Change Your Image
nickdelopes
Reviews
Star Wars (1977)
Flawed, but Undeniably Great
Star Wars is an undeniably great film. It, perhaps more than any other movie before or since, truly defined the word "epic". What do we mean by "epic"? We mean engrossing, inviting, and just plain real. Action movies nowadays never seem to be possible. They just seem to show technologies advances and provide us with plain eye-candy. Star Wars doesn't have that edge. Its special effects has stood the test of time, but it doesn't grip us anymore with the same effect it used to. And its other elements: its acting, its screenplay, its plot, are all rather ordinary.
Sure, you may wish it was the most perfect a film could get. You may wish that it had the pure awe-inspiring qualities of the undeniably great films such as Citizen Kane and Casablanca. It's not. That improves it, oddly enough. It brings it down to our level, makes us enjoy with for the sheer fun and joy it inspires in us. To try to improve the flaws would ruin the entire film. So what if the acting isn't sheer nirvana (though that is debatable), its characters are so endearing. So what if the screenplay is average, the story is timeless. So what if the action isn't the crash-bang of today's action films, it just gives it such a classic atmosphere.
We love it for its flaws. We love it for the sheer impact it had on the film industry. We love it because it just appeals to us, the audience, and because it gives us a hell of a fun ride on the way. Why is it so great? It just is.
All About Eve (1950)
Bitting, Witty, and Totally Classic
Compared to the rough and tumble, dime-a-dozen action movies you see everyday, you'd think that All About Eve would be boring. The action is little, and it's all interiors and upper class hangouts. Yet, it isn't boring. This movie bites. It's screenplay keeps the action crisp, and every character is bad and/or totally helpless, just more proof that no matter how well-bred or famous you are, you are nothing more than animal trying to win your way in the world.
The story is basic. Eve Harrington is a sweet, looking, homespun girl from the Mid-west who is given a chance by her idol, the sarcastic, always smoking and drinking Margo Channing. Little by little, this girl is revealed to be more than innocent. Instead, she is a cruel and malicious girl who uses everything from cheap tricks to blackmail to get her way. She isolates Margo from her friends (Mr. Lloyd Richards the playwright and his wife Karen Richards who unwittingly helps Eve before realizing her true self)and steal both Margo and Karen's fiancé (Bill Sampson) and husband, respectively, from them.
The only people who see through this girl's act is Margo's maid, the tough-talking Birdie, and the critic Addison DeWitt who is every bit the demon under the guise of a cultured man. Addison DeWitt eventually blackmails Eve into his service, ultimately getting the best of her, before another "starstruck" kid comes to steal eve's limelight, and the cycle begins again.
The plot seems basic, but the screenplay makes it fresh as morning dew. There are more biting one-liners in five minutes of this film than in every film of the past ten years. Margo, who realizes Eve's actions thanks to Birdie, but is helpless to prevent them, quickly starts gnawing at Eve. Her constant drinking seems to make her all the sharper. She would be called nowadays a b***h, she treats everyone else like filth due to her own basic insecurities. She insults, nags, tear down, yet we see this woman is just desperate to be more than just a name on a poster. Bette Davis gives this woman more depth than you can believe.
Eve Harrington is a spiteful soul. She was never loved, and she is incapable of loving. She knows only to get on by way of tricks and smoke and mirrors. Anne Baxter plays her with excellence. She is the perfect villainess. George Saunders plays Addison DeWitt with much the same force, but his sentences whipcrack in the air, and he can leave even the worst people defenseless and vulnerable with the sheer power of language.
Celeste Holm plays Karen, docile, sweet, wanting to help this poor backward girl to get on, before finding herself in Margo's position. This character seems useless, but she is so nice and out-of-place in this world of backstage backstabbing that you want to help her. The three main men apart from Addison, Mr. Richards, Bill Sampson and Max Fabian (the producer) are played well, but not as well as the women.
The other two roles are Birdie, played by the wonderful Thelma Ritter, and Miss Caswell, played by a very young Marilyn Monroe. Both do their roles excellently and add another facet to this multi-layered film.
