This month the IMC is featuring a DVD display titled: “Movies You Were Born For”. This display selected movies from the years 2000-2006, and a matching easel display chooses a single movie from every other year to highlight. Come check out what was popular in the year you were born! I decided to look at our easel display for some inspiration and selected two movies to watch: An American in Paris [IMC DVD 782.14 A512 1999] and The Ladykillers [IMC DVD 364.3 L157 2002].
I hadn’t realized that An American in Paris was a musical, especially with music written by George and Ira Gershwin. As such, the music was wonderful, and I liked seeing Gene Kelly singing with Georges Guetary, a French actor and singer. I have always admired actors and actresses who had multiple talents such as Gene Kelly and the female lead opposite him, Leslie Caron. Both were gifted dancers, which is evident in this film, and their dancing duets are a delight to watch. I think the only thing that kept me from loving this film was the disjointed feeling at the end where Gene Kelly’s character has a dream sequence when he believes he is losing the woman he loves. I liked the transition, but it morphed into something that didn’t quite fit the rest of the film and ended up breaking the flow of the rest of the movie. However, it is still a charming movie and would have been very popular in 1951 when it was released.
I also got to watch The Ladykillers, a film about a group of diverse criminals who end up renting space at an unassuming old lady’s house. They plan a robbery while pretending to be musicians, and end up roping her into their getaway plan without her releasing it. Eventually, she uncovers their crime and demands that they return the money. The second half of the film is them trying to convince each other to kill her and failing time after time. The brain of the group is Alec Guinness (most known for his role as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars series), and he is very enjoyable. The humor in this movie is not too overdone, which can be the case in similar movies.
It was tough to choose just a couple movies from our list, so come check it out if you’re looking for a new movie to watch! If you are embarking on your own travelogue adventure, track it here: https://letterboxd.com/peterstanley/list/1001-movies-you-must-see-before-you-die/.
0 Comments.