Winter Wrap-up Part One

Here are three movies that couldn't be more different! As you can see I'll watch films from pretty much any genre or time period. I only took a few notes when I watched these movies back in December so this post will be a little shorter than usual.

North by Northwest (1959)
I have seen several Alfred Hitchcock movies before but so far this one is my favorite. While I am familiar with Cary Grant I believe its his first full movie I have seen thus far. Cary Grant was the first choice to play James Bond and I bet that this film was most of the reason why.
North by Northwest was probably the first modern action movie as we have several big action scenes in many cross-country locations, fun one liners, beautiful women, and spies.
I loved the feeling of paranoia throughout the movie, especially with it being centered around an ordinary everyman. This sort of reminded me of the works of Philip K. Dick and I'd love to see somebody compare Dick's "Dark Haired Girls" to Hitchcock's "Cool Blondes."
The film is great in pretty much ever aspect: directing, writing, acting, editing. And on top of that it is just a blast to watch from start to finish.
I am stingy with my 10s as for me they are essentially a bonus. This is my most recent ten!
10/10

Freejack (1992)
Freejack was directed by Geoff Murphy, the man who also made the cult classic The Quiet Earth which I have on DVD but still need to see one of these days. As I have stated before, I love time travel movies, so Freejack had been on my "to see" list of movies for quite some time for that reason alone.
The basic story is that race car driver Alex Furlong (Emilio Estevez) is transported into the future seconds before a would-be fatal car crash to the future of 2009 (hehe). The reason for this is so that the mind of a dying billionaire named McCandless (Anthony Hopkins) can be placed in his body to allow him to live. Although Hopkins doesn't have a large role as most of the movie is about Furlong on the run from the police force of the McCandless corporation (led by none other than Mick Jagger!), I do find it odd that this was the first Anthony Hopkins movie to be released in the U.S. after The Silence of the Lambs.
Besides Mick Jagger's role as the police leader Vacendak we have another rock star in the cast, David Johansen, who plays Furlong's Agent, Brad. Johansen was the lead singer for The New York Dolls and also known for the song "Hot Hot Hot" under his Buster Poindexter persona. Johansen has done more acting than Mick Jagger and I had actually seen him in another movie before. Johansen had a memorable role in one segment of Tales from the Darkside: The Movie where he plays a hitman hired to kill a cat!
Jagger and Johansen may not be great actors, but they had fun with their roles. Unfortunately I can't say the same about the lead as Estevez is mis-cast and plays role like a stoned Marty McFly. Rene Russo does a good job as Julie, Alex Furlong's wife. However when we see her in the future 15 years later she hasn't aged at all. Now maybe this is because some anti-aging work has been done in the future but if so it is never mentioned. And I must mention that Amanda Plummer has a cameo as a gun toting nun!
There are some interesting ideas here but overall it just doesn't work as a whole. This is exactly the type of movie that needs to be re-made as it did have potential despite being underwhelming. Awhile back I made a post about remakes I would like to see and if I ever do another one this would certainly be on that list. Freejack was based on the novel "Immortality, Inc." by science fiction author Robert Sheckley so perhaps the best thing to do in this situation would be to go back to the original source material. That tactic worked wonders for John Carpenter's The Thing and in the right hands (Christopher Nolan or Duncan Jones for example) a damn fine movie could still be made out this story.
5/10

Moulin Rouge! (2001)
I am not a huge fan of musicals, but I don't hate them either. I just don't tend to seek them out even though I did some tech work behind the scenes for musicals in high school and have seen a few on Broadway.
So why did I choose to watch this movie out of all the musicals out there? I am a fan of the Nostalgia Critic and saw that he did a musical review of this movie! At first I started watching it as I only avoid his reviews of things I actually plan on seeing and this didn't seem like something I would want to watch. However, after I got a bit into his 45 minute review I just had to see it for myself and figured I would get even more out of the review if I did so, which ended up being the case.
Moulin Rouge was directed by Baz Luhrmann. The only other Luhrmann movie I have seen was Romeo + Juliet (1996) which I liked but didn't love. This is movie is made in a similar weird and over the top style. 
I liked the song mash-ups such as "Like a Virgin" being sung by Jim Broadbent!
Despite how quirky and and wacky this movie is, there is a serious ending. This is not a spoiler or a surprise as we are told this from the beginning. Moulin Rouge is a fun movie that's a bit different although not something I plan on watching again.
6/10

One down, six more posts to go!

