Mind Blowing Marathon: Jacob's Ladder (1990)

Written by Bruce Joel Rubin; Directed by Adrian Lyne

Will Most Likely Contain Spoiler!!!
This is what this marathons is all about. The film is so mind-bending, though provoking, use every muscle in you brain, nah, your body to figure out what is going on in the story. Oh, and it's a good film too! We open on a group of soldiers in Vietnam, they become engulfed in a conflict and we are quickly yanked away to the future where one of the soldiers is in a conflict of his own. That soldier, Jake Singer (Tim Robbins), is now a postal worker facing demons. The story is so demented, so confusing, but so beautiful really. The picture that is painted is great. I give all the credit in the world to Mr. Lyne for being able to visually represent this story the way he has. He uses fleeting images, strange images, quick editing, great lighting and everything in between to create a mood that is so representative of the type of hell that Jake is experiencing in his mind. The acting here is superb too really. Robbins, Pena especially, and Danny Aiello as Jake's chiropractor. In terms of a technical achievement, it soars.

There is clear reference to the Bible here. The title is a famous part of Genesis, and it certainly plays into the story as well. There are also Biblical names: Jacob, Jezebel, Gabriel. The themes is deals with are angels and demons, heaven and hell. The more and more I think about it, the more and more I am impressed by the screenplay by Rubin. He brings everything together in a scattered way that kind of makes sense to me. Throughout the film, Jake has flashbacks to Vietnam where he was stabbed and then treated. The audience is made to think these are the flashbacks of a troubled veteran of the war, but what is revealed throughout the story suggests otherwise. I mean he sees things that are clearly not there, demons and monsters. He gets locked in a train station and almost gets hit by a train. One of his sons, Gabe, has died at an early age. Two of his friends die in mysterious car explosions, he contracts some type of virus that almost kills him if it wasn't for an ice bath quickly brought about by Jez and his neighbors. His fellow soldier friends are experiencing the same demons. They go to a lawyer to bring a case against the army. But the lawyer says he wasn't even in Vietnam. When he goes to see his therapist, Dr. Carlson, he finds out that his name in not on file, and Dr. Carlson is not a doctor there. When he has his palm read by a casual friend at a party, she says that his life line has stopped and he should be dead, but they just laugh it off. He is also told he is dead after he falls out of a car and is taken to the hospital and subsequently a psychiatric ward. The places the film goes, needless to say are quite bizarre.

I'm rambling now, but all these things happened and there is not a best way to describe what exactly was going on. But because all of these things were going on, the pacing of the film was spectacular. It kept you on your feet paying attention and trying to figure it out. A major character in all of this is Jake's chiropractor, Louis. In his first visit, Jake makes the comment that he looks like an angel the way he is looking up at him with the light, and with how he works wonders on his back. And later, when Louis is fixing his back from the fall out of the car, which by the way Louis saved him from the hospital where he was taken to the psychiatric ward and told he was dead, hmmm, Louis tells Jake a story about how demons are really angels trying to free people's souls by making them let go of their lives. In Jake's case he needs to let go of his son, who died in a car accident of all things while he was still in Vietnam. Oh, and by the way, his son is played by Macaulay Culkin. Louis really comes off as a guiding angel here. Much like Louis, there is another angel in Jake's life. His name in Michael Newman, though we don't know that. He appears when the car in the alleyway is chasing down Jake and again when his friend's car explodes. He is there as a guardian, to help Jake survive and live on. And you know what, it's the same man who created the drug that set all of this into motion. Fitting that it is he who is there to help Jake let go, as I'm sure Michael also needs to let go of what he created, the evil he brought about on the whole battalion in Vietnam.

