Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring review

 Number 233 on the top 1000 films of all time is the Korean drama 'Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring.'

The film is set in a Korean Buddhist monastery exploring the relationship between the unnamed apprentice (Kim Young-Min) and his unnamed master (O Yeong-Su.) We see the apprentice grow from a little boy into a man with each stage of his life being reflected in one of the seasons mentioned in the title.

Christ, this was a tedious film. Maybe I'm just not spiritually enlightened, as this film heavily leant on Buddhist imagery. However, most of the allusions and symbology went straight over my head. Cats and roosters feature heavily, but I missed out on their significance.

This was because I was bored senseless. This film was so slow. Very little action happens on-screen. We could have seen the apprentice killing his wife's lover or a mysterious mother falling through the ice, but we don't. That would have only been too interesting.

Instead, we were treated to extensive sequences of men standing around, looking pensive, often in complete silence. We don't even get any music to interest us.  Sure the scenery was pretty, but not pretty enough to make up for such a monotonous film. Yes, you get slow-burners, but this wasn't even alight.

It would have helped if we had an interesting likeable main character to follow, but we didn't. From the start, it is obvious that our novice monk has a few screws loose. As a child, he takes delight by tying rocks to a frog, snake and a fish. When he discovers that he is responsible for the snake and frog later dying, he feels guilty and starts crying. Yet that doesn't excuse that psychotic behaviour. Considering he goes onto kill a man, I'm not being hyperbolic.

Yes, his master punishes him tying a rock around him, but that doesn't make him any more likeable. He doesn't get any more likeable when he grows up and falls in love with a woman who arrives at the monastery needing to be cured from a mysterious illness. In the process, he begins a physical relationship with her, breaking his vows in the process. After his master sends her away, our apprentice becomes the world's biggest whinger. He later attempts suicide, but even something as dramatic as this was so boring to watch. It was no more interesting watching his master go a similar route later on.

I'm honestly surprised that I had this much to say about this film. It was so boring that I was shocked that I didn't fall asleep in the first half hour. 

Boiling Point (2022) review

 This 2021 British release is six years too young to appear on IMDB's 2015 edition of the top 1000 films of all time.

Andy (Stephen Graham) is a head chef of a top London restaurant during one busy service. We get a day in the life both he and his team including his sous-chef Carly (Vinette Robinson) and the Maitre-D Beth (Alice Feetham.)

Boiling Point is a one-take film. There aren't any cuts anywhere, as such it has a brilliant energy that keeps the film so engrossing to watch. Day-in-the-life films could have the tendency to be boring or repetitive but that was far from the case here. The action always remained urgent and immediate.

In many ways, it stayed true to what it must be like to work in a kitchen. Thankfully, I never have done, but I have heard the stories. I know that it is a stressful, fast-paced environment. That is especially true of Boiling Point where personalities clash and some big mistakes are made.

Stephen Graham was excellent as the over-stressed head-chef juggling a nasty divorce and his intense job. Meanwhile, he is hiding a dark secret. He is a brilliant actor who is so versatile. This is the same man who plays a gangster in Boardwalk Empire, a soldier in Band of Brothers, a white nationalist in this is England and a prison office in Time.

Yet he can't take all the credit, as there were no weak links in the cast. Boiling Point succeeded b making all its characters interesting. Even though some have more screentime than others, I found myself caring about all of Andy's kitchen brigade from the porters to the pastry chefs.

And we also see the struggles of the front-of-house staff as waitresses Robyn (Aine Rose Daly) and Andrea (Lauryn Ajufo.) have to deal with the rudest (and in Andrea's case) racist customers. For many service staff who deals with these Karens on a daily basis, I'm sure these scenes hit far too close to home. And these customers were Karens to the extreme from telling Andrea how to pour wine and demanding that their roast lamb be cooked well done when it is traditionally served rare.

Meanwhile, there are other customers - or, rather, influencers with ten thousand followers who think they're too good for the restaurant's elegant menu, instead asking for steak and chips. Maitre'D Beth is only too happy to oblige which only puts more stresses on the kitchen. There's so much going on that there is never a dull moment. It's all a pressure cooker waiting to explode.

And that comes in Carly's evisceration of Beth. Both actresses shone especially Alice Feetham who is forced to keep herself from crying despite having her arse handed to her. It's a brilliant little scene.

