Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

Let me just start this by saying I wasn't at all excited to see this movie. Even before I put Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) into my DVD player I had a few preconceived notions of what this movie was going to be. I would have to say I was 90% correct on those notions, 90% being that it was a hooky musical that was so patriotic that I couldn't help rolling my eyes. The film really was all stars and strips, and isn't the USA just the very best country in the world. Obnoxiousness at its finest.

That being said, the film did have redeeming factors. I was quite surprised that it wasn't all annoying. It had funny moments in which I found myself give a little chuckle. Also, I have to say James Cagney's performance was pretty outstanding considering the roles people were use to seeing him in. He was best remembered for playing "tough guys" like Tom Powers in The Public Enemy (1931). Cagney started off in vaudeville as a "hoofer" and comedian until he received his first major acting roll in 1925.1 (Wiki) He was a dancer at heart and rarely had the chance to show off his talent. Cagney seemed at home in this role. He was also a perfect fit to play George M. Cohan in his physic and natural talent. Cagney did not intend to mimic Cohan but imitated him in his mannerisms and dance style on stage and acted more in his own style throughout the rest of the film.2 He combined playing a well known figure in American culture and himself in a single roll while still managing to maintain a coherent character. It really is no wonder he won the Academy award that year, his only Academy award at that.

The film success is not only in part to Cagney's talent and performance but also in part to the time in American history in which the film was released. The film began production merely a few days after Pearl Harbour. After the events of Pearl Harbour the cast and crew of the film agreed to set out and make an uplifting and patriotic film.3 The film aimed to capture this mood at a time when the country needed it the most. After realizing this, all the flag waving and I love America in the film seemed less annoying and obnoxious.

What consistently bothered me about the film was that it recounts the life and times of this huge American cultural figure but besides the fact that he made some good anthem like songs and was a hit on Broadway nothing else happens. According to the film, George M. Cohan had a pretty good life. Nothing really bad ever happens to him in the film. The worst thing that happens is that he isn't able to sell his plays when he first arrives to New York, but even that is resolved rather pleasantly. His father dies near the end of the film but that is pretty much as bad as it got.

I know Cohan was a big figure but his life doesn't make much for a movie, at least the way it was portrayed in the film. It would have been better if it was a musical on Broadway. I guess if this film was never made then James Cagney would never have played the roll that won him his only Oscar, but that is besides the point. Where are the struggles, the pain, the means by which the viewer can sympathize with this character/cultural figure? You won't find it because it is not there. Apparently Cohan lived a peachy life and was so talented he barely had to work for it. I mean a good old fashion montage would have worked better to show how hard it was for him to sell his work. The scene where he is in a talent office singing with his lady friend trying to sell his work is pretty tame. I just got no feeling that George M. Cohan had a terribly difficult life and that an interesting story does not make.

I understand why this movie is on the AFI list even if I do have problems with it. It was about a man who meant a lot to the American public. George M. Cohan lifted the spirits of a nation with his music. He was a man who loved his country and it showed in everything he did. It was the film that gave Cagney a chance to shine and audience got to see him in a different light. Yankee Doodle Dandy helped bring together a nation when it was at its lowest and its future was hazy. It's mark on American film can not be ignored, I can see that now, but it is hard to fully appreciate if you are not an American and that is fine by me.

References

1. Yankee Doodle Dandy at the Wikipedia
2&3. Let Freedom Sing: The Story of Yankee Doodle Dandy. Dir. John Rust. Kurtti Pellerin,  2003.

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I know I am behind on my reviews but it has been so crazy. I am so happy to finally finish entry number 3. I can now move forward with film to no. 97 on the AFI list Blade Runner (1982).

I am really excited about this one because I own this movie but I have never seen it. That's weird right? No, it is just quintessential me.


 

Toy Story (1995)

For some reason I thought Toy Story was made in 2000, it was actually made in 1995. To me that kind of computer animation was not possible in the mid 90's. I associate that kind of technology to the millennium. No matter what year it was made it was still the first of it's kind. Toy Story was the first computer animated feature film made.1 It was the film that started it all. Like Snow White (1937) before it, Toy Story completely changed the medium of animated films. No one had every seen anything like it before.

