Tell me about a great movie you watched and write a review?
I just rewatched the Maltese Falcon. Here is my review:
My father was a student of film, a critic, and a teacher of film history. He used to say that Casablanca was Bogart’s most famous film, but The Maltese Falcon was his best. He had a theory of the “perfect movie” where every line of dialogue, every shot, every cut, and every camera angle adds to the story. The Maltese Falcon was one of his perfect movies.
How much is a dream worth? How far will some lie, cheat, steal and kill just for a dream? The Maltese Falcon may or may not answer this for you, but it will challenge your assumptions. This is the movie that launched Bogart’s career into the stratosphere, with his iconic character of Sam Spade. It’s one of first noir films, with one of the first femme fatales.
Sure, viewed in the lens of 2020 (is it really 2020?) it’s sexist and perhaps a little misogynistic. But this filmed in 1941 when people in their prime were born in the late 1800s.
There are lots of great movies out there. But fewer are iconic. How many movies were made in the 1930s and 1940s that you can only find by mining IMDB? This movie stands the test of time more than most, and will be a great movie 100 years from now when we are all long gone.
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Can I write about several movies? I have so many movies to review :D
@Mimishu1995 it looks like you should. Otherwise, it appears this question will be left in the orphanage. The op is asking for a lot of work.
“Pain and Glory” from last year by Pedro Almodovar was a perfect movie in my mind. It is the semi-autobiographical story of a film director in crisis in his 60s – depressed and druggy. Beautiful flashbacks reveal his childhood and current relationship with his mother. Through encounters with friends and a former lover he regains meaning. It is beautifully shot and acted by Antonio Banderas and Penelope Cruz, among others. In Spanish with subtitles.
This was my favorite film of last year and my choice, if it had been nominated, for Best Picture. I personally loathed “Parasite.”
@Mimishu1995
“Can I write about several movies?”
Please do that. :-)
I personally liked The African Queen more than the other two. Sabrina too.
My favorite movie is My Fair Lady.
The story, music, acting and gorgeous costumes are nice.
I would not be a good reviewer as I will say, “Good!” “Bad!” or if I fall asleep while watching, I’d give it ZZZZZ as opposed to 5 roses. and the winner of the 5 Z award in a public place goes to The Da Vinci Code
Jaws
Big men in bigger boat chase big fish lurking in big blue wobbly sea.
@ucme I used to have a photo of him on our boat. People thought it was of my husband’s dad lol
Hahaha that would make you kinky :D
Thank you! I haven’t heard of “pain and glory.” But I loved Parasite. I liked Joker better.
African Queen is on my list. I plan on going through all the Bogart movies
“African Queen” is one of my all time favorites too.
Don’t forget Captain Queeg.
The Defiant Ones
It don’t matter if you’re black or white…sewing machine!
Okay, maybe people don’t have the time nor inclination to get in the spirit of the question. You can’t fault me for trying though!
@Caravanfan awww come on… Your question is great and I will help you! I have a bunch of movies I’d like to talk about and I will do that in a moment :D
It’s now been 20 moments. ;-p
The Fire Within (1963)
A man called Alan Leroy contemplates suicide after realizing that his life is nothing but a string of failure. In a last ditched effort to stay alive, he decides to go meet some old friends and try to get them convince him why he shouldn’t die. The plan does not end well, as most of his friends have changed after so many years…
This deceptively simple story soon prove to hold a lot of weight underneath the slow pacing. The entire move is based on discussions between Alain and each friend he passes by, and no discussion, however long it is, is meaningless. Each discussion reveals bits and pieces of Alain’s mind and the real reason why he wants to die. But that isn’t all the movie offers. Each character proposes a reason to live, which Alain finds unacceptable as he also has his own reason not to believe. Each discussion becomes a small philosophical debate that heavily reflects the issues we see in real life, which is incredibly relevant even for today.
But what truly makes this movie a classic for me is how objective the movie presents the characters. When I watched it for the first time, I was wholly on Alain side and I thought his friends had grown up to be shallow, materialistic escapists. But as I reflect back to the movie, I realized that the friends actually have a valid point and Alain does come off as whiny at times. In the end, the movie doesn’t judge any characters as “good” or “bad”, it just presents the situation as it is, and leave the answer for the audience. This is the beauty of the movie.
There is this sad, disturbing atmosphere throughout the movie that I just can’t get my finger on. Over the year, I have come to realize how much that movie has influence my writing style. After all, I’m still trying to create the same atmosphere the movie has offered, sad and disturbing without any horror.
Night and the City (1950)
A man called Harry Fabian has been a “here today gone tomorrow” sensation for most of his life. He has always done stupid things for short-term gains, and fails every time. So when he sees a former wrestler getting upset with his son’s wrestling show, he has this brilliant idea to trick the father into sponsoring his “dream” of becoming a CEO of a wrestling company. He makes stupid decisions again out of short-term thinking. But this time he doesn’t just fail his dream, as some dangerous people are also involved…
Harry is a bad character and the movie makes no attempt to hide it. What I really like about the movie is how it makes me root for a bad character. Harry is a bad character, but he isn’t the only bad character of the entire movie. When you compare Harry to basically every character in the movie (except for his girlfriend, his neighbor and the wrestler), he is just a sad opportunist who just wants to get rich a famous. He starts off having control over everything and having everyone fooled, but as the story goes on, he starts to lose control and just react to everything in sight, having no say to his fate at all. Watching the man getting crushed by his own dream is a surreal experience. It’s both sad and hilarious at the same time.
The saddest thing about Harry is that he actually has everything to create a decent life. He has a supportive wife and friends, and he is very intelligent and hard-working. He could have had a great life if he hadn’t been too impatient of getting somewhere in life. This is also the moral value of the movie. Apart from being a sad story of a guy following the wrong dream and messing with the wrong people, it also raises a question of whether you should look around and decide for yourself if you’ve already had enough…
You’re doing a great job Mimi!
@Mimishu1995 -Nicely written reviews! that’s my review of your reviews :)
Night and the City with Gene Teirney. I might have to see that one
Purple Noon (1960)
Tom Ripley has been friends with Philippe Greenleaf for some time. Tom is jealous of Philippe’s money and hateful of Philippe’s looking down on him. Philippe has a girlfriend whom he has been in bad terms for some time. Tom uses that opportunity with the girlfriend to kill Philippe and get his money for himself. Little does Tom knows, his murder sets off a string of events completely out of his control…
There are so many thrilling chase scenes throughout the movie that I thought the movie turned into an action movie at one point. But the charm of the chase scenes lie in how unconventional they are. For context: after Tom kills Philippe, he has to assume Philippe’s identity throughout the movie in places that requires Philippe’s registration in order to cover up the murder. And those places include hotels, guest houses and stuff. So when people come to check on “Philippe”, Tom has to run away to avoid suspicion. That’s what the chase scenes are for. And the beauty of it is that most of the time there is no one chasing him at all, just him running away from a perceived danger. From someone who plans the murder and subsequent inheritance, Tom turns into a scared man unable to control himself.
What makes Purple Noon different from Night and the City is that Tom is a much more calculated person than Harry. Harry is just a sad man with a broken dream, while Tom is a devious man who just happens to see his plans ruined. Tom is a much less sympathetic character. He has a clear plan and goes at any length to complete it. But you also have to wonder if we should hate him at all, as Philippe isn’t a nice person either and at times he also outright bullies Tom, and some people are glad that he is gone. It’s a tragedy and no one is the hero.
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