"Annie Hall" (1977) - RE-WATCH

Rank on the AFI List: #35

Synopsis (according to imdb.com)
Neurotic New York comedian Alvy Singer falls in love with the ditsy Annie Hall.

LET ME EXPLAIN...
This has been my only Woody Allen film ever, though I first watched it in my American Film class.  It certainly has good parts and some fun comedy, but Woody Allen's character is so neurotic that he's frustrating, but has such an underdog-esque aura about him that you still kind of root for him.

Annie Hall (the character, not the film itself) also has her faults and likable qualities, and the two of them together make this movie feel very real, which I like.  As a bit of a contradiction to that, however, this is loaded with very clever, avant-garde scenes (for a description of avant-garde in film, please check out this previous post).  So the relationship felt real, but the film itself did not.  This is not a knock to the film, just an observation about its unique blend of realism and creativity.

(The attached video clip is one of the more subtle avant-garde scenes.)

What makes this a "Top 100" Movie?
"Annie Hall" is filled with unique scenes and ideas that had never been done before in a movie.  This gives it the "groundbreaking" label in my book.  It was also nominated for 5 Academy Awards, winning 4 of them (beating out "Star Wars" for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay, and Diane Keaton won for Best Actress).

Complaints:
This film was clever without being all that funny a bit too much.  I would have enjoyed laughing more than I did.

LET ME SUM UP...
Unique romantic comedy filled with clever scenes and ideas.  Not the most entertaining film, but its cleverness gives it an extra point in my rating.

MY RATING: 6/10 (No change from my previous rating)

"Spartacus" (1960) - RE-WATCH

Rank on the AFI List: #81

Synopsis (according to imdb.com)
The slave Spartacus leads a violent revolt against the decadent Roman empire.

LET ME EXPLAIN...
Spartacus is a combination of Ben-Hur, Gladiator, and Braveheart, only not as good as any of them.  I didn't mind this film, but I just wasn't overly impressed with it.  For instance, I was surprised as to the lack of character development.  On that same note, a lot of the relationships were never explained or developed enough.  You'd think this stuff would happen during a 3+ hour movie.  Oh well.

What makes this a "Top 100" Movie?
While this is certainly an epic movie, I don't really think it belongs in the Top 100.  It's big and historic, but "Ben-Hur" was done better and includes the incredible chariot race scene.  "Spartacus" didn't really have any scene that stood out as phenomenal like that. However, it was nominated for 6 Academy Awards, winning 4 of them (Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Art Direction, and Best Supporting Actor).

Complaints:
Kirk Douglas.  I was not impressed with his acting at all.  For the most part, he just held a straight face without conveying much (or any) emotion.  Better lead acting could have dramatically improved my opinion of this film.

LET ME SUM UP...
Epic film with underwhelming development and lead acting.

MY RATING: 4/10

"Dr. Strangelove" (1964) - RE-WATCH

Rank on the AFI List: #39

Synopsis (according to imdb.com)
An insane general starts a process to nuclear holocaust that a war room of politicians and generals frantically try to stop.

LET ME EXPLAIN...
I'm really not a big fan of this film.  I remember it being just "alright" when I saw it in my American Film class, and after watching it again I think I like it even less.  Aside from one pretty good laugh, the rest of the comedy just wasn't that amusing.  And while I appreciate the poignancy of the story and satirizing nuclear holocaust during the Cold War, I think that not really living through that time in history makes it hard for me to fully appreciate "Dr. Strangelove."  The fact that it was written and directed by Stanley Kubrick (A Clockwork Orange, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Spartacus) didn't help, either.

What makes this a "Top 100" Movie?
I give major props to the fact that this movie satirized and laughed at the very real possibility of nuclear war at the time it came out.  Taking what people were fearing (the end of the world, basically) and making a comedy out of it is the major reason I think this is on the AFI List.  I don't know of another movie that has done something like that.  It was also nominated for 4 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Actor (Peter Sellers, who played three roles).

Complaints:
Aside from just not really liking the movie overall, I didn't really think the character of Dr. Strangelove was played that well.  Peter Sellers was great as the President and Captain Mandrake, but Dr. Strangelove seemed a little over-acted.  My best way to explain it is with a Batman reference: Heath Ledger's Joker was a crazy character portrayed eerily realistic.  On the other end, take ANY of the villains from Batman Forever or Batman and Robin, and you've got over-the-top, distracting acting.  That was Dr. Strangelove, to me.

LET ME SUM UP...
A movie that does a good job of satirizing what people were undoubtedly fearing most when it came out, but overall not very entertaining.

MY RATING: 3/10 (3 lower from my previous rating)

"Do the Right Thing" (1989)

Rank on the AFI List: #96

WHAT I ALREADY KNEW ABOUT THE MOVIE:
Just that it's by Spike Lee and about racism.

