drama – Page 23 – Yesterday's Movies

The Desert Fox

April 3, 2014temporalparadoxLeave a comment

Before watching the movie:

Every story has at least two sides. Erwin Rommel fought on the side of the Nazis, and was a major opponent in Patton, but was himself a distinguished military leader with an interesting story to tell. Though how much of it is accurately told here is debatable, as for obvious reasons this movie apparently focuses less on killing Allied soldiers and more on a plot to assassinate Hitler that Rommel may not have actually been involved with. Even less than a decade after the end of the war, that’s as close as the rest of the world wants to come to celebrating a Nazi officer, which they wouldn’t even dream of doing today.

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Dial M for Murder

March 7, 2014March 7, 2014temporalparadoxLeave a comment

Before watching the movie:

I’ve had this physically on my shelf (or thereabouts) for over a year, and it’s high time I got to it. A classic, obviously. The evocative title is frequently referenced and parodied. But what is it? Nobody seems to go into that. There’s a telephone, and a murder, and that’s about it. The box says there’s a love triangle, and a murder arranged by telephone, but it’s still pretty vague. I expect somebody overheard on a party line, but otherwise, I’ve got nothing.

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Niagara

January 31, 2014temporalparadoxLeave a comment

Before watching the movie:

According to the box, this is a departure for Marylin Monroe. As opposed to her typical lighter fare, here she’s taking a dark turn as a woman plotting to kill her husband. While I think the term is never used on the cover, this sounds like a noir in the style of Double Indemnity.

I’m looking forward to seeing her playing a femme fatale. It seems to suit her more than the giggling, often airheaded bimbo she always plays in her comedies. I know she knew how to control a room with her sexuality, she even built a career on it. I always watch her other movies waiting for her to drop the act and get exactly what she wants because she knows people will give it to her, and that looks like what happens here. Or at least, she tries.

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Somewhere In Time

January 16, 2014January 17, 2014temporalparadoxLeave a comment

Before watching the movie:

It occurs to me that “Time travel romance” is rather an oddball genre. I can think of two or three other examples (Assuming The Lake House counts), but it still seems more common than it ought to be, though less than it could be.

This movie somehow reminds me of Time After Time, even though the premise is almost entirely opposite. This is a modern person going back in time for love, the other is about a Victorian coming to the present and finding love accidentally.

Oddly, my conception of Christopher Reeve’s acting style is less from Superman and more from Noises Off! There may be more Superman, but I’ve seen Noises Off! more frequently.

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Apocalypse Now

January 3, 2014temporalparadoxLeave a comment

Before watching the movie:

Here’s one I’ve been putting off for a while. I almost went with it once, but then wasn’t available to me anymore, and only recently came back. I feel like my selections have been getting monotonous again, so I decided that since this was newly available, I’d get it out of the way.

I’ve been reluctant because I expect an extremely dark, probably graphically violent story. It’s a Vietnam War movie based on a book about colonial Africa. Hardly anything concrete I’ve seen come out of it necessarily backs that up, but since it’s about tracking down a guy who’s gone crazy and set himself up as a warlord, and is rated R, it seems very likely that this is the sort of movie I’ll be gladder to have watched than to watch.

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Creator

December 5, 2013December 6, 2013temporalparadoxLeave a comment

Before watching the movie:

I think I remember seeing this in a collection of tapes held at a sports memorabilia store. I don’t remember why they were there, but since they were in the open, they were probably for sale or rent rather than for the workers’ entertainment during slow hours. I think it was right next to (or very near to) a Bride of Frankenstein remake, so that influenced my understanding of the plot. Anyway, it looked like an interesting movie I was too young for at the time, and that and other reasons meant that I left it.

I feel I really ought to have seen Peter O’Toole before, but I can’t recall anything, so I don’t really have a feel for him besides his reputation as a Great, which doesn’t tell me much specifically.

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The Andromeda Strain

November 22, 2013temporalparadoxLeave a comment

Before watching the movie:

My first thought, from the description about an extraterrestrial disease threatening to become an epidemic, was that this film would be rather like Outbreak, but with sci-fi elements. Then I read a little further and found out it’s mostly in a top secret containment facility. So it’s more like… other things that aren’t coming to mind right now. I also have a sneaking suspicion it’s rather like the Michael Crichton book of the same name.

Robert Wise has a terrific reputation as a director, so I expect this will be well put together.

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House on Haunted Hill

October 24, 2013October 24, 2013temporalparadoxLeave a comment

Before watching the movie:

What’s more Halloween than a haunted house? A haunted house owned by Vincent Price. Well, it’s probably not so much haunted as the scene of seven deaths and soon more, but “haunted” is in the name. Suspense, horror, death, probably jump scares, but I doubt much gore.

I hadn’t known the more recent movie of the name was a remake until I came across this in the collection of classic movies loaned to me by my grandparents. I haven’t seen the remake either.

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Murder by Decree

September 12, 2013September 13, 2013temporalparadoxLeave a comment

Before watching the movie:

Our culture will probably never get tired of telling stories about Sherlock Holmes. I wasn’t sure if this was an adaptation or an original story until I remembered it was about the Jack the Ripper case, but I’m just looking forward to seeing Christopher Plummer try the role. He’s always interesting to watch, but I don’t think he’s the best at disappearing into a role. Particularly for a larger than life character like Holmes, I expect some scenery chewing.

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Good Will Hunting

August 29, 2013August 30, 2013temporalparadoxLeave a comment

Before watching the movie:

This movie is one I’ve been only vaguely aware of. I don’t know much more about the plot than “brilliant janitor”, and until I saw it categorized, I wasn’t fully sure it was a drama (I was just going by the rule I think was proposed by Family Guy: if Robin Williams is wearing a beard, he thinks it’s a serious role.

This has been sitting around my digital shelf for a while, but its pending expiration has pushed me to go ahead with it. Also it’s been on sale where I work for weeks, whispering to me.

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