Children of Paradise

The Godfather

(not in B/W)
Genre: Crime
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Year Released: 1972
Run time: 175 mins

Story: The Godfather is about the rising and falling of the Corleone family a high class mafia family. The story covers mainly Don Corleone and his son Michael.

Response: Kane or Godfather it is a popular argument, fuck it I don't know I like the Godfather a little more but Kane is about equal if I rated it on a critical level, who cares it doesn't matter. Every scenes sheds a light of brilliance that cover every aspect in film ranging from plot, dialogue, camera, acting you name it it has got it. It makes me shiver, applaud and be jaw dropped around every turn and never ever lets up. I love all the scenes. Brando is brilliant and creates a character that can never be reenacted successfully. The film has a certain class to it, you seem to respect each frame the same way you respect Don Corleone. An the amazing music sets the whole Godfather tone to the film it is like the icing on the cake. If I was to pick one film that was the best of all time I would chose either Kane or The Godfather. It's not just good it is Godfather good.

Rating: Top films

Dumbo

Genre: Animation Disney Classic
Director:Ben Sharpsteen
Year of release: 1941
Run time: 61 mins

Story: An elephant in a circus gets a visit from a stalk with her baby who has enormous ears. Teased and rejected my the other elephants (apart from his loving mother) dumbo (his nickname) befriends a charismatic mouse.

Response: I have been revisiting my childhood Disney films starting with The Lion king, Toy Story, Snow White, Pinocchio and now Dumbo. I have pondered on how well developed these films have been. What Dumbo does in 61 fucking minutes is more than most could do in 3 hours, the same goes for all the other Disney classics I have revisited recently epically Snow White. There are always a few scenes in these films that really put me in the mood to watch them, for Dumbo it was the amazing Crow scene that everybody remembers.

The power and heart that Walt puts into his films clearly shows his genius. The characters he has become so humanized so quickly, for instance the crow or mouse in Dumbo or the Dwarfs in Snow White nothing feels rushed and climax's are successful.

The relationship that Dumbo has with his mother is not complex, yet I enjoy it very much. Beginning with the way she looks at him and how that look of love doesn't change when she sees his ears. It further develops when she gets angry and goes a bit mad when the children pick on him. This builds up well for when the mouse takes Dumbo to see his locked up mother the build up pays off even though it only lasts a few minutes yet it is powerful. Now days a couple minutes of build up for a character to have a sad scene like the one in Dumbo can not be done, it would feel rushed.

Dumbo and the mouse had such strong character and with a few simple scenes, like watching the animals sleep and the stalk part at the beginning as well of course the magnificent crow scene make this a simple, clever film that will always be remembered.

Rating: Very Good

Rear Window

Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Year Released: 1954
Run Time:122 minutes

Story:The simple masterpiece is about a photographer who has broken his leg and is bored at home recovering. He sits at his window and watches the neighbors. One day something happens and he suspects one of his neighbors of murdering their wife.

Response: I went into this film think "You're not in the mood for this film, your going to hate it, your an idiot and going to ruin one of Hitchcock's classics that you really liked the first time" seriously with in 5 minutes I was fully into it. Rear Window is the most basic story that is so clever and involving it's not funny.

It's so clever in the way it unfolds because it really makes the audience feel on the level with the characters in the same big game of detective. It's a whole lot of little suspicious things that the suspect does that makes you wonder if he killed his wife, each of which could be simply explained individually but put together really makes you ponder. James Stewart really is one of my favorite actors, all of his film I really like. He always has great charisma and his characters are so easy to like. Grace Kelly too does a magnificent job and the part where she looks up and says "Tell me exactly what you saw and what you think it means." makes me clap. The relationship that forms in rear window too is really amazing. I enjoyed seeing James and Kelly's characters similar to how I enjoy the love relationship in Streetcar of City Lights.

I enjoy the way this film has been edited it short clips, like Memento (but not backwards) it lets us see the important parts and feel that a lot of time passes between each scene as well as adding a good pace to the film. The conversation to is amazing it's a film with great dialogue. I epically like Stella for he dialogue. Rear Window flows beautifully thought the story never getting boring, its super interesting right from the first second and slowly tension goes perfectly and steadily upwards until it reaches it's climax at the end. Rear Window has only great points to it and is up with The Godfather in a least flawed film category.

