someguy889's Reviews

NBC Experiment in Television: Fellini: A Director's Notebook (1969)

Season 3, Episode 6

8/10

13 July 2004

It is here that we have a Fellini documentary, about (what else?) Fellini himself. This movie was made after a failure of another film he wanted to make and on the verge of Satyricon. Fellini, in familiar nonsensical fashion, travels around Rome, visiting the odd characters that we have come to see in many of his films. At first, the similarity between the characters of such films as 8 1/2 and La Dolce Vita is striking. But this is a documentary, leading me to wonder how much of this documentary Fellini actually planned. For example, when he is trapped in his room by countless eccentric characters who want to be in Satyricon, suddenly three of the women are dressed in Roman prostitute clothing. It may be that Fellini simply asked them to do this, if they were already so desperate to be in his movie themselves. Nevertheless, there's the woman on the accordian singing about Fortune, the man who tells Fellini to behold his bird-like whistling son, and the giant who walks up wondering if he can be in the film. We also get glimpses into the dreamlike lives of Marcello Mastrioanni (where, in an ironic twist, the man who plays Fellini so well gives Fellini some advice for his own life) and Giulietta Masina, and other characters who struggle to speak-a English for the camera.This is, in a way, 8 1/2 after 8 1/2. And the movie, being only an hour long, might be called "9". The way Fellini presents himself, he is living in a dream-like city, where time has gone by yet stayed still all the while, where eccentric characters crowd his study and where he is harsh and blunt with them, but where he comes to the realization that he needs these characters more than they need him. He needs their imperfections and oddities (we get to meet the clairvoyant seen in La Dolce Vita and Juliet of the Spirits), because in the end, Fellini's just as weird as they are.

My grade: 8/10

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Lion, London Zoological Garden (1896)

9/10

Caged Ferocity

29 June 2004

There it is! The king of the jungle, pacing back and forth, roaring at his vast domain! Look at this lion's bulging muscles, his indelible passion for life, his courage, his might, his ferocity. There he is! Caged in a zoo on the streets of dark London. He's being poked and provoked by an officer of some kind. The ferocious Lion is caged, and there's nothing he can do about it. But you can see his anger, an anger that has perhaps never been greater in his life. You can see it in the way this beast walks, in the way he roars, in his eyes and the way he moves his tail. Perhaps, back in the jungle, this lion was smaller than the rest, weaker than the rest, but here, in his cage, that doesn't matter. People can look upon him and scream because he's big, but what does he care? There's concrete under his feet now, there are bars in front of him. Maybe this was a movie made for a thrill, but what it does is capture perfectly and strikingly caged ferocity, and how some things are beyond anyone's powers.

My grade: 8/10

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The Barbershop (1893)

7/10

20*2@

29 June 2004

The Barbershop is another short that I saw on the Landmarks of Early Film DVD. A guy walks up to a barbershop, a man is getting shaved, and another man is there reading the newspaper. The newspaper reading man says something to the waiting man and they both start laughing. Then the shave is done. It lasts about 20 seconds. Then the whole scene is repeated again! The exact same scene. It took me a few seconds to realize that I was watching the same thing twice. Although this short doesn't have the amazing insight and stuff of the Lumiere shorts, and seems much more planned and acted, and the insight into the life in only the most narrow of forms, I thought it was a delightful little short, pointing out the hilarious repititions of every day life.

My grade: 7/10

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Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)

8/10

As a silent movie, it might have been perfect

22 June 2004

I watched Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde on the same day that I watched a Chinese war movie called Musa the Warrior. When I was watching that, I watch a man in full view pull a spear out of his stomach as blood came out. The camera was relentless, it showed everything, leaving me and my ignorant self to wonder how they pulled off that cinematic trick. Then I watched Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde starring Frederic March (who looks so much different than he does 15 years later in Best Years of Our Lives). As I watched the frequent transitions into Mr. Hyde and the looking-dead-into the mirror, I again found myself wondering how they did it. This movie, an original, never equalled horror masterpiece made in the same year as Dracula and Frankenstein (the same can be said about both of them), is full of cinematic wonders. It starts off captivating you, as it shows you everthing from the point of view of Jekyll for the first five minutes, including looking into a mirror. Then there are the transformations into the beast, which were remarkable for that time in history. It's true that Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde does not reach the chill factors that Frankenstein and Dracula do, but this is a sad movie full of sad themes. It's true that, as one poster said, Mr. Hyde looks like a cross between King Kong and Jerry Lewis, almost uncannily. And it is also true that the dialogue is overdone and talky. But Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a marvel because of its performances and for its cinematography. It films things and uses methods that just weren't used often back then. This might have been an excellent silent movie with its camera work and without its dialogue (oh sweet! i love you, my sweet, sweet love!). Yes, as a silent movie it might have been perfect. As a talking picture, it's a sweet sweet love.

