I look like Don Corleone as I write this, but oh well. The surgery went well, thank you very much. And, I saw many films in the mean time. I also saw many films that had secret connections to each other, so ask your parents if you get out paper and a pencil to write down all of the secret connections. Also, enjoy the puns I made!
SELLERS ENGLAND BY THE POUND
Once in a while, a film is made that chronicles the life of a celebrity. "The Life & Death of Peter Sellers" is one of these films. Despite the films melancholy title and entertaining subject, it only escapes mediocrity by a small margin. In all fairness it was a television movie, but in all fairness...well, it was about Peter Sellers.
This book was based off of the Sellers biography of the same title, and how much of the film's bouncy, unfocused, confusing, rushed, and miscalculated structure comes from the book I do not know, but the film certainly has better cover art. While the film has stunning production values, it ends up just being too 'wacky.' The film knows it's about Peter Sellers so it can give itself the non-congealed quality of Sellers' lesser films and hope to get away with it. Unfortunately, the film is caught red handed. The jig is up, makers-of-this-film!
And, you know, you'd even expect the acting to be good. But, it just doesn't cut it. Geoffrey Rush does an unamusing and irritating Sellers impression. The only major stand out actors were John Lithgow as director Blake Edwards and Emily Watson as Sellers' first wife. However, when your film hinges on the life and death of a famous personality, it's a good idea to have a spot-on actor play them.
While the film is entertaining, it leaves much to be desired. Check your local bargain bin or Wal-Mart for this mildly amusing film.
WHAT'S NOT TO (strange)LOVE? (answer: the ending)
Having just written a "Dr. Strangelove" essay for English this morning, I've decided to make this essay simply include the following words: "It's funny, go see it." Thank you.
THE MAN WHO WATCHED THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER
I was recommended "The Man Who Came To Dinner" by a co-worker that I dislike. Surprisingly, I found the film to be highly enjoyable and funny. It has that whole, "How many things can go wrong in one situation," comedic attitude that has become so prevalent since this film's release, and I feel it hasn't been done any better since this film's release. The Man Who Came To Dinner, led by the hysterical Monty Wooley as the titular "man," is a tale of conflicting personalities, vicious insults, cute penguins, and the good witch from The Wizard of Oz as a minor character (okay, maybe it's not about THAT). Opposite Wooley is Bette Davis as his personal assistant. Her character/acting is uniquely charming and human. She falls in love with a local newspaper man that she meets in the town her and Wooley end up being stuck in after Wooley succumbs to a more benign than realized injury (god damn that sentence was ridiculous). More than a half dozen other major characters revolve around Wooley and his scathing wit. The film sets itself up with a play feel (unsurprisingly, as it WAS originally a play), due to it's minimal location, long scenes, and laugh-out-loud funny dialogue-driven segments. This is certainly an old man you'd want to see if you enjoy comedies that don't have to have a vulgar gesture every eleventh minute.
GOSH!FORD PARK
Robert Altman's acclaimed picture, "Gosford Park," was one of those movies that when I was growing up, I'd refer to as, "a bunch of British people standing around." My point of reference for these conclusions would be the exemplary clips from the film played at the academy awards. "Why are they wearing those clothes, my parents?" "Well, son, those British have a different way of doing things. Them damn redcoats." Then, my father would pour gunpowder into his musket.
Sometime after this anachronistic anecdote, I saw Gosford Park. Two days ago in fact. As the film's opening credits began, I "oooh'd" at every actor I admired. Derek Jacobi, Stephen Fry, Richard E. Grant, Clive Owen, Emily Watson (see first essay), and some people with fancy names. Under the credits you see introductions to each major player. This is one of Altman's most ambitious ensemble pictures yet. Although it all occurs in one building (unlike "Short Cuts") it has a staggering amount of people to remember and keep track of. And, of course, Altman pulls if off again. At the start of the film, you might be very intimidated. Everyone starts off quite the same, and unless you recognize the faces, it's hard to remember who is who (or, who is DOING who). But, you'll find by the 20 minute mark, that you are firmly holding the reigns of the film's unique character strands. Each character develops in their own ways. All characters are firmly defined. At this point in Altman's career, he had really honed his craft. It's a shame that he has since passed on.
Gosford Park is an entertaining yarn about class struggles and murder. If you don't see it you are a scoundrel! I choose to rectify our disagreement with fisticuffs. Have at you!
Great Annie Halls of Fire
One time Woody Allen was a jew and he complained a lot about love. And, I empathized. As "Annie Hall" began, Allen goes on a wonderful rant about relationships. Despite much knowledge about the film beforehand (including its most well known gags and themes) I was still stunned that it lived up to its reputation as a "romantic comedy for real people."
As a budding romantic, I found I identified with many of the struggles that Alvy Singer, Woody's character, goes through on a pretty usual basis. The bit in the film that made me laugh the absolute most was when he is walking down the streets of Manhattan with Annie and he stops just to say "Let's just kiss now so it's not awkward." Except he says it much more funny (jewey). Following this, another laugh out moment as Alvy makes a face in response to what Annie orders at the restaurant which they are eating at. Also, the moment where men hound Alvy after they recognize him from the TV is pure genius.
