Full Metal Jacket (1987)

Star Rating- 3
Length of Film- 116 minutes
Director- Stanley Kubrick
Cast- Matthew Modine, Adam Baldwin, Vincent D'Onofrio, R. Lee Ermey, Dorian Harewood, Arliss Howard, Kevyn Major Howard, Ed O'Ross, John Terry, Kieron Jecchinis, Bruce Boa, Kirk Taylor, Jon Stafford, Tim Colceri, & Ian Tyler
Oscar Nomination- Stanley Kubrick, Michael Herr, Gustavo Hasford (screenplay)

I would say this movie is split into 2 parts; basic and then war. The first part of the movie was the enlisters going through basic- buzzed haircut, nicknames, drill, and cleaning. R. lee Ermey who played Gny. Sgt. Hartman was absolutely hilarious! Even though he was mean and the "stereotypical" drill sergeant his one liners were priceless. I was so excited for this movie after the first 15 minutes. I was on the edge of my seat. 

Hartman-how tall are you, private?
Private Cowboy- sir, five foot nine, sir.
Hartman- five foot nine, I didn't know they stacked shit that high!


Hartman- were you born a fat, slimy, scumbag piece o'shit, Private Pyle, or did you have to work on it? 

Hartman- I bet you're the kind of guy that would fuck a person in the ass and not even have the Goddamn courtesy to give him a reach-around. I'll be watching you. 


Sgt. Hartman picket on a Private, he nicknamed Gomer Pyle. He was obese and struggled through everything. Anytime he messed up, the other Privates suffered for it. One night they got even, pinned him down, gagged his mouth and beat him with bars of soap that they put in their sock. When they got to rifle training, Pyle kicked ass! Anyway, Pyle got sick of it....shot and killed Hartman and then shot himself. 


End of the first half. The second half was when the privates graduated basic and went off to battle. This is when I was bored out of my mind. It was slow and nothing interesting happened. We lost all the humor from the first half, and now we're all about drama. We met new characters and learned about their specific jobs. The only thing I found entertaining in the second half was the music selection. During the fight scenes they played Wooly Bully, Surfin' Bird, Chapel of Love,  These Boots are Made for Walkin', and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. The music's humor reminded me of the music from American Werewolf in London (1981) were they just wanted the music to be humorous and fit with an overall theme and not necessarily the mood of the scene. During FMJ, it felt like they wanted to lighten the mood of all the fighting with catchy pop/rock tunes.


The movie is worth seeing for the first half and the music selection in the second half. I could care less of the war scenes (personal preference), but you know, to each its own. Happy viewing!!!

Great Expectations (1946)

Star Rating: 3
Length of Film: 118 minutes
Director: David Lean
Cast: John Mills, Anthony Wager, Valerie Hobson, Jean Simmons, Bernard Miles, Francis L. Sullivan, Finalay Currie, Martita Hunt, Alec Guinness, Ivor Barnard, Freda Jackson, Eileen Erskine, George Hayes, Hay Petrie, & John Forrest
Oscars: John Bryan, Wilfred Shingleton (art direction), Guy Green (photography)
Oscar Nomination: Ronald Neame (best picture), David Lean (director), David Lean, Ronald Neame, Anthony Havelock-Allan (screenplay)




Great Expectations is based off of Charles Dicken's beloved novel and this film is considered the finest literary adaptations ever filmed, as well as one of the best British films ever made.

The movie starts out with Pip (as a 10 year old boy) visiting his parents at a cemetery. While at the cemetery, he runs into a prisoner escapee. The escapee, named Magwitch (Finlay Currie) talks Pip into bringing him food and a tool to help him get out of the handcuffs. Pip does as he's told. Guards come and arrest Magwitch, and Magwitch thanks Pip for his hospitality.

Pip is asked to go play at Miss Havisham (Martita Hunt) house, a rich lady who was stood up on her wedding day, which left her so heartbroken that she never changed anything; her outfit, the wedding feast. AFTER 20 YEARS! She never dusted, boarded up all the windows, it's a mess! With Miss Havisham is this little girl, that she adopted; Estella (Jean Simmons). Estella was mean to Pip, but Pip loved her from the beginning.

Pip went away to become a blacksmith apprentice, but when he was 20 years old, a lawyer came to him saying that he will be his benefactor and that he was instructed to move to London to become a gentleman. Adult Pip is played by John Mills who was 38 years old. Why they would choose someone that's 18 years older than the part? Who knows but you can definately tell that he doesn't look 20.

Pip becomes a spoiled brat, and gets used to high society. He meets up with adult Estella and falls back in love. He believes that Miss Havisham is paying for him to be a gentleman, and that he and Estella belong together-WRONG!