My grade: 8/10

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Godzilla (1954)

8/10

This ain't your daddy's King of the Monsters

19 June 2004

This isn't just Godzilla. It is Godzilla: Uncut! Uncensored! Undubbed! Unparalleled! Rialto restored it from the American version, which cut 1/3 of the original to make this what they wanted: a cheap monster flick put in theaters to make a few bucks. So you can imagine my surprise when I saw the actual film. Sure, I'd seen the 1998 version featuring shallow character actors who somehow manage to single-handedly destroy The King of the Monsters! Sure, my father had seen the Raymond Burr version years back as part of a double feature matinee. But what I found in Godzilla was a movie which took its time, allowed tension to build and reputations to be deserved, and unfortunately lulled the two men next me into occasional sleeping fits. But that can be excused, because you've never seen a monster movie quite like this one. Godzilla haunts the streets of Japan. Well, he rampages and shoots some sort of steam out of his mouth that sets whole buildings on fire, but I've never seen a 150-foot lizard rampage so quietly and eloquently, or come so late into the movie. Perhaps what you will take away most from this movie is the insight into Japan, which was recovering from the World War II bombings. They simultaneously parody the new `science as warfare' phenomena (a scientist with an eye patch invents a weapon called The Oxygen Destroyer!), and show us that if they had that kind of power, they would make it an honorable opportunity, a sort of kamikaze attack on evil. Godzilla, though rubber, is an evil awaken from his rocky slumber underwater and has become extremely radioactive. He hungrily comes onto land to teach man a thing or two. You don't sympathize with this monster as much as, say, King Kong, but there's a pervasive sense of apprehension behind this whole film. This Godzilla has a quiet, almost elegiac ending, and the last underwater sequence is a marvel in which all of the themes of the movie come full circle.

My grade: 8/10

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D.O.A. (1949)

7/10

Ikiru with muscles.

19 June 2004

Warning: Spoilers

Minor Spoilers Herein. You have been warned.

Frank Bigelow had gone on a guilt-ridden weekend vacation to get away from his nagging girlfriend. A few minutes into the vacation, he is poisoned, but doesn't find out until the next day when he starts feeling ill. What follows is his desperate attempt to find out who would want to kill a guy like him. But he has to do it in twenty-four hours. Bigelow is an ordinary guy with ordinary faults, much like Holly Martins in The Third Man. He seems an unlikely target to be murdered, especially by a poison so rare as "luminous toxin." In his action filled, plot-twisting investigation to find his murderer, Frank discovers painful truths about himself, and how strong his love is for Paula, the girlfriend. The movie often has laughable points because of its melodrama, yet there are some scenes that are surprisingly poignant. It inevitably reminded me of Ikiru... true, a noirish, over-dramatic, American Ikiru (and Ed O'Brien is no Takashi Shimura), but after I accepted the ridiculousness of it all, I was able to appreciate how much fun it was, and how much I was actually able to care about Frank Bigelow.

There is a very long, 'we get the point' scene where Frank and Paula profess their love for each other. At the end of the movie (the main bulk of it was a flashback told by Bigelow to the police), Bigelow does indeed die, and utters his love's name one last time. Butlove between Bigelow and Paula (his secretary) seems very contrived. His love for her only blossomed when he realized he was dying. Paula obviously loves Frank, but Frank is holding on to Paula because he knows that he's dying and needs someone to love him in his final hours. The film, like The Third Man,raises the question of what it means to be dead.

