So this week I checked out not one, but TWO films in one day. I haven't done that since I was out in South Dakota and saw The Expendables (2010, Dir. Sylvester Stallone) and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010, Dir. Edgar Wright). This time around I checked out two films that, well let's just say I didn't have the highest expectations on. The Angelina Jolie fantasy vehicle Maleficent, and the Seth MacFarlane western-comedy A Million Way to Die in the West. Both of these films I dislike immensely for different reasons and hopefully by the end of this review I will have come up with which takes the "honor" of taking the top spot of my least favorite list.
Maleficent D: Robert Stromberg W: Linda Woolverton S: Angelina Jolie, Sharlto Copley, Elle Fanning, Sam Riley, Imelda Staunton, Juno Temple, Lesley Manville, Janet McTeer Angelina Jolie stars as one of Disney's most famous villains in this re-imagining of the classic fairy tale Sleeping Beauty. Let me just get this out of the way, Angelina Jolie is awesome as Maleficent. That is when she is allowed to be Maleficent. In this day and age people don't want clear cut heroes and villains, they want things to be a little more complex, and that's fine, but that is not what this movie does. All this movie does is switch the sides around. The movie ends up turning Maleficent into a poor misunderstood fairy who turned to evil because of one evil man (Copley) who wanted to be King so badly that he cut off her wings to get to the position. This is the short summary of my feelings towards this. This is the problem it wants to be a more in depth look at the character and make her and the situation more complex but instead it just boils it down the same basic good vs. evil roles, only this time Maleficent is the good guy and the man is the villain and has no real motivation for his actions and is just being portrayed as a villain. This was apparently NOT in Linda Woolverton's original script. The following is from the movie's Wikipedia page,
"The original Linda Woolverton screenplay differs significantly from the final film. For example, on the original script, Stefan was the half-human, half-fairy bastard son of King Henry, and two characters called Queen Ulla and King Kinloch were the fairy queen and the fairy king of the Moors, and the aunt and uncle of Maleficent."
And this was changed why? This would've made things so much more interesting and complex. Also they took out any scene that had Peter Capaldi. WHAT?! How do you think he took it?
I couldn't resist.
This movie takes one of the most iconic villains of, not just Disney but of cinema, and gives it a rather lackluster and anti-climatic backstories and tries to pass it off as the REAL story of both the fairy tale but of Maleficent. So I can't give this a pass.
Onto the next film...
A Million Ways to Die in the West D: Seth MacFarlane W: Seth MacFarlane, Alec Sulkin, Wellesley Wild S: Seth MacFarlane, Charlize Theron, Amanda Seyfried, Neil Patrick Harris, Giovanni Ribisi, Sarah Silverman, Liam Neeson, Rex Linn Seth MacFarlane, the man responsible for bringing us the tv show Family Guy now brings us his second feature. The film is about a sheep farmer (MacFarlane) who... actually to be honest I have no idea what the actual plot is. Why? Because there are a million different things going on here. The synopsis on IMDB says, "As a cowardly farmer begins to fall for the mysterious new woman in town, he must put his new-found courage to the test when her husband, a notorious gun-slinger, announces his arrival" but the first part of the film is him going up against his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend (Neil Patrick Harris). This movie is pretty much just Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Comedy... in the old west. It's every bad trait of recent piece of MacFarlane's work. Running gags that go nowhere, pointless pop culture references, extremely low brow sex jokes and worst of all overly improved lines that go no where and just states what the joke is and explains the joke.
Also one of the biggest problems with the film is that the lead character is so unlikable. All he does through out the whole is complain about how it sucks to live out in the old west and how lonely and sad he is. Seriously, this guy was about two steps away from complaining about how he was put in the friend zone... of the old west. What bothers me the most about it is that the characters in the movie say that he's a sweet guy and that he's nice. Um... pardon me? When has this guy displayed anything that can be considered nice?
While I dislike this film a lot I will admit one thing, the music is amazing. The score by Joel McNeely is amazing, it reminds me of something that may have been composed by Elmer Bernstein. Also the song that Alan Jackson sings at the end is pretty good.
I just wish we had a better western movie for it to be attached to.
So which film is worse? I don't know I sadly haven't come to a decision. Maybe by end I'll come up with a "winner".
Share your thoughts, and be sure to like the blog on Facebook
Since today is Memorial Day I felt that this would be a great time to compose a list of my favorite war films. But as I got the list going I realized I was putting a lot of World War II films, so I decided to just make this about... well it should be obvious at this point.
