Ep. #3 - What's So Great About Citizen Kane?

It tops a large number of critic's best movies of all time lists.

But is it really so great?

A story about a kid who comes into money and then dedicates himself to accumulating more wealth and power for the rest of his life at the cost of friends, lovers and any joy at all. His life becomes a mystery to be solved and possibly a fate to be avoided.

Sounds like a real crowd-pleaser, huh?

And it's in black and white.

And it's from a first-time director in his early 20s who was known to be a bit cocky.

And it insulted real public figures when it came out (who tried to kill it).

And it was a box office failure.

The critics liked it, it was nominated for nine Academy awards, but lost 8 of them (and the director was even boo-ed at the ceremony!).

It was quickly shelved, but then was re-released a few years later after the heat had died down.

This time it was hailed as inventive, innovative and impressive and it's reputation grew to the point where it now is considered the pinnacle of moviedom.

But why?

Listen to the podcast and see if you agree with the answer to the question:

What's So Great About Citizen Kane? (click here)

Ep. #2 - What's So Great About Hamlet?

The greatest literary work in the English language? Or, possibly, any language?

Really?

No, one's come up with a better piece of literature in the past 400 years?

What the hell's so great about the story of some Scandinavian pampered prince?

Well, like with most "great" things, it's not so much the plot as how it is executed, with what artistry, with what forethought and expertise it is carried out, that makes it approach or, possibly, even achieve greatness.

The basics of the plot can be summed up quickly (I go into more detail in the podcast):

A king dies. His son, the prince, comes home from college for the funeral, distraught. Then his mom, the queen, marries the king's brother, making him the king instead of the prince. Then the ghost of the dead king tells the prince that the new king murdered him and that the prince must seek vengeance. The prince, hardly a tough guy, commits to it, but first wants to get more proof without raising suspicion.

There are interesting themes, sure, that people can latch onto, such as uncertainty, fear, murder, madness, corruption, war, and death as well as other ones that might still fixate the attention such as incest, subterfuge, investigation and pretending.

There is wit, horror, humor, tragedy, poetry and song,
All of which could've gone horribly wrong.

But did they?

Is greatness a matter of opinion?

Listen to the podcast and you might get a sense of

What's So Great About Hamlet? (click here)

Ep. #1 - Intro to: What's So Great About It?

Ever wonder what's so great about all the things that smart people say are so great?

I used to believe I would never get it, but I was curious just the same.

It was slow going, but I was determined to find out what the big frigging deal was.

The answer seemed to be that things considered "great" (works of art and the like) had hidden layers of meaning that are not at first apparent.

But they had better, at least, be entertaining, I said to myself, or why else would anyone care to look deeper?

So, I started to investigate and things that initially seemed mysterious gradually made more sense.

I might not have a deep understanding of it all, but at least now I know what's so great about certain things (which does make them more fun and makes me want to explore them further--surely, a hallmark of "greatness").

I did kind of feel that someone could've just explained it to me in simple words, what was so great.

So, allow me.

Here's the podcast. (click here)

Episode #1 gives an intro into who I am and what kinds of works I intend to include.

More episodes to follow.

Thanks, Geoff

*correction: the scarecrow is looking for a brain.

*correction: US Forest Service