Movie Review: Life of Pi (2012)

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Brian Wright

Rudyard Kipling meets the Dalai Lama ____ 9/10
by Brian Wright

A remarkable experience, this film by Ang Lee. A significant cinematic achievement on several levels, three that I can think of immediately:

the exploration of faith and spirituality as it develops in a freethinking Indian boy whose father is an advocate of reason
an unusual, gripping adventure story that captures the imagination of young and old alike
a technical marvel integrating spectacular computer-generated imagery (CGI) with live action seamlessly

And to top it all off, perhaps the most important quality lies in the story’s tug on the heartstrings as one puts oneself in the shoes of the protagonist at the end. The emotional scale is huge in this resolution, amplified by the fact that the viewer has been through the wringer of a 200+ day ordeal of survival at sea. Continue reading →

Movie Review: The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000)

Posted on April 10, 2013 by Brian Wright

This “golf as life” allegory works like a champ

Rannulph Junuh: Grow up Hardy!
Hardy Greaves: It ain’t time for me to
grow up, Mr. Junuh.
Rannulph Junuh: You’re daddy is out sweeping streets because he took every last dime he had, and used it to pay up every man and woman he owed and every business who worked for him, instead of declaring bankruptcy like everyone else in town, including your best friend Wilbur Charles’ dad, Raymond, which is why he’s able to sit around all day long on his dignity! Your daddy stared adversity in the eye, Hardy. And he beat it back with a broom. Continue reading →

Movie Review: The Great Waltz (1938)

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Brian Wright

Definitely a classic; soprano Korjus is special treat

Carla Donner: You probably deserve him more than I do, but he’s going with me.

Back into the wayback machine, another reason not to give up on your basic cable with Turner Classic Movies (TCM) or to make sure one of your Netflix favorites groupings is Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) musicals. I’m not sure this particular movie is regarded as a musical per se: it’s more of a children’s story about Johann Strauss the Younger, who plays across from this ingenue who has this simply indescribable operatic voice (and a bubbly, fetching personality).

Continue reading →

Movie Review: Gilda (1946)

Posted on March 27, 2013 by Brian Wright

Postwar Casablanca lookalike is truly gilded fare
by Phyllis Wright

Some time ago I saw the piano sheet music for the song, “Put the Blame on Mame,” with a picture of Rita Hayworth from the motion picture Gilda. The movie brings back strong memories, even though I had seen it more than fifty years ago as a young woman attending Western Michigan University. Why had it made such an impression on me? Through Barnes and Noble online I located a DVD of Gilda— which starred Glenn Ford and Rita Hayworth in black and white—and bought it. After viewing the film, I checked out the special features… which, among others, showed Rita dancing with Fred Astaire. How interesting and entertaining in its own right! I was reminded of her grace and expertise in the art of dance; in fact, Astaire once asserted that Rita was his favorite dance partner. Continue reading →

Movie Review: Tucker: The man and his dream (1988)

Posted on March 6, 2013 by Brian Wright

We need to resurrect the man and his dream
to help restore the republic

Preston Tucker: Isn’t that the idea? To build a better mouse trap?
Abe: Not if you’re a mouse!

This movie I kick myself for having missed when it came out 20 years ago, and it was only last week on HBO that I actually got the Tucker experience with both barrels. The two main ideas for me of this all-American Horatio Alger “rags-to-riches” story are: Continue reading →

Movie Review: October Sky

Posted on February 27, 2013 by Brian Wright

Launching into my Top 10 Movie List for many reasons

Homer: Dad, I may not be the best, but I come to believe that I got it in me to be somebody in this world. And it’s not because I’m so different from you either, it’s because I’m the same. I mean, I can be just as hard-headed, and just as tough. I only hope I can be as good a man as you. Sure, Wernher von Braun is a great scientist, but he isn’t my hero.

… leaving unstated, “You are,” i.e. that his dad is his hero. Kudos to the screenwriter, or perhaps the director or actors themselves, for letting the audience complete this sentence. It’s just such a sign of intelligent life for these kinds of “boy-makes-good-through-struggle-and-family-values” movies that can easily succumb to sloppy sentimentality. Continue reading →

Movie Review: Last Picture Show (1971)

Posted on February 20, 2013 by Brian Wright

Bogdanovich’s big score w/ McMurtry gold __ 10/10

Jacy Farrow: Why can’t I go to college here in Wichita Falls?
Lois Farrow: Because everything is flat and empty here…
nothing to do.

When this movie came out in 1971—well before the advent of Siskel and Ebert—it was highly celebrated in the artistic community, and it seemed all the commentary feted the young director Bogdanovich as the next great genius in moviedom. I remember watching this one at a semi-art theaters in Birmingham, Michigan. And being a 22-year-old firebrand Randian libertarian at the time, I blithely pigeonholed the movie as “naturalistic,” which was close to “behaviorism” in Rand’s basement of epithets.[1] Continue reading →