Tag / gloria grahame

by Jaime Rebanal

It’s a Wonderful Life – Review

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Life is a valuable thing. There are those moments where it’s set to disappoint, yet there’s still hope to be had, It’s a Wonderful Life reminds us why we should keep hope. It’s a cliché Christmas tradition to watch this every year, but it’s easy to see why. There are those moments where we feel insignificant (and they come back to me then and there), but a reminder is sometimes necessary that in fact, we might have a bigger impact than we’d imagine. Frank Capra’s film bombed during its first run, but its popularity just grew so suddenly. The wonders still capture me upon every viewing, and despite my usual pessimism there’s always something good turning back to the joy that is It’s a Wonderful Life. It reminds a person like myself that there is always something good to look out for, even when we are shrouded with bad.

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by Jaime Rebanal

In a Lonely Place – Review

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What we know and recognize from film-noir, Nicholas Ray turns everything around on us with In a Lonely Place, but in the meantime also shows us some of the very best that can come out from such a style. This is a chilling film one second, and the other it’s a stark melodrama. But where Nicholas Ray works around melodrama is something unlike what can be found in most of classic Hollywood. It’s out of nowhere, but like Douglas Sirk, it can truly be among the most effective you will have witnessed. In a Lonely Place goes to show what can be pulled off with so much raw power within every frame, but as we go into the bare bones, something much more is exposed that certifies its own status as one of the greatest American pictures to have ever been made – it showcases cinema at some of its very best.
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