Introduction
Another two week stretch on my quest to see 100 new films by the end of the year. I'm just not seeing enough films per week to warrant entries that often, it would seem.
This time round I blame TV -- so many new things have started, as well as continuing shows, that I spend most of my time keeping up! During these two weeks I've been watching Boomtown, British Film Forever, Cape Wrath, Dexter, Dirt, Dragons' Den: Where Are They Now?, Eight Out of Ten Cats, Firefly, Heroes, House, Hyperdrive, Jekyll, Mock the Week, Shark, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, The Time of Your Life, Vanished, The Wire and Would I Lie To You, as well as a variety of one-off things. Quite a bit, I'm sure you'll agree!
Weeks Twenty-Nine and Thirty
Nonetheless, I've managed to get a few things watched (half of them right at the end of the second week!) -- and they've all turned out to be of good quality too, as you will surely see when you read my reviews...
66) Mystic River (2005, Clint Eastwood, DVD) 4/5
The acting is the main draw of this Oscar-winning murder drama, in which three childhood friends who grew apart are brought back together when one of their daughters is murdered. Tim Robbins is particularly excellent, easily earning his Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Unfortunately most of the plot is not far above the standards of your average police procedural show, albeit fleshed out with more insight into the various characters and plot complexities -- and, of course, with superior acting from all involved.
67) Right at Your Door (2006, Chris Gorak, DVD) 4/5
LA is hit by a series of 'dirty bombs' in this indie suspense thriller, that follows the story of what happens to one man in the suburbs, as well as the various people whose path cross his. Mainly based in one location (his home), the film is an effective and suspenseful account of what it's like to be an ordinary person almost in the middle of such an attack. The frantic early pace does let up a little as the film goes on, but it remains gripping right up to the well-executed twist.
68) Heat (1995, Michael Mann, DVD) 5/5
Heat will probably always be best remembered for two things: the excellent running shoot out on the streets of LA, and De Niro and Pacino on screen together for the first (and, so far, last) time. There's a lot more to it than that, of course: ostensibly a cops-and-robbers crime drama, the film follows the personal lives of each side as well as the usual professional actions. The cop-with-failed-marriage/criminal-with-successful-relationship juxtaposition may already feel cliched, it works well enough here, and is well executed without distracting from the meat of the plot -- which is, still, the crime and justice.
69) Mean Creek (2004, Jacob Aaron Estes, DVD) 5/5
A group of teenagers concoct a plan for revenge on a bully in this drama from first-time writer/director Estes. Whilst the premise might sound straightforward and liable to be morally simplistic, the writing, acting and direction combine to make a film that is complex, tense, tragic and ultimately believable. Some might argue it loses its way a little towards the end, almost struggling to find a suitable conclusion, but it doesn't do so enough to make it anything less than an excellent film. Highly recommended.
Monday 30 July 2007
Monday 16 July 2007
Weeks 27-28
Introduction
My quest to see 100 films that I've never seen before by the end of 2007 rolls on into its second half. I've done really pathetically in the last couple of months -- my average number of films per week has dropped from 2.7 for weeks 1 to 18 to just 1.5 for weeks 19 to 26! I ain't gonna get to the end that way... actually, I'd hit exactly 100 by the end of the year if I carried on that way! But still, reaching 'only' 100 when I was more on track to hit 150 does seem like a slight disappointment.
Anyway, things do continue, and I think I've seen a pretty respectable number of films for these two weeks. Will the giddy heights of six films each in weeks 8, 12, 13 and 14 ever be reproduced? (And, by-the-by, that's six films on average across 12 and 13 -- the exact number from 13 was higher, but I can't remember what it was. Though I'm sure no one else cares for such boring information...)
So, that said:
Weeks Twenty-Seven and Twenty-Eight
A couple of Oscar-winners crop up this time round, as we move through the first few weeks of July (the 2nd to the 15th, to be precise).
61) Capote (2005, Bennett Miller, DVD) 4/5
It is, unsurprisingly, Philip Seymour Hoffman's Oscar-winning lead performance that dominates this movie. While the title might suggest a biopic, the film actually concentrates on the five year period in which Truman Capote researched and wrote his non-fiction novel In Cold Blood. While this process forms the structure of the plot, the title gives away what the movie is actually 'about' -- in and around the mechanics of the murder investigation and Capote's work process, it's the character of the man, and how it's affected, that is really revealed to the viewer (in a subtler way than my blatant highlighting of it here would suggest).
