One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Wow.  IMDB’s #9 film does not disappoint.

With lovable characters, a compelling story, and a perfect blend of comedy and intensity, those who haven’t seen One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest are missing out on a wonderful film that is the source of many an allusion (including a great Futurama episode where Bender is McMurphy and Roberto is Chief).

The script produces a wealth of characters who all bring something unique and valuable to the table.   McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) teaches the individuals in his ward of the mental hospital that they may not be quite so crazy as society thinks, while taking them on adventures they’d only dreamed of having.  Each chapter of the story reveals a little more about McMurphy and with each of his actions, his new friends become increasingly bold and rebellious.

The acting is superb; All the actors play their characters perfectly.  Each character is believable and viewers will be able to connect with them, regardless of their conditions.

The special effects aren’t anything new or fantastic.  There is some blood, they’re on a boat, etc. but nothing in particular.  But none of them were poorly done, or ruined immersion, so it’s a non-issue, really.  If special effects alone determined a movie’s quality, then Avatar would be the best movie ever.  (It’s not.)

The soundtrack is appropriate, but not great; Average would be the right word for it.

The directing and cinematography produce a diversity of camera angles, stylistic choices, and silences at the appropriate moments for the appropriate periods of time.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest could be watched many times, and a new piece of detail gleaned from it each time.  Viewers will find themselves invested in the fate of characters immediately and their eyes glued to the screen to find out what happens to them.

Author	Script	Acting	Cinematography	Soundtrack	Directing	Special Effects	Overall
Ben	10	10	8	7	10	8	8.833
Marc	10	10	8	8	9	8	8.833
Jon	9	9	7	7	8	8	8.0

The Killing (1956) and a brief history of the Production Code Administration

I’d like to open this up by mentioning that, of Stanley Kubrick’s thirteen full-length movies, we will be watching nine of them in this little project of ours.  Of these, The Killing is the second-lowest at #195, and I honestly think that some of that rating might just be the film showing its age.

I should go ahead and mention upfront that the rest of this will contain ending spoilers simply due to the nature of the discussion. Since the ending can be considered something of a surprise by today’s standards, you may want to consider not reading this if you’re unfamiliar with how the Production Code Administration ran things in Hollywood.

Under threat of government censorship of the film industry, the Production Code Administration was formed in 1934 to enforce rules set forth by the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America in 1927 so that Hollywood could maintain control over their own films. Among other things, the PCA wanted to ensure that people wouldn’t attempt to recreate crimes and other dangerous activities the occurred in films, so most films of the era ensure that anyone who broke the law was appropriately punished. In that regard, the ending of The Killing (everyone except Johnny and his girl are dead, and Johnny is about to submit to his arrest with a line something to the effect of “what’s the point in running away?”) was far from surprising if you were aware of the era it was filmed in. Due to the fact that the bad guys had to lose, however, directors who worked under the Production Code were able to have their characters commit much more heinous acts than would generally be accepted today. The Killing has the main characters rob a legitimate business, Brute Force (Jules Dassen, 1947) had a group of hardened criminals start a riot and kill several innocent guards in an attempted escape from jail, and the original Scarface (directed by Howard Hawks and Richard Rosson in 1932) had the main character Tony kill literally dozens of people, mostly in cold blood. In today’s movies, criminal main characters must either be completely reprehensible and still be served a nice, big helping of karmic justice, or only harm “worse guys” if they are to be accepted by audiences, unlike the very humanized criminals found in a number of movies in the Production Code Administration era. In that respect, the characters in The Killing are interesting to watch simply because of how different they are from characters in modern movies.

As Ben mentioned, the music in The Killing was its major drawback. It was most likely acceptable in its time (I wouldn’t know either way), but it was far more jarring that any other music from the era that I can recall. It was a little disappointing that I found myself chuckling during some rather tense parts in the movie just because of how out-of-place the music felt.

One thing I appreciate about good black and white films is the cinematography. Because of the lack of color, cinematographers had to be especially careful about what they put where in frame. While this is epitomized by Citizen Kane (which is coming up rather soon), The Killing is no slouch in this regard. It was immediately apparent that every motion was meticulously planned so that every frame would be balanced for precisely the effect intended. Beyond the typical good cinematography, however, only one scene really stood out in my mind as being particularly clever in its use of cinematography, so The Killing didn’t get a perfect 10 in that area, but it was still an exceptional example of cinematography.

