What classics did you see last week ? (1 Mar - 7 Mar 2020)
Mar 17, 2020 5:23:19 GMT
teleadm, wmcclain, and 1 more like this
Post by marianne48 on Mar 17, 2020 5:23:19 GMT
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)--This is the highest-rated movie on IMDb (9.3!) Many of the user reviews imply that it is not just a great viewing experience, but a religious one as well. So I watched it with with the expectation that some of these reviews might be a bit overrated. What I didn't expect was how underwhelming it actually was. Overlong; mawkish; tedious. Obtrusive music. Morgan Freeman's voiceovers get old very quickly. Predictable plot twists that are easy to see coming. So many people seem to have fallen in love with this film, but for me it was nothing special.
Pressure Point (1962)--On the other hand, here was another film that takes place in a prison which deserves a lot more attention, yet seems forgotten.
1962 was a good year for films, and this is one that should be on the list of the best. It stars Sidney Poitier as a psychiatrist assigned to a federal prison
in the early 1940s (thanks to the head of the prison hospital, who's very proud of himself for his "noble experiment" of hiring an African-American for the job), who
is put in the position of having to counsel a virulent racist inmate with insomnia. Over the course of more than a year, the patient, a member of the American Nazi party who was convicted of trying to overthrow the US government, discusses his childhood and younger years with the doctor in order to explain how he became what he is now, as the doctor listens with growing trepidation. The inmate is played by singer Bobby Darin in an impressively jarring performance; he's frighteningly believable as the dead-eyed, repugnant psychopath Poitier is determined to treat despite his growing realization that he is untreatable.
The film is simultaneously dated and timely, which makes it somehow more compelling. The flashbacks to the patient's childhood have the eerie quality of scenes from episodes of The Twilight Zone. Barry Gordon, a child actor who could be alternately cute or creepy, plays Darin as a boy; the scenes of his youth come off as overwrought and cliched--clinging, needy mother is overly affectionate with him, while dad is hateful to the mother and abusive to the boy (Dad is played by James Anderson, in his second role of 1962 as a vicious dad--he also played the abusive father in To Kill a Mockingbird. No Father's Day cards for him that year). At one point he brings home his girlfriend and they both roll around drunkenly in Mom's bed--on top of Mom. In another scene, he attacks the boy with a slab of liver. The boy develops an imaginary friend (played by a pre-Eddie Munster Butch Patrick) on whom he takes out his brutality. As a grown man, there's a flashback to his one potential romantic relationship, which is quickly quashed by the girl's father, who happens to be Jewish. All of this is presented as a facile, pop-psychology explanation for his sadistic tendencies and vicious anti-Semitism. Stanley Kramer only produced most of the film, but it often displays his signature heavy-handedness.
At the same time, the real strength of the movie comes from the tension between Patient and Doctor (neither character is named in the film). Poitier
tries to be calm, professionally detached, yet dedicated to his aim to help his patient, but as his distaste for Darin grows, he fears he's losing his bearings. The Patient may be twisted and paranoid, but unfortunately, some of his sick logic is all too accurate, even today--when he tells the Doctor,
"You're going to make it easier for us"--wasn't this reflected in the way so many secret bigots willingly embraced Trump because they never got over Obama attaining the presidency? The Doctor does his best to deny the Patient's claims and wants to continue to have faith that the world is changing for the better, but he has to struggle to believe it, especially when he senses that the other prison board members are beginning to doubt him--or was he set up to fail? This movie is worth watching mainly for its two-character drama.
Everybody's Fine (2009)--Robert De Niro in a nice change of pace--a quiet, understated performance in which he doesn't portray a gangster or an angry lout. Reminiscent of Harry and Tonto (but sans cat), De Niro plays a widowed father who travels across the country to try to connect with his troubled adult children, whom he never really got to know. Drew Barrymore, Sam Rockwell, and Kate Beckinsale play the children. No big surprises, but
a somewhat somber family drama with good performances.
Hunted (1952)--Little boy does something naughty at home and runs away to hide in an empty basement, where he is discovered by Dirk Bogarde,
who's just killed a man in the same basement. Awkward...but the little boy quickly bonds with him, since he seems like a decent chap, besides that murder thing. Suspenseful and touching at the same time; shot in a postwar England that emphasizes the trapped, no place to call home feeling of the two lead characters --Jon Whitely as the forlorn little boy, and Dirk Bogarde as the fugitive who's not really the movie's villain. Bogarde gives a wonderful and sympathetic performance. The ending seems disappointingly abrupt, but otherwise it's a bleak but beautiful film.
Parasite (2019)--One of the few Best Picture Oscar winners in recent years which actually deserved the award. A poverty-stricken family cons its way into working for an affluent family. At first the situation seems like a dark comedy, until it becomes darker and darker. The question of which level of society--the underclass or the upperclass--is the "parasite" is the central theme of the movie, and it's for the viewer to figure it out (unless each feeds off the other). Ugly and shocking, and highly recommended.
Jojo Rabbit (2019)--So far, the only real competition I've seen for the Best Picture Oscar. Also a dark comedy, but the comedy is more in a Monty Python kind of vein. Taika Waititi's films have a certain style of their own, the way Wes Anderson's films do (except without Anderson's soullessness).
A naive, impressionable young boy in Germany joins the Hitler Youth because...all the other kids are doing it and he wants to be part of the club.
