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***
James Cameron's sequel to Ridley Scott's classic is as exciting and innovative as its predecessor. I still don't think it is the masterpiece that it is hailed as, but Weaver's Ripley is certainly an iconic action heroine. That shot of the aliens up in the ceiling will definitely give me nightmares. The Alien franchise, including the Alien Vs. Predator installment, is a lot of fun.
As this film, inspired by H.G. Wells, opens, I was pretty impressed with its premonition about a major war that crosses the globe. When said war lasts 30 years, wipes out most of the human race, and leads civilization into a cliched futuristic utopia...it got a little corny. I was impressed by the effects this movie pulled off back in 1936, but the acting is hammy and the message is a bit ridiculous, especially when the filmmakers were about 100 years off on their prediction of a flight to the moon. "Progress!!! Why Always PROGRESS!!! Can't the human race just relax??" See what I mean??
Nothing really happens in this movie, but with Bogart's charisma and the ridiculous quartet of Robert Morely, Peter Lorre, Ivor Bernard, and Marco Tulli...BEAT THE DEVIL is a lot of fun. I think they were all trying to figure out how to stake claim to an African Uranium deposit while stranded in Italy, but the movie is about how clueless brilliant people can be, how anxious being stranded can make people, and how interchangable love and marriage can be. No grand scheme lke other Bogart movies; just simple, enjoyable, light-heartedness.
** 1/2
Oh my God!!! It's CORTISONE!!! This is one of those medical paranoia movies where a timid family man takes Cortisone for a life-threatening disease, only to turn psychotic. I guess this is because the drug was discovered only a few years before th film, because today, people inject Cortisone pretty readily to help sore knees. The whole movie reminded me of the Simpsons episode where Bart takes Focusyn, and goes a bit bonkers, but wants to protect his regiment. It is a bit silly, but I can't say that I wasn't entertained. Oh...and is that Walter Matthau??
It is strange that soon after seeing the masterful CITIZEN KANE, I witness another Orson Welles film that pales so thoroughly in comparison. The story is pretty simple...where Welles plays a Nazi war criminal in hiding and Edward G. Robinson is the FBI man hell bent on discovering him. I even liked Welles' performance...but there is no "big scene", no elaborate direction or set design...and ultimately...nothing distinguishing.
Truly horrifying, truly grotesque, and completely impressive. I feel like I have seen movies like this forever...movies where an alien life form can take the form of humans, and humans become increasingly paranoid about each other. Never before has it been done so well as in this film. The make-up effects could be cheesy and silly in a lesser movie, but John Carpenter makes them nightmarish. I can't believe I had never seen this film before.
*** 1/2
I was thoroughly surprised by this movie. I thought this movie was going to be an adventure about prospecting for gold...not the archetypal expression of greed, mistrust, and an almost Shakespearean tragedy. Bogart is quite a bastard in this film, and I loved Walter Houston as the grizzled, old prospector. This isn't an adventure movie at all...it is a deep, psychological exercise showing how money can corrupt and pervert friendships. Very impressive and classic.
I loved 2001's VANILLA SKY, which Cameron Crowe made as an almost shot-for-shot remake of this film, OPEN YOUR EYES. I think I even like the Spanish original more than VANILLA SKY for a few reasons. First, the explantion is spelled out at the end much more clearly, and even though I figured it all out at the end of VANILLA SKY, it took a LOT of imagination and work. OPEN YOUR EYES rewards you for your patience, VANILLA SKY tested it. I also LOVE Penelope Cruz in roles where she speaks her native Spanish, it makes her so much sexier and likable. What a fantastic movie.
Very Simple, very disturbing, very exciting...and after seeing DELIVERANCE, I am never going out into the Wilderness or visiting the Deep South ever again. I also will forever detest the sound of a banjo. But in all seriousness, this was a grotesquely entertaining film.
The 1950s were full of corny Sci-Fi features. THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL is one that has a bit more brain behind it...and more than its 2008 remake does. There isn't much action, and most of the film has Klaatu just talking to humans and trying to get a grasp on who they are and how they act. Sometimes the relentless dialogue gets tedious, but this film, directed by the great Robert Wise, is entertaining enough to not be pigeonholed into that B-Movie status.
****
Amazing cinematography, brilliant acting, PERFECT screenplay...but the Best Movie Ever Made?? I don't quite agree with that, but I can completely understand why it is usually chosen as such. The legend about Orson Welles, only in his mid-20s, having carte-blanche from his studio, came up with this Masterpiece.It is interesting that a movie without sex or violence, about a media mogul and his life, can hold such interest. The flashback nature of the screenplay is its brilliance, and I'd be pressed to find a better photographed film, EVER. I get it. I finally get the hooplah over CITIZEN KANE.
