[I hate the new commercials between movies]

15 hours ago, Dargo said:

Gotta say, the ONLY things that I'M seein' on MY TV and that have ME reachin' for the ol' remote in order to hit that mute button are those damn "commercials" that I see on EVERY freakin' channel BUT TCM, and that "star" those functional morons who insult MY intelligence by rattling off HALF-TRUTHS and outright LIES and who primarily partake in MUD-SLINGING and HATE/FEAR MONGERING, and who are wantin' ME to vote for them as my U.S. Senator this comin' November!!!

(...so point here Technicolor ol' boy being: THANK your lucky stars that at least TCM DOESN'T show THOSE damn things!!!!!)

 

"YEAH, JOHNNY ROCCO FOR PRESIDENT, SEE!"

 

16 hours ago, Allhallowsday said:

They're not commercials.

Interstitials?

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1 hour ago, Hibi said:

I DO remember [the OJ Chase]

Oh yeah, it was waaaay better than WOLF. 
 

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1 hour ago, CinemaInternational said:

Wow. That was some crazy day; also secondly, it seems you saw the film Wolf on its opening day. It was released in theatres that very day (June 17). 

Yes, I was a hardcore MICHELLE PFEIFFER STAN, had been since BATMAN RETURNS. 
 

I made it a point to be there for her on opening day.

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KATE NELLIGANS part is even worse though, and it’s a shame because she’s a very good actress.

(spoiler) She doesn’t even get a death scene, it’s just mentioned that she’s been killed a third of the way and through the movie and they plow on. The role feels like it was cut down.

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1 minute ago, CinemaInternational said:

The role was reportedly even worse and even thinner before Elaine May's rewrite. Sharon Stone turned down the film cold.

OH WOW IT REALLY MUSTVE BEEN BAD FOR SHARON TO SAY “No” outright!!!!

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(Honest to God, Mimi Rogers really said that, in “premiere” or some magazine.)

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(Paraphrased from memory)

” Why the **** did Michelle Pfeiffer take that role in WOLF?  It’s a horrible part. There’s nothing to it. It’s the kind of role *I’d* play.”

- MIMI ROGERS

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I will never forget going to see Wolf in the summer of 1994, the movie wasn’t so great but when my friend and I got home the O.J. Simpson Freeway chase has just started on television.

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1 hour ago, mkahn22 said:

Does anyone know, did TCM stop doing those montages of movies playing for the month set to one song. I don't think I saw one for January (but could be wrong).?

This was one of my favorite: 

 

since so many of us no longer watch TCM conventionally (ie live and on cable), I think they have gotten away from producing those in-between commercials and mini-docs and monthly promos...it's a shame and I kinda miss themj, but at the same time, I'm cool with TCM ON DEMAND and having , more or less, access to everything they've played this week whenever I want it.

 

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i just remembered...one more thing in re: THE DAMNED (1969)....

The film's most engaging performance- by far- is given by REINHARD KOLLDEHOFF as a warmongering abrasive, crass Uncle and member of the SA...HONESTLY, it was like watching  GEORGE C. SCOTT'S GERMAN DOPPELGANGER, and it is (as you can imagine) HIGHLY AMUSING.

"Genau wie das Braten von Hühnern auf einem Bauernhof!"

 

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36 minutes ago, Hibi said:

I've wanted to see [THE DAMNED] for so long. TCM had scheduled it at LEAST once and pulled it!

I kinda understand why.

Not for the Nazis or the gay stuff or the Nazi gay stuff or even the incest, but for one VERY DISTURBING SCENE where the protagonist of the film (an amoral German Baronet in his twenties) caresses an 11(ish) year old girl (and it leads to an offscreen rape). it's a running theme through the first part of the film that this character is a child molester, but it's mostly handled OFFSCREEN in a way that is actually quite effective...except for this one scene, which almost caused ME to turn off the film (and I've seen some crazy stuff.)

honestly, I think it was a mistake of VISCONTI to include it. (even though it's not badly filmed and both the actors are honestly really good, sick as that may be to say.)

I've been thinking about THE DAMNED since I saw it, because it is interesting and deserves to be seen, but on a personal level, I would actually make the controversial choice of COMPLETELY REMOVING the five minute scene that takes things "too far" which, I know is SACRILEDGE to cineastes AND ARTISTS. but...really, it doesn't need to be there AND IT MOST DEFINITELY DOES NOT HELP THE FILM.

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2 minutes ago, CinemaInternational said:

His statement that The Incredibles was his first film in the theater even made me feel old, even though I'm really not much older though than him, maybe about 6 years or so. I just feel like I have a prematurely mature soul; my tastes and preferences in movies, books, TV shows, and music are closer to a baby boomer than someone my own age (millenial generation)

maybe he just grew up like NELL in the wilderness for the first 20 or so years of his life and saw THE INCREDIBLES his first week of freedom?

Guess we'll have to wait to find out....

