Barton Fink
Yet another Coen
Brothers film. As I slowly nibble through their filmography, I find myself at
their characteristically odd Barton Fink, a film that explores the
misadventures of the eponymous playwright in Hollywood. I quite enjoyed
it. The first half was intriguing but nothing happened that particularly
floored me. Then something happened that I genuinely thought was some sort of
disturbing nightmare sequence. From there, the film just snowballs into
absolute insanity. It is laden with humour and the absurdity of the story could
be seen as a parallel to Fink’s psychological deterioration. That’s symbolism
that I can get behind.
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
I absolutely loved this film, which is surprisingly directed
by Ben Stiller. Part of me feels a little guilty for liking this as it has been
criticised for being pretentious. I can more than understand the sentiment of
Mitty’s life not being so bad given his ridiculously interesting job and loving
family but it has just enough character and heart to stun in time for the
knockout blow that is everything else in this film. The visuals are absolutely
stunning especially during the latter half of the film. This coupled with an
astounding soundtrack creates a film that left me speechless.
New Nightmare
Having heard Wes Craven vicariously berate the Elm Street
sequels on multiple occasions I thought I’d just skip them and go straight to
perhaps the series’ weirdest entry. In this instalment, Freddy is antagonising
the makers of the original Nightmare on Elm Street; this concept alone is
immediately engaging. I would say that this film is not nearly as entertaining
as the original but it is still a film that will undoubtedly take your interest
for 2 hours and not give it back. So basically, this is a film slightly worse
than the original Elm Street with a concept that more than makes up for it.
Way of the Dragon
This is the last Bruce Lee film that I hadn’t watched
largely because I heard that it’s the worse. It’s not even close to as
entertaining as the others (besides Game of Death) and it isn’t as kooky as
Game of Death and so can’t be treated as a deformed curiosity. Very, very
little of the comedy works and so many parts of the film are absolutely
unbelievable at a very basic level such as native Italians speaking English and
looking like Turks. Even besides that, the fighting is dull for a Bruce Lee
film. Unfortunately disappointing.
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