Tag Archives: drama

#106- The Conversation

Quick recap: Surveillance expert Harry Caul (Gene Hackman) records a conversation for a mysterious client and comes to the conclusion that the couple he heard are going to be murdered. I’d say this is a good lesson about the dangers of eavesdropping, but that’s this guy’s job so this is more of a story about doing a job really well.

Homer: Marge, my ears are burning! Marge: Homer, we weren't talking about you. Homer: No, my ears are really burning. I wanted to see what was inside so I lit a Q-Tip Homer: Marge, my ears are burning!
Marge: Homer, we weren’t talking about you.
Homer: No, my ears are really burning. I wanted to see what was inside so I lit a Q-Tip

Fun (?) fact: Continuing with my coincidence fact series, The actress who plays Ann in The Conversation played Laurie in American Graffiti. It’s like the 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon except nothing like it all, and much more boring. You’re welcome!

My thoughts: With a title as simple as The Conversation, I knew that the movie was either going to be awesome or worse than The Dead, which at least gave me hope that someone would expire by the end of the movie (Spoiler alert: no one did).  But with The Conversation,  I already knew I was getting something that every movie has, except for all those silent films, of course. Luckily, director Francis Ford Coppola cut to the chase and showed the aforementioned conversation first. What was said between the couple sounded a little off but gave no indication or hint as to how the rest of the movie would turn out.

Don't be fooled! This is The Conversation, but there is no actual conversation going on right now Don’t be fooled! This is The Conversation, but there is no actual conversation going on right now

As you can imagine, The Conversation is an introspective film that gives more information about Harry Caul than the actual mystery of the couple. Caul is an anti-social man who would rather listen in on other people than give any information about himself. He is also extremely paranoid, which makes sense when your job is to basically spy on other people. On the other hand, he spends so much time lost in his world that he misses all these big clues around him. For example, during a convention about spy equipment (which is just as interesting as you can imagine), a competitor slips a ballpoint pen into Caul’s pocket that will record his conversations the rest of the night. IRONY! I knew the second I saw the pen what it actually was, but Caul didn’t think twice. As he becomes more concerned about the fate of the couple, Caul decides to destroy the tapes instead of handing them over and potentially having blood on his hands. After a drunken party at the spy convention, he sleeps with a woman who-you guessed it- stole the tapes! It was completely obvious what was going to happen which I thought was silly except after thinking about it, the whole scene just made me feel even more sorry for Caul and understanding his loneliness.

I have to stop here. At this point, when the tapes were stolen I was prepared to give this movie a 2/5 because although some of it was interesting, it was also rather boring. But then, as Caul followed the couple to the hotel room to find out their fate, my opinion changed. I LOVED this movie. The ending was much more complex than I ever expected it would be and I have many questions. Although this movie is 40 years old, I’m going to hold off revealing anymore spoilers. Francis Ford Coppola, the guy who directed the Godfather movies, has said that The Conversation is one of his personal favorites and I completely understand why.

8095-the-conversation

Final review:  5/5. I’m tempted to watch the movie again to see what other clues I might be able to pick up that will help me with the ending.

Up next: E.T

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#105- The Golden Coach

Quick recap: An actress in a traveling troupe must choose between 3 men who are in love with her, one of whom gives her a golden coach. But then the actress realizes that she is a self-sufficient talented woman and chooses none of them. In a further ‘screw you’ move, she gives the coach to the Bishop who will in turn use it to help the sick and dying. An important life lesson there: Stick it to your love interests by giving to the poor. I should cross stitch that on a pillow or something.

but first I need to learn how to cross stitch

but first I need to learn how to cross stitch

Fun (?) fact: Director Jean Renoir was the son of Pierre Renoir, the artist. That’s about as fun as I can get on this movie.

Baby picture!

Baby picture!

