Buster Keaton in The General, Montgomery Clift & Elizabeth Taylor in A Place in the Sun, A Sixth Sense and The Boss!

8/27/16 The General, 1926 #18 AFI, National Film Registry

I have watched several silent movies that I have enjoyed, All Quiet on the Western Front, Wings, Sunrise: A Tale of Two Humans, City Lights (most Chaplin to be honest), and while I appreciated Buster Keaton's stunt work, I really didn't care for The General. The General is set during the opening days of the Civil War and Keaton is an engineer on a train based in the South. Some Northern troop are trying to sneak up to a Southern encampment and are doing this by stealing Keaton's engine; then he steals it back, and there's a girl involved. I don't know, my mind wandered. I may be missing something (I get that Keaton did his own stunts and they were pretty incredible, but I do not understand why this is on AFI's list of best 100 films, and I couldn't find any write up as to why). We'll just agree to disagree (check out Chaplin's Modern Times).

8/27/16 A Place in the Sun, Best Director, Best Cinematography (B&W), Best Costume Design (B&W), Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, Best Writing - Screenplay, 1951, National Film Registry, #48 BBC

Watching A Place in the Sun in 2016 occasionally seems anachronistic, although the story of a poor boy caught between two worlds is also universal and timeless. To get the particulars out of the way so I don't forget: Montgomery Clift is George Eastman, the poor boy referenced above; Shelley Winters is Alice Tripp, a factory girl; a 17 year-old Elizabeth Taylor (in her first movie with Montgomery Clift) as Angela Vickers; Raymond Burr is District Attorney Frank Marlowe. George Stevens (Shane, The Diary of Anne Frank, Swingtime) directed and won an Oscar. The movie was based on the book An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser. George Eastman is the poor relative of Charles Eastman, a rich industrialist (we know they at least make bathing suits), and while Charles seems happy to have him as part of the family, the rest of the clan is not impressed. George goes to work on an assembly line and meets Alice. Despite the rules of not socializing, Alice and George began a covert relationship. Things seem to go swimmingly until George meets Angela Vickers, and the complications begin. He tries to lead a double life, not letting Alice know that he enjoys spending time with the social elite, and with Angela. You can imagine things don't go well if one of the lead roles is a district attorney, but to avoid spoiling anything, I'll stop here with the plot summary. I will tell you that the movie is worth watching for the three marquee actors; Taylor considered this her first 'grown up' film and the beginning of a life long friendship with Clift; Winters went totally against type,she was previously known for sexy roles, and probably began a new career path as a character driven actress; Clift is incredible to watch, at one point he just starts breaking out in a sweat, no make up involved (if you watch Judgement at Nuremberg, you cannot help but be moved by his performance on the witness stand). I really felt that Raymond Burr was ridiculously melodramatic and I believed his character least of all. The story may not hold up in our 21st century world, and it's not as dated as some movies (Shampoo always leaps to mind, and not in a good way) but I think the acting does
 
8/27/16 The Boss, 2016, not yet nominated 

I know what you're thinking, one of these things is not like the other. The other movies are Oscar winners, on the national film registry or AFI's best 100 films. And then I go and mess with your head and include The Boss starring Melissa McCarthy as the titular boss, Michelle Darnell and Kristen Bell as her underappreciated assistant, Claire. Michelle Darnelle is like Martha Stewart on steroids; she is sent to federal prison after her former lover, Reynaud (Peter Dinklage) turns her into the Federal Trade Commission for insider trading and she loses everything. We don't spend a lot of time inside the prison, although I can't help but feel that could be pretty hilarious. Michelle winds up living with Claire and her daughter, Rachel and getting caught up in Rachel's Dandelion Troop and their annual cookie sales. Michelle founds a competing troop that sells Claire's brownies. There is a street fight with the Dandelions and Michelle's girls that shows some fierce fight moves. There is physical humor (a forte of McCarthy's) as well as some sexual references and some very funny stuff. I am a sucker for a Melissa McCarthy movie because I think she is fearless, she will do anything it takes to get the laugh; sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't I think it works in The Boss. Bell as Claire is a great foil, playing it straight and serious, trying to get Michelle to live in the real world, and doing what she needs to do for her daughter. Reynaud (Dinklage) goes toe to toe with Michelle, and Dinklage is as fearless as McCarthy. McCarthy co-wrote the movie with her husband and frequent collaborator, Ben Falcone; Falcone also directed. Admittedly, this pairing has not always delivered what was expected (Tammy), but I think this attempt worked. I had several laugh out loud moments. A friend of mine often rates movies on was he entertained or not; I was definitely entertained. So while this may not be nominated for any Oscars, I would recommend it for a Saturday night.

8/28/16  The Sixth Sense, 1999 #89 AFI

It was The Sixth Sense's bad luck that it was released the same year as American Beauty, because otherwise it may have won at least one Oscar. In case you have not seen it yet (really? I've seen it before, so you have no excuse), I will try not to reveal too much because it is a well-crafted suspense story. Wikipedia describes it as a supernatural horror-thriller, which has at least two words that turn me off right away and why it took me so long to watch it the first time. Bruce Willis is Dr. Malcolm Crowe, a child psychologist, and he is married to Anna (Olivia Williams). We get the feeling that Dr. Crowe often puts his patients ahead of his wife. Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment in an Oscar-nominated role) is a troubled young man who is a loner in spite of his mother's best efforts. Mom is played by Toni Collette and she was also nominated for an Oscar. Cole gets scratches from unknown sources, the heat goes off in their house, the dog freaks out for no apparent reason. Enter Dr. Crowe. Slowly Crowe builds trust with Cole and Cole shares his secret - he sees dead people (one of the top movie quotes, on AFI's list). As Crowe works with this knowledge, he is also experiencing issues at home, his wife won't speak to him. I don't want to tell you anymore in case I spoil it. So enough plot, now my review. After I watched it the first time, I liked it; the second time - I really liked it. I appreciated the storytelling and suspense element so much more, especially when I realized that 'horror' is not the right word to describe this movie. Willis is really good as Dr. Crowe, not at all like his Die Hard character; Collette went on to play other mom roles, she relates really well to her movie kids (The Way Way Back, Little Miss Sunshine, Jesus Henry Christ) and you can feel how much her character loves her son even though she is absolutely baffled by how to deal with him; and Haley Joel Osment really nails the role of Cole, his fear, his desire to fit in, his inability to convey what he is feeling and experiencing; he seems very natural in his interactions with Willis and Collette. There are a lot of 'hints' in the movie about what is happening, which I missed the first time, and I probably missed a few the second time. I never thought I would watch this movie again, but I am really glad I did, and I would watch it a third time as well. If you have not seen this (again - WHAT?) this is a great movie for the upcoming autumn (oh my gosh, I can't believe it's coming), perhaps for Halloween? I just re-read this and realized I did not mention the writer/director of the movie, M. Night Shyamalan. I haven't seen any of his other films because they haven't interested me, or they seem to fall into that 'horror' genre, hence, I don't watch them. But he did a great job here.