The Movie Journal

Rear Window (1954) Alfred Hitchcock is one of cinema’s most important auteurs and every motion picture release with his name attached was a big event. The sharp-detailed director had two movies released in 1954. The first was the thrilling, perhaps a bit minor Dial M for Murder . His second film is the subject of this review, Rear Window . Rear Window is one of Hitchcock’s best, if not the best thrillers he has ever made. The story is simple enough, but the film envelopes you in a world of nonstop tension. I was biting my nails from start to finish, and that is habit that rarely comes out. Good job, Mr. Hitchcock! The story, written by John Michael Hayes seems quite simple, but I love the complexity that is given to the film. Just like Hitchcock’s other 1954 feature, most of the film takes place in one location-the apartment of James Stewart’s character, L.B Jeffries. The one set based off Greenwich Village in New York City, that Hitchcock built on the set of Paramount s...

Mogambo(1953) John Ford’s 1953 feature Mogambo is a fun adventure movie, but nothing more than that. This adventure film is far from being Ford’s best movies, but it happens to be one of his most fun movies. I loved Ford’s spirit of adventure and this movie is somewhat of a detour for him as he mainly focuses on westerns or dramas. The movie is a remake of the 1932 feature Red Dust which starred Clark Gable (also from Gone with the Wind fame) and Jean Harlow. Twenty years later, Clark Gable returns and is joined by two of classic Hollywood’s hottest ladies, Ava Gardner and Grace Kelly. The 1932 version was more somber in tone, so Ford want to inject a sense of fun and adventure in this movie, which is one of the reasons why he decided to shoot the movie in Africa. He did keep the heart of the story, the love triangle between the three aforementioned actors attached, however. During this time period, movies that featured any depiction of Africa tended to be exaggerated. I...

Arrested Development: Season 1, Episode 8 "In God We Trust" December 21, 2003 In my earlier review for the last Arrested Development episode, “My Mother, the Car,” I mentioned the episode is a more tight, focused episode compared to other episodes. This episode, “In God We Trust” really revs up the engine. There is so much going on with characters, set locations, and plot. Everything is so big, and it pays off in a handsome way. The episode also has many firsts: the first Christmas episode, the first episode written by Abraham Higginbotham who wrote many of the better episode of the series, we finally learn the reasoning behind Tobias’s cutoff shorts, George Sr escapes for the first time, and we meet two lawyers who would have recurring moments over the course of the series: Barry Zuckerkorn (Henry Winkler) and Wayne Jarvis (John Michael Higgins). Let’s discuss these two lawyers because of their importance to the show. It helps that they are two of my favorite g...

Arrested Development: Season 1, Episode 7 "My Mother, the Car" December 14, 2003 Arrested Development is known for being a big comedy with many characters and subplots as we have seen in the previous episode. That being said, “My Mother, the Car” is a smaller, more focused episode. We get little snippets of all the characters, but this episode focuses mainly on Jessica Walter and Jason Bateman. Walter’s Lucille is the series evil ‘villain’ with a drive to control the entire family and business, and she’s at her most evil here. Even though her character is deplorable, the show manages to find sympathy for her. Finding sympathy in despicable characters is hard to do, but creator Mitchell Hurwitz pulls it off very well, especially here. In addition to the mother/son dynamic, there are several other things of note that occurred here. GOB is one of best sitcom characters in all of television history, and this episode furthered that notion. Also, we see a very popular shirt...

Adam's Rib (1949) When we think about all-time movie pairings, we think about Walter Matthau/Jack Lemmon, Jennifer Lawrence/Bradley Cooper, Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan, etc. The greatest pairing of them all, in my opinion, is the wonderful pairing of Katherine Hepburn/Spencer Tracy. They have such wonderful chemistry together as evidenced by George Cukor’s 1949 feature, Adam’s Rib . The film was written by the husband/wife duo, Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin whom were close friends with Hepburn and Tracy and they really gave the chance for both actors to constantly spar with each other. Although the film shows its age, I really like the idea behind the film. The writers were influenced by the real-life event of two lawyers who were husband and wife, but they were working against each other at a divorce proceeding. After the completion of the proceeding, the lawyers divorced each other and married their respective clients. That story really makes for a charming, amusing movie even if...

Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) Frank Capra’s Arsenic and Old Lace took me by surprise, and I’ll be the first one to admit that. Going into the film, I expected something serviceable thanks to the legendary names of director Frank Capra and lead actor Cary Grant. I was somewhat hesitant due to my lukewarm taste of screwball or slapstick comedies. Boy, was I ever in for a delightful surprise! From start to finish, I was laughing out loud which is an extreme rarity for me. I connected with the story, despite the themes of the movie. On the outside, the movie was made for laughs. Capra, in his autobiography, said he wanted to create a simple comedy designed to be a money-making hit before he went into service (at the end of World War 2). Despite the funny exterior, there is darkness if you dig too deep. Some of the themes the movie deals with is euthanasia (which is still a debatable topic in today’s modern world). Because of these darker themes and the ability to make me laugh, Arsen...