I'm not putting this in my ranking as I haven't seen it in a while, in fact this was the first Kubrick film I sort of saw, and I'll admit to not really being that invested through, to the extent the only scenes that really stand out in my memory are the Scatman Crothers exposition scenes, 'All work and no play make Jack a dull boy', and of course that scene which I'm afraid through all the memes and banter is just not that effective for me. I need to watch this again soon though, preferably not alone though, so if around Halloween time anyone fancies checking this out (preferrably a veteran of the film to warn me of the jumpier moments) I'm all yours.
N/A: Eyes Wide Shut
I've watched clips of it, but never the full monty of Kubrick's last film. I will definitely check it out soon, as I'm interested to see what his journey into what seems like particularly kinky and non-censorship territory ends up being like.
N/A: Fear and Desire
Haven't seen his first or his last film. Hey, maybe it'd be a good idea to compare them to in a future post.
9. Full Metal Jacket (4/5)
A game of two halves. The first half is absolutely brilliant stuff, with R. Lee Ermey and Vincent D'Onfrino giving two extremely compelling depictions of Frankenstein and his Monster in the army form, and gives such an alternately darkly comedic, and darkly dark depiction of army training camp life. The second half feels like more standard war stuff. It's not bad, just not as good as the first half, and loses a bit of momentum particularly when it comes down to the finale of 'tracking down sniper' which though well-executed, always leaves me a bit cold. Not a bad film though, in fact I'd go so far as to say it's a must-see for its great first half, and serviceable second half.
8. The Killing (4.5/5)
I guess I went into this one with overly high expectations. I liked it as a sort of early precursor to Reservoir Dogs, I found the criminal underworld explored interesting enough and the heist scene very tense, but in the end I thought it was just a pretty good film noir, nothing more nothing less. Perhaps I need a re-watch. It's a solid film, don't get me wrong, and a great example of Kubrick's early prowess particularly in the shootout scene, or the scene where cuckold George (Elisha Cook Jr.) returns home to exact revenge on his treacherous wife. There is however a terrible voiceover narration by a disembodied voice I didn't take to. Once again, though, I liked the film, I may not have been being enough attention throughout because I didn't watch it in the best of circumstances (i.e. hadn't gotten used to Kubrick well enough), overall though, I liked it, and a re-watch could easily bump this up. 7. Spartacus (4.5/5)
In terms of swords and sandals motion pictures, I prefer Ben-Hur and Gladiator. In terms of Kubrick films it's far from my favourite. It has John Gavin blanding his way through as Julius Caesar. The buildup of the first two acts, fantastic as it is, kind of results in the third act being a slight let-down in some regards (though the ending scene is great). But though I have reservations about it, Spartacus nevertheless is a good old-fashioned historical drama film that fully deserves the iconic reputation of many of its scenes. The Roman Republic is excitingly drawn in great detail, with each gladiator fight involving out titular hero (Kirk Douglas) being as vivid as any of the scenes involving the royal court of Crassus (Laurence Olivier). There are a few dated elements in the screenplay, notably in its depiction of homosexuality, some iffily acted scenes, and it doesn't fully realize the whole atmosphere of the time period as well as say, Ben-Hur, but given the troubled nature of the production I guess I'll have to put it down to time and creative constraints forcing Kubrick to be a little less meticulous than usual. The performances are almost uniformly good among the main principals, with Charles Laughton, Peter Ustinov and Jean Simmons giving a great deal of charismatic support to Douglas, and Laurence Olivier completely devouring each co-star he's onscreen with such understated, powerful ferocity. A very, very entertaining that while not the best of its genre, is up there.
6. Barry Lyndon (4.5/5)
I'll be re-watching this soon enough as it'll be showing at the BFI Southbank cinema, and I intend to revisit it in cinematic glory. For the timebeing though:cinematography, costumes, lighting, music, everything on the technical side of things cannot be faulted. 18th Century Ireland may not seem terribly exciting (although having done some of it for my A-Levels I found it fascinating enough), but Kubrick's keen eye and ear do wonders for it. It's both beautiful and yet seeped with such a vibrant, realistic vibe as if you're watching a world of its own, but very much a reflection of the real world, through the Kubrick Spectrum. As for structurally, in terms of plot, it might feel a bit too long and slow at points, but considering the hefty Thackery novel that acts as its inspiration, it's admirable enough in this regard. From the acting standpoint, it's about on the same level of 2001: A Space Odyssey where Kubrick's domineering hand controls them all well enough to make an overall positive impact, however Ryan O'Neal's performance as Raymond Barry Lyndon, while not awful, could've enhanced the film up to 'all-time great' status if placed in the hands of say, Robert Redford, Terrence Stamp, well just be grateful he didn't choose his Napolean project instead, while Barry Lyndon could be utilized as a bit of a blank, bland slate, it would've been a disaster to cast O'Neal as the great French general in his dream project (now I should say I do like O'Neal in most of his performances, I'm a great defender of his Love Story performance).
5. Lolita (5/5)
I won't get into too much detail about the main strength of the film, the performances, as it's perfect ground for a Head-to-Head between this version and the rather weak 1997 version. This is one of Kubrick's films where he tones down his more overt approach, so to speak, though no doubt the meticulousness and fussiness which made him such a great director was to be found. This film was in many ways one of Kubrick's biggest challenges, to the extent that the fact it doesn't really have any failings, only slight inadequacies IMO, is quite remarkable. The censorship and Hays Code of the time affected a smooth production considerably, as many liberties with the text and excision of material, as well as the simple fact that Vladimir Nabakov's brilliant masterful novels (in my opinion, one of the greatest of all-time) simply could not be completely adapted to the silver screen. Poetic digressions, classical references and a constantly wandering, musically scattershot narrative works on the page that would be impossible to convey onscreen. Given all these factors, Kubrick still manages to create a masterpiece, albeit one that doesn't quite capture all the power of its source material. But that's nitpicking - take for example the scene below. Wordlessly, Kubrick's powers of splicing together imagery and implication manages to convey such an intense and disturbing sense of Humbert Humbert's (James Mason giving perhaps his greatest performance) infatuation with Dolores Haze (Sue Lyon).
The way the ending of the novel is moved to the beginning is an in medias res example played to perfection. Purists may take issue with the way Clarence Quilty is portrayed and expanded upon as a film, but it helps to enhance the darkly comic elements of the film well in Peter Sellers' hands. The film performs its balancing act of drama and offbeat whimsicality into a curious but effective blend, and ends up for all its slight truncations, a fulfilling piece of cinema. 4. 2001: A Space Odyssey (5/5)
The films ranked before and after this one present Kubrick at his most restrained in terms of using his directorial vision to constrain his actors. He allowed Peter Sellers to improvise, strong dramatic scenes for Kirk Douglas to dig his teeth into, employed A-List movie stars like Douglas, Mason, Shelley Winters etc. and shifted the focus point to characterization and dialogue, and let them control the emotional power of the film. With 2001: A Space Odyssey Kubrick went in the complete opposite direction. The film is one of the most controlled in all of film history, in that the actors, bar Douglas Rain, are completely interchangeable in their roles. They're all solid, but it's not an actor's film at all, nor is it a film about characters, dialogue (the first 20 minutes are completely dialogue-free and even after that it's fairly sparse), or even storyline. This is a film all about epic vision, scope, and visual splendour and perhaps presents Kubrick at his most powerful as a filmmaker. Does it make it his best film, you may ask?
