Spoiler: #1-119. 1. In the Heat of the Night (A) 2. The Passion of Joan of Arc (B) 3. The Passion of the Christ (A) 4. Mamma Mia! (B) 5. All About Eve (A) 6. Looking for Anne (B-) 7. 2001: A Space Odyssey (B+) 8. The King's Speech (A) 9. How Green Was My Valley (B-) 10. Black Swan (B+) 11. Made in Dagenham (B) 12. Gentleman's Agreement (A-) 13. Barney's Version (A-) 14. Out of Africa (B) 15. The Social Network (A-) 16. The Sound of Music (B+) 17. Pulp Fiction (A) 18. Forrest Gump (A) 19. The Shawshank Redemption (A+) 20. The Illusionist (B) 21. The French Connection (B+) 22. Network (A+) 23. Incendies (A+) 24. Mrs. Miniver (A) 25. A Fistful of Dollars (B+) 26. For A Few Dollars More (B) 27. WALL-E (A+) 28. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (A) 29. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (B) 30. Gigi (B-) 31. I Love You Phillip Morris (B+) 32. How To Train Your Dragon (A) 33. Tarzan (B+) 34. Oliver! (B+) 35. Gosford Park (A-) 36. The Princess Bride (B+) 37. All the President's Men (A-) 38. Oliver Twist (B+) 39. My Fair Lady (A+) 40. Hanna (A-) 41. The Godfather (A+) 42. The Godfather: Part II (A+) 43. The Godfather: Part III (A-) 44. Dog Day Afternoon (A) 45. Taxi Driver (A-) 46. Great Expectations (B+) 47. The Last Airbender (D-) 48. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 (A+) 49. Raging Bull (B+) 50. GoodFellas (A-) 51. Spartacus (A+) 52. The Deer Hunter (B+) 53. Reservoir Dogs (A) 54. A Clockwork Orange (A) 55. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (A+) 56. Gone With The Wind (A+) 57. On the Waterfront (A) 58. Thor (B+) 59. The Seventh Seal (A-) 60. Hamlet (A) 61. All the King's Men (A-) 62. Roman Holiday (A+) 63. Rebecca (A-) 64. Notorious (A) 65. American Madness (B+) 66. It Happened One Night (A-) 67. Mr. Deeds Goes To Town (C-) 68. You Can't Take It With You (B+) 69. Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (A-) 70. The Heiress (A+) 71. X-Men: First Class (A-) 72. Super 8 (B+) 73. Dr. No (B-) 74. From Russia With Love (A) 75. Captain Blood (A+) 76. The Best Years of Our Lives (A+) 77. The Adventures of Robin Hood (A+) 78. The Treasure of Sierra Madre (A+) 79. From Here To Eternity (A) 80. To Have and Have Not (B) 81. The Big Sleep (A-) 82. Barry Lyndon (B+) 83. The Snake Pit (B+) 84. Hoosiers (C-) 85. Rocky (A-) 86. Midnight in Paris (B+) 87. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 (B+) 88. Key Largo (B-) 89. Bridge on the River Kwai (A) 90. The Apartment (A-) 91. Captain America: The First Avenger (A-) 92. Ordinary People (A-) 93. Days of Heaven (B+) 94. Yojimbo (A-) 95. Tangled (A) 96. Cowboys and Aliens (B) 97. Crazy, Stupid, Love (A-) 98. Beginners (A-) 99. They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (A+) 100. Bonnie and Clyde (A-) 101. Rise of the Planet of the Apes (A-) 102. Elmer Gantry (B+) 103. Sanjuro (A-) 104. The Help (B+) 105. Dark Passage (B+) 106. Easy A (B) 107. Rob Roy (B+) 108. The Great McGinty (C+) 109. Christmas in July (B-) 110. The Tree of Life (B+) 111. The Lady Eve (A-) 112. Sullivan's Travels (B+) 113. The Palm Beach Story (A+) 114. A Passage to India (A-) 115. Glengarry Glen Ross (A-) 116. Hail the Conquering Hero (B-) 117. The Great Moment (C+) 118. Platoon (A) 119. Atonement (A+) 120. Patton (A) I watched this on VHS back in the 1990s, so this rewatch was the first time I'd seen this movie in widescreen. Certainly it has an impressive scope and still looks good today. The main talking point about this movie is George C. Scott's Oscar-winning lead performance. Scott is magnetic. It's one of the best acting performances ever put on film. He carries the movie. Indeed, the main flaw the movie has (the thing that keeps me from rating it A+) is how unsupported Scott's performance is; this is a great example of how valuable a strong supporting cast is. Despite the movie being nearly three hours long, the only character who's developed at all is Bradley (played with customary excellence by Karl Malden). Patton has no foils of any interest (Montgomery is pretty much a caricature), nor any well-developed relationships other than Bradley. He's constantly surrounded by a bunch of officers, none of whom I could name if asked; one of them dies in Tunisia and despite that it's the better part of an hour in, we really knew nothing about him, so it's hard to care. When he bids goodbye to the Third Army at the end, there's emotion, but it's entirely on Patton's end, because we know nothing about any of his supposedly fiercely loyal staff.
Updates in Bold: The Adjustment Bureau (8) Afro Samurai: Resurrection (7) Arashi no Yoru ni (One Stormy Night) (7) Armored Trooper Votoms: Alone Again (7) Armored Trooper Votoms: Finder (8) Babylon 5: A Call to Arms (8) Babylon 5: River of Souls (7) Babylon 5: Thirdspace (7) Black Swan (9) Bleach Movie 4: Hell Chapter (9) Broken Blade 3: The Mark of the Assassin's Dagger (9) Broken Blade 4: The Land of Disaster (9) Broken Blade 5: Death's Horizon (9) Broken Blade 6: Bastions of Sorrow (9)Cowboys and Aliens (8) Captain America: The First Avenger (8) Cutthroat Island (9) Drive Angry (7) Evangelion 2.22: You Can (Not) Advance (9) Godkiller (6) Green Lantern (8) Hanna (8) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (8) Honey and Clover (6) I Am Number Four (8) Infernal Affairs (7) Kamui (4) The Garden of Sinners Movie 8: Epilogue (9) Loups=Garous (8) The Mechanic (2011) (9) Mobile Suit Gundam 00: Awakeening of the Trailblazer (8) Munto: The Movie (6) Musashi Miyamoto (6) Outlander (8) Pirates of the Caribean: On Stranger Tides (9) Priest (5) Rise of the Planet of the Apes (9) Source Code (9) Super 8 (8) Thor (9) Time of Eve (10) Transformers: Dark of the Moon (9) Unknown (7) Versus (6) X-Men: First Class (8) Your Highness (3)
One Week, starring Joshua Jackson and Liane Balaban. A guy played by Joshua Jackson finds out he has cancer and a less than 10% chance of survivial. He then purchases a motorcycle, leaves Toronto and his fiancee behind, and heads out west with no particular agenda in mind. Along the way, he encounters people and situations. A lot of the entertainment comes from a voiceover narration rather than the actual situations he encounters. We see a lot of Canada's back country and there are appearances from Emm Gryner and Gordon Downie. There's also a twist at the end that I liked. Good movie.
