Flags of Our Fathers review

 Flags of our Fathers (FOOF) accompanies Letters from Iwo Jima (LFIJ.) Having seen the latter companion film first, it only made sense to watch this film too.

John "Doc" Bradley (Ryan Philippe,) Ira Hayes (Adam Beach) and Rene Gagnon (Jesse Bradford) are three of the six men who raised the flag on the Japanese island of Iwo Jima, on day five of the American's successful invasion, during the last few months of WW2. When their three colleagues subsequently die, Doc, Hayes and Gagnon are sent back home to raise money for the war effort. However, none of the three see themselves as heroes.

FOOF and LFIJ have their similarities. They tell similar stories from different perspectives and they're both directed by Clint Eastwood. However, LFIJ made it onto the top 1000 films of all time whereas FOOF didn't. LFIJ was subtle, nuanced and complex, but FOOF had all the subtlety of a sledge-hammer to the face.

A lot of that was down to the writing. FOOF was penned by Paul Haggis who also wrote the less-than-subtle Crash. It is no secret that the US treats it veterans appallingly. Sure when they're winning wars, the US is happy to spend billions on them, but as soon as they return home with PTSD and missing limbs, all that support evaporates. Just look at how many homeless veterans litter the streets of the USA.

Although this was an important point to address, it was far too on the nose. These three PTSD-suffering veterans are forced to raise money for a cause they no longer believe in. They're made to re-enact the flag-planting on a giant papier-mache mock-up of Mount Suribachi in front of a stadium of fans. This was supposed to be a comment on how badly military veterans are being exploited, but the real kicker, for me, came when the veterans were given little marble replicas of their flag-raising effort accompanied by either chocolate or strawberry sauce. Naturally, the strawberry sauce looked like blood.

Out of the three leads, I thought Adam Beach was the best, although that isn't saying much. Ira Hayes has intense PTSD; he is most resistant about going on the bond drive. To drown his sorrows, he turns to drink. And to top everything off, he is of the Pima tribe and faces intense discrimination despite his hero-status. But Adam beach played the role with gravitas and sympathy. He was certainly better than Ryan Philppe who scowled his way through the film. And Jesse Bradford was as bland as a ham sandwich.

FOOF was definitely a dud in Eastwood's directing repertoire. It was watchable enough, but quite rightly did not deserve a place on the top 1000 films of all time. 

All the President's Men review

 Number 325 on the top 1000 films of all time is the biographical political-drama 'All the President's Men.'

In 1972 Washington DC, five burglars are caught breaking into the headquarters Democratic National Committee within the Watergate Office Building. Reporters Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) and Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman,) from the Washington Post are assigned to investigate the case. But they soon unravelling a conspiracy theory that goes all the way to President Nixon himself.

The Watergate Scandal was no doubt one of the biggest political fiascos of the twentieth century. After all, it did bring down Richard Nixon. To this day, he is the only American president to resign.

It was also incredibly complicated. The film was equally complicated. I've watched it twice and I feel I need a massive cork board with red string to understand all the little intricacies and nuances. Not to mention the endless litany of names that are all connected to the conspiracy theory. From Sloane - the treasurer for the Committee to Re-elect, to Colson - Nixon's special counsel, to Hunt - one of Colson's employees, the list was veritably endless.

Despite this, 'All the President's Men,' is still quite watchable. Considering much of the film is Woodward and Bernstein either talking on the phone or furiously typing on typewriters you do question how much drama could this possibly generate. The answer is a lot. The tension always remained high.

In slow-burn dramas that are low on spectacle, it is vital that you have a strong cast. With Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford as the leads, that was certainly the case here. They were engaging as the two journalists thrown together to solve the case. Not believing Woodward to be experienced enough, he is paired with the time-tested Bernstein. The two journalists started as rivals, but ended as allies and friends.

I would also give a quick shout-out to Hal Holbrook who played Deepthroat - a mysterious man who became Woodward's key confidential source. We know nothing about this character except for his propensity to have conversations in shadowy car parks, but Holbrook still made him very interesting. I've only seen Holbrook in his older years, so it was nice to see him as a younger man.

All the President's Men is certainly a complicated and long film. Low on spectacle, it would be easy to dismiss it as dull. But there was enough tension bursting under the surface to make this slow-burner an interesting enough watch.

Letters from Iwo Jima review

 Number 362 on the top 1000 films of all time is the Japanese-language American-produced Letters from Iwo Jima.

General Kuribayashi (Ken Watanabe) is granted the impossible task of defending the Japanese island of Iwo Jima from American invasion during the last few months of World War Two. One of his soldiers is Private Saigo (Kazunari Ninomiya.)

In my Mystic River review, I hoped that Clint Eastwood would stick to directing rather than acting. And that's exactly what he did when he directed this film. It was an excellent portrayal of  a little-known part of World-War-Two told from the unfamiliar perspective of the Japanese. When Hollywood portrays WW2, they often have an unfair bias toward the war in Europe, being completely ignorant of the whole other war happening in the Pacific. Letters from Iwo Jima was also a sensitive, well-rounded and brave portrayal. For once, it is the Japanese, and not the Americans, who are shown as courageous heroes.

Letters from Iwo Jima was received well in Japan with much praise going toward its well-rounded characters who were real without being stereotypical. Private Saigo had no interest in the war; all he wants to do is to return home to his pregnant wife. But as the government took his baking equipment for the war effort, he has no choice but to fight. And Kazunari Ninomiya brought a very sympathetic character to life. It was hard not to root for such an underdog. But Ken Watanabe was equally good if not better. General Kuribayashi was a character who was fiercely loyal to his men.

Eastwood depicted the battle of Iwo Jima with sensitivity, gravitas and nuance. The feeling of doom is apparent, but so is the feeling of honour among the men. In one of the film's more disturbing sequences, a group of soldiers choose to commit honour suicides instead of surrendering or being taken prisoner.

Mostly filmed in Iceland, we see that the location is as stark and as a fraught as are the Japanese's chances of survival. Yet believing it to be the perfect place for the US to attack their homeland, they're prepared to defend it to the last man. And this preparation soon turned into desperation.

Eastwood earned himself yet another best film nomination with Letters from Iwo Jima. And it was well-deserved. This was an under-stated, but incredibly powerful film.

Mystic River review

 Number 347 on the top 1000 films of all time is Clint Eastwood's crime-drama 'Mystic River.'

Mystic River is based on the book of the same name by Denis Lehane. It opens on three twelve-year-old boys Jimmy, Sean and Dave as they are running amuck in 1970's Boston. The cops come and take away Dave. He isn't seen again until four days later alleging he was held prisoner and sexually assaulted. Fast-forward twenty-five years and the three friends have separated. Dave (Tim Robbins) is still living with his childhood trauma, Jimmy (Sean Penn) has become a petty crook and Sean (Kevin Bacon) is a copper. When Jimmy's nineteen-year-old daughter is murdered, and Dave becomes the number-one suspect, the three friends are thrown back together.

I've always said that Clint Eastwood is a better director than an actor. Nowhere is that more evident than here. Mystic River is a taut, tight thriller that grabs viewers by the throat in the first fifteen minutes, and refuses to let go. Mystic River rightly earned Eastwood a Best Director Oscar nod.

But Penn and Robbins won the best-actor and best-supporting actor Oscars. These were well-earned. Penn gave a powerful performance as the emotionally exhausted father desperately trying to solve the murder of his daughter. But Robbins was equally good if not better as Dave. Try as he might, he couldn't put the trauma of being assaulted as a boy behind him. Becoming the number-one suspect does nothing to help his deteriorating psyche. And Robbins brought all this to the role and more.

Even Kevin Bacon surprised me. Granted, I haven't seen him in that much, but I've never rated him as an actor. Yet he brought an excellent maturity to the role. Out of the three friends, he's managed to put the childhood trauma behind him. However, also out of the three friends, he receives the least development and screentime. It is said that he has pushed away his wife in his efforts to overcome his trauma, but this plot idea wasn't as fully-explored as it could have been. When the two eventually reconciled, I couldn't have cared less.

I also thought Jimmy's relationship with his wife Annabeth (Laura Linney) wasn't well-portrayed. The actors didn't have the best chemistry. This was no better evidenced than at the film's conclusion. After Jimmy has dealt some street justice, she comes onto him in some weird faux-sex scene proclaiming him to be a king among men. It was all very cringy, but maybe it was supposed to be.

