Dead Man's Shoes review

 Number 518 on the top 1000 films of all time is Shane Meadow's 2004 revenge thriller: Dead Man's Shoes.

Richard (Paddy Considine) is a former paratrooper who returns to his hometown of Matlock, Derbyshire with one thing on his mind: revenge. In his absence, a group of petty crooks led by the psychotic Sonny (Gary Stretch) have been tormenting Richard's younger autistic brother Anthony (Toby Kebells.) Richard is a man out for revenge and you best stay out of his way.

Shane Meadows made this film on a tiny budget of 700k, but he made the best of his low-budget with this entertaining, but not amazing film. It was certainly a good watch, but definitely no worthy of a higher place on the top 1000 film list. Much of the violence happens off-screen, most of the camerawork is hand-held and Meadows filmed on location, all providing a good level of realism. In some ways, this film felt like a pre-cursor to Meadows' breakout directorial effort of This is England.

Paddy Considine is the only big name (although Toby Kebbells has gone onto big things) in Dead Man's Shoes and he did well enough with a relatively shallow character. He won an Empire Award for the role. There isn't much behind Richard's character other than vengeance. Who knows why he is wearing the gasmask when he is committing his crimes especially since the bad guys already know his identity? 

The crooks he aims to kill are similarly two-dimensional with Gary Stretch giving a somewhat campy portrayal of the big bad Sonny. Perhaps that's because Gary Stretch comes from a boxing rather than an acting background. Although maybe I'm just in the minority with this opinion as he was nominated for a British Independent Film Award. I think Toby Kebbells - in his film debut - was one of the better actors, which was reflected in his nomination for Best Newcomer at the British Independent Film Awards.

Paddy Considine also co-wrote the script with Shane Meadows and screen-writer Paul Fraser. I call it a script, it was more a general outline with much of the drama and dialogue being improvised by the actors. Perhaps that's why some of the dialogue was so damn cheesy. I'm thinking about the end where Richard started talking about beasts and monsters.

Speaking of the ending, for once I managed to actually guess the twist. I'm not sure if that's a reflection of my own lack of intelligence or the predictable nature of the film. 

*spoilers*

Maybe this isn't a spoiler if you're smarter than me, but it is revealed that Anthony was driven to suicide by the gang's bullying. The earlier scenes where we see Richard speaking with his brother? He is talking to his brother's ghost. I don't have much problem with the twist itself, but the execution was strange. Anthony was tormented by a group of six bullies until it's revealed that there is a secret seventh one who stood by as an unwilling participant. This man Richard aims to kill last. I found this strange. Sonny was the ringleader. We see how sadistic he was, not just to Anthony, but to everybody. Why wouldn't Richard save him for last?

The undeveloped characters, cheesy writing and strange ending aside, I ultimately did enjoy Dead Man's Shoes. It just shows you don't need a Hollywood budget to make an entertaining film.

Deliverance review

 Number 515 on the top 1000 films of all time is the 1972 thriller film 'Deliverance.'

Lewis (Burt Reynolds) Ed (Jon Voight) Bobby (Ned Beatty) and Drew (Ronny Cox) are four business men who want to canoe down the Cahulawassee river in Georgia before it's dammed up. Lewis and Ed are experienced outdoorsmen while Bobby and Drew are not. Although it first seems this will be a boy's day out, it soon turns into a nightmare journey of survival.

This is a film that started slowly; we see these four townies try and fail to ingratiate themselves with the locals. There is a banjo duel. Nothing too interesting. I was beginning to question my life choices, but then this film proved why it features on this coveted list.

Shit hits the fan when Ed and Bobby are held hostage and tortured by two sadistic mountain men. The rest of the film becomes a deadly game of cat and mouse. Lewis - Burt Reynolds in a star-making role, with his tough-man, survivalist persona is the hero of the first half of the film. However, after he becomes incapacitated Ed emerges as the unlikely hero. Jon Voight proved why he went onto win an Oscar only six years later.

The pace slows down again as our heroes return to civilisation despite director John Boorman's insistence that these scenes were vital to the film. Our heroes swear to keep the traumatic events of the last few days secret. And the film ends on one final image that has bee paid homage to in many countless films.

Ultimately, I enjoyed Deliverance. Yes, the beginning and the ending are slow-paced, but the bit-inbetween was terrific.

The White Ribbon review

 Number 508 on the top 1000 films of all time is Michael Haneke's 2009 German mystery-drama 'The White Ribbon.'

The White Ribbon is set in the fictional village of Eichwald, Northern Germany, in the eve of World War One. Here a number of strange events occur including a farmer's wife dying in mysterious circumstances, the son of the local wealthy landowner being kidnapped and tortured, as well as a barn burning down. The village's school teacher (Christian Friedel) begins to suspect the village's children are behind everything.