Overall, I would recommend The Killing to just about anyone, with the caveat that the viewer should be relatively focused when the movie begins. Today’s movies often give ten or so minutes of “fluff” to draw the audience into the story, but this is not the case with older films. Going into the movie with this in mind, you should have no problems enjoying the film.

–Marc

Thanks to James Kendrick, whose class on film violence taught me about the PCA, and whose book, Film Violence: History, Ideology, Genre I referred to while writing this review.

The Killing (1956)

The Killing was our first “old movie” and we were all a little skeptical. Sure, old movies are great, but sometimes they just don’t pop the way current viewers would like. Plus, the film was ranked #195 — not particularly encouraging.

The beginning of the film starts slowly. Older films tend to favor exposition, and so does The Killing. We were worried. Fortunately, our fears were assuaged soon afterward, as the movie picked up the pace.

As far as the script is concerned, it’s certainly imaginative, but it doesn’t exactly leave you guessing. For most of the film, you’re in the know, and some movie viewers will appreciate the refreshing change of pace, which is to keep the viewer guessing until the very end. The characters are enjoyable. There are some viewers will love and cheer for, at least one whom viewers will hate (I know I did.), and some that viewers will sympathize with.

There are some unfortunate downfalls with the plot, revolving around how the ratings board did things in the ’50s concerning violence in films. If you’re curious as to exactly how the board worked, please refer to Marc’s review of The Killing.

The acting is sporadic. Some do a good job, others merely get the job done. However, no one drags the film down *cough* Hayden Christensen in Star Wars *cough*

As far as directing and cinematography are concerned, Stanley Kubrick does his thing. There’s a reason that people know his name, even if you didn’t grow up with his films. He displays creativity and a keen understanding of what keeps a viewer interested. The camera angles and use of their technology is impressive throughout and lived up to today’s standards barring a few moments.

The soundtrack was… well, it was from the 1950’s. Unfortunately, the music in movies from that era tends to feel canned, and The Killing is no exception. The music serves to set the mood, but it also breaks the viewer’s immersion with its slightly out-of-place feel.

The Killing is an exceptional crime movie. If you like movies where you’re cheering for the bad guy (SEE Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) then this one is for you.

Author	Script	Acting	Cinematography	Soundtrack	Directing	Special Effects	Overall
Ben	10	9	9	5	9	8	8.333
Marc	10	10	9	5	8	8	8.333
Jon	9	8	7	6	8	7	7.5

Spirited Away

IMDb’s #47 film is probably Miyazaki’s most famous.  For those unfamiliar with Hayao Miyazaki, it may be easiest to think of him as Japan’s Walt Disney.  He has created nearly every classic animated to film that comes from Japan.  If you’ve seen one of his movies in English, it’s because Disney paid a lot of money in order to buy the rights.

Be forewarned, the movie has subtitles — unless, of course, you speak Japanese.  Then you can turn them off.  However, if you don’t like to watch movies with subtitles, the Disney version has been dubbed.  And do you honestly think Disney paid all that money for the rights and then ruined it with their voices?  No.  They paid good money for good voice acting.

I will say right now that we watched the film in Japanese with subtitles because we felt that taking the film out of it’s native language and removing the original voice actors would change the film too much.  But I have it from a good source (OK, my roommate Michael who also loves movies) that the voice acting in the dubbed version is superb.

The script is great — with some reservations.  The dialogue is genuine and creative.  The plot moves quickly, but not too quickly, and the viewer will never be bored.  However, the film is — for lack of a better word — trippy.  If you tried to explain the plot to someone, they would look at you like you were insane and figure that you’re either imagining things or that the film is terrible.  Don’t be fooled.  It makes sense if you watch it and keep an open mind.

The acting is solid, but nothing to write home about.  To be fair though, I don’t understand the intricacies of the Japanese language, so the voice acting could have been horrendous or awesome and I wouldn’t have known.  Chihiko displays the appropriate amount of intensity in her voice throughout the movie and that’s about all I can judge.  It won’t ruin the movie for you; It certainly didn’t for me.

