Citizen Kane

Director:
Orson Welles

Writers:
Herman J. Mankiewicz and Orson Welles

Cast:
Orson Welles as Charles Foster Kane
Dorothy Comingore as Susan Alexander Kane
Joseph Cotten as Jedediah Leland
Everett Sloane as Mr. Bernstein
William Alland as Jerry Thompson

Released: 1941
Studio: RKO
Box Office: $1,585,634

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 100%
IMDB Score: 8.6

Date Seen: August 20, 2009
Format: DVD

Citizen Kane by many critics and other people in the film industry as the best movie ever made. Although I am no expert on the matter, I have to respectfully disagree. There is no denying the technical aspect of the production, I just never got drawn in to the story.

It’s about the life and death of newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane. At the beginning of the movie Kane dies and utters his last word, “Rosebud.” An eager reporter tries to find the meaning of this last word. There starts a series of flashbacks told from the perspective of the people closest to Kane. He started out poor, but from the sale of some family land that a gold mine had been discovered on, he came into a great wealth. He then decides to spend part of his fortune on a struggling newspaper. He turns the paper around a goes on to own several papers across the country, becoming the country’s most powerful newsman. Kane is loosely based on real life newsman, William Randolph Hearst. Hearst tried to stop the release of the film, and did not allow any of the media outlets he owned cover the movie.

The movie was shot with what is called “deep focus.” Which means what is in the background and foreground are in focus simultaneously. The makeup was also revolutionary for the time, as Orson Welles portrayed Kane from a young man all the way to an elderly man. Even though the film was made in 1941, I would have to say that the makeup rivals that of 2008 film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Even though Citizen Kane is possibly the most technologically advanced film of its time, the story seem to drag and honestly just wasn’t very interesting to me. So therefore, I have to say that it was just an above average film.

Citizen Kane is listed as number 1 in AFI’s 100 Greatest Films.

Favorite Performance:
Orson Welles as Charles Foster Kane

Favorite Quote:
Female reporter: If you could’ve found out what Rosebud meant, I bet that would’ve explained everything.
Thompson: No, I don’t think so; no. Mr. Kane was a man who got everything he wanted and then lost it. Maybe Rosebud was something he couldn’t get, or something he lost. Anyway, it wouldn’t have explained anything… I don’t think any word can explain a man’s life. No, I guess Rosebud is just a… piece in a jigsaw puzzle… a missing piece.

Grade:
B

Recommendation:
Couldn’t tell you not to watch it.

Monday Minute – Catching Up

Due to getting in the swing of the new semester, I have gotten behind on my blog posts so I decided to do a quick post on the movies I’ve seen recently.

Max Payne

Released: 2008     Rotten Tomatoes Score: 18%     IMDB Score: 5.4

A detective tries to solve the mystery of his wife’s death. Highly stylized. The first half is intriguing but the film loses it during the second half.

Grade: C

The Soloist

Released: 2009     Rotten Tomatoes Score: 54%     IMDB Score: 7.0

A journalist befriends a homeless musician. Features strong performances by Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx.

Grade: A-

The Hurt Locker

Released: 2009     Rotten Tomatoes Score: 98%     IMDB Score: 8.0

A soldier diffuses bombs in Iraq. A movie about why he does what he does. The best movie I’ve seen this year (so far).

Grade: A-

District 9

Released: 2009     Rotten Tomatoes Score: 89%     IMDB Score: 8.7

Aliens become stranded over Johannesburg. The government tries to relocate them to concentration camps. Contains several parallels with Apartheid.

Grade: B+

All The President’s Men

Director:
Alan J. Pakula

Writer:
William Goldman

Cast:
Robert Redford as Bob Woodward
Dustin Hoffman as Carl Bernstein
Jason Robards as Ben Bradlee
Hal Holbrook as Deep Throat

Released: 1976
Studio: Warner Bros.
Box Office: $70,600,000

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 100%
IMDB Score: 8.0

Date Seen: August 7, 2009
Format: Netflix Instant View

I don’t usually become so enthralled with a movie as I did with All The President’s Men. I couldn’t look away. I was hanging on every sentence. That’s the sign of a good movie with great pacing. Even though the film is almost entirely dialogue without any action sequences, it kept me on the edge of my seat.

It follows the two Washington Post journalists who discovered the Watergate scandal that caused the resignation of President Nixon. It covers the beginning of their investigation up til the point where they discover that the president may be involved. Then it cuts to shots of news wires being written that detail the results of the investigation with the last one being “President Nixon resigns.” I wish the movie would have covered the entire investigation but since it was made just a couple of years after Watergate, I guess most people of the time knew most of the later details so they decided to focus on the beginnings of the discovery.

