GBGoodies 2015 Movie Logbook

Foreign Correspondent (1940) - I watched this movie for the 6th Hall of Fame. It's one of the few Alfred Hitchcock movies that I hadn't already seen.

This is a good movie, but it's far from my favorite Hitchcock film. It has all the elements of a great spy thriller, but it feels kind of dated. Plus the kidnapping part makes for a great storyline, but the reason behind it makes no sense. Why would there be a "secret clause" in a peace treaty? If nobody knew about it, how would a "secret clause" benefit anyone? What's the point of it?

The movie had some suspenseful moments, but the most exciting part was the ending. And the acting was good, but there wasn't much chemistry between Joel McCrea and Laraine Day.

Attachments

 

I've only seen it once, but I was really underwhelmed by Before The Devil Knows You're Dead. It's well acted, but I didn't think much of it in any other way.

__________________
5-time MoFo Award winner.

It's almost embarrassingly overwrought although not a complete disaster.

__________________
It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page

I liked the story in Before The Devil Knows You're Dead because of the way it put the family members against each other more and more as the story went on. I think another reason I liked it is because it wasn't nearly as violent as I expected.

I'd like to see a version of this movie edited into chronological order. I don't think this needed to be shown out of order like it was, and if it had to be done like that, it should have started with the last scene with Andy and his father, and gone to flashbacks from there. That was a much more powerful scene, and it would have piqued my curiosity more about what caused it than the first one with the robbery gone bad.

Oh I missed this the other day. This is one of my Top 10 movies! You're right it's dark and gloomy. I thought it was one of Orson's best acting roles as his theatrical acting style went well with the troubled, almost abusive Rochester. I thought the young girl (Peggy Ann Garner) who played Jane Eyre as a child was especially good.

I've seen many different version of Jane Eyre, it's a great story. I've never read the book though.

Where Love Has Gone is an over-the-top potboiler which, if caught in the right mood, could produce unintentional giggles. Apparently Davis and Hayward did not get along at all during production. Davis was quoted as saying the only reason she agreed to do the film was to pay for her daughter's wedding.

I seen Where Love Has Gone and over the top is right. So silly it's fun.Sort of like a soap opera. It's note worthy as a young Joey Hearthton's first big role.

I think you recommended Jane Eyre to me a while back, but I never got a chance to watch it. It's been on my watchlist for a long time, so when I saw it listed on cable, I made sure to DVR it.

I agree about Peggy Ann Garner. I thought she did a great job.

Unfortunately Where Love Has Gone isn't very memorable, and the only reason any of the stars probably did the movie was for the money.




In addition to young Joey Hearthton's first role, it also has DeForest Kelley in a pre-Star Trek role. I loved him in Star Trek, but he wasn't nearly as good in this movie.

Oh yah, I forgot about that. I've seen DeForest in a few movies. I haven't seen him in a really stand out movie role. Though I haven't seen that many of his movies. I think he was known for doing westerns?

I haven't seen many of De Kelley's movies either, but yes, he was known for a bunch of westerns early in his career.

When I met Allan Asherman (the writer of the "Star Trek Compendium") many years ago, he showed me some unreleased photos of De Kelley as Dr. McCoy holding guns. The pics were probably from the episode "Spectre of the Gun", but I had never seen them before, so it was pretty cool to see them. He told me that when he wrote the book, Paramount gave him permission to look at a lot of unreleased stuff.

Very cool! Spectre of the Gun was always one of my favorites, especially when I was a kid.

The Man from Earth (2007) - I watched this movie for the 6th Hall of Fame. It was my nomination, so obviously I love this movie.

One of the things that I love about this movie is it's simplicity. There are no action scenes at all. No car chases, no fight scenes, no shootings, etc. Just a bunch of people talking about whether or not a person could be 14,000 years old.

I first watched this movie last year, and I was hooked within the first few minutes. I'm not a religious person, but I even liked the religious side of this movie, and the ending is fantastic. It's the kind of movie that had me thinking about it long after the credits finished. The acting isn't the best, but that didn't matter to me because the subject was fascinating.

The story was written by Jerome Bixby, who is best known for writing the original "Twilight Zone" episode "It's a Good Life" with little Billy Mumy wishing things into the cornfield, and several original "Star Trek" episodes, including "Mirror, Mirror", which is always on the ten best Trek episodes lists, and "Requiem for Methuselah", which is a very similar story to this movie.

If you can look past the mediocre acting in this movie, this is an intelligent movie that will stick in your mind long after it's over.

Attachments

 

And that says a lot!......So many films that I watch are forgotten the next day. You know you might like The One I Love. I'm not saying it's the same type of film, but it did make me think.

My watchlist is a bit full right now between the 6th HoF, the 1960s list, the challenges, and re-watching a few more movies for the Noir HoF, but I'll add The One I Love to my watchlist for later.

Frequency (2000) - It was hubby's turn to pick a movie, and he chose this. We've seen it before, but not recently, so he wanted to see it again.

This is one of my favorite sci-fi movies. It's a crime drama, a thriller, and a time-travel movie, with some humor, a little romance, and it even has a backstory about the 1969 World Series Champion New York Mets. What more could you ask for in a movie?

Dennis Quaid and Jim Caviezel are perfect as father and son. I had no idea who Jim Caviezel was before the first time I saw this movie, but I've seen him in a few things since then, (most notably the TV series "Person of Interest"), and I've become a big fan of his.

This is a fantastic movie with a great story, good special effects, and a great ending. I highly recommend this movie.

Attachments

 

Frequency is a fantastic hidden gem.

I think you liked Before the Devil Knows You're Dead as much as I could've hoped. Hoffman's character was actually the one that I did relate to, although I'm hoping not as much when I watch it again soon.

The Sweet Hereafter (1997) - I watched this movie for the 6th Hall of Fame.

Overall, this was a very good movie, but I didn't really like the ending. Without giving away spoilers, I thought the ending was very selfish, and it left me feeling empty after the credits rolled.

The acting was great, especially Ian Holm as the lawyer. At first, I thought he was just a heartless lawyer who was just in it for the money, but as the story progressed, I realized that this was a way for him to help other families who lost their children, because he couldn't reconnect with his own daughter.

It took me a while to understand how the scenes with the girl reading the Pied Piper story to the kids played into it, until I realized that those scenes were flashbacks, and it was the girl who was injured in the bus accident. Then those scenes made more sense, but I thought the flashbacks were a bit confusing at times.

This is a very sad movie that's kind of hard to watch because there are very few happy scenes, but it's definitely worth watching.

Attachments

 

This Boy's Life (1993) - I watched this movie for the 6th Hall of Fame.

The acting in this movie was great, so it's easy to see why Leonardo DiCaprio became such a huge star, but I've never been a big fan of Robert De Niro, so I don't think I liked this anywhere near as much as most people will like it. It's an interesting story, but none of the characters are likable. As much as I wanted to root for DiCaprio's character to get away from there, and out of De Niro's character's house, at the same time, I didn't really care if he didn't get out. It was kind of the feeling of, if his mother didn't care enough to get him out of there, then why should I care?

I'm not saying that this is a bad movie. It actually held my attention throughout the movie, but I just didn't care what happened at the end. The only thing that I cared about was whether or not De Niro's character would get what he deserved. I didn't care what happened to DiCaprio's character and his mother.

For the most part, I found this movie kind of disturbing, and hard to watch, but I think most people won't agree with me on this one.

Attachments