54. Bringing Up Baby (B) This deeply disquieting screwball comedy is often considered a classic of the genre. Directed by Howard Hawks and starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant, I wanted to like this going in, but I had serious issues with the Hepburn character which really impeded by enjoyment of the film (and, unlike the earlier Woman of the Year, it's not a matter of outdated gender roles or anything). The story is about Dr. David Huxley (Grant, who's usually suave, but here plays a nerd), a museum worker trying to convince a rich woman to donate a million dollars to the museum; in the process of golfing with her lawyer, he runs across Susan (Hepburn). Susan proceeds to, basically, destroy his life through a mixture of near-sociopathic insensitivity and her fixation on getting him for herself despite knowing that he's engaged to be married (even contriving reasons to keep him occupied on his wedding day). All this is supposed to be riotously funny (and there are many very amusing and clever parts), but this woman is just disturbing. Someone check her into a mental hospital right now.
64. Notes on a Scandal [A-] 65. Shutter Island [B-] 66. Gosford Park [A] 67. The Third Man [A] 68. Fantastic Planet [A] 69. Pandorum [C] 70. Trancers [D-] 71. D-Tox [F] 72. Whatever it Takes (2010) [B-] 73. Mystic River [A-] 74. 2012 [D] 75. The Fog of War [A] 76. The Octagon [F] 77. Leprechaun In The Hood [C-] 78. Ninja Assassin [D] 79. Modern Times [A] 80. Full Frontal [B-] 81. Dazed and Confused [B ] 82. Sherlock Holmes [B-] 83. From Russia with Love [B+] 84. Dr. Strangelove [A] 85. Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train [C+] Zinn is a fascinating figure, but this documentary falls a little flat at times. I'd rather hear Zinn describe his life than hear Matt Damon read from his various books. I think the film spends too much time with the latter, but, then again, the filmmakers scored Matt Damon, so it's understandable that he's such a big part of it. There's a strong emphasis on Zinn's activities as a protester, and although these are interesting, there's probably a protest speech too many. Still, it doesn't make a bad introduction to a very interesting man who wrote a number of influential books in his time.
64. Notes on a Scandal [A-] 65. Shutter Island [B-] 66. Gosford Park [A] 67. The Third Man [A] 68. Fantastic Planet [A] 69. Pandorum [C] 70. Trancers [D-] 71. D-Tox [F] 72. Whatever it Takes (2010) [B-] 73. Mystic River [A-] 74. 2012 [D] 75. The Fog of War [A] 76. The Octagon [F] 77. Leprechaun In The Hood [C-] 78. Ninja Assassin [D] 79. Modern Times [A] 80. Full Frontal [B-] 81. Dazed and Confused [B ] 82. Sherlock Holmes [B-] 83. From Russia with Love [B+] 84. Dr. Strangelove [A] 85. Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train [C+] 86. The Graduate [A] 87. Return to Me [C] The Graduate -- I've heard a few younger posters on this board (and by younger, I mean my age, early 20s) who don't like this film. I can't understand why. Hoffman is brilliant as the incredibly awkward Benjamin Braddock, and Nichols' use of long takes occasionally interrupted by quick edits perfectly emphasizes this point. Does Benjamin's romance with Elaine happen a little quickly? Possibly, but it doesn't bother me a whole lot. The music is perfect (and probably even better over time...the lyrics to 'Mrs. Robinson' are held off for so long that when they're finally spoken as Benjamin emerges from a tunnel it's quite a release (I'll ignore the sexual implications of that for now ). Return to Me -- I saw the second half of this film on television a few years ago, and always meant to see the rest of it. Not only does it have David Duchovny, who I will watch in anything, but it has a nice cast of supporting players and Duchovny and Minnie Driver have some genuine chemistry. Alas, the first half of the film takes itself much too seriously. The film is best when it plays it's hand with lightness, and it manages that best in the second half when it's not so caught up in tragedy.
The African Queen. Everything about it is terrific. This is the movie Bogie won his one Oscar for - very much deserved.
Casablanca Humphrey Bogart is great. Half of this movie is still quoted 70 years later. It's not one of my personal favorite films though.
