Awakenings & 12 Angry Men

Over the past week I watched two older films that were both nominated for best picture; Awakenings and 12 Angry Men.  You may wonder why I’m watching and reviewing such old movies, and my answer is two-fold. Firstly, it costs $10 to see a movie in the theater, and while I’m fine with paying that for a movie I really want to see in the theater, I don’t want to pay the additional $10 for my wife to also see it.  Not sure if I’m selfish or just cheap, but it is probably both.  Secondly, I enjoy watching good movies no matter when they were made, and I wanted to introduce a couple classics to some friends.

Awakenings  Story: 4.8  Originality: 4.3  Quality: 5  Entertainment: 3.8  Pace: 3  Total: 89.1  RT: 87  Audience: 85

Awakenings was made in 1990 and stars Robin Williams as a doctor in a nursing home/mental institution who recognizes forms of awareness in comatose patients, led by Robert De Niro.  Williams presses for an experimental drug to be given to them and observes them as they begin to wake up.  Based on a true story, the Story is exceptional and very well told.  There is a slow Pace (3) to the film that allows the story to develop, giving the Story a rating of 4.8, reflecting the Best Picture nomination it received.  I have not seen a film quite like this before, giving it an Originality rating of 4.3. The acting is superb, and De Niro received a Best Actor nomination and the feel is accurate for the time setting (as far as I know, I wasn’t exactly around in the late 60’s) giving a Quality rating of 5.  While it is not the most Entertaining (3.8) movie, I do recommend the film as it receives a total rating of 89.1.

12 Angry Men  Story: 5  Originality: 5  Quality: 4.8  Entertainment: 5  Pace: 4  Total: 99.4  RT: 100  Audience: 95

12 Angry Men is the engrossing story of twelve jurors in the murder trial of a young Puerto Rican man.  None of the trial is captured in the film, but the viewer is quickly caught up as the jurors summarize the trial.  Eleven jurors believe the man is guilty (all for various reasons, including wanting to get out quickly to go to a baseball game), and one man simply has a reasonable doubt.  The story is very compelling and the format in which it is told keeps, what could be a slow movie, the viewer captivated the entire time.  The Story receives a rating of 5, which is reflected in it receiving the #6 spot on IMDB’s Top 250 (a great resource when you don’t know what to watch).  Originality receives a rating of 5 while Quality receives a rating of 4.8.  As I mentioned before, the movie is surprisingly entertaining considering the set never moves from the single room, and the Entertainment rating is a 5, giving 12 Angry Men a total of 99.4