Well, that's a matter of subjective opinion, really. I personally don't think the film is Kubrick's greatest, but objectively I must consider it a supreme masterpiece, and probably his most singularly iconic, important and innovative work as a director. From the use of rotating sets to convey zero-gravity, to the splendid visuals depicting the monolith's journey through space, the Star Gate sequence, the 'Dawn of Man' visual power coupled with that booming soundtrack, Kubrick pieces all these pieces of a puzzle together perfectly. He somehow manages to make the life and death of the sentient computer HAL 9000 so compelling, through the perfect utilization of Rains' voice and the visual makeup of the character, he pieces together each montage and scene perfectly together, even though I question whether Heywood Floyd scene was really necessary. On the whole it's not quite the wholly immersive experience I was expecting, but its completely flawless on a technical level, and on that front one of the true all-time great motion pictures.
3. Paths of Glory (5/5)
Few people remark on how beautifully the courtroom scenes are shot!!!
A most atypical Kubrick film, not in terms of quality but in terms of topic matter. It concerns life in the WWI French trenches, a failed suicidal attack and its aftermath, with Colonel Dax's (Kirk Douglas) defence against charges of cowardice, and is all in all a rather low-key affair, certainly far from the scope of later works. Kubrick shows his utter brilliance as a director by flourishing just as well within a small, relatively confined setting, as he captures the brutality of warfare in the trenches with such viscreal power, the failed attack extremely haunting in its direction, particularly in how he blends sound and visuals to create a truly claustraphobic sequence. Even more impressive than the technical aspects, however, is Kubrick's utilization of humanity as the core of the film. There's the terribly rotten side, encompassed by the nauseating, despicable soldier politics of slyly manipulative General Georges Broulard (Adolphe Menjou) and toady General Mireau (George McCready). The villains are not necessarily 'evil', so to speak, but are depicted with such realism and utter lack of compassion and common sense, that they end up being perhaps the least sympathetic, most hateful of Kubrick's long line of antagonists. This is matched perfectly with his presentation of the cowardice and patronsing airs of some of the other soldiers, and of course the other side of the coin which is best embodied through Douglas' Dax. Douglas gives easily his greatest performance in this film as the voice of not only reason, but goodwill; the film beautifully weaves its way around his performance by dividing itself into two distinct halves. The first half is definitely the Kubrick show, where he unleashes an array of tension, emotional confusion, pathos, violence into conveying the tragic chaos of the trench warfare, culminating in the aforementioned brilliant sequence.
The second half then becomes more of an actor's showcase, wisely so, though Kubrick's industrious, meticulous eye never disappears from view, as his extremely controlled and tight-knit approach to the material ensures that each and every character's purpose feels both to the point and emotionally powerful. I particularly love the small moments between the cowardly Lieutenant Roget (Wayne Morris) and the man he sends out as a representative to be court-martialled, Corporal Phillipe Paris (Ralph Meeker) who's got some dirt on him. The scenes with Meeker, and Joe Turkel and Timtohy Carey as the two other soldier's forced to take the brunt of blame, are as unsparing and powerful as the courtroom scenes where Dax defends his men, which are both oh so compelling and oh so difficult to watch. It's an extremely strong film all the way to the very end, with a fantastic ending that really tempts me to push it further up the list. The execution scene, and confrontation scene between Dax and Broulard, are great, but that final scene...it's one of the most genuinely emotionally poignant moments in not just Kubrick's films, but all of cinema.
2. A Clockwork Orange (5/5)
Another masterpiece by Kubrick, this time round with much less humanity at its core, which is precisely the point. In between Paths of Glory and A Clockwork Orange, Kubrick's whole style as a filmmaker had transformed from an auteur who helmed the sensitive, hard-hitting and interrogative examinations of human nature at its best or worst like Paths of Glory and Lolita, to grand spectacles like Spartacus like 2001: A Space Odyssey. Which is not that Kubrick had completely lost trace in humanity, rather he seemed to have lost faith in it. Depressing thought - but it reached perhaps its culmination in this adaptation of the Anthony Burgess novella about an extremely dystopian society where gangs are all the rage, and we focus on the life and times of one particular miscreant, Malcolm McDowell's Alex DeLarge. Now I have one little qualm about the film in its ending. It's not the novella's ending, and thus removes a bit of the complexity of the source material by excising the 'self re-evalauation' of Alex at its conclusion. I say 'little qualm' because it actually does work for the film, the ending Kubrick opts for, and thus perhaps I'm just being too much of a purist. The rest of the film perfectly captures the madcap world of Alex and his Droogs, from those brilliant opening scenes of their horrorshow wrongdoings, where the horror and terrible nature of their actions are never sugarcoated, but stylized in a brutal and most elegant fashion by some outstanding cinematography, colour schemes, set designs, and a blend of depraved darkness and excellent black comedy. My favourite scene is probably the gang fight scene set to 'The Thieving Magpie':
NSFW
It should be said the soundtrack to A Clockwork Orange is a thing of mastery, particularly in the segments where Alex engages in his 'rehabilitation'. The beautiful music is used to extremely unsettling effect, and creates such an unnerving atmosphere that is quite brilliantly done. The direction of Kubrick creates a terrific contrast with the 'before'/'after' of Alex's predicament, and even manages to humanize his plight with the help of McDowell's great work. It's simply a spellbindingly good film from start to finish, and deserves its reputation as one of the greatest films of all-time.
1. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (5/5)
'Thanks for a great game of chess, George.'
'My pleasure Stan, just make sure those outtakes really are outtakes.'
(For what it's worth I've always thought Buck Turgidson was the equal work of both director and actor.)
Easily my favourite Kubrick film, and also one of my favourite films of all-time. Kubrick as per usual, takes on some tricksy source material, in this case a political/nuclear war, dead-serious novel and making it even riskier by directing it with an overwhelming atmosphere of absurd black comedy and satire. Kubrick's approach pays off wonderfully as he conveys the Cold War tensions at the time with both remarkable subtlety through the use of set design, music, and visual transitions from one scene to the next carrying a palatable menace, and more overtly through the outrageously entertaining performances of his cast, from the multiple role'd Peter Sellers to a deliciously unhinged George C. Scott, and a strangely convicted but no less idiotic portrayal of Brigadier Ripper by Sterling Hayden, and down to the smaller roles like Peter Bull as a deadpan Russian envoy, Slim Pickens as one helluva rousing pilot cowboy, Keenan Wynn as Coca Cola's greatest advocate, even James Earl Jones getting to show off some of his vocal chops. Each actor fits perfectly into the scheme of the film by Kubrick's ochestration of them, when you read about the behind-the-scenes process of making it, it's quite remarkable when you realize how much control he had over the whole production. The script manages to work perfectly in line with the improvisations of the likes of Sellers, carrying the laughs consistently but with also some genuine weight in specific moments, also that whole finale while hilarious also has a certain poignancy which is deeply underrated. It was all on him, so to speak, whether or not this film fails or succeeds, and succeed it does marvelously.
The 1950's was when Billy Wilder ascended from great director to one of the true masters of cinema. Now I have to say that statement is made with a bit of an asterik as I've yet to see The Spirit of St. Louis (I really should, it's Wilder's only collaboration with James Stewart), and Love in the Afternoon, yet even if these two were absolute disasters I'd still consider this decade to be a marvelous achievement, in which his body of work was only surpassed by Alfred Hitchcock and Akira Kurosawa.
