Exploding Penguin
Joined Jan 2002
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Reviews10
Exploding Penguin's rating
I own the Hitchcock collection (14 films in toto), and while this isn't my favourite of the bunch ('Psycho' is one of my favourite movies of all time, and 'Birds' never gets old), I like to watch it every now and again to remind myself what it means to make a "suspense film", and why Hitchcock was and always will be the master of this craft.
To give away even the slightest story detail would ruin it for new viewers, because it is essential that everyone begin with the wrong impressions of the major characters. This allows Hitch to pull off his famous 'twists' throughout the course of the movie, hitting you every now and then with something you simply weren't expecting.
One of my favourite elements in the movie is the ongoing dialogue between Henry Travers and Hume Cronyn, avid mystery readers who are constantly discussing the best ways to murder each other. Apart from being a bit of comic relief in an otherwise very dark film, it also demonstrates how lightly people think of murder and murderers...until they encounter them face-to-face.
My advice then, if you want to see this movie, is not to learn anything about it beforehand. Going in with no knowledge will increase the movie's initial impact, and will help you to appreciate why Hitchcock was the 'Master of Suspense'. This is a taut thriller with no gratuitous violence, foul language, or mature situations.
(Hitch considered it 'a family film'.)
Enjoy!
To give away even the slightest story detail would ruin it for new viewers, because it is essential that everyone begin with the wrong impressions of the major characters. This allows Hitch to pull off his famous 'twists' throughout the course of the movie, hitting you every now and then with something you simply weren't expecting.
One of my favourite elements in the movie is the ongoing dialogue between Henry Travers and Hume Cronyn, avid mystery readers who are constantly discussing the best ways to murder each other. Apart from being a bit of comic relief in an otherwise very dark film, it also demonstrates how lightly people think of murder and murderers...until they encounter them face-to-face.
My advice then, if you want to see this movie, is not to learn anything about it beforehand. Going in with no knowledge will increase the movie's initial impact, and will help you to appreciate why Hitchcock was the 'Master of Suspense'. This is a taut thriller with no gratuitous violence, foul language, or mature situations.
(Hitch considered it 'a family film'.)
Enjoy!
A gritty, intense, no-holds-barred war film that grabs attention from the very beginning and holds it all the way through. The only detriment to this film is the fact that the first half (Boot Camp) is so much more powerful than the second half (Vietnam).
The film is basically about how war sucks the life out of humans and turns them into 'killing machines'. The greatest performances in this film are of course R. Lee Ermey, the savage drill instructor, and Vincent D'Onofrio, his slow-witted whipping boy. The viewer alternately laughs and cringes at the relentless abuse and degradation inflicted by the former on the latter. And at the famous line, "What is your major malfunction?", the tension reaches an almost unbearable limit and the viewer ceases to move or breathe.
This movie, like many of Kubrick's, is too graphic for many people, but I highly recommend it to those who can withstand its assault on both senses and consciences.
The film is basically about how war sucks the life out of humans and turns them into 'killing machines'. The greatest performances in this film are of course R. Lee Ermey, the savage drill instructor, and Vincent D'Onofrio, his slow-witted whipping boy. The viewer alternately laughs and cringes at the relentless abuse and degradation inflicted by the former on the latter. And at the famous line, "What is your major malfunction?", the tension reaches an almost unbearable limit and the viewer ceases to move or breathe.
This movie, like many of Kubrick's, is too graphic for many people, but I highly recommend it to those who can withstand its assault on both senses and consciences.