But I thoroughly enjoyed Mystic River. If only Clint Eastwood did more directing instead of acting.

A Fistful of Dollars review

Number 269 on the top 1000 films of all time is Sergio Leone's 1964 Spaghetti Western 'A Fistful of Dollars.'

Clint Eastwood stars as 'the Man with No Name,' a mysterious drifter who becomes embroiled in a battle between two warring families in a Mexican border town. Believing there is money to be made, he decides to pit these families against each other, and to save the rest of the town from also being consumed by this conflict. 

A Fistful of Dollars marked a number of firsts. It was the first of the spaghetti Westerns to be brought before an American audience. It was the first of the 'Dollars trilogy,' and the first time that Eastwood would play the Man with no Name. But it also marked the first collaboration between Sergio Leone and composer Ennio Morricone. And the music was the first thing I noticed about this film. Morricone might be best known for the classic theme tune from the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, but I would argue he was just as good here, if not better. Every piece of music fitted the scene perfectly. Every note bolstered the tension. It was just brilliant.

I can't say the same for Clint Eastwood. I've never liked him as an actor, as I always feel he plays the same part over and over again. And that part is the grumpy old man. He has no depth beneath that. And 'a Fistful of Dollars' is where that all started. He played the gruff, anti-social loner and has been type-cast as that ever since. It was difficult to see any type of warmth from his role.

Yet Leone still directed a great film. The cinematography was brilliant as always with contrasting shots of the vast desert landscape to the extreme close-ups of the character's eyes at pivotal moments, which was a great way to build up the tension.

Many of my long-term readers will know all about my confusion as to why Italian films were recorded without sound and later had all the dialogue (badly) dubbed in. A Fistful of Dollars was no exception to this. I have finally found out the reason! It all goes back to Mussolini who made it as a law as he wanted to check all the dialogue for himself, just in case, it contained any subversive material. Even after his death, they continued the tradition. I don't know why, because it just looks so terrible, but the more you know.

I have to admit that generally I'm not a fan of Western films, but when you get a cowboy film that has Ennio Morricone scoring it, how can you not like it?

Twelve Monkeys review

 Number 252 on the top 1000 films of all time is Terry Gillam's 1995 science-fiction thriller 'Twelve Monkeys.'

Set in a post-apocalypse world where 99% of the world's population has been wiped out by a disease and the remaining 1% are living underground, convict James Cole (Bruce Willis) is sent back in time to gather as much information as possible. He is aided by psychiatrist Dr Kathryn Railly (Madeline Stowe,) as the two of them investigate 'the Army of Twelve Monkeys' who is believed to have released this virus. Brad Pitt co-stars as Jeffrey Goines, the leader of this group. Christopher Plummer also stars as the villainous Dr Leland Goines.

This is Terry Gillam's seventh outing in the director chair having helmed productions including Time Bandits, Jabberwocky and the virtually incomprehensible Brazil. Thankfully, Twelve Monkeys wasn't anywhere near as surreal or convoluted or abstract as Brazil. While that film was weird for the sake of being weird, Twelve Monkeys was a different beast entirely. 

Time travel can prove confusing for all but the most discerning of viewers. Although, maybe I'm just not that observant, but sometimes I do get lost following the different timelines. Despite that, Twelve Monkeys is easy enough to follow. But, more importantly, considering only three years ago, we were all living under the threat of the pandemic, Twelve Monkeys did take on a different meaning. We were all living the apocalyptic nightmare that was being played out in the film: the dystopia, state-control, paranoia was all too real for us. Unfortunately, we didn't have Bruce Willis travelling back in time to save us all.

Twelve Monkeys came out seven years after Bruce Willis established himself as a solid-action star in Die Hard. But I fear that he wasn't able to step out of this huge shadow and into a quieter, dramatic role. I didn't find him very convincing as the lead character of James Cole. He is supposed to be a man embodying a Cassandra complex, but ironically, I found a hard time believing Willis in the role. Maybe he was miscast, but I don't think he carried the drama as well as he carried the action.

However, I thought Brad Pitt was great. He played the mentally unstable Jeffrey Goines who is initially in the same psychiatric institution that Cole is imprisoned in when he is sent back to 1990. He brought such a manic energy to the role that it was impossible not to be engrossed by his character. Christopher Plummer was also very good as his slimy and evil father.

The world of Twelve Monkeys is one that isn't too far from our own reality. It's revealed that the Army of Twelve Monkeys are little more than would-be eco-warriors spreading mischief. However, we only need to look into the shadier origins of the Covid virus to draw parallels with this film. I won't dive into that rabbit-hole now, but Terry Gilliam certainly presented an interesting world which is perhaps too scarily similar to our own.

Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon review

 Number 401 on the top 1000 films of all time is Ang Lee's 2000 wuxia film 'Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.'

Set in Qing Dynasty China, Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun-Fat) is a renowned swordsman who owns the legendary 'Green Destiny' sword. One of his closest friends Yu Shu Lien(Michelle Yeoh) is a similarly talented warrior who is tasked with delivering the sword to Li's benefactor Sir Te. But the sword is stolen in the night by a masked thief. Li Mu Bai and Yu Shu work to recover the sword while working through their previously unrealised feelings for each other.

I found 'Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon' to be a confused film uncertain of its own identity. At times, it seemed like it wanted to be a classic wuxia film with physics-breaking, brilliantly-choregraphed martial art sequences. But at others it tried to be a Western love story focussing on Mu-Bai and Shu-Lien. Shu-Lien was previously engaged to Mu-Bai's friend Meng Sizhao before his untimely death. Out of respect, the two hide their feelings for one another.

This film was made specifically for a Western audience, so perhaps that was the reason for the cloying love story that was never ever fully realised. If it had been made with an Eastern audience in mind, then I think this love story could have been better portrayed. Instead, we were left with great martial art sequences punctuated with verbose, hammy dialogue. I watched this film with subtitles, so I can't even say this was a bad translations, as Ang Lee oversaw the subtitling himself, as he wanted to get the most accurate interpretation possible.

Also, the identity of the masked thief was obvious from the start. If you didn't figure it out in the first five minutes, I won't spoil it here, but that definitely hurt the dramatic tension.

Reportedly, Ang Lee described the film as Sense & Sensibility with martial arts. He also directed this film, which may explain why I wasn't a fan of either.

Elite Squad: The Enemy Within review

 Number 206 on the top 1000 films of all time is the Brazilian crime-drama 'Elite Squad: the Enemy Within.'

Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Nascimento (Wagner Mourra) is in charge of quelling a riot at the notorious Bangu prison. However, when his efforts to regain control end in disaster. The rioters die, and he is at risk of losing his job. But when the state secretary of Rio De Janeiro realises that Nascimento has become a folk-hero to the public, he instead promotes him to become a high-ranking intelligence officer. But there Nascimento quickly discovers the true corruption of the justice system.

Elite Squad was penned by Braulio Mantovani who also wrote City of God. And the similarities are apparent from the stark, gritty depiction of violence to the engrossing narration to a shared cast: Seu Jorge appeared as the prison-gang leader here and as Knockout Ned in City of God. In this sense, Elite Squad is just as good as City of God, and many of my readers know this is one of my favourite films ever.

Elite Squad has also been compared with HBO's hit TV series 'The Wire.' The comparison is easy to see. Whereas the first Elite Squad focussed on drug dealers and the gangs themselves, its sequel instead concentrated on the corrupt justice system that governs over these gangs. Or rather how it's supposed to govern over these gangs, but instead feeds the self-serving, corrupt politicians. It peels back another layer of an inherently flawed system.

The characters are great with returning favourites from its predecessor like Nascimento's former protege Mathias and the morally corrupt Fabio, but also morally-depraved officers like Major Rocha who soon forms a militia extorting the residents of the Favela. He was a truly despicable character, but, sadly, there are many power-hungry men like this in the world.

However, this film wasn't quite as cohesive as its predecessor. There is a four-year time jump that is quite disjointed - in this time, it is implied that Nascimento has divorced from his wife who has gone onto marry the liberal, human-rights activist and legislator Varga. This relationship was rushed and could have used more grounding.

