My Top10

My top eleven favorite movies:

1. Stand By Me
2. Sound of Music
3. August Rush
4. The Lion King
5. The Notebook
6. Moulin Rouge
7. The Green Mile
8. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
9. The Dark Knight
10. Fame
11. Strangers With Candy

Citizen Kane

Nominated for nine Academy Awards in nine categories, one Best Original Screenplay award, and AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies list. It was also the first feature film directed by Orson Welles. He also was the main character. Citizen Kane...voted by some critics as the best film of all time. I say not quite. Citizen Kane showed great acting, interesting but strange plot and great symbolism. I give it a 4 out of 5 stars.

Citizen Kane is an American Drama film about a young man who got into the publishing business with good intentions and slowly developed into, what some would say, a monster. The deterioration first starts as he gets power hungry and controls his newspaper to work things his way. Partly into the movie, he also cheats on his first wife, Mary Kane (Agnes Moorehead). The girl he cheats with seems to very nice and innocent. Susan Alexander marries him and she mentions how she wanted to be an Opra singer. With good intentions, Kane wanted to make her happy but tried to do it buy buying her happiness. Slowly it became an obsession in which he would manipulate the papers and force her into something she didn't desire. This begins to destroy yet another relationship and pushes more people away. It gets to the point where he has no life and he stays with susan in their giant castle. Eventually she leaves at which point he loses it and his last word is "rosebud".

All of this is pieced together through flashbacks from the present in which a reporter by the name of Jerry Thompson, William Alland, tries to find the missing pieces to the puzzle of Kanes life. The idea of the flashback was one reason i believe that people thought it was so good. It was something new and very interesting. The film truly felt like a puzzle you had to piece together.

Looking back to the acting, i would say the acting in this film was very good. Orson Welles starred as Charles Foster Kane in this American Drama in which a man with a career in the publishing world goes from idealistic views to being power hungry. He truly put all he had in it. This could be seen because he showed ruthless power and a sort of evil. Towards the end of the movie, his desperation with the second wife (Susan Alexander Kane) leaving him was very good. It really made you creeped out by his need for her like he would die without her. It was also incredibly sad to think that his life had slowly deteriorated like it did.

Another great performance was held by Dorothy Comingore who played as Susan Alexander Kane. Throughout the movie she showed the slow change from a nice young woman into a bitter alcoholic. A very sad transition it was but shown extremely well. She showed a lot of passion and hate towards the end of the film.

Another reason for it being so successful i believe was because of the symbolism and filming techniques. Welles used some harsh sounds and strange things that seemed out of place, but they actually set the tone for some scenes making it a better effect. The word "rosebud" also really made you think and even when you found the answer to what it meant, you thought more about Kane's life. The little moments he wanted and didnt have really puts things into perspective and the story seemed more sad than anything else.

Overall, it is a good film. It tied together nicely with the great acting, symbolism and plot. Not a movie I would watch regularly but still very interesting. Four out of Five is what i give it. The acting and the meaning behind it really stuck out the most. It was sad and really made me think.

Favorite Quotes:

"You know, Mr. Bernstein, if I hadn't been very rich, I might have been a really great man." ~Charles Foster Kane

"I'm Charles Foster Kane! I'm no cheap, crooked politician" ~Charles Foster Kane

Ben Hur Podcast

I gave Ben-Hur 4.5 out of 5 stars.

http://www.box.net/shared/lm3pg11yd4

http://www.box.net/shared/x17y7bgx78

~*Psycho*~

Loony, nuts, mad, insane, crazed, maniacal, deranged, disturbed....PSYCHO. One of the first horror films and also one of the first films to really expose psychotic behaviors. The psychopathic life has always been a mystery to us. The topic seems to invoke fear in people. The 1960's film was based on the book Psycho, written by Robert Bloch. The book was inspired by the crimes of Ed Gein, a serial killer from Wisconsin. Because of this, audiences were even more frightened. It wasn't just a movie, but almost a reality. Alfred Hitchcock directed the film and explored the realm of psychotic behaviors. Psycho defined film through, what appeared to be vulgarity at the time. It was a great film full of symbolism, anticipation, twists and excellent acting. Therefore, I give it 5 out of 5 stars. It was excellent and almost flawless.

First of all, the symbolism in this movie was very intersting. Throughout the movie there are little things that foreshadow and make the show twist into a different direction. The movie starts out with Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) talking with her boyfriend, about their future and how they could make things work to be together. Marion then ends up going to work and gets $10,000 put in her hand to deposit for her business. She gets an idea and moves quickly. She swiftly packed her things and headed out of town in hopes of using the money to have a life with her boyfriend. She encounters troubles when it starts to storm so she conveniently finds the Bates Motel. Up until this point, Alfred Hitchcock really made you feel rushed and scared in anticipation because of the music and the screen shots. You felt like she was always going to get caught, even when she was just driving down the road. This makes you think that the story is all about her and the stolen money, but the movie quickly twists and you realize that the Bates Motel and the owner have a much more important role. You first meet Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), a bachelor who lives with his mother and owns a run down hotel. That night after Marion talked to Norman, he left and she was murdered in her shower. The rest of the movie you try and figure out who killed her and if Normans mother is the killer or even exists.

The acting in this film was very impressive. Anthony Perkins really brought out the creeper psycho feeling of the film. He captured that akward, creepy feeling, that set off the horror of the film. Marion crane (Janet Leigh) was also a great actor in the film. She could bring out the antsy hurried feeling and you just seemed to like her from the beginning.

The infamous shower scene was also very intense. It left you with an unsafe akward feeling. Still, you were left with a sense of awe. The way it was played and the sudden nature of it really captivated you. Every second and movement was perfectly filmed and the whole scene was loaded with symbolism.

Overall, it was a great film. It had amazing acting. The actors totally gave it their all and really showed the personalities and feelings of each character. Psycho kept you on your seat with the anticipation, convincing actors, great storyline and twists. 5 out of 5, this movie was very well done.

Cast
Anthony Perkins...............Norman Bates

Vera Miles........................Lila Crane

John Gavin......................Sam Loomis

Martin Balsam..............Milton Arbogast

John McIntire................Deputy Sheriff Al Chambers

Simon Oakland...............Dr. Fred Richmond

Vaughn Taylor...................George Lowery

Frank Albertson................Tom Cassidy

Lurene Tuttle................Mrs. Chambers

Patricia Hitchcock..............Caroline (as Pat Hitchcock)

John Anderson....................California Charlie

Mort Mills........................Highway Patrol Officer

Janet Leigh......................Marion Crane