Heh, this thread will be useful to me.
Over the past few weeks, I've recently been on a huge movie watching splurge where I find as many movies that I should have watched but haven't watched as possible as well as some other random movies that i really wanted to see. I guess I could give some quick analysis for each one…if I can remember them all. So here we go in chronological order:
Contagion: About the only smart disaster movie I've ever seen (fuck you Roland Emmerich for ruining the genre). Tightly written movie that played the premise as straight as it could be played which I actually found refreshing since I'm personally kinda sick and tired about how every movie tries to force twists into the plot.
Groundhog's Day: Very charming movie. Truly one of Bill Murray's best movies if not the best. To take this character and put him into such a fantastical situation and seeing how he comes to terms with it going through stages of denial then exploiting his new environment then getting downright suicidal then finally accepting his situation and just deciding to make the best of his situation and help as much as he can even if it was ultimately pointless as everything resets in the end. Then the absolute joy he has when everything went back to normal? A very interesting character study and a very heartwarming movie. My one nitpick is how effin stupid the whole premise is. A day repeats itself because....of what? It was never explained. What was it? Magic, the spirit of groundhog's day? I realize that there isn't supposed to be an explanation and it wasn't the point of the movie but blegh, it bugged me how much unexplained it was. But minor nitpick.
Citizen Kane: Yes, I'm an uncultured yob, never seeing the greatest movie of all time till now. Well I have now and...it was pretty different from what I imagined it'd be. It was fantastic, make no mistake. Not gonna say it was my favorites of all time but it's like Nausicaa, my mind can appreciate the technical genius but my heart cannot. The thing is I was expecting more of a focus on Kane's battle with the mass media and how it instead slowly broke him down but that was actually something that was quickly glanced over and it was more of a study on his whole life in general and all the facets of it both personal and political and it was extremely interesting, just I was kinda hyped up for something else entirely but that's my own fault for having expectations. The cinematography was superb, Orson's acting was superb (his breakdown when his second wife left was so heart-breaking), the plot...was pretty simple actually but it's to be expected as the great writing was of course the characters especially Kane, one of if not the most interesting, multi-faceted characters I've ever had the pleasure of witnessing. There was some really interesting symbolism, I admit I missed the camera angles were Kane was shot to look larger than life and I had no clue what the mirrors meant till I watched the NCs bum review of it after. Then I was like Doh, of course the mirror is a reflection of the soul! Watched too much sci-fi making me equate it with dimensional travel or something lol. The ending was very heart-breaking, I had been spoiled about what Rosebud was before but I didn't understand what it meant till I saw it in context with the sleigh being burned. Then it just crushed me. He just regretted what he became and wanted those simpler times back. At least that's how I interpreted it. Minor nitpick, the movie should have ended with the sleigh burning not panning out with some grandiose music and his castle in the background but I guess that's how movies were made in that time, with a bombastic flair.
Phew this wasn't as easy as I thought. I'll post more later, I watched a ton.
Expect later reviews on Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Princess Bride, Blues Brothers, Star Trek (the J.J. Abrams one), Star trek: Wrath of Kahn, The Shining, Shutter Island, Ed Wood, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Alien.
--- Update From New Post Merge ---
Ferris Bueller's Day Off: I was pretty hesitant about this movie because it seemed like a Grease type of movie and I hated Grease. Plus it was written by the same guy who did Flubber and Home Alone 3. But it's Roeper's favorite film so I gave it a shot. And I liked it. Quite a bit. I just liked how we got this wacky world of high school antics which though cliche never came off as obnoxious or mean spirited and was actually relatable especially to teens. Hell, I'm a 4th year University student and I could so relate. I liked the fact that the protagonist was so aimless, he was a devilish bastard with the way he kept manipulating everyone especially his concerned parents who he exploited for as much as he could but I liked him dickery and all. He was just so into life, he simply wanted to enjoy it as much as he could. While I was kinda miffed about poor Rooney who we had to boo and hiss at just for doing his job, I give the movie a pass on that because a) Rooney was personally relishing at the chance to get Ferris and b) I had no preconceptions on Ferris being the good guy, I was siding him just for being fun. But yeah, fun movie.
The Princess Bride: Loved, loved, loved this movie. It was such an incredibly refreshing subversion of the fantasy genre, I really appreciated it. Great characters, I loved them all except Vizzini who I hated but hey, he died pretty early on so that's fine. I loved the writing, I loved how a movie aimed so clearly for children could still be so smart and mature. And I love Inigo Montoya who has to be one of the greatest badasses ever. Just a great movie.
Blues Brothers: This movie was...big. Think that's the best way to describe it. It was so flashy and over the top with huge musicals every other scene and tons of car wreckages (all real cars btw), I shudder to think the budget this film had. But it was worth it because it made for a very memorable film. I just love the two main characters and how they took every crappy thing that happened with all the people who wanted to get them in stride. The apartment they're in blows up and they just walk out. They're being chased by the entire police force and military and they just rush on to to pay their check. They know they're fucked, they don't care, they just wanna finish what they set out to do. And when they caught, they do a rock concert in prison. Badass. The constant musicals got a bit annoying at times but all the songs were great at least. Also the scene of the guys running over the Illinois Nazis has to be one of the most hilarious things I ever saw in cinema.
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