February 2011 Recap

"RECAP" has returned. In case you're not familiar, allow me to fill you in on the meaning of this post. Basically after every calender month has come to a close, I like to look back at my month in movies. I re-rate (if necessary) all of the films that I watched for the "1001" book and also talk briefly about the movies I watched that are not part of the "1001" book. That's about the just of it.

1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die - As seen in February 2011
1) Groundhog Day (1993 - Harold Ramis) 8.5/10
2) Ghost Busters (1984 - Ivan Reitman) 5.5/10 - It's not a bad movie, it's just that I really don't think it deserves a place among such prestigious titles.
3) Sleeper (1973 - Woody Allen) 9/10 - Upped it two notches because it really is a fantastic comedy and inching closer and closer to being my favorite of the early Allen films.
4) Annie Hall (1977 - Woody Allen) 7.5/10 - Still not FULLY realizing the hubbub over this one, but coming closer to recognizing it as one of his greats.
5) Funny Games (1997 - Michael Haneke) 8/10
6) Manhattan (1979 - Woody Allen) 10/10
7) Night of the Living Dead (1968 - George A. Romero) 6.5/10 - I think I initially went just a little bit easy on this one when considering the cheap budget and the final product. Still a really good horror film though.
8) The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985 - Woody Allen) 4.5/10 - Fantasy stories are just not what I'm looking for when I think of Woody Allen.
9) Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969 - George Roy Hill) 9/10
10) Hannah and Her Sisters (1986 - Woody Allen) 9/10 - Something...and even I don't know what, is holding this from being a '10'. It just doesn't give me that '10' vibe.
11) Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989 - Woody Allen) 8/10
12) The Sting (1973 - George Roy Hill) 8.5/10 - This one went up. Would have been a '9', but I liked "Butch Cassidy..." just a little better and it's basically the same team making both.
13) A Place in the Sun (1951 - George Stevens) 6.5/10
14) On the Waterfront (1954 - Elia Kazan) 4/10 - I realized that I was easy on this one at first because I may have been trying to fit in with the popular opinion...something I promised myself I wouldn't do when I started this project. Shame on me!
15) No Country for Old Men (2007 - Joel & Ethan Coen) 10/10
16) From Here to Eternity (1953 - Fred Zinnemann) 7/10 - Really good, just not as good as my first rating would lead you to believe.
17) Gandhi (1982 - Richard Attenborough) 5/10
18) Midnight Cowboy (1969 - John Schlesinger) 10/10
19) American Beauty (1999 - Sam Mendes) 6/10 - Still a little torn on this one. There are certain aspects of it that I love, but overall there are things about it that I do not love.
20) The Heartbreak Kid (1972 - Elaine May) 7/10

NON-1001 Movies - As seen in February 2011
1) The Town (2010 - Ben Affleck) 4.5/10 - I can't, for sure, put my finger on exactly why I didn't like "The Town" - it may have been a couple of factors. First off, I was really looking forward to this one. Affleck made his directorial debut with "Gone Baby Gone", a film that I thoroughly enjoyed and I had high hopes that he'd make it two for two with me. I tuned in expecting, not a blatant action film, but a film about bank robbers and robberies and what I got was basically a love story, with bank robbery in as the background theme. It felt as if "The Town" was really trying it's best to be "Heat", but failed in Epic fashion, as it lacked grittiness and good acting. Also, who was I supposed to be rooting for? Cool cop Jon Hamm or Punky Renner and Hunky Affleck?

2) Buried (2010 - Rodrigo Cortes) 9.5/10 - Loved pretty much everything about "Buried" and the only reason it didn't get the full '10', is simply because i wasn't feeling it. The film made me feel claustrophobic and I thought Ryan Reynolds did a fantastic job, portraying all of the right emotions at the right times. Everything that the character was going through seemed plausible and nothing felt forced or contrived. I, at no point, was saying anything to the effect of "Oh, well he wouldn't do that" or "Well this couldn't happen, it would be more like this, I'm sure". Great film and the best thing I saw "non-1001" wise all month.

