The French Connection (1971): Shira's Take

First and foremost it must be said that the first half of this movie is not good. It is totally uninteresting, and the details of the smuggling plot are hard to follow. Second, there is not much character development, which is typically the most important thing to me in any narrative-based art-form. Disclaimers aside...The French Connection is great. I don't miss the character development when Gene Hackman is just so totally awesome. And the second half really makes up for the first. The moment the movie gets interesting is when Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle (Gene Hackman) desperately tries repeatedly to get on the same subway train as Frog #1, Alain Charnier (Fernando Rey). That scene is followed soon after by the classic car/subway chase scene, which is just so incredible in every way. That fifteen minutes (or so) of no dialogue develops Popeye's lust for the job more than hours of dialogue in any modern cop movie (Michael Mann's Heat for example). Add to that, of course, the fact that he absolutely does not care a bit when he kills Mulderig at the end. Priceless.

Really, the car chase scene on its own is the perfect movie, edited flawlessly. Nearing forty years later, and they're still making video games that attempt to be as cool. This endless determination, never looking back (except for when you almost run over a baby carriage), running into everything in your way, smashing up the car like crazy -- it is the ultimate cop movie scene. So yes, I will be giving this movie a 9/10, in spite of its awful first 45 minutes.

The Sound of Music (1965): Shira's Take

I think it's around now that we're getting to movies for which I really don't have much to say. I mean, I've seen the Sound of Music, and everyone else has too. What can be said about it that hasn't yet been said?

The photography/cinematography is great. Clearly, the Austrian and Bavarian filming locations help, but even the indoor scenes (probably shot in a Hollywood studio) are beautiful. In every way My Fair Lady is shot like a musical play, the Sound of Music is shot like a film. I can't imagine seeing the play version, when the sets could not possibly compare. And, of course, the songs are great. Unlike Audrey Hepburn, Julie Andrews actually COULD and DID sing, and her voice is much more memorable and melty than Marni Nixon's dubbing in My Fair Lady (though, interestingly enough, Marni Nixon played a bit part as one of the nuns in the Sound of Music as well). The characters are great, the story is great, etc.

But the main problem with this film is its sudden tone shift with little development. Though the Baroness and the Captain (Christopher Plummer) seemed to be genuinely in love, and the Captain and Tennille--oops, Maria--seemed to have a compatible, friendly, platonic relationship, suddenly the Captain was in love with Maria out of nowhere. Dancing together once does not add up to love. And what's with this, "I loved you when you blew the whistle," and all that crap? I'm sorry, it's just NOT true to the viewer. The intermission has ended, and there is not a lot of time left in which to suddenly cram in a mutual love declaration and wedding, a singing performance, AND the Anschluss. So they take a sequel's worth of plot and fit it into half an hour. Pacing suffers, and the end product suffers. Either way, it's a 9/10.

My Fair Lady (1964): Shira's Take

I think this is the first time I've watched a best picture winner in the context of this project and disagreed with my former opinion. I had ranked this movie from the hundreds of times I'd seen it in the past 5 stars, the equivalent of 10/10, on Flixter. My opinion is slightly changed.

Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison have absolutely some of my favorite onscreen chemistry ever. They have a Benedick and Beatrice thing going on. I'm not saying that Eliza ultimately should have returned to the ungrateful, obnoxious Henry. I'm just saying I like how much they hate each other, and I like how much they secretly love each other. Another positive--subtle, interesting choreography (my favorite being in the horse races scene). This pairs with wide, swooping photography to make for a big, beautiful musical film. The costumes (designed by Cecil Beaton, who also did fabulous costumes for the otherwise awful Gigi) are astonishing. I mentioned to Eitan at one point: "If I owned ANY dress in this entire movie, I would wear it every day for the rest of my life." And since we're talking musical here, I have to mention the songs. Every single song is a hit. Not all songs are necessary in terms of plot ("Get Me to the Church on Time", "I'm an Ordinary Man", etc.), but they are all catchy and enjoyable with great lyrics.

Now to get to why I've changed my rating of this movie since the last time I saw it. There are extremely boring patches, and they really should have been edited out. I'm sorry, but this movie could be 2.5 hours long and not lose ANYTHING. The story drags right in the beginning (before Eliza goes to Henry's house), in slight patches throughout, and especially after the ball scene. It seems that many scenes could be shortened by about a minute or two, as well. But it definitely has to be said that I really appreciate the ending. It is an intriguing ending for a love story, and I actually think it had a lot of influence on the less conventional films of the late 60's and early 70's (The Graduate, for one, in its uncertain ending). All we know is that Eliza and Henry care about each other and embrace each other's obnoxious habits, based on Eliza's smiling at Henry's rudeness. I doubt that the filmmakers intended to imply that Eliza and Henry would get married. Indeed, I think they and the Colonel would end up three bachelors, as Henry hypothesized. Charming, and interesting. 9/10

The Apartment (1960): Shira's Take

THE SIXTIES! WOOO!

The Apartment is of a rare breed in best picture winners. It starts off interesting and entertaining, and it stays that way throughout. It has a PERFECT Billy Wilder screenplay, quality-wise and otherwise-wise. What's funny about it is that I felt The Apartment actually got worse about 3/4 of the way through and never got as good as it had been in the beginning, and somehow, it was still a great movie. In terms of other BP winners we've watched, it was most similar to Marty, in that it felt like a play instead of a movie (and in that it featured a charmingly pathetic protagonist).

