Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Data
Title: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Year: 1937
Length: 83 minutes
Director: David Hand
Writers: Ted Sears, Richard Creedon, Otto Englander, Dick Rickard, Earl Hurd, Merrill De Maris, Dorothy Ann Blank & Webb Smith, based on the fairy tale by Wilhelm Grimm & Jacob Grimm
Starring: Adriana Caselotti, Lucille La Verne, Roy Atwell, Pinto Colvig
Music: Frank Churchill & Larry Morey (songs); Leigh Harline, Paul J. Smith
Distinctions: Honorary Oscar (1939); Oscar nomination for Best Score (1938)

My reaction
Synopsis: a beautiful princess flees from a jealous queen
How I saw it: on video (have on VHS), yesterday [rewatched 3/15/2010, on video (have on DVD)]
Concept: Great. They've been trying to repeat it more-or-less annually for most of a century, so they must have got something right.
Story: Great. I guess I should complain about Snow White and Prince Charming riding off into the sunset together without ever having exchanged a dozen words. But later children's movies address that sort of thing, and it's always tedious. This is the way to tell a fairy tale; little girls can get their positive role models from reality.
Characters: Indifferent.
Dialog: Great.
Pacing: Great.
Cinematography: Great.
Special effects/design: Great. I'm absolutely blown away.
Acting: Good.
Music: Great. I love these songs, and I hate musicals. The singing is great as well - probably the only musical I've ever seen that has great singing. Granted, I haven't seen all that many musicals (mostly just Disney movies from the 80's and 90's), what with thinking I hate them, but still.
Subjective Rating: 9/10 (One of my favorites). I was literally grinning through the entire film. I can't believe I've managed to never see this movie until now. I guess I had just figured it was like all the Disney "classics" from the 50's and later that I'm familiar with. Nope, not at all. This is no less than one of the greatest films of all time.
Objective Rating: 3.7/4 3.8/4 (Great).

...and as long as I'm still awake

because ten or twenty years later is really when this sort of list should be made:

Top ten favorite movies of the Nineties:
10. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, 1990
9. Joe Versus the Volcano, 1990
8. Groundhog Day, 1993
7. Being John Malkovich, 1999
6. Magnolia, 1999
5. American Beauty, 1999
4. Fight Club, 1999
3. Dark City, 1998
2. "Billy's Balloon," 1998
1. Twelve Monkeys, 1995

Lots of angst on that list. I must have been a teenager in that decade. Well, here's my childhood:

Top ten favorite movies of the Eighties:
10. The NeverEnding Story, 1984
9. The Last Temptation of Christ, 1988
8. Tonari no Totoro, 1988
7. Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan, 1982
6. The Empire Strikes Back, 1980
5. First Blood, 1982
4. The Great Muppet Caper, 1981/The Muppets Take Manhattan, 1984
3. The Dark Crystal, 1982/Labyrinth, 1986
2. Time Bandits, 1981
1. The Princess Bride, 1987

I guess that goes to show that the movies I love at the end of a decade will be the movies I always love from that decade.  Kind of.  There are a few notable exceptions (I'm looking at you, Dafoe-on-a-Stick).

It's past my bedtime now, and I've far exceeded my list-making quota for the time being.  The Seventies will have to wait another ten years.

favorites of the decade

Okay, so I haven't seen nearly enough movies to really do this kind of list without disclaimer. But then again, the majority of movies I've seen are probably from this last decade, and if there was a movie I expected to love, I probably would have seen it. Or not. I certainly wouldn't have expected to love 25h Hour if I hadn't seen it, and look there it is.

Top ten favorite movies of the Twenty-Aughts (with minor cheating):
10. Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain, 2001
9. Inglourious Basterds, 2009
8. 25th Hour, 2002
7. Moon, 2009
6. Kill Bill, 2003-2004
5. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, 2004
4. Batman Begins, 2005/The Dark Knight, 2008
3. Wall-E, 2008/Up, 2009
2. "Everything Will Be OK," 2006/"I Am So Proud of You," 2008
1. Where the Wild Things Are, 2009

honorable mentions (in alphabetical order): "Boundin'" (2004), Children of Men (2006), Finding Nemo (2003), In Bruges (2008), The Incredibles (2004), "The Meaning of Life" (2005), "Rejected" (2000)

Do the Wild Things really deserve that #1 spot? It's kind of hard to say how a movie I've only seen once will hold up to time, but whatever. If I wanted to make a list of Movies That Will Be My Favorite of the Decade Ten Years from Now, I would make a list of 90s movies. (Hey, that's not a bad idea.) F*** it: right now, it's my favorite.

Anyway. What's missing? Let's have a look at the only list that really has any authority, the democratic IMDb's Best 2000s Titles...

...that are listed above: The Dark Knight, Wall-E, Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Up, Inglourious Basterds, Batman Begins, Kill Bill: Vol. 1, Finding Nemo and The Incredibles.

...that I haven't seen yet: Cidade de Deus, Das Leben der Anderen, The Pianist, The Departed, Requiem for a Dream, Der Untergang, Gran Torino, Slumdog Millionaire, Okuribito and A Serious Man. ...and that I haven't even heard of: Nefes: Vatan sagolsun, Tasogare Seibei and Dil Chahta Hai. A few of those have great potential, a few I expect to hate, and I wouldn't be surprised if A Serious Man turns out to be one of my favorites.

...that I have seen:
- Oldboy. I didn't like watching it, but I can't say it doesn't deserve its praise.
- The Lord of the Rings. They're great movies, and the first two are a couple of my favorites, but... the ranking of these really shows the bias of IMDb's demographic more than the quality of the films.
- Speaking of the bias, I've got to call Bullshit on the following titles being on the list: Avatar, Star Trek and The Bourne Ultimatum.
- Other good/great movies: Memento, Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi, The Prestige, District 9, Sin City, Hotel Rwanda, Fantastic Mr. Fox, No Country for Old Men, The Wrestler, Snatch, Le scaphandre et le papillon.
- Over-rated movies: El laberinto del fauno, There Will Be Blood, Million Dollar Baby and Ratatouille
- Striaght-up crap: Gladiator, Donnie Darko, Into the Wild, Amores perros, V for Vendetta

Mythbusters: Collection 4

Data
Title: MythBusters: Collection 4
Year: 2007-2008
Network: Discovery Channel
Episodes: 12 at 43 minutes, from the fifth and sixth seasons
Creator: Peter Rees
Directors: Tabitha Lentle (12 episodes), Alice Dallow (5)
Starring: Jamie Hyneman, Adam Savage

My reaction
Synopsis: a couple special effects guys and their cohorts test whether various urban legends are possible
How I saw it: online (streaming from Netflix), over the past few days
Concept: Great.
Story: Bad.
Characters: Good.
Dialog: Indifferent.
Pacing: Great.
Cinematography: Indifferent.
Special effects/design: Good.
Acting: Bad.
Music: Indifferent.
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good). There are some nice explosions in this set, but some of the excuses for making them are getting silly. "Can you surf a wave caused by dynamite?" Who cares?
Objective Rating: 2.5/4 (Okay).

more favorites of '09

Again, by these are my favorites from my 2009 - the movies I've seen this year, not the movies that are from this year.

