AFI Top 100, #73: "Wuthering Heights" (1939)

Movie Stats:

Released 1939 (USA)

American, in English

Director - William Wyler

Stars - Merle Oberon, Laurence Olivier, David Niven, Geraldine Fitzgerald

Plot Summary:

It’s the tragic love story of Cathy (Oberon) and Heathcliff (Olivier), set against the backdrop of the Yorkshire moors. Niven co-stars as Edgar Linton, who also lives on the moors, and Fitzgerald as Linton’s sister, Isabella.

Warnings:

Minor violence; extensive use of the word “gypsy” as a slur.

Bad Stuff:

The soundtrack is the worst.

This story has always been a bit too melodramatic for my tastes.

I don’t really like Olivier’s acting in this. He chews a lot of scenery.

Good Stuff:

The costumes are amazing!

I enjoyed the performances of everyone except for Olivier, especially Niven and Fitzgerald.

The dialogue is really beautiful.

The Verdict:

As I said above, I’ve never been particularly fond of this story. I never read the book, and saw my first movie adaptation of it only a few years ago. Having come to it as an adult, I find it very immature. In today’s terms, it basically goes like this, “OMG, I love you the mostest! Our love is the greatest love of ALL TIME! But you don’t really respect me so you sort of rejected me and now I’m going to RUIN YOUR LIFE!” I spend most of the story thinking, “Good grief, grow up already. And leave poor, sweet Edgar and Isabella alone!”

Anyway, despite my lack of patience for the story, I thought that this was a really lovely adaptation of it. It drew me in. I winced my way through the melodramatic ending, but other than that, I quite enjoyed it. It’s way better than the other adaptation I saw (which had the benefit of starring Tom Hardy). 

I give it 4 stars.

Music Love: "Blush" by Wolf Alice

The first song of Wolf Alice’s I ever heard was “Moaning Lisa Smile,” on the car radio. I dug its gritty 90s vibe, but sort of forgot about it for a few months until I heard it in the car again. I decided to look them up online when I got home. Within a few moments of doing so, I’d downloaded two of their EPs, “Blush” and “Creature Songs.”

The 90s were my time to come of age; I was in my teens and twenties throughout them. I was definitely into the alternative and grunge scenes. However, I’ve never considered myself “stuck” on them. I feel that a lot of people hold on too tightly to the music of their youth. I’ve always tried to keep an open mind about music, to find bands and/or songs that I like in each genre, and to keep an ear out for great new music. Few things bother me more than people who say there’s no good music anymore. I say those people just don’t know where to look for it.

So I don’t make a habit of seeking out music with a 90s alternative sound, but there’s something about Wolf Alice’s take on it that I find incredibly pleasing. I also love the voice of Ellie Rowsell, their lead singer. That’s not something you’ll hear me say a whole lot. I tend to prefer male singers. In recent years, I’ve found more and more female singers that I enjoy (Elephant, First Aid Kit, Phantogram) but my music library is still largely overrun by men.

But even more than I love Ellie’s beautiful, haunting vocals, and more than I love the way that the music completely sets the tone of the song, manipulating how I feel, I love the opening lyrics of “Blush”:

Curse the things that made me sad for so long

Yeah, it hurts to think that they can still go on

I’m happy now

Are you happy now?

Man, that hits me right where it hurts. I spent a lot of this year struggling with feelings of inadequacy. They were of a particular sort that I hadn’t felt in a while. It reminded me of some of my more youthful struggles, and it drove me nuts to think that these feelings I thought I’d conquered were still lurking in my psyche, all these years later. I got through that bad patch, and I did so before I ever heard of this song, but those lyrics still mean a lot to me. I listen to “Blush” all the time now. It’s a good reminder to not let my old demons get the best of me, because I’m happy now.

I’m expecting good things from Wolf Alice in the future.

AFI Top 100, #74: "The Gold Rush" (1925)

Movie Stats:

Released 1925* (Germany)

American, in English (the film is silent but all of the scene cards are in English)

Director - Charlie Chaplin

Stars - Charlie Chaplin, Mack Swain, Georgia Hale

Plot Summary:

A lone prospector (Chaplin) hunting for gold in Alaska finds his life changed after he meets fellow prospector Big Jim McKay (Swain). Hale co-stars as the prospector’s love interest, Georgia.

