tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28705189927114509432024-03-12T19:34:30.035-04:00The 1000 Movie JourneyOne film geek attempts the impossible...Audrey on a Missionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09677112661222322227noreply@blogger.comBlogger126125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2870518992711450943.post-74753543896154552442012-08-28T22:07:00.003-04:002012-08-28T22:07:59.286-04:00Pinocchio: If You're a Naughty Little Boy, I'll Sell You to the Salt MinesAfter watching Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, I decided that it would be fun to go through all the Disney feature films in order. There's actually a bunch that I either haven't seen in a long time, or haven't seen period. Anyway, the film that came out after Snow White was Pinocchio, which also happens to be on the Top 1000 list. Two birds, one stone.<br />
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Geppetto is a lonely old woodworker, with only a kitten, fish, and marionette to keep him company. He wishes upon a star that Pinocchio (the puppet) would become a real boy. Enter Blue Fairy. Pinocchio is given life, and if he learns how to be a good person, then he will become an actual human being. (Not just an animated marionette, which let's face it, must have been pretty creepy to see walking around town.) Also, the shiftless layabout Jiminy Cricket is enlisted to be Pinocchio's conscience. Which he fails at miserably. Seriously, he does a terrible job.</div>
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The next day, Pinocchio gets sent along his merry way to school. By himself. This should end well.</div>
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He meets up with a Fox and a Cat (traditionally two of the most trustworthy animals) who convince him that he should skip school and join the circus. What could go wrong there? Oh...he gets sold to a ruthless puppeteer and will be forced to perform every day for no money. See, kiddies? This is why you never run away and join the circus. It's rarely as much fun as you think it will be.</div>
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Lucky, Deus ex Blue Fairy comes along and frees him, and he runs home to his daddy. Until he gets distracted by the Fox and Cat (again). This time they convince him to go to a magical amusement park called Pleasure Island. Jiminy Cricket, being a cricket, is powerless to stop him.</div>
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Oh, Pleasure Island. Pleasure Island <i>terrified</i> me when I was a kid. But watching it now, I'm just thinking how unfair this all is. So you round up a bunch of little boys, give them free reign, and then are what, shocked and betrayed when they misbehave? It kind of makes me think of the Adam and Eve story, it's like setting people up for failure. Yeah, the kids probably shouldn't be smoking or drinking. But what's wrong with pool? And if the amusement park supplies a model home that's <i>sole purpose</i> is to be destroyed, what's so bad about that? And what's the point of this whole exercise? The little boys turn into jackasses, and then they get shipped back to work in the salt mines. And are none of these boys going to reported missing? And plus...how much did that snazzy amusement park cost in comparison to how much money the donkeys could be sold for? It just doesn't seem like a viable business model.<br />
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But the part where the little donkey who is still enough of a boy to be able to cry and beg for his mother...well, I think that's when the five year old version of myself yanked Pinocchio out of the VCR and cried herself to sleep.<br />
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Seriously, this has to be one of the darkest Disney movies ever.<br />
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So Pinocchio just narrowly avoids being turned into a donkey, and he and Jiminy set out for home again. Where they find a note from Geppetto, explaining that he has been eaten by a giant whale.<br />
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Wait a second. Hold all the phones you can find.<br />
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So...Geppetto sends Pinocchio a <i>letter</i>...from inside the stomach of a <i>whale</i>. And how does he know the whale's name? Did he introduce himself before he ate them?</div>
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Pinocchio vows to rescue his father, and...actually does a pretty good job. I mean, considering the fact that he's made of wood so he would get all gross in the water and Geppetto would probably be dissolved by stomach acids by the time he got rescued and how the hell did Figaro and the stupid fish manage to make it out of there alive??</div>
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Anyway, Pinocchio gives his life saving Geppetto, and in doing so demonstrates courage and goodness and everything the Blue Fairy wanted him to do. So she turns him into a real boy. Everyone lives happily ever after.</div>
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Except for all those little boys who got turned into donkeys and will now be forced to live tragically short, painful lives doing manual labor.</div>
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Random Musings:</div>
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<li>I just read that the guy who played Geppetto often waxed poetic about the glories of Hitler on set. Guess what, guys? Magic <i>gone</i>.</li>
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<li>So...I don't remember Jiminy Cricket being such a hobo. I mean, he's about five seconds away from hopping a cargo train and eating some mulligan stew.</li>
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<li>I love Figaro. I appreciate that they just made him be a real cat instead of an anthropomorphic one...he's so adorably and I wish I had a cat like him!! </li>
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<li>Is the Blue Fairy any relation to the Green Fairy? Maybe she's the Blue Fairy's slutty, drug-addled little sister?</li>
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<li>Jiminy, you are the worst guardian cricket I've ever seen. While you're busy catching Z's, impressionable young Pinocchio is being led astray by unsavory theater folk!</li>
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<li>I'm confused. I was under the impression that this was taking place in, like, Italy. But Lampwick sounds like's he's straight out of turn of the century Brooklyn.</li>
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<li>Pinocchio, you're made of <i>wood</i>, you should not be smoking a cigar!!</li>
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So that's Pinocchio. Honestly one of the scariest Disney movies that I can remember. I feel like I only watched it once or twice as a kid, because it just made me feel uncomfortable. The animation is really nice, which really you could say about all the early Disney films. I like all the cute little character moments with Geppetto, Figaro, and Cleo...very nice attention to detail and absolutely adorable pets. The story itself is good, although I feel that it has a tendency to jump from plot element to plot element without too much connecting it. You can definitely tell that it was adapted from a serialized story, as each little vignette seems distinct and isolated from the others. Overall, I don't think this is one of Disney's best pictures, even though it does have parts that are genuinely frightening. Oh, but Wish Upon a Star is awesome. And I like Pinocchio's little number when he's dancing with the other marionettes. That was cute.</div>
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Thanks for reading, and come back next time!</div>
Audrey on a Missionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09677112661222322227noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2870518992711450943.post-55070781817324228082012-08-24T19:20:00.001-04:002012-08-24T19:23:54.509-04:00The Toxic Avenger: More Than Just Another Pretty FaceSo I was kind of bored today, and I thought, "Hey, why not watch the seminal classic The Toxic Avenger for the first time ever?" And then I checked and saw that it was on Netflix, which is all a movie really has to do for me to watch it.<br />
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So there's this horribly awkward nerd Melvyn working as a janitor at a fitness center in "the toxic waste dumping capital of the world", <strike>New Jersey</strike> Tromaville. There are some sociopathic gym rats who just hate that mop boy, and their bullying leads him to accidentally fall into a cylinder of toxic waste.<br />
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This is why I stick to places where the likelihood of me randomly happening upon radioactive material is relatively slim.<br />
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Instead of immediately burning his flesh off and killing him within minutes, the toxic waste takes a more unconventional approach. Of course, Melvyn is hideously deformed, there's no way around that. But he sprouts up probably a foot, gains about 100 pounds of muscle, and his voice drops an octave. It's almost like he's being played by a completely different actor.<br />
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Oh, and he's also developed an uncontrollable urge to punish all the asshole pricks in his town. <i>Of which there seem to be a disproportionate amount</i>. Must be the toxic waste. I mean, it's one thing for meatheads to be dillholes at the gym, it's quite another for them to have a game that involves hit and runs on a <i>point scale</i>. I wonder if these guys (had they lived until the 90s) would have seen Grand Theft Auto and shaken their heads at how lazy the youth of America had gotten. "When I was your age, we used to actually run people down with cars. <i>Real </i>people. Human interaction, that's what's missing these days." No? Just a thought.<br />
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<li><i>"I hate that mop boy!"</i> Oh my god Bozo you are just so camp.</li>
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<li>I have to hand it to the movie -- when they run over the little boy's head, that's actually a pretty good special effect. Screw CGI, I want more bewigged melon smashing.</li>
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<li>Watching the extras in this movie is easily just as entertaining as the actual plot. Also, I think I just saw Marisa Tomei.</li>
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<li>My personal favorite is when he rips the would-be rapist's arm off and beats him with it.</li>
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<li>Why in the hell does the random fast food robber have nunchucks???</li>
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<li>I love how severely deformed superheros always end up with blind chicks. Didn't that happen with the Thing in the Fantastic 4 too?</li>
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<li>I've never seen a drug dealer who supplied buyers with heroin already in a syringe. Then again, my knowledge of the drug trade consists almost entirely of what I'v seen on Breaking Bad and various after school specials, so what the hell do I know? Still, I suspect the filmmakers were just worried that no one would the guy at the gym was dealing heroin if they didn't actually show a syringe.</li>
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<li>"<i>And you can tell all your scum friends that things are gonna change in this town. I'm not just another pretty face!</i>" OMG I love it.</li>
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<li>Toxic Avenger helping old ladies cross the street and housewives open tight jars? I approve.</li>
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I'm going to draw a line in the sand and say that I like the special effects in this movie. They're a little on the cheesy side, but they totally match the general tone of the film. It never claims to take itself seriously, and it never expects me to. That's why this and the other Troma films are awesome and lovable, and other movies of a similar production value are relegated to Mystery Science Theater.