My second criticism, which also applied to its predecessor, was that Mourra was criminally under-used. Sure, he narrates the film with his trade-mark charisma, but he doesn't appear on screen enough. This is only diluted by how he has been removed from the front lines and relegated to an office. The film seemed more interested on focussing on Varga and the corrupt officials governing Rio. Sadly, and this was of no fault of Mourra, but Nascimento largely faded into the background, when he should have been the star.

That notwithstanding, Elite Squad: The Enemy Within was still a terrific if uncomfortable watch.

Roman Holiday review

 Number 230 on the top 1000 films of all time is the 1953 romantic-comedy Roman Holiday.

Princess Ann (Audrey Hepburn) is just completing her European tour in Rome. Sick of her diplomatic assignments she runs away for a night of fun. Enter hard-nosed journalist Joe Bradley (Gregory Peck) who has been tasked with getting an exclusive interview with the princess but ends up falling in love with her.

Some have labelled Roman Holiday as one of the most romantic films of all time. I did enjoy it a lot, but I wouldn't go that far. I don't think there was enough conflict or tension running through the film. We see Ann and Joe scootering around Rome in a love-filled daze until it inevitably comes crashing down at the film's conclusion. But it might have been nice to see more worry and doubt throughout the film. We certainly saw the highs, but we also should have seen the lows. We needed that contrast.

Character-driven films like these rely on the strength of their two leads. And Hepburn and Peck were both good considering this was Hepburn's breakout role and Peck's first foray into comedy. He did very well with the comedy especially the physical comedy. At times the comedy descended into farce and incredulity, particularly the fight scene on the boat. Although perhaps I am unfairly judging it from my modern-standard. 

But there were still plenty of great supporting characters like Bradley's photographer friend Irving, Bradley's boss and all the small Italian roles especially the taxi driver at the film's beginning.

Is Roman Holiday an entertaining, fun romantic comedy? Yes. Is it one of the best romances of all time? No.

The Pursuit of Happyness review

Number 394 on the top 1000 films of all time is the 2006 biographical drama 'The Pursuit of Happyness.'

Based on the true story, Chris Gardner (Will Smith) is a down-on-his-luck salesman. Seeing an opportunity to save himself and his son Christopher (Jaden Smith) from homelessness, he enrolls in a stock-broking internship. But the journey proves a lot harder than he ever thought it would be.

I must have first watched this film over ten years ago before revisiting it for this challenge. And it still remains absolutely brilliant. It is inspirational, but heart-breaking. It is poignant, but never overly-sentimental or cheesy. In many ways, it is the American Dream in action. Chris Gardener starts at rock-bottom, but through determination and hard work, he makes a true success of himself. For some, the American Dream is purely just that, but for Gardener this dream became reality.

Will Smith was absolutely fantastic. This was the first time that I really took notice of him as a dramatic actor, and he was well-deserving of the Best Actor nomination. After he and his son are evicted from their motel, they spend a night in a public bathroom with the door barricaded shut. When a cleaner tries entering, Christopher locks the door and silently breaks down. Ten years later, this scene still brought tears to my eyes. I don't cry often at films, but this was a true exception. Beyond that, Smith turned Gardener into a well-rounded and passionate character. To succeed as a stock-broker, Gardener is told that he needs to be good with numbers and good people. And Gardener is certainly a charismatic character.

Jaden Smith, Will Smith's real-life son, was also very impressive. He was only five-years-old, but he brought a different element. We saw the stresses of poverty through the eyes of a child. Christopher Jr doesn't understand why he can't go back into the motel room after being evicted. He doesn't understand why he has to sleep in a homeless shelter. 

And this confusion and pain was equally heart-breaking to watch. But Jaden also provided so much humour to what could have been such depressing and hard-going film. He was just as charismatic as his father. And the two of them had great chemistry, which wouldn't be surprising considering they are father and son. However, the two of them have appeared together in subsequent films which have been less than well-received.

I've been speaking a lot about the men, but I cannot forget Thandie Newton who plays Chris's over-worked wife Linda. She has to work two jobs to cover Chris' lack of income. This stress eventually leads to her breaking down and leaving her family. Although I wasn't entirely clear on why her son had to stay with Chris, and not go with her, Thandie Newton also excelled in this role. She was one of the most sympathetic characters in this film; constantly trying to fix an inherently broken marriage that cannot be fixed.

The Pursuit of Happyness was such a great watch. In one second it will be knocking you to the ground, but the next it will be picking you back up. And just remember what Chris Gardener tells his son: "don't ever let anybody tell you that you can't do something."

Beverly Hills Cop review

 Number 996 on the top 1000 films of all time is the buddy cop action drama 'Beverly Hills Cop.'

Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) is a street-smart Detroit cop whose childhood best friend is mysteriously killed. Aiming to uncover the mystery, Foley travels to Beverly Hills where he comes up against formidable art gallery owner Victor Maitland (Steven Berkoff.)

Eddie Murphy was a great comedy actor. He really carried this film and made it something more than your average buddy cop film. He easily displayed his versatility through his physical and verbal comedy. Axel Foley was a likeable and charismatic protagonist. A smart-talking cop is hardly a new trope, but Murphy kept the role nice and fresh. This was a fun and a light-hearted watch.

But Eddie Murphy wasn't the only actor in this, as the rest of the cast were also great. While in Beverly Hills, he receives help from police detective Billy (Judge Reinhold) and police sergeant John Taggart (John Ashton.) These two actors worked well together helping to provide a lot of the film's humour, but also a lot of heart. Initially, they begin as adversaries of Axel, with instructions from their superiors to keep him out of the way, but eventually they become allies. Both of them receive strict dressing-downs from their lieutenant, but this doesn't stop them from doing the right thing.

And Steven Berkoff as the villainous Victor Maitland also shone. He was very convincing as the villain. As I guess would be the standard of the buddy cop films of the time, this was definitely a bit of a boy's film. Consequently some of the female characters like Jenny (Lisa Eilbacher) - another old friend of Axel's - felt very short-changed.

Finally, we have to mention the film's brilliant soundtrack. Populated with the best of eighties music, it deservingly won the Grammy for best score. Of course, it also featured the Axel F song itself which went onto become one of the most annoyingly catchy songs of the 2000's.

This film appears very far down on the list. It was definitely good for what it was - a heartfelt, but very funny buddy cop drama with a great score, but I can understand why it was so low-placed. Beverly Hills Cop might have laid the groundwork, but I think it's been surpassed by many other films.

The Talented Mr Ripley review

Number 985 on the top 1000 films of all time is the 1999 psychological thriller 'The Talented Mr Ripley.'

Tom Ripley (Matt Damon) is sent from New York to Italy to bring the spoiled playboy Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law) back home. However, this seemingly simple task proves to be much more difficult than originally foretold, and soon takes a dark turn. Gwyneth Paltrow plays Greenleaf's girlfriend Marge Sherwood and Philip Seymour Hoffman plays Greenleaf's best friend Freddie Miles.

This was a very convincing thriller. It was tense, gripping and had high suspense throughout. But it was also marked by such a great subtext. Although it wasn't directly addressed, I wonder, in Ripley's attempts to convince Greenleaf to return home, he starts to fall in love with him. Greenleaf is your run-of-the-mill playboy - charismatic, playful, but incredibly spoiled. Jude Law brought a brilliant chaotic energy to the role. 

Matt Damon was equally good as Ripley. This film came out in '99, so this was before Damon had really made a name for himself. But you could see his potential. This subtext gave the film a completely different layer. Maybe I'm reading too much into it - I don't know whether this was intentional or not, but it really worked.

Damon played Ripley very well. I think it would be overly-simplistic to describe Ripley as a psychopathic serial killer. He is a far more nuanced character than that. And Damon brought this nuance to the fore. I don't think Ripley necessarily causes bad situations to happen, but, rather, he positions himself to best take advantage of these situations. And that's what made him such an interesting character.

I also very much enjoyed Philip Seymour Hoffman. He is good in everything he does, and this film was no exception. Freddie Miles absolutely despises Tom Ripley and Hoffman plays this contempt with aplomb. He is sleazy, arrogant and nasty. RIP Hoffman. He was an actor taken from us far too soon.

The Talented Mr Ripley was a great thriller with some convincing performances. Hoffman might have just been playing a supporting character, but he surely stole the show.

