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Re: Movies

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:8510:
536 - Gun Crazy (1950) - 8.5/10 - Bart grew up crazy about guns and became an excellent shot, but didn't want to hurt anybody. He falls for a lady sharpshooter that he meets at a carnival and the two later go on a major crime spree. This is a very nice film noir.

:710:
537 - Day of Wrath (1943) - 7/10 - Anne is the young second wife of an aging pastor in 1623 Denmark. Her mother-in-law is domineering and she falls in love with the pastor's son. Anne's mother was suspected of being a witch, but was let off. The movie is well made, though a bit slow at times.

:710:
538 - Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001) - 7/10 - Hedwig grew up as a boy named Hansel in East Berlin. Now she travels to the United States where her former partner has stolen her music. The music in the film is excellent and the animated bits are also pretty good.
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Re: Movies

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:8510:
539 - Le Corbeau (1943) - 8.5/10 - Somebody in a town in France starts sending out poison pen letters slandering a local doctor and also accusing others of improprieties. The people in the town are greatly disturbed and search for the author of the letters, which are signed 'Le corbeau'. I enjoyed the film quite a bit. It is a very nice noir film with a smart script and good acting.

:710:
540 - The Invisible Man (2020) - 7/10 - A woman escapes from her wealthy, but domineering and mentally abusive partner. Shortly thereafter, he is found dead from an apparent suicide, but she thinks that he faked his death and is using a high tech invention to stalk her invisibly. It's a decent thriller with a good performance from Elizabeth Moss.

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541 - Widows (2018) - 7.5/10 - When four armed robbers are killed in a shootout with police and the money they stole burns up in their van, the criminal that they stole from informs the widow (Viola Davis) of one of the ringleader that she is responsible for the debt and has two weeks to find a way to pay up. She recruits the other widows to pull a big heist so that they can pay off what is owed and have money left over to start their lives again. It's a nice crime drama with a nice cast. Daniel Kaluuya was good in a supporting role and Elizabeth Debicki was also good as one of the other widows.

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542 - Late Spring (1949) - 10/10 - Noriko (Setsuko Hara) is a 27 year old woman who smiles and laughs a lot. She is very happy living with and taking care of her widowed father (Chishu Ryu). Noriko's aunt thinks that she should marry and convinces Noriko's father about this. Noriko has no interest in marriage, but faces constant pressure from her aunt, father, and a close friend. You can see the happiness in her diminish as this goes on. It's an excellent film and the performances by Hara and Ryu are excellent as well.
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Re: Movies

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:610:
543 - Tempest (1928) - 6/10 - A commoner in Czarist Russia is promoted from Sergeant to Lieutenant thanks to the kind attention from an aristocrat. Still, he meets opposition from certain other officers from a more privileged background. He also becomes interested in the aristocrat's daughter, but she rebuffs him and he ends up in prison. Then comes the Revolution. It's a silent film and is okay, but not one of the better ones. The director seemed enamored with closeups of the star's face making expressions of one sort or another or gazing strongly.

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544 - Rififi (1955) - 8.5/10 - Tony just got out of prison after a five year sentence. He soon gets involved in an intricate jewel heist that goes off without a hitch until one of the people on the job does something stupid, setting them all at risk. It's an excellent film.

:810:
545 - The HItch-Hiker (1953) - 8/10 - A wanted fugitive kidnaps two men who picked him up while hitchhiking. The fugitive takes them on a trip to Mexico to evade capture. The two men hope to escape, but it is difficult since the fugitive has one eye that never closes, even when he is asleep. Good acting and pretty tense throughout.
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Re: Movies

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:710:
546 - Stalker (1979) - 7/10 - Stalker is visually striking and interesting. The pace and the story were less interesting, though not unexpected. I didn't really enjoy the film that much, though I did like it more than Solyaris. I think that my appreciation of the film will improve if I choose to watch it again at some point.

:7510:
547 - Greed (1924) - 7.5/10 - Mac makes a living as a dentist, even though he doesn't have formal dental training. He becomes interested in Trina, his best friend's girl, and the two end up getting married. A winning lottery ticket changes their lives, and not necessarily for the better. I thought the film got better as it went along and it has an excellent ending.

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548 - The Handmaiden (2016) - 8.5/10 - The film takes place in Korea while it was under Japanese rule. A wealthy book collector on a remote estate brings in a new handmaiden for his niece, a woman under the control of her uncle. There is plenty of deception throughout the film and it ends up being a love story as well. Very entertaining with nice performances, visuals, and music.
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Re: Movies

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:8510:
549 - The Intouchables (2011) - 8.5/10 - Driss lives in the projects and shows up for a job interview so that he can say that he looked for a job and collect a government benefit. The job in question is as an assistant/nurse to a wealthy man who is also a quadriplegic due to a paragliding accident. The wealthy man decides to hire Driss anyway and the two end up hitting it off. It's based on a true story and may not be totally original, but the leads are charismatic, especially Omar Sy as Driss, and the movie just works and is entertaining.