Warnings:

Non-graphic violence.

Bad Stuff:

As I watched, I felt like this movie was going on forever, even though I know it’s only 88 minutes long. Finally, I realized that I find it tedious when Chaplin’s kind of comedy is stretched out into a feature film. For example, I like The Three Stooges. I think they’re very funny. If their episodes were longer than half an hour, I probably wouldn’t like them nearly as much.

[SPOILER]

I didn’t like that the lone prospector ended up with Georgia. She’s actually really quite mean to him. After hitting the big time, I wish he would have found a nicer girl.

[SPOILER]

Good Stuff:

There’s a lot of very funny stuff. I cracked up at the gun fight between Big Jim and Black Larsen (Tom Murray), the ongoing “windblown” gag, and the teetering cabin at the end, plus many other gags.

Chaplin had such an ear for music, which isn’t something I’ve ever heard anyone talk about before. I loved the score for this (it’s actually the score for the 1942 re-release*).

The special effects have held up surprisingly well. I was particularly impressed with the chicken bit (where a starving Big Jim sees the lone prospector as a giant chicken). It looked very realistic.

The Verdict:

I liked it better than City Lights but not as much as Modern Times (in fact, I’m revising MT’s score up a quarter of a star now that I’ve seen all of the Chaplin films on the list). It’s pretty funny. I also came to admire the subtlety of Chaplin’s work during this film. The tramp of “Modern Times” is very different from the one in “City Lights,” and the prospector in “The Gold Rush” is different too. They’re all similar, but Chaplin put enough into his facial expressions and mannerisms to convey differences, and that’s not easy to do without dialogue. Even though the structure of all three of these films was practically the same (loner/outcast meets a woman who inspires him to make something out of himself), I didn’t feel like I was watching the same story over and over again. That takes talent. It’s not surprising that he’s still considered one of the comedic greats.

I give the film 3.75 stars.

*This film has two versions. The original, from 1925, was unavailable for a long time due to poor film quality. In 1942, Chaplin re-released it, but it was a different edit, with a new score and with narration. Restoration work done in the early 1990s made the 1925 version available again, although it included the score from the ’42 release. The DVD I watched had both versions of the film available. I chose to watch the 1925 restoration.

Solo at the Movies: "Trainwreck" at AMC Marina Marketplace 6

I’m still behind after skipping this project in June. Perhaps August will be the month where I catch up by doing two!

Theater Info:

AMC Marina Marketplace 6

4335 Glencoe Ave, Marina del Rey

Cost: $6.30 for a matinee showing

Movie Stats:

Released 2015 (USA)

American, in English (a small amount of mostly translated Mandarin)

Director - Judd Apatow

Stars - Amy Schumer, Bill Hader

Plot Summary:

Commitment phobic Amy (Schumer) finds her life turned upside when she meets Dr. Aaron Conners (Hader), a man she actually develops feelings for.

Warnings:

Lots of blue language; fairly graphic sexy times; male nudity (butt only); minor drug use; some gore (surgery related).

Bad Stuff:

It’s way too long.

The character of Amy isn’t very likable, and it’s not because she’s a commitment phobe who likes to have a lot of sex. She’s simply not a very nice person, and the film doesn’t spend a lot of time trying to redeem her. In the end, it was difficult to root for her or to feel like she got what she deserved.

It’s really not that funny.

Good Stuff:

A lot of the secondary characters are great. I got my biggest laughs from Amy’s boss, Dianna (holy crap it’s Tilda Swinton I didn’t even recognize her), from Amy’s sort-of-boyfriend Steven (John Cena; who knew he had great comedic timing), and from Aaron’s friend LeBron James (actually LeBron James), who’s hilariously awkward and sort of creepy.

There’s a sweetness to it that I wasn’t expecting but rather enjoyed.

While I might not have done a lot of LOLing, I did spend most of the film feeling amused.

The Verdict:

It’s okay. I found both “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” and “Knocked Up” far funnier. I went to see this because the last movie I saw for this project was so oppressively serious. I wanted to mix it up a bit. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite tickle my funny bone in the way I wanted it to. I was mildly entertained for a couple of hours, but it’s not something I would ever watch again. I wouldn’t even recommend it to someone else. All in all, I was disappointed.

