Moonrise Kingdom review

 Number 467 on the top 1000 films of all time is Wes Anderson's coming-of-age drama 'Moonrise Kingdom.'

Scout Sam Shakusky (Jared Gilman) and theatre star Suzy Bishop (Kara Hayward) are both social outcasts and pen pals. Upon meeting for the first time, the two quickly fall in love and run away on the New England island of New Penzance. They are pursued by a slieu of adults including policeman Captain Duffy Sharp (Bruce Willis,) Scout Master Randy Ward (Edward Norton,) Suzy's mum and dad, Laura (Frances McDormand) and Walt (Bill Murray) and an unnamed social worker played by Tilda Swinton.

I think it can be all too easy to dismiss Wes Anderson's films as style over substance. He is well-known for emptying distinct colour patterns and symmetrical compositions. Academics Stephanie Williams and Christen Vidanovic said that almost every frame could have been a beautiful photograph. They weren't wrong. Moonrise Kingdom looked gorgeous on-screen with its visual style complimenting the whimsical nature of the film.

Was it style over substance? I'm not so sure. Underpinning the visual flair was a charming and heartwarming love story between Sam and Suzy. Anderson intended to depict a fantasied young love with all its innocence and idealism. That's what he did. Despite being acting novices, leads Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward were both great. They served as emotional anchors in an otherwise zany film.

Nowhere is it zanier than with the adult characters who were all just a little bit peculiar. This is especially true of Suzy's parents and Captain Sharp. While Suzy and Sam's relationship is blossoming, Walt and Laura's marriage is falling apart, least of all, because of Laura's affair with Captain Sharp. This was a nice distorted mirror image of young love even if it could have used a little more screentime.

Overall, I really enjoyed Moonrise Kingdom. Rather than being an example of style over substance, it was style AND substance with its distinct visual style contributing so much to the fantastical, timeless nature of the film.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009) review

 Number 466 on the top 1000 films of all time is the Swedish thriller 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo."

Mikael Blomkyist (Michael Nyqvist) is a disgraced journalist who has just lost a high-profile libel case. He is enlisted by Henrik Vanger (Sven-Bertil Taube) the patriarch of the wealthy Vanger family - to solve the four decade disappearance, and suspected murder, of his niece Harriet. Mikael joins forces with the brilliant, but troubled hacker Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) to solve the mystery.

Two years ago, I watched the 2011 American remake of this film which starred Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara. It was ranked forty-three steps above the original. IMDB thought the remake was better - perhaps it was with Rooney Mara deservingly receiving a Best Actress Oscar nod. However, the 2011 remake could only run because the original walked first.

This film was gripping and enthralling with plenty of twists and turns. Nyquist and Rapace were every bit the quals of Craig and Mara. Best of all, the accents were more in line with what I would from a Swedish film; in the remake, the accents were all over the place. Not the case here.

One thing I didn't like about either film was the romantic subplot between Lisbeth and Mikael. In the remake, it was more romantic, but in the original, it was physical. In both films, Lisbeth is the initiator. However, Lisbeth was subject to a horrific rape from her legal guardian - of which she took an awesome but vicious revenge. But she then initiates sex with Mikael. And I thought this was unrealistic. Surely the last thing an SA survivor would want to do is to have sex with another man. It was unbelievable and contrived.

This isn't to disparage Rapace's performance of course. She earned numerous awards for a reason. Salander was a difficult character to play, but Rapace did her justice - like I said, she was every bit as convincing as Rooney Mara. Nyquist was also good as the journalist who upon stumbling upon an even bigger mystery, soon finds himself dangerously out of his depth.

Unconvincing and unnecessary love story aside, I thought the Girl with a Dragon Tattoo was a thrilling watch. Perhaps even better than its 2011 American remake.

From Here to Eternity review

 Number 465 on the top 1000 films of all time is the romantic-drama 'From Here to Eternity.'

Private Robert E. Lee Prewitt (Montgomery Clift) is a soldier and former boxer stationed in 1941 Oahu. Despite pressure from his unit he refuses to join the regimental boxing team. They then proceed to make his life hell. His only friends are the Italian-American Private Angelo Maggio (Frank Sinatra) and Sergeant Milton Warden (Burt Lancaster.)

