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.