#98 on 2007 AFI 100 Greatest Movies of All Time
#100 on 1998 AFI 100 Greatest Movies of All Time
We didn't know much about this movie before we watched it. Turns out it is a musical biopic about the life of George M. Cohan. I have heard his songs, but I can't say that I knew a whole lot about George M. Cohan. Here is his wikipedia page. The movie made a few changes to his life, most notably, cutting out his first wife and all four of his children. Instead, it focused on him and his patriotic achievements, especially his congressional medal of honor.
Did we enjoy it? Well, I enjoyed it. I love old movie musicals and these are some of the greatest songs ever written. Of course, I didn't love some of the singing, because the talk-singing style that was popular at that time has always kind of annoyed me. But it was fun. I especially enjoyed the "Give My Regards to Broadway" scene, which was from Little Johnny Jones. And also the song "Off the Record" from I'd Rather Be Right, which is a musical about FDR. I had never heard of that musical, but how exciting is that? There is a musical where FDR is a singing, dancing president. Of course, it's a Rogers and Hart musical, and those can be pretty bad. But it looks fun.
Mike, didn't enjoy the movie as much as I did. He thought it was okay, and he agreed with where we should put it on our overall list; above Ben Hur and Toy Story, but below Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. I imagine that most of the coming movies will go above this one, though. And speaking of rankings, I have no idea how the AFI people ranked all of these movies. How do you compare a movie musical from 1942 against an animated movie from 1995? And there will be mysteries and comedies and dramas and tearjerkers and thrillers and epics. How exactly is this going to work? Not only that, but we are ranking them together, so we have to agree on where everything goes. I think we're just trying to put it in order based on how enjoyable each movie is and whether we would want to watch it again. But I guarantee you that somewhere along the way we are going to come up against some movie that we can't agree on where to put it... and then we'll probably have to average it or something. Anyway, if you like old movie musicals and you've never seen this movie, check it out!
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Saturday, July 21, 2012
The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
If you haven't seen this movie yet, don't read this post. I'm going to assume that if you are reading this post, you have seen the movie and that I won't be spoiling it for you.
I have to say that this movie was not nearly as good as the second movie, which is not in any way surprising. However, it is certainly much better than many third installments to trilogies and it is in no way a bad movie. My main issues with this movie were the pacing and the predictability. The beginning of the movie, especially, seemed to move very slow. But it was interesting in that it felt like it was paced the way a comic book would be paced, which is kind of neat. And the plot was incredibly predictable. That didn't necessarily make it less satisfying as an end to the trilogy, but it made it a little less interesting. The plot of this movie really went back to Batman Begins, and I had the exact same problems with that movie.
Here's the problem. Ra's Al Ghul has always been my favorite Batman villain. So when I watched Batman Begins I knew immediately that Liam Neeson was Ra's Al Ghul, which apparently was supposed to be a surprise. I'm sure that I'm not the only person who knew it, but I think that the other people who knew were similarly non-plussed by the "reveal" toward the end of the movie. However, knowing that he was Ra's Al Ghul throughout the movie didn't make it any less enjoyable. Then, of course, The Dark Knight happened and Heath Ledger changed comic book villains as we know them. How can you possibly top that? You can't. Plus, Christopher Nolan chose not to even mention the Joker in this film, a decision which I can completely respect.
And then we get to this final movie. Now, one of my favorite storylines with Ra's Al Ghul (and, one of the best ever episodes of Batman the Animated Series, if you watched that) is that Bruce Wayne/Batman falls in love with Talia Al Ghul. Well, this movie starts talking about the League of Shadows and Ra's Al Ghul and here's Bruce Wayne sleeping with some woman. I mean, of course she's Talia Al Ghul. How can you not see that? It was just so predictable, and I was really frustrated with Bruce Wayne's gullibility on that. It didn't ruin the movie for me or anything, but I just wish there had been a slightly better villain. Talia Al Ghul + Bane are clearly not as interesting as Joker/Two-Face, but they're not even as interesting as Ra's Al Ghul/Scarecrow. So, boo on that.
A related problem I had was that the foreshadowing in this movie was terrible. Alfred tells the story about the restaurant in Italy, well, there's your ending. The little quips about the autopilot on the "Bat", I mean, come on. All the stuff with Selina Kyle and her fresh start and all of that stuff. The ending was just too obvious.
