Movies & Books Into Movies

[JoanK]

So many movies – how do  you choose what to watch? Reviews?  Recommendations?  Actors?  Availability? Do you choose a movie the same way you choose a book? And where do you like to watch most of your movies? Do you stream movies from Netflix and other places? Where’s the strangest place you’ve ever watched a film?

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Your Discussion Leader: pedln

What interesting lists, and how little we overlap.

[roshanarose]

Jim and Gum - "A Man for All Seasons" is indeed a great movie.  Last time I saw it listed in my TV guide it was on at 1.30am!!!  I did manage to catch "Anne of a Thousand Days" with Richard Burton and Genevieve Bujold recently and that was very good, but not as good as I remembered.  Likewise "Camelot" with Richard Harris.  It all seems so fake now, and definitely overexposed.  I think it was Helen Mirren who appears as Morgana in "Excalibur", which is much more to my taste.

Talking of Paul Schofield - he appears in one of my favourite movies with one of my favourite actors, i.e.  "Quiz Show" with Ralph Fiennes, another recommendation for Pedln.

Rosemary - What is Mamma Mia like?  Everyone assumes that I must have seen it because it is about Greece.  The truth is I have an aversion to Abba, always have.  Maybe I can block my ears.

[Frybabe]

Yea! Leo McKern. I don't remember him in A Man for All Seasons, and I didn't know he was an Aussie. How about that. He was great in The Prisoner, and fantastic as Rumpole. I have the entire series of Rumpole on DVD, well, my sister has it right now. We were watching it on Sue's big screen TV when I picked up Mom and had dinner at her place. Sue continued to watch the series after Mom passed. I should ask if she is done yet.

[pedln]

Thank you all for the wonderful suggestions.  And it’s so much fun to see what everyone likes.

 I may just watch Muriel’s Wedding on my computer today – the streaming has subtitles.  Will give it a try.  And I’ve got Vera Drake and The French Lieutenant’s Woman in my own TBWatched basket.  Glad to know they’re highly recommended.

Rosemary, I loved The Queen.  That’s one I want to own if the price gets right. And I liked I’m Not Scared.  One of the few times I’ve thought the movie better than the book.

But I had to laugh at one of your other suggestions – The Buena Vista Social Club.  I’ve seen it, and doubt I will ever watch it again.  My daughter was working in Guatemala (teaching Mayan women how to make solar ovens) and I had come to visit her.  So, we were in Antigua, Gautemala for a view days, and one night she said, “let’s go to the movies.  There’s this film I want to see.”  So we went to this sort of mall, got our tickets, went into this small, airless, hot room, sat on a broken down sofa with about six other people and watched The Buena Vista Social Club on a 25” TV.  My daughter loved it.

Winged Migration is in my queue, JoanK.  And Roshanarose, I’m going to check out your list of Aussie films.  I’m not familiar with Toni Collette.  My very favorite Aussie film is Rabbit-Proof Fence, but I also like Jindabyne, with Laura Linney.  And Whale Rider – or is that New Zealand.?

Many thanks.  If I follow your advice I shouldn’t have anything to complain about.  Will put A Man for All Seasons on my queue right now.  That one sure looks like a winner.

[maryz]

We watched The Queen this weekend - excellent.  Pedln, Whale Rider is about New Zealand - very good movie, as I remember.

[JoanK]

"Quiz Show" was directed by the same man who directed "The River Runs Through It", Robert Redford. I almost put it on my list as well. Redford is a wonderful director -- all his (directed) movies have the same characteristic: every character, no matter how minor or unsympathetic, has at least one moment when you can really understand who they are and how things feel from their point of view.

I wish he had directed many, many more. I think only "Ordinary People" and the Tony Hillerman mysteries on TV (not as well done as his others).  

[MaryPage]

I have a very hard time picking favorite movies, because there are so many dearly beloved ones I might forget to list!

Most movies I have seen have been very mundane or too ghastly.

