“If you want a
happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story.” - OrsonWelles
For Movie Monday, here are ten films I’ve watched all beginning with the letter “A”. They are all notable in some way and some of them are extremely enjoyable. See what you think of my list, and if you like, construct a similar list of titles of films you’ve seen and liked beginning with the letter of your choice!
Allegro non Troppo (1976; Italy) – An enthusiastic filmmaker thinks he’s come up with a totally original idea: Animation set to classical music! When he is informed that some American named “Prisney” (or something) has already done it, he decides to do his own version, using an orchestra comprised mostly of old ladies and an animator he’s kept locked in a dungeon. Several different classical pieces are animated, while the animator plots his escape. A humorous and rather whacky take on Disney’s “Fantasia” by Bruno Bozzetto.
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074121/)
America, America (1963; USA) – It is somewhere around 1900. We watch a young Greek who lives a miserable life in Turkey, selling ice in the town market. Although the Greeks are oppressed by the Turks, they refuse to leave the land of their ancestors. But, our hero has a different opinion: Sick of being humiliated in a daily basis, he decides to gather some money, and travel to Constantinoupolis. From there he will be able to fulfil his dream of “escaping” to America... A classic film by Elia Kazan.
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056825/)
Angels and Demons (2009; USA) – Despite his notorious relationship with the Church, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is once again called upon to decipher the clues to a catastrophic conspiracy. The Pope has died, and before conclave can begin to determine his successor, the four preferitti (primary hopefuls for the papacy) are kidnapped. An ominous threat of their hourly demise, along with the complete annihilation of Vatican City, is issued as an elaborate revenge scheme for a persecuted group known as the Illuminati. With their meagre time limit steadily counting down, Langdon, accompanied by beautiful physicist Vittoria Vetra, must travel throughout Rome to unravel the carefully hidden signs that will lead them to a terrifying adversary, a harrowing discovery, and the shocking truth. Ron Howard’s thriller, riding on the wake of “The Da Vinci Code”.
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0808151/)
Anna Karenina (1935; USA) – Clarence Brown’s version of the Tolstoy classic. This version of the novel lingers longer in Moscow during the weeks that follow the initial meeting of the starstruck lovers-to-be Vronsky and Anna Karenina. The story as it unfolds, also focuses on Kitty, a young woman who is related to Anna’s sister-in-law whose marital rift has brought Anna to Moscow. Until Anna shows up, Kitty had hopes of getting Vronsky, who is single and well connected, to propose to her. Ignored by Vronsky, Kitty turns her attention to another suitor, a man who seems to have a lot in common with Tolstoy.
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026071/)
Après Vous (2003; France) – Antoine is a maitre d’ in a Paris brasserie, ‘Chez Jean’, and is so very conscientious and so loves being of service to others that he can’t say ‘no’. Late for dinner with his girlfriend, Christine, he takes a shortcut home through the park but finds a stranger, Louis, in the act of committing suicide by hanging. Louis is distraught by the loss of his girlfriend, Blanche, and is so grateful that he attaches himself to Antoine. Antoine arranges a job for Louis - as a sommelier at ‘Chez Jean’ and sets about trying to repair Louis’ life... Light French comedy by Pierre Salvadori.
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0344604/)
Arsenic and Old Lace (1944; USA) – Mortimer Bruster is a newspaperman and author, known for his diatribes against marriage. We watch him getting married at city hall in the opening scene. Now all that is left to do is a quick trip home to tell Mortimer’s two maiden aunts the good news about the nuptials. While trying to break the news, he finds out his aunts’ hobby; killing lonely old men and burying them in the cellar. It gets worse for poor Mortimer… A classic, riotous farce from Frank Capra.
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036613/)
As it is in Heaven (2004; Sweden/Denmark) – A successful international conductor suddenly interrupts his career and returns alone to his childhood village in Norrland, in the far north of Sweden. It doesn’t take long before he is asked to come and listen to the fragment of a church choir, which practises every Thursday in the parish hall. “Just come along and give a little bit of good advice”, he is asked… He can’t say no, and from that moment, nothing in the village is the same again. The choir develops and grows. He makes both friends and enemies. And he finds love. A delightful romantic comedy from Kay Pollak.
