The Lone Ranger

I'm going to do something a little different than usual. I'm going to post two articles today rather than the typical one. yes I'm going to continue with my usual reviews of the AFI top 100 but i wanted to take a second to review a movie that was critical panned by many, which i turned out to ADORE. maybe this will hurt my credibility, but hey i loved it so what is the movie i love that everyone else seems to hate?

Yup.

after watching this movie i only had one question WHY? Why was this movie so disliked why did it get such a hard time from critics, when it was what id consider to be an action film on the same level as Pirates of the Caribbean and even Indiana Jones.  WHat is it about this movie I love? listen in and find out.

In 1933, San Francisco a little boy dressed as the Lone Ranger wanders around a Carnival only to find the extremely old Tonto played by Johnny Debb. Tonto tells the little boy of the "True" story of the Lone Ranger. we then see late 1880's texas where John Reid is arriving. he is coming to town in order to become a law man but not a ranger like his brother, rather a lawyer so that he may bring a civilized form of law to the West. however by chance he runs into the evil Butch Cavendish and and Tonto during a train robbery. With Cavandish escaped and Tonto out for revenge. John, his brother and the Rangers go out to capture Butch, only to be ambushed and killed. Tonto arrives and revives John turning him into the lone ranger, a spirit walker who can allegedly not die. together they struggle to find Butch and end a possible war between the Tonto's  tribe and the rail road company all the while attempting to avenge the deaths of both Tonto's people and John's brother at the hands of Butch. 

so I'm going to get the negative stuff out of the way. the second act is pretty weak, and for the most part doesn't carry the amount of excitement that the rest of the film. it's strange because the first and third act are not only good, they are some of the best moments in cinematic history for me. Well, at least the third act is. I think the big problem with this film was the rewrites. there was definitely an inclusion to paranormal elements at one point in the film but were later written out. but ill get to that in a moment. another issue is that there is a lot to the mystery of who is really behind the war and all that expositional nonsense that puts people to sleep.  people don't want to sit through a complicated who dun nit when you have exciting train trobberies and funny banter. another minor issue is some of the humor. a running joke in the film is people weirded out by the fact that The Lone Ranger wears a mask. which given the context of everything around them i really couldn't understand. 

Okay so lets get to the good stuff shall we? despite the slowness of act two by far the best thing I've seen on a long time is the ending. it is the most fun piece of film i have ever seen and ranks up there as one of my all time favorite movie moments. it harkens back to the action of old hollywood (Buster Keaton, The Great Train Robbery, Etc) But good lord is it extravagant and action packed. the entire scene revolves around a train Chase over a convoy filled with Silver. on one train you have tondo driving a train loa dog silver backward as the bad guys who also happen to have the Loan Rangers Love interest and nephew held hostage give chase, WHILE the lone ranger gives chase on the roof top of the car and then later through the actual train itself shooting, while on horse back. and then to top ll this off we are given an extended version of the finale to the Willam Tell Overture ( The Lone ranger Theme). incas eyou didn't notice The loan ranger is riding a horse while shooting at bad guy s on a train!

Everything about it is good fun even when something and happens to the good guys and they seem like they've lost you hear that music and you feel invincible. and you know that the bad guys better watch out because the Lone Ranger and Tonto are about to pop a cap in someones ass and there is nothing that anybody can do about it. MAN I love this scene!

onto of all this the overall story is good. i really liked how they didn't portray  the Lone Ranger as this perfect macho man, he is actually quite flawed and naive, constantly feeling as if he's in the shadow of his older brother who in reality should have been the Lone Ranger. There's this struggle the has with dealing with the world being clean cut and he can't at first he doesn't understand that in a world that's chaotic and unlawful that sometime you have to work outside the borders of what is considered oaky. Then there's tondo played By Johnny Depp. and yes i think he was perfect for this role. there's a lot of controversy about him portraying a native american, and aside from the fact that he's a descendant of Native American tribes, the man didn't try to do a caricature of them, he really did his research with this role and it shows. Tonto is pretty much the focal point of the movie a lot of the plot revolves around him not being able to cope with being responsible for the slaughter of his people. there's always this sadness about him and you can see that the life choices he's made and the people he deals with, as well as his own spiritual beliefs have all resonated form his guilt. it's a very well put together character. 