Toy Story also changed the idea of what the animated film was. It took animation to another level in terms of the story. Toy Story was not a musical like all the other Disney films before it. The story did not stop in order for the characters to sing a song, rather the music worked to express the emotion of the scenes and characters.2

Toy Story was also the first contemporary film in the sense that it was not a fairytale and the characters were adult. They had adult personalities and had an intelligence that adults could relate to. Being Andy's toys was like a job to them. They had staff meetings and seminars to protect themselves from injuries at work  and to help them better do their jobs (i.e. ''Tuesday nights plastic corrosion awareness meeting''). They were a team who's one job was to take care of Andy and make him happy.

It was an adult movie as much as it was a kids movie. The adults related to the characters and their adult personalities while the children were entertained by the toys and by their adventure in the adult world. The adults were also brought back to the time when they were children and could remember how they themselves played with their toys. Remember the Mr. Mike and the Mr. Spell toys in the film? I had those toys. Children and adults could all relate to the premise of the story. I know I am not the only person who thought their toys would come to life when I wasn't there.

I have seen Toy Story often enough that I know a lot of the dialogue before it even happens in the film. Even though I have seen it so many times I am never bored and I am always amazed by it. I am amazed by how the story is never overshadowed by the technology.3 Pixar really aimed do something different. The characters are likable, funny, and complicated. The characters were defined by their rolls as Andy's toys, by the world they lived in, and even the materials they were made by.4 Mr. Potato head, for example, was grumpy because his parts are constantly following off and is often left to be played with Andy's baby sister who would bang and drool on him.

Even though Pixar was under the supervision of the big Disney and at that time it was such a small company they managed to make the movie that they wanted to make and have been doing so ever since. It is no surprise to me that Pixar keeps pumping out hit after hit almost every year. This because Pixar has never wanted to compromise story over the technology. Since the release of Toy Story Pixar has managed to prefect and build upon what they created with their first feature film. It has done such a great job that it has created an entire new sub-genre in animated films and has inspired competing production companies to make computer animated films to much success. With the coming of the 3D computer animated film there is not telling what Pixar and even the genre itself is capable of.

References

1-4. Toy Story (10th Anniversary Edition)-(Making Toy Story). [DVD]. Walt Disney Home Entertainment. 

 Toy Story. Dir. John Lasseter. Pixar Animated Studios, 2000.




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Next up we have Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

Ben Hur (1959)

I don't remember alot about the first time I saw Ben Hur, probably because I was 8 and had the attention span of a Jack Russel. What I do remember was the famous chariot race scene. Who doesn't remember that scene? It was intense, massive, epic! I remember my eyes weren't big enough to take it all in. Even on a regular T.V. it is hard  not to miss the sheer size and excitment of that scene.

As I watched the film for the second time I was impressed with the scope of the film. Ben Hur was made in 1959, the film technologies of today weren't even possible, yet the film accomplished the same sense of greatness that you see in a modern epic. This film came out at a a key time in Hollywood as it was desperately fighting against the rise of television. One of Hollywood's answers to the television was to make the epic of all epics.1 It did something no other epic, such as The Ten Commandments, had not yet fully accomplished. Ben Hur brought the audience into the epic.2 It showed us a world of biblical and historical proportions while drawing us into its mise-en-sense by focusing on the life and journey of Juda Ben Hur. The director, William Wylar, and Cinematographer, Robert Sutrees, did a fabulous job of using the space that 70mm film gave them. They managed to capture the grandeur of the Roman empire while still being able to focus on the central characters and the story. The spacing of characters, objects, and lighting within the frame lends a lot to achieving this intimacy in such a vast landscape.

There are two scenes in particular that I am thinking about when I talk about the use of spacing. There is the scene where Masla comes to visit Juda at his house. They are talking one on each side of the screen, framed in sort of medium shot. The figures do not over power the image yet their bodies take up most of the frame. The positions in contrast to the negative space that is inherent to 70mm bring us right into the action as they are interacting with each other within that space.