:7510:
550 - 3 Idiots (2009) - 7.5/10 - A comedy about three friends at a prestigious engineering school. Rancho is the brilliant ringleader, but disappeared after graduation. Rancho also becomes involved with one of the daughters of the head of the school. 10 years later, his two closest friends finally get clues to try and track him down. It's a bit long, but is still is plenty of fun.

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551 - The Chaos Class Failed the Class (1975) - 3/10 - A class filled with 30-something high school students play tricks on their new 19 year old literature teacher who is in her first teaching job. This was pretty dumb.

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552 - PK (2014) - 7.5/10 - An alien lands on Earth and soon has the remote for his spaceship stolen. He struggles with learning the customs of people and eventually starts asking pointed questions about religion. A reporter takes an interest in him and starts helping him as well. I was a bit indifferent to the film early on, but enjoyed it more and more as it went along. Aamir Khan wasn't bad, though he spent much of the time looking kind of weird. I really liked Anushka Sharma as Jaggu, the reporter.
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Re: Movies

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:6510:
553 - Paint Your Wagon (1969) - 6.5/10 - Two men (Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood) form a partnership during the California gold rush. They become partners in business and also share a wife. This western comedy musical is a bit strange. There were some good parts, especially the big climactic scene near the end, but overall the film wasn't that great.

:810:
554 - Pollyanna (1960) - 8/10 - Hayley Mills stars as a young girl who is sent to live with her aunt. She has an infectious way of being good natured and seeing the good in things. She slowly wins over the people of the town. This is pretty wholesome entertainment, but was enjoyable.
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Re: Movies

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:710:
555 - The Joker is Wild (1957) - 7/10 - Frank Sinatra stars as Joe E. Lewis, a singer who had his throat cut and was almost killed by one of Al Capone's lieutenants when Lewis wanted to go to work at a rival club when his contract was up. He survived and resurrected his career as a singer and comedian, but struggled with alcoholism. Sinatra is pretty effective in the role. Some of the jokes are funny, but the movie itself isn't a happy story.

:6510:
556 - The Egyptian (1954) - 6.5/10 - Sinuhe was abandoned as a baby in ancient Egypt. He grows up very poor, but becomes a talented and respected physician. This gains him the favor of the Pharaoh, but also draws him into court intrigues. The film shows the highs and lows of his life. It was okay, but not up to the level of some of the other epics from the era.

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557 - The Big Parade (1925) - 8.5/10 - A son of a wealthy man enlists in the army during WWI and goes off to war. He becomes friends with a southern construction worker and a bartender who are in his unit. He also falls for a French girl after they arrive overseas. The film has a lot of humor plus some romance and also shows the brutality of war once the soldiers finally make it to the front. I liked it a lot.
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Re: Movies

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:810:
558 - Once Upon a Time in America (1984) - 8/10 - A big gangster film that takes place in multiple time periods with much of the action taking place during Prohibition or shortly thereafter plus 35 years later. Overall, I thought it was a good movie, though I'll admit to starting to get bored with the 1960s era at times. There were other negatives, but they were outweighed by the positives.

:8510:
559 - Diabolique (1955) - 8.5/10 - The owner of a boarding school is a mild mannered woman who teaches at the school. Her husband is the principal and can be cruel. His mistress is also a teacher there, but she gets along with the man's wife. The two women decide to murder the husband, but something funny starts happening when the body disappears. This is a nice thriller with good performances. I had guessed what was going on earlier in the film, but it didn't detract from my enjoyment.

:810:
560 - Rocco and His Brothers (1960) - 8/10 - Rocco and the rest of his family move north to Milan where they join the eldest brother Vincenzo, a boxer. Rocco eventually shows some skill at boxing as well. Four of the brothers seem to be good people, but Simone is certainly a scumbag. I think Rocco is complicit with his enabling behavior.
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Re: Movies

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:810:
561 - Memories of Murder (2003) - 8/10 - A serial killer is loose in Korea in 1986 and two detectives from the area plus another from Seoul investigate, though the methods used are different. One detective likes to look into the suspect's eyes. Another likes to dropkick them. It retained my interest throughout and was good, even if I don't agree with some of the methods employed in the investigation.

:8510:
562 - Le Trou (1960) - 8.5/10 - Four prisoners in a particular prison cell have been planning an escape for quite some time. Their plans may be in jeopardy when another inmate is transferred into their cell due to construction at the prison. The film features quite a bit of interesting preparations as the prisoners put their plan into motion. It's a very nice film.
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:810:
563 - High and Low (1963) - 8/10 - An executive for a shoe company is about to leverage all he has to take over the company so that he can push it in the direction that he want. Before this deal is complete, his young son's companion, the son of the man's chauffeur, is kidnapped and a huge ransom is demanded. This is a very nice Akira Kurosawa drama with plenty of police work in tracking down the kidnapper. The police work manages to be pretty interesting.