Rating: Top Films

Psycho

Genre: Horror, Thriller
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Year Released: 1960
Run Time: 109 mins

Story: Psycho's story involves a young women who steals a large amount of money from her job and goes on the run. She then stops at a little hotel to stay the night and things get a little creepy.

Response: Psycho pretty much invented slasher films and it's still the best slasher I have ever seen. It really hasn't aged a day like many of HItchcock's classics. I did like this film a little more the first time as the suspense then was a little higher than the second time when I knew what was coming.

I really love the ending those last few shots, with that evil looking smile. It's also quite an easy film to slip into and flows very well. It's one of the best horror films and still manages to be reasonably scary compared to other more modern horrors, apart from the decent. One scene I will even say scares the shit out of me for about 5 whole seconds (so it's not just a frightening split second that makes you jump), which really doesn't happen to much to me. It's in my view perfect in it's feel and flow.

Rating: Top Films

Scindler's List

Genre: War, Concentration Camp, Drama
Director: Steven Spielberg
Year Released: 1993
Run Time: 195 mins

Story:Schindler's List is a deep, true story about Oscar Schindler who during the second world war takes Jews out of concentration camps so that they can work in his factory. At first his intentions are only gready, yet very slowly through the film he transforms magnificently into the legend that many Jews honor very highly.

Response: A very powerful film about one of the worst times in recent history. Schindler's List is a well made film that can tear me apart. Liam Neeson really proves his talent in some of the amazing last scenes and it's easily my favorite Spielberg film. The three hours pass very fast.

The film brilliantly tells the jaw dropping story as well as a great character study and transformation. There are scenes that are amazing however if I was to describe each one this would turn from a few words to a full sized book. It's hard to believe the Spielberg directed this it's so great. I like that it is in black and white as the story is well, not colorful at all, and the black and white cinematography looks great plus it allows for the great girl in the red dress scene. It's a beautiful film, I wouldn't mind see it again in the not to distant future.

Rating: Top Films

Casablanca

Genre: Drama, Romance and everything else
Director: Michael Curtiz
Year Released: 1942
Run Time: 102 mins

"Rick: How can you close me up? On what grounds?
Captain Renault: I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!
[a croupier hands Renault a pile of money]
Croupier: Your winnings, sir."

Story: Casablanca is a story about Rick who own a Gin Joint as he calls it in a great scene. One day an old lover of Rick's walks into his joint and scars surface.

Response: I really do not know how I did not like this film the first time. Casablanca is a film were every character is amazing even the very small ones. I love the story and adore the famous ending. Bogart is in probably his best performance and Ingrid Bergman masters her role as well.

Casablanca is perfect, there is nothing I don't like about it. I find it so easy to watch, I love the dialogue, the music, story, acting, writing, the relationships established even the cinematography is really good in some scenes, simply put its amazing. It's hailed as one of the best romances, which it is but it's more than just a romance, it has some quite funny moments in it (like the quote above) and somehow manages to be a deep and light mood film at the same time. It flows so well and hasn't aged a day, I love it more and more each time and don't think I will ever get tired of the story.

Rating: Top Films

Bambi

Genre: Disney Animation
Director: David Hand
Year released: 1942
Run Time: 70 mins

Story: Bambi is a film about a young deer that grows up in the forest, we follow a portion of his life.

Response: Bambi is a good film no doubt about it, however I believe it could have been better. I think Bambi could have improved in the writing of the characters, each character in the film seems only to have a portion of a soul compared with the other Disney Classic films. In the film Bambi is not a fully developed character, as we have not really seen him do to much apart from learn about life in a naive way. His mother is kind and gentle and speaks softly but what else can you say about her, Bambi's father is hardly in the film and the rest of the forest animals aside from the owl, share personalities. No character in the film seems an individual, maybe that was the point to me it seemed like a flaw. For me I view Bambi in a different light it is more of an amazing montage with great music than a film. It has some wonderful scenes, with wonderful drawings and the music is icing on the cake, it just lacks in it's strength of characters. The rain drop scene is outstanding and is easily my favorite scene. All the talk of Bambi's mother dying being so sad didn't seem to me to be true, if it had not skipped straight to spring and being happy and had let time for emotion to set in then I would have been more sad. All in all I am not disappointed as it didn't really do anything wrong, just a few things not right.

