The Maltese Falcon Review

            The Maltese Falcon is sometimes considered the best noir film and the one to kick off this style of filmmaking. It’s hotly debated if the film really is noir in essence or just a great detective story. That’s what makes the film so great since the whole story has like several layers where it could go in any direction. I’m getting ahead of myself with this one. Let’s talk about this one. 

1. Sam Spade

            Whenever you’re talking classic Warner Bros. movies, you can’t start one without talking about this guy. Humphrey Bogart, or Bogie as he was nicknamed at the time was The definitive star that absolutely steals this movie. His overall approach in this movie is often imitated for parodic reasons but this guy truly nails being a detective. 

        With that, the whole film centers around him coming across three people. You see, he runs a private investigation firm when he gets word that a client’s sister is missing. As Spade’s partner investigates, he’s shot by a mysterious assailant. Sam is questioned by the police, but soon comes across the aforementioned people who have been attempting to get the stolen treasure known as the Maltese Falcon. 

        You go into this movie following Sam as he maneuvers against the antagonists. Most of the action comes from him basically dressing people down, by his way of words. Bogart’s straight faced delivery sells when he’s displaying his no nonsense idea of getting the facts. Whenever he’s confronted by the antagonists, he usually bluffs his way as a way to work around them. All the while making compromises to secure the statuette. What makes him a great protagonist is that he’s not one to lose his principle. His integrity is his thing that sets him on a straight path. 

        Additionally, he can sift through the façade that the people are portraying. The best moments is when Brigid has this innocence portrayed when she talks to Sam. Spade basically drops her by telling her to drop the act. He’s ruthless but the way it works is justified since he gets embroiled with the figurine. There’s never a clear-cut way whenever the bird statue is discussed since people are being duplicitously deceiving. 

        One last thing is that he's the only one to not be corrupted by anything. It’s hard to believe at first, but it sort of works when he puts up with two authority figures. They accuse him of killing his partner and try to get a rise out of him to find a way to arrest him. In the midst of finding the statuette, he doesn’t see the intrinsic value into having it, but to see if there was a connection between it and the killing of his partner. 

2. The Statuette 

        With a film called The Maltese Falcon, we would expect to see it for a good chunk. We even have a opening crawl briefly explaining how the statue came to be. There are only a few minutes of when we see it. But before I get into that, I think that the best thing about not having the statue show itself is that it builds this mysticism about it. For instance, when Spade meets the real villain Gutman, he tells him about the history of the statuette. It’s been stolen and had an exchange of hands throughout its existence. 

        It's the thing that makes people go crazy since people want it as a trophy. The way its used as a storytelling device is that people are willing to go through any distance to get it, by any means. More so that Gutman has an assistant named Cairo who initially thinks that Spade has it. And from there is when its revealed that Brigid also works for the main man. All three of them want it due to how unique it is. All of it leads to the best moment of the film. Well, one of two best moments in the film. I don’t want to spoil that part but, Spade practically laughs at the statue when he sees. 

        I think that the statuette is the perfect dichotomy of Sam Spade. Even when he’s told and shown the figurine, he’s not overall captivated by it at all. His personal beliefs shield him from that level of envy that is presented. Right down to calling the police when two of the antagonists escape. I think it shows that he sees the level of manipulation that is shown when he’s confronted with either Cairo or Gutman on the level that they’re willing to go through any lengths to get the statue. 

3. Legacy

        This film benefitted Bogart in more ways than one. While the film was a success, it catapulted him into that level of stardom where he’s recognizable in that era of classic Hollywood. He went on to star in more beloved movies like Casablanca and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre to name a few. His style as a detective as I mentioned has been imitated to an extent. 

        When I watched the movie again, I felt it was more of an inspiration to an Indiana Jones movie. Think about it, we see the main character be involved with finding an elusive treasure. Getting involved with others who want it for vanity and the main character doing everything to get it, but ending up biting the main antagonist. While there are more examples that led to the creation of Indy. This film is one of them. 

4. Overall 

        The Maltese Falcon is a classic 1940s movie. Humphrey Bogart solidifies his role, and shows that somethings are stuff that dreams are made of.  

