The Graduate

The problem with watching established classics for the first time is that you know what's going to happen. In some respects, this lessened the impact of this film for me, but I still had plenty of suprises - I didn't expect it to be quite as funny as it was, but of course this was all in the first part of the film which was still a relative mystery to me. Anne Bancroft as Mrs Robinson is the highlight; suave, frank, cool and savagely witty.

Everything you always wanted to know about sex, but were afraid to ask

Apart from the sketch featuring Gene Wilder, this was in real danger of being completely unfunny and annoying, until the glorious final segment, depicting the innermost workings of a man on a date, itself worth wading through the rest of it.

Annie Hall

I enjoy Annie Halll more than any of Allens' films because he doesn't dominate it. Organised like a memory, it portrays the ups and downs of a relationship and how people can change, yet remain basically the same, in a touching, humorous and human manner.

Raiders of the Lost Ark

Let`s not beat about the bush here – Indiana Jones is a thief, pitilessly plundering the heritage of weaker and more impoverished nations than the USA, like the opening sequences` unspecific location of “South America,” where it`s hot, jungle-tastic and the natives don`t wear much. I doubt very much that this film could be made today, and even if it could, there is no way it would contain the line “You can`t do this to me! I`m an American!”
Of course, this sort of thing doesn`t bear thinking about too much – Indy isn`t so cerebral here as he was in The Last Crusade, relying more on his charm and whip proficiency than powers of deduction. Indeed, one is surprised at how easily he uncovers legendary artifacts that have eluded detection for millennia. It`s also pretty gruesome, with most, if not all of the villains coming to horrifically gory demises, but it`s OK `cos they`re only Nazis – melt before the flaming wrath of the Old Testament, fascist pig-dog!

Ratatouille

On the surface, this is a decent family flick with a great concept, positive message, brilliant animation and a cameo from Peter O`Toole that`s almost in danger of stealing the show. Something about this film however makes me want to inject a subtext that probably isn`t there.

There are more than a few nods to the idea of Progressive Evolution – the main character is notable not only because he`s a rat who loves cooking, but also for his tendency to walk on his hind paws. The implication is that this somehow elevates him above his kin, as does his related belief in hygiene, but more than that is his adherence to a higher moral code detrimental to the daily struggle a rat must face in order to find food.

This sense of right floats up at significant moments, culminating in the rats changing from unruly scavengers into sophisticated restaurateurs, and reminding me of Douglas Adams` division of evolution into three stages – “how can we eat?” “what can we eat?” and “where shall we have lunch?”

Blade Runner

Blade Runner has aged magnificently, looking just as stunning now as it must have done when it first came out and the directors cut ending makes it even better. The only thing that really roots it in the early eighties is the soundtrack by Vangelis, which probably sounded futuristic then, but even that has it's appropriate moments, adding to the cyber-film-noir mood.

The Queen

Portraying a time, the significance and magnitude of which may have been difficult to appreciate once in the thick of it, The Queen is more about the media than it is about the British Royal family.
The weird thing about this is that it`s a historical drama with pretty much all of the main players still alive and in the public eye. Moreover, these characters who nobody knows, yet everybody has a rough grasp on, are played exactly the way we expect them to be – The Queen Mum is a loveable old granny who comes from harder times, Prince Phillip, a boorish bigot who loves killing things, Charles, a paranoid spoiled child with his eye on the future, Tony Blair (spot on performance by Michael Sheen), a fresh face with a winning smile and Alistair Campbell, a propaganda thug…and absolutely brilliant for the worst possible reasons.

2001 : A Space Odyssey

Slow, subtle, graceful and intense, Clarke and Kubrick's vision is perfect. I have nothing more to say.

Notes on a Scandal

The best elements here are the performances of the three leads, Judi Dench, Cate Blanchett and Bill Nighy. As for the story, after a promising start, the sudden appearance of the actual plot (which had little to do with the promising start) and one or two breathtaking scenes, it peeters off into melodrama and a feeble "nutter-will-strike-again" ending. Worth watching, but not getting very excited about.