It begins with Bigelow in the police station, reporting a murder. When the police ask him who was murdered, he dramatically responds, 'I was.' The scene is unintentionally funny, as many are. But it is also very lovable.

My grade: 7/10

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The Third Man (1949)

10/10

The cuckoo clock.

19 June 2004

Warning: Spoilers

**SPOILERS HEREIN** You have been warned.

At the beginning of The Third Man we are introduced to one of the main characters of the films, the city of Vienna. Vienna isn't the typical American, dark alley city. It isn't the understood labyrinth that shadows are gained and lost in, like in The Maltese Falcon. It is a different place, separated into four regions, and is so strange and beautiful that it almost seems like it's a person, viewing all of Holly Martins exploits but not being able to offer him any help. Holly Martins is a writer, not the Sam Spade type. Sam Spade would probably be the type of guy Martins would write about. He's a regular guy, with regular faults. You know his intentions from the very beginning. He doesn't even wear a hat. The mysterious woman isn't so mysterious. She tells us her thoughts, and she isn't lying. The twists of the movie aren't even twists. Martins investigation is so careful that he doesn't make too many assumptions and when he does, he is usually right. It hardly even matters what he is trying to investigate. The characters are so enjoyable, the cinematography is so ingenious, the music is so exciting, that the resurrection of Harry Lime just seems like an added treat. To Martins it hardly seems like such a surprise, he is relieved and disappointed at the same time, because his best friend is alive, but has been doing unthinkable crimes. Unlike Spade, Martins is actually somewhat connected to his investigation. And also unlike Spade, his love for the woman is never professed. Spade's connection to his desperate characters actually ends up being more than Martins. For Spade was forced upon the people's lives, and Martins intruded upon them. In The Third Man, Holly Martins walks into a hotel looking for his friend Harry Lime, and the porter tells him that he's `kapoosh.' That he's gone `to hell (as he points towards heaven), or maybe.. to heaven (as he points towards hell).' Harry Lime is also supposedly dead at the beginning of The Third Man. But he is discovered to be alive towards the middle of the movie. He has abandoned his lover, who was madly in love with him and completely crushed that he died (she called Holly, Harry). He led the world to believe that he has died, all to pull off a crime. He also is indeed dead by the end of the movie, but his character is a dead man before his body stops working. This raises the question: what does it mean to be dead? For Lime, embraced death so he could live better. He pulled off his own death and lived as a no one so as to pull off the perfect crime. It may not be until his beautiful attempt to escape true death in the labyrinth of the sewers that he realizes that, since he has embraced death prematurely, he may never be able to live again. Perhaps if while Lime desperately crawled to escape his best friend's `life' lesson, he realized that being dead is to ignore those who love you.

The Third Man is the most perfect film noir movies and one of the best movies period out there. With the compelling score of that exotic instrument, the angles, the shadows, the script, the characters, and the meaning, well... wow. The little boy with the ball accusing Holly Martins, the shadow of the balloon man on the wall, the unveiling of Lime when the cat cuddles against him, the meeting between Lime and Martins one the ferris wheel and the Cuckoo Clock speech, the chase through the sewers of Vienna, and the final scene in which the woman walks past Martins without even looking at him. Wow.

My grade: 10/10

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Citizen Kane (1941)

