Finally! Last night was our first official movie date to kick off this project. While we'll be choosing movies at random (and alternating from Wifey's pick to Hubby's pick) we decided we had to start off with the #1 film on AFI's list - - Citizen Kane. If nothing else, at least we'll know what every other movie we watch needs to be compared to. Watch Trailer.
The movie was scheduled to start at 9pm, but we never got started until about 9:20pm due to "technical difficulties" (translation: Hubby pulled his hair out trying to get all the plugs set-up correctly between the DVD player, TV and DISH Network box; we then spent another 10 minutes trying to figure out how to turn the damn Subtitles off!).
When the movie finally started we were both ready to go. We had our snacks and a notebook by our sides. The plan was to write down ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING that came to mind and/or happened during our movie date.
WIFEY'S REVIEW
Ok, so we tried starting the movie last night at 9pm and WOW did it start off with a lot a problems! First off, we couldn’t get the DVD to work down on the better TV in the house and when we finally did get it to work the captions were on and then that took us another 5-10 minutes to figure out how to turn them off, so when we finally got everything under control the real fun began!
1st complaint - - BLACK & WHITE!!!!
2nd complaint - - In the beginning, there were these black specks all over the screen! You know, the one’s only on REALLY old movies (sorry to those who may be offended by this).
9:40pm. I have NO CLUE on what’s going on in the movie. They’ve shown more animals, deaths, and divorces then I’ve seen in my whole entire life! So, as you can see, this movie is way out of my league!
So I’m sitting there watching this and the first thing I keep thinking about is “Has Warren Buffet seen this movie?” For those who haven’t seen this movie, it’s about a man who runs a newspaper company, who came into his fame and fortune by the age of 8 when his parents gave him away so they could then have money. See, it was all about money back then and as well as today.
Another thing I realized about this movie is that a majority of the props in the movie where fake (i.e. the rain was made from shinny streamers; the flames were fake made from cloth and lighting; etc.). Also, I thought Jeff was a workaholic! Kane slept in his office, which would be the day I would be ok with Jeff doing that.
One thing I didn’t like about this movie was that Kane was given his fame and fortune without really having to earn it himself. What’s that teaching the audience? No wonder his wives were so unhappy with such a greedy man!
So, with all that being said, I would give this movie 2 Ben & Jerry’s out of 5!
HUBBY'S REVIEW
I have to start by saying that I'm very impressed by Lindsay. This was the FIRST black-and-white movie she's ever watched! By 9:30pm (or just 10 minutes in) I could tell by the look on her face that she was dying for this movie to end and I even wrote down in my notebook that maybe this wasn't such a good idea. But, if she continues to write good, honest reviews like the one above this is going to work out better than I thought.
This was my third time watching this movie and I loved it as much as the first! AFI was right to put this at the top of their list 10 years ago and they were right to keep it there again this time around. No other American film has ever come close to being as complete as this one is.
This 1941 classic introduced Hollywood and the American public to one of the greatest filmmakers/actors of all time. Orson Welles, at only 25 years old, not only starred as the main character Charles Foster Kane, but he also wrote and directed this masterpiece.
Without getting too deep, Welles was the FIRST filmmaker to truly use a movie as an art form. This is demonstrated by the way he meticulously arranged EVERY SINGLE DETAIL (from the position of the Actors/Actresses, Shot,Camera Angle, Lighting, Sound, Dialogue, etc.) in order so that they would ALL contribute to the overall theme of the story. Bottom line, there's a reason why this movie is used in film schools across the country as teaching tool and why entire semesters are devoted to analyzing just a handful of scenes.
I don't think she mentioned it in here review, but Wifey commented at one point that Welles reminded her of the 1940's version of Leonardo DiCaprio and I think that's a good observation. Another point she made after the movie that I never thought of is how the Charles Kane character in the beginning says he "gagged on the silver spoon in his mouth..." although as he grew in power and fame it seemed to change him to the point where he couldn't live without being spoon-fed attention from others. Tragically, with or without it he was still a lost man.
So, what's the movie about? Simply put, it's about a man who had everything and then lost it all. It's about the "American Dream" becoming an American nightmare for one man. I'm just glad our first movie date didn't meet a similar fate.
