- Once (2006)
- All the President's Men (1976)
- Being John Malkovich (1999)
- In the Year of the Pig (1968)
- In The Mood For Love (2000)
- Hole, The (1960)
- Tokyo Story (1953)
- Ocean’s Eleven Blu-Ray Review
- Jurassic Park (1993)
- Gilda (1946)
- Rounders (1998)
- Masque of the Red Death, The (1964)
- Django Unchained (2012)
- Fat City (1972)
- Amélie (2001)
- All That Jazz (1979)
- Night of the Hunter, The (1955)
- King of Comedy, The (1983)
- Manhattan (1979)
- Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985)
- Sullivan's Travels (1941)
- Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, The (1994)
- Hecklefest Four-Word Film Reviews! August '12 - Week 4
- Playtime (1967)
- Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
- Haunted Castle, The (1921)
- Last Wave, The (1977)
- Naked Lunch (1991) * Weird and Wacky *
- Phantom Carriage, The (1921)
- Lolita (1962)
1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die Blog Club
Thursday June 13th
Squish is actually steel feeling the lingering end effects of a horrible Viral Pharyngitis. He doesn'ty really give a shit so he's having a cool, refreshing pint of Old Milwaukee Ice - ah the cooling spirit.
This week we review:
Welcome to the portal page!
We are a community of bloggers who share a common interest in cinema past and present, using the '1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die' book as our guide to exploring this vast realm of study.
The 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die Blog Club is a forum for bloggers to share in their passion and engage in group study, one classic film at a time. For our readers, it is a portal of cinematic opinions from a wide assortment of blog critics, one film per week, 52 weeks per year.
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Below you will find links to Community Pages, reviews, editorials and insight of our weekly-assigned films.
Under that is a list of past club assignment archives, contributor credits, and upcoming assignments
Enjoy!
#388. To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)
Why It's In The Book: "Harper Lee’s beloved, Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of childhood in the Deep South during the Depression received a rare, superlative translation to the screen by the new, independent, and socially conscious production partnership of Alan J. Pakula, who produced, and Robert Mulligan, who directed this first of six films they made together in the 1960s. The adaptation was written by playwright Horton Foote, who won his first Academy Award for a screenplay that typified his feel for authentic rural Americana and real people…
The film has a strong center in the Oscar-winning performance of Gregory Peck as the ne plus ultra of all the decent men he embodied, Atticus Finch… Mulligan bringing his experience in live TV production to craft a discreetly atmospheric , intimate character drama.
In important roles the children are terrifically natural, particularly the ingenious Scout Finch played by nine-year-old Alabaman Mary Badham… To Kill A Mockingbird also boasts the feature debut of Robert Duvall as… Boo Radley… The melodious score by Elmer Bernstein is another in this tender, heartfelt film." -1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
Member Ratings
Chip Lary - 10/10
"This is one of the finest examples of a story that speaks to everyone. And at its lead is the character of Atticus Finch. If I ever was forced give a single example of what it means to be 'a good man' then I would offer up Atticus Finch as my choice."
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Movie Guy Steve - 9/10
"Don’t let the fact that the book is regularly assigned to junior high students prevent you from finding this and watching it."
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Adolytsi - 8/10
"As long as you know that you’ll be getting two condensed films for the price of one, and you know what two types of film this is going to be, I think you’ll walk away from this pretty satisfied."
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Siochembio - 8/10
"The courthouse drama episode, easily the most memorable one of the film, stands head and shoulders above the rest of the story and is surprisingly fresh and gripping."
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Kim Wilson - 7.5/10
"What I think is most telling about To Kill a Mockingbird (both the film and the book) is how it has endured."
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Lindsey - 5/10
"The attitude in Maycomb is very believable. In fact, if it were colorized and set today, it could easily take place in our real-life small town and it would have been the exact same. No one would have noticed that it was an old movie."
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Overall Rating: 7.9/10
#229. Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Why It's In The Book: "Usually not a filmmaker given to ostentatious visuals, Wilder is encouraged … to create compositions that evoke the lair of the Phantom of the Opera and Kane’s Xanadu… Wilder’s acidic, yet nostalgic, traipse through the film industry’s haunted house is a picture that can be endlessly rewatched, even after its influence has seeped into the Horror genre (Robert Aldrich’s Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?) and spun off an Andrew Lloyd Webber stage adaptation… it’s a hard and cynical film, which struggles with its doomed but sweet “normal” love affair…" -1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
Member Ratings
Lindsey - 10/10
"This movie is spectacularly creepy."
