Day #80 - Gran Torino

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Gran Torino is a film directed by, produced by, and starring Clint Eastwood. So I had a couple of assumptions going in - one, it was going to be slow, and two, Clint was going to be monotonous. Luckily for me, I LOVE Clint Eastwood. I didn't use to - but I didn't really know much. I had a bitter taste in my mouth after Million Dollar Baby came out because of how much I didn't like the movie and how much attention Clint got for it. That being said, earlier in this challenge I watched Unforgiven. Unforgiven changed my opinion of Clint forever. I just see him as this total badass and no, he's not the greatest actor there ever was, but I really don't care! I think he has great screen presence and he scared the daylights out of me in Unforgiven so that's that. I desperately want to meet him and hang out - he's gotta be super cool :)

Clint plays Walt Kowalksi - he's an old Korean War vet who lives in the same neighborhood he did decades ago, even though over the years he slowly became the only white man around. Walt is grumpy, extremely prejudiced and lonely...his wife just passed away and he has a terrible relationship with his two sons. A Hmong family live in the house next door but they seem to really hate him and vice versa - he sees the youth around his neighborhood as disrespectful and the people as having no pride in their properties. One night Walt catches Thao, the Hmong teenage boy who lives next door, trying to steal his prize possession - his 1972 Gran Torino. Despite this incident, Walt saves Thao and his sister Sue on two separate occasions when they are being harassed by the Hmong gang they are trying to avoid. People start to respect Walt for this, and Thao is sent to work for him to pay off his shame for trying to steal his car. With no real role model in his life, Thao becomes close to Walt as Walt teaches him how to be a man. Though their relationship helps them both greatly, it creates a lot of problems as Walt continues to put himself in between Thao, Sue and the Hmong gang.

I thought the story was pretty good - I think it could have delved deeper but that may have been a bit of Clint's acting too. I liked the ending a lot - I really wasn't expecting it and that is refreshing! Did anyone else see it? :)

A few snippets from Roger Ebert's review...

"I would like to grow up to be like Clint Eastwood. Eastwood the director, Eastwood the actor, Eastwood the invincible, Eastwood the old man. What other figure in the history of the cinema has been an actor for 53 years, a director for 37, won two Oscars for direction, two more for best picture, plus the Thalberg Award, and at 78 can direct himself in his own film and look meaner than hell? None, that's how many."

"Among actors of Eastwood's generation, James Garner might have been able to play this role, but my guess is, he'd be too nice in it. Eastwood doesn't play nice. Walt makes no apologies for who he is, and that's why, when he begins to decide he likes his neighbors better than his own family, it means something. "

Day #75 - Sunshine Cleaning

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I just love it when a movie is marketed as a comedy and turns out to be well...not funny at all. . Sunshine Cleaning to me, looked like a really cute and funny movie about two sisters and their cleaning business. All of that being said, the movie was good, it just wasn't at all what I was expecting.

Sunshine Cleaning is about two sisters who are very different from each other. Amy Adams plays the older sister, Rose, and is the more responsible one - her younger sister Norah is reckless and rebellious. She is played by Emily Blunt, who I love...but who maybe shouldn't try American accents :) It was odd. The sisters lost their mother to suicide when they were really young so they were left under the care of their father. Rose used to be really popular in high school but seems to have lost most of her friends along the way and gained a son but no husband. She works for a cleaning company and is sleeping with a man who I presume was an old high school boyfriend...only problem is, he's married. So you could say Rose's life isn't exactly what she hoped for. When Rose learns that there is more money to be had in crime scene cleanup, she starts her own company with Norah, hoping to make something of herself. The movie goes on with various cleaning situations and a fairly predictable relationship between Rose and Norah. There were a few funny moments but overall it was a downer - I give it 1 thumb up.

Day #73 - Captains Courageous

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Awww, this movie was really cute :) It took me awhile to get into it - I was afraid it wouldn't hold my interest but it eventually did - about 45 minutes in. I was really looking forward to seeing this since my Mother-in-Law recommended it as a great Spencer Tracy movie - and as this challenged has led me to become a great fan of his, I knew I was in for a treat. I didn't expect this kind of a role though! Tracy played a Portugese fisherman who spoke in broken English, which, at first, was really annoying - but I got used to it after a bit and it wasn't so bad. I guess at first I didn't understand he was Portugese and so I though he just sounded uneducated.

Captains Courageous centers around a young boy named Harvey - Harvey's father is very wealthy and his lack of attention to his son has led Harvey to become spoiled and entitled. He bribes kids at school to get what he wants and has few friends to show for it. One day he admits to a teacher that he had tried to bribe him to make his history exams easier and got kicked out. When his Father hears the news, he is shocked, mostly because he really doesn't know his son at all. He decides to take Harvey with him on a ship to Europe - when Harvey accidentally falls overboard, he is picked up by the fisherman Manuel (Tracy). Harvey spends the next several weeks with Manuel and the other men on the fishing boat - Manuel takes an interest in him, teaching him how to fish and telling him stories of his own Father who had died at sea. Harvey sees how little his own father had taught him and really latches on to Manuel, learning many valuable lessons before returning back to the mainland - I won't ruin anything else from the ending :)

I just really loved the relationship between Manuel and Harvey - Manuel could appreciate the simple things in life and found very little value in money and material things - quite the opposite of how Harvey had been brought up. In one of the scenes in the movie, Manuel challenges another one of he fisherman to a contest to see who can catch the most fish. When Manuel finds out that Harvey ruined the other guys line so that he and Manuel could win, Manuel forfeits the challenge and treats Harvey to silence. I really liked this bit of plot because Harvey was learning things about integrity and honesty when he had been so oblivious before. I enjoyed Freddie Bartholomew as Harvey - he was prett insufferable as the snotty kid at school but once he got on the fishing boats he was much more tolerable :)

Spencer Tracy won a Best Oscar for his role as Manuel. The movie was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Screenplay and Best Editing in 1937.

