The Seven Most Anticipated Films of 2015

2014 has enveloped us in a vast variety of cinema, producing one of the film's of the decade (Boyhood), yet another melee of Autobots and Decepticons (Transformers: Age of Extinction) and a genuinely frightening horror story (The Babadook). Two of the aforementioned are hard to come by. One is not. Let us not dwell on that though, as overall I feel the epilogue for this year in film should read: a commercially successful showing for critically acclaimed cinema... and Transformers. Now to look forward to 2015. Here are my Seven Most Anticipated Films for the coming year:

7: Blackhat. dr. Michael Mann. st. Chris Hemsworth and Viola Davis. wr. Morgan Davis Foehl and Michael Mann.

Perhaps a surprising entry into my list, but what with the Sony hacking scandal being the topic of the moment, and Michael Mann back in the directors chair of a feature film for the first time in five and a half years, my anticipation for Blackhat has rapidly increased. Blackhat captures the worrying zeitgeist that plagues modern society, cyber criminality, and it follows Nicholas Hathaway (Hemsworth), following a stint in prison, helping American and Chinese authorities pursue a computerized terrorist. Sounds familiar? Die Hard 4.0 attempted to engage us with similar themes. Blackhat might have a better faring though, with Michael Mann at the helm. His last great film was Collateral back in 2004, which came after his two masterpieces, Heat (1995) and The Insider (1999). If Mann manages to inflict us with hefty drama combined with explosive action, cross-examined with thrilling tension, then we're in for a treat.
UK Release Date: 20th February 2015 

6: Jurassic World. dr. Colin Trevorrow. st. Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard. wr. Derek Connolly and Colin Trevorrow.  

I'm going to level with you. I quite liked Jurassic Park 3. Yes, it was a perforated script through rushed writing, inducing uneven characters upon the story (can you believe Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor were two of the writers?). The Spielberg touch was vacant from Isla Sorna, I'll give you that. Having said that, it was exciting enough, and Joe Johnstone did a commendable job with what he had to work with! With Jurassic World, from the trailer, it looks the closest to Spielberg's original, both in style and (hopefully) calibre. Chris Pratt has earned his stripes as an action hero with comedy chops (see Guardians of the Galaxy); give him a line and he'll deliver it with wit as razer-sharp as the dinosaur's teeth that he is running after (or from). Talking of, the stars of the show will undoubtedly be the, formerly extinct, antagonists of the piece. The reveal in the trailer was that a hybrid dinosaur is on the loose (my guess is a velociraptor/tyrannosaurus rex), and this makes for a tantalising prospect. This blockbuster will be busting the box office all summer!
UK Release Date: 15th June 2015.

5: Foxcatcher. dr. Bennett Miller. st. Steve Carell and Channing Tatum. wr. E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman. 

Bennett Miller as a director is akin to a classical composer; his previous films exude sophistication, from the acting, to the aesthetics of the set design, the costume design, the sound, the writing. In Capote particularly, there was no false note. With Foxcatcher, he appears to have exelled himself, with his distinguished style emanating from the story of mentally ill billionaire John du Pont (Carell) and his time on Foxcatcher Farm with the wrestling brothers, Mark and Dave Schultz (Tatum, Mark Ruffalo). All three male actors are being tipped for Oscar nominations, though this year in the male categories, competition is fierce. Miller meanwhile won the Best Director award at Cannes, and he will not be oblivious to Academy nominations.
UK Release Date: 8th January 2015

4: Inside Out. dr. Pete Docter and Ronaldo Del Carmen. st. (voices of) Amy Poehler and Bill Hader. wr. Michael Arndt (from a Pete Docter story).

An original Pixar. Not a sequel. With the voice talent of some of Saturday Night Live's greatest former players (Poehler and Hader), and with their latest trailer knocking side-splitting gags out of the park, Inside Out has the potential to be a Pixar classic. The story is told from the perspective of the emotions inside a little girl; Joy (Poehler), Fear (Hader), Disgust (Mindy Kaling), Sadness (Phyllis Smith) and Anger (Lewis Black). The idea of animating disparate emotions into separate living entities inside a cranium didn't have me at hello, however the first full trailer quickly evaporated any sceptical thoughts I previously had.
UK Release Date: 24th July 2015

3: Midnight Special. dr. Jeff Nichols. st. Joel Edgerton and Kirsten Dunst. wr. Jeff Nichols.

Midnight Special will be Jeff Nichols' fourth feature. His filmography thus far reads very well indeed; Shotgun Stories was an assured debut, Take Shelter for me was the best film of 2011, and Mud motivated the McConaissance. Nichols has an undivided understanding to commensurate narrative with cinematography, rather than to capsize one for the importance of the other. There are certain periods in certain films where I find a director can lose himself or herself in presenting an image on screen that has no bearing on the story. Not Nichols. He is a meticulous auteur and a creator of complete cinema. Of what we know so far, Midnight Special lands in the Sci-Fi genre, and follows a father and son going on the run after the dad learns his child possesses special powers (synopsis courtesy of IMDB). Nichols knows how to write relationships, and on this account, I feel safe in recommending this coming film to all our readers.
UK Release Date: Late 2015

2: Spectre. dr. Sam Mendes. st. Daniel Craig and Christoph Waltz. wr. John Logan, Neal Purvis and Robert Wade.

The top two previews on this list are the latest contributions to two long running franchises. Number two is Bond. James Bond. After the success of Skyfall, the momentum and expectation for Spectre has accelerated. With the first draft of the script leaked online, many now understand what the story will involve, although massive changes have surely occurred since. A cryptic message from Bond's (Craig) past sends him on a trail to uncover a sinister organisation. While M (Ralph Fiennes) battles political forces to keep the secret service alive, Bond peels back the layers of deceit to reveal the terrible truth behind Spectre (synopsis courtesy of IMDB). With Waltz winning an Oscar for one of the most despicable villains in recent memory (Hans Landa, Inglorious Basterds), I look forward to his nefarious bad guy portrayal with anticipation.
UK Release Date: 23rd October 2015

1: Star Wars The Force Awakens. dr. J.J. Abrams. st. Harrison Ford and Adam Driver. wr. J.J. Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan.

A foregone conclusion. Star Wars is the film that everyone anticipates the most for 2015. For me, the most intriguing prospect of Episode VII is Lawrence Kasdan, the man who wrote The Empire Strikes Back. Although the expectation is that no galaxy-shattering twist will be present is this particular helping, one would hope that Abrams and Kasdan have established the genesis of which a huge reveal ('I am Your Father' territory) will spawn from.
UK Release Date: 18th December 2015

A Lot of Other Films to watch out for...

- Birdman. dr. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. UK Release Date: 1st January 2015
- The Theory Of Everything. dr. James Marsh. UK Release Date: 1st January 2015
- American Sniper. dr. Clint Eastwood. UK Release Date: 16th January 2015
- Whiplash. dr. Damien Chazelle. UK Release Date: 16th January 2015
- Wild. dr. Jean-Marc Vallee. UK Release Date: 16th January 2015
- A Most Violent Year. dr. J.C. Chandor. UK Release Date: 23rd January 2015
- Inherent Vice. dr. Paul Thomas Anderson. UK Release Date: 30th January 2015
- Selma. dr. Ava DuVernay. UK Release Date: 6th February 2015
- Chappie. dr. Neill Blomkamp. UK Release Date: 6th March 2015
- In The Heart Of The Sea. dr. Ron Howard. UK Release Date: 13th March 2015
- Wild Tales (Relatos Salvajes). dr. Damian Szifron. UK Release Date: 27th March 2015
- Force Majeure. dr. Ruben Ostlund. UK Release Date: 10th April 2015
- Child 44. dr. Daniel Espinosa. UK Release Date: 17th April 2015
- Avengers Age of Ultron. dr. Joss Whedon. UK Release Date: 24th April 2015
- Mad Max: Fury Road. dr, George Miller. UK Release Date: 15th May 2015
- Tomorrowland. dr. Brad Bird. UK Release Date: 22nd May 2015
- Untitled Cameron Crowe Project. dr. Cameron Crowe. UK Release Date: 5th June 2015
- Terminator Genisys. dr. Alan Taylor. UK Release Date: 3rd July 2015
- Ted 2. dr. Seth McFarlane. UK Release Date: 10th July 2015
- Ant-Man. dr. Peyton Reed. UK Release Date: 17th July 2015
- The Fantastic Four. dr. Josh Trank. UK Release Date: 6th August 2015
- Everest. dr. Baltasar Kormakur. UK Release Date: 2nd October 2015
- Spielberg Cold War Project. dr. Stephen Spielberg. UK Release Date: 9th October 2015
- Crimson Peak. dr. Guillermo Del Toro. UK Release Date: 16th October 2015
- The Good Dinosaur. dr. Peter Sohn. UK Release Date. 27th November 2015
- The Martian. dr. Ridley Scott. UK Release Date. 27th November 2015
- Mission: Impossible 5. dr. Christopher McQuarrie. 26th December 2015
- Silence. dr. Martin Scorsese. UK Release Date: TBC, Late 2015
- The Hateful Eight. dr. Quentin Tarantino. UK Release Date: TBC, Late 2015/Early 2016

