Midnight Cowboy

Mixed feelings about this one. I do in general tend to like New Hollywood films from that period such as Bonnie and Clyde and Chinatown but the collage-like scenes and inter-cutting for the rave and flashbacks felt too disjointed. The Jon Voight character came across as a bit of a caricature to me; I don't know how believable the idea of an army dischargee who dresses like a dude ranch worker coming to New York to be a gigolo is. On the other hand I think Dustin Hoffman did a great job as Rizzo, the wise-cracking, smarmy con-man--in fact it's the thing that convinced me to give this three stars. The MacGuffin of Hoffman's unexplained could have been better thought out (was he supposed to have AIDS?) but the tuberculosis-like illness was better for dramatic physicality than something more believable like cancer.

Tootsie

I like Dustin Hoffman, but this movie just didn't impress me. It feels very dated. I know, I know, yes it's a movie from the 1980's about women in the workplace, so by nature it should feel dated, but I recently watched Nine to Five (also with Dabney Coleman in another role as a 'sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical, bigot' boss-type role), and that felt much more relevant, and at the very least was still humorous. Jessica Lange was good, but I don't know that she deserved the Best Supporting Actress Oscar, there wasn't much depth and growth to the character. On a side note, Lange was also nominated for the Best Actress Oscar for Frances that year as well, but did not win (Meryl did for the forgettable Sophie's Choice). Overall, I just felt it was bland.

All the President's Men

WOW! This movie is stunning. If I could, I'd give it six stars, but sadly I don't have a graphic or label for that. Both Redford, Hoffman, and Robards are amazing in this and compliment each other well, between Redford's more introspective cautious style, Hoffman's disarrayed eagerness, and Robards as the unwitting editor-in-chief who is at the helm of the paper that breaks the Watergate Scandal to the public. I loved the sound direction and parts of the art direction. In particular there is a scene in which Redford is just about becoming aware of the fact he is being followed--the soundtrack is a slow ringing thudding like a clock's pendulum while Redford starts walking slowly and then increasing his gait into a run away from the garage in which he had met deep-throat. The shots alternate between his dark frame being projected against the white wall of the garage or his body front lit the dark of night. Worth watching for the acting and historical significance. I never realized that the Watergate scandal was essential broken by two newsman while the rest of the news world and justice department dragged their feet unwilling to either believe the magnitude of what had happened or afraid to stake their reputations on it. Makes me want to go pick up the book and give it a read. In a side note, the Washington Post's office reminded me of 9 to 5.

Forrest Gump

The reason this only gets two stars is that I don't really like Tom Hanks and his attempt at acting mildy retarded is just pedestrian in comparison to Leonardo DiCaprio in What's Eating Gilbert Grape and Dustin Hoffman in Rainman. Also, if possible, the movie seemed better in the small spurts I saw of it on t.v. then when I sat down to watch it fully. Also I don't quite understand the message of Robin Wright-Penn's (does she still use the Penn?) character. Jenny, while traumatized by sexual harassment as a child continues to wander in and out of Forrest's life in a rather irresponsible manner and ends up using him. Sort of out of sync with the theme of Forrest's significance in major historical events despite his handicap and inability to comprehend what he is experiencing.

The Graduate

I've watched this movie quite often in broken snippets on t.v. so I was surprised to find I'd actually seen all but the first 25 minutes or so unbroken, and the beginning really does set up the rest of the film. I'm not particularily a fan of Dustin Hoffman's acting, but Anne Bancroft does have a standout performance. Also as far as editting and cinematography go, this film is steller, plus is has arguably one of my all-time favortie scores (I'm a S&G fan).