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An Education
In "An Education," a free-spirited schoolgirl Jenny Mellor (Carey Mulligan) encounters David Goldstein (Peter Sarsgaard), a suave man twice her age who offers her a date she cannot refuse. This affair causes the ire from her father Jack (Alfred Molina), her teacher Miss Stubbs (Olivia Williams), and her headmistress Miss Walters (Emma Thompson), who want her to pursue her education at Oxford. However, on the eve of her wedding with David, Jenny finds out not only is he a con artist, but he’s already married and has a history of adultery. Unlike most coming-of-age films, "An Education" is a film in which the adults, who at first seem conservative and overprotective, play a key role in the story. Jenny’s parents and teachers want the best for her and hope her enrollment in Oxford will earn her career opportunities. Meanwhile, Jenny rebels against the elders in favor of wanting to travel to Paris and become a concert cellist. It’s not until after she drops out of school, accepts David’s Faustian proposal, and finds out about his past that she realizes that they were right. Furthermore, the film becomes a cautionary tale about trusting your free-spiritedness as well as a morality play on the importance of education. That’s the lesson Lynn Barber, the real-life woman in which the movie’s main character was inspired on, learned the hard way once she encountered her liaison in her teenage years. Ultimately, "An Education" should be the epitome of clever and harrowing spin on the coming-of-age genre as well as a female empowerment story. (4 ½ Lockey Hills out of 5)
3 years, 1 month ago
mhthehammer added 2 items to their collection
Lady Bird

have watched

7/10

Zero Dark Thirty

8/10


3 years, 1 month ago
Zero Dark Thirty
Lady Bird

3 years, 1 month ago
The Prince of Tides
Barbra Streisand earns another box-office hit with her second directorial effort "The Prince of Tides," an adaptation of a 500-page novel by Pat Conroy. South Carolina football coach Tom Wingo (Nick Nolte) pays a visit to Dr. Susan Lowenstein (Barbra Streisand) in New York because his sister Savannah (Melinda Dillon) has attempted suicide. The more he meets the psychiatrist the more romantically intimate the two become and the more comfortable he feels revealing his childhood trauma. Tom, Savannah, and their oldest brother Luke grew up in the South by the lake to an abusive father Henry (Brad Sullivan) and their manipulative mother Lila (Kate Nelligan). On top of that, they were encountered by a trio of convicts who raped them and they killed them. So, to suppress the tragic event, Lila and the children cleaned up the house and never spoke of it again. Savannah lived in solitary and took on poetry and children’s literature under a new identity, Renata Halpern. However, what "The Prince of Tides" movie omits is that Luke, in the novel, served in the Navy in Vietnam and was killed after agreeing to an offer by the FBI, thereby causing Savannah’s suicide attempt. With that plot point erased from Conroy’s own screenplay, the movie doesn’t really want to explore the psychology of its main characters. Instead, "The Prince of Tides" turns into an overdone Hollywood romantic fairy tale that tries too hard to emotionally intrigue us. (2 ½ Plates of Dog Food Hash out of 5)
3 years, 1 month ago
3 years, 1 month ago
mhthehammer added 5 items to their collection
The Smiling Lieutenant

have watched

8/10

One Hour with You

have watched

9/10

Ninotchka

have watched

7/10

The Love Parade

have watched

8/10


3 years, 1 month ago
The Smiling Lieutenant
Heaven Can Wait
One Hour with You
Ninotchka
The Love Parade

