M (1931)

M

Call No: TEMP 869

Note: German film, English subtitles.

I took M out of the library three times before I finally made time to sit down and watch it. I have the terrible habit of doing that with movies. I’ll find a movie that interests me, I’ll get it, and I’ll find other things to do instead of watching it. Yesterday I finally decided to sit down and watch it, and I was very glad that I did. It wasn’t for lack of interest – the plot was intriguing enough for me to keep going back for it. It was the fact that I was finally presented with a Sunday afternoon where I didn’t have an assignment pressing on me or something that needed to be done. Once it finished, I nearly started it over again.

M is the story about a child-murderer that is tormenting a German city. Parents are terrified for their children. The police are cracking down on every bit of crime in the city. And the criminals in the city trying to conduct their business are getting annoyed with the constant interruptions from the law. The top five criminals meet, each representing their area of expertise, and decide to team up and find the child-murderer. With how angry they are, the child-murderer better hope the police find him first.

The Towering Inferno (1974)

The Towering Inferno

Call No: TEMP 1615

Disaster movies have been around as long as there have been people to watch them. In the early seventies, there was a market for big death-defying blockbusters like Airport and The Poseidon Adventure. One of these was The Towering Inferno, one of the first films ever to be produced as a joint effort by two major studios. The story is based on two separate novels: “The Tower”, which was bought by Warner Brothers, and “The Glass Inferno”, which was bought by Twentieth Century Fox. The two studios decided to work together and combine the two novels. This film was the result.

Nominated for eight academy awards, The Towering Inferno is about a ravaging fire that rips through the tallest building in the world, trapping over three hundred guests on its top floor. Architect Doug Roberts (Paul Newman) discovers during the unveiling of his masterpiece, the tallest tower in the world made of glass, that all of the wiring in the building is potentially faulty. When a fire breaks out on one of the upper floors and begins to spread, it is going to take Doug, fire chief Michael O’Halleran (Steve McQueen) and all of the help they can get to stop what will soon become the most dangerous fire ever seen.

Spirited Away (2001)

Spirited Away

Call No: TEMP 1317

Back in November, I reviewed Hayao Miyazaki’s film Howl’s Moving Castle. This time, I’ll be reviewing his film Spirited Away. It was the first foreign film to win in the Best Animated Feature category at the 2003 Oscars and as a result, it gained a great deal of publicity, both for the film and the Japanese filmmaker. Many have considered it to be his masterpiece. After seeing the beauty and magic of this film, it’s hard to disagree.

The film centers around Chihiro, a young girl who wanders into a magical world inhabited by spirits, ghosts, demons and witches. When her parents are turned into pigs by Yubaba, the owner of the bathhouse where the spirits come to replenish themselves, Chihiro is forced to stay in this world until she can find a way to save them. With the help of a mysterious boy named Haku, Kamaji the boiler man, and Lin, a fellow bathhouse worker, Chihiro sets off on the adventure of a lifetime full of wonder, excitement, and enchantment.

Ikiru (1952)

Ikiru

Call No: TEMP 859
Note: Japanese film, English subtitles

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I put Ikiru into my DVD player. I’m not overly familiar with Akira Kurosawa’s work, but I did enjoy his film noir Stray Dog when I saw it a few years ago. I’m also no stranger to subtitles. I sat back and prepared myself to enjoy the movie. Believe me when I say that I was not at all disappointed.

The film is about Kanji Watanabe, an older man who has spent the last thirty years working for the city office. When he finds out that he has stomach cancer, he reflects on his life and feels that he hasn’t done anything worthwhile in his life. Though he has a few false starts, he soon finds something to drive him through the last months of his life. The film is poignant, moving, and thought-provoking.

The film is divided into two parts. The first part of the film shows us the everyday life of Watanabe and what happens when he receives the news. A little over halfway through the movie, the story shifts. The second part of the film takes place after he has passed away, while his family and co-workers talk about the wondrous change that has come over their friend and father. I felt as though the story picked up after the shift, as the co-workers try to untangle their own ideas behind Watanabe’s transformation by sharing their own experiences through flashbacks.