With this list I'm pretty much keeping this to movies that have a good amount of the character engaging in combat, and keeping them to be about the troops themselves, instead of just about one person. So, not Patton and no Schindler's List unfortunately. That doesn't mean the movies that don't make the list are bad, far from it, but since Memorial Day is about the troops, I want to make the list more about them. Also, I'm not including mini-series, but I'll give Band of Brothers its own post one day.
Also please keep in mind that I have not seen every single World War II film, and if there's a film you like that doesn't appear on this list I am by no means indicating that the film is bad, just that I like prefer these films a little more, or I may not have seen it. If there's a film I left off that you like, share in comment section.
I'll be listing them in alphabetical order. Why? It is really hard to choose one I like over another, and which one would be my number one pick.
Attack! (1956) D: Robert Aldrich W: James Poe. Based on the play by Norman Brooks S: Jack Palance, Eddie Albert, Lee Marvin, William Smithers, Robert Strauss, Buddy Ebsen A rather obscure film by maverick director, and one of my favorites, Robert Aldrich. A film that takes place during last year of WWII when a platoon leader (Jack Palance) grows severe doubts about his company commander's competency. This has been cited as an anti-war or anti-military film, I don't see that at all. This is an anti-corruption film. In the film you find out that the commander (played ironically by Bronze Star recipient Eddie Albert) pretty much got his rank because not because of his experience, but because "he knew a guy." And because of this we see several men die needlessly, that could have been avoided. It truly is a splendid film that shows that how even a little corruption can effect a group, and how in the military it can lead to terrible consequences. The clip I've included is of the opening scene that sets the tone.
Battleground(1949)
D: William A. Wellman
W: Robert Pirosh
S: Van Johnson, John Hodiak, Ricardo Montalban, George Murphy, James Whitmore
Academy Award Wins:
Best Writing
Best Black-and-White Cinematography
Academy Award Nominations:
Best Picture
Best Director - William A. Wellman
Best Supporting Actor - James Whitmore
Best Film Editing
A film depiction of a platoon in the 101st Airborne and their time during the Battle of the Bulge. I can't say this for fact, but I'm willing to bet this is one of the first war films that took a non-romantic view of the war. Yes other war films showed that troops did tragically die, but this movie shows that the environment was also an issue, and that anything can happen. We see civilians get caught in the crossfire, some soldiers die due to the weather, but we also see the determination they have. We see them overcoming their odds and pressing forward. The clip below is of speech given by a Lutheran Pastor to the men, all of them. No matter the location and no matter the faith. We also see the troops and what they had to deal with the environment and lack of supplies.
The Big Red One (1980)
D: Samuel Fuller
W: Samuel Fuller
S: Lee Marvin, Mark Hamill, Robert Carradine, Bobby Di Cicco, Kelly Ward, Siegfried Rauch, Stephane Audran
A movie that follows a single rifle squad from U.S. First Infantry Division as they go through all the major campaigns of the European theater of World War II. The men in the squad consist of a skilled marksmen (played by Luke Skywalker himself Mark Hamill), a writer who serves as the narrator (Carradine), an Italian (Di Cicco), a farmer who serves as a makeshift medic (Ward) and the squad's leader a battle harden WWI veteran (Marvin). We see the members go through doubts about their actions, we see the Sergeant almost relive many of his previous battles. The most haunting moment is of course when they come across the Falkenau concentration camp in Czechoslovakia. In this clip we see Carradine's character Zap asking the other what's "the damnest thing you'd ever want to do to a girl," and the only one with a response is a replacement soldier named Kaiser (Perry Lang), and the soldiers don't recognize him, even though he had actually fought with them before. Kaiser's answer is of course crude but the fact the other's didn't recognize him is extremely powerful.
Days of Glory (2006)
D: Rachid Bouchareb
W: Rachid Bouchareb, Olivier Lorelle
S: Jamel Debbouze, Samy Naceri, Sami Bouajila, Roschdy Zem, Bernard Blancan
Academy Award Nominations:
Best Foreign Language Film - Algeria
I didn't want to make this list of films just about American troops in World War II. There's a reason why it was was called a World war. This is a film about a group of North African men who enlist in the French Army and while in the process of fighting the Nazis they are in the process of proving their worth and fighting against discrimination. The film takes a look at a story that a big chunk of probably didn't know about.The best scene is at the very end. Which I will not spoil.
