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Reviews
North by Northwest (1959)
groundbreakingly gripping
Ever notice how Oprah is trying to pile great life-changing TV-moments on top of one another, time after time? This is exactly what Hitchkock was doing for cinema. The great thing about North by Northwest though, is that he's trying to do it all in one movie.
I challenge the reader to name any other title that has so many groundbreaking suspense scenes: the abduction, the drunk driving, the UN-building scene (He has the knife: he's the killer!- oh no!-the paranoia!), the crop duster-scene, the crazy auction (Cary Grant bidding ridiculously high and then claiming the crap isn't worth a buck) and of course the very slow and gripping Mount Rushmore chase-scene.
Watching this movie today, it feels easily as fast-paced and gripping as, say, Casino Royale or MI3. It's not overstating to claim that this movie is, in fact, the first Bond(-type) movie, still waiting to be topped.
Of course, you have to love Cary Grant, you have to love Technicolor, you have to love the now firmly outdated cardboard characters. If you don't, it's your loss; I beg you: get over yourself!(you don't have to love Oprah) Having said this, I would like to end saluting Eve Kendall and Cary Grant: a match made in heaven. This may not be Hitchcock's finest film, but I think these are his finest leading actors. Eve Kendall is everything you want from a Hitchkock-lady. Women who, under the pretense of ladylikeness, are in fact a tad trashy. So matching the fifties.
And Grant is the ideal Hitch-hero: fragile yet masculine, dull, but somehow fascinating.
Go watch!
Chinatown (1974)
excellent excellent excellent
What is it about this movie? Is it the excellent storytelling? Is it the excellent acting? (Nicholson!Dunaway!Huston!) Is it the beautiful California 40's scenery? Is it the grim atmosphere, the drought, the sweat in 'orange county'? Of course; a combination of all of these ingredients. In this beautiful 70's film noir Nicholson doesn't just deliver a Humphrey B.-rip-off performance, but something darker, more cynical even. Faye Dunaway delivers a glorious two-faced femme fatale and John Huston is both subtle and blunt: evil incarnated. Polanski's filming and his pace are both sublime; cool, distant and reminiscent in every way of the noir-era. Watching the movie makes you feel sort of guilty, as though the filming-crew has washed its hands in blood. 70's movies will do that to you (Taxi Driver, the Godfather, etc). I don't want to be a cynic, claiming this type of film couldn't possibly be produced today. But it is a fact that Spielberg and Lucas and, heck, the eighties with their 'smooth cinema' corrupted the industry in a way, that makes this type of film something of a different era. Let's be thankfull for that era and go watch it one more time. And if you haven't yet: take pity on yourself or haste!
Krtek (1957)
krtek; touching little mole
I have a three-year-old who loves to watch cartoons. The good stuff, that is. She's a snub that way, only watching Pooh-cartoons and Cinderella and so forth. But recently, I discovered a Czech cartoon-DVD in my cupboard that I don't even know how I came by. She loves it. And I do too. The animation is slightly naive and old-fashioned, but it's very effective and even touching. The music is great and there is hardly any dialogue, but the added sounds (little children's laughter for example) are great. The episode 'krtek me veste' (little mole on the town) is my favourite; it's great comedy, reminding me mostly of Tati movies (especially play time). It's hard to write anything substantial about it, but if you can lay your hands on it, go see it; you'll love it and your 3-year-old as well.