Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas review

 Number 555 on the top 1000 films of all time is Terry Gilliam's black-comedy 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.'

Raoul Duke (Johnny Depp) is a journalist sent to Las Vegas to cover an important motorcycle race. He is joined by his friend and laywer Dr Gonzo (Benicio Del Toro.) Once there, they get high on every drug doing and get into all manner of chaos.

Terry Gilliam is well-known for his surreal, incomprehensible films like Brazil and Twelve Monkeys. However, while those films had some semblance of a storyline 'Fear and Loathing' was an exercise in excess. 'Brazil was about a civil servant looking for love in a hellscape world while Twelve Monkeys focussed on trying to reverse an apocalypse. Sure these films were weird, but I think there was at least supposed to be a point. Or for Twelve Monkeys anyway. Like Brazil, Fear and Loathing seemed to be weird for the sake of weird.

The antics of Raoul Duke and Dr Gonzo soon became tiresome especially as Dr Gonzo is a pretty nasty psychopath. It didn't help that neither Depp or Del Toro were particularly memorable in their roles. And this is saying something considering the calibre of the actors: Del Toro went onto win a Best Supporting Oscar for Stephen Soderbergh's Traffic a few years later. Depp also has a few Oscar nods under his belt. Yet he was just boring lacking any of the usual charisma he brings to a role. And I didn't like Dr Gonzo so I didn't care for Del Toro's performance.

In terms of comedy, it didn't make me laugh very much. Sure, the situations are black and we're supposed to be laughing at and not with the characters, but I spent much of the film rolling my eyes rather than laughing out loud. None of the psychadelic visuals or quirky camera angles could do anything to make the film more interesting.

Instead this was a tedious, overly-indulgent affair which was about two hours too long. I was very glad when the credits started rolling.

25th Hour review

 Number 558 on the top 1000 films of all time is Spike Lee's crime-thriller '25th Hour.'

Monty Brogan (Edward Norton) is a crime lord twenty-five hours away from going to prison. In that time, he has to settle affairs with his girlfriend Naturelle (Rosario Dawson) friends - the obnoxious stockbroker Frank Slaughtery (Barry Pepper) and English teacher Jacob (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and father James (Brian Cox.)

This film had Spike Lee written all over it. It strongly reminded me of Lee's earlier film Do the Right Thing. Similarly, to arguably one of his most famous films, 25th Hour was very heavy-handed in its storytelling. Much of the dialogue had a hammy, over-the-top quality from Ukrainian crime-lord Uncle Nikolai to the obnoxious Frank speaking about closing deals to Ed Norton's famous tirade in the mirror.

This famous diatribe decrying basically any and every ethnic group in New York was ripped straight from David Benioff's source material, except for the addition of Al Qaeda - probably to reflect the changing post 9/11 climate. Maybe my indignation should really be with Ed Norton's delivery instead.

This was definitely one of his worst performances. He was unconvincing as the crime lord Monty because Monty himself was unbelievable. A hardened crime lord was caught by the police because they find his drug money stuffed down the sofa. It's less Pablo Escobar and more world's dumbest criminals. I had to remind myself this was a Tony Soprano type character and not your average hood. 

Similarly, how was Monty so naive about the realities of jail? He is terrified about the thought of going there, which I would understand if he were your average petty crook, but he is high-ranking enough to justify a sit-down with the Ukrainian mob. Surely a man in Monty's position would be able to look after himself in prison or at least be well-connected with those who could protect him.

Norton also lacked a lot of chemistry between co-stars Barry Pepper and Philip Seymour Hoffman. I couldn't believe the three were best friends least of all as Frank and Jacob spend more time together than with Monty. Jacob was also very creepy as he entertained a sexual attraction to his seventeen-year-old student Mary (Anna Paquin) This was an ultimately pointless subplot that went nowhere. All this culminated in a rather laughable climax where Monty goads Frank into beating him up to deter any prison rapists. Pepper was less than convincing than his emotional anguish here.

Finally, Norton also lacked romantic chemistry with Rosario Dawson. They weren't believable together. He was okay opposite Brian Cox, but not even the formidable shoulders of Brian Cox could carry the whole film on his back.

I want to like 25th Hour, but it was just a ham-fisted, eye-rolling affair,.

The Bourne Supremacy

 Number 553 on the top 1000 films of all time is the action-thriller The Bourne Supremacy.

Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) is a former CIA agent with amnesia. After the events of the last film, he is trying to live a normal life in India with his girlfriend Maria (Franka Potente.) However, he is forced out of hiding when he is framed for a crime he didn't commit. Joan Allen, Julia styles, Brian Cox and Karl urban co star.

