| Movie | Rating | Review | Date | Your Rating | Match | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marty - Unrated |
Marty is a bachelor in his mid-30s. His friends and family are concerned that he isn't married. He says he'd like to but has given up and has learned to face the facts that he'll never marry. His mother makes him go out to a bar one night and he meets a girl whose blind date left her mid-date. The two hit it off and have a great night and he says he'll call her tomorrow. His friends and family don't want him to since she's too plain. At the end the viewer is led to believe that they'll end up happily ever after even though they didn't even kiss the only time they ever saw each other (Marty tried but was rejected). This film own four Oscars including best picture and best actor. The film is also the second American film ever to win the Palm d'Or (top prize) at the Cannes Film Festival. Marty and The Lost Weekend are the only two films ever to win the Palm d'Or and Academy Award for Best Picture. Overall, I thought this was decent but not great. This film is notable for being the shortest film ever to win best picture at just 94 minutes in length. 75/100 C |
December 26, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Cavalcade - Unrated |
Cavalcade is an epic film about a family in London. The film starts in 1899 and ends in 1933. It covers some historical events like the Second Boer War, the death of Queen Victoria, the Titanic, and World War 1. This film won a few Oscars including best picture. It was a decent film and had some reasonably interesting characters. There was nothing overly-spectacular about it but at least it was good enough to keep my interest for the duration. 74/100 C |
December 23, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Hamlet - Unrated |
Laurence Olivier's Hamlet is a theatrical version of Shakespeare's play. In this story Prince Hamlet's father, King Hamlet, has died and it turns out he was murdered (by being poisoned in the ear) so Hamlet wants revenge. The film ends with a bunch of people dying. I never enjoyed reading Shakespeare and I didn't enjoy this film. You'd think all the people dying would make it cool, but it wasn't. The method of dying was also sort of strange for most of the people (ear poison, cut to the wrist, cut to the shoulder). For a Shakespeare purist, this film has issues as it left out quite a few things. From a critical standpoint, it won a few Oscars including best picture. Not much else to say. 58/200 F |
December 22, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Gentleman's Agreement - Unrated |
Gentleman's Agreement is a film where Gregory Peck plays a journalist. He's been asked to write a piece about antisemitism. In order to get a good feel for what he's writing, he decides to pretend to be Jewish. Since he's new to New York he thinks this won't be hard to do. There's a love story thrown in for good measure. This film was rather controversial upon its release. Despite that it was Fox's highest-grossing film of the year and won 3 Oscars including best picture. Overall, I thought it was decent. I don't think antisemitism is as prevalent nowadays as the movie depicted although the film's message could be applied to various things today. This is another one of those best picture-winning films that isn't particularly well-known today and I wouldn't really recommend it. 73.5/100 C |
December 17, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Wings - Unrated |
Wings is the first winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture and so far (and will probably forever remain) the only silent film to win the award. This film is about World War 1 and fighter pilots. The two main characters start out as enemies fighting over the same girl but end up the best of friends. Overall, this was a lot better than I was expecting. Parts of it were rather dull (such as the long scene in Paris where one character is fascinated by bubbles) but overall it was pretty good. Some of the effects were top-notch considering this film is from 1927. This isn't the greatest silent film I've seen, but it's one of the better ones. 81.5/100 B- |
December 13, 2009 | N/A | |||
| The Life of Emile Zola - Unrated |
As the title suggests, The Life of Emile Zola is a biopic about the life of Emile Zola. For those that aren't familiar, Zola was a French author. The film focuses mostly on the Dreyfus affair. The Dreyfus affair refers to a Frenchmen named Dreyfus who was found guilty of treason but was actually innocent. This film won 3 Oscars including best picture. The story was sort of interesting as I had no idea who Emile Zola was. The film was not good enough to make me seek more information on Zola and after watching the film I don't really care about him. 74/100 C |
December 12, 2009 | N/A | |||
| A Man for All Seasons - G |