3) Case 39 (2009 - Christian Alvart) 1/10 - This was atrocious! My wife picked this one during our Sunday trip to Redbox and hesitantly I went along like the good husband, even though I kind of had a hunch that it would suck. This was just really cheap as far as providing us with suspenseful moments. It had those kind of suspense moments, like a dog jumping up and barking when everything was quiet...you know the type. I'm gonna' stop there. It was bad...trust me.

4) Cyrus (2010 - Jay and Mark Duplass) 6.5/10 - Another "wife pick" where she was able to redeem herself a bit. I enjoyed this one enough and thought that John C. Reilly was great in it. I've always admired actors who were able to play awkward and Reilly certainly mastered awkward here, as his character is subject to many an awkward moment. For a woman pushing fifty years old, Marisa Tomei is still looking super foxy and she did a good job, acting wise.

5) Dinner for Schmucks (2010 - Jay Roach) 3.5/10 - I read somewhere, where someone said that the actors here (Paul Rudd and Steve Carell) "deserved better material" and I think whoever said that pretty much nailed it. If I'm in the market for current day comedy, then those are two of the actors that I seek out, so I had high hopes for this one. The opening montage of a man dressing up dead mice and making art out of them was certainly interesting, but it goes downhill from there. This was just really cheap and unattractive comedy, with no finesse whatsoever. Not only did the actors involved deserve better material, but it really felt like they were just phoning it in and maybe didn't have their heart (or funny bone) into it.

6) Inception (2010 - Christopher Nolan) 5/10 - God, I hope I don't get crucified for this one. I didn't like it folks - there I've said it. To me, this was just a really good idea, instead of a really good script. I'm not afraid to admit that maybe I didn't fully follow the plot 100% - that could be my ignorance or it could be due to some plot holes. Now I'm not one to make excuses for my own insolence, but this thing, although I couldn't pin them down, reeked of plot holes. Nolan, in his effort to analyze and make a film about dreams, forgot some important elements that exist in dreams. My dreams are often choppy and incomplete. If you ask me what a dream I had was about, I may not know every single detail, while "Inception" tells us that details are key. I'll stop defending my reason for disliking this picture and end in stating that Chris Nolan USED to be a favorite director of mine, but is no longer. With my disapproval of "Inception" that makes four Nolan films in a row that I've failed to see the greatness in and thus his name was scratched from my mental list of great filmmakers. I do, however, still LOVE "Following", "Memento" and "Insomnia". By the way, the '5' is for a good looking picture and I'll be the first to admit that this film was absolutely eye dazzling. Part of the '5' also goes to a good idea, despite poor execution.

7) The Last Exorcism (2010 - Daniel Stamm) 6/10 - I have a bit of a soft spot for fictional films that are told in a documentary style. Honestly, in writing about all of these movies I'm beginning to notice that I draw a definite line between rating new movies and rating old ones. I don't expect as much out of these new movies that I watched and thus, that's why they get higher ratings. This was fun, but really nothing extravagant or special. If you're in the market for a small...very small scare then check it out, but otherwise I wouldn't break my neck - or any body part for that matter - to see this one.

8) The Social Network (2010 - David Fincher) 7.5/10 - By the way, that's a '7.5' on the "Fincher scale". Loved how Fincher was able to turn a story about the creator of Facebook into something very dark and basically place it in his own Finchian World. I'm sure Trent Reznor's Oscar winning score didn't hurt matters in giving "The Social Network" a dark feel either. Jesse Eisenberg was fantastic and in my opinion deserved his Oscar nomination. However, this film really doesn't hold much of a candle to Fincher's previous works, even his newer stuff like "Zodiac" or "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" I definitely liked more than this.

9) Despicable Me (2010 - Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud) 8.5/10 - Probably the best non-Pixar animated film I've EVER seen, although I haven't seen that many non-Pixar animated movies, so that's not really saying a whole lot. I had a hell of a time with this movie though. I genuinely laughed during some parts and had to fight back some honest to goodness tears during other parts. This is right behind "Buried" as far as best things I saw "non-1001" wise this month. Check it out - no matter your age.