The Artist (2011)

I was pretty busy the last couple of weeks and just didn't have time to get any posts out. I really want to get caught up so future posts after this one may be shorter than usual just to get them out and move on. There are a few movies I saw in December and January I still need to write about! Here is my post on the Best Picture Winner at 84th Academy Awards, The Artist.

The Artist (2011)
Back around the time of the Academy Awards I made a few posts about the Oscars and talked a little about The Artist even though I had not seen it at the time. I saw The Artist about a week after it won its five Oscars.

The Artist is basically a mix of Sunset Blvd., Singing in the Rain, and A Star is Born. While its probably not fair to compare it to those films since The Artist is a far more recent movie, I actually liked it more than Singing in the Rain. While I enjoyed that movie, I could never shake the feeling that I was watching a 1950s musical. With The Artist I often forgot I was watching a movie made in 2011. And to quickly touch on the other two movies I mentioned Sunset Blvd. is one of my favorite movies ever. I actually haven't seen any film version of A Star is Born yet.

The Artist got a lot of hype in the months leading up to the Oscar and of course after it won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Directing, Best Actor in a leading role, Best Original Score, and Best Costume Design. However, like anything that gets a lot of buzz, I was worried that it would not be as good as advertised. I was glad that although this is a silent film, its not just a gimmick but works perfectly with the story. Will The Artist be well remembered 10, 20, 30 years from now? Who knows, but I'm guessing it won't be one of the more well-known Best Picture winners. However, I think it will still stand out as a silent movie made in this era. I would be surprised if the success of The Artist causes more black and white films, let alone silent movies, to be made. But it would be awesome if we get more really good movies about film history.

The Artist is a silent film, but as I said before the style works very well and it never feels forced. If you have never seen a silent movie I don't think you will have trouble getting through the movie as its accessible to everyone.

The dog (Uggie) in this movie is simply fantastic. Uggie the dog was so good in fact that he won the Palm Dog Award for best canine actor at the Cannes Film Festival! I didn't even know there was an award like this until now, but Uggie certainly deserved it. I just wish he could've had an honorary Oscar!

While the basic story in The Artist has been told many times before (a famous celebrity loses his/her popularity and tries desperately to stay relevant despite continued failures), The Artist puts a new spin on this tale by the way it chooses to tell its story. Obviously this is a silent film, but we have a lot of imagery and symbolism focused on talking and speaking including an incredible dream sequence. There is also a nice scene with some great camerawork in which our main character, silent film actor George Valentin (played by Jean Dujardin) bumps into rising star Peppy Miller (played by Berenice Bejo who is underrated in this film) on a staircase. Valentin is going down and Peppy is going up, which is exactly what is happening with their acting careers.
I won't give away the ending but I'll just say that it is satisfying and a perfect fit.

Although The Artist is about Hollywood and making movies in the 1920s and 1930s, it does not use real names of studios/movies/actors. However, there is a cool scene where George Valentin, is watching one of his movies. The footage he is watching is from The Mask of Zorro (1920) starring Douglas Fairbanks with spliced in close-ups of Jean Dujardin.

The two leads were pretty much unknown to American audiences before The Artist won some Oscars, but this movies does feature some actors most people will recognize such as John Goodman and James Cromwell who are both great in supporting roles. Goodman shines as a fat cat Hollywood producer who is shifting his studio to the production of sound films. Goodman is perfectly cast as he is an actor who does a great job with facial expressions, physical humor, and has great comedic timing. While James Cromwell is a very different actor than John Goodman, he also puts in a nice performance as George Valentin's chauffeur, and perhaps only true friend. Cromwell, like the rest of the cast, have no problem with the lack of dialogue which I think is a testament to the directing and acting in this movie as I doubt most of them have done something like this before. There is even a brief cameo by Malcolm McDowell!

Here is an odd piece of trivia I noticed. The Artist and Hugo each won five Academy Awards this year. Both of them featured an actor who plays a significant role in the movie Borat! Ken Davitian (Azamat in Borat) has a small role as the owner of a pawn shop in The Artist. Meanwhile Borat himself, Sacha Baron Cohen, played the Station Inspector in Hugo.

