Movies I Recently Watched

Rebecca: In the courtship phase especially, I find the 2 main characters annoying and the story boring, which really makes one accurately anticipate the level of quality for the rest of the movie (Well okay it is less boring.). He looks way too old, and she looks kinda old; this isn’t actually pertinent, but I really don’t have much to say about their boring performances, esp Oliver who I feel was miscast rather than just being lazy. I wanted it get to Judith Anderson – rightfully considered one of the best supporting perfs ever, esp in her 2 crazy monologues to the second Mrs. De Winter. Sanders is also great. One of the best supporting pairings I’ve seen, though I don’t mind their losses (or, you know, non-nom) too badly since Anderson got the E&T of the EGOT to keep her company and Sanders won for his even better performance in Eve. 2.5/5

Sunrise: I found this okay. I probably would like it better if I understood more about film. The acting is…well, the two women’s I found relatively good. I got what they were serving. The guy’s not as much. The story is fairly interesting and attention-keeping. The music and titles were nice and I was impressed with the visuals esp given the time period. But the most exciting thing about the movie was that I could add pretension points from watching one of the Silent Classics esp since I DID enjoy it more than many recent Oscar winners. It’s just not really my cup of tea. 2.5/5

Mommie Dearest: My credibility probably isn’t particularly strong if I say I prefer Mommie Dearest to Sunrise, but I do. It’s a camp classic, yes, because of the completely OTT performance by Dunaway with all the screaming and such lines as “No wire hangers EVER” but the performance is actually genuinely good, nay, great. Her Oscar-winning performance in Network is kinda a preparation for this role which is more of all the factors I enjoyed in her Network performance, plus she’s much more the center of this film. And it was fun to combine what I knew about Crawford with things I learned from the film. My favorite non-tantrum/breakdown scene, for example, was when Crawford found out she’d won the Oscar , which was the most likely scenario since the only other actress in a BP nominee was Bergman who’d won the year before over Stanwyck’s legendary performance after being labeled box office poison which makes for a great narrative esp for Mildred Pierce being her first nom at her age. Ooh plus the scene rehearsed of the best scene from Mildred Pierce, the Veda slap. I’ll even go as far to say that Dunaway is more fun and impressive to watch in this movie than Joan Crawford is in her Oscar-winning turn. Better than most Actress winners I’ve seen, really. Maybe I’m just a sucker for performances which involve the Most acting rather than the best, but I wasn’t as impressed as I thought I would be with Elizabeth Taylor in Virginia Woolf; there, the screaming seemed somewhat artificial and a way to convince us through loudness that she was acting really well as Martha. Dunaway’s screaming jags felt more natural, more like Dunaway actually became Crawford. Oh I haven’t really said anything about the rest of the movie…well, it’s there to provide scenery for Dunaway to gloriously chew. The later parts reminded me of All About Eve a bit in that we’re forced to deal with the younger actress take up the screen more often than the much, much better real star. But Scarwid while okay as an actress like Baxter didn’t have Awesome George Sanders to play off of, or an interesting character (if less so because of Baxter) or good (well, amazing in the case of Eve) writing. This is one of those movies that is carried by a truly great performer who really elevates everything, and without her the movie would be ridiculous and/or forgettable. But she is there, so 3.75/5

Heathers: I don’t see the big deal about this movie. It’s supposed to be a teen classic and Mean Girls is supposed to be a wannabe inferior version of it. But there are almost no quotable lines, the acting is pedestrian (I don’t see how Winona Ryder is a multiple Oscar nominee.), the characters are boringly unlikable, I was barely amused yet alone laughing and it’s not because it was too dark as I couldn’t properly suspend my disbelief to be disturbed…I guess I appreciate things in the media that it helped influence though. Like Mean Girls, or the Ashleys on Recess. Oh I did like Doherty but there wasn’t enough of her. 1/5