Lone Survivor review

 Number 429 on the top 1000 films of all time is the biographical war film 'Lone Survivor.'

Lone Survivor tells the true story of Operation Redwings - an ultimately failed US Navy seal operation to track down the Taliban leader Ahmad Shah. The four-man team consists of Corpsman Marcus Lutrell (Mark Wahlbeg) Lieutenant Mike Murphy (Taylor Kitsch,) Gunner's Mate Danny Dietz (Emile Hirsch) and Sonar Technician Matthew "Axe" Axleson (Ben Foster.)

Like many US films about the Afghan War, it can be all too easy to dismiss them as stylised propaganda. Perhaps Lone Survivor is more nuanced than that, but it was ultimately still style over substance.

It received criticism for prioritising the action sequences over deep characterisations. Although the action sequences are impressive they are overlong and the character work suffered as a result. Upon being discovered i their outpost, the four Navy Seals have to defend themselves against a far bigger Taliban force. Most of the film consisted of an intense firefight and multiple falls from steep ravines - dangerous stunts that ultimately injured a lot of stunt performers.

It also begged belief that all four soldiers survived these falls with only superficial injuries. I know this was based on real life, but it seemed like the seals had some serious levels of plot armour. Maybe it was all the body armour they were wearing? They also did survive multiple bullet wounds - until they didn't. This isn't a spoiler by the way. It's called Lone Survivor for a reason.

Not that the title really means much. After his brothers-in-arms were killed, Marcus Lutrell becomes the eponymous lone survivor, but the characterisations are so paper-thin, this could have been any of the four navy seals. And when you have old, wooden Wahlberg in the lead role, things just became worse.

But Lutrell survives the Taliban militants by being sheltered by local Pashtun villager Muhammed Gulab who goes on to protect him from the Taliban militants. This was a nice way of adding some technicolour to the otherwise black-and-white storytelling of US good, Afghanistan bad. 

I initially thought Gulab was protecting Lutrell because of how the militants killed one of his fellow villagers earlier, but it was actually due to the Pashtun code of honour Pashtunwali where members swear to protect a man from his enemies at all costs.

Again this some nice characteristics - it's just a shame the Navy Seals didn't receive the same treatment. it was also a bit strange that the Pashtun local don't speak English until they're talking with Lutrell and then it's "f**k America" this and "f**k Taliban" that. All very unlikely.

The Right Stuff review

 Number 384 on the top 1000 films of all time is the 1983 historical drama film 'The Right Stuff.'

The Right Stuff portrays the true story of the Mercury Seven - a group of Navy, Marine and Test pilots who were picked for Project Mercury - the US first manned space mission. It also tells the story of Captain Chuck Yeager (Sam Shephard) - the first person to fly at supersonic speed. The astronauts consist of Air Force captains Virgil 'Gus' Grissom (Fred Ward) Gordon "Gordo" Cooper (Dennis Quaid,) Donald "Deke" Slayton (Scott Paulin,) Marine corps pilot John Glenn (Ed Harris) and Navy pilots Alan Shepard (Scott Glenn,) Walter Schirra (Lance Henriksen) and Scott Carpenter (Charles Frank.)

Coming in at 192 minutes, this is an epic film in every sense of the word. Yes, it was depicting a monumental moment in not just American history, but the history of mankind, but did the film need to be so long? It is a slow-paced film that dragged in a lot of places and was also somewhat lacking in conflict and tension. Of course, you can argue there was never going to be that much dramatic tension in the film - we know that Project Mercury was ultimately a success, but still the film was boring and bloated.

Originally, William Goldman was hired to write the script, but he completely ignored the contributions of Chuck Yeager. Director Philip Kaufman and producer Irvin Wrinkler disagreed with this and instead Kaufman used his own script. That's why we see Chuck Yeager at the beginning of the film making history. After many failures to break the sound barrier, he does what nobody else has done before.

From here we get a loose sketch of the different main characters who soon blended into each other. I can only really remember John Glenn, due to Ed Harris' stardom, and Gus Grissom, for reasons I'll explain later. 