Ohmygosh, can I please take a second to talk about Lionel Barrymore? He played the Captain of the ship and I just saw him a couple of weeks ago in You Can't Take it With You. He is so hilarious - Chris and I were constantly laughing at him because he has this way of yelling his lines where I have NO idea what he's saying! It just all runs together! I like him a lot :)

Day #67 - The Ballad of Jack and Rose

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I can't believe it took me so long to watch this movie - as a huge Daniel Day-Lewis fan I should have been all over it. The Ballad of Jack and Rose was written and directed by Rebecca Miller, daughter of famed playwright Arthur Miller and wife of Daniel Day-Lewis (which, I can't really imagine - I wonder what that's like?!). For the first half hour or so of the movie, I could NOT take my eyes off of DDL. For the FIRST time ever, I felt like he was so exposed - here I was looking at the closest thing to the actual man - not a character. When you see Bill the Butcher or Daniel Plainview, the last person you see is DDL. But here - it was different - he wore clothes like what he typically wears, he spoke with a Scottish accent, very similar to the British accent he would normally speak in, his hair was as it typically is and he even had his earring in. I felt like this was as close as I would come to seeing him raw.

Jack and Rose are a father and daughter who live alone on an old commune on an island off the Eastern coast of the U.S. Right away you see that Rose really worships her Dad - he is the only man she has ever known and they seem to have a strong bond. Early in the movie we learn that Jack is dying, and he is worried about how Rose will fare after he is gone. In order to fix this problem, he goes to the mainland to see a woman who he has dated off and on, Kathleen (Catherine Keener - amazing). Kathleen has two sons from other men and I think Jack felt like if they moved in, they could provide care for he and Rose, especially after he died. He calls this an "experiment" and once Kathleen and her sons move in, everything changes. Seeing her Dad with another woman, Rose acts out, trying to lose her virginity right away and cutting all of her hair off. As the viewers, I think at this point we are really starting to understand there is more than a father/daughter relationship between Jack and Rose - and perhaps that is why Jack really brought Kathleen to the island - to protect Rose from himself. The rest of the movie shows the challenges the two families face in trying to live together and how Jack and Rose eventually have to face the truth of their relationship - I won't ruin anything for you by going into more detail.

I thought this movie was EXCELLENT. I LOVED the writing and the story was very original. The acting was of course amazing - I was surprised to see Camilla Belle (Rose) act alongside DDL - I was afraid she would disappear but she really held her own. It's not a light-hearted movie but I strongly recommend it.

Day #65 - Easy Rider

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Talk about an unexpected ending. I didn't see that coming AT ALL.

There is a theater here in town called The Enzian that shows some mainstream movies but really focuses more on "indie" type films and old classics. It's not a large theater because it holds different sized tables and you get to order food, beer, popcorn, etc. Tuesday nights are for "cult classics" and last night was Easy Rider. Having never seen it before, I was curious - I've heard about it for a long time but didn't know much other than it had to do with drugs and motorcycles.

Easy Rider was written by (and starred) Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda in 1969. It's about two guys who take off from LA on their motorcycles headed for Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Along the way they meet some interesting, and some not-so-friendly strangers. One of these strangers is played by Jack Nicholson, who, to me, really stole the show. He was hilarious. The "UFO" scene was hysterial. In the scenes where they are smoking pot they are ACTUALLY smoking, haha. There are a lot of drugs which I typically don't like but I didnt' mind it here. The movie feels pretty iconic but I think you had to have seen it at the time it came out to really appreciate it. Another one of those movies where context is key.

Peter Fonda was intriguing to me - first of all, he looks just like his Dad...but also, I don't know, he has this interesting look to him. Dennis Hopper was about what I expected - apparently he was in a bad state of drug-induced paranoia during the production of this movie and many of the crew quit. I wonder if they were high when they cut the movie too - I didn't care for how it was edited, really choppy and jumpy.

Day #64 - From Here to Eternity

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From Here to Eternity was a HUGE Oscar favorite in 1953 - it won 8 Oscars out of 13 nominations including Best Picture, Best Director (Frank Zinnemann), Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Sound, Best Film Editing, Best Supporting Actor (Frank Sinatra) and Best Supporting Actress (Donna Reed). Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift and Deborah Kerr ("is it Karr or Kerr?" - great quote) were also nominated in the Lead Acting category but none of them won - strange.

The movie takes place before, during and after the attack on Pearl Harbor - mostly before. Lancaster plays Sgt. Warden, stationed at Scofield barraks in Hawaii. He is a tough leader, and for the most part, all business - except for, of course, the Captain's wife - Karen Holmes (Kerr). Knowing the Captain isn't in love with his wife and that she was certainly not faithful to him, Warden pursues her and they have a secret affair. In the meantime, a new guy shows up to report to Warden's unit - his name is Prewitt (Clift). Prewitt is an amazing bugler and boxer - the boxing team is excited for him to join the unit but find he is completely unwilling to box. They hound him throughout the movie and his refusal to box earns him double work and bad treatment - yet he still won't box. The best part of the movie, in my opinion, is Frank Sinatra. Sinatra plays Private Maggio, who takes an instant liking to Prewitt and they become good friends. Maggio is a bit of a jokester and drinks a lot. One night he takes Prewitt to a club where Prewitt meets Lorene (Reed), a prostitute, and they fall in love as the movie goes on. I don't want to write much more on the plot - it's definitely worth seeing the movie and I don't want to ruin anything - but basically, as the attack on Pearl Harbor gets closer and closer, the relationships between all of these characters grow and evolve, culminating in how they all wrap themselves up in the attack.