131. Days of Heaven (B+) 132. Restless (C+) 133. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (A) Days of Heaven: The fourth film by Terrence Malick that I've seen, this might be my least favorite, but I still enjoyed the hell out of it. It's almost a silent picture -- much of the dialogue that was scripted and filmed was culled during the long editing process -- but this isn't that off-putting once you get used to it. I agree with Captain Canada about being emotionally distanced from the characters, but the film is so beautiful that it's not much of a problem. Restless: Gus Van Sant's latest film, starring the son of Dennis Hopper (the resemblance is quite obvious) and Mia Wasikowska never quite decides what it wants to be. In set-up (two quirky characters meet going to other people's funerals) it's definitely similar to Harold and Maude, but for the most part it's tone is to plainly sentimental to share much in common with that (superior) movie. It has all the trappings of something darker and less Hollywood, but in execution it's more like Van Sant's mainstream fare. The epitome of the film's waffling is a scene that comes about half-way through. Wasikowska's character has cancer, and Hopper runs in to find that she has died. It's weepy in its sentimentalism, with over-the-top melodramatic music playing over it. It's also, as is soon revealed, a ruse that the characters have set up -- the music is being played on a tape recorder out of frame, and Wasikowska isn't really dead. The problem is that the weepy, melodramatic tone perfectly characterizes the rest of the movie. It's not a bad movie -- it's just one that never quite works. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: One of my favorite films from 2010, it only gets better the more times I see it. A shame it died at the box office, but (director/co-writer) Ed Wright seems to have gotten right back up again. Up to 142 films this year, but I've slowed considerably. CaptainCanada might lap me this time.
Spoiler: #1-119. 1. In the Heat of the Night (A) 2. The Passion of Joan of Arc (B) 3. The Passion of the Christ (A) 4. Mamma Mia! (B) 5. All About Eve (A) 6. Looking for Anne (B-) 7. 2001: A Space Odyssey (B+) 8. The King's Speech (A) 9. How Green Was My Valley (B-) 10. Black Swan (B+) 11. Made in Dagenham (B) 12. Gentleman's Agreement (A-) 13. Barney's Version (A-) 14. Out of Africa (B) 15. The Social Network (A-) 16. The Sound of Music (B+) 17. Pulp Fiction (A) 18. Forrest Gump (A) 19. The Shawshank Redemption (A+) 20. The Illusionist (B) 21. The French Connection (B+) 22. Network (A+) 23. Incendies (A+) 24. Mrs. Miniver (A) 25. A Fistful of Dollars (B+) 26. For A Few Dollars More (B) 27. WALL-E (A+) 28. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (A) 29. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (B) 30. Gigi (B-) 31. I Love You Phillip Morris (B+) 32. How To Train Your Dragon (A) 33. Tarzan (B+) 34. Oliver! (B+) 35. Gosford Park (A-) 36. The Princess Bride (B+) 37. All the President's Men (A-) 38. Oliver Twist (B+) 39. My Fair Lady (A+) 40. Hanna (A-) 41. The Godfather (A+) 42. The Godfather: Part II (A+) 43. The Godfather: Part III (A-) 44. Dog Day Afternoon (A) 45. Taxi Driver (A-) 46. Great Expectations (B+) 47. The Last Airbender (D-) 48. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 (A+) 49. Raging Bull (B+) 50. GoodFellas (A-) 51. Spartacus (A+) 52. The Deer Hunter (B+) 53. Reservoir Dogs (A) 54. A Clockwork Orange (A) 55. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (A+) 56. Gone With The Wind (A+) 57. On the Waterfront (A) 58. Thor (B+) 59. The Seventh Seal (A-) 60. Hamlet (A) 61. All the King's Men (A-) 62. Roman Holiday (A+) 63. Rebecca (A-) 64. Notorious (A) 65. American Madness (B+) 66. It Happened One Night (A-) 67. Mr. Deeds Goes To Town (C-) 68. You Can't Take It With You (B+) 69. Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (A-) 70. The Heiress (A+) 71. X-Men: First Class (A-) 72. Super 8 (B+) 73. Dr. No (B-) 74. From Russia With Love (A) 75. Captain Blood (A+) 76. The Best Years of Our Lives (A+) 77. The Adventures of Robin Hood (A+) 78. The Treasure of Sierra Madre (A+) 79. From Here To Eternity (A) 80. To Have and Have Not (B) 81. The Big Sleep (A-) 82. Barry Lyndon (B+) 83. The Snake Pit (B+) 84. Hoosiers (C-) 85. Rocky (A-) 86. Midnight in Paris (B+) 87. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 (B+) 88. Key Largo (B-) 89. Bridge on the River Kwai (A) 90. The Apartment (A-) 91. Captain America: The First Avenger (A-) 92. Ordinary People (A-) 93. Days of Heaven (B+) 94. Yojimbo (A-) 95. Tangled (A) 96. Cowboys and Aliens (B) 97. Crazy, Stupid, Love (A-) 98. Beginners (A-) 99. They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (A+) 100. Bonnie and Clyde (A-) 101. Rise of the Planet of the Apes (A-) 102. Elmer Gantry (B+) 103. Sanjuro (A-) 104. The Help (B+) 105. Dark Passage (B+) 106. Easy A (B) 107. Rob Roy (B+) 108. The Great McGinty (C+) 109. Christmas in July (B-) 110. The Tree of Life (B+) 111. The Lady Eve (A-) 112. Sullivan's Travels (B+) 113. The Palm Beach Story (A+) 114. A Passage to India (A-) 115. Glengarry Glen Ross (A-) 116. Hail the Conquering Hero (B-) 117. The Great Moment (C+) 118. Platoon (A) 119. Atonement (A+) 120. Patton (A) 121. Pan's Labyrinth (A+) I'm always torn as to whether this or The Departed was the best film of 2006. Incidentally, 2006 was the year of three major films by Spanish-language directors (this, Cuaron's Children of Men, Inarritu's Babel), and I've always been annoyed that only the last one, which was supremely overrated, got a Best Picture nomination. Though Pan's Labyrinth won three Oscars, the second-most of the night (while, ironically, losing Best Foreign Film). Child actors can often be hard to work with, but Ivana Baquero was a genuine find, and the supporting cast is also extremely strong. Sergi Lopez as the ultimate evil stepfather is up there with Christoph Waltz's Landa as one of the best villains of the 2000s. His final comeuppance is truly poetic. Every rewatch makes the skill with which Del Toro weaves in his themes about death and rebirth more evident.