Touch of Evil Review

        My look into Film Noir continues. Touch of Evil is an interesting one in my opinion, it’s got a lot of things going for it. Both good and bad, the last part I’ll elaborate further. To me, it’s representative of doing a different kind of noir film that spices things up since it doesn’t have the usual hallmarks. Instead of it taking place in a big city, we’re now in a border town of all places. Where the seediness is intrenched in either side of the border. With all those superlatives out of the way, here’s what I think of Touch of Evil. 

1. Orson Welles

        Anyone who has a passion about film, either by watching movies or experimenting with making them have heard of this person. I never thought that I’d talk about him, since I haven’t even touched upon Citizen Kane for this initiative. Anyways, Welles was a celebrated actor and director. He was very creative with the way he shot his movies and was always on point as an actor. 

        This film is considered his last, and I think it’s his second-best film just a notch below Kane. With that, we see in the first few minutes that a bomb was planted inside a car. Following a great long take the car explodes. We follow Miguel Vargas who’s a Mexican investigator and his American counterpart Hank Quinlan. And from there, well it’s interesting. One would think the whole film would be about who exactly bombed the car and why.

        The story never really goes that deep into it since the whole film is really about Vargas slowly putting together that Quinlan is a corrupt police captain. There’s also a side plot involving Vargas’ wife staying at a hotel which is overrun by the town’s crime boss. So yeah, it’s made clear that on both sides of the border, they don’t take that much interest in the actual bombing. Although, it just shows that there’s an aura of awful that’s practically shrouding the law enforcement.

        In one way, Orson Welles had a lot of creative liberty when adapting the story since the novel was considered pulpy. He changed the location and the characters, especially the main character’s ethnicity since it gave it an edge given to where the film takes place. The more I think about it, Welle’s directing style gives the town a distinct look. It’s covered in used newspapers and it’s open since we see people coming and going. 

More so that I believe that he was poking fun at film noir in general. With the ensuing plot point that doesn’t really go anywhere. Right down to the Mexican crime boss who’s like an archetype for these movies. The main thing I think with what Welles was going for was that since there’s little development for depth, it’s positioned as a way for people to be used as pawns. 

        One recurring camera aesthetic that I noticed is the way that characters are staged in. Specifically, in the scene involving Quinlan interrogating a suspect at a hotel room. When you watch it, the whole moment feels cramped and uncomfortable. Given how Quinlan and his associates don’t let the suspect off the hook. It really captures Hank’s size, to show that he’s the boss. Never mind the fact that Welles was a big person but that’s not the point. As well as show us from Vargas’ point of view that the evidence was planted ahead of time. 

        What makes the film work is that in some way, we get to see just how justice is presented in a town where justice is just tossed aside. Vargas as a character is an idealistic man who is mostly by the books while Quinlan is celebrated but he has questionable motives in order to get great public standing. It all comes together when he makes a deal with the crime boss Grandi, who double crosses him when he’s of no use. 

        One thing that I found interesting character wise was of Menzies. He’s the only close associate to Vargas as Miguel doesn’t entirely trust Hank or his guys. Menzies tries to balance his kinship to the main authority heads that it honestly feels like a balancing act between helping Vargas and being in Hank’s good graces. He shows just how a person who’s doing a balancing act, slowly reveals who he really is. 

2. The Elephant in The Room

        Just by judging the poster on the very top, you know full well that Charlton Heston isn’t a Mexican or Hispanic in anyway. In one way, I can understand that this film is also a problem film, something where its presentation was okay at the time but not okay presently. Context is really needed when talking about these films since some things get lost in the shuffle or people are willingly want to “cancel” something without doing any due diligence. 

        The only reason Heston was casted in the film was that he was a hot commodity at the time. This was right after he performed as Moses in The Ten Commandments. And just before he reached that apex of excellence with Ben-Hur. Heston joined the movie since Welles was also attached to the movie. He even wanted Orson to direct the movie, which the studio abided by. The only catch is that Welles wasn’t paid as a director. 

