 I first watched this film on BBC2, on a random Sunday night in the 90s. Man, those were the days.
Earlier in the day I was flicking through Taschen’s ‘Movies of the 90s’ (I’ve got their books for every decade from the 1950s onwards), and there’s definitely a case to be made for the 90s being the best decade for cinema, in terms of the variety and quality of films that were made, globally, during that time. One of the main reasons for this was a boom in ‘Indie’ filmmaking. The technology and distribution was more affordable, and accessible than ever before, although still out of reach for the masses. Ironically, filmmaking is a million times more accessible today than it was back then, and yet films are probably worse than they’ve ever been (a discussion for another time!). When it came to American cinema, there were movies that defied the usual genre labels; films that focused on disparate groups of people, which were dialogue/conversation heavy, attempting to recreate how ‘normal’ people talked, instead of only saying things that moved the plot forward. The Real Blonde is a film that treads the line of that type of movie, whilst still having enough of a plot to satisfy mainstream tastes. I really liked it back in the 90s, and seeing it again for the first time in decades, I still like it! The 90’s were full of movies that didn’t fit neatly into genre boxes, and this film is one of them, which is probably why it never really found its audience. It’s not a romcom, or a slice of life; it’s not even quirky enough to be called ‘quirky’. It’s just a film about a bunch of characters making their way in life and trying to survive show-business. A film uniquely from the 90’s and definitely the type of film they simply don’t make anymore. Also, how the hell did Max Caulfield not become a major star? He’s got that smarmy charm, as well as the good looks, to have been a brilliant villain! The cast is full of great actors, and all of them are great in this film. If you fancy watching a quintessentially 90s movie about a rag tag bunch of adults trying to be adults, then look no further! Ignore the low rating on IMDB; this film’s good!
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 Man, this film really hits the spot.
I watched it for only the second time, and it left me with the same vicarious feelings as it did the first time I watched it. The artwork, the music, the story; everything about it filled me with the feeling that I was living the life I yearned for when I was a younger man (and still yearn for?): Being a successful twenty-something, living in New York, in love, and just winning in life. Especially as I’m currently the exact opposite of all those things! I think I’ll need to revisit it very soon, and you should too! Great film.  I remember when this film first came out and how it was completely savaged by audiences and critics alike; I think it was Jim Carrey’s first flop?
Anyway, I didn’t bother watching it. Since then, however, it has gained a bit of a cult following, so I decided to watch it for the first time ever… Aaaaand, it was crap. Fundamentally, it just wasn’t that funny. The situations, the gags, the characters; they were at best, mildly amusing, but nothing more. Also, the protagonist wasn’t very likeable either. The director’s commentary featuring Ben Stiller (the director), Judd Apatow (the producer) and Jim Carrey (the star), was actually much more entertaining than the actual film! So if you’re gonna watch this, be sure to get it on blu ray! But seriously, it’s not worth watching.  I just got back from watching the latest Mission Impossible, so my thoughts are fresh.
Ugh. What a disappointment. The series peaked with number 5 (Rogue Nation), and they’ve been getting progressively worse since then, culminating in what is being touted as the last Mission Impossible movie. Disclaimer: I am a big fan of Tom Cruise. The guy is a living legend, and I really wanted to like this movie, but it was just bad on a very basic level, despite how impressive Tom Cruise’s stunts were (and they were very impressive!). The entire movie is a series of set-pieces, where the stakes are so high, that failure results in the end of the world! There’s absolutely no levity in this film, whatsoever, it’s just purely fatalistic! Scene after scene of ‘life or death’ situations gets pretty tiresome; proof that a movie made up entirely of ‘third act climaxes’ is dull as dishwater. I mean, there’s literally no arc or development for any of the characters, and each character, apart from the protagonist and his sidekick ‘Benjy’, is an inferior version of characters from the previous movies. They are completely devoid of any traits or personality. When you don’t care about the characters, then you don’t care about the story. Then there’s the editing. They should have called this film ‘Cut To: Flashback – The Movie’ I swear, they must have set a record for the number of callbacks and flashbacks in a single movie! It was so annoying! A character can’t speak without the film inserting a flashback of whatever they’re referring to, as if this film is made for an audience of amnesiacs who watch movies while they’re doom-scrolling! The film begins and ends with characters delivering long monologues to the audience, telling us about how great Ethan Hunt (and thus, Tom Cruise) is, and how the world would be better if we were as self-less as him, etc etc. Because, the world is so divided right now. Er, no it’s not! The entire planet can agree on one thing: politicians and the wealthy elite are the problem. Speaking of villains, the mysterious A.I. ‘Entity’ and its lackey ‘Gabriel’ were SO fcuking sh!t! The equivalent would be a boomer writing a story about how Tik Tok is going to end the world! The fact that they tarnished the other films in the franchise, to somehow coalesce the story into some grand arc, like it was Avengers Endgame or something, was desperate and unnecessary. The whole thing was just a shame. The biggest shame being that the filmmakers, McQuarrie and Cruise, are so far removed from objectivity, that they’re convinced that this film, as well as the last one, are actually good! Sigh. With Hollywood churning out expensive crap, after expensive crap, and A.I. generating life like video in minutes, so audiences can create their own custom-made slop, maybe cinema really is dead. Ah well, at least we still have each other.  With Tom Cruise in publicity overdrive at the moment, I seem to have a strange, completely unrelated urge to watch his movies!