An old man appears to Pip, and announces that he's the one that has been paying the bills. It was someone that Pip met as a boy... in a cemetery...

Here's some other interesting events in the movie:

~There's a fire

~Someone burns their hands

~2 people die

~Mystery of who Estella's parent are

~ Happy Ending

Bull Durham (1988)

Star Rating: 2
Length of Film:  108 minutes
Director: Ron Shelton
Cast: Kevin Costner, Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, Trey Wilson, Robert Wuhl, William O'Leary, David Neidorf, Danny Gans, Tom Silardi, Lloyd T. Williams,  Rick Marzan, George Buck, Jenny Robertson, Gregory Aveilone, & Garland Bunting
Oscar Nomination: Ron Shelton (screenplay)








This movie was a joke! It seemed like they wrapped the plot around this movie based off Walt Whitman's quote about baseball. "I see great things in baseball. It's our game-the American game. It will take our people out-of-doors, fill them with oxygen, give them a larger physical stoicism. Tend to relieve us from being a nervous, dyspeptic set. Repair these losses, and be a blessing to us." 

Tim Robbins was supposed to be the hot shot new pitcher, but they could've chosen someone a little more hotter. He had nothing going for him, physically, except for his height. They could've casted someone a little hotter for the role of Annie (Susan Surandon). I mean, she was 42 years old when she did the film.  The only castmate they got right was Kevin Costner. 

The plot line of the movie is a fan that chooses one minor league player of the Durham Bulls to have sex with and educate them (by tying them up and forcing them to listen to poetry).

"There's never been a ballplayer slept with me who didn't have the best year of his career. Making love is like hitting a baseball: you just gotta relax and concentrate. Besides, I'd never sleep with a player hitting under .250... not unless he had a lot of RBIs and was a great glove man up the middle. You see, there's a certain amount of life wisdom I give these boys. I can expand their minds. Sometimes when I've got a ballplayer alone, I'll just read Emily Dickinson or Walt Whitman to him, and the guys are so sweet, they always stay and listen. 'Course, a guy'll listen to anything if he thinks it's foreplay. I make them feel confident, and they make me feel safe, and pretty."

 



Annie chooses new comer Ebby Calvin LaLoosh as her new sex toy, even though in the back of her mind, she was interested in veteran Crash Davis (Kevin Costner).  She brought both of them to her house, set them down and told them what her plan was. Crash got up and as he was leaving, she asked: "What do you believe in, then?" He rattled off his list of beliefs:

Well, I believe in the soul, the cock, the pussy, the small of a woman's back, the hangin' curveball, high fiber, good Scotch, that the novels of Susan Sontag are self-indulgent, over-rated crap. I believe Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. I believe there oughta be a constitutional amendment outlawing AstroTurf and the designated hitter. I believe in the sweet spot, soft-core pornography, opening your presents Christmas morning rather than Christmas Eve. And I believe in long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days. Good-night.

His speech was followed by Annie's breathless response: "Oh, my!"

The team was on a winning streak, and he didn't know if having sex would break that streak, so he withheld sex, and it aggravated Annie.
 

Ebby Calvin LaLoosh: You're playing with my mind.
Annie Savoy: I'm *trying* to play with your body.
Ebby Calvin LaLoosh: I knew it, you're trying to seduce me!
Annie Savoy: Well of course I'm trying to seduce you, for God's sake, and I'm doing a damn poor job of it... Aren't I pretty?
Ebby Calvin LaLoosh: God, I think you're real cute.
Annie Savoy: Cute? Baby ducks are cute, I HATE cute! I want to be exotic, and mysterious!
Ebby Calvin LaLoosh: You are, you're exotic, and mysterious, and... cute... and... That's why I'd better leave.



 

Crash and Annie finally got together and had some pretty steamy sex scenes for 1988. Don't get too excited...I do have a new found respect for Kevin Costner. I'm gonna have to checkout some of the 80's movies because he was damn sexy!!!

  

In the Heat of the Night (1967)

Star Rating: 3
Length of Film: 109 minutes
Director: Norman Jewison
Cast: Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger, Warren Oates, Lee Grant, Larry Gates, James Patterson, William Schallert, Beah Richards, Peter Whitney, Kermit Murdock, Larry D. Mann, Matt Clark, Arthur Malet, Fred Stewart, & Quentin Dean
Oscars: Walter Mirisch (best picture), Stirling Silliphant (screenplay), Rod Steiger (actor), Hal Ashby (editing & sound)
Oscar Nominations: Norman Jewison (director), James Richard (special sound effects)



In the Heat of the Night is a movie about racism where a black man, Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier) travels through Sparta, Mississippi, and gets arrested just because he was black. The Sheriff (Rod Steiger) does not believe when Tibbs tells him he's a detective for the Philadelphia Police. Sparta's Sheriff calls the Sheriff in Philly and
he verifies that Tibbs is actually an detective, and suggest that Tibbs stays and helps solve the murder.