Top Five Movies with the Best Visuals that I Saw in 2009:
5. Gone with the Wind, 1939
4. Synecdoche, New York, 2008
3. Up, 2009
2. Where the Wild Things Are, 2009
1. The Fall, 2006

Top Five Movies with the Best Music that I Saw in 2009:
5. La battaglia di Algeri, 1966 (Ennio Morricone/Gillo Pontecorvo)
4. The Red Shoes, 1948 (Brian Easdale)
3. The Informant!, 2009 (Marvin Hamlisch)
2. Yojimbo, 1961 (Masaru Satô)
1. Where the Wild Things Are, 2009 (Karen O./Carter Burwell)
- honorable mention: the theme song from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, 1984 (Patrick Gowers)

Top Five Favorite Male Performances that I Saw in 2009:
5. Jeremy Brett in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, 1984-1985 & The Return of Sherlock Holmes: Season One, 1986
4. Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler, 2008
3. Don Cheadle in Hotel Rwanda, 2004
2. Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront, 1954
1. James Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, 1939

Top Five Favorite Female Performances that I Saw in 2009:
5. Julia Child in The French Chef: Volume One, 1963-1973
4. Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's, 1961
3. Lina Leandersson in Låt den rätte komma in, 2008
2. Bette Davis in All About Eve, 1950
1. Giulietta Masina in Le notti di Cabiria, 1957

Full Metal Jacket

Data
Title: Full Metal Jacket
Year: 1987
Length: 116 minutes
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Writers: Stanley Kubrick, Michael Herr & Gustav Hasford, based on a novel by Hasford
Starring: Matthew Modine, Adam Baldwin, Vincent D'Onofrio, R. Lee Ermey, Kevyn Major Howard, Arliss Howard
Music: Abigail Mead (and non-original music)
Distinctions: Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay; currently #87 on IMDb's Top 250

My reaction
Synopsis: a smart-ass in boot camp, then Vietnam
How I saw it: on video a couple times, most recently (rented from Netflix) yesterday
Concept: Good.
Story: Indifferent. If it'd had more story, it wouldn't really have worked, but none-the-less there isn't much of a story
Characters: Indifferent.
Dialog: Good.
Pacing: Good.
Cinematography: Great.
Special effects/design: Great.
Acting: Bad. It usually seems good, but a few key scenes are crap.
Music: Great.
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good).
Objective Rating: 2.9/4 (Good).

top ten of '09

I won't bother with a Top Ten Movies Released in 2009 list, since I haven't seen a number of promising movies.  Besides, you can figure that out by going to my "Favorites" page.  Instead, these are the top ten of my year of watching stuff: the best of what I saw for the first time in 2009.

Top Ten Favorite TV Shows I Saw in 2009:
10. Mythbusters: Collection 2, 2006-2007.
9. Mythbusters: Big Blasts Collection, 2005-2007
8. The Cosby Show: Season Five, 1988-1989
7. Doctor Who: "The War Games," 1969
6. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, 1984-1985
5. The Return of Sherlock Holmes: Season One, 1986
4. Justice League Unlimited: Seasons One & Two, 2004-2005
3. Torchwood: "Children of Earth," 2009
2. Lost: Season Five, 2009
1. Fraggle Rock: Seasons Four & Five, 1986-1987

I didn't watch all that much television this year, but I guess what I did watch was pretty damn good.  Cosby Show seasons three and four didn't even make the cut.  Also not listed are the 2009 Doctor Who specials - they definitely would make the cut, but I don't count them as watched since there's still one more to go.

Top ten favorite movies I saw in 2009:
10. The Hurt Locker, 2009
9. Fantastic Mr. Fox, 2009
8. Frost/Nixon, 2008
7. Dog Day Afternoon, 1975
6. Breakfast at Tiffany's, 1961
5. Brief Encounter, 1945
4. Inglourious Basterds, 2009
3. Up, 2009
2. Moon, 2009
1. Where the Wild Things Are, 2009

All About Eve

Data
Title: All About Eve
Year: 1950
Length: 138 minutes
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Writer: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Starring: Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, George Sanders, Celeste Holm, Gary Merrill, Hugh Marlowe
Music: Alfred Newman
Distinctions: Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (Sanders), Best Costume Design (black-and-white) and Best Sound; Oscar nominations for Best Actress (Davis), Best Actress (Baxter), Best Supporting Actress (Holm), Best Supporting Actress (Thelma Ritter), Best Cinematography (black-and-white), Best Score, Best Art Direction/Set Decoration (black-and-white) and Best Editing; currently #90 on IMDb's Top 250

My reaction
Synopsis: a fan attaches herself to an aging actress
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Concept: Good.
Story: Great.
Characters: Great.
Dialog: Great. Some of the best of all time.
Pacing: Great.
Cinematography: Good.
Special effects/design: Great.
Acting: Great. Baxter's not so good, but Davis more than makes up for her. There are probably only four or five actresses in the history of movies that could have taken Davis' character and made her sympathetic; Davis makes her downright lovable.
Music: Good.
Subjective Rating: 8/10 (Great). Every now and then a movie like this, that I otherwise might never have seen, reminds me why I'm doing my Top 250 project.
Objective Rating: 3.7/4 (Great).

Ocean's Eleven

Data
Title: Ocean's Eleven
Year: 1960
Length: 127 minutes
Director: Lewis Milestone
Writers: Harry Brown & Charles Lederer, story by George Clayton Johnson & Jack Golden Russell
Starring: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, Angie Dickinson
Music: Nelson Riddle

My reaction
Synopsis: WWII vets rob Las Vegas
How I saw it: on video (have on DVD), two days ago
Concept: Great.  I haven't seen the remake yet (we just recently got a budget four-pack with both versions and the sequels (for $10!)), but I have pretty high expectations given the potential of this story.
Story: Great.
Characters: Bad.
Dialog: Great.
Pacing: Great.
Cinematography: Indifferent.
Special effects/design: Good.
Acting: Good.
Music: Great.
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good). I was hooked from the ultra-hip opening credit sequence. The movie didn't actually turn out to be all that great, but it's fun and well-written enough to be entertaining throughout. It doesn't take itself seriously enough to be a suspense film, and it doesn't have enough humor to be a comedy. What it does have is cool. Everything and everyone on screen - not to mention Riddle's score - is oozing cool.
Objective Rating: 3.2/4 (Very good).

Once Upon a Time in America

Data
Title: Once Upon a Time in America
Year: 1984
Length: 229 minutes
Director: Sergio Leone
Writers: Leonardo Benvenuti, Piero De Bernardi, Enrico Medioli, Franco Arcalli, Franco Ferrini & Sergio Leone, with Stuart Kaminsky, based on a novel by Harry Grey
Starring: Robert De Niro, James Woods, Elizabeth McGovern
Music: Ennio Morricone
Distinctions: currently #90 on IMDb's Top 250

My reaction
Synopsis: the life of a mobster who doesn't like bosses
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Concept: Bad.
Story: Indifferent.
Characters: Indifferent. They have depth, but I don't like them. All of the leads are completely and unforgivably despicable.
Dialog: Terrible. See all those Italian names up there under "writers?" It shouldn't be surprising that the English dialog is crap.
Pacing: Terrible. The characters just... stare at each other, for the longest times. In Leone's Westerns, this was brilliant, and made for the best action scenes of all time. In this context, where there is zero suspense, it's unbearable.
Cinematography: Great.
Special effects/design: Great. The make-up, making a 40-year-old Robert De Niro look like he's in his 20s in some scenes and his 60s in others, is pretty impressive.
Acting: Good. It varies wildly throughout the film. There are places where the dialog is delivered very strangely and unnaturally, which I'm forced to assume is the result of a perfectionist director who doesn't speak English. Other times, it's exceptional.
Music: Indifferent.
Subjective Rating: 3/10 (Bad). My wife says, "I would like someone to explain to me why this movie is critically acclaimed." Every now and then, characters will do something or talk to each other or something of that nature. When that happens, it's okay. It doesn't happen often.
Objective Rating: 1.9/4 (Eh).