The costumes, make-up, music, sets, all add up to create this wonderful 40s New York atmosphere.
Alice in Wonderland (2010)
It's certainly not Alice, but it is still a fantastical work.
There are different types of quirkiness in this world. First there's the whimsical quirky that the best children's books seem to have. This type of quirk can be found in the Alice in Wonderland books. There's the quirkiness that's quirky just for the hell of it, something Terry Gilliam does an excellent job at. There's the everyday quirky, that can be found in some of the best comedies. Then there's the dark quirky, and this is Tim Burton's domain. Now the question is, how do you take a time-honoured masterpiece of whimsy, satire, and humour; and make it dark, morbid, and slightly disturbing? The answer is Alice.
Lewis Carroll would probably like Tim Burton's movie. It's dark, just like the book, though the book's much more subtle about it. It's twisted, something Lewis Carroll delighted in doing. In fact, the whole thing seems much more related to Carroll's lesser-known novel Sylvie and Bruno, which is itself a rather dark fairytale that goes where AIW didn't go near. Tim Burton takes the books and completely reinterprets in his own masterful style.
As this is NOT the happy-go-lucky Wonderland, you do not have any saccharine and neon colors. This is UNDERland, muted, sad, but every once in a while a color will pop out at you surprise you. In White Queen world, it's so white it hurts. Cherry blossoms everywhere, everything ethereal and way-too-sweet, just like Anne Hathaway as the Queen. She tries hard to be good, and she over-succeeds. When flowers droop, she asks people to talk to them more nicely. And while making a potion for Alice, she sweetly puts dead men's fingers, dead men's blood, and other assorted dead things in the boiling tonic, all the while smiling and holding her hands up daintily. She is most certainly way too happy.
Then there's Red Queen land. The castle has hearts everywhere, everything is red, ranging from blood-colored to the color of a a raspberry chocolate. The moat is sticky red tar, with beheaded heads in it (Off with their heads!). The Red Queen (Bonham Carter)is cruel, using animals as servants and furniture and enslaving various characters to do her bidding, cooing at them and treating them like pets. Everyone must have something deformed about the to make her head predicament less blatant. And if someone disobeys her, she will say without a blink that phrase everyone in Underland dreads.
In Underland, you will find the dormouse, brave, not sleepy at all. Who has a habit of sticking swords in monster's eyes. There's the march hare who likes to throw things. Tweedledum and Tweedledee (Nohow!), the caterpillar (a wise, but obviously drugged insect who insults Alice at every possible time), and the white hare (who is so sure it is the real Alice). Then there's the wonderful Mad Hatter (which fits Johnny Depp like a glove). Excellent acting aside, I must give props to the makeup and costumer for making this character work so well.
Alice is played by the practically-unknown Mia Wasilkowska. She is pale, oh so pale, and way too independent for her age. She seems weighed down by something, there's a fierce gravity to her. She seems to fit in with the dark and brooding Underland. Even her dresses reflect her surroundings. The acting is real, and she plays a dreadfully serious Alice.
Plot is alright, not as bad as it could be. But at times, it lists, at times confusing or unexplained, and sometimes generic. But the references to the books are spot-on and give you an inward smile. The screenplay needed work, but there are moments of charm, pathos, and just overall wackiness. The music is perfectly suited to the atmosphere.
10/10 for visuals, 10/10 for acting, 10/10 for music, 10/10 for costumes and make-up. 7/10 for story, and 9/10 for screenplay.
Castle (2009)
Witty and smart,serious without being melodramatic, and an awesome cast!
I have been watching Castle ever since I stumbled onto the episode Manny McDead last year, I was sad that the first season was so short, but was extremely happy when ABC renewed it for a second season. This show is very different from most other crime shows. It doesn't try to capture the grit of real-life police work, instead it has it's own quirky style that still manages to keep everything believable. Another thing that I thought was interesting is that it was almost Holmesian in that instead of relying completely on forensics to solve cases,it uses good old-fashioned logic like Numbers and Criminal Minds without those protracted scenes of people holding test tubes and analyzing them with a machine that you never knew they had before that episode and you'll never see again. As the character's try to follow their ways through the sometimes complex,always suspenseful plots, you try to follow their thought process, and you can sometimes be surprised about who actually did it.
