Waterloo Bridge (1940) Review

On the eve of World War II, British officer Roy Cronin (Robert Taylor) revisits Waterloo Bridge in London. He recalls the man he was during World War I and the young ballerina named Myra (Vivien Leigh) who he met fell in love with during an air raid. That love will be the one of the wars unspoken casualties. Heartbroken after Roy is reportedly killed in action Myra turns to prostitution to make her way. The report however is false and Roy later returns from a POW camp eager to begin life anew with his beloved, but Myra's shattered spirit may no longer hold any room for happiness.

This is one of the better movies of the 1940s. The material is handled perfectly despite the possibility of it deteriorating into a bad soap opera and it isn't dumbed down for the audience. Never are we explicitly told what Myra is doing for money but we still know what happens. I don't think that if we were told it would not have the same emotional impact.

Vivien Leigh is, I admit, one of my favorite actresses so you probably won't ever see me write that she gave a bad performance. This performance is no exception. In the hands of a lesser actress there might be the need for dialogue to explain Myra's pain. Leigh shows it in her facial expressions that say far more than any words possibly could.

The other end of that emotional spectrum is Robert Taylor who delivers the best performance of his career. His everlasting hope and optimism for love keeps the film from dragging.

So often, dramas of this type try to force an emotional reaction from it's audience. Here it simply happens naturally

★★★1/2

Rango (2011) Review

An overall entertaining and visually stunning film Rango tells the story of, well, Rango.  Voiced by Johnny Depp, Rango is a chameleon who is inadvertently lost in what appears to be the Nevada desert. He comes to the town of Mud which is filled with little furry or scaly critters experiencing an unprecedented drought. Rango, who besides being an outsider and a college student's lost pet (and therefore hardly able to survive in the harsh unforgiving terrain), is a pathological liar. Rango becomes the sheriff of Mud after he accidentally kills a bird of prey and sets out with a posse to find who is stealing the water (which turns out to be humans).

The movie is filled to the brim with western homages which might be a miss for younger children or even only occasional movie-goers (including a character patterned after Clint Eastwood who incidentally is called "The Spirit of The West").  The animation is  fantastic but the jokes just fall flat. I don't say that no one would laugh but, much like Coraline two years ago, that excellent animation is wasted on the occasionally boring story and one-note jokes. Even the voices of Ned Beatty and Bill Nighy (who is one of the high points) can't help those problems.

The movie is financed by Nickelodeon Films and although not up to the standards set by the Pixar or even the Dreamworks films the movie would be good for ten or twelve year-olds and is far better and filled less with childish humor than The Spongebob Squarepants Movie.

★★★

The Adjustment Bureau (2011) Review

Here’s a movie that makes an attempt to be original and entertaining without being laden with major special effects and characters that you can’t relate to. Inception anyone?  Don’t worry this isn’t another review about Christopher Nolan’s “masterpiece”. As mentioned in the title, I’m going to talk about the 2011 action-thriller that stars Matt Damon and Emily Blunt.
 On the brink of winning a seat in the U.S. Senate, ambitious politician David Norris (Damon) meets beautiful contemporary ballet dancer Elise Sellas (Emily Blunt)-a woman like none he's ever known. But just as he realizes he's falling for her, mysterious men conspire to keep the two apart. David learns he is up against the agents of Fate itself-the men of The Adjustment Bureau-who will do everything in their considerable power to prevent David and Elise from being together. In the face of overwhelming odds, he must either let her go and accept a predetermined path...or risk everything to defy fate and be with her.

The movie is based upon a short story called “Adjustment Team” by Philip K. Dick (who also wrote Blade Runner, Total Recall) and is written and directed sharply by George Nolfi.

I must say I enjoyed this movie. I thought it was as original as it was entertaining and I found myself really rooting for the main characters even though the villains appear to be from heaven. Besides who doesn’t want to look at Emily Blunt?

