And it was only for this truly sincere and transcendental line from Henry V’s won-from-Agincourt bride: “All monarchy is illegitimate; you, yourself, are the son of a usurper.”
Incredible. True. Brilliant.
I’ve always said that Donnie Darko (2001) is a tad overrated, and its soundtrack a big role in the movie’s appeal. However, it is a very good motion picture, one with just the right amount of ambiguity and tension to keep it captivating all the way to the end credits. It balances so many different genres and themes, that for a first-time director its remarkable.
Imagine my horror upon accidentally watching the ‘Director’s Cut’. Verily, I was mortified. It started from the get-go, Echo & the Bunnymen’s ‘The Killing Moon’ replaced by INXS’ ‘Never Tear Us Apart’ for the iconic bike ride home. Initially, I thought I was in the throes of one of these ‘fan edits’ that do the rounds. But nah, these are conscious, completely sober adjustments made by the director. Even worse, the bloke inserts title cards before or after confusing (for some) scenes, explaining what is happening.
He can of course do whatever he wants with his own creation, but come on, man. I can’t think of a single reason why the bloke would commit this (art) crime other than boredom or an addiction to needless tinkering. Anyway, I’ll forgive him once I view the only version again.
And that’s that.
I didn’t think much of this upon a first viewing. Time, or the slew of shit since – mostly of the multiverse variety and endless remakes and reboots – has been kind to the exceptional Spider-Man 2 (2004).
Gripping action scenes with three-dimensional characters in the mix, an almost total lack of the usual highly irritating in-jokes that feel out of place, scenes with actual emotional heft, and comic strip transitions that work.
Alfred Molina should have been in more stuff after this, the next go-to über-villain.
John McTiernan has evidently experienced quite the few legal … issues in recent years, but for a brief period he was King of the Hollywood Blockbuster, and The Hunt for Red October (1990) his last action heroics (see what I did there?).
Alec Baldwin is the nominal protagonist but he’s more of a link between Sean Connery and Scott Glenn, the two submarine commanders spending most of the movie in a gripping cat-and-mouse underwater showdown. It does what these movies are meant to do – the claustrophobia and tension, the crew in-fighting, but it also has a geopolitical dimension which now doesn’t appear to be merely of its time.
Not bad at all.
Loved this. Think John Wick/The Equalizer/Death Wish rolled into a can and Saul Goodman peeking in for a whirl. It’s frankly ludicrous in bits but just so entertaining. This is action done right – it stems from the real-life scenarios we see daily in the tabloids and hope such things never happen to us (sometimes they do).
I recall the Travis Bickle’s tragic line, “Here is a man who would not take it anymore.”
But talk about fight scenes. This film demonstrates what it’s like to be punched in the face. It really hurts. Personally, I’ve always preferred a whack in the chin than the nose; with the former, you’re done. The latter, you bleed and show the wounds of battle.
This movie is hilarious and believable at the same time. It’s a 5/5. Well done, Bob Odenkirk. Top lad.
Get it seen!
Another first viewing – I’m on a quest to get my money’s worth from Netflix.
I wasn’t expecting anything from this but I was quite disturbingly surprised by how much I liked it. I’ve never had much time for Vin Diesel, his silly fast car flicks and muscle flaunting, the daft yarns with their terrible scripts. But here I found an interesting, thoroughly likeable and complex character I wished to share the journey with. It’s a glimpse at a career that never was, and I won’t watch another film he’s in because the lad can’t possibly top Riddick.
The movie was as generic as it comes and I won’t revisit it, but the 90 mins were killed and I chuckled a wee bit.
It’s an intriguing accidental portrait of an actor at a crossroads.
1909 and it’s Denmark’s, or more accurately Ejnar Mikkelsen’s, harrowing quest to prove that Greenland isn’t split into two. The reviews are mixed but I was really impressed with this.
It goes through all the survival movie tropes but it’s never boring. It takes you right into the action with little need for long exposition, a crime of so many of these films. I wouldn’t say there’s a single memorable shot, but it’s as captivating as anything in the genre I’ve seen since The Grey (2011).
It can make one dream of adopting a husky. And I didn’t once think of Jaime Lannister.
And I don’t know why it was ever associated with those mingers. It has guns and a similar theme. Wow!
There’s nothing particularly new or groundbreaking about Equilibrium (2002). It’s just a really well-made high-concept flick from someone straight out of a movie den who’s made it their quest to put into entertainment what they’ve absorbed from staples of the genre. All the usual tropes are here: regime offering order instead of chaos, Orwellian euphemisms and doublespeak, the conflicted civil servant.
“Who will guard the guards themselves?” will always provide plenty of movie material, and this is supremely stylish and flies by. It knows it’s shite. And that’s a good thing.
And Sean Bean dies in it. Which is inevitable.
Wanderings and ... wonderings. 