I actually did not care at all for the relationship between Warden and Karen Holmes. The scene on the beach where the waves crash over them kissing on the beach was, unfortunately to me, a HUGE disappointment. They had JUST met each other and so there was no real desire to see them together - I really didn't care about them yet. I think it should have been some kind of unrequited love or a real struggle for awhile in the movie and then perhaps this scene. That being said, Burt Lancaster is really a big guy, is he not? He competed a lot with Marlon Brando, which I can definitely see - they are both big guys with a pretty similar look. I wonder if, when this movie came out, this scene was very risque (sp?).

What I DID care for was the relationship between Prewitt and Maggio - and Prewitt and Warden. Prewitt and Warden's relationship changed a lot as the movie went on and really ended on this mutual respect between the men. Apparently Lancaster was really intimidated to work with "Monty" Clift as he found him to be "perfect". Back to Sinatra real quick - Chris and I just really loved him. He was such a TINY little man, I just wanted to put him in my pocket. His acting was great in this movie and he plays a drunk very well, haha. This was my first Sinatra, Kerr, Lancaster and Clift movie - the only actor I had seen before was Donna Reed in It's a Wonderful Life, and this was a very different role for her.

I read a bit on IMDB about Montgomery Clift and it seems like he had a very difficult life - plagued by alcohol, drugs and guilt over his homosexuality. He died very young of a heart attack.

I can't embed this video so I'll have to add the URL instead - this is a video of Frank Sinatra accepting his BEst Supporting Actor Oscar:)

Frank Sinatra Acceptance Speech

Day #61 - Mogambo

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Mogambo is another "random" movie choice that came out of TCM's "Summer of Stars" - I know I've mentioned this several times but haven't explained it. For the month of August on TCM, every day is dedicated to a different star. So, last week, one of the days was Clark Gable day so I basically just DVR everything on that day and then pick and choose from it later!

I chose to watch Mogambo because it was a John Ford film and it featured an older Clark Gable which I was interested in seeing as well as Ava Gardner. I haven't seen Ava Gardner in anything yet but I've heard of her so many times. At the time of this movie, Ava was Mrs. Frank Sinatra - filming took place in Africa so Frank was apparently on set most of the time. Also, Grace Kelly starred in Mogambo and spent many an off-screen moment locked away in Clark Gable's tent :)

Three things - ONE, Clark Gable looks really good with gray hair :) TWO, Ava Gardner is really not what I would have pictured at all - she is really beautiful, no doubt, but she has a real exotic look to her. Is exotic the right word? I don't know - it's not really. Anyhoo- number THREE is that I'm sorry, but I'm really not a Grace Kelly fan. She's so beautiful but her acting makes me cringe - just feels so forced. What do you guys think?

I was working on the computer while watching Mogambo so I didn't follow it TOO closely but Clark Gable plays a man living in Africa who runs a gaming company and hosts safaris and such for visiting tourists. When Ava Gardner's character shows up one day, I think he doesn't like her right off the bat because she's a woman and surely she has no idea how to handle herself out in the wilderness. She really proves to be tough and they have a short affair before she heads out of Africa. On the day she is scheduled to leave, a husband and wife, Grace Kelly, arrive. It isn't long before Gable develops feelings for her as she is quite beautiful and not altogether too in love with her husband. Oh but WAIT - Ava's boat hit some trouble and she was forced to come back to camp - so now we have ourselves a nice little love triangle that actually plays out in a pretty funny way.

I found this quote that Ava said about Bette Davis and I really liked it...

"Maybe I just didn't have the temperament for stardom. I'll never forget seeing Bette Davis at the Hilton in Madrid. I went up to her and said, "Miss Davis, I'm Ava Gardner and I'm a great fan of yours." And do you know, she behaved exactly as I wanted her to behave. "Of course you are, my dear," she said. "Of course you are." And she swept on. Now that's a star"

Day #60 - Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

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LOVED it!!! Loved the movie, loved Spence, loved Kate, loved everything. I have found, that over the course of 60 movies, I have fallen totally in love with Spencer Tracy. I'm not sure I have EVER seen acting done so naturally and efortlessly. I know I'm a broken record with him, but he makes me smile just seeing him enter a scene. In this movie especially he was such a cranky old man which was so endearing to me. Spencer died just 17 days after filming was wrapped on this movie and received a posthumous Best Actor Oscar nomination. Katherine Hepburn and the director both put the salaries up to back Spence in this movie as the studio was so unsure of his health, fearing he would not be able to finish the movie. Kate drove him in every day and they worked until he got too tired and then went home. He's so amazing.

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner is about a mother, Christina, and father, Matt, (Kate and Spence) who welcome back their daughter Joey and SURPRISE! her fiance John from a trip to Hawaii - everything sounds wonderful until they find out that he is black....and as they are white, it comes as quite a shock. Certainly in this days it wasn't nearly as accepted, in fact, it was banned in 14 (or 17?) states. Christina, though shocked at first, decides that Joey and John are quite in love and is therefore accepting of the marriage so long as Joey is happy. Matt, however, is very unsure - scared of the future that they are making for each other and their kids, he decides that maybe he is not quite so accepting. Joey and John are leaving that very night and hope to get their parents' approval before they leave. Joey invites John's parents to join them for dinner, even though John has yet to tell them that Joey is white.....once they arrive and see her, they are shocked as well, taking similar views as Christina and Matt. The remainder of the movie is a series of conversations between parents and "kids", ultimately culminating in a GREAT Spence monologue - and I won't ruin the ending for you so you'll just have to see it.