Spoiler: #1-119. 1. In the Heat of the Night (A) 2. The Passion of Joan of Arc (B) 3. The Passion of the Christ (A) 4. Mamma Mia! (B) 5. All About Eve (A) 6. Looking for Anne (B-) 7. 2001: A Space Odyssey (B+) 8. The King's Speech (A) 9. How Green Was My Valley (B-) 10. Black Swan (B+) 11. Made in Dagenham (B) 12. Gentleman's Agreement (A-) 13. Barney's Version (A-) 14. Out of Africa (B) 15. The Social Network (A-) 16. The Sound of Music (B+) 17. Pulp Fiction (A) 18. Forrest Gump (A) 19. The Shawshank Redemption (A+) 20. The Illusionist (B) 21. The French Connection (B+) 22. Network (A+) 23. Incendies (A+) 24. Mrs. Miniver (A) 25. A Fistful of Dollars (B+) 26. For A Few Dollars More (B) 27. WALL-E (A+) 28. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (A) 29. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (B) 30. Gigi (B-) 31. I Love You Phillip Morris (B+) 32. How To Train Your Dragon (A) 33. Tarzan (B+) 34. Oliver! (B+) 35. Gosford Park (A-) 36. The Princess Bride (B+) 37. All the President's Men (A-) 38. Oliver Twist (B+) 39. My Fair Lady (A+) 40. Hanna (A-) 41. The Godfather (A+) 42. The Godfather: Part II (A+) 43. The Godfather: Part III (A-) 44. Dog Day Afternoon (A) 45. Taxi Driver (A-) 46. Great Expectations (B+) 47. The Last Airbender (D-) 48. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 (A+) 49. Raging Bull (B+) 50. GoodFellas (A-) 51. Spartacus (A+) 52. The Deer Hunter (B+) 53. Reservoir Dogs (A) 54. A Clockwork Orange (A) 55. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (A+) 56. Gone With The Wind (A+) 57. On the Waterfront (A) 58. Thor (B+) 59. The Seventh Seal (A-) 60. Hamlet (A) 61. All the King's Men (A-) 62. Roman Holiday (A+) 63. Rebecca (A-) 64. Notorious (A) 65. American Madness (B+) 66. It Happened One Night (A-) 67. Mr. Deeds Goes To Town (C-) 68. You Can't Take It With You (B+) 69. Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (A-) 70. The Heiress (A+) 71. X-Men: First Class (A-) 72. Super 8 (B+) 73. Dr. No (B-) 74. From Russia With Love (A) 75. Captain Blood (A+) 76. The Best Years of Our Lives (A+) 77. The Adventures of Robin Hood (A+) 78. The Treasure of Sierra Madre (A+) 79. From Here To Eternity (A) 80. To Have and Have Not (B) 81. The Big Sleep (A-) 82. Barry Lyndon (B+) 83. The Snake Pit (B+) 84. Hoosiers (C-) 85. Rocky (A-) 86. Midnight in Paris (B+) 87. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 (B+) 88. Key Largo (B-) 89. Bridge on the River Kwai (A) 90. The Apartment (A-) 91. Captain America: The First Avenger (A-) 92. Ordinary People (A-) 93. Days of Heaven (B+) 94. Yojimbo (A-) 95. Tangled (A) 96. Cowboys and Aliens (B) 97. Crazy, Stupid, Love (A-) 98. Beginners (A-) 99. They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (A+) 100. Bonnie and Clyde (A-) 101. Rise of the Planet of the Apes (A-) 102. Elmer Gantry (B+) 103. Sanjuro (A-) 104. The Help (B+) 105. Dark Passage (B+) 106. Easy A (B) 107. Rob Roy (B+) 108. The Great McGinty (C+) 109. Christmas in July (B-) 110. The Tree of Life (B+) 111. The Lady Eve (A-) 112. Sullivan's Travels (B+) 113. The Palm Beach Story (A+) 114. A Passage to India (A-) 115. Glengarry Glen Ross (A-) 116. Hail the Conquering Hero (B-) 117. The Great Moment (C+) 118. Platoon (A) 119. Atonement (A+) 120. Patton (A) 121. Pan's Labyrinth (A+) 122. The Debt (B+) The third 2011 movie I've seen in a row to feature Jessica Chastain (and there's still four more to go before the year is out). Whereas she was supporting in the first two (and, I believe, in all the others due out later), she's the main character here (co-shared with Helen Mirren). Set in both 1966 and 1997, I would say the split is about 70/30 in the former's favour, and a common thread in the reviews of this film is that it would have been better if it had been all about the 1966 piece. I don't think that's true, personally; the 1997 sequences I think add value. Sam Worthington, who I've seen in a few fairly bland action roles, does very well in a more serious dramatic part (which I'm told he used to do a lot more of in Australia); I also thought that Jesper Christensen as the villain stood out. But the main reason to see it is Chastain, who's excellent.
