"The General", New/#18, 1927
This is the highest ranked addition to the list. Again, it's really interesting to me when a movie is added to the anniversary list, even though it was around when the original list was put out. But, I support this addition. It's kind of interesting because it centers on the Civil War, and Buster (the protagonist) is from the South. And, since I've spent 99% of my life in Union states, it was really foreign for me to be rooting for a Confederate. So, in case you don't know, the American Civil War was one of (if not the) first industrial war. Which, along with a lot of other things, means that the railroads played a very important part in the war. And, turns out, that The General is a type of train. And, the entire story pretty much takes place on trains.
It was actually highly entertaining. Maybe I need to rethink my opinions about silent films. Because for hating them, I think I have actually liked the majority of the ones I've watched so far. And, the silent comedies are actually really good. Because they don't really have much dialogue, almost all of the comedy is physical comedy, which is hilarious. And Buster Keaton is hilarious.
Maybe I should talk about him for a little bit... Or, I guess write, since I'm not actually talking. Anyways... Buster was a nickname that Harry Houdini gave him. How awesome is that? he started his career in a vaudeville act with his parents. You can google vaudeville, but it was a theater type of entertainment, so people would go to a theater/arena/venue of some king and they would watch the acts. But, the big thing that Buster was known for was always having a solid poker-face, which was typically described as deadpan. I didn't research this, but I'm pretty sure he did all of his own stunts. He definitely did this really epic one in a movie called Steamboat Bill Jr., where a whole side of a house falls on him, and he miraculously is standing right where the window will be, so he doesn't get hit. You should watch it on YouTube. That scene is actually referenced in an episode of Arrested Development, when the 2nd model home falls apart and Buster Bluth is standing right where the window is.
But, back to Buster Keaton. He was a great comedy, and extremely well know in his time and still today. Well, he's probably not that well know by the public, but he is covered in any TV special about the great comedians of all time. The guy made over 100 movies. That's kind of ridiculous. And I would know about triple digits of movies.
Anyways, back to the review of The General... It was pretty good. It had a good mix of comedy with a little drama, a love story, a lot of action. I would watch it again, but I think there needs to be maybe a year or two in between viewings just because the entire movie follows this train around, so it really is this long continuous train ride. So you do need a little time as a view to recover from that.
This was a cute movie!
But it is totally not on the Top 100 movie list.
However, this is the movie that my friends mentioned when they convinced me to write a blog. There are a lot of similarities between me and Julie Powell. We both took on a ridiculous challenge. Mine was 123 movies, hers was 300-some recipes. Both were not great health choices. She eats a lot of food, I sit around and watch movies. We both spend our day in a cubicle. We both blog. But, then there are a lot of differences. She's married; I'm not. She's good at cooking; I would like to be. She's a writer, (even though she didn't finish her book), and I'm definitely not.
However, we do agree on the definition of a writer. In the movie, she says "You're not a writer unless someone publishes you." And that is exactly how I feel. Exactly. Seriously, go check out my very first blog that introduced this whole thing.
Okay, back to the movie... Her husband says, "See, that's what's so great about blogs, you don't have to be published, you can just go online, press enter, and there it is, out there." And it's true. With a blog, you just publish yourself.
But, that doesn't mean that people read it. In the movie, Julie's blog gains popularity, and people read it. But, according my blog's current stats, that's just not what's going to happen with mine. Haha! But again, in my very first post, I said this was not for other people to read, because I'm sure this is a really boring blog for other people. The whole blog is for me. So that one day, when I'm old, I can read through it and remember it. Or at least have some sort of guide to help me keep all of these movies separate. Because, let's face it, after watching 123 movies (and more, because I still watch fun movies), I am really going to struggle to matching movie titles with what actually happens. Or, maybe I won't ever reread this. But, watching movies & blogging about is slightly more productive than just watching movies, because at least this way, I am exercising my brain by forming complete sentences.
"From Here to Eternity", #52/removed, 1953
So is a war movie, kind of. It's about a bunch of soldiers stationed in Hawaii in 1941. It's an interesting movie. A lot of the plot is about a new soldier to the unit who doesn't want to fight (box), and all of his fellow soldiers harassing him about it, except for one friend, played by Frank Sinatra. The movie has all of the good plotlines... romance, bullying, friendship, love, lust, pride, integrity, murder, singing, dancing...
And, a very surprising ending that, even though it is really odd, it is actually kind of perfect.
I would be up for watching it again, but I wouldn't say that I particularly recommend it, so if you watch it and don't like it, don't blame me.
"Frankenstein", #87/removed, 1931
So, first off, the monster is not Frankenstein, the name of the doctor who created the monster is named Frankenstein. But really, who cares? And i don't think me mentioning it on this blog will change the last 80 years of everyone saying it wrong.
This movie was awful. It's bad dialogue, and a poor plotline.
However, everyone should see this movie.
I mean, come on, it's Frankenstein. And it's only 90 minutes. You can totally sit through that. So yeah, watch it and laugh at it's horribleness.
"All About Eve", #16/28, 1950
This movie was surprisingly good. There was wonderful character development and a pretty good plotline. It's all about Eve, who is this young, innocent person interested in acting. And she attaches herself to her idol, Margo. Then we find out, she's not so innocent. And Eve connives her way into Margo's place. Again, it was pretty good. I think I would watch it again, but it did get kind of long. It was only two hours, but the pace of the movie was pretty slow.
There was actually a remake of this that came out in 1973 called Applause. Maybe that one would be better paced? I don't know.
Overall, it was good. If it's on TV, you should watch it.
