February 27, 2010
Cimarron
Cimarron was the first Western to win the Outstanding Production award (later to be renamed Best Picture) in the midst of the Great Depression. Like the films of its time it took a while to get the plot moving. The film is just over two hours and it really wasn’t until the last 20 minutes did the plot start progressing. It was great film even though it was slow in some areas and I think it captured a lot of the issues during that time. The portrayal of ethnic minorities in the film was probably one of the more interesting aspects of the film. Most of the ethnic minorities did seem to play into the stereotypes of the time and most of the major characters did reinforce that. All except the male lead who seemed to be more understanding and sympathetic toward those individuals. Overall a very enjoyable film.
February 27, 2010
An American In Paris
Well I must say that An American In Paris was not what I was expecting. Now don’t get me wrong. I knew it was a musical and that it starred Gene Kelly so I knew there was gonna be some dancing. I just didn’t know how crazy the dancing would be. The 18 minute ballet sequence at the end was just plain nuts. Colorful costumes, elaborate sets, and tons of dancers made it just a technicolor trip fest. I couldn’t help to think that a least a few people out there probably dropped some acid and watched it. The plot of the movie was good but everything that happened in the movie only seemed to serve Gene Kelly’s character. A rich society woman discovers him in the market selling his paintings and eventually falls in love with him. Then he starts seeing another woman on the side who is engaged to his friend. In the end he gets the girl on the side with no consequences. Overall it was a good film but not as strong as other musicals I have seen.
February 12, 2010
Rebecca
Watched Rebecca last night and it was a great film. This was Alfred Hitchcock’s first American film. As with most of the early Oscar winners it was slow in spots but overall a fantastic film. The soundtrack of the film seemed to replace the lack of sound effects in places. If something was dramatic then the music was loud and slightly faster. If you saw someone walking the strings played pizzicato notes in close time with their pace. It had a great twist at the end that M. Night Shyamalan could learn a thing or two about.
January 30, 2010
The Sting
The Sting was an excellent movie. Slow in a couple of spots but an overall great movie with a nice twist in the end too. Not like those M. Night Shyamalan films where the twist is sometimes just plain crazy. I wasn’t sure how old Robert Redford’s character was suppose to be as they seem to treat him like a kid throughout most of the film. At the time he made the film he was close to 37 years old. Robert Shaw was awesome and Paul Newman was equally good.
