"Congo Jazz" & "The Booze Hangs High"

"Congo Jazz" (short) & "The Booze Hangs High" (short), 1930. Bosko dances with jungle animals, and Bosko dances with barnyard animals.

Directed by Hugh Harman & Rudolf Ising. Starring Johnny Murray.

Concept: 1/4 (Bad)
Story: 0/4 (Terrible)
Characters: 1/4 (Bad)
Dialog: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Pacing: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good) for "Congo" / 2/4 (Indifferent) for "Booze"
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Music: 4/4 (Great)
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good, 3/4). These cartoons are kind of wonderful. They've changed Bosko's voice to a Mickey Mouse type thing, which means I wouldn't recognize him as a racial stereotype if I hadn't seen his earlier incarnation. And the lack of a plot doesn't hurt quite as much as it did in "Sinkin' in the Bathtub," maybe because they don't even bother to pretend there might be a story. It's just a lot of whimsical, old-timey dancin'. And, occasionally, something really bizarre happens.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.0/4 (Indifferent) / 1.9/4 (Eh)

The Aristocats

The Aristocats, 1970. A rich woman's butler tries to get rid of her cats.

Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman. Written by Larry Clemmons, Vance Gerry, Ken Anderson, Frank Thomas, Eric Cleworth, Julius Svendsen & Ralph Wright, based on a story by Tom McGowan & Tom Rowe. Starring Phil Harris & Eva Gabor.

Concept: 1/4 (Bad)
Story: 1/4 (Bad)
Characters: 3/4 (Good)
Dialog: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Pacing: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Cinematography: 3/4 (Good)
Special effects/design: 4/4 (Great)
Acting: 3/4 (Good)
Music: 3/4 (Good)
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good, 3/4). There's no moral to be learned, no catchy songs, no marketable goofy sidekick, a villain that could not be less threatening, and rarely any action that involves the protagonist. So I can see why this film tends to be one of the less classic of the Disney "classics." But personally, I'd say every one of those points is a plus.  Add to that some excellent animation, an adorable mouse played by Sterling Holloway, one or two very funny sequences, a fun score, and cat characters that are perfectly cat-like and believable, and I'd say this is probably one of the top ten Disney cartoons.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.5/4 (Okay)

"Bath Day"

"Bath Day" (short), 1946. Minnie Mouse's cat is teased by alley cats.

Directed by Charles A. Nichols. Written by Eric Gurney. Starring Ruth Clifford & Clarence Nash.

Concept: 1/4 (Bad)
Story: 1/4 (Bad)
Characters: 1/4 (Bad)
Dialog: 1/4 (Bad)
Pacing: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good)
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Music: 3/4 (Good)
Subjective Rating: 5/10 (Indifferent, 2/4). Fairly humorless, and not half as cute as it seems to think it is.
Objective Rating (Average): 1.8/4 (Eh)

"Sinkin' in the Bathtub"

"Sinkin' in the Bathtub" (short), 1930. Bosko goes for a drive to visit his girlfriend.

Directed by Hugh Harman & Rudolf Ising. Written by Friz Freleng. Starring Carman Maxwell & Rochelle Hudson.

Concept: 1/4 (Bad)
Story: 0/4 (Terrible)
Characters: 1/4 (Bad)
Dialog: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Pacing: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good)
Acting: 3/4 (Good)
Music: 4/4 (Great)
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good, 3/4). Absolutely delightful, for about two minutes. The lack of any kind of story starts to hurt more and more as it goes on.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.1/4 (Okay)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (the movie)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 1992. A shallow valley girl becomes a vampire hunter.

Directed by Fran Rubel Kuzui. Written by Joss Whedon. Starring Kristy Swanson, Donald Sutherland & Luke Perry.

Concept: 3/4 (Good)
Story: 1/4 (Bad)
Characters: 1/4 (Bad)
Dialog: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Pacing: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Cinematography: 0/4 (Terrible)
Special effects/design: 0/4 (Terrible)
Acting: 1/4 (Bad)
Music: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay, 2/4). Surprisingly entertaining - sometimes because it's campy fun, more often because it's amusingly awful.
Objective Rating (Average): 1.4/4 (Bad)

Match Point

Match Point, 2005. A man marries into wealth and has an affair.

