(1930, Dir. Alexander Dovzhenko)
In Short: A grandfather dies. Some communism happens. Sunflowers. A tractor that's a big deal. A guy named Basil dies? Fruit? If you couldn't tell, I was a little lost as far as the plot of this film went. But boy was it gorgeous! The imagery is amazing. The parallels between the grandfather who dies sitting on the blanket and the baby sitting on the blanket eating fruit were really affecting. The scenery is just dazzling--all the sunflower stuff was beautiful. Just the beauty and positive imagery with the pro-communist message is what makes it useful propaganda. Despite the story being totally lost on me, I did sort of enjoy this movie. The cinematography looks great and there were even some moments of real, affecting emotion from the characters. This is pretty good stuff! 6.5/10 pears.
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(1934, Dir. Frank Capra)
In Short: Spoiled heiress Ellie Andrews (Claudette Colbert) runs away from her business tycoon father who disapproves of her marriage to a famous aviator. Struggling to navigate her way to New York from Florida, Ellie is reluctantly helped by journalist Peter Warne (Clark Gable) who wants to get an exclusive scoop on Ellie. This is the OG reluctant roadtrip rom-com. I can see every trope of the Triple R (as I have just christened it) stemming from this one film, from the pairing of the naive girl with a streetwise guy, to sharing a hotel room and having luggage stolen and various weird locals and pretending to be married...I could go on. This is the birth of a genre. That's not what it was originally made to be, though. Capra wasn't trying to create a category of films. Rather, he was trying to tell a story about two very different people going through bizarre circumstances together and examining what happens to them. A neat idea, no? This was cute! Like I said, I've seen this movie before time and time again (the more I think about it, the more I realize that 2010's Leap Year has exactly the same plot, and that is a Bad Movie). Capra of course does it better, because he did it first. Colbert and Gable are charming and have great chemistry, and despite the fact that I knew exactly what was going to happen, it still kept me watching, and I loved the Walls of Jericho theme. 9/10 carrots. (1994, Dir. Robert Redford)
In Short: 1t's 1958, and Herb Stempel (John Turturro), reigning champion of television quiz show 21, is asked by the producers to "take a dive" so he can be replaced by someone who will bring better ratings to the program: the charming, handsome, intellectual, young professor Charles Van Doren (Ralph Fiennes). Everything goes swimmingly for Charles and the network until a lawyer from Washington (Rob Morrow) notices there's something fishy going on. It's based on a true story. The morality of the characters in this film is fascinating! Charles starts off as a good guy, but he caves to the fraudulent whims of the TV execs when he sees the fame and fortune that could be his. Sometimes it feels like you ought to root for Herb, but he's got his personality flaws, too. There are a lot of different, clashing motivations that make for a very interesting plot. This is an excellent film. Rob Morrow, John Turturro, and Ralph Fiennes give excellent performances as very complex characters. The cinematography is beautiful; I especially loved the opening sequence that followed the questions being transported to the set of the show. The only thing that was lacking was a little clarity as far as who all the TV bigwigs were, exactly, and how they played into the whole affair. Otherwise, this was an engrossing, entertaining movie that I really enjoyed! 9/10 slices of chocolate cake. (2001, Dir. Wes Anderson)
In Short: The three washed-up, once-genius Tenenbaum children return home to their separated parents when their father announces he is terminally ill, and are forced to face their pasts, escape their presents, and prepare for their futures. There are a lot of main characters in this movie, and they are all extraordinarily complex--but they are each complex in a way that depends upon the others. The relationships are very complicated and intricate, and that's sort of the whole idea--all these people are very different and have lots of problems, but they're family, so they're connected. But not in a typical, mushy way. Despite the fact that Anderson creates a world that is, although similar to, irreconcilable with our own, there is something more real about the relationships portrayed in that reality than when they are portrayed in "the real world" in other films. The absurdity and extremeness of the characters, situations, and settings, while sometimes played for laughs, does more to make the emotions and conflicts more real to the viewer. (Spoilers below) It's no shock that I'm totally obsessed with this movie. I can't stop thinking about it! There are so many layers to it, but it's done so well that it doesn't feel cluttered. The actors' performances were stellar--it's quite the feat to get me to take Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller seriously. The writing and storytelling is fantastic, and it's hard to believe that all of that fit into so short a time so effectively. On top of that, it's just a flat-out gorgeous movie, and I'm crazy about the style that Wes Anderson gave this one. Visually, I especially loved the scene in the board game closet and Richie's suicide attempt scene is, you know, depressing, but it's also stunning and gorgeous and really affecting. The music is amazing too. I can hardly stop writing about this! I love it! 10/10 Dalmatian Mice. (2001, Dir. John Gray)
In short: The outgoing, wisecracking, white Brian Piccolo and the shy, serious, African-American Gayle Sayes are forced to learn to live with one another as they play football for the Chicago Bears. Eventually they become friends, but Brian falls seriously ill with cancer. The main idea here is that it's important to make the most of what you've got--whether it's a bad roommate assignment, being a benchwarmer, or even such a serious thing as having cancer. Brian learns to make the best of his situations and it shows. The strength in this movie is in the acting and the writing, not in the production (it is, I learned, a made-for-TV movie). The characters are very well-developed in a very short time, and they go through very impressive arcs. The writing is good, and is truthful in a way that's necessary for telling an inspired-by-real-life story well. There are a lot of good parallels and motifs happening (I especially enjoyed the conversations between Joy and Linda). And this film is pretty effective emotionally. It sets out to make you cry, and it sure has the ability, but it lacks any kind of closure. 6.5/10 piñatas. |
AuthorEileen here, writing reviews for film class. Archives
April 2018
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