Help review

 Help is too modern to be on the top 1000 films of all time, but I'm reviewing it as it touched me so profoundly.

Sarah (Jodie Comer) is a directionless, young woman just starting work in the Bright Sky care home in Liverpool. There she quickly befriends Tony (Stephen Graham) who has early-onset dementia. But their world comes crashing down when the Covid-19 pandemic hits.

I've spent the last six years working in care homes. I worked in a care home all throughout the Covid era, so this film hit close to home for me. A little uncomfortably close. It was a raw, unflinching and visceral look at how the adult care sector was completely forgotten. No, not forgotten. Abandoned. Nobody cared about us. But Help honed in perfectly on what makes a care home a care home. There are the relationships between the staff and the residents, as well as the residents and their families. We see the residents enjoying poetry, meeting sheep and having a Christmas party. The authenticity was brilliant. But it also focussed on the stress that carers are under. It really is a thankless job.

Jodie Comer and Stephen Graham were terrific as the two leads. When Sarah begins, she is lost and directionless, but she quickly finds herself. She is a hard worker and a good carer. Comer was brilliant. She bought the role to life. I know many hard-working carers just like Sarah. Graham was also fantastic, as can only be expected from an actor of his calibre. Like Sarah he is lost. Some days he knows who he is and others he doesn't. But this touches upon a very important, but little-known aspect of dementia. People have a variable capacity. Some days they can be lucid and others not so much. If you'll permit me to be a little un-pc, they're not crazy loons all the time.

Graham played the role with a great subtlety. Tony is a quiet, but powerful character. Most importantly, he is human and never reduced to a gross caricature. Tony and Sarah's relationship was at the heart of this film. And this all culminates in a breath-taking 26-minute 1-take shot where Sarah is working a hellish night shift. With all her colleagues sick with Covid, she is forced to work a double and take care of all her residents by herself. One resident becomes particularly sick, and when it becomes clear, nobody is coming to help, Sarah enlists Tony to help her. It was heart-in-the-mouth action that was stunningly shot and acted. Comer and Graham's performances had literal tears running down my cheeks. That is saying something.

I may argue that the film peaked here. Perhaps this is where it should have ended, as the second half felt like a strange addendum that had been lazily tacked on. Tony is established as a flight risk, constantly trying to return home to his long-dead mother. When he tries escaping one too many times, the manager drugs him up to his eyeballs. Sarah protests this blatant abuse, but she is promptly fired. She goes rogue and breaks Tony free. They intend to self-quarantine at the seaside, before trying to send Tony to a different facility.

This is all well and good, but it felt incredibly disjointed. It didn't seem to match the first half at all, and it also lacked a lot of the same tension and immediacy. Writer Jack Thorne originally wanted to solely focus on the daily life of a care home, before he was convinced to write about Covid-19. I wonder if this was a latent idea that he tried and failed to shoe-horn into an otherwise faultless film.

Nonetheless, Help is a near perfect film. It was a damning indictment of how the adult social care sector was forsaken during the pandemic. Coming out in 2021, it is too new to make it onto the top 1000 list, but it has earned its place on any future lists.

Lust Caution review

 Number 699 on the top 1000 films of all time is Ang Lee's erotic, period-war drama 'Lust Caution.'

During the second Sino-Japanese war, Wong Chia Chi (Tang Wei) is a naive Shanghainese student going to study in Hong Kong which is currently being occupied by Japan in 1938. There she joins the patriotic drama club led by Kuang Yumin (Wang Leehorn,) but soon they decide to make a more meaningful contribution to the war by proposing to assassinate collaborator and puppet leader Mr Yee. Wang (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai) is drawn into a world of lies and conspiracies, as she is at the centre of a honey trap to catch and kill Mr Yee.

Lust, Caution begins in 1938 during the Second Sino-Japanese war before continuing to 1942 Shanghai where part of China were under Japanese occupation. It was very interesting seeing another side of the Second World War. Naturally, many WW2 films in the West focus on WW2 in the West. But there was a whole other war going on in the east. And that isn't something that is really talked about enough. It made a refreshing change to all the Nazi Germany/holocaust films I've watched.