I have loved the Forsyte Saga, both the 20th and the 21st century versions.

I have loved everything Judi Dench was ever in.

I have loved every film made of a Jane Austen book.

I loved Anne of Green Gables and all of the Shirley Temple (childhood) movies.

I loved every movie Greer Garson was ever in, and loved her Pride & Prejudice best.

Remember Mrs. Miniver?

I loved Sargeant York, The Guns of Navarone and Stage Door Canteen and other great World War II movies.

The Wizard of Oz and Snow White and, oh, time to go home from work!  No electricity still at my home!  More later.

[MaryPage]

Maybe, just maybe, my all time favorite movie was THE GODS MUST BE CRAZY.  Certainly, if number of times viewed counts, that would be the big winner.  Splendid film.

[Babi]

Isn't it nice, PEDLN, to think that culture has reached even Antigua? 

 That is a very interesting observation re. Redford as a director, JOANK. Now I want
to go find out just what he has directed and whether I've seen any of them. I would
like to watch them with your comment in mind.

 MARYPAGE, would you believe I've never even heard of "The Gods Must Be Crazy"?  What
was it about, and who played in it?

[MaryPage]

Oh, Babi;  I know you well now, and you would LOVE it!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gods_Must_Be_Crazy

http://video.barnesandnoble.com/DVD/The-Gods-Must-Be-Crazy/Marius-Weyers/e/43396061088?itm=1&usri=the%2Bgods%2Bmust%2Bbe%2Bcrazy

[MaryPage]

Here is Roger Ebert's review, in which he calls The Gods Must Be Crazy "a nice little treasure."

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19810101/REVIEWS/101010333/1023

Doesn't ANYone here remember and love this movie?  Am I a weirdo, or something?  All of my still-living-at-the-time aunts and uncles and cousins adored it and led me to it.  My children love it.  I'm feeling polka-dotted here until someone else chimes in.  Please!

[maryz]

I remember it, MaryPage - it is certainly incomparable, in the literal sense of the word.  Absolutely delightful!

[Gumtree]

I remember it too MaryPage - We saw it several times and loved it more each time. I break up every time I think about the Coke bottle falling out of the sky and the little guy's reaction... 

Those who like musicals might remember Evita. I was dragged kicking and screaming to see it because it starred Madonna. I saw it six times at the movies and have watched it several times since on DVD.

I was also impressed with Chicago with Renee Zellweger and Catherine Zeta Jones

[MaryPage]

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Mary and Gum!

My fondest memory of the movie is when the schoolteacher arrived at the village in Botswana and the villagers all stood outside their round huts and sang her a welcome.  It was not only National Geographic perfect documentary-style, but the singing was beautiful and I wanted to cry.

And then, I remember her standing at the bus stop and those 4 giraffes looking over the thorn bushes at her. 

And that jeep going up the hill and down the hill and up the hill and down the hill, with the scientist chasing it with that rock to put behind the tire and stop it.

Oh, and the classroom scene where he was so befuddled (and a Ph.D yet!) by his crush on the teacher that he screwed up Big Time and all those children laughing and giggling at him.

It was, sigh, a lovely movie.  I'll have to pull out my DVD and watch it AGAIN!

[Tomereader1]

I remember the movie, but it certainly didn't make that sort of lasting impression on me.  I think I've seen it twice.

Gumtree, I simply love "Chicago".  I saw it in the theatre when it first came out, bought the VHS tape, when it graduated to DVD, bought that too.  I have the soundtrack album, too. 

[Gumtree]

Tomereader: Yep, I've got the DVD of Chicago and watch it now and again - love John C Reilly as Amos Hart

[jeriron]

I checked Netflix and saw that I haven't seen "the Gods" so I put it in my Queue.  Marypage have you seen the sequel too?