It's debatable if The Artist should have won the Oscar for Best Picture (I didn't see all the movies nominated this year but personally would have picked The Tree of Life and the Oscars are always controversial no matter what they pick) but regardless The Artist is still a great and enjoyable movie.
9/10

I now have seven more posts to catch-up until I'm finally back on track. Each post is a wrap-up featuring three movies so that is still 21 movies to go! Six of these seven posts are a random grouping of movies while the last one will be on three films by a certain director.

Short Animation Blogathon: Aesop's Fables

This week is the Short Animation Blogathon over at Pussy Goes Grrr. I will be discussing the silent short film series, Aesop's Film Fables.

I first discovered this series while doing research for my Tales from the Archives series of posts, which is currently on hiatus. While helping out at an archives last summer one of my projects was to go through old parish monthly calendars, which are essentially church bulletins, to catalog them so that researchers could find them online. While shifting through these calendars I came across some from a church that showed movies in the 1920s and used the calendars to list what movies they were showing and when. The church would often show a short or two along with their feature film, and they apparently loved the Aesop's Fables series and they would show up in the listings quite often.

The Aesop's Fables animated shorts were created by American cartoonist Paul Terry. Terry first work was on the Farmer Al Falfa (pictured above) series which were produced at John R. Bray Studios. Terry left Bray Studios but was able to retain the Al Falfa character. In 1920 Terry partnered up with Amadee J. Van Beuren to start "Fables Studios." The first short Terry and Van Beuren produced was "The Goose That Laid The Golden Eggs" which was released on May 13th, 1921. Although the early short films in the series were about the actual Aesop's fables, they later dropped that gimmick but kept humorous morals which often had nothing to do with the story. The Aesop's Fables series was extremely popular in the 1920s. Walt Disney even said that Paul Terry was an influence on his own work which is interesting as the two would later have their works be in direct competition with each other.

One Aesop's Fables short that the church showed was called "Small Town Sheriff." The cartoon is pictured above and dates from 1927. This is also the only cartoon from the series shown by the Church (so far, as I still have more calendars to get through in the project) that is on YouTube! You can watch it here.

"Small Town Sheriff" features good ol' Farmer Al Falfa as he deals with animals who have opened a speakeasy, although they sell soda! Keep in mind that this short was made during the Prohibition era. Wacky hijinks ensue such as a cat throwing a bottle at an elephant in a top hat, a fish stealing Al Falfa's car, and a blind pig running around with a barrel strapped to its back! The cat bartender has saved a bottle of booze for Al Falfa, who then drinks it and goes on a surreal journey into space. Al Falfa meets an invisible man on the moon, gets poured out of the Big Dipper, and flies through space in a rowboat being driven by a cat! Of course it turns out that none of this really happens as he was under the influence of alcohol (seems more like LSD to me!). The animals of the town all make fun of him so Al Falfa responds by reminding them him is the sheriff and pulls out his gun and starts firing to scare them away. Overall I think the cartoon holds up pretty well, especially considering its age. There are even some nice meta jokes like the Aesop's Fables film delivery truck and Alfalfa moving a question mark over his head! "Small Town Sheriff" is silly, a lot of fun, and only six minutes long so check it out now!

In 1928 Fables Studios released "Dinner Time," the first cartoon released to the public with a synchronized soundtrack. Unfortunately for Terry and Van Beuren it was overshadowed by the release of Disney's "Steamboat Willie" one month later. Fables Studios closed in 1933 but Paul Terry then started the successful animation studio Terrytoons. The Terrytoons cartoons were distributed by 20th Century Fox. Who is the most famous Terrytoons character you ask? Why it's none other than Mighty Mouse!

Thanks for reading and please check out the other entries in the Short Animation Blogathon!

Two 2011 movies

Back in January of this year I made a post featuring 2011 movies I still want to see. Since then I have seen four movies from that year, three of which were on my list (I didn't want to see Season of the Witch which I discussed earlier this month in my Four Bad Movies post, haha). In this post I'll talk about two movies. The other 2011 movie I saw was Oscar Best Picture winner The Artist which will get its own post.

Attack the Block (2011)
This British science fiction/horror movie had been on my radar since I first heard about it last summer so I'm glad I finally got a chance to see it. Attack the Block is about a group of teenagers who defend their South London home from alien attacks. As others have pointed, out shouldn't it be called Defend the Block?

