Day 42: The Sound of Music

The Sound of Music: 1966; Winner of the 38th Academy Awards

Starring:

• Julie Andrews as Maria von Trapp


• Christopher Plummer as Captain Georg von Trapp,

• Richard Haydn as Max Detweiler,

• Eleanor Parker as Baroness Elsa Schraeder,

• Charmian Carr as Liesl von Trapp,

• Nicholas Hammond as Friedrich von Trapp,

• Heather Menzies as Louisa von Trapp

• Duane Chase as Kurt von Trapp, the fourth child

• Angela Cartwright as Brigitta von Trapp,

• Debbie Turner as Marta von Trapp,

• Kym Karath as Gretl von Trapp,

• Peggy Wood as Mother Abbess,

• Anna Lee as Sister Margaretta,

• Portia Nelson as Sister Berthe,

• Daniel Truhitte as Rolfe,

• Ben Wright as Hans Zeller,

Oh Julie Andrews I love you so. You and that stupid song that once started I can’t get out of my head. “You are sixteen going on seventeen” That song is way catchy. Ok I love the idea of a nanny/nun going to take care of six crazy ass brats, but then she forgoes her vows and falls in love with the count. But wait it isn’t finished then they get married and have a wonderful life but they do not like the Nazi’s so they preform and they try to escape and wait there is more, the young man who falls in love with the oldest daughter is a German officer and he is not in love with the girl enough to not let the official’s know they are escaping, so he gives them out. Now it’s done. Apparently they escape, but still you never will be quite sure. The whole story is beautiful, even though it is inexplicably long. The songs are very catchy and you can hear them in many other movies, this is a classic example of epic movies making a mark in American History. Even though the leads were British. This joined the ranks quite quickly with “Gone With the Wind” “Wizard of Oz” and “Ben-Hur” A staple of American Media that you just had to watch if you wanted to be considered anyone in the Cinema Industry. Personally I watch this movie every Christmas with my Grandmother, she loves it so I know it by heart, but I also understand how it can get tiresome. Furthermore I really hate Lisel’s boyfriend. He’s a real jerk. If you don’t like musicals I don’t recommend this.

It also won awards for:

Best Sound (James Corcoran, Fred Hynes)

Best Director – Robert Wise

Best Scoring of Music – Adaptation or Treatment

Day 33:Best Years of Our Lives

The Best Years of Our Lives: 1946: Winner of the 19th Academy Award

Starring:

Myrna Loy as Milly Stephenson

Fredric March as Technical Sergeant Al Stephenson

Dana Andrews as Captain Fred Derry

Teresa Wright as Peggy Stephenson

Virginia Mayo as Marie Derry

Cathy O'Donnell as Wilma Cameron

Hoagy Carmichael as Uncle Butch

Harold Russell as Petty Officer 2nd Class Homer Parish

Gladys George as Hortense Derry

Roman Bohnen as Pat Derry

This movie was spectacular. I absolutely loved it, maybe it was Dana Andrews or the fact that it wasn’t a about war. Well not all of it actually. The movie is about returning war veterans and the hardships they encounter when they come home to unfinished lives. I demand particular attention to the drunk scene which is perhaps the first scene of the movie but so worth it. The three stories all different are united by the ideal of a war veteran returning to a broken country. I won’t lie to you the story of the last, the youngest soldier irked me some .  Him not being able to accept his hook handedness, there was just something so annoying about him, maybe the fact that everyone has accepted the fact that he has no hands but he has not. HE can’t accept love from anyone. That was the only part of the movie that annoyed me. However I very much love the old couple. They were the best. I loved how they tried to rekindle  there loving taking off right where they had left. I can see why this movie won best picture , it was three faces about a reality and even if it was romanticized it was still awesome.

It also won awards for

Best Director:William Wyler

Best Actor :Fredric March

Best Writing (Screenplay):Robert E. Sherwood

Best Supporting Actor :Harold Russell

Best Film Editing:Daniel Mandell

Best Music (Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture):Hugo Friedhofer

Honorary Award:To Harold Russell

Day 22: Mrs. Miniver

Mrs. Miniver: 1942: Winner of the15th Academy Award

Starring:

Greer Garson as Mrs. Kay Miniver

Walter Pidgeon as Clem Miniver

Teresa Wright as Carol Beldon

Dame May Whitty as Lady Beldon

Reginald Owen as Foley

Henry Travers as James Ballard

Richard Ney as Vin Miniver

Henry Wilcoxon as Vicar

Christopher Severn as Toby Miniver

Brenda Forbes as Gladys - Housemaid

Clare Sandars as Judy Miniver

Marie De Becker as Ada - Cook

Helmut Dantine as German Flyer

John Abbott as Fred

I liked this movie, it was about a wonderful, super nice, super British lady named Mrs. Miniver. She was a symbol of everlasting hope and dream for the country she was in because she was kind and was the way a woman should be. Even under the pressures of war. Well she gave her husband and her son up for the war, let them be the soldiers God intended them to be. In the end the truth is that like the pastor said, the truth is that no one suffers like the innocent casualties of war, they are the true victims, women children and the old who are defenseless.. did you get bored yet? I did, it was pretty much how the movie went down, I understand why it won an award, because people got to talk like that, but it was tedious, and slow and I hated that .. had to die. It wasn't fair! It wasn't fair I tell you. But props to Greer Garson, she was soo on the spot. And I love the banter but cute lovey dovey banter between Mr.and Mrs. Miniver. It is one of those must watch once, but lets keep it to just once, shall we. 

It also won awards for;

Best Director: William Wyler

Best Actress: Greer Garson

Best Writing, Screenplay: George Froeschel, James Hilton, Claudine West, Arthur Wimperis

Best Supporting Actress Teresa Wright

Best Cinematography, Black-and-White Won Joseph Ruttenberg

Day 17: The King's Speech

The King's Speech: 2011: Winner of the 83rd Academy Award

Starring:

Colin Firth as King George VI

Geoffrey Rush as Lionel Logue

Helena Bonham Carter as Queen Elizabeth

Guy Pearce as King Edward VIII

Michael Gambon as King George V

Timothy Spall as Winston Churchill

Jennifer Ehle as Myrtle Logue

Derek Jacobi as Archbishop Cosmo Lang

Anthony Andrews as Stanley Baldwin

Eve Best as Wallis Simpson

Freya Wilson as Princess Elizabeth

Ramona Marquez as Princess Margaret

Claire Bloom as Queen Mary

Tim Downie as Duke of Gloucester
 

Last year’s winner I was hoping to leave it for the end of the week, but chance provided it to me before so I took it. I liked this movie; although I should mention that I melt at the knees of Colin Firth I absolutely love the man! Furthermore in this movie he is out to portray someone as awkward as he. I liked this movie. Something about it, the struggle to talk and the struggle to rule a nation when your impaired struck me as a great undertaking that shouldn’t have been his considering, but his brother was such an idiot I mean.. Well off topic, but further to the point I was sad Helena Bonham Carter didn’t win the Oscar but hey it went to the insanely talented Natalie Portman. Granted last year we saw a lot of good films, and as someone that saw all except “127 Hours” and “The kids are all Right” I can say that the only movie that deserved to win more is “Toy Story 3”.

It also won awards for:

Best Director:

Best Actor: Colin Firth

Best Original Screenplay

Day 12: Driving Miss Daisy

Driving Miss Daisy: 1989: Winner of the 62nd Academy Awards

Starring: 

Morgan Freeman as Hoke Colburn


Jessica Tandy as Daisy Werthan

Dan Aykroyd as Boolie Werthan

Patti LuPone as Florine Werthan

Esther Rolle as Idella

Joann Havrilla as Miss McClatchley

William Hall, Jr. as Oscar

Muriel Moore as Miriam

Sylvia Kaler as Beulah

 

Yes ma’am this movie was boring. I am seriously starting to doubt all the movies from the 80’s. First “Rain Man” came along and bored me too tears and then this. Look don’t get me wrong I can see why this might have been a contender but listen to this and tell me if it sounds far-fetched; a southern white Jewish woman, (that alone sounds weird ) and a smiling African American befriend each other, out of shear boredom and the product is an award winning movie? Plus the competition was pretty stiff that year, how do you say no to “The Dead Poet’s Society”?  Look man you have got to be kidding me! Star Wars was a much better movie; it was Macbeth in outer space! I love Morgan Freeman, the man has the voice of God (literally) but I winced to see him in this movie. Playing the stereotypical 50’s black guy and to top it off he did this weird pucker like mouth movement that I just found irritating. Furthermore toward the end of the movie, when he and is 37 year-old granddaughter are driving to the house his eyes look gigantic behind those damn glasses and I couldn’t stop laughing. It was sooo funny and from then on I couldn’t take the movie seriously. I will say that in its benefit it’s a pretty short movie which I love. I guess if you want to learn where actors took their stereotypical 50’s southern drawl and whatever look no further than Driving Miss Daisy. And the timeline is so fucked up because it’s not definitive, only makeup helps you deduce what the fuck is going on. Furthermore, it also proves my theory that the more you want someone to die the longer they shall stay alive, Miss Daisy practically gets to live into her 100’s.. I have 8 more 80’s films to go and I predict that I will find something stereotypical to today’s society in them. 