Spoiler: New Movies Seen in 2011 Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightening Thief - HBO Tron Legacy 3D - theater Clash of the Titans (2010) - HBO on Demand Take Me Home Tonight - free screenin' Sanctum - free screenin' The Green Hornet - free screenin' Green Zone - HBO Fantastic Mr. Fox - HBO True Grit (1969) - AMC Ringu - DVD Black Swan - Alamo Drafthouse (its not just a movie theater) Unknown - free screenin' The Losers - HBO The Sunset Limited - HBO on Demand Starsky & Hutch (2004) - Cinemax Kick-Ass - DVD The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - DVD The Adjustment Bureau - free screenin' Rango - theater Red (2010) - DVD rental Hot Tub Time Machine - DVD rental Harry Brown - DVD Faster - DVD rental Jonah Hex - DVD rental Battle: L.A. - theater The Girl who Played with Fire - DVD The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest - DVD rental Leaves of Grass - DVD Whiteout - Cinemax on Demand Sucker Punch - free screenin' Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps - DVD Paul - theater Source Code - theater Rio - free screenin' The Fighter - DVD rental Invictus - Cinemax Scream 4 - theater Fast Five - midnight screenin' THOR - free screenin' Priest - theater Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - midnight screenin' X-Men: First Class - theater Ramona and Beezus - HBO Shrek Forever After - HBO Super 8 - theater Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron - HBO Devil - Cinemax on Demand Green Lantern - theater Killers - Netflix Instant Push - DVD rental Ron White: Behavioral Problems - DVD rental All*Star Superman - DVD rental Captain America: The First Avenger - midnight screenin' Dylan Dog: Dead of Night - DVD rental Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part One - DVD The King's Speech - DVD rental Get Low - DVD rental Dan in Real Life - DVD Thor: Tales of Asgard - DVD rental Green Lantern: Emerald Knights - DVD rental Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths - DVD Planet Hulk - DVD rental Alien vs Predator: Requium - Unrated - DVD rental Fright Night (1985) - DVD John Carpenter's The Thing (1982) - DVD 50/50 - free screenin' Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules - DVD Repo Men- Unrated - DVD I wanted to watch something new last night, and the unrated version of Repo Men was the best I could come up with. I saw the theatrical cut at a free advance screenin', and I'm pretty sure this was my DVD, but since my sister paid for it, she kept it. Ah, well... The addidtions don't change a whole lot - there's some more violence, a couple of added scenes, John Leguizamo & very brief boobs nudity. It isn't any better or worse than the theatrical version. Still, worth watchin'...
Spoiler: Rest of list 1. Alien 3 (assembly cut) - B 2. Let the Right One In - A 3. Inception - B. 4. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World - B+ 5. Lilo and Stitch - A 6. Despicable Me - B 7. Forbidden Planet - B+ 8. Clerks - B 9. Metropia - C+ 10. Brand Upon the Brain - B 11. Beltesassar Animation Festival 17 - A 12. Buried - B+ 13. How to Train Your Dragon - A 14. Monsters - C+. 15. The Tune (Bill Plympton) - C 16. House (1977) - B 17. Institute Benjamenta - B- 18. The Triplets of Belleville (rewatch) - A 19. Lunacy (Jan Svankmajer, 2005) - B 20. Paradise Lost (1999) - C- 21. Daybreakers - C 22. The Wizard of Oz (rewatch) - A 23. Winnebago Man - A 24. The Social Network - B+ 25. Book of the Dead (2005) - C 26. Megamind - B 27. North By Northwest (1959) - A 28. The Plague Dogs (1982) - B+ 29. Burn After Reading - B 31. The Incredibles (rewatch) - A 32. Fire and Ice (1983) - D 33. Bad Santa - B 34. Twelve Monkeys (rewatch) - A 35. Sweeney Todd - B+ 36. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt 1 - B 37. Alien IV (Blu-ray) - D 38. American Movie (1999) - B 39. Naked (1993) - B 40. My Neighbor Totoro - B+ 41. Pulp Fiction (Rewatch) - A+ 42. Fight Club (Rewatch) - B+ 43. Akira Kurosawa's Dreams - B 44. Falling Down (Rewatch) - B 45. Crazy Heart - C+ 46. Confessions of a Superhero - B 47. The King's Speech - B+ 48. Pinnochio (Disney, rewatch) - B 49. Network - A 50. Paprika - B+ 51. All The President's Men (1976) - A 52. The Illusionist (2010) - B 53. Rashomon (1950) - B 54. Wall-E (rewatch) - A 55. Tron Legacy - C+ 56. American Psycho - B 57. Rango - A- 58. Rear Window - A 59. Stranger Than Paradise (1984) - B 60. Get Low - B 61. Boken Flowers - A- 62. The Amazing Screw-On Head - A 63. Inland Empire (David Lynch) - B. A pretty good and generally trippy David Lynch film. For a three hour movie it does a pretty good job of not feeling overlong, but it didn't seem to have the resonance of his best films.
Spoiler: Rest of my list 1. The Fighter: B- 2. Batman(90's saga): A-,B-,C-,D 3. Star Wars OT-Special Edition: B+, A, B 4. The Green Hornet: B 5. True Grit(1969): C+ 6. Lord of the Rings saga: (A,A,A) 7. The Machinist: A- 8. Season of the Witch: B 9. Frozen: A- 10. Due Date: B+ 11. Planet of the Apes(2001): B- 12. Faster: C 13. Romance: D (French film, subtitled) 14. YPF: C- (YPF=Young People F*&^ing) 15. The Beautiful Truth: B- 16. Strictly Sexual: C+ 17. DOOM: C 18. Brothers: B+ 19. Men In Black II: B- 20. The Crow: Wicked Prayer: C- 21. The Soloist: C 22. Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love: C+ 23. I Now Pronounce you Chuck & Larry: B- 24. Battle in Heaven: C+ (Mexican film, subtitled) 25. Legion: B- 26. Battle: LA: B+ 27. Righteous Kill: B 28. Dracula II: Ascension: B- 29. Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li: D 30. You Don't Mess With the Zohan: C+ 31. Finding Bliss: C 32. Dracula III: Legacy: B- 33. Tangled: B+ 34. Paul Blart Mall Cop: C- 35. Chloe: B 36. Kung Fu Panda: B- 37. Centurion: B 38. The People I've Slept With: C 39. Grown Ups: B- 40. The Conspirator: A- 41. XXX: State of the Union: C+ 42. Fast Five: B+ 43. THOR: A- 44. Priest: D+ 45. The Fourth Kind: B+ 46. POTC: On Stranger Tides: B- 47. Turtles Forever: A- 48. Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story: B+ 49. Easy A: A 50. Inception: B 51. #1 Cheerleader Camp: D 52. Freakanomics: C+ 53. Green Lantern: C 54. The American: C- 55. Super 8: A 56. Green Lantern: First Flight: B 57. Transformers: Dark of the Moon: B- 58. 9 Songs: F 59. Kings Speech: A- 60. Whiteout: C+ 61. Passion Play: D+ 62. Captain America: The First Avenger: A- 63. Marley & Me: A 64. Date Night: C+ 65. Frantic: B+ 66. Presumed Innocent: A 67. Invictus: A 68. Rocky: A 69. Hurt Locker: A+ 70. Rocky II: C+ 71. Rocky III: B+ 72. Rocky IV: A 73. Cowboys & Aliens: B 74. Wonder Woman (DC Animated): B+ 75. Rocky V: B- 76. Conan The Barbarian('11): B- 77. Dinner for Schmucks: D 78. Nothing But the Truth: B 79. Snow Angels: B+ 80. Everybody's Fine: C- Continuing my Kate Beckinsale mini-marathon of catching up on her films that didn't see a wide release is Everybody's Fine. This movie also has Sam Rockwell in it as did the last film, Snow Angels where he played Kate's ex-husband. Here he's playing her brother along with Drew Barrymore as a sister with Robert DeNiro playing the recently widowed father. The adult kids were supposed to come home and visit their father but all of them cancelled on him last minute. We find out through the course of the movie that Frank(DeNiro) was hard on all his kids to be the best. He was just a utility pole lineman and wanted his kids to be better and do better than him. With exception most ended up living modestly in modest professions or not near the top. With their mother dead they fear their father finding out the truth of their lives. Plus one other depressing shocker they wish to keep from him. I feel the film is meant to have a sense of drama and human connection but it falls flat. It's saved the "C range" grade cause the ending does pick up a tad to qualify as a "happy" given how the film went. Two more Kate films to go in my marathon.
