‘The Shawshank Redemption’, ‘Mallrats’, ‘Oldboy’ and ‘The Godfather’ A.K.A. THE FINALE

I’VE DONE IT! I actually managed to watch 212 films in 7 months! BOOYA!! However, I will not feel like I’ve fully completed this challenge until I type up my so-called ‘reviews’. I now have 43minutes to type all four of today’s movies up. Guess I kind of regret not typing up The Shawshank Redemption when I had the chance [I had a nap instead >.<]

Anyways, 3 of these films were amazing, guess which one wasn’t so *eye roll, glares at TheFilmFan* [lol joking, by the way]. Now, seeing as time is short and I now have 41 minutes left, these reviews might be short, brief, bullet points and I may miss some key points, especially in Shawshank, Oldboy and Godfather. At least this time I have a genuine excuse for my crappy reviews! 40 minutes to go!

Pulp Fiction, Apocalypse Now and Taxi Driver

I thought there was no point doing three separate posts as I pretty much watched these movies back to back to save time. I have one more film to watch tonight and it will probably be Fight Club which I will review separately.

The Deer Hunter

This movie did make Empire’s Top 500 but it was #468 so why am I watching it in between #35 and #8? Because I’ve been in a Robert De Niro/Meryl Streep/Christopher Walken mood for days! I’m going to have to keep this review short as I’m very quickly running out of time to watch these movies! I’m going to try another two tonight but it may only be 1 as I’m already quite tired!

It’s a beautiful movie that I think everyone should watch, I’d definitely put it on my ‘films to watch before you die’ list, if I ever had that list. Its about a group of men, their friendship and the terrible mental and physical effects of war. People say that the wedding scene [where one of the friends, Steve, marries his girlfriend before he, Nick and Michael go to war in Vietnam] is far too long but I disagree. I don’t think that I could of felt as much as I did if I didn’t witness the friendship they have which is shown during the wedding scene. The group of them made me think of my group of friends back home and therefore gave me that connection. You need to know the characters and their friendship to get involved in the movie. Also, it was incredibly important that the actors who play the friends have that friendship vibe and they do! My God, if they didn’t it would of a been a boring, average, another-Vietnam movie. But they do, especially De Niro and Walken which is probably one of the most important friendships in the whole thing.

The other aspect of the movie, other than friendship, is war. We’ve all seen a Vietnam movie but this is the only one where less than 30 minutes of it is in actual Vietnam. This movie, in my opinion, is probably running tie with Schindler’s List, on showing just how unbelievably cruel humans can be. In this one, its all about how people take pleasure in gambling other people’s lives. Literally. I kind of don’t want to say more because I think there are a lot of people out there who haven’t seen this movie and I don‘t want to really ruin it… I know, I’ll end it here for those who haven’t seen it and want to. Click below if you have seen it and just want to know what I thought!

The Apartment

I watched it, it was lovely, it has a great unique storyline and is something I’d recommend to all. Can I leave it at that? No? Ok… sorry, I’m just soooo tired!!! Stayed up watching 2001 A Space Odyssey last night then woken up early because everyone thought I had to be awake at 8.

Casablanca

Its alright. Takes a bit of getting into but it’s a hell of a lot better than Chinatown which is a similar style to this movie. Once again, I think I’m a bit too young and naive about World War II to fully enjoy and appreciate it. I’m just going to go straight into the notes as I can’t think of anything else for this ‘opening paragraph’ haha!

Citizen Kane

I’ve finished watching ‘Die Hard’, I watched ‘Carman’ the opera for my first volunteer work alone in America, eaten my weight in M&Ms and watched ‘Citizen Kane’. I know I’ve just been on my butt all day but I am TIRED! This review may seem a bit crap compared to the movie itself which, I’m so freaking happy to say, is brilliant. I’m always so scared with this classic films that I won’t like them and therefore be ashamed to call myself a film nut. Hurrah, I loved it! So, enough drabble, time for the review.

For us young ones, I’ll write the synopsis as most of us under 20 have heard of the film but never seen it. This film is told via the memories and stories about Charles Foster Kane [a character based on real-life newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst]. It shows his life, going from a cheeky, confident, happy young man to a lonely, sad old man. Its done with ‘flashback’ though I don’t like to call it flashback as that would mean its fact rather than someone’s memory which, over the years, could very easily be manipulated or forgotten.

On The Waterfront

This film is about Marlon Brando, a mob and shipping. It’s a good movie but I don’t see why it won so many Oscars. I know it’s a classic and all that but it never gripped me. I love the romance because I’m a sucker for the bad boy/goodie-goodie two shoes girl thing. However, I feel that you can’t have a romance storyline like that overshadowing a gangster storyline. In my opinion, it over shadowed it, immensely. I do love a good gangster movie [that’s why I’m so excited to finally finish this challenge because I’ll finally get to see Godfather for the first time] but there wasn’t much to it. I didn’t feel much fear to the mob at all. It just didn’t work for me. It is, however, a good movie and I can appreciate why its in so many people’s top movie lists.