I thought the acting in this movie was phenomenal but we are dealing with some real heavy hitters - Spence, Kate and even Sidney Poitier fresh off of an Oscar win for Lilies in the Field. I'm sure the movie was controversial at the time but it really hit the issue head on. That being said, I was watching a special on Sidney Poitier and they were talking about how, in the 60's, Poitier's characters were written to be very straight-laced - he had to be polite, educated, well spoken - this was how he had to pave the way for serious African American actors to come. I found that interesting because his character in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner is pretty perfect - in fact, they don't even show he and Joey kiss, afraid audiences wouldn't like it. My, how times have changed.

If you HAVE seen this movie, do you remember the ice cream scene with Spence and Kate? Perhaps one of my favorite of this blog so far - SO hilarious.

On a side note, I said in an earlier post that the old man character in UP (Pixar) was modeled after Spencer Tracy (thanks for the info Julie!) and it could not have been more evident than in this movie!!!! So fantastic. Hence the reason I included the pic above :)

Day #59 - The Soloist

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I have been sitting on this movie for awhile and I've come to the conclusion that I was really disappointed in it. The preview made this movie look like an inspirational tearjerker about redemption and friendship - but I felt that overall it was more a commentary on the present homeless situation in Los Angeles....which is FINE, but then show it that way. I hate misleading previews.

The Soloist is about reporter Steve Lopez (Robert Downey Jr.) and his relationship with Nathaniel Ayers (Jamie Foxx), a mentally disabled homeless man in Los Angeles who just happens to be a former Julliard student and musician extraordinaire. When Lopez hears him play one day on the streets, he decides to write about him - how did this man wind up on the streets? As the movie progresses, Lopez continually urges Ayers to move into an apartment, take cello lessons and perform recitals - yet all of these things seem to be against the wishes of Ayers. He seems actually to be happy on the streets where there is air and space and people. My biggest problem with this plotline was how absolutely unlikable Lopez is - I'm not sure he ever really wanted to be Nathaniel's friend and many things he seemed to do for his own benefit. By the time he "redeems" himself at the end, I stopped caring. The movie also incorporates flashbacks, showing us how Nathaniel arrived in the present situation. His mental illness progressed slowly and didnt' seem to be caused by any occurance but instead was chemical. All of this could have been told to us, the viewers, without the flashbacks, which I didn't care for at all. They weren't necessary and told us very little.

The Soloist was directed by Joe Wright who also did Pride and Prejudice and Atonement, both amazing movies. Jamie Foxx was very good in his role and Robert Downey, JR. was good, but not great - in my opinion. I think Chris liked this movie a lot more than I did - I just didn't care enough about the characters and was angry at being misled from the trailer.

I like this story from IMDB...

"The real Nathaniel Ayers was invited to view the filming of the scenes at Disney Hall in Los Angeles, but opted on the day to set up his cello and music across the street and continue playing saying "I really got something going here. I think I'm going to stay and play this just a little bit longer." Steve Lopez spoke about this incident in an interview conducted by Dave Davies for National Public Radio's program Fresh Air in April 2008. He added: "I look(ed) across (the street from Disney Hall) and there he is sawing away, as he calls it. And inside this building there are maybe three hundred people, the LA Philharmonic, the cast, the crew, are shooting a movie about his life. And I said to the producer Gary Foster 'You know what Gary, we picked the right name for this thing, The Soloist. There he is.'"

Day #57 - They Met in Bombay

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Totally random choice. Today is Clark Gable day on TCM and the first movie I recorded was They Met in Bombay because it co-starred Rosalind Russell and I looooooooved her in The Women. Filmed in 1941, They Met in Bombay is about two thieves (Clark and Rosalind - and yes, I'm on a first name basis) who unknowingly go after the same jewel - after they discover each other's intentions they become partners and travel together, escaping the police. In the meantime, of course, they fall in love :) When Gable poses as a British officer, he involves himself in a battle which ironically enough earns him a hero's medal - turns out he isn't such a bad man after all :) Now, I don't know about you other women out there, but did anyone NOT fall in love with Clark Gable? Come ON! I must say though, the first Gable movie I ever saw was, probably like a lot of other people, was Gone with the Wind. I don't think he changes his character much from movie to movie so I just see Rhett Butler everywhere. Which is really just fine :) :)

Just FYI, Clark Gable was named AFI's 7th Greatest Male Stars of All Time, behind Humphrey Bogart, Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, Marlon Brando, Fred Astaire and Henry Fonda. He was nominated 3 times for Oscars, winning 1 time for It Happened One Night. His nominations were for Mutiny on the Bounty and Gone with the Wind.

Day #53 - Serpico

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Chris and I first heard of Serpico while watching an episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - Charlie plays Pacino's character and wears a poncho, yelling at other cops that they are all corrupt. It's fantastic. So Chris hijacked my Netflix queue and there ya go - Serpico. We actually knew nothing about it other than Pacino was in it and it had to do with corrupt cops haha :) Serpico was made in 1973 and was directed by Sidney Lumet. This is my second Lumet film after 12 Angry Men and I actually think this is the first time Pacino has appeared - ah!