The Dirty Dozen (1967)
D: Robert Aldrich
W: Lukas Heller, Nunnally Johnson. Based on the novel by E.M. Nathanson
S: Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, John Cassavetes, Richard Jaeckel, George Kennedy, Trini Lopez, Ralph Meeker, Robert Ryan, Telly Savalas, Donald Sutherland, Robert Webber, Clint Walker
Academy Award Wins:
Best Sound Effects
Academy Award Nominations:
Best Supporting Actor - John Cassavetes
Best Film Editing
Best Sound
Another film from Aldrich, this film tells the tale of U.S. Army major assigned to lead a group of convicted soldiers on a secret mission to infiltrate a chateau in France on D-Day and take out a Nazi high commanding officers. This is one of the more unique movies on the list, the military using a group of troublesome men on a suicide mission can actually speak volumes on what was going on at the time with the war in Vietnam. The film has probably the best league of Anti-Heroes ever in a film. These guys, including their leader (Lee Marvin), are pretty much doing this mission just to save their own skins. It is an awesome film, with great performances and it does show how war was hell. Here's an interesting story, Robert Aldrich was said he could get an Oscar nomination for Best Director if he took out a scene with the Dozen pouring gasoline and grenades down an air duct in a bomb shelter. He said he would not take it out because he wanted to show that war is hell.
Flags of Our Fathers (2006)
D: Clint Eastwood
W: William Broyles Jr., Paul Harris. Based on the novel by James Bradley and Ron Powers.
S: Ryan Phillippe, Jesse Bradford, Adam Beach, John Benjamin Hickey, John Slattery, Barry Pepper, Jamie Bell, Robert Patrick, Neal McDonough
Academy Award Nominations:
Best Sound Mixing
Best Sound Editing
This film tells about the six men who are in the famous photograph of the flag being raised on Iwo Jima. It is both a film about Iwo Jima and the effects the battle had on the men, but also about how the flag raisers who survived were basically used as a piece of marketing. It shows the effects of these two factors on two of the men. The effects of the marketing had a great toll on Ira Hayes (played amazingly by the underrated Adam Beach), and the war had an effect on the Navy Corpsmen John Bradley (Ryan Phillippe). It is a wonderful film. The clip below is from the beginning of the film, you hear Clint Eastwood hauntingly singing a Dinah Washington song, we then see the corpsmen running through a barren battlefield hearing the cries of wounded Marines, and he tries desperately to find them. Powerful stuff.
The Great Escape (1963)
D: John Sturges
W: W.R. Burnett, James Clavell, Walter Newman (Uncredited). Based on the book by Paul Brickhill.
S: Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, James Donald, Charles Bronson, Donald Pleasence, James Coburn
Academy Award Nominations:
Best Film Editing
Another favorite director of mine, John Sturges. The man who directed several of my favorite films (The Magnificent Seven and Bad Day at Black Rock), gives us one of the best WWII films. With an all-star cast, an epic music score by Elmer Bernstein, a great detailed account of a real escape pulled off by Allied P.O.W.'s. Well, it's based on a true event, there are changes of course. Biggest one being, there were no Americans there. But that's not the point of this, there are so many great things about the film that it would probably take me hours to talk about it. I'll probably give this movie its own separate post. In the meantime here's a clip from the film, this is when they start to dig the first of three tunnels. And Doctor Who fans, that's William Russell, the actor who played one of the first companions in the beginning with the pipe.
The Guns of Navarone (1961)
D: J. Lee Thompson
W: Carl Foreman. Based on the novel by Alistair MacLean.
S: Gregory Peck, David Niven, Anthony Quinn, Stanley Baker, Anthony Quayle.
Academy Award Wins:
Best Special Effects
Academy Award Nominations:
Best Picture
Best Director - J. Lee Thompson
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Dramatic or Comedy Score
Best Film Editing
Best Best Sound
One of grand epic war films. A small group of British and Greek soldiers infiltrate an extremely powerful and destructive artillery position, and destroy it. This is not just an action/adventure film, there are a lot of Anti-War elements, but also the true compelling part comes from the battling ideologies. Seeing these towering men (played by towering actors) engage in not only physical battle with the Nazis but also watching them engage in a battle of wits is truly amazing stuff to watch. Also the action scenes are awesome.
