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

Introducing a new, sticky topic on the Mystery Movie forum - and it could run and run!

What movie did you see yesterday?

Whether you loved it or hated it, share it with us here. It doesn't have to be a mystery movie - although mysteries are always welcome.

I'll start the ball rolling with -

The Ladykillers (1955) starring Alec Guinness. I've loved this comedy for years and years, and it never loses its charm.

Happy viewing.

Yesterday it was Calamity Jane (1953), aired by TCM in honor of Doris Day's 90th birthday, starring Doris along with Howard Keel and Allyn Ann McLerie.

Lots of fun and great songs.

I watched Rock of Ages. That show has so many unknowns in it and they are just fabulous. Along with the greats of course! A very entertaining movie. They play and sing and dance to most genres. It's Fab!

I actually watched Jack Reacher yesterday and for the third time. It really is true that if you watch a movie more than once, chances are you will see something that you didn't see the first time. It is a fun movie so it can be watched more than once and watching it for the third time, I noticed stuff that I didn't the first two times I saw it. Then I wondered how the heck I had missed that stuff the other times around.

I will probably watch it again next week too.

I started watching Contagion (2011) last night but couldn't stay with it.

Usually these 'race against time to find cure for deadly virus' movies are quite fun, but this one took itself way too seriously. I think the director (Steven Soderbergh) was going for a documentary/naturalistic style, but for 'naturalistic' read 'lots of scenes take place in near total darkness and the actors mumble a lot.'

One reason I like classic movies so much is that they mostly stick with the Noel Coward acting technique of "speak up and don't bump into the furniture".

Stars Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne (both of whom I like a lot in other things), Marion Cotillard and several other well-knowns.

Yesterday I watched Witness for the Prosecution (1957), starring Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich and Charles Laughton.

It's a murder mystery based on an Agatha Christie play, so a double whammy for me! Most people probably know the plot and the ending, but it's still well worth seeing.

I watched on the TCM channel, but it's also available on Amazon Instant Video and Netflix.

Is this the same Ladykillers that starred Tom Hanks? Is it a remake of the classic movie?

Hi Vance,

Yes, The Ladykillers of 2004, starring Tom Hanks, is a remake of the 1955 original. The setting is moved from London to somewhere in southern USA, and the crooks plan to rob a casino.

Have you seen this version? I haven't - although I like Tom Hanks and many of the Coen brothers' movies. I've avoided it because I love the original so much and I thought this might take something away from it.

Yesterday I got up very early, fed the dog and cat, got breakfast, made coffee and was sitting in front of the telly by 7.00am to watch The Blue Gardenia (1953) on TCM.

I watched the young Elvis in Jailhouse Rock (1957) yesterday. Not the greatest plot, but it's a fun movie with some good songs.

Elvis' co-star was Judy Tyler, who was killed, at age 24, in a car accident only a couple of weeks after filming ended. Elvis was so upset by the tragedy that he never watched the finished movie.

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.

Yesterday I watched Zero Hour! (1957) starring Dana Andrews, Linda Darnell and Sterling Hayden.

I think this movie could be the grand-daddy of all those "is there anyone on board who can fly this plane" movies that came along in later years.

Dana Andrews plays a burned-out former WW2 fighter pilot, Darnell is his wife who may be on the verge of leaving, and Hayden plays the commercial pilot who - along with his co-pilot and several passengers - succumbs to food poisoning thanks to some dodgy fish.

It's all great fun, and of course the plane lands safely!

Jigsaw. I'm a huge SAW fan.