10) The Other Guys (2010 - Adam McKay) 2/10 - Pretty much the same feeling as "Dinner for Schmucks" except Will Ferrell is the lone wolf in the "deserves better material" heading. Mark Wahlberg is not a funny man and has no business along side Will Ferrell in a comedy. In fact, if I had my way, Wahlberg would have no business in films period, but I don't have my way and thus were treated to Marky Mark failures every now and then. I shouldn't say that because I am actually looking forward to "The Fighter", but not for the presence of Wahlberg. We're getting off topic here. "The Other Guys" is barely funny, save for a few lines from Ferrell and actually I thought Michael Keaton was pretty hilarious too with his TLC references and his job at Bed, Bath and Beyond. Other than that, this is basically trash.

11 - 16) Every Woody Allen film from "Match Point" to "You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger" (2005 - 2010 - Woody Allen) various ratings - "You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger" came out on DVD this month and once again I was able to tout the fact that I've seen EVERY Woody Allen film. With that fact in place, I also realized that I have absolutely no ranking of his films and seeing as how he is my favorite director, I would like to have a ranking of his films. So...after checking out the new movie, I decided to keep going backwards in watching Allen's films. As I watched them, I kept a Microsoft Office Word document of notes and ratings, so that when I'm done I could have a really accurate list of his movies from best to worst. So why am I holding those ratings from your eyes? Well, if you care, I plan to post the full, ranked and rated list up when it is complete, right here on the "1001 Movies I (Apparently) Must See Before I Die" blog. So, hopefully you care enough to look forward to that.

WHEW!! That was a HUGE post. That about caps off February in my world of film. Let's keep truckin' on March and I'll see you back here in 31.

March 1, 2011 11:32pm

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160. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)

Running Time: 163 minutes
Directed By: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
Written By: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
Main Cast: Roger Livesey, Deborah Kerr, Anton Walbrook, Ursula Jeans, John Laurie

POWELL AND PRESSBURGER WEEK: PART 1

Well I figured it'd be a good time to kick off another series dedicated to a certain director (or director's, in this case). I realize that I've been abandoning the earlier films in the book, so decided to focus in on Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, as the majority of their films were made in the 1940s, which is the earliest decade that we have left. First up, "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp", which I didn't despise, despite early thoughts that I would.

Major General Clive Wynne-Candy (Livesey) is relaxing in a Turkish bath, when he is bombarded on by a group of soldiers. Candy had called a training exercise - "War starts at Midnight" - but the soldiers decided to jump the gun and capture Candy hours earlier. As Candy argues with the officers and they tussle, we begin our journey backwards for a look into the Major General's life. We head all the way back to 1902, when Clive Candy decides, against orders, to go to Berlin to confront a man named Kaunitz for spreading propaganda and saying that the British killed women and children during the Boer War. Upon his arrival he meets with Edith Hunter (Kerr), a friend's acquaintance who alerted him to the propaganda and they go to a cafe where Candy is provoked by Kaunitz and he ends up punching him in the mouth. A duel is scheduled, in which Candy gets his lip nearly severed (which leads to the growing of his epic moustache) and his opponent gets his forehead cut. While recuperating in a nursing home, Candy befriends Schuldorff (Walbrook), his opponent in duel and allows Edith to slip away and marry Schuldorff. He doesn't realize until later that he loved Edith Hunter. From there, Candy's time during World War I and his later years, as he gets married and re-acquaints with Schuldorff, are covered.

POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT!

This film was made during the height of World War II and was surely made to speak against the tactics that were being used by the Nazis. It was probably made for reasons that pertained to the current situations, but I didn't view it as such. Instead, I viewed it as a story about the life of a noble man. I guess you could say that if you give me a movie about a man, real or fictional, then I'm interested in how that man evolved. How he may have gone from hotheaded youngster, eager to defend his country from slanderous propaganda to an old man who just yearned to be needed. For me, the best part of "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp" was the friendship that Major General Candy had with Theo Kretschmar-Schuldorff. The story of their friendship, in my eyes was fantastic. They meet as opposition holding swords and declaring duel, not knowing one another personally, just knowing one anothers politics. They maim one another and as they recuperate they become friends. Years later, Candy finds Schuldorff and is befuddled when he is ignored by his old friend - such a sad scene. The ignorance is eventually explained, they reunite and part ways again and twenty years later, it is German native Schuldorff trying to gain access into England, as he doesn't agree with the Nazi ways of his current Germany. An incredibly touching scene, as Schuldorff chronicles his previous years, the death of his wife and the loss of his sons to the Nazi party.