Kung Fu Panda 2 review

 Number 962 on the top 1000 films of all time is John Stevenson's sequel to the original 2008 animated wuxia film Kung Fu Panda.

Po (Jack Black) now a respected Kung Fu master is called upon to defeat the peacock Lord Shen (Gary Oldman.) Lord Shen aims to dominate ancient China by using the newly-discovered gunpowder as a weapon. This could spell the end of Kung Fu. Meanwhile, Po starts to learn more about this mysterious past.

What can I say about this film which I haven't said about its predecessor? The animation was gorgeous. And the score was superior. Po remained a goofy yet sympathetic protagonist thanks to Jack Black's performance. James Hong, who plays Po's adoptive father Goose, was also great. As Po's adoptive father, he is very protective of his son. And he is naturally worried when Po goes off on his adventures. This concern was touching to see. One heart-twinging moment was when Po, just about to leave to defeat Lord Shen, reassures Goose that he'll be back before he can say noodles. As Po is leaving, Goose mumbles 'noodles' to himself. I'm not ashamed to say that I nearly cried.

Gar Oldman was also great as Lord Shen. He helped to bring the peacock to life with his borderline over-the-top performance, reminiscent of his villainous role in Leon the Professional. He made Lord Shen a far more memorable villain than Tai Hung.

John Stevenson also changed direction in this film choosing instead to take a darker tone. Nowhere is this more evident than when we learn more about Po's past of which I won't spoil here. Yet he also stayed close to the roots of kung fu films. From the wuxia films that I have seen, I have observed that they always champion the art and prowess behind kung fu. It is a source of national pride. Having this pride threatened with the invention of gunpowder, the tension and stakes went right through the roof.

Unfortunately, Kung Fu Panda 2 shares the same failures as its predecessor in its under-utilisation of its considerable cast. Despite starring in major kung fu films, Jackie Chan and Michelle Yeoh were majorly neglected.

That notwithstanding, I did enjoy Kung Fu Panda 2. It holds the rare title of being just as good as its predecessor. 

Kung Fu Panda review

 Number 672 on the top 1000 films of all time is the computer-animated wuxia film Kung Fu Panda.

Kung Fu Panda is set in ancient China. It follows the bumbling, but well-intentioned Po (Jack Black) - a giant panda bear who loves kung fu. When he is inadvertently named the Dragon-Warrior, it becomes his destiny to stop the evil snow leopard Tai Lung (Ian Mcshane.)

I enjoyed Kung Fu Panda a lot more than I thought I would. Generally I find wuxia films more style than substance. Sure the martial arts sequences look brilliant, but the films are always so overly-serious. This wasn't the case for Kung Fu panda. The best thing about the film was that it didn't take itself too seriously. And a lot of that was down to John Stevenson's strong direction.

Rather than making a parody like Dreamworks wanted, he instead created an action-comedy that took all the best elements of Wuxia, but also incorporating a lighter tone. Having Jack Black as Po also helped a lot. His comedy is always so expressive and physical which translated well to an animated role. Yet he also made Po a very sympathetic character.

Po is a kung fu enthusiast. He loves the martial arts. But he is also resigned to spending his life in his father 'Goose's' (James Hong) noodle restaurant. As a side note, James Hong was a delight as the over-protective and overly-affectionate father. Po very much becomes an unlikely hero as nobody, least of all, Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) - the Red Panda who has to train Po, has any faith in him succeeding.

Jack Black, Ian McShane, Dustin Hoffman, James Hong - there are some acting heavyweights in his film. But that's not all. Angeline Jolie, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu and Michael Clark Duncan also all lend their voices. But with such a large cast and so many characters a lot of the acting talent was largely underutilised. Jackie Chan - star of so many kung fu films gave a disappointing contribution, while Lucy Liu and Seth Rogen largely blended into the background. Ian Mcshane's voice performance was nothing noteworthy either.

Having said that, I did enjoy Kung Fu Panda. It had gorgeous animation, and real heart. Unlike so many of its predecessors, it embraced portraying Kung-Fu under a more light-hearted lens.

The Adventures of Tintin review

 Number 925 on the top 1000 films of all time is Stephen Spielberg's 2011 computer-animated adventure film 'The Adventures of Tintin.'

Based on the Belgian comic of the same name, the Adventures of Tintin follows the titular detective as he solves crimes. Tintin (Jamie Bell) buys a model ship to later discover a clue hidden inside. An interpol agent comes to investigate and later ends up dead. This is when Tintin realises he has stumbled upon a bigger mystery. With the help of drunken ship Captain Haddock (Andy Serkis,) Tintin aims to solve the mystery before the villainous Sakharine (Daniel Craig.) 

I thoroughly enjoyed this film. It had all the adventure, whimsy and action that you would expect from a Stephen Spielberg film mixed in with some gorgeous animation. The animation was so life-like; it looked lovely. And the script had enough humour in it to stop things from becoming too serious. Although this was of no surprise, as Stephen Moffat, Joe Cornish and Edgar Wright penned the script. Edgar Wright also wrote the Cornetto trilogy which are very funny films.

Speaking of the Cornetto trilogy, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost offered some great comic relief in their roles as bumbling police officers Thompson and Thomson. Andy Serkis was enjoyable as well, but he is always good in animated or motion-capture roles.

I have to admit that I was a little disappointed with Daniel Craig. As James Bond, he has huge charisma, but this charisma didn't come through the medium of animation. Or maybe Sakharine wasn't a particularly memorable villain. Regardless of the reason, this wasn't one of Daniel Craig's most memorable performances.

Nonetheless, I thought this film was great fun. Although a sequel has been announced, it has been stuck in development hell for years. Hopefully, it will reach the big screen soon.

The Squid and the Whale review

 Number 898 of the top 1000 films of all time is the independent comedy-drama 'The Squid and the Whale.'

Bernard Berkman (Ben Daniels) and his wife Jean (Laura Linney) are two academics going through a messy divorce. Caught in the middle are their two sons Walt (Jesse Eisenberg) and his younger brother Frank (Owen Kline.) Over the course of eighty minutes, we see this family attempt to move past this life-changing event.

This was certainly an interesting film. It portrayed a scenario which would be would be relatable to audiences worldwide. And it did it sympathetically.  But the characters weren't sympathetic. I liked the situation they were in, but I didn't like them at all. Neither Bernard or Jean are likeable at all. Bernard is arrogant, overly-proud and creepy - he stars a relationship with his far younger student Lili (Anna Paquin.) Meanwhile Jean has been unfaithful to Bernard for years on end. She is arguably the main reason that they're divorcing. It's no wonder their sons are so messed up.

Walt and Frank quickly take sides with Walt siding with his father and Frank with his mother. And both boys begin acting up in their own particular ways. As can be expected from boys that age. Even though the film tackles a difficult subject, there is still plenty of humour to stop things from becoming too serious. Any fancy special effects or big sets gave way to introspection and quiet character development. It was moving without being maudlin.

It was an entertaining watch, but more because of the setting and scenario and not because of the characters. 

Midnight Run review

 Number 731 on the top 1000 films of all time is the action-comedy Midnight Run.

Jack Walsh (Robert De Niro) is a bounty hunter who has been enlisted to bring accountant Jonathan "The Duke" Mardukas (Charles Grodin) to his bail bondsman Eddie Moscone (Joe Pantoliano.) After embezzling 15 million dollars from mob boss Jimmy Serrano (Dennis Farina,) the Duke then skips out on the bail that Moscone posts for him. But Walsh finds it more difficult to bring back the Duke than he thought, as he has to outrun the FBI, a rival bounty hunter and Serrano himself.

I thoroughly enjoyed this film. It was funny, tense, but also very heart-warming. I thought that De Niro and Grodin had a great chemistry. They played off each other well. Their relationship contributed a lot to the film's humour. Grodin is a comedian by trade, so it's no surprise that he was so funny. But De Niro did surprise me. Perhaps I'm so used to him playing grumpy old men or grizzled gangsters that I wouldn't expect him to be funny, but he also had great timing. And he was very charismatic. The relationship between the two contributed greatly to the film's success.

And Joey Pants was great. He brought a great chaotic energy to his panicking bail bondsman of Eddie Moscone.  There were plenty of great gags such as the increasing number of obstacles that Walsh faces in bringing the Duke home. Of course, you would expect things to be anything but easy, it was still entertaining seeing everything play out.

