blake-blamar

The first was The Three Musketeers - Part I: D'Artagnan. I am a huge fan of the Three Musketeers. My mother got me into the story with Classic Comic books, that lead to reading Dumas' story in the children's library. I knew the old movies from afternoon TV movies. But my favourite version was the 1973 Richard Lester Three and Four Musketeer Movies.

Marla and I have watched them dozens of times and are among our favourites. Then today I watched The Three Musketeers - Part I: D'Artagnan. First of all, its in French with French subtitles. Fortunately I was able to get through a lot of it with my cereal box French.

It is grubby, dirty, they fight like the flights are sloppy and not choreographed like they are staged fights. The photography is exceptional and works really well.

My wife and I were looking for something to watch on Prime and this came up first. I wasn't really into it and had other stuff to do anyways and she had her face buried into her knitting. So the Killer was perfect.

I have seen this plot before, sometimes done better. I have heard this dialog before. Sometimes worse. And the action is in every John Woo movie you have ever see. Which comes down to they why this film is worthwhile watching.

Its fun. Its mindless. And it is a great way to "Kill" the evening. It is very flashy and of course it is in Paris and that makes it better. It is a magical Paris where every window has a view of the Eiffel Tower. And nobody gets ticked off if you only speak english.

I caught the Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) on TCM the other day. I only decided to watch it because it was in French and I have been spending the last three years learning to speak and write French (it was my project when we couldn't go out).

This film has everything thing I dislike. It is operatic (all singing no dancing or talking). It is ridiculously melodramatic and wrought with emotion. There are no car chases and pursuits of revenge. And no real moral other than Life Happens.

However, I loved it. It was simple. The art direction and production was excellent. The music was heart warming and somewhat familiar. It garnered three Academy Award nominations for Michael Legrand's music. This is a movie that is not as much for the entertainment but truly is a movie for those who appreciate film.