        So, this is really a tough one to examine since it has that glaring aspect to it. It works in a narrative sense since it showcases the racism that happens. It juxtaposes Vargas being the good cop and Hank being the corrupt cop who sneers and belittles anyone who isn’t his skin color. Right down by stating that ‘border towns bring the worst in people.’. The movie isn’t progressive in the least bit but has the thing it has going for it. Which is having the element of showing how one place can show people who they really are. 

3. Overall

        Touch of Evil is considered the last of the black and white film noir movies. It’s a classic from Orson Welles and a product of its time. 

Double Indemnity Review

        We’re in March now, and I’ve decided to spice it up this time around. Years prior I talked about the movies that I’ve seen that were generally well liked. Not a specific overarching theme, but just quality movies and what I thought about them. This time, I’ve decided to talk about a certain style of film. If you remember way back around three years ago, I only ever talked about one film noir movie. Sunset Boulevard is my favorite, but I’ve decided to look at more and that’s what I’ll be talking about. Specifically, the movie that is considered the definitive example of film noir, Double Indemnity. 

1. Film Noir

        So you may be wondering what exactly is film noir? Well, to be exact since it was taught to me back in my college years that film noir isn’t a sub-genre. More so that it’s a style of filmmaking that was pushing the envelope of what it could get away with back in the early 20th century. Typically these stories include a person getting roped into a plan by a woman. And just seeing the after effects spill out as the main character gets into more trouble. While some films follow the basic outlines, others diversified by focusing on the corruption on institutions that were considered polished. 

        Double Indemnity at the time, broke the mold of what the style of film noir could be. Mind you film noir was already in vogue prior to this film coming out. Just the way it handled the characters and the story really changed everything. To begin with, we follow the insurance salesman Walter as he walks into his office to record a confession. He recounts how he wound up in the mess by meeting a woman named Phyllis. They flirt, and they devised a plan to trigger an insurance claim to get rich. 

        Sounds simple enough, except for the fact that Walter’s co-worker and friend Keyes starts to sniff out the obvious fraud that is being presented. Where to begin with this one. Well, it’s one of those rare films to have a non-linear way of storytelling. Everything that we’re being shown is narrated by Walter, even in the moments where he explains to his accomplice about the necessary steps to execute their plan. 

        I think this film works on multiple levels, but I’ll focus on two. For one thing, this film is sort of like an anti-romance film. Since it has that angle where the two main characters flirt, but all that is peeled off when we realize that they’re cold and greedy. It’s ironic in a way since Walter was just there to sell some insurance. Then gets smitten by Phyllis and the rabbit hole of easy money gets to them as they plot the insurance claim.

        Additionally, Walter presents himself as intelligent, but his weakness is Phyllis. I’ll talk about her since she is the show stealer in the film. Anyways, while Walter is smart enough to elaborately plan out his next steps, he’s green. Moments upend him when his coworker starts to realize that the new claim that they’re assigned to is easily a crime. 

        This is where I consider this film to also be a proto-thriller in a sense. We’re watching two bad people commit this crime and having this anxiety that Keyes is almost close to pinning the whole thing on Walter. While the anxiety part doesn’t mostly involve him, but when Walter gets spotted by a witness when he’s interrogated. Like it’s been a while that I’ve seen the film, but that moment where Walter is spotted gives me that feeling where he’s a goner. It’s those moments that really lay out that Walter is practically playing a delicate role of being an innocent and just being coy about the whole thing.

2. Femme Fatale

        With any film noir movie, you got to have a femme fatale. That’s the official title for the female character who’s mostly the antagonist. And of course, she looks like a bombshell. That first moment when she’s wrapped around in a towel practically laid a trap on Walter. It’s one of those things where you wouldn’t think much of her. Until she asks about the different insurance claims involving death, is when we see who she really is. 

        Phyllis remains the key example of being the femme fatale, just by her being attractive and using Walter for her own needs really makes her into a conniving villain. Not moustache twirling in any sense, but how she practically plays into Walter’s wants and is willing to kill a man for the sake of lust and greed. The moment when Walter can’t get the smell of her perfume from her mind, really makes her into a black widow of sorts. 