I also have to give them points for originality. True, this style of drama had become cliché long before Law and Order came out, but a woman drowned in a bathtub of motor oil? A guy sporting fangs found dead in a graveyard with a stake through his heart? Some of these plots keep you constantly interested. The stories can e extremely complex (Fool Me Once, Always Buy Retail, Love Me Dead) but you never get lost, you always understand everything.
But the actors,they bring this show to life. I'm afraid I have never seen Nathan Fillion, but whatever he's done, he is PERFECT as Castle. Witty, sometimes childish, but capable of being extremely tender. He may be the playboy on the outside, but you can see the man beneath. His family consists of Martha Rogers, an aging drama queen who nevertheless has much wisdom as she's had martinis. And then there's Alexis, the young daughter who has some truly tender moments with Castle. She is very wise for her age, and she sometimes have to keep Castle in check when he gets crazy. She is capable, independent, and prudent. I'd love for her to be my daughter.
Then there's the police that Castle works with, and his muse Detective Kate Beckett. Stana Katic should get more notice, she really is an excellent actress. Perfectly able to be the tough female cop without being to cliché, she is sharp-tongued, quick-witted, and an excellent detective. The repartees between her and Castle can make you do everything from inwardly chuckle to rolling on the floor laughing. It reminds you of those old screwball comedies in their clever dialogs. Beckett is helped by Ryan and Esposito, the tag team who are always there for a fun time, and Lanie Parish, the forensic expert in the group who is a good friend to Beckett and another clever character. Then there's the Captain Montgomery, he is not seen often, but he is a very good fatherly figure to Beckett. All the cast members are excellent in their roles and avoid the one-sidedness you so often see on television.
The script is excellent. There is no sob-story melodrama, no contrived situations, no oh-my-god-I-have-seen-this-way-too-many-times feeling to it. And the dialog is razor sharp and never drags. And the character back stories are developed and strong, and not put there just as a feeble attempt at character depth. Once something is started,it's followed through,like Beckett's mom and Castle's writing. You feel it, you are really drawn into it, you can't get enough of it. If only shows had this sharpness to it, but alas not.
Don't forget to read Heat Wave, "written by Richard Castle", if you can't get enough of the show, read the book. It's awesome.
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009)
Beautiful and complex as only Gilliam can do it.
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is what could be called a modern fable or allegory. It isn't your traditional story where good triumphs over evil and everyone walks off into the sunset, neither is it your action film full of explosions and robots. It is something that not many films try to handle nowadays. Gilliam, though, is not your average director. And like a renaissance allegory, he presents us a visual and moral puzzle. The film as a whole is hard to fathom the first time around, it's not for your mainstream audience, rather for people who like the surreal or the puzzling. For that is exactly what this film is.
One is reminded of another work of his, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. Both have that sort of dream-like edge and ambiguous plot where you are not sure who is who, and when reality begins. In fact, he frequently causes us to question the boundaries between reality and dreams. The film itself floats as if it were a dream, and if visions of pearl necklaces wrapped around enormous high-heeled shoes don't cause you to question what is going on, than why don't you try to handle images of rivers turning into cobras, or ladders that reach into the sky. It isn't technically precocious or completely freaky, but Terry Gilliam has that rare knack for creating the most unusual imagery out of the most mundane things. You can't fight a Terry Gilliam film, he doesn't wait for the audience to catch up with him, and he doesn't care if you understand his work or not. It's alienating at times, but for those who delight in his fiendish puzzles, he can provide an intensely fascinating experience.
