The Grand Film Adventure- 16 - 20

Been trying to watch some of the more 'serious' or longer films on the list, always seem to be more up for a shorter lighthearted comedy than a long attention sapping film with a message. The last 5 have been mostly positive, all a definite improvement on Ace Ventura 2.

The Social Network
Scarface
Sleepy Hollow
Rocky
Seven

The Social Network
I've heard some people call this film boring. And if facebook was a company set up by adults in a very business style world it would be. What makes the film work is the fact that the most viewed website in the world was set up by a guy at university and all this high flying business happens on campus.
It's interesting to see how facebook grew so rapidly and the story of it's success is well told. The fact the court case between Zuckerberg and his former friends is addressed early on keeps you guessing what point the relationship broke down between the 'characters'.
I found Jesse Eisenberg a little annoying. I don't know if he was just channelling Mark Zuckerberg but the cocky 'eeeeehhhhh guiz? Is everyone stupid but me?' attitude wasn't exactly likable. In a way it works. It doesn't put you squarely on Zuckerberg's side meaning the film isn't bias when dealing with the court case.
The film also has a very abrupt end. Which is fair enough seeings as facebook is still going. An 8.

Scarface
A film that would have been fantastic if it was just an hour shorter. It has good scenes, interesting characters and relationships. I just feel its stretched far too thin over almost 3 hours. Also Tony Montanna reminds me of someone I know. Well the former Tony Montanna, not the coke fuelled psychopath he becomes.
The best bit about the film I thought was the messed up relationship between Tony and his sister and how the weirdness of it is addressed in the last scene. The 'Do you want to fuck me Tony?' bit is the part that stuck out most for me in the whole film. Was just wrong.
Through all the uneventful dialogue the scenes where stuff actually happen are exciting and tense. It's all shot to look quite real as well as being over the top at the same time.
The changes Tony goes through- from nobody, to pawn to top-dog all happen quite quickly but by the end you do feel like you've been on a journey with him. You know Tony Montanna even if you don't really like what he's become.
And the end scene is indeed a perfect action scene. I'd give those 20 minutes a 9 but everything else a 7. 

Sleepy Hollow
Tim Burton :-D. Danny Elfman doing the music :-D. Johnny Depp is the lead :-D. It'll basically be Edward Scissorhands!
But no it wasn't. It was a kinda dreary fantasy murder mystery. It looked pretty cool, undeniably Burton. And Johnny Depp was fun in it, the confident yet wussy Sherlock Holmes character.
The violence seemed a bit out of place for me. When the headless horseman slashed someones head off and blood splashed about everywhere it didn't seem to fit the tone of the film. All the characters introduced had been quite comical and cartoon like and the grisly deaths stuck out a bit. It wasn't like Sweeney Todd either which was way over the top and had it's own gruesome style. The film didn't seem to know if it was an all out fantasy film or realistic period crime drama.
It was watchable though. As soon as the horseman starts coming after Depp and the other sub characters the film has a few exciting chase and action scenes.
A 6, hopefully the other Tim Burton film on the list will deliver.

Rocky
I was looking forward to Eye of the Tiger for the first ninety minutes of the film. I then read it's not in it til Rocky 3. Disappointment.
I liked Rocky a lot more than I thought I would, as a character and as a film. I imagined a big arsey boxer type who takes no shit, wise cracks and gets the hottest girl. But Rocky was a genuinely nice guy. The romance between him and the quiet pet shop girl is really heart warming. It brings out a sensitive side, as much as he is a big tough boxer.
For a film about a boxer there's surprisingly little boxing. There's about 3 minutes of it at the beginning then just Rocky talking to other characters and building relationships, doing generally miscellaneous stuff until the big fight at the end.
The montage is good as well with the stairs and that, it's not Eye of the Tiger but it has the 118 118 song so it was still pretty good.
Wasn't stoked for this film but turned out to be a nice little heart-warmer. I give it an 8.

