Taxi Driver

Popped up on many movie quizzes and now something that I have decided to watch. A much younger than I remember seeing Robert De Niro in once again a different role.

The plot seemed to be, at times, a little complicated. I was a little confused about what was really going on between him and the girl and I am still none the wiser about it. Her character seemed to display unnecessary behaviour in every way and I am very confused about it.
In a contradiction to that character, the calm character of De Niro removed all stress and tension from the film. The narration of his thoughts helped to explain things but also helped to show how he was feeling and it was calm all the time, even when the situation was almost demanding him to get really angry. Trying out guns and he was calm, didn't look as if he was ever going to miss and more importantly, didn't look as if there was any motive behind what he was trying to do. The only time there was a change was when the look of determination came into his eyes and he decided to transform his body.

The thing that captured me the most was the look of someone that is disturbed that was constantly in his eye after he buys a gun. Not completely psychotic but just that glint in the eye that tells you that something isn't quite right- obsession? Passion? Not determination and not a driven look, a look of someone that is starting to get consumed by a particular idea. It's a look that you can't teach- not in acting school, not in life- it's just a look that some people manage to find and others don't but if you do have it in your repertoire then it will serve you to great effect.

He's the guy that fits in anywhere because he can pass by completely unnoticed. A smart guy, not easily fooled but also one that almost carries a look of slight disgust. It can't be helped, that's just his face but it is something to admire- the way that he plays characters that can pass by unnoticed with a face of a mafia guy is admirable.

The Blues Brothers.

Last year I watched The Blues Brothers 2000 without realising that it wasn't the first film. After watching it I promised to watch the first film and review it for all you that actually glanced an eye over the post on the blog.

I have missed the music that comes with this film. Hearing the soul and blues that was played constantly throughout this film was sublime. Nothing makes me feel better than to listen to quality music being played with passion and expression. I haven't heard music like this since watching the Get On Up and Dream Girls.

The plot that roles with these films, making them not a film about a historical musical figure but an actual film with a solid story is what makes these stand out above Get On Up or musicals like that. You don't have to be a huge fan of blues or soul but there is something in the music that just makes it reach in to you and pull out the dancer within you. It's contagious- you can't help but love and enjoy these films. Even the stars such as James Brown, Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin added to the dimensions of the music but did not steal the show in anyway. I was more surprised to see Carrie Fisher feature towards the end of the movie. I was under the impression that she had basically ruined her career with Star Wars and that she hadn't done anything else, let alone anything else of note since making those films.

So let's take a look at the stars- Dan Akroyd- he's just fantastic in this role. The timbre of his voice, the bass that isn't a lead bass but is perfectly suited to getting the crowd going is fitting for the guy in sun glasses and a dark suit all the time. John Belushi is perfect alongside him as the other blues brother (Jake), the guy with the lead vocal talent and someone that I don't remember featuring in the first film. Together the partnership that they make is incomparable to anything else that I can think of. Not necessarily looking the most like brothers that I have ever seen but working together as one of the best teams and double acts in a film that spring to mind instantly.

Tomorrow I'll be back with Taxi Driver.

Nightcrawler

Jake Gyllenhaal makes a rare appearance on the blog. I can't think of many films (if any) that he has starred in on the blog since its birth!

At times I have thought that he is overrated and so I have not actively made a point of scrolling through IMDB and listing his films to watch. The Donnie Darko actor really rose to fame with his stunning performance in that film. After stunning the world with a performance only comparable to that of Rusell Crowe as John Nash in A Beautiful Mind and Tommy Lee Jones as Two Face in Batman Forever, Jake Gyllenhaal really had set the bar very high for himself and the world was expecting huge things from this guy, only to be disappointed with his performance in Brokeback Mountain and the entire film of Prince of Persia. Of course, I am writing this from my perspective and undoubtedly I have missed out many films in between but that's because these were the films that changed my opinion of him quite rapidly.

I look for something that is going to wow me. I had similar opinions about Leo DiCaprio and he stunned me in What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Django Unchained and The Great Gatsby. He is an example of setting the bar high, fading out for many years with some rubbish films and then relighting his career in stunning style. Seeing as Leo can do it there are high hopes for Gyllenhaal. So how did he do in Nightcrawler? I wasn't wowed but I wasn't repulsed either. Performance was good enough. Thinking of it for what it is- a young guy (not so well done by the clearly aging Gyllenhaal) is trying to become a freelance news reporter. Scanning the nights for new footage that he can sell on at a mega price he has no ideas of the real dangers involved or how to really manage business. Nothing special about the performance, nothing standout about the character- so what makes Nightcrawler something to remember? Simply- the plot. You may watch a lot of action films and you may watch a lot of RomComs, most of them don't stick in your head because they all have a similar plot. If they stick it is because there has been a standout performance, if they don't it is because there was nothing special about it and the plot wasn't good enough. This is a memorable plot.