Mini Movie Memos (and then an afterthought...)

Hobbit's come in small sizes for a reason!

The problem with this harks back to the inception of the idea in extracting a trilogy out of what is a thin volume compared to The Lord of the Rings. Monetarily, Warner Bros. will be giddy beneficiaries of The Hobbit Trilogy's Box Office returns, though I do not believe Peter Jackson did this for financial gain. This finale is the shortest in duration of the Middle Earth saga, yet is the most exhausting, due to the elongated epic proportions Jackson is intent on serving us with. The Battle of Erebor is engaging, though sadly it is not durable to losing focus, and quite frankly it is not as audacious as the battles seen in The Two Towers and Return of the King. It was prolonged and arduous, one cannot command 45 minutes of a movie with one melee of dwarves, elves, men and Uruk-Hai. Maybe there was a reason why it occupied only a few lines of Tolkien's story. There is no doubt that Jackson is a creative dynamo of cgi wizardry and a skilled translator of wonderful story-telling (See Heavenly Creatures). The problem is he tries to tell his own story. It's not all doom and gloom though! The best moments in this film come with Richard Armitage as Thorin, who, walling himself and his party in to the Lonely Mountain to ward off unwelcome guests, shows off a burgeoning contamination to his Kingship. This in no way has dented Jackson's Middle Earth Saga, which as a whole is an outstanding achievement. The final page of the Hobbit trilogy though; a spectacle, but not spectacular. 

Never trust a mystic

To a certain extent, I found myself enjoying Magic in the Moonlight. In terms of quality, all of the Woody Allen films in the past fifteen years have either found it or floundered. And here is a film that floats in between. Emma Stone (potentially the director's new muse) is quite delightful as spiritualist and possible swindle, Sophie. Colin Firth provides us with a cynical Englishman, though his place here is jarring rather than charming. The film is a whispering, whimsical and light-hearted caper. It isn't as challenging, or as good as Blue Jasmine or Midnight in Paris, but it isn't necessarily trying to be. The screenplay isn't humourless, yet there is some idle dialogue that Allen probably transcended from some of his earlier work, and tinkered with only slightly. Like I said in my opening musing though, I found myself enjoying the film. I was content with the ridiculousness of it, and the glorious setting of Southern France, along with Emma Stone (a future Oscar winner, surely) meant that Magic in the Moonlight worked for me. Instead of wondering along with a limp, it whizzed by with a couple of blisters, and I for one was fine with that. Just don't take it too seriously.

The Seven Best Films of 2014

These films are UK releases from 1st January 2014 to the 31st December 2014

First of all, the nearly made its: American Hustle, Babadook, Chef, Dallas Buyers Club, How to Train Your Dragon 2, Ida, Life Itself, Pride, The Homesman, The Imitation Game, The Lego Movie, The Skeleton Twins, Two Days One Night.

The Seven Best

7: Interstellar. dr. Christopher Nolan. st. Matthew McConnaughey and Anne Hathaway.

Christopher Nolan might not have got all the science right. He might have forgotten to pour some cement into some plot holes. But there is no doubting that this space adventure is as epic as they come. See the full review in my Films in Discussion Post.

6: Gone Girl. dr. David Fincher. st. Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike.

This was my film of the week when it was first released and is in my top seven for the year. The twisted Amy Dunne is an Alex Forrest of our generation, though more subdued, more conniving and more psychotic. A villain worth remembering.

5: Guardians of the Galaxy. dr. James Gunn. st. Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldana.

Guardians of the Galaxy came second in my Seven Best Marvel Films and is justly deserving of its place in this list. It is a Sci-Fi/Western extravaganza.

4: Nightcrawler. dr. Dan Gilroy. st. Jake Gyllenhaal and Rene Russo.

Nightcrawler has edge; in its cinematography, lead performance and writing. A feature on my Films in Discussion Post, it is a sublimely sadistic satire that thrills and kills!

3: The Grand Budapest Hotel. dr. Wes Anderson. st. Ralph Fiennes and Tony Revolori.

I am a huge Wes Anderson fan; his quirky style is a mainstay of modern cinema. For me, like with Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes has never made a bad film, and with The Grand Budapest Hotel, he hits the heights of The Royal Tenenbaums and The Darjeeling Limited. Deliciously exuberant, with Fiennes delivering comically observed brilliance as M.Gustave, I would throroughly recommend checking in with The Grand Budapest Hotel.

2: The Wolf of Wall Street. dr. Martin Scorsese. st. Leonardo Di Caprio and Jonah Hill.

The greatest director of modern cinema produces his funniest film to date. The Wolf of Wall Street is a wild animal on quaaludes; it is rollicking, roaring, rowdy cinema, which is energised throughout its 172 minute running time. For me, it is closest in comparison to Casino, and it plays the tables just as good!

1: Boyhood. dr. Richard Linklater. st. Ellar Coltrane and Patricia Arquette.

This is one of the great achievements in twenty-first century cinema. There has been nothing like it before. Boyhood sets the bar not only for the year, but for the decade. It deserves every Oscar it gets. Linklater is the definitive backyard director, he should be the inspiration to every aspiring film maker out there. Impeccable.

Mini Movie Memos (and then an afterthought...)

Mustn't mention the conspiracy theories when I go see the re-release of 2001! 

2001: A Space Odyssey relaunched into cinematic orbit last week. Mostly restored in high definition by the BFI, Kubrick's enduring masterpiece is as striking and inspiring as it was in 1968. It was cultivated (as are all of his movies) for the biggest screen possible, and it was a truly magnetic experience to see it up there, as I was drawn to 2001 more than ever before. The classical soundtrack, in particular Gyorgy Ligeti's haunting 'Atmosphere's', will always stay with me. 2001 makes me proud of cinema. 

Must dance to Starship's 'Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now', as it will be the perfect remedy to my horrible day!

The Skeleton Twins is a dark yet comically observed tale of two sardonic siblings who re-establish a bond after ten years apart, due in large to a suicide attempt. This was an undertaking of Milo (Bill Hader), a gay aspiring actor, who suffers from bouts of depression. His twin Maggie (Kristen Wiig) is married, yet takes birth control, cheats on her husband with her scuba instructor, and also suffers from bouts of depression. Suicide attempts bookend the movie, in a well-woven narrative that rivals the best original screenplays of the year. At times Skeleton Twins has unnecessary Apatow esque moments, such as a selfish young boy sticking his middle finger up to his mother, and the mother replying in the exact same manner. This is punch-to-the-gut humour, which frankly does not work here, and is nowhere near as witty as the wry back-and-forth between brother and sister. I expect both Wiig and Hader to receive Golden Globe Nominations this week for Lead Actor and Actress in a Comedy/Musical. Skeleton Twins is funny and slightly twisted, though it is equally as affecting, and its cathartic ending absolutely translates from screen to viewer.