This might have just been me, but the White Ribbon struck me as an unintentional homage to the German Expressionist films of old. Granted it lacked the surreal landscapes that Fritz Lang popularised, but it did have that overwhelming sense of dread. Plus, there was a very bleak mystery to be solved.

Yet there was something deeply unsatisfactory about the film. Despite how the school teacher has his suspicions about the village children, nothing is ever confirmed or denied either way. Of course that's life and sometimes you never find out the answers to your questions. However, when you have a mystery as great as this, you would expect at least some attempt at an explanation.

Instead when the school leader raises his concerns to the local priest and village's moral leader (Burghurt Klausner) he is quickly ran out of town. Some suspect the town's doctor, but the film ends with no satisfactory answers. All these strange events become strange stories.

Chances are we'll never know the real reason behind the mystery. I imagine that Haneke is one of those directors who like to leave it up to their audiences to decide. I guess it makes sense that the children were the culprits, but why? That's the biggest mystery of all.

The Fugitive review

 Number 505 on the top 1000 films of all time is the action-thriller 'The Fugitive.'

The Fugitive is based on the famous TV show of the same name. It tells the story of respected Chicago surgeon Dr Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford) who is sentenced to death for the murder of his wife, despite protesting his innocence. He escapes from custody and aims to prove his innocence while evading recapture by US Marshal Sam Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones.) Joe Pantoliano and Julianne Moore co-star.

At the 1993 Academy Awards, Tommy Lee Jones controversially won Best Supporting Actor Oscar. He beat out the likes of Leonardo Dicaprio for What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Pete Poselthwaite for in the Name of the Father, Ralph Fiennes for Schindler's List and John Malkovich for In the Line of Fire - with Fiennes being a shoe-in for the award. Having seen all but Malkovich's performance, I agree that the controversy was justified. Any one of the other actors would have been justified in winning the award.

Tommy Lee Jones was certainly a charismatic and entertaining presence as Sam Gerard. Was he Oscar-worthy? Absolutely not.

If anybody did deserve an Oscar nod, it would have been Harrison Ford who was great as the leading man Dr Richard Kimble. Yet despite the emotional pathos he brought to the role, he wasn't even nominated. It was a great shame, as I'm tempted to call it some of his best work. Unlike Star Wars, Indiana Jones or Blade Runner, where he played a roguish hero, Dr Ricard Kimble was an everyman.

Speaking of a shame, Julianne Moore was largely wasted in a supporting role. She plays a doctor in the hospital where Kimble hides as a fugitive. He pretends to be a janitor there. Despite scenes being shot giving her a much larger role including being Kimble's new love interest, these were eventually cut.

While we're talking about supporting actors, I've yet to see Joe Pantoliano in a leading man role. He plays supporting characters like the police detective here with so much gusto and energy. It's a shame he's always relegated to the supporting cast.

Questionable editing choices aside, I did enjoy the Fugitive. Granted, it was pure nonsense especially with Kimble surviving his jump from the dam, I was willing to suspend my disbelief. It helped that you could see it was so obviously a dummy. Maybe there were some Tommy Lee Jones' fans adamant that he was fully deserving of his Oscar, to quote Sam Gerard: "I don't care."

The Longest Day review

 Number 494 on the top 1000 films of all time is the epic historical war-drama 'The Longest Day.'

The Longest Day tells the dramatic story of the invasion of Dunkirk told from the perspective both the Allies and the Germans. It has a large ensemble cast with a whole host of famous stars like John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Sean Connery, Richard Burton, Robert Mitchum, Rod Steiger, Robert Wagner and Paul Anka.

There is no denying the the technical prowess behind The Longest Day. Shot as a docudrama, director Daryl F Zanuck deliberately chose a black-and-white colour scheme so he could really zero into the human element of the war. 

His cinematographers Jean Bourgoin and Walter Wottiz went onto the Best Cinematography Oscar for black and white. Znuck's special effects team led by Robert Macdonald and Jacques Maumont also won for Best Special effects. Neither of these were a surprise as the film was gripping from the outset, making a two and a half World War Two epic, a fast-paced thrilling watch. No doubt 'The Longest Day' influenced subsequent WW dramatisations like Saving Private Ryan, Dunkirk or Band of Brothers.

However, while the film looked great on-screen and was technically proficient, it fell down on its character work. Like I said, it had a massive supporting cast with many of its actors like Mitchum, Connery, Fonda and Burton being rendered to mere cameos. It was less immersing yourself in a different world and more spot the famous face. There wasn't a single protagonist or protagonists that you could follow throughout the film.

Nonetheless, the Longest Day was an entertaining dramatisation of one of the most important moments of not just World War Two, but world history.