The feel given from this film is one similar to the opening ten minutes or so of the Ryan Gosling film 'Drive'. The first ten minute I was on the edge of my seat wanting to know what was going to happen- was he going to escape? The suspense in that film was outstanding. The suspense here isn't as spectacular but the feel of a guy driving around at night filming shootouts between the police and criminals is something that makes you almost put your heart in your mouth. Is it stupid? Are they taking an unnecessary risk by approaching the scene? You don't know until you let the film play out- you have to watch the entire film and that is why everyone should watch Nightcrawler.

Jack Ryan: The Hunt for Red October.

Shadow Recruit featured on last year's blog (I think). After watching it I realised that there were other Jack Ryan films before Chris Pine took over and so I acquired three of them and promised to watch and review them. Without further ado I present: The Hunt for Red October.

A cast full of stars including Sean Connery, James Earl Jones, Joss Ackland and Alec Baldwin were needed to make this film the simple yet at the same time complicated plot that it is. So where to start and who to start with? I think that I have to make the obvious comment about Sean Connery playing a Russian/Ukrainian officer with his very heavy Scottish accent. Even when speaking Russian the accent was coming out so heavy that it was hard to work out if anyone would actually be able to understand him properly. It is hard to lose an accent but actors should be able to put on a different accent. Russian accents are hard to hold but at least put on something eastern european instead of sticking with obvious Scottish. Take nothing away from his performance though- apart from the accent it was sublime in every way.

James Earl Jones had one of those roles that just allowed him to fit in perfectly. Not a lead as such but a character that had some nice scenes throughout the film. His character and the character of Joss Ackland kept the film running smoothly. They joined the plots together and were there as a change of scene to enlighten the audience with updates.

This film had the ultimate James Bond spy feel to it. Flicking between offices and the action was reminiscent of some of the James Bond movies such as 'From Russia With Love' or 'The Man With The Golden Gun' where you have your opening scene and then you go back to London for the plot to develop nicely. The filming of underwater submarines was lovely. Jack Ryan laid down the foundations for The Bourne series. I have another two to watch before I can say that I have followed the Jack Ryan series completely.

Next up is Night Crawler.

The Sixth Sense

Bruce Willis features in a very different role on the blog. The 'Sixth Sense' was in someways similar to 'The Shining' but in my opinion slightly better because it had people trying to help the child instead of Jack Nicholson.

This film wasn't pure horror and I like that very much about it. I wasn't scared, it was a difficult subject but a very important subject. What I liked about it so much was that it had a plot that would have worked without any weirdness. Somewhat similar to Matilda but this time with a boy instead of a girl, from the first twenty minutes we get an idea of what the boy could do. Knowing things about his teachers and seeing things that aren't there- not like hallucinations as such but more of what is going to/ could happen.

One of the best scenes in the film was right towards the end when the boy is in the car with his mum, who has just missed his school play. The mum seems to think that the boy is upset with her for missing his school play. As a child we can hardly understand why our parents can't always be there to support us but as the mum points out- she works two jobs. As children we don't always appreciate the things that our parents do to help us out. Times can be tough for some people and they do what they have to do in order to keep us alive. I felt that the emotion in this scene is powerful beyond words. The essence of what it is to be a child was captured perfectly in this scene and also the trials that parents go through. Having children isn't a piece of a cake after a casual stroll in the park- it's something tough and testing that will accompany you through life.

I could have spent the time talking about Bruce Willis but 'The Sixth Sense' is made by the entire cast. Not one person stands out above the others and everyone pulls their weight. It may have been Bruce Willis' name that sold it and I will give it to him- he is playing a different character to the one that we have become accustomed to seeing in 'Die Hard' and his performance right at the end was super. Dying in the way that he did was perfect, not overdone and not pathetic either, just perfect.
The filming at the end- bringing it back to the beginning was also a really cool idea. Not original but just a decent way to end a story.

Awakenings.

Robin Williams and Robert DeNiro star in this film about a doctor trying to cure a lot of patients who seem to not actually be living in this world. Not brain dead because they have reflex actions but only respond to certain things and seem to have no control over their movements at all.

