Adaptation is one of the weirdest films I’ve ever seen and
I’ve seen Space Jam! Not only is it weird but also it is entirely aware of it,
which is simply fantastic. Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman has written himself
into this film which is one thing to make your head spin. Another is a bunch of
switching timelines. This coupled with real-world connections like the filming
of Being John Malkovich (also written by Kaufman) and unexpected yet sensical
twists make this film a confusing but rewarding concoction. Not only that but
Nicolas Cage is in it and he is legitimately good. 
Often regarded as one of the best films of all time, One
Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a surprisingly simple one. It examines a
peculiarly normal mental hospital (this is compared to films like Shutter
Island) and questions who are the actual unstable ones; the doctors or the
patients? With a brilliant central
performance from Jack Nicholson and a suitably calm score, this film is like
sitting by a fire before being subjected to electro shock therapy then
smothered by a massive, lovable native American called chief. Excellent, but
not quite as good as everyone says. Whoa!
Curveball.
I don’t particularly like gangster movies. I just find it so
difficult to get into them and the protagonists are almost always detestable.
Miller’s Crossing isn’t quite like that. It is like every gangster movie mashed
together into an indistinguishable pulp. That sounds terrible and at some
points it does become a bit tedious but what really turns it right around is
that it is directed by the Coens. Their ever present, unique brand of comedy
keeps this film from sagging into what may have simply been seen as another
gangster movie. Also all the performances are fantastic.
I’ve recently been trying to catch myself up with the
entirety of the horror genre and the Saw franchise is something that clearly
left its mark. To be honest, I can see why judging by the series’ first entry.
It’s a smart story that unravels before you as it the characters learn more
about one another and their captor. It’s budget meant that it was forced into
quite minimal yet effective sets. Another thing that struck me was the lack of
gore. The reputation that this series has would suggest some pretty gruesome
moments. This is luckily not the case.
John Carpenter’s The Thing is easily in my top five horror
films of all time. I am a real sucker for a smart and straightforward story and
there is no story smarter or straighter forward than this. A shape-shifting
alien is stealthily killing fools. It’s as good as it sounds. On top of this are the now hugely famous
creature effects. You’d have to go pretty far to find a film with better
creature effects than this. The grotesque are brilliantly alien yet startlingly
anatomical making them seem realistic immersing you right into the story.
Game of Death is a Bruce Lee film made after Bruce Lee’s
death. How does that work you ask… it doesn’t. It’s almost as if they forgot
how utterly irreplaceable Bruce Lee was and so just had a guy pretend to be
Bruce Lee for an hour. Some archive footage of Lee is used but is shockingly
out of place it’s borderline insulting. The last 20 minutes go someway to
redeem the film but in no way make up for the mess that came before it.
Basically the ending is a few scenes of Lee fighting. It is still great.
I enjoyed the first Jump Street film but felt that people
really overrated it. Its sequel on the other hand is absolutely fantastic. What’s
amazing is that the opening scene is actually terrible while the rest of the
film is consistently hilarious. Filled with self-referential jokes about
sequels and by far the best end-credits sequence of all time. There are a
couple of jokes that fell really flat like Channing Tatum accidentally doing a
fisting motion with his hand… twice! But besides those moments 22 Jump Street
was a refreshingly smart comedy.
A Clockwork Orange is one of the more interesting takes on
dystopian sci-fi. Instead of the technology being put into everything like
literally every other dystopia, the people of this world decided to make
everything look like a Picasso painting and just forgot about law and order.
This leads to a surprising entertaining film about the views of young people,
gangs and experimental medical methods like the Ludovico technique seen in the
film. What I’m most impressed by is that Malcolm McDowell agreed to have those
prongs put in his eyes. A truly disturbing image.
One of the shorter feature length films to exist is Howl, a
film about poet Allen Ginsberg and his raunchy four part poem that attempted to
capture life and its subsequent legal battle. There are three concurrent parts
of this film: Readings of the poem which are beautifully animated using a combination
of 2D and 3D techniques, interviews with James Franco as Ginsberg explaining
his story and the court case in defence of Howl (the poem)’s literary value.