Let me talk about the ending first before I go into my exact thoughts on the films, it will be easier that way. The ending comes and we find out that Jake has died in Vietnam. This obviously means that everything in the "present" then has been a hallucination of some kind. We also learn that the attack in the beginning in Vietnam was the battalion attacking themselves because of a drug that was developed to improve soldiers drive during battle aptly called the "Ladder". I didn't really like this explanation, but the very end redeemed it for me because it was so beautiful and perfect. Jake sees his son Gabe at the bottom of the stair (and the lighting of this whole scene is just great). He approaches him and they ascend the stairs together, presumably to heaven because Jake has let go of his life, allowing the angels to free his soul. It is quite poetic.

Clearly this film was thought provoking, look at the frickin' length of this freakin' write-up! How is it this long!? Well I had a great experience watching this film. It is definitely what is meant by this marathon and we are closer to my mind actually blowing up. But at the same time I loved the film. Because it was so thought provoking and interesting to keep up with. Highly recommended to any who think they can manage their mind to finish it and still be able to talk afterward. Wow...and I even know I missed some things.

Rating: ***1/2

Mind Status: Um, well this was the most mind-bending of the marathon so far I think. Edges out Mulholland Dr. and as such my head is spinning, swirling if you will. Thoughts run across my brain, leaving tiny footprints as they pass.

Mind Blowing Marathon: Audition (2000)

Directed by Takashi Miike
Written by Daisuke Tengan

Will Most Likely Contain Spoilers!!!
As soon as the story began I knew what my mission was going to be: find a motive. Although for a little more than an hour the film was nothing exciting and pretty bland and basic, I knew that sh!t was going to go down soon enough and I needed to know why. Like I said, for a little more than an hour the film was basic. I stayed along for the ride for the payoff in the end though. It starts with a man sitting next to a hospital bed where his wife has just died. Then we see him and a friend decide, seven years later, that he must remarry. In order to do so, they decide that they will hold a fake audition (his friend is in the movie industry). Here he finds a woman that catches his eye. They go on dates and talk extensively, but her references never check out and we are unsure if what we are learning about her is actually true or not. They decide to go away for a weekend together and that is when it starts to get weird.

The film is shot in what looks like a low budget style. The film is not the brightest or sharpest, but it works well enough for what it is. Miike by using good framing gets some good shots. Other than that the tecnical aspects of the film didn't really stand out to me. They weren't bad, but just not something I noticed in particular. Eihi Shiina did a good job playing a mysterious and demented Asami. Comedy arises surprisingly during the audition scene. They are interviewing 30 potential candidates, and the way it is edited is wonderful. It is past paced and all we see is some of the funny questions and answered the characters are giving.

They pay off was disturbing. We find out that Asami has been abused as a child and in her adult years, after hurting her hip and not being able to dance ballet anymore, her one true happiness, she seeks out revenge on the male race in particular. She has been lonely and feels that a man should love only her as she will love only them and show them all about her. But in this case, we don't know what is truth and what is fiction. We see that she has tortured her ballet instructor, Mr. Shimada, and has kept someone wrapped up in a sack in her apartment. This person has mangled body parts and is treated like something less than an animal. It really is disturbing, especially when she begins to torture Mr. Aoyama. I usually don't get queasy, but I had to turn away more than once. It isn't so much that it messed with my head though, but rather tested my intestinal fortitude. I passed, so far as I can tell, but it was not an enjoyable experience.

So far as finding the motive and piecing the story together, I don't know. They used some tricky flashback editing in the end. It made it seem like a dream for Mr. Aoyama sometimes, as he wakes up in the hotel they spent the weekend in, checks his feet and sees that they are both there, and Asami is asleep next to him this time. I'm not sure this part is anything more than a dream really, Aoyama dreaming as he is passed out in pain of what he hopes it is. And the motive? Well it appears that it's just good old fashioned revenge against men. The bar owner was a woman, but she was supposed killed over a conflict with a man and another woman. The ballet instructor burnt Asami in the upper leg, and the man in the sack? Well who really knows. Asami wasn't loved enough as a child, being moved around and abused. Not that that is an excuse, but it can certainly make someone mentally unstable and give someone motive.