(www.imdb.com/title/tt0382330/)
Atonement (2007; UK/France/USA) – Joe Wright’s dark tale of false accusations and childish piques that change the courses of several lives. When Briony Tallis, 13 years old and an aspiring writer, sees her older sister Cecilia and Robbie Turner at the fountain in front of the family estate she misinterprets what is happening thus setting into motion a series of misunderstandings and a childish pique that will have lasting repercussions for all of them. Robbie is the son of a family servant toward whom the family has always been kind. They paid for his time at Cambridge and now he plans on going to medical school. After the fountain incident, Briony reads a letter intended for Cecilia and concludes that Robbie is a deviant. When her cousin Lola is raped, she tells the police that it was Robbie she saw committing the deed…
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0783233/)
Autumn in New York (2000; USA) – A May-December romance. He’s 48, on the cover of New York magazine, an upscale restauranteur, and a womaniser who rejects ideas of love. She’s 22, living with her grandmother, artistic, facing a tumour that’s life-threatening, which she tells him about the morning after their first night, when he tells her not to expect permanence from him. Will finds Charlotte unprecedented and unpredictable, and experiences feelings of love, but she packs him off when he’s casually unfaithful. He’s stung, and he’s also flummoxed by the appearance of a young woman from his past. Can he convince Charlotte to take him back, and can he help her through her illness and change his irresponsible ways? A dark chick flick from Joan Chen
(www.imdb.com/title/tt0174480/)
Avanti! (1972; USA) - Wendell (Jack Lemmon) goes to Italy to pick up his father’s body after an automobile accident. He soon finds that his self-righteous elderly father had been having an affair with Pamela’s (Juliet Mills) mother for the past 10 years. The two parents were known as the model romantic couple at the hotel contrary to the image that the two offspring had of them. Wendell and Pamela embark on a journey where they discover who their parents were, but also learn much about themselves… Billy Wilder’s fond adieu to the 1960s romantic comedy genre.
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068240/)
For Movie Monday, here are ten films I’ve watched all beginning with the letter “A”. They are all notable in some way and some of them are extremely enjoyable. See what you think of my list, and if you like, construct a similar list of titles of films you’ve seen and liked beginning with the letter of your choice!
Allegro non Troppo (1976; Italy) – An enthusiastic filmmaker thinks he’s come up with a totally original idea: Animation set to classical music! When he is informed that some American named “Prisney” (or something) has already done it, he decides to do his own version, using an orchestra comprised mostly of old ladies and an animator he’s kept locked in a dungeon. Several different classical pieces are animated, while the animator plots his escape. A humorous and rather whacky take on Disney’s “Fantasia” by Bruno Bozzetto.
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074121/)
America, America (1963; USA) – It is somewhere around 1900. We watch a young Greek who lives a miserable life in Turkey, selling ice in the town market. Although the Greeks are oppressed by the Turks, they refuse to leave the land of their ancestors. But, our hero has a different opinion: Sick of being humiliated in a daily basis, he decides to gather some money, and travel to Constantinoupolis. From there he will be able to fulfil his dream of “escaping” to America... A classic film by Elia Kazan.
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056825/)
Angels and Demons (2009; USA) – Despite his notorious relationship with the Church, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is once again called upon to decipher the clues to a catastrophic conspiracy. The Pope has died, and before conclave can begin to determine his successor, the four preferitti (primary hopefuls for the papacy) are kidnapped. An ominous threat of their hourly demise, along with the complete annihilation of Vatican City, is issued as an elaborate revenge scheme for a persecuted group known as the Illuminati. With their meagre time limit steadily counting down, Langdon, accompanied by beautiful physicist Vittoria Vetra, must travel throughout Rome to unravel the carefully hidden signs that will lead them to a terrifying adversary, a harrowing discovery, and the shocking truth. Ron Howard’s thriller, riding on the wake of “The Da Vinci Code”.
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0808151/)
Anna Karenina (1935; USA) – Clarence Brown’s version of the Tolstoy classic. This version of the novel lingers longer in Moscow during the weeks that follow the initial meeting of the starstruck lovers-to-be Vronsky and Anna Karenina. The story as it unfolds, also focuses on Kitty, a young woman who is related to Anna’s sister-in-law whose marital rift has brought Anna to Moscow. Until Anna shows up, Kitty had hopes of getting Vronsky, who is single and well connected, to propose to her. Ignored by Vronsky, Kitty turns her attention to another suitor, a man who seems to have a lot in common with Tolstoy.
