Favorites of 2013

"Now go out there and be so swell - that you'll make me hate you!"
— Dorothy Brock (42nd Street)

First of all this movie is considered one of the first musicals ever. Definitely not the very first one, but notably the most successful. People was starting to love talkies and of course they would think about bringing the musical plays to the movies.



Anyway I was expecting that, a musical from beginning to end but the movie is not like that, it's more like a backstage musical and that's why I love it a lot more than I thought I would. From the decision to make a musical, to the choice of the stars and the auditions of the cast, to the afterparties and everything. It's a delight to see how those things were back at the 30's especially because it's a pre-code movie, so there were no censoring.



And, of course, the musical at the end is beautiful to watch. The photography and the coreography matched so well. And it must have been a scandal to see so much skin, and girls in their underwears at that time.

"You're going out a youngster but you've got to come back a star!"
— Julian Marsh (42nd Street)

“Hopeless emptiness. Plenty of people are onto the emptiness, but it takes real guts to see the hopelessness.”
— John Givings (Revolutionary Road)

You know what's funny? I thought this was a romantic movie. It's not. I wanted to see Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet playing a couple again and they really have a great chemistry. These were the reasons I decided to watch the movie and I was totally surprised with what I got. The movie is very dense and made me think a lot about life I couldn't even sleep.



The movie is about a couple in the 50's stuck in the routine of middle class. Feeling the "hopeless emptiness" they decide to try something new, find a meaning to life. They decide to go to Paris and start anew. This scares everybody around them because they're all stuck in the same emptiness but are too afraid to get out.



What they didn't know was how hard was to do that. Especially for the oppressed housewife in the 50's played beautifully by Kate.



Even though the movie is placed in the 50's, a lot of people can relate to the story and the search to find a deeper meaning to life, something other than the boring and empty routine people face every day.

Doris: I'm unhappy George.
George Valentin: So are millions of us.

I don't know why it took me so long to watch this movie. It has everything for me to like: it's silent, it's b&w and it's french. And I really loved it. It started really boring that's why some people didn't like it. The first minutes are crucial. But then it grew in depth and beauty.



It's always interesting to see the drama of movie stars of the silent era adapting to talkies. Some of the most famous movies with that plot are the musical comedy Singing in the Rain and the film noir Sunset Boulevard, one of my favorites.



What is great about this movie is the use (and abscence) of sound. For silent movies admirers like me that was just brilliant.



More than the drama of the main character, this movie is a tribute to the silent era and to the eccentric and artistic actors and actresses of that time.

This movie is visually outstanding. Spectacular photography, visual effects, art direction, costumes, makeup, sound effects, all that. But the story... Not so sure. A lot of unanswered questions. I still don't understand the purpose of the monolith. I read some interpretations over the web, but still, just opinions.



The first part is very poetic, very philosophical. Great photography, great performances as apes. Very interesting to see the discovery of the first weapon.



All the takes outside and inside the spaceship are beautiful. Impeccable art direction and visual effects.



And what to say about HAL 9000, the machine who feels. Very interesting part of the movie, the most interesting for me in the entire movie.

Well, I love Hitchcock's movies. I love the way he builds its characters and their psyche. Rebecca is a great example of that. It's interesting to see how the stories build the personality of Rebecca and the way we perceive her changes throughout the movie. Rebecca won the Oscar's for best picture in 1940.



Mrs. Danvers is the most interesting character. How she manipulates young Mrs. de Winter, as soon as she realizes how insecure and naive she is.



The most interesting thing in the movie is that we never know until the very end who is evil and who is not and what really happened. Each moment the story changes and we don't know who we need to be afraid of.



It's interesting to notice too that the character played by Joan Fontaine, the young Mrs. de Winter doesn't have her name mentioned in the entire movie.

All I have are the choices I make, and I choose her, come what may.

This movie was a very pleasant surprise. I was wandering around Netflix looking for a movie to watch, a romance, and I found this. I would never imagine it was a science fiction. And I love it.



So, there's an adjustment bureau, responsible for adjusting our lives. When we deviate from the path built for us, there must be an adjustment so everything can come back to normal.



But the bureau is not perfect and some people find out about its existence and they must have their minds erased. But not our friend here, he's giving a chance to just compromise to follow his path and his dreams will come true.



But then he falls in love and he would do anything to escape the adjustment bureau and be with her. The moral of the story is very interesting and make us think about the way we lead our lives and what we would do for love.

_You know that feeling when your heart is pounding like it's actually outside your ribs, exposed, vulnerable. Wonderful and awful and heartsick and alive, all at the same time?
_How do we call that?
_Love

...funerals are an important ritual in the grieving process. They don't just recognize that a life has ended. They recognize that a life was lived.

As George Valentin in The Artist

As Mrs. Danvers in Rebecca

As April Wheeler in Revolutionary Road

As Frank Wheeler in Revolutionary Road

As Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean 1, 2 and 3

As Dorothy Brock in 42nd Street

As Alfie in Alfie

As Stan in The Back-up Plan

As Brad Allen in Pillow Talk

As Pola Debevoise in How to Marry a Millionaire

As Nikki in Alfie

As Anna in He's Just Not That Into You