3 years, 1 month ago
Stagecoach
 Stagecoach 8/10
3 years, 2 months ago
Stagecoach
Here’s a nominee that’s probably destined to be a classic example of good old-fashioned Hollywood entertainment. Dallas (Claire Trevor), Doc Boone (Thomas Mitchell), Lucy Mallory (Louise Platt), Henry Gatewood (Berton Churchill) and Sam Peacock (Donald Meek), pick up an escaped outlaw the Ringo Kid (John Wayne) and head east in a stagecoach from the Arizona Territory to the town of Lordsburg, New Mexico. However, word has it that the Apaches are preparing for an attack and Luke Plummer (Tom Tyler) and his brothers have killed Ringo’s father and brother. That is the synopsis of "Stagecoach," a film that changed Westerns in the early days of Hollywood. While the tone may seem to be on par with the corny Western TV shows of decades later and the depiction of the violent Apache tribes did not age well with today’s sensibilities, the movie’s impact on Western genre at the time was no less significant. First, "Stagecoach" elevated John Wayne’s career as the legendary hero, even though in this movie he played the supporting role against Claire Trevor. Second, it explores social themes such as civilization versus freedom, crime, and acceptance, unlike the b-movie Westerns where such commentary is obscured under the corny action and violence. Third, "Stagecoach" was the first film to be shot in the landmark vista Monument Valley, that majestic red Utah/Arizona plateau which epitomizes the American West. Finally, by mixing the Southwestern authenticity of Monument Valley and the Hollywood fantasy of the studio ranch, John Ford creates a new line of movie realism. Ultimately, these elements make "Stagecoach" a game changer for early Westerns, even if some of them look standard and dated by the modern eyes. (4 Rye Whiskey Bottles out of 5)
3 years, 2 months ago
3 years, 2 months ago
3 years, 2 months ago
The Patriot
 The Patriot 10/10
3 years, 2 months ago
The Patriot
"The Patriot" is one of those significantly ambitious pictures that must be seen once in a lifetime. In Ernst Lubitsch’s epic film, Russian Czar Paul I (Emil Jannings) goes insane thinking that a murder conspiracy is at large. His companion Count von der Pahlen (Lewis Stone), fearing the delusions of his ruler, dethrones him and plots the assassination for the good of the nation. Since the film is the only lost film to be nominated for Best Picture, I can only critique "The Patriot" via still images, the trailer, and whichever found footage I can access. Based on what I saw, the artistry on the production and costume design is one of the most gorgeous in silent film history. The cinematography is particularly interesting, mixing camera shots like the extreme wide shots with dolly tract and closeup zooms. For a black-and-white film from the Golden Age of Hollywood, these techniques were unique and groundbreaking for its time. Lubitsch even casts haunting German Expressionist silhouettes on the palace walls, giving a sense of suspicion and paranoia as it frightens the czar. Jannings does a great job at balancing between vengeful delusion, when fearfully smashing the mirror in his bedroom with a candle, and lusty joviality, when playing around with Countess Osterman’s jewels. Given how only one quarter of "The Patriot’s" reels survived today, I wish I could see this movie’s entirety because all the existing footage looks amazing even for a silent film. (5 Soldier Shadows out of 5)
3 years, 2 months ago
3 years, 2 months ago
Call Me by Your Name
In James Ivory’s first Academy Award-winning outing in 25 years, "Call Me by Your Name" involves the homosexual relationship between college professor’s assistant Oliver and a teenage pianist Elio in Northern Italy. However, they have to keep their affair a secret from Samuel (Michael Stuhlberg) and Annella (Amira Casar), Elio’s parents, and Chiara (Victoire du Bois), his girlfriend. Some people have compared this movie to "Moonlight," as they are both coming-of-age films about a young boy struggling with homosexuality. However, "Call Me by Your Name" resembles somewhat to "Brokeback Mountain," in which both main male characters have a closeted sexual encounter behind their otherwise heterosexual lifestyle. Although, unless you were aware the age of consent in Italy was fourteen years, you’d feel uncomfortable watching the alleged minor/adult sex that goes on in the film. As an American whose state’s age of consent is eighteen, I was scratching my head at this plot device, too. Despite the inquiry, Call Me by Your Name is the literal definition of eye candy, with Mediterranean sunlight bouncing on the scenery and bright pastel colors leaping on the screen. Yellow, in particular, gets the most attention and thus serves as a motif in the story, possibly symbolizing the happiness Elio and Oliver share. Coming from the screenwriter behind Merchant Ivory and the director Luca Guadagnino, they never let us down with such lush visuals. Beyond that, "Call Me by Your Name" was slightly too familiar and somewhat strange. (3 Pitchers of Apricot Juice out of 5)
3 years, 2 months ago
3 years, 2 months ago
The Remains of the Day
Another masterpiece from Merchant Ivory, "The Remains of the Day" is a romance of nostalgia and emotional adriftness. A newly hired housekeeper Sarah Kenton (Emma Thompson) and dignified and orderly head butler James Stevens (Anthony Hopkins) aided the Earl of Darlington at Darlington Hall. Meanwhile, Lord Darlington has made a peace treaty with a party of Nazi and fascist sympathizing aristocrats, stirring up the ire of Mr. Stevens, Miss Kenton, and especially American Congressman Jack Lewis (Christopher Reeve). Mr. Stevens is so loyal to his master and married to his occupation that his moral instincts become trivial. While Miss Kenton strongly goes with her own voice and vows to clean up the mess in the manor. The relationship of the two servants starts to shake as Miss Kenton accuses the head butler of hiding his emotions, not speaking expressing opinion or anything gone awry, such as the firing of two Jewish maids, the death of his father. She even frustratingly calls him out for the lack of emotional support for her marriage proposal to Tom Benn (Tim Pigott-Smith). Even twenty years later, Mr. Steven takes pride in his orderliness, as he still serves in Darlington Hall and begs Miss Kenton back to work with him. However, because she has a new life of her own and her now-ex husband’s child is on the way, refuses his offer, leaving him in solitary with his true love, his lifelong job. "The Remains of the Day" is a melancholy cautionary tale about what happens when opposing voices and emotional connection are kept in shadow. (4 ½ Porcelain Chinamen out of 5)
