dmwhite50

I love the movies-- our American art form-- but I'm afraid the last 15 or so years have been dismal! I just saw Lincoln-- and what a bore! 2 1/2 hours of boring, inaccurate talk, talk, talk!! Anyone who tells you differently either is lying, politically correct, or worshiping at the pagan altar of Abe Lincoln ( who was really a tyrant and a war criminal who killed 600,000 people and fought a total war against noncombatants over economics and against the Jeffersonian principle of the right of sovereignty and self-determination--and not- not about slavery! Lincoln was a racist, and despite publicity to the contrary, never freed one slave!) And while I'm at it, Spielberg is a bad director-- manipulative and sentimental and Tony Kushner is a bad writer-- manipulative and political. In this movie the music is too subdued, the cinematography is too dark, the art direction is too drab and the acting is too mediocre. Even Daniel Day Lewis' extolled performance is merely just--OK-- and not the masterpiece we have been told to expect. And that's the truth. Can you handle the truth?

If you want to see a good biopic watch Lawrence of Arabia. If you want to see good acting watch A Streetcar Named Desire. If you want to see good directing watch The Graduate. If you want to hear good dialog watch The Apartment. If you want to see a good Civil War picture watch Gone with the Wind. If you want an interesting plot watch Chinatown. If you want to know the truth about dishonest Abe read The Real Lincoln by Thomas Di Lorenzo. Alas, American movies, and American culture are, I fear, in a spiraling decline.

This is the funniest movie ever made! Billy Wilder was a genius who could do the acid-serious drama (DOUBLE INDEMNITY, SUNSET BOULEVARD, ACE IN THE HOLE, THE LOST WEEKEND), the romantic comedy-drama (THE APARTMENT, SABRINA), light comedy (THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH and SOME LIKE IT HOT.) What a talent! English was his second language , and yet some of his movie language has become part of the American vernacular. In SLIH , We have the hilarious last line ("Nobody's perfect!") plus several other gems (OSGOOD: "Bass fiddle! Do you use a bow, or do you pluck it?" DAPHNE/JERRY:"Most of the time I slap it!" OSGOOD:"You must be quite a girl!" DAPHNE/JERRY: "Wanna bet?") and (SUGAR:"Diamonds! They must be worth their weight in gold!") Jack Lemmon is flat-out hilarious in SLIH, and so is Marilyn Monroe-- this is her best performance! I have seen this classic farce hundreds of times, and it's still fresh, funny, and wonderful!

HUD is one of the best movies I have ever seen! Based on Larry McMurtry's early novel HORSEMAN, PASS BY, it works wonderfully as a modern morality play showing the seductiveness of hedonism (as represented by the attractive and persuasive Hud (Paul Newman) vs. the human decency and duty represented by Homer Bannion (Melvyn Douglas) as they battle for the soul of the grandson, Lon (Brandon De Wilde). There is an important lesson about the destruction of society by the cheapening of our standards of admiration. I absolutely love Patricia Neal in this film! Her earthy housekeeper, Alma, steals every scene she's in! I am so happy that she won the Academy Award for this role. I can't think of anyone, male or female, who gave a better performance that year. I love her line resisting Hud's advances, "No, thanks! I've done my time with one cold-blooded bastard. I'm not looking for another."