Seven
Or Se7en if you want to be annoying about it. Seriously search 'Seven' into imdb- the film doesn't come up.
To be clear it's the one with Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt.
Generally a pretty strong film throughout. The murders are interesting and keep you guessing what sick ordeal the next poor low-life will have to go through to fulfill the Lust sin for example. The whole film had a Saw meets LA Noire feel about it. In fact that's exactly what this film is- Saw meets LA Noire which is pretty strong praise as I think both are fantastic.
The chase scene through the apartment reminded me most of the game and it's clear to see what type of film LA Noire got it's inspiration from. It's making me look forward to LA Confidential which is apparently what its more or less based on.
I digress, a good film with an ending possibly a bit too intense and troubling for my taste. I can deal with all the other torture but the ending really saddened me for some reason. It still worked well though.
Tis an 8.
[edit: It's been pointed out LA Noire is inspired by noir films from thr 40s, 50s era, Seven also took inspiration from them. Was just pointing out that Seven reminded me of it a bit]

I have a request. I forgot Disney are a bit horrible with their 'Disney Vault' so Fantasia is proving difficult to track down.
Also if anyone wants to lend me LOTR 2 or 3 it would be appreciated. You'll get an honorable mention for all my 70-80 readers I get.

The Grand Film Adventure- 11-15

On Tuesday I watched 3 films in a day, this is unheard of for me. Also bought a load of DVDs online and from CEX since last time. The Grand Film Adventure - sponsored by CEX and amazon.co.uk
Last 5 films I saw from the list were:

Alien
The Mummy
West Side Story
Gladiator
Ace Ventura 2

Alien
I got a shock when I saw this was released in 1979- it seems to have barely aged at all. It looks like a futuristic Red Dwarf.
The tensest film I've ever seen- really quite terrifying. The atmosphere is constantly eerie and lonely and the sounds you hear from the ship as the crew creep around the metal, dry-ice spewing corridors is unnerving as hell.
The Alien itself is horrifying. They stick to the rule that the less you see of it the scarier it becomes. And it just seems to blend into the backgrounds before suddenly emerging out causing me to have just a small heart attack each time.
The chest bursting scene is even better than I imagined it would be. It literally comes out of  nowhere, everyone just eating breakfast then SPOOSH. If there had been build up it'd be less effective. The terror on the character's faces looks almost genuine- they probably are in a state of shock seeings as none of it's CGI.
It's now easy to see where Metroid got all it's inspiration. Sigourney Weaver is basically Samus Aran.
9 outta 10. Would be an 8 if the cat didn't survive.

The Mummy
I was very aware that The Mummy was a film. It sounds kind of obvious but after Alien  totally absorbed me into that space craft The Mummy seemed very staged and the action scenes there just for the sake of being there. It's like Universal thought 'Okay we need a family adventure about a classic movie monster...The Mummy? Yeah there can be scarab beatles and battles in Eygpt and stuff, it'll look cool.'
If you gewhaimsayin.
Not to say I didn't fully enjoy it. There's a definite sense of adventure especially in the Mummy's tomb with the trap doors and booby traps and stuff. The action scenes as much as they did remind me of an action stunt show you'd see in a Florida theme park were fairly exciting. Getting chased by the beetles never seemed to get old.
The character's seemed a little generic too. The main badass type character who was good with guns etc, the C3-PO type woman who always worried about what was going on while doubling as the love interest for badass guy A. And not forgetting the fat guy with an accent who provided the comic relief. Omid Djalili used to be a 90s film star, who knew?
7 outta 10. The ride was far more fun.

West Side Story
Initially I thought I'd made a big mistake here. The version I watched started with 5 minutes of music set to a blank coloured screen then progressed into 2 'gangs' fighting each other by dancing. I can take camp but this was too much- and there was going to be 2 and half hours of this shit.
I don't know what happened. Maybe I just got used to it but after a while I started to enjoy it. The extended dance scenes didn't do much for me but some of the songs were really quite great. Maria- pretty powerful. I didn't realize 'Somewhere' was from this but that is one belter of a song.
It was a nice little story, the characters were interesting. As musically camp as it was there was death and violence and the end scene SPOILER where the main character dies actually provokes a bit of emotion, a world a way from the prancing about at the start.
An 8 for what I realize is the only musical on the list.

Gladiator
Epic but could have easily been an hour shorter. Length always puts me off films so when I saw this was also going to be 2 and a half hours I was put off a bit.
The fight at the beginning doesn't really have to be there- it's there to show a bit of action before they draw out the reason Russel Crowe becomes a Gladiator.
An hour and a bit in however when he is a Gladiator the film really picks up. The fights in the arenas and Colosseum are fantastic and just the right level of gore I thought. It's there but never quite enough to be repulsed by- Saw style.
The other highlights came right after the fights in the Colosseum between Maximus and the...bad guy. You've probably noticed, I don't usually pick up names. It's great dialogue that keeps you on the edge and delivers some of the most badass lines in any film from Russel Crowe.
If a lot of the pointless talk of Roman politics and such was taken out the whole thing would become more memorable. Still an 8 out of 10, can't say I was not entertained. That's witty writing by the way...cos he says are you not entertained...you see...?

