tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72660068621010151982024-02-06T20:15:22.460-08:00max sees moviesdiablogging my way through cinematic understandiness.Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461058376299559449noreply@blogger.comBlogger121125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266006862101015198.post-51579262243995654512012-04-11T10:04:00.002-07:002012-04-11T10:04:08.199-07:00AFI Retrospective: 10 I'd Ditch<div style="text-align: justify;">
Okay, part two of this retrospective on this great project. First I talked about <a href="http://maxseesmovies.blogspot.com/2012/04/afi-retrospective-10-pleasant-surprises.html" target="_blank">ten pleasant surprises</a>, and now the much more difficult task of choosing 10% of these films to demote off the list, in my humble opinion. Let me start by saying: all of these films are great (some greater than others, or should I say some more agreed upon than others). All of them have something to recommend. But some of these could go for a reason or two, which I'll try to explain as best I can.</div>
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Top Ten I'd Ditch</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivkkiWRpuxiKw5Y4Lfo5ebpaPaH6dLigBCmrp_kW72ZL2aFbRak38IM_TxGe88seHhiQa9rMtCPMFrMNnvqYjva70SRWZByZEOlLKSKvGFOJuq5344Udpd01kQoxF_AQ4ABbYNYMofQdMg/s1600/Opera+2+Squished.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivkkiWRpuxiKw5Y4Lfo5ebpaPaH6dLigBCmrp_kW72ZL2aFbRak38IM_TxGe88seHhiQa9rMtCPMFrMNnvqYjva70SRWZByZEOlLKSKvGFOJuq5344Udpd01kQoxF_AQ4ABbYNYMofQdMg/s320/Opera+2+Squished.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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10. <i><a href="http://maxseesmovies.blogspot.com/2010/02/85-night-at-opera.html" target="_blank">A Night at the Opera</a> </i>(#85)</div>
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Let me start by saying the Marx Brothers were total geniuses, and the scene above is so inspired and magical. Their other film on the list, <i>Duck Soup</i>, is absolutely required viewing. But by comparison, this spoof of the opera world just doesn't hold up nearly as well. It feels less like a coherent whole than the other film, and more like a series of jokes strung together, spliced together with some scenes about opera performers that we wait through to get back to the Marx shenanigans. I'd totally be happy bringing a different Marx film in in its place -- any suggestions?</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6VThb6I1JL7DfmyzOT3bG9KFbr7HuphgFxesdsWsk8732-ok3kwdShOKH2H-jA3DGCkbHr3gEXh8ABxOymO45M1yg9NRUIOIQTAdvdgPwV1rew-EZiyknz5ZirwVtZ-p8WuSdzSXjLk4c/s1600/French+4+Car+Chase.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6VThb6I1JL7DfmyzOT3bG9KFbr7HuphgFxesdsWsk8732-ok3kwdShOKH2H-jA3DGCkbHr3gEXh8ABxOymO45M1yg9NRUIOIQTAdvdgPwV1rew-EZiyknz5ZirwVtZ-p8WuSdzSXjLk4c/s320/French+4+Car+Chase.jpg" width="320" /></a> </div>
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9. <i><a href="http://maxseesmovies.blogspot.com/2010/02/93-french-connection.html" target="_blank">The French Connection</a> </i>(#93)</div>
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I just wanted way more out of this story. I know you don't go to a movie like this for plot, but the characters need to at least engage me in a way that keeps me with them for two hours, and the first hour of this just took me out of it. The famous car chase scene is impressive, especially when viewed in a historical context, but not all that unique for a modern audience. William Friedkin made this right before he made <i>The Exorcist,</i> which is way more deserving of this list.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5cRA_9LvarCTLTUKnqgVJJEkK8O8tRuuhfLtvtMjyXSviO1rNjJErGcjNEfxl2pAFNnAuM6DdFk4x4qFg2M0NFZWrDp-SSqW_S0B0oU44xuPYoegyyKDqq3OgngAAVb9lGZfREewoFvqk/s1600/Treasure+7+Bandito.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5cRA_9LvarCTLTUKnqgVJJEkK8O8tRuuhfLtvtMjyXSviO1rNjJErGcjNEfxl2pAFNnAuM6DdFk4x4qFg2M0NFZWrDp-SSqW_S0B0oU44xuPYoegyyKDqq3OgngAAVb9lGZfREewoFvqk/s320/Treasure+7+Bandito.jpg" width="320" /></a> </div>
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8. <i><a href="http://maxseesmovies.blogspot.com/2011/03/38-treasure-of-sierra-madre.html" target="_blank">The Treasure of the Sierra Madre</a> </i>(#38)</div>
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Here's the thing: I actually liked this movie. There's nothing necessarily wrong with it, it's just that at the end of the day it wasn't the most memorable. It's not especially affecting, the plot is simple and the acting is fine. It has a great moral truth to it, some amount of historical power in the canon, and truthfully it was a pleasant surprise. But I had to pick ten. That was the game.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje_G0jhH6PZunnyP9rM9u8JzO7OIWS4UF5gVl0bDpVyWkf1wToMTBc8rupY5hiaoaX1-mqSVWcDBOup_ZGs21GcEoKH3ljikTuNdTEi-I6qqvT3Y-dySTQyMIzo2hTz7xFWvYhIJAShU8z/s1600/Sullivan+2+Pitch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje_G0jhH6PZunnyP9rM9u8JzO7OIWS4UF5gVl0bDpVyWkf1wToMTBc8rupY5hiaoaX1-mqSVWcDBOup_ZGs21GcEoKH3ljikTuNdTEi-I6qqvT3Y-dySTQyMIzo2hTz7xFWvYhIJAShU8z/s320/Sullivan+2+Pitch.jpg" width="320" /></a> </div>
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7. <a href="http://maxseesmovies.blogspot.com/2010/08/61-sullivans-travels.html" target="_blank"><i>Sullivan's Travels</i></a> (#61)</div>
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There's maybe a tiny bit of irony in this choice, since <i>Sullivan's Travels </i>is really about the search for "social significance" in Hollywood. In fact, it's a pretty solid satire of the movie industry... but the fact is: I hadn't even heard of it before this list. I think it might have been the only movie on the entire list I'd never even heard of. And there's a reason: while it's cute, it's slight. Do cute, slight films belong on the list? Maybe. Does a more "important" one belong in its place? This is where it gets tricky.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinQ0LHVvQV7wOJApj8xAKon9ImzmxVFZZjk2bAg2NHL3n9ZPo7TadErs_lErUd6gAIwzf-bbt0BrbBHnbKMipoj-HrdFTLD3wZ-_wXpSsq7D5Q4Go27Y4HVk0XcVfVAsJ-Wd865xn7fs8u/s1600/Apartment+8+Deal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinQ0LHVvQV7wOJApj8xAKon9ImzmxVFZZjk2bAg2NHL3n9ZPo7TadErs_lErUd6gAIwzf-bbt0BrbBHnbKMipoj-HrdFTLD3wZ-_wXpSsq7D5Q4Go27Y4HVk0XcVfVAsJ-Wd865xn7fs8u/s320/Apartment+8+Deal.jpg" width="320" /></a> </div>
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6. <a href="http://maxseesmovies.blogspot.com/2010/03/80-apartment.html" target="_blank"><i>The Apartment</i></a> (#80)</div>
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There's just a lot of great comedies on the list, and in my opinion <i>The Apartment </i>falls short. It's a cute story, but the comedic payoff in terms of laughs-per-minute just isn't as high as, say, any of the Charlie Chaplin films, <i>Some Like It Hot</i>, or <i>Bringing Up Baby</i>. Plus, I'm not that enchanted with Shirley MacLaine's performance. Jack Lemmon, yes. Shirley, eh.</div>
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<i> </i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXFh9tvd2c2_shP11dfmsmbKei5YukRRpHO21aiUBb1n_yuQMCK7gpM2iBDtDtM_grEVkpTd6K2XEo-i1LtEPHNYurkvo6HcDKNV3e3QFE-K3k4aJ9cT3tSz9NxBKndRQu7PK0m6mKPS4Z/s1600/Unforgiven+3+Grave.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="135" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXFh9tvd2c2_shP11dfmsmbKei5YukRRpHO21aiUBb1n_yuQMCK7gpM2iBDtDtM_grEVkpTd6K2XEo-i1LtEPHNYurkvo6HcDKNV3e3QFE-K3k4aJ9cT3tSz9NxBKndRQu7PK0m6mKPS4Z/s320/Unforgiven+3+Grave.jpg" width="320" /></a> </div>
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5. <a href="http://maxseesmovies.blogspot.com/2010/05/68-unforgiven.html" target="_blank"><i>Unforgiven</i></a> (#68)</div>
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The placement of this film on the list seemed like a way to collectively reward and honor Clint Eastwood for his many contributions to Hollywood and his long and, ahem, "varied" career. Now, I don't think much of him as an actor -- growl growl growl scowl scowl scowl -- but I will admit he has a subtle hand as a director. Maybe it's my distaste for a lot of his movies that influenced this, maybe it was my disdain for Westerns... maybe it's that this film seems like an examination of a genre that didn't really ask to be reexamined. When so many other genres are underrepresented, why are there so many Westerns?? </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY2HG3B1I2G0563tIecYmI_AXZ9FuMWesrb4YgAdVpBu6mzR5XjiVpmIc5uvBAXZ-bHduVInPbGkhiwa3jTSbEs0035I_X6TQ57Bn8XVHLyFdUMqhFwA1MoZ9-Xn1DDfUWtdMuIeqmS98I/s1600/MASH+6+Cheering.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="135" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY2HG3B1I2G0563tIecYmI_AXZ9FuMWesrb4YgAdVpBu6mzR5XjiVpmIc5uvBAXZ-bHduVInPbGkhiwa3jTSbEs0035I_X6TQ57Bn8XVHLyFdUMqhFwA1MoZ9-Xn1DDfUWtdMuIeqmS98I/s320/MASH+6+Cheering.jpg" width="320" /></a> </div>
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4. <i><a href="http://maxseesmovies.blogspot.com/2010/10/54-mash.html" target="_blank">M*A*S*H</a> </i>(#54)</div>
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Kiss my hot lips! There's some great, even inspired moments in this early Robert Altman film, but for my money his other efforts (<i>Nashville </i>especially but also <i>The Player</i>, not listed here) seem stronger and more focused. His style is one that takes some getting used to, with actors floating in and out of scenes, and the camera ambling around to create the authenticity of an outside viewer, and his other films do a better job of honing this tricky form.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkLWfIS03itXs0ZO_KY-_DAi-zn0b2E3y9W5Ey76bIHmdX5KQShgOAqmuS49hGhMVpypnSpN0HudC9M6WVrsKIMhQ7zc5ezJ0mcWaOy-6Dpv8rJiCB4Ev4b9hQtxByGVae8JCzhn-080uA/s1600/Maltese+7+Hiding.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkLWfIS03itXs0ZO_KY-_DAi-zn0b2E3y9W5Ey76bIHmdX5KQShgOAqmuS49hGhMVpypnSpN0HudC9M6WVrsKIMhQ7zc5ezJ0mcWaOy-6Dpv8rJiCB4Ev4b9hQtxByGVae8JCzhn-080uA/s320/Maltese+7+Hiding.jpg" width="320" /></a> </div>
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3. <i><a href="http://maxseesmovies.blogspot.com/2011/05/31-maltese-falcon.html" target="_blank">The Maltese Falcon</a> </i>(#31)</div>
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I wrote: "while I'm not sure I agree that it's a brilliant film, it does perfectly
personify the tropes of Hollywood crime drama that became so popular
throughout the middle of the century, and which still heavily influence
modern cinema." The movie does everything it can to be the purest form of film noir, but by following every single rule it feels less exciting than other films from this genre. Am I right? I guess I don't know, I haven't seen a ton of films from this era/genre, but something tells me there's more exciting examples of <i>noir</i> somewhere.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAZGWLF73tPlhU9fLpnDJJilE0nbOWnRXD3hY3jnyX49FR5DDej7BVm_jq96eUH6w1hnkcqxUDOzdMLcRuG_FKGWyA5DivHoZV6HKpsOdVs4Rv8i4bsCStZgsI6lDSUJjswTe6Lyasa5HE/s1600/Shane+5+Country.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAZGWLF73tPlhU9fLpnDJJilE0nbOWnRXD3hY3jnyX49FR5DDej7BVm_jq96eUH6w1hnkcqxUDOzdMLcRuG_FKGWyA5DivHoZV6HKpsOdVs4Rv8i4bsCStZgsI6lDSUJjswTe6Lyasa5HE/s320/Shane+5+Country.jpg" width="320" /></a> </div>
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2. <a href="http://maxseesmovies.blogspot.com/2011/01/45-shane.html" target="_blank"><i>Shane</i></a> (#45)</div>
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I likened this movie to an antique, a family heirloom that's pretty janky but you just can't bear to sell it at the family garage sale. I understand that many of the members of the AFI were no doubt Joey's age when <i>Shane</i> came to town, and remember this movie with great fondness. But for a contemporary audience, this felt like an indistinguishable effort, no better or worse than other Westerns at the time. There's also some badly staged fight scenes that don't belong in a good movie. I have no illusions about my bias against this genre, and I'd love for someone to convince me that these movies are good and not just relics. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh0Q27N1yy-xADIKNfq_p7AxYRGxu-LPSFfuNnIeVIoedcXKPWGNYtn43FvyhqGenmPva3Ka3ZXF4yi2bGzZaaLaflhMZFTJHWnEp7WaC11O8_NEhVg0BCC_V8fZiXx4wuv2V0n2kJMboZ/s1600/Wild+2+Shot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="135" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh0Q27N1yy-xADIKNfq_p7AxYRGxu-LPSFfuNnIeVIoedcXKPWGNYtn43FvyhqGenmPva3Ka3ZXF4yi2bGzZaaLaflhMZFTJHWnEp7WaC11O8_NEhVg0BCC_V8fZiXx4wuv2V0n2kJMboZ/s320/Wild+2+Shot.jpg" width="320" /></a> </div>
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1. <i><a href="http://maxseesmovies.blogspot.com/2010/04/79-wild-bunch.html" target="_blank">The Wild Bunch</a> </i>(#79)</div>
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The truth is, I just got <i>no </i>pleasure out of watching this. The distinguishing feature that merits its place here was supposedly its revolutionary use of violence, but it seems to me that <i>Bonnie and Clyde</i>, made two years earlier, makes better use of gratuitous badassery <i>and </i>has a compelling story and vivid characters to boot. This had neither. Now, because I liked it the least of any movie on this list, I have no doubt that I'll go back to it someday to try to understand it. But for now, this would be the very first movie I'd kick off the list in favor of something else.</div>
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And there's my ten! Next, maybe ten that I'd add to the list? That'll be an interesting challenge!</div>
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Thoughts? Concerns? Cheers? Rants? Leave a comment!</div>Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461058376299559449noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266006862101015198.post-87785128062241488352012-04-05T11:42:00.000-07:002012-04-05T11:42:07.243-07:00AFI Retrospective: 10 Pleasant Surprises<div style="text-align: justify;">
Hey again, everyone -- long time no see!</div>
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So it's been about a week since I finished this blog project, and I wanted some time away to reflect on it. I've decided to wrap this whole project up with a four-part retrospective, starting with this one, where I'm gonna talk about the most pleasant surprises on the list! I had seen about half of the films on the list before, and so these were my favorites of the ones I hadn't seen.</div>
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<b>Top Ten Pleasant Surprises</b></div>
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10. <i><a href="http://maxseesmovies.blogspot.com/2011/09/18-general.html" target="_blank">The General</a> </i>(#18)</div>
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It's a real weird shame that I had never seen any of Buster Keaton's films before, and this one alone definitely turned me into a fan. It's short, it's sweet, and it's legitimately hilarious. And it's 1927, folks -- no CGI, no fancy tricks! Just Keaton doing what he does best. I put this at the bottom of the top ten only because it was not such a surprise to me that I loved it as some of the others here were. Any other suggestions of his films that I should look up?</div>
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9. <i><a href="http://maxseesmovies.blogspot.com/2010/01/100-ben-hur.html" target="_blank">Ben-Hur</a> </i>(#100)</div>
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I often said when I was about to start this project that the whole crazy idea felt like a Sisyphean task, like a wild ancient Roman chariot race of improbability, and if I hadn't liked <i>Ben-Hur </i>so much, it might have been tougher to stay motivated for the rest of it. That was a major hurdle to jump right off the bat (mixed sports metaphors?!) but for all the preconceived notions I had about it, I actually had a great time watching it, and would do it again... the next time I was in the mood for that sort of thing.</div>
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8. <i><a href="http://maxseesmovies.blogspot.com/2011/01/43-midnight-cowboy.html" target="_blank">Midnight Cowboy</a> </i>(#43)</div>
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The dirty-minded part of me was excited to finally see this 1969 film because it was the first (and only) X-rated film to win Best Picture. It ended up being a beautiful meditation on modern sexuality, and one of the only films on the list to feature any homosexual characters (including, it might be argued, our hero). It felt like it had been filmed yesterday, not 43 years ago!</div>
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7. <i><a href="http://maxseesmovies.blogspot.com/2010/03/84-easy-rider.html" target="_blank">Easy Rider</a> </i>(#84)</div>
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This was another film that felt so modern, like it was looking into the future of what films would be. As I went through the list, I found myself most attracted to this great period of American moviemaking, from the late sixties to mid-seventies... I think I wrote about it at some point... maybe about <i>The Godfather</i>, that it felt like a turning point between old and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Hollywood" target="_blank">new Hollywood</a>. It was a pivotal moment in many parts of American history, with the civil rights movement, Vietnam, Watergate, Stonewall... just out of necessity, these films start feeling so vivid, so necessary.</div>
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6. <i><a href="http://maxseesmovies.blogspot.com/2010/06/65-african-queen.html" target="_blank">The African Queen</a> </i>(#65)</div>
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Honestly, when I read about the film before I saw it I thought: what? <i>why?</i> I like these actors but this movie sounds boooooooring. But my preliminary research ended up being very misleading: what transpires is a wonderful, simple, buddy movie -- perhaps the most purely patriotic on the entire list -- without any pesky subplots cluttering up the river. Katherine Hepburn is near her very best here ("Nature, Mr. Allnut, is what we are put in this world to rise above.") and Humphrey Bogart won his only Oscar for this, beating out the legendary performance by Marlon Brando in <i>A Streetcar Named Desire</i>. I suppose Brando was only 26 and Humphrey was overdue, so arguments against this don't (ahem) hold water.</div>
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5. <i><a href="http://maxseesmovies.blogspot.com/2011/03/36-bridge-on-river-kwai.html" target="_blank">The Bridge on the River Kwai</a> </i>(#36)</div>
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Now, to be fair, this film really doesn't belong on this list in the first place, since very little of it is American. This is not me being biased against foreign films, it's just <i>River Kwai</i> really has no business being called an American film. But that's an argument I'll make later. This was another like <i>African Queen</i> where I read a little about it and thought, "uhhh boy. British POWs in Thai internment camps during WWII. Here we go." But it's actually a great adventure story. Maybe the most American thing about it is the sense of national pride and perseverance against a common enemy, but that alone does help this American stick with these guys until that iconic last moment.</div>
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4. <i><a href="http://maxseesmovies.blogspot.com/2011/03/36-bridge-on-river-kwai.html" target="_blank">Sunrise</a> </i>(#82)</div>
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This film holds the great distinction of having won a Best Picture award without the added distinction of being listed as a Best Picture over the years, since in the first year of the Academy Awards in 1927, <i>Wings </i>actually won Outstanding Picture, Production, and <i>Sunrise </i>won the award for Unique and Artistic Production. Wow. If that award still existed today, we'd see a lot more interesting films winning Oscars, I can tell you that much. My experience with silent films was limited at best before this list, but <i>Sunrise </i>was such a rich cinematic experiment that it felt like there <i>had </i>to have been sound! And it's 1927, folks -- that shot I posted above was a lot trickier to produce than it would be now. Have some respect.</div>
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3. <i><a href="http://maxseesmovies.blogspot.com/2011/07/27-high-noon.html" target="_blank">High Noon</a> </i>(#27)</div>
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I've been very vocal about my lack of enthusiasm for westerns, and the examples on this list have been largely underwhelming for me (some of them will no doubt show up in the Top Ten I'd Ditch post, coming soon) -- but I can't deny the power and marvelous economy demonstrated in <i>High Noon</i>. A part of my problem with this genre is that it follows, without working too hard, too many of the same rules in every film, but <i>High Noon </i>seems to break the mold in several ways. I should actually watch it again, and this time with a group... any takers?</div>
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2. <i><a href="http://maxseesmovies.blogspot.com/2011/03/37-best-years-of-our-lives.html" target="_blank">The Best Years of Our Lives</a> </i>(#37)</div>
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People asked me throughout this project what films were the most surprising, the most exciting, which ones I "liked" best... and while that's too large a question to usually answer with any efficiency, I'll be damned if I didn't recommend these top two films to anyone who would listen. This story of WWII veterans adjusting to civilian life once again just pulled every heart string I have, and Harold Russell's performance is absolutely unbelievable. In fact, he remains one of only two non-professional actors to be awarded an Oscar (the other being Haing S. Ngor for <i>The Killing Fields</i>), and the <i>only </i>actor to be awarded twice for the same performance. He deserved both. I can't say enough good things -- and I will absolutely watch this again with anybody who's up for it!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHpU30l5BrtKmsiipKuUJuR_UYiAQUy70xkhoEnaUrFsCUHhz7GoBDktsQTu9w2uS0CmDjnuED1vmo7oJf_RVDycP0Xj3WlF3JtzXKYqbrwPmAv4WtFOjWDqIkpD24M-oqWOMKn7_QQ5fb/s1600/LPS+2+Sonny+Duane+Jacy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHpU30l5BrtKmsiipKuUJuR_UYiAQUy70xkhoEnaUrFsCUHhz7GoBDktsQTu9w2uS0CmDjnuED1vmo7oJf_RVDycP0Xj3WlF3JtzXKYqbrwPmAv4WtFOjWDqIkpD24M-oqWOMKn7_QQ5fb/s320/LPS+2+Sonny+Duane+Jacy.jpg" width="320" /></a> </div>
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1. <a href="http://maxseesmovies.blogspot.com/2010/01/95-last-picture-show.html" target="_blank"><i>The Last Picture Show</i></a> (#95)</div>
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This film was down far enough on this list (only the sixth one I watched for the blog) that I saw it over two years ago, but throughout the entire project I have not been able to get it out of my head. Take fantastic actors (including very young Jeff Daniels, Cybill Shepherd and the phenomenal Timothy Bottoms), a gorgeous screenplay by Larry McMurtry, a melancholy approach to storytelling and cinematography -- AND the fact that it mourns the old West, something I would see so often throughout the list and grow to loathe -- plus its American New Wave pedigree -- and it turned into my very favorite new film on the list. Such a visceral experience. I still love that <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__T3WJVmBY8" target="_blank">last monologue of Cloris Leachman's</a> -- it hurts so bad, and yet I keep coming back to it again and again. And I have a feeling I'll do the same with this movie. Ahhh.</div>
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There were more of these on the list, of course, but these were the ten that stuck out to me. Next up: the Top Ten Films I'd Ditch. This should be fun. :)</div>Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461058376299559449noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266006862101015198.post-73143965832303366472012-03-27T13:44:00.002-07:002012-03-27T14:48:16.290-07:00Cine-Smackdown: #1-#10<div style="text-align: justify;">
All done! Just one more cine-smackdown to go -- and the hardest one of all, for sure. How do you deal with this line-up!? But I've played this game nine times now, and so this has to be just as ruthless. It's the only way to get it done.</div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">1. </span><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: 100%; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Citizen Kane</span><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">2. <span style="font-style: italic;">The Godfather</span></span><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">3. <i>Casablanca</i></span><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">4. <i>Raging Bull</i><span style="font-style: italic;"></span></span><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">5. </span><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: 100%; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Singin' in the Rain</span><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">6. <span style="font-style: italic;">Gone with the Wind</span></span><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">7. </span><span style="color: #cc0000; font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Lawrence of Arabia</span></span><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">8. </span><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Schindler's List</span></span><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">9. </span><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: 100%; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Vertigo</span><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">10. <span style="font-style: italic;">The Wizard of Oz</span></span>
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Of these ten, the only one I hadn't seen before was <i>Lawrence of Arabia</i>.</div>
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Of these ten, which would I move further up the list?</span>
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Oof. Well, this is where this gets tricky, because they can't go any further up the list than this. It's funny, I was just arguing <i>against </i>quantifying art. Hmm. Is it cheating to say <i>The Wizard of Oz</i>, since it's at the bottom of these? I arguably consider that film more of a classic than the three directly above it, and that its place in American cinema outranks those others.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Of these ten, which would I get rid of?</span><br />
There's a couple of ideas here. Technically, <i>Lawrence of Arabia</i> has no business being on a list of best American films since its director, main actor, screenwriter (well, one of them) and production company are all European. That's not to say that it's not a good film, but it's a little meandering even when compared without its heritage in mind. I wasn't as taken by <i>Casablanca </i>or <i>Raging Bull</i> as I was with the others, so I might move those, too. But for argument's sake, let's say <i>Lawrence </i>gets banished to the desert.
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Who in these movies do I want as my best friend?
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I think it's obvious that in this situation you choose <i>The Wizard of Oz</i>. A legion of straw, tin and cowardly buddies! Also, Melanie in <i>Gone with the Wind</i>: loyal to the end.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Who in these movies do I want to have my back in a bar fight?
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Vito Corleone (<i>The Godfather</i>) would have it outsourced, but it'd get the job done. But he and Jake LaMotta (<i>Raging Bull</i>) will spill a little too much blood, even for the situation. Something makes me want to say Cosmo Brown (<i>Singin' in the Rain</i>) since he'd dance-confuse my enemies and then pack a punch.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Who in these movies is your worst frienemy?</span>
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Scarlett O'Hara (<i>Gone with the Wind</i>) is the classic frienemy. She basically inspired <i>Mean Girls</i>. End of story.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Who do I take home to Mom?</span>
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When I look at this list, the men options are mostly tortured, lonely, egomaniacs or Nazis. I don't know if my mom would want me dating a scarecrow, either. God, it leaves me with Don Lockwood (<i>Singin' in the Rain</i>) -- but boy, what an option!<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">You're going on a date with these movies. Who do you agree to meet for coffee but never call again?</span>
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<i>Lawrence of Arabia</i>: too much sand in my ass. The food was good, though. I have to make that Moroccan winter squash stew again.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Who do you agree to meet for coffee, and then <span style="font-style: italic;">say </span>you'll call but never do?</span>
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<span style="font-style: italic;">Casablanca</span>: I would just end up saying something hurtful, like how I didn't give a damn.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Who do you agree to meet for coffee, and then not show up?</span>
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<span style="font-style: italic;">Raging Bull. </span>No explanation necessary.