Having said all of that, I still thought the movie was fun. I liked watching it. I think it's a decent end to the trilogy. The two best parts of the movie were definitely Joseph Gordon-Levitt and (as much as people might disagree) Anne Hathaway. Gordon-Levitt's character was well written, interesting, and he makes a great future... I'm going to go with Nightwing. And Anne Hathaway's Catwoman was very well done. I thought she really understood the character and inhabited her well. It felt like a somewhat fresh take on Catwoman that made sense in the universe this Batman trilogy created, and it felt like a good ending for Bruce Wayne.
At the end of the day, the entire trilogy was great, it changed comic book movies, I can't wait for the new Superman movie next year. But as for this summer, the Spider-man movie was better and the Avengers was probably the best of the comic book movies. Now we wait until next summer and the next crop of superhero movies.
I have to say that this movie was not nearly as good as the second movie, which is not in any way surprising. However, it is certainly much better than many third installments to trilogies and it is in no way a bad movie. My main issues with this movie were the pacing and the predictability. The beginning of the movie, especially, seemed to move very slow. But it was interesting in that it felt like it was paced the way a comic book would be paced, which is kind of neat. And the plot was incredibly predictable. That didn't necessarily make it less satisfying as an end to the trilogy, but it made it a little less interesting. The plot of this movie really went back to Batman Begins, and I had the exact same problems with that movie.
Here's the problem. Ra's Al Ghul has always been my favorite Batman villain. So when I watched Batman Begins I knew immediately that Liam Neeson was Ra's Al Ghul, which apparently was supposed to be a surprise. I'm sure that I'm not the only person who knew it, but I think that the other people who knew were similarly non-plussed by the "reveal" toward the end of the movie. However, knowing that he was Ra's Al Ghul throughout the movie didn't make it any less enjoyable. Then, of course, The Dark Knight happened and Heath Ledger changed comic book villains as we know them. How can you possibly top that? You can't. Plus, Christopher Nolan chose not to even mention the Joker in this film, a decision which I can completely respect.
And then we get to this final movie. Now, one of my favorite storylines with Ra's Al Ghul (and, one of the best ever episodes of Batman the Animated Series, if you watched that) is that Bruce Wayne/Batman falls in love with Talia Al Ghul. Well, this movie starts talking about the League of Shadows and Ra's Al Ghul and here's Bruce Wayne sleeping with some woman. I mean, of course she's Talia Al Ghul. How can you not see that? It was just so predictable, and I was really frustrated with Bruce Wayne's gullibility on that. It didn't ruin the movie for me or anything, but I just wish there had been a slightly better villain. Talia Al Ghul + Bane are clearly not as interesting as Joker/Two-Face, but they're not even as interesting as Ra's Al Ghul/Scarecrow. So, boo on that.
A related problem I had was that the foreshadowing in this movie was terrible. Alfred tells the story about the restaurant in Italy, well, there's your ending. The little quips about the autopilot on the "Bat", I mean, come on. All the stuff with Selina Kyle and her fresh start and all of that stuff. The ending was just too obvious.
Having said all of that, I still thought the movie was fun. I liked watching it. I think it's a decent end to the trilogy. The two best parts of the movie were definitely Joseph Gordon-Levitt and (as much as people might disagree) Anne Hathaway. Gordon-Levitt's character was well written, interesting, and he makes a great future... I'm going to go with Nightwing. And Anne Hathaway's Catwoman was very well done. I thought she really understood the character and inhabited her well. It felt like a somewhat fresh take on Catwoman that made sense in the universe this Batman trilogy created, and it felt like a good ending for Bruce Wayne.
At the end of the day, the entire trilogy was great, it changed comic book movies, I can't wait for the new Superman movie next year. But as for this summer, the Spider-man movie was better and the Avengers was probably the best of the comic book movies. Now we wait until next summer and the next crop of superhero movies.
Sunday, July 15, 2012
AFI #99: Toy Story (1995)
#99 on 2007 AFI 100 Greatest Movies of All Time
#6 on AFI's Top 10 Animated Films
The next movie on the AFI list: Toy Story. I wasn't really looking forward to this one all that much, because I'm not really into animated movies anymore. Mike, on the other hand, had never seen it. I have no idea how he never saw Toy Story, but it was in the theaters when he was a freshman in high school, so I could see how it wouldn't have been a cool movie to go to. Anyway, he had never seen it, which I didn't figure out until almost the end of the movie, when he said "oh, that's interesting" and I realized that he didn't know what was going to happen.
