Harvey Darvey

First off I apologize for this being so late, I haven’t been able to get to a computer.   But anyway…

Harvey! Harvey! Harvey!  I keep saying each week that the movie has had a unique approach or story… However, this week yet again was another movie that I had never heard of and ended up being very well done with excellent acting.  For some reason black and white movies scare me at first and take me a little longer to get into it, however, this one captivated me almost instantly.  The movie I feel was certainly character driven because the story was based not on completing a task but on how the characters are reacting to each other.  

            This movie plays on the way lack of proper communication can cause people to come up with assumptions that can cause a lot of chaos and turmoil between characters.  It also used the idea of rabid that only some could see to increase this confusion.  The film Harvey had many techniques that helped make the story work.  For instance the camera angles that move to follow the invisible character, or how things move because the invisible rabid is moving them about.  All of these techniques combined with the actors and actress’s incredible abilities to act out scenes with an imaginary character made this movie really stand out and become a true comedy.  There were also similarities between Harvey and the Purple Rose of Cairo movie playing on not communicating properly can cause havoc, in addition to peoples want to fit into society versus just playing enjoyment of life and not a care in the world.  The movie also played on the idea on the fear of the unknown or being misunderstood by science and put into situations that they cannot control such as being put into an asylum.  As old as the movie is, it did and excellent job at combining many themes and techniques to make a very unique movie that I would highly recommend others to see.  

The Purple Rose of Cairo

The Purple Rose of Cairo started out slow and not comedic as Joe had warned us.  I wasn’t sure why Woody Allen would have chosen to do this, however, as the themes of the movie started coming through.  I believe the purpose was to make the movie feel like you were actually getting the mood of the Great Depression.  Without inputting laughter or a cheerful bidding really increases the mood of depression and sorrow.   But then as the story continues,  more humor starts coming out and a bunch of it seemed to be situational humor, for instance just the time when Tom tries to pay, he tries to use prop money and they have to flee the scene.  The movie I believe is both plot driven and character driven.  This is because the plot is only occurring because of how the characters have changed the sequence of events .  I feel like this movie was very original and the idea was very fresh in the fact that the movie that the characters were watching in the movie was titled the same as the movie we were watching but each one had very different plots.  The character from the fictional movie, Tom, actually comes out of the screen and interacts with characters of our movie.  I found this extremely funny when the character in our movie that played Tom meets him on the streets their interaction is very intriguing.   Also the way that the color of the fictional movie was black and white, but as he enters the world of the movie he becomes a normally colored person, who can only be noticed he is out of place is that his wardrobe is out of place.   This is also peculiar because it took a character from a black and white movie to bring color and vibrancy to Cecilia’s boring, mundane life.  Overall, I feel like this is a very original movie and has a fantastic story and I would recommend it to anyone except other movies.   If they were informed that they can leave their movie, we would have a number of characters I’m not sure our world could handle.  

I Can't Fit into this Brazier I Mean Society!

So, I had never heard of The Birdcage, never knew Robin Williams was in it or what it was about.  When Joe said there was cross-dressing in it I had no idea it was to this extent.  But as I was watching the movie, at first I was a little freaked out; asking myself if this is for real.  As I continued watching I realized what the story was about and just the situational humor seemed extremely hilarious.  “Lines such as “Don’t look at me I’m Hideous!!! You’re not a woman, OHPP you bastard!”.... “Just because you’re 22 and Hung”… “Get the GODDAMN pinky down!”… “So this is Hell, and there is a crucifix?”… “Can I get somebody some soup!?”  All of these lines and countless others I was cracking up laughing.  A plain suit with pink socks is absolutely priceless.  One of the themes I was seeing that just really got me thinking was just how ridiculous certain ideals of conservatives are.  The movie really made fun of how exaggerated certain people can act around gays or simply people that are unlike them.  For instance, when the governor learned that the good housewife that met every expectation he could have had, only to learn that this housewife was actually man appalled him and he could no longer accept his view of this person.  Another theme being the amount of effort people put into trying to fit in with society and to please others.  The movie had excellent acting from all the different actors, actress, or mixes of the two.  The idea of the movie was a very original way of approaching the way society has come to view people that are different from them or the ideal of what society has deemed as normal.  For instance, the movie had an excellent way of showing how people not in our society or particular culture try to see us.  For instance, I thought it was so funny how they would add Playboys to the bathroom and asking… well isn’t that what they like…” Or removing everything and adding simplistic symbols such as a mounted moose head or giant crucifix were all things that I found funny.   Overall the unique idea of the movie matched with the incredible acting from all the characters come together to create a movie that is very enjoyable to watch with lots of laughs and creates an excellent story and message to get across to the audience.   