Must give British films a chance (even if they sometimes lack superheroes, ninja turtles and transformers)

The Imitation Game is the story of a code-breaking war hero, Alan Turing, who was later condemned for being gay, and chose chemical castration (oestrogen injections) over prison in 1952. In 1954, he would go on to take his own life. He was later pardoned in 2013. It is a shameful part of our history. A story that is so important, and it is a story that has been given light on screen with meticulous direction and touching performances. Benedict Cumberbatch is a cert for an Oscar Nomination, every tremulous vocal tone and quiver of the hand describes in great depth the personality of Turing. Not just his socially-awkward exterior, but his self-doubt of his inner-self and his determination, which are exemplified in finite detail. Keira Knightley must be mentioned too, she shows Joan Clarke's journey from an uncertain girl to a composed young woman with great care and precision. In every scene she has, there is a progression, a growth, and this comes from someone who I believe is one of our best younger actresses. This is the type of film that could sweep the board at the Academy Awards, though with such a diverse year in cinema, and the plethora of quality that has come out, The Imitation Game might not win all the awards. The espionage elements involving Russian spies might have come from a quill wired up to a membrane with some creative freedom, though this film is an elegiacal outpouring of human rights, underneath the surface of the failure and success at Bletchley Park in World War Two.  

The Seven Best Openings to a Motion Picture

7: Touch of Evil (1958) dr. Orson Welles. st. Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh and Orson Welles.

A splendid, uninterrupted tracking shot opens Orson Welles's taut thriller. Citizen Kane is widely considered the most accomplished film ever made, due in large to its revolutionary camera composition. This sequence from Touch of Evil rivals the very best of Welles's first feature. Distinctive in its diversity of crane shots and close-ups, though all encompassed in one three minute thirty-one second take, this scene forebodes the felonious milieu and evinces the film noir setting in a commanding fashion.

6: Up (2009) dr. Pete Docter, Bob Peterson. st. Ed Asner, Jordan Nagai and Christopher Plummer.


Up's affecting opening is so simply crafted narratively. In the space of four minutes we see Carl Fredrickson meet Ellie as a child, and then how their lives become intertwined in love, marriage and heartbreak. Its emotional pull goes up and up and up, with a culmination of Ellie succumbing to old age. The montage of key events in their life together consists of harrowing elements, which include a miscarriage. Though, this is an honest portrayal of a life-story. Traumatic, yet wonderfully enlightening.

5: 8 1/2 (1960) dr. Federico Fellini. st. Marcello Mastroianni, Anouk Aimee and Claudia Cardinale.

Fellini's masterpiece begins with a dream sequence, which is ambiguous, though also very meaningful once you reach the film's end. The most outstanding aspect of it is that it feels like a dream; the jaggedness of it, the surreality, yet the array of senses being displayed making us wonder, is this actually happening? The symbolism and depth in metaphor, particularly Guido (the protagonist) being pulled back down to earth, after escaping the expectation being pressured upon  him by hanging up with the clouds, is a superb  technical feat. Above all else, this is a genuine  representation of the strain of being a director. Fellini got it right.

4: Goodfellas (1990) dr. Martin Scorsese. st. Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci.

This isn't the best scene in Goodfellas, but it is one of my favourite openings to a motion picture due to its tentative framing and editing, which intensifies the scene's content. These gangsters are going to dump a body, but when finding the body alive Joe Pesci's ruthless Tommy De Vito stabs him repeatedly in a bitter fury, and then stony-faced Jimmy Conway shoots him a few times. This in turn sways the camera to a more confident frame, introducing our triumvirate of gangsters in slick style. Then we see the figure of Henry Hill close the boot, remarking 'for as long as I can remember I always wanted to be a gangster', kicking in the rapid title Goodfellas.

3: Vertigo (1958) dr. Alfred Hitchcock. st. James Stewart, Kim Novak and Barbara Bel Geddes.

Although there is possibly Saul Bass's greatest title sequence acting as a prelude to this, the rooftop chase is seminal in its power of excitement and fear. It implies John 'Scottie' Ferguson's instability and vertigo, through the influential Dolly Zoom effect. This technique, later used in Marnie and Jaws, was so influential and perfectly represented the climax of Hitchcock's 'Veritgo', which was to reassess ones trust in a character. 

2: Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) dr. Sergio Leone. st. Charles Bronson, Henry Fonda and Claudia Cardinale. 

Once Upon a Time in the West would be one of the greatest films ever made, had it not have been for a couple of unexplained narrative jumps. Still though, the beginning is untouchable,
and the tension (my word of the day) is accelerated by the close-ups of three sweaty gun-slingers ready to take out the man getting off the soon-to-arrive train.

1: Inglorious Basterds (2009) dr. Quentin Tarantino. st. Brad Pitt, Melanie Laurent and Christoph
Waltz.

https://vimeo.com/80494528

Yes. This is my favourite opening scene of all time, a vimeo link to it is below the poster. Influenced by his Westerns, Once Upon a Time in the West being a key example, Tarantino rips open Inglorious with an introduction to the Jew Hunter, Hans Landa, and his search for a particular family in a quaint little home in France. His bilingual conversation with the home-owner is shockingly menacing, amidst the pleasantries lies an undercurrent of malice. Waltz could have won the Oscar for this scene alone! The framing is not so difficult, this scene relies on the dialogue and acting to exacerbate the fearful tension and to compound the irrevocable fate of the Jews lying under the floorboards. This is my favourite opening to a motion picture, but it could also be my favourite scene in a Tarantino movie!

 

My Next Seven Best Article Will Be.... The Seven Best Films of 2014!

Films In Discussion: Nightcrawler and Interstellar

NIGHTCRAWLER   ****          

                                         INTERSTELLAR      ****

Let's begin with Nightcrawler, a film whose lead performance is generating plenty of awards buzz in a crammed season of critically acclaimed cinema. Jake Gyllenhaal's greatest roles in previous films (Donnie Darko, Brokeback Mountain) are attributed as so because of the implicit pain felt within each character, which is only ever exemplified through subtle traits and mannerisms. Think Gyllenhaal's perennial twitch as Detective Loki in Prisoners. He is a master of character subtext, and there is plenty of this beneath Louis Bloom, the central character of Nightcrawler, though there is also something more sinister crawling on the surface. The film follows Lou, a shady yet 'ambitious' petty thief, who segues into crime journalism, which he sees as a definitive money-maker. He drives to scenes of distressing accidents, films the horror (even when irking LA's finest) and sells the footage to local TV news producer Nina (Rene Russo). In quickening his pace to these scenes, so that he can beat rival nightcrawler Joe Loder (Bill Paxton) to the hard cash on offer, he hires Rick (Riz Ahmed) as an intern to direct him to the destination, as well as being his second camera. Desperation starts to corrode Bloom's actions; he manipulates scenes as he arrives, violating police protocol and breaking the law to fan the flame of a story. From hereupon, Bloom corrupts himself to such heights, that there is nothing he will not do to stimulate his success. 

But he does not fall... the astonishment of Nightcrawler lies in the final scene, where Louis has gone on to expand his business, Video Production News, without facing lawful punishment for his culpable misconduct. Bloom is an anti-protagonist; he is, although fascinating to watch, an unsavoury lurker. It would normally be a prerequisite that a character such as himself would be driven to his comeuppance in the denouement, though like Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs, Bloom is a guilty (though not guild ridden) free man. Silence of the Lambs is an interesting comparison, Clarice Starling, an independent and tenacious young woman is toyed with by Lecter through her haunted past. Rene Russo's Nina, an older, shadier woman though with similar traits and vices, contends with the same treatment. Bloom utilises his footage as a way in with Nina, to bargain with her, to 'fuck' her. In taking her out to dinner, he manages to strip her no-nonsense demeanour, giving her an exploiting speech that proves to be efficacious. Perhaps this first swipe of manipulation forebodes Bloom's happy ending.
The creature that is Bloom is a gaunt and malnourished design of Gyllenhaal's, a scavenging hyena, though testament to the actor with his dominance in dialogue juxtaposing this meagre exterior that one would normally want to eschew contact with. Blatantly weird, he still wrangles his way around people and places with little trouble. An Oscar nomination for Lead Actor and Supporting Actress should go to Jake and Rene, with the latter reminiscent of Linda Fiorentino in The Last Seduction, though Fiorentino's Bridget Gregory would be impenetrable to Bloom's untactful tactics.
An honourable mention must go to the car chase; every vehicle on vehicle pursuit carries with it an inauspicious threat, but Nightcrawler's really is up there with Claude Lelouch's Rendezvous and Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive.
With Los Angeles so candidly observed by Dan Gilroy (brother of Tony), Nightcrawler is an honest depiction of the city's not-so-glitzy underbelly. It is a hybrid of pungent themes present in Network, Bringing Out the Dead, as well as the stylistic elements of Peeping Tom. It is a prowling and predatory picture, biting into the maniacal world of the media. It is its own movie though, and although the influences are palpable, this is highly original work. It is the anti-awards film. Dangerously funny and thrillingly toxic, it does not cry out for attention, yet it is unavoidable.