And that is a perfect way to summarise Boiling Point. Think of it as a ten-course tasting menu where we have a collection of little dishes that wouldn't be much on their own, but come together to create a delicious meal.

El Hoyo (The Platform) November 2019 review

 This 2019 dystopian film is again too modern to feature on IMDB's list of the top 1000 films of all time.

Goreng (Ivan Massague) wakes up one day to find himself in a tower-like holding facility. He and the other inmates are fed once a day via a floating platform that is covered in a banquet of food which stops at each level for a short period of time. The catch? The food isn't replenished between the levels meaning the that inmates above gorge while those below starve.

I think this film would fit perfectly within a new iteration of IMDB's famous list. It is obvious that its audiences love its experimental science-fiction films: you only need to look at entries like Brazil, Cube and Dark City. 

However, El Hoyo, or the Platform, as it is known to international audiences, succeeds where these other films fail is that it finds a way to balance its big ideas with its interesting characters. The theme of greed is the most obvious - if the prisoners only ate what they needed then there would be enough for everyone. Inevitably, that does not happen, as some people can go days or weeks without eating, before they're lucky enough to be randomly assigned to a higher level.

Director Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia also wanted to explore the theme of the distribution of wealth, as well as critiquing capitalism and socialism. Administrator Imoguiri (Antonia San Juan) aims to change the system from within by convincing everybody to only eat what they need and to leave rations for those below. yet her plans are foiled by the selfish desires of the other inmates.

Despite his initial cynicism, Goreng tries to help her achieve her ultimately futile goal. He later meets and helps other characters like Miharu (Alexandra Masangkay) who is looking for her lost child and Baharat (Emilio Buale) who is looking to escape. Every character is interesting, as they all have their own desires and goals.

Ivan Massingue was great as the everyman Goreng who follows a satisfactory hero's arc despite being stuck in a nightmarish reality. Despite being best-known for comedy, he was convincing in a more dramatic role.

Granted things become surreal in the ending, but this was still an intense if harrowing look into a dystopian world. 

Joker (October 2019) Review

 Having come out in October 2019, Todd Philips' Joker is too young to feature on IMDB's top 1000 films of all time, but I am sure it will feature on the next iteration of this list.

Joker provides a re-imagined origin story for the Clown Prince of Crime. It follows Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix), a mentally-ill clown and stand-up comedian who goes through a dark journey into becoming the titular Joker. We see his descent into insanity as he navigates the dark underbelly of Gotham City. Robert De Niro and Zazie Beets co-star.

I've never been a fan of superhero films. In the Marvel/DC debate, I pick neither. I tried watching the MCU, but I got bored by the Age of Ultron. I've seen fewer DC films, but that's done little to convince me of joining their side. IMDB obviously disagrees with me as the Dark Knight featured at number four and you will find the various other superhero films scattered throughout the list.

I had low expectations going into Joker; I thought it would be the usual mess of CGI, gun fights and explosions, but I couldn't have been more wrong. Joker was a masterful psychological thriller exploring what happens when you push a nice man over the edge. It is a far cry from the campy 60's Batman and Robin TV series - tonally closer to the gritty, dark world that Christopher Nolan created in his Dark Knight trilogy.

And just like Heath Ledger, Joaquin Phoenix won a well-deserved Oscar for the role. It was a phenomenal performance, as he brought a scarily-human element to his role. His version of the Joker isn't a gangster or an anarchist, but an everyman who is pushed to his limit. He becomes a symbol for a revolution, as he inspires the down-trodden underclasses to rise up.

Considering Todd Philips is better known for his comedies like the Hangover franchise, it is impressive that he created such an intimate character study which is simultaneously fascinating and terrifying. The Joker could be any one of us. In may ways, he became a mouth piece for our deepest, most-repressed thoughts.

Critics of Joker have said that it is too derivative of previous films such as Martin Scorsesee's Taxi Driver or the King of Comedy - both of which also star Robert De Niro. However, Scorsesee certainly did not pioneer the dark, mysterious loner. I don't think Todd Philips so much ripped off Taxi Driver, as much as he was paying homage to it.

