House of Flying Daggers

Hey guys, sorry about yesterday- I just ran out of time and space to watch another film off the list.

I've had this film for a while and I was supposed to watch it ages ago with my little bro but we never got round it so I decided to watch it while he was away.
It's been really good to go back to watching martial arts films subbed because it means that I am watching them as they would have been originally. Dubbed is terrible because it means that you get a really irritating american accent over the top (no offence) that takes away from the beauty and translation of the original film.

I really liked this film. They play on the story of a woman who is blind but is part of the house of flying daggers. It really foccuses on all the things you can do when you are blind, how much stronger our senses become when we lose one of them.

If you're keen on martial arts then watch this film and tell me what you think!

The Monuments Men

When I saw the front cover for this film and some of the adverts  I had a sinking feeling that it was going to be more like Tarantino's Inglorious Bastards but I am happy to say that it wasn't at all.

A film about finding and re-capturing the stolen artwork that Hitler and the German's stole for his museum.

There is a ton of stars in this film but the guy that I was most impressed with was Matt Damon. I have often felt that he is overrated as an actor but there have been two films that have changed my opinion of him and this is one of them. He doesn't have any heroic moments or particularly moving moments but he was solid throughout and he was helped by spending most of the film in a different country to the rest of the troops.
George Clooney was a fearless leader and actually very convincing in his role. I have to say that none of them are as good as Tommy Lee Jones as a military officer. Clooney doesn't really have that personality that makes you fear him, he doesn't appear strong or action like and if it were him against Tommy Lee Jones in a fight he would lose within thirty seconds.
Cate Blanchett was so good that I didn't even realise that it was her!

I'm not a huge fan of historical films. Personally I feel that there have been far too many Nazi Germany films made over the last fifty years or so and that really we could be making films about something else. Surely we must have covered every angle about WW2 by now?

Certainly now that they have made this film, i think that they have covered every angle.

Gun Shy

So we're on a bit of Liam Neeson film marathon here due to me listing them all together.

I have come to expect a certain type of film from this guy. We know that he can make other stuff as he featured in Love Actually but recently he seems to be making films of a similar genre. What helped sell this one was the presence of Sandra Bullock, known for making crappy romcoms and of course, the wonderful- Miss Congeniality.

This time there was a more sensitive side to him, it wasn't just lets shoot everyone first and ask questions later whilst trying to save a whole bunch of people. DEA officer gets shot and then has to go through group therapy to continue with his mission, because this is more about the undercover side of the mission there is more to his character than you would normally expect with a Liam Neeson film. For once he didn't have to be the tough guy that showed only aggression and was driven by anger and pride, this time he was permitted to have things called friends and be a friendly kinda guy.

I actually really like this side to Neeson and I think that he should portray it more often. Sometimes we forget the talents of some actors because they make a series of films that are all really similar. The difference between someone with the class of Neeson and someone that can't act is that they manage to escape the stereotype by making other films in the middle that show different sides to them.

Bullock was wonderful as supporting woman and playing a different kinda girl to the one that she has been recently. I really liked her in this film. I really liked this film,

Gone with the wind

Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn.

This is another classic example of a pointless waste of three and a bit hours just for one line at the end of the film.

This film gained critical claim and I have no idea why. The only thing that I have to say about this film is that everything made after was a huge step up. This film clearly laid the paving for much better films to be made.
I found this film really boring. Nothing in this three hour film really captured me at all. I would not recommend that anyone gives up three hours of their life to watch this film.

 

Non-Stop

If you have been following this blog from the start then you have probably realised that I love watching Liam Neeson movies. Last year, after watching Taken and Unknown I decided to go through and add some more Liam Neeson movies to the list, purely because they have him in.

This time Liam is a Federal air marshall and is in charge of saving a plane from being bombed. Throughout the movie I was sitting on the edge of my seat. There were moments in the plot when i was like, 'well that can't be real' but even so- if it had been real it would've been one hell of a twist to the plot!

He was fantastic as always! The thing i love about these action packed films is that there really is only one way to film them- running along beside him. Julianne Moore and Michelle Dockery were superb acting alongside Neeson. I do love it when there are some great female roles in the film and both of them were fantastic supporting him. The characters just grew throughout the film and made it something awesome to add to the list of awesome Neeson films.

War Horse

I read this book as a child that loved reading Michael Morpurgo books. I have yet to see the stage performance but I am told by many that it is amazing.

I remember that the ending amazed me as a reader but watching this film has reminded me that there was a reason that I had blocked out most of the story. The start is great but it's a sensitive topic throughout, it is moving but maybe a little to emotional for me. Classic Spielberg through and through.

David Thewlis was versatile again. It was a similar role to his in the boy in the striped pyjamas and dragon heart- sort of an ass hole but not quite irritating and horrible enough to really make it as a true villain. I haven't seen a lot of films with him in, so I guess that there is a part of me that is wondering whether he can act as the good guy, can this guy pull off being the hero? If anyone reading this has a film as an answer to my question then please post the name below and i will check it out!

