Monthly Top Five

Yet another Video Essay opportunity.

There are some things that are good about it. Other things, not so much.

5. A Place in the Sun (George Stevens, 1951)- 8/10

You don't always know what you're going to get with 1950s melodramas, but color me highly impressed by former AFI Top 100 lister A Place in the Sun. Notable for sparking the decades-long friendship between Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor, the film is a moody, well-shot film that features wonderful performances from the leads that starts as a simple romance and becomes a gripping thriller. While the film is hampered by its epoch in not being able to completely corral its second half maliciousness into the rounded form of the first half, A Place in the Sun is a film that will appeal to even the most skeptical of classic Hollywood.

4. Cabaret (Bob Fosse, 1972)- 8/10

Another AFI Top 100 lister, Cabaret takes place in 1930s Berlin at the very onset of the Nazi's rise to power. While Germany's changing landscape is the movie's backdrop, most of the action centers on characters played by Liza Minnelli, a cabaret dancer and free spirit, and Michael York, a reserved English tutor. I'm not a big fan of musicals, but to label Cabaret a musical actually does the film a disservice. The numbers are well choreographed and, unlike most musicals, diegetic to the film itself. The scenes in the cabaret are wildly entertaining, and Fosse's work with cinematography legend Geoffrey Unsworth is dazzling, capturing the impoverished Berlin respectfully while also wowing the audience with the lights of the cabaret. This is a wonderful film, and anyone hesitant to dive in should know it's not a traditional musical and take the plunge.

3. The Big Country (William Wyler, 1958)- 9/10

I have to admit that despite the names attached to this film and the positive reviews, I wasn't entirely excited about watching a three hour western from the 1950s. But those hesitations were quickly admonished the moment the film begins, capturing in the gorgeous deep focus style that director William Wyler was known for these beautiful panoramic shots of the burgeoning West. This is the film Wyler made right before Ben-Hur, and it stars Gregory Peck as a sailor from the East who is to wed the daughter of a land baron, who is embroiled in a bitter feud over water territory with the poorer clan on the town outskirts. The Big Country is more than just navel gazing the gorgeous golden tones and blue skies of the cinematography though; there is a searing drama at the heart of this that's carried with aplomb by Peck, Charlton Heston, and Burl Ives in his Oscar-winning role as the patriarchy of the "other" clan. The film even ends on a surprisingly cynical note in the final showdown, and I was highly impressed at what Wyler brought to this underrated gem.

2. Full Metal Jacket (Stanley Kubrick, 1987)- 9/10

It had been awhile since I'd last watched Full Metal Jacket, so before it expired from HBO I figured let's get it a revisit. Everyone is largely familiar with the film for its famous first half, where R. Lee Ermey belittles the fuck out of his fresh Marine recruits at boot camp, most notably Private Pyle. The second half is what people rarely talk about, and in some ways I understand that. While it has its moments, Full Metal Jacket's second half is not one that's narratively constructed in the way that most war films are. There's not really a clear objective, there's pretty surface level characterizations along the way, and while all of it is dazzlingly composed there isn't really a signature set piece either. But, I argue that's sort of Kubrick's point, right? The numbness of the Vietnam War where soldiers just drifted from one event to the next without clear motives or objectives. Private Joker, played by Matthew Modine, is supposed to be a journalist documenting the war. It's all sort of a big joke to him, cracking John Wayne impressions and trying to establish this sort of gung-ho mentality to a war he's fairly distanced from. That changes once he actually gets into the shit, and fully becomes immersed in what it meant to be a grunt in Vietnam. Full Metal Jacket isn't my favorite Kubrick by any means, but it's a film whose second half really doesn't get the attention or credit it deserves.

1. Witness for the Prosecution (Billy Wilder, 1957)- 9/10

This is a film I should've seen awhile ago and never did, and wow what a mistake that was. Generally court room dramas are as procedural as they come, but this can't be said about Billy Wilder's Witness for the Prosecution. Charles Laughton has never been better as the gruff and haughty defender, and Wilder delivers the twists and plot revelations with great ingenuity. The film continues to pack one big narrative punch after another up until the final twist, which is among the best in film history. This is a layered, brilliantly designed adaptation of Agatha Christie's work and yet another astounding film from the great Billy Wilder.

Honorable Mentions:
My Life as a Zucchini (Claude Barras, 2016)- 8/10
The Little Foxes (William Wyler, 1941)- 8/10
Baraka (Ron Fricke, 1992)- 8/10
Tootsie (Sydney Pollack, 1982)- 8/10

Portraits pretty incredible.