10/10

Rosebud **Spoilers Herein**

19 June 2004

Warning: Spoilers

**SPOILERS HEREIN** You have been warned.

The sled is not the answer, and Citizen Kane knows it. Yet almost all of the film is told in flashback to discover what Charles Foster Kane's last words meant. The sled was `rosebud,' and finding this out in that last scene is nothing short of satisfying. A sixty year old sled cannot explain a man's life or answer and any lingering questions about him, and yet knowing that Rosebud was his childhood sled is one of the most satisfying `answers' to a mystery in cinematic history. Charles Foster Kane's entire life is told in a flashback through a journalists eyes (we're always looking through his eyes because we always see his back). Through a newsreel, there is the Kane who `spoke for the common man' yet had the largest estate in America. Through his bank-owning guardian Thatcher, there is the Kane who squandered his fortune for a small newspaper and started those despicable tabloids. Through his best friend Leland, there is the Kane who wrote a dubious Declaration of Principles and went against everything it stood for years later, and who chose his mistress over his political career. Through his admiring assistant Bernstein, there is the Kane who entertained millions, and who wrote Leland's bad review for Susan Alexander (`sure, everyone knows that story'). Through Susan Alexander, there is the Kane who made shadow figures on the wall but never gave her anything she really cared about. There is the Kane through Thomson, the journalist, who says: `You know, in a way, I kinda feel sorry for the man.' Kane was always a man who people couldn't quite figure out. He was a man who saw what he wanted and knew how to get it. But it is obvious, through Orson Welles' superb acting, that Kane wants something more than just material goods or power. He is never seen admiring one of his statues or gazing at one of his paintings. Mainly, he wants love. He cannot truly love so he wants double the love for himself. He creates his own love, only to learn that love cannot be created. He creates a political appearance, so that people may hate the opposition and love him. He even creates an operatic career out of his second wife, so that people may love what he has produced. This is the Kane that the people around him could sense. Leland, Susan, even Thomson, all saw the Charles Foster Kane who had lost almost everything he had, and just could not fathom that love too could be lost.

Then there is the Kane who is alone. Even though all of his life is told in flashback and all of the events were witnessed by someone, there are intimate scenes in which a man is revealed who was surrounded by people and yet died alone. There is the boy playing outside in the snow while his parents determine his future. There is the Kane (his face hidden in shadow) clapping longer than anyone else for Susan's performance. There are the many Kanes reflected through parallel mirrors. There is the Kane letting out all his anger and he destroys Susan's room and his mistakes. There is the Kane who utters `Rosebud' before he drops the wintry ball and dies. Rosebud Bernstein seems to think it was something that he remembered and wished he had from a long time ago. Leland thinks it was something he lost. Thomson thinks both: `He got everything he wanted, and then lost it. Maybe Rosebud was something he couldn't get, or something he lost. Anyway, I don't think it would have explained everything. I don't think any word can explain a man's life. No, I guess Rosebud is just a piece in a jigsaw puzzle... a missing piece.' The sled is what young Charlie Kane loves and plays with in the snow, and also uses in a feeble attempt to escape from Thatcher. The sled is what Charlie was reminded of when Thatcher tried to give him a new sled for Christmas. The sled is a satisfying `ending' for reasons that are hard to put into words. The sled is the core of the stunted development of Kane's private life. It is the symbol of hope, innocence, longing and security. It is the origin and a reminder of a time before greatness. It's a `what if.' But when Charles Kane dies, for him, Rosebud is love.

My grade: 9/10

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William McKinley at Canton, Ohio (1896)

7/10

Watching a world-weary president.

18 June 2004

This short "documentary" from 1897 can be found in the Landmarks of Early Film DVD. Basically what it shows is President McKinley walking out of the White House, signing a piece of paper handed to him by a young man next to me, and then just strolling toward the camera for a few seconds before the film is over. Although this short does not have the charm and insight of the work of the Lumiere brothers, it is still fascinating to watch. You can see that McKinley is trying not to be different because there's a camera around, as is the young man next to him, but they are both greatly affected by its presence. You can also the wears and worries in McKinley, in his posture and movement, because he is far removed and you can hardly see his face. Even though this short decided to film someone of a stature far removed (instead of people exiting a factory or a train pulling into a station), it is still wonderful to watch, but for the few seconds you have to watch it.

President McKinley lived a long time ago. It took me a while to realize just how long ago this man was president. But this captures him. And now, he's timeless.

My grade: 7/10

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Carmaux, défournage du coke (1896)

7/10

Drawing out of "Coke"

18 June 2004

This short 'documentary' can be found on the Landmarks of Early Film DVD. I was surprised at the title. And even more surprised when I saw this short movie. That stuff looked like... well, it couldn't be. I found out that 'coke' in France actually meant something else, something to do with fuel or something, but anyway, I was important. The camera, high up, films the process of drawing out a large white block from a cave or mine of some sort. Then they hose it down and some chunks fall off. I just loved these little shorts. Sure, years later they arent as revolutionary as they were then. But even the boring ones arent boring because they only last a few seconds. And they're so fascinating to watch, the people around them, the whole strange process. It makes you start thinking about how lucky these people were to be captured on film like that. They are long dead, but as long as this film exists, they will never die. Nor will that strange white.. fuel.. coke... stuff.