Having said that, there's two films I want to write most thoroughly about in particular (if you want to skip to them, scroll down), so I'll get the others out of the way first. One example of an overlooked masterpiece in Wilder's filmmography, Ace in the Hole, was very oddly received with a lukewarm response by critics and poor reception by audiences, based on the box office. The story of a down-on-his-luck but ambitious reporter Chuck Tatum (Kirk Douglas) who exploits a situation of a man trapped in a cave collapse for media attention, is an excellent satire on media exploitation. Its blunt approach to depicting the way in which news reporters and the use of media circus to strike up publicity, is particularly fascinating as Wilder directs it with such extreme cynicism, expertly set against the hot, harsh Arizona sun and depicting the arc of Tatum as essentially an immoral man who grows morals as the world gradually reveals its deprivation around him. Douglas, by the way, is excellent, and it's a terrible shame he never worked with Wilder again after this (I assume the poor box office performance put both of them off) as his smarmy charismatic style brought so much flavour to his potentially obnoxious role. I thoroughly enjoy every moment of this excellent news procedural film of sorts, and though it may arguably be a bit on-the-nose at certain points, Wilder knows how to restrain these into a powerful exploration of morality.
In contrast to the dark, brooding tone of Ace in the Hole, Wilder's Sabrina was quite the departure from his recent string of noir works. A nice romantic comedy you can pretty much guess the end of before the halfway point, but by that point you're probably quite enjoying yourself, you don't really care all that much. Audrey Hepburn is as delightful and charming as ever, not on Roman Holiday level perhaps but few performances ever are, as the titular daughter of a chauffer who has been long in love with the youngest son of her father's employer's family, David Larrabe (William Holden), goes away to culinary school for two years and comes back an attractive, sophisticated lady who casts a soon-to-be-married David under her spell. This leads his brother Linus (Humphrey Bogart) to intervene to prevent disaster. Out of the lead trio, Holden is probably the least impressive (it's a far cry from his two other Wilder leading roles), but he's still fine as the lively and uncouth sleazeball, Hepburn is great though as aforementioned but the biggest surprise is Bogart, who cast against type as a workaholic humourless stiff who gradually opens up a bit. The costume design here is particularly impressive, and though it's not a barrel of laughs it's a nice enough watch.
Wilder's first collaboration with Marilyn Monroe was another sweet romantic comedy, The Seven Year Itch. This is one of his most iconic films but I can't say that it's one of my absolute favourites, it's a bit too slight for that. I do however prefer it slightly to Sabrina because it's got a more cinematic flair to its depiction of 'man falls for gorgeous woman' arc, here the married, good-natured but neurotic Richard Sherman (Tom Ewell, the go-to man for this sort of schmuck) who while his wife and son are holidaying in Maine, falls for the charm of a vivacious young blonde played by none other than Ms Monroe. The film kind of reminds me of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (the 1947 version, more specifically) in its utilization of fantasy sequences for comical effect and to represent the delusions of Sherman having the young lady fall for his supposed 'charms'. Beyond that it's pretty much just the story of a man who should really come to his senses, but it's an enjoyable one at that. I would have liked to seen a darker exploration of this sort of material by Wilder (sort of a subversive rom-com tinged with hints of Double Indemnity, methinks), but as it stands it's a good film with yes, that one very iconic image above.
Witness for the Prosecution is a film I feel I've never quite given sufficient credit to. Part of it is due to watching Anatomy of a Murder before this, which I feel is the defining masterpiece of courtroom dramas, well besides To Kill a Mockingbird. Another part is that also watching the 1982 television movie adaptation of the Agatha Christie source material, may have made me take for granted the excellent qualities of the original since that version, which stars Ralph Richardson (one of my favourite British actors of all-time) as Sir Wilfrid the protagonist, Deborah Kerr (my favourite actress of all-time) as Mrs Plimsoll, and other actors I really like, like Donald Pleasance, Diana Rigg, Wendy Hiller etc.
Still all this put aside, this is a pretty great courtroom drama all in all, with a bit of a unique spin on the British sensibilities of it through the casting of Marlene Dietrich in an atypical role as theaccused man's wife, in a noir film, where she'd usually be playing the femme fatale. As Sir Wilfrid Robards, The great Charles Laughton takes a different approach to Richardson (I'll say no more at this point), but his delightfully astute, mischevous, charismatic portrayal of Robards in and out of the courtroom, whether delivering some incisive cross-examination or bickering with his nurse (his offscreen wife Elsa Lancaster). He amplifies with his entertaining performance the dark case surrounding the case of Leonard Vole (Tyrone Power, surprisingly good) murdering a rich widow, one which results in a great deal of conflict and drama even when a verdict is reached. The film is mostly just a fun ride through various red herrings and mysteries, and has one pretty good twist that is earnt by the performance behind it.
Then there's what a lot of people consider Wilder's best comedy, Some Like it Hot. I'd disagree but that's not to say I dislike it, not at all, in fact I quite love it. The film's buddy comedy and men in drag tropes, surrounding the story of two musicians (played by Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis) who on the run from gangsters, fall in with an all-female band dressed as women. Now I'll get one criticism I've heard of the film out of the way first in that Lemmon and Curtis aren't terribly convincing women, even for a comedy it's not quite Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie. Well I don't think it matters all that much, they're meant to be men playing women within the context of the film. Lemmon is particularly funny in playing up how his Joe's fussy personality fits in with his 'Josephine' guise and his interactions with a lusty millionaire played delightfully by Joe E. Brown, as they tango their way to true love, are great. Curtis is technically a little overshadowed in his scenes with Lemmon but the scenes where he charms Monroe with another guise, a Cary Grant-esque millionaire (and doing an impression of Grant to boot), are probably some of my favourite scenes of the film. The screwball dialogue here is well-written, the set design of the hotel is lavish and nice, the gangster elements are handled with the right amount of ridiculous high comedy, and though I don't think it's exactly Wilder's most flourishing example of direction he certainly does a great job with the chaotic finale.
Now for the climactic bits:
Right; now I like to love all these films, but out of Wilder's 1950's output, two films stand out to me in particular: Sunset Boulevard and Stalag 17. They both star William Holden as a cynic (though that's not to diminish his performance in either, as you'll see), and that's about all the obvious similarities they share. It's testament to Wilder's mastery as a director that in the span of three years he could craft two such incredibly different masterpieces.
Sunset Boulevard is probably Wilder's most acclaimed film of all-time; in terms of success at the Oscars it was on par with the later The Apartment and the critical reception was almost unanimously beloved by critics, as well as being a moderate box-office success, all of which is quite impressive due to a number of factors. It has a fantastic script of course, but its dark, unrelenting depiction of the trappings of Hollywood and the temperance of fame made it quite the risky venture for Wilder and fellow screenwriters Charles Brackett and D.M. Marshman Jr.. In addition the bleak, unsparing, even ghoulish direction of Wilder of this Hollywood tale into a film noir, bordering on horror in certain scenes (that frikkin' monkey), and no casting of big leads (Holden was just a moderately known star, Gloria Swanson was a silent film actress who hadn't been in a motion picture for over a decade), make this a surprisingly (in retrospect) unlikely success.
