Films you've seen lately

[LMcD]

I've just watched 'A Night To Remember' - hard to believe that it was released 60 years ago - it still packs quite a punch. The Talking Pictures people prefaced the film with a brief tribute to Dudley Sutton who appeared - uncredited - as a look-out.

[Dave2002]

Started to watch Anon - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anon_(film) from Now TV/Sky. Only gets 2 stars on a few films sites,
but I stuck with it to the end. Some interesting ideas about reality and perception. I might give it 0 stars - but on the other hand if watched to the end it could be rated higher - perhaps 3 or 4 for the ideas it might present to the viewer.

Philosophy - are we all just computer simulations?

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/are-we-living-in-a-computer-simulation/

[gurnemanz]

We greatly enjoyed Harry Dean Stanton' in "Lucky", a testy 90+ year old who luckily and unexpectedly has outlived his contemporaries. In a way a follow-up to the classic Paris, Texas. Hard to find but still around.

[Richard Tarleton]

Re-watched after a great many years - "The Long Good Friday", stonkingly good 1979 London gangster movie starring Bob Hoskins trying to get into semi-legit property deals with New York businessmen, with help from corrupt council officials and bent Met coppers, but whose world unravels at blistering speed as IRA gangsters who have been crossed (unbeknownst to him) by members of his team take their deadly revenge. Helen Mirren as his bit of posh who was at school with Princess Anne , this was Derek "Casualty" Thompson's big break . Bob Hoskins - what an actor, he eats the screen. Warning, contains scenes some viewers may find disturbing .

[Constantbee]

Started to watch Anon - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anon_(film) from Now TV/Sky. Only gets 2 stars on a few films sites,
but I stuck with it to the end. Some interesting ideas about reality and perception. I might give it 0 stars - but on the other hand if watched to the end it could be rated higher - perhaps 3 or 4 for the ideas it might present to the viewer.

Philosophy - are we all just computer simulations?

https://www.scientificamerican.com/a...er-simulation/

Thanks for this, Dave I don't take much notice of star ratings on movie reviews any more. The opening argument in the Sci Am article sounds a bit like a modern version of Berkeley’s extreme idealism: physical objects, including ourselves, do not exist independently of the mind that perceives them. In the former case the perceiver resides in the future, that's all. Nice idea for a sci fi movie.

[Serial_Apologist]

I've just watched 'A Night To Remember' - hard to believe that it was released 60 years ago - it still packs quite a punch. The Talking Pictures people prefaced the film with a brief tribute to Dudley Sutton who appeared - uncredited - as a look-out.

I've just noticed that "The Running Man" (1963) starring Lee Remick and the ever-oleagenous Laurence Harvey, is showing on Talking Pictures TV at 6.35 pm, this coming Saturday (6 October). 4-star rated in RT.

[Serial_Apologist]

Thanks for this, Dave I don't take much notice of star ratings on movie reviews any more. The opening argument in the Sci Am article sounds a bit like a modern version of Berkeley’s extreme idealism: physical objects, including ourselves, do not exist independently of the mind that perceives them. In the former case the perceiver resides in the future, that's all. Nice idea for a sci fi movie.

"THE STONE MIND

Hogen, a Chinese Zen teacher, lived alone in a small temple in the country. One day four travelling monks appeared and asked if they might make a fire in his yard to warm themselves. While they were building the fire, Hogen heard them arguing about subjectivity and objectivity. He joined them and said: 'There is a big stone. Do you consider it to be inside or outside your mind?' One of the monks replied: 'From a Buddhist viewpoint everything in as objectification ofmind, so I would say that the stone is inside my mind'. 'Your head must feel very heavy', observed Hogen, 'if you are carrying around a stone like that in your mind'".

(Paul Reps (1971): Zen Flesh, Zen Bones, Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, P.71).

[Stanfordian]

Thanks for this, Dave I don't take much notice of star ratings on movie reviews any more. The opening argument in the Sci Am article sounds a bit like a modern version of Berkeley’s extreme idealism: physical objects, including ourselves, do not exist independently of the mind that perceives them. In the former case the perceiver resides in the future, that's all. Nice idea for a sci fi movie.

I've found film reviewers don't reflect my likes and dislikes anymore.

[Serial_Apologist]

I've found film reviewers don't reflect my likes and dislikes anymore.

Sometimes they still do, in my case; and I have to admit I do check them before watching.

[Nick Armstrong]

I've just watched "Cash on Demand" (UK, 1961) on Talking Pictures TV, a thriller starring Peter Cushing as a put upon upstanding bank manager forcibly inveigled into carrying out a robbery on his own bank. Usually typecast in roles as either evil maker or evil buster, and once I think as Sherlock Holmes, it's easy to overlook just how affecting an actor Cushing could be. Channel 81 is proving to be a treasure-trove for too easily forgotten British masterpieces of the postwar period up to the mid-1960s.

At last, Cash on Demand was on again on Talking Pictures TV the other day, duly recorded and watched - what a great film! Many thanks for the recommendation.

NB: the film is on again on Talking Pictures TV this Sunday 7th October at 11.15am

[muzzer]

Re-watched after a great many years - "The Long Good Friday", stonkingly good 1979 London gangster movie starring Bob Hoskins trying to get into semi-legit property deals with New York businessmen, with help from corrupt council officials and bent Met coppers, but whose world unravels at blistering speed as IRA gangsters who have been crossed (unbeknownst to him) by members of his team take their deadly revenge. Helen Mirren as his bit of posh who was at school with Princess Anne , this was Derek "Casualty" Thompson's big break . Bob Hoskins - what an actor, he eats the screen. Warning, contains scenes some viewers may find disturbing .

I was good to you, even when you were out of order....

[JimD]

Black '47

Anyone else seen Black '47?; allegedly the only film set in the Irish Great Hunger ('47 refers to 1847.) Some questionable aspects, inevitably, but well worth seeing: especially, perhaps, by those of us of Irish descent. One of several cataclysmic events which need to be remembered, and the closest to home, both literally and figuratively.

[LMcD]

According to IMDB, there's a film called 'The Great Hunger', with a screenplay by Thomas Keneally, which is at the pre-production stage.

[johncorrigan]

Fair enjoyed 'First Man'. Thought it owed a few debts to 'Apollo 13', especially in the domestic scenes...that living in a goldfish bowl, 1960s domestic look...and the fags, of course. Also, some great Edward Hopper inspired scenes, I thought. Ryan Gosling sounded like Kevin Costner a bit, but I loved the story of Armstrong, painting him not as some gung-ho hero, which is how he is seen a wee bit in 'The Right Stuff', but as a smart, intelligent engineer, with an amazing drive and energy. I had always assumed he was a military man, so was surprised to learn he wasn't. And the story of Gemini 8 had passed me by - seems they only spent 10 hours up there before they aborted. Thought Claire Foy was good too.

[LMcD]

The Cruel Sea - still pretty watchable, the only real fly in the ointment being Virginia MacKenna's cut-glass accent. (She met her first husband, Denholm Elliott, on the set). The film was made just 7 years after the end of WW2, yet for the most part avoids excessive flag-waving or sentimental jingoism . There's a sparse but effective score by Alan Rawsthorne.