It gets overlooked cause it doesn't have songs, like in Nightmare and Corpse Bride, but it's a delightfully old school style Burton flick. Fits in with his 80's/90's work.




Go watch Water Lilies.

These two ladies will make an appearance in the next tournament.

You watched Night of the Hunter. You've done your great service for the month, nothing else matters.

And to think the film community chastised the fuck out of Charles Laughton when he made it. Wow do they owe him a posthumous apology.

Then we'll spit on their graves in the name of cinema!

Yo, I just remembered. I watched that weird Hitler movie with Obi Wan. PG Cooper you seen this?

No movie for me today so here's my top 5 for September:

United 93 - What a rough, powerful watch.  Knowing that almost everyone on screen is doomed, knowing that their last moments were pure terror, knowing that their seemingly futile efforts in fact saved several lives and knowing that this was all true just added to the pit in my stomach that grew throughout the entire movie.  It's a film that makes you sad, angry and feel compassion for people who have long since passed away.  United 93 was everything that I had heard about it, a movie that I'm glad I watched but I don't know if I have it in me to watch again, at least not anytime soon.

WarGames - I have a mental list of 80s movies that I haven't seen and the list is much longer than I'd like (Footloose, Dirty Dancing, Pretty In Pink, Labyrinth just to name a few).  WarGames had been on it for a while but the whole nuclear/Cold War theme had it at the top of my list.  This is actually a really fun and well-paced movie with Matthew Broderick playing a convincing geek who almost starts a nuclear war and Ally Sheedy as his new squeeze who mostly just wants him to change her grades on the school computer.  You can tell at times that the movie didn't quite know if it wanted to be more funny or more serious, there were a couple strange inserts of comedy and the score at the beginning had much more of a Stripes ring to it but once it found its way it turned out to be a movie that I suspect is on the better side of 80s youth films.

Tokyo Story - One of the best movies I've seen throughout 2020 has been Leo McCarey's Make Way For Tomorrow.  I haven't dug into to to see when or if Yasujiro Ozu saw McCarey's film but it's safe to assume he did as some point since the influences are obvious.  Tokyo Story is certainly more subtle than Make Way For Tomorrow in that MWFT really paints the children to be deliberately brushing their parents to the side while Tokyo Story has the children just busy with their own lives, something that I think any family would relate to.  Still, it's a dramatic, touching film that certainly does a good job moving you although I think I certainly would prefer MWFT if I had to choose.  As for its reputation that it's 'one of the great films of all time' I would say...let's settle down a little bit.

Prisoners - One of those movies that I've been meaning to watch for a long time, Prisoners is a bleak dive into a father's hunt for his kidnapped daughter and the lengths he will go to in order to find her.  All performances here are aces, from Hugh Jackman to creepy but great as always Paul Dano.  Jake Gyllenhaal was probably the most surprising turn in this movie for me.  I didn't know he was in it initially and he likewise knocked it out of the park as the flawed detective leading the case. One of my constant criticisms of crime films is that the 'Detective™' is usually paper thin, bland and generic.  Jake's character is none of those things and his subdued rage and intensity brings a very nice touch to an otherwise somber, grim movie.  I will say that I thought the ending felt a little out of place.  I know people think that the 'Jake hearing the whistle' was a cop-out but I thought Jackman's fate ultimately didn't quite fit and was unwarranted.  I know, I know he turned out to be a bad guy too in the end but it was the circumstances that got him there.  It just didn't feel like it needed to have such a downer ending.  Still, it's another really solid piece by our boy Denis.

Kiss Me Deadly - An atomic-based noir by What Happened to Baby Jane? director Robert Aldrich has a good hook; a washed up PI almost hits a woman with his car in the middle of the road.  He picks her up but is quickly apprehended and nearly murdered.  He hits the streets tracking down answers which leads him to a mad doctor and a nuclear Macguffin.  This was a fun, fast paced movie but sometimes it confuses being convoluted for being intelligent.  There are a lot of things peppered in that are hardly scratched but it brings the audience to a pretty fun, sci-fi-esque conclusion.  Not the best noir I've ever seen but it certainly tries to be different.

Other watches:
Stardust Memories
In The Mood For Love
Bill & Ted Face The Music
1941
Ed Wood (rewatch)
Naked (CS film club, not counting in top 5)
Secret Honor (CS film club, not counting in top 5)

Yeah, that seems to be the general reaction people have after seeing it.  Glad you liked it, though.