#100: Ben-Hur

Today I will be reviewing the 1959, William Wyler film Ben-Hur.  Now I have never seen the movie the whole way through (which is no surprise since this movie is nearly four hours long) but I have seen bits and pieces of the movie, most notably the famous chariot race.  But seriously four hours?  Do you know what else you can do in four hours?  Watch a ballgame, fly from Chicago to Los Angels, cook a turkey, or watch Ben-Hur.

Now this movie is a great epic movie.  All sorts of big events thrown together for a great story but this movie is famous for one thing... the chariot race.

This scene is exciting and for the time must have been extremely hard to shoot.  I am not an expert on the subject so I will just give my ignorant non-founded facts and say that this scene had to shape action scenes for years to come.  The fact that it is still refereed to and referenced shows how impactful this scene was.  Also while watching this scene it really made me wish NASCAR was this entertaining.  One top of this scene this film also won 11 Oscars for ...no way that is to many to list, I will just say it won 11 Academy awards and nominated for one more.

The wide world of world wide web has the following ratings:
IMDB = 8.2 out of 10
Rotten Tomatoes (Critic Rating) = 89%
Rotten Tomatoes (Audience Rating) = 81%
Really high critic rating and a little lower on the audience meters but maybe 19% of people have better things to do then watch a four hour movie.

Now time for my extremely un-expert opinion on the movie.  The characters we overall I don't know... nonexistent.  Ben-Hur's sister and mom were in the movie... and I can not tell you one characteristic about them.  The same would go for the character of Ester, Arrian, and pretty much everone else in this movie.  All characters can be defined by are they a nice person or a mean eperson.  Only a few characters outside of Ben-Hur stood out to me.  First being Jesus (does this then count as a Christmas or Easter movie) because he is Jesus.  Next the Sheik who is just super entertaining.  I really wish there was more of him in this movie.  Lastly there was Messala who only really stands out due to his role in the story not due to great acting or being a stand out character.  Ben-Hur is a really enjoyable character and I found him really funny though I am not sure if I was supposed to.  The acting is fine I didn't feel that it was horrible but nothing special either.

Now that we are back from the intermission (get it because the movie is so frickin long?) lets look at the story.  The story is what makes this movie great.  As I mentioned before the characters are pretty flat but the plot is the main draw and focus of this story.  Ben-Hur goes through a lot on his journey and even though this movie starts with the birth of Christ (is this why all my mom's Christmas decorations have one black wise man?) and goes for years it never feels long while watching it.  There is always something going on.  Also, as always, I learned  thing or two from this film:
#1: The best way to prove yourself innocent is to kill someone
#2: Boats have four speeds: normal, battle, attack, and ramming
#3: Fire sticks are better than swords
#4: People don't want to hang out with leapers
#5: Leapers don''t want to have out with people

This movie is famous for its big chariot scene and I am not sure how much stunt and camera work had to go into that scene but I bet it was a lot.  That wasn't the only battle scene though:

Though this looks more like kids playing with fireworks and roman candles.  I am also curious why the blood is so red in this movie.  It is like ketchup.  Also for a movie with a lot of violence and blood I was surprised that it was rated G.  I guess back in the days their children weren't wusses (that right I'm looking at you six year olds).  Lastly this movie has decent music.  How do I know this you ask, well its because this film has a overture which lasts over six minutes at the begging of the film and another moment of music lasting for 4 minutes on the second disc of the DVD.  Boy oh boy its fun to watch a blank screen while music plays. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this movie, despite that my fiance continued to patronize me and explain everything that was happening in the movie.  The story is great and the action is fun.  Ben-Hur is a funny character who does awkward things at times and even though the movie is four hours it is never boring.  In conclusion I give this movie an A.

#76: Forrest Gump

Okay, okay, okay first off its been a long time since my last post, secondly I do not understand why everyone loves this firckin movie so much!  I mean it is a good movie but the idea of watching it fills me with dread and I can't really say why.... oh wait yes I can I'm writing a blog.  Today we review Forrest Gump.

Forrest Gump is a 1994 Robert Zemeckis film starring Tom Hanks.  This film might be one of the most quoted movies of my generation.  I remember when this movie came out people every where just quoting this movie left and right.  Quotes like: "Seats taken", "Stupid is as stupid does",  "Run forest run", "You ain't got no legs Lt. Dan", "My name is Forrest Gump. People call me Forrest Gump", and something about being shot in the "butt-ox".  And if these quotes weren't enough there was even a popular song:

If this didn't tell you how much this movie effected culture the movie even started a restaurant chain.  And to top how big of a deal this movie was, it also won it won six Oscars including a win for Tom Hanks, Best Editing, Best Writing, Best Directing, Best Special Effects, and Best Picture, and nominated for seven other Academy Awards.

Now lests see what the wise internets has to say about this movie:
IMDB = 8.7 out of 10
Rotten Tomatoes (Critic Rating) = 71%
Rotten Tomatoes (Audience Rating) = 93%
Seems to fairly well critically but once again I see that everyone frickin loves this movie for some reason. 

Now for my extremely biased opinion. Acting wise I felt this movie was great.  Starting with the young Forrest Gump who is in the first quarter of the movie.  He does great for a child actor.  Next we have Jenny.  Jenny is a bitch.  I don't like her character at all.  Acting wise she is fine I guess.  Man, Jenny is a bitch.  Bubba is awesome.  Great character and the acting really makes the character likable.  Next we have Lt. Dan.  Lt. Dan is an interesting character.   Do you hate him? do you like him?is he a prophet?:

I am not a huge fan of Gary Sinise so I guess he is fine in this movie.  Next we have the mom, or Mrs Gump.  The acting is great but the character is mentally insane.  She names her son after the KKK and has sex to get her son in school.  WTF!  Lastly we have Gump.  Tom does great with this role.  He makes it come to life and made Forrest one of film's most beloved characters.  Now as the character goes I hate him.  He is so annoying.  Ugh! I will address this later but the only positive is that he likes Dr. Pepper.

The story is all told through Forrest Gump's narration as he tells people who don't want to listen (I am one of them) the story of his life:

The movie is so long and boring.  Ugh and annoying.  I don't even know what else to share except Forrest does everything.  He meets Elvis and John Lennon, plays for the Crimson Tide, gets the Medal of Honor, meets like three Presidents, goes pro in ping-pong, owns his own business, and a bunch of other crap.  WTF!  So what am I supposed to get out of this Forrest is awesome and my life sucks?  The only thing I learned from this movie is:
#1. Hookers taste like cigarettes.
Though I do have a theory.  Forrest keeps going yet many people in Forrest's life do not survive the movie.  Maybe he is a serial killer. 

The movie has fantastic music.  Given that the movie starts in the 60s I believe and goes through the 80s you get great music for those decades.  Some of the movies green screen effects or whatever this is:

not so good.  Are they on a conveyer belt?

Anyways even though I do not like this movie very much I have to admit I did at one point think it was enjoyable and it is and extremely well made movie as well as made a gigantic impact on pop culture.  Do to all of these factors I am forced to give this movie an A-....I hate that I did that.