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marie_dressler - 10/10
"Billy Wilder’s caustic indictment of the Hollywood dream factory and human cupidity is a classic in every sense of the word."
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Movie Guy Steve - 10/10
"Unlike Norma Desmond, this film hasn’t aged a day."
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Sunny D - 10/10
"There is absolutely nothing wrong with this movie, no flaw I can detect which would merit subtracting even a fraction of a point."
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Adolytsi - 9/10
"The Hollywood film noir to end them all."
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Alyson - 9/10
"I’ve always interpreted the events in Sunset Boulevard to be wonderfully simple. Joe was mistaken to be the funeral director for Norma’s pet chimp who has just died. We don’t realize it yet, but Norma’s new pet has just walked in the door."
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Chip Lary - 9/10
"Even though the movie was made sixty years ago, you can still draw a ton of parallels with Hollywood today. How many once-popular actresses are considered to be 'too old' and get forgotten? Think it’s not that bad now? Ask yourself this: When was the last time you saw Meg Ryan in a new romantic comedy? Had to stop and think for a minute, didn’t you?"
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Nicolas Krizan - 9/10
"gothic noir both sunscorched and shadowy"
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Siochembio - 9/10
"Sunset Blvd. isn’t so much an allegory as it is a straight up 'true crimes' story about the dirty business that is Hollywood."
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Kim Wilson - 8.5/10
""The acting is insanely good, the script is dark and acidic, and the set design is ostentatiously divine."
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Squish - 8.5/10
"With cameos by Silent film stars like Buster Keaton as bridge partners, sarcastically named "the Waxworks", with sad truths like Erich von Stroheim playing the butler once director, and with the washed up star being played by someone who lived that very experience, this is a tale of subtext so near the surface that it doesn't take any stretch of the imagination to see the pain behind the veiled mirror that is Sunset Boulevard."
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Overall Rating: 9.3/10
#787. Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
Why It's In The Book: "With an attention to craft and design absent from so much mainstream Western animation, several Japanese animators have subverted the traditionally child-oriented nature of cartoons (at least that’s how they’re often perceived) into grand achievements equal to any big-budget live-action film. In fact, as Isao Takahata’s Grave of the Fireflies readily attests, sometimes these animated films actually surpass their live-action equivalents, finding narrative freedom, emotional honesty, and a greater sense of artistic control on the plane of a two-dimensional set…
Remarkably, Grave of the Fireflies debuted on a double-bill with Hayao Miyazaki’s much lighter My Neighbor Totoro, and indeed it is hard to imagine audiences of children, let alone adults, making it through this powerful and disturbing film without being overwhelmed by sadness and disappointment in the seeming inevitability of human conflict." -1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
Member Ratings
Adolytsi - 9/10
"This is one of the most gut-wrenching, eye-watering, heart-stoppingly sad films I have ever personally witnessed, and though it got very close to unbearable as it was happening, after it was over I couldn’t help but have a feeling of catharsis."
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marie_dressler - 9/10
"It is fortunate that this film is animated. A live action film detailing the hardships these poor children must suffer would be just too hard to take."
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Movie Guy Steve - 9/10
"Hotaru no Haka is the definition of a 'must-see' film."
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Nicolas Krizan - 9/10
"more subtle and engaging than many live-action productions"
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Squish - 8.5/10
"Seeing the warm glow of [fireflies] against the night sky juxtaposed against a sky filled with firebombs deserves a gracious tip of the hat."
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Lindsey - 8/10
"The movie is powerful as it reminds us of the forgotten victims of war. It also shows that animation is not just a medium of fantasy, but can portray the darkness of reality as well."
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Sunny D - 8/10
"The death of innocence is an unavoidable fact of life, and I get that, but it’s a brutal one as well, and while it’s important to acknowledge reality and not hide from the unpleasant aspects of it, it’s still incredibly difficult to meditate on grief and despair."
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Kim Wilson - 7/10
"Overall, Grave of the Fireflies is a heart-wrenching tale. The story itself is moving, and the ending is powerful. In addition, there are some compelling images that you won’t soon forget."
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Michaël Parent - 6/10
"It is a film that deals with problems that children should never encounter and that we hope that will never be repeated."
