11/9/13 Thor: The Dark World
I don't know what excited me more, seeing Thor or seeing the previews for Captain America: Winter Soldier (filmed in Cleveland this past summer) or X-Men: Days of Future Past. I did a little happy dance for both. But getting back to Thor (without giving away too much), I did like it, I thought the dialogue had the proper balance of seriousness and comedic lines and the effects were top notch (potential nominee for editing and visual effects). We did not see it in 3-D because I am still not convinced it's really worth the extra money. Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and his cohorts start off the movie by trying to get the worlds re-aligned and set right; Thor still holds a torch (or a hammer) for Jane Porter (Natalie Portman). Jane is still researching the astronomical anomalies, this time she's in London. Stellan Skarsgard returns as Dr. Erik Selvig, who has some crazy moments interspersed with lucidity. Jane's intern is wise-cracking Darcy (Kat Denning) and I must admit, I looked forward to what she was going to say next. The Asgardians are represented by Odin (Sir Anthony Hopkins who could make a reading of the Yellow Pages entrancing) and Loki (Tom Hiddleston) who is locked up for his demolition of New York (The Avengers). The nine worlds are about to begin a very rare convergence which will let loose the Aether, and Malekith, the leader of the Dark Elves longs to possess it. There is massive devastation in Asgard as well as Greenwich, England. Personally, I prefer a lot of action in my superhero movies, I don't need a lot of moralizing or philosophizing and that works out just fine here. And I'll let you take it from there, or just go see it. Make sure to stay until through the credits.
11/8/13 Little Women, Best Adapted Screenplay, 1933
There have been several film versions of Little Women, based on the book by Louisa May Alcott. This one stars Katherine Hepburn as Jo March, the aspiring writer in the family and Joan Bennett as Amy March, the youngest sister. The story is set during and after the American Civil War, and Mr. March has gone off to fight, leaving his family behind, struggling financially and socially. Oldest sister, Meg, works as a seamstress and Beth is the musical talent in the family. Their mother, fondly called 'Marmee' goes about town doing good deeds for others less fortunate than her family, even asking the girls to sacrifice their Christmas breakfast for another family, which they do. Laurie is the grandson of the Marches' wealthy neighbor who has a very obvious crush on Jo, but she is too devoted to her writing. Meg marries Mr. Brooke, Laurie's tutor. Circumstances force Jo to go New York to live in a boarding house and work on her writing; Amy goes to live with their crabby Aunt March. Little Women was one of Katherine Hepburn's first films, and you can see some of the traits that made her such a film icon. She is self-assured, bold and not afraid to infuse physicality into the role. She won the Oscar for Best Actress for another movie that year, Morning Glory. George Cukor directed the movie, he also directed Hepburn in several other films, including The Philadelphia Story and Adam's Rib. The movie may seem very tame eighty years later, and it really is, but I don't think stories like Little Women and Pride and Prejudice are meant to be wild and crazy and risque. They capture the charm of a less complicated era which is what appealed to the audiences at the time. The country was four years into the Great Depression and a movie about a close family, getting by on love and supporting each other, which sounds corny in this jaded century, must have been comforting. I don't think this is the greatest movie, and certainly not the best work of Cukor or Hepburn, but it is a chance to see Hepburn in an early role, and if you like movies based on Jane Austen's books, you may also enjoy this one.
11/9/13 The Motorcycle Diaries, Best Original Song, 2004
Seriously, I had no idea, I assumed this would have won for Best Foreign Language Film, but it did not, it was not even nominated in that category. It won for the Best Original Song "Al otro lado del río". The Motorcycle Diaries is a biopic about Ernesto Che Guevera and his friend, Alberto Granado as they take a motorcycle journey throughout South America in 1952. Guevera and Granado are both in the medical field and want to visit a leper colony in Peru. This trip is life-changing as Guevera and Granado encounter the kindness of strangers, the poverty of the indigenous people and strengthen their commitment to socialism and a united 'America' (in this case Guevera means the countries of South America as well). Gael Garcia Bernal as Guevera (he was also in Babel and No) conveys a compassion and commitment that made Guevera a lasting political and social icon. The movie soft-peddles the socialist/communist ideology, it starts out as a travelogue of 1950s South America, showing the countryside of Argentina, Chile and Peru; I felt it guided you to certain conclusions, but it didn't feel heavy-handed to me. You could see how much the people he met meant to him. There is a running storyline about fifteen US dollars that Guevera's girlfriend gives him to buy a bathing suit for her; Granado keeps asking for the money for various things, food, shelter, and even a prostitute, but Guevera refuses to give him the money. He later tells Alberto he has given the money to a poor couple in Chile. When they get to the leper colony, they refuse to follow the rule of wearing gloves (if someone is being treated for leprosy, then they are not contagious, and since the people in the colony were being treated, the disease could not be passed on, but the Mother Superior insisted on the gloves). They even shake hands with the people and play football, treating them with humanity. There haven't been a lot of movies about Guevera, which seems odd to me, so I feel like I learned a lot and want to learn more about him. At the time the movie was made, Granado was still alive and even went back to the leper colony in Peru where some of the people were still there.