The film reminded me a lot of Hard Candy really. The plot is slightly different, but the general idea is the same. When I saw that one I was repulsed and dismissed the film as trash for how much it disgusted me, but after letting it settle and thinking on it, I think it did a great job of executing exactly what it was going for, I mean it got that reaction out me, right? So maybe this one will be like that, but for right now, I don't think that the payoff in the end was enough to outweigh how uninterested I was in the first half of the film.

Rating: **1/2

Mind Status: This is one f-ed up world we live in where things like this are thought up by people and might actually happen sometimes. More of a visceral thing than a mind thing though really.

Mind Blowing Marathon: Barton Fink (1991)

Written & Directed by Joel & Ethan Coen

Will Most Likely Contain Spoilers!!!
There hasn't been a Coen Brothers film I haven't liked. There have been ones that I haven't loved, though many I have, but I don't think I loved this one either. Certainly the story is curious and other technical aspects are outstanding, but it just didn't stand out otherwise to me. The production design, if that's what they're calling it these days, was wonderful. Period films like this, especially set in Los Angeles and the like are wonderful when done correctly and much like L.A. Confidential, the production design was done well. The whole look of the film, as always, is really great. Leave it to Roger Deakins and the Coen's to always manage to make a great looking film. The script is, I don't want to say simple or conventional, but it certainly doesn't play on fantasy and dreamworlds as much as the previous two in the marathon and in that regard it was a bit of a break for me, although I still managed to over analyze every scene in my notebook.

Barton Fink is a playwright on the rise in New York City. He has high standards of himself that do not equate with those of the critics or his fans. He is a moral man who is seeking to relay such themes and stories that portray the common man, his struggles, and his passions. I like Barton Fink. He an I think alike in this way. He even, initially, turns down an offer to go to Hollywood and write for the pictures, where he would make a fine buck because he wants to stay true to his ideals. Eventually he does succumb to the temptation and heads west. He meets with the eccentric movie exec, Lipnick, and has hopes of being able to exercise his own creativity, but when given a wrestling picture to write, he struggles. He meets his strange, insurance selling, neighbor Charlie, who is his only friend in this new town. Then crazy things happen and the film ends.

Some things that I noticed was the relation of the theme of his screenplay: wrestling. How fitting as he too is struggling with writing it amongst other things. His world is seemingly falling apart around him. There is a mosquito in his room that keeps biting him, sucking the life away from him like Hollywood is. His wallpaper is falling down from the heat of the summer, just like the walls of his conscious are being melted by the pressure he finds himself under as he struggles to find his story. His favorite writer, Mayhew, is now an alcoholic because of the pressure of writing, and Barton soon finds out that his wife/assistant Audrey has written most of his work. His hero is a fraud. And then he sleeps with her. But when he wakes up, she is covered in blood and dead. Charlie comes over to help deal with the situation, but we soon find out that it was he who killed her, and eventually beheads her and her husband Mayhew. Barton went away from his morals and Audrey got killed. As for the burning hotel room scene, here is my interpretation: the hotel was obviously not actually burning. Everybody that was there did nothing to indicate that it was. The burning hotel was just an effect to portray the heat and pressure that Barton was facing between Capitol Pictures and the mysterious death of Audrey right next to her. The presence of the cops and the realization that Charlie was a murderer also add to the climax.

There is one point during the film when Barton says to Charlie, as they are talking about family, that we are "all alone in the world" really. I was taken back with this line, in a good way though. It is such a profound statement, especially from someone in the state that Barton is in. We can surround ourselves with family and friends and others that may or may not be good to us, but in the end all we have is ourselves and our own ideals. What we do with them is what defines us as people. In the end of the film, Barton presents his screenplay to Lipnick, who has supported him all the way through and mentions that it is his "best work". Lipnick dismisses it, saying there isn't enough action in it. (Well at least it's nice to know that after all these years Aronofsky made his screenplay into a film when he made The Wrestler). But what does Barton Fink do in reaction to this? He leaves, just as he should and goes to the beach; the beach where he saw the girl in the photo in his hotel room sitting so peacefully. When he gets there, he sees a beautiful girl and asks if she is in the pictures. "Don't be silly," she answers him and that's the end. Perfect ending I must say. It's silly to think that something as pure and beautiful as her would be in the pictures, just like something as pure and beautiful as Barton's screenplay wouldn't be made into a picture. It is reaffirming to Barton in the end, as it should be; stick to your guns.

