ronin_angel

Honestly, this is some of the best direction for a movie that I have ever seen. I have seen quite a few movies, but this one is up there. Overall the movie deserves about an eight in my opinion, but the direction was fantastic. This is some of Spielberg's finest work. It ranks up there with some of his greatest movies he has worked on like E.T., Close Encounters, Indiana Jones, Catch Me If You Can, Band of Brothers, Saving Private Ryan, Empire of the Sun, Back to the Future, The Color Purple, Jaws, Poltergeist, and the Goonies. The movie I cannot imagine had a fantastic script. To build a movie from such a script and envision it as he did is truly amazing. Overall, this movie is a definite must see, and should not be missed by anyone. Despite the movie originally being released on television, it doesn't change the fact that it is quite good.

The Marx brothers starred in this classic, Duck Soup. No one except for the Marx brothers could have pulled it off in such a brilliant manner. Duck Soup is not only exceptionally comical, with its drastic physical comedy and dry but very literal humor, but it is also very satirical. Being a satire, it "pokes" fun at various issues with the world, this time the object of the satire is war. Right about the time when American's fears where mostly directed at war, the Marx brothers bring this comedy to them in '33. Despite the films age, true comic genius and wit never goes unappreciated except by fools. The film, however old, still had quite a few moments that were laugh-out-loud funny. Whether it was situational, physical, or spoken; all of these types of comedy are apparent and nothing short of remarkably entertaining. Regardless of all this, I must once again implore you to realize that the true "grit" of this film is the notions that the Marx brothers had on war. They believed that war could be ridiculous, and showed the rest of the world just how ridiculous it could be. It is plainly obvious that this thought was stretched and contorted. However, the feeling you have after watching this movie is that war can be ridiculous, and that is just what the brothers intended.

Operation Petticoat is yet another military farce directed by Blake Edwards. It is in pretty much the same military "farce" style that he used in other movies such as Operation Mad Ball, and What Did You Do In The War Daddy? He makes a thing as horrific and serious as the concept of war, and transforms it into something quite witty and jocose. Blake does this without causing any offense however, and therefore he did it well. Basically, the movie has an astonishing likeness to Down Periscope, or I should say that Down Periscope has a peculiar likeness to this movie. In essence, a naval submarine commander is given command over a broken down sub, and a motley, ragtag crew. The most rowdy crew member however, is the supply officer Lt. Holden. He displays a blatant disregard for rules, and yet still portrays as likable. Even more surprising is the fact that somehow, despite his various behaviors, Holden manages to get the job done and have some fun along the way.The commander encounters various "obstacles" because of his supply officer, but nothing that isn't purely entertaining. The commander is portrayed by Cary Grant, and Holden is played by Tony Curtis. Both Grant and Curtis do a fantastic job in this film, and play off of one another quite well. Grant, as you know, is an amazing actor, and has been in many classics like Arsenic and Old Lace, An Affair to Remember, North by Northwest, Only Angels Have Wings, To Catch A Thief, and The Bishop's Wife, just to name a few. This is a classic Grant performance, his style predictable, yet this litany is somehow appealing. Tony Curtis is also one of my favorite actors, at least in his older films. As of late, Curtis' movies have been losing a lot of their former luster. It's only one more reason that this light-hearted movie is enjoyable, seeing Curtis in one of his finer performances. I would put it right up there with his performances in movies such as Houdini, Spartacus, Some Like it Hot, not to mention the Boston Strangler, and Six Bridges to Cross. In some of their finer performances, Curtis and Grant dominate the film with their clever acting. However, the acting aside from Curtis and Grant was actually good, not specifically notable, but never was there a moment in which I was aware of bad acting. The only small exception was in some of the dialogue referring to women, in which the lines were rather cliché for war movies. Also, aside from the actors and directors of course, the camera work is as fine quality as it could have been. The musical score fit perfectly in with the style of the movie, and writing was well done on the parts of the writers; especially Maurice Richlin, who has worked with Blake on quite a few of his productions, including some of the Pink Panther movies, as well as the aforementioned, "Daddy What Did You Do In The War?" The situations that the writers came up with for a war scenario are ridiculous, but very entertaining. Overall, this is a higher quality film, and noteworthy in the long run. Despite this, it certainly was not amazing by any means. This movie in the end was a very appealing, satirical, and splendid production. A movie which is definitely worth a view, but not important to have seen.

The Outrage, starring Paul Newman, is the Western remake of the Japanese classic, Rashomon. It basically cam be summed up, without giving anything away, that there is a man accused of a crime, the only problem is that all of the witnesses have varying accounts on the events which occurred. The acting in this movie was not anything very noteworthy, but it certainly was not bad. The same can be said for the camera-work in this film, it was not breath taking, but it was not bad. The whole movie, aside from the plot, was average. However, the saving grace of this film is certainly the plot. At first the movie seems very straight-forward, a man committed a crime and he is to be punished. It seems as if the movie has little place to go, and that possibly the main bulk of the movie will occur after the trial. However, it soon becomes apparent that there is much more to this seemingly ordinary occurrence than meets the eye. This cinematic work is much more than a simple story about deceit, it is a story about the truth. Not the truth of the crime, but the truth about the enigma which is the human psyche. The deceptions are not what make the movie, it is the logic behind the deceptions that truly makes the movie what it is. A movie, after all, is not only what has been made, but rather, it is more so what you make of it.

This movie exemplifies in its own ridiculous manner, that men will do anything for love. The character of Steve Ireland, poor guy, just wants to be with his wife. Unfortunately, the stereotypical meddling mother-in-law character is present in the film. She really does go to great lengths to prevent it working out between Steve and Mrs. Ireland. Regardless, this is not a powerful, or deeply moving piece. It is not one of the greatest of the greats, but it is good. The camera work was of a better quality, and the acting was as good as it could have been while keeping the films style. It is simply a clever, and quirky movie about an unfortunate man in love. This movie was not particularly funny, but it did have some amusing scenes in it. I guess that if you want to watch a movie that is not awe-inspiring, and you just want to watch well done movie, this movie is for you. If you want to watch a movie that will make you smile, but not laugh, than watch this movie. It's just, simply put, a good movie. Nothing particularly special about it, it's just a movie. But...who doesn't enjoy "just" a movie?

This movie was great, but it is not for everyone. The movie is very, very slow and deliberate. It takes its sweet time to get to the final climax, a powerful and moving scene. All of this time leading up to it only made the last scene all the more powerful. But, it was at first, very confusing to watch this movie. They throw you into a story in a sense. It almost seems as if you do not start at the beginning of the story. In fact you do not learn that Inger, Mikkel's wife, has any children until about 45 minutes into the movie. This was a trivial fact, not very important, but the children's names were hardly given before they were off the camera again. That is one of the reasons that I believe so ardently that the movie gives the impression of starting in the middle. Regardless, this movie has some powerful messages within it. This movies shows the power of love, pride, and religion, and does it all at once nonetheless. Overall, if you can be patient while watching a movie, and truly enjoy fine cinematic work, than you should certainly watch this movie