Scribe & Green on the BIG screen

There are far too many people out there writing “reviews of movie-films & articles about them with absolutely no clue what the hell they’re talking about." Here are 2 more of them! (Well, one of us knows what the h___ we're talking about, but we'll leave it up to you to decide who that is...) Ultimately, can two people as opposite as Scribe and Green agree on anything?? That's where the fun begins. Won't you join us? (Every now and then we'll add a guest review, just for kicks.)

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

About that heartbeat...

Seems like we're suffering from even more of an irregular heartbeat these days than I realized.

We've got appointments scheduled to see a team of the world's best cardiac specialists to determine just exactly what the problemo is with our heart and its irregular beating. But those doctors are just so darn busy!!! And underpaid, too!!

After our review of Rear Window, which I basically flew solo on, (grumble, grumble, grumble) we're struggling to bring you our next movie. After that, who knows - it could take all of August before we post anything meaningful again.

I hope this is not the case but at the rate we're going it'll be one review a month, if that...

{sigh}

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Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Next Movie: Flower Power

Green and I will again be reviewing a recommendation by that artsy fartsy film lover Bluez. The Bill Murray vehicle "Broken Flowers" is next.

I can feel my sack shriveling as I write this~

Monday, July 23, 2007

Rear Window

Green's Review:

L.B. "Jeff" Jeffries (James Stewart) is a cooped up photographer because of a broken leg. Stuck in his apartment with a huge cast from his waist to the tip of his toes, Jeffries gets into the habit of eavesdropping on his neighbors through the rear window of his apartment at first using just his eyes but then employing his high powered binoculars and a camera with a zoom telephoto lens. He becomes so suspicious of a neighbor's actions (Raymond Burr), whom circumstantial evidence suggests murdered his wife and dismembered her body. As his suspicions grow, Jeffries recruits the help of his ultra hot girlfriend, Lisa Fremont (Grace Kelly) and his visiting nurse Stella (Thelma Ritter). They call in a reluctant detective friend (Wendell Corey) for assistance who doesn't see anything unusual in the neighbor's actions until... it's almost too late.

This is a character study on how to be nosy without getting caught. The script is adequate - nothing that will knock your socks off. In the hands of a lesser director and cast this film would be a boring disaster. Jimmy Stewart is such an effortless actor and he makes every one around him better. This is the only film in Grace Kelly's short Hollywood career that I've seen, and I must make an effort to change this.

There are some places where the film drags and at just under two hours is a tad bit too long. Hitchcock's knack for suspense is well earned in this movie, and is very selective about what we see and hear. Up until the end we're not quite sure if the neighbor is guilty or not. Director Alfred Hitchcock's trademark cameo comes during one of the peeks into the neighboring songwriter's apartment. He can he seen winding a clock.

The only things that annoyed me about this movie have nothing to do with the movie itself. Because I know you want to know and because I want to rant, here they are in no particular order: A) I could not find this movie in either library I use so had to watch my dad's copy (on VHS!!!) B) My dad's the kind of guy who buys a movie or gets one as a gift and never watches it. I had to remove the cellophane shrink wrap from the cassette!!! There was a coupon on the front of the wrapper that expired in 2001, so he's had this movie for six years and never watched it!!! and C) the format of the movie was Full-Screen. I hate it when they chop stuff off to fit it within the TV screen. Watching movies in Widescreen is sooo much better (unless of couse the movie came out before the advent of Widescreen, in which case there's nothing to miss).


**** out of *****

Scribe's Review:

I liked it, too.


***** out of *****

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Tuesday, July 17, 2007

We got a heartbeat!

The blog lives still!!!
Green and I are going to review "Rear Window" for Jimmy Stewart's Dead Month, and we have been challenged by Bluez to review the Bill Murray film, "Broken Flowers".

I was able to locate this very chick-friendly looking film at my library. Shockingly, there are two copies that never seem to leave the shelf. So it's up to the Greenster to see if he can find it as well.

Stay tuned, dear readers! This is more exciting than figuring out what's in Rush Limbaugh's underwear!!!

Here's a hint:
http://latinoamerica.agsgerbils.org/spanish/images/eduardo1.jpg


We gots a heartbeat? We still a breathin'? Lawd, I believe in MIRACLES now!!!

Rear Window, I gots me dat one already but I gotta go see if I can find this crushed flowers thing. Sounds icky to me. And mean, too. Crushin' all dem 'nocent flowers...