I'd be lying if I didn't say that the first film that came to mind in relation to this one was Adaptation. Both involve a struggling screenwriter and the search for a passion in the writing. Both are dramedies so to speak. The Coen Brothers have a certain way with comedy that is very subtle and, to this point, has never failed to amuse me. The Coen's films, however, are most often dramas. Fargo, No Country, A Serious Man and Miller's Crossing all have comedic aspects in them though as well. Pretty good overall film. For some reason I associate it with something like Miller's Crossing and when I do I think that film was better than this one, but still an enjoyable film experience.

Rating: ***

Mind Status: Well Mulholland Dr. is out of my mind, but analyzing these films so closely and paying this close attention to strange films has, admittedly, made my head start to hurt a little bit.

Mind Blowing Marathon: Brazil (1985)

Written by Terry Gilliam, Tom Stoppard & Charles McKeown; Directed by Terry Gilliam

Will Most Likely Contain Spoilers!!!
Wow, wtf? Typical Terry Gilliam I suppose. Look, it's just not my bag. Holy Grail is the only of his that I've seen that I can stand and that statement holds true after this one as well. Does it fit in well with the marathon idea? Absolutely it does. It has the oddball, confusion plot and it takes place in another world that is completely unfamiliar and strange. Gilliam is notorious for off the wall and the sets and world he creates here are so ridiculous. This is a personal thing, I understand, but I don't like it, I don't like the style of Gilliam and the way he paints a picture. He is very similar to Tim Burton that way. I don't like him either, though I wouldn't say I hate every film he has done. Like Holy Grail, Burton at least has Big Fish (and Pee-Wee for that matter).

Okay, so let's see if I can make sense of this. Average guy gets wrongfully arrested, dies latter.The guy they were supposed to arrest was a rogue heating engineer(De Niro). Yea, I said rogue heating engineer. You see, the world that Sam Lowrey(Johnathan Pryce) lives in is some future world full of organization and paperwork that is so bland and uniform, except maybe for Jill Layton(Kim Griest), the secret love of Sam's life. When they go to a restaurant each item on the menu has a number and in order to get it the customer must actually say the number. And while at the restaurant an explosion takes place and they just ignore it completely, letting the firemen and others to tend to it. It is so bad in fact that Sam goes so far as to tell his mother and her friends that he doesn't have dreams and aspirations.

The film is interrupted by Sam's placid dreams/fantasies of Jill. He is always chasing her and trying to save her from some monster. I think this is just Sam trying to break from the order of the world around him and him pursuing love in the form of Jill. A noble goal and a noble theme, though I don't think it was handled the best way I would have liked.

Between the sets and the camerawork, Gilliam actually manages a few pretty nice shots and atmospheres, but it isn't consistent and most of the time I was turned off by the futuristic style world. The score is good, especially the main theme. The acting? Well I have never liked Pryce, but the others were good. I was amazed at how little De Niro was on screen. Though for most of the film I was unimpressed, I did think the last 20 minutes or so were pretty good. The comedy was alright too. It didn't really work for me overall, but there was a decent laugh or two here and there. I did rather enjoy one poster in the background at the parcel plant that said, "Mind that parcel. Eagle eyes can save a life." So strange and I guess that's why it fits so well into this marathon. But it hardly accomplished it's mission here, so I will move on to bigger and better things hopefully and enjoy the Coen Brothers and John Tuturro a little bit more. There is probably a deeper meaning and had I liked what the film was doing I may have been able to pay closer attention and figure that out and maybe enjoy it a bit more, but the style was just too off-putting for me.

Rating: **1/2

Mind Status: Still just thinking about Mulholland Dr.