My thoughts: I was afraid to watch this movie for fear I might die from overexposure to pretentiousness. The movie is directed by a French guy, set in Peru, featuring Italian actors. Add to that, the story centers around a Viceroy whose main problem is that he falls for an actress who he can be himself around. You know, a down to earth guy who buys golden coaches. And of course, after giving her this rather extravagant gift, he finds out she’s been seeing two other guys. But really though, the Viceroy should’ve had a bit more common sense than that. Anyone knows that you don’t throw out the golden coach as a gift first thing. If that’s where you start, how can you possibly top yourself?

Visually, the movie is very colorful. The traveling acting troupe’s costumes were gorgeous and made the skits much more enjoyable to watch. I was little confused by the nobility, though. I’m not up on my Peruvian history, far from it, but I don’t think they had a bunch of white guys running around in powdered wigs back then. The plot itself is silly so I won’t analyze it too much. Beyond the colorful costumes and scenery, I was definitely not a fan of the musical score. It was typical classical music, which is fine, but it played THE ENTIRE TIME. Sometimes it was even hard to hear what was going on because the music was so loud. The music didn’t even really match with the plot. If you are going to have a symphony playing at all times, you should at least thrown in a Sad Trombone of Regret or the Triangle of Doom to give the audience cues on how to react.

I’m still confused as to who I was supposed to sympathize with during the movie. Camilla, the actor, is being wooed by a soldier, the viceroy and a bull fighter, one of whom gives her a golden coach.Not really the worst options, if you ask me. As for the suitors, I guess I liked the soldier because he was there from the beginning and Camilla dumped him once she saw she could get something better. The Viceroy annoyed me with his purchases of golden coaches and a never ending trail of women who swooned over him. The bullfighter seemed like a decent choice, minus the ego but isn’t that par for the course for a profession like that? I was a fan of the ending though, Camilla deciding to pursue her acting career and giving the coach away.It was really the best decision because she had caused so much strife within the small community.

This is how to impress the ladies in 18th century Peru

This is how to impress the ladies in 18th century Peru

Final review: 1/5. Not a fan, although this wasn’t traumatic like some of my other 1 point movies

Up next: The Conversation

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#103- Two-Lane Blacktop

Thanks to Andy (that guy I married) for suggesting this movie, although I’m a little disappointed it wasn’t literally about a road.

Quick recap: Two guys (called simply The Driver and The Mechanic) love to race cars. Like- REALLY love to race cars. There’s kind of a plot about a race to Washington DC with a rival car (G.T.O) but most of the movie is centered around the guys talking about cars, driving cars, or hitting on the hot hitchhiker they picked up (The Girl).

Whatcha thinking about? Oh,I dunno....car stuff, I guess.

Whatcha thinking about?
Oh,I dunno….car stuff, I guess.

Fun (?) fact: This was James Taylor’s and Dennis Wilson’s (of the Beach Boys) only acting performance.

My thoughts: One of my favorite activities the past few years has been to go out and drive around aimlessly for a few hours a couple of times a week. It relaxes me to no end sipping on a cup of coffee and listening to my music, not really caring where I end up. Two-Lane Blacktop captures aimless driving perfectly for me. The Driver and The Mechanic don’t need a reason to hit the road but they do because in their mind, what else is there to do?

It’s hard to put my finger on what I enjoyed so much about this movie, meaning I know EXACTLY why I enjoyed this movie so much: James Taylor and Dennis Wilson. I can’t say they did a superb acting job, unless you count staring as a sign of a great acting performance. If that were the case then they would win an Academy Award for sure. The thing is, Two-Lane Blacktop doesn’t call for much in the form of acting. The point of the movie is centered on a couple of guys who live and breathe cars. When they have to talk, which happens rarely, it is something technical about cars. The Mechanic is the more polite of the two, answering questions when The Girl decides to ride with them across the country, but of course he would be polite because he gets to answer questions about cars. The two seem telepathic at times, like when they stop for gas. The Driver gets what he needs and The Mechanic starts in on his job, fixing what needs to be done, all without saying a word. They never disagree or even ask each other’s opinion because they already know the answer.

