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“Patti Smith, In Repose”, 1974, by Frank Stefanko

RKO 281 (1999)

RKO 281 is an HBO film about the making of Citizen Kane. It takes one of the most interesting stories from Hollywood’s studio era and a top tier cast, and does the worst thing it can do, makes it boring. The main problem is the script. The film starts with Orson Welles as a child, for some reason, lighting the candles on his birthday cake in his mother’s bedroom while she’s on her death bed. She calls him to her bed, telling him to step into the light. After a short conversation, she tells him to blow out the candles on his cake and make a wish, emphasizing that he needs to do it in one breath because he only has one chance. This kind of on the nose metaphor happens a lot at the beginning of the film. A later scene has Welles at a party held by William Randolph Hearst. During dinner, the conversation moves to Welles talking about bullfighting. Every time he talks about the bull, the camera focuses on Hearst. When he’s talking about the bullfighter, the camera focuses on him. If you’re unfamiliar with the story behind the making of the movie, you might Liev Schreiber does an admiral job as Welles, showing his innocence, hubris and self-centeredness. James Cromwell brings a level of sympathy to Hearst that most accounts of the man avoid these days. The entire cast does well with what they’re given, minus a couple of odd line readings from John Malkovich as Herman Mankiewicz, the screenwriter of Kane. Once Hearst learns about the film and tries to stop its release, it becomes a bit more interesting. But that’s such a small portion of the film that it doesn’t help much. Someone interested in the story of the film would be better served by watching the documentary The Battle Over Citizen Kane, which this movie was based on.

This one’s not as long-winded, but I don’t have as much to say about it.

#Movie Reviews #I'm 31 it shouldn't have taken me this long to finally get around to this

Casablanca (1942)- Set in Africa

I’m doing a movie challenge with some friends on facebook where we watch and (maybe) review movies based on certain categories. I haven’t used this site much lately, so I figured I would cross-post those reviews here.

This one is not just a rewatch, but my favorite film. I could not tell you the amount of times I’ve seen this movie. Also, I’ve loaded my list with so many dramas, I needed to start with something relatively lighter.

Humphrey Bogart is Rick, the gruff, cynical owner of a bar/illegal gambling house in Casablanca during World War II. His ex-lover, Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman), comes to town with her husband, a Czech resistance fighter, looking to buy two letters of transit that had been stolen from German soldiers. This creates problems for all three, as Ilsa learns that Rick has the letters they’re looking for.

The main emotional punch of the movie comes from the fact that many of the people involved were European immigrants who came to the U.S. to escape the Nazis. This is particularly noticeable in the “dueling anthems” scene. German officers, most of whom were played by Jewish refugees, are singing a German song about defending their country from a French invasion. This quickly becomes drowned out by the other patrons and staff singing “La Marseillaise.” All emotions displayed in that scene are entirely real.

This movie should not be as good as it is. It kind of stumbled into its greatness through a combination of one of Warner Bros. most prolific directors (though producer Hal Wallis’ second choice for the job), a script that was being finished during the filming, and stars who didn’t really get along. It also went over budget by about $100,000.

There are a lot of aspects about the film that can be criticized. The letters of transit are the quintessential MacGuffin. One of the script writers even admitted to his script’s corniness. The film’s most ardent fans are capable of admitting that. But the mix of script, acting, direction and score became something greater than the people involved had any expectation of. There’s a reason it won most of the big categories at the 1943 Oscars, including Best Picture, Director and Screenplay.

#film challenge #movie reviews #I'#I'm 31 it shouldn't have taken me this long to finally get around to this

I’m doing a movie challenge with some friends on facebook where we watch and (maybe) review movies based on certain categories. I haven’t used this site much lately, so I figured I would cross-post those reviews here.

I’m posting the list first, cause why not.

This is my list for now. I tried to pick as many movies as I could that I hadn't already seen. Only 5 of my picks are rewatches.

