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philosoraptor42I've got a lot of reviews still outstanding and I'm going to see if I can catch up a bit. First of all, I recently saw some old Oscar winners: "All About Eve" (best motion picture 1951) and "Life Is Beautiful" (best foreign language film 1999). I also recently finally got around to seeing "Brave" which won this year's best animated feature award at the Oscars.
All About Eve (1950)
The film opens narrated by George Sanders in his role as a film critic. He has a fairly small part but he seemed very familiar even though the only thing I seem to know him from is "Village Of The Damned" (asides from "Jungle Book" where he voiced Shere Khan... Awesome.) In this opening scene of "All About Eve" some kind of awards ceremony is taking place and everyone is expecting an actress called Margo (played by Bette Davis) to win, but in fact a younger actress called Eve (played by Anne Baxter) is presented with the award, seemingly contrary to all expectations.
With that set up, the rest of the movie will then explain how we reach that point. Margo is still a respected actress in the theatre, but rather than being a competitor, Eve is a huge fan who watches every performance and is excited to be getting the chance to meet her idol personally.
Bette Davis is an absolutely fantastic actress and I absolutely loved the way she changes her voice and demeanour to try to seem upper class when her fan enters the room. She has a wonderfully eccentric character to work with, but she plays her quite brilliantly.
Anne Baxter, on the other hand, I recognised from one of the Hitchcock films I saw called "I Confess". In "I Confess" she was one of the worst examples of the 'hysterical blonde' trope that seemed to keep cropping up in Hitchcock films, telling a sob story in a breathy agitated voice. Here in "All About Eve" she also tells a sob story too. It's the earliest point where the film loses me for a moment as her breathy agitated telling of sob stories seemed to send me to sleep, even while the other characters seem captivated and moved by her storytelling.
That being said, being 'breathy' seemed to work a lot better for Anne Baxter's character in "All About Eve" than it had in "I Confess". She's playing a character who is supposed to come off as innocent and starstruck, but so much so that it becomes suspicious. There's a question at play as to whether she's a completely manipulative character or whether what happens is all a part of her obsession with the actress Margo.
"All About Eve" is a pretty good film for the most part. The performances are generally great, particularly from Bette Davis. I still don't really rate Anne Baxter as an actress, but in this film her style of acting is at least more appropriate. In some ways, the creepy obsessive who might have some rather more malign intentions seems very similar to the sort of film I enjoy and, considering that this ISN'T a horror film at all, it does a pretty good job at holding the audience's attention. Unfortunately this is not helped by the slow pace. Some scenes are very interesting, but at other times it takes rather too long for anything to happen. By the end, I was finding the whole thing made me feel very drowsy indeed.
Marilyn Monroe (above with George Sanders) has a small role in the "All About Eve" too.
As unfair as it might seem to fans of old cinema, my problem with this movie is that it feels very old fashioned. But as far as cinema goes 1950 isn't THAT old and I'm just not willing to give it that much extra credit for its age. This movie has some great moments and there were points where I was really enjoying it, but as a whole it's sluggish and by the end I was underwhelmed.
C-
Life Is Beautiful (1997)
How the hell did anyone get this idea? It has always puzzled me that this movie even exists. A comedy about the holocaust with widespread critical acclaim and beloved by audiences. It sounds like the sort of film that ought to have an outcry against it. How on Earth could anyone possibly make a comedy about the holocaust that was even remotely funny? It sounds more likely to be the final nail in Seth McFarlane's career rather than a highly praised Italian movie with multiple major film awards and 80% on Rotten Tomatoes.
It's very hard to explain why "Life Is Beautiful" is a brilliant movie. It just kind of is. It's hard to explain why this completely unrealistic portrayal of the holocaust is genuinely funny and not at all demeaning to holocaust survivors, but I think it just about pull it off. (Somehow! I'm not the person to judge this, clearly, but it just about seems to work!)
While the context of Fascist Italy is present throughout the movie from the start, the impact of facism doesn't become clear for quite a while. Instead the focus is on the central character. The style of the film is old-fashioned quick-talking comedy with much of the humour involving slapstick comedy. The central character is a combination of ridiculous and charming. Everything he does is so fantastically choreographed and his performance is so exciting and energetic, it just seems impossible not to fall in love with him.
Even going into the movie thinking "a comedy about the holocaust, really?" (I mean seriously, I was not convinced that I was going to like this and I found it really hard to keep an open mind), I still found myself being won over.
It got to a point where I was convinced that the holocaust was never going to come. That it was going to be completely in the background. However, there's a point part way through where there's a jump forward in time and an adorable child is introduced to the film (who is also absolutely brilliant in the role). To counter-balance the cute child, this is the point where the impact of facism becomes much more obvious. The central character continues to embrace life and brush off the problems around him, but that cannot protect him forever.