I saw cloumbiana with my girlfriend and her friends and let me tell you that movie sucked. Story is shotty and the "action" scenes made me laugh more than anything just by the shear improbability of the situations and the outcome. All in all it's an ok movie if you like loud noises but other than that I wouldn't recommend it.
Spoiler: #1-119. 1. In the Heat of the Night (A) 2. The Passion of Joan of Arc (B) 3. The Passion of the Christ (A) 4. Mamma Mia! (B) 5. All About Eve (A) 6. Looking for Anne (B-) 7. 2001: A Space Odyssey (B+) 8. The King's Speech (A) 9. How Green Was My Valley (B-) 10. Black Swan (B+) 11. Made in Dagenham (B) 12. Gentleman's Agreement (A-) 13. Barney's Version (A-) 14. Out of Africa (B) 15. The Social Network (A-) 16. The Sound of Music (B+) 17. Pulp Fiction (A) 18. Forrest Gump (A) 19. The Shawshank Redemption (A+) 20. The Illusionist (B) 21. The French Connection (B+) 22. Network (A+) 23. Incendies (A+) 24. Mrs. Miniver (A) 25. A Fistful of Dollars (B+) 26. For A Few Dollars More (B) 27. WALL-E (A+) 28. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (A) 29. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (B) 30. Gigi (B-) 31. I Love You Phillip Morris (B+) 32. How To Train Your Dragon (A) 33. Tarzan (B+) 34. Oliver! (B+) 35. Gosford Park (A-) 36. The Princess Bride (B+) 37. All the President's Men (A-) 38. Oliver Twist (B+) 39. My Fair Lady (A+) 40. Hanna (A-) 41. The Godfather (A+) 42. The Godfather: Part II (A+) 43. The Godfather: Part III (A-) 44. Dog Day Afternoon (A) 45. Taxi Driver (A-) 46. Great Expectations (B+) 47. The Last Airbender (D-) 48. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 (A+) 49. Raging Bull (B+) 50. GoodFellas (A-) 51. Spartacus (A+) 52. The Deer Hunter (B+) 53. Reservoir Dogs (A) 54. A Clockwork Orange (A) 55. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (A+) 56. Gone With The Wind (A+) 57. On the Waterfront (A) 58. Thor (B+) 59. The Seventh Seal (A-) 60. Hamlet (A) 61. All the King's Men (A-) 62. Roman Holiday (A+) 63. Rebecca (A-) 64. Notorious (A) 65. American Madness (B+) 66. It Happened One Night (A-) 67. Mr. Deeds Goes To Town (C-) 68. You Can't Take It With You (B+) 69. Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (A-) 70. The Heiress (A+) 71. X-Men: First Class (A-) 72. Super 8 (B+) 73. Dr. No (B-) 74. From Russia With Love (A) 75. Captain Blood (A+) 76. The Best Years of Our Lives (A+) 77. The Adventures of Robin Hood (A+) 78. The Treasure of Sierra Madre (A+) 79. From Here To Eternity (A) 80. To Have and Have Not (B) 81. The Big Sleep (A-) 82. Barry Lyndon (B+) 83. The Snake Pit (B+) 84. Hoosiers (C-) 85. Rocky (A-) 86. Midnight in Paris (B+) 87. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 (B+) 88. Key Largo (B-) 89. Bridge on the River Kwai (A) 90. The Apartment (A-) 91. Captain America: The First Avenger (A-) 92. Ordinary People (A-) 93. Days of Heaven (B+) 94. Yojimbo (A-) 95. Tangled (A) 96. Cowboys and Aliens (B) 97. Crazy, Stupid, Love (A-) 98. Beginners (A-) 99. They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (A+) 100. Bonnie and Clyde (A-) 101. Rise of the Planet of the Apes (A-) 102. Elmer Gantry (B+) 103. Sanjuro (A-) 104. The Help (B+) 105. Dark Passage (B+) 106. Easy A (B) 107. Rob Roy (B+) 108. The Great McGinty (C+) 109. Christmas in July (B-) 110. The Tree of Life (B+) 111. The Lady Eve (A-) 112. Sullivan's Travels (B+) 113. The Palm Beach Story (A+) 114. A Passage to India (A-) 115. Glengarry Glen Ross (A-) 116. Hail the Conquering Hero (B-) 117. The Great Moment (C+) 118. Platoon (A) 119. Atonement (A+) 120. Patton (A) 121. Pan's Labyrinth (A+) 122. The Debt (B+) 123. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (A-) Another Kubrick film, and one of the better ones. A lot of people say they found this funnier than I did, but I attribute a lot of that to the fact that so many of the most famous lines are so familiar before you even watch it. Kubrick's detached directorial style is a lot more suited to this sort of black comedy where it doesn't feel like you should empathise with anyone anyway. The visual effects, I have to say, are terrible. 124. The Pawnbroker (A-) Another of Sidney Lumet's early films, and one of the early Holocaust movies (Holocaust aftermath, in this case); also sees Lumet pioneering the gritty inner-city setting that he would use in so many of his later films. And it torpedoed the Hays Code. This is basically a performance movie, all about watching Rod Steiger's amazing work as the title character. It's a terrific piece of work. The surroundings/plot are a bit less impressive, but it's still a very well-done, grim little piece of storytelling. Also, I imagine the budget on this was fairly tight, but the little glimpses we get of Auschwitz are rather unconvincing compared to later Holocaust movies. An atypically cast Brock Peters was fun as one of the villains.