62) Ocean's Twelve (2004, Steven Soderbergh, DVD) 3/5
This all-star sequel to the 2001 Rat Pack re-make received a thorough slating from critics on release, mainly thanks to its New Wave influences (which are only clear if you're familiar with said cinematic trend), grittier approach (it's less shiny-glossy more grainy-film-stock -- hardly Bourne-compared-to-Bond gritty) and the feeling that the cast are having more fun than the audience (this one I'll allow). Aside from a few steps too far in the final act (such as Julia Roberts playing Tess playing Julia Roberts (funnier if it hadn't been so specified) and the frankly irritating twist denouement) it's still a pretty enjoyable film. But it's true that the first is better.
63) Monster (2003, Patty Jenkins, TV) 4/5
Charlize Theron uglies up (and wins an Oscar) portraying Aileen Wuornos, one of America's first female serial killers, in this 'true crime' biopic. The film focuses on her 9-month relationship with Selby, played by Christina Ricci, which is also the period in which she killed several men (many of them, especially initially, not undeserving of their fate). Theron gives a truly transformative performance that, with the obvious aid of the script, helps you understand Aileen, her actions and her motivations, and reveals a lot about her character without resorting to tacky flashbacks or unwieldy info-dumps.
64) Ringers: Lord of the Fans (2005, Carlene Cordova, DVD) 3/5
Made by the people behind the large Lord of the Rings fansite TheOneRing.net, you'd expect this documentary to focus itself on Lord of the Rings fandom. To a degree it does, but it also encompasses a history of the books and their popularity, as well as various thematic issues contained within them, and also takes in the various adaptations (though, criminally, doesn't even mention the BBC radio version). It's a bit unfocussed, sometimes coming across as a selection of featurettes strung together with occasionally random linking interviews. There's stuff of interest in here, but certainly not to everyone -- only fans need apply.
65) The Woodsman (2004, Nicole Kassell, DVD) 4/5
Kevin Bacon stars in this compelling drama. If anyone saw Channel 4's recent Secret Life, this treads very similar ground -- recently released paedophile struggles to fit back into the world and avoid recommitting former crimes. But whereas C4's drama was issue-driven this is character-based; it doesn't necessarily make it better, but it does make it different. Bacon manages the tricky task of eliciting sympathy and understanding as the paedophile (though perhaps not as much as Matthew Macfadyen did). A relatively intelligent look at what is usually a mindlessly treated subject.
My quest to see 100 films that I've never seen before by the end of 2007 rolls on into its second half. I've done really pathetically in the last couple of months -- my average number of films per week has dropped from 2.7 for weeks 1 to 18 to just 1.5 for weeks 19 to 26! I ain't gonna get to the end that way... actually, I'd hit exactly 100 by the end of the year if I carried on that way! But still, reaching 'only' 100 when I was more on track to hit 150 does seem like a slight disappointment.
Anyway, things do continue, and I think I've seen a pretty respectable number of films for these two weeks. Will the giddy heights of six films each in weeks 8, 12, 13 and 14 ever be reproduced? (And, by-the-by, that's six films on average across 12 and 13 -- the exact number from 13 was higher, but I can't remember what it was. Though I'm sure no one else cares for such boring information...)
So, that said:
Weeks Twenty-Seven and Twenty-Eight
A couple of Oscar-winners crop up this time round, as we move through the first few weeks of July (the 2nd to the 15th, to be precise).
61) Capote (2005, Bennett Miller, DVD) 4/5
It is, unsurprisingly, Philip Seymour Hoffman's Oscar-winning lead performance that dominates this movie. While the title might suggest a biopic, the film actually concentrates on the five year period in which Truman Capote researched and wrote his non-fiction novel In Cold Blood. While this process forms the structure of the plot, the title gives away what the movie is actually 'about' -- in and around the mechanics of the murder investigation and Capote's work process, it's the character of the man, and how it's affected, that is really revealed to the viewer (in a subtler way than my blatant highlighting of it here would suggest).