        Overall, her character arc is interesting to see as we see or hear more into who she is as a character. It’s not revealed until later that she was responsible for another death that Walter was not aware of. The whole action makes her calculating and a hustler for sure. One last thing is that she can sell a performance. This comes as she is questioned by Keyes about the insurance claim that she gets emotional and accuses them of claiming her to be a criminal.  

3. Legacy

        The film was a massive success when it came out and was nominated heavily during the Oscars, which won none. It was surprising to me that it was loosely based on a book, which was loosely based on an actual crime that was committed. Aside from that, many imitators tried to cash in on the success of Double Indemnity. Not until other films that were film noir became their own things such as Gilda or The Lady from Shanghai to name a few.

        It only made sense that Sunset Boulevard is sort of like a spiritual successor to this film. That film had the basic tenets of noir down but went in a different direction in terms of story. Since the narrator was already dead, albeit elaborating on his own death as it happened. Other than that, Double Indemnity laid the groundwork for the director to go into a different angle with the film noir aesthetic. 

4. Overall 

        Double Indemnity is an absolute classic from the 40s. Its black and white look gives it that unique take that can’t be imitated in its time or after.

Pearl Harbor Review

        It’s the end of February and I’ve decided to spice it up a bit. Back in January, I wanted to do a comparison of The Godfather Part 3 and it’s 2020 recut. I feel it’s appropriate now to talk about a great historical romantic drama and a bad historical romantic drama. With the success of Titanic, it sent a ripple among Hollywood that some movies had to include a romance angle, even if it didn’t call for it. Pearl Harbor is one of those films. It’s a second Michael Bay movie I’m talking about now. And boy let me tell you it’s bad. 

1. Two Pilots and a Nurse

        Right as the movie starts, I honestly thought that the movie would just be about two friends. We follow Rafe and Danny as they’re highly gifted pilots for the Army. These two are the closest best friends where one of them defends the other from their drunken father. Aside from that, we really don’t get to know them. Well, except for Rafe who sometimes says in his dialogue that he’s a pilot and that’s his entire life. 

        This is from the Michael Bay school of characters where the characters have little to no depth at all. As I mentioned earlier, Rafe’s whole life is predicated on just flying. It’s his pride and joy and when given the choice to fight in Europe. He does exactly that and we have moments where he engages the Nazi’s in aerial dogfights. Now, just reading that, what exactly does that moment have to do with Pearl Harbor?

        I’ll get to that. I think, since there’s so much baggage that this movie has where I honestly think that watching it made me madder at it as a film. But I digress. We’re then introduced to Evelyn, alongside her fellow nurses as they’re transferred to Hawaii. Along the train ride, the new nurse tells her story on how she met Rafe. I think in one way, the film tried to do two things when she’s explaining the story. One is having her telling the story, and the other is when we’re shown that. 

        It tries to do the double duty, but I think it’s part of the film’s problem. Pacing is one of the film’s biggest problems. For one thing we don’t get a smooth transition when it comes to seeing what’s happening. We sort of just jump from one thing to another. Everything feels abrupt when we focus on the Japanese to the main characters. Like we have one scene when the enemy is planning the attack, then transition to a romance scene. 

        Compounding it is the overall runtime of the movie. Like, that whole moment when we follow Affleck’s character in Europe could’ve been cut. It’s inconsequential when it’s obvious that the main characters are going to see the actual attack. There’s so much padding in the film where it’s going about the laziest way to be an epic war film. Like with Cuba Gooding Jr.’s character, his whole story could’ve been an entirely different movie. It just feels shoehorned in to give the actual invasion gravitas. Or just making it more impactful.

        Lastly, the whole romance in the movie doesn’t work at all. I can understand when one of the friends hooks up with the love interest, but it just feels a bit wonky. One thing to make it work is chemistry, and this movie is missing that. Having two male leads loving one woman could’ve been more impactful. Although, the dialogue just ruins all moments of relating to the characters and the level of intimacy we see. We have this juxtaposition of masculinity and romantic intimacy clash that it literally is the film’s ultimate flaw. It’s literally putting a cube in a round hole, but forcing it enough where it fits. 

