Minority Report review

 Number 639 on the top 1000 films of all time is Steven Spielberg's 2002 science-fiction action film Minority Report.

Set in 2054, the Precrime police programme has virtually eliminated all pre-meditated murders in Washington DC. Three clairvoyant humans named 'precogs' including Agatha (Samantha Morton) receive psychic impressions of homicides and are able to alert the police who can stop the crimes before they even happen. One of these police is the Precrime police department chief John Anderton (Tom Cruise,) whose six-year-old son was abducted and never found. When DOJ agent Danny Witwur (Colin Farrell) audits the system, Anderton receives the disturbing news that he is about to kill Leo Crow - a man that he has never met. He quickly goes on the run, as the system he has fought to up-hold slowly turns against him.

Generally, I'm not a fan of science-fiction films. I find that they can be overly-intellectual and pretentious, with their writers being more concerned with showing off how clever they are rather than writing a comprehensible film. However, I think Minority Report struck the balance between intelligent social-commentary and thrilling action. It definitely helped that it had Stephen Spielberg directing it. Minority Report had all the excitement of his most famous blockbusters like Jaws, Jurassic Park and Indiana Jones, but also the thoughtfulness like some of his quieter works such as the Colour Purple.

Perhaps it helped that Minority Report spanned multiple genres. It wasn't just science-fiction, but also a psychological thriller. Sometimes science-fiction can be insufferably dull, slow and boring *cough cough* the remake of Solaris, but the chase element kept this film moving along nicely. John Anderton is against the clock to solve the predicted murder of Leo Crow, before the authorities find and punish him. 

Tom Cruise is well-known for his action-roles which made him the perfect fit for John Anderton. Anderton is your cut-and-dry hero - he is a handsome, law-abiding man accused of a crime that he hasn't committed yet. It isn't the most original of characters, but it didn't have to be. And Cruise did it well.

But no actor is a vacuum and Cruise did have a strong supporting cast. You had Farrell as the slimy villain-turned-unlikely ally Danny Witwur, but also Samantha Morton as the lead precog Agatha. As we learn more about her, we learn all about her tragic past and Morton did well in bringing this tragedy to life. Max Von Sydow was particularly menacing as the precrime director Lamar Burgess and Peter Stormare brought a wonderfully chaotic energy to the sleazy Dr. Solomon Eddie.

Minority Report was certainly an entertaining film. I enjoyed watching it as it perfectly balanced the big questions of science-fiction with the edge-of-the-seat action of a psychological thriller.   

Beverly Hills Cop review

 Number 996 on the top 1000 films of all time is the buddy cop action drama 'Beverly Hills Cop.'

Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) is a street-smart Detroit cop whose childhood best friend is mysteriously killed. Aiming to uncover the mystery, Foley travels to Beverly Hills where he comes up against formidable art gallery owner Victor Maitland (Steven Berkoff.)

Eddie Murphy was a great comedy actor. He really carried this film and made it something more than your average buddy cop film. He easily displayed his versatility through his physical and verbal comedy. Axel Foley was a likeable and charismatic protagonist. A smart-talking cop is hardly a new trope, but Murphy kept the role nice and fresh. This was a fun and a light-hearted watch.

But Eddie Murphy wasn't the only actor in this, as the rest of the cast were also great. While in Beverly Hills, he receives help from police detective Billy (Judge Reinhold) and police sergeant John Taggart (John Ashton.) These two actors worked well together helping to provide a lot of the film's humour, but also a lot of heart. Initially, they begin as adversaries of Axel, with instructions from their superiors to keep him out of the way, but eventually they become allies. Both of them receive strict dressing-downs from their lieutenant, but this doesn't stop them from doing the right thing.

And Steven Berkoff as the villainous Victor Maitland also shone. He was very convincing as the villain. As I guess would be the standard of the buddy cop films of the time, this was definitely a bit of a boy's film. Consequently some of the female characters like Jenny (Lisa Eilbacher) - another old friend of Axel's - felt very short-changed.

Finally, we have to mention the film's brilliant soundtrack. Populated with the best of eighties music, it deservingly won the Grammy for best score. Of course, it also featured the Axel F song itself which went onto become one of the most annoyingly catchy songs of the 2000's.

This film appears very far down on the list. It was definitely good for what it was - a heartfelt, but very funny buddy cop drama with a great score, but I can understand why it was so low-placed. Beverly Hills Cop might have laid the groundwork, but I think it's been surpassed by many other films.

Catch me if you Can review

 Number 371 on the top 1000 films of all time is Steven Spielberg's biographical comedy-drama 'Catch me if you Can.'

Based on a true story, Frank Abagnale Jr (Leonardo Dicaprio) was one of the most successful con-men and check forgers in history. All before his 19th birthday, he claimed to pose as a Pan-Am pilot, a doctor and a lawyer. Tom Hanks plays Carl Hanratty - the FBI agent tasked with tracking him down. Christopher Walken plays Frank Abagnale Sr and Amy Adams stars as Frank's girlfriend and later wife Brenda Strong.

