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My second Fellini film is much more surreal and strange than the first, but it is also oddly compelling as well. The film is about a filmmaker who just doesn't know how to make his 9th film, and as he juggles his workers, his actors, and the women in his life, he often has to retreat to fantasy and dreams to keep his sanity. Often times, I found it hard pressed to know whether or not what I was seeing was real. Charlie Kaufman must have loved Federico Fellini, because when a director doesn't know what to make his movie about (Fellini) decides to make a movie about a director not knowing what to make his next movie about (8 1/2)...it is mind-bending. Fun, and I had to sleep on it to really appreciate it...but Fellini was quite a unique filmmaker.
This movie was just all over the place. Not only does it just seem to be an exhibition of Ava Gardner, but the director does not seem to have the handle on Technicolor cinema yet. There are many continuity errors with the lighting and hues and it makes it seem really makeshift. The story is all sorts of random, with Pandora having no less than 4 different men after her. One kills himself. One kills someone else. One destroys his life's work. One is the cursed captain of the Flying Dutchman. There is n attempt to break the land speed record and elaborate bullfighting...all in the same movie. hahahaha 
It is amazing to me that with such a lifelong love for baseball, I have never seen THE NATURAL. I recognize the theme, I knew the name "Wonderboy"...I just never got around to seeing it. This is truly a love letter to the sport, and if you are a huge baseball fan, it plays like a wonderful, heroic tale...even if it all that is achieved is that a middle-aged rookie plants his flag in baseball history. Great acting all around, by Redford, Close, Basinger, Brimley, and Farnsworth. I really want to go break out my mitt and bat right about now. Is there anything more glorious in sports film history than that last home run and the fireworks that ensue? 
The world depicted in STRICTLY BALLROOM is incredibly ridiculous. Ballroom dancing is everything. It is life. Nothing else...and I mean NOTHING else matters. With Baz Luhrmann at the helm, the film is infectiously fun...filled with comedy, absurdity, and of course, wonderful dancing. Just as the characters in MOULIN ROUGE are larger than life...everything in this film is over the top. It is as if winning a seemingly local dancing comeptition defines the universe. I have to say though, as you are invited to witness the dancing microcosm of this film, you can't help but be thrilled. Such a fun, unique experience...and I laughed a lot in spite of myself. 
My problem with this short film is that I wouldn't really consider it a film at all. It is a slideshow with narration. Sure, its somber sci-fi story is what inspired Terry Gilliam to make 12 MONKEYS...but if you can't comment on acting, directing, photography, or anything else....you can only comment on pictures. That isn't a movie...and it was a bit frustrating for me. The story? Neat enough....but there was no reason this short film couldn't have been filmed properly instead of just posting chronologically significant pictures. 
I will tell you exactly what this Salvador Dali collaborative effort reminded me of. It reminded me of the tape in THE RING that will kill you in seven days after you watch it. This is a surrealist hodgepodge of visuals that only produces a "What the F**K?" emotion. There is that slit eyeball scene (which the film is most famous for), a man pulling 2 pianos into the living room with pilgrims in tow, breasts morphing from covered, to bare, to under overalls, to butt cheeks etc.. It is so weird. I think this short film is famous because it reminds us that there were werid, abstract filmmakers even back in the 20s. I still don't really enjoy it though. 
Unlike other silent films I have seen, this film wasn't filled with hokey acting and unimpressive, jerky camerawork, and it gets a bunch of props for that. The Odessa Massacre that occurs in this film is quite suprisingly bloody and exciting, and has been homaged many times in later cinematic history. It still has that major hump to get over of making my enjoy a silent film from the 20s, but it gets further over the hump than most...even if the film does come across as incredible communist propaganda. But then again, I guess that is why it is famous. 
This is my first Federico Fellini film, and it is very impressive. I couldn't quite get into the early scenes, but the film got better and better as it progressed and finished quite extraordinarily. It plays like a greek tragedy, with Anthony Quinn playing the violent, grumpy Zampano and Giulietta Masina playing Gelsomina as a naive, childlike woman...both as broad archetypes with seemingly unavoidable fates. Apparently Fellini has a lot of circus stuff in his films, and this is no exception. LA STRADA impressed me, especially because of the superb performances by the leads. I can't wait to knock off some other Fellini films on this list like LA DOLCE VITA, 8 1/2, and SATYRICON. 
I was first introduced to SOLARIS with the 2002 George Clooney version, and I hated it. Now I have seen the original Tarkovsky version, and I'm still not crazy about it. I realize that there are some deep, humanistic themes going on here about the nature of love and what you love...a person or your own idea of that person...but the whole endeavor still comes across as pretentious to me. At 165 minutes, this film is a bit stenuous to get through...but it is oddly beautiful in some respects, and you have to give it credit to the film for its audacious aspirations, even if the film's reach is much farther than its grasp. I am told Tarkovsy's films are legendary. I hope they improve on SOLARIS, which was a chore. 
What a unique, wonderful film. The subject matter is as depressing and sorrowful as anyone can come up with, but Pedro Almodovar films it in a vibrant, almost creepy way. The film follows two men. One is in love with a champion bullfighting woman who is gored and put into a vegetative state. The other is infatuated, but hardly knows, a bellerina who dances across from his window...and she is put it a vegetative state from a car accident. The one who loves his woman can't touch, look, or speak to her lifeless body. The one who only yearns for his woman talks to her like they are a seasoned married couple. The emotions run high, confused, and a little bit unnaturally. I love when my emotions are pulled in so many ways at one time. 