It is as easy to give Interstellar a five star review as it is to give it a three star review. Some have been amazed by the majesty of the visuals, whereas others have complained about the theoretical science and lack of cogency in the film's basic story structure. Let me first say that every point is valid, apart from critics labelling Interstellar's theoretical science as 'facile'. Because they, in themselves, are being facile. Kip Thorne's theories, which Christopher Nolan states 'could be possible', are pure speculation. I have seen reviews in which the film has been lamented for this; trust me, reviewers like this are travelling to all dimensions of stupidity. Interstellar is dynamic in its ambition, though the vibrant visuals do not obscure some fundamental flaws in the story.
A short synopsis... A team of space explorers, led by ex-engineer Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), board the Endurance and travel through a wormhole to another galaxy, to find a hospitable planet, as Earth (ruined by famine and droughts) is dying. The galaxy-by-galaxy via wormhole route is known as 'interstellar travel'.
There is obviously so much more to the film than this, but the main factor, for me, is Cooper's relationship with his daughter, Murph, as a youngster played by Mackenzie Foy, as a grown up played by Jessica Chastain, and as an elderly woman played by Ellen Burstyn. For, due to errors during the mission, the clocks on earth run much faster than where Cooper and his fellow astronauts are stationed. Thus, reversing McConaughey's famous Dazed and Confused quote to him staying the same age, and the people back home growing older. The relationship between the two is the axis on which the whole film spins on, and I do not agree with certain critics that scorn over Chastain's Murph as 'too bitter', suggesting that she should have grown out of the resentment she feels towards her father leaving. Why should she have? She is her father in many ways, plus, the fact that she and her brother are representative of Earth's last generation must be fucking frightening. Her father left her 'to save the world', he promised, but after twenty-three years, one would think that Murph has mostly given up all hope, when we first see her embodied by Chastain. Therefore, I for one totally understand this unshakable bitterness. Later on however, her hope ignites into what she foresees as fact; knowing her father to be alive, signalling her via another dimension at the films climax, how she and not he can be the saviour for posterity. And yes, the believability levels on this are quite low, but I will remind the critics who complained about this, that Kip Thorne's work is speculation, which fuels Interstellar to the Science-Fiction genre, rather than cementing it as a factual space movie. It is in the middle-ground between Apollo 13 and Star Wars. If a movie is based on speculation, it will have the components of fact and fiction, and they will both be present in the script. I digressed into ranting then, I apologise profusely. The relationship between Murph and Cooper is the film's foundation and one of its strongest assets. One can see why Mr Spielberg was the original captain of Interstellar.
I agree that the film could spend longer on Earth in the beginning, though the jump-cut from Cooper driving away to Cooper on the Endurance ready to launch is a stunning feat of film-making.
Interstellar is perhaps lacking the narrative verve and vigour that is the holding wall of The Dark Knight and Inception. It may very well be closer to The Dark Knight Rises in its somewhat tangled story-telling structure, with such issues as Professor Brand's (Michael Caine) revelation that the mission's Plan A was always an implausible feat. This was akin to punching any old jigsaw piece into a particular shaped space. It was a throw-away plot point that was thrown in. Talking of Caine's character, Professor Brand's relationship with his own daughter comes off as impassive. It is void of the emotional pull that exists in Cooper and Murph's own correlation, though I wager that it was a more felt presence in previous drafts of the script, before edits were made. Having said this, Interstellar soars as an event movie. It is revolutionary, with its Imax 70mm format capturing images that could blow even the most expansive of minds. On a visual basis, it is the 2001 of our generation.
Peter Bradshaw, whilst on Film 2014 the other week, blasted Nolan as the new 'M Night Shyamalan' and Antonia Quirke stated that Interstellar made 'Armageddon look like Tarkovsky's Solaris'. Irrational and insulting towards not just Nolan, but Shyamalan as well, these views were totally unjust (and highly inaccurate). Interstellar has a few imperfections, but hey, nothing's perfect and the wonderful thing about Christopher Nolan is, that he understands that. Though, with a filmography as diverse and beguiling as his, he will always come pretty damn close to perfect.

In my next posts I will be reviewing The Imitation Game (which I watched yesterday), discussing Richard Linklater's 'Before...' Trilogy, gifting you with my 'Seven Best Openings to a Motion Picture' and writing up the 'Seven Best Films of 2014' and the 'Seven Worst Films of 2014'. Maybe that'll start a discussion... 

My Film of the Week

GONE GIRL

Gillian Flynn's third novel about a wife gone missing burrowed into the subconscious of every couple that read it. This was a tale of danger and deceit living under the covers of a supposed loving and magnanimous marriage. Flynn's novel went on to sell over 6 million copies world wide, and it captured the attention of Reese Witherspoon, who bought the rights to turn Gone Girl's pages into images.

David Fincher, the man behind Seven and Zodiac, who is a seasoned professional in transcending nightmarish realities to screen, was the palpable candidate to find Gone Girl's cinematic potential. With Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike in place to play Nick and Amy Dunne (the perfect couple), Gone Girl was ready to go.

Nick comes home on his fifth wedding anniversary to find a table smashed in the living room, glass on the floor and blood on the wall. His wife Amy is nowhere to seen, or found. Nick, obviously a stoic man even at the worst of times, draws suspicion from the police and media alike due to his considerable lack of emotion or expression (Affleck plays this down to a tee). With Nick now a prime suspect, as more layers of lies are peeled away, and as we see flashbacks of Amazing Amy's alarming diary entries, the male protagonist begins to suspect he is being set-up by an unlikely source. A shocking mid-film twist blows the case wide open, but does it prove Nick Dunne is innocent?

Gone Girl reminded me of the 1955 feature that inspired Psycho, Les Diaboliques, with its twisty narrative and unforgiving denouement. Talking of Psycho, the film is also an ode to Hitchcock and De Palma with its missing-person theme and a hard line of suspense running through it. Quite like Hitchcock, Fincher placates the dark hysteria of his film's subject matter with close-to-the-bone humour. The sanctity of marriage, along with Amy, goes missing, and this is something that Flynn injected into her screenplay, insofar that she is satirising that ever so blissful ideology. There is something quite false about the performances and the dialogue, and certain viewers might misconstrue this as bad and unnatural. I assure you that this is not the case; Fincher, Flynn and their cohorts are deriding the perfect marriage, and what we hear and see on screen is authenticating this, thus making the performances and dialogue all the more sinister.

This was a stroll in the park for such an accomplished director. Yet, the film itself is an accomplishment. Rosamund Pike in particular, deserves high praise and perhaps an Oscar nomination for such brave and hypnotic work. A final mention has to go to Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross's score, which contains ongoing compositions of light, ethereal music (sometimes saccharine), and an anxious, radio-static noise, akin to Ligeti's Lux Aerterna. The jumping score from upbeat to negative makes for a compelling companion to the images we focus on.

I would see Gone Girl whilst you can, before it goes missing from the cinemas.