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Let's have no illusions about it: this is not a <i>good</i> movie. It is, however, a <i>fantastic</i> movie. That's a subtle but significant distinction to make, and sometimes I would rather watch a movie that's silly and enjoyable than one that is technically good. Like, if I had to watch Return of the Living Dead III or Citizen Kane right now, I would probably go with Return of the Living Dead III, not going to lie. The Toxic Avenger may not be winning Oscars anytime soon, but it's a hell of a lot of fun. I also appreciate the dark, almost sadistic sense of humor that runs throughout the entire film. Definitely worth watching.<br />
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Thanks for reading, and come back next time!Audrey on a Missionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09677112661222322227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2870518992711450943.post-58048282852252813232012-08-22T15:17:00.000-04:002012-08-22T15:33:26.899-04:00Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: Wondering if I've Been Spelling "Dwarves" Wrong All My LifeThe next movie I'm watching is the animated classic <b>Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs</b>. This is the movie that made people take Walt Disney (and really the entire idea of an animated feature) seriously. Before this, you've got mostly animated shorts, and pretty much everybody thought a full length animated film would be doomed to failure. This is why you shouldn't listen to pretty much everybody.<br />
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Snow White's a pretty young princess who has to work as a scullery maid because her stepmother's a jealous bitch. After she surpasses the queen in beauty, Queenie goes ballistic and puts a hit out on her. But before we get to that, I feel like we need to address the elephant in the room. Does anyone else want to talk about how horrifying that magic mirror is? I mean, the queen is scary, but more in a campy, over the top villainess kind of way. The Mirror, on the other hand, is like looking into the dead eyes of Lucifer himself.<br />
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Unsurprisingly, the Huntsman sent out to kill Snow White lacks the homicidal rage needed to finish the job, so Snow White is left to scamper off into the forest. Where she finds an empty house and decides to just let herself in and clean up the place?<br />
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Luckily the dwarfs don't seem to live in one of the Stand Your Ground states, otherwise this movie would have been a lot shorter.<br />
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They're all happy that there's one of them there purty wimmenfolk to do the cooking and cleaning for them, and it's not exactly a bad deal for Snow White either (free rent). Although...can we talk about how old Snow White is supposed to be? Because I feel like she's <i>maybe</i> fourteen and am finding something incredibly problematic about her living with seven miners.<br />
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But what's with them expecting her to do all the chores? What, Doc's never heard of a broom in all of his extensive studies? And why is a doctor doing working as a coal miner, anyway?<br />
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The sort of weird thing about this film is that there are easily fifteen characters that I'm more interested in than Snow White, yet she's the one with her name in the title. Snow just comes off as this bubbly, naive airhead with a high-pitched baby voice the whole time. To be fair, she does manage to find gainful employment and a decent living conditions, so she's not the total anti-feminist nightmare a lot of people make her out to be. But throughout the film, she really does lack any sort of agency, which is problematic in a main character. To be honest, she kind of seems like she's had a lobotomy or something. And dear baby Jesus her singing voice is annoying. I get that vibratos were very in during the 1930s, but she just doesn't have the strength in her voice to support it. It's just this thin, whiny-sounding voice and it drives me crazy.<br />
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Anyway...meanwhile, back at the castle, the queen discovers that Snow White is still alive. In her quest to remain young and beautiful, she uses a spell which turns her into a hideous old hag. Logic, thy place is elsewhere. She makes an evil poison apple to kill Snow White with, and sets off. Is this one of the reasons why on Halloween kids aren't allowed to accept unwrapped candy anymore? I remember having to throw out candy because it didn't pass the maternal safety inspection. Thanks a lot, Queen.<br />
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In related news: Snow White is an idiot. She lets a stranger into her house and accepts food from her. This is like, Stranger Danger 101. I know golden retrievers with more sense than that, and they eat their own shit. So Snow White falls into an enchanted sleep, and the dwarfs chase the Queen off the end of a cliff in what turns out to be an oddly anti-climatic death scene. They leave Snow White on a glass coffin because she's just too darn pretty to be buried. Also, in case any young princes with a thing for necrophilia happen to pop by.<br />
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That's right, the prince shows up. The guy in the film who is such a non character they don't even bother to give him a name. Like, they're not even trying to pretend that they invested any time in coming up with a personality for him. Prince kisses Snow White, waking her up from her cursed slumber, and they live happily ever after. Who ever said getting married when you're fourteen was a recipe for disaster?<br />
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<li><i>"Hello? May I come in?"</i> No answer, so I'll just barge in with my dirty, disease-ridden wild animals in tow. Raccoons are like the second most common rabies carriers in America, yo.</li>
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<li>Why do these dwarfs all live together? Are they brothers, or just BFFs united by a common occupation, a genetic birth defect, and the thriftiness to split the rent on that cottage seven ways?</li>
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<li>When I was a kid, Dopey was my favorite. I thought he was funny and adorable. But watching this film again as an adult, I find myself drawn to Grumpy the most. I wonder what that says about me?</li>
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<li>Have to admit, Dopey chasing and accidentally swallowing the soap is one of the funniest slapstick sequences I've seen in a Disney movie. And this is coming from someone who's usually not a big fan of slapstick.</li>
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<li>A small part of me is offended at how Snow White treats them all as if they were little kids, even though she's a guest in their house and they're all adult men with beards and stuff.</li>
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<li>I don't remember this from when I was a kid, but the skeleton in the queen's dungeon is a really horrifying image. Its arm outstretched, trying to a get a jug of water the queen has placed just out of reach.</li>
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<li>OMG, the moment when Snow White looks up from her cooking to see the queen staring at her through the kitchen window reminds me so much of when my neighbor used to do that to my mom. She was always hyper concerned about the stray cats that sometimes used to sleep in our shed, and she could have just rang the doorbell, but for some reason she preferred scaring the shit out of everyone.</li>
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<li>A magic wishing apple? Hey Snow White, I've got this really cool bridge you might be interested in purchasing...</li>
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<li>Oh god I always HATED the vultures in this movie. Ugly bastards.</li>
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Seriously, I think I was more scared of these guys when I was a kid than anything else in the film. As much as they freak me out, they were a really smart move by Disney, because they make the Queen's death chilling without having to actually show her die.<br />
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<li>So...the glass coffin ends up working out for the best in this movie, because she was in an enchanted sleep, but how did the dwarfs know that? They had to be expecting her body to start to decay after a while, and with all the wild animals around...well, a glass coffin seems impractical at best.</li>
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That's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. This was never one of my favorite Disney movies. It just wasn't one of the ones that I watched a lot when I was a kid. I do think a lot of it's content comes off as pretty dated, but I have to admit that I liked it (or I guess I should say appreciated it) far more after rewatching it as an adult. One thing you have to get it credit for is how unbelievably perfect the animation is. Every animated cell is a piece of art, and I love the attention to detail you get in every single shot. While I certainly prefer other Disney films to this one, it's hard to argue against the fact that when this movie came out, it was a watershed moment for animation. Without Snow White proving that the format could work and captivate audiences, you never would have gotten all the other wonderful Disney movies that have been entertaining kids for generations. <br />
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Thanks for reading, and come back next time!<br />
<br />Audrey on a Missionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09677112661222322227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2870518992711450943.post-11295563748656424702012-08-06T10:54:00.000-04:002012-08-06T10:54:38.712-04:00Flaming Creatures: That Fine Line Between Porn and ArtThe next film on our list is <b>Flaming Creatures</b>, a 1963 short by Jack Smith. Its claim to fame is that it was pulled from very limited distribution after being judged obscene by the New York Criminal Court. Why is it on the list? Mostly because it's edgy and controversial, although surprisingly not <i>that </i>explicit. I mean...considering the fact that the NYPD seized it at the premiere. <br />
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The first thing I notice about the film: I don't know if it's the fact that prints of this very cheaply made film have aged incredibly poorly, or simply the director's tendency to do extreme close-ups and quick cuts, but half the time I'm not sure exactly what I'm looking at. And I'm not going to lie -- I'm slightly relieved by that. But sometimes I'll look at the screen and be paying attention to the person putting lipstick on...and then I'll suddenly realize that they have a penis resting gently on their shoulder and I'm not sure what to make out of any of it.<br />
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<span style="text-align: center;">And, umm...what's with the extended rape/orgy scene? Why am I in a position where I'm reviewing films about which I have to ask, "What's with the extended rape/orgy scene"? And the random vampire? And the literally five minute long scene with a bunch of people putting on frankly gratuitous amounts of lipstick? So many questions, none of which I really want answered.</span><br />
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My most charitable response to this film is that it was a reflection of the more sexually explicit elements of New York City counterculture. The better filmed parts seem almost like the excesses of the Roman Empire. But ultimately, I can't help but thinking the only reason this film is still remembered is because 49 years ago it got banned for being obscene. If there's a better way to get attention for your cheap, amateur short film, I can't think of one.Audrey on a Missionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09677112661222322227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2870518992711450943.post-47516911528901504282012-08-03T14:02:00.000-04:002012-08-22T12:58:49.366-04:00The Purple Rose of Cairo: Imaginary Men are BetterThe next film on our list is <b>The Purple Rose of Cairo</b>. It's one of the many Woody Allen films included in the Top 1000, and stars Mia Farrow and Jeff Daniels.<br />
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Mia Farrow is Cecilia, a waitress in Depression Era New Jersey who is obsessed with going to the movies. With her dead end job and dead beat husband (played by Danny Aiello), the cinema is the perfect way for her to escape her troubles. She goes to see a new release, The Purple Rose of Cairo, and she sits through the film so many times that one of the characters develops an attachment to her. Tom Baxter, a fictional archaeologist, is so smitten with the downtrodden housewife that he steps out of the film and into real life to be with her.</div>
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Romantic, right? Well, kind of. But there's a few reasons why this is potentially problematic.</div>
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Yeah, he's supposedly "the perfect guy". He's loving, noble, honest, brave, and a great kisser. But...he's also kind of useless. I mean, I like all those qualities in a guy, but I would prefer one who understood how money worked and that you can't just sit in a car and expect it to drive itself. Tom is sweet, but all he really does is sit around at the carnival and wait for Cecilia to show up. There's a depression going on, Tom! You need to pull your own weight!</div>
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I have to admit, I'm sort of on the same side as the studio. You can't just have random characters wandering off the screen whenever they feel like it. That way lies madness. MADNESS, I tell you! What if Voldemort decided to walk?? Or Amon Goeth? I'll sleep easier knowing that all Ralph Fiennes characters are safely up on the screen where they belong, thank you very much.</div>
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So Gil Shepherd (the actor who played Tom Baxter) has to fly to Jersey and try to rein in his doppelganger. In the process, he kinda sorta maybe develops a thing for Cecilia. You know what? I actually think Gil and Cecilia would be a good couple. She's kind of a ditz who wants someone she can hero worship and will treat her right. He wants someone to follow him around and tell him how awesome he is. I'm not even being sarcastic -- their flaws make them compatible in a weird way. And they're so cute when they play Alabamy Bound together!</div>
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So she chooses Gil over Tom, reality over fantasy. Bad move, Cecilia. As our dear friends Ethan Hawke and Janeane Garofalo would said, reality bites.<br />
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It breaks my heart when Gil leaves her behind. I wonder how much of his feelings for Cecilia were just him acting? It's open to interpretation, but I think he genuinely enjoyed her company. I don't think for one second that he loved her like he said in the movie theater, but I think he was attracted to her, and if he wasn't so focused on his career, who knows? Either way, you can definitely see the look of regret on his face as he flies back to Hollywood. Although that could easily be nausea. Gil hates flying, remember?<br />
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As much as I'm a little sad that I didn't get a big romantic ending, I don't think it would have worked for this film. Bittersweet is almost always better than saccharine. And the last scene, with Cecilia watching Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing together, so beautifully illustrates the power and magic of cinema as an escape from reality. Which is the whole point of the movie anyway.<br />
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<li>I'm almost ashamed to admit that I totally identify with Cecilia. Referencing movies other people have never heard of (because they actually have lives), spending all your time and money sitting in a dark room watching films...gee, I wonder what that's like?</li>
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<li>So these one percenters are exploring a pyramid, run into some random guy skulking around, and invite him back to NY with them on a whim? Maybe I should hang out in tombs more often.
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<li><i>"Dad was a card. I never met him, he died before the movie." </i>For some reason I find this line incredibly amusing.</li>
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<li><i>"I'm a dramatic character, I need forward motion!"</i> One of my favorite parts of the film is when all the characters in the picture are sitting around, waiting for Tom to get back. They're hilarious because while they're still in character, they seem to have the self-awareness and vanity of the actors who play them. Note how they all think the movie is about them. And how funny is it that one of the characters tries to convince them all to unite as comrades? Wink wink nudge nudge at the Red element in Hollywood in the 30s?
