The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on March 28, 2011

Some people enter politics for the most noble of reasons and then find themselves to be exactly what they were once fighting against.  All the King’s Men is one of these tales where an honest man running for the modest position of County Treasurer suddenly finds himself swept up in...   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on March 27, 2011

A Letter to Three Wives is a film that preys on women’s insecurities.  We see these vulnerable women everywhere, we may know a few or even be one of them.  No matter how successful they are or how great they look, there is always a small fear in the back...   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on March 26, 2011

In the early days of WWII, an American bomber unit has been having some tough luck lately, if you believe in luck.  The men are losing their will to fly and fight, so General Frank Savage (Gregory Peck) is sent to lead them and turn things around.  Right away, he...   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on March 25, 2011

With WWII four years in the past, 1949’s Battleground was the sort of war movie that looked back on the Battle of the Bulge in a realistic manner.  Rather than a constant stream of heroics in battle, we see the men drudge through the woods, bewildered by the elements, mind...   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on March 24, 2011

“Somebody once wrote: ‘Hell is the impossibility of reason.’ That’s what this place feels like. Hell.” By this point in my cinematic quest, I’ve seen a shitload of war movies, but non of them have such a dire feeling of Hell on Earth like Platoon.  From the moment Chris Taylor...   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on March 23, 2011

In the South American jungles of 1758, the Spanish have been colonizing the natives.  Father Gabriel (Jeremy Irons) has successfully built a mission that not only gives the people religious structure, but protects them from the slave hunters of Portugal.  Rodrigo Mendoza (Robert de Niro) is a notori   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on March 22, 2011

“Don’t you agree that on one’s first visit to Florence, one must have a room with a view?” Though I have never been to Florence, I must agree.  Whether I’m looking thirty stories over Boston, sitting in a window to watch the rain pour over the Black Forest or climbing...   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on March 21, 2011

Through high school, I volunteered in my little brother’s Sunday school classroom, specifically helping a young boy who was partially deaf.  Every week from his first grade through fourth grade, I sat by his side helping him with his work so that he could complete his sacraments of Eucharist and...   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on March 20, 2011

Many families have that perfect one that the rest of the family balances around.  Here, that is Hannah (Mia Farrow), the successful actress turned happy stay-at-home mom.  When her husband, Elliot (Michael Caine) falls in love with her sister, Lee (Barbara Hershey), things begin to shift.  The relat   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on March 18, 2011

It was in a high school history class that I first encountered All Quiet on the Western Front.  Even as my classmates groaned over the black and white, I think Mr. Acton realized this was one of those films that everyone needs to see.  Between then and now, the film...   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on March 17, 2011

At a first look, I thought The Love Parade was just another musical showcasing Maurice Chevalier and his unbridled romantic antics.  This film is actually considered the first musical film with songs mixed in with the story.  Director Ernst Lubitsch had only previously worked on silent films and in   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on March 17, 2011

There are many reasons people enjoy movies, but right now I want to  think about two very broad reasons: to be entertained and to learn something new.  In Disraeli, you may accomplish one of those, but probably not both. It is 1874 and Benjamin Disraeli (George Arliss) is Prime Minister...   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on March 16, 2011

Ah, the sacred institute of marriage.  There’s nothing quite as beautiful as two young people just oozing with love and declaring they’ll stay together forever.  How sweet.  It makes me want to puke.  Give them a few years and they’ll stray like alley cats in heat.  It’s the   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on March 16, 2011

In The Big House, young Kent (Robert Montgomery) has just been sentenced to ten years in prison for manslaughter.  The prison is already overcrowded and he is put in the same cell as the two toughest guys in the joint, Morgan (Chester Morris) and Machine Gun Butch (Wallace Beery).   From...   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on March 15, 2011

Once again, I have finally watched one of those classic feel good movies that comes on every Christmas and realized what I have been missing.  It’s a Wonderful Life is full of Jimmy Stewart’s aw-shucks attitude, Christmas spirit and Frank Capra’s simple wholesome movie magic. The movie starts with e   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on March 14, 2011

It was 1946 and the men were returning home from the war.  To some extent, they were expected to just come home and return to their former lives as if nothing happened in between.  But the world and every man has changed, some more than others.  The challenge of coping...   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on March 13, 2011

I don’t think I was the best audience for this film.  While I appreciate Shakespeare, so far in life I’ve gotten away with only a minimal study of a few selected works: Romeo and Juliet, Julius Cesar, Hamlet and some Shew on the side.  Literature lover’s blasphemy, librarians will now give me...   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on March 13, 2011

The iconic image of this film is the little blond haired boy holding the real-life embodiment of baby Bambi.  This makes you think that the whole film will be centered around this tiny baby deer and there will be plenty of moments that could replace a trip to the petting...   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on March 12, 2011

The average American life can be a real rat race.  First, there’s school, which prepares you for work, which makes you money.  How well you do in school determines the kind of work you do which then determines the amount of money you make.  Money creates class and more money...   read more

The Best Picture Project Posted by Alyson on March 11, 2011

This is unfortunate.  1965 would seem recent enough for a film to be readily available, but alas I’ve been searching for this film for a while and still come up short.  As always, my search will continue for A Thousand Clowns and the others that are still missing.  Any helpful hints...   read more