Enter the Dragon review

Number 583 on the top 1000 films of all time is the martial arts drama Enter the Dragon.

 Lee (Bruce Lee) is an ace martial artist and instructor at the Shaolin Temple. He is approached by the English spy Braithewaite (Geoffrey Weeks) to go on an undercover operation. The objective? To investigate crime lord and former Shaolin Temple student Han. (Shih Kien) Han is suspected of running a human and drug trafficking operation from his own island under the guise of a martial arts competition. Lee is sent to compete. He is aided by the playboy and gambler Roper (John Saxon) and Williams (Jim Kelly) who is on the run after being accosted by racist police.

If there are two types of films I don’t like, it’s action films and martial arts films. Enter the Dragon did not do anything to move the needle. Like many other martial arts, action films I’ve seen, Enter the Dragon was all too cheesy and over-the-top with admittedly well-choregraphed action sequences but rather deftless dialogue.

There have been some who have compared it to a martial arts version of a James Bond film, which would be an apt comparison. Swap the guns for Kung Fu and the suave Sean Connery for the straight forward Lee and it’s almost a spitting image. There was a multitude of unnecessary henchmen and even more unnecessary female characters who didn’t really add anything to the plot. Neither did Williams to be honest except for highlighting how bad the bad guy really was.

Enter the Dragon is regarded as being one of the most influential martial arts films of all time and you could argue that it certainly pioneered the genre in Hollywood. Subsequent Wuxia films like the IP man franchise or Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon owe a lot to Enter the Dragon. It would be unfair to criticise it for its martial art sequences, but, while they were all well-choregraphed, they all became a bit tedious after a while. The same could be said for the actual film, which all culminated to a rather damp squib of an ending. It all seemed to be building toward a big bang but instead finished with little more than a whimper. Yes, Han gets his just desserts, but I was expecting something more dramatic.

 Like many of the films on this list, especially the Wuxia and action films, there is a definite audience for films like Enter the Dragon. But I am definitely not part of that audience.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind review

Number 582 on the top 1000 films of all time is Steven Spielberg’s science-fiction drama ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind.’

Close Encounters tells the story of two characters: electrical linesman and family man, Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) and single mother Jillian (Melinda Dillon) as their lives change forever after encounters with UFOs and aliens.

Spielberg is one of the most famous film directors in history. From The Colour Purple, to Jurassic Park, to Lincoln, Schindler’s List, he has done everything from period piece to tragedy to biopic. In the seventies, he is credited to kicking off the summer blockbuster trend with the iconic Jaws. I was expecting big things from Close Encounters of the Third Kind, but I was left disappointed. I would definitely say it was one of Spielberg’s weaker efforts. The key reason was its pace. It was just slow.

It lacked the same narrative tension that Jaws or Jurassic Park contained. Far from being an edge-of-your seat thriller, I found myself sinking back into my sofa. The suspense was lacking. That’s because I didn’t really care for the characters. Richard Dreyfuss maybe best known for his role Matt Hooper in Jaws, where he was a far more interesting character. Spielberg demanded that Roy be an every-man character instead of a copper or a man in uniform and that’s where this character failed. In anything, he was too normal. There wasn’t too much to distinguish him from any other character. Dreyfuss wasn’t particularly memorable.

His wife Ronnie (Teri Garr) was equally annoying, but I think that was more down to how her character was written. After Roy encounters the aliens, he starts becoming obsessed with them. Ronnie initially indulges his fantasies before she loses his patience with him. She functions as an antagonist stopping Roy from achieving his goals. It was a necessary role, I guess, but not a likeable one. And it did slow up the story. I really didn’t care about Roy’s failing relationship with his family.

The actual interesting part of the story lay with the single mother Jillian whose three-year-old son Barry is abducted by the aliens. This is preceded by a particularly scary sequence where the aliens set off every appliance in Jillian’s home, as she desperately tries to stop Barry from walking toward the light. This was probably one of the best-executed scenes in the film: if the rest of Close Encounters was like this, it would have been more interesting to watch.

However, one aspect of Spielberg’s films that can never be criticised is John William’s film score. Similar to Jaws, he composed a simple five-tone motif that the aliens use to communicate with humans. And just like Jaws, this motif has become iconic throughout the film world.

I wouldn’t go so far as to call Close Encounters of the Third Kind a bad film. It isn’t bad, but in comparison to some of Spielberg’s most popular hits, it definitely struggles to leave the ground.

Shortcuts review

Number 563 on the top 1000 films of all time is Robert Altman’s comedy drama: Short Cuts. 