Fraggle Rock: Seasons Four & Five

Data
Title: Fraggle Rock: Seasons Four & Five
Year: 1986 / 1987
Network: CBC, HBO & ITV
Episodes: 26, at 25 minutes
Creator: Jim Henson
Directors: Terry Maskell (season 4, 5 episodes; season 5, 4 episodes), Eric Till (s4, 3; s5, 5), George Bloomfield (s4, 2; s5, 1), Norman Campbell (s4, 2), Wayne Moss (s5, 2), Les Rose (s4, 1), Richard Hunt (s5, 1)
Writers: Jerry Juhl (season 4, 4 episodes; season 5, 3 episodes), David Young (s4, 3; s5, 1), Laura Phillips (s4, 1; s5, 3), Jocelyn Stevenson (s5, 4), Sugith Varughese (s4, 2; s5, 1), Susan Juhl (s4, 2; s5, 1), Robert Sandler (s4, 2), B.P. Nichol (s4, 1; s5, 1)
Starring: Dave Goelz, Jerry Nelson, Steve Whitmire, Kathryn Mullen, Karen Prell, Richard Hunt, Gerard Parkes
Music: Philip Balsam & Dennis Lee

My reaction
Synopsis: fun-loving, cave-dwelling creatures don’t understand their neighboring species
How I saw it: on video (have on DVD), over the past few weeks
Concept: Great.
Story: Great.
Characters: Great.
Dialog: Great.
Pacing: Great.
Cinematography: Indifferent.
Special effects/design: Good.
Acting: Good.
Music: Great.
Subjective Rating: 10/10 (Favorite of my favorites). Absolutely wonderful. Toward the end of the last season, characters and relationships develop as if this were a stand-alone movie, not a potentially-syndicated franchise. Everything is changed and completely resolved by the end. It's pretty exciting to watch it all happen. But it makes me wonder how they could possibly think it's a good idea to make a Fraggle Rock movie.
Objective Rating: 3.6/4 3.7/4 (Great)

Avatar

Data
Title: Avatar
Year: 2009
Length: 162 minutes
Director: James Cameron
Writer: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang
Music: James Horner
Distinctions: Oscars for Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction and Best Visual Effects; Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Directing, Best Score, Best Editing, Best Sound and Best Sound Editing

My reaction
Synopsis: a militant corporation is mining an inhabited planet
How I saw it: in the theater, yesterday
Concept: Bad.
Story: Indifferent. It does what it needs to to keep the action going, but it's just a string of cliches that falls apart if you think too much.
Characters: Terrible.
Dialog: Indifferent.
Pacing: Good. It moves along at an entertaining clip, but it often feels like there's a lot we're missing or skipping.
Cinematography: Good. Although, if you take into consideration how much was put into the visuals, it's kind of bad.
Special effects/design: Great. Impressively realistic. Never convincingly realistic - I always felt that I was watching painstakingly-detailed animation rather than photographs - but impressive. To be wowed by the special effects is really the only reason to see this movie, so see it in 3D if you have any intention of ever seeing it. It will probably suck on DVD.
Acting: Good. Some of it's bad, but most of the cast gets by - and there's not enough depth to the characters to call for more than that.
Music: Bad. Its only saving grace is that it's often unobtrusive.
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good). I was entertained. The action scenes are done quite well, although they're not especially memorable. The science fiction aspects don't work at all; I think Cameron forgot about a third of the way through writing the script that it wasn't supposed to be a magical fantasy world. And the not-so-subtle racial undertones made me fairly uncomfortable. Of course, it's the special effects that matter for this sort of movie, and they're great. But when all is said and done, I have to wonder why, if you're spending $250 million on a movie, you can't be bothered to come up with a story more compelling than a rip-off of Fern Gully.
Objective Rating: 2.2/4 (Okay).

A Muppet Family Christmas

Data
Title: A Muppet Family Christmas
Year: 1987
Network: ABC
Length: 42 minutes
Directors: Peter Harris & Eric Till
Writer: Jerry Juhl
Starring: The Muppets (Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Dave Goelz, Richard Hunt, Jerry Nelson, Kathryn Mullen, Steve Whitmire, Karen Prell, Caroll Spinney), Gerard Parkes
Music: Eric N. Robertson (director)

My reaction
Synopsis: the Muppets visit Fozzie's mom for Christmas
How I saw it: on video a few times (have on VHS), most recently yesterday
Concept: Great. The Muppet Show Muppets, Sesame Street Muppets, and the Fraggles, all in one show.
Story: Bad.
Characters: Great.
Dialog: Great.
Pacing: Great.
Cinematography: Bad.
Special effects/design: Good.
Acting: Good.
Music: Good. Nothing makes Christmas songs tolerable quite like Muppets.
Subjective Rating: 9/10 (One of my favorites). Easily the best of the Muppets' many Christmas movies/specials. There's something wonderful about Doc from Fraggle Rock looking on with quiet horror as The Count counts "worried frogs."
Objective Rating: 3.1/4 3.2/4 (Very good)

Cinema Paradiso

Data
Title: Nuovo cinema Paradiso
Year: 1988 (Italy), 1990 (US)
Length: c. 170 minutes (director's cut)
Director: Giuseppe Tornatore
Writer: Giuseppe Tornatore, with Vanna Paoli
Starring: Marco Leonardi, Agnese Nano, Leopoldo Trieste, Salvatore Cascio, Jacques Perrin, Philippe Noiret
Music: Ennio Morricone
Distinctions: Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film (1990); currently #90 on IMDb's Top 250

My reaction
Synopsis: Honestly, I don't know. Netflix mistakenly gave us disc 2, which is the Director's Cut, instead of the film. It's a full hour longer, and I just noticed on the IMDb that an actress who plays a character essential to the central story of the director's cut is not even in the original version. So what's the original version about? Probably the cinema Paradiso, I'd guess. That would be a pretty good movie...
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Whatever: Sigh. I was about to go through my rating process, but thinking about it made me upset.  I haven't seen Nuovo Cinema Paradiso, I've seen the director's cut, and it's not the same movie. This one will have to wait for later.
Subjective rating: 5/10 (Indifferent). The first hour is wonderful (and is the only part of the movie I saw that sounds like the descriptions I've read of Nuovo cinema Paradiso), and I can only assume that if the second two hours were half their length, they would have been equally wonderful. If you haven't noticed, I'm kind of upset about this whole spending-three-hours-of-my-life-ruining-a-probably-good-movie thing.

housekeeping post: fiddling with objective ratings again

I made a minor change to my "objective ratings" system.  Yes, I know, I just overhauled them a few months ago.  They still work essentially the same - I'm still giving each aspect of the movie a score of "great," "good," "indifferent," "bad," or "terrible," and averaging those - but I'm no longer going to force it into a 10-point scale.  It never really made sense to do that in the first place, and this seems much less arbitrary.  And, most importantly, it will get rid of the confusion of having a different 10-point scale for the subjective and objective ratings.  So now objective ratings will be out of four, not ten, because they've really always been that way but just on a distorted scale.  Subjective ratings remain unchanged.

Have no idea what I'm talking about?  That is because my old system was confusing.  The About page explains the new system, and I think it's clear and simple.  If you want an explanation of the old system, you're out of luck, because I don't think I ever really managed to explain it.

Precious

Data
Title: Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
Year: 2009
Length: 110 minutes
Director: Lee Daniels
Writer: Geoffrey Fletcher, based on the novel by Sapphire
Starring: Gabourey Sidibe, Mo'Nique, Paula Patton, Mariah Carey
Music: Mario Grigorov (but mostly popular music)
Distinctions: Oscars for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress (Mo'Nique); Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Directing, Best Actress (Sidibe) and Best Editing

My reaction
Synopsis: an abused pregnant girl from the ghetto goes to an "alternative" school
How I saw it: in the theater, today
Concept: Indifferent.
Story: Good.
Characters: Great.
Dialog: Great.
Pacing: Great.
Cinematography: Good.
Special effects/design: Great.
Acting: Great. Crazy great.
Music: Great.  One of the best soundtracks of the year.
Subjective Rating: 5/10 (Indifferent). My wife says, "Brutal." I appreciated it, but I didn't like it. Very well made, and it pulled me in (although I didn't really react emotionally to it - I think because it's just too much). It even has its lighter moments and a mild sense of humor. But it's not exactly something I'm going to want to see again, ever.
Objective Rating: 9/10 3.4/4 (Very good).

awesome people part 5

Here are a few random people who happen to be awesome. I’m just saying.