Each of these sections are as entertaining as each other and having Jon Hamm in
the courtroom scene does not hurt.
Wow. Another Coen Brothers film? You must be mad! No, I’m
not mad, I just like me some good films and I am yet to watch a Coen Brothers
film that I don’t love. Making Jeff Bridges the protagonist of your film is a
quick step in the right direction but to give him an eyepatch, that is a
stroke of genius. Needless to say, Most of the characters were great except the
little girl. Not sure if it was the writing or the acting but there were
something persistently aggravating about her. That being said, I still enjoyed
it.
I’m not a huge fan of Martin Scorsese. However, this being
an uncharacteristically pacey film makes the man far more tolerable than usual.
If you want a film that shows why Robert De Niro is a legend then look no
further than this enrapturing, nuanced and oddly likable portrayal of the memorable
anti-hero Travis Bickle. It is a film that better than any other, conveys my
favourite feeling which is when you just want to smash someone’s head in. This
combined with the consistent, subtle jabs at American society make this a film
that I absolutely loved.
This film is surprisingly ambitious and it has Jeff Goldblum
and when those two things come together; sweet, sweet film is created. Much
like The Thing, this is a horror film about deception and the unknown with impressive
practical effects. Unfortunately, The Thing is much better than this in almost
every respect. Better acting, better script, better effects. That is not to say
this films is without merit. What is impressive is its use of large crowds of
people clearly indicative of a capable director. The film really does feel like
an invasion. Plus, the final scare is blood curdling.
Oh my god! A new release! Would you believe it? Now, I’m not
too great a fan of James Bond so if you loved this film don’s get your knickers
in twist just understand that your opinion is wrong and we can all move on. The
opening shot of this film is so impressive you would think that the rest of it
would hold up. Nope, right after this amazing long take, we lurch painfully
into extensive, shaky cam action scenes that I’m supposed to care about just
because James Bond’s doing it. Not to mention Christoph Waltz’s criminally
mediocre performance as the fan service driven Blofeld. This not including the
even more forced inclusion of the CNS, a made-up security agency looking to
replace James Bond as the people doing the spying. It is incredible that they
attempted to add a salient political message to a film in which a wingless
plane slides down and snowy mountain and obliterates an unassuming farmer’s
barn. I guess if you just wanted something pretty to look at for a couple of
hours then this will satisfy you but you can count me out. 
Perhaps the first film to bring zombies to the mainstream
was George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead. In it, a group of survivors make their
way to shopping mall just after the dead start to rise as flesh hungry zombies.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about this film is its ridiculous impact on
media. Great films like Shaun of the Dead play clear homage to this classic and
if that doesn’t speak to its quality, I don’t know what does. It is a film with
a hugely likeable band of heroes just trying to thrive in an inhospitable
world.
Cabin in the Woods is another of my favourite horror films.
I actually reviewed it quite a long time ago. While I’m cautious to link to
such an old review of mine, I’ve still got two more films to review and I am
quickly running out of time so here’s a link to that original review:
I had very low expectations going into The Mist largely
because I knew so little about it. Fortunately, I soon found that it was
fantastic. Leave it to Frank Darabont, the director of the Shawshank Redemption
to direct a good film. While the CGI is terrible (even for the time dare I say),
the build up mass hysteria throughout the film is remarkable and incredibly
tense. It also leads to some excellently powerful scenes of Lord of the Flies
style slayings. Also, despite the cast being largely unknown actors, the
performances were consistently good. Toby Jones was, as usual, great.
Another tightly written horror film as well as another
Stephen King adaptation. It’s sort of incredible how quickly the plot of Carrie
moves. It felt like only twenty minutes between the opening scene and a
horrifying mass murder. A mass murder whose direction is surprisingly
unconventional. It’s not often you see a thick black bar down the centre of a
screen in a film that is trying to retain its realism. That being said, some of
the characters can get a little goofy, John Travolta notably. But all faults can
be ignored when you have a scene of countless teenager perishing.