Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Penn, 1967)
Rating: 9.6
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Monday, March 27, 2006
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Sunday, March 05, 2006
Thumbsucker (Mike Mills, 2005)
Thumbsucker (Mike Mills, 2005)
Rating: 4.6
Thumbsucker was like watching a Todd Solondz movie without any sort of satire or agenda. I wanted to like it, but the film tried to take itself too seriously. It seemed as if the awkwardly quiet dialogue was making a desperate attempt at being more meaningful than it actually was. Vince Vaughn's small part was good for a few laughs, while Keanu Reeves role as a philosophical hippy orthodontist was almost a mockery his Bill and Ted style acting reputation whether the filmmakers were aware of this or not. I felt like all of the characters in this film were vastly underdeveloped and in the end it was just another typical uninspired teen angst story lacking significance.
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Nothing But a Man (Michael Roemer, 1964)
Nothing But a Man (Michael Roemer, 1964)Nothing But a Man (Michael Roemer, 1964Rating: 9.4
This was the second time I've seen this film which was one of the first and most important films part of the independent black film movement.
Discussion board response:
Subject: Race issues at work...
Both Duff and Griffin have to endure the arduous and demeaning chore of trying to find work in a white world. Both in the book "Black Like Me", and the film "Nothing But a Man", we see the white bosses portrayed as suspicious of the black employees and often talk down to them. Griffin describes how most Negroes play the obedient stereotyped role to avoid confrontation, and we see similar behavior in the film. At the mill Duff's coworkers ignore his plea for them to unify and stand up for themselves, and one even rats him out to the boss. Unfortunately these instances as well as many other acts of discrimination were common during this period of racial tension in the United States and are controversially brought to the reader's and spectator's attention in Griffin's book and in the film.
The Iron Mask (Allan Dwan, 1929)
The Cheat (Cecil B. Demille, 1915)
The Cheat (Cecil B. Demille, 1915)
Rating: 6.0
Edith Hardy (Fannie Ward) uses charity funds for Wall Street investments in hopes of doubling her money. When the money is lost, she turns to an Oriental Ivory trader (Sessue Hayakawa) for help, but instead in return for the favor he wants ownership of her rather than his money back. Edith ends up shooting Arakau, but her loving husband takes the blame. During the ensuing trial, Edith confesses the truth, a riot begins and everything conveniently turns out OK. The This was one of the early feature films, and the subject was pretty racy for the times. Unfortunatley Hayakawa, the best actor in the film in my opinion is stereotyped as a typical evil Oriental villain, and there weren't many prominent roles for him during this era. The ending was pretty much ridiculous, but concurrent with my expectations of early silent film.
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