Oh, good. Somebody else posted. Almost triple-posted there. 64. Notes on a Scandal [A-] 65. Shutter Island [B-] 66. Gosford Park [A] 67. The Third Man [A] 68. Fantastic Planet [A] 69. Pandorum [C] 70. Trancers [D-] 71. D-Tox [F] 72. Whatever it Takes (2010) [B-] 73. Mystic River [A-] 74. 2012 [D] 75. The Fog of War [A] 76. The Octagon [F] 77. Leprechaun In The Hood [C-] 78. Ninja Assassin [D] 79. Modern Times [A] 80. Full Frontal [B-] 81. Dazed and Confused [B ] 82. Sherlock Holmes [B-] 83. From Russia with Love [B+] 84. Dr. Strangelove [A] 85. Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train [C+] 86. The Graduate [A] 87. Return to Me [C] 88. Amelie [A] 89. Blind Date (2008) [D+] Amelie is just terrific from start to finish. I haven't seen a bad film by Jeunet yet, and that includes the fourth film in the Alien franchise, which might be less than stellar, but is still watchable. I have yet to delve into his earlier work, however (His earliest film I've seen would be the brilliant Delicatessen, made in 1991). Alas, Stanley Tucci's remake of Blind Date (I haven't seen the Van Gogh original) is less than stellar. The camera work seems amateurish, and the characters (as little as we get to know them, since they spend so much time pretending to be other people) are paper thin. This might make an interesting short, but as a feature (and a padded one at that--there's probably ten minutes that could be easily removed from a film that's already on the short side at 80 minutes) it's just too long.
Yeah, I always say this is the perfect example of how far great chemistry between actors with wonderful screen presence can go. On paper a movie basically consisting of little more than two people talking on a boat sounds so boring, but because it was Bogart and Hepburn (and they had a nice script/nice direction), I was enthralled from start to finish.
I quite like that movie, but I always use it as my rebuttal whenever someone suggests that a new movie having a few plot holes stops it from being considered great. The plot of Casablanca makes absolutely no sense. 55. Kick-Ass (B+) Spoiler: Kick-Ass Saw it, and it was pretty good. It's at times a bit indecisive as a parody, largely as a result of the changes made - Mark Millar's original story drips cynicism and holds pretty much all the characters with a certain degree of contempt; Vaughn and Goldman's changes (with Millar's involvement, though) lighten things up a bit and makes you empathize with them, so some of the brutal violence is played for laughs while others are dead serious. I'd say it's a better movie for it, though, ultimately. The increased sympathy toward the characters is most prominent in two respects: Dave actually gets the girl here, where in the original all he got for his troubles was rejection and a beatdown from her thuggish new beau (parodying the whole Clark Kent/Lois Lane dynamic); and Big Daddy and Hit-Girl's origin story is totally reworked, with the former becoming somebody with a plausible and understandable motivation, even if he's still really warped. In both the comic and the film, we start off in the "real" world, which gradually becomes crazier and crazier, starting with the arrival of Hit-Girl. The film actually amps this up considerably, to the point where the climax involves Kick-Ass arriving to save the day with a gatling-gun-equipped jetpack - after which point he kills the villain with a rocket-launcher (instead of Hit-Girl doing the honours, as in the comic). The actors are all very good. Aaron Johnson, the lead, actually comes across like someone who could have been a good Spider-Man. Chloe Moretz, the one everyone's talking about, is really good as Hit-Girl (who, thanks to movie-magic, seems almost believable).
And not two actors you'd expect to have chemistry, either! Particularly since Bogie was playing pretty far afield from his usual world-weary but suave types, who would be a much better fit for Katherine Hepburn's prickly, patrician persona than some scruffy souse with buck teeth. I've literally been waiting years for The African Queen to be released on DVD. I'm pretty sure I've never seen it all the way through before. When I was a kid, I probably caught part of it on TV, chopped up with ads. I don't at all recall that the story had anything to do with WWI or that it started off in a mission. I probably just watched some of the middle section on the river and had no real idea what it was about.
Saw Kick-Ass. A really good satire on violence, superheroism and comic-books yet it also works as a poignant drama with believable and real characters. Highly entertaining to boot.
Gamer - Y'know, when you're forewarned what a brainless crapfest it is, it isn't terrible! Michael C. Hall obviously had a blast playing a giggling creep that would give Dexter Morgan the heebie-jeebies. Gerald Butler was good in a grunting, personality-free action role; this is where he belongs, not in rom-coms! I thought it was a tad unkind what he did to poor Milo, considering he was just another Society pawn; the guy (or gal) that Gerald should have killed was sitting safely in a game room somewhere. You'd think he'd have been a bit more sensitive about that. How'd he like the family members of some of his victims to come after him for revenge? Better to send them after our Spiderman-elect who was actually doing the killing... And speaking of that, I was incredulous that Logan Lerman's character was treated in such a sympathetic way by this movie! He's really a bigger villain than Ken Castle. It's rich idiots like him who keep this corrupt and disgusting game going. Oh well, that's far more thought than this movie deserves. Like The Box, there was a good movie in there somewhere, but it's too much effort to figure out how to fix such a total trainwreck.
