What Are You Watching Now?

[Cathy or Kenton]

Cubs beating the Pirates top of the third.

[jamesjazzguitar]

Cubs beating the Pirates top of the third.

 

This could be the Cubs year.    I'm hoping the Cubs and Dodgers face each other for the NL pennant  (but pulling for Dodgers).

 

Also,  did you see the NL all-star non-pitcher roster?    Five Cubs (out of 8).   That is very impressive.    

[Cathy or Kenton]

Yeah, but I jinxed the lead. Now it's Pirates 12 to 6, but we digress....

 

Return to topic

[LawrenceA]

Tales from the Crypt Season One - HBO horror anthology.

 

[TopBilled]

I'm watching SO THIS IS NEW YORK on Amazon Prime...some great performers, and I guess I would call it an experimental comedy (not sure how else to describe it)...probably needs a second viewing to fully appreciate it.

[LawrenceA]

21 Jump Street season four - These high school narcs are getting a bit old.

 

[laffite]

Middlemarch, a "stuffy" costume drama by the BBC (1994), very good though, and it helps to love this stuff in the first place. Great cast as all BBC productions seem to have, they never fail. Interesting characters, Mr Causabon is such an interesting failure. Dorthea seems a failure too but in a much more subtle way. The person of Mary Garth is supposed to be plain and they do a pretty good job with that (better than Hollywood) but there is always that subtle appeal that gets out. I like her immensely. Peter Firth is interesting as her suitor.  And Rufus Sewell is wonderfully cast in the film and does pretty good for what he is given.

 

(Gosh, if I were a woman I would be astir over Rufus Sewell. His good looks are not of our own time and the costumes add to that of course but he resembles a Hamlet or a Werther, brilliant young heroes and with the looks to match. He doesn't rise to quite that level in the current drama, character wise, but he's a pretty pleasant guy to look at, from a woman's point of view, I should think.)

 

==

[speedracer5]

Tales from the Crypt Season One - HBO horror anthology.

 

 

 

OMG I hated that show when I was little.  It just grossed me out.  I'm sure that was the point, but eww.  I hated it.  Though I do not like most horror things, so that's probably why I had such an aversion to this show.  I remember it used to come on late at night on I swear network television at some point.  I'm trying to remember what show it came on after.  I think it was on FOX and it may have come on after MAD TV or America's Most Wanted or Married With Children or something that I watched.  Granted, I think I was like 10-11 when this show was on, but I remember the beginning with the crypt keeper coming out of the coffin with a scary cackle.  I would flip it to Nick-at-Nite's "Whole Lotta Lucy" marathon in a hurry. Lol!

[kingrat]

For some reason I re-watched Splendor in the Grass on TCM this afternoon. I was surprised to see how little screen time Zohra Lampert actually has. She makes a big impression in the small amount of time she has. On the other hand, I'd forgotten that Barbara Loden has a real subplot as Warren Beatty's rebellious sister. It's great to see Beatty as a hungry young actor before he became a narcissistic movie star.

 

Two interesting points that Kazan makes in his memoirs: He noted that William Inge's plays or scripts don't necessarily seem like that much when read, but they are much better when acted. That's very much the case here. Kazan also said that although Splendor wasn't his favorite film, he thought it had the best final two reels of any of his films. The bittersweet ending does seem to be perfect.

 

Oh, a third point: some French critics really liked Splendor in the Grass. Bourgeois repression and prudery could be found in the French provinces just as in Kansas.

 

 

[speedracer5]

For some reason I re-watched Splendor in the Grass on TCM this afternoon. I was surprised to see how little screen time Zohra Lampert actually has. She makes a big impression in the small amount of time she has. On the other hand, I'd forgotten that Barbara Loden has a real subplot as Warren Beatty's rebellious sister. It's great to see Beatty as a hungry young actor before he became a narcissistic movie star.

 

Two interesting points that Kazan makes in his memoirs: He noted that William Inge's plays or scripts don't necessarily seem like that much when read, but they are much better when acted. That's very much the case here. Kazan also said that although Splendor wasn't his favorite film, he thought it had the best final two reels of any of his films. The bittersweet ending does seem to be perfect.

 

Oh, a third point: some French critics really liked Splendor in the Grass. Bourgeois repression and prudery could be found in the French provinces just as in Kansas.

 

I love Splendor in the Grass.  It's a sweet love story between Wood and Beatty while also being a statement on the sexual attitudes of 1920s Kansas, while ultimately, also being a statement on the changing sexual attitudes of contemporary early 1960s America.  Beatty's sister is a 180 from Wood's repressed character and is basically every mother's nightmare.  I thought Wood did a fantastic job in this film and deserved her Oscar nomination.

 

The ending of the film is especially bittersweet.  Wood returns to her hometown, only to see that her former love has moved on without her and found happiness--which ultimately is probably the best thing that can happen for her.

[Kid Dabb]

A YouTube tutorial on how to use a new Digital Audio Workstation

[TopBilled]

Last night I watched THE HIGGINS FAMILY, a rare Republic picture from 1938. I was probably the only person on the planet watching it, since it's a very hard-to-find title and I don't think it even aired on the old AMC. Republic did a total of nine Higgins comedies, and seven of them starred the Gleasons (James, wife Lucile and son Russell).

