Don't go to the mall. This little shop is all you need

I have to clarify that Little Shop of Horrors is a lovely movie.

The script is sweet, witty, creepy and just very entertaining.

Howard Ashman was a god and he did an excelent job with the story.

The songs, written by Ashman and composed by Alan Menken are mostly great.

I watched this film about ten years ago and re-watched it yesterday.

I'm sooo in love with "Skid Row" and "Suddenly Seymour"!! They're marvelous.

If you haven't watched this piece of extreme fun yet... do it asap!

It's just amazing how this musical isn't silly! Everything in it screams "silly" but it knows exactly what it's doing. It's like cuteness had sex with creepiness and they had a beautiful baby!

To illustrate how smart this movie is: Naive characters don't bore us and ugly situations don't upset us! And all that on purpose!

I've practically built a temple for all of us to go and worship the movie, so it might seem strange that I only gave it a 7/10.
Well, it's close to a 8/10 but the important thing is that the grade is a comparison to all the other movies. For what it tries to do, this movie is probably a 9/10 which means that it's more successful than most movies. But it's not much more than "just" fun so I couldn't really give it a higher grade. Of course, the grading only matters if you want to think about it. You don't really care while watching it. You're just really happy with what you're experiencing. And that's all that counts!

I didn't fall in love after all but at least the kids are indeed fine

No introduction.. (unless that counts as one)


I Am Love

I don't think I have something to say about this film (or any film?) that hasn't been said before but just so you know, I'm with the people who thought that the movie is beautiful but quite soulless. I mean, I just didn't care much. Nothing really wrong but nothing really captivating. The characters did things that others have done in the past and there wasn't something in the script original enough to make me appreciate the photography or the music or the art direction or...
It did, however, please my senses and that's something but it wasn't enough. Tilda was good but I much prefer her in Julia mode.

6/10




The Kids Are All Right


I'm too lazy to post all my thoughts on this one but the fact alone that it made me think many things is to its credit. Most of the jokes were forced and predictable but the universal truths this seemingly anorthodox family made me think about, were a pretty rewarding element. The characters felt real and that's why I cared a lot about what would happen to them. There was room for more digging in the relationships territory but this movie didn't care to explore much more than the similarities between a gay family and a straight one which is far from a crime.
Bening and Wasikowska were excellent. The rest were pretty good, too.


7/10

You give me my time back!

Well, if you needed a reason not to think it's almost impossible for me to like a movie, I'm afraid I won't give you one right now.

Please Give is a failure. It raises some questions, yes. But that's not that hard, is it? It has no depth, its wit is limited if not mostly absent and any good idea there is in Miss Holofcener's mind that needs to get to us, just loses its way resulting in awkward scenes.

There is always something that doesn't work and it's kind of frustrating to feel that "this" or "that" could have had an impact if handled more carefully.

Rebecca Hall gives an excellent performance but she deserved a much better film.

It's sad, because the film belongs to a genre that I really admire.

5/10 (almost a 4/10)

Laura and her boring aura

I am starting to believe I should watch films randomly. Because, just because a film is loved by a billion of smart movie lovers, it doesn't mean I'll like it.

That is the case with Laura.

Allow me this way of explaining my feelings on the film:

* I liked the mood (though the music was too much at times when I didn't feel there was a reason)

* Many good/great lines

* Some good performances

* Intriguing mystery

* Nice to look at

-----

* Gene Tierney's performance: Mediocre

* At the end, I didn't care about what would happen



Are we supposed to buy that all these men couldn't resist to falling for Laura? Why? Because she is pretty and naive? And what about the detective? How did he know that? And how did she know from the beginning that he had fallen for her? She's naive after all!

But it's not just that. Is she supposed to be a symbol of "pure good"? I mean, she is an emotional slut. She falls and rises for and from anyone.

Judith Anderson's character, at some point, tells Laura that Shelby is weak and that's why he doesn't belong with Laura, who is... not? I'm sorry but, how is she not weak?

And yes, a naive, pretty girl can be a magnet. But not when it's portayed in a way as uninteresting as in this case.

Ultimately, I think, my problem was that I would be more interested in the film only if all these guys were nuts for a (naive or not, pretty or not) girl that had something that yelled "you don't see me everyday".

Maybe the girl is irrelevant. Maybe the point is to observe these men. Just believe that they had their reasons to feel the way they did. It was rewarding to watch them but I really needed to see a strong motive and I didn't. Waldo's world was rocked because of that girl??

He might disagree with me but she was a dame. I guess that is a bad word. I wouldn't use it if it created any connection between her and La Dench.


6/10

(I'm open to debate and I didn't want to sound a snob. I really wanted to love the movie. OK, I couldn't resist to my idea for the title :p)

Inception review (Spoilers)

So, is Inception the pretentious version of Avatar? I think so. I also think it's a little better because pretentiousness can be interesting.

