#92: Goodfellas (1990)

SPOILERS AHEAD. PROCEED WITH CAUTION.

“As far back as I can remember I always wanted to be a gangster.” If it were possible for a single line of dialogue to sum up the thesis statement of a film in the most perfect manner, this might be a top contender for that award. This line is uttered as voiceover by the character of Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) in the opening scene of the movie- a scene that that is completely juxtaposed with the line of dialogue itself as it shows the true horrors of being a wise guy.

From the moment you hit play, you know what kind of ride you are being taken on. This film focuses on a character, Henry, who had a very romanticized view of life as a gangster from a very young age. Over the course of the film, he his forced to deal with the realities of that life- murder, prison, scheming, lying, and endangering his own life and the lives of his loved ones.

This film is well-acted, well-shot, and well-paced. It moves along swiftly despite the run time of 2 hours 26 minutes, in no small part because this film pulls no punches without being too crude. Material such as this could so easily drift in the direction of the ridiculous or of the emotionlessly gruesome, but somehow this movie walks a fine line between the two extremes. The voiceover work of Ray Liotta is not only a nice addition to the film but is integral to its success. (On a related note, I couldn’t help but notice that his voice sounds eerily like that of Leonardo DiCaprio- a compliment if there ever was one.)

Despite my clear admiration and enjoyment of this movie, I did have one issue with the character of Henry and his arc throughout the film. He begins the film as a boy who is completely taken in by the lifestyle of the gangsters in the neighborhood. He starts working for them and is quickly given more responsibilities and, with it, more privileges. As the movie progresses and he transitions into adulthood, he meets his future wife, Karen, played by Lorraine Bracco, and starts a family. He is still very much enthralled with his chosen profession and group of friends/colleagues, taking bigger and bigger risks, even doing jail time. As time passes, life becomes more and more complicated, with a wife, children, a girlfriend, side hustles that he has to keep secret from the big bossman Paul, and so much more. Even after knowing that he and Karen are in danger, have no more allies, and he has no better choice than to turn snitch and join the witness protection program, he still longs to be a wise guy again. His complete failure to repent of his sins might simply be a creative choice on the part of the screenwriters or an attempt to stay true to the real Henry Hill’s character, but either way I do wish he had learned a lesson by the end.

This was my second viewing of this film. On first viewing, I had no idea that Ray Liotta was playing the main character until I began watching. I attribute this to the fact that the stars of Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci have shone brighter and longer than that of Liotta. Now that I have seen this film twice, I would be thrilled to see more of him! Overall, this is an excellent film and a wild ride.

Now, onto my questions!

Did I like the movie? Yes!!
Did I appreciate the movie? Of course!
Would I recommend this movie to a friend? Most friends, yes, but this is not for the feint of heart.
Do I plan to see this movie again? Absolutely!
Am I glad I have now watched this movie? Yes!

Now let me update my list to include this movie from best to worst:

Pulp Fiction (1994)
Goodfellas (1990)
Toy Story (1995)
Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
Blade Runner (1982)
The Last Picture Show (1971)
Do the Right Thing (1989)
Ben-Hur (1959)
The French Connection (1971)

Next up is Sophie’s Choice (1982). It’s a first watch for me, so stay tuned!

#93: The French Connection (1971)

This was the last movie I watched in early 2019 for this blog. I rented it, I took notes, and yet somehow writing the actual review fell by the wayside. And if you were living inside of my brain you would understand why. I really detested this film. It was very clearly a product of its time, which is not inherently a flaw. But I simply could not get passed my feelings of “this would not fly today” as I watched. Not to mention, by this point in time I have seen so many bad-boy-cop-who-will-break-all-the-rules-to-catch-the-bad-guy movies that it doesn’t seem original. In fact, when it wasn’t being racist or sexist, it was downright boring. It’s been well over a year since I watched this film and I distinctly recall walking out of my living room during the last few minutes of the movie to do some chore or another. This movie suffers greatly from what I like to call “Snow White syndrome”- it’s important because it was the first, not because it’s the best. My hope is that if this list ever gets a new update, someone will take a long, hard look at some of these “classics” before blindly including them.

Now, onto my questions!

Did I like the movie? NO!
Did I appreciate the movie? NOPE.
Would I recommend this movie to a friend? Absolutely not.
Do I plan to see this movie again? No. So much so, that I probably should’ve watched it again before writing this but couldn’t bring myself to do it.
Am I glad I have now watched this movie? Meh.

Now let me update my list to include this movie from best to worst:

Pulp Fiction (1994)
Toy Story (1995)
Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
Blade Runner (1982)
The Last Picture Show (1971)
Do the Right Thing (1989)
Ben-Hur (1959)
The French Connection (1971)

(Are you surprised that it’s at the bottom?) Next up is Goodfellas (1990), which I did watch once before but will watch again before reviewing.

#100: Ben-Hur (1959)

So I watched all 3 hours and 42 minutes of 1959’s Ben-Hur on Sunday. And man, oh man, there was a period of a couple of hours where I thought this new project of mine might be dead in the water. Why I decided to start with what is probably the longest movie on the list (I’m honestly scared to look at run times now), I have no idea. Nevertheless, I persisted. So now I’m going to attempt my best approximation of a movie review. This probably goes without say, but SPOILER ALERT.

