Movie Tab II

Ben Hur (1959)

I've been slowly working on completing my lists and decided to give this one a shot. I went into this expecting to like it. I've always had a soft spot for swords and sandals flicks and this is supposed to be a "classic" of the genre.

To put it nicely, this did not meet my expectations. Sure the sets and costumes were impressive and that chariot race was awesome, but the oversaturation of melodrama killed any enjoyment I might get out of it. Don't get me wrong, I'm used to melodrama and expect it in this sort of film, but the others I've seen balanced it out with camp and humor. This movie had none.

In the end, this Ben-Hur seemed to me to be less "epic" and more "ordeal." Oh well. At least now I can say I've seen it.

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I've seen a ton of movies since I last signed on, but here's some recent ones:

Robin Hood (Ridley Scott) - I heard a lot of bad things about this one, so I was surprised that I ended up liking it. It's not what you expect from a Robin Hood movie, which is kind of okay, because it's all been done to death, hasn't it? Still pretty fun.

MacGruber - Okay, this made me laugh so loudly I woke my roommate up. It's so plain WRONG that it's kind of awesome.

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"You, me, everyone...we are all made of star stuff." - Neil Degrasse Tyson

https://shawnsmovienight.blogspot.com/

Everyone should watch Commando. That film rocks!

If y'all are really interested I'll PM you some kind of a list.

hmmmm... , yeah i'm interested. repo man was number 46 on my list.

Splendor in the Grass

It's the 1920's. Bud (Warren Beatty) and Deanie (Natalie Wood) are teenage sweethearts but the lives of both are controlled by Bud's father and Deanie's mother. Circumstance and the Great Wall Street crash change their lives forever, and Deanie finally understands the meaning of the poem she read aloud in class:

What though the radiance which was once so brightBe now for ever taken from my sight,Though nothing can bring back the hourOf splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower;We will grieve not, rather findStrength in what remains behind... (Ode: Imitations of Immortality by William Wordsworth)
Natalie Wood is particularly good as the heartbroken Deanie. It's a very poignant film but very true of life. The premise may be simple- the subject of many a chick flick- but the film's exploration of repression and depression- literal and metaphorical- is sobering.

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You cannot have it both ways. A dancer who relies upon the doubtful comforts of human love can never be a great dancer. Never. (The Red Shoes, 1948)

Colour me interested.

I have 15 minutes to type something. I just watched Jules Dassin's scathing He Who Must Die, a French film with an all-star cast shot on the beautifully sparse Island of Crete. It was American Dassin's follow-up to his classic Rififi, only I find it much better. I've been waiting about 35 years to watch this flick but all of a sudden, it's on Netflix's "Play Now (Instantly)" mode. It's from 1957, in widescreen B&W and tells the story of what was going on in Crete in the early 1920s where the island was shared by the Greeks and the Turks, but the Turks were in charge, The chief Agha says that he's amused by Christians because Allah made them to kill each other and this film basically documents such an incident.


The flick is simple, yet complex. It's predictable but mind-expanding. I reallize that many people will not watch it because it's in French and has something to do with religions which they hate. I find that very short-sided in multiple ways, but if that pisses you off even more, then this beautiful, tragic, deeply-moving film is not meant for you. The cast is terrific. It includes Pierre Vaneck who's been picked by the rich priest (Fernand Ledoux) to represent Jesus in the village's Passion Play. It also has Maurice Ronet (Elevator to the Gallows) as one of his rebels and apostles in the Passion which never quite materializes. The cast has far too many others to mention but Melina Mercouri is great as the Mary Magdalene/whore of the flick and Jean Servais (Rififi) brings dignity to the role of another priest who leads what's left of the citizens from his destroyed village to the more-prosperous one.


The parallels between the founding of Christianity and the numerous conflicts down through the ages, especially in the 20th century, are amazing, amusing and sad. This is truly a film I believe everyone would think was powerful because it's neither pro- nor anti-religion. Rather, it shows all the flaws of most humans, especially when they attempt to protect their own self-interests against those less-fortunate. The amazing thing about the film is that you could completely dispense with the "religious" angle, but if you kept the politics, it would still be just as violent, wrong and contemporary.

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It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page

Thanks for this, mark. I was completely unaware of this film and, as I like Rififi, I'll be sure to take a look at it should I ever get the chance.

American Beauty (1999)


Is there anything left to say about American Beauty? 5 Oscars, an ensemble cast, the most talked about film of 1999? There is plenty left to say about American Beauty, one of the most funniest dark comedies ever made.


Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) is a middle aged, depressed office worker stuck in a midlife crisis, married to an unloving, blood sucking woman (Annette Bening) with a rebellious daughter who hates him. That all changes after he develops an infatuation for his daughter's attractive friend. Lester begins to turn his life around. Meanwhile, his daughter falls in love with their troubled teenage neighbor, son of Col. Frank Fitts (Chris Cooper), an abusive homophobe.


Kevin Spacey's astonishing performance remains the best of his career and it awarded a much deserved Academy Award for Best Actor. Annette Bening also delivers a dazzling performance as Carolyn Burnham, while the rest of the cast provides flawless support. The script, written by Alan Ball, is one of the best ever written and Sam Mendes directorial debut is nothing short of incredible.


American Beauty is a dark, humorous, look at life and the way we look at it. I would recommend American Beauty to anyone and everyone.

*****/*****

"It's hard to stay mad, when there is so much beauty in the world."

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"George, this is a little too much for me. Escaped convicts, fugitive sex... I've got a cockfight to focus on."

Except the kiddies. I loved it but that plastic bag was ill-judged.

Shakespeare in Love

Finally I got around to seeing it!

The premise: William Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes) has writer's block. Phillip Henslowe (Geoffery Rush) needs him to write a new play- one which he informed his creditors will be called 'Romeo and Ethel the Pirate's Daughter'. Shakey has no muse, until he meets Viola de Lesseps (Gwyneth Paltrow).Shakey's married but he doesn't care. However Viola is betrothed to pompous Lord Wessex (Colin Firth). Shakey's love life begins to follow the pattern of Romeo and Juliet (with a bit of cross-dressing).

It has a modern style to it, despite it being set in the sixteenth century, so it's a fun film for students to watch and discover that Shakespeare really was fun. Tom Stoppard's screenplay is suitably comic, bawdy, and full of theatre references. Few others will pick up on this but being a total sonnet fan, I was a little displeased to see Sonnet 18 written and addressed to Viola, seeing as that sonnet is actually to a man. Within the sonnet cycle, it's not simply a nice poem about love- it's a declaration of unashamed love for someone who for the seventeen previous sonnets he has been trying to marry off. But I am willing to overlook that small detail, because the sonnets are only briefly mentioned (perhaps because they'd bring up a can of worms as to Shakespeare's private life).

The cast list is chock-a-block of well-known actors. I was actually really surprised at how good Ben Affleck was as the actor playing Mercutio- I found him annoying in Good Will Hunting but he was practically unrecognisable here.

The probing into Shakespeare's life is relatively shallow- this is how teenagers imagine Shakespeare, except he's pretty and has no cool pirate earring. But Fiennes is suitably young (Rupert Graves was a bit too old) and convinces as a hardworking writer (Shakey has not earned genius status yet). Paltrow puts on a romantic British accent, which works, and she earned her Oscar. Firth is hilarious as Lord Wessex- like Darcy but much grumpier and more arrogant.

Just when you think it's going to have a fluffy ending, it actually has a pretty cool bittersweet ending, which I found sort of ambiguous.

I'd recommend this film to those who like rom-coms with intelligence and for those trying to prove Shakespeare is cool.

The Social Network 2010

Another masterpiece for Fincher's canon. What a year it's been for film editing, prepare to be floored again as Social Network takes you through and out of two court depositions and the start of facebook. Eisenberg embodies Zuckerberg, a Harvard boy who's frustration and loneliness is about to be unleashed in the form of a website venture. It's as much about the (de?)evolving technological nature of communication in our society, as it's about timeless themes of betrayal, isolation, corruption. Credit obviously can't go to one person in a beautiful collaboration like this, the screenplay, the acting, the photography, the music - people in Hollywood are earning their pay.





The Town 2010

Affleck directs apparently and while he's miles ahead of himself as an actor - the man has filled this with some top notch shootouts. He treads over super overdone stuff, with a trustworthy cast and pulls it off. Although his direction outside of the tight action, is nothing short of manically erratic, with cameras flying all over Boston for no reason. He's got the humor and shooting down, now for the rest ...





Paprika 2006

Another rewatch for this one and my final conclusion is .... it's boring. Wonderful imagery and no heart or soul to take it somewhere.





All the President's Men 1976

I don't know any of the players (Nixon was involved i think). I think had I actually known who's who, maybe that would raise the stakes, but the heart of this are in the performances of Hoffman and Redford. How they grind down their interviewees, how journalism was done in the 70's, as well as the lurking fear of digging up dirt on a supposedly crooked president. My biggest problem is, it's such a relentless pursuit of facts and leads, that there's only a very small story happening between the lines.