The cinematography and directing stood out to me as I watched the movie, which is impressive in an animated film.  The angles were never boring and nearly always fresh.  Miyazaki takes mundane frames and turns them into art.

This soundtrack was also exceptional, but in a completely different way from The Fellowship of the Ring.  Where Fellowship exhibited epic orchestral music that fit moments in the movie, Spirited Away boasts lighter tunes that fit each individual action of the characters throughout the film.

We decided to interpret Special Effects as the style of animation, which was serviceable but not particularly special.  It was aesthetically pleasing without being revolutionary or edgy.

This movie is an absolute blast for all ages.  For parents, it’s fantastic  in the same way that Lion King or Beauty and the Beast were fantastic.  Children will be enthralled by the characters, fantasy world, and imaginative creatures, while adults will appreciate the deeper elements of the plot.

Author	Script	Acting	Cinematography	Soundtrack	Directing	Special Effects	Overall
Ben	8	8	9	10	10	8	8.833
Marc	7	9	10	10	9	8	8.833
Jon	7	7	8	7	7	7	7.167

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

We got lucky when we rolled our random numbers and came up with a great one to kick off our cinema adventure: LotR: Fellowship of the Ring.

This movie came in at #19, according to IMDB.  Initially, this placement seemed about right.

Throughout the movie, it struck me that the acting is fantastic.  The ensemble fits well, and the hobbits (Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan) are all believable.   They truly look like a couple junior high kids ready to get in trouble at all times.  Legolas the Elf (Orlando Bloom) and Gimli the Dwarf (John Rhys-Davies) act as true foils, even in the short amount of time they get to develop their characters in the first movie.  Boromir (Sean Bean) gets short-changed by the script.  Due to a lack of time before his death, Boromir comes across as largely a jerk.  If you’ve read the books, you know he is merely a man (a great one at that) who worries about the fate of Gondor, his stewardship, after many long years of battling Mordor without assistance.  The movie tries to show this at the end, but it’s too late.  Boromir comes off as whiny and it feels like he only saves Merry and Pippin out of a feeling of guilt instead of a sense of duty and friendship.  Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) shows the second most dramatic change throughout the movie after Frodo.  Throughout Fellowship, Mortensen demonstrates to the viewer all facets of Aragorn, the Ranger and the King of Men.  Gandalf (Ian McKellan) maintains an air of mystery and calm, showing glimpses of fear or at least urgency.  He flows between these two states seamlessly.  He doesn’t seem to have mood swings, so much as an innate ability to only panic when necessary.

The script lacks in certain places, and there are parts that don’t stay true to the book.  However frustrating Arwen rescuing Frodo may be (Glorfindel was pretty awesome.), the script is still outstanding.  The dialogue feels genuine and  has a depth that allows the viewer to appreciate the relationship that Frodo and Sam share.

The cinematography and directing were impeccable, although Peter Jackson — to my mind — is still overrated.  The special effects were good, especially the makeup for characters such as Lurtz.  The surprising lack of CG is refreshing, considering that the movie’s sequels overuse the technology to the point that enemies become faceless.

Lastly, there is the soundtrack.  How could anyone not give the soundtrack a 10?  Howard Shore does an amazing job.  The music is noticeable when it should be, and hides in the background, creating a mood, when the situation calls for it as well.

If you haven’t seen this movie, see it.  The only part of you that might regret that choice is your bottom because it will be sore after being glued to your seat for such a long period of time.

Author	Script	Acting	Cinematography	Soundtrack	Directing	Special Effects	Overall
Ben	9	9	10	10	8	9	9.167
Marc	8	7	10	10	9	9	8.833
Jon	8	8	8	10	6	8	8.0

The Master List

Hey guys, if you couldn’t guess from my name being all over this post, I’m Marc.  I’m the one who wrote the program to randomize our movie list, so I’ll be the one to post it, so that Ben doesn’t have to type it up from the hard copy I gave him.  So, without further ado, here’s the order we’ll be watching these movies in, with their IMDb ranking (as of April 7th) to the left of the title.