I give it 3 stars.

About AMC Marina Marketplace 6:

I had no idea that this movie house existed. It’s rather weird because it’s quite literally just across the street from Marina’s other movie house, the dine-in theater where I saw Kingsman. You would never guess that it’s there because it’s in the middle of one of those flat strip malls. When I looked it up, I sort of felt like someone was pulling my leg. “Really?” I thought. “There’s a movie theater in there?” At any rate, like a lot of movie houses around here, it seems recently renovated because it’s really nice on the inside. The whole “getting my ticket” portion of the morning took a lot longer than it should have. Other than that, I had a pleasant experience. In my particular theater, the very cushy seats were rockers. Oh, and the parking is both free and plentiful. Bonus!

Toys My Dog Destroys: Striped Frog

It's a tragically short tale, the tale of Striped Frog. Here she is before I gave her to Major on June 12:

Sadly, her pristine condition lasted only a day. Here she is on June 13, eviscerated. Major stands over his kill:

On June 16, Major managed the rare head break-in, pulling out all the stuffing:

And here Striped Frog is before I threw her away on June 25, literally a shell of her former self. I feel hers was a cruel fate, her innards pulled out via her crotch and throat:

I bought Striped Frog at a major pet store retailer for $2.50. She truly only lasted 4 days.

AFI Top 100, #75: "Dances with Wolves" (1990)

This movie was previously reviewed as part of my Best Picture Project. Below is the pertinent information about it: the movie stats, plot summary, and the rating I gave it. You can read the full text of my review HERE.

Movie Stats:

Released 1990 (USA)

American, in English (lots of translated Sioux; some translated Pawnee)

Director – Kevin Costner

Stars – Kevin Costner, Mary McDonnell, Graham Greene, Rodney A. Grant

Plot Summary:

Set during the American Civil War. When Northern Lieutenant John Dunbar (Costner) is sent to a far outpost on the frontier, he befriends a tribe of Sioux. McDonnell co-stars as Stands with a Fist, a white woman adopted by the Sioux as a child; Greene as the Sioux tribe’s holy man, Kicking Bird; and Grant as the Sioux Wind in His Hair, who first starts as Dunbar’s enemy but becomes his friend.

Rating:

4 stars

AFI Top 100, #76: "City Lights" (1931)

Movie Stats:

Released 1931 (USA)

American, in English (the film is silent but the scene cards are in English)

Director - Charlie Chaplin

Stars - Charlie Chaplin, Harry Myers, Virginia Cherrill

Plot Summary:

When a tramp (Chaplin) befriends a suicidal millionaire (Myers) by saving his life, wacky hijinks ensue. Cherrill co-stars as a blind street flower vendor, with whom the tramp becomes enamored.

Warnings:

Minor violence; mild sexual humor.

Bad Stuff:

The humor is of a more juvenile nature. A lot of scenes reminded me of those old Warner Brothers cartoons. I suppose they must have copied Chaplin’s style, which isn’t his fault, but because of that I knew where every joke was going to go before it went there.

It’s very high on the “1930s movie sentimentality” scale.

I found the ending unsatisfactory. I thought there were two clear directions it could have gone, either of which would have made sense, but it aimed to hit somewhere between those two directions and it didn’t really work for me.

Good Stuff:

I liked the soundtrack.

As always, Chaplin’s physical comedy, especially his facial expressions, carries the movie.

I enjoyed the whole boxing scene.

The Verdict:

Unfortunately, with the way Chaplin’s movies fall on the list, and what movies are in between them (i.e. movies I’ve already reviewed), that means I’m ending up having to watch several of his movies in a row. This movie definitely suffers from the fact that I saw Modern Times recently. To me, “Modern Times” is a much smarter film than this one. It’s a scathing social commentary, whereas “City Lights” is a romantic comedy. I’m not totally sure why it’s on the list at all, let alone placed above “Modern Times.” That being said, it’s not a bad film. It’s entertaining, there’s some really funny stuff, and if I weren’t so inundated with Chaplin, I might have enjoyed it more. 

I give the film 3.5 stars.