In some ways, this film reminded me of the Dutch film Black Book. Lust, Caution also had morally grey characters conflicted by their own emotions. This created a great dramatic tension that progressed the film nicely. You are wondering when Kuang's plan is going to go wrong. But guessing where and how is what kept me hooked. The production was brilliant as well. From the costume to the set design, I really felt like I was in 1930's Hong Kong/1940's Shanghai.

But, of course, we have to talk about what the film is famous for and that's the sex scenes. It is an erotica after all. Unlike virtually all other sex scenes in films, these actually served the plot and weren't there for pure titillation. To get close enough to the ultra-careful Mr Yee to actually kill him, wang agrees to become his mistress. Initially, she is a virgin, but one of her comrades takes her virginity in an awkward encounter, very befitting of the context. It is the later scenes with Mr Yee that become passionate and steamy. So steamy that the actors themselves were asked if the sex was unsimulated.

The initial sex scene demonstrated Wang's nervousness, but she grows in confidence, as she becomes more committed to her cause. In may ways, it's a theme of female empowerment. In the initial scene, she has her power taken from her, as was China's when Japan invaded, but she slowly takes it back in the later scenes.

This was a very good film. It focussed on a lesser-known part of history with a great parody element. It's probably just best not to watch this with your parents.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof review

 Number 235 on the top 1000 films of all time is Richard Brook's drama 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.'

Based on Tennessee Williams' play of the same name, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof focusses on the dynamics of the self-destructive Pollitt family in Eastern Mississippi. Brick (Paul Newman) is a drunk, former high-school athlete who hurts himself trying to recapture his glory days. His long-suffering wife is Maggie (Elizabeth Taylor) who is still deeply in love with him, but there is still plenty of tension between the pair. There is also Harvey "Big Daddy" who is the ageing patriarch of the family. In ill-health, his other son Cooper "Gooper" (Jack Carson) and his wife Mae "Sister Woman" (Madelaine Sherwood) are desperate to be written into his will.

I am not particularly familiar with Tennessee Williams' source material. but I am given to understand that Brooks did not make a faithful adaptation. Within the original play, there was a strong homosexual subtext including an implied romantic attraction between Brick and his unseen friend Skipper who committed suicide a few years before. Due to production codes, this was largely admitted. And by production codes, I, of course, mean institutionalised homophobia. And that's ironic as that subtext was supposed to be a critique of homophobia.

But I do think that the film suffered from the omission of this subtext. Without it, everything felt very superficial and bland. And it wasn't just this subtext, but it felt like there was little behind the curtain. Being based on a stage-play, it is a small and intimate film. There is a tiny cast, although with two massive names - Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman - and the film is largely limited to the one set of the Pollitt family mansion. Obviously, I wasn't expecting a major spectacle or massive explosions, but everything still felt very lacking.

Much of the play was everybody shouting at each other, which all became rather tedious after a while. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, which also starred Elizabeth Taylor, was similar, yet it still had an apparent but subtle subtext. And so there was a point to all the yelling. But there was no discernible point here. It's a shame, because it sounds like Tennessee Williams was making a great point about the homophobia of the time, yet Richard Brooks wasn't able to convey the same ideas in his adaptation, whatever the reason might be. And this ultimately diluted the potency of the film.

I can only speculate that the fault of this film lies with the actual studio or film industry itself rather than with the film makers and actors - Paul Newman was brilliant as was Taylor - perhaps if they were given a chance, they could have made a very faithful adaptation of the American classic that is Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

The Big Sleep review

 Number 214 on the top 1000 films of all time is Howard Hawks' 1946 film noir 'The Big Sleep.'

