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Vertigo (1958)
Vertigo is one of the most entertaining mysteries I ever seen.
Form the start of stylized opening credits to the deliberate design of the entire world this movie is great. The detective John Ferguson Played by James Stewart is a joy to watch as he stalks his friends wife Madeleine Elster played by Kim Novak by request and figures out the meaning of her actions. I loved the bizarre romance The detective and wife and who can always tell something is not quite right.
I also thought this movie's stylized visuals were amazing with the entire world having a tint of blue or red most of the time. Furthermore the best example of the visuals is of course the scenes where vertigo plays a role, as they use an interesting camera effect of seemingly stretching out the world.
Five Easy Pieces (1970)
Five Easy Pieces is just not a movie for me.
I honestly wanted to like this movie more than I did. The problem was the main character Bobby Eroica Dupea played by Jack Nicholson. I just didn't like him, he had his comedic and redeemable moments, but most of the time he just a huge jerk and not in the charismatic likeable way, more in the pretentious I'm better than you no matter what way.
The most interesting aspect of the movie was understanding the main character and why he's acts the way he does that which, for the most part the movie does well. I also liked the world around him and the grittiness of it. But it just doesn't make up for the fact I disliked the main reason why people love this movie.
Midnight Cowboy (1969)
Midnight Cowboy is a great movie if you like depressing as hell story.
Midnight Cowboy follows the tale of two swindlers who just can't catch a break. You get to watch the pro schmuck Joe Buck played by Jon Vogart and the smarmy con man
Rizzo played by Dustin Hoffman slowly create and surprise endearing friendship by sharing one common goal get money by any means necessary, meaning Joe's a prostitute
The movie soundtrack and editing are honestly superb. First of the sound track is good on its own but when it syncs up with the movie it creates an audio visual experience all its own. Second for a great example of editing look at how the show Joe Buck's backstory is told through flashbacks of Joe's past with barely any dialogue, but you don't need it as when paired with the music you can understand the tone and meaning of them.
West Side Story (1961)
West side story is a great retelling of a somewhat overdone story.
The first thing i think about when thinking about West Side Story is a gang war between great ballerina dancers. In all seriousness when I finally got used to this juxtaposition the movie turned out to be a create colorful extravagant spectacle. The singing and dancing numbers of the gangs were always entertaining as they were able to successfully combine the comedy of a song and dance routine and the drama of gang violence, a great combination.
While the singing and dance is great the plot is also great, if you don't include the Romeo and Juliet parts. What I mean is the most charming and interesting scene happen to take place when the gangs together.
Mildred Pierce (1945)
Mildred Pierce is a great look at the messed up life of Mildred Pierce.
I enjoyed watching each character In Mildred's life mess with her while she perceived to keep everyone happy. Moreover I thought it kept the movie interesting, having each character be flawed, which allowed the characters come to life.
The movie also had nice lighting, with nice dark shadows giving a darker tone to the scenes that were supposed to be dramatic.
Citizen Kane (1941)
Citizen Kane Looks great and also tells a somewhat intriguing story.
The way the story was told was quite interesting to me with each person adding their side of the story as the reporter met them. It's fun to watch the life of Kane change drastically whenever someone talks to him, continually changing your perspective of him.
Citizen Kane is also a spectacle with great lighting and imaginatively grandiose set designs. A great example of how the lighting is artfully done is how you never see the reporters face throughout the movie. You clearly see the characters faces the reporter is interviewing, highlighting the importance of them to the story. The set designs gave the feeling of a larger than life personality to Charles Foster Kane which which portrayed his importance to the world he's in.
Laura (1944)
Laura is a captivating mystery with interesting characters.
The set up for the mystery is simple, a girl named Laura was murdered and who murdered her. However, execution is quite well done with everyone from the Laura's past giving more and more information about her past creating an interesting story. While the mystery is easily solvable from the beginning, it just doesn't matter as its just an enjoyable story to watch unfold.
Young Mr. Lincoln (1939)
Young Mr. Lincoln is a great drama full of suspense.
Young Mr. Lincoln at the beginning is a bit slow but still entertaining as Henry Fonda is just plain enjoyable to watch play Lincoln. The beginning also does a great job a presenting the characters and showing their motivations for their actions. Moving on to the mystery and courtroom aspects of the movie, it's presented quite well with many twists and turns. By the end I was so engrossed with the plot it felt like I was really there.
Bringing Up Baby (1938)
Bringing Up Baby is a great fast paced comedy.
Katharine Hepburn plays the, ignorant to the world around her, Susan Vance quite well, Cary Grant portrays the poor schmuck, David Huxley, that has to follow her around equally as well. These characters have great chemistry together with their conflicting personalities. Due to this they're able to work off each other like its nothing, creating terrific one liners such as "When a man is wrestling a leopard in the middle of a pond he's in no position to run".
With this movie there's never a dull moment with something always happening on screen. Furthermore each scene seems to transition flawlessly into each other. They build up on its chaotic nature leading to situations so hilarious and out of control that I would have imagined that it would actually happen.
Dracula (1931)
Dracula is a Great Villain but in a Beautiful Movie
Bela Lugosi as Dracula was always creepy with his somewhat unnatural movements and whenever he spoke you could feel the tension in the air. They also got the idea of Dracula right as he was so powerful no human could compare making the other characters and the audience feel powerless to do anything. The other actor I enjoyed watching was Dwight Frye as Renfield as he portrayed a man who has gone mad in an entertaining fashion by just always being energetic and paranoid.
While the acting was ok, the way the movie was shot was beautiful. It was able to get the atmosphere right with its Gothic architecture combined with it dark lighting giving a foreboding feeling. Furthermore when Dracula was using his powers they zoomed in on his face adding to the sense that he is an all powerful being no one can stop.
Baby Face (1933)
A Great Movie About a Terrible Person
Baby Face is a movie that proves that you do not need to be traditionally good protagonist to be an great movie. Throughout the movie you see the main character Lily Powers lie and cheat her way to the top. As a result of this, It feels like your watching a movie from the villain's perspective, most of the time she uses and throws away men like there just a means to an end. Furthermore, whenever you see her go through one of her schemes you wonder if she's doing this for money, power or does she just enjoy ruining the lives of all the men around her. These questions kept me intrigued through the whole movie until the near perfect end where you see what her web of lies brought her.
Girl Shy (1924)
Girl Shy is a great comedy and an ok romance movie.
At first for me, it started it off slow, but when it got going it was always hilarious. Specifically, when Harold Lloyd was on screen, as he took actions that led to domino effect of chaos with sets designed to create the chain reaction. This lead to scenes in which Lloyd tries to do right by helping the main love interest, but by doing so just ends committing grand theft auto.
The main complaint I have is with the of the overarching plot, while not bad it's just the most dated part of the movie with its basic girl meets boy plot. As a result of this, now it's only necessary to bring you to the comedic portions of the movie, thus making the story not able to stand alone without the comedic elements.