* * * * (Out of * * * *)
1. Gun Crazy (1949)
2. Cry of the Hunted (1953)
3. The Halliday Brand (1957)
4. The Big Combo (1955)
5. Terror in a Texas Town (1958)
6. So Dark the Night (1946)
7. My Name Is Julia Ross (1945)
8. The Undercover Man (1949)
(I saw it a long time ago on TCM)
* * * 1/2 (Out of * * * *)
1. A Lady Without Passport (1950)
2. Retreat, Hell! (1952)
3. A Lawless Street (1955)
4. Desperate Search (1952)
5. 7th Cavalry (1956)
(I saw it on an old VHS Tape)
* * * * (Out of * * * *)
1. The Nutty Professor (1963)
(not the 1996 version)
2. The Ladies Man (1961)
(No relation to the 2000 film)
3. The Bellboy (1960)
4. The Patsy (1964)
5. The Errand Boy (1961)
6. The Family Jewels (1965)
* * * 1/2 (Out of * * * *)
1. Cracking Up (1983)
2. Hardly Working (1980)
(I saw it on an old VHS Tape)
* * * * (Out of * * * *)
1. Alice’s Restaurant (1969)
2. Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
3. Night Moves (1975)
4. Mickey One (1965)
5. Four Friends (1981)
6. The Left Handed Gun (1958)
7. The Missouri Breaks (1976)
8. Little Big Man (1970)
9. Penn & Teller Get Killed (1989)
* * * 1/2 (Out of * * * *)
1. Target (1985)
This review was not written by me, it was written by my good friend Yaseen Fawzi. I wanted to share some of his reviews by posting them on my website. All credit goes to him, not me. He writes a lot of great reviews and this is yet another one 🙂 I am aware that Sully came out in early September (this is now October) and even though I would have given Sully * * * * out of * * * * stars, I still feel that Yaseen has wrote a great review. Here is Yaseen’s review of Sully below:
Sully
A Review
by
Guest
Reviewer
Yaseen Fawzi
September 17, 2016
Clint Eastwood’s new film Sully centers on Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, the pilot of the US Airways Flight 1549 that landed safely in the Hudson River with all 155 people on board surviving in early 2009. Sully is now declared a national hero, but as soon as he experiences the aftermath of this incident and tries to rationalize what has just happened, he faces intense questioning from both the NTSB and the media. The NTSB believes that it would have been possible for the plane to land at the LaGuardia airport, since one of the engines was still working sufficiently. As Sully nears the inevitable hearings, he soon realizes he has to face his own inner struggles in order to realize the truth.
The film focuses heavily on Sully as he tries to make sense about the ensuing chaos surrounding him, his fellow pilots, and his career. Just as he says in one sequence, he doesn’t actually feel like a hero, and in many sequences throughout, Sully feels like he has been a witness to a crime scene, and so does the audience. The direction, cinematography, and editing all have the naturalistic feel of a documentary, in the sense that it feels more and more like you are witnessing Sully as he undergoes his NTSB hearings and when he is in self-doubt. It is also well-executed in cutting back and forth between the flight and the events thereafter, as well as being cleverly made to subvert the overall perspective being experienced by the viewer. This being Eastwood’s first movie filmed on IMAX cameras, it really adds to the overall atmosphere and intense sense of panic and high anxiety that occurs during the fateful flight. In just 96 minutes, Eastwood is able to cover the most important aspects from before and after the day of Flight 1549. However, he is also able to pull back and focus heavily on a character, real or fictional, and their thought process, like many of the Golden Age directors. He and screenwriter Todd Komarnicki spend just as much time on the passengers, co-pilots, and other civilians as they do on Sully himself, which makes for an effective storytelling balance.
Tom Hanks’ performance as Sully is elevated to the point that you are not watching Hanks acting, but rather, that he is Sully. Capturing every little nuance and mannerism of Sully, Hanks portrays him as somebody mostly unsure about what is happening around him, which is part of his ability to follow his everyman persona. Aaron Eckhart brings a subtle dose of humor as Sully’s co-pilot Mike Ellis, while Laura Linney is given a more subdued but equally as important role as Sully’s wife Lorraine. On the other hand, the actors portraying the passengers range from average to bland in their performances.