Based on the 1939 Raymond Chandley book, the Big Sleep follows the exploits of Private Detective Philip Marlowe (Humphrey Bogart.) Marlowe is hired by General Sternwood (Charles Waldron) to investigate the person who is blackmailing his daughter Carmen (Martha Vickers.) But soon Marlowe becomes involved with Sternwood's other daughter Vivien (Lauren Bacall.) And, not before long, he stumbles upon a conspiracy involving murder, gambling and organised crime.

I have to admit that I had a lot of trouble following this film. That's probably because of my poor watching abilities rather than Howard Hawks' film-making. Yet I wonder if things are needlessly complicated. The Big Sleep has a convoluted plot as is often the case with many crime films, especially noir films, that throw in characters and subplots willy-nilly. 

I haven't read the book, so maybe Hawks was just being faithful to Raymond Chandler's source material, but I still think things were needlessly complicated. There are plenty of morally-grey characters who are constantly double-crossing each other. And I did have trouble distinguishing the characters from one another. Characters like Geiger are introduced to later be quickly killed off.

I understand that a lot of the writing, acting and direction was very much of the time, but it still bordered on very cheesy. It seems like Humphrey Bogart's only direction was to flirt with every single female cast member from his love triangle with Carmen and Vivien to the girls working at the book shops he visits. The fight and murder scenes were also hardly the most convincing either.

Perhaps I am being very unfair with my review. I'm sure the right audiences would find this a very entertaining and thrilling film. I guess there has to be a reason it made it into this list. Maybe I shouldn't be judging the Big Sleep by modern standards, but I just wasn't the right audience.

Paris, Texas review

 Number 240 on the top 1000 films of all time is the 1984 road film 'Paris, Texas.'

After spending four years roaming the Mojave desert, aimless drifter Travis Henderson (Harry Dean Stanton) is found in Texas. His brother Walt (Dean Stockwell) takes him home to Los Angeles where he and his French wife Anne (Aurore Clement) have been raising Travis' son Hunter (Hunter Carson.) Travis and Hunter then set out on a road trip to find Jane (Nastassja Kinski,) Travis' wife and Hunter's mother.

I have to admit that this film surprised me. I initially thought it would be pretentious and overly-intellectual a la Ingmar Bergman. But despite its arthouse nature, it was very engaging. It was so bright and vibrant with some gorgeous cinematography. I loved all the sweeping shots of the great American landscape. All the colours popped off of the screen. Speaking of colour, red featured very prominently. Why? I'll leave that to the film majors to answer.

True, at two and a half hours, the film is probably longer than it needs to be. There is a lot of silences and forlorn gazing into the desert. Not all of this held my interest. Yet it was always steered back by Harry Dean Stanton's excellent performance. Travis, being initially mate, would not have been an easy character to play. He is a man rendered virtually catatonic by some unexplained trauma. But Stanton slowly transforms him from a vague, lifeless sketch into a living breathing person.

I also very much enjoyed the score. It was sparing and economical with every piece of music playing at the right moment. Perhaps if there had been more music instead of silences, especially with the pivotal conversations toward the end, I may have been more engaged throughout.

I talked about Stanton earlier, but I don't think there was a weak link among the cast. Dean Stockwell plays Travis' sympathetic, but increasingly frustrated brother. And Aurore Clement was equally good as his wife Anne. It's difficult not to feel sorry for the two as Travis and Hunter without telling them. And, finally, Nastassja Kinski was great as Jane. The final reunion between her and Travis was touching and poignant to watch.

Generally, I'm not a fan of arthouse films. They're the territory of cinophiles and film majors, but Paris, Texas surprised me. It's not a very loud film, but it made a hell of a lot of noise.

MegaMind review

 Number 990 on the top 1000 films of all time is the animated superhero comedy 'Megamind.'

Megamind (Will Ferrell) is a supervillain in Metro City. He has a fierce rivalry with super hero Metro Man (Brad Pitt.) However, after Megamind seemingly kills Metro Man, he feels lost and powerless. That is until he creates a new super hero. But this super hero quickly becomes a villain which Megamind must beat to save Metro City.