Al Pacino plays Frank Serpico, a New York cop who prefers working undercover in street clothes - he's a bit strange, and after the other cops find out he is unwilling to accept money from criminals like they do, they turn against him. An honest cop like Serpico makes them all look bad, and Frank grows increasingly unhappy with his lack of advancement. In the end, Frank turns to an outside agency to investigate the corruption in the force - a big no no - a cop turning against cops. Though not an inspiring film per se, I did find Serpico to be a great symbol of one man standing up for the right thing in an extremely difficult situation. At the end of the movie, Frank ends up getting shot in the face - he survives but retires from the force and the investigation contines on.

I liked this movie a LOT more than I thought I was going to - older cop movies have a certain grittiness to them that I don't always care for but this I didn't mind. Pacino was AMAZING as Serpico and honestly I think his costume designer should have won an Oscar - his outfits were hysterical. Always trying to blend in, he has an interesting array of prints and patterns, a bit of hippy style and some rather ridiculous hats. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a good Pacino performance and/or a great cop movie.

Al Pacino won nominated for a Best Actor Oscar but lost to Jack Lemmon in Save The Tiger. I love watching "early" Pacino because it just reminds me how AMAZING of an actor he truly is.

Day #51 - Jezebel

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Ah, yes. My first Bette Davis experience :) Jezebel was recommended to me by my Mother-in-Law and I'm so glad I took her up on it - I had never heard of Jezebel before she mentioned it. Released in 1938 by Warner Brothers, Jezebel was oddly similar to Gone with the Wind which would come out the following year. Bette Davis and Fay Bainter both won Oscars for it - this essentially took Bette Davis out of the running to play Scarlet O'Hara in Gone with the Wind as she had basically already played the role in Jezebel. I found Bette Davis to be FAR more beautiful than I thought she would be. In picture she always looked a bit bug eyed, haha, but I thought she was really pretty - and BOY she has the evil look down pat. She even puts it to Vivien Leigh.

Jezebel is about Julie Marsden (Bette Davis), a southern Belle in New Orleans before the Civil War. Very headstrong and fearless, Julie gets angry at her banker fiance, Preston Dillard (Henry Fonda), when he won't leave a meeting to go dress shopping with her. She gets back at him by choosing a red dress for the upcoming ball (scandal!) - a ball where every unmarried woman wears white. Wanting to teach Julie a lesson, Preston makes her dance in front of the whole crowd, even after Julie realizes her mistake and begs him to let her leave, humiliated. Preston then leaves her, thus breaking their engagement. Julie was convinced he would return immediately, but when he doesn't come back for a whole year, she is desperate to apologize and humble herself to him upon his return. She holds a ball to celebrate his return and even wears her white dress to greet him - however, it was too late - Preston was married to a woman from New York. Eager to get back at him, Julie uses her persuasive ways with her friend Buck, hoping he will challenge Preston to a fight. He ends up challenging Preston's brother and in a turn of expectations, Buck ends up killed. Preston then comes down with yellow fever which was sweeping the city. In a last minute move of redemption, Julie offers to accompany Preston to the isolated island, knowing that she is sure to contract the fever herself and die.

I like Henry Fonda a lot, but not in this role - partly because I just don't think he fits the part well but also because with the movie being so close to Gone with the Wind, he just can't compete with Clark Gable and Leslie Howard! As I said, I really liked Bette Davis - very evil and perfect. I would really like to see her in more movies!

Here's a good video from the movie - this is where Julie first meets Preston's wife at the ball. You can see her BEAUTIFUL white dress :)

Day #49 - Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

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I have a lot of catching up to do - I've seen 3 movies since my last review! Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is a movie I have seen bits and pieces of many times but never the movie in entirety....and for being such a Jimmy Stewart fan, I think that's quite a sacrilege. Ah, Jimmy. Jimmy Jimmy Jimmy. I love you so much!! Really, he's so perfect, I just smile when I see him on the screen because he makes me really happy and I just feel so good :) He's definitely my type too - I always like the nice guys :)

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is perhaps one of the most inspirational movies I've ever seen - the story really reminds you of what politics and Washington should be about. Jimmy Stewart plays Jefferson Smith, a naive Minnesota Boy Ranger (aka Boy Scout) - when the Governor needs to fill a Senate with someone who will sit there and not ask questions so that a bill he backs will go through, he thinks Jefferson is his man - after all, this man has no business in the Senate! When Jefferson arrives, he is in awe of the monuments and the history of the city and can't wait for the Senate to convene. He is especially excited to work with his mentor, Senior Senator Joseph Paine, a respected friend of his father's. When Jefferson decides to pass a bill to open a boy's camp in Minnesota, he doesn't realize he is interfering with the very bill he was meant not to disturb. When persuaded to back down, Jefferson stands up for himself and against the corruption and greed that he realized had taken over politics. Jim Taylor, the real political force behind the bill Smith fights goes on a rampage, creating a scandal he thinks Jefferson cannot overcome. However, with the help of his secretary, he finds a way to prevail!

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is a 1939 Frank Capra film which was nominated for 11 Oscars! It took home only one for Best Original Screenplay. A few years later when Jimmy Stewart was awarded an Oscar for The Philadelphia Story, he felt it was actually overdue credit for his work in Mr. Smith. Many politicians at the time felt the film depicted Washington as corrupt and were outspoken against the film. European countries also banned it as they didn't want their citizens to see democracy at work. The American Film Institute named it as #27 on the Greatest Movies of all Time.

Day #47 - La Vie en Rose

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Wow. I knew that Marion Cotillard was going to be good in this movie, but she truly blew me away. I'm trying to think of when I have seen a better performance by a woman in ANY movie, and I am coming up with very little - perhaps Charlize Theron in Monster. Cotillard really impressed me, I had no idea how talented she was/is. She won the Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal.