Hell is for Heroes (1962)
D: Don Siegel
W: Richard Carr, Robert Pirosh
S: Steve McQueen, Bobby Darin, Fess Parker, James Coburn, Bob Newhart, Nick Adams
As I stated in a previous blogpost, my favorite film is The Alamo (1960, Dir. John Wayne) and I think because of that I've always been a big fan of 'last stand' movies, and this probably one of the best. The story of a small squad left to defend the Siegfried Line by themselves, when the battle grows intense so do the relations between the men.Dirty Harry directed Don Siegel does a great job at portraying the brutality of war without getting explicit or over the top. I'll admit that I am not the biggest fan of Steve McQueen as an actor, he's a lot like John Wayne in that he's more of a persona than an actor. But McQueen gives a haunting and intense performance in this film that has to be seen. There's also great performances from famed singer Bobby Darin and Nick Adams. This was also the first big screen role for comedian Bob Newhart.
Kelly's Heroes (1970)
D: Brian G. Hutton
W: Troy Kennedy Martin
S: Clint Eastwood, Telly Savalas, Don Rickles, Carroll O'Connor Donald Sutherland
I've been featuring a lot of rather bleak, and gritty war films. A big reason is because from what I gather that is war. But that doesn't mean we can't have a comedy. Enter Kelly's Heroes. The story of a small platoon of soldiers, along with a tank squad going out to find German gold. This is just pure fun. When ever I'm feeling a little down, I pop in this action-comedy with one of the most colorful casts of characters ever. This movie also features without a doubt one of the best characters ever in a film, Oddball, the hippie tank commander, played flawlessly by Donald Sutherland. Check the film out, and don't hit me with them negative waves.
A sister film to Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers, this film gives us the perspective of the Japanese, something that is very rare in WWII movies. The Japanese in this movie are not just there to "crush there American devil" or anything like that, they're soldiers defending and fighting for their country like our guys, they are portrayed as people. The best part in the whole film is Ken Watanabe's masterful performance as Gen. Tadamichi Kuribayashi. He is a rather tragic hero in a way, he maintains that he is General and defender of Japan but in a way does not want to fight the Americans. It is a truly remarkable performance.
The Longest Day (1962)
D: Ken Annakin, Andrew Marton, Gerd Oswald, Bernhard Wicki, Darry F. Zanuck (uncredited)
W: Romain Gary, James Jones, David Pursall, Cornelius Ryan, Jack Seddon. Based on the book by Cornelius Ryan.
S: John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Robert Mitchum, Sean Connery, Eddie Albert, Curd Jurgens, Richard Todd, Richard Burton, Peter Lawford, Rod Steiger, Irina Demick, Gert Frobe, Edmond O'Brien, Kenneth More
Academy Award Wins: Best Black and White Cinematography Best Special Effects Academy Award Nominations: Best Picture Best Black-and-White Art Direction-Set Direction Best Film Editing
A movie that can truly be called an epic movie. A movie that details the lead up and execution of D-Day from all the sides. We see the Germans preparing and making predictions about what the Allied Forces will do, we see the Americans and British pent up ready to go, and even showing the French Resistance giving a hand. It shows that this was an important event that had a big impact on the war, and it uses the full scope of cinema to display it. Even though this film has many sprawling set pieces and huge action moments it does manage to execute little moments to. Take this scene where a U.S. Ranger and an Infantrymen (Jeffrey Hunter) talk about a 'Dear John' letter the Infantrymen got. It is a remarkable scene in a movie that is littered with them.
Sands of Iwo Jima (1949)
D: Allan Dwan
W: Harry Brown, James Edward Grant
S: John Wayne, John Agar, Forrest Tucker, Adele Mara
Academy Award Nominations:
Best Actor - John Wayne
Best Story
Best Film Editing
Best Sound Recording
This is probably one of the more romanticized war films on the list but I can't help I like it. The story of Marine squad their relation to their squad leader all leading up to the Battle of Iwo Jima. John Wayne gives a truly great performance as the battle hardened, no nonsense Marine sergeant John M. Stryker. A Marine who acts tough as nail, but who also some demons hidden. The main one being, he wishes he could've been a better father and husband. Wayne's tone of voice and delivery really does work the character and it helps give a lot character. So in other words, John Wayne is the reason to check this movie out.