I understand that Kaufman and Wrinkler had to stick to the historical record, which might explain why there wasn't too much drama, but more things could have gone. Perhaps they could have taken some more creative license to amp up the tension. True there were scenes of the pilot's wives worried about their safety, but these were little more than minor inconveniences. As a whole the female characters were overshadowed by the men. They could have contributed more to the film.

The most drama came from Grissom's space flight where he lands in the ocean and possibly panicking blows the hatch early leading to the spacecraft flooding and ending up on the seabed. As such he is denied the same prestige awarded to Alan Shepard. 

Although this storyline did face some criticism for unfairly portraying Grissom as a coward, instead of acknowledging a mechanical fault with the spacecraft, it certainly injected a shot of life into this film. It also made Grissom one of the more memorable and sympathetic characters.

No doubt, the Right Stuff was portraying one of the most important moments in not only the history of space travel, but also the history of the mankind, but it could have done so in a shorter, more engaging way. The Right Stuff for Project Mercury? Sure. The right stuff for an entertaining film? Not so much.

Before Sunset (2004) review

 Number 272 on the top 1000 films of all time is Richard Lintlaker's romantic-drama 'Before Sunset' - sequel to the 1995 Before Sunrise.

Jesse Wallace (Ethan Hawke) is an American writer on the last stage of his European book tour in Paris. he is promoting the book that he wrote about a fleeting romance he had with French lady Celine (Julie Delphy,) whom he met in Vienna nine years prior. The events of which constitute the plot of Before Sunrise. Little does he know that we will soon re-unite with her in Paris.

I absolutely loved Before Sunrise. It is low in spectacle, action and budget, but high in authenticity and romantic chemistry between its two leads. I loved the original so much that I couldn't wait to watch the sequel. It was reminiscent of the beginnings of relationships where everything is exciting, new and fresh. Did Before Sunset live up to the hype? Not quite.

It was still a highly entertaining film, but it lacked the spark that the first one had. In many ways, it was a rehash of the first one. Only this time, Jesse and Celine are in Paris, instead of Vienna, and instead of an entire night together, they only have an hour before Jesse has to return to America at sunset.

Considering it's been nine years since their last encounter, Jesse and Celine have as much chemistry, as they did before. The same can be said for Ethan Hawke and Julie Delphy who co-wrote the film along with Richard Lintlaker. If you told me that the pair were dating in real life I wouldn't have been shocked as they were brilliant together. Obviously they weren't as Ethan Hawke was finalising his divorce with wife Uma Thurman. Anyway, Jesse and Celine's dialogue sparkled. And the film had a fantastic air of authenticity. It didn't just feel real. It was real.

Yet the film still lacked something. It is only a paltry eighty minutes long, but it still felt longer than it should have been. On the surface, it seems that Jesse and Celine are picking up where they left off - even though they're both in new relationships - Jesse is married with a son, but we soon learn that they never truly recovered from their fateful encounter. Jesse is trapped in a loveless marriage while Celine never sees her photojournalist boyfriend. They're still both deeply in love with each other. While Before Sunrise showed the excitement of the beginning of the relationship, Before Sunset, seemed to focus more on the relationship after the honeymoon period has worn off.

This all culminates in a tearful confrontation at the film's climax. But this should have come sooner. I couldn't see what this film was building to - I wonder if it would have been similar to how Before Sunrise ended. But *spoilers*

it ended on a less ambiguous, but equally hopeful note. 

Richard Lintlaker captured lightning in the bottle with Before Sunrise. He couldn't quite do the same with Before Sunset, but it was still a great film nonetheless.

Of Mice and Men (1992) review

 Number 730 on the top 1000 films of all time us Gary Sinise's 1992 drama 'Of Mice and Men.;

Based on John Steinbeck's story of the same name, we watch George (Gary Sinise) and his intellectually disabled friend Lenny (John Malkovich) try to find work during America's great depression. They then find work on a Californian ranch.

The reputation of this film precedes it. Many English school children study it for their GCSEs. I've never read it, but I knew the story and the ending. However, this didn't make things any less tragic. Where Gary Sinise succeeded was by taking a well-known story and distilling it to its base elements. Naturally, things were changed, but the core story remained the same.

