Letterboxd — Your life in film

Y'know..at first, I really liked Baz Luhrmann's hyper-stylized take on F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel. Despite the fact that I was not a big fan of the performances, I at first was very impressed with how faithful the film was to the novel...and how it savored the elegant prose Fitzgerald used to tell his story. Yet something happened along the way. As Gatsby's dream began to unravel...so did the movie.

One mistake Luhrmann made, was diminishing the story of George (Jason Clarke) and Myrtle Wilson (Isla Fisher). Their tale, and its key role in the trajectory of Gatsby's demise is an integral part of the Gatsby structure. Cutting back on its prominence did the film no favors...especially when it came down to the impact of Myrtle Wilson's death. We only see her in one, sped-up sequence near the start of the film...then never again, that is until Luhrmann rushes her story hastily, so Myrtle could hit her mark in the middle of the road. Compare this execution to the (otherwise inferior) 1974 Jack Clayton version of THE GREAT GATSBY...and its night and day. Luhrmann's version is more fun, yet Clayton's version gets the emotional arc right.

Another aspect missing is what the Jordan Baker (Elizabeth Debicki) character brings to the story...especially with respect to Gatsby's narrator...Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire). In the book, Baker is a spoiled, lazy, superficial jet-setter...who takes a somewhat sincere fancy to Nick. In Luhrmann's GATSBY, her role is shrunken down to the nub...making Carraway's final dismissal of her sleight, and very empty.

Leonardo DiCaprio is a fine actor, yet (though he may look the part) his take on Jay Gatsby felt forced, and ill-suited to his talent. It was like watching an actor act...as opposed to experiencing a character. Carey Mulligan as Daisy, on the other hand, was better than usual.

The 3D aspect, which I was most excited about...was a let-down, especially considering what a visual stylist Baz Luhrmann is. I was expecting a 3D film that could match the energy and frenetic pace that runs through all of Luhrmann's films. Instead, the 3D was fair...nothing to write home about.

The same could be said for THE GREAT GATSBY as a whole. The movie is fair, yet nothing to write home about.

Awesome...thats what comes to mind when I think of IRON MAN 3. As far as action/adventure superhero movies...its doesn't get better than this.

Writer/director Shane Black did an amazing job with a difficult assignment...making a third installment of a franchise and somehow make it fun, exciting, and just plain good. With IRON MAN 3, he made it better than good...it was great.

Have always loved the Tony Stark character, and Robert Downey Jr.'s performance was so obnoxiously wonderful...a great antidote the same old sound and righteous personas of other superhero alter-egos. Stark is a jerk, but he's got a good heart, a quick mind, and is insanely brilliant. Kudos also go to Guy Pearce, who must have had the time of his life playing the evil villain Killian. Gwenyth Paltrow literally kicks ass on screen, and the gorgeous Rebecca Hall lights up any scene that she is in. And...Sir Ben Kingsley...such a gem of a performance.

Drew Pearce and Shane Black's script is clever, imaginative, and beautifully complex...complex in a good way (as opposed to the bad way...see OBLIVION). I loved where they took the story..and their excellent use of both danger, and humor.

You know how good IRON MAN 3 is? The idiot next to me spent the majority of the movie texting on his dumb-phone. It was absolutely annoying, and distracting. Yet IRON MAN 3 was so good, I STILL managed to have a great time.

In some films, there comes a point where I stop watching. Usually, this is because the story has taken a turn so confusing that it loses me completely. Such is the case of OBLIVION...an enjoyable film that goes bad...very fast.

The first half of OBLIVION is fun, looks good, and is more or less entertaining. Yet right around the time Morgan Freeman shows up, it began to lose me. Not long after that, I no longer understood what was going on...and was soon out of the movie, no longer connecting with anything.

So, what the hell happened? Weird alien box captured Tom Cruise and some British chick...cloned them, erased their memories, and made them slaves...who work and eat and have sex? Then there's a wife somewhere...and...who the f*^k knows what? I ain't no dummy, yet this big-budget spectacle makes no friggin sense.

How hard is it to tell a story? Why do filmmakers and screenwriters insist upon unnecessary plot entanglements in order to hide the fact that there isn't much story to speak of?

Brilliant, intriguing, clever, and awful...these are the words that come to mind while I watched MARNIE for the 2nd time. There are many things to like about MARNIE...and a few things are just plain...awkward, and laughably bad.

On the plus side

- Casting: Alfred Hitchcock gets on hell of a performance out of newcomer Tippi Hedren, who really is terrific in the film...as is Sean Connery, and Louise Latham. I loved just the look of Martin Gabel...with those striking glasses. Diane Baker is an odd, yet attractive presence...appearing as if from another film.

