Europa '51 (1952)

Today's film is Europa '51, which seems like a decent drama, but overall feels a little silly.  It takes place in post-war Italy, where if a wealthy woman decides to give up her lifestyle and help the poor, she must be crazy.  The idea is if you took a saint like character and put her into a modern world, what would happen to her?

Irene is the wife of an ambassador and used to living life in luxury.  She often throws dinner parties and entertains guests.  However, her son is needy and clingy and is desperate for her attention.  This would be more understandable if he was young, but he's twelve years old.  There's a time for being with kids and a time for being with adults.  Spend the afternoon with your son and then the evening with the adults.  I can fully understand not wanting to have him at the dinner party.  Last time I brought my daughter to a nice restaurant, she ran around like an animal and stole a lady's eyeglasses.

So, her son, very upset at being ignored for five whole minutes, jumps down the stairs in an effort to injure/kill himself.  He breaks a few bones and spends the night in the hospital, but he should be fine.  Irene is feeling quite guilty at his plight and vows to spend much more time with him.  However, he dies unexpectedly from a blood clot sustained from his injuries.  So, Irene falls into a deep depression and doesn't leave her room for a while.  When she does, she decides to help others in need.

Her help gradually increases from simply helping to pay for medication to helping the actual people in the neighborhood.  What would really help is if these people could find jobs with decent wages, the same problem we have here today.  A handsome male friend of hers, her husband's cousin Andrea pushes the idea of social radicalism to make a better society.  Of course they have to throw communism in there because it's a 50s movie.  Irene's husband is upset that she's not around and believes that she is cheating on him.   Here's a radical idea: Tell. your. husband. what. you. are. doing.

That would have solved everything.  Just tell him you're depressed and helping poor people makes you feel better.  Spending money on medicine and food for children instead of on dinner parties.  Eventually she gets thrown into the crazy house.  They don't understand that someone doesn't need to be a part of a religious or political group in order to help the underserved in their communities.  A group of people that she's helped rally outside her window, but she's trapped inside.

This movie was okay, but it just seemed like a mouthpiece for various political ideas.  The characters are too unrealistic and there is no actual reason for her to be committed.  The 50s justice system in movies never makes sense.  The film shows the contrast between the wealthy Italians and the poor of society without offering any true solution.  I will give it a 5/10.

Ghostbusters (1984)

I hope everyone had a happy 4th of July!  I've watched a few new films, but I really feel like I should talk about Ghostbusters because the new one is about to come out soon and I think it will be terrible.  Especially since all the marketing seems to declare "if you don't like this you're sexist".  Not liking the new movie isn't sexist, it's simply not liking what looks like a terrible movie.  Also all of the toys are being put in the boy's toy section not the girls which is odd.  If you want girls to be interested in girl characters, then market them to the girls, which no one is doing.

Ok, the first movie came out before I was born, but I grew up watching the Real Ghostbusters cartoon in the '80s.  So when the movie came on video, I watched it all the time.  Not a huge fan of the second film though.  Even though it's about ghosts and the busting of them, it's not a horror film.  It could have easily been made a horror film, but they went the comedy route.  Three paranormal scientists lose their jobs at a university and decide to put their knowledge to use ridding the city of ghosts.  They do so well that they become famous and have to hire another ghostbuster for extra help.  It turns out all these extra ghosts are because the world is ending with the apocalypse and gods and everything.  Meanwhile, a mysterious building is the source of all these goings-on.  

So this movie has everything.

Mystery - what's up with the weird apartment building? Was it built to summon the end of days?  What about the safety of the people who live there?

Horror - there's ghosts attacking people, sliming people, a giant marshmallow man is storming the city and the world may come to an end.

Sci fi - neat gadgets, like their blasters that blast the ghosts.  Also you can't cross the streams or all your molecules in your body will explode, however they do exactly this at the end and it seems to work alright for them.  They also have other objects in their arsenal for the trapping and storage of ghosts.

Comedy - this film has some of the funniest people from the 80s in it, and they wrote it as well.  We can quote this film over and over.  The humor is not dated so this is a movie that can be watched any year, and it's great to watch at any age.  I watched this all the time as a kid, and I still watch it today.  The best is Ray because he's the most naive of the ghostbusters.  He's the one who chooses the Stay-puft marshmallow man because he thinks he could never hurt anyone.

Everything you could want from a film, you can find in this film.  If it had more sappy drama it could have won Best Picture.  But it is better than that.  It is so awesome.  I will give it a 10/10.

