This was one of those genre defining movies, it flirted with being an adventure film, at times a comedy and at many other times was just a just indefinably good film.
There was so much on the surface to this film and so many sub-plots, the son who may not be, the oceanographer exacting revenge on the shark that killed his best friend, the estranged wife and the making of an award winning documentary.
It's ironic that as I write this a David Bowie song comes on my Spotify shuffle, as for some reason his songs were used throughout, some great songs used in good places in a truly great film.
Friday, 8 October 2010
Thursday, 7 October 2010
Film 37 - Fahrenheit 911
I'm becoming a huge fan of Michael Moore's film-making, he's always incisive and generally manages to irritate everyone he's attacking with his wry line of questioning. There was less of this in Fahrenheit 911 than in the other films of his I've seen, but it was just as good overall as any film he's made.
From exposing the Bush family's business connections with the bin Ladens to the extent Haliburton profited in Iraq, this is a tour de force for Moore, as his incisive commentary is as usual able to simplify even the most complicated concepts and his investigatory zeal is evident to see, as well as his skill in crafting a documentary from this time mostly archive footage
Put simply, Michael Moore is the best documentary film-maker of his generation, and there can be no question about it.
From exposing the Bush family's business connections with the bin Ladens to the extent Haliburton profited in Iraq, this is a tour de force for Moore, as his incisive commentary is as usual able to simplify even the most complicated concepts and his investigatory zeal is evident to see, as well as his skill in crafting a documentary from this time mostly archive footage
Put simply, Michael Moore is the best documentary film-maker of his generation, and there can be no question about it.
Monday, 4 October 2010
Film 36 - Paranoid Park
Underwhelming is the main opinion I have of this film. The concept works perfectly, a young skateboarders life begins to fall apart after he accidently kills a security guard, and there are some great moments in the film, but the cinematography never really did it for me.
Gus Van Sant the director previously directed Good Will Hunting, a film I loved, partly because he did nothing dramatic with the camerawork, editing and effects, he just let the story flow. This time the flow seemed slow and stilted, the camerawork veering between docu-style and amateurish, and half of the film where nothing happened.
The good moments when they did happen were truly great, and save the film from being a complete dud. The moment the security guard is sliced in half is brilliantly shot and without being gruesome had a great effect on me, and the final scene when Macy tells him to write everything down completes the catharsis of the film brilliantly, and sets up the first person narrative convincingly.
Verdict: concept great, storyline good, execution poor. An average film, with the potential to have been so much more.
Gus Van Sant the director previously directed Good Will Hunting, a film I loved, partly because he did nothing dramatic with the camerawork, editing and effects, he just let the story flow. This time the flow seemed slow and stilted, the camerawork veering between docu-style and amateurish, and half of the film where nothing happened.
The good moments when they did happen were truly great, and save the film from being a complete dud. The moment the security guard is sliced in half is brilliantly shot and without being gruesome had a great effect on me, and the final scene when Macy tells him to write everything down completes the catharsis of the film brilliantly, and sets up the first person narrative convincingly.
Verdict: concept great, storyline good, execution poor. An average film, with the potential to have been so much more.
Film 35 - Taxi Driver
Well, what a contrast. From the indie hit 500 Days Of Summer to todays film: Taxi Driver, and honestly, writing this the moment after I finished watching it, I'm not quite sure what impression to take. Travis Bickle clearly gets more and more insane as the film goes on, and his moralistic stance is kinda contradicted at the ending. The fact is, the ending is set up to make him look like a nutter on a killing spree, yet he ends up as the hero. This is the first film that I end up making no judgement on, it's up there with Shallow Grave as one of the most disturbing films I've watched this year - and ever - but I cannot seem to work out whether I agree with it, or even like it.
I think Betsy summed it up when she talked about Bickle's "contradictions," everything about his was wrong, yet somehow right.
Or maybe right, but somehow wrong... I really don't know.