The accents and area of Britain aren't the most universal, but I didn't really have any problems understanding what the characters were saying and at the very least got the general gist of it. While I wouldn't consider Attack the Block to be a comedy, it does have some humor which keeps the tone from getting too serious.

The kids in the gang are anti-heroes. We grow to like them as the movie progresses as we find out more about their situations and who they really are. The idea of teens fighting back against aliens/monsters harkens back to 50s Sci-Fi movies like The Blob and The Giant Gila Monster.

The acting isn't great overall but these are young actors who don't have a lot of experience. John Boyega did good job as Moses, the leader of the group who resembles a young Denzel Washington. Jodie Whittaker put in a nice performance as a nurse named Sam who is a resident of the Block.
The best way I can describe the design of aliens is a cross between the xenomorphs of the Alien series and the white apes of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom book series. I quite liked the look of the aliens which are a solid mix of practical effects and CGI that works very well. I'd like to see more Hollywood movies go this route and incorporate practical effects along with CGI. Although Attack the Block had a low budget by Hollywood standards, it wasn't real cheap to make as it had an estimated $13 million (US Dollars) budget.

Another movie that I thought of while watching Attack the Block was Super 8, which also came out in 2011. Both movies involve kids and an alien threat but approach their stories in very different ways.
This is the first movie by director Joe Cornish and a nice debut. I'm already looking forward to his next film! Cornish did a good job with a low budget but maybe he'll have more to work with next time.
7/10

Hobo with a Shotgun (2011)
After Grindhouse came out in 2007 (a movie I still need to see) there was a contest for people to make their own fake trailers for grindhouse movies. The winner of the contest was a trailer called Hobo with a Shotgun which got made into its own movie!

Although Hobo with a Shotgun is a sleazy exploitation movie, there is suprisingly little nudity and sex in the movie with the main exception being one scene of topless women beating up a guy hanging from a ceiling!
I was blown away by the great performance by Rutger Hauer. Hauer is always great but I wasn't expecting great acting in a movie titled Hobo with a Shotgun! The unnamed Hobo an unknown who comes to a corrupt town looking for a new life but only finds crime, desperation, and murder. The Hobo is basically Batman or The Punisher but homeless and dirt poor. I am glad we are never given the hobo's back story as it would have ruined the mystery behind the character. Hauer holds the movie together and without him as the lead it would not have been as good or perhaps turned into a spoof. Hauer takes the character very seriously and against all odds makes it work. I had already seen the trailer for this movie before I watched it so i knew his monologue in the hospital but it was still fantastic. His role is where the movie really shines. The other actors in the movie aren't very good. Now I'm pretty sure they are supposed to be over the top because this is a throwback to exploitation movies, but (unlike the original fake trailer) Hauer plays it straight so I'm not sure what to think.

Unlike the similar movie Machete, Hobo doesn't have much fun in its approach and is brutal with a depressing tone even though both movies are doing a lot of the same things. When there is humor in Hobo its very dark humor. I haven't seen that many grindhouse movies so I don't know if that is what I should be expecting or not. Despite the violence and gore, most of the kills aren't very creative or interesting ( with one or two exceptions) and its gets repetitive fast. I am fine with intense violence but was more turned off by how grim things were with very little to lighten the mood. The makers of Hobo with a Shotgun seemed to have set out to make a dirty trashy little picture, and they certainly succeeded in doing just that. Exploitation and Grindhouse covers a lot of material and this is in the more extreme territory of stuff like Anthropophagus and Cannibal Holocaust (though not a cannibal movie but in terms of violence, gore, and tone).

"The Plague" were interesting villains.They basically served the Boba Fett type role of unknown badasses with cool costumes who get called upon by the big bad (the Drake) when he can't defeat the hero to seal the deal. There is a bizarre scene in their hideout where they have a squid creature in their box. It doesn't make any sense and is never explained. Perhaps this is a reference to something from a grindhouse movie that went straight over my head. Or maybe its there to show that this doesn't take place in our universe? But if that is the case I figured that one out long before I saw the octopus/tentacles/Cthulhu. Perhaps it was just meant to be random and funny but if so it just didn't fit in with the bleak tone.

