Pass the Popcorn review

Rating: 7/10 (16 March 2013)

Alfred Hitchcock - the name says it all. This prolific and famous director doesn't really need any introduction/presentation, and neither do his movies - many of them can often be found on various "best movies" lists and maintain a cult status even after all these years.
Detective John Ferguson (James Stewart) decides to retire after his acrophobia causes the accidental death of a police officer. He meets an old friend, Gavin (Tom Helmore), who asks him to follow his wife Madeleine (Kim Novak), because he thinks she's possessed, hence in mortal danger. John is sceptical, but he accepts and, as time passes, starts to develop feelings for Madeleine, all the while trying to get rid of his phobia.
Vertigo is now hailed by many as (one of) the best Hitchcock movies, and as (one of) the best ever made. In my opinion, it's pretty overrated. Of course, this doesn't mean it's bad. The story is original, the events are unexpected, and every major dramatic happening is accompanied by a fitting soundtrack. The actors do a terrific job, you can see they are really into the part they play, although the age difference between the two main characters does cause their love to be less believable. Hitchcock himself blamed James Stewart's old age for the movie's critical and commercial failure, when it premiered. Certain scenes are memorable: Vertigo popularized the dolly zoom (thus often called "the Vertigo effect"), achieved by moving the camera away from a subject while simultaneously zooming in, and used when John Ferguson looks down from a height which makes him feel dizzy. But all of this somehow doesn't work. There is something missing. The movie simply didn't grip me. And of course, there is the ending, which could have been so much better, but instead it almost ruins the whole film. It seems like the director was late for a meeting and decided it all had to end there and then - which results in a rushed, unsatisfying finale. In conclusion: a good but too overrated piece of art which requires that little "something" to work out. But maybe then it wouldn't be Hitchcock.
Rating: 7/10 Read more at http://passpopcorn.wordpress.com/