Saving Private Ryan (1998) D: Steve Spielberg W: Robert Rodat S: Tom Hanks, Edward Burns, Matt Damon, Vin Diesel, Tom Sizemore Academy Award Wins: Best Director - Steven Spielberg Best Cinematography Best Film Editing Best Sound Academy Award Nominations: Best Picture Best Actor - Tom Hanks Best Original Screenplay Best Art Direction-Set Direction Best Makeup Best Original Score Yeah, this is probably the most cliched pick I could put on the list but I'd probably kick myself for excluding it. While The Longest Day captured the scale of D-Day, this film captured the impact and feel of it. The audience is put right in the middle of this event and we get the details of how the landings went. But the movie isn't just about the Normandy landings, it is a compelling story about this group of Rangers going out and trying to find one paratrooper and the doubts a lot of them have about the mission. It does the audience a sense that these men went through hell, this was not a John Wayne film. It was war.
Stalag 17 (1953) D: Billy Wilder W: Edwin Blum, Billy Wilder. Based on the play by Donald Bevan and Edmund Trzcinski S: William Holden, Don Taylor, Otto Preminger, Robert Strauss. Academy Award Wins: Best Actor - William Holden Academy Award Nominations: Best Director - Billy Wilder Best Supporting Actor - Robert Strauss The list started off with one my favorite directors let's capstone it with another one, Billy Wilder. The man has this remarkable ability to combine a rather dark and bleak story and comedy and make it work. I am jealous of this man and his ability to do this. But outside of my admiration for the director this really a great film. One of the first films to show a prisoner of war camp and all their attempts to escape. This on a much smaller scale than The Great Escape but this films's concentration is more on the men in the camp and them trying to find out who maybe a spy for the Germans. Its a more than worthy watch for the comedy and the mystery. In the clip below you some of the best comedy bits from the two funniest characters. Eat your heart out Hogan's Heroes.
So that does it for my list. Do you agree? Disagree? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section below. I hope you all have a lovely Memorial Day, and let's not forget the reason why we have.
X-Men: Days of Future Past D: Bryan Singer W: Simon Kinberg S: Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Halle Berry, Anna Paquin, Ellen Page, Nicholas Hoult, Peter Dinklage, Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart
The X-Men return to the bring screen in their seventh onscreen adventure. This time around the mutants are becoming fewer in number and so they decide to send one of their own, Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), back in time to prevent the major event that would lead to the near extinction of the mutants. Will Wolverine succeed in the mission? Will the younger versions of Prof. X (James McAvoy), Magneto (Michael Fassbender), and Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) listen to his warning and change their ways? Or are the remaining mutants doomed?
Out of all the comic franchises out there the X-Men franchise is the one I am least familiar with. I know the basics about them, but I've only seen bits and pieces of the original three films, and I've only seen a few episodes of the 90s cartoon series. One thing is for sure about that series, it had an awesome theme song.
The only bits of the X-Men franchise I've seen completely is the cartoon series X-Men: Evolution, which I remember enjoying (this was the X-Men to me), and the only films I've seen are X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009, Dir. Gavin Hood) which in my opinion wasn't very good, and X-Men: First Class (2011, Dir. Matthew Vaughn) which I really, REALLY enjoyed.
So as someone who hasn't seen that much of the franchise how does the film hold up? It holds up pretty well. It really does take the character drama or Prof. X, Magneto and Mystique from the previous film and take it to the next level, and adapt it to the time period they're in.
While Jackman has top billing in the film the real story belongs to the other three I mentioned before. It continues the opposing ideologies of McAvoy's Xavier and Fassbender's Magneto, and their attempts to persuade Lawrence's Mystique to join them. While all these performances are great the one that really steals the show is James McAvoy. I, at no point during this movie, doubted the fact that this was a young Charles Xavier. While he did channel a little of Patrick Stewart, he manages to make the role his own and can convey every emotion and make you believe that every action Charles Xavier takes is with good reason. Seriously, why are people complaining about Leonardo DiCaprio not winning the Oscar? How about the fact that McAvoy has never even been nominated! Where's the outrage for that? Sorry, had that bit of rage in me I had to get out.
While I do enjoy this film I have the feeling I would appreciate this film a lot more if I watched the first three films, because from what I hear it fixed a lot of problems people had with third film. So I should have probably done my homework before seeing this film. But never the less this is still a pretty solid film that I think everyone will enjoy. The only problems I have are rather minor, one is slightly political involving the Magic Bullet stuff in Kennedy's assassination, and the weird fact that Anna Paquin is given such a high billing. But really that's nothing to big.
So again, I highly recommend this movie. I'll be sure to do my homework and find time for the first three films.