Some might consider the whole failure to write out the paranormal elements as bad writing. And yeah it really is. But i have a really strong belief that sometimes good art can come from mistakes. car can point is the Movie Caddyshack, and M*A*S*H*; both are films that went through so many rewrites and choppy editing that in the end the really are sloppy movies, but what makes them so great is the material and the way the audience sees it. I for one loved that even though they talk about these  paranormal elements we never actually see it. it leaves this big question in the air about whether for John really is a spirit walker or if it all really is just Tonto trying to rationalize his own guilt. it just added a level of mystery to  it that just added  a level of character. to an already good character. 

And that's the Lone Ranger, is it a perfect movie? No. Did it Deserve the hate it got? Hell to the!. the movie is just a lot of fun and it anything it deserves to be watched by the AMAZING finale.  Seriously go see that finale! I'm not kidding go! WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE! GO SEE THE DAMN FINALE!

Schindler's List

I've spoken on here about certain movies. Some are experiences and provide an overall immersion into the film. Some films are a journey that require you to question your very outlook on philosophy, politics, or life in general. There are however, certain films every once in a while that do something more something greater; something which encompassing the meaning, feeling, and experience into a film and in itself becomes. A document of an entire people, or event. that in a nut shell is what Steven Speilburg's Schindler's List is about. 

Set at the very dawn of  Hitler's final solution, also known as "The Holocaust", Schindlers List follows the story of business man and member of the Nazi Party Oskar Schindler as he struggles to save the many Polish Jews that now suffer in the ghettos and eventually the death camps.  through out the years Oskar Schindler schemes to employ Jewish works to his factory in order to protect them from the looming dangers of Overseer Amon Goeth as he runs the newly built concentration camp. What follows is a  document to the harsh truths of  the darkest period in human history, but also shows the goodness in all men. This is Schindler's List.

The thing about movies like this are that there is something so fundamentally pure and emotionally charged that you feel the need to see it to let it wash over you and to understand. If anything you watch it to simply understand what it was like. Films like this don't come too often and when they do you find yourself overwhelmed with the beauty ad the power the give.  And that's schindlers list. It's one of the few movies that actually bring me to the point of wheeling because I not only feel an emotional experience I feel a damn near religious experience. Everything g  about what these people are going through and how they must search within the,selves for ways to overcome this very horrible thing is  chilling . He'll I always did it incredible hen a character is able to crack a smile. 

Some people will obviously say that Schindler is the protagonist of this story, but I don't believe it's quite that simple. I believe people are the protagonists of this story; it's about how people react to adversity and prejudice and how some will over come it, some will fight it, some will fall to it, and others will embrace it. I say that people are the protagonists because the Jewish inmates are truly what this film is about. The film just brings you into their perspective so with every death, every hardship, every obstacle you experience it. You know what it's like to. Wake up and be harassed for Ed from your home and into a place where you'll never survive. The people of this film break my heart because as far as they know there is no tomorrow and every day is just another day to be Alive, 

Oskar Schindler is another xcellent character as he himself struggles with this obsessive need to secretly help the Jewish people. Every cent he has is worth nothing to him compared to how much a single life is worth. This is what makes his final monologue so meaningful a the end because this man is truly ones of the greatest souls who existed and despite everything he still believed he didn't do enough. But he's not a man who openly acknowledges his kindness. partly as an effort to remain on good terms with the Nazi's but also as a way to keep him self strong. he even comes off as a hard man to the jewish people he protects. in fact, we don't see his true emotions until after the war has ended when he has to leave them and he can no longer contain the sadness he feels over so many deaths It gives me chills just to think about it.

The antagonist, whom even though he's evil as it gets. He too struggles with the troubles of war. There's this constant fascination with Oskar Schindler he doesn't quite understand this compassion he has for the Jewish people even if its unspoken. Schindler attempts to offer the wisdom of kindness onto him and it sends him on a struggle with his own beliefs. Fr every man he kills he attempts to secure his position as a forgiving and kind man but every time his own prejudice comes into play and he takes a step backward never able to becom the great man Schindler was.

Lastly thes the final unseen character. Adversity itself. We never see a commanding officer of the Nazi Party high ranking we only hear spoken word of Hitler and his orders but the power that Anvers over all these people is never seen and it still finds itself to be the driving force of the film. you just feel the pits heavy presence as the film progresses, and at points you come to question whether the prejudice is blind hatred or acting out in fear of the father figure with controls them. 