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Who do you meet for a first date, ends up staying the night and makes you breakfast in the morning?</span>
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<span style="font-style: italic;">Singin' in the Rain </span>would even make me a big star!<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Who do
you meet for a first date, ends up staying the night and then
leaves in the morning without saying goodbye ... and steals your
favorite sweater?</span>
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<i>Citizen Kane</i> -- and our torrid affair would show up on the front page of the Inquirer. I swear to God, if he calls me a "singer"...<br />
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<span style="font-style: italic;">What other
questions would you have asked about these movies? I'd love more
ideas! Leave your thoughts, reactions, passionate defenses and
harsh critiques in the comments!</span>
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</div>Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461058376299559449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266006862101015198.post-86901413331299199762012-03-27T11:41:00.001-07:002012-03-27T11:41:23.486-07:00#1: Citizen Kane<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiplOqZty6PbzMbiv5eUkj8cIehil0jqbF-wbm3VqX_VeLmaMwLoKo7bB0jLScuWFoeHl7APUq6hyphenhyphenlHtZB6QA0pxXNEC8VMcYX-FZ1jiMaWii2AiGBJalmuKxdjWtU_6WwUXOFitlPeHkxK/s1600/Citizen+1+Title.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiplOqZty6PbzMbiv5eUkj8cIehil0jqbF-wbm3VqX_VeLmaMwLoKo7bB0jLScuWFoeHl7APUq6hyphenhyphenlHtZB6QA0pxXNEC8VMcYX-FZ1jiMaWii2AiGBJalmuKxdjWtU_6WwUXOFitlPeHkxK/s320/Citizen+1+Title.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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And finally we made it to the top. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033467/" target="_blank"><i>Citizen Kane</i></a>. Orson Welles was 25 years old when he filmed this masterpiece of world cinema -- and as Bret so succinctly put it, "how old were YOU when you filmed your first best movie of all time?" Well, I was 24 when I started this blog and I'm 27 now. I can't hardly believe that, but it's true. And luckily, I don't think my best work is behind me -- but I can't imagine topping <i>Citizen Kane </i>as a writer, actor and director, and though Welles had an amazing career, he hit his peak at 25. The film premiered just before his 26th birthday. Wow. I spent my 26th birthday overserved at some dive bar, but that's neither here nor there. Onward!</div>
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<b>Company</b>: this came up quickly as I was called off from rehearsal, but several friends still made it! <i>Bret</i>, who cried at the end of this movie when he was a weird little 8th grader ("All he wanted was his childhood!"); <i>Joe</i>, art hound; <i>Hannah</i>, film fanatic; <i>Matt</i>, always up for cinematic adventure; <i>Kecia</i>, sunstroked from the weird March warmth and guzzling water; <i>Ali</i>, aloe-dispensing nurse; <i>Paul</i>, newly engaged but without his wonderful partner <i>Ryan</i> tonight; and <i>Katie</i>, once she got off work.</div>
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<b>Cuisine</b>: it was the last go around, so we made it a feast! Chips and salsa, M&Ms, several cheeses (hard and soft), salami and basil, fennel crackers, white grapes -- and Ali's raspberry almond cupcakes with roses on top. Themed! A fantastic and filling way to end this project.</div>
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<i>Okay, two minutes in and we're treated to a shot like this? Oh my eff.</i></div>
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<i>Citizen Kane </i>topped this list the first time it was compiled in 1998, and again in 2007. It's just the ultimate combination of elements, and broke many conventions along the way. Where to begin? To start, Welles completely eschewed the idea of linear narrative, beginning near the end of the story and then doubling back to tell the story of the life of Charles Foster Kane (played remarkably and at various points throughout his life by Oscar nominee Welles), an egomaniac newspaper tycoon who made news and was news. Movies do this all the time now (I'd love to go back and count how many of them are on this list!) but <i>Kane </i>marked one of the first times this was done so successfully.</div>
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Now is as good a time as any to point out something Bret mentioned: the major plot hole in the movie, which is that Kane's last word ("Rosebud") is muttered in solitude. No one is in the room to hear him say it, but the film explores the world's fascination with this cryptic final message and the search for its meaning. But I think this in fact isn't a mistake: by the end of his life, Kane's private life is so public that even words spoken to no one are still heard. Perhaps that's the meaning of <i>citizen</i> here: the word really means "a member of a state" -- and Kane may have meant for his life to be his own, but by bringing himself into the public eye so readily and vigorously in his youth, he could never escape public scrutiny, even on his death bed.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMaLUcTOJ-Yp2DxaJtuVrNFmv1VrTErirQkoBeJuuODsuOMAbGScECU-dZfye9GLa2p-spf5ieVNP_ewxUxs8kmp1EZyDy0ZKUgnfuRhDzdVjQdUw3jPDPXtpkda9R0deSepLeNOT6Rdfv/s1600/Citizen+3+Dead.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMaLUcTOJ-Yp2DxaJtuVrNFmv1VrTErirQkoBeJuuODsuOMAbGScECU-dZfye9GLa2p-spf5ieVNP_ewxUxs8kmp1EZyDy0ZKUgnfuRhDzdVjQdUw3jPDPXtpkda9R0deSepLeNOT6Rdfv/s320/Citizen+3+Dead.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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A large portion of the film is told as though in a comic book: the pace of it is extraordinary, and montage is put to great use. I love the two-minute scene in which sixteen years of his marriage to his first wife (Ruth Warrick) is shown disintegrating in a series of vignettes over breakfast. It's quick snippets of dialogue, and only hair and wardrobe really suggest the passage of time. There's also the brilliant "News on the March" sequence near the beginning, after Kane's death, acting as a sort of public eulogy, a cinematic obituary, with a verging-on-cartoonish voiceover. You sort of don't know what you're watching, or if the whole film will be like this -- and then bam: lights up on the screening room where the film was playing. Meta!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh1PQ54ULnkVJfvFfnnNPty8NOHCvQzqGs5IQmB-3VNIcSNigFeWw4ryMRi7z0ATah8COxH86XF9AjmsX1W0MbaPqLzSD2RBC2N3WljkDG7D9MpFzFKxBmTFpRKPnruBXc8LbEEy724pPd/s1600/Citizen+4+Deep+Focus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh1PQ54ULnkVJfvFfnnNPty8NOHCvQzqGs5IQmB-3VNIcSNigFeWw4ryMRi7z0ATah8COxH86XF9AjmsX1W0MbaPqLzSD2RBC2N3WljkDG7D9MpFzFKxBmTFpRKPnruBXc8LbEEy724pPd/s320/Citizen+4+Deep+Focus.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The film also made incredible use of deep focus, thanks to the incredible cinematographer Gregg Toland. In shots like the one above, every plane of view is in focus, even the young Kane playing outside in the snow. This is not a simple technique to achieve, and requires a lot of precision and firm decisions. Here, Welles had to stage what was happening in the foreground, and time it exactly with what he wanted to have happening in the background. While wikipedia-ing <i>deep focus</i>, I was glad to see many great films, including many of this list, that make extensive use of this technique. (Shout out to the only Harry Potter film listed, my favorite: <i>Prisoner of Azkaban</i>. I will defend that movie to the grave.)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLJmbCBtJnZ2LwkBcm2LcYdQMknhVGSmn63p0gyZnEPm-2Hvg5WL-jb1oqYV0TjW7X7f538b7lYCKS7EzF19ybUSYpjmL-pDEZxnTK2o0XltKn4JprSeZgUaSg-c_dcENi9W80eWDEBfST/s1600/Citizen+5+Kanes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLJmbCBtJnZ2LwkBcm2LcYdQMknhVGSmn63p0gyZnEPm-2Hvg5WL-jb1oqYV0TjW7X7f538b7lYCKS7EzF19ybUSYpjmL-pDEZxnTK2o0XltKn4JprSeZgUaSg-c_dcENi9W80eWDEBfST/s320/Citizen+5+Kanes.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The young Kane is essentially sold by his parents to a banker, Walter Parks Thatcher (George Coulouris), who acts as his guardian and trustee. When Kane inherits his fortunes at the age of 25, he reimagines the New York Inquirer, steals all the best journalists from other news organizations, and generally lowers the quality standard of the news he's printing, resorting to flashy headlines and sensationalized scandals instead of real news. The film documents his rise to fame and glory, the disintegration of his first marriage, and his campaign for governor.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGn-MxJfKToTSc157Pv0XLrII-YkcrKykINlP8cH3NBTOv_yQDhpolM0XJXNj9RDNMmdgktmmJkZe8X1ykl1xqpmJje3lBx3DiVfENscHqHBtfpg2jfVBnGxk2cze5yhUqaqvmFfAC0dBt/s1600/Citizen+6+Leg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGn-MxJfKToTSc157Pv0XLrII-YkcrKykINlP8cH3NBTOv_yQDhpolM0XJXNj9RDNMmdgktmmJkZe8X1ykl1xqpmJje3lBx3DiVfENscHqHBtfpg2jfVBnGxk2cze5yhUqaqvmFfAC0dBt/s320/Citizen+6+Leg.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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His first marriage ends when his wife discovers he's having an affair with the "singer" Susan Alexander (a weirdly horrible but perfect Dorothy Comingore), something he'd probably secretly wish could stay private but ends up on the front page of his own papers. Their relationship isn't much better -- in fact, it's probably worse than the first, given that Kane pushes his wife into an opera career when she clearly doesn't have the chops. After all, she's a "singer."</div>
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The great irony here is that Susan Alexander doesn't particularly want a public life, yet she marries Kane and is forced into one for his personal gain. He doesn't want to be made a laughing stock by his untalented wife, but rather than allow her to step out of the limelight, he pushes her to near-total exhaustion. She wasn't built to be a public citizen the way he was, and their marriage crumbles because, well, it's lonely at the top, Charlie.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZX17qh4doDzRFIlPCU6DqpH-9joAr_tXukwZSRIkVwzrGYz6vR0Mbr5Atzvn_aZ7EM7mH6xCZJMisAZnCq2XCdDmnYIcfYbn5annlY30p16wD-EMajTWZ7jFHWtJ6a1P_HR_N5Qed-jse/s1600/Citizen+7+Mirrors.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZX17qh4doDzRFIlPCU6DqpH-9joAr_tXukwZSRIkVwzrGYz6vR0Mbr5Atzvn_aZ7EM7mH6xCZJMisAZnCq2XCdDmnYIcfYbn5annlY30p16wD-EMajTWZ7jFHWtJ6a1P_HR_N5Qed-jse/s320/Citizen+7+Mirrors.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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His whole life, as the film portrays it, is framed in his pursuit of wealth and glory, but by the end, after two failed marriages and without a real friend, Kane is left alone at Xanadu, the unfinished pleasure palace named after a similar one built by Kublai Khan in the 13th century, with all of his stuff. This extended mirror shot, visualizing Kane's solitude, is something of a cliche today, but notice the deep focus! That's crazy.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhar0uUlU50EpyssRWIftX_0XrDkwlpaMDn-_TvsM_bVIAUxXN2dVEqzgteI0BjpQJumwLfXtf3jhgPfBcI0_MNgsarTjBXdwXw-7h4mcMu8vNmuOT4OyRIOufgAiLoIcRTN6YgdF6qhEwe/s1600/Citizen+8+Stuff.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhar0uUlU50EpyssRWIftX_0XrDkwlpaMDn-_TvsM_bVIAUxXN2dVEqzgteI0BjpQJumwLfXtf3jhgPfBcI0_MNgsarTjBXdwXw-7h4mcMu8vNmuOT4OyRIOufgAiLoIcRTN6YgdF6qhEwe/s320/Citizen+8+Stuff.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>Rosebud is in there somewhere.</i> </div>
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Well, for those of you who don't know the twist about Rosebud at the end, I won't spoil it for you like it was spoiled for me as a child by <a href="http://blogs.suntimes.com/scanners/assets_c/2010/02/Peanuts_Kane-18059.html" target="_blank">this Peanuts comic strip</a>. Seriously, how could I have known?! Needless to say, it's one of the great twist endings of all time, summarizing the entire moral argument of the film in one image. It's genius.</div>
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So let's see... Sensationalized news. Public scandal. Tortured childhood. The pursuit of wealth. Rags to riches. Failed marriages. Spiritual poverty. Unsolved mystery. Mediocre artistic talent. What <i>isn't </i>American about this movie? They got this one right, folks. It's no accident that <i>Citizen Kane </i>ranks as the masterpiece of modern cinema. Is it perfect? It's close, maybe as close as they come. It certainly has a lot to recommend, and very little with which to disagree. Do you love <i>Citizen Kane</i>, or do you think it's overrated? Does it deserve this #1 spot, twice over?</div>
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YOU GUYS. I made it to the end! A little under 27 months later!</div>
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Well, now what?? A cine-smackdown for the top ten on this list -- then a retrospective or two -- then maybe a poll about what to do for the next project! Thank you all SO much for reading, it's been fantastic to see all these movies. But I'll wait to wax about this for the retrospectives. On!</div>Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461058376299559449noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266006862101015198.post-6030258636048901602012-03-13T15:35:00.002-07:002012-03-13T15:38:15.554-07:00#2: The Godfather<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-Kbyhrq1Hg9iSi_wX_qvmauXuqeNK9u6Yi4XMf3dDeXlch-rg81mVnnhF0vsvs4ZT1MSJYQXWGtNehuuYeY4ooHfZBpEgjnNg6otn8pS9bBx6n__Tz5g43X6JqWSHRiuXqX08SXjWqgIB/s1600/Godfather+1+Title.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-Kbyhrq1Hg9iSi_wX_qvmauXuqeNK9u6Yi4XMf3dDeXlch-rg81mVnnhF0vsvs4ZT1MSJYQXWGtNehuuYeY4ooHfZBpEgjnNg6otn8pS9bBx6n__Tz5g43X6JqWSHRiuXqX08SXjWqgIB/s320/Godfather+1+Title.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Francis Ford Coppola may have done something for American cinema that no one had done before him. He redefined it. It seems to me that the more I talk to people about movies the more I hear the phrases "old movie" and "new movie," but I can't manage to pinpoint where the switch occurred. After watching <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068646/" target="_blank">The Godfather</a> </i>once again, I think maybe it happened in 1972. The French new wave was underway in America already and cinema was certainly changing with the times but something about this movie changed how we all think about how it should be done. This period (roughly 1967 to 1975) is maybe my favorite roughly-decade in all of cinematic history, and this movie's a major reason why.</div>
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<b>Company</b>: now, we hosted a fantastic Italian feast when we watched <a href="http://maxseesmovies.blogspot.com/2011/05/32-godfather-part-ii.html" target="_blank"><i>The Godfather Part II </i>for the blog</a> last May, but that time we watched both films, in order to get the context for the second. Not everyone made it through -- it's a big commitment -- but lots of friends were more than willing to play again! They included <i>Matt</i>, the only survivor of both movies from the last Corleone blog; <i>Katie</i>, his mervie-lerving gurlfurnd; and <i>Kecia</i>, who is really not a fan of Apollonia Corleone. Add to this the newly engaged <i>Paul </i>and <i>Ryan</i>, Kecia's beau <i>Jeremy</i> and dear sweet <i>Adam</i> and it was a full living room!</div>
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<b>Cuisine</b>: spaghetti ("spaghett!") and meatballs, Caesar salad, garlic bread, wine to beat the dickens, and even cannoli from some place in St. Paul! Bene. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJIvn4ZNKYbK2MqM9ivNgUigYrt3ARluS-EB_aA9HtgtyZgzye14ZCbo6kyx9OW94obF3gCcL1BSwZ2TnbUZxkPGV7YqgJkzeRTMByUc1UeWm29Ros3VF41lwomga143hr1tNDktwSyz_9/s1600/Godfather+2+Justice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJIvn4ZNKYbK2MqM9ivNgUigYrt3ARluS-EB_aA9HtgtyZgzye14ZCbo6kyx9OW94obF3gCcL1BSwZ2TnbUZxkPGV7YqgJkzeRTMByUc1UeWm29Ros3VF41lwomga143hr1tNDktwSyz_9/s320/Godfather+2+Justice.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I have to say first: this film and its two sequels are all adapted from one novel by Mario Puzo from 1969 and I'd <i>highly </i>recommend it, even if you've seen the films. It's fantastic. Okay, I said my piece.</div>
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Both films begin the same way: with the head of the Corleone family listening to someone asking for interference. In the second film, Michael as the Don listens to bribery, but in simpler post-WWII times, the Don Vito Corleone (Oscar winner Marlon Brando in one of cinema's great performances) listens to a man whose daughter has been abused. He wants justice, and knows his daughter's godfather is the man to bring it. This scene sets up the calm and unflinching nature of Vito Corleone as well as the scope of his power. Ask him for someone and it shall be done, not by him of course, but by one of his hired men.</div>
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This all takes place at his daughter Connie's (Talia Shire) wedding, where we are introduced to the entire Corleone clan -- the Don and his wife, his three sons (Oscar nominees James Caan and Al Pacino, and the wonderful but overlooked John Cazale) and his adopted son and consigliere Tom Hagen (Oscar nominee Robert Duvall) -- in one incredible half-hour-long sequence. That's one-sixth of the movie right there.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioaC_pNWF4D4Ttt-OjnS26MGVRF0kWtzKxGTIWf4qNQCrRGsTtuOoCGUusKVApXpGZFP7phLyjtWG08wGBqAlaauZ_NFo_fa3hEBFrZv4doFfYEO52c0bHB_jk3SnmM67ZfVWkm-8IxKbh/s1600/Godfather+4+Michael.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioaC_pNWF4D4Ttt-OjnS26MGVRF0kWtzKxGTIWf4qNQCrRGsTtuOoCGUusKVApXpGZFP7phLyjtWG08wGBqAlaauZ_NFo_fa3hEBFrZv4doFfYEO52c0bHB_jk3SnmM67ZfVWkm-8IxKbh/s320/Godfather+4+Michael.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Oh and I forgot. The outsider of the family: Michael's girlfriend and someday fiance Kay Adams (Diane Keaton). It's easy to forget her because everyone in the family does at some point, even Michael. The second film chronicles their marriage but the first begins with the young lovers with an insurmountable obstacle. Michael can't let Kay know the extent of his family's business without putting her in jeopardy. Does he keep it from her to protect her, or perhaps because he's a chauvinist asshole who believes she couldn't understand? The movie honestly doesn't answer this, but Kay is nevertheless kept outside of the story, much as we the audience are.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgII_6hBhm7XN512biS7nC8stXjbG7uogwrVQop3cHM3AlpHCIbgvfyFvPlzVpC10WacZQj0YOVFQeCQEhoaGLZRZfvFoJLIe8VxcRcKLGw6f9Vbf8uEQJsTqiTNZzz90KyuQHoifdftDhT/s1600/Godfather+5+Canoli.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgII_6hBhm7XN512biS7nC8stXjbG7uogwrVQop3cHM3AlpHCIbgvfyFvPlzVpC10WacZQj0YOVFQeCQEhoaGLZRZfvFoJLIe8VxcRcKLGw6f9Vbf8uEQJsTqiTNZzz90KyuQHoifdftDhT/s320/Godfather+5+Canoli.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>Leave the gun, take the cannoli.</i> </div>
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So it usually comes as a surprise to us that such brutal and fantastically executed crime happens right before our eyes, as in this scene where we've been lulled into complacency as an audience with talk of cannoli and then... blam. Coppola doesn't spend a lot of time explaining, he just launches us head first into this world's logic and expects us to keep up. We can't ever quite catch up to him, much as the police are never quite able to catch up to the Corleones (unless they've been bribed not to). I love that in the shot above, the Statue of Liberty is in the background -- liberty and <i>justice</i>, no doubt -- and even more importantly, that her back is turned to us. Don't look now.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj99uo9dad_IgLlSd6KM9rstMZsh00K-mAEQE4khQl19MZUnWyDK34bo4RR3YYfrxPJLDpwfzHpH4PzstxhaSbpcLAienHG51vx2BxHAYlwxk-zqw7X9oILMFb5TnMzDPDyCTP61lFuu-rL/s1600/Godfather+6+Plotting.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj99uo9dad_IgLlSd6KM9rstMZsh00K-mAEQE4khQl19MZUnWyDK34bo4RR3YYfrxPJLDpwfzHpH4PzstxhaSbpcLAienHG51vx2BxHAYlwxk-zqw7X9oILMFb5TnMzDPDyCTP61lFuu-rL/s320/Godfather+6+Plotting.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The film follows the family's exploits and the eventual transfer of power from the aging Don to his most trusted son Michael, who returns to the country after his murder of a drug lord and a corrupt police captain. Pacino is amazingly only 5' 6" -- this wouldn't be important except that his tiny frame has never been so prominently featured in a film, nor has it ever in my knowledge been so menacing as it is here. All three supporting Oscar nominees from this film (Duvall, Pacino and Caan) lost to Joel Grey for his performance in <i>Cabaret</i>, but they might have won in any other year. Plus, this is not a movie that needed Oscars to be lauded for all of movie history to hear. Let that be a lesson to you, Harvey Weinstein. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx2UajYohA02cYOqQF4FUrMQYXsIJ7e_C7_kiP_GVUdEbvZT1gsD9bkAuQP1j4JgJOtoEfhepTGLC5pUXhIwrZhXxnN1YVlE9Xb06VA3U-_s5xdAV2x4pCUGvAdBjsNDAgx5BRMNVaxEQ2/s1600/Godfather+7+Vito+Michael.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx2UajYohA02cYOqQF4FUrMQYXsIJ7e_C7_kiP_GVUdEbvZT1gsD9bkAuQP1j4JgJOtoEfhepTGLC5pUXhIwrZhXxnN1YVlE9Xb06VA3U-_s5xdAV2x4pCUGvAdBjsNDAgx5BRMNVaxEQ2/s320/Godfather+7+Vito+Michael.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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One of my favorite shots in the whole film is this one, in which the aging Don warns his son against further violence. The shot almost tricks the viewer visually into believing that the men are looking each other in the face, but eye contact is never made here, and unfortunately for the Corleone's, Vito's warnings are too little, too late for a man whose elder brother and Sicilian wife were both murdered by the mob. The sequence at the end which splices Michael's revenge with the baptism of his own son is one of many phenomenal achievements in editing, contrasting the beginning and ending of life, the birth of innocence and the death of compromise. Michael's ruthlessness knows no bounds.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGCBvtMUTGlsYPPf72G9AvF7BGqu5-ctUBlmg8SkdrfVhJLuymY8rDsID_uDJgb3opJruPlLtU9BT9-jtLLcIbNbXCDKRRmhuniIPN7yMi7Iz6XF8UEad0g-qTdWBX9ojrDk_MbbKGgDuQ/s1600/Godfather+8+Strangle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGCBvtMUTGlsYPPf72G9AvF7BGqu5-ctUBlmg8SkdrfVhJLuymY8rDsID_uDJgb3opJruPlLtU9BT9-jtLLcIbNbXCDKRRmhuniIPN7yMi7Iz6XF8UEad0g-qTdWBX9ojrDk_MbbKGgDuQ/s320/Godfather+8+Strangle.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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He even goes to great lengths to convince his sister's husband that he has forgiven him for abusing her, but justice is swift. As swift as a kick to a windshield. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk4e9kEGNfe3FGgsfnGCE2l9h5WvvtWD6tnOcD9ZvBZQpyrWDv-DN7ZePR4bDfnF4ZcrnKfP8dYR2UQkFI_RCRSgu6FkWirieegVF2IXtanE8zLZnbxEoJpYU5HOCcZRysERcvJGcyaG1o/s1600/Godfather+9+Kay.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk4e9kEGNfe3FGgsfnGCE2l9h5WvvtWD6tnOcD9ZvBZQpyrWDv-DN7ZePR4bDfnF4ZcrnKfP8dYR2UQkFI_RCRSgu6FkWirieegVF2IXtanE8zLZnbxEoJpYU5HOCcZRysERcvJGcyaG1o/s320/Godfather+9+Kay.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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This blog entry didn't function as most of them have, as a recap of events. I've seen this movie more times than most on the list, and I'm not only anticipating the ending, but also fully aware that this movie will continue to expose new, exciting discoveries to me as I see it again and again. But there are some things I will never know, just as Kay (and the audience) is shut out of the private conversations we so long to eavesdrop on. She can't know, and if the second film is any indication, maybe it's better if she doesn't. But boy, it makes for a thrilling story. I have to read this book again!</div>
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Only one left. There's no way that's even possible, but it really really is. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033467/" target="_blank"><i>Citizen Kane</i></a>. That's it. I will have seen all 100 movies. Then... onto a new project? I suppose!</div>Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461058376299559449noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266006862101015198.post-73462778348028643772012-02-24T12:00:00.003-08:002012-02-24T12:00:52.636-08:00#3: Casablanca<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvnN8nrFoVcMJr0q8wnKP3lnWYfj1bmM-lhSzMfIj_vGkCYz-FdL5vcvIaTY4uzbUOEXkIzARm8kU2PMJ3jM_lX_oWpyDk3ZN0Xe4Fr38m6_mueaU87iQ_h_0sGlNO8SBZJEasUaf4z1Mb/s1600/Casablanca+1+Title.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvnN8nrFoVcMJr0q8wnKP3lnWYfj1bmM-lhSzMfIj_vGkCYz-FdL5vcvIaTY4uzbUOEXkIzARm8kU2PMJ3jM_lX_oWpyDk3ZN0Xe4Fr38m6_mueaU87iQ_h_0sGlNO8SBZJEasUaf4z1Mb/s320/Casablanca+1+Title.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Michael Curtiz's 1942 wartime romance <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034583/" target="_blank"><i>Casablanca</i></a> ranks highly on any "best of all time" list I can find, and yet it didn't enchant nearly anyone in my living room the other night... until the last scene at the airport hangar. What is it about this Best Picture winner that keeps people devoted as time goes by? (Sorry, I had to... no, that's a lie. I didn't have to. But I did.)</div>
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<b>Company</b>: <i>Kecia</i>, impatient moviegoer but dedicated friend; <i>Ali</i>, bride-to-be and film maven; <i>Cuellar</i>, newbie to my apartment and fellow bridal-party-bridesperson come fall; <i>Adam</i>, <i>Gabe, Paul </i>and <i>Ryan</i>, tribunal of homo moviephiles, lined up in a row on the couch</div>
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<b>Cuisine</b>: it was a feast! Paul brought white chocolate puffcorn (right? I didn't get any!), Cuellar and Ali brought homemade guac (with peas in it!?), peanut butter M&Ms and a plate of smelly cheeses and weird crackers (amen), and I created a fantastical new themed creation. Popcorn with olive oil, cumin, turmeric and Hungarian sweet paprika. Moroccan popcorn. I call it... Moroccorn. It could have been a flavortastrophe but it was actually delicious.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiknuAeTXpVPrwbtkpC5L4MQm_5mLdOMApqHwlVHaFo0Im0rGkzvtmAEnwxgkZVAEjre31blXp5OTajNtKFrLE7NVKJwQjnpCupllvp1Dg1VtkVubqgL9VKw7cmeEHZxAS0FRXM4Hl-1Tcb/s1600/Casablanca+2+Marquee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiknuAeTXpVPrwbtkpC5L4MQm_5mLdOMApqHwlVHaFo0Im0rGkzvtmAEnwxgkZVAEjre31blXp5OTajNtKFrLE7NVKJwQjnpCupllvp1Dg1VtkVubqgL9VKw7cmeEHZxAS0FRXM4Hl-1Tcb/s320/Casablanca+2+Marquee.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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All right. It's December, 1941. Never mind that this for me immediately conjures up Pearl Harbor: we're on the other side of the planet, lambies. But the politics of the time are very important: Morocco at the time was a protectorate of France, basically meaning it was an autonomous collective being diplomatically and militarily provided for by France. This rule didn't end until 1956, and in the early 40s, when France was under German occupation, Casablanca became a hotspot for Vichy, Italian and Nazi military officials as well as a refugee haven for those wishing to escape the Third Reich and flee to America. </div>
