Movie Review: The White Ribbon (2009)

Posted on June 26, 2013 by Brian Wright

Brilliant authentic historic setting w/puzzle _ 8/10

A word about my rating system for movies:

The scale is 1-10 and the rating is a measure of both my own enjoyment and my appreciation from an artistic perspective. In this case, my artistic appreciation exceeds my enjoyment, yet I have a fondness (enjoyment) for the film because of elements of the appreciation. For example, artistically, especially photographically and emotionally, I regard The White Ribbon as a 10. From a plot perspective, I find the movie conventionally exasperating and irresolute… but I’ve come to be more open minded about these story preferences of mine, which have come from a young prime-time arrogance and mental compulsion. The 8 ranking, thus, should be taken as an extremely high regard… reasons to follow. Continue reading →

Movie Review: Imitation of Life (1934)

Posted on June 19, 2013 by Brian Wright

First version outshines 1959 by a bit __ 8.5/10

Delilah Johnson: What’s my baby want?
Peola Johnson: I want to be white, like I look.
Delilah Johnson: Peola!
Peola Johnson: [gesturing to mirror] Look at me. Am I not white? Isn’t that a white girl?

Could not resist following up from the review of the 1959 melodrama of the same name last week. The late 50s version is probably better known and is definitely the more melodramatic of the two movies. Why? Continue reading →

Movie Review: Dark Victory (1939)

Posted on June 5, 2013 by Brian Wright

Original chick flick still tugs at the heart ___ 8/10

Judith: I’ve never taken orders from anyone. As long as I live, I’ll never take orders from anyone. I’m young and strong and nothing can touch me.

[Colleague: Are you quitting because you’ve lost your nerve?]
Dr. Frederick Steele: I’m not quitting, I’m returning to medicine, have a little lab up north in Vermont.
[Colleague: How many men would give their eye teeth for a practice you’re throwing away? What is this research?]
Dr. Steele: Cells. Brain cells. Why do healthy normal cells go berserk and grow wild, do you know? Nobody knows! But they call them cysts and lyomas and tumors and cancers, and we operate and hope to cure with an eyeful but half the time we don’t even know the root cause. Our patients have faith in us because we’re doctors… I’m done. Continue reading →

Movie Review: Super 8 (2011)

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Brian Wright

An ageless, fantabulous family film ___ 8/10

Cary: Stop talking about production value, the Air Force is going to kill us.

Joe Lamb: She [his mother who died] used to look at me… this way, like really look… and I just knew I was there… that I existed.

Great casting, incredible imagination, quality dialog, believable story,[1] attention-holding action, heroes and villains realistic and timely, and a twist of 1980s nostalgia. Super 8 presses all the right buttons as an ageless, fantabulous family film. Continue reading →

Movie Review: Main Street (2010)

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Brian Wright

Good little naturalistic thought provoker ___ 8/10

Background Note

Ellen Burstyn’s character, “Georgiana Carr,” bears the last name of an actual Durham, N.C., family that was prominent in the tobacco business. The large portrait in her house, showing a uniformed man with a big white mustache, is a picture of Julian Shakespeare Carr (1845-1924), one of Durham’s earliest tobacco magnates, who was involved in a variety of other business enterprises and was a highly regarded philanthropist. The portrait normally resides in the North Carolina Collection of the Durham County Public Library. Continue reading →

Movie Review: Nobody’s Fool (1994)

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Brian Wright

Little movie: Big essence of Paul Newman __ 9/10

Miss Beryl: Do you still bet on that horse race of yours?
Sully: What, the trifecta?
Miss Beryl: Yes. Has it ever come in?
Sully: Not yet.
Miss Beryl: But you still bet on it.
Sully: Well, sure. I mean, the odds have gotta kick in sooner or later.
Miss Beryl: Fine. That’s exactly the way I feel about you. Continue reading →

Movie Review: The Visitor (2007)

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Brian Wright

Low-key, anti-Prison-Planet film will shake you

Professor Walter Vale: [Upon learning Tarek has been deported… from the facility in Queens]
Guard: He is no longer with us.
Walter: Was he moved to another facility, to another state?
Guard: All I know.
Walter: Would you please find someone who does know?
Guard: Hold on.
Walter: Appreciate it. Thank you, thank you very much.
Guard: He’s been removed.
Walter: Removed to where?
Guard: Deported.
Walter: Deported when?
Guard: Deported this morning.
Walter: No, how can that be? Is there uh, um, any way that I can contact him?
Guard: I don’t think so.
Walter: You don’t think so. What kind of an answer is that?
Guard: I’m sorry, sir, that’s all the information I have. Now, please step away from the window. You can contact IC if you want to, number’s on the wall. Now, step away from the window. Sir, for the last time, step away from the window.
Walter: [Walking away, then slowly coming back, tremor in his voice, tears of anger and pain in his eyes] You can’t just take people away like that, do you hear me? He was a good man. A good person. It’s not fair. We are not just helpless children. He had a life. Do you hear me? I mean, do you hear me? What’s the matter with you? Continue reading →