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<li><i>"If anyone needs me, I'll be in the bathroom. On the floor. Weeping."</i> OMG SO USING THIS LINE.</li>
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<li>I love how offended both Gil and Tom get whenever people refer to him as a minor character. And I love that Woody Allen is unafraid to repeatedly stop the action to allow them to voice their outrage.</li>
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So that's The Purple Rose of Cairo. I think this might be my favorite Woody Allen film of all time. In my opinion, he's at his best when he a) does not appear in the film as an actor (with few exceptions) and b) writes from an honest place of nostalgia. I love his passion for the golden age of cinema. I appreciate the little homage to Sherlock Jr. His obvious love for the subject matter is what allows him to create such an engaging story with rich, wonderful characters. I obviously feel for Cecilia, even Tom, and he isn't even a real person.</div>
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Also, as a history buff, I appreciate how authentic this film seems. There really was something magical about the cinema during the 1930s, and Woody Allen captures that perfectly. It's interesting to try and draw a parallel to the entertainment of today, during another major financial crisis. In the 30s, you've got screwball comedies and huge, elaborate musicals. It allowed the average people to escape into a world of glamour and ostentatious wealth. Nowadays, I feel like our first reaction towards the upper classes (that were often shown in those films) would be anger at their extravagant spending. But then again, we have Downton Abbey, which showcases the ultrarich in the early 20th century, and Iron Man, who is (in his own words) a "genius billionaire playboy philanthropist". So maybe things haven't changed so much.</div>
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A few notes for the future of this blog, if there's anyone out there still reading. I got majorly burned out trying to keep up with a five a week schedule, so for the foreseeable future I'm going to post reviews on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. On the other days, I might make shorter blog posts about other films or things that are happening in the entertainment industry that I want to talk about. Or politics. I might start randomly talking politics. Who knows? We'll see.<br />
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Thanks for reading! :)<br />
<br />Audrey on a Missionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09677112661222322227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2870518992711450943.post-58087173808158996642012-05-15T12:53:00.004-04:002012-05-15T12:54:32.675-04:00The Ghost and Mrs Muir: Of Salty Sea Captains and Haunted HousesThe next movie we'll be watching is <b>The Ghost and Mrs Muir</b>, a 1947 romantic ghost story starring Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison.<br />
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Mrs Muir is a widow who has had just about enough of living with her late husband's mother and old maid of a sister. So she moves with her young daughter and rustic maid to a house by the seaside. A house, as luck would have it, which is haunted by an ornery sea captain.<br />
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While all of the previous tenants left after only one night, Mrs Muir is intrigued by the idea of a ghost. After a brief period of Captain Gregg slamming things around, yelling, making the lights flicker, and generally throwing a temper tantrum, the ghost and Mrs Muir tentatively come to an agreement. And Mrs Muir finds an unlikely ally in her quest for independence.<br />
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Captain Gregg dictates a memoir to her, so that she can get a book published and keep the house. After a while, an unconventional friendship develops between the two, and it becomes obvious that they kind of sort of have feelings for one another.<br />
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But when Mrs Muir goes to a London publishing house, she meets a man named Miles Fairley, who begins to court her something fierce. She has to make the choice between a real live man that she maybe doesn't love 100%, and the ghost of a man she loves but can never have. Decisions, decisions. She eventually chooses Fairley, and Gregg moves on despite his feelings for her. As he leaves, he whispers to her while she's sleeping to convince her that their relationship was just a dream. This is apparently a power that ghosts have.<br />
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Unfortunately, Fairley is kind of a grade A douchebag with a secret wife and children living in London. Which she finds out when she goes up to his house in London to surprise him, only to find Mrs Fairley.<br />
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So that's clearly over.<br />
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Mrs Muir lives out the rest of her life in that house, and one day when she's very old she falls asleep by the fire, to be reunited with the captain at last. They walk together into the mist, which is a touching image, even if I'm like do not go gentle into that good night! Show some emotion! You should not be so immediately OK with the fact that you just saw your own dead body! FEEL SOMETHING!<br />
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And I guess that one thing is really the entire problem I have with this film. It feels strangely dispassionate and unemotional. This is a great story, but for it to really work, I think there needed to be deeper emotional content. The relationships feel very shallow to me, and I wanted more out of it. I get that the Captain and Mrs Muir love each other, but I want more than the few interactions that I got from them. I don't understand why the maid and the daughter were so against Fairley. I mean, they were right about him being a toolbox, but I don't feel like I was shown any strong evidence that he was that bad up until the point when she gets his address and I immediately knew there was going to be a woman there. They should have played up his bad side a little bit more before that point in the film.<br />
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Despite this, the film is pretty well made. I enjoyed the beginning best, when there was actually some haunting going on in that house. It was very spooky and atmospheric, and I loved it. Rex Harrison, as usual, does a great job with his role as the grumpy but ultimately goodhearted sea captain. The scene when he leaves is top notch.<br />
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I'm normally a pretty strong advocate against doing remakes of classics, but this is one of the very few films where as soon as I started watching it, I thought, "Wow, I would love for this to be remade." I guess just because I like the story, but there are many things that I think could be improved upon.<br />
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Does that movie count as a remake? I hope not.<br />
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Thanks for reading, and come back next time!Audrey on a Missionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09677112661222322227noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2870518992711450943.post-21818694289504673182012-05-08T13:21:00.000-04:002012-05-08T13:21:02.662-04:00Une Femme Est Une Femme: Is This a Tragedy or a Comedy?The next film on our list is Une Femme Est Une Femme, or A Woman is a Woman. This is a French New Wave film from 1961, directed by Jean-Luc Godard, which means that it is clever, smug, and artsy.<br />
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This film is the story of a stripper who suddenly decides that she desperately wants a baby. Her boyfriend Emile is reluctant, saying that they have plenty of time, while their friend Alfred is more than happy to oblige her with babymaking. Arguments and random musical interludes ensue.<br />
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<li>I'm sorry, call me a cynic, but this little gadget to determine fertility does not seem to operate using scientifically sound principles.</li>
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<li>1961: A man is getting all worked up listening to Real vs Barca. Some things never change, do they?</li>
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<li>Did they seriously just stop what they were doing to bow to the audience? What an odd film. And I'm going to miss that fourth wall.</li>
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<li>Why do they spend so much time and energy fighting each other? It's tiring me out just watching them.</li>
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<li>This woman's not the best at bargaining. She basically just tried, "I'll make you boiled eggs if you <i>father my child</i>."</li>
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<li>"Emile, I've just realized something. You get on my nerves!" THANK YOU I HAVE BEEN SHOUTING THIS AT THE SCREEN FOR LITERALLY THE ENTIRE MOVIE!</li>
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<li>"Don't you understand plain English?" ... ... while they're speaking French. Somebody fell asleep at the subtitles.</li>
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<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />I'm definitely feeling that music is key here. There are times when it completely drowns out the dialogue, and then the only time you actually expect music (when a character is singing), there's nothing. I know there is a point to the intrusive score, but I'm afraid I'm not quite clever enough to understand it. This sums up most of my feelings about French New Wave cinema. Is this playing with the idea of American musicals, where people break out into song and dance at the slightest provocation? Possibly.<br />
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This film is the ultimate expression of style over substance. Let's have no illusions about this: Godard is devoting screen time to two people fighting over how to pronounce their r's, while accompanied by a grand musical score. These people talk a lot, but not really about anything important. In a lot of ways it resembles the idea of the Pinter silence, where people chat so much and so superficially that their actual conversation is devoid of meaning, and serves to hide what the characters want to or perhaps should be talking about.</div>
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Is this film an acquired taste? Abso-freaking-lutely. It's like, I appreciate it for what it is, but I don't think I'm going to load this one up in my Netflix queue again anytime soon. It's one of those movies where I feel experiencing it once is enough.</div>
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Thanks for reading, and come back next time!</div>
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<br /></div>Audrey on a Missionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09677112661222322227noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2870518992711450943.post-42913301883569613162012-04-28T19:23:00.002-04:002012-04-28T19:25:53.617-04:00Heaven Can Wait: This Is Your Life, The Hell EditionThis next film is called Heaven Can Wait. It's an Ernst Lubitsch film from 1943, starring Don Ameche as a deceased playboy.<br />
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The basic premise of this film is an old man at the gates of hell, telling his life's story to the gatekeeper. He was a rich man, who was thoroughly overindulged by his parents since infancy. Even when he was a little kid, he was a reckless flirt. As he grew up, he became a total player, with absolutely nothing to do besides shirk his responsibilities.<br />
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At 26, he fell in love with his straight-laced cousin Albert's fiancee Martha, and they eloped. She was a genuinely good person, and she had a hand in curbing some of his more adolescent tendencies (although he definitely cheated on her on more than one occasion). They had a son named Jack, and although Martha left him once briefly after discovering one of his indiscretions, they seemed to have a generally happy marriage.<br />
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This guy's obviously not perfect. But does he really belong in hell?<br />
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<li>Henry says of his straight-laced cousin Albert, "Nor did he ever put a mouse into his teacher's bustle." Wow, what a prissy little bitch. How dare he never abuse a harmless little animal.</li>
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<li>I love that Martha goes to the bookstore to buy a naughty book about how to make her husband happy. The way she was getting all embarrassed about the book, I was half expecting it to be the Kama Sutra or Joy of Sex or something.</li>
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<li>Young Don Ameche sort of reminds me of Ben Mackenzie. Also, how weird is it seeing Mortimer Duke from Trading Places forty years ahead of time, when Don is in his old man makeup?</li>
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<li>Speaking of the aging makeup, they did a really good job with it in this film. Don Ameche was about 35 when he made this, but he's believable from his mid-20s well into his old age.</li>
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<li>Poor Albert. Even boring people deserve happiness, and it's not his fault she accepted his proposal for the wrong reasons. But seriously, Albert? We do not shoo our fiancees for sneezing.</li>
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<li>Is she seriously saying that she's glad he got fat because then he wouldn't be able to attract other women and she wouldn't feel threatened anymore? OK...I really think this relationship could do with a little bit less honesty.</li>
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This movie is Don Ameche's baby from start to finish. There's really nothing at else going on besides him going through his life, and the movie doesn't really make it a priority to develop most of the other characters beyond paper-thin prototypes. So how does it work?</div>
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Simple. Don Ameche is a movie star.</div>
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When you've got someone who's this intensely watchable, it really doesn't matter if he's the only thing happening in the film. I'm interested in his character and everything he does, good or bad. Yeah, it would have been nice if there was a little bit more dramatic tension, but overall I'm satisfied with my viewing experience, and at the end of the day, that's all you can really ask for.</div>
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Thanks for reading, and come back next time!</div>Audrey on a Missionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09677112661222322227noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2870518992711450943.post-87441226823758384942012-04-23T14:05:00.002-04:002012-04-23T14:05:15.245-04:00Imitation of Life (1934) vs Imitation of Life (1959)Imitation of Life was a book about two women bonding, the complicated mother-daughter relationship, and the even more complex issues of race. It was adapted into two films, the first of which came out in 1934, starring Claudette Colbert and Louise Beavers, and the second of which came out in 1959, starring Lana Turner and Juanita Moore. They're both very good films in their own right, but which is better?<br />
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The stories are, for the most part, incredibly similar. There's a white single mother with a little girl to look after who's struggling to make ends meet. The "Magical Negro" shows up and offers to help her out around the house, in exchange for room and board for her and her daughter. Her daughter is a very light-skinned African American, so much so that she can get away with "passing" as white. She resents her mother for being black and tries to fight her own racial background. This is the source of most of the conflict throughout the film. The only real difference between the films is that in the 1934 version, Bea (Colbert) makes her fortune by opening a pancake house and marketing Delilah's (Beavers) pancake recipe, while in the 1959 version Lora (Turner) finds success as an actress.</div>
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For me, this is an incredibly character-driven story, so I think it would be a good idea to look at them first, in trying to decide which film is better.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bea (Claudette Colbert) vs Lora (Lana Turner)</td></tr>
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A lot of this one comes down to personal preference. I'm not a huge fan of Lana Turner, and I think she lacks the warmth needed for this role. She's just kind of unlikeable. I don't really buy her relationship with Annie, and I don't blame Susie for calling her out on her not being a good mother. She's overly ambitious, and is willing to put aside any commitment she has with her family or boyfriend for an opportunity in theater. I don't think this story works as well when so much of it is about her drama. I prefer the more friendly, laidback Claudette Colbert. Even though her work ends up taking over a lot of her life, there's still a great connection between her and her daughter...you can tell how much she loves Jessie. I feel like she and Delilah have a wonderful partnership and friendship. Most of all, she comes off as a nice person who worked her way to the top with hard work and risk taking. When Lora manages to get ahead, it feels contrived. She gives a bad audition and criticizes the playwright, but somehow that's exactly what he wants. Please. Also, I think having so much of the film revolve around Lora and her work as an actress takes away from what should be the more important story.</div>
