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My Darling Clementine, a review by Antares

My Darling Clementine





Year: 1946
Film Studio: Twentieth Century Fox Film, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Genre: Western
Length: 96 Min.

Director
John Ford (1894)

Writing
Samuel G. Engel (1904)...Screenwriter
Winston Miller (1910)...Screenwriter
Sam Hellman (1885)...Story By

Producer
Samuel G. Engel (1904)

Cinematographer
Joseph MacDonald (1906)

Music
Cyril J. Mockridge (1896)...Composer

Stars
Henry Fonda (1905) as Wyatt Earp
Linda Darnell (1923) as Chihuahua
Victor Mature (1913) as Dr. John 'Doc' Holliday
Cathy Downs (1924) as Clementine Carter
Walter Brennan (1894) as Old Man Clanton
Tim Holt (1918) as Virgil Earp
Ward Bond (1903) as Morgan Earp
Alan Mowbray (1896) as Granville Thorndyke

ReviewMy Darling Clementine is that John Wayne is nowhere to be found. I find that a lot of the films they made together tended to be rather formulaic, corny and a little boring. My Darling Clementine is quite the opposite, starring Henry Fonda and the always versatile Walter Brennan, Ford takes his shot at the often told tale of the legendary gunfight at the OK corral. Aside from Jesse James, I think this is the one event which has been brought to the screen in more variations than any other in history.

       Fonda stars as famed ex-lawman Wyatt Earp, a man that wants to make a new start out west in the cattle industry. But upon reaching the lawless town of Tombstone Arizona, he is forced to re-enter his former line of work after his brother is murdered and his livestock rustled by the ever cantankerous and downright mean-spirited Ike Clanton (Walter Brennan). What ensues is a classic chess match between the two adversaries as each tries to get the upper hand on the other and assert their own form of control over the town.

       What helps the film stay on course and remain interesting throughout is that Ford never reverts to making the film satisfy every member of the audience. He had a penchant for doing this in many of his other westerns, primarily the films starring Wayne. You could always count on at least one or two scenes that were added to the film that were put there to add homespun charm to the films atmosphere. For example; in The SearchersFort Apache we get the scene where the Irish sergeants are given orders to destroy contraband whiskey and they come up with the predictable idea of how to get rid of it all.

       Thankfully none of these unessential scenes are in My Darling Clementine and the suspense builds up to the climatic final showdown. There have been many countless interpretations of what really happened at the OK corral, and although Fords version is highly fabricated, of all the films that have been made on this subject and event, his is the most exciting.


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

(From My Darling Clementine (1946) on July 27th, 2010)

Kokuriko-zaka Kara, a review by Danae Cassandra

Kokuriko-zaka Kara (From Up On Poppy Hill)
Year of Release: 2011
Directed By: Goro Miyazaki
Starring: Masami Nagasawa, Jun'ichi Okada or Sarah Bolger, Anton Yelchin
Genre: Drama, Romance

Overview:
From the legendary Studio Ghibli, creators of Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle and The Secret World of ArriettyMy Thoughts:
This was a beautiful film, with a lovely, sweet feeling to it, combining a bit of nostalgia with a hopeful spirit and thought of the future.  I thought the characters were particularly good - Umi and Shun are pretty well-developed, but even the minor characters have little quirks that make them memorable.

Unlike most of the other films from Studio Ghibli, this is set squarely in the real world - no touches of fantasy here.  It's a sort of everyday life kind of film.  Umi does her chores, goes to school, and misses her father, who was lost at sea.  Shun helps his dad on his boat, goes to school, and works on the school newspaper.  Together with the many of the rest of the student body, they set out to save a beloved old building on their campus.  In their relationship with each other, they discover things about themselves.  It's really a simple little film, sweet, calm and romantic.  The animation and character design are what you expect from Ghibli:  clean and beautiful, with that characteristic Ghibli look.  Nobody does it like they do.

While there's nothing offensive, I'd wait for children to be a bit older to show it to them - little ones wouldn't appreciate it.  Think 9 to 10 and up.  It's also a lovely film for adults - our audience of five included three in the mid 20's, one late 30's and one late 60's.  The dub wasn't bad either, though I'm looking forward to watching it again with subtitles.  Easily recommended for just about anyone.

Bechdel Test:  Pass

Overall:  3.75/5

(From Kokuriko-zaka Kara (From Up On Poppy Hill) on September 27th, 2013)

Pilot Season 2014-15, a review by DJ Doena

Welcome to Sweden



Welcome to Sweden @ Wikipedia
Welcome to Sweden @ IMDb

Synopsis: This series is modelled after some of the experiences of Amy Poehler's (Parks and Recreation) brother Greg.
Here Bruce (Greg Poehler) is an American celebrity accountant who moves to Sweden with his girlfriend to her home country of Sweden and suddenly he is the foreigner in a land with different customs and languages.

My Opinion: Since the US seems to live in the binary system of a show either being a drama or a comedy this falls into the latter category.
It is actually not that funny if you ask me but I still like it nonetheless.
Why? Because you have countless jokes based on "foreigner from country X comes to America" in many different shows and movies but this time it's the American who has to adapt and learn that life is different in other countries.
It's a fish out of water story for both the main character and (I assume) the American audience who (like previously established on shows like Heroes) also have to adapt to people actually speaking Swedish half the time (with English subs of course).
I really do like it, I'm just not sure I'd qualify it as a comedy.



(From Pilot Season 2014-15 on September 14th, 2014)