The Addams Family

This afternoon I saw the Addams Family. 

Original image located here. Accessed 4th November 2024

Granted I have already seen it before but consider this 2024's Halloween movie.

Even now this movie is still pretty funny. Yes there are some that will complain that there is little to no plot to speak of but the acting and the jokes are right on target ("But I didn't hate my mother! It was an accident!!"). 

It seems that in recent years Gomez and Morticia seem to be held up as the ideal couple - can you argue given that Raul Julia and Angelica Houston are going above and beyond to their commitment to these roles. And the one-liners are still funny and I'm still seeing new visual gags I missed the first time around.

Ife you told me that this movie was the genesis of the goth subculture I wouldn't doubt it.

The Artist

   And this week's Friday night movie has been... The Artist!

Original image located here. Accessed 4th November 2024

Best Picture Oscar winner no.: 84 (2011)

Could this be one of the more forgotten Best Picture winners? I recall this getting a lot of praise form critics in it's day but the public was more frosty towards it. In particular, a lot of the criticisms were aimed at the gimmicky nature of the movie and the strategy of showing Hollywood celebrating itself is a guaranteed Oscar success. In regards to the latter, it should come to no surprise that this movie is another one with the Weinstein Company logo stamped across it.

So what do I make of this movie?

I think it's great.
Yes it's a simulacrum of the silent era but that's precisely the point: The amount of effort to replicate the films of the era is staggering, what with the setting, the technology and the filmmaking techniques used. The amount of playfulness with this movie and it's relationship to sound is also pleasing. 
I recall back in college I was reading up on film history and was struck by what a revolution the advent of sound was back in the 1920s: The silent era was officially over, various studios went out of business and many actors and actresses now had their careers ended (although how Charlie Chaplain managed to endure I have no idea). And this movie was effectively that transition come to life.

So yeah, I had a great time with this movie and it was certainly better than it's status of a 'lost' winner.

The King's Speech

  And this week's Friday night movie has been... The King's Speech!

Original image located here. Accessed 4th November 2024

Best Picture Oscar winner no.: 83 (2010)

I recall when this movie when Best Picture: There was this uproar that it won because it appeared to follow the apparent formula for success: World War 2 setting. Stacked cast. Protagonist with handicap to overcome. Guide for protagonist whose credentials are dubious. Biographical. 
But in the years since, it seems there seems to be a lot of contempt for this movie as it beat out The Social Network for Best Picture.
An unlikely victory akin to the movie-going public's favourite punching bag Shakespeare in Love.

Actually, now that I think of it, lets compare Shakespeare in Love with The King's Speech:

• Both are of British origin
• Both have an impressive cast showcasing the best of British acting
• Both have Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush in key roles
• Both have a historical setting
• Both are distributed by the Weinstein Company
• Both on the Best Picture Oscar through beating out more favourable competition

So having said all that, what did I make of The King's Speech?
I enjoyed it. 

Yes it's a given that the cast is indeed stacked - and it's great to see Helena Bonham Carter in a role where she isn't playing a complete nutter - but I like this as a small scale story in a wartime setting. Which is indeed a rarity.
The story being told is a compelling one and the speech itself, the climax of the journey taken, is indeed inspiring.
Sure there are some historical inaccuracies and some questionable directional choices but when this movie works, it does indeed work. 

The Hurt Locker

 And this week's Friday night movie has been... The Hurt Locker!

Original image located here. Accessed 4th November 2024

Best Picture Oscar winner no.: 82 (2009)

As previously mentioned, I am convinced that the movie going public will never forgive Shakespeare in Love for it's upset Best Picture victory. So the question is raised: How do people feel about The Hurt Locker's upset win?
It seems to me that this movie is in the same boat as Shakespeare in Love as it both beat some stiff competition and became something of a watershed for the Best Picture Oscars: It beat out Up and Avatar. It was the lowest grossing nominee. It was a low budget/small scale movie triumphing over the bigger budget movies. It's director, Kathryn Bigelow, was the first female to win Best Director (and who also beat out her former husband James Cameron). It was the first movie since Mrs Miniver to be about a war that was then in progress. 
An impressive legacy to be sure but what of the movie itself?

It certainly is compelling in it's depiction of working in a bomb disposal unit. The setting, Iraq, is also handled convincingly as well as the distrust the troops get from the locals. I don't doubt the realistic manner of the situations and how they are handled but I do question the reckless behaviour of some of the grunts: I may not be a military expert but I'm pretty sure you don't go acting like a tool when the dangerous task of bomb disposal is in progress,
Still I won't fault this movie for it's incredible use of tension and the sense that one is put right into the action. Many war movies can claim to do that but this one, I feel, actually pulls it off.
Looks like we have winner.

Slumdog Millionaire

And this week's Friday night movie has been... Slumdog Millionaire!

Original image located here. Accessed 4th November 2024

Best Picture Oscar winner no.: 81 (2008)

Part of the reason I am doing this year long undertaking is that I am approaching these movies with fresh eyes, divorced from trends, politics and passage of time. Indeed, there's something to be said for watching a movie as just that: a movie.

However by watching this movie, it did occur to me that it's cut from the same cloth as fellow Best Picture winner The Last Emperor: Both are movies made with a non-white cast, telling a non-white story which is handled by a white director who is anything but an Oscar favourite. And, racial politics aside, both films come across as unique entrants in the history of Best Picture Oscars. 

On paper, this movie sounds awful: A movie that tells a story where Who Wants to be a Millionaire is utilised as a framework? Come off it. And the questions facing the protagonists are built around his life experiences? Are you joking?
And yet this movie works: It is well crafted, compelling and there are numerous nods to Bollywood (least not the dance sequence at the end). The cast is great and it is never once dull.

So yeah, it's a superb movie although I have to wonder that if it wasn't for this movie, Lion wouldn't exist...