The Blurbs (250 Words or Less)

These are reviewettes: short writings that are not long enough to be official reviews, but are composed within a couple hours of completing a film, just like my standard reviews. These are presented in order from newest to oldest and grouped together by the year that the film was first watched. All films are rated on a scale from Worthless to 4 Stars.

2018-

Greed (1924) 4 Stars -- Greed is fascinating, but watching it as it exists today only makes you wonder what it must have been like in its original and complete nine-and-a-half hour length. The version I watched is the most complete one that we as a film community have. It's four hours long and remastered, adding in new intertitles of missing scenes and their corresponding production stills. The still photographs do get a bit irritating as the film progresses, but I found that my irritation is more directed at the executives who mutilated the film 94 years ago than it is due to the harm that infusing the photographs brings to the overall quality of the film.

Breaking the Waves (1996) 4 Stars -- This film is long in runtime and feels like a trial. While this oftentimes has a negative impact on a film, here it is a rather positive effect and parallels the film. The film is a trial to watch because it is a trial of the soul, a trial of faith, a trial of love, a trial of what it means to be human, and most of all, a trial of life’s trials. This was one of the hardest films for me to watch, not because of the content per se, although the content was at times difficult to watch. It was hard for me because Bess, played magnificently by Emily Watson in an Oscar-nominated performance (that in my eyes falls just shy of Frances McDormand's winning performance from Fargo), is a good person. In fact, the character is perhaps the best person, objectively, in film history, and it is torture to watch the only perfect human subjected to cruelty for her dedication to all that she sees as good in her life, for her ability to keep herself pure of mind, spirit, and faith, and for her ability to keep herself perfect in spite of everything she endures and how every other character views her actions.

2017-

Wings of Desire (1987) 4 Stars -- Wow. Just wow. I was afraid that the film would dip after Damiel (Bruno Ganz) made the leap to the human world from the spiritual world, but it held its own. And that's the only thing I'll write about Wings of Desire because I believe everyone should see this film without many preconceived notions or critics' influences on what to expect. I honestly do not want to reveal too much, or really anything, about the film. It is magical, and knowing too much will almost certainly minimize the effect it can have on a viewer. I did not know very much about Wings of Desire before I saw it, just the basic plot outline, and I've never before been so glad to go into a film with so little background information. Ignorance may not always be bliss, but it certainly lets the imagination run unyielded and open the mind by relieving expectations. If you'd like to hear my thoughts on Wings of Desire, feel free to reach out to me after you've seen it for yourself.

Fanny and Alexander (1982) 3 Stars -- This is a hard rating to give to a film that is so many different things, all parts fantastic. Ultimately, I have an issue with the fluidity of this film. Although the theatrical version was released first (and is the version I watched), the television miniseries of Fanny and Alexander was completed first and it is through making cuts to the miniseries that the theatrical film was born. Ingmar Bergman is a director who, no matter how ambiguous or bizarre his films are, always presented them with a fluidity featuring a care and an ease unlike that of any other director. But here, there is a severe lacking of any fluidity as the film progresses. Undoubtedly, this is the result of the efforts to cut down a 5-hour miniseries to a 3-hour film. It may seem harsh for this film to lose a whole star when the rest of it is so phenomenal, but the choppiness of some scenes and missing clarity in narrative and technical jumps from one scene to the next harm this film irreparably.

Andrei Rublev (1966) 1 Star -- It may be cinema's greatest tragedy that perhaps the most beautifully filmed epic is also the most confusing and boring epic.

Au Hasard Balthazar (1966) 3 Stars -- All that I will say is, this film is fantastic in its approach, but not fantastic itself.

