From Here to Eternity (1953)

Rating: 80%
This is another film that I keep looking at the cover of and keep wanting to see it to know what it's about. Here's my review for From Here to Eternity.

Plot: set in 1941, Private Prewitt transfers from the Bugle Corps to a rifle unit at Company "G" at Schofield Barracks in Oahu. When captain Holmes hears his reputation as a middleweight boxer, he asks Prewitt to join their team but he refuses stating that he quit boxing. So Holmes tries to make things a living hell for Prewitt until he gives in. Meanwhile, First Sergeant Warden falls in love with Holmes' wife Karen on whom Holmes has been unfaithful to, and Prewitt falls for a woman named Lorene at a gentleman's club called the New Congress Club.

Okay this didn't completely blow me away, but I liked it. The stories were interesting, the characters were enjoyable and were well acted, - Frank Sinatra seems to stand out the most which I would agree with, from his last scene in the film for sure. The general concept of what happens during most of the movie may not have aged well since it's a little familiar, (like I personally can't help but think of Top Fun a little with some parts of this film)  but I think it works out. But personally I think my only real issue is that I don't think the stories completely balance out. I generally say that because I kind of wanted more of Warden and Karen's story. They were already a little interesting in the beginning what with how he's having an affair with her against her husband who's always cheating her, but then you have the beach scene and she talks about what happened during the earlier years of her marriage and I ended up liking her character more. From that I personally wanted more from their story and thought they could've done more. I mean they did eventually but I don't think it paid off as much as I hoped it would. But anyway, I also liked the fighting during the very end. They did a good with that one stunt especially of a guy getting show down by a plane I thought they did a rather impressive job on.

And that's my review for From Here to Eternity. The plot may be familiar and some of the stories aren't balanced out, but it still has great characters, very well acted, good action and is altogether an enjoyable film all around.

The Apartment (1960)

Rating: 50%
Well it's been a bit since I last reviewed a winner from the 60's so let's take another look at that decade with The Apartment.

Plot: Baxter is a lonely office drudge who at a national insurance cooperation. But as a way to get higher in the cooperate ranks, he allows some of the company managers to borrow his apartment for when they are picking up women. Eventually the personal director Sheldrake find out when he interviews Baxter for a promotion, and he give him the promotion along with tickets for The Music Man on the condition that he can use his apartment too. Baxter convinces a elevator operator named Fran whom he's had his eye on for a while to come to the show with him, but before she does, she meets an old fling of hers who turn out to be Sheldrake. Sheldrake tells her that he intends to divorce his wife for her and so they spend the night at Baxter's apartment. 

I'm afraid this is another one of those films that despite getting really good praise during it's time, it was just okay to me. The concept of the story I sort of liked with how specifically this office drudge is helping his superiors so he can go higher up the cooperate ladder in return. And the second half of the film was a little interesting with how they kept the story going. But may main problem is I didn't really care for the characters. It's not that they were horribly acted, but I couldn't help not really caring for them. Baxter especially I didn't find him really being more then a guy who is really just a "doormat" (as critic Mary Ann Johanson put it) and kind of creepy when it comes to how he has specifically been eying on Fran. He even openly admits some of how he's been doing that right in front of her and I'm left being a little curious what he was thinking and why she wasn't really weirded out about it. This film also got negative reviews for how it has themes of infidelity and adultery. To that I say that while I wasn't super disturbed at the fact that it did have that, it did seem a little surprising that they would have those themes in a movie from around the 60's I don't claim to be an expert as to when those kind of things were less of a big deal in film as time went on, it's messed up that they have it in this film from only 1960. To which I"m glad that based on those reviews, I'm glad I'm not the only person who feels that way. To be fair it's not like this film has any sex scenes or anything like that, but they still touch on those themes which I think is enough considering the time. 

And That's my review for The Apartment. It has an okay story, but it has characters like Baxter who are not very memorable or particularly interesting, and it has themes that are questionable considering the film's time. Altogether, The Apartment wasn't that great for me, so I wouldn't really recommend it. 

Driving Miss Daisy (1989)

Rating: 85%
Well I needed to get back to reviewing the more recent best picture winners at some point, so let's start off with the last best picture winner from the 80's: Driving Miss Daisy.

Plot: Daisy Werthan is a 72-year old widow in Alabama, Georgia who lives alone in her house under the exception of her African-American housemaid Idella. One day Daisy has trouble with her car and ends up wrecking it on accident and so her son, Boolie wants her to have a chauffeur for her own good but she stubbornly refuses. But then Boolie finds an African American man named Hoke who was a chauffeur for a judge, and hires him to drive for his mother. Daisy refuses to have Hoke drive her, but after she fells embarrassed whenever Hoke drives her around in her car when she goes on errands on foot, she agrees to let him drive her. 

