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Double Indemnity (1944)
Worth (most of) it
On nearly every list that I can find, Double Indemnity is near or sometimes the top of the 'Best Noir Films' of all time. It has everything. It uses the black and white and the shadows thereof to perfection. It has possibly the best femme fatale ever on screen. Edward G. Robinson puts on his best performance. And Neff is a beautiful protagonist with complexity and depth.
Despite all that. For my money. It's VERY good... not great. The Third Man and The Big Sleep were shot better. We didn't get enough of Barbara Stanwyck. I still can't poke any holes in Edward G's performance. But MacMurray offered very little charisma. For a character written so that we must cheer for him, in the hands of another actor we'd fall in love with him a la Sam Spade.
A wonderful movie, worth everyone's time but possibly not all of the accolades it gets.
Shichinin no samurai (1954)
Masterpiece
Three-and-a-half hour long epic and not a wasted scene throughout.
There are some movies that are taught in film school and that you've heard from snobs to be the greatest ever. The former are usually films that contain aspects to further a lesson. The latter can be pretentious to the point of alienating the audience. Then there's a film like Seven Samurai.
It's technically and artistically perfect. The characters are developed, the plot thickens and propels the story forward and the action is both thrilling to watch and integral.
There's a reason that it's been remade and reimagined in so many different ways. Go see it, I can't imagine a person who wouldn't like it.