A Man For All Seasons is a period piece about King Henry VIII wanting a divorce. The protagonist in this film is Sir Thomas More who is a guy that refuses to take an oath declaring the king the supreme head of the Church of England. This film won 6 Oscars including best picture. Overall, I found this terrible. The king wants a divorce and he'll of course get it. They keep threatening to try the main character for treason if he doesn't take his oath and he keeps saying go ahead. They finally do try him, he is found guilty, and executed. The film has Orson Welles in it (he did not direct) so I was hoping that would make for a good film, but his role was small and nothing particularly exciting. Avoid this movie at all costs. 50/100 F |
December 11, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Around the World in 80 Days - Unrated |
Around the World in 80 Days is based on a Jules Verne novel of the same name. In this film a British man makes a large wager with a bunch of people that he can travel around the world in 80 days time. The film deals mostly with his journey. At the same time, the protagonist is being chased by a police investigator who thinks he has stolen a large sum of money. The film stars David Niven as the lead and Mexican comedian Cantinflas as his sidekick. Shirley MacLaine joins about midway through and Robert Newton plays the police inspector. In addition to the principle cast, the film has tons of cameos from famous people including Marlene Dietrich, Peter Lorre, Frank Sinatra, George Raft, Buster Keaton, and a whole lot more. In terms of awards, this film won 5 Academy Awards including best picture. Overall, this was an okay film but not one I'd want to see again. There's some good effects and some good moments, but none of that leaves me any desire to see this again. 72/100 C- |
December 10, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Mutiny on the Bounty - Unrated |
Mutiny on the Bounty is one of many adaptations of a novel of the same name. This is based on an actual mutiny aboard a British ship called the Bounty but this film is full of historical inaccuracies due in large part to being based on a novelization of what happened rather than what actually happened. The film stars Charles Laughton as Captain Bligh who is abusive towards his crew. Leading the mutiny is Clark Gable. Both of them, along with Franchot Tone, were nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role. Despite having three nominees, all of them would lose. The film was nominated for several other Oscars and won only Best Picture. This film became the third film to win Best Picture and nothing else a feat which has not been duplicated since. Overall, this was a fairly good film but not particularly great. It's certainly better than the last few best picture winners I've seen and it kept my interest throughout. 75/100 C |
December 9, 2009 | N/A | |||
| How Green Was My Valley - Unrated |
How Green Was My Valley is a film directed by John Ford that won best picture. Today this film is most-remembered for being the film that won best picture instead of Citizen Kane and The Maltese Falcon, both of which are amongst my 5 favorite films of all-time. This film is about a Welsh family in the early 1900s most of whom are coal miners. Overall, I found this film incredibly boring. Somehow it beat two of the best films ever to win the Academy Award for best picture. It also won some other Oscars but I don't feel like writing anything else about this film. 64/100 D |
December 8, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Grand Hotel - Unrated |
Grand Hotel is a best picture-winning drama film. This film includes quite an ensemble cast including Greta Garbow, John and Lionel Barrymore, and Joan Crawford. The film deals with a bunch of people staying at an opulent hotel in Berlin. There's a poor guy about to die so he's spending money frivolously, a ballet dancer, and some other people. The film involves several romances and a murder as well. Despite a host of big-name actors, none of the actors in this film received Academy Award nominations. In fact, other than the best picture nomination which it did win, this film did not receive a single other Academy Award nomination a feat which has never been duplicated by a best picture winner. Overall, I found this to be a decent film but nothing great. There was a musical score throughout the film which was rather irritating because this wasn't a silent film. 71/100 C- |
December 6, 2009 | N/A | |||
| From Here to Eternity - Unrated |
From Here to Eternity is a best picture-winning film based on a novel by the same name. In the film there's a guy in the army played by Montgomery Clift who used to be a good boxer but won't box in the army for reasons revealed later. Everyone is mean to him because of that. There's some other people that play important roles and it all leads up to the attack on Pearl Harbor at the end of the film. This film won 8 Oscars including best picture. Personally, I didn't like this at all. I watched this with another person and they also thought it was ridiculously boring so it's not just me. I was expecting to like this going in, but just couldn't find myself interested in the characters. The ending was better, but that doesn't make up for everything else. 65/100 D |
December 5, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Cimarron - Unrated |
