1930s Hall of Fame Part 2

I have another vacation starting on 8/28. I'm thinking of visiting the end of my driveway.

Ha!

My driveway is actually really long, like 1/8th of a mile, so walking to the end is like a trip.

That's long. Mine is about 280 feet, plenty long enough considering I landscape every inch of it.

That's a lot of work to do! Do you have to weed it? Weeding is the worst/most hardest outside thing I have to do.

Yep but I keep up with it. I use spray and a weed whacker, none of that bending down shlt.

Ha

I think we throw around "masterpiece" a little too much. Humanity and the Paper Balloons was to me an okay film that probably could have been more had it been made 20 years later. The film felt to much like a stage production, something that might work in the theater but didn't really translate visually on screen. I didn't feel like the story took place in Edo period, having seen so many of these films that cover this same period of time this one seemed to fail to have the scope of the period.



What I liked about the film is the duel stories, Shinza the hairdresser who gambles and Unno the out of work samurai. I think I prefer Unno's story because the moral was a little more pronounced. I liked how the story took it's time to develop the relationship between Unno and his wife and the role honor played in the tale. My biggest complaint though was I found the story to be incredibly predictable, they pretty much set up in the first scene how the film is going to end. I didn't particularly care for that.

I also preferred Unno's story and I'm not even sure the movie wouldn't have been better without Shinzo. Not that I didn't enjoy his time as well.

I did watch Virtue today. Review upcoming tomorrow.

I decided to sacrifice an hour of sleep tonight and watched Virtue as well. I'll be tired at work tomorrow... but I don't regret it. :P

Will write my thoughts later.

^ Yes, I was also wondering if anyone knows of higher quality links...

Phew, so glad you didn't regret it or I'd be feeling rotten right now. Look forward to reading your thunks.

Sadly it's proving very difficult to track down a better copy, it's looking like physical copy or digital rental might be the only choices.

Spoilers ahead

A modest but enjoyable enough period drama.

Visually the film is definitely appealing and it's tale of life in the underclass, which delightfully incorporates a little wry humour into proceedings, is portrayed with good performances from all.

The two separate tales are interwoven quite well, with Shinza's being the more immediately accessible but Unno's ultimately proving the more potent and rewarding imo.

Unfortunately the kidnapping element of the tale does let proceedings down a little, that part of the plot being poorly written imo with the humiliation of those above Shinza only ever partially achieved and the supposed need for discretion completely counteracted by events being so easily overheard, thus undermining the very reason for negotiation.

Overall it's a film that I'm glad was nominated and one that proved to be a likeable enough watch.

I saw this so long ago that I could only see images in my head. While I remembered liking it, I knew it wasn't one of my favorites of the old horror films. That's because this is no horror movie for kids. If this were a modern film, it would not be a Citizen Rules type of film. It would be my kind of film, the kind that's brutal and filled with sex and violence.

For it's day this is rough, and that makes it all the more shocking. Hyde is an absolute terror on the streets, and poor Ivy a tragic victim. The transformation is startling, yet given believability due to Jekyll's desires. One of the great scenes, when Hyde goes out on the town to the club, reminded me of the scene in Cronenberg's The Fly when he went out, broke the guy's arm and picked up the girl. They each got this newfound strength and went out to raise some hell. Hyde's boisterous personality makes it so fun to watch. The movie starts out a little slow but when it gets going it never let's up. All of the cast is great but a big wow for Frederic March. He's already an actor I like and he knocks it out of the park here. The movie looks awesome as well. Just as an aside, I guess I've been pronouncing Jekyll wrong all these years. I loved this movie and am so glad it was nominated because I had no plans on watching it again. Conservative rating for now.

Virtue



A lot to like about this little film that I had never previously heard of. Some times these end up being the best nominations of them all! The strong point of the film was the character Mae played by Carole Lombard. It was a fantastic role for her and has me intrigued to see more of year roles. I had only seen a handful from her previously and none of them really showcased the talent and beauty she has like this film did. Her stunningness was shown in many different scenes. She had a great chemistry with O'Brien in this film I thought. The dialogue sort of reminded me of working as a miniature It Happened One Night. I also liked the blend that the film had between genres. It worked out very well

As a side note, was wondering what casino game that was with the dice in the cage. I had never seen that game before. I'm always intrigued by films that shoot casino scenes as well so I thought that like short snippet was cool. In general I enjoyed the scenes with Mae looking for Gert. It's a shame the film had to start off the way it did, but it really didn't effect the overall rating for me. A great start for me here.

+

So glad you enjoyed it rauld - that casino game was called Chuck -A-Luck btw. Can't say I've ever played it myself (am not quite that old)

Cool beans! Glad you liked it...I chose that movie with you in mind, I thought it might work for you.

Interesting that you chose a quote from the movie, I was going to do that too in my review at one point, and that one is a good one.

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Aye, delightfully ott isn't he

He certainly had no need for oars or a paddle if they took a boat out
And yes, the props designer definitely deserved recognition for the mannequin, hard to believe how lifelike it was

Keye Luke is better remembered as Charlie Chan's honourable son for me though (#1 son if I remember correctly)

Damn, Citizen going to be done before I even get to my third film lol. The Roaring Twenties will be next for me.

I think he's addicted to 30s films