62) Ocean's Twelve (2004, Steven Soderbergh, DVD) 3/5
This all-star sequel to the 2001 Rat Pack re-make received a thorough slating from critics on release, mainly thanks to its New Wave influences (which are only clear if you're familiar with said cinematic trend), grittier approach (it's less shiny-glossy more grainy-film-stock -- hardly Bourne-compared-to-Bond gritty) and the feeling that the cast are having more fun than the audience (this one I'll allow). Aside from a few steps too far in the final act (such as Julia Roberts playing Tess playing Julia Roberts (funnier if it hadn't been so specified) and the frankly irritating twist denouement) it's still a pretty enjoyable film. But it's true that the first is better.
63) Monster (2003, Patty Jenkins, TV) 4/5
Charlize Theron uglies up (and wins an Oscar) portraying Aileen Wuornos, one of America's first female serial killers, in this 'true crime' biopic. The film focuses on her 9-month relationship with Selby, played by Christina Ricci, which is also the period in which she killed several men (many of them, especially initially, not undeserving of their fate). Theron gives a truly transformative performance that, with the obvious aid of the script, helps you understand Aileen, her actions and her motivations, and reveals a lot about her character without resorting to tacky flashbacks or unwieldy info-dumps.
64) Ringers: Lord of the Fans (2005, Carlene Cordova, DVD) 3/5
Made by the people behind the large Lord of the Rings fansite TheOneRing.net, you'd expect this documentary to focus itself on Lord of the Rings fandom. To a degree it does, but it also encompasses a history of the books and their popularity, as well as various thematic issues contained within them, and also takes in the various adaptations (though, criminally, doesn't even mention the BBC radio version). It's a bit unfocussed, sometimes coming across as a selection of featurettes strung together with occasionally random linking interviews. There's stuff of interest in here, but certainly not to everyone -- only fans need apply.
65) The Woodsman (2004, Nicole Kassell, DVD) 4/5
Kevin Bacon stars in this compelling drama. If anyone saw Channel 4's recent Secret Life, this treads very similar ground -- recently released paedophile struggles to fit back into the world and avoid recommitting former crimes. But whereas C4's drama was issue-driven this is character-based; it doesn't necessarily make it better, but it does make it different. Bacon manages the tricky task of eliciting sympathy and understanding as the paedophile (though perhaps not as much as Matthew Macfadyen did). A relatively intelligent look at what is usually a mindlessly treated subject.
Wednesday 4 July 2007
Weeks 24-26
Introduction
In case you've forgotten, and can't work it out from the title, I'm trying to see at least 100 films that I've never seen before by the end of 2007. That's an average of eight per month, donchaknow; or two per week. I'm well on target.
And, I'm halfway through! For anyone who can't remember how many weeks there are in a year... well, there's 52; and half of 52 is 26; and the week of June 25th is week 26 of 2007, meaning that July 1st is just about halfway through the year (though, to be precise, there's actually 52 weeks and one day in a year... well, actually, 52 weeks, one day and a quarter day... anyway...)
I passed the numerical halfway point (i.e. 50 films) way back in week 19 -- clearly I've not been doing as well in the past 7 weeks! At all. Oh dear oh dear...
Weeks Twenty-Four to Twenty-Six
Exams may be long over and holidays may be on, but combine the odd bits of good TV filling days and evenings with a commitment to completing Script Frenzy and you wind up seeing less films than you might expect. A lot less, as it turns out -- just three in three whole weeks! Still, I'm currently well on track to pass 100 by the end of the year anyway. Shiny.
And as has become standard practice, I'll handily remind you that this entry is covering films seen between 11th June and 1st July.
58) Sense and Sensibility (1995, Ang Lee, DVD) 4/5
A host of familiar British faces turn up in this Oscar-winning adaptation of the Austen-novel-with-the-name-like-Pride-and-Prejudice-only-not. Fans of any of the following will love this film: Jane Austen, costume drama in general, Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Hugh Grant, Kate Winslet. For the rest of us, there's still lots of enjoyment to be had. Austen's plots may be virtually identical and you might be able to spy the endings almost from the start, but there's fun to be had getting there. Hugh Laurie's small supporting role is particularly worthy of mention.
59) Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007, Gore Verbinski, cinema) 3/5
Curse of the Black Pearl was a surprisingly great film. Dead Man's Chest was a lacking attempt to recapture that glory. At World's End is the worst subtitle of all three, but mixed in quality. The first half hour is great fun, but then it gets weird, adds in hefty doses of over-complex plotting, and drags along fairly slowly until it finds an exciting climax a little late on. It's not all bad -- beautiful to look at, with some of the most impressive CGI ever, and there're some good action scenes. In the end it's the attempts to drag what was an entertaining fantasy action film to the mythological levels of Lord of the Rings that has made both sequels inferior to the first offering.
60) Kramer vs. Kramer (1979, Robert Benton, TV) 5/5
The acting is what shines in this multiple-Oscar-winning custody drama. Troubled wife Meryl Streep leaves husband Dustin Hoffman within the first five or so minutes (today she probably wouldn't leave til the end of the first act) and suddenly busy, work-driven daddy has to look after their young son all on his lonesome. I personally didn't find the later courtroom scenes quite as edge-of-your-seat intense as some have, but you can't fault the abilities of the actors. Perhaps particularly noteworthy is the kid, played by Justin Henry, though clearly it wasn't good enough to launch a decent career for him!
In case you've forgotten, and can't work it out from the title, I'm trying to see at least 100 films that I've never seen before by the end of 2007. That's an average of eight per month, donchaknow; or two per week. I'm well on target.
And, I'm halfway through! For anyone who can't remember how many weeks there are in a year... well, there's 52; and half of 52 is 26; and the week of June 25th is week 26 of 2007, meaning that July 1st is just about halfway through the year (though, to be precise, there's actually 52 weeks and one day in a year... well, actually, 52 weeks, one day and a quarter day... anyway...)
I passed the numerical halfway point (i.e. 50 films) way back in week 19 -- clearly I've not been doing as well in the past 7 weeks! At all. Oh dear oh dear...
Weeks Twenty-Four to Twenty-Six
Exams may be long over and holidays may be on, but combine the odd bits of good TV filling days and evenings with a commitment to completing Script Frenzy and you wind up seeing less films than you might expect. A lot less, as it turns out -- just three in three whole weeks! Still, I'm currently well on track to pass 100 by the end of the year anyway. Shiny.
And as has become standard practice, I'll handily remind you that this entry is covering films seen between 11th June and 1st July.
58) Sense and Sensibility (1995, Ang Lee, DVD) 4/5
A host of familiar British faces turn up in this Oscar-winning adaptation of the Austen-novel-with-the-name-like-Pride-and-Prejudice-only-not. Fans of any of the following will love this film: Jane Austen, costume drama in general, Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Hugh Grant, Kate Winslet. For the rest of us, there's still lots of enjoyment to be had. Austen's plots may be virtually identical and you might be able to spy the endings almost from the start, but there's fun to be had getting there. Hugh Laurie's small supporting role is particularly worthy of mention.
59) Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007, Gore Verbinski, cinema) 3/5
Curse of the Black Pearl was a surprisingly great film. Dead Man's Chest was a lacking attempt to recapture that glory. At World's End is the worst subtitle of all three, but mixed in quality. The first half hour is great fun, but then it gets weird, adds in hefty doses of over-complex plotting, and drags along fairly slowly until it finds an exciting climax a little late on. It's not all bad -- beautiful to look at, with some of the most impressive CGI ever, and there're some good action scenes. In the end it's the attempts to drag what was an entertaining fantasy action film to the mythological levels of Lord of the Rings that has made both sequels inferior to the first offering.
60) Kramer vs. Kramer (1979, Robert Benton, TV) 5/5
The acting is what shines in this multiple-Oscar-winning custody drama. Troubled wife Meryl Streep leaves husband Dustin Hoffman within the first five or so minutes (today she probably wouldn't leave til the end of the first act) and suddenly busy, work-driven daddy has to look after their young son all on his lonesome. I personally didn't find the later courtroom scenes quite as edge-of-your-seat intense as some have, but you can't fault the abilities of the actors. Perhaps particularly noteworthy is the kid, played by Justin Henry, though clearly it wasn't good enough to launch a decent career for him!
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