Cinematic Distractions...

[dulcedemon]

Picard(2020):
I loved this. The end made me cry. Also, Santiago Cabrera is a snack. I apologize to Mr. Cabrera for the objectification. He is a fine actor. So very fine.

Nightfall(1956):
Al Hibbler croons the Sinatra-esque theme tune. The story opens with a nightlife scene in downtown Los Angeles, and flashes back to the wintery woods of Wyoming. This improbable little noir gave me everything Out of the Past(1947) didn't.
Brian Keith and Rudy Bond play a pair of tough but not particularly bright bank robbers. Aldo Ray plays the innocent man who becomes the prime suspect for their crimes. Anne Bancroft plays a fashion model who becomes the protagonist's love interest after meeting him in a bar. James Gregory plays an insurance claims investigator trying to get to the bottom of it all, and find his client's missing cash.
Scenic mountain backdrops, and snappy dialogue are just a few of the things that make this movie great. Keep your ears open for this gem of a pick-up line:
"Guys have probably been swarming around you since your second teeth came through."

Closely Watched Trains(Ostře sledované vlaky - 1966):
Beautiful, crisp black and white cinematography. To describe it badly, it's a depressing yet noble coming of age story. It has a playful, slightly sexy humor. The stamping scene was everything that I heard it would be.
In Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia, a young man begins his first job as a train station guard. His co-workers are a middle-aged train dispatcher, a young female clerk, and the stationmaster. The dispatcher and the clerk are involved in the stamping scene referenced above, which gets the dispatcher in quite a bit of trouble.
The station master lives with his wife in an apartment attached to the station. He raises pigeons, which he tends while in uniform, so his stationmaster outfit is always rumpled and covered in pigeon shit. They also raise rabbits for food. Thanks to which, I only got to watch this once.
I would have gladly watched it a second and even third time, but the rabbit screaming didn't go over well with another family member. Nothing graphic is shown. We just see Mrs. Stationmaster holding the rabbit up, and stretching it out, but the noise is quite unsettling(especially if you're asleep on the couch when it happens, and it wakes you up).
The young station guard has a crush on an equally young conductor. They go to spend the night at her uncle's house/photography studio. She wants to have sex, but in his eagerness, he...jumps the gun. He is too embarrassed to tell her, which she interprets as rejection. Extreme young adult angst ensues.
Complicating the budding romance is the Czech resistance seeking to enlist help in sabotaging a train loaded with munitions.

Chico y Rita(2010):
I haven't watched a feature length animated movie in a long time. It's been even longer since I watched one as good as this. It's adult, but adult as in mature not adult as in porn. It's a musical love story that spans decades and takes place in Cuba, New York City, and finally Las Vegas.
A piano player looking to make it big meets and falls in love with a singer also looking to make it big. Fame, fortune, betrayal, misfortune, and regime change push them apart.
Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

Spider-Man: Far From Home(2019):
So cute! Crash! Boom! Bam! Kablowee!
Aw! These kids are so fricking cute!
Zap! Splodey! Kaboom!
OMG! They're so sweet and adorable!
[weeps quietly while watching post-credit scenes of pre-pandemic NYC]

The Lovers(Les Amants - 1958 - Directed by Louis Malle):
A middle-aged and sexually neglected married provincial woman, who envies the socialite life of her Parisian friend, engages in a tryst with a famous polo player, and later, a much younger archaeology student.
The polo player is closer to her own age than her husband appears to be, but for all his good looks, charm, and reputation as a bon vivant, she is not very enthusiastic about him as a lover. Her relationship with her husband is cold, and slightly adversarial. He runs a local newspaper, and spends most of his time at the office, where he may or may not be having an affair with his secretary.
On the return trip from one of her frequent jaunts to the city, her car breaks down. Enter the young archaeologist, who is the antithesis of her polo playing lover, and her socialite friend. As his character unfolds, he is a lot like her husband in that he is an intellectual, prefers an unpretentious life, and hates her friends. Unlike her husband, he is young, a bit goofy, and keenly attentive to her. She doesn't like him at first, but that quickly changes.
This film was controversial at the time, because of how it ends in regard to her familial situation. Women were not supposed to do such things.

Have Gun Will Travel:Season 4: Vol. 1: Disc 2(1960):
This is one of my comfort watches. Some odd episodes on this disc. A few them seem more in the vein of The Twilight Zone, especially the episode titled "The Poker Fiend". Peter Falk plays a peculiar, devilish character in that one. Another episode, "Foggbound" is based on Around the World in Eighty Days.
Harry Carey Jr. shows up in two different episodes. He appeared in a total of twelve episodes of the show across its various seasons. Robert Blake appears in his second of three episodes.