7tavern: Notorious

Notorious

Sound (3)
2.8
Plot (3)
2.9
Cast (3)
2.6
Special Effects (3)
2.6
Length & Pace (3)
2.8
Cinematography (3)
2.8

Directors: Alfred Hitchcock,

Writers: Ben Hecht (written by),

Release:  September 1946 (USA)

Tagline: Notorious woman of affairs... Adventurous man of the world!

Plot: A woman is asked to spy on a group of Nazi friends in South America. How far will she have to go to ingratiate herself with them?

Cast: Cary Grant - T.R. Devlin,   Ingrid Bergman - Alicia Huberman,   Claude Rains - Alexander Sebastian,   Louis Calhern - Captain Paul Prescott,   Leopoldine Konstantin - Madame Anna Sebastian (as Madame Konstantin),   Reinhold Sch�nzel - Dr. Anderson (as Reinhold Schunzel),   Moroni Olsen - Walter Beardsley,   Ivan Triesault - Eric Mathis,   Alex Minotis - Joseph - Sebastian's Butler,   Wally Brown - Mr. Hopkins,   Charles Mendl - Commodore (as Sir Charles Mendl),   Ricardo Costa - Dr. Julio Barbosa,   Eberhard Krumschmidt - Emil Hupka,   Fay Baker - Ethel

Runtime: 101 min

Country: USA

Language: English

Company: Vanguard Films

Links: IMDb Profile

Categories: Romance, Thriller

Main

Trailer

Squish
Reviews: 740
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2.5

Notorious (1946)

Hitchcock! Hitchcock! Hitchcock!

"Do you love Duran Duran?"

Genre: Romance Drama Thriller Noir

Starring: Cary Grant (To Catch A Thief • An Affair To Remember), Ingrid Bergman (Under Capricorn • Anastasia)

Directed By: Alfred Hitchcock (Dial M For Murder • Rope)

Overview: When a woman is asked to infiltrate a group of Nazis in Brazil, she find that her actions may lead to sacrifices that are all too great.

Performance:

I don't think I like Cary Grant. Much to my surprise, I find him a touch on the fake side. So far the characters I've seen him play are so bold and out there that I wonder who buys that crap for a second. Humphrey Bogart, somehow, could pull it off. I guess it's because he went so far that we just laughed at how awesomely overboard it was. Ingrid's great, as always. Fantastic direction, as per usual.
Rating: 8

Cinematography:

The rear projection in this one was fantastic. You know, that special effect where clearly they're superimposed in front of a screen? Well, you'd be surprised to know how often they used that in this one. In fact the actors never once set foot in Rio, even though most of the film was set there. For as fantastic as the Criterion Collection version of the print was, for as grandiose (if I may be so bold) the Selznick-inspired interior sets were, I really didn't find the film anywhere near as dynamic as I expected.
Rating: 8

Script:

I will admit that there were a few lines lost here and there due to the company present, but it seemed apparent to all of us that constant declarations of love were all too-well understood. This is one of those 'damned if you do and damned if you don't' situations. If you only hear professions and proofs of love twice, you don't feel it strongly enough as a viewer. If it's done a lot, you know it's terrifically established, but enough already.
Rating: 7

Plot:

To hell with the love interest plot, I'm sick of it. It's not Hitch's fault I suppose, but as I realize that more of his films involve love triangles than the suspense he's known as "the Master" of, it makes me mourn the fact that he made movies in a day when love was a necessary element of all plots. This is far too thick in the test of duty versus love for me to enjoy it as the classic it purports to be, no matter how well Hitch did it here compared to other works. In fact he does it all too well. I was constantly asking myself, "Well?! When's the spy stuff going to start?!"
Rating: 7

Mood:

The themes I understood this film to be were diluted by the overall romance of it all. If you like Romance films in a hard-test setting, this is the film for you. It is indeed well done. But if you're looking for a spy flick with intrigue and espionage, you are going to find yourself sadly disappointed my friend. I wanted cloak and dagger and I got close-up kissing in glorious Black and White. Boo.
Rating: 7

"My, what a B.I.G. glass of hangover juice."