The Seven Best Films with Marvel Characters

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Here they are (at last). In seven words, followed by seven reviews on the Seven Best Films with Marvel Characters. I said seven a lot there I know..

7: Thor (2011)
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman and Tom Hiddleston
In Seven Words: Hammers home sibling rivalry in astronomical fashion...
Review: Thor is a prodigious Marvel figure, he is the son of Odin for crying out loud! The studio required that the Norse god engage in a successful solo adventure before the Avengers could assemble in 2012. With Kenneth Branagh at the helm and Chris Hemsworth at the hilt, Thor swings and (thank god) doesn't miss. Unluckily for our titular hero, he becomes rather recalcitrant when it comes to swinging Mjolnir (his earth shattering hammer) and against his father's will, he leads his fellows into attacking the Frost Giants, an ancient enemy yes, but one that Odin (Anthony Hopkins) believes is far from threatening. The punishment for Thor is a vertical journey down to earth where the connection with his trusty weapon is severed. This is all to the amusement of Thor's mischievous adoptive brother, Loki (Hiddleston), who has just come into knowledge of his true parentage, thus exorcising his own evil plans for Asgard. Thor cannot assimilate with the humans that he encounters, and we glean a large amount of humour from this. His earthly vacation is where the film is at its best, smashing fantasy with reality, and introducing Thor to a resolute romantic interest in the form of astrophysicist Jane Foster (Portman). Although it has to be said that Loki, with his snarling witticisms and manipulative mannerisms, steals every scene he nudges into, with his pelt towards earth at the end making for a thrilling culmination. Admittedly, the final deployment of action, where a metal giant thumps a New Mexico town until Thor sends a sword through its spine, is a tad underwhelming. Yet, Hemsworth, Hiddleston and Hopkins make for a formidable triumvirate of a family in crisis; the underused mother Frigga (Rene Russo) falls to the sidelines. Branagh has excelled himself in directing an entertaining and characterful picture. A shame then, that the sequel was so preposterously poor.

6: Blade II (2002) 
Director: Guillermo Del Toro
Starring: Wesley Snipes, Kris Kristofferson and Leonor Varela
In Seven Words: Vampires play victims to the vicious Reapers...
Review: If you're looking for the most absurd screen insult ever: 'you cock juggling thunder cunt', you're watching the wrong Blade. That's the next one, a much maligned third outing that plunges in inferiority when compared to the eerie aesthetics and chaotic content of Blade II. Granted, it is a bit of an 'underground rave' comic-book movie: a manic thrill-ride that's not for everybody. But for its target market (storm chasers and hardcore ravers), Blade II is electric! The movie has been produced under Del Toro's other, perhaps less impressive strain of film-making. This being the "popcorn flick" (See Hellboy II: The Golden Army and Pacific Rim). With the likes of Pan's Labyrinth and Cronos, Del Toro delves profoundly into symbolic and religious imagery encompassed by an imposing Gothic aestheticism. His "popcorn flicks" are more concerned with entertainment value. This is no criticism; the blockbuster model tends to be more profitable for studios. Moreover, with Blade II, Del Toro doesn't surrender his originality completely, injecting the screen with some menacing motifs, the grim underground setting being a palpable example. In this sequel, Blade (Snipes) forms a reluctant alliance with adversaries, the Bloodback, a group of elite vampires, so as to fend off a new foe, the rather frightening Reaper vampires, headed by Jared Nomak (Luke Goss). The diet of the Reapers comprises of humans and vampires, thus making them quite the threat. Blade II has its flaws, but where it does succeed to impress is in its anarchic action sequences, which are accentuated by a heavy metal score where the viewer will meet some turbulence. I see it as one of Marvel's cult movies. It is the sharpest Blade and the sixth best outing for a Marvel manufactured character.

5: Iron Man 3 (2013)
Director: Shane Black
Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow and Guy Pierce
In Seven Words: Tony Stark rivals Loki in cracking wise...
The Review: Imagine Tom Cruise in this role, which could have been the case. Would he be able to match the delivery of Robert Downey Jr? With his flawless facial hair and excellent taste in sunglasses, Stark exudes coolness; the man who embodied Chaplin 21 years prior augments this in his best appearance so far as the impudent icon of technological breakthrough. For that reason alone this movie belongs on this list! The script of Iron Man 3 hastily shifts between tonal gears, drama then humour, humour then drama; it's like an erratic tragi-comedy, constantly wrong footing the viewer. Some critics like it for this reason, others loathe it. What is engrossing about it for me is how a personal integration develops between the man and the suit. One always feels that their relationship was superficial before, that Stark attaches no affection to his creation, though as the story develops, the man relies on his armour as a stark reminder of personal values. He's 'got a lot of apologies to make' and this is indicative of a more emotionally harnessed Tony (though still with the witty banter in his inventory). Action is aplenty, the Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) makes for a sinister psycho, and a bonkers but brilliant twist blows the final third wide open. Arguably, if the academy didn't veto superhero films, Ben Kingsley could have been nominated for an Oscar. Iron Man is put through the ringer (The Mandarin has nine rings... ho ho ho) and this is proof that Marvel can still push the boat out.

4. Avengers Assemble (2012)
Director: Joss Whedon
Starring: Chris Evans, Samuel L Jackson and Scarlett Johansson
In Seven Words: The Avengers assemble to save New York...
Review: That's New York City, not the state. And they do save it (and the world). Sure, superheroes lock horns along the way; a super soldier vs a billionaire playboy magnet, a God vs a Hulk. In other words, Marvel does Tekken. But essentially, if you are going to team up earth's mightiest heroes in their inaugural adventure together, one can be pretty certain that the antagonist will eventually succumb to getting their ass kicked. Or rather, The Hulk will fling him around like a rag doll. That "him" is Loki, brother of Thor, and he does not tire of that 'formidable foe' status that he carried in his last appearance. If anything Loki raises his game, utilising his power to take control of Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Professor Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard). They, albeit unwittingly, aid Loki in inciting the 'wormhole over New York' climax. This leads to one of Marvel's most audacious battle sequences; with the Joss touch and Whedon wow-factor, our heroes don't drown in the action but thrive on the task of stopping Loki's alien army, whilst attempting to seal up that pesky wormhole. Mark Ruffalo in particular deserves praise with his embodiment of Bruce Banner. Ruffalo handles this capricious character in meticulous detail; every twitch could either be a perfunctory quirk of his or a quandary for his employers, SHIELD. The rest of the team perform admirably, though Captain America (Evans) is the least entertaining and commands more captivation in his solo outings. Ultron will prove a sterner test, as will Thanos later on down the line. That being said, Avengers Assemble (as it was called in the UK) is darn funny, damn well engrossing, and a valuable precursor to Phase Two of Marvel's cine-universe.

3: Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Director: Sam Raimi
Starring: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst and Alfred Molina
In Seven Words: Spins his web for a second time...
Review: When I think of Marvel, I think of Spidey. He's their poster boy, zipping through New York, wise cracking. With Raimi's second Spider-Man, he protects the poster-boy image by not only preserving the formula from the first film, but upping the ante, bequeathing us with emotional heft, sharp wit and colossal fight sequences (there are a lot of limbs involved, mostly robotic). Otto Octavius is the antagonist of the piece, though the shadow of the Green Goblin begins to emerge whenever Harry Osborn (James Franco) steps into the light. We get to see Otto become Doc Ock (Molina), the good guy becoming a villain, which I always think is a very compelling character narrative to unfold. We also see Peter Parker's (Maguire) relationship unfurl with Mary-Jane (Dunst), who now knows Peter to be Spider-Man. The camera composition of Spidey's battle with Doc Ock on the fast-moving train is enrapturing, pure cinema. I am a firm believer in action sequences that package emotion with motion, and although the sentiment is finite here, it packs a punch! I remember when I was turned away at the cinema from the first Spider-Man (I was too young at nine, leading to the furore of films being classified wrongly; I take full credit). I was devastated, at the age I was, blockbuster spectacle was what I engaged with. The sequel is more than a blockbuster though. It is intelligently plotted, with a tendency to swing high. Raimi has pedigree in making superior sequels (see Evil Dead II). When it comes to thirds. Not so much...

