Blazing Saddles

Oooo I loved this movie, its so funny! And I think I like it even more because it takes the piss out of westerns which I’ve been despising lately.

The white men are incredibly racist to the black people but they’re portrayed as the dumb, stupid, bad people and the black people are the smart, good guys.

What made me realize that this was going to be on hell of a weird western spoof was when Hedley Lamarr starts humping the statue. Then there’s the cattle in the saloon.

I love that the Governor has ‘GOV’ stitched onto the back of his jacket and the KKK have ‘have a nice day’ on their robes.

The new sheriff takes himself hostage and OMG, its so freaking funny, especially the townsfolk’s reaction.

There is a scene completely dedicated to farts and burps, a male paradise.

I love the little nod to Loony Toons.

Madeline Kahn is a great comedic actress!

I love just how quick The Waco Kid is, totally ripping on those ‘fast cowboys’.

Tehehe, there’s a great scene where he’s getting all the bad guys to list their ‘qualifications’ such as rape and murder, then one of the guys has gum in his mouth and he gets shot because he didn’t have enough to give to everyone.

I love that they totally break down the forth wall and interact with the audience and say things that show that they’re just acting and that this is a movie. They break the fourth wall so much that, during a big fight, they actually break a wall and land in another movie set! Then some of the characters go to the cinema to see ‘Blazing Saddles”! Brilliant!!!

Love the toll booth! Why are cowboys on horses going through a toll booth so damn funny?!

Then they drive off into the sunset in a limo. Genius.

The rest of the review shall be my favourite quotes and the main reasons why I think you should all watch this movie:

Amadeus

It’s a movie that is loosely based on the lives of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri. Its very good, I really enjoyed it! Don’t be fooled by the first couple of minutes, as soon as F. Murray Abraham as Salieri starts talking, it becomes amazing,

F. Murrary Abraham as Salieri when he’s an old man is fantastic. I love that the film is a story being told by him. He talks with such love and enthusiasm that you just get completely roped into the story. Its very interesting to watch him talk about Mozart’s work with incredible admiration and yet hate him for being so irresponsible. He portrays Salieri’s love for music quite beautifully, you can really tell that music is his life and how much he appreciates it. He’s just fantastic when he’s OLD!Salieri, totally deserved the Best Actor at the Academy Awards.

I love the editing, the way it goes to and from the ‘present day’ of OLD!Salieri telling the story and the past [the story visually]. They could of just done that at the beginning but Abraham’s acting was so magnificent as the OLD!Saileri that I ‘m so glad they did it the whole way through.

Ok, I did have one little problem with this film… the accents. I hated Mozart having a strong, American accent, and the rest of the cast didn’t seem to be able to decide if they had an English accent or American, it kept wavering and it was just too damn annoying. I read that the director wanted everyone to have American accents because he thought that English ones would be ‘too distracting’ for American audiences. Well he buggered that up because I was distracted by their accents, wondering where the hell they were supposed to be from. However, it doesn’t help that I feel that if I movie is set in a country, in should be in the country’s native tongue and have subtitles but then alas, we’d have very few English-speaking movies. I did love Mozart’s childish laugh. At first it was annoying but then it became contagious.

The costumes! My God, the dresses are huge and the hair was even bigger! Even the little girls who look 6 were dressed in big dresses and sky-high hair. Did love Mozart’s pink wig though!

If you’re a Sex in the City fan, like myself, you’ll squee when you see this movie as it has TEENAGE!Miranda in it!

Tehehe, I giggled when Mozart said “sh*t” in front of the Emperor and they all had spazzy fits about it. I don’t think I could swear in front of Queen Elizabeth II but I can imagine myself accidentally swearing in front of another royal >.<

As I watched the movie and hear Salieri’s side of the story, I can see where he is coming from and I understand his hatred towards Mozart yet I, like I guess most of the audience, fell for him and adored him. It makes ‘act 3’ quite heartbreaking to watch.

The chemistry between Tom Hulce [Mozart] and Elizabeth Berridge [Mozart’s wife] is brilliant, I could totally feel their love for each other.

The make-up towards the end is fantastic, he looks so ill. I won’t say who. You have to watch it.

It’s a truly brilliant film, you should watch it whether you like classical/opera music or not.

118/212

Kate
xoxo

Rio Bravo

5.06PM – I’m getting pretty sick of Westerns even though this is only the 10th Western I’ve watched.

8.35pm – This film was pretty good, as far as westerns go. Its about a Sheriff and some other men making sure a brother doesn’t try to help his brother escape from jail.

