1963 Movies
OSCARS Won/Nominated
IMDB Top 250
IMDB Top 250
OSCARS
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8 1/2
Dir: Federico Fellini 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die My second Fellini film is much more surreal and strange than the first, but it is also oddly compelling as well. The film is about a filmmaker who just doesn't know how to make his 9th film, and as he juggles his workers, his actors, and the women in his life, he often has to retreat to fantasy and dreams to keep his sanity. Often times, I found it hard pressed to know whether or not what I was seeing was real. Charlie Kaufman must have loved Federico Fellini, because when a director doesn't know what to make his movie about (Fellini) decides to make a movie about a director not knowing what to make his next movie about (8 1/2)...it is mind-bending. Fun, and I had to sleep on it to really appreciate it...but Fellini was quite a unique filmmaker. B |
OSCARS
Best Sound
Best Original Score |
Bye Bye Birdie
Dir: George Sidney Stars: Dick Van Dyke, Janet Leigh, Ann Margaret, Paul Lynde This was one of my earliest exposures to the movie musical...and it is a LOT of fun. Having been in an adaptation of the Broadway play..it angers me that the focus of the film is on Conrad and Kim...because it is supposed to be on Albert and Rosie. Bye Bye Birdie is a story of Albert and Rosie and with Dick Van Dyke and Janet Leigh as the actors...it feels wasted. Still...this is a lot of fun. Simple as that. B |
Dementia 13
Dir: Francis Ford Coppola Stars: William Campbell, Luana Anders I have been watching all these freshman outings by some of the greatest directors of all time (Coppola, Kubrick, Peter Jackson) and I keep getting amazed that these brilliant filmmakers were so bad-to-mediocre in their early days. This movie is just silly, b-movie horror stuff. There are some surprising violent bursts and I did find myself wanting to find out the secret...but compared to The Haunting from the same year...its not very good. C |
OSCARS
Best Editing
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The Great Escape
Dir: John Sturgess Stars: Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die IMDB #126 This is my kind of movie. I love the concept about the Nazi's throwing all of the master escape artists from the war into the same, "unescapable" prison compound...unwittingly hording together the best prison-break minds around. Every second of this 3hr movie is devoted to the master plan of escape, with no fluff thrown in about the War or friendship. Just the escape. And it held my interest the entire time. I was a bit surprised about the morbid final moments, but surprise is always welcome. That theme is so catchy, I have been whistling it all day!! A- |
The Haunting
Dir: Robert Wise 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die Directed by the incomparable Robert Wise, The Haunting is quite spooky...all without any actual manifestations of ghosts. Its all about sounds, bumps, discussions, inner monologues, and reactions...and I kind of dug it. Jan de Bont's 1999 remake with Liam Neeson was a wonder to look at but it is pretty different from this original adaptation of Shirley Jackson's novel. Eleanor is still a whining pain in the ass....but I guess that is necessary to the plot. Hill House is still a scary place in my mind. B |
X: The Man With the X-Ray Eyes
Dir: Roger Corman Stars: Robert Milland, Don Rickles Roger Corman is known for making bad movies on the cheap, but sometimes they have a bit of charm in the camp factor. This has none of it. So a scientist makes eyedrops that allows him to see more of the wavelength spectrum...fine. It isn't played for comedy, as a guy taking advantage of this power for pranks and silliness. It isn't played for horror because...who cares...he can see through stuff. It isn't even played enough for drama, because any dramatic tension is lost in the stupidity. There are a FEW fun scenes, like a party where he sees everyone as naked and a surgery where he can see through a young patient and notices a misdiagnosis. However, the entire movie is a woe-is-me scientist moping around, mad that he experimented on himself. A bore. D |