This is a film that left very little impression on me. And that's surprising considering that it has serious star power. For one it's directed by Steven Spielberg. But it also stars Leonardo Dicaprio and Tom Hanks. By 2002, Spielberg had already built up a pretty impressive resume with hard-hitting dramas like Schindler's List or the Color Purple, but arguably he was best known for his blockbusters like Jaws, Indiana Jones or Jurassic Park. And in comparison, Catch me if you Can just fell flat. There was never the same sense of dramatic tension or immediacy. 

Perhaps that's through the way the story was structured. The film opens with Carl Hanratty arriving in a Marseille prison to collect Frank Abagnale Jr in order to extradite him back to the US to face punishment. I guess anybody who knows the true story would already know how everything ends, but for viewers like me, it felt like they were unnecessarily giving the game away. Any narrative tension had immediately dissipated, because we know that somewhere down the line Carl does catch Frank. Considering how brash and brazen Frank's schemes become, it only makes sense that he would be caught, but it would have been more exciting if there was a possibility that Frank might escape. I know that the thrill is in the chase and not the capture, but the chase wasn't that thrilling.

And none of the lead cast were that electrifying either. Dicaprio, Walken and Tom Hanks have four acting Oscars between them. Amy Adams has been nominated for six Oscars. We all know that they're great actors, but I wouldn't say any of them particularly shone. It just seemed like they were all just turning up, even Dicaprio wasn't as good as I thought he would be.

Catch me if you Can is by no means a bad film or one of the worst films I've seen on this list, but it wasn't nearly as memorable as I thought it would be. 

The Goonies review

Number 519 on the top 1000 films of all time is the adventure-comedy the Goonies.

The Goonies are a gang of misfits in Oregon. They are led by the asthmatic Mikey Walsh (Sean Astin) and consist of "Chunk" (Jeff Cohen,) the poison-tongued "Mouth" (Corey Feldman) and amateur gadgeteer "Data" (Jonathan Ke Huy Quan.) When they find a treasure map in their house, they set off to find it, but little do they know that the Fratelli crime family is also looking for the treasure.

This had all the hallmarks of a coming-of-age drama - a pre-teen cast, adult villains, a magical plot and lots of practical effects, but it lacked all the comedy, soul and charm of its contemporaries. Stand By Me, also starring Corey Feldman, is one that comes to mind. Even though, it was billed as a comedy it just wasn't that funny. A lot of humour seemed juvenile and billed toward a much younger audience than myself. You had Chunk doing a silly dance to gain entry to the clubhouse or literal toilet humour when a jet of water from a toilet lifts a man into the air.  

Much of the dialogue seemed very contrived and forced especially from the female characters "Andy" (Kerri Green) and Stef (Martha Plimpton.) Andy is the love interest of Mikey's older brother and Stef is her best friend. But neither girl did little more than scream or give snide comments to the boys. And many of these problems stem from Chris Columbus' script and Richard Donner's poor direction. It really seemed like the kids had little direction other than to talk over one another. I am reminded of critic Colin Greenland's assessment of the film: "The Goonies I was unable to enjoy because of a bunch of kids yelling and screaming all the way through. Not the audience, the actors." The constant screaming became tedious after a while and it made things difficult to follow.

This was a shame as there is some big acting talent in this film. Corey Feldman was great in Stand by Me and Sean Astin went onto star in the Lord of the Rings Franchise. Despite Ke Huy Quan taking a break from acting, he starred in the one of the biggest films of 2022: Everything Everywhere all at Once. 

Another big problem of this film was that the villains had no menace at all. Kiefer Sutherland made a great villain in Stand By Me, because he was scary. We see him play mailbox baseball, chicken with other road users and he even threatens our heroes with a flick knife. Conversely, the Fratelli family sing opera and squabble amongst each other. Joe Pantoliano played one of these villains, but he is also known for the traitorous Cypher in the Matrix and the slimy Ralph Cifaretto in The Sopranos. He is great in both these roles, so it was a shame his talent was squandered so much here.

But the biggest problem of this coming-of-age drama was that there was no maturation. The characters didn't grow or change at all. They start and end in the same place. It doesn't matter what genre your film is, but your characters need to progress by the end of it. That didn't happen here. The Goonies start as misfits and they end as misfits. All of the characters in Stand By Me have traumatic backstories, but their collective experience helps them to overcome this trauma. However, this wasn't the case here. Granted, the asthmatic Mikey casually throws away his inhaler at the end of the film, suggesting his condition was all in his mind, yet we didn't see enough inner conflict to justify such a decision.

If I were to compliment the film for anything it would be its great use of practical effects. I loved seeing all the imaginative and ingenious inventions from Data's cute gadgets to the Indiana Jones-esque booby traps even to the fancy contraption that allows entry to the Goonies' club house. They were all great.

It's safe to say that the Goonies was one of the biggest cult films of the eighties. But it's safer to say that I am never going to become part of this cult.