Ratatouille (2007)

This film is fantastic! Pixar has yet another great film to add to their impressive repertoire. Oscar-winning director and screenwriter Brad Bird, who wrote and directed The Incredibles, has produced a film with subtle humor, heart, and very profound truth.

Ratatouille is the story of a rat named Remy who has a passion for gourmet food and cooking. He is inspired by the great Parisian chef Gusteau who famously says "Anyone can cook." This quote is the main theme for the film, but in a different way than it appears on the surface. The rat Remy becomes separated from his rat clan and is swept through the sewers of France to Paris where he arrives at Gusteau's restaurant and befriends a clumsy kitchen worker, Linguini. This story is combined with the perfect aesthetic elements to create another Pixar masterpiece.

The animation in Ratatouille is the best Pixar has produced thus far. The immense attention to detail is very evident in each frame of the film. The scenery of Paris is brought to life through these details along with the care in making each food dish look good enough to eat. The screenplay by Brad Bird is very witty and profound with its simple, yet meaningful language. The characters he created are very memorable with unique and fully developed personalities. These great characters are brought to life by the wonderful voice talents of Patton Oswalt, Ian Holm, Brad Garrett, and especially the great Peter O'Toole. His character Anton Ego, the gothic food critic, is one of the film's treasures.

Pixar puts forth the best it has to to offer to create a wonderful message that holds so much truth for everyone, especially today's youth: it tells people that no, not anyone can do anything, but if you have the talent you don't have to be limited by your surroundings or your upbringing. I think this is refreshing to hear because often, children are lied to when they are told they can do anything, when actually not all of them can. But it offers hope to the ones who may feel limited by their social class. It also exposes the fact that most people try to put up false facades of themselves to hide who they are in order to feel accepted by the social standards we create in our society; it shows characters with this flaw, but ultimately they accept this reality and learn to be true to themselves. This thread, I think, is very common throughout the Pixar films, and they present it very well. Ratatouille is my new Disney-Pixar favorite! "Ce film a pleine de joie de vivre!"

Rating: * * * *

The Third Man (1949)

This is by far the best film noir movie ever made. It surpasses greats like Orson Welles’s Touch of Evil or the classic Bogie and Bacall film The Big Sleep. This classic film noir stars two brilliant actors: Joseph Cotten as American novelist Holly Martin, and Orson Welles as the elusive Harry Lime. The Third Man is a brilliant film in all aspects: its story, acting, cinematography, and screenplay. Based on the novel by Graham Greene, The Third Man begins in the city of Vienna, Austria, just after the end of World War II, so it is occupied by American, French, British, and Russian troops. A novelist, Holly Martin, has been invited by his good friend Harry Lime to visit him in Vienna. When Holly arrives, he soon discovers his friend is dead. He attends the funeral and notices some mysterious people there. This is just the beginning of the strange circumstances surrounding the death of Harry Lime. On his quest to find out more information, Holly Martin seeks the counsel of Harry’s girlfriend, Anna Schmidt played by Alida Valli. She tells him about Harry’s friends in Vienna, so Holly goes to find them. Holly discovers Harry’s Vienna friends knew an entirely different Harry than Holly did. With constant badgering from the police, Holly must keep his inquiries hidden from them. He is told from Harry’s friend there were two people present at the accident scene, but Harry’s porter said a third man was present. But soon, Holly finds out the truth behind Harry’s death. This plot twist is too good to give away, but what can be said is Holly does find out dark secrets about Harry.

The Third Man represents film noir at the pinnacle of its artistic reign in the forties. The acting in it is amazing, especially by Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles. Joseph Cotten’s portrayal of Holly Martin is perfect with the way he speaks and behaves. Even though Orson Welles doesn’t get as much screen time, he dominates the screen when he performs. It shows what a truly brilliant actor Welles was. Another notable performance was that of Alida Valli as Anna Schmidt. She captured the complex emotions of Harry’s girlfriend and frightened attitude very well. The other supporting actors in the film were wonderful as well, such as Major Calloway, the Sergeant, and Harry’s mysterious friends.

In addition to an outstanding cast, The Third Man has spectacular cinematography. It is shot in such a unique way with its perfect lighting, and strange angular shots that really epitomize the way film noir should look. It is done with such perfection and stylized grace, it is no wonder it won the Academy Award for best black-and-white cinematography in 1949. This brilliant photography was due to the efforts of cinematographer Robert Krasker and the director Carol Reed. Mr. Reed, who won an Academy Award for Best Director for his film Oliver! in 1968, directs The Third Man masterfully. Carol Reed directed this film in the prime of his career, and was nominated for Best Director for the film. It is truly amazing to watch his film noir masterpiece.

Along with winning the Oscar for Best Cinematography, The Third Man won the Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1949. The Third Man is one of the best films of all time, and is ranked number fifty-seven on the American Film Institute’s Top 100 Films list. It is the greatest example of film noir from the era, and deserves to be much higher of the AFI list.

Rating: * * * *