This movie was made in 1967, and I viewed the movie in 2012. Its been 45 years, and the movie made me very uncomfortable with all the racism. If this movie made my uncomfortable in 2012, I couldn't imagine sitting through the movie in 1967. I am so glad that the director and screenplay won an Oscar, because they did a great job showing the audience what racism looks like in the deep  south. The greatest part, was that the black man was comfortable, civil, and polite to the white community, but it was the whites who were complete asses to Tibbs.

It was interesting that the director went with this angle, that the innocent party was the black man. They could've easily sided with the whites, but they didn't. WAAAY  risky for 1967, I applaud them for their bravery. The mystery behind the murder is pretty weak, but  all the racism stuff is worth watching. I approve that this movie made the list of 1,001 Movies You Must See Before You Die.

Spellbound (1945)

Star Rating: 4
Length of Film: 111 minutes
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck, Michael Chekhov, Leo G. Carroll, John Emery, Steven Geray, Paul Harvey, Donald Curtis, Rhonda Fleming, Norman Lloyd, Wallace Ford, Bill Goodwin, Art Baker, Regis Toomey, & Irving Bacon  
Oscar: Miklos Rozsa (music)
Oscar Nominations: David O. Selznick ( best picture), Alfred Hitchcock (director), Michael Chekhov (actor in support role), George Barnes (photography), Jack Cosgrove (special effects)

Spellbound was a miraculously beautiful film! They had clever camera angles and hired artist Salvador Dali to paint the pictures of a surrealist dream. Miklos Rozssa was the first music director to incorporate a Theremin as a musical instrument-the hum making an eerie, suspenseful sound.  

Dr. Constance Peterson (Ingrid Bergman) is a psychologist who works at a mental facility where they hired a new psychologist, Dr. Anthony Edwardes (Gregory Peck). Constance and Anthony immediately have an attraction for one another, yet she notices that there’s something odd about him, especially when it comes to seeing parallel lines-white parallel lines. Dressed for bed, Constance gets up, puts on her robe, grabs Anthony’s book and goes up to his room to “discuss” the book. While there, she notices that Anthony’s signature didn’t look like the signature that was signed in her book. Anthony has another mental breakdown after seeing white parallel lines, and comes to the realization that he’s not Anthony Peterson. That he killed the real Dr. Peterson.

The whole movie is Constance psychoanalyzing “Anthony” and trying to help him figure out who he is and to also to prove his innocence. Constance brings “Anthony” to meet Dr. Brulov (Michael Cheklov) and both analyze his dreams (artwork by Salvador Dali) which give them clues to what really happened to him. “Anthony” figures out what his real name is, who he actually murdered, and who murdered the real Dr. Anthony Edwardes.

My favorite 2 parts was the camera angle of “Anthony” drinking milk out of a cup and the real murderer of Dr. Anthony Edwardes, holding a gun, pointing it at Dr. Peterson, after she leaves, he slowly points the gun to himself, so the audience is staring down the barrel of the gun.

Notorious (1946)

Star Rating: 2

Length of Film: 101 minutes
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains, Louis Calhern, Leopoldine Konstantin, Reinhold Schunzel, Moroni Olsen, Ivan Triesault, & Alex Minotis
Oscar Nominations: Ben Hecht (screenplay), Calude Rains (actor in support role)

Notorious is about a woman from a wealthy family, Alicia Huberman (Ingrid Bergman) who is reckless and hard headed. She meets T.R. Devlin, and he agrees to get in the car with drunk Alicia. She speeds down the highway and gets stopped by a cop. Devlin flashes a badge at the officer, and lets them go (this is the first time we find out that Devlin is an officer). He carries her to bed, and in the morning, while in her hangover state, asks her to be an undercover spy, and get close to fascist Alexander Sebastian (Claude Rains). Devlin suspects that Sebastian is involved with the Nazi’s and needs proof. Alicia agrees, and they both head to Rio de Janeiro.

While there, they fall in love, but while Alicia was getting close to Sebastian, Sebastian ends up falling for her, and proposes marriage. Hints were given that Sebastian was hiding uranium (used to create a Nazi A-bomb) in a wine bottle in his wine cellar. At a party, Alicia slips the wine cellar key to Devlin they go to investigate. Alicia is the lookout, to make sure no one appears. Devlin breaks a bottle, exposing the black uranium powder. Alicia runs to help, and at that same moment, it flashes to the party, where the ice chest of champagne is dwindling down, stating at any moment, servants could enter and bust them. Hitchcock meant it to be very stressful and intense, but it wasn’t.

