Day 51: Ben-Hur

"Where there is greatness, great government or power, even great feeling or compassion, error also is great."

Hollywood was a very different place when Ben-Hur was made. Specifically, it's leading stars were, wait for it—Republicans! It's big box office spectacles? Not science fiction. Not superhero adventures. Not spy thrillers. They were sword and sandal films. This one in particular was made with the story of Jesus Christ serving as it's primary historical backdrop. It's quite genius. What better known historical event is there than the greatest story ever told? 

Day 50: Rosemary's Baby

Rosemary Woodhouse: "I dreamed someone was raping me. I think it was someone inhuman." 

Guy Woodhouse: "Thanks a lot."

(I have to say this: Woody Allen you fucked up son!)

Roman Polanski's "Rosemary's Baby" is known as perhaps the finest example of the "pre partum crazies". But the viewer need not be pregnant to experience the gnawing sense of an infinitely horrifying billowing black sail at the edge of perception. It is a horror movie of the first order. Often in horror movies, and suspense movies as well, the characters are subsidiary to the plot. Characters and objects become schemata. "Rosemary's Baby" feels like people are actually experiencing these things, no doubt due to the gradually diminshing chaste performance of Mia Farrow, the acerbic perfomance of Ruth Gordon(who won an Academy Award),and the tightly wound direction of Roman Polanski.

Day 49: Rashomon

"Don't worry about it. It isn't as if men are reasonable."

Rashomon is much more than a mystery film. It’s a close analysis of ethics and morals that us humans pretend to obey, in order to live in a civilized manner. Kurosawa is the blueprint. It’s well-documented that before Kurosawa, no director had the ability to combine thought-provoking plotlines with the appeal that most Hollywood films today have. In Rashomon, the idea that all man is evil is explored and put to the test while three witnesses of an alleged murder each give their own interpretation of the event. In this crime story, the murderer is the least important aspect of the investigation. It falls second to the point of view of all those who are involved and how in each of their stories, they are the ones who seem the most innocent.

Day 48: Good Will Hunting

“If the professor calls about that job, just tell him, sorry, I had to go see about a girl.”

Directed by Gus Van Stant, Good Will Hunting stars Matt Damon is what is considered to be his break through to fame. Alongside Damon is Ben Affleck and Robin Williams, who both deliver stunning roles. The film was written by both Damon and Affleck and earned nine Academy Award nominations and won two. The film also rolled in four Golden Globe nominations and won for Best Screenplay.