Legends of the Fall review

 Number 846 on the top 1000 films of all time is the epic Western drama 'Legends of the Fall.'

Colonel William Ludlow (Anthony Hopkins) is a former army veteran who retires to a ranch in Montana. When his wife Isabelle leaves, he raises his three sons alone: the oldest Alfred (Aidan Quinn,) the middle son Tristan (Brad Pitt) and the youngest and most naive Samuel (Henry Thomas.) Also, on the ranch if William's Cree friend One Stab (Gordon Tootoosis,) as well as ranch hand Decker (Paul Desmon,) his Cree wife Pet and their daughter Isabelle Two.

Legends of the Fall is a sprawling narrative that encompasses a huge time period from the early twentieth century to World War One to prohibition and even the 1960's. Edward Zwick takes us through each era well. Although at times it felt very disparate which we will come to later.

When WW1 breaks out, Samuel and Alfred volunteer to fight. Trist also reluctantly volunteers. He has promised Samuel's fiancé Susannah (Julia Ormond) that he would keep him safe from harm. The war scenes were effective and well-shot. And Brad Pitt proved he's more than capable of doing quieter, character roles, as well as bigger, block-buster, action roles. Anthony Hopkins was also great. As the stresses of his life become too much, William suffers from a stroke, rendering him virtually mute and immobile. But Hopkins still generates a lot of sympathy for the character.

However, while the male stars and characters were great, I feel like the female characters were short-changed. Susannah didn't have much of a role beyond being the object of affection for all three brothers. Although she is initially Samuel's fiancé, when he *spoilers*

is killed in the war, she hooks up with Tristan, all while Alfred looks on in desire. When Tristan goes AWOL for years, Susannah marries Alfred. It was less than the most satisfying of characters.

When Tristan returns to the ranch, he finds that Isabelle Two has all grown-up. And the two promptly marry and start a family. Even putting the age difference aside, the brothers were all adults while Isabelle Two was still a little girl. I saw very little reason why she and Tristan would marry each other except they're both young and hot. At least you had Alfred acknowledging the oddity of the situation.

But returning to my point about the disparateness, while Legends of the Fall worked in little parts, the parts didn't coalesce well together. it was a massive film set across an expansive time period which encompassed a lot of genres. It began as a Western, flirted as a romance, turned into a War film and later on, during the Prohibition era, it even became a gangster flick. It seemed overly-ambitious. And I don't think it worked. Fewer elements explored in more detail would have been better.

Ultimately, I still enjoyed this film. The female characters weren't great, and it was overly-ambitious, but Pitt and Hopkins shone.

American Graffiti review

 Number 777 on the top 1000 films of all time is George Lucas' directorial debut and coming-of-age drama 'American Graffiti.'

Curt Henderson (Richard Dreyfuss,) Steve Bolander (Ron Howard,) John Milner (Paul Le Mat) and Terry 'Toad' Fields (Charlie Martin Smith) are four high-school graduates preparing to go their separate ways in life. Across one summer night, we see how they spend their last hours of adolescence.

It's hard to believe this is the same director who created Star Wars and produced Indiana Jones - two of the most action-packed, fun-filled, entertaining franchises in movie history. Francis Ford Coppola also produced this film. And he directed the legendary Godfather films. But American Graffiti was so boring. Once it gets going it's okay, but it takes so long to get going.

The first half of the film, which is roundabouts an hour, nothing much really happens. The four main characters spend most of the time just driving around Modesto, California. They all have their own personal goals: Curt is trying to find a beautiful girl he saw in passing while Toad schemes and plots to impress another girl called Debbie. But none of these goals were particularly interesting or relatable. And I think relatability is one of the most important parts of a coming-of-age drama. But American Graffiti was sorely missing this key aspect.

Once things do get going, there are moments of humour and poignancy, but these are few and far between. When Toad tries asking an older man to buy alcohol for him and his date, the man instead buys wine and sneaks out of the back of the store. A second man robs the store, but at least buys the alcohol for Toad. 

When Curt scratches the car of a group of greases, they coerce him into joining them for the night and force him to engage in petty crime like robbing arcade machines. If he refuses, they'll beat him up. It was entertaining if not the most realistic. Surely the greasers would just beat him up in the first place.

I also could have done without the ending epilogue revealing the fates of the different characters. These aren't real people. We don't need to know where they end up. That can be left up to the viewer to decide.

