Striptease (1996) - 1/17/2012

Watching this movie was a function of my current job...and no, not stripping, but writing about a the worlds in this movie.  I didn't HATE this movie, but it was a little corny.  The sappy music, the pathetic attempt to save the daughter, the fantastically illegal kidnapping of that kid that keeps happening and no one seems to notice...yeah, all made it not exactly award-winning.  I think it was also a little miss-titled.  Yes, she becomes a stripper...but most of the movie is about her trying to get her kid back.  It did have great moments in the club - very realistic - but they were glittering moments in the film.  To be honest, I don't think anyone expected anything Oscar-worthy from this film, but I did learn some stuff.

Things I liked:

• The dance scenes were really the most well done part of the film.  They were well choreographed, cleaner than most clubs (even nice ones) and a lot more talent.  A lot of women in the clubs just sway up there...there's no...talent really.  They do the classic moves, but that's it.  This movie had every dancer as a really talented dancer, so you wanted to watch them dance.  Unrealistic, but it kept your attention.
• The customer-dancer obsession was well done.  You see guys do anything for these dancers they don't know.
• The relationship between Demi's character and her ex was pretty realistic.  No, not all exes are using the daughter to steal wheelchairs, but just the tension between them was pretty real.

Things I didn't like:

• It tired to be too serious.  The plot was too much for this type of movie.
• I think there's a gap in staying inside the club for a movie.
• The ending just gets absurd...
• The dramatic music every time she and her daughter are reunited was a bit much.

Overall, okay movie, and I learned a lot on what's appealing for this type of film.

The Iron Lady (2012) - 1/13/2012

The Iron Lady was a movie I was really excited for.  I wanted learn more about Margaret Thatcher, learn more about English politics, etc....yeah, didn't happen.  I was so unimpressed with this movie because of who it was about, I can't even begin to describe it.  As a note, I was unimpressed because there aren't movies about Margaret Thatcher, really, and this was not a story to be artsy with.  The acting was incredible with the main actors - Meryl completely blew me away with her portrayal of an 80+ woman kind of losing her mind and Jim Broadbent was awesome as this cute, dorky husband every girl would love.  And I can appreciate the artistic take, but it shouldn't have been done with a movie on Margaret Thatcher - not right out of the bat.  This blog is about writing, since I'm a writer, so I'm not focusing on the acting as much.  Sadly, I felt the weakest part of this movie was the writing....In a sentence, here's how I sum up this movie:

The point of writing is to take an ordinary story and make it feel extraordinary; this movie took an extraordinary story and made it feel ordinary.


Things I liked:

• The acting.
• The flashbacks from modern to past - I do like that method, you see them now and you see them then...but just do it to where it makes sense.
• A few of the Parliament scenes were very well done.

Things I didn't like:

• The story was all flashes and basically consisted of a woman hallucinating about her dead husband.  The flashes, when done well, tell stories in a great way, but this didn't connect things.  You didn't get why she and Denis fell in love, you just saw them meet, him be impressed with her and the next thing you know he's proposing.  It shows her campaign, then she's in Parliament....just very disconnected.
• The relationships weren't well established in the flashbacks.  You get that Denis was her rock...but they didn't really show WHY he was.  I didn't feel anything from their romance.  Nor did I feel anything about her rise.
• It didn't convey the incredible rise this woman had.  You felt like...okay, she fought and won.  It didn't really show much of her getting "beaten" down by men or anything.  There were like 2 scenes where she's looked down on...that's it.
• The ending was so anti-climactic.  

Overall, I was very unimpressed with this film.  It took a story that could have been incredible and made it into a weird movie that made her a normal, old woman.  Sad, but in my opinion underwhelming.

War Horse (2011) - 1/12/2012

While in Phoenix I saw more movies in 9 days than I've seen in the last 9 months.  Just something fun to do and my dad will go see dorky movies with me no one else will.  While both a bit hesitant, we went to see War Horse.  I know both of us assumed this was going to be a Black Beauty remake, which was a good movie, but sort of over done drama about man and beast.  I left the theater completely impressed.  Yes, there were moments of "We want an oscar for this," but is that really all that bad?  Of course it needs to be in moderation, but overall, this movie really touched me.  It wove symbols in and passed an item between characters and completed the cycle of the item in a beautiful way.  The relationship they established with the boy and the horse was well done, you got depth to the parents and to characters they meat along the way, etc.  It was impressive and that's not even me going into the WWI accuracy my dad was positively giddy about.  