Overall Rating: 74% (Hardly Even Infamous)

Aftertaste:

I don't think you know how much I want to like Hitchcock. I love Bergman, she's seriously cool. Hitch consistently uses great names and great talent in his films but I'm still not freaking out over him. It's all too slow in leading up to the big finish of his best known works. It hurts me to be in the minority.

One more thing: unless I missed some critical dialogue, the title is completely inapropriate. Someone explain this to me.

Recommendations: Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, 2009), Requiem for a Dream, Dawn of the Dead

2010-05-15 08:18:47

reeladvice
Reviews: 67
Points: 0 (Level 1)
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2.5

Notorious: Underground Movie Review

The Nineties was known for a lot of things. There was the dominance of Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, "Friends" was on for more than half of the decade and the internet as we know it today was on its infancy. In music alone, boy bands ruled, the Spice Girls were everywhere, Kurt Cobain and his band Nirvana became an icon and there was the East Coast-West Coast feud in rap music. As we all know, it became really bloody in the end when two rap legends were gunned down - Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. The film "Notorious" tackles the life of the latter from his childhood to the pinnacle of his genre. Is "Notorious" a worthy biopic of the legend of Biggie Smalls? Read on to find out the answer.

"Notorious" tells the story of murdered rapper Notorious B.I.G. We start off from Chris Wallace a.k.a. Biggie Smalls, a boy who is torn between being a good and obedient son to his mother Voletta, and his aspirations to become a rapper. Soon the young man chooses his dream while also getting into the world of drug dealing. All seems well until Chris is caught on a drug bust and spends time in jail. After finishing his jail time, one of Chris' friends tells him that he has a talent for the mic and introduces him to Sean Combs - better known as Puff Daddy. Sean decides to sign Chris just as long as he promises to quit drug dealing. Sean eventually creates Bad Boy Records and this is where Chris' career takes a gigantic leap to fame.

"Notorious" has its good parts and bad parts but ironically, most of the good things are not essential parts of a normal flick. As a movie and more so a biopic, the film fails and the reason is that the film seems really rushed and scenes were not explained well. One scene we find Chris in love with Li'l Kim and the next he is already marrying Faith Evans. This actually happens countless times in the movie and it would have been more acceptable if the running time was longer but the story was developed further. As for the good parts, the soundtrack was phenomenal which translates well with the rap portions in the movie. This is probably the selling point of the film but logic says why not just buy a CD or the said tracks in iTunes. Bottom line, this is less than your typical biopic film and that is not saying much from the get-go. If you want to know Notorious B.I.G, this might be a good, simplistic start but a man's life isn't a simple battle of black and white. Some of those who already know his story will definitely find the film lacking in many areas.

Rating: 2.5 reels

Why you should watch it:
- rap parts were done outstandingly and the music is the main selling point for this film
- really simple story of a man who started from nothing and ended up being the best: simplicity is the key

Why you shouldn't watch it:
- the film tags itself as a biopic but it lacks depth in presenting its main character's life
- feels like the different scenes are rushed and not interspersed very well

(Read Less...)

Recommendations:

Last updated: 2010-03-12 02:38:53 by user06

2010-03-12 02:38:28

Squish
Reviews: 740
Points: 0 (Level 1)
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Notorious (1946)

Hitchcock! Hitchcock! Hitchcock! "Do you love Duran Duran?" Genre: Romance Drama Thriller Noir Starring: Cary Grant ( To Catch A Thief • An Affair To Remember ), Ingrid Bergman ( Under Capricorn • Anastasia) Directed By: Alfred Hitchcock ( Dial M For Murder • Rope ) Overview: When a woman is asked to infiltrate a group of Nazis in Brazil, she find that her actions may lead to sacrifices that are all too great. Performance: I don't think I like Cary Grant. Much to my surprise, I find him a touch on the fake side. So far the characters I've seen him play are so bold and out there that I wonder who buys that crap for a second. Humphrey Bogart, somehow, could pull it off. I guess it's because he went so far that we just laughed at how awesomely overboard it was. Ingrid's great, as always. Fantastic direction, as per usual. Rating: 8 Cinematography: The rear projection in this one was fantastic. You know, that special effect where clearly they're...

(Read More...)

