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.

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.

MASH

A more irreverent look at war than the other selections on this list. Was interesting to see since I've never seen M*A*S*H, the t.v. series, or a young Donald Sutherland. I'm sure at the time the taunting and needling of Nurse Houlihan was funny at the time, but it sort of reeks of sexual harassment. It's also a bit hard to sympathize with the two main characters since they basically bully anyone who doesn't agree with their rampant drug use, drinking, and womanizing.

Bringing up Baby

The more I watch Katherine Hepburn the more I can't help but love her, even given the idiotic role she plays here. Again, as in her other Cary Grant pairing on the AFI list Philadelphia Story, she plays a rich, spoiled heiress, but in this film she is more naive than entitled, and bratty. It was fun to see Grant in a more goofy role as the nerdy hapless Dr. David Huxley as opposed to his usual suave roles. This movie depends on a bit of slapstick, but the pace moves along at a decent clip, though the plot is brainless.

Easy Rider

Meh. That's all I have to say about this film. Peter Fonda is nice to look at, Dennis Hooper is an ass. Fun to know they really smoked and did all the drugs shown in the movie. I know this is the beginning of 'new Hollywood', but the scene cuts were schizophrenic and the graphics really poor in comparison to Apocalypse Now and Bonnie & Clyde, especially in the scene where Jack Nicholson gets beaten to death. I also question the intelligence of hiding the money in something as flammable as the gas tank.

Gold Rush

I haven’t seen many Chaplain films, but this was more enjoyable than City Lights. The physical comedy is great, and it’s fun to see references to it in present day movies; the gag with pretending to be asleep with the shoes on the hands featured prominently in the Hindi film Chennai Express. The storytelling is a bit loose—most of it feels like scenes to move from one situational gag to the next with the plot as at artifice bolted on top, but it doesn’t quite feel natural.

Blade Runner

This movie has moments of pure brilliance, but the majority is rather mundane. The writing is terrible, but the mis-en-scene and art direction is amazing. Harrison Ford is meh in playing another burnt out loner. Rutger Hauer is amazing as the sometimes maniacal, sometimes heroic Replicant Roy Batty. The dialogues literally feel as though they were written by high schoolers who are trying to move the exposition forward in the most obvious way possible. Likewise, the scenes in J. F. Seabastin’s apartment are awkwardly executed, as are parts of the final fight scenes, but the final monologue from Hauer is simply brilliant.

The Philadelphia Story

I generally like Katherine Hepburn, James Stewart, and Cary Grant but I found them all grating in this story. Stewart relies a bit too much on his jovial, street smart persona and his mannerisms which might have been appropriate for the stage are excessive on screen. Hepburn lacks empathy and is not relate-able (even for a rich girl); I simply don't understand how all three male leads would fall in love with her. Cary Grant just seem smug. I find it odd that instead of having Hepburn's Samantha Lord chose the rich man over the self made man or the poor(ish) writer; the rich girl choosing the rich boy doesn't show particular depth on either of their parts and my guess is a return to alcoholism and philandering on both their parts within a few months of remarriage.

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.

Double Indemnity

Don't really have any strong feelings about this film--it's your typical film noir--but then again it might have been one of the films to define the genre (1944). Aesthetically I can't warm to Barbara Stanwyck and her character seems vapid when she should be more, well for lack a better word, Bette Davis-like. Fred MacMurray was similarly forgettable, only Ed Robinson as Keyes, the paternalistic and blustery insurance investigator. Not one of Billy Wilder's best films.

Psycho

Not my favorite Hitchcock offering. Maybe because it lacked Jimmy Stewart. I do have to say, in the scene in which Anthony Perkins is climbing the stairs to visit 'mother', he is oddly graceful. I dislike this move in that in uses slasher-esque techniques instead of Hitchcock's usual methods of building suspense such as in Vertigo and Rear Window. The former two films also had a plethora of visual eye candy and interesting framing techniques of the shots which this one simply lacked.

Rocky

Ever since I saw this, I can't get the theme music out of my head. I can't tell if Stalone is actually a good actor (to be fair, he did get an Oscar nom) or if he's really as stupid as he plays Rocky Balboa to be. He does have a lanky grace about him which is nice, and he was the screenwriter, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. A decent movie, but Rocky is too likable and his 'flaws' of being uneducated and physical are not fatal like De Niro's Jake La Motta in Raging Bull. In Raging Bull you really did detest his alcoholism, violence, and womanizing which gave the character a depth that Stallone's two dimension portrayal of Balboa lacks. This movie also reminds me a lot of On the Waterfront: down on his luck boxer, works for a mafia loan shark, likes the quiet bookish girl, takes a beating in the final scene without triumphing but manages to preserve his dignity.

