Let The Right One In
&
Ben X
(and now in no particular order)
Brick
25th Hour
Stranger Than Fiction
The Warlords
In The Loop
Sunshine
Juno
Lost In Translation
The Life and Death of Peter Sellers
The Royal Tenenbaums
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
So I have been watching quite a few films that I have not been bothered to write about Sherlock Holmes, Avatar among them. I’ll try to start recording them again as I watch them.
This 1990 ‘thriller’ about a young girl who phone stalked a serial killer/rapist was a bit entertaining but mainly unrealistic and full of plot-holes and an improbably happy ending. 5 out of 10.
Hitman is another film I had seen before. I am a fan of the gam series and new exactly what to expect for the film. I was not surprised but I certainly was entertained. In saying that I can understand why most people did not like it. but I consider this to be one of my guilty pleasure films. 7.5 out of 10.
Okay onto the main event. This sort of indie road-trip movie is a particular type of film I am partial to and so I really enjoyed this. It features three actors that I really enjoy in movies. It had elements of coming-of-age to it which is another crowd pleaser (or in this case a Jay pleaser). This film had a lovely, relaxed tone to it, with a little bit of romance and even a bit of a general malaise. I hold this film up there with Thumbsucker and The Squid and The Whale but not as good as The Royal Tenenbaums. I’ll give this one a 9 out of 10.
Okay so I have seen this many times before and it is my favorite detective film. I think it’s Robert Downey Jr’s and Val Kilmer’s best film. I also think that Michelle Monaghan is hot in this perhaps more hot in this film than any other she has been in. This film is a major inspiration for the fictional writing I have done. This is in my favorite films list. It is a short, snappy film that did not leave me bored for even a second. Another plus is the self aware narrating. 10 out of 10. I had always meant for this film to be on my favorites list but I must have forgotten so I will remove The Dark Knight because although that is a great film and a classic it does not deserve to be on my list as much as this film does because it did not affect me as much.
Okay where to start? Well the dialogue was meh and the plot was so so... I sound like a prick. No one in their right mind saw this film for either of the elements I previously mentioned. All we wanted so see was the flashing lights and dizzying colour. And let me tell you, it didn’t disappoint. In saying that it did not over-perform to my expectations. Sure I was greeted with things I don’t believe I have ever seen in a film, the pure colour overwhelmed me at times but there were points where the film grew complacent and I was too used to the images I was seeing. What I am saying is that the film was too long and sometimes it took them too long to up the ante. I am using a lot of slang tonight and that is disrupting the flow. Don’t get me wrong, it was amazing but I got used to it. I am not going to talk about the other elements to the film as they don’t matter. Final say? Well the film was too long. Far too long. 8 out of 10 for the visuals and 3 out of 10 for the rest. Remember don’t average these out or I will kick your mother in the face!
Well I had wanted to continue my tradition of watching films involving gruesome death and so with that ham-fisted and somewhat awkward segue into the review, I would like to talk about In The Loop. As i said in the introductory sentence this is a film about death, the presumed deaths that would occur in the Middle East after this film has ended and more importantly from the point-of-view of this film the ever so painful death of a British MP’s political career. I don’t like to go too heavily into plot because that usually bogs down my review but this film is about some rude, obnoxious and sarcastic British politicians and some rude, obnoxious American politicians all split into factions, double-dealing each other, with a hapless lone British MP stuck in the middle of what at times is literally a shit storm. This film has received comparisons to The West Wing and Dr Strangelove but it is also painfully similar to The Office, in that there is a man, in over his own head who inadvertently shoves his foot into his mouth every time anyone asks him a question. There is the British PM’s Scottish hound whose prime duty it seems is to intimidate everyone out of their wits by seeing how many times he can fit the words ‘fuck’ or ’shit’ into a sentence, this film has truly brought swearing back into fashion by stringing together some of the most bizarre and somewhat daring sentences ever to make it to a cinema near you. But this is not a film about swearing, it is a war film and I must say it is refreshing to watch a comedy where the comedy is based on plot and clever dialogue as opposed to penises being swung onscreen, casual racism or gross gags that you are free to watch when you next want to see Bruno. Okay I am giving this film a 10 out of 10 and I am recommending and threatening (it’s a dual thing) that if you hold yourself to any level of intelligence you better watch this film. Also when you do, if you don’t laugh, I will fight you, thats no lie. In The Loop is replacing The 5th Element on my favorite films list because like the fat girl at prom who you danced with, The 5th Element was selected out of pity and desperation.
