Movie Update 39

You know the drill.

Charade


A comedy/thriller/romance thing starring an aging Cary Grant and a still young looking Audrey Hepburn, who try to track down some money her husband stole before his death before they get killed themselves. It's sort of like an Alfred Hitchcock movie that doesn't take itself quite as seriously, with plenty of twists and turns in its mystery and plenty of murders getting dramatically discovered. The script is really fun and never stops adding new elements, though by the end I was really wondering if so much deception by certain characters was really necessary or advisible. An entertaining movie nonetheless.

The Game


One of David Fincher's earlier films, and another one with a script that packs plenty of memorable moments and surprises but doesn't quite end up telling a believable story. Michael Douglas is a wealthy businessman who perhaps takes his job too seriously, and whose life is turned upside down when his brother (played by Sean Penn in a small but interesting part) gives him the birthday gift of a "game" from a company that promises to make his life exciting and unpredictable in the spirit of fun. Things start to go horribly wrong, and you're left to wonder whether it's all part of the game or if the company is actually out to get him and the money he controls. I couldn't really take the premise seriously because it was just too elaborate for anyone to really pull off, but I still enjoyed the movie for Douglas' increasingly perplexed and unhinged performance and Fincher's direction, which was already distinctly in his own style.

The Motorcycle Diaries


A movie about a bike trip that Che Guevara took around South America with his friend and wrote about himself, one that turned him from a normal upper class Argentinian into a political revolutionary who would eventually become one of the world's most notorious radical communists. The movie doesn't go too far into what he would eventually become, but inequality is definitely a bit part of the story, and Guevara is portrayed very sympathetically, almost saintlike in his devotion to honesty and helping people when he can. Ignoring any thoughts you might have about the movie politically, I thought it was a well shot and beautiful movie, if sometimes a boring or tedious one. Not great, but it was certainly interesting to see the perspective.

OSS 117: Cario, Nest of Spies


Before director Michel Hazanavicius and stars Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo made this year's Best Picture frontrunner (I'm guessing) The Artist, they collaborated on this, another tribute to older cinema, though in this case it's 50s and 60s spy movies rather than silent film, and more overtly parodic. Dujardin stars as 117 a suave and talented French secret agent who is sent to clean up a mess in Cairo after his old buddy and partner gets killed while undercover. He meets a local played by Bejo who acts as his liaison in Egypt, and then proceeds to uncover or stumble into a complex web of betrayals and conspiracies that make up the secret underground of the city. 117 is at times both the perfect agent and a joke of one, sometimes effortly dispatching an assailant or slipping into bed with an exotic beauty, sometimes being obnoxiously sexist or intolerant of Islam or missing an obvious clue. The movie slips up with a sour moment now and then, but it's most a very entertaining spoof, and Dujardin is a great leading man, meaningless comparisons to George Clooney aside. They made a sequel, and I'd like to see it soon.

Movie Update 21

Ali: Fear Eats the Soul


A German film that is somehow both very deliberately filmed and very quickly over. It tells the simple story of an older cleaning lady and a Moroccan immigrant laborer who find each other so nice that they decide to get married. They quickly realize the problems this causes when they are both ostracized and ignored by those they know, though the woman Emmi receives the brunt of the mistreatment. Eventually most people come to understand their relationship, though it happens just as it begins to splinter on its own. I really liked the plain way the movie was shot and acted, though it was a bit too sterile for me to really connect with any of it.

The Battleship Potemkin


I sort of assumed this movie would just be boring Bolshevik propaganda, but it's actually one of the most watchable silent dramas I've seen. It has a pretty short running time, and it tells the fairly interesting story of a battleship's crew rebelling against their horrible conditions, and the support they received from others. The sequence on the steps of Odessa is one of the most famous in film history, but it's far from the only memorable scene in the movie. It's just very well shot and edited together for something from the 20s, and unflinching in its depiction of their side of the story. Certainly something that can be enjoyed outside of film school.

The Manchurian Candidate


Partway through this original adaptation of the novel, I was sort of shocked by what I was seeing. An adequately filmed, mostly exciting fight scene in a movie from 1962! I had forgotten that From Russia with Love did the same thing only a year later and with better execution, but still, it was nice to see. It was just part of a pretty good political conspiracy thriller, featuring an elaborate plot by the Communists involving brainwashing of Americans who don't sound like Americans and manipulating dumb politicians. The story cuts a few corners to get where it needs to go, but ultimately it's a great, pretty early example of a darker sort of thriller that would eventually become more popular. Frank Sinatra didn't come off as a very good actor, but at least he had Janet Leigh to bounce off of.

