The Ox-Bow Incident

Title: The Ox-Bow Incident
Year: 1943
Director: William A. Wellman
Writer: Lamar Trotti, based on the novel by Walter Van Tilburg Clark
Starring: Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews
Music: Cyril J. Mockridge
Distinctions: Oscar nomination for Best Picture; currently #191 on IMDb's Top 250
Synopsis: a lynch mob in the old west accuses three people of murder, at least two of whom are obviously innocent
Length: 75 minutes
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), December 2008
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay).
Objective Rating: 8/10 (points off for cinematography and special effects/design) c. 2.9/4 (Good).

It's an interesting story; the "hero" is an outsider who basically just stands around and watches everything happen. It's a bit dated, visually. Also very serious, which I definitely did not expect from an early 40's Western.  The music is nothing notable, but I'll give them credit for how unobtrusive it is, letting things play dark rather than sentimental. The acting from the leads is great, although a lot of the others are barely getting by.

Battlestar Galactica (1978)

Title: Battlestar Galactica
Year: 1978-1979
Creator: Glen A. Larson
Directors: Christian I. Nyby II (5 episodes), Rod Holcomb (4), Richard A. Colla (3), Daniel Haller (3), Alan J. Levi (2), Donald P. Bellisario (2), Vince Edwards (2), Ahmet Lateef (2), Winrich Kolbe (1)
Writers: Glen A. Larson (13 episodes), Donald P. Bellisario (11), Michael Sloan (3), Jim Carlson (3), Terrence McDonnell (3), Leslie Stevens (2), Herman Groves (1), Frank Lupo (1), Paul Playdon (1)
Starring: Richard Hatch, Dirk Benedict, Lorne Greene
Music: Stu Phillips
Synopsis: human refugees are pursued through space by a robot empire
Episodes: 24, c. 48 minutes
Network: ABC
How I saw it: streaming online (Netflix), over the past week
Subjective Rating: 5/10 (Indifferent).
Objective Rating: 1/10 (gets a point for concept) c. 1.6/4 (Eh).

Pretty terrible. The writing is painfully bad, which is particularly annoying given how good the overall plot of the show is. The special effects are pretty good, although the look of everything is shamelessly ripped off of Star Wars. I love a lot of bad science fiction, but this is barely watchable. Strictly heckling value only. I only forced myself to get through it because I don't want to watch the new series without seeing the original first.

Million Dollar Baby

Title: Million Dollar Baby
Year: 2004
Director: Clint Eastwood
Writer: Paul Haggis, based on stories by F.X. Toole
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Hilary Swank, Morgan Freeman
Music: Clint Eastwood
Distinctions: Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (Swank) and Best Supporting Actor (Freeman); Oscar nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor (Eastwood) and Best Editing; currently #145 on IMDb's Top 250
Synopsis: a female boxer gets a grouchy trainer
Length: 132 minutes
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Subjective Rating: 4/10 (Eh).
Objective Rating: 6/10 (points off for concept, pacing, music and subjective rating) c. 2.9/4 (Good).

The first couple acts are okay - very well performed and shot, sometimes funny, but nothing exceptional. The last 45 minutes or so, which I gather are supposed to be the emotional weight of the film, are boring. It's an excellent story, and I can see how the story it's based on could be very powerful, but they just completely failed to make me feel any connection to it. Possibly because it feels like a separate story from the first half of the movie (that seems to be a recurring theme from movies written by Paul Haggis...). Or maybe because the music contributes nothing.  Idunno. And then there's no resolution for Eastwood's character (the main character), which is extremely frustrating.

Twelve Monkeys

Title: Twelve Monkeys
Year: 1995
Director: Terry Gilliam
Writers: David Webb Peoples & Janet Peoples, based on a film by Chris Marker
Starring: Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe, Brad Pitt
Music: Paul Buckmaster (and lots of non-original music)
Distinctions: Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actor (Pitt) and Best Costume Design; currently #188 on IMDb's Top 250
Synopsis: a determinist take on time-travel, with crazy people and the apocalypse
Length: 129 minutes
How I saw it: on video a number of times (used to have on VHS), most recently December 2008
Subjective Rating: 10/10 (Favorite of my favorites).
Objective Rating: 10/10 c. 3.9/4 4.0/4 (Great).

Clever, intricate, dramatic, funny. Strong, sympathetic characters. Amazing visuals. Great acting. Perfect soundtrack. I have a hard time imagining how anyone might not like this movie.

The African Queen

Title: The African Queen
Year: 1951
Director: John Huston
Writers: James Agee & John Huston, based on the novel by C.S. Forester
Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn
Music: Allan Gray
Distinctions: Oscar for Best Actor (Bogart); Oscar nominations for Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Actress (Hepburn); currently #193 on IMDb's Top 250
Synopsis: a Canadian river-boat captain and English missionary trapped in German Africa in WWI try to do something about it
Length: 105 minutes
How I saw it: on video (rented on VHS from the library), December 2008
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay).
Objective Rating: 7/10 (points off for story, cinematography and special effects/design) c. 2.7/4 (Good).