This wasn't the best thing I've seen thus far and far from it, but I did enjoy parts of it. Like I said, I didn't view this as your typical war movie, but rather a movie about friendship, love and the evolution of a good man. It flowed along quite nicely too at a running time of nearly three hours and I didn't find myself staring at the clock at all. It would come with a mild recommendation from me, but in the end, it wasn't entirely my cup of tea.

RATING: 5.5/10 I know that seems a harsh rating after my praise, but this really wasn't my thing and I hope for better, more intriguing things from the duo of Powell and Pressburger. Next up: "I Know Where I'm Going".

MOVIES WATCHED: 224
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 777

March 1, 2011 7:19pm

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521. L'uccello dalle piume di cristallo/The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970)

Running Time: 98 minutes
Directed By: Dario Argento
Written By: Dario Argento, from the novel The Screaming Mimi by Fredric Brown
Main Cast: Tony Musante, Suzy Kendall, Enrico Maria Salerno, Eva Renzi

HEY IT'S THE OLD GUY FROM "OZ"!

The above line is what I said to myself when I was finally able to pin down where I'd seen Tony Musante before. I received "The Bird with the Crystal Plumage" from Netflix (via mail...Yes I'm back to getting movies in the mail) because I feel that since my return I've been lacking the viewing of some foreign films. I skimmed through the book and this one caught my eye and it wasn't a terrible choice.

Sam Dalmas (Musante) is an American writer living in Italy. Walking home one evening, past an art gallery, he notices a man dressed in almost all black attacking a woman with a knife. He runs to her rescue, but is somehow trapped between two glass walls. The assailant runs away and the lady lies bleeding on the floor, until Sam catches the attention of another passerby and has him alert the police. The police arrive, the woman is diagnosed with only flesh wounds and the grilling on Sam begins. His plans to leave Italy in just a few days are stubbed out, as Inspector Morosini (Salerno) alerts him that he needs to stay around, because not only is he a key witness, but they also can't rule him out as a suspect. With some free time on his hands, as he's unable to leave the country, Sam begins to conduct his own investigation into, what has been brought to his attention as a string of unsolved murders. With only a few obscure clues to go by, Sam begins to follow up the stories of the previous two victims, as well as the third, un-murdered victim that Sam helped save. With the help of his girlfriend (Kendall), the two take us (the viewer) on a wild goose chase to uncover the identity of the murderer.

SPOILER ALERT!

The reason I refer to it as a "wild goose chase" is because I wasn't too thrilled with the big "super shocking" ending. But, like other wild goose chases, the chase is a lot of fun, that is until we realize that a wild goose lies at the end. I had a lot of fun with this film and it was actually the type of gritty, Hitchcockian style movie that I'm usually very interested in. I thought Argento did a great job constructing a really frightening atmosphere and trying his best to give us little hints to throw us off the scent of the real killer. In fact, I thought that was a stroke of brilliance on Argento's part. I loved how he would throw little allusions, and make us think things that didn't end up being true. For example: There's one scene where Inspector Morosini asks Julia - "Haven't we met before?", to which Julia responds with a very awkward "No, you're mistaken." It's those little oddities in the dialogue that make us think things that end up being nothing, but make our mind constantly work to try and figure this film out before it ends and I loved going on the chase right along the main character.

In the end, the killer is finally revealed and although I didn't predict it whatsoever, I wasn't too thrilled and instead of giving an excited "NO WAY!", I gave an unenthusiastic "Oh...". It seems to me that Argento was going for the most surprising ending possible, even if it didn't make the most sense. He didn't care about maintaining the sensibility of his picture, but just wanted to get that big shock out of us, which he totally missed out on from me. In the end, it is explained that Monica (Renzi) had been attacked in a park and when she saw a painting that depicted almost verbatim what happened to her, she snapped inside and began to go a bit nutty. It is then explained that her husband, in order to cover up her murders, began to commit murders himself, so in essence, there were really two murderers. In my opinion...lame! This movie even comes complete with a couple of plot holes, like who was the ex-prizefighter who tried to kill Sam by chasing him through the streets of Italy? We can assume that he was hired by the killers, but it's never fully laid out for us and provides us with more killers than we need to have on hand for a murder mystery. So in conclusion, I had fun throughout, but was let down by the ending.

