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| marantzo |
 Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2015 7:26 pm |
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Joined: 30 Oct 2014
Posts: 278
Location: Winnipeg: It's a dry cold.
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Double message.  |
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| knox |
| Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2015 9:24 pm |
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Joined: 18 Mar 2010
Posts: 1246
Location: St. Louis
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http://youtu.be/ET3n09AfY68
Bart, this gal is amazing with Fats Waller repertoire and stride/boogie generally.
sorry, my tablet keeps switching text and links...below is the first part of this post.
I love the Aint Misbehavin Fats performance in Stormy Weather. You cannot watch the man without your face breaking out in a grin.
bartist wrote: Knox, if you are talking any of Waller's pieces that fall in the category of Harlem stride piano, I think that stuff is beyond all but the most dedicated "I put in my 10,000 hours" folks. Hitting a 10th, every other beat, with the left hand, at the tempo usually seen in stride, is hardcore. Didn't know that about his siblings. Hard times, indeed.
][/url] |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Thu Dec 10, 2015 2:02 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
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Louis Armstrong does some great covers of Fats Waller.
Especially Blue Turning Grey Over You |
Last edited by gromit on Thu Dec 10, 2015 2:04 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Thu Dec 10, 2015 2:03 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
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I might have mentioned this before, but The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo is a lot of fun. The earlier Mr. Magoo Show is okay, but the conceit of a near-blind guy mistaking things gets old. And there's the awkward fact of his Chinese man-servant, complete with stereotypical buckteeth and queue hair-braid, who oddly talks with no accent whatsoever. But in the famous adventures, Mr. Magoo is an actor in various classic novels and fairytales. This allows him to do a brief blind/mistaken routine in his dressing room, before the story begins.
I'm not sure why a Mr. Magoo version of classics works so well, but I think it's largely because they stick to the actual plots faithfully, and the slightly stylized animation and colors are nice, with Jim Bacchus' voice allowing for some fun and games. Plenty of the stories are two-parters, and Robin Hood is a 4-part story (so around 1'30" in total). They have fun with the retellings, as for instance all Seven Dwarfs are variations of Mr. Magoos. There's also two Mr. Magoos in the Dick Tracy episode as well, as Tracy recruits the actor Magoo to go undercover and impersonate the criminal Squinty Eyes for whom he's a dead wringer.
If this is available on Hulu or wherever, I'd rec folks check it out. Fun stuff. |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Thu Dec 10, 2015 2:07 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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Location: NYC
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| I never saw that film, but I've always liked "Magoo's Christmas Carol," in which he is, of course, Scrooge. There are some nice songs involved, and it has some very touching moments. Better than a lot of the holiday TV stuff. |
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| yambu |
| Posted: Thu Dec 10, 2015 2:18 pm |
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Joined: 23 May 2004
Posts: 6441
Location: SF Bay Area
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In Rounders Mat Damon and Ed Norton are seedy Nyers who know only one thing - playing cards for high stakes. Getting beat up by fellow players and loan sharks is all in a day's work.
The Norton/Damon tete-a-tete is not DeNiro/Pesci, but it's fun enough. Their talks always result in them heading in the wrong direction.
John Malkovich is Teddy KGB, a Russian heavy with an atrocious accent and a way over the top performance, which is just right. John Turturro, as Joey Knish, exudes practical wisdom and a knowledge of the game without ever sitting down himself. Finally, the shylock is so mean he likes to kick his dog. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2015 11:55 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
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Location: Black Hills
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I recall really liking Rounders when it came out. Probably worth another look, thanks. I remember watching between my fingers, certain scenes, like when Norton plans to scam a bunch of a cops in a bar, Ouch.
Recently saw the last half of "Flirting with Disaster," on the tube, David O. Russell's breakthrough farce...very funny second half with the druggy family visit and Richard Jenkins accidentally being given LSD. It all feels somewhat improvised and not entirely polished, which is part of the fun. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2015 12:57 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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Location: NYC
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| My friend who likes to copy movies on disks just sent me "Mr. Holmes" for a Christmas gift (among other things). Any comments on it? I don't recall hearing much on the Current Films forum. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2015 5:25 pm |
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Quote:
"Mr. Holmes" was excellent, an aging Holmes struggling with memory loss and trying to remember his last case, living on the coast of Kent and keeping bees. He befriends a young boy, the housekeeper's son, who is enthusiastic to read the memoir he is writing of his final case, and serves as a catalyst for remembrance. The story jumps around in time, back to the final case concerning a woman's disappearance, and also to a trip to Japan where he seeks a botanical extract that aids memory and also encounters the ruins of Hiroshima. In clumsier hands, the story could be disjointed, but this film is masterful. And exquisitely shot. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2015 6:04 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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Location: NYC
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Thanks, Bart. I'd heard it was good but didn't remember reading anything much about it.