I totally see what this film was going for. It's trying to be a clever re-invention of the superhero genre. But a parody of a cliche is still a cliche. Megamind pointed out plenty of the cliches present within the superhero genre, but instead of subverting them like arguably better film, it tries to put a funny spin on them and fails miserably. Like many superhero films, Metro Man and Megamind have a big dialogue in the build-up to their final confrontation. Yet this dialogue gets progressively sillier and it adds nothing to the overall plot.

That's also a prime example of the film's poor attempts at humour. Many of the jokes fell completely flat and Will Ferrell's lacklustre performance did nothing to help things. He tried doing an imitation of Vito Corleone in the Godfather, and it was one of the worse imitations I've ever heard. Brad Pitt was was surprisingly uncharismatic as Metro Man.

Megamind and Metro Man are in themselves parodies of Superman - both are alien refugees sent to earth as their own planet is sucked into a black hole. Metro Man is handsome and popular at school, while Megamind is ugly and bullied. He goes onto begin resenting Metro Man before fully embracing his role as a supervillain. 

And that's largely all I can remember from this film, as I kept falling asleep. I wouldn't even say it was a kid's film, because I don't think it would be that entertaining for children to watch. Or for anybody to watch for that matter.

Law-abiding citizen review

 Number 937 on the top 1000 films of all time is the action-thriller 'Law Abiding Citizen.'

Clyde Shelton (Gerard Butler) is a family-man and former CIA operative. He witnesses his wife and daughter being murdered in a home-invasion by Clarence Derby (Christian Stolte.) When the justice system, including his lawyer Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx) lets him down by cutting a deal with Derby ensuring his premature release, Clyde Shelton begins to take the law into his own hands.

Vigilante justice always makes for a good film. People fall through the justice system all the time either through corruption or incompetence. Men like Shelton are always sympathetic protagonists, not to mention their poor wives and daughters. They've been victims of horrific crimes. Their entire families have been killed. Nobody's going to miss their murderers. However, what makes vigilante thrillers so interesting is their quiet, intimate nature. Generally it's one man acting out of passion or retaliation with one gun or one knife. Maybe he does have a plan, but the plan isn't as elaborate as Law-Abiding Citizen.

And that's where this film falls down. It all becomes so ridiculous. I get that Shelton is some super-soldier, CIA operative, but are we supposed to believe that he's spent ten years digging into every solitary confinement cell in prison? That he's turned mobile phones into bombs? Or created a remote-operated machine-gun mount? I get him tracking down Derby and brutally torturing and killing him, but everything else is so ridiculous.

It also gave the film an overly, dark tone which made for an uncomfortable watch. Gerard Butler and Jamie Foxx did the best with what they had, but neither character had any real depth to them. Rice is your typical man too busy to spend any time with his family while Shelton is a seemingly innocuous man with a psychopath bubbling beneath the surface.

This film is based on a good premise. Shame the execution was way too over-the-top.

The Next Three Days review

 Number 936 on the top 1000 films of all time is Paul Haggis' action thriller 'The Next Three Days.'

John Brennan (Russell Crowe) is a teacher whose wife Lara (Elizabeth Banks) is sentenced to life in prison for murder. He is only one who believes she is innocent and begins plotting to break her free from prison.

Paul Haggis also directed Crash. I didn't like Crash. I thought it was half-arsed and contrived. I would say the same for the Next Three Days. It doesn't just stretch my suspension of disbelief, it snaps it in half. The whole film is completely implausible.

Let's start with John Brennan who is the unlikeliest hero ever. He's a teacher. You would never believe he could stage a successful prison break. To aid him, he tracks down and consults Damon Pennington (Liam Neeson) a former convict who successfully escaped from prison. Damon Pennington helps him, because of ... reasons, before disappearing and not featuring again. John goes onto learn criminal skills like making bumper keys by watching Youtube skills. Although he has a few initial mishaps, he goes onto master these skills. This is ridiculous. You can't just master something by watching Youtube videos. It takes a lot of practice. I realise they don't have the time to show this, but they could have tried at least.