Overall I still feel that the original trailer (and even the real trailer for this movie) works better as a short than as a full-length movie. The first trailer made for the contest was more tongue-in-cheek and humorous than the movie we actually got. While I liked this movie and it was decently made, it's not something I plan on watching again. I know that the point of the movie was to not hold anything and I give credit to Hobo with a Shotgun for making this type of movie with no apologies. Although the movie had a limited theatrical release I think it will gain a bit of a cult following. Hobo with a Shotgun certainly isn't for everyone and it went unrated in the US. If you can get past the violence and gore, are into grindhouse and exploitation flicks, or are a huge Rutger Hauer fan will probably like it. Otherwise this movie probably won't be your cup of tea, or should I say bag of blood in this case.

Similarly to Hobo with a Shotgun, Machete was based on a fake trailer in Grindhouse. Although I liked Machete better, I feel that Hobo with a Shotgun was closer to an original grindhouse film (or perhaps a Troma film as some people have mentioned though I have yet to see any of those) as it was set in 70s/80s, had a much lower budget, and didn't have celebrity cameos. That said, I haven't seen that many old school grindhouse/exploitation movies so I'm not really sure how close it is. Although its not directly related, my favorite movie along the lines of these is Black Dynamite. I wrote about it earlier on this blog but I loved how it was able to be a blaxploitation movie that looked like it was made in the 70s as well as being a parody and loving homage to them at the same time.
6/10

As I alluded to earlier my next post (after a special blogathon post) will be on The Artist. After that I will be doing a series of wrap-up post that feature three movies a piece. Most of these are randomly grouped just so I can catch up on the remaining movies I have seen since December. And in case you were wondering, one of these wrap-up will feature my thoughts on Machete!

Four More Mid-80s Movies

Fletch (1985)
Fletch is based on 1974 novel of the same name by Gregory McDonald which launched a popular series. I haven't read the book of any others in the series so I don't how close on an adaptation this is.
Chevy Chase is hilarious as I.M. Fletcher, an investigative news reporter. Chase did a lot of ad-libbing and there is plenty of rapid fire wordplay that reminded me of Groucho Marx.
The mystery here is actually pretty interesting and I wonder if it was played more straight in the books. The basic set-up is that while Fletch is undercover as a junkie to write a drug story, a rich man named Alan Stanwyk (played by Tim Matheson) asks Fletch to murder him for money because he is dying of cancer so that Stanwyk's family can collect money from his life insurance.
Although the movie is only 98 minutes there is some filler. For example, there is a dream sequence in which Fletch imagines he is a member of the Los Angeles Lakers. While this was pretty funny, it was already established he was a Lakers fan and this scene just slowed down the story. It would've been funnier if this wasn't a dream, and was somehow actually involved with the plot. For example, maybe Fletch could've been spying on Alan Stanwyk at a Lakers game by pretending to be some European basketball player the Lakers just signed. One sub-plot that is brought up is that Fletch is behind on alimony payment to his ex-wife which is why he sneaks into his apartment. However, after this scene it is completely dropped. Maybe it is just a recurring joke in the book series?
The music is very dated and it doesn't get much more 80s than this soundtrack. That said, I do like the main theme by Harold Faltermeyer, who also did music for the mid-80s movies Beverly Hills Cop and Top Gun.
Besides star Chevy Chase and the already mentioned Tim Matheson the supporting cast is very good and includes M. Emmet Walsh, William Sanderson, (Both who were in Blade Runner) George Wendt, Geena Davis, Joe Don Baker, Kenneth Mars, and the first credited film role for James Avery. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar even plays himself!
7/10

Black Moon Rising (1986)
I wanted to see this movie because the story was by John Carpenter who is also credited as co-screenwriter. Black Moon Rising was one of three movies (the others being Eyes of Laura Mars and Halloween II) where Carpenter got a writing credit but did not direct. I am a big John Carpenter fan and eventually want to see all of his films. I wouldn't count this one as he didn't direct it, so I'll just consider it a bonus Carpenter movie!
Black Moon Rising is a high tech thriller about a thief named Quint (played by Tommy Lee Jones) hired by the FBI to steal a data tape they plan on using as evidence against a corrupt company. Quint gets with the theft but has to hide the tape in a prototype super car because he is about to be searched. The car, Black Moon, then gets stolen by a top car thief. Quint works with the car's inventors to track down and steal back both the car and the tape.
The "Black Moon" is the cool, rare 1980 Wingho Concordia II. In the movie the car has a rear view camera which is pretty cool since we have this technology.
Tommy Lee Jones takes a beating as Quint and did most of own stunts. Jones does a good job of playing a rogue hero. While the movie stars Tommy Lee Jones, we also have Linda Hamilton as Nina, a car thief and our female lead. This was Hamilton's first movie made after The Terminator. There are also a bunch of character actors I recognized such as William Sanderson (he's in two movies in this post), Bubba Smith, Keenan Wynn, and Dan Shor. I also noticed Don Keith Opper who played Max 404 in Android (1982).

