Tag Archives: comedy

#19- Dr. Strangelove

Quick recap: General Ripper orders an air strike on Russia for no reason. As expected, it does not go well. Most of the movie takes place in the war room, as the president and his council attempt to get hold of the situation and recall the alert. Russia is understandably displeased and threatens to set off the doomsday device if they are bombed, ending all humanity as we know it. The movie switches back and forth between Dr.Ripper’s further descent into insanity and on one of the planes carrying the bomb.

Fun (?) Fact: Peter Sellers, who played three major rolls in the film, ad-libbed most of his lines. Kubrick later added the dialogue into the written screenplay.

Dr.Strangelove fighting with his own arm to keep from giving the president the Nazi salute

Dr.Strangelove fighting with his own arm to keep from giving the president the Nazi salute

My thoughts: I don’t have much to say about this movie, unfortunately, for a few reasons. 1. It was directed by Kubrick and I love his ideas so I knew this would be amazing. And that it was. 2. What makes this movie so wonderful is its spot on satire of the cold war. I say ‘spot on’ based on my limited knowledge of the subject, since I wasn’t actually alive at the time. 3. Dr.Strangelove was truly hilarious so me adding anything insightful would just be fruitless. This movie filled in several holes of my pop culture wall. For example, the quote, ‘You can’t fight in here! This is the war room!’ is a line I had heard several times, but only now know where it came from. Same goes for the last scene of the movie, as the Major rides the bomb as if it were a bull in a rodeo. There were so many wonderful moments, but my absolute favorite was the first conversation the president had with the Russian Premier where he explains that the General went and did a ‘silly thing’. The movie is gold, but I’d watch it again for just that one scene.

Yet another Simpsons joke I can better appreciate now!

Yet another Simpsons joke I can better appreciate now!

Final review: 4/5. I’d give it a perfect score, but I know that I missed so many jokes, based on my limited knowledge of the Cold War. That’s probably something I should change. I plan to rewatch this movie again in a year from now and see what I else I can pick up.

Where/how I watched it: Netflix DVD

Up next: High Society

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#18- A Hard Day’s Night

Quick Recap: It’s the Beatles! doing Beatle things such as running away from screaming girls, giving cheeky answers to reporters and of course playing lots and lots of music. Also, Ringo leaves the band for a second but then comes back to his senses. Very cheeky, indeed.

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Fun (?) Fact : The title for the movie came from an interview Ringo gave, in which he said, “We went to do a job, and we’d worked all day and we happened to work all night. I came up still thinking it was day I suppose, and I said, ‘It’s been a hard day…’ and I looked around and saw it was dark so I said, ‘…night!’ So we came to A Hard Day’s Night.” Got it?

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Not the most handsome Beatle, but he made the movie much more entertaining

My thoughts: I had high expectations for this film since I, like almost everyone else, love the Beatles. I love them, though, in the same way I love Star Wars: I’m a casual fan and wouldn’t ever claim to know everything there is to know about the subject. I guess it’s important to mention that in this day and age, the Beatles are seen as perfection. When I think of The Beatles, I automatically think of their later work when they all had long beards and were bigger than Jesus.  So, it’s interesting to see this side of the band in this movie- just four young men trying to handle worldwide fame and still stay who they are in the process. Most of the movie reminded me of a group of monkeys (called a congress, apparently) being let out of their cage for the first time. They run everywhere, saying their lines at such a rapid speed that it is hard to keep up with who is who. And that’s sort of the point. This is not your typical boy band, with the fun guy, the hot guy, the sporty guy and so on. John, Paul, George and Ringo are an ensemble. They work best when they are altogether, as evidenced in one scene when they are all having to give separate interviews to hoards of reporters. Each question is as mundane as the one before it and the guys can’t wait to escape and just have fun for a bit before going back to work. The highlight of the movie is, of course, the music. Although I enjoyed the dialogue and seeing John Lennon in a bubble bath, it was the music that remained the most exciting. The last scene of the big concert was bittersweet. The Beatles had such stage presence. I could tell that they enjoyed each other and loved their music. And yet, in 2013, I know how the story ends. It was sad to think that in only a few years they would be broken up, and years after that, Lennon would be shot dead. If anything, this movie was a great reminder of what used to be, back when they were just an excellent band.

I always saw Lennon as pretentious, but then this scene makes me love him a little bit more

I always saw Lennon as pretentious, but then this scene makes me love him a little bit more

Final Review: 2/5. In the end, this movie was fun but forgettable. I don’t think I would want to sit through the movie again, although it did make me put all of The Beatles discography back on to my phone the next morning. I forgot to add that the character of Paul’s grandfather was rather creepy. He played a troublemaker who pitted everyone against each other.

Yoko?

Yoko?

Where I watched it: Netflix DVD

Up Next: Dr. Strangelove

 

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#10-Rushmore

Quick recap- This is the story of Max Fischer, an eccentric teenager, who falls in love with a first grade teacher at his prep school. Fischer is involved in practically every extra curricular activity at his school and that hasn’t helped him academically. Once he meets Rosemary Cross,  the teacher, he becomes obsessed. He is also befriended by Herman Blume, an industrialist, who tries to convince Max that Cross isn’t worth it, only later to fall in love with her himself. Fischer is eventually expelled from the school and finds out about Cross and Blume’s relationship. Things get quirky as Blume and Fischer fight each other, but in the end Max stays Max and everyone appreciates his quirkiness even more after watching a performance of a play he had written. All is well.

Fun (?) fact- Rushmore was filmed in Houston. I figured it out part way through the movie because I recognized the METRO busses.

My thoughts: Wes Anderson is one of my favorite directors, so I went into this with high expectations. The first film I saw from his career, The Royal Tenenbaums, is one of my all-time favorite movies. I’m not here to critique all of his work, but I will say that while watching Rushmore, his trademarks seemed even more glaring.

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It bothered me to suddenly become annoyed by these director traits that make me love Anderson in the first place. After the movie, I came to the conclusion that the issue is not Anderson, but myself. I have watched his films out of order. If anything, I should be annoyed by Moonrise Kingdom, not Rushmore. This film was at the very beginning of his career and it is wonderful, in its own way. I was simultaneously annoyed by/adored Max Fischer. He completely won me over by then end. The music also added to the general enjoyment of the movie.

Final review: 5/5. If you haven’t seen anything of Anderson’s yet, don’t start with Moonrise Kingdom. Start here or better yet, go start with Bottle Rocket because I hear it is even better. Watching Rushmore is watching a play of eccentric characters with heart and I love it.

Where I watched it: Netflix DVD

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