OWF Film Diary 24th March - 13th April

Another bumper edition- I hereby pledge never to write several 2000 word reviews a week while neglecting this beautiful little column- with three weeks worth of viewing listed below. An added element to the Film Diary this time around is the sub-challenge A Disney A Day, instigated at the behest of my girlfriend, who discovered that between us we now own every Disney home release- except the somewhat controversial Song of the South (which, despite featuring one of Disney's most released soundtrack songs, is yet to see a DVD release)- and has decided that it would be a missed opportunity not to watch all of them as quickly as possible. Seems my spirit may have rubbed off there a little... The count so far: 101 Films Anyway, into three figures now, and catching up to the 1 film a day rate (though that's slow for me). Read on, lovely Diary fans (is the multiple too optimistic?), read on... Film #76 Arrivederci Millwall Director: Charles McDougall Year: 1990 The supposed original hooligan film- though the vastly superior The Firm with Gary Oldman pre-dates it by two years- Arrivederci is a short made-for-TV film that occasionally feels like a morality tale about the dangers of becoming involved in fervent fandom, suggesting that scarves and patriotism are the gateway drugs to shooting foreign fans and trashing their home lands. There is definitely a social message in there somewhere, but the acting is pretty diabolical, and it does nothing more than reinforcing dangerous stereotypes, through a massive, almost impenetrable fog of film grain (it's just been released on DVD, and it doesn't seem to have been restored much at all). If you want the best early hooligan film, go with The Firm, it's superiority is like watching Brazil. Score: 1.5/5 Film #77 Addams Family Values Director: Barry Sonnenfeld Year: 1993 Inferior to the original, Values nevertheless takes full advantage of the strengths of the original, once again promoting Christopher Lloyd's brilliantly lucid Uncle Fester and the youthful ghoulish twosome of Wednesday and Pugsley to the narrative focal points of the two convergent storylines. And the introduction of Joan Cusack as serial husband killer who sets her sights on Fester's fortunes is a good move- but there's a little bit too much going on, and the novelty of the first film has worn a little thin by now. Score: 3/5 Films #79 Gone in Sixty Seconds Director: Dominic Sena Year: 2000 Dominic Sena is arguably one of the best examples of those special One Hit Wonder directors I'm always going on about in private conversations- for some reason I deem it impressive that someone can continue to make movies despite hitting their peek just once, making a film that laughs in the face of the generally abysmal quality of the rest of their body of work. Sadly, that film was not Gone in Sixty Seconds- it was Kalifornia, which I've already watched. Gone In Sixty Seconds certainly isn't Sena's worst- that accolade goes instead to Season of the Witch- but it does feature an improbably performance by Vinnie Jones that almost makes you want to pluck your eyes out when the "twist" to his tale is ushered on screen. Other than that though it's reasonably good fun, and there are some pretty good car chases: I just wish Steve McQueen had been in it, at the head of a Rat Pack-heavy cast like Ocean's Eleven, and it was made in 1967. Then it would have been a film. Score: 2.5/5 Film #80 Limitless Director: Neil Burger Year: 2011 You have to admire the grits of a film that says that becoming Bradley Cooper is the natural result of taking a pill that promises infinitely realised potential and perfection. Because it's not like it's a hyper-tuned version of Cooper that results, it's just him, with his usual charm, glowing abs and glistening smile. And the film is still entertaining! It's not entirely brainless as I initially thought it might be, thanks to a good script and a great original text (Alan Glynn's The Dark Fields), and some very clever, and trippy visual sequences, and though the end is a little ludicrous, it's a lot of fun. Score: 3.5/5 Film #81 Machete Director: Ethan Maniquis & Robert Rodriguez Year: 2010 Read my full review right here. Score: 4/5 Film #82 Life As We Know It Director: Greg Berlanti Year: 2010 "Where did all the good Rom-Coms go?" Read my full review right here. Score: 2/5 Film #83 Unstoppable Director: Tony Scott Year: 2010 "Frenetic Fun While It Lasts But It€™s Hardly Memorable" Read my full review right here. Score: 3/5 Film #84 WWE Top 50 Wrestlers Director: Kevin Dunn Year: 2010 "Oh Yeaaaahhhhhhhhh!" Read my full review right here. Score: 3.5/5 Film #85 Alice in Wonderland Director: Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson & Hamilton Luske Year:1951 The first of the Disney a Day films that I'm being somewhat press-ganged into (I suspect the decision has something to do with my other half's tangible desire for the Pixar Lamp that you can earn with Disney Reward Points), and already the second viewing for Alice in Wonderland this year. Read my other review of it.... here. Score: 4.5/5 Film #86 Bambi Director: James Algar, Samuel Armstrong, David Hand, Graham Heid, Bill Roberts, Paul Satterfield & Norman Wright Year: 1942 Heartbreaking and heart-warming in equal measure, Bambi is still one of the best-looking of all the Disney animations, and has one of the most sophisticated story-lines considering its target audience. Wonderful characters, and typically well-done musical accompaniment round off a magical Disney achievement. It's so good that it is effortless to imagine that there were already a hundred sentimental talking animal flicks- when really, this was the film that launched that particular sub-genre. Score: 4.5/5 Film #87 Sleeping Beauty Director: Clyde Geronimi Year: 1959 Not the most compelling of Disney's main characters, but Sleeping Beauty more than makes up for the fact with the greatest villain of them all- Maleficent, and