Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Movie Review: Stalag 17

Tania Says:

I wasn’t exactly jazzed about watching this war movie set in a German Prison camp during WW II. The description said it was about the American prisoners trying to escape – it all sounded a little too Hogan’s Heroes to me which is a show I have never found very funny. However, Hogan’s Heroes was not based on this movie – there was a lawsuit and everything. Anyway, that coupled with the fact that I am not a fan of war movies made this movie sound really unappealing.

Once we started watching it though I realized it isn’t really a “war movie” because there really aren’t any battle scenes and the movie is actually a lot lighter then it seemed it would be with the subject matter it was tackling. Anyway, I actually kind of liked it!

The movie is about American prisoners in a German Prison camp – but it looks like the happiest prison camp I have ever seen. But of course, they still want to escape and all their escape plans and fun times seem to be foiled by some mole in there camp who is giving the German guards info. The movie then is pretty much about trying to find the stoolie. The cool part is that they really keep you guessing and by the time they get to the reveal of the insider it was a surprise to me because I was clueless as to who it was. Then the stoolie gets his comeuppance and that is the end of the movie! It’s a fun movie with little bits of seriousness thrown in. I read somewhere that people where offended that a movie was made about WW II that was a comedy but I think that is sometimes a necessity – see MASH. This movie reminded me of MASH in way just because they were making a comedy out of a sensitive subject but I enjoyed it more then MASH because the guys weren’t as mean. Some of the comedy in Stalag 17 isn’t that funny and there are some annoying guys in it who are meant to be comic relief but aren’t. Overall though, I am glad I watched it because it really is not a movie I ever would have rented but I am glad I saw it!


Josh Says:

This is one of the few movies that I’ve watched since the movie The Usual Suspects (I AM NOT SAYING I ENJOYED THIS AS MUCH OR IN THE SAME WAY AS THE USUAL SUSPECTS) which had me completely clueless as to who the villain was an genuinely surprised at the end. Unlike The Usual Suspects, however, they are able to do this by essentially keeping the villain out of the main story line, thus exonerating him of all suspicion, which in my opinion is cheating.

I could have done without some of the campier humor such as that bearded guy’s entire part, but understanding that this was a result of the period in which it was made I was able, for the most part, to get past it and ended up really enjoying the story.

There are some interesting tidbits about this movie that illustrate how much power the studios in Hollywood used to have back in the “Golden Age”. For instance, this was by a long shot Billy Wilder’s most successful film, however he made very little money. The reason for this was because the studio informed him that he has lost money on his previous film and the losses would be deducted out of his share in this film. A great little racket the studios had whereby they could enter a project with virtually no risk at all.

Another interesting tidbit is that William Holden, who would end up winning the Academy Award for Best Actor for this film, actually refused the role (as did Charlton Heston previous to that) but the studio forced him to play the part. Though this obviously turned out well in his favor, it really shows that even twenty years in, SAG had a long way to go in terms of providing it’s members with protection against the powerful studios.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Movie Review: Shadow of a Doubt

Tania Says:
Believe it or not, I have never seen a complete Hitchcock movie. I have seen parts of them or bits and pieces but I have never watched one from beginning to end. So – this was my first. It’s very sad that I haven’t seen a Hitchcock film before but I am excited that I get to see a bunch now that are all on the list! And I am glad that Shadow of a Doubt was first because I really liked it and it made me excited for more.

If you haven’t seen Shadow of a Doubt, it is about a small town family who are living a small town life. Charlie, the family’s teenage daughter, is especially bored with the small town life and hopes things change for the family when her exciting Uncle Charlie comes to visit. When Uncle Charlie arrives everyone is so excited and things are going great and then young Charlie starts to figure out that her Uncle may not be all that great and in fact could be a serial killer. The movie does a great job of walking that line of “is he or isn’t he?” and you can feel the suspense as Charlie looks for more and more clues. This is what I always imagined a Hitchcock movie would be – suspenseful, a little creepy and intriguing. I thought this movie hit all those notes. It is an earlier Hitchcock film so some of the dialogue is clunky for sure, and the name Charlie is spoken a little too much (170 times!!!!) and some of the scene transitions or editing is choppy and a little incoherent but overall it is a really good movie.

