What are you watching? (Old films edition)

[VoR]

I often watch random old movies that are far too obscure to justify having a thread+poll, but I do wish I had a place to shitpost about them. So maybe this will be that place.

I watched two very different films this weekend that I thoroughly enjoyed on very different levels.

The first was The House of Mirth starring Gillian Anderson, which I loved. Adapted from an Edith Wharton novel, it starts out as a fairly typical Merchant Ivory style costume piece, but my God it's bleak! Instead of choosing which of her many potential suitors to marry as the first half leads you to expect, she winds up

Spoiler: spoiler

crippled by gambling debts, cast out of society and dying of a laudanum overdose in a flop house!

Anderson is magnificent, there's a breakdown scene near the end that really moved me. I think the film was a complete flop, but if it had been better marketed I see no reason why she couldn't have won an Oscar for it. Also Laura Linney as a VILLAINOUS society girl, which is always fun. Rentable on Amazon Prime and a total recommend!

 

[VoR]

On the other end of the spectrum, last night I watched a complete piece of garbage called Music From Another Room, starring a young Jude Law, Gretchen Moll and Jennifer Tilly as a BLIND GIRL

It was one of those films where everybody acts like they are an alien from the planet bad screenwriting. There were a couple of scenes that had my jaw on the floor, not least the one near the beginning where

Spoiler: spoiler

a 5 year old boy sticks his hands up Brenda Blethyn's vagina to save a baby!

I was also increasingly amused by the way they used the same Savage Garden song as a romantic needle drop THREE TIMES in the space of about 20 minutes

Also on Amazon prime if you fancy a very dated laugh.

 

[Ellie]

Is 2000 now considered “old”?

 

[Christian]

I've never seen House Of Mirth but I've heard great things. I didn't know it was a Terence Davies film, so I must get around to it soonish.

(On a side note, has anyone seen his recent Siegfried Sassoon film Benediction? It's on streaming now after a very limited release and is supposed to be a stunner.)

 

[Christian]

Is 2000 now considered “old”?

I did wonder that too, but twenty two years before that was 1978 and that seemed VERY old at the time

 

[Ellie]

Anyway, I had a lazy TV watching day yesterday and after Neighbours just felt like watching very very familiar stuff.

 

[COB]

I watched Soapdish the other week, which I hadn't seen since I was quite young. It was fun and had some great scenes (obviously Carrie Fisher's scenes are iconic), but I do feel like it takes a bit TOO much of a hard turn into melodrama near the end that doesn't quite come off - I know that emulating ridiculous soap plots is part of the point, but the big twist sort of knocks the film a bit too far off the rails for me. Also the ending where

Spoiler

Cathy Moriarty's villain is revealed to be a trans woman (including being deadnamed) and mocked for it by the rest of the cast - even apparently reverting back to living as a man following her career being ruined

obviously left QUITE a bad taste in the mouth viewing it in 2022...

 

[Ellie]

I watched Soapdish the other week, which I hadn't seen since I was quite young. It was fun and had some great scenes (obviously Carrie Fisher's scenes are iconic), but I do feel like it takes a bit TOO much of a hard turn into melodrama near the end that doesn't quite come off - I know that emulating ridiculous soap plots is part of the point, but the big twist sort of knocks the film a bit too far off the rails for me. Also the ending where

Spoiler

Cathy Moriarty's villain is revealed to be a trans woman (including being deadnamed) and mocked for it by the rest of the cast - even apparently reverting back to living as a man following her career being ruined

obviously left QUITE a bad taste in the mouth viewing it in 2022...

Yes, but at the same time

 

[VoR]

Yeah, the end of Soapdish is a total yikes, which is a real shame as it's otherwise fabulous.

"What I feel like is GLORIA FUCKING SWANSON!"

 

[jyxz]

You know, you have beautiful eyes.

Oh, you should see my tits.

 

[COB]

You know, you have beautiful eyes.

Oh, you should see my tits.

I genuinely choked on my drink at that line

 

[Ellie]

Whenever my friends and I are having a frivolous disagreement and one person isn’t listening to the other, we frequently yell “HE DOESN’T HAVE A HEAD!”

 

[VoR]

Watched the original Stepford Wives movie tonight, then subjected myself to the utterly dreadful 2004 remake, which is even more disastrously awful and nonsensical than I'd remembered.

The original though - amazing! I love how chilly it is, the encroaching sense of dread...

"I'll just DIE if I don't get this recipe..."

 

[jivafox]

I had no idea until recently that The Stepford Wives has THREE sequels, albeit made for TV movies.

 

[VoR]

I assume they’re all garbage.

 

[jivafox]

I imagine they are but I’m dying to see them just to check out the CAMP VALUE

 

[GNL]

I had no idea until recently that The Stepford Wives has THREE sequels, albeit made for TV movies.

They're actually very faithful adaptations of Ira Levin's later novels, The Revenge of the Stepford Wives, Stepford Wives 3, and Step4d Wives.

 

[Christian]

I went to see the Stepford Wives remake in the cinema

The power of Queen NIC

I remember it had some disastrous production history which is supposedly why it's so terrible. At least it's still got an amazing poster though.

 

[Suomi]

Aelita: Queen of Mars (1924)

I was fascinated by the costumes and clips shown at Moderna Museum in Stockholm, and so was delighted to find this on YouTube in English. I was disappointed that it took so long to get to Mars and so skipped over lots of the plot. The Socialist propaganda in the last quarter of the film - with the workers breaking free - was very powerful but I appreciate this movie as an historical artefact rather than for its qualities as a film. The woman who played Aelita was fabulous though

He’s Just Not That Into You (2009)

I don’t know why I watched this when I knew it would be dreadful. I was disappointed that it took so long to get to Mars and so skipped over lots of the plot. The Socialist propaganda in the last quarter of the film - with the workers breaking free - was very powerful but I appreciate this movie as an historical artefact rather than for its qualities as a film. Would not recommend.

 

[Pipo]

Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?

I take recommendations Mopsy posters

 

[foopy]

I've never seen House Of Mirth but I've heard great things. I didn't know it was a Terence Davies film, so I must get around to it soonish.

(On a side note, has anyone seen his recent Siegfried Sassoon film Benediction? It's on streaming now after a very limited release and is supposed to be a stunner.)

i just watched it on the netflix. there's nothing quite like a tezza d film. oh! that ivor novello

 

[VoR]

I've been on a bit of a random Annette Bening binge this week and I just finished The Grifters. What a WILD movie Definitely one to watch with zero context for where it goes...

 

[Phoenix]

With nothing good coming out in august, I’ve watched a few old classics

Xanadu - utter crap
The Last of Sheila - hilarious and really the blueprint for Glass Onion
War & Peace - the Russian version, very pretty but lots of it is just confusing battles

 

[VoR]

I watched a 2021 documentary called Maisie, Britain's Oldest Drag Artiste on Amazon Prime last night. Lovely, in a slightly haunting sort of way.



I imagine people who've been around the Brighton scene might know her well. It was nice to see Miss Dave Lynn from Beautiful Thing cropping up too.