The Lady Vanishes (1938)

The Lady Vanishes
Call No: TEMP 866

There’s no question that Alfred Hitchcock made his mark in the cinema. During his life he directed fifty-four feature length films from 1925 to 1976. He was known for being meticulous in storyboarding and setting up every single shot months before filming began. He expected only the best from his actors and was known for his determination and no-nonsense attitude. An actor once approached him and asked what his motivation was in the scene. Hitchcock replied without delay, “Your salary”. He was a perfectionist of the highest order, and even remade his own movie The Man Who Knew Too Much (the original was in 1934, the remake in 1956). His most popular films seem to be those made after WWII, such as Strangers on a Train, Rear Window, North By Northwest, and his most famous Psycho. Fewer people have seen his earlier works. The Lady Vanishes is one of these.

The premise is very simple: As a group of people wait out a storm for their train the next day, a young woman named Iris befriends an elderly lady named Miss Froy. The two board the train together but within hours of doing so, Miss Froy disappears. What is even stranger is that no one seems to remember who Miss Froy is. Add in a dash of romance with a flirtatious stranger, a pinch of unusual situations, and a teaspoon of passenger secrets, and you’ve got a mystery so entertaining that it could have been written by Dame Agatha Christie herself. (If the premise of the film sounds familiar, it’s because the Jodie Foster film Flightplan also follows the same plot.)

Hotel Rwanda (2004)

Hotel Rwanda
Call No: PN1997.2 .H66 2005

My viewing of Hotel Rwanda was a complete accident. After an afternoon of channel surfing, one of my housemates pulled up a list of free movies that our cable box provides. Hotel Rwanda was on that list. She’d always wanted to see it. Not knowing anything about it except for the fact that it was available at the library. I said sure. I could watch the movie and take notes or do some homework on my laptop at the same time. Within the first half hour, my laptop was completely forgotten.

The year is 1994, and a civil war is brewing between the Tutsi and Hutu people of Rwanda. Paul Rusesabagina (Don Cheadle) is a hotel manager who has a climbed his way to the top, always willing to do anything for anybody. But when civil war breaks out the hotel becomes a place of refuge, Paul finds himself alone. He tries his best to manage the chaos, all the while wondering why help isn’t coming. He soon begins to realize that they are alone in this fight and that someone will have to make a stand. That someone will have to be him.

Cocoon (1985)

Cocoon
Call No: PN1997 .C662 2004

Cocoon is like no movie I’ve ever seen before. For the longest time I had it in my mind that it was a sci-fi horror film, along the same lines as Alien or its sequel, which came out the following year. Watching the trailer answered my question about its thrill level, but raised more questions than it answered. What was the real premise? Where could the story go from there?

The premise of the film, without giving too much away, is this: A group of people have arrived to St. Petersburg, FL and have rented a boat and a house to help recover some items from underwater. These items, which look like giant rocks, are being stored in the pool of the house they’ve rented. More of them are being brought up and added every day. 

Unbeknownst to them, a trio of senior citizens have been sneaking over from the community living area next door to use the pool every day. When they arrive to the pool to find it full of these supposed rocks, they swim around them, determined not to break their routine. Suddenly these three old men feel young again, cured of whatever ailed them, and ready to enjoy life. The problem? It’s not permanent, and sooner or later, they’ll want to get back in the water.

News from the Vault

Hi everyone! I thought I'd just let everyone know that, because of this term's scheduling, I'll be able to update the blog three times a week. A film review will be posted every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I'm hoping to include more foreign films this term, since the majority of the films I've reviewed are Hollywood mainstream. I'd like to watch some less recognizeable films that might be useful or interesting to some people.

I hope you're enjoying the blog so far. If you have any recommendations for films (inside the library or out), please let me know!

Sincerely,

Laura The Film Geek.