An Article By My Good Friend Joe Firmage!

A good friend of mine wrote this and it is really good! I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did.

p.s. Coming soon, "Top 5 Most Overrated Movies"



A Movie Report

The parentheses represent the number of times I’ve seen the film. The plus and minus has to do with the film affecting me positively or negatively; either way, it says something positive about the filmmaking if there is a plus or minus, since that represents the power of the filmmaker to affect this audience. The end grade is a combination of elements such as: would I recommend it; would I watch it again; the affect it had on me, does it stand up on subsequent viewings; did I like it; was the directing clear, convincing, affecting, true; was the screenplay well written and effective; was the casting appropriate; how was the acting; did this film contribute significantly to the canon; how was the entertainment value; did the film pull me into the world of the story (a lot of times this has to do with the audience and environment I watched the film with—were they talkative, was the contrast on the screen off, etc)


Movies I have seen Rating Year I saw it
1. Goodbye, Mr. Chips A 2010
Just watched it last night and I am in love with the good. I can’t help comparing this to the impressionable “Dead Poet’s Society.” And although Poet’s deals with a closer look at the children, the subject matter is essentially taken directly from Mr. Chips. And Mr. Chips would win in every conceivable war of the good between the two. However, Mr. Chips would never allow such a war, would watch Dead Poet’s with quiet candor, and go on improving the world one child at a time.

2. The Fantastic Mr. Fox A+ 2010
One of the best films I have ever seen. Immensely watchable, clever to the teeth, and truly one of the most original stop action movies I have seen. I am in love with Wes Anderson and crew once again.
But perhaps I am overreacting. Anderson has long been on of my favorite directors. So to say that this is one of the best films I have ever seen has so much more to do with taste than with technicality. But even so the statement still remains true. I do love this film more than most I have seen and already know that it is rated very high on my favorite movie list.
Ps. I didn’t leave my theater seat until they kicked me out, or until the theater girl patiently waited for me to leave my seat so she could sweep underneath my chair.

3. Where the Wild Things Are (2) A+ 2009
This movie is brilliant. It hit me on a more emotional level than anything else, but it is indeed brilliant.
There will be more notes on this movie to come. I will write a paper on the brilliance of this movie once I have it in my paw and clutches. Brilliant!

4. Giant A+ 2010
What can I say about Giant? It is a giant appreciation I give to this film for captivating me for such a long time and then compelling me to think about this film long after its viewing. Giant is a luscious film with themes like the landscape, subtle yet looming, almost invisible yet ever present, never ending and never beginning, just there, embedded deep within each character, essential and justified by the sheer velocity and scope of their existence.
If I could go back in time and choose a role to play I would pick the isolation, loneliness, sorrow, pity, arrested development, madness, and misdirection of Jet eight times out of ten. The other two times I would be the one holding Elizabeth Taylor and messing up the kissing scenes just to do a few more takes.
My new favorite Western Epic. However, about the epic, I like what Stephen Farber said, “Masquerading as a Hollywood epic, Giant is intimate and low-key rather than melodramatic, an uncommonly realistic look at a troubled marriage and a conflicted family…”

5. The Wild Bunch F 2010
The Wild Bunch is morally deplorable. Although it has remarkable symbolism, imagery, actors, and a spectacular opening, it is an amoral film about amorality. If I have to comment on rape by showing a rape, then I am at best a contributor to the disease.
I would praise this movie for some of its merits but I will save that for the critics. I will say this, Nabokov’s Lolita was once described by an Elle magazine reviewer as, and I paraphrase: “The only convincing love story ever written.” This is rubbish. It is a story about a pedophile who manipulates the unfortunate girl’s mother’s demise, and kidnaps and forces himself upon a 12 year old girl.
We have enough Lolita stories to go around, not enough China Towns, and a result is a filmmaker who has spent a long while in peril with an iron clad future .

6. Marty A 2009
I love Marty for this more than anything else: honesty, integrity, and a Hollywood film willing to take its makeup off to look at itself through the mirror of the honest lives of ordinary people. Marty is endearing and acted finer, funnier, and more bitter-sweet than a lot of films of loneliness and love are capable of.
And if you ask Nate, we couldn’t have viewed it at a more appropriate moment. If only there was a car wreck.

7. Inglorious Basterds F- 2009
Inglorious Basterds is another deplorable film. This is art commenting on art. It is ultraviolent and finds bliss in its own masturbation. Some of the scenes are spectacular and some of the subplots are wonderful in parts. Of course it is a smart film, more of a cinephile’s film, than a traditional war film, which is what I thought Tarantino would be going for in my naïveté. And we fall in love with a few of the characters but in the end I could never recommend this film to anyone.
I am reminded of Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange, which at one time in my life I was very fond of. McDowell’s character goes through radical shifts; imposed upon him by outside forces. Where once he craved and sought out “ultra-violence” (the 1st time I heard the term) he could no longer stand even the sight of the temptation of it.
I believe in radical shifts.

8. Angels and Demons D 2010
At times I am with company and they suggest a film I would not normally see. I concede saying something to the effect of, “Yeah, you can bring it over. It’s a sick movie.” A sick movie is a movie I welcome anytime I am too sick to want to think heavily or even mildly. I thought Angels and Demons was one of those movies.
I would now avoid this film no matter the pandemic.
Tom Hanks, please do other things with your time. And thank you, thank you Audrey Tatou for not taking this project any further. I can still have giant crushes on you. And Ron Howard, keep making proficient movies about proficient people. You will be welcome on most sick days.

9. Look Both Ways (2) A+ 2009
This is a small Australian film about people, death, relationships, forgiveness, and the ability to come together and change for the better of the whole. I was deeply touched by the sincerity and effectiveness of the film. One of the first things I was conscious of was the screenplay. Usually this is a bad thing. When one element of the film draws attention to itself over the other elements it usually screams, Drama queen! It’s like inviting Kanye West to an awards show.
But this screenplay doesn’t scream but allows the audience to know as much information with as much economy and congruence as I have seen in most films. From the start the needed information is displayed so naturally that I just am enveloped in the charm of this film.
I have never seen a film like this, and yet it is not Brazil. Watching it was akin to watching, perhaps, JuneBug. Everything is genuine and found in your neighborhood and city. Yet I couldn’t stop thinking about the film when it was over and watched it immediately again, and then watched the special features, and yes, I think I am still thinking about it.



Josef Firmage
(Jan. 2010)