There is a cool scene where we see from the perspective of a deaf man and no sound or music is heard. It didn't really fit with the rest of the movie but at least they were trying something different.
It feels like there could have been more at stake with and this leads to some slow scenes. I guess they were trying for a moody atmosphere but it doesn't quite fit for an action/thriller with a huge figurative ticking time bomb (he needs to get the tape in the car in less than two days). There is more action with the heist at the end but I feel that the heist scene should have been longer. The movie gives us a lot of set-up for Quint's attempt to get the tape back and I would've liked a bigger payoff.
While the music is dated, the real problem is that it doesn't fit with the tone of the movie. One of the things I love about John Carpenter is how he usually scores his own films, something not many directors do. I wish Carpenter could have done the music but I guess at the time he was too busy making Big Trouble in Little China which I also suspect was why he didn't direct the movie.
I am curious as to why Carpenter didn't direct and couldn't find a reason online. Instead Harley Cokeliss, probably best known for his work on Kevin Sorbo's Hercules TV series in the 90s, was the director. Black Moon Rising has its moments and the story has potential, but in the end it just doesn't work. I'm sure the movie would've have been better with Carpenter at the helm.
Black Moon Rising was made by New World Pictures, who also produced several Roger Corman films. New World Pictures and Empire Pictures were the kings of 1980s B-Movies.
5/10

The Name of the Rose (1986)
I love Drew Struzan and plan on making a post his awesome movie posters sometime. However, this poster is totally misleading and doesn't fit with the style of the movie. The poster makes The Name of the Rose look like a fantasy comedy while its actually realistic and serious. I don't blame Struzan though, the marketing people should have just gotten somebody else for this job. Struzan's work here is nice but certainly not one of his better posters. It basically copies the layout of his Raiders of the Lost Ark poster. That said, I would like to see more movie posters that are hand drawn and painted. But this is one of the few instances where I actually prefer the various VHS, DVD, and Blu-Ray covers to the actual poster.
Like Fletch, The Name of the Rose is based on a book (by Italian author Umberto Eco) which I haven't read. Unlike Fletch, this movie is historical fiction that takes place during the early 14th century in northern Italy.
The title is said to be unexplained in the book (and perhaps just chosen randomly because it sounds nice) and its also up to interpretation in the movie.
Sean Connery plays our main character, the Franciscan friar William of Baskerville. As you might guess by the name, he is partially modeled after Sherlock Holmes.William's young novice is Adso (played by
Christian Slater) who helps William try to discover who is getting away with murder at the Benedictine Abbey they have recently arrived at.
I've only now noticed a trend in this post: all four movies have nice supporting casts. The Name of the Rose features F. Murray Abraham, Ron Perlman, William Hickey, Michael Lonsdale, and Feodor Chaliapin Jr.
There is only one female character in the film, a peasant girl, but she has an important role despite her limited screen time.

The Name of the Rose has nice atmosphere with a slow but steady pacing that works with the story. Perhaps this is because it is a European movie (Germany, France, Italy) though its an English language film. Of course Latin is spoken too!
The director of this film is Jean-Jacques Annaud, who also made Seven Years in Tibet and Enemy at the Gates, two movies I quite liked. Annaud clearly does a good job at world history movies, I'll have to check out more of his films sometime.
It is interesting to have a medieval murder mystery (although there is more to this movie than just that) since guns don't play a part at all. Sure there are modern day murder mysteries where this is the case, but in this film its not even in the picture. The mystery is further deepened by a well-designed labyrinth.
There is not a lot of music which is nice. The music we do have is from the period such as the monks singing.
The character of Bernardo Gui (F. Murray Abraham) is not introduced until more than an hour into the movie. Screenwriting teachers will probably tell you not to do this but it works here since there was a nice build up with the character being talked about several times before the audience actually sees him. Introducing a major character later on also worked in Fargo, although obviously in a different way.
I'm not an expert on the Middle Ages even though I have a big interest in history and I've taken some college classes about the period. That said, this movie seems to be much more accurate than most medieval movies. Like The Seventh Seal it might not get the facts 100% correct, but I feel both movies do a great job of expressing the feeling and setting of medieval life.
8/10