La Vie en Rose follows the life and career of Edith Piaf, a French singer and cultural icon - abandoned many times as a young child, she grew up in poverty and started her career by singing on the streets as a teenager - which is essentially where she was discovered. Her career and life had many ups and downs and Cotillard portrayed the emotions of these ups and downs beautifully. Edith Piaf's voice is really unlike anything I've ever heard - not only because she sings in French but her voice is unique. I found it interesting that when Piaf came to America she felt like the people here didn't understand her and vice versa. She always missed Paris and felt most at home there. As far as the way the movie was made, my only complaint really is that I was confused about her illness - I read online that she died of lung cancer but how well was that explained? I didn't pick up on it at all - she seemed to take injections for serious (perhaps debilitating) arthritis? I understood also that she was into hard drugs at least for a small period of time - but I'm not 100% sure of any of this. In fact, Ebert's review said she was addicted to morphine - how was I to know this? Oh well.

Roger Ebert had this to say...

"This mosaic storytelling style has been criticized in some quarters as obscuring facts (quick: how many times was she married?). But think of it this way: Since there are, in fact, no wedding scenes in the movie, isn't it more accurate to see husbands, lovers, friends, admirers, employees and everyone else as whirling around her small, still center? Nothing in her early life taught her to count on permanence or loyalty. What she counted on was singing, champagne, infatuation and morphine."

I couldn't find a good video from the film, but here are a couple of clips of the real Edith Piaf singing...La Vie en Rose and Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien.

Day #42 - The African Queen

IMDB Link

The African Queen was a 1951 John Huston-directed movie starring Katharine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart. It was filmed on location in Africa, which was extremely rare for that time period. It was also a dangerous time to be in the Congo, but John Huston felt it would add needed authenticity to the film. During filming, most of the cast and crew were sick - Katharine Hepburn dealt with a severe case of dysentery - what I think is hilarious about that is that she was so disgusted by how much John Huston and Humphrey Bogart were drinking that she protested by having water only - thus the reason she was so sick. Neither Huston nor Bogie were sick during the shoot - in fact, Bogie said they drank so much scotch that if a fly landed on one of them it would have died instantly :) Apparently Bogie was not too keen on being in the jungle but Kate viewed it as quite the adventure - why am I not surprised? :)

The movie opens with Rose (Hepburn) and her brother holding a church service in German East Africa - they are British and I assume missionaries. We are also introduced to Charlie, a British man who drives a steam ship on the river, delivering supplies to the area. This is where our TV signal went out (I was watching on TCM) - so I missed the next 15 minutes or so - ah! Apparently after learning that the Germans were at war, Rose's brother protested and was killed - Rose then left with Charlie on his steamboat. Rose seemed much more refined and sophisticated than Charlie who was fairly dirty and drank a lot. The rest of the movie is about the adventures they face as they head down the river. Rose feels that they can turn the African Queen into a torpedo boat and if they head down river they can attach a German ship that is keeping a British counter-attack at bay. Charlie is scared, feeling that it would be a suicide mission and far too dangerous. Rose convinced him otherwise and so off they went. They face many obstacles such as rapids and German gunfire but along the way fall in love. Eventually they get stuck in a channel with very little water and too much mud - convinced they are going to die, they go to sleep only to wake up in the lake they have been trying to reach, having been rescued by a storm which raised their boat from the mud. I won't ruin the end - so if you want to know what happens you'll have to see it for yourself!

I really liked the second half of this movie but not the first. It took me a LONG time to get into the story - at first I really just didn't care much about the characters. That being said, once they started to hit the obstacle of the mud, I felt like the added layer I needed was there and I began to really enjoy it. I LOVED Kate and Bogie together, I thought they were fantastic - I was especially impressed with Bogie - I always thought of him as such a serious person and although I liked his charm in Sabrina, I didn't think he could play a character like this. In fact, Bogie won his only Oscar for The African Queen, beating out the favorite Marlon Brando for A Streetcar Named Desire. There is just something about Kate Hepburn - I've seen a few of her movies now and I crave more - I can't put my finger on what it is, I just really love her audacity.

Day #39 - The Apartment

IMDB Link

I believe this is my 3rd Billy Wilder movie! The Apartment is a comedy written, directed and produced by Billy Wilder and starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine. Young Jack Lemmon is so cute!! The Apartment won 5 Oscars - Best Picture, Best Director, Best Art Direction, Best Film Editing and Best Screenplay. Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine and Jack Krushen were nominated in the acting categories but did not win.

I watched the Special Feature, "Inside the Apartment" which was really good because they talked about the context of the movie which is always really helpful. Billy Wilder first conceived of this story in the mid 40's but felt like the subject matter would not be accepted - adultery was not really shown and spoke of outright and it was basically a "rule" in Hollywood that the sanctity of marriage always be upheld. By the time the late 50's rolled around, there was a scandal in the press about a woman who was cheating on her husband with another man, always going to a secret apartment to meet. It so happened that this guy was the superior at work to the apartment owner who was just looking to advance his career......well, voila! Not only did Billy have the rest of his story put together, he also felt like maybe now he could get away with it.