2. Historical Inaccuracy 

        The biggest sin for any historical film is to be completely inaccurate in terms of its subject matter and in the time of the event taking place. This movie is guilty of being associated with that. It’s obvious that it’s trying to be the masculine version of Titanic. With the backdrop of war and a friendship surviving an attack. Including the love interest who’s just there. I don’t mean to be misogynistic but that’s kind of how the film comes off to me. It would’ve been interesting to have a budding friendship nearly torn apart due to a woman and then come together as a way to stop the Japanese. 

        That’s one way the film could’ve been fixed. But the person who directed it was clearly so wrong for the role. Not to list the many historical problems since the official Pearl Harbor website listed some. And there’s more but I’ll leave it to that. The film treats the whole invasion as an unexpected attack. There’s no level of anxiety of something incoming when the characters are on the island. Like part of it feels boring since the characters don’t have that much depth to care. 

        Now we can talk about the actual bombing run. How it’s presented is an impressive feat of camera work and stunt work. But even with just how much explosions are shown when the Japanese bomb the battleships, it all just feels hollow. The way it’s shown is way too stylized and has that distinct Michael Bay flair to it. Especially when we have those moments when the regular civilians see the planes coming in. 

        The missed opportunity the movie has going for it was that it was rated PG-13. For such a turning point in World War 2, we see just a tamed version of how much is shown. Now, I don’t want to compare it with Saving Private Ryan due to superiority of the latter, but I’m going to. Ryan doesn’t shy away from the level of violence, but it wasn’t exaggerated. In this movie, it’s just eye candy seeing it and not having the sailors die gruesomely. 

        The whole movie could’ve been like a tension filled disaster movie. But it borders on action movie when we see the follow up retaliation attack on Japan. Even with me deciding what type of movie it could’ve been, it begs the question of why it was made. I can excuse any historical movie for being partly inaccurate. At least at the expense of telling the story and to shorten the actual event in the movie’s time. But I wouldn’t want a historical war movie be inaccurate to the point where it’s insulting to historians or veterans.

3. Overall

        With all that, Pearl Harbor is bad. I felt insulted watching it and it’s one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen.  

Titanic Review

        Titanic is one of the highest grossing movies of all time. No one at the time could’ve imagined that a romantic movie would gross a billion dollars in the late 90s. To put into perspective, this was before any superhero or an existing IP would dominate the box office in the 2000s or 2010s. In one way, it would’ve been too easy to make a movie on just the sinking of the ship. Adding a romantic side gave what could seemingly be a plain disaster movie the extra oomph that audiences weren’t expecting. 

1. Jack and Rose

        I get this feeling that the movie works simply for the fact that it fuses two different genres into one picture. Of course, the love angle steals the show. As well as the actual sinking of the ship, which I will get to don’t you worry. So, about the romance part. To me, it works in the film’s favor since it must be more than the actual event in question. 

        So, we mostly follow through Rose’s recollections about her being on the ship. Technically, we start with the sea explorers’ journey to get the famous necklace that is believed to be in the wreckage. Rose’s gets wind of the news and decides to tell the explorers the connection between her and the ship. This is one of the rarest films to be shown in a non-chronological order. 

        Right from the start, we see that Rose isn’t in a good place even though she’s living in high society. It’s ironic since she doesn’t believe in it and has a fiancée that is way to controlling and is just a plain dick. When she finally meets Jack, it’s the main highlight in the whole film. You believe the chemistry since he really allows her to break out of that snobbish role. Right down to inviting her to the lower decks party. Even teaching her how to hock a loogie. 

        The best scene that involves Jack is when he’s invited to the dinner along with Rose’s family. He feels out of his league, but Kathy Bates’ Molly helps him gain his confidence and really express himself with how he lives his life. He juxtaposes his rough and tumble ways with the affluent by just being someone who’s just trying to live. And it was a neat twist that it was him that sketched that portrait of Rose.

        As Old Rose is telling the story, it works in the film’s benefit since we get to contrast between the explorers and to the people who were in the ship. From how I see it, the crew of the Russian exploration ship are way too greedy about getting the prized necklace for profit. Even though the main captain states that he’s trying to preserve and save the artifacts. Not to say that they’re the baddies, Rose’s narration to her story really has them captivated.