However, beyond all the farcical humour, there is a strong emotional core that ties everything together. Both Walsh and the Duke are highly sympathetic characters. Initially, Walsh is closed-off and withdrawn, but he slowly opens himself up to the Duke, revealing how when he used to be a cop, he was drummed off the force after he refuses to take a bribe from a drug lord like the rest of his department had. This resulted in the breakdown of his marriage, as well as his gloomy outlook on life. Similarly, it's revealed that the Duke robbed Serrano so he could give the money to charitable causes. A naive goal, but an admirable one nonetheless.

Throughout the film, you see Walsh being conflicted by his conscience and by his love of money. Which direction would he take? Believing him to be an inherently good man, the Duke forges a relationship with Walsh hoping that he will let him go. And this tension drove the film along to a satisfying, heartfelt, and not at all, overly-sentimental conclusion.

I thoroughly enjoyed Midnight Run. Give it a watch. I think you will too.

Despicable Me 2 Review

 Number 733 on the top 1000 films of all time is the computer-animated comedy Despicable Me 2.

Former supervillain Gru (Steve Carell) is now a loving father to his three adoptive daughters. However, he is tempted into becoming a hero by secret agent Lucy Wilde (Kristen Wiig) when the mutagen PX41 is stolen from the Arctic Circle. This all forms part of a greater plan when it is revealed that supervillain El Macho (Benjamin Bratt) stole the mutagen in his scheme for world domination.

I liked this film as much as I liked its predecessor which is very little at all. It had all of the same weaknesses as the first Despicable Me. The humour wasn't even juvenile. It was infantile. There was an over-reliance on poop and fart jokes. I get that this is family-friendly. I get that it's meant for kids. But there is more to entertaining kids than poop and fart jokes. Usually in family-friendly films like in Disney Pixar while there are silly jokes for kids, there are lots of jokes that only adults are meant to get. But there was none of that in Despicable Me 2. Just juvenile humour and Steve Carell being Steve Carell.

I don't know why he's doing a silly voice with a silly accent. And I don't know why he has to do it throughout the whole film. It became very old very quickly. I get why this is a children's film. It has bright, eye-popping animation, lots of idiotic humour and cute little minions, but there is little substance for anybody older than the age of ten. The storyline was predictable, the voice performances were forgettable and, even the minions, who have gone onto become the mascots of this franchise became very tedious after a while.

Yes, I'm being a grumpy old man. But this grumpy old man did not like this film at all. It was despicable.

Collateral review

 Number 723 on the top 1000 films of all time is Michael Mann's 2004 neo-noir crime thriller 'Collateral.'

Max (Jamie Foxx) is an LA taxi driver with a simple dream of owning a limousine business. But his life spirals out of control when he accepts Vincent's (Tom Cruise) fare. For Vincent is a hitman who is a hitman with a number of contracts to complete.

Collateral was certainly an entertaining thriller if entirely unbelievable. Despite being a contract killer, Vincent is very careless. He exposes himself when he shoots his first victim leading to him falling out of a window onto Max's cab, partially destroying it. But surely a contract killer would be more careful than this. Vincent has hired Max to drive him around for the whole night. How is he supposed to do that when his windscreen has been near-shattered?  And they go on to put the victim's body in the trunk of the car. And they drive it around the whole night. Surely, this would attract unwanted police attention which later does happen. And Vincent even tells Max off about the dangers of unwanted attention. 

And when it comes to Vincent's final target, he (spoilers) hesitates long enough for Max to come and save a day. One, a contract killer would never hesitate like this. Two, we've seen Vincent kill remorselessly before. It made no sense for Vincent to hesitate now. Finally, he is very blaise about Max knowing his true identity. Surely, it would be in his own best interests to keep this a secret. There is less chance of Max panicking and doing something stupid. But I guess this wouldn't have made a very interesting film.

Despite these plot chasms, I did enjoy Collateral. At first, I wasn't convinced by Tom Cruise. I'm so used to seeing him as a hero that it was difficult seeing him as villain, but he was pretty damn good. Jamie Foxx was also great as Max. Max is your everyman whose whole life was turned upside down. And he goes through a very satisfying character arc from burned-out taxi driver to an unlikely hero. Foxx earned his Best Supporting Actor nomination.

Sure Collateral is unbelievable rubbish, but a film doesn't always have to be 100% believable to be entertaining.

Watchmen review

 Number 662 on the top 1000 films of all time is Zack Snyder's 2009 superhero film 'Watchmen.'

Set in an alternate dystopian 1985 with cold-war tensions running high, the film focusses on a group of retired superheroes called the Watchmen. When former member 'The Comedian,' (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) his team-mate Rorschach (Jackie Earle Healey) tries warning his former comrades Dr Manhatten (Billy Crudup,) Silk Spectre (Malin Akerman,) Niteowl (Patrick Wilson) and Ozymandias (Matthew Goode,) but instead he soon stumbles upon a greater and more dangerous conspiracy theory.

Many people credit Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy for giving a darker, grittier vision of superhero films. However, I would argue that Watchmen deserves a lot of credit for this too. As somebody got bored of superhero films by Age Of Ultron and who has never cared about the Marvel/DC debate, I thoroughly enjoyed Watchmen.

Not only did I enjoy the darker, grittier tone, but it felt more grounded and realistic than other superhero films. There were no stupid puns like the infamous Batman and Robin nor any fun and whimsy that you would expect from one of the million MCU films. Everything was grounded in real life. Nothing was played for fun. Nor should it have been.  Even in the eighties, the threat of nuclear annihilation was omni-present. It was a real fear, and Zack Snyder tapped into this fear well.

I was also impressed with Zack Snyder's direction. Having seen a few of his other films, I've noticed that the he prioritises spectacle over storyline, but he was remarkably subtle here. He also released a director's cut, which was also well-received.

Out of all the characters, Dr Manhattan is the only one with any powers which added another layer of realism. These aren't super-powered beings who became heroes, but simply everyday people.

Across the board, the performances were strong as well. Jeffrey Dean Morgan showed his early 'Negan' tendencies in his role as the slimy and smarmy 'Comedian. But Jackie Early Healy was the star of the show. Rorschach was a tortured soul, but Healy made him a sympathetic anti-hero.

Sure, it is relentlessly dark, but the next time you credit the Dark Knight Trilogy for reimagining the superhero genre, please also give Watchmen its due.

Field of Dreams review

Number 715 on the top 1000 films of all time is the sports-fantasy drama film 'Field of Dreams.'

Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) is a corn farmer in Iowa. Haunted by his poor relationship with his late father, he fears growing old without achieving anything. And that's when a mysterious voice tells him to plough part of his corn farm and to build a giant baseball ring instead. Several months after building the field, ghosts of famous baseball players Shoeless Joe Jackson (Ray Liotta) start appearing.

"Build it and and they will come" is the famous line from this film. Let me tell you if somebody built this film in a middle corn field in Iowa, I would not come back as a ghost and see it. I am not a baseball fan, so I didn't think I would enjoy this at all. However, the real reason why I did not enjoy it was that it was cheesy, overly-sentimental and completely lacking in any type of dramatic tension.

To say it had a slow start would be an understatement. The beginning is so lacking in any conflict that it almost put me to sleep. There's a middle-aged man, whom I have no reason to sympathise with, is going through a mid-life crisis. He thinks the solution to this is to go build a baseball diamond because some random ghost told me to do so. His wife goes along with this and the diamond is built without any issue. Ghosts of baseball players start appearing and Kevin Costner starts pitching and batting with them. Everything's hunky-dory. Where's the tension? Where's the conflict? Where's any reason for me to be interested in this film?

And the lack of any central conflict was this film's biggest problem. Ray Kinsella's mid-life crisis had such little immediacy and urgency that it was not engaging at all. His wife Annie (Amy Madigan) was fully supportive of his dreams, which again removed another source of conflict. Any recognisable conflict came from Ray and Annie potentially losing their farm to the bank, but even this was mostly-glossed over. And this all eventually culminated when their daughter Karin falls or is knocked off (it isn't clear which) some beachers and tumbles down in the most unrealistic and silliest looking way possible. But then she's healed by one of the baseball - playing ghosts. Just what?

This film wasn't entirely bad - James Earl Jones was enjoyable in a supporting role. But Field of Dreams was so lacking in substance and conflict and tension that it failed to be anything other than boring.