If I didn't know better, I would swear this was a Disney cartoon - especially since Bogart is playing a goofy chipmunk. It would have been a great movie if they hadn't twisted it into an absurd love story. Supposedly it was shot on location in Africa, which is sad because it looks unmistakably like rear projection.

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

Title: Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
Year: 1927
Director: F.W. Murnau
Writers: Carl Mayer, Katherine Hilliker & H.H. Caldwell
Starring: George O'Brien, Janet Gaynor, Margaret Livingston
Music: Hugo Riesenfeld
Distinctions: Oscars for Best Picture ("Unique and Artistic Production"), Best Actress (Gaynor, for three films) and Best Cinematography; Oscar nomination for Best Art Direction; currently #176 on IMDb's Top 250
Synopsis: a man plots to kill his wife, then re-falls in love with her
Length: 95 minutes
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), December 2008
Subjective Rating: 4/10 (Eh).
Objective Rating: 4/10 (gets points for story, dialog, cinematography and music) c. 2.2/4 (Okay).

Boring. The story has a sort of classical/folk-tale-ish shape, which I like. The acting isn't bad for a dramatic silent film, but is bad by any reasonable standards. The characters are completely without depth or reasonable motivations.

A Man for All Seasons

Title: A Man for All Seasons
Year: 1966
Director: Fred Zinnemann
Writer: Robert Bolt, based on his play
Starring: Paul Scofield, Wendy Hiller, Leo McKern, Robert Shaw, Orson Welles
Music: Georges Delerue
Distinctions: Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor (Scofield), Best Cinematography (color) and Best Costume Design (color); Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actress (Hiller) and Best Supporting Actor (Shaw); formerly on IMDb's Top 250
Synopsis: a former friend of Henry VIII is a Papist and tries not to get killed over it
Length: 120 minutes
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), December 2008
Subjective Rating: 5/10 (Indifferent).
Objective Rating: 4/10 (gets points for concept, characters, dialog and acting) c. 2.6/4 (Good).

I haven't really got anything bad to say about it. There just isn't much here to make me care. Great concept, great cast, but it doesn't come together to do anything special. I like that they tried using/imitating period music, but a competent score could have done wonders for this movie.

The Conversation

Title: The Conversation
Year: 1974
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Writer: Francis Ford Coppola
Starring: Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Frederic Forrest, Cindy Williams
Music: David Shire
Distinctions: Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay and Best Sound; currently #201 on IMDb's Top 250
Synopsis: a paranoid surveillance expert gets too involved with his client
Length: 113 minutes
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), December 2008
Subjective Rating: 7/10 8/10 (Great).
Objective Rating: 9/10 (1 point off for cinematography) c. 3.5/4 (Very good).

This is the only movie where I've ever been impressed by sound editing.  And the only Gene Hackman movie I can think of off the top of my head where I thought of him as his character rather than Oh Look It's Gene Hackman. It's Coppola's follow-up to Godfather, and probably the best movie he's made since then (I haven't seen Apocalypse Now yet, but I have to doubt that it will live up to its reputation). Why had I never heard of it before I saw it?

The White Sheik

Title: Lo sceicco bianco
Year: 1952 (Italy), 1956 (US)
Director: Federico Fellini
Writers: Federico Fellini, Tullio Pinelli & Ennio Flaiano; story by Michelangelo Antonioni, Fellini & Pinelli
Starring: Alberto Sordi, Brunella Bovo, Leopoldo Trieste, Giulietta Masina
Music: Nino Rota
Synopsis: an idiot fan girl ditches her husband on their honeymoon
Length: 86 minutes
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay)
Objective Rating: 9/10 (1 point off for concept) c. 3.3/4 (Very good)

A sit-com-type story.  Amusing, but nothing special.  Trieste's clownish performance is delightful.

The Adventures of Robin Hood

Title: The Adventures of Robin Hood
Year: 1938
Directors: Michael Curtiz & William Keighley
Writers: Norman Reilly Raine & Seton I. Miller
Starring: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Basil Rathbone, Claude Rains
Music: Erich Wolfgang Korngold
Distinctions: Oscars for Best Score, Best Art Direction and Best Editing; Oscar nomination for Best Picture; currently #200 on IMDb's Top 250
Synopsis: rebel challenges usurper
Length: 102 minutes
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), December 2008
Subjective Rating: 7/10 8/10 (Great).
Objective Rating: 7/10 (points off for pacing, cinematography and special effects/design) c. 3.0/4 (Good).