Movies with the same actor: Persona, Autumn Sonata (Liv Ullmann)

Movies based on books: Once Upon a Time in America

Movies with a female lead: A Woman Under the Influence

Movies about sex or relationships: Summer with Monika

Movies about Hollywood or television: A Face in the Crowd RKO 281

Movies based on historical events or a real person: Aguirre, The Wrath of God Andrei Rublev

Anime Movies: Akira

Movie and Its Sequel: True Grit Rooster Cogburn

Movies set in Europe, Africa or Asia: Casablanca

#film challenge #movie reviews #I'm 31 it shouldn't have taken me this long to finally get around to this

arcaneimages

This taxidermy was found inside a late 19th-century French mansion which has been sealed up for more than 100 years. Via National Geographic.

we-did-an-internet

Good to know people were just as fucking weird before the internet.

kineticpenguin

ancient frog memes

shermansky

et tu, dat boi?

glnorwood

Look up the song Froggy Went A Courtin

this-is-persona-non-grata

The Seventh Seal (1957)

boylikelinus

shencomix

You can’t defeat what’s already defeated.

image / twitter / facebook / patreon

prison-mikes-bandana

If leia had gone to bring Ben home instead of Han…

thenerdsaurus

“it’s the most beautiful thing I ever saw”

superheroesincolor

*From my regular blog, follow if you like at thenerdsaurus *

sicklesium-moved-deactivated201

i dont get offended at white people jokes even though im white because:

i can recognize white people as a whole have systemically oppressed POC in america, which is where i live

most people when they make white people jokes only mean the shitty white people and i am not a shitty white person

im not a pissbaby

damncommunists-deactivated20180

my white friends that have reblogged this give me life

zelda-tempest

4. Sometimes I am a shitty white person and the jokes remind me to FUCKIN STOP

lallamariamhabibi

If ur white and like this post I fux with u

birdpapi-deactivated20171121

^absolutely

verdant-witch

5. It’s hard to be offended when white people jokes involve bland food/tourist dads in socks and sandals/white girls in yoga pants obsessed with pumpkin spice/suburban PTA moms and other harmless and mostly true stereotypes while jokes about POC involve them being called thugs/criminals/slurs/uneducated/illegal immigrants.

blackpoeticinjustice

i fucks with u heavy if ur white and you reblog this

sm0k3-ring-deactivated20160109

6. They’re usually really fucking funny and don’t perpetuate stereotypes that will ever affect me economically, politically, or cause me any true harm, let alone create risks that “justify” my murder and/or death

earthlyvibration

THIS

hollowedskin

7. Theyre not even mean like honestly you can totally control me with cheese it’s not even a lie.

And like even when its not a joke and its serious time like “stop these white demons” and like “literally no charachter needs to be white” im here like I 100% agree w that statement? It’s not offensive it’s fuckin true?

nexya

I love how humans have literally not changed throughout history like the graffiti from Pompeii has people from hundreds of years ago writing stuff like “Marcus is gay” “I fucked a girl here” “Julius your mum wishes she was with me” and leonardo da vinci’s assistants drew dicks in their notebooks just for the banter and mozart created a piece called “kiss my ass” so when people wish for ‘today’s generation’ to be like ‘how people used to’ then we’re already there buddy we’ve always been

charlesoberonn

The Hagia Sophia has inscriptions that were considered sacred for centuries until they were deciphered in the 70s to be Nordic runes saying “Halfdan wrote this”

terminallydepraved

my old english prof told us that theres a cave in Scandinavia where a viking gratified some runes like 14 feet up on the wall and when they finally reached it all it translated into was “this is very high”

loremerchant

Ancient Shitposting

Now on the History Channel

self-critical-automaton

‘People have literally just always been people’ is genuinely my favorite fact about the world

beesmygod

good: expecting “u cant touch this” and instead getting “super freak”

bad: expecting “sweet home alabama” and getting that kid rock song

ugly: expecting “under pressure” and getting “ice ice baby”

big-low-t

Dinosaur Jr Blowing It/ I Live for that Look

alicehaeffner

You will be very, very sorry…. Forever.

Gotham Adventures #26

wcreaf

This should be the new “is your Batman remotely like Batman” test. Can your version of Batman be caring enough to hold and care for a small child, yet still menace four criminals into surrendering, and even then still not be scary enough that a civilian can just go up to him and say “hey you holding that baby wrong, you clearly do not know what you’re doing. Let me help.” And he accepts her help, doesn’t try pretend he doesn’t need help because it’d hurt his image.

That’s Batman.