I did touch on Joaquin Phoenix before, but he gave an excellent performance, highlighting why he is one of the most versatile actors working in Hollywood today. You could argue that he should have won an Oscar before now, but Joker was certainly not a legacy win. He earned that award.

Yes, Joker has its critics, but that's only natural. As Frank Sinatra sings throughout the film: "that's life!" 

Star Wars: Rogue One (2016) review

 Set just before the events of Star Wars: A New Hope, Rogue One follows a group of rebels plotting to steal the schematics of the Empire's Death Star in the hopes of finding a fatal weakness. The rebels include renegade Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), Rebel captain and spy, Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), blind warrior monk Chirrut Imwe (Donnie Yen), Chirrut's friend and mercenary Baze Malbus (Jiang Wen) and droid K-2SO (Alan Tudyk).

There is no denying that Star Wars is one of the biggest media franchises in history. The three original films all feature highly on IMDB's list of the top 1000 films of all time with the Empire Strikes Back ranking at 13 and A New Hope at 19. Even the Revenge of the Sith features far lower down on the list. 

But it is difficult to deny that Disney has butchered its attempts at reviving the franchise. Even a casual fan like me can acknowledge that the sequel trilogy are pretty flawed. I am doubtful whether any of their films will appear on an updated version of the aforementioned list that has become my obsession to complete. The only exception would be the anthology film of Rogue One. 

In Rogue One, director Gareth Edwards had the bravery to take the franchise into a darker, unknown territory. For one, it foregoes the opening crawl and transition wipes that has become mainstay of the franchise. Furthermore, the light-hearted whimsy has been substituted for a far starker tonal shift. True, in the Last Jedi, Rian Johnson also tried taking risks, but J.J. Abrams walked most of these back in The Rise of Skywalker. However, the nature of Rogue One meant that nobody could undermine Gareth Edwards' bold direction.

Principally, Rogue One, addresses on of the biggest plot holes that has haunted the original Star Wars films - how could the omnipotent, omniscient Galactic Empire overlook such a vital flaw within their Death Star unless that flaw was disguised as a clever part of sabotage. Cue Mads Mikklesen who stars as Galen Erso - the architect of the Death Star.

He is arguably the biggest name in this film. In line with the previous films, Edwards eschewed casting Hollywood A-listers for lesser-known actors like Diego Luna, Felicity Jones, Donnie Yen and Alan Tudyk. Yet they all brought different elements to their roles especially Donnie Yen who played the blind monk Chirrut Imwe. Again contrasting with the previous films, the Jedi do not play a large role in Rogue One. Alan Tudyk is also great as the comic relief character of K-2SO.

Sure, there are some who would argue that Rogue One is derivative of previous Star Wars films, but I would argue those fans are blinded by nostalgia. In Return of the Jedi, the Galactic Empire are building a second even more powerful Death Star that has the same flaw at the first. And it is doubtful that Galen Erso designed this flaw. If you think about it, it's as stupid as the "somehow Palpatine returned" line.

Another reason why Rogue One is so brave is that is take the bold decision of 

*spoilers alert*

killing all its main characters. The principle cast who we've all grown to love all die at the end of the film. All of them. This would be unusual in any Hollywood film, let alone a Star Wars film. It's certainly a contrast to the cheesy medal ceremony at the end of a New Hope. In fact, the ending of Rogue One is so striking, as it is a rare showcase of the bad guys winning.

Yes, our heroes do get the plans to a CGI'ed Princess Leia, but they all die in the process. That CGI was weird though. It was freaky seeing the deceased Peter Cushion and Carrie Fisher being resurrected by some type of de-aging computer technology. Considering how Star Wars  was so pioneering in its special effects, it is peculiar that the CGI looked so dodgy here.

Anyway, while I don't think that the Force Awaken, the Last Jedi or the Rise of Skywalker would make it onto an updated list of IMDB's top 1000 films, Rogue One surely would even if for the epic Darth Vader sequence at the end. You know the one I mean.

Whiplash (2014) review

 Whiplash was received in 2014. Despite how I started watching IMDB's list of the top 1000 films of all time in 2014, Whiplash did not earn a place. Considering how it received critical acclaim, three Oscars and countless other awards, this was a true mystery.

Whiplash focusses on Andrew Neiman (Miles Teller) an aspiring jazz drummer who comes under the tutelage of the tyrannical Terence Fletcher (JK Simmons) who is determined to make Andrew as good as he can be regardless of the consequences.