In order to keep things funny, the holocaust cannot be portrayed as horrifically as it really was. However, a lot of horrific elements are hinted at and there is still a definite sense of threat. And when the film reaches the right moment, the horror that has been lying in the background is brought to the foreground and its like a veil has fallen away which, when we have so come to love the central characters, possibly makes it more horrifying than ever.
In spite of the sweetness and comedy in this film it manages to be a much more moving and respectful movie about the horrors of the holocaust than the half-hearted and shallow "In Darkness" that was released a couple of years ago.
Movies are often not realistic and intentionally so. When Indiana Jones fights Nazis no one is too worried about how realistically they are being depicted, nor how difficult it would be to attack the Nazis in the way Indiana does and get away with it. The same is true here about the protagonist and Fascism in Italy.
"Where did they find all these anvils?" he asks.
The film "Life Is Beautiful" is a victory against Fascism in that the unbelievable hero is able to ridicule Fascism in farcical and hilarious ways that would not have been possible at the time. Then later that same hero is then able to keep up hope in a concentration camp, when victims in real life would have no hope left. The style of the movie makes it clear that this is all fiction, but that doesn't mean we can't cheer anyway. Whether it's Indiana Jones punching a Nazi or the protagonist in "Life Is Beautiful" humourously mistranslating Nazi guards in a concentration camp, we don't need to believe it's realistic in order to have a great time.
"Life Is Beautiful" is hilarious and moving (so everything you'd want from a good Pixar movie I guess, only in live action). It is a unique experience and I think it needs to be seen to be believed. Be honest, you're curious right?
A+
Brave (2012)
"Brave" just won the best animated feature Oscar recently and a lot of people didn't seem too happy about it. There've been a lot of reports that "Brave" was a lacklustre Pixar movie and that, after the full Disney takeover, Pixar aren't what they used to be. Yet in spite of this, I still needed to see it. After the widespread condemnation of "Cars 2" by critics and the extremely unappealing marketing of "Brave" I was disinclined to watch it at the cinema, but on DVD I didn't feel inclined to miss it.
"Brave" is about a Scottish princess who doesn't want to be a princess. The idea is not exactly novel. Naturally there's Jasmine from "Aladdin" who doesn't want to be married and, if you want a protagonist, there's Ariel who would rather be human than a mermaid princess. However, I actually think the better comparison is perhaps with "Sword In The Stone".
"Sword In The Stone" is probably the Disney movie closest to my heart. I watched it endless times as a child and it was quite a while before I was really able to fully appreciate what was really happening. Like "the wart" (which is how young King-Arthur-to-be is known by his adopted family), I didn't really know what Merlin was trying to achieve with his magic, yet I was spellbound by it all the same.
Eventually I understood that the aim of Merlin all along is to get the wart to recognise the value of education and thinking in creative ways, so that he will be all the more prepared when he takes on the role of king. The wart's adopted family want him to be a squire, but Merlin has higher plans for him.
So the relationship between the Princess Merida and her mother Queen Elinor is quite similar to the relationship between the wart and Merlin. The queen thinks she knows what is best for her daughter, but her daughter doesn't understand. Eventually things don't play out quite the way either of them had expected and there's magic along the way, but there's also a emotional depth to the story too.
And yes, this has in every way the emotional depth now expected of Pixar movies. That being said, what with all the Scottish voices I couldn't help but think of "How To Train Your Dragon" (you know, the one with all the Scottish... um... Vikings?), but I still think that "Brave" is funnier, holds greater emotional depth and is more visually stunning than HTTYD was.
Another rather more obvious comparison with "Sword In The Stone" is the witch that eventually turns up. There's a broom that sweeps the floor by itself, a talking bird, floating cutlery and the witch itself seems to be expecting company when Merida first turns up. This character feels very much like an homage to Merlin in "Sword Of The Stone", which might explain why I found myself making so many other less obvious parallels.
One thing I mustn't forget to mention is the performance of Kelly MacDonald in the central role as Princess Merida. She has such a distinctive voice and I've loved it since I first saw her in "Trainspotting". I found it particularly hard to take the idea of her as an Irish immigrant in the series "Boardwalk Empire" when she still seems to have the same distinctive accent in her voice. However, as a scottish princess I can't think of anyone better for the role.
"Brave" might not be the best Pixar movie I've seen, but it's nowhere near the worst either. Put it this way, I don't think it's QUITE as good as "Up", "Finding Nemo" or "Wall-E", but on the other hand I think it's better than "Toy Story 3", "The Incredibles" and "Monsters Inc.". The difference in quality is THAT negligible.
At this stage, the only Pixar movies I haven't seen are "Ratatouille" and the two "Cars" movies. Asides from perhaps "A Bug's Life" and the original "Toy Story" I think all of Pixar's movies have been absolutely incredible and "Brave" does not even remotely strike me as a drop in quality. Perhaps a slight drop in originality? Heck, I don't think I've ever seen this story told quite like this before. It's the WAY Pixar stories are told that makes us keep coming back for more.