3 years, 2 months ago
3 years, 2 months ago
A Room with a View (1985)
Ismail Merchant and James Ivory, the duo behind the company Merchant Ivory earned critical acclaim with their first adaptation of E.M. Forster’s novel "A Room with a View." The young upper-class Edwardian woman Lucy Honeychurch (Helena Bonham Carter) shares a brief romance with George Emerson (Julian Sands), not long before her return from her holiday in Florence to Surrey. Once she gets exposed, she and her older cousin Charlotte Bartlett (Maggie Smith) swear to never reveal her secret to anyone when they get home. Lucy, now married to the snobbish bookworm Cecil Vyse (Daniel Day-Lewis), discovers George’s visit nearby and is torn between listening from her heart or her strictly corseted family. Merchant Ivory’s forte, in terms of English historical dramas, is the lush and fertile landscapes blended with Victorian/Edwardian architecture. In the case of "A Room with a View," director of photography Tony Pierce-Roberts gives us beautiful shots of Firenze with slight hints of earth-like orange and golden green. Also, for a film labeled as a romantic drama, the film has a handful of funny moments. First, there are two comic foils: Mr. Emerson (Denholm Elliott), the pudgy, awkward father of George, and Cecil, who’s played like an over-the-top yet civilized aristocrat who cares more about showing himself off. Second, there’s a handful of comedic moments involving Lucy’s brother Freddy (Rupert Graves), like the witty nonsense song he plays on the piano or him getting awkwardly caught during a near-homoerotic skinny dip in the lake. By combining the comedy with sophisticated romantic backdrops, "A Room with a View" becomes an intelligent movie about a balance of emotions and human behavior that circle around the English high class. (4 ½ Cornflowers out of 5)
3 years, 2 months ago
Howards End
 Howards End 8/10
3 years, 2 months ago
Howards End
After the death of Ruth Wilcox (Vanessa Redgrave), Margaret Schlegel (Emma Thompson) is assigned as heir to Howards End, where she meets Ruth’s widower Henry (Anthony Hopkins) and marries him. Meanwhile, her sister Helen (Helena Bonham-Carter) is struggling to keep their house, The Wickham Place, from financial trouble while helping idealistic clerk Leonard Bast (Samuel West) achieve his dream of freedom of economic concern. "Howards End," adapted from E.M. Forster's novel of the same name, concerns three families: the capitalist Wilcoxes, the half-German Schegels, and the impoverished Basts. Each family is entangled by themes of societal and economical desires and marital reconciliation. Merchant Ivory, the team behind period dramas such as "A Room with a View," prove to be the right choice to faithfully visualize the English social class fantasies in "Howards End." In fact, James Ivory treats Forster’s work like an Orphian journey, with the main character, armed with a gift of arts, delving into an underworld and gaining a tormented spouse. The majestic country house represents what people dream of having or have already owned, as seen by characters who gaze into the building in bewilderment through a violet field. The flower meadow landscapes give a dream-like atmosphere and reflect the characters’ desire for something bigger than themselves, if not a yearn to escape from financial and marital misery. Of course, people like Sam need that fantasy in order to cope from that terrible reality. "Howards End" is as much a Bloomsbury period drama as it is a classical tale of rustic escapism. (4 Umbrellas out of 5)
3 years, 2 months ago
Pygmalion
 Pygmalion 9/10
3 years, 2 months ago
3 years, 2 months ago
The Great Dictator
Upon wrapping up his swan song to the Tramp character with the brilliant "Modern Times," Charles Chaplin wanted to stretch the boundaries of comedy even further than the humor from his silent features. So, he wrote, starred and directed his second talking movie, "The Great Dictator," as a dark satire of the rise of Adolf Hitler, a controversial topic in the 1940’s. In the nation of Tomainia, a Jewish barber (Charles Chaplin), his old ally from the army Schultz (Reginald Hardiner) and his neighbor Hannah (Paulette Goddard) plan an escape from the ghetto, having been occupied by the regime. Meanwhile, the party’s phooey, the dictator Adenoid Hynkel (Chaplin), madly driven by power lust, ties with the Digdutchie Benzino Napaloni (Jack Oakie) over an invasion and conquest of Osterlich. Chaplin being the iconic silent film figures in Hollywood, came from a background of vaudevillian slapstick. Because the medium was incapable of sound at the time, he used physical comedy and facial gestures to build the world around his films. However, with "The Great Dictator," he uses similar tactics with his Tramp character, particularly with the barber, but he makes a commentary about how the humor of the past would not translate well in 1940, at time of oppression. So, he balances his trademark humor with a handful of sound gags, satirical jabs to the Nazi party, and a life-changing speech from the barber that symbolizes Chaplin’s progression as an entertainer, artist, and a human being. As such, "The Great Dictator" is the first film that allows Chaplin to explore other comedic territories and evolve beyond his trademark onscreen mannerism. Oddly enough, this audacious project resulted in him releasing one of the greatest cinematic achievements of all time. (5 Inflatable Globes out of 5)
3 years, 2 months ago
mhthehammer added 5 items to their collection
Broadcast News

