Movies
A biography from the 30s. I honestly didn't expect too much, 30s cinema is generally very dialogue-focused and the biopic is one of the least adventurous genres out there. Combine the two and you get the kind of cinema that really isn't for me. And indeed, this wasn't really my type of film. Émile Zola is a struggling writer who lives for his craft, even if that means forgoing decent pay. When he notices all the injustices happening in Paris, he decides to use it as fuel for his novels. It makes him a rich man and he can finally marry his girlfriend, but the critique of the establishment also puts a target on his back. It's an old film, so even though it is set in Paris, don't expect to hear any French. And you'll get plenty of chances to verify, as this film is all talk. The first half of the film focuses mostly on Zola's writing career, while the second half is dedicated to his part in the Dreyfus affair (a piece of history I was unaware of). I didn't really for either though.Read all
Another generic Western, one that isn't even all that liked by core Western fans. But it did gather some critical acclaim and it appears that that is something pretty tough to get rid of. And so here we are, almost 80 years after its original release. The only conclusion I have is that films like this aren't going to make me like the genre any better. Pearl moves to her aunt's ranch in Texas after her father kills her mother and the man she cheated with. There she meets two brothers, very different fellas who both fall in love with Pearl. She has a hard time deciding between the two of them, but then faith forces her to make a decision. The performances are terrible, the dialogues are so bad they're almost funny (and that's coming from someone who rarely cares about dialogues. The setting isn't for me either, and the runtime is excessive. There's really nothing at all I liked, apart from the fact that I was able to skip the overture.Read all