RATING: 6.5/10 I could see that rating rising, but for now we'll stick with it. There's no denying that this IS a good movie, it's only the ending that I have issue with.

MOVIES WATCHED: 223
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 778

March 1, 2011 2:31pm

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542. The Heartbreak Kid (1972)

Running Time: 106 minutes
Directed By: Elaine May
Written By: Neil Simon, from the story A Change of Plan by Bruce Jay Friedman
Main Cast: Charles Grodin, Cybill Shepherd, Jeannie Berlin, Audra Lindley, Eddie Albert

REALIZING THE GREATNESS THAT IS NEIL SIMON

For all of you fellow Netflix stream watchers, there's a whole slew of movies getting ready to depart that portion of Netflix tonight and "The Heartbreak Kid" is one of them. Following the Oscars last night, I decided to watch one of the ones that wasn't going to be available anymore and so I chose this one. It was just what I needed - a fun movie, that I was simply able to kick back and enjoy and not have to put too much thought into.

Many of you are probably more familiar with the remake that came out a few years ago starring Ben Stiller, but today we're talking about the Charles Grodin version...a man, who in one movie proved to me that he's much funnier than Ben Stiller. Grodin is Lenny and within the first ten minutes of the film he marries Lila (Berlin). Immediately following the wedding, the newly weds head for Miami Beach for their honeymoon, in a hilarious group of road trip scenes that sees Charles Grodin chewing gum and trying to belt out "Strummin' on the Ol' Banjo" and giving his new wife a lesson in Milky Way ethics, via the line "Honey, don't put a Milky Way in someone's mouth who doesn't want it." By the time they arrive in Miami Beach, Lenny is convinced that he has made a terrible mistake in marrying Lila. The entire trip he realizes little things about her that drive him absolutely and totally nuts, such as constantly asking for reassurance while making love, eating an egg salad sandwich in a completely manner-less way and using words and phrases like "pee pee". On the beaches of Miami, Lenny meets Kelly (Shepherd) and is very attracted to her and when Lila gets a nasty sunburn on the first day of their honeymoon, which gives Lenny the opportunity to meet and spend time with Kelly...which he does.

I'm not going to spoil anything here, because it simply isn't necessary in discussing the film. This is probably going to be short and sweet, because it won't take me long to tell why I enjoyed "The Heartbreak Kid". No matter how many times I do it, I'm always in a stupor when I see a movie for the first time, that I like, that has been out for decades. I constantly ask myself, "how did I not see this already, it's so good". This is one of those occasions and especially in this case, because when I was younger, I was obsessed with comedies and "The Heartbreak Kid" is a top notch comedy. Charles Grodin, in my opinion, was HILARIOUS. It's very rare for me to physically laugh out loud during a film, even if I think the film IS funny. A lot of times I'll just snicker or think to myself "Oh, that's clever", but not here. I was laughing out loud more times than I could count and it was almost always due to a line that Grodin delivered. Even when he wasn't trying to be funny, there was just something about his mild mannered speech that I got a kick out of.

This film also allowed me the opportunity to check out Neil Simon, a man who I, sadly, had only heard of through a particular "Seinfeld" episode. I looked up his list of film credits after the movie and was surprised to see a bunch of movies that have always looked appealing to me, such as: "Barefoot in the Park", "The Out of Towners" and "The Sunshine Boys". This is someone who I'll definitely be checking out more of and to my surprise, yet again, his first every film is currently streaming on Netflix - "Come Blow Your Horn".

I'll wrap it up now. If you're looking for a really funny comedy, then check out THE ORIGINAL "The Heartbreak Kid" and enjoy it and feel free to swing back around and leave a comment and we can discuss it.

