Black Swan review

 Number 291 on the top 1000 films of all time is Darren Aronofsky's psychological thriller 'Black Swan.'

Nina (Natalie Portman) is a timid, but talented ballerina who has just been cast as the swan queen in Swan lake. Believing she isn't suitable to play the Black Swan, director Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel) pushes her to her limits. When rival ballerina Lily (Mila Kunis) enters the scene, Nina's sanity is pushed to breaking point.

If there was ever a director who made horror films that aren't actually horror films, it's Darren Aronofsky. There was the terrifying Requiem for a Dream. And Black Swan was equally scary. It was creepy, insidious with masterful camerawork that not only had Nina, but the viewer questioning their sanity. Aronofsky direction is to be praised. He depicted Nina's fleeting sanity very well. It could have been all too easy to show her in an all-out meltdown, but he was far more subtle than that. He was equally subtle with all the scares as well. We just see allusions and clips that something isn't quite right with her, but nothing grossly overt.

Natalie Portman won the Best Actress Oscar for her role. But I'm not sure how much I liked her characterisation of Nina. While Aronofsky directed the film well, I don't think I can apply the same praise to his direction of Portman. Under his direction, she played Nina with a high-pitched, girly voice. Reportedly, Portman wasn't happy about this. Past directors have criticised her for her natural voice being too girly. Having worked hard to lose it, she felt playing Nina was very regressive. 

I understand that she is supposed to be a naturally timid character, but giving her such a girly voice made her quite infantalising. Surely there could have been other ways to portray this. And I would argue this was more of a problem with Aronofsky's direction than Portman's acting.

And a quick shoutout to Vincent Cassel who played the sleazy, borderline abusive Thomas Leroy to a tee. He was an ugly, villainous character.

Nina declared her final performance as being perfect. I wouldn't apply the same praise to Black Swan, but it was one of the scariest non-horror films that I've seen.

Ben-Hur review

 Number 203 on the top 1000 films of all time is the 1959 biblical epic Ben-hur.

Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) was once a noble Jewish man who finds that Ancient Roman is quickly turning against the Jewish people. When Judah refuses to swear allegiance to the new Roman commander and his childhood friend Messala (Stephen Boyd,) he makes an enemy of the Roman people. Later on, to seek redemption, he escapes from slavery and becomes a champion charioteer. Meanwhile, a new religious leader is making waves as he begins preaching across the Roman empire.

Ben-Hur? A cinematic masterpiece? Or a four-hour snooze-fest? I'm tempted to say the latter. It wasn't completely boring, but it dragged on. Maybe I'm just a philistine, but why does a film need to have a six-minute overture? Or an intermission? We're not at the theatre. Any film that has to be cut into half is too damn long.

Obviously the Academy didn't agree with me as they awarded Ben-Hur with eleven Oscars including Best Picture and Best Actor for Charlton Heston. This was a puzzling choice for me as his range was incredibly limited. It was like William Wyler had directed him to be either angry or bitter with nothing in between. He reminded me a lot of Clint Eastwood who I've always thought was a better director than an actor.

The plus side of historical epics like Ben-Hur is that the set production is always on-point. Two big examples come to mind. The first is when Ben-Hur is serving on the slave-ship that is then attacked by Macedonian pirates which leads to his escape. The second is, of course, the famous chariot race scene that employed thousands of extras. Both of these looked great on-screen.

Ben-Hur wasn't a particularly awful film. It was watchable enough despite its unnecessary length and Heston's wooden performance.

The Bucket List review

 Number 869 on the top 1000 films of all time is Rob Reiner's comedy-drama 'The Bucket List.'

The blue-collar mechanic Carter Chambers (Morgan Freeman) and the grumpy old billionaire Edward Cole (Jack Nicholson) meet in hospital after both are diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. With only months left to live, the two embark on a trip to complete their own respective bucket lists.

This film had lots of potential. It had two great actors in the form of Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. Between them, they share four Oscars. It's a fun plot-line with plenty of opportunity for laughs and tears. And it was very funny. Jack Nicholson was very good as the grumpy, old, misanthropic billionaire. It might be a overly-familiar role for him, but he does it very well. Much of this humour comes from his constant abuse of his poor valet Thomas (Sean Hayes.) But Nicholson and Freeman had very good chemistry with the characters being polar opposites of each other. I may also argue Freeman is now type-cast as the wise, old mentor, but again he is always great.