have watched

8/10

In Old Chicago

have watched

3/10

The Grand Illusion

have watched

9/10

Who

have watched

9/10


3 years, 2 months ago
Five Easy Pieces
Pygmalion
In Old Chicago
The Grand Illusion
Who

3 years, 2 months ago
3 years, 2 months ago
An Unmarried Woman
In New York City, Erica Benton (Jill Clayburgh) dwells in a comfortable lifestyle with her husband Martin (Michael Murphy), but soon suffers an identity crisis once their marriage ends. Currently a single mother, Erica seeks advice from her friends including Elaine (Kelly Bishop) and encounters sexual affairs with other men, including a sensitive abstract artist Saul Kaplan (Alan Bates). Paul Mazursky’s "An Unmarried Woman" follows the main character’s torment and anger during her life of divorce and she tries to seek liberation to heal her pain. Obviously, the main theme of "An Unmarried Woman" involves the complications of sexual politics or the glorious experience of female independence. While some critics and audiences may call it a harrowing comedy-drama, I call it an interesting time capsule. The film came out during the peak of second wave feminism, a time where jobs for women skyrocketed, divorce laws have changed and civil rights leaders were all the rage. Erica, a hidden voice of the feminist ideology, has a job as a curator at an art museum, faces workplace harassment from employees, and has custody over her daughter Patti (Lisa Lucas). So, her exasperation and sexual frustration are justified once her girlfriends advise her to walk a different direction. Contrastly, most of the men are painted, from Mazursky’s eye, as lonely individuals who think about sex every six seconds, an allusion to the age-old myth. While it hits these 2nd wave feminist ideology points fine and Jill Clayburgh’s performance reigns, "An Unmarried Woman" is a slightly dated artifact that may be more important than entertaining. (3 Jars of Pickled Herring out of 5)
3 years, 2 months ago
Sounder
 Sounder 8/10
3 years, 2 months ago
Sounder
Based on a young adult novel, "Sounder" was one of the most unique films of the 1970’s. At an era when blaxploitation films were all the rage, here is a film that deeply and significantly explores the life of the African-American family. Set in Depression Era Louisiana, "Sounder" follows the Morgans, a poor family whose father Nathan (Paul Winfield) gets arrested for stealing food, leaving his wife Rebecca (Cicely Tyson) to raise the children and care for the farm. Meanwhile, the oldest son David (Kevin Hooks) and his dog "Sounder" leave home in hopes that they can visit Nathan in prison. I admire the atmosphere and performances, but I also love the raw, minimalist style. The sheer authenticity to this aesthetic is helped with the casting of lesser-known actors as extras, shooting on location at the woodlands of Louisiana, and absence of music to churn an emotion, all with a low budget. Speaking of, the score by blues musician Taj Mahal, as catchy as it is, really dances with the low-society setting and African-American culture. Although "Sounder" was a good film, at times it got somewhat preachy, like in the schoolhouse scene where David and his teacher Miss Camille (Janet MacLachlan) talk about Crispus Attucks, the first American to die in the Boston Massacre, or W.E.B. DuBois, the socialist and civil rights activist. Perhaps I’m not the best to critique a movie targeted to an African American audience, but wouldn’t the coming of age message be more empowering if the kid was influenced by Frederick Douglass or possibly Abraham Lincoln? Nitpicking aside, "Sounder" is a must-see for any cinephile and a curious novelty for its time. (4 Raccoons out of 5)
3 years, 2 months ago

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