Tom Hiddlestone features in this film as well (all be it briefly) as the captain. Until now I had only seen him as Loki so it was refreshing to see him as someone else and get an idea of what he can do.

Emily Watson grew on me very quickly as the film went on, in fact, apart from the main kid, i think that she was the best in this film.

This really was Jeremy Irvine's debut so let's give him a massive hand as he was fantastic. The character really grew as the film developed and he was perfect for it in every way.

This is a Spielberg film so we know that we are going to get great music (John Williams) and great directing and producing so it seems rather pointless for me to write about the filming or the direction as Spielberg is generally flawless in those departments and this was no exception.

Batman 1989

Having watched The Crow, I wanted to keep going with the theme of the slightly comic book like or graphic novel films so I chose Batman.

Jack Nicholson is known for playing the Joker in this film. This role is what helped him make a name for himself as there are millions of batman fans out there!
It is another representation of the weirdness in Nicholson because I have not yet see him play a 'normal' character and to be perfectly honest i am not sure that he could.
It is hard to watch him in this role without comparing him to Heath Ledger and when it comes to weirdness and psychedelic-nesss, I think that Ledger was better but then again it was the role that killed him so maybe he was getting in to it a bit much and maybe it was actually better for Jack Nicholson that he didn't get into it quite as much as that.

I can see the role of batman as a work in progress in every film. Michael Keaton was better than Adam West in the film. I loved the Adam West series but the fight scenes were quite ridiculous- wonderful if you wanted a classic example of comic book sketches but nothing more than that. Christian Bale is a huge step above Michael Keaton because he changed his voice for the role of Batman, so that there is a difference between Bruce Wayne and Batman. Sometimes you look at a guy and just think that he isn't cut out to play the part and Michael Keaton gave me that feel, he didn't have the build for it.

The standout performer of the film was Jack Nicholson but lets not forget the ever important and wonderful role of Alfred that is always played to perfection.

Batman fans- what did you think?

The Crow

Hey guys, I know it's been almost a week and i'm sorry about that- it's been a tough week. Nothing better than to get back down to it by watching the Crow.

There were times when the Crow and the joker looked the same, the same smile around their mouth and sometimes even similar actions but lets not dwell on it too much because the joker and batman were around before the crow was made.

The plot is simple enough, a man and his fiancee and murdered, except that the man gets saved by a crow and goes on a revenge spree. The entire film is all about him killing all those involved.

There are some wonderful moments in this film such as the moment where he has stabbed this guy with a beautiful knife and the man wont die quick enough so he borrows someone else's gun and shoots him.

The way it was filmed almost gives me a sin city feel. Sin city was very graphic novelly and not so real but still awesome whereas this one is less graphic novelly and more real but still filmed in the same dark way- using lots of rain and broken glass.

Brandon Lee is magnificent in his final film. He comes across as controlled at all times, not the kinda guy that looks like he could break both your arms and legs off without even trying but more the kinda guy that is likely to insert things into each vital point of your body and kill you with precision. He is the classic icon of a villain, one that makes you shake and worry over what is going to happen instead of just being physically intimidated by him.

The thing that i will say about this film is that if you didn't know that he had died will making this film, you would have no idea that it wasn't Brandon Lee throughout.

City Lights

If you're reading this thinking that this is a post on the 2014 Hindi film CityLights then I'm afraid to disappoint you but you're not alone. I started watching the Hindi film before discovering that i couldn't understand anything and that there was in fact a 1931 Charlie Chaplin film called City Lights and that it was more likely to be that film that i had included on the list.

The beauty of slapstick comedy is that it is highly entertaining. Silent movies are a master class in acting. Any new guy out there looking to make his name in the acting department should sit down and watch a few genius silent movies such as The Phantom Of The Opera, The Artist and at least two Charlie Chaplin films. These films teach you how to express things with your body or face. How to act without speaking- how to convey words and messages in silence. This is where the true craft of acting can be found.

I really enjoyed watching this film. I laughed a lot and got to experience an evening of extreme pleasure watching an excellent portrayal of creativity and art.

The Graduate

I wanted to watch this primarily for the soundtrack. I love the song Mrs. Robinson and knew that it was off the soundtrack for this film so it was added to the list.

I guess the moral behind this film is be careful who you sleep with! 

Young Dustin Hoffman was almost unrecognizable to me. I was expecting something slightly more insane or just very different to what it was but that's fantastic.

I was mesmerized by the transformation. Having started with his later films, seeing his earlier work was a breath of fresh air. I think that i prefer him as he has been known to be in Mr Magorium's wonder emporium but still his undisputed best role is hook.

The thing that bothered me throughout was the editing of this film. Star Wars fans will be able to relate to this when I say the director clearly just had one cut method that he really liked because every scene ends with it just fading to black in the same way that star wars scenes are put together by the swishing horizontal or vertical swipe across the screen. 