I don't have a whole lot to say about it. It's a pretty great children's movie. It's very clever. I'm pretty sure it changed animated movies as we know them. But I'm just not that into animated movies anymore, so, while it was entertaining, it just didn't cause much conversation.
We then had to decide where this should go on our list. I, personally, would have put it at the end, but Mike wanted to put it ahead of Ben-Hur, just based on entertainment value. And I can go for that, so that's what we did. But I don't think this movie is going to be moving very far up our list.
#6 on AFI's Top 10 Animated Films
The next movie on the AFI list: Toy Story. I wasn't really looking forward to this one all that much, because I'm not really into animated movies anymore. Mike, on the other hand, had never seen it. I have no idea how he never saw Toy Story, but it was in the theaters when he was a freshman in high school, so I could see how it wouldn't have been a cool movie to go to. Anyway, he had never seen it, which I didn't figure out until almost the end of the movie, when he said "oh, that's interesting" and I realized that he didn't know what was going to happen.
I don't have a whole lot to say about it. It's a pretty great children's movie. It's very clever. I'm pretty sure it changed animated movies as we know them. But I'm just not that into animated movies anymore, so, while it was entertaining, it just didn't cause much conversation.
We then had to decide where this should go on our list. I, personally, would have put it at the end, but Mike wanted to put it ahead of Ben-Hur, just based on entertainment value. And I can go for that, so that's what we did. But I don't think this movie is going to be moving very far up our list.
Saturday, July 14, 2012
The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)
Went to see the new Spiderman movie last night and I thought it was awesome! Mike didn't love it as much as I did, but I think I know why that is. First, some background... Mike and I are both big comic book nerds. Mike loves X-Men, but also reads many other books, like Batman, Walking Dead, Star Wars, and Watchmen. I, on the other hand, am a huge Spiderman fan. I have read all the early books and, while my Spiderman collection does not rival Mike's X-Men collection, it's still pretty impressive. I, of course, also read Batman, Superman, Watchmen, and others. But I loves me some Spiderman. Especially early Spiderman. It's one of the first comic books I really got into, after, of course, my childhood love of Archie comics. So I was super excited that this movie went back to the beginning. Whereas Mike doesn't have that love of early Spiderman comics.
Mike's major complaint was about pacing, he thought it was too rushed. I completely disagree and think the pacing was great. Mike enjoyed the characters, but he really wanted them to spend more time on Peter exploring his powers. I, on the other hand, have always thought that was the most boring part. So, this movie was made for me! But not so much for Mike.
So here's what I loved. I love that it was Gwen Stacy instead of Mary Jane. She was Peter's first love, after all. And it really leaves a lot open for the sequel. Will they kill her off? Certainly seems that Green Goblin is coming up soon. And speaking of the Green Goblin. I love that the villain was the Lizard. He's one of the earliest villains that Spiderman goes up against and I always liked him. It doesn't hurt that Rhys Ifans played the part so well. I also love that they kind of combined events a little bit, so that we can skip Dr. Octopus, who killed Captain Stacy in the comics. I'm not a huge fan of Doc Oc, and I hope they leave him out of this reboot. What else do I love... Martin Sheen. Also, Andrew Garfield's and Emma Stone's acting ability. And the scene at the end with the eggs, how sweet was that. I loved that they included Flash instead of just having random bullies, and that they tried to capture the relationship that Peter and Flash had in the comics. Flash isn't so bad, he's just a big, dumb jock, who needs friends to teach him how to be a person instead of a jerk. And I feel like they went with that instead of just making him a bully. Which, I guess, is part of why I really loved the movie so much. The script, mixed with the acting ability of all the actors gave us a comic book movie with fully realized characters, none of whom was wholly good or bad. And that is my favorite kind of movie. And now I will stop writing, but I will probably read a few Spider-man comics to relive some of the best moments.
Mike's major complaint was about pacing, he thought it was too rushed. I completely disagree and think the pacing was great. Mike enjoyed the characters, but he really wanted them to spend more time on Peter exploring his powers. I, on the other hand, have always thought that was the most boring part. So, this movie was made for me! But not so much for Mike.
