Moving Pictures – Page 22 – Films I Have Watched

Posted on 2022-07-02 | No Comments |

A Song to Remember (1945)

The life of Frédéric Chopin is fictionalized in this account that features Cornel Wilde in the role of the well known composer. The film was less dry than I had anticipated touching on Chopin’s patriotic revolutionism in his early years while under the tutelage of Paul Muni’s Józef Antoni Franciszek Elsner to his later success and relationship with Merle Oberon’s George Sand. Whether accurate to the real woman, it is interesting to see Oberon play such a strong-willed, powerful villainous character. The film uses rich colors in set and costumes to convey the time period and complement the music.

Oscar Nominations: Best Actor in a Leading Role; Best Writing, Original Story; Best Cinematography, Color; Best Sound, Recording; Best Film Editing; Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture

Posted on 2022-07-02 | No Comments |

Peebles (2013)

Ignoring his live-in girlfriend Kerry Washington’s reluctance to introduce him to her family, Craig Robinson follows her to her family’s annual gathering in Sag Harbor. Relying on mostly cheap jokes, it comes across as a milder version of Meet the Parents. Its entertainment value rests mostly in the appeal and interactions of its cast. Luckily, supporting the leads is a talented cast that includes S. Epatha Merkerson and David Alan Grier as Washington’s parents and Diahann Carroll and Melvin Van Peeples as her grandparents.

Posted on 2022-07-01 | No Comments |

Saratoga Trunk (1945)

Years after she and her mother were banished to Paris by her father’s family, Ingrid Bergman arrives in New Orleans, accompanied by her maid Flora Robson and servant Jerry Austin, where she plots revenge schemes sometimes with the assistance of Texan Gary Cooper, whose motives occasionally align. It’s a relatively entertaining work held down by some unfortunate casting choices. Cooper is adequate in his role, but Bergman is as a rogue is extremely against type. Made up with blackface and an extremely heavy brow, Robson is supposed to pass as a Haitian woman when there were actresses of color at the time who could have easily played the part. It’s nice seeing a little person in a role that isn’t as a freak or circus performer, but Austin is still often used in the film for comedic effect based on his stature.

Oscar Nomination: Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Posted on 2022-07-01 | No Comments |

Overture to the Merry Wives of Windsor (1953)

Johnny Green, who also produced the short, conducts the MGM orchestra in performing the titular musical composition. Not quite as creatively filmed as the Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra’s Bolero , I appreciate that it gives the behind the scenes artists a moment to shine. Filmed in my beloved Cinemascope, the process allows the entire orchestra to be captured while also accentuating the brightly colored set.

Oscar Win: Best Short Subject, One-reel

Posted on 2022-07-01 | No Comments |

Children of Heaven (1997)

Amir Farrokh Hashemian accidentally loses his sister’s shoes, so the two children concoct a plan to share the one pair they still have between them until they can figure a way to replace the missing set. It’s a simple story that perfectly captures the daily life of these children, aware of the issues of the adults around them but more worried about their own concerns. The acting of the children is believably natural and their poor Tehran neighborhood offers a fully realized setting and is beautifully shown.

Oscar Nomination: Best Foreign Language Film

Posted on 2022-06-30 | No Comments |

Somewhere in Time (1980)

On the opening night of his first play, Christopher Reeve is visited by an elderly lady who used to be a famous stage actress in the early 1900s. Further investigation leads him to believe he met her during that earlier time period and endeavors to learn how to get back there to meet her again. This gentle romance gracefully balances the love aspects with a simple, but consistent version of time travel. Reeve’s natural charisma is well met with Jane Seymour as his love interest and Christopher Plummer as her agent who tries to get in the way.

Oscar Nomination: Best Costume Design

Posted on 2022-06-29 | No Comments |

The Picture of Dorian Grey (1945)

Encouraged by the random musings of George Sanders, beautiful Hurd Hatfield wishes that his newly painted portrait could take on the aspects of aging while he remains attractive and youthful. His wish comes true and he is, at least for a time, allowed to engage in his every whim while not exhibiting any of the physical deterioration caused by such. Similar to the messaging of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Hatfield lets his ‘evil’ side out while still being able to initially pass as a ‘good person’ and he does so convincingly. My favorite part of the film is the few uses of color to show off the painting in both its original and later forms.

Oscar Win: Best Cinematography, Black-and-White

Oscar Nominations: Best Actress in a Supporting Role; Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White

Posted on 2022-06-29 | No Comments |

Stairway to Light (1945)/Quiet Please! (1945)

Part of John Nesbit’s Passing Parade series, Stairway to Light brings to the forefront the work of Dr. Philippe Pinel, a French pioneer in treating mental illness. His work led to more humane ways of caring for patients and also classifying their illnesses. The short is a bit simplistic and hokey, but useful in teaching the work of a lesser known influencer.

Quiet Please! has Spike threatening Tom not to wake him up from his nap, a situation Jerry of course takes advantage of. It’s a pretty standard Tom & Jerry short with a plot that’s so typical for the duo that this particular short does not stand out on its own, though I do generally enjoy when the duo becomes a trio with the addition of Spike and how that changes the dynamic.

Oscar Win: Best Short Subject, One-reel (Stairway to Light); Best Short Subject, Cartoons (Quiet Please!)

Posted on 2022-06-29 | No Comments |

Straight Talk (1992)

Fired from her job as a dance instructor, Dolly Parton drops her useless boyfriend Michael Madsen and heads to the big city of Chicago in pursuit of something better. Finally hired as a receptionist at a radio station, she stumbles into a studio and successfully takes over for their new talk therapist. The rest of the plot centers on hiding her lack of qualifications (something she doesn’t want to do) with more men treating her badly, including James Woods in one of the strangest romantic pairings in existence. Luckily Dolly is so utter charming because she’s the absolute only reason to watch, but she does indeed make it watchable.

Posted on 2022-06-29 | No Comments |

House on Haunted Hill (1999)

Eccentric amusement park mogul Geoffrey Rush invites six random people to a former psychiatric institution to celebrate his wife Famke Janssen’s birthday. As an enticement, each guest is offered one million dollars if they manage to spend the entire night in the allegedly haunted building. A remake of the 1959 same titled film, Rush does his best to fill in for the unparalleled Vincent Price. His snarky interactions with Janssen are the best part of the film. This version accentuates the supernatural aspects of the story to its detriment. The CGI at the time does not hold up to what is being attempted and it builds to more and more silliness. The cast is filled with a bunch of beautiful, but forgettable, interchangeable characters, especially in the case of similar looking Ali Larter and Bridgette Wilson-Sampras who I spent more time than I should have trying to figure out which one was which.