Written & directed by Woody Allen. Starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Emily Mortimer & Scarlett Johansson.

Concept: 1/4 (Bad)
Story: 1/4 (Bad)
Characters: 1/4 (Bad)
Dialog: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Pacing: 1/4 (Bad)
Cinematography: 3/4 (Good)
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good)
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Music: 4/4 (Great)
Subjective Rating: 4/10 (Eh, 2/4). The first two thirds of the movie is a cliched melodrama with no character to empathize with.  After that, it spontaneously turns into a suspense film.  That second part is interesting, but not exceptional and certainly not worth watching the first part of the movie.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.0/4 (Indifferent)

"Bosko the Talk-Ink Kid"

"Bosko the Talk-Ink Kid" (short), 1929 (unreleased). An animator asks his drawing to entertain the audience.

Directed by Hugh Harman & Rudolf Ising. Starring Ising & Carman Maxwell.

Concept: 4/4 (Great)
Story: 1/4 (Bad)
Characters: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Dialog: 1/4 (Bad)
Pacing: 3/4 (Good)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good)
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent). Bosko's very expressive. Rudolf Ising, not so much.
Music: 3/4 (Good)
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay, 2/4). It's very difficult to evaluate this. One the one hand, it's whimsical and fun and made me laugh. On the other hand, it's racist. The racism has nothing to do with what that cartoon is doing - the character just incidentally happens to be a caricature. So you can try to compartmentalize that and enjoy what would otherwise be a great cartoon. But it's still there.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.3/4 (Okay)

Amour

Amour, 2012. A man cares for his dying wife.

Written & directed by Michael Haneke. Starring Jean-Louis Trintignant & Emmanuelle Riva.

Concept: 3/4 (Good)
Story: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Characters: 3/4 (Good)
Dialog: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Pacing: 0/4 (Terrible). It's not just slow, it's static. Most scenes contain about ten seconds of action and several minutes of waiting for the next scene.
Cinematography: 3/4 (Good)
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good)
Acting: 4/4 (Great)
Music: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Subjective Rating: 3/10 (Bad, 1/4). I really expected to like this. I love movies about these sorts of characters. But this one didn't do a single thing for me. I was unaffected and bored silly.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.3/4 (Okay)

Doctor Who #8: The Reign of Terror

Doctor Who: The Reign of Terror, 1964 (the last story of eight from season one). The French Revolutionary government imprisons the Doctor's friends.

Directed by Henric Hirsch (5 episodes) & John Gorrie (1). Written by Dennis Spooner. Starring William Hartnell, William Russell, Jacqueline Hill & Carole Ann Ford.

Concept: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Story: 1/4 (Bad)
Characters: 1/4 (Bad)
Dialog: 1/4 (Bad)
Pacing: 0/4 (Terrible)
Cinematography: 0/4 (Terrible). The two animated episodes are nearly unwatchable.
Special effects/design: 1/4 (Bad)
Acting: 1/4 (Bad)
Music: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Subjective Rating: 3/10 (Bad, 1/4). Extremely boring.
Objective Rating (Average): 1.0/4 (Bad)

"Dug's Special Mission"

"Dug's Special Mission" (short), 2009. Dogs are mean to another dog.

Directed by Ronaldo Del Carmen. Written by Del Carmen & Bob Peterson. Starring Peterson.

Concept: 1/4 (Bad)
Story: 1/4 (Bad)
Characters: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Dialog: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Pacing: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Cinematography: 3/4 (Good)
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good)
Acting: 3/4 (Good)
Music: 3/4 (Good)
Subjective Rating: 4/10 (Eh, 2/4). It feels very forced - probably because it is. It clearly has no reason for existing other than as a selling point for the Up DVD.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.2/4 (Okay)

"Burn-E"

"Burn-E" (short), 2008. A robot has bad luck repairing a spaceship.

Directed by Angus MacLane. Written by MacLane, Andrew Stanton & Derek Thompson.