Okay. I was not really in the mood for this film so I spend a great deal of time picking out its flaws meaning it took even longer for me to get into it. For the first two-thirds I was caught-up on how cheap it looked and I don’t mean indie hip and cool cheap – I mean it looked as if it were a film made for television (Wikipedia confirmed that is was actually made for TV) and being the pretentious foreign language film lover that I am, it was horrid! There were a few acting names that I recognized from it but the rest looked and acted like they were picked off the street at random. Considering the subject content that was being covered, I would have preferred the film to be a little darker especially in the first two-thirds. I am aware that the situation was supposed to be funny if not ironic in some places (I don’t understand irony so that was a guess) but the irony (?) would have been best shown through more grim reality. In comparison to the rest of the film I found the last third to be almost cinema quality, perhaps due to the content being shown in a slightly darker way. I give the first two-thirds a 5 out of 10 and the last third a 7 out of 10. But don’t you dare to even presume an overall score of 6.5 or 7 out of 10 because you would be way out of line!
Okay. Before watching this I had read lukewarm reviews and knew to expect a film which was influenced by Mad Max. However I found a certain sequence in a hospital to be similar to the mines of Moria scene in LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring – both in narration style and scenario style. The very beginning also reminded me of 28 Weeks Later. The director definitely drew heavily from Mad Max to the point where people would be forgiven if they thought this film was some sort of spinoff. There were a few moments where the budget of the film showed and the sets looked a little cheap but on the most part this was not noticeable. This was a very entertaining film and was more bloody than I had thought it would be. This film deserved to do better at the box office than it did. Not much more to say than that. But I would watch it again given the chance. However, despite my praise, this film is nothing more than entertainment, it is certainly not a classic and give me a few days and it will probably be forgotten but forgetting that this entertained me just as much as all the other films I have seen lately. But to be finicky I will give it 8.25 out of 10.
I had heard some good things when I chose to watch this late one night. My first reaction once I reached the end was the length, it is quite a short film but that is good as it is better for a film to leave us wanting more as opposed to wanting less. Some people* consider Jessie Eisenberg (who helms the film) to be a second-rate Michael Cera but they can go fuck themselves. Only joking, that is far too extreme. But seriously there is the before-mentioned belief out there and I have to say that for this film at least Eisenberg has earned his keep. I give this film an 8.5 out of 10 because I enjoyed it all the way through. I also give the film a 10 out of 10 for the period of the film with the absolutely wonderful cameo. All in all it is well worth the watch as a light bit of entertaining fun that is a bit more original than most films out now. Finally, kudos for the kick-ass introduction
*Levi
It would be wise to preface this by saying I had very low expectations for this film. I had been somewhat hesitant to see this considering the many scathing reviews I had read for it but seeing as my parents got it out I am generally always up for a film (unless it is from that awful Saw franchise). Let me just say firstly that Cate Blanchett looked absolutely stunning in this film. It was a long film there is no denying that, but I did not mind that. Nor did I mind the supposed similarities between this film and Forrest Gump. What I did mind was the message I got from the film. There were two main points I took from this film. The first was that ‘you will fall in love early on in your life but you will spend the majority of your life not with that person and even if you do manage to live with them it will not last and in the end everyone will be alone, both in life and death’. The second thing I got from this film was, ‘don’t be bitter about it’. Now the way I have scored this film is somewhat different do how I usually do things. Cate Blanchett 10 out of 10 for her beauty. 7 out of 10 for everything else. Fuck you out of 10 for leaving me more depressed than I have been in ages. Finally, a confusing scoring system where it can be argued that points don’t even matter, priceless out of 10.
I think this film was decent. I think it was trying to present itself as the reality for the conflict over in the Middle east in contrast to most of the American propaganda war films the rest of the world is subjected to. However I highly doubt that a fattened up Russell Crowe is in charge of a trim and handsome Leonardo DiCapro. It would be very surprising if they were involved in ‘the War on Terror’. I am being silly. 8 out of 10. This film did not seem like it was blue-ray despite some lovely cinematography.