Kevin Spacey
Evidence:
- The Usual Suspects, 1995 (Verbal Kint)
- American Beauty, 1999 (Lester Burnham)
- Moon, 2009 (Gerty)

Ennio Morricone
Evidence:
- Per un pugno di dollari, 1964 (composer)
- Per qualche dollaro in più, 1965 (composer)
- La battaglia di Algeri, 1966 (composer)
- Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo, 1966 (composer)

Harold Lloyd
Evidence:
- "Ask Father," 1919 (The Boy)
- Safety Last!, 1923 (The Boy)
- The Milky Way, 1936 (Burleigh Sullivan)

Andrew Stanton
Evidence:
- Monsters, Inc., 2001 (co-writer)
- Finding Nemo, 2003 (co-director/co-writer/Crush)
- Wall-E, 2008 (director/co-writer)

Leo McKern
Evidence:
- A Man for All Seasons, 1966 (Cromwell)
- The Prisoner, 1967-1968 (Number Two)
- King Lear, 1983 (Gloucester)

Braveheart

Data
Title: Braveheart
Year: 1995
Length: 177 minutes
Director: Mel Gibson
Writer: Randall Wallace
Starring: Mel Gibson, Patrick McGoohan, Sophie Marceau, Angus Macfadyen, Catherine McCormack, Brendan Gleeson, David O'Hara
Music: James Horner
Distinctions: Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Makeup and Best Sound Effects Editing; Oscar nominations for Best Original Screenplay, Best Score, Best Costume Design, Best Editing and Best Sound; currently #90 on IMDb's Top 250

My reaction
Synopsis: a Medieval farmer leads a revolt after his wife is killed
How I saw it: on video several times, most recently (rented from Netflix) yesterday
Concept: Good.
Story: Bad. You could skip any random portion of the movie, and if you hadn't seen it before, you wouldn't know anything was missing.
Characters: Bad.
Dialog: Bad.
Pacing: Terrible.  Slooowwww-mmmmmooooooooo...
Cinematography: Good.
Special effects/design: Great.
Acting: Indifferent.
Music: Bad.
Subjective Rating: 4/10 (Eh). I just don't get it. Okay, there are some great action scenes, but those are just a tiny portion of the movie. Why do so many people love this stuff? Is it because it comes to a grinding halt every few minutes for a shot of Mel Gibson posing heroically against a majestic backdrop? That's it, isn't it?
Objective Rating: 4/10 (Eh) 1.8/4 (Eh).

The Elephant Man

Data
Title: The Elephant Man
Year: 1980
Length: 124 minutes
Director: David Lynch
Writers: Christopher De Vore, Eric Bergren & David Lynch, based on books by Sir Frederick Treves and Ashley Montagu
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, John Hurt, Anne Bancroft, John Gielgud, Wendy Hiller, Freddie Jones
Music: John Morris (and non-original music)
Distinctions: Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor (Hurt), Best Score, Best Art Direction/Set Decoration, Best Costume Design and Best Editing; currently #91 on IMDb's Top 250

My reaction
Synopsis: a surgeon takes an interest in a deformed man
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Concept: Good.
Story: Indifferent. It wanders a lot, with large episodes that seem to have little to do with what I saw as the story.
Characters: Indifferent.
Dialog: Good.
Pacing: Good.
Cinematography: Indifferent. If a film as late as 1980 is using black-and-white, I expect them to really use it. It's kind of disappointing to find that the cinematography would probably have looked better in color, especially considering that visuals are Lynch's strong suit.
Special effects/design: Good. Honestly, the Elephant Man make-up kind of looks like crap to me. His face can't move, you can't see his eyes - why not save John Hurt the 20-hour days and just put a rubber mask on him? All the sets and costumes are great, though.
Acting: Great. We all love John Hurt, but dude: Anthony Hopkins manages to command our attention every second he's on screen, while playing one of the most boringly-written characters ever.
Music: Great.
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay). There are a few very emotional scenes that make it worth seeing. But I'm still unconvinced that David Lynch doesn't suck.
Objective Rating: 7/10 (Pretty good) 2.8/4 (Good).

Metropolis

Data
Title: Metropolis
Year: 1927
Length: 123 minutes
Director: Fritz Lang
Writer: Thea von Harbou, based on her novel
Starring: Alfred Abel, Gustav Fröhlich, Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Brigitte Helm
Music: Gottfried Huppertz
Distinctions: currently #93 on IMDb's Top 250

My reaction
Synopsis: a robot leads a socialist revolution
How I saw it: on video a couple times, most recently (rented from Netflix) yesterday
Concept: Great. The plot has been recycled too many times to still have anything left in it after all these years. But Art Deco Expressionist Steampunk? Yeah, okay.
Story: Bad. Unless you like being beaten over the head with an allegory of dated relevance.
Characters: Bad.
Dialog: Indifferent.
Pacing: Good.
Cinematography: Great.
Special effects/design: Great.
Acting: Bad.
Music: Good. I didn't really like it, but it's right for the movie.
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good). For once Netflix has the good version of a silent film. We'd seen a different version (about a decade ago), and it was boring and kind of hard to follow. This version (the Murnau Foundation restoration released by Kino) is entertaining throughout. The footage is played significantly faster, it uses the original score, it has all the footage that was known to exist at the time it was released (early 2000s), and, absolutely essential if the movie's going to make any sense, it tells you what happens in the missing scenes.
Objective Rating: 7/10 (Pretty good) 2.6/4 (Good).

Lost: Season Five

Data
Title: Lost: Season Five
Year: 2009
Network: ABC
Episodes: 17, at 43 minutes
Creators: J.J. Abrams, Jeffrey Lieber, Damon Lindelof
Directors: Jack Bender (6 episodes), Stephen Williams (5), Paul Edwards (2), Rod Holcomb (1), Mark Goldman (1), Greg Yaitanes (1), Bobby Roth (1)
Writers: Damon Lindelof (6 episodes), Carlton Cuse (6), Edward Kitsis (4), Adam Horowitz (4), Elizabeth Sarnoff (4), Paul Zbyszewski (3), Brian K. Vaughan (3), Melinda Hsu Taylor (2), Kyle Pennington (1), Greggory Nations (1)
Starring: Naveen Andrews, Henry Ian Cusick, Jeremy Davies, Michael Emerson, Matthew Fox, Jorge Garcia, Josh Holloway, Daniel Dae Kim, Yunjin Kim, Ken Leung, Evangeline Lilly, Rebecca Mader, Elizabeth Mitchell, Terry O'Quinn
Music: Michael Giacchino

My reaction
Synopsis: time-traveling survivors
How I saw it: streaming online (from Netflix), over the past few days
Concept: Great.
Story: Great.
Characters: Great.
Dialog: Great.
Pacing: Great.
Cinematography: Good.
Special effects/design: Great.
Acting: Good.
Music: Great.
Subjective Rating: 9/10 (One of my favorites). This is what television should be. Granted, I could do without the whole 10% of the show spent waiting for a character's name to be revealed thing, and I was pretty disappointed when A Certain Character didn't end up dying after all at the end of the finale, but whatever. Easily the best season so far.
Objective Rating: 10/10 3.8/4 3.9/4 (Great).

awesome people part 4

Here are a few random people who happen to be awesome. I’m just saying.

