Movies and TV Shows That are Great

[Cygnia]

7 minutes ago, death tribble said:

You should have mentioned Errol Flynn and Basil Rathbone and the pair of them duelling. It is a wonderful fun movie

Rathbone vs. Danny Kaye in "The Court Jester".  As mentioned, Rathbone is a trained fencer.  Kaye wasn't -- BUT he was such a quick study and excellent at mimicking others, in any shot where you don't see Basil Rathbone's face, Kaye is actually fighting a fencing master who was hired to be Rathbone's double. Rathbone had been an expert fencer since childhood, but he was twenty years Kaye's senior and couldn't keep up in a couple of the scenes. The fencing master himself, Ralph Faulkner, is said to have told Kaye to take it easy on him!

[death tribble]

Poirot (1989 -2013)

David Suchet portrays the sleuth over a 25 year period and they made all the stories that Christie wrote that involved him. It is hard to watch anyone else play the role now so thoroughly do Suchet make the role his own.

 

Similarly (1984-1992)

Joan Hickon played Miss Marple, the other great Christie staple. It is difficult to watch anyone else play the role particularly when they keep messing around with the stories or adapting other Christie works and putting Marple in them.

 

They did not do that with Marple and to a very small extent with Suchet's Poirot (Murder on the Orient Express being the prime example of meddling). 

[Cancer]

26 minutes ago, death tribble said:

It has been called a history lesson but it is much better than Pearl Harbor.

Again those are real planes and this was a film that would not be made today on health and safety grounds. People were almost killed filming that particularly the scene with the airport being strafed by the Japanese and the fuel truck blowing up.

It also makes the whole thing believeable. The mistakes and second guessing.

It is one of the films I have on DVD and can watch again and again.

 

I have the DVD also.  A friend of mine lived on Oahu at the time that filming was done (he was 12 at the time, his dad was a chaplain in the Air Force).  They had home movies of the planes flying around, which I got to see as well.  There were not very many planes!  It was the first clear demonstration to me of the power of film editing.

 

EDIT: and Pearl Harbor was execrable.  When one of the survivors of the attack made the comment about that film, "There was too much blowin' stuff up," you know it was done wrong.

[csyphrett]

On 10/17/2019 at 6:35 AM, death tribble said:

 

Please elaborate

Sorry DT. I just noticed this.

 

The Thin Man is a movie based on a book written by Dashiel Hammet, the same man who wrote the Maltese Falcon. The plot of the movie is Nick and Nora Charles are enjoying Nora's wealth while on vacation. Nick is a retired policeman who has cracked some whodunnits in his time. He's also friends with Wynant, a rich engineer. When a partially destroyed body is found in Wynant's lab, and Wynant missing, Nick is drawn into the investigation. At the end of the movie, he gathers all the suspects for a dinner so he can explain what he knows and get some answers to his remaining questions.

 

Whenever you see Monk, or Shaun Spencer, or the detectives in Death in Paradise do something like this where the crime is laid out and the killer tricked into confessing, this is one of the first examples of it being done.

CES      

[csyphrett]

Tora Tora Tora is the source of the machine gun footage on the Falcon from Star Wars.

CES

[Cassandra]

They Might Be Giants (1971)

 

Judge Justin Playfair (George C. Scott) had a mental breakdown after the death of his wife, and comes to believe he his Sherlock Holmes.  Developing extraordinary perception and deductive abilities he goes after Moriarty while being observed by Psychologist Dr, Mildred Watson.  

 

 

[Cassandra]

Deterrence (1999)

 

In an alternate 2008,  Walter Emerson, an appointed Vice President who became President four months early with the death of President Buckingham, is on a campaign swing in Colorado when he and his entourage are forced to take shelter in a diner by a snow storm.  Then on the television reports come in that Iraq led by Uday Hussein has invaded Kuwait and killed American Troops.  As the U.S. has committed the bulk of it's conventional forces to South Korea in a confrontation with China, President Emerson threatens to destroy Baghdad with a 100 Megaton Nuclear warhead if they do not surrender.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Princess Mononoke (1999)

 

Hayao Miyazaki made several great movies over the course of his career, but this one deserves special mention. In it, a prince fighting a curse that is gradually devouring him finds himself in the middle of a man-vs-nature conflict in the middle of a divinely-enchanted forest. His moral choices are not pat or easy -- the leader of the industrial center of Irontown has benevolent motives towards her people, but is willing to make accommodations and use ruthless methods to keep the town going, while the forest spirits opposing her are led by a young woman raised by wolf-gods who despises the entire run of humanity. The movie is beautiful to look at, rich in atmosphere, and morally complex. The protagonist is inserted into this situation with the ability to "see with eyes unclouded by hate".

[Tjack]

11 hours ago, csyphrett said:

Sorry DT. I just noticed this.