2: Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Director: James Gunn
Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana and Bradley Cooper
In Seven Words: Starlord and fellow space criminals go rogue...
Review: I don't want those seven words to mislead you. They may start off as space criminals, but these intergalactic misfits collude to become the (you guessed it) GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY. It all starts off with Peter Quill (Pratt), he prefers Starlord, filching an orb in a next-to-know-where pocket of the galaxy, triggering a manhunt headed by Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace), the most feared of many who want the orb for themselves. Its power could destroy the galaxy, and it is up to Peter, the only human on show, to save it, along with a few (one furry) friends he meets along the way. These are: Gamora (Saldana), raised through an evil family, though surmounts that indoctrination to follow good, Drax (Dave Bautista), a vengeance hungry behemoth who takes everything literally, Rocket Raccoon (Cooper), a feisty raccoon with all guns a'blazing and Groot (Vin Diesel), a walking tree whose lexical range is limited to three words 'I am Groot'. The best feature of Guardians is that it doesn't rely on Marvel films before it; it's its own entertaining space adventure, owing influence from Star Wars, though with more wit and less lightsaber. Yes it has the lineage with the Avengers due to Thanos, though this is necessary, and it does not dictate the entire narrative of the picture. The prominence of an eighties score is effective nostalgia, and enhances the humanist nature of Guardians. As the only earthling on show, Pratt, utilizing a character trait/flaw, steals the film, and this is no easy task with Cooper and Diesel (sounds like a shady insurance firm) on outlandishly good form. Pratt's star is rising, and his leading man status is firmly cemented. I know I mentioned Star Wars, but Guardians is in debt to some of the great Westerns, particularly Rio Bravo, with its character conflict conceiving much amusement, and the rebellious anti-hero-cum-good exploring the vast space around him. Bravo Mr Gunn!

1: X2 (2003)
Director: Brian Singer
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart and Ian Mckellen
In Seven Words: This is the best Wolverine Origins story...
Review: The opening. A manipulated mutant named Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming) storming the White House, taking down every guard in the place before teleporting his way to the President, knife raised... sensational spectacle and foreboding a riveting movie ahead. For me, X2 was the greatest superhero film until the Dark Knight came along and growled his way to the top. Yes, even greater than Superman: The Movie. It is a finely pitched film, evolving from its predecessor into epic territory. The story is that an old foe of Wolverine (Jackman), William Stryker (Brian Cox), arranges a mutant attack on the President, after which the President enforces Stryker to take down Professor Xaviors school. Few escape, predominantly the main cast, but Charles Xavior is caught, with his own power under threat, when manipulated by Stryker. He plans to cull every mutant with Professor X's power, and this will come about, unless a short-term allegiance of Magneto and Mystique with Charles' band of brothers (and sisters) can stop the embittered Stryker. The exploration of character, particularly Wolverine, hence my seven words, synthesized with the phenomenal fight sequences makes for a direct and dynamic picture. X2, like a lot of comic book movies, is a looking glass into fantasy attempting to depict reality. What I mean is this; Stryker's want to cull the X-Men could represent the Nazi slaying of the Jews in the 30's and 40's. Bobby living under a lie, until coming out to his parents as a mutant could represent the same situation for a person coming out to their parents as gay, which is how I read that scene. These double-entendres are intrinsic to a morally defiant picture, and this is one of the stand-out strengths of X2. It is a depiction of rights and wrongs, and this message is never lost in the heavy action. It merges with it perfectly. A Marvel story, on-screen, has never been told better.

My Next Seven Best Article Will Be.... The Seven Best Openings to a Motion Picture!

A Message from your blogger: As well as the Seven Best, I plan to write more articles and lunchtime teasers on the subject of film. I hope you enjoy them and thank you for trailing through my lists! And please use the link below to follow me on bloglovin'! 

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A Lunchtime Teaser

As a lunchtime teaser, I am going to give you my favourite films corresponding to each letter of the alphabet, it's both fun and excruciating, so have a go yourself!
(Excluding 'the' from the beginning of each title)

A: (The) Apartment: Best dramedy ever made, with a never better Jack Lemmon. A review of this film can be seen on the 'Seven Best Billy Wilder Films' below.
B: (The) Breakfast Club: Teenage angst locked in detention.. let's see what fun can be had.
C: Chinatown: Citizen Kane is the greatest film ever made, but Chinatown is my favourite C movie. 'Seven Best Scripts' is an upcoming list; Chinatown might be mentioned...
D: Die Hard: It topped my list 'The Seven Best Films of the 80's' and is in pole position here.
E: (The) Exorcist: Arguably the most frightening film ever made, and in my opinion William Friedkin's greatest achievement.
F: Freaks: Oh Freaks is a helluva horror shocker, with an ending that delivers deformity, due to an overdose of karma.
G: Goodfellas: First place in my 'Seven Best De Niro/Scorsese Collaborations' and my favourite movie. Just don't call Tommy DeVito a funny guy...
H: Hud: Paul Newman is cooler than anyone you'll ever meet. Watch Hud and The Hustler back to back and you'll understand why.
I: It Happened One Night: The Capra touch worked on any genre; screwball, drama, thriller, war. It Happened One Night happens to shine brightest on a remarkable filmography.
J: Jaws: The first official blockbuster, this film has a lot of teeth.
K: King of Comedy: Rupert Pumpkin will go to any length to show he's funny.
L: (The) Lord of the Rings: I really could have chosen Lawrence of Arabia, but as a twenty-one year old man, one trilogy in particular has defined my childhood. I amalgamated the three epics into a 'super-film'; there's no better way to waste a day.
M: Magnolia: When 'Inherent Vice' comes out in a few months, I can finally do a 'Seven Best Paul Thomas Anderson Films' list. Magnolia would probably top that list.
N: North by Northwest: Hitchcock never pervaded more flair into a film than with North by Northwest. Essentially The Thirty Nine Steps in America; this feature can be seen on my very first list, 'The Seven Best Hitchcock Films'.
O: On The Waterfront: Brando, along with James Dean, kicked off the method generation. His character Terry Malloy is brooding and inarticulate, soaked in aggressive energy. Brando at his best basically.
P: Pather Panchali: I believe this is the most personal film ever made, beautifully simplistic with an affecting ending.
Q: (The) Queen: I really got stuck on Q...
R: Rear Window: This too features on my 'Seven Best Hithcock Films' list. Voyeurism is one of the most engaging themes in cinema, and it is looked in on with great skill here.
S: (The) Straight Story: The Straight Story topped my 'Seven Best David Lynch Films' list. Like Pather Panchali; beautifully simplistic and affecting.
T: (The) Third Man: With a memorable zither score and Orson Welles classing up Vienna in a famous cameo (and mocking Switzerland in the process), The Third Man is a perennial feature on every critic's greatest British films of all time.
U: Unforgiven: Eastwood on dynamite form, with Freeman, Harris and Hackman supporting him. A darn fine Western!
V: Vertigo: Easily the best film beginning with 'v'. Hitchcock's masterpiece!
W: (The) Wicker Man (1973): Antithetic to most horror films though terrifying nonetheless, it is part of my 'Seven Best Horror Films' list. Just steer clear from the remake (actually if you want a laugh, seek it out).
X: X2: This film may well appear in my next list, 'The Seven Best Films with Marvel Characters'. It is certainly the best X-Men movie, involving more mutants with relevance, freezing and burning through an intensified narrative. Oh, and Nightcrawler's opening assault on the White House is magnificent!
Y: Y Tu Mama Tambien: A Mexican road trip where two teenage boys learn a lot with an attractive older woman.
Z: Zoolander: The sequel is on its way, but surely it wont succeed its predecessor in superiority. After all, Zoolander is still hot!

The Seven Best Films with Marvel Characters is coming to you soon! Look out for it!