The cinematography is top notch for a film like this. Everything is done in such a way that you cannot held but feel immersed in the sort. using visual imagery in order to give information, the story lends itself to objects, which have become synonymous with the Holocaust.  suitcases that will never be reunited with their owners. Piles of Shoes now emptied of purpose an life. clothing and jewelry. the brief use of color that is used in an other wise black and white film to hit home the importance of a single person or to signify y the entrance and departure of a dark time in history.   All those things come out extremely well. I particularly love the basic shots. the entire time you watch this film and you'll believe that you're watching a documentary. Something else to note is the music man is it powerful and it just hits you in your heart every time you hear it. the themes song itself brings with it the heavy emotion and struggle that these people are going through. 

I got worked up right before I wrote this article because this is one of those films that is just zoo powerful that I result in Weeping. Schindler's List is a movie that has to be seen if only to better understand the Holocaust. It's a film that makes you understand the dangers of ignorance mixed with intolerance but also goes as far as to assure you there will always be good in the world and that it will triumph over evil. The ending always wrecks me every time i see it. when you see the actual survivors come over the hill top to commemorate the real Oskar Schindler's grave in Jerusalem. What this film did was show me that men can do great things, and if I'm i want anything in life it is that I might do something have as great as what Oskar Schindler did.

Gone With The Wind

Gone With The Wind!…. Yeah… that's exactly what we're going to talk about… hurry?

Okay so as you can tell I'm not a fan of this film. although i will applaud the production value and just sheer scale of this Hollywood Opus. there is just one part of it. ONE part that takes me out of the whole thing. Well two parts but we'll get to those in a moment. lets get to the story.

It's the eve of the American Civil War,  and the place is a Georgian Plantation by the name of Tara, and on this plantation is our protagonist, Scarlett O'Hara. She has no interest in the looming war as her only interest is socializing at parties, perusing the love of a man who is already betrothed to some one else, and just being an over all spooled brat. 

knowing that she cannot have her crush, a man by the name of Ashley Wilkes, she chooses another suitor. who soon after joins the confederacy and dies in war. The life Scarlett knows is quickly turned upside down as the union tears the south apart, on the verge of loosing everything Scarlett joins the nursing effort where she finds the pregnant wife of her lost love.  As the war comes to an end and the Union closes is in on Atlanta. Scarlett returns to her home plantation, as it is what her father always said it was "the only place that matters".

what follows is a broken family trying to recover form a devastating war, that brought their empire to ruin. now without slaves Scarlett must run the farm herself, and soon takes another husband who dies attempting to defend her honor.  she then takes over his  business sand saves the plantation. now on her own she chooses to be with the only man who will put up with her, the charming Rhett Butler. 

But will this be the marriage she's always wanted has she finally found peace and stability in a world that has gone crazy? has she changed for the better?

well no… not really… especially on the last part. 

Lets just be clear and to the point. I HATE SCARLETT O'HARA.  I hate her even more than I hate Jake La Motta, and he hit a woman square in the face. The entire movie all i saw was a woman who was nothing more than a spoiled rotten brat. what ever she wanted she got and if she didn't get what she got she would take advantage of people just to get it.  The entire film I felt like this is the villain this is the woman we're supposed be rooting for. the one who is supposed to make us feel good a the end.  But no! she's just a rotten woman through and through. 

Let me explain so in the beginning of the film she's in love with a man who cannot marry her. so she chooses to mary someone else who loves her dearly to make the other man jealous. during the war all she hopes for is that he'll die and then once he does die she complains about having to mourn for him and then immediately throws away her wedding ring. Then after the war she gets married a second time only to absorb the second husbands business. and when this man dies trying to kill the man who tried to RAPE he, she says that she's "glad that he's dead".  and then when she finally meets a guy who not put up with her BS, someone who is a no nonsense guy who love shed but can offer her a chance to grow. she makes efforts to cheat on him with her lost love all the while HIS wife adores the living hell out of her!

Scarlett O'Hara people a woman who cares nothing for human life. 

