Waking Life review

 Number 530 on the top 1000 films of all time is Richard Linklater's animated surrealist drama 'Waking Life.'

Wiley Wiggins plays an unnamed protagonist who undergoes an existential crisis. He has a series of philosophical conversations before he realises that he is in a lucid dream that he must wake up from.

I don't think I've seen such pretentious Oscar-bait since Megalopolis. Don't get me wrong, Waking Life was beautiful to look at. It had a unique rotoscoping animation technique, but beyond that, the film was about as interesting as any of the films mentioned on my list of films that will put you to sleep. It was an arthouse film that was all style and no substance.

It's a shame as this was the same Richard Linklater who directed the brilliant Before Trilogy and the hilarious School of Rock. Yet Waking Life lacked the same humour and heart as Linklater's other efforts. This is despite how the Before Trilogy similarly had a lot of talking and little action.

The difference was that this talking occured between interesting characters who I actually gave a damn about. I couldn't say the same about Waking Life. Whereas the Before Trilogy had sparkling dialogue, Waking Life had the most boring philosophical discussions ever. Interestingly, the two leads from the Before Trilogy: Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delphy) also cameo here in one of the many scenes that are tangential to the main plot.

Rather than one continuous film or dream in this case, Waking Life was a collection of unrelated dreams that you forget as soon as you wake up. Although I can't ever remember dreaming about pseudo intellectual discussions a la Woody Allen. Also what was with the Alex Jones cameo? Apparently Richard Linklater just dismissed him as funny quack. Little did he realise how consequential Alex Jones would be in later life.

Maybe I just wasn't clever enough to understand the true genius of this film, but I also didn't care. Never mind Waking Life, this was a bad dream that I couldn't wait to wake up from.

Gattaca review

 Number 460 on the top 1000 films of all time is the science-fiction film 'Gattaca.'

Vincent Freeman (Ethan Hawke) wants nothing more than to be an astronaut and go to space with the Gattaca Aerospace corporation. The catch? He is an "in-valid" - a child that did not receive any gene-editing before birth. To achieve his goals, he impersonates quadriplegic Jerome Morrow (Jude Law.) However, when Gattaca's mission director is killed, Vincent is framed and his secret is in danger of being discovered.

Gattaca was a disappointing attempt to engage in some important ideas. Gene-editing is no doubt a sensitive topic. Sure if you have the chance to stop your child from developing cancer or dying from heart disease by the time they're thirty, why wouldn't you take that chance? But where do you stop? Do you remove any arbitrary characteristics you don't like like? What happens if you don't edit your child at all? Will they be discriminated against?

Gattaca attempts to answer these questions in a cold and sterile way. Despite having some talented actors like Ethan Hawke, Jude Law and Uma Thurman, who played Vincent's love interest Irene, I didn't care about any of the characters. All three actors are Oscar-nominated and I've enjoyed Ethan Hawke as a romantic and action lead, but I wasn't invested in Vincent. I don't think he was either, as it wasn't one of his most charismatic performances.

He also lacked on-screen chemistry with Jude Law. Jude Law plays Jerome who helps Vincent impersonate him by providing him with plenty of DNA samples. Despite some arguing, the two develop a begrudging respect for one another, but I still didn't find their relationship very believable.

I also saw attempts to create heart through a love story between Vincent and Irene. Although Hawke and Thurman began dating off-screen and later married, as a result of this film, this off-screen chemistry failed to translate to on-screen.

The same can be said through a subplot between Vincent and a reunion with an apparently long-lost brother who is investigating Vincent's involvement in the murder of the director of Gattaca's space programme. Yet this storyline fell emotionally flat too. The murder subplot never felt immediate enough to have any tangible effect on the plot. Plus there was never any on-screen rift or conflict to suggest that the two brothers had fallen out with each other after their childhood.

Sadly, like many science-fiction films, Gattaca became so obsessed with exploring its key ideas, it failed to create interesting characters.

Dead Poet's Society review

 Number 375 on the top 1000 films of all time is the coming-of-age drama 'Dead Poet's Society.'

John Keating (Robin Williams) is the new English teacher at the prestigious prepatory Welton school - a school that prides itself on its devotion to tradition and discipline. He inspires a group of students led by Neil Perry (Robert Sean Leonard) and including the shy Todd Anderson (Ethan Hawke) to break free of the school's draconian measures by embracing the world of poetry.

While watching this, I couldn't help but be reminded of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Keating is the Mcmurphy character rallying the students to rebel against the apparently tyrannical school regime. Except Dead Poet's Society, while certainly enjoyable, didn't quite hit the same heights.

The stakes never felt high enough nor did the school feel tyrannical enough. Headmaster Dr Gale Nolan (Norman Lloyd) wasn't as fearsome as Nurse Ratched. There were vague threats of the student's individuality and creativity being wiped out, but they were never really capitalised upon. True, one of the students does get paddled, but even that never felt particularly serious. And Dr Nolan wasn't as menacing as he could have been.

Robert Sean Leonard and Ethan Hawke were certainly enjoyable enough in the lead roles. It was nice to Anderson's transformation from a shy to a more confident student. It was difficult to believe this was the same Hawke who wowed audiences in Training Day or the Before trilogy. But the rest of the gang faded into one another. I also found it very unlikely that a group of teenage boys would rebel against the system by running into the woods and reciting poetry rather than drinking or smoking weed. Having said that, these are posh, private school kids. Anything's possible with them.