The film is awkward, non-linear, hypothetical, and relaxed. It also managed to tickle this obscure place in my body between my heart and my funny bone that few other films can even reach with the longest feather.
THE LADY FROM SHANG O HAI
I've come to respect Mr. Orson Welles as one of my favorite filmmakers to grace God's green earth. It's certainly an explanation why I didn't find The Lady From Shanghai as satisfying as his other works. Unlike Touch of Evil, or Citizen Kane, it lacks the tight Welles-ian punch. The film starts off like a rocket, with brilliant noir voice-over by Welles in an impressive Irish brogue. The film eventually trails off course a bit however and you begin to find all actions on screen to be inconsequential. You lose your connection with the characters by the third act, and it's unfortunate. It's also unfortunate that Welles beautiful camera work is less...beautiful...in this film than his other films.
Luckily, the acting in this film is marvelous. Everett Sloane (Mr. Bernstein in Citizen Kane), is marvelous as the crippled millionaire whose wife (the marvelous Rita Hayworth) Welles has fallen in love with. The film is certainly great by the standards of the average film, but when you take Welles, possibly America's greatest director, you expect much much more. Add one point to my score if you have never seen a Welles film before this one. Subtract one if you've seen them all.
NO MAN'S LAND (wait no pun?)
I was recommended this film by a co-worker I DO like. It has a fascinating story. By chance, two enemy soldiers in the Bosnian-Serbian conflict end up in a trench together, and have to trust (GASP) each other in order to survive. With the U.N. and press trying to intervene upon the situation so that either side doesn't accidentally kill the men, and with bomb experts ensuring their safety from the many mines across the land, the film gets beautifully hectic. The winner for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2001 Oscars, this film's dialogue is marvelously real, and often darkly humorous.
By the second half of the film, you really discover it's ultimate theme's and messages. One major one is how the press is disadvantageous to sensitive wartime situations. I'd like to keep this spoiler free, but see the film and you'll understand.
The acting in the film (mostly by actors of which I have never heard) is wonderful. They show the internal struggles their characters face in a natural way, which is a difficult skill to possess. There are also major appearances by one of my all time favorite character actors, Simon Callow, and the late, great Katrin Cartilidge. Simply, No Man's Land will stun your soul.
I LIKE IT HOT
I can't decide who plays a more charming woman: Marilyn Monroe or Jack Lemmon.
In Billy Wilder's classic tale of crime, crossdressers, jazz, millionaires, and blonde bombshells many funny things occur. They happen through about the entire film. It's too superfluous to summarize such a well-known film. So, I'll just discuss what I like:
Everything.
Oh...So, I guess I'll just discuss what I don't like?
Okay.
So what do I not like?
Well, I wouldn't say there are things to not like, I just think that some of the jokes aren't THAT funny anymore. And, also, there's that one guy in George Raft's gang that's REALLY ugly. You know the one. He's the one with the voice that's like nails-on-chalkboard, only 8 octaves lower. That guy is so ugly. I hate that guy. He's an ugly bastard.
THE APARTMEANT TO BE
The Apartment, also Billy Wilder-directed and Jack Lemmon-starring, is a beautiful film. A direct influence on the wonderful, "The Baxter," the film has easily turned into one of my favorites of all time. The film centers around C.C. Baxter, the happy-go-lucky white collar employee who rents his apartment out to his bosses and their mistresses almost every night of the week. This causes great strain on his life, especially as these bosses are promising him promotions and disallowing them to use his home could lose him the job. It's especially straining on his romantic pursuits of Fran (Shirley MacLaine, in her cutest role since The Trouble With Harry), the classiest 20-something elevator attendant in the building. Eventually Baxter's apartment business is found out by one of the higher-ups, who instead of reprimanding Baxter, asks if he could use the apartment as well. Little does Baxter know, the woman he cheats on his wife with is Fran. So, this causes a great deal of dramatic irony for the audience.
The film unfolds as a beautifully tragic romantic comedy. For guys like me, C.C. Baxter is easy to identify with (even more so than Alvy Singer). I found so many bits in this film to be reminiscent of my own experiences that I just had to invest all of my faith and energy in Baxter. And, Baxter, played brilliantly by Jack Lemmon, is just about the nicest guy on the face of the earth. It's an ultimate underdog tale that will inspire you and entertain you at face value, but will chill you with all of its bits of symbolism and beauty on the inside (especially in the film's darker second half). Anyone who doesn't see The Apartment deserves to be torn APARTment.
Films Since I Started the Marathon:
-"Autism: The Musical," (2007, Tricia Regan) - 8/10
-"Rock School," (2005, Don Argott) - 5/10
-"The Life & Death of Peter Sellers," (2004, Stephen Hopkins) - 6/10
-"Dr. Strangelove," (1964, Stanley Kubrick) - 9/10
-"The Man Who Came To Dinner, (1942, William Keighley) - 8.5/10
-"Gosford Park," (2002, Robert Altman) - 9.25/10
-"Annie Hall," (1977, Woody Allen) - 8.5/10
-"The Lady From Shanghai," (1948, Orson Welles) - 6.5/10
-"No Man's Land," (2001, Danic Tanovic) - 8.75/10
-"Some Like It Hot," (1959, Billy Wilder) - 8.5/10
-"The Apartment," (1960, Billy Wilder) - 9.75/10