My grade: 7/10

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Cary Grant on Film (1999 Video)

7/10

A Paragraph in an encyclopedia

17 June 2004

Cary Grant on Film is a 28 minute documentary-biography narrated by Larry Moss, found on the DVD Double Feature along with His Girl Friday. Just like most film biographies of movie legends, this is interesting. It would be hard for it not to be. This short focuses more on Cary Grant as the film star, not as Cary Grant the person. For the first 5 minutes, all you can do is listen to Larry Moss's voice as they show black and white pictures of Cary Grant sitting in all of the Cary Grant-ish poses. They show a lot of film trailers, including The Philadelphia Story, The Grass is Greener, and North by Northwest. But all of these trailers and all of the scenes that they show go much too long, at least for a 28 minute movie. Basically what this movie ends up being is something, no longer than a paragraph, you would read in an encylopedia. The best part comes when they show the trailer for The Bishop's Wife, in which they do not actually show clips from the movie but instead, well, you'll see. It ends with his own quote: "Every one wants to be Cary Grant. Even I want to be Cary Grant." But this movie does not give us enough of Cary Grant to show us what that meant.

My grade: 7/10. I liked the trailers.

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Winsor McCay, the Famous Cartoonist of the N.Y. Herald and His Moving Comics (1911)

10/10

Moving in two senses

16 June 2004

Winsor McCay, The Famous Cartoonist of the N.Y. Herald and his Moving Comics was a 1911 short I saw as part of the Landmarks of Early Film DVD. It was by far my favorite, beating out even the more popular Voyage to the Moon and The Great Train Robbery. This movie is simply perfect. A cartoonist is hired to draw thousands of pictures in order to make them into moving comics. Moving is used in two senses: the pictures actually move (animation), and they are surprisingly poignant. The comics that Winsor McCay makes are fantastic. Again, fantastic in two senses: They're weird, magical, and are fantasy. They're also funny and wonderful. This was the only short I watched twice. It was just so great to see the rigorous process of drawing a cartoon film by hand. A sort of educational film, catapulted into awesomeness through the light touch of the (in two senses) moving comic.

Hurray for Winsor McCay My Grade: 10/10

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The Animatrix: A Detective Story (2003)

Season 1, Episode 8

9/10

It was a hot day.. kinda day that made you wanna soak in a cold bath for a couple of hours. Then she walked in.

11 June 2004

Film noir meets anime... brilliant! This was one of the highlights of the surprisingly creative Animatrix shorts. This was one of my favorites if not my favorite (I also loved World Record). This is basically a reference to those classic film noir detective stories and movies of the 40s, except it's animated and involves the Matrix. But by being animated, it is able to take the extreme camera angles, the detective life style, the shadows, and everything film noir to an entirely new level. The Femme Fatale? Trinity. The detective in this story seems to be living in the 40s in his mind but stuck in a modern world, and everything becomes too much for him when his case suddenly involves science fiction and agents when a mysterious woman in black walks into his office...

My grade: 9/10

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Mission to Mars (2000)

4/10

Space Walking in Silliness

11 June 2004

There's a part in Mission to Mars when a rock smashes into a guys "space helmet" and kills him. This might have been interesting, except that the rock looks like it's make of styrofoam. Mission to Mars is a 2000 film directed by Brian de Palma and starring Gary Sinise, Tim Robbins, and Don Cheadle. I hate Brian de Palma. He ruined the otherwise fantastic Scarface and made The Untouchables my least favorite movie on the IMDB Top 250 List (closely followed by Minority Report). I've decide that the reason is that Brian de Palma adds cheesy dialogue and drastic importance into scenes that should be played with a subtle and quiet touch. But this movie is all over the place, never able to decide what it wants to be. Sinise, Cheadle, and Robbins are all great actors, but even their acting cannot save the dialogue that they have to work with. People are killed off before we can understand who they are, and even when we do understand we don't really care. It tries to bring some meaning and beauty into it by adding some sentimental thing about family.. or.. something.. but that doesn't work either. This movie tries to walk beyond the force of gravity, it tries to space walk, but it's brought down by pure silliness. And then there's the ending. An ending that takes itself so seriously that it made me laugh. Just look at Don cheadle's eyes as he says "Goodbye, Jim..." (I won't say where Jim went, not because I don't want to spoil the secret, but because IMDB will blacklist me if I do). And when you look into Cheadle's eyes, de Palma was thinking "2001 and Solyaris here we come!" and I was thinking "No."

