Miss Evers' Boys

It's hard to really describe reactions to a movie like this without taking time to really digest the film as a whole. It really is writing these posts that does me a lot of good in figuring out how film is put together, how it works and doesn't. Part of the problem I have with movies is that I find it hard to hate a movie. Even somethign like Raising Helen or 13 Going on 30 I can make myself sit through and "enjoy". Not that this has much of anything to do with Miss Evers' Boys.
The story, as a character study, is quite well done as we watch Miss Evers (Alfre Woodard) trying to grasp her place in something that is beyond her control. She does what she can because she cares for those in her stewardship. She hold on to an increasingly faint hope that leaves one, by the end, wondering if it ever really existed. Those causes we fight with no end in sight and no reason in memory.
As a political force, the movie is okay, this for the very reason that the cause lacks sense or reason. They hold on to the idea that what they are doing is proving that negros are not physically inferior to the whites, but to a great degree their cause becomes lost when the subject becomes moot point, i.e. what does it matter who catches syphilis more if a ready cure is availible? I suppose my point here is that the personal grasping at logic, and the lack of logic they struggle with, is the very reason why it loses political force. It's hard to make a statement about a cause that you, by definition, do not understand.
I'm probably wrong and have missed the point all together.

Total: 128

Dawn of the Dead: Director's Cut

Okay, so it's only marginally different than the version Tim and I saw in theatres back in May but this time we saw it with the girls present. I've found since my orriginal writing that we've decided to use the word zombling regularly to describe the zombie baby, as an interesting side note. That scene has been slightly extended to change the pacing and intensity of it. It's less shocking, but heavier, as there is more screen time devoted to the baby, allowing us to see it's helplessness, shots of characters reacting, and a shot of Sara Polly lining up her shot. The majority of other scenes removed are for the same reason that most sceness are removed from any movie: pacing, redundancy, and length. If you've seen it before in the orriginal cut you sit there and think "gee, that's why this was cut" even though aa few of them have some interesting lines that are referred to later, like CJ sitting in the holding cell reading an article in a women's magazine about trust being the number one ingredient in any relationship.

Total: 127

On The Waterfront

Rightfully the winner of the Oscar (trademarked and protected by martial law) for best picture of 1954, this is really a powerful story, superperbly acted, of people doing what is right when teh whole world is against them. My favorite touches of realism are those little moments that serve to cement the world this takes place in. So many movies that claim a presence in "the real world" leave me wondering 'where are the police?' or 'does anyone else actually notice?' Little touches, like the police officer at the beginning saying 'yah, I know you don't like police, but someone's gotta talk', produce a living, breathing environment for the story to take place in. In so many ways this is an example of a movie done right.

Total: 126

Raising Helen

Well, it's not bad. It's not spectacular either. It uses some pretty heavy material as the foundation of its story, asking you to accept a fair bit in terms of how the characters respond to the deaths in the family. The adults act like adults, grieving when they can, struggling with the loss, but the kids... Well, I'll give the film-makers this: it's notoriously hard to get the intensity of performance out of children that an accurate portrail of loss demands, and when they are caught on film, the results are usually so heavy that it would entirely destroy a "dramatic family comedy" and instead turns it into "the most disturbing 'family' movie ever". Think Radio Flyer for a good example of how this interplay works.

Total: 126

Aladdin

So, long time childhood favorite. It's really a great movie, if you're willing to just accept the imposition of 20th century Western morality and forward-thinking social feminism on 12th century Middle-Eastern society. Marrying "for love" is a pretty new luxury. New enough that we still find a sense of purpose in trans-class romance, in spite of living in a society with a "transparent class system." For a contrast, even the template for most romances, Romeo and Juliet, has its characters on the same class level as each other, and to the best of my recollection, someone please fill in the blanks if I'm wrong, most of Shakespere's works adhere to these rules. Whatever. It's got good music and humor that has aged well.

Total: 125

The Conversation

Gene Hackman plays Harry Caul in this tense story about a man who has spent so much time spying on others that he has become all but incapable of opening his private life to others. The events of the film centre on the days following a shady job that he is hired to do. After recording the conversation of a couple he begins to suspect that there is a greater plot at hand than immediatly appears. Probably the richest part of the film is who the soundtrack is integrated into the story line and the symbolism of the story. The recorded conversation with its innocuous and dangerous strains is played repeatedly in the background layering meanings on top of the life of Harry. since Harry's job is the business of recording, the business of sounds, we hear the world as he hears it: taps, knocks, white noise, interrupting static, footsteps, the clicks that locks, doors, shoes, rings, and just about everythign else makes, and a cool blue jazz long play on the hi fi.

