Yep...I think I hate Preston Sturgess comedies. I was more than underwhelmed by THE LADY EVE and now...THE PALM BEACH STORY is even more nonsensical and silly. Soooo...it seems a wife is mad that a husband can't pay the rent. So she "leaves" him so she can swindle money away from a rich man to pay for his architectural dreams. Too bad the husband thinks it is real...and winds up chasing his wife down, only to become twisted up in the ruse with the rich man's Princess sister. I guess this all could have been charming...but there is no realistic emotion or even proper comedy that shines through. That train sequence with the millionaire clubs? My god....TEDIOUS. Looks like 1940s comedies are quite lacking.
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After seeing Terrence Malick's THE NEW WORLD in 2005, I understood why English settlers would contemplate their place in nature and the order of the universe...mostly because they were integrating themselves into the world where Native Americans seemed so knowledgable about such musings. The same can't be said about his THE THIN RED LINE. It is a compulsively watchable movie, especially since it is 3 hours long and has some very slow points...but to believe that soldiers were thinking about THEIR place in the natural order while participating in the Battle of Guadalcanal...stretches credulity. I was reading Roger Eberts account of the film and he was exactly right. The thoughts and philosophical rants about the universe in such a movie are shared by scholars and philosophers...not by the soldiers themselves....and thus the movie is incredibly uneven. That being said....it IS enjoyable to watch because Malick is a master photographer and the performances by the ensemble cast are superb.
This movie isn't nearly as funny as it thinks it is...or even what it is heralded as. I had a conversation with my fellow movie reviewer recently about these old movies and how sometimes...we just don't get the popularity. I think a great movie is timeless...and there is no such thing as good for its time. I can appreciate significance and historical relevance...but a bore is a bore is a bore. Countless articles about The Lady Eve talk about how it is one of the comedy greats, and Barbara Stanwyck's performace is one of the best all time. Nope. The whole movie is man falls in love with woman. Woman is a con artist. Man falls in love with the woman again later when she shows up in a new personna and man believes it CAN'T be the same woman, because they look EXACTLY alike. Meh. Some parts are silly fun and I DO like how Stanwyck and Henry Fonda play off eachother...but a classic? I don't buy it.
It is so refreshing to see a movie that is simple on paper, elevated to near perfection by its actors. Brando, Malden, Cobb, and Steiger are all so electric as they play out a story that is as simple as a man grappling with his own conscience over his involvement in violent union-involved murder. People say that Elia Kazan created this movie as a sort of contrition over his House Unamerican Act finger-pointing. I like to stay ignorant of the director's personal life. If I didn't....I wouldn't like Polanski or Allen movies either. Powerful Movie and worthy of its 8 oscars. The only reason it didn't win all 11 it was nominated for was because Malden, Cobb, and Steiger all split the Supporting Actor vote.
Another Hitchcock movie, another dud. Hitchcock is good at mounting suspense...and the scene where a gullible young man is carrying a time bomb is truly horrifying and tension filled (as well as the scene where Sylvia Sydney is deciding whether or not to kill her husband). But all of those scenes in between the suspense just drag, and drag, and drag. The film is also poorly titled. It should be called TERRORISM instead of SABOTAGE....but then again, Terrorism wasn't such a catchphrasey word back in 1936 as it is today. Short and simple to a fault...this is another dissapointment from the so-called Master of Suspense. If only that tension could have been maintained throughout...THEN we would have had something.
Bette Davis and Joan Crawford give riveting performances in this film...and the entire concept where a woman is keeping her parapeligic sister captive and under her control shows me that Rob Reiner's MISERY was not as original as I thought it was. The movie drags at times...but the tension is palpable and the legendary feud between the two actresses really elevates their hate-filled performances. The black and white photography is a nice touch because it adds to the drab helplessness that Blanche must have been feeling in her situation. Jane is the quintessential crazy shut in and Bette Davis created quite an iconic, archetypal character. I enjoyed it...but I was hoping for excitement ratcheted up to WHO'S AFRAID OF VIGINIA WOLFF levels.
Just like THE MALTESE FALCON, I love these film noir mysteries with Bogart. I have no idea what was actually going on in this film. It was something about a missing chauffer, blackmail, murders, gamblers, and something or other. Bogart is just an actor you can watch for hours and hours as he talks tough to the bad guys and suave to the women. He is quite a magnetic presence. I only give FALCON a better rating because that film had Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre. Otherwise...it is a fun Private Eye film.
Definitely one of those films that are famous for being notable in film history...not quite because it is particularly entertaining. It is a film made in Iran that won the Venice Film Festival, all under the Shah's rule...so it was a significant achievement for third-world cinema. The story is about a poof villager who is unhealthily obsessed with his cow. When it dies while he is away, the villagers band together to protect this man from the awful truth. When he does...he loses his mind and pretends that he, himself is the cow. It is an odd movie that echoes a bit of Fellini's black and white work....but significance surely outweighs its appeal.
In lesser hands, MY LEFT FOOT could have come across as a stunt lacking much emotion...but under the careful hands of Director Jim Sheridan and the great Daniel Day Lewis....this story of Christy Brown is touching, funny, beautiful, and perfectly frustrating. To see how Christy was trapped in his own Cerebral Palsy body is so heartbreaking and excruciating...yet the movie does not ask for sympathy or pity. The movie wonderfully portrays a story where the lead has a hardship but overcomes it. It is a classic idea...but seeing Daniel Day Lewis at his best makes the entire movie feel original.
Some people consider Spike Lee's films a bit militant and controversial. His brilliance behind DO THE RIGHT THING is that he invites the audience to become those with an internal controversy by never quite taking a side in the racial volatility throughout the film. The tension is palpable as we all live through a hot day in a Bed-Stuy neighborhood where Sal's Pizza is a central location. Many people seem to have their prejudices, but for the most part, it is live-and-let-live. But Spike Lee's invites us to realize, and bring our own prejudices to the table, that our society has nearly evolved to a point where conflict is necessary. Very well done. Spike Lee's own character of Mookie is a bit confused and his motivations are vague...but Danny Aiello is absolutely superb.
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These are Kevin's viewings out of the above Steven Jay Schneider tome Archives
May 2012
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