Just no.

My grade: 4/10 (there's a cool scene involving gravity and M&Ms)

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Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959)

9/10

Here's to Darby O'Gill

10 June 2004

I do not know how much I would like this movie if I saw it today for the first time. But, since I grew up on this movie, I have no choice but to absolutely love it. We had this videocassette in our closet for years, it didn't have a cover on it, but it didn't need one. Wow, how I grew up on those colorful special effects. Those leprechauns riding small white horses around an old Irish man playing the fiddle. The horse turning silvery when enchanted by the leprechauns. The Banshee. Oh, that Banshee. You've never seen a scarier Banshee on film and you never will. A fantastic movie. A young Sean Connery is in it, and that old woman with that scary voice is fantastic. And Darby O'Gill...ahh.. one of the best family films and fantasy movies out there. ANd don't forget the scary, black creativity of the Death Cab.

Here's to Darby O'Gill. Clink

My grade: 9/10

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Holes (2003)

7/10

Another reason why you shouldn't see a movie after you enjoyed the book.

8 June 2004

Now, if Holes had given any artistic priveleges to itself, changed the story a bit, made the cinemtography awesome or just experimented, then that might have been very interesting. But as it is, it is very much like the book. It seems the only difference is that Stanley Yelnats (yelnats is stanley backwards) is not fat like he is in the book. In being so much like the book, and after I had read it and very much enjoyed it, it seemed boring, stale, too modernized, less of the mythic qualities I loved. Holes was so fascinating when I read it, and here they get the basic idea right on the nail. But they either had to do it exactly or drastically differently for me to really like it. As it was, I was simply reading a Spark Notes version of the book, with none of the fascinating and haunting and mythic qualities i mentioned before. They even attempted to get those qualities, but they just didn't succeed, and there was more to this tale than just the plot. Still, I must respect it for how enjoyable it manages to be.

My grade: 7/10

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Once Upon a Time in the Midlands (2002)

5/10

Decent

8 June 2004

Once Upon a Time in the Midlands is a British film starring Shirley Henderson, Rhys Ifans, and Robert Carlyle, and was directed by Shane Meadows. It is a Romance-Comedy-Drama that hit U.S. theaters in art-houses. It adopts the spaghetti western title "Once upon a time in.." that Sergio Leone used in such works as Once Upon a Time in America and Once Upon a Time in the West. However, about as far as this movie goes in its intriguing title is using the occasional Western music. I think Meadows choice to not go all out in his "tinned adaptation" is wise, because it makes one think about why it was called that. Even so, this movie doesn't really have much going for it besides its great title. It's another love triangle, Carlyle and Ifans are rivals for the love of Shirely Henderson. Ifans character is fascinating with his apparent cowardice and serious comical lovability. This is an enjoyable movie, more slow than suspenseful, just more like sweet, with predictability but lovability.

My grade: 6/10

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In America (2002)

9/10

Short Lived Air Conditioners

8 June 2004

There were parts in In America in which I felt like crying. There were parts in which I was extremely scared. There were parts in which I felt like laughing at the top of my lungs. But I didn't. Something told me not to. There's a scene where a man must throw tennis balls into a box at a fair to win his daughter an E.T. doll. But what is scary about this scene is that the man is putting his entire savings on this game, much to the dismay of even the Fair man. There's a scene when they Trick or Treat at the door of a dying African artist with AIDS. There's a scene where the father of the Irish family must roll an air conditioner all the way through the streets of New York, up the stairs to his apartment, only to have the cool breeze last 15 seconds. There's a scene where the oldest Irish girl sings Desperado and almost brought tears to the eyes of everyone in the house. But i didn't laugh. I didn't cry. My sister thought I was a heartless man. It's hard to cry when you feel like a movie wants you to, thinks that you are supposed to, knows that you are probably going to. This is an intentionally moving movie. But what can I say, it moved me. It may be manipulative, but it's very very good at it.

