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

[simplefable]

Ah, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"... Jack Nicholson is one of my all time favorites. Would love to discuss some of his films too...after the Allen round though...


And talking of war films...check out some of Stanley Kubrick's masterpieces:

Paths of Glory (1957): Straight war film, sparse and tense..

Dr. Strangelove or How I Stopped worrying and Learnt to Love the Bomb (1964): Exaggerated satire with Peter Sellers in a brilliant performance.

Full Metal Jacket (1987): Dealing with the Vietnam War.

Have all these films..but saw only Dr. Strangelove..it was absolutely hilarious. Will see others asap..

[mmuk2004]

Deconstructing Harry (1997)


Deconstructing Harry was released in 1997, when plenty of dirty linen was washed in public as regards Woody and his private life. It is the story of a quite insufferable writer, Harry Block, who is suffering from a writer's block and Woody plays the character in his typical fashion as insecure and self-absorbed. Neurotic and often cruel, he uses all the characters and relationships in his life as material for his stories, without their happy consent ofc. and as is typical in Woody's films, the plot is hardly linear with plenty of asides and fissures in dramatic illusion.

The movie treads the thin line between self-pity and self-disgust made palatable by the superb comic timing of Allen. An overdose of this is definitely not recommended...

[mmuk2004]

Some clips of Woody shuttling between domestic and non-domestic brawls :







Hell Scene:

[mmuk2004]

A random review to give you an idea of the plot:

DECONSTRUCTING HARRY
Starring Woody Allen, Judy Davis, Billy Crystal and Robin Williams
Directed by Woody Allen
Rated R, with strong, frequent profanity
Running time 95 minutes
Jack gives this film a rating of 10 out of 10



By Jack Garner
Democrat and Chronicle
(Jan. 2, 1998) -- "I'm no good at life but I write well." So says writer Harry Block, the morally bankrupt philanderer at the center of Deconstructing Harry.

And since Harry is played by Woody Allen -- who also wrote and directed the film -- it's easy the way the blend of Allen's checkered personal life and superb artistry have fueled this brilliant film.

Deconstructing Harry is a devastatingly honest, hysterically funny film. While his work is always known for its self-analytical bent, this is the filmmaker's first movie in several years to put his own public persona centerstage. It's easily one of his finest films yet, and one of the best movies of 1997.

Allen reportedly thought of titling the movie The Worst Man in the World; certainly, he's never been so hard on himself before. After all, he's been devilish before, but in this film he literally goes to hell.

Harry Block is a successful Manhattan novelist whose tales have been built around the author's foibles, endless sexual exploits and a path through life littered with betrayed friends and lovers.

"You take everyone's suffering and turn it into gold," says Lucy, his roaringly angry sister-in-law (Judy Davis), after she comes to his apartment, bent on revenge. "I want to kill the black magician."

Lucy will have to wait in line. There are plenty other companions and former lovers and wives who'd love to turn him into chopped liver.

Of course, Harry doesn't see why everyone's so upset with him. He's a master of rationalization. For example, when he's accused of creating a life of nihilism, sarcasm and orgasm, he retorts, "In France, I could run on that ticket and win."

To deconstruct Harry, filmmaker Allen cuts back and forth between dual realities -- Harry's real misguided adventures and the reflections of that life through the characters of his books (brought to life on film).

And to populate both worlds, Allen has assembled one of his most entertaining and diverse casts. Besides the fabulous Davis, there are Kirstie Alley, Richard Benjamin, Eric Bogosian, Demi Moore, Mariel Hemingway, Amy Irving, Elisabeth Shue, Stanley Tucci, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Billy Crystal as the devil.

If that's not enough, Robin Williams contributes a cameo in the film's most original and hilarious aside; he plays a movie actor who is shocked to discover he's always out of focus. (The bit has to be seen to be understood -- and laughed at.)

Allen also experiments here with rougher language than he's ever used before on film. Nonetheless, the profanity seems part and parcel to a guy like Harry, so it's tough to argue with his decision.

Like Harry, of course, Allen has demonstrated a remarkable ability to achieve superb artistry, even during his very public 1990s crisis with Mia Farrow, their children and new bride Soon-Yi Previn. But Allen has seldom been as technically assured as he is with Deconstructing Harry.