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Winner: Claudette Colbert, 1934</div>
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This is tough, because as much as I like and admire Louise Beavers, her character of Delilah is such a painful mammy stereotype. She injects genuine warmth and love into the role, but it's hard to ignore that Delilah is such a product of her time. The scene where Bea asks her to smile is just cringe-worthy in its awkwardness. It's sort of like when your 90 year old great-aunt uses the term "colored"...it's embarrassing, but you sort of can't get mad at her because that's just the way things were back then.<br />
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By contrast, Juanita Moore as Annie seems to be way more realistic. She's a little less subservient, a little smarter, and has a more complex relationship with her daughter. When she says, "How do you explain to your child she was born to be hurt?" that's just a heartbreaking moment. She fully understands why Sarah Jane runs away, but she still doesn't want to lose her baby. At the end, when she makes an effort to interact with Sarah Jane on her own terms (pretending to be her old nanny rather than her mother), it's depressing that she would have to do that, but it's also touching that she wants her daughter in her life no matter what. Even if it means doing something she disagrees with, she would rather do that than die on bad terms with her daughter. I think that effort is what makes Sarah Jane realize how much her mother means to her.<br />
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Winner: Juanita Moore, 1959<br />
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<br />I have to be honest, I'm a little bit influenced by the realism factor. I think it's amazing that in 1934 they cast Fredi Washington, a light-skinned African American woman who was a very talented actress but refused to pass as white. There's something raw and truthful about her performance, because you know that the issue was incredibly real for her. It's a bit strange that in 1959 they cast an actress who was half Latina, half white, settling for someone who was just ethnic-looking enough to pull off the role. What gives, Hollywood?<div>
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That said, both of these actresses do a really great job. I think Peola comes off as being a little more reasonable and conflicted about her decisions, which for me makes her more realistic as a character. But Susan Kohner <i style="font-weight: bold;">OWNS</i> the funeral scene at the end of the film. Seriously. I watched it twice, and cried both times. Watching her running down the street, sobbing, "Mama!" makes me lose it. My only real issue with the Sarah Jane storyline in the 1959 version is the plot with her boyfriend. I think it's a really good idea to address the issues that go along with a light-skinned black girl dating a white boy, but I felt like it was done a little awkwardly here. </div>
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First of all, I couldn't stop thinking about how Sarah Jane possibly expected it to play out. Even if they did get married and stayed together, if she ever got pregnant that would be a disaster. It's too much to expect that her baby would be as light as she was, and I can only imagine what a white husband would do if his apparently-white wife gave birth to a black baby. Probably wouldn't be pretty. But beyond that, the whole scene where her boyfriend finds out she's black is so over the top and melodramatic and tonally off that it feels like it's from a completely different film.</div>
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Winner: Fredi Washington, 1934<br /><br />
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I find Sandra Dee to be pretty annoying throughout this film, except for the scenes towards the end when she grows a pair and is telling off her mother. I just find her to be too wide-eyed and girlish...her little high-pitched voice drives me up a wall. It's almost comical when she falls in love with Steve, because she really does come off as a child. Jessie, on the other hand, seems more mature and likeable. It seems more believable that she could relate to Steve on an adult level, so well it's obvious that her feelings aren't reciprocated, it makes for a more interesting situation. Interestingly enough, in the 1934 film, Bea and Steve decide against getting married so that Jessie doesn't feel that her mother got in the way of her happiness. In the 1959 version, Lora offers to call the engagement off, only to have Susie snap at her that she'll get over it, and she tells her mother not to "play the martyr". As much as I prefer Rochelle Hudson, I find the 1959 version's way of resolving the issue incredibly satisfying.<br />
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Winner: Rochelle Hudson, 1934<br />
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I have to give credit to Karin Dicker, the girl who played the young version of Sarah Jane in the 1959 film. She was a really strong actor. Especially in the scene on the beach, when they ask her for her address, and she just has this stricken look on her face like she doesn't know what to say. She did a great job with limited screen time and complex emotional material, so hat's off to her.<br />
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In general, I think the two little girls from the 1959 version were vastly superior to the kids from the 1934 one. They seemed very natural and confident, while the girls in the older version were flat and just sort of reading their lines. Except for Baby Jane, of course. She was adorable.<br />
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Also, I love Elmer in the 1934 version. He is hilarious and I love listening to him, especially with Steve. <i>"You're late." "You're drunk." "You're a liar."</i><br />
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Overall, I guess I would have to say that I prefer the 1934 version, but the 1959 film has some great moments, and definitely has the superior funeral scene. And they have Mahalia Jackson singing in it. Come on. That's awesome.<br />
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Thanks for reading, and come back next time!</div>Audrey on a Missionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09677112661222322227noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2870518992711450943.post-47453447893016731242012-04-20T18:45:00.000-04:002012-04-20T18:46:06.482-04:00The Woman in the Window: Siren Calls of AdventureThe next film on the list is Fritz Lang's <b>The Woman in the Window</b> from 1944. It stars Edward G Robinson, Joan Bennett, and Dan Duryea, a team that would be brought back together for 1945's <a href="http://the1000moviejourney.blogspot.com/2012/02/scarlet-street-everyones-scumbag-in.html">Scarlet Street</a>, with similar success.<br />
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Richard Wanley is a middle-aged professor who has a good life -- good job, a wife, kids -- but he feels like he's missing out on a sense of adventure that he had as a younger man. One day, he walks by a window with a painting of a beautiful woman, and he's completely enthralled. Even more so when the real-life subject of the painting walks up and propositions him.<br />
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Hours later, they're in her apartment enjoying drinks, when another man comes into the apartment. He is enraged, slaps Alice across the face, and tries to strangle Richard to death. So Richard stabs him in the back several times with a pair of scissors.<br />
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Holy crap that escalated quickly. I like how it shows the confusion and chaos that accompany most murders. But come on guys...you should really just call the police. This was a home invasion. They don't send people to jail for self defense in situations like that. This whole movie would go so much more smoothly id you just call the police.<br />
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I can understand his point of view more than her's. No matter what happened with the police, his wife would find out that he was at another woman's apartment in the middle of the night, and any way you swing it that's not a recipe for marital bliss. But Alice should have just dealt with it. Said that he was beating her and she killed him in self defense. She would have the black eye to back her story up, and his history of having a violent temper. There's not a jury in New York who would convict her. Honestly, NY in the 40s? All she would have had to do was get up on the witness stand with her pretty little face and cry. Story over.<br />
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But instead of doing things the smart and logical way, Richard and Alice decide to try covering their tracks. Which immediately makes them look guilty. Alice cleans up the apartment and Richard drives the body out to some wooded area to dump it.<br />
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It doesn't take very long for the body to be found, and not much longer than that for Richard to start looking pretty suspicious. No matter how hard he tried to think a few steps ahead of the police, there were things at the crime scene that could be used as evidence against him. Of course, Richard is a respected member of society and is friends with members of the police force, so he'd have to look pretty damn guilty before they would even think of him as a suspect. Slowly but surely, though, you can see them starting to question him a little bit.<br />
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And a blackmailer coming forward and threatening them doesn't make things any easier. Richard comes up with a plan in which Alice will put poison in his drink, ridding themselves of their problem. Only the blackmailer wasn't born yesterday, and he knows better than to drink anything given to him by <i>someone he's blackmailing</i>. Richard is too tired to deal with this anymore, and he kills himself by drinking some of the poison...just as the blackmailer is shot by the police, thereby solving their problems. Bummer. What a tragic en--<br />
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WHAT?? IT WAS ALL A DREAM?!?!?! YOU MOTHERF**KERS!!!<br />
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I was willing to accept Dallas invalidating an entire season by making it all a dream. I was willing to accept St Elsewhere taking place entirely in a <i>snowglobe belonging to an autistic child</i>. But this?? This I will not accept.<br />
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Ugh. Fine. I will accept it. I guess it kind of works, because the dream is bittersweet. Yeah, he's not in trouble, but also the only interesting things that happen to him are in a dream state. Fine, movie. You win.<br />
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<li>After everything you told Alice about covering your tracks, you manage to get your DNA about a foot and a half away from where you're stashing the body. Smooth. Is this your first murder or what?</li>
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<li>Haha the Boy Scout who found the body kind of reminds me of the kid from Up. (Also The Little Rascals.)</li>
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<li>Is it just me or is it weird that his friend the doctor is prescribing him stuff randomly?</li>
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<li>Richard is inserting himself into the investigation. If I've learned anything from Criminal Minds, that means he's the unsub.</li>
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<li>So this blackmailer's going to take two random hairs from the scene of the crime and what? Give them to the police? What would that prove? Just that a man with a criminal record who's currently wanted for blackmail has access to two heads of hair. You can't convict someone on evidence like that. Please.</li>
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So this movie was pretty good. I do like Edward G Robinson and Joan Bennett, so it was nice to see them again. I enjoy movies where people are trying to cover up a murder, but when it's something that is so obviously self defense, it always annoys the hell out of me that they don't just go to the police. Stupid. Other than that, the direction is good, the writing is good, and there's a nice sense of tension and dread that builds throughout the film. I can't decide if I think the film would have been stronger if ultimately Richard had killed himself. Then I remembered that you couldn't have someone commit suicide during the Production Code era, so it was a moot point. Whatever, it's still a good movie. I can't decide if I prefer this one or Scarlet Street.</div>
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Thanks for reading, and come back next time!</div>Audrey on a Missionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09677112661222322227noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2870518992711450943.post-6228208936531303692012-04-19T10:35:00.001-04:002012-04-20T13:55:22.665-04:00Rose Hobart: The Precursor to Fan VidsThe next film on our list is <b>Rose Hobart</b>, a 19-minute long experimental film that splices together clips from the film East of Borneo featuring Rose Hobart, with footage of a solar eclipse.<br />
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I don't necessarily understand the motivation behind the film, but it's certainly an unoffensive piece of cinematic history. I sort of have a rule about experimental film, I'll watch anything you make and won't be too critical of it as long as it's short and sweet. I don't have much patience for pretentious filmmakers who waste my time with their "artistic" opuses that cross the two-hour mark (Tree of Life, I'm looking at you), but it's hard to begrudge a filmmaker 20 minutes to try something new.<br />
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Supposedly Salvador Dali got all pissed off when this film was screened, because he had been planning on doing something similar. He accused Cornell of stealing his dreams, an accusation only Salvador Dali could make. And poor Cornell was so mortified by the experience, he rarely held public screenings of his work. The art community is <i>vicious</i>.<br />
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And I actually do think this unassuming little film has been pretty influential. You might call it the first fanvid. Without this film, where would Youtube be? As the story goes, Joseph Cornell found a copy of the film East of Borneo and after he and his brother had watched it a few times, he started cutting it down to just the best parts. Most of which featured Rose Hobart, an actress Cornell had a bit of a thing for.<br />
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But my favorite part of the film as the last shot, when we see the eclipse and then it cuts to a stone falling in a pond in slow motion. The ripples and the movements of the water are incredibly mesmerizing. And I wasn't even high when I saw this!<br />
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Thanks for reading, and come back next time!Audrey on a Missionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09677112661222322227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2870518992711450943.post-60561202893323445772012-04-18T16:50:00.001-04:002012-04-18T16:51:11.247-04:00Plein Soleil: The Perfect Crime(s)The next film on our list is <b>Plein Soleil</b>, or Purple Noon if you're so inclined. It's a 1960 psychodrama/thriller from France, starring Alain Delon. Tom Ripley has been hired by an American industrialist to bring his shiftless layabout son home to San Francisco, to the tune of $5000.<br />
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I definitely saw the remake of this film (Anthony Minghella's <i>The Talented Mr Ripley</i>, starring Matt Damon and Jude Law) when I was younger, but somehow there's only one thing that really sticks out in my head about it.<br />
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Anyway, Tom Ripley is a very talented mimic, forger, and con man, so when it becomes clear that Philippe has no intentions of returning to America...Tom kills Philippe.<br />
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Not even joking. He stabs him in the chest, wraps him up with an anchor, throws him overboard, and takes over his life. Tom deftly weaves a web of lies, throwing everyone off his track. He convinces the world that Philippe was alive and well in Rome. When an acquaintance discovers that he is pretending to be Philippe, he kills him too. And frames Philippe for the murder. Seriously? Who has the iron nerves it would take to pull this off? He then creates a fake suicide for the already dead Philippe, believing that this would end the investigation. Tom even manages to shack up with Philippe's girl, Marge, a girl he genuinely seems to have a yen for.</div>
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So that's it, right? Tom just committed the perfect crime, and he's in the clear now. Well, he would be if this was the book. Since it's the movie, and is apparently under pressure to be all moralistic or some crap like that, they're honor-bound to show the consequences of breaking the law. Lame.</div>
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Random Musings:</div>
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<li>Your friend walks in on you making out with his full length mirror, pretending you're him and the mirror is his girlfriend. #awkward</li>
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<li>I hate when foreign films use white subtitles when there's a lot of white backgrounds. So glad that now it's common practice to use yellow subtitles instead.</li>