Despicable Me review

 Number 609 on the top 1000 films of all time is the animated comedy film Despicable Me. 

Gru (Steve Carell) is a supervillain who has been usurped by his younger rival Vector (Jason Segel.) With the help of his elderly assistant Dr Nefario (Russell Brand) and his legion of yellow minions, he aims to regain his reputation in the supervillain world by stealing the moon. However, this plan is complicated by his begrudging adoption of three little girls whom he starts to deeply care for.

I didn't like this film at all. Granted, I'm not the target market; this film is meant for kids. With its eye-popping visuals and bright, vivid colours, it is sure to be appealing for younger audiences. Beyond the visual flair was juvenile, immature humour, a cheesy storyline and an over-the-top performance by Steve Carell. 

I can understand that as a child fart and poop jokes are the pinnacle of humour, but as an adult I would be expecting something a little more refined. I wouldn't have minded one or two of these kind of jokes, but not a constant, never-ending onslaught. The humour became rather tedious after a while.

As did the entire film. It was a predictable run-of-the-mill affair. We are introduced to a seemingly villainous character who we find out isn't as villainous as we first thought as they have a soft-spot for orphans. He misses an event that is very important to them and supposedly has ruined their relationship only to go through a redemption arc at the end. This kind of storyline would have made more sense if we were watching a dark or an anti-hero character, but not a self-confessed supervillain. Do we really want to see our villains be redeemed?

While I do think Steve Carell is a capable dramatic actor, he is woefully over-the-top when it comes to comedy. The silly voice and accent he did for Gru was completely unnecessary and it became very annoying after a while. He is a physically expressive actor and I could see him trying (and failing) to inject this same physical humour into this animated role.

Maybe if I was a kid I would have really liked this film, but I really did not care for it.

The Remains of the Day review

 Number 370 on the top 1000 films of all time is the 1993 drama 'The Remains of the Day.'

Based on Kazuo Ishiguro's book of the same name and set in 1930's Britain, the Remains of the Day follows the life of the buttoned-up butler Mr James Stevens (Anthony Hopkins.) He serves the wealthy Lord Darlington (James Fox) an aristocrat with Nazi sympathies. However, Mr Stevens is determined to stay professional in all aspects of his life. This professionalism is gravely challenged with the appointment of the new housekeeper Miss Sally Kenton (Emma Thompson.) She is strong-willed and more than willing to challenge Mr Stevens on all aspects of his work.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I bloody hate period dramas. They're boring, tedious and focus on the problems of unrelatable characters. The Remains of the Day was no exception to this. And the unrelatability of the characters was its biggest weakness. Mr Stevens is a complete professional. He knows that his employer is a Nazi sympathiser, but he doesn't let that interfere with his work. He also develops feelings for Miss Kenton as does she for him. But again he refuses to let that interfere with his work. He is your archetypal British Keep Calm and Carry On character. And that's what made him very unrelatable and unlikeable.

By his very nature, he is a closed-off and unemotional character. Closed-off to his peers, his employer and to Miss Kenton, but also to the audience as well. How are we supposed to root for such an emotionally dead character? We were given so little to work with. Emma Thompson as Miss Kenton was far more engaging. Granted, she is supposed to be the polar opposite of Mr Stevens, but she was far more likeable. Mr Stevens was a cold fish and Miss Kenton was very warm.

Because I found it so difficult to sympathise with Mr Stevens, I found the main storyline very unengaging. I was far more interested in the film's setting: 1930's Britain in the run-up to World War Two. Lord Darlington is a diplomat with Nazi sympathies. He is hosting other German diplomats in the hopes of maintaining a peace at the chagrin of other guests such as the American Congressman Lewis (Christopher Reeve) who believes that Nazi Germany is a threat. This gave to a great dramatic tension that was far more interesting to watch.

Maybe if I didn't hate period dramas so much, I would have liked this film more, but I really did not enjoy it. 

Paprika review

Number 581 on the top 1000 films of all time is the Japanese animated sci-fi thriller Paprika.

Doctor Atsuko Chiba (Megumi Hayashibara) is a scientist working on the DC Mini - a device that allows her to view people's dreams. She uses this machine to help psychiatric patients by embracing her alter-ego of Paprika. One of these people is Detective Toshimi Konakawa (Akio Otsuka.) However, the DC Mini is then stolen by a dream terrorist.

This film was like if Christopher Nolan decided to make Inception as an anime. Surely, Paprika was as equally confusing and convoluted and complicated. I'm sure this was supposed to be the point, but I struggled in following the film. It jumped so often between dream and reality that I wasn't sure which was supposed to be which. And then when the dreams started bleeding through to the real world, all hope was lost for me. There's no denying it was a good concept though and the animation was great, but I really wasn't sure what I was supposed to be watching.

I think another problem was that Paprika felt very unfocussed. There weren't that many characters, but there also wasn't a clear protagonist. Paprika is supposed to be the main character - she is billed first in the credits, yet there was also considerable time spent on Detective Konakawa as well as other characters like Doctor Tokita who invented the DC Mini. It did give the film an uncertain tone. I also thought that the DC Mini was a strange name for a device like this. It kept make me thinking of a car that was made in the DC universe.

While slogging through this list, I have encountered many films that haven't personally been for me. I'm sure to anime-lovers this would be the 581st greatest film of all time. But I did not care for it at all.

Ray review

 Number 522 on the top 1000 films of all time is the biographical musical drama 'Ray.'

Telling the real-life story of the blind R&B musician Ray Charles, Ray stars Jamie Foxx as the titular singer from his humble beginnings in rural Georgia to his touring on the Chitlin Circuit to his blending of Gospel and R&B and eventual rise to absolute superstar.

To echo Roger Ebert, it would be worth watching this just for the music alone. Ray Charles has done so many iconic songs from Hit the Road Jack to the gorgeous Georgia on My Mind. And it is the legendary Brother Ray who does all the singing in the film. Jamie Foxx didn't think he could ever do the Genius justice so elected to have all his singing dubbed. Although Jamie Foxx does play the piano, as well as the Ray Charles songs that he covered later in his career notably I got a Woman. 

But otherwise I thought Jamie Foxx was excellent as Ray Charles. He thoroughly deserved the Best Actor Oscar win for the part. He brought the legendary musician to life. At times I forgot I was watching an actor, Jamie Foxx was that convincing. The voice, the mannerisms were all completely on-point. 

Beyond that, Ray was a thoroughly interesting film. It helped to peel back the layers of such a legendary superstar. I don't know much about the singer, so it was fascinating learning about his heroin addiction that so plagued much of his life. No doubt this would have been a deeply sensitive topic, but it was treated with great sensitivity. Ray Charles was sent a braille version of the screenplay and he loved it, but sadly he died before he had a chance to attend a cinema screening. 

I've spoken about Jamie Foxx, but the rest of the cast were also very engrossing. I very much enjoyed Kerry Washington as Ray's wife Della Bea - she captured the morally conflicted wife wanting to support her tortured husband, but struggles in looking past his heroin habits.

I could have done without the expository transition slides and there could have been more distinction between Ray's various mistresses - I did get a bit mixed up at times, but overall I thoroughly enjoyed Ray. Ray Charles was a hell of a singer. 

Lost in Translation review

 Number 485 on the top 1000 films of all time is Sofia Coppola's romantic comedy-drama 'Lost in Translation.'

Bob Harris (Bill Murray) is a fading movie-star shooting Suntory whisky commercials in Tokyo, Japan. While there he starts to question his own direction in life. Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) is also in Tokyo for her husband's photography work. Feeling neglected, she starts looking for something more and finds Bob. The two characters form an unlikely relationship.

Sofia Coppola is a much better director than she ever was an actress. If you've read my Godfather Part III review, you would know that I despised Sofia Coppola in that. However, with Lost in Translation, she crafted a touching, moving and wonderfully understated film. It had moments of levity, but it also left us with plenty to think about. Engaging with themes like isolation and alienation, she creates a subtle, but powerful narrative. There was also some gorgeous cinematography. I particularly loved the shot which shows Bob and Charlotte reflected in a window while Tokyo's nightline is in a bokeh. 