[salan]

Thanks for reminding me about The Gods Must Be Crazy.  I loved that quirky movie!  I also loved Whale Rider, Anne of Green Gables, and many others you have mentioned.  When my ddh and I left the movie Chicago, we sang some of the songs all the way home, and he hardly ever sang and usually did not care for musicals!!  Such a warm memory for me.
How about African Queen, and Casablanca??  I've seen both many times--I always get caught up in them.  A couple of other movies that I get "caught up in" (although, I probably wouldn't put them on my all times best list) are Shawshank Redemption, Fried Green Tomatoes and Shirley Valentine!
Sally

[PatH]

I haven't been on for a few days, and look how much I've missed.  I also liked "The Gods Must Be Crazy" very much, saw it again a few years ago, and still liked it.  When it came out, my husband had a Nigerian post-doctorate fellow working in his lab, and we asked him if rhinoceroses really trampled out campfires.  He said yes, they do, but something about his expression made us think he wasn't telling the whole story.

"The African Queen" has been almost unavailable until recently, but now Netflix has it.  It can stand a lot of watching.  This is a rare example of a movie being better than the book.  The book is OK, and has some really good descriptions of the seamanship involved, but the plot isn't as tight, nor the ending as satisfying.  Besides, the book doesn't have Katharine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart. 

Another one that can stand a lot of rewatching is "Moonstruck".

[CallieOK]

Every woman in my family was like "Miss Daisy", although they would have smacked anyone who dared to call them a "doodle"!      My favorite line from "Driving Miss Daisy" is her sotto voce "Oh dear, I think I might spit up" when she saw her son/dil's house decorated for Christmas.
I loved Jessica Tandy.

[pedln]

Some really five star films here --  The Gods Must be Crazy, African Queen, Casablanca.  I guess for me they're 5 stars because they're films that you can watch over and over again and never tire of them.

And Driving Miss Daisy and Steel Magnolias, too.  Callie mentioned her favorite line from Miss Daisy and MaryPage hers from TGMBC.  What are some other scenes or favorite lines?

One that always makes me laugh when I think of it is from Sleepless in Seattle when the SIL/BIL come to visit and the two guys get all maudlin and hammy when the SIL mentions An Affair to Remember.

[PatH]

My favorite line, a word actually, from "Driving Miss Daisy" is the wealth of feeling that Morgan Freeman can put into the single word "yaasm".

[rosemarykaye]

Oh yes!  I had forgotten Fried Green Tomatoes, Shirley Valentine and Steel Magnolias.  Tried to get my daughters to watch the latter but they couldn't get over the hairstyles!  Which reminds me, I also loved the original Hairspray.

One of my favourite lines is at the end of Some Like It Hot, when Jack Lemmon tells Oscar (?) that he is in fact a man:

"Well, nobody's perfect"  (or something like that....)

Roshanarose - you asked about Mamma Mia.  I and my similar aged girlfriends all absolutely loved it, but  Anna (aged 16) thought it was ridiculous (ie middle-aged women dancing about and singing, also getting off with younger men).  My husband didn't even want to start watching it - but he can't stand any musical.  For me it's a great deal of fun, but you must remember that I have never been to Greece and it's probably a huge travesty of the real country (there are lots of Greek "peasants" who join in all the singing - there is a scene when Meryl Streep leads every woman in the village, singing and dancing, down to the quay, and they all jump in). It's all a big fantasy - eg Meryl Streep is apparently on her financial uppers, but still manages to have a lovely old inn on a beautiful Greek island - but somehow this doesn't bother me half as much as it would in some other films.  Colin Firth, Piers Brosnan and Julie Walters are all hilarious.

  I think you have to be in the right mood - do watch it one day and tell us what you think!

Rosemary

[PatH]

Rosemary, that's my favorite line from "Some Like it Hot" too.

[MaryPage]

Jeriron, yes, I did see the sequel to The Gods Must Be Crazy.  It was good, but not great.  I have not, of course, seen the several sequels the Chinese made!

Sally, WHALE RIDER is one of my all-time favorites, too.  I just cannot remember them all to list them.

