Sling Blade review

 Number 288 on the top 1000 films of all time is the 1996 drama 'Sling Blade.'

*Spoilers to follow*

Karl Childers (Billy Bob Thornton) is a developmentally-disabled man who has just been released from a psychiatric institution where he has been held since he was twelve years old. His crime? Murdering his mother and her lover with a sling blade. Thoroughly institutionalised, Karl struggles to adapt to his new life in Arkansas. That is until he befriends the twelve-year-old Frank (Lucas Black) and his mother Linda (Natalie Canerday) But her abusive boyfriend Doyle (Dwight Yokam) soon takes a disliking to Karl. As well as starring, Billy Bob Thornton also wrote, produced and directed Sling Blade.

Billy Bob Thornton won an Osar for writing Sling Blade. However, he was only nominate for acting and not even considered for direction. I think that's a good summary of the film: the acting and direction didn't match up to the Oscar-winning writing.

This isn't to say that Thornton did a bad job, but it certainly wasn't Oscar-worthy. Karl's journey was a predictable one. While predictability isn't a bad thing, Thornton did fail to bring anything new to the medium. Karl - having been institutionalised for most of his life struggles in adapting to life on the outside. He quickly comes to loggerheads with Doyle resulting in Karl murdering him. 

Yes, this was predictable, but a predictable ending can still be good if it was executed well. But this ending was disappointing and anti-climatic. There was too much build-up leading to a damp squib instead of a bang. We get a seemingly-endless montage of Karl preparing to kill Doyle with the latter meekly accepting his fate. It was a sequence devoid of tension.

I also think Thornton's portrayal of Karl was over-simplified. It didn't have the same depth as portrayals of similar characters of the era e.g Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump. whereas Gump was a living, breathing three-dimensional character, Karl was little more than a grunting cave man.

I can understand why Thornton won the Best Writing Oscar. Sling Blade certainly had a good story. It's just a shame that the direction and acting didn't match up to the writing.

The Last Samurai review

 Number 576 on the top 1000 films of all time is Edward Zwick's period-war drama 'The Last Samurai.'

Captain Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise) is a celebrated American civil-war hero. While his exploits of killing native-Americans has earned him a fiercesome reputation, it has also left him with severe PTSD. Sensing the prospect of future trade deals with Japan, his superiors send him to Japan to train Emperor Meji's (Shichinosuke Nakamara) army, so they can defend themselves against the rebellions led by the eponymous last samurai: Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe) and his men. Billy Connelly, Timothy Spall and Hiroyuki Sanada co-star.

The Last Samurai strongly reminded me of Kevin Costner's 'Dances with Wolves.' Both films star an American protagonist befriending and fighting alongside the enemy they're supposed to be fighting. Both films have the protagonists keep diaries as a narrative device. The difference is that the Last Samurai didn't bore me to the core. It was everything Dances with Wolves should have been.

It helped that the Last Samurai was directed by Edward Zwick who also brought the brilliant film Glory to life. Yes, he did use too much slow-motion at times, but he also presented an entertaining, watchable film that portrayed a country at war with itself. Should Japan modernise with Western traditions, clothing and, most importantly, guns, or should they stay true with their own tradition of the samurai. This is the question Zwick answers. 

It was also refreshing to see Tom Cruise in a different type of role. Yes, this isn't a million miles away from Ethan Hunt in Mission Impossible, but Nathan Algren had more depth than some of Cruise's more action-oriented roles. He is a man looking for redemption. And Cruise brought this tortured soul to life.

But the true star was Ken Watanabe. He received his only Oscar nod for this role. It was well-deserved. I thought he was brilliant as the samurai so desperately clinging onto the honour and tradition that he holds so dear. At times, it was a subtle, delicate performance, at others it was explosive, but it was always entertaining.

The cinematography and world-building was also well-textured and detailed. New Zealand stood in for Japan which explained the gorgeous cinematography.

My main gripe was with Billy Connelly who was doing some weird accent that was a hybrid between Irish and his native Scottish. It was like if they had asked Sean Connery to act with an Irish accent.

Nonetheless, I enjoyed the Last Samurai. Along with Glory, I can count it as another Edward Zwick success.

Stalag 17 review

 Number 202 on the top 1000 films of all time is Billy Wilder's 1953 war-film Stalag-17.

J.J Sefton (William Holden) is just one of six hundred and thirty sergeants being held prisoner in a German WW2 POW camp. He is a cynical, jaded loner who stays apart from the rest of his men. When an escape attempt that leads to two of his fellow prisoners being shot dead, he is quickly suspected of being a collaborator.

Admittedly, I wasn't looking forward to watching this. I thought that because it's a war film, it would be depressing, hard-going and difficult to watch. However, I was surprised to find it had plenty of laughs and light-heartedness. A lot of that was down to William Holden who was great as J.J Sefton. Sefton is your standard wise-cracking smart-arse. He is also enterprising often bartering with his guards for luxuries, as well as improvising a distillery, organising mouse-races for gambling, as well as other activities to keep the other prisoners entertained. Holden played the role well, stopping Sefton from becoming overly-cynical.

Billy wilder has done such a wide array of films over the years from noir to rom-coms to screwball comedies that it was no surprise that Stalag-17 succeeded in the way it did. It had the same off-beat humour as Some Like it Hot but also the drama of Sunset Boulevard.  Originally adapted from a stage-play, Wilder was able to keep that same theatrical feel, while making it suitable for the screen. He made everything bigger and better.

If the film fell down anywhere, it would have been the supporting cast. Although some of them like the German guards were funny in their own right, mostly they all blended into one. I did have trouble distinguishing the different characters. I did get mixed up between Lieutenant James Dunbar (Don Taylor) and security officer Frank Price (Peter Graves.) Other than Sefton, the only other character I really remember is Sefton's loyal, if naive aide Cookie (Gil Stratton) who also narrates the film.

Overall, I did enjoy Stalag-17. It was an entertaining war film with a great turn by William Holden.

Sabrina review

 Number 520 on the top 1000 films of all time is Billy Wilder's 1954 romantic-comedy 'Sabrina.'

Sabrina Fairchild (Audrey Hepburn) is the daughter of Thomas Fairchild - the chauffeur to the wealthy Larabee family. All her life, she has held an unrequited love to younger brother and playboy David (William Holden.) Also present is David's older brother Linus (Humphrey Bogart) who soon starts harbouring feelings of his own towards Sabrina.

Never mind 520 on the top 1000 films of all time, this film should be number one on the most boring films of all time. Seriously, it was as dull as your average period drama. And I'm not hating on romantic-comedies - I thoroughly enjoyed Breakfast at Tiffany's and Roman Holiday - but Sabrina was insufferably dull.

It was all so flat. There was so little drama. And so little conflict. Okay, fair enough, Sabrina's broken heart at David's constant womanising leads to her trying to commit suicide by locking herself in a garage with a running car, but she is quickly rescued by Linus, no harm done.

She is shipped off to a French-finishing school where she takes some cooking classes for a couple of years, before returning home where David finally starts taking an interest in her. It's hardly on the some levels of drama as the Notebook.

*Spoilers* It's later revealed that Linus has macchinated a marriage between David and Elizabeth Tyson - wealthy heiress to a business empire, all to serve the Larabees' business interests. In doing so, he falls in love with Sabrina and she him, creating a love triangle between David, Linus and Sabrina. Yet this never worked due to the lack of on-screen chemistry between the three leads, probably due to Bogart's dislike of Hepburn and Holden.

Hepburn is an obviously charming and accomplished actress especially in performing her verbose lines, so it's a shame I didn't like this film more. There was just nothing to interest me.