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One of those refugees is Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid), a fugitive leader of the Czech resistance against German rule. He has escaped from a unspecified concentration camp, which may not have struck too much of a chord with American audiences at the time, as reliable accounts of mass murder by the Nazis did not even make its way to the U.S. government until late 1941. To a contemporary audience, knowing what concentration camps did to people, Victor doesn't look like he's spent much time in a camp, but that's neither here nor there.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcQLGLIYj3PgTgqD100QkYo8mYvYIe0vOmKtZLzTEteQZmdZaMpQNhHQ1n9IObKCorWFCSqGeQGMlzl5N7HiKulDn3Tye_htfugj9SjxbeXxjFO-zwfPJ4cUc_P5El9MIuKXjS0fTQThzl/s1600/Casablanca+3+Ilse+Victor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcQLGLIYj3PgTgqD100QkYo8mYvYIe0vOmKtZLzTEteQZmdZaMpQNhHQ1n9IObKCorWFCSqGeQGMlzl5N7HiKulDn3Tye_htfugj9SjxbeXxjFO-zwfPJ4cUc_P5El9MIuKXjS0fTQThzl/s320/Casablanca+3+Ilse+Victor.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Victor and his wife, Ilsa (the stunning Ingrid Bergman), enter Rick's Cafe Americain, hoping to obtain letters of transit that would allow them safe passage to America from the bar's owner (and, incidentally, Ilsa's former lover), Rick Blaine (Oscar nominee Humphrey Bogart). It's very convenient that he happened upon some after being entrusted them by a crime lord. But if I was him, with that girl and that past, I maybe wouldn't want to help her out either, especially suspecting that she's still in love with Rick.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgId5JfQCb_IGcgnl5zFINLX4tXW7AeDkdlG84X5swhLXoh4KlOYphzMk9wAstJh4ulC0YtrK3TAFUxwhSvnLNSE2kRzX78xb3U_PvoYCe5hl1UmFOUlSkrpPIuBWvvgYhnCpse-J1LB3F1/s1600/Casablanca+4+Cheeks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgId5JfQCb_IGcgnl5zFINLX4tXW7AeDkdlG84X5swhLXoh4KlOYphzMk9wAstJh4ulC0YtrK3TAFUxwhSvnLNSE2kRzX78xb3U_PvoYCe5hl1UmFOUlSkrpPIuBWvvgYhnCpse-J1LB3F1/s320/Casablanca+4+Cheeks.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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See, Rick and Ilsa had a love affair in Paris a while back, when she had believed Victor to be dead after attempting to escape the camp, but when she learned he was alive and in hiding, she left without explanation to go find Victor. Cold-hearted snake. At least she left a note!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOQ2Thk0x-iAs61J_t3q4miBj2TjqIfGYw9jTfnY9x0fH5dUVEVxuV0j29zsccqq1Lu0eTGxibQKB-woUpZ_K_ZRHaWoxPhjl5Dn0akcW8P998sYNGLxnmb85ULF3joXw82IIF9hvLHv2I/s1600/Casablanca+5+Letter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOQ2Thk0x-iAs61J_t3q4miBj2TjqIfGYw9jTfnY9x0fH5dUVEVxuV0j29zsccqq1Lu0eTGxibQKB-woUpZ_K_ZRHaWoxPhjl5Dn0akcW8P998sYNGLxnmb85ULF3joXw82IIF9hvLHv2I/s320/Casablanca+5+Letter.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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So the whole story hinges on Rick's life-changing decision between love and virtue: does he keep Ilsa for his own, knowing she still loves him, or does he surrender the papers to her and Victor, guaranteeing them asylum at the cost of his own happiness? The fact that the entire plot hinges on this one moment gives the film a slow albeit steady pace until the very last scene when the decision is famously made, but by that time, the slow-moving story and Bogart's borderline-unlikable Rick had annoyed my whole crowd. Rick is overly sensitive (although, as Ryan pointed out, Bogie's "not sensitive enough to make me think he'd cry"), depressed and kind of a drag to be around. Watching him push everyone away, including sweet Sam the pianist and any other friend brave enough to approach him, is hard on an audience. I get that he's heartbroken, but Bogart's stoic style doesn't grab me, and I think it hampers his attempt at a character arc.</div>
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Plus, as Adam so astutely pointed out, the fact that Rick's biggest problem in his life is that he lost the girl makes him less sympathetic when the threat of real global violence, fascism and genocide loom around every corner. Shouldn't this tale seem more universal? (I keep coming back to <i>The Best Years of Our Lives </i>(<a href="http://maxseesmovies.blogspot.com/2011/03/37-best-years-of-our-lives.html" target="_blank">#37 on this list</a>) as an example of a wartime romance that works. Watching this made me want to rewatch that.) To be fair, though, like that film, <i>Casablanca </i>also chronicles a current conflict, and so maybe audiences really just wanted to be taken out of their lives and away from their troubles and watch an impossible and heart-wrenching romance when they went to the cinema.</div>
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The relentlessly romantic piano score provided by Sam underscores some amazing dialogue (and not just "Here's looking at you, kid" but a lot of great lines that people often forget, like "How extravagant you are, throwing away women like that. One day they may be scarce.") The film has a lot going for it, but for whatever reason it didn't strike a chord with my collected audience that night. I'm sure I'll give it several more chances in my lifetime, but just now it didn't rip at the heart strings the way I'd expected it to. Do I have higher expectations for it, given its untouchable status in the pantheons of great American cinema? Sure. Am I quicker to judge it? Maybe. Bloggy blog about it, why don'tcha.</div>
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Only two left, and the next one was recently voted by TIME Magazine readers as the greatest Best Picture winner of all time. With the Oscars on Sunday, my mind is certainly on Oscar history. The Corleones make an offer you can't refuse in <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068646/" target="_blank"><i>The Godfather</i></a>.</div>Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461058376299559449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266006862101015198.post-63255386526449148072012-02-10T12:03:00.000-08:002012-02-10T12:11:12.464-08:00#4: Raging Bull<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Martin Scorsese was hooked on cocaine after his success in the 1970s, but luckily was convinced to kick the habit by friends like Robert De Niro. He believed that <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081398/" target="_blank"><i>Raging Bull</i></a> would be his last film, and so he poured all his violent, drug-addled energy into making it. The result is a bloody chamber piece, telling the story of one man's fall from fame into obscurity and despair. Pretty heavy for a bright, sunny afternoon, but I'll take it. After the last one (<i>Singin' in the Rain</i>) it's pretty bleak up to the top of the list.</div>
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<b>Company</b>: <i>Katie</i>, spin classmate and beach-body-breakfast sous chef</div>
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<b>Cuisine</b>: poached eggs on a bed of kale, onion and Canadian bacon, with dill toast from Lucia's and coffee. Mmm. A champion breakfast.</div>
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<i>Raging Bull</i> is based on the novel of the same name, an autobiography of the middleweight boxing champion Jake La Motta (portrayed famously by Oscar winner Robert De Niro). The film, shot in stark black-and-white, begins with a epilogue in 1964, when the aging and overweight La Motta practices a comedy routine. No sooner have we recognized De Niro under sixty pounds of added weight than we flash back to 1941, when La Motta loses his first match and begins his long, slow slide out of control. He and his brother, Joey (an unknown-turned-Oscar-nominee Joe Pesci), plot some involvement with local Mafia lords to get him his championship.</div>
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It's around this time that he falls for the beautiful and barely legal Vicki (another unknown and Oscar nominee Cathy Moriarty). He sees her every day at the pool, and in one of the film's most beautiful and understated sequences, he spends the day with her and finally gets her into bed. Never mind his steak-toting wife at home. After one table-smashing shouting match, she's out of the picture.</div>
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Just as he's about to ride the Vicki train, however, he has a change of heart, runs into the bathroom and pours a pitcher of ice water down his shorts. What's with the sudden change of heart? We don't really get a chance to find out before Cathy balls up and makes a move. "What are you doing? What are you doing?" he asks her, knowing full well what she's doing. He must also know why he reconsidered, but we aren't let in on this rare moment of weakness.</div>
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I guess that example underlines one problem I have with the story here: we're never really made aware of the larger relevance of Jake's story. What's the larger social significance of his pride, all his tragic flaws that make up one badly flawed human being, where's the redemption? And if the point is that there is no redemption, what are we meant to take away from the story that makes us better people for having seen it?</div>
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There are few flaws that Jake La Motta <i>doesn't </i>have: he's quick to anger, full of all-encompassing pride and jealousy, desperately needy but eternally suspicious of everyone around him. There's very little to like, really, which might account for the initial mixed reviews when this film hit theaters in 1980. It's gained respect and notoriety since then, especially as Scorsese proved himself to be one of the most respected and quintessentially American film directors of the last century (his <i>Taxi Driver </i>and <i>Goodfellas</i> also made this list; very few directors in the last quarter of the 20th century have three cited films), and is now regarded as one of the very best if not <i>the </i>best film of the 1980s. But I always hear that and think: but the 80s had only just begun! My point is, we love our central characters to have at least a shred of humanity, and it's maybe not until the epilogue portion of the film, where De Niro's La Motta is virtually unrecognizable, when we see through the cracks.</div>
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Okay well, that's just an amazing shot: a perfect metaphor for the end of La Motta's boxing career. </div>
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I know it's all autobiographical but all the Mafia tie-ins feel tacked on somehow. Maybe I just wanted this whole film to function like the middle section, where we see La Motta in the ring alternately contrasted with his rocky personal life. Do I want more joy, more redemption, more self-sacrifice? I suppose I do in real life, so maybe I want it in my movies too. Is that wrong?</div>
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My main struggle with <i>Raging Bull </i>is that I don't know what I'm supposed to take away from it. It's a biography, yes, and it's a sports drama, sure. I'm not a huge sports guy but I think that of all sports, boxing is the most exciting, the most visceral, and the most easily cinematic, so I can get behind the world being created here. I just don't know what the larger relevance is.</div>
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This blog entry hasn't been so much a review as it has been a looming question I'm left with. Katie and I both wondered. Anyone care to chime in? There's certainly a lot to recommend -- the film is very artfully crafted, with some of Scorsese's best direction and a legendary central performance from De Niro -- but as a whole it left me cold. Should a film ranked #4 on a list like this make me feel that way?</div>
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Chime in, please! I'd love to hear your thoughts!<br />
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Next up: we'll always have <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034583/" target="_blank"><i>Casablanca</i></a>.</div>Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461058376299559449noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266006862101015198.post-76041093759357866852012-02-02T11:37:00.000-08:002012-02-02T11:37:39.486-08:00#5: Singin' in the Rain<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>"What a glorious feelin'!"</i></div>
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You get closer and closer to the top of this list and you have to assume that there's very few people who would vote against these top films, and without having screened the final four on the list (though I've seen them all), I think you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who can resist the charm of Gene Kelly's 1952 musical fantasy <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045152/" target="_blank">Singin' in the Rain</a>.</i> I'm sure those people exist somewhere, but I don't know that I ever want to meet them.</div>
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<b>Company</b>: <i>Ryan </i>and <i>Paul</i>, movie buffs; <i>Sheena </i>and <i>Bob</i>, epicures; <i>Katie </i>and <i>Matt</i>, sleepy latecomers; <i>Alex</i>, descant specialist; <i>Adam</i>, musical loyalist; <i>Elizabeth</i>, loves older men; <i>Andi</i>, can make do with older men; <i>Bret</i>, Donald O'Connor reincarnate; <i>Hannah</i>, blonde bombshell</div>
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<b>Cuisine</b>: Alex's genius theme idea was "breakfast for dinner" (good mornin', good MORNin'!) so we had a brunchy smorgasbord -- bacon, onion and cheddar frittata, hash browns, turkey bacon, yogurt parfaits, homemade donuts, coconut banana bread with lime glaze (thanks Elizabeth!) and mimosas upon mimosas.</div>
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1920s silent-film stars Don Lockwood (choreographer and co-director Gene Kelly) and Lina Lamont (Oscar nominee Jean Hagen) are on the red carpet for their newest picture (I love that time when they'd call them 'pictures') when a journalist's questions propels us into a flashback.</div>
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It just so happens that Don Lockwood started out in vaudeville with his lifelong pal Cosmo Brown (the unbelievably talented Donald O'Connor), as they'll prove to you in a stand-out number in a movie full of stand-out numbers. Cosmo is mainly a musician, but somehow just as skilled a hoofer as Don but half as famous. He's got the weird, buggy-blue-eyes thing going for him, and Gene Kelly is just as handsome as possible, so I'll buy this for now. (Actually, Jean Dujardin in <i>The Artist </i>is 100% the French handsomeness reincarnation of Gene Kelly. Just saying.)</div>
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Lockwood escapes a mob of fans by jumping from a trolley car into the moving convertible driven by Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds, only 19 years old!!), a stage actress who pretends not to know Lockwood and scoffs at his silent cred. This tete-a-tete sets up a little argument about craft, stage vs. screen, chops vs. looks. Film is so much more about looking right, hitting your mark, giving the best performance at least once within the takes, but in Kathy's profession you've got to do all those things right the first time, <i>and </i>eight times a week! In what other films does this stage vs. screen conversation come up? I'm actually very curious because I can barely think of any. Probably a lot of older Hollywood musicals like this one.</div>
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Well, if there was ever a meet-cute in a movie, it might be this, but as a couple of my movie going friends mentioned, you're never really that invested in this relationship. Never mind that Gene Kelly is twice Debbie's age: it's just not that important in the grand scheme of the film, which is much more interesting as a study of old vs. new.</div>
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And that debate is never more deftly articulated in the scene in which the head of Don's studio screens a short demonstration of the Vitaphone talking picture, in which the audio and video components of the film are synchronized. It's a breakthrough in technology, but the guests at the party are unimpressed, calling it a trick. Do they genuinely believe this, or are they actually impressed and hiding it because it would eventually spell doom for their silent-film careers? The film follows the effects this new technology has on the industry, and how it eventually saves Lockwood's film <i>The Duelling Cavalier </i>from destroying his career.</div>
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Lina Lamont, however, is not so lucky in this transition. Her grating voice eventually dooms this film's villain, who is based at least roughly on Norma Talmadge, a silent-film star of the 1920s who fell out of fashion and into obscurity with the rise of talkies. So so interesting that Lina Lamont is a loving homage to Talmadge, while <i>Sunset Boulevard</i>'s Norma Desmond is a malevolent tribute to the great film star. In reading about Talmadge, this quote alone makes me want to know more: supposedly after she fell out of favor with audiences and was accosted by fans, she said "Get away, dears. I don't need you anymore, and you don't need me." Wow.</div>
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Well, our three heroes are the lucky ones, with voices and personalities that make an easy transition for them into talking films. But we really pick up on that from the moment we meet them all, and there's no question that they'll win the day. Maybe that's why the plot doesn't really do anything for me. I hate to say that it's really just filler in between the legendary musical numbers (like Cosmo's astounding comedic showcase "Make Em Laugh," pictured above), but I'll take it if it means I get treated to these musical fantasies.</div>
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Each of these numbers, particularly "Make Em Laugh," "Good Mornin', Good Mornin'," "Moses Supposes" and the title number, all exist outside of the realm of reality in their own way. Don and Cosmo are trained vaudeville performers, used to mugging for crowds (even hostile ones), so it's no surprise that Cosmo would create a whole world for himself to dance, flip and catapult himself around a sound stage. Film, however, doesn't give the same immediate satisfaction that the stage does, putting one more check in the column for Kathy's earlier argument. They're just different media, and when a character starts to sing in a film this way, well... it means something different.</div>
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When Cosmo, Kathy and Don begin to dance "Good Mornin'," they're so elated that they've discovered how to save Don's career that they're taken away to a fantasy world where they express themselves through dance. It's an equal artistic representation of what they're feeling as a more naturalistic monologue or scene, but the skill they possess transcends the medium somehow. It's very difficult to explain -- I'm not even sure I'm making any sense. I guess what I mean to say is that these dance sequences, so vivid and exciting, lift the film that might otherwise be a drag to a height that cannot be disputed.</div>
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So it's so baffling to me to hear that Gene Kelly was not the first choice to play Don Lockwood. Supposedly he was cast once the role was more tailor-made for him. Originally Howard Keel, a major musical film star, was considered when Don Lockwood was more of a Western-film actor. But when you think about what the film ended up doing for musicals, for dance, and for Gene Kelly, it's hard to imagine anyone else ever taking his place. He's so at ease, and in all these dance sequences you can see him just a little more at ease than anyone else, simply because he choreographed it. Notice the freeze frame above. O'Connor and Reynolds are looking straight into the camera, professional, poised, spot-on, proving they can keep up. But Kelly's focus is upward, so care-free, so uninhibited. It's very telling.</div>
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You hear these amazing stories about the filming of these sequences: that O'Connor had to be hospitalized after throwing himself all over the place for "Make Em Laugh," that Reynolds' feet were bleeding after "Good Mornin'," that Kelly himself was running a 103-degree temperature when he performed the blissful title number. These factoids make watching these numbers all the more satisfying. I was just reading a review of a new book about the Obamas that said "we like our warriors happy," referring to alleged complaints by our current president about the stresses of his job (duh) and his eagerness to return to normalcy. That's different, of course, from these performers, but never once in these sequences to you see any of them break for even a micro-second. Watch Gene Kelly's face and forget his feet: he's doing what God put him on earth to do. And can you get more from a performer than watching that level of commitment and confidence? I don't imagine you can.</div>
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For me, you could strip everything away from this movie and leave me nothing but the musical sequences. Even the ending, with Lina disgraced and Kathy running up the aisles away from her fame, seems somehow false. Why would Kathy, a struggling chorus girl, not delight in her newfound fame? The holes are filled to excess with the colorful, imaginative dance and storytelling. I'd almost say that this film holds its place on the list for the same reason that <i>Sophie's Choice </i>does -- two movies that could not be more different except that they both glorify and revel in one legendary performer at their absolute peak. Anyone care to comment?</div>
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However, Kelly didn't receive acclaim for this performance at the time the same way Streep did for hers in 1982, maybe partially because he had just been awarded an honorary Oscar the year before, "in appreciation of his versatility as an actor, singer, director and
dancer, and specifically for his brilliant achievements in the art of
choreography on film" for the far inferior Best Picture winner <i>An American in Paris</i>. History has been much kinder to this film that only managed two Oscar nominations (for Hagen and for its original score), proving to me once again that the Academy's place in history is more a social and cultural benchmark rather than an actual gauge of talent and skill. "I'm haaappy againnn..."</div>
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Only four more to go, and none nearly as cheery as this one. Hold on, folks, we're almost there! Next up is Scorsese with DeNiro as Jake LaMotta in <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081398/" target="_blank"><i>Raging Bull</i></a>.</div>Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461058376299559449noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266006862101015198.post-44045332964427618912012-01-12T15:08:00.000-08:002012-01-12T21:02:49.467-08:00#6: Gone with the Wind<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>There was a land of Cavaliers and Cotton fields called the Old South...</i></div>
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The title of this one looms so large that the screen can't even contain it all at once. Max Steiner's score sweeps us away immediately and we're launched into Victor Fleming's 1939 southern saga <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031381/" target="_blank"><i>Gone with the Wind</i></a>, adapted from Margaret Mitchell's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Winner of ten Academy Awards in what would be one of the greatest years in American cinema, <i>Gone with the Wind </i>remains to this day Hollywood's indisputable champion of melodrama and historical fiction. AND it's even fun to watch!</div>
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<b>Company</b>: not quite enough for a cotillion, but we made do -- <i>Ryan </i>and <i>Paul</i>, our most magnanimous hosts; <i>Elizabeth</i>, de Havifan (a fan of de Havilland); <i>Kecia</i>, swooning for Rhett; <i>Bret</i>, which rhymes with Rhett; and <i>Hannah</i>, a fair Southern belle.</div>
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<b>Cuisine</b>: we never went hungry again. Kecia made chicken, shrimp and andouille sausage gumbo with brown rice and black bean corn bread, and Paul made some delicious taco dip. Drinks were a-flowing.</div>
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So I guess I was mistaken all this time in believing that our last movie, <i>Lawrence of Arabia</i>, was the longest movie on the list, but <i>Gone with the Wind</i> beats it by eight minutes (twenty-two if you include the overture, entr'acte and exit music). However, due to the long stretches of inaction and sand, that last movie feels about twice as long as this one, which opens on our heroine giggling and flirting with two young soldiers and never lets up for a minute. Scarlett O'Hara (Oscar winner Vivien Leigh, winning her first of two Oscars playing Southern belles) has every boy's attention. Charming to a fault, we see immediately that she's vain and selfish. Once another girl is mentioned, we hear, "who want to know anything about her?" No one matters but Scarlett. Leigh plays her with great relish and incredible detail. I love knowing that one of the other main choices to play this role was Charlie Chaplin's wife at the time, Paulette Goddard, whose ambiguous marital status at the time was thought to be too tumultous and might bring controversy and scandal to filming. Leigh, though, was living with Lawrence Olivier at the time, as both of their spouses had refused to divorce them. C'mon!</div>
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Anyhow, anyhow. The story involves the long, involved, on-again-off-again romance between this plantation owner's daughter and the handsome Rhett Butler (Oscar nominee and dreamboat Clark Gable), who's been disowned by his family in South Carolina and breaks the mold by assuring his Confederate allies that they cannot win a ground war against the North (which history would validate). At nearly four hours, the film takes its sweet time and letting this romance fester, flounder and find its way, as Scarlett makes her way through life, husbands, war and tragedy.</div>
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William Cameron Menzies, the man who invented the job title "production designer," was awarded a technical Oscar "for outstanding achievement in the use of color for the enhancement of dramatic mood," and he and the art director and cinematographer certainly use color to enhance and dramatize every scene. How much less visually exciting would this huge charity bazaar be in black and white, especially considering that in this scene Scarlett's dressed in black, mourning her first husband, and is taunted by color everywhere?</div>
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<i>Can you find <strike>Waldo</strike> Scarlett?</i></div>
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When war ravages her town in the Atlanta Campaign, Scarlett is obligated to stay behind and fulfill her promise to her beloved Ashley (Leslie Howard) that she take care of his pregnant wife and her dearest friend Melanie (a wonderful Olivia de Havilland). She's out of her mourning attire, but her world is suddenly drained of color as she wanders through the seemingly jaundiced expanse of wounded soldiers, searching for a doctor to help her. God knows Prissy (Butterfly McQueen) won't be much if any help. ("I don't know nothin' 'bout birthin' babies!") In this way, Fleming helps us to see Scarlett's world through her eyes, matching the visual palette to the colorful emotional landscape of the novel.</div>
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<i>"As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again!"</i> </div>
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I mean, GOD. How much burnt orange is there in this film? This iconic image of Scarlett standing on the near-ruins of her family's beloved plantation Tara sets up parallel storylines as the south is defeated and the age of Reconstruction begins, both for the deeply divided nation and the flawed but admittedly resourceful and resilient Ms. O'Hara. She quickly puts her remaining family and newly-freed slaves (nothing much is said about them, more on that later) to work picking cotton on her farm and struggling to get by.</div>