PatH, I had forgotten about the rhinos and the campfires.  How COULD I!  It was one of the most hilarious parts of a very funny movie.

Rosemary, I loved, loved, loved STEEL MAGNOLIAS, but hated Mamma Mia.

[Babi]

 I've placed the first "The Gods Must Be Crazy" on my Netflix queue. The blurb describes
it as a popular 'cult' film, which normally does not interest me. But the description of
the plot does sound like it could be fun, and several others here loved it. That's good
enough for me.

 Oh, yes! Moonstruck! And "Steel Magnolias"; what a line-up of top-flight actresses!

 ROSEMARY, "Mamma Mia" was a musical in the old tradition, with entire neighborhoods
out in the street dancing. My Dad didn't like them either because they were so unrealistic.
Actually, if you don't love singing and dancing for it's own sake, they are pretty silly.

[CallieOK]

My favorite line, a word actually, from "Driving Miss Daisy" is the wealth of feeling that Morgan Freeman can put into the single word "yaasm".

And his chuckle!   
The final scenes, in which he is tenderly taking care of Miss Daisy in the nursing home, are so poignant.

Rosemary,   I'm 75, I've always loved Abba music - and I'll see the movie and the stage production of "Mama Mia" almost every chance I get.

Musicals aren't supposed to be heavy drama, IMO.  I want to feel like singing and dancing myself after I've seen one - whether it's a movie or on stage.   Certainly not true with ones like "Les Miserables",  "Miss Saigon" or "Phantom of the Opera".

[MaryPage]

Babi, I think it quite unfair, albeit true, that if a film is an independent or a foreign, in the case of The Gods Must Be Crazy, a foreign, it gets called a "cult" movie if it becomes popular.  I had to go to downtown Washington, D.C. to an ART movie house to see The Gods.  The place was PACKED, and it had been in town long enough by then for all of my family to have gone to see it.  The first cousin who dragged me there had already seen it!  She was perfectly happy to see it again.

Hollywood just cannot envision any other than their own movies being worth the price of admission.  But how about that Greek one about My Fat Greek Wedding?  Was that the name?  Never on Sunday?  

The Gods was made by a South African.  In English;  it is not dubbed or subtitled.  They speak English down there!  It is a comedy, for the most part.  It is just a whole lot National Geographic.  There is scenery in it to die for, and the cinemaphotographer was outstanding.  All of the talent was outstanding.  If I sound sarcastic when I say there IS talent in the world besides American and British, I feel that way;  but not towards you.  Please do not take my attitude personally.  I have a chip on my shoulder for the writer who dismissed it as a "cult' film, therefore discouraging the American public.  The only reason so many in this forum HAVE seen it was, I just betcha', because someone told them it was wonderful.    It was almost entirely word of mouth that sold this movie!

[MaryPage]

Personally, I love independents and foreign films.  How about you?  Which ones do you remember?

Fanny & Alexander?  Babette's Feast?  Oh, how I loved that one!  The Night Of The Shooting Stars?  A great treasure.  Raise The Red Lantern.  The Umbrellas of Cherbourg.  Amelie.  Jean de Florette & Manon of The Spring.  LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL!  

How about Never On Sunday?

Two of my all time favorites are A Town Like Alice and Whale Rider.  Both from Down Under.

[pedln]

The Gods was made by a South African.  In English;  it is not dubbed or subtitled.

Just for the record,for those of us who need to know, it is captioned and subtitled in more languages than I can count.

[Tomereader1]

And NEVER dismiss the "original" in Japanese of "Shall We Dance"!  It was remade over here with JLo and Richard Gere, and had none of the sweetness of the original.  

