Review: Funny GIrl

Funny Girl (1968):

Synopsis – She wants to be a star, so she does that. And apparently she’s ugly? I mean, she’s not conventionally beautiful, but ugly? C’mon. Well, anyway, she gets by on her self-deprecating sense of humor and her denial of rejection in all its forms.

Starring - Barbra Streisand, Omar Sharif, others

Movie #4 in the March movie project, I asked my mom what makes Funny Girl special to her:

“I love the ugly duckling makes good story. I memorized every song. Barbra Streisand became a hero to me.”

“I hated her in Hello Dolly though.”

I just added that last part in on a whim, I don’t know if she wanted me to. My mom is a funny lady, which happens to be the sequel to Funny Girl, but also a fact. I really doubt she was ever the ugly duckling. I’m biased, I know, but my mom has always been a beautiful woman, and she was even in some musical productions (not to mention a band or two). I can’t imagine her ever comparing herself to Fanny Brice from this movie, but perhaps that’s something everyone does. Funny Girl is the most completely acceptable musical I have seen on film in a long time. By which I mean I didn’t have an issue with any part of the story or music. And you know why it works for me? The sense of humor, it gets me every time. I like self-deprecating humor, I use it a lot myself, so with Streisand throwing out all the “who me?” type jokes, I was bound to enjoy everything she said. I can understand why it would be a turn off for some people though. It gets tiresome when you know someone like that in real life. And Streisand now has a reputation as a diva so maybe the jokes would come off false to the average viewer. But she was a practically a nobody when this movie was made. There is an innocence of character that is right there on the screen, and I appreciate that.

What I Liked:

-Barbra Streisand is funny. I know at this point of pop culture history Streisand is considered a joke or not all most of the time, but she shows some serious chops in this movie. Every joke she throws out lands smoothly and her expressions are all perfect for each situation. I don’t know if she was just reading from a script, but it felt perfectly natural for her.

-It was good to hear these songs in context to the movies. I think I had heard most of them before, once again usually poking fun at Barbra Streisand, and until now they hadn’t really had in impact on me. Don’t Rain on My Parade always seemed like a weird and defensive song, but in the context of this film it is quite good.

-It looks like this was an adaptation of the stage production of the same name. If that is the case, then this is how you do that. One of my complaints about My Fair Lady was how stagnant all the environments felt because they seem to have built a bunch of sets directly based off of the play, making it feel unnatural, unlived in. Funny Girl doesn’t have that problem at all. Everything feels real and lived in and still manages to work in a musical.

What I Didn’t Like:

-Well, since this story is semi-based on someone’s real life, I guess faulting the story feels a little hollow. But that ending is really against the tone of the rest of the movie.

What I Hated:

-Nothing

Verdict:

A good and funny musical with a downer ending, this is now another movie I long to see projected. A nice way to spend a few hours.

Review: Forks over Knives

Synopsis – Stop eating meat and dairy. Seriously, you’ll live longer.

Here is the full cast. Since it’s a documentary there are no celebrities to speak of other than clips of news casts and Bill Maher.

Sometimes a documentary is so inspirational one cannot help but be driven into action. This was the next film in my March film project, one that my mother had asked me on more than one occasion to watch. Being the terrible son that I am, I chose to watch several seasons of USA shows (Characters Welcome) instead. Today I broke that chain and sat down and watched the movie. After it was over I promptly put on my walking shoes and took a walk over to a Blenders in the Grass that is not too far away, but far enough to justify it as an exercise expenditure. There I got 2 ounces of wheat grass juice, drank it down, and then walked back to the apartment. Sitting at my computer, stirring the movie around in my head, I suddenly found something else stirring unexpectedly. The wheat grass juice soon left my body the same way it came in, and I now have that terrible taste doubled up in my mouth. This was totally my fault. Walking as fast as I was combined with a sudden consumption of something I don’t normally drink and then more walking was a recipe for disaster.