 

The Thin Man is a movie based on a book written by Dashiel Hammet, the same man who wrote the Maltese Falcon. The plot of the movie is Nick and Nora Charles are enjoying Nora's wealth while on vacation. Nick is a retired policeman who has cracked some whodunnits in his time. He's also friends with Wynant, a rich engineer. When a partially destroyed body is found in Wynant's lab, and Wynant missing, Nick is drawn into the investigation. At the end of the movie, he gathers all the suspects for a dinner so he can explain what he knows and get some answers to his remaining questions.

 

Whenever you see Monk, or Shaun Spencer, or the detectives in Death in Paradise do something like this where the crime is laid out and the killer tricked into confessing, this is one of the first examples of it being done.

CES      

    A great series of movies and Powell and Loy absolutely nail the characters of Nick and Nora.  I always thought they were the prototypes for all those sweetheart detectives like Hart to Hart and so on.

    But the oddest thing about the series was the name. The “Thin Man” in the book and first movie didn’t refer to Nick Charles, but to Wynant.  The man they were all looking for.  The movie public loved the film and the studio wasn’t going to take a chance on them not recognizing a sequel’s name so the title stuck.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Fargo (1996)

 

A dishonest (and not very intelligent) car salesman in Minneapolis comes up with a hare-brained scheme to rip off his employer and father-in-law by hiring two goons to fake the kidnapping of his wife. This is only one of dozens of petty, stupid frauds he is indulging in (like cashing in fake loans from the financing company that backs sales of cars). But then something goes wrong, blood is spilled, and everything spirals out of control.

 

Enter Marge Gunderson, well-loved police chief of Brainerd, Minnesota (very little of the film actually takes place in Fargo, North Dakota). She is honest, but also kind and polite -- the recipient and deliverer of a thousand little kindnesses. These are the first murders to hit Brainerd in years, and she sets herself the task of finding out who is responsible -- a search that leads her straight to Minneapolis and the car dealership...

 

Evil isn't always brilliant. In the case of Jerry Lundegaard (the salesman), it's completely dunderheaded. Some of the things he imagines he will get away with are transparent to cursory examination, and it's not just a small-town police force that's closing in on him. And those frauds, when they spiral out of control, end up affecting everyone he pretends to care for. It's a perfect contrast to Marge, a genuinely good person looking for ways to help out in a situation where she should be in over her head -- yet strangely isn't.

 

The Coen Brothers made many good films, which can also compete for positions on this list (I need to see No Country for Old Men someday), but this is the one that stands out for it's depiction of how the struggle between Good and Evil is always with us, and that being a good person can be rewarded many times over without reward even being sought.

[Lord Liaden]

On 10/16/2019 at 5:22 PM, death tribble said:

Them! This is a 1954 science fiction film where radiation leads to giant ants. The pulsating high pitched sound you hear when the ants are around still gives me the creeps every time I see the film. Part of a wave of classic science fiction from the 1950s (The Thing from Another World, Forbidden Planet, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Day the Earth Stood Still, It Came From Beneath the Sea, Quatermass, Quatermass 2, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, This Island Earth and War of the Worlds amongst them). 

 

https://archive.org/details/THEM1952

[death tribble]

King Kong (1933)

 

Without this monster movie there might not have been other ones.

A filmmaker goes to the mysterious Skull Island and finds a giant gorilla who he captures and brings to New York to exhibit. Kong escapes and goes on the rampage in New York before succumbing to gunfire from airplanes and falls to his death from the top of the Empire State Building. The only person most of the public know in the cast is Fay Wray. It is interesting watching the video version rather than the censored version you get on TV as Kong eats people, strips Wray and when in New York casually tosses aside women who are not Wray to their deaths. The film has stop motion from Willis O'Brien and he manages to generate real pathos as Kong is dying and losing the girl to the hero.   

[Scott Ruggels]

Zulu A 1964 British film about the action the day after their defeat at Isandlwana by the Zulus under King Cetwayo in 1879. A perennial attraction at Bay Area gaming cons for more than a decade, the film was a great illustration of a defensive action, against a larger, superior force.  Great acting by a young Michael Caine, and a standout performance by Nigel Greene as Colour Sergeant Bourne.

[Sundog]

The Andromeda Strain - Original 1971 version. The remake miniseries has some good aspects, but is inferior.

 

A US military satellite goes off course and crashes near the town of Piedmont, New Mexico, which then goes dark. Suspecting a biological hazard, a team of scientists is assembled at an underground facility to study the organism and incident, but human nature, bureaucracy and agendas prove as dangerous as the extraterrestrial visitor...

 

The first half of the movie, showing the examination of Piedmont and descent of the team into the WILDFIRE facility yields fantastic visual flavour and unusual choices of cinematography, while the second is more of a tense detective work/biological procedural and race against time. Notably, this is the most true to the book of any movie adaptation I know of.

[mattingly]

20 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

Them! This is a 1954 science fiction film where radiation leads to giant ants. The pulsating high pitched sound you hear when the ants are around still gives me the creeps every time I see the film.

https://archive.org/details/THEM1952

 

Have you seen the recent sequel, It Came From The Desert? Fairly good, apart from the idiots.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxTIiUwTEMc

 

 

[Dr. MID-Nite]

Galaxy Quest. It's everything a good spoof should be. Alan Rickman steals the show, but not without some competition. Great all around.