19  – Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
47  – Spirited Away
195 – The Killing (1956)
9   – One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
240 – Harvey
147 – Into the Wild
148 – There Will be Blood
149 – Million Dollar Baby
131 – Wild Strawberries
132 – Snatch
37  – Citizen Kane
111 – Die Hard
143 – Kill Bill: Vol. 1
54  – Double Indemnity
193 – Good Will Hunting
214 – Fanny and Alexander
69  – Life is Beautiful
188 – 8½
96  – Gladiator
139 – Strangers on a Train
191 – The Princess Bride
127 – The Wizard of Oz
151 – Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
242 – Sleuth
217 – Children of Men
248 – King Kong (1933)
204 – A Streetcar Named Desire
207 – Dial M for Murder
128 – Ran
152 – Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
77  – Pan’s Labyrinth
26  – The Silence of the Lambs
97  – Up
187 – Judgment at Nuremberg
16  – Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope
95  – Metropolis
84  – The Bridge on the River Kwai
164 – Avatar
225 – Rosemary’s Baby
215 – Rocky
52  – Lawrence of Arabia
210 – Mary and Max
105 – The King’s Speech
130 – Witness for the Prosecution
25  – The Usual Suspects
169 – Finding Nemo
120 – The General
218 – Let the Right One In
58  – The Departed
162 – The Graduate
197 – The 400 Blows
60  – Aliens
154 – Trainspotting
163 – Amores Perros
57  – The Lives of Others
209 – Persona
222 – Mystic River
36  – Apocalypse Now
150 – Notorious
62  – Requiem for a Dream
59  – To Kill a Mockingbird
87  – The Great Dictator
179 – Twelve Monkeys
153 – Gone With the Wind
22  – Raiders of the Lost Ark
92  – Inglourious Basterds
229 – Roman Holiday
89  – Full Metal Jacket
18  – City of God
48  – The Shining
99  – The Sting
174 – Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
124 – Yojimbo
168 – Ikiru
145 – Platoon
194 – The Hustler
136 – Annie Hall
6   – Schindler’s List
44  – Alien
20  – Once Upon a Time in the West
227 – Patton
79  – Rashomon
232 – Sherlock Jr.
40  – American Beauty
167 – The Kid
170 – The Terminator
113 – Princess Mononoke
125 – Slumdog Millionaire
107 – Rebecca
142 – High Noon
27  – Se7en
206 – In Bruges
141 – It Happened One Night
200 – The Incredibles
181 – How to Train Your Dragon
226 – The Celebration
134 – The Deer Hunter
212 – All Quiet on the Western Front
75  – Raging Bull
83  – A Separation
65  – The Third Man
86  – All About Eve
5   – Pulp Fiction
102 – The Elephant Man
220 – Magnolia
76  – Cinema Paradiso
117 – Blade Runner
93  – The Apartment
133 – The Sixth Sense
7   – 12 Angry Men
144 – District 9
64  – Reservoir Dogs
90  – 2001: A Space Odyssey
49  – WALL·E
53  – City Lights
34  – Leon: The Professional
82  – Once Upon a Time in America
238 – The Philadelphia Story
186 – My Neighbor Totoro
176 – Casino
67  – L.A. Confidential
11  – Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back
109 – Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi
51  – The Pianist
185 – Ratatouille
14  – Fight Club
146 – Toy Story
160 – The Big Sleep
202 – The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
135 – The Big Lebowski
161 – The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
78  – Singin’ in the Rain
129 – Grave of the Fireflies
3   – The Godfather: Part II
180 – V for Vendetta
115 – Batman Begins
140 – Donnie Darko
12  – The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
21  – Rear Window
30  – The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
228 – Kill Bill: Vol. 2
203 – The Exorcist
221 – Barry Lyndon
101 – Oldboy
199 – La Strada
112 – The Great Escape
138 – Cool Hand Luke
173 – The Best Years of Our Lives
246 – Beauty and the Beast
184 – Gandhi
10  – The Dark Knight
98  – Gran Torino
201 – Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
235 – Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
198 – The Battle of Algiers
250 – Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring
122 – No Country for Old Men
230 – Internal Affairs
157 – The Grapes of Wrath
61  – Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
159 – Ben-Hur
55  – M
39  – North by Northwest
66  – Modern Times
211 – The Passion of Joan of Arc
108 – Sin City
100 – Unforgiven
237 – Duck Soup
88  – Bicycle Thieves
56  – A Clockwork Orange
247 – In the Mood for Love
8   – Inception
80  – Some Like it Hot
233 – Nights of Cabiria
158 – Groundhog Day
213 – Kind Hearts and Coronets
178 – Stand by Me
245 – Monsters, Inc.
166 – The Wrestler
43  – Saving Private Ryan
243 – Rope
119 – Fargo
190 – The Night of the Hunter
236 – Letters from Iwo Jima
31  – Sunset Blvd.
116 – Jaws
241 – Arsenic and Old Lace
171 – The Bourne Ultimatum
224 – The Truman Show
72  – The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
234 – His Girl Friday
33  – Toy Story 3
239 – The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
41  – Taxi Driver
249 – Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
63  – Das Boot
23  – The Matrix
71  – Back to the Future
106 – On the Waterfront
73  – The Prestige
123 – For a Few Dollars More
196 – Network
114 – The Seventh Seal
156 – Scarface (1983)
118 – Hotel Rwanda
38  – American History X
126 – Touch of Evil
91  – Braveheart
175 – The Secret in Their Eyes
182 – Dog Day Afternoon
219 – Big Fish
208 – Stalag 17
94  – Downfall
103 – Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
244 – Three Colors: Red
183 – Diabolique
172 – The Wages of Fear
74  – Monty Python and the Holy Grail
137 – The Lion King
68  – Chinatown
104 – The Maltese Falcon
189 – The Social Network
15  – Goodfellas
165 – Life of Brian
110 – Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
81  – The Green Mile
121 – Heat
177 – The Thing
192 – Star Trek (2009)
216 – Ed Wood
85  – Amadeus
32  – Forrest Gump
2   – The Godfather
42  – Terminator 2: Judgement Day
223 – Manhattan
70  – Black Swan
46  – Amélie
17  – Casablanca
45  – Vertigo
28  – It’s a Wonderful Life
35  – Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
205 – The Wild Bunch
24  – Psycho
29  – Memento
231 – Howl’s Moving Castle
1   – The Shawshank Redemption
4   – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
155 – The Gold Rush
13  – Seven Samurai
50  – Paths of Glory