 The movie didn't tell me to do all this by the way. I’m the one who decided it was time to take a step in the right direction health-wise. This film simply presents evidence that suggests that our mostly meat and dairy diet is probably killing us. I think those of us who have at least a passing interest in health probably already know that. How the film assists that knowledge is by showing a few people who change their diet and get results that don’t seem possible otherwise.  Along the lines of Morgan Spurlock’s doc Super Size Me, the writer and director of this movie submits himself to a diet regimen to see the effect it will have on his well-being. This is after he talks about how he just got done drinking 2 Redbulls and a 12 oz Coke (I don’t about you, but that sounds like insanity to me). Anyway, that particular thread is mostly ignored until the very end of the movie, because unlike Spurlock the documentarian decided not to make the film about him. There are others who are also put on a new diet regimen and we get to see the results of their journeys. The film also tells the story of two doctors and their work when pertaining to healthcare. They both figure out that diet is a huge part of what determines our quality of life and the documentary names a lot of studies that back up their findings. Forks over Knives is good that way, not trying to dumb down the information too much as opposed to another documentary, Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, which is full of cartoons and pop music, therefore more entertaining but less informative in the long run. It seems to be a well thought out, if sometimes slow, information delivery system, and it definitely has me thinking which should be the goal of any documentary. I only gave it 3 stars out of 5 on Letterboxd because while it is a good documentary, it isn’t necessarily special as a film.

I don’t intend to do my regular breakdown here. I will say that I think watching this doc while be beneficial to almost anyone. I am very glad I watched it.

Review: City of Ghosts

City of Ghosts (2002):

Synopsis - Jimmy is a con artist who finds himself in a pickle after his boss disappears when their business comes under scrutiny. Jimmy decides to track him down, taking him on a sleazy journey to Thailand and Cambodia, where everyone is working an angle and monkeys occasionally steal your glasses.

Starring- Matt Dillon, James Caan, Natascha McElhone, Gerard Depardieu, Kem Sereyvuth, Stellan Skarsgård

City of Ghosts. Never heard of it? Me neither. I was just surfing the options of my friend’s HBO account and there I saw a picture of internet dreamboat Stellan Skarsgard. There is something special about that man with his mummified yet still good looks, wispy hair, and strange accent. Based on the actual plot description, I thought it might be worth a watch. Like Sci-Fi movies, I am constantly looking good thrillers but more than often find myself disappointed. This was… lukewarm at best. Break down:

What I Liked:

-Although the story spent a lot of time being purposely mysterious and annoying because of its vagueness, I did find myself interested in following it to its conclusion. Matt Damon plays out of his league/element pretty well, and with people like Gerard Depardieu and Stellan Skarsgard doing their best to be cagey and somewhat still likable, there is a lot that could have gone a lot worse. So, props, I guess?

-I like James Caan. He didn’t have to do much in this movie, but I liked everything I saw. I don’t know when the last time I said that about a James Caan performance, at least after the 80’s.

-Cambodia and Thailand are fascinating to me. The hot climates along with a people who seem shady and innocent at the same time are a strange mixture that often makes for a most interesting setting. I am sure all I am seeing are stereotypes; I don’t really have anything to base that on though. Impoverished and unsound buildings in a sprawling maze of a city, dirt roads that leads to the swamplands or fields, or take you to ancient structures with huge amounts of spiritual and historical significance. I find it all simultaneously repelling and enchanting.

What I Didn’t Like:

-Although I did like the characters when it came to their actions, other than the surface level motivations I’m not sure there is much depth in there. Is Matt Dillon’s character a good man? And if so, why was he caught up with these con artists scams? In the beginning of the movie, we find out that the insurance company he is helping to run is not going to be able to pay any of the victims of a recent hurricane. It really doesn’t seem as if he is concerned for the lives of those people who will now be homeless, but when he is in Cambodia looking for his boss and mentor, he appears to be turning over a new leaf. But there just isn’t enough going on to motivate someone toward the altruistic actions that end up happening in the movie.

-I found myself at a strange place when it came to the end of the movie. While I won’t go into too many details, I will say that it ends on a high note. I am both happy and sad it ended this way. Happy because it could have gone extremely dark, which is certainly where I thought it would end and would have been appropriate for the movie’s tone. So when it surprised me by not being a total downer, it earned several points in the happiness column. Even with that said, I also thought the ending felt a little like a cheat. For most of the time, the movie is pretty dark and you might feel as if none of the characters deserve any sort of redemption. So when redemption is received, I could not help but think there was some revision to the script after someone noted it was a bit too much on the negative side. It reminds of the way The Killing Fields has a “happy” ending when it was just darkness all the way up until then.

What I Hated:

-Once again I don’t have any sort of anger worked up at any part of this movie. On a personal note, I could always use more Stellan Skargard. You know, in general.

Verdict:

While I am not in any sort of rush to watch City of Ghosts again, I certainly wouldn’t mind having it in my DVD collection. It was an ok thriller, sometimes confusing, mostly dark with an ending that will please my dad (he only likes movies with happy endings, this was close enough). Not a terrible way to spend an hour and a half. I watched it on HBOgo.