Cimarron is an epic western film that won best picture. This film is about a man and his wife over a 40 year period or so. They abandon their home and move out west to Oklahoma which at the time was an unorganized territory. They live there and watch it become a state and have a bunch of stuff happen until the film ends in 1929. Over the course of the film, the husband leaves his family for many years at a time several times. At the time, this film was very expensive to make costing RKO Pictures over $1.5 million. This investment didn't really pay off as people were too poor due to the Depression. Critically, this film did very well and was nominated for a then-record six Academy Awards winning three. Overall, I thought this was a decent film but certainly not one of my favorites. The film is remembered today for being rather racist, but given the age of the film that is somewhat understandable. This certainly isn't the worst best picture winner, but it's far from the best. 73/100 C- |
December 2, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Going My Way - Unrated |
Going My Way is a musical starring Bing Crosby. In the film, he plays a priest who comes to work at a church where the current priest has been there for 45 years. The church is in financial trouble and the bishop hopes a young priest like Crosby might be able to fix it. Overall, I didn't like this for several reasons. First, it was a musical and I've never seen a musical I liked. Second, the characters and plot didn't really interest me. At least musicals like Singin' in the Rain had good plots and turn into great films if you alter them slightly and remove the musical numbers (see Sunset Boulevard which is almost a music-free version of Singin' in the Rain). This wasn't as bad as I was expecting, but I certainly don't ever plan on watching it again. It won Best Picture and a bunch of other Oscars which I don't agree with given that the vastly superior Double Indemnity was released the same year. 71/100 C- |
December 1, 2009 | N/A | |||
| You Can't Take It with You - Unrated |
Frank Capra's You Can't Take It With You is a best picture-winning screwball comedy. In this film, the son of a wealthy banker wants to marry a girl who has a very strange family. The banker's family doesn't approve and the film deals with everyone trying to get along. Stars in this film include James Stewart, Lionel Barrymore, and Jean Arthur. Considering the strong cast and the fact Capra was the director, I assumed I would enjoy this film. In actuality, I found this film very strange and most of the characters quite irritating. I didn't care about what was going on and you knew how it would end right from the start as that's how these kind of movies always end. After watching this film I can't believe it won best picture. Of the other nominees, I've seen two - The Adventures of Robin Hood which is a film I found more enjoyable but doesn't really seem best picture worthy either and Jean Renoir's Grand Illusion which is one of the greatest films ever made. No foreign language film has ever won best picture even today so it's no surprise it didn't win either. 68/100 D+ |
November 30, 2009 | N/A | |||
| The Great Ziegfeld - Unrated |
The Great Ziegfeld is a somewhat autobiographical film about Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. who was a real Broadway producer. The film chronicles his life as an early producer until his death. The film isn't particularly accurate as to how things actually went, but I'm not sure it was supposed to. This film is considered a musical, but it didn't really have all that much music for a musical, especially in the first half. This film won the Oscar for best picture and that was the only reason I watched it. Luise Rainer (who is still alive at age 99 and has the distinction of the oldest living Oscar winner and the earliest living Oscar winner) was awarded a best actress Oscar. I'm sort of surprised by this as she had virtually no role in the last hour or so of this film. The film won a third Oscar for best dance direction, an Oscar that was awarded only three times. Overall, this film was tolerable but nothing particularly special. Other than winning an Academy Award for best picture, this film is not particularly well-known today. I didn't mind the first half but all the musical numbers during the Broadway shows in the second half got old fast. The three hour run time didn't help much either. 60/100 D- |
November 29, 2009 | N/A | |||
| The Broadway Melody - Unrated |
This film was the second film ever to win the Oscar for best picture. It is the first non-silent film to do so. This film was made during the transition from silent to talking pictures which was a time period with a lot of chaos and some of the worst films ever made. This film is about some sisters who are part of a show on Broadway and a guy that goes from liking one to the other. Overall, this film is absolutely terrible. Everything about it is weak, cliché-ridden, and overly melodramatic. This film is often considered the worst film ever to win best picture. The only reason it won is because there were no decent films made that year. This film did not win a single Oscar other than best picture, a feat which has been done just two other times (most recently in 1935). There isn't much else to say about this film. Part of it was shot in two strip technicolor but the technicolor sequence is lost so all of it is in black and white. The only reason anyone should watch this is if they insist on seeing every best picture winner. Otherwise, there is nothing to offer. 34.5/100 F |