G.T.O on the other hand, provides a great contrast to the Driver and The Mechanic. Although he has a very fast, flashy car, he knows next to nothing about it. When he meets up with the other two, he challenges them to a race across the country with the winner taking possession of both cars. For the most part, G.T.O stays focused on winning while the other two get off track several times. Either they know they would win anyway or they are just in the race because it means getting to be in the car even longer. At the end of the movie, everyone sort of forgets about the competition and stops to participate in a drag race.

My one issue with the movie was the ending, which just stops at some point while The Driver is in a drag race. It doesn’t bother me that there was no resolution to the plot about racing to Washington DC because even if there was a winner, The Driver and The Mechanic would’ve just continued on their way, although maybe with a different car. What bothered me was that I kept expecting the plot to build up to something and it didn’t. If I watched it again, I would know what to expect and just enjoy it.

Final review: 4/5. I’ve always thought that if I could choose a decade to live in, it would be the 60s but after watching Two-Lane Blacktop, I’m definitely meant for the 70s.

Up Next: American Graffiti, a movie about cars made in the 1970s. I’m starting to notice a trend here.

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#102- The Sting

Thanks to Vincent for requesting this movie. There’s nothing I love more than having ragtime stuck in my head for two days straight. 

Quick recap: After a close friend is murdered by a mobster, a couple of guys decide that the only course of action is to pull off a ridiculously complicated scheme.

from season 12- The Great Money Caper. All other seasons past 9 are dead to me.

from season 12- The Great Money Caper. All other seasons past 9 are dead to me.

Fun (?) fact: The Sting is based off the real exploits of brothers Charley and Fred Gondorf, who ran a scheme called ‘the wire’ in 1914. Their ‘mark’ testified against them and the brothers spent several years in prison. Neither learned a lesson and continued scheming people for several years to come.

My thoughts: I’m not usually a ‘blonde hair, blue eyes hunky guy’ sort of girl, but there is just something about Robert Redford that I absolutely adore. I haven’t seen many of his movies but after his performance in All the President’s Men, I was game for whatever. I didn’t love him as much in this role but he was still wonderful.  Paul Newman was excellent as well, and I would go so far as to say I enjoyed his role much more, but in the end it all goes back to Robert Redford.

the-sting-01

As for the actual story, I think I viewed this movie too late at night because I was thoroughly confused most of the time. Or maybe ‘the sting’ was to con the viewer all along. Maybe I was the mark??? Nah, it was most likely exhaustion. Anyway, as much as it annoyed me to not know what was going on most of the time, I also liked how everything came together at the very end. It was much easier to focus on the big picture rather than trying to catch each detail of the con. I think at some point I also realized that I would be a perfect mark if someone decided to con me. It’s fine to not focus on little things sometimes, but not when you are about to be swindled out of thousands of dollars.

What I loved most about The Sting was the style of the movie. The scene is early 1930’s Chicago and it looks like it for the most part, save for the ragtime music which was popular in the early 1900s. I really loved the segue to different scenes, using a card to announce what was about to happen. It was like I was being let in on the con, although I still had no clue how everything would go down.

I’m not sure I would consider Johnny Hooker (Redford) and Henry Gondorff (Newman) bad guys. They were certainly on a shadier side of the law, but compared to Doyle Lonnegan, the mobster, they were essentially harmless. The only violence on Hooker’s side was killing that one woman, but that was only because she was about to murder him. I’m curious if cons like this still go on because it seems like a much more clean way of revenge, although not very efficient. My answer is most likely no, because of Snopes. com, which ruins all the fun.

Final review: 4/5

Up next: Two Lane Blacktop. There is still time to suggest a movie you want to see reviewed! Just comment on this post or email at mabelsfa56@gmail.com.

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