My grade: 8/10

(By the way, a film with fantastic performances by everyone!)

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Goodfellas (1990)

9/10

The F-Word is used 246 times... and I don't remember a single one

8 June 2004

"After Joe Pesci's mother had seen the film, she told her son that the movie was good, but asked him if he had to swear so much."

Sure, there have been lots of good gangster movies. But this one seems to be so different. I mean, there's the "What do you mean I'm funny scene?" There the guy who says everything twice "I'm gonna go get the papers, get the papers." There the kid who gets shot in the foot for being slow with the drinks. And there's the amazing story of Henry Hill as he becomes part of the gangster world, becoming friends with fellow gangsters Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci, getting involved in drug, murder, crime, while having a wife, having kids, having a mistress, living the good life, getting high, turning in his friends, becoming part of a Witness Protection program, betraying everything that he had and grew to love and hate, doing the right and good thing but missing it all so terribly much in the end, all while giving amazing commentary to the whole movie, with wit, humor, tragedy, and a lot of cuss words. The most truthful and one of the best gangster movies was made in 1990, directed by Martin Scorsese. They were goodfellas.

My grade: 9/10

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Amarcord (1973)

10/10

Bulls in foggy forests

8 June 2004

Fellini became known as the most lustful, showy, complex, and touching filmmaker around. He gave his audience images that would not leave their mind: a snowball fight in the middle of a town suddenly interrupted by falling peacock feathers in a snowstorm, a man being tied to the rope and thrown up into the air like a kite, a young boy walking through a foggy forest and silently watching an escaped bull walk past, an adolescent sucking on the enormous breasts of a voluptuous woman, an entire town going out to sea in canoes to meet an enormous boat, a midget nun climbing a tree to retrieve a mad uncle, the image of a dirty Saraghina sitting in a dirty green dress on the beach looking back at a young boy and smiling, two teenagers getting married with the blessing of a giant Mussolini, and the entire town burning their furniture. These sometimes beautiful, sometimes disturbing images provoke thought, stir the mind, and silently haunt as a meaning behind all of them tries to be discovered.

My grade: 10/10

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La Dolce Vita (1960)

9/10

"You are mother, sister, lover, friend, angel, devil, earth, home. "

8 June 2004

" You are the first woman on the first day of creation. You are mother, sister, lover, friend, angel, devil, earth, home. " The main character of Fellini's La Dolce Vita says this to a movie star he has become infatuated with. Some say that La Dolce Vita represents the seven deadly sins on the seven hills of Rome: seven nights of sin and seven mornings of guilt and confusion. This theory is interesting. But either way, La Dolce Vita, almost three hours long, captivates you from beginning to end.

About midway into La Dolce Vita, a character says: "Don't be like me. Salvation doesn't lie within four walls. I'm too serious to be a dilettante and too much a dabbler to be a professional. Even the most miserable life is better than a sheltered existence in an organized society where everything is calculated and perfected." The main character of the film envies that speaker. He sees in the speaker everything that he has ever wanted to be: secure, and yet willing to admit his faults. By saying: `Don't be like me,' the speaker only sparks more envy. This speaker is a man who knows who he is, what he wants, what he likes and dislikes, where he is going. He's a man of humility and pride, of joy and sadness. The main character is never able to achieve what this man has. In fact, he finds no answers, only confusion. He spends long nights in darkness in sin, only to re-emerge with faded hope at dawn. Throughout his career, Federico Fellini made films in which he questioned himself, to know himself, to find answers. He strove to be that speaker with the soft, confident voice. He was never able to. His films were reflections on himself, and the main character was often just a form of him.

But most of the beauty of this movie lies in the images. A sea monster lying dead and open-eyed on a beach, two people talking to each other through a well in a wall, thousands of people flocking around two children who claim to have seen the Virgin, a blonde woman bathing in the Trevi Fountain, and a helicopter flying a statue of Jesus Christ over the streets of Rome.

