Some Like It Hot (1959)

When two musicians witness a mob hit, they flee the state in an all female band disguised as women, but further complications set in.

I wasn't overly excited about seeing this movie, I thought it would be just a bizarre vehicle for Marilyn Monroe's fading star, but one Blade Runner and three Alien movies later, it was refreshing to watch a black-and-white comedy starring the hilarious Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis. Marilyn is gorgeous in this, no doubt, but her Sugar Kane is not the focus of the film. It's all about Tony and Jack. The plot is classic and has been rehashed several times in Tootsie, Victor/Victoria, and in Nia Vardalos' atrocity Connie and Carla, but Some Like It Hot is the standard. The mobsters are appropriately cartoonish and Curtis' impersonation of a millionaire/Cary Grant was hysterical to me. It's all so gloriously sexist in a cozy, 1950's sort of way, with "girl musicians" ogled by aging millionaires and the two cross-dressing stars' cracks at their enjoyable situation. While the movie is all about Tony and Jack, seeing Marilyn Monroe as the bimbo-ish Sugar made me smile. She had such a glow about her; it was hard to think that three years later, she would be dead. In a nutshell, this movie is funny, jazzy, naughty and, of course, HOT.

Alien (1979)

A mining ship, investigating a suspected SOS, lands on a distant planet. The crew discovers some strange creatures and investigates with horrifying results.

Within the last two days, I've seen 3 of the 4 "Alien" movies, and this first one is, by far, the best one. Ridley Scott is a genius. I reviewed his "Blade Runner" earlier this month, and I can definitely see his fingerprint on "Alien." The lighting is dark, lit only by the pulsing electric bulbs of an ore carrier ship, and all of the characters are drenched in sweat for the majority of the movie. The soundtrack is perfect for the suspense the movie wants to create, and the jerky/wandering camera angles are guaranteed to make you sit at the edge of your sweat gripping a blanket to your chin. This movie is a must-see for anyone interested in sci-fi; it really turned the genre upside down and set the standard for sci-fi horror for decades.

I love Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley, she says exactly what everyone would say in the situations she ends up in, and she's so street-smart, it's painful to watch anyone question her opinion on something. I watched the movies just to see what happens to her (though I wish now I would have just stopped after 'Aliens,' the third one was just awful, and I'm sure "Resurrection" is even worse.) The supporting actors are excellent, that's what made this movie really work for me, they spent time on every detail, from special effects to acting to score, it wasn't just some movie you see "for the graphics."

It's scary, not gonna lie. There's swearing and the kinds of disgusting images a lot of people aren't comfortable with. If you saw "Pan's Labyrinth" and were ok, then this will be fine, too. If you had nightmares about Pan, then don't see Alien. It's the kind of movie that sticks in your mind. I had dreams about it, not nightmares, but I was still thinking about Ripley and Jones and a creeping terror that attacks you from the inside....

Blade Runner (1982)

In the year 2019, genetic engineers have created "replicants," better versions of humans, but upon losing control of them, made them illegal on earth. Decker, a blade runner, is sent to track down four escaped replicants who are searching for their creator.

It's hard to describe this movie. It's...weird, quite frankly, but so many layers of weird, it's incredible. The visuals are astounding for 1982, and I loved the combination of a futuristic city matched with grunge like downtown Chicago and ambience like Chinatown. Everything is dirty, you can almost smell the exhaust fumes and rain, the sweat on a stripper's body, blood...everything is organic and natural. The acting is almost non-existent, nothing really amazing, but that's what I liked. The setting and plot is so over the top, if the acting matched, it'd be just another cheesy sci-fi flick. The music fits perfectly, it's either strains of synth or almost Indian sounding beats as our characters push their way through crowds of raincoats and advertisement lights. It's understandable why a lot of people didn't "get" this movie when it came out. It was ahead of its time.

Dr. Strangelove (1964)

An insane general starts a process to nuclear holocaust that a war room of politicians and generals frantically try to stop.