The film opens, for example, with quick, jerky repeated cuts of Judy Davis, as Lucy, getting out of a cab to confront Harry. Though we're initially confused, we eventually realize Allen has discovered a visual way to depict the out-of-control rage in Lucy -- the scene is a visual equivalent of sputtering with anger.

It's just one of the many elements in "Deconstructing Harry " that display Allen's continued mastery as a filmmaker. Like Harry, Allen's life is a mess, but he's a heck of an artist.

And that's what should matter to his audience.

[Reeth]

Thanks a lot Madhavi ....

Another Great Movie/romance that i have loved watching over and over again....

Love Story - (1970)

Director: Arthur Hiller
Writer: Erich Segal
Cast : Ali Mcgraw, Ryan o' Neal, john Marley,Ray milland....
Tagline: Love means never having to say you're sorry....









Absolutely the greatest romance film ever made, "Love Story", broke all kinds of records at the box office becoming the biggest movie ever made to date in 1970. Its stars, Ali MacGraw and Ryan O'Neal, became mega-stars overnight. Unlike most films of its genre, it paints a much more realistic portrait of life rather than glorifying romantic superstition and fate......

Love Story (1970) is a sentimental, romantic tearjerker film from director Arthur Hiller about a tragic couple.
The film's tagline, "Love means never having to say you're sorry," appeared slightly differently in Segal's novelization: "Love means not ever having to say you're sorry."




Told as a flashback, this is an uncomplicated love story between two star-crossed lovers-students, Harvard pre-law hockey player Oliver Barrett IV (Ryan O'Neal) and Radcliffe music student Jenny Cavilleri (Ali MacGraw). Oliver narrates the opening line of the film, looking back:

What can you say about a twenty-five-year-old girl who died? That she was beautiful and brilliant? That she loved Mozart and Bach, the Beatles, and me?

Their love triumphs over different economic-class backgrounds (he is a "preppie millionaire," she a smart-mouthed "social zero" from a blue-collar Italian/American family). Their main obstacle to romance is that his rich, powerful and snobbish father, Oliver Barrett III (Ray Milland) objects and threatens to cut off funding...The two young lovers marry anyway and first move into a small apartment in Cambridge before Oliver is hired by a New York law firm and they move to the city.





After meeting many obstacles and making sacrifices, she is diagnosed as terminally ill when she is tested for pregnancy, and dies in his arms at the hospital in a tear-inducing closing. She makes a last request of him: "You, after all - you're going to be a merry widower." "I won't be merry," he responds. She replies: "Yes, you will be. I want you to be merry. You'll be merry, okay?"...


In the final scene, Oliver quotes his late wife, when speaking to his father about their past misunderstandings. After his father tells him he's sorry that she has died, Oliver responds in the last memorable line of the film, quoting an earlier remark of Jenny's:

Love means never having to say you're sorry.

[humble_rafi]

I have dvd of Love Story 1970.Its a wonderful movie.It has lovely humor and fantastic script.One of the best movies under Romance Genre.

The tragic end makes it very emotional to its viewers.If I ever have time I would like to read the book.

[mmuk2004]

Love Story - (1970)

Director: Arthur Hiller
Writer: Erich Segal
Cast : Ali Mcgraw, Ryan o' Neal, john Marley,Ray milland....
Tagline: Love means never having to say you're sorry....

Love Story (1970) is a sentimental, romantic tearjerker film from director Arthur Hiller about a tragic couple.
The film's tagline, "Love means never having to say you're sorry," appeared slightly differently in Segal's novelization: "Love means not ever having to say you're sorry."

Omg,

I am reminded of my schooldays...used to cry bucketfuls everytime I read the novel. Had quite a few of the lines memorized. Segal also wrote a sequel to it, titled "Oliver's Story." I am sure someone in Hollywood must have had the brigt idea to film it. He also wrote "Man Woman and Child," which Shekhar Kapoor used loosely for his film Masoom. I thought SK's film was a very good adaptation.

Love the theme music of the film
Thanks Reeth for the nostalgia trip...