Both Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman gave masterful performances. They played their characters as almost desperate men who knew that they were onto a very deep and complex story but didn’t know exactly how deep or how important. Two particular sequences really caught my attention. One was when they were going house to house of people who worked for the committee to re-elect the president for statements about payments made to the Watergate burglars and the shot was set up looking from within the house out towards the two journalists and then the door would slam in there face over and over. The other shot was set within the office of the newspaper and you can see Redford and Hoffman in the background working on the story while the rest of the employees are gathered around the T.V.

All The President’s Men is listed as number 77 in AFI’s 100 Greatest Films.

Favorite Performance:
Dustin Hoffman as Carl Bernstein

Favorite Quote:
Ben Bradlee: Now hold it, hold it. We’re about to accuse Haldeman, who only happens to be the second most important man in this country, of conducting a criminal conspiracy from inside the White House. It would be nice if we were right.

Grade:
A-

Recommendation:
See it.

The Ugly Truth

Director:
Robert Luketic

Writers:
Nicole Eastman, Karen McCullah Lutz, and Kirsten Smith

Cast:
Gerard Butler as Mike
Katherine Heigl as Abby

Released: 2009
Studio: Columbia
Box Office: $56,640,785 (as of 8/4/09)

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 15%
IMDB Score: 6.3

Date Seen: August 4, 2009
Format: Theater

The most important aspect of any romantic comedy, especially the type where two people who start out hating each other end up together, is can the audience believe that the characters would actually end up together in the real world. Or in other words, is the progression of their relationship on screen believable. In The Ugly Truth, I absolutely did not believe Mike and Abby would ever be together. In a much better rom-com, When Harry Met Sally…, they realized that they actually loved each other slowly over the course of the movie. When she realized that she liked him in this movie, it was because he had just ordered tap water in a club. How stupid is that? I never did find out when or even why he would ever like her. She is a neurotic control-freak and never comes to a point where she realizes she needs to change. If he didn’t like her before, why would he like her now?

The movie was not without it’s high points. It was quite funny in parts and had potential to be a good film like the much better (and funnier) Knocked Up, also starring Katherine Heigl. It was just weighed down by too many cliches. Gerard Butler and Katherine Heigl both did admirable jobs portraying their characters and overall the acting was not bad. They were just working with a weak script but did the best job they could do. The balloon scene though was poorly executed on the effects end. The lighting and shadows did not match with the background and made it very noticeable that it was shot on a green screen. The best effects are the ones that you don’t notice.

Favorite Performance:
Gerard Butler as Mike

Favorite Quote:
Mike: You’re all about comfort and efficiency!
Abby: What’s wrong with comfort and efficiency?
Mike: Well nothing, except no one wants to f**k it.

Grade:
C-

Recommendation:
Skip it and watch When Harry Met Sally…

Vertigo

Director:
Alfred Hitchcock

Writers:
Alec Coppel and Samuel A. Taylor

Cast:
Jimmy Stewart as John ‘Scottie’ Ferguson
Kim Novak as Madeleine Elster/Judy Barton

Released: 1958
Studio: Paramount
Box Office: $7,311,013

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 98%
IMDB Score: 8.6

Date Seen: August 2, 2009
Format: Netflix Instant View

Alfred Hitchcock is the undisputed “Master of Suspense.” Veritigo is considered one of his best films, but it was hard for me to figure out what I thought about it. I have seen very few films made prior to 1970, so I am used to the technical advances made in film making during that time. That makes it very hard for me to grasp how truly innovative this movie was during its time. My favorite shots were the ones that showed the vertigo when John looked down for heights and the camera kind of warped to give the impression that the heights suddenly got much larger.

It is the story of a retired detective that suffers from vertigo from an experience losing a colleague on the job. He is hired to follow the wife of a friend. The friend suspects she has been possessed by the ghost of a woman who died many years ago and is now reliving her life. After saving her from drowning, John starts to fall in love with her. She starts to fall in love with him too. He can’t save her from throwing herself off the top of a clock tower, but with Hitchcock, that is not the end of the story. This film had so many plot twists and turns, that I had no idea how it would end until the very last second. That is accredited to a great director working with a great script. I wish modern films would be made like this.

So taking this film as it is, as a movie made in the 1950s, I have to say that it is one of the best films that I have ever seen. I was thoroughly intrigued by the story and the acting was top notch. (Note to self: watch more movies with Jimmy Stewart.)

Vertigo is listed as number 9 in AFI’s 100 Greatest Films.

