Thursday 4 March 2010

(500) Films of Empire - Day 169 - The big 3 - 0!

384 - The Shop Around The Corner - 3 stars
The inspiration for You've Got Mail, but set in a simpler time when people actually wrote letters by hand.  Yes, two people fall in love by writing anonymous letters yet can't stand each other in real life.  We all know how it's going to end but the important test of a good romantic comedy is how enjoyable the ride is... and this is a cut above the rest due to excellent chemistry between Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullavan, and a moving subplot about the store owner which has an impact on the characters.
While based on a Hungarian play, I couldn't understand why it was set in Budapest as it could easily have been set anywhere, especially when no one even attempted an accent!

242 - King Kong - 4 stars
The original and still the best.  This was my first viewing of it and I liked it a lot more than Peter Jackson's remake.  Leaner and meaner, it zips along at a cracking pace and has a great mix of action but the romance is underplayed a bit.
Amazingly the effects in the original have held up better than the 2005 CGI version!  I only wish I could have seen this in 1933 on its release to see the reaction of the audience.

Days remaining - 196  Films remaining - 252

3 comments:

  1. Only 2 films to go til you're at the half way point!! What have been the films that have surprised you the most so far with either how good or how bad they were?

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  2. Hmm, the film I was surprised at how good it was was IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. Always been very cynical about it but finally watched the whole thing and it's great. Biggest disappointment so far would be rewatching ARMY OF DARKNESS and realising it wasn't as good as I'd thought it was!

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  3. Hi there,

    Thought you might be interested to learn that the oldest, longest-operating cinema in the UK is due to turn 100 on 22 September.

    The Duke of York’s in Brighton has launched a nationwide hunt to track down movie memorabilia from its patrons over the years and build a real social history of what it was like to visit the picture house throughout the past century.

    Drop me a line if you’d like to find out any further info – collette (at) midnight.co.uk

    Collette.

    ReplyDelete