I almost didn’t get to post my blog this evening. My MacBook Pro died and the Apple geniuses had no openings for me until tomorrow morning. Good thing my wife is using my old iBook G4. Rain Man has always been one of my favorite movies. Talking like Raymond Babbitt is something my wife and […]
Entries Tagged as 'United Artists'
Rain Man
October 19th, 2009 · No Comments · 1988, Color, Drama, Dustin Hoffman, F-Word, Mid-Point, Original Screenplay, Plot Point I, Plot Point II, Rain Man, Screenplay Structure, Sex, Swearing, Tom Cruise, United Artists
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Annie Hall
October 8th, 2009 · No Comments · 1977, Annie Hall, Color, Comedy, Diane Keaton, Original Screenplay, Out Of Print, United Artists, Woody Allen
Ah! Look at all the lonely people! Paul McCartney and Woody Allen have something in common. Both are able to express, quite eloquently, life’s ironies – the chief of which is the irony that love is both pleasure and pain, something that cuts as well as cures. In short, life isn’t always negative. And it […]
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Rocky
October 7th, 2009 · 1 Comment · 1976, Burgess Meredith, Color, Drama, Inciting Incident, Mid-Point, Original Screenplay, Plot Point I, Plot Point II, Rocky, Screenplay Structure, Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, United Artists
Yo, Adrian! I’m going to make a bold statement, here: I like Rocky. I realize some folks think Rocky is pure fluff, hardly Best-Picture material. But I think the people who don’t like Rocky are misanthropes who are afraid to experience humanity’s joys and sorrows. Rocky is a sweet movie about a down-but-not-out boxer named […]
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One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
October 6th, 2009 · 2 Comments · 1975, Adaptation, Color, Drama, Jack Nicholson, Milos Forman, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, United Artists
I remember seeing Cuckoo’s Next at the theater the year it was released, 1975, one of the most important years of my life. These are some of the things I remember about the movie: 1. Jack Nicholson’s performance is over the top, as it always is. He makes Rod Steiger look like an William Hurt […]
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In the Heat of the Night
September 28th, 2009 · No Comments · 1967, Adaptation, Color, Drama, In the Heat of the Night, Mid-Point, Norman Jewison, Plot Point I, Plot Point II, Quentin Dean, Quincy Jones, Racism, Rod Steiger, Screenplay Structure, Sidney Poitier, United Artists
I don’t like “message” movies, ones that were seemingly created to teach me a lesson or re-align my thinking to be more in line with whatever the latest cause is in Hollywood. I don’t need Hollywood to teach me right from wrong. I can think for myself. So I bristled when I watched the behind-the-scenes […]
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Tom Jones
September 24th, 2009 · No Comments · 1963, Adaptation, Color, Comedy, Henry Fielding, Hugh Griffith, Not Released In United States, Tom Jones, United Artists
After the grandeur of Lawrence of Arabia, Tom Jones looks like the work of a film-school student who didn’t graduate. This is sloppy, virtually unwatchable stuff. In fact, this may hold the distinction of being the worst Oscar-winning movie ever made. (To this point, at least.) The direction and cinematography are amateurish and off-putting. The […]
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West Side Story
September 22nd, 2009 · No Comments · 1961, Adaptation, Color, Composer: Leonard Bernstein, Marni Nixon, Musical, Panavision (Widescreen), Robert Wise, United Artists, West Side Story
There’s a line in Raiders of the Lost Ark that ranks among my favorites: “Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes?” In my case, it’s “Musicals. Why did it have to be a musical?” West Side Story is a musical. “These are the gayest gang members I’ve ever seen in my life,” my wife […]
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Marty
September 16th, 2009 · No Comments · 1955, Adaptation, Black and White, Comedy, Ernest Borgnine, Inciting Incident, Jerry Paris, Marty, Mid-Point, Paddy Chayefsky, Plot Point I, Plot Point II, Screenplay Structure, United Artists
What a sweet, kind-hearted movie! Marty is the story of an overweight, average-looking, 34-year-old man who lives with his Italian mother, a lady who means well but who constantly harps on Marty to meet a girl and get married. Even Marty’s customers (he’s a butcher) tell him he should be married. Inciting Incident: At around […]
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