Whiplash is an incredible film that is all about how far we'll push ourselves to reach artistic perfection. this notion is no better exemplified than with the brutal Terence Fletcher who takes the idea of the ends justifying the means to a whole new other level. He is a different villain than you typically see in cinema. he isn't a serial killer dressing up as his mother nor is he a giant shark eating everything in its path, but a mere teacher pushing their students to reach their potential by any means necessary. If he pushes a student too far, then that's their problem. They obviously weren't good enough.

He is a one-hundred percent human which is what makes him so scary. That is only elevated by JK Simmons' Oscar-winning performance. Whether on the big or small screen, he is magnificent. Fletcher is an intense role, but Simmons made him one of the most believable and memorable villains of the twenty-first century.

Of course, we can't forget his co-star Miles Teller who was brilliant as Andrew Neiman. Neiman quickly falls under Fletcher's spell, as he is determined to prove himself at any cost. Teller encapsulates the single-minded determination that some people have in achieving their goals. In many cases, he drums until his hands are blistered and bleeding.

Having said that, the film was not perfect. I did not like the ending. *Spoiler alert*

After Fletcher pushes Neiman too far, he rats on him and gets him fired from his job. Later on, they meet again and everything is seemingly fine. Fletcher invites Neiman to perform with his band at the JVC Festival. But this is all a ruse! Fletcher knows that Neiman got him fired. In revenge, he humiliates him by giving him different sheet music to the rest of the band. After a disastrous performance, Neiman storms off stage. But by sabotaging Neiman, Fletcher is sabotaging himself. Surely, this all reflects badly on Fletcher himself? The audience and judges don't know that Neiman was unwittingly playing the wrong music. They don't know that Fletcher was sabotaging him. All they know is that a band leader screwed up by giving his drummer the wrong music.

That aside, Damian Chazelle showed his early promise as a director. He created a thrilling and captivating examination of the complicated relationship between teacher and student. Only a few years later, he would become the youngest recipient of the Best Director Oscar for his film La La Land.

But it all started here. This film was a rollercoaster that will definitely leave you with whiplash (pun intended.)

Frailty review

 Number 963 on the top 1000 films of all time is Bill Paxton's 2001 psychological thriller 'Frailty.'

An adult Adam Meiks (Matthew McConaughey) wanders into an FBI office and confesses to agent Wesley Doyle (Powers Boothe) that his brother Fenton is the mysterious "God's Hand" killer. Afterwards, he recounts how as children, he and Fenton were subjected to their father's (played by Bill Paxton) twisted delusion about how he was on a mission from God to kill demons disguised as normal people.

Spoilers to follow

Frailty marked Bill Paxton's directorial debut. It was certainly creepy and thrilling with a great performance from Matthew  McConaughey, but it was all predicated on a rather flimsy premise. Bill Paxton's character says that he was randomly visited by an angel sending him on a mission to rid the world of its demons.

I found this less than convincing. Yes, he is a single father and widower, but I saw little to suggest that he would just snap like this. His character was missing some much--needed backstory as to why he would become a deluded serial killer. It might have made more sense if he was under a lot of stress, but we can see that he has a happy and healthy relationship with his two sons. Furthermore, there isn't any distinct catalyst that pushes him over the edge. While fixing a car at work, an angel randomly appears in a vision telling him to kill demons and he's all like "yeah, sure thing."

Things remain unconvincing as the story heads toward a conclusion that seemed like it was being too clever for its own good. In my summary, I identified Matthew McCongaughey's character as Adam, but this is only revealed at the film's ending. Hitherto, we were led to believe that he is actually Fenton who is reporting on his brother's murders. As children, their father's madness drives a wedge between the two brothers with Adam becoming his father's disciple and Fenton his opponent.

This culminates in Fenton ultimately killing his father rather than continuing to participate in the murders. We assume that his dad uses his dying breath to tell Adam to continue his legacy, which he does to some extent, but it is later revealed that the God's Hand murders are completely unrelated. This made little sense. Why have two different sets of murders? Surely, it was more logical for Adam to only be investigated for the demon killings.

Sure this film was entertaining, if rather joyless, but it was certainly not without its flaws.