(1969)
Director: George Roy Hill RATED: PG This film is one of the all-time classics -- it won Academy Awards for Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Musical Score, and Best Original Song; it was nominated for Best Sound, Best Director, and Best Picture. This movie is about as well put together as a movie can get. Legendary screenwriter, William Goldman, gifts the characters with sharp, witty, quotable dialogue which Paul Newman and Robert Redford deliver with deadpan perfection. What little time the supporting cast gets, they use well (with a particular emphasis on Strother Martin's unforgettably "colorful" performance as Percy Garris. Burt Bacharach's 60s-vibe score sounds a little odd for a western, but it offers a tone that period music just wouldn't deliver. The real gem of this film, though, is Conrad Hall's photography. Intricately and beautifully crafted, the images are the main storytelling vocabulary. There is heart, metaphor, character, and action in every frame of this masterpiece. Film buffs and other careful viewers are treated to subtle nuances in lighting, angle, framing, and composition that enhance each line of dialogue, each action sequence, and the theme as a whole. Stunning. Of course, as is the case in most American films from the late 1960s, the political commentary is heavy and certainly dark (compare this film to 1967s similarly-themed Bonnie and Clyde), but Hill's directing and Goldman's writing keep it from being ponderous or overwhelmingly obvious. The commentary reaches the audience naturally, and the conclusion loses none of its power or humanity pandering to the era. Overall, if you're looking for a great ride and a nearly perfect example of filmmaking, this is your movie. (1954)
Director: Alfred Hitchcock RATED: PG Premier auteur director, Alfred Hitchcock, gives his audience a good hard look at the lives of their neighbors in this classic thriller. Arguably his best (and most well-known) film next to his 1960 shocker, Psycho, Rear Window has quickened pulses and induced paranoia for more than 60 years. Televised often, and part of many many home collections, the film certainly withstands the test of time, and entertains as well today as it did in its own time. The compelling (and often copied) story creates an ever-building sense of suspense and impending danger even though the film takes place, effectively, in a single room with a wheelchair-bound protagonist. The writers (Hayes and Woolrich) accomplish something truly remarkable -- keeping the audience interested and the story moving despite the fact that the location and protagonist can't. The brilliant sound design and startlingly effective cinematography pull the audience into Jeffries' paranoid world, but it really falls to the performances of the affable Jimmy Stewart and the inexpressibly beautiful Grace Kelly to carry the film. Both succeed. As a pair, and against Raymond Burr's mostly silent menace, they give the audience characters that are at once flawed and vulnerable and also genuinely likeable and funny. This is a character-based thriller, and neither the characters nor the thrills disappoint. Hitchcock earns his sterling reputation with this one. |
(1959)
Director: Billy Wilder RATED: NR If ever there was a masterpiece of comedy film, this is it. It's hard to even know where to start writing about this ingenious collection of silliness, gender commentary, silliness, mob violence, silliness, witty dialogue, and silliness. Writer and director Billy Wilder manages to seamlessly entwine his clever social commentary into enormously frivolous situations without diminishing the impact nor "cheesing" the humor in the combination. Few directors are as skilled. Filmed in black and white to avoid making the two leading men look more atrocious than they already do, the film initially feels like an older 1940s Film Noir or crime story. Once the comedy starts, however, the dippy lead characters juxtaposition against the film's many "straight men" is accentuated even further by that B&W tone and crime-story structure. Though the film might not be a traditional comedy, the laughs are plentiful and come mainly from the lead character's misunderstandings of what it means to be male or female in the 1920s (when the film is set) or the 1950s (when the film was made). Therein lies the social commentary. One could take offense at Sugar's claim to be "not very bright" or the two leading men's fairly constant sexism. However, one could also look at the film as arguing against those conceptions of gender by sarcastically exaggerating them. Each audience member can, of course, judge for themselves. Either way, the film could not be better cast, and the performances are extraordinary. Tony Curtiss, Marilyn Monroe, and Joe E. Brown all avoid the cardinal mistake of comedic acting by playing their intensely ridiculous characters with sincerity and conviction. The honesty in the acting keeps the characters real and likable enough for the audience to care about them and laugh at them at the same time. The film is stolen, though, by Jack Lemmon, who, with his typical performance perfection, lifts this film from a really funny and well made comedy to a timeless classic. His deliveries are flawless and his mannerisms are so unexpected and entertaining that a simple look can produce a laugh. Brilliant. Put all that together with witty, fast-paced dialogue and convincing, well-timed performances by George Raft and Pat O'Brien as the "straight men" gangster and cop duo (and a short, but exceptional, performance by Nehemiah Persoff as Little Bonaparte, the mafia don) and you end up with a solidly entertaining and immensely funny classic comedy. Everyone should see this film at least once just to learn how comedy is done. (1999)
Directed By: Dean Perisot Rated: PG Satires can be difficult to do well and difficult for audience to get. For one thing, unless an audience is familiar with the source material, the joke (and, in fact, the whole point of the satire) falls flat. So, Dean Perisot took a bit of a risk with this Star Trek send-up. Doubling that risk, Star Trek fans tend to be the loyal sort who can get pretty militant about put downs of their obsession, so the very people most likely to get the jokes were apt to be the people most likely to get offended and angry at the jokes. That's a tall order with a low chance of success. However, somehow Perisot and the rest of the cast and crew of Galaxy Quest managed to walk that line and create a true satirical classic. Part of the reason for the film's success comes from the way the source material is treated. Though satirical of, and in some cases outright sarcastic about, many of the sillier elements of the Star Trek series (even some obvious continuity errors), the film comes off more as an homage than a dig. The characters are drawn and performed as likeable, honorable, and capable as well as flawed and goofy. The dialogue pokes fun at itself at the beginning of the film and then becomes actually meaningful as the action progresses. The film offers even non-Trek-familiar audiences enough action and comedy to entertain, and enough romance and human relationships to offer an emotional connection. The performances truly engage (especially Sam Rockwell as Guy and Tony Shalhoub as Fred Kwan), the special effects impress (while still holding to the absurd look of the source material), and the writing pleases (with enough wit to be funny and natural at the same time). All of which combine to create a playful, funny, and truly exceptional example of great film satire. |