The Top 250 movies, according to IMDb

The other night, a discussion between myself and my two friends somehow landed us at IMDB’s list of the 250 best movies of all-time, according to voters.  One of us had the brilliant idea of suggesting that we watch all of them, since we were upset at how low some of our favorite movies were ranked, and how high some of our least favorites were ranked (I’m looking at you, Gone With the Wind!).

After some math, we determined that at a rate of 10 movies per week, which is certainly not sustainable for three college students with varying schedules, we could finish in roughly half a year.  This was a terrible idea.  So naturally, we decided to go for it.

With a little over a year left before we graduate and a summer during which we’ll all be in Waco together for summer class and internships, we figure we’ll be able to finish the list before we graduate.

Marc quickly wrote a Java program to randomize a list of 250 numbers and that’s how we decided our watching order.  After all, watching the movies in ascending or descending order could paint our opinion of the movies unfairly.

Just before the first movie, it occurred to me that we should come up with a somewhat scientific method of ranking the movies, so I created and Excel document to track our judgments of the films.  The scores will be based upon Script, Acting, Cinematography, Directing, Soundtrack, and Special Effects.

I intend for this blog to track our quest to watch all of these movies and provide my friends, family, and fellow cinemaphiles with a quality review of each film on the list so you can decide which films you’d like to see and which ones aren’t really up your alley.

Please weigh in with your own opinions on the film after a review, or ask any questions you might have.  Half the fun of this project is the discussion.

I’ll make the majority of the posts, but my two friends — Marc and Medlock — have requested that they write something when we have dissenting opinions or they feel strongly.  So, expect to see their work from time to time as well.

I shall make all our scores public for each movie as we watch them, and a review when time allows.

I hope you enjoy!

-Ben