Reviews

Normally a movie with as much violence as this is not something I'd like to watch. But there was something about it that was great, I believe it was the humor. The movie is pretty serious and something will go wrong or they are confronting someone, but the acting and the dialog just make it funny. How upset can you be when Vincent and Jules are bickering over a major deal, as if it were a common annoyance? The flashbacks and forwards were only briefly confusing for me, but I was able to catch on quickly enough. I was trying to come up with the main point of a movie like this and had trouble. But I did recognize that Jules repeats a Bible quote a couple times. What I gather from it is that Jules says it to people thinking that he is the good man, getting rid of the evil men for the good of mankind. But that couldn't be right, because of how he executes that. If anything, he's just as much of an evil person. The movie ends with the beginning, so then you can think back to if Jules really did take that into consideration before he acted out.

Scrolling down the main page for this film, I noticed under "taglines" the movie is described as "A nervous romance." I think that is just the PERFECT way to sum up this film. Because I was definitely going to bring how nervously the two main characters, Alvy and Annie, acted the whole time. They just spoke awkwardly to each other. This was an oddly funny film, directed in weird ways. I really liked how Alvy would talk to the audience or to strangers on the street. The people on the street would give him answers like they knew his situation, but they were only strangers who would actually have no clue. The humor was sarcastic and observational. It made fun of real life; for example a stranger talking loudly behind you about something they think they know about, but don't. Or even what really goes through peoples minds when they are having a conversation. This movie poked fun at reality using unrealistic methods. It was really interesting.

I first saw this movie for a Film as Literature class in high school, years ago, but had since forgotten anything that had been pointed out to me at the time. So it was still exciting to watch it again. I knew what to expect overall, but now I was able to analyze everything in between. I just had an overall better understanding of it, being older and having almost finished college myself. So now I can appreciate Ben's thoughts and feelings as a character. Personality wise, Ben is just really awkward. Which I find is frustratingly hilarious. At certain parts I just felt he was being stupid and that someone needed to really tell him so, but he lacked friends. He was very detached from his parents, so he really had no guidance from anyone. He was just by himself in all of his rather bad decisions. I found the movie to be a little cryptic at times, but it was horribly bad. I liked how some scenes went in and out of each other, probably to make the viewer feel like Ben. Drifting through a routine with not much thought, then being disturbed by an outsider. The music went along great with everything as well.

I wasn't really able to follow this movie until about halfway through, when the plan was executed. THAT was when it got really good and I could see how clever it was. It's pretty amazing to me that someone was able to think up and write out that whole scenario. I'm one to suffer from anxiety, which this film actually bought upon me afterward. So perhaps it was a little too exciting, ha ha. It would be worth watching again to understand more of the beginning. I knew it was going to be confusing, since I know nothing about horse racing or how betting on it works at all. The acting and settings were pretty believable, minus the bar fight scene. That was actually kind of strange and really fake looking compared to other parts of the movie.

This was a really enjoyable movie, funny and with good characters. It wasn't at all what I imagined the plot to be. It was actually a lot more interesting. In Disney or Universal when I was probably 5, I have a picture of me taken under an umbrella next to a streetlight, with a background like in this movie. So I've always known that the movie contained a scene like that were they sang a song called, "Singin' In The Rain". I figured that would be the most memorable scene, but actually for me, it was the "Make Them Laugh" sequence performed by Donald O'Connor. I really liked how it was choreographed. Donald and Jean Hagen were my favorite actors in this film. The only part of this movie that confused me and I think it could have done without was the whole "Gotta Dance" sequence. It was really out of place and unnecessary. Or at the very least, too long. Maybe if they shortened it by like 5 minutes it would have been better. But that's the only thing I didn't like about it.

By the end of Casablanca, I was well aware of where certain famous quotes originated from. I was pretty surprised to keep hearing lines that I've heard before in other movies or TV shows. I was excited to see the famous airport scene. One thing that really confused me was the transition to the time Rick and Ilsa spent in Paris. I must have zoned out or was thinking of something else, because I could have SWORN that it was a flashback into it, but then it never seemed to get out of it. Like there was a flashback, but it continued on to the rest of the story. I'm not sure what happened there. The characters were interesting enough, though. The romantic aspect of it was enjoyable and the twists at the end. It wasn't really my kind of story, but I liked it regardless.

It wasn't until I came to write a review for his film that I noticed that Paul Muni starred in this film, as I just watched 1932 Scarface in which he also starred. So that makes things more interesting! In this movie he's more innocent and respectable, but the complete opposite in Scarface.

I felt bad for his character, James Allen. The entire time I found myself rooting for him, but he just kept getting bad luck. All I kept wondering was... why didn't the burger stand guy stick up for him? It was pretty obvious that he didn't want to steal from him. He was also held at gunpoint. He ran because he was scared, it's just a human response. So I really don't understand why he got into so much trouble.

I'm glad to hear chain gangs were gotten rid of after this movie came out, because they seemed like disgusting, awful places. Imprisonment for crime is one thing, but slavery is awful.

It's just really unfair how he even went back willingly to serve time and then the government pretty much spat in his face and kept him there. It's completely wrong, I can't understand what kind of people would do something like that.

I personally couldn't get into this movie at all. It was just sad and upsetting to me. I was having trouble concentrating on it, because it was giving me anxiety. So if you're a sensitive person, I wouldn't recommend it.