And it's unbelievable that John Brennan, a teacher who is naive enough to ask a street dealer about forging passports, and then goes onto be robbed by him, to be able to pull off a prison break. It might have been a bit more believable if Damon had physically helped him instead of offering information. I also think Russell Crowe was miscast. True his American accent was better than expected, but he wasn't believable in the role. He's an action-star who has played cops and robbers alike. He wasn't suitable as some naive teacher venturing into the world of crime.

I also thought that we were sorely missing Lara's perspective on things. One reason, I enjoyed prison drama Felon was that it focussed on the husband's life within prison and the wife's life outside of it. But this film was all John Brennan with only snippets of Lara's life. If we were going to care about her escaping, we should have seen more of her in prison. She tries to commit suicide, but we only hear about it, instead of seeing it. This scene was far more important than one of the silly, over-long musical sequences.

Also, after John breaks Lara free, he starts to be pursued by cops Lieutenant Nabulsi (Lennie James) and Sergeant Harris (Allan Steele.) Yet they only appear nearing the end of the film, as if they were an afterthought thrown in by Paul Haggis. It's very strange, as John was initially investigated by the cops who quickly dismiss him as a nutcase.

Why does Paul Haggis or his films feature on this list? Neither Crash or the Next Three Days deserves to be included in the top 1000 films of all time.

Limitless review

 Number 926 on the top 1000 films of all time is the science-fiction thriller 'Limitless.'

Eddie Morra (Bradley Cooper) is a writer who is struggling to make ends meet. Out of desperation, he begins taking an experimental new drug called NZT which will enable him to access 100% of his brain instead of only 10%. While things start to improve, he quickly finds his life spiralling out of control.

Firstly, I need to say that the premise of this film is fundamentally flawed. We use far more than 10 or 20% of our brains. Certainly not 100%, but far more than the mythical 10% that Limitless propagates. Bearing that in mind, this film is definitely more science-fiction than science fact.

Nonetheless, it is still an entertaining if rather uneven watch. As a writer myself, the protagonist is scarily relatable to me. And Bradley Cooper is charismatic enough to pull off the transformation from shabby artist to suave, financial investor. I also enjoyed his narration. It helped to move the film along at a steady pace.

Unfortunately, he also makes a number of silly decisions for no other reason than to affect the plot. He borrows money from a dangerous Russian loan shark who was one of the more over-the-top, two dimensional villains I've seen in a while. Secondly, Eddie Morra is due to give advice to tycoon Carl Van Loon (Robert De Niro.) Van Loon wants to merge his company with another and seeks Eddie's help. He sends him a bunch of files to review. But he has allowed himself to run out of NZT and goes ahead and reviews the files anyway. This would make sense if he was an average person like you and I. But this wonder drug is supposed to make him hyper-intelligent. Surely, he would be smart enough to know he can't trust shady loan-sharks or allow his supply to run low.

Robert De Niro was good as Van Loon who was a far more effective villain than the Russian loan shark. It's never explicitly clear why Eddie is borrowing money from him, but he is little more than a thug in a suit.

This film isn't necessarily bad. It gives a chance for Bradley Cooper to show off his many talents such as languages. I can only assume he learned Mandarin for the role, but I know he learned French after studying in the south of France for six months during college, and he also learned Italian form his mother. The script had plenty of humour and the soundtrack was good too. I also enjoyed the editing and camerawork. When Eddie is off the drug, the picture is greyscale, but when he's on it, it's oversaturated.

Although Limitless is built on a false premise, it is still an entertaining ride.

Layer cake review

 Number 919 on the top 1000 films of all time is Matthew Vaughn's directorial debut - crime-drama Layer cake.

