#79- American Beauty

Quick recap: Lester Burnham, played by Kevin Spacey, starts a midlife crisis when he finds himself attracted to his daughter’s teenage friend. I suppose I should introduce the main characters but instead I’ll just summarize that everyone is messed up. Everyone. Especially that stupid plastic bag.

It’s hard to stay mad when there is so much beauty in the world

Fun (?) fact: Thora Birch, who played Jane, was only 17 at the time of filming so her parents had to watch and approve her nude scene.

My thoughts: I’m just going to cut to the chase for once and admit that I have no idea how I feel about this film. I usually try to write a review after I have had time to sort through my thoughts, but in this case, I don’t think another day would’ve helped. After 79 posts, I finally have to answer ‘what makes for a good movie?’

I really did enjoy American Beauty. At no point did I feel bored or wish for the ending to hurry up. In a way, the movie was like one long episode of Desperate Housewives, except much darker. When I attempt to break down the movie into different parts, I find that I was most impressed by the acting. Every single performance was flawless and I’ll even go out on a limb to say that it is one of the best examples of a strong ensemble cast. And to add to that, Kevin Spacey gives one of the best performances as Lester Burnham I have seen since starting this project. He lived that role.

Now, as for the confusion- If I were to just qualify this movie by its acting, it would get a near perfect score from me. But director Sam Mendes was going for so much more than that, and this is the part where it starts to unravel. After the movie finished, I sat for the longest time and tried to put my finger on the main theme. Was it sexuality? the evils of suburbia? teen angst? imprisonment? I couldn’t figure it out. I finally threw my hands up in the air and went to the Wikipedia page, where SURPRISE, no one else knows either. Not even the director. So, now I’m stuck with the question, does a movie have to have one theme? Can a movie still be good if it doesn’t resonate? I didn’t give much thought to American Beauty today, except if a particular scene popped in my head. In the end, I think this is just going to be one of those films I enjoyed and would recommend to others, although I don’t know why. I think Mendes was going for something profound, but couldn’t decide on what he wanted, so he just threw in everything. I wouldn’t call this movie ‘overrated’, like some have, but I do think it is best enjoyed at a surface level. Any deeper and we get into Pretentious Territory.

Final review: 4/5. Let’s just go with that.

Up next: Shane

#78- The Dead

Quick recap: The story is set in 1904 when a couple of old ladies are throwing a party. The guests all talk about artsy stuff like the opera and who is a good singer and then, after everyone toasts the women on a job well done, everyone leaves. The main couple head to a hotel where the wife reveals she loved a boy before her husband and it’s making her super sad, you guys. In turn, the husband stares out of the window and realizes that he kind of sucks if his wife loves some dead kid more than him. He then says something about everyone dying at some point and then FIN.

how exciting!

Fun (?) fact: One of the first apps I ever downloaded was Solitaire for my iPhone. I’m proud to say that I played my 2000th game during this movie. And by proud, I mean ashamed. And by ashamed, I mean that I really feel no emotion.

on the edge of my seat!

My thoughts: I don’t think my hopes have ever crashed as hard as when I realized The Dead was not in fact about ghosts, but instead a period drama. Believe me, nothing strikes fear more than ‘period drama’, but I was still hoping that there would at least be some murder or ghostly shenanigans going on. Not in the slightest. In fact, the only drama that occurs in the entire movie happens in the last 7 or so minutes of the film. And that’s only if you consider a woman revealing that she loved someone who later died ‘drama’. Which I don’t, and really, you shouldn’t stoop yourself low enough to consider it either.

I do feel a bit hypocritical harping about how boring this movie is, when I just recently sat through almost 4 hours of a woman cleaning her house. The only action happened at the end of that movie as well, but was much more satisfying. Ever since stopping the practice of reading up on a film before watching it, I could only guess at what was about to change in the couple’s marriage. ( Side note: the Netflix synopsis said that the party was held during Epiphany and that the couple had an epiphany of their own about their marriage. I don’t think I could roll my eyes anymore than I’m doing right now.) There were several times where a woman at the party would wink at Gabriel (the main character) and he spent much of the party secretly pulling out a note and reading it to himself. I thought that he was maybe having an affair with EVERYONE and that would’ve piqued my interest a little, but once again my hopes were dashed when I realized the note he was reading was really a toast he had written for the old woman throwing the party. LAME.

And as for the ending, I do see how sad that would make anyone when realizing their wife of several years prefers a dead kid over them. But is it worth torturing me about for two hours? No. No it is not. I imagine the ‘discovery’ was felt much more deeply from anyone who read the short story by James Joyce, which this movie comes from. I did manage to read up on the short story a bit and it seemed Joyce emphasized Gabriel’s insecurities so that in the final scene, it all comes crashing around him as he wonders whether is it better to die young or old, after you’ve had a chance to mess everything up. That thought seems more profound to me than what the movie portrayed.

Final review: 2/5. The Dead wasn’t completely unwatchable. It’s soothing, in the same way listening to rain on my white noise app is. The next time I can’t get it to work, I’ll put on this movie.

Up next: American Beauty

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#77- The Postman Always Rings Twice

Quick recap: Frank Chambers is a drifter who comes to work for Nick and his wife Cora at a roadside diner. Immediately, Frank starts making out with Cora any chance he can get because that’s just what you did back then. She in turn falls in love and together they hatch a plan to kill off Nick so that they can live happily ever after. Although it turns out to be harder than either expected, Frank and Cora are ultimately successful. Unfortunately, they have been closely watched by the District Attorney and are charged with murder. Then, a million twists happen and Frank is sent to the gas chamber.