It can't be easy both directing and starting in the same film, but Gary Sinise succeeded there too. George had to play a fine balancing line between looking after the emotionally immature and fragile Lenny, but also appeasing his new employer, more, in particularly, his nasty son Curly (Ray Walston.) The film also looked great, as Sinise captured the remote Californian landscape.

But I think the true star was John Malkovich who played Lenny with a great vulnerability and a great humanity. In many ways, Lenny was a gentle giant who didn't know his own strength.

I already knew how his story ended, but that didn't make it any less sad to see on-screen. And that was down to Malkovich's performance and Sinise's direction.

Mississippi Burning review

 Number 470 on the top 1000 films of all time is the 1988 crime-thriller 'Mississippi Burning.'

Mississippi Burning is based on the true story of three civil rights activists going missing in a small Mississippi town. When FBI agents Rupert Anderson (Gene Hackman) and Alan Ward (Wilhelm Dafoe) start investigating, they are met with hostility from the town's racist locals. Soon they suspect the three activists were killed by the KKK. Frances Mcdormand, Brad Dourif, Michael Rooker, R. Lee Erney and Stephen Tobolowsky co-star.

I recently wrote a listicle about films too traumatic to watch again. If I were to write another list, surely Mississippi Burning would be at the top of the list. This is a film that does not shy away from the United States' racist past. Rather, it tackles it head-on. And there's no other way you can depict such horrible subject matter.

Mississippi Burning is a harrowing and brutal portrayal of the ugly discrimination that the black community was forced to endure. Yes, it does show it through the perspective of white men, and it would be have been more interesting if the black men were put more front-and-centre, but it was still a powerful watch all the same.

The relationship between Anderson and Ward underpinned the film. Anderson, the older and more maverick of the two, has to follow the orders of the younger, but more senior in rank, Ward, who is a stickler for the rules. Despite their differences, they learn to work together.  Dafoe and Hackman had great chemistry, which shone through.

As Dafoe is a character actor, he usually plays larger-than-life oddballs, usually leading, to over-the-top, exaggerated performances *cough cough* the the Boondock Saints, but he was incredibly measured and controlled in this.

Hackman was also great. Anderson has a romantic subplot with the wife of one of the Mississippi police officers played by Frances Mcdormand. she showed why she is one of the few actors to have won three Best Acting Oscars. Their relationship was wonderfully understated. Originally, the pair were supposed to have a sex-scene, but this was dropped in favour of the two characters standing in the shadows. And that's all we needed to see. Props to the lighting department.

And all the supporting cast were good too: Brad Dourif, Michael Rooker, and, especially, Stephen Tobolowsky were chilling ass the abhorrent KKK members.

Sure there might be some who criticise Mississippi Burning for distorting history, but the key message is clear enough: the black community was subject to terrible, racist abuse. And that's a true we should never forget.

BlacKkKlansman review

 Continuing my deviation from the top 1000 films of all time by reviewing Spike Lee's 2018 biographical crime comedy-drama 'BlacKkKlansman.'

Based on a true story and nominated for the Best film Oscar, BlackKklansman follows the story of Ron Stallworth (John David Washington.) Stallworth is the first black cop in the Colorado Springs police department. He starts to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan led by David Duke (Topher Grace.) He is aided by his Jewish partner Philip "Flip" Zimmerman (Adam Driver) who attends Klan meetings while impersonating Ron.

Although BlacKkKlansman is set in 1970, it is as relevant now as it was back then. Race relations has always been a controversial topic in the USA especially in 2018. Spike Lee incorporated a lot of this cultural context into his film giving it a thematically powerful ending.  In 2017, in the wake of the Charleston Church Shooting, there were many movement to remove Confederate monuments from public spaces. One of these monuments was the Robert E. Lee statue in Lee Park, Charlottesville, Virginia. In response, a rally of alt-right and Neo-Nazis counter-protestors clashed with the protestors already there. This all culminated with one white supremacist driving his car into the crowd and killing activist Heather Heyer. I think that this context gives the film a special place in the cultural zeitgeist. This hatred is intrinsic within American culture. It always has been and maybe always will be.

