Reviews

Stagecoach is a western from 1939 directed by John Ford (The Searchers, The Grapes of Wrath, The Man who Shot Liberty Johnson). It was written by Dudley Nichols (Bringing Up Baby, Scarlet Street, The Bells of St. Mary) and Ben Hecht (His Girl Friday, Notorious, Spellbound) who based it off of Ernest Haycox's (Union Pacific, Canyon Passage, Abilene Town) original story. It stars Claire Trevor (Key Largo, Murder, My Sweet, The High and the Mighty) and John Wayne (The Searchers, The Man Who Shot Liberty Vance, Rio Bravo).

Stagecoach is about a group of strangers traveling down a dangerous path on a stagecoach and while they are hunted by apaches, a romance ensues between Dallas (Claire Trevor) and the famous Ringo Kid (John Wayne).

John Ford took a large risk with this movie. Before, westerns were b- movies and weren't taken very seriously after this they became a legitimate genre that were recognized by people as being actually good. Not only does he change a genre but he does a terrific job behind the camera particularly a chase scene between the stagecoach and the apache. This film was also very influential to that of Orson Welles (Citizen Kane, Touch of Evil, F for Fake) who watched it 40 times before directing Citizen Kane.

The Duke makes his big break in this movie that led to a career of typecasting of this very role that he plays in this movie. However, this is the one that started it all and he does quite well in it. He plays a cool and macho man that you believe. Despite this is the only character he ever played this was the first time he did it.

I have little complaints about this movie, it is funny, exciting, and well acted and would recommend it to most.

Fantasia is an animated film from 1940 directed by too many people to name and written by too many people to name. The only person who speaks in this other than Mickey voiced by Walt Disney (Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color, Peter Pan, 101 Dalmatians) is the narrator Deems Taylor.

Fantasia is a series of vignettes told completely by music and animation. The animation was actually made to go along with the music which was already written.

This was a big risk in 1940 and the only person clever enough to accomplish it was Walt Disney. He and a few others came up with the idea of an animated film all told through music. If it weren't for him, I don't think we'd have probably the purest animated film.

Leopold Stokowski (The Great Beauty, Fantasia/2000, DOA: Dead or Alive) was the conductor who put this all together and he does a great job of making us feel the music and add so much emotion that the animation even brings it to a further level.

Fantasia is a fun film for the whole family and is in my opinion the purest animated movie since there is no words, only animation (and a bit of real life...) but you should still check this one out.

Fight Club is drama/thriller from 1999. It is directed by David Fincher (Se7en, Gone Girl, The Social Network) and was written by Jim Uhls (Jumper) who adapted it from the Chuck Palinuk (Choke, Romance) novel of the same name. It star Edward Norton (American History X, The Illusionist, The Incredible Hulk), Brad Pitt (Inglorious Bastards, World War Z, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) and Helena Bonham Carter (The Kings Speech, Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Alice in Wonderland).

Fight Club is about an insomniac (Edward Norton) who starts a fight club with his eccentric friend, Tyler (Brad Pitt). Tyler begins to take the club in a different direction, but all of this is threatened by Marla (Helena Bonham Carter) who has the same problem as Edward Norton.

David Fincher's incredible directing cannot go unnoticed. This film is one of those that is perfectly directed. His style is all over it and the darkness and comedy are shown perfectly on screen. His perfect precision and style are evident in this film. It is technically perfect in every way which is also thankful to its cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth (Gone Girl, The Social Network, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) and editor: James Haygood (Tron: Legacy, The Game, Panic Room).

Another great aspect of this movie is it's writing by Jim Uhls. Now, I haven't read the book Fight Club by Chuck Palinuk but his contribution can't be unnoticed. The plot of this movie is very clever and smart but it is adapted finely by Uhls. He constantly spews out famous line after famous line that this movie is known for. He balances the seriousness and the comedy very well.

I have little complaints about Fight Club, perhaps takes itself too seriously when trying to convey a message, almost as if it thinks it is something more when it really isn't. While the message is good, it is impossible to do for most but a step towards it just might be enough. Anyways, I think anyone who loves violence, dark comedy and clever writing will highly enjoy this flick.

Seven Samurai is a Japanese historical drama from 1954. It was written and directed by Akira Kurosawa (Yojimbo, Rashomon, Ran). It was also written by Shinobu Hashimoto (Rashomon, Ikiru, Throne of Blood) and Hideo Oguni (Ran, Tora! Tora! Tora!, Ikiru). It stars Takashi Shimura (Ikiru, Rashomon, Throne of Blood), Toshirô Mifune (Rashomon, Yojimbo, Throne of Blood) and Isao Kimura (High and Low, Ikiru, Stray Dog).