I should probably go ahead and say...The Apartment is about an insurance worker, CC Baxter (Lemmon) in the late 50's who rents an apartment a half block from Central Park - unfortunately he can't use the apartment in the evenings as much as he would like because the key to his place is passed around the office amongst men looking for a place to take their mistresses. CC agrees to it even though it's inconvenient because it has allowed him to move ahead in the company. Shirley MacLaine plays Fran, the elevator attendant - which I think is funny - I can't imagine having that kind of job. Anyhoo, CC really likes Fran and asks her out only to be stood up. Later he finds out that Fran has actually been seeing Mr. Sheldrake, his boss, who is married and using the key to his place! One night when Fran is at CC's with Mr. Sheldrake, she realizes that he really does not love her and is afraid she is just another woman to him...so after he leaves she takes sleeping pills and passes out. CC of course comes home and finds her, solicits the help of his doctor neighbor, and nurses her back to health.....in the end, even though Mr. Sheldrake leaves his wife, Fran realizes it's really CC that she loves - they have a fantastic When-Harry-Met-Sally-esque New Years eve ending :)

I loooooooooved Jack Lemmon so so much! He was super cute - I've never seen him in a movie where he was young. This is one of the reasons I am loving this challenge - I mean, I know who so many of the legends ARE but I don't know firsthand about their work and it's been really fun to learn. I should be getting Some Like it Hot soon....yay!

I'm not sure how to classify this movie...comedy? drama? romance? It's funny, but I wouldn't say all out comedy....let's go with Drama.

Day #36 - Public Enemies

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There is no other way to start this review than to say...whoever decided that Christian Bale needed to walk around the big screen in 1930's suits and hats should be arrested. How am I supposed to concentrate on the story with THAT?! Come ON. Christian Bale is one of the few actors who I can honestly say I have been following since I was a kid - and it's so rewarding to see him become an A-list actor. There is a lot to be said for him not selling out long ago when the options were presented to him - I'm sure a lot of people think he is new to the scene but he's been making movies since he was a kid, and it's just really nice to see more choices open to him. People really respect him as an actor and that will only continue to grow.

OK, enough about Christian Bale. Is it ever enough? No, it isn't...but we shall move on nonetheless. I loved Public Enemies - I thought it was put together really well, it was easy to follow and it made me feel like I was really back in the 30's. Johnny Depp was fantastic and I was glad that Dillinger was not written to have any real sympathy. He briefly mentions his upbringing but so much of the time writers write in some kind of flashback or something that makes you feel sorry for the bad guy. Well, John Dillinger robbed banks - he wasn't a good guy and he made no excuses for it. It was interesting that the media responded so favorably to him - he was really quite popular. Actually, maybe the most interesting part of the story to me was the backstory of the founding of the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover. Who were these guys going to be and what would they stand for? What kind of methods would they use and how would they be trained? Hoover wanted results, and was perhaps too eager to use severe tactics - Melvin Purvis seemed a bit more sympathetic and knew that for the FBI to really get results, they needed trained lawmen. I found it odd that they were holding a shootout complete in suits and hats - was that part of their initial image?

Chris and I both liked the style of the movie, especially in the gunfight scenes because they appeared really smoky and dirty. I assume that is a Michael Mann decision - and he makes suuuuch fantastic movies! Last of the Mohicans anyone?

Day #32 - The Reader

IMDB Link

I didn't realize how far behind I was! Last night we watched The Reader which I really, really enjoyed. My expectations originally were so high because of the Oscar buzz but I heard from a few people that they were disappointed - so I put it off and put it off, which is surprising not only because I like to watch Oscar-worthy movies but I also love Kate Winslet!

Kate plays Hannah Shmitz, a German woman who works on what I assume is the city bus - one day she meets a young boy named Michael, who was sick with scarlet fever and had throwin up outside of her apartment. She helps him home, and months later after recovering, he goes back to thank her. Thus begins their love affair - although she was much older than he was, he fell in love with her, at one point telling her he couldn't possibly live without her. Hannah asks him to read to her, and this becomes a major component of their relationship. She seems really secretive, and I couldn't quite figure out what her story was - she was a rather unpleasant and unlikable character, which surprised me. After arriving late a couple of nights in a row, Hannah and Michael get in a fight and she leaves town, not telling him goodbye or leaving him with any information. My thought was that she felt that he was too young for her and that for him to be happy she needed to be out of his life.

Michael continued through law school and about 10 years later he, along with a few fellow students and his professor, went to view a trial that was taking place in Berlin. There he found Hannah Shmitz - after all those years, he found her on trial along with 5 other women. As it turns out, Hannah was an SS officer, allegedly responsible for the lives of hundreds of women at Nazi camps during WWII. Michael was devastated. What I found really interesting about Hannah was that she never apologized for anything she did. She openly admitted her involvement in the selection of women to be killed at Auschwitz, but not once did she ever say she felt remorse. On the contrary, she seemed to still feel like she did her job and that was that. She was a guard. End of story. So that, coupled with her treatment of Michael years earlier, really left the audience with little pity for her.

I don't want to say anything more as I have already said too much for those of you who haven't seen the movie - but I really did enjoy it. I was impressed with David Kross who played the young Michael. To play such graphic love scenes would be hard enough but with Kate Winslet? It must have been very intimidating. Ralph Fiennes played the older Michael and I must say, he has got a stare to pierce your soul. If I ever saw him in real life I would be scared to death of him!!

At the Oscars this past year, Kate Winslet won the Best Actress in a Leading Role Oscar for this movie and it was nominated for 4 others. I really like the first picture above because at this point, I realized that I had never seen Kate like this before - hardened, mean. She's so talented.

Day #28 - Lars and the Real Girl

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I would LOVE to take this opportunity to attempt to sell you on a movie that I love love love - Lars and the Real Girl. It came out a couple of years ago and got a bit of press for Nancy Oliver, the writer, getting an Oscar nomination. She previously wrote for the show Six Feet Under and now writes for True Blood. But anyhoo - this movie is so fantastic and I rarely hear anyone talk about it so I'm telling you all to GO RENT IT!