However, I'm no cultural theorist or commentator so on with the review. I've watched quite a few films about race relations in the US from Green Book to the Help and Hidden Figures, which I am yet to review. And it's safe to say that BlacKkKlansman is far more in your face about its portrayal of racism. Rather than being subtle or understated, Lee goes straight for the throat. The KKK members are expectedly abhorrent especially the disgusting Felix Kendrickson, played brilliantly by Jasper Paakkonen. 

There is the showing of the racist film 'A Birth of a Nation,' liberal use of the N-word, numerous anti-semitic remarks, racist police accosting black activists and even the recounting of the horrific real-life lynching of Jesse Washington told by Harry Belafonte. All this made for uncomfortable but entirely necessary viewing. Lee brought the true nature of the 'black' experience to the forefront and forced us to absorb it whether we wanted to or not.

I have to also give full credit to lead actors John David Washington and Adam Driver, who was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar. They were brilliant in their roles. Ron Stallworth initially gains entry into the klan through telephone calls alone, but when it comes to going there in person, Flip assumes this role. Despite being Jewish himself and having to endure plenty of casual anti-semitism, he quickly ingratiates himself into the group. Driver definitely deserved the Best Supporting Actor nomination. 

I am reminded of Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained. Leonardo Dicaprio was initially uncomfortable with playing such an overtly racist character, but Tarantino took him aside and said that if he doesn't 100% commit to the role audiences will hate him forever. He committed to the role and was brilliant. And so was Driver. I found him very meh in the Star Wars sequels, but he was great here. This was a far more mature and developed role and very much suited Driver's talents. Mahershala Ali might have won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Green Book, but Driver was just as good.

John David Washington was also great as Stallworth. He had a difficult role to play - the first black policeman in Colorado dealing with his racist colleagues while also going undercover in the clan, but he played the role of a man caught between two worlds very well. He is a black man working for the police - an institution that many of his friends and even his activist girlfriend Patrice Dumas (Laura Harrier) declares as systemically racist. 

Topher Grace and Ryan Eggold who played Colorado KKK chapter leader Walter Breachway were also great. Their more restrained but no less abhorrent racism was a nice contrast to Felix's more overt racism.

If I were to criticise the film for anything, it would be that on occasion Spike Lee chose some odd shots and some editing techniques. It was like he was trying to be all gritty and artistic, but it just came across as silly. There was the split screen at the end, where Ron was revealing his true identity to David Duke over the phone, which looked like a comic book. But the penultimate shot made me laugh out loud over how silly it looked: Ron and Patrice are investigating a strange noise outside their apartment with their guns drawn. There is a dolly shot that makes it look like the actors are floating toward the camera. It's like they're on a travelator. 

But this was a great film. Spike Lee took a challenging and provocative subject matter and put it up front for all to see. This is a film that might leave you in shocked silence or maybe it will leave you thinking. But there is no way you will  be left unaffected by BlacKkKlansman. 

Green Book review

 I'm taking a slight deviation from the top 1000 films of all time to review the 2018 Best Picture Oscar winner: 'Green Book.'

Based on a true story, Green Book follows the relationship between acclaimed, African-American pianist Dr. Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali) and his Italian-American chauffeur Tony "Lip" Vallelonga (Viggo Mortenson) as they tour around the deep South in 1960's America.

Representation and diversity are massive buzz words in today's culture. As this film is all about race relations, naturally it has received some criticism about its depiction of race. However, I think it was a great representation of race on-screen.  Rather than forcing a black character into a white role, director Peter Farrelly depicted a true story. These types of films are always so much better as they bleed authenticity. And Green Book felt scarily realistic.

Sure you could dismiss a lot of the film as exaggeration or hyperbole, but the reality was that many African-Americans faced the same Jim Crow discrimination as Dr Don Shirley did. He is not allowed to try on a suit at a tailor shop and when he goes for a drink in a bar, he is beaten by three white racists. But he is also subjected to far more insidious cases of racism. He is not allowed to eat in "white" restaurants or use "white" toilets. Despite being a brilliant musician, he is very much a performing seal brought out to be gawped and pointed at by the white people and then sent back to his cage. They're happy to have him perform, but are abhorred by the thought of eating with him.