Seven Samurai is about the samurai (Takashi Shimura, Toshirô Mifune, Isao Kimura) hired to protect a small village from oncoming raiders and how they prepare the town and ultimately fight for it.

Akira Kurosawa is one of the most famous of all foreign directors for a reason. He has a way of composing his shots that is like no other. Every image in this film is a painting. His ability to truly put you in 16th century Japan is far superior to the Hollywood directors attempting to make an epic period piece. Watch this film if you want to see what Japan used to not only be like but felt like.

I feel if Takashi Shimura wasn't Japanese but American and had the same amount of talent he would be spoken in the same breath as Jimmy Stewart, Paul Newman and many other incredible 50's actors. It's a shame he isn't that recognized because his talent is incredible. I don't speak Japanese but this man transcends language. In this film, you believe every aspect about him and all of his small mannerisms. He truly feels like a real person.

Why I do think this is a really good film and everybody should watch it, I feel as if it is slightly overrated. Many filmmakers declare this as one of the best films of all time, I wouldn't consider it in the top 50. It is a bit too long (3 and a half hours), and could definitely use some cutting. This doesn't mean it is necessarily boring and maybe I just don't fully understand it and will take a few more viewings to understand. However I do still highly admire this film and you should spend a day and watch it.

Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (I'll refer to it as Dr. Strangelove after this) is a political dark comedy directed by Stanley Kubrick (Clockwork Orange, The Shining, 2001: A Space Odyssey) and was written by he and Terry Southern (Easy Rider, Barbarella, The Cincinnati Kid) and Peter George (Fail Safe) from 1964. It stars Peter Sellers (Being There, The Pink Pather, The Pink Panther Strikes Again), George C. Scott (Patton, The Hustler, The Changeling) and Sterling Haden (The Godfather, The Killing, Asphalt Jungle)

Dr. Strangelove is about a mad general (Sterling Haden) who begins the start of a nuclear war against Russia and the president of the United States (Peter Sellers) and his right-hand man (George C. Scott) and a lot of other politicians, including Dr. Strangelove (Peter Sellers), who try to stop it.

There are so many aspects of this movie that are great including the acting and writing, but I will talk about a man who does not receive enough recognition for his incredible work despite his two Oscars, this man is Ken Adam (Barry Lyndon, Goldfinger, Dr. No). Ken Adam did production design for Dr. Strangelove and he creates one of the best sets of all time in this film, and that is the war room. This set is enormous yet it is barely filled. It creates a powerful feel while being so simple. This set is so real that people thought it was an actual location and Ronald Reagen even thought it was real! When you watch this film you are in awe when you see the places they shoot. It is simply magical.

How can you watch a Kubrick film without admiring the directing? Kubrick takes a quite serious novel and subject and successfully makes it a comedy. Who would have thought in 1964 you could've made a comedy about the end of the world through nuclear holocaust? Kubrick saw this risk and took it. He does some interesting camera work that looks like it inspired Spielberg while making Saving Private Ryan. Anyway, he does a great job directing his actors especially Scott and will be looked at as one of his best films.

There is not much I can see wrong with this movie. It is hilarious yet portrays a serious lesson. This is probably one of the greatest dark comedies and comedies in general ever created.

It Happened One Night is a film from 1934 directed by Frank Capra (It's a Wonderful Life, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Arsenic and Old Lace) and written by Robert Riskin (Mr. Deeds, You Can't Take it With You, Meet John Doe) who adapted it from Samuel Hopkin Adam's (The Harvey Girls, The Gorgeous Hussy, Week Ends Only) short story. It stars Clark Gable (Gone With the Wind, The Misfits, Mutiny on the Bounty) and Claudette Colbert (Since You Went Away, The Palm Beach Story, Drums Along the Mohawk).

It Happened One Night is about a rich spoiled girl who runs away from all of the wealth and meets an out of work newspaper writer and they hitchhike to New York City together and on the way there, they just might find love.

This film was one of the pioneers of the screwball comedy genre. So when the Robert Riskin was writing this script, I'm sure he had no idea of the impact this would have on the world. Ever since this film, the formula has been copied over and over again. Even now, this has the classic rom-com formula.

The acting in this movie is great. The chemistry between Gable and Colbert is impeccable. Sure Gable's character Peter might be a little of his time (with all the talk of beating Colbert's character Ellie). They still work very well together. Colbert also gives a good performance as the rich girl who just wants to get away from it all. They both won Oscars for their performances.