Well what's it all about then? Well for those of you who've either seen the film, or seen the musical adaptation (starring Glenn Close, I'm still irked I didn't get a chance to see it), you'll know it's the intimate tale of the relationship between a struggling screenwriter Joe Gillis (Holden) who finds refuge, employment, luxury and maybe something more at the household of past-her-prime silent film star Norma Desmond. Things soon spiral out of control as Joe's job as a script doctor soon extends to confidant and potential lover, and in classic Wilder fashion the darkness is peppered with hints of the light, in the form of Gillis' burgeoning relationship with Betty Schaefer (Nancy Olson) a young script reader, and the audience is gradually drawn into the exact how and why Gillis is found dead at the start of the film.
The film's opening is masterful. I can't even describe how well with the score, the shot of the 'Sunset Boulevard' sign, we get an audio and visual impress of how things are going to proceed. Then there'sHolden's narration, tricking you into thinking this is some gumshoe, tough detective who's made his way out of another gritty case and has lived to tell the tale of a dead man, 'nobody important'...till we realise the dead fellow is Gillis, face down in a pool he'd always wanted, the poor dope. It's an ingeniously subversive way to open the film, and certainly far better than some of the previous ideas thrown around like having Gillis' corpse rise from the dead in a morgue to tell his life story to some other corpses (it was actually filmed and we were nearly robbed of one of the finest film openings of all-time).
I'll talk more about Holden soon, but for the time-being let us revel in the exquisite, over-the-top yet somehow incredibly haunting and realistic portrayal of a true diva by Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond. She has some of the greatest lines in film history to deliver (with 'I am big. It's the pictures that got small' being a particularly iconic one) and she does so with thunderous aplomb. She gives one of the all-time great performances, displayed particularly well in scenes where Wilder's directorial choices (the casting of silent movie stars like Buster Keaton in the card game scene, Cecil B. Demille, the home cinema scene, the 'party' scene) match perfectly with his leading lady. It all culminates in one of the all-time great film conclusions which I'll put here too.
As for Stalag 17? Well I've realised I'll have almost too much to say on that front...so I'll leave it to a sepearate blog post, to be discussed with another extremely underrated war film from 1998.
1. Stalag 17 (5/5) 2. Sunset Boulevard (5/5) 3. Ace in the Hole (5/5) 4. Witness for the Prosecution (5/5) 5. Some Like It Hot (4.5/5) 6. The Seven Year Itch (4/5) 7. Sabrina (4/5)
You probably noticed him in a relatively small role in The Danish Girl, and you probably found his character a bit pointless, and a bit poorly written all in all, but let me defend him: he made more of the role than I think anyone could've, really. The nature of the role as the third man of a somewhat problematic 'love triangle' could have rendered his character's presence both obnoxious and unnecessary, but the charm and screen presence he has carries him through in a way I can't say the same for Amber Heard and Ben Whishaw in their distracting supporting turns (though in Whishaw's case, that beret does deserve its fair share of blame too). It's Mr Schoenaerts' weakest performance out of all those I've seen so far, and understandably so: some Hollywood directors, noting his good looks and charismatic personality, must've thought, 'we'll make him the next safe onscreen eye-candy: give him low-key, somewhat bland roles to play', like the role he apparently has in A Big Splash.
Which is a shame really, because bland roles are not Schoenaerts' strength, nor should they be. You have a huge array of actors in that sort of vein to choose from, Hollywood: this Belgian, multilingual talent deserves much better. The first performance I saw of him, in the almost painfully underrated The Drop, pretty much affirmed that far from being just a piece of meat to display onscreen, Schoenaerts is one of the most exciting actors to burst onto the Hollywood scene (I'll focus on his work here first) in recent years, with an intensity and chameleonic range to his method not unlike his co-star Tom Hardy.
In the film, Hardy and Schoenearts sort of do their own variation of the dynamic between Marlon Brando and Lee J. Cobb in On the Waterfront. High praise, I know, but the two more than live up to it through the excellence of their scenes together. I've mentioned before that Hardy's Bob Saginowski is a most curious act of character creation by him, an odd and rather brilliant out-of-sync-ness and dimwittedness with the world around him blended with a brimming, quiet intensity, which contrasts beautifully with Schoenaerts' performance, which is a searing portrayal of a man who could be best described as a stupid thug, but one who takes such pride in his delusions of grandeur, that every movement of his is potentially lethal, because of what a ball of unpredictablity he is. His every apperance carries such effortless menace, and to boot Schoenaerts adopts a pitch-perfect New York accent. You'd have no clue English wasn't his first accent, nor would you ever question this guy was a genuine Brooklyn lowlife criminal. Also (spoilers), his last scene with Hardy and Noomi Rapace is fantastic, as in a few seconds, he sells the twist of the film in perfect harmony with Hardy by so quickly revealing the utter artifice of his character in a few seconds.
Schoenaerts soon did a complete 180-degree turn in terms of character from playing the most unpleasant asshole to the ultimate nicest guy ever, and one of the most famous swell characters in all of literature, Gabriel Oak in Far From the Madding Crowd. Far From the Madding Crowd is not a perfect film, it can't quite match the intrinsic power of the source material, the editing in the third act shortchanges some character developments, and Tom Sturridge gave the worst performance of last year which doomed the film beyond full recovery. That it still works overall as a good film is testament to Thomas Vinterberg's solid direction, the beautiful costume and set design, and three performances at its centre: Carey Mulligan and Michael Sheen are great as the headstrong Bathsheba and the kindly but deeply haunted and insecure Boldwood, generating an extremely moving pathos within their characters and performances, but Schoenaerts, given probably the most limited role in the film as the 'nice guy', also shines marvellously. He does not have as much focus as Sheen and Mulligan but is equally impressive in his character creation.
His Gabriel Oak is a masterclass in understated acting; through most of it, he only gets a reaction shot here or there, a few words to speak to Bathsheba, but he makes each and every one of them count. He makes you feel utmost sympathy for his undeserved misfortunes, charmed despite his quiet nature and innate empathy for Bathsheba, admiration for the character's blunt nature, and despite having very few one-on-one scenes with Mulligan, makes the love that develops between the two resonate beautifully.
Having admired him very much in these two supporting roles, I thought, better check how he fares in a leading role. Well in both Rust and Bone and even more prominently, Bullhead, he acquits himself marvellously with bigger (quite literally) roles. On the surface, they might seem like two similar performances, but in reality they could not be more different.
Rust and Bone is to an extent a Marion Cotillard show, and she is certainly terrific in it, given an extremely heartbreaking and subsequently heartwarming arc as a whale trainer, crippled in the line of work, who slowly rebuilds her life together. She disappears for large stretches in the film, however, and the true lead and focus of the film is Schoenaerts' Alain van Versch, or Ali. His portrayal of Ali reminded me of great actors like Charles Bronson who could say a great deal with very little. Ali is a silent type, who spends most of his time doing physical stuff: working as a bouncer, boxing, getting into confrontations, having soulless love affairs. He realizes this stoic and mindless nature of the character beautifully, and makes his eventual transition into a livelier man truly resonate.
But if he was impressive there, he's even more incredible in Bullhead. His performance, which makes my extremely competitive lineup of 2011, can be best described as an extreme assertion of masculinity, but not in the way people usually mean when they state that phrase. Schoenaerts' Jacky is a man who having suffered a traumatic childhood accident, relies on injecting testosterone into his body to keep himself intact physically and mentally. Schoenaerts' decision to portray this as an almost subconscious, excessive degree of MAN-liness is incredible, as he merges this brilliantly with the listless, unpredictable and somewhat terrifying nature of his character's volatile yet infantile nature. The film is not flawless, it has a few slow patches, but is made entirely watchable and extremely compelling by the nature of the direction t Michael V. Roskam, and Schoenearts' performance which moves through the extreme points the film takes him with aplomb, and ends on an explosive note that's some of the greatest physical acting I've seen in ages.