What's your opinion on film? What are your thoughts on the X-Men franchise? Feel free to share in the comments below.
Godzilla (2014) D: Gareth Edwards W: Max Borenstein S: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ken Watanabe, Elizabeth Olsen, Juliette Binoche, Sally Hawkins, David Strathairn, Bryan Cranston
The King of Monsters returns to the big screen and puts up his dukes against not one, but two monsters, called MUTOs (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism). In the meantime we got a U.S. Navy officer (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) caught in the middle of this as he tries to get back home to his wife and son. Will he get home? Will Godzilla be able to put an end the destruction caused by the MUTOs?
When to comes to Godzilla movies there are times when you have to be a little lenient towards the film. It'd be really silly to point out things and go "Well that could never happen," well chances are neither could a giant 300 foot dinosaur who breaths atomic fire, so we critics and reviewers have to pick our battles. Now that's not to say there are stupid moments in these movies, but not all of them are worth calling out.
One thing that kind of separates this entry in the franchise from others is that this has a lot of concentration on the humans caught in the middle of the monster brawl. Which, in some of the Godzilla films I've seen isn't handled to well. Sometimes it can a little dull, others times it can be really annoying (Godzilla's Revenge), or it can just be uninteresting and rather unnecessary (Roland Emmerich's Godzilla), but this time around it works in my opinion. Although of a lot of it may be a tribute to the fact they've got some really good actors for the parts. The best in my opinion is Bryan Cranston. He probably gives the best performance in the film. And just for the record: No, I have not seen a single episode of Breaking Bad so I'm not saying this as a fan of the show. The man truly is one of the best actors we've got around. Every single scene he is in you can not take you eyes off him, and you believe his emotions and what he is going through. Sadly he's not in the film as much, it does mostly concentrate on his son, played by Kick-Ass star and future Quicksilver, Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Now I liked him in Kick-Ass but I felt Taylor-Johnson was not as compelling as the others in the picture. He is by no means a BAD actor, but he does get over shadowed by the likes of Cranston, Hawkins, Watanabe, Strathairnand even Elizabeth Olsenwho plays his wife in the film. But all in all, the human stuff is fine.
But you don't care about that do you? You want to know about Godzilla and the other monsters do you? Well, it is alright... for the most part. You know how in the trailers they build up Godzilla by barely showing him until the end of the trailer? That's kind of how it is the film. It mostly concentrates on the new monsters and what the military plans on doing to stop them. That doesn't bother me, matter of fact the MUTOs are pretty cool monster and the film is effective in showing the disaster and how much of threat these things are, but when it looks like a fight is about to get underway they cut the humans and we see some of the fighting on the TV, but come on we want to see that stuff up front. They actually do get the fight scene and it is pretty exciting. Especially Godzilla's final kill move for the second MUTO. I won't spoil it for you, but I'll tell you this, when he did that finishing blow the whole theater roared with applause. It was that amazing.
I also like how they made Godzilla into the hero this time around. Now when I say he's a hero I don't mean in the, "I am Godzilla. Defender of the Universe. Truth, justice, and the Kaiju way." No, Ken Watanabe's character said it best,
"He wants to put nature back in order."
In conclusion, is this the best Godzilla film? Probably not. I say that because 1. It is completely objective. 2. I haven't seen all the Godzilla films. But it is still a pretty strong film. I recommend seeing this film in the theater, especially with a crowd. And if you can, go see it at a drive-in theater. This is the perfect kind of film for that environment. I want to try and see it again at my local drive-in theater.
Also just for kicks here are some other Godzilla films I recommend:
Godzilla/Gojira (1954, Dir. Ishiro Honda, Terry O. Morse [American scenes]). The original classic. Can't be beat. It's actually part of the Criterion Collection. That has to mean something.
King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962, Dir. Ishiro Honda) Classic cheesy monster mash. Not gonna lie, I wouldn't mind seeing a remake.
Invasion of the Atro-Monsters/Godzilla vs. Monster Zero (1965, Dir. Ishiro Honda) The first Godzilla film I ever rented from a video store. This is when things start to get a little silly (I'm mainly talking about the little dance Godzilla does at one point. I'm not joking, he is literally dancing at one point.) This also features two of Godzilla most frequent co-stars, Rodan and Ghidorah. It's a good fun popcorn film.
Godzilla 2000 (1999, Dir. Takao Okawara) The first Godzilla film I ever saw in theaters. A real treat.