(The Beatlemania-type fervor for Hitler, accompanied by the singing of the Beatles themselves, may be used as a bit of comedy here, but it was, sadly, all too accurate). Jojo, a boy who doesn't have the innate sadism necessary to be a good little Nazi, conjures up Hitler himself (Waititi) as an imaginary friend to guide him. Those who might object to seeing Hitler as a comic figure might not enjoy the film, but if you can handle the "Springtime for Hitler" number from the original The Producers, you'll probably enjoy this. The film strikes a great balance between absurdist comedy and disturbing tragedy.
Also highly recommended.
Pressure Point (1962)--On the other hand, here was another film that takes place in a prison which deserves a lot more attention, yet seems forgotten.
1962 was a good year for films, and this is one that should be on the list of the best. It stars Sidney Poitier as a psychiatrist assigned to a federal prison
in the early 1940s (thanks to the head of the prison hospital, who's very proud of himself for his "noble experiment" of hiring an African-American for the job), who
is put in the position of having to counsel a virulent racist inmate with insomnia. Over the course of more than a year, the patient, a member of the American Nazi party who was convicted of trying to overthrow the US government, discusses his childhood and younger years with the doctor in order to explain how he became what he is now, as the doctor listens with growing trepidation. The inmate is played by singer Bobby Darin in an impressively jarring performance; he's frighteningly believable as the dead-eyed, repugnant psychopath Poitier is determined to treat despite his growing realization that he is untreatable.
The film is simultaneously dated and timely, which makes it somehow more compelling. The flashbacks to the patient's childhood have the eerie quality of scenes from episodes of The Twilight Zone. Barry Gordon, a child actor who could be alternately cute or creepy, plays Darin as a boy; the scenes of his youth come off as overwrought and cliched--clinging, needy mother is overly affectionate with him, while dad is hateful to the mother and abusive to the boy (Dad is played by James Anderson, in his second role of 1962 as a vicious dad--he also played the abusive father in To Kill a Mockingbird. No Father's Day cards for him that year). At one point he brings home his girlfriend and they both roll around drunkenly in Mom's bed--on top of Mom. In another scene, he attacks the boy with a slab of liver. The boy develops an imaginary friend (played by a pre-Eddie Munster Butch Patrick) on whom he takes out his brutality. As a grown man, there's a flashback to his one potential romantic relationship, which is quickly quashed by the girl's father, who happens to be Jewish. All of this is presented as a facile, pop-psychology explanation for his sadistic tendencies and vicious anti-Semitism. Stanley Kramer only produced most of the film, but it often displays his signature heavy-handedness.
At the same time, the real strength of the movie comes from the tension between Patient and Doctor (neither character is named in the film). Poitier
tries to be calm, professionally detached, yet dedicated to his aim to help his patient, but as his distaste for Darin grows, he fears he's losing his bearings. The Patient may be twisted and paranoid, but unfortunately, some of his sick logic is all too accurate, even today--when he tells the Doctor,
"You're going to make it easier for us"--wasn't this reflected in the way so many secret bigots willingly embraced Trump because they never got over Obama attaining the presidency? The Doctor does his best to deny the Patient's claims and wants to continue to have faith that the world is changing for the better, but he has to struggle to believe it, especially when he senses that the other prison board members are beginning to doubt him--or was he set up to fail? This movie is worth watching mainly for its two-character drama.
Everybody's Fine (2009)--Robert De Niro in a nice change of pace--a quiet, understated performance in which he doesn't portray a gangster or an angry lout. Reminiscent of Harry and Tonto (but sans cat), De Niro plays a widowed father who travels across the country to try to connect with his troubled adult children, whom he never really got to know. Drew Barrymore, Sam Rockwell, and Kate Beckinsale play the children. No big surprises, but
a somewhat somber family drama with good performances.
Hunted (1952)--Little boy does something naughty at home and runs away to hide in an empty basement, where he is discovered by Dirk Bogarde,
who's just killed a man in the same basement. Awkward...but the little boy quickly bonds with him, since he seems like a decent chap, besides that murder thing. Suspenseful and touching at the same time; shot in a postwar England that emphasizes the trapped, no place to call home feeling of the two lead characters --Jon Whitely as the forlorn little boy, and Dirk Bogarde as the fugitive who's not really the movie's villain. Bogarde gives a wonderful and sympathetic performance. The ending seems disappointingly abrupt, but otherwise it's a bleak but beautiful film.
Parasite (2019)--One of the few Best Picture Oscar winners in recent years which actually deserved the award. A poverty-stricken family cons its way into working for an affluent family. At first the situation seems like a dark comedy, until it becomes darker and darker. The question of which level of society--the underclass or the upperclass--is the "parasite" is the central theme of the movie, and it's for the viewer to figure it out (unless each feeds off the other). Ugly and shocking, and highly recommended.
Jojo Rabbit (2019)--So far, the only real competition I've seen for the Best Picture Oscar. Also a dark comedy, but the comedy is more in a Monty Python kind of vein. Taika Waititi's films have a certain style of their own, the way Wes Anderson's films do (except without Anderson's soullessness).
A naive, impressionable young boy in Germany joins the Hitler Youth because...all the other kids are doing it and he wants to be part of the club.
(The Beatlemania-type fervor for Hitler, accompanied by the singing of the Beatles themselves, may be used as a bit of comedy here, but it was, sadly, all too accurate). Jojo, a boy who doesn't have the innate sadism necessary to be a good little Nazi, conjures up Hitler himself (Waititi) as an imaginary friend to guide him. Those who might object to seeing Hitler as a comic figure might not enjoy the film, but if you can handle the "Springtime for Hitler" number from the original The Producers, you'll probably enjoy this. The film strikes a great balance between absurdist comedy and disturbing tragedy.
Also highly recommended.