Top 5 Thursday: Movies I Watched For My Challenge (March 2017)

Here are my five favorite films that I watched for my challenge in the month of March.

5. Logan
Hugh Jackman’s last time as Wolverine and also his best performance as the character. It’s a more sober and serious film, with hints of humor, but it’s a fantastic superhero/ antihero story. I love “Logan”.

4. The Addams Family
How macabre and dark this comedy is! It’s not the most cheerful family, but somehow they are happy. And that makes me happy. Because I highly enjoyed this spooky bunch. “The Addams Family” is most definitely a film I will rewatch.

3. Me Before You
“Me Before You” is a movie that wasn’t very well received, but I loved it. Most of the times I can understand the criticism, but I somehow can’t this time. It’s such a fun and beautiful film and I loved Emilia Clarke and Sam Claflin in it!

2. Kubo and the Two Strings
I’m a huge fan of stop motion, it shows all the hard work the people have put into the film. The story is original and it will speak to many people. It’s beyond me how “Kubo and the Two Strings” didn’t win an Academy Award for best animated picture.

1. The Artist
“The Artist” is a silent movie made in modern day. It’s an amazing film, that I loved from beginning ‘till end. I can understand why this film won an Academy Award.

They Almost Made the Top 5: The Addams Family Values, It’s a Wonderful Life, Star Trek Beyond

100 Movie Challenge 2017 - # 39: The Artist

Director: Michel Hazanavicius
Genre: Comedy/ Drama/ Romance
Runtime: 100 minutes
Year: 2011
Starring: Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo, Missi Pyle, John Goodmna, Malcolm McDowell, Penelope Ann Miller, Beth Grant, James Cromwell, Joel Murray

Description: A silent movie star meets a young dancer, but the arrival of talking pictures sends their careers in opposite directions.

Review: In 1899 the first experiments to combine sound and film took place, but it was three decades later when the eventually executed this plan. In 1927 America was ready for it, with “The Jazz Singer”. The transition from silent film to a film with sound, forms the base of “The Artist”. It’s a modern day silent film, in black and white, about fictional movie star George Valentin. He can’t adapt to this transition and gets into trouble, but also eventually finds love.
Many Hollywood stars from the silent movie era, saw their careers end, because they seemed old fashioned or their voice didn’t match their image. In “The Artist” George Valentin is such a star. He is successful as an actor and makes equally successful movies.
His influence is that big, that the young, unknown Peppy Miller gets a role in his movie and eventually becomes a big star herself. George doesn’t believe in movies with sound and quits the studio to makes his own films. His first film is a huge flop, his wife leaves him and he goes bankrupt.
“The Artist” does a masterful job in mimicking the atmosphere of a silent movie from the twenties, without imitating other films. It manages to also feel modern and fresh, when you have the feeling you’re watching a classic film.
Silent movies always proof how essential music is for a movie. And facial expressions and body language. Because there is no spoken dialogue, the viewer has to depend on all this to follow the story. some dialogue is shown in written words, but it’s very minimal.
I’m so glad movie like this get a green light, Hollywood needs this. What “La La Land” did for musical in 2016, “The Artist” did for the silent film.

Rating: 5/ 5