Another Bogey...

This week I review The Maltese Falcon, whose main star is Humphrey Bogart. I had heard of this movie before I started doing my reviews, but I didn't know who was in it and wondered who would play the role of Mario Fenech. I just realised that most people who read my reviews probably wouldn't get that little joke ... Mario Fenech is a former rugby league player who comes from Malta. His nickname is "The Maltese Falcon" or "Falcon". The movie was made in 1941 and was nominated for 3 Academy Awards and came away with nought. The plot is rather complex and I probably still don't completely understand it so I won't even bother to try to explain it. It is one of the things I didn't like about this movie, but only one. Humphrey Bogart, to me wasn't a very good actor. It seems to me that he is like Hugh Grant and Matthew Perry when they act, they don't actually act, they are just themselves. Bogey talks tough, acts tough and smokes cigarrettes - just like he did in Casablanca. There is no acting here. Humphrey Bogart plays Sam Spade who is based on Humphrey Bogart. The pace of the story is too fast for my liking, the sets are forgettable and the characters are just ok. The female in the movie is talked about as a glamour girl, so shouldn't they casted one for the role? Mary Astor, to me, is nothing special to look at at all. The amusing thing for me in both Humphrey Bogart movies I have seen is that if he has a love interest you hardly know it. You know how much Bogey loves a woman by how much he hits her. If he only hits her a few times then you know he's found a keeper.

Maybe I should watch these movies in the morning because even though I started watching this movie just after 8.30pm I was fighting off the sleep by 9. Even at the end, when I thought there may be a plot twist or something exciting happen, my eyelids gave in on me and I had one of those micro sleeps. Maybe I did miss something exciting but I don't think so. The only good thing about this movie was that it only goes for 90 minutes. The bad thing is that even that was too long for me.

To the ratings -
The Maltese Falcon : 3 falcon statues

Nobody's perfect...

This time I review the movie, Some Like It Hot, starring Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe. Made in 1959 and winner of 1 Academy Award (Best Costume Design, Black-and-White) and nominated for 5 others, it is a comedy and rates quite well on IMDB.

This is the first time I have watched a movie that starred Marilyn Monroe and from what I read she was a real menace while making this movie. Always at least 2 hours late and getting even her most basic lines wrong. Apparently it took her 59 takes to get the line "where's the bourbon?" right.

The plot is about 2 men (Curtis and Lemmon) who are witness to a mob killing. They dress as women and tour with all female band, partly for the money and partly to hide from the gangsters. There are some genuinely funny moments in this movie. I found the funniest parts when Curtis dressed up as a millionaire oil tycoon to win the affection of Marilyn Monroes character.

There are some silly things that happen in the movie but because it is so lighthearted I was prepared to let them go and just enjoy the movie for what it is - and that is a bit of fun.

The ending was short, a little silly, but at the same time it made me laugh and wasn't a let down. It is also where I got the title for this blog post.

The Rating -

Some Like It Hot: 7 female band members

We're gonna need a bigger boat...

This week I review Jaws. It was made in 1975, was directed by Steven Spielberg, nominated for 4 Academy Awards, winning 3 (Best Film Editing, Best Music, Best Sound).

The story starts with a girl going for a late night swim and getting taken by a shark. The policeman (played by Roy Schneider) wants to close the beach but the Mayor won't allow it because it will keep the tourists away. This sounds a bit like what is happening in Sydney at the moment! Anyway a couple more people get eaten by the shark so a team is put together to get catch the shark. The rest of the movie is totally about the 3 men trying to catch Jaws.

I expected the special effects in this movie to be a bit cheesy but I was pleasantly surprised in the first half of the movie. Apparently because the mechanical shark (nicknamed Bruce by Steven Spielberg) kept breaking down, he couldn't use much footage of sharks. Instead we see swimmers from the sharks perspective and I think it is a good effect. The first time we see Jaws is on it's third attack and he actually looks realistic. I was impressed. Later in the movie it is clear it is a mechanical shark, especially when it decides to climb into the boat and practically make itself a cup of tea. I actually laughed at how pathetic it looked and how absurd it was that he was even willing to get onto a boat to kill people.