Spoiler: Rest of my list 1. The Fighter: B- 2. Batman(90's saga): A-,B-,C-,D 3. Star Wars OT-Special Edition: B+, A, B 4. The Green Hornet: B 5. True Grit(1969): C+ 6. Lord of the Rings saga: (A,A,A) 7. The Machinist: A- 8. Season of the Witch: B 9. Frozen: A- 10. Due Date: B+ 11. Planet of the Apes(2001): B- 12. Faster: C 13. Romance: D (French film, subtitled) 14. YPF: C- (YPF=Young People F*&^ing) 15. The Beautiful Truth: B- 16. Strictly Sexual: C+ 17. DOOM: C 18. Brothers: B+ 19. Men In Black II: B- 20. The Crow: Wicked Prayer: C- 21. The Soloist: C 22. Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love: C+ 23. I Now Pronounce you Chuck & Larry: B- 24. Battle in Heaven: C+ (Mexican film, subtitled) 25. Legion: B- 26. Battle: LA: B+ 27. Righteous Kill: B 28. Dracula II: Ascension: B- 29. Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li: D 30. You Don't Mess With the Zohan: C+ 31. Finding Bliss: C 32. Dracula III: Legacy: B- 33. Tangled: B+ 34. Paul Blart Mall Cop: C- 35. Chloe: B 36. Kung Fu Panda: B- 37. Centurion: B 38. The People I've Slept With: C 39. Grown Ups: B- 40. The Conspirator: A- 41. XXX: State of the Union: C+ 42. Fast Five: B+ 43. THOR: A- 44. Priest: D+ 45. The Fourth Kind: B+ 46. POTC: On Stranger Tides: B- 47. Turtles Forever: A- 48. Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story: B+ 49. Easy A: A 50. Inception: B 51. #1 Cheerleader Camp: D 52. Freakanomics: C+ 53. Green Lantern: C 54. The American: C- 55. Super 8: A 56. Green Lantern: First Flight: B 57. Transformers: Dark of the Moon: B- 58. 9 Songs: F 59. Kings Speech: A- 60. Whiteout: C+ 61. Passion Play: D+ 62. Captain America: The First Avenger: A- 63. Marley & Me: A 64. Date Night: C+ 65. Frantic: B+ 66. Presumed Innocent: A 67. Invictus: A 68. Rocky: A 69. Hurt Locker: A+ 70. Rocky II: C+ 71. Rocky III: B+ 72. Rocky IV: A 73. Cowboys & Aliens: B 74. Wonder Woman (DC Animated): B+ 75. Rocky V: B- 76. Conan The Barbarian('11): B- 77. Dinner for Schmucks: D 78. Nothing But the Truth: B 79. Snow Angels: B+ 80. Everybody's Fine: C- 81. Rise of the Planet of the Apes: A+ It's rare I give the A+ but in reflection I can't think of anything about the film that didn't work. I finally got around to seeing this yesterday over the Labor Day weekend. I originally had low expectations. Then when "real" people around me began raving about it in addition to the critics which I always take with a grain of salt my expectations went up. It still met them. The movie spends a good part of Acts I & II building the drama and development of Caesar and the other Apes/Chimps he comes into contact with. The emotional impact of the film is what was as surprising as anything. Kudos to Andy Serkis and the Weta team for pulling this off. Stay for the credits, a sequence starts about 30 sec into the credits and I almost missed them not thinking this film would have a mid/post credit sequence. Great film!!! One more summer film on my list (Fright Night) then I'm done till Paranormal Activity 3 in October.
1. Alice in Wonderland (2010) - C- 2. Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010) - A 3. Black Swan (2010) - A+ 4. The Social Network (2010) - A 5. Cannibal! The Musical (1996) - B 6. Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire (2009) - B 7. Winter's Bone (2010) - C+ 8. The Kids are All Right (2010) - A 9. The Lovely Bones (2009) - D 10. 127 Hours (2010) - A 11. Source Code (2011) - B 12. Kick-Ass (2010) - B 13. Thor (2011) - B+ 14. X-Men: First Class (2011) - B 15. Easy A (2010) - B 16. Bridesmaids (2011) - A+ 17. Super 8 (2011) - B+ 18. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 (2010) - B- 19. Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) - B+ 20. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 (2011) - B 21. Robin Hood (2010) - B- 22. Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) - B A decent movie, and much better than the Mark Wahlberg film from the early oughts. Heck, I'd say it was a worthy prequel, even though it took a little time to actually get to the Apes rising. Really felt though the Apes were the best parts of the movie, so what that says about the human characters I don't know, other than Pinto looking really nice, again, here.
134. Escape from the Planet of the Apes (B) 135. Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (B+) Escape from the Planet of the Apes: This sequel goes through a lot of hoops just to exist (the whole world having been destroyed by a massive nuclear explosion in the last film), but once you get over that it's actually a pretty good little sequel. It's nice having Roddy McDowall back as Cornelius, and the rest of the cast does nicely. And the ending! How the Apes films managed to continue getting away with such downbeat endings (here, the two ape protagonists are murdered, although their child manages to get away) I'll never understand. Conquest of the Planet of the Apes: I used to rate the third Apes movie as the best sequel in the series -- but having seen this one again, in its director's cut form, I'm obliged to choose the fourth film instead. Brutal, dark, and wrapping up with an ending that more or less endorses violence as a means of social change this is nearly a great movie. Like all the ape sequels, it's just a little too cheap to be that, but it's still pretty good, and quite obvious why the producers of the latest Apes movie modeled their film after this one. 145 movies this year.
Spoiler: New Movies Seen in 2011 Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightening Thief - HBO Tron Legacy 3D - theater Clash of the Titans (2010) - HBO on Demand Take Me Home Tonight - free screenin' Sanctum - free screenin' The Green Hornet - free screenin' Green Zone - HBO Fantastic Mr. Fox - HBO True Grit (1969) - AMC Ringu - DVD Black Swan - Alamo Drafthouse (its not just a movie theater) Unknown - free screenin' The Losers - HBO The Sunset Limited - HBO on Demand Starsky & Hutch (2004) - Cinemax Kick-Ass - DVD The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - DVD The Adjustment Bureau - free screenin' Rango - theater Red (2010) - DVD rental Hot Tub Time Machine - DVD rental Harry Brown - DVD Faster - DVD rental Jonah Hex - DVD rental Battle: L.A. - theater The Girl who Played with Fire - DVD The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest - DVD rental Leaves of Grass - DVD Whiteout - Cinemax on Demand Sucker Punch - free screenin' Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps - DVD Paul - theater Source Code - theater Rio - free screenin' The Fighter - DVD rental Invictus - Cinemax Scream 4 - theater Fast Five - midnight screenin' THOR - free screenin' Priest - theater Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - midnight screenin' X-Men: First Class - theater Ramona and Beezus - HBO Shrek Forever After - HBO Super 8 - theater Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron - HBO Devil - Cinemax on Demand Green Lantern - theater Killers - Netflix Instant Push - DVD rental Ron White: Behavioral Problems - DVD rental All*Star Superman - DVD rental Captain America: The First Avenger - midnight screenin' Dylan Dog: Dead of Night - DVD rental Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part One - DVD The King's Speech - DVD rental Get Low - DVD rental Dan in Real Life - DVD Thor: Tales of Asgard - DVD rental Green Lantern: Emerald Knights - DVD rental Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths - DVD Planet Hulk - DVD rental Alien vs Predator: Requium - Unrated - DVD rental Fright Night (1985) - DVD John Carpenter's The Thing (1982) - DVD 50/50 - free screenin' Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules - DVD Repo Men- Unrated - DVD Earth Girls Are Easy - DVD Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey - DVD Tangled - DVD Stayed with a friend in Temple the last few days, got to see a few movies I hadn't seen before, only one of which I really wanted to... EGAE is really only good for the folks they got in the movie - Geena Davis, Damon Wayans, Jim Carrey, Jeff Goldblum & Michael McKean. The story is beyond retarded, the actin' from the main cast, before they were really stars, shows how inexperienced they were, but ya can see Jim Carrey make faces before he was famous for it, so there's that. B&TBJ[/b] is also a dumb movie, but its the sequel for a dumb movie, so there wasn't much for them to work with...a couple of the jokes made me laugh, but sometimes I'm twelve. Tangled was one I actually liked. Took three tries to see it, though...saw the beginnin', got interrupted, saw the end, and then, finally, the middle. I may rent the DVD just to watch it again without interruption. Yeah, it was that good.