Things I liked:

• Relationships - I'm huge on these in my writing projects and this movie did an excellent job establishing them.  There was depth to the boy, the parents, the army captain, the Germans, the officers, the grandfather and granddaughter, the boys who escape, etc.  All these people you got attached to in the film. That's not easy to do and it impressed me.
• The connection in the passing of the item that the boy gives the horse.  Without giving too much away, it was just well paced and ended in a beautiful way.  Movies like "Romancing the Stone" didn't do that very well and this is an example on how to do it well.  In "Romancing the Stone" the main character can't open a jar in the opening scene - it should have come full circle and had Michael Douglas open a jar for her later in the movie...it would complete her...yada yada.  This movie did it well, this movie connected the dots.
• The ACCURACY of WWI.  It's rare to see a movie that shows more than trench warfare in WWI.  I liked in War Horse how it showed the beginning, middle and end of the war.  You got to see it all.  And they made it very real.  Worth seeing in the theater to get what these men went though.
• Moments of intensity - there were several moments of tension/intensity followed by silence that were beautifully done.

Things I didn't like:

• Some scenes where they were trying to channel older films (wide angle shots that was reminiscent of "Gone with the Wind" and the like were sometimes a little cheesy.  Not terrible, just a little much at times.
• The Germans were portrayed as asses for the most part.  I don't know if this is just a personal bias, but I don't understand why almost every movie about Germans in war make them really tense and just mean.  War Horse did the same, except for in one scene and then with one German character.  Again, not terrible, just a bias.

Overall, I was incredibly impressed with this film.  As a sample for good story arches, ways to solidify characters and their motivations, progression, linking a bunch of people, etc....this was a great film.  It did tug at the heart strings a few times as well.  I was really impressed and I went in not expecting much.  

New Years Eve (2011) - 1/09/12

Tonight I went to see a movie in a theater, which is something I didn't do too much of in 2011.  But with a few girls while visiting in Arizona, I went to see New Years Eve.  Overall, it was a cute, shallow, basic movie meant to give you a few laughs and leave a little message about the year.  I liked it, but certainly isn't an overly memorable movie.

Things I Enjoyed:

• The interesting character played by Michele Pfieffer was one of my favorites.  I wish the writers had developed her more.  She was awkward, socially unstable and just odd...but they never really explained any background to her.  For a character that interesting, I wish there was more there.  So having someone like that I really enjoyed, but as an audience member, I was left wanting more.
• The interaction/relationships.  While not done nearly as well as in movies like Love Actually, there was some relationships and connections I enjoyed.  Example: Zac Efron's character and Sarah Michelle Geller's character being siblings.  I enjoyed that.
• The humor was great.  Subtle, but entertaining.
• Halle Berry's role with the touching part of her talking to her husband in the army was really well done.  It was small, but really pulled at the heart strings.
• Advertising, while a bit annoying to someone who knows to look for it, was pretty well placed in this movie.  And there was a lot of it.  Generates $$ for your movie.

Things I Should Avoid:

• A liiiiittle too corny in some situations.  
• Some parts - like Lea Michele/Ashton getting together - felt a little too storybook.  Get more variety.
• I would have liked to eliminate 1 fewer story, but develop all the other ones more.  It just felt rushed.
• I think they wanted a "tied up" feel like Love Actually achieved and just didn't get it.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, this was a very basic, designed to make you laugh, uplifting and $$ generating movie.  It wasn't a classic, but I felt good watching it.  I laughed really hard at the credits part at the end when they did out-takes.  I also laughed a lot at some small humor woven throughout the film.  That was well done and it was enjoyable.  Kind of a movie a screenwriter might feel like a "sell-out" doing, it's very commercial, not too much depth to it, but it did make me feel good as a viewer.

The Goal

In 2011 I officially became a professional screenwriter.  I've enjoyed Screenwriting, but it wasn't a career I ever imagined myself having.  Writing movies, what an amazing thing.  And in 2011, it happened.  The movie hasn't become a realization on film yet, but it's in the process.  So for now, I can improve my craft and work on making my other screenplays, and the one I'm currently writing, better.  That's where this goal came into being. I needed to find movies to watch.  Movies to really learn from.  At the same time, I wanted to start recording what I was seeing and what I was taking away from movies.  I've started watching them closer, from a filmmaker's perspective.  And it's opening my eyes more.  

My goal for 2012 is to watch the full list of AFI's Top 100 Films of All Time.  I've also added a few of my own, and will post on movies I watch that stray from that list.  This blog is for me to learn.  But maybe others will read it and contribute ideas or thoughts I may have overlooked. 

Here is my list and feel free to comment any additional suggestions.

