The Wizard of Oz (1939)

The Wizard of Oz (1939)

8/10

Starring

Judy Garland

Frank Morgan

Ray Bolger

Bert Lahr

Jack Haley

The wizard of Oz is a colorful classic, that is filled with thrills and it is a straight shooter right from the start to the very end. From following the yellow brick road to finally meeting the wizard himself, it was a bumpy ride that I always look forward to going again.

Filmed mostly in Technicolor, except the opening scenes which was shot in sepia-tinted black and white, The Wizard of Oz has stood the test of time as a top fantasy movie, with highly unusual characters. The movie is based on a book titled The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, and although it did differ a lot from the book, this movie is the best adaptation that is near to its original book story.

The movie plot is about Dorothy (Judy Garland) and her dog Toto who got caught in a tornado's path and somehow end up in the land of Oz. At Oz she mistakenly killed the wicked witch of the East, who was a sister to the Wicked Witch of the west, who was now after her. Now Dorothy must find her way home and the only person who could help her is the Wizard of Oz.

On her to see the wizard she meets along the way a Scarecrow with no Brains, a Tin Man with no Heart and a Lion without Courage. Together this team head off to see the wizard with the hope that the Wizard will meet all their needs.

The movie production had its twists and turns, with Ray Bolger who was originally cast as the Tin Man and Buddy Ebsen was to play the Scarecrow had their roles switched later on. This switch was to the detriment of Ebsen who had an allergic reaction to the makeup of the Tin Man and Jack Haley was called to take his place.

Another thing to note about this classic is how it deviated from its original book story, up to 40 differences can be sited; from the merging of characters to the overall theme of the movie, this 1939 fantasy film carved out its own theme: in the book Oz is real and Dorothy did get to return in Baum’s later books, but in the movie Oz is just a dream that Dorothy had.

The movies popular song, “Over the Rainbow” won best original song in the Oscars. Over the Rainbow has been re done by many artist notably Kyle Minogue during her treatment and recovery from breast cancer.

Wizard of Oz is a classic that you must see, a nice fantasy film for you and the kids. Disney will be making a prequel to this classic, named Oz: The Great and Powerful the movie is set to be released in 2013 and it will star James Franco as the Wizard of Oz.

Modern Times (1936)

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Modern Times (1936)

8/10

Starring
Charlie Chaplin


Directed by Charlie Chaplin

Modern Times is Chaplin’s take on the desperate employment and fiscal conditions that people faced during the Great Depression that hit the world between the 1930s and lasted till the late 1930s or mid-1940s. Charlie Chaplin took the depression and the problems it caused and found a way to make you laugh it off. Modern times is an addition to the classic movies of the last 100 years, as it stands out as one extremely funny movie, that you have to see before you leave the earth.

Modern times is a movie done in 1936, that depicts Chaplin’s take on the modern world and what industrialization brought with it. Set during the Great Depression era the movie’s plot is about how the tramp was coping with the depression and with him was an orphan who too was struggling with the causes of the depression.

Our Tramp also discovered that life in jail is better than life outside.

Chaplin had long been against “talkie” and his last film before this City Lights(1931) was a silent film and he began preparing for this flick in 1934, and it was supposed to be his first "talkie", but he later abandoned the idea of making a talkie because he felt the world was not ready to hear the tramp talk.

The movie does have some dialogue, but that can be found in the early scenes soon after the movie went back to the silent film genre. Nearing the ending there is a scene where Chaplin’s tramp had to sing to keep his job, this scene was the first film where Chaplin's voice is heard in any movie. The song that the tramp sang (the song is known as The Nonsense Song) was Léo Daniderff's comical song Je cherche après Titine. This is one of my favorite scenes in the movie as Chaplin's version of Léo Daniderff's song was all gibberish with the lyrics being a mixture of French and Italian words in a nonsensical manner that it made no sense but his comical gestures tell the story of what he actually meant.

The movie’s opening scene shows where the tramp was in a factory and he had to keep up with the speed of production, this scene has been used by many filmmakers even Disney and in the sitcom I Love Lucy used the idea.

Modern Times, is my 2^ndfavorite Chaplin movie after City Lightsand the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) rated the movie78 in its list of 100. There is no reason why you should not get a feel of one of the best Chaplin’s film out there, so find it and watch it.

Rise of the Guardians (2012)

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Rise of the Guardians (2012)

6/10

Starring the voice of

Alec Baldwin

Chris Pine

Hugh Jackman

Isla Fisher

Jude Law

Directed by Peter Ramsey

Lacking in a good story, the fun you get from seeing this flick is the fast pace action and the fun effects when light (Sandy) takes on darkness (Pitch). The movie’s fast pace is filled with some fun dialogues, but the story does lack in the area of suspense, so at any time there is always a telling of how it was going to end. The voice acting is not bad also, Alec Baldwin pulled off a nice Russian accent in his role as Santa.

Rise of the Guardians is a movie filled with so much excitement all arousing from a good screenplay and the action scenes are the best, the special effects used to depict both Pitch and Sandy is exceptional, and stands out all through the movie.

The movie is based on a short film named The Man in the Moon a CG animated short film done in 2005 by Aimesworth Amusements a computer animation company. The short film was based on a book series called The Guardians of Childhood by William Joyce (art designer for Toy Story (1995) and A Bug's Life (1998)). The short film was the foundation and basis of this film Rise of the Guardians. Dreamworks bought the right to the film from Aimesworth in 2008 and William Joyce was on board as an executive producer.