This is the film that famously won Frank Sinatra the Best Supporting Actor Oscar. It was just one of his many successful film roles. Yet I think labelling it "supporting" is stretching things just a bit too far. He only seemed to feature in a few key scenes before going AWOL to only reappear at the film's conclusion. He was certainly good enough - maybe not as quite as good as his performance in the Manchurian Candidate, but did he have enough screentime to justify a Best Supporting Oscar?

I was also confused to see that it was Burt Lancaster and not Montgomery Clift who received the Best Actor nomination. Lancaster also received star billing over Clift. Yet it was Prewitt and his tortured past that was driving the film forward. Clift was great in the lead role too, as he conveyed Prewitt's inner turmoil. Of course, this isn't to diminish Lancaster either, but of the two, Clift was the star of the film.

The film culminates in a thrilling conclusion, as we see the Pearl Harbour attack happen in real time. This was an enthralling ending which surely captured the confusion and tragedy of the time.

From Here to Eternity was certainly an enjoyable film, but I'm not sure it was Oscar-worthy.

Run Lola Run review

 Number 464 on the top 1000 films of all time is the German experimental hyperlink thriller 'Run Lola Run.'

Lola 's (Franka Potente) boyfriend Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu) has just lost the the 100,000 Deutsche marks he owes to a fearsome drug crime lord. Lola has twenty minutes to help him find the money otherwise he will be killed. However, when her first attempts end in failure, she has the chance to try again and again until she succeeds.

Run Lola Run had a good if thin concept spreader even thinner over an eighty-minute run time. Thankfully, it wasn't any longer otherwise it would have been stretched to breaking point. If anything 'Run Lola Run' would have done better as a forty-minute Twilight Zone episode.

Run Lola Run employs a hyperlink structure allowing Lola multiple opportunities to achieve her goals, starting from scratch over and over again. We see the theme of chance put under a microscope as different events play out differently in each time. It's a cool idea, but not one that can sustain a whole film. Even an eighty-minute one.

And that's even without considering the central plot of Lola and her boyfriend having to find 100k in twenty minutes - a seemingly impossible task. So impossible, it made it difficult for me to suspend my disbelief.

It didn't help that I didn't care for either Lola or Manni or their relationship. I first saw Franke Potente in the Bourne Identity where, despite being Matt Damon's love interest, she had very little romantic chemistry with him. The same applied for Potente and Bleibtreu. As their relationship was central to the film, it wasn't good that I didn't care for it.

And I just didn't care for this film. It was an interesting concept, but it became repetitive after eighty minutes. Thank God, it wasn't any longer. 

The Magnificent Seven Review

Number 456 on the top 1000 films of all time is John Sturges' 1960 Western The Magnificent Seven.

A poor Mexican village is constantly being exploited by the cruel Calvera (Eli Wallach) and his gang of bandits. Having had enough, the villagers rally a posse of seven cowboys led by the Cajun gunslinger Chris Adams (Yul Brynner) to battle against Calvera's gang.

The Magnificent Seven is a famous remake of Akira Kurosawa's epic 'the Seven Samurai.' At three hours long, the Seven Samurai is not for casual film fans or even supposed film fanatics like me. Thankfully, the Magnificent Seven managed to tell the same story in a far more palatable two hours.

And it was certainly a great story - seven of the biggest actors of the time including Brynner, Steve McQueen and Charles Bronson team up to face off against Eli Wallach. Even for casual Western fans like me, it was certainly entertaining.

The on-screen, and at times, off-screen, rivalry between Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen underpinned much of the film, but all of the cast were good. Despite having a large ensemble cast and a limited two-hour run time, John Sturges took the time to develop each character into somebody interesting. You had the young upstart Chico (Horst Bucholz) as well as Lee (Robert Vaughn) who is haunted by a troubled past. Vaughn was a dark horse as he brought a quiet intensity to the role.

Eli Wallach's villainous Calvera wasn't as memorable as he could have been. Although it was probably overshadowed by his later and most famous role of Tuco in Sergio Leone's iconic 'The Good, The Bad and the Ugly.'

Nevertheless, John Sturges directed a fun and entertaining film, which balanced humour, heart and terrific set-pieces with a palatable two-hour run time.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) Review

 Number 454 on the top 1000 films of all time is the science-fiction horror film 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers.'

