Kiss Kiss Bang Bang review

 Number 602 on the top 1000 films of all time is Shane Black's 2005 crime-caper Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.

Harry Lockhart (Robert Downey Jr) is a burglar and petty crook who after on the run from the police worms his way into a high-profile acting role and fancy Hollywood party. There he meets private detective 'Gay' Perry Van Shrike (Val Kilmer._ Lockhart becomes mixed up in Van Shrike's murder investigation. Michelle Monaghan co-stars.

In the 1990's, Roberty Downey Jr was one of the hottest properties in Hollywood earning Oscar nods for playing Charlie Chaplin. This all came crashing down at the end of the decade following a string of high-profile drug arrests and imprisonments. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang marked a clear resurgence in his career.

In many ways, the lovable rogue of Harry Lockhart served as a bleuprint for Downey's most famous role of Tony Stark aka Iron Man. Lockhart is a charismatic if annoying jerk whose mile-an-hour mouth gets him into a lot of trouble. Mix that in with the straight-laced Van Shrike (Val Kilmer) and you have a very funny film.

Much of the film's humour comes from its meta-fictional, tongue-in-cheek tone with Lockhart providing amusing narration that pokes fun at the noir films of old. More specifically, he pokes fun at the convoluted plots that you might see in noir films starring Old Bogey. Personally, I've always found these films too smart for their own good, so it was nice seeing this be referenced. Although I would argue this film's storyline was similarly convoluted. It almost needed a cork bord and multiple reels of twine to figure out.

Yes, the film was convoluted but I would also argue that Michelle Monaghan was under-utilised. She seemed to spend much of the film in a sexy santa costume and could have had more to do. She is a good actress with a proven career from TV's True Detective to the silver screen with Gone Baby Gone. It would have been nice to have seen her do more.

Nevertheless, I did enjoy Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. And I very much enjoyed its parodying of the noir films of old.

Tombstone review

 Number 444 on the top 1000 films of all time is the 1993 Western 'Tombstone.'

Tombstone details the events that led up to the famous Gunfight at the Ok Corral in Tombstone, Arizona. Wyatt Earp (Kurt Russell) and his brothers Virgil (Sam Eliot) and Morgan (Bill Paxton) are three retired men who are looking for a quiet life in Tombstone. However, when the Cochise County Cowboys, led by Curly Bill Brocius (Powers Boothe) start pushing their way around town, the Earps are reluctantly drawn out of retirement to deal with the threat, helped by their close friend Doc Holliday (Val Kilmer.)

Anybody who knows me knows that I've never been a big fan of Westerns. The Gunfight at the Ok Corral as well as the Earps and Doc Holliday might be legendary parts of American folklore, but it's never been a topic that has really interested me. I'm not sure this film did too much to move the needle.

Of course this isn't to say that the film was explicitly terrible unlike some others I have seen, but it just wasn't for me. I can see what they were going. The charismatic Kurt Russell plays the sheriff who is reluctantly drawn back into his old life. He was good enough, as were his deputies Virgil and Morgan played by Sam Eliot and Bill Paxton. They played very different characters than in Frailty or the Big Lebowski. I think the good guys had a better characterisation than the Cochise County Cowboys. 

Perhaps that's because they were little more than a lawless rabble without more hierarchy or organisation. They were led by Curly Bill Brocious - Powers Boothe always gives recognisable performances, but the rest of the gang largely blended into one.

For me, the best part of the film was Val Kilmer. He played Doc Holliday - a cherished friend of the Earps who was suffering terribly from tuberculosis. Kilmer was definitely a dark horse considering his role was little more than just giving support to the Earps. Despite that, Holliday was a very tragic character who was also loyal to his friends. Kilmer's performance helped to demystify one of the most interesting characters of the Old West.

I'm sure there are many people who would love this film. These guys would also be big fans of the Wild West. I am not a fan of the Wild West, so I didn't much care for Tombstone, but that's just me.