If I left one off that you like, feel free to share. And again, keep in mind I haven't seen all of them.
Want more about Godzilla? Check out James Rolfe's video series Cinemassacre's Monster Madness: Godzillathon. The guy is a die hard Godzilla fan and in this series of videos from 2008 he gives his opinion on every Godzilla film at the time. Check it out here on his website: Cinemassacre - Godzillathon.
Since I've decided to restart writing on this blog I'm going to do a series where I talk about my favorite movies. So let's start off with the movie that got me into movies. The Alamo (1960) - Director's Cut D: John Wayne W: James Edward Grant S: John Wayne, Richard Widmark, Laurence Harvey, Frankie Avalon, Patrick Wayne, Linda Cristal, Joan O'Brien, Chill Wills, Joseph Calleia, Ken Curtis, Veda Ann Borg, Denver Pyle, Richard Boone. Academy Award Wins: Best Sound Academy Award Nominations: Best Picture Best Supporting Actor - Chill Wills Best Color Cinematography Best Film Editing Best Original Song "The Green Leaves of Summer" Best Dramatic or Comedy Score
I remember back when I was little boy, between the ages of 8-9 years old, I had this gigantic and strange fascination of anything Davy Crockett related. This can be traced back to me watching the two Disney produced Davy Crockett movies. Those movies being Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier and the prequel Davy Crockett and the River Pirates. Both films starred the late Fess Parker as the titular Crockett and the almost Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz, Buddy Ebsen as his sidekick. I'll go into detail about these films for another post but rest assure those movies are just a barrel of fun and if you have kids I strongly recommend you show them these movies. But back to my main point, I was obsessed with the Davy Crockett mythos. I was so obsessed with him that one year for Halloween I dressed up as him for Halloween. A friend of my mother's made me a costume and I freaking loved it! On Trick or Treat night I marched proudly in my fake buckskin suit and imitation Raccoon skin cap. I went up to the first house, knocked on the door, said "Trick or Treat!" and the little old lady at the door said, "Oh how cute! You're Daniel Boone." And that happened at every house I went to that night. I was devastated. Of course I understand now why they thought that, seeing as I'm from Ohio and Ohioans know more about Boone than Crockett. Also at the time I didn't know Fess Parker played Boone on a tv show in the 1960s. To keep a long story short (Too late) I was obsessed.
One night when I was about 9, my dad was watching the Turner Classic Movie channel and he said to me, "Hey, want to watch this movie with me? It's about Davy Crockett and stars John Wayne." And I'm probably one of the only people of my generation who knew of John Wayne at the age of 9. I of course said, "YES!" That movie was the 1960 John Wayne directed epic, The Alamo. I sat down with my father on the couch and watched and fell in love.
This film was a passion project of John Wayne's for a long time, and it clearly shows. He and James Edward Grant had gotten a script put together and Wayne pitched the project to the Republic Studios. They essentially took the script and made it a thing of their own. A film called The Last Command (1955, Dir. Frank Lloyd) which more of Jim Bowie movie than an Alamo movie. I haven't been able to prove this but I'm willing to bet that this was made mostly to compete with Disney's Crockett franchise. Bowie even gets his own theme song.
The film at the time was the most expensive film Republic Studios had made, and a lot of it probably had to do with them basically building their own Alamo set. But the movie bombed essentially and Republic Studios closed down. I've seen the film and their are many similarities between this film and Wayne's Alamo but there isn't much to the script. Despite its larger scale it is just a basic Western B-Movie. The only reason I would say check it out is if you're a big Ernest Borgnine fan like me, or you're obsessed with Alamo stuff... like me. Actually, I do own a copy of the VHS. I couldn't resist.
Anyway, on with the main topic. John Wayne's The Alamo. What exactly made me like this movie, what made me LOVE this movie? So much so that I would name it my favorite film and site it as my main influence when it comes to film making and storytelling? Well it involves many of the things I love when it comes to stories and movies, it doesn't apply to ALL the stories and movies I like but having these elements doesn't hurt. First of all, the music is superb. Academy Award Winner Dimitri Tiomkin composes, in my opinion, one of the best scores for a movie. Every piece of music fits perfectly with every scene. The film's most notable track is the song The Green Leaves of Summer.
But some of you may have heard this song through Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds.