[Reeth]

Love Story - (1970)

Director: Arthur Hiller
Writer: Erich Segal
Cast : Ali Mcgraw, Ryan o' Neal, john Marley,Ray milland....
Tagline: Love means never having to say you're sorry....

Love Story (1970) is a sentimental, romantic tearjerker film from director Arthur Hiller about a tragic couple.
The film's tagline, "Love means never having to say you're sorry," appeared slightly differently in Segal's novelization: "Love means not ever having to say you're sorry."

Omg,

I am reminded of my schooldays...used to cry bucketfuls everytime I read the novel. Had quite a few of the lines memorized. Segal also wrote a sequel to it, titled "Oliver's Story." I am sure someone in Hollywood must have had the brigt idea to film it. He also wrote "Man Woman and Child," which Shekhar Kapoor used loosely for his film Masoom. I thought SK's film was a very good adaptation.

Love the theme music of the film
Thanks Reeth for the nostalgia trip...

thnx madhavi.....Masoom was a brilliant film, well directed , with a sterling star cast..Naseeruddin shah,shabana and the 3 kiddos..

[Reeth]

The Most Magnificent Picture Ever..... is often considered the most beloved, enduring and
popular film of all time




TITLE : Gone With The Wind
YEAR OF RELEASE : 1939
CLASSIFICATION : PG
DIRECTOR : Victor Fleming
PRODUCER : David O. Selznick

STARRING : Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Leslie Howard, Olivia de Havilland, Thomas Mitchell,
Barbara O'Neil, Evelyn Keyes, Ann Rutherford, George Reeves, Fred Crane, Hattie McDaniel,
Oscar Polk.

TAGLINE :
* The most magnificent picture ever!


Adapted from Margaret Mitchell's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, this dazzling epic stars Vivien Leigh as the tempestuous Scarlett O'Hara and Clark Gable as the dashing Rhett Butler. Forever linked by passion and separated by pride and self-delusion, these unforgettable screen lovers bring Mitchell's immortal saga vividly to life, set against the stunning backdrop of a time and place forever Gone With the Wind.
BEST PICTURE WINNERS







Adapted from Margaret Mitchell's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, this dazzling epic stars Vivien Leigh as
the tempestuous Scarlett O'Hara and Clark Gable as the dashing Rhett Butler. Forever linked by
passion and separated by pride and self-delusion, these unforgettable screen lovers bring Mitchell's i
mmortal saga vividly to life, set against the stunning backdrop of a time and place forever
Gone With the Wind.



Vivien Leigh is coquettish Southern belle Scarlett O'Hara, Clark Gable is gambler-rogue Rhett Butler,
in one of the best-loved films of all time. Olivia de Havilland, Leslie Howard and Hattie McDaniel co-star
in this epic of love and loyalty in the Civil War South. Winner of 10 Academy Awards, including Best
Picture, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress....

Sidney Howard's script was derived from Margaret Mitchell's first and only published, best-selling Civil
War and Reconstruction Period novel of 1,037 pages that first appeared in 1936, but was mostly
written in the late 1920s. Producer David O. Selznick had acquired the film rights to Mitchell's novel in
July, 1936 for $50,000 - a record amount at the time to an unknown author for her first novel, causing
some to label the film "Selznick's Folly." At the time of the film's release, the fictional book had
surpassed 1.5 million copies sold. More records were set when the film was first aired on television
in two parts in late 1976, and controversy arose when it was restored and released theatrically in
1998.




The famous film, shot in three-strip Technicolor, is cinema's greatest, star-studded, historical epic film of the Old South during wartime that boasts an immortal cast in a timeless, classic tale of a love-hate romance. The indomitable heroine, Scarlett O'Hara, struggles to find love during the chaotic Civil War years and afterwards, and ultimately must seek refuge for herself and her family back at the beloved plantation Tara. There, she takes charge, defends it against Union soldiers, carpetbaggers, and starvation itself. She finally marries her worldly admirer Rhett Butler, but her apathy toward him in their marriage dooms their battling relationship, and she again returns to Tara to find consolation - indomitable.

Authenticity is enhanced by the costuming, sets, and variations on Stephen Foster songs and other excerpts from Civil War martial airs. Its opening, only a few months after WWII began in Europe, helped American audiences to identify with the war story and its theme of survival...



