Cinemagical
I decided to add a new entry as I am currently bedridden and ill, possibly swine flu, hopefully not. Me and Rachel, my girlfriend for those that don’t know, have purchased tickets for the Empire’s Halloween special which features, Saw VI, My Bloody Valentine 3D, An American Werewolf In London and The Thing, the latter being the biggest draw for myself. To go off on a tangent slightly, we attend a Spanish language class on a Wednesday and since next week is half-term, and thus the school is closed, we decided to go to the cinema instead. We’ve made our mind up and will be seeing ’9′ which is an animated film, set in the future. When checking the screening times I also thought I’d see what else is being released over the next two months. Bugger all, to put it bluntly. With the exception of Sherlock Holmes and Avatar there doesn’t look a half-decent film amongst them. I am bitterly disappointed. To jump back on track, I thought, instead of dwelling on the prospect of poor films appearing on the big screen between now and the New Year, that I would suggest the 5 best films I’ve had the pleasure of seeing this year, so here goes.
Number 5: Moon:
Before I went and saw this movie the only thing I was aware about was the casting of Kevin Spacey as the voice of GERTY, the Moon base computer. Immediately I was expecting something similar to 2001: A Space Odyssey. Happily this wasn’t the case and Spacey was not a homicidal machine. Instead I was treated to an engaging and interesting storyline and a fairly realistic one despite its choice of setting. Sam Rockwell is immense, although that should be no surprise considering how many parts he plays. A film which draws an ethical question under the right to life of clones is subtly sublime in its delivery and was a thoroughly enjoyable film.
Number 4: (500) Days of Summer:
Now this was always going to be an enjoyable movie for me as it starred two of my favourite current actors in the lead roles. Joseph-Gordon Levitt and Zooey Deschanel as Tom and Summer. It is a sort of love story without the happy ending. The tag-line captures the mood of the film quite well; “Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love. Girl doesn’t.” The real charm in this movie for me was its editing. The story doesn’t start from A and end with B; it starts at Z and ends with 1, whilst visiting C, F and T amongst others, throughout. The ordering of the film is perfect and keeps us constantly entertained. We are informed, very early on, that things may not end well between Tom and Summer, we then find out how they became to be, and ultimately, end. Joseph-Gordon Levitt is an extraordinary actor, the variation of roles that I have seen him in show he is capable of changing his pallet but in (500) Days, his repertoire is stretched and boy does he pull it off well. Going from a musical serenade with a cartoon bird to flat out depression just shows his marvellous attributes. Now I am aware that I appear to be gushing over him but he is my favourite actor right now, just watch Brick, you’ll know why. Also, Zooey Deschanel’s eyes are stunning, I swear I would do anything she asked.
Number 3: Inglourious Basterds:
Tarantino making a war-epic. That sounds like a good recipe for a movie, and boy was it. His tongue is placed firmly in cheek throughout this film, from the opening screen “Once upon a time, in Nazi occupied France…” to Hitler’s almost slapstick appearance. The premise is rather simple; a group of Jewish-American soldiers are dropped into France during the Second World War as a guerrilla squad on the hunt for Nazi soldiers and officers. Brad Pitt is their leader and takes enormous pride in ‘scalping’ Nazis. The stand out performance in this film isn’t from Pitt, although he is fantastic, is Christoph Waltz playing Colonel Hans Landa, aka The Jew Hunter. Waltz brings this film together superbly with his wit and delivery and amazes with his multi-lingual abilities. I’ve never seen another film where an actor acts and delivers his lines in four different languages. The ending is completely fictionalised which then allows us to accept everything that has happened as fictional, but it wasn’t, was it? Some of the scenes may not have actually happened but I bet a lot of them did whether accurate to the truth or not. Tarantino doesn’t want us to forget what happened; he also doesn’t want us to shrug it off as a fictional movie, he even suggests that the Basterds are based in truth. The other thought is that Tarantino just wanted an excuse to kill Hitler all over again, which is fine by me.
Number 2: District 9:
If Cloverfield brought us close to the low-budget return of good Sci-Fi, then District 9 has ruined it for everyone else. Nobody could make a more perfect movie in the same ‘low-budget’ vein as Cloverfield. The most pleasing aspect is its setting. South Africa, Johannesburg to be specific is a far more violent and volatile place than anywhere in America, so when an alien spaceship happens to appear over the capital and the aliens begin living in shanty towns in the city, it’s no surprise that heated exchanges could ensue. Set 20 years on from the initial appearance, the movie focuses around the character Wikus Van De Merwe played by Sharlto Copley, who had never previously acted before this film. He works for the company Multi National United which is the biggest weapons manufacturer in the world and set up to keep the aliens in check. When MNU decide to move the aliens from District 9 to a new area of the city, Wikus is put in charge of evicting the aliens. After being sprayed by some alien liquid, things begin to rapidly change for Wikus as his body alters and slowly becomes alien. The movie is like the Fugitive in South Africa, with aliens, but better. It is funny in places where it shouldn’t be and definitely in places where it should be yet it never takes away any of the impact the acting has. A lot of the script is improvised, especially Wikus’ lines, and the movie is cut together as a sort of documentary as well as straight cinema and it works, boy does it work. I love this movie.
Number 1: Watchmen:
I am a big comic book fan, always have been. When I heard that Watchmen was going to be made I went out and read the comic, straight off. I had never gotten round to reading it, just one of those things, but afterwards I couldn’t wait for this movie. If it was to be half as well written and directed as the graphic novel then it was going to be a great movie. Fortunately, it was better. This is without a shadow of a doubt the best comic book adaption ever made.
Even better than the Dark Knight, just. Watchmen never lets up, it’s a ‘rollercoaster’ of a ride, what a cliché, but it’s true, you feel almost involved. The length is extraordinary, nearly 3 hours long, the ultimate directors cut is almost 4 hours long, but it is well worth it. Never does it feel rushed, or do scenes feel squashed in. Every moment of this film feels like it has been taken care of with great thought and delicacy. Rorschach is our narrator and key character, he strings the films plot together and adds some great lines and personality to the movie. His casting was key and is a massive success in the form of Jackie Earle Haley. Who I hear you cry? I don’t know either, but on the basis of this he should be a household name. He encapsulates Rorschach incredibly well, right down to the droll voice and fighting style. All in all this is a fantastic overall movie with no flaws that I could conceive, a real tour de force. If you haven’t seen it, you must. Whether you like comic books or not, it really doesn’t matter, you’re missing cinematic genius, and that’s a fact.