The reason I'm making the comparison is that both movies, for me, are trying to be epics with a heart. I didn't feel the heart beating and the "epic" nature isn't really my thing most of the time.

What makes Inception more pretentious is that it stives for sophistication but ending up achieving nothing more than complication. Nolan didn't bother touching the world of dreams. He was fine with just playing with it.

Cobb's Personal Tragedy was just too hollow to make me care since I didn't see how it was anything more than "I lost my wife. I blame myself. I punish myself. I have now found the strength to Let Go." Yeah.. so? Did it have to be surrounded by "cute" rules and "dreamy" worlds? Was the context of the relationship supposed to make the feeling deeper or the experience more fun and less depressing?

By the way, I really like DiCaprio but I was frustrated by him in this movie. Just show some raw emotion for god's sake! Make me feel you're in pain!

The attempts for laughs should have just not been attempted.

It wasn't as bad as I make it seem but really, it needed improvement in every aspect.

I was about to give it a 6/10 but I don't think I want to. Take a 5/10 and go to (a dreamless) sleep. You don't even get a tag.

Not all jewels are made equal

The Earrings of Madame de... (SPOILERS)

A warning to all you spoiled, beautiful, rich, adored ladies and gentlemen out there who think life is a walk in the park: Bad things can happen in a park!

Madame de.. (The character. I'll call her Madame from now on) has an expression on her face that shows she never had to worry about anything in her life. She is everything I described in the above paragraph and the only problem in her life at the beginning of the movie is that she has to sell something to deal with a debt her "hungry for buying stuff" self created. Her lies will make her pay much more later.

So, she chooses her least favorite item. A pair of earrings her husband bought her on the second (I think) day of their marriage. The earrings are diamond ones but so what? She has things she loves more. Only things.

I actually have no idea why I'm wasting time with describing the plot since this post is for people who've seen it but anyway.

Nothing in the lightness of the first 10 seconds prepares you for the tragedy in the last 10 seconds (don't take the numbers literally). The woman we meet is nothing like the woman we say goodbye to at the end. What changed her? The earrings changed and that change was passed to her. At first, they didn't matter just like nothing really mattered for Madame. But at some point the earrings got a meaning and Madame found a meaning too. OK, OK I'll remind you. She fell in love. Yes, the old divine and possibly catastrophic little thing called Love.

But her husband just didn't want to make it easy for her. Not that his actions were pure nastiness. It's not cute to feel like you are totally insignificant to the person you're married to. Not that he was in love. Still, give him a break. Weren't you ever a bit annoyed when one of your friends started paying less attention to you because of a new boyfriend/girlfriend?

I don't really like the idea of religion but at least it gives movies more possibilities. For instance, I really liked the contrast between the two "pray at church" scenes. At the first one, she acts as if she were watering her plants. She didn't care about the fact that she was supposedly talking to the mother of Jesus. At the second one, however, not only was she begging for a favour, she went on to offer the most important item she possessed in order to save the most important person in her life.

The earrings made me think of things in my life (a street, a square, a song, a phrase etc) that for many years were just what they were but because of some events, they later felt like keys for the doors of my memories and feelings.

If I have a problem with the movie, is its simplicity. I'm not sure about my feelings but I think it's too safely made. That doesn't mean that it's not powerful, moving and beautiful. Charles Boyer was excellent and Danielle Darrieux amazing.

I admit that I don't get the title. Does it mean that we don't know who she is, whose she is or something else?

8/10

Is this love? That they're feeling....

My Summer of Love

This is a movie about a girl who is trying to escape her life. Isn't that what you would do if you felt you're not doing anything that makes you happy and nobody seems to love you?

Mona (Natalie Press) lives with her brother who has been a very bad boy for some years but has now found Jesus and everything is changed. Or not. Mona finds this new brother a person who has no real connection to her and it looks like she's right.

She is also having sex with a man older than her who turns out he doesn't have big dreams for their relationship.

All these are quite frustrating so it's easy to understand why she is happy to have found a new friend, named Tamsin (Emily Blunt) and to invest feelings and hope in what seems to be her salvation.

Tamsin is a rich girl, much more educated and clever than Mona and she seems to be fascinated by this simple, peculiar girl. Both seem to have been disappointed by the people around them so they become really close.

I don't want to spoil the movie so I won't say anything more about the plot. It's a really interesting take on loneliness, anger and boredom and what these things make you do.

The characters in this film are quite flawed but that is an extra reason to watch it.

The two leads are excellent. I loved Blunt's seductiveness as well as how she regarded everything as if it were a game. Press looked as lost, naive and hurt as the movie asked her to.