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<li>Philippe's a hardcore douche for abandoning Tom at sea in a tiny little dinghy so that he can bang Marge. Even if it was just a joke, I kind of have a hard time feeling bad that he's dead. Sunstroke is a bitch.</li>
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<li>Oh shit, Tom planted the earring from Rome in Philippe's pocket. Now Marge is going to find out that he's a cheating bastard. Well played, Tom. You are sneaky like a fox.</li>
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<li>OMG Philippe just threw Marge's manuscript into the ocean. As a fellow writer, I can't imagine someone willfully destroying all of my work. I would cheerfully drown that son of a bitch. OK, well, maybe not drown. But he would definitely get punched in the nads.</li>
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<li>Why would you keep a fat Buddha statue around the house if not to brain people with?</li>
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This film is really amazingly well shot. I especially love how Rene Clement is able to find these little moments of dark humor. The parts where Tom is trying to dispose of Philippe's body, only to have it accidentally <i>get tied to the boat</i> is comically horrific. As is the scene when Tom is trying to carry Freddie Mile's dead body down the stairs, and we just see his dead arm dangling over the edge of the railing. It's hilarious in a really sick kind of way.</div>
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Beyond that, the film is shot like the best tourism advertisement Italy is ever going to have. Clement makes it look so beautiful and dreamy and luxurious. I love it.</div>
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Speaking of dreamy...how is it that this is the first time I'm noticing how supernaturally attractive Alain Delon was back in the day???</div>
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But I guess that's beside the point. I think he does a great job in this movie, managing to address each of the character's many layers. Ripley is a deeply amoral guy...throughout the film he genuinely doesn't see anything wrong with his actions. He doesn't feel remorse, all of his thoughts are too busy trying to stay several steps ahead of everyone else. And in that way, he's enthralling to watch. I have a soft spot in my heart for con men who are so much smarter than the rest of the world, and that's definitely Tom Ripley. I gleefully cherished every moment he spent covering his tracks. But there's more to him than that...he's also some insecurities and is almost uncomfortable in his own skin. It's a well-rounded character deserving of a well-rounded performance, which Delon provides.</div>
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So how do I feel about the end? Well, to be perfectly honest, I have to agree with the multitudes of critics of see it as kind of a cop out. It's not that I think that all movies should end with the criminal getting away to avoid seeming like the filmmakers have some kind of moral agenda (the horror). I just think that in this film, it would have been more emotionally satisfying and true to the rest of the movie if Tom <i>had </i>committed the perfect crime and totally got away with it.</div>
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That said, the ending is a minor complaint, and it certainly doesn't ruin the film. It's a very interesting story, and brought to life very well by the actors in the film as well as Mr Rene Clement. Well done, team!</div>
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Thanks for reading, and come back next time!</div>Audrey on a Missionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09677112661222322227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2870518992711450943.post-64247306283673729722012-04-17T16:42:00.001-04:002012-04-17T16:42:12.982-04:00The Docks of New York: Shotgun Marriages With Prostitutes Rarely Turn Out WellOur next movies is a 1928 silent film called <b>The Docks of New York</b>, about a stoker who decides to marry a suicidal hooker on his one day of shore leave. This should end well.<br />
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So this stoker is on his night off and he's walking over a bridge, when he sees this woman flailing around in the water. He goes in and rescues her, and he is immediately smitten.<br />
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Even though he's only in town for one night and she's a little unstable, they decide to get married <i>because what could possibly go wrong there?</i><br />
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So they're married, he walks up in the morning, leaves some money on the nightstand, and peaces out. <b><i>WHAT???</i></b><br />
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Seriously?? Who does that?? OK, dude. "Having a good time" can mean going to a whorehouse and getting drunk. It does <u>not</u> mean marrying one of the prostitutes when you have every intention of leaving her in the morning. What a douche.<br />
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Speaking of douches, is anyone else a little more interested in this subplot with the miserable, bitter woman and her good for nothing husband. Who she finally shoots. Which the main girl gets blamed for. I mean, what happened there? I almost wish that this movie was from their point of view.<br />
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The stoker vouches for her, and then the bitter woman takes responsibility for the shooting, so they're out of the danger zone. But as soon as our girl isn't about to go to jail anymore, the stoker leaves again. Bye. Want to stop toying with her emotions?<br />
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And <i>then</i>...after getting on the ship, he suddenly realizes that he's made a terrible mistake and goes back to her. They will be together forever...after he does his 60 days in jail for stealing clothes from a pawn shop. What a beautiful start to a marriage. I would pay money to see these two six months after the movie ends.<br />
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I don't know how I feel about this movie. The cinematography is amazing, and a lot of it feels sort of like a film noir to me. It's got that gloomy tone and gritty subject matter. So that's kind of cool. I guess at the end of the day I'm just not that interested in the story. The main characters both kind of annoy me, and I really don't care if they stay married or join a circus or whatever.<br />
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Random Musings:<br />
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<li>Why would you get so many tattoos of naked girls and put their names on it? No girl wants to be with a guy who has porn of his conquests tattooed on his body.</li>
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<li>"I'll try anything once!" Worst. marriage proposal. ever.</li>
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<li>Are they seriously getting married in a brothel? This is the worst marriage ceremony I've ever seen in my life. And I've been to some humdingers.</li>
</ul>Audrey on a Missionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09677112661222322227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2870518992711450943.post-58534530384251268312012-04-16T11:23:00.000-04:002012-04-16T13:07:58.959-04:00Duel: Steven Spielberg Does Road RageThis next film is called Duel, and it has the illustrious honor of being Steven Spielberg's debut film.<br />
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A commuter is driving along some desert road in California when he gets stuck behind a truck. He proceeds to pass the truck, which sends the truck driver into a murderous rage. Trucker then spends the next hour and a half trying to drive our commuter off the road. Game on.<br />
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I love the palpable tension mounting, and we the audience feel irritated on this guy's behalf. We've all been there, where we feel someone is willfully baiting us, trying to ruin our day, trying to goad us into make reckless decisions. That's how this starts. But as the truck driver goes from annoying to a little scary to downright menacing, the stakes keep rising.<br />
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Well, this movie is one hell of a calling card. I honestly think this is a perfect debut film. It's got a simple, high-concept storyline, few characters, even less character development -- so there's really room to showcase what the man can do with a camera.<br />
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It's not an easy task, to make a visually engaging film out of essentially a man driving for an hour and a half, but I think Spielberg does it. There's such a finely wrought escalation of tension in the film, from the beginning where they're passing each other for driving too slow, to the end where they're trying to send each other over a cliff.<br />
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Much like Jaws, a lot of the horror and tension in this film comes from the fact that we don't really get a chance to see the bad guy, and there is no sense of motivation for the truck driver. It makes it all the more frightening because it mirrors our own driving experiences. Most of us drive everyday, putting our lives in the hands of strangers controlling massively dangerous machines. Driving is such a casual thing, but when you think about it, we are so vulnerable when we're in our cars. Every time we get behind the wheel, we take the risk that we'll be sharing the road with an anonymous menace, like the truck driver in Duel.<br />
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Random Musings:<br />
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<li>I know absolutely nothing about trucks, so I'm probably wrong about this, but how does a truck manage speeds of almost 100 mph when they're going through a pretty hilly area?</li>
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<li>Feel soooo bad for the weird old lady who got caught in the crossfire. She was just trying to run her creepy little petting zoo in peace. "Ma snakes!" Her poor pets all got hit by the truck!</li>
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<li>I love that he buckles his seatbelt <i>with purpose</i> about half way through the film. Because during all the shenanigans that happen in the first half of the film, he didn't think to buckle himself in before that point.</li>
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<li>Honestly I think the best chance this guy has is getting out of the car and running on the terrain where the truck can't go. This is why I would survive being chased by a malevolent truck, and this guy seems to be having trouble.</li>
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Thanks for reading, and come back next time!</div>
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<br /></div>Audrey on a Missionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09677112661222322227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2870518992711450943.post-5847245993198917352012-04-15T13:14:00.000-04:002012-04-15T20:02:41.474-04:00The Gospel According to St Matthew (1964)The next film we'll be watching is <b>The Gospel According to St Matthew</b>, a 1964 religious drama imported straight from Italy. This is a straightforward adaptation of the Gospel of Matthew, detailing the life and death of Jesus Christ.<br />
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This film confirms to me that I am a terribly uninformed Christian. I was baptized Lutheran, but I've never <i>really </i>gone to church, and I never <i>really</i> read the Bible. I got most of my biblical information from Jesus Christ Superstar, the production of Children of Eden I did in high school when I was 16, and the first ten pages of <u>Bible Stories for Kids</u>. So there's a lot of things that happen and I'm like:<br />
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Mary has Jesus. By the way, how awesome of an idea is the virgin birth? You have to hand it to Mary, that's thinking fast when you're in a sticky situation.</div>
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Jesus grows up. He becomes a shiftless lay-about, wandering around and preaching to a growing troupe of followers. He performs tricks, like walking on water and curing lepers and stuff.</div>
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Jesus dies. Judas betrays him and the Romans crucify him.</div>
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All said...I'm not really sure this movie needed to be nearly two and a half hours. I question the decision to draw exclusively from Matthew for the dialogue. There are patches when you're watching a five minute long close-up of an untrained actor reciting passages from the Bible. And while we're talking about the close-ups...there are way too many close-ups. No disrespect intended, but I've always preferred the Old Testament. Sequels are rarely as good as the originals.</div>
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Now that I've got my blaspheming done...this film is nothing if not a faithful translation of the Christ story to the screen. The landscapes are strikingly beautiful, and the film has a great atmosphere. The sets are perfect, and they create some fantastic shots. I like that Pasolini subscribed to the Italian neorealist practice of using nonprofessional actors. This is a film without pretense, and have recognizable actors would threaten that. Without the overblown dramatics that come with many other films trying to interpret the Bible, this movie manages to stay historically grounded and somehow more realistic.</div>
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Overall, I can see why some people really love this film, but it's definitely not my cup of tea. I prefer Jesus Christ Superstar.</div>
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Random Musings:</div>
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<li>No offense Jesus but shave your unibrow. No one's going to take you seriously as a Lord and Savior if you don't take care of yourself.</li>
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<li>Healing the leper will always make me think of the leper from Life of Brian who's all pissed off because his livelihood was begging and now that he's able-bodied he can't do that anymore. Classic.</li>
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<li>Jesus has beautiful hair for someone who wanders through the desert not showering.</li>
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<li>Jesus, dude, your whole outburst in Jerusalem...it's called property damage, and it's frowned upon in polite society. Isn't throwing a tantrum like a spoiled two year old one of the things you're <i>not</i> supposed to do? Or are you just going to try to bank on the fact that your dad's famous to avoid getting into trouble? </li>
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<li>The walking on water scene is pretty cool, not going to lie. Very mystical. How did they even do that?</li>
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Thanks for reading, and come back next time!</div>Audrey on a Missionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09677112661222322227noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2870518992711450943.post-8368769130597703822012-04-14T13:32:00.002-04:002012-08-03T18:52:47.771-04:00The Heiress: Socially Awkward Girls Need Love TooThe next film on our list is <b>The Heiress</b>, a 1949 drama starring Olivia de Haviland and Montgomery Clift.<br />
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Catherine is a painfully shy, self-conscious girl who is remarkable in really only two ways: her innocence and her wealth. Her father is continually disappointed in her, because he loved her mother so much and she died in childbirth. Now he feels that he gave up the love of his life for a girl who is average and unexceptional. For the most part, he is the reason why she is tentative and socially awkward...because he's been cutting her down and making disparaging comments all her life. He considers her unmarriageable, and has resigned himself to the fact that she's going to be with him until he dies.<br />
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Until Morris Townsend turns up in town. He's a devastatingly handsome young man who shows a keen interest in Catherine. It seems relatively obviously to everyone besides Catherine that he's only interested in her money, but she's flattered by the attention and thinks herself in love with Morris.<br />
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Well, Daddy blows a gasket. He's not going to leave her money just so that some fortune hunter can live off of her, and he threatens to cut her out of the will if she goes through with her plans to marry him. That's fine with Catherine, but when she tells Morris that she's only getting $10000 (money from her mother, which is the equivalent of $250000 today), he bails.<br />
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Years pass, her father dies, and she finds herself the hardened but financially independent mistress of her family home. Of course, now that she's free to marry who she chooses without losing her money, Morris comes a-calling again. Catherine is an older but wiser girl now, and she turns the tables on him. She agrees to marry him, but then spurns him at the last minute, just as he did to her years earlier.<br />
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Random Musings:<br />
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<ul>
<li>Catherine decides to wear a beautiful red dress to please her father. His response? "But Catherine, your mother was fair...she dominated the color." <b><i>Ouch.</i></b></li>
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<ul>