**
Some movies are timeless classics, but others are classics for their time. The previously seen THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD is a timeless classic, obviously dated, but no less entertaining and not that different than a movie of its kind made today. NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD is a classic for basically setting the foundation for a whole genre of horror movies, the Zombie movie. However, even though it may have been shocking and frightening in its time, the movie is too silly and too tame to really withstand the test of time. As a movie-lover whose appetite for Zombie films has previously been sated by 28 DAYS LATER and Zack Snyder's DAWN OF THE DEAD remake, Romero's original opus just doesn't do much for me.
***
I now understand why Woody Allen is always talking about how he is inspired by Ingmar Bergman. THE SEVENTH SEAL is the first film I have seen of Bergman's, and it certainly has a kind of Woody Allen feel to it (of which I am VERY well versed). In Allen films, people sit around talking about life, death, and god...and comically absurd things happen to them. In THE SEVENTH SEAL, people sit around talking about Life, Death, and God...and dramatically intense things happen to them. Watching Max Von Sydow (did this guy ever NOT look 70 years old?) play Chess with Death is a pretty iconic image, and the setting of a plague torn Sweden post-crusades is quite a environment for people to start believing that the Apocalypse is nigh. Well done, if a bit uneven and rambling at times.
When I think of THE WIZARD OF OZ, I remember how incredibly YELLOW the Yellow Brick Road was. Now, when I think of THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD, I will think of how GREEN his tights were. This film is just fantastic, full of ridiculous swashbuckling and with a saturated technicolor palette that just exudes fantasy and fun. Now I know where MEN IN TIGHTS gets its inspiration...it is from Errol Flynn's performance as Robin Hood. I just ate this movie up, with some great stunt work, production design that looks like a very ornate Rennaissance festival, and some well placed humor throughout. I mentioned THE WIZARD OF OZ before, well I believe this film is in the same league. Great Fun!!!
***
It is hard to find a more Iconic character in the history of cinema than that of Bela Lugosi's Count Dracula. For the first time, I have seen the original 1931 version of Bram Stoker's novel and I have to say...the man is INCREDIBLY suited for the role. When Renfield first showed up to Castle Dracula at the start of the film, I was astonished by the production design in this film, especially for something made in the mid 30s. But as the story moved into London, it started to drag and become less and less magical. Lugosi never wavers in his performance, but Dracula lurking around a London bedroom is not quite as mesmerizing as Dracula lurking around his own castle. Renfield does constantly steal the show with his lunacy.
Watching THE BIRTH OF A NATION was quite an experience. Never before have I been so impressed by what a film accomplished TECHNICALLY for the history of cinema whule simultaneously being shocked by how abhorrent the subject matter is. This movie is so blatantly racist, I couldn't believe my eyes. The KKK are basically portrayed as the saviours of the United States and giving the blacks any sort of freedom of power was the worst thing this country ever did. Even though it was disgusting in this respect, it was oddly entertaining to see how bigoted DW Griffith would go with the whole thing. It is truly a film relic that changed the way movies are made. People learned to use the technical merits of the film and stay the HELL away from the political message.
If there was ever a movie to scare someone out of EVER doing drugs, REQUIEM FOR A DREAM is it. This movie is truly like watching a nightmare, as we follow different addicts spiral down toward oblivion because of their addictions. Ellen Burstyn is truly a marvel as the elderly lady who starts on diet pills and gets worse, and worse, and WORSE. I also enjoyed how Marlon Wayans wasn't a complete psychotic idiot like he usually is in comedies. Darren Aronofsky is one weird, but talented filmmaker.
** 1/2
Simply incredible in its size and scope for a 1920s Sci-Fi film, but ultimately too random, overacted, and disjointed to be a REALLY good film. Most people rank this as one of the best Science Fiction films ever. Even though I agree it was trend-setting, the whole film is not much more than a labor dispute. The fact that a lot of the film was lost and the missing pieces are replaced by screens EXPLAINING what is going on really hurts the whole thing. Regardless...probably the most entertaining silent film I have seen so far, even if just for how over the top the acting is.
Not quite my favorite of Allen's films, and I certainly don't understand the ridiculous amount of attention the Oscars gave it. I can buy both Michael Caine and Dianne Weist getting Supporting Actor/Actress wins...but Best Pic, Best Director, Best ART DIRECTION noms? Not quite. I generally enjoy Allen's films in which he stars, but he seems imported from another film in this one. Regardless...it is a lot of fun and entertaining. But it's no ANNIE HALL.
**
NOSFERATU is the first cinematic "Dracula" adaptation, and most subsequent adaptations rely heavily on its influence. The silent film technique is pretty much perfect for the genre, but I have to say...the scenes where Count Orlock (Max Shreck) is not on screen are tediously boring. If it weren't for Shreck's nightmarishly perfect portrayal of the vampire, this film would simply be work to sit through. I know there is that whole..."Well, you have to realize that it was made in 1922" stuff. Well, THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI was made even earlier and is still scary and entertaining. Count Orlock is Iconic, the movie is generally a bore.
