#90 on 1998 AFI 100 Greatest Movies of All Time
I am sad to report that The Jazz Singer has not stood the test of time. At least not for me. I was so bored 30 minutes in that we had to turn it off. Which means we didn't even get to the controversial parts. Because we didn't watch the whole movie, we aren't going to rate it. So, it will be added to the list as "unrated".
Mike keeps asking me why I think that this movie hasn't stood the test of time, but that I want to watch Swing Time, which is next on the list. And the answer is: I don't know, I haven't seen Swing Time yet. So we'll watch it and then decide if Swing Time is also too boring. Stay tuned...
Showing posts with label Musicals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Musicals. Show all posts
Saturday, December 28, 2013
Saturday, December 22, 2012
AFI # 91.5: My Fair Lady (1964)
#91 on 1998 AFI 100 Greatest Movies of All Time
I saw this movie for the first time when I was a kid and I liked it. There are some really great songs in this musical and wonderful set pieces. But that's about it. The movie as a whole makes very little sense and has no real ending. It's not surprising that it didn't make it back on to the Top 100 list in 2007, because it really has not held up well over time. If you think you like this movie, I challenge you to go back and watch it again, then make a list of what was good and what was bad and see what you come up with. Because I thought I liked this movie, and then we watched it and it turns out, it was kind of terrible. So here is my list:
Good:
The scene at Ascot
Eliza's father and his friends (especially their first song)
The costumes, mostly
Bad:
The lip synch, especially in "Get Me To The Church on Time"
Rex Harrison sing-talks all his songs
Eliza's response to everything for the first half of the movie is "EEEEAAAAAOOOOOWWWW"
All of a sudden, at 3:00am, Eliza magically learns how to speak perfectly and never falters again
They skip a few months during the course of a conversation, between Ascot and the ball
Freddie apparently stalks Eliza by hanging out on her street all the time, and then at the end of the movie, he's probably still just waiting for her in the cab; what is up with that?
There is no problem to solve and no resolution of the plot; which means there isn't an ending
So there it is. We both put this at the bottom of our respectful lists and I have a feeling it's going to stay there.
I saw this movie for the first time when I was a kid and I liked it. There are some really great songs in this musical and wonderful set pieces. But that's about it. The movie as a whole makes very little sense and has no real ending. It's not surprising that it didn't make it back on to the Top 100 list in 2007, because it really has not held up well over time. If you think you like this movie, I challenge you to go back and watch it again, then make a list of what was good and what was bad and see what you come up with. Because I thought I liked this movie, and then we watched it and it turns out, it was kind of terrible. So here is my list:
Good:
The scene at Ascot
Eliza's father and his friends (especially their first song)
The costumes, mostly
Bad:
The lip synch, especially in "Get Me To The Church on Time"
Rex Harrison sing-talks all his songs
Eliza's response to everything for the first half of the movie is "EEEEAAAAAOOOOOWWWW"
All of a sudden, at 3:00am, Eliza magically learns how to speak perfectly and never falters again
They skip a few months during the course of a conversation, between Ascot and the ball
Freddie apparently stalks Eliza by hanging out on her street all the time, and then at the end of the movie, he's probably still just waiting for her in the cab; what is up with that?
There is no problem to solve and no resolution of the plot; which means there isn't an ending
So there it is. We both put this at the bottom of our respectful lists and I have a feeling it's going to stay there.
Sunday, July 29, 2012
AFI #98: Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
#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!
#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!
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