The movie is a thriller of sorts and it certainly isn't boring. The plot is as basic as you could get and I only got a fright once, when the deadmans face sudenly appeared in the boats porthole. So it wasn't all that scary but it will be a few days until I have the courage to have a bath again.

The Rating -

Jaws : 7 people eaten, 1 leg chomped

The last offer ...

At last I have watched all of The Godfather movies. This week was the 3rd and final instalment, and what is publicly regarded as the worst of the 3 movies. It was made in 1990 and was nominated for 7 Academy Awards, winning none. My expectations were low for this movie and it turned out to be not as bad as I had expected.

In this movie we have an aging Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) trying to legitimise his business dealings and facing his past demons. His young nephew, son of Sonny, becomes his apprentice. Strangely I found this movie to be less confusing than the others. Even though all 3 movies were directed by Francis Ford Coppola, with this one he seemed to elucidate what was happening more so than the others. Speaking of Francis Ford Coppola, he managed to slip as many of his family into this movie as he could. His daughter plays the character of Michael's daughter Mary, and his father did the music, and his sister played the part of Connie Corleone. Really somebody should have stepped in and said a big fat "NO" when he suggested his daughter play the part of Mary. She is clearly the worst actor in a series of movies that is great for it's acting talent.

I can see why fans of the first 2 Godfather movies wouldn't like this one. It really is nothing like them. The focus isn't really on the business dealings of the family, or struggle against other Mafia groups. Even Michael is completely different in this one. In the other 2 he was very quiet and had a steely cold look in his eyes. That has all gone in this movie. It is almost like it was a cash in on the popularity of the first 2 movies, much the same as Karate Kid 3 and Terminator 3.

It is the shortest of the 3 Godfather movies but is still too long for me at 2 hours 45 minutes or so. I found I was fighting the sleep from just over 1 hour in. The storyline didn't exactly dance around in front of me to keep me awake.

The Rating -
The Godfather: Part 3 - 4 popes

I'll make him another offer he can't refuse....

I remember when I started this movie review saga at the start of the year. I would get excited and really make a big deal about watching a movie and cooking something nice. Unfortunately now I am starting to think to myself - "Oh no, it is movie night again". Watching The Godfather: Part 2 has not helped. Probably for the first time I started watching this movie with an absolutely clear mind, no expectations, no idea what happens in it and I was in a good mood. 30 minutes into the movie and I felt like I was about to experience the equivalent of running a marathon. I was already fighting the sleep. Like running a marathon I was tackling the movie in small segments at a time - just another 5 minutes, you can do this, must try to concentrate.
I can't believe The Godfather: Part 2 won 6 Academy Awards. Let me list them -
* Best Actor in a supporting role
* Best art direction-Set decoration
* Best director
* Best Music, Original dramatic score
* Best picture
* Best Writing, Screenplay Adapted From Other Material

For me this movie was just more of the same. And at over 3 hours in length, it failed to capture my attention. It probably didn't help that my version didn't have any subtitles and probably 20 to 30 minutes of the film is spoken in Sicilian. So for all that time it was like watching the Italian news on SBS. I had to look at the pictures to try to figure out what was happening.

The movie goes back into the past to show how a young Vito Corleone (played by Robert De Niro) got into the ganster business. These were the scenes that were totally in Sicilian so they were useless to me. The story then comes back to the present with Michael Corleone running the family business and having troubles. The story revolves around business deals, killing people who get in your way, revenge killing, stuff that I have seen already in the first movie. Now to be honest I went on the IMDB website to find out how certain characters double crossed others because I couldn't work it out. To my surprise, nobody else had worked it out either. So are people liking ths movie on the premise that if it is confusing, then it must be deep and profound and therefore it is great? I must also admit that I still have over an hour of the movie still to watch! I pulled up short of the finish line in my marathon, I was fatigued. I may watch the rest of the movie at a later date but I really have no desire to do so. I can already predict what will happen - killings, some revenge killings, some business negotiations, and more killings.