:7510:
564 - Cromwell (1970) - 7.5/10 - The policies of King Charles I of England cause members of parliament and their constituents to turn away from the king. This leads to the English Civil War with Cromwell leading the charge. It was a good film. Alec Guinness made a pretty decent English king.
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:5510:
565 - The Big Fisherman (1959) - 5.5/10 - A pretty dull biblical epic about Simon Peter and a young woman named Fara who also becomes a follower of Jesus. It's sort of a companion film to The Robe, which is fitting since I didn't care that much for that film either.

566 - Khovanshchina (1959) - A film version of a 19th Century opera about a rebellion in 1682 by a Russian prince. It has singing throughout which seemed pretty decent, but the story did nothing for me.

:910:
567 - The Best of Youth (2003) - 9/10 - The film starts in the 1960s with two brothers - Nicola and Matteo. They are pretty close, but their paths soon diverge as Nicola becomes a psychiatrist and Matteo joins the army and later the police. We get to see nearly 40 years of Italian history through their family. It's a very long film at over 6 hours, but it didn't feel long to me. It kept my interest throughout and was very well done.
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:7510:
568 - A Time to Love and a Time to Die (1958) - 7.5/10 - A German private gets a three week furlough late in WWII. He travels home and tries to find his parents. He also falls in love with a young woman that he knew from school. Then he has to return to the war. The movie is pretty well acted and is a good film, though pretty melancholy throughout.

:710:
569 - The Gang's All Here (1943) - 7/10 - A soldier on leave falls for a chorus girl, though he's expected to marry his childhood sweetheart. The plot is kind of thin, but the attraction is much more about the singing, dancing, and use of color in Busby Berkeley's first color film. Carmen Miranda also has a supporting role and performs a few numbers.

:510:
570 - Death in Venice (1971) - 5/10 - A composer visits Venice for his health early in the 20th Century, but suspects that there is a problem in town. He becomes entranced with a 14 year old boy who is also staying at the hotel and observes the boy and his family from a distance quite frequently. The movie isn't without merit, but I found it to be pretty dull and uninteresting for the most part.
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Re: Movies

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:810:
571 - Scrooge (1951) - 8/10 - A nice adaptation of the Dickens classic.

:710:
572 - The Sign of the Cross (1932) - 7/10 - Cecil B. DeMille directed this film about a Roman officer who falls for a Christian woman at a time when Nero is persecuting Christians. It isn't anything special (other than maybe the milk bath scene), but it's watchable.

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573 - Mr. Turner (2014) - 7.5/10 - Timothy Spall gives a very nice performance as the eccentric British artist J.M.W. Turner during the last 20+ years of his life in the 19th Century. The visuals are great and the story is decent enough.

:610:
574 - The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) - 6/10 - The story of Jesus is told here. The sets, cinematography, and so on were all good. The acting really wasn't bad either, but this movie is so slowly paced, it is pretty boring.
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Re: Movies

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:810:
575 - The Ascent (1977) - 8/10 - Two soldiers are sent out into a bleak winter landscape to search for food and supplies for a group of partisans and refugees from the Germans during WWII. Their journey will cause them to discover what type of person they are inside. I liked the first half of the film more than the second half when it became more philosophical.

:6510:
576 - The Bible: In the Beginning (1966) - 6.5/10 - Adam & Eve, Cain & Abel, Noah, Nimrod, Abraham, and others are included here. The music is great and the cinematography is pretty good. The story itself is so-so at times.

:7510:
577 - Troy (2004) - 7.5/10 - This is an extremely abbreviated version of The Iliad (even though it's a 3 hour movie) and I thought it was pretty good with nice cinematography and acting.
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:7510:
578 - The Roaring Twenties (1939) - 7.5/10 - Three buddies return from WWI. Cagney finds his job as a mechanic is gone so he becomes a cab driver and later a bootlegger. He becomes involved with another of his war buddies (Bogart) and is enamored with a singer (Priscilla Lane). It's a fairly standard gangster film in some ways, but is still pretty entertaining.

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579 - Aparajito (1956) - 7.5/10 - Apu and his family have moved to the city, but the father is ill. Apu and his mother later move to the country and Apu is able to get a decent education and earn a scholarship. This is a good film, but I liked Pather Panchali a bit more.

:710:
580 - A Short Film About Killing (1988) - 7/10 - A young man arrives in Warsaw and seems bent on causing trouble. He strangles a cab driver and is defended by a lawyer who just recently passed the bar. I did like it more than Kieslowski's A Short Film About Love, but not as much as the acclaim it seems to get would warrant.

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581 - Hachi: A Dog's Tale (2009) - 7.5/10 - Richard Gere stars as a professor who finds an Akita puppy at a train station on his way home from work. He ends up adopting the dog and it becomes a loyal companion. After the professor's death, Hachi continues to show up at the train station every day awaiting his master's return. I saw the statue for the real Hachiko at Shibuya Station when I was in Japan. They did a pretty good job with this film, though it has been moved to an American setting.

:810:
582 - The World of Apu (1959) - 8/10 - Apu has graduated and dreams of being a writer, but has no job or money. He gets talked into marrying a girl and things go well for a while until the don't. I think certain things could have been developed more, but I did like this one a bit more than the earlier parts of the trilogy.
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