Although American Graffiti had its funny and touching moments, it was too slow and took too long to get going. How was this the same director who did Star Wars?

American Hustle review

 Number 614 on the top 1000 films of all time is David O'Russell's black comedy crime film 'American Hustle.'

Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale) and Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) are two con-artists who are enlisted by FBI agent Richie Dimaso (Bradley Cooper) to entrap corrupt politicians like Mayor of Camden, New Jersey, Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner.) Jennifer Lawrence also stars as Irving's emotionally unstable wife Rosalyn.

While this film has some great acting talent, especially from a cast involving Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper and Jeremy Renner, I think that the female co-stars majorly outshone their male counterparts. Amy Adams was very good as the con-woman Sydney Prosser. She effortlessly switches from her British persona, complete with accent, of Lady Edith Greensly, to her native American accent. But the love triangle between her, Irving and Rosalyn eventually comes to a head, leading to a very effective and powerful confrontation.

Jennifer Lawrence was also very good as Rosalyn. I think she brought a quiet power to a vulnerable role. She really helped to bring her character to life. All four principle actors received Oscar nods, but Lawrence and Adams also received Golden Globe and Bafta nods with Adams getting the Golden Globe and Lawrence the Golden Glove AND the Bafta. And Robert De Niro was very effective in his uncredited cameo role as a Florida mob boss. It was a small but sweet part.

Unlike some other directors, David O'Russell actively encouraged improvisation on set with much of the dialogue being ad-libbed. At times, this led to some strangely, long pauses as the actors weren't sure what they were going to say next, but at others it led to an authentic and realistic portrayal. After all, American Hustle is partially based on the true story of the FBI's abscam investigation.

This was definitely a good film. Although Bale, Cooper and Renner might be arguably bigger names, I think Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence were the true stars.

Moneyball review

 Number 720 on the top 1000 films of all time is the biographical sports drama 'Moneyball.'

Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) is the general manager of the Oakland Athletics baseball team. After a disappointing season, and with a minimal budget, he is on a mission to rebuild a bigger and better team. He enlists the help of Yale economics graduate Peter Brand (Jonah Hill) who uses special formulae to determine the best players to buy. This puts Beane in conflict with the other scouts and head coach Art Howe (Philipp Seymour Hoffman.)

Some critics have said that Moneyball is an enjoyable film even if you're not a baseball fan. I am a Brit, so I am most definitely not a baseball fan. Yet, I didn't enjoy Moneyball at all. But, of course, that's because I wasn't interested in the content rather than any fault of director Bennett Miller. The film held no importance or meaning to me. I didn't really understand what the characters were talking about.

Billy Beane used to be a baseball player himself. But after years of under-performing, he goes into management. He is haunted by his past failures which is revisited in odd flashbacks. This was supposed to flesh out his character, but I don't think enough time was spent on it to be effective.

I much preferred the quieter scenes where we see Billy trying to establish a connection with his estranged daughter Casey particularly when they're in a guitar shop and she sings The Show. This was very touching. I wish we had more scenes like this.

The actual performances weren't anything special either. Philip Seymour Hoffman was highly underused. While Jonah Hill's performance earned him a best supporting actor nod, I'm not sure whether his performance really merited it.

If you're a baseball fan, you'll probably love this film. And if you're not like me, you'll think it's a 153 minute snoozefest.

Ip Man 2 review

 Number 719 on the top 1000 films of all time is the Hong Kong martials art film and sequel to Ip Man, Ip Man 2.

Set after World War Two, Hong Kong has returned to British control. The Japanese are gone and Ip Man (Donnie Yen) tries to navigate life in this new world. He begins teaching Wing Chun earning the ire of the martial arts matters who think he is disrupting the local system. But a new enemy arrives when the corrupt British police begin setting up Western Boxing matches to compete against Chinese martial arts.

I enjoyed the first Ip Man far more than I thought, as there was a strong story running behind the spectacular martial art sequences. yet, I don't think the story was as strong here. Things start promisingly enough. After the Japanese occupation has ended, Ip Man is questioning his place in life. When he tries setting up his own dojos, this puts him in opposition with the other martial art masters. And this leads to a series of spectacularly choregraphed, but overlong fight sequences.

