Planes, Trains and Automobiles review

 Number 742 on the top 1000 films of all time is John Hughes' 1987 comedy 'Planes, Trains and Automobiles.'

Neal Page (Steve Martin) is a high-strung ad-man trying to return home to New York from Chicago in time for Thanksgiving. However, after his plane is diverted due to a snow storm, he seeks an alternative way home. He is joined by the oafish, but kind-hearted Del Griffith (John Candy.) 

This was a great comedy that focussed on the age-old trope of the odd couple. Steve Martin and John Candy were absolutely brilliant together. Neal Page was the grumpy, irascible jerk playing the straight man to Griffith's funny man. And there were some great gags in this film from Page trying to bribe another businessman to use his taxi to Page and Griffith inadvertently spooning in a motel room from the two of them hitch-hiking in the back of a pick-up truck that belongs to a Southern hick in Missouri. Yet unlike with some comedies, the jokes never strayed into the predictable or cheesy territory. Part of that was down to Martin and Candy having a really great chemistry.

Yet this wasn't just a comedy. It was a film with real heart. John Hughes and the two leads did well to stop the different characters from becoming caricatures. Del Griffith was more than the lovable, fat oaf. Neal Page had more to his character than simply being an unlikeable jerk. When the two are forced to share a motel room for the night, Page tires of Griffith's slovenly habits and snaps at him. Instead of snapping back, Griffith unapologetically states that he might be a buffoon, but he likes who he is and he isn't changing. Most importantly, his wife also likes him. It was difficult not to feel for Griffith at this point. Page also realises that he has gone too far and the two reconcile. Page shows some real growth and has a great character arc.

And I did enjoy how this comedy did engage with some deeper themes. It stopped it from being a pointless farce yet it wasn't corny or sentimental either. It engaged with the film's key theme of thanksgiving. Page might have initially been very angry at being lumped together with Griffith, but by the film's conclusion, the two have become good friends. Page is thankful for his experiences. And when Griffith reveals *spoiler alert* that he has nowhere to go for thanksgiving as his wife is long dead, Page openly welcomes him into his home.

All in all, I really enjoyed this film. It was a great comedy film that had real heart. And Steve Martin and John Candy just had a great chemistry. If we celebrated Thanksgiving in the UK, I would surely be watching this every year.

JFK review

 Number 306 on the top 1000 films of all time is Oliver Stone's epic political thriller: JFK.

Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner) is the former New Orleans district attorney. After President Kennedy is assassinated, the Warren report declares that Lee Harvey Oswald (Gary Oldman) was the lone perpetrator. Garrison has his doubts and reopens the investigation. He inadvertently unearths a massive conspiracy theory. The huge ensemble cast includes Tommy Lee Jones, Joe Pesci, Kevin Bacon, Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau and John Candy.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: a film needs a very good reason to be over three hours long. And it needs an excellent reason to be three hours and twenty-five minutes long. JFK had no such reason. it was one of the longest films I've seen and far longer than it needed to be.

It's safe to say that Kennedy's assassination is one of the most controversial topics in history. Few people believe that Lee Harvey Oswald was acting as a lone wolf. The true perpetrators range from the mob to the CIAS to the Russians to the Cubans. Any one of these explored in isolation could have made a very interesting film, but where Stone went was how he tried to connect everything. Reportedly, he read two dozen books on Kennedy's assassination and his research team read 100-200 books. And it was like Stone tried to include every single scrap of information he could find. This made for a bloated, unfocussed film.

The supporting cast was huge and certainly could have been trimmed down. Garrison's many deputies were very similar to each other and I regularly mixed them up. Some of them were also ultimately pointless to the plot as they were involved in subplots that went nowhere. Bill Broussard (Michael Rooker) is one such deputy who becomes uncomfortable at how the conspiracy begins to implicate LBJ. He betrays his former boss by starting to work for the feds, but we never see any consequences for this.

Stone was heavily criticised for taking liberties with history. But my issue isn't so much was he included, but what he didn't, which was nothing. He included everything which was not necessary. I could have done without seeing how Garrison's investigation was affecting his family life. This would have cut the film down a lot.

And everything was slow that after a while it became very tedious. Much of the film were characters sitting in a room either quietly talking or loudly yelling at each other. As such, a lot of the supporting cast was wasted. Gary Oldman did very little as did Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. With so many famous faces, it's inevitable that you can't give them all the attention they deserve and a lot of them did fall by the wayside. Although, John Candy and Joe Pesci gave memorable performances and Costner's ending monologue was particularly powerful.

The film did have the potential to live up to its ambitious premise, but if you have to watch a film in two halves then it is too damn long.