RATING: 7.5/10 I give very few comedies a full '10', so for a comedy that's a pretty solid rating.

MOVIES WATCHED: 222
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 779

February 28, 2011 12:40pm

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83rd Annual Academy Awards - Random Thoughts

From time to time I like to use my "1001 Movies I (Apparently) Must See" blog to talk about other goings on in the world of film. Since I did it last year, I figured I'd post a quick write-up about this year's Oscars, which have just concluded.

THE OSCARCAST

If you're a follower of Roger Ebert on Twitter, you may have seen the following tweet that he tweeted a mere moments ago:

"The worst Oscarcast I've seen, and I go back awhile. Some great winners, a nice distribution of awards, but the show? Dead. In. The. Water."

I could not agree more. Anne Hathaway and James Franco (and especially Franco) just did a horrible job as hosts for the Oscars this year. At least I can give Hathaway a little credit for the effort, but Franco just seemed like he'd rather be longing back in one of the seats of the Kodak Theatre and being a nominee instead of a host. In fact, much of the show just ran flat, with a lot of unenthusiastic appearances. When the 94 year old Kirk Douglas is the first one onstage getting laughs, then you know you're in trouble. I was almost hoping that someone like Kevin Spacey, Billy Crystal or the combination of Jude Law and Robert Downey Jr. would just kick Hath' and Franco off the stage and take over the hosting duties.

Also, I realize that the Best Director, Lead Actor, Lead Actress and Picture awards hold the most interest, but those need to be spread out a little more. I mean, I admire costumes, music and set design in films as much as any avid film goer, but the whole middle portion of the awards always seems slow and I'm sure there aren't that many people out there who care to hear technical guys thanking their wives and kids.

And another thing - there are way too many people appearing onstage. When you have to have host Anne Hathaway introduce Hilary Swank, so that she can introduce Kathryn Bigelow, so that she can present the award for "Best Director"...that's just too many people. What's the host for, if not to introduce the presenters. Let's cut out the middle man (or middle woman), quit harping about the show going long and get this thing rolling!

THE REST OF MY THOUGHTS

Anyway, it was nice to see some people that I enjoy walk off with Oscars tonight. Glad to see Christian Bale finally get that "OSCAR Winner" title before his name, as well as Natalie Portman. Eventhough he didn't win it was super cool to see "The Dude" Jeff Bridges get nominated for the second year in a row...here's to three! It seems as though this is only Tom Hooper's second feature film, so hopefully we see the rise of a new great director.

FYI - Out of the films nominated for major awards tonight, I've only seen: "Inception", "Toy Story 3" and "The Social Network"...Yeah I don't get out to the theatre that often. So much like last year I really have no business talking about my approval or disapproval of the nominees or the winners. I will be talking more in depth about the three films that I HAVE seen in the upcoming "February Recap" post, but if I had to choose a winner out of those three, I'd probably go with "The Social Network".

As for the rest of the movies, I'm very much interested in seeing: True Grit, Black Swan, The Fighter, The Kids Are All Right, Rabbit Hole, Biutiful, Another Year and I guess, since it won Best Picture, The King's Speech.

Well that does it for yet another year of Oscars. I highly doubt that I'm going to bang out another 780 movies in the next year, which means I'll still be chugging along at this blog when the 84th Academy Awards are on the air and I'll probably be right back here talking about them again. Maybe next year I'll be more prepared...as far as what I've seen and haven't seen among the noms.

February 28, 2011 12:20am

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943. American Beauty (1999)

Running Time: 122 minutes
Directed By: Sam Mendes
Written By: Alan Ball
Main Cast: Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Wes Bentley, Mena Suvari

"AND THE OSCAR GOES TO...": 1999

This will be the conclusion of our week dedicated to Best Picture winners, as we're a mere hours away from this year's Oscar ceremony. Once again I had the advantage of plucking this one directly from my DVD shelf, but once again, I knew going in that it wasn't a definitive favorite of mine. I've flip flopped back and forth on this one for years. Do I like it or am I not thrilled with it? I knew that this would finally have to be the viewing to answer that question.

