[79] Into The Wild

Director: Sean Penn

Cast: Emile Hirsch, Jena Malone, Vince Vaughn, William Hurt, Kristen Stewart, Catherine Keener, Marcia Gay Harden, Hal Holbrook

Thoughts: 

Now this is my kind of drama film.  It has everything to do with living, giving it a go, living the dream etc etc.  Christpher McCandless ran away, after graduating college.  He roamed America, on his feet, meeting eccentric, yet kind, people along the way.  The story of Christopher a.k.a Alexander Supertramp, is an amazing, inspirational one.  In the two years that he roamed America, he lived more than some people live in their lifetimes.  

Emile Hirsch plays the role of Christopher McCandless perfectly.  He's an amazing actor of whom I hope great things come to in the future.  You may also know him from such films as Speed Racer, Milk, Lords of Dogtown and several others.  At the moment, I would regard this role as his most notable though. Well, at least until Milk takes off.  It has a January release here, in Australia, so I won't be able to see it until then.  

Into the Wild was nominated for two Academy Awards, Best Editing, and Best Actor in a Supporting Role, for Hal Holbrook, who plays Ron, an old man who becomes inspired to live, by Christopher. 

The film also won 11 awards, and had a further 34 nominations, making it a noteworthy film, across the awards circuit.  

This is one of the most recent additions to the list, and I hope it stays on updated editions of the list. All in all a great film, and well worth a spin in the DVD player.  Not a free download though, because they are not legal, and I do not condone such practises.  

Score: 9/10 

[76] Gigi

Ok, so I just watched this movie, and I'm incredibly tired at the moment, so I'm probably going to go to bed soon.  I'm just going to say that I gave it a 7/10 on imdb, after watching it.  It was good, but it wasn't great.  Despite me saying that, it won Best Picture in 1958, at the Academy Awards.  Oh, and it won eight other oscars.  None of those went to aciting, though. 

Anywho, not the best musical I've seen.  The songs were a bit repetitive, and the first one just concerned me a little.  

Interesting fact, Gigi was originally a novella, by Collete, before being turned into a musical film.  Incase it wasn't obvious, it is the tale of a french girl teenager.  Various things happen, so that various outcomes occur.  Much like every movie. 

I know this is quite a fail review, but I am quite tired.  Here is a trailer for the film: 

Enjoy. 

Now I flee, because bed sounds like a marvellous idea right now. 

[75] La Vie En Rose

This is a movie about French singer, Edith Piaf, and her life.  The movie takes us through the different stages of her life, flashing backwards and forwards as we see her childhood, then her later years, and back to other parts of her childhood, and so on.  As a child she lived a life of poverty, until she was discovered singing on the street for money.  

The movie is in French, with English subtitles.  Unless you are French, then you clearly don't need the subtitles.  I enjoy listening to movies in other languages, because sometimes it fits more than hearing English.  French is a nice language to listen to.  I have not watched many foreign films before, but I know there are a fair few on this list, so it will be interesting to hear various languages spoken.

On another note, the acting in this is supurb.  Marion Cotillard, who plays Edith Piaf through her later years, won Best Actress at the 2008 Academy Awards for her role.  She took the role and made it her own, well executing it throughout the whole film.  The children who play Edith in her younger years are also to be commended for their work.  Excellent acting on their part, as well.  

I don't think I can really do justice to describing the life that Edith Piaf led, so you should probably go check that out by either watching the film, or searching the internet for something that could better tell you.  

One of my favourite parts of the film was the songs, so beautifully sung, of course by Edith Piaf.  There were a couple of other songs, but of course she was behind most of them.  

Many of her songs have featured in such films as Wall-E, Saving Private Ryan, The Bucket List and fifty or so others.  Mostly the song 'La Vie En Rose' features in these. 

I give this film an 8/10, and if you're interested in Biopic type films, then you should definitely check this out if you haven't. 

Edit: I forgot to add this amazing quote from the film, one that will stick with me for a long time. 

American Journalist: If you were to give advice to a woman, what would it be? 

Edith Piaf: Love. 

American Journalist: To a young girl? 
Edith Piaf: Love. 
American Journalist: To a child? 
Edith Piaf: Love. 

That is all. 

[74] My Fair Lady

Now as some people know, but probably not now that I think about it, I am a great fan of musicals. There is rarely an outburst of song or dance that I despise. That said, I absolutely adored this movie. From the first song I was enthralled by it all. This film is funny, beautiful and romantic.

It tells the story of Henry Higgens (Rex Harrison), a man who has great knowledge in the ways of speech. He is able to know where a person came from, just from hearing the words from their mouth. He proposes a challenge to change Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn) from being a common flower girl, to someone who could be mistaken for a duchess.

As far as acting goes, I'm on really going to speak on Audrey Hepburn. I've only seen one other film she's in, Breakfast At Tiffany's. As great as that film is, I did enjoy My Fair Lady much more. Audrey Hepburn's accent is fantastic in the beginning, as a common London flower girl. Her exclamations, the way she moves, it's fantastic. Then, as she changes, she is fantastic in a different way. She is then seen as something beautiful and lovely. An actress like Audrey Hepburn is rare in these days. I'd probably give it to someone like Cate Blanchett as being the Audrey Hepburn of the current ages. The way she looks, speaks, moves, they're all amazing. I'm surprised she wasn't nominated for a best actress oscar in 1964, for this film. This does make sense though, because the winner of this was Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins, a role that is quite astounding.

I would like to point out that Rex Harrison won a Best Actor oscar for his role as Henry Higgins. An achievement he was certainly worthy of.

The film, however, did win Best Movie, in the year 1964, an honour it was very deserving of. I wonder what it was up against. Ok, I have looked it up on a website of some sort, and it was up against Becket, Dr Strangelove, Mary Poppins and Zorba the Greek. An interesting year for films, no doubt, but I'd say that in voting that year, I would have had a hard time deciding between Dr Strangelove, Marry Poppins and My Fair Lady. I can't say anything for the other two as I haven't seen them.

That said, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. Although it may not be for everyone's tastes. My sister, before I watched it, told me it was boring. I however, didn't think so.

I give it a 9/10 and realise I should really have some sort of ratings sytem that makes sense to myself, let alone everyone else.