I actually still haven't managed to catch up with The Lego Movie, but even without having seen that this trailer tickled my funny bone and interest mightily. Will Arnett's Batman voice is quite something, and the other casting choices (Michael Cera as Robin? Zach Galifankis as the Joker? Ralph Fiennes as Alfred?) seem pretty spot on. The visual aesthetic might take a bit of getting used to, but the jokes all hit their mark quite well, and it's risen substantially up my list of anticipated films. Doctor Strange
Well I think I have my choice for second favourite trailer of this year's Comic-Con, after Wonder Woman. Most of Benedict Cumberbatch's big-budget Hollywood ventures thus far have involved him playing overhyped villains in the likes of The Hobbit trilogy and Star Trek: Into Darkness, so it's nice to see him take on a lead role this time, as what interestingly enough seems to be less of his usual acrebic Sherlock routine, and more of an everyman thrust into extraordinary circumstances. He's rid himself of his usual cutting and distinctive British accent for the role so that alone should be interesting to watch. Besides Ben, the film looks great on a visual level, more of a mindbender than anything else it seems. Anything that has Chiwetel Ejiofor or Tilda Swinton in it at the very least interests me, as the two just ooze gravitas by being in a film, and the brief appearances of Benedict Wong and Mads Mikkelsen, respectively a solid and charismatic British character actor, and a terrific and extremely underused Danish film star, seems to be icing on the cake, so here's hoping that this film pans out to be every bit as exciting and bold as this trailer promises.
Also, I admit that ending joke about the WiFi password, I found funnier than I probably should have. Brie Larson is Captain Marvel
Interesting to discuss whether or not with her Oscar win, Brie Larson has properly broken out, I think this casting choice serves to strengthen the argument that indeed, she has. Well we haven't seen anything yet, but on paper this looks like perfect casting, and I hope she kills it. Vulture is the 'Spider-Man: Homecoming' villain
They haven't formally confirmed that Michael Keaton's the actor playing him, but that's my assumption. Anyway, I like the choice of villain, not a bad starting point for a new series and I hope they make a good leap from the solid benchmark that was Tom Holland's strong debut as Spidey in Captain America: Civil War. If they mend the Vulture well into the tone of the film, which I assume will be much in the vein of Holland's approach to the character, humorous and lighthearted with moments of weight and dramatic conviction, this could be a blast. 'Black Panther' Casting Revealed
I'm loving this cast so far. I guess I might be the only one who thinks that Michael B. Jordan/Ryan Coogler could become the next De Niro/Scorcese pairing, but doesn't it excite you that Adonis Creed is going to be a complex, fiendishly clever villain in the form of Erik Killmonger? And Lupita Nyong'o and Danai Gurira are going to play supporting roles as well. Without knowing anything really about how it's all going to play out...this all sounds pretty cool. And if they ever do a Black Panther/Guardians of the Galaxy crossover we can bring Jordan and whatever Stallone's character in the latter is going to be playing together, right?
Ah, it's that time of year again, where Comic-Con releases trailers that are set to bound us for imminent joy or disappointment. It's always fun to try and figure out where things will be headed though (though what do I know, this time last year I thought 'Captain America: Civil War' was going to a complete utter mess and that Jesse Eisenberg would be a contender for my Best Supporting Actor ballot 2015).
Snowden
Um, I don't know. I pretty much feel the same about this as I felt before: tentative interest, but I think I'll probably check the documentary out before I take a look at this because in all honesty, it looks like Oliver Stone is going down the whole extremely heavy-handed political route. Joseph Gordon-Levitt looks extremely mannered here but he could be good. Everything seems like it's going to be extremely overblown though, and I can't help but feel at this point that a director with a more subtler hand at generating tension and mystery, like Gavin Hood maybe, would be a better choice.
Blair Witch
I'm probably not going to see this. I wasn't a big fan of the original found footage hit and I certainly have not been piqued up any sort of interest level to see this, particularly based on this trailer. Sorry.
Wonder Woman
Gal Gadot and her portrayal of Wonder Woman in Batman v.s. Superman was easily one of the highlights, if a hastily handled one, of a deeply flawed film, and I must confess I thus enjoyed this trailer a great deal. It looks like they're going to embrace the grandeur of the Amazonian princess to its fullest, as can be seen in the opening few scenes of the trailer, and that's fine with me. The action sequences look every bit as effective as I'd expected them to be, and it looks like Gadot will be perfectly fine at carrying both the physical and dramatic weight of the film. Add in some Chris Pine as an old-fashioned fighter pilot sort and the WWII backdrop, and some big names popping up here and there, and a throwback feel reminiscent of say a better version of The First Avenger. Alongside Black Panther, this is another breakout cinematic universe side-character (though Wonder Woman is arguably the most important Justice League member) whose story I can't wait to see.
Justice League
I feel like this trailer almost gives up too much away, already. I was expecting a lot less footage and exposure of the new D.C. universe characters, but at the very least this was an intriguing trailer. I like that Batffleck is being placed front and centre, his little journey with Gadot's Wonder Woman should be fun to watch. I'll get it out of the way that I feel like the whole way in which the D.C. cinematic universe hasn't been done in the most streamlined manner, it feels like these characters are being thrust into the limelight to soon, most of them haven't even had their proper introductions yet let alone a film, and the way they were shoehorned into BvS means very little to me. Jason Mamoa, Ezra Miller and Ray Fisher look like good fits for their respective superheroes thus far though, so I'm willing to give this a shot. Suffice to say my expectations have heightened as opposed to lowered.
Suicide Squad
Again, another trailer which gave too much away, but in this case I forgive it since its coming to the silver screen very soon anyway. Suicide Squad is a film I've gradually grown a substantial amount of interest in over the past few months. I don't have extremely high expectations, I'm somewhat dubious about the casting of Will Smith as a cold villain (and especially as what seems to be effectively the lead of the film), the re-shoots have raised suspicions, and as always with these big ensemble pieces things could always go wrong. I'm still quite excited though. I really hope Margot Robbie and Jared Leto nail their iconic parts, and in the case that the latter that even if he doesn't surpass Ledger (which is of course a near impossible feat) he'll devise a characterization worthy of praise on his own, and the action sequences look wonderfully done. I also liked the added screentime given to Viola Davis' Amanda Waller and Jai Courtney's Boomerang. Here's my bet that they'll be the highlights.
Kong: Skull Island
I hate to pre-judge a film, but this one is just giving off the wrong sort of vibes for me. Firstly, why cast great character actors like Samuel L. Jackson and John Goodman if you're probably just going to underuse them and kill them off, now maybe that won't happen but look within the same cinematic universe what they did to Bryan Cranston in Godzilla, they basically rid the second half of the film of any major dramatic impact because they removed the best thing about it. Also, do we really need another Kong film so soon, King Kong from 2005 was pretty solid, and this time round instead of the luminous old-style Hollywood take we seem to have a pretty generic 'band of adventurers find big creature' deal here. In fact it looks kind of like this year's Tarzan, though that had a funny Samuel L. Jackson, this one seems to have him phoning him in. Anyway I digress, I'm more cynical about projects like this than most and there were some decent moments in the trailer, like the final reveal. It's just that nothing really lingered on in my mind afterwards.
