I thought you hated the theater. / I do. I also hate the sight of blood, but it's in my veins

Spoiler Alert! Don't read Rebecca if you don't want spoilage.

Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2022) - "Academy Award-winning director Guillermo del Toro and award-winning, stop-motion legend Mark Gustafson reimagine the classic Carlo Collodi tale of the fabled wooden boy with a whimsical tour de force that finds Pinocchio on an enchanted adventure that transcends worlds and reveals the life-giving power of love."
source: I borrowed the DVD from the public library
I watched it because: I was in Criterion Collection mode
IMDB: 7.6/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 96% Audience: 90%
my IMDB: 6/10

notable quote: "I'm not a governess, madam. I'm a novelist, a raconteur! Currently immersed in writing my memoirs."

MPAA rating: PG

directed by: Guillermo del Toro, Mark Gustafson

my notes: it's well done and particularly well voiced, but nothing can change weird creepiness of the basic story. Obsessed with death, obnoxious, and also strangely political. I did not love it.

Academy Award winner: Best Animated Feature Film—Guillermo del Toro, Mark Gustafson, Gary Ungar, Alexander Bulkley
overall: marginally recommended

Limelight (1952) - "Depressed over her failed dance career, Terry (Claire Bloom) attempts suicide, only to be rescued by Calvero (Charles Chaplin), an impoverished, once-famous stage clown. Calvero revives Terry's health and prospects, and in the process recovers his own self-esteem as well. When Terry proposes marriage, Calvero thinks their age difference is too great, and leaves to become a street clown so that Terry's friendship with a promising young composer (Sydney Chaplin) can instead blossom."

source: I borrowed the DVD from the public library
I watched it because: Criterion Collection...
IMDB: 8.0/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 90% Audience: 90%
my IMDB: 7/10

MPAA rating: G

notable quote: "What do you want meaning for? Life is a desire, not a meaning. Desire is the theme of all life! It makes a rose want to be a rose and want to grow like that. And a rock want to contain itself and remain like that."

directed by: Charles Chaplin

my notes: Wow! Sad and bleak, funny and enlightening, romantic and devastating. I liked it, but will not need to see it again.

Academy Award winner: Best Music, Original Dramatic Score—Charles Chaplin, Ray Rasch, Larry Russell [The film was not released in Los Angeles until 1972. Under the Academy rules at the time, this permitted it to be eligible despite being 20 years old. The nominations and wins for Rasch and Russell were posthumous.]
overall: recommended

Rebecca (1940) - "Story of a young woman who marries a fascinating widower only to find out that she must live in the shadow of his former wife, Rebecca, who died mysteriously several years earlier. The young wife must come to grips with the terrible secret of her handsome, cold husband, Max De Winter (Laurence Olivier). She must also deal with the jealous, obsessed Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson), the housekeeper, who will not accept her as the mistress of the house."
source: I borrowed the DVD from the public library
I watched it because: Criterion Collection...
IMDB: 8.1/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 98% Audience: 92%
my IMDB: 7/10

AFI: 100 Years…100 Thrills (2001) #80

    100 Years … 100 Heroes and Villains (2003) Villain #31 (Mrs. Danvers)

MPAA rating: Approved [TV-PG]

notable quote: "We none of us want to live in the past, Maxim least of all. It's up to you, you know, to lead us away from it."

directed by: Alfred Hitchcock

my notes: oof. The good parts: Olivier in swashbuckling good looks and swagger as Max de Winter. Glorious cinematography and lighting. Debonair Reginald Denny as Maxim's man of business, Frank Crawley. Deliciously creepy George Sanders as the vile Jack Favell.

    The bad parts: Fontaine, weepy and unsure as the depressingly weepy and unsure Second Mrs. de Winter, fading into the woodwork. A flabby 130 minute film that would have been bright & tense at 110.

Academy Award winner:
• Best Picture—David O. Selznick

• Best Cinematography, Black and White—Lyle R. Wheeler
Academy Award nominee:
• Best Actor—Olivier

• Best Actress—Fontaine

• Best Supporting Actress—Judith Anderson

• Best Director—Hitchcock

• Best Writing, Screenplay—Robert E. Sherwood, Joan Harrison

• Best Art Direction, Black and White—Wheeler

• Best Film Editing—Hal C. Kern

• Best Effects, Special Effects—Jack Cosgrove (photographic); Arthur Johns (sound)

• Best Music, Original Score—Franz Waxman
overall: recommended

News of the World (2020) - "Five years after the end of the Civil War, Capt. Jefferson Kyle Kidd crosses paths with a 10-year-old girl taken by the Kiowa people. Forced to return to her aunt and uncle, Kidd agrees to escort the child across the harsh and unforgiving plains of Texas. However, the long journey soon turns into a fight for survival as the traveling companions encounter danger at every turn -- both human and natural."
source: I borrowed the DVD from my parents' collection
I watched it because: my dad put it in my hands and asked for a review before they watch it
IMDB: 6.8/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 88% Audience: 89%
my IMDB: 7/10

notable quote: "You belong with me. You belong with me."

MPAA rating: PG-13

directed by: Paul Greengrass

my notes: I liked it more than I'd expected. Tom Hanks is always solid, and this script is worthy of him. The kid is banked fire and fury. The story is compelling and active. Cinematography is wonderful.

Academy Award nominee:
• Best Sound—Oliver Tarney, Mike Prestwood Smith, William Miller, John Pritchett
• Best Production Design—David Crank (production design), Elizabeth Keenan (set decoration)

• Best Music, Original Score—James Newton Howard

• Best Cinematography—Dariusz Wolski

overall:  recommended

 

[the title quotation is from Limelight]