Reviewing more films from film-as-text class

In my very first post, I brought up the fact that I saw Bonnie and Clyde in my film-as-text class. In case you were wondering what the other films were (both short and feature films) that we saw (in order) were:

The Spiritualist Photographer

A photographer makes a life-size photo of a woman using magic.Even though the film was made in 1903, I thought the special effects looked quite real. I can imagine that many people were impressed with this film at the time. And as a matter of fact, some of the people in class were also impressed.For me, I found this film to be rather ahead of it’s time, or it’s probably just me.

3.5 magicians out of 5

 

 Kingdom of the Fairies

A princess is kidnapped by an evil witch and a group of fairies must rescue the princess on their tough and difficult journey.

This was one long film…back in the day because it went for ten minutes. This film is only for those who are really into cinema or even the history of it because plenty of people in the class were bored because they couldn’t appreciate old movies. They were bored also because they couldn’t understand what the hell was going on or either because it just dragged on. Mind you, I felt a bit of both.

But I admit, I found this film to be an enjoyable fantasy adventure.

3.5 toy boats out of 5

 

Battleship Potemkin

This is a re-enactment of the riot and the revolution on the battleship Potemkin and its port Odessa where another riot also occurred (seen in the film’s most famous chapter, The Odessa Steps).

This film was so ahead of it’s time because of the way it was filmed and it’s graphically violent scenes. In fact, it was so ahead of its time, that it was banned. This is probably one of most important films ever made, since Eisenstein really knew how to make something different.

4.5 rotting meats out of 5

 

Metropolis (1984 Giorgio Moroder version)

In the future, the population is divided into two societies between the rich and the workers: the workers must work in the underground under bad conditions and the rich get to enjoy life.

When I first heard about this version, which was Metropolis (1927) with an 80s music soundtrack and colour tinting, I thought ‘oh god no’, but when I saw it, I was very surprised. The 80s soundtrack really did suit the film (although some songs were very cheesy 80s but they were still really good) and same with the colour tinting. It was also shortened to make it more fast paced.

This is a very surprising masterpiece.

5 golden robots out of 5

 

Easy Street

Charlie Chaplin plays as a goofie cop in a street called Easy Street (obviously). This street is a very rough place and Charlie Chaplin must do all he can to change it.

 

Pity that it wasn’t as funny as it would’ve been if most of the jokes weren’t used so much in later films and TV shows, but other than that, I reckon it can be guaranteed to still make people laugh, even though a lot of the jokes used in Easy Street have now became a cliche.

4.5 big bullies out 5

 

Big Business (1929)

Laurel and Hardy play as two travelling salesmen who sell christmas trees to various homeowners, however, after having an encounter with an angry homeowner, a nasty fight breaks loose involving plenty of destruction. 

This film is no less than classic. When looking at the fight, things become more intense and even funnier. The fight does not involve punching nor kicking each other, it involves the angry homeowner destroying Laurel and Hardy’s belongings and Laurel and Hardy doing the same thing to the homeowner.

This film is basically two funny men in a selling gone horribly wrong in this wild comedy.

4.5 smashed chimneys out of 5 

 

Citizen Kane

Charles Foster Kane (Orson Welles) is a rich businessman who is on his deathbed and says his very last word (you guessed it), ‘Rosebud’. But what is ‘Rosebud’ and why did he say it? That’s why a journalist is trying to find out the answer to his last word by contacting the people who knew Charles Foster Kane.

Citizen Kane is a classic. I really liked it and I can see why so many people call this ‘the greatest film of all time’ but should it really be called that? I don’t think so but it sure is one of the greatest. But even if it’s not ‘the greatest’, it should be seen by every film lover in the world.

5 jigsaw puzzles out of 5

 

Head

This is a film with no storyline at all, all it is is different scenes involving a band member or band members from The Monkees travelling through different scenes. Each scene has its own bizarre storyline of some sort.

This film was funny but mostly weird. It was the film that ended the careers for the band The Monkees. Was it intentional? Yes it was, since they were sick of fame. But how could just this one film do so? Well here is how: it was advertised for a younger teenage audience but when there were younger teenagers who saw it, they obviously did not like this film at all, which helped make it fail in the box-office, due to the fact that it only lasted a week. But don’t let it’s box-offive failure turn you off because this is actually a good film. It is very weird and it doesn’t really make much sense since there is no storyline at all but you may end up enjoying this very different work of art.

3.5 mermaids out of 5

 

If you’re wondering what I though of Bonnie and Clyde, then please read my first post.