The second scene take place when people are gather on the hill to hear Jesus speak.  Juda and Esther are walking back home from the Valley of the Lepers. They pass the hill and here Juda runs into an acquaintance of his, Balthasar. There's a lot going on in the background with people assembling on the hill but we are able to focus on the conversation that Juda and Balthasar are having in the foreground. The intimacy of the scene and focus is not completely based on the fact that the characters talking are in the foreground, it is because of their angle and position within the foreground in comparison to the constant moving background. The background figures are moving back and up into the frame yet we are not distracted. This movement enhances the the action taking place in the foreground.

This intimacy is also achieved by the great performances. The setting give way to the audience wanting to focus and engage in the conversation happening in front of them. The above scene is set like so many others in this film where by we see fantastic settings that allow for the characters to move and interact within the space so effortlessly that their performances come through organically.

Ben Hur was also a film that helped bring American cinema into a new era. The use of 70mm film brought audience a grandeur they had never seen before and opened the imaginations of the next generation of filmmakers. Robert Sutress adopted a form of  modern lighting that used more shadows and dark lighting to set scenes that were either more emotional or in essence darker.3 This brought forward the use of lighting as a means to keep the audience engaged to the feel and emotion of the scene. I particularly recall the scene where Juda's mother and sister come back to the house after they have become lepers. Esther finds them and tries to force them to stay but they insist on not letting themselves be seen. Their need to hide, fear, and shame is enhanced by the fact that they are mostly cast in shadow while Ester is completely well lit.

I was watching Gladiator (2000) the other day and it is not hard to see that Ben Hur was on Ridley Scott's mind while he was making his film. It isn't hard to miss how influential Ben Hur has been historically. It was the epic that started it all. The chariot race chase scene has influenced either consciously or subconsciously every chase scene since it was made. The modern chase scene would not have been what it is today without the Ben Hur chariot race scene.4

Ben Hur's grandeur, setting, cinematography, ingenuity, and acting has made it an American classic that is without a doubt part of American cinemas history. It can also be said that it helped shape the genera of the epic film and made it what it is today.

References
1 Thompson, Kristin and Bordwell, David. Film History: An Introduction. New York. McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1994 (376-380)

2-4 Ben Hur-The Epic That Changed the Cinema. Dr. Gary Leva. Turner Enterainment Co., a Warner Bros. Entertainment Compnay, 2005.

Ben Hur. Dir. William Wyler. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1959


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Stay tuned because film 99 on the AFI list is Toy Story (1995)

It's Movie Time!

I fear that I have been neglecting the whole movie aspect of this blog, I am ashamed to say. The truth is I don't trust my film writing. Five years of school and 5 more years of working in the industry and I just don't trust myself. Well no more!

I have decided to do something about this because this is really getting ridiculous.I am grabbing the bull by the horns and giving myself a little project. You know the AFI 100 Years...100 Movies list? The first list came out in 1998 and they had a t.v. special where actors and directors talked about the films on the list. It has been updated since then, some films have been removed, other added, some simply just moved around. I figured I would start with what I know best, American cinema. I have interest and know about lots of different international cinemas but I would say most of my knowledge is rooted in American cinema. So the project goes like this: I countdown on the AFI list (2007 not 1998)and take one film each week. I will watch it on the weekend and take a week to write my review, thoughts, and perceptions of the film. I may choose to write a straight forward critique in some cases but in other cases I may take a specific theme, plot point, concept, theory, or social criticism of the film and focus on that.

I have looked at the list and I have actually seen over half of the films on the list. If I have seen it I will re-watch the film and write about it. Some I rather not re-watch but for the sake of the project I will.

The first film that I will be writing about is the last film on the 2007 list is....Drum roll please.... Ben-Hur (1959). Oh great, a 212 minute film. Way to start of the project, Gwen. Ok, I can't turn back. I have to hold myself accountable. I hope I don't $%*& this one up.

Inglorious Bastards Indeed

I sit here watching Kill Bill Vol. 1 to keep me in a Quentin Tarantino type of head space to write my Inglorious Bastards review because well I had to bring back the DVD to the rental store. I figured it was the next best thing. I guess the next thing will be a Kill Bill Vol. 1 write up, but I digress. So here we go....

