced, those flicks. I guess he wanted to make serious movies but studios kept assigning him to make these wacky 40's horror films. They gave him chicken poop and he still tried to make chicken salad out of it. They're not great movies but they're better than you'd expect.

Also lately:

-Night of the Living Dead
Not as good as the sequel- Dawn of the Dead- but still a fun, easy film to watch.

-Jimmy Carter: Man from Plains
A documentary where Jonathan Demme follows Jimmy Carter around on his 2006/early 2007 book tour for "Palestine: Peace, not Apartheid". Demme does a good job of remaining balanced while still allowing Carter's humanitarianism to shine through.

-The Blob
The first, or one of the first, roles for Steve McQueen. I can see why it's a cult classic. It was really simple pure fun. Horror from an age where the thing that went bump in the night for most people were the Soviets, and space travel.

I watched Before the Devil Knows You're Dead yesterday.

Those who have seen it realize the implications of that statement and how my worldview of what it means to look at a 43 year old woman naked has changed dramatically.

thrill wrote:I watched Before the Devil Knows You're Dead yesterday.

Those who have seen it realize the implications of that statement and how my worldview of what it means to look at a 43 year old woman naked has changed dramatically.

this movie makes me happy

The Man in the White Suit - watched because of recommendations here - good stuff.

I've had Chinatown from the library for a week, but haven't gotten to it.

Omaha - I've seen the normal dozen Hitchcock's - which ones would you recommend that aren't as well known?