Mind Blowing Marathon: Mulholland Dr. (2001)

Written & Directed by David Lynch

WILL MOST LIKELY CONTAIN SPOILERS!!!
The film opens with a bit of non-sense, probably a good indicator of things to come. We have quick editing and strange images strung together that, even after finishing the film, don't necessarily make sense. Then we open to Mulholland Dr. and some type of celebrity in the back of a limousine. It is here that I started writing my questions down. I had my notebook out to take notes so that I might make my write-up on the film that much more complete and hopefully clear, but what I ended up doing is just writing down a million questions that were raised in my mind, hoping to keep track of what was going on and hoping they would be answered at some point down the line. My questions were never answered. That sort of frustrated me, but I think what Lynch was doing was letting the viewer answer their own questions, which I think I always like those types of movies where you can make it mean what you want it too.

First of all, there were a lot of different characters in the film to keep track of. You had the main characters of Betty (Watts) and Rita (Harring), but you also had Adam the director (Theroux) and a whole slew of random characters and movie people. There were so many 'that guy's in this it was astounding. I think I probably recognized every actor but could not place them at all. And am I mistaken, was Billy Ray Cyrus in this, really? I was also intrigued by the fact that the Production Designer was Jack Fisk because I only knew of his work with the legendary Terrence Malick.

So the story. I basically think that the majority of it is a dream sequence and the rest is actually reality. Here is what I think is reality: Betty arrives in Hollywood to stay at her Aunt's place and try to make it as an actress. She goes into an audition that goes really well, but she soon realizes what Hollywood is all about: the bad, manipulative people, the crime and crazy people that are all around. The detective from the car crash and the actor that she auditioned with were both Robert Forster, so something has to give. But this isn't just about Hollywood, it's about a small town girl arriving in a big city and getting a slice of reality. The world sucks sometimes and there are some crazy things that happen and some crazy people that happen. The rest of the film is just a dream sequence, a personal fable of Betty's as a way of relaying the story to the viewer. The specifics I don't think happened. Rita I don't think is real, she may just be one of Betty's persona's, especially since we see Betty repeat the opening scene almost exactly the same. Adam is probably real and probably the other Hollywood players, but the bottomline is that it isn't 100% reality I don't think.

It is interesting to note that everybody changes persona's after Rita opens the box with the key that was in her purse. It is kind of like opening Pandora's Box, everything is released and all hell breaks loose. Rita become Camilla Rhodes, who gets the part in the movie over Betty (I think that is what happens) which causes rejection in addition to Adam starting to like her over Betty, who at this point in now Diane (more rejection). The two find Diane dead in her apartment before Betty becomes Diane though, so what does that mean? She is somehow connected to Rita, was it Betty/Diane? Too many questions! I'm not sure what all the lesbian stuff was about either. I think it goes back to that theme of rejection, because then Rita/Camilla starts liking Adam instead. They're not lesbians, they're thespians. The dialogue is a good indicator of this theory in my mind. Because the dialogue often comes off as very unnatural and not fluid at all, kind of like it is being scripted through someone's mind. I also think the ending of the film, with the couple from the plane, kind of supports it in the way that they were there at the idealistic beginning and then after everything has went down they are there to terrorize Betty.

There are two scenes in particular that I still cannot find connections. The diner scene at Winkie's with the two men, the one having a repeated dream, and the scene where Adam comes home to find his wife cheating with the pool man. But what about "The Cowboy", the scene at the late night "magic" show and the large man that comes to Adam's house looking for him. What does it all mean? I'm not sure I will ever know, even if I watch this 100 more times, but then again maybe I can come up with a theory by that time. I probably didn't cover everything, but how can you? I hope I raised some interesting points for people to talk about and I hope that I didn't hurt anyone's mind because only mine is supposed to hurt.

Rating: ***1/2

Mind Status: Extremely active, but not blown or hurting. Just all kinds of thinking going on.

