Keep on Keeping on

It has been a while since I've posted here, so I've got a lot to catch up on. For today's post I am going to update and review every film of my own collection that I've seen since September 01, 2007. This may be a sentence or two, or a paragraph.

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

Made in 1947 and filmed in Mexico, it was one of the first major studio films to be filmed on location. Starring Humphrey Bogart as the antagonist(?) Fred C. Dobbs, and garnered a Best Director Oscar for John Huston and a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his father, Walter Huston. It truly is a masterpiece. It defied the conventions of filmmaking, Bogart played a role that in the end would be very unsympathetic, it was filmed on location (as previously stated), and was, in essence, without a female character. There was no love story, no story of redemption.
This movie is so important in our cinematic heritage that it gave us two iconic things to remember it by. Walter Huston's jig on top of the gold dust (laughing wildly and swinging his elbows from side to side) has become one with the crazed-old prospecter. Old Pete from Toy Story 2 was essentially Walter Huston. The second icon is the line, "Badges!? We ain't got no badges. We don't need no badges! I don't have to show you any stinking badges!" The line has been somewhat bastardized into "Badges? We don't need no stinking badges!" But this is where it came from.
The story is a great one about human nature and greed. Three men set off to find gold in the Sierra Madre mountains of Mexico. Unfortunately they strike it rich. Madness soon sets in as one is unable to trust the other two and is constantly afraid that one of them will steal their share of the gold.

An absolute must-see: 10/10

Where the Sidewalk Ends

What happens when a rough and tumble police detective accidentally kills a war-hero witness to a murder and tries to cover it up? Now imagine this detective falls in love for the wife of the man he killed? This 1950 film noir reunites the trio from 1944's classic Laura: director Otto Preminger, actor Dana Andrews, and actress Gene Tierney. Also starring is Karl Malden. The story is one about redemption, and that you don't need to follow in your father's footsteps. The story keeps you engrossed as the viewer keeps wondering if and how the detective is going to keep from being accused (rightfully, however) of the killing and come away with the girl.
Preminger should have dircted more noir...he is constantly playing with what you know and what you think you know about the plot and genre itself.

If you love film-noir, you need to see it. If you don't, you won't miss anything by not watching it, but it's still a story you should enjoy. 8/10
If you don't love film noir then you will still be entertained, but the rating goes down to 6/10 or 7/10

Cinema Paradiso

The winner of a Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, this Italian movie helped to reinvigorate Italian cinema. A personal favorite of mine, it was originally panned by European critics. Coming in at a staggering 155 minutes it was deemed as too sentimental and not commercial. Cut down to 123 minutes for Cannes and the theatrical release, it has become in many ways a classic. It follows a young child, Toto (short for Salvatore), as he grows up in a small Sicilian town, becoming the town theater's projectionist and in his adult life a famous film director. But as much as this movie is about a man's coming of age story, it is also a love story. It's a love story about this man and film. Yes, there's a conventional boy-meets-girl love story, but even that story seems to be taken from the movies.
As good as this film is, the true star may be Ennio Morricone's score. It is one of the most beautiful scores and is featured throughout most of the film. And it fits; while the scores for films are usually composed and performed after completion of shooting and a good deal of editing, the score for this film was written and recorded before shooting. In fact, they listened to the score while shooting. Perhaps that is why the music and the movie mesh so well together.
As for the sentimentality, personally I find it endearing. Definitely a fitting successor to Fellini's Amarcord.
If you loved the kiss in the rain from The Notebook, this movie has a kiss in the rain that would blow that out the water. 10/10

And that is all I'm going to post now. I'll get more done tomorrow. Happy Theater-going!

Clive Owen: Action Hero

With Shoot 'Em Up Clive Owen has cemented his status as an action star. He's got the look, he's got the humor, he's just got it. He is able to take a carrot-eating squatter named "Mr. Smith" (similar to Layer Cake's "XXXX" we never hear his true name) and turn him into a compelling character.



Shoot is simply a fun movie. It's not going to win any awards (although it may be nominated for some Razzies...but I believe that says more about the Razzies than the movie itself) but it was a well-made action-comedy. The key to this film is that it doesn't take itself seriously as an action film. Yeah, it has all the cliches that you'd expect to see in an action movie...there is an unbelievably unrealistic car chase, Mr. Smith can kill baddies at will while those same henchmen seemingly can't hit him. It even has a gunfight while freefalling from an airplane and double entendres that would make 007 himself blush. However, the movie acknowledges these cliches...at one point after Mr. Smith takes out a virtual batallion of henchies, Giamatti's top bad guy remarks, "Is he that good or are we just that bad?"

It's not a great movie, but it sure is fun. Overall, this film garners 7/10 for the lighthearted action.

Welcome

I'd like to thank you all for coming to my neck of the woods to read what I have got to say about movies.

This'll be about movies in general, new, old, classic, good, or bad.

I may talk about other things on here, but mostly it'll be about movies.

I'll start up for real in a day or two with my first reviews: Shoot 'Em Up, and A Few Good Men.
No, they don't have anything to do with each other, but that is an idea I may use for later. I just happened to see both films recently.

A classic look never truly goes out of style.