Added some "Extra Credit" films for myself to rewatch or watch that are more recent.

1. "Citizen Kane," 1941.

2. "The Godfather," 1972.

3. "Casablanca," 1942.

4. "Raging Bull," 1980.

5. "Singin' in the Rain," 1952.

6. "Gone With the Wind," 1939.

7. "Lawrence of Arabia," 1962.

8. "Schindler's List," 1993.

9. "Vertigo," 1958.

10. "The Wizard of Oz," 1939.

11. "City Lights," 1931.

12. "The Searchers," 1956.

13. "Star Wars," 1977.

14. "Psycho," 1960.

15. "2001: A Space Odyssey," 1968.

16. "Sunset Blvd.", 1950.

17. "The Graduate," 1967.

18. "The General," 1927.

19. "On the Waterfront," 1954.

20. "It's a Wonderful Life," 1946.

21. "Chinatown," 1974.

22. "Some Like It Hot," 1959.

23. "The Grapes of Wrath," 1940.

24. "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial," 1982.

25. "To Kill a Mockingbird," 1962.

26. "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," 1939.

27. "High Noon," 1952.

28. "All About Eve," 1950.

29. "Double Indemnity," 1944.

30. "Apocalypse Now," 1979.

31. "The Maltese Falcon," 1941.

32. "The Godfather Part II," 1974.

33. "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," 1975.

34. "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," 1937.

35. "Annie Hall," 1977.

36. "The Bridge on the River Kwai," 1957.

37. "The Best Years of Our Lives," 1946.

38. "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre," 1948.

39. "Dr. Strangelove," 1964.

40. "The Sound of Music," 1965.

41. "King Kong," 1933.

42. "Bonnie and Clyde," 1967.

43. "Midnight Cowboy," 1969.

44. "The Philadelphia Story," 1940.

45. "Shane," 1953.

46. "It Happened One Night," 1934.

47. "A Streetcar Named Desire," 1951.

48. "Rear Window," 1954.

49. "Intolerance," 1916.

50. "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," 2001.

51. "West Side Story," 1961.

52. "Taxi Driver," 1976.

53. "The Deer Hunter," 1978.

54. "M*A*S*H," 1970.

55. "North by Northwest," 1959.

56. "Jaws," 1975.

57. "Rocky," 1976.

58. "The Gold Rush," 1925.

59. "Nashville," 1975.

60. "Duck Soup," 1933.

61. "Sullivan's Travels," 1941.

62. "American Graffiti," 1973.

63. "Cabaret," 1972.

64. "Network," 1976.

65. "The African Queen," 1951.

66. "Raiders of the Lost Ark," 1981.

67. "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?", 1966.

68. "Unforgiven," 1992.

69. "Tootsie," 1982.

70. "A Clockwork Orange," 1971.

71. "Saving Private Ryan," 1998.

72. "The Shawshank Redemption," 1994.

73. "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," 1969.

74. "The Silence of the Lambs," 1991.

75. "In the Heat of the Night," 1967.

76. "Forrest Gump," 1994.

77. "All the President's Men," 1976.

78. "Modern Times," 1936.

79. "The Wild Bunch," 1969.

80. "The Apartment, 1960.

81. "Spartacus," 1960.

82. "Sunrise," 1927.

83. "Titanic," 1997.

84. "Easy Rider," 1969.

85. "A Night at the Opera," 1935.

86. "Platoon," 1986.

87. "12 Angry Men," 1957.

88. "Bringing Up Baby," 1938.

89. "The Sixth Sense," 1999.

90. "Swing Time," 1936.

91. "Sophie's Choice," 1982.

92. "Goodfellas," 1990.

93. "The French Connection," 1971.

94. "Pulp Fiction," 1994.

95. "The Last Picture Show," 1971.

96. "Do the Right Thing," 1989.

97. "Blade Runner," 1982.

98. "Yankee Doodle Dandy," 1942.

99. "Toy Story," 1995.

100. "Ben-Hur," 1959.

Extra Credit Films:

101. "Social Network" *Rewatch

102. "Apollo 13" *Rewatch

103. "October Sky" (one of my all time fav movies.) *Rewatch

104. "Pan's Labarith" *Never Seen

105. "Inception" *Rewatch

106. "The Dark Knight" *Rewatch

107. "The King's Speech" *Never Seen

108. "Slumdog Millionaire" *Rewatch

109. "Up" *Rewatch

110. "Wall-E" *Rewatch

111. "Seabiscuit" *Never Seen

112. "Bobby" *Never Seen