And as we are approaching the end of the year (sort of) the Seven Best and Worst Films of 2014 will be drawn up come December. Will Godzilla smash its way to the top? Was X-Men Days of Future Past really that good? And will The Lego Movie build its way into contention? Just wait and see! 

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The Seven Best Billy Wilder Films

7: Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
Starring: Tyrone Power, Charles Laughton and Marlene Dietrich
In Seven Words: Leanard Vole murders(?) Emily French, a trial ensues...
Review: I'm guilty. It was eight words, not seven. Though, is Leanard Vole guilty of murdering the ageing, rich widow, Emily French? A potentially convoluted story (expect nothing less from an Agatha Christie novella) is unravelled for screen. What works well is that the "whodunit" components commensurate with Russell Harlan's stoic framing of courtroom theatricality. This particular mise-en-scene fits with any courtroom, because it is applicable as live theatre (see '12 Angry Men' as a keen example of this). The triumph of the film though lies with Charles Laughton, one of the great actors of stage and screen, who's ailing barrister, named Sir Wilfrid Roberts, acts as the defendant for Leanard Vole (Power). His conflicting views match with the conflicting narrative, though Wilder, unlike Alfred Hitchcock, is certain to show both sides, drip feeding the viewer with sustainable evidence. Laughton recalls his 'Hunchback of Notre Dame' role, as this vulnerable, albeit sincere Sir Wilfrid. I should also mention Marlene Dietrich, who defies her 55 years, by summoning her 'femme fatale' specialities that rock the films dénouement. Sneaking in above 'Sabrina', 'Witness for the Prosecution' acts as an exciting document, showcasing the steady skills of an uncompromising director.

6: Double Indemnity (1944)
Starring: Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck and Edward G Robinson
In Seven Words: Insurance is the slightly ironic murder weapon...
Review: Double Indemnity is unquestionably a fine film, though by no means an outstanding achievement. Fred MacMurray is insurance salesman Walter Neff. He's done something terrible, and begins to leave a message for his colleague Walter Keyes (Robinson) through a Dictaphone, explaining a shady commitment to a cardinal sin. The pervading presence of flashback is without a doubt the films strongest asset, due to it representing MacMurray's own retrospective guilt of predetermined murder. Barbara Stanwyck, as Phyllis Dietrichson, is his motive. Her husband is the victim. For her wish is to claim his accident policy in the event of any grisly demise he might have. MacMurray's routine house call acts as the inciting incident and, although initially against Dietrichson's palpable plan of "accidental death", her adhesive occupancy of his psyche changes his mind. With more flirting, the plan drives forward... Double Indemnity isn't my favourite Wilder film for one reason: Fred MacMurray. Undoubtedly Stanwyck is glorious, as is the black and white cinematography, and the train track set piece of murder, superb. Though, MacMurray grows tiresome, he lacks the sustainability of a leading man. I realise he represents the every day salesman, however Bogart or Grant would have enhanced Neff, given him more gravitas and, above all else, would have composed a better suited protagonist.

5: Ace in the Hole (1951)
Starring: Kirk Douglas, Jan Sterling and Robert Arthur
In Seven Words: 'Good news is no news' Charles Tatum...
Review: Ace in the Hole recently showed up in Bill Hader's '200 Comedy Films You Must Watch' list. Is it a comedy? For its biting cynicism and acerbic wit, Hader has a point. Personally, I would define it as a body of film noir with comedic legs. It runs on its screwball plot structure, with Charles Tatum (Kirk Douglas), as a narcissistic, wisecracking reporter laying claim to the story of a man he meets, Leo Minosa, who is trapped in a mineshaft when searching for Indian artefacts. Tatum milks the story for all it's worth, hoping to regain his superior job at the New Yorker, which is a better fit than the Albuquerque Sun-Bulletin. This exploitation reaches the knowledge of New Mexico's finest, along with a corrupt sheriff (hard boiled irony) and mining experts. Tatum's sardonic and brash defence, along with an intimidating demeanour gifts him many get-out-of-jail-free cards. Yet, with the understanding that the real Minosa can be rescued relatively easily, as well as forcing Minosa's cash register raiding wife Lorraine into his crazy scheme, the newspaperman might be on the verge of being found out. The Simpsons adapted Ace in the Hole for an early 90's episode, 'Radio Bart', and one can see why. The material, whilst being, in the best sense of the word, ridiculous, is an attack on American media, something that The Simpsons writers would have been enthused to poke fun at. But I digress. This is one of Wilder's great films, because it amalgamates two opposing genres of the period that shouldn't work, film noir and screwball comedy, but just like a Heston Blumenthal dish, it does work. Bitter and sweet, in the best way possible.

4: Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Starring: Gloria Swanson, William Holden and Erich Von Stroheim
In Seven Words: Silent screen star Swanson has her swansong...
Review: Hollywood has been scrutinized in plenty of pictures: Mulholland Dr., The Player, Barton Fink, A Star is Born.. these films propagate the adversities of success or the attempt of being successful. In Sunset Boulevard, the whirring machine of Hollywood has devoured the exiled star Norma Desmond (Swanson), who, once queen of the silent era, is now neglected by the silver screen, a recluse inhabiting the past. The film factory itself is also cynically surveyed, as the opening sequence sees the body of Joe Gillis (Holden) floating in a swimming pool, accompanied with Gillis's own voice-over: 'A murder has been reported from one of those great big houses in the ten thousand block. You'll read about it in the late editions I'm sure'... And the flashback commences, where we see this talented yet expendable writer Gillis, acquaint with an ageing actress wrapped in her own embittered grandeur. Though Swanson's grandiose, theatrical performance rides on the waves of absurdity, it is harnessed by her loyal butler, discoverer and ex-husband, Max (Von Stroheim). Max is the accepted reality, Norma is living under illusion by her own choice, to evade her depression from lack of fame. Max is her carer, her director if you will. This counterfeit reality induces the sorry ending of Norma, Joe and ultimately Max, who lost his actress to delusion. Widely cynical, Sunset Boulevard is the greatest film about Hollywood ever made.

3: Some Like it Hot (1959) 
Starring: Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis.
In Seven Words: The year before Psycho made drag dark...
Review: My reviews are lengthier than normal, I realise that. But it is because Wilder is such an exciting director to discuss, his films are an infusion of substance borrowed from Capra and Hitchcock, and even Luis Bunuel, who's avant-garde cynicism must have been an influence. With Some Like It Hot, the flippancy is more light-hearted, on the verge of screwball. Wilder and I.A.L Diamond (co-writer) cater us with a romp about two jazz players Joe and Jerry (Lemon and Curtis) who witness the Saint Valentines Day Massacre of 1929, and to escape the gangsters who spot them, they join an all-female band en route to Miami. This is where Monroe surfaces, as the ditzy (Marilyn was anything but) yet charming Sugar Kane, the band's vocalist and ukulele player. Her appearance is met with enamour by both gentleman, and they compete for her affection whilst under wig and dress, maintaining their feminine guise. Featuring the iconic last line 'Nobody's perfect', said by a potential suitor in response to Jerry revealing himself to be a man, Some Like it Hot is often hilarious, magnificently structured in plot, and as I said earlier, bordering on screwball. Certain scenes involving Sugar and Joe (or Josephine) reminisce and even surpass the very best moments of It Happened One Night and Bringing up Baby. Wilder with his most buoyant picture, and very nearly his greatest comedy film.

