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The beautiful and talented Clara Bow.

Posted : 3 years, 1 month ago on 9 October 2006 11:45 (A review of It (1927) Plus Clara Bow: Discovering the "It" Girl)

This is the movie that made Clara Bow internationally known as "The 'It' Girl" and it's easy to see why. The plot is rather standard - lower class girl persues and seduces upper class guy, there's a case of mistaken identity and hilarity ensues - but Clara lights up the screen in every scene she's in. Not only is she the cutest darn thing you've ever seen, she completely outclasses the rest of the cast in acting. She has a very realistic style, not the phony overwrought weeper or wooden pantomime you usually associate with silent-era actors and actresses. Her character is also a thoroughly modern woman, self-reliant, indomitable in spirit, and, rare for the screen in the 1920's, sexually liberated. She controls her own destiny.

It's too bad that this is only one of two Clara Bow films currently released on DVD.

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APOLOGIZE TO THE RICE!!!

Posted : 3 years, 1 month ago on 5 October 2006 02:55 (A review of A Better Tomorrow II)

While the first entry in the "A Better Tomorrow" series played it straight, if a bit (okay, A LOT) melodramatic, the sequel goes straight into self-parody territory... and mostly succeeds. The action isn't as good as The Killer or Hard Boiled, and the characters aren't as nuanced as A Better Tomorrow 1, but the comic quirkiness of ABT2 is endearing. It's definitely worth a viewing or two for fans of John Woo and/or Chow Yun Fat.

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