[Lord Liaden]

4 hours ago, mattingly said:

 

Have you seen the recent sequel, It Came From The Desert? Fairly good, apart from the idiots.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxTIiUwTEMc

 

 

 

One of the comments summed up my reaction to that trailer: "Eight-Legged Freaks: Ant Edition."

[death tribble]

Please could everyone who is putting down single sentences for a film or show be more expansive ? Assume no-one else has seen said film and you want them to.

Thanks.

[death tribble]

Silence of the Lambs (1991).

An FBI student is asked to assist the Behavioural Unit of the FBI by interviewing a convicted murderer and cannibal. This leads her into an enquiry concerning a serial killer who is abducting larger sized girls before killing them and mutilating their bodies in an odd way. The student has to go back and see the cannibal several times before other forces intervene and the hunt for the serial killer gets closer. This film won the top five Oscars for Best Film, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Actor and Actress. Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster give outstanding performances and the film is very faithful to the book. Foster was very keen to have the FBI shown in a good light after the help they had given her earlier in her life. the film is not gratuitous although it is violent.

[csyphrett]

2 hours ago, death tribble said:

Silence of the Lambs (1991).

An FBI student is asked to assist the Behavioural Unit of the FBI by interviewing a convicted murderer and cannibal. This leads her into an enquiry concerning a serial killer who is abducting larger sized girls before killing them and mutilating their bodies in an odd way. The student has to go back and see the cannibal several times before other forces intervene and the hunt for the serial killer gets closer. This film won the top five Oscars for Best Film, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Actor and Actress. Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster give outstanding performances and the film is very faithful to the book. Foster was very keen to have the FBI shown in a good light after the help they had given her earlier in her life. the film is not gratuitous although it is violent.

The best part about this movie was the end where Lector said he was having a friend for dinner. You can see the asylum director walking away from him without noticing who is on the phone

CES

[death tribble]

Ice Station Zebra 1968.

An American submarine is tasked with getting to a British station which was hit by a fire in the Arctic. A storm is isolating it so a submarine is the best chance they have for help. The submarine has to transport US Marines plus two spooks and the recently arrived Marine captain.  Various incidents plague the journey until the group head off across the ice towards the station. Although this is tentatively a rescue mission a satellite landed close by and both the Americans and Russians want it as it has been photographing missile sites in both countries. The weather clears and the Russians send in paratroopers leading to a tense stand off.  Stand out performances by Rock Hudson, Patrick McGoohan and Ernest Borgnine.

[csyphrett]

8 hours ago, death tribble said:

Ice Station Zebra 1968.

An American submarine is tasked with getting to a British station which was hit by a fire in the Arctic. A storm is isolating it so a submarine is the best chance they have for help. The submarine has to transport US Marines plus two spooks and the recently arrived Marine captain.  Various incidents plague the journey until the group head off across the ice towards the station. Although this is tentatively a rescue mission a satellite landed close by and both the Americans and Russians want it as it has been photographing missile sites in both countries. The weather clears and the Russians send in paratroopers leading to a tense stand off.  Stand out performances by Rock Hudson, Patrick McGoohan and Ernest Borgnine.

One of the adaptions of Alistair McClean. Those were some good books and some good movies. There were spies and moles everywhere, fast plots, and smart heroes.

 

The Guns of Navarone, Force Ten From Navarone, Where Eagles Dare, The Satan Bug, Breakheart Pass were all adaptions of his novels. The weakest was the Satan Bug, but they were good movie adaptions too.

 

The Guns of Navarone had Gregory Peck leading a team into the Med to stop giant cannons from firing on the fleet that was sailing to back the invasion of Europe.

 

Force Ten had Harrison Ford and Robert Shaw trying to figure out who was leaking information in the Greek Resistance while trying to blow up a dam.

 

Where Eagles Dare has Clint Eastwood as a clueless lieutenant ordered to help Richard Burton's Major infiltrate a mountain fortress, but that's not what the plot is really about.

 

The Satan Bug has someone steal a biological weapon and the efforts of the government to get it back before it can be sold or used.

 

Breakheart Pass has Charles Bronson posing as a criminal being transported on an army train with a hidden mastermind onboard willing to kill anyone in his way.

 

I think MacClean died and his estate or his publisher commissioned books based on his old plots but I didn't pick them up. Essentially the same as Robert Ludlum, and now Tom Clancy.

CES   

[Cassandra]

The Cheap Detective (1978)

 

Peter Falk plays a Private Eye in Neil Simon's send up of The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca.  The cast is great with John Houseman, Abe Vigoda, Madeline Kahn, Vic Tayback, Marsha Mason, and Ann-Margret.

[mattingly]

Was that a sequel/spinoff or otherwise related to his character in Murder by Death?

 

[Tjack]

34 minutes ago, mattingly said:

Was that a sequel/spinoff or otherwise related to his character in Murder by Death?

 

   Not directly. But certainly in the same vein.