Rise of the Guardians is a 2012 3D computer animated fantasy adventure film, which was set 200 years after the books stories. The movie’s plot is about the Guardians which were North or Santa Claus (Alec Baldwin), the Tooth Fairy (Isla Fisher), Bunnymund or the Easter Bunny (Hugh Jackman), and the Sandman. The Guardians were facing an evil spirit known as Pitch (Jude Law) who wanted to take over the world by coating it with fear.

The Guardians then had to join forces to take on their common enemy who wanted to wipe them off the board by making children stop believing in them, to do this he clouded their minds with fear. The Guardians then enlisted Jack Frost (Chris Pine) to help stop Pitch. Frost is 300 years old in the business of being frost and he seemed to be the only spirit that seemed to be able to match Pitch.

The movie is more like an introductory story to who Jack Frost was before he became Jack Frost, and what his driving force is.

There are possibilities of a sequel which could be a journey showing us the genesis of each of the other Guardians, but the making of such depends heavily on the box office performance of this one. The movie is fun to watch and is a good one to go see with your family.

The Gold Rush (1925)

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The Gold Rush (1925)

7/10

Starring
Charlie Chaplin



Director Charlie Chaplin

The Gold Rush is known as the movie that Charlie Chaplin said he will love to be known for; Gold Rush is funny and exciting to watch. The script and the screenplay are just as creative as they come, which was all know they come Charlie Chaplin style, making you laugh all the way. My favorite scene in this movie is where the house was hanging on a cliff, with the Lone Prospector and Big Jim trapped inside. The movie boasts of such amazing screenplay, especially that specific scene.

Chaplin’s movies have received numerous recognitions for their work and appeal, this movie is no exception it got an Oscar nomination for Best Sound Recording, although it is a silent film. In 1942, Chaplin re-released the movie and in this new version, he added a musical score and a narration which he recorded himself, the original version was a silent film done in 1925.

The movie’s plot is about a character named The Lone Prospector (Charlie Chaplin) whose desire to venture into Alaska to look for gold led him down a path of adventure where he discovered gold and fell in love. In his adventure he met Big Jim McKay and Black Larsen and during a storm all three were trapped in a cabin. 

While they were tapped in the cabin, they ran out of food and Larsen went out to go search for some, while Big Jim almost ate the Lone Prospector (Charlie Chaplin), as Larsen wasn’t back in time and he Big Jim was hungry. The movie then carried on, at the end of the storm, Big Jim unfortunately loses his memory as he battled with Larsen at one point while the Lone Prospector went into town and fell in love with a girl he met at a saloon named Georgia.

Although Gold Rush is fun and a nice movie to see, but it is not as great as City Lights which was done six years after. Gold Rush was a box office success gaining over 4 million dollars. The movie made over four times its production cost and it is featured in the AFI’s top 100 movies of 100 years (10^th Anniversary Edition), there it is rated 58 and it is rated the 25^th funniest movies in the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Laughs.

Charlie Chaplin has been a wonderful actor, director, writer and producer in the many movies that he has done; this is just as much a classic as the others. Gold Rush is fun to watch and you will find yourself laughing your way through.

The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

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The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

6/10

Starring

Boris Karloff

Colin Clive

Valerie Hobson

Ernest Thesiger

Elsa Lanchester

Directed by James Whale

Unlike the prequel, this sequel to the classic 1931 movie Frankenstein is far from being a cinema pull, the long wait till we see the Bride and the disappointing climax after seeing her made the movie for me seem like a waste, as my anticipation for a great meeting between the two monsters was less than 7 minutes, and ended in a tragedy.

I must admit it seemed to me like the studio just wanted to milk the franchise, as the story itself was not strong and the screenplay was less than appealing.

The movie follows immediately from where the last movie stopped; Frankenstein (1931) ended with the burning of the monster in a barn, and the throwing down Frankenstein from the top of the barn. Frankenstein survived the fall, and the monster survived the fire. The movie has some Christian spiritual undertone and Christian imagery could be found throughout the film. There is also a scene of the Monster trussed in a cruciform pose.

The movie is based on a subplot from the 1818 novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and the Frankenstein monster was played by Boris Karloff in the film (and also the prequel) and the Bride was played by Elsa Lanchester and in the movie she was credited as The Monster's Bride _ _ _ _ _  ?.

The movie’s plot has our lead Henry Frankenstein (the monster’s creator: note the monster is not named Frankenstein but the name caught on as Frankenstein was the name of the man who made the monster) abandoning all his plans to create life and desired to retire and be with his new wife but those plans changed when he got a visit from his old mentor Dr. Pretorius who too had been working on creating life but needed Frankenstein’s touch to make for himself a female Frankenstein.

The movie was directed by English director James Whale, who was successful in the direction of the first movie Frankenstein, and the next success The Invisible Man (1933). James was called to work on this movie because of the way he pulled a success of the first.

The movie’s makeup artist Jack Pierce, who did the makeup of the Frankenstein monster in the first movie, modified the appearance of the monster to show the after effects of the mill fire which the monster sustained in the first movie, as the movie progressed you will notice that the wounds were fading off to indicate healing. Another thing to notice in the movie is the monster’s inability to move his left hand.

The monster’s bride makeup was also co-created by Pierce while the director Whale was the one responsible for the Bride's iconic hair style.

I will stand to say this is not as great a classic as the first but it can be a good watch.