Slow in places, but fun. The score is perfect. It's an extremely dated movie (although a hell of a lot better than the Kevin Costner remake), but the DVD makes the most of that by including a period cartoon, musical short and news reel clip.

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

Title: Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
Year: 1998 (UK), 1999 (US)
Director: Guy Ritchie
Writer: Guy Ritchie
Starring: Jason Flemyng, Dexter Fletcher, Nick Moran, Jason Statham
Music: David A. Hughes & John Murphy (mostly non-original music)
Distinctions: currently #189 on IMDb's Top 250
Synopsis: various groups of violent criminals steal from each other and cuss a lot
Length: 107 minutes
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), December 2008
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay).
Objective Rating: 6/10 (points off for dialog, cinematography, special effects/design and music) c. 2.4/4 (Okay).

It tries really hard to be clever and hip and exciting, but there just isn't much to it that's really memorable. There are some great characters, but they hardly get a chance to come through. It's a good story, but its execution is a bit of a confusing mess. The dialog is good with regards to developing characters, bad with regards to moving the plot. They somehow managed to light every single set and/or location exactly the same, with the same color palette, so when they fast-cut between scenes, you're likely to not notice it (not to mention being visually mind-numbing). There's great music (an eclectic Tarantino-style soundtrack), but it doesn't really fit the movie (which is sort of an old-style crime film on speed, far from the post-modern homage-a-thon that would justify a mix-tape in place of a score). I get the feeling Guy Ritchie would make a great writer for a different director.

Crash

Title: Crash
Year: 2004
Director: Paul Haggis
Writers: Paul Haggis & Robert Moresco
Starring: Brendan Fraser, Sandra Bullock, Ludacris, Larenz Tate, Don Cheadle, Ryan Philippe, Matt Dillon, Terrence Howard, Thandie Newton, Michael Peña, Shaun Toub
Music: Mark Isham
Distinctions: Oscars for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay and Best Editing; Oscar nominations for Best Directing, Best Supporting Actor (Dillon) and Best Song ("In the Deep"); currently #215 on IMDb's Top 250
Synopsis: a day in the life of racism in L.A.
Length: 112 minutes
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), December 2008
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay).
Objective Rating: 5/10 (points off for concept, story, cinematography, acting and music) c. 2.5/4 (Okay).

If it had been two movies, they would have been crazy great. As it is, it's two movies, spliced together, without anything to unify them other than "themes." They each have their own shapes, their own climaxes and resolutions, and they're cut together based purely on the time of day in which the events take place without regard for the stories' dramatic arcs. There's some really great acting, but there's also some Brendan Fraser and Sandra Bullock.

The Best Years of Our Lives

Title: The Best Years of Our Lives
Year: 1946
Director: William Wyler
Writer: Robert E. Sherwood, based on the novel by MacKinlay Kantor
Starring: Fredric March, Dana Andrews, Harold Russell, Myrna Loy, Teresa Wright
Music: Hugo Friedhofer
Distinctions: Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor (March), Best Supporting Actor (Russell), Best Score and Best Editing; Honorary Oscar (for Harold Russell); Oscar nomination for Best Sound Recording; currently #186 on IMDb's Top 250
Synopsis: Word War II veterans come home
Length: 172 minutes
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), November 2008
Subjective Rating: 3/10 (Bad).
Objective Rating: 4/10 (gets points for characters, dialog, special effects/design and acting) c. 2.3/4 (Okay).

Very tedious. I guess we're supposed to feel sorry for the guy with no education, skills or experience because he doesn't love his stable, easy job? Or are we supposed to be sympathetic toward the cripple who deliberately alienates his loved ones? Or maybe we're just supposed to take away the tidbits of Marxist propaganda they sneak in (not that I have anything against Marxism, but I really do not want to hear anything Hollywood has/had to say about politics).

King Kong

Title: King Kong
Year: 1933
Directors: Merian C. Cooper & Ernest B. Schoedsack
Writers: James Ashmore Creelman & Ruth Rose; story by Merian C. Cooper & Edgar Wallace
Starring: Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong, Bruce Cabot, Frank Reicher
Music: Max Steiner
Distinctions: currently #204 on IMDb's Top 250
Synopsis: uh, yeah... giant monkey
Length: 100 minutes
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), November 2008
Subjective Rating: 8/10 (Great).
Objective Rating: 6/10 (points off for characters, cinematography, special effects/design and acting) c. 2.9/4 (Good).

Off-the-wall fantasy adventure-serial-type iconic kitsch fun. The music is a major film score milestone. If you compare the special effects to something like Jurassic Park or a 60's Japanese monster movie, it looks pretty good - which is a nice way of saying it looks like cartoons and puppets.

