Stardust review

 Number 532 on the top 1000 films of all time is Matthew Vaughn's 2007 fantasy romantic-drama 'Stardust.'

Tristan Thorn (Charlie Cox) is a young man from the fictional Victorian village of Wall. In love with an already betrothed woman, he ventures into the neighbouring fantasy land of Stormhold to collect a fallen star that has taken the form of a woman called Yvaine (Clare Danes.) However, a coven of witches led by Lamia (Michelle Pfeiffer) are also seeking Yvaine in their quest for immortality. Meanwhile, Stormhold's dying king (Peter O'Toole) decides that his successor should be whoever can find the ruby he has thrown into the sky. His squabbling sons led by Prince Septimus (Mark Strong) start fighting to become the new king.

This was a fun re-imagining and subversion of the fairy-tale, as well a great take on the fantasy genre. Like science-fiction, I find fantasy to be full of pretentiousness - authors desperate to show off how creative they are put all their efforts into world-building and purple prose, neglecting their characters and narrative. The result is usually an overly-serious and stuffy story.

 Yet Stardust was refreshing and charming. There was no shortage of well-choregraphed, slapstick fights, as well as comedic characters. Robert De Niro as the effeminate pirate Captain Shakespeare is a prime example. De Niro has such a reputation for playing grizzled, old gangsters, it's difficult to imagine him as cross-dressing dame, but he did the comedy so well. He only had a supporting role, but a scene-stealing one.

Similarly, the old man (David Kelly) guarding the wall was great. He uses his staff to fiercely stop Tristan from crossing realms. Granted, he isn't very effective, but it was great slapstick all the same. And there's loads more examples of quiet humour from Lamia's youth potion wearing off leading to her hair falling out and her breasts sagging, to the king's sons committing fraticide one by one. When one of them has his throat slit, he bleeds blue blood. All of these were nice little touches.

I wish my praise could extend to Charlie Cox, but he was very bland and sappy as Tristan Thorn. Arguably, he becomes progressively more heroic, but he is still a rather dull protagonist. It's a shame as I've seen Charlie Cox in more action-oriented roles and he's very good, but he was nothing out the ordinary here. Mark Strong and Michelle Pfeiffer made great villains though. Generally, I've only seen Mark Strong in villainous roles, but he does do them so damn well.

All in all, I did enjoy Stardust. It was wonderfully creative. Yes, Charlie Cox, is sappy, but Stardust proved that fantasy does not need to be dark and serious all the time.

October Sky review

 Number 493 on the top 1000 films of all time is Joe Johnston's biographical drama - October Sky.

Based on the true story, October Sky follows four teenage boys in Coalwood, West Virginia, who after being inspired by the Sputnik launch, decide to enter their county's science fair with their own rocket programme. The group is led by Homer Hickham (Jake Gyllenhaal) who is assisted by his friends Roy Lee Cooke (William Lee Scott) Sherman O'Dell (Chad Lindberg) the nerdy Quentin Wilson (Chris Owen) and their teacher Miss Riley (Laura Dern.) However, the group faces stiff resistance especially from Homer's father John (Chris Cooper) who is adamant that his son follows in his footsteps of working in the local coal mine.

Since starting this challenge, I have always tried to refrain from comparing films. I believe you should judge each film in its own right. But a comparison here would be appropriate. The last film I reviewed was the Breakfast Club. But where the Breakfast Club failed, October Sky succeeded as a great coming-of-age film. It had heart, drama and plenty of laughs.

Our group of boys faced innumerable challenges, but they resolve to never give up and eventually achieve their dream. And in the process, they all grow up. It is quickly established that the most common career path is to work in the coal mine, but Homer refuses to accept this. This steely determination made him a likeable protagonist. Even when it looked like all hope was lost, he continued working toward his dream.

And Jake Gyllenhaal did the part justice. This was his first leading role and he displayed an impressive maturity for such a young age. His tension with his father was one of the driving conflicts behind the film. And Gyllenhaal and Chris Cooper are very good together. Sure their relationship borders on the melo-dramatic - especially nearing the end, but it was no less effective. In essence, it was a clashing of generations - the old man bound by tradition and the young buck wanting to make his own way.

All in all, I did enjoy this film. It balanced humour with heartbreak. And, no doubt, it was a major contributor to Jake Gyllenhaal's current status as one of Hollywood's leading men. 

The Breakfast Club review

 Number 376 on the top 1000 films of all time is John Hughes' coming-of-age comedy-drama 'The Breakfast Club.'

The Breakfast Club tells the story of five high school students from different cliques spending one Saturday in detention. Claire Standish (Molly Ringwald) is the popular, spoiled princess, Brian Johnson (Anthony Michael Hall) is an over-worked nerd, Andrew (Emilio Estevez) is an athlete and wrestler, Alison Reynolds (Ally Sheedy) is a quiet outsider and John Bender (Judd Nelson) is the rebellious delinquent. Over the Saturday, the five teenagers realise they have more in common then they first realised.