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The second half of this epic story begins with Scarlett at her lowest low point, and observes her as she connives, lies and cheats her way into a place of wealth and power in the lives of the men she doesn't love and the women she betrays. Nearly everyone sees her for the deceitful bitch she is, save maybe her second husband Frank Kennedy (Carroll Nye) whose untimely death leaves the door open for Rhett to finally propose, and dear sweet Melanie, the only kind and virtuous person in the whole movie (save maybe Mammy, played by the inspiring Hattie McDaniel).</div>
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There's been a lot of criticism about the film's depiction of black slaves, particularly their supposed congeniality and eagerness to fight for their country. The film premiered nearly seventy-five years after slavery was abolished, so it was nearly out of the contemporary mindset of the time, but Jim Crow laws still ruled the south and true civil rights wouldn't be won for another couple decades. It's such a sting to hear that although McDaniel was rightfully awarded the Best Supporting Actress prize for this film, her statue was a statuette, in a way counting her as 3/5 of a actress. Her performance has stood the test of time, as complete as she could make it. It's a historical character, one way out of date, and she's not really given much chance to do anything besides be a stereotype, but her commanding presence leads the way through the film, and we have Hattie to thank.</div>
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The film's psychological torture games between Scarlett and Rhett feel as contemporary and electric as any written today, thanks to the winning screenplay by Sidney Howard. I have a feeling I should really read this book. I love the similarities between these scenes and the fights that Leigh has with Marlon Brando twelve years later in <i>A Streetcar Named Desire.</i> I think we know it will never work out, that Scarlett is too selfish and too conniving to know any other way to act, any other way to treat fellow human beings, and even when the ultimate tragedy strikes and she's finally changed, it's all been for naught. It's too late. He doesn't give a damn. Do we relish in watching her suffer? Do we love the schaudenfreude? Or do we want Rhett and Scarlett to be together forever? Is tomorrow another day? We want a happy ending... don't we?</div>
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No matter what, I think audiences can agree that Scarlett O'Hara gets the blood boiling, and her epic journey through love and war is one that hasn't yet been matched. Boy. I had only seen this once before in college, and it was nice to see it again, knowing who everyone was, knowing how it would all end, and taking that into context. I recently heard a study on NPR that said people actually enjoying reading books when they know the ending, since some of the anxiety is gone and one can pick up on foreshadowing details that would otherwise be missed. That's a good a reason as any I can think of to rewatch a lot of these movies once I'm done with this list. <i>Gone with the Wind </i>might have to wait a while, but I'll definitely come back to it... sometime when I have four hours to spare... and some more of that gumbo.</div>
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Only five left! I can't believe it. How can you argue against any of them? Next up: the only lightness anywhere to be found until the end, it seems. Gene Kelly is soaked while he's <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045152/" target="_blank">Singin' in the Rain</a>.</i></div>Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461058376299559449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266006862101015198.post-45814543030088820842012-01-05T09:30:00.000-08:002012-01-05T09:53:38.267-08:00#7: Lawrence of Arabia<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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We finally got to this, the last film on the list I haven't previously seen! It's shameful and strange but maybe the only real thing I knew about David Lean's 1962 sandy epic <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056172/" target="_blank">Lawrence of Arabia</a> </i>was that it's long. In fact, I remember a Foxtrot strip (remember that strip?) in which the kid is on the couch and the dad walks over with a chess board.</div>
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<b>Dad</b>: Hey Jason, wanna play chess?</div>
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<b>Jason</b>: I can't, Dad. I just started watching <i>Lawrence of Arabia</i>.</div>
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<b>Dad</b>: That's okay. I'll wait.</div>
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That was really it. The movie's length is the whole joke. And in a way, that's okay: it's definitely a major investment, so luckily I had delicious food and camaraderie.</div>
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<b>Company</b>: <i>Elizabeth</i>, former and future lover of Omar Sharif, owner of burlap-encased copy of this movie, opponent of saffron</div>
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<b>Cuisine</b>: <a href="http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Quinoa-with-Moroccan-Winter-Squash-and-Carrot-Stew-233714" target="_blank">quinoa with Moroccan winter squash and carrot stew</a>. This required several spices I didn't own (turmeric? Hungarian sweet paprika??) and it was certainly a two-hander (I was on the quinoa, Elizabeth was on the stew). So delicious, and theme-perfect! Special note: don't worry about the saffron, it's just a fancy expensive way to add color to this already colorful plate. Also, plenty of coffee to get through the three-and-a-half-hour beast, and maybe the dregs of a bag of Christmas confections.</div>
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The film is based on the life of T. E. Lawrence (played here by Peter O'Toole, achieving his first of eight Oscar nominations), an officer in the British Army at the early part of the twentieth century who was sent into Arabia on special assignment and became a liaison for the Arab revolt against the Ottoman Turks between 1916 and 1918. Is this something that I knew <i>anything </i>about prior to watching the movie? Absolutely not. But about fifteen minutes in Peter blows out the flame in his hand and we are immediately transported to ...</div>
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... the desert. Hot. Desolate. Sprawling. Lawrence and his guide are in unfamiliar territory and the guide makes the mistake of drinking from a well that doesn't belong to him. Right on cue: here comes Sherif Ali (Oscar nominee Omar Sharif) to shoot him for his insolence. That'll teach him. And he would shoot Lawrence too, but Lawrence makes a case for himself and asks to be led to Prince Faisal (Alec Guinness), the leader of the Arab revolt.</div>
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Faisal has been pressured to retreat but Lawrence proposes a surprise attack on the important coastal town of Aqaba. Attacking from sea would almost certainly be expected and lead them to certain death, so Lawrence proposes attacking from the rear, which would require crossing the vast Nefud desert, considered by everyone but Lawrence to be impassable. Ali is very skeptical but a group of fifty men follow Lawrence into the desert.</div>
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<span style="font-style: italic;">Long stretches of the movie look like this.</span></div>
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<span style="font-style: italic;"></span>In this cinematic world, crossing a desert on camelback is pretty much considered an action sequence. And it's a <i>loooong</i> action sequence. Lean is obviously keeping his audience on a camel's back with Lawrence and his troupe, asking us to journey for weeks without rest until we reach the oasis on the other side. It's not that it's not entertaining, although it really isn't, but we know the stakes are high and that keeps (some of) us engaged.</div>
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The group successfully reaches the end of their journey but Lawrence wins even more respect from his allies when, noticing that one camel has lost its passenger, he heads back into the desert to retrieve his fallen comrade, something that most would consider a suicide mission. He is crowned, hailed as a savior.</div>
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He's given traditional Arab robes to wear, and he pulls them off. (Fun fact: Noel Coward said that if Peter O'Toole had been any prettier in this movie, they would have had to call it <i>Florence of Arabia</i>. Catty!)</div>
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Lawrence is painted in the film as egotistical, and Lean alludes to Christ comparisons when he's hailed by his Arab allies. Not that he didn't do a lot of great things, but boy, he loves being loved. He was well-educated and was very familiar with Arab and Bedouin culture, and even tells his guide near the beginning of his journey that he's "different" than the other people in his home county of Oxfordshire. O'Toole plays him with great immediacy and wisdom. Two of my favorites quotes of his say a lot about his character: near the beginning of the film before he heads into the desert, he puts out a match with his fingers, and a friend tries to do the same.</div>
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<b>William Potter</b>: Ooh, that damn well hurts.</div>
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<b>T. E. Lawrence</b>: Certainly it hurts.</div>
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<b>William Potter</b>: Well, what's the trick then?</div>
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<b>T. E. Lawrence</b>: The trick, William Potter, is not minding that it hurts.</div>
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I love this mind-over-matter philosophy; certainly it must come in handy when crossing inhospitable terrains like he will do for the next several hours.</div>
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<i>Oops quicksand.</i> </div>
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The other comes when Gasim, the man Lawrence saved from the desert, kills one of Faisal's men over a dispute, and Faisal notes that he must be put to death to quell tensions between the tribes.</div>
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<span class="st"><b>Prince Faisal</b>: Gasim's time has come,<i></i> Lawrence. It is written.</span></div>
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<span class="st"> <i></i><b>T.E. Lawrence</b>: <i>Nothing is written</i>. </span></div>
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<span class="st">Sure, you could read this arrogance and perhaps even cultural or moral superiority, but Lawrence is making the point that nothing is predestined. It is not "written," for example, that they should all perish by attempting to cross the Nefud (which none of them do). Extraordinary things happen when people have faith that they can happen. A sweet, simple lesson.</span></div>
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The film was awarded seven Oscars, including Best Picture and Director, as well as many deserved technical awards for cinematography, art direction, and the sweeping score by Maurice Jarre, who creates one of those themes that stays with you long after the movie's over. It reminded me of <i>Taxi Driver</i>, the way the theme was used so often, almost to a fault, to drill it so far into your brain that it would always bring you right back into the world of the film. Peter O'Toole lost his first of eight Oscars to Gregory Peck for <i>To Kill a Mockingbird</i>, and I think that history has validated that. But poor poor Peter.</div>
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<i>"He's the most shameless exhibitionist since Barnum and Bailey."</i></div>
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One thing I will say, though, is that this film ranks maybe right behind <i>The Bridge on the River Kwai </i>as the least American film on this list that claims to be made up of American films. I believe the producer Sam Spiegel and the screenwriters Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson are all American, but outside of that, there's nothing much American about it. It's a British story, directed by an Englishman, filmed in the middle East, with a British and Arabian cast and almost certainly financed outside of America. It doesn't make it a bad inclusion on a list of great movies, but great <i>American </i>movies? I'd like to see some justification for this. Anyone?</div>
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ANYhow. The film follows Lawrence's fall from grace, his exploits in helping the rebellion, and his emotional journey, torn between his British imperialist roots and his new Arab comrades. Heavy, sandy stuff.</div>
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Ultimately it's a worthwhile experience and I think one that might benefit from multiple viewings if you can stomach it. It's a lot of names to keep straight, a lot of guys in dusty robes, a lot of strife. It's not my favorite story but I think if you view it as a biography of a major political figure, the ending becomes pretty remarkable. I'll need to watch this again in a few years. I have a feeling this was just a primer. Elizabeth, you in? We'll make that stew again! :)</div>
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Next up: we're making gumbo and setting fire to Atlanta! We'll never go hungry again with <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031381/" target="_blank"><i>Gone with the Wind</i></a>.</div>Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461058376299559449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266006862101015198.post-70388744951613237472011-12-30T10:05:00.000-08:002011-12-31T08:41:28.170-08:002011 Movie ReviewAnother year of movies!<br />
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I always wish I could see more,
especially current releases, but time and finances don't always allow
it. This year was particularly busy for me so I got fewer in than I'd
like, but still saw some great ones! For the first time making this
note, I had a tough time choosing the worst of the year. And by that I
mean there weren't that many that I could label that way. Most of the
films I saw were really wonderful. I saw 74 films this year, which for
me is pretty average.<br />
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<b>2005</b>: 69 (<i>Dogville</i>).<br />
<b>2006</b>: 79 (<i>Little Miss Sunshine</i>).<br />
<b>2007</b>: 87 (<i>Ratatouille</i>).<br />
<b>2008</b>: 74 (<i>WALL-E</i>).<br />
<b>2009</b>: 85 (<i>Up in the Air</i>).<br />
<b>2010</b>: 75 (<i>The Social Network </i>/ <i>Toy Story 3</i>)<br />
<b>2011</b>: 74.<br />
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I
also kept going with my big movie blog project -- although I had hoped
to finish before the year was through, I got through 38 more (18 of
which I'd seen) and decided not to rush the last few since they're all
such classics. Only seven left to go!<br />
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When I got to making
the top ten and choosing a favorite, one stood out among the top -- and
I wonder if I'm cheating since it's the very last film I saw the whole
year! But there were so many breathtaking moments, so many delightful
performances, and so much to recommend in Michel Hazanavicius's <i>The Artist</i>
that it had to be my favorite for the year. Plus, as my friend pointed
out, it's "for everyone who loves to love movies about people who love
movies." What's not to love? :)<br />
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Here's my two cents everyone. Happy 2012 -- and cheers to a new year of moviegoing!<br />
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<b>My Top Ten of 2011</b><i></i><i> </i><br />
<ul>
<li><i>The Artist </i>(my favorite!)<i> </i></li>
<li><i>Beautiful Thing</i></li>
<li><i>Before Sunset</i><i> </i></li>
<li><i>The Best Years of Our Lives</i></li>
<li><i>Blue Valentine</i></li>
<li><i>Bridesmaids</i></li>
<li><i>The General</i></li>
<li><i>The Help</i></li>
<li><i>Rabbit Hole</i></li>
<li><i>A Town Called Panic</i></li>
</ul>
<b>The Next Ten</b><br />
<ul>
<li><i>2001: A Space Odyssey</i><i> </i><i> </i></li>
<li><i>¡Atame! (Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down!)</i></li>
<li><i>Beginners</i></li>
<li><i>Catfish</i></li>
<li><i>The Descendants</i></li>
<li><i>Double Indemnity</i></li>
<li><i>Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Part II </i></li>
<li><i>King Kong</i> (1933)<i> </i></li>
<li><i>The Red Balloon</i><i> </i></li>
<li><i>Tangled</i></li>
</ul>
<b>Amazing Performances</b><br />
<ul>
<li>Nicole Kidman and Dianne Wiest in<i> Rabbit Hole</i><i> </i></li>
<li>Madeline Kahn in<i> </i><i> History of the World: Part I</i><i> </i></li>
<li>Emma Stone in <i>Easy A </i>(totally saves the movie)</li>
<li>Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg in<i> </i><i> Antichrist</i><i> </i></li>
<li>Everyone but especially Harold Russell in<i> </i><i> The Best Years of Our Lives</i><i> </i></li>
<li>Sessue Hayakawa in <i>The Bridge on the River Kwai </i></li>
<li><i></i>James Franco in <i>127 Hours </i></li>
<li><i></i>Bette Davis and Joan Crawford in <i>What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?</i></li>
<li>Martin Sheen in<i> </i><i> Apocalypse Now</i><i> </i></li>
<li>Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy in<i> </i><i> Before Sunset</i><i> </i></li>
<li>Christian Bale in <i>The Fighter </i></li>
<li><i></i>Everyone but especially Kristin Wiig and Melissa McCarthy in <i>Bridesmaids </i></li>
<li><i></i>Dianne Wiest in <i>Bullets Over Broadway </i></li>
<li>Barbara Stanwyck in <i>Double Indemnity </i></li>
<li><i></i>Colin Firth in <i>The King’s Speech </i></li>
<li>Jimmy Stewart in <i>Mr. Smith Goes to Washington </i></li>
<li>Alan Rickman in <i>Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II </i></li>
<li>Everyone but especially Hailee Steinfeld in <i>True Grit </i></li>
<li><i></i>Jane Darwell in <i>The Grapes of Wrath </i></li>
<li>Ryan Gosling (should have been Oscar nominated) and Michelle Williams in <i>Blue Valentine </i></li>
<li>Buster Keaton in<i> The General</i> </li>
<li>Everyone in<i> </i><i> Beautiful Thing</i><i> </i></li>
<li>Everyone in <i>The Texas Chainsaw Massacre </i>(really) </li>
<li>Everyone but especially Lesley Manville in<i> </i><i> Another Year</i><i> </i></li>
<li>Antonio Banderas and Victoria Abril in<i> </i><i> ¡Atame!</i><i> </i></li>
<li>George Clooney, Judy Greer and Shailene Woodley in <i>The Descendants </i></li>
<li>Everyone in <i>The Help</i>… holy cow.</li>
<li>Christopher Plummer in <i>Beginners</i></li>
<li>Everyone but especially Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bujo in<i> The Artist</i></li>
</ul>
<b>Great Moments/Scenes/Lines</b><br />
<ul>
<li>“Girl from earlier!?” (<i>Scott Pilgrim vs. The World</i>)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6eTTaY1a6M" target="_blank">Choosing the escorts</a> (<i>History of the World: Part I</i>)</li>
<li>Pushing Tracy’s face (<i>The Philadelphia Story</i>)</li>
<li>Intimacy in the cinema (<i>Midnight Cowboy</i>)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4L2ooG_MX9E" target="_blank">“Chaos reigns.”</a> (<i>Antichrist</i>)</li>
<li>The bridge collapse (<i>The Bridge on the River Kwai</i>)</li>
<li>Springtime for Hitler (<i>The Producers</i>)</li>
<li>Arriving at Kurtz’s camp (<i>Apocalypse Now</i>)</li>
<li>Pick nearly any line from <i>Bridesmaids </i>but I especially love Annie’s drunken rant on the plane</li>
<li>“Don’t speak.” (<i>Bullets Over Broadway</i>)</li>
<li>The train crash (<i>Super 8</i>)</li>
<li>The battle for Hogwarts (<i>Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II</i>)</li>
<li>“Nobody baby but you and me” (<i>Blue Valentine</i>)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aM1aiXGxmts" target="_blank">Riding away absent-mindedly on the side rods of the train</a> (<i>The General</i>)</li>
<li>HAL’s destruction (<i>2001: A Space Odyssey</i>)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVrY7aL5jL0&feature=related" target="_blank">Lanterns</a> (<i>Tangled</i>)</li>
<li>The sex scene (<i>¡Atame!</i>)</li>
<li>“Eat. My. Shit.” (<i>The Help</i>)</li>
<li>So many moments but absolutely the sound of the glass (<i>The Artist</i>)</li>
</ul>
<b>Best Endings</b><br />
<ul>
<li><i>The Red Balloon</i></li>
<li><i>The Best Years of Our Lives</i></li>
<li><i>Before Sunset</i></li>
<li><i>Double Indemnity</i></li>
<li><i>Beautiful Thing</i></li>
<li><i>2001: A Space Odyssey</i></li>
<li><i>The Descendants</i></li>
<li><i>The Help</i></li>
<li><i>The Artist</i></li>
</ul>
<b>Worst of the Year</b><br />
<ul>
<li><i>Alice in Wonderland </i>(dreadful from start to finish, and it won two Oscars!)<i> </i></li>
<li><i>Shane</i> (redundant)<i> </i></li>
<li><i>Terms of Endearment </i>(rubbed me the wrong way)<i> </i></li>
<li><i>Return to Oz </i>(takes everything wonderful about that world and makes it charmless)</li>
<li>And I tried to find a fifth to round it out, since I normally do, but that's actually all I can come up with. Maybe <i>The Fog</i>, but it was still enjoyable even if it was unoriginal. I did all right this year!</li>
</ul>
<b>All 74 Movies I Saw (for the first time) in 2011</b><br />
<ul>
<li><i>Rabbit Hole</i></li>
<li><i>Scott Pilgrim vs. The World</i></li>
<li><i>Alice in Wonderland</i></li>
<li><i>A Town Called Panic</i></li>
<li><i>Shane</i></li>
<li><i>History of the World: Part I</i></li>
<li><i>The Philadelphia Story</i></li>
<li><i>Easy A</i></li>
<li><i>Animal Kingdom</i></li>
<li><i>Midnight Cowboy</i></li>
<li><i>Stagedoor</i></li>
<li><i>King Kong (1933)</i></li>
<li><i>Star Wars</i></li>
<li><i>Elaine Stritch: At Liberty</i></li>
<li><i>The Red Balloon</i></li>
<li><i>Antichrist</i></li>
<li><i>Sondheim: The Birthday Concert</i></li>
<li><i>Catfish</i></li>
<li><i>Patrik 1,5</i></li>
<li><i>The Treasure of the Sierra Madre</i></li>
<li><i>The Best Years of Our Lives</i></li>
<li><i>The Bridge on the River Kwai</i></li>
<li><i>Soapdish</i></li>
<li><i>Terms of Endearment</i></li>
<li><i>What's Up, Doc? (1972)</i></li>
<li><i>The Producers (1968)</i></li>
<li><i>127 Hours</i></li>
<li><i>Stepmom</i></li>
<li><i>What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?</i></li>
<li><i>Wordplay</i></li>
<li><i>The Maltese Falcon</i></li>
<li><i>Before Sunset</i></li>
<li><i>Apocalypse Now</i></li>
<li><i>The Fighter</i></li>
<li><i>Bridesmaids</i></li>
<li><i>Bullets Over Broadway</i></li>
<li><i>Beaches</i></li>
<li><i>Double Indemnity</i></li>
<li><i>A League of Their Own</i></li>
<li><i>The King's Speech </i></li>
<li><i>High Noon</i></li>
<li><i>Super 8</i></li>
<li><i>Splash</i></li>
<li><i>Mr. Smith Goes to Washington</i></li>
<li><i>Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2</i></li>
<li><i>True Grit (2010)</i></li>
<li><i>The Grapes of Wrath</i></li>
<li><i>Blue Valentine</i></li>
<li><i>Chinatown</i></li>
<li><i>Evening Primrose</i></li>
<li><i>Life During Wartime</i></li>
<li><i>Never Been Kissed</i></li>
<li><i>L'Illusioniste</i></li>
<li><i>Gentlemen Prefer Blondes</i></li>
<li><i>On the Waterfront</i></li>
<li><i>The General</i></li>
<li><i>Return to Oz</i></li>
<li><i>Beautiful Thing</i></li>
<li><i>The Searchers</i></li>
<li><i>2001: A Space Odyssey</i></li>
<li><i>Tangled</i></li>
<li><i>The Fog (1980)</i></li>
<li><i>City Lights</i></li>
<li><i>The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)</i></li>
<li><i>After Stonewall</i></li>
<li><i>Inside Job</i></li>
<li><i>Another Year</i></li>
<li><i>A State of Mind</i></li>
<li><i>The Navigator</i></li>
<li><i>¡Átame!</i></li>
<li><i>The Descendants</i></li>
<li><i>The Help</i></li>
<li><i>Beginners</i></li>
<li><i>The Artist</i></li>
</ul>Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461058376299559449noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266006862101015198.post-44307908677188072282011-12-23T09:12:00.000-08:002011-12-23T09:12:20.967-08:00#8: Schindler's List<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjWClbEpPa9t-LZcae1ch1q3nKQwDjUFmqoWMaFQraPGroDRTioPbAAj2PcSWO4XqLJtoKylzNhaqF4DitcP39sh66VQdFQJwcWd1UuhlFpBhtt9AW6MhQh2MLJsobAa5yi_njTAFaZJaf/s1600/Schindler+1+Title.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjWClbEpPa9t-LZcae1ch1q3nKQwDjUFmqoWMaFQraPGroDRTioPbAAj2PcSWO4XqLJtoKylzNhaqF4DitcP39sh66VQdFQJwcWd1UuhlFpBhtt9AW6MhQh2MLJsobAa5yi_njTAFaZJaf/s320/Schindler+1+Title.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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By my count, this list includes six films having to do directly with World War II, if you include <i>The Best Years of Our Lives</i> since it chronicles the veterans' experience. <i>Saving Private Ryan </i>is really the only other film <i>about </i>the war, taking place during wartime. Interestingly, two musicals (<i>The Sound of Music </i>and <i>Cabaret</i>) are both set on the verge of war with a growing Nazi presence. And <i>Sophie's Choice</i>, while taking place after the great conflict, is directly concerned with its title character's experience in the Holocaust as a Polish Catholic. But as far as this list goes, only Steven Spielberg's 1993 Holocaust drama <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108052/" target="_blank"><i>Schindler's List</i></a> holds a literal and figurative candle to the Jewish experience. Hoo boy.</div>
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<b>Company</b>: <i>Kecia</i>, vegetarian chefstress; <i>Jeremy</i>, vegetarian; <i>Elizabeth, </i>movie-snack philanthropist<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0HmXUnqQse4pbNAr19GalargauLSR04ouDuuWweifqNYgMx6ExTbRB5O_Wke8Z_ZeFsEGqCGAGuR_hCPJ085Wfoj8xlih46cS89jajXNca-8tPQIHspNVrhEGjkWTrCrnba3yrAKYXn3S/s1600/CM+Capture+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0HmXUnqQse4pbNAr19GalargauLSR04ouDuuWweifqNYgMx6ExTbRB5O_Wke8Z_ZeFsEGqCGAGuR_hCPJ085Wfoj8xlih46cS89jajXNca-8tPQIHspNVrhEGjkWTrCrnba3yrAKYXn3S/s320/CM+Capture+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Cuisine</b>: Oh boy. Darling roomie made the first dish, a baked portabella mushroom stuffed with quinoa, spinach and carmelized onions and topped with pecorino, with green beans with tomatoes and almonds. Jeremy made the broccolini bruschetta on the right. I've never been happier. Elizabeth also brought Sun Chips (the best kind, Garden Salsa) and Junior Mints to contribute. A feast for all, and we needed it.</div>
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Oskar Schindler (Oscar nominee Liam Neeson) was a real German businessman whose heroics were chronicled in Thomas Keneally's novel "Schindler's Ark." By employing Jews (mostly Polish) in his factories, and through his powers of persuasion and charm, he saved over 1,000 of them from certain death in concentration camps. Neeson portrays him as a towering, kind bear of a man, at ease with everyone, including the Nazi officials who see through his profiteering plots and seek to kill his work force. His warmth is portrayed beautifully by Neeson, but we don't really see much vulnerability to this central character until the emotional ending. More on that later.</div>
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Meanwhile, Oscar nominee Ralph Fiennes gives us one of the great screen villains of all time in Schutzstaffel captain Amon Goeth, sadistic commandant of the Plaszow concentration camp where a portion of the film takes place. Fiennes gave an interview with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum after the film was released and said this about playing the part:</div>
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"Evil is cumulative. It happens. People believe that they’ve got to do a
job, they’ve got to take on an ideology, that they’ve got a life to
lead; they’ve got to survive, a job to do, it’s every day inch by inch,
little compromises, little ways of telling yourself this is how you
should lead your life and suddenly then these things can happen. I mean,
I could make a judgment myself privately, this is a terrible, evil,
horrific man. But the job was to portray the man, the human being.