LET ME EXPLAIN...
There are a number of films on the AFI List whose stories seem tedious.  Rather than being drawn into a deep, rich storyline, you end up sitting there for a couple hours, watching people fritter away their time (or is that what I'm doing?  Oh well...).  M*A*S*H and Easy Rider are two that come to mind, and I'd like to add "Do the Right Thing" to that group as well.

"Do the Right Thing", however, twists the seeming pointlessness of its story on its heads in the end with a climactic explosion.  While I certainly appreciate the film's statement that racism and hatred so often stems from tedious, pointless differences, I'm really not a fan of these movies with seemingly aimless stories.

("Easy Rider" also has a "statement" ending, as I call it, but it's a much more excruciating film to sit through.)

What makes this a "Top 100" Movie?
The racism element is certainly the crux for why it's on the list, and its illustration of how so much hate and violence can come from such ridiculous differences is done better than other films I've seen.  It was nominated for 2 Academy Awards: Best Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor (Danny Aiello, the Italian pizzeria owner).

Complaints?
Spike Lee can't act.

LET ME SUM UP...
A tedious story with a "statement" ending.  Done well, but the tediousness of the story just isn't that entertaining to me.

MY RATING: 4.5/10

TOTAL # OF FILMS WATCHED: 98

(WARNING! Clip contains profanity)

"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (1975) - RE-WATCH

Rank on the AFI List: #33

Synopsis (according to imdb.com)
Upon arrival at a mental institution, a brash rebel rallies the patients together to take on the oppressive Nurse Ratched, a woman more a dictator than a nurse.

LET ME EXPLAIN...
I love The Dark Knight.  It's one of my favorite movies, and its theme of Order vs Chaos was a great choice for a Batman vs Joker duel.  "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" seems to convey that same theme, but this time you're rooting for chaos to defeat order.  That made this film interesting to me.

Both Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher as Nurse Ratched are by far what make this movie.  Their subtleties during the "battle scenes" - as I like to call them - were wonderful (particularly Nurse Ratched's icy glares).

What makes this a "Top 100" Movie?
While I don't think this is the most entertaining or groundbreaking film, it's a uniquely-told story of good vs evil, life vs death (or rather, "living vs dying").  It was like I was watching a war movie set inside a mental institution, with mentally-disabled people being the weapons, the victims, the prize, and the heroes.  "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" was nominated for 9 Academy Awards, winning 5 of them: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Acting for Nicholson and Fletcher.

Complaints:
Nothing that I can pinpoint in a pithy comment.  Just overall, a lot of the scenes seemed like they were missing something, but I can't say what that is.

LET ME SUM UP...
Unique film about the battle between controlling mentally-disabled people in an institution vs bringing them back to life with spontaneity and chaos.  Overall, not the greatest movie, but not bad, either.

MY RATING: 4/10 (2 lower from my previous rating)

"Nashville" (1975) - RE-WATCH

Rank on the AFI List: #59

 Synopsis (according to imdb.com)

Over the course of a few hectic days, numerous interrelated individuals prepare for a political convention as secrets and lies are surfaced and revealed.

LET ME EXPLAIN...

I had to watch this in my American Film class in college, and I hated it.  With 20+ "main" characters and a ton of country music, I hated my life for 2 hours and 40 minutes.  So why did I decide to put myself through this again?  Well, I wanted to give it a second chance, particularly since I was impacted by the ending of it when I first saw it.  Perhaps I'd appreciate the rest of it knowing how it ends?

Nope.  Well, that's not entirely true.  I actually found myself not completely hating my life through the bulk of the movie, all because I thought about how it might relate to the ending.  My wife, on the other hand, was hating her life.

Then the ending came, and I was underwhelmed.  I remembered it to be a total shock the first time.  Maybe that was because I was so bored and depressed that I simply wasn't paying much attention, so I WAS shocked because I didn't see it coming.  But this time, I noticed way too many tells regarding what was about to happen.  My wife even made a comment about what was going to happen (with complete disinterest in her voice, I might add).  And that ruined the whole thing for me, though it wasn't exactly up on a pedestal at that point, anyway.

What makes this a "Top 100" Movie?

This is a very unique movie, considering all the plotlines and main characters being interwoven together.  That's all I can think of, but if you ask me, it's a horrible, terrible, poor version of Crash in that respect.  "Nashville" was nominated for 5 Academy Awards, winning one for Best Song ("I'm Easy", which I've attached below in case you want to hear it).

Complaints:

1) The country music.

2) The wandering of the story (or no story, one could argue).

3) The country music.

4) The lack of depth into any of the characters or their stories.  You simply don't have enough time to get to know them well enough since they have to share time with a lot of other characters and their stories.

5) Did I mention the country music?

LET ME SUM UP...

Unique in the sense that it has countless characters and stories, "Nashville" doesn't really hold any sort of value beyond that.  If you were into politics in the 1970s, or you like old country music, you might want to give this a try.  Anyone else, I'm doing you a favor by imploring you not to waste your time......like I did......twice.

MY RATING: 1/10 (1 lower from my previous rating)