So here's what I loved. I love that it was Gwen Stacy instead of Mary Jane. She was Peter's first love, after all. And it really leaves a lot open for the sequel. Will they kill her off? Certainly seems that Green Goblin is coming up soon. And speaking of the Green Goblin. I love that the villain was the Lizard. He's one of the earliest villains that Spiderman goes up against and I always liked him. It doesn't hurt that Rhys Ifans played the part so well. I also love that they kind of combined events a little bit, so that we can skip Dr. Octopus, who killed Captain Stacy in the comics. I'm not a huge fan of Doc Oc, and I hope they leave him out of this reboot. What else do I love... Martin Sheen. Also, Andrew Garfield's and Emma Stone's acting ability. And the scene at the end with the eggs, how sweet was that. I loved that they included Flash instead of just having random bullies, and that they tried to capture the relationship that Peter and Flash had in the comics. Flash isn't so bad, he's just a big, dumb jock, who needs friends to teach him how to be a person instead of a jerk. And I feel like they went with that instead of just making him a bully. Which, I guess, is part of why I really loved the movie so much. The script, mixed with the acting ability of all the actors gave us a comic book movie with fully realized characters, none of whom was wholly good or bad. And that is my favorite kind of movie. And now I will stop writing, but I will probably read a few Spider-man comics to relive some of the best moments.
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Gavin DeGraw: Sweeter
I'm really enjoying Sweeter this week. I think that there are some really sexy songs on it. Now, I have seen pictures and videos of Gavin DeGraw and he, as a person, is not particularly sexy. But I think his voice and his songs are incredibly sexy. Kind of like Billy Joel... I'm also really into great word choice lately, and I think that Gavin definitely excels at word choice. I particularly enjoy the songs Sweeter, Stealing, Radiation, and Soldier. And now that I'm looking at those, I see that they are all one word titles and mostly start with the letter "s". Interesting....
In addition to enjoying Gavin DeGraw's most recent album for the songs themselves, I also enjoy them because every once in a while, in the background, there is talking, or woo-ing, or na-na-ing or clapping. And I am convinced that all of this is done by Ryan Tedder. Why? First, because Ryan did co-write the first two songs on the album, so it would make total sense that he might have been in the studio at some point. Second, because I'm not sure if Gavin has any other friends, especially taking into account that mugging in New York. (Mike, didn't know about the mugging, but basically, Gavin got assaulted by multiple people late at night in the Village last August and it was bizarre. And I always wondered if he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, or if they really hated his music.) Third, because I am convinced that these two are bromantic, or, if they aren't, they should be. But mostly, it's because if there were going to be a sitcom of my life, it would be about me living in an apartment with Gavin DeGraw and Ryan Tedder, like Three's Company. I would be Jack, and Ryan Tedder would be Janet, and Gavin DeGraw would be Chrissy. We would write some songs for Adele and totally ignore OneRepublic when they came to visit. And maybe Sara Bareilles and Jason Mraz could come over and jam or something. Then Meiko could bring Brendan Hines over and he would be my love interest. It would be totally awesome.
And that's why I love Gavin DeGraw, because it ends up with me hanging out with Brendan Hines!
In addition to enjoying Gavin DeGraw's most recent album for the songs themselves, I also enjoy them because every once in a while, in the background, there is talking, or woo-ing, or na-na-ing or clapping. And I am convinced that all of this is done by Ryan Tedder. Why? First, because Ryan did co-write the first two songs on the album, so it would make total sense that he might have been in the studio at some point. Second, because I'm not sure if Gavin has any other friends, especially taking into account that mugging in New York. (Mike, didn't know about the mugging, but basically, Gavin got assaulted by multiple people late at night in the Village last August and it was bizarre. And I always wondered if he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, or if they really hated his music.) Third, because I am convinced that these two are bromantic, or, if they aren't, they should be. But mostly, it's because if there were going to be a sitcom of my life, it would be about me living in an apartment with Gavin DeGraw and Ryan Tedder, like Three's Company. I would be Jack, and Ryan Tedder would be Janet, and Gavin DeGraw would be Chrissy. We would write some songs for Adele and totally ignore OneRepublic when they came to visit. And maybe Sara Bareilles and Jason Mraz could come over and jam or something. Then Meiko could bring Brendan Hines over and he would be my love interest. It would be totally awesome.
And that's why I love Gavin DeGraw, because it ends up with me hanging out with Brendan Hines!
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