Yet the surreal visuals and the puzzling complexities of the plot are not the only thing that can delight the eye of the soul. The actors keep gamely along with Gilliam's euphoric rushes. the plot may swivel in and out, round and round, but everyone keeps up. Christopher Plummer creates a combination monk/sage/magician/wino, who is usually drunk, and occasionally not as wise as you wish he was. Yet there is depth, the character is not very likable, none of the characters in this movie are, but you get the feeling they are real, and it is only a good actor working with a good script under a good director that can carry it off. Lily Cole, the model-turned-actress, who debuts in this movie, is Terry Gilliam's interpretation of a nymph, it's surprising a person would choose such a film for a debut, but she keeps along, and manages to pull off a fine acting job. So does Verne Troyer, of mini-me fame, who is the wise-guy, the voice of reason in this film, and Andrew Garfield as the careless idiot who nevertheless has a heart of gold, though he may not seem to have one. Tom Waits pulls of a cigar-smoking devil with a love for gambling, and a heart who like Gilliam, delights in puzzles.
However, for many, the focus of the film is that it is Heath Ledger's final work. He has worked with Gilliam before (The Brothers Grimm), and he works well in these films. His character we first meet hanging from a bridge, which if that isn't weird enough, it only gets steadily more strange. His character seems nice at first, but by the end of the film we realize he is a selfish man who gets his just deserts. Depp, Law, and Farrell, Ledger's replacements, work well as his alter-egos. Farrell has the most to do, and he does his best with it, while Law and Depp act wacky enough, though don't get me wrong, the acting was superb. Overall, 10 for script, acting, story, visuals and everything else.
Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
Give my regards to "Yankee Doodle Dandy"
This is one of those musical films where you can just watch this for the sheer glory of the music, the dancing, the people. George m. Cohan was perhaps the FIRST Broadway star and James Cagney brings this man to life. The whole film is sheer heaven, and the songs are wonderful. Of course, the film wouldn't succeed without Cagney.
James Cagney is so known for his tough guy films that you'd be surprised to find out he can sing, he's a good dancer, and he brings great pathos to the character of Cohan. Mr. Cohan is one of THE most egotistical men you will ever meet, and he has reason to. He's a jack-of-all-trades and he and his entire family are considered the "royal family of Broadway". You like him anyway, he works hard, and he devoted his whole life to his country. He took chances on an unknown named Mary and gave her a career. They fall in love with her and there are some truly beautiful scenes between the two.
The Cohan family is full of loving souls. The mother is kind-hearted, the sister is sweet, and the father is everything you wish your father was. Walter Huston gives the father a solid performance. The rest of the cast is full of charm and humor. Dietz and Cobb are funny, Fay was vain in that funny sort of "oh dear" way. There really wasn't a weakness in acting or script.
The musical numbers are awesome. The costumes, the dancing, the songs, they are all memorable. James Cagney is as lithe as Fred Astaire and while he is sort of haphazard in his dancing, you like it anyway. Add such classics as "Give My Regards to Broadway", "Over There", and "The Yankee Doodle Boy" and you've got a sure-fire winner in the musical department.
Perhaps the thing I enjoyed most about the film is the cinematography. You see things from interesting angles, shadows have a symbolic effect in the story. You zoom in on a postage stamp on a trunk and you fall into Paris or Hong Kong. You have to marvel at the subtle use of the camera to add continuity and environment to the film.
Overall, cinematography=10, script=10, acting=10, music=10, dancing=10, story=10. A masterpiece.
Avatar (2009)
Beautiful, engrossing, but left me bitter sweet
Avatar could be considered a new classic of the 21st century. It combines beauty and imagination with a storyline that suits the kind of movie it is. Though I'm not really a fan of the war epic, this film had me at every minute. It is one film that grabs you with you eyes and puts you in its world, wraps you up in the world. It's storyline of course is somewhat by the books, but it is the sheer impact of the movie that makes this film works.
To say this film is beautiful is an understatement. It is a work of brilliance full of jaw-dropping landscapes and imaginative creatures.The virtuosity and use of cgi is off the charts. You cannot believe that this is not a real place. You wish it was. The film lifts you out of the seat and takes you in. It is engrossing, the problem is is that when you go down to reality, you feel bitter sweet. You wish you were still there. You wish you were one of those blue people. It leaves you sort of down, but then that's just me.
The story is normal, bad guy is bad, good guys are good. No moral ambiguity whatsoever. The story is typical, but its the impact, the strength of it, that makes this movie worth it.
10 for imagination and visuals, 10 for film experience, 7 for story, 7 for screenplay.
