Big thanks to FilmStruck, the streaming service for classic films from all parts of the globe. This was like my personal film school that I never had the priviledge of paying for and going to. I look forward to the Criterion Collection‘s new streaming service coming out later in 2019…
Here is a set of films that I saw in the final days of this streaming service.
Rating:
Before a wedding, a famous woman, betrothed to a newly wealthy gentlemen, gets a visit from her socialite ex husband and the male journalist following him around.
Does it hold up?: The concept of a love triangle certainly does! And this trio is pretty legendary: Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, and Katharine Hepburn. All 3 of them prove why they are bona fide movie stars in this movie, particularly Hepburn, who has a lot of emotions to play, sometimes duplicitously in the same scene. This is mostly a romcom, so the dialogue and comedy are of the time and place, in this case, upper class chaste society which looks too slut shamey and smug for my liking – I glanced at my phone a few times. But there are worse ways to spend a couple hours than watching the greats bounce off one another.
Rating:
If you really need a description, I just feel sorry for you.
Does it hold up?: Split down the middle because of cringe humor and Richard Curtis. I would argue the biggest moment for cringiness was during the run of The Office in the US (almost a decade old now), so for me, it’s pretty brutal watching Hugh Grant humiliate himself over and over again. Curtis has mostly aged nicely, considering he directed one of the great Christmas films. For me, I’ve never understood the insane appeal. 4 Wedding’s material I would say is of its time. Andie MacDowell’s character is pretty dated today, clearly a manic pixie dream girl. What is that you say? It’s a quirky free spirit of a woman existing to justify and fix a broken man (in this case Grant). We know nothing about her until she shows up to make Hugh Grant’s life better. The gay subplot probably rung more trailblazey than it does in 2018. Thankfully, the British joke cadence is pretty timeless and bubbles up every now and then, the best joke of which involves a dumbwaiter and a pen in a wedding suite.
Rating:
In the malaise of California suburbia, a young man navigates life at home and in high school, angry and confused at everything happening to him.
Does it hold up?: I want to know who is the snake oil salesman for Rebel Without a Cause. This to me, is one of the more famous examples of a movie that is dated, but also makes no sense. The second half of this film is where the movie careens off a cliff probably after a character does careen off a cliff and nothing really happens. There’s abandoned mansions, police barricades, “fantasies” about living like a family in Griffith Observatory for a…day? Sure. It’s pretty clear the younger boy Sal is in love with James Dean’s character Jim, but because that was NOT a thing in 1955, the movie has to dance around what is really going on, and basically make Sal look like a raving psychopath, freaking out when he wakes up from a nap and no one is around, firing a gun early and often. After watching, I wouldn’t say I was bored, but I was confused and creeped out a bit. The saving grace is James Dean, who is really good in the movie, as advertised. He’s best in the smaller moments, when he gets to act frustrated or innocent enough; however, most people will immediately recognize his big line early on. You know it. Trust me.