Recommendations: Edgar

"Here, let me give you one of my cards. Now if you should want to call me, use this number. This other one is the old number."


Director: Henry Koster
Starring: James Stewart, Josephine Hull, Peggy Dow, Charles Drake
Running time: 104 minutes
Country: USA


I was expecting a funny, fun, heartwarming and emotional classic and that is exactly what I got! Harvey was a pleasure to me because it is filled with pure beauty; mostly based on love and friendship. Despite how beautiful it is, it is a really powerful film as far as drama and believability is concerned. I would call Harvey a solid recommendation for a family. I wouldn't call Harvey a fantasy film because the film makes it seem like imaginary friends aren't possible and its one of the few times that sort of thing has happened. However, people who do have imaginary friends is true. It is like a film about a fantasy that is possible.


Harvey is another film where James Stewart delivers a legendary performance. When you see Elwood with Harvey, characters within the film think he is an absolute psycho but really he is a very kind, polite and respectful man. The way Harvey was filmed expressed that feeling about the character. I love James Stewart in heartwarming films as well as tense ones which is why I find him to be one of the most perfect actors that ever lived. He was a real charmer in this one like he was in It's A Wonderful Life. Josephine Hull's performance as Veta Louise Simmons was phenomenal! She was everything: emotional, crazy, funny and kind. Her performance is one of the best supporting actress performances ever!


Henry Koster has caught my attention now after seeing Harvey. I now want to see what more masterpieces he has done. Despite how disturbing the film sounded by reading the plot, Koster makes this film work by making it heartwarming and funny. After only seeing Harvey, I find Henry Koster an extremely underrated director.


Harvey is one of the most beautiful classics that I have ever seen. It is another ultimate film from James Stewart. Harvey is one of the best films of the 1950s as well as of all time. It is filled with love and friendship which is what I love the most about it. Classic!

"Accept me as I am. Only then can we discover each other."


Director: Federico Fellini
Starring: Marcello Mastroianni, Claudia Cardinale, Anouk Aimée, Sandra Milo
Running time: 138 minutes
Country: USA


Wow!! This is an absolutely fantastic masterpiece from such a legendary director. 8 ½ is one of the weirdest films ever but I have seen weirder ones though. 8 ½ is a beautifully filmed story with very mixed feelings. It is a very dark story that is even psychological on occasions especially of what Guido goes into with the visions and fantasies he has. It is like a dark film-noir film but it isn't one though. I really enjoyed this film mostly because of its filming and the way it was written and produced. I got a bit confused at times but I did really enjoy it.

Marcello Mastrianni's performance as Guido was really good. Guido is suffering from "director's block". I thought to myself when I was watching it: "what the hell?" I read on another site that it is a phenomenon involving temporary loss of ability to begin or continue writing, usually due to lack of inspiration or creativity. Guido is a pretty psychological character who can be quite dangerous. The way Guido wants to make his films are like how Fellini directs this own.

I loved Fellini's approach to this film because it is a film that is inside his imagination. He uses a different director's name instead of his own name. Fellini's 8 ½ is Burton's Edward Scissorhands. Federico Fellini is a genius of creating films of art. I think this is the one Fellini film that shows this in the best way. The dialogue regarding filmmaking and the way Guido wants to make the films and also of the dark cinematography reminds me a lot of Tim Burton's Ed Wood.

This is the second Federico Fellini film that I have watched. It is an absolute masterpiece that I did underestimate at the start because of its complex dialogue. I will be watching more Fellini films in the future and it will be a tough challenge for any other to beat 8 ½. La Dolce Vita, Amarcord and Le Notti Di Cabiria are ones that could be. This is probably one of the best films that I've seen with the best art within. 8 ½ is one of the best films of the 1960s and is one of the finest cinematic achievements in the history of cinema.

"Just changing the name on the door."


Director: Howard Hawks
Starring: Paul Muni, Ann Dvorak, Karen Morley, Osgood Perkins
Running time: 93 minutes
Country: USA


Scarface is one of the very early classics that is underrated and not fully appreciated as much as the remake is. The 1930s version of Scarface is different compared to the 1983 remake. The stories were both different but the remake adaptation is cooler and more enjoyable. There were some moments where there was some similarity especially the way Tony treats his sister.