Favorite Performance:
Jimmy Stewart as John ‘Scottie’ Ferguson

Favorite Quote:
Scottie: And then what did he do? Did he train you? Did he rehearse you? Did he tell you exactly what to do, what to say? You were a very apt pupil too, weren’t you? You were a very apt pupil! Well, why did you pick on me? Why me?

Grade:
A

Recommendation:
If you are interested in seeing classic films, then this is a good one to start.

Monday Minute – Wes Anderson

This week I will be reviewing all 5 films made by Wes Anderson. He specializes in off-beat comedies. He also has the same actors recurring in most of his films, especially Owen Wilson, Bill Murray, Anjelica Huston, and Jason Schwartzman.

Bottle Rocket

Released: 1996     Rotten Tomatoes Score: 79%     IMDB Score: 7.2

Three friends try to become crooks but learn it’s harder than they thought it would be. Owen Wilson’s debut film.

Grade: C+

Rushmore

Released: 1998     Rotten Tomatoes Score: 86%     IMDB Score: 7.8

An overzealous but under-achieving prep school kid falls in love with a teacher and battles a wealthy steel tycoon for her affection.

Grade: B

The Royal Tenenbaums

Released: 2001     Rotten Tomatoes Score: 80%      IMDB Score: 7.6

The story of forbidden love amongst the most dysfunctional family I have ever seen. Features excellent ensemble cast.

Grade: B-

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

Released: 2004     Rotten Tomatoes Score: 52%     IMDB Score: 7.2

A washed-up explorer reunites with his long lost son and hunts down the shark that killed his friend while trying to regain his reputation.

Grade: B+

The Darjeeling Limited

Released: 2007     Rotten Tomatoes Score: 67%     IMDB Score: 7.3

Three brothers take a train ride through India after not seeing each other for a long time to find spiritual enlightenmet.

Grade: B-

Fun Fact:
The movie I liked the most, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, is the one least liked by everyone else.

When Harry Met Sally…

Director:
Rob Reiner

Writer:
Nora Ephron

Cast:
Billy Crystal as Harry Burns
Meg Ryan as Sally Albright
Carrie Fisher as Marie
Bruno Kirby as Jess

Released: 1989
Studio: Columbia
Box Office: $92,823,546

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%
IMDB Score: 7.7

Date Seen: July 26, 2009
Format: DVD

Countless movies have tries to capture the magic presented in a film like When Harry Met Sally…. The story of two people who initially hate each other but (SPOILER ALERT!!) eventually fall in love. Two current releases, The Proposal and The Ugly Truth, follow this same formula, but not nearly as well as When Harry Met Sally…. This movie was Meg Ryan’s coming out party as the queen of romantic comedies.

As a person who does not generally like rom-coms, I didn’t know how I would like this movie. I was pleasantly surprised. The film is set up as kind of a series of episodes chronicling how Harry and Sally met and (SPOILER ALERT!!) fell in love. Harry is a neurotic political consultant and Sally is an equally neurotic journalist. They believe that men and women can not be friends without sex getting in the way. This holds true until they learn that they actually (SPOILER ALERT!!) love each other. Unlike other similar movies, even though I knew the eventual outcome, I enjoyed the process of getting to the end. I cared for these characters and actually wanted them to end up together.

The dialogue is witty and humerous. Full of quotable lines and catchy phrases. The following quote fully explains Harry’s reasoning why men and women cant be friends.

Yes, that’s right, they can’t be friends. Unless both of them are involved with other people, then they can… This is an amendment to the earlier rule. If the two people are in relationships, the pressure of possible involvement is lifted… That doesn’t work either, because what happens then is, the person you’re involved with can’t understand why you need to be friends with the person you’re just friends with. Like it means something is missing from the relationship and why do you have to go outside to get it? And when you say “No, no, no it’s not true, nothing is missing from the relationship,” the person you’re involved with then accuses you of being secretly attracted to the person you’re just friends with, which you probably are. I mean, come on, who the hell are we kidding, let’s face it. Which brings us back to the earlier rule before the amendment, which is men and women can’t be friends.

Overall this was a pleasurable movie watching experience and one that has made me want to give some other romantic comedies a watch.

Favorite Performance:
Meg Ryan as Sally Albright

Favorite Quote:
Harry Burns: Had my dream again where I’m making love, and the Olympic judges are watching. I’d nailed the compulsories, so this is it, the finals. I got a 9.8 from the Canadians, a perfect 10 from the Americans, and my mother, disguised as an East German judge, gave me a 5.6. Must have been the dismount.

Grade:
B+

Recommendation:
Great movie to watch with a significant other.