        Like you couldn’t have gotten better actors than Leo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet to portray these two characters. As I mentioned before, their chemistry in the film works since it has that level of depth to them. It’s needed in this dynamic film where the runtime isn’t a factor. It’s three hours sure, but their relationship holds us over. Especially when the actual event happens, you want them to survive. In a way, their relationship is romantic and tragic. 

2. Titanic

        This wasn’t the first time that the ship was the focus for a film. At the time when the film came out, it was only the 11th film to be about the disaster. Some of them had the drama angle to them, while the others were a documentary and a propaganda film. It’s interesting to note that James Cameron is the director of the film. He was already an established director with his films The Terminator, Aliens, and Terminator 2: Judgement Day. His slate was mostly related to action films but credited with the smart action in his movies and overall ingenuity. I think it was during that moment where he wanted to do something different and stray away from what he was known for. Nothing wrong with that, and I can see his fascination with underwater when looking at clips from his underrated film The Abyss. 

        I give him credit since he went all the way to create the Titanic with a mixture of realism and special effects. You really feel like you’re in the time period when the ship takes off and being surrounded by the affluent of the vessel. The set design looks gorgeous and authentic to the time. This is when you have a director really care about the work to make sure that no shortcuts were taken when describing this story. Especially seeing the inner mechanism at work that powers up the ship’s engine.

        With all that squared away, let’s talk about the sinking of the ship. Let’s be honest, if the relationship aspect didn’t sell you or you just weren’t enthralled by it. Perhaps the ship sinking got you going. It’s like finally, after 2 hours the action starts to take shape. But before I talk about that, I want to connect the ship sinking with the Russian exploration ship. I feel that when Rose is telling the story, people want to know about the necklace, but hear how she survived. 

Then when she goes more in depth, people are just fascinated with her when she explains her relationship to Jack just before the ship collides with the iceberg. I can interpret the ship’s crew with the audience since they’re sold in with the romance that they represent us as to see just how the romantic duo will survive. 

        I just absolutely love how carefully crafted the sinking is handled in the film. It only took approximately two hours for the Titanic to sink and rip apart. Cameron perfectly showed that when we see the water gradually rise in the bowels of the ship. This is also where we get to see the film transition from a romantic one to a disaster film. It would’ve been exploitive to just focus on the disaster without any form of humanity. 

        And by humanity, we see in this event how far people go to survive. It doesn’t shy away just how desperate people can be. Through the violence and the desperation shows just the true nature of the disaster. I really like the special effects of the ship breaking apart and the people trying to get the higher ground. It’s shocking to see just how many people jumped into the freezing waters and get shot due to the flawed way the crew handled the evacuation.

        The whole disaster angle is just the background in terms of the romance aspect of the film. While the film takes place on the infamous vessel, people might be confused as to why not show the reason as to why the ship met its fate. It’s not about that but show just how far the couple survives aboard in the midst of danger. The whole romance can be applicable in any disastrous event but fits in the Titanic when one of them survives to tell the story.  

3. Legacy

        It’s shocking that this movie was for a while the highest grossing movie of all time. I can only assume that the events of the film really resonated with the general audience that they each got something out of the movie. As I mentioned earlier, the film appealed to a variety of people. And I feel that it was the last of the epic films. Meaning that the film has a massive cast, which it does, only to serve as the life that the Titanic had. 

        To this day, the film has a dedicated following whenever James Cameron releases the film to coincide with its anniversary. Especially putting in the correct star map as it was during the fateful night. More so that he made a documentary about him diving down to see the actual wreckage with his crew under the sea. 

        And it’s an accomplishment where Cameron has multiple films break the billion-dollar mark with this one and his Avatar films. It’s clear that he has a knack of creating exciting worlds and to really transport people into said worlds with interesting characters. He understands how to make a movie that appeals to anyone, without it feeling too niche or too genre specific. One last thing is that for some reason, Italy holds the dubious honor of releasing three animated Titanic movies. They’re bad, just bad. 

4. Overall

        Titanic is classic film by every stretch. The time doesn’t feel long in the least bit when you’re following the couple and seeing the actual event.