Short Cuts tells a slice of life story of a group of strangers in LA whose lives occasionally intersect. There is the Finnegan family consisting of TV personality Howard (Bruce Davison,) his wife Anne (Andie Mcdowell) and their son Casey. There is also the Wymans: Ralph (Matthew Modine) and Marian (Julianne Moore,) and not forgetting Marian’s sister, Sherri (Madeline Stowe) whose husband, cop Gene (Tim Robbins) is cheating on her. Chris Penn, Robert Downey Junior, Frances Mcdormand, Tom Waits and a whole host of others all co-star.

Shortcuts reminded me of other slice-of-life films like Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia or the repulsive Happiness – insert links. Just like Short Cuts which clocked in at a monstrous 188 minutes, Magnolia and Happiness are similarly epic in length. This is also matched by their huge ensemble casts including the likes of Tom Cruise, Philip Seymour Hoffman and others I need to check. Through the very nature of slice-of-life films, you need interesting characters. They are absolutely essential for the plot to succeed. In this regard, Short Cuts wasn’t comparable to Magnolia at all, but at least it wasn’t disgusting like Happiness.

Unfortunately, Short Cuts did just lack the same interesting and memorable characters that films like Magnolia had. Tom Cruise was rightly nominated for an Oscar for his work in Magnolia. He was terrific, but I can’t really think of any equivalent performances in Short Cuts. Robert Altman landed a Best Director nod, but that was it for the Oscars. Although evidently the critics don’t agree with me as Short Cuts won Best Ensemble at the Golden Globes, Julianne Moore and Andi McDowell were nominated and Madeline Stowe received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar from the National Society of Film Critics.

That’s their prerogative. I still can’t think back to a certain character and definitively say this film was all the better with them in it.  Many of the characters blended into one with few exceptions. I don’t think Tim Robbins was particularly convincing as the alcoholic, antagonistic, adultering cop Gene…but maybe it’s because he was so damn good in films like the Shawshank Redemption or Mystic River where he played tragic heroes.

Alas I think Short Cuts was a film undone by its very premise. If you have a slice-of-life drama where the audience has no interest in the lives being portrayed, then you won’t have a very interesting film. That was the case here.

Flipped review

 Number 577 on the top 1000 films of all time is Rob Reiner's 2010 coming of age romantic drama Flipped.

Flipped tells the story of Bryce Loski (Callan Mcauliffe) and Juli Baker (Madeline Carroll) Upon meeting as kids, she falls in love with him. We see their love to and froe as they grow until adulthood where Juli is just about to give up when...

Rob Reiner's murder at the hands of his son is a tragedy. He will be best remembered for directing great films like The Princess Bride and Misery. Will he be remembered for directing Flipped? Nope. It was a very meh film and not particularly memorable. In terms of coming of age dramas, it was definitely no Stand By Me.

Much of this was down to the two lead characters and their rather insipid romance. Bryce is a major bonehead so much so that you do wonder why Juli was attracted to him in the first place. I guess love is both blind and deaf and dumb.

Callan Mcauliffe played Bryce At 15. He hasn't gone onto the most illustrious of careers other than a supporting role in the latter seasons of the Walking dead. He wasn't anything special as the bland protagonist. And wasn't particulary endearing either. The same can be said for Juli who was equally bland as Juli. I wasn't particularly interested in learning if the two get together or not.

Sure you could argue their messy love story is reflective of love stories everywhere but that didn't make it anymore interesting. It didn't help there wasn't much conflict keeping them apart except for their own pride and hubris. It was very much a case of stupid characters making stupid choices for no reason but to push the plot forward. Sure Bryce's father thinks Juli's family is beneath them but this felt more like an after thought.

Rob Reiner was a fine director who will be remembered for a great many films. However, Flipped is a film best forgotten.

The City of Lost Children review

 Number 566 on the top 1000 films of all time is the science-fantasy film 'The City of Lost Children.'

The City of Lost Children is set in a dystopic city where the monstrous being Krank (Daniel Emilfork) is kidnapping children to steal their dreams. One such child is Deree, the adopted little brother of carnival strongman, One (Ron Perlman.) He joins a group of orphans to stop Krank's terrible plans.

It's easy to compare The City of Lost Children to the earlier 1991 post-apocalyptic film Delicatessen. Both were French, both have a colourful set of characters and both are seriously weird.

You can make similar comparisons to Terry Gillam's films: Brazil, Twelve Monkeys and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. All of these films take surrealism to a whole other level. They also take incomprehensible plots to a whole new level. I'm tempted to echo famed film critic Roger Ebert who said that while the visual design was great, the plot line was extremely confusing. I wouldn't be honest if I said I knew what happened during the film. While you can't fault the cinematography and production design, the plot is absolutely baffling. I'm not sure if I can really explain it or talk about it now.