The film is set dead square in the center of American suburbia, as writer Alan Ball rips the walls off of those perfect, little, suburban houses to show us what life is really like inside. We zoom in on the Burnham family, headed up by father Lester (Spacey). Lester starts off the film by telling us that within one year he will be dead..."but in a way, he's dead already". He's married to Carolyn (Bening) and their marriage is not going down the tubes, but rather, has been meddling in the tubes for years. Their sex-life is null and void and their daughter Jane (Birch) is there to witness it all. In trying to show support for their daughter, a cheerleader, Lester and Carolyn attend a high school basketball game so that they can see their daughter cheer. During the halftime show, Lester falls head over heels for one of Jane's fellow cheerleaders, Angela (Suvari), which results in the famous erotic dance/rose petal scene. Lester then begins to suffer a mid-life crisis, which comes on even harder when he overhears Angela tell Jane that Lester is cute and if only he had some muscles, she'd "totally fuck him". Lester begins to workout hard, he quits his job after getting a hefty severance package and takes a new job as a burger flipper at Mr. Smiley's fast food restaurant. Meanwhile, the Fitts' have just moved in next door, consisting of Col. Frank Fitts, a homosexual despising, ex-Marine, Barb Fitts, a wife that looks like she's taken one too many tongue lashings from the Colonel and goes around in a zombie-esque state and Ricky Fitts, who takes to selling pot to Lester and filming his object of desire - Jane.

POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT!

I have mixed feelings on hundreds of movies, but this is definitely one that tops the list. I think every single time I watch "American Beauty" I like it less and less. Years ago, when I saw it, I liked it so much that I ran out and bought it. Lets start with the negatives and work our way to the positives.

The way I see it, this movie can't make up it's mind on whether it wants to be taken seriously or wants to be a satire on the ways of the world as they exist in the suburbs. In one way, it wants to be taken seriously, giving us some beautiful scenes, most notably the end, when Lester realizes the error of his ways and the how he had everything that a man his age could ask for, but simply didn't work hard enough to maintain it. I love Lester's speech at the end of the film and the fact that he dies with a smile on his face, as he stares lovingly at a picture of Jane, Carolyn and himself. But then on the non-serious side we're treated to scenes of Lester working the drive through window at Mr. Smiley's restaurant and catching his wife making out with the "King of Real Estate" Buddy Kane and blackmailing his boss into giving him that hefty severance package that I mentioned above. I understand that it's a dark comedy, but feel that there are too many really touching moments in there to label this movie as any type of comedy. Another element of the film that leads me to criticize this film is that there just doesn't seem to be any type of progressive story. It's basically just Lester going through a mid-life crisis with a bunch of other things thrown in to get a reaction out of the audience.

On the positive side of the spectrum, with "American Beauty" you get some great acting from Spacey and Bening. You get some really touching and really funny scenes, that I outlined above and despite the lack of story, you do get a fairly interesting little tale of life in the suburbs, with some characters that I'm sure will draw your interest. Maybe that was the intention of Alan Ball, writing not so much a story, but rather just an anecdote about the hollow life that exists in the suburbs and the one man who decides he's not going to play Mr. America anymore and conform to that suburban life. It's definitely one that has me flip flopping, but I'd still recommend it and I'd also borrow a line from a fellow blogger of mine and say "approach with caution".

RATING: 6.5/10 That rating seems a bit harsh to even me, but a '7' just seems a little too high, so we'll stick with the 6.5. That'll do it for the "And the Oscar Goes to..." series.

MOVIES WATCHED: 221
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 780

February 27, 2011 7:24pm

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496. Midnight Cowboy (1969)

Running Time: 113 minutes
Directed By: John Schlesinger
Written By: Waldo Salt, from novel by James Leo Herlihy
Main Cast: Jon Voight, Dustin Hoffman, Brenda Vaccaro, Sylvia Miles, John McGiver

"AND THE OSCAR GOES TO...": 1969

Less than twenty-four hours removed, until the 83rd Annual Academy Awards commence, tonight I rewound the clock forty two years to take a look at the Best Picture of 1969 - "Midnight Cowboy". It wasn't, however, the first time I had seen "Midnight Cowboy" and actually I was able to pluck this one directly from my DVD shelf.