READ MORE
Overall Rating: 8.1/10
#5. Intolerance (1916)
Why It's In The Book: "Perhaps in part a retort to those who found fault with the racial politics in The Birth of a Nation (1915), D.W. Griffith was equally concerned to argue against film censorship. This was addressed more directly in the pamphlet issued at the time of Intolerance’s exhibition, The Rise and Fall of Free Speech in America. Griffith’s design for this film…is to juxtapose four storied from different periods of history… Griffith…often introduces suspenseful crosscutting with the stories as well. This revolutionary structure proved too difficult for most filmgoers at the time, who may also have been put off by Intolerance’s length (more than three hours). Griffith may have invested as much as $2 million in the project, but the film never came close to making back its costs, even when recut and rereleased as two separate features, The Fall of Babylon and The Mother and the Law.
No expense was spared in the impressive historical recreations. The enormous sets for the Babylon story, which long after remained a Hollywood landmark, were dressed with 3,000 extras. These production values were equaled by the sumptuous costumes and elaborate crowd scenes of the French story…
As in The Birth of a Nation, Griffith uses the structure of Victorian melodrama to make his political points… Intolerance is a monument to Griffith’s talent for screenwriting, directing actors, designing shots, and editing – a one of a kind masterpiece on a scope and scale that has never been equaled. Meant to persuade, this film exerted more influence on the Soviet revolutionary cinema of Sergei Eisenstein and others than on Griffith’s American contemporaries." -1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
Member Ratings
Chris Edwards - 8/10
"Given Griffith’s overall body of work, it’s ironic that Babylon—a venal sin-pit—receives the best of his attention. In the scene leading to the great battle, you’ll see a different D.W.; one willing to film erotic footage of writhing priestesses amid other opulencies. Some parts of Babylon are downright steamy and it’s too bad he didn’t film more of this adult (in the best sense of the word) material. He might have stayed on top a while longer."
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Kim Wilson - 8/10
"I personally like the film and fully understand its importance in the development of the world of film, but I also understand why some might not find it as enjoyable as I do."
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Lindsey - 8/10
"The word 'epic' was actually created to describe this film."
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Adolytsi - 7/10
"Film historians and students of the cinema will gain a great appreciation for Griffith and what he accomplishes with this one, but this isn’t one I’d tell the layman moviegoer to see."
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Squish - 6/10
"Uh, let's just say 'Appropriate Title', shall we?"
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marie_dressler - 5/10
"My definition of a movie I’m glad I don’t have to see again before I die: any 3+ hour D.W. Griffith silent epic."
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Movie Guy Steve - 5/10
"... it’s a few hours of preaching, bad behavior, and overacting."
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Nicolas Krizan - 5/10
"Fascinating in parts and details, an epic failure as a complete film"
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Siochembio - 4/10
"Somehow D.W. Griffith is much more amusing to me if I picture him as a ghetto thug."
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TSorensen - 3/10
"My mind just went into stupid mode long before the resolution of the stories. All I could think of was: What a hypocrite ass!"
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Overall Rating: 6/10
#663. The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Why It's In The Book: "The best picture in George Lucas’s touchstone of modern cinema, the original Star Wars trilogy, this knockout sequel to the 1977 blockbuster and cultural phenomenon caps the first with more Oscar-winning special effects. Episode V has more personality…strong new characters appear (like Billy Dee Williams’s dashing scoundrel Lando Calrissian), all of them safely in the sure hands of studio workhorse Irvin Kershner. The action rages… the battle drives on to the cliffhanging climax… mystic master Yoda – a wizened puppet sage performed with startling expressiveness and exasperation by Muppeteer Frank “Miss Piggy” Oz.
Like its predecessor, The Empire Strikes back incorporates all the hectic thrills of 1930s Saturday serials. The cracking screeplay by Leigh Brackett – noted for her collaborations with Howard Hawks and who died before the film went into production – and impressive newcomer Lawrence Kasdan, hurtles along with a spirited sense of romantic fun. One-liners became catchphrases – “I have a baaad feeling about this.” Charming comic interplay for the scene-stealing androids C-3PO and R2-D2, and ever weirder alien creatures wowed audiences the world over. Restored by Lucas in 1997 with digitally-enhanced effects and an additional three minutes, this rollicking popcorn adventure is arguably even slicker and just as entertaining today.” -1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
Member Ratings
Adolytsi - 10/10
"This is another difficult one to try and review critically, both for its popularity and status in history, and it is another one that I feel like I can’t say anything that hasn’t already been said about it."
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Movie Guy Steve - 10/10
"Empire is the best of the trilogy for any number of reasons."
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Siochembio - 10/10
"It's fucking Star Wars!"
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Kim Wilson - 8.5/10
"The true test of how good this movie is the fact that I get the same feeling today that I did 30+ years ago when I sat in the front row and watched it."
