L.A. Confidential (1997)
#1 on my Top 100 List
I've been saving the best for last! This, like Chinatown, is a neo-noir - taking the elements of traditional Film Noir, it spins them with color and the brightness of 90s cinema. Everything here is perfectly done. The writers took James Ellroy's epic novel and pared it down to a manageable length while retaining the important events (Bloody Christmas, the Nite Owl killings, the assassinations of Mickey Cohen's henchment) and the intense focus on character. Three cops with vastly different backgrounds and philosophies on their job are forced through intrigue and circumstance to work together to bring down LA's organized crime. The writing is fantastic, the production design of post-war Los Angeles blows my mind (plus there is the fact that it's about LA, which is my favorite city), and everyone in the film (from first-billed Kevin Spacey on down) is fantastic. I love that I still see and understand new things every time I watch this, though by now I must have seen it ten times or more. I love that there is such attention to detail. I loved, when I lived in Los Angeles, finding places that appear in the movie like the Frolic Room or the Formosa that are still there. And I love when Bud White cocks that shotgun one-handed.
My Netflix rating: 5 stars
Showing posts with label Film Noir. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Film Noir. Show all posts
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Sunday, January 10, 2010
January 7, 2010
Chinatown (1974)
#48 on my Top 100 List
I love this movie mostly because it took the Film Noir style and, by adapting it to things like color and more freedom to discuss the political atmosphere, transfigured it into Neo-Noir. That then paved the way for movies like LA Confidential and Memento. Besides Faye Dunaway's performance ("My sister! My daughter!" remains one of the most iconic moments in film history), the true stars of the movie are Jerry Goldsmith's musical score and the backdrop of the city of Los Angeles. The struggle to bring water to a city brought forth from a desert is a very real one and I don't doubt that in the city's early days, the sort of corruption that appears in this movie was widespread. Also, now that I'm reading A Bright and Guilty Place, which is about LA's early days, I get the whole thing that Hollis Mulwray talks about concerning the broken dam that flooded part of the Valley.
My Netflix rating: 5 stars
#48 on my Top 100 List
I love this movie mostly because it took the Film Noir style and, by adapting it to things like color and more freedom to discuss the political atmosphere, transfigured it into Neo-Noir. That then paved the way for movies like LA Confidential and Memento. Besides Faye Dunaway's performance ("My sister! My daughter!" remains one of the most iconic moments in film history), the true stars of the movie are Jerry Goldsmith's musical score and the backdrop of the city of Los Angeles. The struggle to bring water to a city brought forth from a desert is a very real one and I don't doubt that in the city's early days, the sort of corruption that appears in this movie was widespread. Also, now that I'm reading A Bright and Guilty Place, which is about LA's early days, I get the whole thing that Hollis Mulwray talks about concerning the broken dam that flooded part of the Valley.
My Netflix rating: 5 stars
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
November 24, 2009
Mildred Pierce (1942)
Most websites classify this as a film noir, but I'm not entirely sold on that. Certainly the framing device is noirish, with the mysterious murder of Monte Beragon, but other than that, it leans far more toward melodrama than noir. Joan Crawford gives a very strong perfomance as Mildred. She reminds me in a way of Scarlett O'Hara - she's strong-willed and stubborn, but willing to do anything and everything that she has to in order to survive. Of course, it's possible that she reminds me of Scarlett because Butterfly McQueen (who played Prissy in Gone With the Wind) plays her housemaid Lottie. Might not have completely been film noir, but still a good movie.
My Netflix rating: 4 stars
Most websites classify this as a film noir, but I'm not entirely sold on that. Certainly the framing device is noirish, with the mysterious murder of Monte Beragon, but other than that, it leans far more toward melodrama than noir. Joan Crawford gives a very strong perfomance as Mildred. She reminds me in a way of Scarlett O'Hara - she's strong-willed and stubborn, but willing to do anything and everything that she has to in order to survive. Of course, it's possible that she reminds me of Scarlett because Butterfly McQueen (who played Prissy in Gone With the Wind) plays her housemaid Lottie. Might not have completely been film noir, but still a good movie.
My Netflix rating: 4 stars
Thursday, October 29, 2009
October 28, 2009
M (1931)
While I certainly appreciate this film for both its historical significance and its use of atmosphere and burgeoning prevalence of sound to heighten tension, I was disappointed by it. I have mostly heard it talked about with the same reverent tones used for Rear Window or Touch of Evil, but I thought that it fell a little flat. It's a strange sort of look - almost a melding of German Expressionism and Film Noir (which makes sense, given that it was made between the popularity of the two movements) - and its main problem is that it has no real protagonist. There is no one character that the audience can latch onto in times of tension or fear for in times of danger. The most recognizable character is Peter Lorre as the child-killer and you certainly don't identify with him, even at the disturbing end. That being said, Peter Lorre is a damn good actor.
My Netflix rating: 3 stars
While I certainly appreciate this film for both its historical significance and its use of atmosphere and burgeoning prevalence of sound to heighten tension, I was disappointed by it. I have mostly heard it talked about with the same reverent tones used for Rear Window or Touch of Evil, but I thought that it fell a little flat. It's a strange sort of look - almost a melding of German Expressionism and Film Noir (which makes sense, given that it was made between the popularity of the two movements) - and its main problem is that it has no real protagonist. There is no one character that the audience can latch onto in times of tension or fear for in times of danger. The most recognizable character is Peter Lorre as the child-killer and you certainly don't identify with him, even at the disturbing end. That being said, Peter Lorre is a damn good actor.