Paul Muni was good as Tony Camonte. He was a real nasty piece of work and a very vicious gangster. The character is based on real-life gangster Al Capone. He was a badass but not as bad as Tony Montana was in the remake. I admit one thing that Paul Muni's portrayal is extremely underrated as well as the whole film.

It is weird because this adaptation is only 1 hour 30 minutes long but remake is 2 hours 50 minutes and that didn't mess up or flaw once. Howard Hawks is a director that I haven't seen any work from apart from this one now. After seeing his filmography, he has done some classics but I haven't seen most of them.

Scarface is a very enjoyable classic that is underrated. I think it's because of when it was made and also because most people prefer the remake. Unfortunately, I prefer the remake starring Al Pacino because that is a classic nowadays. I am going to watch more Howard Hawks classics now. Scarface is probably the best and most famous classic gangster film before The Godfather was released which makes it the most famous gangster film of the 1930s. It is a great film-noir film too that I enjoyed. A very enjoyable film that I might watch again in the future.

"In Heaven, everything is fine. In Heaven, everything is fine. You've got your good things. And I've got mine."


Director: David Lynch
Starring: Jack Nance, Charlotte Stewart, Allen Joseph, Jeanne Bates
Running time: 89 minutes
Country: USA


Eraserhead is now the single most bizarre film that I have ever seen. Eraserhead has dethroned The Fountain from that spot. It is a film that is filled with a very complex story that is very hard to follow. It is one of those films that some people probably wouldn't like very much because of that. There are people who do appreciate this film because of the art of the film and the way it is filmed as well. I thought it was filmed really well in a very extraordinary way but I just couldn't follow this film at all. Eraserhead is probably the most unrealistic film I've ever watched because of the fantasy/horror/sci-fi story regarding a mutant baby. It is very slow and eerie in a lot of angles but is too bizarre. If the story was a bit easier to understand then I would have liked it more.

Jack Nance was cool as Henry Spencer. It is like all of the events that occur in the film are in his mind. Spencer's hair within the film is the best feature he could have had and that David Lynch could have thought of as well. This film is very well thought of inside Lynch's imagination. Lynch's Eraserhead is like Burton's Edward Scissorhands apart from that Eraserhead is a sci-fi horror film whereas Edward Scissorhands isn't. I admire directors who come up with a story out of their mind and express it in a film.

Eraserhead is a film that I thought was way too complex for my liking. It is beautifully filmed with fantastic cinematography, art direction and visual effects but as I said I couldn't get the hang of the story and I guess I just felt really loose with it because I didn't know what to expect from this. Out of the Lynch films that I have seen I prefered The Elephant Man, Mulholland Drive and Blue Velvet over this one a lot more. They are all different stories but all are filmed in a typical Lynch sort of way. I think if I watch again in the future I might like it more.

"She's 17. I'm 42 and she's 17. I'm older than her father, can you believe that? I'm dating a girl, wherein, I can beat up her father."


Director: Woody Allen
Starring: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Michael Murphy, Mariel Hemingway
Running time: 96 minutes
Country: USA


This is an absolutely brilliant film! I was surprised that I liked this more than Annie Hall. I think the reason I did was because it was funnier and more magical. The way Manhattan was in the 1970s and the way the city was filmed was absolutely incredible. It was so incredible that it really looked magical. I think the reason for that was because it was filmed in black-and-white because if it was in colour it would have just looked like ordinary New York City. Manhattan is a very light hearted film that I think is definitely one of the best romantic comedies of all time.


Seeing Woody Allen and Diane Keaton as the two leading roles again in a romantic comedy makes it look like some sort of sequel to Annie Hall but it isn't like it at all because the plot is totally different and so are all of the characters. Manhattan is a darker film than Annie Hall but more magical when it comes to its filming. I think Manhattan is Woody Allen's only black-and-white film and I think that he should have made some more black-and-white films because Manhattan proved that he can do it. Woody Allen is really good at playing a character with a big heart but can be a bit of a dorky idiot which he is in both Manhattan and Annie Hall. Diane Keaton is an absolutely brilliant actress anyway but her performance in Manhattan made her even better than she already was. Meryl Streep makes a short supporting appearance as Isaac's ex-wife Jill Davis who has turned lesbian and left him for a woman.


Allen has been the best director of romantic-comedies and it is as simple as that. He is an absolutely astonishing filmmaker with a talent for making films that involve love and comedy. Manhattan is a really good black-and-white romantic comedies that deserves to be one of the best of that genre.