Sebastian put 2 and 2 together, that Alicia wasn’t there for the right reasons, especially after he sees the wine cellar key missing, and then the next morning it was there on the key ring. He went to the cellar and found a broken piece of glass hiding under the shelf, and knew Alicia was a spy. He talks to his mother about the situation (a mother who has too much power over her son), and she informs him that poison is the only way to control and punish Alicia.

Devlin and Alicia meet at a park bench in the middle of the city, and Alicia showed up and wasn’t feeling well, and excused herself. Alicia then started not showing up at all and that worried Devlin. He stormed into the house demanding to see Alicia. The ending is retarded. There’s no climax, no twist in the plot, it’s like a soufflé that collapses; you’re left disappointed. What’s also disappointing is the personality of Alicia. At first she’s all independent “I don’t need a man” and then she’s “oh, I love you Dev” and it was an immediate switch, there was no growth that over time she became fond of Devlin, it was as quick as a light switch turning on, but it wasn’t believable. I hate how Hollywood portrays couples falling in love so quickly, when it’s not what happens in real life. There’s infatuation at first sight, like lust, but not love.

Alfred Hitchcock movies are hit and miss with me. I’ve seen Psycho, Rope, Spellbound, The Bird, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Rebecca. So far I’ve only been impressed with Psycho and Rebecca.

Carmen Jones (1954)

Star Rating: 2
Length of Film: 105 minutes
Director: Otto Preminger
Cast: Harry Belafonte, Dorothy Dandridge, Pearl Bailey, Olga James, Joe Adams, Brock Peters, Roy Glenn, Nick Stewart, Diahann Carroll, LeVern Hutcherson, Marilyn Horne, & Marvin Hayes
Oscar Nominations: Dorothy Dandridge ( actress), Herschel Burke Gilbert (music)
Berlin International Film Festival: Otto Preminger (Bronze Bear)

Carmen Jones is based off of George Bizet’s opera Carmen. Oscar Hammerstein II kept Bizet’s music, but changed the lyrics. As an opera fan, I am very partial to the opera. They kept with the same story line, but modernized it. The actress who plays Carmen (Dorothy Dandridge) is absolutely breath taking and perfect for the role of Carmen because of her raw sexuality. I was disappointed, however, that her voice was dubbed over by opera singer Marilyn Horne. Soldier Joe (Harry Belafonte) singing voice was also dubbed and replaced by LeVern Hutcherson.

I think I would have enjoyed the movie more if I hadn’t had any background knowledge on Bizet’s opera, because it’s really hard to compare to an opera that’s one of the greatest in the world.

Splendor in the Grass (1961)

Star Rating: 4
Length of Film: 124 minutes
Director: Elia Kazan
Cast: Natalie Wood, Pat Hingle, Audrey Christie, Barbara Loden, Zohra Lampert, Warren Beatty, Fred Stewart, Joanna Roos, John McGoverrn, Jan Norris, Martine Bartlett, Gary Lockwood, Sandy Dennis, Crystal Field, & Marla Adams
Oscar: William Inge (screenplay)
Oscar Nomination: Natalie Wood (actress)




Set in Kansas 1928, Dean (Natalie Wood) & Bud (Warren Beatty) have been going steady for 4 years. The movie starts out with the two main characters in a parked card facing a waterfall making out. Things start getting hot and heavy...

Deanie- Bud..
Bud- Deanie, please..
Deanie- Bud, I'm afraid. Oh Bud...don't, Bud.
Bud- Deanie...
Deanie- No...we mustn't, Bud...no...no...
[Bud gets out of the car]
Deanie- Bud, don't be mad
Bud- I better take you home

Bud has a sister, named Ginny (Barbara Loden) who's very promiscuous; she's already had an abortion, and an annulled marriage, to say the least, she's very experienced, sexually. Bud becomes frustrated not getting any from Deanie, after 4 years of dating, and discusses it with his father. His father Ace, (Pat Hingle) tells him NOT to get married, and that he needs to go to school first. Once he's done with college, then he can marry Deanie. Dad even offered to pay for their honeymoon. Then...dad told Bud to find another girl, to fulfill his needs, sexually. He breaks it off with Deanie, and goes for the girl with the reputation for giving it away, sending Deanie into a depression.

Deanie's mother (Audrey Christie) kept pushing Deanie, asking if she has given herself to Bud and that's why she's upset. This whole scene is going on while Deanie is taking a bath. This is Deanie's response:
"No mom! I'm not spoiled! I'm not spoiled mom! I'm just as fresh and virginal like the day I was born, mom!"

Very powerful! Natalie Wood did a really good job playing a teenager whose life was turned upside after being broken up by her longtime boyfriend. She didn't know where her place was in the world anymore, especially since her life was wrapped around Bud. She had to deal with the stress that her boyfriend broke up with her, because she wouldn't have sex with him.