[Kid Dabb]

From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)

 

Wow!

[Cathy or Kenton]

Waiting for Big Papi in the MLB All Str Game

[LawrenceA]

Time to start a new year, and a new decade. 1990 gets underway with:

 

Alienator - Cheesy SF from schlock-meister Fred Olen Ray. Ross Hagen is a fugitive alien rebel who crashes on Earth and is helped by a group of travelers, as well as local game warden John Philip Law. Soon a lasergun-brandishing bounty hunter played by female bodybuilder Teagan Clive shows up to capture Hagen. Much running and shooting commence. Also with Jan-Michael Vincent, Robert Quarry, PJ Soles, Robert Clarke and Leo Gordon.

 

[LawrenceA]

Bloodfist 2: More kick-boxing heroics with Don "The Dragon" Wilson.

 

[LawrenceA]

Buried Alive - Horror thriller ostensibly based on Poe. Karen Witter stars, with Robert Vaughn, Donald Pleasence, Nia Long, Arnold Vosloo, and John Carradine in his final role.

 

[LawrenceA]

By Dawn's Early Light - HBO movie is a Cold War nuclear thriller starring Powers Boothe, Rebecca De Mornay, James Earl Jones, Martin Landau, Jeffrey DeMunn, Darren McGavin, Peter MacNicol, and Rip Torn as Colonel Fargo.

 

[TopBilled]

I'm watching THE RAGE OF PARIS on Amazon Prime. I will be posting my review of it on the Essentials sub-forum tomorrow.

[LawrenceA]

Captain America - Not the good one. This one stars Matt Salinger as the shield-slinging super-patriot. Also with Ronny Cox, Ned Beatty, Darren McGavin, Michael Nouri, Melinda Dillon, Billy Mumy, and Scott Paulin as Red Skull.

 

[LawrenceA]

Close-Up - Iranian film from Abbas Kiarostami. Time to see if he deserved his rep.

 

[NickAndNora34]

Bob the Builder, since I am currently babysitting. I don't know how much more of this show I can take lol

[DJBeacon]

Captain America - Not the good one. This one stars Matt Salinger as the shield-slinging super-patriot. Also with Ronny Cox, Ned Beatty, Darren McGavin, Michael Nouri, Melinda Dillon, Billy Mumy, and Scott Paulin as Red Skull.

 

 

Lawrence,

I don't remember this one.

I seem to remember a version from 10-15 years ago with a hot blonde daughter of Schmidt / Red Skull = maybe it was a made-for-TV movie.

[Tisher Price]

Had I not seen the trailer for this movie on an old VHS movie tape, I never ever would have known this picture existed. What I watched was a very under rated, rare gem, called Pretty Poison starring, and I was surprised--Anthony Perkins 8 years after making his breakthrough role in Psycho and a woman who's name I've always heard about but never seen in my life. That would be Tuesday Weld. If I was a young teenager living in late 1960s, Tuesdays pics would be plastered all over my walls. So I finally meet Ms Weld (I believe she was married to Dudley Moore at the time). Pretty Poison (1968) I thought was a great movie, left me on the edge of my seat. Firstly it was a pleasure to see Tony Perkins in colour, looking even thinner than he did in Psycho. I no idea Perkins was doing movies in the late 1960s. It's about a guy (Perkins) was "institutionalized" for being an arsonist and an accidental murder he did when he was a young teenager. He is released one day, by his case worker, warning him not to get caught up in fantasy, etc things his overactive imagination would cause him to do, which seems to have gotten him in trouble in the past. I wasn't to crazy about seeing Perkins play "another head case," like Norman Bates but Perkins did a wonderful performance as Dennis Pitt. Pitt (Perkins) was release out into the world, being warned that it was not easy to survive in todays world. Perkins wanted to start a new life, but lo and behold he meets Sue Ann Stepanak (Weld). It seems like the more dangerous and mysterious he became to Weld, the more she wanted to be with him and they both fall in love after Perkins fools Weld that he's with the CIA trying to uncover corruption that didn't even exist where he works. Weld's character is a cheerleader, high school student Perkins finds solace and love. Little does he know that the real sociopath was the innocent Weld, leaving criminal Perkins green around the gills. There is an amazing plot twist at the end, that pivots so fast, I was left asking "What was THAT??? What just happened here?" I won't spoil the ending or any other important details but this movie is definitely great, and I recommend it if you love psychological thrillers. This will give you whiplash! 

[LawrenceA]

Lawrence,

I don't remember this one.

I seem to remember a version from 10-15 years ago with a hot blonde daughter of Schmidt / Red Skull = maybe it was a made-for-TV movie.

 

You're probably thinking of this one, as I don't believe there's another version other than the late 70's TV movies and the serial, and the new ones, of course.

 

This one featured the Cap-frozen-in-ice time jump from WW2 to modern times, and Red Skull (who was Italian in this version) had become an Illuminati-like behind-the-scenes power-broker, responsible for the deaths of JFK, RFK and MLK. As he aged, his appearance became slightly more normal, and his chief henchwoman was his daughter.

 

 

It was all very silly and poorly done.