Terry Gilliam
Evidence:
- Monty Python and the Holy Grail, 1975 (co-director/co-writer/animator/Patsy)
- Time Bandits, 1981 (director/co-writer)
- Twelve Monkeys, 1995 (director)
- Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, 1998 (director/co-writer)

Brad Pitt
Evidence:
- Twelve Monkeys, 1995 (Jeffrey Goines)
- Fight Club, 1999 (Tyler Durden)
- Snatch, 2000 (Mickey O'Neil)
- Inglourious Basterds, 2009 (Lt. Aldo Raine)

Sergio Leone
Evidence:
- Per un pugno di dollari, 1964 (director/co-writer)
- Per qualche dollaro in più, 1965 (director/co-writer)
- Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo, 1966 (director/co-writer)

Will Ferrell
Evidence:
- Elf, 2003 (Buddy)
- Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, 2004 (co-writer/Ron Burgundy)
- "The Landlord," 2007 (co-writer/Renter)
- Step Brothers, 2008 (co-writer/Brennan)

Billy Wilder
Evidence:
- Ace in the Hole, 1951 (director/co-writer)
- Stalag 17, 1953 (director/co-writer)
- Witness for the Prosecution, 1957 (director/co-writer)

Miracle on 34th Street

Data
Title: Miracle on 34th Street
Year: 1947
Length: 96 minutes
Director: George Seaton
Writer: George Seaton, story by Valentine Davies
Starring: Maureen O'Hara, John Payne, Edmund Gwenn, Gene Lockhart, Natalie Wood
Music: Cyril J. Mockridge
Distinctions: Oscars for Best Screenplay, Best Story and Best Supporting Actor (Gwenn); Oscar nomination for Best Picture

My reaction
Synopsis: a man who claims to be Santa Claus gets a sanity hearing
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Concept: Great.
Story: Good.
Characters: Good.
Dialog: Good.
Pacing: Great.
Cinematography: Bad.
Special effects/design: Good.
Acting: Good. Gwenn and Lockhart are great. O'Hara is pretty bad - or at least made some terrible choices.
Music: Indifferent.
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good). Cute and amusing. Surprisingly, it doesn't feel very Christmassy for a movie that has so much to say about Christmas.  It looks at Christmas from outside.
Objective Rating: 8/10 2.9/4 (Good).

Boundin'

Data
Title: "Boundin'"
Year: 2003
Length: 5 minutes
Directors: Bud Luckey & Roger Gould
Writer: Bud Luckey
Starring: Bud Luckey
Music: Bud Luckey
Distinctions: Oscar nomination for Best Animated Short

My reaction
Synopsis: a lamb is embarrassed after being sheared
How I saw it: in the theater, 2004; on video many times (have on DVD), most recently yesterday
Concept: Indifferent.
Story: Indifferent.
Characters: Good. There's not exactly room for development in a five-minute Musical, but... they're lovable.
Dialog: Indifferent.
Pacing: Great.
Cinematography: Good.
Special effects/design: Great.
Acting: Great.
Music: Great. Some of the lyrics are shaky, but I figure that's covered under dialog.
Subjective Rating: 10/10 9/10 (One of my favorites).  Best. Pixar short. Ever.
Objective Rating: 8/10 3.2/4 3.3/4 (Very good).

[re-watched, 5/2013]

The Great Dictator

Data
Title: The Great Dictator
Year: 1940
Length: 125 minutes
Director: Charles Chaplin
Writer: Charles Chaplin
Starring: Charles Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Jack Oakie
Music: Charles Chaplin, Meredith Willson
Distinctions: Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actor (Chaplin), Best Supporting Actor (Oakie) and Best Score; currently #97 on IMDb's Top 250

My reaction
Synopsis: a Fascist dictator oppresses Jews and hilarity ensues
How I saw it: on video, twice (rented from Netflix), most recently yesterday
Concept: Terrible. I don't care if they supposedly didn't know when they made it just how tasteless this is. I'm not about to speculate on what the movie might have been like in 1940; what I've got is the movie now: a slapstick comedy about the holocaust.
Story: Bad. At best, just an excuse for gags.
Characters: Indifferent.
Dialog: Good.
Pacing: Indifferent.
Cinematography: Indifferent.
Special effects/design: Good.
Acting: Good.
Music: Good.
Subjective Rating: 4/10 (Eh). I've only seen about three Chaplin features so far, but I have no doubt that this is his worst. There are a few very funny bits, and I guess it's worth seeing for those. But there's also a lot of attempted humor that's just dull (the train station bit comes to mind). And then there's, you know, the whole oh-my-god-Nazi-Germany-Jewish-ghettos-are-NOT-funny thing...
Objective Rating: 5/10 2.1/4 (Okay).

The Sarah Jane Adventures: Season Two

Data
Title: The Sarah Jane Adventures: Season Two
Year: 2008
Network: BBC
Episodes: 12, at c. 30 minutes
Creator: Russell T. Davies
Directors: Joss Agnew (4 episodes), Michael Kerrigan (4), Graeme Harper (4)
Writers: Phil Ford (6 episodes), Gareth Roberts (4), Joseph Lidster (2)
Starring: Elisabeth Sladen, Yasmin Paige, Tommy Knight, Daniel Anthony, Anjli Mohindra
Music: Murray Gold (theme), Sam Watts

My reaction
Synopsis: Sarah Jane Smith teams up with a gang of children, age target-viewing-audience
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), over the past week
Concept: Indifferent. Doctor Who spin-off with a former companion - great. Making the rest of the cast children - completely stupid.
Story: Indifferent.
Characters: Bad.
Dialog: Terrible.
Pacing: Good.
Cinematography: Indifferent.
Special effects/design: Bad.
Acting: Indifferent. They didn't have much to work with.
Music: Indifferent.
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay). It starts off a little better than the first season, and reasonably entertaining, almost enough to forget how dumb it all is.  But then the last two stories (4 episodes) were completely, unforgivably awful.
Objective Rating: 4/10 1.7/4 (Eh).

Partly Cloudy

Data
Title: "Partly Cloudy"
Year: 2009
Length: 6 minutes
Director: Peter Sohn
Music: Michael Giacchino

My reaction
Synopsis: a stork delivers dangerous babies
How I saw it: in the theater, June 2009; on video (have on DVD), yesterday
Concept: Good.
Story: Good.
Characters: Good.
Dialog: n/a
Pacing: Great.
Cinematography: Good.
Special effects/design: Great.
Acting: Good.
Music: Good.
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good). Cute.
Objective Rating: 8/10 3.2/4 (Very good).

Up

(update of a previous post - original is here)



Data
Title: Up
Year: 2009
Length: 96 minutes
Directors: Pete Docter & Bob Peterson
Writers: Bob Peterson & Pete Docter, story by Peterson, Docter & Thomas McCarthy
Starring: Edward Asner, Christopher Plummer, Jordan Nagai
Music: Michael Giacchino
Distinctions: Oscars for Best Animated Feature and Best Score; Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay and Best Sound Editing; currently #65 on IMDb's Top 250 [edit: down to #71, 1/9/2010]

My reaction
Synopsis: an old man uses balloons to fly his dead wife’s dream house to South America
How I saw it: in the theater, June 2009; on video (have on DVD), yesterday [edit: watched again, 1/9/2010]
Concept: Great.
Story: Good. It would have been much better if it didn't transform into an action movie.
Characters: Great. The whole talking dogs thing (there are dogs, and they can talk) seems out of place, and the three dog villains are lame/undeveloped. But the main characters are wonderful.
Dialog: Great.
Pacing: Great.
Cinematography: Great.
Special effects/design: Great.
Acting: Great.
Music: Great.
Subjective Rating: 9/10 (One of my favorites). I liked Wall-E better, but then I’m a science fiction geek so I guess that’s to be expected. When I first saw this, I said I'd be surprised if it wasn't my favorite movie this year.  With a lot of movies still left to see, it's only a close third - pretty good, considering.
Objective Rating: 10/10 3.9/4 4.0/4 (Great).