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The Social Network



Mark Zuckerberg is dumped by his girlfriend in the opening scene and in a drunken rage he goes online and hacks into different websites to take student photos and create a site called FaceMash, where people pick which girl is hotter. This leads to some academic probation, but it catches the eyes of three other students who want to create a social networking site that would be exclusive to Harvard students. They tell Zuckerberg the idea and he joins the team. Unfortunately Zuckerberg shuts them off from communication and writes his own codes and brings in his best friend as CFO. Thus The Facebook is born. As the site gets more popular, Zuckerberg loses his connection with his best friend and ends up getting sued by him and the three students for millions of dollars.

When I first heard that there was going to be a movie based on Facebook, I rolled my eyes and asked why even bother. Then, to my surprise, I heard that David Fincher was set to direct. My interest perked up a little bit, after all the guy directs some stellar films. It wasn't until the trailers starting popping up did I really want to see this film. The accolades that it has been receiving added more anticipation. Now that I've seen the film, all I can say is bravo.

Fincher and soon to be nominated for best adapted screenplay Aaron Sorkin, have created a film that defines what this generation is all about. Facebook is such a cultural impact that some people can't live their lives without it. I have it open in another window as I'm writing this review right now. The film will undoubtably receive more award nominations than screenplay, I'm just curious to see if any of those are in the acting department because this cast is great.

Jesse Eisenberg, who people always claimed to be a Michael Cera rip off, commands the screen with his awkward and pseudo intelligent riffs in his speeding bullet laced monologues. The guy (Zuckerberg) is brilliant at code writing, but his social skills are clearly lacking. His best friend, Eduardo Saverin (soon to be Spiderman Andrew Garfield) is desperate to get into elite clubs and has his emotions close to the surface. Eventually they explode when he learns he's being shifted out of his CFO position. Garfield plays well opposite Eisenberg. To my surprise Justin Timberlake wasn't irritating. He plays egocentric Sean Parker and while I don't see any awards heading his way, he does help complete a well put together cast.

The story jumps between two timelines. The present, in which Zuckerberg is facing two lawsuits and the past, which we see the creation of facebook. Heaps of praise should be thrown on Fincher and Sorkin, they pulled off this structure perfectly. The film feels just like his previous efforts, dark and cold. Much like the depiction of Zuckerberg. I can't comment on how true the film depicts the events, but we all know he did get sued and the filmmakers stand by the truths they tell in this film. It's all heightened to be entertaining, but with Zuckerberg trying to steer clear, I see a lot of truth in this film.

The Social Network is one of the years best films. It's solid direction from Fincher, who knows what he wants from every aspect. Sorkin delivers a timeless story set in our age of the internet and facebook. Friendship, greed and loyalty are all called into question. The performance are strong across the board with such a young cast. Eisenberg standing out in the lead role of Zuckerberg. The score is phenomenal, Fincher knew what he wanted and he got it with Trent Reznor. His style of music perfectly matches the film with the technology it's bringing to the forefront.

I wouldn't call this the film of the decade, but it is good enough to be in the high ranks of Fincher's best work and one of the best works this year. For a film that is simply people talking, it feels natural and goes at a breakneck speed. I highly recommend The Social Network.

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"A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it's the only weapon we have."

Suspect's Reviews

The Backwoods - 2.5/5
This is the Gary Oldman one where he's in Spain and they find the deformed girl with the syndactyly hands. Watching this movie filled me with incredulity over the storyline - the only redeeming parts where Gary Oldman's character, who at least made common sense decisions, the guy head who was hunting them and looking for the kid, who at least seemed in full faculty and to care about common decency, and the visual landscape, which was nice. All other characters were complete idiots, and the women had brains the size of peas - the other fella? marginally bigger, at best. This is no Deliverance, but it'll do in a pinch.

Outsourced - 1/5
Watched this one b/c I was a captive audience, and it was as underwhelming as I thought. Basic premise - american marketing guy's company fires all his people, and moves the call center to India. He must go as well to train his replacement, with the carrot that he "might" have a job at the company if he trains him well, and cannot return until he does. Cue lots of Indian culturalism, and the requisite preaching for the wonders of multiculturalism as well.

One point that I found asinine was the attempt of the writers to suggest that

(1) Indians speak the "corrrect" english, and Americans do not,
[rebuttal: who in the _______ cares? its business, and the customer can barely understand you. it is imperative that the customer understand, and at minimum not be antagonized/alienated by the "customer service."]

(2) it is somehow wrong of Americans to want to speak with someone they can understand,
[rebuttal: why? service is not "good service" if i have to repeat myself 5 times to be understood, or I have to ask the person speaking to me to repeat themselves 5 times to understand them. at this point, im irritated.]

