Monthly Archives: January 2016

#227-Now, Voyager

Quick recap: Charlotte Vale is a Crazy Cat Lady without any cats. On the verge of a mental breakdown because her mother is basically the worst, her doctor at a sanatarium  helps her come out of her shell. While on a voyage, Charlotte meets Jerry Durrance who is handsome, sweet and also married. The two have a very heavy affair and at the end of the trip, decide to part ways. As anyone who has ever been in love can testify, that’s easier said than done.

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You can never go wrong with a makeover montage! Too bad they weren’t around when this movie was made.

Fun (?) fact: People went nuts after seeing Paul Henreid’s act of lighting two cigarettes. He couldn’t go out in public without someone asking him to light one for them.

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Cancer is sexy as hell

My thoughts: Makeover scenes in movies generally make me cringe, but Now, Voyager takes it to a whole other level. I couldn’t decide which one was the worst: When a niece of Charlotte ridicules her during her nervous breakdown, or when the doctor breaks her glasses because she doesn’t need them now that she is ‘normal’ or when Charlotte shows Jerry a younger picture of herself to which he calls her the ‘fat lady with the heavy brows and all the hair’. But I guess women were cool with stuff like that back then because she fell in love with him shortly after. Damn, girl.

So, I’m torn with how I feel about Charlotte. Good for her for gaining all that confidence although the only thing that really did any good was getting a man. Later on in the film she breaks off an engagement to a guy because she isn’t feeling it, which is awesome, except that she still in love with Jerry, who is still married. I came around a little when Charlotte checked herself into the sanatorium when she feared another breakdown, until it became apparent she was only there to get close to Jerry’s depressed daughter, Tina. Damn ,girl.

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different Tina

I guess the love Jerry and Charlotte had was cute, but the thing with Tina kind of ruined it for me. When she initially saw the girl at the sanitarium and befriended her, I thought that was kind of sweet, especially seeing as how the two had a lot in common. I was even into the scene where Charlotte helps Tina call her father because she missed him so much and I admired her for not jumping on the phone and declaring her love for him. But then that night, Tina had a nightmare and Charlotte went in and cuddled her. Still a little sweet until that voiceover when she spells out that she had her lover’s daughter in her arms. I cringed even more when Charlotte had the girl call her the pet name Jerry gave her on the voyage and then at the end when she admitted to Jerry that keeping the girl felt like she was raising ‘their’ child. Damn, girl.

Final review: 2/5

Up next: Duck Soup

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#226- Amadeus

Thank you to Josh for recommending the movie, thus ensuring that I have ‘Marriage of Figaro’ stuck in my head for many days to come .

Quick recap: The incredibly sad story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, as told by the guy who hated him most.

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Fun (?) fact: Director Milos Forman didn’t even bother having the actors use an accent in the movie because he wanted them to focus on their characters. It almost makes me feel bad to think about all the things I said about Tom Cruise and his lack of accent in the movie Valkyrie. Almost.

 

My thoughts: Of course I loved Amadeus. I may not get the point of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? , but I’m not a complete monster. Then again, I also uploaded a video of the Bloodhound Gang, so let’s just say I break even and move on.

The very first thing I did after finishing the movie was head over to Wikipedia to see how much of Amadeus was true and it turns out- it’s actually rather accurate. Of course there are scenes that probably didn’t take place, but seeing as how the movie is about a guy who lived over two hundred years ago, it’s a little difficult to pin facts down. Most scholars believe that Salieri didn’t really hate Mozart all that much, although they certainly weren’t BFFs or anything. It’s this detail that keeps me from embracing the film completely, although I certainly understand the reasoning of having a villain. Man versus Himself is much harder to portray on film, even though it is closer to the truth. Mozart was a genius and he knew it, and I think that’s what ultimately did him in- that he saw the genius in himself when others didn’t. I mean, he was celebrated while he was alive, but he also died penniless and was buried in a pauper’s grave. As for Salieri, the film does an excellent job painting him as a villain, but also someone that, although it is uncomfortable, we can relate to as an audience. Jealousy is an ugly thing and also something we all wrestle with.

What I loved most about the film, I think, was the way the music was woven into different scenes. Not only did I get to see snippets of some of his operas but I was also able to experience the music as it related to who he was. I’m by no means a genius composer (or AM I?) but I am consumed by music from the time I get up until I go to sleep and sometimes even while I sleep. The music I listen to is not a hobby, it is who I am. I have a playlist on Spotify that if you listen to it chronologically, it tells a story of me and all that has happened the past few years. In Amadeus, Mozart gets so obsessed with Requiem that it almost kills him. He didn’t just compose the music, he WAS the music and the two could never be separated.

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Final review: 5/5.

Up next: Oh, Voyager

 

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#225-Closely Watched Trains

Quick recap:  A young man wants to lose his virginity but his inadequacy to perform is an issue. And also Hitler. Hitler ruins everything.

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Not sure why the girls weren’t all over him 😦

Fun (?)fact: According to IMDb, “Iva Janzurová turned down the part of Zdenicka Svatá, eventually played by Jitka Zelenohorská.”

MIND. BLOWN.

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This stamp scene. Oh my.

My thoughts: I thought France’s portrayal of teenagers took the ‘wtf’ cake, what with their sexual fluidity and sleeping with their mothers, but NO, Czechoslovakia has to burst in and ruin the whole thing for everyone. This is why we can’t have nice things, you guys.

Although the setting and characters are a little odd (Milos is an apprentice train conductor during World War II), the story itself is very relatable. Basically, Milos wants to get laid and even has a girl (Masa) who practically strips every time she sees him, but he doesn’t really want to make the effort to go through with it. Instead, he spends his time lamenting over how horrible life is, which is actually pretty accurate for teens these days. When he finally gets the chance to sleep with Masa, he orgasms early and both of them treat it like the world has just ended and Milos might as well go kill himself for sucking so badly. Which he does. But then a doctor tells him that premature ejaculation isn’t a big deal and he needs a ‘more experienced woman’ to help him out. As dramatic as Milos was (he definitely would’ve fit in at Degrassi), I liked him and wanted him to reach his goal. He does finally find a woman to help him out and everything is groovy. Masa even returns and forgives him and wants to try and sleep with him again.  Happy ending, right? And all totally relatable up until the point that Milos gets shot dead by Germans and his body carried off on a train, which subsequently explodes.

So, besides the ending, most of the movie was pretty funny. The other people working at the train station are bumbling idiots that try to help Milos by giving him advice, but who ultimately fail to fix anything. There was one scene where a conductor and receptionist have an encounter, where he ends up stamping her butt with official seals. The next morning the girl’s mother finds the stamps and parades her around town, showing her butt to anyone who will pay attention. She is angry that her daughter has been taken advantage of, but the girl loves the attention and finds the whole situation hilarious. For a movie that ends so tragically, I think it still holds up as a rather accurate portrayal of teenage life, if just a little dramatic.

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Final review: 4/5

Up next: Amadeus

 

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