Masterpiece, classic or both...

Rating: 10/10 (24 December 2012)

What can I say about 'It's a Wonderful Life'. I have just watched the film this evening on Christmas Eve 2012, and every time I watch the movie, it just gets more powerful and grander each year. The film is on top of thousands of peoples lists around the world as the greatest film ever made. It is definitely my favourite film. I am seventeen years old, and you would think the magic of 'It's a Wonderful Life' would die out in the older generations, but no, it gets more magical through every generation that comes.
Have you ever herd the expression, "They don't make films like that anymore." Well, the thing is, they don't. And really, there is never going to be anything in the whole history of motion pictures that will be greater than this masterpiece classic. The moral to this film is that no man is a failure who has friends (as written by Clarence inside the 'Tom Sawyer' book in the film).
The film is brilliantly casted with exceptional roles from James Stewart (who should have won an Oscar for the role, never mind just getting a nomination), Donna Reed (the smart and beautiful actress who every man would love to be an ideal wife or mother), and Lionel Barrymore (for his exceptional role as the wicked Scrooge like character, Mr. Potter). The film was nominated for five Oscars without winning any, you can thank 'The Best Years of Our Lives' (1946) and the film critics for that. Really nowadays, you don't hear anyone talking about that film. A lot of films that are at the top of polls have never won an award anyway, like 'The Shawshank Redemption' (1992). Both 'It's a Wonderful Life' and 'The Shawshank Redemption' topped a poll in the Empire magazine for the greatest film never to win an Oscar (IAWL came second). But gladly, the film did win a Golden Globe for Best Directing (Frank Capra) in 1947. So not all was lost.
Overall, this film is a masterpiece and a classic, and for those people who have voted the film under seven, what are you thinking? 10 out of 10!!!