The Artist review

 Number 304 on the top 1000 films of all time is Michel Hazanavicius' 2011 silent-film 'The Artist.'

George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) is a silent film-star who finds himself at crisis when the film industry is slowly transitioning to talkies. Will his relationship with rising star Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo) help to save his career? John Goodman, James Cromwell, Penelope Ann Miller and Malcolm Mcdowell co-star.

Since beginning this challenge, I have seen my fair share of silent films from Charlie Chaplin to Fritz Lang's Metropolis. Yet the Artist failed to capture the same magic. It lacked the same physical comedy or emotional tenderness that you would get in a Charlie Chaplin film.

The first half hour of the Artist was painfully dull as we took too long getting to George Valentin's conflict. In many ways, you can argue he is a dinosaur - desperately clinging to a life that no longer exists. Sure, it would have applied to many silent-film stars, but this type of resentment to embrace the future that turned him into an arrogant, archaic fossil. Hell, even after much resistance even Chaplin started making talking pictures.

I understand this was all part of George's character-arc, but it did make him unlikeable. I'm going to be even more controversial and argue whether Jean Dujardin truly deserved the Best Actor Oscar. He was quite over-the-top, although I guess that would have been the expectation of the time and medium. And it wasn't like he had that much more competition during that year's Oscars.

More convincing was Berenice Bejo, as Peppy Miller, who brought a certain charm to the film. James Cromwell who played Valentin's fiercely loyal manservant was also good. But Malcolm Mcdowell and John Goodman could have had more to do.

The Artist was enjoyable enough for what it was, but it didn't match up to the silent films of old.

Big Hero 6 review

 I don't understand why this Disney animated film didn't chart on the top 1000 films of all time. It is an excellent adaptation of a Marvel comic.

Hiro Hamada (Ryan Potter) is a fourteen-year-old robotics genius. His older brother Tadasho (Daniel Henney) is his hero who has built the inflatable robot Baymax (Scott Adsit.) However, when Tadashi dies in a fire, Hiro begins to suspect he was murdered. Hiro teams up with Baymax and Tadashi's friends: Wasabi (Damon Wayans Jr), Go Go (Jamie Chung), Fred (TJ Miller) and Honey Lemon (Genesis Rodriguez) to find out the truth. Alan Tudyk and James Cromwell co-star.

Why is this film so good? One simple answer. Baymax. In designing him, director Don Hall wanted to do something different to the robots we've seen in the Terminator and Wall-E. Taking inspiration from real-life research into huggable robots, he created one of the most adorable characters ever. Paired with some brilliant animation, Baymax was one of Disney's most endearing protagonists.

I loved seeing him bumbling around in his misguided attempts to try and help people. He provided a lot of the film's humour especially in the earlier sections. All credit goes to Scott Halzit who, despite playing an emotionless robot, still imbued Baymax with so much humanity. 

But beyond the comedy and the adorable Baymax, there was so much heart and emotional weight - a lot more than you might expect from an animated film. This is Disney after all.

After Tadashi's death, Hiro is absolutely crushed and is ready to give up, but Baymax is ready to coach him through it - providing him with all the emotional support he needs. So are Tadashi's friends. They become a superhero team working together to beat the masked antagonist they suspect of killing Tadashi. The supporting characters were all great with their own personalities and quirks. Okay, I'm not a fan of TJ Miller who played Fred. He isn't funny. He's just annoying, but even he wasn't that bad here.

And the emotional weight continues to the end when we uncover the true motivations of our mysterious villain. It takes a lot for a film to balance both comedy and emotion, but Big Hero 6 did it well. It's rare that a film makes you cry from both laughter and sadness, but I was close to tears for many different reasons.

Big Hero Six was a triumph of the film. It was well-written, beautifully animated, comedy-drama that had one of the cutest protagonists ever. And, of course, it had a great soundtrack with Fallout Boy penning Immortals just for this film. Who doesn't like Fallout Boy? What a combination.