It's safe to say that the Breakfast Club has become a cult classic. A favourite of eighties' kids, I was expecting a lot, but I was left cold. It's labelled as a comedy, but it didn't make me laugh very much. In fact, it was fifteen minutes before I even cracked a smile. Perhaps that's because the beginning was slow. We're introduced to our main characters as they take their places for detention. Hardly riveting stuff. And the lack of background music made things even duller.

The cast themselves were boring. I understand that each character was supposed to resemble a different high school stereotype - the cheerleader, the nerd, the jock, the goth and the bad boy, and then as the story progresses, we see that they're more than the labels that society has imposed onto them. But it didn't help they were all so insipid  to begin with. The only interesting character was the delinquent John Bender whose behaviour is attributed to his abusive home life, which helped to give his character a bit of depth. And Judd Nelson did inject some much-needed life and energy into proceedings.

He is an agent of chaos throughout the film, harassing Claire, fighting with Andrew and convincing an unwilling Brian to smuggle in his weed. All of this culminates in an overly-sentimental conclusion where the characters reflect on how they've become such good friends in the space of a day. And as the movie ends, Allison and Andrew get together as do Claire and John, which seemed like a weird, contrived way to pair everybody off.

Is the Breakfast Club a bad film? No. But is it the 376th best of all time? I'm not so sure about that.

Glory review

 Number 353 on the top 1000 films of all time is Edward Zwick's 1989 US civil-war drama 'Glory.'

Glory tells the true story of 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment - one of the earliest African-American regiments within the Union army. It is commanded by the white officers Colonel Robert Shaw (Matthew Broderick) and Major Cabot Forbes (Cary Elwes.) Some of its troops include the hot-headed Silas Trip (Denzel Washington,) the older and wiser John Rawlins (Morgan Freeman) and the well-educated Thomas Sears (Andre Braugher.)

I certainly cannot attest to the historical aspect of Glory, but it was a thrilling warm film that gave a well-rounded review that the 54th infantry faced. Its black soldiers suffered racism from their white counterparts and weren't paid as much as them either, while their white officers were constantly left lacking vital supplies needed by their men. It also highlights the interpersonal differences between the black soldiers - notably between Sears and Trip. The two initially clash on their radically different upbringings and perspectives. Trip resents how Sears acts and talks like a white man, while Sears rails against Trip's accusations of him not being truly black.

Both actors were great, but Washington especially so. He won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar and I think his win was more deserving than his one in Training Day. Silas Trip was a far more nuanced character than Alonzo Harris. And Washington played him with a lot of vulnerability. Morgan Freeman was also good as the wise and calming John Rawlins. And I particularly liked Andre Braugher. He and Washington were great together.

The black actors were superior to their white counterparts. I do think Matthew Broderick was miscast. He was just too young for such a role. This was only three years after he starred in Ferris Bueller's Day Off and it was difficult seeing him as anything other than the high-school slacker. He just looked scared all the time; whenever he spoke it was like he was trying to convince both himself and the audience that he was mature enough for such a role. I understand this is partly the character. Shaw is supposed to be young, inexperienced and unsure of himself, but Broderick did little to persuade me that he was the right man for the job.

Honestly, I think his co-star Cary Elwes would have made a better lead. Elwes had already proved himself a capable leading man in the Princess Bride. Although he wasn't great here either. He had a strange accent that varied between American and his native English accent.

Glory strayed into melodrama at times. I could have done without the grandiose, instrumental score and characters dying in slow motion. Where it shone was its quieter moments; particularly when the black soldiers are singing a gospel song on the eve of their first big fight. This was a brilliant scene that highlighted the camaraderie and close relationship between these men.

Glory is certainly a good film. Yes, it is cheesy at times and Matthew Broderick was dreadfully miscast, but it was still a noble attempt to bring the efforts of the 54th infantry to the big screen.

The Sixth Sense review

 Number 190 on the top 1000 films of all time  is the psychological thriller 'The Sixth Sense.'

Dr Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) is a child psychologist whose latest patient is the nine-year-old Cole Sear (Haley Joe Osment.) However, Cole is deeply troubled by his ability to see and speak with the dead.

This film kicked off M. Night Shyamalan's directing career and it's easy to understand why. He created a movie that uses atmosphere to scare its audiences. What Shymalan does so well is keeping the scares subtle and understated. There isn't any gratuitous gore or overused jumpscares, so when do we get scares, they're all the more effective. The film opens with one of Dr Crowe's patients shooting him in the stomach before blowing his brains out. yet the camera pans away and we only hear the gunshot. When Cole is around a classmate's house for a birthday party, he is scared of a particularly locked cupboard. We don't see what's inside it, but we hear a terrified voice screaming not to be put in the dark. Another of the ghosts that Cole sees has been shot in the head, but we don't see the violence itself; only the bloody wound in the back of his head. These allusions were far more powerful than seeing any outright violence.