P.S. I hope Brie Larson doesn't fall into the Best Actress jinx trap. And I hope Tom Hiddleston soon gets a role he can actually act in (yes, The Night Manager has proved that he CAN act).
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword
I'm hoping that The Man From U.N.C.L.E. proves to be more than just a positive blip on a downwards trajectory for Ritichie...but this trailer did very little for me. Where I thought Ritchie's style was very much in tune with the adventures of Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin in the snzzy 1960's, it seems just as out of place with the Arthurian legends as they did with Sherlock Holmes and the nullified charm of RDJ. The whole jokey vibe could possible work, I'll have to see more, and Charlie Hunnam actually seems like a charismatic enough leading presence, but the casting of 2010's Jude Law as a villain, and some fairly unremarkable imagery thus far, leads me to feel like this might be another blockbuster I might not be as keen to check out.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
I pretty much feel exactly the same about this film as before and after I viewed this trailer. They're doing the right thing in not showing TOO much yet, but rather just snippets here and there of setpieces rather than giving away huge chunks of the plot. It'll be an interesting watch no matter what, it'll be intriguing to see what Warner Bro's will do outside the general confines of Hogwarts and the solid base of the original Harry Potter series, though they do seem to be playing into the nostalgia for those books and films with the use of Hedwig's theme. They seem to be using the U.S.A. setting for all it's worth though which I like, there's a streak of nice humour to the trailer I rather liked, Eddie Redmayne seems like he's going to be utilizing his rarely used charm here, and the special effects look great. Consider me as interested as I was before.
Alas, I can't help but think that while I like the casting of Colin Farrell, it's a shame they didn't make him Irish. We need more Irish wizards!
Casting untrained, untested debutants in substantial film roles is a tricky movie proposition. For every Harold Russell and Haing S. Ngor, there's many examples of risky casting choices of this sort that ended up as failures. Thus, the choice to use amateurs as the co-stars to Tom Hanks' Captain Philips was definitely a big risk taken by director Paul Greengrass, and I must say though I have certain issues with the film's stylistic choices, in terms of casting he could not have done a better job. All four actors playing the pirates do a great job, and Barkhad Abdirahman, Faysal Ahmed, and Mahat M. Ali are certainly very praiseworthy for their combined work on this film.
Of them however, one stands out, the one who plays the leader of the pirates Muse, Mr Barkhad Abdi. From the very moment he steps onto the screen, silently ruminating over his mission to hijack Maersk Alabama, and the first time he comes face to face with Hanks' Captain Philips, declaring that he's the captain now, you better believe it. It's one of those great naturalistic performances that just ages so beautifully every time you watch the film. You never feel like Abdi's acting, the desperation and rage of the man against his unfortunate predicament in life and his complete conviction that he'll be able to find a way out, is truly haunting, and succesfully humanizes a character that would so often in a Hollywood production be simply a one-note villain. The $65,000 salary for Abdi was most definitely a huge bargain for production, for he gives a fantastic, movie star-calibre performance that probably should've won the Oscar that year.
It's a bit of a shame then Abdi's career seems to have come to a bit of a standstill in the subsequent few years. I can see why there may not have necessarily been many roles about suited to his unique screen presence. It may be a bit of a Sharlto Copely deal going on with him in that he's such an unconventional sort of performer, although in Copely's case that resulted in a string of deeply underwhelming slices of HAM performances, for Abdi he's been a bit quiet on the film spectrum. Which is why I was so very pleased to see him in Eye in the Sky. His character there, Jama Farah, could not be more different to Muse in terms of the role he plays in the film's central conflict. Where Muse was an adversary, played with such ferocious intensity and menace undercut with pathos, Farah is an undercover Kenyan government operative stationed to spy on terrorist activities on behalf of the British military intelligence operations. In a film which mostly involves dynamic discussions and debates in conference rooms and mission control centres, Abdi is probably the most dynamic, literally dynamic, presence in that his character is the most active as a field agent, bouncing from one place to another, doing all he can to help prevent a disastrous tragedy occuring. He completely pulls you into the intensity of his situation, and I absolutely loved every moment he was onscreen. I must confess, too, that while I'm sure it was far from the intention of the scene, a chase sequence involving him leaping over fences from potential captors made me think, could he have potential as an action hero in the future? I know he's set for a supporting role in the Blade Runner sequel (I hope he gets a plum part), but imagine a film with him leading the fort as the hero. Now that would be something. I nominate: a buddy comedy with him and Christoph Waltz as the lead duo of hitmen with a change in conscience.
I should note that I like the Superman score well enough, but not enough to put it in a top 10 list. There's also a couple of John Williams scored films I haven't seen/don't remember the scores well enough so do comment if I've missed a favourite out.
Hon. Mention: Empire of the Sun and The Phantom Menace
Both are rather underrated examples of John Williams' ability to craft movie musical magic. The former because despite being a decent success both critically and commercially at the time, it's somewhat underrated/forgotten nowadays. The latter because as we all know, most attributes of The Phantom Menace are so irredeemable that its few merits become lost among them. Regardless, both films feature solid examples of John Williams' style, in particular the 'Cadillac of the Skies' scene in Empire of the Sun and the 'Duel of the Fates' in The Phantom Menace.
Hon. Mention: Return of the Jedi
Another overlooked Star Wars film, this one more unfairly so since I do think it contains some of the best moments of the trilogy, and Ewoks are awesome. Anyway it's solid work by Williams as usual, and one of the few good things about the revised editions of the trilogy besides George Lucas' tinkering and trolling is the changing of the ending song to Return of the Jedi (although it does still sting a bit to see Sebastian Shaw replaced.
(I've also always wondered what exactly was going on in Alec Guinness' mind when they filmed these sorts of scenes. He probably cared very little for the whole concept of Force ghosts)
10. Saving Private Ryan
Not one of my personal favourites of Speilberg, but I can't deny that it has quite an amazing, rousing theme tune., even if the way it's utilized in the film isn't exactly the best. It's 'Murica at its most overt, certainly, but given Speilberg's style of direction here, I'd say it's well-warranted.
(Note: a re-watch of Catch Me If You Can, Empire of the Sun or The Patriot could put it above SPR)
9. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Alternating between tense, brooding posturing and some rather serene-sounding playfulness, this soundtrack perfectly encompasses the enjoyment derived from Close Encounters of the Third Kind, a science-fiction sweetie film masquerading as something more intense.
8. The Harry Potter series
One signature theme, and he only really did the soundtrack for the first three films, but it's still an instantly identifiable, iconice piece of music that perfectly fits the magical world of wizardry.
7. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial
The point in the list where I start to really love my choices, and hate the act of ranking. The main theme is extremely whimsical and endearing, and works extremely well in captivating the audience in very specific moments. The best use of the score though, is of course in that heartwarming and moving ending. I dare you to watch to that scene and not have tears well in your eyes when that swelling music comes on.
6. Star Wars
I'll get onto the best of the series in a bit, but with mainly one defining score alone, Williams created an entire legacy. So what if it's a bit derivative of the Kings Row score? The only thing that does is give me an excuse to push it down the list a bit.
5. Jaws
Few other film scores have as much ability to strike the fear tenor in one's heart than Williams' in a minimalist, but extremely effective, alternating pattern of notes that exudes the threat of the shark without the shark ever being scene. Speilberg's masterful direction is often credited with the brilliance of the horror and suspense generated by implication, but equally crucial is Williams' iconic work in his unique take on the horror theme, which cemented Williams/Speilberg as a great partnership.