There’s a sort of banality, that everydayness, that I think was
important. And it was in the screenplay. In fact, one of the first
scenes with Oskar Schindler, with Liam Neeson, was a scene where I’m
saying “You don’t understand how hard it is, I have to order so many-so
many meters of barbed wire and so many fencing posts and I have to get
so many people from A to B.” And, you know, he’s sort of letting off
steam about the difficulties of the job. And so I suppose you can step
back and that is where the evil is, when you can step back and look at
it."</div>
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<span style="color: black;">It's a remarkable performance, how unflinching and all-encompassing it is. Terrifying.</span> </div>
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While the acting is top-notch, it's Oscar winner Spielberg's hand behind the camera that's most effective here. Besides parallel bookends in color, the film is nearly entirely shot in black and white, a very specific choice that my friends and I discussed. B&W brings the film back to its historical roots, certainly, and the relentlessly bleak subject matter lends itself well to a colorless scope. But it's a major decision to make a film this way in 1993, and I think Spielberg was commenting on the scope of the atrocities committed against the Jews in WWII. It's that whole idea that when everything is special, nothing is special. No one stands out; the faces of these victims blend with each other more wholly in this format than they perhaps would in color. There's a hopelessness everywhere, particularly in the liquidation of the ghettos and the portraits of life inside Plaszow, that strike a darker chord without the relief of color. I was especially moved by the moment when the female prisoners smeared blood on their cheeks to make themselves more appealing to the officials, hoping that would save them. Without color, the blood looks to our eye like dirt; in the eyes of the Schutzstaffel, it might as well be.</div>
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The only brief glimpse of color in this over-three-hour-long saga is a girl in a red coat, first wandering through a ghetto and later dead on a wheelbarrow. It's a humanizing moment for Schindler to watch an individual's journey through this experience, especially being a Nazi himself. He may have been motivated by money at first, since Jewish labor certainly cost less for him, but this moment confirms with the audience that he cared deeply for these people and was surely haunted by them long after the war was over.</div>
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Schindler goes toe-to-toe with Goeth, convincing him that even the frailest of his Schindlerjuden ("Schindler Jews") were necessary workers on his production lines. He's aided by his Jewish accountant Itzhak Stern (the wonderful and understated Ben Kingsley) who claims that one needs "three things in life: a good doctor, a forgiving priest, and a clever accountant." Luckily for the Schindlerjuden, he fills that third role.</div>
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<i>"Years from now the young will ask with wonder about this day."</i></div>
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But Spielberg cuts back and forth between these tiny glimpses of sunlight and the darker, horrible realities of the camps. How can someone not shudder when this kid climbs into a toilet to hide, only to be told by other kids hiding there that there's no room for him? If there's no room for him in a shit hole, where does he belong? Oh it gives me goosebumps.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEd0WDz0nOlEYygJ6POrTlCGGSNUCeRgOraomj0-srEFwzWJI3FZN9TYrjjSjhJWvWbTclxwxy-yIcZuO7btiEsh4ilUNDietxI9hM_WOHY2S7XHkRx5bhL_pOxKn7tyl8ML90y0o7K5lQ/s1600/Schindler+7+List.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEd0WDz0nOlEYygJ6POrTlCGGSNUCeRgOraomj0-srEFwzWJI3FZN9TYrjjSjhJWvWbTclxwxy-yIcZuO7btiEsh4ilUNDietxI9hM_WOHY2S7XHkRx5bhL_pOxKn7tyl8ML90y0o7K5lQ/s320/Schindler+7+List.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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For Spielberg (whose other films on this list include crowd-pleasers <i>Jaws</i>, <i>Raiders of the Lost Ark </i>and <i>E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial</i>) to step into this delicate territory could not have been easy, and it's fascinating to read about the critical reaction to this film from the Jewish community. For example, Claude Lanzmann, director of <i>Shoah</i>, a nine-hour documentary about the Holocaust by which I'm intrigued but have never and might never sit through, blasted Spielberg by calling his film "a kitschy melodrama" that didn't show the horrors of war the way he thought was necessary. Lanzmann believed that after his film was made nothing else needed to be said, which is colossally arrogant and forced Spielberg to defend his film as accurate. Naturally, when bringing an adaptation of real events to the screen, history needs to be altered somewhat; dealing with events that are so close to peoples' hearts is very difficult, and I'm sure that no one could ever please everyone on this. Schindler somehow managed it, and the film went on to receive seven Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Score (John Williams, how do you manage to be at the top of your form every. damn. time??)</div>
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<i>"Whoever saves one life saves the world in time."</i></div>
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When the war is over and the camps are liberated, Schindler gathers his friends (whom he knows by name when he dictates the list to Stern!) for three minutes of silence for those they've lost. We are silent, too, as Spielberg commands his audience to silence. How many directors can reach through the characters that way and grip an audience so firmly? Wow. It's an incredible moment of gratitude; you can feel the endless thanks and unpayable debt in this crowd gathered in the factory. And yet, Schindler says:</div>
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<i>"I could have done more."</i></div>
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<i> </i>Game over, composure.</div>
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A beautiful and respectful epilogue, in which the real-life Schindlerjuden walk arm-in-arm with their onscreen counterparts to pay respects at Schindler's grave on Mount Zion in Israel, acts as a eulogy for the dead and a legacy for the living. Williams' score is never more moving than at this moment, the first moment where I really noticed it, as the reverence and absence of dialogue brings it to the forefront. Wow.</div>
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Supposedly Roman Polanski abandoned his Holocaust film project when this one came out. Not a bad move. I don't think this film is <i>the </i>definitive look at the Holocaust (no film can claim to be the definitive anything, can it?) but it's certainly a historic and masterful memorial for the lives lost and saved. Beautiful.</div>
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Next: a little break until after Christmas, and then we don sandals and endurance for what I believe is the longest film on the entire list (and the last one I haven't previously seen!): <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056172/" target="_blank">Lawrence of Arabia</a>. </i>Until then, happy holidays!</div>Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461058376299559449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266006862101015198.post-67429458933982158582011-12-15T21:07:00.000-08:002011-12-15T21:07:23.367-08:00#9: Vertigo<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUcic43plP-7BERyohnTovtPu8wRBul7pCVYH5kqLpKixdXGPMEyL0lMZQ90fmEgls20UaaNfEn84xs8MV7lvTAqcfhdbhpUs5Tk7r1_IqOUFgRDxt_iTf1PRLv9KrB_8erh6Um8hA1emd/s1600/Vertigo+1+Title.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUcic43plP-7BERyohnTovtPu8wRBul7pCVYH5kqLpKixdXGPMEyL0lMZQ90fmEgls20UaaNfEn84xs8MV7lvTAqcfhdbhpUs5Tk7r1_IqOUFgRDxt_iTf1PRLv9KrB_8erh6Um8hA1emd/s320/Vertigo+1+Title.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Oh Hitchy. Surprising us all, reminding us how much better your films are than we remember. So far we've seen <i>Rear Window</i>, <i>North by Northwest</i> and <i>Psycho </i>on this blog, and now, from 1958, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052357/" target="_blank"><i>Vertigo</i></a>, based on the French novel<i> </i>"D'entre les morts" (or "The Living and the Dead") by Pierre Boileau and Pierre Ayraud. Four movies in the top 100 of all time?? That says a lot about this director, who is always at the forefront of his films, for better or worse. Nearly always better. What's the first detail you remember about these films? Not the stars, certainly, although they're brilliant. It's always Hitchy.</div>
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<b>Company</b>: <i>Kecia</i>, femme fatale; <i>Jeremy</i>, probably afraid of heights; <i>Elizabeth</i>, major glam beauty from the era; <i>Katie </i>and <i>Matt</i>, the supporting players; <i>Adam</i>, in love with Barbara Bel Geddes</div>
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The film is instantly terrifying, setting up in a quick expository sequence the fear of heights that cripples Scottie Ferguson (Jimmy Stewart, whose imitable voice can't catch a break in this room, especially when it comes to <i>It's a Wonderful Life</i>), a haunted detective who retires in shame after his phobia inadvertently causes the death of a fellow officer. A rooftop chase ends with this haunting vantage shot, perfectly lit.</div>
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Well, he may not be able to climb tall buildings or leap far enough to clear an alleyway, but he can still do detective work, right? Well sure, says his friend Gavin Elster (Tom Helmore), who suspects his wife Madeleine (Kim Novak) is cheating on him.</div>
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<i>She's the one in the green dress. Naturally.</i></div>
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Kim Novak gives away as little as possible as the mysterious femme fatale, driving us crazy wondering what she's up to. Her smoky eyes are so devoid of emotion, so vacant, that it's impossible for us to decipher what the hell she could possibly be up to. Luckily, we have Jimmy Stewart acting as our stand-in throughout the chase, guiding us through the story, knowing what we know and learning what we learn when we learn it. Is there a word for that type of protagonist? There must be.</div>
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She goes to flower shops, museums, bayside ledges, all seemingly in a daze. Is she possessed, as her husband suspects? Is she harboring other secrets? This entire mystery would be difficult for us to crack even without Scottie's gradual but inevitable fascination with the mysterious Madeleine. His judgment becomes clouded by his attraction to her, and soon he's as caught up in it as she is. It's the dizziness of infatuation that draws him to her, even though he suspects -- maybe even knows -- there's something that's not right about her.</div>
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<i>"One is a wanderer, two are always going somewhere."</i></div>
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<i>"No, I don't think that's necessarily true."</i><i> </i> </div>
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I love this exchange: that aversion to company, to companionship... or to the idea of purpose. Two people <i>aren't </i>always going somewhere. In this case, one of them is walking into a trap. For both Scottie and Madeleine, the difference between intimacy and great distance is communicated in this glance above, the longing for love and safety and the acceptance of the inevitable. It's real heavy. There's also a great moment where Scottie mentions that "the Chinese say that once you save a life, you're responsible for it forever." What a great justification for your compulsion: a sacred duty to protect life. The stakes could not be higher than that. I don't want to spoil too much of the delicious puzzling plot, but let's just say it involves a spirally bell tower.</div>
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Without talking about the plot too much, it's difficult to explain much of my admiration for the movie, but let's talk individual pieces. Once again all the elements are given such grand showcases, including Bernard Herrmann's circular score, spiralling back on itself and brilliantly underscoring the endless wanting to solve the mystery. Hitchcock also creates some of his most fanciful imagery in this film (the fantasy sequence below being the most singular of them), which he would continue to explore in his next two films <i>North by Northwest </i>the next year (1959) and <i>Psycho </i>right after that (in 1960). Man, what a streak!</div>
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No matter what, you do not want Jimmy Stewart's psychedelic head floating ominously toward you in a movie. It cannot portend anything good. </div>
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I had a feeling as I went up this list that the further up I got, the harder it would be to write anything original or interesting about these films. What hasn't already been discovered, explored? And more, what can really be written about <i>Vertigo</i>? It's a brilliant film, different from the others in so many ways but maybe not my very favorite. Still, so much to recommend and obsess over the way Scottie does upon later re-viewings.</div>
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This is a pretty incoherent entry. I'm getting squirrelly thinking about the end of this blog. What do you do?</div>
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Next up: <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108052/" target="_blank"><i>Schindler's List</i></a>. Well, yeah. That would make sense, wouldn't it? Til then, chummies.</div>Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461058376299559449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266006862101015198.post-14172634660445212862011-12-08T14:50:00.000-08:002011-12-08T15:10:59.824-08:00#10: The Wizard of Oz<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">"You're out of the woods, you're out of the dark, you're out of the night!"</span></div>
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What's that? Oh, yes, well, of course I'm going to be biased about Victor Fleming's classic fantasy <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032138/" target="_blank"><i>The Wizard of Oz</i></a>, mostly because I'm currently playing the Tin Man in a holiday production of the stage musical down the street and so the story has been on my brain daily since early October. Nearly everyone's got a frame of reference for this film -- supposedly it's the most-watched film in America -- and as I've learned over the course of this blog, nostalgia counts for a lot when it comes to our movie preferences. I don't know anyone who hasn't seen this or doesn't like this. I mean, come on!</div>
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<b>Company</b>: <i>Kecia</i>, would probably play Glinda at some point; <i>Jeremy</i>, played the Mayor of Munchkinland, right?</div>
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<b>Cuisine</b>: trashy Chinese takeout from our favorite place. Sesame chicken and fried rice. Does it get better?</div>
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The film's opening sepia Kansas sequence has a frenetic pace as each of the characters is introduced to us, and it starts with a bang as Dorothy (Judy Garland) and Toto run from Miss Gulch (seen later and played with film-stealing verve by Margaret Hamilton). I love this opening shot, in which our heroes run away from us, the impending doom, and we see the beginning of storm clouds forming over the prairie.</div>
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Dorothy's a lonely girl, with no real friends but Toto, her terrier, and the three farmhands that work her farm. I didn't pick up on it as a kid, but each of the farmhands has a moment here with Dorothy in which they parallel their characters in Oz. Jack Haley as Hickory has the least to work with, but Ray Bolger as Hunk and Bert Lahr as Zeke make the most of their quick cameos. When Miss Gulch steals her only friend, Dorothy is understandably upset, and runs away with the dog as soon as it escapes the basket on the bike. This is a major decision. I remember contemplating running away as a kid, and it's not decided upon lightly, but Uncle Henry and Auntie Em have betrayed her by letting her only friend be ripped from her grasp, and it's time to go.</div>
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The scene in which Dorothy meets a phony fortune teller (Frank Morgan, in one of many roles) isn't present in the original novel, but adds so much foreshadowing and heightens the stakes for everyone on screen. Dorothy accepts that she's wronged her guardians and dashes back home through the oncoming tornado, but if she reached home and got in the storm cellar with the others, she wouldn't really have learned her lesson. She'd only have been tricked into thinking she had caused Em physical pain by leaving the farm. Again, as a kid, I always thought Professor Marvel was really a soothsayer. Amazing what changes as you grow up.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMJXxLFidARVLp0d0_hJTSiaIPZXe5YmmJ8naBqjSDBrO5FnrZWcWF4M399Xcq_MbJ4IqLyqxwFfT1Cxk_iIGwcZB2Qs7nfpvrNmZ4-kZu_qnZDBTI-6cogkwyhBamdHq6x-IGknzCN52v/s1600/Wizard+4+Munchkins.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMJXxLFidARVLp0d0_hJTSiaIPZXe5YmmJ8naBqjSDBrO5FnrZWcWF4M399Xcq_MbJ4IqLyqxwFfT1Cxk_iIGwcZB2Qs7nfpvrNmZ4-kZu_qnZDBTI-6cogkwyhBamdHq6x-IGknzCN52v/s320/Wizard+4+Munchkins.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Dorothy loses a battle with a renegade window during the tornado and drops down on the bed, luckily unharmed otherwise as she dreams of being set down in Munchkinland, where she's held responsible for accidentally crushing the Wicked Witch of the East. Billie Burke is having great fun as Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, and the Munchkinland sequence is maybe the most beautiful in the film, far surpassing the Emerald City sequence in detail and color. One thing I love about the scene is the great fascination Fleming seems to have with the Munchkins, particularly in that beautiful shot where he follows several villagers as they wake up the town with the good news of the witch's demise.</div>
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The film is so ubiquitous that it's hard not to think of all the stories about these pint-sized actors, from their backgrounds to the filming, but it's certainly a wonder of filmmaking that hasn't ever been matched.</div>
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Dorothy is told the only way to get back home is to follow the yellow brick road, and along the way she makes friends in a straw man with no brains, a tin man with no heart, and a lion with no courage. Of course, these wonderful characters are made so wonderful because they all already have the gifts they long for, and it's because they do that they're able to make it all the way to the Emerald City. Of course, the Wicked Witch (has anyone ever stolen a movie quite so completely as Margaret Hamilton does?) and her various cronies make it difficult for them, but they persevere through poisoned poppies, dark forests, monkeys and winkies and fear (oh my)!</div>
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The technicolor on display in <i>The Wizard of Oz</i>, which was at the time a huge step forward for film in color, has nearly come to represent cinematic innovation in itself. The images from the film (like the one above) have with time become so iconic that without even knowing it we think of this film whenever we think of movies. Right? It's such a classic story, one given a thoroughly American telling by Fleming et al, that we just can't help it. </div>
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And the fact that the songs by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg, particularly "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," have worked their way into our permanent collective conscience! It's pretty incredible. I don't have the greatest fondness for Judy Garland (though I should really watch <i>A Star is Born</i>), but her rendition of the most famous song in cinema is untoppable. She had a great way of communicating such deep sadness and longing with that alto register.</div>
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<span style="font-style: italic;">You know I'm tracking your every step, my pretty. Give up now!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKQmPocOsNWp9hJoylDzmelnU0IoTi2951xc2BeLa2OeXbk_AVJ6gtQ9TTH-XFs2kO3ZpBeVI-ypkmGoTgRFMUi6tLNHQ7bFyJZygGpQte9bJ5ReN8vY3n3lbPSjgeayMpb6ILqyBdkHf3/s1600/Wizard+8+Oz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKQmPocOsNWp9hJoylDzmelnU0IoTi2951xc2BeLa2OeXbk_AVJ6gtQ9TTH-XFs2kO3ZpBeVI-ypkmGoTgRFMUi6tLNHQ7bFyJZygGpQte9bJ5ReN8vY3n3lbPSjgeayMpb6ILqyBdkHf3/s320/Wizard+8+Oz.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I have a great fondness for the message of this story: the idea that we already have the gifts we long for. Wisdom, kindness, courage... these are all things we all possess, traits our trio displays on their journey without knowing it, and if the Wizard were to give us a diploma or a medal or a testimonial, none of it would really make a difference. They're placebos for the naive Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion, but they work. Again, didn't pick up on that as a kid! Was I just a moron? Could be. But maybe this is a part of why the film sticks in our conscience so well -- it works on every level. It says one thing to children and it says something entirely different to adults. As a child I thought that the Scarecrow really got a brain through magic, but as an adult I realize he must have known everything he needed to know all along.<br />
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However, Dorothy's "what I have learned" monologue doesn't wrap things up quite as neatly as I wish it would.<br />
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<b>"Well, I think that it isn't enough just to want to see Uncle Henry and Auntie Em, and it's that if I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own backyard, because if it isn't there, then I never really lost it to begin with."</b><br />
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Can anyone explain this to me? I always think I've got it, and then it throws me for a rhetorical loop again.<b> </b>If her heart's desire isn't in her backyard, she hasn't lost it? So if it is, she has it? What??</div>
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My idiocy is a topic for another blog. The point is, we all have wisdom, kindness and courage inside of us ... and we all possess the power to go back home to Kansas. We can fix our problems, and we've been able to all this time, whether or not we believe it. Kindness and perseverance can go a very long way.</div>
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What hasn't already been said? <i>The Wizard of Oz </i>is singular in American cinema. I love it, and if you don't, well... be gone before someone drops a house on you, too!</div>
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Next up: the last of four films by the great Alfred Hitchcock -- Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak have <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052357/" target="_blank"><i>Vertigo</i></a>.</div>Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461058376299559449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266006862101015198.post-49414575938269700852011-11-17T12:07:00.001-08:002011-11-17T13:14:59.582-08:00Cine-Smackdown: #11-#20<div style="text-align: justify;">
Only ten left to go! This impossible-seeming task is seeming less and less impossible. Now that I know for sure I'll get to the end, I'm not so worried about how fast I can get there. My goal was initially a year, and then it was two years, and now that I'm six weeks from the end of the second year and I have only ten movies left, I sort of want to take my time and not rush through for the sake of an artificial deadline.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2NkoA71eqvtnx3VJqcRXtLNjSrdGQ59VZm8cXFp2YGftAoKywwh8PJxsG9BdJs3EiXSRd5h3ocXZC64ebpQnd3CjtJGz-yuvTW13TAxvVCm50b-efW0PfbWxlAvcfOqPp_UOsWIeZK_Qs/s1600-h/c1.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5437761800613610898" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2NkoA71eqvtnx3VJqcRXtLNjSrdGQ59VZm8cXFp2YGftAoKywwh8PJxsG9BdJs3EiXSRd5h3ocXZC64ebpQnd3CjtJGz-yuvTW13TAxvVCm50b-efW0PfbWxlAvcfOqPp_UOsWIeZK_Qs/s400/c1.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 173px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a>
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">11. </span><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: 100%; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">City Lights
</span><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">12. <span style="font-style: italic;">The Searchers</span></span><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">13. <span style="font-style: italic;">Star Wars</span></span><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">14. <span style="font-style: italic;">Psycho</span></span><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">15. </span><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: 100%; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">2001: A Space Odyssey</span><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">16. <span style="font-style: italic;">Sunset Blvd.</span></span><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">17. </span><span style="color: #cc0000; font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Graduate</span></span><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">18. </span><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">The General</span></span><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">19. </span><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: 100%; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">On the Waterfront</span><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"> </span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">20. <span style="font-style: italic;">It's a Wonderful Life</span></span>
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I had not seen <span style="font-style: italic;">City Lights</span><i>, The Searchers, 2001: A Space Odyssey </i>(in its entirety), <i>The General </i>or <i>On the Waterfront</i><span style="font-style: italic;"></span> previous to the blogviews.
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Of these ten, which would I move further up the list?</span>
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Oh man. This is hard. Probably <i>Sunset Blvd</i>. just for the classy Hollywood story. Everything else has something working against it (<i>2001 </i>is a masterpiece but weird and occasionally difficult, <i>Psycho</i> is genius but Hitchcock has so many brilliant films it's hard to rule absolutely on which is best, etc.) It's pulpy and dramatic, and that screenplay is a master stroke.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Of these ten, which would I get rid of?</span>
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This is easier, and more predictable for me: <i>The Searchers</i>. Someday I'll have to go back and really analyze the Western but of all of them on the list this one just didn't do much for me. It felt so dated that it's only nostalgia that keeps it here.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Who in these movies do I want as my best friend?
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<i></i>The Tramp (<i>City Lights</i>) might accidentally shove me into a river as I'm trying to commit suicide, but at least he saved me... accidentally.<span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Who in these movies do I want to have my back in a bar fight?
</span>Arbogast (<i>Psycho</i>) is one smart cookie, he'd know just what to do... but for overall toughness, the boys from <i>On the Waterfront </i>probably couldn't be topped.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Who in these movies is your worst frienemy?</span>
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Umm: the millionaire in <i>City Lights</i> -- he only remembers me when he's drunk, then kicks me out in the morning! So schizo.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Who do I take home to Mom?</span>
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Han Solo (<i>Star Wars</i>) is dashing and rocks the 70s do all over the galaxy. George Bailey (<i>It's a Wonderful Life</i>) is much the same but has some major demons... and the general (<i>The General</i>) is a little too straight-faced for me. Lighten up! I don't know. Options.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">You're going on a date with these movies. Who do you agree to meet for coffee but never call again?</span>
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<span style="font-style: italic;">On the Waterfront</span>: your acting is so good so I'll meet you but man you're bleak. And you smell like the docks.
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Who do you agree to meet for coffee, and then <span style="font-style: italic;">say </span>you'll call but never do?</span>
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<span style="font-style: italic;">It's a Wonderful Life</span>: I just keep thinking back to that sappy ending, and I know I'll cry if I see you again.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Who do you agree to meet for coffee, and then not show up?</span>
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<span style="font-style: italic;">The Searchers. </span>No explanation necessary.
