Men on film

Flicks 90-86. Some good stuff and I'm enjoying this. Seeing some movies I'v never seen (some I've never heard of) rewatching some I ordinarily wouldn't. I fully endorse downloading any AFI list next time you're wondering what to rent.

That said, it took a while to watch these five because I got wrapped up in Netflixing the Beatles Anthology series (which is EXCELLENT). Per usual, this set has been grafted to the master list.


90. Swing Time (1936) - Here we have an odd movie. While I can see it getting four or five stars from other people, it's just not going to get that from me. As much as I enjoy musicals, I've never cared for 'dance' flicks. I can muster up Two Stars for it, and even that is stretching it since the plot was suspect. Truly it was but a showcase of Fred & Ginger dancing.

89. The Sixth Sense (1999) - When this movie was new I had a lot of hatred for it because I saw through the "twist" almost immediately and was bored waiting for the reveal. It would have been easy to just give it One Star based on that, but I did actually watch it again as promised. It's still pretty boring in parts, but both Bruce Willis and Haley Joel Osment work their asses off. Still, it's not the kind of movie people should give multiple viewings. For the performances alone, Two or Three Stars. The story is still lamesauce.

88. Bringing Up Baby (1938) - A solid Four Star comedy (it gets a little long in the middle before bouncing back). I love Cary Grant, love his voice, could listen to him read the phonebook. Katherine Hepburn is gorgeous and nutty and hilarious. The whole movie is worth watching for two scenes: the nightclub/dress tearing scene and the jail scene. What's disturbing is that this movie failed, the director was fired, and Katherine Hepburn was labeled "box office poison" and struck from movies in general after. Further proof that people are stupid.

87. 12 Angry Men (1957) - This is an amazing movie. Aside from the intro and outro (for a lack of better words) it takes place in one room and features 12 characters without names. Weird thing is, first time I watched it I didn't even notice. This movie is so good even the 1997 remake is good. Five stars, easy.

86. Platoon (1986) - This is a hard movie to review. I haven't seen it in ~10 years, at which time I thought it was overrated overblown crap. A bit older I enjoyed it a hell of a lot more, still though it has to compete with the likes of Full Metal Jacket (somehow not on the list!) and Saving Private Ryan (71). Sure it's a good film about war, but it can't stand next to those. The only thing I can think is to give it a tentative Four Stars with the caveat that it's because it's in such a stacked genre.