<li>I find the relationship between Catherine and her father incredibly complex. He's got so much resentment and disappointment towards her, and he constantly disparages her, but at the same time he isn't an intentionally abusive father. In a way I guess he's trying to look out for her and her future...but he goes about it in the <i>worst possible way EVER</i>. I think it's fair to say that a lot of this depth comes from the wonderful performance by Ralph Richardson, who is (and I don't say this lightly) one of the most underrated actors of all time.</li>
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<ul>
<li>I don't mean to be severe on any of my sex, but when Morris chasing after Catherine, I can't help but wonder, "Why?"<i> </i>I see Catherine as the kind of girl that you could fall in love once she felt comfortable around you, and you got to know her a little. She's not the kind of girl you fall in love with when you first meet her.</li>
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<li>Honestly, even though Morris is supposedly charming and perfect, there's something so weird about him. He really lays it on thick. And his relationship with Catherine is the most awkward thing I've ever seen in my life. She's so shy and standoffish, and he's the cockiest SOB in the world. I ain't sayin' he's a gold digger, but...well, you know the rest.</li>
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<li>If Lavinia was wealthy, I could see her and Morris as a good match. They've got great chemistry and I can just imagine them scheming together. He seems like the type to go for an older woman.</li>
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<li>I wonder what fatal diseases you can definitively diagnose by listening to your lungs through a stethoscope?</li>
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I really enjoyed this film. Its greatest strengths are the performances of the three leads: Ralph Richardson, Montgomery Clift, and Olivia de Haviland. I've heard tales that Richardson and Clift were a bit condescending to de Haviland on set, them being the "serious" actors and her comparatively untrained. If that's true (and I don't know if it is), I honestly think it benefited the film. If it had any impact on her downtrodden, self-conscious performance, then it was worth it. She's really great here, and her transformation to a stronger but less romantic woman is incredibly effective. The mirrored scenes where she climbs up the stairs, the first time weary and the second time triumphant, are wonderful. But it's hard to deny that Richardson steals the scene from every person he acts with. The writing is also top-notch, adapted from the popular play. It's full of style and great lines, and I love it.</div>
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Thanks for reading, and come back next time!</div>Audrey on a Missionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09677112661222322227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2870518992711450943.post-84930375594118710952012-04-13T09:57:00.007-04:002012-08-03T18:56:08.389-04:00The Thin Blue Line: When in Doubt, Blame a DrifterThe next film on the list is something a little different -- this one's a documentary from 1988 called The Thin Blue Line. Having read the description on Netflix, I have a feeling that this might serve as a companion piece to my <a href="http://the1000moviejourney.blogspot.com/2012/04/12-angry-men-privileged-white-men-hate.html">12 Angry Men review</a>.<br />
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The Thin Blue Line is a term to describe police officers, being the one thing that stands between order and chaos. In 1976, a police officer was gunned down in Dallas County, Texas. This documentary is the story of Randall Adams, the man who was convicted of the crime, and his trial.<br />
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What becomes clear relatively quickly is that this was one hell of a botched investigation. Unreliable witnesses abound. This case was about cop-killing, and while that's a good way to get an emotional jury, it doesn't necessarily ensure a fair trial There was an urgency to get the person responsible behind bars that was counterproductive to justice. When you just want someone punished for a crime so that you can say that a dead police officer has been avenged, you're not going to be overly concerned about whether or not you caught the right person.<br />
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And then there's the matter of David Harris, the actual murderer. This young guy has sociopath written all over him, with a complete inability to empathize with his victims. He was a kid with a violent past, in the middle of a crime spree, with more than enough motive to kill a cop. But because he was a local boy from Vidor, Texas, while Randall Adams was something of a drifter from Ohio, Harris served as a witness for the prosecution instead of getting charged with anything.<br />
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Another aspect of the case that I think the film addresses is the issue of justice versus vengeance. People were outraged, and the District Attorney's office wanted the person responsible to go to the chair. David Harris was only sixteen at the time, and you can't give the death penalty to an underage kid. Randall Adams, on the other hand, was a 28-year-old from out of town that no one would really miss much.<br />
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Anyway, the film is an incredibly interesting look at how badly cases can be handled and how outside factors can easily influence a conviction. It's also a stylistically influential documentary, revolutionizing crime scene reenactments and interview techniques. I think it works very well as both an examination of the American criminal justice system and an indictment of the death penalty.<br />
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It's worth mentioning that this movie was one of the primary factors than got Randall Adams released from jail after serving 13 years for a crime he didn't commit. Meanwhile, David Harris died by lethal injection in 2004 for an unrelated murder.<br />
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Random Musings:<br />
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<ul>
<li><i>"He almost overacted his innocence. He protested that he hadn't done anything."</i> OK...but if I was arrested for murdering a police officer in Texas of all places, I think I would probably be pretty freaking adamant that I didn't do anything too.</li>
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<li><i>"The thing I think we did then that really helped. Or, it didn't really help anything, at all, but it was interesting." </i> Oh...ok.</li>
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<li>They hypnotized the policewoman? Seriously? That's how they're getting evidence that's going to <i>kill someone</i>??? Do courts even allow that crap to be admitted as evidence? Why not just bring in a psychic, while they're at it?</li>
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<li>OK, so I generally don't think it's a real brilliant idea to be driving around with some asshole you don't know who's carrying a pistol. Then again, this is Texas...you probably wouldn't have many friends if you stuck to only unarmed people.</li>
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<li>OMG, Vidor, Texas! I did some research and this is an interesting town. It's sort of like it fell through a time warp. In 1993, the federal government tried to desegregate the town (in 1993), by moving in three African-American families into the low-income housing projects (<i>in 1993</i>), but it failed <i style="font-weight: bold;">(in 1993!!!)</i>. And I love that all they have to do there to make people suspicious of the defense lawyer is to insinuate that he was Eastern-educated.</li>
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<li>Something I found kind of interesting about the film is that Adams is actually a very engaging speaker. He comes off as a reasonable, relatively intelligent guy who's good at expressing himself.</li>
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<li>The only thing I think I would have changed about the film is to identify the people who are being interviewed. There's a lot of different people and it gets a little confusing when they first start talking and you're like, "Wait. Who are you?"</li>
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<li>Wow...no offense David Harris, but the reason the woman with the scales wears a blindfold is because "Justice is blind", not because we don't get to see what goes on behind closed doors. You serious?</li>
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<li>The recorded interview at the very end of the film is so chilling, how Harris totally admits that not only did he kill the police officer, but that he's the one who cast suspicion on Adams in the first place. It's something the film obviously builds to for a long time, but it's somehow different hearing him actually say it. It all just comes off as so tragic and pointless.</li>
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Thanks for reading, and come back next time!</div>Audrey on a Missionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09677112661222322227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2870518992711450943.post-3029297639471225642012-04-09T18:54:00.002-04:002012-04-09T18:55:45.881-04:00The Navigator: Oh, So This Is Where I Parked My SubmarineToday we'll be watching <b>The Navigator</b>, a 1924 silent comedy starring Buster Keaton.<br />
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Buster Keaton is a rich dandy who gets it into his head that today he'd like to get married. He proposes to the girl across the street, but she promptly turns him down. Dejected, he makes plans to embark on his honeymoon cruise alone. This is why, as you rule, you always ask the girl <i>before</i> you book a honeymoon.<br />
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But luckily for Buster, he and his ladylove are, by a series of contrivances, trapped on a ship alone together as it drifts out to see. They've got quite a little domestic thing going on there too...until they happen upon an island full of <b><i>cannibals</i></b>!!!<br />
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(To be fair though, we don't actually know that they're cannibals because they never actually eat anyone, nor to they allude to eating people or carry any people-eating paraphernalia. They're just brown foreigners who live on an island and our lily-white sailors just sort of connect the dots. Is it still xenophobia if it's 1924?)<br />
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Anyway, they may not be cannibals but they are definitely hostile, because they kidnap the girl while Buster's under water fixing the ship. We are treated to the image of Buster Keaton in a diving suit scaring off hordes of "cannibals" just because of how peculiar he looks. And I'm not going to lie...it's a definite highlight.<br />
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All's well that ends well, though. They're quickly rescued by a submarine that just happened to be in area, and the girl is so taken with Buster's heroics that she gives him a chaste little kiss. Which promptly causes him to <i>almost crash the submarine</i>.<br />
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Random Musings:<br />
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<li>"I think I'll get married." Oh, well as long as you've thought it over.</li>
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<li>They're on the boat for like 20 minutes running around in circles, hilariously just missing each other. OMG will one of you please just stand still and wait for the other to find you??!!</li>
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<li>OK, he keeps touching the pot filled with boiling water. How is he not burning himself? And why does he have such comically large utensils?? No, sir...something about this doesn't add up at all!</li>
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<li>Aww they're so cute in their little sailor suits!</li>
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<li>I amused by her trying to sleep, then seeing that creepy portrait staring at her. I don't know how it managed to get hung outside Buster's porthole, but it is a funny gag, credit where credit's due.</li>
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<li>OK, a few weeks ago this guy couldn't open a tin can. Are you sure you really want him fixing the ship?</li>
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<li>I love that he brought a Danger: Men at Work sign with him underwater as he repairs the ship. I find that kind of absurdity a lot funnier than the more slapsticky physical gags.</li>
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<li>OMG the cannibals are <u>not</u> using a palm tree to scale the side of the ship. What is this tomfoolery???</li>
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I swear I don't mean to hate on Buster Keaton, because there really is a lot of his stuff that I genuinely enjoy. But to me, this movie reads like they were able to get this big expensive set piece and jumped at the opportunity without considering whether or not it all would be funny. </div>
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I might just have to concede that some of the humor in this film is just not for me. I don't understand the appeal of, "haha, he can't make eggs!" or "haha, that chair's broken!" Which is weird, because it's not like I don't like Buster Keaton. I loved Sherlock Jr. I guess I just prefer humor that's a little more subtle and character based, rather than a ton of slapstick. Buster's a great comedian, and I think the humor works better when he's generating the jokes, not his surroundings.</div>
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That is just one girl's opinion though. I know there's lots of people that love this one.</div>
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Want a second opinion? Here's some other reviews that I found on the interwebs!</div>
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<a href="http://www.screensavour.net/2009/08/navigator-1924.html">Screen Savour: The Navigator</a></div>
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<a href="http://joannarichardson.wordpress.com/2012/02/22/thenavigatorreview/">Joanna Richardson: The Navigator</a></div>
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<a href="http://altscreen.com/07/18/2011/monday-editors-pick-the-navigator-1924/">Alt Screen: The Navigator</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.moviefanfare.com/fanfare-guests/a-guest-blogger-shares-his-thoughts-on-buster-keaton/">Movie FanFare: A Guest Blogger Shares His Thoughts on Buster Keaton</a></div>Audrey on a Missionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09677112661222322227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2870518992711450943.post-54498144720222330102012-04-07T15:12:00.002-04:002012-04-20T13:58:56.854-04:0012 Angry Men: Privileged White Men Hate On MinoritiesThe next film we'll be watching is <b>12 Angry Men</b>, a 1957 courtroom drama starring Henry Fonda, in which twelve white men have to determine the guilt or innocence of an urban Hispanic youth. Moral quandaries galore.<br />
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An eighteen-year-old boy is charged with the murder of his father. After a trial, a jury has to decide either to set the boy free or send him to the electric chair. Eleven vote guilty, one votes not guilty. The only way they can get out of this room is to come to a consensus.<br />
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The lone hold-out, Juror #8, isn't convinced of the accused's guilt or innocence, but he argues that the boy's life is on the line and they should at least discuss the case for an hour or so before sending him to the chair. So the group goes over the evidence, and as they examine it piece by piece, they come to realize that they case may not have been as open and shut as they thought.<br />
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I love the concept of this film. I don't believe in the death penalty for a lot of reasons, but I guess one of the biggest things for me is the fact that the justice system is imperfect and I don't think that a person's life or death should be decided by an imperfect system. I love that this movie tries to get in the heads of one group of jury members and show how they can be absolutely convinced of a man's guilt, willing to send him to the electric chair -- only to be convinced otherwise within an hour and a half. It makes you wonder how many cases have been decided by such a jury, made up of people with crippling prejudices and tickets to baseball games and an unwillingness to spend a few hours talking about the case.<br />
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12 Angry Men has a brilliant display of subtly unique characters all trapped in a room together. The actors do a great job creating distinct backgrounds that influence their beliefs and inform their decisions. A mark of good writing is that you believe that these characters had lives before the film begins and will continue living after it ends. They don't just exist for the hour and a half they're on screen. The fact that this film accomplishes that without even telling you their names is a testament to the quality of writing and acting here.<br />
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I also like the subversion of cultural expectations of the time. The societal outliers among the jury -- the man from the slums, the immigrant, and the elderly man -- seem more reasonable, compassionate, and willing to work together in a constructive manner, while the "pillar of society" middle-aged white men cling to their prejudices and rail against anyone who disagrees with them.<br />
