Brief Movie Reviews- 4/2/10
The Box (2009)
- The Box is about a married couple that gets a mysterious box in the mail. A mysterious man drops by and explains that there is a button on the box and if you push it someone you do not know will die and you will receive a million dollars. Well of course the couple push the button or else the movie would only be 20 minutes long. What happens next is a bunch of creepy scenes that turn their choice in an ever-growing nightmare. The story runs like a 2-hour Twilight Zone episode and is a very dark, sci-fi movie. The movie was much better than I anticipated coming from the same director who made Donnie Darko and Southland Tales. The plot was actually very interesting and the end scene was intense and thought provoking. Frank Langella was great as the man with the mysterious past who provides the box. A couple of things keeping this from being a great movie is it was too long, too slow at parts, bad acting by minor characters, and plot reveals that made no sense to me.
- Rated PG-13 for thematic elements, some violence and disturbing images
- Director: Richard Kelley
- Starring: Cameron Diaz, James Marsden, and Frank Langella
- Grade: C
The Awful Truth (1937)
- The awful truth about this movie is it’s quite awful to watch. See what I did there…I made a joke playing on…oh well never mind. The movie is about a guy who suspects his wife of cheating so files for divorce. Does he have evidence, no he doesn’t, but that’s ok because as we all know divorce is always a funny premise. For the rest of the movie they keep bumping into each other messing up their relationships with other people. I guess in the end they realize that they were meant for each other. I say guess because I don’t really get the end of the movie. In fact it’s one of the worst endings I’ve ever seen that just ends the movie very abruptly with no real resolution. This movie was known as one of the great screwball comedies of the 30’s. I didn’t find it funny at all and thought it was quite slow and boring. The movie won an Oscar for best director.
- Director: Leo McCarey
- Starring: Cary Grant and Irene Dunne
- Grade: F
Cimarron (1931)
- This was one of the first big western epics back in the day when talking pictures was still new. The movie takes place in the late 1800’s during the great Oklahoma Land Rush and spans about 40 years. The main character wanting more adventure decides to move his family from Kansas to a new town in Oklahoma. While there he basically becomes the leader of the town becoming the town newspaperman, lawyer, preacher, and sheriff. That’s quite the job resume to say the least. He helps to rid the town of the bad outlaws and restore peace. One of my favorite scenes has to be while he is in the middle of a sermon he pulls out a gun and shoots the bad guy right in church. Now that’s a preacher you don’t want to mess with. Halfway through the movie he ends up leaving the town and his family for more adventure. The second half of the movie focuses on the wife taking care of the kids and becoming a leader in the town. The movie is long and the sound quality isn’t great but not bad for an old 30’s movie. It won the Oscar for best picture.
- Starring: Richard Dix and Irene Dunne
- Grade: C
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf? (1966)
- In this movie a middle-aged couple invite a younger married couple over and they spend the whole movie yelling and arguing with each other. As the movie goes on you find that the younger couple isn’t perfect either. It’s really hard to describe the movie more than that. The plot is hard to follow as all the characters take turns playing mind games and tearing the others down emotionally. It’s almost like a sick game being played between some very drunk and dysfunctional people. It was a controversial movie for it’s time but mild compared to today’s standards. The acting is very intense but not enjoyable at all. It was a very hard movie to sit through for me. It was Oscar nominated for best picture and won Oscars for best actress (Elizabeth Taylor), best supporting actress (Sandy Dennis), and best director.
- Director: Mike Nichols
- Starring: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, George Segal, and Sandy Dennis
- Grade: F
Mrs. Miniver (1942)
- This movie follows the Miniver family in England at the beginning of WW II. The war has a major effect on this family as they either help fight the Germans or help support the cause. This movie has everything from romance, to comedy, to uplifting, to intense and thrilling. It’s interesting that this movie was made during the war as it obviously was made to make the war effort look courageous and the Germans to look very bad. There is some great scenes that made me a little teary eyed so have some Kleenex ready. Great shot at the end of the movie as the community is having a church service in a bombed out church. All performances were great and I dare any man to watch this and not fall in love with Teresa Wright. It won Oscars for best picture, best director, best actress (Greer Garson), best supporting actress (Teresa Wright), and best screenplay.
- Director: William Wyler
- Starring: Greer Garson, Walter Pigeon, Teresa Wright, Richard Ney, Henry Travers, and Dame May Whitty
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