Sully is another clear candidate for the shelf of Clint Eastwood’s best films, in addition to featuring one of Tom Hanks’ best performances as an uncompromising modern-day hero.
* * * 1/2 (Out of * * * *) “Ya-stars”
* * * * (Out of * * * *)
1. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945)
2. Gentleman’s Agreement (1947)
3. Pinky (1949)
4. On the Waterfront (1954)
5. Splendor in the Grass (1961)
6. The Last Tycoon (1976)
7. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
8. East of Eden (1955)
* * * 1/2 (Out of * * * *)
1. Wild River (1960)
2. Baby Doll (1956)
3. Boomerang (1947)
(No relation to the 1992 Eddie Murphy comedy of the same name)
4. A Face in the Crowd (1957)
5. Panic in the Streets (1950)
6. Viva Zapata! (1952)
* * * * (Out of * * * *)
1. Gentlemen Broncos (2009)
2. Nacho Libre (2006)
3. Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
4. Don Verdean (2015)
* * * * (Out of * * * *)
1. Dark Victory (1939)
2. Grand Hotel (1932)
3. Love (1927)
4. Nightmare Alley (1947)
* * * 1/2 (Out of * * * *)
1. That Certain Woman (1937)
2. The Great Lie (1941)
3. The Dawn Patrol (1938)
* * * * (Out of * * * *)
1. Brute Force (1947)
2. Uptight (1968)
3. Rififi (1955)
4. Thieves Highway (1949)
5. Night and the City (1950) (Not the 1992 version)
6. The Naked City (1948)
* * * 1/2 (Out of * * * *)
1. Topkapi (1964)
2. Never on Sunday (1960)
This review was not written by me, it was written by my good friend Yaseen Fawzi. I wanted to share some of his reviews by posting them on my website. All credit goes to him, not me. I think he is a great reviewer 🙂 I know this version of Pete’s Dragon was released back in August (it is now September), but so what. 🙂 Here is Yaseen’s review of Pete’s Dragon below.
Pete’s Dragon 2016 version
A Review
by
Guest
Reviewer
Yaseen Fawzi
August 17, 2016
Pete’s Dragon is the second Disney live-action remake released this year, the first one being The Jungle Book. Based on the 1977 film of the same name, it tells the story of an orphaned boy named Pete and his best friend, a dragon named Elliot. One day, a logging crew from the town of Millhaven discover Pete and he is soon taken into custody by park ranger Grace Meachem. Pete makes friends with Grace, her husband Jack, and their daughter Natalie. However, Jack’s brother Gavin soon hears about Elliot, believing him to be a ferocious monster, and gathers a hunting party to track the creature down. The stakes are raised when Pete and his new friends have to prove the townspeople wrong in their assumptions about Elliot before it is too late.
Director David Lowery handles the material with a more delicate touch and greater degree of subtlety than the original ’77 version. Gone is the emphasis on madcap hijinks and in its place comes a quaint tale with a greater sense of danger as Pete and Elliot are taken out of the forest. The film firmly establishes Elliot as being the only real connection for Pete after his parents’ deaths, along with a visual motif of a picture book Pete carries around as a memento. Much of the “Pete’s Dragon” remake also calls to one’s mind such films as The Neverending Story and The Black Stallion, both of which were made at a time when live-action family films put more focus on story and character development than obnoxious humor and flash-in-the-pan trends. There are still a few doses of humor thrown in, but they are not as in-your-face this time around. Overall, the remake follows enough of a different structure from its earlier counterpart that it is one of those few that actually work as a standalone film as well.
The effects on Elliot by Weta Digital actually make him look much more lifelike here than in the cutout-like pencil animation effects of the original, especially on his detailed fur, camouflage, and fire breathing, to the point that one gradually starts to see him as a natural part of the scenery. Most of the human characters, especially the Millhaven townspeople, also seem better developed, with more three-dimensional personalities being established, as opposed to the cast comprising mostly of bumbling coots, like in the 1977 film. Setting a majority of the film in the forest (with the locations being filmed in New Zealand) gives it a greater scope that the original didn’t have, which adds to its stronger appeal. With no musical numbers in sight, the score by newcomer Daniel Hart is left to further enhance the heartwarming character moments between Pete, Elliot, and their adoptive family, as well as the rousing action.