Concept: 3/4 (Good)
Story: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Characters: 3/4 (Good)
Dialog: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Pacing: 3/4 (Good)
Cinematography: 3/4 (Good)
Special effects/design: 4/4 (Great)
Acting: 3/4 (Good)
Music: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay, 2/4). Cute. It can't stand on its own without Wall-E, although they could have made it do so - and ended up with a much better cartoon - if they'd wanted to.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.7/4 (Good)

The Magnificent Seven

from my 100 Popular Movies Marathon, part 2 of 100



The Magnificent Seven, 1960. Gunslingers defend a village from bandits.

Directed by John Sturges. Written by William Roberts. Starring Yul Brynner, Eli Wallach, Steve McQueen & Horst Buchholz.

Concept: 4/4 (Great)
Story: 3/4 (Good)
Characters: 3/4 (Good)
Dialog: 3/4 (Good)
Pacing: 3/4 (Good)
Cinematography: 3/4 (Good)
Special effects/design: 2/4 (Indifferent). It really bothered me that all of the gun sound effects are identical. I could barely pay attention to the final shoot-out, it's so distracting.
Acting: 3/4 (Good)
Music: 4/4 (Great)
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good, 3/4). It's no Seven Samurai, but it's still a pretty darn good movie.
Objective Rating (Average): 3.1/4 (Very good)

Papillon

from my 100 Popular Movies Marathon, part 1 of 100



Papillon, 1973. A man tries to escape from a French prison colony.

Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner. Written by Dalton Trumbo & Lorenzo Semple Jr., based on a book by Henri Charrière. Starring Steve McQueen & Dustin Hoffman.

Concept: 3/4 (Good)
Story: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Characters: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Dialog: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Pacing: 0/4 (Terrible)
Cinematography: 3/4 (Good)
Special effects/design: 2/4 (Indifferent).
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent). McQueen actually does some great acting in the solitary confinement scenes. And some remarkably bad acting in the island scenes. I felt embarrassed for the movie.
Music: 3/4 (Good)
Subjective Rating: 5/10 (Indifferent, 2/4). Very uneven. Most of it is pretty good, but then large chunks of it, especially toward the end, are terrible.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.1/4 (Okay)

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, 1977. A compilation of Winnie the Pooh shorts.

Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman & John Lounsbery. Written by Winston Hibler, Larry Clemmons, Ralph Wright, Vance Gerry, Xavier Atencio, Ken Anderson, Julius Svendsen, Ted Berman & Eric Cleworth, based on books by A.A. Milne. Starring Sterling Holloway.

Concept: 4/4 (Great)
Story: 3/4 (Good)
Characters: 4/4 (Great)
Dialog: 4/4 (Great)
Pacing: 2/4 (Indifferent). Too bad they don't let you watch them as shorts. It's like watching three movies in a row without a chance to take a breath in the middle - because that's exactly what it is.
Cinematography: 3/4 (Good)
Special effects/design: 4/4 (Great)
Acting: 4/4 (Great)
Music: 4/4 (Great)
Subjective Rating: 9/10 (One of my favorites, 4/4 5/4). "Blustery Day" and "Tigger Too" aren't as crazy amazaballs wonderful as "Honey Tree," which is a shame, but they're still delightful.  "Honey Tree," though - that is one of the best things ever made.
Objective Rating (Average): 3.6/4 3.7/4 (Great)

VSM: 100 Very Popular Movies We Need To Watch

It's been a busy summer here - not much time to watch stuff, so not much blogging happening. But we are back at it now, with a massive project to draw us in. These are the most popular* features that we've either never seen, or haven't watched in the last five years or so.

* "popular" according to an arbitrary algorithm that takes into account IMDb scores, and number of IMDb votes weighted for the age of the movie

