Movie Night: February 2015

February 27, 2015

Movie Night: The Pursuit of Happyness.

Review #696: The Pursuit of Happyness.

Cast
Will Smith (Chris Gardner), Jaden Smith (Christopher Gardner Jr), Thandie Newton (Linda Gardner), Brian Howe (Jay Twistle), Dan Castellaneta (Alan Frakesh), James Karen (Martin Frohm), and Kurt Fuller (Walter Ribbon) Directed by Gabriele Muccino.

Review
This is a movie that while not perfect, manages to hit the mark and at least be entertaining while having a little edge to it. Smith and Smith (yes I know) work really well together in their pairing because any scene they share together raises the interest level along with being enjoyable. The movie around it is fine, it has its moments of brilliance, with regards to the scenes that show the desperation of Gardner. The movie handles its subject well enough that you basically forget about any sort of inaccuracies and just let the movie roll through. It's a movie that manages to make you want to keep watching to the end. The supporting cast is fine, though I admit that it's more interesting to see the Gardners instead. It takes a little while to get itself rolling, but when it rises to the occasion, it does so at a brisk pace and it manages to be a fine film.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

February 14, 2015

Movie Night: Broken Blossoms.

Review #695: Broken Blossoms.

Cast
Lillian Gish (Lucy Burrows), Richard Barthelmess (Cheng Huan), Donald Crisp (Battling Burrows), Arthur Howard (Burrows' Manager), and Edward Peil Sr. (Evil Eye) Directed by D. W. Griffith (#415 - America)

Review
I admit to not having covered the 1910's much on this show, as this is only the 4th film from that decade (the others being Mickey, Back to God's Country, and The Poor Little Rich Girl) featured on this show, let us just push that fact aside for now for a movie unlike the other films. This is a movie that manages to evoke sadness over the small rays of hope while never betraying its purpose of tragedy. Gish is instantly likable for the audience, from the sad expressions in her eyes to her forcing a small smile, she makes the movie have an unsettling mood. Barthelmess and Gish are wonderful in the scenes they share with each other. Maybe it's the way they look at each other, or how innocent it all seems, which is a blessing by contrast to the rest of the film's tone. Speaking of that, Crisp is brutally effective at making the movie nearly uncomfortable to watch, with his expressions of anger, which all boils down to the surface with the closet scene near the end. Gish's fearful expressions and Crisp's anger combined with filming in a small set make for a climax that delivers. Yes, it's a sad movie. But this a sad movie that manages to be well made along with having some really effective acting. Because after all, if we just watch happy movies all our lives, we'll never know what to do when we encounter a sad moment in our lives.

Overall, I give it 10 out 10 stars.

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Best of the Best (10 out of 10 stars)

#001 - Terminator 2: Judgment Day

#014 - Die Hard

#015 - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

#026 - Ghostbusters

#035 - 12 Angry Men

#036 - Network

#039 - The Sixth Sense

#040 - Batman (1989)

#054 - The Dark Knight

#063 - The Terminator

#072 - Frankenstein (1931)

#079 - A Christmas Carol (1984)

#081 - The Maltese Falcon (1941)

#083 - The Iron Giant

#093 - 2001: A Space Odyssey

#099 - Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)

#100 - Blade Runner

#102 - Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

#109 - A Streetcar Named Desire

#110 - On the Waterfront

#113 - Star Wars (1977)

#114 - The Empire Strikes Back

#124 - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2

#125 - Casablanca

#126 - Close Encounters of the Third Kind

#153 - The Incredibles

#155 - Finding Nemo

#159 - The Wizard of Oz (1939)

#168 - Raiders of the Lost Ark

#170 - Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

#175 - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

#181 - Rebel Without a Cause

#188 - Sullivan's Travels

#199 - Forbidden Planet

#200 - Citizen Kane

#214 - Shrek

#222 - WALL-E

#223 - North by Northwest

#227 - Singin' in the Rain

#228 - Inherit the Wind

#232 - The Princess Bride

#250 - The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

#256 - Nosferatu

#257 - The Curse of Frankenstein

#258 - Dracula (1958)