And no don't give me that garbage about how " oh she's doing all of these things of rthe right reasons she wants to preserve her family and her home. And I'm sorry but you can't tell me thats okay when the men she  marries genuinely  love her. it'd be one thing if they were jerks but no the's guys go out of their way for her they worship the ground she walks on. It'd be one thing if the film portrayed her as a bad person, but thats not at all what the tone of the film suggests. 

to be honest her character reminds me of ( and God help me for saying this, BUT) Bella from Twilight. both characters are terrible role models and all around terrible people and yet both are portrayed as heroes. Why!? what does scarlet do in this entire e\movie except whine and moan about how she can't get what she wants?

According to this picture, Scarlett died for our sins. 

Whew! now that i got that off my chest let's talk about the secondary characters because they do save the film. I particularly enjoyed the Mrs. Wilkes character as she always seemed to be the exact opposite of Scarlett in every way.  She's a kind caring and all around loving woman.  and for some reason she treats Scarlett like she's God. which i never understood. Hell there's a point in the movie where She cows Scarlett was trying to have an affair with her husband, and not only does she forgive her she honors her at her husbands birthday party. This woman is a saint!

other notable characters are of course Rhett Butler played by Clark Gable, who always reminded me of a southern Han Solo. he's always the odd man out and i genuinely loved his performance because despite the fact that he ends up being the one everyone hates, he alway retains his composure and is never afraid to tell Scarlett off. 

Another wonderful character is Mammy, played by Hattie McDaniel.  Boy does she own this film. every time she appears on screen you can't help but love her. her character has a lot of passion and a lot of attitude, but also a lot of wisdom behind he which makes her a great driving force behind the story. you get the feeling that despite the fact she's treated as a sec on class cities, she's still one step ahead of everyone and that she really is wants keeping everything together for so long.  there are white characters that talk about ho much they want to to be approved of by her. its no wonder she won an oscar for her role. 

If my least favorite part of this films is the main character and the story, then what is my favorite? and thats simple. the scale and look. This move is Massive, the coloring is beautiful, the costumes, are elaborate, and the sets are vividly detailed. everything about the look of this film is just amazing.  my favorite par of this film has to be towards the end of the first act of the film when we start to see that the Confederacy is going to lose the war. You see the city of ATlanta in a panic, and then you see hundreds of wounded men in the streets, an then you see the entire city ablaze. Wow, thats all wow. the entire film is so beautiful and simply epic you almost forgive the terrible lead…. almost. 

Something else that makes the film just grand and beautiful is how it is structured. there was a period in time where emotion pictures where almost create don the same level as opera's and plays. people won;d dress up to see them, and the films them,selves were presented as if they were operas.  Gone With The Wind does no differently. when we begin we are shown an overture which sets the mood of the entire picture. half way through we are given an intermission. Yeah! an intermission to a movie. followed by an Entracte and then the second act of the film.  there is something about this that just makes the film seem more like an experience than an actual film

Now it's time for me to address the elephant in the room, the racial issues. this is my othe brig issue with the film. it doesn't quite portray an accurate image of slavery in the south. half of the characters appear happy with he work their doing and they some how were bale to work in some humorous banter between field slaves in certain parts of the movie. While the film does make the characters very believable, it just doesn't sit well with me to see slaves portrayed as  people content and happy with their place in life. while I can see a small handful of people being like this I doubt there was a major consensus  on the matter. And thats the problem, Gone With The Wind isn't an accurate portrayal of the south, it's a Confederate Sympathizers idea of the south. it's a antebellum fairytale which makes the union look like monsters and the Confederates appear completely innocent. and while i will admit that the Union were not entirely innocent of their actions during the war, and I do sympathize with SOME of the confederacy's principals. I really can see  a lot of biased inaccuracies being put in the film and while all historical films have inaccuracies  the ones in this film are more insulting than forgivable. 

So yeah, that's Gone With The WInd. Do I like it? I think its pretty to look at. would I recommend it to people? Yes. despite my dislike of major parts of this film it is still an incredibly important part of motion picture history. its one of the first films to be featured in color  and the color is just stunning in this picture. It may not be my favorite but maybe you'll enjoy it.  

Singin' In the Rain

 

What is it that makes Singin' In The Rain so damn good? I've had the pleasure to view this picture numerous times and every time I find myself thinking "Delightful" and thats pretty much sums up Singin' in the Rain. It's an utterly Delightful movie. We good?  See you guys in the next review, byeeeee. 