Yet despite all this potential, the film felt very lacking. I feel like they could have done a lot more. Its runtime is just under one hundred minutes and it spends most of that on the beginning and the ending meaning that the middle is rushed. Considering the middle is the characters fulfilling their titular bucket lists, I was expecting much more. Some key character beats were reduced to a simple montage. There were lots of funny moments like Chambers and Cole sky-diving, but it felt like a very small, unimportant footnote. An extra half hour or even twenty minutes might have helped to bring things together more. 

Also what was with the awful CGI? Obviously I wouldn't expect Nicholson and Freeman to really be on top of the great pyramids of Giza, but I also wouldn't expect it to look so fake either. Maybe Reiner spent the film's budget on Nicholson and Freeman's salaries?

The Bucket List isn't a bad film per se. There are good performances and plenty of hilarious and heart-breaking moments. But they could have done a lot more than they did.

United 93 review

 Number 632 on the top 1000 films of all time is Paul Greengrass' docudrama 'United 93.'

United 93 is based on the true story of the fourth plane that was hijacked during the 9/11 terror attack. The other three planes found their target. The fourth didn't due to the passengers and crew revolting and attempting to take back control resulting in the plane crash-landing which killed everybody on board.

Firstly, I have to salute the heroism of everybody on board the real-life United 93. They showed a bravery that I never could have done. These were people with lives of their own who had no intention on dying that day. But they died as heroes. You might notice that I'm speaking very generally, and, alas, I have to, as Paul Greengrass was similarly vague in his depiction of the passengers. He made the directorial decision to not reveal any of the names of the passengers. This was because he wanted to elevate the group heroism above any individual heroism. Plus aeroplane passengers wouldn't know each other's names. 

True, it probably wouldn't have been very realistic for Tom Burnett (Christian Clemenson) and Mark Bingham (Cheyenne Jackson) to shake hands and say their names for the audience, but I would have gladly suspended my disbelief. Keeping the passengers' identities deliberately vague kept me at arm's length. I felt somewhat detached from their struggles and problems, because I knew so little about them. And it also did a disservice to the actors playing them. I saw some great acting, but because I didn't know the characters' names, I can't match an actor to the character. I only know Christian Clemenson and Cheyenne Jackson, because I looked them up on Wikipedia, but I'm not entirely sure who Tom Burnett and Mark Bingham were.

Otherwise Paul Greengrass made a great film. It was brilliantly paced with handheld-camera helping to keep the tension at a high. I was already familiar with this story, so I knew how it ended, but even if I didn't, I would have been kept on the edge of my seat. I prayed that there would be a happy ending, although I knew it would be impossible. And that's what made this such a good film. It was horribly doomy, but also powerful and touching.

Tom Burnett, Mark Bingham, Todd Beamer, Jeremy Glick and to all the other crew and passengers of United 93, you never knew and I never knew you, but you all died as heroes.

Up in the Air review

 Number 827 on the top 1000 films of all time is the 2009 comedy-drama 'Up in the Air.'

Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) is the man you call when you want to fire somebody but you aren't brave enough to do it yourself. He flies around the US letting people go. However, his own job is threatened when his company hires young upstart Natalie (Anna Kendrick) who proposes the company moves to firing people via video-conferencing rendering Ryan obsolete.

Losing your job is a horribly relatable experience for many people, myself included. Thankfully, it didn't result in me losing much more than my job, but for some people it is much worse. Up in the Air succeeded in conveying a truly authentic experience. Part of that was down to the very good decision to invite real-life firees to play the characters that Ryan and Natalie terminate. They were told to react either how they did on the day or to say what they wish they had said at the time. And this helped to keep things very realistic. 

Ryan Bingham is a very superficial character. He lives a transitory experience with little concern about the people he lets go, as long as he gets his frequent flier miles. But he goes through a nice redemption arc partially thanks to Natalie, but also due to his casual lover Alex (Vera Farmiga) who convinces him that he wants something more than his superficial experience. Vera Farmigia is a much better actress than films like Running Scared gives her credit for. It's nice she is getting the recognition she deserves. In fact, she earned an Oscar nod as did Clooney and Kendrick.