4. The Empire Strikes Back
Where Star Wars was iconic, The Empire Strikes Back takes it up several notches and crafts a cascade of masterpieces in its various setpieces. Particularly great are the expanded 'Imperial March' and the ones which resonate through Han Solo's piloting of the Millennium Falcon, and the final duel.
3. The Indiana Jones series
When you think adventure, you think ol' Indy and Harrison Ford at his very best. When you think adventure music, it's easily this great theme which comes to mind, as every time it comes onscreen, regardless of the quality of the action/adventure scene, you're right in the mood to see what's next.
2. Schindler's List
I'm going to insert here this fantastic montage of a great film (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTeLwCV9WzpnOPAb0NgKesA), set to John Williams' extremely moving and haunting score which is used to brilliant effect. It fits the tone of the film perfectly with its bleak and unsparingly tragic tone to evoke the horrors of the Holocaust, but with a melodious and beautiful touch which brings with it some modicum of hope.
1. Jurassic Park
The special effects of Jurassic Park are great. But even if they were downright terrible, the film would probably still work because of John Williams' work as a composer. His music singlehandedly instills so much wonder and glee in the viewer, that quite frankly I could just close my eyes and wallow in the splendour of it, and be every bit as excited as Dr Alan Grant.
Onto the list of 'great Australian actresses you probably didn't know were Australian' after the likes of Judy Davis, Naomi Watts and Nicole Kidman, with a certain degree of previsioning I find I can quite comfortably add near-breakthrough star Elizabeth Debicki to the list. Though her onscreen credits have been limited in both quantity and arguably, substance of the roles themselves, within these margins she's crafted herself into quite the remarkable screen presence. Like Watts, and other renowned Australian actors like Russell Crowe and Hugh Jackman, one of Debicki's greatest assets is her unique brand of old-school movie star presence. There's of course the appearance which helps as her tall physique and classical good looks help make her quite the standout figure onscreen, but also, like Watts showed in 'Mulholland Drive' and 'King Kong', and all too rarely gets to show in other work, an intelligent, stylish quality to her old school screen presence that's refined to a most naturalistic degree.
A great example of this is in the recent adaptation of 'The Great Gatsby' by Baz Luhrmann. The character of Jordan Baker is already limited by the nature of the source material, and even more so by the film cutting away many of her scenes, but Debicki finds a way round this by making an incredible impact with not necessarily the most substantial material. She delivers her lines with such vibrancy and allure fitting for the vibe and time of the film, and her every physical movement makes her both stand out as an enigmatic and energetic presence, and also fit perfectly into the setting of the film. It's marvellous small work by a big talent.
This excellent debut in Hollywood roles soon landed Debicki in the spotlight, and she hasn't disappointed since. Heck, in 'Macbeth' where she has a tiny role as Lady Macduff she still manages to be the highlight of one of its best scenes. As the wonderfully named villain, Victoria Vinciguerra in 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E', she displays a similar sort of exotic charm in her portrayal of a high society girl, and also some extremely compelling and entertaining menace in portraying the more brutal, incisive side of the Nazi sympathizer. I thoroughly loved every moment of her playful and intriguing Bond villainess of sorts, as I was impressed by her portrayal of effectively a Bond villain's moll in 'The Night Manager'.
As Jed Marshall, Debicki once again brings flair and class to the style the the pampered girlfriend of arms dealer Richard Roper (Hugh Laurie). She could've been easily by overshadowed by the rest of the fantastic class, including Laurie, Tom Hiddleston, Tom Hollander and Olivia Colman, but manages to stand out effortlessly by her moving portrayal of a young woman plagued by secret demons, which gradually take their toll on her over the series, and makes the redemptive arc of her character, aided by some marvelous chemistry with Hiddelston, resonate very well. I do hope she continues getting good roles, as she stands, along with Barkhad Abdi (who I'll be covering soon), as two of my new favourite breakthrough and unique screen performers.
Hon. Mentions: Napoleon Dynamite, 17 Again, 10 Things I Hate About You, Easy A, Van Wilder, The Girl Next Door, Mean Girls, Ghost World, The Inbetweeners Movie. They're all fun films to watch, but I do have considerable reservations with most of them.
I should also note there's a great deal of them from the 70's and 80's I haven't seen like the National Lampoon series and Porky's, and Better Off Dead.
Hon. Mention #1: Pretty in Pink (3.5/5)
A problematic film on several levels, one being our male lead romantic interest Bland, I mean Blane McDonough, played by the sweet but rather bland Andrew McCarthy, is one of the more thinly written John Hughes protagonists. He's meant to be a charming and endearing pretty rich boy who gradually reveals hidden depths, but the way he's portrayed and written lets this down completely. Brushing that out of the way, the rest of the film is very strong Hughes stuff. Molly Ringwald gives a pretty moving and sympathetic portrayal of Andie, a shy girl who feels out of place in her school populated with rich preppy sorts like Blane and his best friend Steff (a deliciously malicious James Spader). The film is quite good at showing the harsher sides of her home life with her depressed alcoholic burnout dad (Harry Dean Stanton, king of small roles with big impact), alongside the more tender central romance which does have a certain sweetness to it despite the lacking ending. Then there's the side comedic relief characters who are the most fun, from Spader's snark to Annie Potts' kooky boss, and best of show Jon Cryer as Andie's best friend Duckie, whose behavious as written verges closely towards stalker territory but with his charming and kooky performance manages to turn him into a rather endearing character (though it'd be interesting to see how the original choice Robert Downey Jr. would've played the role). A problematic film, but one I certainly enjoy.
10. American Pie (3.5/5)
Another film I probably like more than I should. I'll admit I haven't watched any of the sequels besides American Renunion (which was okay but very unremarkable), owing to their less than stellar reputation, but this first surprise box-office hit which started it all is a good film, albeit with some problems. Problems in that try as they might, a few of the protagonists just aren't that interesting to follow, most notably the ostensible 'leads' of Jim and Kevin, who are intended to be out everyman avatars into this high school world, but end up being a bit bland, but they are likable enough I guess. There's also perhaps an all too frequent tendency to go for the cheap defecation joke when a subtler brand of humour might've been more effective. That being said there are moments in it which are extremely hilarious, like Jim's dad and his lovable if slightly uncomfortable 'life lessons' with his son, Finch's 'seduction' of Stifler's mum, and of course Stifler himself, which gave Sean William Scott the breakout role he was born to play.
9. Dazed and Confused (4/5)
Richard Linklater is a director who's certainly grown on me over the years, and a re-watch of this could bump it up the list. A day in the life picture of the last day of school for some high school students, this may not quite be as good as one of his Before Sunrise/Sunset films, but it's a compelling presentation of his extremely personable, organic style of dialogue and direction. It all feels very down-to-earth and accessible, and its plot-less nature means you can sit down and enjoy it without thinking too much, like most of its characters. I must admit I need a refresh of it to pick out specific moments, but there's of course one of the earliest instances of Matthew McConaughey's unique screen presence as an older fella who still can't get his mind off high school lifestyle.
