April 30, 2009
Title: King Kong
Year: 1933
Directors: Merian C. Cooper & Ernest B. Schoedsack
Writers: James Ashmore Creelman & Ruth Rose; story by Merian C. Cooper & Edgar Wallace
Starring: Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong, Bruce Cabot, Frank Reicher
Music: Max Steiner
Distinctions: currently #204 on IMDb’s Top 250
Synopsis: uh, yeah… giant monkey
Length: 100 minutes
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), November 2008
Subjective Rating: 8/10
Objective Rating: 6/10 (points off for characters, cinematography, special effects/design and acting)
Off-the-wall fantasy adventure-serial-type iconic kitsch fun. The music is a major film score milestone. If you compare the special effects to something like Jurassic Park or a 60’s Japanese monster movie, it looks pretty good – which is a nice way of saying it looks like cartoons and puppets.
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1933, bruce cabot, edgar wallace, ernest b. schoedsack, fay wray, frank reicher, james ashmore creelman, max steiner, merian c. cooper, movies, robert armstrong, ruth rose, top 250 | 
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Posted by Daniel
March 30, 2009
Title: Duck Soup
Year: 1933
Director: Leo McCarey
Writers: Bert Kalmar & Harry Ruby (story), Arthur Sheekman & Nat Perrin (dialog)
Starring: The Marx Brothers (Groucho, Harpo, Chico & Zeppo), Margaret Dumont
Music: John Leipold
Distinctions: currently #193 on IMDb’s Top 250
Synopsis: Groucho is a dictator, and Chico and Harpo are enemy spies
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), December 2008
Subjective Rating: 7/10
Objective Rating: 4/10 (gets points for concept, dialog, pacing and subjective rating)
Funny, but not great-comedies-of-all-time funny. It doesn’t help that most of the good gags have been stolen and improved hundreds of times. Harpo is fantastic, but otherwise the performances were disappointing.
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1933, arthur sheekman, bert kalmar, chico marx, groucho marx, harpo marx, harry ruby, john leipold, leo mccarey, margaret dumont, marx brothers, movies, nat perrin, top 250, zeppo marx | 
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Posted by Daniel