The only positive I have about this movie is the acting. I think Al Pacino is great. I've even placed him on my list of favourite actors along with Tom Hanks, Humphrey Bogart, and Yahoo Serious.

Next week I watch The Godfather: Part 3, the movie that is universally agreed as being by far the worst of The Godfather movies. If that is the case it should get my lowest rating so far,and that is not such a bad thing for me. I love to whinge, complain and ululate about a movie. Mind you, I can't wait to see a really good one.

My rating -
The Godfather: Part 2 - 4 bullets

I'll make him an offer he can't refuse....

This weeks movie is The Godfather, ranked number 2 on IMDB.com highest ranked movies. It was made in 1972 and won 3 Academy awards - Best leading actor (Marlon Brando), Best Picture, and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium. Now I must say, first of all, that I have read this book a few years ago and I absolutely loved it, so I will probably make a lot of comparisons between the book and the movie. I must also say that I nearly always like the book much more than the movie that is made from it.

Well The Godfather sure has a cast of who's who in acting. We have Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, James Caan and Diane Keaton. So one thing I can't complain about in this review is the acting. Damn it! The cinematography, lighting, and music are also great so no complaints there. In fact I am glad The Godfather got nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Dramatic Score. I mean who doesn't know the theme from The Godfather?

The plot revolves around the Corleone family, an Italian family living in New York who specialise in the gambling and stand over industries. The head, or Don, of the family is Vito Corleone (played by Marlon Brando) and he has 3 sons, Sonny, Fredo and Michael. Michael is the only one of the sons who is not interested in being part of the family business. That is until his father has an assisination attempt on him, so he decides he will be the one who kills the organiser of the assisination and the chief of Police, who is also in on it. The Godfather survives the assisination attempt and as in all gangster movies, revenge killings then take place.

The thing I like in the book was the emphasis on how strong the Corleone family were as a unit and how great they were in running their business. This doesn't come across so much in the movie. I remember when reading the book I really embraced their family values and thought how their business structure could be used in real life. Sure, not the revenge killings and stand over tactics, but their strategies and strength.
I don't know what it is about these gangster movies, but I always get confused by who is who and who is allied with who and then who has been a traitor to who. I don't recall being confused when reading the book so it must just be the movie. I guess they can't dwell on each character for too long, especially when the movie goes for nearly 3 hours anyway. Speaking of the length of the movie, I think they could have shortened the wedding scene at the start. I suppose it develops the Godfather character and how important he is but I still think it dragged on for too long. Another thing that annoyed me was the bag of cotton wool that Brando had in his mouth. Sure it gave his Godfather character an edge but I also felt like I needed subtitles sometimes just to understand what he was saying. If it was a real life conversation it might go something like this -
Godfather: I'm gonna make you an offer you can't refuse
Other person: Huh? what did you say?
Godfather: I'm gonna make you an offer you can't refuse
Other person: I'm sorry I couldn't understand you, Can you say it again?
Godfather: I said I'm gonna make you an offer you can't refuse
Other: You're gonna make me an office in Santa Cruz? Huh?

It kind of loses it's impact.

It is actually really hard for me to rate this movie. I knew the storyline because I had read the book. That also gave away a lot that would happen, in particular who would double cross who, and who would get killed and by who. So in a way a lot of the movie was spoiled. The book is one of my all time favourites so the movie was never likely to live up to that. So I have to enjoy the movie for what it was, and for what it was I can't really fault it. As I have stated, I felt it was a little too long, though I didn't find myself looking at the clock while watching it. I guess the movie is as good as it could be. The book, like any book, allows much more character development than the time constraints of a movie. Therefore the rating of the movie is going to be less than the book.

I offer you these ratings -
The Godfather: 7 horse heads