Western Blow-Out

The Searchers(John Ford, 1956) –

John Wayne is the man. He is larger than life and here he is no different. There is no question that he is the star of the film and coupled with John Ford they make a great team. The masculinity that is dealt with in this is great stuff. I could easily imagine composing a lengthy paper on it for a film class. John Wayne is what a man could and should be in the west. Throw in his sidekick Martin Paulie and you have an interesting discussion. The relationship between Martin and Laurie was good fun to follow. You could tell how they felt and you pretty much knew how it would end, but it was the journey, just like the main plot.

Ethan’s (Wayne) brother and his family get raided by Comanche, but the two little girls are spared, but taken hostage. The story plays out over a number of years where Ethan and Martin follow the trail looking for them, to rescue them. The filmmakers create such tension and suspense, even when casually progressing the story many months or years. And the sign of a true cinematic master, Ford is able to incorporate humor and romance effortlessly. The score, while maybe not great, is very good and compliments what Ford is doing with the camera very well.

The major thing I take away from this one is how beautiful it is. The scenery, the cinematography, is breathtaking. In addition, Ford and cinematographer Winton C. Hoch find ways of presenting the material in such a fine way. The framing in particular was astounding, I thought, every shot was thought about and framed just right, for my eye at least. The ending is quite good and I was left immensely satisfied by my first experience with Wayne and with Ford. Loved the bookending first/last shots too, great touch. Top 100 material? Time will tell.

Rating: ****


A Fistful of Dollars (Sergio Leone, 1964) –

My introduction to Sergio Leone and spaghetti westerns was a good one, but not a great one. It very much had a Godfather feel to it I thought. I know that it is an Italian film, which I find odd, but thus spaghetti western I guess. And I was troubled slightly by the dubbed voices because it was obvious that the actors were not always saying the words that I was hearing, but I can forgive it that.

Much like John Wayne in The Searchers, Clint Eastwood is a star of the screen, larger than life character as the Man with No Name, whose name is Joe (what?). The opening credit sequence is very cool; it’s the earliest film I have seen do something like that. It then goes into one of the greatest set-up’s I have seen. The set-up with Eastwood in San Miguel is wonderful film, and the first shootout is my favorite scene in the film. Leone manages to get comedy in there along with the tension and suspense that is aided so well by the Morricone score, which is just astounding. The cinematography was quite good, though I wouldn’t rank it with others I have seen. The framing was good, but what caught my eye was the movement of the camera. It was so smooth and pretty, which, I think, added to the great pacing of the film, which made this story seemingly fly by as I watched.

The story on the other hand was only average I thought. Not bad, but after the first shootout and all the politics, so to speak, began, I only maintained a mild interest in what was happening, concentrating instead on the beautiful look and sound of the film. I have always said that I am a story first, look second, acting (in the sense that it’s great and not just average) third kind of guy when it comes to film. As such, while I enjoyed it, I would stop short of calling it great, though I would call the final ten minutes of the film great. Good introduction into the director and the genre, however.

Rating: ***


For a Few Dollars More (Sergio Leone, 1965) –

Like A Fistful of Dollars, it has great table-setting, opening sequences. And I say sequences because you have the very beginning, then you have Mortimer’s opening and Clint’s. Honestly, and it kind of pains me to say it, but I think Eastwood got out manned by Mortimer in this. Mortimer is just a straight bad ass in the flesh. They are both bounty killers and are both super cool dudes, but Mortimer has more of an aurora than Clint in this. It opens with him stopping the train to get off at Tucumcari and then later he shoots down some dude with a cool gun and then he lights a match off the back of someone’s neck. Badass. El Indio was a great villain too. He was just deliciously evil. And I liked his flashback story, though I found it odd how it was used.

The visual style and tonal feel of the film are very similar to Fistful and I love that. It is so slick and cool. The score from Morricone I don’t think was as good, but it is still pretty good, especially in the final scene. One thing I had a problem with was the hand-to-hand fight scenes. They were choreographed so poorly and the sound design for them was not good.

