laura.g
Joined Jul 2000
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Reviews8
laura.g's rating
I agree with whoever said that The Great Race is worthy of a special re-release and restoration! Long over due! I was just watching it (again!) tonight-and I still laughed and cheered just like I did the first time-in the summer of 1965! Yes! This summer marks the 40th anniversary of it's initial U.S. release! Not only has this movie inspired people to go into film (one person I know)-it inspired a cross country antique auto rally called-The Great Race! This year is the 23rd running. Nearly everyone on the race is a fan of the movie-they quote lines to each other from time to time even!A couple of years ago, one of the guys bought the Leslie Special, restored it and showed it along with one of the Hannibal 8s at the finish-Good Grief-that car is gorgeous! You half expected stars to flash from it's head lamps like they did from Tony Curtis's eyes! Everyone-on July first-rent it, buy it, play your copy if you have one-invite friends and give this movie a birthday bash! I know I will!
I saw this last night-what a treat! I went with an open mind, being a fan of the original. In fact, I wasn't going to see it, because I am a fan of the original. But the previews, the publicity-it all got to me.
It was good! It was more than good-it was enjoyable. Heck, if it hadn't been a discounted matinee, I would have paid full price! (Something I cannot say about some other recent films...)
Yes, it's not a LBF (Little British Film) even though there are LBCs. No, it's not the same plot-just a few things borrowed from the original and a couple of names carried over. And yes, Mark Wahlberg is not the most charismatic of actors-but, compared to Keanu Reeves-he emotes nicely.
Speaking of Reeves, the last movie I went to see was "The Matrix Reloaded" and I have see several reviews for "The Italian Job" comparing it unfairly with "Reloaded". I think they're entirely different types of movies and how can the two be compared except to say that "The Italian Job" was enjoyable and the audience reacted during it and APPLAUDED at the end, whilst "The Matrix Reloaded" had the double whammy of Mr. Reeves terrible acting and an indecipherable story. THe audience left that one looking stunned and exhausted.
So, comparisions to "The Matirx Reloaded" aside, and forgetting about the original movie, as I loved the old "Italian Job", this one stands on it's own-wonderful locales (hey, some of us really do love L.A.); car chases that actually seem to be for a reason; clever thievery; a fun cast-and a spirit that seemed to carry the (mostly over 30 year old) audience that I saw it with all the way through-I'd give this one two thumbs way up for a fun time at the movies.
It was good! It was more than good-it was enjoyable. Heck, if it hadn't been a discounted matinee, I would have paid full price! (Something I cannot say about some other recent films...)
Yes, it's not a LBF (Little British Film) even though there are LBCs. No, it's not the same plot-just a few things borrowed from the original and a couple of names carried over. And yes, Mark Wahlberg is not the most charismatic of actors-but, compared to Keanu Reeves-he emotes nicely.
Speaking of Reeves, the last movie I went to see was "The Matrix Reloaded" and I have see several reviews for "The Italian Job" comparing it unfairly with "Reloaded". I think they're entirely different types of movies and how can the two be compared except to say that "The Italian Job" was enjoyable and the audience reacted during it and APPLAUDED at the end, whilst "The Matrix Reloaded" had the double whammy of Mr. Reeves terrible acting and an indecipherable story. THe audience left that one looking stunned and exhausted.
So, comparisions to "The Matirx Reloaded" aside, and forgetting about the original movie, as I loved the old "Italian Job", this one stands on it's own-wonderful locales (hey, some of us really do love L.A.); car chases that actually seem to be for a reason; clever thievery; a fun cast-and a spirit that seemed to carry the (mostly over 30 year old) audience that I saw it with all the way through-I'd give this one two thumbs way up for a fun time at the movies.
I don't often watch an entire movie and feel satisfied. And it's not often that a movie that runs two hours will hold my attention all the way to the end-especially if I already know the story. But this one does. The time flew by!
Both Tammy Blanchard and Judy Davis are mesmerizing-I couldn't look away. I have a few Garland movies, been a fan since I can remember and loved her tv show when I was little. (And she died on my birthday-so, I'll always feel a certain connection there.) And I'm very familiar with the Garland story. These two women were channeling Garland! I loved the scenes where they recreated the scenes from movies-in fact I had just watched "Meet Me in St. Louis" the night before-I was astounded at the detail! The costumes in this trolley scene match the costumes in the original! This costume designer was nothing if not thorough!
One of the scenes I loved was looking around the studio, but you hear Judy, as Esther Blodgett, talking about Norman Maine's faults but that she loves him...and slowly the camera comes around, over the shoulder of Cukor and Luft and Jack Warner, and we see the scene she's playing in the dressing room from "A Star is Born" (another favourite film)-every nuance, every gesture was there-and it wasn't empty-Davis really WAS Garland filming that scene and giving it all her emotion as Esther! Dizzying!
There are only two reasons I could not give this a 10, but a 9-
1.) I really like Hugh Laurie, but he was woefully miscast as Vicente Minnelli, I thought. And he performed as if he knew it-as if he was trying to figure out what he was doing there!
And the second reason is because in all the interveiws with Lorna Luft, she talks about what a wonderful person her mother was and how she wanted people to see her how Lorna knew her-her joy, her humour. The scale seemed to tip a bit too much in the opposite direction.
All in all, a wonderful effort-every person invlolved in this project should be so very proud!
Both Tammy Blanchard and Judy Davis are mesmerizing-I couldn't look away. I have a few Garland movies, been a fan since I can remember and loved her tv show when I was little. (And she died on my birthday-so, I'll always feel a certain connection there.) And I'm very familiar with the Garland story. These two women were channeling Garland! I loved the scenes where they recreated the scenes from movies-in fact I had just watched "Meet Me in St. Louis" the night before-I was astounded at the detail! The costumes in this trolley scene match the costumes in the original! This costume designer was nothing if not thorough!
One of the scenes I loved was looking around the studio, but you hear Judy, as Esther Blodgett, talking about Norman Maine's faults but that she loves him...and slowly the camera comes around, over the shoulder of Cukor and Luft and Jack Warner, and we see the scene she's playing in the dressing room from "A Star is Born" (another favourite film)-every nuance, every gesture was there-and it wasn't empty-Davis really WAS Garland filming that scene and giving it all her emotion as Esther! Dizzying!
There are only two reasons I could not give this a 10, but a 9-
1.) I really like Hugh Laurie, but he was woefully miscast as Vicente Minnelli, I thought. And he performed as if he knew it-as if he was trying to figure out what he was doing there!
And the second reason is because in all the interveiws with Lorna Luft, she talks about what a wonderful person her mother was and how she wanted people to see her how Lorna knew her-her joy, her humour. The scale seemed to tip a bit too much in the opposite direction.
All in all, a wonderful effort-every person invlolved in this project should be so very proud!