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julesngold
Reviews
American Beauty (1999)
NO. 2 All-Time? Please!!!
Ok, this movie has been hyped to ridiculous extremes. Simply put, this was an original idea (hell beneath the surface of suburbia) in 1954 when Rebel Without a Cause was released. The wife is a cardboard cut-out, the husband, who we the audience is supposed to identify with in his rebellion against stifling suburban life, lacks any redeeming value from the first scene. The character should have started as a schlemiel and THEN grown to fight back against his shallow life. I, personally, was happy his character was murdered. Cheap easy laughs form the basis of this tired script. If you want to see a better film in this vein, one with true depth, poetry and complexity that doesn't make it so easy for the audience to feel superior to the lives of it's pathetic characters, see the Ice Storm.
Oh, and by the way Academy voters, BEING JOHN MALKOVICH was the best picture AND original screenplay of 1999. Thank you.
Specter of the Rose (1946)
Hilarious Camp
You must see this movie. We were baffled and amused by the incomprehensible dialogue, stone-faced acting, and ridiculous plot of this ballet/murder mystery written and directed by Ben Hecht(!?). Actually, we were more than amused, we were in physical pain from continual laughter!
Dame Judith Anderson manages to rise above this surreal debacle and provide an intelligent performance. On the other end of the scale is legendary acting teacher Michael Chekhov, nephew of Anton, who is so over-the-top that doubts arose in our minds about his acting theories.
The fact that Hecht, writer of hard-boiled cynical tales (The Front Page), would write such loopy dialogue leads us to theorize he meant this to be tongue-in-cheek. We can only hope.
See this film!
Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969)
A Charming Love Story
I saw this movie for the first time on the big screen on my 12th birthday and fell in love with it. I was moved by the love story between the aging Classics professor played masterfully by Peter O'Toole and and the young London show girl, nicely portrayed by Petula Clark. I loved the romance of Ancient Greece and Pompeii. I also thought Ursula, played by Sian Phillips, was a riot!! I liked the music very much and felt it added a lot to the film. I too wish a CD was available, especially of Petula Clark's recordings. Seeing the film many years later as an adult, I still find it enjoyable.