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La vita è bella (1997)
This Film Is Beautiful
I laughed, I cried, and could not stop. Half love story- half-Holocaust drama- this is Roberto Benigni's masterpiece and he deserved all the recognition he got. An amazing experience of a film.
I was especially taken with the sheer humanity of the story, and the way Benigni told it while not compromising his role as actor. There is a whimsy to the love story, and a dark humor to the drama. It's a sad but brave film about survival, humor, and the amazing power of love. It is an experience to behold, and to see again. There is a reason why Benigni was so excited to win, for he had a winning film, and while I may not understand Italian, I was taken with the romance of this film.
The Artist (2011)
A Masterpiece
Since the French invented cinema, its only best they pay tribute to the silent film era with this lovely, amazing film about the transition from silent to sound. Jean Dujardin earns his Best Actor Oscar, and the film earns its Best Picture Oscar with this amazing production. Berenice Bejo was absolutely stunning.I can see why it was such a hit when it came out.
If this was American-made, it would have sacrificed story for character exposition. Since its a French film, it is an artistic study of an artistic time in Hollywood, when it was about the art (to a degree). A seventh art look at first film American art, so to speak.
It is a shame the silent film revival trend ended with this film. One would think that it would spur Hollywood to venture out and try it out again, but Hollywood is no longer brave in that technique anymore, and everyone prefers talkies. Still, for 2011, it was quite a worthwhile risk.
Rosemary's Baby (1968)
Classic Horror Masterpiece
Before Misery and The Silence of the Lambs, this was the only other horror film after 1932 to win an Oscar, a well deserved acting Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for Ruth Gordon. Top notch psychological thriller. Mia Farrow gives an amazing performance. She should have been nominated for an Oscar herself. The entire cast was phenomenal. It was scary, not in the special effects (although they were excellent), not in good makeup(also well), but the story was compelling. Roman Polanski really knows how to make a film. It makes me want to read the book. Very very scary, but very very well done. They don't make scary movies like this anymore.
My Week with Marilyn (2011)
Breath-taking as the Subject
What a film! It feels very much like a docudrama. Every right note is hit. Michelle Williams embodies Marilyn Monroe in a way we've never seen her before, with such delicate fragility that stays true to the person she was. Forget Meryl Streep's SNL impersonation on Margaret Thatcher- one can easily see how tied it was between Williams and Davis. Streep was the total safe choice.
Kenneth Branaugh is an excellent Olivier, although I wanted to see more of him. Julia Ormond captured Vivien Leigh to a tee. Judi Dench was always amazing as Dame Sybil Thorndike. Emma Watson was excellent as the costume girl love interest to Eddie Redmayne, whose job was to just stand there, which is what he did. Very good film.
Blue Valentine (2010)
Deep
I can understand Michelle Williams not getting enough recognition for her performances in film, as they are captivating, soulful, insightful, and daring, but in this independent darling, it's Ryan Gosling's most potent performance. The two weave a story of love fading with the memory of love beginning. The film captures a human truth that we fall in love with each other as slowly as we fall out of it.
I just wish I saw more of Michelle Williams' character more. It felt more like Ryan Gosling's film than hers. Need I say, the Oscar nomination should have went to Gosling, but Williams was a previous nominee, and she is responding to him well on her own, but that's her only job in this film.
Sheena: Children of the LaMistas (2001)
Interesting Episode
The premise is pretty good and while the story is pulled from The Island of Dr. Moreau, we do learn more about Sheena's past and how it affects her present.
Cutter is caught up in this journey to Sheena's past seeing how his client was the same man who tried kidnapping her, killed her childhood lion, and kidnapped a friend. This suspicion meets up with Dr. Miller, who is obsessed with replicated the secret of the Kaya tribe, to figure out how to morph people into animals. When Dr. Miller discovers Sheena is a Kaya, he wants to test her while sending Cutter to his death with the hybrids he already has.
There is an excellent fight sequence, and one of the only times we see John Allen Nelson's Baywatch bod in action as he is rendered shirtless fighting off Dr. Miller's hybrids. One would think this would lead to future shirtless fight scenes, but after this episode, not really.
