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Posts from the ‘1929’ Category

The Cocoanuts

The first feature-length Marx Brothers film is 1929’s The Cocoanuts. Starring the four Marx Brothers, Oscar Shaw, Margaret Dumont, and Mary Eaton, the movie exemplifies the zaniness that the troupe is famous for and carries a considerable Vaudeville theme throughout. There are plenty of song-and-dance numbers to break up the comic routines and the Marx Brothers often play to the cameras as though playing to a stage audience.

The Cocoanuts, based on a play by George S. Kaufman, is one of the earliest adaptations of a stage musical to the medium of film. As such, it’s a less than perfect adventure but it does well thanks to the chemistry and professionalism of the stars. Rumour has it that the Marx Brothers were not fans of the final cut of the film and actually tried to buy it back from Paramount. The studio refused and the movie went on to make quite a bit of money.

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Kung Fu Panda

kung-fu-panda

Like a karate chop from a praying mantis, Kung Fu Panda is a bolt from the blue. Filled to the brim with rapid-fire wit, colourful animation, and blazingly entertaining action sequences that many action movies lack, this little animated feature from DreamWorks is the best picture the studio ever put to screen and rivals WALL-E as one of the best drawn pics of 2008.

Directed by John Stevenson and Mark Osborne, Kung Fu Panda tells the rollicking story of Po (Jack Black), a martial arts-obsessed panda stuck slinging noodles for his goose father. Po, despite having no martial arts skills whatsoever, is fanatical over the Furious Five, a quintet of warriors defending the Valley of Peace from various villains. One day, under the threat of an attack from nemesis Tai Lung (Ian McShane), Master Oogway (Randall Duk Kim) tells of a Dragon Warrior who will help defend against the brutal snow leopard.

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Un Chien Andalou

Un Chien Andalou

I’ve decided to start including reviews for short films here, as there is a wealth of great stuff out there to examine. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that Un Chien Andalou is the first short film that I’ll be looking at. Anyone with any interest in cinema as an art form has likely seen or at the least heard of Un Chien Andalou. It is arguably one of the most influential short pieces in early cinema and certainly breaks a lot of boundaries with its bold style and incredible content. I had to keep reminding myself that the film was from 1929.

Un Chien Andalou comes to us from Spanish director Luis Bunuel. This would be Bunuel’s first work and would begin a long career of filmmaking in which he would direct 32 films. Bunuel wrote 39 films. His final directed film was 1977′s That Obscure Object of Desire, an erotic film about obsession. Bunuel work largely relies on the surreal and there is perhaps no finer example of surrealist cinema than Un Chien Andalou. Dreams were what fed Bunuel’s imagination, as his early films as a surrealist in Paris and his later films from the late 1970s would evidence. He was never concerned with traditional conventions in terms of filmmaking, but rather almost went out of his way to confuse and bewilder the audience.

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