I’d never seen ‘Days of Thunder’, because frankly, it looked sh!t. I mean who, apart from Americans, even watched Nascar in the early 90s? So anyway, I wasn’t missing anything. The film ain’t great. Throughout most of the film, there’s no character development, and no stakes, other than the Team owner potentially losing money. Who cares? Then, in the final third, they introduce some character development and some stakes, but it’s too little too late, and basically just echoes Top Gun, a vastly superior film in the same mould. Not much more to say really.  With all the publicity and promotion regarding the latest Mission Impossible movie (‘The Final Reckoning’), I figured I’d revisit number four in the franchise, as I’d only seen it once, when it came out.
Back then, I thought it was okay, but nothing special. It’s actually a lot better than I remembered! It’s a bit more light-hearted and tongue in cheek; the whole climbing, running, and falling off the tallest building in the world, is as impressive as ever, and with the banter from the other characters, it’s also quite humorous; a quality lacking in subsequent films. Yeah, it’s gone up in my estimation, I must admit. Good film!  Love and Friendship. That is all.
That’s what the joy of life boils down to, and this mesmerising film shows us that in the most simple, yet affecting story. This was my first time watching ‘Il Postino’, and I have to admit, had I seen it as a younger man, it’s poignancy may have been lost on me. It’s only when things are scarce, do we learn to appreciate them, and seeing the humble protagonist succeed in his quest for love brought me a genuine, vicarious, pleasure. The pursuit of love, not lust, nor money, is considered by all artists to be the most worthy of all human endeavours, and any story that reinforces this belief, resonates. I felt the film would have been better served with a triumphant, fairy tale ending, leaving the audience on a high, but life doesn’t always work that way, and so the story continues past that point… Anyway, it’s worth mentioning that the star of the film, Massimo Troisi, literally died making this film, and his performance is subtle, yet brilliant. After watching it, I felt an urgent need to put the pursuit of love at the top of my agenda (I’m already blessed with the greatest of friends), but living in London, a literal playground for the superficial, I fear the only thing left for me to try, is to leave this place... That, or become rich.  I remember when this movie came out, back in ‘99, with the music video for ‘All Star’ (by Smash Mouth) tearing up the charts and featuring plenty of clips from the movie. I miss those days, back when film’s would have a tie-in with songs, and the only glimpses you’d get to see from the film were in trailers and music videos…
1999 was a vintage year in the history of cinema; there were so many amazing films to see, that I didn’t bother with Mystery Men, despite being an avid reader of comic books. To be honest, it just looked to cheesy, and reminded me of the type of comic book movies I’d rather forget, i.e. those by Joel Schumacher! Anyway, fast-forward 26 years, and I FINALLY watched it, and it was GOOD! It’s one of those movies that was waaaaay ahead of it’s time, and with the over-saturation of Super Hero movies in cinema, this comedy about that genre, and a bunch of losers masquerading as super-heroes, is more prescient and funnier than it would have been when it was released. The visuals and effects still hold up, as do the jokes! The characters are genuinely funny and endearing; juggling the real world ridiculousness of what they do, with their belief that they’re actual heroes, is jokes! Claire Forlani and Janeane Garofalo pretty much steal the show; one for her beauty, and the other for her comedy. All in all, it’s a pretty sweet film; not the funniest you’ll ever see, or the most action packed, but it is good fun, so definitely seek it out, especially if you have a fondness for the genre, but are sick of all the crap Marvel are pumping out these days.  I FINALLY got around to watching Suzume!
I’m a big fan of Makoto Shinkai (who isn’t?), but he’ll probably forever live under the shadow of ‘Your Name’, and this film, although good, isn’t going to change that. I liked the story, and the characters. It goes without saying that the artwork was amazing, and getting a kind of whistle-stop tour of different Japanese towns and cities, as the characters race to save lives, was a lot of fun. The film very much felt like an anime version of a Hollywood action movie, driven more by plot points and set-pieces, than by character, and because of that plot-driven narrative, it seemed to lack character progression. I wanted more ‘heart’ and ‘emotion’; quieter, more thoughtful moments, a bit of stillness and introspection regarding the girl’s relationship with her mother and her aunt. You can clearly see how the filmmaker’s scope has grown, and I applaud the ambition. Making a heart-warming, emotional, blockbuster action film, especially with hand drawn animation, is a monumental effort! It’s a good film, and definitely worth watching, but temper your expectations.  I love a good Western.
Stories about (often) lone men riding into town, defeating the bad guys, and then riding out once justice has been done, are hard to resist. There’s something primal about them; satisfying our desire to believe that heroes exist. Heroes that will defend the helpless, especially when the law seems to work in tandem with the bad guys. It’s an American myth, that is supposed to propagate the ideals that America was supposedly built on. Of course, we now know better, and ‘revisionist’ Westerns seek to redress the propaganda by showing us that the so called ‘good guys’ are no different than the ‘bad guys’. I guess High Plains Drifter falls into this revisionist category, as the truth about the ‘innocent townspeople is slowly revealed. Although the film had all the right ingredients, with a cold-hearted, sharp shooting, anti-hero as the protagonist, a story about injustice and revenge, and a brilliant Clint Eastwood pretty much playing reprising ‘the man with no name’, I just didn’t enjoy it that much. The protagonist is hard to like, and the story moved pretty slowly. There wasn’t really anyone in the story to latch on to, or care about. If you don’t care about anyone in the story, then you find yourself asking why the hell you’re watching it? The music wasn’t anything special either, and a good Western needs an iconic soundtrack! There’s a novel twist at the end, but it didn’t redeem the viewing experience for me. |
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