And another all time favorite, foreign movie "Mostly Martha" (in German).  Netflix calls it Emotional, Romantic, Understated.  It is all that, and naturally Hollowood (sic) movie makers felt they had to Americanize it.  As "No Reservations".  I will say that Catherine-Zeta Jones and Aaron Eckhart (Yummy) did a great job in it.  See them both.
Mostly Martha was the first foreign language film that I "caught" my husband watching... He had never done so before.  So the both of us watched it all the way through and from that point on, he enjoys a foreign language film with me when I watch.  

Let's don't leave out any of the cinematic "jewels" IMO:  Out of Africa, Gladiator, Gone With the Wind, The English Patient, Lawrence of Arabia, oh my!  When I buy a movie for my collection it must be either: Cinematographically beautiful, or just plain old fun to watch again and again,  (We won't go there, 'cause most of mine aren't "books into movies" per se) or a movie where the acting simply blows you away.
"Bridge on The River Kwai" is one of those for me.

[Tomereader1]

Callie, my daughter and I saw Chicago together, and we danced up the aisles in leaving the theatre.  She and I usually enjoy the same type of movies; however, she loved "Mama Mia" and bought the DVD for me, and I didn't like it at all.  Gave it back to her.  The two of us have sort of a motto:  "Got to have me some action movie!"  Our collections duplicate a lot in that genre!  Not open for discussion, but as an example: Die Hard.   Now, are we just the silliest gals!  But we also share our love for chick flicks!

[MaryPage]

I'm sorry, Pedln;  I did not express myself correctly.  I was trying to say that The Gods was originally made in English, and not in a foreign language with dubbing or subtitles.  I find a lot of people, and I am not one of them, dislike watching foreign language films even if they are dubbed or they can choose English subtitles.

I did not mean to say the film is not available in many languages and with subtitles or closed captioning.

[CallieOK]

Tomereader,  I liked "Chicago", also.  Who knew Richard Gere could tap dance?

I think I liked "Mama Mia" so well because of the scenery and the music.  However, I thought Meryl Streep went beyond silly (as she did in that movie with Alec Baldwin when I swore I would throw my shoe at the screen if she took him back!) and the actress that played the daughter overdid wide-eyed cute.   I really don't watch it 'every chance I get" but it's one I don't mind watching again.

[rosemarykaye]

Callie - I agree about the daughter, she was very irritating indeed - but I enjoyed Meryl Streep, silliness and all, and I did love Julie Walters and the other woman, whose name I have of course forgotten....

Rosemary

[CallieOK]

Christine Baranski.   She's a regular on the t v show "The Good Wife" and plays a very proper lawyer.

I might have been more annoyed with Meryl Streep's silliness if I didn't admire her so much for being such a good actress. 

The movie in which I threatened to throw my shoe (much to the embarrassment of the friends with me) was "It's Complicated."     

[Babi]

 I've seen quite a few foreign and independent films, and greatly enjoyed most of them.
For some reason the word 'cult' in re. a film stirs up images of crowds of fans with things
sticking through their lips, noses, eyebrows, etc. Very unfair, I'm sure. I don't think
even Hollywood still believes they've got a corner on film-making genius.
 Beautiful scenery is always a strong draw for me, too. I love the opportunity to 'see'
those places, wherever they are,

[jeriron]

I love to watch Meryl Streep in any film she does. To me that's a very good actress because she can do anything and do it well. So many actresses and actors play basically the same character in all the movies they do. That doesn't take too much talent.

I liked Mama  Mia. I like musicals and I liked the music from that film. It was a fun film and you feel good after seeing it.

[rosemarykaye]

Jeriron - yes, that's exactly why I loved it, it made me feel good, and made me feel that middle aged women can still have fun (even if it is all a fantasy).

I think Meryl Streep is brilliant.  I also admire her for keeping her private life private - one of the few actors whose family is not plastered all over "Hello", etc.

Rosemary

[JoanK]

The Classics Club has a winner! Plutarch "Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans". But our job has just started. We have to pick 4 selections to read in October. Who do you want to get to know better: Caesar? Cleopatra? Cicero? Come help us decide  at http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?topic=2395.80