This is a nice and sweet film. It has a very nice story, it is warm and well paced, it does a very good job at getting better and deeper as it goes on, and it's just a good film altogether. Notice how I didn't mention the acting in that sentence. That's because that can't just be summed up in a short part in the middle of that sentence because the acting is generally the heart of this film. I mean the stars themselves shouldn't have to go without saying; Morgan Freeman, Jessica Tandy, Dan Aykroyd, I don't seem to have seem Tandy in a lot of other films, but Freeman and Aykroyd are well known to me. But even if Tandy isn't known to me, she's just as memorable in this film as Freeman and Aykroyd. All three of them - Tandy and Freeman especially played very charming characters. They were well acted, the chemistry was well shown, and it had some really well done makeup during the end of the movie. It doesn't surprise me a whole lot that this film won best makeup at the oscars too because they did it remarkably well and it really helped with telling the end of the story. Now this film does go into the racism from around that time, but I don't think they really shove it in your face. They picked the right moments to get into that and I think they did it in a way that worked. 

And that's my review for Driving Miss Daisy. It's a nice warm story that doesn't go too much into the racism at that time, (at least not for me) and otherwise is a nice time for watching some memorable performances from Tandy, Freeman and Akyroyd.

The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

Rating: 90%
So this best picture winner is the film that came a year after the end of WWII and is also the film that actually beat It's A Wonderful Life for the best picture slot ( I know right?) So here's my review for The Best Years of Our Lives.

Plot: Three veterans named Fred, Homer and Al all return home in Boone City after the end of WWII. Fred is a decorated Air Force captain, Homer is a sailor who lost both of his hands when his carrier sunk, and Al is a platoon sergeant. All three of them have trouble getting back into civilization after the war. Fred has been given his old job as a soda jerk much to his wife's displeasure. Al has been given back his job as a bank loan officer because of his experience, but when he gives a fellow veteran a loan, his boss tell him not to make a habit of it. And Homer and his parents have trouble adapting to his disability and pushes his fiancee away to avoid being a burden for her despite her claims that she feels otherwise.

I actually ended up particularly enjoying this movie. It didn't start out too strong at first, but after a while I did come to really care about these characters and what they went through. It shows how rough it was for veterans during the aftermath of the war with trying to find jobs, seeing their families again, and just all around trying to get back into civilization. It's well acted, it's touching... it may leave out some characters that I kind of wanted to see more or and go on a couple of directions that I figured they were going to go, but I found those issues to be minor issues personally. Now as I said in the intro paragraph,    this was the film that defeated It's A Wonderful Life for best picture during this year. Now is this another issue where the winner had no right to defeat the loser? You better believe it. Don't get me wrong, I understand why the academy did it. It's a film that has all to do what's happened to our troops after only one year of being home from the biggest war at that time. So it makes sense to have this film pulls the strings for the academy and have a good portion of the audience to feel the same way with that decision. But there's no way around it, It's A Wonderful Life is better. It just had so much more power and heartstring-pulling that makes it VERY little wonder that it's much more popular and memorable then this film. (hmm...personal note: make sure to finally review It's A Wonderful Life this christmas even though I keep failing to do that every year.) But just because that one is so much grander as a film, that doesn't automatically mean The Best Years of our Lives is a bad movie. Because it's still has it's moments of being emotional through the experience of these characters. So while The Best Years of Our Lives has little to no right to win against a classic like It's A Wonderful Life, it's still a good enough movie to be a somewhat respectful opponent for It's A Wonderful Life to lost to.

And that's my review for The Best Years of Our Lives. It's well acted, it's touching, it goes very deep (but not completely deep) into what veterans and their families go through after WWII and while shouldn't have won, it's still enjoyable and it makes sense why it won best picture during its year.

Gentleman's Agreement (1947)

Rating: 80%
Best picture winner film + Gregory Peck = yay!

Plot: Philip Green is a widowed journalist who has just moved to New York with his son and mother. During the beginning of his stay, he meets a magazine publisher who want Philip - a gentile - to write an article about Antisemitism. Philip has trouble trying to find a way to approach the topic, but then he comes with the idea of claiming to everyone that he is Jewish under the identity of Phil Greenberg and writes about his first-hand experience. Meanwhile he falls in love with the publisher's niece, Kathy and begins dating her.