March Week 1: xXx - Post of the Union

Hey guys and gals, how's your week been? I've been keeping myself pretty busy as you can see if you have been reading my updates. I decided to try this new format out. I was told that while my Sunday post is enjoyable, it can be intimidating to see all those reviews in one place. Some people just don't have that much time to read through my boring musings apparently. I hope that the individual review format is working better for you guys. I am personally enjoying writing them like that, it feels more like a job that way. Keeps my mind in working order too. Give me some feed back if you have any opinions on what I should do with the blog, I am always open to hear some new ideas.

Films Seen:

The LEGO Movie

An Affair to Remember

The Station Agent

Bullitt

Two movies from the March project, two for funsies. Just click on the name to go to the review! I have to confess that I have also seen 2 more movie not listed. Rear Window and City of Ghosts. The Review for City of Ghosts is forthcoming and will probably be posted tomorrow. Rear Window on the other hand... well, I have talked about in the past how hard it is for me to write about movies I think are great. Rear Window as far as I'm concerned is a masterpiece. So what I'm saying is I'm working on it. This is cool, I'm excited and I hope you are too. Please let me know if you have any recommendations via comments of Facebook or Twitter. Thanks for reading everyone!

Review: Bullitt

Bullitt (1968):

Synopsis – Steve McQueen plays a man named Frank Bullitt, a cop or detective or something law related (with a name like that there are only so many jobs you can get). When a man being held under police protection is murdered, Bullitt takes it upon himself to track down the killers. Along the way he must dodge politicians and higher ups, all with their own agendas.

Starring - Steve McQueen, Jacqueline Bisset, Robert Vaughn, Simon Oakland, and others including Robert Duvall in a small role.

So, Bullitt. This is the next movie from my March blog project. I asked my mom what made this movie special to her. She said:

“Steve McQueen. ‘Nuff said.”

I had never seen Steve McQueen in a movie before this. He is striking in appearance; light eyes the color of faded blue jeans, lined and handsome face, able to wear a turtle neck without looking like a dink. His acting will be judged at a later date. In this movie he was just fine, but I don’t think he was required to do much other than look determined. This movie was something else. While I was watching it I began to feel sad for the weirdest reason: I realized I will never be able to make a film like this because it is no longer the 70s. I realize this was a 68 film, but I still associate the fashion and cars and mannerisms with the 70s. This movie branched off to give us The French Connection and Dirty Harry, and you can see how much Bullitt obviously influenced them. Bullitt the character is not a cop on the edge like Harry Callahan was, but he is ready to push the boundaries of the law in order to catch the real crooks. I want to get into my break down, but I want point out first that the chase scene is amazing, better than the one in the French Connection in my opinion. I noticed that they reused a section of the chase, shot from a different angle, but obviously the same because the cars they passed were the exact same cars they had already passed. I mean, there could be a bunch of green Volkswagen bugs all over the place. But anyway, that didn't take away from the excitement in the moment.

What I Liked:

-The cinematography was superb. William A. Fraker could have gone with the standard steady cam, stationary cam sort of action, but he found a lot of places to insert shots from below, shots from hallways, just lots of really tight good work. No doubt he went on to do great things. Let’s see, Rosemary’s Baby, yeah that’s the stuff, Tombstone, cool movie, WarGames, ok, Street… Fighter? Uh, sure, everyone has a stinker sometimes. Father of the Bride part 2? You know what, let us remember him for the great stuff he did rather than the mediocre to terrible. Honeymoon in Vegas and Vegas Vacation? That’s it, I’m out.

-I really dug the dialogue in this movie. There wasn't a lot of yelling or arguing. Mostly it was quiet scenes where Robert Vaughn would be trying to apply pressure to McQueen or McQueen and Simon Oakland would have a conversation that mostly relied on the looks they gave each other. One of my favorite bits of the movie takes place in the hospital after one of the crooks gets shot. The doctors and nurses never yell or back talk to each other like what is so normal to see in medical dramas from today. Even when a man is bleeding out on a table everything is very calm and collected, the medical team doing what they can but never panicking. It is pretty groovy.

What I Didn't Like:

-I’ll be honest, even though I know this isn't a perfect movie there isn't much I can single out to complain about. Other than the chase scene and the camera work I don’t think there is anything revolutionary about this movie. It is just a solid thriller/drama.

What I Hated:

-This movie is rated PG. Like Jaws, I can only assume that its lack of sex kept it from an R rating, but PG? I can see why they made the PG-13 rating, as useless as it seems nowadays. There is a lot of blood in this movie, even though it seems like it is rather light on the gun play. When someone does get shot, the guy with the red paint runs over and douses the offending area.