Did That Just Happen?!!? Harold, Maude, and Mortality.

Harold and Maude, have you heard of differently funny much?  This metaphor filled adventure plays on the society of how people interact and view life.  This is certainly a character driven film.  Most of the humor itself comes from the characters and lack of knowledge of the way the characters view life.  I was unsure how to react at the start of the movie and this is what causes the situational humor is due to the audiences lack of knowledge of the characters.   I was truly freaking out as he jumped off and the lady that turned out to be his mother was completely ignoring him.  I literally yelled “go help him, he could still make it!!”  Then as I saw his smile I started to see the development of the character and the evolution of the movie.

The way the characters Harold and Maude interact in society and with each other is a very unique and unlike normal reactions between people.  The way in which Maude has a habit of stealing cars seems funny to me that an old woman would be up to that type of mischief.  Or after I believe the second funeral in which she notices Harold, he gets in the car with her and as she just seems to be having a joyride of her life and having fun driving recklessly, she asks if Harold had ever driven in a Hearst.  I got quite a laugh out of that simply because he replies yes, I actually drive one, this one to be specific and I found that very funny.  The type of humor in this movie is very unlike most comedy films that puts laugh out loud in your face type of humor.  I believe this is why I enjoyed this movie so much, is that it takes a different approach to humor, and it is unlike most.  Instead of using a laugh track or having someone in the film actually laughing at something, it uses witty humor and lets you discover it yourself in each situation.  The metaphors of life and death and how society views them or interacts with the ideas of each create a very enjoyable film that one with an open mind will find truly enjoyable and able to get a good laugh.  

OLD FRONKENSTIEN

            Well my favorite movie finally came up in the list.  I have loved this movie ever since I was little.  Gene Wilder is brilliant in his role as the scientist and grandson of the infamous Victor Von Frankenstein.  His early denial of his heritage actually is comical by the way that he even goes so far to pronounce his name “FRONKENSTIEN”.  As the movie progresses and he slowly starts learning of his grandfather’s work in reanimation, there is a turning point in the movie as he accepts his family name and believes he too can continue his grandfather’s work and he yells out “It’s pronounced FRANKENSTIEN!!”  To continue his wiry hair and loud facial expressions are perfect for playing the part of a crazy scientist. 

            The movie is in my opinion, both plot and character driven.  It is character in the sense that it takes characters to accept who they are and then begin a task and then the movie turns into a plot driven film as many scenes become more oriented on achieving the reanimation and creation of the Monster.  Many aspects of the movie are parodies of the original 1931 Frankenstein movie.  This can also explain why in 1974, Mel Gibson decided to film it in black and white to give the classic horror film feeling.  The film also has a cameo of Gene Hackman who was the mute who just wanted a friend.  All of these additions to the movie helped bring publicity to the movie and no doubt more people went to see it because of them. 

            One of the major themes of the movie that really stood out to me was just the sense of sexuality between all the characters.  Even the grotesque character of Igor gets frisky in many of the scenes when the women arrive into the scene.  Or just jokes such as the fact that Igor states the Monster is going to be very popular due to having an “enormous schwanstucker."  The number of sexual jokes is truly uncountable.  I could go on and on. 

            The type of humor in the film although may be crude in many occasions, is in my opinion the type that you have to be thinking about or at least have subtitles on in order to read and truly understand what is being said and laugh.