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A Face in the Crowd, a review by Antares

A Face in the Crowd





Year: 1957
Film Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures, Newtown Productions
Genre: Drama, Classic
Length: 126 Min.

Director
Elia Kazan (1909)

Writing
Budd Schulberg (1914)...Story
Budd Schulberg (1914)...Screenplay

Producer
Elia Kazan (1909)

Cinematographer
Gayne Rescher (1924)
Harry Stradling Sr. (1901)

Music
Tom Glazer (1914)...Composer

Stars
Andy Griffith (1926) as Larry 'Lonesome' Rhodes
Patricia Neal (1926) as Marcia Jeffries
Anthony Franciosa (1928) as Joey DePalma
Walter Matthau (1920) as Mel Miller
Lee Remick (1935) as Betty Lou Fleckum
Percy Waram (1880) as Gen. Haynesworth
Paul McGrath (1904) as Macey
Rod Brasfield (1910) as Beanie

Review
       In 1976, the movie Network shocked audiences with its dark and cynical message about corporations using the mass media to sway and influence the mass population. Critics praised it for being a prophetic statement of the times that we were living in. Forgotten through all this hype, was that a film which had been released almost twenty years earlier, had basically told the same story.

       A Face in the CrowdOn the Waterfront to justify his position before the committee; now in 1957 he took aim at the apparatus, which had stoked the fires of paranoia and fear across the country.
 
       To make the story more believable, he decided to use a newcomer to movies to play his main character. Andy Griffith had been playing on Broadway in the comedy No Time for Sergeants and was known only to a small minority who had heard his comedy record. Lonesome Rhodes would be the character that would prove that Griffith was no country bumpkin, but a talented dramatic actor. Three years later he would shoot to fame and find immortality on TV as Sheriff Andy Taylor from the pastoral hometown of Mayberry.

       If you only know Andy Griffith from this role or from his stint as Ben Matlock, then you need to check out his first foray in the film world. His performance will shock and delight you and hopefully get you to appreciate the underused talent that could have propelled him to fame as a versatile dramatic actor.


Ratings Criterion4 Stars - Historically important film, considered a classic.

(From A Face in the Crowd (1957) on February 11th, 2010)

Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, a review by Tom

Title: Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham
Year: 2001
Director: Karan Johar
Rating: FSK-6
Length: 210 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35
Audio: German: Dolby Digital Stereo, Hindi: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: German

Stars:
Amitabh Bachchan
Jaya Bachchan
Shah Rukh Khan
Kajol
Hrithik Roshan

Plot:
Yashovardhan Raichand (Amitabh Bachchan) and his wife Nandini (Jaya Bachchan) have raised their sons, Rahul (Shah Rukh Khan) and Rohan (Hrithik Roshan) showering them with love and affection. Yash has tried to pass on to his sons the values, heritage and traditions of their family. Nandini has different dreams for her sons. Dreams of love that she wanted both her sons to experience, more so Rahul as she shares a special bond with him. A bond that has been cultivated with love for a child that was never meant to be... a child who was adopted. Rahul's adoption was a secret never discussed in the Raichand household. Ever since Rahul found out at the age of 8 years, it became the reason for his unending gratitude for his parents- especially his father. His father's every wish became a command for him. A command which he never breaks until he falls in love with Anjali (Kajol)- a bubbly girl from Chandni Chowk, who dotes on her younger sister Pooja (Kareena Kapoor). Rahul marries Anjali and brings her home but his father doesn't approve of her. Rahul thus decides to leave home causing his mother's every waking moment to be spent eagerly awaiting his return. Seeing this the younger son Rohan makes a promise to reunite the family and bring back the happiness they once shared.

Awards:

Filmfare Awards	2002	Nominated	Best Actor Award	Shahrukh Khan
Filmfare Awards	2002	Won	Best Actress Award	Kajol
Filmfare Awards	2002	Won	Best Art Direction Award	Sharmishta Roy
Filmfare Awards	2002	Won	Best Dialogue Award	Karan Johar
Filmfare Awards	2002	Nominated	Best Supporting Actor Award	Hrithik Roshan
Filmfare Awards	2002	Nominated	Best Supporting Actor Award	Amitabh Bachchan
Filmfare Awards	2002	Nominated	Best Supporting Actress Award	Kareena Kapoor
Filmfare Awards	2002	Won	Best Supporting Actress Award	Jaya Bachchan
IIFA Awards	2002	Won	Best Male Playback	Sonu Nigam
IIFA Awards	2002	Won	Best Supporting Actress	Jaya Bachchan

Extras:
Scene Access

I watched this movie first of the three newly purchased Bollywood movies, as this one is the longest of the three. It goes three and half hours (currently the longest movie in my collection, beating out "Das Boot: Director's Cut" by ten minutes). Strange, that I always dread watching Hollywood movies which are more than two hours long, but I do not mind Bollywood movies taking this long. As a matter of fact I already think, that when a Bollywood movie is less than two and half hours long, then something is wrong with it
This movie started out a little too boring except for a few really fun scenes. But almost at the one hour mark, it really picked up for me and I really enjoyed the remaining two and half hours.
The movie is about a family, where one of the sons (Shah Rukh Khan) is outcast, because he fell in love with a common girl instead of marrying into an arranged marriage. The son moves with his new wife to London. Ten years later, his now grown up brother (Hrithik Roshan) follows him and is staying at his brother's without telling him who he really is. And his mission is to reconcile the father with his enstranged son.
This is now the first movie I saw with Shah Rukh Khan, who is a real superstar in Bollywood movies. And I am glad that I liked him, because he is also the star in the other two Bollywood movies I have bought.
And again we have a lot of beautiful women
In the beginning it was hard to keep track of who is who and how to keep them apart. But later on, only two of these women were relevant and these two are easily distinguishable.
Hrithik Roshan (who was the star in the first two Bollywood movie that I saw), again did a great performance. The only problem I have with him now is, that since I first noticed, that the has two thumbs on his right hand, I always seek out his hand when it's in the pictures. It's a little distracting. And they do not even bother one bit to hide this in any of his movies. I think they are right to just ignore this instead of constantly trying to hide it, but it is destracting nonetheless. You can see it, for example, a few times in the music video I posted with my Krrish review.

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on July 9th, 2009)

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: The Complete Second Season marathon, a review by Achim

22. BORN TO RUN
The Connors come face-to-face with Weaver in a confrontation that shakes John to the core and changes his fate forever.

My Comments:
I didn't see any of this coming. Some of it was hinted at, probably more than once. Also a big surprise was how little action there was. I enjoyed every second of this episode (except for the very last one, actually), a perfect blend of character moments, emotion, action, funny moments.

An excellent finish, which ends the series properly and makes good sense; although it had me think to get most details of it. ...I obviously struggle to write about this one as I feel anything could be a spoiler and all of it deserves to be experienced fresh when viewed for the first time. (Yes, we spoiled most other episodes, but somehow for this one it feels different.)



(From Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: The Complete Second Season marathon on March 5th, 2010)