The plot was GREAT, the characters were GREAT (especially the neighbor, Dr. Dreyfuss, played by Jack Kruschen), and the actors were GREAT. The Apartment does not have everything I ask for in a best picture winner, but it has everything I ask for in a likeable movie. 9/10

The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957): Shira's Take

I have a question. Did Colonel Nicholson (played by Alec Guinness, a man of genuine class) blow up the bridge on purpose? I think my understanding of the movie would be much greater if I knew what the intention of the filmmakers was on this matter. Was he upset about getting Shears (played by William Holden, who just loved getting shot and falling into water in the 1950's) killed, and so he saw the "error of his ways" and blew up the bridge on his dying breath? Or was that just a tragic, ironic end to his life? I suppose it doesn't matter too much.

Absolutely beautiful setting, so my eyes were very happy. I felt that the movie took longer to get started than necessary. Everything up until Nicholson was let out of the "oven" under Colonel Saito's (Sessue Hayakawa's) amnesty was pretty boring. I think it's probably bad that I've seen Apocalypse Now before ever seeing The Bridge on the River Kwai, because all I could think in the ending lines ("Madness! Madness!") was, "The horror!"

Alec Guinness totally deserved his Oscar for this movie, as he was really amazing. I think the movie was, considering how huge and important it still is fifty years later, actually imperfect. Still, it was pretty close. 9/10

All About Eve (1950): Shira's Take

Gotta love a good sociopathic bitch movie. I love how the narration reads like fiction. Bette Davis's Margo Channing is the ultimate in actress with a good heart obscured by her jaded sense of modern Theatre. George Sanders's Addison DeWitt is a perfectly sadistic scandal-seeking tabloid-style critic. Aside from Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter), these were the two fully developed characters, and they really made the movie. What's interesting about Eve, though, is that while I was never fooled by her sweet and innocent act, I was also never fooled by Anne Baxter's evil and malicious act. Anne Baxter is just not convincing as evil. Still, apart from some bad bluescreening (why couldn't they film Addison and Eve walking down a real city street instead of putting them in previously filmed footage of a city street?), All About Eve had everything that movie nerds love about filmmaking--awesome shots and such. In general, it was an imperfect movie, but its flaws were few and far between. The last 15 minutes or so were like Return of the King (is it ending now? How about now? Now?).

I have to note Marilyn Monroe's cameo as Miss Caswell, a very blonde (and all the things that go along with being blonde) wannabe-actress and arm candy to Addison DeWitt. She plays the same role she always plays, essentially, but she brings a silly light to the movie, reminding the viewer to be entertained by it.

Notes to myself: Is it just me or does Anne Baxter kind of look like young Stockard Channing? While watching All About Eve, I refused to let myself acknowledge that it beat Sunset Boulevard for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Now, though, I can reflect on how it was a great movie, but it was no Sunset Boulevard. 9/10

Hamlet (1948): Shira's Take

What an empty interpretation of Hamlet. The castle had very little furniture, and the only thing visible onscreen aside from people throughout the movie was mist. It felt like its emptiness was intended to make the audience fully understand how rotten the state really was in Denmark. Also, Laurence Olivier played Hamlet so numbly. His performance was completely different from any other Hamlet I've seen. Most people play him angry and crazy, but Olivier's subtleties were really the best thing about the movie. My serious problem about it was Olivier's editing job of the play. I'm sorry, but it is NOT acceptable to cut ANY portion of the "To Be or Not to Be" soliloquy, and Hamlet just yelling, "The play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king!" was totally pathetic. And instead, they gave us 15 straight minutes of insane Ophelia, and the "Speak the speech I pray you" scene in entirety. I didn't like Polonius. Beyond just being an annoying character, I think of him as a pompous jerk, but in this he was more clueless and bumbling.

Two memorable shots: 1. The gravedigger casts aside Yorick's skull, and Hamlet's shadow approaches to engulf it. 2. The camera slowly revolves around the room during the play within the play, showing the audience members' reactions, finally ending on Claudius freaking out.

Notes to myself: THE FOP MESSENGER WAS SO GOOD. 9/10

All Quiet on the Western Front (1930): Shira's Take

Wow. Okay. First thing that I think must be said is that this movie is clearly not only still relevant, but also still haunting. A good example: a shot in the first big front-line battle scene has an enemy fighter (Frenchman? Englishman?) grasping the fence, about to get into the German trenches, when a bomb goes off, and all that remains when the smoke clears is his hands, still grasping the fence. This movie is about half made up of incredible, powerful, gut-wrenching scenes. Still, I found the scenes in between long and at times boring. I also had trouble following characters, which didn't seem so important in the end when they all ended up either dead or back home with amputated legs. One very noteworthy detail about this movie is that the protagonists are the Germans. The German efforts seemed so much more fruitless because I knew all the while that they would lose, and many of those not killed in the war would end up starving to death in impoverished post-war Germany. Eitan pointed out that all the actors were very American and their dialogues were written very American as well. This was brilliant; the only times I remembered that the boys I was rooting for were German was when I saw their Pickelhaubes. For a movie in which I didn't know most of the characters' names, All Quiet on the Western Front had some of the most incredible ensemble character development I've seen. Notes to myself: Maybe I saw this movie when I was significantly younger, and it is why I have such a strange fear of butterflies. 9/10