My Netflix rating: 3 stars
Monday, September 7, 2009
September 5, 2009
Sin City (2005)
Some people loved this heavily-stylized movie and some people hated it. I really liked it. I think that the ways that Robert Rodriguez played with special effects, light and especially color in order to make this look like an animated graphic novel that just happened to include real actors worked very well. The dialogue is pretty clunky, but I think that that was intentional in order to keep with the graphic novel theme. The lines sound like they would be okay if you were to read them, just not say them aloud. It's incredibly disturbing and violent - I can never look at Elijah Wood the same way ever again - but it doesn't feel gratuitous because that's what the story is about. Also, seeing Rory Gilmore with a gun is just weird.
My Netflix rating: 4 stars
Some people loved this heavily-stylized movie and some people hated it. I really liked it. I think that the ways that Robert Rodriguez played with special effects, light and especially color in order to make this look like an animated graphic novel that just happened to include real actors worked very well. The dialogue is pretty clunky, but I think that that was intentional in order to keep with the graphic novel theme. The lines sound like they would be okay if you were to read them, just not say them aloud. It's incredibly disturbing and violent - I can never look at Elijah Wood the same way ever again - but it doesn't feel gratuitous because that's what the story is about. Also, seeing Rory Gilmore with a gun is just weird.
My Netflix rating: 4 stars
Saturday, August 8, 2009
August 8, 2009
Touch of Evil (1958)
Think of the race relations issue in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. Now, put it in a Mexican border town with the following: a car bomb, a drug cartel, an extremely creepy backwater motel, and Orson Welles as a corrupt cop. Charlton Heston, through black and white photography and presumably a good makeup artist, looks fairly realistic as a Mexican, while Janet Leigh is continually clothed and lit in a way that make her pale skin and blonde hair nearly glow. It's one of those twisty, turny movies that encompasses some of the best traits of Film Noir as well as an intense thriller. This was made two years before Janet Leigh starred in Psycho, but I think between the two of them we can safely say that anytime she is alone in a creepy empty hotel, nothing good can ever come of it.
My Netflix rating: 4 stars
Think of the race relations issue in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. Now, put it in a Mexican border town with the following: a car bomb, a drug cartel, an extremely creepy backwater motel, and Orson Welles as a corrupt cop. Charlton Heston, through black and white photography and presumably a good makeup artist, looks fairly realistic as a Mexican, while Janet Leigh is continually clothed and lit in a way that make her pale skin and blonde hair nearly glow. It's one of those twisty, turny movies that encompasses some of the best traits of Film Noir as well as an intense thriller. This was made two years before Janet Leigh starred in Psycho, but I think between the two of them we can safely say that anytime she is alone in a creepy empty hotel, nothing good can ever come of it.
My Netflix rating: 4 stars
Friday, August 7, 2009
August 6, 2009
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
#38 on my Top 100 List
This is one of the most tragic stories on film, I think. It follows Norma Desmond, an aging film star who loses herself into her fantasy world of reliving her glory days more and more every day, eventually dragging down a young screenwriter with her. The huge, decaying house that it takes place in is just as much a character as she is, reminiscent of the lavish film sets of silent films such as Intolerance, and the film includes cameos by Cecil B. DeMille and Buster Keaton, among others, playing themselves as they allow and even assist Norma in living in her fantasies. It was made during one of Hollywood's "Golden Ages," the 1950s where studios were churning out dozens of movies a year, and it's also an insider movie. Not many movies were made during that period about making movies and it stands as an interesting look into the past when compared to something like last year's Tropic Thunder. It's sad as you watch Norma fall further and further from reality, but not without suspense and even a little bit of fear. I know that this was adapted into a musical and I know that musicals can definitely be dark (just look at Les Mis), but I don't for the life of me understand how you could turn this story into a musical. It work so perfectly on the screen, shot in soft black and white, that why would you mess with it?
My Netflix rating: 5 stars
#38 on my Top 100 List
This is one of the most tragic stories on film, I think. It follows Norma Desmond, an aging film star who loses herself into her fantasy world of reliving her glory days more and more every day, eventually dragging down a young screenwriter with her. The huge, decaying house that it takes place in is just as much a character as she is, reminiscent of the lavish film sets of silent films such as Intolerance, and the film includes cameos by Cecil B. DeMille and Buster Keaton, among others, playing themselves as they allow and even assist Norma in living in her fantasies. It was made during one of Hollywood's "Golden Ages," the 1950s where studios were churning out dozens of movies a year, and it's also an insider movie. Not many movies were made during that period about making movies and it stands as an interesting look into the past when compared to something like last year's Tropic Thunder. It's sad as you watch Norma fall further and further from reality, but not without suspense and even a little bit of fear. I know that this was adapted into a musical and I know that musicals can definitely be dark (just look at Les Mis), but I don't for the life of me understand how you could turn this story into a musical. It work so perfectly on the screen, shot in soft black and white, that why would you mess with it?
My Netflix rating: 5 stars
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