Joe Buck (Voight) is headed for New York 'by gawd' City, from his original home in Texas, because he's convinced that the city is crawling with women, who'd pay big money to hop in the sack with a genuine cowboy. After a long bus ride, Joe eventually reaches the city that never sleeps, but has to face a harsh reality when he realizes that the women he figured would be attacking him right off the bus, do not exist. Joe does manage to get one date, which results in a memorable scene with Sylvia Miles and ends with him paying her instead of vice versa. Later, he meets up with Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo (Hoffman), who swindles him out of $20, by telling him that he'll introduce him to a manager who handles "hustlers" like Joe. Joe doesn't meet any managers, but down the line he runs into Ratso again and maybe through a feeling of guilt or loneliness...or both, Ratso invites Joe to stay with him in a condemned apartment building. Joe doesn't have a choice, as he's ran out of cash and has no food. Joe and Ratso give the hustling business one more go and through a series of schemes get Joe all ready for the bevy of dates he's sure to get. Unfortunately for the duo, things once again don't pan out and winter eventually arrives, as Ratso takes a turn for the worse - health wise and he and Joe continue squatting in a heat-less, abandoned apartment.

POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT!

I mentioned above that I plucked this one off of my DVD shelf, but I didn't run out and buy it the first time I saw it. It was more of a "find it for cheap, so I'll go ahead and pick it up" kind of thing. Everytime I see this movie I have mixed feelings but I think tonight, with this viewing, I was able to nail down some of those feelings and make a definitive opinion about "Midnight Cowboy". I'm going to throw some thoughts out there, so please don't be turned off if I get too random.

The first thing that really captures me about "Midnight Cowboy" is the atmosphere of the whole film. I wasn't born in the 1960s, but I must admit that I've always had a certain interest in the decade. I've always tended to wonder about what life was like back then, when the world was going through a social change the sex, drug and rock 'n' roll revolution was in full swing. I've only ever been able to ponder about such things, and in my opinion, this movie gives me the opportunity to do a lot less pondering and a little more fascinating about what it must have been like to live in the Big Apple in the decade of peace, love and harmony. To me this film totally captures the city and atmosphere and makes them another character in the film. This isn't a film you can just set anywhere, New York City is the must have location for Joe Buck and all of his escapades.

This film is also probably one of the most artistic films I've ever seen. To me the entire experience of watching "Midnight Cowboy" is like staring at an intriguing painting. It allows you the freedom to make certain interpretations, it provokes thought, it's beautiful and scary at the same time and I think that everyone will ultimately see some things different. For me, I saw a movie that captures the height of the sexual revolution. A movie that turned me on, but also made me feel. Instead of using colors to paint the picture the film maker's use different assets as their colors. The atmosphere, the characters, the city, the beauty, the sex and the tragedy were this films equivalent to Roy G. Biv, and they were all mixed and mashed together to form something that was brilliant. Through all of the erotic images and uneasy situations, you had a beautiful friendship blossoming in the ugliest of circumstances, between Joe and Ratso. I felt sorry for Ratso. Here you have a man who knows nothing but cheating and stealing, but sees an opportunity to capture a friend. I love the scene where Joe threatens to leave Ratso's apartment, but Ratso eases up on him and almost begs him to stay. It's such a beautiful moment, again, set in the ugliest of surroundings in the most downtrodden of circumstances. In the end, Joe chooses his friendship with Ratso instead of pursuing his hustling career, at a time when it actually seems to be taking off. It was almost as if Joe was saying "Look buddy. I'm sorry for all those times I called you "Ratso" and made fun of you and threatened you. But now, I'm giving up all of my dreams, my desires, my life to make sure you get well, so that you can strive. So that we can strive."

"Midnight Cowboy" is a fantastic film. It is maybe the closest I've ever come to witnessing moving art and I highly recommend it.

RATING: 10/10 Don't give up on this one after your first viewing. Check it out again and I hope you'll be surprised at what you may uncover.

MOVIES WATCHED: 220
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 781

February 26, 2011 10:18pm

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