Ok, apparently this is a movie of 100 laughs. I thought it was amusing, but not exactly uproariously funny. It was a masterpiece for its time, a time capsule, if you will. Peter Sellers is very funny, however, I love how he can play three characters so different; I knew he played three, but I didn't even realize he was the President. George C. Scott was hilarious, I loved how worked up he got, with that insanely harsh voice and crazy smile. It's a perfect satire, combining true terror of nuclear war with humor, only Stanley Kubrick could pull that off. It's the perfect length at barely over an hour and a half, and it goes back and forth between the confines of the war room and a plane headed for inevitable destruction just often enough to keep a restless audience interested. Kids my age (18+) might not get this movie, but if they're informed about the context of the film, it's really interesting to see and Peter Sellers' acting is timeless.

North by Northwest (1959)

An advertising man is caught in the middle of an FBI case when he is mistakenly taken for a spy by mysterious and threatening strangers. His situation becomes even more dangerous when he is accused of murdering a UN official and is seduced by a beautiful woman who is very interested in his plight.


I really don't understand why this is considered one of the best movies ever made, it's certainly not Alfred Hitchcock's greatest works. Cary Grant plays a man much younger than himself and his acting style is just so over-the-top and melodramatic it's hard to really feel for him. James Stewart in his glorious naturalness would have been better. The plot, though interesting, drags on for way too long. The movie reaches over two hours, leaving lots of room for the editing knife to hack out some ridiculous sexual dialogue between Eva Marie Saint and Cary Grant. It was like a less interesting James Bond movie, with a beautiful woman inexplicably falling in love with our hero half-hour after meeting. Cary Grant, though almost constantly in the hands of death, still finds time to engage in biting remarks to the gruff silence of his enemies. This film reminded me of "The Man Who Knew Too Much," which has Doris Day singing that song again and again and again: not that great.

My Project/Sunset Boulevard

I decided last night at about 11 p.m. to go through my beloved book of 101 movies one must see before they die and try to watch as many of them as possible, beginning with Billy Wilder's "Sunset Boulevard." Here goes.



While attempting to escape his growing debt, a struggling screenwriter stumbles upon the mansion of silent-film star Norma Desmond. He cannot imagine what horror will follow when he agrees to look over the aging glamour queen's script.

I love everything about this movie. I didn't know much about it, except what I gathered from watching clips of The Carol Burnett Sow on Youtube, and I was surprised at just how amazing the film was. The acting is electrifying. Gloria Swanson gives the performance of a lifetime as the self-centered, delusional Miss Desmond, and William Holden is subtle and conflicted as our narrator and hero. His inner monologues are melodramatic, and yet perfect for a story about movies and how they can consume lives, The very title "Sunset Boulevard" is reflective of the dying star Norma Desmond represents, a person caught in the sunset of her life, but who can't accept it. Get the family together, pop some popcorn, turn out the lights, and watch this movie in rapture. This is what cinema is all about.

Eden Log (2007)

A man wakes up deep inside a cave. Suffering amnesia, he has no recollection of how he came to be here or of what happened to the man whose body he finds beside him. Tailed by a mysterious creature, he must continue through this strange and fantastic world.

When I saw the trailer, I knew I HAD to see this movie. I searched online for hours until I found a Japanese website that offered a streaming version that loaded at about two minutes of film for every ten minutes of real time. It was the most unusual movie I've ever seen. It played out more like a video game than a movie, starting out with zero knowledge of our character or where he is or what's happened to him, and gradually he collects clues as he moves up "levels" in this strange grid of steel and plant-life. It's a French movie with English, but I'd rather it was just in French. The plot itself isn't original, it has a classic sci-fi vibe to it, a horror story of what happens when humans become consumed by the body of society and forget the individual. However, the execution is what makes it unusual, though it's not well-done. There is essentially no dialogue, no character development, and no visibility. The entire movie is bathed in darkness and the action is done in painful strobe-and-cut scenes, like a manic-depressive disco ball. Just as a movie-watcher, and not a critic, I would say this is a terrible movie. However, if one wants to think really hard about the filmmaker's choice of story and such, it's a really interesting experience.