I am a huge fan of the Brett Ratner film, RED DRAGON...but this original version of the Thomas Harris novel is excellent in its own right. This film was made before Hannibal Lecter was a cinematic icon, and Brian Cox does quite a superb job as the imprisoned doctor. I also enjoyed the rest of the cast, William Peterson, Thomas Noonan, Denis Farina, Joan Allen....great stuff. Also, directed by Michael Mann in 1986, the story is all about Will Graham and the psychological weight he carries while trying to solve these horrendus murders. 2002's Red Dragon was all about giving us Anthony Hopkins again and shocking us. 1986's Manhunter is all about disturbing us. And it certainly does. 
Some critics call Falconetti's performance in this film one of the greatest in history. I can buy that...because she seems so overwhelmed by piety and love that she is about to burst. Director Carl Th. Dreyer is also very impressive with his harsh angles and creative editing. However...a 2 hour silent movie that is TRULY silent...no music or anything...is tough to get through, especially when it is simply an account of the trial and execution of Joan of Arc. What is more interesting than the movie is the history behind that actual print. The original was destroyed in a fire. A backup was created from outakes of the original...also destroyed in a fire. In 1981, a full copy, original copy was found in a Norweigen Mental Hospital closet. Now THATS a movie to make. 
Directed by the incomparable Robert Wise, THE HAUNTING is quite spooky...all without any actual manifestations of ghosts. Its all about sounds, bumps, discussions, inner monologues, and reactions...and I kind of dug it. Jan de Bont's 1999 remake with Liam Neeson was a wonder to look at but it is pretty different from this original adaptation of Shirley Jackson's novel. Eleanor is still awhining pain in the ass....but I guess that is necessary to the plot. Hill House is still a scary place in my mind. 
I was especially disappointed in this film since I already know how enjoyable the pairing of Newman and Redford can be in a period piece directed by George Roy Hill (THE STING). This film wasn't about anything. A pair of outlawas rob, are pursued, flee, rob, pursued, the end. No character building. No "one last score" scenario. Nothing really interesting. Just running and robbing...andmeither are particularly interesting or innovative. The banter between Newman and Redford is well written, and the cinemtography is as good as any number of westerns, but there is nothing to make this movie stand out. I was surprised.
Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski has always been my favorite Coens Bros. character, but Marge Gunderson certainly gives him a run for his money. She is so innocently clever and spritely, that the crimes being commited on her watch are all the more horrible. The acting is top notch (Especially Frances McDormand and William H. Macy) and the humor/drama relationship is finely tuned. In a film handled less delicately, the goofy personnas of the midwest may feel contrived. In FARGO, they are perfect. What a fun, funny, disturbing, original film. 
Very intense, very exciting, and almost sickeningly suspenseful. This movie has been made fun of and spoofed for a while now, but the original still never fails to entertain. Glenn Close as Alex Forrest is one deranged bitch, and the cycle of liking her, sympathizing with her, cowering away from her, and ultimately wanting to strangle her is a journey taken by both the audience and by Michael Douglas's character. I enjoyed it, even if it got a bit too dramatic and overblown toward the end. That roller coaster thing was pretty stupid. 
This might very well be the finest, most exciting, most intricate screenplay I have ever seen on film. Sure it is an ADAPTED screenplay, but the verbal fencing match that Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor engage in is simply mesmerizing. Watching them go at each other and sucking in the young couple into their despair is nothing short of masterful entertainment. Mike Nichols directs, and the entire film is so expertly executed that you could swear it was real, and done in one take. What a perfect film. I loved it!!! 
LE MILLION reminded me of the more recent, French film, DELICATESSAN. It is a simple, yet odd little story...with random music and rhythm thrown into the mix. It is a bit silly and nonsensical, but the enthusiasm by which the film is made and performed is a bit infectious. The last third of the film takes place at an opera, and there is FAR too much opera going on instead of advancing the plot, but overall, this film was enjoyable. Michel owes all of his debtors, has won the lottery, but the ticket is in the jacket his girlfriend gave to a mob boss hiding in her apartment, who in turn pawned it to a famous opera singer who is performing as a Bohemian. I like these films where things have gone SO wrong SO quickly. Fun. 
As I began watching THE SEARCHERS, I was immediately focused on how AWFUL the acting is. It is so stagey and lines are so poorly delivered, it felt like an elementary school play. I thought to myself, this is going to be a BIG disappointment...and this movie is in the top 20 of AFI's 100 greatest films of all time. However, I was won over, by the infectious, saturated technicolor, the wonderful direction by the legendary John Ford, the complex, racially charged story, and even John Wayne. I think John Wayne is one of the worst actors ever...and this movie did not change my mind, but he has an oddly attractive quality that makes him enjoyable. Not only that, but the man can do stuntwork, ride horses, and gunsling in ways that make him see ultimately authentic. In the end...I got why people herald this film as a masterpiece. 
THE BICYCLE THIEF is cheered as a Masterpiece by many, many critics. They talk about the socialist undertones, the exhibition of a stratafied Italian society, and one of the best Father/Son relationships EVER in films. Well...watching Antonio search Rome for his ticket to gainful employment is interesting, the relationship between Antonio and Bruno is sweet and compelling, and the desperation is palpable. However, I didn't see the film as much more than a man looking for his stolen bike. It is like a serious, Italian version of PEE WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE. Man loses bike. Man wants bike. Willing to go to great lengths to get bike. End scene.