I've never been a fan of this film series and this film did little to move the needle. The main reason was that the characterisations and characters were paper-thin. Julia Styles's character of technician Nicky Parsons was little more than a snivelling wreck. Was she this much of a wet blanket in the first film? Or did director Paul Greengrass want to do Julie Styles dirty? Karl Urban wasn't particularly menacing as a Russian hit man either. He had more of a look of an overgrown emo rather than a ruthless murderer.

This brings me onto the film's plot focussing on Jason and Marie or rather Jason as Marie

*spoilers*

is killed by mistake early in the film. Emo Karl Urban was trying to kill Jason but he killed Marie instead. In the Bourne Identity I was highly critical of their relationship, declaring they had no romantic chemistry. The same applied here. 

As well as trying to clear his name, Bourne also wants to revenge on emo Karl Urban which I would have found believable if their relationship was more believable. It doesn't help that he doesn't seem that cut up about her death. He doesn't even shed one tear and only remembers her death when it's convenient. It was very much the fridging the wife cliche done very badly. 

Matt Damon was nothing special as Bourne. I guess he did the action sequences well enough but he was fairly wooden when it came to anything more emotional. Any redeeming factors? Brian Cox's inclusion as a corrupt CIA chief? Cox is usually very good in whatever he's in but not even he could save this generic action film.

The Bourne Supremacy? There was nothing supreme about this film at all.

Frost/Nixon review

 Number 552 on the top 1000 films of all time is Ron Howard's historical drama Frost/Nixon.

1970's America was rocked by the Watergate Scandal which saw Richard Nixon resign the presidency. To rehabilitate this his image, Nixon (played by Frank Langella) gives a series of tell-all interviews by English has-been talk-show host David Frost (Michael Sheen.) Kevin bacon, Rebecca Hall, Matthew McFayden and Sam Rockwell all co-star in this dramatisation of the true-life story.

Forst/Nixon reminded me of another Watergate-themed film: All the President's Men which focussed on the actual investigation into Watergate. Although I like that film on the first watch, subsequent rewatches proved it hard-going and confusing. I thought it would be a similar case here, but I'm glad to say I was wrong.

Frost-Nixon was a surprisingly gripping film especially so as it was a very talkey film, by its nature. Ron Howard employed a docu-drama esque style where he had talking heads speaking directly to the camera and providing helpful bits of exposition for dopey viewers like me.

However, what this film hinged on the most was the strength of its two leads. Sheen and Langella certainly delivered the goods. Initially, Frost seems like a deer in the headlights, woefully unprepared, as he allows Nixon to dominate the conversation. He is less Jeremy Paxman and more Graham Norton, but as the interview progresses we see his confidence build.

Frank Langella was also a worthy opponent. He was great as Richard Nixon. He rightly deserved a Best Actor nomintation, which paired well with the Tony Award he received for the original stage production of the film. Frost/Nixon began life as a theatre play written by Peter Morgan who also wrote the screenplay, receiving an Oscar nomination. True he took some creative license, but he still crafted an interesting script.

If I were to criticise anything, it would be Rebecca Hall's inclusion as Frost's girlfriend Caroline Cushing. Cushing was a rather boring and pointless character. Wait sorry. She did buy cheeseburgers for Frost.

That aside I did enjoy Frost/Nixon. it was a surprising watch but a welcome one to be sure.

The Sandlot review

 Number 551 on the top 1000 films of all time is the sports coming-of-age drama 'The Sandlot.'

Scotty Smalls (Tom Guiry) is the new kid on the block. Struggling to make friends, he reluctantly begins playing baseball with a group of eight neighbourhood kids led by the popular Benny Rodriguez (Mike Vitar.)

The Sandlot reminded me of the The Goonies. You had a group of little boys finding out the real treasure was the friendship they made along the way. There were plenty of shenanigans and misadventures which makes the audience pine for their youth.

Except the Goonies was better as instead of having four or five annoying pre-pubescent boys who couldn't stop laughing, you had eight of them. At times I wanted to watch this film on mute, they were so annoying. And they weren't particularly well-characterised. Except for Scotty and Benny, they all blended into one.

That's not true. I'm being unfair. You could distinguish the characters on how annoying they were. You had the two brothers Timmy Timmons (Victor Dimattia) and Tommy "Repeat" Timmons (Shane Obedzinski) with Tommy repeating everything his brother said. Then you had Michael "Squints" Palledorous (Chauncey Leopardi) who tricks the older lifeguard into kissing him. The two later go onto get married. In today's age, this would more likely result in a restraining order. #metoomovement. It was all so weird and unrealistic. God and then there was the super obnoxious Hamilton "Ham" Porter (Patrick Renna.)

Speaking of unrealistic, you had the unrealistically naive and innocent protagonist Scotty. I get that he is a completely inept sportsman. I get it. I'm no better. I write reviews nobody reads instead of batting in the MLB but unlike Scotty I can catch and throw a ball. It was so silly that he couldn't do this. Plus, how has he never heard of Babe Ruth? I'm a limey with no interest in baseball and even I've heard of him.