During English class, she had to sit behind the girl who her ex boyfriend is currently sleeping with and the teacher reads a poem by William Wordsworth:

"That though the radiance which was once so bright be now forever taken from my sight. Though nothing can bring back the hour of splendor in the grass, glory in the flower. We will grieve not, rather find strength in what remains behind."

The teacher calls on Deanie, she gives her interpretation of the poem, and asks to be excused, storming out crying. Deanie mopes around the house for months, and her girlfriends bring up the dance, Bud's friend "Toots" (Gary Lockwood) asks Bud permission he could ask Deanie. Bud agrees, and he asks Deanie. While getting ready, Deanie sings the same song, that promiscuous Ginny was singing. Deanie is not the same girl she was in the beginning of the movie. She cut her hair, and dressed more seductress like, in a red dress, revealing her shoulders.

Toots puts the moves on Deanie (at the same spot where Bud took Deanie in the beginning of the movie). She got upset and ran towards the rocks, started climbing, and was headed toward the waterfall, jumping to her death. Classmates caught her before she could, and her parents decided to send her to a hospital, for help.

While Deanie is in the mental institution, Bud goes off to Yale, where he can't focus, and ends up being kicked out. Depressed and drinkin, he meets an italian waitress named Angie. She flirts with him and invites him to the kitchen for pizza.

He's so handsome! I absolutely loved him in Bonnie & Clyde

Time goes by and we visit Deanie at the hospital. She is painting and chatting with a man. Deanie's parents visit and invite her to dinner at their hotel, and she turns to her nurse for guidance. She speaks up and tells the parents shes had a long day and needs her rest.

After 2 years being hospitalized, Deanie goes back home and is engaged to a doctor she met at the hospital, he was also a patient. While at home, the first thing Deanie wanted to do was visit Bud. Her mom tried to sidetrack Deanie, but she was determined to see him. Her father, gave Deanie the address, and she went with two of her friends from school to see Bud.

Deanie got the closure she needed...foreshadowing to the quote Deanie read in school, 2 years ago. "Though nothing can bring back the hour of splendor in the grass, glory in the flower. We will grieve not, rather find strength in what remains behind."



Dead Man (1995)

Star Rating: 3
Length of Film: 121 minutes
Director: Jim Jarmusch
Cast: Johnny Depp, Gary Farmer, Lance Henriksen, Michael Wincott, Mill Avital, Iggy Pop, Crispin Glover, Eugene Byrd, Michaelle Thrush, Jimmie Ray Weeks, Mark Bringleson, Gabriel Byrne, John Hurt, Alfred Molina, & Robert Mitchum
Cannes Film Festival: Jim Jarmusch (Golden Palm nomination)



William Blake (Johnn Depp) leaves his home in Ohio to travel to the town of Machine for an accounting job. When he gets there, the job was already filled by someone else.

William decides to stick around and meets up with a former prostitute Thel Russell (Mili Avitali) where they rendevouz in the bedroom, then her ex boyfriend comes... guns ablazing.

The ex-boyfriends father, John Dickinson (Robert Mitchum) hires 3 hitmen to hunt down and kill the individual who murdered his son. The 3 hitmen are all from different backgrounds and had to work as a team, which of course causes friction and comedy. While on the run, William runs into a Native American Indian (Gary Farmer).

William Blake: What is your name?
Nobody: My name is Nobody.
William Blake: Excuse me?
Nobody: My name is Exaybachay. He Who Talks Loud, Saying Nothing.
William Blake: He who talks... I thought you said your name was Nobody.
Nobody: I preferred to be called Nobody.

 

 

The interaction between William and Nobody was the best part of the movie. There's also a scene where a man is dressed in a woman's dress. Quite humorous... This movie is in black and white, which is weird since it was made in 1995, but the director was influenced by photographer Ansel Adams. Here are a few of his most favorite works, and maybe after seeing the pictures and then seeing the movie, you'll understand.

 

 

Straw Dogs (1971)

Star Rating: 3



 Length of Film: 118 minutes
Director: Sam Peckinpah
Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Susan George, Peter Vaughan, T.P. McKenna, Del Henney, Jim Norton, Donald Webster, Ken Hutchison, Len Jones, Sally Thomsett, Robert Keegan, Peter Arne, Cherina Schaer, Colin Welland
Oscar Nomination: Jerry Fielding (music)








Mathematician David Sumner (Dustin Hoffman), and wife Amy (Susan George) move back to her hometown. David has some issues adjusting to life there, especially when Amy and David disagree on each other's roles in their marriage. David wants to work and be the bread winner where Amy should wait on him hand and foot.