Shymalan also brought a touch of tragedy to the horror. Cole's sixth sense leads to him being a social outcast while Dr Crowe has a difficult relationship with his wife. The two find a kindred spirit together. Willis and Osment were great opposite each other. In fact, Willis is so well-known for his action man roles, you would think he is little more than a big slab of meat. But this meat can act, and act well. Osment, at eleven-years-old, was equally good. No surprise that he was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar.

Toni Collette who played his mother also deserves some praise. She plays a woman under the incredible stress of raising her son by herself. On top of this, he also has a sixth sense that drives a stake between her and Cole. This all culminates in a tearful climax. Collette was also worthy of the Best Supporting Actress nod.

And, although, I won't spoil it here, the ending twist has to be one of the best in movie history, perhaps only second to Old Boy.

Although Shymalan might never have been able to replicate his early success, the Sixth Sense proved that he is a brilliant director who can craft a simultaneously tragic, but scary film.

Everything Everywhere all at Once review

 I'm taking a little break from the top 1000 films of all time to review the winner of the 2023 Best Film: Everything Everywhere All At Once (EEAAO)

Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh) is a Chinese-American immigrant running a laundromat that is being audited by IRS agent Ms Deirdre (Jamie Lee Curtis.) Evelyn runs the laundry with hr meek husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan) rebellious, gay daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu) and ageing father 'Gong Gong' (James Hong.) But Evelyn's life is turned upside down when she is introduced to the multiverse and told that she is the only hope in defeating the evil being Jobu Tupaki.

If I could describe EEAAO in one word, it would be surreal. It is weird, absurdist but endlessly creative. Although that is very much the point of the film. And, despite this, it never lost sight of its heartfelt message of the importance of family. Things start innocently enough with the establishment of Evelyn as our overworked, stressed out laundry over en route to an audit. But things take a turn for the insane when Waymond says that he is actually a Waymond from another universe. And he is Evelyn's guide to the multiverse. cue craziness as we're introduced to universe after universe with each one more random than the next.

EEAAO not only swept up at the Oscars, but many of the other award ceremonies too. Directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert won Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Film Editing, and it is easy to see why. This film has its share of fantastical fight scenes which are choregraphed brilliantly. We see the Alphaverse Waymond beating up a group of security guards with his bumbag. Ridiculous, yes, but great to watch. Maybe you could argue that EEAAO indulges a little too much in its absurdism, but it was no less entertaining for it.

But it is also very heartfelt with powerful performances. Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee Curtis all picked up Acting Oscars. Curtis won for Best Supporting Actress, beating out Stephanie Hsu, who I was equally deserving of the win. But I think Ke Huy Quan was the best. He effortlessly went to meek, brow-beaten husband to badass action star. It's difficult to believe that this is the same actor who starred opposite Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones before taking an extended break from acting.

Despite the wackiness of the narrative, EEAAO still had a lot of heart. It is the story of a divided family coming together. At the beginning, Waymond wants to divorce Evelyn, while Evelyn is cracking under the pressure of running her laundry. Meanwhile, she is finding it difficult to accept Joy's lesbianism, creating a deep divide between her and her daughter. Lastly, Gong Gong has always disapproved of Waymond, even vowing to disown Evelyn if she marries him. Yet by the film's end, the family learns to love each other again; Evelyn and Joy have a tearful reunion where both actresses show off their acting talent.

EEAAO is certainly not for everyone. Its absurdism and surrealism might put off a lot of viewer, but if you look past the seemingly random weirdness, you'll be treated to one of the most creative and heartfelt films of the year. 

The Perks of Being a Wallflower review

 Number 237 on the top 1000 films of all time is the 2012 coming-of-age drama - The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

Charlie (Logan Lerman) is a socially awkward high school student struggling to fit in. He is soon befriended by the gregarious Patrick (Ezra Miller) his vivacious stepsister Sam (Emma Watson) and the rest of their friend group. But Charlie starts becoming attracted to Sam which threatens to tear the group apart.

Let's face it. This was very much the Ezra Miller show. He brought a flamboyance and energy to the role, which may have bordered on over-the-top at times. But he also injected a shot of life into what could have been just another teen-drama. And Charlie was very much another generic teen protagonist. His character wasn't anywhere near as interesting or engaging as Patrick.

Part of this was down to Logan Lerman's uncharismatic portrayal, but also the character himself. Charlie is supposed to be quiet and introverted, but neither of these qualities made him particularly interesting. True, his awkwardness is down to his troubled backstory - he suffers PTSD from *spoilers* having been molested by his aunt as a child. However, he was still eclipsed by Patrick.

Patrick is openly gay and is secretly dating Brad (Johnny Simmon) the high school quarterback. It is a secret as Brad is still closeted for fear of repercussions from his homophobic father and friends. This drama felt far more immediate and engaging than Charlie's storyline.

As for Emma Watson, her portrayal of Sam was so tepid and generic, that she was quite a boring character. And it's strange, as I generally think that Emma Watson is quite melodramatic. But I'm probably biased as I don't like her that much.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower isn't an inherently bad film. It is funny, touching and balances relatable themes with deep-rooted issues. However, Logan Lerman was overshadowed by Ezra Miller who stole the show.