But things start feeling overfamiliar when the British are involved. The storyline is re-hashed from the first film. The British have replaced the Japanese, and boxing has replaced karate. And the great Japanese actors have been replaced by less than convincing English ones. I guess it didn't help their character were rather two-dimensional. There was nothing particularly memorable about the British boxing champion Twister (Darren Shahlavi) who was little else than your standard brash, arrogant and overly-shouty villain.

And as the story was so similar, it was very predictable. I could easily guess how things would end. And I was right. While Ip Man 2 might have had some fantastic martial arts sequences, it was too familiar to its predecessor to have been truly enjoyable for me to watch.

Les Miserables review

 Number 474 on the top 1000 films of all time is Tom Hooper's 2012 epic, period musical 'Les Miserables.'

Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman) is a French former convict who has just been paroled after nineteen years in prison. His crime? Stealing a loaf of bread. But policeman Javert (Russell Crowe) refuses to believe he has changed and is determined to send him back to prison. Meanwhile. Valjean reforms and becomes a factor worker. When one of his workers Fantine (Anne Hathaway) dies, Valjean declares to take care of her impoverished daughter Cosette.

Les Mis is what's known as a sung-through musical. Unlike other musicals, which alternate between music and narrative, Les Mis is all but music. It's a bit like Sweeney Todd. And I've learned that I do not care for sung-through musicals. Watching them are a tedious affair. I know now that music is essential to a sung-through musical, but it was overwhelming. There was far too much singing.

I say singing...they were basically singing lines of dialogue. It hardly made for memorable songs. Obviously you have Anne Hathaway's famous I Dreamed a Dream, but the only other notable song was Look Down, which was sang by the convicts at the start of the film, before being later taken up as a protest song.

The film is also over 2 and a half hours long. It could have been far shorter if a lot of the musical numbers had been trimmed. in many cases, the songs became like exposition telling the viewer what was happening instead of showing them. When Javert and Valjean's paths cross after many years, Javert sings 'a thought stirs in my mind,' which was a rather ham-fisted line of dialogue. I also did not need a whole song where Eponine (Samantha Barks) declares her unrequited love for student revolutionary Marius Pontmercy (Eddie Redmayne.) This much was obvious through her longing looks. We did not need a whole song.

As for the performances, they were as good as you would expect from such a star-studded cast, which also included the likes of Amanda Seyfried, Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen. Anne Hathaway deservingly won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar despite having a minimal amount of screentime.

I really did not like this film. It was a melodramatic, over-dramatic affair. And I know it was a sung-through musical, but there was far too much singing.

The Birds review

 Number 510 on the top 1000 films of all time is Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 horror-thriller 'The Birds.'

Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hendren) is a socialite who meets lawyer Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor) in a San Francisco bird shop. later, she drives to his home in Bodega Bay where she, him, and the towns people start being attacked by the local bird population.

What struck me most about this film was one of Hitchcock's most intentional decisions. He chose to direct the film without a conventional film score. And with next-to-none incidental music. And this worked brilliantly. It made a scary film even scarier. And this was a scary film. The lack of music made the tension go through the roof. The seeming lack of motive behind the birds' attacks made them even more terrifying.

However, I think the bird attacks being so random- they indiscriminately attack anybody regardless of time or location - proved to be the film's biggest shortcoming. as there is no discernible reason for why they could be attacking although a drunk bargoer speculates it is the end of the world, there is also no strategy for how to defeat them. When the townspeople do meet to discuss the issue, a birdwatcher is sceptical of the attacks, and even more sceptical of any preventative measures. But this lack of plan leads to a sagging of the narrative that culminates in an anti-climatic conclusion. *Spoilers* Melanie, Mitch and his family, drive away into an uncertain future. As nothing is resolved, it's all very unsatisfactory.

The character of Melanie was also unsatisfactory. She was just so useless. the Birds was released in 1963. but Melanie had none of the agency I might expect from the female characters of the time. When she foolishly goes off on her own to investigate strange noises, she discovers a whole room of birds. They attack her, and she doesn't even call for help. How Mitch ever knew she was in there to rescue her was the film's biggest mystery. But I also knew that Hitchcock and Hendren had a less than harmonious relationship behind the scenes, so maybe that was a contributing factor to Melanie's poor writing.

This notwithstanding 'The Birds' is still a very scary horror film. And Hitchcock is damn good at horror films.