Artistically, this is an amazing filmmaking feat, stop-motion animation done entirely with beads. Somehow in its short six minute runtime, it manages to tell the entire story of animal life on earth. It juxtaposes wonderfully the inherent violence in the food chain, where the strongest survive, to the self-destructive nature of more ‘civilized’ human beings. I’m sure I will be seeking out Ishu Patel’s other Oscar nomination soon.
Oscar Nomination: Best Short Film, Animated
I love Fred Astaire. I love Rita Hayworth. Their dancing together is uniquely breezy compared to all of Astaire’s other partnerships. This story on the other hand is a feeble rehash of The Taming of the Shrew, set in Argentina. For reasons, Hayworth’s younger sisters aren’t allowed to get married until she does, so her father played by Adolphe Menjou invents a secret admirer to warm her ‘ice princess’ demeanor. The costuming choices are questionable, including oddly placed doily-like details on dresses and hats. Though I did discover that ‘fancy dress’ meant costumes. Apologies to Jerome Kern, but many of the songs felt rather shoehorned in, though I did enjoy the role of Xavier Cugat. It’s all generally harmless, but I really hope the other Astaire-Hayworth pairing is better than this one.
Oscar Nominations: Best Sound, Recording; Best Music, Original Song; Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture
My favorite part of this movie was its great intro, following a lone man on his long walk through the twisty halls of a police station. The rest of the film is a passable film noir with quite the convoluted plot though somewhat unique premise. Edmund O’Brien is Frank Bigelow an everyman accountant and notary public who has been poisoned and is determined to use his last few days of life left to figure out who murdered him and why. He also is saddled with the clingiest girlfriend who interrupts his quest to play passive-aggressive mind games with him over the phone.
I have a minor goal to watch all the classic Monster movies. This one is definitely on the low end of the genre. There is no menace to the Wolf Man (his acts of terror are mostly performed hidden behind scenery) and his makeup is on the lamer side. While the acting is pretty good, particularly Claude Rains, the telling of the story itself has a very B movie feeling. Lon Chaney Jr as the titular character is a bit of a stalking creep at the beginning, making the romance elements suspect. There are also indications of people disliking his rich family, but that isn’t fleshed out either. The sets are complete awesomeness though. The eerie forest with the fog rolling through is pure soundstage magic.
I read the novel this miniseries is based on when it first came out, so had enough distance to not completely remember the original work but enough to note the subtle differences between them. In dual roles, Mark Ruffalo is a pair of identical twins living in 1990s Connecticut. When one twin, a sensitive soul who has suffered from mental illness for much of his life, publicly cuts his hand off as a protest to the Gulf War, his brother tries to get him the health care he most desperately needs. The second twin does this while also suffering through his own problems and also delving into family secrets through the courtesy of their Italian grandfather’s unpublished memoir. It’s a dark depressing that miniseries, but also a deep showcase for Ruffalo’s incredible talent. There was also some genius casting in multiple iterations of the twins at younger ages. These actors are further supported by a pretty great cast which includes Juliette Lewis, Melissa Leo, Archie Punjabi, and Rosie O’Donnell.
After watching Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday, I’ve been gradually seeking out Jacques Tati’s filmography. While this isn’t quite equal to the large, chaotic world-building of PlayTime, it still maintains some of the qualities of a Richard Scarry picture book. Employees of the Altra Automotive Co. are trying to get their camper car from Paris to a car show in Amsterdam, facing unending hurdles along the way. Maria Kimberly as the publicity agent is particularly amusing, especially in how she manages her car and cute little dog. I absolutely love the camper car and wish I had one.
I hadn’t meant to watch another Robin Hood film so soon after The Adventures of Robin Hood, but sometimes I am a prisoner to the whims of the library holds system. This isn’t amongst the best Mel Brooks films, but it still has its chuckle-worthy moments. It does feel like a product of its time, more of a simple parody of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves than anything else. The cast is fairly solid. I particularly enjoyed Richard Lewis and Roger Rees playing the baddies.
I’m a sucker for stories, particularly romances, involving senior citizens. Unfortunately like Poms from two years ago, the story here is super light (essentially Mean Girls set in a senior community) and with a different cast wouldn’t be better than any Lifetime or Hallmark movie. Ellen Burstyn as the main character, an older woman who experiences a house fire and is forced to temporarily move to the community, brings quality to the role, as do James Caan, Jane Curtin, Ann-Margret, and Loretta Devine as her neighbors. Christopher Lloyd is also in the film but sadly under-used in his role as a resident experiencing worsening dementia.
This is a rather solid film noir directed by Orson Welles. Set on the Mexican-United States border, it’s a bit convoluted of a tale involving a bomb, a Mexican crime family, and good and bad crime fighters from both sides of the border. For viewers of Citizen Kane, it’d be no surprise that this one is filled to the brim with interesting camera perspectives and angles, though it sometimes sacrifices the story itself. Also taking away from the story a bit is a poorly brown-faced Charlton Heston portraying a newlywed Mexican prosecutor. 
I spent too much time watching this trying to figure out who is the audience for this film. The story of Pepperland being attacked by music-hating Blue Meanies is just weird. Eventually it just worked to sit back and consider it a compilation of bizarrely animated Beatles videos. The colors in the animation are very vibrant and mod-y. I’ll let other people let me know if the experience improves with ‘refreshments’. I imagine the answer is yes. 