By the way, my friend and I met in the third grade, so we've known each other more than 50 years. When we were in high school, I gave him a book of Sherlock Holmes stories. Years later we ran into each other in NYC, and he was my best buddy here until he had a bad sublet experience and gave up his apartment to move back to South Carolina. He's a huge Holmes fan now. |
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| yambu |
| Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2015 8:45 pm |
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Joined: 23 May 2004
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| I don't know if this has been discussed, but I'm watching Netflix's multi-episode of Sherlock Holmes, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, who earns points for his name. Good casting all around in this modern version, though the pace can get manic, causing me to lose my place. But this is the best Holmes since Basil Rathbone. The Great One is wired so tight that this lends an almost constant undercurrent of mirth. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2015 9:14 pm |
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| I like Downey's, Cumberbatch and Miller's different takes on Holmes, and look forward to McLellan's Holmes. My favorite may be Johnny Lee Miller's version on Elementary, with a Watson who is as intelligent, in her own way, as he is. In fact, I believe Joan Watson solved the last case, not Sherlock. |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2015 10:58 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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The writer of Cumberbatch's "Sherlock" is Stephen Moffat, who I only recently realized is also the main writer for "Doctor Who." What gave me the clue was the similarity of the speeches--Sherlock and the Doctor both tend to talk very fast and spin out a lot of complex information in what seems to be one long breath. It's so obvious that I don't know why I didn't notice it earlier. (The twistiness of the plotting is fairly similar as well.)
By the way, one of my favorite Holmes/Watson teams is George C. Scott and Joanne Woodward in "They Might Be Giants." My friend made me a copy of that too, some years back. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Fri Dec 11, 2015 11:03 pm |
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carrobin wrote: The writer of Cumberbatch's "Sherlock" is Stephen Moffat, who I only recently realized is also the main writer for "Doctor Who." What gave me the clue was the similarity of the speeches--Sherlock and the Doctor both tend to talk very fast and spin out a lot of complex information in what seems to be one long breath. It's so obvious that I don't know why I didn't notice it earlier. (The twistiness of the plotting is fairly similar as well.)
By the way, one of my favorite Holmes/Watson teams is George C. Scott and Joanne Woodward in "They Might Be Giants." My friend made me a copy of that too, some years back.
One of my favorites, too. I wonder if I have a copy of it lying around. |
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Rocky Laocoon foretold of Troy's doom, only to find snaky water. They pulled him in and Rocky can't swim. Now Rocky wishes he were an otter! |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Sat Dec 12, 2015 4:51 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
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Location: Shanghai
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Rewatched Hitchcock's Saboteur.
It's mostly an interesting fun ride.
There is some good humor mixed in. Like when Priscilla Lane's character is trying to escape the wanted fugitive, and she determinedly stops a car on the highway. But Barry (Robert Cummings manages to break the handcuffs and drives up in another car. And he grabs Lane and forces her into the car while she yells for help. And then we cut to the elderly couple in the car who just witnessed this abduction. Pause a beat. And then the old woman says, They must be so much in love.
Very droll Hitchockian humor.
I can't think of a funnier Hitchcock film. There's the Siamese twins who don't get along. Barry going to try to expose the society matron Mrs. Sutton as an enemy of the country, but upon being told there is a gun trained on him from the 2nd floor, he instead turns the moment into an auction of some of Mrs. Sutton's jewelry. And there's one moment in the dance scene when Barry mentions Frye, the initial saboteur who has led them to the larger conspiracy, Lane says that she almost forgot about him and he seems so small now. (a small fry!). Then there's everybody mistaking Lane for Barry's girl and praising her for sticking by her man, which is the main reason the circus freaks don't turn Barry in to the police.
And that gets to another nice point in the film -- how so many people and ideas are doubled. People form a mistaken impression of Lane's Pat, which is similar to what has happened to Robert Cummings' Barry. The amusing truck driver tells a tale of a fire which is disturbing to Barry in how similar it is to what happened at the aircraft plant. Then there are the inversions, such as how the circus freaks are some of the best people in the film (along with the blind man who also is afflicted and therefore outside normal society), while the wealthy are the worst, part of a traitorous conspiracy, or just snobby and clueless (ie the party guests).
There are a few unlikely plot moments, such as the factory saboteur in the opening scene just happening to drop his mail with his name and address on it (and $100 as well), and then dealing with the same two fellows at the fire. Or why the gasoline would be necessary or how one would get it into a fire extinguisher and then get that fire ext back in place. There are also a lot of folks who believe Barry innocent upon first sight (3 or 4 in the film). And even though there is some attempt to explain the saboteur Frye going to the Statue of Liberty, it' still seems like a bad and unlikely choice. Since he was in a cab heading downtown, presumably from the Brooklyn Bridge, the Staten Island ferry would be a much better choice. As you can return to Manhattan easily, or disappear in SI if you need to.
Overall, it's quite a good lesser-known Hitchcock film.
Managing to balance espionage and romance and throw in some nice bits of humor. |
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