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Chip - 8/10
"What can be said about the movie The Empire Strikes Back that has not already been written a dozen times? Rather than do a “normal” review where I have a short summary of the movie and point out a few things of interest, I thought I would do something different. I’m going to share with you what it was like to be a teenager when the whole Star Wars phenomenon was starting, and when no one knew what was going to happen next."
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Lindsey - 8/10
"This movie does not simply take us through outer space. We get to experience the harsh winter of Hoth, the swamp jungle of the Dagobah system, and even journey to a city in the clouds."
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marie_dressler - 8/10
"I watched it, I was entertained, and somehow I am stumped for anything else to say."
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Nicholas Krizan - 8/10
"crammed with great visuals and memorable one-liners"
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Overall Rating: 9.2/10
#961. Being John Malkovich (1999)
Why It's In The Book: "Acclaimed video director, Spike Jonze… turned filmmaker successfully turns one of the oddest concepts for a movie (as perceived by writer Charlie Kaufman) into one of the most inventive Hollywood films in recent history…
Kaufman cleverly weaves an intricate plot… Jonze dazzles at every turn as he tells this smart, subversive, and darkly comic tale, and he has assembled a cast – Cusack and Diaz especially – who beautifully translate his skewed vision to the screen. Of course, Being John Malkovich wouldn’t have worked at all without the eponymous actor himself, who parodies his public image brilliantly…
Wonderfully hip, utterly marvelous." -1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
Member Ratings
Kim Wilson - 9.5/10
"While I am not known for my unadorned adoration of 'art' films, I do regard Being John Malkovich as one of the best films of the 1990s. From the inspired and riveting opening scene until the wickedly bizarre ending, I was thoroughly engrossed in this unique film."
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Lindsey - 9/10
"I could go on and on asking questions about this movie, and I think that's why it's so meaningful to this list of 1001 movies. If a movie raises questions and sparks discussions, it proves that it's not just a medium of art, it's on a whole different level."
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Nicolas Krizan - 9/10
"Amazingly inventive, painfully smart, wryly funny."
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Siochembio - 9/10
"Manages to be weird without ever completely disorienting the audience."
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Squish - 8.5/10
"There's elements of darkness and madness and passion that make this a little bit more profound, that make it memorable, that make it terrific from beginning to end. But what I believe will keep this movie timeless and unique is the work of puppeteer Phillip Huber. His marionettes combined with his skill are a wonder to behold."
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Sunny D - 8.5/10
"Being John Malkovich [is] a perfect storm of a movie in terms of bringing multiple wonderfully weird talents and visions together."
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Adolytsi - 8/10
"While there may be directors other than Jonze, and writers other than Kaufman, the two are truly unique among the crowd, and combined together, make for one heady amusement park ride."
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Chip Lary - 8/10
"Being John Malkovich was my first exposure to the writing of Charlie Kaufman. It would be an understatement to say that his mind works in ways that are different from most other people. The result is some really unique movies. This one is no exception."
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Alyson - 7/10
"Being John Malkovich is so smart and out there, not one thing in this film is normal. Yet, we accept it all and want more."
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marie_dressler - 7/10
"This was a well made picture but it just wasn’t for me."
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Movie Guy Steve - 7/10
"I dislike the characters intensely, which prevents me from really loving this film the way I want to."
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Overall Rating: 8.2/10
#448. Blow-Up (1966)
Why It's In The Book: "Michelangelo Antonioni became an international filmmaker with this 1966 picture… Turning his outsider’s eye on a London that was just beginning to swing, Antonioni captures precisely a time and a place that seemed culturally significant. As with Fellini’s La Dolce Vita, a film intended as a satirical attack on a certain type of modern sophistication and emptiness emerges almost as a celebration of the fashions, mores, music, sexuality, and strangeness of a world it would like to disapprove of…
Despite its thriller-style hook (often hommaged in straighter suspense films like Coppola’s The Conversation or De Palma’s Blow Out), this is less a mystery than a portrait of swinging alienation… this is a film about an alien world…" -1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
Member Ratings
Adolytsi - 9/10
" This is a film that has a lot to say, and that viewers and critics alike can have a lot to say about it. It ignites and enlivens discussions, especially about the film’s enigmatic ending."
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marie_dressler - 9/10
"While Blow-Up can hardly be called entertaining, it is a sometimes frustrating but intellectually stimulating and visually exciting examination of an artist’s unsuccessful struggle to bring order out of chaos and the emptiness of the materialism at the heart of swinging London."