Platoon (1986)
Platoon is the first Oliver Stone movie I have seen. This Vietnam movie won four Oscars (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Editing, Best Sound) and nominated for four more so I figured it would be a good place to start!
The directing and cinematography are top notch.I saw the movie in HD and it looked wonderful. Stone actually fought in Vietnam so it seems that a lot of his first hand experiences are fictionalized in this movie which give it a great sense of realism. We always see from the point of view of the American soldiers and never even get a good look at the Vietcong. Platoon is an intense war film but its action scenes do not glorify the violence it depicts.
The music was quite good. I loved the score and the 60s song did a good job of setting the time period.
The ensemble cast is fantastic. The lead role is played by Charlie Sheen who I am mostly familiar with in comedy roles. I didn't know he could act this well but he did a great job here. Tom Berenger and Willem Dafoe play the bad guy and good guy leaders of the platoon although that is simplifying it a bit. John C. McGinley, Forest Whitaker, Keith David, Kevin Dillon, and Johnny Depp all have early roles here.
Sheen and Berenger would later star in Major League, a movie that is nothing like this one!
9/10

A double shot of 80s Anime

I generally don't watch much anime but have friends who do. I like it alright, but I'm the type of person who likes pretty much every genre of film, as long as its good! Both of these are from 1986 although I didn't plan that.

Fist of the North Star (1986)
Fist of the North Star features some gorgeous animation despite the fact that a lot of it takes place in a dirty, post-apocalyptic setting.
I liked it as the movie was violent fun yet still more intelligent than the anime below.
The story could be better but this was based on a Manga so it seems they had to condense a lot of it to fit the 110 minutes run time. Plus who watches this for the story, they just want to see a bunch of heads explode!
There actually is a live action version of Fist of the North Star but I've heard its pretty bad. Oh, I should mention that I watched the English subtitles for this movie.
6/10

M.D. Geist (1986)
I watch this with a group of friends right after we saw The Land Before Time XIII. This direct-to-video anime is pretty much the exact opposite of that children's movie as M.D. Geist is not just violent as hell but also features a topless woman! Although I don't watch much anime, MD (stands for Most Dangerous soldier) Geist has a reputation amongst anime lovers for being awesomely bad and it certainly upholds that high standard! I had actually seen this before awhile ago with a friend and it holds up as being a lot of fun even though it is incredibly stupid.
M.D. Geist liberally rips off every action movie of the 1980s with the main two being The Road Warrior and Escape from New York. I watched the director's cut as the animation in the original is said to be so choppy there is even a scene where you can see Geist's head flapping in the wind! M.D. Geist clocks in at a mere 45 minutes and is exact what you want if you are looking for silly over the top fun. I almost always go with subtitles when it comes to foreign language films but this time I recommend the English dub as its hilarious. There actually is a sequel to M.D. Geist which I will have to check out sometime.
I wouldn't say this is good, but I always have a blast watching it! M.D. Geist is a textbook definition of "so bad, its good".
5/10

Three Great Movies

All three of these films are on Roger Ebert's list of Great Movies.

Duck Soup (1933)
Duck Soup is first Marx Brothers movie I have seen even though I was already familiar with Groucho Marx.
I was surprised to see that even though there is plenty of comedy, the movie doesn't have much of a plot. The brand of humor here was way ahead of its time and greatly influential to everything from Looney Tunes to Teller (of Penn & Teller who doesn't talk and acts like Harpo in some way) to Cartoon Network's Adult Swim shows which often make use of stock footage in a humorous context similar to what happens during the hilarious war scene.
Duck Soup features the well known mirror scene which has been parodied in everything from The Three Stooges to Bugs Bunny cartoons. Although the mirror scene had been done before in film, it is performed a bit differently here and in excellent fashion.
I didn't care as much for the scenes with Harpo bothering a lemonade seller. These scenes feel almost like something out of a silent film comedy. Of course that is not why I didn't like it, I just felt these parts didn't really fit in with the rest of the movie. Also I'm just a such a big fan of Groucho's word play as opposed to physical comedy that I wanted more scenes with him! Groucho as Rufus T. Firefly was simply amazing and its one of the greatest comedy roles ever, as well as one of the most memorable in all of cinema.
9/10

