Thoughts on a Falcon

Last night we got around to The Maltese Falcon starring Humphrey Bogart. It's number 23 on the AFI list. I was really hoping to like this movie, but alas, I have to say I didn't like it all that much. Okay, I'm ducking and covering from all the Bogart fans out there. Now, on to why it wasn't my favorite.

The acting - Most roles were either stilted, or overacted. I did like the actor who played Cairo, though. He was good, very believable.

Music - There was too much of it and it was too repetitious. It all sounded suspenseful and I can only take so much foreboding music in a movie.

Storyline - I found it too slow-moving and I got lost somewhere along the way. That was probably my fault, though, for surfing the net during the first twenty minutes of the movie.

For now I'm giving this movie a thumbs sideways and so did my husband. I don't know, I may watch it again someday to see if I like it any better.. I'm almost always willing to give a movie a second chance. After all, it did make the AFI list, so there must be something I'm missing about this movie that makes it such a classic. Can anyone enlighten me?

Comments

A Dandy of a Movie

I'm referring, of course, to that wonderful movie Yankee Doodle Dandy directed by Michael Curtiz and starring James Cagney. The AFI placed it at number 100 on their list. In case you're not familiar with the plot, it's the life story of actor/producer/playwright George M. Cohan. The film pioneered the flashback method of telling a story and begins with Cohan's childhood stage acting. It tells the story of he and his family as they performed plays and shows across the country as "The Four Cohans. Like all entertainers, they have their ups and downs. At one point George's arrogance causes his family to be looked down on as performers. In a somewhat sneaky move, however, Cohan gets funding from a producer and makes his stage come-back. Finally the family is once again reunited as a family act. There is much more to the film, but I'll stop here because I don't want to spoil it for you. The message about family loyalty is something you don't see much in...

Hitch and the Oscars

Well, after quite some time I"m finally getting here to update this blog. I noticed tonight it's been since January since I wrote anything. Don't know how this post will turn out, though because my body is trying to get a cold and I'm trying to keep ahead of it. Assuming everyone hasn't given up on this blog, does anyone have tried and true methods to offer on how to keep from getting sick? I have to work the next seven days straight through and absolutely have no time to get sick. On the up side, though, I met someone at my church who likes Lord of the Rings as much as I do so now I have someone (in real life) to talk about the movies with and my husband won't have to listen to me talk LotR non-stop, lol! Anyway, on to the update. There are two reasons for the lack of updates. First, all the shows I watch have been first run episodes, so what with keeping up with my t.v. shows, there hasn't been time to catch many movies. Second, there haven't been ma...

I Wish you a Merry Christmas

So, are you on the lookout for a good holiday movie? Well, me too. I ended up working an extra Saturday this month, which really cut into my movie watching time. I had all these plans to see the following movies: Polar Express National Treasure Lemony Snickett's Series of Unfortunate Events Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera I'm sure there were others I wanted to see, but I don't remember what those are now. Out of all the above movies Brian and I have seen National Treasure . I have to say, despite some doubts I had at the beginning it turned out to be a pretty good movie. If you are in to U.S, History, you'd probably find this a good movie. I mentioned some doubts I had at the beginning of the movie. For example, In one of the opening scenes of the movie a grandfather is explaining the history of the Masons organization to his grandson and, having just researched the masons for a library customer, I'm not sure the grandfather's ex...

Juli's Cinema Spot

Search This Blog