Dvd Avins
Joined May 2002
Welcome to the new profile
Our updates are still in development. While the previous version of the profile is no longer accessible, we're actively working on improvements, and some of the missing features will be returning soon! Stay tuned for their return. In the meantime, the Ratings Analysis is still available on our iOS and Android apps, found on the profile page. To view your Rating Distribution(s) by Year and Genre, please refer to our new Help guide.
Badges3
To learn how to earn badges, go to the badges help page.
Reviews7
Dvd Avins's rating
So often, when something about a film enters into the culture at large, it actually diminishes the film for later generations. That's because the aspect which is so striking to the original audience is commonplace to those who come after.
The use of ragtime in The Sting is a good example of that. It had been almost forgotten music, which had very little popularity from WWII until the Hamlisch arrangements caught people's fancy here. It was that that IMO caused the brief flurry of piano and orchestral interpretations of Joplin's work through the rest of the 1970s. And ragtime has never receded to its old post-war levels since. Because of that, the music is not likely to seem as new and therefore as delightful as it did in 1973.
The Sting is also, of course, a wonderful example of revenge served cold. In that regard it's the only film that form me does as good a job as Poe's short story The Cask of Amontillado.
The use of ragtime in The Sting is a good example of that. It had been almost forgotten music, which had very little popularity from WWII until the Hamlisch arrangements caught people's fancy here. It was that that IMO caused the brief flurry of piano and orchestral interpretations of Joplin's work through the rest of the 1970s. And ragtime has never receded to its old post-war levels since. Because of that, the music is not likely to seem as new and therefore as delightful as it did in 1973.
The Sting is also, of course, a wonderful example of revenge served cold. In that regard it's the only film that form me does as good a job as Poe's short story The Cask of Amontillado.
Ackroyd's awkward professor role finds himself sucked into a secret wild life. OK, it's not very plausible, but it doesn't require more suspension of belief than most other comedies.
At the end, there's a nice underlying message (which, depending on your mode can be subtle or cloddishly obvious) that if you have something to say and you stumble onto a bully pulpit, USE IT.
In this case, what Ackroyd had to say isn't exactly original, now matter how true it and important it is. But the process he goes through to come out of his shell and make the most of his situation is heart-warming (when you're not laughing too hard) and inspiring.
At the end, there's a nice underlying message (which, depending on your mode can be subtle or cloddishly obvious) that if you have something to say and you stumble onto a bully pulpit, USE IT.
In this case, what Ackroyd had to say isn't exactly original, now matter how true it and important it is. But the process he goes through to come out of his shell and make the most of his situation is heart-warming (when you're not laughing too hard) and inspiring.