Give It My Best

Rocky Date Watched:  07/17/24 Format:  Streaming on TV via Prime Video The sports franchise that started as a love story. Directing  (⭐⭐⭐⭐): Avildsen  really stepped up his game in 1976 with Rocky.  I don't know if anyone envisioned the film being made was going to turn into the franchise that is still going strong today.  This was a love story, set in Philadelphia, that happened to have some boxing.   Writing  (⭐⭐⭐): If anything were to be taken away from this movie it would be the writing.  I wanted to hold the some of the poor dialogue against someone, so I will give credit to Stallone the actor, but take away credit for Stallone the writer.  You have a turtle.  I get it already. Acting  (⭐⭐⭐⭐): What Stallone wrote for himself worked out.  I don't think anyone else could have pulled off that character.  Shire was a great compliment to Rocky with her iconic Adrian.  Pauly is Mickey, although iconic thems...

The Last Emperor Date Watched:  07/15/24 Format:  Streaming on TV via Max If you cannot say what you mean, Your Majesty, you will never mean what you say and a gentleman should always mean what he says. Directing  (⭐⭐⭐⭐): What Bertolucci lacked in writing, he made up for in directing.  The Last Emperor is the art of directing.  He was able to capture the grand scale of China, especially in the earlier scenes.  The only thing that let me down is I didn't feel the transition across time as much as I wanted to.  If it wasn't for the minor changes in actors, I would have been lost. Writing  (⭐⭐): Acting  (⭐⭐): I am putting these two together.  They were bad.  It wasn't the fact that it was foreign actors.  It was very bad dialogue given to very bad actors.  There were too many times where you had to guess at what was happening.  If it wasn't for Wikipedia, I would not have known the whole story.  That must have been...

The Bridge on the River Kwai Date Watched:  07/11/24 Format:  Streaming on TV via Prime Video Like watching Titanic , you know how this one is going to end. Directing  (⭐⭐⭐): Credit where credit is due.  The international cast and location were handled well, especially for the 1950s.  For some reason I was left wanting something "grander" and I just did not get it with Lean 's directing. Writing  (⭐⭐): Blacklist troubles and writing in secret are not the excuse.  This was just a bad script.  Holden 's character had promise but became pointless.  His backstory was a joke.  Ultimately left unsatisfied at the end.  Trust me, I don't need a happy ending, but I want to feel invested in whatever the ending is.  Kwai did not do that. Acting  (⭐⭐⭐): Not much to be had.  Guinness was solid.  Like I noted with the writing, the whole British rescue scenes, dialogue, and acting were just bad.  I actually thought the Ja...

Gladiator Date Watched:  07/08/24 Format:  Streaming on TV via Prime Video The first tough decision.  Gladiator or Gone with the Wind?  How to break this tie? Directing  (⭐⭐⭐⭐): After a pretty week 1990s, Scott finally delivered again in 2000.  Just short of perfect, he brought the Colosseum to life.  Things missed in a few places and I am not sure it was the writing or the directing but I chose to remove the star from the directing. Writing  (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐): With the star removed from directing, the writing was pretty damn perfect.  No character felt out of place with their dialogue.  Scene by scene, the film kept on moving the story along.  Maximus' reveal is still gives me goosebumps every time I hear it.  You can see the exact moment Commodus shits his pants. Acting  (⭐⭐⭐⭐): Crowe and Phoenix at the top of their games.  Hit and miss by the supporting cast.  Mostly hits but the Senate was pretty weak.  Reed' s...

Well, 10 movies down.  Still a long way to go but it has gone well so far.  I think the first 10 were a good collection that spanned all genres and generations.  Normally, I have just ranked the overall movie, but I wanted to take some time and reflect on what other comparisons can be made between the films.  Almost a mini Academy Awards if I may. Best Director Winner:  Victor Fleming - Gone with the Wind Runner Up:  Robert Zemeckis - Forrest Gump 10th Place:  John Madden - Shakespeare in Love Although Gump topped my overall list, I will give the nod to Fleming in directing.  As I said in the post, what was done with the film for 1939 was amazing.  As for the bottom, not much of a competition.  John Madden in a landslide. Best Actor Winner:  Marlon Brando - On the Waterfront Runner Up:  Tom Hanks - Forrest Gump 10th Place:  Joseph Fiennes - Shakespeare in Love Another runner-up for Forrest.  Not going to say any...

The Apartment Date Watched:  06/26/24 Format:  Streaming on TV via Tubi Pick a lane and stay in it. Directing  (⭐⭐⭐): Wilder did fine.  It wasn't extraordinary nor was it terrible.  My biggest problem come with the change in tone of the movie.  More to come in the wildcard. Writing  (⭐⭐⭐): Again, fine.  It was a good story and concept. Acting  (⭐⭐⭐): Lemmon did well and a number of the other execs did a good job playing the scumbags they were.  MacMurray was where I had a problem.  He just didn't fit.  I can't say what the reason was but his performance just was not believable.  MacLaine did great for what she was given but the overall story let her down. Wildcard  (⭐⭐): We could have had two above average movies but instead we crammed them into one average one.  This was the tale of two halves.  The romantic comedy and unique concept was working and they should have ran with that.  Then shit got dark....

Moonlight Date Watched:  06/22/24 Format:  Streaming on TV via Max Not what I expected.... Directing  (⭐⭐⭐⭐): Overall pleased with the direction.  I had a feeling it was going down the wrong path with some of the camera movement and angles in the beginning, but it did get reigned back in.  Each section of the film had it's own unique feeling.  Well done. Writing  (⭐⭐⭐⭐): Being a straight white male, I didn't know what to expect.  That is kinda why I was never in a rush to see this film in the first place.  I was pleasantly surprised at the emotional connection I felt with all (3) main characters.  Again, well done. Acting  (⭐⭐⭐): Yes, it was a job well done by the leads.  Unfortunately, Ali's time was cut short.  Everything else felt forced for me.  Harris could not pull off here character very well, in my opinion.  Balance it all out to an average group of performances. Wildcard  (⭐⭐⭐): I will rarely say th...