28 – Rear Window (1954)

I’ll tell you what I want, what I really really want,
So tell me what you want, what you really really want,
I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna really really really wanna zigazig ha.

Old Alfreds at it once more with another psychological thriller and starring again is good old reliable James Stewart.This time he plays a photographer who is bound to his apartment after busting up his leg taking action shots at a formula one race.It crashed into him.So he’s wheelchair bound and it’s a massive heat wave and he’s spent the last 6 weeks observing his neighbours through his window.He thinks he’s witnessed a murder and then starts obsessing about it.I’d never seen Rear Window before but I’ve seen some parodies,most notably The Simpsons,so i had the general gist of the plot.It’s really straight forward and i was waiting for the twist at the end but there wasn’t one.I felt robbed by it.That’s all I’m going to say on the matter.The film feels boring because your looking at the same set for the full 100 minutes.

IMDB RATING      –     8.6
MY RATING     –    7
SEEN BEFORE     –    NO
RECOMMEND?     –     NO
OVERALL     –  GRACE KELLY IS A NICE BIT OF EYE CANDY.

30 – It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)

Breaking records

When i started watching this film i thought for the first 30 minutes or so it should have been called it’s a shit life,but as the film went on it picked up and had a few comical bits where i was LOL’ing.James Stewart plays a guy running a savings and loan in a small town.He’s on a bridge and just about to end it all but he says a little prayer to “God” and low and behold an angel comes down to help him see the light and all that rubbish.There’s a strange bit with the angels talking,where they’re represented by stars and galaxies.As i watched the film i started to think there wasn’t enough good bits for me to warrent it being on the list.There was some really bad camera stuff,jumping around and coming out of focus,the quality seemed to go from crystal clear in some shots to blurry as fuck in others.I’d say this is due to the exterior stuff and studio stuff.Either way these things got my goat up.This is a Christmas movie too and it’s regularly on t.v. around then,but i wouldn’t watch it.Depressing watching a guy waste his life and not follow his dream he had since he was young,then he try and kill himself. Eek

IMDB RATING      –     8.6
MY RATING     –    6.6
SEEN BEFORE     –     NO
RECOMMEND?     –     NO
OVERALL     –  OKAY.PREDICTABLE.

107 – Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

Look a big fake projection of congress outside my window.Only in America.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is about a a guy,a young James Stewart,who’s a member of the junior senate who gets elected into the senate because the powers that be think that he’s a rural country idiot who they can manipulate and control.Mr. Smith has dreams and ideals and wants to start a Summer camp for urban kids.To get them out of the city and build their minds and body.However the mass media and the monopoly controlled by one buck has their sights set on destroying and slandering him so that his summer camp won’t happen.You see the land where he wants to build on is already predestined for a dam of some sorts that some other senators are trying to pass.So Mr. Smith has to fight the senate all the while as he is searching for Neo and Trinity,not,just thought i’d sneak in a Matrix reference there.

IMDB RATING      –     8.3
MY RATING     –    8
SEEN BEFORE     –     NO
RECOMMEND?     –     NO
OVERALL     –  IT’S ALL ABOUT THE MEDIA.THE FILM IS AS RELEVANT NOW AS IT WAS THEN.

201 – Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

boiled eggs and beer,the breakfast of champions

James Stewart is a lawyer in this one,wait a second didn’t i just see this a week ago? Nope.This is another film where Jimmy plays a lawyer.The whole film revolves around a murder and how he tries to get his client off.What causes the murder is when the guys wife gets raped.You think it would be an emotional and sad story but the rape is dealt with like it’s nothing.I know it’s set in 59 but i found the whole thing a bit uneasy.During parts of the film you think you’ll have it figured out and predict twists and turns or something like that,but the final 15 minutes seals the deal.

IMDB RATING      –     8
MY RATING     –     6.6
SEEN BEFORE     –     NO
RECOMMEND?     –    MAYBE
OVERALL     –  NOT BAD.MINIONS WIFE IS A STUNNER.

204 – Rope (1948)

any requests ?

Hitchcock.This is quite a short film and seems like you’re watching a play adaptation; one location,lots of dialogue and not much action.It’s also a colour film made in 1948 so it looks a bit weird in the beginning but you get used to it after 20 minutes.The film’s meant to be one continuous shot but you can see where they cut it about 4-5 times where they zoom into something black and then zoom back out.The stories a simple one;two guys,one a shrewd ass and one a nervous wreck,kill a man for the sheer thrill of if.The perfect murder.Except they leave clues everywhere,talk about killing,set up his girlfriend with another friend,have a party with the body in the room,look over at the body when someone mentions the corpses name and a thousand other fuck ups.These guys are clowns.

IMDB RATING      –     8
MY RATING     –     6.1
SEEN BEFORE     –    NO
RECOMMEND?     –    NO
OVERALL     –  OKAY,A GOOD HOW NOT TO DO THE PERFECT CRIME.

207 – The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)

say pilgrim 3 times in a mirror and the ghost of john wayne appears

John Wayne again.This guy gets around.This film’s in black and white but I’d bet you a fiver he’s wearing the same red shirt from the other two films off this list.This western is a little more bearable because JW isn’t the main character,it’s James Stewart.I don’t mind Stewart as an actor,there’s something about his accent and that southern drawl.Well about the film;it’s starts out GREAT,what with Wayne being dead and stuck in a box,then Stewart tells the tale of (see film title) in the style of one long flash back.Stewart is a lawyer and brings law and order to a small town out west that seems to be over run with highway men and the like.Not the worst western.

IMDB RATING      –     8
MY RATING     –     5.7
SEEN BEFORE     –     NO
RECOMMEND?     –    NO
OVERALL     –  MEH.GO SEE SERGIO LEONES STUFF INSTEAD.