Verdict:

I really enjoyed Bullitt. I am actually kind of jonesing to watch it again. That’s a pretty good sign. I hope I get to see it projected someday. Here’s what you do: Cuddle up with your cutie or a big bowl of popped corn, or both, turn down the lights and enjoy a few hours of atmosphere. I watched it on Amazon Prime.

Review: The Station Agent

The Station Agent (2003):

Synopsis – A quiet man with stature problems loses his best friend and then most of the rest of his life because of that. He resorts to moving into an unused train station building, hoping to live the rest of his life in solitude. He is foiled again and again by a crazy lady who tries to run him over, a Cuban man who won’t shut up, and a little girl who is a little girl. Oh yeah, and a hot librarian.

Starring - Peter Dinklage, Bobby Cannavale, Patricia Clarkson, Michelle Williams, other famous people who don't amount to more than cameos.

I’ve kind of been excited to see The Station Agent for a while now. I remember hearing about how amazing all of Thomas McCarthy’s movies were on podcasts like Filmspotting and the /filmcast. I saw one of his three directed movies on a trip to England, and I was not disappointed. Win Win, as I remember it, was a well-directed and well scripted dramedy with tons of heart. It reminded me of an Alexander Payne movie, with a bit less of the “humans are all gross” thing going on. So I’m sure I have built up The Station Agent in my mind over the years. The movie was good, but ultimately disappointing for me. It is Thomas McCarthy’s directorial debut, and I think that is fairly evident throughout the movie. Some heavy direction can be seen, along with dialogue that came off as cliché and forced. But even with these criticisms The Station Agent is a good film with plenty going for it.

What I Liked:

-Peter Dinklage. At this point in his career saying Peter Dinklage is great is kind of a DUH, so I won’t go into that too much. In this movie he played quiet and rude, but he never came off as an asshole, which is something I wish I could pull off in my life. He displays such a depth of character just through his actions. As I said in the synopsis, he is practically tortured into social relationships by the people he meets in Newfoundland, New Jersey, and you just want to give him a great big hug while he begrudgingly allows these people to invade his personal space and bring him out of his depression. He is 100 percent the best thing about the movie.

-Thomas McCarthy sure did manage to make an interesting narrative. I’m going to go through the stuff in the story: Peter Dinklage is essentially homeless and depressed after his friend dies; Bobby Cannavale plays a food truck’s son who is substituting for his father while he is Ill; Patricia Clarkson is a woman mourning a loss and dealing with a separation from her husband at the same time; Raven Goodwin is a precocious child who seems to have no parental guidance and wanders around train yards risking tetanus; Michelle Williams is the local librarian who is a girl and has girl problems. That’s a lot of stuff, but it is all blended into this smooth flowing story that goes down great, like the 23 flavors of Dr. Pepper. Dr. Pepper is not a sponsor of this review. There are only a few hitches to speak of…

What I Didn’t Like:

-Poor, poor Michelle Williams. When I was writing that bit about the story just now, I totally forgot that she was in the movie. From what I could see she was the most heavily directed in this, with every scene coming of as stiff and a bit awkward. When she is introduced in the film, she is a carrying an arm load of books in the library, which she drops as she screams after seeing Peter Dinklage for the first time. I feel like I could practically hear Thomas McCarthy saying “3, 2, 1, ok drop the books!” It was incredibly forced. After that, she is seen at the library a few times, not really developing into a character other than the pretty librarian, which might be all she was supposed to be. Then the bar scene happens. Or rather the right outside of the bar scene happens. I will save this bit for a little later.

What I Hated:

-This little part is just a personal pet peeve of mine. SPOILER to follow: There is a scene where we see the 3 mains sitting on the porch of the train building, and Bobby Cannavale gets up to play soccer with some kids and the adult man who is with them (I’m not going to assume he’s their father, he could have been a kidnapper for all I know! This is not important anyway). The camera shows Cannavale kicking the ball with the kids, then a shot of Patricia Clarkson smiling. That smile begins to disappear from her face. The camera goes back to the game with a closer shot on the little boy. The camera then goes BACK to Clarkson, who is no longer smiling. SHE IS SAD NOW, she must be thinking of her own child who has died. This just felt much too heavy handed to me. The audience is smart; there is no need to force a connection to the character like that. We knew she might be sad the minute we saw those kids having fun, because Clarkson’s character is a bit manic and prone to her emotions more than the other two. Anyone would be sad being reminded of a better time.