EDIT: With further thinking, and a read of the Wikipedia article, I found out that Iris was actually supposed to be 12, something that I missed in the film (I thought the pimp was lying when he said she was 12). After seeing that Bickle's actions seem a lot more heroic, and i think the idea of him as an avenger seems the best way to put it. One thing is for sure though, Taxi Driver is a classic.
I think Betsy summed it up when she talked about Bickle's "contradictions," everything about his was wrong, yet somehow right.
Or maybe right, but somehow wrong... I really don't know.
EDIT: With further thinking, and a read of the Wikipedia article, I found out that Iris was actually supposed to be 12, something that I missed in the film (I thought the pimp was lying when he said she was 12). After seeing that Bickle's actions seem a lot more heroic, and i think the idea of him as an avenger seems the best way to put it. One thing is for sure though, Taxi Driver is a classic.
Saturday, 2 October 2010
Film 34 - 500 Days Of Summer
There was no way I wasn't going to dislike this film, consider my list of things that make a good film: Zooey Deshanel. Check. Adorably indie rom-com. Check. Non-linear narrative sequence. Check. Lovestruck cute guy (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). Check.
But enough with lists, it had all the ingredients and this film mixed them together so well, into one of the biggest indie hits of 2009. It's amazing that it's taken me this long to actually get round to watching it, but it's definately one that I will give another watch, and that's not something I can say about a lot of films.
But enough with lists, it had all the ingredients and this film mixed them together so well, into one of the biggest indie hits of 2009. It's amazing that it's taken me this long to actually get round to watching it, but it's definately one that I will give another watch, and that's not something I can say about a lot of films.
Film 33 - The Hangover
Me and my flatmates watched this average comedy last night, they all seemed to like it, and I was less sure. Yes, it delivered some good laughs but the storyline was pretty poor and a lot of it seemed very clichéd and hackneyed.
It's one of those films that I neither love or hate, but I can't imagine it placing very highly in my ranking of the films I've watched this year.
It's one of those films that I neither love or hate, but I can't imagine it placing very highly in my ranking of the films I've watched this year.
Film 32 - Ace In The Hole
Yesterday the journalism department at my uni (Sheffield) organised a showing of the film for all the first year students in the department, and I'm very glad I was forced to go.
I don't usually like old films (Casablanca aside) but this story of a journalist willing to do anything for a story really resonated with me and I'd just like to C&P the comment I posted on the blog of the department, as it pretty well sums up my view:
It seems a common view these days that journalism is dying and isn't what it used to be, but if what is portrayed in Ace In The Hole is reasonably accurate; journalism has always had its good and bad side. The case can be argued that Chuck Tatum has a lot in common with the protagonists of the News of the World phone-hacking scandal. In both cases the journalist or journalists would do anything they had to, in order to get a story. In many ways the phone-hacking was of a far less serious nature than what Tatum did, blackmailing corrupt officials and getting a man killed, but the general face of journalism hasn't changed, there have always been reporters willing to break the law and act unethically to get a story and there always will be. The only difference seems to be that the methods have changed, and in many ways have got more sophisticated.
I don't usually like old films (Casablanca aside) but this story of a journalist willing to do anything for a story really resonated with me and I'd just like to C&P the comment I posted on the blog of the department, as it pretty well sums up my view:
It seems a common view these days that journalism is dying and isn't what it used to be, but if what is portrayed in Ace In The Hole is reasonably accurate; journalism has always had its good and bad side. The case can be argued that Chuck Tatum has a lot in common with the protagonists of the News of the World phone-hacking scandal. In both cases the journalist or journalists would do anything they had to, in order to get a story. In many ways the phone-hacking was of a far less serious nature than what Tatum did, blackmailing corrupt officials and getting a man killed, but the general face of journalism hasn't changed, there have always been reporters willing to break the law and act unethically to get a story and there always will be. The only difference seems to be that the methods have changed, and in many ways have got more sophisticated.
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