Double Indemnity (1944)
The director of Double Indemnity is Billy Wilder, who also directed one of my favorite movies, Sunset Blvd. I am familiar with Fred MacMurray from his Disney movies like The Absent-Minded Professor and The Shaggy Dog as well as his TV show My Three Sons. However, he usually played good/nice guys so it was interesting to see him in a different type of role earlier in his career. MacMurray plays Walter Neff, an insurance salesman. Neff visits the home of Phyllis Dietrichson (played by Barbara Stanwyck) who eventually convinces him to help kill her husband but make it look like an accident or should I say "accidentally on purpose". Since Neff is an expert at the insurance business, he knows all the tricks of the trade to get away with the deed while few will suspect him.
Stanwyck's wig is a little ridiculous and even though it was Wilder's idea, he didn't realize how bad it looked until it was too late to re-shoot the earlier scenes. Even though the bad wig wasn't really intentional, I actually think this fits with her character as it makes sense that Phyllis would wear a wig to hide something from her past.
There seems to be an implied sexual relationship between Neff and Phyllis. Although this ambiguity is because of the Hayes Code, it does makes sense within context of film as Neff is recording his story for Keyes and probably wouldn't go into detail about that aspect of his story.
Edward G. Robinson has a supporting role as Barton Keyes, Neff's boss at the insurance company. Although I already knew who Robinson was, this is actually the first movie I've seen with him. While Robinson doesn't have as much screen time as MacMurray or Stanwyck, I'm surprised he didn't get an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor as he stole every scene he was in.

Double Indemnity was groundbreaking at the time for two main reasons. First, it is a crime thriller that does not have a police officer or detective as the main character. Law enforcement play a very small role in the movie since our story is told through the eyes of those trying to commit and get away with a crime. Even though this had been done before, it would usually be in gangster movies where the police would still have a strong on-screen presence.
Second, we are told "whodunit" at the beginning of the movie by our main character. At the beginning of the film Neff is shown dictating and recording the story from his perspective to give to Keyes. Wilder's Sunset Blvd. would later use its main character as a narrator in a similar way.
Double Indemnity also features an early example of the film trope that a car won't start at a crucial moment which we still see in recent movies.
Double Indemnity was nominated for seven Oscars but unfortunately didn't win any. It's main competition was the musical Going My Way which won seven Oscars that year.
The "alternate" ending would have been unnecessary as what would have shown is implied in the end anyway so I'm glad they cut it. Double Indemnity is a master of subtext and suspense that I really enjoyed. It is only the second Billy Wilder film I have seen and I loved both so I'll have to make it a point to check out more of his work.
9/10

The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
The Bridge on the River Kwai is historical fiction that is based on the novel by Pierre Boulle (who also wrote the book for Planet of the Apes) which in turn is inspired by true events of the Burma Railway during World War II. The actual situation was a lot worse for British POWs and they did not collaborate with the Japanese in building the bridge. I am fine with a story taking liberties with true events (as long as it is clear it isn't a docudrama which is the case here) since it makes me want to go out and learn more about what actually happened.
The Bridge on the River Kwai was directed by David Lean and this is the first film I have seen from this talented director.
Probably the most memorable scene from the movie is when the POWs whistle the catchy Colonel Bogey March. I saw this movie over a month ago and its still stuck in my head!
William Holden plays Shears, the American POW. While Holden does a great job as usual, I found myself more interested in the building of the bridge than his story to go back and attempt to blow up the bridge. These scenes were well done, its just that I found the other story and characters were more compelling.
The Bridge on the River Kwai won seven Oscars, including a win for the fantastic cinematography by Jack Hildyard.
Alec Guiness won his only Oscar for this film and was fantastic as Lt. Colonel Nicholson, the leader of the British POWs. Sessue Hayakawa played Colonel Saito, and although this his is most well-known role for today's audiences, he was hugely popular in silent films and was the first Asian-American movie star. Although Hayakawa was nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, I wish he had won for his great performance.
The ending is tense and a perfect conclusion to the film.
9/10