With three years advance publicity and Hollywood myth-making, three and one-half hours running time
(with one intermission), a gala premiere in Atlanta on December 15, 1939, highest-grossing film status
(eventually reaching $200 million), and Max Steiner's sweeping musical score, the
exquisitely-photographed, Technicolor film was a blockbuster in its own time. A budgeted investment
of over $4 million in production costs was required - an enormous, record-breaking sum. The film
(originally rough-cut at 6 hours in length) was challenging in its making, due to its controversial
subject matter (including rape, drunkenness, moral dissipation and adultery) and its epic qualities,
with more than 50 speaking roles and 2,400 extras.....



A nationwide casting search for an actress to play the Southern belle Scarlett resulted in the hiring of
young British actress Vivien Leigh, although over 30 other actresses (some well-known, and some
amateurs) had been tested or considered including: Katharine Hepburn, Miriam Hopkins,
Susan Hayward, Loretta Young, Paulette Goddard, Margaret Sullavan, Barbara Stanwyck,
Joan Crawford, Norma Shearer, Lana Turner, Joan Bennett, Mae West, Tallulah Bankhead,
Jean Arthur, and Lucille Ball. Although MGM star Clark Gable was expected to play the role of
the dashing war profiteer Rhett Butler, Errol Flynn, Ronald Colman, and Gary Cooper were also
considered for the part. Author Margaret Mitchell told a reporter she favored Basil Rathbone for the
male lead. The four principal stars were billed in this order: Clark Gable, followed by Leslie Howard
and Olivia de Havilland, and then Vivien Leigh last with "...and presenting" -- that is, until she won t
he Oscar and it was changed to "starring."....

The landmark film received tremendous accolades, more than any previous films to date: thirteen
nominations and eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director (Victor Fleming - the
only credited director), Best Actress (Vivien Leigh), a posthumous Best Screenplay (Sidney Howard,
along with collaborative assistance from Edwin Justin Mayer, John Van Druten, Ben Hecht, F. Scott
Fitzgerald, and Jo Swerling) - the first post-humous winner of its kind, Best Color Cinematography,
Best Interior Decoration, Best Film Editing, and Best Supporting Actress (Hattie McDaniel - the first
time an African-American had been nominated and honored) and two honorary plaques, one for
production designer William Cameron Menzies for the "use of color for the enhancement of dramatic
mood," and the other a technical production award for Don Musgrave for "pioneering in the use
of coordinated equipment."

[mmuk2004]

What an epic film

David O Selznick, the producer of the film was the same guy who Hitchcock really hated, btw. He was also involved in the production of Rebecca(1940) at the same time. He was a dominating personality and the film went through four directors (some say six), George Cukor, Victor Fleming and Sam Wood. (cannot remember the fourth one). George Cukor was fired because he was called a "woman's director" and Clark Gable, then a big star, did not want the movie to tilt in Vivien Leigh's direction. As Hollywood lore has it, Victor Fleming who took over from Cukor, faked a "nervous breakdown" after finding it impossible to deal with Selznick's micro-manangement. Sam Wood took over and then etc. etc...

What is interesting is that the two other great movies that were released in 1939, which Gone With the Wind had to compete with, during the Oscars, were The Wizard of Oz(1939) directed by Victor Fleming, and Goodbye Mr. Chips(1939) directed by Sam Wood.

Another interesting tidbit: The film's famous line by Gable "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn", is slightly different from the book where Rhett Butler says, "My dear, I don't give a damn." How's that for hair-splitting?

[Reeth]

What an epic film

David O Selznick, the producer of the film was the same guy who Hitchcock really hated, btw. He was also involved in the production of Rebecca(1940) at the same time. He was a dominating personality and the film went through four directors (some say six), George Cukor, Victor Fleming and Sam Wood. (cannot remember the fourth one). George Cukor was fired because he was called a "woman's director" and Clark Gable, then a big star, did not want the movie to tilt in Vivien Leigh's direction. As Hollywood lore has it, Victor Fleming who took over from Cukor, faked a "nervous breakdown" after finding it impossible to deal with Selznick's micro-manangement. Sam Wood took over and then etc. etc...