The best character is an adjuster named Thompson aka “The Hammer”. He’s played by Terrence Stamp in one of his best roles in a very long time. He is the main adjuster sent in to break up the romance between David and Elise and of all the performances his was the most riveting

One thing that did bother me was the opening. It’s so abrupt that for a moment I thought a reel might have been missing.

So, like I said I enjoyed seeing it at least once. I probably wouldn’t pay to see it in the theatre again but I’ll
definitely look for it when it comes out on DVD.

 

★★1/2

The Fighter (2010) Review

This is a mixed review because I had mixed feelings on the movie. I really liked the good things and really was offput by the bad things.

The movie is another one of those Oscar-bait films about boxing and unfortunately keeps to a formula. Mark Wahlberg plays real-life welterweight boxer Micky Ward. His Rocky-like road to the championship is shepherded by his crack addicted half brother Dicky Eckland (Christian Bale) and his domineering mother Alice (Melissa Leo), who believes it's better to keep everything in the family. Because of his crack addiction Dickey is unreliable and Alice cares more about Dicky than she does Mickey. A decision at a boxing match leads Mickey to realize that his career is being stalled and even undermined by the two, who only seem to care about themselves. This stance is further fostered by Micky's new bartender girlfriend, Charlene Fleming (Amy Adams).  As Micky tries boxing life without Dicky and Alice, much to their anger, he has to figure out where they fit into his life, especially as they do not get along with Charlene, or if they even fit in at all.

There is one great thing in this movie and that's Christian Bale because, despite being the most flamboyant character, he is the most real. I didn't care about Micky or Alice or Charlene. There is a moment near the end where it looks like a sober Dicky seems to be going back to the crackhouse that occupied most of his time. I sighed in relief when he didn't do that. That tells me that Bale managed to create an emotional impact without forcing the audience to feel for him.

One problem is the accents. Sometimes they have them and sometimes they don't (especially Wahlberg). But I'm willing to overlook that. What I can't overlook is that I didn't feel any sense of urgency or that anything was at stake if Micky didn't win the championship. I find it difficult to believe that Charlene, who says she loves Micky and when watching Micky get the hell beat out of him, doesn't seem to be all that bothered by it.

Otherwise the movie is good enough to watch more than once

★★★

The Motion Picture Production Code

The Motion Picture Production Code, or MPCC, was the set of industry guidelines that governed the vast majority of American films released by major studios from 1938-1960. Basically it was a way to monitor the content in films and make sure that they were appropriate for all audiences. Under the code filmmakers could not show certain things...In 1968 the code was officially dropped in favor of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) code that we have today, where a film is rated based on it's content...In some ways I miss the MPPC.  I am conflicted on it because I hate the idea of censorship, which was exactly what it was, and yet I dislike the basic carelessness that is used by filmmakers today. They show the violence and sex because they can but it's not to drive the story or advance the importance of the character's struggles. It's to sell more tickets. Filmmaking should be about the art. Not the grosses. That's why the studio system fell apart because all they cared about was making the money. 


The best thing about the production code was that it forced filmmakers to be creative and subtle if they wanted to communicate something in their movie that they weren't allowed to actually show (whether it be sex or violence or something else.)  A perfect example was the 1934 film The Black Cat. In the film Bela Lugosi's character brutally skins Boris Karloff's character alive. We don't see the actual act. We know what is happening but it's all in silhouette. The ending result is far more terrifying than if it had been shown, like we would get in any movie done by Eli Roth.


Sometimes it is needed for the story. Can you imagine Schindler's List without the violence? You would not see the same brutality of the villains and you would not care if Schindler saved so many Jews if you didn't believe that their life was in danger and you may not have gotten to have the cathartic ending.  How about if the love scenes in The English Patient had been restricted to the morning after? Would you have felt the passion between Katherine and Almasy? When Geoffrey loses it near the end there is a sympathy that you feel for him and so what he does is understandable to the audience. Without those scenes you wouldn't have felt that.


I guess what I am saying is that the Production Code had it's good and bad things but sometimes I wish it was still around.