8. Clueless (4/5)
Another one I watched a while ago, and I'm quite impressed at how much of a cultural impact it still has nowadays, quoted frequently in many a meme. Alicia Silverstone reached the brief peak of her career with Cher Horowitz, kind if a bit shallow Beverly Hills queen of high school, who spends most of her time hanging out with her equally rich and hip friend Dionne and making other people as rich and hip of them, most notably Brittany Murphy's Tai Frasier. These characters could've easily come across as stuck up and stuffy but in the assured hands out some naturally charismatic young actors and witty script and direction by Amy Heckerling, they're fairly endearing. The film breezes along as ever bit the modern Jane Austen it's aspiring to be, and its softly satirical take is amusing and good-natured.
7. Role Models (4/5)
Not your standard teen comedy as it's not set in high school or university, but rather on a mentoring program for troubled youths called Sturdy Wings, where two energy drink salesman (Sean William Scott and Paul Rudd) have to do 150 hours of community service in order to avoid jailtime. Rudd's Danny is paired up with Augie, a Christopher Mintz-Plasse/McLovin type played by Christopher Mitz-Plasse/McLovin who loves above all live-action RPG games, and Scott's Wheeler with a foul-mouthed, breasts-loving young kid named Ronnie (Bobb'e J. Thompson). I'm kind of stretching the definition of 'teen' comedy here but it's fitting enough, considering the juvenile antics and the nature of the film's humour, as well as Scott doing his usual man-child routine. The film is immensely enjoyable though, has a great deal of heart in the gradual progression between the mentors and their protegees, and has excellent supporting appearances by comedic stalwarts Jane Lynch, Joe Lo Truglio and pre-Hangover Ken Jeong.
6. Election (4.5/5)
I'm not Reese Witherspoon fan, nor am I particularly crazy about Alexander Payne in general, but I have to admit their collaboration on his high school political satire, about an insufferable perennial overachieving student Tracy Flick (Witherspoon) who runs for student council president, and the 'righteous' teacher Mr McAllister (Matthew Broderick) who's going to do anything in his power to stop her. Both leads have an extremely good time playing two outwardly cheery, inwardly rather nasty individuals to the tee. The film's direction isn't particularly special, but the script is constantly inventive and rather hilarious at points, it takes on the typical genre tropes of jock and goth outsider and plays with them hilariously, and its ending is particularly inspired.
5. Everbody Wants Some!! (4.5/5)
The most recent one of these films on here I've watched. Linklater’s wonderful depiction of an 80’s college baseball team is another one of his 'plot-less' endeavours, and I must say I preferred it to its spiritual predecessor Dazed and Confused because it's even more enjoyable and fresh, in my opinion. The whole cast is solid, with Glen Campbell’s pretentious yet endearing Finnegan, Temple Baker’s perennially spaced out and good-natured Plummer, and Zoey Deutch’s adorably energetic Beverly being particular highlights. More importantly, despite being effectively a few days in the lives of a few rather chilled jocks, its pacing never feels off throughout and each little scattershot segment is very enjoyable.
4. Say Anything (4.5/5)
Known best for that iconic shot of John Cusack raising a boombox to the skies, the film is so much more than that one inspired scene. Like Alexander Payne, I'm no fan of Cameron Crowe in general (Almost Famous is one of those films I never got the big deal about), but I kind of love this early picture of his. I'll admit the whole 'love interest's dad is a fraudster' subplot isn't wholly necessary but I found it compelling enough, and that's just one part of the film. Lloyd (Cusack) is a somewhat nervy but very pleasant chap who's just graduated from university and wants to be a kickboxer. Diane (Ione Skye) is a valedictorian and perfect daughter, who is supposedly out of slacker Lloyd's league entirely and yet gradually falls for him. The film moves along with a very patient pace in bringing its two lovebirds together, there's no ridiculous contrivances which break them up or bring them together. Some quirky sidecharacters that seem to be a must for 1980's teen movies aside, few films of this sort have achieved both the pure enjoyment value of light humour and heartfelt love that this film achieves, and Cusack has never been better than he is here.
3. Superbad (4.5/5)
They've both taken on decidedly different career paths since, so it's always quite funny to look back at nearly a decade ago when Jonah Hill and Michael Cera were the co-leads of a surprise hit teen movie, Superbad, as the younger versions of the screenwriters of the film, Seth Rogen (who co-stars as one of two rather uncouth cops with Bill Hader) and Evan Goldberg. The plot is simple and nothing extraordinary: Seth and Evan are about the graduate from high school, and want to have sex before university, with two girls they've liked for a long time, so they're out to get booze for a party with the help of McLovin (Christopher Mintz-Plasse). It's frankly and tried and tested formula so the fact the film at the very least works as a high school comedy is to be expected. It goes beyond that though with the unique combination of Hill and Cera, whose comedic approaches are respectively loud and somewhat obnoxious, yet still somewhat lovable, and awkward sweetness played to the extreme, work perfectly in tandem with one another to make just shooting the breeze between the two a lot of fun to watch. They craft a genuinely heartfelt friendship, and two characters who at first might seem mere ciphers but end up being likable, and in Hill's case, despite his initial ill-intentions, rather sympathetic. Add in the exploits of McLovin and the police officers, an early breakout role for Emma Stone who makes the most out of a limited role, and Cera singing to a bunch of cokeheads as 'Jimmy's brother', and you have a not flawless but extremely funny film.
2. The Breakfast Club (4.5/5)
There are a few issues with this film. It's a tad bit unrealistic that five high school kids from such different cliques would befriend each other so quickly. There are a few dated, very 80's moments. And one could easily accuse its ending of being too neat and tidy for everyone's liking. But on the whole its strengths easily mask its flaws, to make for a one-setting film that instead of plying on tension upon tension scenarios, starts off with tension and gradually eases it off throughout the film, to build up a connection between five individuals in Saturday afternoon detention: anti-authoritarian figure John Bender (Judd Nelson), rich and pampered Claire Standish (Molly Ringwald), jock Andrew Clarke (Emilio Estevez), outcast Allison Reynolds (Ally Sheedy) and bookworm Brian Johnson (Anthony Michael Hall). All five main actors do an extremely good job of selling the constantly evolving dynamic between these students, making both the comedic moments (which are very funny) and dramatic moments (which in Nelson and Hall's case in particular, are extremely well done), fell absolutely earnt. It's a sensitively written film by that master of teen comedy John Hughes, and were it not for another 80's effort of his I'd quite comfortably give this film top spot.
1. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (5/5)
Ah this film. It used to be one of my all-time favourite films, but I've since seen more films and become aware of some of the flaws of the film. That it's still a 5/5 film for me, and one of my favourites of the 80's, is testament to its lasting impact. Matthew Broderick might be a divisive actor in many circles, but he's completely in element here as 'righteous dude' Ferris Bueller who everyone besides Dean Rooney (a hilarious Jeffrey Jones), and his sister Jeannie (Jennifer Grey), loves. And by love, I mean everyone loves him to a ridiculous extent. Broderick more than earns this despite some of his character's questionable actions by being so endearing and lovable in his interactions with others despite having ulterior motives in some regards, pitch-perfect in his fourth-wall breaking scenes to the audience, and overall just being the charming and (depends on how you view him) kind-hearted fellow I found myself liking very much. The film delivers entirely on its title, as Ferris and his best friend Cameron (Alan Ruck who gives an iconic, funny and very moving performance) and girlfriend Sloane (Mia Sara) skive school to go do things most people who skive school probably never do. It really is one of the most enjoyable films to watch, so I'll enclose some clips of not only the trio's day out but a few other gems as well, to show why I love it so.
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