What dis wurl cummin to anyhoo....

Now I got dis chickee fillum unda risssurv at the libbbry.

Friday, July 13, 2007

A thousand apologies

Generally speaking, I don't like to wait this long between reviews/posts because I feel that it takes away from whatever audience we're trying to build.

However, sometimes this thing called life gets in the way of productive movie watching and blogging. Such seems to be the case recently, and we apologize.

The next movie I wanted to do was something with Jimmy Stewart in it, but we'll see how that goes.

Just keep checking in, people, and we'll have something new for you as soon as we possibly can.

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Thursday, July 5, 2007

21 Grams

Scribe's Review:

Wow. This one has it all.

The basic idea, that an entire human life can be measured in 21 grams, (the exact amount of weight one loses at the point of death) is used as a metaphor for a lack of fulfillment, loss and vengeance in this masterful piece of cinematic art.

The plot unweaves in a non-sequential style that makes what might have been a laborious viewing riveting and fascinating. Much like the underrated Vanilla Sky, the truth at the heart of the tale is more important than the moment we learn it.

Without giving away too much, Sean Penn is the recipient of a heart transplant that causes him to seek out the anonymous donor family's identity. What he eventually finds is a grieving widow unable to move on after the tragic and accidental death of her husband and children. Naomi Watts stars as the widow and is as compelling as she may ever be in her career. Benicio Del Toro is the reformed criminal turned Born Again Christian turned fallen and broken man in yet another in a long line of incredible performances from this Hispanic James Dean. Sean Penn's skills as an actor just seem to improve with time until he now moprhs into his characters with little apparent effort.

The real message of the film, how life can be so completely wasted in such a short amount of time, is handled with such skillful subtletly that one cannot help but walk away affected.


****** out of *****

Green's Review:

"How many lives do we live? How many times do we die? They say we all lose 21 grams... at the exact moment of our death. Everyone. And how much fits into 21 grams? How much is lost? When do we lose 21 grams? How much goes with them? How much is gained? How much is gained? Twenty-one grams. The weight of a stack of five nickels. The weight of a hummingbird. A chocolate bar. How much did 21 grams weigh?"


Here we have the story of three very different individuals whose lives connect in an instant and are forever linked and changed in that very instant. Paul Rivers (Sean Penn) is a man with a heart problem who gains a new lease on life. Cristina Peck (Naomi Watts) is a wife whose family is suddenly and irreversibly ripped away from her. Jack Jordan (Benicio Del Toro) - is an ex-con struggling with his faith and a great deal of sorrow and guilt for what he has done. Jordan accidentally runs over and kills Peck's husband and two young daughters, then alienates himself from his family and faith, attempting to cope with the accidental murder of three people he killed and never knew. Rivers benefits from a heart transplant made possible by the death of Peck's husband, then breaks the rules and finds out who donated his new heart and ends up falling in love with the dead man's wife, who understandably is having a hard time coping with her loss. Peck seeks revenge on the killer of her family and finds herself, reluctantly at first, falling in love with Rivers.

The premise of the film is compelling and full of raw emotion. The stars performances are deep and haunting. The script and its execution, however, leaves much to be desired and is ultimately the downfall of this movie. There's simply too much going on all at once to properly develop all of the characters and examine their emotions. The shift in time line going from present to past and past to present seemingly without rhyme or reason makes the story choppy and hard to follow, especially in places where the film drags. If the story was told in more of a linear fashion then the script's deficiencies would be less noticeable and might even be overcome by the performances of Penn, Watts and Del Toro.

The movie clocks in at 125 minutes which seemed too long, yet I felt disjointed and unsatisfied at the end of the film. To me there was more story that could have been told and there should have been a more satisfying way to wrap it up.


*** out of *****

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Monday, July 2, 2007

In Memoriam- James Stewart (1908-1997)

All American actor Jimmy Stewart died ten years ago today.

Throughout the month of July, as a tribute to the great movie icon, the SNMR feature of my regular blog will highlight four of his films.

In the spirit of this tribute, Scribe and I may do a joint review or three of Jimmy Stewart's films here too. Lucky you.

"I have my own rules and adhere to them. The rule is simple but inflexible. A James Stewart picture must have two vital ingredients: it will be clean and it will involve the triumph of the underdog over the bully."- James Stewart

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