Annie Hall

This movie is generally described as 'everybody's favorite Woody Allen film'. I don't know that I'd agree with that, I liked Match Point far more, mostly because due to The Tudors I have an obsession with Johnathon Rhys Myers. Also, I find Allen's self-pleased smugness with his own sense of humor and New York City to pervade the entirety of Annie Hall, and smugness in a director is something I detest, especially when in someone as deplorable as Allen. There is no way that sleeping with your step-adopted daughter is ever appropriate; likewise he is the most irritating type of Brooklyn-born Jew. I'll grant him directorial style points on the cutaways, long takes, and breaking of the fourth wall, but that is not enough for me to overlook his vanity. Diane Keaton is fresh, and I thoroughly enjoyed Carol Kane's (rather minor) character and Jeff Goldblum's cameo. Paul Simon was not well utilized.

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.

The Searchers

Wasn't overly fond of it. Beautiful sweeping shots of the landscape, which I hear was David Lean's inspiration for many of the shots in Lawrence of Arabia and some shots in Star Wars. John Wayne is the begrudging hero who embarks on a quest to find his long lost niece Debbie, played by Lana (younger) and Natalie (older) Wood. It makes one wonder if Natalie Wood is the female version of Jimmy Stewart--she is in so many movie 'classics'. I don't really fancy Westerns, and this didn't really change my mind. They say it is director John Ford's greatest masterpiece but, as I said, I wasn't wowed (then again I haven't seen any of his other movies). See it if you decide to see every movie on the the AFI list, otherwise, don't bother.

Cabaret

This film got three stars for two reasons: Liza Minnelli's voice, most particularly in the song "Mien Herr", and also because Joel Grey is a genius. The movie is entertaining on the same level as West Side Story in that I can appreciate why it did well back when it was released, but fails to suspend my disbelief. When this first came out it swept the Oscars minus best film, which consequently went to The Godfather; I don't know that Grey deserved the supporting actor Oscar over Pacino, nor Fosse over Coppola, but Minnelli is remarkable. Her voice is a spitting image of her mothers, except her singing voice has more power. Anyway, the Fosse choreography is amusing (especially since I just saw the A Chorus Line revival).

A Streetcar Named Desire

I've never been a huge Tennessee Williams fan, however I enjoy Marlon Brando, and am in love with Vivien Leigh (no really, I would go gay for her). The film seemed a bit muddled, but from what I understand, it was simply the Broadway production put in front of cameras--with the notable substitution of Vivien who had done the West End production (even more interesting since the only Tony award the production was nominated for, and won, was Best Actress for Jessica Tandy in the role of Blanche DuBois). Overall a well made movie, but as I said, I've never been able to wrap my head around Williams (ironic since I want to see Cat on a Hot Tin Roof). It swept the acting Oscars (Best Leading and Supporting), with the exception of leading male, although Brando was nominated. It was Brando's second film ever.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

A good movie but I don't know that it is one of the all time greats. It won the big 'five' in terms of Oscars: Actor, Actress, Screenplay, Director, and Film, but I felt at times it was a bit unfocused and could have used a bit of tighter editing. Jack Nicholson is great but it's the same role he plays in all his movies--I prefered him in Chinatown better. I did finally get the relevance of the poem and the movie: One flew east, one flew west, and one flew over the cuckoo's nest wherein the two character who died, Billy and McMurphy, are the ones that flew east and west, and Chief is the one who flew over the nest.

Singing in the Rain

So originally I was going to give this four stars, but then I came to the realization I only liked it because of the dance numbers (c'mon, I'm Indian, Hindi movies only work because of the song and dance sequences) and then it dawned on me, this really had no plot except for to give Gene Kelly a showcase. The only character that really stood out was Donald O'Connor as the sidekick to Kelly's arrogant and overly self-assured Don Lockwood. Debbie Reynolds is decent but under-used.

Grapes of Wrath

I was a bit hesitant about watching this since, I've read the book and the book which is an achievement in subtlety which would appear to be hard to translate to celluloid. I was right for the most part, many of the memorable vignettes are left out or adapted to fit the Joad family. The movie works solely on the strength of Henry Fonda's ability to play the troubled rebel who ends up on the wrong side of things. John Carradine as the preacher Casey is stilted and many of the episodes of the book (the book is heavily episodic) become caricatures of the poor man fighting against odds, the government, and his fellow man. The movie is watchable, but I suggest reading the book instead.