As soon as the film began I was hooked. It took no convincing, I knew I was going to like this movie. I didn't think Tarantino could do it. He made a WWII film the bled Tarantino. Now, I know some people have qualms about how the film deters from actual historical events but one needs to look past that. In the end it wasn't about how the war actually ended. It was a story. One man's creation. Stories are just that, stories. Many stories have some root in fact but they often deter from that fact depending on who is telling the story. All ethics aside this film was brilliant.

I admired how Tarantino managed to keep me in the story despite its often over the top campiness . This campiness was integral to Tarantino's version of the story. Without out it the film would fall flat and seizes to be a Tarantino film. Suspense plays a major part in this film and I would have to say it is probably the first time supsense is at forefront in a Tarantino film. With the combination of music, setting, and even positioning of the characters Tarantino manages to keep suspense going in an almost Hitchock manner.

Brad Pitt's performance was spectacular. He fit perfectly into his roll. Pitt as Lt. Aldo Raine had me laughing, especially when he tried to be an Italian. Even with Pitt's great performance I would have to say the Christoph Waltz stole the show. He was amusing and scary all at the same time. He deserved his Golden Globe.

Tarantino manages to combine genres is this film much more successfully, I think, than in his other films. Inglorious Bastards is the type of film Tarantino has been trying to make for years now and hasn't been able to. It took the right cast, time, and story to get it right.

People who know me know that I think Tarantino is a genius filmmaker when it comes to his early films and a brilliant screenwriter in some of his later films. He is also a pretentious and annoying but I can see past that as he his knowledge of film history is amazing. What I am trying to say here is that there is more of his creative genius in this film than of his actual self and this is why this movie is so good.

In the beginning...

....there was a girl who had high hopes and dreams. She went off to film school. She learned about film theory and history. She was fascinated and very happy. After film school she thought the world was her oyster so she procrastinated for a few years before she decided to do something with her life. She decided to head face first into the abyss that is the film industry. She worked on a few films as either a crew member or an extra. As a crew member she went up the ranks because she was worked hard and she was easy to get a long with.

Then, what she thought was an opportunity of a life time, came along and she pounced on it. She was working for a well known documentary filmmaker. It was great. She was working on projects she loved and felt like finally it was happening. But in the industry things aren't always stable and we were living in a time of recession so the company had to close. It was a blow. It was like her whole world was crashing down on her. It felt like she was starting all over again after all that hard work.

Well, after a few weeks of moping she dusted herself off and started over. While starting over she discovered a new passion. Every since she was a little girl she loved to bake. She would bake in her Easy Bake Oven all the time. Ever since she could remember she would make cookies every year for Christmas all by herself. She loved to bake. It only took some odd twenty years to figure that out. She loved it as much as she did movies. She was finding her stride again. The only problem was that she had to go to school again to learn this new trade because as she had come to discover decorating a cake isn't easy. She loves to do it but a little instruction would help.

Money has always been an issue as she was not born rich so going back to school without a steady job seemed almost impossible. She knew she had to do something to move forward so she decided to take one course at a time when she could afford it. With a little help from her partner, friends, and family she was able to do that. At first it was hard because some people didn't understand her choice but what they didn't understand was that nothing was changing. Films were still her dream but who said you couldn't have two dreams?

Well here we are, that girl is a women and nothing much has changed but she is happy with her choices as they have helped her live a happy fulfilling life. She has a long bumpy road ahead of her filled with frosting and digital cinema, flour and Fellini, but she is prepared. She is scared but she is willing to pull through. She is not sure how it will all pan out. She still has no job but is looking. She is looking for something creative but those jobs seem hard to come by. She wants to prove herself. I am sure it will come in time.


To be continued....


So the above is a little story of my life thus far.It may not be epic or important on the greater scheme of things but it is a good life. This blog is not necessarily to tell the story of my life because as you can see I wrote most of it already. This blog is for me to flesh out my thoughts and views on my two passions, film and baked goods. In a perfect world I could totally combine the two into my ultimate mega career, and who knows maybe I can, but for now I must work on them simultaneously.

This blog will contain my thoughts on movies I have seen in the past, movies I have yet to see, movies I have seen recently, a baking project I am endeavoring, a film festival I am work for, etc....

So that is that. I move on with a positive mind because I have started my new path. Here's to the future.