My grade: 9/10

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The Agronomist (2003)

7/10

Jean Dominique's teeth

7 June 2004

The Agronomist, a documentary film by Johnathon Demme, director of Silence of the Lambs and Philadelphia, was made over the course of a decade in Demme's free time about the Haitian radio journalist. When Dominique was killed, this movie became about a martyr story for the people. Demme does a decent job with the confusing tale, but his documentary style might border on boring if it weren't for the astounding presence of Dominique himself. He is a wildly eccentric man, and very funny to watch, especially with his large white teeth and folding face. But you know while you're watching him that he's also very serious. This is at the same time a political movie and the study of an endlessly interesting man. It is a movie that sides with the Democratic, but to call it a Liberal movie is unfair, since the Democratic interests in Haiti are on a much different scale than those of America. Their interests were freedom, every day life. To them, Clinton was a chance for freedom and democracy, and I respect that. There are wonderful sequences such as when they talk about his love of film and agriculture. He was "an agronomist without any land." This is a moving picture that offers a lot of insight into the Haitian culture, and lets us see it through the eyes of this wonderful little man.

My grade: 8/10

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The Ring (2002)

6/10

Enjoyable Movie

7 June 2004

The Ring is a film starring Naomi Watts and Daveigh Chase (from Donnie Darko and Spirited Away). Personally, I did not find this movie scary, even the infamous "walking out of the TV" part. It follows a woman who is trying to uncover the mystery of a mysterious videotape and why people die 7 days until they die. Naomi Watts is that woman and she is a journalist and very good at uncovering the mystery, while both she and her son must race against time because they have both received the mysterious phone call saying they had seven days. This is a movie that does not follow the conventional, commercial means of getting a cheap scare, and it is above average with its intelligence. The answers to all of the mystery are very interesting, but sometimes this movie borders on silliness. It was remade from the Japanese movie Ringu, which is much more praised and also much more scary. Both of these movie use the use of technology as means of fright: videotapes, telephone calls, etc. This is an enjoyable movie, but not very scary.

My grade: 7/10

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Red Dragon (2002)

Skims the surface of Silence of the Lambs

7 June 2004

Red Dragon is a film starring Anthony Hopkins, Ed Norton, Harvey Keitel, Ralph Fiennes, Emily Watson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Mary Louise Parker. Although it is better than the failure Hannibal, it is only marginally okay compared to brilliant Silence of the Lambs and suffers sometimes from silliness. This is a prequel to Silence of the Lambs and a sort of remake of Manhunter, directed by Michael Mann. This time, the villain is not Hannibal, as he is locked up the whole movie, but Ralph Fiennes. Will Graham, played by Ed Norton, is consulting Hannibal in much the same way the Clarice did, except Graham knew Hannibal before he was locked up. In this movie we get to glimpse the kind of man that Hannibal was before he started his perverse acts, and these flashbacks and anything with Graham and Hannibal is well done. The weakness of the film and the silliness lies in the plethora of extra characters, such as Hoffman and Keitel. They distract us from the relationship between Hannibal and Graham and there is not nearly so much of the tension as there was in Silence of the Lambs. Fiennes as the killer is efficient and you can tell he's acting very hard. However, his whole role is overdone. Emily Watson gives the best performance in the movie as his blind love interest. I enjoyed this movie. It was much better than Hannibal, and was a very above average thriller. But unfortunately it must be viewed along side Silence of the Lambs, and because of that, it suffers.

My grade: 7/10

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Memento (2000)

8/10

Shamelessly Twisting

7 June 2004

Memento, an independent thriller starring Guy Pearce, Carrie Ann-Moss, and Joe Palantino and directed by Christopher Nolan, has earned a lot of praise recently and is extremely high on the IMDB Top 250 list. This is not a real-life gritty movie, nor it is fantastical. It is not your average Film Noir type thriller, nor is it your average 'twist at the end' thriller. This is one of the most confusing movies ever made, and to say that it's not in chronological order would be putting it lightly. But, if you like movies with lots of twists and lots of psychological turns, then this is one of the best out there. It follows a man with short-term memory loss, played by Pearce. He reminds himself of who/what/where/when/why he is with photographs. But as his past and mission emerges, and the pieces fit more and more together, this movie just gets better and better. This is a very good movie, and as I said, if you like puzzles, you can't get much better than this.

My grade: 8/10

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