Misery

Note : this review is my contribution to The Lauren Bacall blogathon hosted by In the Good Old Days of Classic Hollywood.

Misery (Rob Reiner, 1990)

Few days after being rescued and sheltered from a car crash caused by a blizzard by a nurse who claims to be his number one fan, a well-known author begins suspecting the mental health of his savior.

Paul Sheldon (James Caan) is a widely known best-selling author who just finished his more recent novel in a remote cabin in the Colorado. Being very superstitious he always has the same routine when he finishes a write-up and he takes his Mustang on the road just before a huge snowstorm. Obviously, he leaves the road and is badly hurt but someone saw him and saves him from a certain death. It is nurse Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates) who is also her number one fan. Slowly we understand that she keeps him from the rest of the world and he is hers. She forces him to destroy his latest novel and asks him to write a new Misery novel. Slowly recovering from his accident, Sheldon had both legs broken at several places and an arm in bad shape too. He is reduced to a wheel chair for a moment. Annie also locks his room and quickly becomes aggressive and dangerous. Paul knows he’ll have to escape if he wants to survive.

The Princess Bride

The Princess Bride (Rob Reiner, 1987)

Of the many films listed on the IMDb Top 250 there are few that I still haven’t seen. Taking aside the obvious new releases that eventually are bumped by newer films voted by enthusiast movie goers, the classics on the list are common and givens to lots of people. However, there is a blindspot on my side, Rob Reiner’s The Princess Bride.
Added to the fact that I was born in the 1980’s and that it is a children and/or family film, it is a mystery to me why I havent’s saw that film considered by many as their favorite. I’ve seen it on various lists including my ultimate goal as a cinephile : the 1000 Greatest films of all time by They Shoot Pictures Don’t They. With the back to school event that September brings every year I’ve decided that for 2014 I would do my homeworks and watch a bunch of films I must see as a film connoisseur. The Princess Bride could easily be on top of it. Not that I had really an urge to watch it or a huge desire, it is interesting to discover what the fuss is all about!

Adapted from his novel of the same name, William Goldman presents a story of fairy tales that could easily be compared to a rendition of a tale from the Grimm brothers. With Robin Wright, Cary Elwes, Mandy Patinkin, Chris Sarandon, Andre the Giant, Christopher Guest, Peter Falk, and Fred Savage The Princess Bride didn’t really surpassed my expectations which were very low but I think I can understand why so many people get this movie. It has everything the grand father portrayed by Peter Falk is talking about in the beginning. This is like if you take every component of every efficient family movie out there and condensed it into a 98 minutes entertainment. It is easily bankable and not a very bold move. Add to this a bit of nice comedy and you have a crowd pleaser.

This kind of entertainment is often seen as lesser cinema than dramas or other more serious genres. But it is a nice little film that doesn’t harm anyone and may have charmed many by its innocence and sense of traditional storytelling. However, this is very middle of the road storytelling and reminded me very much of the Shrek series. Charming and funny but not entirely my cup of tea when it comes to films.

Having crosssed that one from list of blindspots I can safely say that it was one of the films I had to watch I was not that much eager to get to. However, when my daughter will get older I might watch it again with her just to discover how she’ll receive it as a young movie buff.