The couple hired workers to restore the barnhouse, one of them being an ex of Amy's; Charlie Venner (Del Henney). Frustrated with her husband, she decides to take off her sweater, and purposefully place herself in front of the window where the workers could see her.

The men taunted and teased David because of his intelligence, to try to win their friendship, he invites them on a hunting trip, where Charlie stays behind. At first he flirts with Amy, then he goes too far.

Amy fights the rape, but soon gives up, and allows him to have sex with her.

David comes back and fires the men. Later that week, they went into town for a town social.  A young woman flirts with the town idiot,Henry and they leave with each other. These two characters reminded me of Lennie from Of Mice and Men. All hell breaks loose, when David and Amy take David home, and the town is pissed and start banging on their door. For the first time in the movie, he grows a pair and stands up to the townies. They broke the windows, so David boiled water and threw it at them.

Glory (1989)

Star Rating: 3
Length of Film: 122 minutes
Director: Edward Zwick
Cast: Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, Cary Elwes, Morgan Freeman, Jihmi Kennedy, Andre Braugher, John Finn, Donovan Leitch, J.D. Cullum, Alan North, Bob Gunton, Cliff De Young, Christian Baskous
Oscars: Denzel Washington (actor in support role), Freddie Francis (photography), Donald O. Mitchell, Gregg Rudloff, Elliot Tyson, Russell Willliams (sound)
Oscar Nominations: Norman Garwood, Garrett Lewis (art direction), Steven Rosenblum (editing)



Colonel Robert Shaw (Matthew Broderick) a liberal blue blood is in charge of the first all black volunteer company. Colonel Shaw is accompanied by a dick, whom we do not like, Major Cabot Forbes (Cary Elwes).

Matthew Broderick

The other main characters of the movie are former slave Sargeant Major John Rawlins (Morgan Freeman) and Private Trip (Denzel Washington). Trip is the arrogant young black man who runs his mouth and gets himself in trouble. There's a scene where get he gets lashed in the back by a whip, while John Rawlins is the level headed, older gentleman with all the life experiences and is the "father figure" to all the young military men.

Morgan Freeman

Denzel Washington

The movie was quite boring in the beginning, it has been a month since I've watched this movie and all I can remember about the movie is how good my pint of Ben & Jerry's was. I was bored... I understand that in the beginning of the movie, you have to allow the audience to get to know the characters, but oh my goodness... the good stuff didn't happen until the last 15 minutes of the movie! Before the soldiers marched off to fight at Fort Wagner, they were eating dinner at the campground by fire and they sang a spiritual titled "Oh my Lord, Lord, Lord". As a music fanatic, I loved this song! This is the part of the movie where everything turned around for me. Here's a link to the Youtube video of this scene.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6K83kzZJ5v0&feature=related


The end battle scene at Fort Wagner was unbelieveably good! The only thing I did not like, was that it was at night, and it was hard to see everything, but you can't change history. When it comes to war movies, this is one of top ones I've seen. I've already watched Platoon, and was not impressed by it, this movie, I thought it was great, other than them spending too much damn time for the audience to get to know the characters.

Glory- #253 out of 1,001

The Red Shoes (1948)

Star Rating: 3

Length of FIlm: 133 minutes
Director: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
Cast: Anton Walbrook, Marius Goring, Moira Shearer, Robert Helpmann, Leonide Massine, Albert Bassermann, Ludmilla Tcherina, & Esmond Knight
Oscars: Hein Heckroth, Arthur Lawson (art direction), Brian Easdale (music)
Oscar nomations: Mmichael Powell, Emeric Pressburger (best picture), Emeric Pressburger (screenplay), Reginald Mills (editing)






The Red Shoes is the ultimate ballet movie. It focuses manly on the dancing, but of course, there's a love triangle between the three main characters; Victoria Page (Moira Shearer), Boris Lemontov (Anton Walbrook), and Julian Craster (Marius Goring). Boris is the owner and director of the ballet company, he meets Victoria at a party, and her Aunt got Victoria an audition. In the meantime, composer Julian Craster got his chance. They base a ballet after Hans Christian Anderson's "The Red Shoes" about a girl who can't take off her shoes and dances till she dies.

Anton Walbrook- Doesn't Sean Penn look like him?!

Marius Goring

Moira Shearer

Boris finds out about Victoria and Julian, and so he fires her. He then tells Victoria it's either dancing or Julian... she picks Julian. They marry and move to London where Julian composes an opera. Boris allows Victoria to come back to dance in the revival of The Red Shoes. Julian finds out, and storms into her dressing room.

The cinematography in this movie is beautiful, same with the dancing and music. I will admit that it didn't keep my attention, 100%. I got bored. Be prepared for slow parts, but the ending is tragically good!  