November 28, 2009 | N/A | |||
| An American in Paris - Unrated |
This is a best picture-winning musical. This is about an American living in Paris. He's an artist and some rich lady wants to help him out. She is also romantically interested in him. He is interested in some other girl who is going to marry some guy she doesn't love because he did some favors for her. He has no idea that she isn't interested. I hate musicals so it's no surprise I hated this film. Some musicals are tolerable, but this was terrible. The musical numbers weren't particularly memorable and I already can't think of a single song from this movie. The big finale at the end drug on for like 20 minutes and seemed to accomplish nothing. This was a terrible way to end the film in my estimation. Overall, this was awful. I don't see what it accomplishes or how it won best picture, but it did. It's not like there was a dearth of quality cinema in 1951. This film somehow won 6 Oscars even though vastly superior films like A Streetcar Named Desire, The African Queen, A Place in the Sun, and Strangers On A Train were in the running for Oscars that year. Not only was this film terribly boring, but the characters weren't the least bit interesting. Nobody in this film was nominated for an acting Oscar. A Streetcar Named Desire had actors nominated in all 4 acting categories winning in 3 of them (Marlon Brando lost to Humphrey Bogart). I can't believe this film won best picture. This is by far the least-deserving winner of the best picture Oscar that I have seen. 52.5/100 F |
November 25, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Chariots of Fire - PG |
Chariots of Fire is a movie about 2 guys that are runners and compete in the 1924 Olympics. One is Jewish and the other a devout Christian. There's some more to this, but it's rather uninteresting and I don't feel like taking the time to talk about it. The only reason I watched this film is because it somehow won the Oscar for best picture. It also won 3 other Oscars. Of the best picture-winning films I have seen I would say this is by far the worst. 45/100 F |
November 24, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Annie Hall - PG |
Woody Allen's Annie Hall is a story about the relationship between Allen's character and a woman named Annie Hall played by Diane Keaton. The story isn't told in a linear sequence and kind of goes all over the place. I think that particular style works pretty well for this film as it was quite interesting. This film won several Academy Awards including best picture, best actress for Diane Keaton, best director, and best writing. In addition to a storytelling mode that's all over the place, the film is famous for its long takes and breaking of the fourth wall. I could go into a bunch of other details about various aspects of this film, but that's not really necessary. Personally, I thought this was a great film and it's probably the best film I've reviewed from the 1970s. I'm not normally a huge fan of comedies, but I can certainly make an exception for this one. 91/100 A- |
November 24, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Gandhi - PG |
The 1982 film Gandhi is a biographical film about the life of Gandhi. The film begins with his assassination and then goes back to an even in South Africa. Most of the film deals with Gandhi's attempt to bring independence to India. Overall, this film reminded me of The Last Emperor which was another multiple Academy Award winning biopic. Like that film, I didn't particularly care for this film as I generally do not care for biographical films (Lawrence of Arabia being a notable exception). While I did not care for this film, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences did, awarding this film eight Oscars including best picture, best actor (Ben Kingsley), and best director. I suppose Kingsley's Oscar was well-deserved giving how demanding his role was and the artistic Oscars are also worthy given the artistic nature of this film. The academy tends to award films like this the best picture Oscar so I'm not sure I can even complain about that. 68/100 D+ |
November 23, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Shakespeare in Love - R |