42nd Street (1933) 4 Stars -- The fascinating thing about 42nd Street is that typically, in a film about the production of another art form, the production within the film is imperative to the plot. This is precisely the opposite here and it really adds to the film’s charm. I cannot tell you a single thing about the plot of Pretty Lady, but that doesn’t bother me the least bit… and it shouldn’t you neither. I haven’t researched it, but if I were to surmise why we know so little about Pretty Lady, I’d say it’s because the purpose of 42nd Street is to show the struggle that goes into a Broadway production. The silly fodder of what Pretty Lady is about is inconsequential to the film itself. The fact of the matter is that these characters put forth all they could muster and put on one hell of a show. It doesn’t matter what the show is, all that matters is they achieved their goal. This is why I like the decision to make the focus of the final twenty minutes various sequences from the play: it showcases the parts that Julian Marsh (Warner Baxter) was so displeased with during the five-week rehearsals and how far the cast and chorus have come. Boy, this was a fun film to watch. This is also a terrific example of why I never want to direct a musical. Not the outcome of the film and its watchability, but the stress it puts on all those involved.

2016-

Meshes of the Afternoon (1943) (short) 2.5 Stars -- I think this may be the piece of cinema most deserving of the experimental label, at least out of the like that I have seen (which includes titles such as Last Year at Marienbad (1961), A Movie (1958), and Duck Amuck (1953) among others). I thought it was trippy and decent. I liked the usage and manipulation of the music, but disliked the music itself.

8½ (1963) 3 Stars -- This film confused me, and I’m still a little confused after reading several plot synopses. Don’t get me wrong, I think that this film is deserving of acclaim. I’ll give it a thumps up, a fresh tomato if you will. The part of this film that I liked the most occurred whenever a character got up and walked around. At each moment like this, the camera angle and movement made it feel like you were the one that the characters were talking to. The reasons why I dock this film a star are simple. Half of that star docking is the result of the unsatisfying confusion that litters the film’s atmosphere and plot. The other half of the star docking is the result of poor supporting acting. Anouk Aimée and Marcello Mastroianni are terrific, just as they are in La Dolce Vita (although their performances in the earlier released film are better than here). But every other performance lacks in one way or many, and this flaw not in Fellini’s direction but in his actors’ capabilities is what causes the other half-star docking.

In the Mood for Love (2000) 2.5 Stars -- I was disappointed by this film. It’s not that this film is poor in any specific area; it’s just that it is not good in any specific area. Tony Leung does give a very commendable performance as Chow Mo-wan and the film holds one of the most touching and agonizing love stories presented on the silver screen. However, the film is a significant step down from Wong Kar-wai’s 1994 film Chungking Express. The most off-putting part of this film would be the music: it is rarely good, and it fits the corresponding scene less than it doesn’t. Perhaps the best way to describe this film is to have someone imagine a Wes Anderson film, speed the story up in terms of duration of plot, and have each scene last between 30 seconds and two minutes.

Barbarella (1968) Worthless -- If the plot wasn't so ridiculous and poorly acted (by all except [Jane] Fonda), I may have given this a star for either its soundtrack, its campiness in appearance/special effects/costumes, or a combination of the two. Alas, I cannot.

Harvey (1950) 2.5 Stars -- Too rambunctious, too much overacting, too many things going on at once with too little information provided. There may be a few humorous moments here or there, but this is in no way a comedy. With all this being said, it is an incredibly sweet film and another stellar performance by [James] Stewart

A Star Is Born (1954) 4 Stars -- While the original theatrical release is great, the 1983 restored version is only 3 stars. The addition of the sepia tone pictures and dialogue over top is completely unnecessary and incredibly detrimental to the film.

Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965) 4 Stars -- This was the most difficult film I have ever had to analyze. Ultimately, this is a 4-star film because the ending is so unexpected, which while this would ordinarily seal the fate of a film as a major disappointment, here the ending is so well acted and insightful that the film, although not continuing on its initial path of greatness, is still great at the end of the day.

2015-

Fruitvale Station (2013) 3.5 Stars -- One of the most powerful final 25 minutes I have ever watched. All of the acting performances rocketed to another level at the end.

Blue Velvet (1986) 4 Stars -- Why is Blue Velvet such a great mystery? Because you never know exactly what is going on and there is no point in the film where the entire story is fully explained.

Strange Days (1996) 2.5 Stars -- This film is really 2 stars, but it features a soundtrack that is so great and fitting that it brings it up a half-star