Recommended by: Joe & James
Deserves its place in the Top 100?: Yes.
Why?: Wow. What a film! I have to admit, when I read the summary for this on IMDB, I was slightly dreading it. Cop dramas have never been my bag (baby), so it was with a begrudging sigh that I bit the metaphorical bullet and turned this on. Well, folks, the lady has been turned. For those who haven't seen it, it's a drama centred around two police trainees - one who graduates (Matt Damon), and one who doesn't (Leo 'my future husband' DiCaprio). Essentially, it's a story about a good guy in a bad place, and a bad guy in a good place - Damon gets hired as a big dog into the Boston police department, and DiCaprio gets hired to go undercover and work for one of the most violently twisted gangsters (Jack Nicholson) - who we know is in leagues with Damon. Neither DiCaprio or Damon knows each other's links to Nicholson, and the film turns into a winding game of 'cat and mouse' with enough twists to make your head spin. An interesting angle Scorsese uses in this film is the mental torture that DiCaprio goes through when undercover - his paranoia of being found out drives him almost to the brink of insanity. I won't spoil it for you, but there is one epic twist I did not see coming (for those who have seen it: the lift) which made my mouth hang open for a good five minutes. No joke. I looked more than a little demented. This film has definitely given me a new-found appreciation for the police drama - which I'm sure my boyfriend will thank you for.
Deserves its place in the Top 100?: No.
Why?: On Friday it was raining, so, rather aptly, I thought I might try to watch Singing in the Rain. Let me just say: I'm not a big fan of musicals. Last week I tried to watch Rock of Ages and couldn't make it past the third chord. Call me a party-pooper, but all those people - who seconds before were minding their own business, cleaning their cars and selling their groceries - suddenly bursting into song and dance really grinds my gears (Family Guy. High five.). To make it worse, I hadn't heard great things about Singing in the Rain. More specifically, I'd heard it was really gay. And no, I am not meaning that in the way they do in the film - I mean totally homosexual. However, what I watched (dare I say it), was, actually, quite enjoyable. It's set in the period of cinema which sees the conversion from silent films to 'talkies', and the problems this created for the actors (in this film one actress) and their accents which weren't fit to be heard. Warner Bros brings out the first of these 'new' films, and, to prevent both their careers and the studios they work under from going bust, the three characters decide to make a musical. Although there's enough cheese in this film to sink a ship, there was a noticeable absence of cringe-worthy group song and dance numbers; rather, they focused on solos or duets (which made it a lot easier to bear). The 'Make 'Em Laugh' song features an amazing comedy dance performance which looks a little like breakdancing (although obviously minus the flatcaps). And the scene where he's singing in the actual rain is a cinematic classic. They certainly don't make 'em like this any more. This having been said, I still can't believe this beat The Sound of Music to #84. Unforgivable. So in light of this atrocity, I am going to make a stance and state that it shouldn't be in the Top 100. I shall prepare myself for the backlash I will undoubtably receive from the gay community. Bring it bitches.
Deserves its place in the Top 100?: Yes.
Why?: Sunset Boulevard is film noir - but with a twist. Rather than a young and beautiful femme fatale, the deadly female in this movie is a washed-up silent movie star, living 'Miss Haversham-style' in a dilapidated old villa in the Hollywood Hills. The leading man is Joe Gillis, an exasperated screenwriter with chronic writer's block and mounting debts, who accidentally stumbles upon this time warp whilst running from his debt collectors. With the premise of 'tidying up' her script, the ageing and excessive Norma Desmond essentially imprisons him in her house, showering him with expensive gifts and the full five-star treatment. Slowly but surely, this insecure dame falls in love with the young writer, and attempts a come-back to the silver screen. Unfortunately for Norma, Joe isn't as comfortable as the previous inhabitants of this mansion (most of whom, we gather, have used the poor lady for her money) and starts to prepare himself for his own comeback, with the help of his friend's fiancé and fellow writer (Betty Shaefer). The cinematography is everything you expect from a film noir - contrasts of light and dark; soft focus shots, and dramatic pauses; with a plot so saturated with suspense you are almost driven as mad as Norma herself. It's a beautiful film - in a slightly eerie, gothic way - and a real testament to 1950's cinema. It's a movie that stays with you and still manages to be 'current' - over 60 years after it's creation. Best to watch when you're in one of those melodramatic moods.
