Which Film(s) Have You Seen Recently?

[Fiona1986]

I just watched Brigadoon for the first time. To me it's famous for being the film which siphoned money from the production of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, and yet was a box-office failure. Having watched it I can see why!

What's funny is that despite increasing their budget at Seven Brides' expense, they still filmed it on a studio backlot with painted backdrops. They had visited Scotland to see about filming on-location but decided the weather was too temperamental (I'd have to agree... ). Then they were going to film on location in some part of America that apparently looked Scottish-ish enough, but ended up on the backlot.

Anyway, the accents were pretty dire, and as Fred Astaire was a dancer there's more dancing than singing. None of the songs have really stuck with me, and the plot was pretty thin as well.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers was on TV at least once a year when I was growing up, and I thoroughly enjoyed it every time. I've never seen Brigadoon, which suggests it hasn't had as many outings!

[Fiona1986]

We recorded Seven Brides for Seven Brothers onto a tape and watched it a lot when we were kids. I recall my mum cut out the piece in the Radio Times with the 'blurb' and the cast and stuck it on the side of the tape's cardboard sleeve.

Along with The Sound of Music it was one of our favourite films. My sister and I would dress up (in old bridesmaids' dresses) and act out various scenes from the movie. Kind of hard with only two of us but we did our best

[Anita Bensoussane]

Sounds fun, Fiona! My sister and I also acted out films/TV series/books between us, including Famous Five stories. My own children used to act out scenes from The Lion King, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Matilda, among others.

I eventually got round to watching Scream (1996) but I'm afraid the relentless self-conscious parodying prevented me feeling even the tiniest bit scared! Maybe it was meant to be more of a comedy, but I only found it mildly amusing.

A little while ago I also watched Firestarter (1984) but it was chronic! Some parts made me laugh (I'm not sure they were supposed to be funny!) while other scenes were creepy, but not always for the right reasons.

[Boodi 2]

With regard to Brigadoon, I watched it with my parents and grandmother when I was little, but have absolutely no memory of it apart from the name, hence it does not surprise me that it was a box-office failure! Oddly enough I have never seen "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers"!

[Boatbuilder]

I don't recall ever watching Brigadoon, but I do remember my parents taking me to see Seven Brides for Seven Brothers - probably around 1955 or so.

[Bertie]

I love music, and enjoy films, but I'm really not a fan of musical films so I haven't watched either of those films voluntarily - although I do remember sitting through some of Brigadoon when I was much younger and really not liking it!

On a more upbeat note, I re-watched one of my favourite films last night: Sneakers. A fantastic thriller from the early 90's with a great cast - Robert Redford, Dan Aykroyd, Ben Kingsley... It's right up there with the likes of The Fugitive in my list of all time favourite films.

[Stephen]

I recently watched Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory starring Gene Wilder. And while it's a great piece of entertainment in its own right (I thought David Battley's Mr Turkentine was hilarious), it got me thinking back to when I first saw it in the 80s. This is possibly the first time (or perhaps second if you include The Island of Adventure) in which I thought "Well, it's not AS good as the book..." Charlie and Grandpa Joe in particular were nothing like the characters I had envisaged in my mind. I hadn't even read the book, but my teacher had narrated it in class.

[Chrissie777]

Recently re-watched Catch Me If You Can, a very good film with Tom Hanks and Leonardo DiCaprio that I'd seen before a number of years ago. Roughly remembered how it all went but still thoroughly enjoyed it.

We enjoyed it, too. It must have been the last good DiCaprio film.
I stopped watching his movies after "Shutter Island". Then a few years after that somebody came up with the crazy idea to film "The Great Gatsby" with Leonardo DiCaprio in Australia (???). The F. Scott Fitzgerald story takes place on Long Island, New York, and should have been filmed there.
I doubt very much that ca. 100 plane tickets for Quantas for the entire film crew are still cheaper than getting B & B's for the crew on Long Island.

[Chrissie777]

It's interesting to hear that Anne LaBastille was inspired by Thoreau.

Are the Woodwoman books by Anne LaBastille popular in the UK as well?
Over here in the US they have been bestsellers for 50+ years.

[Chrissie777]

Taking advantage of our local Odeon's 'seats for a fiver' offer, we went to see the new Poirot film, A Haunting in Venice. What utter tosh. Nothing to do with the book, a parody of Christie's work. And in spite of Poirot being a 'good Catholic', in Venice he is an agnostic.

Spectator review

Nigel, we watched it at the movie theatre about 2 weeks ago and were also disappointed. The only pleasant scenes were the views on Venice.

[Anita Bensoussane]

I don't know whether Anne LaBastille's books are widely known here, Chrissie. I haven't heard anyone mention them.

[Chrissie777]

Just re-watched You've Got Mail, one of my favourite Tom Hanks film (and he and Meg Ryan are great together in a few films).

I love that movie and some 20 years ago I to all the movie locations in NYC like Café Lalo which has more than 20 different kinds of chocolate cake and the cheese shop.

[Chrissie777]

Taking advantage of our local Odeon's 'seats for a fiver' offer, we went to see the new Poirot film, A Haunting in Venice. What utter tosh. Nothing to do with the book, a parody of Christie's work. And in spite of Poirot being a 'good Catholic', in Venice he is an agnostic.

Spectator review

Now that we are retired, we would LOVE to go every month twice or three times to the movies. However, nothing special is produced. It's either dystopian movies or animation or coming of age movies for teenagers.
There are thousands of good novels out there which still have not been filmed.
Instead they film the same/similar topic over and over again (like a few years ago when every other film was on spies).

[Bertie]

After a rare burst of film watching for a few months, I've slowed down over the last month. I'm trying to remember which I've watched during that time? Not many new ones anyway. I re-watched some old favourites, such as The Lavender Hill Mob and The Ladykillers (Alec Guinness), Father of the Bride (Steve Martin version) and Ghost. I also re-watched a couple of the Brat Pack films, St Elmo's Fire and The Breakfast Club.