The scenes with John Wayne and Ward Bond are fantastic, great acting.

This is the first western I’ve seen that has a storyline about alcoholism. I noticed that there is loads of drinking in westerns so I thought it was brilliant that they took notice of this and showed a man trying to battle with alcoholism. I found myself really getting into it and cheering when he managed to stay strong.

Dean Martin plays a guy called ‘Dude’. Its pretty funny seeing ‘cowboys’ say ‘dude’.

Blood in the beer! Ew!!!!

Its so bad that I loved seeing the characters rolling up a cigarette because it reminded me of my best friend back in England, Sarah, who smokes like a chimney. It’s a nasty habit but it made me smile and think of my Sarah.

Angie Dickinson [Feathers] is so beautiful! And not only that, but she’s a great, strong female character with the tiniest waist ever and the coolest boots!

I did a little research and when the Sheriff [Wayne] kisses Feathers [Dickinson] it’s a 52 year old kissing a 28 year old. Now THAT’S an age gap!

I found myself going ‘ooooo bitch slap!’ when Dude [Martin] slaps Chance [Wayne].

I loved the song scene! Kind of needed it with Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson in the cast!

Nelson looks like Zac Efron a little…

I strangely loved the scene where Stumpy [Walter Brennan] threw dynamite and Chance and Dude would shoot them to make them go off. I don’t know why but I just loved it, probably because I can imagine Gene Hunt doing it [Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes, look them up, great TV shows].

It wasn’t that bad of a western thanks to the cast and simple storyline.

117/212

Kate
xoxo

117/212

Kate
xoxo

Cool Hand Luke

It’s a great prison movie. Unfortunately, I have a headache and I’m incredibly tired so once again, this review will probably be crap but whatever. I have to do it so I don’t have to worry about it tomorrow.

The opening scene is Luke cutting off parking meters in a drunken state. I can just imagine the audience cheering as they saw what he was doing.

I love the use of the mirror sunglasses in this movie. Not only are they a great technique for cinematography, but also gives the character [one of the big ’bosses;] an air of mystery; he’s The Man With No Eyes.

The characters in this movie are great, even though you hate some of prisoners at the beginning, you learn to love them by the end.

I wonder if this is the film that was the first to do the classic scene of ‘hot girl washing car’. Its pretty funny to watch from a girl’s point of view but I can imagine a boy really liking it!

It takes a while for be to like Paul Newman’s [Luke] acting. However, I don’t think its his fault as George Kennedy outshines everyone in every scene.
I wonder if, back then in the 60s, they were allowed to drink beer and gamble after they’d worked on the roads. Also, did they really celebrate 4th July in there with bear and music and fun?

There’s a lovely scene with Luke and his mum. The mum is so lovely and funny and full of life in an ironic sense as she’s clearly dieing. Then the mum does die and Luke is still in prison and there’s a nice, sad moment when the rest of the prisoners leave Luke alone in the room to mourn with his guitar. The song is lovely and made more beautiful by poor Luke’s slow tears. THEN!! THEN the ‘bosses’ [prison guards] put him in ‘the box’!! Because they think if they don’t then he’ll try to run away to go to his mum’s funeral! Its so horrible!

If you don’t like eggs, you may want to skip the scene where Luke eats 50 eggs in an hour. Yes. 50. In an hour.

There’s a heartbreaking scene where the prisoners, who adore Luke and think he’s the hero, don’t help Luke get to his bed after being slowly tortured by the ‘bosses’. You can see just how broken Luke is [that’s when Newman’s acting actually shone].

I’d tell you all to watch this not only because its good but just for George Kennedy and his character, he’s brilliant.

116/212

Kate
xoxo

Surfwise

Such a lovely film. Very heartfelt with such interesting people and an amazing story/journey. Its about the legendary surfing Paskowitz family. Even if you’ve never heard of them or not interested in surfing, you would still really enjoy this documentary. As a film nut [and a future movie editor? Maybe? ^_^], I loved all the editing in this movie and if you’re studying film and editing, watch this movie, its very inspirational. I felt sorry for the sister for having 8 brothers! How horrendous! And I thought one was bad enough! I found myself feeling very connected to these 11 Paskowitz family members, they‘re so down-to-earth in a weird way, considering their upbringing. They’re kind of normal but have so much character that you’re not bored by them, you want to know about them. I felt so connected and like I knew them that I was crying with joy that at the end of the movie, they were together again after so many fights and years of not talking. Its so beautiful and makes you appreciate family. Also, I was bloody shocked [though I don’t know why] that the dad, who’s 80-something, was still surfing!

