Category Archives: Movies

#257-She’s Gotta have It

Quick recap: Nola Darling is perfectly happy dating 3 guys at the same time but the guys turn it into a competition to be her boyfriend.

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Nola and Jamie

Fun (?) fact: The film was shot in 12 days and because of the tight budget. There were no retakes.

SHE'S GOTTA HAVE IT, Tracy Camilla Johns, Spike Lee, 1986

Nola and Mars

My thoughts: She’s Gotta Have It is my first Spike Lee film and I’m so glad I started with it. I expected some sort of comedic romance story about a girl having to choose between three guys but thank god it went so much deeper than that. For starters, it’s directed in the style of a documentary, although it’s never clear who is filming everyone’s confessions. Combined with a no name cast (besides Spike Lee), the whole saga seemed real and got me invested in the characters. She’s Gotta Have It is also wonderfully progressive, which is even more amazing considering it was made in 1986.

So, Nola is dating 3 guys- Jamie (sensitive jazzy guy), Mars (funny cool guy) and Greer (narcissist). The guys all know about each other, so it’s not like she is being deceitful in anyway. She is also upfront about wanting everything to be casual, going so far as to reprimand any of the guys who mistakenly say they are in love with her. Jamie, however, flat out asks her to make a choice about settling down and this ruins everything. I love how opposite this is compared to other rom-coms. Settling down makes Nola miserable and unhappy. She just wants to be herself and not tied down to anyone. Society still has an issue with this point so I’m kind of astounded by Spike Lee’s stance.

Despite all the evidence, a part of me wanted Nola to ‘settle down’ and choose Jamie. He was the obvious choice, of course: bringing her groceries when she was sick,staging an elaborate dance sequence for her birthday and helping to clean up after the Thanksgiving meal. He is your typical ‘nice guy’. He’s the kind of guy that sits around, not being able to fathom how come he doesn’t have girls falling at his feet because he is such a ‘nice guy’. Which is a dangerous thing to think about, because it breeds resentment and you know what resentment breeds, kids! That’s right, the Dark Side. Which Jamie manifests one evening by coming over and raping Nola. It’s horrible and ugly and utterly realistic because it makes her rethink her life and and decide he is the one she wants after all.

As I was about to write off this movie, it ends with Nola confessing to the camera that she in fact broke it off with Jamie soon after because she realized he wanted her to be something she wasn’t. I loved how nonchalant she was about the realization and how it drove home the point that she is who she is and there is nothing wrong with it. Perfection.

Final review: 5/5.

Up next: The Bridge on the River Kwai

 

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#256- Blow-Up

Quick recap: A photographer believes he has witnessed a murder as evidenced by close ups of photos he recently shot.

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Watching Blow-Up gave me a newfound appreciation for Austin Powers

Fun (?) fact: Blow-Up features a performance by the Yardbirds, back when both Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck were still in the band.

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The movie also basically brought about the end of the Production Code. The rating system was installed a couple of years later.

My thoughts: As noted above, Blow-Up was a huge influence on the Austin Powers movies, which I always thought just parodied James Bond. And Coppola’s The Conversation, one of my favorites,also plays homage to this film. On paper, Blow-Up has everything I could ever want in a movie, yet I just didn’t care for it very much.

Although it wasn’t my cup of tea, Blow-Up is a beautiful, complicated film and one that I think people should try out. Each scene felt like its own set of photographs pieced together, from the antique shop to the analysis of the pictures to the party. Everything was woven together beautifully and it added to the mystery of whether or not Thomas witnessed a murder. Thomas himself I didn’t care for, but I don’t think I was meant to. It makes more sense for him to be a pretentious artist whose work is so important that it solves murders. I won’t give away what I think about the reality of the body, but one of my favorite quotes from the film says it all:

‘They don’t mean anything when I do them…just a mess. afterwards I find something to hang on to…like that leg. Then it sorts itself out and adds up. It’s like finding a clue in a detective story.’

I can’t put a finger on why the film didn’t do much for me, which is frustrating. It might be because it is slow moving or maybe because there is no resolution, sort of like Two-Lane Blacktop. Or it could just be because I hate mimes. At any rate, if I watched it again with an audience, maybe in a theater, I might have a different opinion.

Final review: 3/5, although it really is an essential film to watch

Up next: She’s Gotta Have It

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#255-Gold Diggers of 1933

Quick recap: Set during the Depression, a group of showgirls find work in a new Broadway play and new love with a mysterious benefactor.

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MRW it’s payday

Fun (?) fact: This movie is where the song ‘We’re In the Money’ comes from.

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Not even kidding, this creepy kid gave me nightmares

My thoughts: I think it’s best to start with a quotation of lyrics from one the most famous songs from this movie, so that you can better understand what I had to watch:

From ‘Pettin’ in the Park’:

Pettin’ in the park, (bad boy!) Pettin’ in the dark; (bad girl!) /First you pet a little, Let up a little, and they you get a little kiss/ Pettin’ on the sly, (oh my!) /Act a little shy: (Aw, why!)/ Struggle just a little/ Then hug a little/ And cuddle up and whisper this: /“Come on, I’ve been waiting long,/ Why don’t we get started? /Come on, maybe this is wrong, /But, gee, what of it? /We just love it.”

Yeah. And there’s a delightful scene where the girl in the show physically struggles but the guy continues to hold her tight. Then there’s a rainstorm and the girl gets soaked and has to change. She chooses to put on a metal dress to hopefully stop his advances, but nope! The creepy child from the gif above just happens to have a tin can opener which he uses to cut through the dress.

So, besides all the implied assault (and believe me, there’s A LOT), the movie just felt jumbled together. It’s supposed to be a movie about a broadway play (Fun!) and there are also crazy antics where the group of girls pretend to be gold diggers to piss off snotty rich men who hate love (fun!). But this is during the Depression after all, so the last song of the movie is about remembering our soldiers who marched off to war and who are now marching in bread lines, trying to survive (Bummer). And to be fair, there is a lot of talk about the Depression, so it wasn’t just thrown in, but there’s a ton of money thrown around in the play and instead of a song, why not use some of that money to help people rather than building a contraption that makes it rain and snow in the theater?

The love story between Polly and Brad was cute, but mostly because Dick Powell, who played Brad is quite the looker. His warbly voice kind of threw me off but I was smitten throughout most of the movie. The girls also seemed like a fun group, especially Trixie, and I think this would’ve been something I would’ve loved to watch over and over again in the 30s.

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I could do without the creepy kid though

Final review: Despite the fun I had, I’m going to go with a 3/5 because of the kid and because there were some really slow parts

Up next: Blow-Up

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#254- The Jerk

Quick recap: A poor black child (played by Steve Martin) grows up to find fame and fortune, only to have it cruelly taken away.

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Fun (?) fact: The cat juggler (who looks awfully similar to Martin) is credited as being played by ‘Pig Eye Jackson’).

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Good ol’ Pig Eye

My thoughts: I’m not going to beat around the bush on this one: The Jerk was ridiculously funny and absurd and I’m kicking myself for not watching it sooner.

Some favorite scenes and/or quotes:

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He hates these cans!

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Shithead really put up with a lot

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Final review: 5/5. Should be a staple of anyone’s movie collection

Up next: Gold Diggers of 1933

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