Okay maybe it's cheating to give this film a positive review mostly because of Gregory Peck...but can you really blame me? It's still Gregory Peck who in some ways is still being a very caring father and otherwise a man who wants to fight for those who are not being treated as equals in a manner somewhat similar to his performance as Atticus Finch in To Kill A Mockingbird...though EASILY not as heroic or film historically memorable. Despite the big differences there is to both performances, he still comes out that way to me and also is on a subject that is a little new to me when it comes to film. I can't say I've seen a lot of movies that have to do with Antisemitism here in America - not too long after WWII on top of that. So while a story on racism as a whole wasn't new, the particular kind of racism and how they where explaining it was a little new for me as a story. Looking back though, I would say that while they do talk about it a lot, they don't necessarily show it a lot aside from two or three particular scenes. And while I wouldn't completely find it an issue, I can see where some people would be going when they would say that this film is preachy. But does that make this film bad? No. Because it still has a fairly different story, good performances for other actors besides Pack such as Dorothy McGuire and is just enjoyable all around. 

And that's my review for Gentleman's Agreement, It may fall a little short in really showing the subject rather then just talking about it and it could appear as peachy for some people, but otherwise it has a good story that was new enough for me, and good performances from the majority of the cast...but mostly Gregory Peck. 

The Lost Weekend (1945)

Rating: 75%
Okay it looks like some people are not going to be entirely happy with my rating for this particular movie, but I got to be honest with how I felt, so here's my review for The Lost Weekend.

Plot: Don Birnam is an alcoholic who has spend the past six years living with his brother Wick due to his addiction. Wick along with Don's girlfriend Helen have been trying to get Don to break his addiction and get him to try to stop but to no avail. Wick begins to give up on trying to help his brother, but Helen is refuses to give up.

Now I wouldn't exactly say that this didn't deserve to win best picture during its time. But I just can't help but find the whole thing to be a cliche on a whole. I mean don't get me wrong, it's discussing a very serious and dark problem that countless people suffer from in any day and age, not just back in 1945. And there's nothing wrong with that. Also they do display it very well with how desperate Don gets when he wants a drink and how hard it is to fight it, making it little wonder that he won Best Actor for his performance. Heck, the last quarter or so of the film was pretty suspenseful, especially with the rat and the bat moment. While that scene didn't scare me to death or anything, I will admit that it was really creepy and I'd hate to be like Don and see something like that whether I'm drunk or not. Even though the bat was totally fake when it was flying around, they made up for it with the ending with the rat squeals, the blood, and how Don was screaming in fear. That scene just really stood out for me. So with that said, it does show the terrible things that alcoholics go through, and it ends with a line Don says that was a really good way to give the audience the all around message. But when it comes to a story, I guess I just didn't find it all that original. I mean it's not terrible or anything, but under a couple exceptions like the rat and the bat moment, it wasn't all that new to me with how he's always dying for a drink and he has a woman in his life who refuses to give up. That kind of stopped me from liking this film the way everyone else seems to have. It's not that I hated it - I mean I'm giving it a positive rating and all - but it was still an issue for me with the movie as a whole.

And that's my review for The Lost Weekend. As a story it may not be that thrilling for me personally, but it still is well acted, has some really good suspenseful moments, and it does go into a problem that many people in 1945, and today and...well ANY time and age go through that makes this film worth watching.   

Hamlet (1948)

Rating: 70%
The next best picture winner is Hamlet. Nuff said.

Plot:Well I'm pretty sure just about all of you who are reading this review know the actual story. But for those of you know don't, Hamlet is a prince in Denmark who has just lost his father. His mother marries his uncle and become king of Denmark. But then Hamlet comes across the ghost of his father who claims that he was actually murdered by his uncle so he can become king, so the ghost tells Hamlet to avenge him. Troubled by this news, Hamlet thinks about whether or not what the ghost said is true and that he should kill his uncle to avenge his father's death.

Honestly to me, this was just Hamlet. I'm not saying that it's bad or anything, but it wasn't something you'd already know if you know the story almost scene by scene. But I'm in no way saying that this movie is bad. It does give out some very good performances. They do a fairly good job in actually express how they are feeling with whatever is actually happening. I guess I didn't really expect that from this film because my brother had told me that he wasn't all that entertained when he saw this film a couple years ago or so. And I will also add that I ended up particularly enjoying the last half an hour or so of the film. The sword fighting was actually really well done, the last scene with Ophelia really showed how she goes mad, and I liked the symbolism with the last moment they had with Claudius. I thought it was a really nice touch. So with all of that said, it was better then I thought it would be. But that doesn't mean I was completely entertained. It was still Hamlet, a story that just about everyone knows. It gave us the story almost completely the way it was written - they completely left out the characters Fortinbras, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, which I was personally surprised about the last two and found that to be another down - so while it did things better then I thought they would, it wasn't much for me personally.

And that's basically my review for Hamlet. It's not a huge thing for me personally since I'm not a die hard fan of the play or anything, but it does have good performances, really enjoyable last half hour, and despite cutting some characters out, it otherwise give you Hamlet plain and simple making it a fairly enjoyable film to see.