Fraggle Rock: Season Three

Data
Title: Fraggle Rock: Season Three
Year: 1984-1985
Network: CBC, HBO & ITV
Episodes: 22, at 25 minutes
Creator: Jim Henson
Directors: Terry Maskell (7 episodes), George Bloomfield (7), Doug Williams (3), Eric Till (2), Jim Henson (1), Les Rose (1), Norman Campbell (1)
Writers: Jocelyn Stevenson (6 episodes), Jerry Juhl (4), B.P. Nichol (4), Robert Sandler (3), Sugith Varughese (3), Laura Phillips (2), Susan Juhl (1), David Young (1)
Starring: Dave Goelz, Jerry Nelson, Steve Whitmire, Kathryn Mullen, Karen Prell, Richard Hunt, Gerard Parkes
Music: Philip Balsam & Dennis Lee

My reaction
Synopsis: fun-loving, cave-dwelling creatures don’t understand their neighboring species
How I saw it: on video a couple times (have on DVD), most recently over the past few weeks
Concept: Great.
Story: Good.
Characters: Great.
Dialog: Good.
Pacing: Great.
Cinematography: Bad.  But improving a little.
Special effects/design: Good.
Acting: Good.
Music: Great.
Subjective Rating: 10/10 (Favorite of my favorites). The writing is back up to near where it was for the first season. Some episodes are a little weak, but none of them are bad. The relationships between species are developing; I'm pretty excited to see where it goes in the last two seasons (which we have but haven't watched yet).
Objective Rating: 8/10 (Good) 3.3/4 3.4/4 (Very good).

Fantastic Mr. Fox

Data
Title: Fantastic Mr. Fox
Year: 2009
Length: 87 minutes
Director: Wes Anderson
Writers: Wes Anderson & Noah Baumbach, based on the book by Roald Dahl
Starring: George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Wallace Wolodarsky, Eric Chase Anderson, Michael Gambon
Music: Alexandre Desplat (and non-original music)
Distinctions: Oscar nominations for Best Animated Feature and Best Score

My reaction
Synopsis: a fox endangers his family by stealing from mean farmers
How I saw it: in the theater, today
Concept: Great. Not one of Dahl's best books, but the idea of doing a movie of it in this style is perfect.
Story: Good.
Characters: Great.
Dialog: Good. Unmistakably a Wes Anderson movie. There are a few isolated moments that are kind of bad (it has the typical lesson-learning of a children's movie, which seems out of place and unnatural here), but the rest of the movie makes up for them.
Pacing: Great.
Cinematography: Good.
Special effects/design: Great. Absolutely amazing.
Acting: Great. The voice-work is entertaining, and the animation is expressive and emotional.
Music: Great. Lots of Burl Ives and Beach Boys, and Desplat's score is fun.
Subjective Rating: 8/10 (Great). One of Anderson's better movies, right up there with Tenenbaums. It's at a much higher energy level than typical for him, but without losing that quiet, Anderson-y tone.
Objective Rating: 9/10 3.7/4 (Great).

Doctor Who #126-128: The Black Guardian Trilogy

Data
Title: Doctor Who: The Black Guardian Trilogy ("Mawdryn Undead" / "Terminus" / "Enlightenment")
Year: 1983
Network: BBC
Episodes: 12, at 25 minutes; 3 stories of 4 episodes each, from the middle of season 20
Creators: Sydney Newman, C.E. Webber, Donald Wilson
Directors: Peter Moffatt / Mary Ridge / Fiona Cumming
Writers: Peter Grimwade / Stephen Gallagher / Barbara Clegg
Starring: Peter Davison, Janet Fielding, Sarah Sutton, Nicholas Courtney, Mark Strickson
Music: Ron Grainer (theme), Paddy Kingsland / Roger Limb / Malcolm Clarke

My reaction
Synopsis: a whiny schoolboy is enlisted by to kill The Doctor by an apparently omnipotent weirdo; meanwhile, The Doctor battles would-be immortals, lepers, nonsense and plot holes
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), over the past few days
Concept: Terrible.
Story: Bad. Some of the basic plot ideas of the first two stories are sound, but the writing is awful.
Characters: Bad.
Dialog: Indifferent.
Pacing: Indifferent.
Cinematography: Bad.
Special effects/design: Bad.
Acting: Indifferent. A couple of the guest stars are quite memorably good, but there's a lot of crap.
Music: Indifferent.  Kingsland's score is entertainingly bad.  The others are unobtrusive.
Subjective Rating: 4/10 (Eh). 4/10 for "Mawdryn," 5/10 for "Terminus" and 3/10 for "Enlightenment." Not exactly your best Doctor Who, even by 80's standards.
Objective Rating: 3/10 (Pretty bad) 1.4/4 (Bad).

The Apartment

Data
Title: The Apartment
Year: 1960
Length: 125 minutes
Director: Billy Wilder
Writers: Billy Wilder & I.A.L. Diamond
Starring: Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray
Music: Adolph Deutsch
Distinctions: Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Art Direction/Set Decoration (black-and-white), and Best Editing; Oscar nominations for Best Actor (Lemmon), Best Actress (MacLaine), Best Supporting Actor (Jack Kruschen), Best Cinematography (black-and-white) and Best Sound; currently #99 on IMDb's Top 250

My reaction
Synopsis: a suck-up lets his married bosses use his apartment to entertain women
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Concept: Bad.
Story: Good.
Characters: Bad. Even an extremely charismatic cast could do nothing to make me sympathize with these people.
Dialog: Great.
Pacing: Bad. Much of the movie is amusing, but I was still pretty bored.
Cinematography: Good.
Special effects/design: Great.
Acting: Great.
Music: Good.
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay). Not a bad movie, but all the awards it got are baffling to me. Maybe it has more depth and craftsmanship than your typical romantic comedy of the time, but best picture? Inherit the Wind, Psycho and Spartacus weren't even nominated.
Objective Rating: 7/10 (Pretty good) 2.6/4 (Good).

The Bicycle Thief

Data
Title: Ladri di biciclette
Year: 1948 (Italy), 1949 (US)
Length: 89 minutes
Director: Vittorio De Sica
Writers: Cesare Zavattini, Suso Cecchi d'Amico, Vittorio De Sica, Oreste Biancoli, Adolfo Franci & Gerardo Guerrieri, based on the novel by Luigi Bartolini
Starring: Lamberto Maggiorani, Enzo Staiola
Music: Alessandro Cicognini
Distinctions: honorary Oscar for best foreign language film (1950); Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay (1950); currently #106 on IMDb's Top 250

My reaction
Synopsis: a father can't support his family without a bicycle
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Concept: Good.
Story: Great.
Characters: Great.
Dialog: Indifferent. Although, it's not really fair of me to judge; the DVD subtitles didn't translate half the dialog. It is the way of Netflix to only have the cheapest, crappiest DVD available of any title.
Pacing: Terrible.
Cinematography: Good.
Special effects/design: Great. But not much is called for.
Acting: Great.
Music: Great.
Subjective Rating: 5/10 (Indifferent). The kind of film that exists for film students to write essays about it. Thinking about it afterward, it seems like it should be a really great movie. But actually sitting down and watching the thing, I was bored silly.
Objective Rating: 8/10 3/4 (Good).