Grave of the Fireflies

Title: Hotaru no haka
Year: 1988
Director: Isao Takahata
Writer: Isao Takahata, based on the novel by Akiyuki Nosaka
Starring: Tsutomu Tatsumi, Ayano Shiraishi
Music: Michio Mamiya
Distinctions: currently #196 on IMDb's Top 250
Synopsis: Japanese orphans starve to death during World War II
Length: 89 minutes
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), November 2008
Subjective Rating: 2/10 (Terrible).
Objective Rating: 6/10 (points off for concept, pacing, music and subjective rating) c. 2.9/4 (Good).

It's a very good movie. It's also just about the most depressing movie you could make.

Sherlock Jr.

Title: Sherlock Jr.
Year: 1924
Director: Buster Keaton
Writers: Clyde Bruckman, Jean C. Havez, Joseph A. Mitchell
Starring: Buster Keaton, Kathryn McGuire, Erwin Connelly, Ward Crane
Music: Club Foot Orchestra (for video release)
Distinctions: currently #148 on IMDb's Top 250
Synopsis: a theater projectionist dreams (literally) of being a detective
Length: 45 minutes
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Subjective Rating: 8/10 (Great)
Objective Rating: 9/10 (1 point off for characters) c. 3.5/4 (Very good)

Brilliant. There's nonstop silliness, impressive magic tricks, and most of all a bizarre, clever story. The post-modern score played by a jazz ensemble is delightful. It's also over-the-top and inappropriate, but I don't care; it adds a lot to the movie.

Our Hospitality

Title: Our Hospitality
Year: 1923
Directors: John G. Blystone & Buster Keaton
Writer: Jean C. Havez, Clyde Bruckman & Joseph A. Mitchell
Starring: Buster Keaton, Joe Roberts, Ralph Bushman, Craig Ward, Natalie Talmadge
Music: uncredited
Synopsis: a young man gets caught up in a family feud
Length: c. 75 minutes
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Subjective Rating: 5/10 (Indifferent).
Objective Rating: 3/10 (gets points for dialog, special effects/design and acting) c. 2.2/4 (Okay).

Pretty dull. There are some nice stunts near the end, but that's about it.

Laura

Title: Laura
Year: 1944
Director: Otto Preminger
Writers: Jay Dratler, Samuel Hoffenstein & Elizabeth Reinhardt, based on the novel by Vera Caspary
Starring: Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb, Vincent Price, Judith Anderson
Music: David Raksin
Distinctions: Oscar for Best Cinematography (black-and-white); Oscar nomination for Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (Webb) and Best Art Direction/Interior Decoration (black-and-white); currently #242 on IMDb's Top 250
Synopsis: a murder mystery with some surprise twists
Length: 88 minutes
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), November 2008
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay).
Objective Rating: 5/10 (points off for characters, dialog, cinematography, special effects/design and acting) c. 2.6/4 (Good).

It kept moving, and as a whodunnit it "keeps you guessing," as they say. But I didn't really care all that much who dunnit. Most aspects I took points off for were okay, just not exceptional.

The Celebration

Title: Festen
Year: 1998
Director: Thomas Vinterberg
Writer: Thomas Vinterberg & Mogens Rukov
Starring: Ulrich Thomsen, Henning Moritzen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Paprika Steen
Music: Lars Bo Jensen
Distinctions: formerly on IMDb's Top 250
Synopsis: guy publicly confronts his abusive father at his 60th birthday party
Length: 105 minutes
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), November 2008
Subjective Rating: 5/10 (Indifferent).
Objective Rating: 6/10 (points off for concept, cinematography, special effects/design and subjective rating) c. 2.4/4 (Okay).

Not my kind of movie, but good performances and writing kept me engaged with it. Deliberately shooting it as poorly as possible made up for any positives, though. It's shot, for no apparent reason, entirely with handheld cameras. I could handle that, but cheap cellphone-quality handheld cameras... why?

Iron Man

Title: Iron Man
Year: 2008
Director: Jon Favreau
Writers: Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Art Marcum & Matt Holloway, based on characters by Stan Lee, Don Heck, Larry Lieber & Jack Kirby
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow
Music: Ramin Djawadi
Distinctions: Oscar nominations for Best Visual Effects and Best Sound Editing; formerly on IMDb's Top 250
Synopsis: an amoral weapons manufacturer builds a super suit
Length: 126 minutes
How I saw it: in the theater, May 2008; on video (rented from Netflix), November 2008
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good).
Objective Rating: 7/10 (points off for cinematography, special effects/design and music) c. 2.9/4 (Good).

I'm kind of torn. I was crazy about this movie after seeing it in the theater. The second time around, knowing that it wasn't going anywhere took a lot of the fun out of it. It's a great origin story, but he never really gets around to any superheroing. The good guys are all great characters, but there is no villain worth mentioning. The build up to the action scenes is great, but the action itself is cartoon robots punching each other. The music... is fitting for a character with a Black Sabbath song named after him.