25th Hour review

 Number 558 on the top 1000 films of all time is Spike Lee's crime-thriller '25th Hour.'

Monty Brogan (Edward Norton) is a crime lord twenty-five hours away from going to prison. In that time, he has to settle affairs with his girlfriend Naturelle (Rosario Dawson) friends - the obnoxious stockbroker Frank Slaughtery (Barry Pepper) and English teacher Jacob (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and father James (Brian Cox.)

This film had Spike Lee written all over it. It strongly reminded me of Lee's earlier film Do the Right Thing. Similarly, to arguably one of his most famous films, 25th Hour was very heavy-handed in its storytelling. Much of the dialogue had a hammy, over-the-top quality from Ukrainian crime-lord Uncle Nikolai to the obnoxious Frank speaking about closing deals to Ed Norton's famous tirade in the mirror.

This famous diatribe decrying basically any and every ethnic group in New York was ripped straight from David Benioff's source material, except for the addition of Al Qaeda - probably to reflect the changing post 9/11 climate. Maybe my indignation should really be with Ed Norton's delivery instead.

This was definitely one of his worst performances. He was unconvincing as the crime lord Monty because Monty himself was unbelievable. A hardened crime lord was caught by the police because they find his drug money stuffed down the sofa. It's less Pablo Escobar and more world's dumbest criminals. I had to remind myself this was a Tony Soprano type character and not your average hood. 

Similarly, how was Monty so naive about the realities of jail? He is terrified about the thought of going there, which I would understand if he were your average petty crook, but he is high-ranking enough to justify a sit-down with the Ukrainian mob. Surely a man in Monty's position would be able to look after himself in prison or at least be well-connected with those who could protect him.

Norton also lacked a lot of chemistry between co-stars Barry Pepper and Philip Seymour Hoffman. I couldn't believe the three were best friends least of all as Frank and Jacob spend more time together than with Monty. Jacob was also very creepy as he entertained a sexual attraction to his seventeen-year-old student Mary (Anna Paquin) This was an ultimately pointless subplot that went nowhere. All this culminated in a rather laughable climax where Monty goads Frank into beating him up to deter any prison rapists. Pepper was less than convincing than his emotional anguish here.

Finally, Norton also lacked romantic chemistry with Rosario Dawson. They weren't believable together. He was okay opposite Brian Cox, but not even the formidable shoulders of Brian Cox could carry the whole film on his back.

I want to like 25th Hour, but it was just a ham-fisted, eye-rolling affair,.

Serpico review

 Number 521 on the top 1000 films of all time is the 1973 crime-drama Serpico.

Based on a true story, Serpico tells the tale of real-life NYPD Frank Serpico (Al Pacino) and his struggles to expose corruption in the police department.

Serpico certainly isn't the first whistleblowing film Al Pacino would star in. He also appeared in the 1997 film The Insider where he plays a TV producer helping to expose corruption in the tobacco industry. Whereas the Insider was slow-paced with not much happening, Serpico was far more interesting.

We are thrust straight into the action along with Al Pacino as we see him being rushed into hospital after being shot in the head. Who shot him? We don't know. Maybe one of his corrupt colleagues who he tried exposing. Yet it remains obvious that Serpico is the only straight cop in a severely bent cop stop.

He soon comes to odds with his fellow police as he refuses to take bribes or follow the crooked rules of his colleagues. Serpico goes onto embrace the countercultural attitudes of the time further alienating himself form the other coppers especially high command who are as bent as the rest.

As always Al Pacino was impressive. He was great as the dark and brooding Frank Serpico. The seventies was definitely a great decade for Pacino. He starred in the Godfather films, Dog Day Afternoon and Serpico.

Due to my previous experience with whistle-blowing films, I was not expecting to enjoy Serpico. I'm glad to say I was wrong.

Night on Earth review

 Number 478 on the top 1000 films of all time is Jim Jarmusch's comedy-drama anthology 'Night on Earth.'

Night on Earth tells five vignettes of five taxi drivers and their relationships with their passengers all on the same night across five different cities: Los Angeles, New York City, Paris, Rome and Helsinki.

Night on Earth was a charming film that deftly navigated a number of themes including heartbreak, connection and comedy all while getting you to care about its characters in a limited space of time. Across five different short films with all different casts, we get to see what makes us different, but more importantly the same.

The first vignette focusses on LA taxi driver Corky (Wionna Ryder.) Corky is a tomboy and has no great aspirations in life beyond being a taxi driver and a mechanic. This is in contrast with her upper-class passenger, casting director Victoria Snelling (Gena Rowlands.) Despite their differences, they form a certain rapport and understanding by the end of their journey together. Victoria even wants to cast Corky in her latest film, but Corky is happy with her current direction in life. It was a nice little insight into how we work as people. Not everybody has lofty aspirations. Some people are happy with whatever they have and that's okay.