Coraline (2009)
Beautifully creepy and startlingly scary
Coraline is one of those films that adults will enjoy a lot better than the kids. Full of creepy imagery (the spider lady at the end terrified the dickens out of me) and even some sexual animation(Miss Spink's and Miss Forcibles's routine), this was not created with children in mind. Despite that this film has all the visual flair and edgy music to create a world of darkness within.
Coraline is a bratty, tomboyish little girl who wants nothing but to go back to her old town. She certainly does not like living in the Pink Palace, and her neighbor Wybie (short for Wyborn) is a pest. Her parents love her, but are such workaholics that they don't even pay attention to her. Who would blame her when she wants to go through the little door she found in the living room. Unfortunately, it's bricked up, until night that is, where it leads her to this other world.
There she is greeted by her Other Mother and Father, perfect replicas of her parents but better looking and with buttons for eyes. The world on the other side is perfect with every detail of the real world made better and brighter. Even the neighbors are more exciting. But as Coraline soon finds out, there is more to this world than first appears.
What helps this movie a great deal is the visuals and music which work together to create this impression that we are in the middle of a nightmare. In the real world, colors are dampened and animation is somewhat sluggish, but in the other world, colors are bright and the screen bursts into life. Yet, as this other world begins to reveal its true intention, the colors dissolve into shadowy blues and edgy, fluorescent purples. Some of the imagery is mesmeric, almost like you are going on an acid trip, and the character design has all the distortion that made the characters in Nightmare Before Christms memorable. Coupled with music full of dreamy choral interludes and hallucinogenic strings and you have an atmosphere that keeps you on edge.
This is one of the films that you want to take home, turn the light off and watch. Taffy monsters, a praying mantis tractor, a jumping mouse circus, all are freaky and disturbing in just the right amount. Voice work was excellent, and Dakota Fanning was the perfect choice for Coraline. Sarcastic and stubborn, she won't just be treated as a child, and she will stand up for herself when the going gets tough.
10/10 for style, 10/10 for music, 9/10 for voice work, 10/10 for visuals, and 9/10 for screenplay. A winner.
The Three Caballeros (1944)
Visual extravaganza
The Three Caballeros shows Disney at a rather innovative point combining psychedelic imagery with a catchy South American beat. Years before Yellow Submarine, The Three Caballeros brought psychedelic and surreal animation to the stage. Despite a few rocky segments at the beginning, The Three Caballeros ends with energy and visual beauty.
The plot is simple, Donald is opening birthday presents (His birthday is humorously on Friday the 13th.) and meeting his old friend Jose Carioca (the Brazilian parrot) and a new friend Panchito Pistoles (the gun-slinging Mexican rooster). The lack of a strong plot and those opening segments (well, the penguin segment was alright, but really The Flying Burrito?)are more than made up in later segments, which takes the form of a travelogue through Bahia in Brazil and Mexico.
First stop is Bahia with Jose where live action and animation combine o form a big pop sequence full of bright colors and rollicking samba music. Carmen Miranda's sister Aurora appears in live action singing Os Quidenes de Yaya (The Cookies of Yaya) followed by a surrealist trip through a dance hall full of brightly colored circles, musical instruments playing themselves, and roosters turning into dancers.
The second part is a our tour through Mexico on the magical serape. Here Donald chases girls on the beach, dances in traditional Mexican dances and falls in love with a girl singing You Belong to My Heart in Mexico City's nightlife. Thsi leads to one of the most surreal sequences in animation history, full of bouncing flowers, girls running around in neon colors, and a horse with women's legs. This ends in a big sequence with dancing cacti. All finally ends in a fireworks display full of color, and The Three Cablleros have reprise of their signature song.
Overall, style 10/10, visuals 10/10, music 10/10, plot 7/10, screenplay 8/10.
The Princess and the Frog (2009)
Beautiful
As a native of Louisiana, this film struck a chord that might not happen to natives of other states. The film was gorgeously rendered, and it captured the flair that makes our state so special. Ther were even jokes that only a Louisianian would honestly get. Disney returns with visual flair, quick and witty jokes, and a story. Oh my god, an actual story with meaning. This is not a film that relies on pop culture gags and scatological jokes that so many other animated films seem to rely on. The 2-d animation adds warmth, and it gives you the sense that this was the loving work of a company who takes pride in their work.
