Bonnie and Clyde review

 Number 374 on the top 1000 films of all time is Arthur Penn's 1967 biographical crime drama 'Bonnie and Clyde.'

Clyde Barrow (Warren Beatty) and Bonnie Parker (Faye Dunaway) were two bank robbers who terrorised the US during the Great Depression. This film dramatised their life, as well as the lives of their gang consisting of the dim-witted C.W Moss (Michael J. Pollard,) Clyde's brother Buck (Gene Hackman,) Buck's wife Blanche (Estelle Parsons) and briefly undertaker Eugene Grizzard (Gene Wilder) in his debut role.

Bonnie and Clyde changed the way films were seen forever. It was one of the first films to embrace the changing of the production code, which allowed a lot more violence, swearing and sex in cinema. And Bonnie and Clyde was a violent film with gunfire galore especially in the film's most climatic sequences.

It also had two great performances from leads Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway who played the titular robbers. Beatty had all the charisma you would expect from a gang leader. He was handsome, charming but also a complete maniac. Far form being the Robin Hood type, he would do anything to protect himself and his family.

That includes his brother played by the always welcome Gene Hackman. Hackman was every bit Beatty's equal matching his charisma and manic energy, as well as being deeply devoted to his Blanche. She was the weak point of the film. When she becomes an unwilling accomplice to the Barrow Gang, she spends much of the film screaming, whining and fighting with Bonnie who wants her gone.

I was surprised to learn that actress Estelle Parsons won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role, because the character was little more than a screaming mess. The real-life Blanche Barrow also criticised her portrayal saying it depicted her as a "screaming horse's ass." It's an accurate criticism. No disrespect to Parsons, but it was a bad characterisation.

Bonnie was a far better character played well by Faye Dunaway. Rather than a piece of plasticine to be moulded by Clyde, she was a willing accomplice in every sense of the word. Her unpredictable energy made her so interesting to watch.

And a quick shoutout to Gene Wilder whose small supporting role provided some much-needed levity to what was otherwise a violent, intense, but good film. 

Almost Famous review

 Number 369 on the top 1000 films of all time is Cameron Crowe's 2000 comedy-drama 'Almost Famous.'

William Miller (Patrick Fugit) is an aspiring journalist living under the thumb of his oppressive mother Elaine during the early 1970's. (Frances Mcdormand.) At the urging of his older sister, he starts rebelling by listening to rock music. But then music magazine editor Lester Bangs (Philip Seymour Hoffman) takes him under his wing. To further his career, William then joins rock band Stillwater as they tour the US.

This was an entertaining, if not amazing, coming-of-age drama ticking off all the boxes you would expect from the genre. You had William as the lost teenage protagonist looking for direction life his oppressive, over-protective parental figure - Elaine and the mentor character of Lester Bangs.

I think Frances Mcdormand showed why she went onto win three best Actress Oscars, as she was great as William's mother. It would be all too easy to play her as a cartoonish caricature, but Elaine's overprotective nature felt all too real. She was never being malicious or over-the-top, but she just wanted the best for her son.

Yet she wasn't the only future Oscar winner in the cast, as we also saw Philip Seymour Hoffman in a supporting role. He was one of the most versatile actors of his generation and he put that to good use playing William's mentor. It's a shame he didn't have more screentime - then again, he was suffering from the flu when filming, so perhaps that was for the best.

Cameron Crowe won the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for his semi-autobiographical script loosely based on his own experiences writing for Rolling Stone Magazine in the seventies. Almost Famous certainly had an air of realism to it.

Although the film lost something when William started following Stillwater around the US. The exploration of the band wasn't as deep as it could have been with much of the tension focussing on the conflict between the lead singer Jeff Bebe (Jason Lee) and lead guitarist Russell Hammond (Billy Crudup) with the rest of the band being largely forgotten about. Having said that, it's probably quite a common occurrence in most bands.

This film was enjoyable enough if overlong. Maybe I was just watching a dodgy bootleg, but it did feel longer than the advertised two-hour runtime.

The Conversation review

 Number 365 on the top 1000 films of all time is Francis Ford Coppola's 1974 neo-noir mystery thriller 'The Conversation.'

Harry R Caul (Gene Hackman) and Stan Ross (John Cazale) are surveillance experts investigating a couple in Union Square. Upon listening to their conversations, Caul becomes convinced they're going to be murdered. He soon descends into paranoia, as he tries to save their lives.

The Conversation came only two years after Coppola won the Best Writing Oscar for The Godfather, only a few months before he won the Best Directing Oscar for the Godfather Part 2 and three years after Gene Hackman won the Best Actor Oscar for the French Connection. These two creatives were at the top of their game when they met to make a tense and enthralling film.

Yet everything is so quiet and understated. Subtext is key in so many films, which was so especially true in the Conversation, where there was so much power in what was left unsaid. Coppola dialled into this with the subtext- more specifically Caul's misunderstanding of it helping to propel the film along. This all leads to a very satisfactory twist-ending, which I won't spoil here. As for the hidden bug? Maybe it's in the saxophone? Maybe there isn't one at all? Maybe it's only Caul's paranoia?

Hackman was terrific in the lead role portraying Caul's descent into obsession well. It felt real and authentic. Cazale was also good as the foil to Caul - the one character trying to keep him in check.

And as you might expect from a film like this, the sound mixing was very good. The titular conversation between the couple being spied upon is played throughout the film and is always audible even if the audience aren't aware of its importance.

Paranoia was a key theme of the film. It was something Coppola portrayed masterfully. A good film all around.

Hard Boiled review

 Number 368 on the top 1000 films of all time is John Woo's 1992 Hong Kong action-triller Hard-Boiled.