Babe (1995)

Today's film is Babe.  It's nice to share a movie from my childhood with my own child.  I remember watching this film in the theater.

Babe is a little piglet.  Pigs only have one purpose, and that is to be eaten.  All the other animals know this, except Babe of course.  He is taken to a fair where he is meant to be a prize, and he is won by a farmer named Arthur Hoggett.  A pig adopted by Hoggett?  Is this fate?

Without his mother around, he looks to a Border Collie named Fly as an adoptive mother.  Eventually he finds a talent for sheep-herding, but he does it much differently than a dog.  Dogs see themselves as superior to sheep, so they talk down to them.  However, Babe speaks to them politely, so he has no trouble herding them.  Fly's mate, Rex, does not like Babe acting out of line.  Pigs should act like pigs and dogs act like dogs.  Babe is acting out of the natural order of things and this makes Rex angry.

While Mrs. Hoggett is away, Mr. Hoggett enters Babe into a sheep-herding competition.  Will they even accept Babe as a proper entry?  After much debate they do, and he is allowed to enter.  Now if he doesn't do well, then Mr. Hoggett will be the laughingstock of the entire county.  Rex can't allow his master to be embarrassed so he runs back to the sheep to ask for help, something a dog would normally never do.  They tell him a password to use, and this allows Babe to talk the sheep at the competition.  By speaking cordially to the sheep, he herds them the best way he can.

The scenes in the movie are split up like chapters in a book, so it's easy for kids to follow along.  Azalea really liked this aspect of the movie.  And of course she loves animals.  So this is a good movie for parents to watch with their kids.  I will give it an 8/10.

The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

Today's film is The Bridge on the River Kwai, which focuses on a Japanese prison camp during WWII.  A huge troop of British soldiers and officers have been captured, and the director of the camp forces them to build a bridge for the Japanese army.  There's also an American who has been there for some time, but more on him later.

The main officer, Col. Nicholson, plays only by the rules and claims he and the other officers shouldn't be doing manual labor like working on a bridge.  The director, Saito, doesn't care about no stupid Geneva convention and wants as many people as possible working.  This becomes a battle of stubbornness between the two, and we know how stubborn men can be.  Eventually, Nicholson wins and the British set out to build a really good bridge.

Now this bridge becomes a source of British pride for Col Nicholson and he gets really hardcore about it.  He refuses to sabotage any of it, and makes his soldiers build it the best they can, so years later when the war is over, they can all be remembered for this super fantastic bridge of awesome.  That's in the middle of nowhere in a jungle.  They even erect a fancy plaque to commemorate the bridge. Really.

Remember the American dude from the beginning?  Well he escapes and with the help of local villagers, makes a miraculous recovery.  The navy wants him to go back and lead them on a dangerous mission through the jungle - to blow up the bridge on the River Kwai.  He really doesn't want to.  He spent a long time in the awful prison camp, suffered, and saw many people die.  He is starting to get over what he went through and they are forcing him to go back.  He agrees to go with them.  It takes a while but they do make it to the bridge.

They set up the charges to blow up the bridge, but of course Col Nicholson spots them and runs down to investigate.  He really gets in their way of blowing up the bridge, and causes the death of the soldiers responsible for blowing it up.  The soldiers tell him what the mission is about and he realizes he let his personal pride ruin what they were doing.  He falls on the plunger himself and blow up the bridge.  Now when he is hit he lands over there <----  and then falls on the plunger which is over here ------>.   Well that is remarkably convenient.  Overall it was a very enjoyable film.  I will give it a 9/10.

The Jungle Book (1967)

So I figured since I reviewed the live action version last month, I really should review the original Disney version of The Jungle Book.  You can read the review of the 2016 version here.  I actually like the newer version better.

I had the great fortune to watch The Jungle Book in the theaters when it was re-released in the early 90's.  It was originally made in 1967 and was one of the last films approved by Walt Disney himself.  This film is especially rare since the earlier ones focused on princesses more, and there are almost no female characters in this.

The whole film feels a bit rushed.  They also tried to cram too many songs in there.  All anyone ever remembers are Baloo and King Louie's songs so it's not like it matters.  My husband asked me why the vultures looked like the Beatles.  They didn't have the vultures in the live action film, and obviously their song was cut.  They actually were based on the Beatles because the filmmakers wanted them to voice them, but it didn't work out.  I think it would have been hilarious if they actually did.  That makes me think, what is the difference between vultures and buzzards? I really don't know.