- Screenplay: Jay Presson Allen's screenplay smart and strong...with excellent dialogue to boot

- The Score - For the last time, Bernard Herrman's music enhances both the suspense, and the heart of the movie

- Direction: Much of MARNIE appears as homage to the very director making the film. While watching MARNIE...I see shades of past Hitchcock films like YOUNG AND INNOCENT, SPELLBOUND, NOTORIOUS, PSYCHO and THE BIRDS coming out theme, dialogue, and those lovely high angle shots he favors. I also loved the widescreen set-up of Marnie robbing the safe while a cleaning woman cleans the floor in the left half of the frame.

On the negative side:

- The "rape" scene is clunky...and poorly put together. Tippi Hedren's "Noooo!" looks false, and silly.

- The matte painting of the ship at the end of the street for the Maryland scenes at Marnie's mother's house looks absurdly artificial. A rare careless blunder for a Hitchcock movie.

- The horseback riding accident after the fox hunt is horribly assembled...with a laughable shot of Tippi Hedren pretending to fly in the air. It's Hitchcock's worst camerawork ever.

Despite its flaws, however, I still can't help but like MARNIE...yes, parts of it are bad, yet there's just too much good in it for me to dismiss it outright. As a whole, despite everything...MARNIE works.

Blu-ray transfer is sloppy...some good, some very bad. The color gets out of control as the film progresses...resulting in some over-saturated images.

Still my favorite Alfred Hitchcock film. This is where it all began for me...my fondness for all things Hitchcock. It's the only one of Hitchcock's films that truly frightens me. As a child, I'd see scenes from it on television...yet I found it to be so scary, so horrifying...that I could never get myself to watch the whole thing. The first time I saw THE BIRDS in full...only 5 or 6 years ago, it again scared the life out of me...

Watching THE BIRDS tonight, for the third time...I still get marvelously unnerved by certain scenes. Yet more so than that, I understand now why I love the movie so much...and how it affects me more than other Hitchcock classics. The reasons are many...

The Look: The overall look of THE BIRDS has a dark undercurrent to everything. The was Robert Burks' ninth Hitchcock film as cinematographer. Whereas his previous photography used color as a lush treat...to enhance the glamour and romanticism of each story (i.e. REAR WINDOW, TO CATCH A THIEF, VERTIGO), in THE BIRDS the color is used primarily to evoke mischief, dread and sheer horror.

Crashing Stories: I love the unusual structure of THE BIRDS. The film begins as a fun love story. Man meets woman, pulls one over on her. Woman seeks revenge, with a romantic twist. A note, and a pair of lovebirds are left in the man's house by the woman. The woman playfully escapes, and is delightfully caught by the man...and just when you think the romance is beginning to fully blossom BAM! A bird attacks the woman out of nowhere...completely altering the tone of the film...from playful...to dangerous. One story interrupted by another. Yet story A, the romance...continues for a while. We meet a jealous, overbearing mother...who can't wait for the woman to leave her son alone. We meet a kind, and slightly jealous ex-girlfriend...We're a party for the man's sister...the man and woman speak candidly...then BAM! Bird attack! Story B crashes again into Story A...and soon enough takes over the entire film.

Performances: All of the performances in THE BIRDS are spot on. Tippi Hedren is coy, manipulative, and playful...yet also sensitive, and tender. Rod Taylor is very much "The Man"...yet a very humane man. Jessica Tandy steals the show as the scared, insecure and fearful Lydia Brenner...Suzanne Pleshette also steals all of her scenes...as the sexy, sad, and romantic Annie.

The Diner Scene - My favorite scene in THE BIRDS is when Melanie is in the diner...where we meet a wide cast of interesting characters from the town. We meet the local drunk...who proclaims its the end of the world, and he just might be right. We see the dismissive salesman (Joe Mantell), who wants to rid the world of birds. An overprotective mother attempts to spare her children the lurid talk of bird attacks. An overeducated Ornithologist (Ethel Griffies) dismisses all bird theories, counter to her own, as utter nonsense. There is so much character and dynamic in this scene...a strange, reflective breather from the suspenseful scenes before, and the utter horror afterward.

Alfred Hitchcock's direction - His POV shots give the viewer a great sense of danger. The classic, iconic composition of the shot of the birds swarming over the sky as the children run away from the school. The staging over the bird attack in town, with Melanie hiding in a phone booth...witnessing the horror all around her as the birds attack her on all sides. The staging and cutting of the final bird attack on Melanie is both unsettling and brilliant.

Sure, one can only imagine what a Bernard Hermann score would have done to the movie (made it even better? scarier?)..and it annoying to hear the bad dubbing of Veronica Cartwright's voice, yet all in all THE BIRDS remains, in my opinion, Alfred Hitchcock's true masterpiece.