I give this movie 5 Ben & Jerry's out of 5! Under our rating system, that means that Citizen Kane receives 3.5 Ben and Jerry's from OMD.
The movie was scheduled to start at 9pm, but we never got started until about 9:20pm due to "technical difficulties" (translation: Hubby pulled his hair out trying to get all the plugs set-up correctly between the DVD player, TV and DISH Network box; we then spent another 10 minutes trying to figure out how to turn the damn Subtitles off!).
When the movie finally started we were both ready to go. We had our snacks and a notebook by our sides. The plan was to write down ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING that came to mind and/or happened during our movie date.
WIFEY'S REVIEW
Ok, so we tried starting the movie last night at 9pm and WOW did it start off with a lot a problems! First off, we couldn’t get the DVD to work down on the better TV in the house and when we finally did get it to work the captions were on and then that took us another 5-10 minutes to figure out how to turn them off, so when we finally got everything under control the real fun began!
1st complaint - - BLACK & WHITE!!!!
2nd complaint - - In the beginning, there were these black specks all over the screen! You know, the one’s only on REALLY old movies (sorry to those who may be offended by this).
9:40pm. I have NO CLUE on what’s going on in the movie. They’ve shown more animals, deaths, and divorces then I’ve seen in my whole entire life! So, as you can see, this movie is way out of my league!
So I’m sitting there watching this and the first thing I keep thinking about is “Has Warren Buffet seen this movie?” For those who haven’t seen this movie, it’s about a man who runs a newspaper company, who came into his fame and fortune by the age of 8 when his parents gave him away so they could then have money. See, it was all about money back then and as well as today.
Another thing I realized about this movie is that a majority of the props in the movie where fake (i.e. the rain was made from shinny streamers; the flames were fake made from cloth and lighting; etc.). Also, I thought Jeff was a workaholic! Kane slept in his office, which would be the day I would be ok with Jeff doing that.
One thing I didn’t like about this movie was that Kane was given his fame and fortune without really having to earn it himself. What’s that teaching the audience? No wonder his wives were so unhappy with such a greedy man!
So, with all that being said, I would give this movie 2 Ben & Jerry’s out of 5!
HUBBY'S REVIEW
I have to start by saying that I'm very impressed by Lindsay. This was the FIRST black-and-white movie she's ever watched! By 9:30pm (or just 10 minutes in) I could tell by the look on her face that she was dying for this movie to end and I even wrote down in my notebook that maybe this wasn't such a good idea. But, if she continues to write good, honest reviews like the one above this is going to work out better than I thought.
This was my third time watching this movie and I loved it as much as the first! AFI was right to put this at the top of their list 10 years ago and they were right to keep it there again this time around. No other American film has ever come close to being as complete as this one is.
This 1941 classic introduced Hollywood and the American public to one of the greatest filmmakers/actors of all time. Orson Welles, at only 25 years old, not only starred as the main character Charles Foster Kane, but he also wrote and directed this masterpiece.
Without getting too deep, Welles was the FIRST filmmaker to truly use a movie as an art form. This is demonstrated by the way he meticulously arranged EVERY SINGLE DETAIL (from the position of the Actors/Actresses, Shot,Camera Angle, Lighting, Sound, Dialogue, etc.) in order so that they would ALL contribute to the overall theme of the story. Bottom line, there's a reason why this movie is used in film schools across the country as teaching tool and why entire semesters are devoted to analyzing just a handful of scenes.
I don't think she mentioned it in here review, but Wifey commented at one point that Welles reminded her of the 1940's version of Leonardo DiCaprio and I think that's a good observation. Another point she made after the movie that I never thought of is how the Charles Kane character in the beginning says he "gagged on the silver spoon in his mouth..." although as he grew in power and fame it seemed to change him to the point where he couldn't live without being spoon-fed attention from others. Tragically, with or without it he was still a lost man.
So, what's the movie about? Simply put, it's about a man who had everything and then lost it all. It's about the "American Dream" becoming an American nightmare for one man. I'm just glad our first movie date didn't meet a similar fate.
I give this movie 5 Ben & Jerry's out of 5! Under our rating system, that means that Citizen Kane receives 3.5 Ben and Jerry's from OMD.