As I watched this movie, I took notes in my 87-cent Walmart notebook (thank you, school supply season!). The very first thing written in this notebook is, “Why don’t movies have overtures anymore?!” Nothing sets the tone of a film quite like a nice piece of classical music. A flash of Gone with the Wind came across my brain as I listened, being that GWTW is the only movie I’d ever seen with an overture. But this overture lets the audience know what kind of movie they’re in for from the get-go. The overture screams, “This movie is long, slow burn, so you better get nice and comfy!”

Going into this movie, I knew three things: (1) It’s long, (2) It’s old, (3) There are chariots races. That’s it. That was my entire understanding of the movie Ben-Hur going into it. I was definitely not wrong about (1) and (2), although as it turns out there isn’t a whole lot of chariot racing in this movie- one chariot race towards the end.

So what did I like about this movie? First of all, Charlton Heston is hard not to watch. On top of having the most gorgeous set of eyes, he’s also a damn good actor. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen him act, though I certainly knew his name before watching this movie. He steals every scene he is in and makes you care about this character, even after 3 hours and 42 minutes.

I also enjoyed the intertwining of the fictitious story with historical, biblical events. It was a bizarre experience watching a move in which the birth and death of Jesus Christ is portrayed without ever making it the focal point of the movie. This is about a man’s journey towards inner peace and away from vengeance, and what better role model could he have for this than Jesus Christ?

It was also apparent, even to a layperson such as myself, that the filmmakers were extremely intentional with everything from the sets to the music to the choices of color. The filmmakers were telling the audience in no uncertain terms that Judah is our hero in this story and Messala the evil villain. Take the chariot race, for instance. Judah is wearing blue while standing in a gold and white chariot pulled by white horses. Messala, on the other hand, is wearing mostly black while standing in a red chariot pulled by black horses. It could not be more obvious who the audience is supposed to be rooting for, even if you jumped into the movie at that exact moment.

While I’m on the subject of the chariot race, what a beautiful scene!!! I later read that it took five weeks to shoot that part of the film, and that is abundantly clear by the shear scope and detail in that scene. I found myself wondering how they even had the technology to pull off such a thing in the fifties. I could feel the complete absence of CGI, which is something that we rarely get to experience in this day and age. Heck, even Star Wars can’t be watched anymore without the awful, digital additions- a conversation for another day. And I honestly think that being forced to build or buy everything that shows up in the finished film lends itself to my previous point about intentional film-making.

Now, what did I not enjoy so much? Well, first of all, my generation was not built for long, slow burns. We are so impatient and so unwilling to focus that movie trailers now have tiny teasers of the trailer before the trailer even plays! Apparently, a minute and a half is just too long to hold our focus, so nearly four hours was borderline torture. However, this isn’t really the movie’s fault. It wasn’t made for me or my generation. It was made for my grandparents’ generation. Many of the same people seeing this movie in the theatre upon its original release had probably also seen some of the first talkies ever made. So I can completely understand why this movie was both critically acclaimed and loved by moviegoers at the time.

I also didn’t really buy into Judah’s romance with Esther. Given the length of this movie, there really could have been more build-up towards their flirtation and eventual first kiss. In fact, Judah had much more on-screen chemistry with Messala than with Esther- although that would’ve been a COMPLETELY different film, and I doubt Jesus would’ve been in it.

Although this film wasn’t really my style, I can definitely see the influence that it’s since had on Hollywood. I am far from a movie expert and I noticed several parallels between this movie and more modern films. For instance, Jack and Rose could totally have both fit on that floating debris as demonstrated in this movie!

For my closing thoughts, I want to answer a few questions that I plan to answer as a summary for each movie review.

Did I like the movie? Overall, not really.
Did I appreciate the movie? Yes.
Would I recommend this movie to a friend? Probably not.
Do I plan to see this movie again? Nope!
Am I glad I have now watched this movie? Yes. (Now I need a bumper stick that says 3:42 so everyone knows about my accomplishment!)

Next up is Toy Story! Stay tuned for my next entry!

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The Why of it All

Welcome to my blog! My name is Kalyn Lamey, and I want to give a little background on how this blog came about. For a very long time, I have wanted to watch all of the movies on AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Movies list. As of this moment, I have only seen SEVENTEEN of them! That number is just so pathetically sad and I simply cannot allow this to continue. So beginning tomorrow, I am going to work my way from #100 to #1 (of the 10th anniversary list) by watching one movie a week. I am then going to make a post about that movie. Disclaimer: I am NOT a movie critic or a writer. I have never written a blog or made a website before. I am a complete amateur at all of this and will probably make lots of mistakes, but I also have an insane passion for movies and want to share my thoughts with all of you.

I am so glad that you’ve decided to join me on my journey! I have a long road ahead of me, but I am determined to reach my goal and hopefully learn some things along the way.

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Do or do not. There is no try. – Yoda

yoda