25th Hour review

 Number 558 on the top 1000 films of all time is Spike Lee's crime-thriller '25th Hour.'

Monty Brogan (Edward Norton) is a crime lord twenty-five hours away from going to prison. In that time, he has to settle affairs with his girlfriend Naturelle (Rosario Dawson) friends - the obnoxious stockbroker Frank Slaughtery (Barry Pepper) and English teacher Jacob (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and father James (Brian Cox.)

This film had Spike Lee written all over it. It strongly reminded me of Lee's earlier film Do the Right Thing. Similarly, to arguably one of his most famous films, 25th Hour was very heavy-handed in its storytelling. Much of the dialogue had a hammy, over-the-top quality from Ukrainian crime-lord Uncle Nikolai to the obnoxious Frank speaking about closing deals to Ed Norton's famous tirade in the mirror.

This famous diatribe decrying basically any and every ethnic group in New York was ripped straight from David Benioff's source material, except for the addition of Al Qaeda - probably to reflect the changing post 9/11 climate. Maybe my indignation should really be with Ed Norton's delivery instead.

This was definitely one of his worst performances. He was unconvincing as the crime lord Monty because Monty himself was unbelievable. A hardened crime lord was caught by the police because they find his drug money stuffed down the sofa. It's less Pablo Escobar and more world's dumbest criminals. I had to remind myself this was a Tony Soprano type character and not your average hood. 

Similarly, how was Monty so naive about the realities of jail? He is terrified about the thought of going there, which I would understand if he were your average petty crook, but he is high-ranking enough to justify a sit-down with the Ukrainian mob. Surely a man in Monty's position would be able to look after himself in prison or at least be well-connected with those who could protect him.

Norton also lacked a lot of chemistry between co-stars Barry Pepper and Philip Seymour Hoffman. I couldn't believe the three were best friends least of all as Frank and Jacob spend more time together than with Monty. Jacob was also very creepy as he entertained a sexual attraction to his seventeen-year-old student Mary (Anna Paquin) This was an ultimately pointless subplot that went nowhere. All this culminated in a rather laughable climax where Monty goads Frank into beating him up to deter any prison rapists. Pepper was less than convincing than his emotional anguish here.

Finally, Norton also lacked romantic chemistry with Rosario Dawson. They weren't believable together. He was okay opposite Brian Cox, but not even the formidable shoulders of Brian Cox could carry the whole film on his back.

I want to like 25th Hour, but it was just a ham-fisted, eye-rolling affair,.

Happiness review

 Number 477 on the top 1000 films of all time is the black-comedy Happiness.

Trisha (Cynthia Stevenson) Helen (Lara Flynn Boyle) and teacher Joy (Jane Adams) are three sisters looking for happiness in one way or another. Trisha's husband Lenny (Ben Gazzara) is hiding a dark secret while Helen attracts the voyeuristic peeping Tom, Allan (Philip Seymour Hoffman.) Lastly, Joy becomes attracted to her Russian student Ivan (Jared Harris.)

My last review centred on Roman Polanski's Repulsion. Repulsion would be a better title for this film than Happiness, as it was repulsive. However, I think I was in the minority in this opinion. IMDB labelled it as misunderstood while critics said that it gave even the most depraved of characters a strong level of humanity.

Granted I may have misunderstood this film, but do I really want to understand a film with such a  depraved cohort of characters. Most notably, you have Lenny who is secretly a paedophile. He goes so far as to rape the friends of his eleven-year-old son. Director Todd Solondz played a dangerous game in having a paedophile in such a major, non-villainous role. Did he remind us that even the worse people are still human or did he run the risk of romanticising or at least humanising this awful behaviour?

Another example would be the voyeuristic peeping Tom, Alan, - Philip Seymour Hoffman in one of his worse roles. Granted, Alan isn't a nonce, but he's still just as depraved considering how he jerks off while talking to Joy on the phone. Again this wasn't a character I was interested in understanding. Considering he was played by the formidable PSH, this was saying something major.

I also take issue with how this film was labelled as a black comedy. It was definitely black, but it wasn't very funny as it relied on gross-out humour like PSH spunking on the wall and using said spunk to glue a postcard onto the wall. Gross. Not something I wanted to see or laugh at. Not that I laughed much at all. I don't think I even chuckled until the forty-five minute mark.

True you could argue that Solondz' key message was that no matter how hard you try, you can never fill that void inside of you with sexual gratification. Unfortunately, this key message was lost in the gross humour and disgusting characters.

Almost Famous review

 Number 369 on the top 1000 films of all time is Cameron Crowe's 2000 comedy-drama 'Almost Famous.'