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3 minutes ago, mkahn22 said:

You are right, there are some good prints on YouTube, but it's also all over the map on YouTube and that's understandable with its model. TCM, which is a pay/premium channel that does, basically, one thing,  shows old movies, should have, at minimum, good prints when they are available. 

a lot of times it has to do with DIGITIZED VERSIONS of films, everything is broadcast digitally now, so old films have to be converted to digital format to play and maybe some of the copies they get to digitize are not the best copies/prints/etc

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1 hour ago, SansFin said:

The idea has recently been put forth that a serial killer could openly present all of the grizzly details of their crimes and yet never be caught if they simply put the confessions in the blog portion above recipes. 

"Thanks for coming here for the recipe for my THREE RIBBON SALAD, a wonderful buffet dish or holiday item- I make it every Christmas and Cinco De Mayo for my husband's family. This is an easy-peasy sure to please-e recipe-se with just three ingredients and three simple steps, which I'll get into in a minute, but first, have I ever told you about the time I stabbed a homeless vagrant outside of Akron, Ohio just to watch him die?..."

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1 hour ago, mkahn22 said:

 I understand when there's a poor copy of something on Tubi or YouTube, but TCM makes less sense to me. 

TO BE FAIR, I'VE SEEN some pretty good prints on youtube tho.

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here we go, ALL APOLOGIES TO THE MODERATORS IF THIS OFFENDS ANY COPYRIGHT GODS OR YOUTUBE:

 

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3 minutes ago, speedracer5 said:

I can just imagine a child letting a stranger into the house and then the two of them have a glorious afternoon cooking together.  The stranger teaches the child how to whip up a cheese soufflé and a scratch tomato soup or something.  Then the child and stranger break bread together and happily part ways.   

you nailed it. i can tell you've seen one of these vids. they all come from SOUTH KOREA and the voices sound uncanny and computer generated.

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On 1/29/2022 at 7:04 AM, LornaHansonForbes said:

This may just be me being salty this morning, and I’m not even going to name specific examples, but I just have to note out loud in public somewhere that (as a fan of documentaries) I have had to quit watching more than a few recent efforts because they were framed as:

“So this is a film about “XYZ.”… But really, I wanna talk about ME and who I am and what XYZ means to ME and this film is going to be about how *I* perceive XYZ what it means to MY LIFE and, namely, ME.  With interviews with my parents my friends and everyone important in my life to talk about how the subject affected ME…. Even though I’m a middle-aged white guy  and this is ostensibly supposed to be a documentary about the struggles of Allen Iverson.”

 

now let’s play the theme: “🎶me me me me me me MEEEEEEE🎶“

i fired off this post at 7:00 am using my phone and being in a surly mood already.

i don't know why i didn't come out and say that i had just tried to watch an ESPN DOCUMENTARY (I don't care about sports, but I LOVE a SPORTS SCANDAL) about ALLAN IVERSON (aka the NBA guy who choked his coach at practice.) And the DOCUMENTARY was done by one of the HOOP DREAMS guys...and for MAYBE 4 minutes, the guy talked about ALLEN IVERSON and how he grew up in a house with 14 people and he never got his fair share of anything...AND THEN THE NARRATOR PROCEEDS TO GO AT LENGTH ABOUT HIS (meaning THE NARRATOR;S and not IVERSON'S) FATHER AND WHAT A SPORTS NUT HE WAS AND OH, HE OWNED A FURNITURE STORE,  AND THEN HE SHOWS HOME MOVIES OF HIS HOME (MEANING THE NARRATOR'S) AND THEN HE  INTERVIEW HIS (OWN) MOTHER ABOUT HIS FATHER- 25 MINUTES AND NOTHING ABOUT ALLEN IVERSON OR CHOKING THE COACH.

Just the GALL of these people.

i remember CLINT EASTWOOD did a DOC that aired on TCM  a long time ago that was ostensibly about JOHNNY MERCER but was, in fact, ALL ABOUT CLINT EASTWOOD AND CLINT EASTWOOD'S INTERPRETATIONS OF MERCER...

as a SOUTHERNER, i was offended.

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3 minutes ago, speedracer5 said:

I had to look up "solipsistic" too.  I had no idea what it meant.  After reading the definition, I couldn't agree with you more.

Everyone thinks their experience or opinion matters.  Look at recipes online where you have to scroll past dozens of paragraphs of nonsense until you get to the actual recipe.  I don't care about your life, your house, your family, what you were doing when you came up with the recipe, how you feel when you're eating the recipe, how others feel when they're eating the recipe, your nostalgia thinking about the recipe... blah blah blah.  Just tell me how to make the soup!   I will abandon looking for the recipe if I get too annoyed by the writer's meandering prose. 

ANNE REARDON is an AUSTRALIAN LADy with a youtube channel called HOW TO COOK THAT and it's fascinating- and she did an episode where she looked into some of the ABSOLUTELY INSANE and lengthy NARRATION THAT PLAYS OVER SOME OF THESE RECIPE VIDEOS- stories where children talk about letting strangers into houses, people apprehending criminals etc.

sorry,. total aside here, but check out her debunking vids on youttube, she's one of the few really good cooking channels

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Hoo boy.

