BellaOnline Forums TV and Movies Mystery Movies What Movie Did You See Yesterday?

Last night it was Singin' in the Rain (1952), starring Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, Donald O'Connor and Jean Hagen.

Some of the musical numbers get a bit too surreal for me, but on the whole it's a movie I enjoy. There are some very funny scenes involving the tricky transition from silent movies to talkies. I think Jean Hagen is brilliant as the good looking - but vocally awful - actress Lina Lamont.

Yesterday I watched Laura, a movie I previously reviewed on the Mystery Movies site.

The 1944 movie stars Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews and Vincent Price, plus several more well known actors of the day.

I've seen Laura quite a few times before, but it's always worth catching again.

Yesterday I fancied a bit of undemanding afternoon telly, so tuned into the Hallmark Movie channel to watch The Edge of the Garden (2011) starring Rob Estes and Sarah Mannian.

I do enjoy a timeslip story, and in this movie Brian,the present day owner of a rural New England cottage, interacts with Norah, who lived there fifty years ago.

Not every loose end was tied up, and the present day resolution was a bit predictable, but it was a nice, enjoyable story.

I watched Galaxy Quest (1999) yesterday, a sci-fi adventure comedy starring Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman and Tony Shalhoub.

I just love this movie. The way it gently spoofs Star Trek is very funny, quite apart from its own story of aliens who think a TV show is reality.

I met Alan Rickman once - although 'met' is not quite the right word. I knew a photographer who had been asked to take a picture of him before the opening of a theatre production, and knowing I was a fan of his she let me tag along to carry her bags. Alan Rickman said nothing when we were introduced, just set off walking across the stage. We ran after him and my friend asked if he would like his picture taken now or later. He stopped to think for a moment, then put one foot up on a chair, struck a pose and said 'Now'. That was the only word he spoke. After the photo was taken he just walked away.

I still like him in this movie though!

I watched The Stepfather (2009) yesterday, starring Dylan Walsh, Sela Ward, Penn Badgley and Amber Heard.

It was billed as a crime mystery, but there's really nothing mysterious about it; you know who the sociopath is right from the first scene - the stepfather of the title. This is a remake of the 1987 movie starring Terry O'Quinn, who usually does a nice line in sociopaths.

Not a brilliant movie, not bad though.

But why do characters never do the obviously sensible thing? If you thought your good friend was living with a sociopathic murderer, would you drop her a voicemail or email saying you planned to get the guy checked out, or would you just get the guy checked out?

Yesterday morning I watched Village of the Damned (1961), on the TCM channel. It stars George Sanders, Barbara Shelley and Michael Gwynn, and is based on the novel The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham.

This version is very true to the novel; there was a later version starring Christopher Reeve that I didn't like so much as it made too many changes to the story.

Yesterday I watched The Prize (1963) starring Paul Newman, Edward G Robinson, Elke Sommer and Diane Baker.

The plot is pretty good - Nobel prizewinner is abducted and replaced by a lookalike - and the acting is fine, but I don't much care for the comedic elements that crop up so often in 1960s movies. It seems like everything has to be at least partly a 'caper' movie - even thrillers.

But The Prize is quite fun to watch.

I watched The Uninvited yesterday. Not the excellent 1944 movie previously reviewed on the Mystery Movies site, but a 2009 horror mystery starring Emily Browning, Elizabeth Banks, David Strathairn and Arielle Kebbel.

It's a psychological thriller with suggestions of a supernatural element. I thought it was worth watching, although the action moved very, very slowly and I found that the running time dragged a bit.

Yesterday I watched It Happened One Night (1934) starring Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable.

This was the movie that influenced men's attitude to their intimate garments forever. The shocking (for the time) scene in which Clark Gable removed his shirt to reveal ..... nothing but his manly chest, had men in droves throwing away their undershirts!

The Love Letter (1998) starring Campbell Scott and Jennifer Jason Leigh, and based on a short story of the same title by Jack Finney.

Another time slip story - I do like 'em - in which a present day man buys an antique desk that enables him to exchange letters with a woman living over a century ago. There's romance and heartbreak and American Civil War drama. Lovely movie.