A Clockwork Orange

I finally saw it--and I suppose was subconsciously saving it for last. Quite stylish, but also a bit cliched--though I guess this is the original from whence all the other cliches came. It's a difficult movie to sum up so I'll just go with my top five takeaways from it: 1) very English--note I don't say British, 2) very whimsical almost Victorian/Edwardian, child-like language, 3) refined: Beethoven's 9th, the 1960 St. Estephe, 4) sexual but not vulgar, 5) eye drops. I was tempted to give this five stars, but frankly the editing could have been tighter between scenes, and the screenplay was a bit weak in places.

Modern Times

The film does feel very relevant, especially when looked at in the context of the Google Bus/gentrification protests. More admirable physical comedy by Charlie Chaplain--even more astonishing given he was 47 when he made the film. A less savory factoid is the fact he later married his very young co-star, Paulette Goddard who was about 26 when the film was made. That aside, she is very spunky and gives you someone to cheer for throughout a very long and unremarkable movie. This is the loosest of his films plot-wise; indeed, most of it feels like an amalgamation of loosely related comedy bit sequences. Even the soundtrack including spoken (sung?) dialogue by Chaplain can't save this from a two star rating.

Nashville

Typical Robert Altman film with long, fast paced, slapstick comedic sequences. The film is meant to be an indictment of the entertainment business, and politics--I assume trying to not so subtly suggest they are similar. The BBC reporter played Geraldine Chaplain (Charlie Chaplain's daughter--and mother of Oona Chaplain of Game of Throne's fame) is quite annoying and sticks out in the plot. The use of Jeff Goldblum as the link between all the scenes is clever, but that's about the only positive thing I have to say about this film.

The Deer Hunter

A long movie, with some very good scenes, and some that were merely good--I admit the editing (or lack therof) is what kept me from giving it five stars. I have to admit, the setting in Pittsburgh did help endear it to me. Bobby DeNiro is good as usual, Christopher Walken is a hoot, and Meryl is Meryl. It's hard to watch the John Cazale scenes, knowing he'd die so soon after. I appreciate the desire to show how raw the experience in Vietnam was, but it was over gleeful in painting the Viet Cong soldiers as barbaric sadists.

Bridge On the River Kwai

Has a more British movie ever been made? The sheer Britishness of doing a futile task well for the sake of having done it well, even in service of the enemy is not nearly as heroic as the film tries to make it. I was surprised to learn Col. Shears was played by William Holden, since he looks very different in Network and the Wild Bunch. I didn't even realize he was in Sunest Boulvard. Alec Guinness did his usual suffering for a noble cause gig and the movie moved along and an entertaining enough pace. Geoffery Horne is a nice little diversion in the last quarter of the film.

Sunrise

This was only 90 minutes and still took me 3 viewings to get all the way thru it. That should tell you how difficult it is to watch. Wikipedia tells me it has innovative use of forced perspective, long takes, and soundtrack recorded to match the film, but honestly the story and acting were just not very interesting. George O'Brien looks like Frankenstein, which is not helped by the fact he was slumped over and hulking the entire film, or that his two reactions were wither to strangle or kiss the women in the film. Janet Gaynor looked all of 12 years old which made this super awkward to watch. The symbolism and archetypes were so blatant, and obvious they actually backfired. About the only enjoyable thing was the 'peasant dance' at the fair.

Sullivan's Travels

An interesting premise for a film, but it seems a bit self serving. The clever movie-within-a-movie premise of showing actual hobo life--though one wonders if that was staged as well. The movie is a bit self-righteous at the end with McCrea's giving out money to all the itinerants he sees. The whole depiction of the chain gang is also a bit suspect--the idea of a famous director being put in one without the chance to appeal. Veronica Lake also serves no discernible purpose that I can see.