Robin Williams is one of those guys who death was devastating. His absence from the world of new films is a hard blow to take and not one that I really want to accept. Watching films like this are so powerful and at times painful to take, knowing that you aren't going to see another performance like that from him again. Don't get me wrong, Robin Williams has been fantastic in so many of his films but his performance was so moving that no one will ever be able to fill his hole or should even be compared to him. The kind and caring doctor that never gave up was perfect and almost typical of what we have come to expect from him (especially if we have seen him in 'Patch Adams'). It was the side of him that was bold and able to say 'No' to patients and actually not always push for them to be trying new things. A calm and composed character at all times that understood his duty as a doctor first and foremost.

Now that I have spent time praising Williams I have to turn to DeNiro, who usually features on this blog in a gangster/mafia movie. A few months ago (if that) I wrote about the performance of Dustin Hoffman in 'Rain Man' and how fantastic Hoffman is, how real his performance of a highly functioning person on the Autistic spectrum was and it can only be fair to do the same kind of thing for DeNiro. This character wasn't autistic but he was playing a guy that was woken up by medication thirty years after getting sick. The man (Leonard) then has to get used to society, only for the medication to produce bad side effects that eventually cause him to be taken off the medication and he goes back to being practically non-responsive. The way the convulsions were produced and also the slight changes in personality, then leading to the drastic changes, followed by a relatively quick return to being the same character that we had become familiar with was fantastic. Everything was real, at no point did I feel that it was someone trying to hard or something not entirely natural.
Just like Dustin Hoffman, Robert DeNiro has really stepped up his game in this film and produced something of a masterclass in a completely different way to what we would expect from him. I was so stunned and proud. I am so glad that this film (which I knew nothing about and thought was a horror film) made its way on to the blog!

Holiday Inn.

Fred Astaire and Bing Crossby team up in this dancing classic. This film is where Irving Berlin's 'White Christmas' comes from.

As always there seems to be a bit of a conflict with the women involved and also with the men. I have lost count of the number of old dance musicals that I have watched which are really all about a dancer and how he manages to steal a woman off of another man. At times I wish that they would have done something original but I can't go back and change time to make it so, therefore I will have to stop complaining.

It seems pointless to speak about the dancing and the singing. Fred Astaire is famous for his dancing and Bing Crosby for his singing so it is safe to assume that they are going to be fantastic at their specialist talents.

The film setting really means that it should be watched at christmas but I wasn't prepared to wait that long to watch a musical so I skipped ahead six months or so. The setting is nice- in an inn around thanksgiving and christmas time and the warm feeling actually makes you really comfortable, wherever you are watching from. Nothing particularly funny and hardly any criticisms.

If you like old musicals and appreciate the work of Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby then it is definitely a film that you have to watch but if you don't then there is no point in watching it- it is not a film that is going to change your opinion of them.

Flashdance.

What I feeling I got from watching that film! I know the song so well and I have been ashamed to admit that up until now I did not know anything about the film.

Flashdance is fantastic. It wasn't originally on the list but when I realised that I had a lot more movies legally available to me I searched through the list of films to find one that was either on the blog list or was something that I had been wanting to watch and there I found Flashdance.

The dancing is sublime. The style and fashion in the film encouraged so many young dancers in the world to mix things up a bit, change their fashion and style of dancing and see what the world could offer them. Flashdance points out that the world is constantly changing and becoming more adaptive to different styles, cultures and interpretations. After all, dancing is about expression and interpretation. Some of the moves are actually breathtaking. I sat there at one point right at the very end of the film with my mouth open thinking 'NO WAY'! It was superb to watch. I watched Footloose a week ago and I said that I was impressed with the dancing and the plot but this was just better on every level.

A woman can work, not just in a bar using what she was given but also in the same job as men, can earn the same amount of respect and can chase after her dreams. Okay, she needed a bit of help to actually get the dancing audition but without that luck she would never have got the audition and never been able to showcase her talents. A lot of people get a job that is fantastic for them or achieve their dreams with a little help from their friends or someone that they know- that's life and although it was a big deal for the character, she took the favour and did good with it. Morals may have been hurt a little in the process but she was strong and showed that she had what it took to make it in the real world.

This has to be another one that makes it's way in to my every growing film collection and more importantly, it can sit alongside some of the greatest musicals ever in my musical section of the collection. Everyone should watch and own Flashdance!

The Expendables 2.