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

I see little point in writing a review for each of these, as they aren't really sequels. Love it or loath it (I love it), Peter Jackson has to be saluted for taking an unfilmable book and making three pretty good films out of it. They aren't perfect by any means - continuity errors can be spotted by all but the sleepiest of viewers, and some scenes take you back to the days of blue screen photography, where characters sporting a huge black line around their bodies stand in front of a projected landscape, but once a cinematic experience can unequivocally place you in the world of pages, imagination will die.

The Science of Sleep

Michel Gondrys latest offering is a rambly non-story leading the viewer from one strangely animated dream(?) sequence to the next. These are, as you'd expect from the director, really lovely and humourous, but in this film they just seem pointless. Moreover, the unlikeable main character makes you wonder why you should care anyway.

Some Kind of Wonderful

Expecting as I was, a Rom-Com from the eighties, this really surprised me. It's gently paced and, albeit a complete fantasy, pleasantly human. Although some of the characters stand out because they're so cartoonish, they don't ruin the smoothly delivered story. Great for playing the "Oh-wow-it's-that-actor-whose-name-I-don't-know-who-was-in-that-film-don't-they-look-young?" game.

The Forgotten

It's never a good thing to accurately prophesise the as-of-yet-unfolded plot with a joke. This kind of thriller requires nothing of the audience, save a sponge like brain, willing to soak up whatever is slowly dripped into it. Pah.

High School Musical

Bracketed with a nudge and a wink, High School Musical may promise more than it actually offers. There isn’t a trace of irony in this film – no pedestal of spin from which the postmodern viewer can mock the product created to entertain them. In that sense, it’s a refreshingly pure and unpretentious cinematic offering, but still the most excruciating thing I’ve sat through since my last trip to the dentists. Correction, the most excruciating thing I’ve sat through since Instinct.

The Bourne Identity

Matt Damon gradually blunders towards a conlusion that the audience was privy to within the first half hour of the film. Thank God for the locations.

The Secret Life of Words

Despite a slow start, there are one or two moments that hint at the film being good on the whole - a few strong characters (mostly through the supporting cast), played well, interacting in an interesting, claustrophobic environment could have been pretty good if it wasn't for the dismal story arc, which suddenly and rapidly descends into comparing emotional scars. The climatcic revelation has absolutely nothing to do with the context of the rest of the film, and appearing as it does at the end, like an obsecene sock puppet (referencing very real atrocities which have no place in a pretentious film) comes across as sensationalist, tactless and tasteless. Beautifully shot poignancy by numbers that might make you angry for entirely the wrong reasons.

Happy Feet

This tale of singing and dancing emperor penguins is incredibly silly, but not for the reasons you’d expect. Background to impose gravity on Penguin Society, with its sundry rituals, prayers and superstitions, creates the feeling of a second rate Watership Down. In common with Moulin Rouge, it shares a love of recycling pop songs from the past thirty years or so. This film however, presents the songs cleverly arranged and interlocking with each other in a penguin mating ritual dance, as opposed to the pub-medley approach of Moulin Rouge. Truth be told, this is one of the most mind-bendingly bizarre films I’ve ever seen, it’s main quirk the fact that it isn’t sure what to be. In all probability, an experiment in near photo-realistic animation resulted in one or two sequences of dancing penguins, and some bright spark considered that a story should grow out of it, and indeed a story does, but it flowers in an unexpected way.

Thank You For Smoking

A comedy of flexible morals, the real meat here is the script, a display of the power of solid arguement, and the characterisation, inverting the politically correct roles of hero and villain. Seemingly, these two pretty strong elements weren't enough to warrant an entire film, so there's plenty of padding about building relationships with estranged family members, but these sprinklings are easily digested since everything else is so well executed.

Lost Highway

After seeing this film several times in the ten years it's been released, the fact that I'm still able to bounce ideas off it and disagree with those of others is testament to its mileage. The cast do a fine job of being significant fish in Lynch's pond and the direction and themes are as you'd expect.

INLAND EMPIRE

Good Lord. I rate David Lynch because his films beg re-viewing. In the midst of the disturbing imagery, too-cool-for-this-world soundtracks, menacing corridors, nightmarish cinematography, a thin thread of logic prevails, pieces of a jigsaw fade in and out, and you get the impression of having a handle on something, no matter how tenuous. His first work filmed on a digital camera, the picture has a very raw quality, a marked change from some of the pristine near-static shots of Mullholland Drive. The cast of Lynch regulars are fantastically warped, and Laura Dern acts her socks off - even if you don't like Lynch, it's almost worth watching this for her, although the running time might put you off. Three hours of David Lynch doing his thing is hard work, even for an ardent admirer.