In many ways, Lost in Translation  reminded me of Spike Jonze's film Her. This was an excellent film that engages with similar themes, albeit with more of a science-fiction twist. It also had a similar cinematography that made it so pretty to watch. And, of course, both films star Scarlett Johansson. Considering Coppola was married to Jonze at the time she filmed Lost in Translation, it shouldn't be any surprise that the films were so similar.

I have to admit I don't much care for Bill Murray as an actor. I find that he generally always takes the same role - a cynical, miserly, grumpy old man. In many ways that's what Bob Harris is, but this character did have much more depth than many of other Murray's roles. And I think he did a good job in making Bob Harris quite sympathetic. More impressive though was Scarlett Johansson. At only seventeen, she was incredibly charming. Granted, she was still quite rough around the edges, but she showed her raw potential.

Overall, I did enjoy Lost in Translation. It had some great direction from Sofia Coppola, as well as some gorgeous cinematography. But it was just a moving and understated experience.

Brokeback Mountain review

 Number 585 on the top 1000 films of all time is Ang Lee's neo-western romantic drama 'Brokeback Mountain.' 

Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Ennis La Mer (Heath Ledger) are two cowboys working up a mountain. After spending one fateful night together, the two fall madly in love. They spend the next twenty years seeing each other in secret, while trying to live 'normal' lives with their families and jobs. Michelle Williams and Anne Hathaway co-star as Ennis' and Jack's wives respectively.

At the 78th Academy Awards, Brokeback Mountain controversially lost Best Picture Oscar to Crash. Many thought Brokeback Mountain was a highly superior film. Having seen bother, I absolutely agree with this sentiment. Whereas Crash was contrived and half-arsed, Brokeback Mountain was wonderfully understated, but also very moving.

Great romance stories always hinge on the two leads. If they didn't have chemistry, the film would have fallen flat. But I thought both Ledger and Gyllenhaal were great together. They were very believable in the roles of the emotionally conflicted cowboys. Both of them are living double lives; trying to maintain their stoic cowboy image, while seeing each other in secret.

Heath Ledger was hesitant about taking the role, as he didn't think he would be able to do it justice. These fears were unfounded, as he was brilliant. Granted, he sometimes spoke with a gruff, mumbling diction that made him difficult to understand, but he was still superb. He gave a compassionate and layered performance. Gyllenhaal was equally good. Both actors played off of each other well.

The cinematography was also spectacular. Wide panning and master shots emphasised the sheer vastness and splendour of the landscape. It was reminiscence of the old spaghetti Westerns. 

I've spoken a lot about the male actors, but the female leads were just as good. Granted Anne Hathaway was under-utilised, both she and Michelle Williams were very good, as Alma and Lureen - two wives trying and failing to understand their husbands.

I thoroughly enjoyed Brokeback Mountain. It was subtle, nuanced and powerful with some great performances. And it certainly deserved to win Best Film Oscar.

Seven Pounds review

 Number 658 on the top 1000 films of all time is the drama film 'Seven Pounds.'

Ben Thomas (Will Smith) is a man seeking penitence. He is a man looking for redemption who seeks to change the lives of seven people. Two of these include the blind, vegan, meat salesman Ezra (Woody Harrelson) and Emily Posa (Rosario Dawson) a printing business owner with a weak heart.

Will Smith is a hell of an actor. He first came to fame in the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Although he is goofy in that he also shows his raw potential as a dramatic actor. And that potential came to the fore within Seven Pounds - one of his most mature roles to date.

*Spoiler alert* Ben Thomas causes a car crash that killed seven people including his fiance. To make up for this, he donates his organs to people he thinks really deserve them. he uses his brother's IRS agent's credentials to help track down these people. Sure you could argue that story itself was all very unlikely Ben Thomas proves himself to be a jack of all trades, including repairing a broken printing press, but I was willing to suspend my disbelief.

I do enjoy a good redemption arc. They start with an already likeable character knowing that he's messed up. And now he is hoping to make up for his mistakes. And when you have Will Smith playing that character things are even better. Will The supporting cast were also good.

Both Woody Harrelson and Rosario Dawson were very likeable as the unwitting recipients of Ben Thomas' good deeds. neither of them are in desirable situation, but they always remain positive. Rather than pitying themselves, they still do the best they can.

The same can be said for Ben Thomas. In many ways, he is an inspirational character. And this inspiration lends the film a lot of emotional weight. it becomes the driving force that propels Seven Pounds along.

The true film's structure can be confusing. You have to wait the entire film to discover Ben's true motivations, but I still very much enjoyed Seven Pounds. It showcased Will Smith at his best.

Crazy, Stupid Love review

 Number 852 on the top 1000 films of all time is the romantic-comedy 'Crazy, Stupid Love.'

Calvin Weaver's (Steve Carell) wife Emily (Julianne Moore) wants to divorce him after having an affair with colleague David Lindhagen (Kevin Bacon.) Pick-up artist Jacob (Ryan Gosling) sees Calvin at a bar and starts teaching him how to have success with women. meanwhile, Calvin's babysitter Jessica (Lio Tipton) is secretly in love with him, and Calvin's son Robbie is in love with her. Finally, Jacob starts a romance with aspiring lawyer Hannah (Emma Stone,) and starts to reconsider his womanising ways.

It's a shame this film rushed the beginning so much because it was otherwise a humorous and heart-warming watch. it opens with Emily asking Cal for a divorce. before we even know Cal as a character we are expected to feel sorry for him. And because of this rushed pacing, a lot of the emotional beats fell flat. From here, the film had to catch up with itself.

But when it it did, the film was great. much of that was down to the talented cast. I find Steve Carell very over-the-the-top especially with comedy, but he was wonderfully understated here. He also did well in the more dramatic elements.

I also very much enjoyed Ryan Gosling. He is a good actor, but hitherto I haven't liked any of his films. This changed here. Again, this was due to the film's understated nature.

One of my favourite scene was where we see Jacob and Hannah about to hook up. Or, at least, that was the idea, because of instead of hooking up, they talk the night away. And they found that more enjoyable than if they had slept together. it was a wonderfully subtle note to begin a relationship on. To have the two sleeping together would be too easy and predictable.

Crazy, Stupid Love should have spent more time setting up its plot, but, despite its slow beginning, it is well worth a watch. It is understated, subtle, yet very funny and poignant.

Hero review

 Number 367 on the top 1000 films of all time is the 2002 wuxia film 'Hero.'

Jet Li stars as the Nameless warrior who is summoned before the king of Qin - one of the seven kingdoms of Ancient China. Nameless foiled three assassination attempts on the king. And the king wants to hear how he did it.

Stylistically, there is no faulting Hero. It was visually gorgeous; a real treat for the eyes. Different sections of the film are broken into different colour schemes - white, blue and the gorgeous red that is considered so lucky in China. The martial art sequences while far from being the most realistic were still spectacularly choregraphed. The use of slow-motion and occasional monochrome added to the striking visuals.

However beautiful Hero looked it wasn't very interesting to watch. I found it very boring. Part of that was down to how it was structured. Much of the film is told in flashback and we're led to believe these flashbacks are not to be trusted. The prime timeline sees Nameless and the king simply talking to each other. There is no forward momentum and very little else going on. And I did struggle in paying attention.

Perhaps I don't have a very long attention span or I'm impatient, as I'm sure there were plenty of deep-rooted metaphors and symbolism which I missed out on.

Although I didn't find Hero particularly interesting, there ids no denying that it is a visually stunning film.

Groundhog Day review

 Number 266 on the top 1000 films of all time is Harold Ramis' 1993 fantasy comedy 'Groundhog Day.'

Phil Connors (Bill Murray) is a journalist reporting the famous Groundhog Day festivities in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvannia when he finds himself trapped in a time loop. Forced to relive the same day over and over, the cynical and irascible Phil has to rethink how he wants to live his life. Andi Macdowell co-stars as Phil's producer and love interest Rita Hanson.

Since its release, Groundhog Day has become a cultural phenomenon with its fans celebrating it every year. It's certainly a satisfying watch as we see Phil complete a nice character arc. We see him start a miserable, grumpy reporter who hates how he has to report nonsense stories like the Groundhog Day into a man who starts to appreciate life more.

Much of this was down to Bill Murray. Harold Ramis was determined to use Murray, as all the other choices seemed too nice. But Murray turned what could have been an unlikeable Phil Connors into a likeable character. Granted he's still a hit of a jerk, but he is a likeable one. Although he is in a very undesirable situation.