Recommended by: Sophie
Deserves its place in the Top 100?: Yes.
Why?: On Tuesday I got invited to my first ever film club. Picturing a room full of skinny film students with crazy haircuts and a penchant for black, I had my fears about attending - especially when I rocked up in an outfit that had been given approximately 3 seconds of thought. I needn't have feared, as apparently film clubs in t'north do things differently. Held in a lecture theatre, it was a refreshingly laid-back affair, with Iron-Bru and popcorn available for a nominal fee, and characters ranging from mature students to rather glam looking gals. Armed with a can of 'Bru and a packet of crisps, I settled down to watch Full Metal Jacket - my second fear of the evening. I'm a big girl when it comes to war movies. Call me sexist, but I just believe it's a genre reserved for the males; namely Call of Duty enthusiasts and army hopefuls. Once again, I have to admit I was wrong. The film is split into two parts; the first set in the Marine's military training camp, the second in the Vietnam War. Rather than being an essay on patriotism and War (like a lot of similarly themed films), it's more of a psychological study on how war - both actual and prospective - affects people. Essentially, it's a film about the individual rather than the collective. How war affects peoples' psyches is explored through a number of characters and episodes: Pike in the military training camp, the helicopter gunner who relishes shooting innocent Vietnamese, and the 'party' a division of soldiers hold for an enemy corpse - each equally disturbing and unsettling. It is, as Pike says and Joker emphasises, "a world of shit". It is this "world of shit" that is desired to be concealed from both fellow soldiers and the world through the army-sponsered newspaper, and the film then enters into a debate on 'morale versus truth' - whether it is better to feed men lies to keep them fighting, or whether they should know what they are really fighting for. Trying to figure this out is Joker, a member of the Marines from the first half of the film, who is posted as a journalist to cover the war from the point of view of a rurally-posted soldier. He steadily becomes more disenchanted with what he sees, and the cloak of 'all for one and one for all' that was placed on the Marines when they graduated from their camp is slowly taken off as the film goes on. In the end, we realise that war is not a group of men fighting for their country - it is a bunch of individuals out for themselves. Patriotism has no place here. Although there are some stereotypical elements in the film (namely the 'shouty army major' and the 'me-so-horny' Vietnamese prostitutes), it has a real message to convey - a message that will continue to be relevant as long as there is war.
Deserves its place in the Top 100?: Yes.
Why?: I started this week with a film about bent cops in Boston, and am ending it with crooked ones in LA. In this film, set in the 'golden age' of Hollywood, we become acquainted with the seedy underworld of the LAPD - before the days of DNA, electronic records and lie detectors. Centred around four main policemen played by Kevin Spacey, Guy Pearce, Russell Crowe and James Cromwell respectively - each represents a shade on the spectrum of corruption present in 1950's Los Angeles. It mirrors a film noir in many ways: the complicated plot, good twist and a femme fatale - but without the soft focus or high gloss applied to the 'golden oldies'. The mirror in this film is cracked. Take the femmes fatales, for instance. Rather than being the real Rita Hayworth's or Veronica Lake's, they are prostitutes who have been cosmetically altered to look like their contemporaneous leading ladies, for 'whatever you desire'. The punches look real, the shoot-outs more tense, and there is a noticeable lack of 'one-liners'. A big theme in the film is the 'price of justice', and with a body count easily in the dozens, it turns out this price is pretty high. As Guy Pearce's character aptly puts it, most men "think that silence and integrity are the same thing". In this film, silence gets you killed - without integrity. In terms of character evolution, the film gets an A+. Watching the relationship between Guy Pearce and Russell Crowe go from mortal enemies who despise what each other stands for, to battling alongside each other for a shared passion for 'justice', is incredibly well done. With a plot line that could have very easily gone stale, it is a testament not only to the actors but to the director as well. It's a gritty, fast-paced police drama with enough interest to cater to all - I seriously recommend it.
Bring on next week!
Love,
Belle x
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