You won't complain about the cinematography either. There is some ugliness in this movie but it's captured quite beautifully.


7/10

There was a Boy. A very stange Boy A

He will be the next Spiderman so I thought I should take a look at his past.





Boy A

Do you give second chances? Haven't you ever said "he/she cheated on me and doesn't deserve a second chance!"? I bet you have (but hope you didn't have to). This movie is about the matter of whether there are some actions that deprive you of the right to a second chance or not.

Jack Burridge (Andrew Garfield) did something really bad (euphemism, for sure) and was given a second chance in life. He used it in a very good way. He tried to be a better person than the average one because he believed that he owed that to society. Guilt can be a very useful feeling for others but it can be unbarable for the person in which it exists. The movie succeeds in showing how difficult it is for Jack to adjust to a life he has no experience of (he was in prison for many years) and to carry the fear of his identity being exposed (only the person who is responsible for him knows his past).

We see what he did as a child and how he came to do it. It's one of these cases where it's easy to (kind of) understand why he did that terrible thing but it's also easy to understand why people hated him even after all these years.

Personally, I couln't help but root for him. I really wanted him to be happy with the girl he liked and to lead a happy life in general. But that was because the movie let me watch him. I could see his eyes, guess his thoughts, feel what he felt. For the viewers, he is not just a guy who did something horrible to a person we either knew or at least lived close to.

I don't know how I'd react if I learned that a person I work and hang out with was a murderer. I would probably push him/her away as fast as I could. But this film told me that there are choices. You can let your hatred and fear guide you and you can see the person who is standing in front of you right now. You can think about what this person is and not what it was. You don't have to forgive. You can just evaluate and appreciate. You can also remember that nasty actions are what they are whether they're towards an inoccent or a criminal.

Garfield is just spectacular as a young man who tries to start a new, happy life but does not fully understand how to communicate with others and is constantly burdened by the knowledge of what he's done as well as his hiding it.


8/10

Some things are not great throughout but who's perfect?

So, I was watching New York, New York the other.. 4 days and I was thinking about not finishing it.

"James, you have to start punishing these movies that don't make you really care right from the beginning", I was saying to myself. But I decided to watch the whole thing.

I'm glad I did. The last 30 minutes were powerful enough to make me say it was worth my patience. Well, it's not like everything before was a total bore. It just didn't feel as interesting as I'd like it to. It was well-made but I thought it was kind of.. nice instead of exciting.

I had heard great things about Minnelli in this movie and I'm happy to say they're all true! Perhaps I didn't adore her but I thought she was very precise, funny and moving.

7/10

The dependables: Hitchcock and Pixar

I watched two films and I'm here to talk about them blah blah (I'm not very imaginative :p)




The 39 Steps


I love Hitchcock and it would be really hard for me not to enjoy this movie but I have to say I was a bit underwhelmed. I liked it but I found it more of a technically successful film than a strong experience. I would have liked to care more about the romance and the mystery wasn't that engaging. Still, a good movie.

7/10




Toy Story 3

No, you're not on a different blog. That's me commenting on a new film!

Well, I can't say my life has changed or that I'm still crying like a baby (or Big Baby) but I sure enjoyed it. It was witty, funny, pretty to look at, touching and careful about details (script- and animation-wise). I have a few problems with the use of story tricks (like it's the only Pixar movie using formulas..) such as "we're going to make the good guy help the bad one but the bad one is going to..." etc but on the whole I thought it was pretty good.

7/10

I've missed you too

It feels good to be back after 10 years! It wasn't that long? Really? Any way.


In case you thought I saw a new release and came here to talk about it.. Do you even know me?? :p


I watched The Scarlet Empress and I liked it a lot.

I liked the visuals, the music, the acting and the story. I only give it a 7/10 but I'm not sure why. I'm surely difficult but I find it odd that I can't give it at least an 8/10.

There are so many things in this movie to get you excited. The difference between an idea of a world of silly rules regarding one's behavor and how that world actually works. It was a great gift to watch Dietrich show how her character changes over the course of the movie. I liked the Empress's cynisism and practical mind. So many things.

I think my favorite part is the sexual innuendoes. This 1934 movie is sexier than many erotic films I've seen. Which are.. zero. Of course.

This was my first Sternberg movie and it made me want more although I think this is regarded as his best or second best or something.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a 9!

I finally watched (re-watched, actually) a movie which forced me to give it a 9/10.

A Streetcar Named Desire is so powerful that I felt incapable of not doing whatever it wanted me to do. It asked for a 9 and I had to please it.

Very well-made, well-acted and well-everything. Leigh had my kindness long before she asked for it.