Star Trek

(update of a previous post - original is here)



Data
Title: Star Trek
Year: 2009
Length: 126 minutes
Director: J.J. Abrams
Writers: Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman, based on the TV show by Gene Roddenberry
Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Eric Bana, Karl Urban
Music: Michael Giacchino
Distinctions: Oscar for Best Makeup; Oscar nominations for Best Visual Effects, Best Sound and Best Sound Editing; currently #134 on IMDb's Top 250

My reaction
Synopsis: a time-traveling Romulan has a vendetta against Spock
How I saw it: in the theater, May 2009; on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Concept: Great. As a geek, I am required by law to love the whole Time-Travel-Created-Alternate-Universe thing.
Story: Terrible.
Characters: Great.
Dialog: Great.
Pacing: Great.
Cinematography: Terrible. J.J. "Lens Flare" Abrams does everything he can to take you out of the movie.
Special effects/design: Indifferent.
Acting: Good.
Music: Great. Michael Giacchino orchestrating a classic sci-fi TV theme song... that's all anyone can really ask for from a movie.
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good). Fun and fast paced. There’s some nice comic relief, and loads of geek-pleasing moments. The action scenes are a mess. The plot isn’t very interesting, mostly just getting the characters re-introduced – which is fun for a fan, since it’s extremely well cast (especially Karl Urban’s Bones) and the characters and dialog are well-written – but there’s still not much plot. It’s not a science fiction movie, and it’s not a submarine movie like previous good action versions of Star Trek have been. In place of those elements, there’s standard loud, fast-moving-camera, dumb action. They’ve got the characters down right; now they just need to put them in a movie.
Objective Rating: 7/10 (Pretty good) 2.8/4 (Good).

The Return of Sherlock Holmes: Season One

Data
Title: The Return of Sherlock Holmes: Season One [or, season three of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, with a new title]
Year: 1986
Network: ITV
Episodes: 7, at c. 52 minutes
Creator: John Hawkesworth (developer)
Directors: David Carson (2 episodes), Howard Baker (1), Peter Hammond (1), John Bruce (1), Patrick Lau (1), John Madden (1)
Writers: John Hawkesworth (2 episodes), T.R. Bowen (2), Jeremy Paul (1), Alan Plater (1), John Kane (1); based on stories by Arthur Conan Doyle
Starring: Jeremy Brett, Edward Hardwicke
Music: Patrick Gowers

My reaction
Synopsis: a private investigator solves mysteries
How I saw it: mostly streaming online (from Netflix), over the past couple weeks
Concept: Great.
Story: Good. Not really any bad episodes in this batch (although the first couple aren't great). A few of them are great.
Characters: Great.
Dialog: Good. The quality of the adaptations are much better than I remember The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes being.
Pacing: Good.
Cinematography: Indifferent.
Special effects/design: Great.
Acting: Great. I'm surprised to find I'm not disappointed by the re-casting of Watson. And Brett's even better than before.
Music: Great.
Subjective Rating: 8/10 (Great). Again, I have to point out that this is not My Sort of Thing. I'm not a big fan of mysteries - especially crime drama - and as a rule I hate period drama. But I absolutely love this show.
Objective Rating: 9/10 3.5/4 (Very good).

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

Data
Title: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Year: 1939
Length: 129 minutes
Director: Frank Capra
Writer: Sidney Buchman, story by Lewis R. Foster
Starring: Jean Arthur, James Stewart, Claude Rains
Music: Dimitri Tiomkin
Distinctions: Oscar for Best Story; Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor (Stewart), Best Supporting Actor (Rains), Best Supporting Actor (Harry Carey), Best Score, Best Art Direction, Best Editing and Best Sound Recording; currently #111 on IMDb's Top 250

My reaction
Synopsis: a boyscout leader appointed to the senate stands up to corruption
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), a couple days ago
Concept: Good.
Story: Great.
Characters: Great.
Dialog: Great.
Pacing: Great.
Cinematography: Good.
Special effects/design: Great.
Acting: Great. To say that to say that Stewart's performance carries this movie would be an understatement would be an understatement.
Music: Indifferent. Corny and way over-the-top.
Subjective Rating: 8/10 (Great). The ending is very abrupt. And it's a bit depressing to compare the Washington in the film to modern day politics. (I mean, really, a senator's career being threatened by it being known that he did something in the interest of a business? Talk about suspension of disbelief...) But this is probably the ultimate Jimmy Stewart movie. He is constantly - every second he's on screen - giving what's probably the best performance of his career.
Objective Rating: 9/10 3.6/4 (Great).

awesome people part 3

Here are a few random people who happen to be awesome. I’m just saying.

The Coen Brothers
Evidence:
- The Big Lebowski, 1998 (directors/writers)
- O Brother, Where Art Thou?, 2000 (directors/writers)
- No Country for Old Men, 2007 (directors/writers)
- pretty much all of their other movies

Giulietta Masina
Evidence:
- La Strada, 1954 (Gelsomina)
- Le notti di Cabiria, 1957 (Maria "Cabiria" Ceccarelli)

Sam Mendes
Evidence:
- American Beauty, 1999 (director)
- Away We Go, 2009 (director)
Even if you're one of those people who doesn't like Away We Go (why are there so many of you??), whatever, American Beauty is enough on its own to make him awesome.

Ron Perlman
Evidence:
- La cité des enfants perdus, 1995 (One)
- Hellboy, 2004 (Hellboy)

Adam Elliot
Evidence:
- "Uncle," 1996 (director/writer)
- "Cousin," 1998 (director/writer)
- "Brother," 1999 (director/writer)
- "Harvie Krumpet," 2003 (director/writer)

Brazil

Data
Title: Brazil
Year: 1985
Length: 142 minutes
Director: Terry Gilliam
Writers: Terry Gilliam, Tom Stoppard & Charles McKeown
Starring: Jonathan Pryce, Robert De Niro, Katherine Helmond, Ian Holm, Bob Hoskins, Michael Palin, Ian Richardson, Peter Vaughan, Kim Greist
Music: Michael Kamen
Distinctions: Oscar nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Best Art Direction/Set Decoration; currently #240 on IMDb's Top 250

My reaction
Synopsis: a man in a bureaucratic dystopia obsesses over a woman from his dreams
How I saw it: on video several times (used to have on DVD), most recently (rented from Netflix) yesterday
Concept: Good.
Story: Bad.
Characters: Good.
Dialog: Great.
Pacing: Bad.
Cinematography: Great.
Special effects/design: Great.
Acting: Good.
Music: Great.
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay). I used to think this movie was great, but I can't figure out why. Maybe it was just because I loved other Gilliam movies, so I thought I should love it. Or maybe it's the same reason that every young person who hasn't read too many books thinks 1984 is the best thing ever. In any case, I was pretty bored watching this yesterday. The visuals are great, but they rarely actually contribute to the storytelling. There are some great scenes, mostly when it's being silly, and some great acting from Holm and Palin (meanwhile, De Niro is pretty bad), but the story just doesn't make a lot of sense if you think about it too much.
Objective Rating: 7/10 (Pretty good) 2.9/4 (Good).

Doctor Who #50: The War Games

Data
Title: Doctor Who: "The War Games"
Year: 1969
Network: BBC
Episodes: 10, at 25 minutes; the last story (of 7) from season 6
Creators: Sydney Newman, C.E. Webber, Donald Wilson
Director: David Maloney
Writer: Terrance Dicks & Malcolm Hulke
Starring: Patrick Troughton, Frazer Hines, Wendy Padbury
Music: Ron Grainer (theme), Dudley Simpson

My reaction
Synopsis: abducted, brainwashed humans believe they're fighting various historical wars on Earth
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), over the past few days
Concept: Great. Like Dark City, except the people are sent to kill each other instead of just hanging out in a weird city.
Story: Good.
Characters: Good.
Dialog: Indifferent.
Pacing: Great. Ten episodes on a single story, and it never stalled. Kind of amazing.
Cinematography: Bad.
Special effects/design: Indifferent.  There's some set-wobbling, but the design is pretty cool.
Acting: Terrible.
Music: Indifferent.
Subjective Rating: 8/10 (Great). One of the best classic Doctor Who stories I've seen yet. Things often get bad, but in a kitschy, entertaining sort of way (for instance, the villains are remarkably similar to The Monarch from Venture Bros., but they're supposed to be taken seriously).
Objective Rating: 6/10 2.5/4 (Okay).