William Miller (Patrick Fugit) is an aspiring journalist living under the thumb of his oppressive mother Elaine during the early 1970's. (Frances Mcdormand.) At the urging of his older sister, he starts rebelling by listening to rock music. But then music magazine editor Lester Bangs (Philip Seymour Hoffman) takes him under his wing. To further his career, William then joins rock band Stillwater as they tour the US.

This was an entertaining, if not amazing, coming-of-age drama ticking off all the boxes you would expect from the genre. You had William as the lost teenage protagonist looking for direction life his oppressive, over-protective parental figure - Elaine and the mentor character of Lester Bangs.

I think Frances Mcdormand showed why she went onto win three best Actress Oscars, as she was great as William's mother. It would be all too easy to play her as a cartoonish caricature, but Elaine's overprotective nature felt all too real. She was never being malicious or over-the-top, but she just wanted the best for her son.

Yet she wasn't the only future Oscar winner in the cast, as we also saw Philip Seymour Hoffman in a supporting role. He was one of the most versatile actors of his generation and he put that to good use playing William's mentor. It's a shame he didn't have more screentime - then again, he was suffering from the flu when filming, so perhaps that was for the best.

Cameron Crowe won the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for his semi-autobiographical script loosely based on his own experiences writing for Rolling Stone Magazine in the seventies. Almost Famous certainly had an air of realism to it.

Although the film lost something when William started following Stillwater around the US. The exploration of the band wasn't as deep as it could have been with much of the tension focussing on the conflict between the lead singer Jeff Bebe (Jason Lee) and lead guitarist Russell Hammond (Billy Crudup) with the rest of the band being largely forgotten about. Having said that, it's probably quite a common occurrence in most bands.

This film was enjoyable enough if overlong. Maybe I was just watching a dodgy bootleg, but it did feel longer than the advertised two-hour runtime.

Magnolia film

 Number 314 on the top 1000 films of all time is Paul Thomas Anderson's 1999 drama 'Magnolia.'

Magnolia tells the epic story of a group of damaged characters as they search for meaning in the San Fernando family. The ensemble cast includes Tom Cruise as pick-up artist Frank Mackey, Jason Robards as Mackey's estranged, ailing father Earl Partridge, Philip Seymour Hoffman as his nurse Phil Parma and Julianne Moore as Earl's much younger wife Linda. William H. Macy plays former child quiz show genius Donnie Smith while John C. Reilly plays policeman Jim Kurring -a  lonely man looking for love. Finally, there is Philip Baker Hall who plays game show host Jimmy Gator who is also suffering from ill health.

Although Paul Thomas Anderson is highly revered as a director, I have never been too big on his films. Sometimes I find that his films buckle under the weight of their own ambition. I'm probably going to piss off a bunch of cinophiles, but I wasn't keen on either Boogie Nights - also starring Julianne Moore and Philip Seymour Hoffman - or There Will be Blood. Yes, they had their good individual elements like Daniel Day-Lewis, but I didn't like them as a whole.

And that is what I felt about Magnolia. There were lots of great elements, but they were disparate and they didn't mesh together well. Even anthology films like Paris Je T'aime have an over-arching theme connecting the disparate elements together regardless of whether this theme was more figurative than literal. Yet the different elements of Magnolia stayed stubbornly unconnected.

Having said that, the individual elements were excellent with Tom Cruise, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Julianne Moore leading the charge. Tom Cruise proved just how good of a dramatic actor he is in his portrayal of Frank Mackey. He shone as the pick-up artist who embodied the obnoxiousness, self-confidence and arrogance you would expect from somebody in that field. It's no surprise really as Mackey was modelled on a pioneering pick-up artist Ross Jeffries.

But Tom Cruise showed his dramatic chops when he played Mackey making amends with his estranged father as the latter lay dying. Cruise proved why he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor by channeling his own personal grief about losing his father.

He even brought Philip Seymour Hoffman to genuine tears. Hoffman and Moore were impressive. Out of the different element, this was one of the best. I also enjoyed John C. Reilly who, instead of playing your comedic relief or lovable oaf, brought a lot of humanity to a lost man looking for love.

I could have done without William H. Macy or Jeremy Blackman's storylines. Blackman played Stanley Spector - a child, quiz-show genius, similar to Macy. Spector's storyline was meant to show the horrific pressures child stars are subjected to within the entertainment industry. This is true, but the storyline was rather on the nose especially his cheesy speech about how they were exploiting him. It was true and the exploitation was sad to see - upon being denied a bathroom break due to the tight shooting schedule, Spector pees himself - but the speech was still cheesy.

Although Magnolia had lots of impressive elements, I am not convinced they all married together well.