As for the story, it was stronger than Fistful because of the dual heroes and the great villain, but I would still say it is not my favorite story ever. I found this film to be a great example of something that I really liked and had a lot of fun with, something that I would definitely go back to and watch again, but also something that I would fall short of calling great, though it comes close, and would not include anywhere near my top 100 probably. Maybe a second viewing of these will change my mind though; there was a lot to like. But in short, a perfect example of the criteria for a three star film in my book.

Rating: ***


The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly (Sergio Leone, 1966) –

Given all of the hype I was going in with pretty high expectations. The very first second of the film I recognized the famous them, so amazing. But what was even more, is the opening shot of the film. What Leone does is create great shots of people by using different angles and close-ups that I haven’t seen before. As much as these films are landscape westerns, Leone’s great shots are really not of the landscapes like a lot of films resort to for great cinematography, it’s remarkable. I mean the close-ups that the film is famous for really set the tone and feel of the film as rough, sweaty and gritty. And the shot near the end as whoever it was is reaching down towards his gun is one of my favorite shots of all time now. I was sitting in my room watching it by myself and it caused me to say “Wow!” out loud. Watching this film, as opposed to the first two in the “trilogy”, really made me see how much it influenced Tarantino. It really is evident, but I don’t blame him for modeling his films after this one.

The score is probably one of the greatest I have ever heard, no doubt. That’s really all I can say about that, Morricone is amazing. What I noticed with this one was how patient of a filmmaker that Leone was. To his credit, he was able to build such suspense and tension by slowly revealing things and letting the scene sit stagnant with the viewer to mull over. He also created some very nice, reflective moments, like Eastwood and the fallen Confederate soldier and Tuco and his brother. I loved it so much; however, it probably did make the film longer than it needed to be. In addition, I really noticed the choreography of the scene. Leone is able to position the players in each scene so well and so epicly.

The last thirty minutes of the film are perfect, so far as I can tell. The opening of the film is perfect, so far as I can tell. The middle? Not as perfect but still pretty good. I guess I didn’t really get the whole involvement of the Civil War in all of it. I found it to be unnecessary and thought that it probably took too much time and made the movie longer than it needed to be. I wanted to see more Angel Eyes (Van Cleef) too! The story plodded along much like the other “Dollars” films and like Ebert said, there isn’t so much of a plot, but rather a collection of great, memorable scenes that are strung together. I can agree with that. I really liked the film, it’s a great film, but I think that this is something that will get better with repeat viewings. But right now, it was a great capstone on my Western mini-marathon.

Rating: ***1/2

Wrap-up:
I loved watching these films. I had never really seen or gotten into Westerns before (other than watching “Bonanza” with my dad) and now I have a desire to seek out and watch all of the great classics. I see it as a genre that I could easily come to love. I also feel more like a man now. Let’s go out west and grow scruffy facial hair, wear ponchos and participate in shootouts. I even hear Morricone sometimes now when I am just walking around. Epicness surrounds me everywhere I go. I had a lot of fun with this and it was definitely good seeing these classics finally. I hope everybody enjoyed my reviews.

WD Marathon: The Princess & the Frog (2009)

Written & Directed by John Musker and Ron Clements

A special interlude in the Disney marathon as this new production just came out. And a welcome interlude at that because I ended up having a wonderful time with the film. It is just as magical and just as wholesome as all the other Disney films I have seen in my lifetime. The storyline was good and basic as it followed a poor black girl from the time she was little to when she was grown up, working three jobs to try and follow her dream to open a restaurant. Things get complicated and it takes more hard work to meet her dreams, along with a little luck and a little love. I loved the story and how it was treated. The characters involved were quite colorful and the look of the film matched that. Louis, the trumpet playing alligator, was my favorite. And the music was wonderful for the atmosphere of the film as well. I love jazz music and the idea of New Orleans and therefore I love the way that the filmmakers handled this material. It is heartwarming and inspiring and I love that. I really had a good time with the film and am glad to say that it fits right into the Disney tradition.

Rating: ***1/2