2: The Apartment (1960)
Starring: Jack Lemmon, Shirley Maclaine and Fred MacMurray
In Seven Words: Corporate climber falls for an elevator girl...
Review: What is Wilder's obsession with insurance? Exploited in Double Indemnity and Ace in the Hole, the equitable transfer policy is utilized once more for The Apartment; it is where our protagonist, C.C. Baxter (Lemmon) earns his living, in a high rise building in New York. The film ironically succeeds as an antidote to depression. Even though the black and white mise-en-scene centres around a lonely guy in an office (without family and a girlfriend), his self-deprecation and treatment evokes satire, and this draws delight. Baxter starts off as a pushover, allowing his company's executives to stay at his apartment, whilst entertaining their girlfriends. He hopes this will inspire a promotion, gifting him with an office of his own. Despite Baxter being taken advantage of, he elicits some old school courage, and asks out an elevator girl, Miss Kubelik (Maclaine). Unbeknownst to Baxter, Kubelik is herself being cajoled by the personnel director, Jeff D. Sheldrake (MacMurray). As Baxter is promoted by Sheldrake (with a catch for exclusive rights to his apartment) his affection for Miss Kubelik grows stronger, as do hers for him, but with the obstacle of the company boss standing in their way, there is little they can do. They are company captives, and this is where the more dramatic elements of the film derive from. The Apartment was Billy Wilder's ode to Brief Encounter, another film where two lovers find it difficult to be together. It is perhaps a paradox that Wilder's picture is more brittle than David Lean's masterpiece. A film that is essentially a comedy has managed to escape the confines of its genre, and branched off into dramatic junctures that swing abrupt emotional punches at its audience. The culmination of a gun shot noise outside Baxter's apartment pre-empts the audience, as well as Kubelik, into believing that he has attempted suicide. We have forgotten that we are watching a comedy, though when she bursts in and sees he is just holding an overflowing bottle of champaign, that realisation of what The Apartment is kicks in. The share of delight from Baxter and Kubelik, knowing they can be together at last, pronounces The Apartment as something quite wonderful: it is a cold film that gives you a warm hug.

1: Lost Weekend (1945)
Starring: Ray Milland, Jane Wyman and Phillip Terry
In Seven Words: 'I'm not a drinker! I'm a drunk!'
Review: A statement from writer Don Birnam (Milland) and a statement of intent from Wilder: The Lost Weekend is hard hitting, trenchant realism about the effects of alcohol abuse. Don Birnam is an alcoholic, and The Lost Weekend follows his escalation from falling off the wagon to being stationed at deaths door. Milland gives an Oscar winning performance as Birnam, who's distant and cold persona brings him little sympathy from most. One can identify these traits in most of Wilder's protagonists, Walter Neff, Charles Tatum, Jeff Sheldrake, etc. The internal feelings of the audience do not lie with Birnam though, they lie with what he is doing to himself. He is unpleasant, though we stick with him, as does his girlfriend Helen (Wyman), due to the sadness of the situation. His unwillingness to extricate himself from drinking denies him the desire to write, which is his true passion. The drink is superficial, though his devotion to it is not, and that devotion must be relinquished. Yet, as the film goes on, the comprehension is that the only person that can help Birnam is himself, and that deep-rooted battle is what we empathise with most of all. His drop into deceit through his love affair with booze provokes a hallucinatory climax, where his alcoholism grips him whilst he shakes and screams. This does not trigger a bitter ending however, with the arrival of Helen and the image of Birnam dropping his cigarette into a glass of whiskey establishing him as cured. This is Wilder's masterpiece; his quintessential sub-textual themes of cynicism, satire and a socio-political problem injected into the central character(s) are embedded into every word that is said and every shot that is shown. The opening of the film, by panning the city-scape and zooming in on the ajar window of Birnam, plays out in reverse for the ending of the film, with a close-up on Birnam writing his retrospective novel, and then the camera withdrawing to the wide angle of the metropolis. This is a bold comment by Wilder, because he is proclaiming that the issue explored in The Lost Weekend has plagued many people, and will continue to do so, but it can be quelled. That sense of catharsis is relevant for any era, and it is acquired from Wilder's greatest motion picture.


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The Seven Best Films Every Child Must Watch

7: Fantastic Mr Fox (2009)
Starring: George Clooney, Meryl Streep and Jason Schwartzman
In Seven Words: Foxy riles farmers by stealing their chickens...
Review: A contemporary classic, with Dahl's quirky style modernized by quirk King, Wes Anderson. Stop motion animation is a risky, arduous assignment to deliver. Fortunately, Wes Anderson's filmography bounces in stylised risk, and is all the better for it. Fantastic Mr Fox; a tale made by one great storyteller, and renovated by another great storyteller.

6: The Lion King (1994)
Starring: Matthew Broderick, Jeremy Irons and James Earl Jones
In Seven Words: Hamlet made easy with lions and stuff...
Review: Reigns as the best of all of Disney's animated films. Essential viewing for all children over the age of four, and the beginners guide to Shakespeare. A masterful opening illuminates a sunlit African aesthetic, with an assembly of creatures great and small lining up to see the future King atop of Pride Rock. With wonderful characterisation of hyenas, a mandrill and of course lions, as well as a glorious soundtrack written by Elton John, Tim Rice and Hans Zimmer, The Lion King roars into classic territory.

5: E.T: The Extra Terrestrial (1982)
Starring: Henry Thomas, Drew Barrymore and Peter Coyote
In Seven Words: The odd couple where alien meets boy...
Review: My childhood nostalgia certainly didn't qualify as a 'home' for E.T., though having viewed Spielberg's sixth cinematic feature again recently, its perennial qualities shone through to my adult self. Henry Thomas gives one of the great child performances, as a curious boy who befriends a lost alien and attempts to help it return to its home. Spielberg can paint sentimentality onto any film canvass, it is his trademark stroke. Frequently, it is a master stroke, though occasional mawkish moments he applies in some of his features are the most vulnerable source for a critical drubbing. Fortunately, E.T. lifts off with plenty of heart.

4: Spirited Away (2001)
Starring: Miyo Irino, Daveigh Chase and Suzanne Pleshette
In Seven Words: The dangers of gluttony against hard work...
Review: A subconscious trip, brimming with morals, into the vivid spirit world. Gluttony is scrutinized through this lurid, 'Alice in Wonderland' type adventure. It was the first feature of Hayao Miyazaki I had seen, and I was instantly transfixed by the Japanese artistry of story telling that captivates throughout. Miyazaki is clearly inspired by Western culture; the ancient Greek world of Hades is an undoubted influence to the spirit world presented here. Though, the grandeur of the movie prevails with the mesmeric Asian style of animation. Spirited Away is a perfect film for children because they will identify with and be galvanised by the petite ten-year-old heroine, Chihiro, through her own personal journey. A must see.

3: Where is the Friends Home? (1987)
Starring: Babek Ahmed Poor and Ahmed Ahmed Poor
In Seven Words: A schoolboy friendship tested in textbook style...
Review: A straightforward synopsis is augmented through a carefully constructed narrative and the focal theme of virtue. A school boy has to return his friends notebook, else the friend faces expulsion. Iran's most outstanding cultural export, as a lesson can be learnt for all children, in the most palpable relevance of friendship I have ever witnessed. One for all the ages.

2: The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Starring: Judy Garland, Ray Bolger and Frank Morgan
In Seven Words: Dorothy travels to Oz via tornado trip...
Review: I know nobody who has never seen the tale of Dorothy Gale abscond to Oz. Often cited as one of the greatest films ever made (Victor Fleming contributed to two of those recognised with that particular proclamation in 1939, this and Gone with the Wind), The Wizard of Oz sings and scares its way into the mind of every child that views it. There is an even more important film that should be viewed by all children in my opinion, but The Wizard of Oz is certainly habitual in my nostalgia.

1: Mrs Doubtfire (1993)
Starring: Robin Williams, Sally Field and Mara Wilson
In Seven Words: Dad dresses in drag to see children...
Review: Mrs Doubtfire is a prevalent picture to any viewer that sees it, particularly those whose parents are divorcing/or have divorced. Although the odd curse word is dotted around the picture ('shit' being the most outstanding of swears spoken), the mute button can be pressed for a second, because I feel it imperative that Mrs Doubtfire should be a movie to be seen, adored and understood. The bitter-sweet denouement, with the parents not getting back together, though deciding to co-parent there son and daughters amicably, is one of the best endings in 90's cinema. Robin Williams will be remembered for this, even in front of Aladdin, Good Will Hunting and Mork and Mindy. The film Mrs Doubtfire entered the world when I did, and I know it will endure well after my sell by date. A very funny and touching movie.

My Next Article Will Be.... The Seven Best Billy Wilder Films