The Thomas Crown Affair

Release Year: 1968

Director: Norman Jewison

Review: Steve McQueen is cool.  There was no reason to have an entire movie based solely around this characteristic.  In 'The Thomas Crown Affair' McQueen plays a millionaire who organizes a bank heist for the thrills, and the police trying to pin it on him.  There is very little plot wise here.  We're just left to bask in the coolness of McQueen and I guess envy him.  It's shot in a very stylized manner which also heavily dates it.  The shot sequences feel extremely overdone and are seemingly meritless.  There is one shot between Dunaway and McQueen playing chess.  The scene wants to badly to be a powerful, meaningful moment, but is ruined by the heavy-handedness of the direction and cinematography.  It starts off fine with beautiful close ups of Dunaway and McQueen, but then gets absurd when the scene would not end and is shot from every conceivable angle as it derails into a corny parody of itself.  There's something to be said about subtlety which this film completely ignores. There are a handful of scenes where its fun to just enjoy McQueen being McQueen, but it all was just over the top with no substance to be enjoyable.
Rating: 2/5

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Release Year: 1968

Director: Ken Hughes

Review: What an incredibly odd film this is.  I have a tough time with musicals, so I knew going into 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' I might be heading for disaster.  It was a film I had loved as a child, but haven't revisited in years.  It follows a fairly conventional plot of an eccentric inventor falling for a woman and their outing with his two kids in a beautifully restored vintage car.  

Most of the film is told through a fairy-tale which suits it nicely since most of the movie is absolutely absurd.   There is a lot of imagination and heart in the film, but there is also a good amount of corny humor and slap stick nonsense.  I kept going from bored to entertained as if on a see-saw of interest.  Not surprising the enjoyment level tipped much more to the entertained when Dick Van Dyke was on screen who fit the part perfectly and had a good time with the character.  

If nothing else, what saves the film is the inclusion of one of the creepiest villains ever committed to film in the 'child catcher'.  Completely different from the tone of the rest of the film, the performance is simply terrifying for viewers of any age and it makes you wonder how many nightmares this character has spawned over the years.  While it may not be as fun as when I was a child, it had enough nostalgic charm to keep me interested.  I'm no longer the target audience, but it is a classic children's movie that should have an enduring lifetime.
Rating: 3/5

2001: A Space Odyssey

Release Year: 1968
Review: It's one of those films which I ought to have seen years ago, but it somehow alluded me. I had high hopes going in since its a Kubrick film, whom I'm a fan of, and its supposed to be the greatest sci-fi movie of all time. So, unfortunatly I was very disappointed. I found the entire film to be extremely, almost unfetchably boring. I guess I'm missing some major point to the movie, and I suppose that makes me less of a person, but I just don't think the movie holds up over time. Maybe 40 years ago the special effects could hold the viewers attention, but it did not hold mine. I nearly had to turn it off on several occasions I was so frustrated with it. I really wish I liked this film, I just didn't.
Rating: 2/5