On the Town (1949)

Star Rating: 4
Length of Film: 98 minutes
Director: Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly
Cast: Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Betty Garrett, Ann Miller, Jules Munshin, Vera-Ellen, Florence Bates, Alice Pearce, George Meader, & Judy Holliday
Oscar:Roger Edens, Lennie Hayton (music)



Three sailors, Gabey (Gene Kelly), Chip (Frank Sinatra), and Ozzie (Jules Munshin) only have 24 hours leave, and want to get laid. Cab driver Brunhilde (Betty Garrett), finds Chip and puts the serious moves on him; inviting him to sit in the front with her.

Gabey sees a poster advertising Miss Turnstiles and makes it his mission to track her down; Miss Turnstiles, whose real name is Ivy (Vera-Ellen).

While visiting the Museum Of Natural History, Ozzie stands next to a statue of a caveman, and anthropologist Claire becomes fascinated with Ozzie and how much he looks like the statue and that's how a "true man" looks like.

It's a cutesy, feel good movie that's funny and has a very sexual context for being 1949. It's worth watching!

Blue Velvet (1986)

Star Rating: 2
Length of Film: 120 minutes
Director: David Lynch
Cast: Isabella Rossellini, Kyle MacLachlan, Dennis Hopper, Laura Dern, Hope lange, Dean Stockwell, George Dickerson, Priscilla Pointer, Frances Bay, Jack Harvey, Ken Stovitz, Brad Dourif, Jack Nance, J. Michael Hunter, & Dick Green
Oscar Nomination: David Lynch (director)










Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan) came back home from college, after his father had a stroke. Jeffrey thought his hometown was "perfect", but found out it is less than what it seems. Jeffrey found a human ear, and decided to take it to Detective John Williams (George Dickerson), where he met and starting hanging out the detectives daughter, Sandy (Laura Dern). She informs him of strange rumors about a lady that lives in this apartment building. The two decide to plot a way to get into her apartment. Jeffrey dresses up as an exterminator, who needs to spray the apartment. His intentions was to open a window, but once inside the apartment, he finds a spare key.

Sandy and Jeffrey go to the Slow Club, where they see Dorothy (Isabella Rossellini) sing. Of course, she was singing the title of the movie, "Blue Velvet". Sandy and Jeffrey decided to go back to her apartment (knowing she was at work). Sandy stayed in the car and told Jeffrey she'd honk 3 times, if she came home early. Drinking at the club, made Jeffrey have to pee. Sandy of course honked, when the toilet was flushing. Jeffrey heard the door opening, and ran into the closet. Dorothy caught Jeffrey, holding a knife threatening him, making him strip all the way down to his boxers, and seduced him.

There was a knock on the door, Dorothy sent Jeffrey back to the closet, and answered the door. It was Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper), a man who kidnapped Dorothy's husband and son and is forcing himself onto Dorothy, sexually. He takes her blue robe, and stuffs the robes strap in her mouth and he pounds in her. He slaps her a few times, and then sucks on some kind of mask.

YOU SEE FULL FRONTAL OF ISABELLA ROSSELLINI: BOOBS AND BUSH

Jeffrey watches, in horror through the closet. Once Frank was done, he left and Dorothy went and pursued sex with Jeffrey.  She asks him to hit her, and refuses then she asks him to leave. He gets up, and then she asks him to stay. Dorothy is a very broken and has been put into this perverted world of being a sex toy, that any man that she's around, she's submissive, and helpless.

The movie is soooo f'd up! Laura Dern is the worst actress ever! Her portrayal was awful! I actually laughed out loud because her facial expression are ridiculous and over the top (especially the scene where Dorothy is beaten and naked and in Sandy's house).


The movie gets more messed up, and I actually can't remember most of it, because so much happened. This movie deserves to be on the list of 1,001 movies you must see before you die because it is not like any other movie that's ever been produced. With the kidnapping, rape, breaking and entering, murder, romance between Sandy and Jeffrey, sex between Dorothy and Jeffrey, what the hell's wrong with Frank, who's ear was removed, plus the mystery of where's Dorothy's husband and son are. This movie is ingrained in my mind because it's memorable. It's not a movie I'll ever watch again, but it's a part of movie cinema history for a reason.