Once again, it’s a short review but it is a brilliant film, very moving and rather inspirational.

115/212

Kate
xoxo

Raising Arizona

Loved it! Loved it, loved it, loved it! It’s a comedy with Nicolas Cage [when he was hot], the mum from The Incredibles, Fred Flintstone and babies, that’s why I loved it. Anyways, Nicolas Cage is a convict, Holly Hunter is a cop, they fall in love, can’t have kids so they knick one. Its very funny, has some great characters and the story moves at a great pace, it didn’t once get boring. And, to be honest, those are the notes I wrote down for this but don’t let the short review fool you, it was brilliant, I loved it and I think you should watch it.

114/212

Kate
xoxo

Shampoo

Its about a hairdresser that is a major manwhore. I, personally, don’t see why this film made it in Empire Magazine’s Top 500 as its nothing that special. Goldie Hawn is gorgeous in it [Kate Hudson is a spiting image of her mum!] and I love the clothes and hair which give it that pure 70s feel. The characters are good and stuff but… I don’t know, I just don’t see the big deal in this movie.

113/212

Kate
xoxo

The Gold Rush

This is the first Charlie Chaplin film that I’ve ever seen and I loved it!!!! It was brilliant, I laughed so much. Its all about ‘the little fellow’ who… well, to be honest, its kind of hard to explain so I’d just Google it if I were you because I think I’d just confused you ever more. I loved the chicken scene, I loved the bread dance, totally fell in love with ‘the little fellow’ and loved the tilting house with the hangover. If you love comedy, you will love this film, its fantastic.

Bit of a short review but I nothing I say could express how much I really loved this film. I was grinning ear to ear by the end of it. SEE IT!

112/212 [only 100 films to go!]

Kate
xoxo

A Woman Under The Influence

This movie is basically about crazy people. it’s a bit of a slow movie but I was constantly on edge wondering what the mum was going to do next. I sympathized with the mum as she tries so hard to please her husband, constantly repeating if what she’s doing is OK and saying she can be whatever he wants her to be. She has her moments of being a bit mental but its mainly when she’s around big crowds. She’s fantastic with her children and the kids love her so much [when she comes back from the mental hospital, they just want to be with her and hug her and kiss her and constantly tell her how much they love her], its horrible to watch the children have to witness their parents. I would love to say more but I’d like you to watch it and figure it out for yourself. It’s a deep-thinking film so be prepared for that. I probably won’t ever watch it again myself but I would recommend it to anyone studying mental illnesses or mental illnesses in films.

111/212

Kate
xoxo

Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid

Thanks to the lovely Karen who has friended me on Facebook, I shall use this little intro section to do a little intro to the movie’s plot. However, my version of the plot may differ to the actual plot because I’m weird and a bit thick so yeah… anyways, ‘Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid’ is about Pat Garrett chasing after Billy the Kid. They used to be BFFs but then Pat Garrett become a deputy and had to arrest Billy the Kid for killing someone so Pat Garrett chases him across Old Mexio or somewhere like that, I can’t remember.

The beginning is nice because it cuts very nicely between the past [in sepia tone] and present [colour]. I didn’t fully understand what was happening but I thought, visually, it looked pretty good.

“Sweet Mary’s ass!”

I love the soundtrack! Some great songs on there!

A lot of pink paint in this movie. Though I think we’re supposed to believe its blood…

“Why don’t you take your money, shove it up your ass, and set fire to it?”

James Coburn [Pat Garrett] has lovely hair for an old man!

There is a beautiful shot where one of the characters [think Billy the Kid] is on his horse, riding next to a lake and the audience can only tell what he’s doing because they can only see him via his silhouette in the reflection on the lake. It was beautiful, trust me.

There is a whole lot of killed friends in this movie. AND there are only two real displays of emotion towards the dead friends. One which was actually the wife and she smiled in a sad farewell as her husband walked away wounded [think signifying he was going to heaven but it was weird and out of place but still sweet]. And another was the final death and is rather understandable and a nice change of no emotion.

Its all a bit confusing but it slowly comes to light what is happening. I feel that there were too many times when I went “wait, what? Why is… what the… oh, wait, ok, NOW I get it…”

Some harsh racism in this movie but its needed to show how brutal it was back then.

There’s a nice little [tame] orgy in this movie so don’t watch it with your parents…

The whole film is a little slow and doesn’t really pick up the pace at all. But its alright, just could have been faster and more stuff happening.

Best of Enemies. Deadliest of Friends.

110/212

Kate
xoxo