What We’re Watching – 7/20/11

Now, Voyager (1942)

Here is a film that I’ve wanted to see for a while, and finally got around to recently. It’s safe to say that Bette Davis is one of the great Hollywood stars of the past, and I’ve always wanted to see more of her work besides just All About Eve (1950). Her performance in Now, Voyager is one of fascinating complexity. She plays Charlotte Vale, daughter to a cruel and unyielding mother. Because of the harsh upbringing that Charlotte experienced under her mother, she turned out to be a quiet, shy, and emotionally unstable adult. Luckily for Charlotte, her condition is diagnosed and treated by Dr. Jaquith, played by the immortal Claude Rains. Through his supervision, Charlotte becomes a well-composed, outgoing, and confident woman. This is put to the ultimate test when she is sent on a South American cruise, and falls in love with Jerry (Paul Henreid), a married man who falls in love with her also. While everything seems to be going well for Charlotte, can her newfound social ability withstand the treatment of her mother once she returns from her cruise? This is a solid movie with good performances all around, particularly from Davis, who would go on to become Oscar-nominated for her work. Although the plot does have some contrivances (it’s really convenient that the child she meets at the “clinic” turns out to be related to the one person who means everything to her), the performances by the cast and the chemistry between Davis and Henreid are enough to make this movie one to check out.


Tron: Legacy (2010)

Continuing with some of the films I missed from last year, Tron: Legacy was one that actually caught me by surprise. A lot of times, a film that gets overhyped can lead to it being underwhelming once I actually see it. The opposite can be said about this movie. I heard a lot about how the sequel to the cult film Tron (1982) was a major letdown from Disney, but once I saw it, I was pleasantly surprised to find it a solid action picture, filled with good performances and great visual effects. In the movie, Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund), the son of the Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), gets transported into the world of the Tron video game, better known as The Grid. There, he finds his father still alive, trapped in this world by the evil program Clu (Jeff Bridges), and his henchman, Tron (Bruce Boxleitner). I’m not going to say that this movie is great, because it is far from that, but what I will say is that I was thoroughly entertained while watching it. I thought Hedlund did well as Sam, a young rebellious kid desperate to bring his father back to reality. Jeff Bridges, in all of his “Dude” glory, was good playing the dual role of the older Kevin and the younger-looking Clu. The visual effects were spectacular; the world that director Joseph Kosinski created was one of incredible light and sound, his architecture background clearing playing a role in adapting and modifying the look of The Grid from the first movie. The soundtrack by Daft Punk was great, one that I believe was severely overlooked during the awards season. Obviously, there are a bunch of elements that one needs to suspend their level of disbelief about to accept the film for what it is, and I found myself able to do that, sit back, and just enjoy it. Heck, even Clu’s digital head was good enough for me to buy in to!


The Twilight Zone (The Original Series)

With four of the five seasons of the original Twilight Zone television show now available on a certain online streaming service, I decided to make it the next chapter in my ongoing quest to watch more TV. I’ve never actually seen the original show before, although I am well aware of all the cultural references that it has given us and how influential it has become. Now that I’m about eleven episodes in, I can understand why this show (and all of its revamped versions) is so remembered. Rod Serling did an excellent job with creating a platform that did not have an ongoing storyline. Instead, each episode was a separate story unto itself, with a beginning, middle, and end. This way, any newcomer can start at any place, and not have to catch up or feel left behind. I really enjoy the sci-fi, supernatural, and paranoid elements that the show brings. Serling (who narrates) infuses each episode with a kind of tension that could only have come during those Cold War years. I also like how the show isn’t afraid of taking chances. What other show do you know has a premiere episode featuring a man stranded all by himself in an empty town, or another where a sailor finds himself on a ship destined to be destroyed over and over again? This is a show that is full of surprises, with touches of fear, regret, redemption, fate and coincidence. I can’t wait to see what the rest of the series brings.

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Allen is a moviegoer based out of Seattle, Washington. His hobbies include dancing, playing the guitar, and, of course, watching movies.

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