Ace Ventura- When Nature Calls
Woah woah woah, this wasn't the agreement, it's the original Ace Ventura on the list, can't just be changing the rules like that.
To be honest I don't think it really matters. I think I got the general jist of what Ace Ventura is and for the most part I really didn't find it very funny.
Before I continue there's 2 jokes that made me laugh. One where an air hostess says peanuts and he thinks she says penis and the other is where he squeezes through a plastic rhinos arse in front of a startled family.
The rest is Jim Carrey trying to hard to be zany. And for a movie about a 'pet detective' there's not even a lot of animal humor. The film consists of him making weird noises and making funny faces. I'm sure children would get a kick out of it but not me. I'm a film snob now you see.
It's not that I don't like Jim Carrey either. One of my top 5 films ever is the Truman Show. I think the Mask is hilarious as the zaniness is justified. This is just a very light-hearted 'adventure' with an annoying main character and by the mid point I'd started to lose interest completely.
A 5, which my normal peoples marks is probably a bit lower.

The Grand Film Adventure- 6-10

Think I'll change the name of the list from 'Film's I'll watch before 2014' to 'Film's I'll probably see before mid March time'. It's addictive.

In the last week I've watched 

Some Like It Hot

The Goonies

Kill Bill

Mission Impossible

Beverly Hills Cop

Some Like It Hot

I hadn't a clue what this film was going in. My lecturer at uni once said it's one of the most important movies to see if your a journalist. Not entirely sure why, it's about 2 guys who dress as woman and join all woman band in drag to escape from gangsters with HILLAAAARIOUS consequences. 

For a black and white film shot in the 50s I found myself laughing quite a lot. It's cheesy but in a nice wholesome family way, like when your Grandad tells you a joke.

It was also my first experience of Marilyn Monroe. I find her strangely attractive to be honest. I kind of ruined it for myself because I read a bit about what she was like when making the film and she sounded like a nightmare to work with. Dranking all the drank. I hope she calmed all that stuff down later in her life, she must be about 80 by now. [I'm aware that was in bad taste, I'm sorry]

A film I didn't expect to enjoy but really did, 8. 

The Goonies

This is a case of a film I really should have seen as a child. As a 21 year old it was just a little bit annoying and loud.

Not to say it was awful at all. The Goonies themselves were quite amusing even though I found them a little irritating and the sense of adventure was very Speilberg. 

It reminded me of Home Alone in a lot of parts, zany slapstick humor that I would've found hilarious about 12 years ago but not now. The very first scene with the car chase features a lot of people falling over and getting covered in water and stuff. It was my first warning. I'm not a big pantomime fan as you might know. 

Sloth isn't likable. I just felt pity for the thing. Essentially he's just a mentally ill man who's massively disfigured and as much as he helps them in the end the character just didn't sit right with me. Very strange. 

 I only give it a 6- I reckon people remember it so fondly due to nostalgia, or maybe I'm just missing something. 

Kill Bill

My history with Tarantino films has been mixed. I've seen half of Inglorious Basterds which i thought was okay and 20 minutes of Pulp Fiction I didn't get [although I might when I watch the full film later]. Going into Kill Bill I wasn't sure I'd quite get it. 

But luckily I did. It's crazy and one of the strangest things I've seen but my god the majority of it looks incredible. I saw it about 5 days ago and the animated scene about the life of the Chinese assassin has really stuck in my head. 

It's all very striking and it's refreshing to see a director do whatever the hell he wants in the name of creating something different and visually and audibly stunning. 

The fight scene that takes up almost the entire second half of the movie is fantastic and one of the best things I've seen in a film...possibly ever. 

It's a 9 and I'm really glad it wasn't quite too odd for me. 

Mission Impossible

It's hard to take this film seriously now with all the outdated technology that was a glimpse into the future back then but it's still a fun film that I enjoyed.
I'm not sure if I like or dislike Tom Cruise. He's just a little bundle of energy that bounces around from one action scene to the next.
The scene where he goes down to the windows 95 computer on the rope is probably the most stand out part, for me. It was very tense and well done and when the knife falls there is a genuine feeling of 'oh shi...'. Not sure the rat in the ventilation shaft had to die either. Was unnecessary.
The finale on the train was also very exciting, even with the now obvious green screen backgrounds speeding past.
At the time I'm sure it was state of the art special effects though. 8 outta 10.