64. Notes on a Scandal [A-] 65. Shutter Island [B-] 66. Gosford Park [A] 67. The Third Man [A] 68. Fantastic Planet [A] 69. Pandorum [C] 70. Trancers [D-] 71. D-Tox [F] 72. Whatever it Takes (2010) [B-] 73. Mystic River [A-] 74. 2012 [D] 75. The Fog of War [A] 76. The Octagon [F] 77. Leprechaun In The Hood [C-] 78. Ninja Assassin [D] 79. Modern Times [A] 80. Full Frontal [B-] 81. Dazed and Confused [B ] 82. Sherlock Holmes [B-] 83. From Russia with Love [B+] 84. Dr. Strangelove [A] 85. Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train [C+] 86. The Graduate [A] 87. Return to Me [C] 88. Amelie [A] 89. Blind Date (2008) [D+] 90. Time Runner [F] Ah, Mark Hamill. In less than ten years he went from starring in the mega-franchise of Star Wars to this, which you might call a low-rent version of The Terminator if you were feeling charitable. Normally I'd give the movie a D- for being set in my home state of Washington, but it is so bad I will forgo such pleasantries. I do love how Netflix stocks its science fiction section with almost unwatchable C-grade titles like this.
Okay I thought of something else to complain about in Gamer. Apparently if you have a good "puppet" like Kabel, the player is a hindrance. So the game naturally would have evolved to players who are merely the owners of talented puppets, more like the owners of a horse in a horse race. That kinds spoils the logic of the game altogether, if the people paying to play are so useless.
64. Notes on a Scandal [A-] 65. Shutter Island [B-] 66. Gosford Park [A] 67. The Third Man [A] 68. Fantastic Planet [A] 69. Pandorum [C] 70. Trancers [D-] 71. D-Tox [F] 72. Whatever it Takes (2010) [B-] 73. Mystic River [A-] 74. 2012 [D] 75. The Fog of War [A] 76. The Octagon [F] 77. Leprechaun In The Hood [C-] 78. Ninja Assassin [D] 79. Modern Times [A] 80. Full Frontal [B-] 81. Dazed and Confused [B ] 82. Sherlock Holmes [B-] 83. From Russia with Love [B+] 84. Dr. Strangelove [A] 85. Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train [C+] 86. The Graduate [A] 87. Return to Me [C] 88. Amelie [A] 89. Blind Date (2008) [D+] 90. Time Runner [F] 91. Time Indefinite [A] Though it begins with the announcement of his marriage and ends with the birth of his son, this is probably Ross McElwee's darkest documentary film. It's saturated by death and loss, and yet McElewee's usual injection of dry humor in his voice-over is never absent for long. I've been a huge fan of McElewee's since I saw the film Bright Leaves at a film festival in 2005. That one remains my favorite of his, but this one is nearly as good. I've seen few filmmakers who could linger on a still photograph of an awful tumor for 90 seconds to such great effect (without ever being exploitative) as McElwee. Hard to find a better example of the "essay film" than this. Also, a wee bit of an improvement over the crap that is Gamer. Just saying.
56. Much Ado About Nothing (B+) Belatedly returning to rewatch some more Shakespeare, this is Kenneth Branagh's second Shakespeare effort, and the first comedy - as a general rule, I'm not a huge fan of Shakespeare's comedies, which haven't aged nearly as well as the dramas, for a variety of reasons (the title of this play exemplifies that - it has three different meanings, only one of which anyone today would get without a reference book). That said, this is easily the funniest version of one of them I've yet seen, and it's pretty much all thanks to Branagh himself, with assists from Emma Thompson and Denzel Washington. Branagh is going full throttle ham here, and it works pretty brilliantly as a comic performance. He and Thompson were a great screen couple in their day, and this was their last outing. The film's other couple, Hero and Claudio, are just sort of there - it's not entirely a matter of the actors (though Robert Sean Leonard is too blandly meek to really be credible as someone who is supposedly a brilliant soldier): As written, Hero is a beautiful doormat and Claudio is an utter imbecile (you'd have to be to fall for Don John's schemes). Speaking of Don John, Keanu Reeves' work in this movie has attracted a lot of negative attention over the years - and, let's face it, he's not the most versatile or expressive actor out there. But he's totally within his range as Don John, who's a bargain basement Richard III, proudly proclaiming that he's evil because...well, he's evil. Michael Keaton as Dogberry, by contrast, is really trying too hard to be funny for me to really like him. In fact, parts of the film as a whole are clearly trying too hard to be buoyant, which would become a lot more pronounced in Branagh's later As You Like It.
I haven't seen that version of Much Ado About Nothing since high school, but I wasn't much of a fan of it then. I do need to see Branagh's version of Hamlet someday soon, though.
I'll be rewatching that sometime in the next week; it's probably Branagh's second-best film that I've seen, though it's fucking long, and some parts show why most adaptations (and even stage productions) dispense with them.
IMDB tells me that the cut version is 150 minutes, and the full version is 242 minutes. I'll need to hold a rainy day for that film!
Takes up two DVDs. It's the full-length play, which is the sort of film that should be made at least once.