jz3532

This is the 4th Charlie Chaplin film I have seen, and he continues to amaze me. All of the amazing things he was able to do long before modern technology blows my mind. Besides Modern Times (one of my all time favorites) I think this is his most impressive work.

The Gold Rush follows the Tramp and his run ins with a convict, a successful prospector, and a beautiful woman during the search for gold in the Klondike gold rush. While this isn't my favorite film of his, I do think it is the best portrayal of the tramp I have yet to see. In other films, the tramp is just an average guy who falls victim to a domino effect of incredible coincidences, but in this film he has much more detailed emotions. You feel truly happy when he wins, and very sad when he doesn't. There is one scene in particular that was extremely emotional due to great performances from both Chaplin and the leading lady, Georgia Hale. This is stuff you don't normally get of of Chaplin films, and I loved it.

Along with the acting, this film had great practical effects, especially for the 1920s, particularly the two main scenes in the cabin. Both of these scenes show the incredibly physical acting that Chaplin can do. I can't imagine how hard it must be to pretend a house is slanted, and he did it perfectly. I also believe this film originated the 'I'm hungry so I think my friend is food' gag, and it is the only film I've seen that has done it successfully.

Overall this film had great performances, great practical effects, and that special Chaplin charm only he can achieve. This film is fantastic, and anyone who has enjoyed any of Charlie Chaplin's other films, should really check this one out.

(This review was originally written on Movie Forums Sept. 29th 2015)

Sita Sings the Blues is probably one of the strangest movies I have ever seen. I decided to take a break from the Disney classics nominated for the Animated Musicals HoF, and chose to watch one of the more obscure films. During this viewing experience I learned about the Ramayana, learned about the story of Sita and Rama, and listened to some 1920's jazz music, and for the most part, it was very enjoyable.

In the film, three narrators tell the story of Rama and his beautiful wife Sita as they are banished into the woods for 14 years. There is also a side story about to lovers in a long- distance relationship, one in India, and one in New York. The movie had three main styles of animation. A flash animation used to tell the story of Sita, a more generic 2D animation used for the three narrators, and a very crude animation used for the long distance lovers that greatly reminded me of It's Such a Beautiful Day.

In my opinion the best part of the film was the conversations between the narrators. The director chose not to cut out the banter between them and even left in mistakes that they made telling the story. The actual story of Sita was where all of the musical number took place, and I was surprised to see that there was no original music. All of the music in the film were songs sung by Annette Hanshaw in the 1920s. It was very interesting to see that there was an almost perfect Annette Hanshaw song for practically every event that takes place in the story. The New York couple was OK, but in my opinion, could have been cut out of the film completely.

I surprisingly found myself really enjoying Sita Sings the Blues. I thought it was a very original, unique, and creative idea for a film, and it was very fun to watch. The story was interesting, the songs were fun, and animation was great. This film is absolutely worth a watch.

(This review was originally written on Movie Forums June 28th 2015)

I was neves a huge fan of the Mission: Impossible franchise. The only other installment in the series I had seen was Ghost Protocol and I would probably just describe it as "meh". So when my friends and I decided to go see Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, I was expecting that same meh quality, but I was pleasantly surprised.

The film follows Ethan Hunt, who is forced to track down the Syndicate, a network of highly skilled operatives who are dedicated to establishing a new world order. He and his team must also face the CIA, after the IMF is disbanded. The biggest problem I had with the movie was the use of exposition. Many of the scenes were just people talking to each other, and over-explaining the plot. This is something that frequently occurs in action movies, and is the biggest issue with the genre. What I enjoyed about films like Mad Max: Fury Road is that it knew it was an action movie, and didn't have a large amount of boring talking scenes, just action. I enjoyed the characters, even though they were very clichéd. My favorite character in the film was Simon Pegg's I thought he was the most unique, and was much easier to relate to than Ethan Hunt. I am glad he got more screen time in this film than in Ghost Protocol.

The thing that this film by far does the best is action. Everyone has now heard of Tom Cruise hanging on to a plane, but there were also many other fun action sequences I was glad they didn't spoil in the trailer. My favorite scene in the movie was the opera scene. I loved how we were discovering what was happening while it was happening. They realized the audience was smart enough that they didn't have to explain to us what was going on, something many action movies do. I also enjoyed the underwater sequence, even though it was very cheesy and over-the-top. I also tried and miserably failed to hold my breath along with Tom Cruise. The car/motorcycle chases were also fun.

I would not go to this film if you are expecting anything more than a good time. If you liked any of the other Mission:Impossible films, you will like this one. I thought it was done well, or at least could have been done a lot worse.

(This review was originally written on Movie Forums August 2nd 2015)