Okay, maybe i should due more specific. Everything about this movie is just wonderful; from the music to the lighting, to the dancing, and acting. It's just a  fine example of a movie musical.  Why you ask? lets find out.

Don Lockwood, played by Gene Kelley, is a popular Hollywood actor in 1927.  He is in the midst of a major change in hollywood; the transition of silent films into talkies. the silent films quickly becoming  old news and his most recent film "The Dueling Cavalier" being a total disaster, due in part to technical difficulties with the recording devices and of course the horrendous speaking voice of LockWood's leading lady, Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen). With only Sic weeks till the premiere, Don schemes to turn the train wreck talkie into a movie musical title "The Dancing Cavalier). With the help of his best friend Cosmo Brown (Donald O'Conner), and a lovely struggling actress named Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds) the trio will lead a path of hilarity and melody the like soy which Hollywood has never seen.

Something that needs to be addressed right off the bat is the cast. By God do these people know how to perform. Gene Kelley is one of the greatest musical actors of all time and you can't help but just love every second that he's on camera. everything from his dancing, to is singing, to his delivery is all just spot on. His iconic performance in the rain scene is only made perfect by the way he interacts with the scenery. Donald O'Conner is just as funny taking a character that could easily be annoying and turned him into an utter riot. some of the best lines are given to him, and even though he plays the atypical "goofy side kick" he really makes it his own. you always get the idea that Cosmo is one step ahead of everybody and he's a lot smarter than he lets on. Debbie Reynolds is your typical good innocent woman  but she is jus so lovely and wonderful to watch act, you can help but love her. Together this trio i s dynamite. some of the best dance sequences I've ever seen are in the movie and i defy you to not want to join in during the "Good Mornin" Sequence. 

The most obvious thing to talk about when reviewing a musical is of course, the music. Song after song is just big and onto of that memorable. this is one of the few musicals where I can recall every song, and fondly at that. The title song is just a blast. an then you have these softer songs like "Beautiful Girls" where even though it's slow, its still portrayed in a way that is just grand and massive. which brings me to another point. If i had anything negative to say about this picture it would be the "Broadway Melody " sequence. yeah it's pretty and its wonderful and you just want to jump into it and be a part of it, but good lord is it long. There seemed to be a fad in the golden age of film where movie musicals would have extremely long and over the top sequences. Mary Poppins did it, and so did Bed Knobs and Broom Sticks. And to be honest i didn't like it then either. the seen in question is a movie within the movie as it details the story of a broadway actor's rid e to fame. From stepping off the bus in New York, to being Broadway sensation. I wouldn't mind it so much if it wasn't for the far that it just drags on. and when you think its over it just keeps on going. Seriously, there were a few times i felt like the movie was just screwing with me. the sequence is so long I had time to clean my apartment, and wash the dishes and sit back down only to find the sequence was just ending. Thats no exaggeration either. 

If i had to to choose something that is by far my favorite part of this film it has to be the use of color. MAN does this thing pop out at you. the use of colors in the film just makes the whole thing feel alive and vibrant and just full of joy.  I know that sounds silly but Check this out!

That is gorgeous! And its not just that shot either. The use of color just makes this movie seem other worldly. and only amplifies the silliness of the characters, and all together justifies the silliness itself. 

You can just feel the passion put into this movie.  Everything is great. The music is great, the jokes are great, the dancing is great, the acting is great, even the editing is great. the whole movie is so fantastic its hard to not just want to smile when you se it. The story while not too complicated is just a big ball of fun. the characters are seldom put in serious harm and when they come across a conflict that upsets them there is always some sort of background joke to keep the tension light. You just get this feeling that everybody on the set had a blast making this movie and it really shines through. watching it I will get flashbacks to when I performed in theatre and the camaraderie and joy all the actors had and thats sort of what I get when I see this picture. 

It's considered one of  the greatest musical movies of all time for a reason; one of my favorites, and it should be yours too.

Lawrence of Arabia

I'm going to admit something I'm not too proud of. I fell asleep the first time i saw this movie. 