Total: 124

Alien: The Director's Cut

i've seen this movie a number of times before, it being among those movies that have existed through my entire existance, but still not being as prevalent as Star Wars, I actually watched this movie for the "first time" a number of years ago after I fell in love with Ridley Scott's work through Blade Runner and Thelma and Louise. It's hard to say anything truly unique about a movie that has become so much a part of our cultural pastel. So much exists in the form of homage, theft, and parody that there is very little new ground to be broken in discussing this film. One of the things that was discussed while we were watching the film was about the nature of phenominae, sitting here wondering what the next "revolutionary" film will be. What will be the next Star Wars, the next Alien, the next Saturday Night Fever? Has our culture become so conscious of these phenominae that we're looking too hard for them and as a result crimp the chances of their happening? I don't know, but I do know that Alien is a film that has aged very well. In spite of hundreds upon hundreds of chest-burster rip offs and parodies, the orriginal is still one of the most intense pieces of film making in existance. Partly because, as I found out during the viewing, the actors' response to the spurting blood (they were told what would happen but weren't told how much blood was being used) is not simulated. Thinking also of the M*A*S*H episode where Radar informs a room full of cast members about the death of Lt. Col. Blake while they're under the impression they're filming pick-ups, a little real emotion can work wonders that acting can not.

Total: 123

I, Robot

I really thought that I was going to be more offended by this movie than I was. To start, this movie bears little more than a passing resemblance to the orriginal novel, and I found it curious that the crdits at the end use the phrase "suggested by Isaac Asimov's book" instead of the typical "based on" or "inspired by." Part way throught he movie I reviseted one of my orriginal hypotheses about this movie that it'd be better called by a different name, but that poses two problems. If you remove the Asimov connection you have to alter the three laws in some ways to prevent being cited for plagarism, a difficult task seeing as Asimov devoted his life to these kinds of theories. It would be a monumental task to come up with a comprable set of rules. Second problem is that the name "I, Robot" is just so cool. I tried to think up a different name for the movie that would be equally applicable and still sound good, but "Sonny" was the only one I could come up with, and it's not as cool, it just isn't. With these taken into mind it becomes very easy to disconnect from Asimov's work and just accept what's going on on screen.

Total: 122

The Limey

"Limey" is a slang term for Englishman, making "The Limey" the Englishman. I mention this because of the use of slang. It's typical to have the dialogue reflect the person, the character, as much as possible. This really is the only ideal setup as our daily uses of speach often reflect our background and personality. In Resevoir Dogs the characters issue a nearly non-stop stream of profanity, a vocal counterpart to the violence of their existance. In The Limey, Wilson is a recently released convict (yes, of English descent) and a thief by trade. His style is the language of the streets, a neverending stream of jumping thoughts and slang terms, a counterpart to the instability of his life (in and out of prison) and the visual stream-of-though created through Soderbergh's editing. He's on a personal crusade to find the man he feels is responsible for his daughter's death. In the end it's touching in how well the story falls together as we discover that we're following a man who does not seek for revenge, but seeks to put the time he's lost into context with the life he knows.

Total: 121

The Empire Strikes Back

The first thing that I noticed about this new version (which may have been in the standard Special Edition) is that C-3P0 has a whirring, servomotor noise added to his motions. I found it immensely distracting at first, just because I kept listening to see if I was hearing correctly. I suppose it's not a bad touch, just noticable becauseI'm not used to it being there.
This is still my favorite Star Wars movie, largely for the lighsabre duel at the end. I still hold firm that the Cloud City duel between Vader and Luke is the best of them all, because of the tension involved. Vader knows who Luke is, but Luke fights believing that this is the man who murdered his father. Luke pours in all his energy and focus, fighting like he's never fought before (though he honestly doesn't have much experience) and Vader still manages to waste him through much of the battle using only one hand. That touch is quite significant in itself because George Lucas was very adamant during the production of the movies that Lightsabreas are very powerful and difficult to weild, that the force of them hitting requires two hands to keep it under control. Luke uses this two-handed fighting style. Vader keeps one hand under his cloak.

Total: 120

The Fellowship of the Ring

The last time I saw this was almost a year ago, the day that I came home from my mission. We watched the extended edition that night, so this was the first time I've seen the theatrical edit. I noticed some of the differences right off, but most have been lost to the fact that I've only seen the movie once before. If I were to watch the theatrical edition of The Two Towers, that would be something different.

Well, what do I love about this film? I love how well it has been put together. I love the sense of care and concern that went into making these movies. Plus Sean Bean is here. His character is wonderful, carrying a sense of power, yet weakness, all at the same time. It really is difficult to try and dissemble something like this that has become such an integral part of our culture. I'll leave it that I love this movie, as I'm watching The Empire Strikes Back right now.

Total: 119