And Ebert was right to praise the film's stylistic design. There is a host of memorable characters from the conjoined twins leading the group of orphans to the cyclops that act as Krank's enforcers to the other oddities that Krank's mad scientist creator also made. There is also a decaying steampunk aesthetic like something you would see in the Matrix. I just wish I understood the story that went along with it. I'm still not sure what Ron Perlman was doing in the film.

I wasn't sure about anything in this film. It was like a mad fever dream. And dreams never make the most sense.

Boy A film

 Number 569 on the top 1000 films of all time is the 2007 British drama 'Boy A.'

Jack Burridge (Andrew Garfield) is a young man with a troubled past. Released from prison after a long sentence, he desperately tries to go straight with the help of his social worker Terry (Peter Mullan.)

Boy A was a gritty social drama based on the book of the same name by Jonathan Trigell. It has been compared to the horrific James Bulger murder and, indeed, Trigell was inspired by the resulting media frenzy. The comparisons were clear to see: there are two troubled pre-teens Jack Burridge and his deeply problematic friend Philip Craig (Taylor Doherty.) The two commit and awful crime (more on this in a  bit.) Ten years later, Jack is released into society.

Andrew Garfield played Jack in his debut film role and while he was rough around the edges, you could see the glimmers of the film star he would go onto become. Jack spent his adolescence in prison. Upon release, he is naturally shy and socially awkward. Garfield played the role with grace making Jack endearing despite his secret, dark past. Despite everything that happened, he wants to do better and atone for his crimes.

Equally good was Peter Mullen as social worker Terry. Everybody knows that social work is a thankless job and it's common for social workers to burn out and give up. Yet Terry never gives up on Jack. No matter how hard it gets. Peter Mullen stopped Terry from being just another beaten-down social worker.

Yet a lot of this was undone in the film's final act. Spoilers to follow. Flashbacks throughout the film hint to why Jack spent his adolescence in prison. The true reason is revealed to be he and Philip murdering and possibly assaulting a fellow school-girl  - although it isn't revealed who did what. I had grown to like Jack, but then it's released that he possibly killed a little girl. It feels a bit gross to have rooted for a character like that now.

We don't see Philip in Jack's adult life as it's revealed he died in jail - whether by his own hand or another is up for debate. However, what we know for certain is that Jack and Philip were best friends. I was expecting the troublemaker Philip to be attacked or killed and Jack to take revenge in a crime of passion. This would have been a somewhat justifiable motive. Not the murder of a little girl.

The weak ending aside, Boy A was a good film with a strong debut from Andrew Garfield.

Remember the Titans review

 Number 573 on the top 1000 films of all time is the biopic sports-drama 'Remember the Titans.'

Remember the Titans is based on a true story. It is set in 1970's Virginia. In an effort to successfully integrate the T.C Williams High School, the school board initially hires Herman Boone (Denzel Washington) to coach the black football team, before deciding he should integrate the black and white teams. He is aided by the school's former coach Bill Yoast (Will Patton.) Ryan Hurst and Ryan Gosling co-star.

Remember the Titans should have been like a shot of adrenaline, yet another painful reminder of the US's racial history where the audience are brought face to face with the country's terrible past. It should have been like a slap to the cheek. Instead it was like being tickled with a feather duster. There was no grit. No bite. Nothing beyond the lofty ideals. It reminded me of Crash and its over-simplified take on race relations.

I think much of this can be put down to how Remember the Titans was a Disney film. It suffered terribly because of the studio. As it was Disney, it needed to be a family-friendly story that stripped away all the nuance and hard-hitting social commentary especially on the topic of racism. Other than the odd racial slur, it felt like a coming-of-age drama with the odd song or too.

You can't really fault Denzel Washington for this. He did his best with a cheesy script, but he's been in much better similar films like Glory. Less good were some of his co-stars. I get that Ryan Hurst was young and this was long before his winning roles in Sons of Anarchy and The Walking Dead, but he was pretty wooden as the football captain Gerry Bertier. His romance with his girlfriend was pretty boring too even as we see her rejecting him because of how he embraces integration.

While Ryan Gosling was only a supporting character, I was expecting him to do more than just dance. It was difficult to believe that he would go on to become one of Hollywood's greatest leading men. But at least the Ryans looked like high-schoolers. Ethan Suplee who played Louie Lastik was the oldest sixteen year old I had ever seen. His receding hairline did little to help things.

As for the black footballers like Ronnie "Sunshine" Bass (Kip Pardue) and Jerry "Rev" Harris (Craig Kirkwood,) they were similarly under-developed and one-note. I think the script did a lot of their characters a big disservice especially when they should have been the main stars.

But we cannot blame the cheesy, over-simplified script for everything. Ultimately, this was a Walt Disney misfire - a misguided attempt to deliver what should have been a hard-hitting piece of social commentary in the cheesiest most sanitised way possible.