Our favourite crew are back with a few more ugly looking grunters to add to the cast for the sequel. The Expendables was a fantastic film. The film played to the strengths of all the actors, it was simple and very well thought out. 

The introduction of the character 'Maggie' was a nice touch. Adding a woman that could not only defend herself but also defend others as well was nice and refreshing. She didn't fall down at every opportunity and she really could look out for herself.

I guess the thing that I liked most about the film was that it was what I would call a normal length film, that is 1hr 30 mins approx. I know... what?? We're now used to films being a minimum of 2 hours but cutting that time by 30 mins allowed the film to really flow. It's an action film and is not trying to be anything other than just that. Unless you have some crazy complicated plot there is no need for an action movie like that to go on for 2 hours as it simply ruins the flow of the film and can become too complicated or boring for the audience. The team of directors got everything right with this set of films, the cast, the plot, the music, the way to film it- literally every decision they made was a great decision.

My favourite part has to be when Schwarznegger says to Bruce Willis 'I'll be back' and Willis says 'I'll be back, you've been back too many times already'. I literally fell about laughing at that point. This is not a comical film but playing on the one line Schwarznegger is known for was genius. 

Adding Hemsworth to the cast was also a nice touch. It's always nice to see known actors take on a different role and prove that they can act. Very impressed with him and (SPOILER ALERT) I was even slightly moved by his death. 

Tomorrow's post- Flashdance.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

I haven't read the books. I probably said this last year or the year before when I watched the first film and loved it but I have not read any of the books so I don't know how true they are to the books.

Having loved the first one I had high hopes for the next installments of the franchise but I fear that they may not be reached. Personally I just didn't enjoy this one as much. It seemed like the point of the first film- which was to screw over the system, cause a revolution and win the hunger games so that they never had to do it again was completely crossed out, scribbled over and undermined in this film because they had to do it all again.

The ending of the first film was fantastic. The film could have been a standalone and the only people that would have cared would have been die hard believers. No romance, nothing between them, it was like the first film had all just been a dream and when they opened their eyes they were back in district 12.

So putting all that aside and thinking about the film as a sequel following a book what can I say? Nice to see Phillip Seymour Hoffman in a film- it has been a while since he was on the blog and this is possibly one of the few films that he has actually featured in since his death- certainly this has to be one of the last ones that he actually made. I felt sorry for the guy that was killed at the end of the first film. Hoffman's character took over from the previous guy that was murdered but I really felt like he didn't actually deserve to die. We all know that one person or a select group can not over run the nation or population of the people living within their authority- everything- maze runner, V for Vendetta and many other films state this quite clearly but then this is fiction and not supposed to be thinking about things like this until the final chapter. His character had many twists and turns and actually at the end of the film I was taken by surprise and am now forced to watch the final two films just to see how it ends.

I don't want to knock 'The Hunger Games' anymore than I already have. The films have been terrific but I have lost count of the amount of times that I have felt that the second film/book has been unnecessary. I know that without it we wouldn't be able to have a third film/ book in any capacity and that mostly the third installments are better than the second (the matrix excluded) but I just wish that I would find a series where every film and book is as good and necessary as the others. Here's to hope!

Next up- The Expendables 2, followed by Flashdance.

National Velvet.

Inspired by listening to a Clare Maguire song called 'Elizabeth Taylor' I wikipedia'd her and chose one of her most famous films to watch. Film of choice- National Velvet. Incredibly hard to acquire but worth the troubles.

Elizabeth Taylor is everything you could want from an actress. The Brunette Marilyn Monroe is stunning in this film. Determined and yet sympathetic and understanding at the same time, no one pulls off a character like this as well as she does.

A lot of credit must go to the women that played her mother in the film. A strong woman, which was unusual for the times and at the same time an understanding and loving mother that wants what is best for her daughter but actually understands that she has to let the child follow her heart instead of making her follow a path laid out for her by someone else. I can't remember the last time that I saw a character like this in a film made back in the 40's. I was actually gobsmacked by this character and the freedom that she had over every decision that they made as a family.

The freedom for all characters in this film was something to be marveled. At that time it's simply unthinkable that those characters could do what they did so easily. I'm not saying that entering the Grand National pretending to be a man and then winning it is easy- it isn't and I wouldn't dare to make that suggestion but what I will say is that there was so much freedom in these characters that it must have been a pleasure to play them.

Watch out for currently a film a day on the blog- next up is 'Holiday Inn', followed by 'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire' and then 'The Expendables 2'.