But this is where the song popped up first. You hear bits and pieces of the song throughout the soundtrack, but the first time you hear the actual lyrics is the night before the final battle. It fits beautifully with the scene. As the defenders begin to think about their lives and what they've done with said lives. The dialogue that best summarizes the moments between Davy Crockett (Wayne)and one of his men Thimblerig the Gamber (Dukes of Hazzard's Denver Pyle).
"What are you thinkin' about, Davy?"
"Not thinking. Just remembering."
Now this scene isn't in its entirety. But I'll get to that in a little bit.
But what else do I love about the film? Well it has a great cast and practically each one fills the role perfectly. As I stated above this was John Wayne's passion project, he was the director and the producer and he originally wanted to take the role of Sam Houston. He wanted the role because it was a smaller part and he wanted to concentrate on directing, but the financiers wanted him in the lead role so he took it, and Wayne's Davy Crockett is as of right now my favorite incarnation of the legendary pioneer. When it comes to judging the performance of Crockett I approach very similar to how Doug Walker (aka The Nostalgia Critic) judges the performances of Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings films. I have to able to buy the fact that Crockett is both a Frontiersmen and a Congressmen. To get my reference point check out his video LOTR Animated vs LOTR (http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/thatguywiththeglasses/nostalgia-critic/9754-lotr). Fess Parker's version from the Disney films of the 1950s, but Wayne's comes in a very close second.
Probably Wayne's best scene (or second best if we're talking about the theatrical cut. Again, I'll get to that) is his Republic Speech.
Another great casting choice was Laurence Harvey as William Travis and Richard Widmark as James Bowie. These actors fit their roles perfectly and the arc between the two characters is helped out a lot by their performances. Throughout the film the two conflict with each other in ideals about how to command the fort, and the slow progression of respect shows up when Santa Anna's army arrives at the fort. A cavalry officer gives delivers a message saying they have the opportunity to surrenders, but before the message is finished Travis fires off a cannon thus starting the siege. When asked by Crockett what he thought about it, Bowie replies with,
"I hate to say anything good about that long winded jackanapes, but he does know the short way to start a war."
Travis's arc is displayed visually displayed in a very clever way. Throughout the film we see Travis giving orders and talking down (literally) to the other men. We get an idea of his character from a speech he gives where he says in the privacy of his office to one of his officers, Capt. Dickinson (Ken Curtis),
"I am better than that ramble down there."
As the film grows closer and close to the final battle Travis starts to gain more respect for the men. His arc is completed when he announces to the other men of the fort that no help is coming. He does this on the ground level and looking up at them. Alamo - No Retreat. The first to join him is Bowie, and slowly each defender gets off their horse and joins him.
And during the final battle, as the enemy is swarming in, he casts aside his saber's scabbard and changes on into them sword fighting them. Before he dies (I'd say this is a spoiler but people if you know about the battle you know what happens) he breaks his sword in half and tosses at them, symbolizing how he'll never surrender. I sadly can not find a picture or video of this so PLEASE go and watch the film.
But of course every film has their flaws and so does this film. The biggest actual flaw of the film, outside of some continuity issues, is Frankie Avalon. He is clearly the weakest link in this cast of greats. No I'm not picking on him because he's young or because he's a singer. There are plenty of singers who have done great in acting. Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra are the biggest examples (both have won Oscars for acting). But, he is extremely out of place. He does have one pretty good acting moment. At the very end of the film, after the final battle, Smitty (Avalon) was sent out as a courier to get help he tries to ride back so he can help but he is obviously too late. As the music plays we see him slowly take off his cap honoring his fallen comrades. Very simply, very subtle, and very moving. Actually that about summarizes the ending as well.
But the saddest thing about the film is that the version I feel in love with, the film that made me love movies, isn't available on DVD. The Director's Cut (or Roadshow version) is only available on VHS... which of course I own. I'm still not really sure why they can't convert this to DVD. Thankfully, we have a saint on Youtube who posted the scenes. Many of these scenes add so much more.
Now the final battle is beyond words. The build up, the sounds, the sights, and action is superb. I know my words won't do it justice so I again insist on getting the film. Here's a few still shots I found just to give you an idea.
I could go on and on about this film but I want you to experience it. Hopefully you'll enjoy. If you've seen it share your thoughts. Also, don't be surprised if you see me post a lot about this movie, at least on my Facebook page. Which you 'Like' right here. John's Film Reviews
What better way to end this is to quote the movie's Sam Houston (Richard Boone)
"I hope they remember. I hope Texas remembers."
DISCLAIMER: All videos and images belong to their respected sources.