Written on the Wind (1956)

Star Rating: 2
Length of Film: 99 minutes
Director: Douglas Sirk
Cast: Rock Hudson, Lauren Bacall, Robert Stack, Dorothy Malone, Robert J. Wilke, Edward Platt, Harry Shannon, John Larch, Joseph Granby, Roy Glenn, Sam, Maidie Norman, William Schallert, Joanne Jordan
Oscar: Dorothy Malone (actress in support role)
Oscar Nomination: Robert Stack (actor in support role), Victor Young, Sammy Cahn (song)

Rock Hudson

Mitch Wayne (Rock Hudson) and Kyle Hadley (Robert Stack) are best friends. Mitch meets the lovely Lucy Moore (Lauren Bacall), but it stolen right underneath his feet by Kyle, an heir to a big oil company. He flies Lucy to an exotic location, and gives her a suite with a closet filled with clothes, and a vanity filled with make up and perfume. He gives her an hour to get ready, and she ends up leaving, being overwhelmed by Kyle's intensity. He reaches her before she departs. They get married, and Mitch keeps to himself his feelings for Lucy.



Lauren Bacall



Joan Allen. They could be twins! Look at the resemblance.

Kyle's wild and crazy sister, Marylee (Dorothy Malone) enters the pictures. She's the one that picks guys up at the gas station and takes him back to a motel. She's also the one who's been in love with Mitch since childhood. Their initials are engraved in a tree. She's gorgeous, and usually gets what she wants, but with Mitch, she doesn't. It drives her crazy, because she knows Mitch is in love with her sister-in-law, Lucy. Marylee informs her brother that she has noticed a close connection between his best friend and wife. Tells him to keep a lose eye on them.

After their one anniversary, Lucy and Kyle start trying to have a baby, having troubles, they go to the doctor, and Kyle gets bad news, saying that he's the problem, and they'll never be able to conceive. He starts heavily drinking, and Mitch and Lucy have to take care of him. Lucy confides in her husband, searching for what's wrong, and he won't tell her. One evening at dinner, Lucy has news to tell him that she's pregnant. He of course, takes it that she got pregnant from Mitch, and not from him since the doctor told him it wasn't possible.





Shit hits the fan, there's a gun involved, a killing, and a courtroom scene. I will tell you this, the ending reminded me a lot like Casablanca. They loved someone so much, that they let them go, to be happy, even though it's them, who isn't.

There's nothing special about this movies, yes...there's drama, but it's really slow. I wish there would've been more seduction from Marylee, and a little more flirtation between Mitch and Lucy. Robert Stack did a great job being a drunk. Like always, this is just my opinion, you can take it or leave it, and make up your own mind. Happy viewing!!!!





Laura (1944)

Star Rating: 3
Length of Film: 88 minutes
Director: Otto Preminger, Rouben Mamoulian
Cast: Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb, Vincent Price, Judith Anderson, Cy Kendall, Grant Mitchell
Oscar: Joseph LaShelle (photography)
Oscar Nominations: Clifton Webb (actor is support role), Otto Preminger (director), Jay Dratler Samuel Hoffenstein, Elizabeth Reinhardt (screenplay), Lyle r. Wheeler, Leland Fuller, Thomas Little (art direction)





Laura is a Film Noir movie about a New York detective running an investigation on the murder of Laura Hunt (Gene Tierney). Detective Mark McPherson's (Dana Andrews) first individual he questions is newspaper columnist Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb) who's a close acquaintance of Laura. McPherson questioned Lydecker while he was the bath (WTF?!). It was really awkward because the bath was in the middle of the room, with a leopard print chair and a retractable desk attached to the bath.

McPherson next questioned Laura's fiancé Shelby Carpenter (Vincent Price), her socialite Aunt who's in love with Shelby, Ann Treadwell (Judith Anderson), and Laura's faithful servant, Bessie (Dorothy Adams). McPherson drills Ann on her bank accounts and specific amounts of money she withdrawn, pointing out that she's been giving Shelby money. McPherson gets a hold of Laura's diaries, and starts reading them in her apartment. Lydecker comes over and insists on getting the things back that he gave to Laura; a grandfather clock, a vase, and a fireplace cover. When he's over there, he notices McPherson is becoming infatuated with Laura. Lydecker says the best quote of the whole movie:

"You'd better watch out, McPherson, or you'll finish up in a psychiatric ward. I doubt they've ever had a patient who fell in love with a corpse. "

After Lydecker left Laura's apartment, and McPherson just staring at her self portrait, reading her belongings, keys jingled in the door, and in walks Laura. Laura was not murdered it was someone else! Laura looks through her closet and notices a dress that's not hers, but belongs to one of her models Diane Redfern, who looks very similar to Laura. Her maid, Bessie miss identified the body. So the real questions comes to, why was Diane in her apartment when Laura was in the country, and who was accompanying her? Especially since no one has a key to her place?


The movie goes back and forth giving you suspects swaying you on who might be the murderer. Laura herself was a suspect, along with Waldo Lydecker, and Shelby Carpenter. I won't tell you the ending, I'll leave that up for surprise, but where they hide the gun, is the best part. Oh...and yes, Laura and McPherson kiss.