the great supporting cast of the three fairies. The songs aren't quite as iconic as other films- though Once Upon a Dream is a bit of a personal favourite, and it is rarely as engaging as the best that the Mouse House has put out before and since, but the animation is stunning, and Maleficent offers a tangible sense of fear that is invaluable to the film's overall success. Score: 4/5 Film #88 Sucker Punch Director: Zack Snyder Year: 2011 Arguably the most vulgar film I have ever clapped eyes on, thanks to it being no more than a glorified music video, designed to entice and entertain video game fans without the mental capacity to value a film for what facets traditionally contribute to movie greatness. The characters are undeveloped, the whole sorry affair is sexist (against both sexes) and the narrative is a bloody mess. It does look good, but I cant award it any higher praise than a solitary star because it disappointed me so badly, and style does not always make up for an entire lack of substance. Score: 1/5 Film #89 My Soul To Take Director: Wes Craven Year: 2010 "Badly Characterized, Badly Written, Insipid & Unscary Horror" Read my full review right here. Score: 1.5/5 Film #90 The American Director: Anton Corbijn Year: 2010 "Mesmerising, Slow-Burning Triumph of Sparse Cinema" Read my full review right here. Score: 4.5/5 Film #91 The Bucket List Director: Rob Reiner Year: 2007 Since this is a Diary, I have no qualms saying that I held off watching The Bucket List because its release date coincided with the death of a beloved family member from Cancer, for fear that the film would somehow prolong the grief. But of course I shouldn't have worried- as I sat and watched it here for the first time, I became aware of the cathartic experience at the root of it, and how it celebrates life through a heart-warming message of passion and of love. It's also full of the tenderly observed, humanist comedy that Rob Reiner has built his career on. Score: 3.5/5 Film #92 The Sword In The Stone Director: Wolfgang Reitherman Year: 1963 My favourite childhood Disney by some stretch (and only usurped when Aladdin and The Lion King came along much later), The Sword in the Stone has had such a lasting legacy on my family (so often was it watched) that my youngest brother is still referred to as "Boy" in honour of Wart. I must be most attracted to Disney's nonsense songs as well, because along with Bippity Boppity Boop from Cinderella, I adore the Hockity Pockity song that Merlin uses to pack up his home. The animation isn't perfect, but the legend of Arthur is such a strong story that its combination with the Disney charm machine, and some fine characters (particularly Merlin, Archimedes and Madame Mim) makes it the perfect blend for me. Score: 5/5 Film #93 Rubber Director: Quentin Dupieux Year: 2010 "A Wonderfully Self-Indulgent, Impertinent Curio" Read my full review right here. Score: 4/5 Film #94 Rio Director: Carlos Sandanha Year: 2011 It seems to be inevitable that animated films starring cute animals will find themselves sitting atop the Box Office Top Ten, regardless of their quality in the past month and a half the UK Box Office Top Ten has featured four such titles- Rango, A Turtle's Tale, HOP and now Rio. While Rango is good, the other two are being panned as pretty much atrocious all round- so I was keen to see whether Rio did indeed hit the heights of Ice Age (from the same director), or whether the talking blue parrot was in fact a big old turkey. I was pleasantly surprised that the latter of the two turned out to be the case- Rio is full of charm and humour, heart-warming story-lines for the kids, and just about enough for adults to enjoy it alongside them. Score: 3.5/5 Film #95 The Chaperone Director: Stephen Herek Year: 2011 Read my full review right here. Score: 1.5/5 Film #96 Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows Part 1 Director: David Yates Year: 2010 "Dark. Dark. Dark." Read my full review right here. Score: 3.5/5 Film #97 Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole Director: Zack Snyder Year: 2010 "Gorgeous." Read my full review right here. Score: 4/5 Film #98 Big Show: A Giant's World Director: Kevin Dunn Year: 2011 Review forthcoming Score: 3/5 Film #99 Made in Dagenham Director: Nigel Cole Year: 2010 Review forthcoming Score: 3/5 Film #100 The Man From Nowhere Director: Jeong-beom Lee Year: 2010 Review forthcoming Score: 5/5 Film #101 Your Highness Director: David Gordon Green Year: 2011 My fellow OWFer Mike Edwards almost hit the nail on the head when he offered a rebuttal to my assertion that Your Highness could be quantified by the equation Princess Bride + Pineapple Express = Your Highness. Mike responded saying he thought a biological equation was more appropriate- suggesting that if Princess Bride ate Pineapple Express, this might "produce" Your Highness. Brilliant. I feel a little odd about Your Highness- as if I know I shouldn't have enjoyed it, but the laughter coming out of my face told another story. As the saying goes, simple pleasures for simple minds, and I find little more devastatingly effective than the choice placement of some juicy naughty words. The dick jokes are largely lame, and Danny McBride really struggles to be funny (perhaps due to his attempt to keep up a terrible English accent?), but there are a few things to like: chief among them Justin Theroux's brilliant antagonist wizard Lezar. Definitely not everyone's cup of tea, but it's probably a grower. Score: 3/5 Remember to follow Obsessed With Film on Twitter owfilmPrevious EntriesFilm #1 Big & Film #2 Toy Story 3 Film #3 Around the World in Eighty Days & Film # 4 Enchanted Film #5 Iron Man, Film #6 The Incredible Hulk & Film # 7 The Incredibles Film #8 The Simpsons Movie Film #9 Tron Legacy Film #10 The King's Speech Films #11- 25 Films #26-35 Films 36-46 (11th- 23rd Feb) Films 47-58 (24th Feb- 9th March) Film 59-75 (10th - 23rd March)
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