2010-05-15 08:18:47

reeladvice
Reviews: 67
Points: 0 (Level 1)
Reviewer

Notorious: Underground Movie Review

(Read More...)

2010-03-12 02:38:28

malikaziz
Reviews: 47
Points: 0 (Level 1)
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3.5

3.6

2.7

2.8

3.5

Notorious

While I didn’t bring any ‘real world baggage’ in with me when I went to check out The Wrestler, I brought quite a bit in when I went to see Notorious. I’m a very proud product of the ‘Golden Age of Hip Hop’, and a few of the memories from that time are as fresh in my mind today as they were when they happened…

When 2Pac was killed, I was playing ball with the boys in Robinson Gym. That had to be my freshmen year, cause I rarely step on a basketball court at this point. One of the guys came in to the gym and told us 2Pac was dead, and I’ll never forget my response: “Good.” Back then, 2Pac was Terrell Owens before there was Terrell Owens. I openly admit that it wasn’t until after his death that I gained my appreciation for the different directions he could go as a rapper (Dear Mama, How Do You Want It?, Who Do You Believe In?).

I was driving down Quivira on a Saturday night the first time I heard ‘Hypnotize’. Biggie was two lines in when me and my frat brother turned up the radio, jumped out the car and started party walking in the middle of the street. (FYI: For those unfamiliar, ‘party walking’ is basically a type of line dancing that black Greeks do.) Whoever’s been cutting the trailers for the movie should get props, because that song is still one of those great “Get off the wall and get on the floor!” songs of my lifetime.

I was sitting on the futon in my dorm room (I’m fairly certain it was a Sunday morning) when my boy Q (who ironically was the one who was with me when I heard ‘Hypnotize’) called me to tell me Biggie was dead. I was dumbfounded. I turned to MTV, and there it was. The whole image of Death Row was built around ‘THUG LIFE’ so when Pac got killed it was surprising, but there was definitely a ‘the company you keep’ vibe to it. The ’revenge’ rumors had been out since 2Pac got killed, but when Biggie died, there was still a definite change in how serious all of us took the whole ‘East Coast/West Coast’ thing.

On one of my first trips to L.A., I made a point to go by where Biggie was gunned down. On one of my first trips to Vegas, I went to the corner where 2Pac got shot. Not to be a conspiracy theorist, but the first thing that stuck out to me about both places: these aren’t ‘back alley, out in the middle of nowhere parts of town’. If there is a such a thing in America as a ‘public execution’, both of those brothers got it. Anyway, enough with the editorial, and on to what I thought of the movie…

Got to start with the kid they got to play Biggie. When I first heard about the movie, I was excited but cautious. I mean, how do you get somebody to play B.I.G.? But this kid nailed it. He had the size, he had the charm, he even all but nailed the voice, and was damn near close enough to his flow that you don’t feel you miss out when it’s the actor doing the rhymes instead of Biggie. As a matter of fact, from a filmmaker point of view, the best part of the film to me was the casting. The young sisters playing Lil Kim and Faith wore both beautiful and talented, Anthony Mackie held his own as Pac, and even Derek Luke nailed more than enough of Diddy’s mannerisms. It may not sound like much, but it’s very easy when you’re playing a real person, especially a person who’s still alive, to just fall back onto mimicry, but all the principal actors acted and in all cases acted their tails off. Do I even need to tell you Angela Bassett was solid as Voletta Wallace?

When I say the casting was the best part of the film, don’t misunderstand. This was a very well crafted and entertaining movie all around. I was in a sold out show with a lot of teenagers (i.e., kids who couldn’t have lived through all the key events like I did), and they rolled through the story, enjoying it as much as ‘oldheads’, who had quite a few “Yo I remember when that happened!” moments in the movie. During the numerous concerts, if I didn’t know any better, I could swear I could smell the weed in the movie theater as if I was really at the concerts…

It’s still way too early in the game of course for me to add this to my 25 Most Important Black Films list, but I’ll tell you this was the most enjoyment I had a black film since probably Dreamgirls. Much deserved PROPS from me for Notorious.

Last updated: 2010-01-18 14:34:39 by malikaziz

2010-01-13 02:29:41

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