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026071/)
Après Vous (2003; France) – Antoine is a maitre d’ in a Paris brasserie, ‘Chez Jean’, and is so very conscientious and so loves being of service to others that he can’t say ‘no’. Late for dinner with his girlfriend, Christine, he takes a shortcut home through the park but finds a stranger, Louis, in the act of committing suicide by hanging. Louis is distraught by the loss of his girlfriend, Blanche, and is so grateful that he attaches himself to Antoine. Antoine arranges a job for Louis - as a sommelier at ‘Chez Jean’ and sets about trying to repair Louis’ life... Light French comedy by Pierre Salvadori.
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0344604/)
Arsenic and Old Lace (1944; USA) – Mortimer Bruster is a newspaperman and author, known for his diatribes against marriage. We watch him getting married at city hall in the opening scene. Now all that is left to do is a quick trip home to tell Mortimer’s two maiden aunts the good news about the nuptials. While trying to break the news, he finds out his aunts’ hobby; killing lonely old men and burying them in the cellar. It gets worse for poor Mortimer… A classic, riotous farce from Frank Capra.
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036613/)
As it is in Heaven (2004; Sweden/Denmark) – A successful international conductor suddenly interrupts his career and returns alone to his childhood village in Norrland, in the far north of Sweden. It doesn’t take long before he is asked to come and listen to the fragment of a church choir, which practises every Thursday in the parish hall. “Just come along and give a little bit of good advice”, he is asked… He can’t say no, and from that moment, nothing in the village is the same again. The choir develops and grows. He makes both friends and enemies. And he finds love. A delightful romantic comedy from Kay Pollak.
(www.imdb.com/title/tt0382330/)
Atonement (2007; UK/France/USA) – Joe Wright’s dark tale of false accusations and childish piques that change the courses of several lives. When Briony Tallis, 13 years old and an aspiring writer, sees her older sister Cecilia and Robbie Turner at the fountain in front of the family estate she misinterprets what is happening thus setting into motion a series of misunderstandings and a childish pique that will have lasting repercussions for all of them. Robbie is the son of a family servant toward whom the family has always been kind. They paid for his time at Cambridge and now he plans on going to medical school. After the fountain incident, Briony reads a letter intended for Cecilia and concludes that Robbie is a deviant. When her cousin Lola is raped, she tells the police that it was Robbie she saw committing the deed…
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0783233/)
Autumn in New York (2000; USA) – A May-December romance. He’s 48, on the cover of New York magazine, an upscale restauranteur, and a womaniser who rejects ideas of love. She’s 22, living with her grandmother, artistic, facing a tumour that’s life-threatening, which she tells him about the morning after their first night, when he tells her not to expect permanence from him. Will finds Charlotte unprecedented and unpredictable, and experiences feelings of love, but she packs him off when he’s casually unfaithful. He’s stung, and he’s also flummoxed by the appearance of a young woman from his past. Can he convince Charlotte to take him back, and can he help her through her illness and change his irresponsible ways? A dark chick flick from Joan Chen
(www.imdb.com/title/tt0174480/)
Avanti! (1972; USA) - Wendell (Jack Lemmon) goes to Italy to pick up his father’s body after an automobile accident. He soon finds that his self-righteous elderly father had been having an affair with Pamela’s (Juliet Mills) mother for the past 10 years. The two parents were known as the model romantic couple at the hotel contrary to the image that the two offspring had of them. Wendell and Pamela embark on a journey where they discover who their parents were, but also learn much about themselves… Billy Wilder’s fond adieu to the 1960s romantic comedy genre.
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068240/)
I have seen Atonement....excellent
ReplyDeleteApres Vous.....not too impressed
Anna Karenina the Sophie Marceau Anna...Wonderful
On the weekend saw C'est la Vie directed by Diane Kurys....Knock out ! Evidently it is the last part of a trilogy. You would love it. !
My scores for what I've watched:
ReplyDeleteAllegro not troppo - Fantastic! Very funny and poignant at times
Arsenic and old Lace - Wonderful old Hollywood farce, laughed my head off
Autumn in New York - Nyah... not my cup of tea, too soppy and saccharine sweet
Avanti! - Great! Good old fashioned romantic comedy with great Italian locations (and I really like Juliet Mills)