Up in the Air was a surprisingly grounded portrayal of the human condition. It was sensitive toward those being fired, but it also made Ryan Bingham - a character that by all accounts we should hate, very likeable. Of course it helps when you have him played by an actor as charming as George Clooney. Natalie also had the potential to be annoying, but you can see she's just a misguided kid trying to make a difference.

Up in the Air was a very enjoyable film. It blended drama and comedy into an entertaining watch.

Flight Review

 Number 987 on the top 1000 films of all time is Robert Zemeckis' drama 'Flight.'

William 'Whip' Whitaker (Denzel Washington) is a pilot with a drinking problem. When the plane he is piloting malfunctions, he successfully performs a crash-landing resulting in only six deaths out of a complement of 102. But the subsequent investigation raises questions about his sobriety while on the job.

I often find Denzel Washington very over-the-top. Or maybe that's the roles he chooses to play. But I think that the character of Whip played to his strengths. He wasn't a larger-than-life character, but a tragic hero looking for redemption. Washington brought a wonderful amount of vulnerability to the role. It was a sensitive portrayal of a man who is desperately hiding from the world. And he does redeem himself when he ultimately does the right thing at the end.

It also surprised me to learn that it was Robert Zemeckis directing this film. I would argue that he is best well-known for directing comedies particularly the Back to the Future franchise. But he did make a very interesting drama film with well-rounded performances. It was well-paced and took us into some nice emotional depths. Although maybe this shouldn't be so surprising as he did win the Oscar for directing Forrest Gump.

But I was less convinced by Whip's relationship with prostitute/junkie Nicole (Kelly Reilly.) The two characters are very similar. They are both addicts. They are both looking for redemption. I don't want to take anything away from Kelly Reilly. She gave a sensitive portrayal of an emotionally damaged character. And her American accent was so good that I would never have guessed that she is actually a Londoner. But she and Whip were portrayed as star-crossed lovers. And I didn't see enough evidence to justify such a conclusion.

Yet this didn't stop Flight from being a very good film with a wonderfully understated performance by Denzel Washington.

Inside Man review

 Number 642 on the top 1000 films of all time is Spike Lee's crime-thriller 'Inside Man.'

Dalton Russell (Clive Owen) robs a bank in New York City. Keith Frazer (Denzel Washington) is the NYPD's hostage negotiator sent to deal with Clive. Meanwhile, the bank's owner Mr Case (Christopher Plummer) is harbouring a dark secret in one of the bank's security boxes. He sends fixer Madeline White (Jodie Foster) to stop this box getting into the wrong hands.

I thoroughly enjoyed this film. It was a clever take on the heist genre. I have seen a few other heist films on this list that made me wonder whether the genre was dead-and-buried, but that was not the case for Inside Man. It was a refreshing reinvention of the heist genre. But also a far deeper imagining of it.

While the money is obviously a bonus for Dalton, he is more interested in the artistry of creating the perfect bank robbery. And that made him an engaging character to watch. He and Denzel Washington were very good together as they play a deadly cat-and-mouse game. I find Denzel Washington very hit-and-miss, but he was very engaging as the maverick, rough-around-the-edges cop Frazer.

Yet underpinning this all is Mr Case and the mystery he was trying so hard to hide. *Spoiler alert* 

It's revealed that during WW2 he collaborated with the Nazis trading high-profile Jews in exchange for diamonds. It's a dark secret that he does not want coming to light. It added another layer of intrigue to this film.

While Owen and Washington were good together, I was less convinced by Washington and Foster. Both Frazer and Madeline were a similarly cat-and-mouse relationship, but thought there scenes were more on-the-nose with less imprecise dialogue.

And I know that Spike Lee's trademark is the dolly-tracking shot making it look like the MC is on a travellator, but I always thinks it looks a bit silly. I was also very confused as to why the theme tune was some late 80's Bollywood song. It was very out of place.

But these are minor criticisms of what was a very good film.