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Movie Guy Steve - 8/10
"Ultimately, I think I’d like a little less artistic oomph and a little more story earlier on."
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Nicolas Krizan - 8/10
"Clever, camp, and irritating depiction of the life of a cynical bastard"
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Squish - 8/10
"It's in our nature [to ask] "What's this about?" ... but in the case of Blow-Up, asking that question is missing the point. "
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Siochembio - 7.5/10
"Of all the Antonioni films I've seen, Blow-Up is the most accessible, but that's not saying much."
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Kim Wilson - 4/10
"Somehow this 1966 film from famed Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni earned two Academy Award nominations: Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. Obviously drug abuse was a huge problem for Academy voters in the mid-60s, because Blow-Up is a really bad art film gone horribly wrong."
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Overall Rating: 7.6/10
#1096. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)
Why It's In The Book: "The modulated pacing and precise direction ably run the fine line between boring and flattering to deceive, giving center stage to the topnotch British cast and impeccable production design. Although firmly rooted in the period with which the original miniseries enjoyed contemporariness, Alfredson skillfully manages to modernize the themes and aesthetic... Visually, the palette of dour browns and yellows is sketched across a rich anamorphic canvas.
In order to condense le Carre's novel into two hours, Alfredson trusts his audience to follow him closely. The array of characters is vast, the information diseminated voluminous, yet he nimbly covers the necessary ground. If he succeeds in conveying the ethos at the cost of some pathos... Alfredson has at least constructed a subtle and intelligent espionage drama that quietly stands out against the brash backdrop of Bournes and Bonds and 24." -1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
Member Ratings
Klaus Ming - 9/10
"this unglamorous slowly paced film has an authentic 1970s era look and feel"
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Jay Cluitt - 8/10
"Though the performances are all impeccable and the atmosphere is both what was aimed for and what it should be, I cannot recommend this film on the basis that I didn't enjoy it, and I'm still not sure what it was about."
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marie_dressler - 8/10
"On further reflection, the pieces of the disjointed plot kept coming together and I’ve come to the conclusion that the film worked better than it first appeared."
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Nicolas Krizan - 8/10
"Restraint, suspicion, silence."
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Adolytsi - 7/10
"This is one of the most methodical films I’ve been a privy to; it shows the craftsmanship of a master filmmaker, but seems to eschew outright entertainment in order to do so."
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Kim Wilson - 7/10
"Overall, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was an exercise in patience for me. The plot was difficult to follow and I often found myself irked by Alfredson’s overuse of flashbacks."
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Movie Guy Steve - 7/10
"...this is a film in which our protagonist and his nemesis sit around and talk a lot and think cinematically until the Gordian Knot of the film’s plot resolves itself."
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Siochembio - 7/10
"Too dense and too meandering, to the ultimate detriment of itself."
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Lindsey - 3/10
"Everything in the movie is made of dull greys and browns. The acting is muted, quiet-like. It is boring to look at. It is boring to listen to."
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Overall Rating: 7/10
Upcoming Member-Assigned Reviews:
Thursday, June 20th
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Thursday, June 27th
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Thursday, July 4th
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Thursday, July 11th
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Past Assignment Archives
1001 MUST SEE MOVIES CLUB
Complete Members List
(in order of contributions)
Adolytsi • Movie Guy Steve • Squish • Nicolas Krizan • Siochembio • Klaus Ming • Michaël Parent • KimWilson • Alyson • Jay Cluitt • Chip • Sunny D • TSorensen • Lindsey • marie_dressler • Doug Tilley • Jaime Grijalba • Brian Vs. Movies • Branden • Oilar • Haricharan • Darwin • Tim Burrow • bpdreview • Univarn • The Mad Hatter • Shubhajit Lahiri • ChrisLejarzar • Robert • Simon Columb • Jeff Coté • Chris Edwards • Oilar • Kevyn Knox • K.J Broyles • Kurosawa_Lover • alfindeol • Fey • johnlgilpatrick • This Guy Over Here • The Movie Mistress • Whitney • Andrew Robinson • Danny King • Thomas Gatto • Blake • Castor • Heather • My Floating Red Couch • Tom Clift • El Gringo • genevieve • Ripley • Ronan • Travis McCollum • CMrok93 • C.M. Dobson •
Submitted by Squish on December 2, 2010 - 9:12am.
Remember kiddies, Archive posts are welcome. Whether you were a club member since its inception in 2009 or just joining us now, if you have a review you are proud of, I will gladly add it to the archives list.
Just submit it as you would an assigned review, including your score out of 10 and the quote from your post.
» reply
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