What is interesting is that the two other great movies that were released in 1939, which Gone With the Wind had to compete with, during the Oscars, were The Wizard of Oz(1939) directed by Victor Fleming, and Goodbye Mr. Chips(1939) directed by Sam Wood.

Another interesting tidbit: The film's famous line by Gable "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn", is slightly different from the book where Rhett Butler says, "My dear, I don't give a damn." How's that for hair-splitting?

....Thank you Madhavi
I never tire of watching this movie...

[mmuk2004]

You are welcome Reeth. You choose some of the most wonderful films that one can go back to and watch again and again.

It is an epic movie literally. Historically, one can have issues with the movie, which are ofcourse part of the criticism of the book too, as it presents a rather romantic, southern version of the Civil war. Mitchell was a southern belle just like Scarlett O'Hara and her sympathies are quite obvious in that the scars on Scarlett's delicate hands receive more sympathy than the cruelties wrought on the slaves in the deep South, but she certainly brought the culture of the south alive along with a vivid picture of the devastation the war brought on the South and the Reconstruction. Selznick got the pulse of the book and translated it wonderfully in the movie. Amazing, that he realised the potential of the book (it was published in 1936), and agreed to pay a great deal of money to an absolute newcomer for the filming rights of this novel.

Vivien Leigh had a troubled life and suffered from manic depression and was always a difficult person to work with, she made friends with Clark Gable and his wife Carole Lombard but there was a great deal of tension between her and Leslie Howard (who she is supposed be in love with throughout the movie!)

Her romance with Laurence Olivier was in its initial stages during the filming of GWTW, and Olivier(who had won great renown on the British stage), had been offered the part of Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights(1939) which made a Hollywood star out of him. He was also the lead for Selznick's Rebecca(1940). Leigh did not get the lead roles in either of the movies opposite him as she had wanted.

Twelve years later, in 1951 she played the Southern belle again, this time an ageing one, winning great critical acclaim, in Elia Kazan's film version of Tennessee William's A Streetcar Named Desire.

[Reeth]

You are welcome Reeth. You choose some of the most wonderful films that one can go back to and watch again and again.

It is an epic movie literally. Historically, one can have issues with the movie, which are ofcourse part of the criticism of the book too, as it presents a rather romantic, southern version of the Civil war. Mitchell was a southern belle just like Scarlett O'Hara and her sympathies are quite obvious in that the scars on Scarlett's delicate hands receive more sympathy than the cruelties wrought on the slaves in the deep South, but she certainly brought the culture of the south alive along with a vivid picture of the devastation the war brought on the South and the Reconstruction. Selznick got the pulse of the book and translated it wonderfully in the movie. Amazing, that he realised the potential of the book (it was published in 1936), and agreed to pay a great deal of money to an absolute newcomer for the filming rights of this novel.

Vivien Leigh had a troubled life and suffered from manic depression and was always a difficult person to work with, she made friends with Clark Gable and his wife Carole Lombard but there was a great deal of tension between her and Leslie Howard (who she is supposed be in love with throughout the movie!)

Her romance with Laurence Olivier was in its initial stages during the filming of GWTW, and Olivier(who had won great renown on the British stage), had been offered the part of Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights(1939) which made a Hollywood star out of him. He was also the lead for Selznick's Rebecca(1940). Leigh did not get the lead roles in either of the movies opposite him as she had wanted.

Twelve years later, in 1951 she played the Southern belle again, this time an ageing one, winning great critical acclaim, in Elia Kazan's film version of Tennessee William's A Streetcar Named Desire.

WOW .........Thanks a million for this write up madhavi, i have seen a Streetcar named desire many years ago, and at that time i found it quite a drag.But i am going to watch it again now.....thanks once again

[simplefable]

I have been seeing a lot of movies in ungodly hours , the whole week.
Came across this gem of a film....forgotten film of Stanley Kubrick.. " The Killing ".