Beverly Hills Cop
This film was fine. I don't really know how it became the most successful film of 1984 but the music is certainly catchy.
It's not just the Axel-F song either, all the other music that goes along with the action scenes are very cool and 80s. It makes sense, being made in the 80s and all.
This may sound racist but young Eddie Murphy reminded me so much of Will Smith. Even looking back at the movie knowing it's Eddie Murphy, Axel Foley is Will Smith in my head, I can't help it.
The actions fine and the comedy is ok but nothing really struck out as being wonderful.
 It was a lighthearted hour and 45 minutes minutes and if the sequels are ever on TV I'll probably watch them in the background. 7

Still looking for films to borrow and watch, I've bought some DVDs on amazon crazy cheap but the majority I do not own. Next films I watch will most likely be The Mummy, Ace Ventura and whatever I can find on Netflix. 

The Grand Film Adventure- First 5 films down

In a previous post I listed the films I aim to watch before 2014. Ima makin good progress I think! 5 films down already. The first five I've watched have been:

It's a Wonderful Life
Clerks
Saving Private Ryan
Mean Girls
The Shawshank Redemption

Heres my thoughts so far.

It's a Wonderful Life
My Dad's favourite ever film. I quite likes it.
It's often summarized as a man being taken on a journey to see what life would be like if he had never existed. This in fact is only 20 minutes of the film, the rest is all his actual life and the constant failures and things that get in the way of him doing fun stuff like travelling the world and such.
Each act starts with him doing something like buying a suitcase while discussing where he'll travel to or talking about how swell his honeymoon will be. I found myself through the film guessing what was going to happen to stop anything good happening to him. I half expected a piano to fall through the roof of the church as they got married.
It was nice though, cheesy and festive at the end. For a Christmas film everyone watches at Christmas, only the last part is actually set at Christmas time, making it as Christmassy as Edward Scissorhands or Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone as they kinda feature Christmas as well.
I'd give it a good 7. I'll no doubt watch it again next Christmas when my Dad insists on watching it at 11pm on Christmas Eve.

Clerks
Firstly, I don't get why this in black and white at all. The Artist- makes sense. Frankenweenie- makes it look old and gothic. Clerks? Not a clue.
I liked the main character. Reminded me of a cooler older kid at school I wanted to be when growing up. Some of it was quite funny but nothing hilarious. The bits I liked most were the observations on how odd some customers were. Working at Cineworld I saw some similarities.
Everyone goes on about how great Jay and Silent Bob are but I didn't see why they were so funny. They were also barely in it.
Another 7, interesting enough characters, just wish I 'got' it more.

Saving Private Ryan
The highlight of the films I've seen so far. Really epic action that was an exciting thrill ride to watch as well as being really brutal and harrowing. There's not a lot of quiet moments but when there is one it's packed with emotion and patriotic American cheese.
I would of course be the writer guy tagging along on the mission to save Private Ryan, I was aware of this the entire film.
Like a bloodier, real-er War Horse. Makes sense as they're both Spielberg. I've come to the conclusion that when Steven Spielberg does War, he does War good.
And a nice sentimental ending to boot.
A nine, makes Netflix almost worth the £6 a month.

Mean Girls
Quoted mercilessly through secondary school, never having a clue what was going on. Who the hell was Kevin G?
Genuinely funny and laughed out loud a few times as much as I wasn't the target audience. The cliques were emphasized but pretty accurate to what they were actually like in secondary school and showed just how awful girls are at that age.
I also kinda fancied Lindsay Lohan in it, but that's fine because she was actually 18 when it was shot.
Funniest quote I felt was 'Danny DeVito! I'm a big fan of your work!' or something similar.
8 outta 10.

The Shawshank Redemption
Before I continue let me say I actually did like this film and I don't mean to upset people. I maybe just expected more from the number 1 film on the imdb top 250 films EVER.
Morgan Freeman was great in it, watching the prison lifestyle was interesting also.
Suppose there's spoilers from this point on, jusayin.
The adorable old man with the bird's suicide was really sad. Not entirely sure that needed to happen.
Found myself losing a bit of interest by the end, maybe just because I knew he escapes. But it was a nice little story and a satisfying end when Morgan Freeman and...the main guy see each other again.
I'm sure its much deeper and more beautiful than I understood but I just saw it as an interesting little film that made me think about what it actually must be like in prison.
And now I utter the line- I'd give the Shawshank Redemption 7 out of 10. Not quite Mean Girls.

Any suggestions on what on the list I should watch next are welcome. Currently halfway through Some Like It Hot.