The voicing was wonderful. I love Aniki, and she gave the character enough sass and smarts to give depth. Dr. Faciliar and his voodoo spirits are creepy enough to freak parents. Full of acid colors that conjure up ghostly imagery. Prince Naveen was full of charm and charisma, and Ray was perfect Cajun. The alligator and Mama Odie had that perfect Louisiana touch. But the best voice work was by Jennifer Cody for Charlotte LaBeouf. Her voicing was perfect and the animation fitted like a glove. Her scratchy voice and accent had depth to it as well. Some might not be able to understand it, but it was beautiful.
The visuals were startling, full of color and magic. New Orleans done in rosy hues, the bayou in dampened blues. Contrasts and complements working in harmony. Art Deco flair purveys, bringing the period to life, and there is a sweetness to the visuals that does not have that toxic aftertaste. The music was excellent work, full of jazz and blues and well-crafted lyrics. Randy Newman can take everything Disney throws at him, and make it his own. No song seems out of place or anachronistic, just helps to heighten the joy of animation. It's all done with the Broadway-style numbers and light-heartedness that only Disney can pull off.
The story has its own strength. Despite the inevitably soppy happy ending, there is maturity and a good message. It teaches us the value of hard work and the importance of differentiating between what you want and need. The screenplay was quick and witty and original. Animated films seem to be making a comeback in depth (Up, Coraline, and this one). Though some find it inferior to the ones made at the beginning of 1990s, it still stands alone as a major comeback and a new classic for the company we have all grown up with.
Overall, a beautiful film, and I highly recommend it.
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
Hey Blanche, You Know We Got Rats in the Cellar?
"What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" is a masterpiece of psychological and Gothic horror. Bette Davis is almost too creepy in the role of Baby Jane Hudson, a child star later overshadowed by her elder sister Blanche's fame as a movie star. Joan Crawford is Blanche,the perfect victim, crippled in an accident most people believed was caused by a jealous Baby Jane. The two are stuck in a creepy Gothic house, forced to live together.
Baby Jane's hate for Blanche is only increased when she hears Blanche is going to sell the house and give Baby Jane away to a mental asylum. The reasons are clear. Baby Jane was a person stuck in the past and the days of her childhood fame. Dressed in an adult-sized version of her childhood clothes. Her face is caked with cream, her lips smeared with horrible lipstick, hair childishly curled, and a heart-shaped mole plastered on. She is a painful depiction of a lost cause.
Baby Jane tortures her sister, serving dead rats and birds for breakfast and stopping all forms of communication between her and the outside world. She starves her sister while Baby Jane spends all their money on liquor and gin. Baby Jane stubbornly insists on a comeback, hiring a spoiled pianist named Edwin desperate for money to play while she performs her childhood routine "I've Written a Letter to Daddy" (A disturbing song of familial love gone wrong which sets the perfect tone for the film)
Baby Janegets more and more demented. She beats her sister, ties her to her bed, and kills the maid when she discovers Blanche. Baby Jane sinks quickly. Her foolish dreams of her past returning get more and more disturbed. She acts more like a child, fondling her Baby Jane doll, throwing tantrums, and reducing her voice to a baby-like twitter.
Eventually, Baby Jane's evil doings are found out about, and Baby Jane, desperate to get away, drives a dying Blanche to the beach. Fearing her death, Blanche tells Baby Jane that she caused her own paralysis while trying to kill Baby Jane. Baby Jane realizes that she and Blanche could have been friends and goes off to get ice cream. The police finds her and questions her. Baby Jane, seeing the crowd gathered round breaks into a child-like dance. She is now completely insane.
"Whatever Happened to Baby Jane" is a film that gets under your skin. It is painful to watch Baby Jane's descent into madness almost as painful it is to see Blanche's torment. Excellently acted, filmed, and written, "Baby Jane" is a masterpiece of grotesqueness.