Change Your Image
PedroJT
Reviews
Love in the Afternoon (1957)
Defending Cooper
Love in the Afternoon is a late 50s Wilder classic. At least semi-classic. The story is about a French girl who falls in love with a swinger from Paris. The girl is Audrey Hepburn and the man is Gary Cooper. The first act lags. The only thing keeping me glued to the screen is Hepburn, who has such a screen presence (she's pretty).
Recent comments have also noted Gary Cooper's miscasting. I'm not sure. I agree it's hard to believe Hepburn's character falls for him. The movie just doesn't work in his favor in the first act. It does begin to work eventually. The turning point would have to be at the picnic where he obviously starts to fall for her. Cooper falling for Hepburn: more realistic. From that point everything takes off. Cary Grant could have pulled off the attraction, but I don't think he could have pulled off the 2nd and 3rd act, and Cooper did. When he's sad (dictaphone/wine cart/sauna scenes) he's a top form comic actor. Anyways - I digress.
No one can produce the feeling of heartache with so much sadness and glee as Wilder can. The gypsy band should have earned a best supporting actors nomination.
Ocean's Eleven (1960)
I rarely say this... go watch the remake
Very few people were up in arms when Steven Soderberg decided to remake Oceans 11, and now I understand why. The original is flawed to say the least. The movie took 40 minutes of introduction before even hinting at the sting operation. Meandering (supposedly improvised) dialogue, useless characters (there were many!), and throw-away scenes. Who knew it would be good source material. What's great about the remake, the actors look like they're having fun making the movie. Not to say that there was no fun on the set of the original, but it seems any bit of fun was captured off camera. You can make a drinking game and take a shot at every shot where one of the actors looks like they've just been through a drinking game. Any high class movie that can't shoot 11 people talking without breaking the action axis doesn't deserve viewing.
Shallow Hal (2001)
How Come My Soul Looks Like Gwyneth Paltrow?
Yes there's spoilers in here:
I enjoyed this movie on a level of a nice romantic comedy. As for the debate over if the Farrely's say that the only way to be attracted to a obese woman is if you think she looks like Gwyneth Paltrow, I disagree. He does see the Paltrow character as thin, but this is during his "shallow" phase. Hal goes through and enormous change in heart through the whole movie.
In the beginning he's only attracted to thin woman, and this is a major flaw in him (as nearly everyone in the movie points out). But many admit that this is about his only flaw (except being a little hefty himself), since overall he's a nice guy. When he's hypnotized, he views people's souls as attractive, but still he is unaware of this and is still in his shallow phase. Thus he's still attracted to thin people and thus attracted to Rosemary, but when they meet they hit it off because she's a nice person and he's a nice person.
When he is turned back to "normal", he doesn't insult those who now look unattractive to him, he actually shows compassion for them. The best scene in the entire movie is at the burn ward, where he says with his whole heart that the girl is beautiful. And it's true.
In the final scene he meets up with Rosemary for the first/last time as obese, and he does not see an unattractive girl. If I was an obese woman, I would not mind this movie at all, nor think that a good man like Hal would only like me if I first looked like Gwyneth Paltrow. Hal was Shallow, it was a flaw, and he learned to remove his flaw. All I'm saying is that it works, and no one should.
Midnight Blue (1997)
Best Playboy Movie Ever Made...
...but is that really an accomplishment?
This is what happens when Playboy makes a movie tribute to Alfred Hitchcock. Sure there's no fight on the faces of Mount Rushmore nor bird attacks, but there is wrong man theme, anxiety, obsession with women, staircases, starbursts, and twist after twist after twist. Plus you know if it's by Playboy there must be some nudity!
It's interesting to note the similarities to Hitchcock's "Vertigo". A man becomes obsessed with a woman, and then finds out that she's either non-existent or dead. He then encounters a woman who looks exactly like her. Of course this is the same woman... or is it. You have to wait until the last two minutes to know the whole truth (as part of an epilogue that has about thirty twists in it). The movie is not independent from its true inspiration.
The writing is outstanding at parts, and choppy at other times. This could be the fault of the actors (I hesitate to call them actors), and the directing (which does some interesting things with the camera but fail to tell a decent story). I wouldn't mind seeing a better made remake down the road.
Also, I imagine it is hard to please the two populations that will watch this movie. The Hitch lovers will be annoyed by the presence of unnecessary overdone sex scenes, and the Playboy fanatics will wonder why there are scenes involving people talking. There seems to be at least two different visions going on here.
"Midnight Blue" takes brains and brawn and tries to put them together in one smart sexy movie. They fail but it's good to know they tried.
Ladri di biciclette (1948)
Great Movie, Great Title
The movie ends and I sit in awe. This spectacular film will grace your top 10 list, or at least rank amongst the best foreign language films.
As for the controversy over the title (which I did not know until afterwards), I love that the English title is singular. I exclaimed afterwards that I thought it was the best title given to a movie. Since we know from the title that a bicycle will be stolen, the camera and story teases and tricks the viewer (that viewer being me). I loved it.
A must see for any movie buff(s).
Eddie Izzard: Glorious (1997)
Sweet
This really is a treat. An amazing character, Izzard plays out like a highly polished simpsons episode played with the fast forward button down. Upbeat and manic, he goes through topic after topic without a strain on the viewer, it flowed very easily. And talk about hilarious, "i'm covered in bees!"
Blazing Saddles (1974)
Be prepared to laugh days later
Howard Johnson is Right! This has to rank among the greatest comedies ever put on the silver screen. When I was younger I'd save this for much meaningful movies such as "Home Alone." But it took me a while to realize, I never laughed at Home Alone. If you are to name the best comedy movie, you should not look for how important the plot is or the number of times a robber falls on his back. You should base it on how many times you laugh, how hard you laugh, and how many times you can listen to the same joke and laugh again. Wayne's World is like this. Holy Grail also comes to mind. Blazing Saddles I go back to any time I can, because the jokes are cruel but hilarious, and seem never to get old. Using the joke-a-second rule that the Zuker/Abrams and Marx Brothers films rely on, one can just sit back relax, and cough up a lung or two. What I'm trying to say is this is a hillarious movie, and God I hope I will never get bored of it!
Final Destination (2000)
original is not good
Fans of MST3K would love this horror suspense thriller (although I'd call it comedy) about a kid who sees into the future... ooooh! With classic lines like "I'm never gunna die" you can't go wrong just sitting down with some friends late at night, and thrash the living daylights out of it. I'll give it a 2, because it was too predictable with its unpredictability... seriously man how many times can you misread a simple death chart? The people oversee death after death, and seem unaffected by it, only thinking of of who's next, having huge philosophical talks... oh the horror! But to keep it short, if you have the chance to watch this for free, watch it.