Daniel Craig plays the unnamed protagonist who is only known as XXXX. Thanks to his enforcer Morty (George Harris) and his liaison to the criminal underworld Gene (Colm Meaney,) he is a very successful drug dealer. Professional, sophisticated, with a strong moral code, and a healthy amount of money, he decides it's time to retire. However, his supplier - crime lord Jimmy Price (Kenneth Cranham) throws a spanner in the works by engaging him in one last job. Things only become more complicated when Jimmy's partner, Eddie Temple  (Michael Gambon) becomes involved.

This was a slick, funny and entertaining crime caper. Daniel Craig plays XXXX - the suave yet hypocritical dug-dealer who quickly becomes out of his depth - to a tee. This was a few years before he achieved international recognition as James Bond. And it was this performance that convinced producers, he would be a good successor for Pierce Brosnan. And I can understand why, he had all the style and charm that you would expect from the international man of mystery.

Layercake really seemed like it should have been directed by Guy Ritchie. It reminded me of his great British crime capers like Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels but without Jason Statham. It had the same dark humour, the same cartoonish violence, as well as a huge cast including some acting giants like Michael Gambon and Colm Meaney. I've seen him in a few different roles and he's always good. It also included a lot of up-and-coming actors who have gone on to big Hollywood careers like Burn Gorman, Ben Wishaw and Sienna Miller. Ben Wishaw was particularly good as the frenetic and hyper-active Sydney - nephew of Duke (Jamie Foreman) leader of a low-level gang.

Granted, the ending all became rather deep, profound and borderline pretentious which could have killed the whimsical tone of the film, but the final twist, which I won't spoil here, saved things. I did not see that coming.

Layercake was a very enjoyable crime caper. If you want to see Daniel Craig, before he became an international superstar, this is the film to watch.

Dawn of the Dead (2004) review

Number 897 on the top 1000 films of all time is Zack Snyder's 2004 remake of George A. Romero's zombie-horror classic 'Dawn of the Dead.'

Nurse Anna (Sarah Polley) wakes up in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. The dead are rising up and feasting on the living. She meets up with police officer Kenneth (Ving Rhames) and three other survivors: former salesman and family man Michael (Jake Weber) petty criminal Andre (Mekhi Phifer) and his pregnant Russian girlfriend Luda (Inna Korobkina.) Together they take shelter in an abandoned shopping mall where they realise the dead are the least of their worries.

Dare, I say I actually preferred this to the 1977 original. Unlike its predecessor, the tension and suspense always ran high. The action was immediate, as the characters were always in some type of danger. In the original, after our heroes enter the shopping mall, the narrative and as such the tension, completely dries up. This doesn't happen here.

I think it helped immensely that there were more than three characters. This meant there were more people to care about, more potential for conflict and better opportunity for interesting character dynamics. When our original group of survivors enter the mall, they are confronted by a trio of security guards led by the tyrannical CJ  (Michael Kelley.)

Later on another group of survivors crash their bus into the mall bringing with them a whole new host of problems. Meanwhile, Andre is hiding a dark secret from the rest of the group. There is a narrative tension galore. Mainly because all the threats and conflicts always felt imminent rather than vague and faceless.

True a lot of the conflict is fuelled by characters making stupid, unrealistic decisions while a lot of the characterisations never went past the superficial, but the actors did a good job with what they had. Sarah Polley was good as Anna. She took the role as the character wasn't your typical Scream Queen. I would agree with this. But Kenneth and Andre were less drawn. They were little more than a cop and a criminal. I also feel I need to mention Michael Kelley as CJ. He goes through a redemption arc, going from a tyrannical jerk to an unlikely hero. And Kelley was good in the role.

I also enjoyed how restrained Zack Snyder was in his direction. Unlike in 300, where he over-indulges in visual effects, he is less excitable here. there is far less crappy CGI and gratuitous slow motion.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this remake. It was one of these rare occasions where the remake was better than the original. 

We Need to Talk about Kevin review

 Number 809 on the top 1000 films of all time is the 2011 psychological thriller 'We Need to talk about Kevin.'