#261 - The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

#286 - Lawrence of Arabia

#288 - Up

#300 - Watership Down

#303 - Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

#312 - The Avengers

#319 - It's a Wonderful Life

#333 - M

#348 - Poltergeist

#351 - Schindler's List

#352 - Who Framed Roger Rabbit

#355 - Lethal Weapon

#356 - Lethal Weapon 2

#361 - The Producers

#382 - Toy Story 3

#383 - The Natural

#394 - Bride of Frankenstein

#399 - The Thief of Bagdad (1924)

#400 - The Thief of Bagdad (1940)

#416 - Yankee Doodle Dandy

#427 - The Magnificent Seven

#440 - Toy Story

#441 - Toy Story 2

#447 - Psycho

#450 - Vertigo

#455 - Rear Window

#456 - It Happened One Night

#480 - Jaws

#499 - Sunrise: A Tale of Two Humans

#500 - Metropolis (1927)

#505 - The Adventures of Robin Hood

#530 - Alien

#569 - Gone with the Wind

#573 - E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

#574 - Aliens

#579 - Frozen

#599 - The Kid

#600 - City Lights

#601 - Three Colors: Blue

#631 - Chinatown

#635 - Nebraska

#636 - Being There

#641 - The Apartment

#655 - Young Frankenstein

#659 - True Grit (2010)

#667 - The Freshman

#674 - Grandma's Boy (1922)

#688 - Horse Feathers

#690 - Life Itself

#695 - Broken Blossoms

#697 - The Artist

#701 - Back to the Future

#702 - The Hustler

#714 - Inside Out

#725 - The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)

#750 - All About Eve

#758 - Safety Last!

#759 - The Gold Rush

#765 - Fargo

#777 - The Seventh Seal

#800 - Shadow of a Doubt

#809 - Sunset Boulevard

#810 - Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

#820 - Modern Times

#891 - Beauty and the Beast

#900 - Nashville

#904 - Cabaret (1972)

#907 - White Heat

#908 - The General (1926)

#910 - Notorious (1946)

#941 - Sherlock Jr

#968 - Throne of Blood

#990 - Taxi Driver

#1000 - The Last Picture Show

#1111 - Spirited Away

#1218 - Pulp Fiction

#1232 - Nanook of the North

#1233 - Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

#1246 - Akira (1988)

#1248 - Apollo 11 (2019)

#1249 - Footprints on the Moon: Apollo 11

#1255- Do the Right Thing

#1292 - Nosferatu the Vampyre

#1301 - Dr. Strangelove

#1322 - Battleship Potemkin

#1323 - The Adventures of Prince Achmed

#1349 - Stagecoach (1939)

#1355 - The Philadelphia Story

#1358 - To Be or Not to Be (1942)

#1367 - A Matter of Life and Death

#1368 - The Best Years of Our Lives

#1385 - Seven Samurai

#1386 - La Strada

#1392 - The Searchers

#1400 - The 400 Blows

#1415 - Mary Poppins

#1416 - My Fair Lady

#1429 - Once Upon a Time in the West

#1438 - The French Connection

#1440 - A Clockwork Orange

#1445 - The Sting

#1448 - Monty Python and the Holy Grail

#1460 - Apocalypse Now

#1463 - Raging Bull

#1496 - Goodfellas

#1498 - The Silence of the Lambs

#1501 - Unforgiven

#1506 - The Shawshank Redemption

#1519 - The Truman Show

#1520 - Saving Private Ryan

#1525 - Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

#1533 - Adaptation

#1544 - The Departed

#1546 - There Will Be Blood

#1553 - Fantastic Mr. Fox

#1570 - Birdman

#1584 - Parasite (2019)

#1596 - The Housemaid

#1615 - Edward Scissorhands

#1629 - Miller's Crossing

#1634 - Symbiopsychotaxiplasm

#1640 - Boyz n the Hood

#1643 - Malcolm X

#1655 - Daisies

#1656 - Harlan County, USA

#1657 - The Decline of Western Civilization

#1712 - The Fly (1986)

#1729 - Alice

#1731 - The Phantom Carriage

#1758 - My Neighbor Totoro

#1768 - Dumbo

#1773 - Red River

#1774 - The Cameraman#1792 - This Sporting Life, #1812 - The Eternal Breasts, #1813 - The Connection, #1825 - Double Indemnity, #1828 - Rebecca, #1835 - Everything Everywhere All at Once, #1887 - The Thin Man, #1932 - Django Unchained, #1933 - Grave of the Fireflies)