Jump to content
GreaseSpot Cafe

Movie Mash-Up


Recommended Posts

Umm...no, although Gielgud was considered for the role.  You had it before you shifted to Welles.

In his autobiography, one of the stars said of his Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination and win that "my first reaction was one of incredulity and vague pleasure, followed by a sense of embarrassment at the realization that for most actors of my age, an Academy Award or even a nomination comes as the hard-earned culmination of a long and dedicated career; mine was the reward for ten agreeable days spent with a friend in Toronto!"

The same actor is also known for commercials portraying a very similar character.  These commercials were often lampooned, exaggerating the actor's elite air.  Most people don't realize that this movie was only his second theatrical movie.  (He had many, subsequently.)

Harvard University allowed this production only three days of filming on their campus. The administration had been very dissatisfied with Love Story (1970), which had been filmed there. As such, most of the campus scenes were shot at the University of Toronto.

A TV series of the same name ran four seasons, starring the same actor.

George

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, WordWolf said:

OK, John Houseman, then. What the heck was he in, besides the commercials?

Oh, wait, you just wanted the actor's name. Cool.

No, I want the movie (or the TV show).  Houseman was one of the stars.

George

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like to point out sometimes what Regis Philbin used to say- "It's only easy if you know the answer." When it comes to movies, we each have our own favorites and movies we've seen- and some of those may be remarkably obscure. My favorite of the truly obscure movies was filmed in France (AFAIK), and was filmed in French. (I watched it with subtitles.) The movie takes place in France in the past, and plays with a local legend most non-French would not know. One advantage to watching the movie with the original audio is getting the nuances. In one scene, a veteran soldier appears. He's lost his right hand in a war, and now has to rely on using his left hand for everything. (He has a special pistol that's been constructed to wrap around his left forearm so he can fire one-handed.)  He gets drunk and rude. When someone does the inevitable and starts to rein him in, he withdraws, but first he asks if he was being "gauche."  In English, that means rude, oafish, but in French, it also means left-handed or the left-hand (a parrying dagger for the left hand to accompany your right-handed rapier is called a "main-gauche".)   OK, the relevance of this movie here is that, early in the movie, the filmmakers could not resist making a nod to something as a bit of an inside joke.  If you're looking for that sort of thing, it's easy to spot, but if you're focusing on a serious movie, the reference can go unnoticed-and probably does for most people.

That movie aside, other movies have focused entirely on that which the nod, the reference, was referring.  It's an old story, one that has had versions in the US, in Europe, and more modified forms in Asia.  At least one song has been released- and covered- that was based on that old story.  At least one part game is loosely based, or inspired by, that story. 

As for the movie in question (FINALLY WE GET TO THE MOVIE!), it came out in the current century.  Most of the cast are not that well known, but among those that are is Gary Oldman.  (Looking up his filmology is cheating...)  One user review claims the movie tries to be a number of things, but fails at all of them. It makes a nod at trying to pick up the fans of the "Twilight" movies, but not much of one, mainly putting in a love triangle. It tries to be a sexier take on the old story, but doesn't ever seem to get sexy. It tries to be a horror film, but, again, it never seems to get there.  The characters are uninteresting and dull, the sets are obviously soundstages when location shooting would have enhanced the atmosphere.    Worse, an 80s film already covered some of this ground.  While it wasn't great, it succeeded at being what it tried to be, which was SOME of these things, not ALL of these things. The movie in question tried to be ALL of these things at the same time, and ended up being NONE of these things.

So, which movie was this?

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Human without the bean said:

How about the one Gary Oldman plays Sid Vicious, Sex Pistol guy?  Syd & Nancy?

No.

Supposing the movie actually has both a love triangle and horror scenes, what "old story" would possibly have anything to do with it?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like to point out sometimes what Regis Philbin used to say- "It's only easy if you know the answer." When it comes to movies, we each have our own favorites and movies we've seen- and some of those may be remarkably obscure. My favorite of the truly obscure movies was filmed in France (AFAIK), and was filmed in French. (I watched it with subtitles.) The movie takes place in France in the past, and plays with a local legend most non-French would not know. One advantage to watching the movie with the original audio is getting the nuances. In one scene, a veteran soldier appears. He's lost his right hand in a war, and now has to rely on using his left hand for everything. (He has a special pistol that's been constructed to wrap around his left forearm so he can fire one-handed.)  He gets drunk and rude. When someone does the inevitable and starts to rein him in, he withdraws, but first he asks if he was being "gauche."  In English, that means rude, oafish, but in French, it also means left-handed or the left-hand (a parrying dagger for the left hand to accompany your right-handed rapier is called a "main-gauche".)   OK, the relevance of this movie here is that, early in the movie, the filmmakers could not resist making a nod to something as a bit of an inside joke.  If you're looking for that sort of thing, it's easy to spot, but if you're focusing on a serious movie, the reference can go unnoticed-and probably does for most people.