The second half of the film also functioned on a really bad plot hole. *spoilers*

During one game, the kids bat their baseball into a garden patrolled by a fearsome English Mastiff called the Beast. They are unable to retrieve it and their game stops. However, Scotty keeps the game going by stealing his stepdad's baseball signed by Babe Ruth.

This is great until this too goes into the mastiff's lair. And as it was signed by Babe Ruth, they have to get it back. But so nobody notices the difference at home, the boys raise ninety cents by selling bottles and they buy a temporary replacement ball.

Why didn't they just do that in the first place? It's not like it was difficult for them to raise the money? One scene Benny was telling them to find bottles. The next they're buying a new ball. There was no reason for Scotty to steal his dad's baseball.

Don't get me wrong, there are some great coming-of-age dramas out there...Stand By Me, Mud, City of God if you want to call it that. But the Sandlot was not one of them.

Show me Love (Fucking Åmål) review

 Number 547 on the top 1000 films of all time is the Swedish coming-of-age romantic-comedy.

Agnes Ahlberg (Rebecka Lilijeberg) is a sixteen-year-old recluse. She has no friends but is secretly in love with her classmate Elin (Alexandra Dahlstrom) a party girl who hates the boring town of Amal where both girls live.

Show Me Love was Lukas Moodysson's directiorial debut. He would go onto to direct the tragic Lilya-4-ever which also starred a lost, naive female protagonist, although in far more dire circumstances tha here. To be honest, Lilya-4-ever was a far better film.

Show Me Love had the look of a low-budget teen drama. Considering its budget was nine million Swediwsh Kroner, under £80,000 (no doubt less than this thirty years ago) I guess there's a reason it looks like a test version of Skins.

Of course a low budget doesn't dictate a film being bad. However, it helps if the film has likeable characters. Both Agnes and Elin were annoying. Agnes bemoans being lonely and friendless but is rude to the only other girl who turned up to her birthday party, which quite rightfully, comes back to bite her on the arse. Meanwhile, Elin comes across as incredibly shallow.

Yes, of course, they're teenagers and that's what teenagers are like, but it also didn't make their characters heroes I wanted to see succeed. I'll concede that they became more likeable as they were allowed to mature and develop. It's just a shame that they were so damn annoying at first.

The film also had a strange ending scene as if Moodysson didn't know how to end his debut.

*spoilers*

Cornered in the school bathroom with fears of bother their relationship and sexuality being outed, the two girls choose to out their relationship to the school and are all the better for it. This would have been a good ending except then there was another scene of them drinking chocolate milk in Agnes' room. Very weird and ultimately pointless. It would have been far more powerful to have ended it with the outing scene.

Maybe I should give Moodysson some grace. This was his debut after all. Without this film, he would never have gone onto direct the heartbreaking Lilya-4-ever.

Goodbye Lenin review

 Number 541 on the top 1000 films of all time is the German tragicomedy 'Goodbye Lenin.'

On the eve of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the emotionally fragile mother and staunch Socialist Unity Party supporter Christiane Kerner (Katrin Suss) falls into a coma. Upon waking up, the wall has fallen and Germany has been re-unified. However, her son Alex (Daniel Bruhl) resolves to hide the truth, in case, the shock kills her.

I think it's quite easy to compare this film to the later German film: the Lives of Others. Released three years later, this film is also set in the newly-reunited Germany although with a far more dour tone.

Not necessarily a bad thing, but Goodbye Lenin had a far more hopeful and optimistic tone. The Lives of Others was all about exposing subterfuge, but Goodbye Lenin hinged on subterfuge. Most of all from Alex who is desperately trying to keep the truth from his mother even as his web of lies spins out of control.

Alex was played by Daniel Bruhl in his breakout role. Since then he has gone onto appear in Hollywood films like Inglorious Basterds and Rush. But Goodbye Lenin was where everything started. Alex's dedication into keeping the truth from his mother soon grew into an unhealthy obsession that threatens to tear apart his relationship with hi sister Ariane (Maria Simon) and girlfriend Lara (Chulpun Kamatova.)

Although the charade starts with the best of intentions it soon unravels as Christiane starts getting glimpses of the real world. No amount of fake news reports that Alex films especially will do anything to stop Christiane from discovering the truth.

All this would be good and well expect this narrative work is undone in the film's final act. After Christiane recovers well enough to visit the family dacha and reveal a devastating family secret, she suddenly relapses and has to return to hospital. It all just seemed a rather cheap way to generate conflict.

That being said, I did enjoy Goodbye Lenin. I enjoyed its hopeful, optimistic tone and it did launch Daniel Bruhl's career. Although it wasn't Oscar-nominated it quite rightly won other awards like Cesars and Lolas.