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Who do you meet for a first date, ends up staying the night and makes you breakfast in the morning?</span>
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<span style="font-style: italic;">City Lights </span>would even pay for my eye operation so I could see him!<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Who do
you meet for a first date, ends up staying the night and then
leaves in the morning without saying goodbye ... and steals your
favorite sweater?</span>
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Marion Crane (<i>Psycho</i>) -- and she stole all my money! She'll get her comeuppance in the shower, no doubt.<br />
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<span style="font-style: italic;">What other
questions would you have asked about these movies? I'd love more
ideas! Leave your thoughts, reactions, passionate defenses and
harsh critiques in the comments!</span>
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</div>Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461058376299559449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266006862101015198.post-84256347952790110592011-11-04T12:23:00.000-07:002011-11-04T12:23:02.131-07:00#11: City Lights<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmVypG2HY2IaRyPuvI4M5_sVSAGQHe1VhWIHDivAHJupf3HjuRwis41LQFWyb77CmZcUY73xzaDQgP-yc4YQVebIY2BKomQhn-sGw0g-wsS9ZlfzXkfKl40ke-C7LIxmHrMHnRkii8Cmgj/s1600/City+Lights+1+Title.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmVypG2HY2IaRyPuvI4M5_sVSAGQHe1VhWIHDivAHJupf3HjuRwis41LQFWyb77CmZcUY73xzaDQgP-yc4YQVebIY2BKomQhn-sGw0g-wsS9ZlfzXkfKl40ke-C7LIxmHrMHnRkii8Cmgj/s320/City+Lights+1+Title.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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So far on this list we have seen two wildly different Charlie Chaplin films: <i>Modern Times </i>and <i>The Gold Rush</i>, from 1936 and 1925, respectively. Now comes <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021749/" target="_blank"><i>City Lights</i></a> from 1931, completing the Chaplin triptych (Chaptych?) and rounding out his influence on American cinema. If <i>Modern Times</i> showcase his political and satirical side and <i>The Gold Rush </i>embodies his physical comedy and slapstick chops, <i>City Lights </i>is Chaplin's ode to romance and sentimentality.</div>
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<b>Company</b>: alone on this one.<br />
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<b>Cuisine</b>: Wheat Thins and a Red Stripe. Classy.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKQBmstDIgypXzwAJkl0R4EY3CSz7EIz2-Gmqzr6zXpliooLQGGkEWKc9c4z8f7uxRdMrBxDkqfILpzbvgSAthNXjUj0sOXaERDA77tgpTfJ-1opdNtmM13Y1Bb_3-mzh2ONh3ghY8u8dV/s1600/City+Lights+2+Tramp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKQBmstDIgypXzwAJkl0R4EY3CSz7EIz2-Gmqzr6zXpliooLQGGkEWKc9c4z8f7uxRdMrBxDkqfILpzbvgSAthNXjUj0sOXaERDA77tgpTfJ-1opdNtmM13Y1Bb_3-mzh2ONh3ghY8u8dV/s320/City+Lights+2+Tramp.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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In 1931, talkies were the new trend and Hollywood was moving quickly away from silent film, but Chaplin knew that his style of storytelling would still work best without dialogue. The film is subtitled "A Comedy Romance in Pantomime," preparing us for the sweet little silent movie we're about to see.</div>
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A new statue is being dedicated by people who talk like kazoos. (Love it.) When it's unveiled, Chaplin's tramp is found sleeping on it. When he's chased away by the crowd, he wanders the streets, poor and homeless, where he stumbles upon...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4nHOPZIXKZnjoydHmZTeYHibA_bOoVgTcQUJedZ_-nssVUWGfMjWDWkeSCntJ4XQEcDfBmjMJHoBxarQ3HflZ7soVcuem_b0gH5vWf56M9a5EfTZtCJRmL-UZ8Hv6iJ_vMRO6eSx6bMbs/s1600/City+Lights+3+Girl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4nHOPZIXKZnjoydHmZTeYHibA_bOoVgTcQUJedZ_-nssVUWGfMjWDWkeSCntJ4XQEcDfBmjMJHoBxarQ3HflZ7soVcuem_b0gH5vWf56M9a5EfTZtCJRmL-UZ8Hv6iJ_vMRO6eSx6bMbs/s320/City+Lights+3+Girl.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>The girl.</i></div>
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Virginia Cherrill plays a blind flower girl, selling her wares for piddly change on a street corner where the tramp falls head over heels for her.<i> </i>Naturally, the rest of the story follows the tramp's quest to land the girl... even if she can't see him. The scenes are played delicately, even with intertitles.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEV_BLtZq9NfMNIdBBeu1jWVd_fdENhS4MXnod4NXNV2IZzZ6-0uSbV17XIT1MlYjKLa4EpYczhDyXOHXxaJ2h1991BrN8JXthwYZFEf3h4GcK0A-9HMH6bafN7JSNMkwz_jWQQkZ16lGD/s1600/City+Lights+4+Streamer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEV_BLtZq9NfMNIdBBeu1jWVd_fdENhS4MXnod4NXNV2IZzZ6-0uSbV17XIT1MlYjKLa4EpYczhDyXOHXxaJ2h1991BrN8JXthwYZFEf3h4GcK0A-9HMH6bafN7JSNMkwz_jWQQkZ16lGD/s320/City+Lights+4+Streamer.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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When the tramp hilariously and somewhat accidentally saves the life of a depressed millionaire (Harry Myers), the eccentric takes him under his wing and treats him to a night on the town. The two get pretty hammered (keep in mind, when this film came out, the sale of alcohol was still illegal and prohibition lasted two years more) to the point where the tramp mistakes a hanging streamer for his pasta dinner (at such a fancy place, a plain plate of spaghetti?) Things are going well.</div>
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But in the morning, the millionaire wakes with no memory of the evening and is consequently distressed to find a little splay-footed man in a bowler hat squatting in his mansion. That's a pretty intense black out. He throws him out once more and the tramp finds the girl once again.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK33KvC324xx27da9OgpLzC-bkwQsrCnszSbJBaznCxYvM7ejYx91xbkhHxYQRsvdOsLplweK4UFyxMuDNTzoM9QLpjfhnRUjb02evLEd6xXA-o8l6ftgTZw59Tn217mMpJThUbOBrHEI_/s1600/City+Lights+5+Smell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK33KvC324xx27da9OgpLzC-bkwQsrCnszSbJBaznCxYvM7ejYx91xbkhHxYQRsvdOsLplweK4UFyxMuDNTzoM9QLpjfhnRUjb02evLEd6xXA-o8l6ftgTZw59Tn217mMpJThUbOBrHEI_/s320/City+Lights+5+Smell.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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With money from the millionaire, the tramp buys all the flowers he can from the girl, hoping not to buy her love but to better her situation and, inspired by an article he reads in the newspaper, raise money for a new (fictional) operation that could cure her blindness.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0AG4QIZC25L3R8z158k4j1t9d9YKdKnckXlJclKcHuXH2JWll7haDjBwa1aWbGUcKMV3W97ksO8436jc6tNMtzd6H1R53ttjLCcl0rlLThH6zewa14eZQy1Uc9SqCL5K3g41enVJS1egN/s1600/City+Lights+6+Stairs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0AG4QIZC25L3R8z158k4j1t9d9YKdKnckXlJclKcHuXH2JWll7haDjBwa1aWbGUcKMV3W97ksO8436jc6tNMtzd6H1R53ttjLCcl0rlLThH6zewa14eZQy1Uc9SqCL5K3g41enVJS1egN/s320/City+Lights+6+Stairs.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The tramp's resolve to help the girl is what propels the film, and while this story line doesn't have the thematic heft of <i>Modern Times </i>or the physical brilliance of <i>The Gold Rush</i>, all three films concern the common man's struggle against the increasingly modern world. Chaplin's insistence on continuing in the silent tradition was, in his own way, his resistance against the same machinations in which the tramp finds himself.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXyXX9xWFVRB4EdD_z19hFufiE79wJWEJBfawOJDqhCBUFOby8O9lOTFMzOcmyNULw6GUvTPAUIakNFgwY3bN0ZJprIgPtN648MSTXTVZBcSRDFXc-72t4H9Ce_wlSKagT0h6Y-sfqhvPK/s1600/City+Lights+7+String.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXyXX9xWFVRB4EdD_z19hFufiE79wJWEJBfawOJDqhCBUFOby8O9lOTFMzOcmyNULw6GUvTPAUIakNFgwY3bN0ZJprIgPtN648MSTXTVZBcSRDFXc-72t4H9Ce_wlSKagT0h6Y-sfqhvPK/s320/City+Lights+7+String.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Naturally, a movie like this would only really work with a genius at its center, someone whom the audience roots for no matter what., and it was George Bernard Shaw who said that Chaplin was "the only genius to come out of the movie industry." All the same, I was a lot more compelled by the romance in <i>Modern Times </i>than in this one, perhaps because it's so one-sided. We see in Cherrill's blank stare and constancy that she may love the tramp too, but Chaplin is pulling all the weight here.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggiDkz00sA7tW-I4WlVTD2rBJjPJ8mrS88ISnX2jAm5egFKja460OnEIHIcU1syhSAWorTKYEpZL6cMmzk_8YdT-CKGoA7DdDbKLrPcqtOwCn9s5lnIjBDEFz4QrxQq0v9B01bPeLW3IfC/s1600/City+Lights+8+Fight.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggiDkz00sA7tW-I4WlVTD2rBJjPJ8mrS88ISnX2jAm5egFKja460OnEIHIcU1syhSAWorTKYEpZL6cMmzk_8YdT-CKGoA7DdDbKLrPcqtOwCn9s5lnIjBDEFz4QrxQq0v9B01bPeLW3IfC/s320/City+Lights+8+Fight.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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In a desperate get-rich-quick scheme, the tramp enters a boxing ring. The tiny little tramp boxing? Can you imagine? I bet you can't. So here's a clip:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="301" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/zskO9O3hF78" width="400"></iframe></div>
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This physical comedy is what I love Chaplin for most, and I wished more of the film could have gone here, the way <i>The Gold Rush </i>doesn't ever let up. Alas, only this and a few other moments.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2nCceRPvJpJy-y3Ks7YZJifWn8v2te-Sb-_on1K566fv7IQf2ij4yOz_tuBu_ccAh8YdaW9P-OlBeWQKcqoXYNQEPf6n8DFWSBUMChRZWzf2MBS9FzqsqjN7KThcEjXDkP25qT0UVE51x/s1600/City+Lights+9+Ending.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2nCceRPvJpJy-y3Ks7YZJifWn8v2te-Sb-_on1K566fv7IQf2ij4yOz_tuBu_ccAh8YdaW9P-OlBeWQKcqoXYNQEPf6n8DFWSBUMChRZWzf2MBS9FzqsqjN7KThcEjXDkP25qT0UVE51x/s320/City+Lights+9+Ending.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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But there is a great emotional pay off at the end, and without spoiling it, many historians and great film figures have stated that the ending of <i>City Lights </i>is one of the great film endings of all time. Even Chaplin, who favored this film above all his others, was most proud of his acting in the final moments of the film. "In <i>City Lights</i>," said Chaplin, "just the last scene … I’m not acting …. Almost
apologetic, standing outside myself and looking … It’s a beautiful
scene, beautiful, and because it isn’t over-acted." If this kind of thing is his legacy to film acting, well, so be it. I'll take that.</div>
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Bottom line: if this film is not as great for me as the other two of the list, I can handle that.</div>
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Only ten left! I can't believe it. Today is November 4th. Will I get it done before the new year? It's possible, but it'll take some stamina. Next up: something near and dear to my heart since I'm currently in tech rehearsals for a stage production based on it. Let's find home with the help of <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032138/" target="_blank">The Wizard of Oz</a>.</i></div>Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461058376299559449noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266006862101015198.post-27002989600315388582011-11-03T08:02:00.000-07:002011-11-03T08:02:58.212-07:00#12: The Searchers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZhfxnuOEkaFYxxi7ixCcb5jKVUB3TdkOrs8Si0fCjZipym6ZjtkxJ4MHcIdhAc9qkIlnTfhwud46HPq1_BT3_tzNj17ytA20V6TsUYvGZ7lasbDugnHZ70bE8RdSzbejEOyb5RaZR1pJp/s1600/Searchers+1+Title.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZhfxnuOEkaFYxxi7ixCcb5jKVUB3TdkOrs8Si0fCjZipym6ZjtkxJ4MHcIdhAc9qkIlnTfhwud46HPq1_BT3_tzNj17ytA20V6TsUYvGZ7lasbDugnHZ70bE8RdSzbejEOyb5RaZR1pJp/s320/Searchers+1+Title.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Only one more Western to go! I've made it abundantly clear that this genre rarely tickles my fancy, and John Ford's 1956 John Wayne vehicle <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049730/">The Searchers</a> </i>is no exception. For me it's just another example of a tired, worked-over plot dressed up in beautiful scenery and machismo -- and while the Technicolor is vivid and brings out the color in this dirt-weary world, it doesn't do much to tell the story, if anything.</div>
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<b>Company</b>: <i>Mom, </i>not much of a movie watcher but remembers this kind of serial Western from childhood; and <i>Mike</i>, who not only grew up on John Wayne's movies but grew up in the beautiful mountains of Montana and has a sort of reverence and excitement for this genre that I just don't</div>
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<b>Cuisine</b>: we watched this on an unexpected evening off from potato harvest, and Mom cooked up steak, baked potatoes and a spinach salad -- perfect on a fall evening!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8LLZDrOw6iNVJmZ3LA-zbPlPFYA6u25VzNY8NgN5baXrU6ShSuGqwtFzRfMITkk7iTVgZ10QxEUwbfO2tzhwPZFzkxIA9e5QlU-n3Bx-kKYmFkJ7ZhYb8rMFs3QRpNIjai22zLqAv2lKI/s1600/Searchers+2+Porch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8LLZDrOw6iNVJmZ3LA-zbPlPFYA6u25VzNY8NgN5baXrU6ShSuGqwtFzRfMITkk7iTVgZ10QxEUwbfO2tzhwPZFzkxIA9e5QlU-n3Bx-kKYmFkJ7ZhYb8rMFs3QRpNIjai22zLqAv2lKI/s320/Searchers+2+Porch.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>"What makes a man to wander? What makes a man to roam?"</i></div>
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This kind of static, rhetorical question opens the film, set in 1868 in northern Texas, just after the Civil War. Ethan Edwards (John Wayne) returns home from fighting for the Confederate South and getting himself into trouble for three years afterward. He's a dodgy character, but the kind of guy you'd maybe want at your back in a bar fight. A cowboy.</div>
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As soon as he's arrived to see his family once again, he heads out to a neighboring farm to investigate some stolen cattle. The virtuous, swaggering cowboy is for all intensive purposes our protagonist (duh, it's John Wayne).</div>
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When he returns, he discovers that the stolen cattle were just a diversion by a local tribe of Comanche Indians to lure him and other men away from their homestead. He returns to find many family members dead (including the one, never seen, incinerated in a outdoor fireplace pictured above) and two of his nieces abducted. Oops.</div>
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The rest of the film follows the searchers (!) in their quest to find the girls and rescue them from the tribe. It's a sign of the times that the Comanche are not personalized at all and their reasons for abducting the girls is irrelevant -- it's the 1950s, everyone: Indians are the bad guys.</div>
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Ethan and his adopted nephew Martin (a very good Jeffrey Hunter) are on the hunt for an indeterminate amount of time, but snow begins to fall and you definitely sense the frustration growing. When the elder sister Lucy is found murdered, despair sets in even deeper. Perhaps the thematic parallel here is the undying American spirit, that the men never truly give up, even when it seems completely hopeless to continue searching for the surviving girl. But when they do find her, Ethan is prepared to gun her down in cold blood rather than allow her to continue life with the Comanches.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeHqlZyvoN7BindOcHGZzxi32HrCFWb32GVnDyBwLOjZBVe4TkyvpoTRoU6GLi-r_aMOSv4MYJ-LlupeYbbg-wVsoPG0p9tREP4VxyXG2MZHi7CpSZ7ldyrrkRrSwYNtWrblfcaJjcBDOv/s1600/Searchers+6+Laurie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeHqlZyvoN7BindOcHGZzxi32HrCFWb32GVnDyBwLOjZBVe4TkyvpoTRoU6GLi-r_aMOSv4MYJ-LlupeYbbg-wVsoPG0p9tREP4VxyXG2MZHi7CpSZ7ldyrrkRrSwYNtWrblfcaJjcBDOv/s320/Searchers+6+Laurie.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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We're also privy to the underlying romantic tension between Martin, who's gone for a long time, away from Laurie (Vera Miles), the girl next door in love with him. The women stay home and read letters and weep on uncomfortable-looking sofas while the men ride horses and shoot at things. And the comic foil in the film is the guy who makes fun of Indians. Westerns!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQmSXq2Dl0W9Ya5IpsKInpJe-zw4bmqpKIp8xTTKyxFvGlP3dfcnuwJEtWul8OoWNYbgDnx2GCfpQY4QS7HO7_oumIcQWJgykc1mfgmtRixMi1Rc_wh0Fc-4uMymv54vcmKRj1XhVv7rob/s1600/Searchers+7+Yellow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQmSXq2Dl0W9Ya5IpsKInpJe-zw4bmqpKIp8xTTKyxFvGlP3dfcnuwJEtWul8OoWNYbgDnx2GCfpQY4QS7HO7_oumIcQWJgykc1mfgmtRixMi1Rc_wh0Fc-4uMymv54vcmKRj1XhVv7rob/s320/Searchers+7+Yellow.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I've said before that I honestly believe a big part of the reason why films like <i>The Searchers </i>made this list are not because they're particularly well-made or interesting, or even that they were rewarded at the time for being well-made or interesting (<i>The Searchers </i>was shut out at the Oscars that year) but because the old men of the AFI remember loving these films as children. Now, I'm currently in rehearsals for a production of <i>The Wizard of Oz </i>(coming up soon on the list!) and in talking about that film, probably the most-seen film in America, I realize that nostalgia is a remarkably strong and totally valid criterion for film appreciation. Things that were important to you as children totally shape who you are as an adult, and if you don't grow up loving Westerns, it may not be so wrong for you to not grow to love them after your formative years. Right? This is the justification I'm making.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAXeVK1P3g31CuJpifyRLy0RJCoYTlUXHaMoKSTyZss3osKve6vaG61KcmZ-HZU3cDq8vyTtt5LqkK0HQnt8uH3K6F2xA51ogW6HKrfhoJGKdtXFzN5JfNZuzFH4W72d_hkxIX_UeGZBNL/s1600/Searchers+8+Ethan+Martin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAXeVK1P3g31CuJpifyRLy0RJCoYTlUXHaMoKSTyZss3osKve6vaG61KcmZ-HZU3cDq8vyTtt5LqkK0HQnt8uH3K6F2xA51ogW6HKrfhoJGKdtXFzN5JfNZuzFH4W72d_hkxIX_UeGZBNL/s320/Searchers+8+Ethan+Martin.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Still, the film's moral center (men being compelled to save women from being indoctrinated by Indians) feels totally outdated in our politically correct, post-feminism world. Is it a historically significant time period? Sure. Are we proud of the fact that these men are racist and misogynistic? Of course not. Should this film then be banished from our minds because our modern sensibilities have changed? I suppose not. But that's my point with Westerns: they operate on their own sort of logic, a logic that's created by the heroes and challenged by the villains, and that logic -- the logic that the whole film hinges on -- seems clunky and useless now.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivKOZgHDzh6nLa9_YMzck6Ttzb7y3OPaz3YLX-xz66tzAqodsuTjKhRTx2C9VWuZZot3nIqhfKEswdA5VZ6pxjSqtI1BCoZ89qmGu07nRi5oHuxX4DDZAObHTbj3wQxlHqY8Ej5S1fjGWq/s1600/Searchers+9+Laurie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivKOZgHDzh6nLa9_YMzck6Ttzb7y3OPaz3YLX-xz66tzAqodsuTjKhRTx2C9VWuZZot3nIqhfKEswdA5VZ6pxjSqtI1BCoZ89qmGu07nRi5oHuxX4DDZAObHTbj3wQxlHqY8Ej5S1fjGWq/s320/Searchers+9+Laurie.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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When the remaining, surviving niece, Debbie (a young Natalie Wood) is saved from her physical and mental bonds of Comanche wifehood, Ethan mutters, "let's go home, Debbie" -- and I imagine the audience in 1956 probably cheered. The girl was safe, the family was back together again. The bad guys were vanquished, the good guys are a little wiser and more prepared for next time, and I? I cheered, but it was because the movie was over.</div>
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No more Westerns -- I've vanquished them! You can stop holding your breath for a Western retrospective, that's for sure. :)</div>
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Next up: Charlie Chaplin's back at it in his final film, <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021749/">City Lights</a>.</i></div>Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461058376299559449noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266006862101015198.post-30612592616319747352011-11-02T13:35:00.000-07:002011-11-02T13:35:28.705-07:00#13: Star Wars<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-style: italic;">Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away...</span></div>
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Okay, here's my deal: until this year, I had never seen George Lucas' 1977 space opera <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076759/" target="_blank"><i>Star Wars</i></a>. I know, right? How can this be? Part of it is that I had three older sisters who all grew up watching and loving the series, and I specifically remember peeking into the basement during one of their sleepovers to discover them watching it. Maybe I thought it was a girl thing to like <i>Star Wars</i>, and if so, I'd be the only one on the planet who maintained that theory. Otherwise, it was just laziness that I left them unwatched (still haven't seen either of the other films in the original trilogy) until this spring when my two friends (who have a half-bathroom entirely decked out with Star Wars memoribilia, including a photo of them riding some gliding aircraft thing) invited me over for Yoda Sodas out of their themed cookbook and a screening. So at least I was sort of prepared this time. </div>
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<b>Company</b>: two of the most dedicated fans of this movie that I know: <i>David</i>, who knew the names of all the characters, even the ones with no spoken dialogue; and <i>Andi</i>, who rivaled David in the trivia department<br />
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<b>Cuisine</b>: cheese popcorn, aged bleu and cheddar Cheeto Disappointments that we tried to fix with underused spices (some success), pistachios, wine and Bailey's</div>
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One of the things that strikes me right away about this classic, beloved by millions, is that after the iconic prologue in which we are treated to a brief history, the film jumps right in to the middle of the action. Without knowing nearly anything about the universe, we are meant to really pay attention and immediately identify with this fantasy world. In comparison to the <i>Harry Potter</i> series, in which a regular boy is brought into a fantastical new realm, the audience of <i>Star Wars </i>is the only character in this story who doesn't belong. At least, at first.</div>
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A civil war has developed between a group of freedom fighters called the Rebel Alliance and the evil Galactic Empire. War rages through space. A super-duper bad guy, Darth Vader (voiced by James Earl Jones), has created the Death Star, a mega-weapon that can destroy planets with its super blasters. See how awesome that is? It's a major deal. But he's not too nice and some people, like the rebel leader Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher in cinnamon buns), aren't too keen on letting him destroy planets at will. She and her spies have stolen the plans to the Death Star in hopes of finding a way to destroy it, but she's captured by Imperial forces and confronted by Vader. Luckily, she's hidden the plans and a holographic message in a droid. Clever girl.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAaKhXSOGX7xsQiurorCFDiBX1IVe5Z0oR1ZsLMBNKOKYv8p4yLWWuqvybJlDwpODg64ThhjyINH8AmnHNJM0pqTceJ0hS1qLUQu2Qozc0JdwxwyFYMS5m_JSwJ06AJZtZISPOcVK-Bmf4/s1600/Star+Wars+3+Droids.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="137" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAaKhXSOGX7xsQiurorCFDiBX1IVe5Z0oR1ZsLMBNKOKYv8p4yLWWuqvybJlDwpODg64ThhjyINH8AmnHNJM0pqTceJ0hS1qLUQu2Qozc0JdwxwyFYMS5m_JSwJ06AJZtZISPOcVK-Bmf4/s320/Star+Wars+3+Droids.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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That droid, R2D2, and his taller golden buddy C3PO (Anthony Daniels), escape to an arid planet called Tatooine and come into the possession of Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), who happens upon the message in the robot. Clever boy. Enlisting the help of several friends, the narrative follows Luke's "hero's journey" to save the day.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2TUKK75C9Jd90f55vDhr-ErreKqAoVu0UzbqrkuVNcF9KpjcCyYnr_rNSE1nmm6GS2bp2FOP9wOVzeLlLQ5MWlVwRtf90lZosCJp702U_OVzCPep-UqgP6KT1HB1lz3tlsTOL0f7gNif9/s1600/Star+Wars+4+Suns.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="137" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2TUKK75C9Jd90f55vDhr-ErreKqAoVu0UzbqrkuVNcF9KpjcCyYnr_rNSE1nmm6GS2bp2FOP9wOVzeLlLQ5MWlVwRtf90lZosCJp702U_OVzCPep-UqgP6KT1HB1lz3tlsTOL0f7gNif9/s320/Star+Wars+4+Suns.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Luke is our Harry Potter in this way: he's a simple farm boy with no combat experience, thrust into this conflict by coincidence... right? Or is something more at work? Does fate bring the droids into Skywalker's hands, ordaining that he would become a Jedi knight? As the story progresses, he certainly seems born to do it... with the help of friends, of course. (My summarizing skills are good but with this story I don't want to try too hard lest I get made fun of by fans for whom leaving out details is a mortal sin.)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0XVuZwEshpEUb4pETad-Tx3gq7XLBag-sq_RqezGrGXXZ8Mb4L2o-DQVTIdNab9G9jDFYd7fWhXRm0upLhImHr1CNJ-iaiq6OP51w2xZ7S2uqxesoEvw4sevoW37oQ3eSfRRuhvsvVGOG/s1600/Star+Wars+5+Han+Chewie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="137" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0XVuZwEshpEUb4pETad-Tx3gq7XLBag-sq_RqezGrGXXZ8Mb4L2o-DQVTIdNab9G9jDFYd7fWhXRm0upLhImHr1CNJ-iaiq6OP51w2xZ7S2uqxesoEvw4sevoW37oQ3eSfRRuhvsvVGOG/s320/Star+Wars+5+Han+Chewie.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Leia mentions in her message that her only hope is Obi-Wan Kenobi (Oscar nominee Alec Guinness), a former Jedi knight who knew and fought alongside Luke's father, Anakin. The circle grows bigger when Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew), smuggler pilots on the Millenium Falcon, are enlisted to help with the secret mission.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVcnfQuJTKwD5rUWTN9BLqxS2R4cdDjnYNe4KOpRapZXZCS48dvhwCtwbNvuDOL6VOQNLrZjRJyBuflKljMKA2GPaIovzzEGLP-3g131k-jZazJ7YE1oz32k7he5IH-RToxwExsf41epkl/s1600/Star+Wars+6+No+Moon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="137" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVcnfQuJTKwD5rUWTN9BLqxS2R4cdDjnYNe4KOpRapZXZCS48dvhwCtwbNvuDOL6VOQNLrZjRJyBuflKljMKA2GPaIovzzEGLP-3g131k-jZazJ7YE1oz32k7he5IH-RToxwExsf41epkl/s320/Star+Wars+6+No+Moon.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-style: italic;">"That's no moon."</span></div>
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Save the princess. Defeat the bad guys. Blow up the Death Star. All in a day's work, right? Hardly. Lucas created a colossal and detailed world in which to play out this epic battle of good and evil. I always come back to this quote from Roger Ebert: "The more specific a film is, the more universal its appeal." This holds true for <i>Star Wars </i>especially, since the detail work of this world (and the exhaustive research done by fans everywhere) creates layers to the story that simpler stories lack. By working with classic archetypes and Joseph Campbell's writings on mythology, Lucas seems to have created a "hero's journey" for the new age that appeals to the geek in all of us.</div>
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<i>They gettin' trashed.</i></div>
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<i>"If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine." </i></div>
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Not only that, but in this blog this film comes closely on the heels of <i>2001: A Space Odyssey</i>, which redefined the science fiction genre and injected philosophical and religious discussions into the tired tropes of fantasy. In the 1950s and 1960s, if characters in a film went into space, you knew it was probably going to look pretty cheesy. But Kubrick and now Lucas knew that space was, to borrow a phrase, "the final frontier," and held great possibilities. </div>
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If <i>2001</i> redefined the genre, <i>Star Wars </i>cemented it as a viable box-office draw. Spielberg basically invented the high concept film with <i>Jaws</i>, but <i>Star Wars </i>took over the all-time box-office crown from the shark movie, presumably because of its scope, not to mention its incredible and revolutionary special effects. Those light sabres still look pretty sweet today. It also combined science fiction with soap opera and romance, defining a new genre and leading the way in combining genres. It's because of the <i>Star Wars </i>series that we have action/romances. Think on that.</div>
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It is certainly exciting and engaging, and while it's not my favorite science-fiction or fantasy film, it certainly lead the way for other directors and visionaries like Lucas to create new worlds and explore what the movie-going experience to do for a people and for popular culture. What other main musical theme has penetrated our collective conscience the way John William's did here? (Also, how has John Williams done that SO MANY TIMES?) Oh, that all fantasy films were crafted with this much care and reverence nowadays. Hmm.</div>
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Let's leave the light sabres behind and head back to the early 1950s for one more Western. I know, I know. I'm not looking forward to it, either. John Wayne leads <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049730/" target="_blank">The Searchers</a>.</i></div>Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461058376299559449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266006862101015198.post-10428575789879212092011-11-01T11:30:00.000-07:002011-11-02T13:35:45.884-07:00#14: Psycho<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>REE! REE! REE! REE! </i></div>
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Twelve rooms, twelve vacancies. And Marion Crane will take one, thank you, in Room #1 of the Bates Motel. Paramount apparently didn't believe that Alfred Hitchcock would have any success adapting Robert Bloch's novel <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054215/" target="_blank"><i>Psycho</i></a> for the screen, but today the Bates Motel and the Bates house still stand on the Universal lot and are a major attraction there. The legacy of this thriller is incalculable, but most valuable to it are Hitchcock's mastery of suspense, Bernard Herrmann's legendary and singular score, and phenomenal performances from the creepier-than-hell Anthony Perkins and the better-than-I-remember Janet Leigh. Oooh.</div>
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<b>Company</b>: this was the last movie screened on <i>Kecia </i>and I's Halloween movie smorgasbord (second annual!), after <i>Shaun of the Dead</i>, <i>The Fog </i>(John Carpenter), <i>Rosemary's Baby</i>, <i>Hocus Pocus</i> and <i>Pet Sematary</i>. Along for the ride: <i>Kecia</i>, obsessed with the age of the little boy in <i>Pet Sematary</i>; <i>Katie</i>, should dress as Sarah Sanderson for Halloween some year; <i>Matt</i>, purveyor of hot toddies;<i> Adam</i>, hipster cut from his hosting job; <i>Jeremy</i>, relative newbie; <i>Ryan</i>, creator of the future drag musical of <i>Hocus Pocus</i>; and <i>Paul</i>, in it to win it all day.</div>