136. The Gunfight at the OK Corral (B+) The problem with this movie is that Kirk Douglas is immensely watchable as Doc Holiday, but Burt Lancaster as Wyatt Earp (technically, the lead) is about as interesting as a piece of paper. It sparks with energy when Douglas is on screen, and goes limp when he's off it. Okay, it also is pretty energetic when the theme song, sung by Frankie Laine, comes in and out. I'm being a little hard on the movie here, though. It's a mostly enjoyable (and historically inaccurate as hell) Western with a good cast, including DeForest Kelley in a small role as one of the Earp brothers.
James M. Cain triple-feature over the last few days, since I read his novels recently. Spoiler: #1-119. 1. In the Heat of the Night (A) 2. The Passion of Joan of Arc (B) 3. The Passion of the Christ (A) 4. Mamma Mia! (B) 5. All About Eve (A) 6. Looking for Anne (B-) 7. 2001: A Space Odyssey (B+) 8. The King's Speech (A) 9. How Green Was My Valley (B-) 10. Black Swan (B+) 11. Made in Dagenham (B) 12. Gentleman's Agreement (A-) 13. Barney's Version (A-) 14. Out of Africa (B) 15. The Social Network (A-) 16. The Sound of Music (B+) 17. Pulp Fiction (A) 18. Forrest Gump (A) 19. The Shawshank Redemption (A+) 20. The Illusionist (B) 21. The French Connection (B+) 22. Network (A+) 23. Incendies (A+) 24. Mrs. Miniver (A) 25. A Fistful of Dollars (B+) 26. For A Few Dollars More (B) 27. WALL-E (A+) 28. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (A) 29. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (B) 30. Gigi (B-) 31. I Love You Phillip Morris (B+) 32. How To Train Your Dragon (A) 33. Tarzan (B+) 34. Oliver! (B+) 35. Gosford Park (A-) 36. The Princess Bride (B+) 37. All the President's Men (A-) 38. Oliver Twist (B+) 39. My Fair Lady (A+) 40. Hanna (A-) 41. The Godfather (A+) 42. The Godfather: Part II (A+) 43. The Godfather: Part III (A-) 44. Dog Day Afternoon (A) 45. Taxi Driver (A-) 46. Great Expectations (B+) 47. The Last Airbender (D-) 48. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 (A+) 49. Raging Bull (B+) 50. GoodFellas (A-) 51. Spartacus (A+) 52. The Deer Hunter (B+) 53. Reservoir Dogs (A) 54. A Clockwork Orange (A) 55. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (A+) 56. Gone With The Wind (A+) 57. On the Waterfront (A) 58. Thor (B+) 59. The Seventh Seal (A-) 60. Hamlet (A) 61. All the King's Men (A-) 62. Roman Holiday (A+) 63. Rebecca (A-) 64. Notorious (A) 65. American Madness (B+) 66. It Happened One Night (A-) 67. Mr. Deeds Goes To Town (C-) 68. You Can't Take It With You (B+) 69. Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (A-) 70. The Heiress (A+) 71. X-Men: First Class (A-) 72. Super 8 (B+) 73. Dr. No (B-) 74. From Russia With Love (A) 75. Captain Blood (A+) 76. The Best Years of Our Lives (A+) 77. The Adventures of Robin Hood (A+) 78. The Treasure of Sierra Madre (A+) 79. From Here To Eternity (A) 80. To Have and Have Not (B) 81. The Big Sleep (A-) 82. Barry Lyndon (B+) 83. The Snake Pit (B+) 84. Hoosiers (C-) 85. Rocky (A-) 86. Midnight in Paris (B+) 87. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 (B+) 88. Key Largo (B-) 89. Bridge on the River Kwai (A) 90. The Apartment (A-) 91. Captain America: The First Avenger (A-) 92. Ordinary People (A-) 93. Days of Heaven (B+) 94. Yojimbo (A-) 95. Tangled (A) 96. Cowboys and Aliens (B) 97. Crazy, Stupid, Love (A-) 98. Beginners (A-) 99. They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (A+) 100. Bonnie and Clyde (A-) 101. Rise of the Planet of the Apes (A-) 102. Elmer Gantry (B+) 103. Sanjuro (A-) 104. The Help (B+) 105. Dark Passage (B+) 106. Easy A (B) 107. Rob Roy (B+) 108. The Great McGinty (C+) 109. Christmas in July (B-) 110. The Tree of Life (B+) 111. The Lady Eve (A-) 112. Sullivan's Travels (B+) 113. The Palm Beach Story (A+) 114. A Passage to India (A-) 115. Glengarry Glen Ross (A-) 116. Hail the Conquering Hero (B-) 117. The Great Moment (C+) 118. Platoon (A) 119. Atonement (A+) 120. Patton (A) 121. Pan's Labyrinth (A+) 122. The Debt (B+) 123. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (A-) 124. The Pawnbroker (A-) 125. Double Indemnity (A) Billy Wilder's third and breakout film in Hollywood. The first of Cain's novels to make it to the screen, based on the second of the three. It's fairly faithful, though the ending was changed a bit. Unlike most Hays Code-mandated endings, it doesn't deal out justice that would otherwise have been escaped. Instead, it just makes it more immediate. I guess the two criminals despairing and committing suicide wasn't conclusive enough; instead we get a murder and an arrest (with implied execution). Wildera also bulks up the role of Barton Keyes, to good effect (and featuring a strong performance from Edward G. Robinson, though Chief Wiggum is such a dead-on parody of his mannerisms that I have a bit of difficulty taking him seriously at times), and jettisons some of the more complicated bits of Cain's resolution (particularly, everything to do with Zachetti's backstory). Fred MacMurray is an interesting choice for the lead role. He talks about money and the woman as a lure, but as played by MacMurray he's a bit of a cold fish and doesn't seem to have that much of a sex drive - it seems like the third thing that he mentions, the intellectual attraction of seeing whether he can fool the insurance system, is the main attraction. Barbara Stanwyck is also very good. The changes to the ending also lead to an interestingly brutal dispatching of her character, though I wasn't sure whether her final hesitation was built up that well. Nonetheless, a very strong noir and definitely the best of the three. 