While a good movie, we have all seen this before: two people with conflicting personalities don't like each other in the start, but of course fall in love in the end. But then I remind myself that this is the first movie to do that. In conclusion this is a very funny movie that has a lot of heart.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was made in 2004 and was directed by Michael Gondry (Be Kind Rewind, The Science of Sleep, The Green Hornet) and was written by Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Adaption. Synechdoche, New York), Michael Gondry, and Pierre Bismuth (Where is Rocky II, The 77th Annual Academy Awards, I've been Twelve Forever). It stars Jim Carrey (The Truman Show, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Dumb and Dumber) and Kate Winslet (Titanic, Revolutionary Road, Finding Neverland).

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is about Joel (Jim Carrey) who has recently broken up with his girlfriend Clementine (Kate Winslet) and he finds out that she had all of her memories of him erased, Joel decides to do the same. But in the middle of the erasing process, he realizes he wants to keep those memories after all.

With all Charlie Kaufman movies, the writing will always be the highlight. He and others write an incredibly original script that is unlike no other and you will never see again. It is filled with great characters including the star-studded supporting cast who all do terrific as well. He deals with many sub-themes of love and loss and he will sure to leave you in tears.

With such an interesting but odd premise, you need someone who could bring this premise to life. Gondry does an incredible job of using odd camera work and lighting to put us in the mind of Joel as his memories are being erased. He does a great job with everything to really make Kaufman's script a reality.

My only complaint with this movie is it is kind of confusing, but a second viewing helps you to take it all in. This is a very original funny and sad movie I would recommend to everyone.

Jaws is a film directed by the now legendary Steven Spielberg (Saving Private Ryan, Schindlers List, A.I. Artificial Intelligence) in 1975. It is written by Carl Gottlieb (Jaws Franchise, The Jerk) and Peter Benchley (Jaws franchise, The Deep) who also wrote the book. It stars Roy Scheider (Jaws franchise, The French Connection, 2010), Richard Dreyfuss (Close Encounters of the Third Kind, American Graffiti, Pirhana 3D) and Robert Shaw (The Sting, From Russia with Love, A Man for All Seasons).

Jaws is about a small town called Amity who begins to be terrorized by a rogue shark. The sheriff (Roy Scheider) gets a crew of three including a scientist (Peter Benchley) and an odd fisherman (Robert Shaw) to go after it.

What makes this film most famous is probably the incredible soundtrack by John Williams (Harry Potter franchise, Star Wars franchise) writes an incredible score that has now become famous. Just listening to the theme of this movie will make you frightened and nervous about what you know is bound to happen on screen eventually. It won best score at the Oscars and is now synonymous with anything having to do with sharks.

Another aspect of this film is Robert Shaw's performance as Quint, a crazy fisherman who becomes obsessed with catching the shark. Anytime he is on screen he downright steals the scene. His performance will be looked upon as the classic crazy fisherman and will be copied until the end of time. Every time I watch him I see something new and he never seems to disappoint.

While the special effects of this film might've been great for the time, sometimes they do not hold up as well as we remember. However despite that, this is an action-packed, dramatic film that will be remembered until the end of time and really brought Steven Spielberg's name to be as famous as it is now.

The Green Mile is a film from 1999 starring Tom Hanks (Da Vinci Code, Forrest Gump, Saving Private Ryan) and Michael Clarke Duncan (Sin City, Planet of the Apes, Daredevil). It also was written and directed by Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Walking Dead, The Mist) and was adapted from the Steven King (The Shawshank Redemption, The Shining, Stand by Me) novel of the same name.

The Green Mile is about Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks), a guard for the people on death row and the one of the newer members of the men on death row: John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan) who seems to have mysterious gift.

This film would not work if the acting was sub-par, it needed to be great to pass. And thank God it did because the acting in this film is truly incredible. Tom Hanks (of course) is great. But he seems to be outshined by a man who has only been in bit parts in movies and TV and a small part in Armageddon which came out the previous year. This man is Michael Clarke Duncan and he gives a great performance of a man who has a very special gift. He plays a enormous man who is afraid of the dark and has been sentenced with the murder of two little girls, but we learn he cares deeply for people and for life itself.

Another part of this film's success is the writing of Frank Darabont. According to Steven King, this is the single closest adaptation to his writing he has seen on screen. But Darabont seems to capture King's story and ideas and puts them perfectly onto paper fully fleshing out the characters.

My only two problems with the film are that the effects are a little dated and the film might be a bit too long, but it still is a very touching, emotional story that will certainly touch you too.

Ghostbusters is a movie from 1984 starring Bill Murray (Groundhog Day, Lost in Translation, Moonrise Kingdom), Dan Aykroyd (The Blues Brothers, Ghostbusters Franchise, Trading Places), Harold Ramis (Groundhog Day, Analyze This, Ghostbusters Franchise) and Sigourney Weaver (Alien Franchise Avatar). It was written Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Rick Moranis (Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Spaceballs, Strange Brew) and is directed by Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters Franchise, Up in the Air, No Strings Attached).

