Week in Review 6/27/10

Decided to try something different today(and maybe try to do it weekly) and review some of the movies I saw this week on TV, DVD, or in theatres. Obviously this will not include movies that won best picture as those will get their own posts.

First lets start with the only movie I saw in theatres this week Splice.
I heard a lot of things about Splice. Critics seemed to be liking it but one person I talked to said it was really bad. So, I had to go see it for myself. Good thing I decided to go see it this week because it was only playing in one theatre in my area. The movie is about a couple(Adrian Brody and Sarah Polley) who work in genetics and splice together DNA from different animals including humans to make a new species. Of course things go horribly wrong and mayhem ensues. I liked it and even though it is a little predictable it has some great WTF moments. The fact that they really to go where they did is what sets this movie apart from other monster movies. Dark, creepy, and bizarre makes it a fun movie. The movie really is about morality of creating life and what happens when we become to attached to what we create.



Also this week I had my ducts cleaned in my house and while the people where here making lots of noise I decided to watch a silent movie. I had Battleship Potemkin from 1925 on my DVR. This movie is on IMDB top 250, 1001 Movies to See Before you Die and a number of other lists. So I had to check it out. The movie is about a Russian Battleship that helps start the Russian Revolution of 1905 with a mutiny. Started out kind of similar to Mutiny on the Bounty where the captain is cruel and unjustly punishes the crew but ends up being much different. I had DVR'd it from TCM and am always glad when Robert Osborne gives me a little background on the movie. Found out that it was the first movie to use montages to show different perspectives of what was going on. Also that they filmed one of the most famous scenes the Odessa staircase scene where the actual Odessa massacre happened. For a silent movie the action was pretty good and is one of the best silent movies I have seen. This movie topped many Greatest Movies of All Times list as late as the 1950's.




On Saturday night went over a friends house and watched Brothers with Jake Gyllenhaal and Tobey Maguire. What a good movie. I wasn't expecting it to be that good. For those who don't know its about two brothers Tommy and Sam. When Sam goes off to war in Afghanistan he is involved in a helicopter crash and presumed dead. Tommy who has been a screw up and recently released from jail helps take care of Sam's wife and two daughters. When Sam is discovered alive and rescued from a POW camp he comes back not quite the same. All the performances are great even the two girls that play the daughters. Tobey Maguire looks very creepy and scary as Sam after he returns from war. He has a tendency to just stare at people with this look like he will just snap at any minute. An unexpected great performance. I liked the movie and the ending, but the people I saw it with didn't like the ending. I thought it ended perfectly. And while I am known for picking movies that have bad endings I don't feel this is one of those.


The last movie I watched this week is the documentary Gasland on HBO. Not the best documentary I have seen, but does shed some light on an important subject. The movie is about the harvesting of natural gas from the ground in America. Natural gas is supposed to be the fuel of the future and help get America off foreign oil. It is very abundant all across the United States. The problem is the method that is used to extract it. The method is call fracking and they use water and "fracking fluid" a high pressure to crack the rock under the ground and release the gas. The problem with this is that some of the "fracking fluid" and natural gas leaks into the water system and people are getting sick. The most powerful part of the movie is watching people set there water taps on fire. Very important movie as more and more natural gas is being extracted all around the country.

http://www.hbo.com/#/documentaries/gasland/synopsis.html/

The Life of Emile Zola

The Life of Emile Zola is the 10Th movie to win best picture. Took me a little longer then I thought it would but I finally made it to number 10. Also means I am almost done with movies from the 30's. While there are good movies that won Best Picture from the 30's a majority of the movies from the 30's specifically the early 30's were just bad. The Life of Emile Zola isn't one of the best but far from the worst. I watched the movie over two days. The first half hour was kind of boring so I stopped it before I fell asleep. But after that the movie picks up a bit and wasn't too bad. This movie is technically the second biopic to win best picture (although I read somewhere that it was the first) a bulk of the movie is about a court case so it really feels to me like the first court room drama to win Best Picture.