Now before you take that as a sign to close this blog and say to yourself " Welp that's all i needed to hear". There really is quite a lot to this movie. We're talking about one of the greatest epic films of all time about one of the most interesting men who ever lived.  Lawrence of Arabia is a different type of film. NO I'm not going to say it's an experience.  It's more like journey. you begin in this very familiar world and then venture into  a whole new way of thinking a whole new culture, and a whole new perspective and ultimately it changes you for better or for worse.  That's pretty much what you're in for with this movie. way make's it so interesting? Continue and find out.

T. E. Lawrence  is a Lieutenant, stationed in Cairo during the first World War.  he has been instructed to over see the the Arabian resistance against the Turks. along the way he enters the harsh yet wise culture of the various tribes in the desert. and is able to unite them all against the Turks ultimately leading to world notoriety. However, things are not so simple; as Lawrence pushes the Turks back he finds himself becoming more and more integrated into the Arabian culture and is less and less able to identify with his british origins. top it all off with his self awareness about his joy for killing. and we find that Lawrence is more fragile than his brutal exterior lets on. Going from  simple lieutenant to Leader of the Arab Council, to a broken man, Lawrence fears he will be unable to find peace of mind once the war is over or if he'll even be able to return to the place  he once called home.

The first thing that really stands out with this film is it's scale. The movie is just huge but not in the same way as Gone With The Wind. Where that film's grand scale was in it's costumes and sets, Lawrence deals Large exterior scenes and beautiful shots feature epic imagery. This is definitely a film that caters to its 70mm aspect ratio. every shot is set up in a way to just show of the scale of the movie and the room that the widescreen format allows it. take the iconic dune scene for example.  just look at it at first you think nothing much of the dune only that its a pile of sand, but once you see Lawrence on his camel you realize it's not just a pile, it's a mountain! and that pretty much sets the scale for the rest of the film the desert scenes are always shot big and wide, while the british base scenes always feel very small and confined in order to reflect Lawrence's own feelings of restriction. 

the story is nothing we havnt seen before its the fish out of date story; guy becomes a part of a culture he doesn't fully understand but then finds out he relates more to these people then where he came from and finds it difficult to reintegrate into the society he came from. We've seen it in films like Dances with Wolves, Avatar, and even Pocahontas . and while this doesn't mean its original, that doesn't take away from the fact that its an original concept, after all there are no original stories only original concepts of stories. 

That's Peter O'Toole playing the part of Lawrence and boy does he make a fascinating character. The entire film we find this character who is so brutal and yet so softly spoken and gentle that you can just feel the constant conflict he has to go through.  ultimately those characteristics lend themselves to the movie. you fins yourselves unsure of how to feel about the character because the himself is unsure how to feel. he is so lost not just n the new world he inhabits but the entire world itself. he doesn't know  where the belongs or what is morally justifiable any more.  He is a ruthless skilled and yet he suffers the most remorse after killing its complexities like that that make Lawrence such a great role. 

I guess i should get to the negative of this film; the length. This film is LONG. clocking in at nearly four hours; Lawrence is by far the longest film to receive the academy award for best picture. i'd be lying if i said i could make it through the whole thing but no this is just a movie that days on and on scene after scene and can be a had movie to sit through if you have a short attention span like me. That being said this movie really is excellent. ever scene is great there's just a lot of them. it's not  movie you'll casually watch on a friday night but it is a movie that is worth watching if you're a film buff.

And thats Lawrence of Arabia. ultimately I can sum it up like this. for every second this movie offers it offers a mount of movie magic you'll never regret seeing. despite it's length I highly recommend it. now I'm going to cut my closer short today because i have another review coming up and knowing how heavy it is I know it'll be a doosey to write.

Raging Bull

So i'm just going to come out and say it, I hated Martin Scorcese's Raging Bull the first time I saw it. I found it to be ripe with unlikable characters, and an overall unpleasant story. For the life of me I never understood why this movie has been brought up to be compared against Rocky.  Where Rocky dealt with an underdog character overcoming his own internal struggle and ultimately finding dignity in the woman he love, Raging Bull  is about an asshole who treats everybody terribly and ultimately loses everything because  of the life he leads. So how did I feel about after re watching it? Well… i still don't like it as much as other people do but I'm starting to feel like I'm not supposed to. Don't understand? lets start with the story and ill explain as we go. 