To everyone involved in this production: Thank you

More grades and commenting

Films I watched recently (I have become a very lazy writer :p)






Some Like It Hot (1959)

Enjoyable but unspectacular.

7/10









A Woman Under the Influence (1974)

This film should be called "We're gonna make you uncomfortable but you're gonna like it".

Mental illness sucks! I had no idea how bad it sucks until I saw this movie. Not even Streetcar made me realise. You can have a totally nice and loving person and just wait what mental illness can do to him/her. It made this woman behave like a child at an age when that was a big problem. Healthy people can realise their bad habits and try to fix them. Rowlands' character was not able to understand what was wrong with her behavor. I felt sorry for her and the people around her. All I was thinking about was what a shame it was to have a problem like that. Thankfully, the movie pittied me and didn't leave me depressed but the thought that in many cases things end up much worse than in this film is certainly joyless.

I thought the movie succeeded in depicting a situation I'm sure many families have experienced and in making me understand how everyone must have felt.
Rowlands' performance was brilliant. I think that what she had to do was find what a normal person would do and then do the opposite. Difficult role but she nailed it.

8/10

I had a lot of Woody lately

I would like to share some thoughts on the movies I saw recently.


Dogtooth

It was really interesting to watch what a person (three, actually) can become after having lived for years under very unusual cirmustances. I'm wondering: These children seemed, to most of us, pathetically cluelless about the real world. But are we that much more aware of how things work and is our critical thinking that much more developed? I think there are many more intelligent and life-experienced people in the world that would pitty me the same way I pittied those kids in Dogtooth.

Also, is perfection a realistic goal or is it simply a perversion to try to define what the ideal life style is and try to apply it?

7/10


Interiors (1978)

I thought it had its moments and I liked the performances (especially Keaton's) but I was asking for more.

6/10


Bullets Over Broadway (1994)


Call me lazy but, ditto. Only, put Wiest in Keaton's place. Interesting, with beautiful art direction but nothing great. The last scene was pretentious but, thankfully, not totally useless. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed the way the movie connected the notion of morality with art and the way it depicted the vanity of an artist who has come to feel confident about his/her talent.


7/10



Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)


What can I say about this movie? It was just great! The script, the performances, the music, the visuals, the scope! Life, death, family, love, learning to leave the past behind, accepting what you have even if you complain all the time. Though I could never regard this movie as a didactic one. Its re-watchability is one of the movie's many goods.

8/10

This is what happened tonight

So, I finally saw the famous It Happened One Night and I really liked it.

One thing I need to say is that there is a Greek movie (circa 1965) that is almost a copy-paste of the film i just watched.

It really says something that I enjoyed the film despite having the feeling I've already seen all that. I don't think the direction was anything special but the film probably only needed the director to stay out of its way. The performances were great (I couldn't believe the way Colbert handled each and every moment!) and they served a really funny and smart script.

It was a witty and warm movie that seemed too simplistic to be good but I guess that is part of the magic of art.

One thing: It's really more funny than something that I didn't like, but the editing at one or two moments was embarrassing. I've seen it in other old films too and there is probably a reason for that but I really thought it was kind of a cute flaw.


I give it a 8/10

"Oh, yeah?"
"Yes!"

It was dark alright. But what's wrong with that?

Dancer in the Dark is a great movie.

I loved everything in it. Perhaps I didn't see a reason for that lawyer to be accusing Bjork's character of hating America but there might be a good reason and even if not, it is only a little thing.

8/10 might seem kind of low compared to my comments but 8 for me is very good and it's almost a 9.

Glorious past

So, I saw The Letter and The Lady Eve. Both lovely. Davis and Stanwyck were terrific. Especially The Lady Eve is a film I could watch many times. So entertaining!


The Lady Eve - 8/10 (Perhaps Fonda's character was a bit unrealistically naive, but that's not very important. I just chose to believe it)

The Letter - 7/10 (That's good in my book)

Shut up, just shut up.

You had me at "hello"

It's a 8/10, by the way. I watched it yesterday for the first time.

Princess>Lady

I recently watched two movies that I liked. My Fair Lady and Princess and The Frog.

While as I said, I enjoyed both movies, the legendary classic bored me many times whereas the recent, not that high praised animated movie offered me a really great time. Am I completely immature? Am I pathetically clueless on what good cinema is? Whatever the case, the less admirable cartoon felt much more powerful.

It wasn't very original but that's why I give it "only" an 8 out of 10.

Hepburn's movie was cute, intelligent and silly at the same time, and had a unique identity. Still, it didn't feel as magical as I wanted it to.

I think the problem was Hepburn. While she was good, she didn't make me care about her character enough.

So, the grades are:

My Fair Lady 7/10 (almost 6)
Princess and The Frog 8/10 (almost 7)




"He liked us!!"