As you probably guessed the movie is about Emile Zola. And if you are like me you are probably asking who was Emile Zola and why does he have a movie made about his life. Well, that why we watch movies to learn new things. Emile Zola was a French writer who would write about the poor and lower class struggles. He became famous for his honesty and exposing problems that no one wanted to talk about. The first half hour shows how he got his start and move pretty quickly to him being older and rich and famous. That's when we get to the meat of the story. And I am kind of glad that I restarted at this point a different day. What happens is a French soldier is accused of treason and exiled. His wife try's to prove his innocence but fails. Then she finally makes a plea to Emile Zola to write about the case and gives him some evidence that conclusively proves her husbands innocence. Zola being older and enjoying his semi-retirement brushes her off at first but eventually his curiosity wins out and when he looks over the evidence realizes she is right and finally writes a book accusing the army of conspiracy and cover up. This obviously does not sit well with the army and they charge him with treason for writing the book. The rest of the movie is about the court case and the ramifications. After Zola is found guilty he leaves France for England before he can be sentenced and continues to write books while in hiding. After some years have passed a new French Minister of War takes over the army and the case is reopened and eventually the truth comes out and everything is set right.

Like a said the movie isn't as much about The Life of Emile Zola as it is about the one case he gets involved in. Which is why after a slow start it does get more interesting. I wish they just would have made the movie as a court room drama overall. But the acting is good and its always good to see the little guy prevail over a system that puts him down.

Other notes about the 1938 Academy Awards. While Paul Muni didn't win best actor he lost to Spencer Tracy for Captains Courageous which is the first of two wins in a row for Tracy. Also Louise Rainer won her second Best Actress in a row for the Good Earth. Making her the first Actor or Actress to win back to back years.

The Great Ziegfeld

Well the whole idea of posting one every Monday didn't work out too well. So, it's a little late. I have just been tired and didn't feel like sitting down to watch a three hour movie from the 30's. Pretty sure this is the longest Best Picture winner so far. Once I finally sat down to watch it I enjoyed it for the most part.

The movie is about Florenz Ziegfeld a famous producer in the early 20th century and the creator of the Ziegfeld Follies. The movie starts with his beginning at a fair trying to promote the "Worlds Strongest Man" and follows his career through ups and downs. Always trying to find the next big thing and being a smooth talker he wins over plenty of talent and each success leads to bigger things. But every time he makes money he finds a way of blowing it. Sometimes its gambling but most times it in the form of extravagant gifts. Finally in the end he ends losing all of his money in the stock market crash and during the depression with no one going to see plays he ends up dieing with a great deal of debt.

The movie is structured like a play. There is an overture in the beginning and intermission in the middle and exit music at the end. That's part of the reason the movie is 3 hours long. Seemed to take forever to get through the overture in the beginning. The intermission came at a good time because I started falling asleep. Woke up and realized I didn't miss anything just slept through the nice music they were playing during the intermission. The production numbers were great. They really showed the wow factor that must have amazed theatre goers seeing the follies on stage. Made me wish I could have seen one. My big problem is that as impressive as it was the musical number in the middle was too long. Would have been amazing on stage but in a movie just didn't hold my attention. I read that the studios spend more money on the big musical number in the middle of the movie then it cost to put on one of Ziegfeld's shows. But the movie should have stuck to more about the man. William Powell did another amazing job as Ziegfeld(actually did so good of a job he played him again in another movie 10 years later). He really captured that spirit of a guy who has big dreams and can win over anyone with his charms. No matter how many times he was broke he could always convince someone to give him money for his next big idea.

Luise Rainer who played his first wife Anna Held won best actress for the role. She also won best actress the following year for The Good Earth, making her the first actress or actor to win the same award back to back. Billie Burke his second wife was supposed to be played by Billie Burke herself who after Ziegfeld died left her in so much debt she had to start acting in movies to make money. Unfortunately that didn't happen due to contracts, but would have been interesting to see. She did play a big part in helping writing the script and made sure some of Ziegfeld's indiscretions were not fully shown. So Myrna Loy ended up playing Billie Burke and was the 4th time that Myrna Loy and William Powell were in the same movie. They were both in the Thin Man movies and total they would make 14 movies together. There were a couple of people who ended up playing themselves. Fannie Brice was in almost every Ziegfeld's Follies and Ray Bolger who Ziegfeld discovered played themselves. Ray Bolger became famous for his portrayal of the scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz, which also starred Billie Burke as Glinda the Good Witch.
Another interesting note. Eugen Sandow the "Worlds Strongest Man" who Ziegfeld is promoting in the beginning of the film went on to a great career and became the "Father of Bodybuilding"
Also the first Biopic to win Best Picture. But next up is the Second Biopic to win Best Picture The Life of Emile Zola.