Miles Bennell (Kevin McCarthy) is a doctor in LA who soon starts to be convinced that everybody around him has been replaced by copies. This includes everybody except for his girlfriend Becky (Dana Wynter.) However, as things start to become more serious, Miles struggles in getting anybody else to believe him. He endeavours to prove the truth no matter the cost.

I think it can be all too easy to dismiss films like these as just another science-fiction flick capitalising on the Red-Scare panic of the 1950's. And while Don Siegel certainly captured the paranoia of McCarthy's America, this film is certainly more than your average B-movie sci-fi film.

Although it was initially forgotten by critics, it has since grown into one of the pre-eminent science fiction/horror films and for good reason. Despite having a minimal $400,000 budget and a paltry 80 minute runtime, it grossed over seven times that. Probably due to the small budget, it was simple, but incredibly effective. Siegel did well to really convey a fearful atmosphere. 

Perhaps that's because he deliberately under-played things. Despite hearing throughout about the pod people who have replaced the town, we only see glimpses of the pods themselves and never anything of the actual aliens. Instead, they these people look like the average person on the street, again showing the paranoia that was rampant at the time. It was the simplicity that, I think, made this film stand out against some of its contemporaries like Forbidden Planet.

Kevin McCarthy - no relation to Joseph McCarthy who gave his name to the anti-communist policies that dominated the 60's - was very good as the lead Miles Bennell. He brought an everyman quality as we see Bennell trying desperately to expose the truth while not falling to hysteria. And, best of all, unlike most science fiction, Bennell was actually an interesting character that you want to root for.

If I were to criticise the film for anything, it might have been the overly-optimistic ending. It was far more hopeful than I would have expected for a film as bleak as this. Although Miles' and Diana's relationship was every bit as a cheesy as I would expect for a film like this.

I enjoyed Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Although it was low-budget, this by no far impacted it quality. And it was certainly more than your average 1950's sci-film which exploited the McCarthyismesque paranoia of the time.

I saw the Devil review

 Number 462 on the top 1000 films of all time is the Korean action-thriller 'I saw the Devil.'

Kim Soo-Hyun  (Lee Byung-Hun) is an NIS agent whose fiancee Joo-yun is brutally murdered. Soo-hyun swears revenge on her murderer - the sadistic Jang Kyung-Chul (Choi Min-Sik.)

I've seen quite a few Korean films since starting this list and I think it's fair to say that Korea is the America of the Asian film world. Nothing is done by half-measure. Everything is over-the-top and ridiculous. There is no subtlety. Just larger-than-life plots and daft plot developments.

This was certainly true for I saw the Devil which was a textbook example of horrible people being horrible to each other in particularly horrible ways. There was a lot of violence and most of it was completely gratuitous. I Saw the Devil was a film that could have left a lot more up to the imagination. It was a difficult watch.

Perhaps that's because we didn't really have a main character to root for. Soo-Hyun is supposed to be the antihero type, but his dogged determination to sadistically torture Kyung-Chul blurred the line between anti-hero and villain, but more in favour of the villain. Sure Kyung-Chul was a despicable killer, but Soo-Hyun was supposed to be better than him. He isn't though, least of all, because of his silly decisions to catch him, torture him, set him free and then repeat this process over and over again. This is all well and good, but it allows Kyung-Chul to kill more innocent people - he almost rapes and murders a schoolgirl.

I know revenge is a dish best served cold, but this seemed beyond stupid. Not to mention dangerous to Soo-Hyun and his family. Surely he would know by repeatedly catching and setting Kyung-Chul free, he is putting their lives at risk?

Spoilers

Speaking of loved ones, the film concludes with Soo-Hyun manufacturing a reunion between Kyung-Chul and his estranged parents and son, only to have him killed right in front of them. Yes, Kyung-Chul was a vicious killer, but what did his family do to deserve seeing something so traumatic? It was stupid and unnecessarily cruel.

Lee Byung-Hun is best known to international audiences as the Front Man in the hit series Squid Game. And Choi Min-Sik has also starred in the famous Vengeance trilogy. Both of them are great actors in their own ways, but here their characters were little more than soulless, emotionless monsters. They didn't get the chance to really show their acting chops.

I really didn't care for I saw the Devil. It was complete nonsense and unbelievably over-the-top. Not even the considerable acting talents of Choi Min-Sik and Lee Byung-Hun could save it.