126. Mildred Pierce (B+) The ever-versatile Michael Curtiz at bat here, trying his hand at noir (he did just about everything in the course of his career, leaving little in the way of an auteur's signature other than being very good at making movies). The Hays Code-mandated changes to the story become more prominent in the later Cain adaptations; they're most evident here, because, alone of the three novels, here Cain has the bad guys get away with it, which obviously couldn't stand. But that's really just the beginning of it. Cain's original novel wasn't actually a noir, it was a family melodrama (which I guess isn't that far from many noirs), but it's been converted here into revolving around a climactic murder that didn't happen in the novel. It's a different story, albeit one that plays with many of the same themes (the recent Kate Winslet miniseries was, I understand, much more faithful). The bitterness of the ending is blunted considerably (not just in justice being served, but Mildred and Bert's reunion is weary but at least financially stable, compared to in the novel, where they're poor alcoholics living together in misery). For what it is, though, it's a well-done movie, with a strong lead performance by Joan Crawford and a very good Ann Blyth as the rotten Veda. I understand that some people have interpreted this movie as a big "stay in the kitchen" lesson, but I don't see that at all, personally (it certainly isn't in the novel, and while the movie's been changed in many ways, I don't think it supports that conclusion). 127. The Postman Always Rings Twice (C-) The last (1946) and least of the 40s Cain adaptations, based on the first of the three novels. The director's chair has gone from being occupied by one of Hollywood's all-time greats to one of its most adept studio directors to, on this film, Tay Garnett, whose resume stretched from the 1920s to the 1970s, but is remarkably unremarkable. This is his most famous film. As previously stated, I think the Hays Code hit Cain's works much harder than the novels of his contemporaries, Hammett and Chandler - Cain's protagonists were generally criminals rather than private eyes, and his depictions of sex were a lot more explicit and central to his characters. The previous two films managed, on the whole, to work the bowdlerization in acceptably. Here the ending is just all wrong, but it's all wrong in an especially fascinating way. One of the most famous provisions of the Hays Code was that people had to be punished for their crimes: that wasn't a problem with this story, because both Frank and Cora die by the time it's over; in Frank's case, after getting away with murdering Cora's husband, he's found guilty of murdering Cora, which he actually didn't do. It's a wonderful bit of irony. But here there's an incredibly convoluted add-on that seems intended to assure the audience that Frank is actually being executed for the crime he committed, not the one he didn't commit, I guess to preserve faith in justice system. And it's made into this bizarrely redemptive moment for Frank, with swelling music and the prospect of being together with Cora wherever they go. Misses the mark by a mile (and, despite the Code, ends up being considerably more sympathetic to our criminal protagonists than was Cain). Before the ending, it was competent but unexceptional (Garnett's not nearly the stylist that Wilder and Curtiz were, so the shooting of the movie is pretty generic). Lana Turner is very good as Cora, I will say. Oh, and the movie also attempts to explain what the title means - it's aiming for profundity, but doesn't really work.
137. Oranges and Sunshine (B-) I'm not quite sure why the release date of this film has been pushed back by over two years (I caught it at a preview screening; it still hasn't been released in the United States). It's not a perfect movie, but it's a serviceable drama with some good performances. Of course, it's not without its problems. Emily Watson's character doesn't encounter any significant obstacles until more than half way through the movie, and then the obstacles she does ultimately face don't really amount to much. This might be true to life (the film is based on a true story), but it doesn't make for the most exciting of drama. The biggest problem with the movie, though, is the characters. There are just too many of them for any one to be fully fleshed out. Watson, along with co-stars Hugo Weaving and David Wenham are all good, but the film never develops any of them into fully-fledged characters. It doesn't help that a significant portion of the film's screen time is devoted to vignettes of other characters who we get to learn even less about. Finally, the film's final voice over (a real life speech delivered by Gordon Brown) feels tacked on (and according to the press notes, it was). Ultimately, it's a decent movie (and with a woman as the central character!), but it's not quite fully realized.
Updates in Bold: Adieu Galaxy Express 999 (8) The Adjustment Bureau (8) Afro Samurai: Resurrection (7) Arashi no Yoru ni (One Stormy Night) (7) Armored Trooper Votoms: Alone Again (7) Armored Trooper Votoms: Finder (8) Babylon 5: A Call to Arms (8) Babylon 5: River of Souls (7) Babylon 5: Thirdspace (7) Black Swan (9) Bleach Movie 4: Hell Chapter (9) Broken Blade 3: The Mark of the Assassin's Dagger (9) Broken Blade 4: The Land of Disaster (9) Broken Blade 5: Death's Horizon (9) Broken Blade 6: Bastions of Sorrow (9)Cowboys and Aliens (8) Captain America: The First Avenger (8) Cutthroat Island (9) Drive Angry (7) Evangelion 2.22: You Can (Not) Advance (9) Godkiller (6) Green Lantern (8) Hanna (8) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (8) Honey and Clover (6) I Am Number Four (8) Infernal Affairs (7) Kamui (4) Galaxy Express 999 (9) The Garden of Sinners Movie 8: Epilogue (9) Loups=Garous (8) The Mechanic (2011) (9) Mobile Suit Gundam 00: Awakeening of the Trailblazer (8) Munto: The Movie (6) Musashi Miyamoto (6) Outlander (8) Pirates of the Caribean: On Stranger Tides (9) Priest (5) Rise of the Planet of the Apes (9) Source Code (9) Super 8 (8) Thor (9) Time of Eve (10) Transformers: Dark of the Moon (9) Unknown (7) Versus (6) X-Men: First Class (8) Your Highness (3)