Hollywood Movie Reviews......... Options

[Reeth]

Please review and express your feelings about the Hollywood movies old and new ,that you have watched,liked & would recommend to the other members ......

I start off with an all time favourite film of my entire family....i have lost count of the number of times
i have watched this since the time.....

The Ten Commandments (1956)






It is one of the Greatest movies ever made in the history of World Cinema...
The film covers the life of Moses from his discovery in a basket floating on the Nile as a baby by
Bithiah, a childless young widow and daughter of the then-Pharaoh, Rameses I, to his eventual
departure from Israel in the wake of God's judgment that he not be allowed to enter the Promised
Land. In between, the film depicts the early adulthood of Moses as a beloved foster son of
Pharaoh Seti I (successor of Rameses I and brother of Bithiah) and general of his armies, his
romance with Throne Princess Nefertari and rivalry with the Pharaoh's own son,
Prince RamesesII.

Critics have argued that considerable liberties were taken with the Biblical story, affecting the film's
claim to authenticity, but this has had little effect on its popularity.....

Aside from winning the Academy Award for Best Effects, Special Effects, it was also nominated for
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color, Best Cinematography, Color, Best Costume Design,
Color (Edith Head, Ralph Jester, John Jensen, Dorothy Jeakins and Arnold Friberg), Best Film Editing,
Best Picture and Best Sound, Recording







Cecil B DeMille’s swan song is a movie for the ages. At 75 the legendary director was at the
peak of his fame, his name a house-hold word and his voice recognized by millions. He probably
knew The Ten Commandments would be his last film it almost killed him. He certainly knew it
would be his most important.

Shot in widescreen Technicolor, The Ten Commandments remains the standard by which
Biblical epics -- and many epics in general -- are measured
When Moses turns his staff into a snake and back again, the effect is seamless. His turning of the Nile
into blood is an impressive camera trick, but his parting of the Red Sea is one of Hollywood's most
famous stunts. It's worth sitting through the 220 minutes of movie for this alone....

MAIN CAST

#Charlton Heston as Moses
# Yul Brynner as Pharaoh Rameses II
# Anne Baxter as Nefertari
# Edward G. Robinson as Dathan
# Yvonne De Carlo as Sephora
# Debra Paget as Lilia
# John Derek as Joshua
# Sir Cedric Hardwicke as Pharaoh Seti I

But the Ten Commandments isn’t about God alone.... It’s about a woman, Neferteri the beauty of
Egypt, and whom she marries will become Pharoe and rule the Earth...she prefers Moses who races
chariots and saves old women from being crushed under the monumental obilisk he is raising in honor
of Neferteri’s father — and helped by the fact he’s played by manly-man Charlton Heston who looks
great,She does not want Ramses, the delicious Yul Brenner who wants Neferteri because of the
wealth and power that comes with her.
Moses is banished and Neferteri is forced to marry Ramses instead.
History might know about Moses and Ramses, but DeMille knew about
scorned women.....




It remains one of the five most successful films of all time.It is Cecil B. DeMille’s last and arguably
greatest film.....Definitely worth watching....

[Faraaj73]

Inglourious Basterds
I still remember the rush I got when seeing Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction for the first time. I ended up seeing both multiple times and took something new away from each viewing. The media hype around Tarantino, which I believed at the time, was that he could do no wrong. It really seemed in '94 that he was not only the greatest director in the world, but would change cinema forever. Unfortunately his produce since Pulp Fiction was neither prolific nor impressive. The primary weakness with Tarantino's three works post Pulp Fiction and pre Inglourious Basterds was his constantly parroting or paying tribute to other works he had admired instead of going out and doing his own thing, creating something original. An excess of verbosity slowed the pace as well. Viewing the trailer and reading initial reviews of Inglourious Basterds led me to believe it suffered the same shortcomings. To be honest, the trailer for Inglourious does not sell the film I saw. And Tarantino's frequent arrogance and more recent track record have opened him up to a lot of criticism - much of it unjustified in the case of this film.

Anyone who has read any review of Inglourious would know that the villain is a sinister Col. Hans Landa and that the opening sequence is one for the ages. He is a unique movie villain like Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men or Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs. He doesn't speak, he interrogates and interviews in a eerily calm manner. It requires nerves of steel to maintain your composure with him around! His audacity in the last 20 minutes is breathtaking. The opening sequence was worthy of Sergio Leone, whose Once Upon a Time in the West and Lee Van Cleef in The Good The Bad and The Ugly no doubt influenced Tarantino's handling of the entire sequence.

I actually liked the criticized bar sequence even more than the opening. Long yes, but it slowly builds up to a brilliantly directed climax. The twists and turns, the playful banter which turns into something deadly are among the memorable sequences of cinema history. Mélanie Laurent as Shosanna Dreyfus has given a performance that is almost on par with Christopher Waltz's Col. Landa. If his performance is Oscar worthy (not that that should be the yardstick!), his interview of her and her reaction when he exits is also equally worthy. I should mention here that the name star of the film, Brad Pitt, is really only one part of a great ensemble cast. His performance is superb and not the caricature that the trailer implies. A sequence where his hick officer is forced to act 'Spanish' is just brilliant comedy. He has the accent of a southerner down pat. I only wish he'd been given more time. I hope the director's cut adds something to his role.

In closing, I'll add that Tarantino's knowledge of cinema was never in doubt. His camera-work and understanding of the mechanics of film-making were always good, but he has exceeded himself in this film. There is something classical about the photography (beautiful long takes) and cinematography, which almost no director can emulate. As a former fan and later critic of Tarantino, I'm blown away by Inglourious and despite his cheek, I do think he may just have made his masterpiece!