Shakespeare in Love is a period piece. The film is about William Shakespeare as he is writing his play Romeo and Juliet. In this film, which is not based on reality, his own life seems to echo what he writes for his play. A few of the characters are based on actual people and a few scenes are based in reality, but most of this film is completely made up. Playing William Shakespeare is Joseph Fiennes. His love interest is played by Gwyneth Paltrow. This film also has Judi Dench, Geoffrey Rush, and a few others in supporting roles. In terms of awards, this film did quite well winning seven Academy Awards including best picture. This film didn't really seem like a best picture type of film to me, so I'm surprised it won. Other wins include a best actress award for Paltrow which seemed at least reasonable. Dench won for best supporting actress but I question this one as well as she barely had any role whatsoever in this film. The film also won for best costume design which seems pretty justified given the fancy costumes a film like this requires. Overall, this wasn't one of my favorites but it was certainly better than I was expecting as this type of film generally doesn't interest me. It was good enough to hold my attention and that's about as much as I could have hoped for going in. 74/100 C |
November 23, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Kramer vs. Kramer - PG |
Dustin Hoffman plays a workaholic in the advertising industry. He finally lands a big account and goes home to tell his wife who tells him she's leaving him and their son. Over the next 18 months, Hoffman becomes a pretty good father and the mother is nowhere to be seen until one day she returns and decides she wants custody of their son. The film stars Dustin Hoffman as the father. For his performance, Hoffman won an Academy Award for best actor in a leading role. The mother is played by Meryl Streep who won an Oscar for best supporting actress. The son is played by Justin Henry. While he did not win an Oscar for best supporting actor, Henry remains the youngest person ever to be nominated for an Academy Award. This film was rather well received. In addition to the aforementioned awards, the film won Academy Awards for best picture, best director, and best adapted screenplay. Personally, I found this film rather enjoyable. It is one of the earlier films to challenge the notions that a mother is automatically a better parent than a father. 88/100 B+ |
November 22, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Viridiana - R |
Luis Buñel's Viridiana is about a nun of the same name. At the beginning of the film a different nun tells her that her uncle and only relative is dying and she should visit him. The uncle is in love with her and tries to seduce her saying she looks like his dead wife. He convinces her he raped her hoping she won't return to the covenant but this doesn't work and he tells her that was just a lie. She leaves quite furious. The uncle hangs himself afterwords and she returns to his house to care for things. There, she decides to no longer be a nun and instead take in a bunch of homeless people. At the same time her uncle's illegitimate son moves in. The homeless people take advantage of their good deeds. Although Franco invited Buñel to return to Spain to make this film, he was unhappy with the result and it was banned in Spain for 16 years. This film was also condemned by the Catholic church who called it blasphemous. Despite this, the film received mostly positive reviews and was voted the top film at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival. Buñel is generally regarded as the greatest Spanish language director and this is his most well-regarded film. This film is generally considered the greatest Spanish language film ever made. I speak Spanish and this is the first Spanish film I've ever watched. I must say I was rather disappointed. The story was rather strange and I had very little interest in the characters. I wouldn't recommend this although I wouldn't say it's controversial. 59/100 D+ |
November 20, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Broken Blossoms - Unrated |
D.W. Griffith's silent film Broken Blossoms is the story of a young girl whose father abuses her. After being beaten nearly to death by her drunken father, she is rescued by a Chinese man and stays with him for a while. The two sort of fall in love and this makes her father quite angry. That's pretty much all there is to this story. In 1919 it would have been illegal for these two to be married so this film was rather controversial in that it depicted an interracial romance. There was no actual kissing and the actor playing the Chinese man wasn't Asian at all, but it was still controversial nonetheless. This film is is nowhere near as extravagant as Griffith's The Birth of a Nation and instead creates a more intimate film shot entirely in studio. This film is also rather liberal in depiction of interracial romance and portrays the Chinese character as a rather moral individual which is a stark contrast to The Birth of a Nation. While this film was probably quite controversial in its time and rather important, today it seems terribly dated. This is a typical problem with many silent films. While silent comedies tend to age rather well, silent melodramas such as this one can oftentimes be quite difficult for a modern audience to watch. As I could not put myself into a 1919 mindset while watching this film, I didn't care for it at all. 55/100 F |
November 19, 2009 | N/A |
219 ratings
170 reviews