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<b>Cuisine</b>: what didn't we have? It was a smorgasbord, and by the end of the day we'd stuffed ourselves. Ordering Pizza Luce, drinking various beers and hot cider drinks, and snacking on grapes, peanuts and candy corn. Mmmm.</div>
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We open in a Friday in Phoenix, Arizona, where it's an "extended lunch hour" for Marion Crane (Oscar nominee Janet Leigh) and her lover, Sam Loomis (John Gavin). This first scene is simple and sensual, but in 1960 the sight of an unmarried couple in bed together caused quite a stir, thanks to the nearly-on-its-way-out Production Code (or the Hays Code). Marion and Sam want to get married but lack the funds, and so Marion steals the money from one of her employer's clients, saying she'll deposit it on her way home, and makes for Sam's California home.</div>
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But it turns out that Marion doesn't handle stressful situations all that well. The long day of driving forces her to pull over and take a quick nap, but she's discovered the next morning by a policeman who suspects that something fishy's going on. Can't imagine why: she's not acting super weird or anything. And then she trades in her perfectly good car for a new one, with the policeman watching and noting her new plates? Yeah, that won't raise any eyebrows. Hitchcock puts us on edge in these first few scenes with his unflinching camera squarely on Marion and her view of the road. Herrmann's genius score, like a frenetic heartbeat, is pulsing through this first section while nothing much is happening, leaving us terrified of what's to come.</div>
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<i>"A boy's best friend is his mother."</i></div>
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And then we meet what's to come: Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), the dopey, slack-shouldered caretaker of an eponymous offroad inn where Marion stops to spend the night.<i> </i>His wide grin and aw-shucks manner seem fine at first, but in a fantastic two-hander between Leigh and Perkins, we see there's something not quite right about Bates: his taxidermy hobby, which fills the time instead of passing it; his isolation; and weirdest, his devotion and love for his abusive mother, who lives in the creepy house on the hill. This scene is a turning point in the film, one that forces Marion to reconsider her crime and make amends by returning to Phoenix in the morning to return the money.</div>
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Just a quick shower first.</div>
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The shower scene in <i>Psycho </i>is one of the most famous scenes in movie history, and it's all done without seeing any unlawful-at-the-time body part of Leigh's and without ever seeing a knife entering flesh. It's masterfully edited and iconically scored, and supposedly gave Leigh a lifelong fear of showering. I can't say I blame her.</div>
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The "alienation effect" is a term coined by Bertolt Brecht, which "prevents the audience from losing itself passively and completely in the
character created by the actor, and which consequently leads the
audience to be a consciously critical observer." By killing off his heroine halfway through the film, Hitchcock jolts us out of whatever passivity (if any) we may have felt so far. "There's an hour left, but she's dead," you might think. "What the hell happens now?" The audience at the time saw Janet Leigh on the poster and may have assumed the film would be her story -- now that she's dead, what's left to tell?</div>
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A hell of a lot, as it turns out. Sam, Marion's sister Lila (Vera Miles) and a detective named Milton Arbogast (Martin Balsam) are worried about Marion's crime and disappearance, and set out to investigate. The pieces are put together pretty efficiently by Arbogast, who winds up at the Bates Motel and keeps his cool while questioning the increasingly agitated and confused Norman.</div>
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I love this shot of Norman, peering over to examine the ledger Arbogast requested in which Marion checked in as Marie Samuels. He munches nervously on candy corn, and we see so vividly his exasperation with balancing a calm disposition and quick mind. The contrast in black and white here is also stunning: the film was shot in black-and-white partially to keep costs low, since Hitchcock had to finance the film himself after Paramount refused, and also to keep the gory shower scene from seeming to graphic for contemporary audiences. Side note: chocolate syrup was used instead of blood because the camera picked it up better. That scene must have smelled delicious!</div>
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Sam and Lila show up after Arbogast disappears (murdered in a thrilling and bizarrely filmed sequence) and figure two heads are better than one. Luckily the train stops there, and the mystery of Mother Bates' identity is revealed. But oooooh the nail biting finale!</div>
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An epilogue, in which a forensic psychiatrist explains every detail and plot point for us, may have been necessary for an audience at the time, but now remains the only section of the film that feels a little unnecessary. However, I did appreciate the mention of transvestites: when another cop suggests that Norman may have been a cross-dresser, the psychiatrist makes the distinction between a transvestite who derives pleasure from dressing up as a woman and a psychotic killer who dresses up as a woman because he had split personality disorder. Thanks for being so forward-thinking, Hitch!</div>
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I hadn't seen <i>Psycho </i>in quite a while, and before blogging this list I had considered <i>North by Northwest </i>my favorite Hitchcock movie, and had always resisted saying <i>Psycho </i>was tops simply because it seemed too easy. But it's just that: the film works so easily and so completely that of course it's the best. And <i>somehow</i>: another Hitchcock movie (which I have also not seen in a while) is yet to come! What a great gem, and a perfect ending to our Halloween smorgasbord.</div>
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Now I'm interested in seeing Gus van Sant's 1998 shot-for-shot remake of this, though I hear it's really not worth it. But as an experiment, I'm intrigued. Maybe when I have a couple hours to kill and can handle Anne Heche.</div>
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Next up: (light sabre noises)! <i>David </i>and <i>Andi</i>, the two biggest fans I know, join me for George Lucas' <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076759/">Star Wars</a>.</i></div>Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461058376299559449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266006862101015198.post-81130929419399067222011-10-14T13:31:00.000-07:002011-10-20T11:34:13.082-07:00#15: 2001: A Space Odyssey<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Stanley Kubrick's films share very little in common except that they are all wildly different. (So much so, in fact, that I've given a lot of thought to doing a Kubrick retrospective as my next project on this blog. So many more to see!) So far on this list I've seen his epic war film <i>Spartacus</i>, his dystopian horror thriller <i>A Clockwork Orange </i>and his satirical Peter Sellers farce <i>Dr. Strangelove... </i>and now, maybe the one that will leave the greatest and most frustrating legacy: <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062622/"><i>2001: A Space Odyssey</i></a>, filmed in 1968 and based partially and loosely on Arthur C. Clarke's short story "The Sentinel." I know I've seen at least parts of it but I'm counting this as the first time I've watched it because I doubt very highly that I've ever made it all the way through.</div>
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<b>Company</b>: for a movie like this, you need folks who are in it to win it, and eager to discuss. <i>Bret</i>, literary enthusiast, <i>Joe</i>, major movie fan, and <i>Hannah</i>, who just wanted this to be better than <i>The Tree of Life</i>, were amazing company!</div>
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<b>Cuisine</b>: whiskey ginger and wine, popcorn, peanut M&Ms and various chips (both potato and carrot) with hummus -- for a thinker like this one must be prepared with an array of snacks.</div>
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<i>2001</i> is remarkable in its scope, with its simple-bordering-on-incoherent plot beginning four millions years ago, as a tribe of human-like apes first discover tools and warfare in a quick series of wordless vignettes. In this first of four sections, subtitled "The Dawn of Man," one ape is discovering that beating things with a bone causes destruction just as a mysterious black monolith appears. Are these events connected? What does the monolith represent? Fear? The unknown? God? Destiny? Is the dawn of Man actually the dawn of war, territory, dominance, hate? Its appearance remains unexplained and theories abound. Maybe it will become clear through connecting its later appearances in the film.</div>
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In maybe the most famous smash-cut of all time, one ape throws a bone in the air in elation and victory as a satellite in nearly the same shape is seen floating through space. Both the bone and the satellite represent an evolutionary advantage as both tools and weapons, with the watering hole and the universe being the respective territories protected by these weapons. I think it's no coincidence that in this second sequence (the only one without a proper subtitle), the spacecraft we see represent simple tools such as the bone, the wheel, and the spear. For minutes on end, we are treated to plotless visual sequences underscored (overscored?) by rousing, epic classical music, in direct juxtaposition with the lack of action. </div>
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The visuals (rightfully awarded an Oscar) are stunning, especially when you consider the time period: until now, most science-fiction films had been ghettoized, with hokey sets, clunky alien costumes and ridiculous plots. But Kubrick and Clarke did meticulous and expansive research, consulting the likes of astronomer and visionary Carl Sagan as well as NASA scientists, on the future of spacecraft and alien life. It's entrancing.</div>
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But back to the plot. While traveling through space, Dr. Heywood Floyd (William Sylvester) is questioned about mysterious occurrences at Clavius Base, a U.S. moon colony. He's sworn to secrecy, and later it's discovered by astronauts traveling to the moon that a monolith identical to the one the apes found has been discovered, buried deep beneath the moon's surface, supposedly millions of years earlier. Once again, no explanation is offered, but the parallels of fear of the unknown and reverence for mystery are apparent between both ape and man. Perhaps Kubrick is telling us here that even with all our technological advances and discoveries, there will always be things we cannot explain. Our destiny, it seems, is to be eternally unsatisfied.</div>
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Then the third and most famous section: "Jupiter Mission," in which several mission pilots and scientists, including three in cryogenic hibernation (apparently to conserve resources), are traveling to Jupiter with an extremely intelligent computer system, HAL 9000 (referred to here as "Hal"). The nature of their mission is unclear but at this point the details are less important than the fact that Hal has some doubts about the mission and plans sabotage. Is he afraid of what they might find there, or does he know what they're looking for and doesn't want it to be found?</div>
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In any event, the two non-frozen scientists (Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood) become distrustful of the all-knowing robot and plan to shut him down and continue their operation manually, but in a terrifying cliff-hanger right before the Intermission (don't you love old movies?), we see that Hal is reading the lips of the astronauts who are trying to evade and deceive him.</div>
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Okay, so: man discovers tools, man translates tools into weaponry, man evolves. Flash forward. Man creates himself as a tool (robot), tool becomes weaponry on its own accord and turns against its creator. Trippy.</div>
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Hal manufactures a system error that requires one of the astronauts to investigate. While there, Hal severs his oxygen cord and sends him hurtling soundlessly through space. While the one left (Dave) heads out to rescue him, Hal cuts the life functions of the three astronauts in hypersleep and leaves Dave, alone, unprotected and without a helmet, floating in a pod outside the pod bay doors. "Open the pod bay doors, Hal." (SILENCE)</div>
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The scene that follows, Hal's destruction, is the most famous in the film and speaks to the power of suggestion and focus. So much science-fiction and fantasy filmwork that's done these days relies on quick editing, loud music, thrilling chases. But in space, in a standoff between man and his tool-turned-weapon, it's only silence. The pace is very difficult to deal with as a modern audience because of our expectations, but the deliberate nature of this scene (and in turn the whole film) glories in the power of our collective attention span. A movie that loves movies! I love it!</div>
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In the fourth and final act, Dave is set adrift in a pod and travels through time and hyperspace to find himself in strange and unusual alien lands. Where the hell is he, exactly? No answers are offered, though plenty of interpretations are available. When he finally lands, he sees increasingly older versions of himself inhabiting a futuristic looking room with Victorian-era furniture (perhaps a symbol of wealth and prosperity in a world where those things mean nothing?) Is the finale a series of self-fulfilling prophecies? He imagines himself living there, and then there he is eating at the dinner table. He accidentally (but inevitably) breaks a glass, reminding him that life is fragile, and then he sees himself dying in bed.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi31mP3Z1rhJctQNfvsMd3V73qCVmDEHHEiXL3eoNRlqWFdF7mT9fTMjZiky3YFXt9vtW5E3Qb08Tw7Jd_QkhgysnIC0fKJfpQO_WZj-hogNI1f0aVyOIM-gzxHgLXzBD5V8uTxK2spIh5H/s1600/2001+9+Death.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="145" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi31mP3Z1rhJctQNfvsMd3V73qCVmDEHHEiXL3eoNRlqWFdF7mT9fTMjZiky3YFXt9vtW5E3Qb08Tw7Jd_QkhgysnIC0fKJfpQO_WZj-hogNI1f0aVyOIM-gzxHgLXzBD5V8uTxK2spIh5H/s320/2001+9+Death.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The monolith appears a third time. To claim him? To usher him into death? Into heaven? Hell? To remind him that it was all for nothing? The symbolism is overwhelming and the discussions we had after the film's beautiful ending were inspiring, but we were left with no concrete answers. And aren't the most ambiguous movies sometimes the most exciting? I think each time I revisit this film it will mean something different to me, but I'm so glad to have gotten through it start to finish with a company of people who were as invested and excited as I was. Thanks, friends!</div>
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It's been a long time since I've written (thanks, harvest!) but here I am, back again, watching the next few films slightly out of order but still writing about them in order. Next up here: Alfred Hitchcock takes Janet Leigh sooner than you think in <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054215/"><i>Psycho</i></a>. Until then!</div>Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461058376299559449noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266006862101015198.post-25077298974300995542011-09-17T11:39:00.000-07:002011-09-17T11:39:55.635-07:00#16: Sunset Boulevard<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnRpDZ7PA7Sqi92dkHwCp24PvORm4wKHuGvJliMcSrcFZzaHgV69Jis_n7ErQidFMzJiKHUCaOGF_v2r23KVtH27qXFVkOIBlDymaS00pVXs9FA1oMWNPJjVtwPIwXjqe2yE1sPPMZPJIV/s1600/Sunset+1+Title.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnRpDZ7PA7Sqi92dkHwCp24PvORm4wKHuGvJliMcSrcFZzaHgV69Jis_n7ErQidFMzJiKHUCaOGF_v2r23KVtH27qXFVkOIBlDymaS00pVXs9FA1oMWNPJjVtwPIwXjqe2yE1sPPMZPJIV/s320/Sunset+1+Title.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Billy Wilder's cynical shot at Hollywood, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043014/"><i>Sunset Boulevard</i></a> is a shining example of film noir: a moody character study chock full of shadows, suspense and unrequited longing, both for love and faded glory. It's a great worry to us when we realize that the world doesn't need us the way we need it, but our anti-heroine has the lucky position of never having realized this. </div>
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<b>Company</b>: <i>Ryan </i>and <i>Paul</i>, our magnanimous hosts; <i>Kecia</i>, whom I'm trying to convince to dress as Norma for Halloween; <i>Alex</i>, movie maven and lover of suspense; <i>Marisa</i>, slender femme fatale</div>
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<b>Cuisine</b>: sushi (I was starving), vodka-7, and a host of movie treats including homemade brownies (thanks Paul!), gummy bears, popcorn and frosted animal cookies. Alex observed that it looked like a Charlie Brown thanksgiving in there. :)</div>
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<span style="font-style: italic;">Woops. Spoiled the ending.</span></div>
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The film is narrated in a moody, poetic voiceover by our "hero," aspiring young Hollywood screenwriter Joe Gillis (Oscar nominee William Holden) who has fallen on hard times... although one feels he couldn't imagine the screenplay his life was about to become. No one in Hollywood will buy his script, and he's fallen behind on his car payments, prompting him to flee repossession men in a car chase along Sunset Boulevard. When he blows a tire, he's forced to pull over and sees what looks like an abandoned garage, a perfect hiding spot for his car on the lam. "Well, that one's a freebie," he thinks.</div>
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Well, yes, that <i>would </i>be a freebie, except... "You there!" comes a call from whoever lives in the adjacent house. She beckons him inside like a spider luring prey to a web, and once inside, Joe discovers reclusive faded silent-film star Norma Desmond (the magnificent and over-the-top Oscar nominee Gloria Swanson) living in a delapitated mansion that serves as a relic of her past fortune. She was the victim of sound in motion pictures, yes, but she also gained a reputation as being a difficult actor. Why actors would ever choose to be difficult, I'll never understand. How do you not see the moral here? DUH.</div>
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<i>"So help me!"</i></div>
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Desmond hasn't left her cave in years, with only her butler Max (the understated and creepy Oscar nominee Erich von Stroheim) for company and moral support, as a way of clinging to her glamorous past. If she doesn't go outside, she won't see the world changing and revolving without her. See how that works? Her lavish villa is littered with photos of her young self, standing as reminders to her of what was and what could be. She's begun work on a script she hopes can be produced to revive her stalled film career, so it's just sheer luck that a talented screenwriter with reason to hide stumbles into her clutches. Gillis hesitantly agrees to the gig.</div>
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If the fact that you can see the white all the way around her eyes wasn't enough indication, then let me set it straight for you, Gillis: Desmond is a whack job. She doesn't allow Gillis to leave the house, she hovers over him as he works on her story, retaining total creative control, and hello! That chimpanzee funeral the first night he's there! Duh. And the New Year's party she throws... for just the two of them. As Liz Lemon would say, she's staunchly in favor of Cocoa Puffs. Gillis understand this to some extent, but is in no position to turn down Desmond's charity, and even starts to revel in it, while moonlighting to write his own screenplay with film studio reader Betty Shaefer (the lovely but little-used Oscar nominee Nancy Olson).</div>
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Wilder centers so squarely on their weird romance that it's hard to think of anything while writing this but their performances. Holden is the straight man and has the brunt of the story to present, while Swanson has a gay old time camping it up and yet staying grounded in her own whacked version of reality. Her lines sound like scenes she had once upon a time in films that never required her to say them aloud. Maybe that's why she can speak them now with such conviction: to her, they really aren't rehearsed, they're a part of her past that's never been said.</div>
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<i>"We didn't need dialogue. We had faces!"</i></div>
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Finally the screenplay is sent to the studio, where it could not possibly be validated quickly enough for Norma. After mysterious phone calls from the director's assistant, which Norma refuses to acknowledge out of pride, she drives Joe and herself to the studio to confront her old friend, Cecil B. DeMille (playing himself). It's on set, sitting in the director's chair, where she feels most at home; old stagehands and aspiring actors, who remember and revere her, crowd in for a peek, for an encounter with the great Norma Desmond, much to her delight.</div>
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What a great shot above: Norma, suddenly front and center again, nearly blinded by the warmth of a spotlight she hasn't felt in years, sitting in the <i>director's </i>chair. Because of the similar company we kept while watching this film, we kept making references to the big Oscar winner from 1950, <i>All About Eve </i>(Kecia, Alex, Ryan and Paul were all present), and they do make a fascinating double feature. While that film centered on the feuds between actors, <i>Sunset Boulevard </i>finds its tension in the relationship between actor and writer. One cannot function without the other: the actor would have no words to say without the writer, and the writer would only have words with no voice. Norma doesn't see it this way: as she drives on to the Paramount lot, she scolds the guards, noting that without her, "there wouldn't <i>be </i>a Paramount<i>."</i> But she needs Gillis, and DeMille and all of them; otherwise, she's just a washed-up actress living alone, watching her films at home and undergoing radical skin treatments to keep her youth. Why else would she hire Gillis? It's out of necessity, and some part of her must know it... right?</div>
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Desmond finds out about Joe's moonlighting and calls Betty in a desperate, twisted, jealous attempt to drive them apart, but Joe discovers her and invites Betty over to expose the truth of his gigolo lifestyle.</div>
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Underscored by Franz Waxman's luscious, creepy score, Max exposes the truth of his own life, too juicy to reveal here -- just go rent it! You'll see that everything builds to an inevitable and inspired climax.</div>
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<span style="font-style: italic;">And because I said I would...</span></div>
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<span style="font-style: italic;">"Find your way." -- Ryan </span></div>
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<i>"Life, which can be strangely merciful, had taken pity on Norma Desmond."</i></div>
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The film ends in one of the great Hollywood endings, one that both glamorizes and satirizes the very institution that made the film possible at all. <i>Sunset Boulevard </i>stands as maybe the best backstage story in which the audience never finds its way backstage (save for the few moments that we spend with Norma in that spotlight). It's a shame that Swanson lost the Oscar (I haven't seen Judy Holliday in <i>Born Yesterday</i>, who also beat out both the <i>Eve </i>girls, but trust me that I will) in such a competitive year -- any other year she would have won. But it's a performance that stands alone, not needing an Oscar to validate it. Many, many lesser performances have won. </div>
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I'm at home for harvest, and so it'll be a busy time that might not leave much room for blogging or moviegoing, but hopefully I'll get to #15 (<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062622/"><i>2001: A Space Odyssey</i></a>) very soon! Until then, happy fall!</div>
Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461058376299559449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266006862101015198.post-89199636630097907642011-09-06T12:40:00.000-07:002011-09-06T12:40:43.884-07:00#17: The Graduate<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>"People talking without speaking // people hearing without listening..."</i></div>
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Mike Nichols' 1967 comedy <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061722/">The Graduate</a> </i>is an ode to the counterculture of its day, demonizing the boring adults that make kids grow up and celebrating the apathy of youth floundering in its newfound adulthood. It struck a chord with a generation, but does it strikes that same chord now? Do we still love that dopey Benjamin Braddock and take delight in his naughty affair or do we sympathize with Mrs. Robinson? Well, a lot of that depends on your point of view.</div>
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<b>Company</b>: what a great, eclectic group of people tonight! <i>Paul</i>, major movie lover with his own favorite-movies movie quilt; <i>Christian</i>, newly graduated attractress and counterculture vulture; <i>Hannah </i>and <i>Joe</i>, also newly-grads and film fans with their own series of Disney-theme movie nights</div>
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<b>Cuisine</b>: peanut M&Ms, chips and homemade salsa (easiest salsa ever!), sea salt brownie bites (courtesy of Paul) and whiskey-7</div>
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Our first glance at Benjamin Braddock (first-time Oscar nominee Dustin Hoffman) is following him on a moving walkway at an airport, supposedly flying home from his recent college graduation for a party. What a fitting first image, showing our apathetic hero moved along the way as he's moved through life thus far, unsure of why he's in college in the first place and unsure of what lies ahead. At his own graduation party, he makes himself scarce, uncomfortable with the attention and prying questions about a life he knows less about than anyone there. Nichols follows Braddock and his guests at a sometimes uncomfortably close distance, keeping them in the forefront, as if studying them like an anthropologist, until we get our first glimpse (in the distance, mind you) of a woman who takes a keen interest in Benjamin. </div>
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<i>"Mrs. Robinson, you're trying to seduce me. Aren't you?"</i> </div>
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Mrs. Robinson (Oscar nominee Anne Bancroft) is caught in a loveless marriage to Benjamin's father's business partner, and just about the only thing we <i>don't </i>learn about this woman is her first name. Needless to say, she's a woman who knows what she wants, and she'll be damned if anyone is going to stop her from getting it. She makes Benjamin leave his own party to drive her home, invites him in for a drink, continuously assures him that she isn't trying to seduce him and then appears naked before he rushes downstairs to avoid being caught by the newly arrived Mr. Robinson. Once he escapes the house, he has to think it over. And think it over he does.</div>
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Benjamin's parents have bought him a scuba suit for his graduation and demand he try it out publicly in their pool. He's duly mortified but Mr. (the hilarious William Daniels) and Mrs. (Elizabeth Wilson, looking too uncomfortably adjacent to Mrs. Robinson) Braddock insist, shoving him back into the water. Whether he likes it or not, college is over and real adult life is here, and he can sink or swim if he wants. As Mrs. Robinson tells him, "Ben, you'll never be young again." But hey, he's got the scuba suit! Seems like he'll be fine.</div>
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Soon enough, he's calling on his admirer and bringing her to a hotel for intimacy sans conversation, just the way she wants it. His general malaise gets worse if anything as he lays in the pool, completely aimless and now preoccupied with thoughts of Mrs. Robinson. It's not that Benjamin is a sleaze bag for carrying on the affair with a married woman, though he is, but the point Nichols is making is that he's too young to really care about the consequences of his actions, although he knows full well what they could be.</div>
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Adulthood, although he's living it, is still a foreign concept. He's in a perpetual state of arrested development ("hey, that's the name of our show!") As he drifts in the pool, the adults who come to greet him are only shadowy figures. And though I love the music of Paul Simon, the Simon & Garfunkel tunes that score the film act not as lyrical commentary on the action but rather as musical symbolism for the free spirit of youth culture. Paul Simon had this great way of making his music sound undeniably contemporary and yet still harken back to something that felt old, not only with the music but also the heightened poetry of his lyrics. And all the kids were listening to them in the late 1960s; what better way to appeal to your target demographic? Nowadays, soundtracks are used all the time, but using pop music as underscore was a new innovation in the new wave era of Hollywood. Although one wonders why more of their songs aren't used instead of repeating the same couple of songs over and over throughout the film.</div>
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After a few months, Benjamin is growing bored with Mrs. Robinson and focuses his attention on her more age-appropriate daughter Elaine (Oscar nominee Katharine Ross), a bonehead who should see Benjamin as an aimless loser but somehow can't. We don't really get to know much about her, except that she tends to believe whatever anyone says. The elder Robinson expressly forbade this romance, less because she loves Benjamin and more because she's laid her claim to him already. Why does Benjamin go after Elaine? It's not really explained. Is it boredom? Is it love? Is it defiance?</div>
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Whatever it is, Mrs. Robinson won't have it, and without saying a word she exposes her affair to her daughter, who shrieks like a banshee and writes Benjamin out of her life forever... until she gets bored and decides to forgive him... and then plans to marry someone else anyway... until she decides not to do that either. See! Bonehead!</div>
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<i>"Goodbye, Benjamin."</i></div>