What we learn from this is that it doesn't matter how much money you put into a film, into recruiting stars etc if you can't put the money into the editors. The film has to be flawless in every way to really make the big money. I know that we have evolved since this film was made and technology has come a long way but i'm not sure that they didn't have the ability to cut it in a different way at that time. This would be another great time for Rhys to exert his expertise on this matter and enlighten me as to whether this wish would have been possible or not.

The accompanying soundtrack from Simon and Garfunkel was perfect for it. I really feel my admiration for a film lifting when it has a great soundtrack that mirrors and adds to the mood trying to be displayed in the film.

Atonement

I remember this film being released and then suddenly the book was the best selling book that year and everyone I saw was reading the book. I was still in school and I wanted to read it and see what all the fuss was about but I was told that I was too young so I didn't read it. Instead, i watched the film years later.
It was a weird film in the way that it was done. I liked it in it's own way and once you have seen Memento, nothing is weird. I compare it to Memento because it was structured in a similar way. It started at the beginning and then flicked forward and backwards to explain events after they had happened.

So lets start with Keira Knightley. I think that in all the films that I have seen her in (which is every film that she has made apart from begin again and the dutchess) I have given her criticism apart from the immitation game. I am not sure if I am praising her or not in this film. When she spoke she mostly sounded exactly like she did all through pirates of the Caribbean when she was kinda angry or trying to make it sound urgent. Keira is the first person that I have listened to and thought that she maybe needed voice acting training. I know that there are so many people out there that say everything in a monotone and she isn't one of them but i kinda lost everything she was saying because I was just hearing her ramble on about being a pirate lord etc. It's weird how sometimes this happens to people and it is just unfortunate that it happened to me in this film. Apart from that Keira was quite good. I have watched films where i have sat there and practically cursed her from start to finish and this wasn't one of them so i am really pleased with that.

Now I will move on to James McAvoy. I remember watching him in wanted last year and thinking that it was a truly rubbish film. I also watched him in days of future past and thought that he was quite good but it wasn't a stand out performance. I kinda think that this was going along the lines of stand out for him. I feel that he challenged himself in every way in this film. It seemed like his role was going to be the typical gentlemen in this film but it wasn't and when it didn't turn that way I enjoyed it a lot more because I got to see another side to him. I feel that James is a complete actor in every way now.

I don't want to discredit anyone by only talking about the stars but in order to keep this post short I am talking about the people that stood out for me and unfortunately those were the big names. Benedict Cumberbatch was another that stood out. I liked his gentlemanly air but darker side to the character as well. I felt that there should have been more for his character than there was and i don't know if there is more in the book for him but i kinda hope that there is. This character has so much potential but was hardly even touched upon. Cumberbatch was the right man for it as he made it impossible to forget that he was in that film and so even when you were reaching the end of the film and thought that he was long gone, he would just pop up and give you a gentle reminder that he was around.

Overall- a much better film than i was led to believe.

Les Miserables

THIS IS NOT THE MUSICAL

This is the version with John Malkovitch as Jeavert. There are several versions of this film and throughout the year if i can find time then I will try and watch the other versions as well so that I can compare.

I have to start with a few things that were bothering me. The most important thing is that Marius in this film is really unattractive and that you would think that without the singing the film would be shorter- it isn't in fact, i think that it was actually longer!

I am going to compare it to the musical just to point out the differences. In the musical Epponine already knew Marius and Marius knew Ternardier but in this version he doesn't know either of them until they come to stay in the same block of apartments as him. I haven't yet read the book as the size of it is putting me off at the moment so i'm not sure which one is correct but i think that i preferred it in the musical because it makes the part of Eponine more interesting.
Without the songs and such Ternardier and wife are not half as interesting. Gavroche was just as cool in both so he deserves credit (especially as they cut his song from the stage show and it was the best song).
Without the songs that helped to explain things the film sometimes felt rushed, sometimes I was a little uncertain as to what was taking place because that explanation that had been in the lyrics of the song wasn't there. The confrontation and Stars are both examples of where this background was missing.
The film had a lot more to do with Causette's growing up in a convent and a lot more time running away from Jeavert which i liked. In the stage show they manage to skip a lot of years and the whole passage of growing up for Causette is skipped until she meets Marius in Paris.

All the main plot was still there and done in almost the exact same was as in the stage show.

There is one difference between the two films (the musical with Hugh Jackman and this one) and that is that in the Hugh Jackman version, Hugh Jackman has to fetch the flag that is trapped under a tree and in this version he has to lift part of the fallen ceiling to save a fellow convicts life.
I actually think that the acting was better in this film that was made in something like 2000 which says a lot about the acting in the musical version. Without the singing you get to really see who can act whereas when you add songs in you sometimes only get people who can really sing and don't know how to act.

I prefer this version but i think that it needs to find a way of being cut down because it is far too long!