Raging Bull follows the life of 1940's Boxer Jake La Motta ( played her  by Robert De Niro) as he rises up from the slums of the Bronx  into Fame and glory as a champion Boxer. along the way we see his relationships withe people around him as well as the inner workings of his mind, and life style; all of which ultimately lead to his fall from grace.  Along the way he is joined by his brother, a wise guy who despite wanting to look out for his own brother has issues of his own including a huge anger problem, as well as his wife who is not the least bit loyal to Jake and appears to be a gold digger.

Off the bat the story is not my favorite. I find the fact that not one of these characters has a single redeeming quality to hinder the story itself. It's equally unpleasant when you watch these characters knowing that this is not only a true story, but hat according to some of the people who actually experienced this, it was way way worse. Thats right, a movie where a woman cheats on her husband with his own brother only to have that husband beat said brother nearly to death in front of his own children, and then finish it all off by punching his own wife square in the face, is  noting compared to what actually happened.  Scene after scene not only shows how utterly awful each of these people are, but how undeserving they are of the fortune and talent they have.  Jake La Motta cheats on his wife, threatens to kill a dog, then beats his wife, only to go ahead and solicit an affair from a fifteen year old, and thats all in the FIRST TWENTY MINUTES of the movie. Later on we will find Jake doing such charming things as throwing a boxing match, and making out with underage teenagers.  The brother for the most part is a likable character, except for you know that fact that he threatens to stab hi sson in the face and that  sleeps with his brother's second wife. And then there is the WIfe who is the most likable character in comparison. I say in Comparison because at one point she openly dims to sleeping around with everyone in the neighborhood including Jake's own family. the characters are vile and that's sort of the point. 

So if I don't like the character's then what redeeming value does the story have? Well, for one thing it happens to fall into one of my favorite cinematic stories; The American  Tragedy.  However, unlike Citizen Kane or The Godfather, where the hero's are likable characters with tragic flaws, Jake has no like ability and pretty much is the fatal flaw. there is nothing in this character that suggests that he might make it out okay. from the get go you know this guy is going down a path that he will not be able to escape from. That's sort of what makes this rendition of the American Tragedy so great though.  IT'S THE AMERICAN TRAGEDY ON STEROIDS. 

Story aside I'd like to talk about the cinematography of the film which is by far one of my favorite parts of the film. the style in which the fights are filmed, the close ups the sheer brutality of every blow, it makes the entire feel heavy and slow but in a way that just embodies the character of Jake La Motta. there are these great scenes where we see Jake observing other people talking from afar, and where in other films we would only see these characters lips move we actually hear them speak. I don't know, I always got the impression that maybe what we were sharing was all in Jake's head that it was his own paranoia leading him to the harsh conclusions, which are ultimately what lead to him losing his family, money, and pride. 

Another highpoint of this picture is the acting. Can I just talk about Robert De Niro for a minute? because I'm going to. De Niro brings it in this film. not only does he immerse himself into the role emotionally he does it physically. Take a look at the pictures of him above and the check this one out. 

Yeah! besides the nose, all of that is real. De Niro gained 60 LBS in order to portray the character accurately. There is of debate regarding actors performing major body changes in order to portray certain characters, especially in the light of Matthew Mcchonaughey's performance in Dallas Buyers Club. But I find it an incredible feat for an actor to take. As long as the changes are not life threatening i t make perfect sense for an actor to do this type of thing. In order for an actor to fully understand a character especially one that actually existed it's important to put yourself not only in the shoes of the character  but also their body. 

So why is it that I don't enjoy watching this movie so much? Well, like I said earlier, this isn't a movie that you're supposed to watch and enjoy. The story is unpleasant and its supposed to be unpleasant. The main character's overt masculinity, and self destructive behavior drive him to his demise. and that's what we're supposed to be watching. it's a movie that i feel like i can only watch once and get the message. There are certain films that are like that (i.e. Requieum For A Dream, and The Devil's Rejects). FIlms that although are fantastic and well done garner material so unpleasant hat it only takes one viewing to understand it, and then you will not need to or want to watch it again. this doesn't mean the film is bad it just means that it's not a movie you casually watch for enjoyment. and in the end thats what Raging Bull is a great movie with a very heavy message. And if there is any better way to end a film with such dark subject matter, than it is most certainly the eye opening final frame of the movie.