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Benjamin and Mrs. Robinson had a good thing going, and his actions forced them apart, even though it was all her doing (or undoing) that left them both back where they started, lonely and longing for companionship. She's not a monster for doing this (although it's certainly undone her -- she looks like hell once their affair goes awry), she's a scorned lover and I might do the same. It's interesting to me that over the years Roger Ebert's love for this film has decreased and he's rescinded some of his earlier praise, stating that Mrs. Robinson is the only likeable character. She's truly the only one onscreen who's fleshed out, who goes for what she wants and takes at least a little identifiable pleasure in getting it. I understand her. I don't understand Ben or Elaine, or why the last third of the film suddenly introduces an urgency that launches us toward the inevitably bleak ending.</div>
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It's not that I don't like the movie. The performances, particularly Ms. Bancroft's, are admirable. The camera work is intelligent and exciting. It's that I'm confused by the motivations of these characters. Certainly, this famous last scene, in which Ben interrupts Elaine's wedding, steals her away and then sits calmly on a bus with her, unsure of what they've done, is memorable for its ambiguity, but it doesn't make clear what the message is. Is youth culture doomed to apathy, to boring adult lives? Is a huge, brash move necessary to jump-start your life? Once you've got what you think you want, what's the next thing? Will there always be a next thing? Is happiness defined by what's just out of reach? The film asks these questions and hangs the answers over the audience, who might be too young to know the answers and too apathetic to ask for them.</div>
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<i>The Graduate </i>certainly exists in the American film canon as a revolutionary film for youth, but I'm not sure that as an adult I appreciate it the same way I did when I was in college. From Benjamin's point of view, it's moving. From Mrs. Robinson's (though I'm not 36 yet, like Anne Bancroft was), it can be frustrating. To be fair, too many films on this list focus on adulthood anyway, because that's where the artisans sit when they make the classics, but is this what the counterculture has to show for itself? Thoughts?</div>
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Next up: more obsession over youth and glamour as Norma Desmond readies for her close-up in <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043014/">Sunset Blvd</a>.</i></div>
Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461058376299559449noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266006862101015198.post-87077990849332814632011-09-02T12:22:00.000-07:002011-09-02T12:23:29.451-07:00#18: The General<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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How. How. How have I gone this long, lived 26 and a half years, without ever seeing a Buster Keaton film? Shame shame shame. If his 1927 masterpiece <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0017925/"><i>The General</i></a> is any indication (and by all accounts it seems to be), I better hop on this train and never get off unless it's to heave obstacles out of the way, change track directions or save myself from mortal danger ... and even after all that, I'd better get back on.</div>
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<b>Company</b>: this film was a part of my Netflix Streaming In My Bed Film Fest last night, and it was amazing -- but you know I'll watch it again in a heartbeat with a crowd.</div>
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<b>Cuisine</b>: a glass of red wine. A perfect night.</div>
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So the story goes: it's 1861 in Marietta, Georgia, and Johnnie Gray (the singular Mr. Keaton) is an engineer for the Western & Atlantic Railroad who has two loves: his engine and his girl (Marion Mack). Fort Sumter is attacked and the Civil War has begun, and every man in town heads to the recruitment office to enlist, but our hero in the pork pie hat is too valuable to the South as an engineer, so they won't take him. Unluckily for our patriot, his beloved doesn't believe this misfortune, assuming he's a coward, and won't speak to him again until he's in uniform. Woah. Girl knows what she wants.</div>
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Hopeless, Johnnie sits down on the side rods of his beloved engine, the General of the title, and heaves a sigh as, in the first of many glorious moments to come, the train begins to move with him on it (at about 00:43 in this clip). It's one of those moments of visual innovation and joy in the movies that just makes your heart swell. This stunt, though seemingly simple, was apparently extremely dangerous, and it took a lot of elbowing and cajoling for the real engineer of the train to agree to it.</div>
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The plot follows Johnnie's accidental joining of the armed forces after his beloved engine is train-napped (?) by Union spies travelling north to Chattanooga, with plans to destroy communications and railroad tracks along the way. What a bunch of assholes. Don't take what doesn't belong to you. This would be bad enough on its own, but Johnnie's beloved is on board! He runs after the train, first chasing it on foot, then on handcar, then on boneshaker bicycle (hilarious), and then on another train engine, parked at the next station where he enlists several soldiers to help him stop the spies -- but when he leaves the station, the car carrying the volunteers is not attached, and by the time Johnnie notices, it's too late to turn back.</div>
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What follows is cinematic splendor: a low-speed train chase where obstacle after obstacle is presented and stunt after stunt Johnnie triumphs, knowingly or, in some cases, unknowingly. As pictured above, he reacts to a renegade train car in front of him having miraculously disappeared (in truth by the evil but accidentally good machinations of the spies ahead) by the most amazing slow-blink I have ever witnessed. The story apparently goes that when he was performing as a child with his parents, his father would fling him all over the stage, and if he got up from the stunt and smiled, he wouldn't get as big a laugh as he would if he stayed stone-faced. The Great Stone-Face he was, perfecting "deadpan" and influencing future generations of deadpan-lookers.</div>
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Roger Ebert writes extensively in his Great Movies series about <a href="http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20021110/REVIEWS08/40802001/1023">the comedy of Buster Keaton</a>, including "the Keaton Curve," in which Keaton's characters try to get themselves out of trouble only to wind up back in it by trying. Love it. This happens at one point with a cannon that follows Johnnie: genius! It's a great article -- I should really try to find more reading about this.</div>
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So anyway, Johnnie rescues his beloved and attempts to steal his train back, which, naturally, will require his beloved to be shoved into a sack. They get the train back by hilariously knocking out some guards and zoom back south in order to warn their allies of the oncoming attack.</div>
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In a parallel chase sequence, our heroes are now the ones being chased, using some similar tricks used on them to deter the spies. You'd think a feature-length film that is comprised of almost nothing but train chases would get tiresome, but it's a credit to the economy and innovation of Keaton's physical comedy that our attention is always on the train with them.</div>
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Having successfully warned his fellow Southerners of the Union's approach, the forces come back to the Rock River Bridge, which Johnnie has set on fire, to do battle with the North. Johnnie is still not enlisted but picks up a sword to ready himself for battle, only to trip over it in his first steps as a soldier. Give the guy a break, he's only 5'6".</div>
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The battle finds Johnnie unwittingly saving the day once again -- but it's too hilarious to recount. In fact, why try to describe any of it when it can't really be put into words? Go find it on instant Netflix -- even the MIDI-sounding score can't distract from Keaton's genius.</div>
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All things end happily, as they tend to do in these movies. At the end of the last entry, anticipating this film, I wondered why Charlie Chaplin's filmography is honored with three films on this list (<i>Modern Times</i>, <i>The Gold Rush </i>and <i>City Lights</i>) while Keaton only gets one. In reading about them, it sounds like one of the primary differences in their comedy styles was that Chaplin wanted to be liked and Keaton didn't really care, or was too proud to ask to be liked. We like them both, but there's a lovability factor with Chaplin, and he was more prolific. Plus, his films tended to be enhanced by his satirical commentary on society, while Keaton's maybe didn't quite as much. The focus here is not the story but the splendor of his physical feats. I don't know if I could say I prefer one over the other -- but it'd be interesting to compare both their styles.</div>
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Wow. I haven't been this blissful watching a film on this list since<i> The Best Years of Our Lives</i>. Add this to my faves. And it's my 100th blog entry! Woopee!</div>
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Next up: Mrs. Robinson tries to seduce <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061722/">The Graduate</a>.</i></div>
Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461058376299559449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266006862101015198.post-30957742605990282392011-09-01T12:39:00.000-07:002011-09-01T12:39:44.203-07:00#19: On the Waterfront<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) had quite the effect on Hollywood. I know several movies on this list were influenced by or made in direct response to communist accusations being thrown around in America in the 1950s and 1960s, but it seems like no clearer parallels can be drawn between the movie theater and McCarthyism than in Elia Kazan's biting 1954 drama <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047296/">On the Waterfront</a></i>. You want to spit in someone's eye with a movie, you do it like Kazan and Brando do it. (slow wipe take)<br />
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<b>Company</b>: alone on this one again. I haven't been very good about including folks lately, but more coming up, I'm sure, as the movies get even more singular.<br />
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<b>Cuisine</b>: I broke down and got some hint of lime chips with queso, and a Diet Coke to wash them down. Papa needs his snacks.</div>
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The story chronicles corruption among longshoremen in New York City and the lengths men will go to in order to cover it up. The film's opening sequence details the planned murder of Joey Doyle, a popular dockworker, who's threatened to expose the corruption among the workers' union and testify before the Crime Commission against the crime boss Johnny Friendly (Oscar nominee Lee J. Cobb, such a badass). The job is carried out by a couple of goons on the roof of Joey's apartment, but Joey is tricked into going up there by his friend Terry Malloy (Oscar winner Marlon Brando, the first of his two wins and the only one he actually accepted).</div>
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Terry is a simple guy and a former boxer, but he's got integrity that drives the entire plot. Who knows how many other murders he's helped to orchestrate without even thinking about it? The only reason this one's different is because he falls for the victim's sister Edie (Oscar winner Eva Marie Saint), and as he witnesses her grief his conscience starts to plague him. What is he doing it for? He and the other workers have an unspoken D&D ("deaf and dumb") clause, vowing silence when detectives poke their nose around the docks looking for answers. Terry doesn't really understand why, but knows that he'd be an accomplice if the truth ever came out. Edie, however, has no such D&D clause for herself, and vows to find the truth. It's a complicated romance, to say the least.</div>
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It speaks volumes to the power held by Friendly, who'll bump off any man who even thinks of exposing him. At one point he laments, "ain't nobody tough any more," as possible justification for his own brand of toughness. The dockworkers are all too poor to lose their jobs, too under-qualified to find any other work, and too scared to stand up to Friendly and his goons.</div>
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Malloy's troubled conscience brings him above the rest of the plebeians on the dock when he admits to Edie his involvement in Joey's murder. Most if not all of the other men might have stayed silent, but Malloy fesses up for love. But now there's no turning back: Friendly is onto him, and it's a race to the courthouse.</div>
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An interesting element here is the score by Leonard Bernstein, his only film score not based on a musical or previous songs. Its jazz elements give a very contemporary feel to the brooding nature of the story, but at times it feels like there's too much music for what's happening, that it overshadows the action and even overdramatizes it at times. Don't get me wrong, I'm a big Bernstein fan, and for the most part it works, but there are times I could have done without it.</div>
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Roger Ebert said that Brando and Kazan "changed acting" with this film, and while it's true that Brando's performance especially feels ultra-modern, I'm not sure these two men and this film can be solely credited. First of all, Brando's performance in <i>A Streetcar Named Desire</i>, released three years earlier,<i> </i>felt even more primal and naturalistic, although part of that may have to do with the contrast of his acting style with Vivien Leigh's. In this film, everyone's on the same page. Saint and Cobb give incredible performances, as well as Oscar nominees Karl Malden, as a dockside priest trying to conjure morality out of the dockworkers, and Rod Steiger, as Terry's older brother Charlie, who urges him not to testify in one of the most iconic film scenes in history ("I coulda been a contender...").</div>
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But you can't argue that Brando, while on the same field, is leagues above everyone else in terms of realism. It's remarkable to watch his style, so commonplace now but so revolutionary then. Watch him talk to Edie in their strolls, how his eyes dart away so often, terrified of saying the wrong thing. It's pretty remarkable. I need to see more of his work. I do have to say too: isn't he ultra-feminine-looking in some lights? Those pouty lips: oh my god.</div>
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The conflict here is a simple one: at what price do we inform on others?
What makes it worth the danger, and when (if ever) is it better to just
stay silent? Kazan had identified eight former Communists in Hollywood
shortly before beginning production on this film, and many see it as his
answer to his critics. The film depicts the tattler as honorable and righteous, standing up to corruption. No one in their right mind would side with Friendly. In the original treatment of the script by Arthur Miller, a much darker ending sees Malloy murdered, but Kazan wanted the hero to keep his honor as he saw that he had before the HUAC.</div>
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The film is interested in depicting the fear and anxiety of knowing too much and saying too little, and the masses who push past Friendly in one final act of defiance says more than their testimonies ever could. I'm so much more intrigued by films that connect so readily to a part of history, especially when placed in a separate context. What a great topic: films that are direct metaphors for a major historical event but that have nothing to do with it plot-wise. Hmm.</div>
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Next up: <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0017925/"><i>The General</i></a>, the only Buster Keaton film on the list -- does he deserve only one spot while the Marx Brothers get two and Charlie Chaplin hogs three? We shall see.</div>
Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461058376299559449noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266006862101015198.post-1136847108898847672011-08-24T07:00:00.000-07:002011-08-24T08:40:04.388-07:00#20: It's a Wonderful Life<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmHQmBIcgK_6BZyhzBSTQGMlvMdqhCIqaLbJOb_hHNTduxVXJwscDfz-73KeW1S6BCgh7UkJZqbHMLzU5LHyTM0hYb2xwuRU-HNauhlJBdBAq6WCaozP-eNe6B3D0yC4DXZfMZJiNaoj1x/s1600/It%2527s+a+Wonderful+Life+1+Title.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 305px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmHQmBIcgK_6BZyhzBSTQGMlvMdqhCIqaLbJOb_hHNTduxVXJwscDfz-73KeW1S6BCgh7UkJZqbHMLzU5LHyTM0hYb2xwuRU-HNauhlJBdBAq6WCaozP-eNe6B3D0yC4DXZfMZJiNaoj1x/s400/It%2527s+a+Wonderful+Life+1+Title.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5644433835488936450" border="0" /></a>
<br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Despite its classic status, Frank Capra's Christmas weepfest <span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038650/">It's a Wonderful Life</a> </span>was not a critical or commercial success when it was released in 1946. In fact, some prognosticators believe that had it been released a few months later, it would have fared better with audiences and particularly with the Oscars, which were not nearly as stacked and competitive in 1947 as they were in 1946, the year <span style="font-style: italic;">The Best Years of Our Lives </span>took home the top prize (a fact that I couldn't dispute). It wasn't really revered the way it is today until it became a rebroadcast staple on television in the 1970s and 1980s. Funny what a few years can do to a film. Maybe in a few years I'll look that way at the movie that had the sole preview on this DVD: Queen Latifah's <span style="font-style: italic;">Last Holiday. </span>(?!?)
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<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Company</span>: alone on this one, though I should have grabbed some friends to well up with. <span style="font-style: italic;">Kecia </span>came in near the middle and declared her distaste for how depressing it is. I hear that, though I think there's more to it.
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<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Cuisine</span>: my fridge is full of leftovers from <span style="font-style: italic;">Stephanie</span>'s going-away party this weekend, so I munched on fruit salad, bean dip and multigrain chips, and of course, coffee.
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6yk8UG1jc93oCqu0JRDJHhgiu_tlUbl30-rWGocNo6_W4WCd8kCZDUEzqvfEBBLWLvnU3ZQ952Bv1VrmEy2E18hEcA8nfACK5xvE3_HpGzbQXGZSnul9i_xCnq57-WMDr_4q1BHNEkS-5/s1600/It%2527s+a+Wonderful+Life+2+Bedford.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 299px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6yk8UG1jc93oCqu0JRDJHhgiu_tlUbl30-rWGocNo6_W4WCd8kCZDUEzqvfEBBLWLvnU3ZQ952Bv1VrmEy2E18hEcA8nfACK5xvE3_HpGzbQXGZSnul9i_xCnq57-WMDr_4q1BHNEkS-5/s400/It%2527s+a+Wonderful+Life+2+Bedford.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5644433826933930354" border="0" /></a>
<br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Bedford Falls is an idyllic little town, or so we're led to believe by a couple of angels chatting in the heavens overhead. Someone "down there" is going to take his life in just a few hours, and the angel Clarence (a jovial Henry Travers) is sent down to save him, with the promise of wings and being promoted up from Angel, Second Class. But first, he (and we) are treated to a master class history course called George Always Comes In Second.
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCs_eq9ZmU0dFvSE5s_Zw5aU3EIkJl1xU-THySupJk4PhIVCzRWIg9KbajpKEYP5_xw1IF4HwtvoR2c_baLQ6mkqF5ASz0_IQlCZ2irx6sStvQSz16JBUvp3a4IHDyK7h76Y3wB2AkZnpg/s1600/It%2527s+a+Wonderful+Life+3+George.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 299px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCs_eq9ZmU0dFvSE5s_Zw5aU3EIkJl1xU-THySupJk4PhIVCzRWIg9KbajpKEYP5_xw1IF4HwtvoR2c_baLQ6mkqF5ASz0_IQlCZ2irx6sStvQSz16JBUvp3a4IHDyK7h76Y3wB2AkZnpg/s400/It%2527s+a+Wonderful+Life+3+George.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5644433814652702162" border="0" /></a>
<br /><div style="text-align: justify;">George Bailey (played with classic charm by Oscar nominee Jimmy Stewart) has always gotten the fuzzy end of the lollipop. He saved his brother from drowning as a child and as a result lost his hearing in one ear. When his father has a stroke, George is obligated to take over the family lending business, and gives the money he'd saved for college to his brother Harry (Todd Karns) on the promise that Harry will take over when he gets back. Upon his return four years later, Harry has a wife and a job offer too good to pass up. On the night George and his wife are set to leave for their honeymoon, a bank run by most of the town forces the couple to lend what money they'd earmarked for their vacation back to the town so the business wouldn't collapse. George is continually disappointed, never as downtrodden as the proverbial Job but suffering quietly through his life that is not turning out the way he'd hoped.
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAhM73Rwvy3j7CD6-_dbHIOmXcafh3RMeua5Wxr3daVp_bGHvwtTOkcvx5-UbP7mMvvXaEIwK7GxBx2m_d2aILoiPjnYWEPpCBCOLtwB-egrxT1QWBj2ZylC66Ydi7aGMks5YyU9Zg9jig/s1600/It%2527s+a+Wonderful+Life+4+Swim.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 299px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAhM73Rwvy3j7CD6-_dbHIOmXcafh3RMeua5Wxr3daVp_bGHvwtTOkcvx5-UbP7mMvvXaEIwK7GxBx2m_d2aILoiPjnYWEPpCBCOLtwB-egrxT1QWBj2ZylC66Ydi7aGMks5YyU9Zg9jig/s400/It%2527s+a+Wonderful+Life+4+Swim.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5644433810801772914" border="0" /></a>
<br /><div style="text-align: justify;">But all along the way, in between these twists, we are treated to a sweet, almost saccharine love story between George and the woman he's meant for, Mary Hatch (the lovely but underused Donna Reed). As they dance the night away, as they are tricked into falling into a swimming pool (and continue to dance), as they wander home singing "Buffalo gals, won't you come out tonight..." the audience is acutely aware that we are watching something special, a love story that doesn't need to try to be sweet because it already is. Stewart and Reed have remarkable chemistry that looks so effortless you nearly forget they're actors.
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMpjFyuas9M-qo1m7qQI7KQVsZQNstINZeM0U2yLBvowKxVHwPfuGYU1AHgnjpqtTMOzKQ__3_8KcuqJ_XEpbA6PtMODB4WH5LZWVdGyjpxK6OLKySTQFdMHMouQIy_mJfcldcP67wvUBi/s1600/It%2527s+a+Wonderful+Life+5+Doorway.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 299px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMpjFyuas9M-qo1m7qQI7KQVsZQNstINZeM0U2yLBvowKxVHwPfuGYU1AHgnjpqtTMOzKQ__3_8KcuqJ_XEpbA6PtMODB4WH5LZWVdGyjpxK6OLKySTQFdMHMouQIy_mJfcldcP67wvUBi/s400/It%2527s+a+Wonderful+Life+5+Doorway.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5644433582854675650" border="0" /></a>
<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">"I think I'll go find a girl and do some passionate necking."
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<br /></span><div style="text-align: justify;">The sun starts to set on their romance even on their most romantic evening, after they've fallen in the pool, when a stranger in their neighborhood pleads with George to kiss the girl already, muttering: "Youth is wasted on the wrong people." This line caught my ear, and might be a thesis for the entire film. Love it.
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<br />The great foil, however, is that George is in the business of money, and as movie audiences are reminded time and time again, money won't make you happy. George is so distracted here that he can't even notice Mary's sweet devotion and affection for him. You just want to slap him, tell him to snap out of it -- but it will take divine intervention for George to learn The Great Moral.
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2OT-3mwmoTG4jO5WRKMRGYzpsFt2PKllzzJNyqIFPJBc9RM0bygBRqD0BUMlMraaVsVwg2-dZ6Ar4j0lMUfGTAte9ZFm27H_c8c0qroy2enpX-4sJg_lyFyvRWnCR4PkNPK_QWnyOQhgn/s1600/It%2527s+a+Wonderful+Life+6+Potter.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 299px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2OT-3mwmoTG4jO5WRKMRGYzpsFt2PKllzzJNyqIFPJBc9RM0bygBRqD0BUMlMraaVsVwg2-dZ6Ar4j0lMUfGTAte9ZFm27H_c8c0qroy2enpX-4sJg_lyFyvRWnCR4PkNPK_QWnyOQhgn/s400/It%2527s+a+Wonderful+Life+6+Potter.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5644433577944758050" border="0" /></a>
<br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Lionel Barrymore plays the soulless slumlord Henry Potter, which is not much of a role really, although Barrymore makes a legend out of Potter with every scowl and sly look he can muster. In a way, he doesn't even exist in the narrative except to continually press on the back of George's mind, the happiness that Potter has probably never felt. He's an archetype, the symbol of greed and wealth in the film, and since George has been "a thorn in his side" for a long time, he'll bring him down by any means necessary. When that opportunity to do so literally falls into his lap, he takes it, driving George to the edge.
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVrqxMCwP5zw3MMLHRmBtOtcqBzSWFysu-hYVfhOuZeA8KrbXcoR3iBfozcVjoVs97W5iR3Y6Z-Qad0CVrhfljGPhHyY_UOZXwaD3CIW-nnOaur_xOCyQt21jLS5MjWgyiyoHrBOKe57t8/s1600/It%2527s+a+Wonderful+Life+7+Clarence.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 299px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVrqxMCwP5zw3MMLHRmBtOtcqBzSWFysu-hYVfhOuZeA8KrbXcoR3iBfozcVjoVs97W5iR3Y6Z-Qad0CVrhfljGPhHyY_UOZXwaD3CIW-nnOaur_xOCyQt21jLS5MjWgyiyoHrBOKe57t8/s400/It%2527s+a+Wonderful+Life+7+Clarence.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5644433567607793554" border="0" /></a>
<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">"How'm I doin', Joseph?"</span>
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<br /><div style="text-align: justify;">This happens on Christmas Eve, after which George arrives home to his appropriately cheery family. He's basically an asshole to every one of them and makes his kids cry. Wait, this is an inspirational film? We've been treated to a sweet love story for about an hour and a half and this is where the fantasy element comes to the front. After George storms out in a huff, Mary tells each of her children to pray hard for Daddy, which amount to the prayers heard by the angels at the film's beginning. Way to save your dad with prayers, kids!
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<br />George's mind is filled with thoughts of suicide, and it's after Potter proclaims that he'd be "worth more dead than alive" because of his insurance policy that George heads for the town bridge to make a jump for it, but his angel Clarence saves him. Clarence is basically a weird hybrid of the three scepters in Charles Dickens' <span style="font-style: italic;">A Christmas Carol</span>, which show that protagonist unaltered versions of his past and present and a gloomy prediction of his future. Clarence, on the other hand, has a nastier trick up his sleeve, and shows George, without warning, a world without him, one in which he'd never been born. Is this not our greatest collective nightmare?
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsOqzcx17_MzJzIHO0KsWESaaB-Qb_gl_kd-0NM9YYbkWOLpSZotZqmwBg61S5tsU6J_bl1ccMEqRuwchiZBz7363QqFn5Yokg3xrtofnR3uH6s4m6LR2UAGUS1VKr7Atas6-67RdY1Pr5/s1600/It%2527s+a+Wonderful+Life+8+Horror.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 299px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsOqzcx17_MzJzIHO0KsWESaaB-Qb_gl_kd-0NM9YYbkWOLpSZotZqmwBg61S5tsU6J_bl1ccMEqRuwchiZBz7363QqFn5Yokg3xrtofnR3uH6s4m6LR2UAGUS1VKr7Atas6-67RdY1Pr5/s400/It%2527s+a+Wonderful+Life+8+Horror.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5644433560213182162" border="0" /></a>
<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">George does not handle it very well.
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<br /></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"></span></span>No one recognizes him. His town doesn't look right. His mother runs a boarding house and has no children. His wife is an old maid, and a librarian for God's sake! This is what it takes to set him right, to show him how good he's had it despite everything that's gone against his plan for his life. Luckily he's able to snap out of it when Clarence leaves, but this sequence is deeply disturbing. In fact, Rich Cohen (for Salon.com) wrote a fascinating piece last Christmas declaring <span style="font-style: italic;">It's a Wonderful Life </span>to be <a href="http://www.salon.com/entertainment/movies/film_salon/2010/12/24/its_wonderful_life_terrifying_movie_ever/index.html">"the most terrifying movie ever."</a> I can't say I wholly disagree with it. Without any special effects (maybe save the fake snow and Clarence's disappearance), Capra illustrates our deepest fear, a world without us, one that goes on without us. It's the ultimate vanity test, and luckily, like Ebenezer Scrooge, George comes back from the brink of insanity and views his life differently.
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvfsL9jmw7ME2wIXz-ptHC_Se3v9aeeqQSfsr3mfsS8TFbLVbxyUBl3Tg8_IhKpTDp40EqKN9J9gX8NsJnQwxblWetmn92-IWcJMfKiOllE8dz5eeohIuZ1-MspCdvy0dXlX8xSR9yV7zd/s1600/It%2527s+a+Wonderful+Life+9+Changed.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 299px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvfsL9jmw7ME2wIXz-ptHC_Se3v9aeeqQSfsr3mfsS8TFbLVbxyUBl3Tg8_IhKpTDp40EqKN9J9gX8NsJnQwxblWetmn92-IWcJMfKiOllE8dz5eeohIuZ1-MspCdvy0dXlX8xSR9yV7zd/s400/It%2527s+a+Wonderful+Life+9+Changed.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5644433548178058450" border="0" /></a>
<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Oh, and the town donates the money he needs. And everyone sings Auld Lang Syne.
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<br /></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-style: italic;"></span>The movie ends with warm holiday fuzzies and carols and cute children slinging all over Stewart, and a toast from his brother: "To my brother George, the richest man in town." He means it literally now -- the $8,000 George needed now lies in front of him -- but we are meant to hear it in the figurative sense. It's no coincidence that Clarence leaves behind for George a copy of the book he'd been reading, <span style="font-style: italic;">The Adventure of Tom Sawyer</span>, in which a boy with nothing makes a life. George has everything now: what can he do? And what can we do?
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<br />It's sweet, it's silly, it's dark, but goddammit if I didn't at least well up at the end. You'd have to have a pretty hard heart not to. It's not the best movie ever made but it's genuine and means well, and it might be hard to find a more universal message than the one <span style="font-style: italic;">It's a Wonderful Life</span> provides.
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<br />A slightly darker film up next: more Marlon, in <span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047296/">On the Waterfront</a>.</span>
<br />Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09461058376299559449noreply@blogger.com1