Tough guy is actually kind of sweet, awwww, that’s what we girls like!

I did want to slap the blond at one point. She wanted to stay but her parents worked every day to get her to school. She did say she was grateful for it all but clearly not grateful enough to actually go through with it and not waste her parent’s time and effort which looks like it left them in poverty.

The Graduate

I can’t really see why this movie is so great… it could have been made a lot better but oh well. Its good, but I’ve seen a lot better. The plot is a graduate who has an affair with Mrs. Robinson and ends up falling in love with Mrs. Robinson’s daughter.

I like the way it was shot, I like the dimensions. I don’t know whether its just my computer or it was all that they could afford or something but its so long but not very high. It looks almost artistic.

He’s graduated and his parents have this party for him but its filled with their friends and family friends who just fuss over the poor young man. I totally felt for him then.

I recognized the classic shot of Mrs. Robinson’s leg and Dustin Hoffman in the background with the classic line “Mrs. Robinson, you’re trying to seduce me.” However, they used the word ‘seduce’ too often that it lost its ‘meaning’ if you know what I mean.

The tan lines on Mrs. Robinson’s body were funny, but also a nice change as you normally never see tan lines on women in movies. It was quite clever how they angled the camera to be over Mrs. Robinson’s shoulder so we see Hoffman, but we get very quick cuts to show areas of her naked body. That actually made it more tasteful than movies these days that would go ahead and show it all.

It was interesting to see another side to affairs. Most of the time in movies, the affairs are done so gracefully but in this one, at least at the beginning of the affair, Hoffman’s character hasn’t a single clue what to do which seems realistic.

Stand by Me

I’ve wanted to see this film since Family Guy did a spoof of it. Unfortunately, because I saw Family Guy first, I kept laughing throughout the movie as I kept remembering things from the episode. Anyways, the film is about four friends who make a trip to find and see a dead body of a kid their age. It’s a surprisingly very sweet film about friendship. It is ruined by Kiefer Sutherland and his blond hair but we can [eventually] ignore him.

Be prepared to see ‘twelve year olds’ [the characters are 12 but the actors were 14, 15 and 16] smoking and swearing. However, it is done in a very realistic way, especially as some of them don’t know how to hold a cigarette properly.

They may be a year from being teenagers but they have some pretty rough lives already. Chris [River Phoenix] comes from a family of criminals and alcoholics, Teddy [Corey Feldman] was nearly killed by his own mentally-unstable father leaving him with a deformed ear and mental problems of his own, Vern [Jerry O’Connell] is the fat kid who is the butt of every joke and then there’s Gordie [Wil Wheaton] who is ignored at home and feels he is hated by his father who seems to wish Gordie had died rather than his ‘perfect, quarterback‘ brother [John Cusack]. I totally felt for these boys, I just wanted to hug them all.

This movie is the perfect example of superb teenage acting that we just don’t get these days. Phoenix and Feldman in particular were extraordinary. The other two were great as well but I was blown away by Phoenix and Feldman; Phoenix was amazing in the scene where he confesses that he’s nothing like his criminal family and that he’s scared of being stereotyped as one, and Feldman was fantastic when the junkyard owner starting talking shit about his dad and… my God, he truly looked crazy, it was amazing. But we don’t get acting like that these days, those Twilight kids, Disney ones and even though I’m a huge Harry Potter fan, I’d say only Rupert Grint is the decent actor in that series. I don’t know… I feel we’ve lost proper teenage acting.

The pie story! OMG so disgusting but funny at the same time, reminded me of the racist woman from Little Britain.

I loved the scene where the boys [except Gordie] take turns on patrol at night because it really shows their characters; Terry talks to himself and acts like he’s in the war [which his dad was in and made him mental], Vern flinches and points the gun at any sound and Chris just sits there, not bothered at all.

A Man for All Seasons

This movie is about Sir Thomas More and his struggle with Henry VIII and the Roman Catholic Church. Its more interesting than it sounds!

Cardinal Wolsey [Orson Welles] looks a little like he’s possessed, he looks rather evil! I don’t know whether this was on purpose as the people who agree with the King getting divorced are portrayed as the bad guys but it made it seem more obvious to me.

Robert Shaw looks far more like Henry VIII than the modern actors who’ve portrayed him. Especially Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Seriously?! Also loved Henry’s costume! I love gooooold.

Paul Scofield is amazing in this film, the acting is superb and even though I’m not religious, I totally supported him.

“Cromwell, are you threatening me?” “My dear Norfolk… this isn’t Spain.” Tehehe.

More’s [Scofield] daughter is called Meg. I kept chuckling as all I could think of was Family Guy.