Theresa Wright plays young Charlie and I think she does a great job. She’s charming and spunky in the beginning and plays the transition from being Uncle Charlie’s biggest fan to his not biggest fan really well. Joseph Cotton plays Uncle Charlie and also does a great job on that same fine line of “is he or isn’t he?” I think he is sufficiently creepy. Also in the film is a very young Macdonald Carrey who is known to me forever as Dr Tom Horton on Days of Our Live.

I think this was a great movie to initiate me into the world of Hitchcock and I am excited to see more.

Josh Says:

******Please note that Tania used the name Charlie 9 times in her review above.*********

I was really excited for this one. I've seen quite a few Hitchcock movies and remember looking forward to watching reruns of the old Alfred Hitchcock presents series as a kid with my parents. That this is widely documented as his personal favorite and one that I hadn't seen had me going into it with some pretty high expectations.

To say I was disappointed would probably be an overstatement. I liked this movie. I just didn't love it the same way as I do Rear Window, M for Murder, Psycho, The Birds or even the Revenge episode of Hitchcock Presents.

As with any good Hitchcock work (and it is good, please don't get me wrong), it's all about the story and much less about anything else. Like any of his other works, you are tightly riveted to the story and constantly trying to get one step ahead of him, anticipating the great reveal, second guessing yourself all along the way only to find out that............ok, no spoilers.

James Cotton was really good and most definitely creepy enough for the part, Theresa Wright does a pretty good job as the young girl with the bright fairy tale view of the world. The most under-rated performance has to be that of Patricia Collinge as the mother. She's just perfectly oblivious and obedient in that way that I always picture the Moms of the 40's and 50's but assumed they never talked about, at least not in the negative light that I thought she was portrayed here.

I would definitely recommend this to anyone who is a fan of Hitchcock (who isn't) but if I had it to do over again, I'd go into it without the knowledge that it was his favorite film as the expectations that brought were bound to go unfulfilled.

Monday, February 12, 2007

Movie Review: Amadeus

Tania Says:
I can’t believe I have never seen this movie. I love this movie! Seriously, I am all of a sudden obsessed with this movie. How could I have never seen it?

For those of you who are weird like me and missed this movie for 20 years – go rent it and watch it and make your life a little better by having watched it. It is about the supposed rivalry between Mozart and Salieri ( also a composer) – well really, the rivalry is all on Salieri’s side but he spends the whole film being jealous of and trying to sabotage Mozart. F Murray Abraham and Tom Hulce play Salieri and Mozart respectively and both of them are perfectly brilliant. What happened to both of them? And what happened to the chick who plays Mozart’s wife? She is awesome and I looked her up on IMDB and now she is guesting on Grounded for Life. Anyway – back to the stars – Tom Hulce plays Mozart as a spoiled brat, mildly naïve kind of kid who knows he is brilliant. The way he plays this is both annoying and completely endearing. You can’t help to feel for him when things don’t go his way. I read somewhere that Mozart’s laugh was described at different times as “an infectious giggle” and like “nails on a chalkboard”. I wonder how an actor can take those descriptions and come up with something that works but Tom Hulce comes up with the perfect laugh – at first you want to giggle along, then you start to kind of chuckle at it, then you want to kill him. It goes beyond his laugh though – he just does a masterful job.

F Murray Abraham does as well. He also makes you feel sympathy for him because he is always in Mozart’s shadow and then as he becomes more and more jealous he gets more and more evil and you stop feeling sorry for him but you still feel something for him. It is hard to explain. You feel for him because he is so troubled and instead of working on his own craft he spends his time trying to ruin Mozarts.

I am gushing in the most incoherent way but that is how much I love this movie.

It is also just plain beautiful to look at. Even though it was filmed in the 80s and film quality itself has come a long way since then, the scenery and costumes and sets are all stunning and seem perfectly period. The Opera sequences are great fun as well. I know I am way late to the party on this one and that makes me sad but perhaps I can inspire one person who is as late as me to give this movie a try.

Josh Says:
I suck at writing good reviews. I mean, if you haven't seen this movie, see it. If you don't, you're missing out.

You're missing out on one of the greatest performances in cinema by F. Murray Abraham as Salieri.

You're missing out on a wonderfully unorthodox, almost over the top performance by Tom Sulce.

You're missing out on the visually stunning costumes, architecture and scenery.

You're missing out on the best biographical film piece ever made (is that title selling it short though?)

Most importantly, you're missing out on the incredible hilarity of picturing Mark Hammill in the role that he lobbied heavily for, Mozart.