The first thing I want to say is that casting for Lars and the Real Girl is PERFECT - Ryan Gosling, Emily Mortimer, Paul Schneider and Kelli Garner. The subject matter for this movie could have SO EASILY gone wrong had the actors, specifically Ryan Gosling, played it like a joke. The story centers around Lars - he lives in the garage of the house his brother and sister-in-law own and seems to be lonely and very antisocial, or awkward at least in social situations. Right off the bat his sister-in-law, Karin (Emily Mortimer) begs him to come join them for breakfast and we see that he is very reluctant, preferring to spend time alone. Karin and Gus (Lars' brother), especially Karin, are worried about Lars but can't seem to find a way to help. Lars works at a cubicle-laden office (reason enough for depression) where we meet Margo, a girl who seems to have a crush on Lars but can't get through to him. Margo is interesting to me - she is kind of childish in a way but yet she seems to understand Lars more than anyone else. Lars' tactless cube-mate shows Lars one morning a site he found where you can buy sex dolls but Lars seems uninterested. That is, until a couple weeks later - Lars knocks on Karin and Gus's door and announces that he has a girlfriend, Bianca, from Russia and he would like for them to meet her. Because of his religious beliefs, he would also like for Bianca to stay with them. Karin and Gus are ecstatic - here they have been all worried about Lars and for no reason! Cut to the shot in the living room with Gus, Karin and Lars sitting awkwardly around a blow up doll. Lars seems to have no idea that Bianca is not real - he talks to her and responds as if she talked back. Gus and Karin freak out (a fantastic scene) but eventually tell Lars that Bianca should see a doctor, just for a checkup.

I LOVE where the story goes from here - it is SO clever and original. The doctor, played brilliantly by Patricia Clarkson, convinces Lars to bring Bianca in every week for treatment and in the meantime, she is afforded some alone time with Lars where she starts to learn more about him and perhaps what has led to this delusion with Bianca. He never catches on because she pretends as if she doesn't really care, after all, he's just there for Bianca, so they are just talking right? Their scenes together are fantastic. As time goes on, the townspeople play along, pretending that Bianca is real in order to help Lars. I won't say much more so that I don't spoil anything - but you can see how odd the subject matter is. Ryan Gosling is so subtle and perfect and he totally dedicates himself to this character - I mean, as an actor, he has to walk around all day talking to a sex doll without you thinking he is creepy or sick. Not once did I think that - he never crossed the line - in fact, by the end of the movie, I thought she was real too!

If you rent it, which you should and you will - check out the special features on the DVD - there is a great piece on Bianca and everything they had to do to prepare her for scenes. As is the case in the movie, they talk about her as if she is real and there are a couple of fantastic blips with Ryan Gosling talking about how Bianca is a diva. They even get into a fight :)

Here is what Roger Ebert had to say about Lars and the Real Girl...

"How do you make a film about a life-sized love doll, ordered through the Internet, into a life-affirming statement of hope? In "Lars and the Real Girl," you do it with faith in human nature, and with a performance by Ryan Gosling that says things that cannot be said. And you surround him with actors who express the instinctive kindness we show to those we love."

"As we watch this process, we glimpse Lars' inner world, one of hurt but also hidden hope. Nine actors out of 10 would have (rightly) turned down this role, suspecting it to be a minefield of bad laughs. Gosling's work here is a study in control of tone. He isn't too morose, too strange, too opaque, too earnest. The word for his behavior, so strange to the world, is serene. He loves his new friend, treats her courteously and expects everyone else to give her the respect he does. How this all finally works out is deeply satisfying. Only after the movie is over do you realize what a balancing act it was, what risks it took, what rewards it contains. A character says at one point that she has grown to like Bianca. So, heaven help us, have we."

Day #25 - 12 Angry Men

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050083/

12 Angry Men is a 1957 courtroom drama movie starring Henry Fonda - it was also the directorial debut for Sidney Lumet, who also directed such later movies as Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon and Network. It was nominated for 3 Academy Awards (Best Director, Best Picture, Best Screenplay) but lost all to Bridge on the River Kwai.

The movie spends all but 3 minutes in the deliberation room - 12 men consist of the jury that must decide the fate of an 18-year old boy accused of stabbing his father. At first, only Henry Fonda's character believes the boy is not guilty, but as the movie goes along, he succeeds at planting the seed of doubt in the other juror's minds. I think there's a great lesson as far as having the guts to stand alone for something you believe in. There were a couple of jurors who seemed to just want to get it over with, as if they really didn't care how they voted as long as they could go home - I'm sure that this happens all of the time and perhaps people need to remember that someone else's life is in their hands and it needs your full attention and consideration. Something I REALLY loved about how the movie was written was that we, as the audience, received all of the information from the trial through the juror's arguments. We did not come in with any preconceived notions based on seeing witnesses and such give testimony. As the movie progressed, we got more and more info which I thought was really cool. It drug a bit at the end, the last 20 min. or so, just because I felt like I could see where it was going and got a bit anxious. Overall, the acting was phenomenal - very intense performances from all of the men which is always a joy to watch.

I have to admit, this is the first movie I have ever seen with Hank Fonda. I know a lot about him from the Jimmy Steward biography I read since they were very close friends - but I have not ever seen him. I know, shame. I'm definitely going to add Grapes of Wrath to my list, as well as On Golden Pond.

I just read that 12 Angry Men was #2 on AFI's list of Best Courtroom Dramas...which begs the question, what is #1? I'm going to guess To Kill a Mockingbird. Oh I'm right! Yah, that one definitely takes the cake :) Henry Fonda, as "Juror #8" was also list as #28 on AFI's Top Heroes list...which ironically gave #1 to Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird :) This is actually a really cool list of Heroes and Villains...check it out:

AFI's Heroes and Villains