Ghostbusters follows three scientists: Peter (Bill Murray), Ray (Dan Aykroyd) and Egon (Harold Ramis) as they start their own ghost catching business and their biggest job yet is in a musician named Dana's (Sigourney Weaver) own refrigerator.

This hilarious movie is carried by is fun characters brought to life by Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Harold Ramis. They are each very different and very funny in their own ways. Murray plays a classic, sarcastic Bill Murray character, Aykroyd plays a nervous quiet man who is really excited to be living out his dream and Ramis plays a very smart, nerdy, and odd man. They ad-lib most of their lines which makes this all even better.

I actually think the success of Ghostbusters led to all of this ghost hunter reality show crap we see on TV today. This was the first movie to really have the idea of ghost hunting itself which means it is very original and started a ghost craze and a (not so good) sequel.

Most of the effects in this movie do look quite dated while films like Blade Runner (which came out two years earlier) do not. But all of this adds to the fun of this incredibly fun, hilarious movie from the 80's.

Memento is a film starring Guy Pearce (L.A. Confidential, Iron Man 3, Hurt Locker), Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrix, Chocolat, Disturbia) and Joe Pantoliano (The Matrix, The Fugitive, Bad Boys II). It is written and directed by Christopher Nolan (Dark Knight Trilogy, Inception, Interstellar) and it is based off his brother Jonathon Nolan's (Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, Interstellar) short story, Memento Mori.

Memento is a psychological mystery/thriller about a Leonard (Guy Pearce) who cannot make new memories on the hunt for the person who raped and murdered his wife. He leaves himself notes all over himself and has tattoos that all have information on the man he is after. Along the way, he befriends Natalie (Carrie-Anne Moss) and Teddy (Joe Pantoliano) but are they really his friends?

What ultimately makes this film so good is the writing. It is told in a way I have never seen before and it is so creative and smart I wish I thought of it first. Since Leonard cannot make new memories and we are seeing the story told through his eyes the only way to give us the information Leonard has is to tell the story backward. This doesn't mean it is like a tape being rewound and you can't make out what the characters are saying. It is told scene by scene by scene so the first scene is really the last scene and the last scene is really the first scene. So when a scene begins and Leonard is in a place he does not know with people he does not know, the viewer has no idea where he is and who he is with either. It is wildly creative.

With such an innovative way to tell a story like you would need to edit it in such a way where while it doesn't make sense, it does make sense. The editing does this perfectly where things don't make sense deliberately, unlike sometimes where the editing is so sloppy you can't tell what is going on even in a linear story.

This film is a great one if you really want to challenge your mind and try to guess the ending (or the beginning) before you make it there. This film is great the first time since you are trying to figure it all out, the second time it is also interesting because you are trying to pick up all the things you missed. However, after that the film can never get better than the first time you saw it. In summary this is a film everyone should watch mainly because of Christopher Nolan's brilliant writing.

The Intouchables is a French comedy/biography from 2011 and stars François Cluzet (Tell No One, Little White Lies, French Kiss) and Omar Sy (X-Men Days of Future Past, Jurassic World, Samba). It was written and directed by Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano (Samba, Those Happy Days, Tellement proches).

This film is about a quadriplegic millionaire named Philippe (François Cluzet) who hires a lower-class man from the projects called Driss(Omar Sy). With help from Driss, Philippe finds humour in his situation and Driss reminds him how to appreciate life again through setting him up on dates, listening to funk music and even giving him a joint.

This film is propelled by the performances by François Cluzet and Omar Sy. François gives his performance purely through dialogue and facial movements. Surprisingly he gives a great performance filled with emotion and humour. Omar Sy plays an incredibly likable character who can really make you laugh at points and at others make you feel very compassionate about his issues. Whenever the two are on screen together it is gold. I would compare their chemistry to those of buddy cop movies although this relationship is a lot deeper.

Another aspect of this film that I admired was the dialogue. Since there is no real plot other than the story of two men, the film is carried by a lot of good dialogue. For example, when the two are looking at a piece of art, Philippe asks Driss why he thinks people are interested in art, Driss replies with because it's a business when Philippe tells him it's because it's the only thing one leaves behind.

This film is basically the French version of Driving Miss Daisy, that is not to say this film is bad. This film's strongest points are writing and acting, but after that it's pretty thin. Directing or cinematography isn't anything special and the piano soundtrack sounds like something that would be added to an amateur short film. Yet this is still a heartwarming film it seems like it is a little overrated.