The one thing I thought the movie did well was convey that it wasnt the Indian workers' fault for simply getting job - being upset with them is not the solution, because they are not the problem. Corporate interests, on the other hand, are. It also conveyed that they, too work in a precarious environment, and mercenary corporate interests will just as swiftly downsize them as well. Pissed? Vote with your dollar.

Lastly. I did have this thought: we spend a ridiculous amount of time bemoaning the poor Indian women who have arranged marriages to some random (possibly old?) dude from birth (poor her, right?). I couldnt help thinking to myself - WHAT ABOUT THE POOR DUDE? If the girl has a prearranged marriage, doesnt it necessitate that the dude does as well? How come no one cares that this dude has an arranged marriage to someone he could be completely uninterested in?

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something witty goes here......

King Kong (1933)

Classic film. Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong) wants to make a movie but he has no leading lady. Then he finds Ann Darrow (Faye Wray) and whisks her off on a boat to the ominously named Skull Island, inhabited by savages and ruled by- you guessed it- King Kong, a massive ape.

It's only a short film but it packs a massive punch. The special effects for the time were incredible and even now, they are still frightening. CGI is not overly scary- it's all too fluid and neat. This 1933 Kong is wild and jerky, yet there is something tragic about him.

Let's dispel a common myth now. King Kong is not a love story- it's not about a love triangle between two people and a gorilla. It's a cautionary tale of the consequences of people meddling with primitive tribes that they know nothing about. In the end, are the humans really superior to Kong? Or are they the savages, ripping a creature- a ruler- from his land and turning him into entertainment? Ann is not in love with Kong but she sees that he is an emotive creature, not merely a monster.

Perhaps if you're looking for pure melodrama, then you'll enjoy the modern remake. However King Kong is not merely a melodrama- in fact, it's more of a tragedy. Anybody who is not moved by the last line must be heartless.

Some from while I was away:


The definition of 80s sci-fi/action. Arnie kicks some @$$ and pulls off his best collection of one-liners. There's a pretty girl in a tight jumpsuit and an evil game show host in for the fun as well. Predictable but exciting. The most fun is probably the now campy technology and special effects. Not for the romantic-drama crowd.

The Running Man:



This is like memory erasing meets Charade. The mystery dwindled down too much for me, and there were a number of scenes drawn out way too far. We all know Affleck is not the ideal leading man, but he's not unbearable here. Eckhart is hardly on camera, and he isn't particularly spectacular when he is. Uma didn't work at all for the cutie eye candy of the movie. The plot is intriguing enough to hold interest, but the script is totally forgettable. This movie doesn't really have anything much going for it, but it wasn't boring.

Paycheck:



This does movie does not look promising, but I found it really enjoyable. It's not for everyone and probably best suited for those Sutherland fans or those having a bad day. I happened to be having a bad day and enjoyed Sutherland's often humorous way of showing his character's frustration. Comically, the movie is surprisingly good. The ideas that are supposed to be funny actually turn out quite funny unlike many movies of this type where the ideas are painfully obvious and fall flat. The cast is good as a whole, but I honestly didn't evaluate this movie too much. (I was one of the bad day crowd looking for a little lift.) The only thing I found as horrible as reviews and first-glance would suggest was the awful soundtrack. I sincerely hope the composer never got another movie. Fingers-crossed

Dead Heat:


Fort Apache, the Bronx: +
Goldfinger: +
Lethal Weapon 2: +

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"Here is Sub-Zero, now Plain-Zero."

Batman: Under the Red Hood (2010) – +
It’s fun, especially for fans of the Batman comics. It successfully blends the styles of the classic comic line and the more realistic Batman that most modern viewers have become accustomed to.

Run Lola Run (1998) –
The trippy, ultramodern MTV style grew a little repetitive, and it felt like it was trying too hard to be slick, but the fast-pacing does add a memorable quality. Not to mention that the filmmaker’s eye for detail stands out. I just couldn’t get into it as much as most.

The White Ribbon (2009) – +
As well as being gorgeous to look at, it has an engaging plot with a perfectly idle pace. Even those who aren’t keen about art house cinema should suspend their reluctance with this.

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Concerning The White Ribbon, I reviewed it earlier this year in here and found it to be almost a complete waste of time. I agree that it has an idle pace but I find it far from perfect. I think it's the weakest Haneke I've seen thus far and I've seen several. I'm not saying that it wasn't interesting while I was actually watching it. It was only after it finished that it seemed twice as weak (and pointless) as it was while I was watching it. I gave it .