The character of Mowgli is also a lot different.  The live action one makes all these inventions, which show off his human cunning and intuition whereas cartoon Mowgli doesn't do this.  The cartoon character also seems a lot younger and more immature.  Live action Mowgli chooses to leave the pack of his own volition in order to protect them from Shere Khan.  The cartoon one simply gets kicked out and doesn't understand.

My daughter really loved Shere Khan.  When he appeared on screen, she would jump out of her seat and yell,  Tiger! Tiger!!! RAWRRR!   I believe this is because my husband and I both went to Auburn and are huge Auburn Tigers fans.  We have tiger stuff all over our house and love tigers.  So Azalea simply can't see a tiger as a villain.

Overall, this isn't the best Disney film, but there are some good songs and it's great to watch with kids.  I will give it a 6/10.

Gimme Shelter (1970)

Today's film is Gimme Shelter, a documentary about one of the greatest rock n roll bands of all time, The Rolling Stones.  The first half shows them making an album and features a lots of great songs everyone is sure to recognize.

The majority of the film focuses on their quest to make a free concert to mimic Woodstock.  The problem is that you can't recreate outdoor festivals because they're all different.  Also, they planned to do it at the Altamont Speedway in California.  There was a lot more drugs and violence at this concert than Woodstock.

Instead of hiring a security firm or off duty police officers for their concert, The Rolling Stones decided to hire the Hell's Angels as their security.  This was probably not the best idea.  However, they did do their job.  One Hell's Angel stabbed a man, but film footage reveals he had a gun drawn and could have easily shot a performer or an audience member.

The crowd was so wild and out of control at this concert.  It's like they had no respect for anything.  This year, I was upset that my husband would not take me to the local outdoor concert because he thought it would be too dangerous for a pregnant woman.  During the Altamont concert, four women gave birth!  60s women are hardcore!

This is a good documentary for us to see a historical event as it happened.  This concert showed the end of the Woodstock-hippie era.  Everyone thought that the hippies would usher in a time of peace and love and harmony.  But the Altamont concert proved that nope, people are still assholes.  If anything, the film shows lots and lots of good music.  It's like listening to an album and watching a film at the same time.  I will give this film a 7/10.

The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)

Today's film is The Greatest Show on Earth, but it's definitely not the greatest movie on earth.  Why are Charlton Heston movies so long?  I remember watching this on tv when I was little, but all I remembered was the train crash, so I thought I should watch the whole thing.  So this marks the 50th best picture film I have ever seen.

I wouldn't call this a best picture, but compared to the other films nominated? Probably yeah.  There was like Ivanhoe and Moulin Rouge and stuff, so I can see that a super exciting circus picture would win it.  It's more of like an almost 3 hour long commercial for Barnum and Bailey circus.  The worst part was Betty Hutton's acting by a long shot.  They have scenes showing each of the acts, the animals, and a whole section about putting the tent up. They make sure to mention the tent's fireproof quality because just a few years before, a circus tent burned to the ground, killing over 100 people.  And no one has to worry about racketeers or thieving carnies at the circus, because they will get thrown in the mud.  No, literally they get thrown in the mud.

The main reason why I really don't like the circus and I'll never take my kids is because of the animals.  Animals are not meant to be locked in cages and only let out to perform for people.  That's a horrible way to live.  They are portrayed positively in this film, and an elephant trainer even uses her elephant to lift off a broken rail off the boss, when machinery could not.  Barnum and Bailey actually stopped using elephants in its acts this year, but is it too little, too late?

There's lots of subplots in this movie and there has to be because circuses take a lot of people to run.  The boss, Brad (Charlton Heston) hires a popular new act to ensure a full season.  The act is Sebastian, a hot either French or Italian, I cant tell, aerial act.  This forces Brad's girlfriend, also an aerial artist, out of the center ring which devastates her.

My little sister is actually an aerial artist for the circus which is one reason why I find circuses so interesting.  Aerial artists (they hate being called trapeze artists) take what they do really seriously and often feel invincible doing it.  That's why Holly used the wrong rope to do her spins and why Sebastian cut away his net.  They don't see the danger in what they're doing.

Another thing is they gave Buttons the clown wayyy too much screentime.  He's like in every scene.  And the big reveal is that he's actually a murderer.  Well of course he's a murderer, he's a clown.  I didn't need to see any of the movie to tell you that.

This may not be the best acted movie ever, but you don't go to the circus for the acting.  You go because it's exciting.  And there's a lot going on everywhere you look. And this film achieved that so I will give it an 8/10.