A+
All About Eve (1950)
The film opens narrated by George Sanders in his role as a film critic. He has a fairly small part but he seemed very familiar even though the only thing I seem to know him from is "Village Of The Damned" (asides from "Jungle Book" where he voiced Shere Khan... Awesome.) In this opening scene of "All About Eve" some kind of awards ceremony is taking place and everyone is expecting an actress called Margo (played by Bette Davis) to win, but in fact a younger actress called Eve (played by Anne Baxter) is presented with the award, seemingly contrary to all expectations.
With that set up, the rest of the movie will then explain how we reach that point. Margo is still a respected actress in the theatre, but rather than being a competitor, Eve is a huge fan who watches every performance and is excited to be getting the chance to meet her idol personally.
Bette Davis is an absolutely fantastic actress and I absolutely loved the way she changes her voice and demeanour to try to seem upper class when her fan enters the room. She has a wonderfully eccentric character to work with, but she plays her quite brilliantly.
Anne Baxter, on the other hand, I recognised from one of the Hitchcock films I saw called "I Confess". In "I Confess" she was one of the worst examples of the 'hysterical blonde' trope that seemed to keep cropping up in Hitchcock films, telling a sob story in a breathy agitated voice. Here in "All About Eve" she also tells a sob story too. It's the earliest point where the film loses me for a moment as her breathy agitated telling of sob stories seemed to send me to sleep, even while the other characters seem captivated and moved by her storytelling.
That being said, being 'breathy' seemed to work a lot better for Anne Baxter's character in "All About Eve" than it had in "I Confess". She's playing a character who is supposed to come off as innocent and starstruck, but so much so that it becomes suspicious. There's a question at play as to whether she's a completely manipulative character or whether what happens is all a part of her obsession with the actress Margo.
"All About Eve" is a pretty good film for the most part. The performances are generally great, particularly from Bette Davis. I still don't really rate Anne Baxter as an actress, but in this film her style of acting is at least more appropriate. In some ways, the creepy obsessive who might have some rather more malign intentions seems very similar to the sort of film I enjoy and, considering that this ISN'T a horror film at all, it does a pretty good job at holding the audience's attention. Unfortunately this is not helped by the slow pace. Some scenes are very interesting, but at other times it takes rather too long for anything to happen. By the end, I was finding the whole thing made me feel very drowsy indeed.
Marilyn Monroe (above with George Sanders) has a small role in the "All About Eve" too.
As unfair as it might seem to fans of old cinema, my problem with this movie is that it feels very old fashioned. But as far as cinema goes 1950 isn't THAT old and I'm just not willing to give it that much extra credit for its age. This movie has some great moments and there were points where I was really enjoying it, but as a whole it's sluggish and by the end I was underwhelmed.
C-
Life Is Beautiful (1997)
How the hell did anyone get this idea? It has always puzzled me that this movie even exists. A comedy about the holocaust with widespread critical acclaim and beloved by audiences. It sounds like the sort of film that ought to have an outcry against it. How on Earth could anyone possibly make a comedy about the holocaust that was even remotely funny? It sounds more likely to be the final nail in Seth McFarlane's career rather than a highly praised Italian movie with multiple major film awards and 80% on Rotten Tomatoes.
It's very hard to explain why "Life Is Beautiful" is a brilliant movie. It just kind of is. It's hard to explain why this completely unrealistic portrayal of the holocaust is genuinely funny and not at all demeaning to holocaust survivors, but I think it just about pull it off. (Somehow! I'm not the person to judge this, clearly, but it just about seems to work!)
While the context of Fascist Italy is present throughout the movie from the start, the impact of facism doesn't become clear for quite a while. Instead the focus is on the central character. The style of the film is old-fashioned quick-talking comedy with much of the humour involving slapstick comedy. The central character is a combination of ridiculous and charming. Everything he does is so fantastically choreographed and his performance is so exciting and energetic, it just seems impossible not to fall in love with him.
Even going into the movie thinking "a comedy about the holocaust, really?" (I mean seriously, I was not convinced that I was going to like this and I found it really hard to keep an open mind), I still found myself being won over.
It got to a point where I was convinced that the holocaust was never going to come. That it was going to be completely in the background. However, there's a point part way through where there's a jump forward in time and an adorable child is introduced to the film (who is also absolutely brilliant in the role). To counter-balance the cute child, this is the point where the impact of facism becomes much more obvious. The central character continues to embrace life and brush off the problems around him, but that cannot protect him forever.
In order to keep things funny, the holocaust cannot be portrayed as horrifically as it really was. However, a lot of horrific elements are hinted at and there is still a definite sense of threat. And when the film reaches the right moment, the horror that has been lying in the background is brought to the foreground and its like a veil has fallen away which, when we have so come to love the central characters, possibly makes it more horrifying than ever.
