Title: It's A Wonderful Life
Year: 1946
Director: Frank Capra
Cast: Jimmy Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore
Rated: G
My Review: Everyone knows this story, even if you've never seen this movie. It's such a classic story copied by so many. To put it bluntly I did not like this movie. First of all this isn't a Christmas movie. The only thing that makes any of it Christmas is the last 20 minutes. If the end of the movie was set on New Year's Eve, and George went around the town yelling "Happy New Year Movie House!" then people would call it a New Years movie. I had a lot of problems with this movie. First of all, the title, It's A Wonderful Life. Is the title supposed to be ironic? It's a Miserable Life! for an hour and 40 minutes we're shown just how crappy his life is. and at the end of the movie, does his life get any better? No, he just doesn't go to jail. Now if he walked over to the bridge and decided "Hey wait wait wait wait a minute, what am I doing? Well I've got a wife and kids to think about!" and turned around and went home. His problem would still have been solved! The angel Clarence is not needed. And that's another thing that doesn't make any sense. Why did Clarence show George what life would've been life if he never eggsisted. That doesn't matter if he killed himself. He sould've shown George what would happen to his family and friends if he killed himself. That's sounds more effective to me. And we're supposed to believe that Clarence had to wait 200 years to help one pathetic loser not to kill himself just to get his wings? And if George thinks his life sucks it's his own fault. He could've got the job with his friends in the "plastics" company and would've been a millionaire. He would've been able to travel the world like he wanted and buy his fathers buisness, so Potter wouldn't get his greedy hands on it.
Now I did think isn't bad. Jimmy Stewart does a good job. And I like the scene where he's teasing the naked girl in the bushes. It's just the plot is just so sloppy.
And wasn't the whole point was to keep George from jumping of the bridge?! Well he jumps in anyways to save the stupid angel!!! Boo! 3 out of 10
Jonny's Review: Now this was a great picture, James Stewart’s performance was wonderful, and Lionel Barrymore as the cruel Henry Potter was great. This was the first time I’ve seen this and I have to say not bad, sure I really thought Christmas had something to do with it, but it doesn’t. I thought it was a pretty good buildup of the story to get to the scene with Clarence played by Henry Travers that everybody knows, or at least parodies of. I felt the main characters struggle to get by, all his hardships pulling him down, even though he was kind of baby about it. Even the act of desperation was great to watch, as you would’ve hit Stewart if he took the deal. Though the ending does not make much sense, as none of it mattered if he changed his mind of suicide, I can at least over look this.
8/10
Title: A Christmas Carol
Year: 1951
Director: Brian Desmond Husrt
Cast: Alastair Sim
Rated: G
My Review: Now first of all the sound quality in this movie sucks! The movie sounds like they recorded it in a giant warehouse, it sounds so echoey and hollow, like the actors are talking into tin cans. Even though the movie is very slow paced and boring, the dialogue seemed rushed, as if the director said "Ok I want this scene done in 30 seconds Go!" The acting is very stale, and feels like they're reading off of queue cards off camera. And the Director is obsessed with dissolves. Almost every scene ends with a dissolve into the next one. I didn't like the actor who played Scrooge. he didn't seem mean enough, and he didn't seem happy enough, he seemed to take the happy into crazy. Now for my money nothing beats Michael Caine's performance as Scrooge in a Muppet's Christmas Carol. But the movie does a good job showing how the greed in Scrooge started to grow more and more. He didn't start out as a greedy miser, he became one. The movie was very boring and slow. I can appreciate the film for what it is, but nothing really happens, It's just all dialogue. The Mickey Mouse Christmas Carol is more exciting than this one. Or maybe I'm just spoiled by modern movies. 5 out of 10
Jonny's Review: Ummmm, I’m not sure what to say about this one. It’s not the best version of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, and I won’t say it’s the worst, cause it’s not. First off I’ll admit I do have a vale over my eyes that are tuned to today’s type of cinema, but this movie was kind of boring. Some parts seemed to drag on at a slow pace, while many others jumped right into quickly. Personally, I just didn’t feel any heart in this film; it seemed more like a play then a movie. Scrooge was nothing more than a dick; you don’t get this sense of his ice cold heart that you felt in the Muppet version. Nor do you feel the powerful emotions for Chratchit when he loses his son like in the Mickey Christmas Carol. This just didn’t do it for me, it had all the opportunities I mentioned and only barely used them.
6/10
Title: Miracle On 34th Street
Year: 1947
Director: George Seaton
Cast: Maureen O'Hara, John Payne, Edmund Gwenn, Gene Lockhart, Natalie Wood
Rated: G
My Review: So being disappointed by the first two movies, I thought well this one won't be as bad. Well I was wrong. Who is this movie for? It's defiantly not for kids. The slow pace and the talking about business tactics, long dialogue scenes, and courtrooms, would bore kids to death. So it must be a movie for adults. But why are we supposed to care about some crazy old man who thinks he's Santa Claus? In classic "Santa" movies they're always trying to convince the kids that Santa is real. So is this movie trying to convince adults that he's real? Sounds redundant to me. This movie was pointless. Why are would a man quit his law firm to convince a bunch of grumpy business men that some old dude "thinks" he's Santa Claus. The idea of a courthouse wasting time & tax payers money to humor some crazy coot who thinks he Santa Claus, just because the "parents" don't want to tell their kids otherwise, until they're older is ludicrous. 4 out of 10
Jonny's Review: Um no, I did not like this movie. It’s not because it was a heartwarming Christmas movie, ….actually, I don’t think it was heartwarming at all. It just seemed very business to me, this movie doesn’t even try to teach anything, which seems like the standard for many of them. The only thing that was told was this is what happens when you don’t let your kids have an imagination, their boring little snots that still get rewarded even when they don’t believe. Also, this just seemed like one huge advertisement for Macy’s.
5/10This is a spoof of the remake obviously. I couldn't find anything for the b&w version.
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