Robin Williams was the definite highlight of the film. He gave a restrained performance that was hilarious at moments, but heartfelt in others. I particularly enjoyed his impressions of the different celebrities of the time.

Dead Poet's Society wasn't a bad film by any means, but it also could have been a lot better.

Before Midnight review

 Number 245 on the top 1000 films of all time is Richard Lintlaker's 2013 conclusion to his 'Before Trilogy' - 'Before Midnight.'

Nine years on from when we saw them last in Paris, Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delphy) are married with twin girls holidaying in Greece. However, Jesse also has a fractious relationship with his son Hank from a previous marriage. It doesn't help that his ex-wife hates both him and Celine.

What do you think of when you hear perfect film trilogies? Lord of the Rings? Back to the Future? The Dollars trilogy? The Dark Knight? I would add the Before Trilogy to that illustrious list. While it isn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, it is a highly satisfactory end to Lintlaker's Before trilogy.

In many ways, Before Midnight is the biggest film of the three. The cast is thoroughly expanded as Celine and Jesse are holidaying with some friends. The film loses some of its intimate feel as we see the cast having extended conversations with each other, and the character dynamics and relationships take precedence over a stripped-back plot. But when you have characters and dialogue as real as you have here, this is no criticism at all.

With this installment, we see that Jesse and Celine have the most to lose. They have long left behind the honeymoon phase and are now married trying to navigate the complexities of life - least of all Jesse's estranged relationship with his ex-wife and son. Having lived in Paris for the last nine years, Celine is unwilling to give up her life to move to New York especially since Jesse's ex-wife hates her so much.

Yet such an important plot-point like this is very much left up to the viewer's imagination. The less-is-more approach has always been this trilogy's strength - it has always been light on plot, spectacle and budget, but this was too crucial of a detail to be relegated to mere exposition. The same can be said for Jesse's son Hank who, despite appearing at the beginning, never felt like anything more than a plot device.

I was also unsure about the ending. Just when it seems that Jesse and Celine's relationship might be torn apart after a terrible fight, they reconcile with Jesse making an impassioned plea that he isn't perfect and neither is their relationship, but that's just the way life works out sometimes. Considering how the trilogy has always been so big on authenticity, I was expecting something more bittersweet, but having couples make up after bad fights is just as realistic as having couples who don't.

These criticisms don't take away from what was a great conclusion to one of my new favourite film trilogies. Before Midnight was a great exploration of how the way we love can change with age. The script was as natural as ever with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delphy having as much chemistry as always. I was surprised to find out that there was no improvisation on set - the script was followed verbatim. Everything felt so real that I sometimes thought I was watching a documentary rather than a film.

Before Sunset (2004) review

 Number 272 on the top 1000 films of all time is Richard Lintlaker's romantic-drama 'Before Sunset' - sequel to the 1995 Before Sunrise.

Jesse Wallace (Ethan Hawke) is an American writer on the last stage of his European book tour in Paris. he is promoting the book that he wrote about a fleeting romance he had with French lady Celine (Julie Delphy,) whom he met in Vienna nine years prior. The events of which constitute the plot of Before Sunrise. Little does he know that we will soon re-unite with her in Paris.

I absolutely loved Before Sunrise. It is low in spectacle, action and budget, but high in authenticity and romantic chemistry between its two leads. I loved the original so much that I couldn't wait to watch the sequel. It was reminiscent of the beginnings of relationships where everything is exciting, new and fresh. Did Before Sunset live up to the hype? Not quite.

It was still a highly entertaining film, but it lacked the spark that the first one had. In many ways, it was a rehash of the first one. Only this time, Jesse and Celine are in Paris, instead of Vienna, and instead of an entire night together, they only have an hour before Jesse has to return to America at sunset.

Considering it's been nine years since their last encounter, Jesse and Celine have as much chemistry, as they did before. The same can be said for Ethan Hawke and Julie Delphy who co-wrote the film along with Richard Lintlaker. If you told me that the pair were dating in real life I wouldn't have been shocked as they were brilliant together. Obviously they weren't as Ethan Hawke was finalising his divorce with wife Uma Thurman. Anyway, Jesse and Celine's dialogue sparkled. And the film had a fantastic air of authenticity. It didn't just feel real. It was real.

Yet the film still lacked something. It is only a paltry eighty minutes long, but it still felt longer than it should have been. On the surface, it seems that Jesse and Celine are picking up where they left off - even though they're both in new relationships - Jesse is married with a son, but we soon learn that they never truly recovered from their fateful encounter. Jesse is trapped in a loveless marriage while Celine never sees her photojournalist boyfriend. They're still both deeply in love with each other. While Before Sunrise showed the excitement of the beginning of the relationship, Before Sunset, seemed to focus more on the relationship after the honeymoon period has worn off.

This all culminates in a tearful confrontation at the film's climax. But this should have come sooner. I couldn't see what this film was building to - I wonder if it would have been similar to how Before Sunrise ended. But *spoilers*

it ended on a less ambiguous, but equally hopeful note. 

Richard Lintlaker captured lightning in the bottle with Before Sunrise. He couldn't quite do the same with Before Sunset, but it was still a great film nonetheless.