-Now here we are, outside the bar. Michelle Williams is hanging out with Peter Dinklage. She is disappointed because she was expecting her boyfriend to show up and instead he called her and gave some bullshit excuse. VROOM! Up pulls a truck and out pops a blond headed doofus, the boyfriend just mentioned. He can’t understand what the Michelle Williams’ problem is, so HE PUSHES HER. Out of nowhere and unprovoked he pushes her, which I guess was the point but it just felt so INCREDIBLY fake. He then pushes Dinklage when he tries to get in the way, and you know what I’m not even going to go on. It was just a terrible scene, forced and fake and not necessary.

Verdict:

It’s always a little tough writing the verdict after I have just listed things I hated. I should probably write this part first so I stick with my original impression and not get too fixated on the details that troubled me. Here’s what I think: The Station Agent is a better than average movie, with some problems that a first time director would run into that don’t take away too much from the experience. Peter Dinklage’s performance alone is worth the hour and a half of your time. Give it a watch. It is currently on Netflix Instant.

Review: An Affair to Remember

An Affair to Remember (1957):

Synopsis- He’s a womanizer, she’s a woman, its inevitable right? But this isn’t just some one night stand. This is an affair… to remember. Plus, it would have been really hard to only have a one night stand, because the whole thing starts off on a ship. I mean, can you imagine Jack avoiding Rose after hooking up on the Titanic? I guess the Titanic was a lot bigger than the ship in this movie, but you get what I mean right? And they didn’t even hook up anyway, just some smooches. BUT IT WAS LOVE I TELLS YA.

Starring- Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr, other actors who don't really bear mentioning.

The first movie in my March film project, An Affair to Remember was recommended to me by my mother. I asked her what made this movie special to her, and I love her answer:

“I guess because there is a fascination about fate. And in things meant to be. That there can be a positive pay off for pain and suffering… Makes me cry every time.”

Fate is a strong word. I’m rather glad this movie didn’t harp too much on what was “meant to be” or “written in the stars” because then it wouldn’t have been a nice movie about 2 people who weren’t looking to fall in love but did. It wouldn’t have been a fantasy novel. What we got was a sweet little travel log love story, all about starting over and working your way to success. It doesn’t come easy for either of the lovers. Cary Grant has always had an easy life, so when he decides to become a self-made man (through painting of all the crazy things) he has to struggle and work to get himself recognized as something other than a playboy. There is a scene where he is working as a billboard painter to pay the bills, and he finds out from his art dealer friend that he has sold his first real painting (for 200 smackers. That’s a lot of dough!). Grant then leans against the billboard smiling. I really expected him to realize he had just leaned on wet paint, but I suppose that was a little too much into the farce category for this movie. Deborah Karr has been in a relationship with a well to do man for 5 years, and has not been want for much since. When she takes steps to move on, she chooses to become a lounge singer, a job she had left  before, when she had met the “well to do man” and he told her she was better than that. It’s kind of touching the way they both fall back on what they know best when starting over, and both of them are artists in one form or another.  When the midpoint event of the film happens, it seems that Kerr is once again stuck at a new starting point, but this time almost completely of her own design. Is she too embarrassed to go and see Grant and explain what has happened in her life? It doesn’t make any sense to me. But it was from a different time, and people didn’t seem to like to say what they meant in any situation. It could have ended there in a Hitchcockian move, but the story ends much nicer than that.

My favorite part of the movie took place at Grant’s character’s grandmother’s house. It was so touching I actually teared up. I miss my grandparents.

What I Liked:

-Cary Grant is pretty charming, as usual. He was a strange orange color, but that seemed to be a style at the time. A style that has held over with certain types of older men. But the way he talks is kind of magical. It’s the tempo of his speech, it is simply hypnotizing.

-Beautiful production design. Even if the backgrounds were mostly projected to make it look like we were on the ocean or in a high rise looking out at New York it was still quite lovely to see. I don’t know if Technicolor did the coloring, but whoever it was really made the scenery and costuming work.

-Witty dialogue. Movies from this era typically insert the slightly suggestive and slightly insulting jokes in a rapid fire succession, and it can be really annoying at times. This movie mostly avoids that by being focused on the two main characters and not mixing it up with too many dumb side foils. There’s that one goofus on the ship, but he’s alright.

What I Didn’t Like:

-As I mentioned earlier, I don’t understand the motivation behind the secrets in the second half of the movie. If she loves him, and he loves her, there should be nothing that would stand in their way. But nooooooo. People are so dumb sometimes. And by people I mean movie people. And real people.

What I Hated:

-Nada

Verdict:

An Affair to Remember was a delight to watch. It happens to be on HBOgo right now if you have it. Sit down with your significant other and give it a watch. Don’t be afraid of cheesiness. Get over your hang ups and have a good time.