Notorious


The other Alfred Hitchcock films I've seen to this point were either great or Psycho, so it was interesting to see something in between. Notorious didn't quite have the visceral thrills or shocking twists of some of his better work, but it's still a really well-done film, with some excellent sequences and one of his best casts. The most famous scenes involve a remarkable shot panning from the top of a stairway to a key in a woman's hand and a romantic moment that skirts regulations about the length of on-screen kisses allowed through a clever loophole, but the moments that struck me most were when its main characters were in the utmost danger while they were doing nothing but standing or walking calmly. With how bloody and loud movies tend to go these days to be exciting, it's fun to be reminded of how much Hitchcock could do with so little. Probably a really good second-tier movie for him.

Movie Update 10

A couple Best Picture winners, and a couple films that lost the award to Rebecca in 1940.

The Grapes of Wrath


I've always kind of wished I read more than one John Steinbeck book, and this didn't change that. I'm not sure how well John Ford's film translated the original story, but it's still a great movie especially because of the flavorful (especially for the 40s) dialogue and some outstanding performances. Henry Fonda is a good main character and Jane Darwell is good as the mother, and both deliver memorable speeches well. The best work though might be done by John Carradine as a former preacher who gets mixed up in the Joad family's journey. Somewhat depressing but worthwhile.

Midnight Cowboy


I usually like Dustin Hoffman, but strangely I thought he hurt this movie a little bit. His performance is generally fine, it's just the voice he puts on seems really fake and distracting. It's not too bad though, and Jon Voight is pretty outstanding in the real lead role. This is one of those movies that's full of stuff that's just wormed its way into the collective unconscious, and seeing it all play out was interesting. I found the story itself occasionally dull, though it begins and ends pretty well. It's a unique movie, and a solid one.

The Philadelphia Story


Jimmy Stewart and Cary Grant might be the two best leading men of the era, and putting them in the same movie with Katharine Hepburn, well... it's almost disappointing that the movie is just really good rather than a masterpiece. It's a solid romantic comedy if not actually a particularly funny one, with really good performances propelling a twisty little love story. It's just fun seeing all these people together, and it's just the old school Hollywood machine doing its thing well.

The Sound of Music


I liked this more than I expected I would, for some reason. Usually I don't go for this extremely family friendly kind of thing, but I don't know, it's just a pleasant experience. I almost didn't mind the nearly three hour running time. Nice songs, nice performances, nice message. Nice movie. Surprisingly funny, too. Plus it was entertaining spotting the tons of references from cartoons and other movies throughout.

His Girl Friday

His Girl Friday is a screwball comedy directed by Howard Hawks, starring Cary Grant, and relying heavily on super-rapid witty dialogue to get by, all aspects it shares with Bringing Up Baby. I didn't like it quite as much as that movie, mostly because the romantic aspect feels tacked on (which it was, the original story was about two men) and less natural, with almost all of the focus on the wacky journalism caper that drives the plot. Rosalind Russell's Hildy Johnson wants to quit the newspaper life and live quietly with her new husband in Albany, but her editor and ex-husband Walter Burns, played by Grant, wants to keep her on the payroll and in his personal life. So he concocts a number of schemes to keep her in the city and reporting on the impending execution of a convicted felon, making him look like kind of a dick, but before long she can't help herself and becomes involved in the story anyway.

What follows is a series of madcap hijinks as the two leads and the surrounding supporting cast try to undermine and out-scoop each other as they try to get to the bottom of the story and get what they want out of the situation. Hawks juggles a lot of elements pretty deftly, keeping the action frantic without things ever getting too confusing, and somehow turning what could have been a pretty dark story about crime and corruption into something that was a heck of a lot of fun. Cary Grant is great as he usually is, though I thought Russell was the real standout, usually at the center of the action and nailing every mile-a-minute monologue that gets thrown at her. The filmwork and editing feel pretty old fashioned, but the story and action keep the movie feeling pretty timeless otherwise. Damn if Hawks didn't know how to make movies.

North by Northwest

So yeah, Hitchcock was pretty darn good at this directing thing. The other movies of his I've seen to this point have been mostly similar, dark and mostly reserved suspense thrillers. Northwest is different from those; a bit lighter in tone, more out in the open, and closer to the action end of the thriller spectrum. It's also quite funny, with most of the best one liners I've seen in one of his films. As far as just a good time at the movies goes, Northwest is one of the best examples from any time in the medium's history.

Cary Grant is pretty much a perfect choice for the lead role of Roger Thornhill. He's an ad executive who gets mistaken for a secret agent, and eventually falsely accused of murder and put on the run. At first he just wants things to return to normal, but eventually it gets personal when a woman gets involved. His performance brings a lot of humanity to the central plot, which could have gotten silly and out of control if someone wasn't there to ground it. You can buy Thornhill being caught up in all this because Grant makes you. The supporting cast is good too, although less recognizable.