The American (2010)
A Rich Character Study
George Clooney gives one of his best performances on screen as an assassin who is growing tired of the profession, and who hides out in Italy. It is a beautiful film, regarding cinematography and performances. We really see how the nation really is a character in and of itself as well as reflects the complexities of Clooney's character. We see the rich layers Clooney explores visually and psychologically through the amazing uses of silence. Corbjin's direction is astute and character- driven, which makes the film come off very well. Worth the see all the way. I recommend it for anyone into films dealing with transition. It is a shame it didn't get nominated for any Oscars, but it is a standout performance.
Coriolanus (2011)
Compelling First Adaption
In his directorial debut, Ralph Fiennes shows that not only he is capable of directing film, but that Shakespeare's insights into human behavior, especially in observations of politics, remain timeless. He puts the play written in the early 1600s in modern context, and gives such an raw, real performance you can't help not recognize from.
Gerard Butler amazes in his performance no one thought he could do, because all roles before and since 300 have been beefcake roles and questionable performances. Butler masters Shakespeare with such depth and tactics that fulfill that his performance is one of the best he's done.
Vanessa Redgrave's Volumnius is one of many phenomenal performances she has done in her career- the scenes where she is talking plans with her character's son and the scene outside of the Senate are excellently done. Redgrave has done Shakespeare before, and can easily make the language accessible as the speaker.
Jessica Chastain shows her versatility in her performance in this film greatly, but, as Shakespeare wrote, it cannot be said that she is underused because of that. Chastain gives a great supporting performance of a character who is still not well known of Shakespeare's tragic heroines.
A great film that speaks of our time, where officials of wealth and privilege feel the need that that wealth and privilege makes them special enough to disregard the right and voice of the people they claim to represent, and where officials with their own interests can stir the masses for private gain.
Sheena (2000)
Late Night Offering...
Sheena, with Gena Lee Nolin, John Allen Nelson, and Margo Moorer, was a great late night show of the early decade. Being a remake of a short- lived 50s action TV show, and produced by Stephen Sears, who was a producer of Baywatch, to which Nelson and Nolin were stars, comes along the female Tarzanesque storyline. Nolin is the Tarzan, who is dedicated to preserving nature and respecting the culture to which Western has invaded. Nelson is the Westerner who is quite the cynic, only out for himself business wise and personal wise as well, but one has to wonder what purposes he serves. Both Nolin and Nelson show off skin, but the majority of the time, Nelson's only primary purpose seems to either be the cynic, or somehow manage to get shirtless before the show ends. Sufficient eye candy aside, one has to wonder if the plot truly develops or if its just Baywatch in the jungle at one a.m. Where people are barely conscious to pay attention and the script shows it. Clearly, Nolin's purpose is defined, but not really going anywhere. Nelson is just better off walking around shirtless than to wear clothes at all and pretend to have a purpose. Overall, 3 stars.
The Iron Lady (2011)
Meryl Was Miscast
Meryl was miscast. She wasn't invested completely in this film, and the film suffered for it. Meryl was the weakest link. I'd rather see Emma Thompson play her, she would have been able to save this film. Alexandra Roach, who played the young Margaret, was aptly more believable, even though the whole "let's make Thatcher a feminist" did trickle in there, however, even though the subject would abhor that label being placed on her when she did not herself own it on her agency.
That being said, I liked the intelligent script and the approach taken by Phyllida Lloyd, but I thought that it would have been better to show more sexist encounters Thatcher experienced in office, as well as how she chose to manifest them on her person. And, this is not coming from a political perspective at all, I was just famished for depth as there were so many things unexplored that it made it hard to achieve showing women can lead a country successfully as I believe Lloyd was trying to show. But, what hurts the film is the glossed over details and the exceptionalization of the subject. I realize the historical importance might justify the need for that, but in order to show equality, the subject must be treated as if she was a man in order to be viewed as such in a presentation such as this.
It was like scenes looking for a film to hold it together and nothing was holding it together. This was mostly due to Meryl's performance, which pandered immensely due to the rust growing on her autopilot acting methods. She wasn't invested in her character, she simply wasn't. It's fair to say that outside of looks and constant close-ups, which technically reflect into a character's psyche, which didn't reveal themselves in this performance, Meryl is the reason why the film stinks. As for the add, treatments of political figures usually center around their greatest trials, and while the film did show some, it was didactic at best. For an hour, Streep's Thatcher is tested in the ranks, where she thinks a lot, then the next half hour her character yells. Without exploration, its more like this character's greatest hits more so than the depth of her trials' toll on her.