World's Greatest Dad

Data
Title: World's Greatest Dad
Year: 2009
Length: 99 minutes
Director: Bobcat Goldthwait
Writer: Bobcat Goldthwait
Starring: Robin Williams, Alexie Gilmore, Daryl Sabara
Music: Gerald Brunskill (and non-original music)

My reaction
Synopsis: a failed writer exploits his douchebag son's death
How I saw it: in the theater, yesterday
Concept: Indifferent.
Story: Terrible. It's the old web-of-lies formula from bad sitcoms. There's darkness and satire layered on top of it, so the movie has a chance, but it's still the mother of all horrible plot formulas.
Characters: Good. Thanks entirely to the acting. Williams somehow manages to take Goldthwait's bad script and pull a sympathetic and real character out of it.
Dialog: Great.
Pacing: Bad. Felt like at least two hours.
Cinematography: Good.
Special effects/design: Good.
Acting: Great. Good enough to make this movie worth watching.
Music: Great.
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay). Entertaining. If there's nothing else good playing, it's better than not seeing a movie, and you might like it if you like dark satire. It has got to be one of the worst-promoted movies ever, though - a dark indie drama with some black humor, advertised as a zany father-and-son comedy with a lesson to be learned. The poster and trailer are specially designed to ward off anyone who might like it. Half the people in the theater left within the first twenty minutes; I wonder if they thought they were going to see that thing with John Travolta in it.
Objective Rating: 7/10 (Pretty good) 2.6/4 (Good).

The Sting

Data
Title: The Sting
Year: 1973
Length: 129 minutes
Director: George Roy Hill
Writer: David S. Ward
Starring: Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Robert Shaw, Charles Durning
Music: Scott Joplin, adapted by Marvin Hamlisch
Distinctions: Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Song Score and/or Adaptation, Best Art Direction/Set Decoration, Best Costume Design and Best Editing; Oscar nominations for Best Actor (Redford), Best Cinematography and Best Sound; currently #98 on IMDb's Top 250

My reaction
Synopsis: con men vs. the mob
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Concept: Great.
Story: Good. Enough twists to keep the movie from being tedious. Although, the whole con-man story type doesn't really work well when it's an army of professionals with seemingly unlimited resources against more or less one guy.
Characters: Bad. I don't feel I know anything about the personalities of either of the leads.
Dialog: Good.
Pacing: Bad. I can't believe this was only two hours long. It felt more like a mini series than a movie.
Cinematography: Indifferent.
Special effects/design: Indifferent. If this is supposed to be the 1930's, then why do all of these 1930's buildings look 50 years old?
Acting: Good. Redford and Newman are both kind of dull, especially Redford, but the supporting cast is nice.
Music: Good. I don't understand why they used distinctly period music for a film set in a different period, but it sets a tone and it's good music.
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay). It made me restless, and it's very flawed, but it's not a bad movie. It has its moments.
Objective Rating: 6/10 2.4/4 (Okay).

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Halloween movie night, part 2 of 2



Data
Title: The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Year: 1975
Length: 100 minutes
Director: Jim Sharman
Writer: Jim Sharman & Richard O'Brien, based on O'Brien's musical
Starring: Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick, Richard O'Brien, Patricia Quinn, Nell Campbell
Music: Richard O'Brien (songs); Richard Hartley (incidental music)

My reaction
Synopsis: a glam-rock musical satire of B horror movies
How I saw it: on video many times (have on DVD), most recently yesterday
Concept: Good? I guess? Maybe?
Story: Bad. But it has to be.
Characters: Bad. But they have to be.
Dialog: Good. Enough of it's great to make up for all the bad (which is deliberately bad).
Pacing: Great.
Cinematography: Good. Actually, genuinely good. What the hey?
Special effects/design: Terrible. But it has to be.
Acting: Bad. A mixed bag here, but when it's terrible, it's iconic.
Music: Great.
Subjective Rating: 9/10 (One of my favorites).
Objective Rating: 6/10 2.4/4 2.5/4 (Okay).

Monsters, Inc.

Halloween movie night, part 1 of 2



Data
Title: Monsters, Inc.
Year: 2001
Length: 92 minutes
Directors: Pete Docter, David Silverman & Lee Unkrich
Writers: Andrew Stanton & Daniel Gerson, with Robert L. Baird, Rhett Reese & Jonathan Roberts, story by Pete Docter, Jill Culton, Jeff Pidgeon & Ralph Eggleston
Starring: John Goodman, Billy Crystal, Mary Gibbs, Steve Buscemi, James Coburn
Music: Randy Newman
Distinctions: Oscar for Best Song ("If I Didn't Have You"); Oscar nominations for Best Animated Feature, Best Score and Best Sound Editing; currently #242 on IMDb's Top 250

My reaction
Synopsis: a human toddler sneaks through her closet into the monster world
How I saw it: in the theater, 2001; on video many times (have on DVD), most recently yesterday
Concept: Indifferent.
Story: Great.
Characters: Great.
Dialog: Great.
Pacing: Great.
Cinematography: Great.
Special effects/design: Great.
Acting: Good. Okay from the voices, great from the animators.
Music: Good.
Subjective Rating: 9/10 (One of my favorites). It's remarkable how re-watchable this remains after all these years.
Objective Rating: 9/10 3.6/4 3.7/4 (Great).

awesome people part 2

Here are a few random people who happen to be awesome. I’m just saying.

Stanley Kubrick
Evidence:
- Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, 1964 (director/co-writer)
- 2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968 (director/co-writer)
- A Clockwork Orange, 1971 (director/writer)

John Ratzenberger
Evidence:
- Cheers, 1982-1993 (Cliff Claven)
- Every single Pixar feature, 1995-? (Hamm/P.T. Flea/The Abominable Snow Man/Fish School/Underminer/Mack/Mustafa/John/Construction Foreman Tom)

James Stewart
Evidence:
- It's a Wonderful Life, 1946 (George Bailey)
- Harvey, 1950 (Elwood P. Dowd)
- Anatomy of a Murder, 1959 (Paul Biegler)

Tim Curry
Evidence:
- The Rocky Horror Picture Show, 1975 (Dr. Frank-N-Furter)
- Legend, 1985 (Darkness)
- Clue, 1985 (Wadsworth)
- Muppets Treasure Island, 1996 (Long John Silver)

Truman Capote
Evidence:
- Breakfast at Tiffany's, 1961 (original novel)
- In Cold Blood, 1967 (original novel)

The Great Escape

#100!



Data
Title: The Great Escape
Year: 1963
Length: 172 minutes
Director: John Sturges
Writers: James Clavell & W.R. Burnett, based on the book by Paul Brickhill
Starring: Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, James Donald, Charles Bronson, Donald Pleasence, James Coburn, Hannes Messemer
Music: Elmer Bernstein
Distinctions: Oscar nomination for Best Editing; currently #100 on IMDb's Top 250

My reaction
Synopsis: WWII POWs plot a massive escape attempt to distract German resources
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Concept: Great.
Story: Good. The plot is great, but the details start to seriously fall apart at the end.  I had to look it up online to even see if the plan worked.
Characters: Indifferent. I had no investment in any of these people. Also, after looking online, it seems that the people on which the characters are based were actually pretty interesting. But in the movie we get "I like to ride bikes."
Dialog: Good.
Pacing: Bad.
Cinematography: Indifferent.
Special effects/design: Great.
Acting: Good. Attenborough is great. Most of the other leads are just okay.
Music: Bad. "...this land belongs to you and me!" So. Very. Obnoxious.
Subjective Rating: 5/10 (Indifferent). Lots of potential, but a pretty boring movie.
Objective Rating: 6/10 2.5/4 (Okay).