A better review can be found here.

Tarzan

The chap who writes at Bad Movies has a nice little format including a "what I learned from this movie" section. Disney's Tarzan has taught me that

i) A leopard can match an adult gorilla in a wrestling match.
ii) Elephants can see through their noses.
iii) An English woman of the upper classes is almost capable of outrunning a pack of angry baboons in the jungle.

The animation looks absolutely brilliant, but that seems to have replaced writing as the budget priority...that and a soundtrack of "ethnic" percussion by Phil Collins. Brian Blessed provides the voice for one of the characters, and you'd think that would have saved the film. Sadly, the man really only plays himself, and hearing his voice coming out of a different face was akin to watching a talking dog - there is simply no way that voice really belongs in that face.

Children of Men

This film has been praised for its' use of single-shot sequences, and these can be very effective when it comes to dropping the viewer right in the moment. However, there is nothing more likely to remind you that it's all just a bunch of actors on a well timed set, than a splodge of blood on the camera.

There is a body of science fiction that, once the premise has been set up, becomes a fairly hum-drum story that doesn't ask too many questions. Children of Men is by no means bereft of a message, but that which it offers could belong to any Dystopian Tale - moreover, the politics on display, although resonant with my own opinions, are far too vague to be anything other than a bit suspiscious. In fact, it's this "going for the gut" approach that detracts from the message, especially when that's a criticism leveled at the methods of other scaremongers. The ideas behind this story could have been presented in a film all to themselves, and it seems pointless to dress them up with this storyline, which just serves as a catalyst for the road movie genre.

Michael Caine makes a great hippy though.

Little Miss Sunshine

Amazing - there was little I found wrong with this film, other than I doubt very much I'll ever watch it again, hence the three pigs. The characters are magnificently maladjusted, and all the more loveable for it - that some get abandoned after establishment is unimportant because it's their interaction (which I'm almost sure any viewer can relate to) that makes this film as good as it is. Although the conclusion is, in retrospect, inevitable, the fact that the audience is made to care about the situation stands in its favour.

Pretty Woman

Even though this film was made in 1990, it came on the cusp of the eighties, a decade I spent on another planet it would seem - I have successfully managed to avoid several atrocities of those heady years, Top Gun & Dirty Dancing being notable examples...this film fell into the category of those which accompany the formative years of my peers like a special pet, one that I neglected. Years later, my purity intact, and as I have grown avoiding the Rom-Com genre as best I can, it becomes increasingly difficult not to hate the very thought of being ensnared by the glittering maw of this Hollywood rags-to-riches classic.

I was surprised...sometimes...in it's favour, Pretty Woman doesn't shy away from some of the difficulties faced by prostitutes, although it does this in a slightly hands off manner. It's also worthy as a tale of human decency, suggesting in days where "obscene" amounts of money bring wealth to the few and poverty to the many, that such Dickensian "miracles" aren't quite dead. It's best feature, however, is the constant vindication of the underdog.

I laughed once. This is the cheesiest film I have ever seen - surely by this enlightened period in cinematic history, horse riding at dusk had to have been consigned to the waste-bin? This is the ultimate fantasy of the last century, where powerful men commanding vast wealth and power sweep vulnerable but strong women off their feet and take them to a magical palace of comfort and love. Richard Gere is so suavely bland that I want to do something to mess up his hair, or thrust a custard pie in that chiseled face. I never ever want to see this film again.

A.I

This could have been one of the most amazing films ever. The glorious first section elegantly avoids the cliches of depicting the razzle-dazzle future, creates believable characters placed in unique situations and asks some uncomfortable, provoking moral questions of them and the viewer. Then suddenly, it abandons all of this, firmly placing itself in the "bright lights = the future" camp, with two-dimensional characters popping in and out of Ye Olde Quest Tale. Just when you think it can't get any worse, the final sequence, which could just as easily come from another film, soars in on Spielberg's' wings of love. I know this is what other people have made of A.I, but I wanted to see for myself.