The second vignette is probably the funniest. It follows the relationship between East German immigrant Helmut's (Armin Mueller-Stahl's) first night as a taxi driver in New York. His passenger is the loud-mouthed and obnoxious Yo-Yo (Giancarlo Esposito) who startled at Helmut's seeming incompetence decides to drive the taxi instead. The two characters could not have been more different from each other yet they embodied a brilliant odd-couple relationship. Helmut was endearing and although Yo-Yo was a bit annoying at first, he ended up being likeable too.

Our third vignette takes us to Paris where after an unnamed Ivorian taxi driver (Isaach de Bankole) abruptly turfs out two rude passengers, he accepts a new fare of a blind woman (Beatrice Dalle.) It was a pleasant enough story but largely forgettable compared to the others. Although there were a few moments of humour.

The fourth story set in Rome was probably my least favourite. It focussed on eccentric taxi driver Gino (Roberto Benigni) who after picking up a priest (Paolo Bonecelli,) proceeds to make a toe-curling confession which is almost too much for the priest to bear. Although this story was played for laughs with Benigni largely improvising, I did find it far too zany and over-the-top for my tastes. Benigni was so over-the-top, he became rather annoying.

Thankfully, we had the final Helsinki storyline as a touching palate cleanser. It focusses on Finnish taxi driver Mika (Matti Pellonpaa) who relates his tragic personal history to his drunk passengers. It was bittersweet way of ending the film, but also helped to offset some of the Night on Earth's zanier storylines. It was one of my favourite stories of the five.

Being an anthology film, naturally some of the vignettes were better than others. However, I think the film worked both as a whole and individually. I definitely recommend it.

In America review

 Number 448 on the top 1000 films of all time is Jim Sheridan's comedy-drama 'In America.'

Irish family, father Johnny (Paddy Considine,) mother Sarah (Samantha Morton) and daughters Christy (Sarah Bolger) and Ariel (Emma Bolger) have just moved to New York. As they settle into their new life, they are haunted by a dark secret which threatens to tear their family apart.

This was a good film, but also sentimental - dare I say overly-sentimental? Was it good enough to overcome its sentimentality? I'm not so sure about that. The principle cast were great. Samantha Morton rightly scored a Best Actress Oscar nod while Emma and Sarah Bolger showed a remarkable maturity for their young ages. They're real-life sisters which explained their great on-screen chemistry. 

Paddy Considine was also good, but his character of Jonny was rather annoying considering he was the main character. Johnny is a struggling actor who does whatever it takes to support his family. This includes really stupid things which he does for no reason but to add pointless conflict. He gambles the rent money on winning an ET toy in a carnival game. He walks through traffic to bring back an AC unit for his family. All of this undermined the emotional payoff his actions brought. Having said that, this film was partly based on Jim Sheridan's life, so maybe all this happened in one way or another.

As they say truth is stranger than fiction and the semi-autobiographical nature of the film did give it a generally authentic feel even if some parts were probably exaggerated for dramatic effect. No part felt more exaggerated than with the supporting character - the enigmatic Mateo (Djimon Hounsou.)

Initially, he's presented as an eccentric and dangerous man before it's revealed he has a heart of gold. I don't really know why Sheridan chose to depict him as such as an aggressive recluse who progressively softened up as he befriended the Sullivan family. This culminated in him leaving them an incredible amount of money. I don't think there had been enough groundwork to have justified such a decision. This isn't to discredit Hounsou - he quite rightly earned an Oscar nod, but Mateo's characterisation could have been improved.

And that summarises my opinion of this film. It was by no means bad, but it wasn't as good as it was trying to be.

Midnight Cowboy review

 Number 350 on top 1000 films of all time is John Schlesinger's 1969 drama 'Midnight Cowboy.'

Jon Buck (John Voight) is a Texan cowboy who goes to New York to seek his fortune. As part of his hustle, he starts prostituting himself. He also strikes up an unlikely friendship with con man Enrico "Ratzo" Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman.)

This film surprised me in many ways. At times, it was bold, and stylistically flashy, but at others, it was understated, subtle and quietly powerful. At its heart was the relationship between Buck and Ratso. Both are hustlers with Ratso very much being a mentor to the naive, starry-eyed Buck. When Ratso becomes sick, Buck starts to take care off him. As Hoffman is a method actor, I wouldn't be surprised if he went out and caught pneumonia for real.

But Dustin Hoffman and John Voight's relationship under-pinned the whole film. They had great chemistry. I enjoyed seeing them share the screen together. And it was great seeing them become closer and closer, as their fortunes worsened. That all built toward a suitably tragic ending. I won't go into spoilers, but I did like its under-stated nature. It was quiet and simple, which was all it needed to be.

All the louder, more dramatic moments were saved for the flashbacks that showcased the dark past Buck was running from. These were also shown in black-and-white making them all the more sombre. They were hard to watch, but well-shot all the same. This shouldn't be a surprise really. Midnight Cowboy went onto win three Oscars: Best Director, Picture and Adapted Screenplay.

Midnight Cowboy definitely surprised me. I wasn't sure what I was expecting, but an unlikely friendship between a cowboy sex worker and a sick con-man was definitely not it.