It is a through and through director's film. No stars and big names. Just a story that winds you up like a clock...an edge of the seat thriller...83 minutes of pure bliss.
A simple race course heist...involving a man Johnny clay who always had raw deal in life who decides to have one last fling with his fate and settle down with his beautiful fiance....a race course bar tender with an ailing wife...a race course teller with a greedy wayward wife..a cop who sidles with the gang...a bouncer who had long association with Johnny...a sharp shooter who is running a shooting range...A meticulously planned robbery goes haywire, when unexpected things do happen.. a la stanley kubrick's way..
Who said Crime is despicable...? Our heart goes out for Johnny..and his lady, till the last second ..
It is guaranteed that the viewer will be glued to the chair..and his eyes on the tube..for sure.
And to think that Stanley kubrick was only 27 years when he did this..and the film is so entertaining even after fifty two years ...is something unbelievable. I love the language and the diction of those times..it was proper.

The Jinxed Johnny Clay with his fiance..Will dame luck smile on him ?

This post has been edited by simplefable: Jun 17 2008, 05:37 PM

[Reeth]

I have been seeing a lot of movies in ungodly hours , the whole week.
Came across this gem of a film....forgotten film of Stanley Kubrick.. " The Killing ".

It is a through and through director's film. No stars and big names. Just a story that winds you up like a clock...an edge of the seat thriller...83 minutes of pure bliss.
A simple race course heist...involving a man Johnny clay who always had raw deal in life who decides to have one last fling with his fate and settle down with his beautiful fiance....a race course bar tender with an ailing wife...a race course teller with a greedy wayward wife..a cop who sidles with the gang...a bouncer who had long association with Johnny...a sharp shooter who is running a shooting range...A meticulously planned robbery goes haywire, when unexpected things do happen.. a la stanley kubrick's way..
Who said Crime is despicable...? Our heart goes out for Johnny..and his lady, till the last second ..
It is guaranteed that the viewer will be glued to the chair..and his eyes on the tube..for sure.
And to think that Stanley kubrick was only 27 years when he did this..and the film is so entertaining even after fifty two years ...is something unbelievable.

Thanks sf, am sure to look out for this movie... seems like an exciting flik....
adding a little more info that i found on the net....

Stars: Sterling Hayden, Marie Windsor, Jay C. Flippen, Elisha Cook Jr., Coleen Gray, Vince Edwards

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Fast Facts:

* The Killing was the first of Kubrick’s three collaborations with producer James B. Harris.

* The film is based on the novel Clean Break, which had been the first novel by veteran pulp crime writer Lionel White. Harris and Kubrick bought the rights to the book for $10,000.

* Kubrick had long been an admirer of the work of hard-boiled crime novelist Jim Thompson (The Grifters,), and persuaded Thompson to collaborate with him on the screenplay, working primarily on the dialogue.

* Sterling Hayden, who played a similar role in John Huston’s classic The Asphalt Jungle, was always Kubrick’s first choice for the role of Johnny, although Jack Palance was also considered.

* The film was budgeted at around $330,000, and was shot on schedule in only 24 days.

* United Artists released the film in 1956, but it was not a success upon its initial release, despite some good reviews, although it eventually made a profit.




Storyline

When ex-con Johnny Clay (Sterling Hayden) says he has a plan to make a killing, everybody wants to
be in on the action. Especially when the plan is to steal $2 million in a racetrack robbery scheme in
which "no one will get hurt." But despite all their careful plotting, Clay and his men have overlooked
one thing: Sherry Peatty (Marie Windsor), a money-hungry, double-crossing dame who’s planning to
make a financial killing of her own…even if she has to wipe out Clay’s entire gang to do it!

As the narrative jumps backward and forward in time, we watch as he leaves no detail to chance.
Johnny contracts the best men for the job, revealing as little as possible to them, in the event any
are captured. The characters he assembles include sniper Nikki Arcane (Timothy Carey), a chess
playing wrestler (Kola Kwariani), and mousy cashier George Peatty (Elisha Cook Jr.).



Peatty, however, is at the beck and call of his floozy wife Sherry, played by Marie Windsor. She works
her husband over for information on the score. Johnny catches her eavesdropping in on their plans
and prepares to kill her, but she convinces the gang that she was just suspicious her husband was
cheating on her. Instead, she plots to rob the take with her boyfriend......

Directed in a revolutionary story-telling technique by the legendary Stanley Kubrick, The Killing is tough, taut, tense, and one of the greatest crime thrillers ever made!