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Overall I think that this is a really strong film that stands the test of time. There's not a whole lot in 12 Angry Men that I don't think is relevant today. I was doing a little casual research after watching this film, and I find that there's a good number of people online (specifically, on IMDB) who would still have voted guilty. Which is so weird, because after watching that film I can't imagine walking away from thinking that the boy should go to the chair based on that evidence. I don't know if he's innocent, but I certainly have enough doubt to stop me from voting guilty. Did anyone watch this film thinking that the jury made the wrong decision?<br />
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Random Musings:<br />
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<ul>
<li>Is it weird to anyone else that this jury of peers doesn't involve any women? Were women not required to do jury duty? Or were they just too emotional to be trusted with something like that?</li>
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<li>I love that this film is staged and written like a play. Sometimes that doesn't work on screen, but here it creates a consistently engaging story which, taking place largely in one room, could run the risk of seeming stagnant (in lesser hands than Sidney Lumet, of course). Another really interesting aspect of 12 Angry Men is its theatricality, which again, has the potential to seem stilted or contrived, but in this film accesses deeper emotions.</li>
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<li>Wow -- I love that Juror #5 (the one from the slums) is offended when they are talking about how people from the ghetto are violent scum, and then they tell him he's being sensitive and that they're not talking about <i>him</i>, just people from slums <i>in general</i>. What?!</li>
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<li>I wonder if the government would reimburse you for a baseball game you had to miss because of jury duty?</li>
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<li><i>"He's a common ignorant slob, he don't even speak good English."</i> Classic. That's an insult worthy of the internets.</li>
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<li><i>"I beg pardon --" "Beg pardon, what are you so polite about?" "For the same reason you're not. It's how I was brought up."</i> Love it.</li>
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<li>Brilliant decision to not give the room any air-conditioning. Nothing like a sticky, humid room to make a moral argument nice and tense.</li>
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<li>I love the little nerdy guy with the high-pitched voice. He's adorable when he tries to stand up for himself and everyone just ignores him. I just want to give the little woobie a hug.</li>
</ul>Audrey on a Missionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09677112661222322227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2870518992711450943.post-13283958721098493942012-04-03T18:17:00.001-04:002012-04-05T20:54:57.564-04:00The Day The Earth Stood Still: Humanity Isn't Exactly the Most Gracious HostWe're about to watch the original version of The Day the Earth Stood Still from 1951. Not the vastly inferior Keanu Reeves one, with stilted acting, a confused environmental message, and the annoying spawn of Will Smith. Just so we're clear.<br />
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The United States is tensely making its way through the Cold War, when all of a sudden a UFO lands on the Mall in Washington DC. While some people are immediately suspicious of the Russians, it's pretty clear that Klaatu, the man exiting said UFO, is not from around here. After getting shot, he uses a salve from his home planet that heals the wound overnight. I love how the doctors are all disgruntled that his medicine is better than theirs.<br />
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His demands are simple: he wants to address the leaders of every country on Earth, because he has a message for them and it's too important to be trusted to only one nation or group of nations. Of course, this is at the beginning of the Cold War, which means that the likelihood of having a peaceful worldwide conference is roughly the same as my Chapstick has of acquiring the powers of speech. Which is to say, not very likely at all. Klaatu quickly gets irritated with this petty, childish crap and breaks out his holding facility.<br />
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He moves into a boardinghouse, under the assumed name Mr Carpenter (OMG Klaatu is a Christ allegory <b>Klaatu is a Christ allegory</b>). He befriends a little boy who also lives there, and asks the boy to take him to the smartest man on Earth (conveniently, this scientist also lives in Washington). I ponder why the little boy didn't mention Einstein, who is still alive at this point, when asked who the smartest man on Earth is, but I suppose that's unrealistic within the confines of the production.<br />
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So Klaatu meets up with Dr Barnhardt the scientist, and together they plan a meeting of scientists and other leaders to discuss Klaatu's message. Only trouble is, the government and military are on super high alert, trying to track down the mysterious spaceman. What the US military wants, the US military gets, and what it wants is apparently to assassinate the intergalactic ambassador. Klaatu is killed, but through spacey technology Gort temporarily brings him back to life so that he can deliver his speech.<br />
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Klaatu shakes his finger at all of us, and tells us we need to cut the shit or risk being eliminated. As in, planet destroyed.<br />
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Random Musings:<br />
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<li>You know what the best thing to do when a technologically advanced alien comes to Earth and tells you that it comes in peace? Shoot it. Because that could have no negative repercussions for all of humanity.</li>
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<li><i>"It was a gift for your president. With this could have studied life on other planets."</i> Well, boy is my face red.</li>
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<li><i>"Metallurgical experts have found his huge body impregnable."</i> *snicker* Sorry, I've apparently reverted to my 8-year-old self.</li>
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<li>You have to admire the gall of the US government in trying to keep him locked up against his will. It's like they genuinely don't understand that he doesn't have to do a thing they say.</li>
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<li>Love the delicious awkwardness of Klaatu sitting at the breakfast table while they all discuss the alien menace. It's very Batman/Bruce Wayne of him. And I'm amazing at how paranoid people were of the Russians, to think that the spaceship belonged to them when it was so obviously outside the realm of what human technology was capable of at the time. And then Klaatu suggests waiting until there's more information before they formulate an opinion and they're all like LOL you crazy?</li>
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<li>It's definitely a good idea to leave your little boy with a strange man you barely know so that they can go wander around the city while there's a national crisis going on. What are you thinking, woman?</li>
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<li>I like the scene when the reporter asks Klaatu if he's scared. Klaatu says that he's fearful when he sees people substitute reason for fear, and the reporter quickly moves on to someone else. So like the media...they don't want to hear people who are reasonable and thoughtful, they want to hear from the conspiracy theorist who's convinced that the commie bastards are behind it all and we should blow up the whole Soviet nation as a precaution. True story: when I was in high school, there was a massive power outage that affected a lot of the northeast, and my family was sitting around listening to the radio. Someone called in, convinced that the Russians were behind it. <i>In 2003.</i></li>
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<li>I'm very interested in Klaatu's message, because in a lot of ways it mirrors our own stance on countries like Iran and North Korea. Klaatu's society has advanced technology, and they take responsibility for policing other civilizations. They could care less about the primitive in-fighting that took place on this one planet, but now that they're developing atomic capabilities, their fighting has wider implications and therefore needs to be prohibited. What's the difference between that and our official policy towards Iran and North Korea's nuclear programs? It's the same kind of well-intentioned hypocrisy.</li>
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<li>I'm actually pretty impressed with the boy playing Bobby. Yeah, he belongs in a 1950s time capsule, but the way he tells his mom, "I'd never call you a liar," after she doesn't believe him about Mr Carpenter is really well done.</li>
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<li>Of course we kill Klaatu. If there's one thing I'll say about humanity, we're not great at avoiding these little diplomatic gaffes.</li>
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I actually really like this film. I think it's pretty atmospheric and tense, and it's all such a product of its time. The idea that we now had atomic capabilities spawned a billion sci-fi stories, all about the dangers of the technology we were messing around with. It's an obvious reflection of the public consciousness at the time, at how fearful people were of the bomb. For me, the film works as a piece of social history more than anything else.</div>
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That's not to say that this isn't a technically strong piece of film, because it is. I especially like the eerie shots of the spacecraft, and the detached but not unlikeable performance of Klaatu by Michael Rennie.</div>
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I think the time period this film was made in is exactly the reason why the new version didn't work. Atomic fear-based science-fiction is so intrinsically tied to a specific era, and when you try to take it outside of that, it's going to suffer. I know they tried to replace it with the environmental fears a lot of people have right now, but the type of tense paranoia found in the Cold War is so specific and can't really be replicated. </div>
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Thanks for reading, and be sure to come back next time!</div>Audrey on a Missionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09677112661222322227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2870518992711450943.post-62799248903091872412012-04-02T12:50:00.002-04:002012-04-02T12:50:50.336-04:00Wavelength: Security Camera as ArtThe next movie on our list is Wavelength, an avant garde piece that all takes place in one room. It's often referred to as one of the greatest Canadian films ever made, which to be honest is a lot like saying those guys from Cool Runnings were one of the greatest Jamaican bobsled teams ever. Anyway, I watched this in film class while I was in college, and I don't remember being too impressed.<br />
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I'm having a hard time getting over the fact that basically what I'm doing right now is watching forty five minutes of a glorified security camera. In a building where nothing happens. Oh, look, some people showed up. Let's watch them sit around listening to the Beatles. Because, you know, that's interesting. Oops, they're gone again. We are alone with our thoughts and a persistent buzzing noise.<br />
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It gets dark. I think that now would be a great time for some ghosts to show up and throw a chair across the room. That would redeem this movie. Or even, like, a pigeon sneaking in and taking a crap somewhere. Anything to break up the monotony of the slow zoom towards the picture on the wall.<br />
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Wow, did that guy just wander into the movie and die?? I wish I was him.<br />
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This movie is so boring it broke Shockwave Flash on my computer. True story. My Shockwave Flash committed suicide so that it didn't have to play this anymore.<br />
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Cool, a postcard. This makes me think of an annoying little kid who is hellbent on showing you something, and then when he finally drags you over to look at it, you're like, "That's it? That's what was so important?"<br />
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While watching this film, I can't help but think of the Emperor's New Clothes. Everyone says how great this movie is and no one wants to be the one who is an uncultured swine and doesn't like it. I get it, I mean I understand that Michael Snow is trying to subvert your expectations of what a film is and what it should be and blah blah blah. But the fact that he purposely put that buzzing in the film just to <i>annoy audiences</i> makes me feel like I don't need to be gentle with him, and I can say what I really think: this film is a waste of time. I am now 45 minutes closer to death with nothing to show for it.Audrey on a Missionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09677112661222322227noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2870518992711450943.post-62722288059813625902012-03-31T23:04:00.001-04:002012-03-31T23:08:48.438-04:00The Hunger Games: When I Was A Kid, We Killed Each Other Face to Face, Not On X-Box LiveToday I finally got a chance to go see the incredibly successful film adaptation of the very successful young adult book, The Hunger Games. It's proved to be an unstoppable force at the box office, and has been getting generally solid reviews from critics. But how does it stand up to my keen and discerning tastes?<br />
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Actually, when it comes to books that I like being adapted for the screen, I'm pretty easy to please. Respect the source material, do your research, and we should be fine. I know there's a lot of people who like to beat their head against a wall and cry to the heavens that, "IT'S NOT LIKE IT WAS IN THE BOOK!" Get over it. It's a different medium, some things come off great on text but look shite onscreen. Sometimes things need to be cut for time. Sometimes things just need to be changed. And that's OK. That being said, here are my thoughts about the film.<br />
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I was feeling pretty confident going into the movie theater, because I had been following every single casting announcement since the very beginning and generally agreed with their choices. Like everyone else, I've been impressed with Jennifer Lawrence's work over the past couple years. I've been watching Josh Hutcherson since he was little, thinking, "Wow, this kid is actually really good," so I was over the moon that he was going to be Peeta. Elizabeth Banks as Effie? Yes please. Lenny Kravitz as Cinna? Perfect. The casting department seemed to be on exactly the same page as me, which seemed like a good omen for the film.<br />
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I really liked the muted and washed out tones they used for everything in District 12. The clothes didn't commit to any specific time period, they just seemed a little old, simple, and worn, which is perfect. There was palpable tension during the time immediately preceding the Reaping, and little Prim was note perfect, right down to the untucked "duck tail" of her shirt. At this point, I was struggling a little bit to keep my shit together. I love how Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss disengages from stressful situations, and you just see this blank, emotionless look on her face. It's a perfect contrast with Peeta's more overtly emotional state.<br />
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I am genuinely in love with the costume and makeup design used for the people in the Capitol. In a lot of ways it makes me think of the aristocratic excesses of the period immediately preceding the French Revolution. There's really not a whole hell of a lot that's off limits for these people, and their fashion choices are a reflection of this.<br />
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I'm so glad they kept the training scene when Katniss, offended by the lack of attention the gamemakers are paying her, shoots an apple out of a boar's mouth. It's the perfect reflection of Katniss' brash, impulsive nature, and it translated beautifully to the screen. Equally wonderful: Haymitch's reaction to the fact that she had the balls to pull off a move like that. And Effie chastising her for her bad manners. So perfect.<br />
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So then we go to the arena. While shaky cam can be a little much at times, it's hard to argue that it's a good way to show the frenetic and confusing nature of battle. As well as providing a way to avoid showing the type of gore that would get this film smacked with a R-rating.<br />
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I'm not exaggerating when I say that every time Rue was on screen, I got all sad face and wanted to give her a hug. Because she is just so adorable and precious and heartbreaking. I have no complaints with her death scene or memorial, I felt that it was beautifully done. And I like that they showed District 11 briefly turning into an angry mob after she dies and Katniss gives her such a loving tribute, just because it more overtly explains to the audience that Katniss's actions (innocent as they may seem) are an act on rebellion in the eyes of the government.<br />