Mahershala Ali was absolutely brilliant as Dr Shirley. He perfectly portrayed the conflicted nature of the character: a character who is caught between two worlds without fitting into either. He is too black to be white and too white to be black. Ali conveyed the true loneliness of the character - loneliness that is hiding behind a veneer of pride and standoffishness. Mahershala won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor and deservingly so. He really is one of the most versatile actors of this generation: he can play prim and proper like in Green Book, he does suave and mysterious in House of Cards and a dark rough- around-the-edges policeman in True Detective.

But he can't take all the credit. Viggo Mortenson was also fantastic. He didn't just play Tony Lip, he embodied the character. Sure, you could say that he was a cliche who played up to every single Italian-American stereotype, but that is very much the point of the character and the point of the film. It's not just about overcoming your own prejudices and biases, but proving that you are much more than the sum of your parts. Tony Lip could have just been another hot-headed, vest-wearing Italian-American, but Mortenson turned him into a courageous man, determined to stand up for what was right - despite harbouring some initial prejudices himself.

And the film works so well because of the chemistry between Ali and Mortenson. The two of them were great together. They were like a comedy duo with Dr Shirley playing the straight man to Tony Lip's less than sophisticated ways. This clashing of cultures was hilarious to watch.

Farelly directed a brilliant film that wonderfully balanced humour and emotion while also treating listener's ears to a great soundtrack full of Motown classics, Chopin and even a composition by Dr Shirley himself. I've ran out of superlatives to describe this film. Just go watch it now. 

The Last of the Mohicans review

 Number 474 on the top 1000 films of all time is Michael Mann's epic historical drama film 'The Last of the Mohicans.'

Nathaniel 'Hawkeye' Poe (Daniel Day-Lewis) is an English man raised by the Mohawk tribe in 18th century America. When he falls in love with Cora Munro (Madeline Stowe,) the daughter of Colonel Munro (Maurice Roeves) of the British army, he's dawn into a colonial war between England and France. Meanwhile Colonel Munro and, by extension, Cora and her sister Alice (Jodhi May) are being hunted down by Magua (Wes Studi,) a Huron with a grudge to bear.

Never mind the Last of the Mohicans, I thought I would be the last of the Lintons by the time I finished watching this film. It was only two hours long, but it could have easily been an hour and a half, if it wasn't for all the bloody slow-motion. Don't get me wrong, slow motion can be great when used correctly, but not when it's used for every other shot. We don't need to see the characters walking or riding their horses in slow-motion. Even the fight scenes were in slow motion which became tedious after a while. They're fight scenes, they're supposed to be fast and chaotic.

Beyond this, the film was slowly paced. There was a lot of talking for what was supposed to be a drama. You get the colonials fretting about their ranches being attacked or Munro fretting about his daughters or the colonials plotting to desert the base. There was so much talking that when the action scenes finally happened I had almost switched off. And the less said about all the staring in the fight scenes the better.

The music did nothing to help the pacing either. Large parts of the film including the slow-motion scenes were set to a grandiose, often cheesy, instrumental score, which made the film even slower.

As for Day-Lewis, when he was on screen, I thought he was good, but I also think he was severely underused. This was weird as he is the main character. But it took him a while to appear, and even while writing this review, I was struggling to remember his character's name. But I did like the supporting cast. Madeline Stowe who played Cora had a good agency about her, stealing a pistol and later shooting an Indian who's going to kill her.

And even her sister Alice, rather than be a prisoner of Magua, takes her fate into her own hands by jumping from a cliff. Then we have Major Heyward (Steven Waddington) who goes through a nice redemption arc. He proposes to Cora only to have him reject him and then he quickly becomes jealous of her growing closer with Nathaniel. The two become enemies, uneasy allies and eventually Heyward sacrifices himself to Magua in exchange for Lora's life. Although I found that a bit difficult to believe. Magua, not only wants Munro dead, but also his bloodline. Why would he let Cora go instead of killing her?

If a film stars Daniel Day-Lewis, you would expect to enjoy it, but the Last of the Mohicans didn't do ti for me. Too much slow motion and grandiose music.