"Tequila" Yuen Ho-Yan (Chow Yun-Fat) is a cop who doesn't play by the book. His goal is to bring the triad boss Johnny Wong (Anthony Wong) to justice. He finds an unlikely ally in undercover cop Alan (Tony Leung) who is masquerading as Johnny Wong's closest advisor.

Similar to his previous effort of the Killer, Woo's Hard Boiled will be an acquired taste. If you're a fan of action films then you'll love it, but if not then I'd recommend you watch something else, as Hard-Boiled employs almost every action film cliche in the book including infinite ammo, plot armour, slow-motion, lots of blood and endless gunfights.

Thankfully, one refreshing change was how Hard Boiled's female protagonist - Tequila's girlfriend Theresa Chang (Teresa Mo) and fellow cop has some agency and does something else than incessantly scream like Sally Yeh did in the Killer. Teresa even shot one of the bad guys.

In making this film, John Woo wanted to romanticise the police rather than criminals, which he did do in fairness. True they weren't the most complicated of characters, but Tequila and Alan were undoubtedly the heroes of the films. Not the two-dimensional villainous Johnny Wong. 

I did enjoy seeing Yun-Fat and Leung together - they had good chemistry which is important in a film like this. I've seen Leung in both romantic and action roles and he's good at both. It's just a shame that I don't care for action films. The endless explosions and gunfights became rather repetitive. Rather than being exciting, it was very boring.

And I also found it strange how despite the film is mostly in Cantonese, the characters had a few odd lines in English. True Hong Kong was still a British colony, but it seemed like an odd, out-of-place choice.

Similar, to the Killer, I'd only recommend watching Hard Boiled if you're an action film fan. If you're not then you best find something else to watch as this is not the film for you.

Planet of the Apes review (1968)

 Number 363 on the top 1000 films of all time is Franklin J Schaffner's 1968 science-fiction Planet of the Apes.

Set two thousand years in the future, astronauts George Taylor (Charlton Heston,) Dodge (Jeff Burton) and Landon (Robert Gunner) crash-land on an alien planet. The planet is a desolate wasteland where the dominant form of life are sentient, intelligent apes. Meanwhile humans have been rendered mute savages including Nova (Linda Harrison.)

This is the film that has spawned one of Hollywood's biggest franchises including endless sequels, reboots and Tim Burton's god-awful 2001 remake. But this is where it all started.

And it was a great start to the franchise. Right from the start, we were given a mystery to solve and across the two-hour runtime, the layers of the mystery were peeled back leading to one of the best-executed twist-endings in science-fiction. Don't worry, I won't spoil it here. Although this film is almost sixty years old. If you have somehow avoided the twist ending then you've performed a miracle. All you need is to martyr yourself and you'll become a saint.

What I liked most about this film was its quiet, intimate nature. There is a minimal cast, few sets and a lack of explosions and gunfire. Taylor's fellow astronauts are quickly lobotomised/killed by the apes leaving him and the other humans to be taken prisoner by the apes.

I was half-expecting him to lead a rebellion and to topple the oppressive ape society - this was the predictable way the story could have gone, but instead Taylor breaks himself and Nova, for some reason, out of jail where they escape the apes and ride off into the sunset - with the help of a family of scientists who became unlikely allies.

Let's talk about Nova who seemed pretty superfluous to the pitch. The scientists originally wanted Taylor to mate with her, hence why the two were imprisoned together. Instead, when Taylor makes a break for it, he insists that Nova comes too, because of reasons. And she agrees because of reasons. And later on, she rides off into the sunset with him, because of reasons, instead of returning to her own people. The fact that she had no lines and did little but stand around and look pretty, it was difficult to see her a little more than eye-candy.

Charlton Heston made for a good leading man even if he was a bit theatrical for my tastes. Nonetheless, if you're going to watch the Planet of the Apes franchise, do yourself a favour and start here - not with Tim Burton's terrible remake.

The Blues Brothers review

 Number 360 on the top 1000 films of all time is John Landis' musical-comedy drama - 'The Blues Brothers.'

Elwood Blues (Dan Ackroyd) and Jake Blues (John Belushi) are brothers. petty crooks and blues musicians. After John Belushi is released from jail, the brothers find out their Roman Catholic childhood orphanage will be demolished after failing to pay their property taxes. They reform their old blues band to raise money to save their old orphanage. The film features many musical cameos from massive soul singers like James Brown, Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles. Carrie Fisher also co-stars.

John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd were titans of the American comedy world. Both of them were prominent members of SNL - with this film and their characters growing out of an SNL skit  and Ackroyd went onto star in the legendary Ghostbuster's franchise. They brought their comedy flair to what was a funny if ridiculous film. But it was ridiculous in all the best ways.

The brother's misadventures include larger-than-life car chases, irritating a vengeful country music band and running neo-Nazi's off a bridge. It was completely bonkers, but that all added to the spectacle. And it all fit the film's less-than-serious tone. It's a comedy. You're supposed to take things lightly. If you don't, you'll be in trouble.

About as much trouble as Jake and Elwood find themselves in when they return to their orphanage unable to stop cursing or taking the lord's name in vein, Sister Mary Stigmata beats them out of the building in one of the film's funniest if silliest scenes.

And the action scenes also looked great from the aforementioned car chase scenes to Carrie Fisher's increasingly outlandish attempts to kill the two brothers. Granted, this all led to the film going drastically over-budget - with much of that fuelling John Belushi's coke addiction, but it looked great on-screen.

True, the musical cameos were all pretty shoe-horned in, but they only added to the spectacle of the film. And when the cameos included singing legends like James Brown, Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles, who's complaining?

The Blues Brothers was a great film. Yes, it's silly and larger than life, you need to remember not to take it too seriously.