In spite of the sweetness and comedy in this film it manages to be a much more moving and respectful movie about the horrors of the holocaust than the half-hearted and shallow "In Darkness" that was released a couple of years ago.
Movies are often not realistic and intentionally so. When Indiana Jones fights Nazis no one is too worried about how realistically they are being depicted, nor how difficult it would be to attack the Nazis in the way Indiana does and get away with it. The same is true here about the protagonist and Fascism in Italy.
"Where did they find all these anvils?" he asks.
The film "Life Is Beautiful" is a victory against Fascism in that the unbelievable hero is able to ridicule Fascism in farcical and hilarious ways that would not have been possible at the time. Then later that same hero is then able to keep up hope in a concentration camp, when victims in real life would have no hope left. The style of the movie makes it clear that this is all fiction, but that doesn't mean we can't cheer anyway. Whether it's Indiana Jones punching a Nazi or the protagonist in "Life Is Beautiful" humourously mistranslating Nazi guards in a concentration camp, we don't need to believe it's realistic in order to have a great time.
"Life Is Beautiful" is hilarious and moving (so everything you'd want from a good Pixar movie I guess, only in live action). It is a unique experience and I think it needs to be seen to be believed. Be honest, you're curious right?
A+
Brave (2012)
"Brave" just won the best animated feature Oscar recently and a lot of people didn't seem too happy about it. There've been a lot of reports that "Brave" was a lacklustre Pixar movie and that, after the full Disney takeover, Pixar aren't what they used to be. Yet in spite of this, I still needed to see it. After the widespread condemnation of "Cars 2" by critics and the extremely unappealing marketing of "Brave" I was disinclined to watch it at the cinema, but on DVD I didn't feel inclined to miss it.
"Brave" is about a Scottish princess who doesn't want to be a princess. The idea is not exactly novel. Naturally there's Jasmine from "Aladdin" who doesn't want to be married and, if you want a protagonist, there's Ariel who would rather be human than a mermaid princess. However, I actually think the better comparison is perhaps with "Sword In The Stone".
"Sword In The Stone" is probably the Disney movie closest to my heart. I watched it endless times as a child and it was quite a while before I was really able to fully appreciate what was really happening. Like "the wart" (which is how young King-Arthur-to-be is known by his adopted family), I didn't really know what Merlin was trying to achieve with his magic, yet I was spellbound by it all the same.
Eventually I understood that the aim of Merlin all along is to get the wart to recognise the value of education and thinking in creative ways, so that he will be all the more prepared when he takes on the role of king. The wart's adopted family want him to be a squire, but Merlin has higher plans for him.
So the relationship between the Princess Merida and her mother Queen Elinor is quite similar to the relationship between the wart and Merlin. The queen thinks she knows what is best for her daughter, but her daughter doesn't understand. Eventually things don't play out quite the way either of them had expected and there's magic along the way, but there's also a emotional depth to the story too.
And yes, this has in every way the emotional depth now expected of Pixar movies. That being said, what with all the Scottish voices I couldn't help but think of "How To Train Your Dragon" (you know, the one with all the Scottish... um... Vikings?), but I still think that "Brave" is funnier, holds greater emotional depth and is more visually stunning than HTTYD was.
Another rather more obvious comparison with "Sword In The Stone" is the witch that eventually turns up. There's a broom that sweeps the floor by itself, a talking bird, floating cutlery and the witch itself seems to be expecting company when Merida first turns up. This character feels very much like an homage to Merlin in "Sword Of The Stone", which might explain why I found myself making so many other less obvious parallels.
One thing I mustn't forget to mention is the performance of Kelly MacDonald in the central role as Princess Merida. She has such a distinctive voice and I've loved it since I first saw her in "Trainspotting". I found it particularly hard to take the idea of her as an Irish immigrant in the series "Boardwalk Empire" when she still seems to have the same distinctive accent in her voice. However, as a scottish princess I can't think of anyone better for the role.
"Brave" might not be the best Pixar movie I've seen, but it's nowhere near the worst either. Put it this way, I don't think it's QUITE as good as "Up", "Finding Nemo" or "Wall-E", but on the other hand I think it's better than "Toy Story 3", "The Incredibles" and "Monsters Inc.". The difference in quality is THAT negligible.
At this stage, the only Pixar movies I haven't seen are "Ratatouille" and the two "Cars" movies. Asides from perhaps "A Bug's Life" and the original "Toy Story" I think all of Pixar's movies have been absolutely incredible and "Brave" does not even remotely strike me as a drop in quality. Perhaps a slight drop in originality? Heck, I don't think I've ever seen this story told quite like this before. It's the WAY Pixar stories are told that makes us keep coming back for more.
A+