Rating: Good

Sideways

Genre: Drama/Comedy
Director: Alexander Payne
Year Released: 2004
Run Time: 126 mins

Story: Two friends travel, play golf, taste wine for a week of fun to celebrate one of the friends last few days of freedom before he gets married.

Response: I always thought this film looked boring, I mean half of it is about wine which I know nothing about. I really enjoyed this film. It is simple and the dialogue and characters are strong. I find it easy to slip into and simply enjoy. Miles is quite a deep character and Jack seems easy to understand and fun but he too is quite deep. It is interesting to hear them talk about wine as Miles seems to know a lot about it. Sideways is a clever film and the comedy is rich in a few places I just couldn't stop laughing.

Rating: Great

Adaptation

Genre: Drama
Director: Spike Jonze
Year Released: 2002
Run Time: 114 mins

Story: A man is struggles to write a screenplay that is base on a certain book about flowers. It is based on the writers strugles to writer the film.

Response: I usually hate Nicholas Cage this time however I think he did quite a wonderful performance. I liked the first few acts of the film however the final seemed a little bit of a disappointment. It thinks it can get away with doing what it said it wouldn't for instance throwing in car chases and gun fights because it promised it wouldn't. However the thrown in car chases and gun fights seem less ironic and more out of place. Nevertheless it is a great film and has originality, you can see the minds that worked on Being John Malkovich behind this film, still I like BJM more. I love his twin brother he is a great character who emphasizes the the main characters personality by showing a personality that is exactly the oposite. Donald is what Charlie does not want to become, a half ass screenplay writer who has unoriginal and lame ideas that ironically are popular. Until the end very very good.

Rating: Good

City of God / Cidade de Deus

Genre: Crime/Drama
Director: Fernando Meirelles
Year Released: 2002
Country: Brazil
Run Time: 130 mins

Story: City of God follows a boy called Rocket through a portion of both his childhood and teenage years. He grows up in the slums, in the City of God where drug lords and hoodlums rule.

Response: City of God is quite powerful has some very creative shots and in a few great scenes really puts you inside the film. Moments in City of God feel very real and I am always reminded of one shockingly disturbing scene where Li'l Zé (the ruling gangster of the City of God) asks two young Runts (group of very young gangsters) whether he would rather be shot in the hand or the foot as punsihment for causing trouble. The moment is scary and the actors completly pull it off, there such a contrast between the young crying children and the laughing gangsters. City of God also pulls in one amazing side character Benny, he has such carisma and his character is well established.

Every time I watch the film I like it more and I have now seen it about 5 times, it does have it's small problems and the film can feel a little dragy through the middle or when the war starts, all in all the flow is never really effected too much and the good points way out number the bad.

Rating: Very Good

Modern Times

Genre: Comedy/Romance

Director: Charlie Chaplin
Year Released: 1936

Run Time: 87 mins

Story: The amazing Tramp struggles to live in the a world full of machines he suffers from a nervous break down, is put in prison, trials many different jobs and finds love in a poor gamin.

Response: I find it strange that the first time I did not like this film half as much as I should of, Modern Times is easily one of Chaplin's best films followed by City Lights in my opinion (at the moment) all Charlie Chaplin films are full of heart and power modern times is no exception. Charlie Chaplin truly is a genius the pure thought that he could write the script, act the main part, compose the music and direct this brilliant film proves he is like no other. Modern Times is able to mix genres very well the same way Casablanca does or any of the other Chaplin films. It's tone can be either light or deep through out the film and the two are blended together beautifully. The film is wonderfully written and the film flows well, the tramp is one of the best characters in the history of film and he had me laughing my head off at some parts.

Rating: Top Films