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The time Katniss and Peeta spend in the cave is a lot longer in the book, but if I'm perfectly honest, I kind of don't mind that they trimmed the fat a little bit. We don't really need 40 minutes of them arguing and Katniss being all romantic and awkward. It's better that they cut it down to just the bare essentials and move along. I'm also glad that they cut the bit where Katniss drugs Peeta so that she can sneak away to get his medicine, because that always felt a little uncomfortable.<br />
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The only thing I wish was different is the design of the muttations. So much of what makes them horrifying is their almost human traits, and in the film we got big dog-type things. Which, you know, is still <i>menacing</i>, but not psychologically traumatic the way the muttations are in the book.<br />
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Other than that, I was supremely pleased with the film, have plans to reread the books, and am looking forward to the next two movies! Yay for quality film adaptations! I'm so pleased that this one is getting the attention it deserves.<br />
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Side note: Was anyone else mildly disappointed that the tributes from District 9 weren't these guys?<br />
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<br />Audrey on a Missionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09677112661222322227noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2870518992711450943.post-1529341737830082592012-03-31T19:28:00.000-04:002012-04-05T21:12:30.010-04:00The Killer: Hong Kong Hitmen and Blind SingersThe next movie we'll be watching is a 1989 import from Hong Kong. Literally the only other thing I know about it is that presumably it involves a killer.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oh hey look Chow Yun Fat! There's another thing I know about it!</td></tr>
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Ah Jong is an assassin who accidentally hurts a pretty singer during one of his hits, and she ends up losing most of her vision. Unfortunately, he kind of sort of falls in love with her. But because she can't really see, she doesn't realize that he's the one who scratched her cornea all to hell. If you were to suggest that this scenario is super uncomfortable, you'd be right.<br />
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Jenny's vision is getting progressively worse, and the only way to save her sight is to get an expensive cornea transplant in America, where dreams come true and apparently the streets are paved with fresh eyeballs. So our buddy decides to take on one last hit to pay for her surgery, then that's it, he's done with crime for good and he's on the straight and narrow. Ah yes...One Last Job. This should end well.<br />
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Random Musings:<br />
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<li>No offense to Jenny, but she has to be like the worst person to have around in a crisis. She's flailing around like a fish, screaming. Chow Yun Fat just got shot in the back and you don't hear him complaining. Come on, woman, deal with your loss of vision with strength and fortitude! Side note: I love unfairly passing judgment on people.</li>
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<li>OMG are these guys seriously trying to rob and rape a blind woman?</li>
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<li>Why are there random cats wandering in and out of her apartment? That's kind of odd.</li>
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<li>It's really interesting, because when I see this cop character all I can think of is that he's exactly the type of role Bruce Willis would be playing if this movie was in English. Like, I read the subtitles and can hear his voice in my head.</li>
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<li>"He has a manly air about him." Uh...ok. Does that mean the police sketch artist should draw him with a tattoo of a mermaid on his bicep or something?</li>
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<li>I love when Chow Yun Fat gives his boss/friend the unloaded gun. Yeah, it's predictable and I saw it coming as soon as he put the gun on the table, but it's still oh so very badass. Actually, that pretty much sums up Chow Yun Fat throughout the entire scene. I love the way John Woo shoots fight scenes, they're so well-choreographed and almost lyrical.</li>
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<li>It's kind of hilarious how Ah Jong and the policeman have their whole standoff in the apartment...all while poor blind Jenny wanders around completely oblivious, making tea.</li>
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I only have two real problems with this film, and one of them you could argue isn't the film's fault. The first of my qualms is Sally Yeh as Jenny. Honestly she's just the most useless female character I've seen in a long time, and the way she's played doesn't help. She's shrill and annoying, and doesn't do anything besides wail and whine. It kind of doesn't surprise me that this was her last film.</div>
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The other big issue is the English subtitles. They're horrible. I know people from Hong Kong don't speak like idiots, so why do the subtitles make it seem like they do? I mean, it's hard to take a gun fight seriously when people are calling each other "runt" and "shrimp head". Excuse me, what?</div>
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Nevertheless, there's a lot to like here. Chow Yun Fat is great as the enigmatic assassin who's trying to change but can't get away from his past. I like his relationship with the policemen, and I can believe how they would grow from having begrudging respect for one another to being genuine friends. The action scenes, especially the gun fights, are in my opinion elevated to an art form. They're so visually stimulating and fluid and honestly just perfect to watch. Good on you, John Woo.</div>
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Thanks for reading, and come back for my next review!</div>Audrey on a Missionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09677112661222322227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2870518992711450943.post-71529264065466641302012-03-29T20:44:00.001-04:002012-03-29T20:44:43.150-04:00Introducing the Electronic FireplaceHi everybody!<br />
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I've been getting back into television shows for the first time in a while, so I decided that I'd like to have a separate place where I can just have my TV reviews, instead of having them all mingled with the film ones over here.<br />
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I'm very excited to announce the creation of <a href="http://electronicfireplace.blogspot.com/">The Electronic Fireplace</a>, which will be the place to go to for reviews of both current shows and ones that are no longer on the air. At the moment I'm planning a Buffy the Vampire Slayer marathon, but I envision this new blog as having a number of different shows reviewed.<br />
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So stop by! The official launch will be this Sunday night, when I'll be reviewing both Mad Men and the season premiere of Game of Thrones. Are you as pumped as I am? You should be!<br />
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<br />Audrey on a Missionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09677112661222322227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2870518992711450943.post-58439302476324470512012-03-29T17:19:00.003-04:002012-03-29T17:20:39.329-04:00Disney's Top Eight Worst MessagesSince 1923, the Walt Disney Company has had its share of questionable decisions. From unpleasant racially motivated propaganda cartoons in the 40s (hey, Warner Brothers did it too) to the Native American sequences in Peter Pan. What I want to focus on today, though, is the messages some of the Disney films send to their viewers. I don't actually believe that watching any of these movies is going to screw up the minds and hearts of children, but Disney is a huge corporation that does have a significant influence on the youth of America, so it's important to at least look at these things, right?<br />
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<b>8. It's Totally Safe to Steal a Baby Bear From Its Mom</b> - Pocahontas<br />
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Pocahontas is a Native American chick, alright? She's like, in touch with nature and stuff. So she's showing off and preaching to John Smith about how he should respect the animals and the rocks and all that hippie crap. I'm with her there. But then she just decides to <i>follow a momma bear into her bear cave and casually take one of the baby bears</i>. Speaking as someone who has had several encounters with bears, both friendly and otherwise, <i>you do not to this</i>. Momma Bear will eat your face off. If Pocahontas was so into respecting wildlife, she probably would have just left them alone. Stopping John Smith from shooting the bear? Fine. Trampling all over her territory and picking up her bear cub? That's just asking for an ass-whooping.<br />
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<b>7. Step-Parents Are Evil</b> - Cinderella<br />
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Look, stepmothers everywhere have enough problems getting their stepchildren to not hate them without the image of this bitch hanging over their head. Yes, it's sad that we live in a world where not all little girls and boys get to live with two loving biological parents. But considering how many kids will have to deal with step relatives, maybe it would be a good idea to stop scaring the shit out of them with the idea of the wicked stepmother. It's in Hansel and Gretel too. The father loves his kids, but then their heartless bitch of a stepmother makes him leave them in the middle of the woods to presumably starve to death or get eaten by wolves. First of all, what a pathetic, weak-willed father. And second of all...good night, kiddies. Hope your anxieties of parental abandonment don't keep you up at night.<br />
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<b>6. Overpopulation Isn't Something We Need to Worry About</b> - 101 Dalmatians<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Irresponsible breeding. Keep it in your pants, Pongo.</td></tr>
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OK, no offense to Pongo and Purdy, but these two dogs are the Duggars of the canine world. Do we really need this many dogs coming from the same inbred pool just for the hell of it? Yeah, they're cute, but there's only so much genetic material floating around. And then when these hundred or so dogs get older they're going to start having babies, and within a few generations we're basically going to have a full on Dalmatian-pocalypse. All I'm saying is that maybe there should have been some family planning going on around here.<br />
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<b>5. All the Best Relationships are Founded on Lies</b> - Aladdin<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rajah eats people who lie.</td></tr>
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Because you need to pretend to be a prince to win over a girl who <i>kind of sort of already likes you just the way you are</i>. It's not enough to be interesting, charming, and heroic (street rat or not, the kid is the only reason Jasmine still has both of her hands)...you need to be a pompous showboat with tons of money and elephants. And what's worse, even when Jasmine goes on the magical carpet ride with Aladdin and totally calls him on his shit, he still lies. She even gave him an out, where he could tell her the truth and she probably wouldn't even be that mad. But no...God forbid we have enough faith in the people we care about that they'll accept us for who we are. Much better to keep up a lie that can easily be disproved.<br />
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<b>4. Do Drugs</b> - Fantasia/Alice in Wonderland<br />
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I realize this is an overdone thing, haha Alice in Wonderland and Fantasia are trippy haha they must be endorsing drug use let's make tons of memes about the various drugs we think they use because knowledge of drugs make me feel cool and dangerous. And that is annoying.<br />
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BUT...while it's certainly not the intention of the filmmakers to create a cartoon that celebrates drug culture (at least I don't think so), it's hard to argue that the images used in both Alice in Wonderland and Fantasia are ones that lend themselves to those of us who indulge in the more illegal of recreational activities. Fantasia has dancing mushrooms (or are those supposed to be horribly racist depictions of the Japanese? It's so hard to tell with 1940s Disney). Alice in Wonderland has bugs smoking hookah and substances that make you seem to shrink or grow when you ingest them and cats that disappear except for their smile. You're wandering around in this really groovy fantasy world and then BAM so crazy queen shows up and wants to chop off your head. And it's all celebrated as fun and exciting. It's certainly telling that a lot of drug nicknames and related words come from Alice in Wonderland.<br />
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<b>3. It's OK, Girls, Men Aren't Interested in What You Have to Say</b> - The Little Mermaid<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There's nothing even a little bit sexualized about this<br />
16-year-old mermaid that's in a children's cartoon?</td></tr>
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Ariel is a vibrant, inquisitive, fun-loving mermaid that any man would be lucky to get to know and eventually fall in love with. She's also hot, in a jail-bait, interspecies kind of way. And apparently that's all that matters. She trades her voice for a pair of legs and lady parts, because obviously Prince Eric isn't going to be interested in her thoughts and opinions. There's a lot of stuff in this movie that's cute, but it's hard to ignore the fact that the central story line veers a little too close to "women should be seen and not heard" for comfort.<br />
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<b>2. Slavery Really Wasn't That Bad</b> - Song of the South<br />
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This one also gets cross-referenced as "The Reconstruction Era South Was a Warm, Idyllic Place for Black People". Granted, this film didn't take place during slavery, but rather the time period immediately following it. But all the black people in this movie were obviously slaves at one point. And they really don't seem to have too big of an issue with that. I mean, look at the smiley black folk in the picture above, with the children who would have one day been their owners. That should be a Christmas card.<br />
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We can go back and forth about whether or not this film was as racist as everyone said it was, but for me the biggest issue is that they deliberately make everything all hunky-dory and don't even try to introduce the idea of any complexities in race relations. I know it's a kid's film, but I don't consider that an excuse. Go watch The Hunchback of Notre Dame and try to tell me that a kid's film can't address difficult and complicated issues. Ultimately, I think this is just an example of the white-washing of history and trying to sweep anything that might be unpleasant under the rug. Which I do not support. So there.<br />
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<b>1. Stockholm Syndrome is Romantic </b>- Beauty and the Beast<br />
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As a young woman, a man keeps you locked in his house. You are never allowed to see your family again. The only way you are allowed any small freedoms is if you interact kindly with your kidnapper, and pretend that you're staying in his castle as a guest rather than as a prisoner held against your will. He expects you to act out date-like scenarios, such as having a romantic dinner together, and goes into fits of rage if you refuse. But somewhere along the way, you start to empathize with him and maybe even develop feelings for him. Isn't that romantic?<br />
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NO. IT'S STOCKHOLM SYNDROME. IT'S A PARADOXICAL PSYCHOLOGICAL PHENOMENON THAT DEVELOPED AS A RESPONSE TO PROTECT OUR FEMALE HUNTER-GATHERER ANCESTORS WHEN THEY WERE CAPTURED BY NEIGHBORING TRIBES. NOT ROMANTIC AT ALL.<br />
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But thanks Disney. Maybe the next time I'm kidnapped by a violent brute I'll go play in the snow with him and try to convince him to get in touch with his feelings. It's not even just that it exists in the movie, it's more that obviously little girls identify with the princesses, so the fact that this obviously unhealthy relationship is being presented as romantic...well, it's a little problematic.<br />
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So those are some of my choices. I could have added more, but I decided to stick with those ones. Anyone want to add any?<br />
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Oh, and I wanted to post this as well. Just because it's so very clever and true. I love it.<br />
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<br />Audrey on a Missionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09677112661222322227noreply@blogger.com6