For a while now, I have wanted to see LUCHINO VISCONTI'S 1969 film THE DAMNED [**and BOY are they EVER!]

I even tried to rent it on amazon this Christmas and it was sadly unavailable...

so imagine my thrill when it turned up under a rock somewhere...

Holy **** though, this movie is A LOT- but if I had to pare it down I'd say it's like watching a hybrid version of HAMLET and MACBETH and DYNASTY with CROSS-DRESSING NAZIS directed by DOUGLAS SIRK.

I liked it, and yet I HAVE TO SAY, THERE IS CHILD ABUSE DEPICTED IN THIS FILM AND- AS SUCH- IT'S NOT ONE FOR EVERYBODY AND I CAME REALDAMNCLOSE TO TURNING IT OFF IN ONE SCENE, even though it wasn't explicit and both actors were honestly really good.

There are extended parts of this film in GERMAN with NO SUBTITLES, so I can't really say I fully understand the 30 minute long EXTENDED NAZI KIKI SESSION BY THE LAKE  that ends in the BEER HALL PUTSCH, but- um- it was engrossing.

(Sorry, my spelling is all wrong I am sure.)

DIRK BOGARDE is in this (!) and he is very good, more ELECTRIC than I have ever found him before, man, he really was one of the BRAVEST actors of the late 60s/early 70s wasn't he?

the INTERIORS and COSTUMES (and JEWELS!!!!!) are great- lots of MARCEL WAVES and PLUCKED BROWS and THE WOMEN WEAR THEIR DIAMONDS TO BED!!!!!!!!

this film is DECADENT TRASH, but it's totally okay with that, and BY THE END, God Help Me, so was I.

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5 hours ago, mkahn22 said:

On TCM (east coast) right now is "Grand Hotel." The print is of a pretty poor quality for TCM as much of the background feels shadowy or dark and nothing is really crisp. I believe I've seen crisp, clean versions of "Grand Hotel"  in the past on TCM, but as opposed to others here, I don't keep digital copies, so I can't compare. Thus, this is just from memory. Has anyone else noticed this about "Grand Hotel" on TCM"

there have been quite a few instances in recent years where TCM ran bad prints of something even though a better print exists- WHITE ZOMBIE recently and not long ago FRENCHMAN'S CREEK and THE WALLS OF MALAPAGA were both shown in versions so poor I couldn't finish them.

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8 hours ago, BagelOnAPlateOfOnionRolls said:

The Incredibles was the first movie I saw in a theater so Jack-Jack Attack is an special favorite of mine.  

OH MY GOD, are you THAT YOUNG?!

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2 hours ago, midwestan said:

Thank you for getting me to go to onelook.com to learn a new word!

I watched 'Andrei Rublev' Friday night.  I did doze off a couple of times during the broadcast, but I stuck with it.  This has been shown on TCM before, but I had never seen it in its entirety (excluding the 15 minutes or so when I nodded off).  I don't know what it is about Russian cinema or feature films about Russia, but most of them seem to be very long, detailed, and drawn out affairs.  Movies like this one, "The Battleship Potemkin", "Reds", and "Doctor Zhivago" seem to spare no expense in telling their particular stories, since brevity and succinctness come in short supply!  Of course, if you live in a cold-weather climate as I do, television can be a great time-waster on nights that are sub-freezing.   In this instance, watching a Russian-made effort at the end of January on a bone-chilling night was sort of worth it and certainly appropriate to the season.  As usual too, in a long movie such as this (about 3 hours), there are thousands of extras in various scenes, and it never ceases to surprise me as to how a director can get so many men and women to perform in a unison that is believable, and sometimes, unforgettable as a story unfolds.

One thing that caught my eye was how 'Andrei Rublev' sort of mirrored the movie 'The Moon and Sixpence', in that, it was shot in black and white (and very well, I might add), but the end of the film showcased the Orthodox priest's church artwork and was shot in color.  Overall, I liked this movie, in spite of its breadth that covered a good chunk of the early 1400's and showcased the cruelty of nobles and marauding bands of horsemen who terrorized the simple Russian countryside folk.  I'd give this one a 7 out of 10 rating.

thanks! it's really overdue to be WEBSTER'S WORD OF THE YEAR.

I also will watch just about anything about RUSSIAN HISTORY- it always puts my life into perspective (ie it coulD ALWAYS be WORSE.).

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We truly have become the most solipsistic society in history.

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This may just be me being salty this morning, and I’m not even going to name specific examples, but I just have to note out loud in public somewhere that (as a fan of documentaries) I have had to quit watching more than a few recent efforts because they were framed as:

“So this is a film about “XYZ.”… But really, I wanna talk about ME and who I am and what XYZ means to ME and this film is going to be about how *I* perceive XYZ what it means to MY LIFE and, namely, ME.  With interviews with my parents my friends and everyone important in my life to talk about how the subject affected ME…. Even though I’m a middle-aged white guy  and this is ostensibly supposed to be a documentary about the struggles of Allen Iverson.”

 

now let’s play the theme: “🎶me me me me me me MEEEEEEE🎶“