Ramis' direction was very good as well. Time-loop films by their very nature can have a tendency to be repetitive, but Ground Hog never felt particularly monotonous. not for me anyway, as for Phil, it was a very different story.

I was a little confused about Andie Macdowell's accent. at times, it was standard American and at others, it reverted to her native Georgian accent. Andie Macdowell specifically asked to do this, but I don't understand why. it was very jarring.

Nevertheless, Groundhog Day was a very enjoyable and creative film with lots of humour and lots of heart.

Elite Squad review

 Number 256 on the top 1000 films of all time is Jose Padilha's Brazillian crime drama 'Elite Squad.'

Captain Nascimento (Wagner Moura) is a police officer in BOPE - an elite squad of police who patrol Rio De Janerio's drug-fuelled favelas. Burned out and with a baby on the way, he is searching for a replacement. And his two best choices are the impulsive Neto (Caio Junqueira) or the more measured and restrained Matias (Andre Ramio.)

Elite Squad reminded me of the fantastic City of God. Both stylistically and content-wise, the two films were very similar. Whereas City of God focussed on the drug dealers that ruled the ghetto, Elite Squad focused on the police who have to catch them. It presented a raw, gritty and unflinching look at a brutal reality. The camera work was intimate with plenty of close-ups that make you feel you're right alongside the characters. No punches are pulled. Nothing is romanticised. We see the ruthlessness of the drug gangs as well as the police who catch them. it is an intense non-stop rollercoaster.

However, I would criticise Elite Squad for its portrayal of Captain Nascimento. Despite being the main character, he felt like a secondary character. Although he narrates, he has very little on-screen presence in the film's first half. This was because he was always intended to be a secondary character with Neto and Matias acting as the protagonists. During post-production, Jose Padilha's realised Wagner Moura's on-screen charisma and edited the film to make him the main character.

This was a major oversight and it showed. His retrospective editing did nothing to help things. Wagner Moura's considerable acting ability largely went to waste. Don't forget this is the man who went onto star as Pablo Escobar in Netflix's series Narcos.

Despite Wagner Moura being completely squandered, Elite Squad was still a great film if a tough watch at times.

The Blind Side review

 Number 587 on the top 1000 films of all time is the 2009 sports drama 'The Blind Side.'

Based on a true story, the Blind Side follows Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron) - a quiet, timid African-American from a dysfunctional background. With next to no prospects or family, he is taken in by the Tuohy family led by matriarch Leigh-Anne (Sandra Bullock) who nurtures him into becoming a star quarterback in American football.

The Blind Side has received its fair share of backlash. Least of all from the real-life Michael Oher. He recently claimed that rather than being adopted by the Tuohys as the film claims, they actually tricked him into signing a conservatorship meaning that the Tuohys rather than him received the residuals from this film.

This is irrelevant to the Blind Side as a film. What is relevant is Michael Oher's further criticism. In his 2012 autobiography, he criticises how the film portrays him as a simpleton. I don't know the true story, but I would agree with this characterisation. It did seem overly-simplistic. Michael Oher is from the ghetto. It seems unlikely that such a quiet, docile man could come from such a tough environment, although not impossible.

It seemed like a borderline caricature. I'm surprised that the film-makers didn't go so far as to give him a hick, country accent. And I think it would have been more interesting to see some hardcase ghetto kid soften up as he realises the opportunities that are available to him.

This was a shame, because otherwise I did enjoy the Blind Side. Jae Head was a highlight as SJ - the youngest child of the Tuohy's family. And despite being in a supporting role, Kathy Bates shone as always. Although the film centred on American Football, it was still accessible to a Brit like me. Sandra Bullock won the Best Actress Oscar. She did well and I certainly don't think she should have to return it like some say. She's an actress playing a part. She didn't know about any of this controversy when she took on the role.

It was just disappointing that the Blind Sale could falter so much in its portrayal of its central character.

Moulin Rouge! review

Number 612 on the top 1000 films of all time is the jukebox musical romantic drama Moulin Rouge!

Christian (Ewan Macgregor) is a poet and romantic who wants to become a bohemian revolutionary. He moves to Paris' Montmarte District where he falls in love with Satine (Nicole Kidman) who is the star burlesque performer in the Moulin Rouge! But the course of true love never did run smooth.

Moulin Rouge was pure chaotic energy. It was bright, vibrant, colourful; a total spectacle. It won Oscars for Best Production and Best Costume design which was no surprise. To say it was a treat for the eyes would be an understatement. It would be easy to dismiss Moulin Rouge as style over substance.

In many ways it is, jumping from shoe-horned song to shoe-horned song with the thinnest of storylines connecting everything. But I also think that was the point. Burlesque and Cabaret are genres which are all about excess. They're all about putting on a show and being over-the-top. They're theatrical. And that's all part of the fun.

I admit that after a while the film's novelty wore off, but I still don't think it's fair to criticise the film for its very nature. What I was less keen on was Ewan Macgregor's singing voice. Obviously he isn't known as a singer, and I'm tone-death, but Ewan's singing voice bordered on screeching. His acting was fine, but his singing grated on me.

Moulin Rouge was a highly entertaining film. It had great visual flair. Was it more style than substance? Absolutely. But it was definitely a film that you won't forget in a hurry.

Philadelphia review

 Number 611 on the top 1000 films of all time is the legal drama 'Philadelphia.'

Andrew Beckett (Tom Hanks) is an up-and-coming lawyer in Philadelphia. He is dismissed from his law firm. When it is revealed that he is gay and has aids, he is fired from his law firm. Believing he has been the victim of anti-gay discrimination, he sues his previous employer enlisting the help of fellow lawyer Joe Miller (Denzel Washington.)

This was a brave film about, even now, a sensitive subject matter. In the 90's, there was a huge stigma around being gay and an even bigger one around aids. Homosexual discrimination, like what Beckett suffers from, was never far away.

Tom Hanks played the part well. He treated it with the utmost sensitivity. He also acknowledged that in today's world, he as a straight man would never be cast in such a role, but he still did it justice. He was well-deserving of his Oscar win. And that's saying something as he was up against Daniel Day-Lewis in Name of the Father and Liam Neeson in Schindler's List. Beckett's humanity is most evident when he is seen enjoying his famous opera - a scene so touching that it makes Miller question his own prejudices.

Miller freely admits that he doesn't like gay people, but he slowly realises that he shouldn't be so quick to judge people. Denzel Washington played the conflicted Miller well. This type of deep character work is what Washington does best like in Glory. He's far better here than in any big blockbuster.

Ultimately, the legal scenes is what let the film down. And this was strange considering it is a legal drama. But many of the courtroom scenes, particularly near the end, felt rushed and under-developed.

That notwithstanding, I did very much enjoy Philadelphia. It was a brave film with great performances from its two leads.

Big Fish review

 Number 296 on the top 1000 films of all the time is Tim Burton's fantasy-drama 'Big Fish.'

Edward Bloom (Albert Finney) is a man who has always had a story to tell. Sometimes these stories border on the surreal. And sometimes they're difficult to take seriously. As Edward nears the end of his life, his estranged son Will decides to start sitting the fact from the fiction. This is where we see a younger Edward Bloom (Ewan Macgregor) live out these stories.

This is possibly one of the most Burtonesque films I've ever seen. It was pure absurdism, surrealism and just plain weird. However, it wasn't just weirdness for the sake of weirdness. Everything was underpinned by two intertwining themes: relationship between father and son, and the art of storytelling.

As Will delves deeper into his father's life, he discovers weird and wonderful stories. These range from meeting a one-eyed witch who can tell you how you're going to die to befriending a giant who is rampaging around the local community. It doesn't matter whether these stories happened exactly the way they were told, as long as they are still told.

Stories have a wonderful way of uniting people. Nowhere is this more apparent than father and son. Sick of his father's ridiculous stories, son breaks off contact for three years. It's only his father's ailing health that reunites them. But it is Edward Bloom's love of story-telling that helps them to make amends. Bloom helps his son realises the joy which storytelling can bring everybody.

Did Edward Bloom really befriend a giant? Did he run away and join a circus ran by Danny Devito? Probably not. But it doesn't matter as long as we enjoyed the journey. And this was a weird and surreal journey that I certainly enjoyed. 

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.