Fun (?) fact: Audiences freaked out while watching this movie once they realized the character of Frank used his tongue at one point when kissing Cora. The horror!

My thoughts: Ever since I stopped spoiling myself about a movie by reading up on it beforehand, I’ve had to get creative with my predictions. Sad to say, I was WAY off on this one. My husband had already told me it was a crime movie, but I was betting on some back door arrangement, like a postal worker secretly working for the mob or something. In other news, I think I’ve created a plot for the next great blockbuster.

So, The Postman Always Rings Twice falls under the noir genre, which, after looking up the term on Wikipedia, encompasses A LOT of films. It seems as if even experts can’t agree on what constitutes as film noir, although there are some similar characteristics. For example, this movie revolves around the crime of murdering an innocent man in the name of love. Noir films also include convoluted plot lines, which this film delivers perfectly. After Frank and Cora have been accused of murder, the next few scenes are a big mess of plot twists. Frank signs a paper stating he had nothing to do with the murder, only to find out it had been a trick by the DA to get Cora to confess. But then Cora’s lawyer knew what she would do and put one of his guys in charge of taking the confession so that she wouldn’t give one to the DA. He also has her plead guilty but then, at the beginning of the trial gets the DA to drop charges because he really has no evidence. There was much more that happened after that, but I was too confused to keep up.

There was also a couple of weird scenes with this policeman, who loved cats.

Another characteristic of a noir film is a bleak ending. After Frank and Cora eventually get married (only because they were threatened with jail for shacking up together), Cora finds out she is having a baby. The two were at each other’s throat since the trial but with this news, decide that they do truly love each other. On the way back from a celebratory trip to the beach, Frank accidentally crashes his car and kills Cora. He is immediately arrested for her murder and sentenced to death. It turns out that the entire movie has been one long flashback and he is telling his story to a priest right before his execution. It is revealed that the DA knew he didn’t murder Cora on purpose but later found evidence indicting him for the murder of Nick so he might as well be executed anyway. That’s not how the law works, but whatever.

In looking at reviews of the film, I found it interesting how many people referred to Cora as the evil one, when in my opinion, that title belongs to Frank. He was the one that seduced her and also the one to first bring up the idea of killing Nick. When Cora’s mother falls ill, Frank drops her off at the train station and then immediately hops in the car with a random woman and drives off to Mexico for a week. Cora isn’t blameless by any means and I loved the decision to dress her in all white to really bring out her darker side. Lana Turner did a wonderful job portraying this character and although I don’t know much about her film career, it seems this was one of her best roles.

Final review: 3/5, but just barely. The plot was too convoluted and I really didn’t care for John Garfield, who played Frank. His acting was too stiff and unbelievable. In the end, the film kept me entertained enough so it gets a decent rating.

Up next: The Dead, or possibly Casablanca

#76- Groundhog Day

Quick recap: Phil Connors, local weatherman, is sent every year to the town of Punxsutawney to report on Groundhog Day. After a bad day makes him hate the town even worse, Connors wakes up the next morning and realizes he has to repeat the holiday over again. And again. And again. And again. And……you get the point.

http://chrispiascik.com/2011/02/groundhog-day/

Fun (?) fact: Many people have been stuck in their own time loop (SEE WHAT I DID THERE?) trying to calculate how long Groundhog Day lasted for Connors. The official estimate is 10 years, although I would say close to 30. One recent calculation came to over 1000 years.

I should try this with my cats!

My thoughts: As you may have picked up on, the Internet loves to obsess over certain celebs. One of the earliest examples was Chuck Norris when people started making up facts about him. And then everyone collectively realized that Norris was a hardcore christian and slowly backed away. More recently, Bill Murray has been the target of such adoration. He recently did a Reddit AMA and answered hard hitting questions like ‘Why the hell did you do those Garfield movies?’ I’m not normally one to get on the Internet bandwagon (except with doge, because that stuff is hilarious), but for once I believe the attention given to Murray is justified.

how I wish this were true

I can’t say I have seen too many of Murray’s movies, but I’ll go ahead and put my money on this being one of his best. I came into this movie thinking it would be just a comedy, nothing too special. And this movie definitely is funny. There were several scenes I loved, but mainly watching Murray’s expressions was good enough. At one point, as he realizes he will be stuck reliving the same day over and over again, he decides the only way out is suicide. He drives his truck off of a hill, he jumps from a building, he stands in front of a car to get hit. The tone became much more dark and the true horror of the situation started to sink in for me. I have no idea what I would do if I were stuck in a time loop, but I imagine it would drive me insane rather quickly. Murray manages to convey the underlying seriousness with humor instead of veering into the ‘sappy moral lesson’ path.

I wouldn’t necessarily say that there was a moral lesson in Groundhog Day. The reasons are unknown as to how Phil Connors got into this situation, although I think it’s just bad karma from being a jerk. It is only after he realizes that being nice to people gets you stuff that he is able to escape to February 3. I don’t think it would hurt for a people to let that one sink in for a bit.

no reason for this picture except that I really like the doge meme.

Final review: 5/5. I could see myself watching this as a yearly tradition because in all seriousness, Groundhog Day is kind of a stupid holiday.

Up next: The Postman Always Rings Twice

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