In terms of performances, the young leads, Oakes Fegley as the feral Pete and Oona Laurence as Natalie, achieve that delicate aspect of innocence in great child performances without overacting or coming across as annoying. Bryce Dallas Howard adds a fine touch of motherly affection to the character of Grace. Robert Redford portrays Grace’s father with a great deal of warmhearted honesty and nuance. Wes Bentley and Karl Urban play the brothers Jack and Gavin as opposite personalities, Jack being very levelheaded while Gavin is more paranoid. All of these actors add in the necessary nuances to develop believable personas for their characters.
Like the Jungle Book remake from Disney earlier this year, Pete’s Dragon is one of those rarest of birds: a remake on par with (or in this case, better than) the original.
* * * * (Out of * * * *) “Ya-stars”
This review was not written by me, it was written by my friend Yaseen Fawzi and I thought I would share what he wrote by posting his review of Steven Spielberg’s film version of The BFG here on my site. I know it came out back in July, but he has written some reviews of films that he has seen and I thought I would post them on here 🙂
The BFG
A Review
By
Guest Writer
Yaseen Fawzi
July 7, 2016
Steven Spielberg’s newest, highly-anticipated film. The BFG is based on the classic children’s story of the same name by Roald Dahl. When the young orphan Sophie is whisked away by a mysterious being, she ends up meeting that being known as the BFG (Big Friendly Giant). However, beneath the BFG’s intimidating presence is a kind and gentle figure who is an outcast, because he does not want to eat children. Unfortunately, this grabs the attention of the more fearsome flesh-eating giants, including Fleshlumpeater and Bloodbottler. Sophie and the BFG soon enlist the help of the Queen to vanquish the flesh-eating giants once and for all.
The film starts recent Oscar winner Mark Rylance in the title role and newcomer Ruby Barnhill in her film debut as Sophie. In the roles of Fleshlumpeater and Bloodbottler are popular New Zealand musician Jemaine Clement and comedian Bill Hader. Supporting roles include Penelope Wilton as the Queen, along with Rebecca Hall and Rafe Spall. Out of all the actors in this small cast, the stand-out performance belongs to Rylance, who goes beyond limits in his mo-cap performance as the BFG to give the character a tender soul filled with childlike innocence. For her first major role, Barnhill delivers a stunningly spot-on performance as Sophie. Clement and the other flesh-giant cast members, also acting in motion capture, play their roles like those of large bullies, taunting and humiliating the BFG.
The script, as written by the late Melissa Mathison (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial), to whom the film is dedicated, captures the innocence and sense of wonder prominent in many of Spielberg’s films while also retaining Dahl’s quirky charm and wordplay. This includes such fictional terms as snozzcumber, fizzwiggler, and frobscottle, the last of which refers to a special kind of drink in which its air bubbles go down rather than up and give off a special kind of fart. At the heart of the film is the budding friendship between the BFG and Sophie, which gives the film an element of minimalism, since they are the primary characters throughout a majority of its length. Spielberg is one the few directors who still knows how to balance special effects with effective storytelling. Another commendable trait that is ever so rare nowadays is how the film, particularly during the beginning, jumps straight into its plot points without the need for expository dialogue or endless padding. The flesh-eating giants are especially fearsome in their stature, towering over even the BFG, which further exemplifies how much of a loner he really is. Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg’s fantastical production design is most evident in such locations as Dream Country (which is akin to Aurora Borealis located near a tree and magical pond), the nightly ghost-town streets of London, and the BFG’s home, with an interior and objects extremely large from a human’s perspective, but small enough for him. The cinematography by Janusz Kaminski has that fine, delicate balance between shadow and light, and adds a greater depth of field that is the BFG’s huge environment. John Williams’ musical score is just as whimsical and orchestrally endearing as that of E.T.
The BFG is quite a quirky candidate in Spielberg’s line-up, but he ultimately respects Dahl’s classic story while also adding a great deal of cinematic flair to it.
* * * 1/2 (Out of * * * *) “Ya-stars”
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