11/9/13 The Official Story, Best Foreign Language Film, 1985
I really wanted to like this movie, I really did, but all I could think of was time stopped, and not in a good way. The Official Story is a film from Argentina set after the time of the last junta (dictatorship); during the junta, children were taken from their parents who were opposed to the government. Alicia is a history teacher and Roberto is a successful businessman who seems to have powerful government connections. Alicia and Roberto are the parents of Gaby, a little girl they adopted under less than normal circumstances. Around Gaby's 5th birthday, Alicia begins to ask Roberto questions about the adoption, wondering about her grandparents. As Alicia looks into Gaby's records, she and Roberto quarrel; clearly there is something he does not want to tell her. I was hoping for something like The Secrets in Their Eyes, another movie about the "Dirty War" period in Argentina, with taut story-telling and compelling characters. It wasn't there for me; perhaps because it was made so soon after the junta ended and the writer and director just wanted to get the story out, I don't know. I want to learn more about this period in history, but I will have to do that elsewhere.
11/10/13 City Lights, 1931 American Film Institute 100 Best Films, #11
The Little Tramp strikes again. I enjoyed this film much more than Gold Rush and a little more than Modern Times. There is so much going on this movie: physical comedy, sight gags (no pun intended), a musical score that acts as another character. By 1931, most films were being made with sound, but Chaplin (and I think many other silent film stars) did not think that sound pictures would last very long. The Little Tramp was a character known around the world, mainly because his stories could be told without sound they were universal, he could be English, American, Italian or French. The movie opens with the unveiling of a statue with Chaplin sleeping in the arms of one of the figures. The Tramp later meets a blind flower girl, played by Virginia Cherrill, with whom the Little Tramp becomes infatuated. She mistakes him for a millionaire (the movie is full of 'mistaken identity' gags), and he does not want to disappoint her. The Tramp finds a real millionaire on the brink of committing suicide and saves him from himself. This scene is just one of many that show what a good choreographer Chaplin was (among so many things). The millionaire (he has no name like the other characters in the film) is very grateful and brings the Tramp back to his house where they proceed to get very intoxicated. The Tramp and the millionaire have an on-again off-again relationship through the movie, depending on the sobriety of the millionaire (the drunker the better), which makes for many of the comedic moments. The Tramp wants to take care of the blind girl and goes to great lengths to do so, even taking a job as a street sweeper to earn money, and when he gets fired from that, he agrees to fight in a boxing match that he believes will be rigged so he doesn't get hurt. The boxing scene is so well staged, it's like a ballet. The end of the movie is really wonderful, masterfully understated. Chaplin's Tramp embodies the full range of human emotions from delight to despair, all silently. The DVD I borrowed from the library had a bonus DVD that provides some insight into the making of the movie and Chaplin's motivation behind some of his decisions. This is a great family movie, the kids might really enjoy some of the antics (the Tramp accidentally swallows a whistle and the ensuing scene is pretty funny, as well as his spaghetti eating scene).
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| Imperial War Museum, London 2006 |
In honor of Veteran's Day tomorrow, here are some Oscar-winning military films (and nominated documentaries):
World War I All Quiet on the Western Front, Wings
World War II Patton, The Dirty Dozen, Pearl Harbor
Korean War M.A.S.H.
Vietnam War Platoon
Iraq/Afghanistan War Hell and Back Again - documentary
Women in the Military The Invisible War - documentary