That movie aside, other movies have focused entirely on that which the nod, the reference, was referring.  It's an old story, an incredibly famous story, one that has had versions in the US, in Europe, and more modified forms in Asia.  At least one song has been released- and covered- that was based on that old story.  At least one party game is loosely based, or inspired by, that story.  The movie in question is one of them, of course.

As for the movie in question (FINALLY WE GET TO THE MOVIE!), it came out in the current century.  Most of the cast are not that well known, but among those that are is Gary Oldman.  (Looking up his filmology is cheating...)  One user review claims the movie tries to be a number of things, but fails at all of them. It makes a nod at trying to pick up the fans of the "Twilight" movies, but not much of one, mainly putting in a love triangle. It tries to be a sexier take on the old story, but doesn't ever seem to get sexy. It tries to be a horror film, but, again, it never seems to get there.  The characters are uninteresting and dull, the sets are obviously soundstages when location shooting would have enhanced the atmosphere.    Worse, an 80s film already covered some of this ground.  While it wasn't great, it succeeded at being what it tried to be, which was SOME of these things, not ALL of these things. The movie in question tried to be ALL of these things at the same time, and ended up being NONE of these things.  The movie in question has a name that makes it very obvious which story it's based on, as any U.S. child should be able to tell you.

So, which movie was this?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No idea.  Movies that were funny, about a vampire, and involving a love triangle could include "Once Bitten," "Love at First Bite," and "Dracula, Dead and Loving It"; but all of those were pre-2000. (And they were all pretty funny, but not horrifying.)

This is probably one of these:  :doh: But I'm not seeing it now.

George

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, GeorgeStGeorge said:

No idea.  Movies that were funny, about a vampire, and involving a love triangle could include "Once Bitten," "Love at First Bite," and "Dracula, Dead and Loving It"; but all of those were pre-2000. (And they were all pretty funny, but not horrifying.)

This is probably one of these:  :doh: But I'm not seeing it now.

George

I mentioned they included a love triangle.  I said nothing about the movie either including a vampire or being any kind of comedy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like to point out sometimes what Regis Philbin used to say- "It's only easy if you know the answer." When it comes to movies, we each have our own favorites and movies we've seen- and some of those may be remarkably obscure. My favorite of the truly obscure movies was filmed in France (AFAIK), and was filmed in French. (I watched it with subtitles.) The movie takes place in France in the past, and plays with a local legend most non-French would not know. One advantage to watching the movie with the original audio is getting the nuances. In one scene, a veteran soldier appears. He's lost his right hand in a war, and now has to rely on using his left hand for everything. (He has a special pistol that's been constructed to wrap around his left forearm so he can fire one-handed.)  He gets drunk and rude. When someone does the inevitable and starts to rein him in, he withdraws, but first he asks if he was being "gauche."  In English, that means rude, oafish, but in French, it also means left-handed or the left-hand (a parrying dagger for the left hand to accompany your right-handed rapier is called a "main-gauche".)   OK, the relevance of this movie here is that, early in the movie, the filmmakers could not resist making a nod to something as a bit of an inside joke.  If you're looking for that sort of thing, it's easy to spot, but if you're focusing on a serious movie, the reference can go unnoticed-and probably does for most people.

That movie aside, other movies have focused entirely on that which the nod, the reference, was referring.  It's an old story, an incredibly famous story, one that has had versions in the US, in Europe, and more modified forms in Asia.  At least one song has been released- and covered- that was based on that old story.  At least one party game is loosely based, or inspired by, that story.  The movie in question is one of them, of course.