Franklin (John C Reilly) and Eva (Tilda Swinton) are parents to the deeply troubled Kevin (Ezra Miller.) However, Kevin only shows his dark side around his mother. As he grows older and his acts become more disturbing, his mother wanders how much she is to blame for the sins of her son.

In this film, director Lynne Ramsay tries to tackle the age-old question of nature vs nurture. Is evil innate within us all? Or is it the product of our environments? There is a case to be made for both, picking from a wide range of examples across history. In the case of Kevin, I think he was born evil. Yes, we see that he was an accident and his mother didn't really want him, but he also wasn't abused or neglected as a child. His father dotes on him and his mother tries her best to form a relationship with him, only to be constantly rebuffed.

This makes Eva all the more of a tragic character. And Tilda Swinton plays her very sympathetically. It's all too easy for parents to blame themselves for the failings of their children. Are there obvious signs you're too blind to see? John C. Reilly was also good as Franklin. He might primarily be known as a comedy actor, but he can also do the drama well.

As for Ezra Miller, Kevin is as dodgy here as Ezra Miller is in real life. Sure they were good as the sarcastic, laconic, psychopathic son, but I don't think they were anything special. They didn't bring anything new to the role.

Nonetheless, this was still a stylish thriller with a distinctive look that leaves you with plenty to think about. Nature or nurture? Let me know your answer in the comments below.

Felon review

 Number 780 on the top 1000 films of all time is the 2008 prison drama 'Felon.'

Wade Porter (Stephen Dorff) is a family man who accidentally kills a burglar fleeing from his house. He is sent to prison for involuntary manslaughter. Once there, he befriends fellow inmate, enigmatic loner, John Smith (Val Kilmer,) and he is subjected to the brutal regime of corrupt head prison guard Lieutenant Jackson (Harold Perrineau.)

Coming out in 2008, Felon is relatively late to the prison drama scene. In 1994, we had the magnificent Shawshank Redemption. A few years later, HBO released the TV series 'Oz,' which also starred Harold Perrineau, but as a prisoner. You could argue that Felon added nothing new to the genre. We've seen these characters and tropes before, but it was still a damn entertaining film.

Wade is an instantly likeable protagonist. He did what any man would have done in his situation - protect his family. Unfortunately for him, it wasn't in self-defence, hence why he had to be imprisoned. We empathise with his struggles to survive. For Jackson's own twisted enjoyment, he makes the inmates fight during their yard time. It is a stark depiction of prison life and that's without all the rape you see on Oz.

As can often be the case with male-led narratives, there is the tendency to only focus on the male story - if he does have a wife or a girlfriend, her only role is to support his story. However, what director Ric Roman Waugh did so well was focus on the struggles of Wade's wife Laura. With him in jail, she is fighting to pay the bills as well as take care of their young son. All credit to actress Marisol Nichols for bringing Laura to life. We really felt her anguish.

Although he was cartoonish at times, Harold Perrineau was very good as well. Lieutenant Jackson has been a prison guard for fifteen years. Five years ago, a prisoner threw cocktail of human bodily fluids into his face. He subsequently caught Hep A, which he passed onto his wife and child. He is only too representative of the thousands of prison guards whose initial optimism has been replaced by a world-worn cynicism. One such officer is raw recruit James Collins (Nate Parker) who is initially eager to serve, but is quickly ground down by Jackson's authoritarian regime. Collins provided a great antithesis to his superior officer.

Val Kilmer was also very good even if his character was over-the-top. I understand you do get these philosopher-cum-psychopaths who justify everything they do with a profound thought, because they think they're such independent free-thinkers. But after a while, his constant philosophising became a little tiresome.

I did enjoy Felon though. It didn't add anything to the prison-drama genre, but it was a damn good prison-drama film.

Hugo review

 Number 698 on the top 1000 films of all time is Martin Scorsesee's 2011 historical drama 'Hugo.'

Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield) is an orphan who lives in the clocktower of the Parisian Gare Montparnasse railway station. Before his father (Jude Law) died in a fire, the two of them were restoring an automaton that they found in the back of a museum. In honour of his dad, Hugo resolves to finish fixing the robot by stealing parts notably from cantankerous toyshop owner Georges (Ben Kingsley,) while being aided by Georges' goddaughter Isabelle (Chloe Grace Moretz) and librarian Monsieur Labisse (Christopher Lee.) Meanwhile, Hugo has to avoid being caught by station inspector Gustave Daste (Sacha Baron Cohen) who will send him to the orphanage.

If you had told me this was a Martin Scorsesee film, I would never have believed you. There's no mafia, no profuse use of the F word, no Leonardo Dicaprio and no Robert De Niro. Yet Scorsesee has still lovingly crafted a creative, engrossing story with lovely visuals and a great cinematography. At the end of the day, he is a film director and lover of film, so it's no surprise that he took to this film with such ardent fervour. And film is at the heart of Hugo. Upon fixing the automaton, Hugo stumbles upon a mystery that goes all the way back to the birth of cinema, tying together elements like the Lumiere Brothers, Georges Meliet and the famous film 'A Trip to the Moon.'

The ensemble cast were all very good together. Asa Butterfield has grown up a little from his leading role in the Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. Ben Kingsley is always great regardless of whatever he is in and Sacha Baron Cohen brought a frenetic energy and mischief to his role. The only one I was less sure about was Chloe Grace Moretz. As an American, she obviously had to put on a British accent, but it sounded very put on. Maybe because it was the stereotypical posh accent that Americans do whenever they're playing British characters.

Nevertheless, this was a very entertaining film. It was creative with a great cast and it serves as proof that Scorsesee can do a lot more than just mob films.

Before Sunrise review

 Number 239 on the top 1000 films of all time is the romantic drama 'Before Sunrise.'

Jesse (Ethan Hawke) is a young, American man backpacking through Europe. On a train from Vienna, he meets the French lady Celine (Julie Delphy) and the two instantly hit it off. They spontaneously decide to spend the night together in Vienna, knowing that at sunrise, they will go their separate ways, unlikely to ever see each other again.

Generally, I'm not a fan of romance films. They can be either overly-sentimental or overly depressing. But Before Sunrise pleasantly surprised me. It was funny, uplifting and wonderfully understated. As can be expected with romances, a lot of the film hinges on the leading couple. If the actors don't have chemistry together, this will visibly translate to the screen. But I thought that Hawke and Delphy were great together. I've seen Hawke in Training Day and Lord of War, so I know he is a credible action star. But he was also likable and charismatic as Jesse. Julie Delphy was also charming as Celine. She brought a hopeful optimism to Jesse's cold cynicism.

I also thoroughly enjoyed Richard Lintlaker's subtle direction. It is left up to the audience to decide whether Jesse and Celine sleep together or not. This is never depicted on-screen. But in so many other films, it seems like a pre-requisite to have a gratuitous graphic sex scene that does nothing for the plot. You might expect this in romances, but not in dramas. Yet it happens almost all the time. Lintlaker's decision to let the audience make up their own minds was a refreshing take and added well to the fairytale aspect of the film.

And, in many ways, this is a fairytale. It is embedded in a the fantasy of a holiday, whirlwind romance. this can be reality for some people, but, at times, it leant into incredulity. I haven't been to Vienna, so I don't know whether this is the case, but are there really beatniks smoking by the river in the dead of night ready to write poetry for whoever is ready to pay them?

*Spoiler alert* And the film ends on a lovely, uplifting note. When it comes time for Jesse and Celine to say goodbye in the train station where Celine is going home to Paris, they vow not to write or call each other, but to meet at the station in six months time. As it is a romance, you would expect a happily ever after, but it was difficult to see how this could transpire. I was expecting a final twist in the tail that would spoil things.

Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed Before Sunrise. It lacked the sentimentality you would expect from many romances. And Ethan Hawke and Julie Delphy were great together.