It's pretty astounding how many classic set pieces they were able to cram into just a couple hours, and Hitchcock films them all beautifully. The airplane at the crossroads is obviously great, with the shot where Thornhill realizes what's going on perhaps my favorite by Hitchcock that I've seen. Though it's hard to surpass the cleverness of the way he manages to leave an art auction without getting grabbed by the bad guy's men. The climax is outstanding too, with just the right amount of tension, betrayal, humor, and excitement, although the quick resolution was honestly a bit jarring at first. Still, it works for the kind of movie they were trying to make, I guess. Not my favorite film of his, but definitely the most fun so far.

Movie Update 1

I won't name all my posts like this, I'm just catching up right now.

Bringing Up Baby

I'm taking a film class this quarter and we watch a movie every week. The first was Casablanca, which I had previously seen, and is completely great. After that we saw a few silent movies, and then this, an example of the "screwball comedy" which has died out since it was released. Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn are both great actors and work well together to create a funny movie. It seems overly silly nowadays, but it works if you don't take it too seriously. It's full of sitcom situations and enjoyable fast-talking, and I guess it works if you want to see what people like to laugh at a long time ago.

The Gold Rush



One of two silent comedies we saw on the same day, Charlie Chaplin's film about recurring character "The Tramp" and his attempt to find love and riches in the cold north. I don't think he's as funny as Buster Keaton, at least in these two movies, but I think this may be a better film as far as emotional range and actual filmmaking go. It does have many funny moments, and is probably as good an example you're going to find of what silent movies were all about.

Inside Man

Denzel Washington and Jodie Foster have been two of the better actors in Hollywood for a while, and Clive Owen has only started to emerge in the last few years, but I've already grown to like him a lot. You put all three of them together in a movie with an interesting, twisty heist plot behind it and it's probably going to be pretty good. Everyone plays their part well (although what exactly Foster's character was supposed to be was a little vague), and it creates a nice tension where you aren't sure what you want to happen. Owen's bank robbery isn't quite what it appears to be, and the script is great, filled with smart dialogue and an interesting structure as scenes with the two cops interrogating the victims after the fact are spliced in to the normal narrative, leaving you guessing.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

I've got to see more movies with Robert Downey Jr. Between this and A Scanner Darkly, I've decided he's the best actor today when it comes to funny, quirky characters that you find yourself liking even if they aren't the best people. Val Kilmer is almost as funny and Michelle Monaghan is great as the girl who used to be a slut but is really just a clever, nice person at heart. All of the actors work together well in this hilarious take on a mystery movie which has some of the best narration I've ever heard. It continually tops itself with how crazy it gets, and is just extremely fun to watch.

Ocean's Twelve


Yet another movie completely stacked with big-name actors, almost to the point of absurdity. It's not as good as the remake it's a sequel of, but it still has its moments. It has a few too many music-focused montages and it doesn't really spend as much time on actual heisting as it should. It spends more time on the cat-and-mouse between the different characters and seems to be pretty far from the first.

It's got pretty enjoyable dialogue, although maybe the cast is just a little too big to give all the characters the screen-time they deserve. While they spend time fleshing out Brad Pitt's relationship with Catherine Zeta-Jones, Bernie Mac is almost completely absent and Shaobo Qin seems like a utilitarian throwaway. The big "gotcha" twist at the end is okay at first, but it seems a bit lame to me in retrospect because you don't really get a chance to figure it out yourself and it renders a very large part of the movie a complete waste of time. I enjoyed watching it, but hopefully the upcoming sequel gets back to the best parts of the whole concept.

Sherlock Jr.

The other silent comedy, maybe not as well-formed as The Gold Rush but I found it to be more enjoyable. Buster Keaton is a master of both subtle and completely physical comedy, and Sherlock Jr. contains probably the best comedic chase scene I've ever seen. It also has a great, innovative sequence involving a character stepping inside a movie screen. It's oddly structured, as the main thread is partly abandoned in favor of the movie within the movie, but it's a really pleasant watch.

Spirited Away

I've only seen a few films by Hayao Miyazaki, but I can tell he's one of the best creative minds to ever do animation. Spirited Away is endlessly inventive with setting, character, and plot, and is realized with very good, naturalistic animation. Miyazaki is great at creating realistic protagonists that you genuinely like and root for. It's one of those movies that just has a soul, with a great atmosphere that can be both frightening and heart-warming. Seriously, the guy is a genius.

Unknown

I had never heard of this small movie before I saw it, which seemed weird to me because of its great cast. The concept is interesting and is brought to execution as well as can be expected, with good acting, betrayals, mystery, and twists abound. I've seen better thrillers, but this is certainly a good one. It's a little ambiguous about what exactly happens, but it's not too hard to follow and is definitely an interesting ride.

Way Down East

A silent film by famed film pioneer and racist D.W. Griffith. The cut we saw in class was quite long, and it seemed like it took forever, but I wasn't all that bored to be honest, so I guess it's an accomplishment. It's pretty damn primitive nowadays, but back then this was groundbreaking stuff. It has funny moments and a well-structured story that reflects the values Griffith wanted to convey. The ending sequence is pretty far out there and seems out of place, but it's not a bad movie at all.