As for the movie in question (FINALLY WE GET TO THE MOVIE!), it came out in the current century.  Most of the cast are not that well known, but among those that are is Gary Oldman.  (Looking up his filmology is cheating...)  One user review claims the movie tries to be a number of things, but fails at all of them. It makes a nod at trying to pick up the fans of the "Twilight" movies, but not much of one, mainly putting in a love triangle. It tries to be a sexier take on the old story, but doesn't ever seem to get sexy. It tries to be a horror film, but, again, it never seems to get there.  The characters are uninteresting and dull, the sets are obviously soundstages when location shooting would have enhanced the atmosphere.    Worse, an 80s film already covered some of this ground.  While it wasn't great, it succeeded at being what it tried to be, which was SOME of these things, not ALL of these things. The movie in question tried to be ALL of these things at the same time, and ended up being NONE of these things.  The movie in question has a name that makes it very obvious which story it's based on, as any U.S. child should be able to tell you.

For the curious, the same old story was the idea behind 3 other movies (no kidding, 3 of them.)  In fairness, I'd heard of one of those (for some value of "movie.")  The titles of all 3 make a nod to it, as does the movie in question.  The other one I'd heard of has a slightly less obvious nod in the title, but the connections are obvious in the "movie" itself. That one has a release date of 2010.   The other 2 I'd never heard of until just now. One came out in 2003 and the other came out in 2016. The 2003 movie seems to have been a little European flick that got decent reviews despite its low budget (and, apparently, lack of marketing to the Western Hemisphere.)  The 2016 film seems to have been made in the US on a tiny budget, and apparently looks like a film made by a film student who was bad at it.  Despite similarities in the titles,  those aren't the movie in question. The movie in question had lots of marketing,  had at least a few recognizable movie stars. None of them, as far as I can tell, are known for making any Marvel movies like "the Avengers" or anything,  not even the eponymous character. (Although I suppose, some lawyer somewhere might argue that this movie's title does not refer to a character, they would be wrong, as any kid in the US could tell you.)

So, which movie was this?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I presume Raf's and your latest post include subtle clues, too; but I'm still not getting it.  Hating oneself in the morning could refer to a werewolf, but I can't think of any 21st century movies about one.  "Taking a powder" and hating oneself in the morning could be Jekyll and Hyde, but I still come up goose eggs.  The "US kids" clue isn't helping, either.

George

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, GeorgeStGeorge said:

I presume Raf's and your latest post include subtle clues, too; but I'm still not getting it.  Hating oneself in the morning could refer to a werewolf, but I can't think of any 21st century movies about one.  "Taking a powder" and hating oneself in the morning could be Jekyll and Hyde, but I still come up goose eggs.  The "US kids" clue isn't helping, either.

George

Raf directly quoted something that was not the movie- but it also reference the old story.  I replied with a reference to the same thing.

BTW, had it been a reference to a werewolf, there's been a bunch of movies since the turn of the century about werewolves, not the least of which was Benicio del Toro in the remake of the old Universal one with Lon Chaney Jr.

I keep mentioning that little kids in the US all grow up learning the old story upon which these movies draw. It's not obscure, we ALL know about this old story.  I'm not sure about kids who grew up in other countries.  If you figure out the old story, you should be able to figure out the answer.  And my reference to actors eliminated one possibility of a movie, which eliminated one old story as the possibility.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm sure you're both being very clever, but I'm still not getting it.  If "George" is a clue, then it could be George of the Jungle, but that wasn't a horror film.  Something about St. George COULD be, but not all US kids (these days) would know who that is.

George

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"I'm sure you're both being very clever, but I'm still not getting it."

We agree.

"If "George" is a clue, then it could be George of the Jungle, but that wasn't a horror film."

You found the only part of that post that was NOT a clue, and went looking for the relevance as a clue. "George" is you, so it was addressed to you.  The rest of it was all one clue.  And this COULD have been a horror film, especially considering the story upon which it was based.  But they chose not to go there enough for the movie to qualify.

 

"Something about St. George COULD be, but not all US kids (these days) would know who that is."

 

OK, there's only so many OLD STORIES that all kids would know, would learn.  Even fewer have inspired stories that became movies.  Two did- and were eliminated as suspects because of the actors who were in them.  (So, it was not "Hansel and Gretel- Witch Hunters" because Jeremy "Hawkeye" Renner was in it. "Snow White and the Huntsman" was not it either because Chris "Thor" Hemsworth was in it.)   What stories are LEFT?  I guarantee you know the song that was inspired by the story. You've seen cartoons inspired by the story- at least one of them with Bugs Bunny.  Figure out which story, then you should have no trouble getting the movie. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...