It also won awards for:

Best Actress: Jessica tandy

Best Make-up

Best Adapted Screenplay

Day 9: The Life of Emile Zola

The Life of Emile Zola : 1937: Winner of the 10th Academy Awards

Starring:

Paul Muni as Émile Zola

Gloria Holden as Alexandrine Zola

Gale Sondergaard as Lucie Dreyfus

Joseph Schildkraut as Captain Alfred Dreyfus

Donald Crisp as Maitre Labori

Erin O'Brien-Moore as Nana

John Litel as Charpentier

Henry O'Neill as Colonel Picquart

Morris Carnovsky as Anatole France

Louis Calhern as Major Dort

Ralph Morgan as Commander of Paris

Robert Barrat as Major Walsin-Esterhazy

Vladimir Sokoloff as Paul Cézanne

Grant Mitchell as Georges Clemenceau

Harry Davenport as Chief of Staff

Robert Warwick as Major Henry

Charles Richman as M. Delagorgue

Gilbert Emery as Minister of War

Walter Kingsford as Colonel Sandherr

Paul Everton as Assistant Chief of Staff

Montagu Love as M. Cavaignac

Frank Sheridan as M. Van Cassell

Lumsden Hare as Mr. Richards

Here’s the ticket to one of the precedents to American’s love of angry men in court. The story revolves around the French –some time’s political writer Emile Zola, who went from rags to riches with his hit novel “Nana”. After some time he encounters a real shot to prove his political writings when he tries to aid a general wrongly accused of Treason. He along with the convict get discredited and Emile has to flee for his life. Later the commandeering general is no longer able to keep the secret blows his brains out and Emile is once again believed in and the general gets his life back. Truthfully this was kind of bore, and it made me irritable lucilky after that we watched a Bollywood movie with Salinger so it wasn’t too bad. Watch it if you want to see the principal culprit of American movies in the courtroom. Watch it if your French but don’t watch it and expect entertainment.

It also won awards for:

Best Actor: Paul Muni

Best Director: William Dieterle

Day 6: The English Patient

The English Patient:1996: Winner of the 69^th Academy Awards

Starring:

Ralph Fiennes as Count László Almásy

Juliette Binoche as Hana

Willem Dafoe as David Caravaggio

Kristin Scott Thomas as Katharine Clifton

Naveen Andrews as Kip

Colin Firth as Geoffrey Clifton

Julian Wadham as Madox

Jürgen Prochnow as Major Muller

Kevin Whately as Sgt. Hardy

Clive Merrison as Fenelon-Barnes

Salinger and I had wanted to see this film since, well her since she found out that Ralph Fiennes was in it and myself, since I found it on Netflix. However it wasn’t until today and the verdict is, I loved it!!It made me cry and the love story was amazing. The story centers around a burned man found in the Desert after WW2, in this garrison a nurse named Hana tries to nurse him back to health. She has lost everyone she loved and is taking upon herself to save this man, this English Patient. They find an abandoned monastery in the Italian countryside and use it as a place for him to get better. A couple of nights later we meet Moose, David Caravaggio, who was someone that the English Patient knew in a past life, the life he cannot now remember or does not wish too. This is how the love story between Mrs. Clifton and Count de Almasy is told. Through flashback we get a glimpse of the man who was burned and heartbroken. This was a really good, albeit long, movie. I truly enjoyed it and was glad to watch. Yesterday I was complaining about overused love plots and today I find myself rekindled in that belief. Even though it was tragic and sad and I ended up with my eyes watering, I also found myself thinking that love is really all that drives human condition. Without love there is no life. It is life that brings the profound sense of belonging and acceptance that humans need. Yes, I got all that from watching this movie. Because when Hana the nurse is telling the English Patient that she wants to make him better he says that he prefers to leave this world as has his beloved. The movie was really good, I recommended that everyone watch it.

It also won awards for:

Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Juliette Binoche

 Best Art Direction-Set Decoration : Stuart Craig and Stephanie McMillan

 Best Cinematography  : John Seale

 Best Costume Design : Ann Roth

 Best Director :Anthony Minghella

Best Film Editing :Walter Murch

Best Original Score :Gabriel Yared

Best Sound :Walter Murch, Mark Berger, David Parker, and Christopher Newman