Very Slow Marathon #16: 100 Very Popular Movies We Need To Watch
1. Papillon, 1973
2. The Magnificent Seven, 1960
3. The Ten Commandments, 1956
4. The Matrix Reloaded, 2003
5. Speed, 1994
6. Die Hard: With a Vengeance, 1995
7. The Fifth Element, 1997
8. Taken, 2008
9. Lolita, 1962
10. The Butterfly Effect, 2004
11. RoboCop, 1987
12. Total Recall, 1990
13. Minority Report, 2002
14. Gattaca, 1997
15. Training Day, 2001
16. Dead Poets Society, 1989
17. Back to the Future Part II, 1989
18. The Rock, 1996
19. Scent of a Woman, 1992
20. Back to the Future Part III, 1990
21. The Invisible Man, 1933
22. Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, 1936
23. The Birth of a Nation, 1915
24. Freaks, 1932
25. Intolerance, 1916
26. Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, 1999
27. Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, 2005
28. Stagecoach, 1939
29. The Breakfast Club, 1985
30. 300, 2006
31. Ferris Bueller's Day Off, 1986
32. Dirty Harry, 1971
33. The Untouchables, 1987
34. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, 1958
35. The Phantom of the Opera, 1925
36. Blazing Saddles, 1974
37. The Last Laugh, 1924
38. To Have and Have Not, 1944
39. West Side Story, 1961
40. The Evil Dead, 1981
41. A Few Good Men, 1992
42. Night and Fog, 1955
43. Cast Away, 2000
44. X-Men, 2000
45. White Heat, 1949
46. This Is Spinal Tap, 1984
47. X-Men 2, 2003
48. Grease, 1978
49. Sullivan's Travels, 1941
50. Interview with the Vampire, 1994
51. Airplane!, 1980
52. The Fugitive, 1993
53. Breathless, 1960
54. American Psycho, 2000
55. Men in Black, 1997
56. The Rules of the Game, 1939
57. Home Alone, 1990
58. The Game, 1997
59. Mutiny on the Bounty, 1935
60. Clerks, 1994
61. As Good as It Gets, 1997
62. True Romance, 1993
63. Donnie Brasco, 1997
64. The Goonies, 1985
65. Lost in Translation, 2003
- 28 Days Later, 2002
- Aladdin, 1992
- Almost Famous, 2000
- Angels with Dirty Faces, 1938
- Black Hawk Down, 2001
- Blue Velvet, 1986
- Boondock Saints, 1999
- Carlito's Way, 1993
- Catch Me if You Can, 2002
- Collateral, 2004
- Dumb & Dumber, 1994
- Face/Off, 1997
- From Here to Eternity, 1953
- Gangs of New York, 2002
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, 2011
- The Godfather Part III, 1990
- I Am Legend, 2007
- Ice Age, 2002
- The Intouchables, 2011
- Key Largo, 1948
- The Last Samurai, 2003
- Lethal Weapon, 1987
- Love Actually, 2003
- The Notebook, 2004
- Office Space, 1999
- The Others, 2001
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, 2006
- The Pursuit of Happyness, 2006
- Rio Bravo, 1959
- Saw, 2004
- Shrek, 2001
- Superbad, 2007
- To Be or Not to Be, 1942
- Tokyo Story, 1953
- Transformers, 2007

Life of Pi

Life of Pi, 2012. A boy and a tiger in a lifeboat.

Directed by Ang Lee. Written by David Magee, based on a book by Yann Martel. Starring Suraj Sharma & Irrfan Khan.

Concept: 3/4 (Good)
Story: 3/4 (Good)
Characters: 3/4 (Good)
Dialog: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Pacing: 3/4 (Good)
Cinematography: 3/4 (Good)
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good)
Acting: 4/4 (Great)
Music: 3/4 (Good)
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good, 3/4). Maybe it's hurt by watching it on a two-dimensional small screen, but I don't understand all the fuss about the visuals. Yeah, they did a lot of stuff that would have been unfilmable five or ten years ago, but it still just looks like cartoons to me.  This is nitpicking, though; it's a very good movie.
Objective Rating (Average): 3.0/4 (Good)

The World's End

The World's End, 2013. A man tries to relive his youth with a pub crawl, during an invasion of body snatchers.

Directed by Edgar Wright. Written by Simon Pegg & Wright. Starring Pegg.

Concept: 2/4 (Indifferent). Basically just repeats stuff from Shawn of the Dead.
Story: 3/4 (Good)
Characters: 3/4 (Good)
Dialog: 3/4 (Good)
Pacing: 3/4 (Good)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good)
Acting: 3/4 (Good)
Music: 3/4 (Good)
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good, 3/4). Very entertaining, but not particularly memorable.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.8/4 (Good)