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lebigmac1-1
La Haine
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,
Willie Wonka & the Chocolate Factory '71
One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest
Reservoir Dogs
The Godfather 1&2
Heat
City of God
Terminator 2
Do the Right Thing
Honourable mentions go to- Platoon, Layercake, The Untouchables, Dead Man's Shoes, The Shawshank Redemption, The Public Enemy, Citizen Kane, Pulp Fiction, Crash (Haggis), Malcolm X, This is England, The Dark Knight, Inception, Serpico, Goodfellas, Munich, Scarface, As Good As It Gets, Hotel Rwanda, United 93, Fight Club, Forrest Gump, Leon, Shaun of the Dead, The Departed, Adulthood, The Usual Suspects, The Warriors.
Reviews
Outlaw (2007)
If they sold this film to the public as a spoof, Id buy it.
Having enjoyed some of Nick Love's previous work I decided, along with two of my buddies, to go and see this film last night. To say I was disappointed with it would be an understatement of epic proportions.
The film began and it was immediately obvious that Nick Love was trying his hardest to be stylish. The unnecessary steady-cam shots have been getting some stick on the message boards, and rightly so. We don't need to see a guy putting his key into his lock via steady-cam; and although this may appear anal of me, its one of the less obvious problems with the film.
The dialogue was some of the worst I have ever heard. Ever. Sean Bean, Bob Hoskins and Lennie James must have been in real need of the readies, because most actors would have run a mile from this.
The money spent on the helicopter shots of London (which were actually really very good) should have been spent on a script adviser. The plot was so paper-thin it was unreal! We are introduced to Dyer's character and James' character, an office worker and a barrister respectively. After their first bonding experience (which is just one of the many, many clichéd moments of the film) when they get the sh!t kicked out of them by some of the extras from The Football Factory, they go from not being able to throw a punch, to holding up traffic and robbing drug dealers of their money on a busy London street. How's that for character development? And this was all done in the style of the robbery in The Usual Suspects. Very suspect Nick.
But it doesn't stop there, oh no. These guys, who previously would have sh!t themselves if you beeped your car horn at them, end up having a full-blown gunfight with the police in the British countryside. My, how their balls have grown.
The muted colours and helicopter camera shots (reminiscent of Michael Mann) were the only redemptive qualities of the film. But this does not a good film make.
Any opportunity to get some debate going or to make some real social commentary about the state of Britain today, media propaganda, negligence of the law, establishment faults, etc, were sorely missed.
This film was, in fact, childish in its attempts to be taken seriously. Nick Love should have sold the idea to Guy Ritchie, he could have stuck Jason Statham in it, have a snappy soundtrack and VOILA, its the perfect film for the Lock, Stock-Snatch-Trilogy. Its that kind of film.
Like I said earlier, I don't mind Nick Love, but as a true film fan I've got to be honest and say that this really was a poor effort. I don't understand how anyone can justifiably give this more than a four out of ten.
Kidulthood (2006)
Fairly realistic, if sometimes exaggerated, portrayal of life for London teens
To some people Kidulthood may appear to be quite a far-fetched story with regard to how some of the youth, especially the children from working class families, may treat life and indeed how life treats them in the London of today. But on closer inspection I feel that the IMDb rating for this film does not quite reflect it's achievements. Although I can see why certain individuals might not like the film or some of the characters in it, I have to say that a lot of it rings true. The way the characters spoke to each other was spot-on, as were most of the locations. Just stand on any London High Street or sit on the back of any London bus and you will hear for yourself that the English being spoke amongst the kids today is almost indecipherable. The acting was fine by most of the cast, including the newcomers. I think Noel Clarke (who also wrote) was particularly convincing as the bully, Sam. The violence was realistic, particularly the final scene. Baseball bats are far more accessible than the gun (believe it or not, most National newspapers would have you believe otherwise, I know!) and this gave the film a more realistic feel. If I have any real criticism of the movie it would be that I feel they could have made it more believable by setting it over a longer period of time, a weekend perhaps would have done it more justice than just a single day. On the whole definitely worth a watch.